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Speaker 1: Strap on the boots and scrape up the knuckles. Oh

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Speaker 1: and ahead, he got jacked. This is the Big Red

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Speaker 1: Rain presented by Santanford in Gilbert. Mary's Gonna score touchdown.

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Speaker 1: Slim to the Ground by Buddha Baker Like a torpedo.

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Speaker 1: He came flying into the backfield. The range is brought

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Speaker 1: to you by satan Ford in Gilbert. Are you Santanford

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Speaker 1: State Farm talk to an agent today at eight hundred

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Speaker 1: State Farm, and by Arizona Cardinals Podcasts visit Hacy Cardinals

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Speaker 1: dot com, Slash Podcasts, The Reds Rising Guard, Temperaturizing vision, blurring,

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Speaker 1: rage taking over. Here's Paul Calvci. I'm ready. I'm one

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Speaker 1: hundred percent ready. I'm telling you i'mready. And Ron Wolflee.

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Speaker 1: It doesn't get any better than that. Unleash the far.

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Speaker 1: Welcome in everyone to the Big Red Raid presented by

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Speaker 1: santan Ford and Gilbert On. Paul Calvc, Ron Wolfley on assignment. Okay,

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Speaker 1: he's on vacation. That's fine because you know what. We're

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Speaker 1: going to run the up tempo here tonight. We are

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Speaker 1: proud to continue with our encore presentation of Cardinal's Folk Tales,

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Speaker 1: where you can't spell history without the word story all

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Speaker 1: time anecdotes in Cardinal's History, and tonight it's two for one.

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Speaker 1: A little bit later, we're gonna go back to Mexico

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Speaker 1: City two thousand and five revisit the Cardinal's historic trip

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Speaker 1: to a Stadio Azteca. But off the top, we might

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Speaker 1: need to apologize in advance here, considering it's dinner time,

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Speaker 1: because maybe you've heard the cliche leave a piece of

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Speaker 1: yourself out on that field. Well, former Cardinals safety Rashad

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Speaker 1: Johnson did exactly that back in two thirteen at New Orleans.

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Speaker 1: As we hit the play button on this Cardinal's folk

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Speaker 1: tales titled nine More, hearing about people climb through a

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Speaker 1: garbage can to get a fingertipped out of a glove

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Speaker 1: and all that even now kind of giving me the willies.

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Speaker 1: I mean, you get your finger caught in the door

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Speaker 1: or something. It hurts, so I can't even imagine it's gruesome.

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Speaker 1: The New Orleans Voodoo Woodoo was a little crazy that week.

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Speaker 1: When I heard about it, I was like, what they're doing? What? Like,

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Speaker 1: how did that happen? And in that moment, machinery comes in.

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Speaker 1: I mean, where's the rest of the finger. It was

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Speaker 1: just like, oh, y'all looking for his finger. Just check

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Speaker 1: the trash. I think it's in his glove. You may

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Speaker 1: want to get that glove out of the garbage can

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Speaker 1: and see what the rest of the finger looks like.

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Speaker 1: And the glove is still intact, you know, it's normal,

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Speaker 1: and like, let's just cut on up the finger and see.

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Speaker 1: And they cut up the finger and it just falls

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Speaker 1: right there on the table. We found out later that

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Speaker 1: he got his fingers stuck in this little small hole

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Speaker 1: in the side of the guy's helmet and it just

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Speaker 1: snapped it off. Boom. My head didn't happen. And I'm

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Speaker 1: trying to shake it off, but as I'm shaking it,

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Speaker 1: it's like some fires on the tip of it. The

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Speaker 1: a result of Cardinals last a football game, safety Rashaw

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Speaker 1: Johnson lost a piece of himself. Literally, how do you

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Speaker 1: explain to the coaches this, Yeah, he lost a finger,

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Speaker 1: and you know he's not gonna be ready. I don't

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Speaker 1: know how long I'm telling you. Rashaw I thought it

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Speaker 1: was like a war story. How he was explaining it

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Speaker 1: to everybody. Look at my finger, you know, I'm just

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Speaker 1: sending them pictures of it. And like it's just what

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Speaker 1: how did that happen? Like, what's going on? No rehab,

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Speaker 1: no replacement, no growing back. Rashaw Johnson didn't give the

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Speaker 1: finger to New Orleans. He gave a finger. Look, I'm

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Speaker 1: missing a finger, so ten percent off? Are we can't?

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Speaker 1: The price isn't good. Welcome to Cardinal's Folk Tales nine More,

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Speaker 1: presented by Sky, where we go in depth into Cardinal's

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Speaker 1: history all time anecdotes through the recollections and memories of

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Speaker 1: those who lived it or in my case, those who

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Speaker 1: covered it. My name is Paul KELBC, Cardinal's sideline reporter.

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Speaker 1: This is the story of how Rashaw Johnson and his

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Speaker 1: finger went viral, how his middle finger became the same

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Speaker 1: length as his index finger. I think, looking back on

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Speaker 1: it now, we didn't realize how big of a story

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Speaker 1: it was. Sean Johnson, He's probably saying I had to

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Speaker 1: lose the tip of my finger to get on the

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Speaker 1: Dan Patrick Show. The question was asked like, hey man,

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Speaker 1: you know you lost a portion of your finger. You

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Speaker 1: lost a finger, you know, Like, what are you gonna do?

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Speaker 1: I got nine more. Here's Paul or Sean Johnson out

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Speaker 1: of the game right now? A finger injury and his

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Speaker 1: return is considered questionable. Guys just wanted to send that update.

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Speaker 1: We had no idea at the time of the injury.

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Speaker 1: That brief sideline report was because we weren't briefed on

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Speaker 1: the severity of the injury until well the gloves came off.

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Speaker 1: Look as an NFL player, you're paid a lot of money,

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Speaker 1: partly because you run the risk of paying a heavy price.

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Speaker 1: Like September twenty second, twenty thirteen, Cardinals against the Saints,

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Speaker 1: Week three, headed in the New Orleans Superdome, Sean Payton,

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Speaker 1: Drew Brees, Michael Colston, big challenge for our secondary, really

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Speaker 1: excited about the opportunity to go in and play this game,

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Speaker 1: and for Rashad as a starting safety and one of

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Speaker 1: the best tacklers on the roster, his duties included special

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Speaker 1: teams and maybe the toughest task of all, trying to

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Speaker 1: corral the Saints three time Pro Bowl return man. They

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Speaker 1: have Darren Spros, who probably will be in the Hall

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Speaker 1: of Fame one day. I'll just gone gone. Record hell

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Speaker 1: of a player, was a great player for the Saints,

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Speaker 1: and everybody that knows Darren Spros, you know he's a

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Speaker 1: smaller guy, quicker guy. He is so difficult to tackle.

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Speaker 1: He's I mean, he's like trying to catch a soap

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Speaker 1: bubble on a beach's brutal. You're not always gonna get

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Speaker 1: a big shot, big hit on him. A lot of

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Speaker 1: times you're gonna be regent. That's former Cardinals dB Gerard Powers.

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Speaker 1: And that is foreshadowing because in a seven seven game,

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Speaker 1: late first half, the Cardinals on punk cover and here

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Speaker 1: comes that five foot six, one hundred ninety pounds stick

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Speaker 1: of dynamite hi kick backing up, Sprawls, waits for it fields.

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Speaker 1: It is fourteen runs right to the twenty to the

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Speaker 1: twenty five yard line. So let's a tackle at the

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Speaker 1: thirty close up the thirty five of the forty yard line,

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Speaker 1: and they can finally get to him at the forty

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Speaker 1: one yard line. All right, goodness, is he dangerous? Jasper

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Speaker 1: Brinkley with a special team's tackle. A handful of other

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Speaker 1: Cardinals whiffed, And for one Cardinal it was for good reason.

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Speaker 1: Kind of a crazy play, fluke injury covering a punt.

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Speaker 1: You know, a routine play that I've done a million times.

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Speaker 1: We punt the ball down and I'm going to cover it.

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Speaker 1: Darren Sprows is the returner, and I initiate a blocker,

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Speaker 1: and in that moment when I initiate him, I just

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Speaker 1: shed away and go in to make the tackle. At

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Speaker 1: this point when roche finger gets caught in his helmet,

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Speaker 1: he was at a point and he was trying to

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Speaker 1: reach to make a tackle, and everything happened so fast

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Speaker 1: that when he reached and I guess his finger gets

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Speaker 1: caught in the crossbar of his helmet. I go to

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Speaker 1: the huddle and I get the call, and I played

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Speaker 1: the next down. And for some of our reason, like

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Speaker 1: my hand is just intensely intensifying, the pain is getting worse,

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Speaker 1: and that's when we're shod. And his bloody glove caught

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Speaker 1: the attention of Cardinals, said trainer Tom Reid. Run up

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Speaker 1: beside him and immediately noticing his glove. There's a lot

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Speaker 1: of blood, and I look down and before I know it,

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Speaker 1: my white glove is it's far hot red. It's blood everywhere.

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Speaker 1: I come off the field, and you know, just thinking like, hey,

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Speaker 1: maybe I lost the nail. Maybe you know something happened there.

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Speaker 1: They run inside and get him on the table with

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Speaker 1: a bunch of gauze and gulls under and over his

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Speaker 1: hand and carefully peeled back his glove. The excitement that

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Speaker 1: I had was beginning to wear off, and before I

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Speaker 1: know it, I could feel my heartbeat in my hand.

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Speaker 1: It's like my hand is beating at the same rhythm

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Speaker 1: as my heart. And all I can say is to

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Speaker 1: the Doctor's like, hey, man, I need some drugs, Like

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Speaker 1: I need something. He's like, well, we have to fully

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Speaker 1: evaluate you before we can actually give you something, and

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Speaker 1: you know, so give us a chance to get the

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Speaker 1: glove off. And that's when things got ugly. And it's

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Speaker 1: right about now that the medical staff realize they're not

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Speaker 1: going to be able to put their finger on the

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Speaker 1: problem without the rest of the glove. They get just

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Speaker 1: to the end where there's probably about just the tip

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Speaker 1: of their finger left with dissecting back to glove, take

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Speaker 1: it off and throw it in the garbage. Doctor Watzluski

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Speaker 1: puts a bunch of gauze on his finger because there's

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Speaker 1: blood flying everywhere, right, and in that moment, machinery comes in.

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Speaker 1: I mean, where's the rest of the finger? The machine

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Speaker 1: would be assistant trainer Jim Sheer, who'd been on the

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Speaker 1: job for nearly four decades. He dabs it a couple

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Speaker 1: of times and looks at it and tells, machine, you

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Speaker 1: may want to get that glove out of the garbage

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Speaker 1: can and see what the rest of the finger is.

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Speaker 1: Looks like glove. It was just like, oh, y'all looking

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Speaker 1: forward his finger, just check the trash. I think it's

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Speaker 1: in his glove. Yeah, A guy who thought he'd seen

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Speaker 1: it all was dumpster diving in the visiting locker room.

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Speaker 1: And the glove is still intact, you know, it's normal,

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Speaker 1: and like, let's just cut on up the finger and see.

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Speaker 1: And they cut up the finger and it just falls

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Speaker 1: right there on the table. It's just a small piece

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Speaker 1: of bone and a little bit of nail and a

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Speaker 1: little bit of skin. Nothing that they can put back

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Speaker 1: together again. So essentially he was missing from the bottom

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Speaker 1: part of his nail. The rest of his finger was gone.

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Speaker 1: From there, we hopping an ambulance and you know, begin

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Speaker 1: to go to the hospital and have immediate surgery. Take

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Speaker 1: them over to the hospital, shave it back the little

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Speaker 1: nub of bone that was there, so that there was

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Speaker 1: enough skin left to make a flap and fold it

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Speaker 1: up and sew it at like a flap, kind of

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Speaker 1: like you're closing the end of a bag, and I

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Speaker 1: could begin to watch the rest of the game from

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Speaker 1: the surgical room there in New Orleans Hospital. They put

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Speaker 1: enough medicine and numbed it enough for Rashad to be

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Speaker 1: able to film the whole procedure. That's right. Instead of

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Speaker 1: studying film, Rashad Johnson was filming his own surgery. Just

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Speaker 1: another Sunday on the job. And maybe it was the

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Speaker 1: painkiller talking, but Rashad was already talking about the next Sunday,

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Speaker 1: what's the next step? Like? Am I gonna be able

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Speaker 1: to play next week? You know? Am I gonna be

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Speaker 1: able to get a manicure again? Like? You know, those

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Speaker 1: are serious of questions that we got to talk about. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: Rashad Johnson there, and I still don't know what's harder

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Speaker 1: to believe that it actually happened, that injury or his

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Speaker 1: good natured reaction. Hence the title of this Cardinals Folktale

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Speaker 1: nine more, because look, only one other player really in

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Speaker 1: NFL history can relate. His name is Ronnie Lott and

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Speaker 1: that is next. As we continue with this special edition

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Speaker 1: of The Big Red Rage presented by Santan Ford in

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Speaker 1: Gilbert and welcome back everyone into this special edition of

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Speaker 1: The Big Red Rage, presented by Santanford and Gilbert On

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Speaker 1: Paul Calvic. And when we talk about former Cardinals safety

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Speaker 1: Rashad Johnson, if you're talking about a former walk on

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Speaker 1: running back at Alabama who ended up a two time

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Speaker 1: team captain as a safety, an eight year NFL player

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Speaker 1: who had sixteen picks and one lost fingertip. And that's

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Speaker 1: where we pick it up, right after surgery following his

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Speaker 1: twenty thirteen game in New Orleans Cardinals Folk Tales nine.

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Speaker 1: More So, here's the postop report in emergency surgery at

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Speaker 1: the hospital. The hand specialist shaved down the bone to

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Speaker 1: prevent infection and stitch up the wound. There were no

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Speaker 1: plans to reattach the fingertip, and in a nod to

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Speaker 1: modern medicine, Rashad was already back at this stadium before

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Speaker 1: the end of the game. Now here's Darren Urban from

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Speaker 1: ac Cardinals dot Com and Cardinals cornerbacks coach Kevin Ross,

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Speaker 1: who both at the time, like most everyone, we're still unaware.

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Speaker 1: To be honest, I didn't know about that until after

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Speaker 1: the game was over. You know, we knew he had

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Speaker 1: left the game, so that was part of it, but

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Speaker 1: we didn't really understand the gravity of the situation, which

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Speaker 1: probably would have made me a little queasy anyways, because

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Speaker 1: I mean, that's gross. Man. You think about your finger

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Speaker 1: getting sniped right now, that's painful. I mean that hurts.

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Speaker 1: I mean, you get your finger caught in a door

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Speaker 1: or something, it hurts. So I can't even imagine. That's gruesome.

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Speaker 1: Hearing about people climbing through a garbage can to get

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Speaker 1: a fingertip out of a glove and all that even

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Speaker 1: now kind of giving me the Willie clipped off and

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Speaker 1: did Ronnie Lott thing. It's like the Ronnie Lotton effect.

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Speaker 1: Ronnie Lott forty nine ers Hall of Fame defensive back

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Speaker 1: known for hard hits, picks and is pinky or what's

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Speaker 1: left of it because in nineteen eighty five eighty six,

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Speaker 1: Lot declined bone graph surgery to fully repair his left

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Speaker 1: pinky finger. Instead, a Lot famously told team doctors to

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Speaker 1: take the top of his injured finger off so he

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Speaker 1: wouldn't miss any time. Let's just say, Rashard Johnson is

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Speaker 1: in a very exclusive claw. You know, getting a call

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Speaker 1: from running Lot, you know, got an opportunity to get

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Speaker 1: on the call with him and just getting some insight,

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Speaker 1: and a lot of people wouldn't understand us wanting to

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Speaker 1: go back after such a maybe traumatic injury or having

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Speaker 1: something so vastly you know, happened to your life and

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Speaker 1: him losing you know, his finger. People wanted like, why

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Speaker 1: are you trying to go back and play? But there's

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Speaker 1: something that we love to do, and then we love

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Speaker 1: to compete, and you know, you battle through adversity to

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Speaker 1: do what you love. Some of the things that he

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Speaker 1: told me, man, So I just really valued that experience,

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Speaker 1: you know, through it all. I think this was Rashad's

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Speaker 1: way of saying, like I got stripes now, you know,

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Speaker 1: nobody can say like I've been through it all, like

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Speaker 1: like I've gave part of my finger to the game,

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Speaker 1: almost like a sacrifice. I think he helped our mental

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Speaker 1: toughness out back in the back and big time. I

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Speaker 1: think he helped a whole defense period showing that kind

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Speaker 1: of cap doing toughness. I mean definitely ended up being

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Speaker 1: something that you know, people could say it was supposed

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Speaker 1: to set you back, but for me, I always kind

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Speaker 1: of find a way to say, you know, it can

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Speaker 1: either be fuel or it can be wait and you

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Speaker 1: decide for me. You know, it's I always fuel to

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Speaker 1: the fire to keep going, and Rashad definitely kept going,

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Speaker 1: missing only two games, and then in his third game back,

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Speaker 1: he had two picks. Cardinals dial up up lets back

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Speaker 1: to pass, Ryan fires deep nearside, easy interception at the

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Speaker 1: twelve yard line. For Rashaw Johnson. Back to pass goes,

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Speaker 1: Ryan fires it up into the air nearside, gonna be

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Speaker 1: an easy interception at the twenty five yard line. It's Johnson. Now.

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Speaker 1: Keep in mind then in college, Rashaw Johnson was a

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Speaker 1: walk on at Alabama, a walk on running back from

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Speaker 1: a tiny one A high school in state, a zero

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Speaker 1: star recruit who ended up first team All SEC as

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Speaker 1: a safety for Nick Saban and one of the only

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Speaker 1: two time team captains in Bama history. You know, I

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Speaker 1: knew how quickly the tables could turn and how much

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Speaker 1: it meant to, you know, continue to push forward, to

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Speaker 1: have that fighter mentality. So that's something that I've always had,

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Speaker 1: and I think it rubbed off from that group to

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Speaker 1: continue to push forward and continue to fight for each other.

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Speaker 1: And as much as teammates look out for each other,

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Speaker 1: right push to each other they bag on each other

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Speaker 1: as well. And let's just say that Rashad had to

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Speaker 1: play defense in his own mocker room. I remember Gerrarde

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Speaker 1: was always just saying, like, man, that tip is gonna

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Speaker 1: cost you an interception. And I was like, man, like,

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Speaker 1: don't play like. We don't need to say those type

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Speaker 1: of things. And Gerarde tipped the ball and it came

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Speaker 1: over the top and I had it right in my

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Speaker 1: fingers and it went right off that finger till better

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Speaker 1: for Sean Johnson had ten fingers instead of nine and

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Speaker 1: a half, he might have picked that one off. I

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Speaker 1: never forgive me. Come in the locker room. He was

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Speaker 1: like that day finger, I told you looking in that

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Speaker 1: day finger, you know how Girde is. He's like, I

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Speaker 1: had that pvure you supposed to make that play. So

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Speaker 1: that was the one man. If anybody gave me heck

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Speaker 1: about it, it was definitely JP. And these nine more

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Speaker 1: stories they still resonate, Like in twenty twenty when Cardinals

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Speaker 1: All Pro safety Buddha Baker's snaged his first career pick

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Speaker 1: with a cast on his hand. Here's the Cardinals radio team,

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Speaker 1: Dave Pash and Ron Wolflett. He's not the first Cardinal

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Speaker 1: ever to play with nine fingers. Yes, Rashad Johnson did that.

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Speaker 1: Of course, Rashads fell off Buddha's His back intact is

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Speaker 1: this is the most graphic injury report ever. I'm a

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Speaker 1: truth teller, Wolf. I mean, it's it's not like it's

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Speaker 1: a story that people aren't aware of. Rashad is still

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Speaker 1: doing just fine. I think, looking back on it now,

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Speaker 1: we didn't realize how big of a story it was.

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Speaker 1: Sean Johnson, He's probably saying, I had to lose the

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Speaker 1: tip of my finger to get on the Dan Patrick Show. Hey,

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Speaker 1: but that's how you do it up. In those next

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Speaker 1: few days, Rashad went on not only would Dan Patrick,

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Speaker 1: but Sports Center, the Jim Roll Show. Rashad was the

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Speaker 1: subject of a full feature on Sunday NFL Countdown. But

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Speaker 1: Rashad himself was the one who tweeted out three gruesome

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Speaker 1: images of his forlorn finger. So leave it to Cardinal's

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Speaker 1: marketing whiz Orlando Abola to come up with an idea

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Speaker 1: that he ran up the flag Bowl with Darren Urban

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Speaker 1: of az Cardinals dot Com. I remember getting a text

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Speaker 1: from Orlando saying, you know, kind of playing off of it,

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Speaker 1: and he sent the little screenshot of this, you know,

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Speaker 1: foam finger that was missing a tip obviously, just like

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Speaker 1: Rashod and I thought it was hilarious. I thought it

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Speaker 1: was Orlando kind of being Orlando. But then we started

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Speaker 1: talking about it a little bit and like, you know,

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Speaker 1: do you think we can put that out there without

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Speaker 1: essentially offending anybody, including Rashot and Jim and Mohundro was

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Speaker 1: running the social media at the time. You know, we

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Speaker 1: went back and forth for about five minutes, and we

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Speaker 1: decided to hey, let's send a text or a shot

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Speaker 1: and see what he thinks. So Darren fires off a text.

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Speaker 1: In less than a minute. Rashotte gets back and says, oh,

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Speaker 1: this is great. I love it. Leah, yeah, do it?

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Speaker 1: Do it? Do it? So we put that out and

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Speaker 1: you know, all of a sudden, the retweets start racking up,

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Speaker 1: and you know, we went viral, not just on social media.

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Speaker 1: What I really remember most of all is later that day,

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Speaker 1: being in the hotel room, the two of us, and

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Speaker 1: we had ESPN Sports Center on, and then all of

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Speaker 1: a sudden having that tweet show up on Sports Center

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Speaker 1: and we're thinking, okay, this has really hit the big

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Speaker 1: time that you have this tweet out there of making

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Speaker 1: fun of what probably wasn't something you shouldn't be making

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Speaker 1: fun of, to be honest, you know, it was a

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Speaker 1: lot of a lot of talk afterwards, um, you know,

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Speaker 1: from the burn part of the interruption to Sports Center,

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Speaker 1: you know, talking to it on sunt before you know,

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Speaker 1: the Sunday night game. We knew it was a big

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Speaker 1: story because I was like, the guy made T shirts

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Speaker 1: that saying that he got nine more fingers. The question

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Speaker 1: was asked like, hey man, you know you lost a

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Speaker 1: portion of your finger. You lost a finger. You know, like,

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Speaker 1: what are you gonna do? I got nine more? And

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Speaker 1: everybody warred under their shoulder path for the rest of

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Speaker 1: the year and all of that nine more as a mindset,

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Speaker 1: you know, like do I focus on the one I do?

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Speaker 1: I focus on what I have? So I think it's

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Speaker 1: just a shift in life. It's what I do, you know,

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Speaker 1: on a daily basis, It's what's gotten me through the

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Speaker 1: transition post my career. It's like, do you focus on

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Speaker 1: not playing football out no more? Or on the beauty

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Speaker 1: of your wife and the beautiful girls that you have.

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Speaker 1: So on one hand, Rashad's missing finger was the most

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Speaker 1: click story on ESPN dot com. On the other hand,

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Speaker 1: Rashad's young daughter saw it differently as simply her daddy's identity.

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Speaker 1: Something that looked like an imperfection to me became a

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Speaker 1: soother to her because at nighttime, when she wanted to

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Speaker 1: lay down, she would want to hold my hand, but

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Speaker 1: she would want to grab this finger. She didn't want

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Speaker 1: any other finger but that finger, and she would hold

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Speaker 1: it and like lay there and hold it until she

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Speaker 1: went to sleep. And it was just just the greatest

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Speaker 1: thing to me, because, like I said, like it looked

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Speaker 1: like an imperfection, look like something you know, it was

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Speaker 1: taken from me, but it's an actual comforter to her,

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Speaker 1: and so it was just it was so much beauty

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Speaker 1: in that for me. See, it's not all downside. In fact,

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Speaker 1: Rashad also finds beauty in the nine and a half

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Speaker 1: finger discount the perks. I think the biggest one was

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Speaker 1: the ten percent off on the manicures. I kind of,

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Speaker 1: you know, I used that every time I go into

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Speaker 1: the salon and I'm in there and the ladies like,

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Speaker 1: what are you talking about? You know, they kind of asking,

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Speaker 1: I'm like, look, I'm missing a finger. So ten percent

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Speaker 1: off are we can't the price isn't good. So that's

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Speaker 1: kind of one of the things I use all the

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Speaker 1: time when I go to do something like that. Post

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Speaker 1: my injury, I actually had more productions, you know, as

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Speaker 1: an interceptor fact. In his eight year NFL career, Rashaw

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Speaker 1: Johnson had sixteen interceptions including playoffs, three before the injury

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Speaker 1: and thirteen after. And Gerard Powers has a theory maybe

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Speaker 1: that him losing a part of that finger gave him

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Speaker 1: some type of advantage and catching the ball, because I

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Speaker 1: don't remember him being that good of a catcher when

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Speaker 1: all ten of his fingers were intact. Speaking of memories,

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Speaker 1: how often is Rashad Johnson reminded of the injury? He

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Speaker 1: definitely comes up a lot since you know, post career,

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Speaker 1: there's very few guys that have played the game and

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Speaker 1: actually lost a portion, you know, of their finger myself

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Speaker 1: and running lot er two that I can think of.

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Speaker 1: I'm telling you, Rashad, I thought it was like a

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Speaker 1: war story, how he was explaining it to everybody like

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Speaker 1: he had just you know, we'll probably keep adding stuff

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Speaker 1: to it as the years ago. Like at some point,

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Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure it'll be a game saving tackle lost

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Speaker 1: his finger, you know, and all that type of deal.

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Speaker 1: So every year we add and add to it. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: the tall tales might grow, but the middle finger not

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Speaker 1: so much. Keep in mind, the first three fingers on

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Speaker 1: Rashad's left hand are all basically the same length. And

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Speaker 1: I remember just literally laughing at him because I kept saying,

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Speaker 1: I was like, hey, man, I say your finger is

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Speaker 1: gonna grow back. Do have a nail that is continually

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Speaker 1: trying to grow back? So maybe if I didn't, you know,

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Speaker 1: go through the whole process, then you know, it would

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Speaker 1: have kind of grew back in some dysform kind of

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Speaker 1: way maybe, and it gave me my full function. But

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Speaker 1: but I'm glad to have, you know, a little bit

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Speaker 1: that I can't get. I just reach into my other

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Speaker 1: hand if I got to get something out of the

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Speaker 1: corner of that pocket. When I get older and my

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Speaker 1: kids grow and this story getting brought up at a

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Speaker 1: family function with me and Rashad, I'm gonna definitely be

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Speaker 1: the one that's animated and telling everything that happens. And

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Speaker 1: that's Cardinal's Folk Tales nine more presented by Seeking Thanks

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Speaker 1: for joining us everyone. For producer Jim almahndre, I'm Paul Calvci.

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Speaker 1: Bottom line, if anyone is equipped to handle the emotions

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00:22:44,760 --> 00:22:48,520
Speaker 1: and aftermath of losing a part of themselves. Literally, when

425
00:22:48,600 --> 00:22:51,399
Speaker 1: Patrick Peterson said after the game that Rashat's finger was

426
00:22:51,560 --> 00:22:55,920
Speaker 1: quote leaking like a faucet, well, Rashat has always been

427
00:22:56,240 --> 00:22:59,760
Speaker 1: that one percent in more ways than one. It's definitely

428
00:22:59,800 --> 00:23:03,879
Speaker 1: a mentality as a one percenter. You know on NFL

429
00:23:03,960 --> 00:23:06,639
Speaker 1: that you have to have that mentality to take adversity

430
00:23:06,680 --> 00:23:14,480
Speaker 1: and use it as fuel. And again Rashad Johnson missing

431
00:23:14,560 --> 00:23:17,560
Speaker 1: his fingertip only missed two games and then in his

432
00:23:17,720 --> 00:23:21,320
Speaker 1: first game back he had two picks. That is a

433
00:23:21,400 --> 00:23:24,200
Speaker 1: Cardinals folktale. But we're not done yet on this special

434
00:23:24,400 --> 00:23:26,760
Speaker 1: edition of the Big Red Rage with Mexico City and

435
00:23:26,800 --> 00:23:29,120
Speaker 1: the Cardinal schedule this season, We're going to go back

436
00:23:29,560 --> 00:23:32,080
Speaker 1: to the two thousand and five trip to a Stadio

437
00:23:32,119 --> 00:23:35,080
Speaker 1: Azteca when we continue on the Big Red Rage presented

438
00:23:35,119 --> 00:23:39,480
Speaker 1: by santan Ford in Gilbert and welcome back in everyone

439
00:23:39,520 --> 00:23:42,160
Speaker 1: to this very special edition of The Big Red Rage

440
00:23:42,200 --> 00:23:46,280
Speaker 1: presented by santan Ford in Gilbert. On Paul calvcr Cardinals

441
00:23:46,400 --> 00:23:49,280
Speaker 1: Folk Tales edition where he can't spell the word history

442
00:23:49,440 --> 00:23:51,959
Speaker 1: without the words story. And I'd say in my more

443
00:23:52,000 --> 00:23:54,760
Speaker 1: than two decades of covering the Cardinals home and away,

444
00:23:55,240 --> 00:23:57,960
Speaker 1: the Mexico City road Trip circuit two thousand and five

445
00:23:58,320 --> 00:24:01,760
Speaker 1: was top five all time. First off, you're in Mexico's

446
00:24:01,800 --> 00:24:05,199
Speaker 1: capital city. Elevation seventy seven hundred feet, that's more than

447
00:24:05,240 --> 00:24:09,520
Speaker 1: two thousand feet higher than Denver, in a legendary stadium,

448
00:24:09,760 --> 00:24:14,080
Speaker 1: NonStop energy, over a hundred thousand fans in there, right,

449
00:24:14,480 --> 00:24:17,439
Speaker 1: Every play matters to these fans. You know, the Cardinals

450
00:24:17,520 --> 00:24:21,080
Speaker 1: have a vast radio network in Mexico that has grown

451
00:24:21,160 --> 00:24:23,000
Speaker 1: over the years, and so much of that growth you

452
00:24:23,080 --> 00:24:25,879
Speaker 1: can trace back to that October night two thousand and

453
00:24:25,920 --> 00:24:29,280
Speaker 1: five as we hit play on this Cardinal's foulktale titled

454
00:24:29,640 --> 00:24:36,080
Speaker 1: One Time in Mexico. What were your thoughts I'm playing

455
00:24:36,119 --> 00:24:38,159
Speaker 1: in Mexico. First of all, it was great. It's the

456
00:24:38,200 --> 00:24:41,320
Speaker 1: greatest fans to get outside the world and this world

457
00:24:45,200 --> 00:24:46,760
Speaker 1: you know how we do it. I thought it was

458
00:24:47,600 --> 00:24:50,399
Speaker 1: one of the biggest moments of my career, believe it

459
00:24:50,520 --> 00:24:54,560
Speaker 1: or not. I mean, one hundred, two hundred games, but

460
00:24:55,119 --> 00:25:03,040
Speaker 1: the way Stadios Deccan Mexican peep reacted to that flag.

461
00:25:04,800 --> 00:25:07,040
Speaker 1: I got goose bumps under here. I mean it was

462
00:25:07,400 --> 00:25:13,320
Speaker 1: absolutely in fuego. We're about to come into the biggest

463
00:25:13,359 --> 00:25:15,879
Speaker 1: arena in Latin America, and I think a style of

464
00:25:15,880 --> 00:25:18,000
Speaker 1: steak guy really broughted that day. I come to the

465
00:25:18,280 --> 00:25:27,800
Speaker 1: coach and Dennis Green, is this actually happening? An NFL

466
00:25:28,280 --> 00:25:31,320
Speaker 1: professional game is being played here? One that counts. It

467
00:25:31,480 --> 00:25:36,200
Speaker 1: actually happened. It definitely counted, and it will always stand

468
00:25:36,800 --> 00:25:40,760
Speaker 1: as NFL history. An amazing scene, flashbulbs popping for the

469
00:25:40,840 --> 00:25:46,040
Speaker 1: first ever National Football League regular season game abroad. That's right,

470
00:25:46,359 --> 00:25:50,080
Speaker 1: Never before had an NFL regular season game been played

471
00:25:50,400 --> 00:25:54,760
Speaker 1: outside the United States. This is Cardinals Folk Tales presented

472
00:25:54,800 --> 00:25:57,960
Speaker 1: by seventy two sold where we go in depth into

473
00:25:58,040 --> 00:26:02,800
Speaker 1: Cardinal's history, all time anecdotes through the personal recollections and

474
00:26:03,080 --> 00:26:08,280
Speaker 1: memories of those who lived. It was in freaking incredible.

475
00:26:08,680 --> 00:26:12,800
Speaker 1: It was called the birth of international football for the

476
00:26:12,920 --> 00:26:27,280
Speaker 1: NFL one time in Mexico, that time when the Cardinals

477
00:26:27,440 --> 00:26:30,720
Speaker 1: turned a home game into the first ever NFL regular

478
00:26:30,840 --> 00:26:35,240
Speaker 1: season contest played on international soil. My name is Paul

479
00:26:35,280 --> 00:26:37,920
Speaker 1: calBC and I was part of the Cardinals radio broadcast

480
00:26:37,960 --> 00:26:41,440
Speaker 1: team that day along with analyst Ron Wolfley and longtime

481
00:26:41,560 --> 00:26:45,199
Speaker 1: voice of the Cardinals Dave Patch. October second, two thousand

482
00:26:45,200 --> 00:26:48,240
Speaker 1: and five, the Cardinals again make history as they take

483
00:26:48,320 --> 00:26:51,400
Speaker 1: on the San Francisco forty nine ers from a Stadio

484
00:26:51,560 --> 00:26:56,639
Speaker 1: as Tecca in Mexico City. Estadio as Teco build as

485
00:26:56,720 --> 00:27:01,240
Speaker 1: Mexico's mythical Temple. One of the world's most revered stadiums.

486
00:27:01,560 --> 00:27:05,160
Speaker 1: It is hosted World Cup Finals and has wowed everyone

487
00:27:05,400 --> 00:27:09,440
Speaker 1: from Pelee to the Pope. The atmosphere pretty unbelievable. Die

488
00:27:09,520 --> 00:27:12,160
Speaker 1: hard football fans here. Even if some of these folks

489
00:27:12,200 --> 00:27:15,520
Speaker 1: have never seen an NFL game on television, they are

490
00:27:15,640 --> 00:27:18,840
Speaker 1: into it. Before we get to that day in that stadium.

491
00:27:19,080 --> 00:27:22,399
Speaker 1: Realized that it all started years earlier with the advent

492
00:27:22,560 --> 00:27:26,760
Speaker 1: of the Cardinals new stadium team owner Michael Bidwell. The

493
00:27:26,920 --> 00:27:31,560
Speaker 1: largest population of NFL fans outside the United States is

494
00:27:31,600 --> 00:27:34,639
Speaker 1: actually Mexico City. And so I looked at it, and

495
00:27:34,640 --> 00:27:37,920
Speaker 1: I went to Commissioner Taglibu, and I said, look, we've

496
00:27:37,960 --> 00:27:41,960
Speaker 1: got one season left at Sundeville Stadium. We're happy to

497
00:27:42,040 --> 00:27:44,440
Speaker 1: give up a game, especially if it's an early game,

498
00:27:44,520 --> 00:27:47,520
Speaker 1: and play a home game regular season. It had never

499
00:27:47,640 --> 00:27:50,919
Speaker 1: been done in regular season, and so we looked at

500
00:27:50,960 --> 00:27:54,200
Speaker 1: this idea of taking it international. It's time now for

501
00:27:54,440 --> 00:28:06,280
Speaker 1: the Mexican and American national anthems he got as a kid.

502
00:28:06,359 --> 00:28:07,960
Speaker 1: You would see it a lot, right if you would

503
00:28:08,000 --> 00:28:11,399
Speaker 1: set on TV, and sometimes you would say, one day,

504
00:28:11,520 --> 00:28:13,800
Speaker 1: I want to walk that field. I was there. I

505
00:28:13,920 --> 00:28:18,960
Speaker 1: was walking in with my Cardinals. That's the voice of

506
00:28:19,160 --> 00:28:23,160
Speaker 1: Rolando Canto, the first Mexican born non kicker to play

507
00:28:23,240 --> 00:28:25,840
Speaker 1: in the NFL. He was an offensive lineman for that

508
00:28:25,920 --> 00:28:28,159
Speaker 1: two thousand and five Cardinals team. And as big as

509
00:28:28,240 --> 00:28:32,080
Speaker 1: Rolando is in person, just physically, he's a giant the

510
00:28:32,280 --> 00:28:36,480
Speaker 1: measurables of an NFL old lineman six five, three sixty plus,

511
00:28:37,119 --> 00:28:42,240
Speaker 1: his persona is bigger in Mexico. Dave Pash, Rolando's a

512
00:28:42,320 --> 00:28:45,240
Speaker 1: great story, and I think you know Rolando in a

513
00:28:45,320 --> 00:28:47,880
Speaker 1: lot of ways. For a lot of people, there probably

514
00:28:48,520 --> 00:28:52,440
Speaker 1: was a symbol of hope, like, hey, Rolando's playing pro football.

515
00:28:52,960 --> 00:28:56,080
Speaker 1: You know I can play pro football, I can break ground.

516
00:28:57,160 --> 00:29:00,480
Speaker 1: Rolando represents a lot for many people. I mean the

517
00:29:00,560 --> 00:29:03,400
Speaker 1: fact that this guy, the first actual national to come

518
00:29:03,560 --> 00:29:06,280
Speaker 1: from Mexico and not be a kicker. We saw a

519
00:29:06,320 --> 00:29:08,600
Speaker 1: lot of Rolando Cantu jersey's being sold, a lot of

520
00:29:08,600 --> 00:29:10,680
Speaker 1: people buying it. We had some real stars at the time,

521
00:29:11,000 --> 00:29:13,840
Speaker 1: and they're getting off the bus, walking right through the

522
00:29:13,960 --> 00:29:16,760
Speaker 1: Mexican press and then all of a sudden, Rolando Canto

523
00:29:17,000 --> 00:29:19,400
Speaker 1: and they just swarm on him. They didn't know who

524
00:29:19,480 --> 00:29:21,240
Speaker 1: some of these other guys were that were just walking

525
00:29:21,320 --> 00:29:23,280
Speaker 1: past him. I'm surprised they didn't have him like on

526
00:29:23,360 --> 00:29:25,440
Speaker 1: a throne carrying him around. I mean, he was like

527
00:29:25,800 --> 00:29:30,160
Speaker 1: a legend, and for good reason for making the Arizona

528
00:29:30,200 --> 00:29:33,600
Speaker 1: Cardinals team. But I just remember everybody talked about Rolando, like, oh,

529
00:29:33,600 --> 00:29:35,760
Speaker 1: do you know Rolando. You know Rolando Cantu. Yes, I know,

530
00:29:35,960 --> 00:29:39,640
Speaker 1: I know Rolando Cantu. They weren't concerned with a young

531
00:29:39,760 --> 00:29:41,960
Speaker 1: Larry Fitzgerald or you know, they just wanted to know

532
00:29:42,040 --> 00:29:44,719
Speaker 1: if we knew Rolando. For those of us who are

533
00:29:44,880 --> 00:29:48,880
Speaker 1: on that trip, there was Rolando Canto and everyone else

534
00:29:49,240 --> 00:29:52,040
Speaker 1: was a sidekick, even fits. But that goes back to

535
00:29:52,280 --> 00:29:55,640
Speaker 1: nineteen ninety six, when as a kid, Rolando attended the

536
00:29:55,800 --> 00:30:00,400
Speaker 1: American bull a series of preseason NFL games helped outside

537
00:30:00,440 --> 00:30:04,320
Speaker 1: the US, including when the Chiefs and Cowboys met in

538
00:30:04,440 --> 00:30:08,440
Speaker 1: his native Monterey Mexico. But this wasn't any preseason game,

539
00:30:08,920 --> 00:30:12,000
Speaker 1: and the fans, they knew it. That day. The fans

540
00:30:12,040 --> 00:30:14,520
Speaker 1: were different. They were hungry to be a part of

541
00:30:14,640 --> 00:30:18,640
Speaker 1: something unique. And the unique part about it was this

542
00:30:18,880 --> 00:30:21,240
Speaker 1: was a regular season game. This game was going to count.

543
00:30:21,360 --> 00:30:24,640
Speaker 1: It wasn't an American Bowl, it wasn't an exhibition game.

544
00:30:25,160 --> 00:30:27,920
Speaker 1: This game was going to be remembered in the history books.

545
00:30:28,160 --> 00:30:29,560
Speaker 1: And if you got to take it to go to

546
00:30:29,640 --> 00:30:32,920
Speaker 1: a Styosteca, you're a part of history. Speaking of the

547
00:30:33,120 --> 00:30:36,960
Speaker 1: previous NFL record for attendance for a regular season game

548
00:30:37,440 --> 00:30:39,680
Speaker 1: was when the Rams played the Niners at the La

549
00:30:39,880 --> 00:30:43,360
Speaker 1: Coliseum in nineteen fifty seven in front of one hundred

550
00:30:43,360 --> 00:30:46,480
Speaker 1: two thousand, three hundred and sixty eight fans. But again,

551
00:30:47,040 --> 00:30:50,840
Speaker 1: this was a Stadio Asteca, an eighth wonder of the World,

552
00:30:51,080 --> 00:30:54,360
Speaker 1: A Stadio Azteca. Just mammoth. I mean, that's the first

553
00:30:54,400 --> 00:30:56,040
Speaker 1: thing that I think when you walk in here, you know,

554
00:30:56,160 --> 00:30:58,840
Speaker 1: you just cannot believe the rows go on and on.

555
00:30:59,680 --> 00:31:01,480
Speaker 1: So come out of the locker room for the first

556
00:31:01,520 --> 00:31:04,320
Speaker 1: time and I look up and my jaw hits the ground.

557
00:31:04,520 --> 00:31:08,240
Speaker 1: I could not believe how big this building was. Basically,

558
00:31:08,680 --> 00:31:12,000
Speaker 1: picture the biggest stadium you've ever been in, and then

559
00:31:12,120 --> 00:31:14,920
Speaker 1: add an upper deck to it. When I looked up,

560
00:31:15,120 --> 00:31:18,640
Speaker 1: I got dizzy it was so high. That's Jim omohundred,

561
00:31:18,840 --> 00:31:22,680
Speaker 1: longtime producer of the Arizona Cardinals radio network, and true

562
00:31:22,760 --> 00:31:25,520
Speaker 1: that personally. I've been in ann Arbor. I've been on

563
00:31:25,600 --> 00:31:28,720
Speaker 1: the field for Michigan Notre Dame hundred thousand fans. But

564
00:31:28,840 --> 00:31:32,800
Speaker 1: a stadio as Teca, it's bigger. Its capacity is one

565
00:31:32,880 --> 00:31:36,640
Speaker 1: hundred twenty thousand plus, and as owner Michael Bidwill notes,

566
00:31:37,240 --> 00:31:41,480
Speaker 1: that might be the more accurate attendance figure. They're suites.

567
00:31:41,920 --> 00:31:44,120
Speaker 1: They didn't count the number of people that were up there,

568
00:31:44,160 --> 00:31:46,160
Speaker 1: so when you buy a suite, they didn't sell tickets.

569
00:31:46,200 --> 00:31:48,160
Speaker 1: It was just you can invite forty people up there

570
00:31:48,200 --> 00:31:50,520
Speaker 1: if you want it. So they had no idea how

571
00:31:50,600 --> 00:31:53,840
Speaker 1: many people were in those suites and the number. They

572
00:31:53,920 --> 00:31:57,040
Speaker 1: believe that's a low estimate of who is actually in

573
00:31:57,160 --> 00:31:59,120
Speaker 1: the stadium that day because they think there might have

574
00:31:59,160 --> 00:32:01,960
Speaker 1: been another fifteen or twenty thousand people in the suite,

575
00:32:02,040 --> 00:32:04,680
Speaker 1: so we're just not counting. What was interesting is that

576
00:32:04,960 --> 00:32:07,840
Speaker 1: reports had tickets sold going into the weekend at around

577
00:32:07,960 --> 00:32:11,760
Speaker 1: sixty five thousand, but there was a huge late surgeon

578
00:32:11,880 --> 00:32:15,200
Speaker 1: interest and a massive walk up. So by the time

579
00:32:15,240 --> 00:32:19,520
Speaker 1: we had game time, attendance was officially listed as a

580
00:32:19,640 --> 00:32:22,520
Speaker 1: new NFL record. We have one hundred three thousand, four

581
00:32:22,640 --> 00:32:27,440
Speaker 1: hundred and sixty seven on hand, an NFL regular season record. Wow,

582
00:32:28,920 --> 00:32:31,600
Speaker 1: how about that for a number. I wish everybody can

583
00:32:31,680 --> 00:32:35,000
Speaker 1: feel what one hundred thousand people feel like on the field.

584
00:32:35,520 --> 00:32:37,720
Speaker 1: Like you're on the field in one hundred thousand people

585
00:32:37,720 --> 00:32:40,840
Speaker 1: are watching you. It's just different. Man. That's former Cardinals

586
00:32:40,880 --> 00:32:45,200
Speaker 1: safety Robert Griffith. All the players knew the fans we're

587
00:32:45,240 --> 00:32:48,640
Speaker 1: going to be a factor. El Grande, former Pro Bowl

588
00:32:48,680 --> 00:32:51,920
Speaker 1: pass rusher bertran Berry. It really was a different energy

589
00:32:52,000 --> 00:32:55,000
Speaker 1: where the fans were going nuts the entire time, whether

590
00:32:55,080 --> 00:32:57,640
Speaker 1: something good happened for us or something bad happened for us.

591
00:32:58,400 --> 00:33:01,239
Speaker 1: I just remember the crowd yelling no matter what, they

592
00:33:01,320 --> 00:33:03,640
Speaker 1: just wanted to see us go out there and play.

593
00:33:03,920 --> 00:33:07,480
Speaker 1: I just remember being allowed the entire game in a

594
00:33:07,560 --> 00:33:10,440
Speaker 1: good way, that people were so excited that there was

595
00:33:10,480 --> 00:33:13,840
Speaker 1: an NFL game going on. In a general sense, they

596
00:33:13,880 --> 00:33:17,360
Speaker 1: were just rooting for something big to happen. Every play.

597
00:33:18,200 --> 00:33:20,240
Speaker 1: It felt like a big party. It felt like a

598
00:33:20,280 --> 00:33:24,240
Speaker 1: big party, the people that were just hungry to be

599
00:33:24,400 --> 00:33:28,160
Speaker 1: a part of that first regular season game outside of

600
00:33:28,160 --> 00:33:31,560
Speaker 1: the US, and that's where the game planning went beyond

601
00:33:31,640 --> 00:33:34,960
Speaker 1: the field and into the stands. Who could capture the

602
00:33:35,200 --> 00:33:38,560
Speaker 1: fans and that became a game of who could capture

603
00:33:38,880 --> 00:33:41,320
Speaker 1: the flag? Going through my mind, I was just more

604
00:33:42,000 --> 00:33:43,960
Speaker 1: who are the Mexican people going to cheer for? And

605
00:33:44,080 --> 00:33:47,800
Speaker 1: the Cardinals needed that twelve man because remember they got

606
00:33:47,840 --> 00:33:51,160
Speaker 1: down two touchdowns a two niner fumble returns early before

607
00:33:51,200 --> 00:33:54,480
Speaker 1: they would stormed back and scored thirty one unanswered. But

608
00:33:54,640 --> 00:33:56,760
Speaker 1: this was a win for the Cardinals that went way

609
00:33:56,840 --> 00:34:00,400
Speaker 1: beyond the scoreboard or the standings, and we'll explain how

610
00:34:00,880 --> 00:34:03,200
Speaker 1: and the why next as we roll on with our

611
00:34:03,240 --> 00:34:06,600
Speaker 1: special Cardinals folk Tales edition of The Big Red Rage

612
00:34:06,640 --> 00:34:12,240
Speaker 1: presented by santan Ford in Gilbert and welcome back everyone

613
00:34:12,280 --> 00:34:15,520
Speaker 1: into this very special edition of The Big Red Rage

614
00:34:15,560 --> 00:34:19,120
Speaker 1: presented by santan Ford and Gilbert. We are santan Ford

615
00:34:19,160 --> 00:34:23,760
Speaker 1: on Paul CALVC as we revisit our Cardinals Folktale series.

616
00:34:23,800 --> 00:34:27,520
Speaker 1: We're talking all time anecdotes in Cardinals history and this

617
00:34:27,719 --> 00:34:31,399
Speaker 1: was unlike any road trip in NFL history. First off,

618
00:34:31,800 --> 00:34:35,160
Speaker 1: it was the first regular season game NFL game outside

619
00:34:35,200 --> 00:34:37,839
Speaker 1: the United States ever, and second it was in front

620
00:34:37,840 --> 00:34:40,240
Speaker 1: of an NFL record crowd of more than one hundred

621
00:34:40,280 --> 00:34:43,400
Speaker 1: three thousand fans. We're talking about the Cardinals and Niners

622
00:34:43,680 --> 00:34:46,279
Speaker 1: in Mexico City two thousand and five, and to hear

623
00:34:46,360 --> 00:34:50,680
Speaker 1: the players tell it, that crowd factor was a deciding factor.

624
00:34:50,920 --> 00:34:53,720
Speaker 1: And that's where we picked things up here with former

625
00:34:53,800 --> 00:34:58,320
Speaker 1: Cardinals safety Robert Griffith on Cardinals folk Tales one time

626
00:34:58,640 --> 00:35:05,280
Speaker 1: in Mexico again. Who would turn over one hundred thousand

627
00:35:05,400 --> 00:35:09,120
Speaker 1: fans into their twelfth man? That was the question, and

628
00:35:09,239 --> 00:35:12,840
Speaker 1: the Cardinals had an answer. Start the game by playing

629
00:35:13,280 --> 00:35:16,200
Speaker 1: flag football, if you will. I had a dream that

630
00:35:17,200 --> 00:35:20,239
Speaker 1: I had a flag and there was a flag. Then

631
00:35:20,320 --> 00:35:23,680
Speaker 1: I kept seeing this Mexican flag in my dream. I

632
00:35:23,760 --> 00:35:26,000
Speaker 1: just spoke to me, you know, I just felt like

633
00:35:26,080 --> 00:35:28,600
Speaker 1: it was just something that just felt real to do,

634
00:35:29,000 --> 00:35:33,239
Speaker 1: just felt appropriate. That's Robert's idea and it was brought

635
00:35:33,320 --> 00:35:36,320
Speaker 1: to me and I searched out my contact at the

636
00:35:36,360 --> 00:35:37,959
Speaker 1: stadiums to see if we can even get a flag.

637
00:35:38,200 --> 00:35:41,680
Speaker 1: That's Anthony Edwards, former director of Player Programs, to do

638
00:35:41,880 --> 00:35:44,720
Speaker 1: everything man for the Cardinals and a former Cardinals receiver.

639
00:35:45,160 --> 00:35:48,080
Speaker 1: At this point, the teams were already into their pregame

640
00:35:48,200 --> 00:35:52,240
Speaker 1: war months. The game hadn't started, but the clock was ticking.

641
00:35:52,440 --> 00:35:54,279
Speaker 1: Robert's like, hey, we need to get a flag. We

642
00:35:54,320 --> 00:35:56,200
Speaker 1: need a flag. I need to get the Mexico flag

643
00:35:56,200 --> 00:35:58,640
Speaker 1: because I thought he when he first a flag, I'm like,

644
00:35:59,040 --> 00:36:01,640
Speaker 1: U say no, no, no, no, Mexican flag, you know,

645
00:36:01,840 --> 00:36:03,000
Speaker 1: And I said, hold on, let me see what I

646
00:36:03,040 --> 00:36:04,840
Speaker 1: could do. So here I am russling to try to

647
00:36:04,880 --> 00:36:07,560
Speaker 1: get my contact, say we can locate a flag somewhere

648
00:36:07,600 --> 00:36:11,719
Speaker 1: close for him to run out with. So and it

649
00:36:11,840 --> 00:36:13,640
Speaker 1: just happened we'd be able to get the flag. It

650
00:36:13,800 --> 00:36:17,080
Speaker 1: was there. Yeah, let's just say the Cardinals clock management

651
00:36:17,400 --> 00:36:20,759
Speaker 1: traveled that day internationally. Don't you love it when a

652
00:36:21,040 --> 00:36:24,600
Speaker 1: plan comes together. When we were in that tunnel right

653
00:36:24,680 --> 00:36:28,000
Speaker 1: before we went out to the game, and he unrolls

654
00:36:28,160 --> 00:36:32,000
Speaker 1: this flag and it was on like a broomstick handle

655
00:36:32,560 --> 00:36:35,680
Speaker 1: and literally gave it to me maybe ten seconds before

656
00:36:35,719 --> 00:36:37,440
Speaker 1: I ran out. Once I knew Robert was going to

657
00:36:37,480 --> 00:36:40,640
Speaker 1: grab that flag, we just kind of nodded heads, shook

658
00:36:40,680 --> 00:36:43,680
Speaker 1: hands and said go go Bro, because there's gonna be big.

659
00:36:43,920 --> 00:36:47,760
Speaker 1: What a great scene. Robert Griffith with the Mexican national

660
00:36:47,880 --> 00:36:50,440
Speaker 1: flag waving it and racing out of the field. That

661
00:36:50,600 --> 00:36:54,120
Speaker 1: was awesome. Robert bursting out of that tunnel with that flag.

662
00:36:54,560 --> 00:36:57,560
Speaker 1: I think it just ignited the whole place up. It

663
00:36:57,719 --> 00:36:59,840
Speaker 1: was a brandan move. To be honest with you, I

664
00:37:00,080 --> 00:37:04,440
Speaker 1: think the fans saw this as the first impression of

665
00:37:04,560 --> 00:37:07,000
Speaker 1: the Arizona Cardinals. All of a sudden, Robert Griffin, it

666
00:37:07,080 --> 00:37:10,320
Speaker 1: comes right out of that hat waiving the Mexican flag.

667
00:37:10,520 --> 00:37:14,000
Speaker 1: That really was a great torture of the crowd. Was crazy.

668
00:37:14,360 --> 00:37:16,960
Speaker 1: It was loud. It was so loud at place was

669
00:37:17,040 --> 00:37:20,920
Speaker 1: unbelievably loud. I go out with the flag and I

670
00:37:21,080 --> 00:37:23,960
Speaker 1: just felt ten feet tall, man, Like, I felt like

671
00:37:24,320 --> 00:37:29,840
Speaker 1: every step I was taking was just magnetized. Once he

672
00:37:30,040 --> 00:37:34,000
Speaker 1: ran out, that was kind of like, you know what, Mexico,

673
00:37:34,120 --> 00:37:38,200
Speaker 1: the Cardinals are here, and for me, it was like, Okay,

674
00:37:38,280 --> 00:37:41,840
Speaker 1: this is gonna work out tremendously because of the pride

675
00:37:42,320 --> 00:37:45,000
Speaker 1: the fans in Mexico take once they see their their

676
00:37:45,040 --> 00:37:48,759
Speaker 1: countries colors, right, and especially the flag. Quite honestly, after

677
00:37:48,840 --> 00:37:51,760
Speaker 1: the flag, you know, I can honestly say they wanted

678
00:37:51,840 --> 00:37:54,640
Speaker 1: us to win, maybe, but that's not the way The

679
00:37:54,800 --> 00:37:59,279
Speaker 1: game started with the Niners defense scoring two quick touchdowns

680
00:37:59,520 --> 00:38:02,200
Speaker 1: at turning too hands for ship running right baba the ball.

681
00:38:02,280 --> 00:38:04,160
Speaker 1: So there's in the twenty and it's picked up by

682
00:38:04,200 --> 00:38:07,280
Speaker 1: the forty nine ers Derrek Johnson running near sideboarding fifty

683
00:38:07,480 --> 00:38:10,360
Speaker 1: bik taste by mccount Josh won't get him thirty twenty

684
00:38:10,520 --> 00:38:14,200
Speaker 1: ten five touchdown San Francisco. If you do recall they

685
00:38:14,280 --> 00:38:16,600
Speaker 1: jumped out on US fourteen to nothing before we ever

686
00:38:16,680 --> 00:38:19,720
Speaker 1: took the field. It was they had two turnovers and scored.

687
00:38:20,120 --> 00:38:22,440
Speaker 1: We were what's going on here? I mean, how did

688
00:38:22,480 --> 00:38:24,440
Speaker 1: we get the fourteen to nothing? And that's where the

689
00:38:24,520 --> 00:38:28,560
Speaker 1: Cards started their comeback, led by second year receiver Larry

690
00:38:28,600 --> 00:38:33,160
Speaker 1: Fitzgerald doing signature Larry things. Right before the half third

691
00:38:33,200 --> 00:38:35,040
Speaker 1: and one of the seventeen the count back to throw

692
00:38:35,120 --> 00:38:37,440
Speaker 1: Agin a lot into the end zone far side. Fitzgerald

693
00:38:37,440 --> 00:38:42,280
Speaker 1: goes up to do for Larry Fitzgerald for the second

694
00:38:42,320 --> 00:38:45,760
Speaker 1: of the year day fashion, injecting a little local flavor

695
00:38:45,840 --> 00:38:48,279
Speaker 1: into the call. Fourteen twelve nineers of the half, but

696
00:38:48,520 --> 00:38:52,640
Speaker 1: second half toto rojo all read as the tide turned

697
00:38:52,640 --> 00:38:55,719
Speaker 1: on the scoreboard and in the stands, I felt like

698
00:38:55,840 --> 00:38:58,560
Speaker 1: as we started to take control of the game. We

699
00:38:58,920 --> 00:39:01,920
Speaker 1: won the crowd over eventually, and eventually the Cardinals won

700
00:39:02,200 --> 00:39:05,200
Speaker 1: the game. In fact, it wasn't that close, as the

701
00:39:05,280 --> 00:39:09,040
Speaker 1: Niners never scored again, the Cardinals defense pitching a shutout,

702
00:39:09,239 --> 00:39:12,880
Speaker 1: feeding off one hundred thousand plus fans. As we reported

703
00:39:13,160 --> 00:39:15,000
Speaker 1: from the sideline, you know a lot of people in

704
00:39:15,040 --> 00:39:16,960
Speaker 1: a lot of talk that the Cardinals gave up home

705
00:39:17,000 --> 00:39:19,440
Speaker 1: field advantage to come down here to Mexico City. But

706
00:39:19,640 --> 00:39:21,680
Speaker 1: the fans on this end of the stadium as loud

707
00:39:21,719 --> 00:39:24,879
Speaker 1: as we have heard them. The fans also love cardskicker

708
00:39:25,280 --> 00:39:29,600
Speaker 1: Neil Rackers first, because Mexico is a soccer crazy nation

709
00:39:29,800 --> 00:39:34,080
Speaker 1: and they love anyone. It puts the foot into football Americano.

710
00:39:34,320 --> 00:39:36,640
Speaker 1: Forty three yard attempt for Neil Rackers, who's four for

711
00:39:36,719 --> 00:39:41,200
Speaker 1: four tonight. The snap the spot, Rackers kick is up.

712
00:39:41,280 --> 00:39:44,879
Speaker 1: It's got the leg and it is good. Neil's all

713
00:39:45,000 --> 00:39:47,520
Speaker 1: fired up right now. The camera went down onto him

714
00:39:47,520 --> 00:39:50,600
Speaker 1: and it looked like you said, oh yeah, I'm the game.

715
00:39:50,680 --> 00:39:53,719
Speaker 1: Rackers had a career high six field goals. Now that's

716
00:39:53,760 --> 00:39:57,839
Speaker 1: the season where remember Rackers hit forty two fuel goals

717
00:39:57,920 --> 00:40:01,239
Speaker 1: in an All Pro campaign. The is Rackers might have

718
00:40:01,320 --> 00:40:04,480
Speaker 1: traded all that brish shot at a seventy yard fuel goal,

719
00:40:04,520 --> 00:40:08,680
Speaker 1: which he wanted and definitely thought was doable in Mexico City,

720
00:40:08,760 --> 00:40:12,120
Speaker 1: where the ball flies, because remember it's two thousand feet

721
00:40:12,200 --> 00:40:16,280
Speaker 1: higher than Denver, over seventy seven hundred feet in elevation.

722
00:40:16,600 --> 00:40:18,920
Speaker 1: These guys are gassed on the Cardinal sideline. It's so

723
00:40:19,040 --> 00:40:22,319
Speaker 1: bad that the mascot Big Red, who by the way,

724
00:40:22,440 --> 00:40:26,160
Speaker 1: is going with the nickname on his back tonight Rojo. Okay,

725
00:40:26,320 --> 00:40:27,840
Speaker 1: he came up to me at halftime and said he

726
00:40:28,120 --> 00:40:30,560
Speaker 1: was wiped out physically from the elevation. Okay, it's hitting

727
00:40:30,640 --> 00:40:34,320
Speaker 1: everybody out here. Final score thirty one fourteen as the

728
00:40:34,400 --> 00:40:37,800
Speaker 1: Cardinals savored the win and soaked in the scene. The

729
00:40:37,960 --> 00:40:42,440
Speaker 1: Cardinals win in the first ever NFL regular season game

730
00:40:42,480 --> 00:40:45,120
Speaker 1: in Mexico City, beating with San Francisco forty nine ers.

731
00:40:45,400 --> 00:40:48,120
Speaker 1: But before the Cardinals would leave the field, the players

732
00:40:48,440 --> 00:40:52,839
Speaker 1: would wave goodbye some by waving the flag, this time

733
00:40:53,040 --> 00:40:56,560
Speaker 1: in the hands of Bertrand Berry and Rolando Canto. Somebody

734
00:40:56,640 --> 00:40:59,560
Speaker 1: on a sideline had it and being one in the

735
00:40:59,640 --> 00:41:02,759
Speaker 1: captain at the time, in knowing that we were going

736
00:41:02,800 --> 00:41:04,680
Speaker 1: to win the game, you get afforded some liberties, and

737
00:41:04,760 --> 00:41:07,920
Speaker 1: so they gave me the freedom to go and take

738
00:41:07,960 --> 00:41:11,720
Speaker 1: the flag. And I know a Griff at the beginning

739
00:41:11,719 --> 00:41:15,120
Speaker 1: of the game had ran out with it, and so

740
00:41:16,080 --> 00:41:17,800
Speaker 1: I kind of wanted to have my crack at it.

741
00:41:18,080 --> 00:41:19,799
Speaker 1: I would have loved to run out, but Griff beat

742
00:41:19,840 --> 00:41:21,680
Speaker 1: me to it. B Train gives me the flag and

743
00:41:22,280 --> 00:41:23,920
Speaker 1: I take it over and then I have to do

744
00:41:24,040 --> 00:41:27,880
Speaker 1: a bunch of media interviews right after the game on

745
00:41:28,000 --> 00:41:31,840
Speaker 1: the sideline, which was very really cool, and so I

746
00:41:32,000 --> 00:41:36,040
Speaker 1: have the flag on my shoulder right and obviously, you know,

747
00:41:36,280 --> 00:41:39,280
Speaker 1: in between interviews, I would waive the flag like Robert,

748
00:41:39,400 --> 00:41:42,160
Speaker 1: like B Train, and they got the same reaction, right,

749
00:41:42,239 --> 00:41:44,160
Speaker 1: So it was it was a special moment. I think

750
00:41:44,640 --> 00:41:47,360
Speaker 1: I will always remember that. On the far side, Bertrand

751
00:41:47,400 --> 00:41:50,560
Speaker 1: Berry has handed off the Mexican flag and Robando Kent too,

752
00:41:50,719 --> 00:41:55,880
Speaker 1: a native of Monterey, Mexico. I think that day everybody

753
00:41:56,080 --> 00:41:58,040
Speaker 1: felt a part of the Ariazon, the Cardinals because of

754
00:41:58,120 --> 00:42:01,000
Speaker 1: the flag. By the way, to this day, no one

755
00:42:01,400 --> 00:42:04,560
Speaker 1: knows where the flag went. It was in the Cardinals

756
00:42:04,680 --> 00:42:09,080
Speaker 1: locker room and vanished, never seen again. So although the

757
00:42:09,160 --> 00:42:12,560
Speaker 1: Cardinals didn't bring back the flag, they definitely brought back

758
00:42:12,800 --> 00:42:16,719
Speaker 1: a buzz. It was palpable around town and in the

759
00:42:16,800 --> 00:42:18,920
Speaker 1: locker room. What were your thoughts on playing in Mexico?

760
00:42:19,239 --> 00:42:21,200
Speaker 1: It was great. It's the greatest parents to get outside

761
00:42:21,239 --> 00:42:30,400
Speaker 1: the world and this world. You know how we do this?

762
00:42:30,640 --> 00:42:34,279
Speaker 1: Dude said, he played outside the world. Outside of the

763
00:42:34,320 --> 00:42:37,560
Speaker 1: world is big. D See, it was a big buzz, right,

764
00:42:37,640 --> 00:42:40,640
Speaker 1: But that was then an quon Bolden with Robert Tad

765
00:42:40,680 --> 00:42:43,640
Speaker 1: and his weekly TV segment coming off Mexico City. This

766
00:42:44,640 --> 00:42:47,920
Speaker 1: is now Robert Griffin to this day on how he

767
00:42:48,080 --> 00:42:52,120
Speaker 1: brought home much more than just a victory. This has

768
00:42:52,320 --> 00:42:55,279
Speaker 1: nothing to do with football. This is the way the

769
00:42:55,520 --> 00:43:00,680
Speaker 1: Mexican fans made me feel. And I never had an

770
00:43:00,719 --> 00:43:02,680
Speaker 1: experience like that in my life. And I like when

771
00:43:02,680 --> 00:43:05,080
Speaker 1: I say they were screaming at me and I felt

772
00:43:05,120 --> 00:43:07,520
Speaker 1: like I can levitate off the ground. I'm telling the truth.

773
00:43:07,680 --> 00:43:11,680
Speaker 1: And it wasn't just Cardinals players who had their passport stamp.

774
00:43:12,320 --> 00:43:15,680
Speaker 1: You could say that for the entire NFL to know

775
00:43:15,920 --> 00:43:20,560
Speaker 1: that the sport took a big step forward outside of

776
00:43:20,719 --> 00:43:23,640
Speaker 1: the US and we were part of that. I take

777
00:43:23,680 --> 00:43:25,600
Speaker 1: great pride in that I love this game. I love

778
00:43:25,680 --> 00:43:28,880
Speaker 1: what the game did for me. I love the competition

779
00:43:29,000 --> 00:43:31,200
Speaker 1: aspect of it. I love the brutality of it. I

780
00:43:31,280 --> 00:43:34,200
Speaker 1: love everything about football. And to be able to grow

781
00:43:34,320 --> 00:43:37,000
Speaker 1: the sport in that way, to take it somewhere, even

782
00:43:37,040 --> 00:43:39,400
Speaker 1: though they had had preseason games there before, but to

783
00:43:39,520 --> 00:43:42,120
Speaker 1: have one that actually counted and got the attention that

784
00:43:42,200 --> 00:43:44,799
Speaker 1: it got, I was very proud of it. And Josh

785
00:43:44,880 --> 00:43:47,800
Speaker 1: mccount takes the football and runs off with it and

786
00:43:48,480 --> 00:43:51,800
Speaker 1: he gives it to Michael Fidwell over on the far side,

787
00:43:51,960 --> 00:43:55,279
Speaker 1: and that's a very classy move by Josh McCown. We

788
00:43:55,400 --> 00:43:59,040
Speaker 1: try to be trailblazers and we want to be at

789
00:43:59,120 --> 00:44:01,759
Speaker 1: the front of you know, what can we be doing

790
00:44:01,880 --> 00:44:04,319
Speaker 1: that will not only set us apart, but we think

791
00:44:04,480 --> 00:44:07,520
Speaker 1: is really good for the game and good for fans,

792
00:44:07,760 --> 00:44:10,560
Speaker 1: and fans would be interested in And sure enough, the

793
00:44:10,719 --> 00:44:14,400
Speaker 1: first NFL regular season game played outside the United Stage,

794
00:44:14,520 --> 00:44:17,400
Speaker 1: which set a record for the largest crowd ever to

795
00:44:17,520 --> 00:44:21,880
Speaker 1: attend an NFL regular season game, was an international venture

796
00:44:22,160 --> 00:44:26,000
Speaker 1: that has now turned into an annual affair. Were cemented

797
00:44:26,200 --> 00:44:30,239
Speaker 1: in history an American football history in Mexico because of

798
00:44:30,360 --> 00:44:35,080
Speaker 1: that game, and that's one time in Mexico for producer

799
00:44:35,160 --> 00:44:38,160
Speaker 1: Jim Almahndro I'm Paul CALVC. We hope you enjoyed this

800
00:44:38,520 --> 00:44:43,200
Speaker 1: edition of Cardinals Folk Tales presented by seventy two Soul.

801
00:44:51,000 --> 00:44:53,680
Speaker 1: And I'll tell you what, I cannot wait for the

802
00:44:54,040 --> 00:44:56,960
Speaker 1: encore this year. It's gonna be Week eleven. That's right

803
00:44:57,040 --> 00:45:01,360
Speaker 1: in your Cardinal schedule November twenty first card and Niners

804
00:45:01,600 --> 00:45:06,160
Speaker 1: in Mexico City in prime time and Estadio as Tacca

805
00:45:06,280 --> 00:45:09,560
Speaker 1: and it will be a key NFC West game as well.

806
00:45:09,760 --> 00:45:14,000
Speaker 1: Special thanks to producer Jim Almhandro Lauren Coble. I'm Paul KELBC.

807
00:45:14,280 --> 00:45:16,880
Speaker 1: This has been the Big Red Rage presented by santan

808
00:45:17,040 --> 00:45:25,360
Speaker 1: Ford in Gilbert. Number one kil You've been listening to

809
00:45:25,520 --> 00:45:30,520
Speaker 1: the Big Red Rage presented by Santanford in Gilbert? Are you?

810
00:45:30,840 --> 00:45:35,160
Speaker 1: Santanford State Farm talked to an agent today at eight

811
00:45:35,280 --> 00:45:40,520
Speaker 1: hundred State Farm and by Arizona Cardinals Podcasts. Visit acy

812
00:45:40,600 --> 00:45:44,840
Speaker 1: Cardinals dot com Slash Podcasts. This has been an exclusive

813
00:45:44,880 --> 00:45:47,759
Speaker 1: presentation of the Arizona Cardinals Football Club.