Speaker 1: Welcome to All the Smoke, a production of The Black
Speaker 1: Effect and our Heart Radio and partnership with Showtime. Welcome
Speaker 1: back to another edition of All the Smoke Stack. What's good, Baby,
Speaker 1: Man's good? My brother. We ain't done one of these
Speaker 1: remotes in a minute, and I wish this one in
Speaker 1: particular wasn't the motherfucking remote. I wish we had this
Speaker 1: dude sitting right next to us because I just want
Speaker 1: to tell a little story real quick. So, and we
Speaker 1: were getting set up before the show and I'll I
Speaker 1: hear his cam's voice. I can't see him on the
Speaker 1: thing yet, and one of our behind the scenes guys
Speaker 1: just trying to get him set up, and he said,
Speaker 1: you know, Cam, do you have any headphones you can
Speaker 1: put on? He said, yeah, but it's sucking up my
Speaker 1: fun sway. And then as soon as he said that,
Speaker 1: he comes on the screen and I see how flying
Speaker 1: is like this nigg is crazy. Let's get it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So man, welcome to the show, Cam Newton Man. We
Speaker 1: appreciate your time, bro. My brother Man was good with
Speaker 1: the fellas you look. Go ahead. It's a long time coming, man.
Speaker 1: I've been on with y'all this so you know, I'm
Speaker 1: an open book. You look clean, boy, I'm gonna tell
Speaker 1: you that much. You know, like I told like I
Speaker 1: told stack In in a in a warm up. Man,
Speaker 1: it's just an open court lay up day. Man. It's
Speaker 1: easy to get it. Let's get it. I mean, I
Speaker 1: really don't get We've been blessed to have some of
Speaker 1: the biggest and the best. I don't really get excited
Speaker 1: for interviews, but I was excited for this one because
Speaker 1: I kind of feel like I'm a football head and
Speaker 1: fan first, and just watching your progression over your career
Speaker 1: and who you are as a person and who you're
Speaker 1: portrayed as in the media. I just like, we gotta
Speaker 1: have this conversation because there's such a misconception of who
Speaker 1: I feel I don't even personally really know you. We
Speaker 1: didn't run across each other a couple of times, y'all.
Speaker 1: You know Jack well, But I just feel like there's
Speaker 1: a misconception of Cam Newton the man, the father, the person,
Speaker 1: even the athlete in my opinion. So we're definitely gonna
Speaker 1: get down to that today. I say, less man, I'm
Speaker 1: I'm honored to even you know what I'm saying. Being
Speaker 1: you guys, presence. Y'all real, O GS, you feel me
Speaker 1: and I owed hes because of what y'all, what y'all
Speaker 1: did on the court, but more so O G s
Speaker 1: that y'all can go anywhere and be good and coming
Speaker 1: from where we come from, bro, That's that's really the
Speaker 1: biggest thing. It ain't about setting records on you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying in your field. It's about setting records
Speaker 1: for the lives that you impact. And that's how I've
Speaker 1: been from day one. And it ain't for everybody to know,
Speaker 1: you know, but if you know, you know right well
Speaker 1: can with the world. The last man year and a
Speaker 1: half going on two years now has been up and down.
Speaker 1: We've had the George Floyd situation, we had the police brutality,
Speaker 1: we had the pandemic. We played a little bit of
Speaker 1: sports in between. Where's Cam Newton at right now? First
Speaker 1: and foremost which is most important mentally? But then how
Speaker 1: also how is your body? Man? I think the my
Speaker 1: mood for the rest of the year, and it should
Speaker 1: be for the rest of my life, is protecting my
Speaker 1: peace at all costs. Talked to him and you know,
Speaker 1: being a father first, you know, being faith based, being
Speaker 1: a business owner, and before all that, well not before
Speaker 1: all that right there in the middle, you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying, at high priority, trying to be the best
Speaker 1: football player that I could possibly be. It's a lot
Speaker 1: of mental strain. And I'll be the first person to
Speaker 1: tell you going to the psychiatric person having a person
Speaker 1: to talk to wasn't In all cases are outlets, you know,
Speaker 1: as a black man, you just had to deal with it.
Speaker 1: So me having my own sees now and they come
Speaker 1: in of age, seeing how they're you know, progressively coming
Speaker 1: into their own type of distinct personalities. It forces you
Speaker 1: to just kind of sit back and and and and
Speaker 1: really put things into perspective. And uh man, I think now,
Speaker 1: you know, at third or two years old, you know,
Speaker 1: like you know, you never get to a point where
Speaker 1: you just figure out life. But knowing the journey that
Speaker 1: I'm on is just being at peace, knowing that all
Speaker 1: you can do is all you can do, and all
Speaker 1: you can do is enough. You said something right there, Um,
Speaker 1: I felt like a thirty one. As you said, you
Speaker 1: never really figure out life, but you feel like you're
Speaker 1: starting to get a better understanding. I felt like a
Speaker 1: thirty one at that time. I was I had been through,
Speaker 1: you know, played well, been through some trouble off the core,
Speaker 1: going through a real public uh split up, and then
Speaker 1: it led to divorce. But I really felt like a
Speaker 1: thirty one is when my wheels started turning. And you know,
Speaker 1: how's an athlete, how the game starts to slow down.
Speaker 1: I felt like life started to slow down, and I've
Speaker 1: seen ship coming, so I can start dodging that ship
Speaker 1: a little quicker at thirty one is. It's kind of
Speaker 1: when I felt that. So I love to hear you
Speaker 1: know that's how you're you're getting to it now because
Speaker 1: some other fucker's never get it or they get it
Speaker 1: a little too late, and it's gone. So oh yeah,
Speaker 1: without a doubt. See. See the thing is for me too.
Speaker 1: I always had an older brother, so I always moved
Speaker 1: at a higher frequency than than my age was. See,
Speaker 1: and that's why I'm enjoying this conversation. And we ain't
Speaker 1: but three or four minutes in. But y'all, old cats,
Speaker 1: y'all don't seeing the game. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: Even when I was chopping it up with with with
Speaker 1: stat prior to you know, years and years and years ago,
Speaker 1: when he was with the Bobcats. I would enjoy. I
Speaker 1: would enjoy those type of talks because you know, whether
Speaker 1: he knew it or not, he was putting me up
Speaker 1: on games, showing me how to move. You know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. Everything ain't fosed to be for Instagram and
Speaker 1: Twitter and things like that. You know what's better. What's
Speaker 1: what's better to show it and not really have it,
Speaker 1: or to do it and not really show people. So
Speaker 1: that's that's, that's that's our rock and roll. Speaking to Charlotte.
Speaker 1: Let me let me say speaking of Charlotte, man, this
Speaker 1: this is just when I fell in love and I
Speaker 1: knew he was my brother Matt. You know when he
Speaker 1: came in, you know, it was nothing bigger than him
Speaker 1: and me. When I was just starting to wrap, he
Speaker 1: pulled up to my album, at least part of Matt.
Speaker 1: It was on about ten people up for Cam Newton
Speaker 1: was in the building and he was he was right.
Speaker 1: But just the fact that he showed up, that's that's
Speaker 1: that's that's that's when I knew he was one of us,
Speaker 1: bro because it was it wasn't it wasn't what he
Speaker 1: was doing, it was who he was. That that I
Speaker 1: fell in love with man, and I always have respect
Speaker 1: for him, and that's I always wrote for him since
Speaker 1: that day, bro, because that man a lot. To see him,
Speaker 1: to see him pull up on me and support me
Speaker 1: at that time, and that's what's up. It means a lot.
Speaker 1: You know, you can realize that. You know what I
Speaker 1: mean is it's the little things. And I mean, since
Speaker 1: we're telling stories, I first ran across him at the
Speaker 1: Kid's Choice Awards and you know, the twins love football too,
Speaker 1: and they've seen Kim and Kim was getting harassed and
Speaker 1: all this ship this isn't that And with Grabman, he
Speaker 1: was one foot already in the car. Yeah, you remember,
Speaker 1: I was like, Kim, let me get a picture of
Speaker 1: my boys. And he turned around and look he's like,
Speaker 1: oh man, anything for y'all and came and the absolutely
Speaker 1: they couldn't stop talking about this motherfucker for like three days.
Speaker 1: Let me took a picture with Kim new you know what,
Speaker 1: that ship just tickled him. And like I said, it's
Speaker 1: the little things that go a long way. And that's
Speaker 1: why I said to beginning, like that's kind of we
Speaker 1: haven't really ran across each other outside of that, but
Speaker 1: that's why, just because like that little ship right there,
Speaker 1: being a you know how much that means to your
Speaker 1: kids to make you need to make them happy. I
Speaker 1: was just like, yeah, I'm excited about this. Or when
Speaker 1: they locked you and I'm like, yo, we've been trying
Speaker 1: to get this nigga for a long time, so let
Speaker 1: me let me go and sit let me go on and
Speaker 1: and tell my story. Right, So you know this, this
Speaker 1: always stat right, That's always sat right. So when I
Speaker 1: first moved it, when I first got to Charlotte, we
Speaker 1: was on the lockout right, And this was when the
Speaker 1: league was kind of flipped upside down, you know, NFL
Speaker 1: p a, NFL gate, going back and forth. We don't
Speaker 1: know if we're gonna have a season, so I had
Speaker 1: a lot of downtime. I remember moving to Charlotte like
Speaker 1: on a humbug because I had already had money from endorsements,
Speaker 1: so I could, you know, get my I wasn't waiting
Speaker 1: on the NFL check when I was in Charlotte for
Speaker 1: that time, and I had round on how I ran
Speaker 1: into stat but we got into each other's information and
Speaker 1: he invited me to the crib. You know what I'm
Speaker 1: saying me, I travel light, you feel me it's probably
Speaker 1: me and a plus one at most. And you know,
Speaker 1: I always kinda I don't know who I who I've been,
Speaker 1: but I've always been comfortable in environments that that's cultured.
Speaker 1: You feel me when I walk in man fought man, dude,
Speaker 1: got you know, chef. They're just just the family ambiance
Speaker 1: of like a cookout field. You did, and I remember,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, walking in and everybody was
Speaker 1: just you know, playing cars, doing all the little bit too,
Speaker 1: and just having an open conversation. And he was just
Speaker 1: dropping jams. Then bro, like boom, man, do this and
Speaker 1: do that, do that? Do this? When I've been in
Speaker 1: Charlotte X y Z years and then boom and then
Speaker 1: all I adn't even know he would had a spot
Speaker 1: in Atlanta. So when we got to Atlanta. When I
Speaker 1: got to Atlanta, I pulled up on him. Then you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. And then but he didn't know
Speaker 1: I was just I was I was really peeping him
Speaker 1: how he moves. You know what I'm saying. Bro, he
Speaker 1: took care of so many people and he had everybody here.
Speaker 1: But the thing is this, it's a lot of dude
Speaker 1: was that you meet and he got a lot of
Speaker 1: yes men, and people got a lot of yes men
Speaker 1: around him. But even everybody around him knew what they
Speaker 1: were supposed to be doing. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: It didn't matter if it was if it was, it
Speaker 1: wasn't no rank, it wasn't a bro. I need my
Speaker 1: car washed, all right, Bro, I got that tomorrow, a
Speaker 1: bro manny gas in the car. Man, we're about to
Speaker 1: go out, man, then we're gonna take care of that.
Speaker 1: It was just folks, just I was like, man, I
Speaker 1: need that. I need that behind the scenes, you know,
Speaker 1: perfection to make own the scenes. You know, almost worked
Speaker 1: simultaneous and so man, man, real talk. So you know
Speaker 1: I was I've been on you know, Stacking and his
Speaker 1: whole crew, and it was just all love, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. And he never really you know, he
Speaker 1: did something or or made me come like hold on, bro,
Speaker 1: like you don't you don'ta do that? Man? Pull up
Speaker 1: to me at the club, pull up to me here,
Speaker 1: and pull up to me there. And they ain't too
Speaker 1: proud to say, Man, I'm seeing everything, you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. How he moved, how he you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying, When he a while you know, does he
Speaker 1: want to be seen things like that, and a lot
Speaker 1: of people they'd be so scared to even say that
Speaker 1: you're a fan or I'm a fan of you, or
Speaker 1: I'm learning from you, you know, because a lot of
Speaker 1: dudes come into this game and they don't know how
Speaker 1: to move. They get sloppy, you know, they don't got
Speaker 1: dudes to be like broke all right, wind down a
Speaker 1: little bit, bro. You you you you high right now?
Speaker 1: You drunk right now? You know you ain't driving? You
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying, Bro, your girl in here, bro
Speaker 1: like hey like the real ship that. You know, a
Speaker 1: lot of people, a lot of people exactly, a lot
Speaker 1: of people don't need they too. They too professional brand
Speaker 1: based to say, man, hold on dog like now you
Speaker 1: too live right now? Bro, man put some cologne on.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying, Like it's a lost art
Speaker 1: because you know, me and Jack talk up. When we
Speaker 1: came in the league, the league was old, so we
Speaker 1: had our O G s. You know what I mean,
Speaker 1: We all had O O G. You know, I have
Speaker 1: to see Webb. Jack had his O G. So there
Speaker 1: was always someone to help you, just like you said,
Speaker 1: move and understand the game and peepe game from but
Speaker 1: we almost feel like sports as a whole, but particularly
Speaker 1: basketball I'm not sure about, but I'm sure football too.
Speaker 1: It's a young man's game. The vets are still just
Speaker 1: popping out their twenties, you know what I mean. So
Speaker 1: it's just like you don't get that that over the
Speaker 1: shoulder big brother love you need anymore. And that's why
Speaker 1: you see a lot of ship, and even when you
Speaker 1: get it, you're still gonna sunk up like we did.
Speaker 1: But I'm just saying that get it'll help you. That's
Speaker 1: some of the other ship as well. Experience is the
Speaker 1: thing is though. These kids. But I want to say kids, man,
Speaker 1: these young cats, man, they come into the league and
Speaker 1: they get too prid for you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: They don't they don't need recognize, Bro, how many years
Speaker 1: this is for you? Eight fifteen, sixteen? Man? Bro, Let's
Speaker 1: do dinner. Bro, Hey man, let's let's They're so caught
Speaker 1: up into followers and bustdowns and you know things like
Speaker 1: that that I don't even matter, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: I would always tell a dude, I'm like, bro, if
Speaker 1: the ship get bigger than the rabbit, you gotta kill
Speaker 1: the rabbit. Don't care what it is. It could be
Speaker 1: a girl, it could be jury, it could be your
Speaker 1: side hustle, it could be family, it could be whatever.
Speaker 1: If that's if that ship get bigger than what you
Speaker 1: what you're here to do, and that's to win football games,
Speaker 1: win basketball games. Be down then when you're there, if
Speaker 1: you can't do both at one time, Bro, you gotta
Speaker 1: get rid of that distraction. You got to because you
Speaker 1: gotta understand what a is before you even get to
Speaker 1: be or see the son of Jackie and ccil Newton
Speaker 1: Senior Pops played a little bit in the NFL um
Speaker 1: brother playing the league. It's in your jeans. Talk to
Speaker 1: me about your upbringing and what your household was like
Speaker 1: as a child. So for me, man, I was I
Speaker 1: was raised the right way, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: I grew up in a three parents household, my mom,
Speaker 1: my dad, and my grandma. So the yes sirs and
Speaker 1: the no sirs and no man's and yes ma'am's. That
Speaker 1: was that still and still to me today. And uh
Speaker 1: grew up in the church, Pentecostal church, you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. So we was in church all day I'm
Speaker 1: a preacher son. So you know, I was kind of
Speaker 1: sheltered growing up. But all my friends came from battered households,
Speaker 1: single parent homes, you know what I'm saying. Section eight.
Speaker 1: And I gravitated to that, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: And it was it wasn't until I was in high
Speaker 1: school when it when it hit me that bro, you
Speaker 1: kind of like that chosen person because even though you know,
Speaker 1: like being in certain situations where it's like, bro, the
Speaker 1: average dude whet step into this type of party, this
Speaker 1: type of atmosphere. But I was thinking of myself. But
Speaker 1: I'm man, I'm with the I'm with the bros. Man,
Speaker 1: I'm with my potners, and I'm feeling I feel so safe,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. So you know that's how
Speaker 1: I kind of grew up like I would I wouldn't
Speaker 1: be the person to be like man. I grew up
Speaker 1: in the slum. Now now I grew up in a
Speaker 1: great household. Man. And as I as I took on
Speaker 1: on you know what what you may gain from the sport,
Speaker 1: That's when I started learning like about that other side,
Speaker 1: that the many different temptations that life has an offer.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying. So yeah, you know, as
Speaker 1: far as being a business owner, you know, my brother
Speaker 1: runs my cigar lounge in Atlanta. I'm all about enhancing,
Speaker 1: you know, my community in a positive way. I heard
Speaker 1: you guys you know got you know coaches, uh y'all
Speaker 1: Son's team and I gotta all start football seven or
Speaker 1: seven team. Man. That that's my way of giving back, um,
Speaker 1: you know. And and and really being a big brow
Speaker 1: to these fatherless kids, you know what I'm saying. And
Speaker 1: they don't. They don't necessarily they see respect as weakness
Speaker 1: rather than as as a power, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: So that's really that's really what I've been on, man,
Speaker 1: And and and trying to maximize the person cam rather
Speaker 1: than the professional cam. And that's that's really what it is.
Speaker 1: When did again with with with the lineage of it
Speaker 1: kind of being in your blood, When did football or
Speaker 1: sports as a whole, because I know you played everything
Speaker 1: growing up, When did you find that love for sports? Man?
Speaker 1: It was earlier. I started playing football at the age
Speaker 1: of seven, and I just remember my dad, you know,
Speaker 1: putting our our paths on. And you know, I wanted
Speaker 1: to be everything with my dad was and still to
Speaker 1: this day. My dad preached every single Sunday and the
Speaker 1: order that he that he that he walks into the room.
Speaker 1: You know, you just know he's somebody. You know, being
Speaker 1: at Alpha male, you feel me like being able to
Speaker 1: look a man in his eye and said, you know what,
Speaker 1: bro fucked up? Bro, matter of fact, I'm gonna give
Speaker 1: you my word. I'm gonna give you this x y
Speaker 1: z off. My word ain't ain't come from the from
Speaker 1: from from the background where you gotta man, shake on it, man,
Speaker 1: shake on it, shake on it. If you give a
Speaker 1: person your word, that's what it is. And that's if
Speaker 1: I say, I'm stand on it, stand on it. Hell
Speaker 1: of high water, Bro'll be able to say when you
Speaker 1: made a mistake. So that's what it is. Shout out
Speaker 1: o g cecil man. Uh who are you watching close
Speaker 1: to the NFL when he was growing up? Who? Man,
Speaker 1: I'm from Atlanta, so you already know Michael Vick. Hey,
Speaker 1: I knew the answer to that, like real talks like
Speaker 1: Michael Vick and still is you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: Like here a person that paved the way for so
Speaker 1: many others like me. You know, I can't forget about
Speaker 1: events young can't forget about Steve McNair, Donovan McNabb uh,
Speaker 1: Aaron Brooks, Dante. You know what I'm saying. So so
Speaker 1: all them folks is warm moon, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: All the folks really gave me an opportunity, you know,
Speaker 1: to be me. So now when I'm looking at the Lamars, now,
Speaker 1: when I'm looking at De Shaun's, now I'm looking at
Speaker 1: the Patrick Mahomes and the Russell Wilson's and you know
Speaker 1: that Kylin Murray's and and cats. That's really out here
Speaker 1: doing it. Man. It ain't no hate. There never be
Speaker 1: no hate. Man. It's just like man, the boys doing
Speaker 1: it and they're making me better because the game is
Speaker 1: a young man's game. But you still got attributes that
Speaker 1: you know. The father Tom can only teach you by
Speaker 1: going through certain situations. So there it is. I can
Speaker 1: said of Mike Vick as the AI novice of the NFL,
Speaker 1: that's how I look at him. Well, he I showed
Speaker 1: us about how we can be and how we and
Speaker 1: we don't have to change to be we all we
Speaker 1: all we gotta do is to take care of our
Speaker 1: business and we still can be accepted. You know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying, I think Mike Vick is the same as
Speaker 1: the NFL version of AI to me, describe, describe your
Speaker 1: describe your whop background though, because you know, we got
Speaker 1: to talk about this, you know, last every time we
Speaker 1: talked about basketball, you you know, claim your baby braun
Speaker 1: and all this stuff. Baby honest, baby honest. But you
Speaker 1: know what I mean. But now now, so the bunch
Speaker 1: to school and the Ana by way of west Lake
Speaker 1: and west Lake is a basketball school. Man, I probably
Speaker 1: can count on one hand. We probably lost with three
Speaker 1: games my whole high school career, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: And one of them, one of them games was it
Speaker 1: was a state championship. We went thirty two and o
Speaker 1: my junior year. That was my last complete season because
Speaker 1: I graduated early. My last complete season. Uh and uh
Speaker 1: we lost in the state championship. So we went thirty
Speaker 1: two on one that year and got don't got nothing
Speaker 1: to show for it but average your average, Come on, man,
Speaker 1: you know about six points, you know. But I made
Speaker 1: him look great though, But we didn't talk about stats though.
Speaker 1: You know, yes, I'm a competitor, bro. You know, we
Speaker 1: had it. We had a really legit team. You know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. So we got kids that was had
Speaker 1: a guy, uh six or eleven, he went to Maryland.
Speaker 1: Another kid another guy at six seven went to Georgia. Uh.
Speaker 1: And we just had slashers and then and then and
Speaker 1: then high school. If you gotta slash or some ball
Speaker 1: control guys that can get to the cup, man, that's
Speaker 1: what that's what. That's what we was doing. You know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. But I'm not going to be these
Speaker 1: dudes that be like bro average thirty two double double. Nah. Bro,
Speaker 1: I knew I was going to play football. Bro, you know,
Speaker 1: I mean it is what it is like, y'all can
Speaker 1: have this. I could play defense, you feel me. But
Speaker 1: talk to us about I mean, obviously if you played
Speaker 1: baseball as well, but you excelled in football, Um, and
Speaker 1: talk to us what your high school experience was like
Speaker 1: in football? Man? It was everything. It was everything. I
Speaker 1: was one of them knucklehead kids. Maybe he was having
Speaker 1: a conversation last last night with my production company and
Speaker 1: just talking about high school, like, Bro, I don't know
Speaker 1: like how I graduated early. I don't even know how
Speaker 1: I managed to get out of high school because I
Speaker 1: was just so immature. Bro, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: And I feel I adn't believe fat meat was greazy dog.
Speaker 1: And I was always I was always pushing everything to
Speaker 1: the limit. You know what I'm saying, Cam skipping school,
Speaker 1: going to McDonald's, going to Saxby's, just going just in trouble,
Speaker 1: just the stupid stuff. But man, I had a great
Speaker 1: supporting cast, the people who believed in me as teachers
Speaker 1: and people of power that that just thought the world
Speaker 1: of me to tell me, you know, what I needed
Speaker 1: to do and how I needed to move. And you
Speaker 1: know one thing about me in school and I was
Speaker 1: talking to my daughter about this. It didn't matter what
Speaker 1: the subject was. It didn't matter what the the the
Speaker 1: the situation was if the person that was teaching the
Speaker 1: subject was cool with me and understood how to teach me.
Speaker 1: It could be it could have been hooked on phonics,
Speaker 1: it could have been scientology, it could have been science,
Speaker 1: it could it could have been anything. But to be
Speaker 1: able to really understand and say, you know what, Bro,
Speaker 1: this how we're gonna do it. This is how I'm
Speaker 1: a teacher. And it's still like that's still in coaching,
Speaker 1: as y'all can know. You know, some of your best coaches.
Speaker 1: They probably didn't know, you know, the philosophical things about
Speaker 1: the game, but they got the most out of you
Speaker 1: because they knew how to to to relate to you.
Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, it's huge. I mean, that's
Speaker 1: what I say. That is the most important thing that
Speaker 1: I mean transferred into coaching now it's not so much
Speaker 1: about X and it's about relating. Because it's such a
Speaker 1: young man's game. You gotta be able to relate to
Speaker 1: these younger kids, and particularly basketball. That's why you're seeing
Speaker 1: some of these young former players now getting head coach
Speaker 1: head coaching jobs and they're black, so it's just like
Speaker 1: they understand it like that. You've gotta be able to
Speaker 1: relate to these dudes. That's the most important thing. Can
Speaker 1: you can you captivate their minds and then taking them
Speaker 1: where you're trying to get them to go. Not let
Speaker 1: me ask you all this though, do you think with
Speaker 1: you know, I think was about eight to twelve, uh,
Speaker 1: around that range of head coaches that you know that
Speaker 1: got head coaching jobs that that were minorities, do you
Speaker 1: think it's the best move you know, not necessarily for
Speaker 1: the culture, but you know, the best move for these
Speaker 1: organizations moving forward, because it is at the end of
Speaker 1: the day, it still comes down to wins and losses.
Speaker 1: Do you think these coaches can win basketball games? I
Speaker 1: think it's dope with some of them because some of
Speaker 1: them have enough experience, you know, like Johnson and j Kid.
Speaker 1: Those guys are well respected. So a lot of these players,
Speaker 1: especially players that I know of the players like me,
Speaker 1: I take heed to what they're saying because they've actually
Speaker 1: been in those walls. They actually know what it takes
Speaker 1: to to be great, So you know, it's different. But
Speaker 1: then you got coaches that, you know, minority coaches that
Speaker 1: are students, are the game. You know that that could
Speaker 1: actually teach players, you know what I mean. So it's
Speaker 1: it's just good to see guys that's been around the game,
Speaker 1: that played the game get a chance to leave these teams.
Speaker 1: You know. I agree. I think it's important just to
Speaker 1: have representation. Like you said, at the end of the day,
Speaker 1: it's about wins and losses. But you're never gonna know
Speaker 1: unless you give them a try. The NBA has been
Speaker 1: known for recycling and and I say this with the
Speaker 1: utmost respect, old white coaches they get recycled. They go
Speaker 1: one way, burned out, go to another place, burn it out,
Speaker 1: go somewhere else, burn it out, and not really give
Speaker 1: black coaches opportunities. But in the past, when they did
Speaker 1: give black coaches opportunity would be on a really bad team.
Speaker 1: So you're already on the leash, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: So now I think the tide is starting to change.
Speaker 1: And what I think is dope about it too, is
Speaker 1: because you gotta think they're not there. In the past,
Speaker 1: it wasn't very many black head coaches, but there's always
Speaker 1: black assistance and then black assistance. It's probably the same
Speaker 1: thing in football. Go talk to Kim Strip and go
Speaker 1: talk to Stacky's trip. I mean, so, like I said,
Speaker 1: that goes back to being be able to relate to
Speaker 1: the players. So when these people move a couple of
Speaker 1: seats up to that head job, like Jack said, we
Speaker 1: gotta understand and fill them out. But at the same time,
Speaker 1: I no, I'm gonna run through a wall for motherfucker
Speaker 1: like that, because he gets me and he's been here,
Speaker 1: so you're gonna give it you all. So I think
Speaker 1: that's why I mean, I think that's it's great. I
Speaker 1: want to say there's thirteen uh, Black coaches down when
Speaker 1: they hired seven this season, and six were assistants. So,
Speaker 1: like I said, it's just like they they were the
Speaker 1: cool assistant coach. Now they're getting a chance to really
Speaker 1: show what they know. So I think that's dope. But
Speaker 1: you also got to understand too, for these players that's
Speaker 1: coming out man the nineteen. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: So if I'm if I'm a franchise owner, I'm gonna
Speaker 1: try to say, Man, I'm about to draft a kid
Speaker 1: he ain't He can't even go to a club legally.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying. I need somebody that's gonna
Speaker 1: be that father figure that tells him, that can relate
Speaker 1: to him, knowing what kind of background he came from.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying. To assign certain people to
Speaker 1: to see like a bro. You know, the dude that
Speaker 1: you're hanging around with, Bro, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: let me talk to him. You know what I mean,
Speaker 1: Let me let me see if he got your best
Speaker 1: interests or not. Because you know, if you get a guy,
Speaker 1: if you get a culture guy to buy into you, bro, Man,
Speaker 1: that type of loyalty different, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: And still still to this day as people man that
Speaker 1: didn't look like me that I owe you know, everything,
Speaker 1: and the bag of chips because they gave they gave
Speaker 1: me a chance. They said, look look at this, let
Speaker 1: me show you this, let me put you up on this.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying, And uh, I tell the
Speaker 1: Story's funny. Man. One of my mentors, you know, Tim Jackson,
Speaker 1: and he was at Alburn with me and he took
Speaker 1: me to my first steakhouse, right, and I just remember then,
Speaker 1: you know, a Caucasian guy coming into this time of
Speaker 1: my life where my trust was battered. You know, I
Speaker 1: had went to Florida, things that work out there. I
Speaker 1: went to junior college. Things worked out there to put
Speaker 1: me to propel me back to that main stream. And
Speaker 1: Tim was a person that I could talk to about life,
Speaker 1: not just football. And when he gained my trust, he
Speaker 1: protected me like nobody's business, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: And it was like damn. Like usually we're like we're
Speaker 1: going through a times where it's like, man, racism is
Speaker 1: is every single day, But every every white person not racist.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying. Every black dude ain't no gangster.
Speaker 1: Every dude with long hair. You know what I'm saying
Speaker 1: in the grill. That don't mean that he's uneducated either,
Speaker 1: you know, that's just where he's coming from. So I
Speaker 1: just I just remember, Man, I was like a like
Speaker 1: like a lying in the damn in the projects, you know,
Speaker 1: like damn, like what the hell I supposed to get?
Speaker 1: He took me to boarding steakhouse in l A And uh,
Speaker 1: I was out there doing a Jay Leno show because
Speaker 1: I had just won the Hidsman. And I was so
Speaker 1: embarrassed because I was like, Man, I thought Longhorn was
Speaker 1: the premium steakhouse. You know what I'm saying. Like Red
Speaker 1: Lots was like, Man, when we went to Red Lots
Speaker 1: as a family, man, it was some type of man.
Speaker 1: My dad just got a promotion of something. You know
Speaker 1: what I mean, I ain't know, And you know, I
Speaker 1: was embarrassed. So he was like, man, I ordered for you. Man.
Speaker 1: Let him get the wedge sallette, let him get the
Speaker 1: petite steak. And that was the first time I started
Speaker 1: seeing food come out all the cart like, Man, let
Speaker 1: me get this side of it. I said, let me
Speaker 1: try the same macaroni. He's like, no, sir, you know
Speaker 1: it comes out of cart y'all can kind of share.
Speaker 1: Oh okay, well you know, well I let y'all pick
Speaker 1: the size. You know, they ain't teach me that. Ain't
Speaker 1: know Brenham, Texas unfortunately now or they didn't teach you
Speaker 1: that in college park E and so you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. I'm just a product of Atlanta, Georgia. That's
Speaker 1: just out here, just just learning as I go. Yeah, yeah, hey, hey,
Speaker 1: while we talking about high school football. You know, you
Speaker 1: know my brother, my brother Matt, was All American football
Speaker 1: players foot. I'm just pitching. I'm just pitching Cam Newton
Speaker 1: pass to map for six man. That that would have
Speaker 1: been a nice look right there. It would have been
Speaker 1: over that easy money, over size, that size, it can move.
Speaker 1: I killed my senior I ran a four three nine,
Speaker 1: had twenty eight testnowils, let the nation and touchdowns First
Speaker 1: team All Americans. Yeah, I was. I was recruited. I
Speaker 1: could have went anywhere for football. I just chose longevity
Speaker 1: basketball because I I my senior year I had turf
Speaker 1: toe when I had to get surgery going into college,
Speaker 1: so I knew I wasn't gonna play football. Actually went
Speaker 1: out fro football UC going into my junior year and
Speaker 1: basketball staff kind of blackballed me on some bullshit. But
Speaker 1: that's why I said, I love football to death. So
Speaker 1: I couldn't imagine I had a little white quarterback that
Speaker 1: just do it wherever I needed. But I couldn't imagine
Speaker 1: have a player. I think it run because my favorite
Speaker 1: thing was blocking. I love to come back and then
Speaker 1: peel back blocks that they don't see me coming and
Speaker 1: just motherfucking clean. They my favorite ship. So that would
Speaker 1: have been fun. So very decorated high school career for you.
Speaker 1: Five star recruit coming out of high school? What led
Speaker 1: you to Florida? Which we were part of the number
Speaker 1: one recruiting class in two thousand seven? Oh man, while
Speaker 1: you know, I remember sitting down in the in the
Speaker 1: in the and the coach's office with Urban Meyer, and
Speaker 1: you know he had all the bells and whistles. I
Speaker 1: mean this. We we coached Alex Smith, number one, you know,
Speaker 1: players selected. You know, we at Florida now where we're
Speaker 1: doing big things. We just had the number one recruiting
Speaker 1: class and Percy harv and Brandon Spikes, Tim Tebow, Brandon
Speaker 1: James and then we're gonna follow it up with another.
Speaker 1: You know we had. You know, this is really like
Speaker 1: a thirty for thirty on the load that I've been
Speaker 1: trying to work on for years. But you know, our
Speaker 1: recruiting class maybe the best. And I'm not just capping
Speaker 1: when I'm saying that. Come and say some names the
Speaker 1: pounce you twins. You got Joe Hayden, you got myself,
Speaker 1: you got Aaron Hernandez, you got um Deonte Thompson, you
Speaker 1: got major right, you got you know, Carlos dunlap Um,
Speaker 1: Chucks Man. We had so many, so many, but Chris Rainey,
Speaker 1: so many players, am I Black? That was just you're
Speaker 1: seeing this talent every single day, and all we wanted
Speaker 1: to do was compete and play for championships. At that
Speaker 1: particular point of time, they had the thing in sports
Speaker 1: like Sports Illustrated, like Title Town USA, and boy, it
Speaker 1: was like you at the US. That was when USC
Speaker 1: was still usc UM and then obviously Florida was like
Speaker 1: the East Coast version of the USC. It was like, broh,
Speaker 1: you come here, you already know the plan is three
Speaker 1: years and you out and Chucks, I feel like that
Speaker 1: gave me the best ability. But you know, uh, Tim
Speaker 1: Tebow is everything as advertised and song, and I just
Speaker 1: I could say that I set the bench behind the
Speaker 1: Hisman Trophy winner and probably arguably one of the best,
Speaker 1: if not the best, of some people's eyes, the best
Speaker 1: college football player that ever, you know, lays it up
Speaker 1: being the competitor you are. Obviously you're sitting back and learning.
Speaker 1: But how hard was it knowing that you could, you know,
Speaker 1: knowing your capabilities of what you're capable of, but just
Speaker 1: to sit back and have to take that? Man, I
Speaker 1: think you guys won the championship that that year, right
Speaker 1: or the next year? It was, Yeah, it was that year.
Speaker 1: How hard is that in the for the competitor in you. Yeah,
Speaker 1: So while I was at Florida my first day on campus,
Speaker 1: really my second day on campus, they had won the
Speaker 1: national championship. So right before I even took an enrolled
Speaker 1: in any class, says, you know, they was already winning
Speaker 1: the championship. That was Tim Tebow's freshman year, and then
Speaker 1: they followed it up with a basketball championship, and he
Speaker 1: was winning so many national championships softball and all that.
Speaker 1: It was just like what where else, you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. So, you know, me seeing that every single day,
Speaker 1: it kind of hit my hit my um, you know,
Speaker 1: my mental because it's like, bro, am I am I bad?
Speaker 1: Or am I not? Just playing? And it just takes
Speaker 1: a lot of life to to to to live through
Speaker 1: because I was really hope. I was in a situation
Speaker 1: where I was hoping. That's not not Let me not
Speaker 1: be misquoted when I say this. I was in a
Speaker 1: situation where somebody had to get injured in order for
Speaker 1: me to play, and I would I hated that. I
Speaker 1: hated that because I know I had backups. You know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. That was that that backed me up.
Speaker 1: I wouldn't want them anything. And I want, you know,
Speaker 1: cam the sprainers ankle so I could get an opportunity.
Speaker 1: I want everybody to shine, you know what I'm And
Speaker 1: so for me, it was it wasn't a good fit
Speaker 1: for me. And even then, we still had a five
Speaker 1: star recruit that was it was myself, we at one point.
Speaker 1: At one point it was Tim Tebow myself. I was
Speaker 1: a five star recruit coming out of Atlanta. You had
Speaker 1: John Brantley, who was a five star recruit out of Florida.
Speaker 1: He was Gatorade Player of the Year. And then we
Speaker 1: had the number one junior college quarterback. Uh you know
Speaker 1: at that time too, So it was like bro, it
Speaker 1: was talent galore. So it just didn't work out. So
Speaker 1: I'm fine with that. So you know, I just went
Speaker 1: to junior college and you know, I had to really
Speaker 1: boss up and ask myself, is this something that you
Speaker 1: really want to do? And you know, being alienated from
Speaker 1: my family for a year, it really grew like I
Speaker 1: really grew into the man that I am today because
Speaker 1: it's like being by myself. I'm more comfortable now like
Speaker 1: when I was when I was when I was a
Speaker 1: young jit running around Florida. Man, we all always ran
Speaker 1: it clicks. We all it was the old seven Boys,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, Like somebody was always gonna
Speaker 1: be with somebody, you know what I mean. Which wasn't
Speaker 1: a bad thing though, you know, but yet you know
Speaker 1: when you when you when you step away from that
Speaker 1: and you find your own piece, your own solitude and
Speaker 1: becoming the person that you are, finding ways to get
Speaker 1: yourself going and motivating yourself. You know, that's what happened
Speaker 1: when I wanted to playing. So I I really came
Speaker 1: down with with with a whole another culture from with
Speaker 1: a lucky ki you know what I mean, you know, uh,
Speaker 1: chopped up not slopped up. It was like it was
Speaker 1: like I was going into a third world country. But
Speaker 1: I'm like, man, why a y'all listening to all the
Speaker 1: slow music? Man? And they got all these crazy old
Speaker 1: school old smobiles and catillacts with these big elbows and
Speaker 1: pabo Oh my god. Man. It was just a culture
Speaker 1: shock for me. But man, I loved it though. Man,
Speaker 1: there was some genuine people man that I got. Love
Speaker 1: for pray We would check we would check out Pray Off.
Speaker 1: You will go down and check out the Texas relays
Speaker 1: in Austin. Man, we will go in in Houston, a
Speaker 1: college station all that. Man. So you know I'm very
Speaker 1: equipped with with with my Texas culture. Man. And uh
Speaker 1: you know that made me who I am? Did y'all
Speaker 1: going to When he was playing and Juico I lost
Speaker 1: one game on Halloween? You never forget it, never forget it.
Speaker 1: And then you know the thing is, when we lost
Speaker 1: that game, I ain't never still to this day man,
Speaker 1: people just think about you know, me soaking and you know,
Speaker 1: being a soul losing thing. I ain't never been cool
Speaker 1: with losing. You know what I'm saying, because I went
Speaker 1: I won everywhere that I went, going back to red ball,
Speaker 1: you know, I just told you. In high school, you know,
Speaker 1: we went to the state championship. You know, even in college.
Speaker 1: You know, when I was at Florida, Man, we just
Speaker 1: win and win and winning. Did I go to junior
Speaker 1: college where we was undefeated at the time. We played
Speaker 1: in the Boro Junior College and we lost on Halloween
Speaker 1: and they ain't talk to nobody, no a lot for
Speaker 1: a whole week. They thought I was like, they thought
Speaker 1: I was crazy, Like man, Bro, what can at? Bro
Speaker 1: came in his room Donna talk to me, and I
Speaker 1: told him I was like, Bro, I don't do good
Speaker 1: with with losing. We played that team two weeks after that,
Speaker 1: just how the dream our season was over after that year,
Speaker 1: they we played them in the first round of the playoffs,
Speaker 1: beat the ship out of and then we end up
Speaker 1: winning the national championship and junior college. So you know,
Speaker 1: we was we was We was laced, man, We was laced. Um.
Speaker 1: I want to back up real quick, because you said
Speaker 1: an interesting name. Me being a huge football fan. Obviously,
Speaker 1: I was a fan of Aaron Hernandez the player and
Speaker 1: and and and how physically dominant and just a dog
Speaker 1: he was on the field. Did him being a part
Speaker 1: of your recruiting class, did you ever? What was he
Speaker 1: like as a person and as a teammate and the
Speaker 1: energy he brought to that field every day? Man, Chico
Speaker 1: was was a monster. But for everybody don Chico. They know,
Speaker 1: like he's very goofy, outgoing, you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: human being loving. So when when the situation happened with him,
Speaker 1: it was like damn, Like what huh? You know? But
Speaker 1: it just goes to show you, like when you go
Speaker 1: into this next step of your life. I'm telling you
Speaker 1: all these things, but one thing that I'm not telling you.
Speaker 1: I was broke as hell and in junior college. I
Speaker 1: was broke as hell in college. I was broke as
Speaker 1: hell in high school. You know what I'm saying. But
Speaker 1: now when you go to the league, when you got money,
Speaker 1: Oh man, that's a whole different monster that takes place.
Speaker 1: You feel me. No, it's not even in your vocabulary.
Speaker 1: It's like, let me get that chain. No it's too expensive, man, Please,
Speaker 1: how much it costs fitted thousand quarter meal? Five d
Speaker 1: I'm willing to pay for it. You feel me, I
Speaker 1: want this call boom, No, you can't have that. It's
Speaker 1: out of your man. Look, man, I'm paying whatever for
Speaker 1: you feel me. I gotta be the first one to
Speaker 1: have it. So, Man, you know, I don't know the
Speaker 1: situation off top, but I could guarantee you it's just like, man,
Speaker 1: when when you look at the situation and you kind
Speaker 1: of dissected for what it is. It's just like, Man,
Speaker 1: he just got with a bad with a bad group
Speaker 1: of guys that didn't tell him Like no, bro, like
Speaker 1: we're not doing that. You know what I'm saying. I'm
Speaker 1: not gonna condone you moving in this type of manner, bro.
Speaker 1: So it is what it is. Yeah, So you go
Speaker 1: to junior college, UM, and then head off to Auburn.
Speaker 1: Obviously with a chip on your shoulder. You know you're
Speaker 1: back on the D one circuit. Uh. That two thousand
Speaker 1: ten season could go down to history is arguably one
Speaker 1: of the greatest seasons. Uh for anybody. You swept the awards,
Speaker 1: you won the highest men, you win the national championship.
Speaker 1: Talk to me with that jump back into D one
Speaker 1: was like after having to kind of almost humble yourself
Speaker 1: going to junior college and then now you're back on
Speaker 1: the biggest stage again. See, it was worse for me
Speaker 1: mentally because I had a taste of what Division one
Speaker 1: football offer, you know what I'm saying. See a lot
Speaker 1: of guys they go straight from high school to dream college.
Speaker 1: So it's like a little step before the big step.
Speaker 1: See It's almost like I took the biggest step and
Speaker 1: then missed the step and failed and then had to
Speaker 1: come back up. You know, I knew what the Nike
Speaker 1: sponsorships was. I knew what you know, having your books
Speaker 1: already outside it. You know what I'm saying, study Hall,
Speaker 1: going to study Hall, you know, things like that. So
Speaker 1: you know I was almost like the O G and
Speaker 1: JUCO because I would be you know, story time. You know. Man,
Speaker 1: let me tell you what this was like. You know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. Man, We played l S shoot man. Man,
Speaker 1: we played in front of ninety thousand, a hundred thousand,
Speaker 1: none of that, And like all my teammates are just
Speaker 1: like man for real, man, How tmto was? Man? How
Speaker 1: pursase Harvard was? How are that isn't on the for
Speaker 1: so man? That that got me through, But that kipt
Speaker 1: having that vision and having that dream was the main
Speaker 1: reason that propelled me back to where I needed to be.
Speaker 1: What it what it would it would have refined mind too,
Speaker 1: because if I would have had the starting that I
Speaker 1: did have at all ver in that Florida, I probably
Speaker 1: wouldn't even be in this position going into eleven years
Speaker 1: in the NFL because I wouldn't have respected it. I
Speaker 1: didn't know how to move. I don't know how to
Speaker 1: just you know what I'm saying, walk down the hill
Speaker 1: rather than run down the hill. You feel me, and
Speaker 1: you know my thing was just man, I just you know,
Speaker 1: take it to I'm I'm a bus man, so I'm
Speaker 1: an work hard and I'm I'm gonna get everything that's
Speaker 1: old to me. You feel me, And that's how That's
Speaker 1: how I was rocking. Markeis Dames with the Auburn and
Speaker 1: uh and he brought me to a game when Cam
Speaker 1: was there. I mean, bro, that was the excitement and
Speaker 1: the energy in that stadium. Bro, Oh my god, war
Speaker 1: eagle and that and that big eagle flowed around, that
Speaker 1: big eagle fall around. Man, I'm talking about the food
Speaker 1: was so good. I'm like, that was That's when I
Speaker 1: fell in love with college football. I can't lie. You
Speaker 1: know what would you blow? I was super blow there,
Speaker 1: you know, super blow. I was super blow there. Hey.
Speaker 1: But my cousin Marca Spiser played the l s U
Speaker 1: and I never got a chance to see him play.
Speaker 1: He won. That's a championship. But when that at that time,
Speaker 1: when I got a chance to go see Cam play
Speaker 1: at Auburn, Bro, I fell in love with college football.
Speaker 1: Was nothing like it, Bro, nothing like it, man sid man,
Speaker 1: he look man. So members of my production team, we
Speaker 1: guy uh, two members that that went to HBC US.
Speaker 1: My brother went to Two of my brothers went to HBC.
Speaker 1: My younger brother he's at albur now, but he started
Speaker 1: at Howard right. And then my older brother went to
Speaker 1: Tennessee State University of t s U. You know, not
Speaker 1: to be you know, uh mentioned with the t s
Speaker 1: U Texas State. But um, you know telling everybody, Bro,
Speaker 1: the passion that you get from sec vibe college football
Speaker 1: is unmatched. I think the only thing that the only
Speaker 1: thing that's comparable to it is playoff football in the NFL.
Speaker 1: You know, but that that man, we would see, we
Speaker 1: would see you know, the the campuses get packed on
Speaker 1: Wednesdays and you know the vibe when you when you're
Speaker 1: around like a special season. And I remember that season, bro,
Speaker 1: I just couldn't do no wrong, you know what I mean?
Speaker 1: It was just like, man, we was winning every game.
Speaker 1: We was I don't know whether we were living right.
Speaker 1: The guy was just on our side that you know,
Speaker 1: that particular year because you know, you will go to
Speaker 1: class and that's when my life was changing. Like I'm
Speaker 1: signing autographs. It's just like, man, how many touchdowns this
Speaker 1: can gonna win? Well, however many he has, However many
Speaker 1: touchdowns he has, that's that's gonna be the point curve
Speaker 1: for the for the test. So it's like like y'all
Speaker 1: putting pressure on me in class. Not only that though,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. So you know, seeing that
Speaker 1: the fans outpour, you know, at that point you're not
Speaker 1: even though college athlete, you're not an amateur athlete no more.
Speaker 1: So it's kind of dope to see that the n
Speaker 1: C double a pass that rule for the kids to
Speaker 1: start making money because you're not. You're not viewed as
Speaker 1: an amateur no more. You know, what you do at
Speaker 1: these clubs, what you do at these restaurants, what you
Speaker 1: do at you know, these different places is gonna be
Speaker 1: held up on ESPN, you know, not just your local news.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying. And the money that they
Speaker 1: make on a given Saturday for college football, man, come
Speaker 1: on crazy. They don't they don't even speak. They don't
Speaker 1: say hi, hello, bye, What are you go? What you got? Yeah, Jack,
Speaker 1: you got a little taste of at that one game,
Speaker 1: But there's nothing that cam you can speak to. Just
Speaker 1: that energy around campus during the season it's just electric,
Speaker 1: you know, especially when you got a big game coming up, bro,
Speaker 1: Like you can't wait to you know, I didn't even
Speaker 1: like going to class, but you know in big game weeks,
Speaker 1: I motherfucker class early just because the energy the girls
Speaker 1: around the sun is out, like it's like, you know
Speaker 1: what's going down? And then what tops football? Office football?
Speaker 1: You mean, Jack? You know our biggest crowd is twenty thousand.
Speaker 1: If that these motherfuckers a hundred thousand motherfucking people screaming
Speaker 1: like a second right outside another another, tell them hundreds
Speaker 1: of thousands out southside thing for us, it'd be like
Speaker 1: the Tiger walk. I mean, your ears just blaring. It's
Speaker 1: just like folks can touch you, they can scream, that
Speaker 1: can all they can root. They can do all this
Speaker 1: pure and it's pure. Man. Come on, man, like so
Speaker 1: for me and my for me and who I am today. Man,
Speaker 1: that's what I'd be telling these kids that's fifteen, sixteen,
Speaker 1: and seventeen that's in high school now. It's like the
Speaker 1: thing that I'm able to get through to them is like, Bro,
Speaker 1: my heart is pure. I need nothing from you, nor
Speaker 1: do I want nothing from you. All I want you
Speaker 1: to do is do exactly what I'm doing. When you
Speaker 1: get into my position. I don't I'd under reached out
Speaker 1: to reach the tops. You know what I'm saying. I
Speaker 1: didn't see what college football has offer exactly. You know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. So you know when these kids and
Speaker 1: they live in their lives and you know, they defile started.
Speaker 1: I've been there, done that, you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: and got the soda and all that. You know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying, I didn't I didn't see the woman. I
Speaker 1: didn't seen you know what I'm saying that the sponsorships
Speaker 1: and things like that, those back room meetings and this
Speaker 1: that and the third Like, I didn't did all that. Bro,
Speaker 1: Let me show you how to move and maneuver you
Speaker 1: feel me, because you know you're gonna look like the
Speaker 1: dumb ass if you get caught your feeling. So man,
Speaker 1: that's that's how I'm able to kind of get through
Speaker 1: these kids and tell them, like, look, bro, this is
Speaker 1: how you go about your situation. You know, these are
Speaker 1: the questions that you ask your coaches because in some
Speaker 1: way shape for him. But to be honest with you,
Speaker 1: I wasn't even really supposed to go to Florida looking
Speaker 1: back at it, because of of of Tebow's dominance. But
Speaker 1: you know, my my mental is, like, man, I I'm
Speaker 1: a competitor. I'm gonna compete with anybody. It's just a
Speaker 1: little different when you know it's like, but that's Tim Tebow, bro,
Speaker 1: Like it ain't no bad. I wasn't listening and none
Speaker 1: of that, you know what I mean. I would have
Speaker 1: went to a situation that I could have you know,
Speaker 1: competed whatever. But it all worked out. Though, it all
Speaker 1: worked out, So I'm not. I'm not I'm not. I'm
Speaker 1: not mad at the situation. It's just it is what
Speaker 1: it is. Yeah, I mean you mentioned something interesting too.
Speaker 1: With the kind of success you had in college, can
Speaker 1: you imagine having being able to pay for your likeness
Speaker 1: back then, they said, oh boy, at Alabama, it is
Speaker 1: already copied like a million dollars already in the motherfucking
Speaker 1: school season hasn't even started. Can you imagine what kind
Speaker 1: of money you would have been playing with as an
Speaker 1: eighteen nineteen year old in college? Come on, man, come
Speaker 1: on this? Well what man? I don't even want to
Speaker 1: think about. But I'm I'm glad I did it because
Speaker 1: it's gonna be dangerous man, having ten thousand dollars to
Speaker 1: splurge with in college, let alone. You know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: just all for the wrong reason, bra. In college, Man,
Speaker 1: my thing was, Bro, I just need I need decoration.
Speaker 1: We all know what decoration is. I need a gaming system,
Speaker 1: a big gass TV, and snacks in my refrigerator. Fool,
Speaker 1: That's all I needed in college, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: And I stayed out of trouble, you feel me. I
Speaker 1: invite some decoration, over vite teammates over man, move and
Speaker 1: maneuver like that, bro, And that was that was all
Speaker 1: I needed. And I work out and train, you feel me.
Speaker 1: I wasn't trying to be on the scene like that
Speaker 1: still to this. They ain't trying to be on the scene. Now,
Speaker 1: I've never been that. You ain't never been that guy. Yeah,
Speaker 1: that's what I say. That's still that's still the vibe.
Speaker 1: That was my vibe in the league, You know what
Speaker 1: I mean? Man, beat in the l A. You see
Speaker 1: a lot once you kind of get to understand, Like,
Speaker 1: all I need is everything you're explaining. Four friends, Give
Speaker 1: me some weed, give me some women, give me the homies,
Speaker 1: some music, all that, man, I tell I tell them folks, Bro,
Speaker 1: I don't play no away games. Bro, I play all
Speaker 1: home games. Everything coming to me. I could control it.
Speaker 1: I could control the how I need to control. Man,
Speaker 1: you were taking phones, we're taking all that. And if
Speaker 1: I trust you, whoever you come by, that's who responsible
Speaker 1: for you. Hey, bro, Like that's your partner. Do you
Speaker 1: get them before I get them? Or I have somebody
Speaker 1: to get him. You did what I'm saying, and that's
Speaker 1: just the respect. So you know, you know, having that
Speaker 1: type of mentality and keep you out of trouble more
Speaker 1: was so, Man, you gotta go over here. Somebody that
Speaker 1: stepped on your shoe. Now you gotta feel obligated to,
Speaker 1: you know, go about respect only like, none of that
Speaker 1: broke wrong, energy wrong, and we ain't doing that, man,
Speaker 1: we ain't doing that. So all the hard work in
Speaker 1: the grind, opportunity met preparation. Two thousand and eleven, you're
Speaker 1: the number one pick for the Carolina Panthers. What's your
Speaker 1: mindset at that point? Winning? And I came off a high, bro,
Speaker 1: I came off outside for two years. You gotta think,
Speaker 1: only lost one game, and I was that the Borrow
Speaker 1: Junior College. So I was I was winning everything I couldn't.
Speaker 1: I mean, I'm just like, no, look shots, everything, everything
Speaker 1: going in, you know, and then I go I get
Speaker 1: drafted by the Carolina Panthers. There was two and fourteen
Speaker 1: prior to me, you know, meet me coming, and I
Speaker 1: was I didn't know how to cope with losing. I'm like, damn,
Speaker 1: Like my first game, you know, I threw for a
Speaker 1: four two and that's a record, and I'm man, but
Speaker 1: we lost though, you know what I mean, I'm like, man,
Speaker 1: funk this that I came to win? Bro, I can't win.
Speaker 1: So you know, I ain't never really played this game
Speaker 1: for statistics or or personal game, but it was it
Speaker 1: was just all about the grind and the journey about
Speaker 1: how can we you know, synchronize eleven men to do
Speaker 1: the common goal, and that's to go out and play
Speaker 1: for each other? And you already know I ain't. I
Speaker 1: only had a number of guys that really had like that,
Speaker 1: that that hood kind of dog vibe, like, bro, man,
Speaker 1: fuck these motherfucker's we're about to go with that. I
Speaker 1: don't given who you know, you know that mentality you did,
Speaker 1: but they got it, you know what I'm saying. So
Speaker 1: it's like, you know, you already know if you go
Speaker 1: out on Friday, you're gonna be there on Saturday on time.
Speaker 1: You know you ain't gonna be one of these high
Speaker 1: risk guys like, oh my god, man, what's stack at Man?
Speaker 1: What what mad at Man? What? What can I ain't
Speaker 1: never been one of those dudes. I'm always have a
Speaker 1: good time, but if the ship got bigger than the rabbit,
Speaker 1: then I gotta kill all that. You know. I always
Speaker 1: had people that hold me accountable, even in the locker
Speaker 1: room that was just like, bro, come on, uh, you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. When Coach asked certain questions, Bro,
Speaker 1: you better be sharp and being especially the position that
Speaker 1: I played, you know, I gotta move a little bit
Speaker 1: more different because my competition, you know, it ain't necessarily
Speaker 1: you know, the Julio's and the Old Deal's. My competition
Speaker 1: is the Bradies, the Aaron Rodgers, you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: the cerebral guys that you know, where I feel comfortable
Speaker 1: in the setting is of being that they not they
Speaker 1: are cringing, you know what I mean, They'd be like, no, no,
Speaker 1: you know, they clinched their wallets of their persons, you
Speaker 1: feel me. But for me, it's just like, no, these
Speaker 1: my people. You know. So even even that still to
Speaker 1: this day, but that still keeps me, you know, kind
Speaker 1: of dialed into being professional and knowing that you know
Speaker 1: what I am or what I represent, because you know,
Speaker 1: if you're not performing on Sundays, should you could be
Speaker 1: the realist motherfucker out there, but you're gonna be unemployed. Facts.
Speaker 1: What was your welcome to the n Fell moment? Mm
Speaker 1: hmm on the field? Off the field where it comes
Speaker 1: to mind? Uh, the Rickie the Ricky party happened in
Speaker 1: the latter part of the season. But but the access,
Speaker 1: the access, it was like, you know, having all these
Speaker 1: celebrity crushes and then all of a sudden and you
Speaker 1: want party away from brushing shoulder? Was it these brothers?
Speaker 1: And I'm black man, I'm a dude from the South, Bro,
Speaker 1: I'm you know what I mean. I don't know how
Speaker 1: to act. Bro, you feel me like you put me
Speaker 1: in the room with the with these Oh I got
Speaker 1: to holl I got to say something. Ain't never been
Speaker 1: a dude about my tongue, and you know what I mean?
Speaker 1: And I already knew how to move and maneuvers something.
Speaker 1: I'm knocking down this third. Ain't nobody even knowing it,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. I'm like, they still don't
Speaker 1: know and I don't know. Yeah, I'm like, man, I'm
Speaker 1: a roach in these streets. Bro. I'm all but but
Speaker 1: you know they start whispering, They start whispering. Is that
Speaker 1: is that camp over there? It can't be. What are
Speaker 1: you doing in here? That's that's all we knowing how
Speaker 1: to move though? Straight up? Yeah? Yeah, And then I'll
Speaker 1: be around so many dudes. Man, obviously you guys know
Speaker 1: it's some corny as dudes out here, bro, And they
Speaker 1: make it so easy. They make it so easy for
Speaker 1: because it's like, bro, dudes don't even know how to
Speaker 1: get they don't even got game no more. You know,
Speaker 1: they don't know how to talk to women. You know,
Speaker 1: it's crazy, but you said that because it makes it
Speaker 1: so easy for so that really knows what he's doing
Speaker 1: to do what he does so easy. And it's it's
Speaker 1: almost like it's like you know when you when you
Speaker 1: step into a situation, and then they step into a situation.
Speaker 1: It's just like, but you take all the money away.
Speaker 1: You can take the rolex, you could take the rings,
Speaker 1: you can take the hat. You can still you can
Speaker 1: put us all in the room with some blue jeans,
Speaker 1: and I'm gonna still stick out, you know, because my
Speaker 1: intellect and you know a lot of people are always
Speaker 1: you know, looking at the outer source of it. It's like, man,
Speaker 1: Cam got long hair, you know what I'm saying, kind
Speaker 1: of rowdy, a little bit out of that out, But
Speaker 1: in retrospect, man, I'm a glass of you know, you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying, A stogie away from really setting
Speaker 1: a vibe that can't be matched, you know what I'm saying, Like,
Speaker 1: supply everything else and you get the mind and the
Speaker 1: body will follow you. Already. Well, I used to tell
Speaker 1: them all the time, and it ain't what you got
Speaker 1: on is who got it on? If you think what
Speaker 1: I'm saying it ain't. Yeah, that's not like some Dion
Speaker 1: saying this ship because I used to rock still to
Speaker 1: this day, work is just straight white tease. Do whatever?
Speaker 1: Already know? Hey, So what was the transition you spoke
Speaker 1: to it a little bit, but your transition from having
Speaker 1: a lifetime of winning coming to a team that obviously
Speaker 1: they picked you number one because they weren't a good team.
Speaker 1: So how was that trying to as a young player,
Speaker 1: Heisman winner, top pick? Did you follow us veterans leads?
Speaker 1: Was a year lead? How did you slowly but surely
Speaker 1: start changing the locker room and then start changing the
Speaker 1: mindset of making this Okay, we're about to be a
Speaker 1: winning team. Yeah, but it's a process. It's a process,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. So you you just gotta
Speaker 1: believe in it. You gotta believe in the in the
Speaker 1: in the front office people that they're gonna put the
Speaker 1: right talent around you so that you can thrive. And
Speaker 1: just because it's talent, that doesn't mean that's that's the
Speaker 1: right pick. And you you guys know, man, I think
Speaker 1: the most overlooked thing in sports, is is can certain
Speaker 1: people mesh with each other puzzle pieces? Because it's like
Speaker 1: you can have Lebron, Kobe m J and whoever on
Speaker 1: the same team and on paper they're supposed to win,
Speaker 1: but in the locker room they're beefing. You know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying, it the chemistry is off, the harmonies off,
Speaker 1: So you know, it's it's it's guys in a in
Speaker 1: the front office that gotta believe in your talents and
Speaker 1: believe or have the visual to put you in a
Speaker 1: situation that you're gonna thrive the most man. And it
Speaker 1: was just all a matter of time. You know. I
Speaker 1: was lucky enough to to come on a team that
Speaker 1: had the John Beason's, the Thomas davis Is, the Jordan
Speaker 1: gross Is, the Steve Smith's and guys like that, and
Speaker 1: it was a lot of dysfunctional things that was going on,
Speaker 1: and to like, you know, they didn't know how to win. Hell,
Speaker 1: I didn't even know how to win, you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. Going into the NFL, because that's a different
Speaker 1: type of game, you just can't you just can't put
Speaker 1: your head down and just we're gonna, we're gonna, We're
Speaker 1: gonna bullyball you to death, because the game is still
Speaker 1: all about adjustments, you know, So it's just learning how
Speaker 1: to maneuver uh different type of of of of different things,
Speaker 1: and and and that's it's just trying to win football games.
Speaker 1: So your third season twelve and four, you take your
Speaker 1: team to your first NFL playoffs. Experience talked us a
Speaker 1: little bit about that season and then what it was
Speaker 1: like actually being in your first NFL playoffs. That wasn't
Speaker 1: that probably wasn't professionally, that wasn't my most talented team,
Speaker 1: but that was the best team that I was on
Speaker 1: to that day. We had veterans, we had young guys
Speaker 1: that got it. We had the middle of the role
Speaker 1: guys that was playing out of the wazoo because they
Speaker 1: understood their role. And it's just like everything else in life.
Speaker 1: It's like when you got a business, you know, you
Speaker 1: need guys that are great people to to to to
Speaker 1: run a business, you know, in order for you to
Speaker 1: thrive as a person. I touched on it earlier with
Speaker 1: with with Jack and his crew, like you need great
Speaker 1: people to make you look good you feel, I'm saying,
Speaker 1: And even in the even in the UH, in the UH,
Speaker 1: in the team setting. You need great people to make
Speaker 1: your your challenge thrive the most. You know, for me
Speaker 1: to be as as talented as I am, I would
Speaker 1: have been nothing if I didn't have the Steve Smith's
Speaker 1: to the Kelvin Benjamin's or the Devin Funches or the
Speaker 1: you know, the Philly Browns to be able to go
Speaker 1: out and catch it and Ted who just recently retired. Man,
Speaker 1: that's my dog, folks. That that that really got it man,
Speaker 1: And to make you look good, you could throw a spiral,
Speaker 1: a perfect you know, dime and it's drop. Or you
Speaker 1: could throw a shipped up in its coat. You know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. A touchdown, it's still a touchdown, you
Speaker 1: feel me. So it's a it's a lot of hands
Speaker 1: on deck. Man. That that really comes into a place.
Speaker 1: You know when when you're talking about putting a winning
Speaker 1: product out there. I remember this because obviously I'm a
Speaker 1: Niner fan. You guys go into that season with your
Speaker 1: first playoff experience, like you guys, you know, fall to
Speaker 1: the Niners, but you're starting to see that work in
Speaker 1: that progress starting to pay off. You're there. You gotta
Speaker 1: taste of it, although you lost it prepared you for
Speaker 1: what was coming after. Yeah. Man, that was a great team.
Speaker 1: You know, I think uh I was ted on that Ted.
Speaker 1: You had Ted, you had crab Tree, you had the
Speaker 1: v Navarl Bowman, Patrick Willis, Oh my goodness. And that
Speaker 1: defense was was was vicious. You know, Uh shucks. They
Speaker 1: had uh the Smith brothers at ud tackle. You had
Speaker 1: the other the other Smith Um the he got drafted
Speaker 1: my year. That's coming off the edge you had. Man,
Speaker 1: they had a powerhouse. But you know, you just live
Speaker 1: and you learn. Man. You know, you gotta go about
Speaker 1: it making adjustments, doing the proper things. And then with
Speaker 1: me going through with witnessing and like a playoff vibe,
Speaker 1: you know, you realize like, oh, this ship a different
Speaker 1: Every snap is meaningful. There ain't no bad possessions because
Speaker 1: that's what makes football, you know, playoff football, playoff football.
Speaker 1: And you know, na, my faults, my bad. You can
Speaker 1: keep that ship. You can keep it. So two thousand fifteen, uh,
Speaker 1: your magical m VP season fifteen and one thirty five touchdowns,
Speaker 1: ten picks, uh, three hundred three thousand, eight hundred thirty
Speaker 1: seven yards. Did you feel like that's when you finally
Speaker 1: started to click as a person mentally and as a
Speaker 1: player on the field. Yeah, I did. I did for
Speaker 1: multiple reasons more than one. Because if you go back
Speaker 1: to that season in training camp, um, we lost our
Speaker 1: number one receiver. That was Benji. He had towards a
Speaker 1: c L. We had a joint practice with Miami and
Speaker 1: he towards a c L. And not just a fun
Speaker 1: man like you know, this was this was the guy
Speaker 1: that I took up onto my wing. You know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. Uh, first round pick, size six five, you know,
Speaker 1: a big monsters you know, dude. And we were related
Speaker 1: on so many different things. So when he when he
Speaker 1: went down, it was almost like damn, like they go
Speaker 1: to season. But I remember that next day Ricky Prole
Speaker 1: was the was a receiver coach. We had Jericho contre
Speaker 1: As received for Philly Brown. We had Joe Webb that
Speaker 1: was a twinter. We had Uh. Ted was that I
Speaker 1: mentioned Ted Uh? And they all we just all had
Speaker 1: a meeting and it was like, man, all right, we
Speaker 1: already know who Benji is to you, you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying, And we can't replace him, but what we
Speaker 1: can do, you can hold us to a standard. That's
Speaker 1: that's gonna get the job done and for them to
Speaker 1: kind of highlight that before the season. Everything else simultaneously
Speaker 1: worked out. You know, Greg had a big year for me,
Speaker 1: you know, being you know Mr Reliable and you know,
Speaker 1: we just we just found ways to win games. And
Speaker 1: we also had help on the defensive side. You know,
Speaker 1: in my eyes, the greatest football player defensively that I
Speaker 1: even laid eyes on. And Luke Keickley, Uh Thomas Davis
Speaker 1: was was the enforcer. Uh man, we had it all
Speaker 1: you started uh on the D line KK. Then we
Speaker 1: we bought in veterans uh, Courtland Finnegan, We had a
Speaker 1: Roman Harper, we had at uh Jared Um, Jared Allen,
Speaker 1: you know, so many different and Peanut Tilman. So we
Speaker 1: had a great mixture of talent, veteran young guys that
Speaker 1: know Josh Norman, you know what I'm saying, and and uh,
Speaker 1: you know the list goes on. Man. So that was
Speaker 1: a perfect, perfect kind of combination of of guys that
Speaker 1: got it. And as the season kept going, we kept
Speaker 1: getting momentum. Okay, we find out we're three and old.
Speaker 1: Oh man, we got something special. Now we find out
Speaker 1: we're six and old. Now we nine and o you know,
Speaker 1: now everything is is is really up. Well. I can't
Speaker 1: forget Charles Johnson too, you know, the real og who
Speaker 1: really was holding it down in the locker room for us,
Speaker 1: like and holding everybody to a standard. You know that.
Speaker 1: You know, if y'all boys go out, make sure y'all
Speaker 1: here getting treatment, you know, doing all the necessary things
Speaker 1: that y'all supposed to do. And you need that especially
Speaker 1: for teams now because you know, fan basis is right now.
Speaker 1: We want you to win yesterday, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: But everything, everything is is, it's still got to be
Speaker 1: a part of the process, and you just gotta have
Speaker 1: guys that believe in it and and uh, you know,
Speaker 1: see it through. Who are some of your closest teammates
Speaker 1: from that time that you rocked with it on like
Speaker 1: on a daily basis. Oh man, you know t D
Speaker 1: TV was a dude, bro. But the thing about me
Speaker 1: and t D it was it was all the time
Speaker 1: our game. TV was at all our games. So yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: and and TV man shout out to t V he
Speaker 1: retired to man, just being around him, he always helped
Speaker 1: me to a standard everywhere. And it wasn't a dull moment,
Speaker 1: not not even in practice. You know, we were talking ship.
Speaker 1: We was doing it all like brother, fuck you, fuck
Speaker 1: you too with ship, all right, ship, that's how we're rocking.
Speaker 1: And then as soon as you know, we break it down.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying, Man, how how your wife? Man?
Speaker 1: How the kids talk out of that? It's just how
Speaker 1: it was, you know what I'm saying. And people. And
Speaker 1: then also that year that was when I had got
Speaker 1: to fighting with Josh. You know what I mean. But
Speaker 1: that's just how our team was in those lines. We
Speaker 1: were so competitive. We were so competitive and you need
Speaker 1: that because practices is everything. We tried to make practice
Speaker 1: game like. So by the time we got into the game,
Speaker 1: you know, it was what it was, you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying. But you know, a lot of folks look
Speaker 1: at me and they look at the aesthetic. You know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying, back to the aesthetic in the funchway.
Speaker 1: They think it's sweet. Make no mistake about it, bro, Like, look, man,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. I'm stamped and approved, man,
Speaker 1: But you know, for for me, do not This is
Speaker 1: not a press sel Bro. This is not as you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying, But it's just all in the
Speaker 1: love of of of of winning, man, and I want
Speaker 1: to win that all calls so that run. You guys
Speaker 1: beat the Cardinals in the second round Seattle. On the
Speaker 1: NFC title game, you face another tough ass defense, uh
Speaker 1: in the different broncles. You guys in the Super Bowl,
Speaker 1: what was your first taste being in that Super Bowl? Like,
Speaker 1: especially coming off the season you came off or where
Speaker 1: you went in the m v P and you know,
Speaker 1: you guys, record is what it is, Man, it was
Speaker 1: I just remember, man, I was tired as fun, like
Speaker 1: just tired, like mentally drained coming off of that season.
Speaker 1: It was a long season. And then like just the
Speaker 1: startom that came with being in the Super Bowl going
Speaker 1: into you know, different interviews, going into another interview, going
Speaker 1: into so by the time you get to the game,
Speaker 1: it's just like, oh my god, like we do got
Speaker 1: to play a football game, you know, and it's not
Speaker 1: going the way that you that you wanted it and
Speaker 1: getting so scrutinous sport. It was just like, wow, okay,
Speaker 1: I see how I see how to maneuver you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying now, Um, But looking back at it, man,
Speaker 1: it was just a life lesson. I appreciate you all
Speaker 1: the life lessons that I went through because it made
Speaker 1: me the man that I am right now, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean knowing that you know, people have jobs
Speaker 1: to do. You know, I used to hate the media
Speaker 1: still you know, in some way shape for him, still
Speaker 1: do because they don't tell you. They don't they don't
Speaker 1: show the side or the person that you really are,
Speaker 1: that you genuinely are. But you know, they got their favorites.
Speaker 1: But the thing that I respect about it is they
Speaker 1: got jobs to do. That's how they feed their family,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. And when you started looking
Speaker 1: at it like that, you know, you just know like
Speaker 1: you gotta be a professional, you gotta be a pro.
Speaker 1: So I think that was really the sign where I
Speaker 1: was like, man, you know, you just can't have a
Speaker 1: good without the bad. But more or less like being
Speaker 1: a man about it, like looking at lying eyeball, the
Speaker 1: eyeball and saying, look, dog, look this is what it is.
Speaker 1: I failed. I'm coming back stronger, And you know, life
Speaker 1: is not necessarily about wins and losses, but more or
Speaker 1: less how you deal with those wins and losses and
Speaker 1: keep moving forward. The ability to handle adversity, you know,
Speaker 1: obviously it's been well documented, you know, your postgame interview
Speaker 1: with the situation, but it's it's just interesting to hear.
Speaker 1: You know, you step back after you came back, you know,
Speaker 1: a few days later after the initial interview, and kind
Speaker 1: of cleaned it up. But I feel you because it's
Speaker 1: never really about showing who you are as a person,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. It's it's it's about there
Speaker 1: laying in what they're trying to get out of it.
Speaker 1: And I think that's why, you know, Jack and I
Speaker 1: have been successful. Like we touched on being in the show,
Speaker 1: is it's never there's no you know, there's no preconceived
Speaker 1: notion of what we're trying to get out of you
Speaker 1: or any kind of clip thing like we want to
Speaker 1: have that conversation. And unfortunately, on on a certain level,
Speaker 1: that's all their job is. If there's if there's a
Speaker 1: little bit of blood and water, let's tear that hole
Speaker 1: all the way open. But I can do with it.
Speaker 1: I was going into it with a different mentality, bro
Speaker 1: I was. I was angry in those meetings, you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. I feel like, you know, I have
Speaker 1: brought that hood, you know what I'm saying inside that
Speaker 1: college fox out. They were like, Bro, stop sucking trying me. Bro,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, that's what you really want
Speaker 1: to say, but you can't really say it like that,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, like come on dog like.
Speaker 1: But when they asked questions like Cam, why did you
Speaker 1: fail in the Super Bowl? Just just man, keep it,
Speaker 1: keep it professional. Man. Listen, man, you know the better
Speaker 1: team one and you know we'll look out chops and
Speaker 1: just come back better next year, you see, you know,
Speaker 1: but not going through that. You know, you just on
Speaker 1: this high all year. You know, you're dabbing on folks, everybody,
Speaker 1: making them mind. This was we was. We were celebrating
Speaker 1: before crating, wasn't you know what I'm saying? And then
Speaker 1: you know, you know, me having the influence that I
Speaker 1: did have, Bro, it was just like I don't know,
Speaker 1: I was on the hot so you know when when
Speaker 1: when when somebody took the stupor out from up front
Speaker 1: of me, it was like, damn, now what you do?
Speaker 1: And you know, did I handle it the best way?
Speaker 1: I know how? You know, but I'm human and I'm
Speaker 1: able to say that now. It's just like, bro, it
Speaker 1: is what it is. Dog. I learned from it. I
Speaker 1: made my ma stakes. But you know, now having children,
Speaker 1: now having you know, the younger generation looked to me.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying for answers, it's like you're
Speaker 1: able to relate to them because everything my whole transition
Speaker 1: to who I am, Bro, I didn't have a silver spoon,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. I made I'm a self
Speaker 1: made person with a lot of help with a lot
Speaker 1: of people. And when you learn that, you'll be good.
Speaker 1: But I knew it was toughing. Like I said, I
Speaker 1: was there when you first came out there, and to
Speaker 1: be the face of a franchise as as big as
Speaker 1: you was, Bro, the eyes and lows. I was dealing
Speaker 1: with that because, like I said, because I was there
Speaker 1: and I've seen it. But you know, going being and
Speaker 1: being at the top of then going through the ups
Speaker 1: and downs. Talk to talk to me about that a
Speaker 1: little bit, like how dealing with that man Going to Charlotte,
Speaker 1: which was a very conservative city. You know, it wasn't
Speaker 1: a big market it was. It was perfect for me
Speaker 1: because it was close enough to Atlanta for me to
Speaker 1: get back if I had any emergencies, but further enough
Speaker 1: for somebody to have to call to before they come,
Speaker 1: you know. Mean, you know you can't just do that now,
Speaker 1: you know, you gotta call and be like, hey, bro,
Speaker 1: I'm about to pull up on you that hold on, dog,
Speaker 1: it ain't it ain't the right time or whatever. But
Speaker 1: Charlotte was great to me. Charlotte was great to me.
Speaker 1: It was it was for me too. I grew up
Speaker 1: into a grown man then and seeing where it is
Speaker 1: now today and for me to have my my my
Speaker 1: footprint or my legacy, you know in the seven or
Speaker 1: four man, it's something that I never forget, you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying, for the rest of my life. They
Speaker 1: open they welcome me with open arms, allowed me to
Speaker 1: be myself, and that's the only thing that you can
Speaker 1: ask for for people, you know what I'm saying. I
Speaker 1: know I was just this this black dude you know
Speaker 1: that has this big personality and you know, we don't
Speaker 1: know what to expect, you know, but I can honestly say,
Speaker 1: you know, for me, and my my pop would always
Speaker 1: tell me, it's like, man, you repay people by you know,
Speaker 1: doing right by the people who are living vicariously through you,
Speaker 1: and make sure that if you can't play this game
Speaker 1: no more. It's because you're just sorry as hell. It's
Speaker 1: not the because you don't slap somebody. It ain't because
Speaker 1: you drunk driving. It ain't because you know, you made
Speaker 1: a stupid mistake that you gotta you know, have an
Speaker 1: open apology about. You know, it's because you're just you're
Speaker 1: not good no more. So you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: And I just received that, and I can honestly I
Speaker 1: ain't never got in trouble, and I'm knocking on wood
Speaker 1: saying it. But you know, but that's just a testament
Speaker 1: to the people that I have hanging around me, you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. So, you know, I just know
Speaker 1: my time in Charlotte was just a okay dog And
Speaker 1: you know, it was some memories that I take to
Speaker 1: my grave of of of just the happiness, you know,
Speaker 1: being able to put smiles on so many different people faces,
Speaker 1: to give people hope, you know, because because the Panthers
Speaker 1: never really was a contender, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: And and to to have the help of the Thomas
Speaker 1: davis Is, the Luke's, the Ryan Khalil's, you know, the
Speaker 1: trade Turners, the the Michael Ors, you know, the Greg Olsen's,
Speaker 1: you know, the guys Jonathan Stewart, you know those guys
Speaker 1: who really you know, embodied you know, team and I
Speaker 1: was just the recipient of of of a lot of
Speaker 1: a tention, some of it undue attention because we was
Speaker 1: just winning during this span of yours. I think the
Speaker 1: world saw, but you you started speaking to it. The
Speaker 1: referees were almost allowed an open season on you. Whether
Speaker 1: it's low shot shots that you knee, shots at your heads,
Speaker 1: you weren't getting any calls. How frustrating was that to you?
Speaker 1: I mean one ref even told you wasn't old enough
Speaker 1: to get a call, like like I didn't know age
Speaker 1: anything lost it. Talk to us about how frustrating that
Speaker 1: was and how you had to express it. But still understand.
Speaker 1: I can't go too deep off the end because these
Speaker 1: motherfucker's are still blowing whistles going against me. But you
Speaker 1: you have to understand too. Just like you said about
Speaker 1: Michael Vick. You know, when I first came into the league,
Speaker 1: they've they've seen a dual threat quarterback, but they didn't
Speaker 1: necessarily see a dual threat quarterback that that's comfortable with
Speaker 1: running anywhere. You know what I'm saying and and and
Speaker 1: being the hammer and not necessarily the nail. So now
Speaker 1: when I get when I give myself up too and
Speaker 1: almost to to be protected, that was kind of like
Speaker 1: everything it's like, well, it's almost felt like the shock rule.
Speaker 1: It's like, well the hack and shack, Like when we
Speaker 1: touch him, it don't impact him the same as if
Speaker 1: we really, you know what I'm saying, touch him the
Speaker 1: right way. So it took some time, you know, but
Speaker 1: you know, it's still it's still it's still a process.
Speaker 1: You know. When I first when I first started recognizing
Speaker 1: those things, it was just like damn, like well, if
Speaker 1: I was this person, I would have got that call,
Speaker 1: you know. And it's not necessarily about lineage or or
Speaker 1: or a tenure. It's just about making you know the
Speaker 1: right call. But you know, you live, you you learn,
Speaker 1: you learn from it, and you know, it just is
Speaker 1: what it is. Thoughts on this police brutality and the
Speaker 1: me that Cap took in seventeen and what that meant
Speaker 1: to you as a black man, as a black quarterback,
Speaker 1: as a black father, as a black business owner. Um
Speaker 1: in America. Man, It's it's tough because you know, when
Speaker 1: you have these conversations with your kids. They're oblivious to
Speaker 1: to the talks. You know what I'm saying. It's it's
Speaker 1: almost like it's crazy to to to think that men,
Speaker 1: my kids. They It's like if I pull up to
Speaker 1: a light and the police pulls up to the light,
Speaker 1: nobody says nothing in the car, you know, because they're afraid.
Speaker 1: You know, they hear about it. They hear about the
Speaker 1: George Floyd and I know the impact that you had,
Speaker 1: stack of my hat goes off to you. You know.
Speaker 1: But in all cases, this is not nothing new. You know,
Speaker 1: we just got the technology to expose what's happening now,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, to hold people accountable for
Speaker 1: you know, the situations that that that that take place,
Speaker 1: and you know, it's very disgusting to to even think
Speaker 1: about it, even talk about. But it needs to it
Speaker 1: needs to happen because I don't think I don't think
Speaker 1: racism is the key to the hatred. I really think
Speaker 1: that it's the uh, the not being familiar with cultures
Speaker 1: is the reason, because lack of understanding, the lack of
Speaker 1: understanding you know what, you don't know. Man, It's almost
Speaker 1: like we just talked about it and coaching. You know,
Speaker 1: if you don't know how to coach this kid that's
Speaker 1: that's that's from Compton, this kid that's from you know,
Speaker 1: boring Homes. This kid that's from Atlanta, Georgia, Louisiana, Miami.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying, Houston, Texas, you know, fourth
Speaker 1: or fifth War. You know what I mean. It's it's
Speaker 1: it's really rough and it's not gonna ever get through
Speaker 1: to them of how to communicate with that person. You
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. So you know it's it's that's
Speaker 1: really what the issue is. It's understanding what or how
Speaker 1: to go about it. You know what I'm saying. Because
Speaker 1: if you say shut up food to some people, it's
Speaker 1: not gonna hit the same. But you know, you say
Speaker 1: shut up food to a certain people like man and ship,
Speaker 1: that's fighting words. But I don't give if you're the
Speaker 1: damn mayor, I don't care. If you were the police officer,
Speaker 1: I don't care. You my teacher. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: You don't talk to me like that. And it's just
Speaker 1: all about respect. So and it's not a one way
Speaker 1: streat either. And I say that, you know from the
Speaker 1: white man's perspective trying to cope with the black culture.
Speaker 1: But it's also the responsibility of the black culture to
Speaker 1: understand white culture too, you know what I'm saying. So
Speaker 1: I'm a big opponent of of of of you know,
Speaker 1: becoming aware of of of what history is and also
Speaker 1: what your surroundings is. Because if you're not able to
Speaker 1: to to quote a country music lyric or or or
Speaker 1: uh contemporary music like bro, you gotta be sheltered. And
Speaker 1: I spoke on it on my on my social media,
Speaker 1: you know, just to be cultured, bro, on all fronts,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, From Chinese Americans to Asian Americans,
Speaker 1: to Caucasian Americans and African Americans to Hispanic Americans, everything everything,
Speaker 1: So you know, don't just judge a book by you
Speaker 1: know what they look like. Just be intrigued enough or
Speaker 1: you know, curious enough to find out about them. Everything
Speaker 1: is just a conversation a lot of a lot of people,
Speaker 1: they speak to be heard their own world. They don't
Speaker 1: want to listen, They just want to get their point across.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying, And and and what I
Speaker 1: understood was, you know, just like you said, uh, well,
Speaker 1: one of my my best friend. You wouldn't know nothing
Speaker 1: about me if it wasn't for a Jewish kid named
Speaker 1: Josh Pastner who is not not a head coach at
Speaker 1: Georgia Tech. And everything is just a conversation, you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. A lot of times people don't want
Speaker 1: to just have a conversation. That's how you get understanding.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying. But I be able to
Speaker 1: listen to somebody but also be able to give you
Speaker 1: a point of view. And that's that's a lot of
Speaker 1: problems with this where and when we, like you said,
Speaker 1: we talked about the cops and all that, but we
Speaker 1: got a high chance to get killed by our own kind.
Speaker 1: And that's the conversation of people. That's the conversation people
Speaker 1: don't want to have, you know what I mean. So
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. I'm always I'm always a realist,
Speaker 1: and I think I think that's why I get a
Speaker 1: lot of expect because I know, you know, I'm real
Speaker 1: with everything I say, and I know what's really going
Speaker 1: on out here, and uh, and I try to address
Speaker 1: all those things without being judgment or any race. Your
Speaker 1: God's gift ability to obviously you work your ass off
Speaker 1: to be able to run and jump and throw and
Speaker 1: do what you've been able to do. But it's always
Speaker 1: been effortless, the way you would sling the ball down
Speaker 1: the field, the way you would run thirty yards and
Speaker 1: then skate out of bounds when needed. You start getting injured.
Speaker 1: In seventeen, you have a shoulder surgery, then you have
Speaker 1: a foot surgery. What was that like for the first
Speaker 1: time in your career where it's night you know, I
Speaker 1: mean your nickname was Superman, super Cam. What was it
Speaker 1: like going through these injuries? Uh, mentally, but then still
Speaker 1: having to play physically when you're not really yourself? Man, bro,
Speaker 1: it's it's mean, y'all know, Brad as an athlete, you're
Speaker 1: never really a hundred oh man, that's it. That's a
Speaker 1: section in its own self. You feel me. But you know,
Speaker 1: for me, man, that's when doubt starts to creep in.
Speaker 1: And you know, for me, this year it was the
Speaker 1: first year I ain't never really had surgery and I'm
Speaker 1: and I'm blessed to say that even coming off last year,
Speaker 1: I had a foot procedure. You know that that that
Speaker 1: kind of took me aback. But you know, to be
Speaker 1: able to be healthy. It's like, man, I don't went
Speaker 1: through every type of emotion as an athlete, Oh my god,
Speaker 1: dog like damn, you know, being the face of a franchise,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, knocking the sports world off
Speaker 1: of their feet, you know, and also being a batter
Speaker 1: batter you know, lying in the in the jungle. I'm
Speaker 1: going through all that and I went through going still
Speaker 1: going through you know what I'm saying, and stuff like that,
Speaker 1: and not just embrace at all, bro, because you know,
Speaker 1: there's no teacher like life, you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: And I'm going through it and and welcoming it with
Speaker 1: open arms. At some point, you gotta you gotta learn,
Speaker 1: you know, especially as athletes, we learned how to enjoy
Speaker 1: the good time just as much as we're gonna enjoy
Speaker 1: the bad times, you know what I mean. And and
Speaker 1: that and that, and that's what gets us through, and
Speaker 1: that's what make us so tough too, because because we've
Speaker 1: been through so much, experience has always been the best teacher.
Speaker 1: And and and you've been through a lot browing and
Speaker 1: to see, you know, like I said, from me being
Speaker 1: ever from the beginning season to seeing what you went
Speaker 1: through to make it to the super Bowl, to the
Speaker 1: engine all that, and to see how you just blossom today.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying, I take my hat off
Speaker 1: to you because, like I said, I know you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. I know a lot of people that
Speaker 1: was going through that that didn't come out of a camp.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying, that they know where to
Speaker 1: be found. They folded Russ. So's to see you come
Speaker 1: out of that, I gotta salute you. But I because
Speaker 1: I already knew you was bill for it, and yeah, bro, man,
Speaker 1: it's just it's so much man that athletes kind of
Speaker 1: go through, and it's like an unspoken word. You're away
Speaker 1: from your family, you're away from your kids. You'll just
Speaker 1: the sacrifices that you make. I don't have the luxury
Speaker 1: to take my kids to day care. I don't have
Speaker 1: the luxury to to to eat with my children face
Speaker 1: to face, you know, in a timely manner where it's
Speaker 1: just like, all right, what we're gonna do in the morning.
Speaker 1: You know, next time I come back home, it's just
Speaker 1: gonna be probably for a couple of hours, about twenty
Speaker 1: four hours, and be ready to get back somewhere else,
Speaker 1: you know. So you know, while I have that that
Speaker 1: that that that chance, man, I gotta make the most
Speaker 1: of it. But at the same time, you just gotta
Speaker 1: compartmentalize your life and you know, live with it, you know.
Speaker 1: So you know, and y'all, y'all played eighty two games.
Speaker 1: When you know whether y'all go eighty two and oh
Speaker 1: or or an eighty two, you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: It just is what it is. So you know, for us,
Speaker 1: the sacrifices that you make from waking up at five am,
Speaker 1: going to bed at eleven PM, to get right back
Speaker 1: up and doing all over again, you know, making sure
Speaker 1: that you put the right things into your body, making
Speaker 1: sure that you've got the right people around you that
Speaker 1: keep you fresh, and making sure that you're taking care
Speaker 1: of your body, making sure that you're in the right
Speaker 1: state frame of mind, and and everything. It's so many
Speaker 1: underlying things that makes an athlete an athlete. That man,
Speaker 1: we don't even got a lot of time to even
Speaker 1: mention it, let alone you know, to live through it.
Speaker 1: So two thousand nineteen UM after coming to the league,
Speaker 1: the number one picking two thousand eleven, growing up, becoming
Speaker 1: a man, as a Panther. How tough was it um
Speaker 1: when they decided to release you at nineteen? What was
Speaker 1: your thoughts on the process and how it all ended,
Speaker 1: considering you gave everything you absolutely have that franchise. Yeah,
Speaker 1: it was tough. It's still tough. It's still tough. But
Speaker 1: when when you see a difference in ownership, when you
Speaker 1: see a difference in head coaching, when you see a
Speaker 1: difference in management, you know, it's it's it's only a
Speaker 1: matter of time. But you could be you could be
Speaker 1: optimistic all you want, but you know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: sooner or later that that hacks gonna come on you.
Speaker 1: So you know, man, the city of Charlotte has been
Speaker 1: good to me and my loyal to will always be there,
Speaker 1: you know. But at the end of the day, man,
Speaker 1: it's still a business. And the day you get drafted,
Speaker 1: the next day they they're looking for your replacement, you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. So if you're not getting the
Speaker 1: job done, bro, it's gonna be what it's gonna be.
Speaker 1: Joining the pages, I mean, you know, going going into
Speaker 1: the organization, you know, you know, you know what it
Speaker 1: was like, Tom Brady Championship organization, dealing with one of
Speaker 1: the the goat, Bill Belichick. You know what was that
Speaker 1: like going there? Like, what were you thinking? Man? It
Speaker 1: was it's it's everything. Everything is that that's advertised, you know. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know Bill Belichick is you know, the coach that
Speaker 1: you would expect him to be. You know, you got
Speaker 1: the opportunity to play with Papovich, So you know, you
Speaker 1: know what why certain coaches are who they are because
Speaker 1: of the morals that they have and and the coaches
Speaker 1: that they got up unto them. You know, Josh McDaniels
Speaker 1: is a person man that I got in high regard.
Speaker 1: You know, even the players like they know how to
Speaker 1: move and maneuver. So when I came on board, man,
Speaker 1: it was just almost like I wouldn't say a culture
Speaker 1: shop because I always used to working. You know, being
Speaker 1: a black quarterback, you don't necessarily always get labeled as
Speaker 1: you know, a person that's gonna work extra hours, are
Speaker 1: doing certain things just because that's what the that's what
Speaker 1: the stigma is. But that doesn't mean that you're you're
Speaker 1: not well and capable of doing certain things. But yet
Speaker 1: that experience and I'm still living in it, it was
Speaker 1: something that you know, I embraced because it was It
Speaker 1: wasn't something that I was new to. You know, these
Speaker 1: these you know the people and and uh New England. Man,
Speaker 1: are they used to championships and whatever lead you can
Speaker 1: go to NHL, MLB, NBA, NFL. You know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: Uh MLS. You know they used to win a championship.
Speaker 1: So everything is competition and I would not have wanted
Speaker 1: it any other way. Yeah, that's that's one of the
Speaker 1: first things I saw when you when you got to
Speaker 1: the wing. That's the first thing Bill better Check say,
Speaker 1: like what I would I love about camp? And he's
Speaker 1: the first one that he's the first one hand the
Speaker 1: last one to leave and and and that goes to
Speaker 1: testing what you said. They understand how hard you worked
Speaker 1: and how and how you land the team. But for
Speaker 1: Bill better Check to say that, you know, that's that's
Speaker 1: an ultimate compliment, compliment coming from him. Yeah, like for
Speaker 1: for real, bro, Like, man, I've been battle tested for
Speaker 1: so many different you know, ways of life and not
Speaker 1: only professional So man, I got O g S. Man.
Speaker 1: That kind of put me up on game the show. Like, Bro, man,
Speaker 1: you gotta do this, you gotta do that. You ain't
Speaker 1: you ain't You don't have the luxury to move like
Speaker 1: we moved because you're a quarterback. And I understood that,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, So you know how how
Speaker 1: I moved. Still to this day, it's always cognizant of
Speaker 1: of of you know, what the brand is, what I'm
Speaker 1: supposed to like, what is that person that's on the
Speaker 1: other side of the room thinking, you know about what
Speaker 1: I'm doing, you know, because perception is reality, you know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. So you know for me, man, I'm
Speaker 1: I'm always in tune to you know what I need
Speaker 1: to do and what has to be done. You and
Speaker 1: you you're in a special fraternity of black quarterbacks. And
Speaker 1: it's continued to grow. Uh, Doug Williams, Warren Moon around
Speaker 1: the kind of hand Michael Vick, Steve mcnaill, Donovan McNab,
Speaker 1: Dansay called people. How does how does it feel being
Speaker 1: in that? Being in and uh and it talks with
Speaker 1: those great quarterbacks. It's still it's still like wowing. But
Speaker 1: now you know, I came into the league where Michael
Speaker 1: Vick was still there, Donovan men nabb was still there,
Speaker 1: and that was it. You know what I'm saying now,
Speaker 1: the white quarterback is the minority quarterback. Now you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. And that's just that's just what it is.
Speaker 1: You know what I'm saying. If you're not able to
Speaker 1: to to to be athletic, you know, even even even
Speaker 1: the guys that when you look at like Ryan tanner Hill,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying, He he's athletic. You know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying, the two tongueablore like, he's athletic. You know, Uh,
Speaker 1: Chucks Brady is athletic. And Rodgers been athletic. You know
Speaker 1: what I'm saying. Those those just dropped back and throw it,
Speaker 1: Josh Allen. You know those guys are real, are real
Speaker 1: like you know, mechanics of making the play and extending
Speaker 1: the plays. And that's what this this game is turned into.
Speaker 1: As a quarterback, you can run for the yards, you
Speaker 1: gotta come back and know the play, know where to
Speaker 1: play going until you still got to be metally and
Speaker 1: statement slide slide of protection and know who the mic
Speaker 1: call is, Knowing what the defenses is trying to roll to,
Speaker 1: knowing what your hot is on, where your outlet is,
Speaker 1: you know, making sure and have it forbid somebody don't
Speaker 1: line up wrong. You gotta be able to you know,
Speaker 1: eight dog dog, you gotta come over here, you know
Speaker 1: in all of forty seconds. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: So I remember claim Mathew, you have to lie claim
Speaker 1: Matthews called out the plate like oh even if watching film,
Speaker 1: well watch this, watch this. I got something for you.
Speaker 1: You throw the touchdown with camp like that's how you
Speaker 1: know they would study you Like, Okay, you studying, but
Speaker 1: I'm studying a little harder than you. Yeah. Yeah, man,
Speaker 1: that's that's like, you know, we're we as. I don't
Speaker 1: want to say it like that, but I just keep
Speaker 1: it a buck. You know, being an athletic quarterback, you
Speaker 1: don't always get your just do by being a cerebral player,
Speaker 1: you know what I'm saying. They just expect you to
Speaker 1: just go out there and be a batter and ram
Speaker 1: and say, you know, you can run fast or you're
Speaker 1: bigger than everybody. So that's been your outlet. But you
Speaker 1: don't get to the professional level by just being one
Speaker 1: to you know, you know what I'm saying. So you know,
Speaker 1: having having having people to to to put you in
Speaker 1: in the mental work that you're gonna need to get
Speaker 1: prepared for Sunday's performances is extremely pivotal, not pivoting into
Speaker 1: something a little more fun. Where did your fashion and
Speaker 1: your expression come from? I read something that you're not
Speaker 1: buying the name brands no more. You're gonna start recycling
Speaker 1: everything in the closet, giving it a third or four
Speaker 1: spin for once. But where did where did all that fashion?
Speaker 1: You know that the headphones? Where the where all that
Speaker 1: come from? Man? Look dog, look, I'm from Atlanta, Georgia.
Speaker 1: Bro Like, we're all that like in my in my eyes.
Speaker 1: If it if you know, jay Z said, if you
Speaker 1: can make it in New York, you can make it anywhere.
Speaker 1: If it pop in Atlanta, It's gonna pop anywhere, you
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. So, you know, with me buying
Speaker 1: high fashion and me you know, kind of stepping back
Speaker 1: from that, you know, it makes you open up your
Speaker 1: creativity a little bit more. You know, I never was
Speaker 1: a mannequin dresser, you know what I mean. I was
Speaker 1: gonna put this with that, that with this, you know,
Speaker 1: add the you know bamboushka, add the you know the
Speaker 1: ribbon or the feather or you know, the hat, the fedora,
Speaker 1: and and that being a way to express myself with
Speaker 1: how I'm feeling in that particular point in day. And
Speaker 1: anybody who knows me, no, like I dress up every
Speaker 1: single day, every single day. It ain't it ain't the
Speaker 1: day that goes by if I'm stepping out of my
Speaker 1: house that I'm not dressed to the nons. And that's
Speaker 1: just the mentality that I've always said. I grew up
Speaker 1: in the church where you know, like I said, with
Speaker 1: my grandmother, my mother as well as my father. Like
Speaker 1: you know, even though the Bible says come as you are,
Speaker 1: I didn't have that luxury to just wear gym shorts
Speaker 1: and some some some flip flops, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: The church, we had to iron our slacks, wear socks,
Speaker 1: polish our shoes. Uh, you know how to tie tied,
Speaker 1: know how to tipe bow tie, those different things, those
Speaker 1: key centrals in life. So you know, on Sundays, get
Speaker 1: it up. You know that y'all may see is like,
Speaker 1: you know, whatever, that's just my everyday life because I'm comfortable,
Speaker 1: you know, wearing different type of fabrics. And now as
Speaker 1: you kind of dive into creating brands and creating different
Speaker 1: things or different aesthetics that you want to put your
Speaker 1: name on. It's easy because you've always been having this
Speaker 1: artistic mind to say, all right, well you wear your
Speaker 1: shirt like that, let me see where it is a
Speaker 1: different type of weight. And this all season me trying
Speaker 1: to dive into, you know, really kind of you know,
Speaker 1: the fashion world and anybody who's willing to teach me,
Speaker 1: you know, how to create something, because that's what it's
Speaker 1: all about. You know. I'm always enchanted by like the
Speaker 1: Louis Vatans and the Guccis and the easy. My hat
Speaker 1: goes off to Kanye West, because man, he's the culture,
Speaker 1: He's the vibe. You know. I was looking at the
Speaker 1: article yesterday where we've really had a topic of discussion
Speaker 1: of him wearing the Nike socks with some Adidas shoes,
Speaker 1: and it's like, man, what man, folks been doing that
Speaker 1: for years? You know what we're really talking about. This
Speaker 1: that's something that you know, that's what you're supposed to do.
Speaker 1: That's the thing now. But yet you know, we don't know,
Speaker 1: we don't give ourselves enough credit for you know, people
Speaker 1: biting off our staff, you know, the whole man, the
Speaker 1: whole I swell, we do, I swe we do so
Speaker 1: for me man being able to express myself with with
Speaker 1: clothing and fabric is it's something that's just that's just
Speaker 1: my niche, you know what I mean. And I want
Speaker 1: to I want to be able to give a person,
Speaker 1: you know, a a different outlook on things where it's like,
Speaker 1: I'm not the urban dresser. I don't necessarily look down
Speaker 1: on people who you know, who wear the Virgil of blues,
Speaker 1: the off whites, you know what I'm saying to things
Speaker 1: like that, to stand in line of where the Jordans
Speaker 1: and things like that. But you know that's not me.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna wear the slacks, the shirt, the details of
Speaker 1: everything from the lapel pin to the pocket square to
Speaker 1: you know, making sure my cuff links are are are
Speaker 1: showing just as much as it's supposed to show, and
Speaker 1: things like that. So me looking at life, you know
Speaker 1: through a third or two year old lands. You know,
Speaker 1: I always looked at guys that were more older than me,
Speaker 1: you know that lived in the eighties and the seventies,
Speaker 1: in the in the nineties, that really was like when
Speaker 1: they stepped bro they stepped the right way. Smiths, they
Speaker 1: smell good, you know what I'm saying that nails filed.
Speaker 1: You know what I mean, Like they really they're really
Speaker 1: pulling up with suppressions. So you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: My dad, My dad is in his sixties and he
Speaker 1: still got these nastiest little black boot with a little
Speaker 1: heel on the back from like dad, the ship went
Speaker 1: out thirty motherfucker years ago and he's still when he
Speaker 1: dressed up and put on some jeans, a little collar
Speaker 1: shirt in his little boots. Are you wearing right now?
Speaker 1: He used to kill him back in the day. Though,
Speaker 1: Boy man, we were talking, we were talking about this
Speaker 1: earlier and uh on my on my U segment of
Speaker 1: Sipping Smoke Man, we had uh Steve Harvey shout out
Speaker 1: to Steve there. He came in there with some Baill
Speaker 1: bottoms on, with some Chelsea boots. I said, I got
Speaker 1: to wear that, man. You know. I hit my tailor up.
Speaker 1: I hit my tailor up, and I'm like, bro, we
Speaker 1: got to bring this back, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: But to be it ain't even it ain't even what
Speaker 1: you got on. It's what's in you. It's how you step,
Speaker 1: It's how you it's how you move and maneuver. You
Speaker 1: know what I'm saying. It's the whole aesthetic of doing
Speaker 1: like Bro. You know, I smoked ciguards for for for
Speaker 1: for for the feeling and the how it makes me feel,
Speaker 1: but the whole overall asteatic. You know, I kicked my
Speaker 1: leg up just to the understand a little better. You
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. That's that, That's that I mean.
Speaker 1: I can't hear you. You know what I'm saying when
Speaker 1: you're saying not young, But you know that's what it is, Bro.
Speaker 1: You know I always had an offer that and and
Speaker 1: even going back to you know, my mentors, Tim Jackson,
Speaker 1: you know, always see people. I wouldn't always necessarily tell
Speaker 1: them that I'm watching them. I would just watch them
Speaker 1: and seeing how they maneuver, seeing how they move. Even
Speaker 1: going to Texas, I was like everybody around here where
Speaker 1: cowboy boots. You know what I'm saying. And I don't
Speaker 1: start starts everything the third too, you know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: With the cowboy had you feel me that whole vibe
Speaker 1: and not you know, I took a liken in all
Speaker 1: that stuff too. But you know, if it ain't, if
Speaker 1: it ain't the Louis, if it ain't you know what
Speaker 1: I'm saying, the red bottoms. People think, man, you ain't
Speaker 1: spend a good check up on them, and I'll start
Speaker 1: looking at the prices of them them custom boots. Man,
Speaker 1: Oh my god, Man, come on, brotherm things it's up there, bro.
Speaker 1: So you know, I'm I'm big on expressing myself in
Speaker 1: many ways and just opening my mouth. Man. I just
Speaker 1: want a person to feel my my presence and and
Speaker 1: and have a vibrant or about myself. Whether the idea
Speaker 1: of sipping smoke come from, since we're talking about it,
Speaker 1: where did that come from? You know, I I spoke
Speaker 1: on it, you know, offline. But you know for me
Speaker 1: as football players, but we don't, we don't. We don't
Speaker 1: get the opportunities as most most sports figures would get
Speaker 1: because we're playing a mad um profession. You know, if
Speaker 1: you don't know who o'dale is, or Tom Brady or
Speaker 1: Cam Newton or a DK Metcalf for Russell Wilson is,
Speaker 1: you know, you know, the natural person be like damn,
Speaker 1: like that's a big gass dude. He gotta play you know,
Speaker 1: basketball or football or something like that. You know, y'all
Speaker 1: play in the sport where you know that's Matt Barnes, right, there. Oh,
Speaker 1: that's Jack right there. That's this that I've seen him
Speaker 1: on the court. Now we gotta take our helmet off
Speaker 1: to show ourselves and now you know we we may
Speaker 1: heaven forbid if we wear advise or whatever. People really
Speaker 1: wouldn't even know, you know what I'm saying, outside of
Speaker 1: the stature that you have. So there's so many different
Speaker 1: things that that I'm into. And I went to school.
Speaker 1: I studied sociology, got my sociology degree and that kind
Speaker 1: of really pushed me towards finding out or being eager
Speaker 1: to know about people that to talk, so as far
Speaker 1: as spitting game and you know, putting people up on
Speaker 1: game and just talking to chat. And that's the thing
Speaker 1: that that comes to me now actually, and I just
Speaker 1: love to to to really sit down and chop it
Speaker 1: up with a person and to have the opportunity to
Speaker 1: get paid to do it, man, Like that's where it
Speaker 1: came from. So you know, I really love, you know,
Speaker 1: smoking cigars. I really love drinking wine. And those are
Speaker 1: the purest conversations, you know what I'm saying. When you
Speaker 1: really you know, when a person is not checking the
Speaker 1: clock to to to get somewhere, man, when the person
Speaker 1: has time to really dive into. Man, you hit certain
Speaker 1: topics that you didn't even know you know, was even
Speaker 1: a topic, current events, sports, you know. It's almost like
Speaker 1: having that uh, that barbershop talk, you know what I'm
Speaker 1: saying in the essence of you know what I'm saying, Uh,
Speaker 1: just a chair and to sit down. We got the
Speaker 1: home stretch before we get to these quick hitters. I
Speaker 1: always wanted to know how long does the fucking take
Speaker 1: you to write your captions on your Instagram page? You
Speaker 1: we have, Man, it's in the squiggles and h oh
Speaker 1: is it okay? I didn't know because I looked. Bro.
Speaker 1: I looked one day, I'm like, yeah, what how the
Speaker 1: fund you do this? Ship? It's an app, man, It's
Speaker 1: an app. It's called I Post My Way and you
Speaker 1: can download it on the Apple or Android and it
Speaker 1: allows you to create your own keyboard. So I've been
Speaker 1: getting that for years. But it's almost like, Bro, I'm
Speaker 1: not changing the way I text. We don't all write
Speaker 1: the same, so what we gotta text the same? Every
Speaker 1: time I see your post, I'll look at the post
Speaker 1: or whatever you got, but I want to read your
Speaker 1: caption to see if I can figure that ship right
Speaker 1: taking right this ship. You know. The thing is it
Speaker 1: started because I was I was typing or texting the person.
Speaker 1: And then when I didn't even know the keyboard could
Speaker 1: do these different things, and I started texting like that.
Speaker 1: It really makes people focus on what you're saying. It's like, hold,
Speaker 1: like what are you saying? Where are you? Then the
Speaker 1: thought you know that you really got to do it.
Speaker 1: You know you can't be driving while you're doing it.
Speaker 1: You gotta really focus. But yeah, it's a but it's
Speaker 1: an app and uh always I always wanted that. All right, man,
Speaker 1: we're on the quick hitters. Here's the first thing to
Speaker 1: kind of mind. Let us know one moment you can
Speaker 1: relive on the football field. Super Bowl Five favorite artists
Speaker 1: Jay z Uh, Beyonce, UM, John Mayor, UM, Whitney Houston, UM.
Speaker 1: And I'll say, uh, William Murphy. Uh, he's a he's
Speaker 1: a gospel singer. I could do. I could have said,
Speaker 1: Kirk Franklin, Donna McClerkin, Jaqualin Carr all of him. Man,
Speaker 1: I'm I'm I'm very in depth with with my musical genre. Man,
Speaker 1: I can I can go all day. There's some versatility
Speaker 1: in there. I'm gonna ask you two questions back to
Speaker 1: back real quick. Actually, Jack, you asked this one go ahead,
Speaker 1: one message on the billboard for the world to see.
Speaker 1: What would it be protect your piece at all costs
Speaker 1: and simple to protect your piece at all cars that's dope.
Speaker 1: And I say is the one. The one a to
Speaker 1: that is if it costs you your sanity, it's too expensive.
Speaker 1: All right, I'm gonna ask you two questions in a
Speaker 1: rowal quick. Uh. Dream guests for sipping smoke. Mike Tyson,
Speaker 1: Oh god, oh yeah, Mike's on our list. Two five
Speaker 1: dinner guests dead or alive, Wilke Chamberlain, Magic Johnson, Um,
Speaker 1: Derek Jeter, mhm um. I gotta throw Michael Jordan in there.
Speaker 1: Tiger Woods. Great, that's a dope. That's a dope. Five
Speaker 1: right there. Yeah, that's a greatness. That's a whole bunch
Speaker 1: of money. Man. We gotta say, we gotta have a
Speaker 1: lot of beano for that and a lot of us
Speaker 1: on that table. I know they got some stories that
Speaker 1: they just be like bro one time, Bro, I had
Speaker 1: what you know what, like no folks man, they was living,
Speaker 1: they was doing it the right way. And the fact
Speaker 1: that Derek Jeter. Derek is for living in the market
Speaker 1: that he was living in and never being caught. And
Speaker 1: he was a stone cold player on and off that time,
Speaker 1: a killer sniper with it too. I mean, he already
Speaker 1: knew what it was. And this was pre this was
Speaker 1: pre social media. This was a man. This dude knew
Speaker 1: how to move and moving with the best in both leagues.
Speaker 1: And a lot of those guys hang out in real life.
Speaker 1: M hm, Tiger. There they hang out in real life.
Speaker 1: And it's not by coincidence though, not at all, not
Speaker 1: at all. All Right, We're gonna finish up with this, bro.
Speaker 1: Who do you want to see on All the Smoke?
Speaker 1: And before you answer, you have to help us get
Speaker 1: your answer on our show. If you know the person,
Speaker 1: I'm pretty sure he do what we're talking to we're
Speaker 1: talking to I think, and I'm and this is coming
Speaker 1: from the the the tutor. You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 1: The person and that you know has done it is
Speaker 1: doing it. I think he could help a lot of people.
Speaker 1: Johnny Manziel, M Johnny Manzel was looking at it. I
Speaker 1: was looking at a a interview that he was doing. Man,
Speaker 1: and I just think, man, the dude was a rock star.
Speaker 1: Dude was a rock star. But I think he can
Speaker 1: help so many people by sharing his story, you know,
Speaker 1: and being on being given his story to people like you,
Speaker 1: your yourselves, Would you know, open up the minds of
Speaker 1: this high school phenom that's coming into a world that
Speaker 1: he doesn't even know even exists. You know what I'm saying,
Speaker 1: And yeah, Johnny Mack, okay, man, we appreciate your time.
Speaker 1: I knew this interview, whether we can keep talking, I
Speaker 1: feel like this vibe is endless. But I knew having
Speaker 1: this conversation with you, man, that it was you know,
Speaker 1: to me, I've just always been a fan of who
Speaker 1: you were on the field and who you represented as
Speaker 1: a person. I never listened and Jack and I both
Speaker 1: we never listened to the bullshit because there's always misconceptions
Speaker 1: about us. So I'm glad I got a chance to
Speaker 1: sit down and get to know you're a little bit
Speaker 1: better today and you spend the day with us, man,
Speaker 1: So we wanted to thank you for coming on the show.
Speaker 1: God blessed, stay healthy. Already what it is, and that's
Speaker 1: always say the end things man. One finger, one pinky,
Speaker 1: one thumb, one love Man, appreciate you guys man appreciate.
Speaker 1: But that's a rap jack. Great show. You can catch
Speaker 1: all the smoke on Showtime Basketball, YouTube, and the I
Speaker 1: Heart platform Black Effect. We'll see you all next week.
Speaker 1: This is all a Smoke, a production of The Black
Speaker 1: Effect and our Heart Radio and partnership with Showtime