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Speaker 1: Welcome to another edition of the Dave Pash Podcast. I'm

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Speaker 1: your host ESPN and Arizona Cardinals broadcaster Dave Pash. My

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Speaker 1: guest today is legendary Detroit Lion linebacker Chris Spielman, former

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Speaker 1: television announcer for ESPN, ABC and Fox, and currently special

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Speaker 1: assistant to the Owner, CEO and President of the Detroit Lions.

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Speaker 1: Chris was recently inducted into the Pride of the Lions,

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Speaker 1: which is the Detroit Lions Ring of Honor. He's the

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Speaker 1: nineteenth ever. It was a very emotional video that maybe

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Speaker 1: some of you saw when he found out that he

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Speaker 1: was going to be inducted. If you haven't seen it,

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Speaker 1: check it out. It's a must. Google it or go

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Speaker 1: to YouTube. It's phenomenal. We'll talk with Chris about his

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Speaker 1: role with the team, how this job came about, and

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Speaker 1: what exactly he does on a daily basis. Has he

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Speaker 1: gotten a taste of what life is like for his brother,

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Speaker 1: Rick Spielman, who's the general manager of the Minnesota Vikings.

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Speaker 1: What Cardinal fans should expect the Lions this week. The

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Speaker 1: Lions being in a transition phase similar to where the

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Speaker 1: Cardinals are a couple of years ago. Have Chris and

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Speaker 1: the Detroit Lions taken a page from Steve Kime and

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Speaker 1: the Arizona Cardinals book on transforming a franchise into a

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Speaker 1: playoff contender. Plus the time I ran into Chris in

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Speaker 1: a hotel weight room and it costs me for about

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Speaker 1: a month. I remember how how pitiful you were. Yes, well,

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Speaker 1: anybody that calls their home gym the torture chamber deserves

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Speaker 1: to be avoided at all costs in a hotel. Jem

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Speaker 1: all that and much more coming up with Chris Spielman.

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Speaker 1: We are presented by bet mgm, the official sports betting

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Speaker 1: called one eight hundred. Next step without further ado, Here's

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Speaker 1: the legend Chris Spielman. So, Chris, let's start by talking

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Speaker 1: about you getting inducted into the Pride of the Lions.

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Speaker 1: You're the nineteenth ever. Millions have seen the video. First

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Speaker 1: of all, was so happy for you, and I saw

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Speaker 1: your emotion, and I know that it's real, like people

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Speaker 1: that know you know how much it means to you.

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Speaker 1: What we I mean, were you surprised? Obviously you were surprised.

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Speaker 1: I guess why were you surprised? Because I thought the

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Speaker 1: should have happened a long time ago. I know you're

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Speaker 1: not gonna saying about that, but what was it like,

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Speaker 1: what were emotions like? And how special was it to you? Well?

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Speaker 1: I think it because it is something that is you know.

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Speaker 1: I always felt kind of weird about getting individual honors

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Speaker 1: within a team sport because my success, whatever success I had,

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Speaker 1: was directly related to defensive linement that I played with

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Speaker 1: right in a scheme, and and obviously I was able

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Speaker 1: to do a certain amount of things, but it couldn't

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Speaker 1: be done without a lot of people involved, including a

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Speaker 1: great support system. I think the emotion just being back

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Speaker 1: here in Detroit, and obviously, Dave, you and I know

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Speaker 1: each other well, but this is where my late wife

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Speaker 1: and I started our family and started our life together,

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Speaker 1: so and I kind of she was part of that

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Speaker 1: Detroit Lion journey, so that all kind of came back

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Speaker 1: to me at one time, which was caused for the emotion.

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Speaker 1: And you're surprised because you know, I mean, I thought

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Speaker 1: I was a good player. I didn't know if I

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Speaker 1: was deserving of that, but I'll take it. So yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean four Pro Bowls three with Detroit, so obviously

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Speaker 1: part of and the way you played too, you know this,

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Speaker 1: the way you played, you embody, that's it. I lived

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Speaker 1: there for two years. I know what people in Detroit

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Speaker 1: are all about and who you are as a person,

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Speaker 1: and the way you played you were like the perfect

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Speaker 1: Detroit Lion. Well, I think I think it's what coach

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Speaker 1: Campbell's bringing to right. It's all about that writ I

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Speaker 1: guess it's the word that he used. And I think

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Speaker 1: for me, I think it was a great honor to

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Speaker 1: play in the NFL, and it wasn't an honor for

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Speaker 1: the NFL to have me in it. It was the opposite,

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Speaker 1: And so I never took that for granted, and I

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Speaker 1: always wanted to. It was very conscious of who I represented,

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Speaker 1: whether it was the Ford family, whether it was my teammates,

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Speaker 1: whether it was my family, whether it was the city

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Speaker 1: of Detroit, the fans of Detroit. That's something that I

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Speaker 1: took very seriously throughout my whole time here in eight years. Well,

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Speaker 1: for people that are listening to this at are Cardinal

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Speaker 1: fans that maybe you remember you a little bit. The

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Speaker 1: way you played was a lot like Wolf, and that

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Speaker 1: you just you threw everything into it. And anytime that

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Speaker 1: I feel like the aches and pains of getting older

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Speaker 1: and my body, my body's bothering, I'll just call you

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Speaker 1: and be like, hey, this hurts. You're like, oh yeah, well, here,

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Speaker 1: here's how I have to sleep. I have to get

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Speaker 1: this specific position where I don't have any tingling in

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Speaker 1: my arms or any part of my body to be

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Speaker 1: able to fall asleep. And I automatically stopped feeling sorry

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Speaker 1: for myself. I know, I know Wolf probably feel the

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Speaker 1: same way. Like that's something that you know going into

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Speaker 1: like you know what you signed up to do, and

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Speaker 1: you know, and I always referred to it as I

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Speaker 1: always got to pay taxes once in a while, right,

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Speaker 1: and taxes stuff for claiming in the NFL is certain

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Speaker 1: things that you have to deal with physically as you

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Speaker 1: get older. But that's I think it's important to you know,

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Speaker 1: always try to take care of yourself. I mean, you

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Speaker 1: and I talk about just diet, nutrition, exercise, and just

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Speaker 1: you know, taking care of your body, especially if your

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Speaker 1: body's been hit and beat up for so many years.

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Speaker 1: It helps, I think eas the agent process just a tad.

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Speaker 1: I know Wolf struggles with how the game has changed.

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Speaker 1: I shouldn't say the game necessarily, it's a way of

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Speaker 1: officiating and the way the game is set up is

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Speaker 1: different than it was when you guys played. Is that

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Speaker 1: has that been a hard adjustment for you, because I

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Speaker 1: know it has been for Wolf and for others of

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Speaker 1: your guys era and how physical it was and what

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Speaker 1: you had to do to prepare to play and then

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Speaker 1: actually get through a game and then survive to do

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Speaker 1: it again a week later. I mean, I think the

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Speaker 1: game is safer than it was, so I think some

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Speaker 1: of the rule changes about trying to get to head

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Speaker 1: out of the game makes sense because we're more educated

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Speaker 1: as an NFL population of you know, concussions in the

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Speaker 1: ramifications of concussions as we get older. I think the

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Speaker 1: most disappointing thing is is that guys won't play with

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Speaker 1: things that I played with, right, a broken thumb. You know,

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Speaker 1: you put a cast on it, and you shoot it

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Speaker 1: up and you go. The rule that I always had

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Speaker 1: if I was running, I was playing. Now, if you

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Speaker 1: can't run, if there's something wrong with your lower body

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Speaker 1: and you're not running full speed, then you're only going

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Speaker 1: to hurt your team because you'll get embarrassed if you

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Speaker 1: can't run, But upper body, I think there was you

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Speaker 1: should always try to find a way to play. And

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Speaker 1: I think that maybe nowadays because guys, you know, make

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Speaker 1: so much money, which I'm glad they do. I'm all

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Speaker 1: for that, but they tend to maybe protect themselves a

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Speaker 1: little bit when they should probably think of maybe I

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Speaker 1: can go and play if they do this, or if

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Speaker 1: I cast it up or whatever. I think guys are

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Speaker 1: very cautious about playing. And I actually just had this

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Speaker 1: conversation with my wife this morning, and I think that's

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Speaker 1: probably been the biggest adjustment for me to get used to,

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Speaker 1: is that, what do you mean he's not practicing? What

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Speaker 1: do me? And he stopped playing and you know, there's

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Speaker 1: nothing The player I think has more control now than

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Speaker 1: they did when Wolf and I played about when they

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Speaker 1: play and don't play? What was Carrie killing you in

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Speaker 1: the gym again? Is this way you had to have

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Speaker 1: the conversation. She's got the same mentality. Yeah, so I

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Speaker 1: she was actually just getting him out the gym and

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Speaker 1: I asked, h, I said, how you actually lifted today?

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Speaker 1: So that started a whole little what are you talking about?

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Speaker 1: Five days a week? What do you want? So I

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Speaker 1: just remember the three years we worked together. I would

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Speaker 1: time out when I would go to the gym in

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Speaker 1: the hotel to make sure that I avoided you. It

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Speaker 1: was like, okay, if it was after seven am, there's

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Speaker 1: a good chance Spiells is done. Because one time you

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Speaker 1: caught me. I came in and you're you come over,

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Speaker 1: you go, look, hey, what are you doing today? Like

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Speaker 1: I'm doing back Hey, let me show you something. And

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Speaker 1: the next thing you know, we're in this hotel gym

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Speaker 1: and there's other people in the gym. You have me

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Speaker 1: doing chin ups, pull ups, and you're under my feet

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Speaker 1: pushing me up. My let's hurt for two months. This

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Speaker 1: is why I hope carry's avoiding you in the gym.

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Speaker 1: That was actually that was actually in Wisconsin. Uh you

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Speaker 1: remember that's sad that you actually remember remember how how

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Speaker 1: pitiful you weren't? Yes, well, anybody that calls their home

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Speaker 1: gym the torture chamber deserves to be avoided at all

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Speaker 1: costs in a hotel job. Yeah, but in all seriousness, no,

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Speaker 1: I do think I talked to a lot of X

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Speaker 1: players about this, that it is important too to try

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Speaker 1: to stay in shape. But guys either go one way

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Speaker 1: or another, right, they either let themselves go, or they

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Speaker 1: don't want to work out anymore because they've been working

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Speaker 1: out their whole entire life, and or they don't watch

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Speaker 1: what they eat anymore. And I just I'm a big

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Speaker 1: proponent I think of keep working out and eating healthy

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Speaker 1: because I do think you it has a little bit

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Speaker 1: of in your life, a little bit. We know all

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Speaker 1: the problems that former NFL players deal with as they

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Speaker 1: get older, and uh, you know, the lifespan isn't very long. Actually,

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Speaker 1: I think that the studies will show you that. So

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Speaker 1: I've always encouraged coaches even now. I got two coaches

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Speaker 1: that I work out on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday at

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Speaker 1: six am, because you know, coaches can live an awful

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Speaker 1: lifestyle just to their diet and they put all these

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Speaker 1: hours in and it work so hard. I always talk

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Speaker 1: to them about being balanced, about being balanced mentally, about

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Speaker 1: being balanced physically and being balanced spiritually. That's six am.

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Speaker 1: That that's why so late. I mean that you're being

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Speaker 1: done by that. You're going if I do mine at five,

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Speaker 1: then I trained them at six. So the so I

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Speaker 1: gotta bet at seven thirty. So your role as the

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Speaker 1: special assistant to the owner and the CEO the president.

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Speaker 1: U correct me if I'm wrong on all that you're

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Speaker 1: the special assistant too. Basically when you were hired, first

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Speaker 1: of all, take me through how it came about, and

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Speaker 1: then exactly what you're doing on a daily basis. So

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Speaker 1: last year, about this time, about a year ago, received

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Speaker 1: a phone call from rod Wood after they relieved Matt

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Speaker 1: Patricia as head coach, and they asked me to be

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Speaker 1: a part of a coaching search. Well, first he asked

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Speaker 1: me if I wanted an interview for the GM job,

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Speaker 1: and I said, well, I'm very flattered that you asked

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Speaker 1: when I'm not qualified to be internal manager, but I

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Speaker 1: do think I can help in other areas. So we

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Speaker 1: talked about it and we kind of came up with

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Speaker 1: this role that I'm in now, and I guess the

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Speaker 1: best way to put it, it's kind of been evolving.

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Speaker 1: Originally it was to be one of four people on

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Speaker 1: a hiring committee to hire a general manager and head coach.

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Speaker 1: It was myself, Rod Wood, Sheila hamp and Mike Bisner.

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Speaker 1: People in Arizona should know Mike. Mike spend some time

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Speaker 1: with the Cardinals and really bright young guy and will

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Speaker 1: be a future president one day. And then we ended

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Speaker 1: up hiring Coach Campbell and Brad Holmes. After that process

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Speaker 1: took place, I sat in with some of the assistant

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Speaker 1: coach interviews with Coach Campbell and just offered an opinion.

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Speaker 1: I do meet with the Ford family every Tuesday morning

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Speaker 1: along with Coach Campbell and Brad Holmes and just offer

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Speaker 1: a third perspective of what I saw during a game.

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Speaker 1: I'm also involved with helping people in ticket sales. I've

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Speaker 1: made calls to season ticket holders. You know, it's tough

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Speaker 1: to sell season tickets when you're one to eleven and one,

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Speaker 1: But we're trying to get people to see the big

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Speaker 1: vision that we have around here, what we're trying to

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Speaker 1: build in the foundation that's being laid. The other thing

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Speaker 1: I've been able to do is work with some of

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Speaker 1: the young linebackers. I don't talk anything philosophically about we're

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Speaker 1: doing defense. That's not my role, but as far as

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Speaker 1: fundamentals and stuff like that, I work with him before practice,

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Speaker 1: I work with him after practice. Also very involved with

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Speaker 1: the personnel and scouting. I talked to college scouts on

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Speaker 1: a regular basis. Brad Holmes are j GM. Gives me

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Speaker 1: some assignments to do to help him. Then we've always

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Speaker 1: bounce IDAs off did you think about this? Or he'll

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Speaker 1: ask me what I think about that? Or would you

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Speaker 1: see there? What I see there? So I'm basically and

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Speaker 1: I think it's a role that will probably evolve within

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Speaker 1: the NFL. I'm kind of like an outside set of

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Speaker 1: eyes that just offers something different because you know, if

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Speaker 1: you spend so much time around something or people start

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Speaker 1: seeing the same thing. So I do a pretty good

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Speaker 1: job of keeping independent thought and evaluation of what's going

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Speaker 1: on within the total organization, not just the football side. Well,

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Speaker 1: you by nature, Chris or somebody who you fies who

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Speaker 1: brings people together. How much of the Lions reaching out

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Speaker 1: to you for the position that you have was about

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Speaker 1: bringing unity and trying to get the building together as

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Speaker 1: an organization. And to your point on this role evolving

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Speaker 1: in the NFL. Do you think we'll see other teams

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Speaker 1: hiring either former players or people that have been in

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Speaker 1: other parts of football to come in in a similar

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Speaker 1: role that you have. Do you think we'll see more

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Speaker 1: people in the role that you have across the league?

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Speaker 1: I don't know, because I think you yet. First of all,

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Speaker 1: it has to be somebody that's not motivated that one

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Speaker 1: another job, right, I don't want to. I mean, that's

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Speaker 1: the one thing that I had to make sure Brad

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Speaker 1: and Dan understood that I'm not interested in being a

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Speaker 1: general manager. I'm not interested in being a coach. I'm

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Speaker 1: interested in being service, service oriented towards you guys. I

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Speaker 1: told them, Look, I climb my mountain as a player.

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Speaker 1: I reached the epitome of what I possibly could reach

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Speaker 1: as an NFL player. That was my goal, that was

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Speaker 1: my dream. Now my whole Michigan life is to help

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Speaker 1: others succeed and see them successful. And so in order

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Speaker 1: to do that, you have to be humble, and you

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Speaker 1: have to be able to understand that you're working with them.

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Speaker 1: They're not working for you. I'm working with them. I

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Speaker 1: do what they ask me to do. I offer my opinions,

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Speaker 1: whether sometimes they take them, sometimes they don't, but it's

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Speaker 1: just another it's another set of eyes and another voice

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Speaker 1: for them to make the best decisions possible. As far

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Speaker 1: as the unification of the team, I think I've had

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Speaker 1: brought some pretty good ideas. Some of them have been implemented.

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Speaker 1: I think one of the things is we're in a

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Speaker 1: different position here where we have the business operations at

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Speaker 1: Ford Field and a football side of things is here

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Speaker 1: at Alan Park. It's been a little challenging with COVID,

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Speaker 1: but one of the things I do is I'll go

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Speaker 1: down on a monthly basis and I'll meet with a

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Speaker 1: ticket office, with partnerships, with corporate sales, whatever organization or

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Speaker 1: whatever group is down at Ford Field, and I'll keep

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Speaker 1: give them an update of what's going on here at

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Speaker 1: the football side of things. And it makes them feel included,

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Speaker 1: and they should feel included because we're all Detroit Lions.

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Speaker 1: And that's something that I take a lot of pride

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Speaker 1: in and that's something that was never present here before.

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Speaker 1: Another thing is, again we go back to the health

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Speaker 1: and fitness thing. We were able to put an employee

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Speaker 1: weight room down at Ford Field just to let and

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Speaker 1: give those folks access to the players, nutritionists to the

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Speaker 1: players strength coaches, and have them set programs. So it's

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Speaker 1: all about inclusion of everybody and everybody going for one

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Speaker 1: common goal and one common purpose. And we understand that.

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Speaker 1: You know, it takes everybody involved to have a championship organization,

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Speaker 1: not just obviously on the field, but off the field too,

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Speaker 1: and how you treat people and how we treat our fans.

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Speaker 1: And it's been a wonderful learning experience for me, and

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Speaker 1: it's been everything I thought would be. You mentioned that

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Speaker 1: when you got to call originally there was some conversation

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Speaker 1: about whether you'd be interested in being the GM, and

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Speaker 1: you said that interview interview for the GM, and you

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Speaker 1: said that you weren't qualified for that. Your brother Rick

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Speaker 1: has been the longtime GM in the Minnesota Vikings and

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Speaker 1: has been in various positions across the league in personnel

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Speaker 1: for more than two decades. Have you at all gotten

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Speaker 1: the taste of what Rick's life has been like, because

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Speaker 1: I know you're not directly involved in personnel decisions, but

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Speaker 1: as you said earlier, you're in those meetings. You're having

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Speaker 1: conversations with Brad Holmes, the GM and other scouts. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: I kind of knew it was like because I did

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Speaker 1: sitting in some stuff with Rick over the years, which

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Speaker 1: kind of gave me a good perspective. I've also worked

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Speaker 1: with John Dorsey, who's a senior consultant here, and we

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Speaker 1: talk and bounce ideas off of each other. And you know,

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Speaker 1: I think the one thing that I learned is from

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Speaker 1: their experience. I've learned a ton of different things. I

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Speaker 1: think the best coolest example of learning was I was

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Speaker 1: doing linebackers last year for the draft and just watching

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Speaker 1: film and putting grades on him, and to my surprise,

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Speaker 1: I thought everybody was awful, so so so and I

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Speaker 1: would and we would give these presentations. And Dave Sears,

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Speaker 1: the director of college scouting for the Alliance here, he

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Speaker 1: called me up out of the blue, and I gave

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Speaker 1: him a lot of credit. He said, hey, you want

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Speaker 1: some advice. I said, sure, I'm always open for advice.

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Speaker 1: He said, it's been my experience over the year years

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Speaker 1: that guys that play a certain position, like yourself, they're

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Speaker 1: much harder on the guys that they're grating. They're not given.

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Speaker 1: And I said, and I thought about that for a second,

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Speaker 1: and I said, you know, what, You're exactly right. So

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Speaker 1: I went back and redid every linebacker that was on

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Speaker 1: my list and came out with a total different outcome,

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Speaker 1: you know, And so that was the I think the

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Speaker 1: best thing that I learned, and what I also learned

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Speaker 1: is that you know, Biblically it says what be quick

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Speaker 1: to listen and slow to speak. And as we got

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Speaker 1: in more and more into the personnel, I just kept

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Speaker 1: taking in all this information which would help me better

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Speaker 1: serve the Lions. And I guess the one thing maybe

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Speaker 1: I taught some scouts, because sometimes scouts can get caught

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Speaker 1: up and everything numbers wise, arm length, which is important,

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Speaker 1: all that is very important. And the one thing I said,

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Speaker 1: here's the one thing I know is that if he's

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Speaker 1: not making plays in college, it's probably not going to

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Speaker 1: make him any NFL. And so, you know, it was

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Speaker 1: one guy came up to me and said, you know,

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Speaker 1: sometimes we forget about the common sense part of the game,

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Speaker 1: and if he ain't making plays in college, probably won't

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Speaker 1: be making him up here. I just want to for

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Speaker 1: Steve Kim was a tremendous help to me too when

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Speaker 1: I first got this job and the interview process and

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Speaker 1: was a great resource on what to look for. So

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Speaker 1: Rick and Steve and Dorsey and a bunch of other

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Speaker 1: guys around the league were really helpful, which was really cool. Well,

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Speaker 1: speaking of linebacker, Steve drafted linebackers each of the last

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Speaker 1: two years in the first round. Isaiah Simmons did not

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Speaker 1: have the benefit of preseason games last year, so last

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Speaker 1: year was basically just training camp extended for him, and

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Speaker 1: he's really playing well. Zaban Collins started out the year

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Speaker 1: as the starter. He's barely playing, although he had a

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Speaker 1: big fumble recovery on Monday Night. Football are if not

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Speaker 1: fumble recovery the on site kick. I guess it was

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Speaker 1: a muff on the onside kick that he recovered. But

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Speaker 1: he is in a learning phase. It's a it's a

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Speaker 1: big transition. So as somebody that played the position, what

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Speaker 1: would your advice be to those guys about learning the

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Speaker 1: NFL game and the difference it is from a mental standpoint,

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Speaker 1: not just a physical standpoint. So well, the same advice

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Speaker 1: I give these guys, I think my guys, my young players,

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Speaker 1: is that every day is like is game date. Like

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Speaker 1: when they're at practice, it's got to be a game.

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Speaker 1: To me, there's no such thing as a walkthrough as

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Speaker 1: a linebacker, even if it's labeled a walkthrough in a

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Speaker 1: practice field and other guys may be walking through, your

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Speaker 1: first three steps have to be bam, bam bam. I

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Speaker 1: think virtual, the virtual room. My most NFL teams have

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Speaker 1: virtual rooms where you can put on the goggles or

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Speaker 1: put on a wall and you can play the game.

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Speaker 1: So you stand there watching the watching the film from

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Speaker 1: the end zone copy, and you visualize yourself and actually

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Speaker 1: take the steps on where you're supposed to be. I

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Speaker 1: think the biggest part of the transition is learning how

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Speaker 1: to play match defense and zone coverage, and like match

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Speaker 1: coverage is kind of a mixture between man and zone,

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Speaker 1: and sometimes there's different rules that you have to learn.

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Speaker 1: So it's rep after rep after rep. And the last

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Speaker 1: thing I tell them is, you've got nothing else going on.

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Speaker 1: This is your shot. This is a once in a

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Speaker 1: lifetime opportunity. You have to put in extra time away

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Speaker 1: from football. You just have to if you're young, especially

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Speaker 1: if you're still trying to learn a system and there's

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Speaker 1: nothing else you can do right now except football. And

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Speaker 1: I think you owe that to football, and you owe

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Speaker 1: that to yourself to give yourself the best chance to

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Speaker 1: be successful, not only for yourself, but more importantly for

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Speaker 1: your team. You guys are in year one of a

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Speaker 1: new era. The Cardinals are in year three. So where

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Speaker 1: you guys are right now the Lions. The Cardinals were

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Speaker 1: in twenty nineteen when they went away from Josh Rosen

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Speaker 1: and Steve Wilkes, hired Cliff Kingsbury, drafted Kyler Murray and

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Speaker 1: the first year it was a struggle. But here we

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Speaker 1: are in year three. Yes, the Cardinals are lost on

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Speaker 1: Monday Night, but there's still ten and three type of

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Speaker 1: the best record in the NFL. When you look at

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Speaker 1: the Cardinals and you mentioned Steve has been helpful to

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Speaker 1: you in your transition, is there anything specific that you've

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Speaker 1: noticed of how the Cardinals have gone about things that

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Speaker 1: you will draw from to try to help transform the

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Speaker 1: Detroit Lions. Yeah. I mean, I think Steve's done a

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Speaker 1: pretty good job of drafting players right. He saw his

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Speaker 1: quarterback and his vision. He did a great job of

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Speaker 1: matching quarterback with coach. I know that. I think one

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Speaker 1: of the things you can correct me if I'm wrong,

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Speaker 1: but I thought that when I was working at TV,

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Speaker 1: Cliff said this that when they for Scott Kyler Murray,

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Speaker 1: I thought they adopted the language of Oklahoma. So that

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Speaker 1: made that. So, I mean, that's that's just smart, common

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Speaker 1: sense stuff. And you know Isaiah Simmons right, you he

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Speaker 1: was he struggled at times last year. I remember the

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Speaker 1: San Francisco game and the opener, the first time he

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Speaker 1: was in a game. They were in man coverage and

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Speaker 1: the running back did a little f angle for a

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Speaker 1: touchdown on him last year, And I mean that's you know,

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Speaker 1: And so I think they understand they have great players

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Speaker 1: and there's a learning curve and there's there's a process

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Speaker 1: to the growth. He's done a good job of maintaining

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Speaker 1: the player at Buddha Baker, right, how hard does he play?

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Speaker 1: How productive has he been over the years and so,

431
00:24:43,440 --> 00:24:45,520
Speaker 1: and he's also done a good job of adding depth.

432
00:24:45,560 --> 00:24:49,560
Speaker 1: I mean Connor from the running back. I mean, every

433
00:24:49,600 --> 00:24:52,240
Speaker 1: time I look up, that guy's making play. So Steve

434
00:24:52,320 --> 00:24:57,040
Speaker 1: understands his roster, He's built that roster. He understands he

435
00:24:57,119 --> 00:25:00,640
Speaker 1: got a great deal for new Hopkins. So I mean

436
00:25:00,680 --> 00:25:02,720
Speaker 1: all the things that he's done has been done the

437
00:25:02,840 --> 00:25:06,240
Speaker 1: right way, and it's not without making mistakes along the way.

438
00:25:06,359 --> 00:25:09,320
Speaker 1: And we'll make mistakes along the way, but he had to.

439
00:25:09,560 --> 00:25:11,840
Speaker 1: I think Steve did a great job of recognizing. This

440
00:25:11,920 --> 00:25:13,879
Speaker 1: is what good teams do and good gms do. They

441
00:25:13,920 --> 00:25:18,520
Speaker 1: recognize when they make mistakes, and they don't keep multiplying

442
00:25:18,520 --> 00:25:21,120
Speaker 1: the mistake. They correct it and they move on. And

443
00:25:21,160 --> 00:25:22,919
Speaker 1: so I think that was a great lesson that you

444
00:25:22,920 --> 00:25:26,959
Speaker 1: can learn from the Cardinals. You mentioned television. Is there

445
00:25:27,000 --> 00:25:31,440
Speaker 1: any part of broadcasting that you miss? And if so,

446
00:25:31,800 --> 00:25:35,440
Speaker 1: what is it that you miss? Like, you know, you're

447
00:25:35,440 --> 00:25:39,439
Speaker 1: in it right, so you know that your partners that

448
00:25:39,520 --> 00:25:43,159
Speaker 1: you work with, especially if you have great relationships, you

449
00:25:43,240 --> 00:25:46,240
Speaker 1: miss being around your friends, like I miss. I still

450
00:25:46,280 --> 00:25:50,359
Speaker 1: miss hanging out with you every weekend. And you know,

451
00:25:50,440 --> 00:25:53,639
Speaker 1: we did everything together. We took walks together, we you know,

452
00:25:53,680 --> 00:25:59,520
Speaker 1: we had dinners. It's almost like I was poor. But

453
00:25:59,520 --> 00:26:02,560
Speaker 1: but I guess the people that you know, and I

454
00:26:02,600 --> 00:26:07,639
Speaker 1: want people to understand that how seriously the director is,

455
00:26:07,640 --> 00:26:11,280
Speaker 1: the producers, the camera folks, they're pros and they take

456
00:26:11,320 --> 00:26:14,040
Speaker 1: their job very seriously. How serious you and I took

457
00:26:14,080 --> 00:26:17,720
Speaker 1: the job, and how prepared we wore And now there's

458
00:26:17,720 --> 00:26:21,720
Speaker 1: some challenges of doing live TV. And I remember, you know,

459
00:26:21,800 --> 00:26:24,520
Speaker 1: I think our most memorable game. Now you might have

460
00:26:24,520 --> 00:26:28,520
Speaker 1: a different thought about this, was that when you and

461
00:26:28,520 --> 00:26:31,840
Speaker 1: I did the Penn State game after the whole Jerry

462
00:26:31,840 --> 00:26:34,679
Speaker 1: Sandusky thing broke, and we have like security there and

463
00:26:34,720 --> 00:26:37,480
Speaker 1: all that stuff, but we actually said a prayer before

464
00:26:37,520 --> 00:26:40,359
Speaker 1: the game that we would do with justice. And I

465
00:26:40,400 --> 00:26:44,040
Speaker 1: think we did a great job. But I mean, I

466
00:26:44,119 --> 00:26:48,920
Speaker 1: enjoyed doing the games. But if I missed, it's the people.

467
00:26:48,960 --> 00:26:52,800
Speaker 1: It's the relationships, right, It's your teammates, and that's I

468
00:26:52,800 --> 00:26:55,320
Speaker 1: don't know if it's a curse or not, but I

469
00:26:55,359 --> 00:26:59,520
Speaker 1: think my thing is is that when I get involved

470
00:26:59,520 --> 00:27:02,160
Speaker 1: with somebody, be like they're not They're like a teammate

471
00:27:02,200 --> 00:27:04,520
Speaker 1: to me, and a teammate not in a sense that

472
00:27:04,680 --> 00:27:06,760
Speaker 1: the world used his teammate, but like, what do you

473
00:27:06,800 --> 00:27:09,159
Speaker 1: need anytime in the moment. If I could do it,

474
00:27:09,200 --> 00:27:12,440
Speaker 1: I'll do it for you. Well, that game you mentioned

475
00:27:12,480 --> 00:27:16,560
Speaker 1: that was Nebraska Penn State. Days after Joe Paterno was fired.

476
00:27:16,600 --> 00:27:22,960
Speaker 1: There are riots in yeah, because yeah, and obviously the

477
00:27:23,080 --> 00:27:28,320
Speaker 1: Jerry Sandusky news breaking. Plus it was you, me and

478
00:27:28,400 --> 00:27:31,359
Speaker 1: Urban Meyer and Urban's father passed away that week, so

479
00:27:31,400 --> 00:27:35,120
Speaker 1: there was so much going on. Tom Rinaldi was with us.

480
00:27:35,240 --> 00:27:38,760
Speaker 1: I remember Jay Paterno, who was you know, Joe's son

481
00:27:38,880 --> 00:27:41,040
Speaker 1: and was part of the coaching staff, telling Tom in

482
00:27:41,080 --> 00:27:43,080
Speaker 1: our meetings. I don't know if you remember this, Tom Rinaldi,

483
00:27:43,440 --> 00:27:46,120
Speaker 1: no matter what, You're not going to make me cry. Yeah,

484
00:27:46,160 --> 00:27:48,040
Speaker 1: no matter what you and he did. He made him

485
00:27:48,080 --> 00:27:51,800
Speaker 1: cry at after the game. That's why Tom's you know,

486
00:27:51,920 --> 00:27:53,720
Speaker 1: he wasn't trying to make him cry. Just Tom is

487
00:27:53,760 --> 00:27:55,880
Speaker 1: good at his job. But that was two thousand and eleven.

488
00:27:55,960 --> 00:27:57,680
Speaker 1: You and I worked together in two thousand and nine

489
00:27:57,680 --> 00:28:00,199
Speaker 1: and two thousand and ten, and it was you, me

490
00:28:00,240 --> 00:28:03,440
Speaker 1: and Bob Greasy and I'll never forget Chris. In two

491
00:28:03,480 --> 00:28:07,880
Speaker 1: thousand and nine, my wife has a brain tumor and

492
00:28:08,600 --> 00:28:11,080
Speaker 1: you were going through what you were going through. A

493
00:28:11,200 --> 00:28:14,560
Speaker 1: Stephanie had gotten to a point where your wife was

494
00:28:14,760 --> 00:28:17,240
Speaker 1: incredibly sick and ended up passing away in the middle

495
00:28:17,240 --> 00:28:22,639
Speaker 1: of the season. But I remember calling you initially to

496
00:28:22,640 --> 00:28:24,800
Speaker 1: tell you what was going on with my wife. Thankfully,

497
00:28:24,800 --> 00:28:27,639
Speaker 1: it wasn't cancerous and she recovered quickly and she's fine

498
00:28:27,920 --> 00:28:32,520
Speaker 1: twelve years later. But you would call me every day

499
00:28:32,560 --> 00:28:35,040
Speaker 1: after that, very early in the morning. You call me

500
00:28:35,119 --> 00:28:37,000
Speaker 1: just to check up on me. And you were going

501
00:28:37,000 --> 00:28:39,160
Speaker 1: through what you were going through, and here you're reaching

502
00:28:39,160 --> 00:28:41,880
Speaker 1: out to me. And that's why I love you so

503
00:28:41,960 --> 00:28:44,719
Speaker 1: much as a friend, for you being there for me.

504
00:28:45,560 --> 00:28:48,080
Speaker 1: But you've been such a champion for others over the

505
00:28:48,120 --> 00:28:52,200
Speaker 1: course of your life, champion for cancer research. How do

506
00:28:52,200 --> 00:28:54,680
Speaker 1: you find the strength to keep at it because here

507
00:28:54,680 --> 00:28:58,280
Speaker 1: we are twelve years later and you're still so involved,

508
00:28:58,840 --> 00:29:04,400
Speaker 1: so caring, thoughtful, so encouraging to others who are going

509
00:29:04,480 --> 00:29:10,200
Speaker 1: through very difficult times. Well, it's it's it's hard, right

510
00:29:10,200 --> 00:29:14,920
Speaker 1: because every time I talk to somebody or nobody shares

511
00:29:14,960 --> 00:29:19,080
Speaker 1: good news with me. You know, people, it's always somebody

512
00:29:19,120 --> 00:29:23,200
Speaker 1: has a recurrence or somebody lost somebody, right, and you

513
00:29:23,560 --> 00:29:26,360
Speaker 1: kind of relive those emotions. But I think when you

514
00:29:26,400 --> 00:29:30,640
Speaker 1: serve a great or good and you can help somebody

515
00:29:30,680 --> 00:29:33,880
Speaker 1: feel like they're not alone and that you understand exactly

516
00:29:33,880 --> 00:29:36,720
Speaker 1: where they are and how they feel and let them

517
00:29:36,760 --> 00:29:39,920
Speaker 1: know that they can get through it, I think that

518
00:29:40,160 --> 00:29:44,120
Speaker 1: is I think God uses a certain people for certain reasons,

519
00:29:44,240 --> 00:29:49,000
Speaker 1: and it's out of my comfort zone, but I think

520
00:29:49,080 --> 00:29:53,640
Speaker 1: that I trust that God wants me where I am

521
00:29:53,880 --> 00:29:56,680
Speaker 1: and what I do, and he gives me a position

522
00:29:56,680 --> 00:29:59,840
Speaker 1: to make a difference in somebody's life, even if it's small.

523
00:30:00,600 --> 00:30:04,480
Speaker 1: And that's something that I take very seriously. Don't like

524
00:30:04,640 --> 00:30:08,680
Speaker 1: it all the time. It's not comfortable, it's hard. I

525
00:30:08,760 --> 00:30:13,240
Speaker 1: lose sleep over it. I'm all, you know, I'm always

526
00:30:13,240 --> 00:30:17,960
Speaker 1: around it. But it serves something much bigger than me,

527
00:30:18,320 --> 00:30:20,680
Speaker 1: and so and I know that I can help people,

528
00:30:20,880 --> 00:30:24,600
Speaker 1: and so I guess that's the payoff. I think. The

529
00:30:24,680 --> 00:30:28,959
Speaker 1: other thing, Dave, is that you know, Stephanie was incredibly

530
00:30:29,000 --> 00:30:34,000
Speaker 1: strong and would would do the same thing when she

531
00:30:34,080 --> 00:30:37,240
Speaker 1: knew she was dying. I mean, I would catch her

532
00:30:37,640 --> 00:30:41,760
Speaker 1: over a computer at nighttime praying for people that wrote

533
00:30:41,800 --> 00:30:45,400
Speaker 1: to her, you know, and when she's doing her own battle,

534
00:30:45,480 --> 00:30:48,720
Speaker 1: yet she's praying for their recovery, knowing what her outcome

535
00:30:48,880 --> 00:30:53,720
Speaker 1: is going to be, which is really remarkable. And so

536
00:30:53,840 --> 00:30:59,160
Speaker 1: I kind of owe it to her legacy to keep

537
00:30:59,200 --> 00:31:01,479
Speaker 1: it going and to do what I can do. My

538
00:31:01,520 --> 00:31:05,160
Speaker 1: oldest daughter works at the development office at the James

539
00:31:05,160 --> 00:31:11,560
Speaker 1: Cancer Hospital. I worry about her because ever since she's

540
00:31:11,600 --> 00:31:14,720
Speaker 1: been a you know, a little girl, it's been part

541
00:31:14,720 --> 00:31:19,400
Speaker 1: of her life, man, and I just I worry about

542
00:31:19,400 --> 00:31:21,560
Speaker 1: her getting burned out on it. But she feels a

543
00:31:21,600 --> 00:31:24,200
Speaker 1: calling too, and so you know what it's like when

544
00:31:24,240 --> 00:31:27,200
Speaker 1: you have that calling. No matter what you do to

545
00:31:27,280 --> 00:31:31,240
Speaker 1: try to resist, it doesn't matter. If God wants you

546
00:31:31,280 --> 00:31:34,280
Speaker 1: to be there, You're going to be there. It's it's

547
00:31:34,560 --> 00:31:37,600
Speaker 1: like a Jonah man, right, he kept trying to run

548
00:31:37,640 --> 00:31:41,720
Speaker 1: away and the work You ain't running, man, so you

549
00:31:41,800 --> 00:31:47,720
Speaker 1: might as well just obey. I guess well, I appreciate

550
00:31:47,720 --> 00:31:49,120
Speaker 1: your time. I know you got to run, but I

551
00:31:49,120 --> 00:31:51,719
Speaker 1: do want to get a couple in here on the

552
00:31:51,800 --> 00:31:56,680
Speaker 1: organization before you go. What should Cardinal fans expect from

553
00:31:56,720 --> 00:31:59,400
Speaker 1: the Lions? How will this team look? I'm sure people

554
00:31:59,400 --> 00:32:01,800
Speaker 1: will look at the records and automatically you say it's

555
00:32:01,800 --> 00:32:03,360
Speaker 1: gonna be an easy win for the Cardinals. But I

556
00:32:03,880 --> 00:32:07,040
Speaker 1: know the way coach Campbell does things and the way

557
00:32:07,080 --> 00:32:08,959
Speaker 1: you guys are doing things this this is not going

558
00:32:09,000 --> 00:32:12,120
Speaker 1: to be easy. So what should Cardinal fans expect from

559
00:32:12,120 --> 00:32:14,680
Speaker 1: the line week? I mean, we you know, we have

560
00:32:16,840 --> 00:32:20,360
Speaker 1: eight guys on a COVID list that I don't know

561
00:32:20,360 --> 00:32:23,240
Speaker 1: if they're gonna make it or not to the game.

562
00:32:23,720 --> 00:32:28,200
Speaker 1: We've have probably fourteen major contributors that are on IR

563
00:32:28,480 --> 00:32:30,080
Speaker 1: or on a COVID list, So you're going to see

564
00:32:30,120 --> 00:32:34,120
Speaker 1: a lot of young guys. But I think with our team,

565
00:32:34,720 --> 00:32:38,120
Speaker 1: I think what you'll see is guys that will fight

566
00:32:38,200 --> 00:32:41,280
Speaker 1: to the very end. I think that's been evident throughout

567
00:32:41,320 --> 00:32:44,400
Speaker 1: the whole year. There's a couple of games where we

568
00:32:44,440 --> 00:32:47,280
Speaker 1: didn't play very well and got blown out Cincinnati Philly

569
00:32:47,600 --> 00:32:51,400
Speaker 1: last week against Ever, but every other game, you know,

570
00:32:51,440 --> 00:32:53,720
Speaker 1: it took a sixty six yard by Justin Tucker to

571
00:32:53,800 --> 00:32:59,240
Speaker 1: Baltimore Ravens to beat us. We had the vikings down

572
00:32:59,320 --> 00:33:02,440
Speaker 1: and they completed two passes at the end to kick

573
00:33:02,440 --> 00:33:05,120
Speaker 1: a long field goal to beat us. We missed a

574
00:33:05,200 --> 00:33:09,280
Speaker 1: forty seven yard or game winner in Pittsburgh. So every

575
00:33:09,320 --> 00:33:12,680
Speaker 1: game it comes down. Usually most of the games that

576
00:33:12,760 --> 00:33:15,440
Speaker 1: comes down to the fourth quarter, and it's just a

577
00:33:15,480 --> 00:33:19,320
Speaker 1: credit to coach Campbell and motivating these guys and they're

578
00:33:19,480 --> 00:33:22,760
Speaker 1: they're they want to win. There is some young talent

579
00:33:22,880 --> 00:33:27,600
Speaker 1: on here, but you know when you're when you're kind

580
00:33:27,640 --> 00:33:33,360
Speaker 1: of starting over, there are some struggles. But the cool

581
00:33:33,440 --> 00:33:36,240
Speaker 1: thing is I think the fans, the Cardinal fans, will

582
00:33:36,240 --> 00:33:39,560
Speaker 1: appreciate the effort that our team gives. No matter what

583
00:33:39,600 --> 00:33:42,280
Speaker 1: the record is or what the score is, They're going

584
00:33:42,320 --> 00:33:44,000
Speaker 1: to play and they'll play as hard as they can

585
00:33:45,480 --> 00:33:51,440
Speaker 1: appreciate the time. Brother, Thanks Chris, Thanks day man. I

586
00:33:51,520 --> 00:33:53,520
Speaker 1: just love talking to Chris. Of all the people I've

587
00:33:53,560 --> 00:33:55,560
Speaker 1: worked with over the years, he's at the top of

588
00:33:55,560 --> 00:33:59,360
Speaker 1: the list of my favorites. As you can see, where's

589
00:33:59,400 --> 00:34:02,680
Speaker 1: his emotion on his sleeves. A guy that cares so

590
00:34:02,760 --> 00:34:05,440
Speaker 1: much about other people. He's been such a champion for

591
00:34:05,520 --> 00:34:09,880
Speaker 1: cancer research, having gone through so much personally losing his

592
00:34:09,960 --> 00:34:13,960
Speaker 1: first wife, Stephanie some twelve years ago after she battled

593
00:34:14,000 --> 00:34:16,560
Speaker 1: the disease for twelve years. And now Chris was such

594
00:34:16,600 --> 00:34:19,160
Speaker 1: a help to me when I was going through a

595
00:34:19,200 --> 00:34:22,320
Speaker 1: difficult time with my wife's health back in two thousand

596
00:34:22,360 --> 00:34:27,560
Speaker 1: and nine. Also, Chris had some great stuff on transforming

597
00:34:27,560 --> 00:34:32,520
Speaker 1: a franchise into a playoff contender and what he saw

598
00:34:32,600 --> 00:34:36,759
Speaker 1: Steve Kim and the Cardinals do that has helped him

599
00:34:37,000 --> 00:34:41,319
Speaker 1: and the Detroit Lions. Also Chris talking about the emotions

600
00:34:41,360 --> 00:34:44,160
Speaker 1: of being inducted into the Pride of Lions, which is

601
00:34:44,200 --> 00:34:47,800
Speaker 1: the Detroit Lions Ring of Honor, becoming the nineteenth Ever. Again,

602
00:34:47,840 --> 00:34:50,600
Speaker 1: if you haven't seen the video of Chris when he

603
00:34:50,640 --> 00:34:53,240
Speaker 1: got surprised and found out that he was being inducted,

604
00:34:53,320 --> 00:34:57,120
Speaker 1: it's just fantastic Google it, check it out on YouTube,

605
00:34:57,880 --> 00:35:02,080
Speaker 1: and also some funny stuff from Chris, his crazy schedule

606
00:35:02,120 --> 00:35:03,839
Speaker 1: of getting up at the crack of dawn to lift

607
00:35:03,840 --> 00:35:05,840
Speaker 1: waits and how I used to always try to avoid

608
00:35:05,880 --> 00:35:08,040
Speaker 1: him in a hotel Jim. I figured it was after

609
00:35:08,080 --> 00:35:10,160
Speaker 1: seven am. I had a good chance, but one time

610
00:35:10,200 --> 00:35:12,680
Speaker 1: I missed, he was still there and he absolutely crushed me.

611
00:35:13,239 --> 00:35:15,880
Speaker 1: We are presented by bet MGM, the official sports betting

612
00:35:15,880 --> 00:35:19,160
Speaker 1: partner of the Arizona Cardinals, and by Hila River Hotels

613
00:35:19,239 --> 00:35:22,240
Speaker 1: and Casinos. Based on what Chris said, the Cardinals should

614
00:35:22,280 --> 00:35:27,160
Speaker 1: get a hungry Lions team on Sunday as Arizona tries

615
00:35:27,200 --> 00:35:29,759
Speaker 1: to go to eight and O on the road. We'll

616
00:35:29,800 --> 00:35:31,399
Speaker 1: talk to you Sunday for the game, and then we'll

617
00:35:31,440 --> 00:35:33,520
Speaker 1: talk to you next week on the Dave Pash Podcast