Speaker 1: Welcome to another edition of the Dave Pash Podcast. I'm
Speaker 1: your host ESPN and Arizona Cardinals broadcaster Dave Pash. My
Speaker 1: guest today is legendary Detroit Lion linebacker Chris Spielman, former
Speaker 1: television announcer for ESPN, ABC and Fox, and currently special
Speaker 1: assistant to the Owner, CEO and President of the Detroit Lions.
Speaker 1: Chris was recently inducted into the Pride of the Lions,
Speaker 1: which is the Detroit Lions Ring of Honor. He's the
Speaker 1: nineteenth ever. It was a very emotional video that maybe
Speaker 1: some of you saw when he found out that he
Speaker 1: was going to be inducted. If you haven't seen it,
Speaker 1: check it out. It's a must. Google it or go
Speaker 1: to YouTube. It's phenomenal. We'll talk with Chris about his
Speaker 1: role with the team, how this job came about, and
Speaker 1: what exactly he does on a daily basis. Has he
Speaker 1: gotten a taste of what life is like for his brother,
Speaker 1: Rick Spielman, who's the general manager of the Minnesota Vikings.
Speaker 1: What Cardinal fans should expect the Lions this week. The
Speaker 1: Lions being in a transition phase similar to where the
Speaker 1: Cardinals are a couple of years ago. Have Chris and
Speaker 1: the Detroit Lions taken a page from Steve Kime and
Speaker 1: the Arizona Cardinals book on transforming a franchise into a
Speaker 1: playoff contender. Plus the time I ran into Chris in
Speaker 1: a hotel weight room and it costs me for about
Speaker 1: a month. I remember how how pitiful you were. Yes, well,
Speaker 1: anybody that calls their home gym the torture chamber deserves
Speaker 1: to be avoided at all costs in a hotel. Jem
Speaker 1: all that and much more coming up with Chris Spielman.
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Speaker 1: called one eight hundred. Next step without further ado, Here's
Speaker 1: the legend Chris Spielman. So, Chris, let's start by talking
Speaker 1: about you getting inducted into the Pride of the Lions.
Speaker 1: You're the nineteenth ever. Millions have seen the video. First
Speaker 1: of all, was so happy for you, and I saw
Speaker 1: your emotion, and I know that it's real, like people
Speaker 1: that know you know how much it means to you.
Speaker 1: What we I mean, were you surprised? Obviously you were surprised.
Speaker 1: I guess why were you surprised? Because I thought the
Speaker 1: should have happened a long time ago. I know you're
Speaker 1: not gonna saying about that, but what was it like,
Speaker 1: what were emotions like? And how special was it to you? Well?
Speaker 1: I think it because it is something that is you know.
Speaker 1: I always felt kind of weird about getting individual honors
Speaker 1: within a team sport because my success, whatever success I had,
Speaker 1: was directly related to defensive linement that I played with
Speaker 1: right in a scheme, and and obviously I was able
Speaker 1: to do a certain amount of things, but it couldn't
Speaker 1: be done without a lot of people involved, including a
Speaker 1: great support system. I think the emotion just being back
Speaker 1: here in Detroit, and obviously, Dave, you and I know
Speaker 1: each other well, but this is where my late wife
Speaker 1: and I started our family and started our life together,
Speaker 1: so and I kind of she was part of that
Speaker 1: Detroit Lion journey, so that all kind of came back
Speaker 1: to me at one time, which was caused for the emotion.
Speaker 1: And you're surprised because you know, I mean, I thought
Speaker 1: I was a good player. I didn't know if I
Speaker 1: was deserving of that, but I'll take it. So yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean four Pro Bowls three with Detroit, so obviously
Speaker 1: part of and the way you played too, you know this,
Speaker 1: the way you played, you embody, that's it. I lived
Speaker 1: there for two years. I know what people in Detroit
Speaker 1: are all about and who you are as a person,
Speaker 1: and the way you played you were like the perfect
Speaker 1: Detroit Lion. Well, I think I think it's what coach
Speaker 1: Campbell's bringing to right. It's all about that writ I
Speaker 1: guess it's the word that he used. And I think
Speaker 1: for me, I think it was a great honor to
Speaker 1: play in the NFL, and it wasn't an honor for
Speaker 1: the NFL to have me in it. It was the opposite,
Speaker 1: And so I never took that for granted, and I
Speaker 1: always wanted to. It was very conscious of who I represented,
Speaker 1: whether it was the Ford family, whether it was my teammates,
Speaker 1: whether it was my family, whether it was the city
Speaker 1: of Detroit, the fans of Detroit. That's something that I
Speaker 1: took very seriously throughout my whole time here in eight years. Well,
Speaker 1: for people that are listening to this at are Cardinal
Speaker 1: fans that maybe you remember you a little bit. The
Speaker 1: way you played was a lot like Wolf, and that
Speaker 1: you just you threw everything into it. And anytime that
Speaker 1: I feel like the aches and pains of getting older
Speaker 1: and my body, my body's bothering, I'll just call you
Speaker 1: and be like, hey, this hurts. You're like, oh yeah, well, here,
Speaker 1: here's how I have to sleep. I have to get
Speaker 1: this specific position where I don't have any tingling in
Speaker 1: my arms or any part of my body to be
Speaker 1: able to fall asleep. And I automatically stopped feeling sorry
Speaker 1: for myself. I know, I know Wolf probably feel the
Speaker 1: same way. Like that's something that you know going into
Speaker 1: like you know what you signed up to do, and
Speaker 1: you know, and I always referred to it as I
Speaker 1: always got to pay taxes once in a while, right,
Speaker 1: and taxes stuff for claiming in the NFL is certain
Speaker 1: things that you have to deal with physically as you
Speaker 1: get older. But that's I think it's important to you know,
Speaker 1: always try to take care of yourself. I mean, you
Speaker 1: and I talk about just diet, nutrition, exercise, and just
Speaker 1: you know, taking care of your body, especially if your
Speaker 1: body's been hit and beat up for so many years.
Speaker 1: It helps, I think eas the agent process just a tad.
Speaker 1: I know Wolf struggles with how the game has changed.
Speaker 1: I shouldn't say the game necessarily, it's a way of
Speaker 1: officiating and the way the game is set up is
Speaker 1: different than it was when you guys played. Is that
Speaker 1: has that been a hard adjustment for you, because I
Speaker 1: know it has been for Wolf and for others of
Speaker 1: your guys era and how physical it was and what
Speaker 1: you had to do to prepare to play and then
Speaker 1: actually get through a game and then survive to do
Speaker 1: it again a week later. I mean, I think the
Speaker 1: game is safer than it was, so I think some
Speaker 1: of the rule changes about trying to get to head
Speaker 1: out of the game makes sense because we're more educated
Speaker 1: as an NFL population of you know, concussions in the
Speaker 1: ramifications of concussions as we get older. I think the
Speaker 1: most disappointing thing is is that guys won't play with
Speaker 1: things that I played with, right, a broken thumb. You know,
Speaker 1: you put a cast on it, and you shoot it
Speaker 1: up and you go. The rule that I always had
Speaker 1: if I was running, I was playing. Now, if you
Speaker 1: can't run, if there's something wrong with your lower body
Speaker 1: and you're not running full speed, then you're only going
Speaker 1: to hurt your team because you'll get embarrassed if you
Speaker 1: can't run, But upper body, I think there was you
Speaker 1: should always try to find a way to play. And
Speaker 1: I think that maybe nowadays because guys, you know, make
Speaker 1: so much money, which I'm glad they do. I'm all
Speaker 1: for that, but they tend to maybe protect themselves a
Speaker 1: little bit when they should probably think of maybe I
Speaker 1: can go and play if they do this, or if
Speaker 1: I cast it up or whatever. I think guys are
Speaker 1: very cautious about playing. And I actually just had this
Speaker 1: conversation with my wife this morning, and I think that's
Speaker 1: probably been the biggest adjustment for me to get used to,
Speaker 1: is that, what do you mean he's not practicing? What
Speaker 1: do me? And he stopped playing and you know, there's
Speaker 1: nothing The player I think has more control now than
Speaker 1: they did when Wolf and I played about when they
Speaker 1: play and don't play? What was Carrie killing you in
Speaker 1: the gym again? Is this way you had to have
Speaker 1: the conversation. She's got the same mentality. Yeah, so I
Speaker 1: she was actually just getting him out the gym and
Speaker 1: I asked, h, I said, how you actually lifted today?
Speaker 1: So that started a whole little what are you talking about?
Speaker 1: Five days a week? What do you want? So I
Speaker 1: just remember the three years we worked together. I would
Speaker 1: time out when I would go to the gym in
Speaker 1: the hotel to make sure that I avoided you. It
Speaker 1: was like, okay, if it was after seven am, there's
Speaker 1: a good chance Spiells is done. Because one time you
Speaker 1: caught me. I came in and you're you come over,
Speaker 1: you go, look, hey, what are you doing today? Like
Speaker 1: I'm doing back Hey, let me show you something. And
Speaker 1: the next thing you know, we're in this hotel gym
Speaker 1: and there's other people in the gym. You have me
Speaker 1: doing chin ups, pull ups, and you're under my feet
Speaker 1: pushing me up. My let's hurt for two months. This
Speaker 1: is why I hope carry's avoiding you in the gym.
Speaker 1: That was actually that was actually in Wisconsin. Uh you
Speaker 1: remember that's sad that you actually remember remember how how
Speaker 1: pitiful you weren't? Yes, well, anybody that calls their home
Speaker 1: gym the torture chamber deserves to be avoided at all
Speaker 1: costs in a hotel job. Yeah, but in all seriousness, no,
Speaker 1: I do think I talked to a lot of X
Speaker 1: players about this, that it is important too to try
Speaker 1: to stay in shape. But guys either go one way
Speaker 1: or another, right, they either let themselves go, or they
Speaker 1: don't want to work out anymore because they've been working
Speaker 1: out their whole entire life, and or they don't watch
Speaker 1: what they eat anymore. And I just I'm a big
Speaker 1: proponent I think of keep working out and eating healthy
Speaker 1: because I do think you it has a little bit
Speaker 1: of in your life, a little bit. We know all
Speaker 1: the problems that former NFL players deal with as they
Speaker 1: get older, and uh, you know, the lifespan isn't very long. Actually,
Speaker 1: I think that the studies will show you that. So
Speaker 1: I've always encouraged coaches even now. I got two coaches
Speaker 1: that I work out on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday at
Speaker 1: six am, because you know, coaches can live an awful
Speaker 1: lifestyle just to their diet and they put all these
Speaker 1: hours in and it work so hard. I always talk
Speaker 1: to them about being balanced, about being balanced mentally, about
Speaker 1: being balanced physically and being balanced spiritually. That's six am.
Speaker 1: That that's why so late. I mean that you're being
Speaker 1: done by that. You're going if I do mine at five,
Speaker 1: then I trained them at six. So the so I
Speaker 1: gotta bet at seven thirty. So your role as the
Speaker 1: special assistant to the owner and the CEO the president.
Speaker 1: U correct me if I'm wrong on all that you're
Speaker 1: the special assistant too. Basically when you were hired, first
Speaker 1: of all, take me through how it came about, and
Speaker 1: then exactly what you're doing on a daily basis. So
Speaker 1: last year, about this time, about a year ago, received
Speaker 1: a phone call from rod Wood after they relieved Matt
Speaker 1: Patricia as head coach, and they asked me to be
Speaker 1: a part of a coaching search. Well, first he asked
Speaker 1: me if I wanted an interview for the GM job,
Speaker 1: and I said, well, I'm very flattered that you asked
Speaker 1: when I'm not qualified to be internal manager, but I
Speaker 1: do think I can help in other areas. So we
Speaker 1: talked about it and we kind of came up with
Speaker 1: this role that I'm in now, and I guess the
Speaker 1: best way to put it, it's kind of been evolving.
Speaker 1: Originally it was to be one of four people on
Speaker 1: a hiring committee to hire a general manager and head coach.
Speaker 1: It was myself, Rod Wood, Sheila hamp and Mike Bisner.
Speaker 1: People in Arizona should know Mike. Mike spend some time
Speaker 1: with the Cardinals and really bright young guy and will
Speaker 1: be a future president one day. And then we ended
Speaker 1: up hiring Coach Campbell and Brad Holmes. After that process
Speaker 1: took place, I sat in with some of the assistant
Speaker 1: coach interviews with Coach Campbell and just offered an opinion.
Speaker 1: I do meet with the Ford family every Tuesday morning
Speaker 1: along with Coach Campbell and Brad Holmes and just offer
Speaker 1: a third perspective of what I saw during a game.
Speaker 1: I'm also involved with helping people in ticket sales. I've
Speaker 1: made calls to season ticket holders. You know, it's tough
Speaker 1: to sell season tickets when you're one to eleven and one,
Speaker 1: But we're trying to get people to see the big
Speaker 1: vision that we have around here, what we're trying to
Speaker 1: build in the foundation that's being laid. The other thing
Speaker 1: I've been able to do is work with some of
Speaker 1: the young linebackers. I don't talk anything philosophically about we're
Speaker 1: doing defense. That's not my role, but as far as
Speaker 1: fundamentals and stuff like that, I work with him before practice,
Speaker 1: I work with him after practice. Also very involved with
Speaker 1: the personnel and scouting. I talked to college scouts on
Speaker 1: a regular basis. Brad Holmes are j GM. Gives me
Speaker 1: some assignments to do to help him. Then we've always
Speaker 1: bounce IDAs off did you think about this? Or he'll
Speaker 1: ask me what I think about that? Or would you
Speaker 1: see there? What I see there? So I'm basically and
Speaker 1: I think it's a role that will probably evolve within
Speaker 1: the NFL. I'm kind of like an outside set of
Speaker 1: eyes that just offers something different because you know, if
Speaker 1: you spend so much time around something or people start
Speaker 1: seeing the same thing. So I do a pretty good
Speaker 1: job of keeping independent thought and evaluation of what's going
Speaker 1: on within the total organization, not just the football side. Well,
Speaker 1: you by nature, Chris or somebody who you fies who
Speaker 1: brings people together. How much of the Lions reaching out
Speaker 1: to you for the position that you have was about
Speaker 1: bringing unity and trying to get the building together as
Speaker 1: an organization. And to your point on this role evolving
Speaker 1: in the NFL. Do you think we'll see other teams
Speaker 1: hiring either former players or people that have been in
Speaker 1: other parts of football to come in in a similar
Speaker 1: role that you have. Do you think we'll see more
Speaker 1: people in the role that you have across the league?
Speaker 1: I don't know, because I think you yet. First of all,
Speaker 1: it has to be somebody that's not motivated that one
Speaker 1: another job, right, I don't want to. I mean, that's
Speaker 1: the one thing that I had to make sure Brad
Speaker 1: and Dan understood that I'm not interested in being a
Speaker 1: general manager. I'm not interested in being a coach. I'm
Speaker 1: interested in being service, service oriented towards you guys. I
Speaker 1: told them, Look, I climb my mountain as a player.
Speaker 1: I reached the epitome of what I possibly could reach
Speaker 1: as an NFL player. That was my goal, that was
Speaker 1: my dream. Now my whole Michigan life is to help
Speaker 1: others succeed and see them successful. And so in order
Speaker 1: to do that, you have to be humble, and you
Speaker 1: have to be able to understand that you're working with them.
Speaker 1: They're not working for you. I'm working with them. I
Speaker 1: do what they ask me to do. I offer my opinions,
Speaker 1: whether sometimes they take them, sometimes they don't, but it's
Speaker 1: just another it's another set of eyes and another voice
Speaker 1: for them to make the best decisions possible. As far
Speaker 1: as the unification of the team, I think I've had
Speaker 1: brought some pretty good ideas. Some of them have been implemented.
Speaker 1: I think one of the things is we're in a
Speaker 1: different position here where we have the business operations at
Speaker 1: Ford Field and a football side of things is here
Speaker 1: at Alan Park. It's been a little challenging with COVID,
Speaker 1: but one of the things I do is I'll go
Speaker 1: down on a monthly basis and I'll meet with a
Speaker 1: ticket office, with partnerships, with corporate sales, whatever organization or
Speaker 1: whatever group is down at Ford Field, and I'll keep
Speaker 1: give them an update of what's going on here at
Speaker 1: the football side of things. And it makes them feel included,
Speaker 1: and they should feel included because we're all Detroit Lions.
Speaker 1: And that's something that I take a lot of pride
Speaker 1: in and that's something that was never present here before.
Speaker 1: Another thing is, again we go back to the health
Speaker 1: and fitness thing. We were able to put an employee
Speaker 1: weight room down at Ford Field just to let and
Speaker 1: give those folks access to the players, nutritionists to the
Speaker 1: players strength coaches, and have them set programs. So it's
Speaker 1: all about inclusion of everybody and everybody going for one
Speaker 1: common goal and one common purpose. And we understand that.
Speaker 1: You know, it takes everybody involved to have a championship organization,
Speaker 1: not just obviously on the field, but off the field too,
Speaker 1: and how you treat people and how we treat our fans.
Speaker 1: And it's been a wonderful learning experience for me, and
Speaker 1: it's been everything I thought would be. You mentioned that
Speaker 1: when you got to call originally there was some conversation
Speaker 1: about whether you'd be interested in being the GM, and
Speaker 1: you said that interview interview for the GM, and you
Speaker 1: said that you weren't qualified for that. Your brother Rick
Speaker 1: has been the longtime GM in the Minnesota Vikings and
Speaker 1: has been in various positions across the league in personnel
Speaker 1: for more than two decades. Have you at all gotten
Speaker 1: the taste of what Rick's life has been like, because
Speaker 1: I know you're not directly involved in personnel decisions, but
Speaker 1: as you said earlier, you're in those meetings. You're having
Speaker 1: conversations with Brad Holmes, the GM and other scouts. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I kind of knew it was like because I did
Speaker 1: sitting in some stuff with Rick over the years, which
Speaker 1: kind of gave me a good perspective. I've also worked
Speaker 1: with John Dorsey, who's a senior consultant here, and we
Speaker 1: talk and bounce ideas off of each other. And you know,
Speaker 1: I think the one thing that I learned is from
Speaker 1: their experience. I've learned a ton of different things. I
Speaker 1: think the best coolest example of learning was I was
Speaker 1: doing linebackers last year for the draft and just watching
Speaker 1: film and putting grades on him, and to my surprise,
Speaker 1: I thought everybody was awful, so so so and I
Speaker 1: would and we would give these presentations. And Dave Sears,
Speaker 1: the director of college scouting for the Alliance here, he
Speaker 1: called me up out of the blue, and I gave
Speaker 1: him a lot of credit. He said, hey, you want
Speaker 1: some advice. I said, sure, I'm always open for advice.
Speaker 1: He said, it's been my experience over the year years
Speaker 1: that guys that play a certain position, like yourself, they're
Speaker 1: much harder on the guys that they're grating. They're not given.
Speaker 1: And I said, and I thought about that for a second,
Speaker 1: and I said, you know, what, You're exactly right. So
Speaker 1: I went back and redid every linebacker that was on
Speaker 1: my list and came out with a total different outcome,
Speaker 1: you know, And so that was the I think the
Speaker 1: best thing that I learned, and what I also learned
Speaker 1: is that you know, Biblically it says what be quick
Speaker 1: to listen and slow to speak. And as we got
Speaker 1: in more and more into the personnel, I just kept
Speaker 1: taking in all this information which would help me better
Speaker 1: serve the Lions. And I guess the one thing maybe
Speaker 1: I taught some scouts, because sometimes scouts can get caught
Speaker 1: up and everything numbers wise, arm length, which is important,
Speaker 1: all that is very important. And the one thing I said,
Speaker 1: here's the one thing I know is that if he's
Speaker 1: not making plays in college, it's probably not going to
Speaker 1: make him any NFL. And so, you know, it was
Speaker 1: one guy came up to me and said, you know,
Speaker 1: sometimes we forget about the common sense part of the game,
Speaker 1: and if he ain't making plays in college, probably won't
Speaker 1: be making him up here. I just want to for
Speaker 1: Steve Kim was a tremendous help to me too when
Speaker 1: I first got this job and the interview process and
Speaker 1: was a great resource on what to look for. So
Speaker 1: Rick and Steve and Dorsey and a bunch of other
Speaker 1: guys around the league were really helpful, which was really cool. Well,
Speaker 1: speaking of linebacker, Steve drafted linebackers each of the last
Speaker 1: two years in the first round. Isaiah Simmons did not
Speaker 1: have the benefit of preseason games last year, so last
Speaker 1: year was basically just training camp extended for him, and
Speaker 1: he's really playing well. Zaban Collins started out the year
Speaker 1: as the starter. He's barely playing, although he had a
Speaker 1: big fumble recovery on Monday Night. Football are if not
Speaker 1: fumble recovery the on site kick. I guess it was
Speaker 1: a muff on the onside kick that he recovered. But
Speaker 1: he is in a learning phase. It's a it's a
Speaker 1: big transition. So as somebody that played the position, what
Speaker 1: would your advice be to those guys about learning the
Speaker 1: NFL game and the difference it is from a mental standpoint,
Speaker 1: not just a physical standpoint. So well, the same advice
Speaker 1: I give these guys, I think my guys, my young players,
Speaker 1: is that every day is like is game date. Like
Speaker 1: when they're at practice, it's got to be a game.
Speaker 1: To me, there's no such thing as a walkthrough as
Speaker 1: a linebacker, even if it's labeled a walkthrough in a
Speaker 1: practice field and other guys may be walking through, your
Speaker 1: first three steps have to be bam, bam bam. I
Speaker 1: think virtual, the virtual room. My most NFL teams have
Speaker 1: virtual rooms where you can put on the goggles or
Speaker 1: put on a wall and you can play the game.
Speaker 1: So you stand there watching the watching the film from
Speaker 1: the end zone copy, and you visualize yourself and actually
Speaker 1: take the steps on where you're supposed to be. I
Speaker 1: think the biggest part of the transition is learning how
Speaker 1: to play match defense and zone coverage, and like match
Speaker 1: coverage is kind of a mixture between man and zone,
Speaker 1: and sometimes there's different rules that you have to learn.
Speaker 1: So it's rep after rep after rep. And the last
Speaker 1: thing I tell them is, you've got nothing else going on.
Speaker 1: This is your shot. This is a once in a
Speaker 1: lifetime opportunity. You have to put in extra time away
Speaker 1: from football. You just have to if you're young, especially
Speaker 1: if you're still trying to learn a system and there's
Speaker 1: nothing else you can do right now except football. And
Speaker 1: I think you owe that to football, and you owe
Speaker 1: that to yourself to give yourself the best chance to
Speaker 1: be successful, not only for yourself, but more importantly for
Speaker 1: your team. You guys are in year one of a
Speaker 1: new era. The Cardinals are in year three. So where
Speaker 1: you guys are right now the Lions. The Cardinals were
Speaker 1: in twenty nineteen when they went away from Josh Rosen
Speaker 1: and Steve Wilkes, hired Cliff Kingsbury, drafted Kyler Murray and
Speaker 1: the first year it was a struggle. But here we
Speaker 1: are in year three. Yes, the Cardinals are lost on
Speaker 1: Monday Night, but there's still ten and three type of
Speaker 1: the best record in the NFL. When you look at
Speaker 1: the Cardinals and you mentioned Steve has been helpful to
Speaker 1: you in your transition, is there anything specific that you've
Speaker 1: noticed of how the Cardinals have gone about things that
Speaker 1: you will draw from to try to help transform the
Speaker 1: Detroit Lions. Yeah. I mean, I think Steve's done a
Speaker 1: pretty good job of drafting players right. He saw his
Speaker 1: quarterback and his vision. He did a great job of
Speaker 1: matching quarterback with coach. I know that. I think one
Speaker 1: of the things you can correct me if I'm wrong,
Speaker 1: but I thought that when I was working at TV,
Speaker 1: Cliff said this that when they for Scott Kyler Murray,
Speaker 1: I thought they adopted the language of Oklahoma. So that
Speaker 1: made that. So, I mean, that's that's just smart, common
Speaker 1: sense stuff. And you know Isaiah Simmons right, you he
Speaker 1: was he struggled at times last year. I remember the
Speaker 1: San Francisco game and the opener, the first time he
Speaker 1: was in a game. They were in man coverage and
Speaker 1: the running back did a little f angle for a
Speaker 1: touchdown on him last year, And I mean that's you know,
Speaker 1: And so I think they understand they have great players
Speaker 1: and there's a learning curve and there's there's a process
Speaker 1: to the growth. He's done a good job of maintaining
Speaker 1: the player at Buddha Baker, right, how hard does he play?
Speaker 1: How productive has he been over the years and so,
Speaker 1: and he's also done a good job of adding depth.
Speaker 1: I mean Connor from the running back. I mean, every
Speaker 1: time I look up, that guy's making play. So Steve
Speaker 1: understands his roster, He's built that roster. He understands he
Speaker 1: got a great deal for new Hopkins. So I mean
Speaker 1: all the things that he's done has been done the
Speaker 1: right way, and it's not without making mistakes along the way.
Speaker 1: And we'll make mistakes along the way, but he had to.
Speaker 1: I think Steve did a great job of recognizing. This
Speaker 1: is what good teams do and good gms do. They
Speaker 1: recognize when they make mistakes, and they don't keep multiplying
Speaker 1: the mistake. They correct it and they move on. And
Speaker 1: so I think that was a great lesson that you
Speaker 1: can learn from the Cardinals. You mentioned television. Is there
Speaker 1: any part of broadcasting that you miss? And if so,
Speaker 1: what is it that you miss? Like, you know, you're
Speaker 1: in it right, so you know that your partners that
Speaker 1: you work with, especially if you have great relationships, you
Speaker 1: miss being around your friends, like I miss. I still
Speaker 1: miss hanging out with you every weekend. And you know,
Speaker 1: we did everything together. We took walks together, we you know,
Speaker 1: we had dinners. It's almost like I was poor. But
Speaker 1: but I guess the people that you know, and I
Speaker 1: want people to understand that how seriously the director is,
Speaker 1: the producers, the camera folks, they're pros and they take
Speaker 1: their job very seriously. How serious you and I took
Speaker 1: the job, and how prepared we wore And now there's
Speaker 1: some challenges of doing live TV. And I remember, you know,
Speaker 1: I think our most memorable game. Now you might have
Speaker 1: a different thought about this, was that when you and
Speaker 1: I did the Penn State game after the whole Jerry
Speaker 1: Sandusky thing broke, and we have like security there and
Speaker 1: all that stuff, but we actually said a prayer before
Speaker 1: the game that we would do with justice. And I
Speaker 1: think we did a great job. But I mean, I
Speaker 1: enjoyed doing the games. But if I missed, it's the people.
Speaker 1: It's the relationships, right, It's your teammates, and that's I
Speaker 1: don't know if it's a curse or not, but I
Speaker 1: think my thing is is that when I get involved
Speaker 1: with somebody, be like they're not They're like a teammate
Speaker 1: to me, and a teammate not in a sense that
Speaker 1: the world used his teammate, but like, what do you
Speaker 1: need anytime in the moment. If I could do it,
Speaker 1: I'll do it for you. Well, that game you mentioned
Speaker 1: that was Nebraska Penn State. Days after Joe Paterno was fired.
Speaker 1: There are riots in yeah, because yeah, and obviously the
Speaker 1: Jerry Sandusky news breaking. Plus it was you, me and
Speaker 1: Urban Meyer and Urban's father passed away that week, so
Speaker 1: there was so much going on. Tom Rinaldi was with us.
Speaker 1: I remember Jay Paterno, who was you know, Joe's son
Speaker 1: and was part of the coaching staff, telling Tom in
Speaker 1: our meetings. I don't know if you remember this, Tom Rinaldi,
Speaker 1: no matter what, You're not going to make me cry. Yeah,
Speaker 1: no matter what you and he did. He made him
Speaker 1: cry at after the game. That's why Tom's you know,
Speaker 1: he wasn't trying to make him cry. Just Tom is
Speaker 1: good at his job. But that was two thousand and eleven.
Speaker 1: You and I worked together in two thousand and nine
Speaker 1: and two thousand and ten, and it was you, me
Speaker 1: and Bob Greasy and I'll never forget Chris. In two
Speaker 1: thousand and nine, my wife has a brain tumor and
Speaker 1: you were going through what you were going through. A
Speaker 1: Stephanie had gotten to a point where your wife was
Speaker 1: incredibly sick and ended up passing away in the middle
Speaker 1: of the season. But I remember calling you initially to
Speaker 1: tell you what was going on with my wife. Thankfully,
Speaker 1: it wasn't cancerous and she recovered quickly and she's fine
Speaker 1: twelve years later. But you would call me every day
Speaker 1: after that, very early in the morning. You call me
Speaker 1: just to check up on me. And you were going
Speaker 1: through what you were going through, and here you're reaching
Speaker 1: out to me. And that's why I love you so
Speaker 1: much as a friend, for you being there for me.
Speaker 1: But you've been such a champion for others over the
Speaker 1: course of your life, champion for cancer research. How do
Speaker 1: you find the strength to keep at it because here
Speaker 1: we are twelve years later and you're still so involved,
Speaker 1: so caring, thoughtful, so encouraging to others who are going
Speaker 1: through very difficult times. Well, it's it's it's hard, right
Speaker 1: because every time I talk to somebody or nobody shares
Speaker 1: good news with me. You know, people, it's always somebody
Speaker 1: has a recurrence or somebody lost somebody, right, and you
Speaker 1: kind of relive those emotions. But I think when you
Speaker 1: serve a great or good and you can help somebody
Speaker 1: feel like they're not alone and that you understand exactly
Speaker 1: where they are and how they feel and let them
Speaker 1: know that they can get through it, I think that
Speaker 1: is I think God uses a certain people for certain reasons,
Speaker 1: and it's out of my comfort zone, but I think
Speaker 1: that I trust that God wants me where I am
Speaker 1: and what I do, and he gives me a position
Speaker 1: to make a difference in somebody's life, even if it's small.
Speaker 1: And that's something that I take very seriously. Don't like
Speaker 1: it all the time. It's not comfortable, it's hard. I
Speaker 1: lose sleep over it. I'm all, you know, I'm always
Speaker 1: around it. But it serves something much bigger than me,
Speaker 1: and so and I know that I can help people,
Speaker 1: and so I guess that's the payoff. I think. The
Speaker 1: other thing, Dave, is that you know, Stephanie was incredibly
Speaker 1: strong and would would do the same thing when she
Speaker 1: knew she was dying. I mean, I would catch her
Speaker 1: over a computer at nighttime praying for people that wrote
Speaker 1: to her, you know, and when she's doing her own battle,
Speaker 1: yet she's praying for their recovery, knowing what her outcome
Speaker 1: is going to be, which is really remarkable. And so
Speaker 1: I kind of owe it to her legacy to keep
Speaker 1: it going and to do what I can do. My
Speaker 1: oldest daughter works at the development office at the James
Speaker 1: Cancer Hospital. I worry about her because ever since she's
Speaker 1: been a you know, a little girl, it's been part
Speaker 1: of her life, man, and I just I worry about
Speaker 1: her getting burned out on it. But she feels a
Speaker 1: calling too, and so you know what it's like when
Speaker 1: you have that calling. No matter what you do to
Speaker 1: try to resist, it doesn't matter. If God wants you
Speaker 1: to be there, You're going to be there. It's it's
Speaker 1: like a Jonah man, right, he kept trying to run
Speaker 1: away and the work You ain't running, man, so you
Speaker 1: might as well just obey. I guess well, I appreciate
Speaker 1: your time. I know you got to run, but I
Speaker 1: do want to get a couple in here on the
Speaker 1: organization before you go. What should Cardinal fans expect from
Speaker 1: the Lions? How will this team look? I'm sure people
Speaker 1: will look at the records and automatically you say it's
Speaker 1: gonna be an easy win for the Cardinals. But I
Speaker 1: know the way coach Campbell does things and the way
Speaker 1: you guys are doing things this this is not going
Speaker 1: to be easy. So what should Cardinal fans expect from
Speaker 1: the line week? I mean, we you know, we have
Speaker 1: eight guys on a COVID list that I don't know
Speaker 1: if they're gonna make it or not to the game.
Speaker 1: We've have probably fourteen major contributors that are on IR
Speaker 1: or on a COVID list, So you're going to see
Speaker 1: a lot of young guys. But I think with our team,
Speaker 1: I think what you'll see is guys that will fight
Speaker 1: to the very end. I think that's been evident throughout
Speaker 1: the whole year. There's a couple of games where we
Speaker 1: didn't play very well and got blown out Cincinnati Philly
Speaker 1: last week against Ever, but every other game, you know,
Speaker 1: it took a sixty six yard by Justin Tucker to
Speaker 1: Baltimore Ravens to beat us. We had the vikings down
Speaker 1: and they completed two passes at the end to kick
Speaker 1: a long field goal to beat us. We missed a
Speaker 1: forty seven yard or game winner in Pittsburgh. So every
Speaker 1: game it comes down. Usually most of the games that
Speaker 1: comes down to the fourth quarter, and it's just a
Speaker 1: credit to coach Campbell and motivating these guys and they're
Speaker 1: they're they want to win. There is some young talent
Speaker 1: on here, but you know when you're when you're kind
Speaker 1: of starting over, there are some struggles. But the cool
Speaker 1: thing is I think the fans, the Cardinal fans, will
Speaker 1: appreciate the effort that our team gives. No matter what
Speaker 1: the record is or what the score is, They're going
Speaker 1: to play and they'll play as hard as they can
Speaker 1: appreciate the time. Brother, Thanks Chris, Thanks day man. I
Speaker 1: just love talking to Chris. Of all the people I've
Speaker 1: worked with over the years, he's at the top of
Speaker 1: the list of my favorites. As you can see, where's
Speaker 1: his emotion on his sleeves. A guy that cares so
Speaker 1: much about other people. He's been such a champion for
Speaker 1: cancer research, having gone through so much personally losing his
Speaker 1: first wife, Stephanie some twelve years ago after she battled
Speaker 1: the disease for twelve years. And now Chris was such
Speaker 1: a help to me when I was going through a
Speaker 1: difficult time with my wife's health back in two thousand
Speaker 1: and nine. Also, Chris had some great stuff on transforming
Speaker 1: a franchise into a playoff contender and what he saw
Speaker 1: Steve Kim and the Cardinals do that has helped him
Speaker 1: and the Detroit Lions. Also Chris talking about the emotions
Speaker 1: of being inducted into the Pride of Lions, which is
Speaker 1: the Detroit Lions Ring of Honor, becoming the nineteenth Ever. Again,
Speaker 1: if you haven't seen the video of Chris when he
Speaker 1: got surprised and found out that he was being inducted,
Speaker 1: it's just fantastic Google it, check it out on YouTube,
Speaker 1: and also some funny stuff from Chris, his crazy schedule
Speaker 1: of getting up at the crack of dawn to lift
Speaker 1: waits and how I used to always try to avoid
Speaker 1: him in a hotel Jim. I figured it was after
Speaker 1: seven am. I had a good chance, but one time
Speaker 1: I missed, he was still there and he absolutely crushed me.
Speaker 1: We are presented by bet MGM, the official sports betting
Speaker 1: partner of the Arizona Cardinals, and by Hila River Hotels
Speaker 1: and Casinos. Based on what Chris said, the Cardinals should
Speaker 1: get a hungry Lions team on Sunday as Arizona tries
Speaker 1: to go to eight and O on the road. We'll
Speaker 1: talk to you Sunday for the game, and then we'll
Speaker 1: talk to you next week on the Dave Pash Podcast