Speaker 1: This is cut to it with Steve Smith Senior at
Speaker 1: production of The Black Effect and I heart Radio. I'm
Speaker 1: Steve Smith Senior and I'm a little John and this
Speaker 1: is cut to it. Good do it, Good do it.
Speaker 1: Let's getting down to do it. Good do it. We
Speaker 1: asked the questions you always want to know, but no
Speaker 1: one ever asked, let's cut to it. You ain't heard
Speaker 1: them about it, then we're about to let you know.
Speaker 1: It's all moisturized today. Man, don't don't put down you're
Speaker 1: trying to blame it on the We need to take
Speaker 1: this from you. You need to start from the beginning,
Speaker 1: keeping that hitting in the second season. Man, it's really
Speaker 1: a super excited Uh. But wanted to start off something.
Speaker 1: Man and I had the opportunity went back to Utah
Speaker 1: watching my watching my utes play. We were state. We
Speaker 1: were while we were staying, UM the head coaches, Jay Hill,
Speaker 1: who actually used to play UH for for University of Utah.
Speaker 1: He was there when I was there, so it was
Speaker 1: really cool, uh to see him. It was cool walking
Speaker 1: into the stadium. They said, Uh, we haven't had fans
Speaker 1: in the stands six and eighteen days And I was like, wow,
Speaker 1: you just forget probably about two or three weeks into
Speaker 1: UM when we were decided we were gonna go back
Speaker 1: to uh uh to the University of Utah to see
Speaker 1: a game, um and and see Angie's parents. Man, Um,
Speaker 1: I'm a believer, and I also believe that those uh
Speaker 1: little things inside, those those little voices, if you're quiet enough,
Speaker 1: and when you're sitting in the car on the run
Speaker 1: or doing something, UM, I believe that's God just you know,
Speaker 1: tap you on the shoulder, tap you on the heart, whisper.
Speaker 1: And so you gotta have those quiet moments. I went
Speaker 1: to University of Utah from ninety nine two thousand and
Speaker 1: we you know, growing up and growing up in l A,
Speaker 1: moving to Utah for college, being a young dad on scholarship. Man,
Speaker 1: let me tell you some scholarship checks ain't what they
Speaker 1: used to be. They used to be tough, right, And
Speaker 1: so we had pale grants and financial aide. And you
Speaker 1: know N I L back then, man, but no L.
Speaker 1: And I wasn't no n I L. Yeah, you know
Speaker 1: it was in I L for so one time we
Speaker 1: lived on for three oh one twin River Away. That
Speaker 1: was apartment where we lived there. Peyton was really young,
Speaker 1: and I remember around this time we only had a
Speaker 1: few We had like one or two diapers left. And
Speaker 1: Angie is looking at me, and I'm looking at Angie
Speaker 1: and we're just trying to figure it out. And it's
Speaker 1: like set in the third you know, actually second week
Speaker 1: in the month, scholarship check ain't coming to the end
Speaker 1: of the month. Not a lot of options. So I know,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm gonna do what I know I need
Speaker 1: to do. So I um, I told, and I said, hey,
Speaker 1: make a list. What do we need? So make the
Speaker 1: list on screw the license plate. We had a Ford
Speaker 1: Focused stick shift, So I get in the little four
Speaker 1: it was a green Ford Focus getting the stick shift
Speaker 1: two door, get up early, unlike under the license plate,
Speaker 1: and I drive up to the This place was called
Speaker 1: Harmon's on Redwood Road, So I'll go to the Harmon's
Speaker 1: early by sick fifteen. Not going there, man, And I
Speaker 1: got my list. We need pampers and wipes, but we
Speaker 1: need a whole bunch of other stuff too. And so
Speaker 1: I'm you know, I'm i'mna doing what I do. If
Speaker 1: I'm get caught, I ain't get him kid called stilln't
Speaker 1: want to three Pampers ship. I'm gonna out big. So
Speaker 1: I load up the cart and I go shopping. Man,
Speaker 1: I get steaks, chicken, wipes everything. And I walked straight
Speaker 1: out there out the store loaded up. I ain't got
Speaker 1: a bag in sight, load up, trump, speed off. I
Speaker 1: couldn't get in a fifth gear fast enough to all.
Speaker 1: I probably went from one in three killing the clutch,
Speaker 1: killing the clutch. So I go home and I run upstairs.
Speaker 1: We just live on the second floor. Bring him, babe
Speaker 1: and Angie like what wait, what is this? I'm like,
Speaker 1: just grab stuff and put it in. So I'll go
Speaker 1: in there. We'll bring our stuff in. And what's the
Speaker 1: point of story. I'm not trying to make lighter, trying
Speaker 1: to you know, I ain't know snitch, but also believe
Speaker 1: in you know, you gotta give a contest of who
Speaker 1: you are and season to move forward. Man, I want
Speaker 1: to give context of who we are, who I am,
Speaker 1: who you are, who backstage, Joe are everybody that's with
Speaker 1: this just context of Um. Sometimes you look at people
Speaker 1: and you see them and you don't understand their story. Um,
Speaker 1: And so I tell that story is probably about the
Speaker 1: week and a half before it's my time time to
Speaker 1: get on this first class flight. Lord, like, uh, you
Speaker 1: ain't gonna pay this back. You know it's been a
Speaker 1: while now. You've been in Utah a few times, You've
Speaker 1: been honored in the Hall of Fame, Packed twelve, Hall
Speaker 1: of Fame. You this, you that, But you ain't paid
Speaker 1: back what I let you get away with. So, man,
Speaker 1: I went to the bank, got cash. So we're looking.
Speaker 1: So we're back there and we're looking for Harmon's. Harmon's
Speaker 1: is no longer Harmon's. Harmon's is Utah's version of Audies
Speaker 1: or Piggly Wiggly or food Line. It's actually changed into
Speaker 1: two different grocery stores now. So I'm going there and
Speaker 1: I'm asking for a m I go in there, and
Speaker 1: you know, when you're trying to make right, you know,
Speaker 1: God is going now, he's gonna he's gonna stretch it.
Speaker 1: He's gonna pressoushi if you bail out, right. So I
Speaker 1: go in there. You know, I got my Utah hat
Speaker 1: on and and put these glasses on though you know, okay,
Speaker 1: Duke got the cameras, man, So I put the glasses on.
Speaker 1: I walk in and he's gonna say, boy, you better
Speaker 1: take them glasses on trying you're trying to do the
Speaker 1: short So I took my glasses off and I asked
Speaker 1: for the manager. So I walk in. I think it's
Speaker 1: called Macy's or whatever it's called now, not Macy's, like
Speaker 1: the store. But I know I'm saying it wrong, but whatever.
Speaker 1: To the point of it, it ain't the same story technically,
Speaker 1: So I'm off the hook. I don't know you're not,
Speaker 1: but I know I'm not. I'm just telling you what's
Speaker 1: going through my mind. Can you can I can I
Speaker 1: talk out loud to y'all? You know hear me? Right?
Speaker 1: So I'm like, so you know, and so I was, hey,
Speaker 1: can I speak to the manager? Yeah? Was it? I
Speaker 1: just want to speak to the manage John, John to
Speaker 1: the front place, John to the front. So it's probably
Speaker 1: only like forty seconds, but you know, it feels like
Speaker 1: ten minutes, man John at lunch. So I'm straight right, boy,
Speaker 1: don't you boy? Don't boy? No? Now at this point,
Speaker 1: was it a more audible voice of said that quiet voice? No,
Speaker 1: this thing, it's out of it. Yeah, I want to
Speaker 1: make sure I knew that, Nina, don't you move, just boy,
Speaker 1: out of breath, like you know, I ain't ran, but
Speaker 1: why is the altitude making me sure to breath? Well,
Speaker 1: let me get this system manager because John is out.
Speaker 1: So they bring their system manager up and so I
Speaker 1: got my mask on right, and I said, well, so
Speaker 1: I go to explain what I'm doing in the first
Speaker 1: couple of things where well, you know, I had or
Speaker 1: like man just quit playing around. So I said, Sir,
Speaker 1: I took some things a couple of years ago that
Speaker 1: I shouldn't have. He goes, wow, you know so a
Speaker 1: typical rational person. He goes hands on his hips. So
Speaker 1: what did you take, sir? And I went to go explain,
Speaker 1: and I just said I took some things that I
Speaker 1: know I shouldn't have. He goes, well, was it in
Speaker 1: the And I knew this was the lower having. He said,
Speaker 1: was it in like hair products? I don't know why.
Speaker 1: He was like, was it you know what particular section
Speaker 1: of it? Oh? Any anyway, so I'm like, now, I
Speaker 1: took groceries, but I took her stuff I wasn't supposed
Speaker 1: to take. So I had the cash. I gave it
Speaker 1: to him and he said, wow, we generally don't get
Speaker 1: people coming back to pay for what they took. And
Speaker 1: so I did that and it was over and I
Speaker 1: walked out. Man, what was crazy is to build up
Speaker 1: to doing it was so much more than it than
Speaker 1: what I experienced by doing it. When I walked out
Speaker 1: of the store, it was like a weight had been
Speaker 1: lifted because it was I think it was crazy is
Speaker 1: prior to us going there that week? Yeah, bro, I
Speaker 1: haven't thought about that story ever in my life until probably,
Speaker 1: you know, a couple of weeks before we left. What's
Speaker 1: funny about that is when you actually did the act
Speaker 1: of the borrowing of the goods, you weren't as nervous
Speaker 1: as going back to have a conversation about what you did.
Speaker 1: Just that ain't born and their product some sprits er
Speaker 1: or something. But just doing doing that act because at
Speaker 1: the time you wasn't doing it to be funny. At
Speaker 1: the time, you wouldn't doing it, you know, with your guys,
Speaker 1: with your teammates as a as a joke or as
Speaker 1: a hazing. I mean, you did it because you need
Speaker 1: to take care of your family. Not saying that's right
Speaker 1: or it's justified. However, you going and doing that, you
Speaker 1: were just trying to take care of your family. Well, now,
Speaker 1: because I had the luxury of hearing this story. We
Speaker 1: had spoke at an event and Steve had told this
Speaker 1: story to a bunch of college guys, and that wasn't
Speaker 1: the story that they thought they were gonna get. They
Speaker 1: thought they were going to get the age and eighty
Speaker 1: nine the hairs. How I broke down a dB But
Speaker 1: he had that audience. You could hear a pin drop
Speaker 1: in there and just that messaging to even pay it
Speaker 1: back to that store. But the cash you gave, of course,
Speaker 1: and I think, if I remember correctly, he was gonna
Speaker 1: put it into their grocery fund that when indigent people
Speaker 1: had come in when they're in a situation like maybe
Speaker 1: young Steve Smith was in, Hey, I got this in
Speaker 1: my back pocket. Let me take care of this young individual.
Speaker 1: So he's gonna be helping out others as well. It
Speaker 1: was just tough that for me, it was staring in
Speaker 1: the face of a company. You there wrong, even though
Speaker 1: the original company long gong. You gotta let go of
Speaker 1: the offense to see his opportunity. So that was, um,
Speaker 1: that's what I experienced, man, And it was it was
Speaker 1: it was, I want to say, it was just different
Speaker 1: and it was just say one of those uh, one
Speaker 1: of those reflective moments, right, yeah. And I think the
Speaker 1: other thing too that you said that was profound is
Speaker 1: sometimes you have to go with that voice that's the small,
Speaker 1: little whisper, because that's often the one that is the one.
Speaker 1: You know, you gotta that's the real voice. That's that's
Speaker 1: the one. It's it's that one. It's now over time
Speaker 1: it becomes so audible that you have to move, but
Speaker 1: you have to listen when it's that small, like and
Speaker 1: it's right there in the back of your mind too.
Speaker 1: It's never gonna turn everything down and everything. You gotta
Speaker 1: listen to that voice. That voice has always been the
Speaker 1: one that I'm like, all right, I gotta be obedient
Speaker 1: to that one, because I know if I'm obedient to
Speaker 1: that one, then when I get to the future, then
Speaker 1: that's then everything's gonna be taken care of. So that's
Speaker 1: that's the most profound part that you listen to, that
Speaker 1: to that small whisper voice, because that's always the one. Always.
Speaker 1: I don't know about that storm manager voice though, like
Speaker 1: hands on his hips, no, he was he was like, well,
Speaker 1: what did your take? Oh, was it hair products or
Speaker 1: was it you know? And I'm like, you know, damn
Speaker 1: willing products. While you look at my hat when I
Speaker 1: said that, you don't you do one? Covering up like
Speaker 1: it's a red toothpage back in the day, y'all finish
Speaker 1: who we got coming up on the Cut to a Podcast?
Speaker 1: We've got Arian Foster, a four time Pro Bowl running
Speaker 1: back for the Houston Texans in Miami Dolphins. He was
Speaker 1: first team All Pro in t and he holds the
Speaker 1: Houston Texans franchise records in rushing yards and rushing touchdowns.
Speaker 1: Arian Foster on the Cut to a Podcast. I appreciate
Speaker 1: you have me, man, I appreciate it. Man. You look good.
Speaker 1: You look all healthy and vibrant. Relative man, But I'm
Speaker 1: doing all right for myself. Hey, what do you mean?
Speaker 1: It's it is? Yeah? Yeah, you know, ups and downs life.
Speaker 1: We haven't in there everybody but life life and out
Speaker 1: here man, life be life, And I like that. Our
Speaker 1: first segment it's called get Ice Up. There are random icebreakers.
Speaker 1: Smithy has random questions. We have no idea what they are. Smitty,
Speaker 1: go ahead, give me the first one, all right? What
Speaker 1: makes what makes you most frustrated? Uh? Irrational people or
Speaker 1: just irrational thoughts? Um that like people believe things or
Speaker 1: do things like off of impulse or just off of
Speaker 1: strictly feelings without like really thinking through why they do
Speaker 1: or think that way. So, uh, does truth exists without evidence?
Speaker 1: Sphical question? Um, it's icebreakers, The truth exists without evidence? Yeah,
Speaker 1: as black man, we can say, y'all, well, I gotta
Speaker 1: I gotta follow up on that one. How do two
Speaker 1: people agree on what truth is? Well, that goes back
Speaker 1: to my the ship that bothers me is uh, I
Speaker 1: mean I would think, I mean not to get all
Speaker 1: super deep on from the first minute, but if it's
Speaker 1: literally what's going on, and it's what's going on in
Speaker 1: our country right now, is if two people can't agree
Speaker 1: on what truth is, that's when you have the disco
Speaker 1: or the dissonance. Right, So you have to agree that
Speaker 1: there has to be a methodology or yeah, methodology in
Speaker 1: order to get the closest to truth, because when you're
Speaker 1: talking about it philosophically, you can only learn things to
Speaker 1: be true to a certain degree, Like there's no absolute
Speaker 1: truth and this is going a little deeper than I anticipated.
Speaker 1: But so you have to agree that the degree in
Speaker 1: which we're calling something true, um, has to be Uh,
Speaker 1: derived from like a methodology, and if we can't agree
Speaker 1: on that methodology, then there's really no point in that's
Speaker 1: even having a company at least me too. What does
Speaker 1: success look like to you? Yeah, that's a great question. Now,
Speaker 1: this is one of the better questions in the world.
Speaker 1: Like when you like, when you talk to young cats, right,
Speaker 1: when you talk to young cats. We have all these dreams,
Speaker 1: goes and efficient is one of the things that I
Speaker 1: always tell them is like to make sure you understand
Speaker 1: and define your success because you're always gonna be chasing
Speaker 1: that rainbow, like there's always a bigger call, better call,
Speaker 1: bigger house or whatever. Can be so defined with your successes.
Speaker 1: And so to me, success looks like a healthy, happy
Speaker 1: family that UM can get to get up and enjoy
Speaker 1: the day without having to worry about uh, society's wolves.
Speaker 1: You know that ain't real life? Then wow, just being
Speaker 1: honest like that is that that's that that's a UM.
Speaker 1: You're talking about methodology, man, that's a mindsetting which a
Speaker 1: lot of people find UM extremely difficult to process to
Speaker 1: and our personally believe, especially with the four team, they
Speaker 1: just fourteen through those people, UM are leading to suicide
Speaker 1: of our suicide rate right now from to currently today
Speaker 1: fourteen And that is exactly has to do with what
Speaker 1: you define success, right and something and and social media
Speaker 1: defines success in an unrealistic and almost kind of you know,
Speaker 1: we hear this in football. Perception is reality, right, What
Speaker 1: people perceive you as is what they believe you are,
Speaker 1: even though contrary to belief and evidence that would show right.
Speaker 1: I just did a podcast is his Father podcast? And
Speaker 1: he asked, he asked me about um, asked me about
Speaker 1: some some questions, but then he said, why do you
Speaker 1: do your podcast? And I said, well, I do it
Speaker 1: because I want to give people an opportunity to reveal
Speaker 1: who they are outside of their role. Because I had
Speaker 1: a speaking engagement with a guy. Waited till after the
Speaker 1: speaking engagement, and he said, you know, as a as
Speaker 1: a young he was older, he was older gentleman, and
Speaker 1: he said, uh, you know, I respect you and as
Speaker 1: a as a as a man, as a young man,
Speaker 1: I really admire how you've grown because as a football player,
Speaker 1: I particularly didn't like you. And I really wasn't sure
Speaker 1: how to take that backhanded compliment. But what stuck with
Speaker 1: me is he took my role or my job and
Speaker 1: formulated his opinion, Oh who I am as a man
Speaker 1: and as a as a as an employee of the
Speaker 1: NFL to say or disqualified me in every other area
Speaker 1: of my life because of how I play football. And
Speaker 1: I just found that interesting. That's that's the world we
Speaker 1: live in. I know, I know. But if we do
Speaker 1: that to them, if we do that to them, meaning
Speaker 1: someone else, Oh they're offended, you know, leave a bad
Speaker 1: review on a on on something that they work at.
Speaker 1: Oh they get they they get their socks and the tizzy. Right.
Speaker 1: Imagine if we started leaving reviews at the person at
Speaker 1: the register at a at a bank, or or at
Speaker 1: a store and just started saying, man, great great store,
Speaker 1: horrible services, and then start name dropping. Better be carrying
Speaker 1: out here, man, hey man, listen, I've had a lot
Speaker 1: of time on my hands, right, I've had a lot
Speaker 1: of time on hands, So I started, you know, I
Speaker 1: just started to think about his name. I love cut
Speaker 1: to It, and I love it even more when you
Speaker 1: download us and subscribe, and you can follow us on
Speaker 1: social media too, Smithie, where where at that's at? Cut
Speaker 1: to It? On Instagram? What about Twitter? At? Cut to It? Facebook?
Speaker 1: Cut to It featuring Steve Smith singr what about online?
Speaker 1: And you can follow us at cut to It podcast
Speaker 1: dot com, where you can buy merch and you can
Speaker 1: subscribe to us wherever you listen to podcasts. I got
Speaker 1: all my answers questions. Uh yeah, I got all my
Speaker 1: questions answered. That's what I'm here for, a brother, Cut
Speaker 1: to a podcast dot com. Where are you living these days?
Speaker 1: I'm still on in Houston, man. I got all my
Speaker 1: babies out there, so um, until they until they you know,
Speaker 1: are out on their own and experience in the world,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna be there. I gotta foot in there at least,
Speaker 1: all right. How has life been for you for the
Speaker 1: last eighteen months? Oh? Man, Well, split with my lady
Speaker 1: and I think that was like one of the first
Speaker 1: times where uh really experienced heartbreak because before I think
Speaker 1: I have been um, I would to stay womanizing, man,
Speaker 1: But like I played the game a lot, right, and
Speaker 1: so this is the first time I was really like
Speaker 1: invested in a family like that, and so um, long
Speaker 1: story short, Um, yeah, experienced some heartbreak to where it
Speaker 1: was like really transformative and it kind of changed the
Speaker 1: way that I viewed things, kind of changed the way
Speaker 1: I looked at myself and you know, in the midst
Speaker 1: of it, just kind of figuring out um uh forgiveness
Speaker 1: and kind of meet people where they at instead of
Speaker 1: where I expected to be and that that's that's been
Speaker 1: really helpful. So we already started off this way. I
Speaker 1: love asking asking it this way. You know, where are
Speaker 1: you from in the place you call your hometown? I
Speaker 1: grew up at Albuquerque, New Mexico. UM, went to high
Speaker 1: school in San Diego. So I kind of read both
Speaker 1: both kind of reaped me. So I called both home. Okay,
Speaker 1: how would you describe your childhood? Chaotic but um but fun?
Speaker 1: It's chotic. Elaborate on that if you, if you, if
Speaker 1: you're there too, Yeah, yeah, So I grew up. I
Speaker 1: mean it's nothing the story that nobody's heard before, but
Speaker 1: I grew up in a domestically violent household, uh, group
Speaker 1: of poverty. UM and so kind of navigating those waters
Speaker 1: and and trying to u hold onto a dream you
Speaker 1: have as a kid, it gets uh, you know, it
Speaker 1: gets dramatic. There's just a lot, a lot of moving pieces, um,
Speaker 1: a lot of emotional baggage you have to work through
Speaker 1: in your lot of years that that you were unable
Speaker 1: to UM and then you know the family dynamic that
Speaker 1: comes with that as well as being a breadwinning and
Speaker 1: your family from somebody from first generation wealth too, being
Speaker 1: able to manage all of those relationships and the expectations
Speaker 1: that come with that UM friendship. So uh yeah, man,
Speaker 1: I read something my my my research team gave me
Speaker 1: that which was really good and I want to park
Speaker 1: on it. Um, you're raised in an Islamic household. M
Speaker 1: hm yes, so my father Muslim, Um, I believe he
Speaker 1: was raised Catholic, UM, but his life. You can't just
Speaker 1: say that casually and then skied over it like so
Speaker 1: so so so when I when I say, when I
Speaker 1: say Muslim in the house I grew up in, it
Speaker 1: was It's not the like traditional Eastern Muslim, right, it's
Speaker 1: more so the americanized um f O I through the
Speaker 1: Islam Minister Durkan, like, it was that sect of Islam
Speaker 1: that I grew up underneath, which is basically the same thing,
Speaker 1: except that they are a little more um politically active
Speaker 1: and politically motivated. So like, in order to in order
Speaker 1: to to to be in the f O I like,
Speaker 1: you have to have a very good foundation and you
Speaker 1: have to understand your black history. You have to understand, uh,
Speaker 1: your Bible, you have to understand your Koran. And I
Speaker 1: think growing up in that household, which obviously I'm not
Speaker 1: a Muslim anymore, but I grew up in a house
Speaker 1: or of allowed me to, um, get a good route
Speaker 1: foundation of religion in general. Because I think if you're
Speaker 1: if you're born in the crypt from my experience, and
Speaker 1: if you're born in a Christian home, if you're born
Speaker 1: in a Catholic home, I grew up around a lot
Speaker 1: of Christians and Catholics. Uh, they're not really necessarily interested
Speaker 1: in other religions. Um, but when you grew up in
Speaker 1: that household that I grew up in what we are
Speaker 1: and it's it's more so to understand. It's also they intersect, right,
Speaker 1: so uh, now to get too deep into it, but
Speaker 1: you can. Jesus and Jesus in a in a Christian belief,
Speaker 1: is the last prophet before God is supposed to have
Speaker 1: come back in Islam Muhammad's dad, right, Um, and Jesus
Speaker 1: was a prophet in in in Islam, and so they
Speaker 1: view and love Jesus like a prophet, but they just
Speaker 1: don't view him as divine like Christians, too, and so
Speaker 1: there's a lot of healthy respect and love for a
Speaker 1: lot of the teachers that Jesus brought uh from the
Speaker 1: perspective of a Muslim and so, like I said, growing
Speaker 1: up in that household, um, it allowed me to kind
Speaker 1: of get excume, allowed me to get it kind of
Speaker 1: a baseline understanding of the world religions, the major world religions. Um.
Speaker 1: And so that's kind of how I navigated my theological
Speaker 1: belief system was kind of trying to understand it all um.
Speaker 1: And I mean that journey took me to an attire
Speaker 1: of different place, but I think the root of it
Speaker 1: was was was necessary and not being pigeonholed into this
Speaker 1: is the truth because we say it's the truth and
Speaker 1: and anything else that you're going against the family, you're
Speaker 1: gonna get. That's that's kind of want to run up into.
Speaker 1: When I went to college. When you go to college, Um,
Speaker 1: this is like pre internet days, real internet days, and
Speaker 1: there was internet, but it wasn't like it is today.
Speaker 1: But this is this is when where you were from,
Speaker 1: Like that was the culture there. Like the cultures are
Speaker 1: kind of melting together of Internet, some of the cultures
Speaker 1: or who who allows them? Who if you allow them
Speaker 1: to melt together. Yeah, yeah, I mean that's that's a
Speaker 1: that's a whole other conversation. But um uh, so let
Speaker 1: me let me let me let me ask you this then,
Speaker 1: because but what's funny is, you know, as I'm sitting
Speaker 1: here listening to you and hear you talk, I can
Speaker 1: also see you know, you always considered a guy who
Speaker 1: who who thought will beyond his years? You always thinking
Speaker 1: you were a thinker. And by the time you're what
Speaker 1: sixteen years old, you have the ability to have a complete,
Speaker 1: well rounded education of black history, a complete education of
Speaker 1: the Muslim culture, and then also obviously other cultures as well.
Speaker 1: You're living in um uh Albuquerque, New Mexico. That that
Speaker 1: in itself is a unique dynamic. Um. I mean I
Speaker 1: can imagine filling out of place and be and and
Speaker 1: and sticking out would be an understatement. Yeah, that's kind
Speaker 1: of been my experience everywhere I went to be honest,
Speaker 1: and there wasn't anything purposefully, No, you couldn't. It's just
Speaker 1: it's I hate to say that users it's happenstance. And
Speaker 1: I was gonna do you do you run from that
Speaker 1: or do you embrace it? Well, I used to run
Speaker 1: from me. And I think when you're a kid and
Speaker 1: you're kind of developing who you as an individual, you know,
Speaker 1: your people can tell you, you know, be yourself all
Speaker 1: you want to, but still there's that social pressure to
Speaker 1: you wanna have friends, you want to have you want
Speaker 1: to have ladies, you want to you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: And so I think when you're younger, it's viewed as
Speaker 1: a liability to your personality. But as you grow, what
Speaker 1: you start to learning is it's a it's an asset
Speaker 1: and you use it, is so, and so I never,
Speaker 1: I never. I don't like grown down to I'm grown now.
Speaker 1: I don't give a ship. But when you're when you're
Speaker 1: growing up like it's it's harder to like like when
Speaker 1: everybody around you it's Christian, Like everybody around you is
Speaker 1: Christian and you're Muslim. Is like that That dude's weird though,
Speaker 1: and it's like you have to defend that without even
Speaker 1: um it's it's not you're not the aggressor, but you
Speaker 1: have to defend it, you know, or else or else.
Speaker 1: It's constant, it's a constant garage. On top of that,
Speaker 1: where I grew up around predominantly um my earlier years.
Speaker 1: I grew up around a lot of like Mexicans, a
Speaker 1: lot of Mexicans. So you the outcast in that sense
Speaker 1: where you're black, and so you gotta defend blackness to
Speaker 1: see all these Mexicans, right, and then you get around
Speaker 1: the brothers and sisters at that age you have almost
Speaker 1: too black. No, you have my mother, my mother, My
Speaker 1: mother was a Mexican, right, So so I grew up
Speaker 1: We'll see that's that's the type of say. But but now,
Speaker 1: so then you're not you're not black enough, right and
Speaker 1: so and so it's always fighting that dynamic socially until
Speaker 1: one day I just realized, like these people like I
Speaker 1: don't like. These people don't care less and and that
Speaker 1: that that in itself is attractive. When you're unapologetically yourself.
Speaker 1: That's that's when people come and say, okay, cool um.
Speaker 1: And you know it's just a life lesson. You have
Speaker 1: to you have to go through the learn. I asked
Speaker 1: my wife, because my wife is my wife from Utah.
Speaker 1: She grew up Mormon, um, but she's obviously married to
Speaker 1: me with four kids, so she ain't Mormon. And I
Speaker 1: asked her a question to ask you just put based
Speaker 1: on being raised one way, in living an experience in
Speaker 1: life another way. And so uh so shout out to
Speaker 1: Angie of giving me this great question. I can't I
Speaker 1: can't take credit for it. Um, but she said, Uh,
Speaker 1: as you've gotten older, have you recognized any patterns or
Speaker 1: ideologies that were passed down from you to you from
Speaker 1: your young age that you catch yourself having a correct
Speaker 1: now that you're older. That's actually a great question. Um.
Speaker 1: I married up, so that's right, that's right. G uh no,
Speaker 1: But um, the reason why that's a great question because
Speaker 1: it is not necessarily applicable to me, but I see
Speaker 1: it everywhere I go. Right, So my mother finds it's
Speaker 1: like she was raised Catholic and she was she would
Speaker 1: probably considered herself agnostic. Now hm um, I don't want
Speaker 1: to miss call moms, but but she was like super
Speaker 1: raised Catholic, like back she I think she's going the
Speaker 1: fifty nine. So like when like I used to do
Speaker 1: something that to you know, school on the teacher used
Speaker 1: to slap you with the rules and hold on. You
Speaker 1: can't be telling your mom when she was born, Bro,
Speaker 1: she owned it, man, I know she owned it, but
Speaker 1: she don't want you owning it. Forward though she said,
Speaker 1: my apologize he was born he was born at eighty nine.
Speaker 1: But but but yeah, so she grew up in like
Speaker 1: in a Catholic system where like they used to hit him,
Speaker 1: like they had permission to hit the kids, and so
Speaker 1: like she has residual because she's not a believer anymore
Speaker 1: in that sense. Um, she's unsure about the higher power thing.
Speaker 1: But she's like, uh, she has residual. Like, man, I'm
Speaker 1: afraid of hell, Like she's super afraid of hell. And
Speaker 1: so like sometimes she says, it's guilt. We always, you know,
Speaker 1: we always we joke about it. But the one gift
Speaker 1: that I am extremely grateful that my parents gave me,
Speaker 1: and I always tell people all the time, is they
Speaker 1: gave us the freedom to be ourselves. They gave us
Speaker 1: a foundation of religion, like this is what we believe
Speaker 1: is the truth, but like you're your own person, go
Speaker 1: find it. If it brings you back to what we
Speaker 1: believe in, that's amazing. If it doesn't, that's also amazing.
Speaker 1: Be who you are. And they gave us a foundation, um,
Speaker 1: and they taught us how to think and not what
Speaker 1: to think. And that was that was the gym that
Speaker 1: my parents gave me, and they gave me the freedom
Speaker 1: to explore without feeling um shackled by by their belief system.
Speaker 1: Oh man, sometimes I back in my childhood, I used
Speaker 1: I never experienced that because I never had to go
Speaker 1: through It's like, we're praying, if you want to join us,
Speaker 1: join us, Like, this is how we pray, this is
Speaker 1: what we believe in. And for years, this is what
Speaker 1: I believed until you know, I've found my own path
Speaker 1: and my own journey. But um, I was very grateful
Speaker 1: for my parents because they never looked at me differently
Speaker 1: throughout my journey. At the end of theological journey to
Speaker 1: this day, they're just like, as long as you're happy, man,
Speaker 1: that's that's all. That was the general they gave you
Speaker 1: to me. That's that is the goal, the life goal
Speaker 1: of a parent, you as a father, you as a mother.
Speaker 1: Your goal is to have them prepared for the world,
Speaker 1: to live in the world, to be a productive member
Speaker 1: of society when I'm going, when I when I'm when
Speaker 1: I'm dead, If they can human being and and be
Speaker 1: productive and take care of themselves and take care of
Speaker 1: the loved ones, like then you didn't. Let's talk about
Speaker 1: that though, because I'm about to throw a monkey wrenching
Speaker 1: there ahead, right, because you know, uh, we've all done
Speaker 1: you know, obviously, me and you, we've done football camps. Right.
Speaker 1: You go those football camps and you see little little
Speaker 1: right right right, little Ray Ray out there. Ray Ray
Speaker 1: ain't nothing but like nine. And you see those parents
Speaker 1: out there screaming and hollering and little Ray Rays gonna
Speaker 1: take care of me, right. And I just know for myself,
Speaker 1: I've done so many football camps or been to games,
Speaker 1: and I started to see those parents who are talking
Speaker 1: about Ray Ray are talking about John. John is gonna
Speaker 1: make it and lead, He gonna take care of his mama. Right.
Speaker 1: We we look at sometimes sports in a way as
Speaker 1: an outlet. But I guess so I'm asking you because
Speaker 1: I think you're a great guest to talk about, is
Speaker 1: we short change ourselves, especially in the lower income community.
Speaker 1: And I think the Lord he's saying that lower income
Speaker 1: is important to stand and saying with color lower income.
Speaker 1: We look for our son and daughter to make that
Speaker 1: opportunity in sports, but we don't invest the same energy
Speaker 1: in the school books making sure, Lord Ray Ray, a
Speaker 1: little John can read, can write, can count. And I'm
Speaker 1: asking YouTube gentlemen, why do you think that is the
Speaker 1: reason why we don't invest into our children's education is
Speaker 1: because it's not as UM. Our neighborhoods and our our
Speaker 1: communities don't have the infrastructure that other communities do, so
Speaker 1: they don't have the after school programs, they don't have
Speaker 1: to stamp programs as prevalent as they do in other communities. UM.
Speaker 1: And there's a whole bunch of societal structure issues as
Speaker 1: to why UM. But that's like from the outside of perspective.
Speaker 1: From the insider perspective, which is equally valid, equally important.
Speaker 1: UM is Minnisterica I used to actually touch on this
Speaker 1: is like when you look at black people in America,
Speaker 1: they don't there's no natural resource that they have here
Speaker 1: right in order to develop wealth. And you talk about
Speaker 1: why some communities are more poverty strictly than others, it's
Speaker 1: because they have been denied access to UH having wealth
Speaker 1: in this country legislatively. Were talking about redline and laws,
Speaker 1: you talk about all this kind of stuff. And so
Speaker 1: he used to talk about how our athletes and our
Speaker 1: entertainers are our natural resource because wherever the culture moves
Speaker 1: is where we move or where wherever we move is
Speaker 1: where the culture moves. I'm talking about in entertainment in America,
Speaker 1: right and so, uh that has kind of been a
Speaker 1: real outlet in in our communities is you can make
Speaker 1: it like this, you can do you can you can
Speaker 1: be a musician, you can be an athlete, you can
Speaker 1: be an entertainer. And that has been a real pathwork,
Speaker 1: especially growing up. Like you see a group in l A,
Speaker 1: you see a lot you probably know a lot of
Speaker 1: people that that we're athletes or entertainers that you know,
Speaker 1: quote unquote made it. And I think that becomes like
Speaker 1: almost a viable expectation um to at the very least,
Speaker 1: you can pay for your own college, Like I don't
Speaker 1: have to as a parent pay for your own college,
Speaker 1: right because we're out here struggle there, like as a parent,
Speaker 1: Like we're out here struggling. Like you can provide for
Speaker 1: yourself in that manner if you focus on your sports.
Speaker 1: And so school is like such a long game. Like
Speaker 1: even if you do get a full ride as as
Speaker 1: a and an academics, the degree in which you get
Speaker 1: like there's no guarantee for a good steady job, Like
Speaker 1: you definitely up your chances, don't get me wrong, you
Speaker 1: are the probability you getting a better job with higher
Speaker 1: wages is way higher. But it's just a more when
Speaker 1: now mentality, which is which permeates our communities and so,
Speaker 1: like I said, there's a lot of different variables, but
Speaker 1: that's just kind of touching the surface of it's easy
Speaker 1: for me. It's easy for It was easy for me
Speaker 1: to say, like do you just gotta grind? Like you
Speaker 1: just gotta get there? You gotta like you just gotta
Speaker 1: you gotta because that's what I did, right, Um, But
Speaker 1: and that that was my mentality to tell my family
Speaker 1: that I used to tell the kids that like, and
Speaker 1: it was to me irresponsible now as a little older
Speaker 1: man to say those kind of things because when you're
Speaker 1: leaving out contextually everything that I had been privileged to have. Uh.
Speaker 1: And this is one thing I I preached my kids
Speaker 1: all the time. It's like you are a privileged like
Speaker 1: I didn't like when I grew up, Like we used
Speaker 1: to like my mom used to send this hungry sometimes
Speaker 1: to bed, like we didn't have food, Like you guys
Speaker 1: are you guys get to pick? You have options about
Speaker 1: what you happen to dinner? There was never options whatever
Speaker 1: it was there, that's what we was eating, Like that,
Speaker 1: that's a privilege. She need houses Like this is a privilege.
Speaker 1: I took him. I took my daughter, she's eleven years
Speaker 1: or I took it. I took it to like some
Speaker 1: of the lower income neighborhoods and hustings like you see this,
Speaker 1: like this is where your dad grew up, Like he
Speaker 1: grew up like this, And she just bewildered. She goes
Speaker 1: to private school. Now she doesn't understand, like she didn't
Speaker 1: understand that side. And so like I'm very make sure
Speaker 1: she's aware that she's privileged. Um not to shame her
Speaker 1: for her position, because it's not her. She was a
Speaker 1: true perspective of both sides of the exactly, I'm I'm
Speaker 1: allowing her to see that like what her father has done,
Speaker 1: um uh to help bring this family's financial trajectory into
Speaker 1: a different ace. Um. But then but also in doing so,
Speaker 1: like I said, when I was when I was in
Speaker 1: the league, it was more so my mindset was like, yo,
Speaker 1: you gotta go get it. Like I don't hear all
Speaker 1: these excuses like yeah, niggas just bitching like that type
Speaker 1: of stuff. Right. I was never like I was just
Speaker 1: never aware of the issues that they faced on the
Speaker 1: day to day basis that can be debilitating right to
Speaker 1: where it's like if I get a flat tire, I
Speaker 1: can cause somebody up and it's it's fixed and it's
Speaker 1: no problem. Is what it is. A flat tire can
Speaker 1: ruin somebody's month time, can be the difference between like
Speaker 1: gas money and food money, when yeah, rent money. So
Speaker 1: when you compile like all of the problems that are
Speaker 1: possibly out there, you compile that with all of the
Speaker 1: societal pressures, you compile that with with the issues that
Speaker 1: people face, like all the generational trauma. Like you, you
Speaker 1: compile all of this stuff, it's really easy to uh
Speaker 1: not have empathy to people who are living and check
Speaker 1: the check which is the majority of America, right. And
Speaker 1: so to to to answer your question, it's it's you
Speaker 1: have to uh attack it with different mindsets that it's
Speaker 1: it's a duality, so you have to attack it from
Speaker 1: the micro which is like like I can tell my
Speaker 1: brother right was was he's struggling, um and I'm and
Speaker 1: I was like, listen, I don't like this current economic
Speaker 1: system that we live in, but it's what we live in.
Speaker 1: It's what it is. If you want to get to
Speaker 1: where you want to get to in this in this society,
Speaker 1: you have to grind to the point where you're miserable.
Speaker 1: You have to do something that nobody is willing to do.
Speaker 1: You have to do it day in and day out
Speaker 1: and be dedicated to and it's ugly and it's disgusting,
Speaker 1: and nobody's by you, and it's lonely, and you have
Speaker 1: to be unhappy. Like that's what it is. But because
Speaker 1: if you don't like the freedoms and the and the
Speaker 1: things that you want, they're just not gonna be there
Speaker 1: under this economic system. That's the micro right when you
Speaker 1: look at it from the day to day and you
Speaker 1: and you're really telling people how to how to make
Speaker 1: it in this until or in this in the system, um.
Speaker 1: But when you look at it in the macro. Uh,
Speaker 1: that's when the empathy starts to come. When you start
Speaker 1: to throw in all of the things that that that
Speaker 1: that have transpired towards people, towards legislatively, all of these
Speaker 1: things and all of these factors also factor into your
Speaker 1: individual life. Yes, it's possible for you to to to
Speaker 1: be wealthy in America, but the probability of it is
Speaker 1: very low. It's very low, and so you have to
Speaker 1: understand your place in it. Yes it's it's very possible,
Speaker 1: but it's just not probable. And so you have to
Speaker 1: be which is loudes to what we were talking about earlier.
Speaker 1: You have to be content like with who you are
Speaker 1: as a human being, which is when when when moms
Speaker 1: and dads and they're struggling, or whoever is raising me,
Speaker 1: they struggling. They work in the nine of five. You
Speaker 1: don't even see them that often. They're frustrated. They don't
Speaker 1: have the time or the energy to sit here and
Speaker 1: emotionally cater to a child like like they need it,
Speaker 1: like they need to write I have that tree, but
Speaker 1: not everybody does, and so we rely on school systems.
Speaker 1: We rely on That's why they say it takes a village.
Speaker 1: We rely on a lot of other people to help
Speaker 1: raise our kids. Good. Hey, Gerard, why did you get
Speaker 1: that T shirt? You mean, oh yes, I got it
Speaker 1: from cut to a podcast dot com where we have
Speaker 1: exclusive merchandise. Shout out to our guys at seven or
Speaker 1: four shot. But yeah, you can go on, buy you
Speaker 1: a T shirt, subscribe to us wherever you listen to podcasts.
Speaker 1: We didn't get too much into my theological journey. But
Speaker 1: I used to be like anti religion. I used to
Speaker 1: despise it. But what I've come to realize is that
Speaker 1: it's not necessarily just the teachings of the religions that
Speaker 1: is important. It's the communal aspect for our for our
Speaker 1: for our for our kids, like it's it's it's the
Speaker 1: it's the entire community rallying around for for a common
Speaker 1: purpose that is powerful. And I'm all for that, and
Speaker 1: that that was a later in life realization that I had. Um.
Speaker 1: But the key point, I think is if if we
Speaker 1: really look at things, and like I said in the Macro,
Speaker 1: we really start to empathize with people's situation. And it's
Speaker 1: not to enable them, right, It's not to say it's
Speaker 1: not your fault, right, It's it's to say that your
Speaker 1: society has certain set of circumstances, and in order to
Speaker 1: get out of those circumstances, there are certain sacrifices that
Speaker 1: have to be made and it's catering to those uh
Speaker 1: emotions that come with that, and and that is where
Speaker 1: the empathy lines, because there is there's there's there's a
Speaker 1: way out, right. I always telling there's a way out,
Speaker 1: but it's you ain't gonna like it. But but in that,
Speaker 1: it took me years of therapy to unravel all of
Speaker 1: the ship that I had gone through in order to
Speaker 1: get to where I went through. Like Isa, I just
Speaker 1: tell people don't like no, like I have to mentally
Speaker 1: put it. It's a little different because you will receive
Speaker 1: you nervous in the trenches like that. But you was
Speaker 1: wait white, way more physical than a lot of I
Speaker 1: will be with you that but like when you're in
Speaker 1: the trenches dog, like I used to tell people like you,
Speaker 1: have to mentally prepare myself every game for like a
Speaker 1: possible broken body part, broken bone, like see, I have
Speaker 1: to disagree with you because you're actually no. I One
Speaker 1: of the reasons why I didn't play while I stopped
Speaker 1: playing is I had to every week physically prepare myself
Speaker 1: for the mental anguish and professional hate that I had
Speaker 1: for each defended out I went against. I built up,
Speaker 1: I built up my anger every week against the opponent.
Speaker 1: I'm trying to remove him from just the roster. Like
Speaker 1: I used to call myself an assessor, like I want
Speaker 1: to like you know, if you have a house refinance.
Speaker 1: When the appraisal comes after I've been in there, I
Speaker 1: want them to say no, that it is not even livable.
Speaker 1: It is condemned. You can and and I'm saying that jokingly,
Speaker 1: but that was literally how I can't how I tried
Speaker 1: to play, which was physically exhausting. Like you said that
Speaker 1: day to day yes, yes, that day to day grind.
Speaker 1: It's almost like it's almost like and I had a
Speaker 1: lot of conversations with a lot of my brothers who
Speaker 1: have played with over the years, and this is a
Speaker 1: real thing. It's almost I don't want to categorize because
Speaker 1: I don't want to minimize with like actual PTSD cats
Speaker 1: go through, but it is a form of PTSD. Oh yeah,
Speaker 1: some form of every form of something that you where
Speaker 1: there is mental and physical trauma, especially obviously mental and
Speaker 1: physical and they lead coincide each other. There there is
Speaker 1: some post traumatic stress and then going and then going
Speaker 1: from that from like being because you's gotta be you're
Speaker 1: crazy to do some of the ship that we did,
Speaker 1: like you gotta be like it's not it's not saying
Speaker 1: it's not normal, really really trying to like like I
Speaker 1: don't know, put my mind. It's you're to fight like
Speaker 1: everything you know, you really willing to You're really willing
Speaker 1: a dog, and everyone's gonna die for this ship. Like
Speaker 1: that's how you feel at the time. Well, I'm wanting
Speaker 1: to kill. I'm wanting to kill somebody I don't want
Speaker 1: know about. I'm willing to die. It's like I ain't
Speaker 1: trying to die over the middle now, like unpacking all
Speaker 1: of that emotional like it's almost it's it's performative, but
Speaker 1: it's also it's it's it's for your protection, it's real
Speaker 1: and all of that. It's not it is not it
Speaker 1: is not a game or charade for the people that
Speaker 1: who are emotionally invested in their craft. Yep, right, and
Speaker 1: and so and so I had to I had to
Speaker 1: do a lot of like therapy too, un undo a
Speaker 1: lot of that because I had to channel that energy
Speaker 1: into something else. Like it's like almost I needed I
Speaker 1: needed an outlet in order to get a lot of
Speaker 1: cause growing up you have a lot of anger and
Speaker 1: and and football was the outlet. Right, That's how I
Speaker 1: got that ship out. Like it was like it was
Speaker 1: a it was a safe haveing. It was a place
Speaker 1: where I could just I could talk. Ship I could
Speaker 1: be physical, I could rush somebody up, I can do
Speaker 1: whatever without any consequences. But when you're in just the
Speaker 1: regular daty that that's not civilized. So it's like, but
Speaker 1: you still have that ship is still there, and so
Speaker 1: you have to find a way to get that either
Speaker 1: competitive edge or that physical edge out um in a
Speaker 1: healthy way. And so that's the real thing I think
Speaker 1: a lot of us deal with how do you get
Speaker 1: that out? Now? There I got. I got into jiu jitsu.
Speaker 1: That's a really that's a really dope sport. Um jiu jitsu.
Speaker 1: I still play basketball, so you know, I get on
Speaker 1: the court and that that that really scratches my competitive
Speaker 1: edge because you know, like I was, I was one
Speaker 1: of the biggest ship talker. So um that that helps
Speaker 1: helps get that out um. Yeah, this stuff like that
Speaker 1: man trying to find to get physical outlets out and
Speaker 1: uh um and not staying dormant. I think so when
Speaker 1: you when you retire from the NFL, you wrote it's
Speaker 1: hard to write those words because this game has been
Speaker 1: everything to me my therapy, my joy, my solace, and
Speaker 1: my enemy. So reflecting back, does one of those things
Speaker 1: stand out to you more than others? Yeah. Uh, I
Speaker 1: think this the accumulative effect of it all. When something
Speaker 1: that has been the center point of your entire life
Speaker 1: and has been the driving force for you to get
Speaker 1: up at five thirty every morning, uh, when that is gone,
Speaker 1: you have to rediscover who you are without the the
Speaker 1: catalyst of your occupation. And that is the biggest uh
Speaker 1: um hurdle I think we all, as ex professional athletes
Speaker 1: have to go through, is can you have and I
Speaker 1: identity without something that has been your identity your entire life?
Speaker 1: Can you I was out about care and I think
Speaker 1: that was that was one of my gifts. Um, for
Speaker 1: whatever reason I had was I was always kind of disassociated,
Speaker 1: Like anytime we were anywhere, I would never unless they
Speaker 1: knew who I was, your foster. I'd been like I
Speaker 1: would never the attention. I didn't really. Yeah, I tell
Speaker 1: you two people, I've seen you before, Like I played
Speaker 1: chess on ESPN once. You probably see me because of that,
Speaker 1: I used to deflect. Um, Yeah, I don't. Don't think
Speaker 1: it was just never my my my dad didn't didn't
Speaker 1: fall in love with that the airan foster of the
Speaker 1: football player. I fell in love with the relationships are built.
Speaker 1: I fell in love with the freedom that it gave me, um,
Speaker 1: and the luxury that gave me to um explore who
Speaker 1: I am, man, summarize you're playing days in Houston. Man,
Speaker 1: I ain't joyed my time there. Man. I think it
Speaker 1: was it's a whirlwind, right when when And it's just
Speaker 1: it's kind of like a shock, and uh, you know,
Speaker 1: life goes on and the game goes on, and the
Speaker 1: city goes on. Uh, make lifelong friends and bonds and
Speaker 1: things of that nature. But I think that it's it's
Speaker 1: just one of those things for me anyway, that seems
Speaker 1: like a lifetime ago, even though it's what four or
Speaker 1: five years ago. When I retire, it just it just
Speaker 1: seems like a lifetime ago because when you're retired, there's
Speaker 1: no obligations. You can literally sit on your phone all day,
Speaker 1: you can play video games all day, you can travel
Speaker 1: all day. UM. And so I've taken that opportunity to
Speaker 1: really dig into who I am and what I am
Speaker 1: and what kind of man I want to beat. And
Speaker 1: these have been the most transformative five years of my life.
Speaker 1: And I think that's what when I reflected my playing days,
Speaker 1: that's really what I see as I see a journey
Speaker 1: and a sacrifice that a young man made to his
Speaker 1: older self that allowed him to really explore himself and
Speaker 1: and be a better human being for our community. Like
Speaker 1: not to get all hallmarky, but that's why I want
Speaker 1: to get home. I want you to get hallmark because
Speaker 1: here's the last thing I want to ask you there.
Speaker 1: And I don't even want to use your first name
Speaker 1: because I want to use your last name using in
Speaker 1: the south right, What would Mr Foster if he can
Speaker 1: go back, tell young Foster to prepare him for life? Oh?
Speaker 1: How how I got out with the little Homie? Well,
Speaker 1: first of all, I know who the little Homie is,
Speaker 1: but I just mess yeah, no, I man, it's just
Speaker 1: been It's been such an enjoyable conversation. Bro. I I
Speaker 1: just want to I want to if you could play
Speaker 1: this back, I want to know what you can, what
Speaker 1: you would tell yourself, just because because before you say it, man,
Speaker 1: it's growing up. We we we felt like we had
Speaker 1: to snatch our dreams growing up. We we felt like
Speaker 1: we were starters, but we were sitting on the bench
Speaker 1: growing up. We want to be influencers, We want to
Speaker 1: be this. You were all those things. We just didn't
Speaker 1: realize that throughout our journey. Yeah yeah, uh, I think
Speaker 1: I would tell a little Aaron, depending on what age, UM,
Speaker 1: I would tell him, Um, you already got it, like
Speaker 1: you already have it, man, everything that you love, everything
Speaker 1: that that inspires you, you already have that ship. Um,
Speaker 1: listen to people, be humble. Uh and and you'll grow
Speaker 1: into what you think you can be. Uh. It isn't
Speaker 1: necessarily to do with football, just in general, like like
Speaker 1: you got it, like you have the tools already, Like
Speaker 1: just he was that's dope, period. Man. We really appreciate
Speaker 1: you taking the time to come on our podcast. Man,
Speaker 1: I don't know, man, I appreciate you. Man, I appreciate you.
Speaker 1: Bro's Uh yeah, I ain't never got to tell you, man,
Speaker 1: but you you inspired shot out of me as a kid,
Speaker 1: man as an as a kid, but you know as
Speaker 1: as a young adult. Uh and and the way you played,
Speaker 1: the way you carried yourself. And so I never really
Speaker 1: I don't think I ever really got to give you
Speaker 1: flowers man from man and man, how you how you
Speaker 1: did things. And when I did get the bump uh
Speaker 1: elbows with you in the league, it was it was
Speaker 1: always love. You know, you'd always show love and so
Speaker 1: I how they appreciate it, but I appreciate you. I
Speaker 1: was always room. It was always remarkable watching your run,
Speaker 1: watching how you gallop, watch how you just pick the holes,
Speaker 1: and and one of the cool things is, you know,
Speaker 1: I think I thought unique opportunity of playing uh with
Speaker 1: with coops in Baltimore. And it was interesting because I
Speaker 1: was on that uh you know, I didn't really care
Speaker 1: and show that and you know, he really does not
Speaker 1: like conflict, and so it was interesting because I was
Speaker 1: Mr conflict, you know, if I wasn't getting my touches.
Speaker 1: I asked him like, hey, you've got a problem with me?
Speaker 1: You know, no, but you know, but you know, first
Speaker 1: of all, you butt me off the first conversation. I
Speaker 1: have the question. I know you're full of ship, right right,
Speaker 1: but and just saying that, you know, we don't really
Speaker 1: realize as players how much power influence we really have.
Speaker 1: We allowed the coaches to believe that we actually don't.
Speaker 1: And um in Baltimore was one of the places where
Speaker 1: you realize you had it, and so they made it
Speaker 1: very apparent. So in Baltimore they gave your rope to
Speaker 1: do two things, swing or hang yourself and so you
Speaker 1: you had that power, right, you have the power because
Speaker 1: you either were successful or you got cut. The only
Speaker 1: person you have to blame it yourself. And so it
Speaker 1: was just remarkable if I go back and just in
Speaker 1: a football aspect, for you to pick up the offense
Speaker 1: in the way it was picked up and allowing that
Speaker 1: system to benefit you, but you also master in that system.
Speaker 1: It's one thing. You can be productive in the system,
Speaker 1: but to master to where the next guy does not
Speaker 1: have the same kind of success in that system man
Speaker 1: requires a lot. Man, and and and it was just
Speaker 1: really cool as I go back and look at playing
Speaker 1: in the system and then go back and looking at
Speaker 1: all the people that played in it, the people who
Speaker 1: were successful like you, Andre, Kevin Walters. There's a lot
Speaker 1: of other guys, uh O, d Man, it's remarkable, but
Speaker 1: it's so many other guys that weren't as successful because
Speaker 1: they did not master their craft. And you didn't get
Speaker 1: a lot of credit. Bro, you didn't get a lot
Speaker 1: of credit. And you you I give your flowers. You
Speaker 1: you did them. You did a great job. Man. And again,
Speaker 1: hate it playing against you just because you galloped and
Speaker 1: just you hit that zone outside zone and cut it
Speaker 1: back and it was like, damn, he's just been just
Speaker 1: like galloping, just strutting, like he ain't moving. So so, man,
Speaker 1: I appreciate you are a unique person, you are well
Speaker 1: worth it, you are competent, and most of all, your lovable.
Speaker 1: I'm Steve Smith Senior, I'm Gerald Little John and this
Speaker 1: is cut to It. Cut to It with Steve Smith Senior.
Speaker 1: That Is Me is a production of Cut to It LLC,
Speaker 1: Baltol Creative Media, The Black Effect and I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: For more podcast from my Heart Radio, visit the I
Speaker 1: Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to
Speaker 1: your favorite shows from Cut to It. Executive producer Steve Smith,
Speaker 1: singer co host Gerard Little John, talent and booking manager
Speaker 1: Joe Fusci, Social media team Wesley Robinson and John show
Speaker 1: from Balto Creative Media. Cut to It is produced by
Speaker 1: Brian Baltaschevitch and Meredith Carter, with production assistance by Alex Lebrek,
Speaker 1: Production Coordinator Taylor Robinson. Theme music by Alex Johnson, lyrics
Speaker 1: and vocals by Anthony Hamilton. You ain't heard about it,
Speaker 1: then We're about to let you know. It's all