WEBVTT - Wess 0:00:00.080 --> 0:00:03.440 My name is Dan Jansas joined and we're billed with 0:00:03.520 --> 0:00:07.480 heroes Mark Sessler, Chris Westling, Greg Rose, Doll with the 0:00:07.520 --> 0:00:10.200 pocket square. What is up? Boys? Hey Dan? Hey Dan? 0:00:10.360 --> 0:00:13.039 Hey Dan Hey Dan? It is the game of both 0:00:13.440 --> 0:00:19.319 skill and valor, also known as w is tooster in 0:00:19.440 --> 0:00:21.400 a big spot and ate in three team on a 0:00:21.440 --> 0:00:26.800 six game when it chaake look up to the live 0:00:26.880 --> 0:00:31.400 show success, the meet up even more of a success. 0:00:31.720 --> 0:00:34.239 You guys have sat behind me or sat beside me 0:00:34.320 --> 0:00:37.200 for seven shows. You sat beside me for a growing 0:00:37.240 --> 0:00:40.199 battle with cancer. Will you stand beside me on the 0:00:40.200 --> 0:00:47.320 most important wine is blue? Because we're having a baby bar. 0:00:51.960 --> 0:00:54.600 Something is always lost in art or experience when you 0:00:54.640 --> 0:00:58.560 analyze it. Mark Twain once he became a riverboat pilot 0:00:58.560 --> 0:01:01.320 and learned the technical side of it. The Mississippi River 0:01:01.400 --> 0:01:03.760 was no longer beautiful for him. If I was to 0:01:03.840 --> 0:01:06.720 hire a sportswriter, the first question I was gonna ask 0:01:06.800 --> 0:01:11.240 him is how do you reconcile the essential meaninglessness of sports? 0:01:11.360 --> 0:01:14.920 I mean, how do you reconcile watching young men bang 0:01:15.000 --> 0:01:17.760 into each other and try to advance and inflate a 0:01:17.840 --> 0:01:21.480 pigskin against Mark territory? I mean that's what you're doing. 0:01:21.520 --> 0:01:23.440 How do you reconcile the importance of that? And I 0:01:23.440 --> 0:01:28.800 think it's like Shakespeare's poems or Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. This 0:01:28.880 --> 0:01:32.080 is going above and beyond. At its best, Sports is 0:01:32.600 --> 0:01:40.759 look at what humans can do. Welcome to another edition 0:01:40.800 --> 0:01:44.480 of the Around the NFL Podcast, an edition of the 0:01:44.520 --> 0:01:49.440 Around the NFL podcast unlike any other, and um sad 0:01:49.680 --> 0:01:52.960 edition of the show. My name is Dan Hansas. Come 0:01:53.040 --> 0:01:56.800 to you from a virtual room filled with some heroes, 0:01:57.200 --> 0:01:59.360 and there always will be it always will be only 0:01:59.400 --> 0:02:05.559 some heroes, Um sadly, Mark Sessler, Greg Rosenthal, What is up? Boys? 0:02:12.680 --> 0:02:17.920 M hm so yes, of course the news and everybody knows. 0:02:18.000 --> 0:02:28.560 And but Chris the Mailman Westling West whatever you called him, um, 0:02:28.760 --> 0:02:33.280 passed away this weekend, two weeks shy of his forty 0:02:33.320 --> 0:02:37.919 seven birthday. One of our closest friends and a great 0:02:38.160 --> 0:02:43.320 husband to Lakisha and an excellent father to link Um. 0:02:43.360 --> 0:02:47.239 However brief it was, uh And yes, the Super Bowl 0:02:47.400 --> 0:02:51.480 just wrapped up with the Bucks lane a whip in 0:02:51.600 --> 0:02:54.400 on the Chiefs, and I think West would have enjoyed 0:02:54.720 --> 0:02:57.040 breaking down this game in the performance by Tampa Bay. 0:02:57.080 --> 0:03:00.960 And we wish he was with us, UM, but instead 0:03:01.240 --> 0:03:04.399 that the show is about West, It's not about the game. Uh. 0:03:04.440 --> 0:03:08.720 And that's how it should be. Boys. Yeah. I mean 0:03:10.120 --> 0:03:18.200 when when West was talking, UM, you know about the 0:03:18.240 --> 0:03:21.840 meaningless of noss of sports and why you would why 0:03:21.880 --> 0:03:26.120 you would cover it in that UM basically it's like art, 0:03:26.160 --> 0:03:29.399 you know. I think that's how he saw it. UM, 0:03:29.440 --> 0:03:32.960 that you're appreciating someone doing it like at the highest level, 0:03:33.680 --> 0:03:36.920 UM possible. Look at what humans can do. And I 0:03:36.960 --> 0:03:41.800 think listening you know to West say that, UM, it 0:03:41.960 --> 0:03:44.120 just got me thinking of like, look at what he 0:03:44.160 --> 0:03:46.600 can do, you know, look at what look at what 0:03:46.720 --> 0:03:50.480 humans can do. When he when he wrote UM, when 0:03:50.520 --> 0:03:52.680 he was on this podcast where I think he felt 0:03:52.720 --> 0:03:57.000 like totally himself, totally comfortable from like from day one, 0:03:57.000 --> 0:04:00.000 and was just awesome at it. Uh and probably more 0:04:00.080 --> 0:04:02.440 than anything, like when he was just spinning yards with us, 0:04:02.640 --> 0:04:09.000 you know, UM at the bar or at work or wherever, 0:04:09.480 --> 0:04:13.080 like he collected characters. I think that you know, we'll 0:04:13.640 --> 0:04:16.360 talk about, I'm sure. But the outpouring I think, especially 0:04:16.440 --> 0:04:20.160 from the people that knew him, UM is so profound 0:04:20.240 --> 0:04:23.479 just because of because of that, because you connected with him, 0:04:23.560 --> 0:04:27.600 because He connected with so many people because because of 0:04:27.680 --> 0:04:31.440 because of what he could do. Yeah, we were asked 0:04:31.440 --> 0:04:36.760 on Sky Sports if we were surprised by the outpouring, 0:04:37.160 --> 0:04:40.359 and Dan answered the question, and I I like what 0:04:40.480 --> 0:04:44.160 Dan said that to some degree we were not um 0:04:44.200 --> 0:04:47.480 because this has been a really long journey. And I 0:04:47.680 --> 0:04:52.520 view West as someone who as we watch football grow, um, 0:04:52.600 --> 0:04:56.320 not only in the States, but especially you know beyond 0:04:56.920 --> 0:04:59.160 throughout Europe, that West is a big part of that. 0:04:59.200 --> 0:05:02.680 When they write that story, um, he is someone that 0:05:03.200 --> 0:05:04.760 would go out of his way. I cannot tell you 0:05:04.839 --> 0:05:07.840 how many people reached out to us and and d 0:05:08.080 --> 0:05:10.560 m s this week saying, oh, you know, I've actually 0:05:10.560 --> 0:05:13.440 been writing back and forth with West for five years 0:05:13.480 --> 0:05:16.320 and it's like a listener from the deep beyond. And 0:05:16.560 --> 0:05:19.159 he he loved engaging with football, and he wasn't a 0:05:19.880 --> 0:05:22.000 you know, you couldn't put West into a box. And 0:05:22.200 --> 0:05:26.120 I'll say quickly blocking them to blocking them to there, 0:05:26.600 --> 0:05:29.160 that's true. You had to play by a certain um 0:05:29.360 --> 0:05:31.159 set of rules with West. I'm not sure I've ever 0:05:31.240 --> 0:05:33.840 met anyone that that blocked more people, um, but I 0:05:33.839 --> 0:05:36.520 would imagine with good with good reason. He didn't suffer 0:05:36.600 --> 0:05:40.799 fools uh for long UM. But when West first showed 0:05:40.839 --> 0:05:45.200 up at NFL, UM we had a former UM manager 0:05:45.240 --> 0:05:47.240 of ours. He kind of at the Super Bowl told 0:05:47.279 --> 0:05:50.000 me Justin Hathaway, who who hired Dan, and I, you 0:05:50.080 --> 0:05:53.599 better watch out because this West character, UM has been 0:05:53.600 --> 0:05:55.960 writing all week while you've guys been at the Super Bowl. 0:05:56.200 --> 0:05:58.320 And it's some of the best material I've ever read 0:05:58.360 --> 0:05:59.960 on NFL dot com. And I know he's you know, 0:06:00.320 --> 0:06:03.480 he was sort of saying, you've made a wonderful higher. UM. 0:06:03.480 --> 0:06:06.640 This person is someone special when it comes to writing football. 0:06:07.200 --> 0:06:10.520 And I was pretty knew at writing football back then myself, 0:06:10.560 --> 0:06:13.599 and I would spend a lot of time reading what 0:06:13.720 --> 0:06:17.120 West wrote, UM, if we covered something similar, how he 0:06:17.160 --> 0:06:20.480 covered it versus how I did, and like the lead, 0:06:20.520 --> 0:06:23.080 the readers learned so much about football from West. But 0:06:23.480 --> 0:06:25.600 I would credit West as UM, you have these people 0:06:25.600 --> 0:06:27.320 in your life that when I started to read his 0:06:27.400 --> 0:06:31.159 writing and his analysis, that it changed the way that 0:06:31.200 --> 0:06:35.640 I thought about covering football, UM and always will you 0:06:35.720 --> 0:06:38.360 know and that and it was so well done that 0:06:38.360 --> 0:06:40.240 that the clip we played at the very top of 0:06:40.240 --> 0:06:42.920 the show, Matt Sick is UM who works for an 0:06:43.040 --> 0:06:45.560 editing team. UM. Just one of the many people at 0:06:45.560 --> 0:06:47.560 the at the company he put it together. He did 0:06:47.560 --> 0:06:50.960 such a great job with it, and UM, one of 0:06:50.960 --> 0:06:53.520 the people that the reason he was able to do 0:06:53.600 --> 0:06:56.800 that was because he knew Wes and he knew UM. 0:06:56.920 --> 0:07:00.599 The bond he had with us and with Ricky Hollywood. UM, 0:07:00.640 --> 0:07:02.640 and that was kind of just West in a nutshell, 0:07:02.880 --> 0:07:07.799 how everyone got on with him. And I was thinking, 0:07:07.839 --> 0:07:12.320 how like I in my whole life, UM, I was 0:07:12.400 --> 0:07:14.600 never was friends with someone as long as I was 0:07:14.680 --> 0:07:16.239 friends with West, and I met him in two thousand 0:07:17.480 --> 0:07:19.040 and now here we are in two thousand twenty one. 0:07:19.080 --> 0:07:20.920 I never got into a fight with West once. I 0:07:21.000 --> 0:07:23.520 never like we maybe would argue on the air and 0:07:23.560 --> 0:07:25.920 the podcast, but me and him never had a single 0:07:26.560 --> 0:07:29.000 like moment where we were crossed in like in each 0:07:29.000 --> 0:07:31.760 other's faces or ever. You know, we just got on 0:07:32.360 --> 0:07:36.120 so well because he did he got on well with everyone. 0:07:36.200 --> 0:07:39.960 And Mark and I were talking about this UM the 0:07:40.120 --> 0:07:43.840 night that he passed away over a few drinks, which 0:07:44.040 --> 0:07:48.560 I know West approved of. UM. That all three of 0:07:48.680 --> 0:07:53.560 us connected with West but in unique ways, which really 0:07:54.480 --> 0:07:58.280 speaks to Chris in terms of, you know, really he's 0:07:58.320 --> 0:08:02.640 such an eclectic personality and he was had so many layers, 0:08:02.840 --> 0:08:07.840 and like I, I connected with West as someone who 0:08:07.880 --> 0:08:11.280 grew up and m had not maybe a direct family 0:08:11.320 --> 0:08:13.280 that was large, but I had an extended family that 0:08:13.320 --> 0:08:16.240 I essentially grew up with tons of cousins and a 0:08:16.280 --> 0:08:20.880 lot of them boys, and was raised Catholic and grew 0:08:20.920 --> 0:08:23.680 up just in love with sports. And uh, I love 0:08:24.040 --> 0:08:27.200 stupid things like whiffleball and like West cornhole, which he 0:08:27.240 --> 0:08:30.760 introduced to us. And I know you guys have um 0:08:30.960 --> 0:08:33.840 reasons why you kind of felt close to him and 0:08:33.840 --> 0:08:37.720 and what what he said? How do you reconcile the 0:08:37.920 --> 0:08:41.120 essential meaninglessness of sports? And he he hit on something 0:08:41.160 --> 0:08:45.000 which was typically brilliant with Chris, which was this idea 0:08:45.080 --> 0:08:49.160 that you could see the human form achieving um at 0:08:49.200 --> 0:08:52.679 its peak physically. But it's sports to me. And the 0:08:52.679 --> 0:08:56.080 reason why I love sports, um is because it's more 0:08:56.200 --> 0:08:58.800 to me also than that. It's also how it brings 0:08:58.840 --> 0:09:05.800 people together. And um, you know, um, that's sports and 0:09:05.840 --> 0:09:09.120 the NFL's what brought us together. It's it's what brought West. 0:09:09.280 --> 0:09:12.320 Was on a message board, Greg, when you were, um 0:09:12.520 --> 0:09:15.240 a football writer once upon a time working in the 0:09:15.240 --> 0:09:17.160 fantasy realm and you and you saw this guy that 0:09:17.240 --> 0:09:21.079 was just writing brilliant long screeds about fantasy sports, and 0:09:21.280 --> 0:09:24.360 you smartly hired him, and then we're smart enough to 0:09:24.400 --> 0:09:26.480 bring him over here and it just changed all of 0:09:26.480 --> 0:09:32.800 our lives. Yeah, it's so well said, um, because you know, 0:09:32.880 --> 0:09:36.160 my my start to the relationship with West is Yes, 0:09:36.200 --> 0:09:39.880 reading this this blog post on his old site, Sons 0:09:39.920 --> 0:09:45.280 of the Tundra, a dynasty football blog, he had like 0:09:45.480 --> 0:09:48.520 a ten Yeah, it's a great site. He had a 0:09:48.520 --> 0:09:51.280 ten thousand word post um that I saw in the 0:09:51.320 --> 0:09:54.640 off season that was like I could have just dropped 0:09:54.640 --> 0:09:57.400 it and it would have replaced the first thirty pages 0:09:57.440 --> 0:09:59.800 of our preview in magazine and it would have like 0:10:00.080 --> 0:10:02.000 proved it. I was like, who is this guy? I 0:10:02.080 --> 0:10:04.640 need to Uh, I need to get this guy. But 0:10:05.040 --> 0:10:07.120 part of part of I think feel like the basis 0:10:07.200 --> 0:10:10.640 of our our friendship to start two was arguing and um, 0:10:10.640 --> 0:10:14.160 and that's what arguing about football, and it was never personal. 0:10:14.360 --> 0:10:18.719 We the two of us were never one to back down. Um. 0:10:18.760 --> 0:10:21.760 You know, Lakisha loves to say he's the most stubborn 0:10:21.760 --> 0:10:25.320 guy she's ever you know, met in his life. Um, 0:10:25.720 --> 0:10:28.000 And I think he got that from his brothers. You 0:10:28.000 --> 0:10:31.440 know we you mentioned having a drink. We we uh, 0:10:31.600 --> 0:10:35.160 we were sitting with Phil Um then Chris's brother who 0:10:35.240 --> 0:10:39.200 was here this week, and Um and then and they 0:10:39.240 --> 0:10:44.080 were they were like that relationship too, you know, a 0:10:44.160 --> 0:10:47.520 millionth degree because there was seven of them and Um 0:10:47.960 --> 0:10:51.480 and West. You know, West was the one who you know, 0:10:51.520 --> 0:10:54.400 he's the second oldest one. I think a lot of them, 0:10:54.440 --> 0:10:58.800 you know, really looked up to him. And that just 0:10:59.000 --> 0:11:01.320 that just came from from him. But it wasn't It 0:11:01.360 --> 0:11:04.080 wasn't just that you you said it so well and 0:11:04.280 --> 0:11:05.840 even just how you said it. The end made me 0:11:05.840 --> 0:11:08.920 think of how he collected characters around him, like so 0:11:08.960 --> 0:11:11.280 many different types of people, and I connected with them 0:11:11.280 --> 0:11:14.400 about about literature and talking about the you know, the 0:11:14.480 --> 0:11:18.800 meaning of life and everything um about life. And when 0:11:18.800 --> 0:11:21.560 I went down to Tybee, like and you guys saw that, 0:11:21.600 --> 0:11:23.400 we all saw that at the wedding to just like 0:11:24.480 --> 0:11:27.000 he could bring so many different types of people together. 0:11:27.120 --> 0:11:29.720 That's all he wanted was to be surrounded by characters. 0:11:29.800 --> 0:11:33.079 He didn't care what type of personality you were. He 0:11:33.200 --> 0:11:35.480 just like wanted you to be like a unique person 0:11:35.520 --> 0:11:37.440 and if you were, then you could ride with West 0:11:37.600 --> 0:11:40.080 and you were going to love him. Oh I love 0:11:40.320 --> 0:11:42.200 I love what you both said, and I part of 0:11:42.200 --> 0:11:45.160 me wishes we could have you know, said these things 0:11:45.200 --> 0:11:50.320 like another time. But um, I just I think my my, 0:11:50.559 --> 0:11:53.120 like my relationship with Wes wasn't really about football that much. 0:11:53.200 --> 0:11:56.200 And I think that's such just so unique that you know, 0:11:56.440 --> 0:11:59.160 we each covered such different territory with him, and I 0:11:59.200 --> 0:12:01.719 grew up loving boards as much as anything else, um, 0:12:02.480 --> 0:12:04.720 but not as much as not as much as Wes. 0:12:04.760 --> 0:12:07.400 I know that, um. But West and I like for 0:12:07.440 --> 0:12:09.600 the other eight eight percent of our relationship, I think 0:12:09.640 --> 0:12:13.079 that it when he showed up to to Los Angeles. 0:12:13.840 --> 0:12:15.679 I had been writing to him, um, because he had 0:12:15.679 --> 0:12:18.040 been remote for a while, and we we I just 0:12:18.080 --> 0:12:20.600 started to realize I was fascinated a bit, but fascinated 0:12:20.600 --> 0:12:23.640 by this person. And I would send him like, um, hey, West, 0:12:23.679 --> 0:12:25.880 like here's my top fifteen, like l a dive bars, 0:12:26.400 --> 0:12:27.960 so when you get here, like we're going to try 0:12:28.000 --> 0:12:30.880 these places out and stuff. And he didn't. He you know, 0:12:30.960 --> 0:12:33.400 he I think he was struggling with with who he 0:12:33.520 --> 0:12:35.640 was and where he was when he came to Los Angeles, 0:12:35.720 --> 0:12:38.760 and I think the other phases of his time here 0:12:38.800 --> 0:12:41.679 where my friendship with him was de emphasized a little bit, 0:12:41.679 --> 0:12:43.839 and obviously other plate people played a larger role. But 0:12:43.880 --> 0:12:47.040 I think early on, UM just something inside of me 0:12:47.640 --> 0:12:50.760 wanted to look out for West, and UM my thing 0:12:50.800 --> 0:12:52.679 with West, I think a little bit rom reminded me 0:12:52.720 --> 0:12:55.280 of some of my other guy friends growing up. Um 0:12:55.960 --> 0:12:59.640 was misadventures and pranks. And I like, I was up 0:12:59.640 --> 0:13:01.520 all night last night, Like I'm sure we all were, 0:13:01.600 --> 0:13:03.880 just um trying to get down to the nuance of 0:13:03.920 --> 0:13:05.760 what my friendship with West was about. And I'm not 0:13:05.800 --> 0:13:08.640 even an eighth of the way through figuring that out. 0:13:08.679 --> 0:13:11.840 But what kept coming to me where these moments were like, 0:13:12.440 --> 0:13:14.360 and Dan, you were there for some of this too, 0:13:14.360 --> 0:13:16.680 But I just like West, when you get them going, 0:13:16.800 --> 0:13:19.240 you'd wind them up off a few beers or something. 0:13:19.640 --> 0:13:22.160 I just don't think that there are He'll He'll be 0:13:22.200 --> 0:13:24.320 a top one or two or three friend in that 0:13:24.360 --> 0:13:26.360 way for the rest of my life. And you know, 0:13:26.400 --> 0:13:28.640 you'd be ten minutes in. I'd say to West, like, West, 0:13:28.720 --> 0:13:31.000 how much will you pay me to pick up this 0:13:31.080 --> 0:13:34.480 chair and launch it across this room? And He'd say, um, 0:13:34.480 --> 0:13:36.319 twelve bucks. So I was like, not enough. And then 0:13:36.679 --> 0:13:38.640 we we I mentioned this on Sky that there were 0:13:38.760 --> 0:13:40.920 just all these little instances. I remember a time when 0:13:40.960 --> 0:13:43.920 we were out with Colleen Wolfe and Gonzo and and 0:13:44.280 --> 0:13:46.440 we were upstairs at something the second floor of some 0:13:46.800 --> 0:13:50.400 um pub, and there were these tables of older women. 0:13:50.440 --> 0:13:52.559 I don't know what they were doing there, but they 0:13:52.559 --> 0:13:55.960 were essentially sort of blue hairs, and um, we would 0:13:56.000 --> 0:13:58.280 just test each other to go do little things, and 0:13:58.600 --> 0:14:01.160 we would walk up to these these table of women 0:14:01.160 --> 0:14:04.240 and like sit down very seriously. I'd say we're we're 0:14:04.320 --> 0:14:06.920 reporters from NFL dot com and West would say we're 0:14:07.000 --> 0:14:10.160 real reporters, were scribes, and we would just ask, you know, 0:14:10.440 --> 0:14:12.319 do it. I would like to know, do you think 0:14:12.720 --> 0:14:15.240 that uh, you know, Iron Eagle is underrated as a 0:14:15.240 --> 0:14:17.040 play by play man. This is a hot topic. And 0:14:17.040 --> 0:14:19.080 we're going around the whole bar and like it's just 0:14:19.200 --> 0:14:21.800 like the the the that's you know, one little example 0:14:21.800 --> 0:14:23.760 that West and I would do these things. We read 0:14:23.800 --> 0:14:27.040 an airport once. Um what some people would call an incident. 0:14:27.480 --> 0:14:30.080 I would call it an uh an adventure to some degree. 0:14:30.120 --> 0:14:33.400 But we were rolling around asking people like how furious 0:14:33.440 --> 0:14:35.680 they were with fake microphones in front of our hands, 0:14:35.720 --> 0:14:38.520 like that the that the ravens had been pulled from 0:14:38.560 --> 0:14:40.400 the belly of the Browns. And you know, these gentlemen 0:14:40.440 --> 0:14:44.000 to be like, didn't that happen like twenty two years ago. 0:14:44.600 --> 0:14:46.920 We're like, yes, but we need your thoughts, and like 0:14:47.000 --> 0:14:49.400 you know, by the time that that night ended, West 0:14:49.400 --> 0:14:52.000 and I had um counted other incidents. But I I 0:14:52.040 --> 0:14:54.640 love I just loved being able to chat and talk 0:14:54.680 --> 0:14:57.920 with him, his verb his verbal skills. Um. That's something 0:14:57.920 --> 0:15:00.280 that always, like I find I value in a end 0:15:00.320 --> 0:15:03.400 and we've seen how much how valuable he was on 0:15:03.440 --> 0:15:06.560 that front. And this is one little um spoonful off 0:15:06.560 --> 0:15:09.280 an Iceberg. So I thank you and Mark you and 0:15:09.360 --> 0:15:13.640 Dan rather um for going out all those nights early on. 0:15:13.840 --> 0:15:17.600 I remember I met my wife, but I met him 0:15:17.640 --> 0:15:19.920 at this bar, like but I think the first day 0:15:19.960 --> 0:15:21.360 he was here. We both moved out here at the 0:15:21.560 --> 0:15:24.120 same time. I had worked for the NFL a little 0:15:24.160 --> 0:15:27.640 longer than West, about nine months longer before we hired, 0:15:27.640 --> 0:15:29.360 but we moved here at the exact same time, and 0:15:29.400 --> 0:15:31.040 I went out with I went out with him to 0:15:31.080 --> 0:15:33.880 a bar like the first night, and maybe did it 0:15:33.960 --> 0:15:36.920 the third or fourth night. And I was thinking, like, well, 0:15:36.920 --> 0:15:40.280 this isn't me. You know, I'm I'm not that guy really, 0:15:40.640 --> 0:15:43.160 and I've got a I've got a young, young kid, 0:15:43.360 --> 0:15:46.880 and UM, he's gonna need someone because you're right, I was. 0:15:47.560 --> 0:15:49.400 I was going to do everything I could to make 0:15:49.600 --> 0:15:52.400 um the work part of it UM payoff because he 0:15:52.600 --> 0:15:56.120 took a chance. He really debated whether to come here 0:15:56.160 --> 0:15:58.120 or not. He had he had just gotten promoted a 0:15:58.200 --> 0:16:00.680 road to world. He was moving across the country from 0:16:00.720 --> 0:16:02.760 Tybee Island. I was gonna do everything I could to 0:16:02.800 --> 0:16:04.440 make the work part of it good. But it's like 0:16:04.880 --> 0:16:06.880 I needed y'all. I needed you guys to be out 0:16:06.920 --> 0:16:08.920 with him that or else. I don't know. I don't 0:16:08.920 --> 0:16:10.600 know if you would have stayed well. It wasn't a 0:16:10.600 --> 0:16:14.040 hard shore Phil. His brother Phil told the story that 0:16:14.080 --> 0:16:17.480 I was not aware of that. UM. I believe it 0:16:17.480 --> 0:16:21.160 was Phil's daughter UM, And apologies to feel if I 0:16:21.200 --> 0:16:25.360 have the story slightly off. But was asked to do 0:16:25.400 --> 0:16:29.800 a book report on someone who took a chance in life, 0:16:30.160 --> 0:16:31.560 and she was like, oh, I want to do it 0:16:31.600 --> 0:16:36.400 on Uncle West, who had a perfectly comfortable life on 0:16:36.480 --> 0:16:39.960 Tybee Island. He grew up on the West side of Cincinnati. Um. 0:16:40.080 --> 0:16:42.600 He was a space alien for leaving the West side 0:16:42.600 --> 0:16:45.240 of Cincinnati, because, as he told us many times, no 0:16:45.280 --> 0:16:47.880 one really left the West side of Cincinnati. And he 0:16:48.960 --> 0:16:53.040 followed a friend of his that so many funny, strange 0:16:53.040 --> 0:16:56.720 West stories, but a friend from Ohio who moved to 0:16:56.920 --> 0:16:59.840 Tybee Island off the coast of Georgia and then became 0:16:59.880 --> 0:17:03.840 the mayor of Typee Island. He moves there on that 0:17:03.880 --> 0:17:07.880 guy's recommendation and then settles into this island life um 0:17:08.000 --> 0:17:10.600 or as Dave Damage was Dave Damage, I could say, 0:17:10.800 --> 0:17:15.760 Tabby Ahland and um, and then you know, made fast 0:17:15.800 --> 0:17:19.040 friends with everyone, um as Chris does, and built this 0:17:19.119 --> 0:17:23.160 whole life. And he was so he was the mayor, 0:17:23.200 --> 0:17:27.520 although shout out to Jason Buellerman, I believe, who also 0:17:27.640 --> 0:17:31.359 officiated his wedding. Right, let's not let's remember Buellerman was 0:17:31.400 --> 0:17:34.480 the mayor. But what West was everyone's best friend. But 0:17:34.560 --> 0:17:39.359 West was so you know, such a gifted writer, he 0:17:39.440 --> 0:17:43.760 was so talented that, um, he could have just stayed 0:17:43.800 --> 0:17:47.160 on that island. Um, got drunk with his friends, played softball, 0:17:47.920 --> 0:17:51.439 met someone, eventually got married and and and he nearly 0:17:51.480 --> 0:17:53.880 did that on that island as well, and then been 0:17:53.920 --> 0:17:56.280 an online football writer and had he carved out a 0:17:56.359 --> 0:17:59.440 nice life, but he did take that. He took that chance, 0:17:59.680 --> 0:18:02.440 and um, I like to say it paid off for 0:18:02.520 --> 0:18:06.160 him beautifully. In fact, we know because Lakisha, he doesn't 0:18:06.160 --> 0:18:10.160 meet Lakisha an NFL network, and if he doesn't meet Lakisha, UM, 0:18:10.480 --> 0:18:12.680 I don't think he would have survived cancer the first time. 0:18:13.119 --> 0:18:15.479 That's how special a woman she is. And then there 0:18:15.480 --> 0:18:18.040 would be no link. But it was touch and go 0:18:18.680 --> 0:18:22.440 West in l A initially, and you said, Greg, you 0:18:22.440 --> 0:18:26.840 you tried and that was not your forte going to bars. 0:18:26.880 --> 0:18:30.159 Mark and I definitely more up our alley and we 0:18:30.280 --> 0:18:32.400 both went out with West a lot because we knew 0:18:32.440 --> 0:18:35.840 we could tell immediately West was a good guy and 0:18:36.000 --> 0:18:38.760 um a great football writer and a great addition to 0:18:38.760 --> 0:18:40.399 the team, but like a really good guy like we 0:18:40.480 --> 0:18:43.840 wanted it to meet. We wanted it to work, um, 0:18:43.880 --> 0:18:46.200 but it was. It was tough because he was, yes, 0:18:46.280 --> 0:18:48.960 the most stubborn person I've ever known as well, UM, 0:18:49.960 --> 0:18:53.200 which could be a blessing and accurse sometimes, but he's 0:18:53.280 --> 0:18:55.439 His initial thought was I hated here, this isn't me. 0:18:56.040 --> 0:18:58.960 And I remember Mark us going out a lot with him. 0:18:59.240 --> 0:19:02.240 One one day, Emily, my wife, and I went to 0:19:02.320 --> 0:19:04.760 West's and I remember we all sat in the jacuzzi 0:19:04.840 --> 0:19:08.120 together and we threw corn together and listened to like Springsteen, 0:19:08.560 --> 0:19:10.600 and it was just like you just wanted him to 0:19:10.640 --> 0:19:13.119 get like in the flow of like this could work. 0:19:13.160 --> 0:19:16.639 I remember Mark, you and I with Emily and West 0:19:16.640 --> 0:19:19.639 sitting outside the city Tavern and Culver City and signing 0:19:19.680 --> 0:19:22.440 him up for Plenty of Fish, the dating site, which 0:19:22.480 --> 0:19:25.560 was that took a lot of a lot of convincing 0:19:25.600 --> 0:19:27.919 because he thought, oh, that's dating sites are for losers, 0:19:28.000 --> 0:19:29.760 Like no, Wes, this is I think we were out 0:19:29.760 --> 0:19:32.080 of the loop. But I think this is how it works. 0:19:32.119 --> 0:19:34.840 This is how people meet and date and have fun. 0:19:34.920 --> 0:19:37.600 Because you just wanted him to get his hooks into 0:19:38.280 --> 0:19:40.320 the city, and he did. He started dating a lot, 0:19:40.359 --> 0:19:42.639 and you could tell he started to get more comfortable. 0:19:43.160 --> 0:19:45.560 And then when he met Lakisha, who we had already known. 0:19:46.080 --> 0:19:50.879 Um that that's what changed everything. Once Lakisha and West 0:19:50.920 --> 0:19:54.879 got together, Um, there never again was there like I 0:19:54.880 --> 0:19:56.840 don't like it here, this doesn't work. Now. He had 0:19:56.880 --> 0:20:00.680 grievances with l A to the very end, but that's 0:20:00.720 --> 0:20:03.280 when you're like, Okay, he's not going anywhere, and that 0:20:03.359 --> 0:20:05.560 was a beautiful thing. He never did get that car 0:20:05.640 --> 0:20:08.199 back that he just like last lost the car. He 0:20:08.280 --> 0:20:10.200 lost the car. He just went to the Super Bowl 0:20:10.480 --> 0:20:12.840 down a note to that he got gotten some sort 0:20:12.880 --> 0:20:15.840 of like a minor incident or accident and just gave 0:20:15.880 --> 0:20:18.360 the car to the other party. Didn't he just give 0:20:18.440 --> 0:20:20.520 He gave the car away to the people that he 0:20:20.560 --> 0:20:23.919 got in the accident with. That's that's he just for debate. 0:20:24.000 --> 0:20:26.480 I I've tried to I even reached out to Lukisha 0:20:26.520 --> 0:20:29.080 at some point about two years ago. He was like, Lukisha, 0:20:29.080 --> 0:20:31.320 do you want me to like do some like works 0:20:31.480 --> 0:20:33.040 if I can find out where this car was? And 0:20:33.080 --> 0:20:35.600 I think it was just eventually auctioned off by the city. 0:20:35.880 --> 0:20:37.159 I mean I think it was. Also it was a 0:20:37.160 --> 0:20:39.280 car that was worth about three hundred and seventy five 0:20:39.720 --> 0:20:44.200 but it was now he got the one you're talking about. 0:20:44.640 --> 0:20:48.480 He got it shipped from Tybee shout out to the 0:20:48.560 --> 0:20:52.879 NFL actually gave us our moving expenses and so he 0:20:53.000 --> 0:20:56.080 had about a five hundred dollar car. You're talking about 0:20:56.080 --> 0:21:00.360 Big Irish, probably probably at the events of like uh, 0:21:00.640 --> 0:21:03.280 probably at the expense of far more value than I'm 0:21:03.320 --> 0:21:06.960 conflating stories because West lost two cars, but anyway, mark 0:21:07.040 --> 0:21:09.119 your turn. Well, no, I was just gonna say that 0:21:09.160 --> 0:21:11.240 I think that something else that happened to West along 0:21:11.240 --> 0:21:13.800 the way was you know, I remember talking to him 0:21:13.800 --> 0:21:15.280 that we would even go out in l A to 0:21:15.320 --> 0:21:18.000 various places and needs like this isn't huck a Poos, 0:21:18.080 --> 0:21:20.239 This isn't hucka Poos, like none of these places. They 0:21:20.280 --> 0:21:23.800 just couldn't find that home, I think, And and that's 0:21:23.800 --> 0:21:26.240 because I don't think l A really offers that um 0:21:26.240 --> 0:21:28.639 in establishments the same way that we having been to 0:21:28.720 --> 0:21:30.840 hucka Poos it does. But he went and created it 0:21:30.880 --> 0:21:33.840 on his own. And like we started to watch West 0:21:33.840 --> 0:21:37.800 grow with his Westlemania parties, which started, as you know, 0:21:38.200 --> 0:21:40.639