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 Little John, and this is
Speaker 1: cut to it. Good do it, Good do it. They's
Speaker 1: getting down to do it. Good do it. We asked
Speaker 1: the questions you always want to know, but no one
Speaker 1: ever asked, let's cut to it. You ain't heard am
Speaker 1: about it, then we're about to let you know. It's
Speaker 1: all okay, alright, Me and my wife foolishly decided we're
Speaker 1: gonna play tennis over the weekend in the just it
Speaker 1: was hot. It's been sticky. I mean we're in North Carolina.
Speaker 1: We're in Charlotte for those of y'all who don't know,
Speaker 1: So it gets humidity. It is painstaking that. I mean
Speaker 1: it's been it's been hot in North Carolina. Um, I
Speaker 1: mean it's been ninety degrees in October November. Right, We've
Speaker 1: we've had a thanksgiven where it's been like eighty four degrees,
Speaker 1: which is and then if it was like seven with
Speaker 1: all the commidity. Yeah, so it's it's different. So we
Speaker 1: decided we're gonna play tennis, right, and so where we
Speaker 1: play tennis, they also have some Uh, it's a pool
Speaker 1: right there. So there was a guy he's about sixty
Speaker 1: years old, and again he was by the pool, so
Speaker 1: he had he was walking from the pool pastor tennis
Speaker 1: courts to his car to go in to to leave,
Speaker 1: and he had on he didn't have on a shirt.
Speaker 1: So he was again sons out, guns out. But he
Speaker 1: was six years old, so he had it. He had
Speaker 1: it for sixty year old man or or maybe could
Speaker 1: have been older. He was pretty fit and he wanted everybody.
Speaker 1: He everybody to know, Look, I'm old, but I'm still
Speaker 1: handling the business. So I look over and one just
Speaker 1: you know, I was always taught respect your elder, so
Speaker 1: I look over when I said, hey, sun's eve guns out?
Speaker 1: He said yeah. I said hey, but um, you got
Speaker 1: those guns registered. He looked at me and said, nah,
Speaker 1: I ain't shot these in a while. Bro. He had
Speaker 1: his clip bloated, waiting for you to ask. That's why
Speaker 1: he didn't ever start on because he was waiting for someone. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I ain't shot these. I know what he says. I
Speaker 1: haven't disstarted these and years. And what I loved about
Speaker 1: that is one when I was acknowledging, Hey, I see
Speaker 1: you working old. I see you, I see you working
Speaker 1: young man. It was really cool because when I get
Speaker 1: sixty or seven years old, man, I still kind of
Speaker 1: want a four pack at least right to the other.
Speaker 1: Two is still in the cooler, still in the cooler,
Speaker 1: right because obviously when you're sixty and seven, you ain't
Speaker 1: working out like you used to. But just just to
Speaker 1: have a a two pack, man, that's progress. Because there's
Speaker 1: a lot of thirty year old so walking around with
Speaker 1: kegs they ain't got No did he run up on
Speaker 1: you like he wanted to try or he just ran
Speaker 1: He wasn't like that, No, he was. He was strolling
Speaker 1: by his flip flops in the shorts and and his shirt,
Speaker 1: and I was fully dressed and ninety degree weather playing tennis,
Speaker 1: and people like, really, still you play tennis? Actually I'm
Speaker 1: a three five and ten. That means there's five oh
Speaker 1: I mean four or five? Four oh three? Five three
Speaker 1: oh to five two oh two old? Is you're terrible?
Speaker 1: Um three five is? You could play a little bit,
Speaker 1: run around. I love the exercise. I'm actually a huge
Speaker 1: tennis junkie. Love love tennis. Grew up watching Andrea Agassi
Speaker 1: and um, you know on here on cut Tool. We
Speaker 1: also eventually have some tennis guys to brothers talking tennis.
Speaker 1: That's what I'm talking about. Yeah, you know obviously Arthur
Speaker 1: ashe but there's a lot of different guys here in
Speaker 1: North Carolina. And um Andy Murray um really good friends.
Speaker 1: He grew up in Greensboro, John Isner Um. Obviously you
Speaker 1: got the Serenas that's down the street from the house
Speaker 1: in l A girl. I remember, I had the unique
Speaker 1: opportunity to visit um James Blake when he was playing.
Speaker 1: His mom actually well was his trainer and and really
Speaker 1: kind of kept him and focused. I was pretty good.
Speaker 1: So I love tennis and intense dude. That's that's crazy, man,
Speaker 1: intense dude like you savage on the field swinging tennis club.
Speaker 1: Why do you saying like that. No, I'm saying I'm
Speaker 1: not judging you. I'm not I'm not judging at all.
Speaker 1: I'm just saying I find it interesting that you know,
Speaker 1: if you canell you to keep backpelling, you're gonna hit
Speaker 1: the water cool over there. That's cool. I play a
Speaker 1: little DV in my life, but I'm just saying, I
Speaker 1: do you seriously, I find it interesting that that you
Speaker 1: play tennis. And it's cool because I think the one
Speaker 1: I mean, you are a football player, you tense do
Speaker 1: in tennis is such a quote unquote country club sport that, um,
Speaker 1: I really find it interesting and honestly find it cool
Speaker 1: even for me like my daughter who six your niece Mia, Um,
Speaker 1: she loves swimming and she loves playing golf, two things
Speaker 1: that I never grew up around where I'm from. So honestly,
Speaker 1: what I'm saying is I find it cool that you
Speaker 1: can invest yourself in the sport that otherwise, you know,
Speaker 1: places that we're from, you don't typically play. So honestly,
Speaker 1: I find it really cool that you know, in your
Speaker 1: later stages in life, you can find something like that
Speaker 1: that really keeps you fit, keeps you focused, and keeps
Speaker 1: you really you know, keeps you around some sort of competitiveness. Man,
Speaker 1: let me tell you, in tennis, you want to get ran,
Speaker 1: play some old folks. They give you the business. Give
Speaker 1: you the business because in tennis, tennis is a mind game, right,
Speaker 1: and it's ball placement, and a lot of the older
Speaker 1: people don't have that movement like they used to, but
Speaker 1: they but they're playing from a mental stampard and so
Speaker 1: they so I played the older guy and got my
Speaker 1: butt woolf and he ran me, ran me off the
Speaker 1: court because ball placement. I'm over there, I'm running from
Speaker 1: side to side, baseline, the baseline. That dude was out
Speaker 1: out there running for no reason. He was out there
Speaker 1: like it just crossed court throwing darts. But I love
Speaker 1: tennis because it's it's a great It is a great
Speaker 1: sport in which requires mental fortitude, strategy. But you could
Speaker 1: also hit the snot out of the ball and then
Speaker 1: they can return it same velocity even more, or they
Speaker 1: can set you up. So it's a lot of mental
Speaker 1: aspect of it. It's a lot of I was, but
Speaker 1: that old man taught me something. I'll running. I'll run
Speaker 1: them into the ground right now. But you know that
Speaker 1: ain't gonna happen. But I really love tennis, and so
Speaker 1: me and my wife play tennis together. My boys. I
Speaker 1: am Doocey Um. We called Doocy Goosey Steve Smith Jr.
Speaker 1: I have brainwashed him Um into being a tennis player.
Speaker 1: He's gonna be t He's gonna become a tennis player,
Speaker 1: and then I will be able to live in Italy
Speaker 1: um for a year or two because he'll be he'll
Speaker 1: be training out there, and so we're gonna be recording
Speaker 1: from Italy. I don't don't really care record from, but
Speaker 1: I'm getting Italy at some point. Uh to just be
Speaker 1: there for a year and let him train um in
Speaker 1: Italy and then I can blow up by eating a
Speaker 1: whole bunch of pizza. There you go, there, So gee,
Speaker 1: let's cut to it. And who's our guest for today?
Speaker 1: Because I don't know who it is. We we talked
Speaker 1: about some guys and then now I got like a
Speaker 1: surprise guest that you're supposed to be telling me, and
Speaker 1: so now I'm just going off to I am literally,
Speaker 1: I have no questions in front of me because you
Speaker 1: guys and tell me. So. If this show seems a
Speaker 1: little bit radic today, that's only because they surprised me
Speaker 1: with the guest and I don't know who it is,
Speaker 1: but I think it's gonna be an awesome guest. Alright,
Speaker 1: coming up, we got a very special surprise guest, an icon,
Speaker 1: a legend, Michael Vick. He went to Virginia Tech University.
Speaker 1: He's a four time pro bowler. He was the NFL
Speaker 1: Comeback Player of the Year in and he's the NFL's
Speaker 1: all time leader in rushing yards by a quarterback over
Speaker 1: six thousand yards. Michael Vick, thanks for coming onto the
Speaker 1: cut to a podcast. Brother, Thanks for having me. Man,
Speaker 1: It's just a pleasure to be on pleasure at this
Speaker 1: segment we're about to go into. It's called get Iced
Speaker 1: Up with Smitty is basically our ice breakers, So be
Speaker 1: prepared for anything. Smithy. I'll let you take it. Favorite
Speaker 1: childhood cereal Captain Crunch Crunch. It was flavorful, especially when
Speaker 1: they started throwing the flavors up in there and got
Speaker 1: that years when on that's a hood favorite right there,
Speaker 1: that's a favorite right there. Berries and they hit the
Speaker 1: blueberries and the red berries came. It was popular. The
Speaker 1: summer activity you love to do, swimming at the Boys
Speaker 1: and Girls Club. But that was my thing, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean. That was my thing that swim. Swims, swim,
Speaker 1: and it made me strong, It made me better, um,
Speaker 1: you know, as a as a as a football player,
Speaker 1: and you know, growing up where I grew up, because
Speaker 1: I was stronger than everybody, nobody liked to swim with
Speaker 1: me and it was a passing growing up. So swimming
Speaker 1: at the Boys and Girls Club now I know you
Speaker 1: had a ton of fast twitch. However, now you retired,
Speaker 1: So how you ain't your shoes? You got shoelaces or
Speaker 1: veil crow? I got shoelaces. Can't leave you try to
Speaker 1: dispect the icon. I can't get caught in the bell crow.
Speaker 1: If you ask me this ten years from now, then
Speaker 1: you might get a different answer. We can. Yeah, let
Speaker 1: me trap up real quick. Well, we we really appreciate
Speaker 1: you coming up on that. And the purpose, uh, of
Speaker 1: the of our podcast really is to get the insight
Speaker 1: um and understand the the man, the woman as well
Speaker 1: inside the jersey. We want you to start off before
Speaker 1: we really get into really who Michael Vick is. Just
Speaker 1: set the stage, like where'd you grow up? How did
Speaker 1: you grow up? All right? And and and and really
Speaker 1: how and where you grew up? How did at shape
Speaker 1: your life? Good and bad and and and so paint
Speaker 1: that picture for us. We all know you know the
Speaker 1: good and the bad. Yeah, but it but it all
Speaker 1: started from somewhere and where where is that place? It
Speaker 1: started in Newport News, Virginia, Um, a place I can
Speaker 1: sit at home for eighteen years until I left Virginia tech. Um.
Speaker 1: You know, I moved around to a couple of different
Speaker 1: neighborhoods from the age of uh, you know, six until
Speaker 1: I was about ten years old, so I had, uh
Speaker 1: always had different crews of friends, which which was cool,
Speaker 1: and until I moved into my last neighborhood, British Circle
Speaker 1: where I grew up, where I grew up, you know,
Speaker 1: from the age of ten to like eighteen, and met
Speaker 1: all my friends who uh you know, I got to
Speaker 1: know and still friends with guys to this day, but
Speaker 1: had dreams with and you know, thought about what life
Speaker 1: would be like with, you know, as a as a
Speaker 1: young man growing into an older man. You know, we
Speaker 1: went through everything together. You know, we went through you know,
Speaker 1: the preteen years and the teen years and you know
Speaker 1: to playing football and li and girls and you know,
Speaker 1: everybody had their own set of goals and dreams, and
Speaker 1: you know, it was so you know, it was a
Speaker 1: tough situation to grow up in because you know, you
Speaker 1: don't know, you don't have a lot, you know, until
Speaker 1: you go around somebody who has a lot. And one
Speaker 1: of my cousins, his mom and dad was in the
Speaker 1: household and they both had good jobs. And you know,
Speaker 1: I've seen the different side of life, and I'm like,
Speaker 1: you know, I want that life. You know, even though
Speaker 1: I don't have what we have. You know, if I
Speaker 1: can experience that and learn from that experience, you know,
Speaker 1: it helps shape and mold me to you know, me
Speaker 1: thinking like that I want more than what we have.
Speaker 1: And uh, you know, I started playing you know, football,
Speaker 1: like the age of seven, and it was like the
Speaker 1: coolest game ever. You know. Didn't start out as a quarterback,
Speaker 1: you know, I was running back at first. That's a
Speaker 1: different story. But you know, the dreams started right there,
Speaker 1: and I was like, man, they get paid for this.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm pretty good at this. You know, I
Speaker 1: think this is something that I want to do. And
Speaker 1: you know, fast forward to you know, from the age
Speaker 1: of ten to eighteen, it was like, man, you gotta
Speaker 1: do so much in order to get a scholarship to
Speaker 1: go to you know, college, and to to play in
Speaker 1: the National Football League. So I looked at the journey
Speaker 1: that I had to travel and I was like, man,
Speaker 1: it's tough. But as a ten year old kid, I
Speaker 1: was like, I'm prepared for that journey. So, you know,
Speaker 1: growing up in that environment prepared me for that journey.
Speaker 1: I think my friends and the guys I grew up with,
Speaker 1: the guys that really grew up with, um, they helped
Speaker 1: me with that journey. And then you know, it was
Speaker 1: high school, college and then but when you say guys
Speaker 1: I really grew up with, I say that, Steve, because
Speaker 1: I really feel like, um, you know, my my two
Speaker 1: best best friends, my two besties, guy named Jamal Wilson
Speaker 1: and Kevin Stanley was the guys that when I we
Speaker 1: touched eight team, we all when I separate ways. They
Speaker 1: both went in the military and I went on to college.
Speaker 1: And then it was you guys that I met, you know,
Speaker 1: over time. And you know, Kevin wasn't playing football and
Speaker 1: Jamaala wassn't playing football. I got closer with my teammates.
Speaker 1: Some of those guys good dude, some of them was
Speaker 1: bad dudes. But they all they became my friends and
Speaker 1: I hung out with him and you know he kind
Speaker 1: of made decisions and choices together, you know, good and bad,
Speaker 1: and uh, you know, it was what it was. But
Speaker 1: those two guys that I just named were, you know,
Speaker 1: my guys, and to this day, like they still like
Speaker 1: my beasties. The ones that's gonna tell me like, no,
Speaker 1: you're making a bone head decision or you know you
Speaker 1: shouldn't do that, and they're not afraid to tell me no,
Speaker 1: you know, and that that that's been the biggest teal
Speaker 1: to the sign up. Why you know, those guys that
Speaker 1: they always been my bestties many always will being, you know.
Speaker 1: So you know, I learned my lesson with friends along
Speaker 1: the way. You know, how to determine if your friend
Speaker 1: is really a friend. You know, Mike, I played against you, Um,
Speaker 1: long time, good and bad, and we're out. We were
Speaker 1: in the same draft class and um, and you know
Speaker 1: we're both doing analysts work now. Um, you're doing a
Speaker 1: fantastic job on Fox, you know, and I'm I'm I'm
Speaker 1: trying to keep up with you on NFL network. Appreciate it. Now,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna take this time to address something the elephant
Speaker 1: in the room, because I think it's one um journalistic
Speaker 1: integrity that I'm learning of talking about it, but just
Speaker 1: steer me in the direction if I say something, that's
Speaker 1: if I misspeak. But basically, um, around two thousand and six,
Speaker 1: you know, the FBI and some of that stuff is
Speaker 1: starting investigation about some of the outside activity that was
Speaker 1: going on outside of uh, your employment with Atlanta Falcons,
Speaker 1: and you were um basically convicted or or or I
Speaker 1: believe plead got a plea deal with them on dog
Speaker 1: fighting and all of that stuff. And so August two
Speaker 1: thousand seventh you were sentenced and had to serve an
Speaker 1: eighteen months prison term and also had to do two
Speaker 1: months of house arrest. You also had to pay back
Speaker 1: money to the Lanta Falcons. I believe a whole bunch
Speaker 1: of money. Um, none of us got under our under
Speaker 1: our mattresses. But you also, Mike, Mike Vick is the
Speaker 1: original highlight reel. Um, myself and many other people feared
Speaker 1: when you had the ball in your hands. When we're
Speaker 1: standing on the other sideline, I'm like, man, if that
Speaker 1: they let this dude get loose again, we in Trump.
Speaker 1: I want to ask you when you went to prison
Speaker 1: then Michael Dwane Vick walk in that prison or was
Speaker 1: it Michael Vick the highlight real? Oh man, that's an
Speaker 1: amazing question, because Michael victor highlight Reel, walked into that
Speaker 1: and into that prison and walked in there and feeling like, damn,
Speaker 1: this shouldn't this shouldn't be me. I had too much
Speaker 1: money for this. I shouldn't have you know, I shouldn't
Speaker 1: be in this situation. You know, at first a couple
Speaker 1: of hours, I was in there. Every time they came
Speaker 1: to check on me to make sure that I was good,
Speaker 1: and I wasn't, and they committed suicide that you know,
Speaker 1: I thought somebody was coming and locked that door to
Speaker 1: let me out, you know, and I'm like because I
Speaker 1: felt like I didn't deserve to be there. And then
Speaker 1: over time, you know, as the nights went on and
Speaker 1: the days when was longer, and the days hurt, they hurt.
Speaker 1: You know, you're thinking about, you know, the outside world.
Speaker 1: You think about family and watching football and watching you guys,
Speaker 1: you know, you know, like men of integrity out there
Speaker 1: doing what they're supposed to be doing, because that's what
Speaker 1: everybody dreamt of doing their entire lives, unless they just
Speaker 1: fell into it. You know, very very blessed to be
Speaker 1: out there on the field in that situation. I'm you know,
Speaker 1: one of the you know, Markey players of the league,
Speaker 1: and I'm sitting in the prison c and I'm like, damn,
Speaker 1: this shouldn't beat me. But that's time went on, I
Speaker 1: realized like, yeah, this is what's gonna It was supposed
Speaker 1: to be me. It needed to be me because I
Speaker 1: started thinking about, you know, all the people I did, hurt,
Speaker 1: all the animals I hurt, all of you know, things
Speaker 1: that I did, and the decisions I made that could
Speaker 1: have been better, and I'm like, you didn't make the
Speaker 1: all the right decisions. You know, nobody's perfect, but at
Speaker 1: the same time, you probably made more bad decisions than
Speaker 1: you did good and that's the reason you were in
Speaker 1: this place right now. So you know, I looked at that,
Speaker 1: you know, understood it. You know I accepted it, and
Speaker 1: I was like, you know, when I leave out of here,
Speaker 1: I'm gonna come out of here a different person. I'm
Speaker 1: gonna come out of here man of integrity. I'm gonna
Speaker 1: respect my family and respect you know, the game. I'm
Speaker 1: respect the people who try to help me in every
Speaker 1: fastor that my life and one of the best for me,
Speaker 1: and I'm not going to ignore that. I'm gonna grow up.
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna be so reserved and I'm not gonna
Speaker 1: be so you know, introvertive. I'm gonna try to open up.
Speaker 1: You know, I all those things is on my mind,
Speaker 1: and I felt like, you know, I did it, but
Speaker 1: I needed that time to get to that point in
Speaker 1: my life. So the highlight, Michael Vick, the highlight real
Speaker 1: walk in prisonent Michael the Man came out and I'm
Speaker 1: I'm very appreciative of that in my life. What so,
Speaker 1: what did you discover about about about yourself really being
Speaker 1: put in that position twenty three hours a day. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I feel like, you know, just losing the control, you know,
Speaker 1: it was probably the biggest thing. And like I have
Speaker 1: no patrol of you know, when I'm gonna eat. I
Speaker 1: having no patrol of when I got to go to
Speaker 1: sleep or you know, I'm pretty much on somebody else's time,
Speaker 1: you know, um but a lot of idle time. And
Speaker 1: I'm like, damn, like, you know, i gotta find a
Speaker 1: way to to to make this, you know somewhat, you know,
Speaker 1: a success story, Like man, I got it in me.
Speaker 1: I know I could do it, Like I know the
Speaker 1: decisions that was made that was wrong. Damn, I should
Speaker 1: have just did it right. You know. All I started
Speaker 1: thinking about was the second chance, another opportunity. If I
Speaker 1: get a chance to do it all again, and I'm
Speaker 1: gonna do it this way, and i know I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna be perfect, but at least I know I'm not
Speaker 1: gonna be around those same people, you know, the same influences.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm growing up a little bit, and I
Speaker 1: wanted to show people more than anything that when I
Speaker 1: got out, I was more mature. You know. It started
Speaker 1: with Roger Goodell than he was the last person I
Speaker 1: was looking to his face and lie to, you know,
Speaker 1: about being involved. So I was able to start with him,
Speaker 1: to break the ice, tell the truth. I was wrong.
Speaker 1: He said, look, I'm not here to talk about the past,
Speaker 1: me to talk about the future. And right then and
Speaker 1: then when I heard that, I was just like, Okay,
Speaker 1: that's it. That's it. It's it's all about the struture.
Speaker 1: And Roger Gidell told me that, and our initial conversation
Speaker 1: and that changed my life. That made me look at
Speaker 1: the world different. It made me know that the that
Speaker 1: I had come true. Like all the other visions I had,
Speaker 1: what vision, I don't know, I got a lot of
Speaker 1: like a lot of stuff in my mind. I was,
Speaker 1: you know, we spent a lot of we we spent
Speaker 1: a lot of time like all my all the staff,
Speaker 1: all the people is working with us, We spent a
Speaker 1: lot of time just kind of looking at all this
Speaker 1: stuff about about you. And I watched a lot of
Speaker 1: things myself, and and the one thing I kept focusing
Speaker 1: on it was like, you know, I don't want this
Speaker 1: to you, to come on here and to rehab something
Speaker 1: um that's happened. However, I don't want people to feel
Speaker 1: like that we're glancing over or were or we're giving
Speaker 1: you try. Yeah, it's all under control, baby, Yeah. But
Speaker 1: but also, like I also put myself in your position,
Speaker 1: is I've done some stupid stuff in my life. And
Speaker 1: you know when you do some stupid stuff, you sitting
Speaker 1: there right, and I say stupid because if I'm being
Speaker 1: one hunter many like playing against you. I know the
Speaker 1: story is about you. I know. I know we're gonna
Speaker 1: get into some stories. I know, but I'm saying I'm
Speaker 1: saying all all this stuff about you, like I watched
Speaker 1: you and when that all went down, you know, being
Speaker 1: so close here in Charlotte, in Charlotte, trying to mimic
Speaker 1: the growth of Atlanta, like we we got the information
Speaker 1: like we were it was like it was happening here,
Speaker 1: and bro like sitting here and just putting myself in
Speaker 1: that position, I'm going all the stupid stuff I've done
Speaker 1: in my life. You know how many times I've gotten
Speaker 1: in trouble and then you wake up and you you
Speaker 1: wake up with your eyes open and you just kind
Speaker 1: of that one eye you go, I hope it's I
Speaker 1: hope it's not real, and then you realize, damn, we're
Speaker 1: still here. Like I just, I really like I really
Speaker 1: want you to kind of like just take us through
Speaker 1: that personal journey of sitting in there, because a lot
Speaker 1: of the month there's so many people like I read
Speaker 1: some of the comments, people like the YouTube stuff that
Speaker 1: every time you're on there, people are like, he's not
Speaker 1: he's not remorseful, demands for eighteen months in jail. It
Speaker 1: don't even if he's not remorseful, he's sitting in his
Speaker 1: in his dirt right now. Yeah, And I just I
Speaker 1: personally don't cannot sit there, even visiting men in prison,
Speaker 1: myself sitting there going they may not the first week
Speaker 1: or two weeks of the first month, but this brother
Speaker 1: has seventeen other months to go. Ain't nobody getting them out.
Speaker 1: He's not getting a free PA hurt. I cannot explain
Speaker 1: the hurt from that though, Like, man, until this is
Speaker 1: how much it hurt it hurt me that it became
Speaker 1: normal being in there. It hurt me that it became
Speaker 1: normal on a Friday night walking the track looking out
Speaker 1: at the rest of the world caused going by people
Speaker 1: going by and saying, damn, it's life that really exists
Speaker 1: out there, and I don't have freedom, you know. And
Speaker 1: you know, I just felt like from the start when
Speaker 1: I found out that I was first going to prison,
Speaker 1: I just kept looking at myself in the mirror, like, oh,
Speaker 1: you're going to prison. You're going to prison. I know
Speaker 1: what it's gonna be like kind of imagine, you know,
Speaker 1: like you just trying to wake up from it, like, yo,
Speaker 1: is this really real? And then next thing you're still
Speaker 1: living in damn, like this is this is really happening,
Speaker 1: you know, And you know, just so it's just so sad,
Speaker 1: bro like just so um not have control. I have
Speaker 1: to having control of my entire life and leading away.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm driving, and I'm driving the train. I'm
Speaker 1: starting the train everywhere and every direction I wanted to go,
Speaker 1: and then I just I stared it off the track, boom,
Speaker 1: and now we just crashed. You over there, you're banding,
Speaker 1: and it's just damn like you know, you just got
Speaker 1: to pick up the pieces, man, I really pick up
Speaker 1: the pieces and get myself together, and like lost everything,
Speaker 1: lost off everybody but my wife. Everything with my wife.
Speaker 1: You still standing there, standing tall in the end, you know.
Speaker 1: And even when I was telling her when I came back,
Speaker 1: like uh, somehere, I'm on a bench right now on
Speaker 1: the third quarterback, but I just need a shot. She
Speaker 1: believed in you know, but she believed in me as
Speaker 1: a man, and I was gonna change, you know, and
Speaker 1: actually know another thing that like that transformation to like
Speaker 1: she's just been a big inspiration in my life, is
Speaker 1: just helping changing look at the world differently, understand things
Speaker 1: and know that she can be just as you know,
Speaker 1: reliable and know assertive and her friendships, you know, as
Speaker 1: a man as somebody else that I felt like I
Speaker 1: needed comfortence Like I kind of put that you know
Speaker 1: on this on her now and we put it on
Speaker 1: each other and you know, made a stronger maybe stronger
Speaker 1: to this day. Did you think did you think she'll
Speaker 1: leave you? Did you think she s oh going through that? Um? Yeah, Steve,
Speaker 1: because um, you know I was real fouling my day. Man.
Speaker 1: I was like, oh man, you know no respect. Um,
Speaker 1: I had no idea of what it was like to
Speaker 1: maintain a real relationship and you know, to love somebody
Speaker 1: who truly loved you. You know, I was caught up
Speaker 1: in a whole spotlight my bick life, you know, the
Speaker 1: money to fame, you know, I was caught up and
Speaker 1: all that, you know, and it took for God that
Speaker 1: like put me in a vulnerable situation where like she
Speaker 1: wrote me down while I was like, yo, no, I
Speaker 1: I'll change it all. I'll give it all up, you know,
Speaker 1: just to have you. You know. So I you know,
Speaker 1: I thought because of that, because I went through that
Speaker 1: with her prior that. When I left, it's like you
Speaker 1: made another bone head decision. You deal with that yourself. No,
Speaker 1: she was there. She's right there when I came home,
Speaker 1: every step of the way as a phone call. Damn,
Speaker 1: that's true. Lords. You know, That's why I learned loyalty
Speaker 1: like it can come from It can come in a
Speaker 1: lot of different ways from a lot of different people.
Speaker 1: And I respect that. So you you basically twenty almost
Speaker 1: almost thirty years old, and you're just figuring out what
Speaker 1: real loyalty is, especially coming from the hood, from the
Speaker 1: hood where we we think we know a loyalty is
Speaker 1: just because of you know, when you're in the bottom
Speaker 1: or you gott is your word. Yeah, also talked to
Speaker 1: just naturally. We talked to distrust too, right, So that's
Speaker 1: that's already ingrained too. So when you have an experience
Speaker 1: like Mike had and you have these people that fail you,
Speaker 1: it gets stripped away. But man, thank thank god, your
Speaker 1: wife was able to stay with you through that entire stretch.
Speaker 1: And it was and it sounds almost as if she
Speaker 1: was a motivating factor when he was behind the wall. Yeah,
Speaker 1: she was the strength. She was the strength that they
Speaker 1: that first two weeks when I cried every day, like
Speaker 1: see me on the phone, Stoomby, all right, all right,
Speaker 1: you can get you got this, you could do this.
Speaker 1: I'm like, I don't, I don't. I don't know what
Speaker 1: you're talking about. Don't you know? You do out there living,
Speaker 1: breathing and as you supposed to me. And I'm right
Speaker 1: here dealing with this crap, you know, And I'm blaming everybody.
Speaker 1: Now I'm pointing finger and this person that for now,
Speaker 1: I'm just I'm upset, you know, I'm mad. You know
Speaker 1: that that that that kid to keep unlocking that door.
Speaker 1: Ain't let me out, you know. So I'm like, yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm stuck, you know what I mean, I'm in the
Speaker 1: box right now, you know. But she was just always
Speaker 1: encouraging me and you know, making me laughing. You know,
Speaker 1: we talked for hours. I ran that bill up crazy,
Speaker 1: and then I had like a eight thousand dollar bill
Speaker 1: when I left. I was only there for like I
Speaker 1: was on with the inssial prison. I went to just
Speaker 1: as a holding facility when they were just holding me. Um.
Speaker 1: I stayed there for about maybe like forty five days.
Speaker 1: So yeah, I left like an eight thousand dollar phone
Speaker 1: bill because all and and the way the phone was
Speaker 1: set up was that you can just call back right
Speaker 1: after talking fifteen minutes and you gotta call that you
Speaker 1: can call back and talk. I was just keeping on
Speaker 1: the phone all day, all day, and that's you know.
Speaker 1: That was that that bridge the gap and helped me
Speaker 1: get through that little part and to uh they took
Speaker 1: me to Leavenworth. So and I was relieved when I
Speaker 1: went to Levenworth, man, I was I was at a
Speaker 1: prison camp, so I wasn't like behind no serious wall,
Speaker 1: even though when I first pulled up, they pulled me
Speaker 1: up in front of the Levenworth Prison, the real prison,
Speaker 1: and I was like, oh god, they got me this time,
Speaker 1: you know. And the guy was like, you know, he's up.
Speaker 1: You know you ain't going over there, You're going over here,
Speaker 1: and you know, but you know, it still was you know,
Speaker 1: it was. It was a facility where it was like
Speaker 1: you couldn't leave it, you know, you couldn't. You couldn't
Speaker 1: leave it. And enough so man, it was just you know,
Speaker 1: being in Kansas and being away from my family, losing
Speaker 1: that connection, you know, that was tough. Man. And then
Speaker 1: I had I had three young kids too. I had
Speaker 1: my my oldest son, and then my my two daughters
Speaker 1: and my youngest daughter who was twelve now name is London.
Speaker 1: She was just born in a month old when I
Speaker 1: turned myself in, So that was a part of that.
Speaker 1: Her too be part of her. Would you would have
Speaker 1: made it if your wife wasn't there to talk to
Speaker 1: you every day? No? Um, Honestly, that's another good question
Speaker 1: because that's something that I never um been asked or
Speaker 1: I had a conversation with people where it came out.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna no, I don't think I would have made it.
Speaker 1: If my wife lived, would have left me because basically
Speaker 1: I would have had nobody and I was not gonna
Speaker 1: just let any random person come and sit and talk
Speaker 1: to me about the munch enough. Um. I felt like
Speaker 1: the only person I could talk to at the time
Speaker 1: was her. I thank god she's listening, because she used
Speaker 1: to come visit and we'll spend three days in the
Speaker 1: visiting room. You only get twenty four hours in a
Speaker 1: month total. You know, we'll spend eight hours a day,
Speaker 1: three days in a row, and just burn it on
Speaker 1: and sit there and just talking. We were argue and
Speaker 1: fright and laugh and joke, crying and kiss each other.
Speaker 1: And you know, I need I needed that strength. When
Speaker 1: I knew she was coming to visit. You know that
Speaker 1: the week was went. She made the time to go
Speaker 1: by faster. I say that, and uh, And there was
Speaker 1: nothing physical. It was all mental and emotional and I
Speaker 1: respected that part. It was really cool experience, man, and
Speaker 1: just dealing with that now, you know, like we're like inseparable.
Speaker 1: We have to take a break and the morning thinking
Speaker 1: we gotta pay some bills. I love cut to it,
Speaker 1: and I love it even more when you download us
Speaker 1: and subscribe and you can fow us on social media too,
Speaker 1: Smithie where where at that's at? Cut to it on Instagram?
Speaker 1: What about Twitter? At? Cut to it Facebook? Cut to
Speaker 1: It featuring Steve Smith singr. What about online? And you
Speaker 1: can follow us at cut to It podcast dot com
Speaker 1: where you can buy merch and you can subscribe to
Speaker 1: us wherever you listen to podcasts. 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. I talked to you, bro,
Speaker 1: and played against you prior to you get going incarceration,
Speaker 1: and I've listened to you speak and talked to you
Speaker 1: outside of after incarceration. Bro. If you're the win incarceration
Speaker 1: about three years into your career, Bro, you still be
Speaker 1: playing right now. Just the way he sees the game,
Speaker 1: the way the way he speaks, the way he carries himself.
Speaker 1: Like got met Vic and the whole we've met each other.
Speaker 1: We were drafting the same class we took. It's funny.
Speaker 1: I knew I was. I knew that I felt like
Speaker 1: I was respected coming out of draft class because they
Speaker 1: put you in categories in the combine, and in the
Speaker 1: combine I was. It was funny me Vic and Quincy
Speaker 1: all at that long table and there was our rotation
Speaker 1: for our drug test, and we also took the wonder
Speaker 1: lick in there. And let me tell you something, taking
Speaker 1: a wonder lick with some dudes that know they're gonna
Speaker 1: make it, but also some dudes who didn't really pay
Speaker 1: attention to school as well. We were all looking at
Speaker 1: the look tests like, I hope you got the answers
Speaker 1: because I got it right and so I was class
Speaker 1: and I believe one of the best draft class because
Speaker 1: you got Drew Brees and the drafts, Michael Vick, Antana Moss,
Speaker 1: Reggie Wayne, the data, I mean, just Michael's It's unbelievable
Speaker 1: even down to uh, the the other guys in that
Speaker 1: draft class. Right, Damn Morgan, Right, there's so many. Man.
Speaker 1: I remember watching your broadness, like seeing you to day,
Speaker 1: hearing you today, like it's just a remarkable that what
Speaker 1: you went through for most people would hurt them. You grow,
Speaker 1: you grow just like me. We grew up in in
Speaker 1: in what society would call us at risk youth, being
Speaker 1: at risk youth, you grew up not relying on anybody,
Speaker 1: not depending on and not trusting anybody. However, in the
Speaker 1: midst of all your trouble and all your you know,
Speaker 1: using your word, the findness that uh with with the
Speaker 1: way you conducted yourself in your relationship with your with
Speaker 1: your better half, right, it sounds like that you actually
Speaker 1: learned how to really connect and have a transparent and
Speaker 1: real relational relationship with your your wife at the first time,
Speaker 1: non physical and almost a true courtship. Yeah. I learned
Speaker 1: to communicate with her. I learned to talk, so I
Speaker 1: learned to get feelings out of her that that I needed,
Speaker 1: you know, that I needed it and she needed and um,
Speaker 1: you know, I really wish I had my dad in
Speaker 1: my life, you know, growing up, because I felt like
Speaker 1: he would have taught me a lot of things in
Speaker 1: terms of relationships. You know, he was there, but I
Speaker 1: didn't see you know, you learned by example, so I
Speaker 1: didn't see him being affect me. I just didn't see
Speaker 1: him talking to my mom and sitting her down and
Speaker 1: you know, having you know, maybe a serious argument, but
Speaker 1: then you know, you know, it all boils over and
Speaker 1: then andy back to you know, the back to the normal,
Speaker 1: the normal self. I didn't see that. I've seen it
Speaker 1: in the different lands. It was a little rough but
Speaker 1: you know it was more you know, it was you know,
Speaker 1: it was only abusive, So I don't keeping really you know,
Speaker 1: so I was like, you know, I had no real
Speaker 1: concept of what, you know, relationship was supposed to be like,
Speaker 1: so I think you know this in that the time period,
Speaker 1: she kind of helped me to, you know, learn like
Speaker 1: what a relationship was supposed to look like. And the
Speaker 1: best part about it that you just said it was
Speaker 1: just it was non physical. And then that's so I
Speaker 1: think that helped, you know, help the both of us
Speaker 1: in a sense. I know, every situation is different. So
Speaker 1: what was the reinstatement process for you? Like, because we
Speaker 1: hear like reinstatement, you hear, you know, you hear guys
Speaker 1: are frustrated with my reinstatement. What's the deal? You know,
Speaker 1: as if as if the NFL or the the institution
Speaker 1: suspending them because they don't like their outfit that day, right,
Speaker 1: you know, I want to know, really, what is the
Speaker 1: what is the process? Like give us detail of you know,
Speaker 1: not to get anybody in trouble. It just kind of
Speaker 1: paint the paint the picture. Because I mean I've been
Speaker 1: suspended and I had to do the evaluation process. You know,
Speaker 1: I punched you guys, so I had to go. They
Speaker 1: flew me. Actually, uh, I think they drove me. Jake
Speaker 1: drew me in flow. I don't know which time though,
Speaker 1: but anyway, they drew one time. They drove over the
Speaker 1: time we flew and I had to do evaluation with
Speaker 1: a counselor. And that evaluation stunk because I was fresh
Speaker 1: off that I don't care about, right, I felt justified
Speaker 1: in my actions, and so I had the evaluation. It
Speaker 1: was literally a ten hour process, right and so, and
Speaker 1: they basically came back and I was like I was
Speaker 1: sitting in the whole evaluation body language. I was slouched down,
Speaker 1: hat to the side, like, look, I'm just gonna do
Speaker 1: my time, trying to go through the motions. You know.
Speaker 1: But your your step was a lot more tedious. It
Speaker 1: required a lot more energy and a lot more meetings
Speaker 1: because everybody does that. You to slap on the wrist.
Speaker 1: You just moved on with your life. What we know
Speaker 1: is not true because most most of the places you've
Speaker 1: been on really don't want to. I want to really
Speaker 1: know what you would tell They want to know why
Speaker 1: did you do that? What were you saying? But we
Speaker 1: want to know the process. Man, I don't want to
Speaker 1: know why that shirt look good on Mike Vin, you know,
Speaker 1: I want to know what goes, what goes through the
Speaker 1: whole process. Specific I'm trying to look like a handsome
Speaker 1: my skin brother like myself. No doubt, I gotta give
Speaker 1: you that. I gotta give you that. Let me say,
Speaker 1: let me say, man, it was, it was. It was rigorous.
Speaker 1: It was tough process because, first of all, when I
Speaker 1: was on pre track, right before I went to turn
Speaker 1: myself in to go to go to prison, all right,
Speaker 1: my wife and one of my friends told me, like,
Speaker 1: you know, don't you know, don't don't smoke. I'm like, well,
Speaker 1: I'm stressed out and I need to I need to smoke,
Speaker 1: you know, Uh, I need to smoke marijuana. I needed
Speaker 1: this is what I need to do. They're like, no,
Speaker 1: don't do it. Like you know, I'm not gonna get tested. Boom,
Speaker 1: I get tested. Now I'm in the drug program with
Speaker 1: the League. It sprints up my probation like everything, just
Speaker 1: like I got snapped down on me. And so my
Speaker 1: process was tougher because I was in a in a
Speaker 1: drug program and now I'm getting all these questions about
Speaker 1: you know, why did I you know, smoke marijuana before
Speaker 1: I before I even went into prison, and knowing that
Speaker 1: I was suspended from the league, So I put myself
Speaker 1: in a vulnerable situation. So my process really started. It
Speaker 1: started with Roger um uh being Roger met and and
Speaker 1: I told you, He's like, look, we're not here to
Speaker 1: talk about the past. We here to talk about the future.
Speaker 1: And then we had we had conversations and he was like, well,
Speaker 1: you know, I'm gonna send you over to another group
Speaker 1: to meet where And it was like a group of
Speaker 1: like ten people in the room with myself and they
Speaker 1: grilled me. They asked me questions from eight to Z
Speaker 1: about my friends, about family, you know, about money, about uh,
Speaker 1: the dogfighting, the truthfulness is a lot of things that
Speaker 1: had to come out, you know that that you know,
Speaker 1: it was the one sided with with the media. Um
Speaker 1: but and I hadn't had a chance to sit down
Speaker 1: and talk with everybody. So in my evaluation process with
Speaker 1: what type of help did you really need? And it
Speaker 1: was you know, I think that figured out like Yo,
Speaker 1: you're really not you know, a psychopathic person, You're really
Speaker 1: not crazy? You know. Um, you know what happened to you.
Speaker 1: You know, you could have made better judgment, it could
Speaker 1: have made better decisions that we think you acknowledge that
Speaker 1: it and we see your the mpaty behind what you're
Speaker 1: saying you're gonna do, and you know, we feel like
Speaker 1: you really care. You know. So that was that was
Speaker 1: kind of like a two month process. Um and and
Speaker 1: and also it was a plan and not have me,
Speaker 1: you know, start as a you know, being started. When
Speaker 1: I came back to the league, I couldn't see it
Speaker 1: that way, but I think just behind it was, you know,
Speaker 1: we don't know what type of reception you're really gonna get,
Speaker 1: you know, so there's a lot of like we're ready
Speaker 1: to risk it all for you. Um. We we love
Speaker 1: your respect you as as a man and as a
Speaker 1: football player, and we're gonna give you a shot and
Speaker 1: see how I go. And that's all I wanted. So
Speaker 1: you know, it was designed for me not to be
Speaker 1: a start. I think I landed in Philly was a blessing.
Speaker 1: I landed in Philadelphia and yeah, so so that was it.
Speaker 1: So it all happened within like uh maybe like a
Speaker 1: six month time spa because Tony Dundee came to visit
Speaker 1: me in prison. He helped start the process. Um, and
Speaker 1: then help you know, just to just see me, talk
Speaker 1: to me. UM. A couple of representatives from Atlanta Falcons
Speaker 1: came out to Blank, came out, Um, spoke to Andy
Speaker 1: Reid on one occasion. UM. So so yeah, I was
Speaker 1: just kind of like going through you know, just that
Speaker 1: normal you know what it takes to get reinstated process.
Speaker 1: And I've never been through it before. But you know,
Speaker 1: just what I did before made it harder. And then uh,
Speaker 1: I thank god Roger made it easy. At the end,
Speaker 1: I was I became a free agent. Uh, you know
Speaker 1: at plus I think of thirteen years and man, when
Speaker 1: I was going to free heading up the free agency
Speaker 1: bro it was like and ten teams interested in me. Yeah.
Speaker 1: When I finally hit free ah C and the Panthers
Speaker 1: released me, Man, it went to like fol teams. Yeah,
Speaker 1: and I was really it was really different to be
Speaker 1: a free agent for myself. It was it was a oupen.
Speaker 1: I was older, so you know, I didn't have as
Speaker 1: many teams. I'm wondering what the you know, what was
Speaker 1: the free agency process for you? And then how did
Speaker 1: you come to the conclusion that Philly was the team? Well,
Speaker 1: Philly was the only choice, and it was like they
Speaker 1: didn't make me go to the Philly but they it
Speaker 1: was like set up to you know, go learn from Donovan.
Speaker 1: My agent thought it was Joe Segur at the time.
Speaker 1: I thought it was a great idea to go sit
Speaker 1: behind Donovan. They already head Kevin Cobbon. You can kind
Speaker 1: of work yourself back into shape. But I'm like, yo, nah,
Speaker 1: it's Buffalo needs a quarterback. I think they had Trent
Speaker 1: was at the time. And then uh, I think causing
Speaker 1: Palmer just part of ways with with Cincinnati or they
Speaker 1: needed to back up he was there for like his
Speaker 1: last season and maybe, but I was just looking at
Speaker 1: those situations like those are possible opportunities for me to
Speaker 1: come back and start and get myself back in shape
Speaker 1: and come back and show the league that you know,
Speaker 1: I'm back and I'm ready. And and you know what
Speaker 1: I realized my first practice in Philadelphia, before I talked
Speaker 1: about how I got signed there, I won't ready my
Speaker 1: legs the shot. My body wasn't in shape. You know,
Speaker 1: they took the weights when I wasn't when I was
Speaker 1: in prison, so I couldn't work out. Um, so you
Speaker 1: know when I went through that process, it was like
Speaker 1: Philidelphia wants you and then get it work for Andy Reid.
Speaker 1: You know, you get the book behind Donovan, you don't
Speaker 1: have the start. You can just take a year and
Speaker 1: get yourself together. And then it started to make sense
Speaker 1: to me Um when it was being explained to me,
Speaker 1: especially by my agent, and you know, he's like, you
Speaker 1: just don't want to go up and go out there
Speaker 1: and then look like you know nothing, and then you
Speaker 1: know you're getting booed by the fans and they're protesting,
Speaker 1: and you know, you turn the city upside down just
Speaker 1: like that. You know, just kind of work yourself back
Speaker 1: into it. And I thought that was the right way
Speaker 1: to go about it as I thought about it. And
Speaker 1: you know, like I said, I wanted to be ma
Speaker 1: sure about my decision making in that process, and you know,
Speaker 1: didn't want to disrespect any read it all. I thought
Speaker 1: he was a great coach um from a far anybody
Speaker 1: working with Donovan, And I felt like it was a
Speaker 1: year I could just go learn play there for a
Speaker 1: year or be there, learn as much as I can
Speaker 1: do my job, and then hopefully go somewhere the next year.
Speaker 1: In free agency, you lost so much control. Yeah, you know,
Speaker 1: in your carceration, and now all of a sudden you
Speaker 1: have a little bit of opportunity, and now you you
Speaker 1: you're back trying to control that thing, trying to remove
Speaker 1: God from his play. And and and and as this
Speaker 1: song goes, Uh, instead of taking a wheel, you, instead
Speaker 1: of letting the Lord take the wheel, you want to
Speaker 1: take the wheel back. I wanted the will I wanted
Speaker 1: I wanted the ball in my hands, you know. And
Speaker 1: think about it, It It hadn't They had nothing to do
Speaker 1: with football, Like my I wasn't playing bad football, you
Speaker 1: know before I left. Oh, I know, I remember you
Speaker 1: wasn't playing bad ball, playing bad ball at all. So
Speaker 1: I'm like, I gotta get back and back. What was it?
Speaker 1: There was no football to prove, now that I think
Speaker 1: about it, it was no football to prove. And it's
Speaker 1: it's the same that they take. It took this conversation,
Speaker 1: you know, eleven twelve years later to realize the football
Speaker 1: wasn't the issue. You know, it was the issue of
Speaker 1: you know, what I was returning from and how people
Speaker 1: felt about it, realistic, you know, and and and that's
Speaker 1: that's what it was, you know, that was that was
Speaker 1: the fight and I now see how you um, you
Speaker 1: know it was navigated to to to make it a
Speaker 1: storybook in there. So the job well done to Andy
Speaker 1: and Rogers, Asian Joe, you know, and and all those
Speaker 1: guys you know who played a major part in it,
Speaker 1: you know, um Tony Dundy, you know. It was allso
Speaker 1: tutor and you know, and my guys get together even
Speaker 1: get some good, good results usually, So thank god for that. Hey, Mike,
Speaker 1: you you were gonna get into the free agency story
Speaker 1: with with going to the Eagles, but talk a little
Speaker 1: bit or would you tell us the relationship you have
Speaker 1: with Donovan McNabb. I know you talked about how he
Speaker 1: had an influence with you and and and you know
Speaker 1: all that stuff. But you were getting recruited by Syracuse.
Speaker 1: He was already there. Yeah. Yeah, Donovan was my idol man.
Speaker 1: Donovan made me believe that I could I could play
Speaker 1: college football, um and play my style of football, like
Speaker 1: when I was in my saying year. I think he
Speaker 1: was in his junior year. And you know, I watched
Speaker 1: them my freshman sophomore year, like his freshman sophomore year Syracuse,
Speaker 1: and I'm like, yo, man, this dude is baller, like
Speaker 1: he looked like me when I'm in the backyard with
Speaker 1: my boys, like he looked like me, or I looked
Speaker 1: like him. And I'm like, man, you know what, I'm
Speaker 1: watching close to see if he go to the NFL
Speaker 1: and see if the league draft him, because they they
Speaker 1: don't take quarterbacks like that. And I think he I
Speaker 1: know he can be good if he if you know,
Speaker 1: if the team believed or if he got a shot.
Speaker 1: You know, I'm just looking at him from a talent perspective.
Speaker 1: So he was like my idol. And then my my
Speaker 1: senior year, I took the visit to Syracuse and spend
Speaker 1: some time with him down there, and he can persuade
Speaker 1: me to come to Syracuse because I just didn't want
Speaker 1: to follow somebody else's legacy. I wanted to create my own.
Speaker 1: But I still, you know, when I went to the Tech,
Speaker 1: imired him from Afar. I've seen it. He got drafted.
Speaker 1: He gave me hope, and I'm like, man, this dude
Speaker 1: demand you know. So the first three or four years
Speaker 1: in the NFC championship games multiple times and I'm like, man,
Speaker 1: that's that's sty worked. So he just I just continued
Speaker 1: to stay a fan of his. And you know, once
Speaker 1: I played two years of college ball and got to
Speaker 1: the league. Donald was one of the first people I
Speaker 1: called to help me make a decision on if I
Speaker 1: was ready to come to the NFL, and he stold me,
Speaker 1: look mad, if you feel like it's nothing else to prove,
Speaker 1: then then then you gotta make that jump. So he
Speaker 1: was influential and that, and then you know, I always
Speaker 1: was a fan of his, And even when we had
Speaker 1: to play against each other and go ahead the head,
Speaker 1: it was like fun, you know, and that you know
Speaker 1: the times, you know, he's the reason I didn't go
Speaker 1: to the Super Bowl, you know, a couple of years,
Speaker 1: you know, so you know, he wouldn't let he wouldn't
Speaker 1: let little bro get one off. He wouldn't let me
Speaker 1: get the win. But it was cool. And when I
Speaker 1: went to Philly, it was like, Man, I'm a stepping
Speaker 1: in the locker room with you know, not only a friend,
Speaker 1: but really somebody that I idolized growing up. So I
Speaker 1: get to watch him work and see why he went
Speaker 1: to the NFC championship games and played in the Super Bowl,
Speaker 1: and maybe the next time around for me, I can
Speaker 1: take a little bit of that with me, so I
Speaker 1: have relationship. Uh was was real, real, real unique, and uh,
Speaker 1: you know, Don was a great dude man. He kept
Speaker 1: me laughing every day and I just some days, I
Speaker 1: just I don't believe I was in the locker room
Speaker 1: with him. It was that real. I think it's about
Speaker 1: that time. Just take a little breather it cut it,
Speaker 1: let's get down to it. Hey, Gerard, why did you
Speaker 1: get that T shirt? You mean this thing? Oh yes,
Speaker 1: I got it from cut to a podcast dot com
Speaker 1: where we have exclusive merchandise. Shout out to our guys
Speaker 1: at seven or four shot. But yeah, you can go on,
Speaker 1: buy you a T shirt, subscribe to us wherever you
Speaker 1: listen to podcasts. Now, after everything's going on, you get
Speaker 1: picked up by Philly. Did you have to have precautionary
Speaker 1: things put in place? Uh? If so, were you know
Speaker 1: where you wasn't voluntary on your part or wasn't it
Speaker 1: wasn't required? Yeah, I had a curse you out of Kerfew.
Speaker 1: I was a grown man with the Kirkfew. You know,
Speaker 1: I had to be in the house. But like ten
Speaker 1: bullcraft happened one day, got it one day and then
Speaker 1: you know, well, not me, but people around me and
Speaker 1: then not that Kirkfey went there when you're like it's
Speaker 1: five o'clock and I couldn't leave Philadelphia one time. Stories
Speaker 1: are I'm told, but you know, um, you know, just
Speaker 1: just still was kind of like, you know, straddling the
Speaker 1: fence a little bit. Now I was doing what I
Speaker 1: needed to do, but still like some of the wrong
Speaker 1: people just showing up at inconvenient times and little things
Speaker 1: just happening that was just I had nothing to do
Speaker 1: with it. Nothing note out of my control. It's just
Speaker 1: like it was like, well, what are you doing around
Speaker 1: this person? Now? I wasn't around him. He came around me,
Speaker 1: you know. So a couple of those little issues which
Speaker 1: made to you know, a lot of restrictions when and
Speaker 1: I was on probas soon you know, I saw obviously
Speaker 1: in the probation officer and the council like two or
Speaker 1: three times in the week like it was. It was
Speaker 1: it was mind boggling, like they you know, I had
Speaker 1: counsel that came every weekend. I couldn't dodge him because
Speaker 1: that was mandated about the NFL, you know. Um, but
Speaker 1: he helped me out. That man was there for me.
Speaker 1: Like that season, I started like he was. He became
Speaker 1: my best friend, still one of my great friends to
Speaker 1: this day. Man, and um, you know, I got so
Speaker 1: much respect for him, Man, I got so much respect
Speaker 1: for him. We still talk about the world and what's
Speaker 1: going on in social justice. Nack. You know, he's he's
Speaker 1: he's a white man, you know, he's and he's like
Speaker 1: sixty sixty eight years old. But his perspective on life
Speaker 1: is amazing. You know. I almost kind of looked at
Speaker 1: him as as a father figure. So that was one
Speaker 1: great thing that came out of that. The whole situation.
Speaker 1: It was a lot more. But you know, I met
Speaker 1: a guy who, um, I could say to this day
Speaker 1: care about Mike vickor man, you know, I don't care
Speaker 1: about football week conversations with sending so far outside of
Speaker 1: football that you know, it became real personal and uh
Speaker 1: you know, so yeah, you know, daughters Rick Bay. But
Speaker 1: I've worked my way through it. I navigate. Well, you
Speaker 1: just heard part one of Michael Vick Steve. When the
Speaker 1: VIC story broke and all this came out and became public.
Speaker 1: What was the reaction of from you and players around
Speaker 1: the league? Way you you didn't believe it? No, no way,
Speaker 1: like nah he couldn't been doing this. And as as
Speaker 1: things kind of kept unraveling, you started to see that
Speaker 1: that was there was a true rabbit hole that they
Speaker 1: were in, all the different stories and and it was
Speaker 1: it was unraveling at a rate that was so rapid
Speaker 1: it was hard to really process is it, Is it
Speaker 1: true or not? And but here's one thing we all know.
Speaker 1: I don't care where you grew up. I don't care
Speaker 1: what you're in or not into. When the FBI come
Speaker 1: knocking on the door, and as they ain't doing a
Speaker 1: wellness check right they already having, it's really is how
Speaker 1: big of all, how deeper of a whole are you
Speaker 1: gonna dig yourself in? It shocked all of us. And
Speaker 1: it shocked is Even more is the time that he
Speaker 1: received and what he had to do and what he
Speaker 1: went through. It was really surreal. And he living here
Speaker 1: in Charlotte. We were getting a lot of information because
Speaker 1: it ain't none but three hours away. So as they say,
Speaker 1: the streets were talking, there was a lot of stories
Speaker 1: out there that good, batterer and different. I don't really
Speaker 1: I don't. I didn't really listen to them, because hell
Speaker 1: that the same stories you could say about a ton
Speaker 1: of different people, right, being a football player, uh is
Speaker 1: no different or being an athlete, celebrities, entertainers no different
Speaker 1: than anybody else's life. The only the only difference is
Speaker 1: you get to see our lives on fold in front
Speaker 1: of a camera. The question is if we followed you
Speaker 1: around with a camera twenty five, what will we find?
Speaker 1: And people forget that? You know? So so before you
Speaker 1: get your before you get your threes, smooth stones, you know,
Speaker 1: get get them skeletons at yours. So that was really cool.
Speaker 1: I hope you enjoy it. Um, but also no, there's
Speaker 1: two parts of that, parts of coming up. Yes, and
Speaker 1: there's even it's even more so. I love it. Cut
Speaker 1: to It with Steve Smith Senior. That is Me is
Speaker 1: a production of Cut to It, LLC, Ball Too, Creative Media,
Speaker 1: The Black Effect, and I Heart Radio. For more podcasts
Speaker 1: from I Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app,
Speaker 1: Apple Podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Speaker 1: From Cut to It Executive producer Steve Smith, Senior, co
Speaker 1: host Gerard little John, talent and booking manager joe yus
Speaker 1: She social media manager Payton Smith. From Balto Creative Media,
Speaker 1: Cut Too It is produced by Brian Baltaschevic and Meredith Carter,
Speaker 1: with production assistance by Alex Lebrek, production manager Sarah Pollock,
Speaker 1: Theme music by Alex Johnson, lyrics and vocals by Anthony Hamilton.
Speaker 1: You ain't heard about it, then we're about to let
Speaker 1: you know. It's all