Latest / NFL explained. / Eric Wood talks Damar Hamlin’s strength, finding competition in media, Kobe Bryant motivation

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Eric Wood talks Damar Hamlin’s strength, finding competition in media, Kobe Bryant motivation · NFL explained.

0:05
Speaker 1: Welcome in listeners. I want to mention that, hey, today
0:09
Speaker 1: is a little different. I'm missing my compadre, so I'll
0:12
Speaker 1: be happy to get my Oprah on solo acting it
0:15
Speaker 1: without my man Peanut Tillman today. He's busy doing a
0:18
Speaker 1: couple of things. But that's not a big deal. It's okay, though,
0:22
Speaker 1: But I do want to ask specifically my listeners to
0:24
Speaker 1: go back out there and continue to spread the word
0:26
Speaker 1: about this podcast and continue to give us a rating,
0:29
Speaker 1: a review, and a follow on Apple Podcast, to our
0:33
Speaker 1: heart radio app or wherever else you listen to your podcast. Now,
0:38
Speaker 1: It's been a crazy two weeks in the NFL, very
0:41
Speaker 1: dramatic week. Eight team teams fighting for playoff positioning. The
0:44
Speaker 1: playoffs start this weekend. Really looking forward to that. The
0:48
Speaker 1: NFL is just now starting to heat up. We all
0:50
Speaker 1: know once the playoffs starts, everything ratses up another level.
0:54
Speaker 1: Another thing that happened during last week, the last two
0:57
Speaker 1: weeks is, and this is probably what's really got everybody's
0:59
Speaker 1: emotion is going his uh the NFL community really getting
1:03
Speaker 1: behind and really trying to show some love in uh
1:07
Speaker 1: To in the country as well, all rally behind Bills
1:10
Speaker 1: player Damar Hamlet after he was injured last Monday in
1:14
Speaker 1: the game against the Bengals. We all saw it and
1:17
Speaker 1: we will talk about Damar and much more in this
1:20
Speaker 1: episode today with our guests. Eric would now listen. If
1:25
Speaker 1: you don't know that name Bribe as the top of
1:26
Speaker 1: your head, you're playing with yourself. You need to pay
1:28
Speaker 1: a little bit more attention here. Eric is a beloved
1:31
Speaker 1: member of the Bills Mafia. He spent his entire nine
1:34
Speaker 1: year NFL career with the Buffalo Bills. He's now in
1:38
Speaker 1: his fourth season as calling games for the Bills Radio network.
1:42
Speaker 1: He also has a podcast himself. He's a businessman and
1:46
Speaker 1: a man of faith, which he leads on because when
1:48
Speaker 1: you look up his Wikipedia, that's the first thing that
1:50
Speaker 1: says I like a man like that. He lives on it.
1:53
Speaker 1: So welcome in, Eric, Welcome to NFL Players Second Acts
1:58
Speaker 1: Podcast for Man. How you doing this morning? I'm doing great.
2:01
Speaker 1: It's an honor beyond with you, Roman. I appreciate that
2:04
Speaker 1: intro a lot, my brother, Oh man, no doubt, man,
2:07
Speaker 1: it's much deserve. Hey, look, bro, I see you repping
2:09
Speaker 1: Louis in the background. Got your Pro Bowl helmet up.
2:11
Speaker 1: But that's what I'm saying, we gotta give you some respect,
2:14
Speaker 1: my brother. Come on, doc, it's all good. So we
2:17
Speaker 1: got some more great news about Tamar Hamlin. Uh, well
2:21
Speaker 1: within the last forty eight hours. Uh, that he was
2:24
Speaker 1: released from the hospital. He's in Buffalo now, he's at
2:26
Speaker 1: now at home. Uh, continue to rehabbing things with that nature. Uh.
2:31
Speaker 1: That's a long way from where we were a week
2:34
Speaker 1: and a half ago when we saw him laying on
2:36
Speaker 1: that field in Cincinnati. Eric Um, how do you put
2:40
Speaker 1: into the words the roller coast of emotions from not
2:43
Speaker 1: only yourself but also the Buffalo community and the people
2:46
Speaker 1: that you cover with this situation over the last week
2:49
Speaker 1: and a half, being in that stadium that Monday, and
2:52
Speaker 1: I call in the game in Roman. We've seen injuries
2:55
Speaker 1: happen all throughout the NFL, throughout our time in the
2:58
Speaker 1: NFL and broadcasting and media. You know what a football
3:01
Speaker 1: injury looks like. And sometimes it's gruesome. Look, I did
3:04
Speaker 1: the Joe thisman leg break my rookie year and went
3:06
Speaker 1: straight into an ambulance. But I'm I'm with it. You
3:09
Speaker 1: know it's not it's not something out of the realm
3:12
Speaker 1: that football players know. You're subjected to the whore. The
3:16
Speaker 1: panic on the players, the coaches, and even a lot
3:19
Speaker 1: of the medical staff and trainers was is an image
3:22
Speaker 1: that will last with me forever. We were completely shaken.
3:24
Speaker 1: The entire stadium in Cincinnati was shaking. This was I'm
3:27
Speaker 1: originally from Cincinnati. This was was electrifying. I've ever seen
3:31
Speaker 1: that stadium. And sometimes Bill's Mafia can bring that out
3:33
Speaker 1: in the fan base too, like they kind of invade
3:35
Speaker 1: and so you get extra allowed yourself. And it truly
3:38
Speaker 1: was an incredible atmosphere. And then less than ten minutes
3:41
Speaker 1: in the game, it is dead silent. You know, they
3:43
Speaker 1: say there's one in every crowd, There was none in
3:45
Speaker 1: that crowd. There was no one saying, get up off
3:47
Speaker 1: the field, let's play this game. Anybody that was win
3:51
Speaker 1: within an eye shot of seeing the reaction on the
3:53
Speaker 1: field knew that this was different. And so you have
3:56
Speaker 1: a young man who is so well respected, so well
4:00
Speaker 1: loved in Buffalo, in that community, within the team in Pittsburgh.
4:03
Speaker 1: Here Mike Tomlin talk about him. This is a guy
4:05
Speaker 1: that has impacted so many lives. Lay on the ground
4:08
Speaker 1: fighting for his life, others are fighting for his life
4:11
Speaker 1: essentially on the field and then you're thinking, what's best
4:16
Speaker 1: case scenario here? What's best case scenario? What's best case scenario?
4:19
Speaker 1: When you shock him and it doesn't work, you do
4:21
Speaker 1: almost nine minutes of CPR and you're losing oxygen blood
4:25
Speaker 1: flow to your brain, what's best case scenario being a vegetable? Like?
4:28
Speaker 1: Is that the best case scenario in this situation? Throughout
4:31
Speaker 1: the week, the news got progressively better, to the point
4:34
Speaker 1: where Sunday against the Patriots in Order Park turned into
4:37
Speaker 1: a celebration. A celebration. Initially it's the celebrating the trainers
4:41
Speaker 1: pregame Roman. You know this from all your time in
4:44
Speaker 1: the NFL. The trainers are behind the scenes and get
4:47
Speaker 1: no credit, but oftentimes they're they're the ones that are
4:50
Speaker 1: helping you get to the game each week. They're doing
4:52
Speaker 1: so much, unnoticed, unrecognized. Well, they wanted to recognize the trainers,
4:57
Speaker 1: have them run out of the tunnel and celebrate them
5:00
Speaker 1: in stead of the team running out like individually. And
5:02
Speaker 1: they said, well, we gotta if the players are on
5:04
Speaker 1: the field, we gotta be working. You know, there's taping
5:06
Speaker 1: to be done, last minute, there's guys a neat stretches,
5:08
Speaker 1: shoulder mode, exacle but whatever it may be, that's the
5:11
Speaker 1: type of guys these are. And so it turns into
5:14
Speaker 1: a celebration. First the trainers, the Naime Hans runs back
5:17
Speaker 1: the kickoff, then he returns another kickoff for a trunchdown,
5:20
Speaker 1: and it was it was a special day, especially with
5:23
Speaker 1: all the news that was coming out that Damar was in.
5:27
Speaker 1: You know the new Sunday morning was excellent neurological function,
5:30
Speaker 1: one lung function. And so to us we're like, oh
5:34
Speaker 1: my gosh, this is this is literally a miracle. I
5:36
Speaker 1: don't want to I'm a man of faith. I don't
5:38
Speaker 1: want to undermine all the work that went in and
5:41
Speaker 1: everybody that contributed to that. But even the doctors will say,
5:45
Speaker 1: you know, this is this is a young man that
5:47
Speaker 1: that is doing better than we thought he would be doing.
5:50
Speaker 1: And so um, there was there was so much good
5:53
Speaker 1: that's come out of this. You know, it's hard to
5:55
Speaker 1: tell non Christians that, hey, you know there there will
6:00
Speaker 1: be something good that comes from this when there's a
6:02
Speaker 1: twenty four year old that may lose his life in
6:05
Speaker 1: the NFL community come together, see this country come together.
6:08
Speaker 1: It was it was beautiful. Eric look man like it
6:13
Speaker 1: has to be said, like you can be a man
6:16
Speaker 1: of faith or you can believe in whatever you want to,
6:18
Speaker 1: but you can't tell me it's not a higher power
6:21
Speaker 1: than what we saw when we saw Damar laying out there.
6:25
Speaker 1: We saw everybody the emotions on that field. Not only that,
6:28
Speaker 1: but looking at so you were at the game, but
6:30
Speaker 1: watching it from TV was probably even scarier because we
6:34
Speaker 1: had never seen anything like that before. We saw the hit.
6:37
Speaker 1: We saw him get up, we saw him go back down,
6:39
Speaker 1: and you just don't know what's up. Then you see
6:41
Speaker 1: the CPR, you see we're literally trying to save a
6:44
Speaker 1: person's life and you don't know why. Like you said,
6:47
Speaker 1: I've seen the most crucial injuries. I've seen achilles, I've
6:49
Speaker 1: seen a c l S. I've seen compound fractures, I've
6:52
Speaker 1: seen and that doesn't shake you as a football player,
6:55
Speaker 1: doesn't shake you. But when you see one of your
6:57
Speaker 1: guys that all of a sudden, they're not moving, they're unresponsive,
7:02
Speaker 1: they and the looks on the players face has told
7:04
Speaker 1: you that something was different. Um. And then to see
7:08
Speaker 1: the way that America responded. The people that were calling
7:11
Speaker 1: the game, Joe Buck and Troy they were having struggles
7:14
Speaker 1: just to try and put it into words. So it
7:16
Speaker 1: was really tough, and so that almost that glimpse of
7:21
Speaker 1: that like looking inside. Uh. For the American people and
7:24
Speaker 1: for everybody else around the world watching that night, I
7:27
Speaker 1: think it was I think it was very moving. I
7:29
Speaker 1: think for the first time in a long time, we
7:31
Speaker 1: weren't looked at as just a football player or just
7:33
Speaker 1: a guy in New Jersey. Everybody that that pulled it
7:36
Speaker 1: everybody's heart strings just a little bit. It did, It
7:40
Speaker 1: truly did, and the reaction throughout the week was just special.
7:44
Speaker 1: I mean it was just different. I mean, this is
7:46
Speaker 1: a country that's just so divided on everything, and you know,
7:51
Speaker 1: we we said fifty fifty on politics. We have religions,
7:55
Speaker 1: race and everything that divides this country. But one thing
8:00
Speaker 1: most Americans love is sports. And America's favorite past time
8:04
Speaker 1: now america is definitely most popular and profitable pastime is
8:08
Speaker 1: the NFL. And so in the biggest stage, the most
8:12
Speaker 1: anticipated Monday night football game since I can remember, this happens.
8:16
Speaker 1: It was a stage that brought this country together and
8:20
Speaker 1: the amount of love and outpouring that came from this
8:24
Speaker 1: and then even demors comments when he comes out and
8:27
Speaker 1: as he's as he's putting out messages through social media.
8:31
Speaker 1: It was just special that that young man now is saying, Hey,
8:35
Speaker 1: just tell tell three people you love them. I mean,
8:38
Speaker 1: how cool is that? But his message wasn't you know,
8:40
Speaker 1: I'm a fighter, I'll be back. It was man, it's
8:44
Speaker 1: been the love and the outpouring has been incredible. Thank you,
8:48
Speaker 1: keep it going, keep it moving forward. Talking about that
8:50
Speaker 1: that outpouring love. UM, I know a lot of people
8:54
Speaker 1: watch football, they love football, and they all want to
8:56
Speaker 1: be a part of many different things. But um, I
8:59
Speaker 1: don't think as many people understand just how close the
9:02
Speaker 1: guys are inside of a locker room and how much
9:05
Speaker 1: time we spend together. And sometimes we spend way more
9:08
Speaker 1: time with your teammates than you do your actually family.
9:11
Speaker 1: Like that, your football team becomes your family, and our
9:15
Speaker 1: families become families with each other because of all the
9:18
Speaker 1: time spent, especially over years. You were in Buffalo for
9:21
Speaker 1: nine years, so you have family members that we're not
9:24
Speaker 1: your origin family members until you showed up there. Can
9:27
Speaker 1: you maybe talk to the listeners, uh, just about the
9:29
Speaker 1: world of the brotherhood that is the NFL or a
9:33
Speaker 1: locker room and uh kind of share that part or
9:35
Speaker 1: your experience with that. You know, we always talk about
9:38
Speaker 1: the brotherhood of the NFL, but it's not always on
9:40
Speaker 1: display for everyone to see. And and I often tell
9:43
Speaker 1: people this, like, yes, I want to go out on
9:45
Speaker 1: Sunday and I want to whoop the person in front
9:47
Speaker 1: of me, but I also want him to walk to
9:49
Speaker 1: his family after the game and hug him and and
9:52
Speaker 1: be fine. Like I never want to take someone out
9:54
Speaker 1: on the field. I'm not gonna do anything dirty to
9:57
Speaker 1: a player on a football field that could injure him,
9:59
Speaker 1: like I not. We we there's a certain level of respect.
10:03
Speaker 1: When I got to the NFL people early on in
10:05
Speaker 1: my career, what's the biggest difference between college and the NFL? Said?
10:08
Speaker 1: In the NFL during TV time outs of the offensive
10:10
Speaker 1: defense is out there. You have guys that trained together
10:13
Speaker 1: in the offseason, maybe played together in college. They're dapping
10:15
Speaker 1: each other up and asking about people's families. Well, then
10:17
Speaker 1: you gotta flip the switch and go. But it's different,
10:20
Speaker 1: like that didn't happen often in college. But there's just
10:23
Speaker 1: a certain amount of respect, and when guys crossed that
10:26
Speaker 1: line of respect, they lose their reputation quick in the
10:29
Speaker 1: league because it truly is a brotherhood. So as of
10:32
Speaker 1: as of this taping on Thursday, January til twelve, nearly
10:37
Speaker 1: eight and a half, almost close to getting closer to
10:40
Speaker 1: nine million dollars has been donated to to Mars the
10:43
Speaker 1: Chasing M's Foundation for his annual toy drive. Like, how
10:46
Speaker 1: amazing is that? And what does that say about the
10:50
Speaker 1: person to Mar Is that so many people in Buffalo
10:54
Speaker 1: and around this country and possibly the world showed him
10:57
Speaker 1: love in that way. Yeah, it it's amazing the support
11:02
Speaker 1: because so many were just looking to do anything they
11:05
Speaker 1: possibly could could be dollars that, in Damar's name, make
11:09
Speaker 1: an impact further than this game. And so now Damar
11:12
Speaker 1: and his foundation they're gonna be able to do so
11:14
Speaker 1: much more than a toy drive. They can do a
11:16
Speaker 1: toy drop for essentially about most of the country with
11:20
Speaker 1: this amount of money, but they're gonna be able to
11:22
Speaker 1: do so much more with this money. When you look
11:24
Speaker 1: at the list of people on the list, I mean,
11:27
Speaker 1: it was amazing, you know, and and so many donated anonymously,
11:31
Speaker 1: and that's great and and I respect that as well.
11:34
Speaker 1: I also think that there's a point in leadership that
11:37
Speaker 1: when a Tom Brady puts Tom Brady in ten grand
11:40
Speaker 1: immediately after. There's something to be said about leaders leading
11:43
Speaker 1: the way. Robert Kraft, your rival who you're playing the
11:46
Speaker 1: following week, who owns the team, does eighteen thousand and
11:49
Speaker 1: three dollars. Eighteen is a Jewish number for life. Three
11:54
Speaker 1: for Damar Hamlin like that is a sign of respect.
11:56
Speaker 1: And I'm fine with you getting the credit for that
11:59
Speaker 1: donation because you're leading the way. And so to me,
12:03
Speaker 1: it reminds me of Ephesians. God can do am measurably
12:06
Speaker 1: more than wherever we ask or imagine, and is what
12:10
Speaker 1: we are and what tomorrow asked and imagined. And here's
12:13
Speaker 1: God doing a measurably more well. Eric, Man, I appreciate that. Man. Um,
12:18
Speaker 1: all right, So we're gonna take a little break right here. Um.
12:21
Speaker 1: I want to continue to tell all of our listeners
12:23
Speaker 1: just how well DeMar is doing. It's been a huge
12:26
Speaker 1: improvement and the fact that now he's back home doing
12:29
Speaker 1: some rehab and really working to it better improve himself
12:32
Speaker 1: and his and everything. That's uh, everything that's the family
12:35
Speaker 1: and everybody is so excited about. So we'll be back.
12:38
Speaker 1: We're gonna pay some bills and then when we come back,
12:41
Speaker 1: We're gonna really jump into what Eric is doing next
12:43
Speaker 1: for himself personally and how his growth is continue to
12:46
Speaker 1: expound since his time of hanging it up. So thank you.
12:50
Speaker 1: We talked about tomorrow having good life changing injury. Eric,
12:55
Speaker 1: you know what that's well about, um, And you're about
12:59
Speaker 1: to to your second Pro Bowl. I see one Pro
13:01
Speaker 1: Bowl helmet behind you right there. You're about to go
13:03
Speaker 1: to your second Pro Bowl. You just signed a contract extension,
13:07
Speaker 1: and then all of a sudden boom, you have a
13:09
Speaker 1: career ending injury because of your neck. At your neck,
13:13
Speaker 1: So when did you go from Okay, this is just
13:16
Speaker 1: a normal injury. I'm feeling a little paying too. Uh no,
13:20
Speaker 1: you're not gonna be able to play anymore, man, Roman.
13:23
Speaker 1: It was such a unique experience and my first four
13:25
Speaker 1: years in the league, coming as a first round draft pick,
13:28
Speaker 1: never been hurt in my life. Start every game at
13:30
Speaker 1: the University of Louisville for my freshman year on get
13:32
Speaker 1: to the NFL. So Joe Thising leg break, it's a
13:34
Speaker 1: high ankle spring. The next year, it's an a c AL.
13:36
Speaker 1: The following, it's an m CL the following, and then
13:39
Speaker 1: I start fifty two consecutive games, which was the most
13:42
Speaker 1: for any active center in the NFL at the time.
13:44
Speaker 1: Break my other leg On Monday Night Football in seventeen season,
13:48
Speaker 1: Sean mcdermotts hired, Brandon Bean's hired, and everyone thinks we're tanking.
13:53
Speaker 1: But I can't leave Buffalo while we're still in the
13:55
Speaker 1: longest playoff rout in all pro sports. Like, I can't
13:58
Speaker 1: leave Buffalo and I'm heading into a con track to year.
14:00
Speaker 1: So the Bills offered me a contract and I signed it.
14:03
Speaker 1: They offered me a contract extension, the first one Brandon
14:05
Speaker 1: being gave out with his tenure with the Bills. Yeah, so,
14:10
Speaker 1: so I signed a contract extension before the season. Were
14:14
Speaker 1: the team that breaks the playoff drought when everyone thought
14:16
Speaker 1: we were tanking after we traded away our last top
14:19
Speaker 1: three draft choices. And I'm the only player on the
14:21
Speaker 1: team to play every single snap that season, including the
14:24
Speaker 1: playoff game. Now, I did get stingers for the first
14:27
Speaker 1: time in my life. And for those listening, you know
14:29
Speaker 1: a burning, numbing sensation down your arm. For me, it
14:32
Speaker 1: was my arm. It could be other extremities for others,
14:34
Speaker 1: and I didn't think anything of it because my high
14:37
Speaker 1: school buddies got stingers. They're fine, Like, why would this
14:41
Speaker 1: be any differently? They came more frequently. So I go
14:44
Speaker 1: to extraphysicals. My son's about to be born, and I said, hey,
14:47
Speaker 1: I gotta get back to Louisville. I'm gonna drive home
14:50
Speaker 1: just so I make make sure that I'm there for
14:51
Speaker 1: the birth of my son. I played every snap. Just
14:53
Speaker 1: clear me for the Pro Bowl. I'm good, they said,
14:56
Speaker 1: grabbing him or on your way out of town on
14:58
Speaker 1: your neck. Just let's just make sure everything okay, Well,
15:01
Speaker 1: we'll just call you. You You don't even have to come
15:02
Speaker 1: back in. I'm sure it's fine. I get the news
15:06
Speaker 1: while I'm in the delivery room waiting on my son
15:08
Speaker 1: to be born January eleven, which was yesterday, the day
15:11
Speaker 1: of my son's birthday birthday, appreciate it and figure out
15:15
Speaker 1: that I have a career ending neck injury. At C
15:17
Speaker 1: two C three. There's disc and bone sitting into my
15:20
Speaker 1: spinal cord where they're not sure how It hasn't affected
15:24
Speaker 1: me a lot worse, but I absolutely, even with surgery,
15:27
Speaker 1: have no possibility for return. And so I go from
15:30
Speaker 1: getting a contract extension, I'm avenger. You know the following year,
15:34
Speaker 1: I'd be Josh Allen's mentor. They wanted me to be
15:36
Speaker 1: the Veterans center in front of their first round quarterback
15:40
Speaker 1: that they were gonna take the following year, and that
15:42
Speaker 1: was gonna be me. So for me, that would have
15:44
Speaker 1: been a as I looked at it, Okay, this is
15:47
Speaker 1: a chance for me. Look, and I love Profobatta played
15:50
Speaker 1: till the wheels fell off. It's a blessing God took
15:52
Speaker 1: me out when he did, because how would I quit now?
15:55
Speaker 1: As good as they that's so good and so But
16:00
Speaker 1: to me, I'm thinking, Okay, I get to pour into
16:02
Speaker 1: a young quarterback. That'll kind of be my legacy that
16:04
Speaker 1: I leave on with the Bills. You know how I
16:07
Speaker 1: can mentor the guys and all that. Well, then it's
16:09
Speaker 1: all stripped away in an instant and I had to
16:12
Speaker 1: figure out what was next for me. So when you
16:15
Speaker 1: get this news, all right, you've been I mean, like
16:17
Speaker 1: you listed off all the injuries before once you got
16:20
Speaker 1: into the league. When you get this news, um, kind
16:24
Speaker 1: of take me through emotions of you getting this news.
16:26
Speaker 1: You're in the late the you're in the labor room
16:29
Speaker 1: with your with your son, the birth of your son,
16:32
Speaker 1: and I can talk to this about a little bit
16:34
Speaker 1: because um in my my my girlfriend, my then white,
16:41
Speaker 1: my now wife was actually went into labor. I was
16:44
Speaker 1: playing in a playoff game. I was in San Francisco.
16:46
Speaker 1: I get a call that morning. I missed like four
16:48
Speaker 1: phone calls. She's like, I'm going into labor, but I'm
16:51
Speaker 1: gonna weight on it. I'm gonna hold it. I'm like, okay, cool.
16:53
Speaker 1: That was my first kid, so I didn't know. I'm like, yeah, cool.
16:56
Speaker 1: And so go playing the game. We lose the game
16:58
Speaker 1: in San Francisco, and all of a sudden, but you
17:01
Speaker 1: get this, this this joy, I get this picture of
17:04
Speaker 1: my daughter, and so it's this there's crazy sense of
17:09
Speaker 1: emotions where you go from this sad to this like
17:11
Speaker 1: relief and like it really is like somebody smiling down
17:15
Speaker 1: on you at the end. I want you to tell
17:17
Speaker 1: me what your emotions were like going through such a
17:19
Speaker 1: wave of the negativity of hearing that you're not going
17:22
Speaker 1: to play able to play this game that you love.
17:24
Speaker 1: You've been playing it since you're a little kid, I assumed,
17:26
Speaker 1: and versus now, but you still have a little baby boy. Now, Yeah,
17:30
Speaker 1: it sounds like your wife's a lot like my wife too,
17:32
Speaker 1: because if we would have went on the playoffs and
17:34
Speaker 1: I couldn't make it, she was like, don't worry about
17:36
Speaker 1: I was like, no, I am worried, and yeah, that's
17:38
Speaker 1: she was like, gotta go, you gotta go. Yeah, yeah,
17:42
Speaker 1: similar wise in that sense. But you know, I caught
17:45
Speaker 1: win that morning that it was probably worse than they thought,
17:49
Speaker 1: and this and that, and so I get the call
17:52
Speaker 1: and we're literally in the delivery room and my wife
17:55
Speaker 1: was like just answering. We both want to know, and
17:58
Speaker 1: so I couldn't even speak. I gave her the thumbs
18:00
Speaker 1: down and she started crying. The nurse was like, it's baby,
18:04
Speaker 1: It's not gonna hurt that bad, and she's like, it's
18:05
Speaker 1: not about the baby, you know, laughing, But you know,
18:09
Speaker 1: so that was that was There was a lot of
18:12
Speaker 1: emotion tied to a career that you poured so much into.
18:15
Speaker 1: And look, I love profo by my wife club Profo.
18:17
Speaker 1: But we loved and half a hear in Buffalo and
18:20
Speaker 1: had a house up there. We had great friends up there.
18:22
Speaker 1: You talking about the family, the people were gonna miss
18:24
Speaker 1: I mean, it was gonna affect us. But then we
18:26
Speaker 1: get this little boy who's truly my meny me for
18:30
Speaker 1: those out there checking out on my Instagram Attie with
18:32
Speaker 1: seven or on my Twitter, like, literally, God gave me
18:36
Speaker 1: a miniature version of myself as my career is taken away,
18:39
Speaker 1: he gives me this son. So now I have this healthy,
18:42
Speaker 1: beautiful little girl who's two and a half years older.
18:44
Speaker 1: And now I have literally a miniature version of myself
18:47
Speaker 1: who now at five years old, is my best friend.
18:50
Speaker 1: And so it's the high highs and low lows and ultimately,
18:55
Speaker 1: no matter how much you can say, look for me,
18:58
Speaker 1: it's faith and it's family then even friends than football. Man,
19:02
Speaker 1: When football is taken away from you and you put
19:04
Speaker 1: so much into it, you realize that there is a
19:06
Speaker 1: piece of your identity wrapped up in being a pro ballplayer,
19:09
Speaker 1: and not even just the game, in in identifying as
19:13
Speaker 1: a professional football player. Yeah, it's it's everything. It's it's
19:16
Speaker 1: your whole life. It's none of that, but it's your
19:18
Speaker 1: family's life. It's you know, they're used to come to
19:21
Speaker 1: the games in room for you. They're used to traveling
19:23
Speaker 1: and doing all these things. I don't think we realize
19:25
Speaker 1: how much everybody else it revolves around you in your world.
19:30
Speaker 1: When you make it to the ultimate pinnacle of what
19:32
Speaker 1: you've been shooting for your whole life. Just real quick,
19:35
Speaker 1: for those listening out there, you know, no matter what
19:39
Speaker 1: profession you're in, but especially pro football, be very sensitive
19:42
Speaker 1: to your family members at that time because you think
19:44
Speaker 1: it's all about you, but it's not. And I neglected
19:47
Speaker 1: that for a little while. You know, it was all
19:49
Speaker 1: about you know, how quick can I get this weight
19:51
Speaker 1: off so my body feels good? And they told me
19:53
Speaker 1: to lose some weight to help relieve some of the
19:55
Speaker 1: neck tension. And then it's all me, me and me.
19:58
Speaker 1: What am I gonna do next. I'm gonna prove that
19:59
Speaker 1: I can be a business man. I'm gonna prove that
20:01
Speaker 1: I can get in the broadcast booth. And I wasn't
20:03
Speaker 1: nearly as as sensitive as I should have been to
20:06
Speaker 1: my wife. And look, we're in a we're in a
20:09
Speaker 1: great place now. But for those out there that are going,
20:12
Speaker 1: you know, if you're a CEO, if you're a big
20:14
Speaker 1: time pastor you you everybody in your family has got
20:16
Speaker 1: to live that life too, and it's not just you
20:19
Speaker 1: that has to transition in those moments. I'm glad you
20:22
Speaker 1: brought up transitioning. So when you retired from the NFL
20:26
Speaker 1: and you were transitioning to a new way of life,
20:28
Speaker 1: what sorts of things did you do? Uh? Did you
20:31
Speaker 1: write down to keep yourself positive, especially in the moments
20:35
Speaker 1: when you really miss being part of the game. I
20:37
Speaker 1: know we all kind of go through those moments, in
20:39
Speaker 1: those times of loneliness or the sense of what are
20:42
Speaker 1: we doing to do next? Because our path at one
20:45
Speaker 1: point in time was just bought and it just took
20:47
Speaker 1: us to where we are eventually. So maybe you could
20:50
Speaker 1: share with your transition. Yeah, that's a great question. So
20:53
Speaker 1: for me, it was a lot of conversations. It was
20:54
Speaker 1: a lot of trying to learn from other people that
20:57
Speaker 1: transitions successfully no matter what they were in life. You know,
21:01
Speaker 1: what were your next steps? For me, I'm a man
21:03
Speaker 1: of faith, so I continue to pour into my faith.
21:06
Speaker 1: You know, I'm a gratitude journal guy. Three things in
21:08
Speaker 1: the morning you're grateful for every day. That has been
21:11
Speaker 1: proven to literally rewire your brain to where throughout the
21:14
Speaker 1: day you start looking for things because your brain wants
21:16
Speaker 1: to put his least amount of stress possible in itself
21:19
Speaker 1: at all times. So when it knows it has to
21:21
Speaker 1: write down three things that you're grateful for. It'll just
21:23
Speaker 1: start looking for him and taking mental notes. As opposed
21:26
Speaker 1: to looking for the things that are ticking you off
21:27
Speaker 1: on a constant basis. You're looking for constant things you're
21:30
Speaker 1: grateful for so that you can write them down and
21:32
Speaker 1: not have to rack your brain later. And so I
21:35
Speaker 1: stayed consistent with that to kind of put myself in
21:38
Speaker 1: a great head place. But man, just surrounding yourself with
21:42
Speaker 1: the right types of people. I started a podcast What's
21:45
Speaker 1: Next with their We're just trying to learn from others
21:47
Speaker 1: and how they transitioned. You know, being around football in
21:51
Speaker 1: in a broadcast sense, not doing the coaching hours, not
21:53
Speaker 1: doing the front office hours, but being able to still
21:56
Speaker 1: have my foot in the door and be around the
21:58
Speaker 1: game has been been good of my soul because there's
22:01
Speaker 1: others that you know, they walk away on their own
22:03
Speaker 1: terms and they can they can just roll. For me,
22:07
Speaker 1: I wasn't done yet with the game of football, So
22:09
Speaker 1: being around the game of football in in in a
22:12
Speaker 1: small capacity calling the games has been good for me
22:16
Speaker 1: as well. When did you decide that you want to
22:18
Speaker 1: try and like dabble into this whole broadcasting deal. I
22:24
Speaker 1: gotta know because I have my own journey. When I
22:27
Speaker 1: thought I could do it, and now that I'm starting
22:29
Speaker 1: to do it, um, it's been really cool to kind
22:31
Speaker 1: of dive into. But it does give you a sense
22:33
Speaker 1: of your around the game. You get to see this game,
22:36
Speaker 1: what what made you say? All right, this is probably
22:38
Speaker 1: what I like to do. So right when my career ended,
22:41
Speaker 1: a bunch of national media members reached out and said, hey,
22:44
Speaker 1: you were always great to me. If I can ever
22:46
Speaker 1: do anything for you, let me know. So I utilized
22:48
Speaker 1: them as resources. But the bills because the salary cut
22:51
Speaker 1: purposes and me just signed that contract extension, they had
22:54
Speaker 1: to keep me on the team until May thirty one.
22:56
Speaker 1: If they kept me until June one, then my salary
22:59
Speaker 1: kicks in. But they couldn't cut me before a free
23:01
Speaker 1: agency or all my dead cat money kicks in. But
23:04
Speaker 1: they left me on the on the roster that long. Well,
23:07
Speaker 1: now I can't go get a job or I'm retired
23:10
Speaker 1: and not injured, and so I literally could do nothing,
23:14
Speaker 1: which put me, you know, for someone wired like me,
23:17
Speaker 1: was not great at times, but it also made me
23:19
Speaker 1: take some time off and and really has some introspection
23:22
Speaker 1: of what I want to do next, and being around
23:24
Speaker 1: ball was something that I wanted to do, but also
23:27
Speaker 1: with young kids, it wasn't gonna be great if I
23:29
Speaker 1: hopped into coaching or anything else, and so I wanted
23:34
Speaker 1: to hop into the media world. I needed to. I'm
23:36
Speaker 1: an offensive lineman from playing my whole career in Western
23:39
Speaker 1: New York on a on a bad team for almost
23:42
Speaker 1: my entire career, and so look, I get it, if
23:45
Speaker 1: if I wait five years, people are gonna be like,
23:47
Speaker 1: who are you again? And so I needed to hop
23:50
Speaker 1: right in, and like anything, I didn't stop. I didn't
23:53
Speaker 1: start on Monday night football like Jason woulden, and that's okay,
23:56
Speaker 1: you know. I started calling. I called one game for
23:59
Speaker 1: Fox my first year out and did two pregame shows
24:02
Speaker 1: the next year. I called games for college games for
24:05
Speaker 1: ESPN and a CC network and Bills Radio Broadcast for
24:08
Speaker 1: two years so I could get double the experience and
24:10
Speaker 1: yet see what I liked between TV and radio better.
24:12
Speaker 1: I gotta face for radio, and the Bills are good.
24:15
Speaker 1: It's fun, and so I stuck with the Bills Radio
24:17
Speaker 1: Broadcast and then started doing some podcasting where I kind
24:21
Speaker 1: of control my own hours, control my guests. I control
24:25
Speaker 1: the conversations, and yeah, there's times where you gotta hustle
24:28
Speaker 1: for a sponsorship or whatever it may be. But for me,
24:32
Speaker 1: I can go play pickleball in the morning, I can
24:34
Speaker 1: play some golf. I can pick up my kids from
24:36
Speaker 1: school and drive them to school when I want to
24:38
Speaker 1: and not have to get that structure because you know,
24:41
Speaker 1: doing everyday radio, yeah that pays pretty good. But if
24:44
Speaker 1: you're on from noon to three good? Yeah. Exactly would
24:50
Speaker 1: you say your transition was good? And how would you
24:52
Speaker 1: encourage other people to, like, you know, take some time
24:55
Speaker 1: in between? Uh, would you suggest maybe taking more time off?
25:00
Speaker 1: Like will you say you didn't do that, but would
25:02
Speaker 1: you say that that process was good for you? Or
25:05
Speaker 1: would you maybe suggest maybe taking some time for me personally?
25:08
Speaker 1: I took three or sixty five days and did absolutely nothing,
25:12
Speaker 1: and then I kind of decompressed, and then I figured out,
25:14
Speaker 1: all right, what do I truly want to do? Because
25:16
Speaker 1: I had no idea. I didn't want to coach. My
25:18
Speaker 1: father was a coach, and I knew he wasn't around
25:21
Speaker 1: all the time, and the kind of the same thing
25:22
Speaker 1: you said, well, sometimes you may still be kind of
25:25
Speaker 1: have that pent up energy. So I don't know if
25:26
Speaker 1: I need to go and coach, because then I may
25:28
Speaker 1: be too intense for these kids, like or like, I
25:31
Speaker 1: don't know, So maybe you kind of walked me through
25:33
Speaker 1: your process or what your belief is now and what
25:36
Speaker 1: how it should be handled. Yeah. When I when I
25:39
Speaker 1: said I was with Fox my first year out, you know,
25:41
Speaker 1: I literally called one game and that was on Thanksgiving
25:44
Speaker 1: weekend because no one wanted to call games that weekend,
25:47
Speaker 1: and so that was the one opportunity I got. And
25:49
Speaker 1: I did two pregame shows, so it felt like I
25:51
Speaker 1: took off three and sixty five days. You know, don't
25:54
Speaker 1: don't get me wrong. I we went to Bills games
25:57
Speaker 1: for the first time ever, not working, not playing. I
26:00
Speaker 1: went to Louisville Cardinal games, which I had never done.
26:02
Speaker 1: A detailgated. Was this your first time getting the tailgate?
26:05
Speaker 1: Because I remember my first time tailgating. It was like
26:07
Speaker 1: the best time in my life. Oh, no doubt, gout,
26:10
Speaker 1: no doubt. I went down. You know, Ryan Fitzpatrick was
26:12
Speaker 1: playing for the Buccaneers. We went and visited fits and
26:15
Speaker 1: you know, I'd go see buddies play that I've never
26:17
Speaker 1: got the opportunity to just go casually sit there and so, uh,
26:21
Speaker 1: that was fun to take some time off, and you
26:23
Speaker 1: definitely need time to decompress and appreciate what you've done,
26:27
Speaker 1: especially if you have a long enough career in the NFL.
26:31
Speaker 1: Actually wrote a book called Tackle What's Next? I see
26:33
Speaker 1: it right there behind you. Let's and for me, honestly,
26:36
Speaker 1: it's not a lot of my original opinions. It's many
26:40
Speaker 1: podcast guests and a lot of it is fueled what
26:43
Speaker 1: their advice to me was through this time and so
26:46
Speaker 1: there's steps in. Hey, we gotta identify our gifts again
26:49
Speaker 1: if we can't. You know a lot of people. As
26:51
Speaker 1: an NFL football player, your your gifts are maybe critical thinking, communication, whatever, maybe,
26:57
Speaker 1: but you have physical gifts that you no longer going
26:59
Speaker 1: to be able to use is on a football field. Okay,
27:01
Speaker 1: what other gifts do you have? And use those to
27:04
Speaker 1: figure out how you can serve others? Because if you
27:06
Speaker 1: can bring value to others, then you will one feel
27:10
Speaker 1: value yourself and that's gonna be fulfillment. So bringing about
27:14
Speaker 1: others will bring you fulfillment. So you've got to utilize
27:16
Speaker 1: your gifts to do that. And when you bring value
27:19
Speaker 1: to either enough people or valuable people, you will be compensated,
27:23
Speaker 1: and it may be compensated royally for that. But I
27:26
Speaker 1: will say this, in your time transitioning out, whether it's
27:30
Speaker 1: an executive coach, whether it's having someone like Dr Dr
27:34
Speaker 1: Mondo out of my podcast who has the cheet code,
27:36
Speaker 1: who can work with you mentally, getting in the proper
27:40
Speaker 1: mental space to hit that transition, I think is as
27:43
Speaker 1: big as anything, because Roman, I know you have as
27:46
Speaker 1: many buddies as me that truly struggle and that transition out.
27:50
Speaker 1: But it's not their own fault. You know, we're not
27:53
Speaker 1: coached through it like we've been coached our entire life.
27:56
Speaker 1: One of the hardest things for me was creating a
27:57
Speaker 1: schedule on my own because for the longest since I
28:00
Speaker 1: was or you know, someone's dictating your days for you,
28:05
Speaker 1: and now you just have this freedom. Well, we're so
28:08
Speaker 1: we're so used to getting that schedule right, the piece
28:10
Speaker 1: of paper, or we know our schedule, Monday's, this, Tuesday's,
28:12
Speaker 1: this Wednesday's at all the way up to a game
28:14
Speaker 1: and just what you do for all your life, and
28:17
Speaker 1: then all of a sudden you no longer get that
28:19
Speaker 1: that schedule and we all yearned for that, and we
28:22
Speaker 1: do have a lot of friends, especially me, that have
28:24
Speaker 1: struggled with this transition, and sometimes and I feel bad
28:27
Speaker 1: on myself. I still have to be thankful in my
28:29
Speaker 1: own space and just say, hey, look, it's still nine
28:32
Speaker 1: of people I hear wish that they can handle or
28:35
Speaker 1: be exactly where you're at right now. You found your
28:38
Speaker 1: second act eric in the media space, and you're doing radio,
28:41
Speaker 1: you're calling some games, you're doing your podcast, which has
28:44
Speaker 1: been great for you, um, and you're being a father
28:47
Speaker 1: as well. Do these things scratch the competitive bitch? Yes?
28:54
Speaker 1: So yes, I'm trying to be the best Christian man, husband,
28:57
Speaker 1: father I can be on a daily basis and do
29:00
Speaker 1: get weekly grades from my wife because I wanted, you know,
29:03
Speaker 1: I gotta have a well you know if I need this,
29:07
Speaker 1: I need this like the grading scale in my house
29:09
Speaker 1: and just like okay, okay, so Roman, this is one
29:12
Speaker 1: of the best. This is one of the best means
29:14
Speaker 1: of advice I've ever got. Was weekly. Just check in
29:17
Speaker 1: with your wife when you know she's got some free
29:19
Speaker 1: time and say, hey, as a husband and father, grab
29:21
Speaker 1: me on a scale one to tend give me some feedback.
29:24
Speaker 1: But you cannot justify anything, and you can't combat anything.
29:28
Speaker 1: It's not Hey, you didn't help get the kids ready.
29:31
Speaker 1: You know that that hurt my feelings or I needed
29:34
Speaker 1: some help there and then you rush us out the door.
29:36
Speaker 1: But you didn't help at all, and you say, thank you, baby.
29:40
Speaker 1: I appreciate that because because we want to grow, we
29:42
Speaker 1: need feedback. We're saying, we're so used to every six
29:45
Speaker 1: inch sip we take on a football field being analyzed,
29:48
Speaker 1: but then you go to be a husband and dad
29:49
Speaker 1: and there's not a specific playbook, there's not a you know,
29:53
Speaker 1: someone giving you constant feedback. If there's not those open
29:55
Speaker 1: lines of communication where you're not going to justify or
29:59
Speaker 1: come bad it. And so that's one of the best
30:01
Speaker 1: piece of advice I've ever got. And so yeah, I mean,
30:05
Speaker 1: like yesterday I checked in, or two days ago I
30:07
Speaker 1: checked in, and she said, uh, you know, everything's been awesome.
30:11
Speaker 1: I'm glad you. I was supposed to play pickleball yesterday morning,
30:14
Speaker 1: day of my son's birthday, and I wanted to be
30:16
Speaker 1: there in the mornings. I canceled, and she goes, and
30:18
Speaker 1: I really appreciate you canceling that pickaball game, Like simple
30:21
Speaker 1: built me up. You know, that built me up and
30:24
Speaker 1: so um, you know, it's been a healthy exercise. But
30:27
Speaker 1: you asked about competitiveness, and I'll say this. For my
30:32
Speaker 1: like strength Finders test, competitiveness is always number one. And
30:35
Speaker 1: so for me, I gotta find you know, whether that's golf,
30:39
Speaker 1: for pickleball or things that I can compete out of
30:41
Speaker 1: my life. And business can be that way podcasts and
30:45
Speaker 1: numbers and whatnot, but for me, I just love competition,
30:48
Speaker 1: and so getting a golf game here and there, playing
30:50
Speaker 1: some pickleball a few mornings a week where I can
30:52
Speaker 1: truly compete with a group of guys, it's just good
30:55
Speaker 1: for my soul. I do think that that competitiveness, however
30:59
Speaker 1: you find it a little healthier in sports than other things,
31:03
Speaker 1: is great for people. So number one, my mind's blown.
31:06
Speaker 1: The whole grading scale with the wife E. I'm definitely
31:10
Speaker 1: taking this and putting it into my life because I
31:13
Speaker 1: need that. I'm so used to being graded on everything.
31:15
Speaker 1: And not only that, but I love feedback. I love
31:18
Speaker 1: getting coached up like that's all we that's always getting
31:21
Speaker 1: so but I cannot be combative. That's the key to this.
31:23
Speaker 1: So I can't say anything. I just got to be thankful,
31:26
Speaker 1: Thank you, baby, I love you all right. I'm getting
31:30
Speaker 1: better this morning, Eric, I feel the juices flowing. Now.
31:33
Speaker 1: Another thing, Eric, that you have been competitive with has
31:37
Speaker 1: been your weight loss. I told you as soon as
31:38
Speaker 1: I saw you, I said, dude, you let like a linebacker,
31:40
Speaker 1: probably even the tight end the money. I can see
31:42
Speaker 1: you catching some touchdowns right now. Um, how much weight
31:45
Speaker 1: did you? How much did you weigh during your playing days?
31:49
Speaker 1: And was there moment, either during or after you're playing
31:52
Speaker 1: career when you decided you had to lose your playing weight? Yeah?
31:56
Speaker 1: So I played. The heaviest I ever played was three
31:59
Speaker 1: D sixteen hounds at six am the Friday before at
32:02
Speaker 1: weigh ends. I consistently played between three oh eight and
32:05
Speaker 1: three ten. I was three nine at six am before
32:08
Speaker 1: our final playoff game. And so that was that's amazing.
32:11
Speaker 1: You remember that exact number. Well, that's amazing you remember that.
32:16
Speaker 1: You know? For me, I don't really do anything halfway,
32:18
Speaker 1: and I don't really like to wait around on things.
32:20
Speaker 1: So for me, it was how quick can I get
32:22
Speaker 1: this off because I know it's gonna make me feel
32:24
Speaker 1: better and I and I need to look. You know,
32:26
Speaker 1: when I was a junior in high school, I was
32:28
Speaker 1: six four two oh five. I wasn't naturally three ten.
32:31
Speaker 1: I put the weight on because it wasn't that great
32:33
Speaker 1: of an athlete and so, but then as an offensive linement,
32:36
Speaker 1: you end up being a really good athlete to moving.
32:39
Speaker 1: So I put the weight on for a for a
32:40
Speaker 1: long period of time to be able to earn the
32:43
Speaker 1: money and earn generational wealth for my family compete at
32:46
Speaker 1: the game I love. But I got it off in
32:49
Speaker 1: in four months. I lost fifty three pounds. Well, I'm
32:52
Speaker 1: anywhere between two forty five and two fifty five now,
32:55
Speaker 1: so I'm down, you know, fifty five sixty five pounds
32:58
Speaker 1: and and feel good. Look like I said earlier in
33:01
Speaker 1: in broadcasting, I you know, one of these great looking
33:05
Speaker 1: dudes that you want to put on camera. But I
33:07
Speaker 1: look like a football player still. You know, if I
33:10
Speaker 1: go if I go too far on the light scale,
33:13
Speaker 1: then then I'm not gonna look like a football player anymore,
33:15
Speaker 1: and I might not look like I can kick uh
33:18
Speaker 1: Grace's boyfriend's butts here in a few years. Hey, that's important.
33:22
Speaker 1: We've seen Hey, we've seen bad boys too, with Will
33:25
Speaker 1: Smith and Martin Lawrence. That's important, Bro, you gotta be
33:28
Speaker 1: scare got a highlight you and you got a highlight reel.
33:31
Speaker 1: You could show off. There's no doubt, Bro, no doubt.
33:36
Speaker 1: So it is funny though, because when I see some
33:38
Speaker 1: of my former teammates that have lost all the weight,
33:41
Speaker 1: it goes it kind of You're right, Eric, It is
33:44
Speaker 1: just like happy medium where you don't want to lose
33:46
Speaker 1: too much because then it's like because you don't really
33:49
Speaker 1: lose weight in your head and you guys get too skinny, right,
33:52
Speaker 1: and then they look like, you know, it just looks weird,
33:55
Speaker 1: bigger head on a small body when you used to
33:57
Speaker 1: see it in this way, it's it's different vibe. It's
34:00
Speaker 1: a different vibe for all my guys losing all that
34:02
Speaker 1: weight out. It's funny though, because, like you know, people
34:05
Speaker 1: talking about high school reunions and see who put on
34:07
Speaker 1: the weight. For NFL ballplayers, you know, we gotta be
34:11
Speaker 1: a certain way and you gotta stay in shape. And
34:13
Speaker 1: even if at linemen are big, you know, we're paid
34:16
Speaker 1: to be big. It's when you see each other five
34:18
Speaker 1: or ten years later that you start messing with each other.
34:21
Speaker 1: You know, the first time I saw you know, Fred
34:23
Speaker 1: Jackson and Lashawn McCoy you know, they might have been
34:26
Speaker 1: up five pounds. But hey, guys, you know you can
34:28
Speaker 1: see it, but you're going the other you know, just
34:31
Speaker 1: messing with those guys and so and so it's funny
34:33
Speaker 1: seeing who goes one way and who goes the other.
34:36
Speaker 1: All right, So we also mentioned you're a businessman. How
34:39
Speaker 1: do you decide um what products you'll endorse and what
34:44
Speaker 1: ventures fit who you are? Yeah, so that's a great question.
34:49
Speaker 1: So I never endorse anything I don't personally use and
34:53
Speaker 1: I don't know the people behind because man, you get
34:56
Speaker 1: one reputation. Takes four seconds to creating a reputation should
35:00
Speaker 1: in four years to change it back if you blow it.
35:02
Speaker 1: And so you know stuff that I use or that
35:07
Speaker 1: that I know that and I know the people behind it.
35:10
Speaker 1: As far as investing this, this is way too simple
35:13
Speaker 1: because there's a lot of that goes in on the
35:15
Speaker 1: finance side and everything else. But I listened to Kobe
35:17
Speaker 1: Bryant talk about one time that he chooses investments and
35:21
Speaker 1: very successful investor when he was still a lot Kobe
35:24
Speaker 1: Bryant said, I want people that are obsessed with a product,
35:28
Speaker 1: like just absolutely obsessed with it. You could feel it
35:31
Speaker 1: from him and no backup plan, Like, this isn't a
35:35
Speaker 1: side venture, this isn't a Hey, this is my fourth startup.
35:40
Speaker 1: I've already made it. You know, someone that has no
35:43
Speaker 1: backup plan and obsessed whatever with whatever their product is
35:47
Speaker 1: the shore right now? Um, and I promised this wasn't
35:50
Speaker 1: just I didn't put it on for this. But Dano's
35:53
Speaker 1: Seasoning is a company out of Louisville. I meet this
35:55
Speaker 1: dude who's a straight hustler, you know. He's working at
35:58
Speaker 1: a bar selling chick in with a seasoning on it.
36:01
Speaker 1: And they said, man, this is so good, you should
36:04
Speaker 1: sell it. And he's like, I don't know about selling chicken.
36:06
Speaker 1: And he's like, wait, I should sell the seasoning. And
36:08
Speaker 1: he goes from going around to trade shows and barbecue
36:13
Speaker 1: festivals and whatnot. It makes about a hundred grand COVID hits. Well,
36:16
Speaker 1: now that business model is god, what is he gonna do?
36:19
Speaker 1: Gets on TikTok builds a huge following because he's funny
36:21
Speaker 1: and whatnot. And now there's a lot more pieces in place.
36:24
Speaker 1: It's a much bigger company. But they're doing eight figures
36:27
Speaker 1: in early revenue around now in over thirteen thousand retail stores.
36:31
Speaker 1: I mean It's incredible what he's built. And so for me,
36:35
Speaker 1: it's fun to be a part of that Dano's team,
36:37
Speaker 1: you know, because and there's other teams that I'm you know,
36:40
Speaker 1: there's other investments I've made. But when you leave the NFL,
36:44
Speaker 1: you ask people, what do you miss the most in
36:45
Speaker 1: its locker room? Was done when you can get in
36:48
Speaker 1: the right business group or the right broadcast career, whatever
36:51
Speaker 1: it be, and it feels like that locker room again. Well,
36:54
Speaker 1: I heard you use the word team. I think that's
36:56
Speaker 1: so important. Uh, finding your own teams or or whoever
36:59
Speaker 1: that may be. And how many teams do you say
37:01
Speaker 1: that you're part of? Now? Cool? I got my home
37:04
Speaker 1: team first and foremost. I got my bills team, the
37:07
Speaker 1: broadcast team that I'm that I'm working with weekly. Um,
37:11
Speaker 1: I have a team around me of you know, financial advisors,
37:14
Speaker 1: c p A, people giving me advice speaking of my life.
37:18
Speaker 1: I have a men's group that we meet weekly at
37:20
Speaker 1: our church here in Louisa, Kentucky. The guys that speak
37:22
Speaker 1: into me. I have an incredible friends group. And then
37:25
Speaker 1: I would say, you know, I have these these business teams,
37:28
Speaker 1: but first and foremost that would be the Danos team.
37:31
Speaker 1: The tagline for your podcast is how do you make
37:36
Speaker 1: your what's next in life? Your best? Yet? How do
37:39
Speaker 1: you live that yourself? For me, it's just daily growth.
37:45
Speaker 1: One of the taglines underneath my book is stack wins,
37:49
Speaker 1: and so not every day is gonna be a home run.
37:52
Speaker 1: There may be steps back, but are you stacking wins
37:55
Speaker 1: on a consistent basis. Often say that wealthy people don't
37:59
Speaker 1: play the lottery because they understand that wealth is not
38:02
Speaker 1: created overnight. But it's just those daily steps and people
38:07
Speaker 1: often ask and it, and it really hit me one
38:09
Speaker 1: time that I didn't have a great answer for them.
38:11
Speaker 1: They said, how do you go into the University of
38:13
Speaker 1: Louisville with one scholarship offered the least heralded recruit of
38:16
Speaker 1: your class, and you're the one that ends up the
38:18
Speaker 1: first round draft pick? And I said, I just got
38:21
Speaker 1: better and better, Like I just every single day I
38:24
Speaker 1: committed to getting better. And so it's for me personally
38:28
Speaker 1: and for anyone out there, it's identifying the areas in
38:30
Speaker 1: your life you want to improve or you want to
38:32
Speaker 1: dig in on, and then it's just small daily winds,
38:36
Speaker 1: stacking those winds up, and then over time, yes, you
38:39
Speaker 1: may see that hockey stick effect where you see that
38:42
Speaker 1: just huge upward trajectory growth. But that's not always the case.
38:46
Speaker 1: Sometimes it takes years. But it's that just constant stacking
38:49
Speaker 1: of winds that I feel like we'll lead you to
38:51
Speaker 1: make your what's next in life? Your best yet. I mean, Eric, man,
38:56
Speaker 1: I just feel like you're just well, you might be
38:58
Speaker 1: one of the smartest centers I've ever met. So you
39:01
Speaker 1: you are definitely checking all the boxes. I was telling
39:04
Speaker 1: my man Thomas earlier. He was like, centers are some
39:06
Speaker 1: of the smartest people on the field. I might, yes,
39:08
Speaker 1: but I don't think all centers are created equally. I
39:11
Speaker 1: think it's most of them are really smart guys that
39:14
Speaker 1: help check protections, they're doing all these other things. But
39:17
Speaker 1: I think all the centers in the NFL and everywhere
39:19
Speaker 1: else in the world get credit for the ones that
39:22
Speaker 1: are smarter than most. And I think you check all
39:25
Speaker 1: the categories, my brother, I appreciate that. I truly knew
39:28
Speaker 1: that means a lot. You know, what's funny to be
39:31
Speaker 1: a great center unless you have a quarterback like a
39:33
Speaker 1: Payton Manning, a Drew Brees Tom that's just gonna run
39:36
Speaker 1: run the whole show, right, a lot of the yeah yeah,
39:39
Speaker 1: similar to a safety and middle linebacker that's gonna run
39:41
Speaker 1: the defense. Get every on the same page. You have
39:43
Speaker 1: to be able to think quick on your feet, and
39:45
Speaker 1: you've gotta be able to communicate. You gotta be able
39:47
Speaker 1: to communicate to anybody, because not everyone's gonna you hope
39:50
Speaker 1: that everyone's speaking the same language, but they might not be.
39:52
Speaker 1: It might just be he goo left for other people,
39:55
Speaker 1: you know, a special term. But it's amazing, you know.
39:59
Speaker 1: I had my pouncing from the Dolphins on my podcast recently,
40:02
Speaker 1: and it's amazing, like how we can feed off each other.
40:04
Speaker 1: Just two centers that are kind of the show at
40:07
Speaker 1: the line of scrimmage and all that. So I truly
40:10
Speaker 1: appreciate those. Not only that, but you guys run the show,
40:12
Speaker 1: and you're usually the smallest one in the group, right,
40:16
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. Like, but you get up there,
40:18
Speaker 1: you command it, you do what you gotta do. I
40:20
Speaker 1: love that for you, I mean I love that for
40:22
Speaker 1: most centers. The great ones. Pouncies are Come on, man,
40:25
Speaker 1: you guys are two of the best that's done it. Um,
40:28
Speaker 1: this is a question we like to always kind of
40:30
Speaker 1: end our show with and you know what I'm gonna
40:34
Speaker 1: do too at one time, well not one time, but
40:36
Speaker 1: I'm gonna throw another one in here. All right, your
40:38
Speaker 1: Mount Rushmore of people that have influenced you or been
40:42
Speaker 1: special and mean the most to you in your life
40:44
Speaker 1: are who? Mm hmm. That's that's a great question. You know,
40:49
Speaker 1: it's only like four. So yeah, I was gonna say
40:51
Speaker 1: Mount Rushmore is four. So I will say, um, Jesus
40:58
Speaker 1: and how he lived, you know, put him number one.
41:02
Speaker 1: Number two, I'll say my parents together, I'll make that
41:06
Speaker 1: a collective. Number three, i'll say my wife. And number
41:12
Speaker 1: four i'll say, I'll say Bobby Petrino. And that may
41:18
Speaker 1: come as as as surprise for a lot of people
41:21
Speaker 1: understanding what he's done outside and and this is not
41:25
Speaker 1: someone I have that closer relationship with, but this is
41:28
Speaker 1: a guy that changed my life. You offered me my
41:30
Speaker 1: one scholarship offer. And look, if you can get past
41:34
Speaker 1: the colorful language with Bobby Petrino, there is some pretty
41:37
Speaker 1: good messaging behind it. But just the constant pressure you
41:40
Speaker 1: put you on you on a day to day basis,
41:42
Speaker 1: when you get through it, like the game, just feel easy.
41:46
Speaker 1: And it feels easy because it's you know, you're just
41:49
Speaker 1: in this in this high pressure bubble at the facility. Um.
41:54
Speaker 1: I wish I may text you a different response later,
41:57
Speaker 1: but off the top of my head, I'll say those four.
42:00
Speaker 1: It is all good. I can't wait to see him
42:01
Speaker 1: and Jimbo Fisher together. I have no idea how this
42:04
Speaker 1: marriage is gonna work. It's been Texas and him. I
42:06
Speaker 1: just but hey, I'm here for it. I cover the
42:09
Speaker 1: sec on a day to day basis. I can't wait.
42:12
Speaker 1: I think it's gonna it's gonna be crazy. I think
42:14
Speaker 1: Jimbo and his uh he has some flamboyant words and
42:18
Speaker 1: he's really hard on quarterbacks. Now he had Bobby Petrino
42:21
Speaker 1: coming in to call the offense. I don't even know,
42:24
Speaker 1: but hey, I'm looking. I'm all for it, honestly, and
42:26
Speaker 1: and A and M's got more money than anyone to
42:29
Speaker 1: bring in skill position players. I said this, Bobby is
42:31
Speaker 1: an incredible offensive mine. He has been humbled to a
42:35
Speaker 1: point of no return over the past ten twelve years,
42:39
Speaker 1: and his relationship with his kids and grandkids now he's different.
42:44
Speaker 1: You know, I've been spoken to him on the phone
42:46
Speaker 1: a little while. His text message is even seen different.
42:49
Speaker 1: He just seems like, like I mean, being humbled can
42:53
Speaker 1: do a lot of things to a person out And
42:55
Speaker 1: I'm excited that he's got a chance because you talk
42:58
Speaker 1: about competitiveness, needing football. This is a dude who needs football.
43:03
Speaker 1: This is what you know. His dad was a coach.
43:05
Speaker 1: He played, and he got right into coaching. It's what
43:07
Speaker 1: he loves to do. And so I'm glad he got
43:10
Speaker 1: another shot on a big stage. It's literally his whole
43:12
Speaker 1: life is what you're telling me. All right now, Eric,
43:15
Speaker 1: last question here fill in the blank right now. My
43:19
Speaker 1: life is fulfilled. I love that every Uh We've heard
43:26
Speaker 1: some different answers. Fulfilled is one that you cannot complain with,
43:31
Speaker 1: uh complain about. And Uh it's really good to hear
43:34
Speaker 1: that from you, especially the way your your career ended. Um,
43:37
Speaker 1: from everything going on in Buffalo right now, you've see
43:40
Speaker 1: him on top of the world, brother, and you're doing
43:42
Speaker 1: some really great things, uh with your businesses, your podcasts,
43:46
Speaker 1: um anything, uh every the TV, and especially in life.
43:50
Speaker 1: And I'm taking things from you, just from this conversation
43:53
Speaker 1: to day, I will start being graded in my house
43:56
Speaker 1: on a weekly basis. So I appreciate you. Eric Wood
43:59
Speaker 1: thank you for joining us. No, my pleasure, Roman, I
44:02
Speaker 1: appreciate you having me on Tell Peanuts, I said, Hi,
44:05
Speaker 1: and uh look forward to just continuing to follow you guys.
44:08
Speaker 1: And I'll tell you what, there's a lot of men
44:10
Speaker 1: out there that have taken that advice about the weekly
44:12
Speaker 1: grades and love it and love it. Sometimes I cringe
44:15
Speaker 1: for the answers, but but they love it. Dude. Hey man,
44:19
Speaker 1: I'm I will only accept my bad grade and get better,
44:22
Speaker 1: all right, no doubt, I love it all right man. Well, look,
44:26
Speaker 1: thank you to all that listeners for tuning in. This
44:28
Speaker 1: is the NFL Players Second Acts Podcast. We'll see you later.
44:33
Speaker 1: Piece