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Perspectives - Tony Boselli · The Jacksonville Jaguars Official Podcast Network

0:03
Speaker 1: The following presentation of the Jaguars Podcast Network is presented
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Speaker 1: by by Star critic Tony Basselli is more than just
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Speaker 1: the first draft choice in franchise history. He's more than
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Speaker 1: just its best player. The massive six ft seven inch
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Speaker 1: offensive tackle owned a blend of size, length, agility, and
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Speaker 1: intellect the revolutionize the way offensive lineman played the game.
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Speaker 1: But Selli represented everything Tom Cofflin wanted in a football
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Speaker 1: player in his football team. He played the game as
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Speaker 1: he were made for it. This is Perspectives, a look
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Speaker 1: back at the first twenty five years of the Jacksonville
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Speaker 1: Jaguars through the eyes of the people who built the
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Speaker 1: NFL's thirtieth franchise from the ground up. This is Tony Boselli.
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Speaker 1: It's no exaggeration to say that Basselli was the personification
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Speaker 1: of the Jaguars. He wouldn't back down on the field
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Speaker 1: or in the locker room. He knew he was more
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Speaker 1: than just an offensive tackle. He was the heartbeat of
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Speaker 1: the jat Wars, a rarity for an offensive lineman. A
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Speaker 1: few years after his career was over, as he wandered
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Speaker 1: through the beginnings of a post football career, Dan white
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Speaker 1: Angie made a life changing decision that actually took them
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Speaker 1: back to where the journey began. It was interesting in
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Speaker 1: ninety five when we came here, you know, we made
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Speaker 1: the decision as a young married couple of Angie and
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Speaker 1: I that we're gonna make Jack's Far home year round.
1:27
Speaker 1: We weren't going to do something where we you know,
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Speaker 1: stayed in the season and then as soon as the
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Speaker 1: season when was over go back to California where she
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Speaker 1: was from, or Colorado where I was from. We kind
1:35
Speaker 1: of made for whatever reason, I can't even remember why. Um,
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Speaker 1: maybe it's because Tom said you couldn't leave in those days.
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Speaker 1: But we even before I knew that offseason was important,
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Speaker 1: we had made that decision. Has something to do with
1:48
Speaker 1: my wife being from the beach. We lived at the beach,
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Speaker 1: so she was happy, and you know, we had the
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Speaker 1: seven years here and then when they put me on
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Speaker 1: the expansion draft and I left, I said, I've never
1:57
Speaker 1: come back because I was upset, in ad in angry
2:01
Speaker 1: and all the different emotions that go into it, and
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Speaker 1: the whole thing with Houston went and how it did
2:05
Speaker 1: and shoulder never had better, and so I retired and
2:08
Speaker 1: I was sitting there, you know, thirty one years old
2:10
Speaker 1: or whatever I was, and had no idea what I
2:12
Speaker 1: was gonna do. And you know, normal emotions that you
2:17
Speaker 1: go through as a player, I think, especially if you
2:19
Speaker 1: get hurt and sooner you're depressed, you're confused everything else.
2:23
Speaker 1: So I did a bunch of different things. We lived
2:24
Speaker 1: in Houston for a while when to Austin was working
2:28
Speaker 1: for sports Ministry, ended up in Nashville, and through those
2:32
Speaker 1: all the different stops, we would visit Jacksonville and comes
2:36
Speaker 1: to friends, the Brunel's and everybody else. And we had
2:38
Speaker 1: our church here that we had kind of been apart
2:40
Speaker 1: from the beginning. And I remember we came back one
2:43
Speaker 1: time after being gone like two and a half years
2:45
Speaker 1: or so, maybe three, and I was like, we were
2:49
Speaker 1: renting a house at Jack's Beach. I'm thinking, what are
2:52
Speaker 1: we doing? And I remember I went back to Nashville
2:56
Speaker 1: and Angie didn't love Nashville, and we had four kids
2:58
Speaker 1: at the time, and one day I walked into the
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Speaker 1: kitchen and said, hey, uh, we're moving back to jackson
3:04
Speaker 1: but what do you think? And she literally had the
3:07
Speaker 1: house packed up for sale sign in one week. We
3:11
Speaker 1: sold the house two days later. It was right before
3:13
Speaker 1: the housing you know crashes, I go five and we
3:16
Speaker 1: packed up a U haul and moved back here. And
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Speaker 1: I think what it was is what I realized, and
3:22
Speaker 1: what Angie realized, is when we came back and visited
3:26
Speaker 1: and I saw people, and it was even just for
3:28
Speaker 1: a weekend or a week at a time that this
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Speaker 1: was home. It actually became more home to us, especially
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Speaker 1: for me, than it was when I went back to
3:37
Speaker 1: Colorado to see my family, or went to California and
3:41
Speaker 1: saw her family or friends and back to SCA for
3:43
Speaker 1: whatever reason. Um, we would come back to Jacksonville a
3:48
Speaker 1: few times we did when we were gone, and this
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Speaker 1: just felt like home. And I said, what are we doing?
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Speaker 1: You know, by that time, the emotions and you kind
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Speaker 1: of realized, as you know, gosh, I feel old down
3:59
Speaker 1: forty seven, uh, you know at thirty one, early thirties,
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Speaker 1: thirty three, whatever, that the business part of football stinks.
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Speaker 1: And what happened wasn't great, but it was business, you know,
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Speaker 1: and you get over it. And Wayne had reached out
4:13
Speaker 1: and you know, and you kind of rebuild those relationships
4:16
Speaker 1: and everything else. And so that I had kind of
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Speaker 1: healed itself as far as for me, and I love Jacksonville.
4:23
Speaker 1: We love the area. It was where our friends were,
4:25
Speaker 1: it was where the church we were part of. It
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Speaker 1: was just the people of Jacksonville. And there was such
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Speaker 1: a history of being a part of that first team
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Speaker 1: that kind of stuck deep at least in me, and
4:37
Speaker 1: there's roots that it connected us here and we moved
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Speaker 1: back and it was the greatest thing ever. And I
4:43
Speaker 1: look back now, I've lived here in Jacksonville with the
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Speaker 1: greater jackson Area prot of Edra longer than I've lived
4:50
Speaker 1: where I grew up in both in Colorado, and so
4:54
Speaker 1: people say all the time where you're from. We were
4:55
Speaker 1: just I was just on a trip with my dad
4:57
Speaker 1: and we're in my family and everyone's they asked, where
5:00
Speaker 1: are you guys from? And they would literally say, we're
5:03
Speaker 1: all from Colorado. He's from Florida, and like he lives
5:07
Speaker 1: in Florida, and so this is my hometown. This is
5:10
Speaker 1: I mean, I grew up in Colorado, went to school
5:12
Speaker 1: in uh in California. But if you asked asked me
5:15
Speaker 1: where my hometown is, it's Jacksonville. I mean, we're Jacksonville people. Um,
5:19
Speaker 1: I hope never to leave. You never know what life brings, Um,
5:23
Speaker 1: but this is uh. It was a special place, and
5:26
Speaker 1: it was confirmed after we left. You don't realize that
5:28
Speaker 1: sometimes in your first year after we left and then
5:30
Speaker 1: we visit. So this is where we want to come
5:32
Speaker 1: back to. The choice to leave Jacksonville wasn't Tony's and
5:36
Speaker 1: he wasn't happy about it. He left hurt and in
5:38
Speaker 1: disbelief everything he worked for and everything he was planning
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Speaker 1: on had suddenly been taken away when he left. Neither he,
5:46
Speaker 1: nor Angie, nor Tom Coughlin or jack War's owner Wayne
5:49
Speaker 1: Lieber could have foreseen his return. So the emotions of
5:54
Speaker 1: leaving here were really tough for me. Um. I remember,
5:59
Speaker 1: you know, I've been the first pick and everything has
6:02
Speaker 1: gone well, and then I got hurt, and so I
6:03
Speaker 1: was going through that two thousand one season started the
6:06
Speaker 1: season and the shoulders work had the surgery and was
6:09
Speaker 1: rehabbing it and trying to get back, and it was
6:11
Speaker 1: a tough rehab. And I remember the season it just ended.
6:15
Speaker 1: It was probably January, so mid mid January, and I
6:18
Speaker 1: remember it's a Saturday morning and at the time we
6:22
Speaker 1: had three kids and they're all little, and we're sitting
6:24
Speaker 1: there and he was actually making breakfast. I remember she
6:26
Speaker 1: was making pancakes. I mean I can literally remember that clearly.
6:30
Speaker 1: And we get a knock on the door and so
6:32
Speaker 1: I gon answer the door and it's uh, it's Coach
6:34
Speaker 1: Coughlin and he had lived across the street, um kind
6:38
Speaker 1: of catecorn from us there in marsh Landing at the time.
6:42
Speaker 1: And he says, hey, can we talk And I'm like, okay,
6:46
Speaker 1: something's not right here. And we sat on my porch,
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Speaker 1: on the stairs of my porch outside the door, and
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Speaker 1: he sat there and he said, hey, listen, UM, this
6:55
Speaker 1: is the hardest thing, really hard for me, but we're
6:57
Speaker 1: gonna put you on the expansion uh list. And I
7:00
Speaker 1: said what He went through the whole cap and all
7:03
Speaker 1: the different things, and you know, who knows it wasn't
7:07
Speaker 1: because maybe it says I was hurt. I mean maybe
7:09
Speaker 1: they knew that. I don't know why, but the reason
7:13
Speaker 1: it was explained was CAP. And so immediately I remember
7:15
Speaker 1: walking in to see my wife and I said, you
7:17
Speaker 1: won't believe this. She was what I said, word leaving Jacksonville.
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Speaker 1: She was, what do you mean? I said, I'm on
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Speaker 1: the expansion list, and she goes, okay, and that started
7:27
Speaker 1: a domino of events. That next thing I know, I'm
7:32
Speaker 1: traveling to Houston back and forth because I get picked
7:37
Speaker 1: and the whole long story that didn't work. I mean,
7:39
Speaker 1: we tried. The shoulder was gone, and that was leading
7:44
Speaker 1: to that emotion kind of exponentially made it worse because
7:47
Speaker 1: now I felt like the place I loved let me go,
7:51
Speaker 1: or let me be picked by the Texans. Texas were
7:54
Speaker 1: great to me, but now my shoulder doesn't work. In
7:57
Speaker 1: there's all these emotions. It's like, did they know something,
8:00
Speaker 1: what happened? Was it a bad surgery, you know? Or
8:03
Speaker 1: was it just one of those things? And I remember
8:05
Speaker 1: going through all those emotions and looked at every option
8:07
Speaker 1: I had, what do I do? And and we went
8:10
Speaker 1: through the series events, bouncing around and and when we
8:13
Speaker 1: were coming back, I got a phone call one day
8:16
Speaker 1: and I almost want to say it was Dan Edwards
8:19
Speaker 1: who called me and said, hey, Wayne wants to talk
8:20
Speaker 1: to you. And so I talked to Wayne and he said, hey,
8:22
Speaker 1: we'd like to for you to come back, and we'd
8:25
Speaker 1: like to retire as a Jaguar, and we'd like to
8:28
Speaker 1: put you on the UH in the stadium. Is the
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Speaker 1: first member of the Pride of the Jaguars and I
8:32
Speaker 1: was like wow. And it was during that time kind
8:37
Speaker 1: of the process of me reconciling what happened, and Angie
8:41
Speaker 1: and I talked and I remember thinking, I said, at
8:43
Speaker 1: some point, I gotta get over this. And this was
8:46
Speaker 1: even before the whole Pride of the Jaguars. I said,
8:48
Speaker 1: I could either be mad forever and look down at
8:52
Speaker 1: the franchise and blame them, or get mad at Tom
8:55
Speaker 1: or Wayne or whoever, or I can say that's kind
8:59
Speaker 1: of how it goes, and be a part of the
9:02
Speaker 1: franchise that I was the first pick of. And I've said,
9:04
Speaker 1: you know what, whatever happened happened. I want to I
9:07
Speaker 1: want to have some connection. And along those lines is
9:09
Speaker 1: when Wayne called uh. And it wasn't exact timing, but
9:13
Speaker 1: kind of all this was happening at the same time.
9:16
Speaker 1: And when that happened, I remember coming back retired as
9:18
Speaker 1: a Jaguar that day and then now it's I'm gonna
9:21
Speaker 1: be putting into the Pride of the Jaguars. And in
9:23
Speaker 1: that time we had started moving back to and I
9:27
Speaker 1: remember the day when I went in we played the
9:30
Speaker 1: New York Jets, and I had the whole family there
9:32
Speaker 1: and you come down and to see them pull the
9:36
Speaker 1: tarp down and my name was up there was a
9:39
Speaker 1: little bit surreal for me, because growing up as a
9:42
Speaker 1: Broncho fan, I remember going to Old Mile High and
9:44
Speaker 1: seeing like the great Broncos that you would whether before
9:48
Speaker 1: I was born, that I had heard about or when
9:49
Speaker 1: I was little watched, And then I saw my name
9:52
Speaker 1: up there, and I was like, man, this is amazing,
9:55
Speaker 1: And boy, I'm glad I didn't hold the grudge and
10:00
Speaker 1: burn a bridge against the franchise that I love it
10:03
Speaker 1: was a part of from the beginning because of of
10:06
Speaker 1: slights or emotional reasons or whatever happened, it happened. It
10:10
Speaker 1: was a business decision that it happened, and I'm glad
10:13
Speaker 1: it didn't let that affect my long term relationship with
10:16
Speaker 1: this franchise because now I sit here today, you know,
10:20
Speaker 1: all these years later and now living here in a
10:22
Speaker 1: part of it, and have been a part of the
10:25
Speaker 1: team till at the end of when the Weavers owned
10:27
Speaker 1: it too. Now with Shot and his family owning at
10:31
Speaker 1: the cons being a part of the franchise, calling games
10:33
Speaker 1: and being just a part of the entire fabric, not
10:37
Speaker 1: just of Jacksonville, but the Jaguar community, it's a family
10:40
Speaker 1: more to me, means so much to me. I mean,
10:42
Speaker 1: it's a big part of my identity that I love.
10:45
Speaker 1: I love being a part of the Jaguars. I love
10:47
Speaker 1: when I called National Games going on the road and
10:50
Speaker 1: people look down defending the Jaguars. I mean, this is
10:52
Speaker 1: part of it. And I think back to the decision
10:55
Speaker 1: by Angie and I made it says we want to
10:57
Speaker 1: be a part of this, and then Wayne allowing me
10:59
Speaker 1: to be the first person, uh in the pride of
11:02
Speaker 1: Jaguars is a huge honor for me. And you know,
11:06
Speaker 1: as long as the stadium's up here and my name's
11:08
Speaker 1: up here, I guess they can't take that away from me.
11:10
Speaker 1: And that's a it's a huge honor. And uh it's
11:12
Speaker 1: fun for me. It's fun of my kids they come
11:14
Speaker 1: to the game and their friends and everything, and uh
11:18
Speaker 1: so it's pretty special. And and for me, being the
11:20
Speaker 1: first pick is I've always taken a lot of pride
11:22
Speaker 1: in that. And I felt the pressure when I was picked,
11:25
Speaker 1: like I want to live up to being that first pick.
11:29
Speaker 1: And I remember when Tom said, you know we're picking
11:31
Speaker 1: needs me the cornerstone and all that stuff, and and
11:34
Speaker 1: everyone joked about that as you're you know, as you're rookie,
11:36
Speaker 1: making funny of you and everything. But that meant something
11:38
Speaker 1: to me. And now to continue to have that legacy
11:42
Speaker 1: with you know, the having the name up there but
11:44
Speaker 1: still be a part of it. Now that uh, where
11:47
Speaker 1: we are as a franchise with the coms onning it
11:49
Speaker 1: and still being a part of it and needs a
11:50
Speaker 1: lot more perspectives following this from BI Start Credit UNI.
11:58
Speaker 1: We believe in are and that means treating people that
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Speaker 1: to approval insured by m c U. A coming home
12:27
Speaker 1: meant to return to the place where some of his
12:29
Speaker 1: best football memories were made more important for Bisselli. Coming
12:33
Speaker 1: back to Jacksonville rejoined him with many of the most
12:36
Speaker 1: important people in his life. I think, as as you
12:39
Speaker 1: look back on and well at least as I look
12:41
Speaker 1: back in my career, obviously the the games and the
12:44
Speaker 1: big moments and competing and walking on the field, you know,
12:48
Speaker 1: or highlights. You know. I always joke people say what
12:51
Speaker 1: do you miss about football? So I missed about I
12:52
Speaker 1: missed game Day and pay Day? Those are really pull
12:54
Speaker 1: two good days if you were here in the NFL.
12:57
Speaker 1: But the thing I and then I, after joking, I
12:59
Speaker 1: s so you know what else I'm this is the
13:00
Speaker 1: locker room, in the relationships that I had in that
13:03
Speaker 1: locker room. And and as I look, you know, at
13:07
Speaker 1: the friendships I have now and that of guys I
13:12
Speaker 1: played with and guys around the league, I mean it's
13:14
Speaker 1: you're in a fraternity that because you played the game
13:17
Speaker 1: of football that you have something common with him. And
13:20
Speaker 1: then there's another level and then you have like your
13:22
Speaker 1: close relationships. And I look at the you know, you know,
13:26
Speaker 1: I think it's pretty much no secret in this community
13:29
Speaker 1: now that you know, Mark and I are very close
13:30
Speaker 1: and we're best friends. And I look back that the
13:34
Speaker 1: first year, I don't think we probably said two words
13:36
Speaker 1: to each other. You know, he was fighting for a
13:39
Speaker 1: job and I was trying to figure out how to
13:41
Speaker 1: play a left tackle in the NFL, and we didn't
13:44
Speaker 1: have a lot of things in common. He had a
13:45
Speaker 1: much deeper faith at that time than I did at
13:48
Speaker 1: that stage of my life. And while we were friendly,
13:51
Speaker 1: we were not friends. And the interesting thing was, it
13:54
Speaker 1: wasn't football, per se the locker room where we became friends.
13:59
Speaker 1: It was our lives. So Angie and Stacy became friends.
14:04
Speaker 1: Angie told me we were going on a vacation with
14:06
Speaker 1: the Brunel's, and I looked and I said, why are
14:10
Speaker 1: we going with them? You know, Mark and I don't
14:12
Speaker 1: really hang out that much. And and she says, we're going.
14:17
Speaker 1: It's great. Stacy's great. I want to go. And if
14:20
Speaker 1: you've been married long enough, you understand happy wife, happy life.
14:22
Speaker 1: And if she says you're going, you're going. And so
14:24
Speaker 1: I said okay, And we went to an island down
14:28
Speaker 1: in the Caribbean, and we had a great time and
14:31
Speaker 1: we really became friends. And through series events, you know,
14:35
Speaker 1: I talked about the church earlier, Um, what's kind of
14:38
Speaker 1: birthed out of a Bible study, we were a part
14:40
Speaker 1: of that. He invited me to him my wife and
14:43
Speaker 1: I engine I went and deep in my faith and
14:46
Speaker 1: really became a became a Christian, and at that point
14:51
Speaker 1: the bond even got closer, and then it just grew.
14:53
Speaker 1: We ended up driving to work every day because we
14:55
Speaker 1: lived in the same neighborhood. We ended up going in vacations,
14:57
Speaker 1: our kids were the same age. We kind of just
14:59
Speaker 1: did lie together as football players and that never stopped
15:05
Speaker 1: and so that relationship has grown where we continue to
15:09
Speaker 1: be really good friends, talk all the time, do do
15:12
Speaker 1: life together. You know, he was the head coach at Episcopal,
15:15
Speaker 1: I was the offensive line coach. Um We yell at
15:18
Speaker 1: each other, we'd make fun of each other, and so
15:21
Speaker 1: it's a special relationship. And then you look at the
15:23
Speaker 1: organization greater. I mean I've mentioned you know, you talk.
15:27
Speaker 1: You can't talk about the Jaguars without talking about Tom Coughlin.
15:30
Speaker 1: I mean, I remember the first time he came out
15:31
Speaker 1: to USC to work me out, and him and Mike
15:35
Speaker 1: Major came and worked me out, and afterwards they said,
15:37
Speaker 1: we want to go to dinner with you. We wanna
15:38
Speaker 1: take you to dinner, and they said bring your girlfriend too.
15:41
Speaker 1: So they must have done the research knowing that she
15:43
Speaker 1: was going to be my wife, and it was non negotiable.
15:46
Speaker 1: It's like, you bring her with you, and it was
15:49
Speaker 1: me him, it was Tom, Mike and uh Rick Reepers,
15:53
Speaker 1: and we're at the dinner and I remember sitting there
15:55
Speaker 1: at dinner with Tom and going through the you know,
15:58
Speaker 1: the whole interview process us and and then playing for
16:02
Speaker 1: them all those years wasn't easy. It wasn't always fun
16:04
Speaker 1: playing for him. He was very difficult to play for,
16:08
Speaker 1: especially those early years, and he you know, he was
16:11
Speaker 1: trying to make a point, and boy did he make it.
16:13
Speaker 1: But you know, I look back at the success we
16:16
Speaker 1: had and a lot of that was, yes, because of
16:17
Speaker 1: the players that he brought in, we were good, but
16:19
Speaker 1: because the coach, the job he did as a coach
16:22
Speaker 1: as a head coach, and his coaching staff, and in
16:24
Speaker 1: that relationship as can do. I mean, they were neighbors.
16:27
Speaker 1: I remember all the time I'd come home, you just
16:30
Speaker 1: so mad and talk bad about Tom, and Angie would
16:34
Speaker 1: stop me and say, how dare you talk about him
16:36
Speaker 1: that way? He's such a nice man. Because I'm like,
16:39
Speaker 1: wait a second, you think he's nice because you see
16:42
Speaker 1: him on the weekends in the offseason. He smiles and
16:44
Speaker 1: asked how you're doing. And because his wife, Judy is
16:47
Speaker 1: a saint, one of the nicest people in the entire world.
16:50
Speaker 1: That doesn't mean he is nice to me, and she
16:53
Speaker 1: would defend him. So I'm fighting here with my wife
16:56
Speaker 1: because of the views we have on the head coach.
17:00
Speaker 1: But that's a special relationship. That's a relationship that will
17:02
Speaker 1: mean a lot to me, Um, because of the position
17:06
Speaker 1: in the place he had in my life as a
17:08
Speaker 1: young football player and as my head coach, and the
17:10
Speaker 1: and that we continue to have. I mean, him being
17:12
Speaker 1: back in Jacksonville and a part of the organization I
17:14
Speaker 1: think is great. Um. It shows the power of what
17:18
Speaker 1: happened here early and for him to come back and
17:21
Speaker 1: have a home here he always did and that would
17:23
Speaker 1: be a part of it again, I think is really special.
17:26
Speaker 1: And so relationships are critical to me. I mean, it's
17:30
Speaker 1: at the end of it. We're all gonna get old,
17:32
Speaker 1: we're all gonna not be able to play football and
17:35
Speaker 1: not be athletic, and all we do have is our relationships.
17:40
Speaker 1: And the memories come from the relationships, in my opinion,
17:43
Speaker 1: because what if you're by yourself, the memories are useless.
17:46
Speaker 1: But when you have relationships that you can look back
17:50
Speaker 1: and laugh. I mean, we will still get together and
17:53
Speaker 1: laugh and tell stories about the old days. I mean,
17:57
Speaker 1: I look at the job I have now here on
17:59
Speaker 1: the radio. I mean, Jeff and I were teammates and
18:04
Speaker 1: you know in logs, and was the older guy, and
18:06
Speaker 1: he was the leader of the team. I was a
18:08
Speaker 1: new guy coming in and I kind of grew and
18:09
Speaker 1: took that position when he left as one of the
18:12
Speaker 1: main leaders of the team. And and now to work
18:14
Speaker 1: with him together, I mean, him and I all the
18:16
Speaker 1: time and laugh and tell stories, and there's a there's
18:20
Speaker 1: a connection because of what we did back when we
18:23
Speaker 1: played here and now we worked together and that's a
18:26
Speaker 1: that's a special relationship, and that's fun. And in my
18:29
Speaker 1: hope is you know, I hope Shot and Mark Lamping
18:33
Speaker 1: viewed the same way as that we do this forever
18:35
Speaker 1: and we're seventy year old guys covering this team, hopefully
18:39
Speaker 1: with a couple of Super Bowls by then telling stories
18:43
Speaker 1: and well everyone listening will be like, oh gosh, here
18:45
Speaker 1: go Jeff and Tony again and the old guys telling
18:47
Speaker 1: stories about the ancient days of and in those times.
18:52
Speaker 1: So the relationships are great, They're very important to me.
18:55
Speaker 1: The memories I have here, Um are built around those
18:59
Speaker 1: relationships ups and uh, you know, my best friend, you know,
19:03
Speaker 1: outside my wife, my best friend is Mark Burnell. And
19:05
Speaker 1: that's because I played football here with the Jaguars. Tony
19:10
Speaker 1: instantly bonded with a slightly disconnected fan base turned off
19:13
Speaker 1: by seasons of losing. He reminded Jaguars fans of the
19:16
Speaker 1: early years now nearly a decade in the rear view mirror.
19:19
Speaker 1: So you know, I looked back in that first year
19:21
Speaker 1: and we're started in Steven's Point and which was just
19:25
Speaker 1: a brutal camp. And I end up on a rainy day,
19:29
Speaker 1: you know, Jeff log, my radio partner, decides that he's
19:31
Speaker 1: gonna be an idiot and bull rush on a rainy day,
19:34
Speaker 1: and my legs slips and my knee gets put in
19:37
Speaker 1: a position I dis Okay, my kneecap knocked some cartilage
19:40
Speaker 1: off and I have to have surgery. And that was
19:44
Speaker 1: tough because the very thing I wanted to do is
19:48
Speaker 1: to prove that they made the right pick. And now
19:50
Speaker 1: in my mind, I felt like, my gosh, I let
19:52
Speaker 1: everyone down, and having to miss the preseason, it was tough.
19:57
Speaker 1: But then when I remember walking on the field for
20:01
Speaker 1: the Houston game and walking out in civilian and just
20:04
Speaker 1: street clothes because I couldn't play. My knee was still
20:08
Speaker 1: and it was as exhilarating as it was to see
20:12
Speaker 1: the crowd, I was as one of the more disappointing
20:14
Speaker 1: times as well. And it was tough because you want
20:16
Speaker 1: to be excited for everyone else and you're you don't
20:19
Speaker 1: want the team to win, obviously, but INDIVIDUAL was like, man,
20:22
Speaker 1: this is not what I was brought here to do.
20:25
Speaker 1: I wasn't brought here as a second pick to sit
20:26
Speaker 1: on the sideline and watch. And so the first couple
20:30
Speaker 1: of weeks were tough. And uh, there was three games.
20:33
Speaker 1: You know, you had Houston and then we had went
20:35
Speaker 1: to the Jets, and then we played Cincinnati, I think
20:39
Speaker 1: or vice verstaid whatever the role was those three games,
20:42
Speaker 1: and and then we had a Sunday night game against
20:45
Speaker 1: Green Bay and my knee was not but I was like,
20:48
Speaker 1: I'm playing and it was good enough. I got cleared,
20:52
Speaker 1: I passed the strength tests and but it was still
20:54
Speaker 1: swelling up a little bit and it wasn't great. And
20:57
Speaker 1: I remember so I practiced that week and I remember
20:59
Speaker 1: Tom coming to and he says, you're not gonna start,
21:01
Speaker 1: and I'm like, what do you mean, I'm not gonna start.
21:03
Speaker 1: He says, we're not gonna start. Jeff Novah's gonna start
21:05
Speaker 1: because Jeff had played left tackle, and you talked about
21:08
Speaker 1: relationships earlier. I mean, Jeff Novak to this day is
21:11
Speaker 1: one of my best friends. I mean, he lives in
21:14
Speaker 1: Texas and we talked about relationships. I mean, Jeff Novak
21:17
Speaker 1: is as close as I am to anybody, and he's
21:20
Speaker 1: the guy I backed up that first start, and we
21:24
Speaker 1: used to joke all the time, and you know, and
21:26
Speaker 1: we still to this day of him being the starting
21:29
Speaker 1: left tackle for the franchise after they picked me. Those
21:32
Speaker 1: first few games and and those are the we talked
21:35
Speaker 1: about memories and relationships. I mean, I can't believe, you know,
21:38
Speaker 1: Jeff is a guy that I think back to that
21:40
Speaker 1: first night. I remember I'm sitting on the sidelines and
21:42
Speaker 1: he's out there and I'm in the I'm all dressed up,
21:46
Speaker 1: I'm ready to go, and Tom says, you're gonna wait
21:48
Speaker 1: two series. I don't know why too, but he decided that.
21:51
Speaker 1: And the whole week leading up to that, I had
21:55
Speaker 1: watched the tape and everything else, and you got Reggie
21:58
Speaker 1: White on one side, I'm like, oh my gosh, this
21:59
Speaker 1: guy is like the greatest ever. And then you know
22:04
Speaker 1: Sean Jones on other side, at the time, you had
22:05
Speaker 1: hundred six sacks, a hunter sack. I I'm thinking, my goodness,
22:10
Speaker 1: I mean, Sunday Night football, hundred sack guy. You know, thankfully,
22:14
Speaker 1: Reggie White's gonna stay on the other side, I have
22:15
Speaker 1: to worry about him. And this is where I have
22:19
Speaker 1: no preseason nothing. Let's find out if you can play
22:22
Speaker 1: or not. Kid. As I'm sitting on the sideline, I'm nervous,
22:24
Speaker 1: and I'm watching Jeff. He's out there and he's doing
22:26
Speaker 1: fine and whatever. And remember three and out, three and out,
22:30
Speaker 1: And so before i know it, they're saying, you're going in,
22:33
Speaker 1: and we get the ball, A jog on the field,
22:37
Speaker 1: and the whole crowd like cheers because they and then
22:42
Speaker 1: this has probably never happened in the history of the NFL.
22:45
Speaker 1: The p A guy goes now entering the game at
22:48
Speaker 1: left tackle, Tony or something like, I mean kidding, I
22:51
Speaker 1: play left tackle, and the whole crowd cheers, and I'm thinking,
22:55
Speaker 1: don't screw this up. And remember the first play, go
23:01
Speaker 1: out there and I'm like Okay, I blocked him, and
23:03
Speaker 1: I blocked him the whole night, and I'm like, at
23:07
Speaker 1: that point, it's funny. I'm like, I can play this game,
23:11
Speaker 1: and I'll be you know, I just knew and early
23:14
Speaker 1: in the game, I knew I could block him, and
23:17
Speaker 1: I remember the funny story about that game. So we
23:19
Speaker 1: were we went. We didn't get a first down at
23:21
Speaker 1: the first half. People, I mean, I was the most
23:23
Speaker 1: crazy and not one. We were three and out, three
23:25
Speaker 1: and out forever. We started getting going a little bit
23:28
Speaker 1: in the second half and made a respectable game, and
23:32
Speaker 1: I was so excited we lost. I'll be honest you
23:34
Speaker 1: I didn't care. I was like, I played, I did
23:37
Speaker 1: halfway decent, I didn't embarrass myself, and I'm now doing
23:41
Speaker 1: what I was brought here to do. Um. And so
23:45
Speaker 1: the next day I showed up to the facility and
23:48
Speaker 1: we lost. So everyone's down, but I'm feeling Okay. We go.
23:53
Speaker 1: We're sitting outside and waiting to go to the team
23:55
Speaker 1: meeting room and you better be there early because everything
23:57
Speaker 1: is the start earlier. And so I'm they were early
23:58
Speaker 1: sitting there and um, Tom walks up and he grabs me.
24:03
Speaker 1: He looks at me says, how do you think he
24:06
Speaker 1: did last night? And I was smart enough at this
24:08
Speaker 1: point and I knew him enough not to say I
24:11
Speaker 1: think I did pretty good. And I said, oh, I
24:13
Speaker 1: think it was okay. And he looked at me and
24:16
Speaker 1: he says, that didn't mean anything. That guy doesn't play
24:19
Speaker 1: every snap and walked off. I'm like, nig can I
24:24
Speaker 1: get a little bit of love Tom, just a little bit?
24:27
Speaker 1: And there was no love coming from Tom. He walked off.
24:30
Speaker 1: You know, the meeting, I sat down and said, okay,
24:33
Speaker 1: And that was kind of the start of that season.
24:36
Speaker 1: And I think it was the next week we went
24:38
Speaker 1: to Houston and we got our first win, and that
24:42
Speaker 1: was awesome. I mean, that was amazing because, you know,
24:46
Speaker 1: it was funny because we had played pretty good. You know,
24:50
Speaker 1: I don't think we really got blown out the Jets
24:53
Speaker 1: game got a little bit away from us at the
24:54
Speaker 1: end of the game. It wasn't like just embarrassing, and
24:57
Speaker 1: but the Carolina Panthers were doing, you know better, and
25:01
Speaker 1: you know, we were kind of fighting and trying to
25:02
Speaker 1: figure it out. And we got that first win and
25:05
Speaker 1: that was awesome. And then the next week we come
25:09
Speaker 1: home and the Steelers are come in to town, and
25:11
Speaker 1: I'm thinking, oh, it's the Pittsburgh Steelers and they're one
25:13
Speaker 1: of the best teams and we beat them. Now all
25:15
Speaker 1: of a sudden, you're kind of thinking, like, we're pretty good.
25:17
Speaker 1: Maybe this isn't that hard to do. Well. Everyone knows.
25:20
Speaker 1: We won one more and then went on a seven
25:21
Speaker 1: game losing the streets. So but that was a It
25:25
Speaker 1: was a long first year, and it was a hard
25:27
Speaker 1: first year for me because of the knee and everything else,
25:30
Speaker 1: and it was probably the most tired of ever been
25:32
Speaker 1: after a football season, just from the draft, all the
25:36
Speaker 1: expectations and injury and one of all the stuff. That
25:40
Speaker 1: was a tough year. Didn't seem much different at first,
25:45
Speaker 1: but by mid November, a different win began to blow
25:48
Speaker 1: and it caught the Jaguars sales pushed them places no
25:51
Speaker 1: one dared to dream of. When the season began. We
25:54
Speaker 1: just started winning close games. We win one close game,
25:57
Speaker 1: another close game, and and I never really thought about
26:02
Speaker 1: the playoffs because we were four and seven, then we
26:04
Speaker 1: were five and seven, six and seven. Get the seven
26:06
Speaker 1: and seven. You're like, okay, we're doing better, and and
26:09
Speaker 1: then I remember, all of a sudden one day like
26:11
Speaker 1: they were like we were in the hunt and I'm like,
26:13
Speaker 1: oh wow, the chance and we got all the way.
26:16
Speaker 1: One of the most memorable games for me was we're
26:18
Speaker 1: playing the Atlanta Falcons. We're terrible. We're like, we're gonna
26:23
Speaker 1: go to the playoffs. All we have to do is
26:24
Speaker 1: beat the Falcons, who stink we're going to the playoffs.
26:28
Speaker 1: And we played bad, and it was they were driving
26:32
Speaker 1: down and it was the worst feeling sitting on the sidelines, helpless,
26:36
Speaker 1: watching our defense not be able to slow down the Falcons.
26:42
Speaker 1: And now we've done nothing offensively the whole day. They
26:44
Speaker 1: played pretty good and then all of a sudden, now
26:46
Speaker 1: they can't and I'm thinking, we're gonna screw this thing up.
26:50
Speaker 1: We're gonna lose to the Falcons and not go to
26:52
Speaker 1: the playoffs. And when Morton Anderson lined up for that
26:56
Speaker 1: kick and like he's I mean, the greatest kickers ever
27:00
Speaker 1: not missing it's like thirty some moon yards, and when
27:03
Speaker 1: he shanked it, I mean, that place erupted. And that
27:07
Speaker 1: if you think about it, for this franchise and for
27:09
Speaker 1: a lot of us individually, me included, that shank kick
27:12
Speaker 1: changed everything because we don't have the run in ninety six,
27:17
Speaker 1: which I think really built our confidence for the years
27:20
Speaker 1: to come. If he doesn't shank it, I don't get
27:23
Speaker 1: to go play against the defensive player of the Year
27:25
Speaker 1: and Bruce Smith and have the game I did if
27:28
Speaker 1: he doesn't shank it, which put my career. I mean
27:32
Speaker 1: I already you know, it was in the Pro Bowl
27:34
Speaker 1: already as it altered it uh that year, but that
27:37
Speaker 1: took me to another stratosphere as far as nationally people
27:40
Speaker 1: are like, wait a second, this guy can play. Um,
27:45
Speaker 1: you know Mark Burnell like went crazy in the playoffs.
27:49
Speaker 1: I mean that kind of launched him to another another,
27:51
Speaker 1: another stratosphere, and that it just kind of kicked everything off.
27:56
Speaker 1: And that game in the Denver game or two games
27:59
Speaker 1: that I'll never forget Buffalo because of who I was
28:02
Speaker 1: playing and the pressure I felt going in the anxiety
28:05
Speaker 1: of thinking I gotta block this guy, and looking back
28:09
Speaker 1: now is a huge compliment. But it wasn't like Gilbride
28:12
Speaker 1: and Major had this great game plan like, hey, we're
28:14
Speaker 1: gonna let's game plan Bruce Smith. It was like the
28:17
Speaker 1: game plan is like Tony, you block him and maybe
28:21
Speaker 1: we'll look over there every once, and we had no
28:23
Speaker 1: slide protections. We had none of that. The night before
28:27
Speaker 1: the game, Kevin Gilbert, I will never forget it we're
28:31
Speaker 1: talking about and he goes at the end of the meeting,
28:33
Speaker 1: I'm like waiting for someone to say, like acknowledge, like
28:36
Speaker 1: this is not easy. And at the end of the
28:39
Speaker 1: meeting says, hey, everyone knows Tony is a tough matchup tomorrow.
28:41
Speaker 1: I'm like, okay, good, thank you. I'm glad we got
28:44
Speaker 1: that out of there on the open and he said, hey,
28:47
Speaker 1: Nate and James, if you get a chance when you're
28:50
Speaker 1: going out for your routes, take a look. That was
28:54
Speaker 1: our game plan. And so I always laugh now and
28:56
Speaker 1: Bruce's oh they had a game plan. They slid, they
28:58
Speaker 1: did all this stuff. I'm like, you should trust me.
29:01
Speaker 1: They didn't, and um, but that game meant so much
29:05
Speaker 1: to me, and you know, it's a longer story of
29:08
Speaker 1: all the emotions and everything that went into it and
29:10
Speaker 1: and and what you the feeling walking in the field
29:14
Speaker 1: knowing what you know, I gotta face him. But the
29:16
Speaker 1: next week was maybe even bigger for me individually, because
29:19
Speaker 1: that was my hometown. I grew up a Bronco fan,
29:21
Speaker 1: I grew up an Alway fan. I grew up going
29:24
Speaker 1: to those games in rooting for them. My entire family
29:27
Speaker 1: still to this day lives in Boulder, Colorado. In that region,
29:31
Speaker 1: I think I had eighty people go to the game,
29:34
Speaker 1: all of them secretly were rooting for the Broncos to win.
29:38
Speaker 1: And when we won that game, and I walked off
29:41
Speaker 1: the field and looked up that corner of just the
29:44
Speaker 1: Jaguar fans and the Bronco fans, heads down, hung walking out,
29:49
Speaker 1: it was one of the greatest feelings in sports I've
29:52
Speaker 1: ever had. And it's just too bad we couldn't finish
29:56
Speaker 1: it off. The next week. We should have you know,
29:58
Speaker 1: a team that we very should you should have beat.
30:01
Speaker 1: We probably no business beating the Broncos as good as
30:03
Speaker 1: they were, but we did. Um, we couldn't finish it off.
30:08
Speaker 1: But that was those games back then. We're we're amazing
30:13
Speaker 1: and it was amazing. It was amazing run and I
30:15
Speaker 1: look at there's so many other big games. That fourteen
30:17
Speaker 1: and two season was bitter sweet for me because I
30:20
Speaker 1: thought we were a team to go to the Super Bowl,
30:22
Speaker 1: were one of the best teams in the NFL. I
30:23
Speaker 1: blow my knee out and the game that we had
30:27
Speaker 1: was over before we're going to the playoffs. I could
30:29
Speaker 1: I missed that playoff run. So those are bitter sweet moments.
30:32
Speaker 1: But man, the memories of those games and the emotions
30:37
Speaker 1: that going to them ups and down. Um, if those
30:42
Speaker 1: are simp with you forever. More perspectives following this from
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31:17
Speaker 1: by n c u A. These days, the man once
31:21
Speaker 1: touted as a future Hall of Famer, he's still on
31:24
Speaker 1: the outside looking in, something that frustrates the jag Wars
31:27
Speaker 1: and their fans, But not Beselli. He's grateful that all
31:30
Speaker 1: of us care about who he was as a player
31:33
Speaker 1: and who he has become as a favorite son of
31:36
Speaker 1: the First Coast. It's humbling, and the Hall of Fame
31:40
Speaker 1: will will truly be the highest individual honor I can
31:44
Speaker 1: have as a as a football player, not as a person.
31:46
Speaker 1: I mean my faith and my family, I mean those
31:49
Speaker 1: greatly out way the Hall of Fame, but as a professional,
31:52
Speaker 1: there's nothing higher. And it's an elite of the elite
31:57
Speaker 1: of the elites of football players. And so for me
32:00
Speaker 1: individually would mean the world. I can't even describe what
32:04
Speaker 1: it would mean. But I'll tell you what makes it
32:07
Speaker 1: even more special for me and why. There's it's not desperation,
32:14
Speaker 1: but a desire, like a desire more than I ever
32:17
Speaker 1: would have thought like there was I always I mean
32:19
Speaker 1: obviously I always knew would be a big honor, but
32:22
Speaker 1: being a finalist of the last three years, what it's
32:24
Speaker 1: revealed to me one of the desires for me is
32:27
Speaker 1: I want to represent this organization and this fan base
32:32
Speaker 1: because I know it's important to them as well, and
32:36
Speaker 1: for them to care that much means a ton to
32:38
Speaker 1: me and to hear fans. I mean just just the
32:43
Speaker 1: other day, literally like two days ago, I was walking
32:45
Speaker 1: to the airport and they said, it's some guy that
32:47
Speaker 1: it happens all the time. A fan walks up to
32:49
Speaker 1: me says, you are getting in and you deserve to
32:51
Speaker 1: be in, and I'm like, I appreciate it. You don't
32:55
Speaker 1: even know what to say. The support from the organization,
32:58
Speaker 1: everyone from shot Kom to Marko Amping all the way
33:00
Speaker 1: down Tom Coughlin, I mean, everything that they've done amazing.
33:05
Speaker 1: Um My teammates that I played with, I mean, my favorite.
33:09
Speaker 1: I mean I talked earlier about Jeff Novak, one of
33:11
Speaker 1: my best friends in the world, like watching him on Twitter,
33:16
Speaker 1: like go after people on my behalf or after I
33:20
Speaker 1: didn't get in, like just just going after the voters.
33:23
Speaker 1: I'm like, I'm not sure this is helping me, but
33:25
Speaker 1: it's like it always feels better when some other people
33:29
Speaker 1: are fighting for you or you know, because I get like, listen,
33:33
Speaker 1: my position has always been and it was. Hopefully one
33:36
Speaker 1: day it won't be this way because I get in.
33:39
Speaker 1: But the guys who all get in deserve it. They're
33:41
Speaker 1: great players, and so I'll never talk poorly about anyone
33:44
Speaker 1: who gets in when I haven't. But to have other
33:46
Speaker 1: people like beat the drum, I mean, Mike Mazer wrote
33:49
Speaker 1: a letter to Peter King that Peter King published in
33:52
Speaker 1: Is call him. I mean that, I mean, come on,
33:57
Speaker 1: I mean, that's when you're it's like you know that
33:59
Speaker 1: not only are you love, but they care. People care. Um.
34:04
Speaker 1: I mean Mark Brunell, who was his was in the
34:07
Speaker 1: room with me this year, uh, with my family and
34:11
Speaker 1: everything else and him and his wife's stays. We were
34:13
Speaker 1: there and one other couple of close friends, Dan Edwards
34:15
Speaker 1: and Pee Cab and some of the guys here were
34:17
Speaker 1: filming it. But Mark was in there, and he was
34:22
Speaker 1: more nervous than I was, and he made me more
34:24
Speaker 1: nervous because he kept talking and laughing. And I finally
34:27
Speaker 1: just sat off to the side waiting, because you sit
34:29
Speaker 1: there and wait, it's likely am I getting in or not?
34:32
Speaker 1: At the very end, it's like I'm gonna know in
34:34
Speaker 1: the next ten minutes, and you just cut the you know,
34:37
Speaker 1: you can feel the tension. And so I get the
34:41
Speaker 1: phone call and just to give everyone, you know, if
34:43
Speaker 1: you get a knock on the door, you're in. If
34:45
Speaker 1: you get a phone call, you're out. And the phone
34:48
Speaker 1: rings in it's Dave Baker, the President Hall of Fame.
34:50
Speaker 1: Tell me. He said, hey, listen, Tony, you're close. You
34:52
Speaker 1: didn't make it though, whatever, And and I look over
34:58
Speaker 1: and you know, my wife's emotional. You know, everyone's upset,
35:03
Speaker 1: and I look at Mark and he is emotional, he's upset,
35:08
Speaker 1: like he's like hurt for me in that And I
35:12
Speaker 1: remember sitting there looking at him and I said Number one,
35:16
Speaker 1: me like, thank you Jesus that I have people who
35:20
Speaker 1: care that much about me and I have friends like that,
35:24
Speaker 1: because it almost made it easier for me, because as
35:28
Speaker 1: you look at the big picture of life, yes, I
35:31
Speaker 1: want to be in the Hall of Fame, it would
35:33
Speaker 1: be huge, but the relationships that I've developed in this game,
35:39
Speaker 1: and because through this organization that are that strong trumpet
35:45
Speaker 1: a little bit over like, it's like it's bigger, it's
35:48
Speaker 1: more impactful, it's more important. And so to see that
35:52
Speaker 1: I gave you gave me a perspective. I was still upset.
35:55
Speaker 1: Trust me, for about two hours. You didn't want to
35:57
Speaker 1: be around me because they's something. She's like, keep your
36:00
Speaker 1: mouth shut for the next two hours. You're not allowed
36:02
Speaker 1: to talk because you're gonna say something. And but it
36:06
Speaker 1: helped me because I saw a friend there, and I
36:09
Speaker 1: got phone calls from people and text messages saying this
36:13
Speaker 1: is you know, they're being mad, this is ridiculous. You
36:16
Speaker 1: deserve and all the nice things to the dinner I
36:19
Speaker 1: had with you know, the team afterwards that they planned
36:22
Speaker 1: with Seoan and Mark and and all the guys, Paul Harden,
36:26
Speaker 1: all these people that have always supported me from the beginning,
36:29
Speaker 1: some from the beginning of some sence over the last
36:31
Speaker 1: number of years being there and being supportive. I mean,
36:35
Speaker 1: come on, I mean that is so good. I mean,
36:37
Speaker 1: that's the true richness of life. I mean that you
36:41
Speaker 1: can't trade for anything and for me, And it's one
36:46
Speaker 1: of the things that you know, not to get on
36:48
Speaker 1: a soapbox when I hear people bad mouth the game
36:51
Speaker 1: of football, and because of whether it's concussions or this
36:56
Speaker 1: or whatever reason you want, a bad mouth football, it's
36:59
Speaker 1: like the it's like the thing that it seems popular.
37:02
Speaker 1: At times, I get upset because I look at my
37:05
Speaker 1: life and what football has done for me and the
37:09
Speaker 1: ability to play in the NFL to be a part
37:11
Speaker 1: of this organization. The richness nothing to do with money.
37:14
Speaker 1: Everyone says we are You're oh yeah, because you get
37:16
Speaker 1: paid a lot. No, No No, trust me, that's nice. That's
37:19
Speaker 1: what I'm talking about, the richness of the relationships, the
37:22
Speaker 1: memories and the connections that I have because of the
37:26
Speaker 1: game of football. In This organization is what true richness
37:31
Speaker 1: and well just wealth of life is all about. And
37:36
Speaker 1: it's because in because in April, I'm sitting in New
37:42
Speaker 1: York and Tom Coughlan called the commissioner or however it
37:45
Speaker 1: worked and says, we're picking Tony Baselli. The rest has
37:49
Speaker 1: played out and the rest has happened, and I thank
37:53
Speaker 1: god all the time. I thank god that I didn't
37:57
Speaker 1: leave early, because people say all the time, would you
38:00
Speaker 1: rather have played for the Giants? Here? There's time that
38:03
Speaker 1: someone said this third day, says, if you had to
38:05
Speaker 1: play for the Giants, where the Cowboys or the Packers
38:08
Speaker 1: or some of these franchises, even though you had a
38:11
Speaker 1: short correct that, you'd already be in the Hall of Fame,
38:13
Speaker 1: don't you. Or you'd have being a big market, maybe
38:16
Speaker 1: you'd be you know, doing national games or doing X,
38:19
Speaker 1: Y or Z. And I said, yeah, maybe, but I
38:23
Speaker 1: wouldn't trade it for being a part of the Jacksonville
38:24
Speaker 1: Jaguars and living in this community. Tony understands how fortunate
38:28
Speaker 1: he is and how incredible his football story has been.
38:31
Speaker 1: He's clearly happy with how things have turned out and
38:34
Speaker 1: hopeful for where the road before him will lead. He
38:37
Speaker 1: has no regrets, you know, it's it's such a big
38:40
Speaker 1: part of who I am. You know, football has always
38:42
Speaker 1: been a passion of mine, and there was always a
38:45
Speaker 1: huge identity with that um, whether it was growing up
38:48
Speaker 1: and when the USC which I close to and love
38:51
Speaker 1: as university and being the UH to be a associated
38:55
Speaker 1: with the University Southern California football program. But then this
38:59
Speaker 1: is UH. I don't want to say it's a yeah,
39:02
Speaker 1: it probably does surpasses it for me because of the
39:04
Speaker 1: length of that I've been a part of it. And
39:07
Speaker 1: when I walked in after being drafted, I remember we
39:10
Speaker 1: flew down here and Angie and I walked into the
39:12
Speaker 1: what the team meeting room is now the press conference
39:14
Speaker 1: to be introduced, and I was a twenty three year
39:18
Speaker 1: old kid, um was about UH too much from being
39:23
Speaker 1: married and had no clue. And all I remember back
39:27
Speaker 1: then is like that, I want to prove to this organization,
39:31
Speaker 1: to Tom Conflin and to all these fans that they
39:34
Speaker 1: made the right choice. Like that was all I cared about,
39:37
Speaker 1: and not off the field as a football player. I
39:39
Speaker 1: wanted to be really good and and I had no illusions,
39:46
Speaker 1: or it's not an illusion, but those thoughts of what
39:48
Speaker 1: this could become as far as the role I have
39:51
Speaker 1: now and it's been to become even a bigger part
39:54
Speaker 1: of my um life. And so to say, like now
39:58
Speaker 1: you're an ambassador. I would never thought of that, because
40:00
Speaker 1: that's never crossed my mind. But it's something that I
40:04
Speaker 1: loved playing. If there was a pill to take right
40:06
Speaker 1: now that I could go play this game again, I
40:08
Speaker 1: do it right now. You know you're here today all
40:11
Speaker 1: the time you guys like saying, oh football is too hard.
40:13
Speaker 1: You know, I would want my kids a player, or
40:15
Speaker 1: you know, maybe regretting playing the game because of an
40:18
Speaker 1: impact on the body and everything else. I'm the opposite.
40:21
Speaker 1: I'm like, sign me up, because that's how much I
40:23
Speaker 1: loved it and playing for this team. I mean, what
40:26
Speaker 1: a good life, what a blessed life.