Latest / The Irish Steelers Podcast / Calvin Austin reflects on his trip to Ireland and the preseason

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Calvin Austin reflects on his trip to Ireland and the preseason · The Irish Steelers Podcast

• 0:07
  Speaker 1: Everyone, Welcome into the Irish Staters podcast. Michael McQuaid here
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: spash a little episode that will Friday drop for a
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: podcast as we get ready for the Staters final preseason
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: game of twenty twenty four. Delighted to welcome a guy
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: that we had a chance to meet. I had a
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: chance to meet him in Balfast a few months ago.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: Staters wide receiver Calvin Austin the third. Calvin, good to
• 0:29
  Speaker 1: see you again, man, Hidian.
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: I'm doing great, good, good. Good to hear good to
• 0:33
  Speaker 2: hear your voice again. I'm kind of jealous. I kind
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: of want to be I want to be back over there,
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: but we were putting in some good work over here.
• 0:41
  Speaker 1: You have just a god of practice for people listening
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: to this podcast on a Friday. Has it really rammed
• 0:47
  Speaker 1: up a year and I after training camp on the
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: trope and weeks out now from the start of the
• 0:51
  Speaker 1: season month.
• 0:52
  Speaker 2: Yeah, So today it's gonnasider our cause this is like
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: our mark week before we're.
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: Getting ready for the season.
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: So to day is kind of it's not Friday, but
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: it's considered our fast Friday. You know, a couple of
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: days before the game. You know, practice is earlier. It
• 1:08
  Speaker 2: is earlier in the day, get out there, get get
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: get some good work in, get off the field.
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: So you know, coming from Latrow, we put in.
• 1:18
  Speaker 2: Some great work there and so you know, being back
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: at being back at the facility here in Southside really,
• 1:24
  Speaker 2: you know, starts to make your mind is like okay,
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: you know the seasons here like hey look and like
• 1:29
  Speaker 2: like you said, everything definitely starts to ramp bub song.
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: I'm gonna talk to you just before we talk about
• 1:35
  Speaker 1: the preseason steps ahead, let's talk about your time in
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: Ireland over the summer. You're on the island of Island
• 1:40
  Speaker 1: with North of Ireland on the Republic. I'm gonna start
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: because we'll try and go in different steps. So you
• 1:44
  Speaker 1: got into Dublin and I remember you guys had a
• 1:47
  Speaker 1: little tour runs. How did you find Dublin NECESSII And
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: I believe it was your first time going abroad.
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: Yeah it was. It was great. And like you said,
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: it was my first time going abroad.
• 1:58
  Speaker 2: So I always just you know, had a very open
• 2:02
  Speaker 2: mind and just was like was ready to learn. So
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  Speaker 2: that first day having a tour really was pretty cool,
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: just because they get to just go out and see
• 2:13
  Speaker 2: see see Dublin see the city, see see some good sites,
• 2:17
  Speaker 2: you know, take some good food. And that's the one
• 2:21
  Speaker 2: thing I felt like they stood out to me was
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: like the food was really good and the people were
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: very welcoming. So that that that that that first day
• 2:28
  Speaker 2: getting that tour was great.
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: You've all right answers, our food is really really good
• 2:32
  Speaker 1: month and if we go from that first day, I
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: remember because it's you know, as somebody that loves football,
• 2:39
  Speaker 1: you go from watching the Super Bowl or being out
• 2:41
  Speaker 1: of the game and vibrates. Really when you're outside of
• 2:44
  Speaker 1: the United States, Calvin, it does go quiet. And this
• 2:47
  Speaker 1: is why it's so great to see the sedars hop
• 2:49
  Speaker 1: these and have these initiatives you know around them. Saturday
• 2:53
  Speaker 1: in Gune, I rock up with a forty minutes off
• 2:55
  Speaker 1: the road to Bellfast and you guys have the chance
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: to steal up the road, up the m one you
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: Pasnuri the runice on Sastral homeland. And if we talk
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: about Balfos, first you go to the Balfos Trojan Facility
• 3:07
  Speaker 1: and you get to work with young kids and we
• 3:10
  Speaker 1: also had a chance to shot to you as well.
• 3:12
  Speaker 1: For me, it was a really memorable day. But I
• 3:14
  Speaker 1: think I seen even from watching you guys in the
• 3:16
  Speaker 1: sideline that seemed to really at home of how cool
• 3:19
  Speaker 1: it was.
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it was extremely cool. And I don't know if
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: you saw me on the sideline because I played a
• 3:26
  Speaker 2: couple of games, you know what I'm saying. So it
• 3:29
  Speaker 2: was definitely cool just to see the youth and their energy.
• 3:34
  Speaker 2: They're just and what was surprising to me was, you know,
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: I had a couple of kids come up to me
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: and was like, hey, I play I played with you
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: on I play with you on Madden and stuff like that.
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  Speaker 3: Was that kind of put things in perspective for me
• 3:46
  Speaker 3: because I'm.
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: Like, we're all the way in Ireland, you know, like
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: it it's crazy, just like the reach we have. But yeah,
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  Speaker 2: that day was that day was amazing. There's a lot
• 3:57
  Speaker 2: of talented kids. One of their things that they were
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: really strong getting was their kicking game, you know, so
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  Speaker 2: I was joking with them. I was like, man, y'all,
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: y'all may have to show me some tips there. But
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: it was definitely a different experience for me as well,
• 4:11
  Speaker 2: just you know, obviously being in the United States, where
• 4:15
  Speaker 2: you know, it's kind of like a football country almost
• 4:19
  Speaker 2: and going up there to Ireland, but just seeing just
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: like when I would, for instance, tell the kids how
• 4:24
  Speaker 2: to run a slant or how to run an out route,
• 4:28
  Speaker 2: seeing how receptive they were to learning. And then I
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: remember one day I started getting towards the end, I
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: started getting a little hype because I told one kid
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  Speaker 2: to Okay, let's go run a slant, but give him
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  Speaker 2: a one two double up at the top.
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  Speaker 3: He went, boom, boom, did it.
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  Speaker 2: And I was just hyped because I'm like, man, you
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: don't know how impressive that that is. Like that was
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: extremely clean, you know, So just having that experience, being
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: able to teach them play with them was something I'll
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  Speaker 2: never forget.
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  Speaker 4: That's really awesome.
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  Speaker 1: I get the kids are like sponges, and the kicking
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: games really getting big right here. I know the Staders
• 5:04
  Speaker 1: have done stuff with a guy called Tiger Leader. And
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: you actually played that day on what is typically a
• 5:09
  Speaker 1: rugby pitch, which is pretty cool as well. So you
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: go down down the road against Dublin for people maybe
• 5:15
  Speaker 1: listening to this outside of Ireland, round the two hour drive.
• 5:18
  Speaker 4: The next day you get in the car three and
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  Speaker 4: a half our drive to Cork.
• 5:21
  Speaker 1: Now, I know, you guys in the States these long
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: drives like you're used to it. When I heard you
• 5:26
  Speaker 1: were doing, I was like, oh my god, this is
• 5:28
  Speaker 1: a lot of traveling. How did you find Cork? Because
• 5:30
  Speaker 1: I have to say when you were in Belfast, the
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: people that the guys involved at the local team, the Trojans,
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: are brilliant. Shout out to them and the guys at
• 5:38
  Speaker 1: the at the Cork Admirals Allen as well the head
• 5:41
  Speaker 1: coach there.
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  Speaker 4: Lovely people. I have a lot of time for both
• 5:44
  Speaker 4: of them.
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  Speaker 1: And MTU Stadium, that stadium that you guys were in
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  Speaker 1: in Cork is where the Shamrock Bowl happened armed Super
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: Bowl last year.
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  Speaker 4: How did you find it? It looked like a really cool day.
• 5:54
  Speaker 3: Oh yeah, that's definitely one thing.
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  Speaker 2: It was just driving there was great too, just to
• 5:59
  Speaker 2: see the sights, the pasture lands and everything that was
• 6:03
  Speaker 2: that was really neat to see.
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  Speaker 3: And the weather there and with the stadium, everything was
• 6:08
  Speaker 3: just like wonderful. And that's why I said.
• 6:11
  Speaker 2: I learned from some of the kids there that they
• 6:12
  Speaker 2: were saying that because the weather is usually like that
• 6:16
  Speaker 2: pretty much year round. They was like, they don't have
• 6:19
  Speaker 2: any air conditioners inside, So I one, that's one thing
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  Speaker 2: I learned from being over there because they was like
• 6:25
  Speaker 2: you can just you know, like keep your door open,
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: let your window down, and that's kind of cool, is it.
• 6:29
  Speaker 2: But that that that that one was great too. Really
• 6:33
  Speaker 2: got to connect with the coaches over there. It was
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: a I would say it was more of a younger
• 6:39
  Speaker 2: crowd crowd over there, but still just the same the
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: wanting to learn there when when they were playing, they
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: were intense and stuff, and it was always cool to
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: you know, like I said, learn from them because after
• 6:54
  Speaker 2: they was score, you know, I'm thinking, you know, run
• 6:57
  Speaker 2: and celebrating stuff, and there you know, they was school
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  Speaker 2: and place the ball down, you know, because that's how
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  Speaker 2: they do it and.
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  Speaker 3: Do it in rugby.
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  Speaker 2: So it was just kind of neat seeing the different
• 7:07
  Speaker 2: nuances of both the games. But one thing I will
• 7:11
  Speaker 2: say is and I also learned just from being out there,
• 7:14
  Speaker 2: was how much bigger the pitches for rugby than the
• 7:18
  Speaker 2: field is for for for football.
• 7:20
  Speaker 3: You know, it's a much wider field out there.
• 7:22
  Speaker 2: So it was definitely just good driving there, meeting the
• 7:26
  Speaker 2: people and coaching up the kids.
• 7:30
  Speaker 1: I love the hear its and just before we like
• 7:32
  Speaker 1: it was really honestly it was a really memorable weekend
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: and you can see that, and I hope it meant
• 7:36
  Speaker 1: I could see it meant so much to you guys,
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: but I hope you realize just the impact of dolls
• 7:41
  Speaker 1: make and for those kids, they'll never forget that.
• 7:43
  Speaker 4: You know.
• 7:43
  Speaker 1: I have a couple of those T shirts in the
• 7:44
  Speaker 1: heighstn I love them back in that in positive, positive fashion.
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  Speaker 1: And before we talk about the first two games of
• 7:51
  Speaker 1: the preseason, how did you find comp in the Trope
• 7:54
  Speaker 1: Because it's always one of those traditional football camps. It's real,
• 7:57
  Speaker 1: you know, die hard football. I'm all right in the
• 8:01
  Speaker 1: Troupe where so many people turn up and you always
• 8:04
  Speaker 1: see so many funds, but obviously a lot has changed
• 8:07
  Speaker 1: on the roster esnatch in the offense.
• 8:09
  Speaker 4: How did you find the first few weeks of come?
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: It was great.
• 8:13
  Speaker 2: You know, this is going into my third that was
• 8:15
  Speaker 2: my just completing my third year being in Latrope, so
• 8:19
  Speaker 2: you know, I kind of knew what to expect very much,
• 8:22
  Speaker 2: so this time around it was just great, you know,
• 8:25
  Speaker 2: to because when you're in the trop we are what
• 8:28
  Speaker 2: like an hour and fifteenth from the city, so it's
• 8:32
  Speaker 2: not a lot up there, but it's us and our fans,
• 8:37
  Speaker 2: you know, So being with the team, that's kind of
• 8:40
  Speaker 2: where you get those moments.
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: Being in camp, since you're all at one place, you.
• 8:44
  Speaker 2: Know, you get those kind of you know, side conversations,
• 8:48
  Speaker 2: you know after meetings.
• 8:50
  Speaker 3: You know, guys are playing card games, playing board.
• 8:53
  Speaker 2: Games, playing the video games, you know, and that's where
• 8:55
  Speaker 2: I feel like you kind of get that true like
• 8:58
  Speaker 2: team come roader and you know, team building the atmosphere
• 9:02
  Speaker 2: because it's not like guys are going back to their
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: houses their separate places.
• 9:06
  Speaker 3: No.
• 9:06
  Speaker 2: I mean, once practice everything's over, we're all still right here.
• 9:09
  Speaker 2: So it allows us to kind of you know, build
• 9:12
  Speaker 2: a bond off the field that will help on the field.
• 9:15
  Speaker 2: And like you said, we have a many new faces,
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: so that does allow for you to get those you know,
• 9:21
  Speaker 2: little conversations in the locker room and you know just
• 9:25
  Speaker 2: just in.
• 9:25
  Speaker 3: Passing at lunch and stuff like that.
• 9:27
  Speaker 2: So for this team, since there are so many new faces,
• 9:30
  Speaker 2: that was very helpful. And you know, I tell people
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: all the time, like I wouldn't want to do camp
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: any other place just because this is what makes this
• 9:41
  Speaker 2: team special and unique into display special and unique because
• 9:45
  Speaker 2: we still do things, you know, pretty traditional and I mean,
• 9:50
  Speaker 2: I'm in the room right now, right in front of
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: me are the Lombardes and so you so once you
• 9:56
  Speaker 2: kind of realize that, man, they've been going to latroll
• 9:58
  Speaker 2: for almost fifty plus years and the history behind it
• 10:01
  Speaker 2: and the why behind it, you kind of start saying like, yeah,
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: all of this is like something is for something bigger
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: than me and it and it really puts things in perspective.
• 10:12
  Speaker 1: Absolutely you're you're talking about compter, how was the shared
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: shared trans sasions of the Bells that did you enjoy
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: it out? Because I know we can talk with preseason
• 10:21
  Speaker 1: and what's the coming in the future years, but if
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: it seems like we're gonna see more shared practices that
• 10:26
  Speaker 1: could be interesting to see as fonds. How did you
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: as a player find out when you guys coming into
• 10:31
  Speaker 1: Pittsburgh for example, it.
• 10:33
  Speaker 2: Was cool and I think some of the some guys
• 10:35
  Speaker 2: who came from other places have done joint practices from
• 10:38
  Speaker 2: where they are, so it was it was good and
• 10:43
  Speaker 2: you know, just it's good just to be going against
• 10:46
  Speaker 2: somebody new and different. I will say this though, it's
• 10:49
  Speaker 2: kind of crazy because our practices just against each other
• 10:54
  Speaker 2: are like it's so extremely competitive.
• 10:56
  Speaker 3: And high high energy.
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: That it was really almost it's hard to say, it
• 11:04
  Speaker 2: was almost less intense than our normal practices, Like we're
• 11:07
  Speaker 2: so competitive with each other and everything like that that
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: when we go into even games and stuff like that's
• 11:13
  Speaker 2: the easy part for us just because of how much
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: work and intensity we put it into practice.
• 11:18
  Speaker 3: So it was definitely good to just you know, go
• 11:21
  Speaker 3: against other guys, go against.
• 11:23
  Speaker 2: You know, somebody you may see down the line in
• 11:25
  Speaker 2: the playoffs hopefully.
• 11:27
  Speaker 3: So it was definitely a cool experience.
• 11:32
  Speaker 1: I'm not sure if you know, but the preseason games
• 11:34
  Speaker 1: are on TV, and alum was just really really cool.
• 11:37
  Speaker 1: Can you talk just about how you find you know,
• 11:39
  Speaker 1: the preseason so far, your experience I had of the
• 11:41
  Speaker 1: last game which is on a Vision Media to tomorrow
• 11:44
  Speaker 1: against the Detroit Lions.
• 11:46
  Speaker 3: I found it great. You know, preseason is where you
• 11:49
  Speaker 3: kind of.
• 11:51
  Speaker 2: You know, you practice things and you know, obviously you
• 11:54
  Speaker 2: want to take that into the game, and you know,
• 11:56
  Speaker 2: preseason is where you kind of define and everything. You know,
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: use the preseason games to clean up things, get different looks,
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: get different people in different scenarios, and you know you
• 12:08
  Speaker 2: should just try to really work out all those kinks
• 12:11
  Speaker 2: to where once the season is here, in that first game.
• 12:14
  Speaker 3: Is you're you're we're hitting it running.
• 12:16
  Speaker 2: You know, it's not no slow progression because you know
• 12:19
  Speaker 2: in the NFL, every single game matters. It's you know,
• 12:23
  Speaker 2: one game could you could look back and when you
• 12:25
  Speaker 2: get to the end and be like, man, this one game,
• 12:28
  Speaker 2: you know it costs us this spot or dispositioning. So
• 12:31
  Speaker 2: you know, preseasons where you just want to come together
• 12:34
  Speaker 2: and just like I said, knock out all those small.
• 12:37
  Speaker 3: Little detailed things.
• 12:38
  Speaker 2: And it's been going great. We've obviously had some struggles
• 12:43
  Speaker 2: on the offensive end, but you know, we got a
• 12:46
  Speaker 2: group that's just it's about responding well in detailing things up,
• 12:53
  Speaker 2: and that's what we've been really pounding this week is
• 12:57
  Speaker 2: the small things, details and those little things that can
• 13:02
  Speaker 2: you know, cost you.
• 13:05
  Speaker 1: Brendand someone genuinely and as fans, you're getting really excited,
• 13:09
  Speaker 1: I think, to feel a lot closer to the team
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: seeing these games on local television here as we get
• 13:14
  Speaker 1: into this last game this weekend, just finally, can can
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: you talk to us about how you're finding Jalin with
• 13:18
  Speaker 1: a new offense with Ross with Justin, how are you finding.
• 13:21
  Speaker 3: That it's going really well? You know everybody.
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: Obviously the games are the only thing that matters, you know,
• 13:30
  Speaker 2: and in the big scheme of things, but obviously it's
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: it is preseason, so you know, like I said, since
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: we have struggled a little on the offensive and these
• 13:39
  Speaker 2: past two games, there's.
• 13:41
  Speaker 3: Been a lot of this and debt and hearsay.
• 13:44
  Speaker 2: But when we practice and we go out there with
• 13:47
  Speaker 2: them every single day, you know, we have full confidence
• 13:51
  Speaker 2: and trust just because we know of what we are
• 13:53
  Speaker 2: capable of. We know what we do at practice, we
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: know the work that we put in, We we know
• 13:57
  Speaker 2: how much conversation we have have about you know, little
• 14:01
  Speaker 2: small details, and those things are the ones that are going.
• 14:06
  Speaker 3: To pay dividend when when it matters.
• 14:08
  Speaker 2: And you know, obviously having a guy like Russ who's
• 14:11
  Speaker 2: been to the pinnacle, who's who's who's won a super Bowl,
• 14:16
  Speaker 2: you know it, he's gonna continue to be on the
• 14:20
  Speaker 2: chase a perspective of you know, you can't just be
• 14:23
  Speaker 2: looking at things for right now, right this minute. You
• 14:26
  Speaker 2: got to put everything in perspective and know that Okay,
• 14:29
  Speaker 2: yeah maybe.
• 14:30
  Speaker 3: I'm doing we're doing.
• 14:31
  Speaker 2: This same play and yeah, just the same play, but no,
• 14:34
  Speaker 2: this play could be the one that we call in
• 14:36
  Speaker 2: the Super Bowl to win the game. So every single
• 14:39
  Speaker 2: play gotta be detail. But every single play is the
• 14:43
  Speaker 2: life of his own. But it's into the it's in
• 14:45
  Speaker 2: the big scheme of things. So it's a lot that
• 14:47
  Speaker 2: goes into it. But you know, Russ, justin cal all
• 14:52
  Speaker 2: QBS carried that mindset of growth and winning.
• 14:55
  Speaker 3: And when once you have that, you know, and you.
• 14:57
  Speaker 2: Have the guys are around them, the guy in the
• 15:00
  Speaker 2: fever room, guys up running the.
• 15:01
  Speaker 3: Old line, tinians running back.
• 15:04
  Speaker 2: Once you have that collective that is both into that
• 15:07
  Speaker 2: same goal, you know it's gonna be We're gonna.
• 15:09
  Speaker 3: Be a hard team to beat.
• 15:12
  Speaker 4: Yeah.
• 15:12
  Speaker 1: Look, it sounds like the vibe is just so positive
• 15:15
  Speaker 1: to the man and as a fan, as somebody that
• 15:18
  Speaker 1: enjoys watching this team, and it just sounds so good
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: to hear. Man. Look, the final preseason game against the
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: Lions is on TV on Saturday from five thirty pm
• 15:26
  Speaker 1: for people in Ireland on Vergeon Media TV.
• 15:28
  Speaker 4: You can also listen to the game of O TV
• 15:30
  Speaker 4: Sports Radio.
• 15:31
  Speaker 1: Calvin, can I take this opportunity on behalf of all
• 15:33
  Speaker 1: state nation in Ireland? I'm beyond to well just to
• 15:36
  Speaker 1: wish you guys the very very best this season and
• 15:39
  Speaker 1: it will fly in have a great time this year
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: and will hopefully chante sid.
• 15:44
  Speaker 3: Thank you man.
• 15:44
  Speaker 2: And I'm hopefully in a couple of years we can
• 15:47
  Speaker 2: be over there playing in one one game, so they
• 15:50
  Speaker 2: they'll be very exciting.
• 15:51
  Speaker 3: Thank y'all.