0:10

Thanks for tuning in.

0:11

I'm Peanut tuning and this is the

0:13

NFL Player's second Acts podcast.

0:16

I got my guy a room or harbor with me today.

0:19

We acting like it's the first month we got that juice.

0:21

What's up, baby?

0:21

What's up?

0:23

I'm doing really well. How are you doing?

0:24

I'm good?

0:24

Why do you look so shocked?

0:26

Right now?

0:26

I had I had dinner. Excuse me, I had

0:28

lunch. I'm ready got a good guess right

0:30

now, I'm feeling really good about this

0:32

next guest, we haven't right now?

0:34

Yeah, me too.

0:34

I just thought you were a little loud and I couldn't

0:36

hear for a second. So now I'm here. My equal livment

0:39

is back, and I'm ready to get this thing going. But first

0:41

and foremost, let's talk about our viewers

0:43

and all of our listeners out there wherever you pick up your

0:45

podcast, whether it's Apple podcasts,

0:47

iHeartRadio podcast.

0:49

Thank you so much for always tuning in.

0:52

Make sure this time you give us five star rating as

0:54

always, give us a review, a like,

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tell a friend to tell a friend to tell a friend, Hit

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follow and continue to comment about

1:01

what we're doing here. Peanut, who is our

1:03

guest today, Our beautiful Lively

1:05

guest today.

1:06

He is Lively uh NFL

1:08

pro fourteen year career, VETT two

1:10

Pro Bowl, super Bowl champion, world

1:14

class magician. I think he might

1:16

be Bom Thugs and Harmonies Number

1:18

one fan Ladies and gentlemen, please

1:21

welcome John Dornballs to the

1:23

show.

1:24

Cool to be here, show, Thank you, two legends

1:26

right here.

1:27

I gotta get that money.

1:28

You know what I told him before the show started.

1:30

I'm a huge Bone Tucks fan. So we've been we've been getting

1:32

at it right now.

1:33

Yeah, yeah, Who's Who's who? Just say your

1:35

favor crazy, crazy, crazy.

1:36

But then you got lazy coming in with that high you know, busy.

1:39

You gotta like busy howder p Many's

1:41

debut on there on the Old Ghetto Cowboy

1:44

crazy man, I'm a I'm a I'm a crazy

1:46

fan till the day I die.

1:48

And he definitely rapped a lot.

1:50

He was in here like Buddy Rabbit on eight

1:52

Mile, rapping all the songs. Just let

1:54

y'all know, hold on.

1:55

I thought you meant like crazy was here, because you're like, oh, he was here,

1:57

Like wait a minute, here.

2:02

He's looking around. No, he's

2:04

definitely not here right now.

2:06

He is definitely a here.

2:07

So where are you living at right now?

2:08

Hey? I live so right now we're in LA. I live

2:10

like hour and ten minutes south. I live in Huntington

2:12

Beach, California, and so I junior

2:14

high, I moved down to Garden Grove, which was about twenty minutes

2:16

inland. And I'll never forget thirteen fourteen years old,

2:18

They're like, yo, thirty minutes down that road, you're gonna hit the beach.

2:21

So I get on my bike start pedaling. Four

2:23

hours later, man, I still in at the beach. It was like a thirty

2:25

minute drive, right and so, long

2:27

story short, I got to the beach as a kid and these

2:29

gates open. It was nice. The most beautiful I've ever

2:31

seen this s Gaatey community on a golf course. I'm like, what, So

2:33

I would sneak into this place for like twenty years.

2:36

Yeah, when I could afford to move there, Man,

2:38

I would go buy this house every day and

2:41

we live in that house there. It is.

2:43

That's what's up man.

2:44

You know, Jim Carrey said it best. He goes, I can manifest

2:46

things like like no other. I believe in

2:48

it. If you believe in it, you believe in yourself

2:51

crazy things can happen. So I went by this

2:53

house forever, and you know your mine will

2:55

find energy, will find a way. Yeah, So be careful

2:57

the way you talk to yourself, because man, it makes a big difference

3:00

you. No.

3:00

I need to keep reminding myself of that when I'm

3:02

golfing, because I'm like, ah, I suck,

3:04

and that's the same energy I'm manifesting.

3:07

That's true.

3:07

Man out there, I need to be more positive.

3:09

Talks suck at golf sometimes

3:12

it's bad.

3:13

Man. I don't play a lot. I gave these kids my golf

3:15

clubs. He was our neighbor, and I was like, I just take them.

3:18

But if I go out there for two holes,

3:20

you're gonna be like, this dude's unbelievable.

3:21

Yeah.

3:21

And then when I hit a whole three, it is down fast.

3:24

I mean it is like this guy's never played a hole

3:26

in his life.

3:28

How are you enjoying fatherhood? You

3:30

have a young daughter, Amaya.

3:32

Love man, greatest thing in the world. So

3:35

like, I'm sure we'll get into my story later. But I kind of went

3:37

years and years without without a dad, or I had

3:39

a dad figure. Yeah, but it's

3:41

it's not your dad, right, And I appreciate

3:43

the role models I had in life. So

3:46

I realize this that you can either be

3:48

this much better than where you come from, or you can

3:50

make an excuse. And with my background, the world

3:53

probably would have made it show if you would have seen where he came from,

3:55

what he went through, that's why he's a deadbeat dad, and they would have made

3:57

an excuse for me. But instead I wanted

3:59

to be this much better and where it came from. And so when

4:01

we had our little girl, man, it was my chance to be the

4:03

dad I never had. Yeah, And that was the only attitude

4:06

I took is I'm going to be everything I didn't have to make

4:08

this world a better place for her and hopefully my wife and

4:10

myself. And so there is nothing better

4:12

that I enjoy more than being a dad

4:14

to my little girl.

4:15

Man, that's awesome.

4:16

I saw on a YouTube video

4:19

that you took video of

4:21

your wife, and I think the quote you said

4:23

was it was the sexiest thing you'd ever seen, man, watching

4:26

your wife all of a sudden like transform into

4:28

this like mother literally within seconds.

4:30

Dude. It was the William Wallace version

4:32

of a check dude. So like, okay, we played

4:35

We've been there I don't care what position you play,

4:37

one hundred percent injury rate, you have your aches and pains.

4:39

You look in the locker room and you know the war dog and you're the

4:41

guy that's going to just take a day off. Right. So I'd

4:45

never seen her in that moment, Like I know the

4:47

pain threshold I have and that I can push through.

4:49

I ain't never seen her in that moment. Yeah, So all of a sudden,

4:51

it's go time. Ain't no coming back, baby, you

4:53

know. And so when we went into the hospital forty one

4:55

weeks pregnant, kid was over nine pounds and she was zero

4:57

centimeters dilated. So they induced her with the balloon and all

4:59

the stuff, and she's like, I'm doing

5:01

this. I'm not having a sea section. And dude, she just went

5:04

forty one week zero, forty one week

5:06

zero, okay, so.

5:07

It's starting from grounds like ground.

5:09

Zero, and they're like, hey, we're either going to see

5:11

section this thing or you gotta pop this thing out. So, long

5:14

story short, it was the sexiest thing ever when she delivered

5:16

our kid, and I was, you know, the kid kind of popped

5:18

out. I was right there.

5:19

It was so sick, dude, savage.

5:21

So we take her out, and my wife gets her

5:23

and she whispered to herself, she said, I

5:26

did it, and she just said it to herself

5:28

that right there. Man. I looked at her and I said,

5:30

I'm gonna tell you right now, honey, this

5:32

is the sexiest you'll probably ever be. So

5:35

this is unbelievable. I'm just taking this in. Man.

5:37

That's cool.

5:39

That's awesome.

5:40

So twenty seventeen,

5:42

the Eagles they call you up and they say you're gonna get

5:45

traded to the Saints, right.

5:47

Yeah, which is crazy for so many

5:49

reasons.

5:49

Yeah, crazy for so many reasons. But I think

5:51

it's kind of crazy too because you're getting traded for

5:53

a draft pick.

5:54

And I'm a what tell me?

5:57

Talk to me, you

5:59

know what I mean. So I wasn't even drafted

6:01

coming out of college. So whatever team this was, Yeah.

6:04

I thought I was worth more fifteen years later

6:06

than I was in my prime as a twenty three year old. Yeah,

6:08

wrap it up, let's go.

6:10

Yeah.

6:10

So you get there, and I think normally

6:12

when you go to a new team, you get you get

6:14

your physical first, and then you playing

6:17

games and so on and so forth. You

6:19

end up playing in the game and then the next day,

6:22

you have to have a physical and then you find

6:24

out you have a leaky valve in your in your heart

6:26

and you have to have surgery. My question

6:29

is, are you mad that you still

6:31

played the game?

6:32

Okay? Is a lot of great questions. Uh

6:35

so here's rappens. So they say they're

6:37

gonna trade me. Right in my mind, I'm mister

6:39

Eagle bro most executive games played as an

6:41

Eagle, Longest tenured athlete in the state, America's

6:44

got talent. Fans are loving me. Yeah, the magic Man

6:46

people are wearing my jersey as a long snapper.

6:47

Most tenured athlete in the in

6:50

the state, in the state. Detail

6:56

you know what?

6:57

He's been asked that question?

7:00

Answer?

7:01

All of a sudden, I'm on panels with like Hall of Famers.

7:03

I gotta have something to be like, what can

7:05

I say?

7:05

It?

7:05

Got this? How many people every sport

7:07

in the state? Now? Anybody? No? Okay, quiet down,

7:10

Quiet down now. So they

7:12

say they're gonna trade me, And at first I got a little

7:14

bitter and angry, and I'm like, whatever, dude. When

7:17

I was a kid, I went through intense therapy and there's

7:19

three rules I live by and they're very simple

7:21

and I try and take them with me everywhere I go.

7:24

Come to terms of your reality. It don't

7:27

matter whether you agree with it or not. It's

7:29

happening. So the sooner you can come to terms

7:31

of your reality, then the sooner you can

7:33

find forgiveness in people and in the world.

7:36

And when you can do that, it just frees

7:38

bitterness and anger from your mind. And then

7:40

all of a sudden, when you can find

7:42

forgiveness, you can forgive. If

7:45

a little piece of hope or happiness floats by you,

7:47

you can grab that puppy and never let go. So

7:49

when I first heard the news, I got bitter and angry, and then I

7:51

realized, this is happening, so just embrace it. Come

7:54

to terms your reality. And then I realized

7:56

that, hey, there's a new chance, new fan base, and

7:58

I kind of instantly felt younger. It was almost

8:00

like I'd been there a long time and I had to go reprove

8:02

myself. So I felt really good. So I

8:04

got traded right before a game doctors were out of town.

8:07

Got to New Orleans, which, by the way,

8:09

like you said earlier, to be a long snapper

8:11

and to be traded for for a draft pick put

8:14

me in the record books. Baby, Yeah, that don't happen too

8:16

often, right, it does breaking records. So

8:18

I got to New Orleans, I played in the game, and

8:20

then the next day I did my physical and

8:23

they do the stethoscope and I never knew why they do it,

8:26

And then they do it on your back. Well, one is for the lungs,

8:28

one is for the back. And so they

8:31

heard what's called the murmur. Now, look, I had heard all these

8:33

terms as a kid and as you grew up. But I meant,

8:35

let me tell you, man, I know a lot about the heart. Now. A

8:37

murmur is a leakage of blood. And so when they take

8:39

the stethoscope on your heart, they're listening for a drum.

8:41

It's like boom boom, boom boom.

8:44

Well, if there's a squish sound, that's a murmur,

8:46

and it's a leakage of blood. Where that squish

8:48

sound is determines how severe it is. So if

8:50

it's boom boom boom

8:52

boom, or it's boom boom, or

8:54

it's boom boom boom

8:57

boom. Right, So that's at all.

8:58

It's a difference.

8:59

It's a difference, and it means that blood's leaking

9:01

in a different place, all right, So you got

9:03

a leaky blood or you got leaky you got a murmur?

9:05

How is yours not in a good place?

9:08

Doctors?

9:09

You know what one of those was it?

9:10

Man?

9:11

Or do we know?

9:12

You're the first dude I want to

9:14

know. I don't know, but I know it wasn't

9:16

good.

9:16

It was a bad one.

9:17

It was a bad one. It was a bad one. So

9:19

go to the hospital, do my tests, and then all of a sudden

9:21

I got a call that's like, hey man, we knew you

9:23

had a murmur, but we weren't expecting this. You got

9:25

a six centimeter aneurysm in your A sending

9:27

a order.

9:28

Uh.

9:28

There's actors John Ritter, Allen Thick, Bill Paxton.

9:31

They all died of this condition. So what my real issue

9:33

was is where the vein or

9:35

the A order goes into the heart where

9:37

the blood leaves. So the blood comes in the lungs and then

9:39

it leaves out the heart. That should be about the size

9:41

of a dimer and nickel. Mine had blown up like a

9:43

water balloon and it was bigger than a soda can. So

9:46

it's like looking at a vein in your arm and there's like one inch

9:48

right here, that's bigger than a soda can right, Okay,

9:50

if that vein or or it pops lights

9:52

out. So for it to grow

9:55

a tenth of a centimeter a tenth of

9:57

a millimeter could take years and years. So

9:59

I was born with a congenital heart defect. I

10:02

had what's called a bicuspart valve, which means I had

10:04

Normally you have three doors that open inside,

10:06

I had two, and then eventually it

10:08

was just deteriorating. It looked like Swiss cheese. And

10:11

then one of the doors would fall into the heart. So as

10:13

my blood was leading the heart, it was

10:15

falling back into the heart. Now where

10:17

that gets crazy is that the brain needs five quarts of blood

10:19

a minute and your heart can actually calculate that.

10:21

So think about this, you guys are athletes. My resting

10:24

heart rate was like eighty ninety. It's like, that's

10:26

that's crazy high, crazy high.

10:29

You know. I had a little frustration. We were trying to

10:31

implement this sports science in the organization.

10:33

There was an individual there that was kind of in charge

10:35

of this area, and he was telling me I'm

10:37

an alcoholic and I don't sleep, and I'm like, yo,

10:40

dude, I'm telling you right, now I barely drink and I sleep

10:42

better than anybody, Like I'm out, you know what I mean. And

10:44

the whole time I had a valve

10:46

and an aneurism problem.

10:48

So did you know you were born with a heart defect. No,

10:50

you figured all this out in twenty seventeen.

10:53

I figured all that out when I went to New Orleans.

10:55

Yeah, it all hit me. And so had

10:57

you not had like, yeah,

11:00

okay, pass in Philly.

11:02

Yeah this is Philly.

11:04

It's not really Philly.

11:06

And Tennessee and Buffalo and you yep, and

11:08

every doctor's eppointment I've been to, right, Unfortunately,

11:11

you can't detect that without an echo cardiogram.

11:13

So an e KG is like beep

11:16

beep, it's not it's not it's

11:18

not showing blood. It's not showing it's

11:20

not showing leakage your valves. It's not showing a picture

11:22

of your heart. Right, So, uh, you need to

11:24

have an echo cardiogram. And and no

11:26

team I've ever played on they don't do that. And

11:28

so the other thing too, which

11:30

you guys might have witnessed this and I'm

11:32

not I'm not talking bad about the process, but it's

11:34

also the mentality of a lot of teams

11:36

I played on as far as players, when it was

11:39

time to do your physical you're just gonna go home. Yeah,

11:41

And I'm not saying that in a disrespectful

11:43

way. Rookies getting the back of line. I'm gonna get it. I'm

11:45

gonna get out right, and and we've

11:47

all lived it, and that's just kind of the way it is. Because

11:49

we're all healthy. We're superhuman, right, exactly,

11:52

unless you're the one percenter. Uh

11:54

So they found out I had that condition, I

11:56

got a call and they were basically like, yo, man, And

11:58

here's the other thing. I had a three year extension for

12:00

more millions and millions and millions, highest

12:02

paid snapper in the league. Right, I'm

12:05

pops. I want to be the oldest guy on the team. My goal when

12:07

I first got in the league is I wanted to be one of the old guys on the

12:09

team because that means I had the most opportunities, the

12:11

most friendships, the most experiences. And

12:14

so I was. And you

12:16

know when they said, look, dude, you're gonna be an emergency open

12:18

heart surgery in forty eight hours. It was a non football

12:20

related injury, which means contract no and void. You're not gonna

12:22

make any money, and your career's over.

12:24

And I was like what, And I got bitter and angry.

12:27

And then you start reflecting, come to terms your

12:29

reality, fine forgiveness in the world, and create

12:31

your own story. And

12:34

the surgery was fifteen and a half hours. I

12:36

spent thirty five days in the hospital post surgery,

12:39

and yeah, it has a long time. And then I was on

12:41

twenty one pills for almost a year.

12:44

Let me tell you, man, open heart surgery is gnarly.

12:46

The recovery is gnarlely. You get

12:48

frustrated, you get angry, you're

12:51

super cold. It's just it was a world I

12:53

hadn't been in. You're having

12:55

an identity crisis for other reasons than

12:57

going from an athlete to something else. Now

12:59

you're reevaluating life,

13:02

bro. And so heart

13:04

surgery ended up ending

13:07

my career. And I know you didn't ask this question, but I'm gonna

13:09

say this because nothing but love

13:11

to Sean Payton. I

13:13

was only there a few days. Yeah, okay, And two

13:16

really cool stories. Brad Banta was a special

13:18

teams coach. I tore my a cl and O three

13:21

in buff Buffalo. Yeah, and they brought

13:23

in Brad Banta to backup snap for the

13:25

last few games. Banta wanted ten years.

13:28

He had nine, and so he was home all season,

13:30

didn't get a call, and when I got hurt, they

13:32

called him. He got three games, he got his ten years.

13:35

So it was really cool. I wanted fifteen, That's what

13:37

I wanted. So I got to New I got

13:39

to New Orleans and Brad Banton's a special teams

13:41

coach, dorm boss. I'm like, what's up man? He goes, hey, man,

13:44

you gave me ten, I'm gonna give you fifteen.

13:46

And I just was like, it's

13:49

kind of life come full circle.

13:50

Ye.

13:51

So a year later, I go to the Eagles New

13:53

Orleans game in New Orleans. I'm in the tunnel hanging

13:55

out. Obviously Eagles. They hook it up Nooron's

13:57

cool, of course, and Sean Payton sees me, dorm

14:00

boss, what's up man? I go, hey, what's

14:02

up? Coach? He goes, you want to play? I

14:05

said what? He goes, do you want to play? Do

14:08

you want to play? It's yours? And I just looked

14:10

at him and here's what's really cool. He

14:12

knew I'd say no, that was

14:14

never the issue, but the fact he said

14:16

that to me. It was the closure that

14:18

I needed that I almost feel like I got to leave

14:20

the game on my terms, like it shifted

14:23

the whole romantic

14:25

world of football and athlete and coming

14:27

to a closure. And I looked at him, I said, you know what,

14:29

coach, I'm good man. He

14:32

gave me a hug and he goes, let me

14:34

know, and he just kind of like he disappeared, like

14:36

shoeless Joe feel the dreams in the tunnel,

14:38

you know what I mean. But so Sean appreciate

14:41

you. And that was a really cool moment.

14:43

Shut up, yeah, man, it

14:45

was cool.

14:46

That's really cool. I've never known that.

14:48

But just to share a little bit. So my

14:50

daughter she had a heart transplant and

14:53

she had open heart surgery. She had about an eight nine

14:55

hour surgery. How old she

14:58

was about six months?

15:00

Wow, that's scared.

15:01

About six months. And the thing that I'll say

15:04

is it might have taken you a year and all that.

15:06

Kids are resilient. Kids are

15:08

extremely resilient. Adults were so weak

15:11

when it comes to stuff like that where we cry

15:13

and moan and complain. Babies, kids toddlers.

15:16

You think that they're hurt, which they are, but

15:19

the way they recover from surgery, open

15:21

heart surgery. You don't think a

15:23

two month old, a six month old, a toddler.

15:26

She bounced back so quick. And I'm

15:29

sitting here thinking, like, are you serious, Like this is

15:31

gonna put her out for a while, Like no, just bounce

15:34

back. Yeah, the meds and everything she was on

15:36

all that, but the way kids bounce back from

15:38

open heart surgeries and things like that. Oh

15:40

man, what was her condition, dilated

15:43

cardio myopathy. Yeah, so her heart,

15:45

Your heart's about the size of your fist. Her heart was

15:47

probably three times size

15:49

of that. She had like an adult sized heart when she was

15:51

about three months old, and her resting

15:54

heartbeat was two twenty, which.

15:57

Kids are normally run a little high, but that that's real.

16:00

Her resting heartbeat was two twenty. When I'm looking,

16:02

I'm holding her and she's just kind of like looking at me. She's

16:04

just kind of just sitting there, just chilling,

16:07

not doing nothing, And I mean her heartbeat

16:09

is like that's like for a second,

16:11

yeah, just under four a second.

16:12

Yeah, Like it was pretty that's crazy.

16:15

I want to know how much

16:17

because like once you're uh, once

16:20

you're affect about something, you'll.

16:21

Become an advocate for it.

16:22

Yeah, and so how much studying

16:25

and how much knowledge have you learned about the heart

16:28

since your condition?

16:30

Uh, it's amazing how my

16:32

whole life learning has been very hard for me, a very slow learner

16:35

and reading comprehension very very

16:37

slow. My sister, on the other hand,

16:39

as a neurologist and an absolute genius like perfect

16:41

sat Scores, works at Create University

16:43

in Omaha, and my sister has a beautiful

16:46

way of taking very complex subjects and dumbifying

16:48

them for people like me. Right, So she's like, John,

16:50

it's like a balloon and this, I'm

16:52

like, I get it. So I got helium and then this and then

16:54

the kid pop, Okay, good, we're good.

16:57

Is that has to broke it all down?

16:58

Oh yeah, oh yeah, she should be.

17:00

She's drawing. Yeah, she's drawing pictures and like the heart

17:03

was actually a heart. It's like literally, pretend

17:05

I'm five and she's explained and I nailed it.

17:07

But it's amazing, Like you said that, when it all of a sudden

17:09

pertains to you. Man, you learn

17:12

real quick, and you understand real quick.

17:14

Yeah, and you understand real quick. It's like your

17:16

brain just go through Yeah, it's like Will Ferrell

17:18

and old school. Ye adapt, you adapt,

17:20

man, But yeah, it's it's a

17:22

crazy thing. I'm you know, it's

17:25

one of those things though that I'm thankful

17:27

that it happened to me. I'm glad it was me, and

17:30

I'm glad that that I live this experience,

17:34

you know what, I'd liked to have played longer. Of course, what I

17:36

you asked me if I was upset when I got when I heard the

17:38

news. So I

17:41

I end up going back to Philly because the number one guy

17:43

in the world that does the surgery that I needed was a guy named

17:45

Joseph Bavaria. And I show up and I meet

17:48

him and he's back in Philly. I still got my condo there,

17:50

so we're home. It's good. And he

17:52

goes, you know what, you should be thankful, and I go, why is that?

17:54

He goes, because if you they would have caught this earlier and

17:56

you might have got three, four, five years

17:59

less. But the reality is your life and

18:01

we're going to fix it. So if anything, be

18:03

very thankful that it went undetected, because you snuck a

18:05

few more years out. And now

18:07

look you're thirty eight, thirty nine, like really

18:10

you know, yeah, probably a time you were retired

18:12

anyways, and now, hey, you're in the

18:14

speaking business, entertainment business, like, if

18:17

anything, that's a nice little media hit for you. You know.

18:19

He cracked a joke and I'm like, hey, you know what boom?

18:21

I like the way you think. So

18:24

yeah, I wasn't angry at anybody. Man. I

18:26

think I think things happen and I

18:28

think you know, he did ask me two very interesting

18:30

questions. He says, one, did you have

18:32

any of the side effects? Like, did you have a side effect

18:35

for this condition? I don't know. Well what's the side effect? He

18:37

goes, were you ever out of breath? I'm

18:39

sorry, out of breath? Have you

18:41

have you seen me compared to the dude's on runway. I've been

18:43

out of breath for twenty five years, bro, you know what I

18:45

mean? He goes, Okay, does your back hurt?

18:48

Does my back hurt? Have you

18:50

seen what I've been doing? I've been My back's been hurting for twenty

18:52

five years. But interesting, I

18:54

was getting six massages a week. Your middle

18:56

back muscles right here, middle of the back on the site

18:58

that's called your quadraatest on the q q

19:01

O. Baby, let me tell you this pre heart surgery.

19:03

Do you see that little lingo right there? You see him throw that out pre

19:05

heart surgery. But I've never known that. Now got the QO.

19:08

Okay, if that's hurting a lot

19:11

and you can't really get rid of it and it's constantly aching,

19:13

it's heart. It ain't your back,

19:15

it's your heart. So I'm sitting here get massage, just thinking

19:17

my back whole time. Heart. So

19:20

I kind of learned all these different side effects on how

19:22

your body reacts. Oh, if this is going on,

19:24

it's your heart.

19:25

What Yeah, I knew

19:27

nothing crazy. We're going to take a short break

19:29

and we'll be right back.

19:33

So this part's your heart problem

19:36

that end your career. You lost both

19:38

your parents at the age of twelve. Unfortunately

19:43

your foster care your family steps

19:45

in takes care of you.

19:47

All these things have been really,

19:49

really hard. But there's

19:52

something about you that you have this unrelenting

19:55

optimism in life.

19:58

Where does that come from?

19:59

Like?

19:59

How did you you developed that?

20:00

Especially after losing both your parents and

20:03

kind of going through what you went through.

20:05

And I wrote down your

20:07

three things, but is that really

20:09

like how did you develop this?

20:11

So when I was so,

20:13

I had I had some heroes growing up

20:15

man. My mom my dad were my heroes for different reason. You

20:18

know, my dad coached my team's president little league. I want

20:20

to be just like him. I was a huge Shadow Marriage fan because we live in

20:22

Seattle, so my dad would pull the car up if he

20:24

was late from work. We lived on a little hill of the driveway and he turned

20:26

the lights on and he'd throw me a fly ball like Griffy

20:28

and I'd have to block the car light like he would in the Kingdom.

20:30

I was a big Griffy fan, and

20:33

I want to be just like him. At my mom, I

20:35

had a, like I said, my reading comprehension in

20:37

my brain's like. So she kind of volunteered

20:39

and she started this reading program at my elementary

20:41

school and it kind of helped kids like me learn

20:44

And so the cool kids start to like my mom because there's

20:46

you know what I mean. And so what I learned

20:49

from both, and really what I learned from my mom

20:51

over time, was the reasons you're

20:53

different and the reasons that you feel insecure at

20:55

times, especially when you're your young kid. That

20:57

might be the reason why you're beautiful, That might be the reason

21:00

why the world needs you, and that might be

21:02

the reason why you're here. So just take

21:04

a deep breath and let the world catch up to

21:06

you, you know what I mean, Yeah, and embrace

21:09

your difference. So when I was

21:11

twelve years old, I went home and my father

21:13

murdered my mother out of nowhere. He

21:16

was a bench grinder and a sledgehammer and

21:19

hit her a lot, and so

21:22

he turned himself in the next day. At the

21:24

time in Washington, first degree murder,

21:26

which the difference between first and second first degree

21:28

is I wrote it down. I planned it, I hired a hitman, premeditated

21:31

right, first

21:34

degree murder was life or I think

21:36

the death penalty second degree murder, which

21:38

is we can't really plan it. There was an argument,

21:42

doesn't matter the motive. Things happen. Max

21:44

penalty was thirteen years eight months. So

21:46

I think my dad, I don't know, but

21:49

my guess is that night he might have thought about trying

21:51

to get away with it and figured out I could either get life

21:53

or death or thirteen eight, you know, so

21:56

turn himself in the next day he got thirteen eight,

21:58

which when you're a kid is like forever. Yeah, that seems

22:00

like forever. And since I went home, I had to testify

22:02

against my dad and then

22:06

we went into temporary foster care for

22:08

about eight nine ten months, and

22:10

my sister finished junior high I finished elementary

22:12

school, and we went through the most intense therapy

22:14

you could possibly imagine, and

22:17

it was super intense. And you know, from

22:19

going in the garage where everything happened

22:21

in writing the letter to my mom to viewing the

22:23

autopsy photos in a private session

22:26

at the DA's office, which if

22:28

you don't know what an autopsy photos, it's for

22:30

the listeners. It's they basically take pictures

22:33

of a body and they try and figure out all the injuries

22:35

and then what caused the death. Right, So

22:37

now you're looking at your mom

22:40

in a way you never ever want to see

22:43

anybody.

22:43

How old are you at this time? Twelve twelve?

22:46

And you're old enough to fully understand, but

22:48

you're also old enough to not

22:50

realize the direction

22:54

you need to go. So the people

22:56

that are taking you on that journey

22:59

ultimately are going to be the ones to

23:01

either think or not think on how I end up.

23:03

Right, My therapist was amazing, My

23:05

grandparents on my mom's side, my aunt who ended

23:07

up taking my sister and I in. So

23:10

we do all this stuff over those ten months, and I knew

23:12

after we left the foster care

23:15

temporary foster care family in Seattle and we moved down to

23:17

southern California with my aunt, which is right

23:19

down here in Garden Grove, who was my mom's sister. I

23:23

knew that I wanted my name to

23:25

be a headline, you know. I

23:27

wanted it to be a jersey. I wanted it to be something

23:30

that people could be proud of. I didn't

23:32

want it to be the headline that my dad had. I didn't want people

23:34

to think of my last name and think of that. I wanted them to think

23:37

of something great. And I was

23:39

kind of an old soul because of the therapy that I

23:41

kind of went through, and I

23:43

just knew I wanted better. And I knew that there

23:46

was one picture of my mom that I saw

23:48

and I'll never forget it, and it was her left

23:50

hand and had eleven cuts, eleven bruises, and

23:52

they said this was her protecting herself on

23:55

the way down. And I

23:57

got a wife now and a kid, and I think

23:59

of that picture her every day because I think about

24:01

she was protecting everything she loved to the end.

24:04

Yeah, and I gotta find I

24:06

gotta find motivation and defeed, I gotta find

24:08

something to take a story and grab

24:11

hold of something. I got to come to terms my reality, find

24:13

forgiveness and find hope and happiness. Right, And

24:15

so what I took from that picture is be

24:17

that to the very end, protect

24:19

everything you love with everything you got. And

24:22

that's what I've tried to do. Protect my family,

24:24

my friends, myself, who I am

24:26

in this world, who

24:29

I can be for my daughter? And you're

24:31

right, I am an. I'm an optimist. I

24:33

want to live life because I've been to hell and

24:35

I don't want to go back. And

24:39

I am the happiest dude I've ever met.

24:41

Bro, No, I hear it.

24:42

I mean yeah you should. I wish we'd had

24:45

the cameras roll than when he first walked in here.

24:46

It was yelling. He had his boy on face time.

24:49

Yeah, it was going down.

24:52

So every day, every day, no matter

24:54

what. And look, all these people are on social I

24:56

like him, you know what I mean, go against

24:59

jocko. Bro. They all got there.

25:02

But before I get like hype like that. Every

25:04

day when I wake up, I get up, I look outside

25:07

and I just say, it's a great day to be alive.

25:09

Yeah, that's it.

25:10

I just give appreciation for the day, no matter

25:12

how bad this day, the day yesterday

25:14

was, or this day might be. At the end of the day,

25:16

A man, it's a great day to be alive, because I know people

25:18

that aren't. So it's a great day to be right here.

25:21

Live is magic. It's a great day to be alive. Baby. I wear

25:23

it every day, I see it, I feel it. Man,

25:25

come on, maybe I just came out with these. It's a prototype,

25:27

right, you know. I'll mail you whatever you

25:29

I got all kinds of them comforting, but

25:31

it's a great day to be alive. And

25:34

so I try and just look,

25:37

life's hard for everybody.

25:38

It is.

25:38

I don't care who you are. I don't you know. And

25:40

what I've learned is it don't matter how much money you

25:42

got, your race, your religion, where you're from, all

25:45

our differences. We can get rid of all our differences

25:47

and just realize that everybody in this world knows what

25:49

it's like to struggle. We all know what it's

25:51

like to just feel like we're drowning and I just need

25:53

a second to catch my breath, right. And what

25:56

I've dissected in life is that the difference between

25:58

people is that moment

26:00

right there. That's the only difference. How quick

26:02

it takes to stand up and live in vision or how long

26:04

do you stay down and live in circumstance. That's what

26:07

separates people. That's it. And so

26:09

I try and be that guy that's gonna stand up living vision.

26:12

Moments in time will never ever define

26:14

me. They're going to rEFInd me. And I had these little

26:16

these little hitters, right, these little quotes that I live by,

26:18

and I I try and live by it. And so but

26:22

no matter what, man, it's a great day to be

26:24

alive. Just start with that, bro, and just see where

26:26

your life takes you.

26:27

Yeah.

26:27

So I know you your your

26:29

dad, he's gotten out of prison. Yeah,

26:31

And I know you've you've met up with them,

26:34

right yep, and you forgave

26:36

them. Now, how hard was that? How how

26:39

man explain that process?

26:41

That was a that was a very intense

26:43

day. And so what happened was I

26:46

got a buddy named Riley Smith. He was in a

26:48

movie called Radio with Cuba Gooding Junior in Paris.

26:50

Great movie.

26:51

So he was number three on the call sheet. He was Johnny the

26:54

the white kid basketball player that kind of make fun of.

26:56

Yeah, he was kind of the mean kid.

26:57

Yeah, we bean kid. He was a bully. And so

27:00

he's like, yo, man, this dude doing this movie. His name is

27:02

Mike Tolan. He's really cool, diehard

27:04

Eagles fan. We got to do a

27:06

movie on your life, bro, He's got to be the one to do it. And

27:08

this was a long time ago, so,

27:10

long story short, I'm with the Eagles a long time.

27:13

Mike's an Eagles fan. Mike Tolan he did the Last

27:15

Dance. Did you guys see Stand? Yeah?

27:17

Oh he did Stand. So he does a lot of documentary's

27:20

done a lot of movies. So, long story short, he's the only

27:22

name I had on my little vision board. So if everybody's

27:24

gonna make a movie about me, it's gonna be tolling. Yeah.

27:26

And sure enough, he hit me up and says, hey,

27:28

you ever writing a book. I go no,

27:30

I'm trying, but he goes, all right, I got a guy.

27:32

He'll do the interviews, Larry Platt, I'll

27:34

option the book, and I'd like to make a movie about

27:37

your life. And I was like, okay,

27:39

that's pretty easy. We write

27:41

the book, right, and then all of a sudden,

27:43

I'm going into heart surgery. So there's another ending, okay,

27:45

And then all of a sudden, I'm like, hey, man, if I'm

27:47

going to practice what I preach, I can't

27:49

write about this and not go see my dad.

27:52

So I had I've always

27:54

been I've

27:56

always been curious

27:59

on what he looks like, what he sounds like, but

28:01

nothing in life stemmed action. Actually wanted to make

28:03

an effort to go see him. And then I was writing

28:05

this book, and then my wife got pregnant,

28:08

and I realized that I had my

28:10

hands on her belly, and I looked at her and said,

28:12

you know, there's three words I've never said out loud to anybody.

28:14

And she just goes, what's that? F

28:17

you A hole? You know what I mean? No, I've

28:19

said that, but she goes. I go,

28:21

I've never said I forgive you to anybody

28:24

in my life, and I go, I think it's time I go see

28:26

my dad. And she just went whoa. So

28:29

it was life come in full circle. Where I

28:31

was writing my story finding Forgiveness, my wife

28:33

got pregnant, and now there was, all of a sudden a

28:35

reason to go see him. And so I

28:37

hadn't seen him in like twenty eight twenty nine years. We

28:40

sat for five and a half hours. I

28:42

had a show in Canada and I was going to Vegas,

28:44

so we just stopped where he was living at the time

28:47

and sat with him five and a half hours.

28:49

And it was super, super intense. I didn't

28:51

know what to expect, but I learned

28:53

to redefine what the word forgiveness

28:55

means to me. And I

28:58

think a majority of people, forgiveness

29:00

is about winning. It's about

29:02

one upping, It's about I'm right, you're wrong. And

29:05

I was that guy probably for a long time. And

29:08

then I realized that my daughter didn't ask to be here,

29:11

and if I really want to be the greatest dad I can be, I

29:13

got to give everything I got. Do I have it?

29:16

I don't think I got it because I got a little cloud

29:18

of bitterness and hate back here holding

29:20

it in man. And so I realized

29:23

that forgiveness for me is

29:25

not about the other person. I could care

29:28

less what my dad thought. I could care interesting

29:30

here about this. I didn't tell any of my family. My

29:32

grandparents were alive at the time, I didn't tell them, didn't

29:35

tell my aunt, didn't tell any friends.

29:36

Do you think they they're about to walk through? Like talk?

29:38

Style was why I

29:41

didn't know, but I knew this. I

29:44

didn't care. I didn't care

29:46

if you supported it, and I didn't care if you didn't want

29:48

me to do it. So why am I going to talk to you about

29:50

it? Like I didn't care about their opinion?

29:53

For once in my life, I didn't care about anybody

29:55

else's opinion because I'm doing this for me. Nobody

29:57

else. My wife knew, and I got

30:00

my buddy Tim new, so for

30:02

me. Forgiveness. Two people get this

30:05

great, great analogy. Two people get married, they

30:07

get divorced. One person's like, oh I'm

30:09

out.

30:09

Baby people Las Vegas. Peace out,

30:11

man. I ain't never looking back. Freedom right.

30:14

The other person is bitter and angry for ten or

30:16

twenty years, that person that divorced me.

30:18

That's the reason that I'm broke. That's the reason I'm miserable. That's

30:20

the reason I'm depressed. A

30:23

part of me was that person. So I

30:25

was sitting here going, wait a minute, somebody who's

30:27

no longer in my life is affecting

30:29

my life. Dude. Nelson Mandela got releasedrom

30:32

prison. I read this quote. Blew my mind. When I'm in

30:34

prison, I'm a free man. I told all the

30:36

inmates. If the guards don't hold our souls were

30:38

free men. We'll build a wall, We'll do whatever we gotta

30:40

do. He got out of prison and became

30:43

so bitter and resentful for the time he

30:45

lost that he said he wasn't in prison

30:47

till he was out, and he realized

30:50

that a moment in time that was no longer

30:52

in his life was affecting his life and he needed

30:54

to deal with that. So here, I got a guy

30:56

in my life who's no longer in my life, that's affecting

30:58

my life. That's me I'm

31:01

losing, right, So for

31:03

me to go forgive him was my first symbolic

31:05

step of someone

31:08

who is no longer in my life will

31:10

no longer affect my life. And it was the

31:12

greatest thing I did. And let me tell you everything

31:15

you could think of. I wanted to punch him

31:17

in the face. And then there was a time

31:19

where I just wanted the world to disappear and I just

31:21

wanted to have lunch with my dad. I

31:23

wanted to forget anything happened, and I wanted just to

31:26

tell him that I got a scholarship and like, hey,

31:29

you're gonna go to an NFL game, and like that like, there

31:31

was a minute where I just wanted to just.

31:33

Pretend like he was back to being

31:35

your hero again. And

31:38

then that's powerful.

31:40

Yeah, and then that went away quick. And

31:42

then but I went through everything you

31:44

can imagine, and I

31:47

think, you know when when I got invited

31:49

on this podcast, I think, and

31:51

it is kind of the second act, the second part of life.

31:54

It hit me. While I'm really thankful I got to play fourteen

31:57

years in the league. I've

31:59

been around the world's best at planning,

32:02

process, discipline, accountability,

32:04

teamwork, wanting to be a part of something, wanting

32:06

to be a teammate, want just you guys been there,

32:08

everything that we were surrounded with,

32:11

Shame on me if I don't take that with me in every aspect

32:14

of my life. You know, hardest adjustment getting out

32:16

of the legue for me was dealing with morons

32:18

like I hate to say it, but like

32:21

mediocracy. Hey, eight o'clock

32:24

meeting now, eight ten, eight twelve. It drives

32:26

me nuts. Yeah, right, because we've been we

32:29

trained is the wrong word. We've been taught

32:32

a great way to live life. So

32:35

I went in to see my dad like that. I

32:37

went in with a game plan. I wrote it out

32:39

you know, forgiveness is for me, clear

32:41

my heart, my soul, don't hate, don't blame, forgive.

32:44

And I said, no matter what happens,

32:46

whatever emotion I have, it's not greater

32:49

than this, So just stick

32:52

with it. Yeah, and I did, and it was the best

32:54

thing I ever did. It was hard, and

32:57

I'm very thankful because I did something that a lot

32:59

of people would not have done.

33:01

No, that's tough.

33:03

I guess My follow up question is that do you still

33:05

keep in contact with your dad today?

33:07

Yeah? So we took a selfie or I took a

33:09

picture with him. I wanted it for me and

33:11

my wife, you know, And this is funny talk

33:13

about being present in yourself.

33:17

When we took a picture, I literally

33:19

almost put my arm around him and smiled and did the suki

33:22

because when fans come up to you, you get picture mode,

33:24

you know what I mean. And I literally stopped

33:26

and I was like, this is that's weird, And

33:29

I'm like, just how do you feel? And I just put my arms

33:31

down and I just like I stood at the camera and

33:34

my face is saying holy,

33:38

I just had lunch with my dad. And

33:40

my wife saw the picture and she's like,

33:42

I've known you for ten years. I've

33:44

seen pictures from you your whole life. This is the

33:46

only picture I've ever seen where you're not smiling.

33:49

So I picture I have not smiling. And so

33:53

he wanted to go on a bike ride through

33:55

the mountains and stuff, and I'm like, hey man, I'm

33:57

cool. I never wanted it.

34:00

Know how I would feel after? Yeah,

34:02

For me, it was the books closed.

34:05

I realized I wasn't there to continue a relationship.

34:07

I wasn't needing his approval,

34:09

I wasn't needing his opinion.

34:12

I wasn't needing anything from him.

34:15

But I often ask myself

34:18

if if for whatever reason, I'm in a situation

34:20

where my kid disowns me for

34:22

whatever reason, what would it mean to

34:25

me if I my kid came and saw me,

34:27

yeah, and how would I act and what

34:29

would I say? And all this is happening after

34:32

right, So yeah,

34:34

no, no, contact don't want it. He

34:36

reached out once and then he's

34:39

kind of respected my mind. Yeah,

34:42

and I think he was shocked

34:44

to that. I don't think he was expecting.

34:46

You just stop by. Yeah, I don't

34:48

think.

34:49

No, I don't think he was expecting me to say I forgive

34:51

you.

34:51

We're gonna take a short break and we'll be right

34:53

back. What

34:57

is it about magic? Clearly,

35:00

you're you're an amazing,

35:02

amazing magician. You've been

35:04

on America's Got Talent, You've done

35:06

all types of shows, you do shows at the

35:08

Pro Bowl like you just you were. Everyone

35:11

knows you about this magic, right? What

35:13

is it about magic that helped

35:15

you cope with losing your mind?

35:17

And one other question, did Sean Payton tell

35:19

you that he probably wanted to bring you in?

35:20

Because yes, that is true.

35:22

That's true.

35:23

I've seen him draft guys late and he

35:25

was like, dude, I saw him on YouTube.

35:27

He had this video. I want to get him

35:29

in. Yeah, so he did admit that.

35:30

He actually goes. Look, man, Manton wanted you as

35:32

a snapper. We need to fill that position. I loved

35:35

it. You're good enough to play. But the real reason is we need some tricks

35:37

before team meetings. Okay, look, I want the magic man in

35:39

this locker room.

35:40

And I was magic.

35:41

But now you see me, Now you don't, baby, Let's go. You

35:44

know, so I was I was twelve years old in

35:46

this transition and

35:49

I saw a kid do a trick. His name was Michael Groves

35:52

and I loved it. But then when I moved down

35:54

to southern California, there was a TV show called World's Greatest

35:56

Magic, and this guy Bill Malone

35:59

was on there card trick and he was shuffling

36:01

telling a story, and I was enamored. Now,

36:04

for me, in my life, I wish I saw Jimmy Hendrix

36:06

or Stevie ray Vaughn or Clappton or some guitar player,

36:08

and I picked up a guitar and I could just shred right now. Yeah,

36:10

But I saw a card guy, and so I

36:12

picked up a deck of cards. There's a magician

36:14

in Orange County named Ken Sands who became a mentor

36:17

for me. Anytime I shuffled

36:20

the sound of the riffle, the world quieted.

36:23

It is the only thing that I can

36:25

just disappear in and not think about

36:27

losing my parents, foster home, moving,

36:30

new school, friends, like all these adult issues that I

36:33

was dealing with. I would sit at a table and

36:35

hear the sound of a riffle, and I was just a kid.

36:37

And so you do that for thirty years, you get pretty good. And

36:40

I didn't really get into magic necessarily

36:43

to be like this big magician. It was an

36:45

escape and it was my out and

36:47

in fact, I remember I won. A couple years. I didn't do tricks

36:50

for any of my friends, and all of a sudden we

36:52

were like some party and there's cards, and somebody did like

36:54

a three rows of seven self working card trick,

36:56

you know, and I was like, oh, that's cool, and they're

36:58

like, oh, do you know any tricks. I'm like, yeah, I could do

37:00

some. Imagine that you didn't know.

37:02

Your boy at fourteen plays

37:04

the guitar and he just starts ripping Hendrick

37:06

Solo's like just ripping it, like right. So

37:09

I studied the world's best when I was young, and

37:11

I learned their stuff, and then I started improving, and

37:13

then I knew I would screw up, because that's just me. I'm

37:15

gonna screw up. So I learned five moves that would give

37:17

me in and out of any situation that could make any

37:19

trick be better. You think of a card, I

37:21

get it wrong. Oh no, I just got to learn how to

37:23

maybe get a folded card from a deck that

37:25

you don't see me do and put it in my tennis shoe. And

37:28

now your thought of card has been in my shoe the whole time. That's why I couldn't

37:30

find it better trick. So you just got to learn

37:32

these moves to improv, right, So for me, magic

37:34

was an escape. Yeah.

37:36

So then all of a sudden, I started doing these tricks,

37:38

and I just remember the room was dead silent, like parents

37:40

were there and everybody's just like dead silent because they're.

37:43

Like, whoa, this kid's do imagine

37:45

you'd take this very seriously? Wow,

37:48

you know, I even have a bit, so you know,

37:50

now it's cool because there's a trick called Sam

37:52

the bell Hop in the six fifty four Club.

37:54

It's the one bill alone diad on TV. And you take a

37:56

new deck of cards and you shuffle and you tell this story with

37:58

the cards. And I dreamed of being in

38:00

like a room in a theater and

38:02

like audience is like chuckling at this story.

38:04

And you know, I signed a deal with Tony Robbins,

38:07

so we do arenas and I open with Sam

38:09

de Bella and I sit at a table with twenty

38:11

thousand people. There's a halo light on the

38:13

table, and I love the fact that I

38:15

can have twenty thousand people go

38:17

from just laughing to like silence, to like

38:19

chuckling to like laughing and it's

38:21

such a cool moment. And then the

38:23

moment comes full circle on the show later. But manifested,

38:27

Man, we talked about that earlier, right, man, I dreamed of

38:29

that moment, and you got your dog in the shows

38:31

now, yeah, man saying the dog. So my

38:34

I never wanted to be like the magic guy,

38:37

right. I don't want to go on stage and do an hour magic like

38:39

that's lamp and everything I love

38:41

about magic is like, I don't want to be it. And

38:43

so my show is my life story and the magic I learned all the

38:46

way. And so whether I'm speaking

38:48

or whether I'm doing theater stuff,

38:51

that's what you get. It's my life story and the

38:53

magical and normal way. So depending on what story

38:55

I tell, I got different tricks to back

38:57

up those points in those stories. So we

39:00

got a dog after my heart surgery, and then we make

39:02

him appear like Siegfried and Roy does the

39:05

the Tigers.

39:05

It's so cool, man, at least you know the tiger and go

39:08

mall you to do true.

39:09

I mean, a golden golden doodle. I probably

39:11

deserved it, you know what I mean.

39:12

I don't know how you don't fight them off.

39:14

I'm gonna clap you up on that, and yeah, thank you

39:16

for getting a dog and not a big ass cat.

39:18

Yeah yeah.

39:19

Tell me what was your first magic

39:22

trick that you like mastered? Was

39:25

it the thumb?

39:26

You know, you break the thing the thumb?

39:27

You go like that, that's pretty good. Oh well there's this one

39:29

too, you just grab it. That's

39:33

good. You know what it was. And

39:36

I wish I had it here because I do it, but I don't.

39:38

You take a little red spongeball, uh huh yeah,

39:40

and oh yeah yeah, yeah, like this and then

39:42

mine disappears and you open yours and there's right

39:44

then you open your hand, there's like fifty and then you open your yeah

39:47

yeah, yeah, yes, that was probably the first one

39:49

where you I would do it to somebody, right,

39:52

But cards were always my forte man. Cards were always

39:54

my uh where I would want to go. And then

39:56

I started to learn how to track cards, which means I can

39:58

shuffle and and keep track of certain

40:01

cards. So if you want a card to be at twenty third, we'll count

40:03

down, it'll be there. And then all of a sudden you do four

40:05

cards for like poker, and then maybe eight and then and

40:07

then maybe a full deck in story. So shuffling

40:09

is where I get my most That's

40:12

what I really do.

40:13

Like, they didn't have Google back then.

40:14

So how are you no? Man?

40:15

Is it just were you like literally reading it?

40:18

Yeah?

40:18

Book, Yeah, this is awful VHS, VHS

40:21

okay.

40:22

And I remember there was one trick on TV and

40:24

I would play pause record and you know I had a little

40:26

zen a television in my room. Yeah, and I recorded this

40:28

TV special and I remember I watched it. This

40:31

thing would be on loop in my bedroom and I wash it and

40:33

wash it and I walk by and out

40:35

of the corner of my eye. Two years later, after watching

40:37

this trick, I walked by an out of the corner of my eye, I

40:40

turned. I was like no, and I hit pause, and I'm like,

40:43

that's the move. Oh my gosh. So sometimes

40:45

you just have to watch it over and over before

40:47

you see it. Before you see it. So my

40:49

reading comprehenis is not very good. And I'm left

40:51

handed, okay, So all magic books

40:54

are written for writing's, so I would get a magic

40:56

book which is already complex. I mean, think about take

40:58

your left thumb rotate eighty to pick up

41:00

deck, four finger and middle finger grab alternating

41:02

quarters reverse spent, and I'm just like, and you're

41:05

trying to visualize this. I would go through

41:07

a book and I'd have to cross out all the rights

41:09

and put an L and then cross out all the l's and put

41:12

an R and do everything backwards, okay,

41:14

And then all of a sudden you start learning this trick and you think it's amazing,

41:16

and then you realize that the trick doesn't work if you're a lefty,

41:18

after you just spent six months trying to figure this out

41:21

working writing because the way the pips are on the cards, and then

41:23

you can't see the card. And I'm like, oh,

41:26

well, so you live and you learn, you know what I mean?

41:28

So, so are you amidextrous now with the card

41:30

tricks that you do?

41:31

No, I'm a lefty magician, but

41:33

I could play catch with you either way and you wouldn't

41:35

tell a difference. Like I could play catch with the right

41:37

or left handed. Like when I would warm vic up

41:39

before the game, I'd go out there like a lefty, you know, no big

41:42

out of it. I'd be a right no big d Okay.

41:45

So tell me what was it like? Was

41:47

it at this party? What was the first

41:50

like?

41:50

Tell me that feeling when you got the first like

41:52

great response from a crowd or a group of

41:55

people.

41:55

It was my magic.

41:56

It was my first love. That was my first

41:58

love, like it hits you. A

42:00

friend of mine, Steve Carlson's a musician, and.

42:02

I also want to know when did you

42:05

let the locker room know? Because not everybody

42:07

comes in like all right, dude.

42:08

So Bledsoe, you're ready for this. So

42:10

I signed with Buffalo and I'm a

42:12

big Bloodsoell fan because I was in Seattle. He was at Washington

42:15

State and I didn't watch a lot of football, but you knew Drew

42:17

Bledsoe. Yes, I mean, correct me if I'm wrong. One

42:19

hundred million dollar dude. You hear about this guy? I

42:21

mean. And so when we signed with the Bills,

42:23

he actually came up to me. He's like, hey, man, I know your

42:25

story. I remember your dad's trial because

42:27

I was in college. Wow, and he goes, I got

42:29

you. So I'm gonna say this right now.

42:32

He was a hero of mine, took care of me,

42:35

watched after me, and to this day

42:38

he'll hit me up. You good kid. To

42:40

this day, I love him. He's

42:42

my favorite superstar of all time. So Drew you're

42:44

the man. He comes up to me, he's like, hey, how

42:46

good are you? I'm like, I'm pretty decent.

42:49

Hey, can you like, you know, if I tell you to deal

42:51

some pokerans, can you deal? Deal?

42:54

Of course I can't. He goes, let's go. So I remember

42:57

we got around a room and I was just dealing,

42:59

you know, when we were tracking the money and who

43:01

was playing what, and I just made sure

43:03

everybody just lost their ass off. I mean it's

43:05

just like not even and Drew's just racking it. And

43:09

then we gave all the money back to everybody after they knew

43:11

what. Man, that was like twenty minutes that you see,

43:13

and dudes get so frustrated, like why I

43:16

imagine having a full house. But then he's got a full house that beats

43:18

you by one. You're like what and then he's got

43:20

one. He's got one. You're like what? You know what I mean?

43:22

Oh?

43:22

It was funny, man. You know, for me, magic

43:26

has been it's not the end

43:28

all right. So like you go see a show in

43:30

Vegas and there's magicians. The illusion is

43:33

the end all be all, so they're chasing a ghost.

43:35

But then what you find for me is that I don't. I don't.

43:38

I don't have a connection to the trick, right, It's cool?

43:40

Yeah, that was cool, you know Yeah? Okay. For

43:42

me, the magic's never been the end all be all. Instead,

43:44

it's it's my story behind it that

43:47

makes the point of the trick, which makes it relevant,

43:50

emotional, what makes people connect to it now they care

43:52

about it. So even when I was doing tricks,

43:55

trick was never the first thing. The first thing was

43:57

the connection that we're gonna have right here in this room. I'm

43:59

gonna make sure we have good time. I'm gonna make sure

44:01

you see something you've never seen before. But at the

44:03

end of the day, I want to make this something that you'll never forget.

44:06

When that's your first then the

44:08

trick is second man powerful.

44:10

So for me, even when I was doing

44:13

the tricks in the locker room, it wasn't about me trying to impress

44:15

you with my skill. It was about me just

44:17

trying to share a moment with you so we could

44:19

be friends. It was my icebreaker. And

44:21

what happened over time is all of a sudden, all the big timers,

44:24

right, they have their events. Torm Boss, what you doing? Okay?

44:27

I signed with the Buffalo bills. I'm

44:29

leaving utep I roll into Buffalo,

44:31

New York. Okay, now southern California, Texas.

44:34

Buffalo. Man, that's a hard place to play, bro,

44:36

And you're a snapper who's not even that good that weather, it doesn't

44:38

matter day one, check into the hotel

44:40

for the OTAs or whatever. What happens to the phone

44:42

in the hotel ring? Hey John? Yeah, Hey Jim

44:45

Kelly. I'm sorry, who

44:47

is Jim Kelly? Hey, coach approved it. I'm gonna

44:49

pick up in the morning. Will you do my golf tournament?

44:51

You can do some magic for all my friends. I'm like, yeah,

44:55

yeah, let me check my schedule.

44:57

Yeah, pretty much. Free. Limo roll

45:00

up? Okay, was this rookie year rookie

45:02

here my first twenty four hours leaving

45:05

college into an NFL environment, my first

45:07

eighteen hours. Are you ready for this? Limo rolls up?

45:10

Jim Kelly gets up. Okay, that's

45:12

that's really true? Is that Joe Montana?

45:15

Is that Darryl Talley, Bruce Smith, Thurman,

45:17

Thomas Drew Bledsoe, John Elway, what's

45:19

Dan Marino? What all these

45:21

guys? I literally got in there. I was like, hey Joe, but it's

45:24

John, Dude, I was you in six seventh

45:26

and eighth grade. Like literally, you know my buddy

45:28

Jacob he was he was Rice, I was Montana

45:31

and at recess we destroyed people. Bro, This is

45:33

insane. So yeah, my first eighteen hours I got to meet

45:35

all these guys. But it was the magic that was the icebreaker

45:37

that really got me in all these doors. Right

45:39

because now you're in the VIP with bon

45:42

Jovi, the flats when I was in Tennessee, all these country

45:44

guys. You know, now you're a football player, but now

45:46

you're entertaining the VIPs in the VIP

45:48

room. Yeah. So it's like, man two

45:51

marketing things that I think were brilliant. If any

45:54

if any other athletes are listening to this, this is brilliant right

45:56

here. One differentiate yourself

45:58

in the group so that when you're invited, you're not just the athlete, but

46:00

then you can yes something else. But here's number two, and

46:03

you guys can vouch for this. I'm gonna say ninety

46:05

nine percent of Big timers their signature is awful,

46:08

awful, Okay, very few Griffy

46:10

beautiful, right, beautiful signature,

46:13

Raddy Johnson, Jay Buner beautiful. So

46:15

i'd see and I love Donovan McNabb, but not

46:17

the neatest handwriting, right, But I'm like Deshaun

46:20

Jackson, Leshan McCoy. That's the name on the

46:22

ball that's getting displayed. So I worked

46:24

on my signature. Man, it is beautiful,

46:26

and I always signed it right underneath that big

46:29

timer. So now what happens is that big timer

46:31

name displayed in the case on the shelf, right, and

46:33

your eye can't help but go to that nice little penmanship

46:35

down there, Boom household name John Dornboss,

46:38

let's go. I like that. I

46:41

like that.

46:42

I want What I really want to know now is after

46:44

you get traded in twenty seventeen, you go

46:47

to the Saints, and then obviously your football career

46:49

it's it's no more because you had to have this heart

46:51

surgery. And then you get invited to Saint

46:53

excuse me, the Eagles. They go to the super

46:55

Bowl. Yeah, how special was it for

46:58

you to receive a ring and

47:00

watching it there in the owner's box and everything

47:02

like that? How special was that?

47:04

There's a story behind this that goes way

47:06

more than just being special. All

47:09

right, So I signed with the Eagles. I

47:11

go, I do a training camp, and then the next year, I get shingles

47:13

before training camp all in my face, so I can't

47:16

be in the sun. So what happens. It's like eight

47:18

let's call it eight oh nine. So I would run

47:20

out into and we were in Lehigh, Pennsylvania, one

47:22

hundred and five degrees. I'd run out snapfield goals,

47:24

stat punts, whatever, and then i'd have to go into the training

47:26

room or the equipment room and get out of the sun.

47:29

Well, that thing's air conditioned, bro, So this is amazing.

47:31

So what happens next year rolls around,

47:34

I'm on the field going I mean, they didn't really know if

47:36

I was here last year, Like they didn't really miss me last

47:38

year when I snuck out into that equipment room. I'm just gonna

47:41

see if I can hold that schedule for the rest of

47:43

my career. So they'd be practicing and

47:45

I would just start backing up because I'd have like an hour and a half

47:47

to doing nothing, and I just kind of disappear,

47:49

and then I'd find my way in the equipment room, take my pads

47:51

off, air conditioning donuts. So I'm just chilling for like

47:53

an hour and a half, bro, while everybodys at training camp grinding.

47:56

Well, what happens is Jeff Larry walks in.

47:58

He's the owner. Yeah, I ain't got a lot of one on one time with him

48:00

at the time. So he walks in. I jump out of my seat

48:03

and I start opening drawers because I'm clearly I'm

48:05

looking for a buckle, like buckle fell

48:07

off my uh shoulder pads. Jeff,

48:09

I'm just looking for one, you know, I didn't.

48:12

The biggest bait.

48:14

Was like the all time biggest

48:17

boat.

48:17

This gets better, bro, this gets better. So I

48:19

jump up. Now I'm opening drawers like I'm just

48:22

looking. Jeff, I'm just you know, handle my own business. I got

48:24

time, and literally goes, oh, that's funny.

48:26

I just come in here because it's air conditioned, and

48:28

dude, like a movie. I just pushed the drawer in and

48:30

I just real slow and I stood up and I go, no

48:33

kidding me too. I

48:35

have a seat. So so now

48:38

Jeff and I are chilling in the equipment room, right,

48:41

And that was like, I couldn't

48:43

tell you how many times Jeff and I sat

48:45

in that equipment room for about thirty forty

48:47

minutes, yeah, air conditioning, and talked

48:50

about everything other than football, just shooting

48:52

it shooting it right. So I remember one

48:54

conversation He's like, hey, man, you know,

48:56

how do you ever want to get into coaching. I was like, no, No,

48:58

that looks miserable to me. Man, but I love coaches, but that

49:00

looks miserable to me. Yeah, and he goes, yeah,

49:03

I could see that, and I go, so, Jeff, we got to

49:05

win a super bowli I'm a player, because if I don't get one

49:07

as a player, I'm never going to get one as a coach. And I don't

49:09

want to work in the front office. So let's just get this

49:11

ball movement if we could. Yeah, to get me a ring.

49:13

So we laugh. Man. Ten

49:16

years goes by, okay, and now all

49:18

of a sudden, I get traded Eagles. I

49:20

get traded, and I don't watch a game

49:22

for that whole season because I'm on meds. I'm just staring

49:25

at a wall. First game I watched was

49:27

the NFC Championship and the Eagles win.

49:29

They're going to the Super Bowl. So here's the deal. I

49:31

signed with the Eagles. I play every game for twelve

49:33

years, most consecutive games in Eagles history. They

49:36

trade me and then they go to the Super Bowl.

49:38

So I'm like, f that right, no way

49:40

come up. So all of a sudden, I get a phone call,

49:43

Hey, John, if we win, you're getting

49:45

a ring and we're inviting you and all this. And they actually

49:47

called me at the beginning of the season. Yeah, yeah, whatever, Well

49:49

now it's happening. So the night before the

49:52

game, Jeff says, would you attend this dinner

49:54

with my friends. I'm like, yeah, I got nothing going on. Yeah,

49:57

let's go. And so he goes, oh, my friend

49:59

is going to take stage and saying her name Sheryl Crow. I'm

50:01

like, okay, this is already cool. I'm in. So dinner

50:03

leaves, it's over, and I'm still out

50:06

of heart surgery. I still I'm a little

50:08

crowdphobia. I don't want to be bumped into. You're

50:11

still a little sore. So we waited till everybody

50:13

left this dinner, and then Jeff walks up, picks

50:16

his hat up, he sees me. He goes, John, Man, I

50:18

just want to tell you something. We're gonna

50:20

win this, and when we win, you're gonna get

50:22

a player's ring. It's gonna be for the twelve years

50:24

you put in helping change a culture. And

50:27

hey, by the way, kid, you're not playing,

50:30

you're not coaching, but you might just find

50:32

your way into a ring. And I was like, this

50:35

dude remembers the conversation we had ten years ago. So

50:37

all of a sudden, they win and a

50:40

couple months goes by, whatever, when you get the ring and

50:42

they gave it to me, and that's what he said, man,

50:45

So that ring means more to me now

50:48

than had I played. For multiple

50:51

reasons, one of reflection on who you were for twelve years

50:53

in a building and it matters. It

50:56

matters. He didn't have to do that. And

50:59

the other thing too, is there's a lot of big Eagles

51:01

fans in entertainment, and so I'll take a meeting

51:03

with some director or whatever and I just, oh,

51:06

you're an Eagles fan. Yes, So and so told me, hey, here's the ring.

51:08

Well what what?

51:09

Hey, just do me faith they're weird around. Just I'll get it from you

51:11

in a few months. And this dude, but two things

51:13

are happening, right. This dude's not taking that off

51:15

for however long he got it, bragging to

51:17

all his friends, and all of a sudden, dorm boss name

51:19

a conversation in the meetings. You know what I'm saying. Come on, let's

51:22

go on house and just solidify

51:24

a new meeting because I gotta go get my ring. So I just got my second

51:26

meeting with this guy.

51:27

He don't even know household name, but I like

51:29

it, John dornboss,

51:31

household name. Who

51:35

We like to ask a lot of our guests this mount

51:38

rushmore of the fluence. I was just

51:40

there, man, amazing, it is amazing.

51:42

It's amazing. It's way bigger than what you think

51:44

too. It's like high up there, it's big.

51:46

It's pretty cool. Yes, if

51:48

you could have a mount rushmore of influence, people that

51:50

have influenced you in your life on off

51:53

the field all together, you

51:55

got four.

51:56

Who's in that top four?

51:58

Man? I got four?

52:00

Yeah, now it's yours, so you can kind of we'll

52:02

let your remix it a little bit because just

52:05

in case you want to put crazy belling on there somewhere.

52:07

Well, like, there's a lot, but these

52:09

are four that come to mind. I

52:13

must say Griffy, but it's going to represent a lot of people.

52:16

When I was a kid, I was a Griffy fan. He

52:18

was my hero. But when I lost my parents,

52:21

the community donated tickets to the Mariners game, and

52:24

my sixth grade school teacher would drive me any games and I would

52:26

sit in section three or five of the Kingdom and I had a sign

52:28

that said I love you Griffy, and I had a glove, and

52:31

every game was the game Griffy was going to

52:33

look up and be like, oh my gosh, no,

52:36

are you kidding me? Storm Boss

52:38

here, seriously, Pewter, tuck that jersey in,

52:40

put your a game on, you know, like he was gonna call me

52:42

to warm them up. Yeah. In

52:44

that time, those guys went from

52:46

heroes to hope. Those guys

52:48

changed from being my heroes to me

52:51

hoping for a better life. And it was the whole.

52:53

It was the Mariners, it was every one of them. When I

52:55

became a pro in two thousand and three, I ran out of the tunnel

52:58

and all of a sudden, I ran and there was a guy that said, you know,

53:00

we had a sign that said bledsoe, and right

53:02

next to him was this little kid and it was me and

53:05

I say Griffy representing this time frame

53:08

because he gave me the greatest thing of my career,

53:10

and that is I didn't need pregame my

53:12

first game, I walked over to this kid. I said, hey, kid, I got a

53:15

huge problem. And the kid looked at me and goes,

53:17

here's the magic man.

53:20

The problem can you have? You know? And

53:23

I was like, no, it's a serious problem, kid, and you're the

53:25

only one that can help me out. He goes, what's

53:27

that look. I don't

53:30

want to be the one to say this, but I don't think anybody's good

53:32

enough here to warm me up. You think you can

53:34

help me out? What? And

53:36

so every game I played in Man, I brought a

53:38

kid and I played catch with a kid for just a few

53:41

minutes, and that was my moment. I

53:43

stole that moment from me and that was

53:45

me being everything I wish I

53:47

had to somebody else. Right,

53:49

it's me being this much better than where I come from. Parents

53:52

would take pictures, and what's really cool

53:54

is I told this story on a news thing

53:56

and then my friend said google it, and at

53:58

the time, all these parents were post pictures of me

54:00

and all these different stadiums playing catch with their kids, saying

54:03

thank you. I will

54:05

say that Griffy is one because it represents

54:07

a time of going from heroes to hope

54:09

and then ended up I could be something full

54:11

circle in life for other kids. My mom,

54:14

I would say, for sure, she's

54:17

who I look up to, she's who I talk to. I

54:19

believe that, you know, my opinion

54:21

of death has changed too to be able to cope with it.

54:24

And that is every relationship is like

54:26

a wave, and we're

54:28

all surfers in the ocean, and so every

54:30

wave is going to crash. Now

54:33

you might ride it a long time, you might not. But

54:35

what you got to do when that wave crash is you got to get up

54:37

and you got you gotta paddle out and catch another one and

54:39

enjoy the wave while you got it. And what I've

54:41

learned is that's with other people. That

54:44

that idea right there has allowed

54:47

me to be able to have closure with people and relationships

54:49

and situations, set boundaries

54:51

for myself, my family, with other people. But

54:54

it also helps me reevaluate

54:56

the relationship with myself that parts

54:58

of me can crash and that's okay, and I can battle

55:01

out and rediscover who I am in a different wave.

55:03

So I believe my mom

55:06

is in the wind and the rain in the ocean, and

55:09

she's the bird singing. So I would say her, then

55:12

I'm gonna go with h There was a financial

55:15

financial service speaker named Kevin Elko who

55:17

came up to me when I was with the with the with the bills,

55:20

and he goes, hey, you're the magic guy, right, You

55:22

know that little trick you do with one hundred dollars bill and the pencil

55:24

thing, you know. I go, yeah, I think it's pretty cool. He's like, yeah, yeah,

55:26

whatever. Will you just tell how you got into

55:28

colleg which is a whole different story, by the way, Tell the story

55:30

how you got into college and then do that trick for all

55:33

these bankers. I was like, cool. So he's

55:35

the first one that got me into the speaking business, and so

55:37

I did it, crushed it. And he goes,

55:39

I'm gonna give you two pieces of advice, kid. One,

55:42

don't ever book yourself as a magician ever again. You're

55:44

a speaker. My second advice to you is, don't

55:47

ever take any other advice from any other speaker besides

55:49

the advice I just gave you. That's the only advice you could take.

55:51

Okay. Good. And he took me around to this day

55:54

and that's opened a door of really taking

55:57

my love of magic and making a difference with it and

55:59

being proud of it performance that I do tigh

56:01

end my life story in the magic I learned along the way. So

56:04

I would say Kevin has been a big influence

56:06

on me as a person. And then

56:08

I'm gonna go with uh, man, I'm gonna

56:11

go with my wife, man. My wife's rock star. Man,

56:13

I'm gonna go with my wife one.

56:16

She is a stone cold fox. Like I'm

56:19

talking, she is banging bro and she is

56:21

ten times hotter on the inside than she

56:23

is the outside. Like she is the most warm

56:25

hearted, beautiful human

56:28

being. I've observed

56:30

that when she walks in a room, chicks want to hate

56:32

her because she's hot, but then

56:34

they love her because she's so nice. She's

56:37

so amazing. Uh. And she's

56:39

a breeder six footer, you know what I mean. So I got myself

56:41

a little little Meani, a little mini me. She's

56:43

uh. Our kid was nine to two. But

56:47

my wife has definitely been We met

56:49

a little bit later in life, and I

56:52

was married before. That was

56:54

a waste of time and I married somebody

56:56

that doesn't matter. But what I what I

56:58

learned from my first marriage. I

57:01

was proud of the husband I was, But what I learned from my first marriage

57:03

is everything. I'm not giving up about myself ever again.

57:06

I will not change this part of me. You

57:08

don't like it. I don't care who you are. I don't think we're

57:10

meantal world. We could be friends. It's all good. But like, if

57:12

you want to change this about me, we're good. And

57:15

everything that I think my ex wanted to

57:17

change is what she loved, everything that

57:19

made me me like I have changed at all.

57:22

I haven't changed at all for her except

57:24

in the good. And my in laws awesome,

57:27

dude. If we get a little tough, my in laws take my side

57:29

every time. I'm like, good, call you guys. Just bought yourself

57:31

two more nights at Casada dorm. Boss, you know what I mean. My

57:33

in laws are cool, man. I love my father in law, my mother

57:36

in law. So my

57:38

last one is my wife. That was probably a

57:40

very long answer. But you

57:42

want to know something. Can I tell you funny story? Do we got time here? Yeah?

57:44

This is a funny story. So hero is

57:46

Griffy okay in this hardcore. So I'm

57:49

gonna learn how to fly plane because I can fly myself to gigs.

57:51

Let's do this. So I'm researching he flies.

57:53

I'm like, oh, my gosh. This Him and

57:56

his dad are both pilots. So I'm like, this is gonna

57:58

be my because he flies to the plane. I want to fly. So

58:00

I go to dinner with Jamie Moyer that night in Philly. They're

58:02

friends. I bring it up. I was like, dude, I got

58:05

so many questions. Griffy flies like he's

58:07

a pile. Oh, Griffy loves flying. Like, yeah, I'll have him

58:09

reach out to you. I'm like, cool, taking taking

58:12

mine? I haven't. It's the day I decided

58:14

I want to learn how to fly. So I have no knowledge of flying. I don't

58:16

know anything about flying. Okay, but I'm gonna learn. I'm

58:19

driving home. I get home, I get to my cond and my phone

58:21

rings. He is this John. Yeah, hey man, it's

58:23

Junior. What. Yeah, this

58:25

is Junior Man. I got your number from Wyer. He said, you're getting

58:27

into flying, man. He said, you got questions like, hey, man,

58:29

welcome to the club. How can I help? My

58:31

whole childhood came back. Okay. Now, at the time

58:33

I made a couple of pro bowls, you might think I'm one of them. I

58:36

could not have had a bigger choke and embarrassing

58:38

moment in my life today. It

58:40

is awful. So I start sweating, heart starts racing,

58:43

and it's because I was. I just, I

58:45

just I was a twelve year old kid and

58:48

I did and I'm I'm I'm thinking he's gonna like,

58:51

in my mind, he's gonna call me to play catch. I'm like like,

58:53

all right, So this is what he says, Hey, man,

58:55

how can I help you? And I go, okay,

58:59

yeah, I got a question, so

59:01

like, how long would a flight

59:03

be? And

59:06

I'll never forget. He goes, well, usually

59:08

it's from the time I take off to

59:11

the time I land. And I was

59:13

like, right, totally,

59:17

So how long do you usually sit

59:20

in your plane? Terrible

59:23

question, bro, Hey, this is what he

59:25

says. He goes, usually

59:28

from the time I sit down to

59:31

the time I stand up, And I

59:33

go totally, that's

59:36

about all the questions I got for you. And I basically hung up

59:38

on him and I just freaked out. Right,

59:40

he uh, just to let you know, he has not returned my

59:42

text since then. And I promise

59:45

I'm way cooler than that. But my whole life,

59:47

my parents, just a lot of childhood such

59:49

just instead of just being like yo, man, you're

59:52

the man, dude, let me dive into this and I'm gonna

59:54

hit you back, but like love watching you play and

59:56

you're my hero, bro, so thank you for calling me. I

59:58

went the complete opposite reaction. Didn't

1:00:01

know what to do, didn't know what to say. And if I run

1:00:03

into him, I've never met him in person, but I'm gonna run into

1:00:05

him and he probably gonna come up to me and be like, yo,

1:00:08

you didn't you haven't killed yourself yet. Hey man,

1:00:11

this guy's still alive. This guy's an idiot,

1:00:14

you know. So yeah, that's that. But there

1:00:16

you go.

1:00:17

Hey man, that's that's that's the show.

1:00:19

I thank you.

1:00:20

I can't thank you enough for coming to the show. Blessings with

1:00:22

your story and just just yeah man, rapping one

1:00:24

is.

1:00:25

I want to say one more thing because I think this this

1:00:27

show, it's it's really cool that

1:00:29

it's it's at least for me, kind of showing

1:00:32

athletes in their second part of their career.

1:00:34

Yes. Yeah. And if there's any advice I can give those

1:00:36

young athletes or people that are watching

1:00:38

this, it's don't identify yourself

1:00:41

as one thing. I'll never forget my grandpa.

1:00:43

He's like, hey man, just be who you are and love what you do, and

1:00:45

one day you might be able to sit your grand kid

1:00:47

on your knee and tell them all the crazy stories. There's

1:00:49

a movie called Big Fish, Yeah, and the dad's dying

1:00:52

and his kid's trying to have this relationship with him, and the dad's

1:00:54

telling these crazy stories the two headed woman

1:00:56

and the monsters and the giants, and the kid thought

1:00:58

he was full of it. And then the funeral,

1:01:01

the two headed woman shows up and the giant the

1:01:03

mo like, So life

1:01:05

is romantic, is beautiful. Make these stories

1:01:07

as crazy as you can. Write a script in

1:01:09

your head that's absolutely outrageous and funny, because

1:01:11

who knows, it might just come true. But never,

1:01:14

I never wanted to be identified as a football player.

1:01:16

I just wanted to be identified as a guy that just shows

1:01:18

up, has fun, gives it everything I got, make

1:01:20

as many friends as I can so that one day, when

1:01:23

my time is done, hopefully my teammates

1:01:25

will be like, hey, man, that's a dude

1:01:27

that you'd hate to lose in every opponent.

1:01:30

Feared. Man, You're gonna win in life more than you're gonna

1:01:32

do that. So take everything you have, especially

1:01:34

as an athlete, and build on it. And when you're

1:01:36

done playing, don't be sad that you're done.

1:01:39

Don't have a loss of identity crisis.

1:01:41

Realize that you got such a head start on the mental preparation

1:01:43

that you have in life. Find your passion and apply

1:01:46

everything you've learned in life to that. And

1:01:48

man, go rocket, show the world which God there

1:01:51

it is.

1:01:51

That's why you were a speaker and not a magistic.

1:01:53

That's it, baby, like that? Right?

1:01:56

Hey, stay ready. You ain't ever

1:01:58

got to get ready. That's it.

1:01:59

I like it, all right. If you're not, this is you? Oh well

1:02:01

shoot it is me? Then all right?

1:02:02

Well look man, for all of our viewers, John,

1:02:05

thank you once again. Man, you showed out today. Man for

1:02:07

all of our viewers. Listeners out

1:02:09

there, give us a five star rating. Get

1:02:12

hit that hit that follow Bud, give

1:02:14

us a review, leave a comment wherever you could

1:02:16

listen or listen to or hear

1:02:18

or I view your podcasts. That where

1:02:21

this Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio.

1:02:24

Thanks guys for always tuning in. This is this

1:02:26

is my man, Peanut Tillman, John

1:02:28

dor and Boss and this is the NFL

1:02:30

Player Second Acts Podcast.

1:02:32

Thank you all for tuning in.

1:02:33

We out pres