0:07

The Season with Peter Schrager is a production

0:09

of the NFL in partnership with iHeartRadio.

0:23

What's up, everybody, Thanks for listening

0:25

to another episode of the Season with Peter Schrager.

0:27

I'm Peter Schrager. June has

0:29

begun, Minatory camps have

0:32

begun. Certain players are in camp getting

0:34

deals. Certain players are not

0:36

in camp and waiting for those deals

0:38

that would be like cde Lamb. We're

0:41

gonna get to the football in a little bit. Aaron wan

0:44

Kaufman is with me. Aaron, what's up? My friend?

0:46

Not too much?

0:47

I want to hear. Maybe I'm

0:49

jumping the gun here, but do you do anything

0:51

fun this weekend?

0:52

Peter, Yeah, let's let's get right into it. So this

0:54

is one of my favorite episodes annually, and we

0:56

did it last year the Big Slick

1:00

Weekend in Kansas City. Three

1:02

years ago, Paul Rudd invited me to

1:04

be a quote unquote soelebrity guests

1:07

at the Big Slick Weekend. I had no idea what

1:09

it was, but he's like, come for a weekend

1:11

in Kansas City. We're gonna, you

1:13

know, raise money for a children's hospital

1:16

and we're also going to have a softball

1:18

game on Kaufman Field. You're

1:20

gonna play on the field where the Royals played before the

1:22

game, and there's a big event at night. Just come have

1:25

fun and hang I'm like all

1:28

right. Since then, in three

1:30

years, this has become one of the most anticipated

1:35

events I'm my ear, but also one of the most

1:37

rewarding. And this year was insane.

1:40

Where do I want to start? Cut? Should we go through

1:42

just a little, like, you know, some of the highlights

1:44

and is that what you think? Just run it down because I'll tell

1:46

you there are some really cool

1:49

moments that I wanted to spotlight

1:51

and also some really cool people. So yeah, get

1:53

it, Like, yeah, your travel day to

1:55

day, let's go.

1:56

Yeah.

1:57

I fly in on Friday from Lakewardia

1:59

easy flight. Last year flight wasn't

2:01

as easy. It was delayed, then it was diverted to Detroit.

2:04

It was a whole mess. This year cleaning easy. Get

2:06

into Kansas City and I get off the plane and

2:10

get to the car, go to the hotel,

2:13

and the first person I see is Sean

2:15

Evans from Hot Ones, the host who

2:17

I have become very good friends with through

2:20

this big slick event. And two

2:22

of us are chopping it up and He's like, I've got

2:24

an amazing guest on this week, and

2:26

I'm stealing good coming off my recent podcast

2:28

with Justin Reid of the Kansas City

2:31

Chiefs two type super Bowl champion who won a chess tournament,

2:33

and I'm looking at Sean and I'm like, who

2:35

you got this week? And he's like Lewis

2:38

Hamilton F one champion and

2:40

a partial owner of the Denver Broncos.

2:42

I'm like, pretty good,

2:45

that's pretty good. Sean was going through

2:47

his schedule of the Hot Ones guests that they

2:49

have. It's pretty impressive, it really is. But

2:52

the two of us are laughing right away. And as we're laughing and having

2:54

a good time, we get tapped on the back and

2:56

it's weird Al Yankovic who's just arrived.

2:59

What's some weird Al no

3:01

accordion? And he was

3:03

there last year too, So the three of us are talking

3:06

like this is what big Slick Weekend

3:08

has become. Just like you don't know who's

3:10

going to walk through that door, and then they're gonna walk

3:12

through. So we get out, we get to

3:14

like a meeting spot, get on the van and

3:16

it's Paul Rudd, It's Jason Sadekas,

3:19

it's Tidy Gardner, who's amazing from SNL

3:22

and brought literally like ten

3:24

SNL colleagues with year, so I

3:27

gotta shout them out. This, Devin

3:29

Walker, who is one

3:32

of the new cast mates, is fantastic. Punky

3:34

Johnson is out of her mind and is fantastic.

3:37

James Austin Johnson who

3:39

does both Trump and Biden pretty

3:42

quiet, and then he gets into the character and he's incredible.

3:46

Molly Kearney fantastic, And

3:50

there were a few others that we got to know and they were all

3:52

awesome, So we got the whole SNL crew. I

3:55

get on there, it's Rudd, it's Sadakas we get to the

3:57

game, and the first person to tap me on the shoulder

3:59

and you're like, what's up man is Adam Scott, who

4:01

I think is one of the great actors of our

4:03

generation. Party Down one of my favorite

4:05

TV show of all so underrated, and

4:08

I was telling him, I'm like, the clip of you singing

4:10

sweet Child of Mine with the family and step

4:12

brothers was recently making the rounds again and I'm

4:14

like, it's maybe the perfect comedic

4:17

scene. And Adam was telling me he's got a fifteen year old

4:19

kid and a seventeen year old kid, and

4:21

of course Adam Scott, you're not sure who

4:24

parks and recreation and party down and all

4:26

the Appatow movies. And he's like, I got a

4:28

fifteen year old and a seventeen year old and he's like, I

4:30

hadn't seen step Brothers in ten years. He's like, I typically

4:32

do not watch my own shows. I put

4:35

it on. He's like, we're laughing hysterically.

4:37

He's like, I'm so proud of that movie and

4:39

my kids loved it. I'm like, that's great.

4:41

So we have this softball game

4:44

and it's the Impractical Jokers are all there

4:46

and Tech nine,

4:48

the rapper from the from the Kansas City

4:50

area. It's fantastic. He's

4:53

there, Al Roker, George

4:56

Went, Jeffrey Ross,

4:58

the Roastmaster, Robert

5:00

Smigel. You go down the

5:02

list of just people that I've just long

5:04

revered softball

5:06

game. It's incredible. What the coolest part though, is at

5:09

night we go back to the

5:11

hotel and you get back to the hotel

5:13

and they rent out one of the floors of

5:15

the hotel and there's a suite and the sweet is

5:17

from like nineteen seventy five,

5:20

and it's this giant, like four

5:22

thousand square foot suite and there's

5:25

there's karaoke, there's a bar.

5:27

There's a magician, Blake Vote, who's

5:30

fantastic and he's doing magic tricks,

5:33

and it's it's literally like, you

5:35

know, I'm not gonna say it's

5:38

I'd never been to a Hollywood party, but like,

5:40

this is what I imagine them being in the nineteen eighties, when

5:42

it's like there's Magic Johnson, there's

5:44

Patrick Swayze, there's Eddie

5:47

Murphy, there's Kurry Abdul Jabbar,

5:49

you know, like and oh there's Steve Sachs

5:51

from the Dodgers. Like just sports world

5:53

combining with pop culture, combining

5:56

with comedy, like real hardcore

5:58

comedy. Chops. Smigel's

6:01

like carrying around Triumph at this thing,

6:03

so he's got Triumph the insult Tom mcdonal

6:06

like around like is

6:08

he like interacting with people as trying Yeah?

6:11

Wow, And it's

6:13

amazing. But then there's karaoke

6:17

and Paul Rudd gets up there on karaoke after

6:19

like everyone's doing like the practical jokers are

6:21

saying like Billy Joel, and then you've got some of the Sturday

6:23

Live folks they're singing Journey.

6:26

Then Paul Rudd gets up there and sings Lady in Red,

6:29

Lad, I don't know if you know, Lady

6:31

and Red. Yeah,

6:34

so earnest about it and

6:36

so like just like heartfelt

6:39

that. Yeah, it was. It's it's

6:41

incredible. So we're up and people are drinking,

6:43

and it's like it's it's getting to be

6:45

midnight. It's getting to be one o'clock, it's getting to

6:47

be two o'clock. I'm hanging out with Will Forte,

6:50

who I think mcgruber is the funniest

6:52

dude alive, and we're having it's

6:54

two thirty, it's three o'clock and now here's the crux

6:56

of it. At seven am,

6:58

I agree to run a five K, so

7:02

I'm looking at the clock. Sean Evans also signed up

7:04

for it. We're like we're doing this. I'm like, we're doing this. So

7:07

at some point between Lady in Red

7:09

and then RTT Veach to General Manager of

7:11

the Chiefs nearly losing his mind over

7:14

a magic trick involving, you

7:16

know, a dec of playing cards, I'm like, this

7:18

is all like in my head. The night

7:20

comes to an end and I have to wake up and

7:22

run this five K. So the alarm goes

7:25

off at six am. Right

7:27

outside the hotel is the starting line, and I look at

7:29

it and I hear people getting ready. I'm like, am I gonna do this? Am

7:31

I not gonna do this? And I

7:33

thought back to what happened the night before.

7:35

I told my son Mel that

7:38

I was gonna run a five k, and I thought, I can't

7:40

go back home

7:42

and say I had this amazing weekend. He asked me, well, would

7:44

you run the five k in? And me say, well, I slept

7:47

through it like it's just bad parenting her. I can't

7:49

do that. So

7:51

I got out there. My

7:53

good buddy Brad g from the Chiefs,

7:56

got my little penny and my number,

7:58

gave it to me. And then sure enough, at six point fifty

8:00

nine, I get a text the thing is starting at seven Sean

8:03

Evans, host of hot Ones. It's like, I'm right

8:05

here by the porta pot If you want

8:07

to run with me. I'm like, he's up to and

8:10

we do it. We run it. I ran it in about

8:12

thirty minutes. I think I ran it in like twenty nine minutes.

8:15

Was feeling grate. Finished

8:17

up the five K, and I'm like, all right, I'm ready.

8:19

This is the greatest you know, twenty four

8:22

hours ever. I'm hanging out with weird Al, I'm

8:24

cutting it up with Tech nine and

8:27

I'm running a five k like well, but

8:29

the best part is still coming. It's the trip

8:31

to the hospital. And I

8:33

know it sounds

8:36

really like heavy,

8:38

and it sounds like such

8:40

a difficult thing, but we go and we visit in

8:43

groups at

8:45

the bedside all of the patients

8:47

who are staying at Children's Mercy Hospital. It's

8:49

an amazing place. It's it's

8:52

strictly pediatric cancer and

8:54

it's kids and families from all over

8:56

who come in and try to get the best treatment possible.

8:59

And this event. Every proceed every dollar

9:01

they make, whether it be selling extra tickets

9:03

for the softball game or the event they do

9:06

on Saturday night, it all goes

9:08

to Children's Mercy. And this year they

9:10

opened the Big Slick Auditorium,

9:13

which is like a new addition

9:15

in a wing to the hospital that was named in honor

9:17

of a Big Slick For all the money that they've put in and

9:20

their contributions. And I'm

9:22

not kidding, Aaron, it's like selfishly,

9:25

it's one of the greatest therapeutic things

9:27

you could possibly do is go visit

9:30

a children's hospital, and especially if

9:32

you're someone who can potentially

9:34

make a connection with a kid, and whether you're volunteering

9:37

or whatever. For us, my

9:39

group was Sean weird

9:42

Al, who a lot of the parents knew, but not

9:44

many of the kids. And then the

9:47

magician Blake and you know, they

9:49

come in. They don't the kids seven eight years old.

9:51

He might know me from Good Morning Football, he might

9:53

not. He might know my voice whatever weird

9:55

Al. The parents know Sean

9:57

Evans, they probably don't know from Hot Ones. But like,

10:00

if you tell him this is he does a show

10:02

with whatever. The magician

10:05

Blake against Blake Vogt.

10:08

Like I've never seen

10:11

a child light up the way

10:13

they light up from a magician's

10:16

craftsmanship. He's doing card tricks

10:20

that I blow me away. But

10:22

the kids are over the

10:24

moon and they love it. And it's just

10:28

the feelings I had in there. And I have a seven year

10:30

old son obviously, who knock on Wood

10:32

is in great health. You

10:34

can't help as a parent or as anyone.

10:37

Just like put yourself in the shoes of the other parents, or

10:39

put yourself in the shoes of the kid and realize

10:41

for those few hours. Aunt Man

10:43

is coming through and is hanging with them. Been

10:47

and Gayton from

10:50

Stranger Things are with us. They're

10:52

coming through, and the kids they love

10:54

that show Robert Smigel's

10:57

The Voice of Leo, which is a huge hit movie

10:59

on Netflix that all the kids are watching animated. He's

11:01

coming through and then you've got

11:04

musicians, You've got me and like

11:07

these kids they light

11:09

up, and I just I get so emotional

11:11

thinking about it. But it's like the highlight of the year

11:14

for me, like to be able to co in and

11:16

make these kids and make these families days

11:19

a little better, which leads to the

11:21

following few hours. I

11:24

know, it sounds like a travel log, like I'm Anthony Bourdain

11:26

here. One of Paul

11:28

Rudd's college roommates is a guy named James,

11:33

and James owns a

11:36

restaurant called Charbar, and

11:38

it's one of these hot barbecue spots in Kansas

11:40

City and Charbar has the best burn ends in Kansas

11:42

City. It's one of these places you wait online and all this stuff.

11:45

He threw out the offer, you know, if anyone wants

11:47

to go and have barbecue for lunch after

11:50

the children's hospital, Like we're getting a group

11:52

together. We had the most random,

11:54

most hilarious crew. Richard

11:57

Christy from The Howard Stern Show. I don't know

11:59

if you're a Stern listener, Aaron, but Richard Christy

12:02

is one of my favorite people on the show.

12:04

And he is an

12:06

incredible human being with a his sense

12:08

of humor and his print calls and be his knowledge

12:11

of death metal, like he goes deep on

12:13

death metal and it's a drummer. So he's incredible.

12:16

Richard Christy, Jeff Ross, the roast Master,

12:18

and then like the cast and crew of

12:21

Saturday Night Live, and then Blake who

12:23

he and I became fast friends, the magician. We all go

12:26

and we're eating barbecue and we got the meat sweats and

12:28

it's incredible and people are coming over and they're

12:30

saying hello, we're taking photos. But the

12:33

evening is where it all goes down. So they

12:35

rent out the t Mobile Center, they sell tickets

12:38

and it's it's I

12:40

got to like witness, like

12:43

incredible comedy

12:45

moment. And this was George

12:48

Went who played Norm on

12:50

Cheers. Okay, George

12:52

Went, Robert Smigel, all

12:54

right, and then Jason

12:57

Sudeikis, who was playing Chris Farley's

13:00

character, on Ozempic doing

13:02

the Bears skit from

13:05

Saturday Night Live and O guess who joined

13:07

them Kelsey and Mahomes

13:09

And it was hilarious,

13:11

like you'd hear that and you'd be like, why

13:14

ruin that that bit. It's the first time they've all

13:16

done it together since Farley's passing,

13:19

and they were amazing

13:21

in character, not on startin Night Live, in

13:23

front of this and the jokes were hilarious, like

13:26

they were people Magazine picked it up out

13:28

of context, but like sadekas

13:30

As, Farley's character on Ozempic

13:33

is asking, is asking Travis

13:35

Kelsey when he's gonna make an honest woman out of Taylor Swift

13:37

and I'm dying. I'm like, it's tremendous,

13:39

like this is great, and he's like, you

13:41

know, he's like, I know your kicker would

13:44

approof of that question, like hilarious jokes,

13:46

like it was great, and then Mahomes comes

13:48

in and he's fantastic and they're

13:50

talking about how, you know, the sphere

13:52

in Las Vegas is great, but you know, Chicago's

13:55

working on the quaff and it's because thick

13:57

as hair and there's gonna be right in the middle of town

13:59

and there's gonna be concerts on it. They're

14:01

awesome. Mahomes and Kelsey come

14:04

roaring out and like at this

14:06

event, here's who we have. We have stand

14:08

up from Kumail

14:11

help me with the last night. Yeah,

14:13

he was incredible and he's cool ash like

14:16

he's quiet, humble, awesome,

14:18

all right, Kumail Fortune

14:20

Feinster, who's big on Netflix

14:23

if you see any of this stuff, like

14:26

hilarious. Jeffrey

14:28

Ross did an absolutely hilarious

14:30

slash filthy stand up

14:33

routine in front of a crowd of Aaron's

14:37

and children. Pat is like,

14:40

so Jeffrey Ross and amazing three

14:42

of them do stand up comedy. David Cook

14:44

from American Idol performs. Kevin

14:47

Morby, I don't know his work before, this incredible

14:50

musician from Kansas City. He performs, and

14:52

then Cheryl Crowe performs

14:55

as well, and she was unbelievable.

14:57

Cheryl crow who was leaving here then

14:59

going and doing a concert in Hawaii immediately after,

15:02

like the life that she's living still as

15:04

a rock and Roll Hall of Famer is the rock star

15:06

line if it's so cool? But then it

15:08

comes to my moment in the show and

15:11

they asked us if we want to submit auction

15:13

items because these auction items can go for real money.

15:15

There's some big, big money people involved with

15:17

this hospital, and you

15:20

know who am I. You know, a couple of

15:22

years ago, I submitted a cool

15:24

one that you know, you could pay to

15:27

announce the Chief's Day three draft

15:29

pick, whether it be fourth, fifth, sixth, or

15:31

seventh round at the draft when it was in Kansas

15:33

City. And I did that with the NFL Events team

15:35

and it was great. The guy who won it, they said,

15:37

Okay, you're gonna do the seventh round pick. Well, Kansas City trades

15:39

their seventh round picks. She never got to

15:41

do it, but he got to hang

15:44

backstage and got to be a part of it and

15:46

was like so happy that he won that auction item. Great.

15:48

Took a year off last year because I was like, I have nothing.

15:51

I don't know. This year, I

15:53

got ahead of it. I want

15:55

to thank Peter O'Reilly and

15:57

Matt Shapiro, who work in the NFL Events

16:00

team. I reached out to them early on and

16:02

I'm like, guys, what can we provide

16:04

that is a really cool, unique experience

16:07

that someone can't just buy. And every

16:09

year before Week one, you

16:12

know, the Chiefs already we know are hosting the Ravens.

16:14

Every year before Week one, they

16:17

do a VIP tailgate. Now, it used

16:19

to be a concert, like Ed Sheeran did a concert

16:21

one year. I want to say

16:23

the Chainsmokers might have done a concert one year. They

16:26

do this concert. Well, this year

16:28

they're not doing a concert, and I think part of it is

16:30

because there's also a game in Brazil

16:32

on Friday, and it's like, we're gonna make it

16:34

like tailgate week or kickoff

16:36

week. But they're doing a VIP dinner

16:39

which is not open to the public. It's like to certain

16:41

you know, people that are partners with the league and

16:43

of course some league executives and I'm sure people

16:46

that are local to Kansas City and maybe Baltimore.

16:48

So we got tickets to that. We

16:50

also got four tickets to the Pro Bowl games,

16:53

which sounds like it's very cool. Now that

16:55

alone is a nice item. It's not going to blow

16:57

anyone away, you know, but it's it's pretty cool.

16:59

It's there two really cool experiences, and I'm so appreciative

17:02

for that. I then went to Brett Veach, the general

17:04

manager of the Kansas City Chiefs, and I said, hey, look, it's

17:06

like, you know what this means to the town and to the children's

17:08

Marcy, what can you do, feachays, how about

17:11

I give my four seats in

17:13

my suite for week one where

17:15

we're raising the banners. I'll give those four tickets,

17:18

so you get those four tickets, And how abould I also give

17:20

four pregame passes where you can walk up

17:22

and down the chief sideline as they're raising

17:24

the banners before week one.

17:27

I'm like, that's amazing. So now

17:29

we've got this awesome item, this awesome item, come

17:31

to it. They're like, Peter, why don't you present it on

17:34

Saturday night? Like you could be the one with the microphone.

17:36

Great, so cool. As

17:39

we're doing all that, Veach the night

17:41

before after a few drinks,

17:43

you know, comes up to me, He's like, I feel like I can offer

17:45

more. I'm like, Brett, you've done enough, Like we're

17:47

good. He's like, I feel like I can offer more. He's like he

17:50

had just flown in, like they flew to the White

17:52

House. They then flew back from the

17:54

White House, and Brett came immediately to like go drink

17:57

with Paul Rudd and Sidekis and be like up in this

17:59

like suite. So Veach is like, what

18:01

if like Travis and Patrick

18:04

did something, And I'm like, no, totally, that's great,

18:06

like anything with those guys, like all right, let me work on it.

18:08

So then the night of this

18:12

bag appears in the green room

18:14

and it's handed to me and it's a

18:16

game worn Kelsey jersey

18:18

and a game warn Mahomes jersey and

18:20

I'm like what do I do with these? And they're like, well, Brett

18:23

said to like get the guys to sign this and it'll

18:25

be part of the auction. And I'm like, all right, that's cool.

18:27

So we're doing the auction item and it's like we're

18:29

in it and stone Street's great and Wriggles great,

18:32

We're they're getting the crowd going and it kind of

18:34

lattaus out where the auctioneer is like, all right, for

18:36

fifty grand, you get this great package that the

18:38

seats and I'm looking into the crowd and it's kind of tapering

18:40

off, and then like out

18:43

of like the heavens,

18:45

Mahomes and Kelsey come from backstage

18:48

and like walk on with me, and

18:51

Mahomes and Kelsey are like, come on, we could do better than

18:53

this. We could do better this. They're getting the crowd going

18:55

and everyone's like, all right, seventy five grand, eighty

18:57

grand. And then I'm like, I'm

18:59

like, all right, the Pro Bowl guys, you know, thirty

19:01

one other teams, their best players are going to be there. And

19:03

then like Mahomes grabs the microphone, are like, we're not going

19:06

to the Pro Bowl, We're going to the Super

19:08

Bowl. Like it's like completely going, and everyone's

19:10

like yeah, So it's getting crazy. Then

19:14

Stone Street has the idea of, hey, let's

19:16

break out these jerseys. Let's

19:18

have the guys put them on, and

19:21

then let's have them personally sign them for

19:23

the winners. So we then, like

19:25

a NASCAR team, put the jerseys

19:27

on Mahomes and Kelsey and they're

19:30

up there and they're getting the crowd going and the bidding

19:32

starts going nuts, and they're gonna

19:34

sign it personally. Game warn jerseys from the season

19:36

before, and they're both in them, and Mahomes

19:38

is hilarious. He's like, you know, this is my dad

19:41

bod because it's so tight and his belly's

19:43

like hanging out, and then Kelsey's like it's I'm

19:45

not a dad, but this is my thirty five year old

19:47

bod and it's the same thing, and it's like snug

19:49

whatever. So it starts going and it's

19:51

like seventy five hundred, one hundred and

19:53

twenty one aaron. The item goes

19:55

for two hundred and fifty thousand

19:58

dollars. Quarter

20:01

of a million dollars. This

20:03

thing goes for and the guy who wins

20:05

it, we bring the family right up there. They're

20:07

posing for photos with Kelsey and Mahomes.

20:11

Kumel is right after me and is like, I'm

20:13

from Chicago. I've never been to Kansas

20:15

City, but apparently you pay a quarter million dollars

20:18

for shirts. It's

20:20

like dying laughing, great

20:24

tremendous night, and we wrap it up. There's

20:26

barbecue afterwards. So like my stomach was in

20:28

shambles the next morning. But I do want to give you

20:31

one last little nugget of maybe

20:33

the funniest thing I've ever seen in

20:36

person and the funniest clip

20:38

I've ever seen on a phone. So

20:41

we're at a hotel and there's an indoor fountain

20:43

in the hotel and it's attached to a shopping mall in

20:46

Kansas City. So this mall and this thing is

20:48

from the seventies, like some of the guys who volunteer

20:50

were like, I had my prom photos there

20:52

in the eighties, Like, that's that fountain.

20:55

It's probably disgusting. People put coins

20:57

in it. Who knows what fluids are in there. Jake

21:00

Tapper from CNN is

21:04

part of the Weekend and he challenges

21:06

Will Forte, the comedian, one

21:09

thousand dollars donation. He's I'll put

21:11

one thousand dollars donation to Big Slick if

21:13

you swan dive into that disgusting

21:16

fountain. Will Forte

21:18

proceeds to remove his shirt,

21:21

remove his shoes, go

21:23

in with his shorts and socks

21:26

into a fountain that

21:29

has probably not been washed in many, many

21:31

years. He not only goes underneath the

21:33

water, he takes and starts swimming

21:35

laps, and then he sings James

21:37

Ingram's just Once while

21:39

the fountain is drizzling

21:42

water over his head. I have this all on my phone.

21:44

It's the funniest two minutes you'll ever see. And it

21:46

is absolutely insane,

21:49

And that is Big Slick

21:51

in a nutshell. You get the singing

21:53

of just Once, Lady

21:55

in Red and then also you're raising four

21:58

million dollars for a hospital

22:00

in Kansas City. I love the weekend. I'm so

22:02

honored to be a part of it, and I hope I can continue

22:05

to be a part of it. Thank you to everyone who's

22:07

involved. And Aaron, that was

22:09

my weekend.

22:11

Sounds pretty good. I saw

22:13

furiosa, but you know.

22:16

Also great, also great.

22:19

I spent the first

22:22

six years out of college working at a

22:24

Schulden's hospital, and I know how yep,

22:26

and I know how important that

22:28

is, especially working with I was at Children's

22:30

cancer center actually, and oh my god, a

22:34

lot of time I did a bunch of like going

22:36

to patient rooms playing music and

22:39

like how important that is to

22:41

them, and like also shout out

22:43

to all the child life specialists and then

22:45

nurses and doctors everyone who works

22:47

with.

22:47

Us, talking about just a noble work.

22:50

Yeah, and it's so heavy, and like I

22:53

was talking to one of the nurses and I'm like in my head,

22:55

I'm like, she puts her head down at night and goes

22:57

to sleep knowing she made a difference

22:59

every single day. Like that's the ultimate gift,

23:02

you know.

23:02

Yeah, Yeah,

23:04

but yeah, I mean some awesome

23:07

work that they've done and amazing

23:09

raising so much money for those kids.

23:11

And it's been a pipeline for this podcast. We've

23:13

had stone Street, We've had

23:15

Rudd, We've had Sean Evans, we've had Plenny

23:18

and maybe we'll get Kelsey in my home.

23:19

Seems like this season we're going to need

23:21

to do a musical episode where like we just have

23:23

a bunch of guests.

23:25

Kevin Murby, does that name anything to you, Kevin,

23:27

I've heard the name. I don't know any of his music,

23:29

but my god, so he's

23:32

an awesome dude, great musician.

23:34

And then I started going into a wormhole of his music

23:36

since I've been back, and it's like incredible.

23:39

So that's it. Picked that up, all

23:42

right. So going from tight end Travis

23:44

Kelsey to another great tight end and a

23:46

friend of mine. Our guest this week is

23:49

the great Greg Olsen. Let's bring him

23:51

on our

23:58

guests this week. Is one of my favorite people, not

24:00

only in sports media but just in general.

24:03

We have the best time when we talk, and

24:05

we haven't in a while. We had him on during the season,

24:07

and since then he has won Best

24:10

Analyst at the Sports Ed means we're not going to harp

24:12

on that too much. He's too humble for that. But let's bring in

24:14

Greg Olsen, former Carolina Panthers

24:16

Legend, Chicago Bear Legend, and now TV

24:19

Superstar. W what's up Greg?

24:20

Somebody? How are you?

24:22

I'm doing awesome? I real quick on the Emmy.

24:24

Just congratulations, man.

24:25

Like it's I appreciate it.

24:27

It's one of those deals where you don't you

24:29

tell yourself you don't need validation, and then I'm sure you

24:31

hear your name called and you look at your peers and you say,

24:34

for a second, I can appreciate us. How cool it is

24:37

it was.

24:37

I mean, anytime you're nominated, right, Chris

24:39

collins Worth, Troy aik Man, I mean John

24:42

Smoltz, I mean Bill Raftury. I mean, these

24:44

guys are legends. They've been doing

24:46

this for a long time, and especially obviously

24:48

in the NFL circles with Troy

24:50

and Chris. I mean they they called my games

24:53

when I was a rookie, you know, twenty

24:55

years ago.

24:55

So it's it's pretty cool, and listen

24:58

it.

24:58

I had a guy to a teammate tell me

25:00

this a long time ago. He says, no matter how old you

25:02

get, you're never too cool for a pat,

25:05

you know, for an atta boy, you know, a pat on the

25:07

back.

25:07

Or everyone likes to be told good job.

25:09

Everyone likes to have, you know, confirmation

25:11

that the hard work is paying off, whether you're a high

25:13

school kid or a forty year old adult.

25:15

I think everyone likes it, so listen. It

25:17

was cool, it was fun, It was a great experience. I had never

25:20

been to the Emmys before. I didn't go last year

25:22

and told myself, you know, the next time I was nominated,

25:25

I would go. Me and my wife had a great couple of days

25:27

in the city enjoying that, and.

25:29

It was awesome.

25:30

Who is the coolest person you met that you'd never met

25:33

before at the sportsmes?

25:35

Oh, that's a great question, you know, I met, you

25:37

know, it's it's super cool because you walk into

25:39

the room obviously, I'm sure

25:41

you know, like you walk into the room.

25:43

The cocktail hour before.

25:44

Cocktail hour was great. My big regret is that

25:46

we didn't get to the cocktail hour early enough.

25:48

We went, we went for dinner at the hotel, and it always

25:50

takes longer to get everywhere in New York than

25:52

you plan, and I wish I would have

25:54

had like another thirty forty minutes

25:57

of the cocktailer because you're just getting going, you have

25:59

a cocktail, you're shaking hands,

26:01

you're seeing people that you've either you've

26:03

met before but you haven't seen

26:05

him in a while, or just people you've watched

26:07

on TV. Right, Ernie Johnson, Right, I've seen

26:09

him a thousand times doing

26:11

NBA games, obviously college basketball and everything

26:14

they do, and that show's awesome, and

26:17

yeah, you have a chance to shake his hand and

26:19

ask him how he was doing and learn. So, you

26:21

know, just people that you see on TV all the time,

26:23

you feel like you know them, but you

26:25

never have actually been in the same room as them. So

26:28

it was a lot of really cool, interesting people

26:30

there. Some I had met a bunch

26:32

and others, you know, like Ernie for

26:34

the first time, so it was it was super cool.

26:37

I'll never forget. We got nominated for Good Morning Football

26:39

couple of years in a row, so I got to go to a few and

26:41

we're in the cocktailer and it's actually the year we ended up winning,

26:43

and we're staying there and I get a tap on the shoulder from this

26:46

really tall guy and at first it's jarring because

26:48

I did not know how tall he was in person. And he's

26:50

like, hey, I know, we're competition and we're nominated,

26:52

and you guys are nominated, but I am just such a huge fan

26:54

of your work. And I looked up and it was Scott

26:56

Van Pelt. So for all the years that we've been doing

26:59

this, I'd never seen him in person, and

27:01

I'd never worked with him, and I'd

27:03

never actually been in the room with him. So

27:05

I was I mean, even me who's been in this

27:07

for a while, like to see one of these guys

27:10

in persons like, Oh, you're like a real life person, You're not just

27:12

on my TV.

27:13

Yeah, well it's funny along those lines.

27:15

I'm in the bathroom like they're they're whisking all

27:17

of us like out of the cocktail hour and

27:19

trying to get us into the auditorium the you know, the

27:21

theater or whatever. And I'm

27:23

coming out of the bathroom. There's like a line of a handful of

27:25

guys and I thankfully wash my hands or

27:27

everybody's watching you, so you wash your hands. And

27:30

as I'm walking out, I see Jay Wright.

27:33

And I had never met Jay Wright before, but he

27:35

was there.

27:36

But now you're like.

27:37

In the bathroom, so like the most

27:39

like it is it weird

27:42

for anyone who has ever met someone or like

27:44

had someone say hello to them in the bathroom,

27:46

like you just got done taking a leak.

27:48

Yeah, and you know you're meeting Jay.

27:50

Wright in like an auditorium

27:52

bathroom as a bunch of guys who are taking a leak

27:54

before the show starts.

27:55

So it's it's you

27:58

know, all that stuff is very unpredictable.

28:00

Did you have any say in what they

28:02

submitted? Like Good Morning Football

28:04

gets a submission, but I didn't see

28:06

what like the final cut was, Like I am a

28:09

control freak with my own stuff. This is your nay,

28:11

like I was as an individual. I had nothing

28:13

to do with it, but like, do you have final cut

28:15

of like what they submit to the Emmys?

28:18

They did, So it's it's funny you asked that because my first

28:20

year I did not, right. So you

28:22

know when Jacob Olman, who kind of heads up a lot of the production

28:24

teams or whatnot, he called me two years

28:27

ago, you know I, well, I

28:29

guess my first year was like emerging break out

28:31

Star, emerging whatever it's called.

28:33

I didn't win.

28:35

Then my year two, same category,

28:37

emerging break you know whatever did

28:40

win. This never had seen

28:42

my reels for those I had no idea what they

28:44

what they submitted or anything. But then this

28:47

year it was a new category. You know, this is

28:49

like no more like emerging, like you have to be in with

28:51

all the big boys.

28:52

Now this is the emerged.

28:53

Yeah, yeah, you've already have the merged.

28:56

And and I did

28:59

actually see it. So Jacob was cool enough.

29:01

He shared, they have a whole team at Fox. They do an

29:03

unbelievable days. They

29:05

are incredible, and I I watched it and

29:07

I was like, if I was watching

29:09

that, that guy's pretty, you.

29:10

Know, like

29:12

that guy's good.

29:13

You know, he does a great job putting that together.

29:15

So it was cool, and so

29:18

I did see it. I don't think I gave

29:20

them any feedback. I don't think I said do this

29:22

that I don't Sometimes I don't remember.

29:24

What I said.

29:24

If you told me what was the best thing

29:26

you said in the NFC Championship game, I'd be like, I don't

29:29

remember who played, you know what?

29:30

I like, I don't know.

29:31

I just make it up as they go. But they

29:34

obviously did a good job and very

29:36

fortunate to uh let me hear your name

29:38

called.

29:39

Does the last year's Super Bowl? Did that qualify

29:42

for this year's tape?

29:44

That's a really good question. My assumption

29:47

is it ends this season,

29:49

So my guests would be the

29:51

playoffs of this past season, probably

29:54

the Packers versus I think.

29:56

My Super Bowl.

29:58

Yeah, my super Bowl I called went

30:00

into like when I was like emerging, like the two

30:03

years ago.

30:04

Yeah ago, you were

30:06

awesome in that Niners Lions game. But

30:08

I remember the Packers

30:10

Niners game, right, you

30:13

were on that call, alls.

30:14

Yeah, we had Packers Niners in the divisional

30:16

round.

30:16

And Party made all those big clutch plays

30:18

and you were you were fantastic in that final

30:21

drive. And I'm assuming that's probably what Jacob

30:23

was baking of.

30:24

Yeah. I think it was a lot of playoff stuff.

30:26

And you know, those are the moments,

30:28

right, those are the moments everybody wants you.

30:30

Well, you guys didn't have a good game the first ten

30:32

weeks of the season. You guys had blowout each every week.

30:35

We have this funny like group like

30:37

group text thread of you know, production guys

30:39

and Aaron and Tom and Kevin and myself

30:41

and the guys in the truck and researchers

30:44

and is like this big group chain. And every

30:46

week Jarrett, the research guy

30:48

at Fox who's unbelievable what he does. Jarrett

30:51

would send hey, just

30:53

updating America's game of the week. Average

30:56

margin of victories twenty two point three

30:58

points. We have not We've had one

31:00

game within fourteen points in the fourth

31:02

quarter.

31:03

We're like, thanks, Jarrett, We're well you know,

31:05

we're well aware.

31:06

You know.

31:06

It was just blowout after blowout after

31:09

blowout, and then playoffs

31:11

came and it caught fire and we

31:13

just had game after game after game. The NFC

31:15

Championship was awesome. So the

31:17

playoffs made up for what was a

31:20

very weird regular season because we didn't

31:22

have a ton of like thrillers.

31:24

We had won early.

31:25

We had Detroit lost to Seattle in Week

31:27

two in an overtime game that was awesome,

31:31

and we had a couple here and there. We just didn't

31:33

have a lot of drama at the end. So the playoffs

31:35

definitely made up for it.

31:36

McCaffrey got this new deal. I saw you liked

31:39

his video on Instagram. Now I'm

31:41

a new Instagram user. I can see who likes what. You

31:44

were his teammate. What was your best McCaffrey story

31:46

when he first walked through those doors.

31:48

McCaffrey's the best. I'm going to his wedding here in a couple

31:50

of weeks, I texted him last night.

31:52

I texted him last night after I saw the deal come

31:54

through, and I was like, dude, I don't know if

31:56

you know what you're in store for, but your

31:58

bar bill totally

32:01

just don't even look at it because we're about

32:03

to blow your wedding. This tab we're

32:05

going to run up on you. All the guys are coming to town

32:07

for It is gonna be.

32:09

An a f So it's not gonna be one of those weddings where

32:11

they give you out a coupon and you get one free drink.

32:14

I don't know.

32:15

I'm just assuming it's not gonna be I think everything

32:17

him and Olivia are gonna do.

32:18

Is pretty high, high high brow.

32:20

But even if it's not, we're opening

32:22

up the bar like this is non negotiable,

32:25

and McCaffrey's getting the bill. So we

32:27

got like all of our old teammates, a bunch of our buddies.

32:29

We're all going out there, both the Niners guys

32:32

and Panther guys. So we're gonna get together. We

32:34

haven't been together in you

32:36

know, probably a couple of years, you know, since we've all kind

32:38

of gone our separate ways.

32:39

We're in a million you.

32:40

Know, who's the crew, like, I love this, So

32:42

it's it's obviously yes.

32:44

Yeah, Keithley's flying up, Ryan Khalil,

32:47

Jonathan Stewart, I'm talking

32:49

like Panther guys, Jonathan Sue.

32:52

Who else is in our group?

32:53

J J.

32:54

Janssen who's still playing, and you're.

32:56

Like a long snapper.

32:58

Yeah.

32:58

Greg Van Roten we call him g VR is a really

33:00

good buddy of oys offensive line and played for the Raiders

33:03

last year.

33:05

Yeah.

33:05

So and then I think like Kittle and Uscheck

33:08

and you know, all the forty nine er guys. So it's kind

33:10

of a cross between the

33:12

old Panther guys when Christian was young and

33:14

now just guys throughout the league, and it's

33:18

we are we are much looking. It's it's here in

33:20

like three weeks, so it's the end of the month, so we're we're

33:22

pretty excited about it.

33:23

What's your memory of when it collected that? Like, oh,

33:26

this guy's for real.

33:28

So my first ever interaction with McCaffrey.

33:30

You're gonna love this.

33:31

So he was not allowed

33:33

to come to our off season training because

33:36

certain colleges that aren't on semesters,

33:38

they're on like yes, Northwest,

33:42

it's like super super smart schools

33:44

trimester or quarters or system or

33:46

whatever they call it. And I don't know if

33:48

the rule is still the same.

33:50

I haven't followed it.

33:51

But when I was playing schools

33:53

that were on the quarters or the trimester system,

33:56

because school at those universities

33:58

was still in session in the summer, even

34:00

if those kids were done with school, graduate,

34:03

whatever it was, you were not allowed

34:05

to be at the NFL practices.

34:08

It was like a super obscure situation.

34:10

So McCaffrey was losing

34:12

his mind. He couldn't come to like

34:14

a mini camp. He couldn't come to the first maybe couple

34:16

weeks of OTAs. But I

34:19

met him for the first time at Ron Rivera's charity

34:21

event he ran, like a bowling event that

34:23

Christian was in town for. And I'll

34:25

never forget, Like I'm just over there and we're just shooting

34:27

the catching up And obviously I'd watched him

34:29

play in college and knew what a study

34:32

was. He He did

34:34

not throw one ball, he

34:36

did not hit a pin. He sat next

34:38

to me and was like, how do you guys

34:40

do pass protection? How do you guys

34:42

do the and like he was Me

34:45

and him had like an hour long conversation

34:47

on past protection, our formation,

34:49

our route tree. He's like, it's

34:52

killing me that I'm not at you know,

34:54

spring.

34:54

Ot everything is a veteran you want to hear right,

34:57

Like that's I'm like.

34:58

I'm like this guy. I knew he was a stud.

35:00

I watched him obviously at eleven o'clock Eastern

35:02

every weekend when Stanford was when

35:04

he was running all over everybody, and he

35:07

wanted nothing to do with the event.

35:08

He wanted nothing to do with bowling, he wanted

35:10

nothing.

35:10

To do with walking around shaking hands as our top ten

35:13

first round pick. Like he was killing

35:16

me about

35:18

just what is he missing? Installs? What should

35:20

I know? How do we do protections? How do we

35:22

set the mics? Where do I scan a lot

35:25

formation alignments? And I was like, this

35:27

dude's just different. Like there's

35:29

a lot of guys like, hey, he's a ballplayer. Like this guy

35:31

just truly loves ball. He's

35:33

like in the dictionary, you look that up is McCaffrey,

35:36

Like he is wired, very

35:39

different, he is all in.

35:42

He's just a very he acted

35:44

as a rookie.

35:45

How most guys don't figure out taking care

35:47

of their body, training, nutrition, diet, all

35:50

that he was doing that as an incoming rookie.

35:52

You know, takes some guys eight ten years to really

35:54

figure out what that means to be a pro.

35:56

So he was wise beyond his years.

35:59

Obviously physically talented, but just his

36:01

approach and mindset and everything

36:03

he does is what makes him him.

36:06

And then he happens to also be fast and strong

36:08

and all that, but that's all secondary for him.

36:12

You know. It's it's amazing this forty nine ers

36:14

team in that era, and you've called so many big games over

36:16

the last few years, including an NFC

36:18

Championship game that was cut short, including

36:21

a NFC Championship game where they did get

36:23

over the hump and get back to the super Bowl.

36:25

It's one of these deals where like, I have to think

36:27

those guys to go through another offseason, and you know Kittle

36:30

so well from tight End University, and obviously yust

36:32

Check has been the legal is sounding like it has to

36:34

just kill these guys that they haven't gotten a chip yet.

36:37

Oh, I mean I lost

36:39

one, so I kind of know what it's like

36:41

walking out as the confetti falls and the other

36:43

team's colors and you go back into the reality

36:46

of the locker room that it's over. Right, there's

36:48

no best of three, best of five, will go get

36:51

him next time like it is over the

36:53

finality of the end of a postseason

36:55

in the NFL is unlike any.

36:57

Other sport because you get

36:59

one shot. Right.

37:00

So, I've lost an NFC championship game,

37:02

won an NFC championship game, lost to

37:04

Super Bowl, never got back to win

37:06

another Super Bowl like it just so

37:09

for these guys in this core, well,

37:11

Christian making it for the first time, but you know Kittle

37:14

and those guys made it, you know, just a few years ago.

37:17

And to get there twice and come up short twice,

37:19

especially this year, obviously it was a tough

37:22

ending. Like it's hard,

37:24

man. I think it just shows how many

37:26

things have to go your way to not only

37:28

make a Super Bowl, but the chips to fall

37:30

your way and the breaks to go your way to win

37:32

a game, especially in an era where

37:34

Mahomes and Kelsey and Andy Reid. You

37:37

know, that's a that's a history. You know, that's like winning

37:39

when Brady and the Patriots like to

37:41

steal one out of that era. You

37:44

got to have a lot of things go your way. Yeah, maybe Brady

37:46

got knocked out in the AFC championship. That's what happened

37:48

our year, and we couldn't take advantage of it against Denver.

37:50

But like that's kind of what Kansas City

37:53

is now. And you know, San Francisco,

37:55

Kyle Shanahan might have two Super Bowls if it wasn't

37:57

for Andy Reid, hadn't Patrick Mahomes and vice versas.

37:59

So sometimes you're

38:02

the You're the product of your era and your time.

38:04

But I think those guys still have a long run

38:06

way. They got a cheap quarterback.

38:08

Yeah no, I mean like.

38:09

Payment wise obviously, but

38:11

I'm saying they got a ride. They got another year. Maybe

38:14

they can continue to pay All these guys on defense

38:16

take advantage of party, playing for free in essence,

38:19

and take advantage of this window.

38:28

One of the things I love about you. We'll get together at like

38:30

a Fox event, and we'll talk NFL

38:32

for about three seconds, like we just did, and then we'll get

38:34

right into youth sports. I've got a seven year old son

38:37

we're just starting. He's hardcore

38:40

basketball. This thing is called the Brooklyn Basketball

38:42

Academy, and it is like there's

38:44

eight teams in the league. We have practices

38:46

like I don't coach because they have they don't have

38:49

bother coaches. They have like actual guys

38:51

who are like recent you know, college basketball

38:53

players and when they coach, and JJ Reddick

38:56

overseas a lot of the league. And then

38:58

there's like random, yeah, random Brooklyn

39:01

dads you'd love, like Brian Westbrook's kids

39:03

in the league. Like I see him at the games. Like it's

39:05

just it's random. It's good, it's awesome, And

39:07

my son loves

39:09

it. And I could see myself jumping

39:11

in head first and diving in. And

39:14

I know how passionate you are and you've taken

39:16

it to the next level talk about youth sports

39:18

and like where you see this thing going?

39:21

Yeah, I mean, and it's easy, right, especially

39:23

when you see your kids. It's easy as

39:25

a parent when you see your kid, your

39:27

son or daughter really

39:30

fall into something. In your case, it's basketball

39:33

or baseball. And my daughter's recently,

39:35

just within the last six to ten

39:37

months, gotten into you girls basketball,

39:39

and she's like really embracing

39:42

it and wanting to improve and practicing. Like as

39:44

a parent, it's very easy to see

39:47

once the light goes on for them and it clicks,

39:50

it's easy to find yourself saying okay,

39:53

there's never enough we need more practices, we need more

39:55

games, we need more scrimmages, we need more training. Who's

39:57

the best trainer, who's your kid working with? Like it's

40:00

easy once you see it for them to

40:03

just like I will give you every resource,

40:05

every possible going on.

40:06

I want you to be your bestball whenever you want to be.

40:08

Yeah, of course, And again I think it's

40:10

in we We're all doing it out

40:13

of good intentions. So your

40:15

child tells you they really want to pursue something,

40:17

you can see them actively enjoying

40:20

it, pursuing it, like improving,

40:22

like they're not just saying it. Like you can

40:24

tell a kid who's in there or who just got dropped

40:27

off by his parents from practice, Like you can tell

40:29

the difference. And then as

40:31

a parent, your first instinct is, I will

40:33

get you every bit of support, training, lessons,

40:36

team whatever to say what

40:38

you want to do. And it's a very fine

40:40

line. And some of that I've learned the hard way,

40:43

right I've I was the dad was eight year

40:45

old baseball and I'm like, this is this

40:47

is our life. We're not going on family vacations.

40:49

We got to get ready for the North Carolina

40:52

cal Ripkens State championship. And

40:56

by the way, they're eight, Yeah, they're

40:58

rising third graders

41:00

whatever its second grade. So

41:03

like when you go through it, it's just so easy

41:05

to get caught up in it. And I've again

41:07

learned some lessons the hard way. Something's good,

41:10

something's bad, and really look at it.

41:12

Now that we approach youth sports as one

41:14

simple goal in our house, I should

41:16

say two separate goals in our house. A. In

41:19

my opinion, there is no greater vehicle

41:21

for young children to learn real life

41:23

experiences than youth sports. Playing

41:27

with kids you might not come from the same backgrounds

41:29

coaches you may or may not just agree with a

41:32

coach is really hard on you. You don't play a

41:34

lot, you lost playing time, you're on the depth

41:36

chart, you're coming off the bench, you're the sixth

41:39

man whatever.

41:40

That is that same that's.

41:42

Not just your friends from class, kids

41:45

from other schools.

41:46

Yeah, yeah, maybe you're a little uncomfortable

41:48

in the beginning. You got to come out of your shell. Like

41:50

there's so many great life lessons that you

41:52

can create through youth sports, and to me, that's number

41:55

one.

41:55

Across the board.

41:56

And then the second part of that approach is can

41:59

you go one day play for your middle school,

42:02

and then one day your high school and

42:04

have a really fun school

42:06

experience on at least one, if not

42:08

multiple teams. If you check those

42:11

boxes, your sports

42:13

journey is.

42:14

A success in my book, Like, that's

42:16

how.

42:16

We approach it. That's what we harp on our

42:18

kids. Anything beyond that is

42:21

gravy.

42:22

I love this, love

42:25

this. And how did you I mean, because you

42:27

said you originally were traveling the East

42:29

coast and did you have a moment or

42:31

did you have a governor in your Like wait a second,

42:33

we're let's let's take it take a step

42:35

back. Is that because to me, I don't know where

42:37

the gay I know myself.

42:40

If my son wants to do it, all go to all ends to

42:42

be like, do you want to go to New Jersey and play in

42:44

a tournament for an half hour? We'll drive four

42:46

hours. I could see that happening.

42:48

Oh, and don't get me wrong, we still do it right

42:50

So my older son, We're for both

42:53

my sons, my twelve year old and my eleven

42:55

year old, both of their teams. I coach

42:57

my eleven year old. My my other son plays for

42:59

a different organization. Both their teams.

43:01

We're going to spend a week in Myrtle

43:04

Beach from Tuesday to Sunday

43:06

next week, and we'll play between

43:08

the two of them. They'll play sixteen

43:10

seventeen baseball games between

43:13

two separate teams, I mean two boys,

43:15

two separate teams, Like we're in. Then

43:17

a week after that, we're going down to East

43:19

Cobb, which is down outside of Atlanta. We're going

43:21

to play in a five day National Perfect Game Baseball

43:24

tournament with my older son, and we're going to

43:26

Mississippi. My daughter's basketball

43:28

team went to Greensboro. My son, my younger

43:30

son's baseball team is going to play a tournament

43:32

in Charleston in July. Like, it's

43:35

all I sitting here saying, like, oh, we just take it

43:37

easy. I mean, we try to

43:39

match the enthusiasm of the kid.

43:42

We try to match it. If the kids

43:44

really in and the parents are dragging

43:47

them back, that's probably not fair.

43:49

Yeah.

43:49

If the kid's half ass in it and the

43:51

parents are all in, that's also

43:54

a bad scenario.

43:54

Totally.

43:55

It's like, we try our best

43:57

to match our enthusiasm.

44:00

Are we will drive to the ends of the earth.

44:02

We tell our kids all the time, we will do whatever you

44:04

want. To do, but you to do it,

44:07

and you've got to do it with everything in your power.

44:09

You've got to be willing to go to every practice, every

44:11

game. I don't want the second this looks

44:13

like we're doing it against your will.

44:15

We're done.

44:16

Yeah, I love it,

44:18

And.

44:18

It's easier said than done. It's east said than

44:20

done.

44:22

I watched some of your stuff. You were at

44:24

the Johns Hopkins University last

44:27

month at the Project Play summit, and you

44:29

were discussing this. And that's why I'm ring because you

44:31

had you know, parents, coaches,

44:34

olympians, medical and health experts,

44:36

and you're doing this

44:38

and now you've taken it to like the media thing, talk about

44:40

your youth inc podcasts and what you're

44:42

working on, because I think there's an untapped market

44:45

for parents like me who are going into this thing blind,

44:47

and then also parents like you who

44:50

you're looking for maybe peers and others

44:52

that you can kind of bounce ideas off of. In a sea

44:55

of all of these private coaches and all

44:57

of these travel teams and all of the money

44:59

that is out there of people trying to suck you dry

45:02

for these youth sports.

45:03

Yeah, no question, So exactly right.

45:05

So to years ago, I

45:08

was out dinner with a couple of my buddies, Ryan

45:11

Khalil, Vince Vaughn, Humblebragg, both

45:13

those guys are really good buddies of mine, and

45:15

I was pitching them this idea.

45:17

I was like, Hey, we've been.

45:17

Approached by a couple of different podcast platforms

45:20

and they're like, what ideas does Greg want to talk about?

45:22

And I was like, I don't know. I don't know if I want.

45:24

To just like break down Sunday's game

45:26

or totally how to run routes is a

45:28

tight end, Like there's more to it,

45:30

right, I want to do something I'm really into, And I'm like, well,

45:33

the thing I do the most is

45:35

coach and be a youth sports parent, Like

45:38

I do it before I came

45:40

into this. I'm in my Charlotte Christian

45:42

which is where my kids go to school T shirt

45:45

because we have eight to eleven am

45:47

middle school football workouts Tuesday,

45:49

Wednesday, Thursday all summer, all summer

45:51

long. Like we're living this youth sports

45:54

world. So anyway, so I'm like, the thing I

45:56

do the most is youth sports. The thing that my wife

45:58

and I stress the most about is are we doing it

46:00

correctly. Every dinner we go to

46:02

with friends, after five seconds,

46:04

it's the kid play.

46:07

Everyone has the same conversation across the whole

46:09

country. So I'm like, if I'm a

46:11

guy who's lived in his whole life, I grew up the

46:13

son of a high school football coach, I played and

46:15

made a career out of it, and now it's come full

46:17

circle that I'm the dad slash youth coach.

46:20

And there's a lot of times that I'm doing it wrong.

46:22

There's a lot of times that I look back on a game or a

46:24

practice and saying I needed to be better.

46:26

I needed to handle that situation better. My kid,

46:28

your kid, whatever. There's

46:31

a pod here, there's an idea. So that is the

46:33

birth of you Think. So it was originally a standalone

46:35

podcast and we had forty five episodes

46:38

of conversations with Olympians,

46:40

coaches, mental health experts, sports

46:42

performance name

46:44

it across the spectrum, current former professional

46:47

athletes and everybody, and really about the best

46:49

practices of what their lessons were growing

46:51

up in sport, how they apply it now going

46:53

forward, and really some cool conversations.

46:56

From there.

46:57

We said, okay, hold on, this is bigger than just

46:59

me hosting a singular podcast. So

47:01

we have now launched you Think Reimagined,

47:04

which is a two prong to

47:07

two different sides of the company. One

47:09

is a content platform we are in We

47:11

have talks and contracts with all different

47:13

types of like they're going to head up

47:15

their vertical football, basketball, girl soccer,

47:18

volleyball, softball, and they're

47:20

going to be like their ambassadors

47:22

for their vertical their sport and they're going to produce

47:25

content from how to make practice

47:27

plans to how to teach a girl how to feel the

47:29

ground ball to shoot a basket, and.

47:31

Not just like House of Highlights videos of these

47:33

kids like.

47:35

Grass roots foundational.

47:37

I got to take over my kids eight year old basketball

47:40

practice? How do I get started? I want

47:42

to teach my seven year old kid how to make a lefty

47:44

layup. But I also want to be able to drive home

47:46

in the car with my kid after he goes over three with

47:48

three strikeouts and not really blow this as

47:50

a dad, which we've all had

47:52

our moments that we're probably not our most proud

47:55

of, right and all of those conversations

47:57

are going to live. All of this information that the

48:00

education, the coaching, the mental health, the sports

48:02

performance, everything around the

48:04

atmosphere of youth sports is going to live

48:06

on a singular platform called youth Youth

48:09

dot Inc. Is going to be the site, and then

48:11

on the other side of that, there's

48:13

going to be a commercial e commerce

48:16

platform. We have a really cool partner, Ryan

48:18

Bass, who's a partner of ours founding this, who

48:20

came from fanatics, who really understands

48:22

the e commerce retail idea, and he understands

48:25

how bad that landscape

48:27

looks right now. To get this T shirt made

48:29

by your kids team takes six months.

48:32

So there's going to be e commerce play that's only

48:34

going to serve the youth sports performance, the

48:36

youth sports environment, and then also the

48:40

media content company which will serve boys,

48:42

girls across the landscape of all things youth

48:44

sports, and just continue

48:47

to further conversations we're having right

48:49

now, which are going on all around

48:51

the country.

48:51

All the time. It's every conversation. Like

48:54

my buddy Adam, he played

48:56

lacrosse in high school and then didn't play

48:58

in college. His son is I

49:00

think third grade and is like one of the

49:02

best lacrosse players in all of Long Island,

49:05

and that sounds like a pipeline to Harvard.

49:09

John's topkin but like, how do you keep the

49:11

love for the like there's all these different hurdles, Like, Okay,

49:14

so he's an outstanding player in third grade, what

49:16

do you do from here to that college scholarship offer?

49:18

That's the question. That's the bridge, right.

49:21

Well, that's and that's and I think that

49:23

the cart before the horse is what's happening

49:25

in a lot of different families

49:27

and households. And I don't blame people, right, It's easy

49:30

to get caught up in the excitement of having

49:32

the best fourth grader, the best fifth grader,

49:34

the best eighth grader, whatever that timeline

49:37

is. But the thing everyone has

49:39

to remember, if the only

49:41

goal of your kid waking up at

49:43

seven am on Saturday mornings and driving

49:45

an hour for a soccer tournament or a cross

49:47

tournament or a football game or whatever it is. If

49:49

the only reason we're taking our kids and

49:52

doing all of this rat race every single

49:54

week is so that they play beyond

49:56

the high school level, every family

49:59

should quit doing.

50:00

It right now. It's not worth it good, it's.

50:02

Not worth it the seventy

50:05

variables.

50:07

If that's the only objective, you

50:10

should just save your time, save your energy, and go

50:12

on summer vacation because the

50:14

odds of it happening there's one school on

50:17

average. Now, back to

50:19

what we said earlier, if the idea is

50:22

to get the journey,

50:24

yeahs.

50:25

And that's where my friend's coming from, Like he's

50:27

like, I'll do anything. I'll drive it at Philadelphia for a

50:29

tournament because the kid loves it and he's making great

50:31

monks like it's awesome. Yeah.

50:33

And if that kid never plays a

50:36

minute of college lacrosse, but

50:38

he has a great high school and junior high and high

50:40

school career.

50:42

That's not a failure.

50:43

That's amazing.

50:43

That's the dream. The

50:45

dream is the journey.

50:47

And if you maximize that journey

50:50

and you put in the work and you don't miss a practice,

50:52

and you grind and you deal with failure, adversity,

50:54

make the team get cut, whatever that

50:57

ups and downs roller coaster of your childhood

50:59

is to begin with. If it's the same in sports,

51:02

and you come out as a high school senior, confident

51:04

and strong, and you know, hey, I've been through

51:06

a lot in these last five years.

51:08

Through sports through school.

51:09

I'm prepared now to go to college and just be

51:11

a normal citizen and a

51:13

normal contributor to society.

51:16

Mission accomplished and those.

51:18

Lessons will carry with you throughout your life.

51:20

The problem is that is not how

51:23

most I don't want to say most. That is not how

51:25

all families view the

51:28

youth sports path.

51:29

And that's why it's getting very scary interesting.

51:31

We could do we could do a whole podcast platform

51:34

based on this, and you are all right,

51:36

I want to hit before we go to really

51:38

cool things. The first thing is tight End University.

51:41

You guys have been doing this for years. You've got sponsors

51:43

attached to it, and I truly think it's one

51:45

of the coolest things that we have in our off season

51:47

schedule. It's become one of those milestones. It's like Combine

51:51

Pro Days, free Agency, Draft

51:54

schedule, release, tight End University.

51:56

When is it this week?

51:57

Year?

51:57

It is in Nashville again. Are we going back to Nashville

52:00

and tearing up Broadway like we do every year?

52:02

We are?

52:03

We're going back to Nashville again. That's

52:05

where that's where it started. That's we're Kittle, who

52:07

really was like the brain behind

52:09

the whole thing. It really started very

52:12

casually. I had just retired that

52:14

spring. Kittle sent me a text. We had gotten

52:16

to know each other. We have the same marketing group, you know, the guys

52:18

at Rubicon that you know Raskin and those guys.

52:21

So I'd gotten to you.

52:22

Know, George, just my last couple of years in the league,

52:24

and he texted me, hey, man, congrats,

52:27

great career. Enjoy retirement. If by any

52:29

chance you ever come down to Nashville, there's

52:31

like five or six tight Ends. You know,

52:33

Hockinson's down there and you know a bunch

52:35

of guys if you ever come down, we'd

52:38

love to pick your brain, come work out

52:40

with us and just have like a day.

52:41

And I was like, yeah, it sounds great. And

52:44

then like we're like, let's build this.

52:45

And it got to like ten guys twenty

52:48

and we're like, okay, this is now bigger than just

52:50

like a bunch of guys come in, work out in

52:52

the morning, and then go drink beers on Broadway

52:54

and have a great time.

52:55

Like there's more to this, right.

52:56

So we're now in

52:59

year four and last

53:01

year we had like eighty eighty five.

53:03

Guys and

53:05

that oh yeah, grow a

53:07

great tight Ends or what or college.

53:09

Only only professional only

53:11

professional guys?

53:12

Oh my god, yeah, we had yeah,

53:14

so we had you know, so so Kelsey

53:17

Travis Kelcey, Kittle and myself. The three

53:19

of us kind of own and operate the whole

53:22

kind of entity of TU. But

53:24

yeah, we had we had over eighty guys last year,

53:26

and we do it at Vanderbilt. They give us great

53:28

access to their team meeting rooms, their facilities,

53:30

their turf, their indoor outdoor grass turf,

53:33

whatever we need. And yeah,

53:36

it's you know, it's it's a fun mixture. The guys

53:38

are just off of Ota, so there's just enough

53:40

work. Right, there's classroom, there's work, there's

53:42

field. You know, we're getting real work. And

53:45

then there's also a lot of like fellowship and camaraderie.

53:47

On Monday night when we get there, there's a welcome

53:50

party. We're having beers, we hang out.

53:52

Welcome everybody, Welcome the new guys.

53:54

Right, So I'm a young undrafted or maybe

53:56

I was a young first round pick, fifth

53:58

round pick, whoever I am, I'm Brock Bowers

54:00

or I'm an undrafted free agent that I'm hoping

54:03

to make the roster in two months.

54:05

I walk into this hotel.

54:07

I walk in and I got Kittle, Kelsey,

54:10

Darren Waller, Mark

54:12

Andrews.

54:14

I got the best.

54:15

Guys you've watched in the last couple of years

54:17

with open arms.

54:20

We're taking you know, and and the camaraderie

54:22

of the position and the ability.

54:24

I love this.

54:25

It's super cool. Right.

54:26

So that's Monday night. Then Tuesday is our workday.

54:29

Tuesday we're at the We're at the facility. We do a

54:31

couple hours of indoor classroom. There's presentations.

54:33

Kelsey's given presentations with film

54:36

clips on route running, and we had undressed

54:39

coverages, and Kittle's talking run game, and we've

54:41

had Dallas Clark coming years past. Gronkowski

54:44

did a you know, run after catch tape about mentality.

54:46

I mean, over the years, we've had some really cool presenters

54:49

and then we go out on the field and we do like actual

54:52

routes. Last year Zach

54:54

Wilson came as a quarterback, Josh

54:56

Allen, Trey Lance.

54:58

I mean, we got some we got some quarterbacks that come and throw

55:01

it around.

55:01

So and then that night this

55:04

year we have like a big concert a bit, you know, obviously

55:06

we're in we got some live music and a concert.

55:08

So it's a it's a perfect balance of fun

55:11

and fellowship. But also when it's time to

55:13

work, we work, like we always tell the guys, you're not coming

55:15

in for a three day trip to Nashville. We're

55:17

coming into work and get better and

55:20

then we're also going to have a lot of fun when the work is over.

55:22

But it's got to be in that order to make the event

55:24

work, and so far it's been very successful.

55:27

Ah.

55:27

I love that. Is there a text chain with all that tight ends

55:29

in the league that just is like an ongoing

55:31

inside jokes and like all.

55:33

You know that there's not Well, if there is, I'm

55:35

not on it. If there is, I'm not on it. They

55:37

call me Dad.

55:38

They call me Dad because I'm the one that's

55:40

like pulling everyone like okay.

55:42

Like come on, get this guy, this guy, Yeah.

55:45

Come over here, like stay on track, thank

55:48

our sponsors. Kelsey's on top of the bar.

55:50

We're like you got to thank but like, you know, come

55:52

on. But it's

55:54

awesome man. But you know what, I

55:57

think the coolest part of all of it

55:59

is, it doesn't matter

56:01

what the next step of your career is.

56:04

Right, you've got undrafted rookies that are just

56:06

hoping to make a practice squad or an active roster.

56:08

You've got practice squad guys coming back for year

56:10

two or three who are hoping to make the opening day fifty

56:13

three. You got backups that want

56:15

to be starters, starters that want to be Pro bowlers,

56:17

guys that want whatever that next tier is.

56:20

But when these young guys come in and they line up

56:22

the run routes on Tuesday day one of

56:24

field work, the guy at the front of the

56:26

line is Travis Kelcey and George Kittle

56:29

and last year Darren Waller and Mark

56:31

Andrews and down the line, and they are

56:33

full speed running routes.

56:36

They could big time everyone and be like, I'm

56:38

Travis Kelcey, I don't need to run routes, you're seventeen

56:41

fat. But they're the front of the line

56:44

demonstrating full sweat, full

56:46

sweat lather, working like

56:48

they're not just there to check the box. They're

56:50

there setting the standard. And if

56:52

those guys can do it, nobody

56:55

else in the place has an excuse that they're not full

56:57

speed, that they're not taking this as a real practice.

56:59

So when those guys set.

57:01

The tone the way they do, it's just

57:03

easy to control everybody else. Because you say

57:05

you want to be then you're getting a

57:07

front row seat. Just do do that

57:09

and go that hard, that fast, anything

57:12

less than that, you've got no shot. You're

57:15

getting a look at what the best practice, like

57:17

firsthand.

57:19

I would I would like to your thoughts

57:21

on this. So I've known Kelsey for years

57:23

in a media way and then more personally

57:25

through this big slick event that I do in Kansas

57:27

City that I just got done with. Now, I had known

57:29

Kelsey for years. We've always had great interactions.

57:31

He I've done multiple interviews on Fox for him

57:33

for you know, the pregame show. All this stuff starts

57:36

dating Taylor Swift. And obviously I

57:38

haven't seen him since I did a couple of

57:40

their games. At their games, he says, what's up? Like I said the AFC

57:43

Championship game, we talked at midfield, but like I didn't know.

57:45

I was with him this past weekend in Kansas City.

57:48

He's the same Travis Kelcey

57:50

as he was before dating Taylor Swift.

57:52

And I mean, so cool,

57:55

so good to everybody looks you

57:57

in the eye, asks how your family's doing. Like

57:59

I was so happy to see that all

58:02

of this super stardom for the past twelve months has

58:04

not changed him one bit.

58:06

Well you want you want to hear It's so funny that you say

58:08

that because you're spot on, and Travis is

58:10

one of my favorite dudes and one.

58:13

I would think that maybe this is the year. He says, you

58:15

know what, I love tight End University.

58:17

But like I've got to be or

58:20

I got to.

58:20

Be in I'm in Tokyo wherever.

58:23

No, he he made it a point.

58:25

Hey, I'm committed to this. I mean, he's obviously

58:28

a key draw, key role. He's one

58:30

of the you know, the three of us kind of control it and run

58:32

it, and you know, obviously his involvement goes

58:34

a long way, and the credibility and whatnot. But just

58:37

more back to you just talking about him as like a person

58:39

and just staying kind of He's always been who

58:41

he is. He's the most fun guy

58:43

to be around when it's time

58:45

to have fun. He's the hardest running

58:47

routes, the fastest, sweating cleed

58:50

dirt when it's time to work. But

58:53

the coolest thing about him is And it's so funny you say

58:55

that, because yesterday I posted an Instagram

58:58

pick my my. My younger son celebrated

59:00

his three years of his heart transplant. They called

59:02

him Heartniversaries, so like kids

59:04

that have transplants, in his case heart

59:06

transplant. They celebrate those

59:08

kind of like a second birthday kind of thing. It's

59:11

like a tradition in the transplant world. So we

59:13

celebrated that. So June fourth was his three

59:15

year anniversary of his transplant. First

59:18

comment on I showed my

59:20

kid, I screenshoted it. First comment on

59:23

my Instagram post Travis

59:25

Kelcey, way to go TJ.

59:28

You're the man or you know whatever he said. I

59:30

mean he could have double clicked

59:32

it and just kept swipe in. But like three

59:34

years ago, we had TEU right the

59:36

day when TJ got out of the hospital, so he had

59:38

his June fourth, he had his heart transplant,

59:41

and then like two weeks later was the inaugural TEU.

59:44

Kelsey's there.

59:45

All the tight ends are there are little saying that summer

59:48

that everybody in town wore was play for TJ.

59:50

And that was like the saying and the kids that

59:52

bracelets. I got pictures of Travis

59:54

kelce running around at TEU, George

59:56

Kittle, all these guys play for TJ

59:58

t shirts on and now three years later he's

1:00:02

the first one.

1:00:03

Way to go TJ. My man. Hope to see

1:00:05

it.

1:00:05

You know, he didn't have to do

1:00:07

that and when I show your when you show your eleven

1:00:09

year old kid that.

1:00:12

It's been, it's highlighted,

1:00:14

highlighted life.

1:00:15

Hey, speaking of TJ, I know you've got a

1:00:18

really special weekend up ahead.

1:00:20

What do you got going on in the Carolina?

1:00:22

Yeah, so yeah, it's super cool. I can't wait to

1:00:24

get you down dude, Trays you got to come to this. So

1:00:26

we have a place outside of Charleston called in

1:00:29

called Key Island. They've played the PGA Championship

1:00:32

there a couple of times at the Ocean Course, like a

1:00:34

real prominent course down there. So we spend

1:00:36

a lot of our summer, a lot of our holidays. It's

1:00:38

about four hours from Charlotte, and

1:00:41

so we are our foundation called the Hardest

1:00:43

Jar. We'd always served the Charlotte Community Levine

1:00:45

Children's Hospital, where TJ got all of his care.

1:00:48

We fortunately have been able to grow and

1:00:50

really build our program here in Charlotte. And

1:00:52

for a second location, we now have partnered

1:00:55

and brought our program to MUSC Children's

1:00:57

Hospital, which is the largest children's

1:00:59

hospital in South Carolina. So Levine

1:01:01

Children's in North Carolina, MUSC Children's

1:01:04

in South Carolina. They're the two bigs

1:01:06

like cardiac trauma centers that unfortunately,

1:01:09

if your kid ever needed like serious serious

1:01:11

medical care, those are the centers that

1:01:14

you would go to in this Carolina region. So

1:01:16

we were having our third annual Pewa

1:01:19

Island Hardest Yard Golf event. Guys

1:01:21

flying from all over the country. It's it's

1:01:24

this upcoming Sunday and Monday, so June ninth

1:01:26

and tenth, and we play golf, we have

1:01:28

dinners, we have a welcome concert. You know

1:01:31

a couple of last year, you love this shrakes last

1:01:33

year. After golf on Monday, we go back

1:01:35

to my house. A bunch of the musicians

1:01:37

and the players and guests who come. They kind

1:01:40

of come back to our house just to hang after golf. And Jamie

1:01:42

Johnson, the country singer you know, sings

1:01:44

in color and he whips

1:01:46

out his guitar and he's sitting on my back patio

1:01:49

and he's playing acoustic of you

1:01:51

know, in color and sitting around drinking

1:01:53

beers. It's just it's a really cool

1:01:55

event. I got I'm going to get you the date you're

1:01:58

in next year. All the money goes to

1:02:00

again MEOC Children's Hospital and our Hardest

1:02:02

Yard program there in Charleston, and

1:02:04

we just look for more centers that we can kind of

1:02:06

bring what.

1:02:07

We do too.

1:02:08

And it's just a it's a fun

1:02:10

weekend and you get a lot of

1:02:12

our family and friends from around the country together for

1:02:14

it.

1:02:14

So it's super cool.

1:02:16

You're the best. I'll come next year.

1:02:18

I feel like I need to zoom in

1:02:20

or something. It sounds amazing and there's no one

1:02:22

better on a patio to

1:02:25

do a sing along with country music than Peter Schreger

1:02:27

from New York City. So just just put that in

1:02:30

the books. Olsen, You're the best. Greg

1:02:32

Olsen, awesome as always.

1:02:34

Thanks dude, You're the best.

1:02:36

That's it.

1:02:36

Another great episode. You never know where it's gonna

1:02:38

go. It goes from Will Forte in a fountain

1:02:41

of Filth singing James

1:02:43

Ingram's just Once, and it ends

1:02:45

with incredible details

1:02:48

on the Christian

1:02:50

McCaffrey bowling non

1:02:52

bowling event at the first time he met Greg

1:02:55

Olsen. I love that stuff. It's the season with Peter

1:02:57

Schreger. Thanks for listening. We'll have plenty

1:02:59

more episodes in the coming weeks.

1:03:01

Aaron, always great talking with you, and many

1:03:03

thanks to Jason English and Jason

1:03:06

Clemen. Over there in LA and

1:03:08

all the folks who help put this thing together. Let's keep on

1:03:11

rocking. See you next week, everybody.

1:03:19

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1:03:22

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1:03:25

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