September 13, 2023 • 40 mins
Welcome to Unbreakable! A mental health podcast hosted by Fox NFL Insider Jay Glazer. On today’s episode, Former Raider and Pro Football Hall of Famer Howie Long shares his incredible journey and some amazing stories.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is Unbreakable with Jay Glacier, a mental health podcast
helping you out of the gray and into the blue.
Now here's Jay Glacier.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Welcome into Unbreakable, a mental health podcast with Jay Glazer.
And I'm Jay Glazier. And before we get to our
guest today, if you're like many people, you may be
surprised to learn that one in five adults in this
country experienced mental illness last year, yet far too many
failed to receive the support they need. Carolin Behavioral Health
is doing something about it. They understand that behavioral health
(00:35):
is a key part of whole health, delivering compassionate care
that treats physical, mental, emotional, and social needs and tandem
Carolin behavior health raising the quality of life through empathy
and action. Welcome in now, my brother, my teammate, the
one and only Raider Hall of Fame, legend, television Hall
of Fame, and really the best person I've ever been around.
(00:57):
How we long?
Speaker 3 (00:57):
How are you, buddy? That's a stretch.
Speaker 4 (01:03):
It's not a stretch because you're the guy. So people
don't understand this.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Howie obviously is you know, mister crazy Raider, but his
well for me personally, I adopted my son Sammy.
Speaker 4 (01:14):
I didn't know what I was doing. I leaned into
Howie to learn how to be a dad.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
But on Sundays too, when my sky is falling and
Terry's sky is falling, Howie is our therapist and he's
the one, Hey, hey, this sky's not falling. This sky's
not falling. It kind of makes you one of the
best people I've ever been around.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Yes, I think it works. It works both ways in
every situation. I mean, I think sometimes the best advice
is advice you get from your friends, and you know
a lot of it's through experience, and you know, there's
no manual. I remember when Chris was first born, we
were out in LA and Diane had just graduated from
(01:52):
law school and she was she took a job in
a law firm and sleep was a priority, you know,
during the season, and with her having go to work
and you know, he'd throw up, and you all, we
had we had no family out there. We had the
Doctor Spock Book, so you know, you learn on the fly.
You know, it's like page forty two vomiting, and that's
(02:12):
how you kind of figured it out. And we unfortunately
did not have family out in California. So you know, listen,
like I say, if you're about in like six fifty
with with kids, you know, in terms of wins and losses,
you're doing all right. You know. You just got to
show up every day and let them know you love
them and try to give them as much guidance as
(02:35):
they they want to take. And sometimes they want to
do it their own way, and which is fine. You know,
you're going to make mistakes and we all do.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
You know. I think a lot of people don't know
this about you. And if I overstep and you don't
want to hit it, you tell me that. But you know,
like our upbringing does make us kind of who we are,
and you are way tougher upbringing.
Speaker 4 (02:54):
Than anybody else. First of all, tell people where you
grew up.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
People don't know that I grew up in Charlestown, Massachusetts,
right in the city of Boston.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Which is famous for the move of the town. More
bank robberies than anybody any other place in America. Howie
robbed seventy five of them.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Yeah, no, I can't say this with you know, I
don't have to pull the old you know, I have
no knowledge of the aforementioned incident no, I did not
rob any banks.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
You know, I'm not a particularly tough kid.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
I mean I figured it out around sixteen. You know
where you start to kind of realize, wait, you know,
I don't have to take this crap anymore. And I'm
physically you know, I'm gifted enough physically where you don't
have to do it. You don't have to take it anymore.
And when you grow up in that kind of neighborhood,
you know it it in many ways, I think has
(03:49):
you know, shaped the foundation of who I was. And
you know, we didn't play organized sports. I didn't play
organized sports until we had the Bussing Riots desegregation in Boston,
and I think it was seventy four seventy five. I
was living with my grandmother, my uncle Mike, and my
aunt Edie. I was fortunate to have extended family that
(04:12):
was kind enough to take me in. Uncle Mike was
the oldest of four uncles, and you know, worked in
the projects. And you know that a number of people
in the family worked in the projects. That was Uncle
Mike got the job, then he got Uncle Billy's the job,
and then he got my dad a job there, and
everyone else worked at Hood's Milk and my uncle John
(04:33):
was a cop in the North End. We played the
street and you know, we played basketball, ball, hockey, ice hockey.
Grew up playing that and you know, dreamed about being
Bobby Orr and you know, learned how to compete and
you know, how to be tougher playing in the streets.
And then when I went up to live with my
(04:55):
uncle Billy out in Milford, you know, he was the
first family member to kind of move out of Charlestown.
And life is filled with I think a lot of
forks in the road, you know, and I've been at
a number of forks in the road during the course
of my life. You know, whether it's going to live
with Uncle Billy, going to live with Uncle Mike. But
you know, certainly that walked down the hallway as a
(05:17):
fourteen year old at Milford High School and high school
coach by the name of Dick Corbyn, who ended up
going on to coach at Harvard, asked me who I
was and did I want to play football? And they
showed me how to put the equipment on, and I
was terrible. I was like a horse that just fell
out of his mama, and you know, was just you know,
all legs and arms and you know, dangling around. Not
(05:40):
really that good. Fortunately, it was a good football team
and we had a couple of three guys that ended
up playing, you know, in some form, whether it's Canadian
League or USFL. Joe Rustick went on to captain Notre Dame.
His dad was the coach at Harvard. And you know,
fast forward three years later, I'm seventeen year old, who's
(06:01):
you know, fortunate enough to get two offers to play
college football and another fork in the road. Do I
stay at Boston College or do I go to Villanova.
My grandmother, in her infinite wisdom, wanted me to get
out of the neighborhood. And you know, she liked the
coach who recruited me, Bob Capone went down to Villanova.
I was a seventeen year old freshman and went down
(06:25):
there with the clothes on my back and no bank account,
no credit card, no money, no driver's license. And I
never left Villanova. I never you know, Uncle Billy and
aunt Ada, who had two kids and two adopted kids,
took me in and you know, it was a very
(06:45):
close knit family, but you know, they were struggling. I
don't want to say struggling. I mean, I guess it
was a struggle financially, you know, because the meals were
I left there at six five to twenty one that summer,
I went to Villanova. I got a meal cart, and
I went in the weight room for the first time.
I was too sixty five when camp opened. I was
(07:07):
a bigger person waiting to happen. But I started as freshman,
played four years. And fast forward to uh, you know,
getting out of Villanova and Diane and I had no
idea that I played pro football. You know, I met
Diane and at Villanova, and you know that was obviously
a fork in the road, and you know another one, and.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
I think, what makes you different? Obviously? Look, you're known
as the big band d You epitomize those badass fucking
Raider teams because and you and I talked about this,
we both kind of have that beast in the box
right where I got that beast in the box that
gets me in troublesotimes but also led me in the
cage to go fight people and still.
Speaker 4 (07:44):
Drain and lid. You know, you sure you know you
being a bad motherfuckers? What made you a Hall of Famer?
When did you realize that.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
You had that beast that we got, like we could
use it for power, but you could also get us
in trouble. Like it's there.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
I think it. You know, it kind of popped its
head out at Villanova a little bit. When did I
fully kind of realize you know, listen, when you're at
Villanova and you're playing Delaware, and you're playing Cornell, and
you know, occasionally you play Boston College every year, you
see a higher level of competition, and then we played
Clemson one year when they were number one team in
(08:19):
the country. You know, one of those games they scheduled
earlier in the season and you drive down there and
you get your ass kicked for millions of dollars and
you know whatever, you know, the university got paid. You know,
I think when I got to the Raiders, which again
was you know, you want to talk about a culture change.
You go from Villanova where you're you know, you're playing
Delaware and you know you're you're I could have been
(08:43):
hit by a bus at Villanova and it would have made
page three of the newspaper, the local newspaper, and you know,
to go through the whole process of playing in the
Blue Gray game, which I got in because Joe Rustick's
father was the coach at Harvard and Joe Rustic played
at Notre Dame. His dad was the coach at Harvard
and he was on the selection committee for the Blue
(09:04):
Gray Game, and I Jimmy Johnson the coach. Well that
was the irony, you know, another and a fork in
the road. Jimmy Johnson is the coach of the North.
So go figure that and h end up winning the MVP,
and you know then I ran for you know, people
have pro days. When you're at a small school. People
(09:26):
knock on your dorm room door on a Sunday and
they've got their girlfriend in the car, and it's a
scout from you know, filling the blank team and he's
really just checking a box, you know. I mean, no
one saw me getting drafted in the second round and
the Raiders drafted me, and I you know, I remember
on I think it was on ESPN and I'm paraphrasing,
but they, you know, they say, you know, they wasted
a pick. He's you know, they could have gotten him
(09:48):
in the sixth round or seventh round or whatever. And
you know, fortunately for me, you know, it was Al Davis.
It was Ron Wolf. It was Earl Leggott. Al and
Ron are both Hall of Famers. Earl brought Michael Strahan up,
brought me up as players, and you know, kind of
was the foundation of who he became as players. And
we've talked about that often, another fork in the road.
(10:11):
You know, I was fortunate to be around guys. You know,
really you didn't really need to look too far to
see what great was. You know, you get drafted in
that organization, you know, Artchelle, Gene Upshaw. They were guys
that you know, were tough on me, but you know,
also brought me along. Early on, Lyle Alzado, I lived
(10:33):
with a guy named Cedra Cartman, who was a great
pass rusher with the forty nine ers, And ironically enough,
he was Joe Green's roommate in North Texas State. And
we played Pittsburgh on Monday night my rookie year. And
here we are in this little house in Alameda. I'm
making thirty eight thousand dollars, one thousand and seven dollars
after after taxes, and Joe Green's coming over for dinner,
(10:55):
you know, and I was like, I played at Villanova,
so the Steelers were kind of the team that I
really paid attention to, and which is ironic because now
with Terry for this year, thirty years he and I've
been together, which is really ironic. But you know, for
Joe Green to walk in your house as a you know,
twenty just turned twenty one year old, you know, was amazing.
(11:16):
And I really figured out who I was. Year one,
I came in on third down. Year two was a
strike shortened year, so it was an eight nine game season.
And year three was my first full season, and I
was all Pro and you know, we won a Super
Bowl and I knew then, you know, I'm not sure
(11:38):
where it was, but I knew I could handle myself
with just about anybody, and I was confident about that.
And that was through a lot of hard work. And
you know, great coaching, you know, when you're in an
organization like that, you know Al Davis, Ron Wolfe, as
I mentioned, Freddie Blittnikoff's on the staff, Jim Otto's around.
(11:59):
You know, great players who historic players who were a
big part of the history of that organization were always around,
so you know, you didn't have to look forward to
see what greatness. Willie Brown, good friend, you know, coach
for a long time, just passed away. The last few years.
Cliff Branch used to sleep on our sofa, Cedric and
(12:20):
my sofa?
Speaker 2 (12:22):
Are you living with?
Speaker 3 (12:24):
I did live we in eighty two. It's just really
you were to talk about mental health. In eighty two.
We practiced in Oakland and played in La so every
game was a road game, and Diane was in law
school and here I was at the Oakland Airport. Hilton
(12:45):
Lyles said, you're living with me, and we're in a
single room with two queen beds. And he'd go to
sleep at like nine point fifteen. You'd have a piece
of chocolate cake and a glass of milk, and he
shut the TV off, didn't ask if I was watching anything.
But fortunately Marcus and a guy by named Mikal Peterson,
good guy linebacker, were staying across the hall from us,
(13:09):
and I'd get a roll away cot and I'd go
over there and sleep a lot of nights. Yeah, Lyle was,
Uh Lyle was. He was. He was everything you'd think
and a little bit more.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Why don't you tell Lyley you wanted to watch DV?
Speaker 3 (13:22):
You know, I'm twenty one two years old, he's thirty four,
thirty three Yeah, it's Lyle Alzato. You know, it's like
we didn't have a contentious relationship at all. I always
likened it too. It was Russia and USA. It was like,
you know, it's if it happens, it's the nuclear you
(13:43):
know kind of deal where you're going to blow each
other up. So I think I think, you know, he
respected me from a physical standpoint, and you know, I
enjoyed Lyle. Lyle was very good to me. He was
you know, one day to the next door within a day.
He could be in multiple moods. There was a lot
(14:03):
of up and down with him, but great player.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
Le prepared you for me and Terry. Is what you're saying.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
If you can live with Lyle Alzado and Oakland, Oakland,
Oakland Airport, Hilton, you're You're good. You're good for everything.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Tell everyone that. I can never tell it enough. The
story with you and Lyle going to the Super.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
Bowl, well, we always took a cab. Lyle and I
always took a cab. The first time we took I.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
Never asked you that why did you take the gym
instead of just going on the buses.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
Because the buses didn't leave the busses didn't leave till later,
and we had pregame meal early and you know, you'd
eat and they'd go through special team's roll call and
l one it was you know, Smith, Jones, McCarthy, whoever,
you know, it was for three guys would say their name,
just so that we knew who was going in on
(14:55):
what and that wasn't going to be screwed up for
whatever reason. That's what we did. And that was at
like nine o'clock and it ended at nine. Everyone will
go up to their room and hang out for an
hour hour and a half. Lyle and I like to
get I like to get to the stadium early. I'd
like to go over every formation. I had formation sheets,
(15:18):
and I had if they ran eighteen Bob Treyo twenty
five times, I had it written out twenty five times
underneath the right tackle, and if it was Bill Otto
to the weak side, I'd drawed up the number of times.
I didn't want to write it five times, Bill joke Row.
I wrote Bill joke Row five times because mentally in
my head, I wanted to see it as soon as
(15:40):
the huddle broke. If I could divide the field in
half and say, you know, near eye far eye, split backs,
whatever trips, you know, two tight ends, jumbo, why off
y motion. I in my head, I wanted to be
able to process within five six seconds what I thought
the play was, or at least I could divide the
(16:01):
field in half. And Lyle would get fully dressed and
go lie down in front of his locker, put a
towel under his head, and he pass out and go
dead to sleep for an hour hour and a half
before everyone came. Now, I was in my still in
my warm up stuff, shorts and you know, put on
some cleats. I go out and do some strides, stretch
(16:22):
a little bit. I like to get there early and
be prepared. So this is the Super Bowl in Tampa, right,
So we take a cab for the first time when
we go to la in eighty two. Lyle comes with
us in eighty two, so he wants to take a
cab to go there early. I said, great, I'll you know,
I'll go there early. He ends up taking us to
Dodgers Stadium. The place is empty. Obvia cab driver the
(16:47):
Super Bowl. His meters in the red. So that's our
first cab rock. So the season goes on strike. We
go to the Super Bowl, and we've taken a cab
every week, and you think about doing this now versus
nineteen eighty three. Now it's you know, there's concrete blocks,
(17:08):
there's you know, streets are blocked off, the police, helicopters,
the whole thing. Lyle and I got in the cab
and went to the Super Bowl, super Bowl eighteen down
in Tampa Bay versus the Washington Redskins, but then Washington Redskins.
And we get stuck in traffic about three quarters of
a mile from the parking lot and it's it's logjam.
(17:30):
Kyle wants a cap, Lyle wants a cab driver to
go up on the curb and you know, avoid the
traffic and get us to the stadium. Cab driver's frightened
to death. He's, you know, frightening that he's going to
lose his license, frightened to Lyle and Lyle's meters in
the red. We get out of the cab and we
literally walked the last three quarters a mile through the
parking lot with our bag and you know, through the
(17:53):
fans into the stadium for Super Bowl eighteen.
Speaker 4 (17:57):
How many people was loud, and you know, he just
had that look on his face.
Speaker 5 (18:03):
That.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
You know, if you knew lyle, you just you knew
when that look was there was is he's in the red.
You know, he went to his dark pms were in
the red. And if you if you couldn't read that
face and the walk, you weren't real sharp.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
You could you imagine today nowadays couldn't happen just you know,
the no boundaries with anybody. I mean, you couldn't even
think about it today.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
Right, no, I you know, listen, it was a time
when fights and practice fights and locker room fights on airplanes,
you know, and and there was no Jay Glazier then
it was the three major networks and ESPN was kind
of doing tractor pulls and you know, doing that at
the time. And you know he had the local beat
(18:48):
writers are matter of fact, John Zaresky who worked with
us for forever We love Zar, he just retired last year.
He was our local beat writer along with you know,
a writer from the La Times. And you know, but
the beat writer flew on the plane. He knew everybody.
It was a wink and a nod, you know, and
and things just weren't reported.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
So back then again, you were you were crazy. How
are you let's say, right, you have to beat and then.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
You know, Jay, I've kind of been the same guy
I was. The switch was on a lot more, but
I was the same I'm the same guy. I'm the
same guy that doesn't like to go out. I'm not
a partier, That's just not me. I do the Irish
exit a lot, you know. But uh, I was the
same guy, just I was in the Red a lot.
(19:37):
So that that was my that's my question.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
Yeah, I'm around they constantly, right, and you're you're writing
notes all the time and you're having versus Jordachraze to
keep that beast in the box. Did you make the
decision though, to hey, I'm going to keep that writ
myself out of the red. When you had Chris or
was it before that or after that? When you have kids,
it seemed like you changed your life then.
Speaker 3 (19:59):
I think Chris started the process. Having Chris having a son,
you know, it changes everything, you know, it changes how
you panel yourself, what you do and what you don't do.
And you never want you know, the one thing you
don't want to do is you don't ever want to
disappoint your your son or sons. And I think for me,
(20:20):
here was the thing. And you know, Chris and I
have had this conversation, and I've had this conversation with
Kyle a little bit. I played thirteen years and never
had a dollar guaranteed, which means you could be cut
at any time.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
Well, you never had a guarantee China bonus.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
No, Well I had a sign My signing bonus in
nineteen eighty one was eighty thousand dollars, which they told
me was too much money to give me all at once,
so they spread it out over two years. Okay, really yes,
So here, I'm playing for thirteen years, and eight of
(20:54):
those years were with kids, So you're always under the gun,
and there's injuries getting shot up, and you know, you're
you're trying to come back, and you're you're you've got
to play. You've got to be the guy on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday.
You got to be the guy. And I think when
I when I finally decided to kind of pack it in,
(21:16):
you know, not one specific thing. It was a it
was a number of things. One you know, I I
I'm not sure I had I think I had maybe
seven or eight surgeries at that point, and things were.
It took everything I could to make the Pro Bowl
my last year, you know, so I was right there
on the fringe of being you know, a Pro Bowl
(21:36):
non Pro Bowl player, and I couldn't I could not
handle being good. You know, you wanted to be great.
If you're not going to be great, I don't want
to do this, regardless of what the money is. At
that time, I thought I had kind of, you know,
had enough money to where, you know, if I lived
reasonably and you know, did some appearances and whatever, I
(21:59):
could find my way and take care of our family.
And we moved to Virginia on a Friday, and I
got a job at Fox on Monday. Now, thirty years later,
the rest is history. A lot of forks in the
road in that story.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
An awful lot of forks in the road in that story.
You mentioned earlier. It's our thirties, your thirtieth year, it's
my twentieth with you guys, is there one story in
the thirty years that just stands out for you? With
TV and just being there a.
Speaker 3 (22:27):
Fox, well, you know, I think we've leaned on each
other over the years at times, you know, as I
think everyone knows Terry's had some medical issues over the
last few years. And you know, I was kind of
the guy that he decided to confide in. And you know,
you're constantly, you know, checking and checking. I'll tell you
(22:51):
one funny story. He's doing Failure to Launch and he
calls me up. I'm up here in Montana. I remember,
like it was yesterday, the movie Matthew McConaughey, and it
was a great movie. It was a fun movie. And
you know, here he is Diana and I are in
the movie theater and he's butt naked, and you know,
all you see is is big white ass on screen.
(23:13):
But he calls me up. He's in the back room
getting ready to do the nude scene. And he said,
little buddy. So they got these socks, the skin colored
socks that I got to put on, and you know,
they run it around your waist and you know it
covers you up, but you know it doesn't really cover
you up. And here's my problem. He said, they got
(23:36):
a small, they got a medium, and they got a large.
Now I'm thinking the large I can't pull off for sure.
Maybe I can't pull off the medium. But if I
go with the small, it's not gonna look good. At all.
So I'm gonna go with the medium and just take
the middle ground. And I said, sure, I think the
medium is the way to go.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
It's a great Who would have thought that Howie Long,
who gets drafted out of Villanova will be having this
conversation with four time Super Bowl winning quarterback Terry Bradshaw
about the size of his schlun for a movie with
Matthew mcconnty.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
I'll tell you the thing about him that people you know,
a lot of people don't know is he's a really
good friend. He's a guy that has taken the Brinch
truck all the way to the bank doing that jag clampet.
You know, all shucks. You know, go Gali, I'm gonna
(24:29):
go out to the cement pond and do my gazinthas.
He's one of the smartest people I know. And regardless
of whatever happens, whether it was you know, a rough
Saturday night or whatever it was, when the green light
goes on or the red light goes on, my man's
up and on and he he's stuck. And you know,
(24:51):
you could say the same thing over the last couple
of years, when you know he's had some challenges physically
and there was a lot going on there. He's going
through through a lot and you know, with the treatments
and just so happy. We did Joe Gibbs his charity
event up in d C this past offseason. You know,
we were up on stage for golly an hour and
(25:13):
a half. He showed up to the thing. Here we are,
it's like seven hundred people. I don't know how many people.
There are seven eight hundred people in this big, huge
ballroom up in DC, and I'm in a suit. He
shows up late. Joe Gibbs and I are taking pictures
with you know, people who paid to come in the
back before the event, take a photo and Terry walks in.
(25:35):
He forgot his suit.
Speaker 5 (25:37):
So he's in raggedy jeans, a pair of sketchers that
I gave him, and you know, a button down shirt
with his wide open and a T shirt.
Speaker 3 (25:49):
So we're gonna do this, you know, pseudo kind of
black tie. It's not a black tie, but it's you know,
it's it's a high end event, and we're on stage
and he does the whole thing. And the thing that
maybe the happiest was one he was himself. He was
as healthy as I've seen him and you know a
couple of years and he was sharp. Just the drive
(26:13):
home was you know, I drove home from up in
DC down to Virginia and you know, knowing that he was,
he turned the corner. We always joke about, you got
to it's the days of thunder. You got to get
through the smoke of turn three. Just hit the gas
and go keep smoke and trust that God willing, you're
gonna get through the other side and you're not gonna
hit anything. He I think he's through the smoke of
(26:34):
turn three.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
I told you, you know again, it's my twentieth or thirty.
You were right there. I think this was my best
moment at Fox. It wasn't Spygate or anything like that.
It was last year. We're sitting there around Christmas time,
Beverly Wilsher. Remember he came over the table and he said, hey, man,
you just you understand. I just want to tell you
because you understand. Just having a bad day between the
(26:57):
years and I just need to tell someone and you
get it.
Speaker 3 (26:59):
And yeah, that jet right.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
That just meant so much to me that we could
have all could have this kind of brotherhood together. And
the other thing that, you know, Terry and I do
a lot of and I'm brought obviously the whole chapter
in my book about this, and you're big part of
this is we have to use laughter to get out
of our gray and unfortunately for you, you're the target for
Terry and I are locked for our last I wrote
(27:27):
in my book that you're my muse the amount of.
Speaker 3 (27:29):
Jokes that it's the same, and it's the same in
my family. The boys like to uh, they like to
joke about me.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
Well, somebody tell you this. I'm not going to say
exactly one of I put two bumper stickers on Howie's car.
Speaker 4 (27:45):
One of them will paraphrase, said, I love porn.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
Howard drove around.
Speaker 3 (27:50):
Beverly Hills for fifteen minutes with this bumper sticker on
the waving. I'm thinking, golly, you know that Chevy commercial
or that sketchish or so oh wait, people are seeing that,
you know, geez. And I pull into Valet Parking and
the guy says, because I've stayed at the same place
for forever. He says to me, Uh, Howie, you know
(28:14):
you have a sticker on the back of your car.
Here's the real story I had back surgery. I was
stuck in the hotel, you know, because I had surgery
on a Tuesday, and it was the week that Al
Davis died. I remember it like it was yesterday and
I had to go into work and you know, talk
about Al and uh, I'm stuck there with an ice
machine and you know, they've got me on meds. And
(28:35):
you know, Jay was kind enough to come over a
little did I know what I was a very good friend.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
What I was.
Speaker 3 (28:40):
What his endgame was was he knew I was drugged out,
and you know I was on painkillers and I was
going to pass out, and he was going to put
a Hitler mustache I think on my upper lip right right.
So so now.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
Over, how we a marker saying the moment you go
to sleep, here I am drawing this little hit mustache
on you. And how he's like I said, I'm just
being a friend.
Speaker 3 (29:10):
So Jay as a procedure for his ankle, and you know,
I'm seeing myself. Well, you know, Jay came over to
see me, and you know I've got to go over
to his place and make sure he's good. So I
go over to his place. I'm sitting in there for
about an hour and I go back out, and you know,
it was something about my truck had climb something, and
(29:34):
yeah it.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
Was a bumper stick good.
Speaker 3 (29:37):
But again people are beeping at me and I'm driving around.
Speaker 6 (29:41):
This is the second bumper sticker, folks, the second bumper
on how he's called second one and this one was
more graphic first and how he pulls into the same
hotel and our friend, the doorman over there says, any
chance for you mister Glazier's Today and Tie event had
just gotten out at this hotel and was taking pictures
(30:04):
of how he's car with his pornographic bumper sticker on
the back of how he longs car.
Speaker 4 (30:11):
He calls me up and he goes, you put stick
in my car?
Speaker 2 (30:15):
He said, who is this sick in my car? I said, Mom,
He's like, I'm going to kill you now. Now conversely,
I've also seen the only time how he was ever
going to strike me, which he struck me for all
this is I'm training. I've had the honor of how
he said, here, man, you know this MMA program. I
(30:35):
got to train Chris for a while. Yeah, train call
for a long time and actually probably shouldn't thank.
Speaker 3 (30:42):
You for better. He's hitting you than me.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
You know shit, Well, how he's in the gym and
I'm showing him. You know, we're doing these hammer fists
where instead of slapping hands, you take a fist. And
you guys have seen UFC fighters when you get on
the ground, you know, use the back of their hand
to strike someone's face. But you can do the same
thing with lineman's forearms and cornerbacks for him. But you
gotta like practice because most of these guys have their
hands open. So I'm doing it over and over and over.
(31:07):
And then how he it's like he keeps butting in,
So I'm like, hey, dude, you like honey booboo's bump,
just leave us the fuck alone.
Speaker 4 (31:15):
And how he's like he could finals, and how this
is what we're doing. What I crack, how he's for him,
and how he goes, why would you do that?
Speaker 2 (31:22):
And he goes and he the Charlestown version of how
he that beast out out of the box.
Speaker 4 (31:27):
He goes in his pocket, he pulls out his car key.
I wanted you to see his, folks.
Speaker 2 (31:31):
How he takes his.
Speaker 4 (31:32):
Car key, he puts it in the middle of his
finger like this.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
And tries to punch me in the eye with his
car key because I hit him in fearm you know,
maybe an overreaction.
Speaker 3 (31:42):
Would you say that, Yeah, yeah, it hurt. It hurt,
that forearm thing hurt.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
Yeah. Yes, I mean, if you connected, my career is over.
Speaker 3 (31:55):
That's it. Yeah, and I'm in jail.
Speaker 4 (31:58):
Hey you're in jail. But now charges it was just
brothers fight with brothers.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (32:04):
Well, you know, listen, before I let you go, I
do got to tell you real talk, you know, folks.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
You you know I talk about leaning into your teammates.
And I'm lucky enough to have a howie when the
sky is falling for me, which happens sometimes, and particularly
there was one time, man, I had taken You know,
I've triedled a lot of different anti anxiety and anti
depression medications, and I'm gonna keep trying as new ones
come out, but none of them worked for me, so
I have to, you know, figure out other ways, unfortunately,
(32:31):
And there was one day I took one and I
came in and man, the sky was falling, and everybody
hated me. And how He pulled me aside said and
just said that, hey, hey, hey, nobody's against you. This
sky's not falling. We got you and man just just
before we went on the show. So to have a
friend like that who can know you that well and
know what to say, this is where you got to.
(32:53):
You gotta lean into your teammates gang and when you
you can be honest and vulnerable, your teammates they are
there to help you.
Speaker 3 (33:00):
What's that saying, this too will pass? YEA, Yeah, you
don't realize. You just got to hit the gas when
you hit that smoke on turn three and just go
through it.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
That was a dark ton and I've had a lot
of dark days in there because I put a lot
of pressure on myself and you know, I think we
all do on that show because we want to you know,
we want to every Sunday, we're all trying to win
the super Bowl. We're not just trying to have a show.
We're trying to win the Super Bowl Sunday, right, And.
Speaker 4 (33:23):
That's what people also, don't you know they talk about
our show.
Speaker 2 (33:26):
We all love each other, we all hang out together.
We're all godfathers of each other's kids and best men
at each other's weddings.
Speaker 4 (33:33):
There's been a lot of weddings, and you know, we're
all there.
Speaker 2 (33:37):
For it, but we constantly hang out, which is what
makes our show different, I think than everybody else.
Speaker 3 (33:42):
Yeah, I you know, listen, I have for forty three years.
I've been with two teams, you know, the Raiders for
thirteen and I have no frame of reference of what
other organizations are like other than you know, Kyle and
Chris playing and you know, getting a kind of glimpse
in New England, Philadelphia, Saint Louis and you know the
(34:02):
Bears in Kansas City and Andy Reid and you know
all that you know through your son's eyes, but through
my eyes. It's forty three years with two teams, and
I couldn't imagine being at a better place. I've had
the luxury of coaching high school football for eight years
(34:22):
and little league baseball for eight years. And you know,
Fox was very accommodating and they knew that that was
important to me. And you know the guys listen, My
boys were nine, five and four when I joined Fox.
So you know, everyone there is kind of an uncle,
and you know, everyone there has been along for the ride,
(34:46):
you know, through high school sports and college sports and
pro football and Pro Bowls and Super Bowls, and you know,
we covered, you know, Championship games and Super Bowls with
Chris and them, and everyone feels like part of the family.
And you know, our boys view everyone that I work
with as as family.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
We're all loyalty guys too. That's thing. We don't just
hang out right, all loyalty guys. We all get each
other's backs, and we fight like brothers.
Speaker 3 (35:16):
You and Michael fight like brothers. I geel we make
me uncomfortable.
Speaker 4 (35:21):
We got better with that. We got better with that.
Speaker 3 (35:22):
It's so funny. I'm sixty three years old. It's like,
guys grow up.
Speaker 4 (35:26):
Were for God's sakes, and we've grown up.
Speaker 2 (35:28):
We've got the two of us.
Speaker 3 (35:30):
It's it has better. There were times I'm like, you.
Speaker 2 (35:34):
Too, are just ridiculous. Well, I'm knocking back down home right,
and Michael imposes as well. Michael's like, don't let gap,
but smile fully. Here's a bad motherfucker.
Speaker 3 (35:45):
Oh let him.
Speaker 2 (35:46):
You know I'm not going to back down.
Speaker 3 (35:48):
I know that. I know that. But again again, I
think you know, at the end of the day, if
you need someone at midnight and you got to make
a call, there's you know, there's a short list of
people that are on that list and the guys we
work with, or you know, Jimmy might just not answer
(36:08):
the phone or hang out. You call it up and
he'd say, who.
Speaker 2 (36:15):
Hey, my last question for you. And I asked all
my guesses, give me your one moment in life. It's
your unbreakable moment, the one thing that should have broken
you but didn't, and as a result, you came through
the other side of that tunnel stronger forever.
Speaker 3 (36:31):
I would say. And you know, you don't realize it
at the time, because you really don't know any better.
Growing up the way I grew up, my dad was homeless,
living on Main Street in a car in our neighborhood.
And when you walk down the road and you see that,
(36:51):
you know, I'm not quite sure how I got by
that and moved on from it, and and you know,
didn't try not to dwell on it. And you know,
I think when you grow up like that, you have
a tendency of being able to shut that, put that
in the box, shut it, shut the door, and don't
(37:13):
think about it. But you know, I see the relationship
you know, Michael had with his dad, and you know
people have with their dad. And fortunately, I think as
the years went by after our sons were born, and
later on I reconnected with him and he would come
to Montana and spend a month, and I still see
(37:35):
him sitting out at the fire pit at one point
thirty in the morning, smoking a cigarette and having whatever
he was drinking, and you know, him reconnecting with the
boys was kind of a full circle for me. But
it wasn't a typical kind of childhood. And that seeing
that as a ten year old, it's not the easiest
(37:57):
thing in the world.
Speaker 2 (37:58):
To do is come out, hug. Just walk down the street.
You see him.
Speaker 3 (38:01):
Yeah, he's in the car sleeping. Wow.
Speaker 2 (38:04):
Well, that's a lot to get through.
Speaker 3 (38:05):
You have to understand, he's a guy who grew up
in an orphanage from birth eighteen years old, and an
abusive orphanage, you know, one of those kind that make
movies about. So his frame of reference for family, there
is no frame of reference. So you know, for me
him too, right, and and and you know that's the
big thing, Jay is I needed to move on from
(38:29):
all that and say, with age comes perspective, and I
think you find the ability, you find a way in
your heart and in your head to say I get it.
I kind of understand why you were the way you were.
He had a good heart. You would have loved him.
He was you know, six seven, two fifty five. You know,
(38:52):
God knows what he would have been if he you know,
he had a normal life or had a family. But
you know, to be in a to be in an
orphanage for eighteen years, wow, think about that from birth
to eighteen wow. Yeah, he was screwed from the get
gos So for me, that was probably the worst moment.
Speaker 2 (39:11):
I mean, it taught you a different level of forgiveness,
and I certainly taught you how not that toward your kids.
You know, like, hey, I'm going to make sure I'm
so there for my kids.
Speaker 3 (39:21):
Yeah, and I tend to be Yeah. I mean I
wanted to be better for a lot of reasons. Just
wanted to be better. And you know, I've, like I said,
nobody's perfect, but I've always been in the batter's box.
I've always been swinging and I show up. That's who
I am, and that's who I'm going to continue to
be until I can't do it anymore.
Speaker 2 (39:42):
Brother, Thank you for not hitting me in the eye
with the key that day. Thank me being there for me.
Try thank you for being there for me, for Sammy,
and always being there for me. Man, when the sky's
standing above me, and make sure it doesn't crash that
on me. I love you, Man, I appreciate you.
Speaker 3 (39:58):
Love your partner, how long.
Speaker 2 (40:00):
The Ambrakable Podcast
This is Unbreakable with Jay Glacier, a mental health podcast
helping you out of the gray and into the blue.
Now here's Jay Glacier.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Welcome into Unbreakable, a mental health podcast with Jay Glazer.
And I'm Jay Glazier. And before we get to our
guest today, if you're like many people, you may be
surprised to learn that one in five adults in this
country experienced mental illness last year, yet far too many
failed to receive the support they need. Carolin Behavioral Health
is doing something about it. They understand that behavioral health
(00:35):
is a key part of whole health, delivering compassionate care
that treats physical, mental, emotional, and social needs and tandem
Carolin behavior health raising the quality of life through empathy
and action. Welcome in now, my brother, my teammate, the
one and only Raider Hall of Fame, legend, television Hall
of Fame, and really the best person I've ever been around.
(00:57):
How we long?
Speaker 3 (00:57):
How are you, buddy? That's a stretch.
Speaker 4 (01:03):
It's not a stretch because you're the guy. So people
don't understand this.
Speaker 2 (01:07):
Howie obviously is you know, mister crazy Raider, but his
well for me personally, I adopted my son Sammy.
Speaker 4 (01:14):
I didn't know what I was doing. I leaned into
Howie to learn how to be a dad.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
But on Sundays too, when my sky is falling and
Terry's sky is falling, Howie is our therapist and he's
the one, Hey, hey, this sky's not falling. This sky's
not falling. It kind of makes you one of the
best people I've ever been around.
Speaker 3 (01:30):
Yes, I think it works. It works both ways in
every situation. I mean, I think sometimes the best advice
is advice you get from your friends, and you know
a lot of it's through experience, and you know, there's
no manual. I remember when Chris was first born, we
were out in LA and Diane had just graduated from
(01:52):
law school and she was she took a job in
a law firm and sleep was a priority, you know,
during the season, and with her having go to work
and you know, he'd throw up, and you all, we
had we had no family out there. We had the
Doctor Spock Book, so you know, you learn on the fly.
You know, it's like page forty two vomiting, and that's
(02:12):
how you kind of figured it out. And we unfortunately
did not have family out in California. So you know, listen,
like I say, if you're about in like six fifty
with with kids, you know, in terms of wins and losses,
you're doing all right. You know. You just got to
show up every day and let them know you love
them and try to give them as much guidance as
(02:35):
they they want to take. And sometimes they want to
do it their own way, and which is fine. You know,
you're going to make mistakes and we all do.
Speaker 2 (02:43):
You know. I think a lot of people don't know
this about you. And if I overstep and you don't
want to hit it, you tell me that. But you know,
like our upbringing does make us kind of who we are,
and you are way tougher upbringing.
Speaker 4 (02:54):
Than anybody else. First of all, tell people where you
grew up.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
People don't know that I grew up in Charlestown, Massachusetts,
right in the city of Boston.
Speaker 2 (03:05):
Which is famous for the move of the town. More
bank robberies than anybody any other place in America. Howie
robbed seventy five of them.
Speaker 3 (03:12):
Yeah, no, I can't say this with you know, I
don't have to pull the old you know, I have
no knowledge of the aforementioned incident no, I did not
rob any banks.
Speaker 2 (03:24):
You know, I'm not a particularly tough kid.
Speaker 3 (03:26):
I mean I figured it out around sixteen. You know
where you start to kind of realize, wait, you know,
I don't have to take this crap anymore. And I'm
physically you know, I'm gifted enough physically where you don't
have to do it. You don't have to take it anymore.
And when you grow up in that kind of neighborhood,
you know it it in many ways, I think has
(03:49):
you know, shaped the foundation of who I was. And
you know, we didn't play organized sports. I didn't play
organized sports until we had the Bussing Riots desegregation in Boston,
and I think it was seventy four seventy five. I
was living with my grandmother, my uncle Mike, and my
aunt Edie. I was fortunate to have extended family that
(04:12):
was kind enough to take me in. Uncle Mike was
the oldest of four uncles, and you know, worked in
the projects. And you know that a number of people
in the family worked in the projects. That was Uncle
Mike got the job, then he got Uncle Billy's the job,
and then he got my dad a job there, and
everyone else worked at Hood's Milk and my uncle John
(04:33):
was a cop in the North End. We played the
street and you know, we played basketball, ball, hockey, ice hockey.
Grew up playing that and you know, dreamed about being
Bobby Orr and you know, learned how to compete and
you know, how to be tougher playing in the streets.
And then when I went up to live with my
(04:55):
uncle Billy out in Milford, you know, he was the
first family member to kind of move out of Charlestown.
And life is filled with I think a lot of
forks in the road, you know, and I've been at
a number of forks in the road during the course
of my life. You know, whether it's going to live
with Uncle Billy, going to live with Uncle Mike. But
you know, certainly that walked down the hallway as a
(05:17):
fourteen year old at Milford High School and high school
coach by the name of Dick Corbyn, who ended up
going on to coach at Harvard, asked me who I
was and did I want to play football? And they
showed me how to put the equipment on, and I
was terrible. I was like a horse that just fell
out of his mama, and you know, was just you know,
all legs and arms and you know, dangling around. Not
(05:40):
really that good. Fortunately, it was a good football team
and we had a couple of three guys that ended
up playing, you know, in some form, whether it's Canadian
League or USFL. Joe Rustick went on to captain Notre Dame.
His dad was the coach at Harvard. And you know,
fast forward three years later, I'm seventeen year old, who's
(06:01):
you know, fortunate enough to get two offers to play
college football and another fork in the road. Do I
stay at Boston College or do I go to Villanova.
My grandmother, in her infinite wisdom, wanted me to get
out of the neighborhood. And you know, she liked the
coach who recruited me, Bob Capone went down to Villanova.
I was a seventeen year old freshman and went down
(06:25):
there with the clothes on my back and no bank account,
no credit card, no money, no driver's license. And I
never left Villanova. I never you know, Uncle Billy and
aunt Ada, who had two kids and two adopted kids,
took me in and you know, it was a very
(06:45):
close knit family, but you know, they were struggling. I
don't want to say struggling. I mean, I guess it
was a struggle financially, you know, because the meals were
I left there at six five to twenty one that summer,
I went to Villanova. I got a meal cart, and
I went in the weight room for the first time.
I was too sixty five when camp opened. I was
(07:07):
a bigger person waiting to happen. But I started as freshman,
played four years. And fast forward to uh, you know,
getting out of Villanova and Diane and I had no
idea that I played pro football. You know, I met
Diane and at Villanova, and you know that was obviously
a fork in the road, and you know another one, and.
Speaker 2 (07:26):
I think, what makes you different? Obviously? Look, you're known
as the big band d You epitomize those badass fucking
Raider teams because and you and I talked about this,
we both kind of have that beast in the box
right where I got that beast in the box that
gets me in troublesotimes but also led me in the
cage to go fight people and still.
Speaker 4 (07:44):
Drain and lid. You know, you sure you know you
being a bad motherfuckers? What made you a Hall of Famer?
When did you realize that.
Speaker 2 (07:52):
You had that beast that we got, like we could
use it for power, but you could also get us
in trouble. Like it's there.
Speaker 3 (07:58):
I think it. You know, it kind of popped its
head out at Villanova a little bit. When did I
fully kind of realize you know, listen, when you're at
Villanova and you're playing Delaware, and you're playing Cornell, and
you know, occasionally you play Boston College every year, you
see a higher level of competition, and then we played
Clemson one year when they were number one team in
(08:19):
the country. You know, one of those games they scheduled
earlier in the season and you drive down there and
you get your ass kicked for millions of dollars and
you know whatever, you know, the university got paid. You know,
I think when I got to the Raiders, which again
was you know, you want to talk about a culture change.
You go from Villanova where you're you know, you're playing
Delaware and you know you're you're I could have been
(08:43):
hit by a bus at Villanova and it would have made
page three of the newspaper, the local newspaper, and you know,
to go through the whole process of playing in the
Blue Gray game, which I got in because Joe Rustick's
father was the coach at Harvard and Joe Rustic played
at Notre Dame. His dad was the coach at Harvard
and he was on the selection committee for the Blue
(09:04):
Gray Game, and I Jimmy Johnson the coach. Well that
was the irony, you know, another and a fork in
the road. Jimmy Johnson is the coach of the North.
So go figure that and h end up winning the MVP,
and you know then I ran for you know, people
have pro days. When you're at a small school. People
(09:26):
knock on your dorm room door on a Sunday and
they've got their girlfriend in the car, and it's a
scout from you know, filling the blank team and he's
really just checking a box, you know. I mean, no
one saw me getting drafted in the second round and
the Raiders drafted me, and I you know, I remember
on I think it was on ESPN and I'm paraphrasing,
but they, you know, they say, you know, they wasted
a pick. He's you know, they could have gotten him
(09:48):
in the sixth round or seventh round or whatever. And
you know, fortunately for me, you know, it was Al Davis.
It was Ron Wolf. It was Earl Leggott. Al and
Ron are both Hall of Famers. Earl brought Michael Strahan up,
brought me up as players, and you know, kind of
was the foundation of who he became as players. And
we've talked about that often, another fork in the road.
(10:11):
You know, I was fortunate to be around guys. You know,
really you didn't really need to look too far to
see what great was. You know, you get drafted in
that organization, you know, Artchelle, Gene Upshaw. They were guys
that you know, were tough on me, but you know,
also brought me along. Early on, Lyle Alzado, I lived
(10:33):
with a guy named Cedra Cartman, who was a great
pass rusher with the forty nine ers, And ironically enough,
he was Joe Green's roommate in North Texas State. And
we played Pittsburgh on Monday night my rookie year. And
here we are in this little house in Alameda. I'm
making thirty eight thousand dollars, one thousand and seven dollars
after after taxes, and Joe Green's coming over for dinner,
(10:55):
you know, and I was like, I played at Villanova,
so the Steelers were kind of the team that I
really paid attention to, and which is ironic because now
with Terry for this year, thirty years he and I've
been together, which is really ironic. But you know, for
Joe Green to walk in your house as a you know,
twenty just turned twenty one year old, you know, was amazing.
(11:16):
And I really figured out who I was. Year one,
I came in on third down. Year two was a
strike shortened year, so it was an eight nine game season.
And year three was my first full season, and I
was all Pro and you know, we won a Super
Bowl and I knew then, you know, I'm not sure
(11:38):
where it was, but I knew I could handle myself
with just about anybody, and I was confident about that.
And that was through a lot of hard work. And
you know, great coaching, you know, when you're in an
organization like that, you know Al Davis, Ron Wolfe, as
I mentioned, Freddie Blittnikoff's on the staff, Jim Otto's around.
(11:59):
You know, great players who historic players who were a
big part of the history of that organization were always around,
so you know, you didn't have to look forward to
see what greatness. Willie Brown, good friend, you know, coach
for a long time, just passed away. The last few years.
Cliff Branch used to sleep on our sofa, Cedric and
(12:20):
my sofa?
Speaker 2 (12:22):
Are you living with?
Speaker 3 (12:24):
I did live we in eighty two. It's just really
you were to talk about mental health. In eighty two.
We practiced in Oakland and played in La so every
game was a road game, and Diane was in law
school and here I was at the Oakland Airport. Hilton
(12:45):
Lyles said, you're living with me, and we're in a
single room with two queen beds. And he'd go to
sleep at like nine point fifteen. You'd have a piece
of chocolate cake and a glass of milk, and he
shut the TV off, didn't ask if I was watching anything.
But fortunately Marcus and a guy by named Mikal Peterson,
good guy linebacker, were staying across the hall from us,
(13:09):
and I'd get a roll away cot and I'd go
over there and sleep a lot of nights. Yeah, Lyle was,
Uh Lyle was. He was. He was everything you'd think
and a little bit more.
Speaker 2 (13:20):
Why don't you tell Lyley you wanted to watch DV?
Speaker 3 (13:22):
You know, I'm twenty one two years old, he's thirty four,
thirty three Yeah, it's Lyle Alzato. You know, it's like
we didn't have a contentious relationship at all. I always
likened it too. It was Russia and USA. It was like,
you know, it's if it happens, it's the nuclear you
(13:43):
know kind of deal where you're going to blow each
other up. So I think I think, you know, he
respected me from a physical standpoint, and you know, I
enjoyed Lyle. Lyle was very good to me. He was
you know, one day to the next door within a day.
He could be in multiple moods. There was a lot
(14:03):
of up and down with him, but great player.
Speaker 2 (14:06):
Le prepared you for me and Terry. Is what you're saying.
Speaker 3 (14:10):
If you can live with Lyle Alzado and Oakland, Oakland,
Oakland Airport, Hilton, you're You're good. You're good for everything.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
Tell everyone that. I can never tell it enough. The
story with you and Lyle going to the Super.
Speaker 3 (14:24):
Bowl, well, we always took a cab. Lyle and I
always took a cab. The first time we took I.
Speaker 2 (14:31):
Never asked you that why did you take the gym
instead of just going on the buses.
Speaker 3 (14:34):
Because the buses didn't leave the busses didn't leave till later,
and we had pregame meal early and you know, you'd
eat and they'd go through special team's roll call and
l one it was you know, Smith, Jones, McCarthy, whoever,
you know, it was for three guys would say their name,
just so that we knew who was going in on
(14:55):
what and that wasn't going to be screwed up for
whatever reason. That's what we did. And that was at
like nine o'clock and it ended at nine. Everyone will
go up to their room and hang out for an
hour hour and a half. Lyle and I like to
get I like to get to the stadium early. I'd
like to go over every formation. I had formation sheets,
(15:18):
and I had if they ran eighteen Bob Treyo twenty
five times, I had it written out twenty five times
underneath the right tackle, and if it was Bill Otto
to the weak side, I'd drawed up the number of times.
I didn't want to write it five times, Bill joke Row.
I wrote Bill joke Row five times because mentally in
my head, I wanted to see it as soon as
(15:40):
the huddle broke. If I could divide the field in
half and say, you know, near eye far eye, split backs,
whatever trips, you know, two tight ends, jumbo, why off
y motion. I in my head, I wanted to be
able to process within five six seconds what I thought
the play was, or at least I could divide the
(16:01):
field in half. And Lyle would get fully dressed and
go lie down in front of his locker, put a
towel under his head, and he pass out and go
dead to sleep for an hour hour and a half
before everyone came. Now, I was in my still in
my warm up stuff, shorts and you know, put on
some cleats. I go out and do some strides, stretch
(16:22):
a little bit. I like to get there early and
be prepared. So this is the Super Bowl in Tampa, right,
So we take a cab for the first time when
we go to la in eighty two. Lyle comes with
us in eighty two, so he wants to take a
cab to go there early. I said, great, I'll you know,
I'll go there early. He ends up taking us to
Dodgers Stadium. The place is empty. Obvia cab driver the
(16:47):
Super Bowl. His meters in the red. So that's our
first cab rock. So the season goes on strike. We
go to the Super Bowl, and we've taken a cab
every week, and you think about doing this now versus
nineteen eighty three. Now it's you know, there's concrete blocks,
(17:08):
there's you know, streets are blocked off, the police, helicopters,
the whole thing. Lyle and I got in the cab
and went to the Super Bowl, super Bowl eighteen down
in Tampa Bay versus the Washington Redskins, but then Washington Redskins.
And we get stuck in traffic about three quarters of
a mile from the parking lot and it's it's logjam.
(17:30):
Kyle wants a cap, Lyle wants a cab driver to
go up on the curb and you know, avoid the
traffic and get us to the stadium. Cab driver's frightened
to death. He's, you know, frightening that he's going to
lose his license, frightened to Lyle and Lyle's meters in
the red. We get out of the cab and we
literally walked the last three quarters a mile through the
parking lot with our bag and you know, through the
(17:53):
fans into the stadium for Super Bowl eighteen.
Speaker 4 (17:57):
How many people was loud, and you know, he just
had that look on his face.
Speaker 5 (18:03):
That.
Speaker 3 (18:03):
You know, if you knew lyle, you just you knew
when that look was there was is he's in the red.
You know, he went to his dark pms were in
the red. And if you if you couldn't read that
face and the walk, you weren't real sharp.
Speaker 2 (18:19):
You could you imagine today nowadays couldn't happen just you know,
the no boundaries with anybody. I mean, you couldn't even
think about it today.
Speaker 3 (18:27):
Right, no, I you know, listen, it was a time
when fights and practice fights and locker room fights on airplanes,
you know, and and there was no Jay Glazier then
it was the three major networks and ESPN was kind
of doing tractor pulls and you know, doing that at
the time. And you know he had the local beat
(18:48):
writers are matter of fact, John Zaresky who worked with
us for forever We love Zar, he just retired last year.
He was our local beat writer along with you know,
a writer from the La Times. And you know, but
the beat writer flew on the plane. He knew everybody.
It was a wink and a nod, you know, and
and things just weren't reported.
Speaker 2 (19:09):
So back then again, you were you were crazy. How
are you let's say, right, you have to beat and then.
Speaker 3 (19:15):
You know, Jay, I've kind of been the same guy
I was. The switch was on a lot more, but
I was the same I'm the same guy. I'm the
same guy that doesn't like to go out. I'm not
a partier, That's just not me. I do the Irish
exit a lot, you know. But uh, I was the
same guy, just I was in the Red a lot.
(19:37):
So that that was my that's my question.
Speaker 2 (19:39):
Yeah, I'm around they constantly, right, and you're you're writing
notes all the time and you're having versus Jordachraze to
keep that beast in the box. Did you make the
decision though, to hey, I'm going to keep that writ
myself out of the red. When you had Chris or
was it before that or after that? When you have kids,
it seemed like you changed your life then.
Speaker 3 (19:59):
I think Chris started the process. Having Chris having a son,
you know, it changes everything, you know, it changes how
you panel yourself, what you do and what you don't do.
And you never want you know, the one thing you
don't want to do is you don't ever want to
disappoint your your son or sons. And I think for me,
(20:20):
here was the thing. And you know, Chris and I
have had this conversation, and I've had this conversation with
Kyle a little bit. I played thirteen years and never
had a dollar guaranteed, which means you could be cut
at any time.
Speaker 2 (20:31):
Well, you never had a guarantee China bonus.
Speaker 3 (20:34):
No, Well I had a sign My signing bonus in
nineteen eighty one was eighty thousand dollars, which they told
me was too much money to give me all at once,
so they spread it out over two years. Okay, really yes,
So here, I'm playing for thirteen years, and eight of
(20:54):
those years were with kids, So you're always under the gun,
and there's injuries getting shot up, and you know, you're
you're trying to come back, and you're you're you've got
to play. You've got to be the guy on Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday.
You got to be the guy. And I think when
I when I finally decided to kind of pack it in,
(21:16):
you know, not one specific thing. It was a it
was a number of things. One you know, I I
I'm not sure I had I think I had maybe
seven or eight surgeries at that point, and things were.
It took everything I could to make the Pro Bowl
my last year, you know, so I was right there
on the fringe of being you know, a Pro Bowl
(21:36):
non Pro Bowl player, and I couldn't I could not
handle being good. You know, you wanted to be great.
If you're not going to be great, I don't want
to do this, regardless of what the money is. At
that time, I thought I had kind of, you know,
had enough money to where, you know, if I lived
reasonably and you know, did some appearances and whatever, I
(21:59):
could find my way and take care of our family.
And we moved to Virginia on a Friday, and I
got a job at Fox on Monday. Now, thirty years later,
the rest is history. A lot of forks in the
road in that story.
Speaker 2 (22:12):
An awful lot of forks in the road in that story.
You mentioned earlier. It's our thirties, your thirtieth year, it's
my twentieth with you guys, is there one story in
the thirty years that just stands out for you? With
TV and just being there a.
Speaker 3 (22:27):
Fox, well, you know, I think we've leaned on each
other over the years at times, you know, as I
think everyone knows Terry's had some medical issues over the
last few years. And you know, I was kind of
the guy that he decided to confide in. And you know,
you're constantly, you know, checking and checking. I'll tell you
(22:51):
one funny story. He's doing Failure to Launch and he
calls me up. I'm up here in Montana. I remember,
like it was yesterday, the movie Matthew McConaughey, and it
was a great movie. It was a fun movie. And
you know, here he is Diana and I are in
the movie theater and he's butt naked, and you know,
all you see is is big white ass on screen.
(23:13):
But he calls me up. He's in the back room
getting ready to do the nude scene. And he said,
little buddy. So they got these socks, the skin colored
socks that I got to put on, and you know,
they run it around your waist and you know it
covers you up, but you know it doesn't really cover
you up. And here's my problem. He said, they got
(23:36):
a small, they got a medium, and they got a large.
Now I'm thinking the large I can't pull off for sure.
Maybe I can't pull off the medium. But if I
go with the small, it's not gonna look good. At all.
So I'm gonna go with the medium and just take
the middle ground. And I said, sure, I think the
medium is the way to go.
Speaker 2 (23:57):
It's a great Who would have thought that Howie Long,
who gets drafted out of Villanova will be having this
conversation with four time Super Bowl winning quarterback Terry Bradshaw
about the size of his schlun for a movie with
Matthew mcconnty.
Speaker 3 (24:09):
I'll tell you the thing about him that people you know,
a lot of people don't know is he's a really
good friend. He's a guy that has taken the Brinch
truck all the way to the bank doing that jag clampet.
You know, all shucks. You know, go Gali, I'm gonna
(24:29):
go out to the cement pond and do my gazinthas.
He's one of the smartest people I know. And regardless
of whatever happens, whether it was you know, a rough
Saturday night or whatever it was, when the green light
goes on or the red light goes on, my man's
up and on and he he's stuck. And you know,
(24:51):
you could say the same thing over the last couple
of years, when you know he's had some challenges physically
and there was a lot going on there. He's going
through through a lot and you know, with the treatments
and just so happy. We did Joe Gibbs his charity
event up in d C this past offseason. You know,
we were up on stage for golly an hour and
(25:13):
a half. He showed up to the thing. Here we are,
it's like seven hundred people. I don't know how many people.
There are seven eight hundred people in this big, huge
ballroom up in DC, and I'm in a suit. He
shows up late. Joe Gibbs and I are taking pictures
with you know, people who paid to come in the
back before the event, take a photo and Terry walks in.
(25:35):
He forgot his suit.
Speaker 5 (25:37):
So he's in raggedy jeans, a pair of sketchers that
I gave him, and you know, a button down shirt
with his wide open and a T shirt.
Speaker 3 (25:49):
So we're gonna do this, you know, pseudo kind of
black tie. It's not a black tie, but it's you know,
it's it's a high end event, and we're on stage
and he does the whole thing. And the thing that
maybe the happiest was one he was himself. He was
as healthy as I've seen him and you know a
couple of years and he was sharp. Just the drive
(26:13):
home was you know, I drove home from up in
DC down to Virginia and you know, knowing that he was,
he turned the corner. We always joke about, you got
to it's the days of thunder. You got to get
through the smoke of turn three. Just hit the gas
and go keep smoke and trust that God willing, you're
gonna get through the other side and you're not gonna
hit anything. He I think he's through the smoke of
(26:34):
turn three.
Speaker 2 (26:35):
I told you, you know again, it's my twentieth or thirty.
You were right there. I think this was my best
moment at Fox. It wasn't Spygate or anything like that.
It was last year. We're sitting there around Christmas time,
Beverly Wilsher. Remember he came over the table and he said, hey, man,
you just you understand. I just want to tell you
because you understand. Just having a bad day between the
(26:57):
years and I just need to tell someone and you
get it.
Speaker 3 (26:59):
And yeah, that jet right.
Speaker 2 (27:01):
That just meant so much to me that we could
have all could have this kind of brotherhood together. And
the other thing that, you know, Terry and I do
a lot of and I'm brought obviously the whole chapter
in my book about this, and you're big part of
this is we have to use laughter to get out
of our gray and unfortunately for you, you're the target for
Terry and I are locked for our last I wrote
(27:27):
in my book that you're my muse the amount of.
Speaker 3 (27:29):
Jokes that it's the same, and it's the same in
my family. The boys like to uh, they like to
joke about me.
Speaker 2 (27:39):
Well, somebody tell you this. I'm not going to say
exactly one of I put two bumper stickers on Howie's car.
Speaker 4 (27:45):
One of them will paraphrase, said, I love porn.
Speaker 2 (27:48):
Howard drove around.
Speaker 3 (27:50):
Beverly Hills for fifteen minutes with this bumper sticker on
the waving. I'm thinking, golly, you know that Chevy commercial
or that sketchish or so oh wait, people are seeing that,
you know, geez. And I pull into Valet Parking and
the guy says, because I've stayed at the same place
for forever. He says to me, Uh, Howie, you know
(28:14):
you have a sticker on the back of your car.
Here's the real story I had back surgery. I was
stuck in the hotel, you know, because I had surgery
on a Tuesday, and it was the week that Al
Davis died. I remember it like it was yesterday and
I had to go into work and you know, talk
about Al and uh, I'm stuck there with an ice
machine and you know, they've got me on meds. And
(28:35):
you know, Jay was kind enough to come over a
little did I know what I was a very good friend.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
What I was.
Speaker 3 (28:40):
What his endgame was was he knew I was drugged out,
and you know I was on painkillers and I was
going to pass out, and he was going to put
a Hitler mustache I think on my upper lip right right.
So so now.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
Over, how we a marker saying the moment you go
to sleep, here I am drawing this little hit mustache
on you. And how he's like I said, I'm just
being a friend.
Speaker 3 (29:10):
So Jay as a procedure for his ankle, and you know,
I'm seeing myself. Well, you know, Jay came over to
see me, and you know I've got to go over
to his place and make sure he's good. So I
go over to his place. I'm sitting in there for
about an hour and I go back out, and you know,
it was something about my truck had climb something, and
(29:34):
yeah it.
Speaker 2 (29:35):
Was a bumper stick good.
Speaker 3 (29:37):
But again people are beeping at me and I'm driving around.
Speaker 6 (29:41):
This is the second bumper sticker, folks, the second bumper
on how he's called second one and this one was
more graphic first and how he pulls into the same
hotel and our friend, the doorman over there says, any
chance for you mister Glazier's Today and Tie event had
just gotten out at this hotel and was taking pictures
(30:04):
of how he's car with his pornographic bumper sticker on
the back of how he longs car.
Speaker 4 (30:11):
He calls me up and he goes, you put stick
in my car?
Speaker 2 (30:15):
He said, who is this sick in my car? I said, Mom,
He's like, I'm going to kill you now. Now conversely,
I've also seen the only time how he was ever
going to strike me, which he struck me for all
this is I'm training. I've had the honor of how
he said, here, man, you know this MMA program. I
(30:35):
got to train Chris for a while. Yeah, train call
for a long time and actually probably shouldn't thank.
Speaker 3 (30:42):
You for better. He's hitting you than me.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
You know shit, Well, how he's in the gym and
I'm showing him. You know, we're doing these hammer fists
where instead of slapping hands, you take a fist. And
you guys have seen UFC fighters when you get on
the ground, you know, use the back of their hand
to strike someone's face. But you can do the same
thing with lineman's forearms and cornerbacks for him. But you
gotta like practice because most of these guys have their
hands open. So I'm doing it over and over and over.
(31:07):
And then how he it's like he keeps butting in,
So I'm like, hey, dude, you like honey booboo's bump,
just leave us the fuck alone.
Speaker 4 (31:15):
And how he's like he could finals, and how this
is what we're doing. What I crack, how he's for him,
and how he goes, why would you do that?
Speaker 2 (31:22):
And he goes and he the Charlestown version of how
he that beast out out of the box.
Speaker 4 (31:27):
He goes in his pocket, he pulls out his car key.
I wanted you to see his, folks.
Speaker 2 (31:31):
How he takes his.
Speaker 4 (31:32):
Car key, he puts it in the middle of his
finger like this.
Speaker 2 (31:34):
And tries to punch me in the eye with his
car key because I hit him in fearm you know,
maybe an overreaction.
Speaker 3 (31:42):
Would you say that, Yeah, yeah, it hurt. It hurt,
that forearm thing hurt.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
Yeah. Yes, I mean, if you connected, my career is over.
Speaker 3 (31:55):
That's it. Yeah, and I'm in jail.
Speaker 4 (31:58):
Hey you're in jail. But now charges it was just
brothers fight with brothers.
Speaker 2 (32:02):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (32:04):
Well, you know, listen, before I let you go, I
do got to tell you real talk, you know, folks.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
You you know I talk about leaning into your teammates.
And I'm lucky enough to have a howie when the
sky is falling for me, which happens sometimes, and particularly
there was one time, man, I had taken You know,
I've triedled a lot of different anti anxiety and anti
depression medications, and I'm gonna keep trying as new ones
come out, but none of them worked for me, so
I have to, you know, figure out other ways, unfortunately,
(32:31):
And there was one day I took one and I
came in and man, the sky was falling, and everybody
hated me. And how He pulled me aside said and
just said that, hey, hey, hey, nobody's against you. This
sky's not falling. We got you and man just just
before we went on the show. So to have a
friend like that who can know you that well and
know what to say, this is where you got to.
(32:53):
You gotta lean into your teammates gang and when you
you can be honest and vulnerable, your teammates they are
there to help you.
Speaker 3 (33:00):
What's that saying, this too will pass? YEA, Yeah, you
don't realize. You just got to hit the gas when
you hit that smoke on turn three and just go
through it.
Speaker 2 (33:10):
That was a dark ton and I've had a lot
of dark days in there because I put a lot
of pressure on myself and you know, I think we
all do on that show because we want to you know,
we want to every Sunday, we're all trying to win
the super Bowl. We're not just trying to have a show.
We're trying to win the Super Bowl Sunday, right, And.
Speaker 4 (33:23):
That's what people also, don't you know they talk about
our show.
Speaker 2 (33:26):
We all love each other, we all hang out together.
We're all godfathers of each other's kids and best men
at each other's weddings.
Speaker 4 (33:33):
There's been a lot of weddings, and you know, we're
all there.
Speaker 2 (33:37):
For it, but we constantly hang out, which is what
makes our show different, I think than everybody else.
Speaker 3 (33:42):
Yeah, I you know, listen, I have for forty three years.
I've been with two teams, you know, the Raiders for
thirteen and I have no frame of reference of what
other organizations are like other than you know, Kyle and
Chris playing and you know, getting a kind of glimpse
in New England, Philadelphia, Saint Louis and you know the
(34:02):
Bears in Kansas City and Andy Reid and you know
all that you know through your son's eyes, but through
my eyes. It's forty three years with two teams, and
I couldn't imagine being at a better place. I've had
the luxury of coaching high school football for eight years
(34:22):
and little league baseball for eight years. And you know,
Fox was very accommodating and they knew that that was
important to me. And you know the guys listen, My
boys were nine, five and four when I joined Fox.
So you know, everyone there is kind of an uncle,
and you know, everyone there has been along for the ride,
(34:46):
you know, through high school sports and college sports and
pro football and Pro Bowls and Super Bowls, and you know,
we covered, you know, Championship games and Super Bowls with
Chris and them, and everyone feels like part of the family.
And you know, our boys view everyone that I work
with as as family.
Speaker 2 (35:07):
We're all loyalty guys too. That's thing. We don't just
hang out right, all loyalty guys. We all get each
other's backs, and we fight like brothers.
Speaker 3 (35:16):
You and Michael fight like brothers. I geel we make
me uncomfortable.
Speaker 4 (35:21):
We got better with that. We got better with that.
Speaker 3 (35:22):
It's so funny. I'm sixty three years old. It's like,
guys grow up.
Speaker 4 (35:26):
Were for God's sakes, and we've grown up.
Speaker 2 (35:28):
We've got the two of us.
Speaker 3 (35:30):
It's it has better. There were times I'm like, you.
Speaker 2 (35:34):
Too, are just ridiculous. Well, I'm knocking back down home right,
and Michael imposes as well. Michael's like, don't let gap,
but smile fully. Here's a bad motherfucker.
Speaker 3 (35:45):
Oh let him.
Speaker 2 (35:46):
You know I'm not going to back down.
Speaker 3 (35:48):
I know that. I know that. But again again, I
think you know, at the end of the day, if
you need someone at midnight and you got to make
a call, there's you know, there's a short list of
people that are on that list and the guys we
work with, or you know, Jimmy might just not answer
(36:08):
the phone or hang out. You call it up and
he'd say, who.
Speaker 2 (36:15):
Hey, my last question for you. And I asked all
my guesses, give me your one moment in life. It's
your unbreakable moment, the one thing that should have broken
you but didn't, and as a result, you came through
the other side of that tunnel stronger forever.
Speaker 3 (36:31):
I would say. And you know, you don't realize it
at the time, because you really don't know any better.
Growing up the way I grew up, my dad was homeless,
living on Main Street in a car in our neighborhood.
And when you walk down the road and you see that,
(36:51):
you know, I'm not quite sure how I got by
that and moved on from it, and and you know,
didn't try not to dwell on it. And you know,
I think when you grow up like that, you have
a tendency of being able to shut that, put that
in the box, shut it, shut the door, and don't
(37:13):
think about it. But you know, I see the relationship
you know, Michael had with his dad, and you know
people have with their dad. And fortunately, I think as
the years went by after our sons were born, and
later on I reconnected with him and he would come
to Montana and spend a month, and I still see
(37:35):
him sitting out at the fire pit at one point
thirty in the morning, smoking a cigarette and having whatever
he was drinking, and you know, him reconnecting with the
boys was kind of a full circle for me. But
it wasn't a typical kind of childhood. And that seeing
that as a ten year old, it's not the easiest
(37:57):
thing in the world.
Speaker 2 (37:58):
To do is come out, hug. Just walk down the street.
You see him.
Speaker 3 (38:01):
Yeah, he's in the car sleeping. Wow.
Speaker 2 (38:04):
Well, that's a lot to get through.
Speaker 3 (38:05):
You have to understand, he's a guy who grew up
in an orphanage from birth eighteen years old, and an
abusive orphanage, you know, one of those kind that make
movies about. So his frame of reference for family, there
is no frame of reference. So you know, for me
him too, right, and and and you know that's the
big thing, Jay is I needed to move on from
(38:29):
all that and say, with age comes perspective, and I
think you find the ability, you find a way in
your heart and in your head to say I get it.
I kind of understand why you were the way you were.
He had a good heart. You would have loved him.
He was you know, six seven, two fifty five. You know,
(38:52):
God knows what he would have been if he you know,
he had a normal life or had a family. But
you know, to be in a to be in an
orphanage for eighteen years, wow, think about that from birth
to eighteen wow. Yeah, he was screwed from the get
gos So for me, that was probably the worst moment.
Speaker 2 (39:11):
I mean, it taught you a different level of forgiveness,
and I certainly taught you how not that toward your kids.
You know, like, hey, I'm going to make sure I'm
so there for my kids.
Speaker 3 (39:21):
Yeah, and I tend to be Yeah. I mean I
wanted to be better for a lot of reasons. Just
wanted to be better. And you know, I've, like I said,
nobody's perfect, but I've always been in the batter's box.
I've always been swinging and I show up. That's who
I am, and that's who I'm going to continue to
be until I can't do it anymore.
Speaker 2 (39:42):
Brother, Thank you for not hitting me in the eye
with the key that day. Thank me being there for me.
Try thank you for being there for me, for Sammy,
and always being there for me. Man, when the sky's
standing above me, and make sure it doesn't crash that
on me. I love you, Man, I appreciate you.
Speaker 3 (39:58):
Love your partner, how long.
Speaker 2 (40:00):
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