January 2, 2025 • 25 mins
On today's podcast , Hosts Q Ward and Ramses Ja examine the highly publicized relationship of Black Colorado football star Travis Hunter.
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Speaker 1 (00:02):
This is the Black Information Network Daily podcast and I'm
your host, rams' Jah. And sometimes the amount of stories
that make their way to us means that we simply
can't cover.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Everything that comes our way.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
But from time to time, a story just stays with
me and feel compelled to share it with you and
give you my thoughts. And now one more thing.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Relationships, familial, romantic, professional, they can be incredibly difficult. Even
if no one else is involved in those relationships except
(00:44):
for you and one other person, they can be very difficult.
We grow up in different times, We were raised by
different people. Sometimes we pray to different guys, odds, or
different ideas of what you know, we feel our spiritual
(01:07):
father or mother may be left to our own devices.
Trying to figure out how to cohabitate with another person
for an extended amount of time can prove nearly impossible.
And impossible might sound like hyperbole, but I go on
(01:30):
to think that there are a number of people who
are listening to the sound of my voice that are single,
some of them fully by choice, others because like myself,
they've tried and failed at the relationship thing over and over.
As difficult as relationships are, being a young black man
(01:59):
is equally, if not more difficult. Add to that being
a young black man who is a college student, a
college athlete, and a celebrity simultaneously, and it makes that
young black man and that relationship thing exponentially more difficult.
(02:25):
Imagine doing anything, your job, your relationship, being a parent,
being a spouse, being a child, while the entire world
watches and scrutinizes every decision that you make. I'd imagine
that would make it more difficult to be the optimal
(02:46):
best version of yourself at any task if you're being
constantly watched, constantly micromanaged, constantly scrutinized, and having somebody point
out every misstep, every mistake, and everything that they would
do differently right, because it becomes less about what's right
and wrong and more about that's not how I.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Would do it.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
I know the way that you're doing it is working,
but I do it different, So I have to tell you.
I imagine everyone telling you the way that they would
do it different. So trying to manage, in this very
specific case, being the best in your field right. In
(03:33):
this case, a college football player being a young black
student athlete with a four point zero GPA not getting
into any trouble with the law and performing at the
pinnacle of the sport that you play. You're the best period,
You're not one of two. Know you're him, while also
(03:55):
having your what you would prefer to be very private,
very into me romantic life with your significant other, also
being up for scrutiny in front of the entire world
and anyone who has social media. This is the current
reality of the twenty twenty four Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter. Now,
(04:20):
you might not be a sports fan, so you, like
my brother Rams, this might be wondering who is Travis Hunter.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Well, welcome to the conversation that I've been having with Q. Yeah,
I did not know who this young man was and
he only appeared on my radar because of his relationship troubles.
So if you are like me and uninitiated, I'm going
(04:52):
to share a bit from Essentially Sports that will kind
of bring you up to speed currently and you know,
I know that you know a little bit more about
what has happened in the story, and you know, I'm
hopeful that he will find his way through it. But
again from Essentially Sports, Travis Hunter capped off his Colorado
(05:12):
stint with a loss. Yes, it is not something to
be proud of, but he has enough under his belt
not to be ashamed of either. Two way Colorado's star
signed off with a spectacular Heisman Trophy, a remarkable season,
and a Bowl game eligibility. He caught four passes for
a game high one hundred and six yards and a
touchdown and left the building like a tragic hero, a
(05:35):
bittersweet moment for Coach Prime and each of the Buffs fans.
But the Trollers didn't get a chill as they found
another loophole in the pale. The camera spotted Travis's fiance
Leanna Lenney nowhere during the Bowl and continued poking at
his love life. So, you know, there's a little bit more,
(05:55):
I guess in the way. The backstory needs to be established,
and I'm sure you can do that, but you know
this is it's kind of happening right now in full display. Yeah,
and he needs someone, he needs some There needs to
be people that explain the story. And I'm going to
learn in this moment along with our listeners.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
So you and I had a conversation last week really
highlighting this young man's exceptional year on the football field.
Every award he was eligible for he won, with the
exception of one that he wasn't even a finalist for,
which when you look at the other accomplishments next to that,
(06:34):
doesn't make any sense. So Travis Hunter plays full time
on both sides of the ball, which is a very
very rare thing.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
There have been.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Exceptional athletes throughout the history of sports, especially with football,
who have played sparingly on one side and full time
on the other. Travis Hunter played on eighty four percent
of the University of Colorado's snaps this season. The next
closest player is like fifty, so significantly more than not
(07:03):
just anybody this year, but really anyone ever. He was
a first team All American at both positions. Each position
only has two people I think in some cases three
that are first team All American.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
So he was one of the.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
Top three at the position, but wasn't a finalist for
that position's award. So that's why I wanted to point
that out so people would understand every other award that
he qualified for he won.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
Including the Heisman.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
That's including the Heisman Trophy.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
Right, So, at a moment where we should all be
really happy for and celebrating and rooting for this kid.
All of us kind of involuntarily have been invited into
his love life, and it's gotten so bad that the
young man has removed himself from social media, which might
be a good thing, but had he just made that
(07:54):
decision clear headed, it'd be something to celebrate that are
being bullied, and it feels like he was bullied into it,
and that part I don't like. I think that we
are all and I say we because I've seen some
things that made me cringe a little bit too fearful
that this young man would be taking advantage of or
played in some way, and there's some pushback in that,
(08:16):
but it's also not my business. That's why you've seen
me post nothing saying anything negative about this kid's love life,
because if he loves that woman, we collectively have no
idea what their understanding is of their relationship, so we
don't get to look at it and say, well, that's
not how I would do it. So that's not how
I would prefer it go. So I'm going to judge
(08:38):
this young man and his fiance on how they carry
out their love life.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
So let's talk about why people are being critical of
their love life because the article I shared, it doesn't
encompass the story that you initially told me.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Yes, so talk about that.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
Or so I wish the story was singular, there's more. Okay, Well,
go ahead, it's it's it's difficult. Some people are going
trolls are going control sure that right. So there are
people who, even if everything was perfect, would find something
to criticize them for. Well, she didn't hold his hand
the right way when they were walking down the streets,
(09:16):
so something must be wrong. Like, those people exist, and
those people are having a disgusting amount of joy or
fun with this story. It's like it's like their best
case scenario for them is that they have a little
bit to make it look bad and they can just
amplify that to you know, a trillion. So the first
(09:38):
story that kind of made headlines with regards to their relationship,
this young man is very, very proud of his relationship
with her. Again, something that I think we would celebrate
everything that he does.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
He includes her.
Speaker 3 (09:57):
There's a catch twenty two to that, because when you
invite the world into your relationship, you essentially give them
the power to have an opinion about it. Right, Hey,
look at us and look how happy we are and
look at all the things we do. There are some
people who are just jealous and it's in their nature
to look for holes to poke because they don't have
that and they don't enjoy watching someone else have the
(10:19):
joy they don't have. But for the most part, I
think it's an honorable thing where he kind of has
her on his arm at all times. They do a
podcast together as a part of the announcement of his
endorsement deal with Adidas. She's in the announcement like and
Adida's close herself. She's in essentially the commercial announcing that partnership.
(10:41):
This is very much the love of my life, is
how he carries it, and I'm proud and want everybody
to know that. But making your relationship very public in
that way invites people to poke holes like this. So
in the last game of his collegiate career at the
University of Colorado, so the last game overall period, but
(11:02):
the last game that he would play on that campus,
he had his Heisman moment. He had an incredible performance.
I think that performance really sealed the deal in the
mind of voters, like, Okay, he's really that guy. And
at the end of the game, cameras caught her giving
him what appeared to be an earful She does not
(11:25):
seem as she walks down to Greek him. She doesn't
seem happy to see him. She doesn't seem particularly interested
in talking to him or hugging him, or celebrating this
triumphant performance he had, and none of us have any
context as to why or what's happening. There's no audio,
you can just see it, and her body language is clearly.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Not warm. It's cold, it's disconnected.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
Then he wins the Heisman Trophy, and his entire family
and several people in the audience rise to their feet
to celebrate that he won, and she stays in her seat,
and his coach kind of nudges her like, hey, stand
up again. People are appointing, like yo, this is his moment,
and here she is, again, not celebrating him. That same time,
(12:13):
he's in New York for the Heisman Trophy. Of video
surfaces of him doing an event, probably for his endorsement partner,
where he's taking pictures and signing autographs with fans, and
she can be heard asking, essentially, what do you want
me to do?
Speaker 2 (12:26):
You want me to just sit here?
Speaker 3 (12:29):
And people are like, how does she keep making all
of these moments about her? And people are like outwardly frustrated,
some I think from a genuine place, right. I think
some people are like, listen, this young man is exceptional
and as his partner, you should support him and celebrate
him and be there for him. But again, none of
us have any context beyond those ten seconds of video
(12:50):
that we see in all of these instances, and right
as I have to admit, was starting to get a
little bit like yo, what what's actually going on here?
She probably felt obligated to come out publicly and speak
about it, and she did what I thought was a
compelling job explaining each of those instances and what actually happened.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
Right there was a security.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
Guard that wasn't treating her good at that football game
right before she got on camera as she was trying
to get down to the field to him. She was
being denied, So she was annoyed. Right at the Heisman
trophy ceremony she was actually trying to do with everyone
is suggesting that she do and stay out of the way.
I don't want to make this moment about me. It's
about him, so I won't stand up. I'm gonna just
(13:34):
sit here, but she was in a position where she
couldn't win. If she'd have jumped up and hugged him first,
before his mom and before everybody else, people would have said, well,
who does she think she is? Because she didn't jump up,
who does she think she is is? Why isn't she
celebrating him? So it was kind of a when she
explained that, I'm like, okay, I understand that. And at
the autograph signing or the fan event, she was simply
(13:57):
asking him do you want me to stay here with.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
You all day?
Speaker 3 (14:02):
Or should I go back to the room, or she
was really kind of asking for instructions, like babe, what
should I do? You know, what do you want me
to do? I'll sit here all day if you want
me to, or if you want me to go back
to the room or whatever, I'll do that. But we
hear her saying essentially, do you want me to just
sit here all day? Like she's annoyed at having to
(14:23):
wait for him to finish taking pictures and sign in autographs,
like this wasn't what everyone collectively signed up for.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
The problem is, after.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
Her explanation video, the internet is going to internet and
internet investigators uncovered more videos of her with other young men,
behaving in a way that no men would like to
see his woman behave with another man, you know, Snapchat
videos of her in bed with other guys, rap videos
of her rubbing on other guys, party videos of her
(14:57):
talking on other guys. We don't know when these videos
were taken. Maybe they were while they were together, Maybe
this is before they ever even met. Maybe in their relationship,
all those things are okay. And I think that's the
party that no one's taken into consideration. Maybe she's breaking
this man's heart. He's going to have to learn a
(15:20):
hard lesson that all of us have learned before. Or
maybe we should just mind our business and get out
of their relationship. And it's a really, really, you know,
interesting path to try to walk because I think again,
there are some people who just genuinely don't want this
young man to be taken advantage of, and so much
(15:41):
of the story seems like that's exactly what's happening. It
makes it seem like he's a mark, right, the young
lady's brother, because she said publicly and you know, I
think we do this to be charming. We kind of
take jabs at our significant others. But she said, initially
he wasn't my type. Initially he wasn't my type. So
what does that make people think? Well, when did he
(16:03):
become your type?
Speaker 1 (16:04):
When he became a super important athlete, you.
Speaker 3 (16:08):
Get what I'm saying. Now, he was the number one
overall recruit in the United States, so he's always been that.
She just didn't know right. Story comes out per his
mouth that her brother told her who he was. So
when you're in that group of people who don't want
this kid to be a mark and be taken advantage of,
(16:29):
that's an alarming red flag. I wasn't her type until
her brother told her who I was. It makes it
seem like they saw the bag from back then. Now
the brother is in the position of best friend to him,
so these things start to when you start to add
these small clues on top of each other, the idea
(16:51):
that he's being played or taken advantage of starts to
feel kind of real. Like, wait, so the brother coached
her into being with the athlete who she wasn't her
type and she doesn't really love, but she knows he's
about to be a millionaire, so she's playing the part
while also being very available to these other young men. Now, again,
all of this is speculation. None of us have any
(17:12):
idea when these things are happening, what's actually occurring and
or what's actually okay between them. I have to keep
getting back to that part because I don't want to
make it seem like they have some type of scandalous,
salacious open understanding. But who knows, and if they do,
once again, that's their business, right. So it's the catch
(17:32):
twenty two of having a very very public relationship is
that once you introduce your relationship into the public as fodder,
it's just that and they feel like they can have
an opinion on how you guys love each other. So
it's a it's a situation that sucks for me as
someone who's observing it because I'm a fan of this
(17:54):
young man, and you know, all of us not maybe not.
I don't let me not say that like it's a
foregone conclude. A lot of us have been in relationships
where we've been hurt before, a lot of us have
been in relationships we've been used and taken advantage.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
And I think some people having.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
Experienced that, see him and they see red flags of
things that they experienced. Oh, I know what that looks like.
Let me try to speak. Because celebrities have gotten involved.
A lot of celebrities have very publicly expressed their disdain
for this relationship and the way it's playing out in
the public. But most of those people don't know him personally,
and those that do don't make a YouTube video or
(18:30):
Instagram post, call him, text him, send him a DM,
reach out to coach Prime. You know, if you want
to be a mentor or a big brother or a
OG or whatever, there's ways to personally reach out to
this kid without making your disappointment or your disapproval of
his relationship public knowledge or public information.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
You know.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
One of the things that I learned early on, I
was probably a little older than he is. Well, one
of the things that I learned is that when other
people are involved in your relationship, you end up with
more problems, more fires to put out than if it's
just you and one person, because it's easy for everyone
(19:11):
to be very critical of a relationship that you're in
from the outside, and most people are more than willing
to jump on and say, oh, girl, he did this,
You need to do X, Y and Z. Less people
are willing to say things like, oh my god, he
(19:31):
did this amazing thing for you. You need to lock him
down now. Both things happen, of course, but you know
what feels a little bit more pronounced in popular culture
is the former example, where people are all too quick
to just condemn someone.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
And one of the things that I learned was that.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
If I'm dealing with some relationship stuff, even if the
relationship is over, because I'm the person that knows my
part or more than anyone else, I cannot vent my
frustrations to family members. I cannot vent my frustrations to
friends and not expect them to have a critical view
(20:18):
of my partner moving forward in perpetuity anyone that loves you, right,
And so I need to know how to manage the
information that flows about my relationship to people that I
know very very well, because what I'm effectively doing is
building a hurdle for me to have to overcome if
(20:41):
I end up wanting to be back in that relationship
where I find up working things out.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
And building a case against your.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
Exactly exactly very good and so, and you and I
have known each other long enough to where we've both
had to do these things with each other many times,
but sometimes there's a strategic advantage there. Hey, look, man,
this has me under her spell. I need you to
know all of these things right now so that I
don't end up back over there. And sometimes it's just
(21:06):
a matter of venting frustration. Then you realize that, oh,
my god, I poisoned her. Well, none of my friends
like her, my family doesn't like her anymore, and yet
and still my heart longs for her right And so
I think that we're all getting kind of reminded of
ourselves and watching this story play out. I mean, folks
(21:27):
that kind of are familiar with him, And you know,
I've obviously been made been acquainted with this story. But
you know, in being reminded of ourselves, I think that
your point is well made. It's really easy to look
at someone and say, what we would have done based
on the lessons that we've learned in our life, wouldn't
right based on the lessons that we've learned in our
life or our current sensibilities. But it is a lot
(21:49):
tougher to allow this young man the grace to be
a young man, the grace to be a man, to
account for all of the things that may or may
not be true in his specific circumstances, because many of
us have never been college athletes at that young age,
with that much attention, signing million dollar deals. I'm assuming
(22:12):
and whatever, multi and then wanting to be It seems
like he's a person that maintains a degree of fidelity
to his these certain pillars in his life. Yeah, his
grade you mentioned, he's a four point zero student obviously.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
By all accounts, and you know, I went to Boulder
to come to his team. By all accounts, he's an
exceptional young man, not just good. And I'm talking about
young man, I'm not even talking about football by all accounts,
community people, administrators, football people, athletic department people, education people,
media people.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
Other classmates.
Speaker 3 (22:46):
Exceptional young man, according to every person I spoke to.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
Well, it's hard to imagine what it would be like
to be him. It's even harder to imagine what it
would be like to be him at his age, in
current predicament, with everybody watching.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
And so.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
You know, again, for those that are paying particular attention
to this story, I think that what we're seeing is,
you know, a lesson in human being.
Speaker 3 (23:15):
Two things I want to point out before we part ways. Sure,
all of us that are adults understand that our significant others,
unless you've been with them since you were a child,
had relationships with someone else before. If someone dug up
video of the person you love most with the last
(23:37):
person that he or she loved, that would suck any
part of their relationship. Just watching them sit and have
dinner would bug me a little bit, you know what
I mean, Like, Oh, I know what that feels like
when her and I.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
Do it, So watching.
Speaker 3 (23:52):
Her do that with somebody else, or watching you know,
in someone else's case, him do that with someone.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
Else would probably bug you a little bit.
Speaker 3 (23:58):
So again, these videos could be I don't know, I
haven't done enough investigation from years ago before they were
even an item, right, They could be from now, and
once again we have no idea what their understanding is
with each other. The other thing I want to point out,
and it's just this is the worst thing about relationships
of any sort. You can do a bad thing that
(24:22):
forever destroys that relationship. There is not a good enough
thing that you can do that forever fortified.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
It preserves it.
Speaker 3 (24:32):
Yeah, and that's the most unfair thing about the way
that we interact with one another.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
As human beings also well.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
Of course, this is a conversation that you and I had,
but we welcome you to share your thoughts with us,
your insights, maybe you know more, maybe you have a
different take, and you can do so using the red
microphone talk back feature on the iHeartRadio app, or you
can hit us on all social media. I am at
Rahams's job.
Speaker 2 (24:59):
I am q War on all social media as well.
And until we speak again peace.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
This has been a production of the Black Information Network.
Today's show is produced by Chris Thompson. Have some thoughts
you'd like to share, use the red microphone talkback feature
on the iHeartRadio app. While you're there, be sure to
hit subscribe and download all of our episodes. I'm your
host ramses Jah on all social media. Join us tomorrow
as we share our news with our voice from our
perspective right here on the Black Information Network Daily Podcast
This is the Black Information Network Daily podcast and I'm
your host, rams' Jah. And sometimes the amount of stories
that make their way to us means that we simply
can't cover.
Speaker 2 (00:11):
Everything that comes our way.
Speaker 1 (00:13):
But from time to time, a story just stays with
me and feel compelled to share it with you and
give you my thoughts. And now one more thing.
Speaker 3 (00:24):
Relationships, familial, romantic, professional, they can be incredibly difficult. Even
if no one else is involved in those relationships except
(00:44):
for you and one other person, they can be very difficult.
We grow up in different times, We were raised by
different people. Sometimes we pray to different guys, odds, or
different ideas of what you know, we feel our spiritual
(01:07):
father or mother may be left to our own devices.
Trying to figure out how to cohabitate with another person
for an extended amount of time can prove nearly impossible.
And impossible might sound like hyperbole, but I go on
(01:30):
to think that there are a number of people who
are listening to the sound of my voice that are single,
some of them fully by choice, others because like myself,
they've tried and failed at the relationship thing over and over.
As difficult as relationships are, being a young black man
(01:59):
is equally, if not more difficult. Add to that being
a young black man who is a college student, a
college athlete, and a celebrity simultaneously, and it makes that
young black man and that relationship thing exponentially more difficult.
(02:25):
Imagine doing anything, your job, your relationship, being a parent,
being a spouse, being a child, while the entire world
watches and scrutinizes every decision that you make. I'd imagine
that would make it more difficult to be the optimal
(02:46):
best version of yourself at any task if you're being
constantly watched, constantly micromanaged, constantly scrutinized, and having somebody point
out every misstep, every mistake, and everything that they would
do differently right, because it becomes less about what's right
and wrong and more about that's not how I.
Speaker 2 (03:08):
Would do it.
Speaker 3 (03:10):
I know the way that you're doing it is working,
but I do it different, So I have to tell you.
I imagine everyone telling you the way that they would
do it different. So trying to manage, in this very
specific case, being the best in your field right. In
(03:33):
this case, a college football player being a young black
student athlete with a four point zero GPA not getting
into any trouble with the law and performing at the
pinnacle of the sport that you play. You're the best period,
You're not one of two. Know you're him, while also
(03:55):
having your what you would prefer to be very private,
very into me romantic life with your significant other, also
being up for scrutiny in front of the entire world
and anyone who has social media. This is the current
reality of the twenty twenty four Heisman Trophy winner Travis Hunter. Now,
(04:20):
you might not be a sports fan, so you, like
my brother Rams, this might be wondering who is Travis Hunter.
Speaker 1 (04:28):
Well, welcome to the conversation that I've been having with Q. Yeah,
I did not know who this young man was and
he only appeared on my radar because of his relationship troubles.
So if you are like me and uninitiated, I'm going
(04:52):
to share a bit from Essentially Sports that will kind
of bring you up to speed currently and you know,
I know that you know a little bit more about
what has happened in the story, and you know, I'm
hopeful that he will find his way through it. But
again from Essentially Sports, Travis Hunter capped off his Colorado
(05:12):
stint with a loss. Yes, it is not something to
be proud of, but he has enough under his belt
not to be ashamed of either. Two way Colorado's star
signed off with a spectacular Heisman Trophy, a remarkable season,
and a Bowl game eligibility. He caught four passes for
a game high one hundred and six yards and a
touchdown and left the building like a tragic hero, a
(05:35):
bittersweet moment for Coach Prime and each of the Buffs fans.
But the Trollers didn't get a chill as they found
another loophole in the pale. The camera spotted Travis's fiance
Leanna Lenney nowhere during the Bowl and continued poking at
his love life. So, you know, there's a little bit more,
(05:55):
I guess in the way. The backstory needs to be established,
and I'm sure you can do that, but you know
this is it's kind of happening right now in full display. Yeah,
and he needs someone, he needs some There needs to
be people that explain the story. And I'm going to
learn in this moment along with our listeners.
Speaker 3 (06:12):
So you and I had a conversation last week really
highlighting this young man's exceptional year on the football field.
Every award he was eligible for he won, with the
exception of one that he wasn't even a finalist for,
which when you look at the other accomplishments next to that,
(06:34):
doesn't make any sense. So Travis Hunter plays full time
on both sides of the ball, which is a very
very rare thing.
Speaker 2 (06:41):
There have been.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
Exceptional athletes throughout the history of sports, especially with football,
who have played sparingly on one side and full time
on the other. Travis Hunter played on eighty four percent
of the University of Colorado's snaps this season. The next
closest player is like fifty, so significantly more than not
(07:03):
just anybody this year, but really anyone ever. He was
a first team All American at both positions. Each position
only has two people I think in some cases three
that are first team All American.
Speaker 2 (07:19):
So he was one of the.
Speaker 3 (07:20):
Top three at the position, but wasn't a finalist for
that position's award. So that's why I wanted to point
that out so people would understand every other award that
he qualified for he won.
Speaker 1 (07:30):
Including the Heisman.
Speaker 2 (07:31):
That's including the Heisman Trophy.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
Right, So, at a moment where we should all be
really happy for and celebrating and rooting for this kid.
All of us kind of involuntarily have been invited into
his love life, and it's gotten so bad that the
young man has removed himself from social media, which might
be a good thing, but had he just made that
(07:54):
decision clear headed, it'd be something to celebrate that are
being bullied, and it feels like he was bullied into it,
and that part I don't like. I think that we
are all and I say we because I've seen some
things that made me cringe a little bit too fearful
that this young man would be taking advantage of or
played in some way, and there's some pushback in that,
(08:16):
but it's also not my business. That's why you've seen
me post nothing saying anything negative about this kid's love life,
because if he loves that woman, we collectively have no
idea what their understanding is of their relationship, so we
don't get to look at it and say, well, that's
not how I would do it. So that's not how
I would prefer it go. So I'm going to judge
(08:38):
this young man and his fiance on how they carry
out their love life.
Speaker 1 (08:43):
So let's talk about why people are being critical of
their love life because the article I shared, it doesn't
encompass the story that you initially told me.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Yes, so talk about that.
Speaker 3 (08:56):
Or so I wish the story was singular, there's more. Okay, Well,
go ahead, it's it's it's difficult. Some people are going
trolls are going control sure that right. So there are
people who, even if everything was perfect, would find something
to criticize them for. Well, she didn't hold his hand
the right way when they were walking down the streets,
(09:16):
so something must be wrong. Like, those people exist, and
those people are having a disgusting amount of joy or
fun with this story. It's like it's like their best
case scenario for them is that they have a little
bit to make it look bad and they can just
amplify that to you know, a trillion. So the first
(09:38):
story that kind of made headlines with regards to their relationship,
this young man is very, very proud of his relationship
with her. Again, something that I think we would celebrate
everything that he does.
Speaker 2 (09:54):
He includes her.
Speaker 3 (09:57):
There's a catch twenty two to that, because when you
invite the world into your relationship, you essentially give them
the power to have an opinion about it. Right, Hey,
look at us and look how happy we are and
look at all the things we do. There are some
people who are just jealous and it's in their nature
to look for holes to poke because they don't have
that and they don't enjoy watching someone else have the
(10:19):
joy they don't have. But for the most part, I
think it's an honorable thing where he kind of has
her on his arm at all times. They do a
podcast together as a part of the announcement of his
endorsement deal with Adidas. She's in the announcement like and
Adida's close herself. She's in essentially the commercial announcing that partnership.
(10:41):
This is very much the love of my life, is
how he carries it, and I'm proud and want everybody
to know that. But making your relationship very public in
that way invites people to poke holes like this. So
in the last game of his collegiate career at the
University of Colorado, so the last game overall period, but
(11:02):
the last game that he would play on that campus,
he had his Heisman moment. He had an incredible performance.
I think that performance really sealed the deal in the
mind of voters, like, Okay, he's really that guy. And
at the end of the game, cameras caught her giving
him what appeared to be an earful She does not
(11:25):
seem as she walks down to Greek him. She doesn't
seem happy to see him. She doesn't seem particularly interested
in talking to him or hugging him, or celebrating this
triumphant performance he had, and none of us have any
context as to why or what's happening. There's no audio,
you can just see it, and her body language is clearly.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
Not warm. It's cold, it's disconnected.
Speaker 3 (11:51):
Then he wins the Heisman Trophy, and his entire family
and several people in the audience rise to their feet
to celebrate that he won, and she stays in her seat,
and his coach kind of nudges her like, hey, stand
up again. People are appointing, like yo, this is his moment,
and here she is, again, not celebrating him. That same time,
(12:13):
he's in New York for the Heisman Trophy. Of video
surfaces of him doing an event, probably for his endorsement partner,
where he's taking pictures and signing autographs with fans, and
she can be heard asking, essentially, what do you want
me to do?
Speaker 2 (12:26):
You want me to just sit here?
Speaker 3 (12:29):
And people are like, how does she keep making all
of these moments about her? And people are like outwardly frustrated,
some I think from a genuine place, right. I think
some people are like, listen, this young man is exceptional
and as his partner, you should support him and celebrate
him and be there for him. But again, none of
us have any context beyond those ten seconds of video
(12:50):
that we see in all of these instances, and right
as I have to admit, was starting to get a
little bit like yo, what what's actually going on here?
She probably felt obligated to come out publicly and speak
about it, and she did what I thought was a
compelling job explaining each of those instances and what actually happened.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
Right there was a security.
Speaker 3 (13:12):
Guard that wasn't treating her good at that football game
right before she got on camera as she was trying
to get down to the field to him. She was
being denied, So she was annoyed. Right at the Heisman
trophy ceremony she was actually trying to do with everyone
is suggesting that she do and stay out of the way.
I don't want to make this moment about me. It's
about him, so I won't stand up. I'm gonna just
(13:34):
sit here, but she was in a position where she
couldn't win. If she'd have jumped up and hugged him first,
before his mom and before everybody else, people would have said, well,
who does she think she is? Because she didn't jump up,
who does she think she is is? Why isn't she
celebrating him? So it was kind of a when she
explained that, I'm like, okay, I understand that. And at
the autograph signing or the fan event, she was simply
(13:57):
asking him do you want me to stay here with.
Speaker 2 (14:00):
You all day?
Speaker 3 (14:02):
Or should I go back to the room, or she
was really kind of asking for instructions, like babe, what
should I do? You know, what do you want me
to do? I'll sit here all day if you want
me to, or if you want me to go back
to the room or whatever, I'll do that. But we
hear her saying essentially, do you want me to just
sit here all day? Like she's annoyed at having to
(14:23):
wait for him to finish taking pictures and sign in autographs,
like this wasn't what everyone collectively signed up for.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
The problem is, after.
Speaker 3 (14:33):
Her explanation video, the internet is going to internet and
internet investigators uncovered more videos of her with other young men,
behaving in a way that no men would like to
see his woman behave with another man, you know, Snapchat
videos of her in bed with other guys, rap videos
of her rubbing on other guys, party videos of her
(14:57):
talking on other guys. We don't know when these videos
were taken. Maybe they were while they were together, Maybe
this is before they ever even met. Maybe in their relationship,
all those things are okay. And I think that's the
party that no one's taken into consideration. Maybe she's breaking
this man's heart. He's going to have to learn a
(15:20):
hard lesson that all of us have learned before. Or
maybe we should just mind our business and get out
of their relationship. And it's a really, really, you know,
interesting path to try to walk because I think again,
there are some people who just genuinely don't want this
young man to be taken advantage of, and so much
(15:41):
of the story seems like that's exactly what's happening. It
makes it seem like he's a mark, right, the young
lady's brother, because she said publicly and you know, I
think we do this to be charming. We kind of
take jabs at our significant others. But she said, initially
he wasn't my type. Initially he wasn't my type. So
what does that make people think? Well, when did he
(16:03):
become your type?
Speaker 1 (16:04):
When he became a super important athlete, you.
Speaker 3 (16:08):
Get what I'm saying. Now, he was the number one
overall recruit in the United States, so he's always been that.
She just didn't know right. Story comes out per his
mouth that her brother told her who he was. So
when you're in that group of people who don't want
this kid to be a mark and be taken advantage of,
(16:29):
that's an alarming red flag. I wasn't her type until
her brother told her who I was. It makes it
seem like they saw the bag from back then. Now
the brother is in the position of best friend to him,
so these things start to when you start to add
these small clues on top of each other, the idea
(16:51):
that he's being played or taken advantage of starts to
feel kind of real. Like, wait, so the brother coached
her into being with the athlete who she wasn't her
type and she doesn't really love, but she knows he's
about to be a millionaire, so she's playing the part
while also being very available to these other young men. Now, again,
all of this is speculation. None of us have any
(17:12):
idea when these things are happening, what's actually occurring and
or what's actually okay between them. I have to keep
getting back to that part because I don't want to
make it seem like they have some type of scandalous,
salacious open understanding. But who knows, and if they do,
once again, that's their business, right. So it's the catch
(17:32):
twenty two of having a very very public relationship is
that once you introduce your relationship into the public as fodder,
it's just that and they feel like they can have
an opinion on how you guys love each other. So
it's a it's a situation that sucks for me as
someone who's observing it because I'm a fan of this
(17:54):
young man, and you know, all of us not maybe not.
I don't let me not say that like it's a
foregone conclude. A lot of us have been in relationships
where we've been hurt before, a lot of us have
been in relationships we've been used and taken advantage.
Speaker 2 (18:06):
And I think some people having.
Speaker 3 (18:08):
Experienced that, see him and they see red flags of
things that they experienced. Oh, I know what that looks like.
Let me try to speak. Because celebrities have gotten involved.
A lot of celebrities have very publicly expressed their disdain
for this relationship and the way it's playing out in
the public. But most of those people don't know him personally,
and those that do don't make a YouTube video or
(18:30):
Instagram post, call him, text him, send him a DM,
reach out to coach Prime. You know, if you want
to be a mentor or a big brother or a
OG or whatever, there's ways to personally reach out to
this kid without making your disappointment or your disapproval of
his relationship public knowledge or public information.
Speaker 2 (18:50):
You know.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
One of the things that I learned early on, I
was probably a little older than he is. Well, one
of the things that I learned is that when other
people are involved in your relationship, you end up with
more problems, more fires to put out than if it's
just you and one person, because it's easy for everyone
(19:11):
to be very critical of a relationship that you're in
from the outside, and most people are more than willing
to jump on and say, oh, girl, he did this,
You need to do X, Y and Z. Less people
are willing to say things like, oh my god, he
(19:31):
did this amazing thing for you. You need to lock him
down now. Both things happen, of course, but you know
what feels a little bit more pronounced in popular culture
is the former example, where people are all too quick
to just condemn someone.
Speaker 2 (19:46):
And one of the things that I learned was that.
Speaker 1 (19:52):
If I'm dealing with some relationship stuff, even if the
relationship is over, because I'm the person that knows my
part or more than anyone else, I cannot vent my
frustrations to family members. I cannot vent my frustrations to
friends and not expect them to have a critical view
(20:18):
of my partner moving forward in perpetuity anyone that loves you, right,
And so I need to know how to manage the
information that flows about my relationship to people that I
know very very well, because what I'm effectively doing is
building a hurdle for me to have to overcome if
(20:41):
I end up wanting to be back in that relationship
where I find up working things out.
Speaker 2 (20:44):
And building a case against your.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
Exactly exactly very good and so, and you and I
have known each other long enough to where we've both
had to do these things with each other many times,
but sometimes there's a strategic advantage there. Hey, look, man,
this has me under her spell. I need you to
know all of these things right now so that I
don't end up back over there. And sometimes it's just
(21:06):
a matter of venting frustration. Then you realize that, oh,
my god, I poisoned her. Well, none of my friends
like her, my family doesn't like her anymore, and yet
and still my heart longs for her right And so
I think that we're all getting kind of reminded of
ourselves and watching this story play out. I mean, folks
(21:27):
that kind of are familiar with him, And you know,
I've obviously been made been acquainted with this story. But
you know, in being reminded of ourselves, I think that
your point is well made. It's really easy to look
at someone and say, what we would have done based
on the lessons that we've learned in our life, wouldn't
right based on the lessons that we've learned in our
life or our current sensibilities. But it is a lot
(21:49):
tougher to allow this young man the grace to be
a young man, the grace to be a man, to
account for all of the things that may or may
not be true in his specific circumstances, because many of
us have never been college athletes at that young age,
with that much attention, signing million dollar deals. I'm assuming
(22:12):
and whatever, multi and then wanting to be It seems
like he's a person that maintains a degree of fidelity
to his these certain pillars in his life. Yeah, his
grade you mentioned, he's a four point zero student obviously.
Speaker 3 (22:26):
By all accounts, and you know, I went to Boulder
to come to his team. By all accounts, he's an
exceptional young man, not just good. And I'm talking about
young man, I'm not even talking about football by all accounts,
community people, administrators, football people, athletic department people, education people,
media people.
Speaker 2 (22:44):
Other classmates.
Speaker 3 (22:46):
Exceptional young man, according to every person I spoke to.
Speaker 1 (22:51):
Well, it's hard to imagine what it would be like
to be him. It's even harder to imagine what it
would be like to be him at his age, in
current predicament, with everybody watching.
Speaker 2 (23:02):
And so.
Speaker 1 (23:05):
You know, again, for those that are paying particular attention
to this story, I think that what we're seeing is,
you know, a lesson in human being.
Speaker 3 (23:15):
Two things I want to point out before we part ways. Sure,
all of us that are adults understand that our significant others,
unless you've been with them since you were a child,
had relationships with someone else before. If someone dug up
video of the person you love most with the last
(23:37):
person that he or she loved, that would suck any
part of their relationship. Just watching them sit and have
dinner would bug me a little bit, you know what
I mean, Like, Oh, I know what that feels like
when her and I.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
Do it, So watching.
Speaker 3 (23:52):
Her do that with somebody else, or watching you know,
in someone else's case, him do that with someone.
Speaker 2 (23:56):
Else would probably bug you a little bit.
Speaker 3 (23:58):
So again, these videos could be I don't know, I
haven't done enough investigation from years ago before they were
even an item, right, They could be from now, and
once again we have no idea what their understanding is
with each other. The other thing I want to point out,
and it's just this is the worst thing about relationships
of any sort. You can do a bad thing that
(24:22):
forever destroys that relationship. There is not a good enough
thing that you can do that forever fortified.
Speaker 2 (24:31):
It preserves it.
Speaker 3 (24:32):
Yeah, and that's the most unfair thing about the way
that we interact with one another.
Speaker 2 (24:37):
As human beings also well.
Speaker 1 (24:42):
Of course, this is a conversation that you and I had,
but we welcome you to share your thoughts with us,
your insights, maybe you know more, maybe you have a
different take, and you can do so using the red
microphone talk back feature on the iHeartRadio app, or you
can hit us on all social media. I am at
Rahams's job.
Speaker 2 (24:59):
I am q War on all social media as well.
And until we speak again peace.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
This has been a production of the Black Information Network.
Today's show is produced by Chris Thompson. Have some thoughts
you'd like to share, use the red microphone talkback feature
on the iHeartRadio app. While you're there, be sure to
hit subscribe and download all of our episodes. I'm your
host ramses Jah on all social media. Join us tomorrow
as we share our news with our voice from our
perspective right here on the Black Information Network Daily Podcast
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