February 5, 2025 • 65 mins
It's Super Bowl season and SE's talking to Hall of Fame Brett Favre. SE may have grown up in New England surrounded by Patriots die-hards, but she was always a Packers fan, so this conversation was a long time coming. SE asks about his career highs and lows. Brett also opens up about the struggles he's had and the battle he has with himself to try each day to do better.
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
I can't say that.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I thought, you know, the world was caving in a
year and a half ago, but I knew something was
a little different.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
Go Teams.
Speaker 4 (00:12):
In honor of this weekend's Super Bowl, this episode of
Off the Cup is with Green Bay Packer Hall of
Famer Brett Farv super excited. But just a note at
the top before we get into the actual episode. I
did ask Brett Farv about a number of scandals and
legal issues that he's facing, but because of a gag order,
(00:33):
we're not allowed to release them. So this episode has
been edited to reflect that. Just want y'all know that,
But but don't worry.
Speaker 5 (00:42):
We get into some stuff you're gonna want to listen.
Speaker 4 (00:49):
So I grew up in Massachusetts, big Boston sports, family, socks, Pats,
Celtic experience, but I was weird and instead of going
with the flow, I was a Packer fan. I think
I saw a documentary when I was in my early teens.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (01:04):
It was maybe about Bart Starve and Lombardi or Curly Lambeau.
I can't remember exactly, but the history of this team
was just so romantic, it was so compelling.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
They were so storied.
Speaker 4 (01:15):
I became a Packer fan because the lore just drew
me in. And in nineteen ninety six, I think I
can safely say I was the only kid in New
England throwing a Packer party when they faced the Patriots
in the Super Bowl. It didn't go over well, but
it worked out for me. In addition to the history
(01:36):
of the team drawing me in, however, they also had
a quarterback that was really just so fun to watch.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
You know who he is. He's number four. He's Hall
of Famer Brett Farv. Brett Farv. Welcome to Off the Cup.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Well, thanks for having me, Thanks for the nice centro.
Speaker 4 (01:53):
I was really alone in my Packer fandom just because
of where I live, right so I felt very attached
to this team and I just I loved it. I
was wondering if you were when you were growing up,
when you were playing football. Were the Packers just another
team to you, like any team to you, or did
you also understand the history and specialness of that team.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Yes, it's sort of interesting.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
I was a I don't know what you would call it,
I'll say a diehard football fan. Yeah, I knew the
Dallas Cowboys was my favorite team. Now I grew up
in South Mississippi and from my house I could be
at the Superdome in New Orleans with no traffic in
(02:36):
forty five fifty minutes. So even though lived in Mississippi,
the Saints were basically our home team. Right.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
They were horrible, They were horrible.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
My good friend Archie Manning was definitely the bright spot.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
With that team.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
But anyway, so the Cowboys were my team. And you, yeah,
on back a long time, so like before cable, so
you you got the local team and that was it
unless it was the Monday night game and you got
to see your team or you know, someone else's playing
whether you liked them or not. But I did a
(03:16):
book report I think second third grade, maybe the only
book report I ever did, and it was on on
Paul Horning, yeah and his uh, you know, his journey
through Notre Dame in Green Bay. And I remember that
(03:37):
that book report was sort of compelling to me because
that was really the first time now I had heard
of Bart Starr. Uh.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
You know, there was a downtime for.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
The Packers for yeah, twenty twenty five years or something
where they.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Just kind of were there.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Yeah. Yeah, And so that when I did that book report.
I was like, gosh, these eyes were good. You know,
it was before my time, but these guys were good.
And so that that was sort of the eye opening,
you know, aha, like the Packers are special.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
Maybe not lately, but they were, but they.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Were so so that that kind of resonated with me.
And then, you know, later on, as I started playing
college and and and knew that I had a chance
to play pro football, I can't say that Green Bay
was on my radar, but but I say that with
all due respect that you know, at that time, they
(04:38):
just were not like a team you would you know,
and I wasn't picking, to be honest with you, Yeah, whoever, whatever, whatever,
you know, And and then when I got there, you know,
that was really the it's different, you know, it's it's
different in a good.
Speaker 4 (04:55):
Way, Like you feel that you feel the yeah, aura,
the history at Lamba, the history.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
You know, pulling into Green Bay if you're driving or
if you're flying in. Right away, the stadium is the centerpiece. Yes,
seventy five to one hundred thousand people give or take,
you know, maybe less, but it's dominated by the Packers
and it's just a special place.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
It really is.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
It really really is. You can feel it.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
You think about it.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
If you were starting a national franchise, whether it be baseball, basketball, football,
I don't think you'd ever start looking in Green Bay.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
You know why green Bay? But it has thrived.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
When LA has you know, a team, they'll come, they'll
go Oakland, they come and go you.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Know, so you know it's so true.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
It's a unique and special franchise for sure.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (05:58):
And I want to talk more about your career and
highs and lows and some personal struggles, but first I
want to start with the news you most recently made.
When and how were you diagnosed with Parkinson's.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Well, I would say about two years ago, maybe a
little longer. I started noticing some quirky little things that
I that I was doing nothing. You know, it was
nothing that hindered my every day whatever, you know, whether
(06:33):
I went out biking, whether I was on tractor, whether
I was cutting wood, whether you know, it didn't matter.
And those quirky little things were like my right arm.
I would be walking, you know, just doing whatever, maybe
on a hike, maybe golfing, and I would notice my
(06:53):
right arm would be right to my side at a
ninety degree angle.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
And I would.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
When I would notice it, I would say, well, that's
kind of weird. I put my arm down and go
about my way. My arm would swing normal, and then
when I would forget about it, it would come back
to that spot. And so I thought, you know, I'm
getting older. You know, it's not it's nothing. You know,
there was never a thought of a neurological disease, right,
(07:23):
So that was the first thing.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
And so maybe six months after that, so say.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
A year and a half ago, I noticed, of course
I'm right handed. I'm really dominant right handed. So like
everything I do, you know, some people throw right handed
but right left handed or whatever.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
I'm completely dominant right handed.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
And so about a year and a half ago I noticed,
like if I was texting on the phone, I couldn't
do it with my right hand. I did it with
my left hand, and I did it well, and I thought, well,
that's no big deal. But like if I put it
jacket on or put a long sleeve shirt on, I
was struggled to guide my arm through the sleeve. And
(08:10):
I felt my arm. It was not like it was
numb or you know, I just couldn't guide it. And so.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
Was it scary at all, were you a little were
you worried?
Speaker 2 (08:21):
No? You know at that time, no, I thought less
getting sound weird?
Speaker 1 (08:26):
But I feel fine, feel great. So why would I.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Think you know, you know, I didn't go like get
on the internet and start investigating, you know, like arms
stuck at one my side, a loss of dexterity in
my right hand. But had I done that, I think
I would have gotten answered pretty quickly. Really yeah, because
the calling card for Parkinson's, one of the calling cards
(08:52):
is something to do with the gate and usually something
to do with arm swing or lack thereof.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Because when I my local doctor here, when I went
and saw him the night before I was scheduled to
go see him, he and I had a conversation on
the phone and he said, just tell me a couple
of things that that.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
I need to know.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
And I told him what I just told you, and
he said, you got Parkinson's.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
He knew on the phone.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
He knew on the phone, but he said, come see me.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Yeah, there's a new test that's called an alphas and
nucleon biopsy that will for sure tell you if you have.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
A garological disease.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
It won't tell you specifically what, but it will tell
you you're positive for or not positive. And so I
went in, took the test, and two weeks later.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
It was it was positive.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
But and that was that was January, So when the
actual diagnosis came about.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
But yeah, I knew something.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
I can't say that I thought, you know, the world
was caving in a year and a half ago, but
I knew something was a little different.
Speaker 4 (10:04):
They've recently linked Parkinson's to hearing loss, and they say
that prompt use of hearing aids may reduce the risk
of developing Parkinson's. Did you suffer any hearing loss before
your diagnosis.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
No, No, not that I'm aware of. You know, I have,
as my wife would say, selective here.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
Every man does.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
But you know, I think.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
And I have been inundated with in a good way.
People have really reached out.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Try this see this person.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
Yeah, have you looked.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Into was it ever Mike then?
Speaker 2 (10:42):
Right? You know, I mean, it's it's endless and so
sorting out that you may want to try. Maybe you
want to talk to this person. I've seen five different
specialists and they all said the same thing, you know.
They they were all extremely smart and to me, I mean,
(11:02):
I'm looking for, you know, the Holy Grail, and they
were like, at this point, what you're doing is the
best thing to do, and that's take take what's called
cinemat and it's a dopamine replacement that lasts, you know,
three to four hours, and I take that in every
(11:22):
four hours, and my symptoms are somewhat suppressed. In fact,
someone yesterday said, you don't you're not shaking, Well, well,
I really never shook. I had a little shaking in
my right hand, and I think people relate Parkinson's to shaking.
And what I didn't know was in Parkinson's there's a
(11:46):
lot of different kinds, but what I have is called
ediopathic Parkinson's. And there's three characteristics of ediopathic. So there's
cognitive and memory is one, Rigidity and stiffness is too.
Shaking and trenor Tremor's is three. So if you have idiopathic,
you'll have one of those three will be the dominant
(12:08):
of the three. Well, just so happens for me. It's
the rigidity and stiffness, so very little shaking. Even without
the medicine. There would be like times maybe I was
tired or something, and I would I would have a
little yeah, and so on, Sally, what are you shaking
for this morning? And I've beaten breakfast with a group
(12:29):
of guys. I'm like, I don't know. Yeah, but the
rigidity and stiffness was overwhelming.
Speaker 4 (12:36):
Yeah, and I'm not putting two and two together.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Before the diagnosis, I thought, well, this is a total
football that's taken on.
Speaker 4 (12:46):
Well, that's what I wanted to ask you, because you
have you admitted I mean once you said that you
probably suffered thousands of concussions.
Speaker 5 (12:52):
How convinced are you that football may have played a
part in this?
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Uh?
Speaker 1 (13:02):
You know what, I'll say this before I answer that question.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
There's no way to at this point to know definitively where,
But I would if I were a betman, which I'm not,
I would say ninety nine point sure that that trauma
has something to do with it. Yeah. My my local
(13:29):
doctor and I've seen five specialists with my local doctor.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
Here, a guy Wendell Elveston, great.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
Guy, and I asked him that question. I said, Doc,
where do you think I got it? And his exact
words were, nofing matter, you got it, It's not going away,
And he said, why cry over or concern yourself with
something that you can't change at this point. But he said,
(13:57):
to answer your question, if it's not in your face,
he said, that's.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
Where we look.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
First, someone grandfather, great grandfather, grandmother, somewhere down the line
had it. As far as I know, my family knows
no history. So the second thing they look at is
head trauma. Second second really and second A and second.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
B would be head trauma.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Environmental so pesticides, herbicides, chemicals, yeah, you know, electrical waves.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
You know who knows.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
So maybe in my case it may be a little
bit of both.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (14:39):
So, and you've urged parents not to let their kids
under fourteen play tackle football? Is there a safe way
to play football these days? At a high level?
Speaker 1 (14:55):
It puts flags on you know. I mean.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
I think that when I when I revealed that I
had a you know, a neurological disease, I think it
it offered credibility to why I have been so passionate
about concussions and preventing numbers. And so I think people go, oh,
(15:22):
that makes a lot of sense. Why he has been
a crusader for it, you know. And I got three grandsons,
and all three the oldest is fourteen eleven, and then
eight and they don't play football. They've never asked if
they said they wanted to play football. If they came
to me today and said they wanted to play football,
(15:44):
will you help me? But I would love to, but
I will never go out of my way to why
don't you guys play?
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Why don't you sign up?
Speaker 3 (15:54):
He wouldn't push it.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
No, I wouldn't push it.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
I just know that, you know, there's not every body
can be Peyton Manning and.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
Eli Yeah, Troy ym and yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
And Patrick Mahomes and Brett Fahr. No.
Speaker 4 (16:08):
No, sometimes you're and this is what I wanted to
ask you next, Sometimes you're Dave Doerson or Junior Seau.
And when you hear of a player's suicide, did you
ever think when that news would come up, did you
ever think that could have been me?
Speaker 1 (16:23):
Now?
Speaker 2 (16:25):
I think the one that hit me the hardest in
the gut was Junior sel Well. I played a lot
of a lot against and played in the Pro Bowl
with several times. I can't say that he was a
good friend, but but you know, mutual friend who love life,
love football obviously, but loved everything about life. And it's
(16:45):
like when he killed himself is.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
Like, that's not him, that's not him.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
Yeah, so king jan someone gets so corrupt in their
mind from from football and the head trump that they
would go to.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
That left to resolve it, right escaping, which.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
Is which is really it's really scary, it's really frightened.
Speaker 5 (17:11):
Yeah, let's go to the love of the game.
Speaker 4 (17:29):
You get drafted by the Falcons in the second round
with the thirty third overall pick in nineteen ninety one,
and head coach Jerry Glanville makes it very known he
did not want you. What is your mindset in that
first season under those conditions, knowing he doesn't want to
play me. He's hoping a plane crash actually takes.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
Care of this. You know, I think, did that make
you want to work hard?
Speaker 2 (17:55):
No? You know I was always one that throughout my
football career, going back to the fifth grade. The more
and thankfully I didn't get told you suck, or you're
not gonna make it, or you know, those things. I
didn't hear that often, very rare, but I did hear
(18:18):
you're not ready yet, you need to work harder, you know,
general things, And a lot of it came from my father,
who was my high school coach. Was definitely a mentor.
Was a hard ass to say the least. And no
matter what I did on a positive note, whether it
(18:42):
be baseball, football, school, he was always one to.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
Say, well you can do better. Yeah, and which is fine.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
My two brothers, I think it was an adverse effect
with them, so like the more he pushed them and
rode their ass, the less enthusiastic they were about.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
Whatever it was they were doing. Yeah, well I don't care.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
You know, I'll play football. But if I played college, great,
If I don't great.
Speaker 3 (19:12):
That was kind of their mentality.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
Where me, when you said those type of things to me,
it drove.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
Me to.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
Bigger and better things.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
Yeah right, And so that was like with Lanville, I
was like, Okay, I don't think I'll ever have a
future here.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
This is me talking to myself.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
But if if I were ever to go somewhere else,
or if they ever give me a shot, I'll prove
them wrong. I think my year in Atlanta, and I
tell people this all the time. I got I got
drafted in the second round. I go to Atlanta. I'm
on the team. I don't say I play, I'm on
the team. I missed the team. Pitcher in twenty years
(19:57):
in the NFL, never other than myself even heard of
someone missing the teen picture, and so I had the
dubious honor of being the only person, maybe ever in
the history of the game to miss the teen picture.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
So I just.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
To thinking that I got off on the wrong foot
with Jerry is certainly an understatement.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
So I've been out a.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
Little bit too late, had a few too many to drink,
and showed up about forty five minutes late. In fact,
they were Everyone was in their cars and leaving when
I pulled up at the facility. So I didn't do
myself many favors. But the crazy thing is I get
drafted the second round. I do nothing on a positive
(20:46):
scale to enhance my career in a positive way.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
I do everything to.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
Basically get me run out of the least sabotage it, Yes,
sabotage it.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
But yet but yet I get drafted. I mean, I
get traded.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
For a first round pick right when I did absolutely
nothing but gain twenty five pounds on beer hot wings.
Yeah you know, so I wasn't the smartest person in
the world when I got traded traded at Green Bay.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
For a first round pick. I thought this is this
is pretty special.
Speaker 4 (21:20):
Better seize the moment well, and you get traded. But
then you're going for your physical and you get sort
of diagnosed by the team doctor with a hip condition,
the same one that ends Bo Jackson's career. Correct in
that moment, and coach sort of overrode that and allowed
(21:40):
that did not allow that physical to be failed, which
would have ended the trade. But in that moment, did
you think, oh, what am I going to do after
this when I can't play football anymore?
Speaker 2 (21:52):
You know? The good thing is I didn't know I
was failed.
Speaker 3 (21:57):
They didn't tell you.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
Well, they told me later.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
So what happened was, you know, I get traded, go
up do a physical. Ron Wolf is the general manager
who made the trade for me, who was who I
talked to him yesterday.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
He is a dear friend.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
Ron's pushing ninety, but he's sharp as attack and I
love him to death and the feelings mutual. So we
talked once a month.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
But so when.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
I did the physical, the report went to Ron Wolf upstairs.
Speaker 6 (22:31):
Yeah, and within that five minute window, and this is
coming from Ron himself, you know, when he told me
the story and he's like, they came up to me
and said we failed him on the physical.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
He's got a vaster new crosis. He you know, he
may play.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
Three years if he's lucky, and he's going to need
a hip replacement. And Ron Wolf said, I'll take that
three years if that's where it is. Wow, we're not failing.
He's playing and we'll we'll take our chances.
Speaker 3 (23:07):
He saved your career, saved my career.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
And you know he told me that later on, not initially.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
Yeah, so I really didn't know.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
You know, there was a five minute window where I'm
failed and he says, oh, hell no, he's playing, and
I did it that They were right. I did need
a hit replacement, but it was it was two years ago.
So wow, I'll lasted a little bit longer.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
Just a little bit, just a little bit unbelievable.
Speaker 4 (23:36):
So then obviously you go on, You go on to
win a Super Bowl, which I threw a party for
at sixteen eleven playoff appearances, seven division titles, four NFC
Championship games, three consecutive MVP titles. You revive a team
as we as we discussed that it's sort of been
in the door drums for decades and now you are
part of that packer lore that excited you as a
(23:59):
kid when you wrote book report that excited me as
a kid. What does that feel like now being part
of that history?
Speaker 2 (24:07):
You know what's strange about about that that question is
that I think, here, I am about fifteen years removed
from playing, Yeah, and it really doesn't seem like I
ever played. And it's hard to put into words, but
like it just doesn't seem real.
Speaker 1 (24:30):
Of course I know it is.
Speaker 4 (24:32):
What do you mean, like, does it seem like it
was a past life or like.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
Uh yeah, almost like a dream. And I was talking
to Michael Strahan one time. He's doing good war in
America something, and we were talking about I think I
sent him a message I've heard about his daughter and
I was thinking about and then we get we got
(24:56):
off on football and uh not in like and serious conversation.
But he made the comment He's like, you know, I
don't even seem like I played. And I said, well,
you know, it's weird because I feel the same way.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
I think.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
There's not a day goes by where I'm not reminded that,
oh you played football. Well yeah, you're you're feeling the
effects of it daily, you know. So I'm reminded, but
its like it doesn't seem real. Yeah, it just doesn't
seem real.
Speaker 3 (25:30):
That's wild.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
And so like, you know, being down here at home
and being in my usual environment where I see people
that I see all the time. You know, if I
if I were to show up somewhere else, I mean
where people don't see me, maybe it's different. And reminded
that that of what you did.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
It's who you are and who I am.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
But it just doesn't seem real. And how you know,
it's kind of a weird feeling.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
I can't imagine it.
Speaker 4 (25:56):
It sounds like a weird sensation, a weird surreal kind
of perspective.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
I mean he played for.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
The Green Bad Packers for sixteen years, you won a
Super Bowl. Yeah, you had tremendous success as an individual
and as a team.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
But he doesn't seem real.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
That's wild. Oh, very very well.
Speaker 5 (26:15):
Speaking of straighthand I just got to asked, did you
want him to break.
Speaker 3 (26:18):
The sack record in two thousand and one?
Speaker 2 (26:20):
I didn't really care, to be honest with you either way.
Michael has always been a dear friend. But you know
what people thought, Yeah, but I honestly I didn't care
one way or the other. Their season, and this is
(26:40):
going way back. We were playing them the week of
nine to eleven in New York. Yeah, and it got
canceled because of the terrorist attack. So we end up
moving it to the end of the season, which is
maybe in my in my twenty year career, that was
the only time that that happened. You know, they always
(27:01):
played on time, they always played on schedule.
Speaker 3 (27:04):
Yeah, this was different.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
So when we played them at the end of the year,
they they had nothing to play for it. I mean,
the year was kind of a wash for us. We
had a lot to play for, so we went to
the playoffs and but yeah, I don't I didn't care
one way or the other if if he got it,
you know, it didn't help me one way.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
Or the other.
Speaker 4 (27:28):
Right, Okay, so you go on to a stint with
the Jets, and I actually saw you play with the
Jets and then another with the Vikings. But I know
you struggled with the decision to retire very publicly. You struggled,
struggled openly with it for years. And it's very easy
to understand how it would be hard to just walk
(27:48):
away from a career when I'm sure people are telling
you know, you've got another year in you, or vice
versa saying you should hang it up. Now, walk me
through some of the things that are going through your
mind over those years as you're thinking should I or
shouldn't I?
Speaker 2 (28:02):
Yeah, well I retired and unretired twice, and then the
third time was a charmer. And you know, the best
way I can explain it is for the longest doing
the things that needed to be done to be the
best player.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
We're never, in my mind, looked at as work.
Speaker 3 (28:27):
Yeah, so practice I.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
Didn't particularly like practice. I don't know many people who do.
They must try to play a game. I was no different,
But I didn't look at it as work. I would
find and I think my teammates over the years would
I think. I think they would all testify that. I
don't know if they might head any more fun than Brett.
(28:53):
And this is like practice, deal, weight room, Yeah, training room.
I'm always cracking, Joe. I'm you know. So it wasn't
work until about four years, you know, sixteen years into
my my career. Yeah, I started looking at it. Not
(29:15):
all the time, but it was like, you know, I
got to go, I got I don't know, if I
can get through practice today or and this would be
my conversation with myself driving in to work in the morning.
Yeah yeah, And I was like, I don't know if
I feel like sitting through meetings. And so I knew
I never talk to anyone about it. I knew I
(29:38):
could still play. I knew it was harder to still
play at a high level because I didn't recover as quickly.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
Yeah, you know, early in my career, I.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
Get banged up and by Wednesday, I'm good to go.
The latter part of my career, I get banged up,
I start feeling better.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
I had about kick off of.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
The next week, you do it all over again. So
it was harder to recover the mental part of the
the discipline at the latter part of my career. You've
got to you've got to challenge yourself. You've got to
be you've got to go over and beyond. You've got
to be on point, not only in practice, but in meetings.
(30:23):
You know, I mean the expectations that as you get
older you place upon yourself.
Speaker 1 (30:29):
You look at things differently.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
My rookie year and my twentieth year, I looked at
things a lot differently, Like.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
I'm near the end.
Speaker 2 (30:36):
I want to make the most of what I got left. Yeah,
whereas a rookie, you go, whatever we lost, we'll play
again next week, right, you know. So challenges that I
faced as an older player, I knew it was harder.
I knew I knew the writing was on the wall
when when I started looking at things like I don't
(30:59):
feel like today, right, I do it, but I would
stomach through it. And so when you do that, there's
this building of I don't want to say hate because
that's probably a too strong word, but just like the
things that have made you the player that you have
(31:20):
been over the years, worse or really driving you away
from the game, if that makes sense. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:27):
I didn't want to be in meetings. I didn't want
to lift weights.
Speaker 2 (31:29):
I didn't want to be an off season workouts where
no one was looking. In my career of bleeding up
to that point, I was running bleachers. I was doing
all kinds of work on my own in the off season.
I didn't care if everybody was watching, it didn't matter.
I was busting my ass. Where if you're seventeen eighteen
(31:50):
nineteen is.
Speaker 3 (31:50):
Like like resenting having to do that. Yeah, Yeah, and.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
Rather than doing twelve bleachers, I do eight.
Speaker 3 (31:57):
Yeah right, you know, like through this.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
So yeah, that's where I got to that point.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
And so when I would retire at that point that day,
I was like I've had enough and I and I
the only way And I think it's it's it's something
that everyone can relate to.
Speaker 1 (32:17):
So you think back to grade school.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
So like just say ninth grade, you're getting close to
the end of the year, so it's May or April,
and you know you're counting the weeks and the last
two weeks they can't get through quick enough. You want
to go into the summer so bad that you can
just taste it. You go into the summer, you do
(32:41):
your deal, you travel, you play, you lay out in
the sun, you go to the whatever with your friends, whatever.
In about two weeks before school starts, you sort.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
Of kind of have believe it or not.
Speaker 2 (32:55):
I'm kind of ready to go back, you know, another year.
Close yeah classes, you know, and you go I count
you know, I'm looking forward to it. Well, that's the
way football was for me. So you go into the
off season. The last thing I wanted to think about
was football. You know, most of the time it was
(33:16):
a disappointing end. You lost the championship game, you didn't
make the playoffs, whatever, So you want to get away
from it. You hate football and you don't even want to.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
Think about it.
Speaker 2 (33:26):
And then come June, you know, I'm kind of ready
to come back.
Speaker 3 (33:31):
And that was that was the case with me until
it wasn't.
Speaker 1 (33:35):
Until it wasn't.
Speaker 2 (33:36):
The last time I knew and I said to myself,
remember this moment.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
I remember sitting in a meeting and I'm.
Speaker 2 (33:44):
Looking around and I said, I want you to I'm
telling myself this, remember this moment, because you're gonna a
year two years from now, you're going to say, I
can you know I could go back and play h
When you say that, remember this moment, how much you
absolutely hate sitting in this class right now?
Speaker 3 (34:07):
Yeah? I love the guys, right, but.
Speaker 2 (34:11):
The last thing I wanted to hear was another play
being installed. And so what Sure enough, about a year
and a half, you know, I'll retired at the end
of that year, somewhere down the road. And I was like, no,
I could probably go back and get it. And then
I was like, remember what you remember? Remember what you said? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (34:28):
And I was like, oh, yeah, that's right, that's right.
Speaker 1 (34:31):
I absolutely hated it. So but I twenty years is.
Speaker 2 (34:39):
And I've told people this, like I'm sitting at the
breakfast table and training camp any pick of the year
of the twenty years now, I'm sitting there, you know,
and sometimes there's new guys that sit with you. You know,
if it's training camp, you know, you get free agents,
you get new draftees or something.
Speaker 1 (34:57):
You'd say, hello, it's not stuff.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
And see, like the conversation would always come come to
the head with like how long do you think you'll
play or how long do you want to play? And
I would hear a guys say, I'm gonna play eight
years and I'm gonna get out. I would hear someone else,
my goal is ten years and then I'm gonna retire.
(35:20):
And they would come to me and I said, whatever,
you know, as long as I can play, as long
as I love it, and as long as they want me,
I'll keep playing. So yeah, And I think that was
kind of the key to my success. It was that
I didn't try to dictate my career in regards to
how long I'm going to play, where I'm going to play. Yeah,
(35:44):
I just was like I can't believe they pay me
what they pay me to do this. I love doing
what I'm doing. I'm happy that I've got an opportunity. Yeah,
I'm gonna make the most of it, and whatever happens happens.
Speaker 3 (35:57):
Yeah, you were living in the moment.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (35:59):
Yeah, and I think, well, you.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
Know, whether you were a fan or not, when you
watch me play, you would I think you would quickly
learn that he's just out there having fun, right, and
there's a lot of success wrapped up in just that
little mindset. You know.
Speaker 1 (36:16):
I never over overthought things.
Speaker 3 (36:19):
Yeah, I was never.
Speaker 2 (36:21):
Going to be confused with a you know, a genius,
nor did I want to be. I just I was
happy to be there. I would do whatever I could
to wine and love my teammates, love the fans, play,
play with my emotions on my sleeve. Nothing was ever choreographed.
I never thought before a game, well, this would be
(36:43):
a cool thing to do if I throw a touchdown.
Speaker 4 (36:46):
Sometimes thinking is overrated, Yes, without question, Yeah, you're absolutely right. Okay,
(37:08):
you're playing for the Packers, You're being treated for various injuries,
and an all too common thing happens. You get addicted
to pain medication. And you actually have a seizure during
or after a surgery.
Speaker 1 (37:21):
Two. I actually had two.
Speaker 2 (37:22):
Two one the day before a game, one during right
after I came out.
Speaker 3 (37:30):
Of surgery, right right, and it was related to this two.
Speaker 1 (37:33):
Days after the season. Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (37:37):
Did you think in that moment did you.
Speaker 4 (37:38):
Think when you were, when you knew you were you
had a problem, did you feel like this I could
lose it all because of this?
Speaker 3 (37:49):
No, what did you think I probably should have?
Speaker 7 (37:51):
Okay, I was twenty five, maybe six, I was right
in the middle of winning three m vps in a row.
Speaker 2 (38:02):
And I'm not saying that bragging. I'm saying that because
it blinded.
Speaker 4 (38:07):
It kind of put blinders on because you're like, I'm
just I'm doing well.
Speaker 3 (38:11):
Like, what's the problem.
Speaker 2 (38:12):
I've just won two MVPs in a row. What the
hell's a deal? You know, what's everybody worried about? Yeah?
I sleep at meetings because I don't sleep at night.
I mean, you know, I'm dragging during the day because
I don't sleep at night. And when I say it,
I don't sleep at night. So I would take the
(38:33):
pills and I found over the years. Now I've been
clean for a long time Yeah, but I've spoke to
a lot of people who struggle with various addictions, and
there's always kind of like a couple of things that
are common with every person, even though the addiction may
(38:56):
be alcohol, maybe paint, pills, maybe myths, maybe you know, street.
Speaker 1 (39:00):
Drug us whatever.
Speaker 2 (39:00):
Yeah, but the underlying effects are always sort of the same.
And I thought no one knew, uh huh, I had
it all figured out. No one knew I had a
problem when multiple people knew, including my wife, who later
I found out she was flushing pills down the tour.
Speaker 4 (39:23):
And so she didn't confront you about it. She just
tried to stop you.
Speaker 2 (39:27):
Yes and no, she she tried, But I was like,
there's nothing wrong. I'm playing great, we're winning. You know,
we may have won the Super Bowl this year.
Speaker 3 (39:40):
Yeah, show me the problem here exactly.
Speaker 2 (39:42):
So, but you know, people knew it, but they really
knew when I had the seizure, especially the second one,
so the one right before the game, the day before
the game, which is you had a seizure before or
the game, you know, I mean, is there a more
(40:04):
of an aha moment than that? Right? But that sort
of got swept under the rug. I'm not saying it did,
but I had to play a game the next day.
When I came to I was at my house. There
were people there, team doctor, a couple of the coaches
that were dear friends of ours that were over and
they were all like, when I woke up, you know,
(40:25):
I was like, when y'are doing here? They said, you
have a seizure. No one said at that moment, why
did you have a seizure? Right, you're twenty five, you're
twenty six, You're in the best shape of your life.
Ye supposed but you're having a seizure. No one really
said that. But the second one at the end of
(40:46):
that year, I had ankle surgery a day or two
after the season in Green Bay and had another seizure,
and so that really sparked all right, there's something, there's
something going on. Yeah. So I met with a neurologist
in Green Bay and he's asked me a lot of questions,
(41:07):
and he said, how much do you sleep? And I said,
I'll probably go to bed about four thirty or five
in the morning, or I may go to bed early,
or but I stay up all the time. And he's like, why. Well,
Eventually they came to a head, and people had already
(41:30):
told him that I may have a pain pill addition,
so he confronted me with it and I admitted it,
and he said, how many are you taking? And I said, well,
at nine o'clock every night, I take sixteen Viking. Yes,
And that's sort of the reaction that he had.
Speaker 5 (41:48):
I don't even know anything about it, but that sounds
like a lot.
Speaker 2 (41:51):
Well. Viking was kind before oxy cotton was kind of
the oxy cotton of this day. And I don't know.
If I took two right now, it probably would knock
me for a loop, and you know it would.
Speaker 1 (42:06):
It would.
Speaker 2 (42:07):
It certainly helped with the pain, but for me it
made me feel good for it. So I over the
years built up from two to sixteen, and I knew,
even though I was successful at this time, I knew
internally that I had a problem. I would be out
(42:28):
somewhere with the guys and at nine o'clock. Remember the
only time that I would never take them at nine
o'clock is if I had a game at that time.
Don't ask me why I had to be nine o'clock.
I had no idea, but it was. There's something about
people with addictions that are very structured to.
Speaker 3 (42:48):
A certain degree routine.
Speaker 2 (42:50):
You know, they have their little quirky things and they
stick to them. So nine o'clock every night, so we're
in a bar having a couple of beers. I would
go to the bathroom to take these pills. Well, the
more pills that I started that I you know, fourteen
went to fifteen, fifteen and sixteen, it got hard to swallow.
Speaker 1 (43:11):
I just had a gag effect. So I would try.
I'd go in the bathroom and.
Speaker 2 (43:16):
I'd try to kind of crush them up as best
I could so it would just be easier and swallow.
And I'd do it all at one time. And the
last year, maybe a year and a half of this
whole ordeal. So I would I would take them and
I would throw up most not all the time, most
times I would throw back up these pills. And here's
(43:40):
where it really gets crazy. I would throw them up,
say on the bathroom floor in the barroom. I would
get down on the floor and get the pills out
of the bottle. And I was not going to waste
those pills. Wow, And I definitely would be picking these
pills out going.
Speaker 1 (44:01):
This is a serious.
Speaker 3 (44:02):
Problem, you knew. Yeah, I'm like, who does this?
Speaker 2 (44:07):
Who in the world does why are you doing this? Yeah?
You got you got everything right in front of you.
You're picking pills out of vomit.
Speaker 1 (44:19):
So I knew that. You know, I was playing well,
but I knew there.
Speaker 2 (44:23):
Was a serious problem.
Speaker 3 (44:25):
Yeah, so you go to treatment, right, ye three?
Speaker 4 (44:29):
Was it just to get you off the substances or
did you work on some underlying stuff?
Speaker 2 (44:37):
The first time I went, I went to Rayville, Louisiana.
I'll never forget pulling up with this treatment.
Speaker 1 (44:43):
This is the four.
Speaker 2 (44:45):
This was like an like an internal family close friends,
like you got to go somewhere. But we didn't want
the league to know.
Speaker 3 (44:55):
Yeah, and they did it.
Speaker 2 (44:57):
And this and the reason we didn't want the league
to know because the rules were like once you are
placed upon the alcohol or drug program from the league.
Speaker 1 (45:11):
They basically on you.
Speaker 3 (45:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (45:13):
Now, the bottom line is you want you should want
to get better, but they control all the cards, so
we try to keep it hush hush.
Speaker 1 (45:22):
I go to Rayville, Louisiana. I spent it thirty days.
Speaker 2 (45:27):
Those thirty days, I was clean, but my mindset was,
you know, I can do what they want me to
do as long as I need to do it. But
I'm going to do what I want to do, Yeah,
when I want to do it.
Speaker 1 (45:42):
So if I if I need to be cleaned thirty days,
I'll do that.
Speaker 3 (45:46):
So you weren't ready to quit?
Speaker 2 (45:48):
Oh no, yeah, no, you know I knew the path
I was heading down was not good. But I thought,
maybe a little bit longer. You know what crazy thing,
you know, as as someone with addictions can honestly say,
I mean, you think some crazy things in your.
Speaker 3 (46:08):
Mind to justify yeah, to justify yeah.
Speaker 2 (46:11):
And so I knew I shouldn't, but I knew, let
me just do it a little bit longer.
Speaker 3 (46:17):
But you knew you were gonna yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (46:20):
And so the second time I went this was in Tapeka, Kansas,
the League.
Speaker 1 (46:25):
This is when I made a formal announcement that I
was going. Uh huh.
Speaker 2 (46:29):
I was scheduled to be there thirty days. I ended
up being there seventy three. I fought, I punched the
wall numerous times.
Speaker 1 (46:38):
I yelled, I screamed, and.
Speaker 2 (46:42):
I don't know if I ever bought into what they
were saying, but I knew I needed to stop. And so,
but prior to going in in nineteen, it was the
year were won Super Bowl. So a couple of days
before a training camp, I get out and when I
went into treatment, I knew, and I tell people this,
(47:03):
I knew I was never going to take another painTill.
I flushed the last six pills I.
Speaker 3 (47:08):
Had down the toilet on your own.
Speaker 2 (47:13):
Because part of the problem was at that point it
was so hard to get I mean I was taking,
you know, a prescription. Say you get a prescription of
pain pills. They're going to probably give you thirty okay,
and it's gonna be two a day as needed for
the until the pain is gone. So I'm taking thirty
(47:33):
two pills in two days.
Speaker 1 (47:37):
Wow. So imagine how.
Speaker 2 (47:39):
Hard it was to get a prescription. And as an example,
I have a mini camp in Green Bay. Say in April,
I would go up. I would get the doctor to
write me a script I got you know, I'm telling
I got ankle, hurt my hip. Heards, Oh, I'll write
you a scripture.
Speaker 1 (47:59):
I got it filled.
Speaker 2 (48:01):
Fly home to Mississippi that saying day, get another one
filled here. But this was back when they didn't in
the computer, they didn't put two and two togethers Now
you could be in Seattle one filled and then go
to Miami that evening they have great. So now you
can't do that. So it got harder to get the pills.
(48:27):
But more importantly, I finally got to a point where
I said, now, I said this a lot. I'm done,
I'm quitting. Had enough. And then three four days later,
five days you know, maybe a little bit longer that.
Speaker 3 (48:45):
You know that you know, back and forth the bargain
you're making.
Speaker 2 (48:48):
Yeah, was was, you know, on and off for several years.
But then before I went to treatment the second time,
I said, I'm done.
Speaker 1 (48:58):
And there's something about because people go, well, how.
Speaker 2 (49:01):
Did you know?
Speaker 3 (49:03):
Yeah, I said, I just knew.
Speaker 2 (49:05):
I knew that I was never going to do it again.
And the third time I went back to the treatment
was for alcohol, which was a year and a half later.
And you know, when I was in there for the
pain pills and pain pills only, they asked me about drinking,
and I said, well, don't And you've probably heard this
(49:28):
a bunch. So like I thought an alcoholic was someone
who drank every.
Speaker 3 (49:32):
Day, Uh huh, right, could not.
Speaker 2 (49:35):
Be more wrong. There's people who drink every day but
may have a drink, may have two glasses of light
drive home and are fine. There's nothing wrong with that.
When I drank, it wasn't every day, So I thought, well,
I don't have a problem. But when I drank, I
(49:56):
never quit until I couldn't remember anything. Yeah, so that's
a problem. Yeah, that's a you know, you don't drink
one beer. And if you said that to me, I go,
why would I drink one beer?
Speaker 3 (50:11):
What's the point of that.
Speaker 2 (50:12):
Yeah, I'll drink a coke. I like coke, but I'll
drink thirty beers because I like the.
Speaker 3 (50:17):
Effect, right, right.
Speaker 1 (50:20):
And so that was my mindset.
Speaker 2 (50:21):
So I quit the paint pills, wanted to keep drinking,
didn't do it all the time, thought it was I
had it all handled.
Speaker 1 (50:30):
What an idiot.
Speaker 2 (50:31):
I didn't went back to rehab, dealt with alcohol, and
I haven't taken a paint pill or drink it since
ninety eight.
Speaker 1 (50:41):
So it can be done. I'm proof. Yeah, And I
tell people this in regards to my addiction.
Speaker 2 (50:51):
I saw people praying, you know, like in treatment, and
you know, we would have these twelve step meetings and
just different and stuff, and I would hear someone who
had been successful maybe came back as a you know,
as a clinician or an advisor or whatever that had
been there. M and so how'd you do it? How'd
(51:14):
you do it? So? I didn't do it?
Speaker 1 (51:17):
You know, I tried. I failed. I tried.
Speaker 2 (51:21):
I failed. Then I really thought I made it and
I failed.
Speaker 1 (51:26):
And I'm like, I've been there. I failed.
Speaker 2 (51:31):
You know, I've said I was gonna quit. I said
I was gonna do it. I'm picking up pills and bomber.
I need to quit. I got a problem. How did
you do it? Well? I reached out to guy and
I said, well, I've done that too, But they're like,
what do you expect back?
Speaker 1 (51:45):
And I don't know, but you know, I think an
easy way.
Speaker 3 (51:48):
Out right, And they were like, that ain't gonna happen.
That's not how it works.
Speaker 2 (51:53):
That's not how it works. Guy's not gonna say, oh sorry,
you know I wasn't paying attention. I'll take all the
trouble away, right. It don't happen that way. Yeah, And
and so I've told people that with God, I was
able to overcome. And you know, God only gives you
(52:13):
what you can handle, never anymore. H And he will
help you, but you have to help yourself.
Speaker 1 (52:20):
Yeah, there has to be a give and take. And
so for me that's been a big there, you know.
Speaker 2 (52:29):
And it's saying that there's days that I go, God,
you you know, I thought you said you were not
going to curse anymore. I thought you said you were
not going, oh you know, do this and do that,
but you're doing it, you know. So there's constantly, there's
constantly a struggle with good and evil mhm, right and
(52:52):
wrong and love and hate and saying things that you
that you know it's not right, Yeah, that you later
regret that I'm no different than anyone else in that regard.
I'm not perfect. So like telling people I'm a Christian,
the comeback sometimes, how can you tell yourself a Christian
(53:14):
when you're not perfect? Well not also perfect? No, right,
and so let strive to be I failed quite often,
and you know, it's a constantly struggle, but I try
to do better each and every day.
Speaker 1 (53:30):
And sometimes it seems.
Speaker 2 (53:31):
Like it's two three, four steps forward, five steps backwards,
and then the next day you gain a little traction.
Speaker 4 (53:39):
And then yeah, well listen, talking the way you are
talking right now, really honestly unvarnished, it's really it's really helpful.
It's really brave, and it's really important for listeners to
hear this varies a graphic yeah, straight talk about it.
Speaker 2 (54:01):
Well, I think it's important for I don't mind helping
other people. I think you know today's world and you
know this is way better than I do, because you're
in that, you're in this scene. There's a lot of
hate in this in this country. There's a lot of
hate in this world. There's a lot of problems internally,
(54:24):
there's a lot of problems socially with our kids and
what they're subjective to.
Speaker 1 (54:29):
And it's so easy.
Speaker 2 (54:31):
To get I'm not going to say it wasn't easy
back then to get caught up in what I got
caught up in, but it was a.
Speaker 3 (54:38):
Simpler time, yeah, right.
Speaker 2 (54:41):
And there wasn't social media. Cell phones were just kind
of landing, you know, and mainstream. But you know, I
think and a lot of people know my story, but
I think, you know, I don't mind telling my story
because that was the difficult time.
Speaker 1 (55:02):
Even though even though I was a starting.
Speaker 3 (55:05):
Quarterback, won the Super Bowl, was.
Speaker 2 (55:10):
The MVP ye three times. I mean, I could not
have been any war on the top of the world,
but I was, you know, I was really in a
bad way.
Speaker 1 (55:22):
And so.
Speaker 2 (55:24):
I think people I don't know if they can relate
to be playing for the.
Speaker 1 (55:27):
Green Bay package, but the.
Speaker 3 (55:30):
Right right now.
Speaker 4 (55:31):
That's why we have the conversation, because there's not You
can't relate to a A list Hollywood actor, you can't
relate to a Hall of Fame football player, but everyone
can relate to a struggle and a challenge, and that's
why telling these stories is important.
Speaker 1 (55:49):
Yeah, I agree with you.
Speaker 4 (56:06):
We'll end on a lighter note. We do a lightning round.
These are fun fast questions. M Okay, how many times
have you seen There's something about Mary?
Speaker 2 (56:21):
I will say maybe one and a half.
Speaker 3 (56:24):
Oh my god.
Speaker 2 (56:27):
And I say that because I like when the movie
came out, so you know, I did my part, but
I didn't know where it fell in the movie. Yeah,
no one told me when.
Speaker 1 (56:39):
Yeah, so I'm in the movie to youter doing this.
Speaker 4 (56:44):
Just and it's a long time before you come A
long time.
Speaker 2 (56:47):
And so I was like, I was like, and so,
I mean I just had a hard time come of.
It was like, I can much easier relax and watch
my highlights.
Speaker 1 (57:02):
Then an acting debut if you want to call it that.
Speaker 4 (57:05):
So well, and you were the third choice of the
Fairly brothers to play the ex boyfriend of Mary.
Speaker 3 (57:09):
Who were the other two choices?
Speaker 1 (57:11):
I think Steve Youllen was one.
Speaker 2 (57:13):
Yes, I'm not sure.
Speaker 4 (57:14):
Who the author was, so drew Bledsoe was the first
choice because obviously Fairly Brothers are New Englanders. But he
had just gotten into some trouble at a club in
a mountain moshpit. So he passed and Steve Young passed
because he was Mormon. The movie was R rated and
he didn't want Mormon kids sneaking in to see it
(57:36):
or being disappointed in him.
Speaker 1 (57:37):
Well, probably it was a good thing it had.
Speaker 3 (57:40):
I can't know. I can't imagine it with anyone else,
but yeah.
Speaker 2 (57:43):
The inuendos in the movie or Deanna and I flew
down to Miami for the recording. Yeah, first of all,
acting is not my thing because I can't act.
Speaker 1 (57:58):
That was obviously the in.
Speaker 2 (57:59):
The But it's not my thing because there's so much
hurried up and wait, right at five minutes you can
be on.
Speaker 1 (58:07):
So you get all.
Speaker 2 (58:10):
And then you go out there and they turn the
lights on and then they.
Speaker 1 (58:14):
Go, we got we gotta change this. Go back to
a trailer now.
Speaker 2 (58:20):
So that little piece I did for that movie too,
actual filming, say twenty thirty minutes. I was there too,
full days. Yeah right, and you know for the people
in the acting in the TV world, you go, that's
the way it is. I'm like, I can't, you know,
(58:41):
I just can't. I can't deal with this. The cat,
the cast, the Fairly Brothers, Matt Dylan, Carmen, Ben Stiller,
you know, all Easter names that you really didn't know
a lot about it at the time. This is a
long time, great, great group. We went out at dinner,
(59:03):
very nice. It was a very awesome experience, and I'm
glad that I did it. I didn't make any money.
I think I made five hundred dollars something. So it
wasn't about that, you know, just it was about to
experience very cool.
Speaker 3 (59:21):
What's your favorite sports movie?
Speaker 1 (59:25):
Well, there's there's I must say, either Greater or My
All American.
Speaker 3 (59:35):
Okay, yeah, I don't know if you've seen either.
Speaker 4 (59:38):
I've seen My All American about Derrel Royal.
Speaker 2 (59:43):
To coach at Texas gets the kid from forgot where
it was from, but true story, amazing story. I wasn't
wasn't familiar with it. Greater if you haven't seen it.
True story. Young man grew up in Arkansas. I wanted
to play for the University of Arkansas. That was his dream.
(01:00:05):
Everyone told him he couldn't, he didn't fit the bill.
He ends up playing there, And I don't want to
run this story for you, but it's a tear jerker,
but it's an amazing story.
Speaker 3 (01:00:17):
Though, Okay, I'll go watch it. I love sports movies.
Who is the goat quarterback?
Speaker 2 (01:00:24):
I don't think there's any question, And it's funny to me,
like you or not, Tom Brady is the best, and
all you got to look to is his rings.
Speaker 3 (01:00:35):
Yeah, I mean he was good and multiple teams, multiple teams.
Speaker 2 (01:00:42):
Joe Montanna would be I wouldn't say a distance section.
I wouldn't. I'd say, he's you know one b uh huh.
Speaker 3 (01:00:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:00:51):
When when I.
Speaker 2 (01:00:52):
Studied Joe Montana, when I took over as a quarterback
for the Packers, we ran the same offense and I
watched him and it was the worst thing that I
could have done because he never made a mistake. And
I was like, why did I look at his film?
He doesn't He never makes a mistake, and I'm.
Speaker 3 (01:01:15):
Going to make some Yeah, perfect cannot be the standard.
Speaker 2 (01:01:18):
If I will live it up to that, Yeah, I'm
in trouble. Yeah, you know so. And I told Joe that,
you know, so those two would be you know, one
a in one.
Speaker 4 (01:01:30):
Be deservingly So if you could compare your career to
an athlete in another sport, who would it be.
Speaker 1 (01:01:38):
I'd probably have to say Gal Ripken.
Speaker 2 (01:01:42):
Yeah, and I couldn't tell you all his numbers, and
I'm sure he couldn't tell you all my numbers, but
what he could tell you, what I could tell you
is we didn't miss a game for seventeen eighteen or
more years, yep. And there's only two people has done
there yep.
Speaker 3 (01:02:01):
So yeah, you still hold that record in the NFL,
and they hold it.
Speaker 2 (01:02:06):
Forever because most people probably are like, I don't want it.
Speaker 3 (01:02:09):
I don't want that many consecutives starts.
Speaker 2 (01:02:11):
Yeah, but but it's it's probably more doable today because
they've added a game in the regular season and the
rules are much more favorable for longevity.
Speaker 3 (01:02:24):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 4 (01:02:25):
Yeah, Okay, this is the last question.
Speaker 3 (01:02:28):
We always asked this question.
Speaker 4 (01:02:29):
It's very important to me personally when is iced coffee season,
you know, it's.
Speaker 2 (01:02:38):
That's that's a good question and one that I'm no
expert on. Okay, because here's here's my deal with coffee.
I don't drink coffee unless it's cold outside, so.
Speaker 3 (01:02:51):
You drink it hot.
Speaker 1 (01:02:53):
I drink it hot for you.
Speaker 3 (01:02:55):
It's never iced coffee season never. That's that's the right answer.
Speaker 2 (01:03:00):
But like, I'm with my brother and a couple of buddies.
We're playing golf, and they want to get coffee. Yeah,
and it's like eight o'clock in the morning, it's ninety
degrees and.
Speaker 1 (01:03:13):
I'm like, I don't want coffee. I like coffee, but
I like a chai tea.
Speaker 2 (01:03:18):
I like in the winter.
Speaker 3 (01:03:19):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (01:03:20):
So they're they're contemplating, and I'm like, I'll just have
a coach just ordering me a coke. And they're like,
I want a hot chi and they're talking to the lady.
And then my buddy Lloyd looks at my brother Scott
and he's like, what do you want And he's like,
I'll have.
Speaker 1 (01:03:35):
A chi you want?
Speaker 2 (01:03:36):
You want to ice or And I'm like Gemmi and Christmas.
But yeah, so yeah, if it's cold outside.
Speaker 3 (01:03:46):
It's foreign to you, and I can get a.
Speaker 1 (01:03:49):
Chai tea or a vanilla latte.
Speaker 2 (01:03:51):
I'll do it. If it's summer, don't even think about
bringing me a nice.
Speaker 3 (01:03:57):
You go without coffee for the whole time, rather.
Speaker 1 (01:03:59):
Drink coke, water power, you know.
Speaker 2 (01:04:02):
Something like that.
Speaker 4 (01:04:03):
Well, as I mentioned, I'm from Boston, I grew up
on Dungan donuts and iced coffee is a big part
of my life. So you you you're allowed to have
your own relationship with iced coffee or none at all.
But the correct answer is year round. The correct answer
is ice coffee season is year round.
Speaker 1 (01:04:23):
Okay, So I'll file that away.
Speaker 3 (01:04:27):
Brett Farv, this was great. Thank you so much for
doing this.
Speaker 1 (01:04:30):
Well, thanks for having.
Speaker 3 (01:04:34):
Coming up next week. I talked to Bridget Everett.
Speaker 4 (01:04:37):
She's an actress, a singer, cabaret star and star of
Somebody Somewhere.
Speaker 8 (01:04:43):
If you know me from the cabaret world, I'm sort
of like a wilderbeast. There's something like a real.
Speaker 2 (01:04:47):
Wild like sort of unhinged.
Speaker 8 (01:04:49):
But this is a different side of me, like the
human side of me, like the things that make me
laugh and then make me cry. And I've learned through
the experience of doing the show that other people see
themselves in it, and that's been really rewarding.
Speaker 4 (01:05:06):
Off the Cup is a production of iHeart Podcasts as
part of the Recent Choice Network. I'm Your Hostess cupp
editing and sound designed by Derek Clements. Our executive producers
are Messie Cup, Lauren Hanson, and Lindsay Hoffman. If you
like Off the Cup, please rate and review wherever you
get your podcasts, follow, or subscribe for new episodes every Wednesday.
I can't say that.
Speaker 2 (00:02):
I thought, you know, the world was caving in a
year and a half ago, but I knew something was
a little different.
Speaker 3 (00:10):
Go Teams.
Speaker 4 (00:12):
In honor of this weekend's Super Bowl, this episode of
Off the Cup is with Green Bay Packer Hall of
Famer Brett Farv super excited. But just a note at
the top before we get into the actual episode. I
did ask Brett Farv about a number of scandals and
legal issues that he's facing, but because of a gag order,
(00:33):
we're not allowed to release them. So this episode has
been edited to reflect that. Just want y'all know that,
But but don't worry.
Speaker 5 (00:42):
We get into some stuff you're gonna want to listen.
Speaker 4 (00:49):
So I grew up in Massachusetts, big Boston sports, family, socks, Pats,
Celtic experience, but I was weird and instead of going
with the flow, I was a Packer fan. I think
I saw a documentary when I was in my early teens.
Speaker 3 (01:04):
I don't know.
Speaker 4 (01:04):
It was maybe about Bart Starve and Lombardi or Curly Lambeau.
I can't remember exactly, but the history of this team
was just so romantic, it was so compelling.
Speaker 3 (01:14):
They were so storied.
Speaker 4 (01:15):
I became a Packer fan because the lore just drew
me in. And in nineteen ninety six, I think I
can safely say I was the only kid in New
England throwing a Packer party when they faced the Patriots
in the Super Bowl. It didn't go over well, but
it worked out for me. In addition to the history
(01:36):
of the team drawing me in, however, they also had
a quarterback that was really just so fun to watch.
Speaker 3 (01:43):
You know who he is. He's number four. He's Hall
of Famer Brett Farv. Brett Farv. Welcome to Off the Cup.
Speaker 2 (01:49):
Well, thanks for having me, Thanks for the nice centro.
Speaker 4 (01:53):
I was really alone in my Packer fandom just because
of where I live, right so I felt very attached
to this team and I just I loved it. I
was wondering if you were when you were growing up,
when you were playing football. Were the Packers just another
team to you, like any team to you, or did
you also understand the history and specialness of that team.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
Yes, it's sort of interesting.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
I was a I don't know what you would call it,
I'll say a diehard football fan. Yeah, I knew the
Dallas Cowboys was my favorite team. Now I grew up
in South Mississippi and from my house I could be
at the Superdome in New Orleans with no traffic in
(02:36):
forty five fifty minutes. So even though lived in Mississippi,
the Saints were basically our home team. Right.
Speaker 1 (02:45):
They were horrible, They were horrible.
Speaker 2 (02:48):
My good friend Archie Manning was definitely the bright spot.
Speaker 1 (02:54):
With that team.
Speaker 2 (02:55):
But anyway, so the Cowboys were my team. And you, yeah,
on back a long time, so like before cable, so
you you got the local team and that was it
unless it was the Monday night game and you got
to see your team or you know, someone else's playing
whether you liked them or not. But I did a
(03:16):
book report I think second third grade, maybe the only
book report I ever did, and it was on on
Paul Horning, yeah and his uh, you know, his journey
through Notre Dame in Green Bay. And I remember that
(03:37):
that book report was sort of compelling to me because
that was really the first time now I had heard
of Bart Starr. Uh.
Speaker 1 (03:44):
You know, there was a downtime for.
Speaker 2 (03:46):
The Packers for yeah, twenty twenty five years or something
where they.
Speaker 1 (03:51):
Just kind of were there.
Speaker 2 (03:53):
Yeah. Yeah, And so that when I did that book report.
I was like, gosh, these eyes were good. You know,
it was before my time, but these guys were good.
And so that that was sort of the eye opening,
you know, aha, like the Packers are special.
Speaker 3 (04:15):
Maybe not lately, but they were, but they.
Speaker 2 (04:18):
Were so so that that kind of resonated with me.
And then, you know, later on, as I started playing
college and and and knew that I had a chance
to play pro football, I can't say that Green Bay
was on my radar, but but I say that with
all due respect that you know, at that time, they
(04:38):
just were not like a team you would you know,
and I wasn't picking, to be honest with you, Yeah, whoever, whatever, whatever,
you know, And and then when I got there, you know,
that was really the it's different, you know, it's it's
different in a good.
Speaker 4 (04:55):
Way, Like you feel that you feel the yeah, aura,
the history at Lamba, the history.
Speaker 2 (05:02):
You know, pulling into Green Bay if you're driving or
if you're flying in. Right away, the stadium is the centerpiece. Yes,
seventy five to one hundred thousand people give or take,
you know, maybe less, but it's dominated by the Packers
and it's just a special place.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
It really is.
Speaker 3 (05:24):
It really really is. You can feel it.
Speaker 1 (05:26):
You think about it.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
If you were starting a national franchise, whether it be baseball, basketball, football,
I don't think you'd ever start looking in Green Bay.
Speaker 1 (05:37):
You know why green Bay? But it has thrived.
Speaker 2 (05:41):
When LA has you know, a team, they'll come, they'll
go Oakland, they come and go you.
Speaker 3 (05:48):
Know, so you know it's so true.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
It's a unique and special franchise for sure.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (05:58):
And I want to talk more about your career and
highs and lows and some personal struggles, but first I
want to start with the news you most recently made.
When and how were you diagnosed with Parkinson's.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
Well, I would say about two years ago, maybe a
little longer. I started noticing some quirky little things that
I that I was doing nothing. You know, it was
nothing that hindered my every day whatever, you know, whether
(06:33):
I went out biking, whether I was on tractor, whether
I was cutting wood, whether you know, it didn't matter.
And those quirky little things were like my right arm.
I would be walking, you know, just doing whatever, maybe
on a hike, maybe golfing, and I would notice my
(06:53):
right arm would be right to my side at a
ninety degree angle.
Speaker 1 (06:58):
And I would.
Speaker 2 (06:59):
When I would notice it, I would say, well, that's
kind of weird. I put my arm down and go
about my way. My arm would swing normal, and then
when I would forget about it, it would come back
to that spot. And so I thought, you know, I'm
getting older. You know, it's not it's nothing. You know,
there was never a thought of a neurological disease, right,
(07:23):
So that was the first thing.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
And so maybe six months after that, so say.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
A year and a half ago, I noticed, of course
I'm right handed. I'm really dominant right handed. So like
everything I do, you know, some people throw right handed
but right left handed or whatever.
Speaker 1 (07:43):
I'm completely dominant right handed.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
And so about a year and a half ago I noticed,
like if I was texting on the phone, I couldn't
do it with my right hand. I did it with
my left hand, and I did it well, and I thought, well,
that's no big deal. But like if I put it
jacket on or put a long sleeve shirt on, I
was struggled to guide my arm through the sleeve. And
(08:10):
I felt my arm. It was not like it was
numb or you know, I just couldn't guide it. And so.
Speaker 3 (08:19):
Was it scary at all, were you a little were
you worried?
Speaker 2 (08:21):
No? You know at that time, no, I thought less
getting sound weird?
Speaker 1 (08:26):
But I feel fine, feel great. So why would I.
Speaker 2 (08:30):
Think you know, you know, I didn't go like get
on the internet and start investigating, you know, like arms
stuck at one my side, a loss of dexterity in
my right hand. But had I done that, I think
I would have gotten answered pretty quickly. Really yeah, because
the calling card for Parkinson's, one of the calling cards
(08:52):
is something to do with the gate and usually something
to do with arm swing or lack thereof.
Speaker 3 (08:59):
Wow.
Speaker 2 (09:00):
Because when I my local doctor here, when I went
and saw him the night before I was scheduled to
go see him, he and I had a conversation on
the phone and he said, just tell me a couple
of things that that.
Speaker 1 (09:13):
I need to know.
Speaker 2 (09:14):
And I told him what I just told you, and
he said, you got Parkinson's.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
He knew on the phone.
Speaker 1 (09:21):
He knew on the phone, but he said, come see me.
Speaker 2 (09:24):
Yeah, there's a new test that's called an alphas and
nucleon biopsy that will for sure tell you if you have.
Speaker 1 (09:33):
A garological disease.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
It won't tell you specifically what, but it will tell
you you're positive for or not positive. And so I
went in, took the test, and two weeks later.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
It was it was positive.
Speaker 2 (09:47):
But and that was that was January, So when the
actual diagnosis came about.
Speaker 1 (09:54):
But yeah, I knew something.
Speaker 2 (09:56):
I can't say that I thought, you know, the world
was caving in a year and a half ago, but
I knew something was a little different.
Speaker 4 (10:04):
They've recently linked Parkinson's to hearing loss, and they say
that prompt use of hearing aids may reduce the risk
of developing Parkinson's. Did you suffer any hearing loss before
your diagnosis.
Speaker 2 (10:15):
No, No, not that I'm aware of. You know, I have,
as my wife would say, selective here.
Speaker 3 (10:20):
Every man does.
Speaker 2 (10:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (10:23):
But you know, I think.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
And I have been inundated with in a good way.
People have really reached out.
Speaker 1 (10:33):
Try this see this person.
Speaker 3 (10:36):
Yeah, have you looked.
Speaker 1 (10:38):
Into was it ever Mike then?
Speaker 2 (10:42):
Right? You know, I mean, it's it's endless and so
sorting out that you may want to try. Maybe you
want to talk to this person. I've seen five different
specialists and they all said the same thing, you know.
They they were all extremely smart and to me, I mean,
(11:02):
I'm looking for, you know, the Holy Grail, and they
were like, at this point, what you're doing is the
best thing to do, and that's take take what's called
cinemat and it's a dopamine replacement that lasts, you know,
three to four hours, and I take that in every
(11:22):
four hours, and my symptoms are somewhat suppressed. In fact,
someone yesterday said, you don't you're not shaking, Well, well,
I really never shook. I had a little shaking in
my right hand, and I think people relate Parkinson's to shaking.
And what I didn't know was in Parkinson's there's a
(11:46):
lot of different kinds, but what I have is called
ediopathic Parkinson's. And there's three characteristics of ediopathic. So there's
cognitive and memory is one, Rigidity and stiffness is too.
Shaking and trenor Tremor's is three. So if you have idiopathic,
you'll have one of those three will be the dominant
(12:08):
of the three. Well, just so happens for me. It's
the rigidity and stiffness, so very little shaking. Even without
the medicine. There would be like times maybe I was
tired or something, and I would I would have a
little yeah, and so on, Sally, what are you shaking
for this morning? And I've beaten breakfast with a group
(12:29):
of guys. I'm like, I don't know. Yeah, but the
rigidity and stiffness was overwhelming.
Speaker 4 (12:36):
Yeah, and I'm not putting two and two together.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Before the diagnosis, I thought, well, this is a total
football that's taken on.
Speaker 4 (12:46):
Well, that's what I wanted to ask you, because you
have you admitted I mean once you said that you
probably suffered thousands of concussions.
Speaker 5 (12:52):
How convinced are you that football may have played a
part in this?
Speaker 2 (13:00):
Uh?
Speaker 1 (13:02):
You know what, I'll say this before I answer that question.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
There's no way to at this point to know definitively where,
But I would if I were a betman, which I'm not,
I would say ninety nine point sure that that trauma
has something to do with it. Yeah. My my local
(13:29):
doctor and I've seen five specialists with my local doctor.
Speaker 1 (13:31):
Here, a guy Wendell Elveston, great.
Speaker 2 (13:35):
Guy, and I asked him that question. I said, Doc,
where do you think I got it? And his exact
words were, nofing matter, you got it, It's not going away,
And he said, why cry over or concern yourself with
something that you can't change at this point. But he said,
(13:57):
to answer your question, if it's not in your face,
he said, that's.
Speaker 1 (14:01):
Where we look.
Speaker 2 (14:01):
First, someone grandfather, great grandfather, grandmother, somewhere down the line
had it. As far as I know, my family knows
no history. So the second thing they look at is
head trauma. Second second really and second A and second.
Speaker 1 (14:19):
B would be head trauma.
Speaker 2 (14:22):
Environmental so pesticides, herbicides, chemicals, yeah, you know, electrical waves.
Speaker 1 (14:31):
You know who knows.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
So maybe in my case it may be a little
bit of both.
Speaker 3 (14:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (14:39):
So, and you've urged parents not to let their kids
under fourteen play tackle football? Is there a safe way
to play football these days? At a high level?
Speaker 1 (14:55):
It puts flags on you know. I mean.
Speaker 2 (15:00):
I think that when I when I revealed that I
had a you know, a neurological disease, I think it
it offered credibility to why I have been so passionate
about concussions and preventing numbers. And so I think people go, oh,
(15:22):
that makes a lot of sense. Why he has been
a crusader for it, you know. And I got three grandsons,
and all three the oldest is fourteen eleven, and then
eight and they don't play football. They've never asked if
they said they wanted to play football. If they came
to me today and said they wanted to play football,
(15:44):
will you help me? But I would love to, but
I will never go out of my way to why
don't you guys play?
Speaker 1 (15:52):
Why don't you sign up?
Speaker 3 (15:54):
He wouldn't push it.
Speaker 1 (15:55):
No, I wouldn't push it.
Speaker 2 (15:56):
I just know that, you know, there's not every body
can be Peyton Manning and.
Speaker 3 (16:01):
Eli Yeah, Troy ym and yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
And Patrick Mahomes and Brett Fahr. No.
Speaker 4 (16:08):
No, sometimes you're and this is what I wanted to
ask you next, Sometimes you're Dave Doerson or Junior Seau.
And when you hear of a player's suicide, did you
ever think when that news would come up, did you
ever think that could have been me?
Speaker 1 (16:23):
Now?
Speaker 2 (16:25):
I think the one that hit me the hardest in
the gut was Junior sel Well. I played a lot
of a lot against and played in the Pro Bowl
with several times. I can't say that he was a
good friend, but but you know, mutual friend who love life,
love football obviously, but loved everything about life. And it's
(16:45):
like when he killed himself is.
Speaker 3 (16:47):
Like, that's not him, that's not him.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
Yeah, so king jan someone gets so corrupt in their
mind from from football and the head trump that they
would go to.
Speaker 3 (17:02):
That left to resolve it, right escaping, which.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
Is which is really it's really scary, it's really frightened.
Speaker 5 (17:11):
Yeah, let's go to the love of the game.
Speaker 4 (17:29):
You get drafted by the Falcons in the second round
with the thirty third overall pick in nineteen ninety one,
and head coach Jerry Glanville makes it very known he
did not want you. What is your mindset in that
first season under those conditions, knowing he doesn't want to
play me. He's hoping a plane crash actually takes.
Speaker 3 (17:47):
Care of this. You know, I think, did that make
you want to work hard?
Speaker 2 (17:55):
No? You know I was always one that throughout my
football career, going back to the fifth grade. The more
and thankfully I didn't get told you suck, or you're
not gonna make it, or you know, those things. I
didn't hear that often, very rare, but I did hear
(18:18):
you're not ready yet, you need to work harder, you know,
general things, And a lot of it came from my father,
who was my high school coach. Was definitely a mentor.
Was a hard ass to say the least. And no
matter what I did on a positive note, whether it
(18:42):
be baseball, football, school, he was always one to.
Speaker 1 (18:48):
Say, well you can do better. Yeah, and which is fine.
Speaker 2 (18:52):
My two brothers, I think it was an adverse effect
with them, so like the more he pushed them and
rode their ass, the less enthusiastic they were about.
Speaker 1 (19:05):
Whatever it was they were doing. Yeah, well I don't care.
Speaker 2 (19:08):
You know, I'll play football. But if I played college, great,
If I don't great.
Speaker 3 (19:12):
That was kind of their mentality.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
Where me, when you said those type of things to me,
it drove.
Speaker 2 (19:18):
Me to.
Speaker 1 (19:20):
Bigger and better things.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
Yeah right, And so that was like with Lanville, I
was like, Okay, I don't think I'll ever have a
future here.
Speaker 1 (19:30):
This is me talking to myself.
Speaker 2 (19:32):
But if if I were ever to go somewhere else,
or if they ever give me a shot, I'll prove
them wrong. I think my year in Atlanta, and I
tell people this all the time. I got I got
drafted in the second round. I go to Atlanta. I'm
on the team. I don't say I play, I'm on
the team. I missed the team. Pitcher in twenty years
(19:57):
in the NFL, never other than myself even heard of
someone missing the teen picture, and so I had the
dubious honor of being the only person, maybe ever in
the history of the game to miss the teen picture.
Speaker 1 (20:14):
So I just.
Speaker 2 (20:16):
To thinking that I got off on the wrong foot
with Jerry is certainly an understatement.
Speaker 1 (20:22):
So I've been out a.
Speaker 2 (20:24):
Little bit too late, had a few too many to drink,
and showed up about forty five minutes late. In fact,
they were Everyone was in their cars and leaving when
I pulled up at the facility. So I didn't do
myself many favors. But the crazy thing is I get
drafted the second round. I do nothing on a positive
(20:46):
scale to enhance my career in a positive way.
Speaker 1 (20:51):
I do everything to.
Speaker 2 (20:54):
Basically get me run out of the least sabotage it, Yes,
sabotage it.
Speaker 1 (20:58):
But yet but yet I get drafted. I mean, I
get traded.
Speaker 2 (21:01):
For a first round pick right when I did absolutely
nothing but gain twenty five pounds on beer hot wings.
Yeah you know, so I wasn't the smartest person in
the world when I got traded traded at Green Bay.
Speaker 1 (21:14):
For a first round pick. I thought this is this
is pretty special.
Speaker 4 (21:20):
Better seize the moment well, and you get traded. But
then you're going for your physical and you get sort
of diagnosed by the team doctor with a hip condition,
the same one that ends Bo Jackson's career. Correct in
that moment, and coach sort of overrode that and allowed
(21:40):
that did not allow that physical to be failed, which
would have ended the trade. But in that moment, did
you think, oh, what am I going to do after
this when I can't play football anymore?
Speaker 2 (21:52):
You know? The good thing is I didn't know I
was failed.
Speaker 3 (21:57):
They didn't tell you.
Speaker 1 (21:58):
Well, they told me later.
Speaker 2 (22:00):
So what happened was, you know, I get traded, go
up do a physical. Ron Wolf is the general manager
who made the trade for me, who was who I
talked to him yesterday.
Speaker 3 (22:13):
He is a dear friend.
Speaker 2 (22:16):
Ron's pushing ninety, but he's sharp as attack and I
love him to death and the feelings mutual. So we
talked once a month.
Speaker 1 (22:24):
But so when.
Speaker 2 (22:26):
I did the physical, the report went to Ron Wolf upstairs.
Speaker 6 (22:31):
Yeah, and within that five minute window, and this is
coming from Ron himself, you know, when he told me
the story and he's like, they came up to me
and said we failed him on the physical.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
He's got a vaster new crosis. He you know, he
may play.
Speaker 2 (22:51):
Three years if he's lucky, and he's going to need
a hip replacement. And Ron Wolf said, I'll take that
three years if that's where it is. Wow, we're not failing.
He's playing and we'll we'll take our chances.
Speaker 3 (23:07):
He saved your career, saved my career.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
And you know he told me that later on, not initially.
Speaker 3 (23:12):
Yeah, so I really didn't know.
Speaker 2 (23:15):
You know, there was a five minute window where I'm
failed and he says, oh, hell no, he's playing, and
I did it that They were right. I did need
a hit replacement, but it was it was two years ago.
So wow, I'll lasted a little bit longer.
Speaker 3 (23:33):
Just a little bit, just a little bit unbelievable.
Speaker 4 (23:36):
So then obviously you go on, You go on to
win a Super Bowl, which I threw a party for
at sixteen eleven playoff appearances, seven division titles, four NFC
Championship games, three consecutive MVP titles. You revive a team
as we as we discussed that it's sort of been
in the door drums for decades and now you are
part of that packer lore that excited you as a
(23:59):
kid when you wrote book report that excited me as
a kid. What does that feel like now being part
of that history?
Speaker 2 (24:07):
You know what's strange about about that that question is
that I think, here, I am about fifteen years removed
from playing, Yeah, and it really doesn't seem like I
ever played. And it's hard to put into words, but
like it just doesn't seem real.
Speaker 1 (24:30):
Of course I know it is.
Speaker 4 (24:32):
What do you mean, like, does it seem like it
was a past life or like.
Speaker 2 (24:36):
Uh yeah, almost like a dream. And I was talking
to Michael Strahan one time. He's doing good war in
America something, and we were talking about I think I
sent him a message I've heard about his daughter and
I was thinking about and then we get we got
(24:56):
off on football and uh not in like and serious conversation.
But he made the comment He's like, you know, I
don't even seem like I played. And I said, well,
you know, it's weird because I feel the same way.
Speaker 1 (25:12):
I think.
Speaker 2 (25:14):
There's not a day goes by where I'm not reminded that,
oh you played football. Well yeah, you're you're feeling the
effects of it daily, you know. So I'm reminded, but
its like it doesn't seem real. Yeah, it just doesn't
seem real.
Speaker 3 (25:30):
That's wild.
Speaker 2 (25:31):
And so like, you know, being down here at home
and being in my usual environment where I see people
that I see all the time. You know, if I
if I were to show up somewhere else, I mean
where people don't see me, maybe it's different. And reminded
that that of what you did.
Speaker 3 (25:46):
It's who you are and who I am.
Speaker 2 (25:49):
But it just doesn't seem real. And how you know,
it's kind of a weird feeling.
Speaker 3 (25:54):
I can't imagine it.
Speaker 4 (25:56):
It sounds like a weird sensation, a weird surreal kind
of perspective.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (26:01):
I mean he played for.
Speaker 2 (26:02):
The Green Bad Packers for sixteen years, you won a
Super Bowl. Yeah, you had tremendous success as an individual
and as a team.
Speaker 1 (26:10):
But he doesn't seem real.
Speaker 3 (26:12):
That's wild. Oh, very very well.
Speaker 5 (26:15):
Speaking of straighthand I just got to asked, did you
want him to break.
Speaker 3 (26:18):
The sack record in two thousand and one?
Speaker 2 (26:20):
I didn't really care, to be honest with you either way.
Michael has always been a dear friend. But you know
what people thought, Yeah, but I honestly I didn't care
one way or the other. Their season, and this is
(26:40):
going way back. We were playing them the week of
nine to eleven in New York. Yeah, and it got
canceled because of the terrorist attack. So we end up
moving it to the end of the season, which is
maybe in my in my twenty year career, that was
the only time that that happened. You know, they always
(27:01):
played on time, they always played on schedule.
Speaker 3 (27:04):
Yeah, this was different.
Speaker 2 (27:06):
So when we played them at the end of the year,
they they had nothing to play for it. I mean,
the year was kind of a wash for us. We
had a lot to play for, so we went to
the playoffs and but yeah, I don't I didn't care
one way or the other if if he got it,
you know, it didn't help me one way.
Speaker 1 (27:27):
Or the other.
Speaker 4 (27:28):
Right, Okay, so you go on to a stint with
the Jets, and I actually saw you play with the
Jets and then another with the Vikings. But I know
you struggled with the decision to retire very publicly. You struggled,
struggled openly with it for years. And it's very easy
to understand how it would be hard to just walk
(27:48):
away from a career when I'm sure people are telling
you know, you've got another year in you, or vice
versa saying you should hang it up. Now, walk me
through some of the things that are going through your
mind over those years as you're thinking should I or
shouldn't I?
Speaker 2 (28:02):
Yeah, well I retired and unretired twice, and then the
third time was a charmer. And you know, the best
way I can explain it is for the longest doing
the things that needed to be done to be the
best player.
Speaker 1 (28:22):
We're never, in my mind, looked at as work.
Speaker 3 (28:27):
Yeah, so practice I.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
Didn't particularly like practice. I don't know many people who do.
They must try to play a game. I was no different,
But I didn't look at it as work. I would
find and I think my teammates over the years would
I think. I think they would all testify that. I
don't know if they might head any more fun than Brett.
(28:53):
And this is like practice, deal, weight room, Yeah, training room.
I'm always cracking, Joe. I'm you know. So it wasn't
work until about four years, you know, sixteen years into
my my career. Yeah, I started looking at it. Not
(29:15):
all the time, but it was like, you know, I
got to go, I got I don't know, if I
can get through practice today or and this would be
my conversation with myself driving in to work in the morning.
Yeah yeah, And I was like, I don't know if
I feel like sitting through meetings. And so I knew
I never talk to anyone about it. I knew I
(29:38):
could still play. I knew it was harder to still
play at a high level because I didn't recover as quickly.
Speaker 3 (29:46):
Yeah, you know, early in my career, I.
Speaker 2 (29:49):
Get banged up and by Wednesday, I'm good to go.
The latter part of my career, I get banged up,
I start feeling better.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
I had about kick off of.
Speaker 2 (30:01):
The next week, you do it all over again. So
it was harder to recover the mental part of the
the discipline at the latter part of my career. You've
got to you've got to challenge yourself. You've got to
be you've got to go over and beyond. You've got
to be on point, not only in practice, but in meetings.
(30:23):
You know, I mean the expectations that as you get
older you place upon yourself.
Speaker 1 (30:29):
You look at things differently.
Speaker 2 (30:30):
My rookie year and my twentieth year, I looked at
things a lot differently, Like.
Speaker 1 (30:35):
I'm near the end.
Speaker 2 (30:36):
I want to make the most of what I got left. Yeah,
whereas a rookie, you go, whatever we lost, we'll play
again next week, right, you know. So challenges that I
faced as an older player, I knew it was harder.
I knew I knew the writing was on the wall
when when I started looking at things like I don't
(30:59):
feel like today, right, I do it, but I would
stomach through it. And so when you do that, there's
this building of I don't want to say hate because
that's probably a too strong word, but just like the
things that have made you the player that you have
(31:20):
been over the years, worse or really driving you away
from the game, if that makes sense. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (31:27):
I didn't want to be in meetings. I didn't want
to lift weights.
Speaker 2 (31:29):
I didn't want to be an off season workouts where
no one was looking. In my career of bleeding up
to that point, I was running bleachers. I was doing
all kinds of work on my own in the off season.
I didn't care if everybody was watching, it didn't matter.
I was busting my ass. Where if you're seventeen eighteen
(31:50):
nineteen is.
Speaker 3 (31:50):
Like like resenting having to do that. Yeah, Yeah, and.
Speaker 1 (31:54):
Rather than doing twelve bleachers, I do eight.
Speaker 3 (31:57):
Yeah right, you know, like through this.
Speaker 1 (32:00):
So yeah, that's where I got to that point.
Speaker 2 (32:03):
And so when I would retire at that point that day,
I was like I've had enough and I and I
the only way And I think it's it's it's something
that everyone can relate to.
Speaker 1 (32:17):
So you think back to grade school.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
So like just say ninth grade, you're getting close to
the end of the year, so it's May or April,
and you know you're counting the weeks and the last
two weeks they can't get through quick enough. You want
to go into the summer so bad that you can
just taste it. You go into the summer, you do
(32:41):
your deal, you travel, you play, you lay out in
the sun, you go to the whatever with your friends, whatever.
In about two weeks before school starts, you sort.
Speaker 1 (32:51):
Of kind of have believe it or not.
Speaker 2 (32:55):
I'm kind of ready to go back, you know, another year.
Close yeah classes, you know, and you go I count
you know, I'm looking forward to it. Well, that's the
way football was for me. So you go into the
off season. The last thing I wanted to think about
was football. You know, most of the time it was
(33:16):
a disappointing end. You lost the championship game, you didn't
make the playoffs, whatever, So you want to get away
from it. You hate football and you don't even want to.
Speaker 1 (33:25):
Think about it.
Speaker 2 (33:26):
And then come June, you know, I'm kind of ready
to come back.
Speaker 3 (33:31):
And that was that was the case with me until
it wasn't.
Speaker 1 (33:35):
Until it wasn't.
Speaker 2 (33:36):
The last time I knew and I said to myself,
remember this moment.
Speaker 1 (33:41):
I remember sitting in a meeting and I'm.
Speaker 2 (33:44):
Looking around and I said, I want you to I'm
telling myself this, remember this moment, because you're gonna a
year two years from now, you're going to say, I
can you know I could go back and play h
When you say that, remember this moment, how much you
absolutely hate sitting in this class right now?
Speaker 3 (34:07):
Yeah? I love the guys, right, but.
Speaker 2 (34:11):
The last thing I wanted to hear was another play
being installed. And so what Sure enough, about a year
and a half, you know, I'll retired at the end
of that year, somewhere down the road. And I was like, no,
I could probably go back and get it. And then
I was like, remember what you remember? Remember what you said? Yeah?
Speaker 3 (34:28):
And I was like, oh, yeah, that's right, that's right.
Speaker 1 (34:31):
I absolutely hated it. So but I twenty years is.
Speaker 2 (34:39):
And I've told people this, like I'm sitting at the
breakfast table and training camp any pick of the year
of the twenty years now, I'm sitting there, you know,
and sometimes there's new guys that sit with you. You know,
if it's training camp, you know, you get free agents,
you get new draftees or something.
Speaker 1 (34:57):
You'd say, hello, it's not stuff.
Speaker 2 (34:58):
And see, like the conversation would always come come to
the head with like how long do you think you'll
play or how long do you want to play? And
I would hear a guys say, I'm gonna play eight
years and I'm gonna get out. I would hear someone else,
my goal is ten years and then I'm gonna retire.
(35:20):
And they would come to me and I said, whatever,
you know, as long as I can play, as long
as I love it, and as long as they want me,
I'll keep playing. So yeah, And I think that was
kind of the key to my success. It was that
I didn't try to dictate my career in regards to
how long I'm going to play, where I'm going to play. Yeah,
(35:44):
I just was like I can't believe they pay me
what they pay me to do this. I love doing
what I'm doing. I'm happy that I've got an opportunity. Yeah,
I'm gonna make the most of it, and whatever happens happens.
Speaker 3 (35:57):
Yeah, you were living in the moment.
Speaker 1 (35:58):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (35:59):
Yeah, and I think, well, you.
Speaker 2 (36:00):
Know, whether you were a fan or not, when you
watch me play, you would I think you would quickly
learn that he's just out there having fun, right, and
there's a lot of success wrapped up in just that
little mindset. You know.
Speaker 1 (36:16):
I never over overthought things.
Speaker 3 (36:19):
Yeah, I was never.
Speaker 2 (36:21):
Going to be confused with a you know, a genius,
nor did I want to be. I just I was
happy to be there. I would do whatever I could
to wine and love my teammates, love the fans, play,
play with my emotions on my sleeve. Nothing was ever choreographed.
I never thought before a game, well, this would be
(36:43):
a cool thing to do if I throw a touchdown.
Speaker 4 (36:46):
Sometimes thinking is overrated, Yes, without question, Yeah, you're absolutely right. Okay,
(37:08):
you're playing for the Packers, You're being treated for various injuries,
and an all too common thing happens. You get addicted
to pain medication. And you actually have a seizure during
or after a surgery.
Speaker 1 (37:21):
Two. I actually had two.
Speaker 2 (37:22):
Two one the day before a game, one during right
after I came out.
Speaker 3 (37:30):
Of surgery, right right, and it was related to this two.
Speaker 1 (37:33):
Days after the season. Yeah. Absolutely.
Speaker 3 (37:37):
Did you think in that moment did you.
Speaker 4 (37:38):
Think when you were, when you knew you were you
had a problem, did you feel like this I could
lose it all because of this?
Speaker 3 (37:49):
No, what did you think I probably should have?
Speaker 7 (37:51):
Okay, I was twenty five, maybe six, I was right
in the middle of winning three m vps in a row.
Speaker 2 (38:02):
And I'm not saying that bragging. I'm saying that because
it blinded.
Speaker 4 (38:07):
It kind of put blinders on because you're like, I'm
just I'm doing well.
Speaker 3 (38:11):
Like, what's the problem.
Speaker 2 (38:12):
I've just won two MVPs in a row. What the
hell's a deal? You know, what's everybody worried about? Yeah?
I sleep at meetings because I don't sleep at night.
I mean, you know, I'm dragging during the day because
I don't sleep at night. And when I say it,
I don't sleep at night. So I would take the
(38:33):
pills and I found over the years. Now I've been
clean for a long time Yeah, but I've spoke to
a lot of people who struggle with various addictions, and
there's always kind of like a couple of things that
are common with every person, even though the addiction may
(38:56):
be alcohol, maybe paint, pills, maybe myths, maybe you know, street.
Speaker 1 (39:00):
Drug us whatever.
Speaker 2 (39:00):
Yeah, but the underlying effects are always sort of the same.
And I thought no one knew, uh huh, I had
it all figured out. No one knew I had a
problem when multiple people knew, including my wife, who later
I found out she was flushing pills down the tour.
Speaker 4 (39:23):
And so she didn't confront you about it. She just
tried to stop you.
Speaker 2 (39:27):
Yes and no, she she tried, But I was like,
there's nothing wrong. I'm playing great, we're winning. You know,
we may have won the Super Bowl this year.
Speaker 3 (39:40):
Yeah, show me the problem here exactly.
Speaker 2 (39:42):
So, but you know, people knew it, but they really
knew when I had the seizure, especially the second one,
so the one right before the game, the day before
the game, which is you had a seizure before or
the game, you know, I mean, is there a more
(40:04):
of an aha moment than that? Right? But that sort
of got swept under the rug. I'm not saying it did,
but I had to play a game the next day.
When I came to I was at my house. There
were people there, team doctor, a couple of the coaches
that were dear friends of ours that were over and
they were all like, when I woke up, you know,
(40:25):
I was like, when y'are doing here? They said, you
have a seizure. No one said at that moment, why
did you have a seizure? Right, you're twenty five, you're
twenty six, You're in the best shape of your life.
Ye supposed but you're having a seizure. No one really
said that. But the second one at the end of
(40:46):
that year, I had ankle surgery a day or two
after the season in Green Bay and had another seizure,
and so that really sparked all right, there's something, there's
something going on. Yeah. So I met with a neurologist
in Green Bay and he's asked me a lot of questions,
(41:07):
and he said, how much do you sleep? And I said,
I'll probably go to bed about four thirty or five
in the morning, or I may go to bed early,
or but I stay up all the time. And he's like, why. Well,
Eventually they came to a head, and people had already
(41:30):
told him that I may have a pain pill addition,
so he confronted me with it and I admitted it,
and he said, how many are you taking? And I said, well,
at nine o'clock every night, I take sixteen Viking. Yes,
And that's sort of the reaction that he had.
Speaker 5 (41:48):
I don't even know anything about it, but that sounds
like a lot.
Speaker 2 (41:51):
Well. Viking was kind before oxy cotton was kind of
the oxy cotton of this day. And I don't know.
If I took two right now, it probably would knock
me for a loop, and you know it would.
Speaker 1 (42:06):
It would.
Speaker 2 (42:07):
It certainly helped with the pain, but for me it
made me feel good for it. So I over the
years built up from two to sixteen, and I knew,
even though I was successful at this time, I knew
internally that I had a problem. I would be out
(42:28):
somewhere with the guys and at nine o'clock. Remember the
only time that I would never take them at nine
o'clock is if I had a game at that time.
Don't ask me why I had to be nine o'clock.
I had no idea, but it was. There's something about
people with addictions that are very structured to.
Speaker 3 (42:48):
A certain degree routine.
Speaker 2 (42:50):
You know, they have their little quirky things and they
stick to them. So nine o'clock every night, so we're
in a bar having a couple of beers. I would
go to the bathroom to take these pills. Well, the
more pills that I started that I you know, fourteen
went to fifteen, fifteen and sixteen, it got hard to swallow.
Speaker 1 (43:11):
I just had a gag effect. So I would try.
I'd go in the bathroom and.
Speaker 2 (43:16):
I'd try to kind of crush them up as best
I could so it would just be easier and swallow.
And I'd do it all at one time. And the
last year, maybe a year and a half of this
whole ordeal. So I would I would take them and
I would throw up most not all the time, most
times I would throw back up these pills. And here's
(43:40):
where it really gets crazy. I would throw them up,
say on the bathroom floor in the barroom. I would
get down on the floor and get the pills out
of the bottle. And I was not going to waste
those pills. Wow, And I definitely would be picking these
pills out going.
Speaker 1 (44:01):
This is a serious.
Speaker 3 (44:02):
Problem, you knew. Yeah, I'm like, who does this?
Speaker 2 (44:07):
Who in the world does why are you doing this? Yeah?
You got you got everything right in front of you.
You're picking pills out of vomit.
Speaker 1 (44:19):
So I knew that. You know, I was playing well,
but I knew there.
Speaker 2 (44:23):
Was a serious problem.
Speaker 3 (44:25):
Yeah, so you go to treatment, right, ye three?
Speaker 4 (44:29):
Was it just to get you off the substances or
did you work on some underlying stuff?
Speaker 2 (44:37):
The first time I went, I went to Rayville, Louisiana.
I'll never forget pulling up with this treatment.
Speaker 1 (44:43):
This is the four.
Speaker 2 (44:45):
This was like an like an internal family close friends,
like you got to go somewhere. But we didn't want
the league to know.
Speaker 3 (44:55):
Yeah, and they did it.
Speaker 2 (44:57):
And this and the reason we didn't want the league
to know because the rules were like once you are
placed upon the alcohol or drug program from the league.
Speaker 1 (45:11):
They basically on you.
Speaker 3 (45:12):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (45:13):
Now, the bottom line is you want you should want
to get better, but they control all the cards, so
we try to keep it hush hush.
Speaker 1 (45:22):
I go to Rayville, Louisiana. I spent it thirty days.
Speaker 2 (45:27):
Those thirty days, I was clean, but my mindset was,
you know, I can do what they want me to
do as long as I need to do it. But
I'm going to do what I want to do, Yeah,
when I want to do it.
Speaker 1 (45:42):
So if I if I need to be cleaned thirty days,
I'll do that.
Speaker 3 (45:46):
So you weren't ready to quit?
Speaker 2 (45:48):
Oh no, yeah, no, you know I knew the path
I was heading down was not good. But I thought,
maybe a little bit longer. You know what crazy thing,
you know, as as someone with addictions can honestly say,
I mean, you think some crazy things in your.
Speaker 3 (46:08):
Mind to justify yeah, to justify yeah.
Speaker 2 (46:11):
And so I knew I shouldn't, but I knew, let
me just do it a little bit longer.
Speaker 3 (46:17):
But you knew you were gonna yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2 (46:20):
And so the second time I went this was in Tapeka, Kansas,
the League.
Speaker 1 (46:25):
This is when I made a formal announcement that I
was going. Uh huh.
Speaker 2 (46:29):
I was scheduled to be there thirty days. I ended
up being there seventy three. I fought, I punched the
wall numerous times.
Speaker 1 (46:38):
I yelled, I screamed, and.
Speaker 2 (46:42):
I don't know if I ever bought into what they
were saying, but I knew I needed to stop. And so,
but prior to going in in nineteen, it was the
year were won Super Bowl. So a couple of days
before a training camp, I get out and when I
went into treatment, I knew, and I tell people this,
(47:03):
I knew I was never going to take another painTill.
I flushed the last six pills I.
Speaker 3 (47:08):
Had down the toilet on your own.
Speaker 2 (47:13):
Because part of the problem was at that point it
was so hard to get I mean I was taking,
you know, a prescription. Say you get a prescription of
pain pills. They're going to probably give you thirty okay,
and it's gonna be two a day as needed for
the until the pain is gone. So I'm taking thirty
(47:33):
two pills in two days.
Speaker 1 (47:37):
Wow. So imagine how.
Speaker 2 (47:39):
Hard it was to get a prescription. And as an example,
I have a mini camp in Green Bay. Say in April,
I would go up. I would get the doctor to
write me a script I got you know, I'm telling
I got ankle, hurt my hip. Heards, Oh, I'll write
you a scripture.
Speaker 1 (47:59):
I got it filled.
Speaker 2 (48:01):
Fly home to Mississippi that saying day, get another one
filled here. But this was back when they didn't in
the computer, they didn't put two and two togethers Now
you could be in Seattle one filled and then go
to Miami that evening they have great. So now you
can't do that. So it got harder to get the pills.
(48:27):
But more importantly, I finally got to a point where
I said, now, I said this a lot. I'm done,
I'm quitting. Had enough. And then three four days later,
five days you know, maybe a little bit longer that.
Speaker 3 (48:45):
You know that you know, back and forth the bargain
you're making.
Speaker 2 (48:48):
Yeah, was was, you know, on and off for several years.
But then before I went to treatment the second time,
I said, I'm done.
Speaker 1 (48:58):
And there's something about because people go, well, how.
Speaker 2 (49:01):
Did you know?
Speaker 3 (49:03):
Yeah, I said, I just knew.
Speaker 2 (49:05):
I knew that I was never going to do it again.
And the third time I went back to the treatment
was for alcohol, which was a year and a half later.
And you know, when I was in there for the
pain pills and pain pills only, they asked me about drinking,
and I said, well, don't And you've probably heard this
(49:28):
a bunch. So like I thought an alcoholic was someone
who drank every.
Speaker 3 (49:32):
Day, Uh huh, right, could not.
Speaker 2 (49:35):
Be more wrong. There's people who drink every day but
may have a drink, may have two glasses of light
drive home and are fine. There's nothing wrong with that.
When I drank, it wasn't every day, So I thought, well,
I don't have a problem. But when I drank, I
(49:56):
never quit until I couldn't remember anything. Yeah, so that's
a problem. Yeah, that's a you know, you don't drink
one beer. And if you said that to me, I go,
why would I drink one beer?
Speaker 3 (50:11):
What's the point of that.
Speaker 2 (50:12):
Yeah, I'll drink a coke. I like coke, but I'll
drink thirty beers because I like the.
Speaker 3 (50:17):
Effect, right, right.
Speaker 1 (50:20):
And so that was my mindset.
Speaker 2 (50:21):
So I quit the paint pills, wanted to keep drinking,
didn't do it all the time, thought it was I
had it all handled.
Speaker 1 (50:30):
What an idiot.
Speaker 2 (50:31):
I didn't went back to rehab, dealt with alcohol, and
I haven't taken a paint pill or drink it since
ninety eight.
Speaker 1 (50:41):
So it can be done. I'm proof. Yeah, And I
tell people this in regards to my addiction.
Speaker 2 (50:51):
I saw people praying, you know, like in treatment, and
you know, we would have these twelve step meetings and
just different and stuff, and I would hear someone who
had been successful maybe came back as a you know,
as a clinician or an advisor or whatever that had
been there. M and so how'd you do it? How'd
(51:14):
you do it? So? I didn't do it?
Speaker 1 (51:17):
You know, I tried. I failed. I tried.
Speaker 2 (51:21):
I failed. Then I really thought I made it and
I failed.
Speaker 1 (51:26):
And I'm like, I've been there. I failed.
Speaker 2 (51:31):
You know, I've said I was gonna quit. I said
I was gonna do it. I'm picking up pills and bomber.
I need to quit. I got a problem. How did
you do it? Well? I reached out to guy and
I said, well, I've done that too, But they're like,
what do you expect back?
Speaker 1 (51:45):
And I don't know, but you know, I think an
easy way.
Speaker 3 (51:48):
Out right, And they were like, that ain't gonna happen.
That's not how it works.
Speaker 2 (51:53):
That's not how it works. Guy's not gonna say, oh sorry,
you know I wasn't paying attention. I'll take all the
trouble away, right. It don't happen that way. Yeah, And
and so I've told people that with God, I was
able to overcome. And you know, God only gives you
(52:13):
what you can handle, never anymore. H And he will
help you, but you have to help yourself.
Speaker 1 (52:20):
Yeah, there has to be a give and take. And
so for me that's been a big there, you know.
Speaker 2 (52:29):
And it's saying that there's days that I go, God,
you you know, I thought you said you were not
going to curse anymore. I thought you said you were
not going, oh you know, do this and do that,
but you're doing it, you know. So there's constantly, there's
constantly a struggle with good and evil mhm, right and
(52:52):
wrong and love and hate and saying things that you
that you know it's not right, Yeah, that you later
regret that I'm no different than anyone else in that regard.
I'm not perfect. So like telling people I'm a Christian,
the comeback sometimes, how can you tell yourself a Christian
(53:14):
when you're not perfect? Well not also perfect? No, right,
and so let strive to be I failed quite often,
and you know, it's a constantly struggle, but I try
to do better each and every day.
Speaker 1 (53:30):
And sometimes it seems.
Speaker 2 (53:31):
Like it's two three, four steps forward, five steps backwards,
and then the next day you gain a little traction.
Speaker 4 (53:39):
And then yeah, well listen, talking the way you are
talking right now, really honestly unvarnished, it's really it's really helpful.
It's really brave, and it's really important for listeners to
hear this varies a graphic yeah, straight talk about it.
Speaker 2 (54:01):
Well, I think it's important for I don't mind helping
other people. I think you know today's world and you
know this is way better than I do, because you're
in that, you're in this scene. There's a lot of
hate in this in this country. There's a lot of
hate in this world. There's a lot of problems internally,
(54:24):
there's a lot of problems socially with our kids and
what they're subjective to.
Speaker 1 (54:29):
And it's so easy.
Speaker 2 (54:31):
To get I'm not going to say it wasn't easy
back then to get caught up in what I got
caught up in, but it was a.
Speaker 3 (54:38):
Simpler time, yeah, right.
Speaker 2 (54:41):
And there wasn't social media. Cell phones were just kind
of landing, you know, and mainstream. But you know, I
think and a lot of people know my story, but
I think, you know, I don't mind telling my story
because that was the difficult time.
Speaker 1 (55:02):
Even though even though I was a starting.
Speaker 3 (55:05):
Quarterback, won the Super Bowl, was.
Speaker 2 (55:10):
The MVP ye three times. I mean, I could not
have been any war on the top of the world,
but I was, you know, I was really in a
bad way.
Speaker 1 (55:22):
And so.
Speaker 2 (55:24):
I think people I don't know if they can relate
to be playing for the.
Speaker 1 (55:27):
Green Bay package, but the.
Speaker 3 (55:30):
Right right now.
Speaker 4 (55:31):
That's why we have the conversation, because there's not You
can't relate to a A list Hollywood actor, you can't
relate to a Hall of Fame football player, but everyone
can relate to a struggle and a challenge, and that's
why telling these stories is important.
Speaker 1 (55:49):
Yeah, I agree with you.
Speaker 4 (56:06):
We'll end on a lighter note. We do a lightning round.
These are fun fast questions. M Okay, how many times
have you seen There's something about Mary?
Speaker 2 (56:21):
I will say maybe one and a half.
Speaker 3 (56:24):
Oh my god.
Speaker 2 (56:27):
And I say that because I like when the movie
came out, so you know, I did my part, but
I didn't know where it fell in the movie. Yeah,
no one told me when.
Speaker 1 (56:39):
Yeah, so I'm in the movie to youter doing this.
Speaker 4 (56:44):
Just and it's a long time before you come A
long time.
Speaker 2 (56:47):
And so I was like, I was like, and so,
I mean I just had a hard time come of.
It was like, I can much easier relax and watch
my highlights.
Speaker 1 (57:02):
Then an acting debut if you want to call it that.
Speaker 4 (57:05):
So well, and you were the third choice of the
Fairly brothers to play the ex boyfriend of Mary.
Speaker 3 (57:09):
Who were the other two choices?
Speaker 1 (57:11):
I think Steve Youllen was one.
Speaker 2 (57:13):
Yes, I'm not sure.
Speaker 4 (57:14):
Who the author was, so drew Bledsoe was the first
choice because obviously Fairly Brothers are New Englanders. But he
had just gotten into some trouble at a club in
a mountain moshpit. So he passed and Steve Young passed
because he was Mormon. The movie was R rated and
he didn't want Mormon kids sneaking in to see it
(57:36):
or being disappointed in him.
Speaker 1 (57:37):
Well, probably it was a good thing it had.
Speaker 3 (57:40):
I can't know. I can't imagine it with anyone else,
but yeah.
Speaker 2 (57:43):
The inuendos in the movie or Deanna and I flew
down to Miami for the recording. Yeah, first of all,
acting is not my thing because I can't act.
Speaker 1 (57:58):
That was obviously the in.
Speaker 2 (57:59):
The But it's not my thing because there's so much
hurried up and wait, right at five minutes you can
be on.
Speaker 1 (58:07):
So you get all.
Speaker 2 (58:10):
And then you go out there and they turn the
lights on and then they.
Speaker 1 (58:14):
Go, we got we gotta change this. Go back to
a trailer now.
Speaker 2 (58:20):
So that little piece I did for that movie too,
actual filming, say twenty thirty minutes. I was there too,
full days. Yeah right, and you know for the people
in the acting in the TV world, you go, that's
the way it is. I'm like, I can't, you know,
(58:41):
I just can't. I can't deal with this. The cat,
the cast, the Fairly Brothers, Matt Dylan, Carmen, Ben Stiller,
you know, all Easter names that you really didn't know
a lot about it at the time. This is a
long time, great, great group. We went out at dinner,
(59:03):
very nice. It was a very awesome experience, and I'm
glad that I did it. I didn't make any money.
I think I made five hundred dollars something. So it
wasn't about that, you know, just it was about to
experience very cool.
Speaker 3 (59:21):
What's your favorite sports movie?
Speaker 1 (59:25):
Well, there's there's I must say, either Greater or My
All American.
Speaker 3 (59:35):
Okay, yeah, I don't know if you've seen either.
Speaker 4 (59:38):
I've seen My All American about Derrel Royal.
Speaker 2 (59:43):
To coach at Texas gets the kid from forgot where
it was from, but true story, amazing story. I wasn't
wasn't familiar with it. Greater if you haven't seen it.
True story. Young man grew up in Arkansas. I wanted
to play for the University of Arkansas. That was his dream.
(01:00:05):
Everyone told him he couldn't, he didn't fit the bill.
He ends up playing there, And I don't want to
run this story for you, but it's a tear jerker,
but it's an amazing story.
Speaker 3 (01:00:17):
Though, Okay, I'll go watch it. I love sports movies.
Who is the goat quarterback?
Speaker 2 (01:00:24):
I don't think there's any question, And it's funny to me,
like you or not, Tom Brady is the best, and
all you got to look to is his rings.
Speaker 3 (01:00:35):
Yeah, I mean he was good and multiple teams, multiple teams.
Speaker 2 (01:00:42):
Joe Montanna would be I wouldn't say a distance section.
I wouldn't. I'd say, he's you know one b uh huh.
Speaker 3 (01:00:51):
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (01:00:51):
When when I.
Speaker 2 (01:00:52):
Studied Joe Montana, when I took over as a quarterback
for the Packers, we ran the same offense and I
watched him and it was the worst thing that I
could have done because he never made a mistake. And
I was like, why did I look at his film?
He doesn't He never makes a mistake, and I'm.
Speaker 3 (01:01:15):
Going to make some Yeah, perfect cannot be the standard.
Speaker 2 (01:01:18):
If I will live it up to that, Yeah, I'm
in trouble. Yeah, you know so. And I told Joe that,
you know, so those two would be you know, one
a in one.
Speaker 4 (01:01:30):
Be deservingly So if you could compare your career to
an athlete in another sport, who would it be.
Speaker 1 (01:01:38):
I'd probably have to say Gal Ripken.
Speaker 2 (01:01:42):
Yeah, and I couldn't tell you all his numbers, and
I'm sure he couldn't tell you all my numbers, but
what he could tell you, what I could tell you
is we didn't miss a game for seventeen eighteen or
more years, yep. And there's only two people has done
there yep.
Speaker 3 (01:02:01):
So yeah, you still hold that record in the NFL,
and they hold it.
Speaker 2 (01:02:06):
Forever because most people probably are like, I don't want it.
Speaker 3 (01:02:09):
I don't want that many consecutives starts.
Speaker 2 (01:02:11):
Yeah, but but it's it's probably more doable today because
they've added a game in the regular season and the
rules are much more favorable for longevity.
Speaker 3 (01:02:24):
Mm hmm.
Speaker 4 (01:02:25):
Yeah, Okay, this is the last question.
Speaker 3 (01:02:28):
We always asked this question.
Speaker 4 (01:02:29):
It's very important to me personally when is iced coffee season,
you know, it's.
Speaker 2 (01:02:38):
That's that's a good question and one that I'm no
expert on. Okay, because here's here's my deal with coffee.
I don't drink coffee unless it's cold outside, so.
Speaker 3 (01:02:51):
You drink it hot.
Speaker 1 (01:02:53):
I drink it hot for you.
Speaker 3 (01:02:55):
It's never iced coffee season never. That's that's the right answer.
Speaker 2 (01:03:00):
But like, I'm with my brother and a couple of buddies.
We're playing golf, and they want to get coffee. Yeah,
and it's like eight o'clock in the morning, it's ninety
degrees and.
Speaker 1 (01:03:13):
I'm like, I don't want coffee. I like coffee, but
I like a chai tea.
Speaker 2 (01:03:18):
I like in the winter.
Speaker 3 (01:03:19):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (01:03:20):
So they're they're contemplating, and I'm like, I'll just have
a coach just ordering me a coke. And they're like,
I want a hot chi and they're talking to the lady.
And then my buddy Lloyd looks at my brother Scott
and he's like, what do you want And he's like,
I'll have.
Speaker 1 (01:03:35):
A chi you want?
Speaker 2 (01:03:36):
You want to ice or And I'm like Gemmi and Christmas.
But yeah, so yeah, if it's cold outside.
Speaker 3 (01:03:46):
It's foreign to you, and I can get a.
Speaker 1 (01:03:49):
Chai tea or a vanilla latte.
Speaker 2 (01:03:51):
I'll do it. If it's summer, don't even think about
bringing me a nice.
Speaker 3 (01:03:57):
You go without coffee for the whole time, rather.
Speaker 1 (01:03:59):
Drink coke, water power, you know.
Speaker 2 (01:04:02):
Something like that.
Speaker 4 (01:04:03):
Well, as I mentioned, I'm from Boston, I grew up
on Dungan donuts and iced coffee is a big part
of my life. So you you you're allowed to have
your own relationship with iced coffee or none at all.
But the correct answer is year round. The correct answer
is ice coffee season is year round.
Speaker 1 (01:04:23):
Okay, So I'll file that away.
Speaker 3 (01:04:27):
Brett Farv, this was great. Thank you so much for
doing this.
Speaker 1 (01:04:30):
Well, thanks for having.
Speaker 3 (01:04:34):
Coming up next week. I talked to Bridget Everett.
Speaker 4 (01:04:37):
She's an actress, a singer, cabaret star and star of
Somebody Somewhere.
Speaker 8 (01:04:43):
If you know me from the cabaret world, I'm sort
of like a wilderbeast. There's something like a real.
Speaker 2 (01:04:47):
Wild like sort of unhinged.
Speaker 8 (01:04:49):
But this is a different side of me, like the
human side of me, like the things that make me
laugh and then make me cry. And I've learned through
the experience of doing the show that other people see
themselves in it, and that's been really rewarding.
Speaker 4 (01:05:06):
Off the Cup is a production of iHeart Podcasts as
part of the Recent Choice Network. I'm Your Hostess cupp
editing and sound designed by Derek Clements. Our executive producers
are Messie Cup, Lauren Hanson, and Lindsay Hoffman. If you
like Off the Cup, please rate and review wherever you
get your podcasts, follow, or subscribe for new episodes every Wednesday.
Host
S.E. Cupp
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