September 27, 2022 • 47 mins
On this installment of Sports Illustrated's The Bag, Super Bowl Champion Will Blackmon joins Lindsay & Rashad to discuss his time with the NY Giants, how the legendary Charles Woodson got him into the wine business which led to Will becoming an award-winning sommelier. From sports, to entrepreneurship, to some killer advice on which wine to order on a date, this is an episode of The Bag that you do not want to miss! Connect with the show:
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Never Never Good. Hey guys, welcome to another episode of
Sports Illustrated and I Heart Radio's back with me Lindy
(00:22):
McCormick and my amazing co host Sean Jennings. The Bag
sits at the intersection of sports and business, delving into
the headlines and behind the scenes of athletes, entrepreneurship and
enterprise Rashan. Today, we're sharing a great guest with everyone,
Will Blackman, an NFL Super Bowl champion, Somalia and CEO
and founder of the Wine m v P, which offers
(00:44):
a playbook of services including wine buying, consultations, education, and
a monthly wine club. Listen, if you're somebody out there
that's looking to take somebody special out on a nice evening,
you're not gonna want to miss this episode because he
would tell you which wines you should pick and stay
away from. To make sure you enjoyed the episode, we
(01:04):
have an extra special guest today who I actually have
been the most excited about this interview as any of
the interviews we've done. Yes, I promise, I mean well,
I We're here with Will Blackman, who has accomplished so
much in in your career, from being a Super Bowl
winning champion, to being the self proclaimed wine the NFL
(01:28):
wine Guy, to the wine enthusiasts forty under forty tastemakers.
I mean, the list goes on and on. You've accomplished
so much in your life and we're about the same age.
So how did you do all of this? You know,
I don't that's funny um for me, Like whatever whatever
(01:50):
I create myself to usually, you know, I'm just I'm
just all in. So my my dream what was to
play in the NFL. Like I was the typical kid
four years old, and like that was my mission and
like I don't know how to get there, but one
day it'll be super cool because it seems so untouchable.
And you know, even when I got recruited and I'm
going to Boston College, I said, I said the right things.
(02:13):
I was like, you know, I want to go to
a school that was both academically good and you know,
although also competitive, right, and then I found out by
my junior year, I'm major in the football. Okay, Like
we all get all the other stuff. And then when
I was when you're playing, you know, you hear like, hey,
you want to get ready for you know, playing b
you know, work on Plan B, and I'm like Plan
(02:34):
A is hard enough, Like I gotta, I gotta put
all energy into this. No, sure, I do wish that
I you know, I spent a little time on working
on Plan B, especially offseason, but I was usually rehabbing
because I had so many injuries and surgeries. But while
I was playing, I did I did enjoy wine. And
I think one of the biggest um and I think,
(02:57):
I know the biggest point of my whole journey to
where I him now is when the year I was
drafted to Green Bay, I was we also signed Charles
Woodson that same year, and I remember like he would
always have wine where we where we were, and I
got to find out that he actually has his own wine,
his own winery and all that stuff. But I thought
(03:17):
that was super cool because at the time I thought
wine was so untouchable, like how do you even get involved?
You know, I feel like you had to come from
a family that made wine. But he was one of
the first that I can think of back in like
I think all four oh five was his first vintage.
Now they cheated because the Raiders had training camp and NAPA,
so he was he was right there around all the
(03:38):
vines and what that did for me, It made it attainable.
And also it was cool, like he was obviously a
star player. He was African American and he was in
in the wine business, and I thought that was dope.
So every every road game, he will always take us out,
like he didn't do any hazing. He took us out
to dinner and we used to go like suit it
up to every you know, top top restaurant whatever city
(04:00):
we were in, and he was like wine and dine us,
and I thought it was super cool. I didn't know
anything about you know, vintages or or anything. I was like, Okay,
it's good or is it not good? And so I
started getting a little more curious like him, I want
to I want to know more about like this history
and geography stuff. Because for me, when it came to football,
like I'm a big historian, Like I used to watch
(04:22):
all the NFL films Steve so Stable Um Sam Spence
was the composer John Facenda's voice the Autumn Win as
a pirate Doom Doom Doom, Like like I was a
straight nerd when it came to that, and I was.
I end up being the same way, Uh, with with wine.
And so to answer that question, how did I get
(04:43):
to that point? When I was finished, it's kind of like, well,
but I didn't, you know, I didn't want to coach. Um,
I spent I feel like spending twelve years in the NFL,
I've seen I've seen them coaches locked themselves in them
in them offices till midnight. I'm like, if y'all don't
go home, you know what I mean. And I didn't
want to do that, especially being away from my family already.
(05:04):
I did have interest in being in the front office. Um,
that's something that I do probably enjoy, but I was like,
I want to do something that's gonna like move me.
I want to do something where the days that like
our super challenging, I'm still willing to get up and
go and go for it. And for some crazy reason, lindsay,
show um it's wine. Like that's that's what gets me
(05:28):
going every day. Um, if you look at my desk,
I got I got cars, I got bottles, I got notes,
I have shipping boxes. I have a dry race board
that my desk is nuts. My wife paints it. But
so that's that's kind of how I got to this point. Well,
I gotta know, man. You know we obviously share playing
(05:49):
in the league. In comment you played you played? When
did I miss you? I missed you by how many years?
In New York? Yeah? Well I see you was there?
What twelve? I came in two years after we both
we both played for the Jacksonville Jaguars. We both played
for the New York gihnts, just never on the same team.
So we've been in the same buildings, just never with
(06:10):
each other. Did you guys have the same coaches at all? Ye? Yes,
in New York you have. You don't have Gus Jack.
I know I had Jack Delrio and Jacksonville and then
in New York Jack. Yeah, I had the Goat himself,
so we we did share. I think we shared him.
Um we what one thing? Um that I definitely got
(06:32):
to know, man, Just I've been thinking about this for
one minute. Growing up, did you have anybody that played
football around you that influence you to play? Um? Not.
What I would say is my dad was a coach,
and so we we were a football house, and my
dad he coached everyone. He coached men, he coached women,
(06:56):
he coached kids, he coached inmates. Not kidding because he
was a correctional officer, so he coached everybody. So I
was always around like football's My brother did playing high school,
but he was he was more of a baseball player. Um,
but yeah, that was So you grew up around football
and sports, right, So that's something that I can hold
(07:18):
on too. That led you to play in sports. I
did to. My two older brothers played football. My dad
was a football guy. Three. I'm the youngest of three,
youngest the three. Talked to him, Hey, and I want
to make sure. I want I wonder if we're on
the same page. I'm the youngest of three. I'm not
the baby. There's a baby, and it ain't me. I'm
the baby. You the baby. So I'm the youngest, I'm
(07:39):
the baby. That's definitely a baby in the family. But
being the youngest or three, obviously you get you get
to follow the blueprint a little bit. And I'm wondering,
was there an O knowledgist around you, somebody that studied
wine that brought you into becoming a small because how
does that, how does that even happen? Well, my dad
(08:02):
had wine, but he had wine like that. It was
just he was just enjoying it. You know again. It
became I think when you are one of the youngest
or the youngest, you're always you're super observant, right, and
you're always seeing like, like haveryone, how everyone's moving or
what to do. I think that's how you pick up
on things quicker than most. And I got curious in
(08:24):
the wine is hues, like I kind of I was
the one where I was, Okay, I kind of want
to know a little bit what I'm talking about. I would,
you know, I would go to Milwaukee and go to
these you know, cool, you know, lavish event events where
people are you know, swirling wines in my face and
talking about the pretty legs and all that stuff, where
I found out the pretty legs don't mean nothing about quality.
It just tells you residual sugar. We can get into
(08:46):
that later, and you know, just really being booze you
with it like all of my girls. So I was like, okay, cool,
like let him have it. And then I started getting
invited to like some some dinners where they would be
pouring like these unbelievable price points for wines. I'm talking
like five up and I'm like, damn, I would never
pay like that much for wine. Um, I still won't.
(09:06):
And and I remember this one guy. He was like, man, like,
Burgundy is the best wine. Burgundy is like unbelievable. And
I'm you know, I'm making mental notes. Okay, this this
guy likes Burgundy. And the crazy thing is the whole time,
I'm thinking Burgundy is a brand. Right. Um. So for me,
one of the key things I love is almost I'm
(09:29):
a lone diner, almost like a food critic. Right, let
me go to the restaurant by myself, let me get
the experience and what have you. So I went to
this restaurant probably weeks later after this dinner, and I
get the menu and I'm like, okay, I'm gonna find
this Burgundy that's this dude had. So I'm going through
the list and I'm like, okay, I find the Burgundy section.
(09:49):
I'm like, damn, they make a lot of wine, right,
this is like two pages of Burgundy's So I pick
one somality it comes by. He brings me the glass.
I'm like, oh, bro, I'm like, this is not Burgundy,
and he was like, Mr Black, yes it is. Now
every restaurant in Wisconsin had a pack of Rossis, so
they knew who all of us were, so you could
(10:10):
never like you could have had it all. Yeah. So
I'm like, this is definitely Burgundy. He goes, why did
you say that? I said, because he's white, and he
was like, all right, Mr black Point, don't get offense,
but I'm gonna let you know something. So that's when
he told me Burgundy is a region, it's not a brand.
And in Burgundy they do not put the variety or
(10:32):
the grape on the bottle. You have to know what
that region produces. So Burgundy, if it's red, it's peter Noir.
Usually if it's white, it's chardonnet, and you have to
know that. And for me, instead of like feeling like silly,
I was like, oh, there's some layers to this. So
that's what got me excited. Putting the wine expertise aside
(10:55):
for a second, what was the learning curve in terms
of the pure business side gaudging profit margins and how
much to price your subscription for? Yeah, so that was
another interesting thing to write. Um I major in English,
more of a I guess intellect writing background at BC
(11:15):
and um it's fun. I had a conversation last night
U with a buddy of mine who owned several cigar
shops around here where I live, and he asked me
a question like what what carried over from the NFL
in terms of the business wise And I was like,
I said, you know, what really helped is knowing people
because every week you're evaluating and studying people. And I
(11:39):
was able to take that with me into networking in
bird relationships, like understanding people because at the end of
the day, I found out like, if they like you,
they'll work with you. If they don't like you, they
don't want to work with you, no matter how smart
you are what you know. So lindsay, actually I actually
went to I went back to school. I went to
Sonoma State. Uh, they have a wine business program UM
(12:00):
that teaches you all like the e commerce stuff, they
teach you the marketing, they teach you to wine club.
So I did a two year program virtually Sonoma State
to do all that you know, and that actually helped
me get to this point. Actually in the course right
now that's actually wine Club, UM, you know, focused and
(12:21):
so doing that and then um, connecting with a lot
of retail people and seeing what's going on. I now
just hired a e commerce team that's helped me do
all that stuff. So it was a lot of trial
and error and learning the past. I would say four
years I've been doing all this stuff. So that's that's
what it was. I went back to school. On the
(12:42):
personal side, has there been anything in that transition from
full time athlete to full time entrepreneur that's surprised to hell? Yeah.
I had to make my own schedule. That was a beast.
It sounds crazy, but I've been playing football since the
age of six, and I stopped at like thirty five. Right,
(13:04):
my whole life was planned. I knew when I had
to be back for training. I knew who we were
playing next year. I knew who were playing next week.
I know who we're playing two years from now. I
knew every single step that was gonna happen. I knew
when I can take my vacations. I knew when I
can do this. Now I'm done playing, I get up,
(13:25):
I'm like, yo, what am I gonna do right now?
Like you don't know what saying rashan like, how am
I gonna organize? And playing? This? That was that was
It sounds again, it sounds crazy, but that was the
probably the most challenging thing was for me to get
up and plan out my day, not just personally before
(13:47):
an entrepreneurial perspective too, Like its super hard and it probably,
I want to be real, it probably took me probably
two years to even get to this point now. So
now my routine. I get up, you know, I'll I'll read,
I'll watch you know, sporting, uh morning news stuff. And
then fortunately I have you know, contacts all over the world,
(14:09):
so I'll get up and get on the computer from
eight two you know noon, have all my meetings and
do all these things, and then you know, I'll go
probably work out, and then I'm done for the day,
probably by like two or three, and I just I'm
with the kids and my wife. I speak about that
all the time. Will Being an entrepreneur of your time
(14:30):
is something that they we were We were not taught
in the league. You know, hey, when you're knowing, you
gotta be an entrepreneur of your time because there's gonna
be schedule, there's gonna be nobody being holding you accountable.
Said that was something definitely we had to learned, man.
And I don't care how successful you are, it's hard
for everybody, absolutely, man. And so with that in mind.
On that same token, how did you create because you
(14:53):
created entrepreneur schedule for yourself, how did you create a
measuring scale for your six Because playing sports, you have
a measuring scale. You know, if I show up on time,
I'm succeeding if I if I if I make this play,
if I make this interception, if I make this tackle,
I know, on the evaluation scale, in comparison to all
my other competitors, I'm starting to earn more um roster
(15:18):
success money. Right, how did you create a measuring scale
for the wine industry and comparing yourself? And do you
or do you not compare yourself to other companies um
other wine on other other uh other SIPs, because and
that's just a different space. I'm intrigued how you created
a measuring scale for yourself? Yeah, no, that was extremely
(15:40):
challenging because it's such a you know, in any field,
you have mentors, you have people who you go to
who who are doing well in your field. But it's
kind of like everything is super unique. Like so, so
the wine VP is a it's a wine club conciers.
So one side of the business I do con years,
private events, trips, tastings, private dinners all that beast spoke stuff.
(16:05):
The other side, um is actual subscription club which is
gonna relaunch in November and so on. This on the
concier side was super difficult to like, hey, you know, hey,
what is this person doing for rates for dinners? What's
this person doing for trips? How is he organizing this?
How is she planning this? And it's all it's like,
(16:27):
this is what I do. But like you know, it's
it's hard to explain on how to like there's no
there's no going rate is what I'm saying on this.
So it was a matter of you know, me taking
my experiences, my network, what I offer, and what do
I think works for me. It's funny. I got one
(16:49):
of my mentor, actually, you know, one of my mentors.
He said, Um, I was like, I don't know what
to like really charge people because I don't want to.
I don't want to light somebody up over that. You're like,
he said, but I also want to know my worth
and he's like, well, when it comes to a service,
you you factor all those things. He said, what price
kind of make sure like you know, face scrunch up.
(17:13):
And I was like this, I said X and he
was like, then there's your price, he said, because especially
your clientele like they want value, they see value, and
when they do and they are paying for that value,
you make sure you knock it out the part for them.
So on that side is for the concier side, that
was the hardest part. Now for the subscription model, I
(17:36):
mean you can have ideas, what have you. You can
adjust the prices if you get a good deals. So
that's that one is more attainable to figure out. But yeah,
that was that was really hard, really hard. I'm curious,
have you in this market do people build the necessity
to pay money or whine? Because I saw Shaquille O'Neill
(17:56):
I mentioned before um when he made shoe a shoe company,
and he obviously wanted that brand to be monetarily sensible
to lower income families. So his margin for a shoe,
Shaquille O'Neill shoe, it was relatively low. I think I've
seen it for like twenty five bucks to thirty dollars,
(18:17):
and he said nobody wanted to buy it because it
was cheap, Like the cost of the shoe was cheap.
It wasn't the quality of the shoe. It was the expense,
and then it became what a social status is, like, Yo,
you don't have you have on the Shaquille o'neils. I
know you only pay thirty bucks for it. You know
you ain't. So in the wine industry, is it similar
where somebody may see a brand is like it's a
(18:40):
good taste, but you only pay you know, bucks for it,
so I'm not even gonna buy it, right No, it's uh,
there's so many layers to that because right now, you know,
there's the battle with the premium wines and also the
younger demographic. You know, these old school classic wineries that
the boomers are attached to, because that's the baby boomers
(19:00):
is like, hey, this is my brand, this is what
I'm buying, this what I'm drinking. But then you have
the younger crowd where they're like, oh that's all the richest,
stuffy people. I don't want to buy those brands, but
what's what's pretty? But they want but they do respect,
they want them more in expensive natural wines. So it's
like so ongoing thing. But I did find a study
saying that let's just say, you know, the ballonial group,
(19:24):
they are driving Tesla's and BMW's and Mercedes Benz and
buying Gucci and Louis Vuitton because all that stuff to
them equate success. So it's just a matter of, like
these premium wines need to like change the message to
make it more appealing. And that's where I would say
I kind of thrived is I love those premium wines.
I also love the other you know, brands don't able
(19:45):
to mend that gap. So for me in this industry,
that's why you know, I'm big on education. I'm big
on like getting deservcations and studying because for me, like
I mentioned earlier, lindsay, like I'm all about like history,
the stories, the tawar, the climate, the culture versus like
all this is the lifestyle. We're about to drop three
(20:06):
three grand on this bottle that none of y'all can get.
You know, Like, sure, that's cool once in a while,
but I really want to teach somebody Like there's a
it's a company called Strader and they they self like
three thirty dollars per bottle or more. And that the winemaker.
He's he's known for making the most Thomas ros Brown.
He's made the most hundred point wines in the past
(20:28):
ten of twelve years. But they also make a wine
called Double Diamond, which is they called like a Strader Jr.
It's only like eighty bucks and it's made from the
same person from the same place. They just probably use
different techniques, which is why the quality probably isn't as
lavish as Strader. So I'm able to like take you like, hey,
(20:49):
you don't have to pay a grip for this, but
let's look at their entire library, or let's maybe it's
not this wine maker, but they're probably sourcing the grapes
from the same vineyard, you know what I mean, and
so um, or hey this is pretty this is notably,
this is different. So I like looking on the rocks
to help people, you know, understand, like this is really
what you're getting, what you're what you're paying for. Um,
(21:11):
And there's ways around us. I'm kind of like a
happy medium across the board. But yeah, you do have
those that are like, man, I'm not drinking this. You
know you paid five bucks for this, Like that's that's crazy,
Like I'm not doing that, which is wow because I'm
a thrift store guy. But no, I feel you know,
listen especially, but that's different though, that's different. Let the
(21:33):
club know the clothes is because what's on your feet
right now? You know what I'm saying, You threw you
you thrift. You think you thrift from the head to
the ankles. You drift shoes too, well, thrift. And when
it comes to the shoes, I don't thrift because other
people warm. But and I don't wear socks, so I do.
(21:54):
I do buy inexpensive. I go on Amazon and find
some fifteen bucks in the second and make it look
fly because I'm swagging. That's what that's the different. Though
you can swag, That's what I mean. That's my point.
Though you can swag gear. You know, it's hard to like, yeah,
like yo, I'm about to rock this fight all the wine. However,
though you can find really you know, but you can't
(22:15):
swag it and not really care. You know. Um, it's
it's it's it's such an interesting situation. Also the more
you understand it because also I would say this too,
with a lot of inexpensive wines, they do, uh, they
do probably contain more sugar is, more additives, more more,
more things that are harmful. So that's the part where
(22:39):
it's like, if you look at it from that perspective
makes more sense as opposed to like, man, I'm not
if this wind old cost to hindered oz, I ain't
buying it. You know, when premium wine the price starts
around like forty bucks, that's premium wine right there. That's
a lot for a bottle of wine. Um. So it's
an ongoing thing. Man. You guys talked about how difficult
(22:59):
it was setting your schedule after you finished in the NFL.
Was there something that came surprisingly easy to you? I
will say the networking part that's easy, and and that
probably started from since I was a kid, because we
(23:19):
moved a few times. So every year, actually every year,
I went to a new every level up so elementary,
so I had, you know, preschool, I went to a
different elementary. After elementary, I went to a different middle school.
At the middle school, I went to a different high school.
Some always meeting new people. And then when you get
into the you know, the recruiting circuit, you're going to
(23:41):
different camps, different places, You're meeting different people. So I'm
always meeting somebody new. And then once you you know college,
same thing, you meet a whole different group of people.
You get a whole new class every year a new
freshman class or transfers. And then in the NFL, I
played on four teams, you know, or even on your team.
My first year in Green Bay, I had roommates. I'm like, yo,
so I'm putting these guys in my room because they
(24:02):
getting cut every single week. So I'm always meeting something.
I'm always meeting somebody new, and you know, you you
have to learn to You may not get along with somebody,
but at the end of the day, when you guys
are on the field, you still got to play a
good game. And so I think all those all those
skills when it came to networking work for me because
(24:23):
I found out quick that if we all win, like,
we all get paid. You know what I'm saying. So
let's figure this out. Like when all the when the
all the egos are in the way, and I've been
in plenty of locker rooms where like, but it was
from the players, coaches or the front office when once
ego got in the way, like, we couldn't we were handicapped,
(24:44):
we couldn't do anything. And that's my whole approach in
the in this in business or in this industry, is
that I let people know because you list all those
accolades or what I do. As soon as I jump
in a meeting, they already know like okay, super Bowl champs, um,
you know all this stuff. So I let them know like, look,
I'm here just to see if I can help you. Period.
How can we like make money together? How can we
(25:05):
like add to the community. How can we add to
this industry? And that's that's higher role and that's what
became easy, Like I said, was learning how to be
that team player and that that's the key to your
success right there. It is. Yeah, your your entry into
this venture was your genuine passion for wine. For entrepreneurs,
but especially athletes turned entrepreneurs, how important is or isn't
(25:29):
a personal connection to the business or a product a
personal connection? It's I would say, it's it's a big
deal when it comes to um your actual own product,
because you're the one selling it, you're the one talking
about it, versus if I if I partner or invest
(25:49):
in something that I'm actually I'm looking at the numbers
in the sheets and see if it's beneficial for me
investment wise, versus like this is my actual products, actually
my brand, the wine, m v P, the NFL wine.
This is this is me, you know, So I think
that's that's what's super important. And also too when you
have a product and the product has a story, Um
I learned, Like that's that's a big deal. Um when
(26:12):
I like here, when I tell you, I told you
this story I told I probably said a million times.
Like when I did virtual tastings, I got to show
people my vulnerabilities, like I didn't notice. When I say
that Burgundy story, they like they a lot of people
laughed hard, like the wine in the wine industry because like,
oh my god, this dude thought Burgundy was a brand.
I'm like, yeah, like I didn't know. I didn't know,
(26:32):
you know, Yeah, you gotta learned something. And I'll always
show my vulnerability like I didn't know these things and
I was. I was, so I almost say I was determined,
but I got excited to learn, like, oh, there's so
much more to this. It almost reminds me of a
year after year four. She was after year three, I
(26:53):
went and trained at this facility in Orange in um
in southern California, in Orange County, and they had these
these like slant boards and balanced things, and I would
for me attribute wise I thought like I was a
super dope athlete, you know, and when I got to
do these balancings and I found all these imbalances that
I couldn't do. Instead of me like being embarrassed, I
(27:15):
kept falling. I'm like, this is cool. I got like
more stuff to work on. You know this, I can
add another element to my deal. And that's kind of
how it was. That's how I am in this thing.
So you know, so I found interesting stat So both
of us played in the NFL, which um is a
hundred well excuse me, in the NFL brought in seventeen
(27:37):
point nine billion dollars last year, which is insane, right.
And one of the things that I got into after
what most recently is E sports and I started the
sports organization. Look at that background and we're beginning in
and we beginning in come on, man, um and that
industry is roughly a hundred and forty billion dollars annually.
(28:02):
Right now. You tapped into the industry. The wine industry
was brought in two four hundred and seventeen billion dollars.
How do you stand out and that mega industry, um
and put your name wool black men as a staple
(28:22):
and you know what, I need those I need numbers
because they were drinking. Okay, give me those numbers too.
How do I, yeah, how do I stand out? I don't.
You know what's funny, I don't really, Um, I don't
stress myself out to try to stand out. You know.
It's it's a matter of I just I just go
(28:45):
up my pace. It's a slow burn. And for me
that was that's been the less stressful thing because when
I do even when I played, you know, I was
when I would try way too hard it backfired. Um,
I remember. Actually, this is funny. So my wife Shana,
when we're first dating, she she never saw me play, right.
(29:08):
She she liked football, but she never sbody play. And
so the year we were together, first together, she can't.
She said, I'm gonna come to the first game is
Monday night football versus the Vikings. Right, this is what
I'm in Green Bay, and I remember the whole game, like, dog,
I wasn't a fair catch and nothing. Okay, Like I'm
trying to take this to the crib every time I'm
(29:30):
trying so hard. I remember Coach McCarthy's like, bro, like,
what is what is well doing back there? Like he
needs to like chill out, and no one knew like
what I was doing. Maybe like one person knew, like
my wife was now wife was in the crowd, and
I remember going to the sideline and former Pack of
player Robert Brooks was on the sideline and he was like, like,
(29:50):
what are you doing. I was like, I'm just trying
to get one too the crib. He was like, bro,
you just he said, listen, relax, he said, and just
trying to get the ten yards. That's it, because he said,
if you get ten or eleven yards per part return,
you're probably gonna lead the league. Like, let's be honest,
and he said, just get the first ten yards, don't
worry about nothing else, like just stay in your lane,
(30:12):
get the ball, get up field. Cool. So next one
I didn't do it. I again didn't fair catch it,
lost like yards. But then eventually the next one, I
was like, you know what, let me just get the
first down before they put somebody else back here because
I'm over here losing yards. So I catched the part
return and I was like, all right, boom, I get
a good twelve yard game and then go to sideline.
(30:32):
Coach with CARDI passed me in the head like everyone's happy.
The next return, it's a nice pretty like line drive
kick catch it, boom. I get the first ten yards okay,
and then I'm still running and then I'm like okay,
cut to the left. I'm still running and I'm like yo,
like this is like shit. And then I ended up
taking it back seventies six yards to the crib. And
(30:55):
then if I ran over and gave her the ball whatever,
all that stuff, um, but to my point was like
any time for me, anytime I'm stressing so hard to
like prove people wrong or to do this or to
try to impress, like that didn't work for me, and
I realized, like, man, I have such a unique lane,
Like it's already I put myself in an other perspective,
(31:17):
and from what I heard, it's it's already interesting enough
that you have a former NFL player who it is,
fully emerging himself educationally in the wine industry. I'm not
another celebrity or athlete who's you know, doing a hobby
or adventure. This is me all day long, I'm doing
anything else. Yesterday, I have in podcast, I still involved
(31:39):
in football media, but I'm literally immersed in it, you know, um,
Like before we jumped on air, I showed you all
my flash cards and all my wine certific kids that
I have around here, like I'm emerging in that And
for me, that instantly got me accepted into the wine
community because he's like, Okay, this guy is really all
(31:59):
up the grape and the soil, like he's in there.
So in that big industry, I'm just I'm adding it
already has a stigma of its pretentious. It's you know,
you can't have this, or you know it's it's only
for you know, fair skin, like it's hard to get
in there. It's really rich and stuffy, like you can't
you know, I'm already in there, and it's like bro
(32:21):
like it's fermented grape juice. Like we can relax. Sure,
there's there's history that we should respect, and there's stories
that we should respect, and there's all these things for sure.
But what I what I what I do try to
do without stressing, is I just try to bring a fresh,
comfortable perspective to it. And if that works, then those
(32:46):
who like it come on a board. You know, I'm
if I'm trying to like please every single person, if
I'm trying to create a wine club model that fits
every single person in general. Like that's that's that's it
will be hard for me. So that's where I try
to stand out. Is it sounds so corny and cliche,
but just beyond myself, straight off of it. And it
(33:07):
is worked because it's my because you mentioned it's my story, right,
it's it's it's it's my brand, is my story because
how can I person connected? I'm the one that's connected.
So if you can relate to what I'm saying, and
if you love my vulnerabilities and you don't feel being
condescending to you, which I try my best not to,
(33:27):
I just don't do it. Um, then it works. It's
hard not to take someone seriously when they're constantly furthering
their education in a field and it seems like with
your flash cards that you just are so passionate about
this and constantly wanting to learn more and more and more,
and you can never know everything about something. But when
you see someone takes such a genuine interest in a field,
(33:49):
you can't help. But I want to root for them. Yeah, no,
it's totally you know, it's when I, um, it reminds
me of when I was playing UM when I he
a young dude who's on the field and he's you know,
communicating to me, I'm like, oh, like he's been on
his stuff. Like that's dope. You know. I don't care
what you do with your free time or whatever it is,
(34:10):
but when it's time, when it's go time, and you
know what you're doing, you're prepared. Because that was me.
I was the one who That's why I love when
I moved to say things. I knew what everyone did
on our team. So if I knew this guy to study,
I got you because I I studied extra for us.
And that's where you respect people, is there based on
their preparation, you know what I mean. So, um, I
think that was I think that was for real. That
(34:31):
was That's what was super cool. Well, well we have
the wine expert on I know expert that's like called
a doctor and expert. He's he's it's a practice. Okay. Well,
while I have the wine doctor on the on our show,
I need I need some advice. Wine is always my
gift of choice over the holidays to send people because
(34:55):
you can't go wrong with sending someone a bottle of wine.
So I want one that pairs well with I guess
like the holiday meal, what would be an ideal wine
for me to select for next Christmas Christmas, well, either
Thanksgiving or Christmas. Like piano wire is pretty legit because
(35:17):
that's kind of it goes well with like turkey, it
goes well with beef, it goes well with salmon, it
goes well with all that stuff. So that's kind of
like the friendly crowd pleaser. Across the board is a
pun no wire. I would probably probably California Sonoma Coast style,
but Burgundy and style is cool to California would be
if you go Sonoma Coast because it's a little cool
(35:39):
climate from the coast over there, you get more probably
more acidity since it's California. California's a little warmer. You
might get some like you know, red fruits like strawberries
and what have you cherries on there. But where if
you go Burgundy, it's more similar to like Seattle, so
a lot of rain. It is cooler, and you'll get
(36:00):
or like earthy notes in there. So both of them
probably get one of each. I'll be great, yeah, because
the burke Burgundian one will go well with like the herbs.
If you use that for your turkey like I do.
I'm gonna send it to my in laws and I'll
let you know how how you're how it goes over? Yeah,
but drop me a note and I can help you
select it. Don't just grab any pino are Yeah, yeah,
(36:23):
I got a question too, so for from myself, you know,
help a brother out here. All right, I'm never drink
alcohol day in my life. Right so, I'm thirty seven,
and um that there will be a day that I do.
I have a whole long, long story while I haven't
but never drink alcohol day in my life. And I'm
planning to share my first class of wine one day
(36:44):
with my wife, right and said, you know, because I
haven't this far, I might as well wait for something special.
So what would you advise for a first time taste
to explore? I gotta be introduced the right way, you
know what it is. If you introduce the wrong way,
you're gonna in them off. So well to start to
start though, in the meantime, if you still want to
(37:05):
be festive, Um, there's a company called Jukes literally j
u k Es. It is a like a pretty cool
luxury non alcoholic company. Um. So they have a really
cool stuff like they have these bottles that it looks
like wine, but it's it's like unfermented and you can,
you know, balance it with water and and it looks
(37:26):
like you are enjoying, you know. There's also a company
called um I gotta text you to it, but they
make a sparkling tea out of Copenhagen. And I went
to this event in London and they were pouring champagne
and they were also pouring the sparkling tea and all
the dudes did not have champagne. They had the sparkling
tea and I was like, no, wait, like it tastes,
(37:49):
it's legit. The only thing is I was a little
hyper because it was sparkling the whole time. But I
had They shipped me a whole case out here and
I got it from my wife's friends at the party.
They were like crushing it. If also, if you're you
got a baby on the way, you can have the
sparkling t But I would I would definitely go with
some kind of like like I would definitely go with
the champagne because it's celebratory, you know, it's it's it's
(38:12):
if you like sparkling water or sparkling, you know, sparkling drinks.
Champagne is should be its liquid gold. That should be
the that should be the first one to go. Like,
that's what I would do. It's it's celebratory pop. Here
we go, shod, let's do it. Let's do it, you know,
I think that should be the first deal. And also
I want to know far as traveling is concerned, Um,
(38:34):
experiencing a game at a particular stadium, it's like a must, right,
Like everything you gotta go to Green Bay to experienced lambo, right, Um,
so where do I have to go to experience wine
to get its full effect? At feeling? Have you traveled
to a particular country where you consume one and you
(38:54):
feel like this makes sense? Yeah, I haven't really gone
to many vineyards. And that's because my all seasons were crazy,
like I would like I said, I would vegi out
and then eventually I would get right to training or rehabing.
Just get ready because every year is different for me.
I had a fight for my position every single year, right, Like,
even I could finish the year as a starter, but
I was so afraid of like they were going to
(39:16):
bring somebody in next year that I got right to work. Um,
but I would say being here in California obviously experienced
Napa because Napa is you know, that's the driving force
for the wine industry. They had their history where they
beat Paris back in the seventies when they had the taste,
you know, the tasting, the judgment there. But definitely, you
(39:39):
know France in terms of Burgundy, Italy is a big deal. Um,
you know, definitely go to like Spain, so I would,
I would check those places out. Bordo is a big
deal in southern France too. Um to really see it.
And and it's cool because my wife she enjoys wine,
but she loves she loves the architecture, she loves old history.
So she would we go to these places. She just
(40:00):
enjoys that because then you could really you really like
to see and really feel of what's going on. Um.
I always tell people, you know, wine, wine is a
passport in the glass, you know, once you get the
glass and it's like it's it's yes, it's just fermented
grape juice. In terms of like trying to take to
the pretentiou stuff away, but it's it is more than
that though, like you really understand once you want to
(40:22):
send the process where it comes from, what they do
to the wine to make it be like this, like
it's it's super cool. So yeah, definitely start with Napa
being that you hear, that is easy, it's feasible. Let
me know, red carpet, you're good. Um. And then yeah,
definitely go to Italy because it is all wine and food.
(40:43):
Bring your enzymes and do not prepare to lose your
abs and and then yeah, I'll definitely check out like
Burgundy or Berto because you also, I was talking to
my same friend yesterday. How you know, I'm in California
and we have some his three historic buildings that we
tear it down and build a condo, you know, tear
(41:03):
it down and build this. You go out there and
you're in castles that were there, you know for since
the you know, eleven undreds or eight hundred. You know,
they've been there. Wait, like it's not about you, like
you're gonna come and go. People are gonna come and go.
This building is gonna be here, you know. And that's
what's cool when you go to those places out there. Um,
(41:25):
So that's that's really what it is. Like you're enjoy
the wine, but it's cool, there's to see like just
the history of that. Yeah, and that's and but that's
but that's really what it is. Um. I know we
didn't get to it, but when you kind of alluded
to a little bit of a shot. But when someone
is like buying wine, is like, well, sure, maybe they
(41:47):
could get the wine cheaper somewhere else, you know, And
and that is something that you do think about when
you're selling wine. You're like, well, why am I gonna
pay this much? Let me go to wine searcher dot com.
I can find it cheaper at a different store that's
down the street for me. So it's like, well, what
else am I gonna get? And that's that was a challenge, like, Okay,
can I add value? I can't just be like, hey,
(42:07):
I played in the NFL and al was um to
buy this wine and they're like, all right, well, I'm
I'll still find it somewhere else. And so it's the experiences.
It's like what else can I get? You know? Prime example,
I did um the Limitage Hotel in Beverly Hills. They
had a uh, they wanted to do a Super Bowl party.
So they end up hiring you know me to They
(42:30):
gave me a blank canvas, like, do your thing. So
we're gonna do like a tailgate with the chef. Instead
of doing like wings, we did like you know, bourbon glaze,
you know, honey wings to make it you know, super
cool and fancy. And then Jordan's Winery they heard about
what I was doing and they were like, hey, you know,
how can we be a part of this. I was like, yeah,
(42:50):
you guys can't be a part of it, no doubt
about it. So the event was like crazy, it was
super cool. Um. And so now even people who were
aren't big wine drinkers, I'm pretty sure when they see
a bottle of Jordan Wine, like they associated with the
experience they had at that event, you know, um for sure.
(43:13):
Like I know I drink, I think of Jordan Wine.
That's why I think of you know, even though I
knew them beforehand. So it's more of the experience. The
reason why I started the wine MVP it was to
actually originally started because I wanted to make my own wine.
And then I did my research and I'm like, damn,
it is a beast to like make your own wine
not go broke and be successful. So I was like, man,
maybe I should just take my network of you know, athletes, celebs, executives,
(43:37):
and take my network in the wine world and kind
of combine them too. And so now when I work
with people in the country or so even the club
side too, my network is your network. Now you're getting
access to all these people places that you probably can't
even get into, like boom, you just say like we
have the club, I'm what will like, let's do it,
let's go in. So that's that's that's where I feel
(43:58):
like I can add the value is is that part? Well?
Thank you so much for taking the time to do this.
This is so interesting I learned. I didn't know anything
about wine before this, and I've already learned so much.
I now know that Burgundy is not the color and
more so the region, which is timely since we're going
(44:20):
to France in three weeks. So I'm going to have
to look at the wine list now and help my
But make sure yeah, when you look at make sure though,
you because remember they don't put the grape on the bottle.
So you're literally reading you're reading SBLI, you're reading you
know code Door, You're in Maciness, you're in Bone, you're
(44:41):
reading um shutting off the pop you're reading, you know,
grows or seeing the stuff and you're like, what is it?
You know, so just no, like okay, this this region
produces this brand like shouting off the pop. It's a
granach straw movedre blenn Bordeaux is app or you know
more low and Burgundies, peanut wir chardonnay. You know. So
(45:05):
it's pretty interesting to see why you got no cards. Yeah,
I know. Right now now I'm studying sweet wine and
it is a beast dude, I have. I had no
cards with football too. I still got all my football notes.
I was about to ask what was more challenging, learning
all the playbooks or learning all the wines? Oh, but
(45:25):
there's the wine, you kid me. I know football. I
know football. I was born in football. I wasn't born
in wine. Thank you again for your time. Well this
was such a great interview. Yeah all good. I appreciate it.
Thank you so much. Thank you that you reached out,
and it kind of shows it's like the validation that
(45:49):
UM going in the right direction. It's still long, long,
long ways to go, but yeah, I'm excited. Man, stay
in your back. Where can people tune in to follow
and support you on your social media platforms, and I'll
show your business endeavors. Yeah. Just honestly, just go to
at well black men on all socials and you'll see
me on Twitter talking trash and laughing um, and you'll
(46:12):
see me on Instagram being completely different. It's this wine,
family and football. I gotta attest to that. I'll see you.
I'm seeing tweet from from time, so I'm like, well,
we're talking about listen, they just come off the hip man.
I don't I don't plan them. I don't have an algorithm.
It's just I just whatever. Because here's the thing I
tell people. I tweet my experiences. So when I see
(46:35):
someone get like laid out and knocked out and I'm laughing,
it's because I got knocked out myself. You know you've
been You've been there, I've been there, I've been there. Well,
thank you so much again, thank you so much. Thank
you for listening to Sports Illustrated and iHeart Radio is
the bag for more podcasts for my heart Radio, visit
(46:56):
the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get
your podcasts. Comes to my legacy. You gotta better keep
the message. Yeah, yeah, I gotta presy Greg
Never Never Good. Hey guys, welcome to another episode of
Sports Illustrated and I Heart Radio's back with me Lindy
(00:22):
McCormick and my amazing co host Sean Jennings. The Bag
sits at the intersection of sports and business, delving into
the headlines and behind the scenes of athletes, entrepreneurship and
enterprise Rashan. Today, we're sharing a great guest with everyone,
Will Blackman, an NFL Super Bowl champion, Somalia and CEO
and founder of the Wine m v P, which offers
(00:44):
a playbook of services including wine buying, consultations, education, and
a monthly wine club. Listen, if you're somebody out there
that's looking to take somebody special out on a nice evening,
you're not gonna want to miss this episode because he
would tell you which wines you should pick and stay
away from. To make sure you enjoyed the episode, we
(01:04):
have an extra special guest today who I actually have
been the most excited about this interview as any of
the interviews we've done. Yes, I promise, I mean well,
I We're here with Will Blackman, who has accomplished so
much in in your career, from being a Super Bowl
winning champion, to being the self proclaimed wine the NFL
(01:28):
wine Guy, to the wine enthusiasts forty under forty tastemakers.
I mean, the list goes on and on. You've accomplished
so much in your life and we're about the same age.
So how did you do all of this? You know,
I don't that's funny um for me, Like whatever whatever
(01:50):
I create myself to usually, you know, I'm just I'm
just all in. So my my dream what was to
play in the NFL. Like I was the typical kid
four years old, and like that was my mission and
like I don't know how to get there, but one
day it'll be super cool because it seems so untouchable.
And you know, even when I got recruited and I'm
going to Boston College, I said, I said the right things.
(02:13):
I was like, you know, I want to go to
a school that was both academically good and you know,
although also competitive, right, and then I found out by
my junior year, I'm major in the football. Okay, Like
we all get all the other stuff. And then when
I was when you're playing, you know, you hear like, hey,
you want to get ready for you know, playing b
you know, work on Plan B, and I'm like Plan
(02:34):
A is hard enough, Like I gotta, I gotta put
all energy into this. No, sure, I do wish that
I you know, I spent a little time on working
on Plan B, especially offseason, but I was usually rehabbing
because I had so many injuries and surgeries. But while
I was playing, I did I did enjoy wine. And
I think one of the biggest um and I think,
(02:57):
I know the biggest point of my whole journey to
where I him now is when the year I was
drafted to Green Bay, I was we also signed Charles
Woodson that same year, and I remember like he would
always have wine where we where we were, and I
got to find out that he actually has his own wine,
his own winery and all that stuff. But I thought
(03:17):
that was super cool because at the time I thought
wine was so untouchable, like how do you even get involved?
You know, I feel like you had to come from
a family that made wine. But he was one of
the first that I can think of back in like
I think all four oh five was his first vintage.
Now they cheated because the Raiders had training camp and NAPA,
so he was he was right there around all the
(03:38):
vines and what that did for me, It made it attainable.
And also it was cool, like he was obviously a
star player. He was African American and he was in
in the wine business, and I thought that was dope.
So every every road game, he will always take us out,
like he didn't do any hazing. He took us out
to dinner and we used to go like suit it
up to every you know, top top restaurant whatever city
(04:00):
we were in, and he was like wine and dine us,
and I thought it was super cool. I didn't know
anything about you know, vintages or or anything. I was like, Okay,
it's good or is it not good? And so I
started getting a little more curious like him, I want
to I want to know more about like this history
and geography stuff. Because for me, when it came to football,
like I'm a big historian, Like I used to watch
(04:22):
all the NFL films Steve so Stable Um Sam Spence
was the composer John Facenda's voice the Autumn Win as
a pirate Doom Doom Doom, Like like I was a
straight nerd when it came to that, and I was.
I end up being the same way, Uh, with with wine.
And so to answer that question, how did I get
(04:43):
to that point? When I was finished, it's kind of like, well,
but I didn't, you know, I didn't want to coach. Um,
I spent I feel like spending twelve years in the NFL,
I've seen I've seen them coaches locked themselves in them
in them offices till midnight. I'm like, if y'all don't
go home, you know what I mean. And I didn't
want to do that, especially being away from my family already.
(05:04):
I did have interest in being in the front office. Um,
that's something that I do probably enjoy, but I was like,
I want to do something that's gonna like move me.
I want to do something where the days that like
our super challenging, I'm still willing to get up and
go and go for it. And for some crazy reason, lindsay,
show um it's wine. Like that's that's what gets me
(05:28):
going every day. Um, if you look at my desk,
I got I got cars, I got bottles, I got notes,
I have shipping boxes. I have a dry race board
that my desk is nuts. My wife paints it. But
so that's that's kind of how I got to this point. Well,
I gotta know, man. You know we obviously share playing
(05:49):
in the league. In comment you played you played? When
did I miss you? I missed you by how many years?
In New York? Yeah? Well I see you was there?
What twelve? I came in two years after we both
we both played for the Jacksonville Jaguars. We both played
for the New York gihnts, just never on the same team.
So we've been in the same buildings, just never with
(06:10):
each other. Did you guys have the same coaches at all? Ye? Yes,
in New York you have. You don't have Gus Jack.
I know I had Jack Delrio and Jacksonville and then
in New York Jack. Yeah, I had the Goat himself,
so we we did share. I think we shared him.
Um we what one thing? Um that I definitely got
(06:32):
to know, man, Just I've been thinking about this for
one minute. Growing up, did you have anybody that played
football around you that influence you to play? Um? Not.
What I would say is my dad was a coach,
and so we we were a football house, and my
dad he coached everyone. He coached men, he coached women,
(06:56):
he coached kids, he coached inmates. Not kidding because he
was a correctional officer, so he coached everybody. So I
was always around like football's My brother did playing high school,
but he was he was more of a baseball player. Um,
but yeah, that was So you grew up around football
and sports, right, So that's something that I can hold
(07:18):
on too. That led you to play in sports. I
did to. My two older brothers played football. My dad
was a football guy. Three. I'm the youngest of three,
youngest the three. Talked to him, Hey, and I want
to make sure. I want I wonder if we're on
the same page. I'm the youngest of three. I'm not
the baby. There's a baby, and it ain't me. I'm
the baby. You the baby. So I'm the youngest, I'm
(07:39):
the baby. That's definitely a baby in the family. But
being the youngest or three, obviously you get you get
to follow the blueprint a little bit. And I'm wondering,
was there an O knowledgist around you, somebody that studied
wine that brought you into becoming a small because how
does that, how does that even happen? Well, my dad
(08:02):
had wine, but he had wine like that. It was
just he was just enjoying it. You know again. It
became I think when you are one of the youngest
or the youngest, you're always you're super observant, right, and
you're always seeing like, like haveryone, how everyone's moving or
what to do. I think that's how you pick up
on things quicker than most. And I got curious in
(08:24):
the wine is hues, like I kind of I was
the one where I was, Okay, I kind of want
to know a little bit what I'm talking about. I would,
you know, I would go to Milwaukee and go to
these you know, cool, you know, lavish event events where
people are you know, swirling wines in my face and
talking about the pretty legs and all that stuff, where
I found out the pretty legs don't mean nothing about quality.
It just tells you residual sugar. We can get into
(08:46):
that later, and you know, just really being booze you
with it like all of my girls. So I was like, okay, cool,
like let him have it. And then I started getting
invited to like some some dinners where they would be
pouring like these unbelievable price points for wines. I'm talking
like five up and I'm like, damn, I would never
pay like that much for wine. Um, I still won't.
(09:06):
And and I remember this one guy. He was like, man, like,
Burgundy is the best wine. Burgundy is like unbelievable. And
I'm you know, I'm making mental notes. Okay, this this
guy likes Burgundy. And the crazy thing is the whole time,
I'm thinking Burgundy is a brand. Right. Um. So for me,
one of the key things I love is almost I'm
(09:29):
a lone diner, almost like a food critic. Right, let
me go to the restaurant by myself, let me get
the experience and what have you. So I went to
this restaurant probably weeks later after this dinner, and I
get the menu and I'm like, okay, I'm gonna find
this Burgundy that's this dude had. So I'm going through
the list and I'm like, okay, I find the Burgundy section.
(09:49):
I'm like, damn, they make a lot of wine, right,
this is like two pages of Burgundy's So I pick
one somality it comes by. He brings me the glass.
I'm like, oh, bro, I'm like, this is not Burgundy,
and he was like, Mr Black, yes it is. Now
every restaurant in Wisconsin had a pack of Rossis, so
they knew who all of us were, so you could
(10:10):
never like you could have had it all. Yeah. So
I'm like, this is definitely Burgundy. He goes, why did
you say that? I said, because he's white, and he
was like, all right, Mr black Point, don't get offense,
but I'm gonna let you know something. So that's when
he told me Burgundy is a region, it's not a brand.
And in Burgundy they do not put the variety or
(10:32):
the grape on the bottle. You have to know what
that region produces. So Burgundy, if it's red, it's peter Noir.
Usually if it's white, it's chardonnet, and you have to
know that. And for me, instead of like feeling like silly,
I was like, oh, there's some layers to this. So
that's what got me excited. Putting the wine expertise aside
(10:55):
for a second, what was the learning curve in terms
of the pure business side gaudging profit margins and how
much to price your subscription for? Yeah, so that was
another interesting thing to write. Um I major in English,
more of a I guess intellect writing background at BC
(11:15):
and um it's fun. I had a conversation last night
U with a buddy of mine who owned several cigar
shops around here where I live, and he asked me
a question like what what carried over from the NFL
in terms of the business wise And I was like,
I said, you know, what really helped is knowing people
because every week you're evaluating and studying people. And I
(11:39):
was able to take that with me into networking in
bird relationships, like understanding people because at the end of
the day, I found out like, if they like you,
they'll work with you. If they don't like you, they
don't want to work with you, no matter how smart
you are what you know. So lindsay, actually I actually
went to I went back to school. I went to
Sonoma State. Uh, they have a wine business program UM
(12:00):
that teaches you all like the e commerce stuff, they
teach you the marketing, they teach you to wine club.
So I did a two year program virtually Sonoma State
to do all that you know, and that actually helped
me get to this point. Actually in the course right
now that's actually wine Club, UM, you know, focused and
(12:21):
so doing that and then um, connecting with a lot
of retail people and seeing what's going on. I now
just hired a e commerce team that's helped me do
all that stuff. So it was a lot of trial
and error and learning the past. I would say four
years I've been doing all this stuff. So that's that's
what it was. I went back to school. On the
(12:42):
personal side, has there been anything in that transition from
full time athlete to full time entrepreneur that's surprised to hell? Yeah.
I had to make my own schedule. That was a beast.
It sounds crazy, but I've been playing football since the
age of six, and I stopped at like thirty five. Right,
(13:04):
my whole life was planned. I knew when I had
to be back for training. I knew who we were
playing next year. I knew who were playing next week.
I know who we're playing two years from now. I
knew every single step that was gonna happen. I knew
when I can take my vacations. I knew when I
can do this. Now I'm done playing, I get up,
(13:25):
I'm like, yo, what am I gonna do right now?
Like you don't know what saying rashan like, how am
I gonna organize? And playing? This? That was that was
It sounds again, it sounds crazy, but that was the
probably the most challenging thing was for me to get
up and plan out my day, not just personally before
(13:47):
an entrepreneurial perspective too, Like its super hard and it probably,
I want to be real, it probably took me probably
two years to even get to this point now. So
now my routine. I get up, you know, I'll I'll read,
I'll watch you know, sporting, uh morning news stuff. And
then fortunately I have you know, contacts all over the world,
(14:09):
so I'll get up and get on the computer from
eight two you know noon, have all my meetings and
do all these things, and then you know, I'll go
probably work out, and then I'm done for the day,
probably by like two or three, and I just I'm
with the kids and my wife. I speak about that
all the time. Will Being an entrepreneur of your time
(14:30):
is something that they we were We were not taught
in the league. You know, hey, when you're knowing, you
gotta be an entrepreneur of your time because there's gonna
be schedule, there's gonna be nobody being holding you accountable.
Said that was something definitely we had to learned, man.
And I don't care how successful you are, it's hard
for everybody, absolutely, man. And so with that in mind.
On that same token, how did you create because you
(14:53):
created entrepreneur schedule for yourself, how did you create a
measuring scale for your six Because playing sports, you have
a measuring scale. You know, if I show up on time,
I'm succeeding if I if I if I make this play,
if I make this interception, if I make this tackle,
I know, on the evaluation scale, in comparison to all
my other competitors, I'm starting to earn more um roster
(15:18):
success money. Right, how did you create a measuring scale
for the wine industry and comparing yourself? And do you
or do you not compare yourself to other companies um
other wine on other other uh other SIPs, because and
that's just a different space. I'm intrigued how you created
a measuring scale for yourself? Yeah, no, that was extremely
(15:40):
challenging because it's such a you know, in any field,
you have mentors, you have people who you go to
who who are doing well in your field. But it's
kind of like everything is super unique. Like so, so
the wine VP is a it's a wine club conciers.
So one side of the business I do con years,
private events, trips, tastings, private dinners all that beast spoke stuff.
(16:05):
The other side, um is actual subscription club which is
gonna relaunch in November and so on. This on the
concier side was super difficult to like, hey, you know, hey,
what is this person doing for rates for dinners? What's
this person doing for trips? How is he organizing this?
How is she planning this? And it's all it's like,
(16:27):
this is what I do. But like you know, it's
it's hard to explain on how to like there's no
there's no going rate is what I'm saying on this.
So it was a matter of you know, me taking
my experiences, my network, what I offer, and what do
I think works for me. It's funny. I got one
(16:49):
of my mentor, actually, you know, one of my mentors.
He said, Um, I was like, I don't know what
to like really charge people because I don't want to.
I don't want to light somebody up over that. You're like,
he said, but I also want to know my worth
and he's like, well, when it comes to a service,
you you factor all those things. He said, what price
kind of make sure like you know, face scrunch up.
(17:13):
And I was like this, I said X and he
was like, then there's your price, he said, because especially
your clientele like they want value, they see value, and
when they do and they are paying for that value,
you make sure you knock it out the part for them.
So on that side is for the concier side, that
was the hardest part. Now for the subscription model, I
(17:36):
mean you can have ideas, what have you. You can
adjust the prices if you get a good deals. So
that's that one is more attainable to figure out. But yeah,
that was that was really hard, really hard. I'm curious,
have you in this market do people build the necessity
to pay money or whine? Because I saw Shaquille O'Neill
(17:56):
I mentioned before um when he made shoe a shoe company,
and he obviously wanted that brand to be monetarily sensible
to lower income families. So his margin for a shoe,
Shaquille O'Neill shoe, it was relatively low. I think I've
seen it for like twenty five bucks to thirty dollars,
(18:17):
and he said nobody wanted to buy it because it
was cheap, Like the cost of the shoe was cheap.
It wasn't the quality of the shoe. It was the expense,
and then it became what a social status is, like, Yo,
you don't have you have on the Shaquille o'neils. I
know you only pay thirty bucks for it. You know
you ain't. So in the wine industry, is it similar
where somebody may see a brand is like it's a
(18:40):
good taste, but you only pay you know, bucks for it,
so I'm not even gonna buy it, right No, it's uh,
there's so many layers to that because right now, you know,
there's the battle with the premium wines and also the
younger demographic. You know, these old school classic wineries that
the boomers are attached to, because that's the baby boomers
(19:00):
is like, hey, this is my brand, this is what
I'm buying, this what I'm drinking. But then you have
the younger crowd where they're like, oh that's all the richest,
stuffy people. I don't want to buy those brands, but
what's what's pretty? But they want but they do respect,
they want them more in expensive natural wines. So it's
like so ongoing thing. But I did find a study
saying that let's just say, you know, the ballonial group,
(19:24):
they are driving Tesla's and BMW's and Mercedes Benz and
buying Gucci and Louis Vuitton because all that stuff to
them equate success. So it's just a matter of, like
these premium wines need to like change the message to
make it more appealing. And that's where I would say
I kind of thrived is I love those premium wines.
I also love the other you know, brands don't able
(19:45):
to mend that gap. So for me in this industry,
that's why you know, I'm big on education. I'm big
on like getting deservcations and studying because for me, like
I mentioned earlier, lindsay, like I'm all about like history,
the stories, the tawar, the climate, the culture versus like
all this is the lifestyle. We're about to drop three
(20:06):
three grand on this bottle that none of y'all can get.
You know, Like, sure, that's cool once in a while,
but I really want to teach somebody Like there's a
it's a company called Strader and they they self like
three thirty dollars per bottle or more. And that the winemaker.
He's he's known for making the most Thomas ros Brown.
He's made the most hundred point wines in the past
(20:28):
ten of twelve years. But they also make a wine
called Double Diamond, which is they called like a Strader Jr.
It's only like eighty bucks and it's made from the
same person from the same place. They just probably use
different techniques, which is why the quality probably isn't as
lavish as Strader. So I'm able to like take you like, hey,
(20:49):
you don't have to pay a grip for this, but
let's look at their entire library, or let's maybe it's
not this wine maker, but they're probably sourcing the grapes
from the same vineyard, you know what I mean, and
so um, or hey this is pretty this is notably,
this is different. So I like looking on the rocks
to help people, you know, understand, like this is really
what you're getting, what you're what you're paying for. Um,
(21:11):
And there's ways around us. I'm kind of like a
happy medium across the board. But yeah, you do have
those that are like, man, I'm not drinking this. You
know you paid five bucks for this, Like that's that's crazy,
Like I'm not doing that, which is wow because I'm
a thrift store guy. But no, I feel you know,
listen especially, but that's different though, that's different. Let the
(21:33):
club know the clothes is because what's on your feet
right now? You know what I'm saying, You threw you
you thrift. You think you thrift from the head to
the ankles. You drift shoes too, well, thrift. And when
it comes to the shoes, I don't thrift because other
people warm. But and I don't wear socks, so I do.
(21:54):
I do buy inexpensive. I go on Amazon and find
some fifteen bucks in the second and make it look
fly because I'm swagging. That's what that's the different. Though
you can swag, That's what I mean. That's my point.
Though you can swag gear. You know, it's hard to like, yeah,
like yo, I'm about to rock this fight all the wine. However,
though you can find really you know, but you can't
(22:15):
swag it and not really care. You know. Um, it's
it's it's it's such an interesting situation. Also the more
you understand it because also I would say this too,
with a lot of inexpensive wines, they do, uh, they
do probably contain more sugar is, more additives, more more,
more things that are harmful. So that's the part where
(22:39):
it's like, if you look at it from that perspective
makes more sense as opposed to like, man, I'm not
if this wind old cost to hindered oz, I ain't
buying it. You know, when premium wine the price starts
around like forty bucks, that's premium wine right there. That's
a lot for a bottle of wine. Um. So it's
an ongoing thing. Man. You guys talked about how difficult
(22:59):
it was setting your schedule after you finished in the NFL.
Was there something that came surprisingly easy to you? I
will say the networking part that's easy, and and that
probably started from since I was a kid, because we
(23:19):
moved a few times. So every year, actually every year,
I went to a new every level up so elementary,
so I had, you know, preschool, I went to a
different elementary. After elementary, I went to a different middle school.
At the middle school, I went to a different high school.
Some always meeting new people. And then when you get
into the you know, the recruiting circuit, you're going to
(23:41):
different camps, different places, You're meeting different people. So I'm
always meeting somebody new. And then once you you know college,
same thing, you meet a whole different group of people.
You get a whole new class every year a new
freshman class or transfers. And then in the NFL, I
played on four teams, you know, or even on your team.
My first year in Green Bay, I had roommates. I'm like, yo,
so I'm putting these guys in my room because they
(24:02):
getting cut every single week. So I'm always meeting something.
I'm always meeting somebody new, and you know, you you
have to learn to You may not get along with somebody,
but at the end of the day, when you guys
are on the field, you still got to play a
good game. And so I think all those all those
skills when it came to networking work for me because
(24:23):
I found out quick that if we all win, like,
we all get paid. You know what I'm saying. So
let's figure this out. Like when all the when the
all the egos are in the way, and I've been
in plenty of locker rooms where like, but it was
from the players, coaches or the front office when once
ego got in the way, like, we couldn't we were handicapped,
(24:44):
we couldn't do anything. And that's my whole approach in
the in this in business or in this industry, is
that I let people know because you list all those
accolades or what I do. As soon as I jump
in a meeting, they already know like okay, super Bowl champs, um,
you know all this stuff. So I let them know like, look,
I'm here just to see if I can help you. Period.
How can we like make money together? How can we
(25:05):
like add to the community. How can we add to
this industry? And that's that's higher role and that's what
became easy, Like I said, was learning how to be
that team player and that that's the key to your
success right there. It is. Yeah, your your entry into
this venture was your genuine passion for wine. For entrepreneurs,
but especially athletes turned entrepreneurs, how important is or isn't
(25:29):
a personal connection to the business or a product a
personal connection? It's I would say, it's it's a big
deal when it comes to um your actual own product,
because you're the one selling it, you're the one talking
about it, versus if I if I partner or invest
(25:49):
in something that I'm actually I'm looking at the numbers
in the sheets and see if it's beneficial for me
investment wise, versus like this is my actual products, actually
my brand, the wine, m v P, the NFL wine.
This is this is me, you know, So I think
that's that's what's super important. And also too when you
have a product and the product has a story, Um
I learned, Like that's that's a big deal. Um when
(26:12):
I like here, when I tell you, I told you
this story I told I probably said a million times.
Like when I did virtual tastings, I got to show
people my vulnerabilities, like I didn't notice. When I say
that Burgundy story, they like they a lot of people
laughed hard, like the wine in the wine industry because like,
oh my god, this dude thought Burgundy was a brand.
I'm like, yeah, like I didn't know. I didn't know,
(26:32):
you know, Yeah, you gotta learned something. And I'll always
show my vulnerability like I didn't know these things and
I was. I was, so I almost say I was determined,
but I got excited to learn, like, oh, there's so
much more to this. It almost reminds me of a
year after year four. She was after year three, I
(26:53):
went and trained at this facility in Orange in um
in southern California, in Orange County, and they had these
these like slant boards and balanced things, and I would
for me attribute wise I thought like I was a
super dope athlete, you know, and when I got to
do these balancings and I found all these imbalances that
I couldn't do. Instead of me like being embarrassed, I
(27:15):
kept falling. I'm like, this is cool. I got like
more stuff to work on. You know this, I can
add another element to my deal. And that's kind of
how it was. That's how I am in this thing.
So you know, so I found interesting stat So both
of us played in the NFL, which um is a
hundred well excuse me, in the NFL brought in seventeen
(27:37):
point nine billion dollars last year, which is insane, right.
And one of the things that I got into after
what most recently is E sports and I started the
sports organization. Look at that background and we're beginning in
and we beginning in come on, man, um and that
industry is roughly a hundred and forty billion dollars annually.
(28:02):
Right now. You tapped into the industry. The wine industry
was brought in two four hundred and seventeen billion dollars.
How do you stand out and that mega industry, um
and put your name wool black men as a staple
(28:22):
and you know what, I need those I need numbers
because they were drinking. Okay, give me those numbers too.
How do I, yeah, how do I stand out? I don't.
You know what's funny, I don't really, Um, I don't
stress myself out to try to stand out. You know.
It's it's a matter of I just I just go
(28:45):
up my pace. It's a slow burn. And for me
that was that's been the less stressful thing because when
I do even when I played, you know, I was
when I would try way too hard it backfired. Um,
I remember. Actually, this is funny. So my wife Shana,
when we're first dating, she she never saw me play, right.
(29:08):
She she liked football, but she never sbody play. And
so the year we were together, first together, she can't.
She said, I'm gonna come to the first game is
Monday night football versus the Vikings. Right, this is what
I'm in Green Bay, and I remember the whole game, like, dog,
I wasn't a fair catch and nothing. Okay, Like I'm
trying to take this to the crib every time I'm
(29:30):
trying so hard. I remember Coach McCarthy's like, bro, like,
what is what is well doing back there? Like he
needs to like chill out, and no one knew like
what I was doing. Maybe like one person knew, like
my wife was now wife was in the crowd, and
I remember going to the sideline and former Pack of
player Robert Brooks was on the sideline and he was like, like,
(29:50):
what are you doing. I was like, I'm just trying
to get one too the crib. He was like, bro,
you just he said, listen, relax, he said, and just
trying to get the ten yards. That's it, because he said,
if you get ten or eleven yards per part return,
you're probably gonna lead the league. Like, let's be honest,
and he said, just get the first ten yards, don't
worry about nothing else, like just stay in your lane,
(30:12):
get the ball, get up field. Cool. So next one
I didn't do it. I again didn't fair catch it,
lost like yards. But then eventually the next one, I
was like, you know what, let me just get the
first down before they put somebody else back here because
I'm over here losing yards. So I catched the part
return and I was like, all right, boom, I get
a good twelve yard game and then go to sideline.
(30:32):
Coach with CARDI passed me in the head like everyone's happy.
The next return, it's a nice pretty like line drive
kick catch it, boom. I get the first ten yards okay,
and then I'm still running and then I'm like okay,
cut to the left. I'm still running and I'm like yo,
like this is like shit. And then I ended up
taking it back seventies six yards to the crib. And
(30:55):
then if I ran over and gave her the ball whatever,
all that stuff, um, but to my point was like
any time for me, anytime I'm stressing so hard to
like prove people wrong or to do this or to
try to impress, like that didn't work for me, and
I realized, like, man, I have such a unique lane,
Like it's already I put myself in an other perspective,
(31:17):
and from what I heard, it's it's already interesting enough
that you have a former NFL player who it is,
fully emerging himself educationally in the wine industry. I'm not
another celebrity or athlete who's you know, doing a hobby
or adventure. This is me all day long, I'm doing
anything else. Yesterday, I have in podcast, I still involved
(31:39):
in football media, but I'm literally immersed in it, you know, um,
Like before we jumped on air, I showed you all
my flash cards and all my wine certific kids that
I have around here, like I'm emerging in that And
for me, that instantly got me accepted into the wine
community because he's like, Okay, this guy is really all
(31:59):
up the grape and the soil, like he's in there.
So in that big industry, I'm just I'm adding it
already has a stigma of its pretentious. It's you know,
you can't have this, or you know it's it's only
for you know, fair skin, like it's hard to get
in there. It's really rich and stuffy, like you can't
you know, I'm already in there, and it's like bro
(32:21):
like it's fermented grape juice. Like we can relax. Sure,
there's there's history that we should respect, and there's stories
that we should respect, and there's all these things for sure.
But what I what I what I do try to
do without stressing, is I just try to bring a fresh,
comfortable perspective to it. And if that works, then those
(32:46):
who like it come on a board. You know, I'm
if I'm trying to like please every single person, if
I'm trying to create a wine club model that fits
every single person in general. Like that's that's that's it
will be hard for me. So that's where I try
to stand out. Is it sounds so corny and cliche,
but just beyond myself, straight off of it. And it
(33:07):
is worked because it's my because you mentioned it's my story, right,
it's it's it's it's my brand, is my story because
how can I person connected? I'm the one that's connected.
So if you can relate to what I'm saying, and
if you love my vulnerabilities and you don't feel being
condescending to you, which I try my best not to,
(33:27):
I just don't do it. Um, then it works. It's
hard not to take someone seriously when they're constantly furthering
their education in a field and it seems like with
your flash cards that you just are so passionate about
this and constantly wanting to learn more and more and more,
and you can never know everything about something. But when
you see someone takes such a genuine interest in a field,
(33:49):
you can't help. But I want to root for them. Yeah, no,
it's totally you know, it's when I, um, it reminds
me of when I was playing UM when I he
a young dude who's on the field and he's you know,
communicating to me, I'm like, oh, like he's been on
his stuff. Like that's dope. You know. I don't care
what you do with your free time or whatever it is,
(34:10):
but when it's time, when it's go time, and you
know what you're doing, you're prepared. Because that was me.
I was the one who That's why I love when
I moved to say things. I knew what everyone did
on our team. So if I knew this guy to study,
I got you because I I studied extra for us.
And that's where you respect people, is there based on
their preparation, you know what I mean. So, um, I
think that was I think that was for real. That
(34:31):
was That's what was super cool. Well, well we have
the wine expert on I know expert that's like called
a doctor and expert. He's he's it's a practice. Okay. Well,
while I have the wine doctor on the on our show,
I need I need some advice. Wine is always my
gift of choice over the holidays to send people because
(34:55):
you can't go wrong with sending someone a bottle of wine.
So I want one that pairs well with I guess
like the holiday meal, what would be an ideal wine
for me to select for next Christmas Christmas, well, either
Thanksgiving or Christmas. Like piano wire is pretty legit because
(35:17):
that's kind of it goes well with like turkey, it
goes well with beef, it goes well with salmon, it
goes well with all that stuff. So that's kind of
like the friendly crowd pleaser. Across the board is a
pun no wire. I would probably probably California Sonoma Coast style,
but Burgundy and style is cool to California would be
if you go Sonoma Coast because it's a little cool
(35:39):
climate from the coast over there, you get more probably
more acidity since it's California. California's a little warmer. You
might get some like you know, red fruits like strawberries
and what have you cherries on there. But where if
you go Burgundy, it's more similar to like Seattle, so
a lot of rain. It is cooler, and you'll get
(36:00):
or like earthy notes in there. So both of them
probably get one of each. I'll be great, yeah, because
the burke Burgundian one will go well with like the herbs.
If you use that for your turkey like I do.
I'm gonna send it to my in laws and I'll
let you know how how you're how it goes over? Yeah,
but drop me a note and I can help you
select it. Don't just grab any pino are Yeah, yeah,
(36:23):
I got a question too, so for from myself, you know,
help a brother out here. All right, I'm never drink
alcohol day in my life. Right so, I'm thirty seven,
and um that there will be a day that I do.
I have a whole long, long story while I haven't
but never drink alcohol day in my life. And I'm
planning to share my first class of wine one day
(36:44):
with my wife, right and said, you know, because I
haven't this far, I might as well wait for something special.
So what would you advise for a first time taste
to explore? I gotta be introduced the right way, you
know what it is. If you introduce the wrong way,
you're gonna in them off. So well to start to
start though, in the meantime, if you still want to
(37:05):
be festive, Um, there's a company called Jukes literally j
u k Es. It is a like a pretty cool
luxury non alcoholic company. Um. So they have a really
cool stuff like they have these bottles that it looks
like wine, but it's it's like unfermented and you can,
you know, balance it with water and and it looks
(37:26):
like you are enjoying, you know. There's also a company
called um I gotta text you to it, but they
make a sparkling tea out of Copenhagen. And I went
to this event in London and they were pouring champagne
and they were also pouring the sparkling tea and all
the dudes did not have champagne. They had the sparkling
tea and I was like, no, wait, like it tastes,
(37:49):
it's legit. The only thing is I was a little
hyper because it was sparkling the whole time. But I
had They shipped me a whole case out here and
I got it from my wife's friends at the party.
They were like crushing it. If also, if you're you
got a baby on the way, you can have the
sparkling t But I would I would definitely go with
some kind of like like I would definitely go with
the champagne because it's celebratory, you know, it's it's it's
(38:12):
if you like sparkling water or sparkling, you know, sparkling drinks.
Champagne is should be its liquid gold. That should be
the that should be the first one to go. Like,
that's what I would do. It's it's celebratory pop. Here
we go, shod, let's do it. Let's do it, you know,
I think that should be the first deal. And also
I want to know far as traveling is concerned, Um,
(38:34):
experiencing a game at a particular stadium, it's like a must, right,
Like everything you gotta go to Green Bay to experienced lambo, right, Um,
so where do I have to go to experience wine
to get its full effect? At feeling? Have you traveled
to a particular country where you consume one and you
(38:54):
feel like this makes sense? Yeah, I haven't really gone
to many vineyards. And that's because my all seasons were crazy,
like I would like I said, I would vegi out
and then eventually I would get right to training or rehabing.
Just get ready because every year is different for me.
I had a fight for my position every single year, right, Like,
even I could finish the year as a starter, but
I was so afraid of like they were going to
(39:16):
bring somebody in next year that I got right to work. Um,
but I would say being here in California obviously experienced
Napa because Napa is you know, that's the driving force
for the wine industry. They had their history where they
beat Paris back in the seventies when they had the taste,
you know, the tasting, the judgment there. But definitely, you
(39:39):
know France in terms of Burgundy, Italy is a big deal. Um,
you know, definitely go to like Spain, so I would,
I would check those places out. Bordo is a big
deal in southern France too. Um to really see it.
And and it's cool because my wife she enjoys wine,
but she loves she loves the architecture, she loves old history.
So she would we go to these places. She just
(40:00):
enjoys that because then you could really you really like
to see and really feel of what's going on. Um.
I always tell people, you know, wine, wine is a
passport in the glass, you know, once you get the
glass and it's like it's it's yes, it's just fermented
grape juice. In terms of like trying to take to
the pretentiou stuff away, but it's it is more than
that though, like you really understand once you want to
(40:22):
send the process where it comes from, what they do
to the wine to make it be like this, like
it's it's super cool. So yeah, definitely start with Napa
being that you hear, that is easy, it's feasible. Let
me know, red carpet, you're good. Um. And then yeah,
definitely go to Italy because it is all wine and food.
(40:43):
Bring your enzymes and do not prepare to lose your
abs and and then yeah, I'll definitely check out like
Burgundy or Berto because you also, I was talking to
my same friend yesterday. How you know, I'm in California
and we have some his three historic buildings that we
tear it down and build a condo, you know, tear
(41:03):
it down and build this. You go out there and
you're in castles that were there, you know for since
the you know, eleven undreds or eight hundred. You know,
they've been there. Wait, like it's not about you, like
you're gonna come and go. People are gonna come and go.
This building is gonna be here, you know. And that's
what's cool when you go to those places out there. Um,
(41:25):
So that's that's really what it is. Like you're enjoy
the wine, but it's cool, there's to see like just
the history of that. Yeah, and that's and but that's
but that's really what it is. Um. I know we
didn't get to it, but when you kind of alluded
to a little bit of a shot. But when someone
is like buying wine, is like, well, sure, maybe they
(41:47):
could get the wine cheaper somewhere else, you know, And
and that is something that you do think about when
you're selling wine. You're like, well, why am I gonna
pay this much? Let me go to wine searcher dot com.
I can find it cheaper at a different store that's
down the street for me. So it's like, well, what
else am I gonna get? And that's that was a challenge, like, Okay,
can I add value? I can't just be like, hey,
(42:07):
I played in the NFL and al was um to
buy this wine and they're like, all right, well, I'm
I'll still find it somewhere else. And so it's the experiences.
It's like what else can I get? You know? Prime example,
I did um the Limitage Hotel in Beverly Hills. They
had a uh, they wanted to do a Super Bowl party.
So they end up hiring you know me to They
(42:30):
gave me a blank canvas, like, do your thing. So
we're gonna do like a tailgate with the chef. Instead
of doing like wings, we did like you know, bourbon glaze,
you know, honey wings to make it you know, super
cool and fancy. And then Jordan's Winery they heard about
what I was doing and they were like, hey, you know,
how can we be a part of this. I was like, yeah,
(42:50):
you guys can't be a part of it, no doubt
about it. So the event was like crazy, it was
super cool. Um. And so now even people who were
aren't big wine drinkers, I'm pretty sure when they see
a bottle of Jordan Wine, like they associated with the
experience they had at that event, you know, um for sure.
(43:13):
Like I know I drink, I think of Jordan Wine.
That's why I think of you know, even though I
knew them beforehand. So it's more of the experience. The
reason why I started the wine MVP it was to
actually originally started because I wanted to make my own wine.
And then I did my research and I'm like, damn,
it is a beast to like make your own wine
not go broke and be successful. So I was like, man,
maybe I should just take my network of you know, athletes, celebs, executives,
(43:37):
and take my network in the wine world and kind
of combine them too. And so now when I work
with people in the country or so even the club
side too, my network is your network. Now you're getting
access to all these people places that you probably can't
even get into, like boom, you just say like we
have the club, I'm what will like, let's do it,
let's go in. So that's that's that's where I feel
(43:58):
like I can add the value is is that part? Well?
Thank you so much for taking the time to do this.
This is so interesting I learned. I didn't know anything
about wine before this, and I've already learned so much.
I now know that Burgundy is not the color and
more so the region, which is timely since we're going
(44:20):
to France in three weeks. So I'm going to have
to look at the wine list now and help my
But make sure yeah, when you look at make sure though,
you because remember they don't put the grape on the bottle.
So you're literally reading you're reading SBLI, you're reading you
know code Door, You're in Maciness, you're in Bone, you're
(44:41):
reading um shutting off the pop you're reading, you know,
grows or seeing the stuff and you're like, what is it?
You know, so just no, like okay, this this region
produces this brand like shouting off the pop. It's a
granach straw movedre blenn Bordeaux is app or you know
more low and Burgundies, peanut wir chardonnay. You know. So
(45:05):
it's pretty interesting to see why you got no cards. Yeah,
I know. Right now now I'm studying sweet wine and
it is a beast dude, I have. I had no
cards with football too. I still got all my football notes.
I was about to ask what was more challenging, learning
all the playbooks or learning all the wines? Oh, but
(45:25):
there's the wine, you kid me. I know football. I
know football. I was born in football. I wasn't born
in wine. Thank you again for your time. Well this
was such a great interview. Yeah all good. I appreciate it.
Thank you so much. Thank you that you reached out,
and it kind of shows it's like the validation that
(45:49):
UM going in the right direction. It's still long, long,
long ways to go, but yeah, I'm excited. Man, stay
in your back. Where can people tune in to follow
and support you on your social media platforms, and I'll
show your business endeavors. Yeah. Just honestly, just go to
at well black men on all socials and you'll see
me on Twitter talking trash and laughing um, and you'll
(46:12):
see me on Instagram being completely different. It's this wine,
family and football. I gotta attest to that. I'll see you.
I'm seeing tweet from from time, so I'm like, well,
we're talking about listen, they just come off the hip man.
I don't I don't plan them. I don't have an algorithm.
It's just I just whatever. Because here's the thing I
tell people. I tweet my experiences. So when I see
(46:35):
someone get like laid out and knocked out and I'm laughing,
it's because I got knocked out myself. You know you've
been You've been there, I've been there, I've been there. Well,
thank you so much again, thank you so much. Thank
you for listening to Sports Illustrated and iHeart Radio is
the bag for more podcasts for my heart Radio, visit
(46:56):
the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts or wherever you get
your podcasts. Comes to my legacy. You gotta better keep
the message. Yeah, yeah, I gotta presy Greg
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