Up On Game Presents Burn Factory Podcast Featuring Michael Vick "I Jeopardized Everything"

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
Welcome to The Burn Factory Podcast with Priest and Phoenix Rivera.
Listen as the voice interview the biggest names in sports
and entertainment. The Burn Factory starts. Now, what is up?

Speaker 2 (00:16):
Guys?

Speaker 3 (00:16):
Welcome back to another episode of The Burn Factory Podcast.
I'm your host, Priest drum By, my co hosts, my brother, the.

Speaker 2 (00:23):
One and only Phoenix.

Speaker 3 (00:25):
Save its up to the camera, We'll tell y'all. This
is called the Burn Factory for a reason. I was
literally caught on fire, fifty percent chance to live, but
through that, I started this podcast because I believe every
person out there on this planet has a burn moment
somewhere in their life.

Speaker 2 (00:42):
You heard pre say a burn moment.

Speaker 4 (00:44):
So burn moment is a super hard time in someone's
life that they just had to fight to get through
to be where they are today. And me and Priest
believe that every single person go through burn moments every
single day that truly build them to who they are.
But Priest, what a guest we have today? I'm so
fired up for this episode. Our guest. He was selected
number one overall in two thousand and one by the

(01:07):
Atlanta Falcons. He's a four time pro bowler, he won
the Comeback Player of the Year award. He was the
first ever quarterback to rush for more than a thousand
yards in a season. He has a documentary called The
Champions and a book called Finally Free, a tell all
biography about his life, and recently was inducted into the
National Quarterbacks Club Hall of Fame.

Speaker 3 (01:29):
So please give a welcome to Michael vick.

Speaker 5 (01:35):
Man. Let me say this first of all, y'all got
some cool names.

Speaker 2 (01:43):
Better name, yeah, even, but cool names.

Speaker 5 (01:48):
In your intro, it should have been a five time
Pro Bowl. I hit a burn moment.

Speaker 4 (01:52):
We'll talk, okay, okay, five times five times, but it.

Speaker 5 (01:56):
Was full time, but it should have been five.

Speaker 4 (01:58):
Should have been five, okay, But I got a little
story to kick things off. So, you know, growing up,
my dad grew up in DC. So he's a big
Redskins fan, diehard Redskins fans, which means I'm a Redskins
fan too, And so he had season tickets and at
the time we lived in Colorado, So every year we
would sit down, look at the schedule and be like, okay,

(02:18):
like what game do you guys want to go to?

Speaker 2 (02:20):
And so this was twenty ten.

Speaker 4 (02:22):
I was about seven years old, and he was like,
they're playing the Eagles. They're hosting the Eagles Monday night
football game, Like, do you guys want to go? And
I was like, yeah, of course, I want to go
see Michael Vick play. I want to go see the
Redskins play. Like, let's go. Let's go. So we take
a flight all the way from from Colorado to DC
and it's November, so the weather isn't great. It's raining,

(02:45):
it's freaking cold and everything, and you know, I'm excited.
I got my Sean Taylor Jersey on just like ready
to go. In the very first play of the game,
you throw an eighty two yard touchdown to the Shawn
Jackson really like that.

Speaker 5 (03:01):
Yeah, it was, uh, it was built up. First of all,
shout out to Sean Taylor. Sean was it was an
amazing player. Got a crazy story about him, but I
won't get into it. But yeah, that night was like,
you know, first off, my grandmother was a Redskins fan,
a Commander's fan, and and you know, my dream derived

(03:23):
of playing in the NFL, you know, watching football through her,
and so I I told her, if I ever made it,
I never lose to to Washington and so that was
part of the motivation in that throw. Hanging went out
deep into in Dshawn and Landry got into it before
the game, so it was a little tension. It was
a lot of tension. And and so you know, as
a competitor, when you see one of your boys getting

(03:44):
into it with somebody else, you you want to get
get back.

Speaker 1 (03:46):
Now.

Speaker 5 (03:46):
You can't get get back physically, So I was able
to do it through.

Speaker 3 (03:50):
The air, especially mentally because you're just sitting here in
the rain and you're just like, are you kidding me?

Speaker 5 (03:56):
Yeah? Yeah.

Speaker 4 (03:56):
And then not only you scored Lily five more five
more touchdowns and it was forty five to fourteen high.

Speaker 5 (04:01):
No, No, that probably was my best game I ever
had in my career as far as you know, just
being downed in and comfort level.

Speaker 4 (04:09):
You think that's your best performance all time, high school, college, NFL.

Speaker 5 (04:13):
You know, in the NFL, you get game plans, like
throughout the week, you you try to gain an understanding
of what has to happen on each individual play versus
numerous defenses, and it's some nights you just you know,
everything just happens like you see it, you react to it,
you make a good decision, you go on to the
next play. And that was one of those nights where

(04:36):
I felt like, you know, I was the best player
in the league. And I had plenty of nights like that,
but and you should, you know, as a player who's
striving to be the best, and so without it was
just one of those nights where I just I felt
really good. Man. I didn't even feel that it was cold.
I didn't even feel that it was raining.

Speaker 2 (04:54):
What did you do change up your pregame routine or something?

Speaker 5 (04:57):
Oh nah, what did I do? I took a long
nap before the before the game, A long nap unusual,
and uh, I woke up in Donovan mcnah who was
a good friend of mine, had just signed the contract.
They like gave him a contract like right before the
game started, like thirty minutes before you know, it was

(05:19):
time to go to the stadium, And I was like, man,
you know, I kind of looked at it as motivation,
not disrespect, but I kind of used it to my
advantage to go out and just be even more motivated
to show the Eagles that I was worthy of getting
a new contract at some point. So it's a lot
of things happened but the unusual nap probably was the

(05:42):
reason I was super focused nap.

Speaker 4 (05:45):
I feel like if I took a long nap before
a game, you know, you kind of feel a little sluggish.

Speaker 2 (05:48):
Yeah, I did take get going.

Speaker 5 (05:50):
Yeah, A couple of years later, I was a little old.
I took a nap against I was was about to
play Kansas City and I took a nap before that game,
and I came out sluggish. So I was you know,
I was thirty two two versus thirty four, and it
made a big difference.

Speaker 3 (06:02):
Speaking of pre game, what do you like do right
when you wake up on the morning of an NFL game?

Speaker 5 (06:07):
Pray mm hm, get up and get up and pray
for for your health and safety because you know you're
about to You're about to enter into a guntlet where
everybody's swinging at you, especially a quarterback. You got people
falling around your legs, your ankles. They you know, a
lot of high impact, very physical, even though we not

(06:30):
as physical as other positions. When the defensive guy wakes up,
all he's thinking about is sacking the quarterback, hurting him,
getting him out of the game. You know, they taught that
to get the starting quarterback out the game, bringing the backup,
it'll be a lot easier to and to to win
the game of the backup. Seeing so a lot of anxiety.

(06:51):
So I play. I pray for clarity, you know, mental clerity.

Speaker 2 (06:55):
Amen. Amen.

Speaker 4 (06:56):
So you said you had in anxiety before the game.
Was that every single game?

Speaker 5 (06:59):
He kind of, yeah, I mean it was good anxiety. Uh,
being afraid to fail, I think was always like my motivation.
You know, especially if you got your wife, you got
your family, you got your kids, you got your mom,
you got people who you sit around just in normal
conversations and tell I'm the best. So you got to
prove it to them. You gotta. You got a fan

(07:20):
base that it is dependent on you and your performance,
and you know you you dictate everything that this organization
is going to be able to embody as far as success.
So and and it's just it all lies in the
hands of the quarterback. And so I took that responsibility
really serious and personal and but had fun doing it.

(07:44):
So I feel like the being afraid to fail like
make me better.

Speaker 3 (07:48):
Yeah, going back to praying, I feel like every every
single time before I press so during golf tournaments, I'll
be up on the first tea saying a little prayer
and before.

Speaker 5 (07:58):
That, let's start doing that. But go ahead.

Speaker 3 (08:01):
Yeah, anyways, before I tee off, I'm like a little
antsy and like nervous, and right when I pray, it's
just gone and it's just a peaceful tunelevision.

Speaker 5 (08:10):
And I'm gonna tell you the one time I think
I prayed before I teed off on a golf shot.
Listen playing that we was playing in the golf tournament.
I was playing in the golf tournament. Michael straighthan and
invited me to uh, like six seven months ago, and
this is the first time I teed off, and for
actually second or third, but this time it was it

(08:31):
was a crowd like it was a big crowd watching.
It's almost like a PGA to a tournament. And Fred
Couples was the captain of our team. And the only
reason I said a prayer is because after all these
years of putting in that hard working time in golf,
all I wanted to do was hit a good shot
in front of Fred Couples. And how often do you
get to have a professional golfer at an event, you know,

(08:53):
at a golf event that you planning it's not just
random event. It was by design that he was the
the captain. And then I hit one straight down the
fair way.

Speaker 2 (09:05):
Oh that's all the years a hard work.

Speaker 5 (09:08):
It was like, get paid off right there now. The
rest of the round was like whatever, whatever, it doesn't matter.
But I hit some good shots in front of Reid Couples,
and I think I prayed about it.

Speaker 4 (09:17):
So that's literally that's the best feeling though, like for
us in the tournament, like you're kind of anxious in here,
but then you just stripe it and you're just like, yeah,
thank god, h Like we're good, We're good.

Speaker 3 (09:26):
I almost feel like I'm more focused on the first
shot than I am on the next shot.

Speaker 5 (09:30):
Yeah, I'm the type I get better as the round
go on. So always going into that back then is
when I clean it up. But I shoot forty two
on the front and I shoot thirty seven on the back. Wow,
well I shoot forty six on the front and forty
on the back.

Speaker 2 (09:47):
We might have a little competition today. You might be
coming after us so.

Speaker 3 (09:51):
That they might try to get that belt right there,
but I don't know if that happened.

Speaker 5 (09:55):
Hey, I mean, you know, it's y'all like competition of course. Yeah,
that's what it's all about.

Speaker 3 (10:01):
Also, we might have to do another belt for pool.

Speaker 5 (10:04):
Yeah, bring it on, Bring it on, two k.

Speaker 2 (10:08):
Let's run games pool. Maybe we can see if we
can throw it as far as give me give me
your game with tag got him boy, his name is
Zilik gotdham Boy.

Speaker 5 (10:21):
I'll find him. I'll search it. Yeah, I search it
and find him.

Speaker 4 (10:26):
But all right, Mike, So on this podcast, we use
the acronym burns, so each letter is a little different
time in your life. So we're gonna kick things off
with B. B stands for beginning. So take us back
to your childhood, high school days. Were there any burn
moments that you just really had to get through that
really got you to where you are today?

Speaker 5 (10:45):
Yeah? Man, I mean I think, uh, you know, just
in the beginning, you know, like I say, through my grandmother,
I've realized that I wanted to play professional football at
some point in my life. Really when I was seven, seven,
eight years old, right, you know it It wasn't no Google,
you couldn't. I mean, I was kids. So but I
found out that you getting you made money playing football,

(11:06):
and I was like, Okay, this is my path, and
and so you know, I do all these great things,
you know, and literally get to high school and you know,
having a great high school career freshman year, sophomore year,
and then my junior year, my grades dropped significantly. I'm
being recruited by all the UH schools across the country

(11:29):
and then you know, I just had a mental lapse
in grades and other things became important and then so
I almost didn't didn't make it. And that was like
my burn moment. Like my high school coach stopped talking
to me for a year, was like eight months. He
he was just like a if you're not gonna be

(11:49):
like everybody else, you're not gonna be a statistic. You
got a lot of opportunity in your life to make
some of your life. And I got to turn my
back on you. And it was it was all my fault,
and I knew it was because I just got caught
up in everything else outside of being a better student.
And so I had to buckle down for a year
man get my grades up and get everything right. And

(12:10):
so that, you know, when I think about times in
my life where I put everything at stake in jeopardy,
everything all I ever wanted was a scholarship for a
scholarship full riot and that was my moment and I
almost blew it right then and there, but thank god
I had him in my life who don't really put
his foot down and made me, you know, focused.

Speaker 3 (12:33):
It shows you that he was really looking out for you,
because if he didn't see nothing in you, he probably
wouldn't turn his back on you.

Speaker 5 (12:41):
And I look back on it, like, man, he really cared,
you know, he really cared being my wife, talk about
it all the time, Like the routine and the regiment
he had us on kept us out of trouble, kept
us in a position where we could, you know, have
a job, make a little money, stay focused, and really
understand what priorit is responsibilities was really all about. So

(13:02):
it was cool.

Speaker 2 (13:03):
Do you still keep up with him today?

Speaker 5 (13:05):
Yeah? He called me this morning. He called me and
hung up. I don't know why he hung up soon
as you called it, but I think that's a sound
when you want somebody to call you back, but you
don't want to bother him. But yeah, he's never he's
never bothered me.

Speaker 2 (13:17):
That's so cool. What age did you meet him at?

Speaker 5 (13:20):
I met him at the age of fourteen. So if
you're familiar with Aaron Brooks play quarterback with the Saints. Yeah,
my second cousin. He coached Aaron first, and then I
came out to Aaron and so we we met. When
I was fourteen, Aaron invited me up to junior varsity practice.
I was gonna play one more year, little league. I
was gonna try to squeeze it out, and it just

(13:42):
was time to move on. And I met him in
you know, two days, he made me the start in quarterback.
He's seen the arm talent, and you know, hopefully it was.
You know, my character showed amongst the rest of the
young man I was around. And he made me the
start at junior varsity at fourteen years old.

Speaker 2 (14:00):
Wow, that's crazy.

Speaker 5 (14:01):
And then I played varsity at the end of the
year and that was really scary, but it was. It
was good experience, great experience.

Speaker 4 (14:10):
I was saying, So after your sophomore year, I believe
you had to switch schools. Correct And he followed you there?

Speaker 5 (14:16):
Yeah, I follow him, he fought, Okay, you fall I
follow him. We were supposed to go to a brand
new school that was opening up. It was they opened
up two amazing schools and that we thought we was
going at the in the final hour, they switched to
school and he had to go to another school and
it was a rival school where we was playing against

(14:37):
guys that we knew, and it was good friends of ours,
just in a different location, different part of the city,
and they merged us all together. And it was the
weirdest thing because the quarterback from that school was one
of my best friends or good friends, and they had
to move them to tight end, you know. I mean
it was only right, but my coach coming over, it

(14:59):
was like it felt bias. It felt real bias, Like
we just came and just like but it was like
two and eighth the year before, and we ended up
like six and four, So we made them better, significantly better.

Speaker 3 (15:13):
How hard was it to transfer? Though before your senior
year it was different.

Speaker 5 (15:17):
You know, it's one of those things in high school
you just never know what's gonna happen, Like you would
never think that you would have to transfer out of
your high school that you at now and go to
a different school like abruptly. You know, it's a cool experience,
but at the same time, I would have rather went
to the new school. I think it was something personal
against my high school coach. I think, you know, when

(15:38):
I think about it, but you know, it's hindsight, and
we made the most of it. We made the most
of it. But it was really weird. It was just
because we knew all the We knew all the guys
that was over there, Like we we played against them
two years in a row. And so the first school
I went to was Ferguson and it was working and

(16:00):
it was like a rival. Soone was like Dallas versus
New York the Giant, So Dallas versus Philly, and then
you just get the whole Dallas team just go and
merge with Phillip, you know. So it was weird.

Speaker 2 (16:14):
Right when you transferred.

Speaker 3 (16:15):
Did your friends like did they ever get like mad
at you and like have beef with you since you transferred?

Speaker 2 (16:21):
Like in that very moment, Nah, they was cool.

Speaker 5 (16:25):
You know. Everybody really kind of had attitude about it,
was upset about it, but they understood the situation. Like
our school closed down just out of you know, it's
just like out of nowhere, and we knew it was coming.
But we up, like I said, we knew. We thought
we was going to the new school that they just built.
They just built this amazing high school, and like I

(16:46):
said in the twenty third hour, man, they switched the
whole game plan on us and we end up having
to go to merge with the school where I mean,
you know, things like that happen, and then it's just
potential for a lot of bad things to happen. You know,
you got you know, it's envy. You know, guys went
to a position you It was just a lot, and

(17:09):
so I took it with a grain of saw. I
just you know, my high school coach came and you know,
obviously all the kids that he knew was better than
the kids that was there. He put us in the
position to make the school better, which was the most
important thing.

Speaker 2 (17:25):
Did you feel like you had to prove yourself though?
As soon as you got.

Speaker 5 (17:27):
That, Yeah, every year I felt like I had to
prove myself every year. It was a guy named Ronald
Curry was across town, rival and he got all the accolades.
He was like the best quarterback I ever seen in
high school. Regardless of who you've seen out there, Ronald
Curry was the best high school quarterback ever, and so

(17:48):
I was always motivated to do just as well. As him,
and you know, try to get a small, you know,
snippet of you know, newspaper clipping next to his his
would be like this big it might as to be
like that. And so I played the underdog role for
a long time. And I just know, I just felt
like when I went to college, I get the same

(18:10):
players type, but good players around me. I have equal
opportunity as everybody else had. We wasn't the best. I
didn't have the best players around me. I wasn't the best,
you know either. When I look at myself and Ronald,
he was a lot more talented than me. He was bigger,
he was a little stronger. And once I got to

(18:31):
college and I got you know, I got a heavy
diet of the weight room, and you know, I was
able to gain twenty pounds and be around some players
that was just as good as me. My true skill
set was able to show.

Speaker 3 (18:44):
Speaking of college, what year in high school did you
commit to Virginia Tech.

Speaker 5 (18:49):
I committed my senior year. I got the offer. I
had offers from Syracuse, Georgia Techson, East Carolina, and Virginia
Tech was like my top five, and so I visited
East Carolina, visited Syracuse. It was fifteen inches of snow

(19:12):
on the ground. It was cold. Donovan. Now it was
my hole. So it was really cool, great experience. I
just got sick, caught the flu, and I knew Syracuse
is instantly.

Speaker 2 (19:22):
It's like I got sick.

Speaker 5 (19:25):
Yeah this, you know, Donovan. I called him like two
days later, like, bro, I'm down, and so they knew
that was out. But it did come down to Syracuse
Virginia Tech, and so I made that. I made the
commitment my senior year.

Speaker 2 (19:37):
What was that like in that very moment whenever you
sign that, I.

Speaker 5 (19:41):
Knew, uh, I was one step closer to my dream
most important. All right, missing accomplished Pop Warner was cool
high school, complete off the college and so you know,
now just a new level of anxiety started to creep
in again. And it's like as soon as I, you know,

(20:02):
past one test, it was like another one being put
in front of me. But you know that was that
was part of the process.

Speaker 4 (20:08):
So you get to college and then they red shirt you.
How did you feel about being red shirted? Were you
fine with it or really I just want to play?

Speaker 5 (20:15):
Yeah, I was thankful to be red shirted. What I
found out when I went to college is that I
didn't know enough about football. It was a different level
of understanding. You have to learn defenses before you can
even learn your offense and know what to do. And
so when I first got there, my football knowledge was
just like on zero. Like so it took like four

(20:39):
months to learn how to read defenses, and so I
couldn't play my first year because I would have been
a mess, like my first thirty practices. After those first
thirty practices, I was like, mo, I think I'm gonna
come home and get a regular job. Really, yeah, football
is way too hard.

Speaker 3 (21:00):
What was that burn moment that made you want to
stick with football?

Speaker 5 (21:06):
That moment didn't come until later in the year. Like
I said, it took like two or three months to
learn how to read defenses, maybe like four, and so
this was a good burn moment. Though I'm coming to
the meetings every day. My coach, you know, he encouraged
me to continue to come to the meetings, keep coming.
I think I told my wife this story plenty of times,

(21:29):
and they like, keep coming, keep coming to the meetings,
and so like man wasting time. You know, all my boys,
all the freshmen who came in with me. They hanging
out during the weekends and they're going home and seeing
their families, and I'm traveling with the team and really
not understanding what's going on, whether we in game or

(21:51):
whether we in the practice session or in the film session.
And so it's like late December, sitting in the film
and when I'm watching it, watching the film, and and
all of a sudden, it just came together. It was like, Okay,
I'm looking at a Cover two defense and I'm like

(22:12):
seeing how people move. And I'm looking at a see
a cover three defense and I'm seeing how people move,
and I'm like, you know, i'm'a go out on the
Scout team today and and see if you know, if
it rained true like what I'm doing, what I'm seeing,
and the Scout team your job is to make the
you know, the number one defense better, number one offense better,
and so you just getting just free practice. And so

(22:35):
it all came It all ranged true. Like everything I seen,
it just came all. It all came together. I won
Scout Team Player the Week two weeks in a row,
and then I learned more about defenses. Over the next
two months. I learned our offense in two months I
was in a quarterback battle in the spring, and and
I want im merged as the number one quarterback. Uh
after two weeks and in the battle with a junior.

(22:58):
Shout out to Dave Maya Day, I love you. But
it was great competition.

Speaker 2 (23:04):
You just had to prove that.

Speaker 5 (23:05):
Yeah. Yeah, so that was a good burn moment.

Speaker 2 (23:07):
That is a good but you almost quit that.

Speaker 5 (23:10):
I was ready quit three months before that. I was
ready to pack it in. That was a burn moment
because I just I realized that I didn't understand enough
about football. Uh. And then the game was moving real fast.
So you're gonna go from high school to college. It's
just a different level of guys, a bigger, that stronger,
a little bit older, you know, like you're getting your

(23:31):
grown man body. And so I was still eighteen years
old and trying to figure it out, and it was
just it was overwhelming for sure.

Speaker 4 (23:40):
How did you like focus in because obviously college there's
so many distractions around you. How did you just like
focus in on football?

Speaker 5 (23:47):
Yeah? Well, one, I had a great offensive coordinator who
was not only a good coach, he was like a
father figure. So he was always checking in on me.
And you know, my progress and school well being. He
was always concerned and so I felt obligated to. You know,
I always wanted to make my coaches proud in whatever

(24:07):
way I could. Like, I never wanted them to come
to me and you know, well, you're not doing well
in school. You know you're missing class, and I don't
need the nagging, and so I always tried to make
them proud, whether on the fiel or off the field,
and so he was always checking up on me. But
still throughout it all, in the back of my mind,

(24:29):
I wanted to make it to the NFL. And you know,
at that time, it's like, it don't matter if I'm
a first round pick or if I'm a sixth round pick.
I just want to shot. And so I never thought
I would be a number one pick. That was never
a thought. If you were to ask me that at
that moment, I was like, there's no way in life.
And so, you know, that was all in God's plan.

(24:52):
I say that, but at the end of the day,
it was all about getting drafted at some point, you know,
doing everything right to get drafted at some point. So
that was always the motivation at any point, you know,
whether it was my first game or last game. You know,
the focus in between was to be good enough to
be recognized and get drafted.

Speaker 3 (25:12):
Going to your first college football game.

Speaker 5 (25:15):
What was that? Like? I realized I was in the setting,
Like I was just looking at the whole atmosphere, like
this is what I watched on TV as a kid
growing up, and this is the setting way these guys
can go to the pros. I'm like, yo, this is
this is next level. It's a different atmosphere. And thank

(25:36):
god I was able to read her because I was
able to just sit back and watch everything and be
real observant, you know, because if I can become a
starter one day, I want to know how to handle it.
So it was important to watch our senior quarterback Al
Clock at the time. Shout out to Al. It was
it important to be able to watch him how he
handled things, how he handled time out situations, how he

(25:56):
handled our third down situations, how he handled first some team,
how he handled third and long and decision making. So
I tried to, you know, learn vicariously the best I could.

Speaker 3 (26:07):
So that red shirt definitely oh Man helped me.

Speaker 5 (26:11):
Well. My high school coach he demanded it. I didn't
play really, Yeah, he demanded it. I didn't play from
from you know, I wouldn't say. You know, he he
acts Coach Beemer, you know, to not play, don't don't
play Mike kids. First year. He knew I needed to
learn the game. See that was him covering up for

(26:32):
me behind closed doors, and Coach Beemer respected it because
it was times they could have took. They could have
just put me in the game. Like you super talented,
You can run, might not have understood where to throw it,
but I would have been able to run. But you still
no good if you can't If you can't do it,
you know, compartmentalize and do it all it together, for.

Speaker 2 (26:53):
Sure, for sure.

Speaker 3 (26:53):
Even I was actually watching that game, your very first
college game. In the first play, you threw a pass
and you said it was the worst past you could
ever throw.

Speaker 2 (27:02):
You took it to the house, of course.

Speaker 5 (27:07):
Yeah that was well in that moment, I just remember
running onto the field the first play and looking into
the sky like I was so nervous, like I can't,
I can't explain, like a backup quarterback, who I dave
might who I was in the battle with. We was roommates,
and I just remember being so nervous that night, and

(27:30):
he was just like, Mike, you gonna do fine. Don't worry,
You're gonna do fine. You just do what you've been
doing in practice. And I'm like, no, Damn, that ain't
the case. Like it's gonna be different out there, like
you know what it's like. I don't know. And I
remember just running on the field and looking in the
sky and saying, you know, to myself, God, if this
is it, if this is what you want. Like no,
I was saying to myself, this is what I always wanted.

(27:52):
So first play, coach, give me a pass. Play, let
me hand it off. Give me a pass. Player I made,
I made a good read. I just threw the ball
in the dirt, a little nervous, threw it in the dirt.
Was all right, got that one o the way. The
next play he calmed me down. He called a quarterback
draw and the rest was his like house call, like

(28:15):
like house calling the second player of my career. It
was like, I was like, damn, they just let me
do that, like this rigged.

Speaker 2 (28:23):
We're just flowing the rest of the game though that.

Speaker 5 (28:27):
Yeah, it was almost like this is a tip I
give to you know, just a lot of kids and
a lot of people just watching. You know, you gotta practice.
Practice got to be harder than the game. So I
felt like I practiced was like, uh, it was it
was tough. It was tough. We had hard practices and

(28:48):
to get through those practices you got to be mentally tough.
And and so the game was just relatively easy because
everything just slowed down in the game. I mean, I
know this might sound crazy. I just said the game
it was fast, but everything slows down in the game
when you when you know what you're doing when you

(29:08):
and I know that might sound crazy, but I was
just so comfortable. It was like I couldn't miss. I
had good players around me. My offensive line block, my
receivers caught the ball, running backs ran. All I had
to do was my job, managed the game, you know.
And and so until I did that flipping the end
zone on the touchdown run, I was probably statistic statistically,

(29:32):
I'm having the best game of my career, and that
was its first game, but that was best game of
my life. And so I was just really comfortable.

Speaker 2 (29:42):
Mm hmm.

Speaker 4 (29:43):
So fast forward to the end of the season. You
guys are playing in the National Championship, against Florida State.

Speaker 2 (29:49):
How crazy was that moment?

Speaker 5 (29:52):
That that was crazy? I never thought we were Never
thought that you would make it to a national championship,
especially after thirteen months prior being ready to quit football
and then learning it, then going through a quarterback battle,
going through spring training, still building my football intellect, and

(30:14):
then starting for the first game being nervous throwing the
ball in the dirt, to winning thirteen games in a row.
I'm getting hurt coming back from injury, playing the whole season.
I'm basically on a bad ankle, but just being able
to persevere through that. Wanting, the hunger, wanting still in

(30:36):
the back of my mind, like if I continue to
do this right and get better and better, I'm gonna
have a shot at playing in the NFL. So it
was just all these factors and variables and then all
of a sudden, it's the National Championship. So when we
get to that game, it's like I felt like I
did a lot. I did enough not to play on
the next level, but to showcase that it was one
of the best teams in the country and I was

(30:57):
probably one of the best players in college football. Never
thought it would be that way. I just the grind,
the grind and got me to that point.

Speaker 2 (31:05):
You just kind of just kept your head down and
kept going.

Speaker 5 (31:07):
Yeah, it was like, if we beat Rutgers, if we
can enjoy it for the night, But that's not good enough.
We got we got Miami next week. Gotta get ready
for Miami. Beat Miami. All we got West Virginia. So
it's really no time to It was really no time
to celebrate. You know, you couldn't celebrate. You could celebrate
with your family or celebrate for a couple of hours,

(31:29):
but if you go out and lose the next week,
then it's it changes the dynamic of everything. And so
we always wanted to just stay you know, sending.

Speaker 3 (31:39):
Going back to the championship game, were you more nervous
for that game than you were for your first college game?

Speaker 5 (31:43):
Yeah. I was more nervous for that National championship game
than anything I probably ever did in my life. And
I went to the Heisman Trophy ceremony the week the
week before, had to speak in front of you know,
millions of people conquered that and then that game, like
it was just the magnitude of it, it was, it was,

(32:05):
it was just exciting and I just I remember the
first the first drive, I couldn't. I couldn't. It was
so loud. I couldn't balk out the cadence loud enough.
I couldn't. I had a headache. My head was pounding.
And then the second court, I just settled down and
I just I got into a rhythm and they was
up by that time. It was it was like twenty

(32:26):
eight to seven or something, And when it clicked for us,
we was like we had to we had to fight
and get back into it. And then we end up
taking the lead twenty twenty nine, twenty eight, and then
they ran off with it. But just to be in
that moment and to make it, man, it was like
we we never thought we were being that moment. So

(32:47):
for every man on that roster, coaches included, it was
a great It was it was a great run and
a good success. Store. Yeah.

Speaker 4 (32:55):
So for me, like in golf sometimes like I'm playing
in a big golf tournament and I kind of feel
that pressure sometimes I don't know how to handle it
as well. So what would you say, like how would
you handle a high pressure situation kind of like that?
Like what were some things that you did just in
that game.

Speaker 5 (33:11):
Think positive. Think positive, like more so than knowing that, like,
because if you practice and put it in the time,
you know you can pull off a shot. I know
I can pull off a throw. I know if you
know something happened and it's outside of the box, that
I can react to it and I can be you know,
present in the moment, and you know, you know it's

(33:33):
gonna be some moments where you're gonna have to persevere.
You might you might duck hook the first shot. Yeah,
but it's not how you start, it is how you finish.
Like I had games where nothing went right for three quarters.
I had a game I threw four interceptions and then
had a game winning a game winning drive. I had

(33:53):
a minute and like fifty two seconds left on the
four yard line. We had to go ninety six yards
after throwing four interceptions, And so you can imagine how
I felt. Yeah, my cousin called me right after the
game was like, man, great finish, but you gotta tighten

(34:14):
it up. Yeah, obviously, but it's not always gonna go right.
And so when you go into it knowing that, look,
I don't have to be perfect. I just gotta persevere,
and you're gonna come out on top every time.

Speaker 2 (34:27):
For sure.

Speaker 5 (34:27):
Be ready for the adversity.

Speaker 4 (34:28):
This portion of the Burn Factory podcast is sponsored by
Phoenix Salon Suites. Please visit Phoenix Salon Suites at p
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to find one near you.

Speaker 3 (34:45):
Right into our next topic and burn you unfortunate. I
actually want to share it a little unfortunate experience myself.

Speaker 5 (34:53):
You got it.

Speaker 3 (34:54):
So last week of school, we just moved into this
house right on the golf course. As you can see.
My dad just bought me a brand new set of
golf clubs, and I was actually about ready to play
my very first golf tournament. So pumped, go to school,
normal day science class. Comes walk into the science class.

(35:18):
Teacher says she's gonna do a science experiment. And I
didn't think too much of it, and she's like, yeah,
it's gonna be involved in fire, baking, soda, staying out
like oh cool, fire, Like it's gonna be fun like
watching something like burn and stuff. So she's like, all right,
we gotta go outside to do this, and so we

(35:39):
all get outside semi circle and next thing no, it's
like a bomb goes off.

Speaker 2 (36:00):
And then that moment.

Speaker 3 (36:06):
Mm hm.

Speaker 2 (36:10):
Hm, I literally thought I was gonna die.

Speaker 5 (36:19):
Mhm yah, mhm.

Speaker 3 (36:28):
H.

Speaker 2 (36:31):
I remember all the kids saying us all yeah mh
and ambulance comes.

Speaker 5 (36:53):
And yeah you like this.

Speaker 3 (37:01):
Ambulance comes. They put me in the ambulance and the
swell is getting so bad. They're about ready to fly
me to the hospital because they were worried I was
gonna make it. And the swallow just like it's so bad.

(37:25):
And I remember looking at my phone Snapchat and my
face was completely disfigured. It's completely disfigured. And I thought
I was gonna look like that for the rest of

(37:45):
my life. Not knowing it, people were gonna like, look
at me the same. Am I ever gonna get a girlfriend?
Are people even gonna kept me in the same m

(38:05):
m but.

Speaker 5 (38:10):
Mhm.

Speaker 2 (38:13):
But in that tough time, I really found out how
strong it was.

Speaker 4 (38:20):
Hm.

Speaker 3 (38:21):
A couple of days go by and I had my
day gaudy.

Speaker 5 (38:27):
Jeez there.

Speaker 3 (38:33):
Mhm. I had my dad go get my butter and
put a couple of balls into this little glass store.
Yeah slowly, but Shirley, it just started putting in my face.

Speaker 2 (38:52):
M hm. In that moment, I knew I was gonna fight.

Speaker 5 (39:04):
And I won.

Speaker 4 (39:25):
I feel like just unfortunate times, that's such an unfortunate event,
like in our life. And and for me, I was
literally there's summertime and I just got out of school
and I was golf with my buddies here and I'll
never forget that like call, Like my dad called me
and I was like, Okay, he's probably just calling like
saying like like where are you when you're gonna be

(39:46):
home kind of thing. And he was like, no, your
brother got burned. And I was like, oh, okay, maybe
it's just mess up with a hot glue gun or something.
But he was like no, there they might fight for
life him and I I was like wow. And then
just going to the hospital and just and seeing like
that's my brother, like he's twelve years old, Like why him?

(40:09):
Like we have such a grounded faith in our family.
We went to a Christian school, but not gonna lie.
It was hard. It was like God, like why did
this happen to him? Like he's so pure, he's so
like he's a child man, and there's there's people out
there in this world that do so many horrific things
that can't even.

Speaker 2 (40:30):
Compare to what he just.

Speaker 5 (40:32):
Just went through.

Speaker 4 (40:33):
But at the end of the day, now looking back
on it three years, like, look look what we have.
Now we're sitting here talking to you, we're sharing our
stories and for the people listening, like they're going through
some stuff too, like not everyone's perfect. Not everyone lives
this perfect life, Like they go through burn moments that

(40:54):
a lot of people don't know about. And we feel
like that's really what makes you you. It's not the money,
it's not the fame, it's not the followers. It's those
hard times that you wanted to quit. You were ready,
you wanted to mail it in, but you're like, you
know what, No, Like I'm here for a commuter purpose.
So let's come. Unfortunate things, unfortunate burn moments happened, and

(41:18):
and with your story, there's been so many unfortunate burn
moments like you've had to just fight to get through.
So could you share with us maybe some some unfortunate
burn moments you went through.

Speaker 5 (41:33):
Well, I just talk about one, you know, having a
having to go to prison, you know for eighteen months,
having to leave my family, having everything that I always
work for in my life put it in jeopardy, not

(41:55):
really understanding the magnitude of what I was going through.
And so you know, it was a barren moment where
I jeopardized everything, everything in my life, you know, at
the time, and and so you know, for whatever reasons,
you know, it was another moment where y I had

(42:15):
to persevere. You gotta persevere. You know, plenty nights I cried,
my wife, tell you it's plenty nights. I cried on
the phone, and just having my freedom taken away, just
wanted to have a chance to live life again, but
knowing that it wasn't gonna happen for two years. Like

(42:38):
I come from that type of background, but that's not
my background. And so you know, the things I always
told myself I wouldn't do, uh places I went ended up,
end up. I ended up. And so I can relate
on so many levels to you know, to tragedy. So
you know, that was a that was a serious barren moment.

(42:59):
And and for you, man, I understand, you know the
pain you but look how you fought. It won't be
hard to get a girlfriend. Now, Look, good man, I'm
right or wrong. Good lucky man, lucky young man, both
of y'all super blessed.

Speaker 4 (43:22):
It puts a lot of things in perspective too. It's
like things can be taken like that and so like
that saying like like live every day like at your last.
I feel like, yeah, I feel like now like us
we truly live that like it's our last.

Speaker 3 (43:39):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (43:39):
Man, you you mentioned golf and golf you know being
you know, one of the reason is why you know,
you know, the feeling of faith came back, you know,
the joy, the happiness. You know, people ask me why
I play golf, and it is for those reasons, like

(44:00):
the piece, the solitude, the you know, I get to
get all these memories of all these things that's jogged
in my mind out out of my mind. You know.
It's it's like I said, it's peaceful and it's challenging.
So you get all these emotional emotional aspects of life.
And on the golf course, and people don't don't know

(44:21):
even if you you make a putt, you miss a pusy,
that's emotional swing. Make a good swing, missing miss one,
it's an emotional swing. You see your buddy said a
good shot, You compliment him. You turn your level of
competition up. You know, it's a it's amazing what sports
can do for you. You know, it's it's amazing what settence
like this can do for you. You know, getting it

(44:44):
out and talking about it. Man, it's always gonna be
therapeutic for you. Being able to talk about you know,
my burn moments is really therapeutic for me cause I
don't get to ask the question all the time. I
just gotta live with it. And so, you know, I
live with a lot of hurt, you know, I live
with a lot of regret, you know. So you know,
we all got something and you never know what else

(45:04):
was gonna be. You just gotta be ready for it
for sure.

Speaker 3 (45:07):
Like how you said you got treat every day like
at your last and yeah, even going back to when
that unfortunate thing happened, what what was that thing that
brought joy to you?

Speaker 5 (45:18):
And then my family, Yeah, my family talking. I only
had like two minutes a day to talk to to
my wife and and try to find figure out what
was going on in life or what was going on
in the outside world, whether it was business related, whether
it was related to my case, whether it was about
my kids. I had three minutes a day to talk
to the person I love the most, my mom. Some

(45:43):
day I couldn't talk to her. I have enough t
N minutes on the phone where I could talk to her,
you know. So you know, I'm like, sh really like
to me living in hell? You know what I'm saying.
I mean, it could always be worse. I still, you know,
I I just felt like as long as I woke
up every day and I could breathe fresh air, like
I gotta chell one step closer. But man, I just

(46:06):
I just told myself I'd never take my freedom for granted.
Waking up every day, like I say, is a blessing people.
I don't think people really put true value in what
it takes to have your freedom and have opportunity every day.
So you know, hopefully that's something that people gravitate to

(46:30):
when they watch this this segment.

Speaker 4 (46:32):
Sure you said your last day in prison was the
start of your new life. Absolutely so would you consider
that last day like a burn moment? Like you know what,
I'm never going back to this, Like it's only up
from here.

Speaker 5 (46:44):
Yeah, you know, I wanted to burn all those memories,
but I wanted them to stick like I wanted them to.
I wanted to feel those those five hundred and forty
eight days for the for the rest of my life,
to some capacity, like I know somewhere, you know, just
in my spiritual being. It's like I always think about

(47:04):
those moments and those days, how hard it was, and
just try to put some perspective on my life when
I wake up every day, when I can wake up
and be with my family, and I can wake up
and I got opportunities to do different things and explore
different things, and even even play golf or teach my
son to play golfer. You don't have a chance to
conversate with my son and my daughter's about, you know,

(47:28):
things that they may be going through, good or bad.
I was that day in school, you know, enlightenment. It
really means a lot. So just to if I can
live every day and have that and see them, I'm happy,
they happy, We're all happy.

Speaker 3 (47:44):
That first day getting out of prison, what did you
What did you do?

Speaker 5 (47:51):
Yeah? What we do? Shit? I think I don't know.
I think we went and got some fast food, for sure,
when it got so fast for it. I think I
remember being in the hotel and just you know, just
being in a certain place for so long, being programmed

(48:12):
to the same routine every day. It's like you just
you forget that it's a world out there that exists.
I mean, I know it's ironic. I'm coming from a
place where a lot of people, who majority of the
people watching it's probably never been you know. And so I,
like I said, I'm always appreciate the value of life,

(48:34):
you know, waking up every day and having a chance
to I guess they have opportunity, having a chance to
be around the people that I love because I was around,
you know, a bunch of people that I didn't know
every day, and I just I never forget those I
never forget those times. So I remember, but I've totally

(48:54):
forgot about what was out you know what McDonald's looked like,
but you know, a hotel room looked like, like what
it was like to go sit in the restaurant. I
just it became, you know, it became something that was
just distant in my mind.

Speaker 3 (49:10):
Sure, how'd you how did you deal with like all
the haters out there? And just whenever you like walked
into actually saw where you walked into steak restaurant and
everyone was actually cheering and happy there, and then you
look at like going to like the whenever the Eagles
did pick you up, you go to the facility and

(49:31):
then you see protesting.

Speaker 5 (49:33):
Yeah yeah, yeah, it's like you gotta have thick skin. Yeah.
I learned that playing quarterback, like you know, just from
years of you know, doing well, you get the praise,
and then when it's not going so good, you get
the booze. And those booths hurt a lot more than
those you know, a lot more than the gratification you

(49:54):
get out of the cheering, for sure. It's so you know,
it hurts your ego, hirdsal pride, and then so me,
in this situation I was in, I just had to
look at it like, okay, you know, it's just something
that I you know, it's unjustifiable, and you know, I'm
in a situation where I can only make amends and
try to make it right. I can only do better,

(50:15):
you know. You know, perception is everything, you know, the world,
perception ten percent reality. So people don't believe what they hear,
and so it was my job to like try to
make you know, you know, eighty percent of those haters
or non believers believers like, okay, he made a mistake,

(50:38):
we forgive them. So I couldn't take it personal, I said,
all like to said, I couldn't take it personal. Yeah,
because yeah, now, but yeah, it's irrational thinking from there.
The minute I get a chance to talk at the
podium and I just went and through for three hundred
yards and I could lash out, but that that's not
gonna you know, it's not gonna do anything for anybody.

(51:01):
It's not gonna help my situation moving forward. It's not
gonna make people look at many different. That's football. So
I had to change it as a person and had
to let people see that.

Speaker 4 (51:11):
I think, well, from the start, you've always been out
about it and speaking about it, and a lot of
times it's hard, Like for him it was hard to
just speak about it now, So how hard was it
for you to you know what, Like, I'm gonna speak
about it. I'm not just gonna hide this away and
pretend to forget about it.

Speaker 5 (51:28):
Yeah. I feel like my passion for animals, I really
couldn't you know it. It conflicted with my passion for animals,
And so you know, now people know they looking at
it like, damn, you did this. You went through this situation,
and like, man, the only thing I could do is
is talk about it, become an advocate, embrace animal welfare

(51:51):
and learn more about it, be more educational with it,
and try to help the next generation, help kids understand
how valuable it is. It is. And so I come
from a place where we don't you know that don't
take precedent or we don't you know, the values, we
don't put value into, we don't talk about it, we
don't learn it growing up. And so you know, I

(52:14):
went through a situation where I had to learn a
lot in terms of other things in other areas in
life that I didn't didn't pay a lot of attention to.
And so you know why I'm thinking I'm not doing
anything wrong. People look at it a certain type of
a certain way. They look at it different, they view
it different, and so I had to respect that part
of it, and you know, try to be you know,

(52:37):
as contrite as I could be, you know, going through
the process, even though you know, I wanted to be upset,
be angry, wanted to explain myself, but it's no explaining it,
you know, in the moment like that, you know, it's
about just doing what's right.

Speaker 4 (52:51):
What did you kind of learn about yourself during that time?
You said you learned a lot about the other stuff,
But what did you learn about you?

Speaker 5 (52:58):
Man? I learned that, uh man, I can get through anything,
you know, I learned that I can. It's no test
on the football field that I couldn't conquers, no test
in life that I couldn't conquer. After going to a
place and going through what I went through, I won't explain.
You know, you know the day to day life. You know,

(53:22):
you know what it's like to be you know, constantaty
to be away or you know how you get transported
or how you move, and it's irrelevant. I had to
experience that and and you know it hurt her to
go through it. But after going through it, I'm like,
you know, it don't make me more of a man
than anybody else. It's just that, you know, I had

(53:46):
I dealt with somebody. I felt like I had God
on my side, and when I came out of it,
I had more faith moving forward in life than I
had fear.

Speaker 3 (53:56):
I can want thousand definitely relate to that. Yeah, yeah,
And right after my incident happened, it made me look
at like, yeah, fa faith over fear, And even still
to this day, I mean through like the traumatic experience.

(54:18):
I still fear like things that could happen. Yeah, but
through the toughest time. It really makes you a stronger
person you are today.

Speaker 5 (54:28):
Yeah, it's no really, I mean, it's no substitute for trauma.
You know, it comes in different forms and different things
happen to different people. You know, you you you know
they have some people who go through things and then
they only even they can't come back from me. People
lose arms and legs and they and they feel sorry

(54:49):
for themselves and then you never you know, you see
how all these inspirational stories and stories of people, you know,
persevering and like, man, I'm not gonna care what other
people think. I'm not gonna care what anybody else say.
You know, I'm a you know, I'm always walking my
head hell high man. That when you can do that

(55:10):
and when you can be that person, you know on
a day to day basis, there's nothing nobody can tell
you dictate your life. You dictate where you want to go,
what you want to do, and how successful you want
to be. Nobody else can dictate that for you exactly.
Hey man, I love it. I love it for sure.

Speaker 4 (55:27):
We're gonna move on to our a little a little
more light than you for.

Speaker 5 (55:32):
Unfortunately, life is emotional, emotional right here.

Speaker 4 (55:37):
Yeah, that's that's what this podcast is. It's life and
uh so art is ridiculous. So all those years in
the NFL college high school, all those broad trips, there
had to be a ridiculous, like burn moment that you
went through, whether it be you know, a fan asked
you a question, you know, you maybe how the stalk

(55:57):
or you any ridiculous things that you had to go
through that you could share.

Speaker 5 (56:06):
With us, ridiculous things that I had to go through.
I mean, you know, I know, we just we're trying to,
you know, bring the positivity, I mean not positivity, but
we're trying to, you know, bring the energy back up.
But man, it was really weird and I just, you know,
maybe I'll just use this to clear up some of

(56:29):
the things that happened in my career. Ridiculous moment. And
my wife's right, you know, sitting to my right, your left,
she know the story I was. We just played the
New Orleans Saints. Sean Payton just became the coach. We
beat the Saints for years. My cousin Aaron Brooks was there,

(56:51):
and so this particularly, Yeah, Drew Brees come here and
Sean Payton and they beat us on the road, and
we was beating them at home, and uh we was
beating him, and they came back and won. They had Drew.
I did everything. I passed one eighty through, ran from
one eighty three for one eighty. And after the game,

(57:14):
you know, I'm hearing these booths we lost, wearing these booths,
and I'm like running into the locker room and I
look up in the stands and it was like this
New Orleans Saints fan, not Atlanta Falcons fan, because people
think it was a Saints fan. It was born. And
they were saying, you know, you know, saying all these
things to me, and I'm like, you know, the only
thing I could react and doing that moment was put

(57:35):
up my middle finger. I couldn't get to him, like
like I just it was like the man, I flicked
them off, and I was like, you know, just kind
of like mouthy behind it. And you know, I was
having a moment, man, And I'm saying earlier it could
have been five time Pro Bowl, it was full time.
But that was like a ridiculous moment where I was
getting heckled bad by a fan like you. I can't

(57:57):
even repeat on camera with the fan was saying like, nah,
that ain't me, you got me, You're talking about the
wrong person. And so I defended myself and man, that
that started my my downard Sparrow spiral, and I was,
you know, it cost me a Pro Bowl. Man, But
I it was a ridiculous moment that I could have

(58:19):
handled a lot better. I was twenty five years old,
you know, defending myself, and I just felt like, how
did a New Orleans Saints fan get in the middle
of all leagus Atlanta Falcons fans. It was able to
talk trash to me. I'm like, yo, ya ya should
have up in the stands. Shouldn't have been me.

Speaker 2 (58:38):
Wait, ridiculous you said it cost you a Pro Bowl?

Speaker 5 (58:42):
Yeah, I mean I was on I was having one
of my best years statistically, and and so when something
like that, even though it wasn't no social media, you know,
it still had the Internet back then, and and so
I was on my way to the If that wouldn't
have happened, I was. I was going to my fifth
straight Pro Bowl for sure, and so you know, see
when you get five Pro Bowls, it's automatic Hall of Fame.

Speaker 2 (59:06):
What was the reason?

Speaker 4 (59:07):
Just just because you flipped, like, yeah, I think so
many things other players have done and still made the probole.

Speaker 5 (59:12):
You can't be a quarterback doing that. You can't be
the face of the franchise, and you got to conduct
yourself a certain way, and yeah, I just kind of
let my emotions get the best of me. And a
ridiculous moment.

Speaker 3 (59:25):
Man, Actually, there is a ridiculous moment that I saw.
And it was actually your first NFL game and you're
in the huddle with your team and it was a
TV timeout, and yeah, you reached itside your helmet and
pulled out started like puffing your lips out there, and
your teammates like, what is he doing? In the next
play you took it to twenty five.

Speaker 5 (59:46):
Yeah, I was just trying to loosen them up. I
was just trying to light the move. The huddle was,
the energy was like kind of like it was down
and I just stepped out of it. I just put
on some chapstick And they're like, Yo, this dude just
put some chapstick on. I ain't played it down in
the NFL. He just stepped out there like yo, that
was too cool, And I'm like, yeah, it's too cool,

(01:00:08):
let's go. Where did you put it? Like I remember,
I had like stash stick behind my e in the
middle of my helmet. I had a little secret compartment
back there. You know, we're playing a soldier field and
they get too cold and can't be barking out cads
with no doubt.

Speaker 3 (01:00:23):
Did you ever worry about it like falling out mad game?
Or was it perfectly secured?

Speaker 5 (01:00:27):
I have replacements, understand, I said.

Speaker 4 (01:00:30):
Something that you spent. You spent one thousand dollars a
year on Chapstick just.

Speaker 5 (01:00:34):
About until until we reached out the Chapstick and tried
to get an endorsement deal. They gave me a deal.
They ain't give me no money, but they gave me
a lifetime supply Chapstick at the time.

Speaker 2 (01:00:45):
The way, what's the name of the chapstick.

Speaker 5 (01:00:50):
Stick? Yeah, chopstick.

Speaker 2 (01:00:52):
Is it like a flavor or yeah?

Speaker 5 (01:00:55):
Yeah, I think it was the original?

Speaker 2 (01:00:57):
Yeah, yeah, I think ones. Ones burn your lips. I'll
never never, never do.

Speaker 3 (01:01:04):
I'm super bust because I don't really get chopped clips
that much.

Speaker 4 (01:01:07):
Yeah, I have to like put it on like every
two hours. And this Kid's like, I've never used chapstick
a day in my life. I've never used chapstick, which
is bizarre to man.

Speaker 5 (01:01:16):
You're lucky, man.

Speaker 4 (01:01:17):
Yeah, even when we lived in Colorado, like Alta is
so dry, I had to use them. Were just you
get We were just there two weeks ago and this
dude did not put chapstick once, and that was only
every thirty minutes because.

Speaker 2 (01:01:29):
It's so dry. Like my lips are blistering, batter, feel
any pain?

Speaker 5 (01:01:35):
Ski out there?

Speaker 2 (01:01:35):
Snowboarding very crack. The very first time snowboarding.

Speaker 5 (01:01:39):
I'm gonna learn to ski this year.

Speaker 2 (01:01:42):
No snowboard.

Speaker 5 (01:01:44):
No, that sounds a little more dangerous. What's what's uh,
what's more dangerous? Skin of snowboard?

Speaker 2 (01:01:50):
Mother?

Speaker 3 (01:01:50):
What's more dangerous?

Speaker 5 (01:01:52):
Too long to ask that question. I'm stick the skin.

Speaker 4 (01:01:55):
Yeah, I think, I think. I think snowboarding is definitely snowboarding. Yeah,
it's more tough because you have both feet shopped in,
so if you fall, you just have either your arms
embrace you. But like skis, you're kind of on a pole,
so if you fall, you can just like you in
your feet pop out too, like if you fall, like snowboard,
I gotta show your video After this, I took a
good spell.

Speaker 3 (01:02:18):
Because that was that was a ridiculous burn moment for
Phoenix too. Yeah, humbled him real fast on the snowboard.

Speaker 5 (01:02:25):
I thought it was good.

Speaker 4 (01:02:25):
And we were filming a log during that, and I
had the camera out like look at me, look at me,
go boo ate it. I got the money shot. That's
all I had money shot.

Speaker 2 (01:02:37):
I think we were done after that one.

Speaker 5 (01:02:39):
I was done.

Speaker 4 (01:02:40):
That was it called the other day. But all right,
moving on to the last letter. And it's like two
parts now and next. So what are some burn moments
that you're going through now and what are some moments
that you see coming to you in the future.

Speaker 5 (01:02:56):
Burn moments that I'm going through now? My kids growing up,
and I feel like my wife and I feel like
it's just a lot more teaching going on, a lot
more monitoring, you know, preparing for the future for them
and you know their route to path to success. You know,

(01:03:18):
we got our oldest son that's twenty in New York
film academies aspiring to be an actor. And then we got,
you know, our oldest daughter who's eighteen, who's high school
quarterback for a flag football team. And so trying to
figure out what direction she's gonna go in in life.
She continue to play ball, go to college, you know,

(01:03:39):
what's next for her. So those are like you know,
Burron moments that we're going through right now. I feel
like it's a lot of decisions, the big moments just
that's pending and coming up, and we gotta be a
big part of that and helping them out make the
right decisions. And so that's kind of in the now.
What's next, you know, we're trying to venture into the

(01:04:02):
documentary space. We shooting a lot of content right now
and hopefully trying to land a couple of nice deals
with some of these major streaming service network. So we
got great ideas and wife and I we're working on
them together. She was just put a project together that's
going debut soon. The Evolution of the Black Quarterback is
going to be an amazing story about the quarterback position

(01:04:26):
and where we are now. And so really excited about
that and continuing to be one of the best analysts
I could be at Fox and enjoy that and having fun.
We just had the Super Bowl and Super Bowl was amazing,
so we was able to broadcast that. So that's kind
of like now we're next for us man cool.

Speaker 3 (01:04:45):
Speaking speaking of the Super Bowl, your team the Eagles played,
did you go for them or yeah?

Speaker 5 (01:04:51):
They almost put it off, but you know, I expect
the Eagles to get back, and so you know, yeah,
absolutely they'll get back. The thing is, Kansas City is
gonna be good for long time. Andy has a formula
now and he got the best quarterback in the league.
So you know, when you got the great head coach,
great quarterback, you're gonna win a lot of games.

Speaker 2 (01:05:10):
Out for sure.

Speaker 4 (01:05:11):
And a healthy Patrick Mahomes too. He was banged up, man,
he was banged up. He still played through.

Speaker 5 (01:05:16):
He threw it and won the Super Bowl. That tells you,
I mean, look at that, like, I just main how
hard it was to play the NFL and we got
a guy who goes out there and win the Super
Bowl on her her ankle.

Speaker 4 (01:05:26):
Yeah, it's crazy, crazy, crazy You think that You think
that last player is a p I.

Speaker 5 (01:05:33):
No, yes, yes, yeah, it was a It was a PI.
You just got food. He just got tricked. He thought
it was the same play that he had seen a
couple of players before that, and so you know, like
you're allowed it. You're allowed to make a couple of mistakes.
You'll own up to it. I like the way he
owned up to it. And you see, he just got
signed back to the Eagles, you know, so they didn't

(01:05:53):
look at it as a as a major mistake. He
just do better next time.

Speaker 3 (01:05:59):
Speak Speaking of the documentary, when is that going to
come out?

Speaker 5 (01:06:04):
It'll be out in twenty twenty four, for sure. It'll
be on in twenty twenty four.

Speaker 3 (01:06:09):
Cool, we'll have to check that out.

Speaker 2 (01:06:11):
Yeah, we'll have to check out. Let us know it
comes out.

Speaker 5 (01:06:13):
It's gonna be crazy.

Speaker 2 (01:06:14):
It should be one of the first premiere to watch it.

Speaker 5 (01:06:16):
No doubt. Then you can talk about it on the play.

Speaker 3 (01:06:20):
We do a little recap show, Oh yeah, we do
like little recap shows of like like super Bowl boxing.

Speaker 2 (01:06:28):
You'll see whatever. We'll do a little recap on your documentary.

Speaker 5 (01:06:31):
Excellent platforms.

Speaker 4 (01:06:35):
Sure well, all right, Michael, you just burning your life.
You are now the Burn Factory Champion.

Speaker 5 (01:06:43):
There you go.

Speaker 2 (01:06:44):
But let the audience know where they can find you.

Speaker 5 (01:06:47):
Instagram me on Sundays during the season from September to
January on Fox Sports Shout of the Fox Sports on
Instagram at like vic Twitter. I don't even know you
last my social media when needed, but you know, continue
to follow me, follow My wife's.

Speaker 3 (01:07:13):
Trying to play the back every time someone is like, hey,
you want to plug yourtulf, I'm like, yep, it's pre
always gotta plug my stuff. You heard Michael Vick, go
follow him. And as a gift for coming on the podcast,
we will be you will be getting the black label
edition Burning Factory hoodie and baby sir.

Speaker 2 (01:07:32):
Only only I'm fired only uh, only guests can get those. Also,
the belt in the belt in the belt in the belt.
You're going home with the belt. I ain't gotta work
for it next time on next time you're on Fox.

Speaker 5 (01:07:49):
You just gotta put that up. Oh yeah, I won't get.

Speaker 2 (01:07:53):
For sure. Well that will do it.

Speaker 3 (01:07:55):
Michael Vick just felt burn like always, please visit my
foundation and the Priest James Foundation dot org again, the
Priest James Foundation dot org. I understand why this is
called the Burn Factory. We'll see you for the next episode.

Speaker 2 (01:08:11):
Peace,

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LaVar Arrington

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Up On Game Presents Burn Factory Podcast Featuring Michael Vick "I Jeopardized Everything"