Perspectives - Fred Taylor

In this episode of Perspectives, Brian Sexton sits down with former Jacksonville running back and Pride of the Jaguars member, Fred Taylor.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:02):
The following presentation of the Jaguars Podcast Network is presented
by by Star Credit. Fred Taylor makes people smile. He
did when he left head swiveling, hips turning, and defenders confused,
blazing by them on his way to the end zone.

(00:24):
He could do things full speed most players couldn't imagine
doing while standing still. Today, Fred simply walks through the
door and people want to talk to him, to know
the man who made them hold their breath every time
he touched the ball. This is Perspectives, the story of
the Jaguars first twenty five seasons told by the people

(00:44):
who built the franchise from the ground up. This is
Fred Taylor. Taylor arrived in Jacksonville a hero in waiting.
The six ft one two and thirty pounder played four
seasons in Gainsville. He was built the ball and he
knew it. It was just a matter of time. Everyone

(01:04):
else did too. There are so many memorable moments. Uh
my favorite moment um in the Jaguars uniform with it's
It's simply my rookie year against Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Um,
My childhood best friend Guy played Pop Warner with we
met signing up, registering for the same UH park. We

(01:28):
ended up being uh Ridelle Anthony is who I'm talking about.
We ended up being on the same team. Riedel was
a stud he was a great player from Pop Warner
and uh middle School, high school. We ended up going
to college same college, University of Florida, and uh Ridell
left as a junior and was drafted first round by

(01:49):
Buccaneers and I ended up getting drafted the following year.
UH here to Jacksonville and our rookie year. I remember
hanging out down at Ridail's place in Tampa and the
Mouth of the South. Mr Man Warren Sapp. We were
at SAP's place. UH we took his jet skis out

(02:11):
at three jet skis we took out to clear Water
Beach and throughout the time, young stupid, very confident Fred
Taylor says the SAP, Um, I'm gonna have a hundred
yards rushing on on your Buccaneers defense. And I remember
SAP saying, be careful, young man, don't write a check

(02:32):
your ass can't cash. And UH, I said, all right,
we'll see about that. Fast forward to the game. I
believe it was a Sunday four pm kick in November,
and the very first player of the game was a
run play tackle three yard loss and it was Warren

(02:56):
Sapp and he stood over me and said that F
and Ch is gonna bounce today. And I was like, okay,
we'll see about that very next play. Same result as
I recall it, if the same result, It's like, yeah,
that's check gonna bounce today. Yo. Man, It's like, all right,
it's okay. And in my mind, I'm I'm telling myself,

(03:18):
what did you get yourself into? Well? Fast forward more
throughout the game. Read Hell would score. You know, he
blazed Aaron Beasley for seventy yard uh slant route to
the house for a touchdown. Then I would come down
and scored, and he would score, and I would score,
then he would score and I would score. Fast forward

(03:40):
to fourth quarter, two minutes, a few seconds remaining in
the fourth quarter, I remember Coach Coughlin saying, we're just
gonna run this thirty six. Oh. I was running a
thirty six t behind Tony Boselli, and I, um, there's
a just a simple run to the right where Tony
was pulling, and we were just running that play so

(04:03):
we can get in two minute offense, so we can
be able to hurry up and give ourselves an opportunity
to get in range and scoring range. And cut behind.
Tony cut right, cut left down the Tampa Bay sideline,
come spread, looking up the middle. Now cutting back there
he goes at the forty fredk tackle. He's on the run,
at the fifty friends on the go. He's at the

(04:23):
thirty Fred Fred ten. He's into the end zone. Touchdown Jacksonville. Wow,
seventy yards for Fred Taylor and the trackwards grapple. Seventy
one yards later. I find myself doing inappropriate acts to
our goal post at the time. Thank god for editing,

(04:47):
video editing. But it was that was that was like
the best moment in my entire career, simply because of
of me getting the last laugh against Warren sapp one
of the greatest defensive tackles they ever played a game. Uh,
Derek Brooks was on that team. Hardy Nickerson was on

(05:09):
that team. John Lynch was on the team. Run Day Barber,
who's gonna be another Hall of Famer, he was on
that team. Simmey and Rice was on that team. This
defense was the best defense in all the football and um,
you know my talking crap not knowing exactly what I
was getting into. Kin of Fruition and my childhood friend,

(05:30):
you know, two guys from a small country town, grew
up together through high school, college. We had to shoot
out with each other. He would score, I would score,
He would score. I would score. That was all the
scoring for a while throughout that game. So for me,
that game stands out the most, the best, most memorable
game in Jaguars Uh, in the Jaguars uniform. He made

(05:53):
it look easy, but it wasn't always effortless. Taylor initially
struggled with the transition to professional football, and it took
a moment in Week three three things to get rolling.
You know. In order to talk about the moment when
I took over as the starting running back in Jacksonville,

(06:13):
I can't tell you without saying, uh, Willie Jackson, who
was a receiver here. You know, he allowed me to
regain my confidence because in the preseason it was shot
Coach Coughlin. You know, he was demanding so much of players,
whether you're a tenure vet rookie, it didn't matter. You know.
He wanted you to excel and uh a sin. He

(06:38):
would say, guys, you have to sin. You gotta go,
you gotta go, and and he would always, you know,
demand the best of you. Well, there was a period
for me where um, the media, some of the local media,
I'm pretty sure some of the fans, because they tend
to go in the direction of the media most of
the time or a lot of the times, in all
fairness to them. Uh. Um, And it was Fred, it

(07:03):
is a bust. Fred, You're a bust. And I heard
that stuff, and um, not until I talked to Willie.
He goes there, that wasn't the reason you were drafted here.
This is why you were drafted here. Just go back
to the old Fred, and I stopped. I would always
listen to coach call from but I started to listen
to Willie, like, you know what that makes that makes
the most sense. You know, Let's try it that way.

(07:25):
You know, let's stop beating uh, you know, heads against
the wall. Let's just go calm yourself down and get
back to the basics. So fast forward three games. We're
playing the Baltimore Ravens. Um in my rookie year, Um,
Stew goes down. I always kept myself prepared, and to

(07:45):
give Stew his credit, Stew always made sure I was
preparing the right way, and I was thankful to have
a veteran guy who was very receptive of taking me
under his wings. A guy who's threatening his his whole
entire livelihood. This is how we feed our families. But
you know, he threw all that out the window, the

(08:06):
window and just looked at me as a teammate who
could help us win. So Uh, thankful. I'm thankful for
Stu that even though he went down. Um me jogging
on the field, I remember being as nervous as could be,
but I was ready. And my very first carry was
at thirty nine, toss to the left where I was

(08:29):
able to cut it back to the right, made the backside. Uh,
linebacker miss to sweep left. There goes Fred Taylor. He's
across the cold coming back breaking tackles forty five, Taylor forty.
He's free at the thirty. He's at the twenty. Fred
Taylor ted five touchdown Jacksonville fifty two yards and Fred
Taylor makes a statement in his first major run fifty

(08:51):
two yards later. Uh, I'm in the end zone, not
having a clue what to do with the ball, and
I remember, like yesterday, my jersey was as tight as
could be. Uh, shout out Drew Hampton, our old equipment
guy who hooked me up with the tight jersey so
nobody was arm tackling me. I can tell you that

(09:13):
how tight that jersey was. But young Fred Taylor in
the end zone, I didn't know whether to spike the
ball keep my first touchdown ball. All I remember is
growing up as a child, guys would spike it and
guys would keep it, and I didn't know what to
do at that point. So if you ever see the highlight, uh,

(09:34):
it seems as if I have like a like, Uh,
it's stuck with sticky glue because I'm trying to spike
it but it wouldn't release. And Uh, to me to
these days, the silliest the thing I've ever done as
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(10:17):
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Taylor learned Earl playing in the NFL was going to
take the best he had to offer, game in and
game out. Playing for Tom Coughlin challenged him to give
his best day in and day out. When I got

(10:41):
when I went to work out, I thought Coach Coughlin
wasn't madman. You know, he goes son Uh, you're out
of shape. Why can't you finish the drill? And and
from there I just had this. I would look at
him and I would go, something's wrong with this guy
because I just did it a hundred reps and he

(11:01):
wants me to do another hundred. But it's for an
opportunity to be drafted, you know. I sort of wait
the different draft positions of the different teams that worked
me out, and at that moment, I was projected top
three backs, and UH, I felt that if I can
go to Jacksonville, UH, it would be the best um

(11:25):
place for me to end up in the entire draft.
So um it all worked out at the very end
of the day. UH. The difference in Coach Spurrier playing
for coach Spurry and playing for Coach Coughlan is night
and day. Uh in a sense that Coach Spurry wants
to hurry up, get done with practice and make his

(11:46):
four o'clock tea tie and be able to play before
uh the sunlight is up. Uh. Coach Coughlan totally opposite.
He wants you out there practicing until uh it's dark
and uh. You know, but they were two great men
who I grew to respect over the course of time,

(12:07):
and um uh they both allowed me an opportunity to
find myself as a young man. I got into some
trouble down in in Gainesville under Coach Spurry. He went
to bat for me because he believed, you know, it
wasn't in my character. It was just a bone head,
childish mistake. And the same for Coach Coughlin when he

(12:28):
was extremely hard on me. I didn't understand it at first, why,
you know, he it seemed that as if he was
picking on me. But after a while, uh, you learned
that he just wanted absolute best for you. He followed
that big run against the Ravens with a seventy seven
yard score against the Dolphins on Monday Night Football, and
the seventy eight yard touchdown catch in Baltimore and big

(12:51):
scores in Cincinnati, Nashville, and Denver. Scoring seventeen touchdowns as
a rookie and narrowly missing out on NFL Rookie of
the Your honors to a my name, Reddy Moss. A
hamstring injury brought back some old doubts and a new nickname.
It still bothers him to this day, though in the end,
Fred proved those detractors wrong. Fredil Fred hurt then and

(13:16):
it's still hurt now. When I look up Fred Taylor
stats to make my comparisons to the best, you know,
other running backs that have played the game. Uh, when
I look up uh top Russias of all time, and
it it gives it gives you a link to Pro

(13:38):
Sports Reference or something of that nature, and it has
all the players nicknames. And unfortunately the fragile Fred tag
is it's still there and I never accepted that as
a nickname. It's certainly motivated me throughout my career. I think,
you know, I always say God does things in the

(14:00):
most mysterious of ways. For example, Uh, people talk about
the market, the Jacksonville market, or the lack of and
maybe that has something to do with the lack of
Pro Bowls and you know, lack of recognition in terms
of being in the same conversation with other running backs
around the league. Well, I always go back to God

(14:22):
only gives you what you can handle. And for me,
a young kid from a small country town in Belglade
to a small college town in Gainesville to a look
just a bit larger, uh town in Jacksonville. It was
just enough. Now, it was just enough. I can handle
Jacksonville and those those those injuries in the media, you know,

(14:46):
the New York media would have torn me alive had
I missed those amount of games in that period. Fredil
Fred might be the least of my worries. Yet here
is it is what it is. I was in Jacksonville,
that was the name was associated with me, but it
definitely motivated me. I went through a period where I

(15:06):
stopped partying so much, I stopped doing other things so
I can minimize the soft tissue injuries, UH and give
myself an opportunity to be on the field and be
successful trying to help the team win. Personally. Um, there
was a stretch, I believe a three years stretch where
I didn't miss a single game. But I learned how

(15:29):
to be a pro. In that period. I learned the
simple things to take care of your body. Uh to
uh nutrition, different nutrition, different diets, UH massage. I developed
the routine that will help me sustain a thirteen year career.
And in the back of my mind, I I tend

(15:51):
to laugh at you know, whoever started the nickname and
whoever would say it um. I laugh at those people
now because the average lifespan is around three years, three
and a half years or so, and for me to
have played almost four times that average, you know, that's
that's just a testimony or testament to um my dedication.

(16:15):
And I have a quick story. We played Philly. We
played the Eagles in Philly, and I remember during warm
ups I would always go out warm up with my
headphones on, try and tune everything out. And I remember
being on one end zone in Philly and the fans
were chatting or they were chained Fragile Freddie, and they

(16:36):
would say throughout the individual warm ups, throughout the team
warm ups, and I looked up there and said, I'm
gonna get the last last. So throughout the game, an
opportunity came where I saw they had a cornerback blitz.
I knew I was gonna cut back into the cornerback blitz.
I didn't care what happened, but I was gonna cut
back into. All I had to do was beat the safety,

(16:58):
which was Dawkins at the time. I beat the blitz.
I beat Dawkins, out ran everyone, escored a touchdown in
that same end zone, and it was as quiet as
could be for that brief moment. I felt great knowing
that I silenced the entire stadium. But laughing didn't last.
Neither did the winning. Injuries, including a big one of

(17:20):
his own, the salary count, and losing all took their
swings at the Jaguars, and by two thousand two, the
first era, the Tom Coughlin era, was over Taylor. Clearly,
the identity of the franchise was ready for change. For
a moment um, just going back to how tough coach

(17:41):
Coughlin was for those five years, He's extremely tough. Things
weren't going quite the way we wanted them to go
as an organization or as a team. As an organization,
and for a moment, you know, you tell yourself, okay,
the fans are asking for a player for league. Coach,
the players aren't playing, they're not winning in the fourth quarter.

(18:04):
They're tired. They overpracticed, they practiced too hard. You know,
it was grueling, like those those practices on the coach
Coffin's watch. They were intense. It was two days. It
was passed throughout the entire week, even on some Fridays,
and the veteran guys started complain. I, for one, I
always just went to work. I never complained about the

(18:28):
padded practice or anything of that nature. The one thing
that that sort of pushed my relationship was Coach Coughlin's
relationship to the side a bit. What's the growing injury?
I told my growing off the bone, and the media
started asking questions, you know, why isn't Taylor here where

(18:51):
it's Fred and and I remember, you know, I'm not
sure if the exact quote, but Coach Coughlin to a
certain extent responded, I don't know, maybe he's in the
training room. He should have been back a couple of
weeks ago. Uh, it's only a three week injury. Well,
I tore my entire. I tore my growing, detached it

(19:12):
from the bone, which was I missed the right amount
of time when I missed the entire season, so our
relationships started to get a bit gray. And at that
particular moment, I didn't really care if they fired coach
Coughlin or not. I felt that change would have been
the best thing at that particular point in time. Uh.

(19:33):
Insert Jack del Rio his first year. You know, we
spent maybe as much time at the movie theaters, are
not practicing as much as maybe any team in the
entire NFL, and it felt good. I mean I still
did what I would normally do as a player. Uh.
It was that period I started to take care of

(19:54):
my body and make sure I didn't miss games. So
for me, it was things were smooth. The relationship was
Jack with Jack was was smooth. He looked at me
as a as a leader, a captain, and he respected
what I did on the field. After a few years
of the same, you realize it was too many great
areas and I believed Jack's inexperience as a head coach,

(20:19):
his inexperienced micromanaging his his experience as a player. Uh.
I think that sort of got in the way of
our goal here. Uh. He bumped head with a lot
of guys, and I I don't necessarily, UM, I don't
hate Jack four. Actually, I would actually love to have

(20:39):
conversations the same conversation I found myself having with coach
Coughland when I met him in the preseason games. I
would have those same conversations with coach del Rio. But
those coaches were night and day. Coach Coughland was black
and white. If you entered that middle area, those that's
the consequence line. You know what you were getting yourself into.

(21:01):
Jack was after a moment, it was more gray and
inconsistency showed and he lost a lot of the guys. UM.
But both coaches at the very end of the day,
you know you learn from them. You learn, you know
from every um experience in life. You have to take

(21:21):
those and and develop so you can help your person
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insured by n c U A. A few years into

(22:09):
the Jack Deal real era, the jag Wars decided to
start planning for life after fred. A fifteen hundred yards
season in two thousand three and two thousand more rushing
yards between two thousand four and two thousand five didn't
stop the Jaguars from drafting Maurice Jones Drew. Maurice wondered
how Taylor would react, but he needn't work. By two
thousand six, Taylor was not only entirely self confident, he

(22:32):
was completely self aware. M j D my guy. I
love Mojoe. We have a great relationship now. Uh. I
constantly check on his family. I constantly route from Murray's.
I think he's doing a wonderful job at the network.
UM not to say I wouldn't have thought he would

(22:53):
have because he could talk. He was always a talker,
especially his rookie year. I think the one thing that
stands out most about Maurice is how he absorbed everything
that I shared with him. I wanted to make sure
that he was successful. I you know, I try to
be pretty level headed and the sense that I knew

(23:14):
I was older. You know, I knew that, UM, I
wasn't gonna play every snap. I knew that, UM the
way the NFL works. Yeah, prior to Maurice, I believe
we drafted a running back every single year from my
entire career. But neither was as special as Maurice. They
were good, but Maurice was just a different talent. He

(23:36):
can return the ball, kickoff return, point return, UM. He
can receive the ball out of the backfield, short game, intermediate,
he can get down the field on will routes. UM,
he could run the ball. His vision was amazing. His
he wasn't a big guy in stature, but he was powerful.
His lower body was as strong as it could be,

(23:57):
and he broke a ton of tackles. UM. I think
Maurice he accepted his role. You know, he didn't ask
to be anything more than he UH was very patient.
He knew that I still had a lot left in
my tank, and we had great chemistry. There were opportunities
where he would say no, no, now you go in,

(24:18):
and I would saying no, you go in. We almost
came to a point where neither one of us was
in and then someone would have to run on the field.
But those were those were great times. I mean, I
cherished those moments. Uh. I think the only inconsistency with
Mauris though, is his select amnesia when it comes to

(24:40):
who was the best Madden Football player, because for some reason,
he don't remember the amount of times that I beat him.
But that's okay, you know. I I tend to just
smirk and laugh at those moments, and I teach him
to this day about it. But we have a great relationship.
I just spent some time with them out there at
the NFL Network a couple of weeks ago. You know,

(25:02):
he's rooting for me, uh in my Hall of Fame push.
I'm certainly rooting for him. I certainly believe he's uh
capable of being in a shrine someday. It would be
amazing to have both of us in there, two guys
that shared the backfield for the same team, the same organization.
I think that would be She's, for me, probably the

(25:24):
most amazing thing that I've seen in the two men
ran rough shot over the rest of the league, and
together they helped power the NFL's best rushing attack in
a playoff season in two thousand seven. Fred exited stage
left after two thousand and eight and spent a few
seasons in New England before hanging it up. He finished
with eleven thousand, six ninety five yards and seventy four touchdown,

(25:47):
but he was rarely mentioned among the very best of
the best, the Hall of Fame caliber players. Maybe it
was because he played in Jacksonville, the NFL smallest market,
or maybe it's because he didn't play in the Super Bowl.
One Guy Bill one Dury special guy new where Taylor
belonged in the conversation, I think, um the Jim Brown quote.

(26:08):
You know, during my playing career. For a while, I
didn't see it. I didn't hear it anywhere. Someone had
to tell me, and I certainly went and looked it
up soon after I heard about it. Uh just a
kid who watched uh Jim Brown highlights. Man, he's the goat.
Like people missus the term goat. You know you have

(26:29):
kids nowadays they's just everything is go, you go? Did
he go? Here? Go? They don't understand the real meaning
of go. Jim Brown is the real goat at the
position of running back. In my opinion. Uh So when
I heard it, I was like, wow, that Wow, this
is That's all that really matters, you know. The lack
of Pro Bowls, the lack of Pro Bowl recognition, Um,

(26:54):
it doesn't matter for me. The only thing that matters
is when I hear my idols. You know mentioned you know,
I'm the best running back that he sees out there
in the NFL. Uh, when the guys I compete against,
you know, the Ray Lewis is of the world, Um,
the ad reads out of the world, Derek Brooks, Warren
sapped Detroy pot malews. When those guys say he's the

(27:17):
best running back, uh, that I've ever faced. That's what
really matters. And I think, UH, if I had thought
more about the Hall of Fame when I came into
the NFL, or even throughout my playing career, I think
I would have placed it here as a goal to attain,

(27:37):
and my career probably have gone a little different in
terms of, um, how I would have rested, how I
would have treated my body, maybe even a team's success.
But when I came in the NFL, it was hall
of Fame was never thought, you know, not until I
achieved the ten thousand yard mark. I became the twenty

(27:58):
one running back in NFL history to attain that that goal,
and not until at that point in time, I started
to think maybe just maybe, um, I can make the
Hall of Fame someday, you know, maybe I could um
out rushed my idol and Jim Brown, which is just thought.

(28:19):
He was number nine on the list before I retired.
And uh it was just twelve thousand, two hundred and
fourteen yards. I believe I have to look that up again,
but I believe those are the numbers or I'm extremely close.
And uh, my last couple of years, that's all I

(28:40):
wanted to do was just out rushed my my idol,
and that was my goal. That came short. I finished
with eleven. I was just a couple of hundred yards
short due to some injuries um up in New England.
But just to ride just still be able to just

(29:01):
here that interview of him saying, you know, Fred Taylor,
he got some juice. He's the best running back that
I see out there. Um, that I've seen with my
eyes like that. I'll never forget that. Uh, no matter
what happens um the Hall of Fame, I'm very appreciative
and humble to be in the semifinalists conversation. And for

(29:24):
the life of me, that's the only thing I was
fighting for, for an opportunity to be in the conversation
and opportunity to get in the room. And that's when
the deep, deep digging starts and the real conversation begins,
when you are in that room of the with the
fifteen finalists. Uh. And we'll continue to fight for that.

(29:47):
You know, it's out of my hands, but we will
in some shape form capacity, UH try and continue to
push things out there that hopefully will allow uh me
to get into that room them someday where they could, uh,
the voters, the selectors, they could uh you know, determine
if I should be there or not. And at the

(30:08):
very end of the day, they have they have a
hard job. UH so many great players, great moments. At
the very end of the day. In my heart, I'm
gonna always feel that I was a Hall of Fame talent, No,
especially knowing the guys that I played against, the guys
that competed against that are selected Hall of famers now forever,

(30:29):
you know, weigh myself against those guys and their abilities.
UM as well as UM knowing of the one hundred
year history of the NFL, the amount of backs that
came through the NFL, you know, to retire fifteenth all time,
all caps, all time, I mean, that's nothing I ever

(30:53):
set my mind to, uh in the injuries that I endure,
the way I was able to fight through those and
still be able to grind out a thirteen year career,
retire fifteenth all time on all rushing list of the
thirty two modern error backs, I am, you know, I'm

(31:15):
My numbers are better than sixteen. And those guys that
are seventeen, and those guys that are already in the
Hall of Fame. You know, little moments, little things like that,
those little nuggets and make me smile and make it
say it's all worth it. And I would do it
again in the heartbeat if I could. Today. Taylor commutes
between his home in South Florida and Jacksonville, where he's
part of the Jaguars game day broadcast. His name is

(31:38):
already on the wall, and perhaps in the very near future,
he'll wear the gold jacket as one of the best
to ever play the game. The people in Jacksonville already
know he is, and he knows the people in Jacksonville
are the gold he already has after all. In the
words of long time jag wars dot com senior editor
Big Catchman, it's the memories didn't make us rich. You know,

(31:59):
I never understood Vic when he said that. And he
said that a long time ago, way before I retired,
way before I actually understood what he was trying to say.
And um, you know, I I learned that towards the
end of my career. You know, there are opportunities where
I had autograph signings and appearances and all this different stuff,

(32:20):
and I turned it down. I mean not only I
was turning down a large sum of money just to
you know, show up. But I figured, at the very
end of the day, that's what it was all about,
showing up, being accountable, being reliable, you know, having those
relationships where people believe about believe in you. So that

(32:41):
taught me a lot, you know. And again it wasn't
about the money at the very end of the day,
it was about the relationships that were being affected. So
at some point throughout my career are under I started
to understand the value and relationships. It's always been easy
for me to just be real, be myself treat people

(33:02):
the way I've always wanted to be treated. I think
my grandmother for that. She did a great job of
raising myself for my sisters and brothers, um and teaching
us what humility is. I mean, I I don't come
from a lot. I come from a lot of her
hard work. I'm a product of that. I've seen her,
you know, going out to the sugar mill, uh, going

(33:25):
out to the the packing house where she would pack
different vegetables and pick vegetables and packed vegetables, and she
would have a you know, sixteen hour work day. So
that hard work taught me a lot when I was
young and uh, and I think just everything she taught
me carried over to how to treat people. You know,

(33:47):
I firmly believe that I was just blessed with God
given ability to play a game. A game. It's nothing
more than that. It's just a game. And it doesn't
mean you treat people differently. It only means that you
were blessed to play a game and being able to entertain,

(34:08):
you know, And you want to share those blessings with everybody.
I shared with my family, I share them with the fans,
you know, to see a young kid's face light up,
or even an adult fan for that matter, to see
their faces light up. You know, you're giving back those
those people. I always believe, and I said that many
times as a player. You know, if we're losing, that

(34:31):
stunk for me, because you have people out there busting
their butts making a living and they come. They you know,
they try and find a way to budget in these
game tickets, and they want to come and be entertaining
and be able to go home happy, uh seeing their
team win. And it upsets me a lot that we
didn't always do that and these people are really out

(34:52):
there grinding. It reminded me and my grandmother, you know
how she grinded to make a couple of dollars. Um.
So yeah, I coming in the building being able to
when I walk outside see my name on the wall. Um,
it's still all surreal. It's wow. Every time I look
up there, when I look up there, Uh, I don't

(35:14):
make it a habit to look up there, but when
I look up there, I go wild. That's gonna be
there forever. Forever is a long time