Wess

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
My name is Dan Jansas joined and we're billed with
heroes Mark Sessler, Chris Westling, Greg Rose, Doll with the
pocket square. What is up? Boys? Hey Dan? Hey Dan?
Hey Dan Hey Dan? It is the game of both
skill and valor, also known as w is tooster in
a big spot and ate in three team on a

(00:21):
six game when it chaake look up to the live
show success, the meet up even more of a success.
You guys have sat behind me or sat beside me
for seven shows. You sat beside me for a growing
battle with cancer. Will you stand beside me on the
most important wine is blue? Because we're having a baby bar.

(00:51):
Something is always lost in art or experience when you
analyze it. Mark Twain once he became a riverboat pilot
and learned the technical side of it. The Mississippi River
was no longer beautiful for him. If I was to
hire a sportswriter, the first question I was gonna ask
him is how do you reconcile the essential meaninglessness of sports?
I mean, how do you reconcile watching young men bang

(01:15):
into each other and try to advance and inflate a
pigskin against Mark territory? I mean that's what you're doing.
How do you reconcile the importance of that? And I
think it's like Shakespeare's poems or Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. This
is going above and beyond. At its best, Sports is
look at what humans can do. Welcome to another edition

(01:40):
of the Around the NFL Podcast, an edition of the
Around the NFL podcast unlike any other, and um sad
edition of the show. My name is Dan Hansas. Come
to you from a virtual room filled with some heroes,
and there always will be it always will be only
some heroes, Um sadly, Mark Sessler, Greg Rosenthal, What is up? Boys?

(02:12):
M hm so yes, of course the news and everybody knows.
And but Chris the Mailman Westling West whatever you called him, um,
passed away this weekend, two weeks shy of his forty

(02:33):
seven birthday. One of our closest friends and a great
husband to Lakisha and an excellent father to link Um.
However brief it was, uh And yes, the Super Bowl
just wrapped up with the Bucks lane a whip in
on the Chiefs, and I think West would have enjoyed

(02:54):
breaking down this game in the performance by Tampa Bay.
And we wish he was with us, UM, but instead
that the show is about West, It's not about the game. Uh.
And that's how it should be. Boys. Yeah. I mean
when when West was talking, UM, you know about the

(03:18):
meaningless of noss of sports and why you would why
you would cover it in that UM basically it's like art,
you know. I think that's how he saw it. UM,
that you're appreciating someone doing it like at the highest level,
UM possible. Look at what humans can do. And I
think listening you know to West say that, UM, it

(03:41):
just got me thinking of like, look at what he
can do, you know, look at what look at what
humans can do. When he when he wrote UM, when
he was on this podcast where I think he felt
like totally himself, totally comfortable from like from day one,
and was just awesome at it. Uh and probably more
than anything, like when he was just spinning yards with us,

(04:02):
you know, UM at the bar or at work or wherever,
like he collected characters. I think that you know, we'll
talk about, I'm sure. But the outpouring I think, especially
from the people that knew him, UM is so profound
just because of because of that, because you connected with him,

(04:23):
because He connected with so many people because because of
because of what he could do. Yeah, we were asked
on Sky Sports if we were surprised by the outpouring,
and Dan answered the question, and I I like what
Dan said that to some degree we were not um

(04:44):
because this has been a really long journey. And I
view West as someone who as we watch football grow, um,
not only in the States, but especially you know beyond
throughout Europe, that West is a big part of that.
When they write that story, um, he is someone that
would go out of his way. I cannot tell you

(05:04):
how many people reached out to us and and d
m s this week saying, oh, you know, I've actually
been writing back and forth with West for five years
and it's like a listener from the deep beyond. And
he he loved engaging with football, and he wasn't a
you know, you couldn't put West into a box. And
I'll say quickly blocking them to blocking them to there,

(05:26):
that's true. You had to play by a certain um
set of rules with West. I'm not sure I've ever
met anyone that that blocked more people, um, but I
would imagine with good with good reason. He didn't suffer
fools uh for long UM. But when West first showed
up at NFL, UM we had a former UM manager
of ours. He kind of at the Super Bowl told

(05:47):
me Justin Hathaway, who who hired Dan, and I, you
better watch out because this West character, UM has been
writing all week while you've guys been at the Super Bowl.
And it's some of the best material I've ever read
on NFL dot com. And I know he's you know,
he was sort of saying, you've made a wonderful higher. UM.
This person is someone special when it comes to writing football.
And I was pretty knew at writing football back then myself,

(06:10):
and I would spend a lot of time reading what
West wrote, UM, if we covered something similar, how he
covered it versus how I did, and like the lead,
the readers learned so much about football from West. But
I would credit West as UM, you have these people
in your life that when I started to read his
writing and his analysis, that it changed the way that

(06:31):
I thought about covering football, UM and always will you
know and that and it was so well done that
that the clip we played at the very top of
the show, Matt Sick is UM who works for an
editing team. UM. Just one of the many people at
the at the company he put it together. He did
such a great job with it, and UM, one of
the people that the reason he was able to do

(06:53):
that was because he knew Wes and he knew UM.
The bond he had with us and with Ricky Hollywood. UM,
and that was kind of just West in a nutshell,
how everyone got on with him. And I was thinking,
how like I in my whole life, UM, I was
never was friends with someone as long as I was

(07:14):
friends with West, and I met him in two thousand
and now here we are in two thousand twenty one.
I never got into a fight with West once. I
never like we maybe would argue on the air and
the podcast, but me and him never had a single
like moment where we were crossed in like in each
other's faces or ever. You know, we just got on
so well because he did he got on well with everyone.

(07:36):
And Mark and I were talking about this UM the
night that he passed away over a few drinks, which
I know West approved of. UM. That all three of
us connected with West but in unique ways, which really
speaks to Chris in terms of, you know, really he's

(07:58):
such an eclectic personality and he was had so many layers,
and like I, I connected with West as someone who
grew up and m had not maybe a direct family
that was large, but I had an extended family that
I essentially grew up with tons of cousins and a
lot of them boys, and was raised Catholic and grew

(08:20):
up just in love with sports. And uh, I love
stupid things like whiffleball and like West cornhole, which he
introduced to us. And I know you guys have um
reasons why you kind of felt close to him and
and what what he said? How do you reconcile the
essential meaninglessness of sports? And he he hit on something

(08:41):
which was typically brilliant with Chris, which was this idea
that you could see the human form achieving um at
its peak physically. But it's sports to me. And the
reason why I love sports, um is because it's more
to me also than that. It's also how it brings
people together. And um, you know, um, that's sports and

(09:05):
the NFL's what brought us together. It's it's what brought West.
Was on a message board, Greg, when you were, um
a football writer once upon a time working in the
fantasy realm and you and you saw this guy that
was just writing brilliant long screeds about fantasy sports, and
you smartly hired him, and then we're smart enough to
bring him over here and it just changed all of

(09:26):
our lives. Yeah, it's so well said, um, because you know,
my my start to the relationship with West is Yes,
reading this this blog post on his old site, Sons
of the Tundra, a dynasty football blog, he had like
a ten Yeah, it's a great site. He had a

(09:48):
ten thousand word post um that I saw in the
off season that was like I could have just dropped
it and it would have replaced the first thirty pages
of our preview in magazine and it would have like
proved it. I was like, who is this guy? I
need to Uh, I need to get this guy. But
part of part of I think feel like the basis
of our our friendship to start two was arguing and um,

(10:10):
and that's what arguing about football, and it was never personal.
We the two of us were never one to back down. Um.
You know, Lakisha loves to say he's the most stubborn
guy she's ever you know, met in his life. Um,
And I think he got that from his brothers. You
know we you mentioned having a drink. We we uh,

(10:31):
we were sitting with Phil Um then Chris's brother who
was here this week, and Um and then and they
were they were like that relationship too, you know, a
millionth degree because there was seven of them and Um
and West. You know, West was the one who you know,
he's the second oldest one. I think a lot of them,

(10:54):
you know, really looked up to him. And that just
that just came from from him. But it wasn't It
wasn't just that you you said it so well and
even just how you said it. The end made me
think of how he collected characters around him, like so
many different types of people, and I connected with them
about about literature and talking about the you know, the

(11:14):
meaning of life and everything um about life. And when
I went down to Tybee, like and you guys saw that,
we all saw that at the wedding to just like
he could bring so many different types of people together.
That's all he wanted was to be surrounded by characters.
He didn't care what type of personality you were. He
just like wanted you to be like a unique person

(11:35):
and if you were, then you could ride with West
and you were going to love him. Oh I love
I love what you both said, and I part of
me wishes we could have you know, said these things
like another time. But um, I just I think my my,
like my relationship with Wes wasn't really about football that much.
And I think that's such just so unique that you know,

(11:56):
we each covered such different territory with him, and I
grew up loving boards as much as anything else, um,
but not as much as not as much as Wes.
I know that, um. But West and I like for
the other eight eight percent of our relationship, I think
that it when he showed up to to Los Angeles.
I had been writing to him, um, because he had
been remote for a while, and we we I just

(12:18):
started to realize I was fascinated a bit, but fascinated
by this person. And I would send him like, um, hey, West,
like here's my top fifteen, like l a dive bars,
so when you get here, like we're going to try
these places out and stuff. And he didn't. He you know,
he I think he was struggling with with who he
was and where he was when he came to Los Angeles,
and I think the other phases of his time here

(12:38):
where my friendship with him was de emphasized a little bit,
and obviously other plate people played a larger role. But
I think early on, UM just something inside of me
wanted to look out for West, and UM my thing
with West, I think a little bit rom reminded me
of some of my other guy friends growing up. Um
was misadventures and pranks. And I like, I was up

(12:59):
all night last night, Like I'm sure we all were,
just um trying to get down to the nuance of
what my friendship with West was about. And I'm not
even an eighth of the way through figuring that out.
But what kept coming to me where these moments were like,
and Dan, you were there for some of this too,
But I just like West, when you get them going,
you'd wind them up off a few beers or something.
I just don't think that there are He'll He'll be

(13:22):
a top one or two or three friend in that
way for the rest of my life. And you know,
you'd be ten minutes in. I'd say to West, like, West,
how much will you pay me to pick up this
chair and launch it across this room? And He'd say, um,
twelve bucks. So I was like, not enough. And then
we we I mentioned this on Sky that there were
just all these little instances. I remember a time when
we were out with Colleen Wolfe and Gonzo and and

(13:44):
we were upstairs at something the second floor of some
um pub, and there were these tables of older women.
I don't know what they were doing there, but they
were essentially sort of blue hairs, and um, we would
just test each other to go do little things, and
we would walk up to these these table of women
and like sit down very seriously. I'd say we're we're

(14:04):
reporters from NFL dot com and West would say we're
real reporters, were scribes, and we would just ask, you know,
do it. I would like to know, do you think
that uh, you know, Iron Eagle is underrated as a
play by play man. This is a hot topic. And
we're going around the whole bar and like it's just
like the the the that's you know, one little example
that West and I would do these things. We read
an airport once. Um what some people would call an incident.

(14:27):
I would call it an uh an adventure to some degree.
But we were rolling around asking people like how furious
they were with fake microphones in front of our hands,
like that the that the ravens had been pulled from
the belly of the Browns. And you know, these gentlemen
to be like, didn't that happen like twenty two years ago.
We're like, yes, but we need your thoughts, and like
you know, by the time that that night ended, West

(14:49):
and I had um counted other incidents. But I I
love I just loved being able to chat and talk
with him, his verb his verbal skills. Um. That's something
that always, like I find I value in a end
and we've seen how much how valuable he was on
that front. And this is one little um spoonful off
an Iceberg. So I thank you and Mark you and
Dan rather um for going out all those nights early on.

(15:13):
I remember I met my wife, but I met him
at this bar, like but I think the first day
he was here. We both moved out here at the
same time. I had worked for the NFL a little
longer than West, about nine months longer before we hired,
but we moved here at the exact same time, and
I went out with I went out with him to
a bar like the first night, and maybe did it

(15:33):
the third or fourth night. And I was thinking, like, well,
this isn't me. You know, I'm I'm not that guy really,
and I've got a I've got a young, young kid,
and UM, he's gonna need someone because you're right, I was.
I was going to do everything I could to make
um the work part of it UM payoff because he
took a chance. He really debated whether to come here

(15:56):
or not. He had he had just gotten promoted a
road to world. He was moving across the country from
Tybee Island. I was gonna do everything I could to
make the work part of it good. But it's like
I needed y'all. I needed you guys to be out
with him that or else. I don't know. I don't
know if you would have stayed well. It wasn't a
hard shore Phil. His brother Phil told the story that
I was not aware of that. UM. I believe it

(16:17):
was Phil's daughter UM, And apologies to feel if I
have the story slightly off. But was asked to do
a book report on someone who took a chance in life,
and she was like, oh, I want to do it
on Uncle West, who had a perfectly comfortable life on
Tybee Island. He grew up on the West side of Cincinnati. Um.

(16:40):
He was a space alien for leaving the West side
of Cincinnati, because, as he told us many times, no
one really left the West side of Cincinnati. And he
followed a friend of his that so many funny, strange
West stories, but a friend from Ohio who moved to
Tybee Island off the coast of Georgia and then became
the mayor of Typee Island. He moves there on that

(17:03):
guy's recommendation and then settles into this island life um
or as Dave Damage was Dave Damage, I could say,
Tabby Ahland and um, and then you know, made fast
friends with everyone, um as Chris does, and built this
whole life. And he was so he was the mayor,
although shout out to Jason Buellerman, I believe, who also

(17:27):
officiated his wedding. Right, let's not let's remember Buellerman was
the mayor. But what West was everyone's best friend. But
West was so you know, such a gifted writer, he
was so talented that, um, he could have just stayed
on that island. Um, got drunk with his friends, played softball,

(17:47):
met someone, eventually got married and and and he nearly
did that on that island as well, and then been
an online football writer and had he carved out a
nice life, but he did take that. He took that chance,
and um, I like to say it paid off for
him beautifully. In fact, we know because Lakisha, he doesn't
meet Lakisha an NFL network, and if he doesn't meet Lakisha, UM,

(18:10):
I don't think he would have survived cancer the first time.
That's how special a woman she is. And then there
would be no link. But it was touch and go
West in l A initially, and you said, Greg, you
you tried and that was not your forte going to bars.
Mark and I definitely more up our alley and we
both went out with West a lot because we knew

(18:32):
we could tell immediately West was a good guy and
um a great football writer and a great addition to
the team, but like a really good guy like we
wanted it to meet. We wanted it to work, um,
but it was. It was tough because he was, yes,
the most stubborn person I've ever known as well, UM,
which could be a blessing and accurse sometimes, but he's

(18:53):
His initial thought was I hated here, this isn't me.
And I remember Mark us going out a lot with him.
One one day, Emily, my wife, and I went to
West's and I remember we all sat in the jacuzzi
together and we threw corn together and listened to like Springsteen,
and it was just like you just wanted him to
get like in the flow of like this could work.
I remember Mark, you and I with Emily and West

(19:16):
sitting outside the city Tavern and Culver City and signing
him up for Plenty of Fish, the dating site, which
was that took a lot of a lot of convincing
because he thought, oh, that's dating sites are for losers,
Like no, Wes, this is I think we were out
of the loop. But I think this is how it works.
This is how people meet and date and have fun.
Because you just wanted him to get his hooks into

(19:38):
the city, and he did. He started dating a lot,
and you could tell he started to get more comfortable.
And then when he met Lakisha, who we had already known.
Um that that's what changed everything. Once Lakisha and West
got together, Um, there never again was there like I
don't like it here, this doesn't work. Now. He had
grievances with l A to the very end, but that's

(20:00):
when you're like, Okay, he's not going anywhere, and that
was a beautiful thing. He never did get that car
back that he just like last lost the car. He
lost the car. He just went to the Super Bowl
down a note to that he got gotten some sort
of like a minor incident or accident and just gave
the car to the other party. Didn't he just give
He gave the car away to the people that he
got in the accident with. That's that's he just for debate.

(20:24):
I I've tried to I even reached out to Lukisha
at some point about two years ago. He was like, Lukisha,
do you want me to like do some like works
if I can find out where this car was? And
I think it was just eventually auctioned off by the city.
I mean I think it was. Also it was a
car that was worth about three hundred and seventy five
but it was now he got the one you're talking about.

(20:44):
He got it shipped from Tybee shout out to the
NFL actually gave us our moving expenses and so he
had about a five hundred dollar car. You're talking about
Big Irish, probably probably at the events of like uh,
probably at the expense of far more value than I'm
conflating stories because West lost two cars, but anyway, mark

(21:07):
your turn. Well, no, I was just gonna say that
I think that something else that happened to West along
the way was you know, I remember talking to him
that we would even go out in l A to
various places and needs like this isn't huck a Poos,
This isn't hucka Poos, like none of these places. They
just couldn't find that home, I think, And and that's
because I don't think l A really offers that um
in establishments the same way that we having been to

(21:28):
hucka Poos it does. But he went and created it
on his own. And like we started to watch West
grow with his Westlemania parties, which started, as you know,
for ten or eleven or twelve people because the circle
was smaller, but it started to grow and grow. And
I remember at one point, I don't know what compelled
me to do this, but I walked from NFL Network
to Marina del rey Um to attend a Westlemania. I

(21:52):
think I had sort of a heat stroke by the
time I got there on some level, and remember punching
our friend Jason Zumwald in the stomach and various other people.
But um, these parties were these were absolutely epic events.
And you know what it was. It was West cooking.
It was West Um with his endless amazing playlists. And
I think that the table started to turn because he

(22:12):
just created the home that wasn't there for him automatically
in Los Angeles. And on the Lakisha front, first, I'll
never forget. I think we were out to lunch, Dan,
you and I with Henry Um, and you had told
me that Western Lakisha were I mean, for lack of
a better term, interested in each other, and um, my

(22:33):
cupid skills are are are sucky? Because I thought to myself, well,
I'm not sure about this. I I like, I love
because I love these two so much. Um if this
ever went south, what would it do to our friend group? Um?
And I so I would just it was on It
was on my radar, as you'd say, I was monitoring it,
and then I suddenly became very pleased with what I saw.
I think the softball team helped all that, and you

(22:53):
can get into that. But um, their love and their
relationship and and they're pairing to me is incredible because
Lakisha's number one superpowers or positivity, and she walked right
into a situation that got so gnarly. I mean, I
think you're right without her and who she is inside,
I don't think West would have gotten to the point

(23:14):
where we watched him get married to her in Tybee Islands.
She he always he always likes to tell me, I
was there for the first time you saw him a fire,
which was in our break room in our at work,
and we're just like, I don't know, getting coffee or
water or whatever. And she walks in on her first
day of work or an interview, I don't remember which,

(23:34):
and she was wearing a pretty short skirt and he
just kind of like looks at me and just like
a nice hire, you know, and pretty much pretty much
pretty much from then on, Um, you said, you say
it well, and I think it's it's one thing I
this week has obviously been brutal and the best that

(23:55):
that I think I felt. I don't know if you
guys feel the same as like when when we're talking
to each other and when we've we're talking about West,
um and um, you know, at other times it crashes
and you realize he's not there. But one of the
things that that really UM has helped me just think

(24:17):
about him, is that since since the first cancer battle, UM,
no one has appreciated every day. He had more that
I've ever met than West. He He already was like that.
He was a deep guy. He was even before before cancer.
We would talk talk about that. He had this saying

(24:37):
he'd the call which was really just kind of follow
your heart, don't worry about anything else but that. And UM,
I think especially after what he went through, UM, and
also just aware of what a beautiful, you know, amazing
wife he had and what we had as a podcast.
It was a huge, huge part of his life. UM,
he did appreciate it. He appreciated every day. He appreciated

(25:01):
the moments like that the summer they had before they
got married, where they went all around the country, saw
all the people that they loved, went to Tybee Island,
had a big throw down. UM there that you know,
the the wedding and last summer too. Man like no
one you know, Damna Scheck says it. You know that

(25:22):
cheating life. I mean, he felt like he was cheating life.
He felt like he was one of the luckiest guys
in the world. I would also quickly say, I don't
think the four of us have ever looked hotter as
a group than we did at West's wedding. I looked
the picture. Those pictures are good. I mean, I don't
I don't remember going on like a weight loss plan
during that period. But I was like, I wish I
didn't have the beard. In hindsight, I wish I didn't

(25:43):
have the beard. But his job by the photographer, I thought,
ultimately it's possibly true. Now the transformation of West to
from you know, from physically to everything else, from when
we started with him to the way he dressed and
the way he looked once the keisha was in was
always staggering to me. Um, he just went on a

(26:04):
journey and in his um seven or so years here
and you know, it's like, you know, circling back to
how he's just connected with so many people. And this
has been, you know, a terrible week. I mean it's
been and we could you know, open the Kimono. West

(26:27):
was very fond of taking down at the talent summits,
the corporate jargon that came out. Open the Kimono one
of our favorites. And Um, he was very fond of
um our show and doing our show, and even when
he got sick, he wanted to keep doing the show,

(26:48):
and we we knew things were going uh sideways. Um.
Really as the summer I went into the football season
and Mark and I had many painful like back and
forth um where we just had this terrible feeling because
it just we we lived it. We lived through the
first nightmare of West having cancer, and it always felt

(27:11):
like there was this clear path um, as difficult as
it was for him, that he was going to get
this treatment and then he's gonna have the surgery and
then he had to go into recovery and then the
doctors were giving a clear um directive of what he
needed to do and he beat it and it was like, Okay,
this time it wasn't that way. And you know when
he started not being able to do the show, Um,

(27:33):
I know is if the listeners out there, you you
could probably put together that things were getting dicey. And
then when he was able to do those Sunday night
shows this year, I mean that was one of my
favorite West stories. Um. That connects to this is the
we played softball together for three seasons and I don't
know if I could ever play softball again, be honest,

(27:53):
because me and West loved playing together so much, and
he was Mike don Zimmer my Consigliari the Shield, and
we went to the title game three times in a row.
We won the first two years. First year was two
thousand sixteen. He gets sick in two thousand seventeen. Uh
and in the two thousand eighteen season he comes back
two thousand seventeen, UM season, he's playing softball of this

(28:18):
while he's undergoing chemo, and it's like, what is this
guy doing? And then when it's just like this level
and well yeah, and playing well but not feeling himself
and you know, having to lay down and drink a lot.
And in the final game when everything was on the
line and he was third, he was the third baseman.
Every week, I played first, Tony Garcia at shortstop, Nicolephelia

(28:39):
at second, Brook pitching, Lakisha, and our friend Brassie catching.
That was the infield. And West pulls himself out of
the game for the finals and says, you know what
I'm not, I'm gonna I'm gonna coach. I can use
my powers better positioning people on the field and and
watching the game and I'm like, this guy is so

(29:01):
different even when you're doing softball and like, but also
like the toughest of playing while having cancer. The fact
that he was getting um hanging on every Sunday like
and he was always tired. West, he struggled to sleep
because he was in a lot of pain and discomfort
uh during this final illness. But the fact that he
would always stay up and do for most of the

(29:23):
regular season, almost the whole show before Nick Shook would
help out at the end, and then in the in
the final playoffs and everybody you could hear his voice.
I know you guys listening could hear that he was
really struggling and in trouble, but he still wanted to
be a part of it. And he was on the
divisional round playoff recap with us and I. The last
text that I ever had with him was after that,

(29:47):
after that show and I texted him that was great, West,
it was great to have you on and he wrote,
thank you. That means a lot. Can't wait until I
can do a full one. He never he never quit,
He never gave up like that was two weeks before
he died. Um. He was the toughest, bravest, guy, I know,
and that's stubbornness that sometimes would drive you crazy. Is

(30:07):
why he he made it as long as he did.
It means a lot to me that one of um,
you know, our final moments together, UM and I think
really our finest, uh final kind of pure moment in
the West sense, because that's what he was all about.
He was just like searching for these pure moments in life,

(30:29):
and a lot of them were at bars. Some of
someone were just talking to his friends. UM could have
been in sports. UM, I was talking about that Brown's
game was the four of us, you know, and he
knew he knew if he was gonna be on for
one one game there that like we've been waiting um
the whole the whole time we did the podcast to

(30:49):
see a Brown's win, and he wanted to be be
there for Mark and he wanted to be there with
with Dan and I too. That the four of us
could couldn't enjoy that as a podcast. It means a
lot to me that that he did that, and he
was really pushing himself to do that. It's it just
seemed like um our respect collectively and individually for West

(31:10):
would grow with each year, which is a great way
to feel about someone. And um, it was even last
night when uh, you know, I I'm not alone. We've
been looking at little clips of West and people of
our listeners are amazing and have found some incredible stuff.
But I just was watching this random UM pod from
I think it was like summer, and it was like

(31:32):
list teams that are you know, not gonna fulfill their promise.
And I went on this like rant about Rex Ryan's bills, UM,
having no idea that I would later on hang out
with Rex Ryan and he actually at some point, UM,
while I was traveling with Rex Ryan went I can tell,
went on the internet and looked for articles written by
me about him, and there were a couple out there
that were unfriendly. Let's put that's a whole different story.

(31:56):
But um, but I'm watching this thing and it was
you know, we'd look a lot younger for or five
years ago, all of us, and like, um, I was,
you know, it was a rather directionless rant about the
bills UM. And then someone else spoke and then West
just said I agree with Mark. And I was sitting
there with Simone and I just got off up the
couch and I started pumping my fist yeah. I was like,

(32:19):
if West believes in me, if he believed in my football,
take I am a shining diamond. That was like all
I needed. Stop the tape. I'm out that. It wasn't
always the case, but it meant a lot when he
agreed with you, because like you would put the work
in or you got lucky, but he agreed with you.
And it means so much for me to be on
the right side of things because West on football almost

(32:41):
always was that. I mean, that was It's funny you
should say that because that's something I wanted to talk about,
which was West obviously. Um, what made this and what's
made this podcast successful is the dynamic and the four
of our personalities mixing together and you know, our strengths
um and our weaknesses all you know, being offset the weaknesses,

(33:05):
the strengths being amplified when everything is cooking. And I
always the West was so vital to the dynamic and
it's you know, as we look forward, and it's hard
to look forward right now, but as you look forward,
I don't know, I don't know what our podcast is
going forward with that West. I know we've we've done
it before without West because he got sick and missed

(33:25):
time the first time, and then we did this whole
season mostly without him. But I don't none of us,
we haven't sat down and talked about like what is
our podcast going forward? Because West was so vital. He
was his his football acumen was off the charts, and
you know, in terms of um his knowledge of sports
I think he's one of the true great sports fans ever.

(33:50):
And I would put him up against I don't care anybody.
You show me who the biggest sports van you know is,
and I'll put him up against West. And the now
of games that West watches across the spectrum, Pro College,
whatever the tape he watched, the reading, he did, the
instincts he had, he could see the game in a
way that none of us could see it. And his
he was so important to the show because he would

(34:12):
push back against Greg and that was the scientists heat
um with me when I was trying to make people laugh,
I would always if I got West, I knew that
I would get the audience. And West was such a
great uh person for me to be able to play
off and understand where the tone and the field of
the show was. And Mark with you, and this is
I don't think I've ever shared this with you, but
it was something that I always noticed, the way where

(34:34):
I sat um with Greg to my right and then
West to my left, and then you on the far left.
When you would make a football point, Mark, you would
reflexively kind of turned toward West when you made it,
because it was almost like you you were putting it
out there for West and and will Wess agree with it.
I want because you wanted that just like we all did,

(34:54):
because you nailed it, like we all wanted West to
agree with our football takes. But I always noticed you Mark.
You aways looked to West when you were kind of
putting yourself out there. I don't have the quality that
Greg has to where he wanted to engage with West.
I At one point I remember challenging West on his
Bengal fandom, telling him that I'll never forget this, that
maybe you should rethink this huge binder you put together

(35:16):
about the Bengals because if you're loyal and this was,
you know, the Browns were in like a deep apocalypse
for year twenty eight in a row, and like, Um,
I was like loyal, people stick with their team. And
I don't remember Wes's response because it wasn't on the show,
but he he uh destroyed me verbally for that. It
doesn't being me, but he basically was just like, your

(35:38):
opinion on that is completely wrong. And I was like,
I learned that arguing with West was not my forte um,
was not my strength. Um, And I probably did try
to avoid that and create some sort of agreement because,
like you said, I mean it meant a lot. I
sure I looked at him all the time because if
he's smiling, I had the same mine. You say something

(35:59):
and he's smiles, he laughs. I've done anything anything I
could possibly hope to do on a show. I mean
that's why I like when Dan asked the other week, um,
you know, whether what Belichick's opinion was or feelings watching
Brady and West came down on my side. I mean

(36:19):
that was a bigger fist pumping celebration that I had
than any Patriots game all season. I was just like, yeah, okay,
West is the decider here. But then mad Dog Russo
straighten you right out. Now, I'm taking taking West. I
love to wind. I've you know, I just for fun.
I don't take it too seriously with hardcore football takes.
But I would go up against West and just have

(36:41):
fun with it, even though if I knew it was
a mismatch. The thing, real thing I love to do
with West and the shows just wind him up, and
that would be you know, whether it was him carrying
the pail up and down the hill for the Patriots
and all get him all fired up about the fleet
gate that was so fun, or Eli and his being
hall of Famer and West say, I think West's take,

(37:03):
and it's sad that Well never get to see Um
if this would have played out, I think he said
he would never he would never either watch a Hall
of Fame speech or go to the Hall of Fame
if Eli got in. He felt so strong and that
Eli was not was not a good quarterback, which was
always a fun little back and forth. He was just such.
He was such a great podcaster because he was um

(37:26):
smart as a whip, articulate, um. He knew everything, he
did the work, and he had a sense of humor.
So he was kind of a total package guy. He was.
He was the not so secret weapon of the show.
I think about this. He was so stubborn that um
he he ended up eating his own softball pants because
he refused to back down off and take about the

(37:46):
Raiders based on their general manager, who he disliked, a
whole bunch of other stuff and softball pants. Yeah, if
you're someone new to the show, I believe. Um it
was he said he would eat his softball pants if
Dennis Allen Raiders had a certain win total. I think
we had a six or something it was. I think
it was five or six, and and they easily. I

(38:07):
think they might have gone eight and eight that year. Um.
And so he was in trouble early. And uh that
that is still my avatar on our our in company
uh client messaging climbing client which we do not name,
is West eating softball pants. So out of Dan's he was.
So it was. It was a bit that we had

(38:28):
built up for for weeks and weeks and uh, I
remember calling West before we got on the plane to
go to New York. It was the it was the
Seahawks Broncos Super Bowl at Giant or MetLife Stadium. Said West,
you gotta bring the pants. You gotta bring the pants.
We need the softball pants to do the pants bit.
Uh we didn't. He didn't bring the pants. I don't

(38:49):
was it the Giant, Maybe it wasn't the New York
New Jersey Want, I can't remember. But he didn't have
the pants, and uh, we had to go out and
I think he had to get the pants mailed. And
then it just so happened. At the rate at radio
there was a hot dog stand and there was a
the world's biggest hot dog or something, and it was disgusting,
and a chili and relish sour kraut and all this

(39:09):
other stuff, guacamole, bacon. It was insane and it was
about like two ft long. And we we cut up
a portion of the pants and just sprinkled it on top.
And West again a great podcaster. Um, he took a
bite out of that hot dog. He ate some of
his own softball pants. Because so strong was he in
his opinion about that particular Meaningless Raiders team. He was

(39:32):
willing to risk everything he was. It was something that
some of the someone tweeted about that I thought was right.
Was just he was. He was real. He was like
the realist of the real. He was always West Um.
And so I think that podcast is the perfect form
for him, um, because he could never be anything but West,

(39:54):
which was stubborn everything, but also incredibly generous, you know.
And and just like he was never he didn't have
a fake bone in his body. There was zero bullet
with Chris Wesley. A little anecdote that UM, Ryan Bartlett
from our podcast crew mentioned that I just thought was
so West and it kind of shows you that he
did not care about how he was supposed to appear

(40:16):
or be dressed. Um that they got into this deep
conversation about limousines, and you know, there's a lot of
things that happened in limousines. But West told a story
of UM going on a pub crawl when he was
a mailman. Um in a limo. He walked into a limo,
went from from pub to pub and his mailman outfit.

(40:37):
Like it's a completely beguiling visual. Um. But it's like,
of course West did that. You know, he's not going
to change into something else. I love it, you know,
is he you know, That's how he started his and
that's how he of course got the nickname Mailman. His
father I believe was a mailman, right, yes he was.
And again like and this is one of the things
I related to I know, you know, we both kind

(40:58):
of I know he's on the west side of Cincinnati.
But it was like a small town, UM, just like
I grew up in and and the idea of UM
leaving town or or doing something well outside the box
wasn't something that that immediately, UM a young Chris Westling
thought about. So he went from high school and he did,
he did some college, and then I was working, as

(41:20):
an imagine someone is smart and gifted as he is,
UM working at the postal service, which, by the way,
I know people that work in the postal service, and
it's a perfectly um, honest living and and and and
a good job. But I'm saying with with the abilities
and the skills that he had, I'm so happy he
took that chance, not just because it meant that we
got to know him, but that he gave so much

(41:41):
to everyone. He's such, he's such. And go back, please,
if you do one thing, go back and read some
of Chris Wesseling's writing. Um he wrote. He wrote about
the Cincinnati Bengals um um offense under young Bill Wallace.
He wrote about Ohio River offense. He wrote about love
You Blue, about those famous Houston Oilers teams. These are

(42:04):
just a couple of his like really widely acclaimed long
forms he did for the NFL, but then also just
read like a game story he wrote, or like a
takeaway post when we were doing our blog or anything
he wrote recently right up to the end when he
was doing Chemo and he was doing his QB rankings
piece and just doing the best writing on professional football

(42:26):
on the internet, like West was doing that to the
very end. So read about read West because of all
the things. I just said that he was a brilliant podcaster.
He wasn't even he was even better as a writer. Yeah,
I think Um. I think it was the first QB
Index of this season. He wrote the intro to it.
Um just kind of in the same vein a similar

(42:50):
vein of what we heard at the top of the
show about what sports means, and uh, I would really
recommend people check that out. I believe it was. It
was the week week one thing. Um. I talked to
Spice Rack, who you know, if you're a regular listener,
you guys will remember is Um. You know his consigliari
in Vegas Desert, a friend of his Um from from

(43:12):
his childhood and Cincinnati originally like one of West's brother's
friends and then came to it and and he said
to me, when when West started writing for Rhoda World
and and that, and that was that a bit of
a low moment for him. You know, he was trying
to figure out what he was doing. He had just
just started a job delivering pizzas and he was in

(43:32):
his thirties, um, and and it started to go really well,
and he got hired you know, full time, sooner than later.
And then he went to the NFL and he said,
like everyone that knew him growing up was like, well,
of course, like why did it take this long? Not
why did it take this long? But like of course,
like he was the most brilliant guy, um, that we

(43:52):
all knew growing up, and and he was the most
brilliant guy about sports growing up. And when he was
sixteen seventeen, like he had all these notebooks, the same
handwritten notebooks that that he had now and and and
Spicy said something that really stuck with me, um, just
like about how much West believed in him and that

(44:15):
how much that meant to him. And that really resonated
because I just from the people that I know, uh,
in West's life, I think that's true of a lot
of people. Um that it really meant a lot when
West believed in you, that he saw like a like
the best side of you, and he and he tried
to take to get that out. And uh, I know
that meant a lot to spice Wreck, but me, it

(44:36):
meant a lot to a lot of people. I love
what you said. And I would say one other thing
about West that that lifted me up when we first
met was, um, you know, we're in a world where
a lot of people they go to college, they go
to journalism school, and by twenty three their rising stars.
And um, I didn't come to the NFL until I
was like thirty six or thirty seven, and West West

(44:58):
and I took very st huit is bizarre routes um
to get where we are. I mean all four of
us did. If you look at the way that we
all got to into that podcast studio together, UM, it's incredible.
It's it beats the odds because of what what we
went through. Um. But we always have younger writers and
stuff ask how do you do this? How do you

(45:19):
do that? And I find that my roadmap is a
terrible uh diagram for someone to follow. Don't do what
I did? And maybe don't do what West did. But
maybe the lesson in there a little bit is when
I think about West, he went and lived this incredibly
varied life with adventures that would say, well below him,
why are you a mailman when you're doing all this
other stuff or whatever? And I hear all that, and

(45:40):
it's true, but I think all that informed West and
who he was. Had he gone a journalism school and
been like a shiny employee from day one, I don't
we never would have known him. It would have been
a different person. So I I think like whatever wherever
you are, if you're listening to this um, there's always
hope to get back on course or just to wind
up where you should up. And that's what West did. Ricky,

(46:01):
I would love to hear um from you. Yeah, I mean,
it's so beautiful to to hear you guys. Um. You know,
we all have our different relationships, like us as a whole,
as a five some were very tight, but I have
a very different relationship with each of you, and I
did with West. And I met West when he came

(46:25):
back from cancer the first time, and I'm this new producer,
who am I? And the first thing he ever said
to me is, Oh, you're the one that's taking our
videos to the next level. And even in cancer, he
was watching what we were doing and he was like,
it's so great to meet you. And and from a
writer and a football standpoint, I mean, he's the smartest

(46:46):
guy I've ever met. But me and him together when
when we I mean, you guys, you know Dan and Mark,
you like you like to tie it on. But Me
and West together were absolute tornadoes and and and he
was just the most slice of life that you could

(47:08):
ever ask for. And from even petty stuff to being
in the office and I'd be like mad about something
Caddy that happened, and he would look at me and
be like, what does it matter? He would just straight
straight face, what what are you? Why are you upset
about this? And I would be like, you're You're right,
it doesn't matter. And and just his outlook on on life.

(47:30):
And I know there's videos and stuff going around, but
he was just the most fun. And he made me
so much worse out in public when there was alcohol involved.
If he was there, it was it was. It was terrible.
But it's so much fun. And I think that there
was those photos from us at St. Elmo's and it's

(47:51):
really foggy. But I think we told them that it
was West and Eyes anniversary, so we got a free dessert.
But the league fence is it anyways, and so we
have to cut this anymore. But we told them it
was our anniversary for a free dessert. And we're at
a part. We're at a table like twelve at the time,

(48:12):
like just the two of us, and you were putting
cake in each other each other's mouths. You bought like
you bought other things that contributed to that. It was
an incredible that was West at his liveliest, like post cancer,
and he was having that was February. That was a
year ago. That was fifty weeks ago. I mean, that's
and that's the the sad the sadness about this, and

(48:36):
it is and I'm happy. I'm so happy we're doing
this because we were, you know when when when he
first passed away, we didn't know what we were doing.
We didn't should we do a show? Should we not?
I'm glad. I am so happy we're doing this. And
it's like Ricky hit the nail on the head, just
like we all have so many great stories of great time.
So he was such great company. UM. He was just

(48:58):
such a great person to be aroun on. And you
knew if West was there, UM, it was gonna it
was gonna be a good time. And and Ricky, I'm
so happy that you um entered the fold because UM,
in addition to making the podcast even better, you um
got along so well with him. And just another example,
like you're saying, and when I was saying earlier that
we all had different kind of portals of how we

(49:21):
connected with him, UM, and that goes for you as well,
and they goes down the line. West was West was
trending and as with Lakishan link uh in the UK
on Twitter and here in the United States. UM, when
when the news came out on Saturday, I mean just
think about that. I mean Roger Goodell sent an email

(49:42):
uh to everyone in the company rich eyes and has
had amazing words UM during the pregame show for Super
Bowl fifty five, and Ricky, if you could play this.
And I know Colleen, who we love, and she's this
is the first Super Bowl, UM since two thousand twelve
that we're not at the city for COVID reasons. Colleen,

(50:03):
because she's a big shot and a much bigger star
than us in the company. She went and helped anchor
the coverage and did an amazing job. Um. She was
crushed when she heard the news and I can't. I
reached out to Gonzo, her husband, and I think you
know who he is, and she connected with he connected
with Colleen and and she was a total mess. And
I remember talking about um on a video chat like

(50:27):
can she do this? Is she gonna go home? Is
she gonna ask out to not do the coverage for
the rest of the weekend because she doesn't think she
could do it emotionally? She she goes through with it
and as a total trooper. And um, like I said,
rich eyes and said words and they were great. Earlier
in the morning on Sunday. Uh, they had um other
like a little moments to to Chris and an article

(50:49):
in NFL dot com. But Colleen, it wasn't slated in
the show for her to say anything about West, but
she she changed that. And I just wanted to play
that because it was a really special Well, Lily, you're
going the box, I'm going with the chiefs. Um My
m v P is going to be Chris Jones in
this game. Um, but I am gonna go a little

(51:10):
rogue here, and I apologize to the producers and the
control room, but I just want to say these past
two days, I've been doing shows with a really heavy heart,
and I wasn't sure if I was going to be
able to put into words, um, how much Chris Westling
meant to me, meant to so many people at NFL Network.
We lost him two days ago, and he was like

(51:33):
one of the most beautiful people I've ever known. Um,
He's gonna be so missed, and I didn't feel like
it was right to not say it um today on
this show, because I've been trying to just get through
these two days and pretend that it hasn't happened, and
it doesn't really feel real still that we lost him.
He's been family from the second I met him at

(51:53):
NFL Network, UM, and he's such a big part of
my family still. My parents, they loved him. They don't
even know. They're just finding now some Mom and dad.
I'm sorry that you're finding out this way. But more importantly,
I just wanted to say to Lakisha, his wife, and
Link his son, we love you guys so much, and
we're all here to support you. And we know that

(52:14):
wes Is is watching over all of us here um
today and forever. Uh. And I'm sorry because there's no
good transition um to keep it moving about the game,
but sometimes there's things that are more important to the
game and the people that we meet here at work
talking about football. I've met so many great ones, and
Chris Wesling might be the greatest one I've ever met.

(52:37):
So he's really going to be missed. That was amazing
And we can't wait to have Colleen back on the
show and when she gets back into town and where
you know, this isn't gonna be the last time we
talked about West, not by a long shot. He's part
of the show for as long as this show continues,
however long that may be. And we have no idea

(52:58):
West is always going to be a part of it.
And and and I just want to thank the NFL too,
because when you're working for a thirteen billion dollar company, UM,
there could be times where you feel like you could
be lost in the shuffle and overlooked. And I think
it's it's normal. And you know, when this went down,
something that's so incredibly personal to us, and we knew

(53:20):
what a big deal. It was, obviously, and the listeners,
you guys understand what a m a monumental loss it
is for West not to be with us anymore. UM.
I just I I had hoped that the NFL understood
the gravity of this and and I really thought they've
come through with flying colors, both in recognizing wes Um
on air UH and on our website and all the

(53:43):
people behind the scenes, all our shadowy league figures, UM
Mark Brady, who has been a tireless soldier UM behind
the scenes and been such a great leader helping UM
shepherd this show through good times and bad times, UM,
John Marvel, Matt Schneider, Jason Kleinman, everyone who helped make

(54:06):
this tremendously difficult process, uh just a little bit easier. UM.
Thank you to everybody at the NFL listening now. And
I want everybody to know that because the NFL is
can be a big target sometimes and you think, oh,
this is you know, you know, an organization, it's a
cold thing. No, it has not felt cold. Has felt like, Uh,
the NFL was a big family the last couple of

(54:27):
days and and and that's what it felt like. We
lost a family member and there was a closing of ranks.
You know when you say that, like there's not one
bad thing you could say about a person that's actually Wes,
Like there's not one person across this company, across Twitter.
Social media is such a dark place. Sometimes there really

(54:50):
is not one bad thing you can say about Christmasling.
We'll put Ricky, We'll put I'm really glad Colleen took
that chance. Think West has taught a lot of people
to take chances, and they I think NFL Network was
probably just overjoyed with what she had to say. Um,
I remember the first time we met her. I'll keep

(55:11):
this really really quick, but it was West and I. Um,
We're at the Whaler as we often were, and she
happened to be there with her parents and she we
had maybe seen her once or twice and unpil network,
but she didn't have any friends. She had moved out
here without Gonzo for a period of time, and West
and his West Way, I mean, we were thrilled to
see her, but I think he made it really clear

(55:32):
that day, you're our friend. You're hanging with us, always
open arms with West, always always welcomed you in. I
I've told Wes, I always marveled with him that I,
by my nature like to keep things a little tighter.
And and that goes for like even when we have
like meet ups with listeners at their live shows. I
always did it because I love our listeners. But I

(55:53):
never was quite always comfortable. It was just a little
too much. But west could could have been at a
after show drinking session for twenty four hours and it
w didn't matter because he always people, always wanted people around,
and he always welcomed anyone in and he was so great.
He was so great with that too. But that's the generosity.
And I'm glad we got Colleen's voice in there because

(56:15):
her and Gonzo really, um, it meant a lot to
ta Keisha and in west Over the last a few
years really and like um he uh you know he
he did. Um, he did have a preference I know

(56:35):
in this game by the way tonight, which I was
thinking about, he was he was hoping that the Bucks
would win. His brother Phil could not resist asking him,
I know, um this week while while he was in
the hospital, and and Phil being a Westling, and they're
all they all got this like you see it come
out where they're they're all a little, you know, similar

(56:56):
in some ways, but I don't think West was really
even playing ball at first. Eventually got the answer out
of him. He wanted to see he wanted to see
Brady win one more. Ye's always loved Brady because he,
you know, West is such a student of the game
and new really what Tom Brady has been able to
do for twenty years now now winning a seventh Super Bowl,

(57:19):
which obviously you wish, you wish West saw it, and
maybe he did. Mark Sessler, You and I had to
talk late, late, late, late, um Friday night, and like,
where where is West now? And uh, you know West
was open, Like I said, he was raised Catholic like
I was, but he had you know, fell away from

(57:40):
religion as he got older. And we would often joke
on this show, um when we started to duck into
those waters of religion and faith of save it for
the theology podcast, and this is not going to turn
into the theology podcast, but it did. It crossed my mind.
And uh when he passed on where he was and

(58:01):
if he's listening to us now? And um, my grandmother Granby,
who I I love forever, and she she passed away
a couple of days before I moved to l A
to take this job, and she give me a rosary
right before she died, and I always kept it with me.

(58:21):
I actually wore it when I first moved here. Um
and um, but I had kept it in my closet
for years, really um because it wasn't I wasn't somebody
who's going to church or praying. Um. But I took
it out last week and and kept it by my
bedside and said prayers for West. And I let him

(58:41):
know as much in a text. And Lakisha told me
that that he did see that in the hospital room. Um,
so that that meant a lot to me too. And
and if you are listening West right now, I hope here.
I hope this is okay with you. I don't know
if you're mad at us because we're not talking. Why

(59:01):
would it be mad because he would be mad that
we're not talking about the chiefs O line crumbling. He
would be mad at people saying it was mahomes fault
on Twitter. I can I've been thinking mad about that, yeah,
like tweeting back at people he doesn't even know, getting
telling them that they, you know, don't have eyes. And
I just he would sneak. He would sneaky like Mahome's

(59:23):
getting taken down a peg. But I don't think he'd
be mad. I think he would. I think he would
say I was thinking about this too. We were thinking
about on Friday night, like what would West want? And
like West would say, do what you want, you know,
like West would say do what your heart tells you,
Like I don't care if you talk about football or not,
like you guys should do what feels right. You guys

(59:44):
know your podcast. Um, you guys know our podcast the
best and like and whether what did you actually talk
to Wes um afterlife? This is coming in from a
definitive place. Keep going. I'm just well Phil agreed with
me on this one. Remember Um, we we talked. I
just feel like that is that is what he you know,

(01:00:05):
because he was not gonna that was gonna put put
his thoughts on you and and what you said about
looking down on us, Um, it just made me think
like he's he's here regardless, like he's here with us,
Like he is part he is part of us. He
is part of who we are, not just the podcast,

(01:00:25):
but just who we are as people and how how
we act as people and I've thought about that that
that's that's the best way to honor him is is
how how we act. You know, I would tell you
say one thing like like I said, I think my
my relationship with him was about at best twelve percent
about football, and that was just simply because we were
at work doing that half the time. But um, and

(01:00:45):
I'm not the person you should trust with every football opinion,
but I do trust some things that I feel inside,
and I feel him with us since since he's left.
I mean that seriously awesome. UM. You know, I want
to point out Greeby, who is one of our long
time listeners and one of the founders of the subreddit

(01:01:07):
um around the NFL UM started to go fund me
page UM that I want everyone to check out, uh
and if you can, UM, all the all the donations
go directly to Lukisha and link um, So please check
that out on our respective Twitter Twitter pages UM and yes, UM,

(01:01:29):
link is you know the you know Lukisha And it's
so tragic and sad that West didn't get more time
with link but I know we're all going to be
there for him as uncle's and Ricky as an aunt
and UM, every listeners can know that. I know it's
everyone feels for Lakisha, as they should because she has

(01:01:51):
such a gargantuan uphill climb in front of her right now,
and we're trying to be there for her as well.
But none of us can put ourselves in their shoes,
But listeners just know that where we have her back,
and we're gonna do everything we can UM to help
with Link as well, because that's how it would be
if it was any of us that switched places with West.

(01:02:11):
I know you guys would be the same way with me,
and I would be the same way with you. Absolutely
all right. Whenever you listen, whenever you listen to she
is amazing, I have I have no I have no
doubt that she will rise above and and overcome the

(01:02:32):
challenges in front of her because she is They were
a power couple, and they are a power couple forever
UM and she will UM she will get this thing
figured out in time, but it will it will take time,
and it will take time for us to because it's
obviously this is a time of um unforeseen and tragic

(01:02:54):
circumstances UM for our show and trying to figure out
what comes next and what's the right thing to do,
and and we all feel and we hope that you
the listener understands that we're not ready to We'll see
on Wednesday to talk about how the Chiefs fix their offense.
Like we're not going to be doing that. We're gonna
take a little time off, um and and when we
come back, we have, you know, more planned. In terms

(01:03:17):
of remembering West, we talked about doing a show where
we remember some great West moments. And I would say
this is a great opportunity for crowdsourcing. If you're not
on the Around the NFL subreddit, go get on it,
and please maybe Greeby or whomever else can start a
thread of favorite West moments on the show that we
could begin to just build up a library. And like

(01:03:41):
I said, West is and has been reiterated by everybody here.
West is a part of the show forever. He's part
of the show right now as we speak, and it's
going to stay that way as long as the Around
the NFL podcast exists. All right, boys, Ricky anything anything else.
I just want to want to reiterate what you just
said about Lakisha. I mean, we saw her briefly Friday,

(01:04:03):
and you know, obviously as tough as it is. She
was laughing with us when we were remembering West too
before he had even you know, passed the hospital. And
she is just the most remarkable person I think I've
ever met. Yeah, Like I I feel so lucky that
we were able to see her um and fill that morning.

(01:04:26):
And you know, it's it's complex, just to be really real, UM,
I look back in the past couple of months and
I wish I had sent that extra text or two.
I didn't really get to say goodbye to West. And
in the vast majority of people, UM have those complex feelings.
But but this, but there's so much about him that's
gonna um bring life and vibrancy and and it's through

(01:04:49):
Link and it's through Keisha, who are who are with
us and we will look after in our own ways,
um until the very end. And so this is just
the beginning of what we are going to uh be
doing for them. It hurts because there there wasn't there
wasn't the time, you know that they would have wanted,

(01:05:09):
in any circumstance, UM to to say those goodbyes and stuff.
But of all people, West knew like all that I
thought about it a lot like in Keisha Um absolutely
knows how we all feel about her. Um. But but
he knew like all the things we we we wanted
we would have wanted to say, or other things like

(01:05:31):
he he knew all that. I believe. I believe that
in my heart. Alright, So yes, we will at some
point return to talking football in this podcast, but right
now it's about West and remembering West and listeners out
have reached out thank you to everyone. We can't say
thank you individually to everyone's has just been such an outpouring,
but we really appreciate it and understand what West meant

(01:05:54):
to you, um, because he meant so much stuff. So UM,
until next time, thank you very much, and Chris Westling,
wherever you are, rest in peace, our good friend. I
love you, Love you wess. Me and West always used
to say that, like adults don't drink milk, and we

(01:06:15):
would always laugh at adults don't drink milk. So I
think I'm going to have a glass of milk tonight.
Make him laugh. No,

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Gregg Rosenthal

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