On the latest NFL Players: Second Acts Podcast, Hall of Fame running back Emmitt Smith sits down with Peanut and Roman at Super Bowl Media Row. Emmitt talks about the battles he faced to become a Super Bowl champion and addresses a rumor that he squatted over 800 pounds in college.
Then, former New York Giants receiver Victor Cruz joins the podcast. Victor shares his opinion on the Giants’ hire of John Harbaugh as their new head coach and discusses whether his former quarterback, Eli Manning, should be in the Hall of Fame.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
What's up everybody on Peanut Tillman and this is the
NFL Players Second X podcast with him, as always my
trusty co host Scharman Harper. We're in San Francisco, super
Bowl week media row, not radio row like it used
to be. We have, if not the greatest running back
of all time. Hall of Fame running back Emmitt Smith.
(00:28):
Welcome to the pod, Boss Gros.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Thank y'all, Thank you, thank you, Thank you.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Y'all are so kind. Appreciation Boss, appreciate you. How you
feeling this week? Man?
Speaker 2 (00:37):
You know what I'm doing pretty good. I'm excited super
Bowl's back around again. It's good to be out here
in San Franda to witness what will be I expect
to be a very good super Bowl between both of
these teams.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Seahawks look very good.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Yeah, they do defensively, you know, defense wins championships. And
I know Mark vabral is gonna have his team ready
to go. It's gonna be the Belichick way. And I
think he's adopted the Belichick way.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
Yeah, and I think that.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Translates into why his team is actually in the.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
Super Bowl this year. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (01:10):
Yeah, they definitely bought into his system. R exactly So
when I was watching you, San Francisco was your biggest rapper.
So what's it like being out here in San Francisco
for this Super Bowl? And just like how many battles
like do you go back and think about? Because I
drove back Old Candlestick where it used to be at,
and I'm just like, dang, man, I missed that place
because it was some great games I watched there growing up.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
I got to play there a couple of times out
of compla.
Speaker 4 (01:36):
It's just like, man, it's it's just nostalgia whenever you
get to go to these places and be around these
people that you got to compete against, and it's personally
like you is specifically I got to know because I
hated you growing up.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
And that's why I love couple of cities where you win,
You go to cities where you want it's like, yeah,
we want to you know what I'm saying. But but
you know, when you see guys like jer Wright, So
you have so much respect for Steve Young and other
or other forty nine ers, I have tremendous respect for
(02:08):
them because you know they paid the price to be
champions as well.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
Yeah, and you had to go through that that kind.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Of gauntlet in order to earn your right to be
sitting at the same table and eating the same meal.
And so when when you do that, you come back
to a city, it's like, I'm back home because this
is the city that opened up the gate for me
to go to the super Bowl in La and uh
(02:35):
and in Dallas, we open up the gate for us
to go to the super Bowl down in Atlanta.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
And then in Dallas the super Bowl to come to
h Arizona.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
So when you look at it from that perspective, it's like, yeah,
everywhere you're gone, you've lost battles, but you won battles. Yeah,
and you appreciate the whole process of getting there. And
that's what I remember the most. I mean, every city,
I can walk around and hold my head high because
I did my thing, Michael did his thing. And as
(03:05):
long as you earn the respect of the city and
the city treat you with that same level of respect,
you feel good.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Tell Roman, I, what are you doing with Tableau?
Speaker 3 (03:16):
Tell us the work you're doing with Well, there were Tableau.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Tableau is a streaming service where they have an antenna.
You just apply to antenna to your television network and
with that, you can stream all the channels of over
one hundred and twenty five channels throughout any television within
your house, any digital device within your house like cell
phones and iPads and laptops and so forth. You could
(03:41):
do all of that through your house and have and
pay one time. You paid one time for the antenna,
hook it up.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
And you get all of that.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
You get, you can record, you can you can rewind.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Oh, it's like the old school TiVo, old school TiVo
fifty hours of TVO fifty hours school.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Yeah, you went go back old school, and you get
all of that for one hundred one hundred. You can
get it from Amazon, you can get it from Walmart,
you can get it from Tableau, tv dot com, all
of those things, and you don't have to have all
of these extreme extreaming services. Remember this past year, now,
everybody went up. It was it was a block it
was it was a blackout. Yeah, it was a blackout
(04:19):
even on some of the college games. It was a
black out.
Speaker 4 (04:22):
Well, ESPN and YouTube TV had a big thing and
everybody went haywire like two weeks.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
If you had to Tableau, you wouldn't have to go haywire.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
You can go get it right there, baby, See, I
need a tableau, toload.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
It down to I'm literally doing it right now. Well,
I'm leaving one with you guys for free. If you
y'all can fight, who won't get it? Oh, paper rock Scissor.
I mean I like that. At the end of the day,
they wouldn't let me bring it up here on the set.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
It's okay, we're gonna be We're gonna paper rock Scissor
old set, and I'm.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
Gonna be happy with my tableau.
Speaker 4 (04:49):
That take me back then in high school, I paid
my boy like fifteen dollars to get Cinemax just in
my own room. So you know you need skin a Max.
I was not going there. I'm trying to be professional.
I'm here, I'm trying to be professonal. I heard, dammit,
why did you wear number twenty two? You know I
tell people all the time, I did not choose twenty two.
(05:09):
Twenty two chose me, okay, And here's how it went about.
I'm a freshman going into the University of Florida. I
wore twenty four in high school, and so when I
get there, but Fernandez, who was our equipment manager, asked
me he said, man, so what number you want to wear?
Speaker 2 (05:25):
I said, I wanted to wear twenty four. He said,
I'm sorry, an upper class has that number already. He said, here,
I want to give you twenty two because you remind
me of John A. O.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
Williams, Johnny L. Williams, who played with the Seahawks.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Yes, so he gave me twenty two, and I've been
twenty two ever since.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
Wow, So it was given to it really chose he
was actually given to me.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
And so that's why I say I've never chose twenty two,
and it chose me because I was choosing twenty four.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Yeah, but it worked out.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
I mean eighteen threeixenty five added up as equals to
twenty two.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
We've been doing some research what you come up with
back in college.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
On the scouting report, the team scouting report page, it
says that you squatted eight hundred and fifty pounds.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
I don't even dry that far. First and fourth horse.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
I don't ever remember putting six hundred pounds on the
let alone squad.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
Eight hundred all right, Thomas, he didn't do it. It's
not real. I don't know who put that. Somebody embellished
my record. Hey, that's a dude inbellished. We'll copy the link,
send it over to you, copy link, sit it over there.
I don't remember doing it.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
This possibly could have happened because I squatted over five
hundred and when as a true freshman.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
In high school. Oh, I did it in college, not
high school.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
I did it in high school. And the more weight
you put on, the more press you fell on your knees.
And I didn't like that feeling. So it's possible I
may have tried to do eight hundred one time.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
So let me ask you this, being that you have
so many rushing yards, how do your knees feel?
Speaker 3 (06:59):
The feel good? My niece feel fine.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Have a little challenge on my left hip because of
probably rotating golf and walking and riding my bike. I
was riding my I think I was riding my bike
on my outside of my heels, my legs, my feet,
and I think that triggers some things within my uh
uh per offormance and so ass muscles and so forth,
and so I got a little bit of tightness in
my left hip.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
I'm gonna go get get things checked out. It's feeling
better today now. I like that. I like that, hope
feel better maybe some of them. Triple uh bro, triple yeah,
triple threat. Make me feel better, makes me feel better
and better, Imman. We appreciate you coming on the pod
man always Man. I appreciate you guys. Y'all doing a
great job.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Man continued on and uh much success to the both
of you.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
Appreciate it. It's super Bowl Week at Media Row and
we have a very special guest.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
He is a super Bowl champion, he's an entrepreneur, he's
in the media space, he's a TV host. Slatst Gleman.
Please welcome Victor Cruiz to the park. Who's going home?
Speaker 5 (08:08):
Boss? I'm good, baby, always good to be here with
y'all hanging out. Whenever I see y'all, I'm like, it's
super Bowl Week, it is.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
He were in it.
Speaker 5 (08:15):
I like that shirt, man, thank you, thank you the
shirt Puerto Rican designer. I'm here with Discovered Puerto Rico.
We got vibes, we got energy and bringing the Puerto
Rican flavor.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
I'm feeling that this week. Okay, okay, you already said it.
You already said, who are we here to represent this week?
Victor Cruz. We are here with Discovered Puerto Rico.
Speaker 5 (08:33):
Letting people know that Puerto Rico is not just a
little island that is a US territory, is a cultural experience.
It's a place to go where I still have family,
where I still go once a year and and try
to chill and bask and get the energy.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
I need to go to Puerto Rico to get the energy.
Speaker 5 (08:47):
And it's just a cultural experience unlike any other in
the world in my experience. And uh and I think
Bad Bunny is going to show.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
That I have time.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
This Sunday, I went to what's the downtown of San Juan.
I went to Old San Juan Nice twice time.
Speaker 4 (09:03):
Every time Victor comes on, he's always telling us about
the fan of the year.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
Now it's Puerto Rico doing this thing. What I want
to know is what are your thoughts on the Giants
heart John Harbaugh.
Speaker 5 (09:15):
I was immediately excited about the opportunity for him to
coach that football team. I think we needed a coach.
Not to give shade to any of the previous coaches,
because I think they were great. Yeah, some of them
not so great, but a lot of them were. I
love day Ball. I think he was a great coach
for us. But I think hardball brings an immediate culture shift,
a guy that is proven, a guy that is a
winner and known winner, and I think it's great for
(09:36):
Jackson Dar's development. I think he's been around defenses that
know how to get after the quarterback, and he'll provide
a level of leadership in that locker room, both with
the players as well as with his staff to turn
to get us around that, around that, over that humping
around that corner, which I feel like we're right there, man,
our defense is lights out. I think we got to
(09:57):
show up our secondary, Caleb Downs if anybody wants to
draft him in the first round.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
We got a couple of picks. What pick are y'all at?
I think we're five. Okay, somebody high for safety, but
like I'm at, it's going to be the first necessity.
It's about me, right, and we need okay, little general manager. Yeah,
we need a little somebody as secondary because we couldn't.
We were a wet paper bag back. They were terrible. Yeah,
it wasn't good.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
You're forever like a New York Giant, Like, how special
is that? Because the more I been around the NFL
and we get in these rooms and things like you
learn like certain teams carry themselves just a little bit different,
Like when you're a Raider, like you are forever a raider,
Like they look at you differently when you're with the Cowboys,
it's different. The Giants is another storied organization with like,
(10:41):
has so much tradition, and you're looked at as a
giant from the way you burst in on the scene
to who you are now you're still in the city,
You're still doing all those things. What's that feeling like
for somebody like me that was that a much much
smaller market New York.
Speaker 5 (10:54):
Tell me that it's incredible. And I think my experience
is so different because I'm from there. I was born
and raised there. I understood what the Giants' lore was
all about growing up. I understood the rivalries and like.
But the Giants always stood as a high class organization
with high character guys that like knew how to speak
to the media, knew how to carry themselves. So when
(11:16):
I was injected into that atmosphere, I was like, oh,
I understood what was being asked of me, even without
them having to tell me directly, because I was in it.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
So that was always a great thing.
Speaker 5 (11:26):
And then just being, you know, in the conversation with
the guys, to be a giant forever, it's just a
beautiful thing. You walk around New York City, you feel
the love, you feel the energy. It's just a different
thing when you're just a giant and you're recognized as
one of those guys that been a part of that
team and been a leader, and being one of those
guys that brought a Super Bowl to the city. It's
(11:47):
just it's a tremendous and a beautiful thing. And I'm
happy to be part of such an organization.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
I got something for you, your quarterback, Eli. Yeah. Can
you make a case for him to be in the
Hall of Fame? Yeah? Man, I feel like I've been
making a case for years now.
Speaker 5 (12:02):
I mean, the guy when it shows up, when it's
time for him to show up in the biggest moments,
in the biggest games, whether regular season, playoff or the
Super Bowls, he shows up. And when you go to
two of them, and when you beat and on the
other side of that field is the best guy to
ever play the game. And Tom Brady and you beat
(12:22):
him twice and one time they were undefeated, and you
and you crush that dream for them. I mean, what
else does the guy have to do. He's been one
of the most consistent quarterbacks, one of the most durable
quarterbacks that we've seen, and I just don't understand what
else he needs to do. And then furthermore, you look
at you know, Belichick not getting in in the first ballot,
(12:44):
Robert kravenagain, then it's like.
Speaker 3 (12:45):
Okay, who's voting for this? Something's off here because if
they're not first ballot guys, then Obiden, then who is?
Speaker 4 (12:52):
Well once I told him, I just told a boy
like the moment Terrell Owens wasn't first ballot because I'm like,
at that point, anybody they can hold anything. Anybody I
don't know. I ain't got to vote, so I ain't
in it. And Eli eventually will get in, so it's
gonna be really cool. They just hate them because of
his five hundred get in. But it's I want to
(13:14):
know this, all right, I want to how in the
world did you get you were doing a public service award.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
With Commissioner Roger Goodell? Yes, how did you get him
to do that? Saucer? I mean, like, how did you
was to do this? That was about I want to
say a little over a month ago. Now it was
in New York.
Speaker 5 (13:32):
It was a bunch of different brands were there, and
how was this still the sausa. I ain't gonna use
some work. Okay, you could use a little bit of work,
but the fact that first of all, he wanted to
do it. We were behind the scenes and he was like,
are we gonna dance?
Speaker 3 (13:46):
And I was like, are you I can dance all day.
Are you gonna do it with me? Are you?
Speaker 5 (13:51):
And he was like, yeah, let's do it. It's where
great cars. We're there for the people, and and he
was excited to do it.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
Man. So I was excited.
Speaker 5 (13:59):
And what I loved about it too is we had,
like I remember, preparing for it, or we had a
call beforehand on how we wanted to go through the script,
and he literally balled the script up, was like, throw
this away.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
Let's just go up there and vibe.
Speaker 5 (14:09):
Unless you have your talking points, you know how to talk,
you know how to speak your points, to speak your messages.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
I know how to speak my messages.
Speaker 5 (14:15):
We could bounce off of each other, and I think
that chemistry up there while we were giving the award
was really special and you could see it translated very
well for the people that were in the room.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
NCC guy does all this college stuff. Big twelve guy. Ye,
how has that space been on tn T Right, it's
been great. Yep doing the tn T. Got some really
good guys on that desk.
Speaker 5 (14:40):
Yes, my man, Tequio Spikes, Champ Bailey, Adam Lefko's hosting
us and driving the ship for us.
Speaker 3 (14:45):
Man.
Speaker 5 (14:45):
I think it's just, uh, it's been incredible to get
that deeply entrenched into college football and to see it
from that level, and then to get to know some
of the players. We obviously interview players after the game
and get them to do the salsa every time. It's
kind of part of our our post game ritual kind
of thing. And it's been interesting to see like how
NILS play a part the coaching carousel, you know, these
(15:09):
quarterbacks and how they manage their teams and how they're
going from team and team, and how the NIL is
affecting these football teams and these rosters. Seeing how the
college football playoffs shapes out each and every year. It's
been interesting to see it. I'm happy to be part
of it, and we're it looks like we're going to
be doing more and more as the years go on.
Speaker 4 (15:26):
It looks so interesting because you went to a very
small school, so now you get to see like college
football on the power force, power forward level.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
Correct.
Speaker 4 (15:35):
And then also having Texas Tech, who to me has
been the most interesting school in university throughout this NIL
phase because of the way that they've spent their money.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
It's been so intriguing.
Speaker 4 (15:47):
Could you tell me like that experience of what you've
picked up on from not only Texas Tech, but you
now covering big time college football and doing things that
you didn't actually get to do personally yourself.
Speaker 5 (15:56):
Yeah, it's it's been interesting, especially because we're seeing a
shift in college football right now. It's not just the
LSUS and the Bamas and those teams dominating the national
championship conversation. You got a team like Indiana who comes
out obviously Mark Cuban. There's a lot of finances going
into that organization as well. Texas Tech two got a
big influx of cash coming into this year, which made
(16:16):
them able to go spend an il money on a
lot of this talent and it's paying off. And I
know a lot of schools are seeing that and being like, Okay,
let's hit our donorship group up and see if we
can buy us an opportunity to make it to the
College Football Playoff and put my team in contention and
in the conversation. So it's been interesting to see how
the finances are being spent, how a team like Texas
(16:37):
Tech can compete and not just compete in the Big Twelve,
but like they had national recognition and deservedly so that
defense was top ten in the nation in my opinion
or not in my opinion, those are facts, and they
deserve to be in the conversation and deserve to be
playing against a team like Oregon to compete for the
national championship. So it's been interesting. I'm happy to be like,
(16:57):
we're right at the cutting edge of it. Man, it's happening,
and as we speak, there's different things taking place. So
I'm excited to be part of the of the narrative.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Man.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
We appreciate you coming on the pod, appreciate you blessing
us as always. You got a restaurant too, Yes, Crystals.
We open in March twentieth in New Jersey. Finally got
a release date on that. It's happening and we're looking
to expand all throughout New Jersey and hopefully all throughout America.
So we'll start in Jersey, starting my hometown, and then
we'll spread from there, because that's what the love is.
Speaker 5 (17:26):
We're gonna start in Love and Pattison, and then we're
gonna spread it out through the world.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
Well, good luck to you and your entrepreneur and your
restaurant and everything else.
Speaker 5 (17:33):
Ball I appreciate me. I need to get the skin
regiment from y'all too, because y'all are y'all getting younger.
It's like y'all are regressing a little bit. I like
this is just the sun, like what I gotta just
we'll talk off like this, but I need.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
To know the regiment. I love it. Yeah, Coco Butter,
I don't think
What's up everybody on Peanut Tillman and this is the
NFL Players Second X podcast with him, as always my
trusty co host Scharman Harper. We're in San Francisco, super
Bowl week media row, not radio row like it used
to be. We have, if not the greatest running back
of all time. Hall of Fame running back Emmitt Smith.
(00:28):
Welcome to the pod, Boss Gros.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
Thank y'all, Thank you, thank you, Thank you.
Speaker 3 (00:33):
Y'all are so kind. Appreciation Boss, appreciate you. How you
feeling this week? Man?
Speaker 2 (00:37):
You know what I'm doing pretty good. I'm excited super
Bowl's back around again. It's good to be out here
in San Franda to witness what will be I expect
to be a very good super Bowl between both of
these teams.
Speaker 3 (00:51):
Seahawks look very good.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Yeah, they do defensively, you know, defense wins championships. And
I know Mark vabral is gonna have his team ready
to go. It's gonna be the Belichick way. And I
think he's adopted the Belichick way.
Speaker 3 (01:05):
Yeah, and I think that.
Speaker 2 (01:06):
Translates into why his team is actually in the.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
Super Bowl this year. Yeah.
Speaker 4 (01:10):
Yeah, they definitely bought into his system. R exactly So
when I was watching you, San Francisco was your biggest rapper.
So what's it like being out here in San Francisco
for this Super Bowl? And just like how many battles
like do you go back and think about? Because I
drove back Old Candlestick where it used to be at,
and I'm just like, dang, man, I missed that place
because it was some great games I watched there growing up.
Speaker 3 (01:33):
I got to play there a couple of times out
of compla.
Speaker 4 (01:36):
It's just like, man, it's it's just nostalgia whenever you
get to go to these places and be around these
people that you got to compete against, and it's personally
like you is specifically I got to know because I
hated you growing up.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
And that's why I love couple of cities where you win,
You go to cities where you want it's like, yeah,
we want to you know what I'm saying. But but
you know, when you see guys like jer Wright, So
you have so much respect for Steve Young and other
or other forty nine ers, I have tremendous respect for
(02:08):
them because you know they paid the price to be
champions as well.
Speaker 3 (02:12):
Yeah, and you had to go through that that kind.
Speaker 2 (02:15):
Of gauntlet in order to earn your right to be
sitting at the same table and eating the same meal.
And so when when you do that, you come back
to a city, it's like, I'm back home because this
is the city that opened up the gate for me
to go to the super Bowl in La and uh
(02:35):
and in Dallas, we open up the gate for us
to go to the super Bowl down in Atlanta.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
And then in Dallas the super Bowl to come to
h Arizona.
Speaker 2 (02:44):
So when you look at it from that perspective, it's like, yeah,
everywhere you're gone, you've lost battles, but you won battles. Yeah,
and you appreciate the whole process of getting there. And
that's what I remember the most. I mean, every city,
I can walk around and hold my head high because
I did my thing, Michael did his thing. And as
(03:05):
long as you earn the respect of the city and
the city treat you with that same level of respect,
you feel good.
Speaker 1 (03:12):
Tell Roman, I, what are you doing with Tableau?
Speaker 3 (03:16):
Tell us the work you're doing with Well, there were Tableau.
Speaker 2 (03:18):
Tableau is a streaming service where they have an antenna.
You just apply to antenna to your television network and
with that, you can stream all the channels of over
one hundred and twenty five channels throughout any television within
your house, any digital device within your house like cell
phones and iPads and laptops and so forth. You could
(03:41):
do all of that through your house and have and
pay one time. You paid one time for the antenna,
hook it up.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
And you get all of that.
Speaker 2 (03:48):
You get, you can record, you can you can rewind.
Speaker 1 (03:52):
Oh, it's like the old school TiVo, old school TiVo
fifty hours of TVO fifty hours school.
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Yeah, you went go back old school, and you get
all of that for one hundred one hundred. You can
get it from Amazon, you can get it from Walmart,
you can get it from Tableau, tv dot com, all
of those things, and you don't have to have all
of these extreme extreaming services. Remember this past year, now,
everybody went up. It was it was a block it
was it was a blackout. Yeah, it was a blackout
(04:19):
even on some of the college games. It was a
black out.
Speaker 4 (04:22):
Well, ESPN and YouTube TV had a big thing and
everybody went haywire like two weeks.
Speaker 3 (04:27):
If you had to Tableau, you wouldn't have to go haywire.
Speaker 2 (04:29):
You can go get it right there, baby, See, I
need a tableau, toload.
Speaker 3 (04:33):
It down to I'm literally doing it right now. Well,
I'm leaving one with you guys for free. If you
y'all can fight, who won't get it? Oh, paper rock Scissor.
I mean I like that. At the end of the day,
they wouldn't let me bring it up here on the set.
Speaker 1 (04:44):
It's okay, we're gonna be We're gonna paper rock Scissor
old set, and I'm.
Speaker 3 (04:48):
Gonna be happy with my tableau.
Speaker 4 (04:49):
That take me back then in high school, I paid
my boy like fifteen dollars to get Cinemax just in
my own room. So you know you need skin a Max.
I was not going there. I'm trying to be professional.
I'm here, I'm trying to be professonal. I heard, dammit,
why did you wear number twenty two? You know I
tell people all the time, I did not choose twenty two.
(05:09):
Twenty two chose me, okay, And here's how it went about.
I'm a freshman going into the University of Florida. I
wore twenty four in high school, and so when I
get there, but Fernandez, who was our equipment manager, asked
me he said, man, so what number you want to wear?
Speaker 2 (05:25):
I said, I wanted to wear twenty four. He said,
I'm sorry, an upper class has that number already. He said, here,
I want to give you twenty two because you remind
me of John A. O.
Speaker 3 (05:35):
Williams, Johnny L. Williams, who played with the Seahawks.
Speaker 2 (05:38):
Yes, so he gave me twenty two, and I've been
twenty two ever since.
Speaker 3 (05:42):
Wow, So it was given to it really chose he
was actually given to me.
Speaker 2 (05:46):
And so that's why I say I've never chose twenty two,
and it chose me because I was choosing twenty four.
Speaker 3 (05:52):
Yeah, but it worked out.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
I mean eighteen threeixenty five added up as equals to
twenty two.
Speaker 3 (05:58):
We've been doing some research what you come up with
back in college.
Speaker 1 (06:03):
On the scouting report, the team scouting report page, it
says that you squatted eight hundred and fifty pounds.
Speaker 3 (06:10):
I don't even dry that far. First and fourth horse.
Speaker 2 (06:12):
I don't ever remember putting six hundred pounds on the
let alone squad.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
Eight hundred all right, Thomas, he didn't do it. It's
not real. I don't know who put that. Somebody embellished
my record. Hey, that's a dude inbellished. We'll copy the link,
send it over to you, copy link, sit it over there.
I don't remember doing it.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
This possibly could have happened because I squatted over five
hundred and when as a true freshman.
Speaker 3 (06:38):
In high school. Oh, I did it in college, not
high school.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
I did it in high school. And the more weight
you put on, the more press you fell on your knees.
And I didn't like that feeling. So it's possible I
may have tried to do eight hundred one time.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
So let me ask you this, being that you have
so many rushing yards, how do your knees feel?
Speaker 3 (06:59):
The feel good? My niece feel fine.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Have a little challenge on my left hip because of
probably rotating golf and walking and riding my bike. I
was riding my I think I was riding my bike
on my outside of my heels, my legs, my feet,
and I think that triggers some things within my uh
uh per offormance and so ass muscles and so forth,
and so I got a little bit of tightness in
my left hip.
Speaker 3 (07:22):
I'm gonna go get get things checked out. It's feeling
better today now. I like that. I like that, hope
feel better maybe some of them. Triple uh bro, triple yeah,
triple threat. Make me feel better, makes me feel better
and better, Imman. We appreciate you coming on the pod
man always Man. I appreciate you guys. Y'all doing a
great job.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Man continued on and uh much success to the both
of you.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
Appreciate it. It's super Bowl Week at Media Row and
we have a very special guest.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
He is a super Bowl champion, he's an entrepreneur, he's
in the media space, he's a TV host. Slatst Gleman.
Please welcome Victor Cruiz to the park. Who's going home?
Speaker 5 (08:08):
Boss? I'm good, baby, always good to be here with
y'all hanging out. Whenever I see y'all, I'm like, it's
super Bowl Week, it is.
Speaker 3 (08:14):
He were in it.
Speaker 5 (08:15):
I like that shirt, man, thank you, thank you the
shirt Puerto Rican designer. I'm here with Discovered Puerto Rico.
We got vibes, we got energy and bringing the Puerto
Rican flavor.
Speaker 3 (08:23):
I'm feeling that this week. Okay, okay, you already said it.
You already said, who are we here to represent this week?
Victor Cruz. We are here with Discovered Puerto Rico.
Speaker 5 (08:33):
Letting people know that Puerto Rico is not just a
little island that is a US territory, is a cultural experience.
It's a place to go where I still have family,
where I still go once a year and and try
to chill and bask and get the energy.
Speaker 3 (08:45):
I need to go to Puerto Rico to get the energy.
Speaker 5 (08:47):
And it's just a cultural experience unlike any other in
the world in my experience. And uh and I think
Bad Bunny is going to show.
Speaker 3 (08:54):
That I have time.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
This Sunday, I went to what's the downtown of San Juan.
I went to Old San Juan Nice twice time.
Speaker 4 (09:03):
Every time Victor comes on, he's always telling us about
the fan of the year.
Speaker 3 (09:07):
Now it's Puerto Rico doing this thing. What I want
to know is what are your thoughts on the Giants
heart John Harbaugh.
Speaker 5 (09:15):
I was immediately excited about the opportunity for him to
coach that football team. I think we needed a coach.
Not to give shade to any of the previous coaches,
because I think they were great. Yeah, some of them
not so great, but a lot of them were. I
love day Ball. I think he was a great coach
for us. But I think hardball brings an immediate culture shift,
a guy that is proven, a guy that is a
winner and known winner, and I think it's great for
(09:36):
Jackson Dar's development. I think he's been around defenses that
know how to get after the quarterback, and he'll provide
a level of leadership in that locker room, both with
the players as well as with his staff to turn
to get us around that, around that, over that humping
around that corner, which I feel like we're right there, man,
our defense is lights out. I think we got to
(09:57):
show up our secondary, Caleb Downs if anybody wants to
draft him in the first round.
Speaker 3 (10:02):
We got a couple of picks. What pick are y'all at?
I think we're five. Okay, somebody high for safety, but
like I'm at, it's going to be the first necessity.
It's about me, right, and we need okay, little general manager. Yeah,
we need a little somebody as secondary because we couldn't.
We were a wet paper bag back. They were terrible. Yeah,
it wasn't good.
Speaker 4 (10:19):
You're forever like a New York Giant, Like, how special
is that? Because the more I been around the NFL
and we get in these rooms and things like you
learn like certain teams carry themselves just a little bit different,
Like when you're a Raider, like you are forever a raider,
Like they look at you differently when you're with the Cowboys,
it's different. The Giants is another storied organization with like,
(10:41):
has so much tradition, and you're looked at as a
giant from the way you burst in on the scene
to who you are now you're still in the city,
You're still doing all those things. What's that feeling like
for somebody like me that was that a much much
smaller market New York.
Speaker 5 (10:54):
Tell me that it's incredible. And I think my experience
is so different because I'm from there. I was born
and raised there. I understood what the Giants' lore was
all about growing up. I understood the rivalries and like.
But the Giants always stood as a high class organization
with high character guys that like knew how to speak
to the media, knew how to carry themselves. So when
(11:16):
I was injected into that atmosphere, I was like, oh,
I understood what was being asked of me, even without
them having to tell me directly, because I was in it.
Speaker 3 (11:25):
So that was always a great thing.
Speaker 5 (11:26):
And then just being, you know, in the conversation with
the guys, to be a giant forever, it's just a
beautiful thing. You walk around New York City, you feel
the love, you feel the energy. It's just a different
thing when you're just a giant and you're recognized as
one of those guys that been a part of that
team and been a leader, and being one of those
guys that brought a Super Bowl to the city. It's
(11:47):
just it's a tremendous and a beautiful thing. And I'm
happy to be part of such an organization.
Speaker 3 (11:52):
I got something for you, your quarterback, Eli. Yeah. Can
you make a case for him to be in the
Hall of Fame? Yeah? Man, I feel like I've been
making a case for years now.
Speaker 5 (12:02):
I mean, the guy when it shows up, when it's
time for him to show up in the biggest moments,
in the biggest games, whether regular season, playoff or the
Super Bowls, he shows up. And when you go to
two of them, and when you beat and on the
other side of that field is the best guy to
ever play the game. And Tom Brady and you beat
(12:22):
him twice and one time they were undefeated, and you
and you crush that dream for them. I mean, what
else does the guy have to do. He's been one
of the most consistent quarterbacks, one of the most durable
quarterbacks that we've seen, and I just don't understand what
else he needs to do. And then furthermore, you look
at you know, Belichick not getting in in the first ballot,
(12:44):
Robert kravenagain, then it's like.
Speaker 3 (12:45):
Okay, who's voting for this? Something's off here because if
they're not first ballot guys, then Obiden, then who is?
Speaker 4 (12:52):
Well once I told him, I just told a boy
like the moment Terrell Owens wasn't first ballot because I'm like,
at that point, anybody they can hold anything. Anybody I
don't know. I ain't got to vote, so I ain't
in it. And Eli eventually will get in, so it's
gonna be really cool. They just hate them because of
his five hundred get in. But it's I want to
(13:14):
know this, all right, I want to how in the
world did you get you were doing a public service award.
Speaker 3 (13:20):
With Commissioner Roger Goodell? Yes, how did you get him
to do that? Saucer? I mean, like, how did you
was to do this? That was about I want to
say a little over a month ago. Now it was
in New York.
Speaker 5 (13:32):
It was a bunch of different brands were there, and
how was this still the sausa. I ain't gonna use
some work. Okay, you could use a little bit of work,
but the fact that first of all, he wanted to
do it. We were behind the scenes and he was like,
are we gonna dance?
Speaker 3 (13:46):
And I was like, are you I can dance all day.
Are you gonna do it with me? Are you?
Speaker 5 (13:51):
And he was like, yeah, let's do it. It's where
great cars. We're there for the people, and and he
was excited to do it.
Speaker 3 (13:57):
Man. So I was excited.
Speaker 5 (13:59):
And what I loved about it too is we had,
like I remember, preparing for it, or we had a
call beforehand on how we wanted to go through the script,
and he literally balled the script up, was like, throw
this away.
Speaker 3 (14:07):
Let's just go up there and vibe.
Speaker 5 (14:09):
Unless you have your talking points, you know how to talk,
you know how to speak your points, to speak your messages.
Speaker 3 (14:14):
I know how to speak my messages.
Speaker 5 (14:15):
We could bounce off of each other, and I think
that chemistry up there while we were giving the award
was really special and you could see it translated very
well for the people that were in the room.
Speaker 3 (14:27):
NCC guy does all this college stuff. Big twelve guy. Ye,
how has that space been on tn T Right, it's
been great. Yep doing the tn T. Got some really
good guys on that desk.
Speaker 5 (14:40):
Yes, my man, Tequio Spikes, Champ Bailey, Adam Lefko's hosting
us and driving the ship for us.
Speaker 3 (14:45):
Man.
Speaker 5 (14:45):
I think it's just, uh, it's been incredible to get
that deeply entrenched into college football and to see it
from that level, and then to get to know some
of the players. We obviously interview players after the game
and get them to do the salsa every time. It's
kind of part of our our post game ritual kind
of thing. And it's been interesting to see like how
NILS play a part the coaching carousel, you know, these
(15:09):
quarterbacks and how they manage their teams and how they're
going from team and team, and how the NIL is
affecting these football teams and these rosters. Seeing how the
college football playoffs shapes out each and every year. It's
been interesting to see it. I'm happy to be part
of it, and we're it looks like we're going to
be doing more and more as the years go on.
Speaker 4 (15:26):
It looks so interesting because you went to a very
small school, so now you get to see like college
football on the power force, power forward level.
Speaker 3 (15:35):
Correct.
Speaker 4 (15:35):
And then also having Texas Tech, who to me has
been the most interesting school in university throughout this NIL
phase because of the way that they've spent their money.
Speaker 3 (15:45):
It's been so intriguing.
Speaker 4 (15:47):
Could you tell me like that experience of what you've
picked up on from not only Texas Tech, but you
now covering big time college football and doing things that
you didn't actually get to do personally yourself.
Speaker 5 (15:56):
Yeah, it's it's been interesting, especially because we're seeing a
shift in college football right now. It's not just the
LSUS and the Bamas and those teams dominating the national
championship conversation. You got a team like Indiana who comes
out obviously Mark Cuban. There's a lot of finances going
into that organization as well. Texas Tech two got a
big influx of cash coming into this year, which made
(16:16):
them able to go spend an il money on a
lot of this talent and it's paying off. And I
know a lot of schools are seeing that and being like, Okay,
let's hit our donorship group up and see if we
can buy us an opportunity to make it to the
College Football Playoff and put my team in contention and
in the conversation. So it's been interesting to see how
the finances are being spent, how a team like Texas
(16:37):
Tech can compete and not just compete in the Big Twelve,
but like they had national recognition and deservedly so that
defense was top ten in the nation in my opinion
or not in my opinion, those are facts, and they
deserve to be in the conversation and deserve to be
playing against a team like Oregon to compete for the
national championship. So it's been interesting. I'm happy to be like,
(16:57):
we're right at the cutting edge of it. Man, it's happening,
and as we speak, there's different things taking place. So
I'm excited to be part of the of the narrative.
Speaker 2 (17:05):
Man.
Speaker 1 (17:05):
We appreciate you coming on the pod, appreciate you blessing
us as always. You got a restaurant too, Yes, Crystals.
We open in March twentieth in New Jersey. Finally got
a release date on that. It's happening and we're looking
to expand all throughout New Jersey and hopefully all throughout America.
So we'll start in Jersey, starting my hometown, and then
we'll spread from there, because that's what the love is.
Speaker 5 (17:26):
We're gonna start in Love and Pattison, and then we're
gonna spread it out through the world.
Speaker 3 (17:30):
Well, good luck to you and your entrepreneur and your
restaurant and everything else.
Speaker 5 (17:33):
Ball I appreciate me. I need to get the skin
regiment from y'all too, because y'all are y'all getting younger.
It's like y'all are regressing a little bit. I like
this is just the sun, like what I gotta just
we'll talk off like this, but I need.
Speaker 3 (17:45):
To know the regiment. I love it. Yeah, Coco Butter,
I don't think
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