March 13, 2025 • 50 mins
This week my guest on the podcast is Ali from the the Digitally Dreaming off the Gridiron Podcast talking about his football/coaching career and much more.
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Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
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Thank you. Welcome to the Delvin Cox
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experience, the podcast which each week I'm on a one man
mission to you, not a coast to diversity.
I'm your host, Delvin Cox and with me on the podcast is my
boy, my brother, my Co host. Let me know you are brother, for
those who don't know. I'm the Co host of the most I'll
seek Ali and I'm here with the man, the myth, the legend
himself, Delvin Cox. Thank you for having me today
(01:37):
bro. My pleasure bro.
Me and Ali host another podcast.I don't know if y'all well, I
think we did talk about this we on a couple episodes ago when
Cortez on he mentioned Ali in a situation that happened.
So I said let me just have Ali on the podcast.
So before we get to that, as I always like to start the podcast
out with A5 for five, five questions, 5 minutes to get the
(01:58):
bowler. Ali, Are you ready?
It's. About.
Question #1 Ali, if all the serial mascots have one big
brawl, who you got winning? Leprechaun from Lucky Charms.
OK, I like that it's good luck. Has a pot of gold or something.
It's gold Lucky Charms. Yeah.
(02:20):
Fucking it's probably, it's something all right, question #2
it's just, I know you're a 49ersfan.
Yes, Sir. I, I I made this question
specifically crafted for you, Ali.
Yes, Sir. Give me your dream line up for
(02:42):
the 49ers. We ain't got any.
I go to like the centers and stuff like that.
Like, you know, quarterback, running back, receivers, tight
ends, just the basic ones. OK, OK, OK, let's go.
So let me start from the top QB.All right, This is going to be
blasphemous, but I'm going to gowith my man #8 over #16 Steve
Young. That was my guy, you know, Yeah.
Growing up, you know, in the 90s, you know, Steve Young was a
(03:04):
legend. And you know, I mean, the, the
last, the first, my first exposure of football was to
Steve. And then you're kind of that
dual threat quarterback. I feel like he was, he was kind
of laid the foundation of blueprint along with Randall
Cunningham and many others, you know, back in the 90s, you know,
so I would take Steve Young as like QB.
How lucky. Sierra Fair to like lose Montana
(03:24):
and get Steve Young, you know what I'm saying?
Is that possible? See, Bill Walsh is a genius
because, you know, the West Coast offense was at that time,
you know, unprecedented. We never had any type of offense
where you motion a running back out of the backfield and then
you have 1000 yard receiver and rusher would watch Craig and
Bill Walsh basically could see like 10 years ahead, you know,
(03:46):
before anyone else could. And Steve Young and Tampa was
not a good quarterback his firstcouple years in the week.
I mean, he was, I mean, obviously Tampa was a bad team,
but still, I mean, he was not touted as like what Joe Montana
was after Joe, you know, kind ofhad his run, you know, the first
half of his career. So Bill Walsh was just was just
a savant and, and and having offer talent.
So I mean, you know, cruise bullWalsh, you know, obviously, you
(04:08):
know, he's up there, you know, in the in the in the heavenly
garden. But you know, it was the one of
those things, man, I mean, and so, yeah, Steve Young was just I
mean, Niners were lucky. And now we're basically on the
blowback of, you know, going five and, oh, before 2002 bowls
to now going, oh, and three and two bowls since the since, since
the turn of the Millennium. And I've had to actually witness
the last one in person in Las Vegas.
That's why I got this hat. Yeah. 58.
(04:30):
So, you know, it all it all, it all comes full circle.
That's true. Yeah.
Wide receiver Jerry Rice #80 running back again, Blasphemy.
But I'm just gonna have to go with my man Christian McCaffrey.
Historic all time seasons. Frank Gore.
My God, love him. Best player of the 2000s in my
(04:50):
opinion. So I mean, you could go, yeah,
obviously nice fans go with withwith Gore, with Tank, but I'm
going to go with CMC just based on talent.
If you're going all the time, you go with CMC.
Wide receiver 2 will be honest TO81.
He's fired me to wear 81. You know, when I play JUCO in
arena And then my other, my other tight end would actually
be Kittle over Brent Jones. And then I want to say for the
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other, the other was the aristo position because we got 2 wires
here. What one more, one more wide
receiver will be my man John Taylor.
JT the catch in that Super Bowl 23, You know, I actually met
John Taylor a few years ago Roseville.
So you'll have to have to have to give my guy, you know his his
his flowers. You know, he's clutch, one of
the most underrated wide receiver twos in in league
history. If not be great a second wide
out option league history. So that's my offense, my
(05:33):
defense. Now, if we're going to go from
defense, you know, start from the corners, right?
You got to go with my guy Eric Wright and obviously prime time
Deon Sanders, of course, right? There you go, funky chicken.
Right, no little dance, right. And then we got to go safety,
Ronnie Lott, Great safety of alltime.
You know, you can't go wrong there.
The other safety, either Dante Hitner or, you know, whoever you
(05:54):
want, you know, I mean, you could basically pick him.
I'll go Whitner because that's what I saw in my 20s.
And then obviously linebacker, obviously the all time great
Patrick Willis, you know, Hall of Famer, and then Navarro
Bowman. And then I think, you know, I'm
not sure, I guess. Yeah.
And obviously Fred Warner. Fred Warner will be my
linebacker 3. You know, with those two,
obviously the front four. I would go Justin Smith.
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I would go, you know, Nick Bosa and I would go Alden Smith.
And then I would go on the otherinterior side.
You know, Brian y'all I like that would be my all Time Team.
Yeah. I like it.
It's a good thing. Yeah, yeah.
Question #3 Ali, let's. Go.
What's the dumbest thing you think you've ever done as a kid?
(06:37):
There we go. So you know how we all watch
wrestling? You see my backdrop behind me.
You know, you see all these guys, right?
Obviously I grew up in the era of the attitude era slash
ruthless aggression. So I stone cold Steve Austin was
a was a pinnacle my childhood. So when he flipped off his boss,
I basically took that to heart and basically did that in
school. So I would base I I did a my
(07:00):
dude is not looking back turn. He's like, he's like, I'll leave
get your ass out of here, go to the principal's office and then
I'm all like behind it. And then the teacher finds out
and then the teacher basically says, yeah, you're suspended.
The principal says you're suspended.
So, you know, obviously pro wrestling, you're good.
Yeah, I can imagine that that might have been a little bit of
a problem, the same thing. Pro wrestling, bro.
(07:24):
I mean, you know, obviously, youknow, I mean, disobeying
authority. That was kind of, you know, a
thing. And obviously my first.
Did you give the? Did you get the principal a
stutter on your way out? Oh man, I was trying.
To throw him but the the most. Ironic thing bro was that in my
8th grade there was a kid who was a random steel fan and then
like, you know, he used to be really obnoxious.
So like I actually whooped his ass one time and.
(07:45):
It's a truck. Like.
Like Kevin landed on Nitro. Yeah, I, I, yeah.
Because I mean, back then, I mean, I was a little toothpick,
right? So he thought he could just
like, you know, have his way with me.
And so I just, I faced to my ground and I whooped his ass.
And then and then, and then the teachers found us and they
separated us. And then they said, like, you
know, you create a hostile environment.
(08:06):
You instigated it. So you're being double
suspended. They call my mom and I'm like,
man, I'm just, I'm just following my hero and that that,
that my soulful, you know, kind of drawing on my in my backpack
that I pull out. Oh my God.
They told you you were creating a hostile environment.
Yeah, because, you know, I was all like, you know, if you think
(08:27):
you can try me, give me a hell yeah, I know if you if you think
I can whoop my exact give. Me a hell yeah.
Oh man, that's funny. That's funny.
Stupid but funny. All right, question #4 Ali,
since we're talking about wrestling, give me your top five
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wrestlers. My top five favorite or my?
Top five Favorite Favorite. OK, five.
Gotta go with my man The Rock. Dwayne the Rock Johnson.
You know, final boss. Yeah, final boss gotta go with
him #4 The GOAT, Stone Cold Steve Austin.
Yeah, can't go wrong with him #3you know my guy, you know,
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obviously, you know, he's not such a so much a good guy
anymore, but you know, he was a good guy.
You can't see me. John Cena.
Saw him in Sacramento. We came, we came a year and a
half ago. That was my my, you know, it was
a great experience. You know, going to see my first
kind of W show live. So Cena #2 gosh, I just had the
name that's forgot it #2 fuck. Oh yeah #2 is not an all time
(09:34):
great by many. In my opinion, he is because
he's a fan of the show. I'm featured on his on his
website. Ken, the most dangerous, The
world's most dangerous man. Ken Shamrock.
You know, I love you, bro. If you're watching this, Ken
Shamrock's my guy, you know, Andyou know, I I love having him on
my show when I can. Hope I get him back back on
soon. And last but not least, yeah,
the great, the Great American hero.
(09:55):
You know, the man who who did it, who won a gold medal, was
broke for Connect, the man who signed the autograph right there
to me. Kurt Angle.
Gotta go. My God.
Kurt Angle. That's a solid list.
I like it, yeah. I I respect it because there's
no Hulk Hogan on it, so that's even better.
We're talking about wrestlers, not not prima donnas.
Did you see the I think it was the Bleacher Report?
(10:18):
No, it might have been Rolling Stone that put out the list of
the thing with the top 10 wrestlers.
I did not see that, no. Yeah, it, it was very
controversial to some people. I'm going to see if I can find
this list real quick so we can talk about it for a second.
We've got a question before. While I'm looking for this list,
I'll give you question #5 question #5 All right, Thanos
(10:42):
comes to Earth, got the gauntletand stuff like that.
OK, you got to pick 5 wrestlers to take down Thanos.
Now here's the catch for y'all Lee, this is the this is just
saving grace. Hello.
Their gimmick is real. OK, so who they are on screen is
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real in real life. Correct.
I got big 5 right. Five, so they can use their
gimmick to help help take down Thanos.
Well, this. Is going to be easy.
I'm going to start with #5 Godfather.
Because, you know, he got the whole tray and he can get, he
can, he can swarm them, You know, they're just dead by
numbers. And then obviously, I met him,
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too. He was.
He's he's a great man. That's him right there in the
corner. You know, Godfather, you know
Charles Good Goodman, I think his name is.
I forget it. Not much of a good man.
Love your godfather, SEC #4 His real live gimmick will have to
beat Thanos. Yeah, I'm Angle.
I mean, come on. The American hero.
I mean, Captain America. It makes sense, right?
(11:47):
You got to go with that. Yeah #3 Let's see.
So Uncle Steve Austin, you know,the, you know, the, the, you
know, the guy, the Hellraiser, you know, obviously the guy goes
against Thority. Thanos kind of is there to, you
know, impose, you know, authority, you know, based on
his vision. So Austin #2 Undertaker,
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obviously, you know, the dead man, when he rises up, you know,
he can, he can do some shit, youknow, if he's actually dead.
And Thanos, because Thanos can't, I mean, he's basically a
cheat code, you know? And last but not least #1 of
course, gotta go back. My God.
Kent Shamrock, the world's most dangerous man, if he's, if
that's who he is in real life and that's who Thanos has to
fight, you know, put two and twotogether.
(12:34):
I like it. I like it.
I'm trying to find this list. I'll screw it before we get to
the list. So Ali, let everybody know about
yourself for those who don't know.
Yeah, absolutely. No.
For those of you don't know y'all, my name is Asif Ali.
I'm the host of the Digital Dreaming Office Ground podcast.
You know, I've been posting, I've been podcasting for the
(12:54):
last five years now. The podcast channel has actually
been up around for the last almost 3 or 4 years.
I Co Oslaw guy right here, Dalvin Cox, my guy Cortez, I'm
obviously based out here in Northern California.
Die hard Niners fan, die hard wrestling fan, as you see behind
me, you know, prior to obviouslypodcasting, I actually used to
play football a little bit. I played JUCO.
Then I also played in the arena league a little bit played my
(13:16):
guy Cortez, who we Co host with,You know, we actually, you know,
did a little semi pro arena ballback in Chicago in the Midwest,
Illinois carnage. I got my drews in my closet,
which you can't see right now. So I really had a great time
playing, you know, while also, you know, in my, my current
career in IT tech, you know, butalso being being able to kind of
bounce both was a great experience for me.
You know, actually got to coach,you know, got to own my own
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team, you know, out there, you know, in, in Chicago with the
Illinois carnage as well as the Windy City watches back in
2018-2019. We actually had some, we had, we
had some, you know, moderate success as a startup franchise,
you know, in the UFL. And so pretty much there, I got
to coach high school football, Whitney High School before the
pandemic, once the pandemic hit,high school coaching jobs kind
(13:58):
of, you know, dissipate. That's why I got on the podcast.
So I kind of talked. Yeah.
Hold on one second, Ali. I don't get somebody keep
calling my phone. Hold on one second.
I got you bro, I got. You all right, I wanted to ask
you about your career for one thing, you you you just went
over a whole bunch of things that are really awesome.
Cool. So let's start at the beginning.
(14:19):
How did you get in it the football?
What what sparked your love for what made you like?
Hey, you know, I want to do thisprofessionally.
And how did you even get to the point where you could do a
professional guess a big thing? Because you know, a lot of
people on any level, those that get to play like football
competitively at all, most of usjust like sit on our couches and
stuff. You, like, actually did it.
(14:42):
I think you muted. You're definitely muted.
No, you muted, Still muted. Not hearing a single word, just
saying hold up. Yep.
Nope, you're still muted. Let's see if it works now.
(15:15):
How about? There you go.
Now you can. Yeah, guys, go back to say what
you were. Saying let's go and start, start
over. OK.
Yeah. So basically no.
Appreciate that. No, Yeah, No, Football for me
was an early passion. No, because, you know, growing
up now, I was fan of the Bay Area, you know, my dad, you
know, obviously you know, got meto watching it.
You never interested me, anticipate me playing.
(15:35):
But essentially, you know, when I when I started high school, I
mean, I actually grew. I was still in the wrestling
mode, still kind of a wrestling fan then at the time, you know,
in the mid 2000s, that's when, you know, UFC started taking
play and taking form. And then you have when I started
watching UFC, I'm like, oh, thisis real sports, real athletic
competition where guys can actually break each other's
balls. And then that transitioned over
to football because, you know, at that time I was like, man,
(15:58):
you know, my first couple years of high school, you know, I was,
I was, I was really considering it.
I was like, whatever, you know, I was ditching class and doing
all this stupid shit like I toldyou.
And my grades were basically basically in the tank, you know,
not taking school seriously and just, you know, ditching class
and just, you know, being hanging out, hanging out with
the wrong people, I want to say.And so obviously, you know, for
that first couple years of high school, it was kind of, you
know, it's kind of rough from that perspective.
And then I want to say my junioryears when I got my act
(16:20):
together. And then I realized, I'm like,
golly, I'm like, you know, I mean, like, it's because at that
time I was also invited to run track and cross country for my,
for my high school team. And so at that time, you know, I
realized, OK, like, you know, I can go run and, you know, I can
try that. And then, but then I also feels
like I'm like, you know, a lot, a lot of these guys, you know,
they're also conditioning. You know, when I went to the
first meet, these guys are conditioning for football,
(16:42):
right? And so, but by this time it was
around like my junior, senior year.
So it was a little too late, youknow, at that point to basically
kind of get myself in form and shape, you know, against guys
who've been, you know, playing their whole lives, right.
So I realized I asked coach, I'mlike, you know, should I try out
or what do you recommend? He's like, well, he's like, you
know, I recommend, you know, if you can't play, you know, for
us, he's like, I recommend you, you consider going to JUCO
(17:02):
route, you know, if you're serious about playing, you know,
post high school, right? So that's what I did.
I decided to basically, you know, I, I started reaching out
to coaches and various Juco's around, around N California in
the Bay Area. I reached out to DVC, Diablo
Valley College, reached out to Chabot College.
You know, the coach over there, you know, I mean he's still
there and he's been running a program for God knows how long,
over 25 years now. You know, I reached out to, you
(17:23):
know, a lot of like City College, San Francisco, a lot, a
lot of different Juco's and I think Solo actually went to
CCSF. So it's pretty.
Cool for those because because I'm quite sure we got, we got a
lot of younger audience here. Yeah, yeah.
Who might want to follow your path?
So for those who don't know, letme know what a JUCO is.
Juco's junior college, junior college basically being, you
know, Community College. So I decided to, you know,
(17:44):
follow the path and follow my carve out my own path and
basically, you know, continue playing and start playing,
actually start my career. In junior college.
Yeah, exactly. But then.
See, I'm glad you brought that up because I don't know if
people know that you can play like football in junior college.
Exactly, No, you absolutely can you know, a lot of a lot of
different schools. You know, I mean, originally I
started I want to do semi pro because my original kind of end
(18:07):
goal was to play at San Jose State University to be a
divisional athlete. But obviously, I, I mean, it
wasn't the cards. To be a divisional athlete takes
a lot of, you know, commitment, especially, you know, from that
end. Like it's like I said, you know,
so I started to just go just to just to just try the JUCO route
because essentially, you know, once I was able to get my grades
up, I was able to not only put myself in position because I
(18:28):
basically took weight training my senior year, my fall, my
senior year, that first semestertoday, that condition to get my
body right. But I also got to, you know,
figure out you're like, hey, yeah.
But, you know, there's a lot of different avenues, a lot of
different athletes who were ableto, you know, start their
careers out, you know, and if itbecomes something great, if it
doesn't, that's fine too. At least you got the experience,
right. So I finally landed just by
chance, San Jose City College from where I was in the Bay Area
(18:50):
at that time, San Jose City College was, was only 30-40
minutes away. And I had to actually to go
there to, to, to basically take a math prereq.
Because essentially at that point, I, I wanted to finish up
my math for 'cause I was originally going to do a
computer science major. And so essentially I wanted to
get done with calculus, you know, by that summer in order to
do that, take precalculus. And the only college that I
(19:10):
could take it at was San Jose City College and San Jose City
College just by, just by chance have a football team.
So Coach Connor, Coach C, you know, I mean, if you want, just
go see. I appreciate you, bro.
Appreciate you, coach, not bro coach, don't kill me, coach.
No, I just you know, coach, coach C, you know, I reached out
to him and he was man. He was it was one of the most
(19:33):
homely conversations when I wentto his office that first time.
That was January 2008, so roughly around time, you know, I
would have been a senior my my final, my final suggestion my
senior year. I was, I was basically, you
know, right at that point, you know, going to actually walk on
as a 17 year old, you know, for the spring ball as an city.
So I met Coach C in his office and then and then I told him,
I'm like, you know, coach C like, you know, I want, I'm
(19:53):
like, you know, are there any room?
Is there any room on a team, youknow, for me?
And he's all like, well, he's like, you know, he's like, he's
like, he's like, he's like, haveyou, have you, have you played
before? I said, no, I've never played.
And he's all like, OK, he's like, what position are you
trying to go out for? I said, well, I was like, you
know, my coach in high school orthe coach in high school told me
that, you know, I can try out for, for slot for safety, you
(20:13):
know, or, or really, you know, for for wide receiver, if I can
cash, you know, because of my slender body type and being
undersized. But that's probably the best,
you know, bad, you know, for someone with speed.
And he said, OK, cool. And he's all like, are you want
to come out for practice? I'm like, yeah, he's all like
he's like he's like, Are you sure?
I said, yeah, coach And he's allright.
He's like, OK, come out here andwe'll see what you got.
So I went out the next day. I ran some routes.
(20:35):
That's when I got introduced to my guy, the heavens, the the
blessing from heaven, New Orleans Saints passing and
coordinator, my coach, coach Keith K Dub Williams.
That was that was that was the game changer for me.
January Towns and the coach Dub and man, I mean, that was that
was that was everything because you know, coach Williams, you
know, basically even at that point in time, he had come from
(20:57):
San Jose State and you know, I told him that was my goal.
And so for those of you who watch sports talk radio, if you
guys know Fox Sports, 11 of the shows, the show, the facility,
James Jones, why he's here for the Packers.
He actually came out my first practice at San Jose City
College. He was there because coach dub
coach Williams was his coach at San Jose State before he got
(21:18):
drafted to the Packers in back in O in O in O 7.
And when I got to see that man lace up his cleats and do that
ladder, one of those routes, I was just my eyes went like this.
I was like, what the did I get myself into?
That everything you describe is not like a common situation.
(21:39):
Then people just walk up and be like, hey, I haven't played high
school ball, but I'm going to try for you guys from your
college and get onto the team. So that's kind of dope.
Appreciate you, bro. No, 100% it was all of those
things. And like, and like when I met
the guys, like, Oh yeah, like what's your name?
I'm like, yeah, man, I'll leave this and that.
And they're like, OK, what position you play?
(21:59):
I was like, well, I'm going for receivers and DB, like, oh,
which high school did you go to?And I said with the phone I was
like, OK, yeah, so did you. Well, how many years to start?
I'm like, I didn't play. Then they're like, you didn't
play and you try out. Boy, are you crazy.
Yeah, exactly. So yeah, it was just, it was
just passion that drove me. It was passion for the game.
You know, obviously I'm a fan ofheart and I just wanted to to
(22:21):
live my dream, you know, and that's how I was able to do it,
you know, going to that. You did.
That's kind of crazy. No, I appreciate you bro.
That's. That's motivation, man.
That's that's dedication. That's focus, man.
That's what people talk about when they say like, hey man, if
you got, if you got a dream and you want to try to achieve it,
you got to go out there and makeit happen.
You did. And I'm very impressed by that,
brother. That's great.
(22:41):
That means a lot to me and I appreciate that, bro.
No. And you know, coach Williams,
you know, it came full circle because after San Jose City
coach then got got an opportunity to go to Fresno
State. So then I was basically, you
know, in my second year, which was my last year of JUCO
eligibility, I decided to actually switch colleges in the
West Valley when I met now the current head coach of San Jose
City College, Coach Winkler, JimWink, Jim Winkler.
(23:03):
And he was able to, and it's funny because my high school
Foothill coach, Jason Tarver, who's in the NFL, he actually
was he him, him, him, he actually went to West Valley,
you know, Saratoga. So like we had that connection.
I didn't know him personally, but I actually met him recently.
I had like, you know, a few years ago, you know, on
LinkedIn. And I saw him him personally,
but I messaged him and we connected.
So it was so cool to connect with a fellow full high school
(23:26):
alumni. But yeah, Coach Wink.
Yeah. Coach Wink, because Coach Wink
was like, yeah, he's like, you know, he's like, yeah, come out
here, you know, let's see what you got.
And obviously at that time, obviously for me, since I wasn't
like a natural athlete, I had toobviously play special teams.
And that's why I got most of my bread and butter.
But it was good for me because that taught me like resilience
and earning your reps Even though I was working to a
rotation on a team that struggled mightily, I still got
(23:49):
to have the, like you said, the exposure and the experience, you
know, of being able to compete with guys who ended up, you
know, I mean, for example, like Santa City, our linebacker
Jerome got was led, led to led the conference in Sachs and got
full rise scholarship to Cal andhe got to play there, you know,
with Deshawn Jackson, them boys.And then after that, you know, I
mean, for me, you know, I was able to, you know, play, you
know, I mean, West Valley, a lotof guys got D2D33 offers and
(24:11):
whatnot. And yeah, I mean, I basically
had an option at at that point once I finished my second year
to then decide to walk on at AD 3, like Menlo or one of those
local schools. But then also I found out, yeah,
man, like, hey, guess what? There's a real team starting up
nearby, you know, San Jose, first of all the sounds of
Wolves, then it was the StocktonWolves.
So I got to walk on for the stock.
I tried out for the San Jose Wolves didn't make it.
(24:33):
Stockton Wolves didn't make it. And then finally 2012, this is
like round 22. Then I try out the Stockton
Wolves were were rebranded as the Eagles.
And you know, obviously the, thecoach over there, he kept my
film for my tryout and he said, yeah, he's like, come out here,
you can try out. And I'm like, cool.
And then basically, you know, itcame down to me and one other
dude who was much more gifted than I was, much more bigger and
much more stronger than I was. But they but they love my heart.
(24:55):
And so I end up making the cut and then the rest of history.
That's dope man. Yeah.
That's dope, man. Arena football, man.
That's really cool to say the least.
You know, I love the fact that you kind of put in that work and
you had that heart and you got what you wanted to get at.
Man, that's dope plan If what was it like for you?
Just like, you know, playing in front of those crowds and that
(25:18):
atmosphere. Just know, hey, I'm getting paid
to do something I love. Well I mean, when you say paid,
I want to just, you know, clarify for anyone watching,
it's $80.00 a game. Person formal, so that's.
You know, because obviously the Tier 1 arena AFL, you know, I
wasn't on, I wasn't on that level, you know, the Tier 2,
tier 3, which is where I was Aiffa my balls over there.
(25:38):
I can actually like put on the camera so you can see kind of my
helmet, my balls back there and those, those are some of my
pictures when I played, you know, that was me, you know,
uniform right there. Yeah. $80.00 a game. $80.00 a
game man and. Like a like a indie wrestler.
Basically, yeah. And essentially it was, you
know, and, and, and, and the season, 2012 season, you know,
(25:59):
the Eagles, I mean, we basicallywrapped up the season.
We were only two and seven. But because the fact that
there's so many suspensions and teams folding that we we ended
up making the conference championship and actually the
actual AIFA championship. So we got to travel.
To North Carolina. The, the, the, the Western
(26:20):
Conference champion that year was the Ontario Warriors and the
Ontario Warriors got suspended for tampering and, and, and, and
illegal recruiting practices by the league.
So they ended up, you know, eventually, you know, I mean,
leading the league, you know, wholesale.
That's energy for us. It was us and then one other
team and then and then their team basically had, I mean,
another thing was budget was, was a big constraint.
(26:42):
A lot of the guys, you know, I mean, were supposed to get paid
actually much more than I was supposed to get paid because it
was my first year, right. A lot of guys were expecting to
get paid like 500 to $1000 a game, you know, and for some of
these guys, I mean, that's, that's their bread and butter.
And, you know, and, and because of, you know, different reasons
they ended up, they ended up notgetting paid.
So because of that, you know, I mean, since since we were near
(27:03):
the championship, you know, gamedeadline, you know, since the
only our team, you know, the best team of the ease was the
Cape Fear of Heroes. And they're still in existence
today and they're a great team. But it was just us, you know,
who were not, who was the only other ones who were basically,
you know, in intact at that point, right?
So the league to basically save face throughout the season, we
needed to put someone up againstanother and we end up getting
(27:25):
blown out. I think it was 7079 to 27,
something like that. But the experience was
incredible because we got to travel to North Carolina, you
know, the Edenville, North Carolina for the 2012 AI
championship game and being being able to travel, you know,
across country, especially for a, for a 2122 year old kid, you
(27:47):
know, especially it's crazy. Exactly.
It's it's crazy. You know, it's just like, wow,
then you see the smoke and you said the atmosphere.
That was kind of my first exposure to like, kind of like,
you know, getting like in front of playing in front of live
crowd. So, and once I was done, then my
mom's all like, yeah, you're 22.Like, you know, boy, get
yourself a degree and gave them a real job, you know, and that's
what I did. I decided to, you know, I
decided to go, you know, transfer, you know, all my
(28:08):
credits, you know, to, to a fouryear finish up my, my, my
diploma at Health Science. And then I started working in
the field I'm in, I'm in now, which is tech consulting, kind
of did that. And then eventually I decided to
get my master's, finish my master's, I want to say around
2017. Once that was done, I ended up
getting laid off for my company at that time, United Healthcare.
(28:29):
You know, anyone who's watching,you'll probably know the CEO who
got murdered, you know, not too long ago from UHC.
Yeah. So I, I was working there for a
few years. And then once that happened, I
basically decided, you know, I had an option.
I basically had an option to either stay in California and
option to move to Chicago, you know, for, for a career
opportunity. So I decided to, you know, you
know, basically, you know, just go, go head first into something
(28:52):
and, you know, unexpected and move cross country to Chicago.
And once I did that, you know, then I found out, you know,
Midwest because arena football at that point, because you were
talking about how 2012 to 2017, basically 2018 at this point,
arena football and in the West Coast, I basically dissipated.
You did have the you know, some of the teams like the IFL,
whatever, like some teams San Diego, that but Northern
(29:12):
California, the the the scene was completely non existent.
The San Jose Paper Cats fold in 2016 after they won the Winner
Bowl, You know, the Sand Stockton Wolves, the California
Eagles was folded back, I want to say 20/15/2017 around there.
So I mean, there were no avenues.
I wasn't, I wasn't necessarily done playing, right.
I was done playing actually. So I was done playing.
I was done playing because I wasfull time in my career.
(29:34):
But then when I moved to Chicago, I realized, you know
what, man, I still got somethingleft in the tank.
You know, I'm 28 years old, you know, I still want to see what
I, what I, what I can do. And so this is now 2018.
So I just fooled around. I found out the Chicago Falcons
semi professional team who also played arena ball, you know, out
there in the Midwest, And so that was kind of it.
You know, I, I got to hit up, you know, coach Tom Robinson,
(29:55):
coach Rob, coach Chris, you know, Chris Blackman, you know,
obviously the Falcons. And basically from there then I
got to, you know, basically, youknow, step onto the team, You
know, since since I had experience, you know, actually
doing operations and actually working, you know, in the
professional realm outside of football, they decided to
promote me to Joe manager, you know, of the Falcons
essentially, you know, also being a player, kind of like a
(30:16):
player like your admin, you know, kind of recruiting and
also kind of reaching out. And obviously, you know, and it
was one of the best experiences of my life because we ended up,
you know, doing the same thing. Actually, we actually end up
going two and seven. I don't know what to do, what it
is with that #7 losses. But again, because because of
league constraints and and obviously league realignment, we
end up making a conference championship that year.
(30:37):
So basically playing the conference championship in
Wisconsin, it was a great experience for the end of most
games, blown out so. Do you do you have like a a like
a four leaf Clover in your pocket or a lucky rabbit foot or
something like that? How do you going to Chicago find
another team to play on it? Like we're going to make you
general manager and then they're.
(30:58):
Like. Because of scandal.
Like, you know what, you're going to be in the conference
finals now. Man, it was, it was incredible.
I, I mean, same thing because, you know, I, I don't know what
it was that overcame me to keep playing, especially at that
point because I've been out of the out of the game for six
years at that point, basically 5plus years.
So essentially, you know, I mean, it was just, you know,
(31:19):
just that again, I think just that innate desire, you know, to
not basically, you know, I have one last run to go out and prove
to myself that I could do it. That was all it was for me.
Football for me was just provingmyself.
I could do it, you know, you know.
You can send yourself a person to Khalil Ali.
I do. Let me just say this to you
brother, we don't have this typeof luck.
(31:43):
We usually don't have this type of good luck bro.
Exactly bro. You're just like swimming in it.
That's crazy though. 100% no, I'm very blessed.
I'm very blessed, you know, and.It's dope though.
No, I appreciate you. No, I mean, there are a lot of
bumps along the way. I'm not going to sit here and
just, you know, say, yeah, it all happened, you know, but I
mean that, but that's part of the process, you know, part of
the going process, maturing process and really appreciating
(32:05):
the journey, you know, going from, again, back to, you know,
reaching. The one thing I left out was
when I started reaching out thatfor the to start playing in
JUCO, a lot of the Juco's turnedme away because they basically
said, yeah, you're going to haveto try out.
And, you know, I mean, honestly,we have too many receivers and
you know, you're probably not going to have any chance of
making our team, you know, and, and and one of the one of the
(32:28):
coaches even said, like, you know, we have too many receivers
right now. You'd be wasting your time to
come out here. He basically, he didn't want to
meet with me. He just told me that over e-mail
and I said, OK, cool. So that that right there was
what kind of was that kind of fuel?
You know, I mean to say, you know, this guy, you know, who's
never played before may not be the most athletic gifted, may
not be, you know, may not be able to make it, you know, to
(32:49):
the highest level. You know, it's the NFL, but just
wants to play. You know, he's he's, you know,
let's see what he can. Do that's dope man that's.
Really dope. Nah, so that's that's pretty
much and to kind of wrap Chicagowith the Falcons right after we
wrapped up this October 2018. We I I end up making the All
Star game for being for being, you know, for my special teams
(33:09):
contribution. And you know, obviously, you
know, it was a great experience,you know, kind of going out
there, you know, playing Wisconsin, you know, the boys.
And then I decided to start my own team, own my Carnage, you
know, around there around that time because I had the capital
at that point for my for my techconsulting career to do that and
basically start spreading wild. Yeah.
And so, you know, obviously, youknow, a hotspot radio had me on
(33:30):
their show in Chicago when I started my new team.
They owned a Carnage. They asked if we're going to
play the Falcons. I'm like, hell yeah, we are.
And so, yeah, man, it was great.You know, they owned a Carnage,
you know, a lot of young hungry dogs, you know, we got, you
know, come up, you know, and basically, you know, also some
veterans too. You know, we got a good crop of
talent, you know, myself acting as coach as well as kind of
(33:51):
owner, right, but really wantingto be, you know, in the in, in
like, you know, on the front lines with the team, helping
kind of mold these young men, also kind of helping, you know,
these veterans, you know, looking for an extra
opportunity. It was a great experience, you
know, so that one. Let me ask you this, Ali.
What was your mascot? You.
Know when I can't? Oh, I'll show you if you can
hold one second. I'm gonna grab it.
OK, OK. Yeah, let's.
(34:13):
See what I got? I like it.
I like it. Oh, that's dope.
Yeah, yeah. But that was that was it.
It's like the Reaper, but like the Illinois carnage sign.
So all my all, all the players, you know, pay their team fees
back to Jersey. I appreciate and I love the fact
(34:36):
that like arena leagues and other leagues like mascots are
like way cooler than NFL. 100%. Like way cooler.
Like what the fuck is a brown? Yeah, NFL, you're good.
And and and no, like Cleveland, but like, yo, give them a
mascot, give them something likey'all, y'all just the Browns get
(34:59):
the fuck out of here. Get the fuck out of here.
Yeah, bro. I mean, you know, bro, it's one
of those things where it's like,you know, the league's been.
I mean, because, because, because they have like that the
just the history. So it's like they, I mean they,
they try to evolve, so to speak,but the logos never changed.
I mean, the Niners logo has beenthe same for as, as long as
they've been in existence. So I hear that's what, almost 80
(35:20):
years. So I mean.
It took a pandemic in racism forWashington to change their name.
Just think about that. Oh, wow.
That is it took a pandemic in racism for watching like, you
know, we need to change our name.
And then they changed. What was it for?
Why? It was Washington's football
(35:40):
team, I think it was. Yeah, WFT for that one season.
Then Snyder sold the team. They decided to become the
Commanders. So yeah, I actually have a
Commander's jersey. Let me actually show you.
Commander's a good name. Yeah, Commander's a good name,
so I got this one. This is my guy, Chase Young, who
I got to see playing in the Super Bowl last year.
That's a good one. That's a good jersey.
Yeah. I like when I like the black.
Yeah, it was dope. It was dope.
(36:01):
So yeah. But no, the Rio league let me
actually put one more. When you see Watchers, this was
my final team that I got to play.
I like that one. Yeah, so it was.
It was. I like it.
The gold, the black, I like it. Yeah.
So now it's kind of, you know, basically, you know, for me, you
(36:22):
know, basically being able to, you know, have the opportunity
to, you know, do that. It was great kind of because
because it gave me like first hand exposure to being a coach
and an owner and then and also being stolen still still getting
getting being able to get my feet when we're needed to play.
And then and then my final year with the Watchers.
Then after 2019, I mean, basically at that point it'd
been 11 years, but then I decided to hang it up, decided
(36:44):
to stop playing professionally, sound like professionally.
And you know, that was pretty much it.
And then, yeah, basically then Igot to again to full time
coaching high school football here nor California Whitney High
School. I got to coach their varsity for
a football team a bit in the summer of of 2019.
Due to scheduling conflicts, I was unable to complete the
(37:04):
season. So, you know, appreciate Coach
McNally and and and Coach Opina for giving me the opportunity.
And then the pandemic hit. So, you know, after the pandemic
hit, you know, that that's when I started to get podcasting and
essentially be able to, you know, interview guys.
I got to play with, interview guys, you know, who also played
arena, played NFL and from all different walks of life, who I
got to encounter through my career as player and as a coach
(37:26):
and as AGM, what have you. And that basically, you know,
just resonated and kind of, you know, became something.
Yeah, you kind of found your lane in podcasting and doing
your shorts that are pretty popular, which is really cool.
I, I, I love to see that love. See, succeed with that.
(37:46):
And let's get right to it, man. You you you started having
wrestlers on your podcast? Yeah.
What was that like as a person being a lifelong wrestling fan
with you? It's incredible man.
The the most, I mean, being KurtAngle for the first time was
incredible. Obviously it wasn't on the
podcast and meet and greet, but I was able to, you know, get the
10 minute clip extrapolated and you know, put it on the show.
(38:08):
But having Ken Shamrock be my first major guest book, I still
remember, you know, booking him,putting the announcement on back
when I had Facebook. Now, I'm not really acting on
socials, but back when I had my Facebook account, I posted the
announcement. Ken Shamrock's coming on the
show, and everyone commented, everyone reacted the whole like,
(38:29):
everyone's going crazy. And then when I finally get to
interview the man for the first time, I mean, he's just so down
to earth. Like, this is a dude who I
watched when I was a kid. I had this action figure growing
up, guys, trading cards, you know what I mean?
And I used to play him on the PlayStation, right?
I mean, this is like my I this is my idol, you know, Ken Chamak
(38:49):
was like one of my favorite wrestlers as as you know, of all
time growing up. And, you know, they say you
don't ever meet your heroes, butI got to meet my hero, you know,
and got to have him on twice. And now and then the fact that
he featured me on his most dangerous man website and I'm
still there. Like if you Google my name and
and they're like, you know, football player, you'll still
(39:09):
see me on Google. You Google whatever, you know,
Ken, you know, I mean, I mean, you'll see my name, you'll see
our episode, my episode Ken Chanfour years ago is still on his
website and it's still featured with all the stuff he has going
on with with with battle or bareknuckle boxing.
You know, all the different kindof business interests and
appearances. He does.
It's so dope, bro. I mean, it's it's it's one of
(39:30):
those things where it's like man.
And like when you get to talk tohim about the the wrestling
aspect of his career and everything that went with it.
And then you learn you have so many commonalities because he
believe it or not, those of you who may not know this and
Shamrock actually played semi professional football before he
became a wrestler. And that was, you know, when I
talked about it because he played Juko.
(39:51):
I played Juko. We started off the interview
like that. I know, just relating and you
know, it was it was great, you know, and then obviously Rodney
Mack, you know, cool having him on, you know, just incredible.
Another guy who I watched growing up signed autograph for
me. Great having him on.
You know, meeting these and then, you know, Godfather, she
didn't get to have them all got to meet them, you know, so it
was, it was, it's just it's so cool being able to have that
(40:15):
platform to where, you know, youcan kind of just have one-on-one
and then, you know, they, they basically paid for.
Yeah. Was it great having Brent Otto?
Sorry. Oh no, I still have his
autograph right there and it can't.
It's not visible for obvious reasons.
(40:35):
But yeah, it was great having you.
We won't get into the whole story because.
We can get into it, doesn't matter.
Well, let's get to the boys story because I want to get
Trump. OK, I got you.
I got. You the boys, safe.
Yeah, yeah. I was just going to say, I mean,
you know, Madam put it on, blew up.
He they they said delete it right now, apologize.
(40:57):
I did that. Yeah, essentially what happened
was, I'm not going to add too much more to it litigation, but
Brett said some wild things on his part if you find.
Out if you Google it. If you Google it and it restarts
my man and would like take it down or litigation so he took it
(41:21):
down which is smart. Yeah, no, I just, you know, I
just, and ultimately, I mean, like, you know, if he didn't say
anything, if he was cool with it, then I would have been cool
with it, you know, But then, like, you know, his camps are
coming at me and it was just kind of bad.
I mean, I'm not going to say I lost respect for Brett, but I'm
just going to say it. I still respect Brett as a
(41:44):
competitor, but I feel more sympathy for a guy named HBK
now. I, I get it.
It's, it's just one of those things where you don't me being
a podcast, I'm in a podcast now.I've been a podcast for a while,
I want to say 7-8 years now. But when you have one of those
episodes that causes conversation, whether it's
(42:07):
positive or negative, it's always an interesting thing,
man. And like I've had like, you
know, I've had episodes about gun control, I've had episodes
about the elections and things like I, I like multiple,
multiple 2 episodes that startedoff conversation.
And one of the things I always found fascinating about those
(42:30):
episodes is how people will hearit and get 2 completely
different things from the episode and the conversation.
So no matter what side you are on it and me, when I used to do
my episodes like that, I try to stay as neutral as possible
because I don't want to, you know, I don't want to play my
hand. I, I don't want people to get
their opinions and stuff out my opinions out and stuff.
(42:53):
It's always, I always get that one message for somebody like,
oh, you let them slide on this or you let them slide on that.
You're not, you're not being fair to this side.
You're not being fair to that side.
Like, oh, how can I be fair to both sides at the same time?
So it's, it's always interestingwhen you get those type type of
controversy episodes and you have to deal with the, the
backlash from it. It's just it's different.
(43:16):
Yeah, yeah. You know, it's interesting
because I actually got to, you know, it's funny, like people
like assume, Oh yeah, like you just tried to get clout.
But honestly, like when I was playing football, I actually got
to, I mean, I, I was signing autographs for people out out of
the country. I got hit up from fans, you
know, I actually had fans, believe it or not, I had fans
and the UK fans in Philly, not Philly, but Pennsylvania fans
(43:37):
all over the world, you know, who say, yeah, we love your
energy, we love everything you bring.
And with the podcast, you know, kind of going right after that,
after my playing career, it was kind of a cool experience, you
know, going and obviously you you play and there's like
there's like, you know, for people who are like, no, that's
not the NFL. It's just like, you know, rinky
dink football, whatever, right? I get it, you know, but
essentially, like, I mean, it's like a 5 year old kid to that
(43:58):
five year old kid. Like, you know, they look at
you, you're like a Rocky statue,you know?
Yeah, I won't even say that. You know, people like rank and
eat football. So I'm like, no, that's how you
look at like, like people. First of all, like, you know,
very few people get to play in the NFL, right?
Very few. And I love the fact that we're
in a in a situation now where you can have the NFL or if you
(44:21):
if you don't make it to the NFL,there's other levels you can
deal with this arena football, whether it's what is it, what is
it? When the Rock has U FL, U FL or
any type of organization like that so people can kind of get
that experience and make money doing what they love, and I
think that that automatically should be commended.
I think it's dope that you can kind of carve that path out.
That's why I like the big three so much.
(44:43):
The big three basketball league,because you have these players
who are older now and they can'tnecessarily love what they used
to play in the NBA. But hey, I'm going to hop on
this big three and kind of stillbe entertaining and still make
some money off. I kind of think it's really cool
that we have that and I always, well, at least when it comes to
things like that, I'm always like, why when it's something
that you love, you have to give it up at a certain time?
Why you can't just do it for therest of your life?
(45:04):
Why is why aren't there like limits on this?
Even with wrestling? I kind of say that sometime like
I, you know, if you still can perform at an elite level at 60,
for example, Sting, when Sting was having that run, he was
still like, he's still like Sting.
How you think, you know, AJ Styles is almost 50 and he still
looks like AJ Styles. I'm like, yo, if you love doing
(45:26):
what you're doing, keep doing itand you get paid for it.
I'm never going to knock it. A. 100% but you know, I will say
this, you know there to your question about you know if you
love something, why stop doing it.
For me it's the answer is very simple.
My knees. That'll do it to you.
So it was definitely a great run.
(45:47):
And yeah, I mean, so the whole podcasting, I mean come back to
your question, real question. Obviously, you know, with
wrestlers and with all the otherkind of, you know, different,
you know, players and different,you know, NFL, like Lincoln
Kennedy, where I got to, you know, he some autograph, you
know, obviously, you know, threetime Pro Bowl or Lofa to Tupu.
You know, I mean, I've been on Instagram, but shout out Lofa.
You know, that's my guy. I grew up watching him and then,
(46:08):
you know, I mobbed my game off of his.
Just how, how how vicious and violent he hit.
You know, I tried to, you know, pursue, you know, special teams
with that same level of energy, especially on kickoff, you know,
because when you're pursuing thethe return man, you want to make
sure, you know, you either wedgecontain or you basically, you
know, attack him. You know, you get and you you,
you pursue full force at the point of attack.
That's how, that's why I always tell my players whenever I coach
(46:29):
them. So essentially, you know, having
that experience of, you know, having those guys on the show
was incredible. And yeah, man, I just, I just
want to say, you know what I mean?
It's, it's, it's truly a blessing, you know, to have been
able to play and still have my platform and still be able to
have these conversations, conversations, you know, about,
you know, talks I'm passionate about.
Yeah, I love it, man. I'm I'm happy that.
(46:50):
Could I even tell how I end up on your podcast?
You know, Cortez brought me on for an episode and I just end up
staying. You're like, yeah, you come back
next week. Yeah, like, I guess I'll come
back next week, man. It's.
The next week, man, yeah, it's. It's been a great ride so far,
man. It's been a really great
experience. Talk about wrestling and other
things, and it's been a really good ride, man.
It's been really cool meeting you and kind of getting this
(47:12):
bond with you about these type of things, man It's dope.
I appreciate that, bro. No, And it's great having you on
and I love chopping up with you on my platform and it's great
being on your platform. It's true blessing.
Appreciate you having me. Likewise, brother man, let let
him know to find you. Let him know to find the podcast
that most more importantly. Yes, Sir, DJ dreaming off the
ground podcast. You can follow us at DDOG
podcast on X as well as on YouTube and Spotify or DJ
(47:34):
dreaming off the ground podcast Spotify, but please add DDOG
podcast if you want to search itquickly follow my boy here.
I already know where to follow him and Soul Reaper, obviously
Cortez, who's actually an ambassador for the show Soul
Reaper 24 on Instagram as well as on on on on Twitter and
Facebook. So.
Yeah, one more thing, Ali. When are we going to goddamn
(47:58):
WrestleMania? We going to go.
Go, man. Yeah, we got it.
Go out and get a press pass or something you.
Want to go here Vegas? It's not a bad idea too, yes.
Sir. I'm done with that too bro.
Yeah, it was cool. And I want to say, you know, I
(48:18):
mean, you know, even though football, you know, as a player,
you know, definitely open up those avenues.
I mean, me personally as a fan, you know, like you said about
wrestling fans and being a football fan, you know, it's not
the coolest experience. I've just been, you know, being
a fan, you know, being able to go to the Super Bowl last year,
watch my Niners play in person, you know, I mean, that was a
lifetime experience for me, you know, and even though, even
(48:40):
though they came up on the on the on the on the fortune end of
that, I mean, it was such an incredible experience.
And, you know, seen that I was playing amp championship games,
you know, going to wrestling events, you know, going to the
NBA Finals. You know, it's also on on the
channel. You're going to Kobe.
And I after Kobe passed away after a helicopter crash and
then seen LeBron give a speech, you know, about, about the life
(49:02):
of Kobe and giving, seeing us should give a serenade.
Amazing. I mean, it's crazy.
Yeah. All these all these different
events, you know, in my life, I've had the fortune, the
privilege and just the blessing,you know, to kind of be in the
position I'm in and be able to, you know, partake and, you know,
just be an observer, you know, for all these things.
And that's really the most fun about it for me, you know.
Yeah. I mean, I played, I did grow,
(49:23):
get a little bit of following, you know, as a player.
I did get to coach all those guys and, you know, a lot of
those guys, you know, just so you know, who I still keep in
contact with, you know, you know, but essentially, you know,
I mean, I think, you know, beinga fan too, it's just been such a
great, great, great pleasure andgreat joy.
You know, that's kind of, you know, what I'm passionate about
now, you know, now that I physically can't play anymore.
So yeah, just wanted to kind of call that out.
(49:46):
You know, being a fan is just asjust as important because you
know, players, players who play,you know, I mean, who they
playing for, you know, if not for themselves, so.
Man it's been a blast. Have you all bro?
I appreciate you bro. Like Watson, as always Delma Cox
experience, we are out peace.
This podcast is sponsored by patreon.com/devil Cock
Experience. If you want more content,
including exclusive shows, make sure you go to patreon.com/devil
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Patreon producer Douglas Mcgirt Johnson.
(00:20):
Thank you. Welcome to the Delvin Cox
(01:17):
experience, the podcast which each week I'm on a one man
mission to you, not a coast to diversity.
I'm your host, Delvin Cox and with me on the podcast is my
boy, my brother, my Co host. Let me know you are brother, for
those who don't know. I'm the Co host of the most I'll
seek Ali and I'm here with the man, the myth, the legend
himself, Delvin Cox. Thank you for having me today
(01:37):
bro. My pleasure bro.
Me and Ali host another podcast.I don't know if y'all well, I
think we did talk about this we on a couple episodes ago when
Cortez on he mentioned Ali in a situation that happened.
So I said let me just have Ali on the podcast.
So before we get to that, as I always like to start the podcast
out with A5 for five, five questions, 5 minutes to get the
(01:58):
bowler. Ali, Are you ready?
It's. About.
Question #1 Ali, if all the serial mascots have one big
brawl, who you got winning? Leprechaun from Lucky Charms.
OK, I like that it's good luck. Has a pot of gold or something.
It's gold Lucky Charms. Yeah.
(02:20):
Fucking it's probably, it's something all right, question #2
it's just, I know you're a 49ersfan.
Yes, Sir. I, I I made this question
specifically crafted for you, Ali.
Yes, Sir. Give me your dream line up for
(02:42):
the 49ers. We ain't got any.
I go to like the centers and stuff like that.
Like, you know, quarterback, running back, receivers, tight
ends, just the basic ones. OK, OK, OK, let's go.
So let me start from the top QB.All right, This is going to be
blasphemous, but I'm going to gowith my man #8 over #16 Steve
Young. That was my guy, you know, Yeah.
Growing up, you know, in the 90s, you know, Steve Young was a
(03:04):
legend. And you know, I mean, the, the
last, the first, my first exposure of football was to
Steve. And then you're kind of that
dual threat quarterback. I feel like he was, he was kind
of laid the foundation of blueprint along with Randall
Cunningham and many others, you know, back in the 90s, you know,
so I would take Steve Young as like QB.
How lucky. Sierra Fair to like lose Montana
(03:24):
and get Steve Young, you know what I'm saying?
Is that possible? See, Bill Walsh is a genius
because, you know, the West Coast offense was at that time,
you know, unprecedented. We never had any type of offense
where you motion a running back out of the backfield and then
you have 1000 yard receiver and rusher would watch Craig and
Bill Walsh basically could see like 10 years ahead, you know,
(03:46):
before anyone else could. And Steve Young and Tampa was
not a good quarterback his firstcouple years in the week.
I mean, he was, I mean, obviously Tampa was a bad team,
but still, I mean, he was not touted as like what Joe Montana
was after Joe, you know, kind ofhad his run, you know, the first
half of his career. So Bill Walsh was just was just
a savant and, and and having offer talent.
So I mean, you know, cruise bullWalsh, you know, obviously, you
(04:08):
know, he's up there, you know, in the in the in the heavenly
garden. But you know, it was the one of
those things, man, I mean, and so, yeah, Steve Young was just I
mean, Niners were lucky. And now we're basically on the
blowback of, you know, going five and, oh, before 2002 bowls
to now going, oh, and three and two bowls since the since, since
the turn of the Millennium. And I've had to actually witness
the last one in person in Las Vegas.
That's why I got this hat. Yeah. 58.
(04:30):
So, you know, it all it all, it all comes full circle.
That's true. Yeah.
Wide receiver Jerry Rice #80 running back again, Blasphemy.
But I'm just gonna have to go with my man Christian McCaffrey.
Historic all time seasons. Frank Gore.
My God, love him. Best player of the 2000s in my
(04:50):
opinion. So I mean, you could go, yeah,
obviously nice fans go with withwith Gore, with Tank, but I'm
going to go with CMC just based on talent.
If you're going all the time, you go with CMC.
Wide receiver 2 will be honest TO81.
He's fired me to wear 81. You know, when I play JUCO in
arena And then my other, my other tight end would actually
be Kittle over Brent Jones. And then I want to say for the
(05:11):
other, the other was the aristo position because we got 2 wires
here. What one more, one more wide
receiver will be my man John Taylor.
JT the catch in that Super Bowl 23, You know, I actually met
John Taylor a few years ago Roseville.
So you'll have to have to have to give my guy, you know his his
his flowers. You know, he's clutch, one of
the most underrated wide receiver twos in in league
history. If not be great a second wide
out option league history. So that's my offense, my
(05:33):
defense. Now, if we're going to go from
defense, you know, start from the corners, right?
You got to go with my guy Eric Wright and obviously prime time
Deon Sanders, of course, right? There you go, funky chicken.
Right, no little dance, right. And then we got to go safety,
Ronnie Lott, Great safety of alltime.
You know, you can't go wrong there.
The other safety, either Dante Hitner or, you know, whoever you
(05:54):
want, you know, I mean, you could basically pick him.
I'll go Whitner because that's what I saw in my 20s.
And then obviously linebacker, obviously the all time great
Patrick Willis, you know, Hall of Famer, and then Navarro
Bowman. And then I think, you know, I'm
not sure, I guess. Yeah.
And obviously Fred Warner. Fred Warner will be my
linebacker 3. You know, with those two,
obviously the front four. I would go Justin Smith.
(06:16):
I would go, you know, Nick Bosa and I would go Alden Smith.
And then I would go on the otherinterior side.
You know, Brian y'all I like that would be my all Time Team.
Yeah. I like it.
It's a good thing. Yeah, yeah.
Question #3 Ali, let's. Go.
What's the dumbest thing you think you've ever done as a kid?
(06:37):
There we go. So you know how we all watch
wrestling? You see my backdrop behind me.
You know, you see all these guys, right?
Obviously I grew up in the era of the attitude era slash
ruthless aggression. So I stone cold Steve Austin was
a was a pinnacle my childhood. So when he flipped off his boss,
I basically took that to heart and basically did that in
school. So I would base I I did a my
(07:00):
dude is not looking back turn. He's like, he's like, I'll leave
get your ass out of here, go to the principal's office and then
I'm all like behind it. And then the teacher finds out
and then the teacher basically says, yeah, you're suspended.
The principal says you're suspended.
So, you know, obviously pro wrestling, you're good.
Yeah, I can imagine that that might have been a little bit of
a problem, the same thing. Pro wrestling, bro.
(07:24):
I mean, you know, obviously, youknow, I mean, disobeying
authority. That was kind of, you know, a
thing. And obviously my first.
Did you give the? Did you get the principal a
stutter on your way out? Oh man, I was trying.
To throw him but the the most. Ironic thing bro was that in my
8th grade there was a kid who was a random steel fan and then
like, you know, he used to be really obnoxious.
So like I actually whooped his ass one time and.
(07:45):
It's a truck. Like.
Like Kevin landed on Nitro. Yeah, I, I, yeah.
Because I mean, back then, I mean, I was a little toothpick,
right? So he thought he could just
like, you know, have his way with me.
And so I just, I faced to my ground and I whooped his ass.
And then and then, and then the teachers found us and they
separated us. And then they said, like, you
know, you create a hostile environment.
(08:06):
You instigated it. So you're being double
suspended. They call my mom and I'm like,
man, I'm just, I'm just following my hero and that that,
that my soulful, you know, kind of drawing on my in my backpack
that I pull out. Oh my God.
They told you you were creating a hostile environment.
Yeah, because, you know, I was all like, you know, if you think
(08:27):
you can try me, give me a hell yeah, I know if you if you think
I can whoop my exact give. Me a hell yeah.
Oh man, that's funny. That's funny.
Stupid but funny. All right, question #4 Ali,
since we're talking about wrestling, give me your top five
(08:48):
wrestlers. My top five favorite or my?
Top five Favorite Favorite. OK, five.
Gotta go with my man The Rock. Dwayne the Rock Johnson.
You know, final boss. Yeah, final boss gotta go with
him #4 The GOAT, Stone Cold Steve Austin.
Yeah, can't go wrong with him #3you know my guy, you know,
(09:10):
obviously, you know, he's not such a so much a good guy
anymore, but you know, he was a good guy.
You can't see me. John Cena.
Saw him in Sacramento. We came, we came a year and a
half ago. That was my my, you know, it was
a great experience. You know, going to see my first
kind of W show live. So Cena #2 gosh, I just had the
name that's forgot it #2 fuck. Oh yeah #2 is not an all time
(09:34):
great by many. In my opinion, he is because
he's a fan of the show. I'm featured on his on his
website. Ken, the most dangerous, The
world's most dangerous man. Ken Shamrock.
You know, I love you, bro. If you're watching this, Ken
Shamrock's my guy, you know, Andyou know, I I love having him on
my show when I can. Hope I get him back back on
soon. And last but not least, yeah,
the great, the Great American hero.
(09:55):
You know, the man who who did it, who won a gold medal, was
broke for Connect, the man who signed the autograph right there
to me. Kurt Angle.
Gotta go. My God.
Kurt Angle. That's a solid list.
I like it, yeah. I I respect it because there's
no Hulk Hogan on it, so that's even better.
We're talking about wrestlers, not not prima donnas.
Did you see the I think it was the Bleacher Report?
(10:18):
No, it might have been Rolling Stone that put out the list of
the thing with the top 10 wrestlers.
I did not see that, no. Yeah, it, it was very
controversial to some people. I'm going to see if I can find
this list real quick so we can talk about it for a second.
We've got a question before. While I'm looking for this list,
I'll give you question #5 question #5 All right, Thanos
(10:42):
comes to Earth, got the gauntletand stuff like that.
OK, you got to pick 5 wrestlers to take down Thanos.
Now here's the catch for y'all Lee, this is the this is just
saving grace. Hello.
Their gimmick is real. OK, so who they are on screen is
(11:05):
real in real life. Correct.
I got big 5 right. Five, so they can use their
gimmick to help help take down Thanos.
Well, this. Is going to be easy.
I'm going to start with #5 Godfather.
Because, you know, he got the whole tray and he can get, he
can, he can swarm them, You know, they're just dead by
numbers. And then obviously, I met him,
(11:26):
too. He was.
He's he's a great man. That's him right there in the
corner. You know, Godfather, you know
Charles Good Goodman, I think his name is.
I forget it. Not much of a good man.
Love your godfather, SEC #4 His real live gimmick will have to
beat Thanos. Yeah, I'm Angle.
I mean, come on. The American hero.
I mean, Captain America. It makes sense, right?
(11:47):
You got to go with that. Yeah #3 Let's see.
So Uncle Steve Austin, you know,the, you know, the, the, you
know, the guy, the Hellraiser, you know, obviously the guy goes
against Thority. Thanos kind of is there to, you
know, impose, you know, authority, you know, based on
his vision. So Austin #2 Undertaker,
(12:07):
obviously, you know, the dead man, when he rises up, you know,
he can, he can do some shit, youknow, if he's actually dead.
And Thanos, because Thanos can't, I mean, he's basically a
cheat code, you know? And last but not least #1 of
course, gotta go back. My God.
Kent Shamrock, the world's most dangerous man, if he's, if
that's who he is in real life and that's who Thanos has to
fight, you know, put two and twotogether.
(12:34):
I like it. I like it.
I'm trying to find this list. I'll screw it before we get to
the list. So Ali, let everybody know about
yourself for those who don't know.
Yeah, absolutely. No.
For those of you don't know y'all, my name is Asif Ali.
I'm the host of the Digital Dreaming Office Ground podcast.
You know, I've been posting, I've been podcasting for the
(12:54):
last five years now. The podcast channel has actually
been up around for the last almost 3 or 4 years.
I Co Oslaw guy right here, Dalvin Cox, my guy Cortez, I'm
obviously based out here in Northern California.
Die hard Niners fan, die hard wrestling fan, as you see behind
me, you know, prior to obviouslypodcasting, I actually used to
play football a little bit. I played JUCO.
Then I also played in the arena league a little bit played my
(13:16):
guy Cortez, who we Co host with,You know, we actually, you know,
did a little semi pro arena ballback in Chicago in the Midwest,
Illinois carnage. I got my drews in my closet,
which you can't see right now. So I really had a great time
playing, you know, while also, you know, in my, my current
career in IT tech, you know, butalso being being able to kind of
bounce both was a great experience for me.
You know, actually got to coach,you know, got to own my own
(13:38):
team, you know, out there, you know, in, in Chicago with the
Illinois carnage as well as the Windy City watches back in
2018-2019. We actually had some, we had, we
had some, you know, moderate success as a startup franchise,
you know, in the UFL. And so pretty much there, I got
to coach high school football, Whitney High School before the
pandemic, once the pandemic hit,high school coaching jobs kind
(13:58):
of, you know, dissipate. That's why I got on the podcast.
So I kind of talked. Yeah.
Hold on one second, Ali. I don't get somebody keep
calling my phone. Hold on one second.
I got you bro, I got. You all right, I wanted to ask
you about your career for one thing, you you you just went
over a whole bunch of things that are really awesome.
Cool. So let's start at the beginning.
(14:19):
How did you get in it the football?
What what sparked your love for what made you like?
Hey, you know, I want to do thisprofessionally.
And how did you even get to the point where you could do a
professional guess a big thing? Because you know, a lot of
people on any level, those that get to play like football
competitively at all, most of usjust like sit on our couches and
stuff. You, like, actually did it.
(14:42):
I think you muted. You're definitely muted.
No, you muted, Still muted. Not hearing a single word, just
saying hold up. Yep.
Nope, you're still muted. Let's see if it works now.
(15:15):
How about? There you go.
Now you can. Yeah, guys, go back to say what
you were. Saying let's go and start, start
over. OK.
Yeah. So basically no.
Appreciate that. No, Yeah, No, Football for me
was an early passion. No, because, you know, growing
up now, I was fan of the Bay Area, you know, my dad, you
know, obviously you know, got meto watching it.
You never interested me, anticipate me playing.
(15:35):
But essentially, you know, when I when I started high school, I
mean, I actually grew. I was still in the wrestling
mode, still kind of a wrestling fan then at the time, you know,
in the mid 2000s, that's when, you know, UFC started taking
play and taking form. And then you have when I started
watching UFC, I'm like, oh, thisis real sports, real athletic
competition where guys can actually break each other's
balls. And then that transitioned over
to football because, you know, at that time I was like, man,
(15:58):
you know, my first couple years of high school, you know, I was,
I was, I was really considering it.
I was like, whatever, you know, I was ditching class and doing
all this stupid shit like I toldyou.
And my grades were basically basically in the tank, you know,
not taking school seriously and just, you know, ditching class
and just, you know, being hanging out, hanging out with
the wrong people, I want to say.And so obviously, you know, for
that first couple years of high school, it was kind of, you
know, it's kind of rough from that perspective.
And then I want to say my junioryears when I got my act
(16:20):
together. And then I realized, I'm like,
golly, I'm like, you know, I mean, like, it's because at that
time I was also invited to run track and cross country for my,
for my high school team. And so at that time, you know, I
realized, OK, like, you know, I can go run and, you know, I can
try that. And then, but then I also feels
like I'm like, you know, a lot, a lot of these guys, you know,
they're also conditioning. You know, when I went to the
first meet, these guys are conditioning for football,
(16:42):
right? And so, but by this time it was
around like my junior, senior year.
So it was a little too late, youknow, at that point to basically
kind of get myself in form and shape, you know, against guys
who've been, you know, playing their whole lives, right.
So I realized I asked coach, I'mlike, you know, should I try out
or what do you recommend? He's like, well, he's like, you
know, I recommend, you know, if you can't play, you know, for
us, he's like, I recommend you, you consider going to JUCO
(17:02):
route, you know, if you're serious about playing, you know,
post high school, right? So that's what I did.
I decided to basically, you know, I, I started reaching out
to coaches and various Juco's around, around N California in
the Bay Area. I reached out to DVC, Diablo
Valley College, reached out to Chabot College.
You know, the coach over there, you know, I mean he's still
there and he's been running a program for God knows how long,
over 25 years now. You know, I reached out to, you
(17:23):
know, a lot of like City College, San Francisco, a lot, a
lot of different Juco's and I think Solo actually went to
CCSF. So it's pretty.
Cool for those because because I'm quite sure we got, we got a
lot of younger audience here. Yeah, yeah.
Who might want to follow your path?
So for those who don't know, letme know what a JUCO is.
Juco's junior college, junior college basically being, you
know, Community College. So I decided to, you know,
(17:44):
follow the path and follow my carve out my own path and
basically, you know, continue playing and start playing,
actually start my career. In junior college.
Yeah, exactly. But then.
See, I'm glad you brought that up because I don't know if
people know that you can play like football in junior college.
Exactly, No, you absolutely can you know, a lot of a lot of
different schools. You know, I mean, originally I
started I want to do semi pro because my original kind of end
(18:07):
goal was to play at San Jose State University to be a
divisional athlete. But obviously, I, I mean, it
wasn't the cards. To be a divisional athlete takes
a lot of, you know, commitment, especially, you know, from that
end. Like it's like I said, you know,
so I started to just go just to just to just try the JUCO route
because essentially, you know, once I was able to get my grades
up, I was able to not only put myself in position because I
(18:28):
basically took weight training my senior year, my fall, my
senior year, that first semestertoday, that condition to get my
body right. But I also got to, you know,
figure out you're like, hey, yeah.
But, you know, there's a lot of different avenues, a lot of
different athletes who were ableto, you know, start their
careers out, you know, and if itbecomes something great, if it
doesn't, that's fine too. At least you got the experience,
right. So I finally landed just by
chance, San Jose City College from where I was in the Bay Area
(18:50):
at that time, San Jose City College was, was only 30-40
minutes away. And I had to actually to go
there to, to, to basically take a math prereq.
Because essentially at that point, I, I wanted to finish up
my math for 'cause I was originally going to do a
computer science major. And so essentially I wanted to
get done with calculus, you know, by that summer in order to
do that, take precalculus. And the only college that I
(19:10):
could take it at was San Jose City College and San Jose City
College just by, just by chance have a football team.
So Coach Connor, Coach C, you know, I mean, if you want, just
go see. I appreciate you, bro.
Appreciate you, coach, not bro coach, don't kill me, coach.
No, I just you know, coach, coach C, you know, I reached out
to him and he was man. He was it was one of the most
(19:33):
homely conversations when I wentto his office that first time.
That was January 2008, so roughly around time, you know, I
would have been a senior my my final, my final suggestion my
senior year. I was, I was basically, you
know, right at that point, you know, going to actually walk on
as a 17 year old, you know, for the spring ball as an city.
So I met Coach C in his office and then and then I told him,
I'm like, you know, coach C like, you know, I want, I'm
(19:53):
like, you know, are there any room?
Is there any room on a team, youknow, for me?
And he's all like, well, he's like, you know, he's like, he's
like, he's like, he's like, haveyou, have you, have you played
before? I said, no, I've never played.
And he's all like, OK, he's like, what position are you
trying to go out for? I said, well, I was like, you
know, my coach in high school orthe coach in high school told me
that, you know, I can try out for, for slot for safety, you
(20:13):
know, or, or really, you know, for for wide receiver, if I can
cash, you know, because of my slender body type and being
undersized. But that's probably the best,
you know, bad, you know, for someone with speed.
And he said, OK, cool. And he's all like, are you want
to come out for practice? I'm like, yeah, he's all like
he's like he's like, Are you sure?
I said, yeah, coach And he's allright.
He's like, OK, come out here andwe'll see what you got.
So I went out the next day. I ran some routes.
(20:35):
That's when I got introduced to my guy, the heavens, the the
blessing from heaven, New Orleans Saints passing and
coordinator, my coach, coach Keith K Dub Williams.
That was that was that was the game changer for me.
January Towns and the coach Dub and man, I mean, that was that
was that was everything because you know, coach Williams, you
know, basically even at that point in time, he had come from
(20:57):
San Jose State and you know, I told him that was my goal.
And so for those of you who watch sports talk radio, if you
guys know Fox Sports, 11 of the shows, the show, the facility,
James Jones, why he's here for the Packers.
He actually came out my first practice at San Jose City
College. He was there because coach dub
coach Williams was his coach at San Jose State before he got
(21:18):
drafted to the Packers in back in O in O in O 7.
And when I got to see that man lace up his cleats and do that
ladder, one of those routes, I was just my eyes went like this.
I was like, what the did I get myself into?
That everything you describe is not like a common situation.
(21:39):
Then people just walk up and be like, hey, I haven't played high
school ball, but I'm going to try for you guys from your
college and get onto the team. So that's kind of dope.
Appreciate you, bro. No, 100% it was all of those
things. And like, and like when I met
the guys, like, Oh yeah, like what's your name?
I'm like, yeah, man, I'll leave this and that.
And they're like, OK, what position you play?
(21:59):
I was like, well, I'm going for receivers and DB, like, oh,
which high school did you go to?And I said with the phone I was
like, OK, yeah, so did you. Well, how many years to start?
I'm like, I didn't play. Then they're like, you didn't
play and you try out. Boy, are you crazy.
Yeah, exactly. So yeah, it was just, it was
just passion that drove me. It was passion for the game.
You know, obviously I'm a fan ofheart and I just wanted to to
(22:21):
live my dream, you know, and that's how I was able to do it,
you know, going to that. You did.
That's kind of crazy. No, I appreciate you bro.
That's. That's motivation, man.
That's that's dedication. That's focus, man.
That's what people talk about when they say like, hey man, if
you got, if you got a dream and you want to try to achieve it,
you got to go out there and makeit happen.
You did. And I'm very impressed by that,
brother. That's great.
(22:41):
That means a lot to me and I appreciate that, bro.
No. And you know, coach Williams,
you know, it came full circle because after San Jose City
coach then got got an opportunity to go to Fresno
State. So then I was basically, you
know, in my second year, which was my last year of JUCO
eligibility, I decided to actually switch colleges in the
West Valley when I met now the current head coach of San Jose
City College, Coach Winkler, JimWink, Jim Winkler.
(23:03):
And he was able to, and it's funny because my high school
Foothill coach, Jason Tarver, who's in the NFL, he actually
was he him, him, him, he actually went to West Valley,
you know, Saratoga. So like we had that connection.
I didn't know him personally, but I actually met him recently.
I had like, you know, a few years ago, you know, on
LinkedIn. And I saw him him personally,
but I messaged him and we connected.
So it was so cool to connect with a fellow full high school
(23:26):
alumni. But yeah, Coach Wink.
Yeah. Coach Wink, because Coach Wink
was like, yeah, he's like, you know, he's like, yeah, come out
here, you know, let's see what you got.
And obviously at that time, obviously for me, since I wasn't
like a natural athlete, I had toobviously play special teams.
And that's why I got most of my bread and butter.
But it was good for me because that taught me like resilience
and earning your reps Even though I was working to a
rotation on a team that struggled mightily, I still got
(23:49):
to have the, like you said, the exposure and the experience, you
know, of being able to compete with guys who ended up, you
know, I mean, for example, like Santa City, our linebacker
Jerome got was led, led to led the conference in Sachs and got
full rise scholarship to Cal andhe got to play there, you know,
with Deshawn Jackson, them boys.And then after that, you know, I
mean, for me, you know, I was able to, you know, play, you
know, I mean, West Valley, a lotof guys got D2D33 offers and
(24:11):
whatnot. And yeah, I mean, I basically
had an option at at that point once I finished my second year
to then decide to walk on at AD 3, like Menlo or one of those
local schools. But then also I found out, yeah,
man, like, hey, guess what? There's a real team starting up
nearby, you know, San Jose, first of all the sounds of
Wolves, then it was the StocktonWolves.
So I got to walk on for the stock.
I tried out for the San Jose Wolves didn't make it.
(24:33):
Stockton Wolves didn't make it. And then finally 2012, this is
like round 22. Then I try out the Stockton
Wolves were were rebranded as the Eagles.
And you know, obviously the, thecoach over there, he kept my
film for my tryout and he said, yeah, he's like, come out here,
you can try out. And I'm like, cool.
And then basically, you know, itcame down to me and one other
dude who was much more gifted than I was, much more bigger and
much more stronger than I was. But they but they love my heart.
(24:55):
And so I end up making the cut and then the rest of history.
That's dope man. Yeah.
That's dope, man. Arena football, man.
That's really cool to say the least.
You know, I love the fact that you kind of put in that work and
you had that heart and you got what you wanted to get at.
Man, that's dope plan If what was it like for you?
Just like, you know, playing in front of those crowds and that
(25:18):
atmosphere. Just know, hey, I'm getting paid
to do something I love. Well I mean, when you say paid,
I want to just, you know, clarify for anyone watching,
it's $80.00 a game. Person formal, so that's.
You know, because obviously the Tier 1 arena AFL, you know, I
wasn't on, I wasn't on that level, you know, the Tier 2,
tier 3, which is where I was Aiffa my balls over there.
(25:38):
I can actually like put on the camera so you can see kind of my
helmet, my balls back there and those, those are some of my
pictures when I played, you know, that was me, you know,
uniform right there. Yeah. $80.00 a game. $80.00 a
game man and. Like a like a indie wrestler.
Basically, yeah. And essentially it was, you
know, and, and, and, and the season, 2012 season, you know,
(25:59):
the Eagles, I mean, we basicallywrapped up the season.
We were only two and seven. But because the fact that
there's so many suspensions and teams folding that we we ended
up making the conference championship and actually the
actual AIFA championship. So we got to travel.
To North Carolina. The, the, the, the Western
(26:20):
Conference champion that year was the Ontario Warriors and the
Ontario Warriors got suspended for tampering and, and, and, and
illegal recruiting practices by the league.
So they ended up, you know, eventually, you know, I mean,
leading the league, you know, wholesale.
That's energy for us. It was us and then one other
team and then and then their team basically had, I mean,
another thing was budget was, was a big constraint.
(26:42):
A lot of the guys, you know, I mean, were supposed to get paid
actually much more than I was supposed to get paid because it
was my first year, right. A lot of guys were expecting to
get paid like 500 to $1000 a game, you know, and for some of
these guys, I mean, that's, that's their bread and butter.
And, you know, and, and because of, you know, different reasons
they ended up, they ended up notgetting paid.
So because of that, you know, I mean, since since we were near
(27:03):
the championship, you know, gamedeadline, you know, since the
only our team, you know, the best team of the ease was the
Cape Fear of Heroes. And they're still in existence
today and they're a great team. But it was just us, you know,
who were not, who was the only other ones who were basically,
you know, in intact at that point, right?
So the league to basically save face throughout the season, we
needed to put someone up againstanother and we end up getting
(27:25):
blown out. I think it was 7079 to 27,
something like that. But the experience was
incredible because we got to travel to North Carolina, you
know, the Edenville, North Carolina for the 2012 AI
championship game and being being able to travel, you know,
across country, especially for a, for a 2122 year old kid, you
(27:47):
know, especially it's crazy. Exactly.
It's it's crazy. You know, it's just like, wow,
then you see the smoke and you said the atmosphere.
That was kind of my first exposure to like, kind of like,
you know, getting like in front of playing in front of live
crowd. So, and once I was done, then my
mom's all like, yeah, you're 22.Like, you know, boy, get
yourself a degree and gave them a real job, you know, and that's
what I did. I decided to, you know, I
decided to go, you know, transfer, you know, all my
(28:08):
credits, you know, to, to a fouryear finish up my, my, my
diploma at Health Science. And then I started working in
the field I'm in, I'm in now, which is tech consulting, kind
of did that. And then eventually I decided to
get my master's, finish my master's, I want to say around
2017. Once that was done, I ended up
getting laid off for my company at that time, United Healthcare.
(28:29):
You know, anyone who's watching,you'll probably know the CEO who
got murdered, you know, not too long ago from UHC.
Yeah. So I, I was working there for a
few years. And then once that happened, I
basically decided, you know, I had an option.
I basically had an option to either stay in California and
option to move to Chicago, you know, for, for a career
opportunity. So I decided to, you know, you
know, basically, you know, just go, go head first into something
(28:52):
and, you know, unexpected and move cross country to Chicago.
And once I did that, you know, then I found out, you know,
Midwest because arena football at that point, because you were
talking about how 2012 to 2017, basically 2018 at this point,
arena football and in the West Coast, I basically dissipated.
You did have the you know, some of the teams like the IFL,
whatever, like some teams San Diego, that but Northern
(29:12):
California, the the the scene was completely non existent.
The San Jose Paper Cats fold in 2016 after they won the Winner
Bowl, You know, the Sand Stockton Wolves, the California
Eagles was folded back, I want to say 20/15/2017 around there.
So I mean, there were no avenues.
I wasn't, I wasn't necessarily done playing, right.
I was done playing actually. So I was done playing.
I was done playing because I wasfull time in my career.
(29:34):
But then when I moved to Chicago, I realized, you know
what, man, I still got somethingleft in the tank.
You know, I'm 28 years old, you know, I still want to see what
I, what I, what I can do. And so this is now 2018.
So I just fooled around. I found out the Chicago Falcons
semi professional team who also played arena ball, you know, out
there in the Midwest, And so that was kind of it.
You know, I, I got to hit up, you know, coach Tom Robinson,
(29:55):
coach Rob, coach Chris, you know, Chris Blackman, you know,
obviously the Falcons. And basically from there then I
got to, you know, basically, youknow, step onto the team, You
know, since since I had experience, you know, actually
doing operations and actually working, you know, in the
professional realm outside of football, they decided to
promote me to Joe manager, you know, of the Falcons
essentially, you know, also being a player, kind of like a
(30:16):
player like your admin, you know, kind of recruiting and
also kind of reaching out. And obviously, you know, and it
was one of the best experiences of my life because we ended up,
you know, doing the same thing. Actually, we actually end up
going two and seven. I don't know what to do, what it
is with that #7 losses. But again, because because of
league constraints and and obviously league realignment, we
end up making a conference championship that year.
(30:37):
So basically playing the conference championship in
Wisconsin, it was a great experience for the end of most
games, blown out so. Do you do you have like a a like
a four leaf Clover in your pocket or a lucky rabbit foot or
something like that? How do you going to Chicago find
another team to play on it? Like we're going to make you
general manager and then they're.
(30:58):
Like. Because of scandal.
Like, you know what, you're going to be in the conference
finals now. Man, it was, it was incredible.
I, I mean, same thing because, you know, I, I don't know what
it was that overcame me to keep playing, especially at that
point because I've been out of the out of the game for six
years at that point, basically 5plus years.
So essentially, you know, I mean, it was just, you know,
(31:19):
just that again, I think just that innate desire, you know, to
not basically, you know, I have one last run to go out and prove
to myself that I could do it. That was all it was for me.
Football for me was just provingmyself.
I could do it, you know, you know.
You can send yourself a person to Khalil Ali.
I do. Let me just say this to you
brother, we don't have this typeof luck.
(31:43):
We usually don't have this type of good luck bro.
Exactly bro. You're just like swimming in it.
That's crazy though. 100% no, I'm very blessed.
I'm very blessed, you know, and.It's dope though.
No, I appreciate you. No, I mean, there are a lot of
bumps along the way. I'm not going to sit here and
just, you know, say, yeah, it all happened, you know, but I
mean that, but that's part of the process, you know, part of
the going process, maturing process and really appreciating
(32:05):
the journey, you know, going from, again, back to, you know,
reaching. The one thing I left out was
when I started reaching out thatfor the to start playing in
JUCO, a lot of the Juco's turnedme away because they basically
said, yeah, you're going to haveto try out.
And, you know, I mean, honestly,we have too many receivers and
you know, you're probably not going to have any chance of
making our team, you know, and, and and one of the one of the
(32:28):
coaches even said, like, you know, we have too many receivers
right now. You'd be wasting your time to
come out here. He basically, he didn't want to
meet with me. He just told me that over e-mail
and I said, OK, cool. So that that right there was
what kind of was that kind of fuel?
You know, I mean to say, you know, this guy, you know, who's
never played before may not be the most athletic gifted, may
not be, you know, may not be able to make it, you know, to
(32:49):
the highest level. You know, it's the NFL, but just
wants to play. You know, he's he's, you know,
let's see what he can. Do that's dope man that's.
Really dope. Nah, so that's that's pretty
much and to kind of wrap Chicagowith the Falcons right after we
wrapped up this October 2018. We I I end up making the All
Star game for being for being, you know, for my special teams
(33:09):
contribution. And you know, obviously, you
know, it was a great experience,you know, kind of going out
there, you know, playing Wisconsin, you know, the boys.
And then I decided to start my own team, own my Carnage, you
know, around there around that time because I had the capital
at that point for my for my techconsulting career to do that and
basically start spreading wild. Yeah.
And so, you know, obviously, youknow, a hotspot radio had me on
(33:30):
their show in Chicago when I started my new team.
They owned a Carnage. They asked if we're going to
play the Falcons. I'm like, hell yeah, we are.
And so, yeah, man, it was great.You know, they owned a Carnage,
you know, a lot of young hungry dogs, you know, we got, you
know, come up, you know, and basically, you know, also some
veterans too. You know, we got a good crop of
talent, you know, myself acting as coach as well as kind of
(33:51):
owner, right, but really wantingto be, you know, in the in, in
like, you know, on the front lines with the team, helping
kind of mold these young men, also kind of helping, you know,
these veterans, you know, looking for an extra
opportunity. It was a great experience, you
know, so that one. Let me ask you this, Ali.
What was your mascot? You.
Know when I can't? Oh, I'll show you if you can
hold one second. I'm gonna grab it.
OK, OK. Yeah, let's.
(34:13):
See what I got? I like it.
I like it. Oh, that's dope.
Yeah, yeah. But that was that was it.
It's like the Reaper, but like the Illinois carnage sign.
So all my all, all the players, you know, pay their team fees
back to Jersey. I appreciate and I love the fact
(34:36):
that like arena leagues and other leagues like mascots are
like way cooler than NFL. 100%. Like way cooler.
Like what the fuck is a brown? Yeah, NFL, you're good.
And and and no, like Cleveland, but like, yo, give them a
mascot, give them something likey'all, y'all just the Browns get
(34:59):
the fuck out of here. Get the fuck out of here.
Yeah, bro. I mean, you know, bro, it's one
of those things where it's like,you know, the league's been.
I mean, because, because, because they have like that the
just the history. So it's like they, I mean they,
they try to evolve, so to speak,but the logos never changed.
I mean, the Niners logo has beenthe same for as, as long as
they've been in existence. So I hear that's what, almost 80
(35:20):
years. So I mean.
It took a pandemic in racism forWashington to change their name.
Just think about that. Oh, wow.
That is it took a pandemic in racism for watching like, you
know, we need to change our name.
And then they changed. What was it for?
Why? It was Washington's football
(35:40):
team, I think it was. Yeah, WFT for that one season.
Then Snyder sold the team. They decided to become the
Commanders. So yeah, I actually have a
Commander's jersey. Let me actually show you.
Commander's a good name. Yeah, Commander's a good name,
so I got this one. This is my guy, Chase Young, who
I got to see playing in the Super Bowl last year.
That's a good one. That's a good jersey.
Yeah. I like when I like the black.
Yeah, it was dope. It was dope.
(36:01):
So yeah. But no, the Rio league let me
actually put one more. When you see Watchers, this was
my final team that I got to play.
I like that one. Yeah, so it was.
It was. I like it.
The gold, the black, I like it. Yeah.
So now it's kind of, you know, basically, you know, for me, you
(36:22):
know, basically being able to, you know, have the opportunity
to, you know, do that. It was great kind of because
because it gave me like first hand exposure to being a coach
and an owner and then and also being stolen still still getting
getting being able to get my feet when we're needed to play.
And then and then my final year with the Watchers.
Then after 2019, I mean, basically at that point it'd
been 11 years, but then I decided to hang it up, decided
(36:44):
to stop playing professionally, sound like professionally.
And you know, that was pretty much it.
And then, yeah, basically then Igot to again to full time
coaching high school football here nor California Whitney High
School. I got to coach their varsity for
a football team a bit in the summer of of 2019.
Due to scheduling conflicts, I was unable to complete the
(37:04):
season. So, you know, appreciate Coach
McNally and and and Coach Opina for giving me the opportunity.
And then the pandemic hit. So, you know, after the pandemic
hit, you know, that that's when I started to get podcasting and
essentially be able to, you know, interview guys.
I got to play with, interview guys, you know, who also played
arena, played NFL and from all different walks of life, who I
got to encounter through my career as player and as a coach
(37:26):
and as AGM, what have you. And that basically, you know,
just resonated and kind of, you know, became something.
Yeah, you kind of found your lane in podcasting and doing
your shorts that are pretty popular, which is really cool.
I, I, I love to see that love. See, succeed with that.
(37:46):
And let's get right to it, man. You you you started having
wrestlers on your podcast? Yeah.
What was that like as a person being a lifelong wrestling fan
with you? It's incredible man.
The the most, I mean, being KurtAngle for the first time was
incredible. Obviously it wasn't on the
podcast and meet and greet, but I was able to, you know, get the
10 minute clip extrapolated and you know, put it on the show.
(38:08):
But having Ken Shamrock be my first major guest book, I still
remember, you know, booking him,putting the announcement on back
when I had Facebook. Now, I'm not really acting on
socials, but back when I had my Facebook account, I posted the
announcement. Ken Shamrock's coming on the
show, and everyone commented, everyone reacted the whole like,
(38:29):
everyone's going crazy. And then when I finally get to
interview the man for the first time, I mean, he's just so down
to earth. Like, this is a dude who I
watched when I was a kid. I had this action figure growing
up, guys, trading cards, you know what I mean?
And I used to play him on the PlayStation, right?
I mean, this is like my I this is my idol, you know, Ken Chamak
(38:49):
was like one of my favorite wrestlers as as you know, of all
time growing up. And, you know, they say you
don't ever meet your heroes, butI got to meet my hero, you know,
and got to have him on twice. And now and then the fact that
he featured me on his most dangerous man website and I'm
still there. Like if you Google my name and
and they're like, you know, football player, you'll still
(39:09):
see me on Google. You Google whatever, you know,
Ken, you know, I mean, I mean, you'll see my name, you'll see
our episode, my episode Ken Chanfour years ago is still on his
website and it's still featured with all the stuff he has going
on with with with battle or bareknuckle boxing.
You know, all the different kindof business interests and
appearances. He does.
It's so dope, bro. I mean, it's it's it's one of
(39:30):
those things where it's like man.
And like when you get to talk tohim about the the wrestling
aspect of his career and everything that went with it.
And then you learn you have so many commonalities because he
believe it or not, those of you who may not know this and
Shamrock actually played semi professional football before he
became a wrestler. And that was, you know, when I
talked about it because he played Juko.
(39:51):
I played Juko. We started off the interview
like that. I know, just relating and you
know, it was it was great, you know, and then obviously Rodney
Mack, you know, cool having him on, you know, just incredible.
Another guy who I watched growing up signed autograph for
me. Great having him on.
You know, meeting these and then, you know, Godfather, she
didn't get to have them all got to meet them, you know, so it
was, it was, it's just it's so cool being able to have that
(40:15):
platform to where, you know, youcan kind of just have one-on-one
and then, you know, they, they basically paid for.
Yeah. Was it great having Brent Otto?
Sorry. Oh no, I still have his
autograph right there and it can't.
It's not visible for obvious reasons.
(40:35):
But yeah, it was great having you.
We won't get into the whole story because.
We can get into it, doesn't matter.
Well, let's get to the boys story because I want to get
Trump. OK, I got you.
I got. You the boys, safe.
Yeah, yeah. I was just going to say, I mean,
you know, Madam put it on, blew up.
He they they said delete it right now, apologize.
(40:57):
I did that. Yeah, essentially what happened
was, I'm not going to add too much more to it litigation, but
Brett said some wild things on his part if you find.
Out if you Google it. If you Google it and it restarts
my man and would like take it down or litigation so he took it
(41:21):
down which is smart. Yeah, no, I just, you know, I
just, and ultimately, I mean, like, you know, if he didn't say
anything, if he was cool with it, then I would have been cool
with it, you know, But then, like, you know, his camps are
coming at me and it was just kind of bad.
I mean, I'm not going to say I lost respect for Brett, but I'm
just going to say it. I still respect Brett as a
(41:44):
competitor, but I feel more sympathy for a guy named HBK
now. I, I get it.
It's, it's just one of those things where you don't me being
a podcast, I'm in a podcast now.I've been a podcast for a while,
I want to say 7-8 years now. But when you have one of those
episodes that causes conversation, whether it's
(42:07):
positive or negative, it's always an interesting thing,
man. And like I've had like, you
know, I've had episodes about gun control, I've had episodes
about the elections and things like I, I like multiple,
multiple 2 episodes that startedoff conversation.
And one of the things I always found fascinating about those
(42:30):
episodes is how people will hearit and get 2 completely
different things from the episode and the conversation.
So no matter what side you are on it and me, when I used to do
my episodes like that, I try to stay as neutral as possible
because I don't want to, you know, I don't want to play my
hand. I, I don't want people to get
their opinions and stuff out my opinions out and stuff.
(42:53):
It's always, I always get that one message for somebody like,
oh, you let them slide on this or you let them slide on that.
You're not, you're not being fair to this side.
You're not being fair to that side.
Like, oh, how can I be fair to both sides at the same time?
So it's, it's always interestingwhen you get those type type of
controversy episodes and you have to deal with the, the
backlash from it. It's just it's different.
(43:16):
Yeah, yeah. You know, it's interesting
because I actually got to, you know, it's funny, like people
like assume, Oh yeah, like you just tried to get clout.
But honestly, like when I was playing football, I actually got
to, I mean, I, I was signing autographs for people out out of
the country. I got hit up from fans, you
know, I actually had fans, believe it or not, I had fans
and the UK fans in Philly, not Philly, but Pennsylvania fans
(43:37):
all over the world, you know, who say, yeah, we love your
energy, we love everything you bring.
And with the podcast, you know, kind of going right after that,
after my playing career, it was kind of a cool experience, you
know, going and obviously you you play and there's like
there's like, you know, for people who are like, no, that's
not the NFL. It's just like, you know, rinky
dink football, whatever, right? I get it, you know, but
essentially, like, I mean, it's like a 5 year old kid to that
(43:58):
five year old kid. Like, you know, they look at
you, you're like a Rocky statue,you know?
Yeah, I won't even say that. You know, people like rank and
eat football. So I'm like, no, that's how you
look at like, like people. First of all, like, you know,
very few people get to play in the NFL, right?
Very few. And I love the fact that we're
in a in a situation now where you can have the NFL or if you
(44:21):
if you don't make it to the NFL,there's other levels you can
deal with this arena football, whether it's what is it, what is
it? When the Rock has U FL, U FL or
any type of organization like that so people can kind of get
that experience and make money doing what they love, and I
think that that automatically should be commended.
I think it's dope that you can kind of carve that path out.
That's why I like the big three so much.
(44:43):
The big three basketball league,because you have these players
who are older now and they can'tnecessarily love what they used
to play in the NBA. But hey, I'm going to hop on
this big three and kind of stillbe entertaining and still make
some money off. I kind of think it's really cool
that we have that and I always, well, at least when it comes to
things like that, I'm always like, why when it's something
that you love, you have to give it up at a certain time?
Why you can't just do it for therest of your life?
(45:04):
Why is why aren't there like limits on this?
Even with wrestling? I kind of say that sometime like
I, you know, if you still can perform at an elite level at 60,
for example, Sting, when Sting was having that run, he was
still like, he's still like Sting.
How you think, you know, AJ Styles is almost 50 and he still
looks like AJ Styles. I'm like, yo, if you love doing
(45:26):
what you're doing, keep doing itand you get paid for it.
I'm never going to knock it. A. 100% but you know, I will say
this, you know there to your question about you know if you
love something, why stop doing it.
For me it's the answer is very simple.
My knees. That'll do it to you.
So it was definitely a great run.
(45:47):
And yeah, I mean, so the whole podcasting, I mean come back to
your question, real question. Obviously, you know, with
wrestlers and with all the otherkind of, you know, different,
you know, players and different,you know, NFL, like Lincoln
Kennedy, where I got to, you know, he some autograph, you
know, obviously, you know, threetime Pro Bowl or Lofa to Tupu.
You know, I mean, I've been on Instagram, but shout out Lofa.
You know, that's my guy. I grew up watching him and then,
(46:08):
you know, I mobbed my game off of his.
Just how, how how vicious and violent he hit.
You know, I tried to, you know, pursue, you know, special teams
with that same level of energy, especially on kickoff, you know,
because when you're pursuing thethe return man, you want to make
sure, you know, you either wedgecontain or you basically, you
know, attack him. You know, you get and you you,
you pursue full force at the point of attack.
That's how, that's why I always tell my players whenever I coach
(46:29):
them. So essentially, you know, having
that experience of, you know, having those guys on the show
was incredible. And yeah, man, I just, I just
want to say, you know what I mean?
It's, it's, it's truly a blessing, you know, to have been
able to play and still have my platform and still be able to
have these conversations, conversations, you know, about,
you know, talks I'm passionate about.
Yeah, I love it, man. I'm I'm happy that.
(46:50):
Could I even tell how I end up on your podcast?
You know, Cortez brought me on for an episode and I just end up
staying. You're like, yeah, you come back
next week. Yeah, like, I guess I'll come
back next week, man. It's.
The next week, man, yeah, it's. It's been a great ride so far,
man. It's been a really great
experience. Talk about wrestling and other
things, and it's been a really good ride, man.
It's been really cool meeting you and kind of getting this
(47:12):
bond with you about these type of things, man It's dope.
I appreciate that, bro. No, And it's great having you on
and I love chopping up with you on my platform and it's great
being on your platform. It's true blessing.
Appreciate you having me. Likewise, brother man, let let
him know to find you. Let him know to find the podcast
that most more importantly. Yes, Sir, DJ dreaming off the
ground podcast. You can follow us at DDOG
podcast on X as well as on YouTube and Spotify or DJ
(47:34):
dreaming off the ground podcast Spotify, but please add DDOG
podcast if you want to search itquickly follow my boy here.
I already know where to follow him and Soul Reaper, obviously
Cortez, who's actually an ambassador for the show Soul
Reaper 24 on Instagram as well as on on on on Twitter and
Facebook. So.
Yeah, one more thing, Ali. When are we going to goddamn
(47:58):
WrestleMania? We going to go.
Go, man. Yeah, we got it.
Go out and get a press pass or something you.
Want to go here Vegas? It's not a bad idea too, yes.
Sir. I'm done with that too bro.
Yeah, it was cool. And I want to say, you know, I
(48:18):
mean, you know, even though football, you know, as a player,
you know, definitely open up those avenues.
I mean, me personally as a fan, you know, like you said about
wrestling fans and being a football fan, you know, it's not
the coolest experience. I've just been, you know, being
a fan, you know, being able to go to the Super Bowl last year,
watch my Niners play in person, you know, I mean, that was a
lifetime experience for me, you know, and even though, even
(48:40):
though they came up on the on the on the on the fortune end of
that, I mean, it was such an incredible experience.
And, you know, seen that I was playing amp championship games,
you know, going to wrestling events, you know, going to the
NBA Finals. You know, it's also on on the
channel. You're going to Kobe.
And I after Kobe passed away after a helicopter crash and
then seen LeBron give a speech, you know, about, about the life
(49:02):
of Kobe and giving, seeing us should give a serenade.
Amazing. I mean, it's crazy.
Yeah. All these all these different
events, you know, in my life, I've had the fortune, the
privilege and just the blessing,you know, to kind of be in the
position I'm in and be able to, you know, partake and, you know,
just be an observer, you know, for all these things.
And that's really the most fun about it for me, you know.
Yeah. I mean, I played, I did grow,
(49:23):
get a little bit of following, you know, as a player.
I did get to coach all those guys and, you know, a lot of
those guys, you know, just so you know, who I still keep in
contact with, you know, you know, but essentially, you know,
I mean, I think, you know, beinga fan too, it's just been such a
great, great, great pleasure andgreat joy.
You know, that's kind of, you know, what I'm passionate about
now, you know, now that I physically can't play anymore.
So yeah, just wanted to kind of call that out.
(49:46):
You know, being a fan is just asjust as important because you
know, players, players who play,you know, I mean, who they
playing for, you know, if not for themselves, so.
Man it's been a blast. Have you all bro?
I appreciate you bro. Like Watson, as always Delma Cox
experience, we are out peace.
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