June 14, 2024 • 23 mins
Conversations With A Legend is back with a BEST OF Edition. We look back at SMOOT SMACK as LaVar Arrington sits with his former teammate Fred Smoot about the INFAMOUS "Love Boat" and it WAS worth FOUR Game Checks! Second, after all the years 3x Super Bowl Champion LeGarrette Blount details that night in Boise State when he was called a racial slur. Finally, former number one overall NFL Draft pick Tim Couch details the pressure and expectations of being a top draft pick.
UP On GAME Presents Conversations With A Legend. LaVar Arrington is sitting down with the best from the field, the stage, and beyond. These are intimate conversations and storytelling with legendary humans about their lives and successful careers.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:01):
People on game Game. It presents conversations with e lecgend
best of Show and now here's LeVar Arrington.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
You was you was ready?
Speaker 3 (00:13):
No, no, I was ready to read. I was ready
to play football. But I think the realization of that
one percent, like when you're playing NFL. You bought it
at one percent? Now, where are you at in that
one percent? Are you at the bottom of that one percent,
in the middle of that one percent? It at the
top of that one percent. Well, I was just ready to,
you know, prove my worth.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
And that's what it was.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
All right.
Speaker 4 (00:36):
For those out there that don't know what Pee Valley is.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Just look it up, all O. Look it up. But
it's a great segue.
Speaker 5 (00:46):
I mean pe Valley, Viking, Viking boat, Viking boat Valley.
I mean you was representing the ship in Minnesota.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
But you know what, La, Let's be honest. You a
history guy. You love history. I know this about you.
Speaker 6 (01:04):
You're sure.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
I'm a fan. I'm a fan.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Check this out. Viking's been doing this since the early
seventeen hundreds.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Like everything we did on that they've been doing since
the early seventeen hundred. I just got too much into character,
you know, what I'm saying, Fred the red I got
too much into character. And you know me, I'd like
to take my position seriously, they asked me, and I
give but.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Did you did you really have no, don't really have.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
A double purple.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Listen, this is what happened.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
You have a double purple?
Speaker 4 (01:41):
No?
Speaker 2 (01:42):
I was walking Can we get can we get the exclusive?
Can you give me the exclusive? Here? What really happened?
And this is this is open for them, so you
ain't got a whole nothing back. This is open for him.
All right, give me the exclusive of the boat ride.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
I was literally just walking past. I know what you're
bringing up, the whipping, the mass distruction. I was walking past, right,
and somebody said, Fred, could you hand me that weapon?
Speaker 1 (02:17):
And I said, who am I to deny you? Who
am I?
Speaker 2 (02:22):
I'm the one.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
I take it, take it, take it. It's like the
Lord of the Rings. Once you had that ring over,
you know, hey, you do what you do. I let
it happen, little b I wasn't.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
And then what I didn't know that I understand. I
was the new guy.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
You know in Washington, how we hate guys, and you
got to take us to the steakhouse.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
And then take us to the club. Ain't really nothing
else to it.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
Well, when I got there as a veteran, they was like, no,
we take up money staring with the first rounders and
we throw a party.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
I was like, all right, that's fine.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
We end up having two first rounders Troy when in
the rats mus James right, uh huh. When we took
up that party, it was like eighty plus thousand to
throw this one party, Like, yeah, we fly everybody in
and all land.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
I'm like, this unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Brian McKenny, Brian mckennie, and that's not.
Speaker 4 (03:15):
That's a horror. That is a horrible combination. Fred Smooth
and Brian McKinnon's a it's a horrible That is a horror.
That is a horrible recipe for mass destruction weapons all.
Speaker 7 (03:28):
All over place.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Listen, party animals.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
Like I thought we partied in DC, but when I
made it to Minnesota, they had a whole another level.
Like nobody ever brings up the Twin Cities when it
comes to places to visit. I placed this fund. I'm
here to tell you the home of ten thousand Lakes.
Please take a visit there. It's a fun place to visit.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
How many lakes. Did y'all hit out of the ten thousand.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
I think I went nine thousand, one hundred.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Yes, I think I did.
Speaker 4 (04:14):
Was there anything else that happened on the boat? Can
you clear up anything else the boat?
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Let's be honest.
Speaker 6 (04:20):
It was give me it was.
Speaker 4 (04:22):
It was overrated it And that's what I want. That's
what I want to know. That's because that's that's that's
what happened. People blow stories up, they sensationalize the stories,
and then it goes from their boom.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
And you, because of the personality you are, you're always
going to be the one that gets it.
Speaker 4 (04:41):
You're always going to get the overblown story every time.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
Every time. And like I said, I was the new guy.
I wasn't there but three months, for months before happens
like at the end of like at the end of
the day.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
Uh. If it happened in Miami, d C, New York,
l A. You never hear about that.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
Nobody everybody the floating bachelor party, Like that's the whole
thing about it is normal people do it all the
time and nobody says anything.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
But because it's young athlete, millionaire.
Speaker 6 (05:10):
It was you.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
It was you. Yeah, because it was you just say,
just keep it real. It's because it was you.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
The mouth of the South.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
Sometimes you talk your way into stuff, and anytime it's
some fun, exaggerated stuff, they gonna look at me.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
And guess what. I laughed it off.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
Then I laugh it off now, And I'll never forget
having a conversation with my with my agent, bus Cook,
he could hear it in my voice that I was
worried about it. He was like, son, don't worry about this.
Y'all didn't break no laws. They're gonna blow it up.
They're gonna make it disposal, but it's gonna make you infamous.
(05:45):
I understand it. They'll never forget you. They will never
forget you, So don't you worried about it. It's good
on both sides.
Speaker 6 (05:53):
And I'm gonna be honest with you.
Speaker 4 (05:54):
Man.
Speaker 8 (05:54):
It's crazy to say this, but every single guy that
I grew up with that I was really really, really
really tight with either locked up, killed or not doing
anything with their life.
Speaker 6 (06:05):
And you know what I'm saying, it's just me, you know.
Speaker 8 (06:08):
And and every time I see them, every time I
talk to them, you know, when I go home or
I see them around, they be like, bro Damn. I
wish I just would have followed you. I wish I
would have just did this because some of these guys
was nice.
Speaker 4 (06:18):
On the football field, probably better than that, you know
what I'm saying, something that was better, Yeah, right there,
right there with you, but just couldn't couldn't.
Speaker 8 (06:26):
Care, and they just they just couldn't. They mindset was different.
We want to, they want to, but I'm trying to
get some money.
Speaker 7 (06:33):
How do you avoid that pitfall?
Speaker 4 (06:35):
If you're giving advice to this Hart generation, because that's
what this is ultimately about.
Speaker 7 (06:40):
How do you how do you avoid that?
Speaker 8 (06:43):
It's hard, man, I say that the hardest thing to
do with somebody that you've known since you were four
years old all the way to eighteen. The hardest thing
to do to stay consistent with that is to say no, man,
because she's gonna be times where they want you to go.
And I'm not saying this is everybody, but my situation,
there was times where people wanted me to go smoke weed,
(07:06):
you know, go drink and get drunk, go to a party.
And as enticing as that is, of course, I want
to go party. You know what I'm saying, I'm sixteen, Yeah,
I can't do that.
Speaker 6 (07:20):
I got it. I got something in mind.
Speaker 8 (07:22):
I got a goal ahead of me that's gonna I'm
not going to fulfill this goal today tomorrow. This is
this long time time. You know what I'm saying, This
is far down the road. All these will come back
to hunt me. All these decisions will come back to
haunt me whenever I get to that point. And oh, well,
you was a party animal in high school. Because when
I did my interviews at the combine, they knew I
(07:43):
got suspended in middle school. They knew about all of this.
You know, oh lagar got to suspended for fighting in
middle school. They knew all about this. So and growing up,
you don't know that they know about that. You don't
know what they asking about all that stuff. But you
know that the older you get, you know that that
it's gonna be consequences to every decision that you make.
You know what I'm saying, And I'm not saying I
made all the right ones, but I'm said I made
(08:04):
enough right ones to put myself in the position to
be here.
Speaker 4 (08:08):
All right decisions sense we because no one can speak
on this better than you. I had the same I
had a similar incident play out for me that played
out with you when you was in college, but I
was in high school. So it actually ended up because
I stood on on my principal values. You're you're disciplining
(08:29):
me as if as if I'm the one that was
wrong in this scenario, when in reality, if you knew
what happened, what happened right, then you wouldn't be coming
at me that way.
Speaker 7 (08:41):
And I was like, I'm not gonna play.
Speaker 8 (08:43):
But at the same but at the same time, you felt,
I'm pretty sure you felt like if I tell my story,
they gonna make it seem like I'm making an excuse, right,
justify my actions.
Speaker 6 (08:52):
Right, So you and you between the rock and the
hard place, just lose, lose for us.
Speaker 7 (08:56):
So what happened?
Speaker 4 (08:58):
So all right, So I'm this is gonna be my
first time ever ever like explaining the story.
Speaker 7 (09:05):
Because this is this is like I've you.
Speaker 8 (09:07):
Know what I mean, never explained the story. So okay,
we go back. We played them last year. The year
before we played them. They came to Oregon, they came
to Eugene. They beat us. They yeah, yeah, they came
to Eugene, they beat us. They hit my quarterback late
knocked them out. They hit my tight end late knocked
them out. So it's personal, now, you know what I'm saying.
(09:29):
And Sports Illustrated came to cover the game the next
year because we were gonna play in the first game
or the next season. And Sports Illustrated came and talked
to us this, that and the other, and they were
just like, so, what about last year's game. Yeah, yeah,
they they hit your quarterback, knocked them out. They didn't
get no flag for it. They didn't get no flag
for it. And I'm like, ship, we owe them ass whipoping.
So that's what we're planning on going out there doing.
(09:50):
We we whoop an ass. That's what we want to do.
And Sports Illustrated came out with the article boom, and
then we went out there and Uh, all we see
is we're gonna whoop they ass. Everywhere he posted whoop
they ass. We see that all over our locker everything.
So it's game time. Were bawling, all right. So fast forward,
We're done lost and at the end of the game,
I'm walking off the field, my head down, walking off
(10:12):
the field, I member it like it was just the
walking off the field, my head down. I'm like, damn,
they beat our ass. I ain't do shit. I'm kind
of tight, you know what I'm saying. Walking off, my
head down. I see this guy. I don't see him,
but I hear him talking to me. Hey, Hey, how
about that ass whooping? You said just gonna be the ass?
Speaker 6 (10:29):
Right?
Speaker 8 (10:29):
How about that ass? But I'm hearing him now, I
can't say nothing. My head down, I'm just like, what shit,
I gotta take that. You gotta take it is what
it is. And I'm walking. I hear him, but I'm
just keep on walking. And he get closer and closer
to me, and he get up to me and he
slapped my shoulder pads.
Speaker 6 (10:44):
How about that ass whooping? And then the end word? Right?
Speaker 8 (10:49):
This ain't about football no more? Yeah, officially you know,
made it about something else, you know what I'm saying that.
I don't know if your teammates cool, what you saying
this to them or whatever? Whatever, But not me, you
know what I'm saying. So I turned around, I punched him.
Speaker 4 (11:04):
And it was quick. It wasn't like it was like
it was quick. That's all I knew. That's how I knew.
That's exactly what I what I was gonna do that.
Reaction's so growing up where I grew up at, my
grandma used to always tell me, she's not here, God
bless her soul, she's not here.
Speaker 6 (11:21):
She used to always tell me.
Speaker 8 (11:24):
Disrespects, spinning on you, touch your face, and don't never
let anyone call you that word. Those are the three
principles that you sit on when it comes to like
if you gotta fight or whatever, if you got to
stand your ground, those are the reasons.
Speaker 6 (11:36):
And that was one of the reasons.
Speaker 8 (11:38):
And the thing is is about it is people don't
evaluate that video when he said what he said to me.
If you see Chris Peterson, that's his head coach. If
people look at the video again, what he said, what
he said to me, Chris Peterson, we used to grab him, like, bro,
what the what you're doing?
Speaker 6 (11:50):
You know what I'm saying? Like what? It was too late.
Speaker 8 (11:53):
I had already turned around to hit him, you know
what I'm saying. But he had grabbed him before I before,
I like before, it was so fast. It was like
by bo bop, you know what I'm saying. Chris Peterson
Like no, you know what I'm saying. And it was
too late. So the next day, I called and kind
of talked to him about it. You know what I'm saying,
apologize even though I felt like I wasn't in the wrong.
Speaker 6 (12:12):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 8 (12:12):
My coach told me, you need to go out call
and apologize to make this right.
Speaker 7 (12:16):
And I did.
Speaker 6 (12:17):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 8 (12:17):
And afterwards, you know, you got fans spitting on you.
Speaker 6 (12:22):
You know what I'm saying. So I'm going into the
I'm headed to the locker room.
Speaker 8 (12:26):
I done got hit with like three or four spits,
Like three or four spits, right, So, Bro, two out
of the three things that my grandma told me that
you that you got to stand your ground on just
happened to me in thirty seconds, you know what I'm saying.
So I'm trying to get to the fan, like, bro, Bro,
you know what I'm saying, Like, Bro, what y'all got
(12:46):
going on? Don't try to stop me? Stop them and
this and you you got to see the whole video.
And then I'm trying to get past them. And I
get up to the crowd. The guy come out of
the stands and slap me. No, nobody, nobody ain't talking.
Speaker 6 (13:00):
I just want you.
Speaker 7 (13:00):
I wanted you to.
Speaker 4 (13:01):
Give your account of it, because I know, after all
these years, you know, a lot of times people draw
their own conclusions.
Speaker 7 (13:07):
So I wanted you to give your side of it.
Speaker 4 (13:09):
And because us who watched it and have lived it
knew exactly what it was, right, Like, it's not even up, like,
it's not even something you need to debate, right, we
know what it is exactly. So, and the guy came.
The guy came from the stands.
Speaker 8 (13:23):
When I got to the stands, the guy came out
of the stands, bro, and full long slapped me, bro,
slap me in the fright. And so I was I'm like, bro,
that's three that's all three things that could have possibly
gone wrong. And my grandma eyes and y'all expect me
not to retaliate. Y'all just expect me to just things
get real, And it's real in the field, right.
Speaker 4 (13:44):
It's a respect thing, for certain, And I'm glad that
that you talked about it, because that's something that you
know as it applies to you.
Speaker 7 (13:52):
You know, you lived it.
Speaker 4 (13:54):
Everybody knew it and respected the fact that in a
bad moment you made a positive out of it.
Speaker 7 (14:00):
You as you.
Speaker 4 (14:00):
Mentioned, because that connects to where you came from and
the things that you overcome and where you said you
want to go. So to me, I felt like for
all those things to correlate that with that moment, we
just redefined and re shaped that whole entire situation. That's
what we just did. Right now, Sir, I got my
man Tim couch with me. Bro, I'm excited to do
(14:24):
this one all right, now, you're a competitor and that
at that moment, my respect level was like okay, like
he's I mean, you got we We live in an
age now where if a guy is in your position,
they're opting out of that game, right.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
Sure they won't even play in that game.
Speaker 9 (14:42):
Yeah, And you know, I knew it was my last game,
and but you know, I wanted to go out with
my teammates, you know, we I'd been through the process
with him, you know, Coach Mummy getting there my sophomore
year and so that that was my junior year, and
I knew kind of like, you know, we had built
this scene, we'd kind of created this air raid offense
and everybody was talking about and I wanted to go out,
you know, my last game.
Speaker 6 (14:59):
I wanted to win a bowl game.
Speaker 9 (15:00):
And beat you know, Penn State and legendary Joe Paterno,
and you know, win a game like that. So there
was no thought of not playing, even though I knew
it was gonna be a physical game against you guys.
I was out there trying to play and compete like
it was, you know, like it's gonna be my last game.
Speaker 6 (15:12):
So you competed.
Speaker 9 (15:13):
The thing I remember about you the most, man, is,
you know, I played against some pretty intimidating players, and
you know, ray Lewis would be up there when I
got to the NFL. There you and ray Lewis were
the two most intimidating guys that I've ever played against.
Something about LeVar Man when he was out there, that
number eleven and those eyes and that intensity, the speed
and the power and the athleticism this guy played with
(15:34):
was was just unbelievable, man, And.
Speaker 7 (15:36):
You were I'm humble.
Speaker 9 (15:38):
Well, I mean, you know you're number two picking the
draft for was you? You were a phenomenal football player
and certainly one of the best defenders I've ever played.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
Thank you, man, I appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
All right.
Speaker 4 (15:47):
Well, you mentioned ray Lewis. You go number one into
the AFC North. Yeah, I can relate to what you
went through. A lot of people can't relate to going
into a scenario which Cleveland continues to be that and
(16:11):
Washington continues to be that type of dysfunctional organization. Coming out,
it's exciting to want to be a top draft pick,
to be the number one draft pick, but with that
blessing there comes a curse talk a little bit about,
(16:32):
because it's it's almost disheartening to think about when guys
that are as talented as you were and had so
much potential to be a Hall of Famer at that level.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
End up at a dysfunctional organization.
Speaker 9 (16:53):
Yeah, it's it's unfortunate. Like you said, you know, you're
your top pick, but that means you're going to the
worst team. And for me, it was even harder that
year because the Browns were an expansion team, you know,
they just came back in the league. They left in
ninety six, became the Baltimore Raders, and then in nineteen
ninety nine they come back. So I was the first
player ever drafted in the new Browns franchise. So literally
starting from the ground up with this organization, you know,
(17:14):
and like you said, labar Man, when you go in
all you can hear is number one pick, and of
course I want to be the number one picking the draft.
You're not thinking about how tough the road's going to be,
of being a quarterback on an expansion team and that
kind of thing. But it hit me pretty quickly the
reality of how tough that was going to be. You know,
my rookie year, I got sacked fifty six times in
(17:34):
fifteen starts, you know, which was an NFL record at
the time, and it was just so it was a
beating physically, but it also takes a toll on you mentally,
you know, because at that point I had never dealt
with failure. Coming out of high school. I was a
number one recruit in the country, you know, National Player
of the Year. And I get to college and I'm
a first team All American and a Heisman Trophy finalist
and the number one picking the draft. So I'd never
(17:56):
faced adversity necessarily on the field, and now all of
a sudden, I'm getting, you know, beat to death. I'm
not winning games, I'm not putting up the numbers and
I'm used to putting up and then you start questioning yourself,
you know, hey, is it me can I not play
at this level, But you know it's at that level
for a quarterback especially, it's all about the talent around
you how successful you can be, because you know, everyone
(18:17):
in the NFL is a is a really good football player.
And if you put the right pieces around him, with
the right system, the right staff, you know, the running game,
the wide receivers, obviously, the offensive line, the guy can
be pretty successful. But you know, if you don't, you
can ruin a really good player's career. And you know
we've seen it. You know, David Carr went through the
same situation as I did, and expansion team in Houston.
It was a great player and he never lived up
(18:38):
to his potential because of you know, his surroundings, and
you know we've seen it many other times many other players.
But you know, it's just unfortunate. But you know, I
don't think I would trade that experience, just because you know,
it's it's such an honor to be a number one
pick in the draft and you know, something I can
be proud of. But it was a rough road. But
you know, we did make the playoffs my my fourth
year there, and it was the only time the Bran
(19:00):
has been to the playoffs until a couple of years ago,
so it is about twenty year gap in there. So
I was kind of really proud of where we're able
to kind of build that thing up to in a
short period of time. But it was a rough road.
Speaker 4 (19:09):
Man, when you're as fierce a competitor as you were
and you had so much success. What was what were
some of your biggest challenges? You talk about getting getting
through it as an expansion team and different things like that,
and you said the emotional part. I know, for me,
(19:32):
the biggest challenge was to still believe that you could win. Yeah,
that was like my biggest challenge, like emotionally and mentally,
even preparing physically. It's like this is the game, or
this is the week, this is the year. And by
(19:53):
the time you get to year three and you're a vet,
it's like you're sitting in the locker room and it's like,
this shit ain't gonna get any better, right, It's not
how is it going to get better?
Speaker 7 (20:10):
What was like?
Speaker 2 (20:11):
How was it for you?
Speaker 4 (20:12):
Because for a linebacker, it's like, I'm a linebacker, like
we might lose, but I know this, I'm knocking somebody
hell out the right, right, like I come out this game, somebody,
somebody's going to sleep because of me. And when loser draw,
I know, I gave it this and you saw it,
and he experienced it and I touched his life too.
(20:36):
I hate we lost, but all I can do is
what I can do. How does a quarterback at the
most important position, the number one guy, Because if it's
not Super Bowl, if it's not playoffs, it's automatically your bus, automaticallytical.
Speaker 7 (20:51):
They're already like I was called a bus.
Speaker 4 (20:54):
I made three Pro Bowls. I'm still called a bus.
We're called we're being called bus. But you're a quarterback.
That pressure level is different. How Like, what were some
of the things you had to to deal with in
order to be able to try to still thrive in
that type of environment.
Speaker 7 (21:12):
Yeah, that's that's a good question.
Speaker 9 (21:14):
You know, I think you know, when you come in
as a number one pick, there's so many expectations on
you immediately, you know, from your from your fans, from
the media, even your own teammates. You know, your teammates
you're sitting in the locker room like, hey man, you're
the number one pick. We're counting on you. You got to
go win. These games for us, you know, get us
over the hump, you know, kind of get us going.
So that's a lot of pressure room. And I was
only twenty years old when I went to the NFL
y'all turn twenty one in training camp that year, So
(21:37):
I was a young kid out there. Man, You're in
the huddle with guys that are, you know, thirty years
old for ten years, got families and stuff, and it's
a it's a big difference in being in a in
a college huddle. Uh So you feel a lot of responsibility,
a lot of expectations, and you know, like I said,
the mental part was tougher on me than the physical part.
You know, I was always a you know, a big guy,
physical guy could take the hits, but you know the
(21:58):
mental part where you're just losing games week after week
after week, and you know, you're just like, damn, what
I gotta do to win a game? Because I'm like,
you know, I'm kind of I'm playing well, but you know,
we're still not winning. It's always a you know, a
player or two here or there, and we just can't
just can't find a way to win games. And you
know how tough it is to win a game in
the NFL, it's the difference in winning and losing. Is
is like that, So you know, you start questioning yourself.
(22:22):
You start questioning, you know, Kylie, can I even make
it here? Do I want to even be here? All
those thoughts come in your mind.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
Uh, you know.
Speaker 9 (22:28):
But at the end of the day, I think as
a quarterback, you just put your head down and say,
I gotta I just gotta keep working. I gotta keep
working harder. Man, I gotta keep believing in myself because
you know that you have to have the ultimate confidence
at that position, because you know it's people. The media
is going to be crushing you. They're gonna be writing
stories about you each and every week, good or bad.
So you have to have that belief in yourself that
(22:48):
that you know you can play at that level and
you can get it done. And that was probably the
toughest part.
People on game Game. It presents conversations with e lecgend
best of Show and now here's LeVar Arrington.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
You was you was ready?
Speaker 3 (00:13):
No, no, I was ready to read. I was ready
to play football. But I think the realization of that
one percent, like when you're playing NFL. You bought it
at one percent? Now, where are you at in that
one percent? Are you at the bottom of that one percent,
in the middle of that one percent? It at the
top of that one percent. Well, I was just ready to,
you know, prove my worth.
Speaker 1 (00:33):
And that's what it was.
Speaker 2 (00:34):
All right.
Speaker 4 (00:36):
For those out there that don't know what Pee Valley is.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Just look it up, all O. Look it up. But
it's a great segue.
Speaker 5 (00:46):
I mean pe Valley, Viking, Viking boat, Viking boat Valley.
I mean you was representing the ship in Minnesota.
Speaker 1 (00:59):
But you know what, La, Let's be honest. You a
history guy. You love history. I know this about you.
Speaker 6 (01:04):
You're sure.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
I'm a fan. I'm a fan.
Speaker 1 (01:06):
Check this out. Viking's been doing this since the early
seventeen hundreds.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Like everything we did on that they've been doing since
the early seventeen hundred. I just got too much into character,
you know, what I'm saying, Fred the red I got
too much into character. And you know me, I'd like
to take my position seriously, they asked me, and I
give but.
Speaker 1 (01:33):
Did you did you really have no, don't really have.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
A double purple.
Speaker 1 (01:39):
Listen, this is what happened.
Speaker 2 (01:40):
You have a double purple?
Speaker 4 (01:41):
No?
Speaker 2 (01:42):
I was walking Can we get can we get the exclusive?
Can you give me the exclusive? Here? What really happened?
And this is this is open for them, so you
ain't got a whole nothing back. This is open for him.
All right, give me the exclusive of the boat ride.
Speaker 3 (01:56):
I was literally just walking past. I know what you're
bringing up, the whipping, the mass distruction. I was walking past, right,
and somebody said, Fred, could you hand me that weapon?
Speaker 1 (02:17):
And I said, who am I to deny you? Who
am I?
Speaker 2 (02:22):
I'm the one.
Speaker 3 (02:23):
I take it, take it, take it. It's like the
Lord of the Rings. Once you had that ring over,
you know, hey, you do what you do. I let
it happen, little b I wasn't.
Speaker 1 (02:35):
And then what I didn't know that I understand. I
was the new guy.
Speaker 3 (02:39):
You know in Washington, how we hate guys, and you
got to take us to the steakhouse.
Speaker 1 (02:43):
And then take us to the club. Ain't really nothing
else to it.
Speaker 3 (02:47):
Well, when I got there as a veteran, they was like, no,
we take up money staring with the first rounders and
we throw a party.
Speaker 1 (02:56):
I was like, all right, that's fine.
Speaker 3 (02:57):
We end up having two first rounders Troy when in
the rats mus James right, uh huh. When we took
up that party, it was like eighty plus thousand to
throw this one party, Like, yeah, we fly everybody in
and all land.
Speaker 1 (03:09):
I'm like, this unbelievable.
Speaker 2 (03:12):
Brian McKenny, Brian mckennie, and that's not.
Speaker 4 (03:15):
That's a horror. That is a horrible combination. Fred Smooth
and Brian McKinnon's a it's a horrible That is a horror.
That is a horrible recipe for mass destruction weapons all.
Speaker 7 (03:28):
All over place.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
Listen, party animals.
Speaker 3 (03:31):
Like I thought we partied in DC, but when I
made it to Minnesota, they had a whole another level.
Like nobody ever brings up the Twin Cities when it
comes to places to visit. I placed this fund. I'm
here to tell you the home of ten thousand Lakes.
Please take a visit there. It's a fun place to visit.
Speaker 2 (03:52):
How many lakes. Did y'all hit out of the ten thousand.
Speaker 3 (03:55):
I think I went nine thousand, one hundred.
Speaker 1 (04:03):
Yes, I think I did.
Speaker 4 (04:14):
Was there anything else that happened on the boat? Can
you clear up anything else the boat?
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Let's be honest.
Speaker 6 (04:20):
It was give me it was.
Speaker 4 (04:22):
It was overrated it And that's what I want. That's
what I want to know. That's because that's that's that's
what happened. People blow stories up, they sensationalize the stories,
and then it goes from their boom.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
And you, because of the personality you are, you're always
going to be the one that gets it.
Speaker 4 (04:41):
You're always going to get the overblown story every time.
Speaker 3 (04:44):
Every time. And like I said, I was the new guy.
I wasn't there but three months, for months before happens
like at the end of like at the end of
the day.
Speaker 1 (04:53):
Uh. If it happened in Miami, d C, New York,
l A. You never hear about that.
Speaker 3 (04:58):
Nobody everybody the floating bachelor party, Like that's the whole
thing about it is normal people do it all the
time and nobody says anything.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
But because it's young athlete, millionaire.
Speaker 6 (05:10):
It was you.
Speaker 2 (05:10):
It was you. Yeah, because it was you just say,
just keep it real. It's because it was you.
Speaker 1 (05:15):
The mouth of the South.
Speaker 3 (05:16):
Sometimes you talk your way into stuff, and anytime it's
some fun, exaggerated stuff, they gonna look at me.
Speaker 1 (05:23):
And guess what. I laughed it off.
Speaker 3 (05:25):
Then I laugh it off now, And I'll never forget
having a conversation with my with my agent, bus Cook,
he could hear it in my voice that I was
worried about it. He was like, son, don't worry about this.
Y'all didn't break no laws. They're gonna blow it up.
They're gonna make it disposal, but it's gonna make you infamous.
(05:45):
I understand it. They'll never forget you. They will never
forget you, So don't you worried about it. It's good
on both sides.
Speaker 6 (05:53):
And I'm gonna be honest with you.
Speaker 4 (05:54):
Man.
Speaker 8 (05:54):
It's crazy to say this, but every single guy that
I grew up with that I was really really, really
really tight with either locked up, killed or not doing
anything with their life.
Speaker 6 (06:05):
And you know what I'm saying, it's just me, you know.
Speaker 8 (06:08):
And and every time I see them, every time I
talk to them, you know, when I go home or
I see them around, they be like, bro Damn. I
wish I just would have followed you. I wish I
would have just did this because some of these guys
was nice.
Speaker 4 (06:18):
On the football field, probably better than that, you know
what I'm saying, something that was better, Yeah, right there,
right there with you, but just couldn't couldn't.
Speaker 8 (06:26):
Care, and they just they just couldn't. They mindset was different.
We want to, they want to, but I'm trying to
get some money.
Speaker 7 (06:33):
How do you avoid that pitfall?
Speaker 4 (06:35):
If you're giving advice to this Hart generation, because that's
what this is ultimately about.
Speaker 7 (06:40):
How do you how do you avoid that?
Speaker 8 (06:43):
It's hard, man, I say that the hardest thing to
do with somebody that you've known since you were four
years old all the way to eighteen. The hardest thing
to do to stay consistent with that is to say no, man,
because she's gonna be times where they want you to go.
And I'm not saying this is everybody, but my situation,
there was times where people wanted me to go smoke weed,
(07:06):
you know, go drink and get drunk, go to a party.
And as enticing as that is, of course, I want
to go party. You know what I'm saying, I'm sixteen, Yeah,
I can't do that.
Speaker 6 (07:20):
I got it. I got something in mind.
Speaker 8 (07:22):
I got a goal ahead of me that's gonna I'm
not going to fulfill this goal today tomorrow. This is
this long time time. You know what I'm saying, This
is far down the road. All these will come back
to hunt me. All these decisions will come back to
haunt me whenever I get to that point. And oh, well,
you was a party animal in high school. Because when
I did my interviews at the combine, they knew I
(07:43):
got suspended in middle school. They knew about all of this.
You know, oh lagar got to suspended for fighting in
middle school. They knew all about this. So and growing up,
you don't know that they know about that. You don't
know what they asking about all that stuff. But you
know that the older you get, you know that that
it's gonna be consequences to every decision that you make.
You know what I'm saying, And I'm not saying I
made all the right ones, but I'm said I made
(08:04):
enough right ones to put myself in the position to
be here.
Speaker 4 (08:08):
All right decisions sense we because no one can speak
on this better than you. I had the same I
had a similar incident play out for me that played
out with you when you was in college, but I
was in high school. So it actually ended up because
I stood on on my principal values. You're you're disciplining
(08:29):
me as if as if I'm the one that was
wrong in this scenario, when in reality, if you knew
what happened, what happened right, then you wouldn't be coming
at me that way.
Speaker 7 (08:41):
And I was like, I'm not gonna play.
Speaker 8 (08:43):
But at the same but at the same time, you felt,
I'm pretty sure you felt like if I tell my story,
they gonna make it seem like I'm making an excuse, right,
justify my actions.
Speaker 6 (08:52):
Right, So you and you between the rock and the
hard place, just lose, lose for us.
Speaker 7 (08:56):
So what happened?
Speaker 4 (08:58):
So all right, So I'm this is gonna be my
first time ever ever like explaining the story.
Speaker 7 (09:05):
Because this is this is like I've you.
Speaker 8 (09:07):
Know what I mean, never explained the story. So okay,
we go back. We played them last year. The year
before we played them. They came to Oregon, they came
to Eugene. They beat us. They yeah, yeah, they came
to Eugene, they beat us. They hit my quarterback late
knocked them out. They hit my tight end late knocked
them out. So it's personal, now, you know what I'm saying.
(09:29):
And Sports Illustrated came to cover the game the next
year because we were gonna play in the first game
or the next season. And Sports Illustrated came and talked
to us this, that and the other, and they were
just like, so, what about last year's game. Yeah, yeah,
they they hit your quarterback, knocked them out. They didn't
get no flag for it. They didn't get no flag
for it. And I'm like, ship, we owe them ass whipoping.
So that's what we're planning on going out there doing.
(09:50):
We we whoop an ass. That's what we want to do.
And Sports Illustrated came out with the article boom, and
then we went out there and Uh, all we see
is we're gonna whoop they ass. Everywhere he posted whoop
they ass. We see that all over our locker everything.
So it's game time. Were bawling, all right. So fast forward,
We're done lost and at the end of the game,
I'm walking off the field, my head down, walking off
(10:12):
the field, I member it like it was just the
walking off the field, my head down. I'm like, damn,
they beat our ass. I ain't do shit. I'm kind
of tight, you know what I'm saying. Walking off, my
head down. I see this guy. I don't see him,
but I hear him talking to me. Hey, Hey, how
about that ass whooping? You said just gonna be the ass?
Speaker 6 (10:29):
Right?
Speaker 8 (10:29):
How about that ass? But I'm hearing him now, I
can't say nothing. My head down, I'm just like, what shit,
I gotta take that. You gotta take it is what
it is. And I'm walking. I hear him, but I'm
just keep on walking. And he get closer and closer
to me, and he get up to me and he
slapped my shoulder pads.
Speaker 6 (10:44):
How about that ass whooping? And then the end word? Right?
Speaker 8 (10:49):
This ain't about football no more? Yeah, officially you know,
made it about something else, you know what I'm saying that.
I don't know if your teammates cool, what you saying
this to them or whatever? Whatever, But not me, you
know what I'm saying. So I turned around, I punched him.
Speaker 4 (11:04):
And it was quick. It wasn't like it was like
it was quick. That's all I knew. That's how I knew.
That's exactly what I what I was gonna do that.
Reaction's so growing up where I grew up at, my
grandma used to always tell me, she's not here, God
bless her soul, she's not here.
Speaker 6 (11:21):
She used to always tell me.
Speaker 8 (11:24):
Disrespects, spinning on you, touch your face, and don't never
let anyone call you that word. Those are the three
principles that you sit on when it comes to like
if you gotta fight or whatever, if you got to
stand your ground, those are the reasons.
Speaker 6 (11:36):
And that was one of the reasons.
Speaker 8 (11:38):
And the thing is is about it is people don't
evaluate that video when he said what he said to me.
If you see Chris Peterson, that's his head coach. If
people look at the video again, what he said, what
he said to me, Chris Peterson, we used to grab him, like, bro,
what the what you're doing?
Speaker 6 (11:50):
You know what I'm saying? Like what? It was too late.
Speaker 8 (11:53):
I had already turned around to hit him, you know
what I'm saying. But he had grabbed him before I before,
I like before, it was so fast. It was like
by bo bop, you know what I'm saying. Chris Peterson
Like no, you know what I'm saying. And it was
too late. So the next day, I called and kind
of talked to him about it. You know what I'm saying,
apologize even though I felt like I wasn't in the wrong.
Speaker 6 (12:12):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 8 (12:12):
My coach told me, you need to go out call
and apologize to make this right.
Speaker 7 (12:16):
And I did.
Speaker 6 (12:17):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 8 (12:17):
And afterwards, you know, you got fans spitting on you.
Speaker 6 (12:22):
You know what I'm saying. So I'm going into the
I'm headed to the locker room.
Speaker 8 (12:26):
I done got hit with like three or four spits,
Like three or four spits, right, So, Bro, two out
of the three things that my grandma told me that
you that you got to stand your ground on just
happened to me in thirty seconds, you know what I'm saying.
So I'm trying to get to the fan, like, bro, Bro,
you know what I'm saying, Like, Bro, what y'all got
(12:46):
going on? Don't try to stop me? Stop them and
this and you you got to see the whole video.
And then I'm trying to get past them. And I
get up to the crowd. The guy come out of
the stands and slap me. No, nobody, nobody ain't talking.
Speaker 6 (13:00):
I just want you.
Speaker 7 (13:00):
I wanted you to.
Speaker 4 (13:01):
Give your account of it, because I know, after all
these years, you know, a lot of times people draw
their own conclusions.
Speaker 7 (13:07):
So I wanted you to give your side of it.
Speaker 4 (13:09):
And because us who watched it and have lived it
knew exactly what it was, right, Like, it's not even up, like,
it's not even something you need to debate, right, we
know what it is exactly. So, and the guy came.
The guy came from the stands.
Speaker 8 (13:23):
When I got to the stands, the guy came out
of the stands, bro, and full long slapped me, bro,
slap me in the fright. And so I was I'm like, bro,
that's three that's all three things that could have possibly
gone wrong. And my grandma eyes and y'all expect me
not to retaliate. Y'all just expect me to just things
get real, And it's real in the field, right.
Speaker 4 (13:44):
It's a respect thing, for certain, And I'm glad that
that you talked about it, because that's something that you
know as it applies to you.
Speaker 7 (13:52):
You know, you lived it.
Speaker 4 (13:54):
Everybody knew it and respected the fact that in a
bad moment you made a positive out of it.
Speaker 7 (14:00):
You as you.
Speaker 4 (14:00):
Mentioned, because that connects to where you came from and
the things that you overcome and where you said you
want to go. So to me, I felt like for
all those things to correlate that with that moment, we
just redefined and re shaped that whole entire situation. That's
what we just did. Right now, Sir, I got my
man Tim couch with me. Bro, I'm excited to do
(14:24):
this one all right, now, you're a competitor and that
at that moment, my respect level was like okay, like
he's I mean, you got we We live in an
age now where if a guy is in your position,
they're opting out of that game, right.
Speaker 2 (14:40):
Sure they won't even play in that game.
Speaker 9 (14:42):
Yeah, And you know, I knew it was my last game,
and but you know, I wanted to go out with
my teammates, you know, we I'd been through the process
with him, you know, Coach Mummy getting there my sophomore
year and so that that was my junior year, and
I knew kind of like, you know, we had built
this scene, we'd kind of created this air raid offense
and everybody was talking about and I wanted to go out,
you know, my last game.
Speaker 6 (14:59):
I wanted to win a bowl game.
Speaker 9 (15:00):
And beat you know, Penn State and legendary Joe Paterno,
and you know, win a game like that. So there
was no thought of not playing, even though I knew
it was gonna be a physical game against you guys.
I was out there trying to play and compete like
it was, you know, like it's gonna be my last game.
Speaker 6 (15:12):
So you competed.
Speaker 9 (15:13):
The thing I remember about you the most, man, is,
you know, I played against some pretty intimidating players, and
you know, ray Lewis would be up there when I
got to the NFL. There you and ray Lewis were
the two most intimidating guys that I've ever played against.
Something about LeVar Man when he was out there, that
number eleven and those eyes and that intensity, the speed
and the power and the athleticism this guy played with
(15:34):
was was just unbelievable, man, And.
Speaker 7 (15:36):
You were I'm humble.
Speaker 9 (15:38):
Well, I mean, you know you're number two picking the
draft for was you? You were a phenomenal football player
and certainly one of the best defenders I've ever played.
Speaker 2 (15:45):
Thank you, man, I appreciate that.
Speaker 1 (15:47):
All right.
Speaker 4 (15:47):
Well, you mentioned ray Lewis. You go number one into
the AFC North. Yeah, I can relate to what you
went through. A lot of people can't relate to going
into a scenario which Cleveland continues to be that and
(16:11):
Washington continues to be that type of dysfunctional organization. Coming out,
it's exciting to want to be a top draft pick,
to be the number one draft pick, but with that
blessing there comes a curse talk a little bit about,
(16:32):
because it's it's almost disheartening to think about when guys
that are as talented as you were and had so
much potential to be a Hall of Famer at that level.
Speaker 2 (16:51):
End up at a dysfunctional organization.
Speaker 9 (16:53):
Yeah, it's it's unfortunate. Like you said, you know, you're
your top pick, but that means you're going to the
worst team. And for me, it was even harder that
year because the Browns were an expansion team, you know,
they just came back in the league. They left in
ninety six, became the Baltimore Raders, and then in nineteen
ninety nine they come back. So I was the first
player ever drafted in the new Browns franchise. So literally
starting from the ground up with this organization, you know,
(17:14):
and like you said, labar Man, when you go in
all you can hear is number one pick, and of
course I want to be the number one picking the draft.
You're not thinking about how tough the road's going to be,
of being a quarterback on an expansion team and that
kind of thing. But it hit me pretty quickly the
reality of how tough that was going to be. You know,
my rookie year, I got sacked fifty six times in
(17:34):
fifteen starts, you know, which was an NFL record at
the time, and it was just so it was a
beating physically, but it also takes a toll on you mentally,
you know, because at that point I had never dealt
with failure. Coming out of high school. I was a
number one recruit in the country, you know, National Player
of the Year. And I get to college and I'm
a first team All American and a Heisman Trophy finalist
and the number one picking the draft. So I'd never
(17:56):
faced adversity necessarily on the field, and now all of
a sudden, I'm getting, you know, beat to death. I'm
not winning games, I'm not putting up the numbers and
I'm used to putting up and then you start questioning yourself,
you know, hey, is it me can I not play
at this level, But you know it's at that level
for a quarterback especially, it's all about the talent around
you how successful you can be, because you know, everyone
(18:17):
in the NFL is a is a really good football player.
And if you put the right pieces around him, with
the right system, the right staff, you know, the running game,
the wide receivers, obviously, the offensive line, the guy can
be pretty successful. But you know, if you don't, you
can ruin a really good player's career. And you know
we've seen it. You know, David Carr went through the
same situation as I did, and expansion team in Houston.
It was a great player and he never lived up
(18:38):
to his potential because of you know, his surroundings, and
you know we've seen it many other times many other players.
But you know, it's just unfortunate. But you know, I
don't think I would trade that experience, just because you know,
it's it's such an honor to be a number one
pick in the draft and you know, something I can
be proud of. But it was a rough road. But
you know, we did make the playoffs my my fourth
year there, and it was the only time the Bran
(19:00):
has been to the playoffs until a couple of years ago,
so it is about twenty year gap in there. So
I was kind of really proud of where we're able
to kind of build that thing up to in a
short period of time. But it was a rough road.
Speaker 4 (19:09):
Man, when you're as fierce a competitor as you were
and you had so much success. What was what were
some of your biggest challenges? You talk about getting getting
through it as an expansion team and different things like that,
and you said the emotional part. I know, for me,
(19:32):
the biggest challenge was to still believe that you could win. Yeah,
that was like my biggest challenge, like emotionally and mentally,
even preparing physically. It's like this is the game, or
this is the week, this is the year. And by
(19:53):
the time you get to year three and you're a vet,
it's like you're sitting in the locker room and it's like,
this shit ain't gonna get any better, right, It's not
how is it going to get better?
Speaker 7 (20:10):
What was like?
Speaker 2 (20:11):
How was it for you?
Speaker 4 (20:12):
Because for a linebacker, it's like, I'm a linebacker, like
we might lose, but I know this, I'm knocking somebody
hell out the right, right, like I come out this game, somebody,
somebody's going to sleep because of me. And when loser draw,
I know, I gave it this and you saw it,
and he experienced it and I touched his life too.
(20:36):
I hate we lost, but all I can do is
what I can do. How does a quarterback at the
most important position, the number one guy, Because if it's
not Super Bowl, if it's not playoffs, it's automatically your bus, automaticallytical.
Speaker 7 (20:51):
They're already like I was called a bus.
Speaker 4 (20:54):
I made three Pro Bowls. I'm still called a bus.
We're called we're being called bus. But you're a quarterback.
That pressure level is different. How Like, what were some
of the things you had to to deal with in
order to be able to try to still thrive in
that type of environment.
Speaker 7 (21:12):
Yeah, that's that's a good question.
Speaker 9 (21:14):
You know, I think you know, when you come in
as a number one pick, there's so many expectations on
you immediately, you know, from your from your fans, from
the media, even your own teammates. You know, your teammates
you're sitting in the locker room like, hey man, you're
the number one pick. We're counting on you. You got to
go win. These games for us, you know, get us
over the hump, you know, kind of get us going.
So that's a lot of pressure room. And I was
only twenty years old when I went to the NFL
y'all turn twenty one in training camp that year, So
(21:37):
I was a young kid out there. Man, You're in
the huddle with guys that are, you know, thirty years
old for ten years, got families and stuff, and it's
a it's a big difference in being in a in
a college huddle. Uh So you feel a lot of responsibility,
a lot of expectations, and you know, like I said,
the mental part was tougher on me than the physical part.
You know, I was always a you know, a big guy,
physical guy could take the hits, but you know the
(21:58):
mental part where you're just losing games week after week
after week, and you know, you're just like, damn, what
I gotta do to win a game? Because I'm like,
you know, I'm kind of I'm playing well, but you know,
we're still not winning. It's always a you know, a
player or two here or there, and we just can't
just can't find a way to win games. And you
know how tough it is to win a game in
the NFL, it's the difference in winning and losing. Is
is like that, So you know, you start questioning yourself.
(22:22):
You start questioning, you know, Kylie, can I even make
it here? Do I want to even be here? All
those thoughts come in your mind.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
Uh, you know.
Speaker 9 (22:28):
But at the end of the day, I think as
a quarterback, you just put your head down and say,
I gotta I just gotta keep working. I gotta keep
working harder. Man, I gotta keep believing in myself because
you know that you have to have the ultimate confidence
at that position, because you know it's people. The media
is going to be crushing you. They're gonna be writing
stories about you each and every week, good or bad.
So you have to have that belief in yourself that
(22:48):
that you know you can play at that level and
you can get it done. And that was probably the
toughest part.
Hosts And Creators
Brady Quinn
LaVar Arrington
Jonas Knox
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