Peanut Tillman and Roman Harper are joined by Super Bowl winning offensive tackle Russell Okung. Russell gets candid about what still bothers him about his Seahawks loss to the Patriots in Super Bowl XLIX, betting on himself in NFL Free Agency, and his steadfast belief that Bitcoin is the key to a brighter future for all.
Plus, he explains the inspiration and aftereffects of his stunning post career physical transformation.
The NFL Players: Second Acts podcast is a production of the NFL in partnership with iHeart Media.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
It is twenty thirteen or twenty fourteen, the games on
the line, Right, you're playing New England Patriots, which you
guys know that's just a that is the most disciplined
team you'll ever play, right. You don't make mistakes when
it comes to them, right. And Pete even said, we're
gonna be who we are going into this game no
matter what, and we're gonna look up and either we
win or we lose. I'm fine with that, right. But
(00:22):
we're one yard away, okay, and all the things that
we're saying that we're preaching every single week. Because Pete
so great a culture, we have the opportunity to express that.
And what do we decide to do?
Speaker 2 (00:44):
What?
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Up?
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Everybody out? Peanut to him and this is the NFL
Player's Second Act podcast and with me as always as
my trusty co host, Roman Harp.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
That was kind of my belly, But thank you, though
I appreciate the introduction as always, like you hit me
a little low like up here Pierre. Anyway, he's really
excited to meet and talk to our next guest man.
He's an amazing player. He's actually a trendsetter, a trailblazer
for some of the things he's actually done in the NFL,
and I can't wait to really just dive into all
(01:15):
that he's done. And his post career has been amazing
as well, and so really just kind of pick his brain.
Speaker 4 (01:21):
He is a smart, brilliant human being. So I say
he's a.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Pioneer in bitcoin. Yes, he's a two time pro bowler,
super Bowl champion. Uh yeah, six overall pick in a
twenty ten draft. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the pot,
mister Russello. Come yes.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Nice. Even the production guys are clapping for me. That's nice, Hey,
special guy.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
I mean that's why they get paid.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
Yeah, let's be honest here to make sure we get
a little bit of crowd noise.
Speaker 4 (01:53):
Okay, we need that, all right.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
If it was just us clapping, it ain't loud. We look,
this room is so light it doesn't need like some
some filtered noise for applause, just to make it like
we got like a real guess or a bunch of
bunch of I think we jump right into what we were
talking about before that We're not going to waste any
time on your last name.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
Yeah, it's been butchered my entire life.
Speaker 4 (02:15):
Your entire life.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Yeah, I almost butchered. I almost said oh, Kung, I
like the way I tried to finically, look, I was like, oh,
I think he was asking me five times. I hate
butchering people's names because it's like, not, that's not my name.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
So look, growing up, I always said it incorrectly as well,
and probably for most of my life. How did you
say it? Gro I said, Oh, Kung okay Okung? So
I mean, I mean, look, people have thought I'm Japanese Chinese.
I'm like, look, they say Kung and they're like, oh
you're no, I'm Nigerian. Yeah, but you know it's it's
actually funny because it wasn't until maybe seven years ago.
(02:52):
I went to Nigeria and I'm down in like my
family's village and I'm saying my name and they're looking
at me like I'm crazy. You mean okum yeah, okum
no okum. The g is silent, it comes from your
throat right, and it was actually very funny. Is the
way Nigerian families work. When we have our names, it
(03:16):
is not just a name. It's a name which has
passed down, so it would likely be the name of
your grandfather, your great grandfather. So it's essentially a way
of evoking remembrance. So when you say something, you have
to say properly because if you don't right, it's seen
as a form of disrespect. So our family is a
very prestigious family and they call it south South but
Southeast Nigeria. And it taught me to say correctly and
(03:41):
to number one, have pride in it. And can I
go on a quick tangent and quick.
Speaker 4 (03:45):
Story tangent away.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
And so my father passed away when I was a
very young child, and my mom had the opportunity to
attempt to change our last name, but she didn't. She
kept my last name, my sister and I she kept
our last name. And when I met my father's famps
on my father's side of the family for the first time,
they were elated and all of them said, different people
(04:09):
from all over, the most important thing that your mother
did was to not change your last name. So thank
you for saying it correctly, and please teach your children
and say their name properly because it got passed on.
It's ours, it's ours. It's actually the name of my grandfather,
O Goom, that's his name, O Goom. Yeah. Oh, you're good. Yeah,
(04:29):
you might be Nigerian.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Twenty three and me I got a little. I got
a little to meet.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
That's good.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
London, Sydney, soul Am I saying it right, Yeah, Roman, Yeah,
I'm good.
Speaker 4 (04:42):
You're good.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
You too easy?
Speaker 1 (04:43):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (04:44):
Mine is very just you know, put that out there.
It's not it's not as deep, but I want to.
Speaker 4 (04:50):
Jump into it. What was your first welcome to the
NFL moment?
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Okay, it must be a good one because you said,
oh and your hand turned.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Well, it's you know what's funny is you were actually
on the field, Oh, welcome to NFLT Okay, so it
was maybe not a moment, but a week, okay, a week.
It was October seventeenth. I'm playing for the Seattle Seahawks
at the time. It's twenty ten and we are playing
the Bears in Soldier Field. I had been hurt most
of the preseason, so I'm like coming back and they
(05:24):
tried to play me in week one, didn't do too well.
And in week two we have this shit at Chicago Bears.
And all week we're watching this guy playing at defensive
end named Julius Peppers, and I'm seeing this guy literally
just hip tossing people, like just throwing them over, and
they're like, oh, don't worry, Russell, We're gonna run some
quick game. We're gonna get your settled in some play
(05:45):
action seven step drops, right, and you know me, I'm
just I'm not getting caught up. I've never been good
at getting caught up, and I've always kind of liked
the challenge, you know. I was like, look, if I
want going to be good, like, I got to play
this guy. I was like, I'm gonna need to have
one on ones with him, right, And they're like, okay,
we'll give it to you. And Matt Hasselbecks, he's that quarterback.
He said, don't worry, I'm gonna take care of you.
But all week, everybody's just, hey, you, okay, you're doing good. Right.
(06:07):
They're like it's kind of like, well, they believe in you,
but they don't really believe in you, you know, because
you're a rookie. You don't know what you're doing. And
uh so fast forward it's Sunday. We're playing in the
game and we our first. You know, thrower was like
a quick game. So he gets in and out and
he actually hip tosses me oh oh yeah, plays overwhe play,
the balls already gone, but I'm like still kind of
(06:29):
on them, you know, and it's hip tosses me. I'm like,
oh wow, it's a it's a real thing. So then
we come back, we have a sub set drop. I
block him up and Sean Lockler, who was the right
tackle at the time, he looks over a Julius Pepers
He said, you're gonna let a rookie block you. And
I'm looking at this guy like, are you kidding You're
gonna let He's like, don't let that rookie block you.
(06:49):
I'm like, yo, whose team are you on to? Right?
So it was my welcome to NFL. Mom was definitely
the hip toss, right, but just the entire experience itself. Right.
It was, Look, you're right here with some grown men,
grown men with families, put a lot of money on
the line, right, and they're here to play and do
what they do best, right. And I think that's what
I love about the game is it elevates everyone like
(07:10):
nobody can get away from it.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
Yeah, I gotta have one more question, just follow up,
because I think you're the first guy that we've had
on that's went to Oklahoma State. So what was your
welcome to still Water moment? Oh yeah, I forgot about Barry. Yeah,
you can't forget about.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
Berrys to go about Thurman Thomas. Okay, okay, he but.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
I didn't ask Barry. I didn't ask Barry that you didn't.
But I want to know you're welcome to still Water.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Man, welcome to Stillwater moment.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
I've actually played there, you have, I've never been. Where
did you play Louisette?
Speaker 1 (07:50):
Okay, okay, okay, all right, I actually I do remember.
It was my first house party. Actually, okay, we're freaking
making Natty lights who. We don't have any money, man,
we can't even afford like a Budweiser Natty Lights Man,
just like and then we go to what's this McGraw.
(08:15):
There's a country sigre which she came out of Oklahoma State. Okay,
and this guy, I mean every I should have been
a cowboy. That's just that's a song that you're gonna
you know it.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
I don't know it.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
I'm no because I'm I'm waiting on Thomas to send
the message, and it's going to help us.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
He'll come to me.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Thomas back there doing He's hard let me let me
get it.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
But look, I'm I was born and raised in Houston,
like the city, right, and like here I am in
the middle of nowhere out in the boonies. I mean
I would meet people and I was like the first
black person that they'd ever met, like the first one.
Toby Keith.
Speaker 4 (08:53):
I love this bar.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
We're at his house. He doesn't live there anymore, so
he's not party with a bunch of eighteen year olds
just like laying out there. I say, it's just for people,
like it was like a place to party, Like you
go over there like here it's his house, like you
kind of want to capture its essence and you know. Yeah,
but it was my first Natty light. Yeah oh really
(09:15):
that was ferson. It was my personality life. There we go.
Speaker 4 (09:18):
So that was your welcome to Stillwater.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
I would hope, you know, we will want to we
want a couple of games, you know. But that's my
first like actual memory.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
Okay, because I just have always heard like, man, dude,
still Water's kind of out there, dude, Like it's it's.
Speaker 4 (09:33):
Out there a little bit.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
It's amazing.
Speaker 4 (09:35):
Yeah, it's the people that go to school, they love it.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
Yeah, fans love it and they represent really are.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
You know, because on the win end, like it's very
you can be very intimate there because there's not much
to do. So you get there and you hang out,
and people like hang out, hang out. You'll be hanging
out ninety a m and somebody will like just want
and caught some catfish or something and they'll come and
scale the catfish there and you're just you're just hanging
out cooking outside, and you know, so people there's a
real community. It's a real sense of community.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
Nice. Did you ever go noodling?
Speaker 1 (10:03):
I was. I was too afraid to put my hand
in the water.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
For those that are listening and watching, noodling is something
that they do in Oklahoma where you just go in
a creek or a river or something and you just
find a hole in the ground. You stick your finger
in there and hopefully you come not even your finger
like the whole hold on. I wasn't put whom in
(10:28):
this mysterious hole that you can't see. You stick your
arm in there, and you supposed to come out with
like a big ass fish or catfish. But I just
that brave, like I it ain't you've watched it.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
I watched it. It's not for me.
Speaker 4 (10:42):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
So it's not for me, okay.
Speaker 4 (10:45):
You you constantly made the decisions like, no, I'm good.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
I saw somebody do it. You know, they had a
little bit of a little bit of a cut right there,
like I'm not going to be.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
The one, not today, it ain't for us. When you
were in Seattle, did you ever feel any pressure because
I know Walter Jones that he had just left, so
you get through a couple years later, did you feel
any pressure to like, all right, I got to be
the next great tackle. I got to be amazing just
like him. Did you feel any pressure living up to
his standard or his legacy?
Speaker 1 (11:13):
I think overall, the way you know, the office line
culture worked in Seattle was you had guys like Walter
Jones and Steve Hutchinson, right, these guys like I had
watched and wanted to emulate and really developed my game around.
And you know, I think I actually met Walter and
when I first got in and he goes, look, I'm
gonna be honest with you right now, you can't feel
(11:35):
my shoes. But he didn't say it in a way
in which he was being prideful about it. He just said, Look,
this is my own legacy, right, and your job is
to go out there and create yours. Right, So try
to figure out what your style of play is, who
you are as opposed to trying to look at what
I do best, because I look Walter, to me, he's
the greatest offensive lineman ever, Right. He could get out
(11:59):
there on tosses, could run, you can pass, you can
do everything, you know, So it felt great to know that. Hey, man, Walter,
I appreciate it. You're leaving the game. The game will
miss you, you know, but I'm honored right to hold
down a position that you did.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
Where were you at on draft day? Like when you
got that call? Like I like to hear about people's jobs.
Were you in Houston or were you in Oklahoma?
Speaker 1 (12:21):
House in New York? You were inviting me to come
over to New York, which was crazy. Is my first
time ever in New York?
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Okay?
Speaker 1 (12:28):
What was for the draft?
Speaker 4 (12:30):
Man? How was it? How great was that? You're in
the middle of time square?
Speaker 1 (12:34):
Man? It was unreal, you know, because you see it
and once you kind of know what you have that pathway,
you start to like visualize and dream and wonder, like
what would that be like if I was up there,
how would I respond, you know? And I had the opportunity.
I brought my mother, and you know, we were going
through a lot of the time. You remember it was
around two thousand and eight. People are losing their jobs,
(12:56):
left it oh wow, right, like there was this housing
crash and everybody was frustrated. My mom's still working two
or three jobs. Yeah, you know, And I remember being
in the city and I looked at her and my
sister was there too, and we're looking at each other
and we just know how hard and difficult our lives spent, right,
And here we are in New York on this big
(13:17):
stage and their son right now. And I mind you
I mentioned earlier, I'm an extension of those before me,
my ancestors, but my father is the men, right, and
we have essentially revived ourselves in this moment. So it
wasn't just about hey, I made it to the NFL.
This was more so saying, look, you're creating your own way.
(13:39):
Don't forget where you come from. Now move forward, make
Oakhoman be great, right, And that's what it felt like.
That was New York and I'll never forget that moment.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
Love that that's way better than what I got. I
was like a T shirts and shows just watching the draft.
I didn't think about like my ancestors came before. I
was just like, I just hope I get picked up,
just doing it for the.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
But you know what, you know, what they say is
it's not what you know, it's it's who you are
throughout your career. It's not how you come in, it's
how you leave. Absolutely right, absolutely, I just by the way,
you know, we owe you a Super Bowl ring.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
Why is that?
Speaker 1 (14:19):
You know no one ever told you the story? No? Okay,
so it's like twenty twelve.
Speaker 4 (14:24):
Oh lord, you're going to get a Super Bowl ring.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
This may be the he might be.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
I'm gonna be honest, I'm not gonna take anything away
from the LLLLB, you know, Earl Thomas, Camrand, Brandon Browner,
Richard Sherman, all, I'm not gonna take anything away from them.
And in twenty twelve, we went through a where we're
having difficulty, like with takeaway, it's getting the ball away.
So we kept preaching it over and over. We got
(14:49):
to get the ball. We got to get the ball,
but it just wasn't sticking. And one day Rocky Setto,
who was our one of the defensive assistant coaches.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
Is he like an a a guy. Yeah, Okay, I've
met him. I think I know the story, but keep going.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
Okay, So we're in a team meeting and he's just
like I got it, and he gets up on stage
and he has this entire presentation and the whole presentation
is just you punching out the ball, and like it
was so severe that, like I remember watching the video,
a guy was like almost on the sideline. He has
one foot out out of bounds and you're still punching
(15:27):
the ball out. And it really shifted our intention like
whether it was a tackle or whether somebody's being held
up to attack the ball with everything right, And from
that game, I mean, I'm telling you, or at least
that day in which he presented it to us. That day,
everybody's mindset kind of shifted. Now obviously like we have
very talented, skilled people, but like the relationship with the ball,
(15:49):
you know, and Pete's really good with culture. He has
a way with getting people to run through a wall
from him. But that was a message that I feel
like always resonated with us. Is that once we saw
like how deliberate you were with the ball. It changed
our entire culture and how people thought about the ball
for sure.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
So after I thank you for sharing that. I appreciate that.
Thank you for sharing that.
Speaker 4 (16:11):
You still get no ring.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
Well, damn I need a new A want to need
this somebody. I need a new partner.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
Are you available? You want to host show with me?
Right now? I'm not as good as you guys are, No,
but we we.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
I think we played y'all one game and he actually
he walked up to me because you guys still had
Dan Quinn. He walked up to me after the game
and he was just like, hey, I just want to
let you know. We talk about you all the time.
And I was just like it's after the game, and
I'm like, okay, yeah, it's cool.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
Thanks.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
He was like, I think you're hell of a player
the way he tacked the ball. So then he goes
and he gets Pete. So Pete Carroll comes and he
shakes me. I'd never had this happen before, after, you know,
after a game. So Pete comes up and is like,
I think you're just an amazing ball player and how
you get the ball away, And then Quinn coach Quinn.
He calms up and he was like, bro, you really
didn't can tell you? He was like, he goes, he goes, bro,
(17:07):
we got a tape on you. I have a tape
that I show all my god almost every quad.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Right, he was just like I literally I was like,
this guy has something in his glove. There's no way
you're punching the ball out like that. You had something
in your glove.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
I taped him. I just had to had like a
little bit of padding. Yeah, right there, And that was it.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
We're the guy Byron Byron Maxwell. I think, Yeah, this
guy was like emmilating you like to a t He
like changed his gloves. He was getting the ball out. Man.
So Brandon Browner went through the situation, you got suspended.
This guy comes in and the first game he started
(17:46):
interception was punched the ball out like crazy. Second game
played the New York Giants, and he got.
Speaker 4 (17:51):
Paid off this little at that little string of games
he had to.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
Absolutely in the twenty thirteen we obviously did what we did,
you know, but he was still a starter, man. Yeah, yeah,
I didn't know that.
Speaker 4 (18:01):
Look at you, dog. You never told me that.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
Seattle came like the whole staff came over to you.
I kind of I guess I forgot until you brought
it up. I was like, I think I know this well.
So when they first did it, I just was like, oh,
that's cool, thank you, and then just I didn't think
nothing of it. I just was just like, okay, thank you,
I appreciate your coach, and just walked away and was
just like all right, cool on to the next game.
And then years later, I don't really I never put
(18:24):
two and two together until you said that that's the
first time you I've heard it from like a player.
It's different when you know. It was like it was
like a ninety second conversation after a game, so it
was it was so fast, it was so quick, so
it wasn't it hit me. But it didn't really hit
me like the way you're telling me right now. I'm like, oh, deal, Okay,
I got it. I got it. Sorry, no, no, no,
(18:45):
I love it.
Speaker 4 (18:45):
I love that great.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
Yeah, I love that you.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
Playing history too, and we do, yeah, paying history too.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
Not always great, but yes, we do talk about thank
you for the story real quick though, But you you
said something about Pete care. I want to I want
to dive back into that how he has a the
ability to change a culture to make players run through
a wall for him.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
You want the good and the bad, or you just
want the good.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
I want the good of the bad.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
Man.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
I want you to I want you to give me
what you willing to share.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
Like I'm an open book. I'm an open book. Look, Pete,
it's special, right, And he has a way of galvanizing
people and men right to come to a singular goal,
which I think is very difficult in life. Right. And
Pete is very deliberate in terms of like the environment
he wants to create something that he wants is fun.
He wants people to celebrate their uniqueness, right, But also
(19:38):
he wants to bring the best out of people, and
he truly believes that competition is the best way to
do that. Right, So our practices were much more harder
than games. I mean, we would fight and scrap like
a training camp in the middle of the year, right,
and likely have soft shales on right. But like that's
the type of culture that he wanted and created to do, right,
which is you know what made the Super Bowl situation
(20:02):
so hard when we lost Super Bowl? Right, is that
how can you have a person who preaches culture right
and talks about our identity and who we are as
his team. But then when the moment comes down to it,
we don't operate within who we are in our identity.
We miss it, right, So look, I think that's I
(20:25):
could probably talk a nauseum about that situation, but I
think the truth is is that it was a phase.
It was a stage in life. Yeah, I learned a
lot from him, right, I think he taught a lot
to the organization. And I look, I don't think it
was an accident. And while we had success, So.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
With that being said, they should have gave Marshawn the ball.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
Like I think the best way I think about it. Yeah,
And look, Marshawan and when I talk and I talked
to him about it, he seems to handle it well.
And I'll let him certainly speak for himself. But look,
it wasn't just a bad play, okay, right, I got you.
This was a form of betrayal and I'll frame it
that way. Yeah, right, And you know the way we
(21:08):
became who we are as a team. I think we
had a very pivotal moment, at least for our offense.
It was I want to say twenty eleven to Var
Shackson was our quarterback. We're going down and playing the Cowboys,
and we had a hard time just even generally speaking,
like converting on third down. We couldn't convert to save
our lives. The defense was always on the field, you know.
And Tom Cable gets up in front of us, he
(21:29):
was the offensive line coach at the time, and he says, Okay, guys,
who do we want to be? That's an offense. We're
actually having a team meeting at this point. Who do
you want to be? One guy puts his hand up
and says, okay, we want to have explosive plays. Okay,
we like that, all right. We want to take care
of the ball. Yeah, like that too. But then some
(21:50):
guy says, we want to fight for every single yard okay,
And Tom's like, oh, I like that. I like that.
He said, well, every blade of grass should matter. Yeah,
of course. So if it comes down to it and
the games on the line, what are we going to
(22:12):
do better than anybody? Well, we want to run the ball.
We have the best runner in the game, Marshawn Lynch.
We want to run the ball. Okay. So we go
we play the Dallas Cowboys. That week, we're down I
don't know, fourteen twenty points, right, Like most teams are
getting to two minute throw the ball as much as
they can. We kept running that ball as if it's
(22:33):
seven on seven. And I think that was the point
in which you came into our identity as an offense.
We're going to take care of the ball. We're going
to play action, throw the ball over your head, but
we're going to prioritize running the ball because that's who
we are. Yes, Okay, So now it's twenty thirteen, well,
twenty fourteen, the games on the line, right, you're playing
(22:55):
New England Patriots, which you guys know that's just a
that is the most disciplined team you'll ever play, right.
You don't make mistakes when it comes to them, right.
And Pete even said, we're gonna be who we are
going into this game no matter what, and we're gonna
look up and either we win or we lose. I'm
fine with that, right. But we're one yard away, okay,
(23:16):
And all the things that we're saying that we're preaching
every single week, because Pete so great a culture, we
have the opportunity to express that. And what do we
decide to do.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
So run the screen.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
I see it that way. Yeah, I see it as betrayal.
I saw it as betrayal. I don't hold anything against them.
So now you're showing it there.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
It is good job, Thomas Swift.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
Yeah, that's it.
Speaker 4 (23:44):
That's what it just turned it out.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
Your producers are really good.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
Oh they write on it.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
I was at this game.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
You were at the game.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
I was at the game. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
It rewinded a little bit, right, And the worst part
about it is no one who took immediate accountability for it.
That was the worst part. It was just silent.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
Do you think they were just silent because it was
this disbelief, like I just can't bleed that just happened.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
I think it was a multitude of different emotions.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
Like what what do we just do? We should have
ran the ball? Why do we throw it? Wait? What
just happened?
Speaker 1 (24:15):
We lost it. I can take a loss, even on
this stage. I can take a loss. I've always been
able to do that. But I will always take the
loss being who I am. M hm right, I can
get beat on the one on one whatever. Thinking about
me in my past thatts I've always been an agressive player,
I'll jump on you and get on you. And if
I'm getting beat and the game's on the line, guess
where I'm going back to. I'm gonna jump you.
Speaker 4 (24:38):
That's because that's what I do.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
That's who I am. That's what I do. And if
you beat me, you spin, you hit me inside. I
can stomach it because at least I lost being who
I am. Yeah, and I felt like we were deprived
of that and our culture was never the same.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
After We're gonna take a short break and we'll be
right back.
Speaker 4 (25:00):
I can totally see that. Tell me this. I was
told by.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
Will Herring about this great story about Pete Carroll because
he said, like Pete Carroll had this one guy he
just threw the ball to like the whole practice, like
he literally would just be throwing the football.
Speaker 4 (25:20):
He's like maniacal about this.
Speaker 3 (25:22):
And I guess before you guys played the Saints in
twenty ten playoffs, he was just saying, like nobody's picking
us because you guys were seven and nine seven nine,
and he was like, nobody's picking you guys, this, that
and the other. You're there, Yeah, I was out there, yes,
and he's just talking talking, He's like you know, anything
(25:43):
can happen when you have this sense of belief. Yes,
And he said he like launched the football and it
like winning this basketball goal. Could you please explain this
story if you can remember it.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
Do you remember I don't remember that specifically, but I
remember a lot of things happening around that Okay, you
know where where you know, Pete had this belief right
that was like actually infectious, right, that you really could
believe anything was possible. And I mean we're seven and nine,
man like, and we just beat y'all like pretty bad. Yes,
(26:18):
we were getting blown out. We got blown up by
many teams that year, right, yeah, And he's just like
talking anything possible. We had and we had this like
a basketball hoop in our team meeting room, right, and
people are always like kind of shooting basket in and
kind of playing around, and he's he's possible, right, And
he just throws a football, right, and its just like
it goes into the hope and we're like, oh, right,
(26:43):
and you know, lo and behold we are positioned perfectly
to play you guys in the game. Yeah, right. You
know it's funny about that play the seventeen power the
power play with marsh we weren't even gonna run the play.
I messed that that play up the entire week, Like,
mind you, I'm a rookie. I don't even know what
I'm doing. I'm literally asking the left guard, Hey, what
do I do? Every single time? I'm one of those.
(27:06):
Really we're not always, but like seven, it was like,
look the way they're kind of lining up to it,
like it's motions. We didn't really know what we're exactly
we're going to get. So he said, OK, so we
practice it with like maybe three or four different looks, right,
and like the system I came from, it was like
you kind of like you count from the accounting system,
you count from the mic, you kind of count your
way back. We're like, oh, if they motion this way
and we got to do this, and then you guys
(27:26):
have like this bare look that you guys would jump into. Yeah,
you know, so you know it's like, oh, you guys
jump to the bear, you lose the left guard, you know,
you end up on the fore I by yourself. So
I didn't really know what was going to happen, you know.
So you know, you know, the power play is amazing,
particularly when you're a zone team because oftentimes people run
left and right right when you were zoning like you
know the line of kind of like the defensive linement,
(27:48):
like get off the ball a little bit. They're prepared
to go more lateral as opposed to like forward right,
And like Marsham's begging for the play, He's like telling
everybody how much he loves to play throughout the entire week.
And it's four minute oh and we're out there like
trying to finish the game and they called it in
My heart is beating out of my chest. I'm like,
oh man, what's going to happen? And we block it
(28:13):
up kind of sort of.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
Yeah, it wasn't great at all.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
It was not great at all. It was not great, right,
But I mean that just showed you all special. Martshawn
is Yeah, right, I.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
Think we got it. Yeah, I think we got to play.
Can we can we see that play?
Speaker 1 (28:31):
Who was it? Guy? Step on it? It wasn't us,
Tracy Porter.
Speaker 3 (28:34):
Oh man, it was it was a real one. I
was around the whole time I was watching.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
I'm not.
Speaker 4 (28:43):
Loaf, Yeah, I mean.
Speaker 3 (28:44):
Beacause I saw like eight guys like kind of had
the whole time.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
Where is this?
Speaker 4 (28:49):
And I was just around it. We do not show
this place.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
Maybe we don't have it. I don't know.
Speaker 3 (28:55):
Beast mode is is like it was funny, like it's
it's funny looking back on it because I was there
when because I think before that he was just Marshawn Lynch.
Speaker 4 (29:06):
Then after that he became be smug man.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
Who else is going to dive into the end zone
grabbing their crotch like that.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
Man, the one and only.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
That man is one one. He's one of one. There's
nobody like him.
Speaker 3 (29:17):
Yeah, that that play literally made me hate Seattle.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
I made a lot of people hate Seattle.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
It made me Seattle. I thought it was a great
and I got to give you guys a lot of credit.
Speaker 4 (29:26):
Because I thought it was great.
Speaker 3 (29:28):
I was just like, Yo, the twelfth Man is a
real thing out there the home crowd, and it's like
this one guy that when you always come out of
the visitor's locker room, it's just one guy that.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
Oh my god, here it is right now.
Speaker 1 (29:40):
Yeah, ready at look at me. I'm just trying to survive.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
Oh you let me get some volume, get out here.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
Yeah, Tyler Columbus, I left guard, got a hold of you.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
Oh my crotch. I mean it was blocked up.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
Not that great? Is that that great? Man?
Speaker 2 (30:02):
It was? I watched this every year and every time
I see Rome, I just I just I just shake
my head. Come on, Rome, get it wrong.
Speaker 3 (30:11):
Well, at that point I looked up and it was
like three guys out there. I'm like, dude, that guy
I don't even know.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
How did you even touch him?
Speaker 4 (30:18):
I touched his cleat says he was jumping in.
Speaker 1 (30:21):
Oh that again?
Speaker 4 (30:22):
Yeah, oh yeah, that was that?
Speaker 2 (30:24):
What he really taking stabs right now? Heme on, I
got Thomas. All right, let's let's let's do another pivot.
I want to talk about this NFL contract that you signed.
You were one of the first guys to do first, okay,
the first guy to do the contract back in twenty sixteen,
(30:44):
and it was for It was a one year deal
worth five million, and the contract didn't offer I don't know.
Speaker 4 (30:51):
I sorry, I thought you're talking about another one.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
I apologize. Are you're talking about the one I signed
with Denver?
Speaker 2 (30:55):
Yes, sir, yeah, yes, sir. So you signed a one year,
five year.
Speaker 1 (30:59):
It was a it was a one year with a
four year option.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
Yeah, yeah, with the four year option.
Speaker 1 (31:03):
But there were no guarantees, no guarantees for the for
the year one. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
Yeah, why talk talk a little bit about how you
you you kind of came to that and how you
negotiated your contract without like having the standard NFL sports agent.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
Yeah. I think there was a lot of moving parts
in the background, okay, right, And the reason that I
decided to represent myself was actually maybe pretty unique to
most people. You know. People talk about, you know, things
that they want in life and things that they potentially
want to accomplish, you know. And something that I've always
wanted was to like learn business, yeah, right, to actually
(31:40):
like be somewhat in the corporate world, right, and to
like have a level of agency over my life. So
at the time, I had a lot of challenges in
regards to what the agent's role is, particularly with the player,
And I told myself, I said, well, what would it
look like if I decide to negotia in my own contract, right, me,
(32:01):
not knowing the dynamics of how to reach out to
gms and owners, what would it look like for me
to actually like put myself on the line, put my
own career on the line, and negotiate that negotiate that
for myself. Now, I had a couple of issues surrounding
that I was injured. I was coming off of a shoulder,
and I am meeting teams, and a lot of them
(32:23):
are trying to figure out, like you've been hurt, you've
been up and down, like you have red flags that
are associated with you. So we're not necessarily sure if
you can come in and actually like play for even
close to a full year. And I have to be
very honest with myself in terms of, like, well, that
is a concern, right. Anytime you're talking about millions of
(32:46):
dollars and that transference right of wealth, then it better
be serious, right. So Number one, I wanted the opportunity
to negotiate for myself, to like have my own agency.
Number Two, I had to be very honest with what
my perspective was of the market and how the market
viewed me overall. So I went on this tour and
(33:08):
I just wanted as many shots at back to meet
people and to actually experience that, right. But what I
did not expect was that negotiating is more of an
art rather than the science, and that if you don't
own pieces of the media, perception can be reality. And
(33:29):
I think there were multiple parties that were not interested
in a player, a black player, that having legitimate agency
in terms of being able to advocate and represent themselves.
And the message that I was trying to share with
people is, look, I know that some people need agents,
they need people to work on their behalf. But like,
(33:49):
let's not get that twisted. Let's not forget right that
we also have intelligence on the field as well.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
Absolutely right.
Speaker 1 (33:57):
The ability to understand multiple moving parts and variables in
a second is a form of spatial intelligence that most
people in the world don't have. So what would it
look like for me to then take this intelligent and
have it applied so across the board, I wasn't seeing
the numbers that I expected. For whatever reason, I had
people in the media which wanted to demoralize my efforts, right,
(34:19):
and I had to accept that. Right. So I was
probably looking at being paid in other places two three
million dollars just on a one year proven deal, And
I say, you know what, the way this contract is structured,
if I just make it to throughout the off season,
I'll get one million. If I make it to training camp,
I'll get another two to three million. Then if I
(34:40):
play for the year, there's essentially a game bonus which
would get me actually eight million to eight million dollars,
and my thesis was right, and at the end of
the year I was eight million dollars.
Speaker 2 (34:50):
Richard always bet on me. I'll like it.
Speaker 4 (34:55):
Yeah, I like it.
Speaker 2 (34:57):
Well, speaking of bet and on me, you did something again.
You were a pioneer. So you go to Carolina, both
of our former teams.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
Beautiful city, by the way, an incredible organization.
Speaker 4 (35:07):
Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 2 (35:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (35:08):
I live in Charlotte too.
Speaker 1 (35:09):
Yeah, I mean it's better than Alabama. It's nice, man,
Charlotte is nice though.
Speaker 4 (35:14):
It is nice. It is real nice. It's super clean.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
It's the financial capital of the South. Yeah, it's like
the New York of the South. That's what I call it.
But uh, you go to you go to Carolina and
you structure your contract again, but you do it in bitcoin.
Why bitcoin? Talk a little bit more about like why
and how that thought even came to be to try
(35:37):
to get your money in bigcoin in sead of actual funds. Yeah,
you like the standard, traditional standard or traditional way.
Speaker 1 (35:44):
Yeah, I'm gonna try my best, you know, But look,
I think people think about bitcoin a certain way, right
and everybody trying to figure out what biitcoin is and
why it's essentially important. And you know, the way I
look at it, like, just imagine for a moment, right
that you are on the football field and you're playing
in the game, and you're on the offense, and you
are moving into any enemy territory and you're on the
(36:07):
thirty and you're advancing towards the twenty and now you're
on the ten and you are finally in the red zone,
and the referees decide to move the goal post on you. Okay, now,
mind you, it's allowed. The game was on the line,
every single effort that you have to muster up everything
you possibly need. It's fourth quarter, you're doing everything right
(36:30):
and you're advancing again, and then the referees move the
goal post on you. Again. This is inflation. Yeah, this
is actual inflation. This is people working their entire lives,
doing everything right, and they're getting contracts and they're getting salaries,
and the more they get paid, the more they're expenses
(36:52):
and the things they want most in life run away
from them. And this is why bitcoin is so powerful.
Most portfolio managers have a mandate, we need to preserve
your purchasing power. But with bitcoin and the math in
the data that we've seen with it, it's a way
to grow your purchasing power. And what I saw back
(37:13):
then was the asset classes moving anywhere between two hundred
and four hundred percent a year. So let's just say
I was wrong and it moved to ten twenty percent
a year. Well, that definitely outplaces the rate of inflation.
So all I need to do is be a little
bit right, right, right, I didn't need to hit this
(37:34):
huge home run two hundred fur hundred percent in a year.
And all I need to also believe is that the
money that we see, the US dollar right is going
to continue to be decoupled. For morality, what does that mean?
In other words, that will be continued to be debased.
Most people like look at their assets, but they don't
think about their currency risk. They don't think about that.
(38:00):
They just say, Okay, well if I get this asset
and I do this under this and it'll grow. That's
not always the truth. Bitcoin is proved that it is
the most powerful asset in the world. At least it's
trending in that direction. Yeah, and I have a friend
and he says this, He says there is no second
best when it comes to the asset class. So look,
I'm not giving financial advice, but I will give life advice,
(38:23):
right and at this current point have on me. The
price of bitcoin is one hundred and seven thousand dollars,
so the price of building astronomical wealth for the rest
of your life. And this is being proven by many
different institutional managers across the board. It's one bitcoin for
(38:44):
one hundred and seven thousand dollars. That's the price. And
it's a price and a risk that I'm constantly willing
to take over and over, and I'm still buying.
Speaker 2 (38:53):
And you said the bigcoin gives you a excuse me,
you said, the bitcoin gives you a sense of freedom,
your free from financial institutions.
Speaker 1 (39:02):
Well, not just a sense of freedom, that is one.
So using that last example that I mentioned, the goal
right of the game here is to keep you inside
the game. The goal is not for you to win.
So we consider systematically how all of these things work together.
You'll keep striving and you keep trying to earn, and
(39:23):
you're never able to catch up. But what are you
losing your most important resource, which is your time. You
don't get that time back, you never get it back.
How many people right now are doing everything they need
to do, investing in pensions, doing everything, and they look up,
they're fifty sixty years old and their pensions cannot even
afford their cost of living.
Speaker 4 (39:47):
It's a real thing.
Speaker 1 (39:47):
That's most of America. So what is our option? We
need to look forward into the Futureoin It's bitcoin, That's
how I see it. I don't want to take away
from anybody's other perspective. When I decided to do that,
my mindset was this, remember how we should go to
those imposes rookie symposals. Yeah, right, And every year in
(40:08):
the NFL and NFLPA, they'll send somebody over and they'll
try to talk to you about wealth management and not
losing your money. And you know there's a stigma that
you know, players come to all this money even though
we're super young, right, and they don't know how to
manage it, right. And I had a thought to myself
before I made that decision. I said, what if we
can destroy generational poverty? What if that was possible? And
(40:34):
what if it was so easy that all you need
to do was to have a phone and you cook,
buy you don't need a financial advisor. You didn't need
a money manager to push you into a bunch of things,
a bunch of instruments, fixed income bonds, all these type
of things which don't outpace inflation. I wish are literally
just slowing down how much you're purchasing power not helping you.
(40:58):
But what if it was as simple as buying bitcoin,
holding it and not doing anything with it. And guess
what it is? And this is a problem that I
think can be easily solved right for many of us
who come from very challenging backgrounds, who don't have access
to wealth, who aren't going to Goldman and Morgan Stanley.
(41:21):
How is it? How is it that by me just
putting money into bitcoin, I have outperformed people from Golden
all these guys in New York, all these guys all
over the world, global asset managers, that I've outperformed them
just by holding an asset. Don't have a finance degree,
(41:42):
don't have an economics degree. It's that simple. We've never
seen anything like this ever, we may never ever see
it again.
Speaker 2 (41:49):
We'll be back in a minute. So if I wanted to,
can you make your own bitcoin?
Speaker 4 (41:58):
You can make your own meme?
Speaker 2 (41:59):
Coin.
Speaker 1 (42:00):
People make their own meme coins and own cryptos. Yes, right,
yes that is correct, but there's nothing like bitcoin, agreed, So.
Speaker 3 (42:07):
Bitcoin is the standard. It's like the gold bar. I'm
just trying to like who made the bitcoin? Like who
I mean, because there's a bunch of them out They're.
Speaker 4 (42:17):
Correct, it's only so many and there will never be
any more.
Speaker 3 (42:19):
That's what makes bitcoin different than so many others, like
ethereum and a few others that it's like bazillion of those.
Bitcoin is down to a select few, and so now
that because it's only so owned by so many, there's
only so many, it makes them valuable and they're actually
the standard in which all of them others are kind
of based upon.
Speaker 1 (42:39):
Is that then that's a good point. Right, So ultimately,
why do people see gold as valuable? So right now
gold is at I think it's went up to about
sixty five percent right now gold and they see it
as valuable because number one, it's it's a global asset. Two,
it has some function of scarcity, and three it's accepted
and approved from the citizen level tonation states, et cetera. Yep, right,
(43:02):
and bitcoin has all those elements, right, is that it
has a global value, it's scarce just like you mentioned,
yep right, it's immutable, meaning you can't go in and
change ultimately how it works. Yep right.
Speaker 3 (43:16):
That was the first real thing that everybody loved about
bitcoin was the actual technology behind it.
Speaker 4 (43:22):
The oh my gosh, what's the name of it?
Speaker 2 (43:26):
I don't know, you can't remember, uh, keep talking.
Speaker 4 (43:31):
It was like it was like.
Speaker 3 (43:34):
The cryptic the language behind the photography.
Speaker 4 (43:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (43:38):
Yeah, Like that was the first thing that everybody loved
about it was that like you knew exactly because like
sometimes when dollars are changed hand from hand, you can
lose track from what hand it got changed from. With crypto,
it has the blockchain, thank you. That's the word in
my mind, the blockchain piece of it. So it literally
tells you exactly what it is, and you can't go
in there and change it, like you can't.
Speaker 1 (43:59):
Change it, right. And I think the issue is that
even though we have dollar accounts, right, you can look
on your bank right now and you can look in
and so I have X amount of money, But the
question is do you really own that money? Right? Because
in most cases, you know, banks are taking it and
they're lending, they're lending it. Right. So the question about
(44:23):
what money is right is I think it's quite perplexing
because I think we need to constantly redefine money and
ask ourselves what is our relationship with the money, because
that ultimately dictates like how you see the rest of
the world, that's how our society works. Yes, right, And
I think in most cases, you actually own the bitcoin,
(44:46):
Like you cannot say, like, look, I have a real
estate property, right, we're actually getting ready to sell it,
right to buy more bitcoin, But we own this house.
But like I don't actually own it, right because let's
say I stop paying my taxes or whatever, right, like
it can be taken away from me. Right. So when
we think about the concept of sovereignty, right, that's something
(45:07):
which is so foreign to people. Where I actually own something,
it's not being right, really hypothecated. It's not being taken away.
I'm not looking at credit. I'm actually looking at something
of value that's mine and cannot be taken away from me,
that I can pass down forever to my children and those
after and those after. And the most powerful part about it,
it's code. It's cold that everybody has seen as valuable,
(45:29):
and that's amazing.
Speaker 2 (45:31):
You know what else is amazing was that physical transformations. Okay, yeah,
so I don't remember this version of you at all.
I remember you being a lot more just attacking foods,
pouncing on foods, destroying cats, coming off the line far
and off. Talk about this physical transformation that you've gone through,
(45:52):
with the way you've lost from your playing weight to
where you are currently right now.
Speaker 1 (45:56):
Oh man, I don't even know where to start. You know,
they say that freedom isn't the absence of struggle, but
it's the presence of truth. And the beauty of leaving
the NFL has been that I've actually been able to
(46:17):
explore what truth is, what my truth is, the truth
of where I come from, the truth of who I am,
what my interests are, Like who I am? Who am
I outside of this game? You know? The hard part
for me is like when you play offensive line, you're
always thinking about four other people and what our roles are.
And I remember leaving the game and it was the
first time I actually thought about myself, Like I wasn't
(46:40):
thinking about, Okay, how do I protect the quarterback or
how do I open this hole for the brunning back,
or like how's my guard doing right here? Was that
the first time I actually thought about myself and I
had to ask myself a very hard question, like who
am I? So I'm asking myself this question I just got.
I wasn't sure if I was done with football, and
I'm like, I'm sitting with my son. He's in the pool.
(47:04):
We had to pull instructor over and now he's learning
how to swim. He's two years old at the time,
and anytime I would get out the pool, he would
just start crying. He saw me as the sense of
security for him. And I'm on this on and off
this phone, and I'm talking to a couple of teams
and asking me if I want to play, and you know,
and how much we're talking about all of this, and
(47:24):
I thought back to my own life. You know, my
father he died brutally at that when I was three
years old, so I don't have a great memory of him,
you know. And the thing about him was that I
don't remember his voice, but I remember the silence which
(47:49):
emanated from it. I remember him not more in him
not being there, and like it's impact. So as all
these things are going on, it was actually the first
time I had thought about my father and long time,
and I'm looking at my son, and as the universe
has it, the universe will ask you a very important question.
So while my father wasn't there in my life, I
(48:10):
see my son. He's becking and crying out for me.
I'm asking myself, well, now I have the opportunity to
be here for him. But I can't let this thing go.
I can't let football go. I can't let the security,
the money, and all the things which come with it.
And it comes out of the pool. And I'm thinking
about it all day, and I sit down and I
(48:32):
look for inspiration, and I open up the Bible and
I'm reading through Deuteronomy. Right. I was going back and
forth between Exodus and there's this leader, and this leader
I saw many of his people in hardship, his family
in hardship, and he decides that there's more to it
than this current situation. And I'm reading this and I'm
(48:57):
having some similar problems and issues in terms of like
where I want to leave my own family. And something
very important happened. This leader, Moses is his name. By
the way, he goes up to this mountain and he
doesn't eat for or a drink for forty days. And
(49:18):
I looked at my wife and I asked her. I said,
do you think it's possible, really possible, for a man
not to eat for forty days.
Speaker 2 (49:29):
She's like, yeah, yeah, No, she didn't say yeah, did
she She.
Speaker 1 (49:36):
Did, okay, And I'm not believing it. I said, no, no, seriously,
do you actually believe this happened in the Bible that
a man felt that he had to connect with God
in such a way that he could not eat or
drink for forty days? You think this happened. She's like,
I think it happened. And I looked at her and
(49:59):
I said, I'm not gonna eat forty days. And she says, now,
mind you, she's pregnant. You gotta kid already. She's like okay.
And I stopped eating. And it wasn't like, hey, I
I stopped eating right there, right then and there. I
wasn't like, let me, let me start to work my
(50:22):
way down and like start to pull carbs away one
meal a day. Why I stopped right then and there?
You know, And and I got to tell you a
lot of people ask me how I did it, and
I would say, there is something. There is a prayer
(50:50):
so powerful that you will decide to not eat or drink.
In my first case, it was me not eating and
I did it again. I've also done somewhere I don't
have water at all.
Speaker 4 (51:11):
For how many days did you go without water?
Speaker 1 (51:14):
I've done four days. But my goal is to get
to twenty one days in my lifetimes, to go no water,
no food for twenty one days. That's my goal, all right.
Speaker 4 (51:27):
I mean I was going to ask about the forty
day fast that was? That was real it all up?
Yeah you did. I appreciate you taking us on that journey.
Speaker 3 (51:36):
I've read that story in the Bible as well, and
it's it didn't mean I wanted to try it.
Speaker 4 (51:42):
You know, I half fast before.
Speaker 3 (51:45):
The most I've done is four days, and uh, but
I drank water.
Speaker 4 (51:51):
I just didn't eat and real, yeah, like I didn't
want to try. I didn't know that's where he got
that from.
Speaker 2 (51:57):
I'm very taken back by that.
Speaker 1 (51:59):
Well, Yeah, I got to tell you, man, it's uh,
you know, my understanding of reality, particularly in that phase
when you go that deeply, is it's different.
Speaker 2 (52:11):
Man.
Speaker 1 (52:11):
You see things for what they are. You know, this
world's constantly pulling at you, telling you who you are
and categorizing you. You're consuming and it's trying to tell
you how to be angry. But I'll tell you when
you get to day twenty one of the fast. Let's
say you have an issue with your wife, whoever, it
doesn't matter. With your kids, You're worry about your kids
and all this type of stuff doesn't exist. You see
(52:33):
what's real? Yeah, I got to I was looking at
my skin and I'm like, oh, well, I'm realizing this
is just a shell who I am on the inside,
my essence, my spirit, that's real. That's the thing you
wish doesn't die. And I feel like it's an important
question for me to ask, particularly with you know, my
father you know is Oh I realized, Oh, we don't
(52:56):
just die. There is something much more beyond this physical experience.
Speaker 2 (53:02):
I want to know about Mount Rushmore. So this is
all that we asked all our guests. Okay Mount Rushmore question?
Speaker 1 (53:08):
Right? All right?
Speaker 2 (53:08):
You are an exceptional young man. You have lived this
life that you found yourself in the fasting and football
and bitcoin. How much weight have you lost and everything?
Speaker 1 (53:19):
Over one hundred pounds? I was actually down to one
hundred and eighty pounds. Oh, step I know my wife
has giving me a look like I don't know about
this one.
Speaker 2 (53:30):
Sorry, yeah, no, that was good and that was good
with But you get four picks of people that have
had that have given influence on you, that have helped
shape mold you into the man you are today.
Speaker 4 (53:42):
You get four picks. Who would those four people be?
Speaker 1 (53:47):
Four people? Yes? Sorry, four people wouldn't do it justice, man,
I'll try. My first pick is my wife. She is challenged,
encouraged and stood aside with my ego and all of
my issues and my radicalness.
Speaker 3 (54:07):
You know what you do seem radical? You do come
across his radical not eating your dream.
Speaker 1 (54:12):
Trying to get to forty days. Imagine my wife, man,
she gives me every single day, right. So she is amazing.
Speaker 2 (54:20):
Man.
Speaker 1 (54:21):
I love that she is my best friend, my best encourager.
Speaker 4 (54:27):
She is.
Speaker 1 (54:30):
A lion and a lamb. I get both. I get
her tenacity, but I also get this gentleness from her
that I've always needed in life. My second pick would
be my oldest son. He forced me into dealing with
moving on from the phase of the game that I
(54:51):
thought I could never leave. You know, he encouraged me
and challenged me. My second would be my second son.
His name's Exodus.
Speaker 4 (55:00):
Oh nice, all right, So it's your first son's name.
Speaker 1 (55:02):
Cairo Okay, Cairo Bassie okum. So he holds he holds
the family name. I always holds the family name. So
he has. We actually have many names. I can get
to it another time. But my second one, Exodus, he
stretches me the most. I mean, this kid has made
(55:24):
adults more than anything than ever before. I love him
for that. My third is my baby girl, my first girl.
She has the name of my mother and also my
grandmother on my father's side, you know, but also the temperament.
She's also she's given me way too many slaps in
(55:46):
my life. She's two years old. Her sign of love
is a slap, so she messes with yeah and then
you know, I know that. I know. I said four,
but I'm gonna add one more. Another very important person
for me has been one of my offensive line coaches,
Tom Cable. Oh yeah, Tom is a person that I've
(56:10):
been able to connect with and be very honest with
in terms of like who I am. You know, honesty
is a very difficult thing in the NFL because you
want to be straightforward about who you are and you're
feeling something, but that could mean your job. That can
mean you're not focused, you know. And Tom was the
one that always created an environment for me to be
(56:31):
very honest with who I am and to get out
my head sometimes, you know, but also achieve the fullness
of who I am. So he's always kind of created
a space for me. So that's my uh. I wrote
my mount rushmore for sure.
Speaker 2 (56:49):
I like it.
Speaker 1 (56:52):
Hey, I like you.
Speaker 2 (56:55):
I like what was that? That's a slap.
Speaker 1 (56:57):
I like, I've figured you were a deep guy.
Speaker 3 (57:01):
You're way deeper than than the twelve foot pool, way
deeper than that. And it's appreciated. And I hope you
get that appreciation in love from your your wife, your family,
your friends, and continue.
Speaker 4 (57:14):
On this journey. I mean, you are a water snob
and I can't.
Speaker 1 (57:19):
We'll finish this guy over.
Speaker 2 (57:23):
Them some water from Walmart and he was like, nah,
I need your body is a temple man.
Speaker 1 (57:28):
My water got to.
Speaker 2 (57:29):
Come from the ocean and the springs, and the house.
Speaker 3 (57:34):
Got to be out of a glass. And I was like, oh,
you like alkaline water. Well, actually I went through that phase.
Speaker 1 (57:38):
I'm a water enthusiast.
Speaker 3 (57:40):
Water enthusiast is the correct term, water enthusiasts, Bitcoin pioneer,
and what's the water of choice right now?
Speaker 1 (57:49):
Watermelon?
Speaker 4 (57:50):
Watermelon?
Speaker 1 (57:51):
At this point I'm only just eating a bunch of waters.
Turk your walk. But I'm on a journey, man, I'm
on a journey.
Speaker 4 (57:58):
He is.
Speaker 3 (57:59):
This is a real thing, all right? Man, Well Russell Man,
thank you so much, man for joy us. Man, Thank
you guys blessing us with your time.
Speaker 1 (58:05):
Man, Can I say one more thing? I want to
thank you guys. You know, I spent a long time
since I've actually spoken to the media and spoken to
people about this journey and more personally, and I think
what you guys are doing is amazing. I think people
being able to share not just a man with a
helmet on, but the man behind the helmet and really
their families is an incredible gift. And I'm wishing you
(58:28):
guys much rest right that you also get the chance
to sit back, take this and enjoy it. On the
other end, I know you guys are probably pumping different
things out and you guests have to guess, but I
really appreciate this and thank you guys.
Speaker 2 (58:40):
So we would talk to you all day, but our
producers like kick them off. We've got somebody else, So
we just trying to were just trying to I'm saying,
we're trying to talk now. No, I received that. We
appreciate that, and it's always about just yeah, man, we
want to hear about what our other brotherren are doing.
You know, even though we're not no longer playing the game,
(59:01):
we know we there is life after football, So we're
just trying to see what everyone's doing, man, and just
give him that shout and just show them some love.
Speaker 1 (59:07):
You guys, we're fraternity.
Speaker 2 (59:08):
Absolutely come back, all right, we'll come back. Come back
skinnier though, Stay like that. You're good.
Speaker 1 (59:17):
She's like, I'm good with this. I'm good.
Speaker 2 (59:20):
I like the Russell this way, like Big Luth, little Luthor.
Speaker 1 (59:24):
Yeah, I like Big Luther.
Speaker 2 (59:26):
Big Russell's like too, Little Russell ain't gonna.
Speaker 1 (59:29):
Do nothing, thank you, guys.
Speaker 2 (59:31):
Doubt man.
Speaker 3 (59:31):
Hey, look, anywhere you pick up your podcast, whether it's iHeartRadio,
app or Apple podcasts, make sure you always tune in
and check us out, man, whether like, share, subscribe, leave
a couple of comments.
Speaker 4 (59:41):
Peanut loves to answer those, and also.
Speaker 3 (59:44):
Check us out on the NFL pages the NFL's YouTube.
Speaker 2 (59:47):
Channel dang it, I said pages cool, get us out here.
I'm Penut, just Roman. That is Russell, And this is
the NFL Player's Second Act podcast and we are out
a
It is twenty thirteen or twenty fourteen, the games on
the line, Right, you're playing New England Patriots, which you
guys know that's just a that is the most disciplined
team you'll ever play, right. You don't make mistakes when
it comes to them, right. And Pete even said, we're
gonna be who we are going into this game no
matter what, and we're gonna look up and either we
win or we lose. I'm fine with that, right. But
(00:22):
we're one yard away, okay, and all the things that
we're saying that we're preaching every single week. Because Pete
so great a culture, we have the opportunity to express that.
And what do we decide to do?
Speaker 2 (00:44):
What?
Speaker 1 (00:44):
Up?
Speaker 2 (00:44):
Everybody out? Peanut to him and this is the NFL
Player's Second Act podcast and with me as always as
my trusty co host, Roman Harp.
Speaker 3 (00:55):
That was kind of my belly, But thank you, though
I appreciate the introduction as always, like you hit me
a little low like up here Pierre. Anyway, he's really
excited to meet and talk to our next guest man.
He's an amazing player. He's actually a trendsetter, a trailblazer
for some of the things he's actually done in the NFL,
and I can't wait to really just dive into all
(01:15):
that he's done. And his post career has been amazing
as well, and so really just kind of pick his brain.
Speaker 4 (01:21):
He is a smart, brilliant human being. So I say
he's a.
Speaker 2 (01:25):
Pioneer in bitcoin. Yes, he's a two time pro bowler,
super Bowl champion. Uh yeah, six overall pick in a
twenty ten draft. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the pot,
mister Russello. Come yes.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Nice. Even the production guys are clapping for me. That's nice, Hey,
special guy.
Speaker 4 (01:47):
I mean that's why they get paid.
Speaker 3 (01:48):
Yeah, let's be honest here to make sure we get
a little bit of crowd noise.
Speaker 4 (01:53):
Okay, we need that, all right.
Speaker 2 (01:55):
If it was just us clapping, it ain't loud. We look,
this room is so light it doesn't need like some
some filtered noise for applause, just to make it like
we got like a real guess or a bunch of
bunch of I think we jump right into what we were
talking about before that We're not going to waste any
time on your last name.
Speaker 1 (02:12):
Yeah, it's been butchered my entire life.
Speaker 4 (02:15):
Your entire life.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Yeah, I almost butchered. I almost said oh, Kung, I
like the way I tried to finically, look, I was like, oh,
I think he was asking me five times. I hate
butchering people's names because it's like, not, that's not my name.
Speaker 1 (02:29):
So look, growing up, I always said it incorrectly as well,
and probably for most of my life. How did you
say it? Gro I said, Oh, Kung okay Okung? So
I mean, I mean, look, people have thought I'm Japanese Chinese.
I'm like, look, they say Kung and they're like, oh
you're no, I'm Nigerian. Yeah, but you know it's it's
actually funny because it wasn't until maybe seven years ago.
(02:52):
I went to Nigeria and I'm down in like my
family's village and I'm saying my name and they're looking
at me like I'm crazy. You mean okum yeah, okum
no okum. The g is silent, it comes from your
throat right, and it was actually very funny. Is the
way Nigerian families work. When we have our names, it
(03:16):
is not just a name. It's a name which has
passed down, so it would likely be the name of
your grandfather, your great grandfather. So it's essentially a way
of evoking remembrance. So when you say something, you have
to say properly because if you don't right, it's seen
as a form of disrespect. So our family is a
very prestigious family and they call it south South but
Southeast Nigeria. And it taught me to say correctly and
(03:41):
to number one, have pride in it. And can I
go on a quick tangent and quick.
Speaker 4 (03:45):
Story tangent away.
Speaker 1 (03:47):
And so my father passed away when I was a
very young child, and my mom had the opportunity to
attempt to change our last name, but she didn't. She
kept my last name, my sister and I she kept
our last name. And when I met my father's famps
on my father's side of the family for the first time,
they were elated and all of them said, different people
(04:09):
from all over, the most important thing that your mother
did was to not change your last name. So thank
you for saying it correctly, and please teach your children
and say their name properly because it got passed on.
It's ours, it's ours. It's actually the name of my grandfather,
O Goom, that's his name, O Goom. Yeah. Oh, you're good. Yeah,
(04:29):
you might be Nigerian.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
Twenty three and me I got a little. I got
a little to meet.
Speaker 1 (04:35):
That's good.
Speaker 2 (04:36):
London, Sydney, soul Am I saying it right, Yeah, Roman, Yeah,
I'm good.
Speaker 4 (04:42):
You're good.
Speaker 2 (04:42):
You too easy?
Speaker 1 (04:43):
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (04:44):
Mine is very just you know, put that out there.
It's not it's not as deep, but I want to.
Speaker 4 (04:50):
Jump into it. What was your first welcome to the
NFL moment?
Speaker 2 (04:55):
Okay, it must be a good one because you said,
oh and your hand turned.
Speaker 1 (05:01):
Well, it's you know what's funny is you were actually
on the field, Oh, welcome to NFLT Okay, so it
was maybe not a moment, but a week, okay, a week.
It was October seventeenth. I'm playing for the Seattle Seahawks
at the time. It's twenty ten and we are playing
the Bears in Soldier Field. I had been hurt most
of the preseason, so I'm like coming back and they
(05:24):
tried to play me in week one, didn't do too well.
And in week two we have this shit at Chicago Bears.
And all week we're watching this guy playing at defensive
end named Julius Peppers, and I'm seeing this guy literally
just hip tossing people, like just throwing them over, and
they're like, oh, don't worry, Russell, We're gonna run some
quick game. We're gonna get your settled in some play
(05:45):
action seven step drops, right, and you know me, I'm
just I'm not getting caught up. I've never been good
at getting caught up, and I've always kind of liked
the challenge, you know. I was like, look, if I
want going to be good, like, I got to play
this guy. I was like, I'm gonna need to have
one on ones with him, right, And they're like, okay,
we'll give it to you. And Matt Hasselbecks, he's that quarterback.
He said, don't worry, I'm gonna take care of you.
But all week, everybody's just, hey, you, okay, you're doing good. Right.
(06:07):
They're like it's kind of like, well, they believe in you,
but they don't really believe in you, you know, because
you're a rookie. You don't know what you're doing. And
uh so fast forward it's Sunday. We're playing in the
game and we our first. You know, thrower was like
a quick game. So he gets in and out and
he actually hip tosses me oh oh yeah, plays overwhe play,
the balls already gone, but I'm like still kind of
(06:29):
on them, you know, and it's hip tosses me. I'm like,
oh wow, it's a it's a real thing. So then
we come back, we have a sub set drop. I
block him up and Sean Lockler, who was the right
tackle at the time, he looks over a Julius Pepers
He said, you're gonna let a rookie block you. And
I'm looking at this guy like, are you kidding You're
gonna let He's like, don't let that rookie block you.
(06:49):
I'm like, yo, whose team are you on to? Right?
So it was my welcome to NFL. Mom was definitely
the hip toss, right, but just the entire experience itself. Right.
It was, Look, you're right here with some grown men,
grown men with families, put a lot of money on
the line, right, and they're here to play and do
what they do best, right. And I think that's what
I love about the game is it elevates everyone like
(07:10):
nobody can get away from it.
Speaker 3 (07:11):
Yeah, I gotta have one more question, just follow up,
because I think you're the first guy that we've had
on that's went to Oklahoma State. So what was your
welcome to still Water moment? Oh yeah, I forgot about Barry. Yeah,
you can't forget about.
Speaker 1 (07:27):
Berrys to go about Thurman Thomas. Okay, okay, he but.
Speaker 3 (07:33):
I didn't ask Barry. I didn't ask Barry that you didn't.
But I want to know you're welcome to still Water.
Speaker 1 (07:39):
Man, welcome to Stillwater moment.
Speaker 2 (07:45):
I've actually played there, you have, I've never been. Where
did you play Louisette?
Speaker 1 (07:50):
Okay, okay, okay, all right, I actually I do remember.
It was my first house party. Actually, okay, we're freaking
making Natty lights who. We don't have any money, man,
we can't even afford like a Budweiser Natty Lights Man,
just like and then we go to what's this McGraw.
(08:15):
There's a country sigre which she came out of Oklahoma State. Okay,
and this guy, I mean every I should have been
a cowboy. That's just that's a song that you're gonna
you know it.
Speaker 2 (08:27):
I don't know it.
Speaker 3 (08:28):
I'm no because I'm I'm waiting on Thomas to send
the message, and it's going to help us.
Speaker 1 (08:34):
He'll come to me.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
Thomas back there doing He's hard let me let me
get it.
Speaker 1 (08:38):
But look, I'm I was born and raised in Houston,
like the city, right, and like here I am in
the middle of nowhere out in the boonies. I mean
I would meet people and I was like the first
black person that they'd ever met, like the first one.
Toby Keith.
Speaker 4 (08:53):
I love this bar.
Speaker 1 (08:55):
We're at his house. He doesn't live there anymore, so
he's not party with a bunch of eighteen year olds
just like laying out there. I say, it's just for people,
like it was like a place to party, Like you
go over there like here it's his house, like you
kind of want to capture its essence and you know. Yeah,
but it was my first Natty light. Yeah oh really
(09:15):
that was ferson. It was my personality life. There we go.
Speaker 4 (09:18):
So that was your welcome to Stillwater.
Speaker 1 (09:20):
I would hope, you know, we will want to we
want a couple of games, you know. But that's my
first like actual memory.
Speaker 3 (09:27):
Okay, because I just have always heard like, man, dude,
still Water's kind of out there, dude, Like it's it's.
Speaker 4 (09:33):
Out there a little bit.
Speaker 1 (09:34):
It's amazing.
Speaker 4 (09:35):
Yeah, it's the people that go to school, they love it.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
Yeah, fans love it and they represent really are.
Speaker 1 (09:41):
You know, because on the win end, like it's very
you can be very intimate there because there's not much
to do. So you get there and you hang out,
and people like hang out, hang out. You'll be hanging
out ninety a m and somebody will like just want
and caught some catfish or something and they'll come and
scale the catfish there and you're just you're just hanging
out cooking outside, and you know, so people there's a
real community. It's a real sense of community.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
Nice. Did you ever go noodling?
Speaker 1 (10:03):
I was. I was too afraid to put my hand
in the water.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
For those that are listening and watching, noodling is something
that they do in Oklahoma where you just go in
a creek or a river or something and you just
find a hole in the ground. You stick your finger
in there and hopefully you come not even your finger
like the whole hold on. I wasn't put whom in
(10:28):
this mysterious hole that you can't see. You stick your
arm in there, and you supposed to come out with
like a big ass fish or catfish. But I just
that brave, like I it ain't you've watched it.
Speaker 1 (10:41):
I watched it. It's not for me.
Speaker 4 (10:42):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (10:43):
So it's not for me, okay.
Speaker 4 (10:45):
You you constantly made the decisions like, no, I'm good.
Speaker 1 (10:47):
I saw somebody do it. You know, they had a
little bit of a little bit of a cut right there,
like I'm not going to be.
Speaker 2 (10:52):
The one, not today, it ain't for us. When you
were in Seattle, did you ever feel any pressure because
I know Walter Jones that he had just left, so
you get through a couple years later, did you feel
any pressure to like, all right, I got to be
the next great tackle. I got to be amazing just
like him. Did you feel any pressure living up to
his standard or his legacy?
Speaker 1 (11:13):
I think overall, the way you know, the office line
culture worked in Seattle was you had guys like Walter
Jones and Steve Hutchinson, right, these guys like I had
watched and wanted to emulate and really developed my game around.
And you know, I think I actually met Walter and
when I first got in and he goes, look, I'm
gonna be honest with you right now, you can't feel
(11:35):
my shoes. But he didn't say it in a way
in which he was being prideful about it. He just said, Look,
this is my own legacy, right, and your job is
to go out there and create yours. Right, So try
to figure out what your style of play is, who
you are as opposed to trying to look at what
I do best, because I look Walter, to me, he's
the greatest offensive lineman ever, Right. He could get out
(11:59):
there on tosses, could run, you can pass, you can
do everything, you know, So it felt great to know that. Hey, man, Walter,
I appreciate it. You're leaving the game. The game will
miss you, you know, but I'm honored right to hold
down a position that you did.
Speaker 3 (12:15):
Where were you at on draft day? Like when you
got that call? Like I like to hear about people's jobs.
Were you in Houston or were you in Oklahoma?
Speaker 1 (12:21):
House in New York? You were inviting me to come
over to New York, which was crazy. Is my first
time ever in New York?
Speaker 2 (12:28):
Okay?
Speaker 1 (12:28):
What was for the draft?
Speaker 4 (12:30):
Man? How was it? How great was that? You're in
the middle of time square?
Speaker 1 (12:34):
Man? It was unreal, you know, because you see it
and once you kind of know what you have that pathway,
you start to like visualize and dream and wonder, like
what would that be like if I was up there,
how would I respond, you know? And I had the opportunity.
I brought my mother, and you know, we were going
through a lot of the time. You remember it was
around two thousand and eight. People are losing their jobs,
(12:56):
left it oh wow, right, like there was this housing
crash and everybody was frustrated. My mom's still working two
or three jobs. Yeah, you know, And I remember being
in the city and I looked at her and my
sister was there too, and we're looking at each other
and we just know how hard and difficult our lives spent, right,
And here we are in New York on this big
(13:17):
stage and their son right now. And I mind you
I mentioned earlier, I'm an extension of those before me,
my ancestors, but my father is the men, right, and
we have essentially revived ourselves in this moment. So it
wasn't just about hey, I made it to the NFL.
This was more so saying, look, you're creating your own way.
(13:39):
Don't forget where you come from. Now move forward, make
Oakhoman be great, right, And that's what it felt like.
That was New York and I'll never forget that moment.
Speaker 2 (13:47):
Love that that's way better than what I got. I
was like a T shirts and shows just watching the draft.
I didn't think about like my ancestors came before. I
was just like, I just hope I get picked up,
just doing it for the.
Speaker 1 (14:04):
But you know what, you know, what they say is
it's not what you know, it's it's who you are
throughout your career. It's not how you come in, it's
how you leave. Absolutely right, absolutely, I just by the way,
you know, we owe you a Super Bowl ring.
Speaker 2 (14:17):
Why is that?
Speaker 1 (14:19):
You know no one ever told you the story? No? Okay,
so it's like twenty twelve.
Speaker 4 (14:24):
Oh lord, you're going to get a Super Bowl ring.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
This may be the he might be.
Speaker 1 (14:28):
I'm gonna be honest, I'm not gonna take anything away
from the LLLLB, you know, Earl Thomas, Camrand, Brandon Browner,
Richard Sherman, all, I'm not gonna take anything away from them.
And in twenty twelve, we went through a where we're
having difficulty, like with takeaway, it's getting the ball away.
So we kept preaching it over and over. We got
(14:49):
to get the ball. We got to get the ball,
but it just wasn't sticking. And one day Rocky Setto,
who was our one of the defensive assistant coaches.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
Is he like an a a guy. Yeah, Okay, I've
met him. I think I know the story, but keep going.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
Okay, So we're in a team meeting and he's just
like I got it, and he gets up on stage
and he has this entire presentation and the whole presentation
is just you punching out the ball, and like it
was so severe that, like I remember watching the video,
a guy was like almost on the sideline. He has
one foot out out of bounds and you're still punching
(15:27):
the ball out. And it really shifted our intention like
whether it was a tackle or whether somebody's being held
up to attack the ball with everything right, And from
that game, I mean, I'm telling you, or at least
that day in which he presented it to us. That day,
everybody's mindset kind of shifted. Now obviously like we have
very talented, skilled people, but like the relationship with the ball,
(15:49):
you know, and Pete's really good with culture. He has
a way with getting people to run through a wall
from him. But that was a message that I feel
like always resonated with us. Is that once we saw
like how deliberate you were with the ball. It changed
our entire culture and how people thought about the ball
for sure.
Speaker 2 (16:07):
So after I thank you for sharing that. I appreciate that.
Thank you for sharing that.
Speaker 4 (16:11):
You still get no ring.
Speaker 2 (16:13):
Well, damn I need a new A want to need
this somebody. I need a new partner.
Speaker 1 (16:20):
Are you available? You want to host show with me?
Right now? I'm not as good as you guys are, No,
but we we.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
I think we played y'all one game and he actually
he walked up to me because you guys still had
Dan Quinn. He walked up to me after the game
and he was just like, hey, I just want to
let you know. We talk about you all the time.
And I was just like it's after the game, and
I'm like, okay, yeah, it's cool.
Speaker 1 (16:44):
Thanks.
Speaker 2 (16:44):
He was like, I think you're hell of a player
the way he tacked the ball. So then he goes
and he gets Pete. So Pete Carroll comes and he
shakes me. I'd never had this happen before, after, you know,
after a game. So Pete comes up and is like,
I think you're just an amazing ball player and how
you get the ball away, And then Quinn coach Quinn.
He calms up and he was like, bro, you really
didn't can tell you? He was like, he goes, he goes, bro,
(17:07):
we got a tape on you. I have a tape
that I show all my god almost every quad.
Speaker 1 (17:12):
Right, he was just like I literally I was like,
this guy has something in his glove. There's no way
you're punching the ball out like that. You had something
in your glove.
Speaker 2 (17:20):
I taped him. I just had to had like a
little bit of padding. Yeah, right there, And that was it.
Speaker 1 (17:25):
We're the guy Byron Byron Maxwell. I think, Yeah, this
guy was like emmilating you like to a t He
like changed his gloves. He was getting the ball out. Man.
So Brandon Browner went through the situation, you got suspended.
This guy comes in and the first game he started
(17:46):
interception was punched the ball out like crazy. Second game
played the New York Giants, and he got.
Speaker 4 (17:51):
Paid off this little at that little string of games
he had to.
Speaker 1 (17:54):
Absolutely in the twenty thirteen we obviously did what we did,
you know, but he was still a starter, man. Yeah, yeah,
I didn't know that.
Speaker 4 (18:01):
Look at you, dog. You never told me that.
Speaker 2 (18:03):
Seattle came like the whole staff came over to you.
I kind of I guess I forgot until you brought
it up. I was like, I think I know this well.
So when they first did it, I just was like, oh,
that's cool, thank you, and then just I didn't think
nothing of it. I just was just like, okay, thank you,
I appreciate your coach, and just walked away and was
just like all right, cool on to the next game.
And then years later, I don't really I never put
(18:24):
two and two together until you said that that's the
first time you I've heard it from like a player.
It's different when you know. It was like it was
like a ninety second conversation after a game, so it
was it was so fast, it was so quick, so
it wasn't it hit me. But it didn't really hit
me like the way you're telling me right now. I'm like, oh, deal, Okay,
I got it. I got it. Sorry, no, no, no,
(18:45):
I love it.
Speaker 4 (18:45):
I love that great.
Speaker 2 (18:47):
Yeah, I love that you.
Speaker 1 (18:50):
Playing history too, and we do, yeah, paying history too.
Speaker 2 (18:53):
Not always great, but yes, we do talk about thank
you for the story real quick though, But you you
said something about Pete care. I want to I want
to dive back into that how he has a the
ability to change a culture to make players run through
a wall for him.
Speaker 1 (19:08):
You want the good and the bad, or you just
want the good.
Speaker 2 (19:10):
I want the good of the bad.
Speaker 1 (19:11):
Man.
Speaker 2 (19:11):
I want you to I want you to give me
what you willing to share.
Speaker 1 (19:14):
Like I'm an open book. I'm an open book. Look, Pete,
it's special, right, And he has a way of galvanizing
people and men right to come to a singular goal,
which I think is very difficult in life. Right. And
Pete is very deliberate in terms of like the environment
he wants to create something that he wants is fun.
He wants people to celebrate their uniqueness, right, But also
(19:38):
he wants to bring the best out of people, and
he truly believes that competition is the best way to
do that. Right, So our practices were much more harder
than games. I mean, we would fight and scrap like
a training camp in the middle of the year, right,
and likely have soft shales on right. But like that's
the type of culture that he wanted and created to do, right,
which is you know what made the Super Bowl situation
(20:02):
so hard when we lost Super Bowl? Right, is that
how can you have a person who preaches culture right
and talks about our identity and who we are as
his team. But then when the moment comes down to it,
we don't operate within who we are in our identity.
We miss it, right, So look, I think that's I
(20:25):
could probably talk a nauseum about that situation, but I
think the truth is is that it was a phase.
It was a stage in life. Yeah, I learned a
lot from him, right, I think he taught a lot
to the organization. And I look, I don't think it
was an accident. And while we had success, So.
Speaker 2 (20:42):
With that being said, they should have gave Marshawn the ball.
Speaker 1 (20:46):
Like I think the best way I think about it. Yeah,
And look, Marshawan and when I talk and I talked
to him about it, he seems to handle it well.
And I'll let him certainly speak for himself. But look,
it wasn't just a bad play, okay, right, I got you.
This was a form of betrayal and I'll frame it
that way. Yeah, right, And you know the way we
(21:08):
became who we are as a team. I think we
had a very pivotal moment, at least for our offense.
It was I want to say twenty eleven to Var
Shackson was our quarterback. We're going down and playing the Cowboys,
and we had a hard time just even generally speaking,
like converting on third down. We couldn't convert to save
our lives. The defense was always on the field, you know.
And Tom Cable gets up in front of us, he
(21:29):
was the offensive line coach at the time, and he says, Okay, guys,
who do we want to be? That's an offense. We're
actually having a team meeting at this point. Who do
you want to be? One guy puts his hand up
and says, okay, we want to have explosive plays. Okay,
we like that, all right. We want to take care
of the ball. Yeah, like that too. But then some
(21:50):
guy says, we want to fight for every single yard okay,
And Tom's like, oh, I like that. I like that.
He said, well, every blade of grass should matter. Yeah,
of course. So if it comes down to it and
the games on the line, what are we going to
(22:12):
do better than anybody? Well, we want to run the ball.
We have the best runner in the game, Marshawn Lynch.
We want to run the ball. Okay. So we go
we play the Dallas Cowboys. That week, we're down I
don't know, fourteen twenty points, right, Like most teams are
getting to two minute throw the ball as much as
they can. We kept running that ball as if it's
(22:33):
seven on seven. And I think that was the point
in which you came into our identity as an offense.
We're going to take care of the ball. We're going
to play action, throw the ball over your head, but
we're going to prioritize running the ball because that's who
we are. Yes, Okay, So now it's twenty thirteen, well,
twenty fourteen, the games on the line, right, you're playing
(22:55):
New England Patriots, which you guys know that's just a
that is the most disciplined team you'll ever play, right.
You don't make mistakes when it comes to them, right.
And Pete even said, we're gonna be who we are
going into this game no matter what, and we're gonna
look up and either we win or we lose. I'm
fine with that, right. But we're one yard away, okay,
(23:16):
And all the things that we're saying that we're preaching
every single week, because Pete so great a culture, we
have the opportunity to express that. And what do we
decide to do.
Speaker 2 (23:30):
So run the screen.
Speaker 1 (23:32):
I see it that way. Yeah, I see it as betrayal.
I saw it as betrayal. I don't hold anything against them.
So now you're showing it there.
Speaker 2 (23:41):
It is good job, Thomas Swift.
Speaker 1 (23:44):
Yeah, that's it.
Speaker 4 (23:44):
That's what it just turned it out.
Speaker 1 (23:45):
Your producers are really good.
Speaker 2 (23:47):
Oh they write on it.
Speaker 1 (23:49):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (23:50):
I was at this game.
Speaker 1 (23:51):
You were at the game.
Speaker 2 (23:52):
I was at the game. Yeah.
Speaker 1 (23:53):
It rewinded a little bit, right, And the worst part
about it is no one who took immediate accountability for it.
That was the worst part. It was just silent.
Speaker 2 (24:03):
Do you think they were just silent because it was
this disbelief, like I just can't bleed that just happened.
Speaker 1 (24:07):
I think it was a multitude of different emotions.
Speaker 2 (24:10):
Like what what do we just do? We should have
ran the ball? Why do we throw it? Wait? What
just happened?
Speaker 1 (24:15):
We lost it. I can take a loss, even on
this stage. I can take a loss. I've always been
able to do that. But I will always take the
loss being who I am. M hm right, I can
get beat on the one on one whatever. Thinking about
me in my past thatts I've always been an agressive player,
I'll jump on you and get on you. And if
I'm getting beat and the game's on the line, guess
where I'm going back to. I'm gonna jump you.
Speaker 4 (24:38):
That's because that's what I do.
Speaker 1 (24:39):
That's who I am. That's what I do. And if
you beat me, you spin, you hit me inside. I
can stomach it because at least I lost being who
I am. Yeah, and I felt like we were deprived
of that and our culture was never the same.
Speaker 2 (24:54):
After We're gonna take a short break and we'll be
right back.
Speaker 4 (25:00):
I can totally see that. Tell me this. I was
told by.
Speaker 3 (25:07):
Will Herring about this great story about Pete Carroll because
he said, like Pete Carroll had this one guy he
just threw the ball to like the whole practice, like
he literally would just be throwing the football.
Speaker 4 (25:20):
He's like maniacal about this.
Speaker 3 (25:22):
And I guess before you guys played the Saints in
twenty ten playoffs, he was just saying, like nobody's picking
us because you guys were seven and nine seven nine,
and he was like, nobody's picking you guys, this, that
and the other. You're there, Yeah, I was out there, yes,
and he's just talking talking, He's like you know, anything
(25:43):
can happen when you have this sense of belief. Yes,
And he said he like launched the football and it
like winning this basketball goal. Could you please explain this
story if you can remember it.
Speaker 1 (25:54):
Do you remember I don't remember that specifically, but I
remember a lot of things happening around that Okay, you
know where where you know, Pete had this belief right
that was like actually infectious, right, that you really could
believe anything was possible. And I mean we're seven and nine,
man like, and we just beat y'all like pretty bad. Yes,
(26:18):
we were getting blown out. We got blown up by
many teams that year, right, yeah, And he's just like
talking anything possible. We had and we had this like
a basketball hoop in our team meeting room, right, and
people are always like kind of shooting basket in and
kind of playing around, and he's he's possible, right, And
he just throws a football, right, and its just like
it goes into the hope and we're like, oh, right,
(26:43):
and you know, lo and behold we are positioned perfectly
to play you guys in the game. Yeah, right. You
know it's funny about that play the seventeen power the
power play with marsh we weren't even gonna run the play.
I messed that that play up the entire week, Like,
mind you, I'm a rookie. I don't even know what
I'm doing. I'm literally asking the left guard, Hey, what
do I do? Every single time? I'm one of those.
(27:06):
Really we're not always, but like seven, it was like,
look the way they're kind of lining up to it,
like it's motions. We didn't really know what we're exactly
we're going to get. So he said, OK, so we
practice it with like maybe three or four different looks, right,
and like the system I came from, it was like
you kind of like you count from the accounting system,
you count from the mic, you kind of count your
way back. We're like, oh, if they motion this way
and we got to do this, and then you guys
(27:26):
have like this bare look that you guys would jump into. Yeah,
you know, so you know it's like, oh, you guys
jump to the bear, you lose the left guard, you know,
you end up on the fore I by yourself. So
I didn't really know what was going to happen, you know.
So you know, you know, the power play is amazing,
particularly when you're a zone team because oftentimes people run
left and right right when you were zoning like you
know the line of kind of like the defensive linement,
(27:48):
like get off the ball a little bit. They're prepared
to go more lateral as opposed to like forward right,
And like Marsham's begging for the play, He's like telling
everybody how much he loves to play throughout the entire week.
And it's four minute oh and we're out there like
trying to finish the game and they called it in
My heart is beating out of my chest. I'm like,
oh man, what's going to happen? And we block it
(28:13):
up kind of sort of.
Speaker 2 (28:15):
Yeah, it wasn't great at all.
Speaker 1 (28:16):
It was not great at all. It was not great, right,
But I mean that just showed you all special. Martshawn
is Yeah, right, I.
Speaker 2 (28:25):
Think we got it. Yeah, I think we got to play.
Can we can we see that play?
Speaker 1 (28:31):
Who was it? Guy? Step on it? It wasn't us,
Tracy Porter.
Speaker 3 (28:34):
Oh man, it was it was a real one. I
was around the whole time I was watching.
Speaker 1 (28:40):
I'm not.
Speaker 4 (28:43):
Loaf, Yeah, I mean.
Speaker 3 (28:44):
Beacause I saw like eight guys like kind of had
the whole time.
Speaker 1 (28:49):
Where is this?
Speaker 4 (28:49):
And I was just around it. We do not show
this place.
Speaker 2 (28:54):
Maybe we don't have it. I don't know.
Speaker 3 (28:55):
Beast mode is is like it was funny, like it's
it's funny looking back on it because I was there
when because I think before that he was just Marshawn Lynch.
Speaker 4 (29:06):
Then after that he became be smug man.
Speaker 1 (29:08):
Who else is going to dive into the end zone
grabbing their crotch like that.
Speaker 2 (29:11):
Man, the one and only.
Speaker 1 (29:14):
That man is one one. He's one of one. There's
nobody like him.
Speaker 3 (29:17):
Yeah, that that play literally made me hate Seattle.
Speaker 1 (29:21):
I made a lot of people hate Seattle.
Speaker 2 (29:22):
It made me Seattle. I thought it was a great
and I got to give you guys a lot of credit.
Speaker 4 (29:26):
Because I thought it was great.
Speaker 3 (29:28):
I was just like, Yo, the twelfth Man is a
real thing out there the home crowd, and it's like
this one guy that when you always come out of
the visitor's locker room, it's just one guy that.
Speaker 2 (29:38):
Oh my god, here it is right now.
Speaker 1 (29:40):
Yeah, ready at look at me. I'm just trying to survive.
Speaker 2 (29:46):
Oh you let me get some volume, get out here.
Speaker 1 (29:51):
Yeah, Tyler Columbus, I left guard, got a hold of you.
Speaker 2 (29:56):
Oh my crotch. I mean it was blocked up.
Speaker 1 (30:00):
Not that great? Is that that great? Man?
Speaker 2 (30:02):
It was? I watched this every year and every time
I see Rome, I just I just I just shake
my head. Come on, Rome, get it wrong.
Speaker 3 (30:11):
Well, at that point I looked up and it was
like three guys out there. I'm like, dude, that guy
I don't even know.
Speaker 2 (30:15):
How did you even touch him?
Speaker 4 (30:18):
I touched his cleat says he was jumping in.
Speaker 1 (30:21):
Oh that again?
Speaker 4 (30:22):
Yeah, oh yeah, that was that?
Speaker 2 (30:24):
What he really taking stabs right now? Heme on, I
got Thomas. All right, let's let's let's do another pivot.
I want to talk about this NFL contract that you signed.
You were one of the first guys to do first, okay,
the first guy to do the contract back in twenty sixteen,
(30:44):
and it was for It was a one year deal
worth five million, and the contract didn't offer I don't know.
Speaker 4 (30:51):
I sorry, I thought you're talking about another one.
Speaker 1 (30:52):
I apologize. Are you're talking about the one I signed
with Denver?
Speaker 2 (30:55):
Yes, sir, yeah, yes, sir. So you signed a one year,
five year.
Speaker 1 (30:59):
It was a it was a one year with a
four year option.
Speaker 2 (31:01):
Yeah, yeah, with the four year option.
Speaker 1 (31:03):
But there were no guarantees, no guarantees for the for
the year one. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (31:08):
Yeah, why talk talk a little bit about how you
you you kind of came to that and how you
negotiated your contract without like having the standard NFL sports agent.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
Yeah. I think there was a lot of moving parts
in the background, okay, right, And the reason that I
decided to represent myself was actually maybe pretty unique to
most people. You know. People talk about, you know, things
that they want in life and things that they potentially
want to accomplish, you know. And something that I've always
wanted was to like learn business, yeah, right, to actually
(31:40):
like be somewhat in the corporate world, right, and to
like have a level of agency over my life. So
at the time, I had a lot of challenges in
regards to what the agent's role is, particularly with the player,
And I told myself, I said, well, what would it
look like if I decide to negotia in my own contract, right, me,
(32:01):
not knowing the dynamics of how to reach out to
gms and owners, what would it look like for me
to actually like put myself on the line, put my
own career on the line, and negotiate that negotiate that
for myself. Now, I had a couple of issues surrounding
that I was injured. I was coming off of a shoulder,
and I am meeting teams, and a lot of them
(32:23):
are trying to figure out, like you've been hurt, you've
been up and down, like you have red flags that
are associated with you. So we're not necessarily sure if
you can come in and actually like play for even
close to a full year. And I have to be
very honest with myself in terms of, like, well, that
is a concern, right. Anytime you're talking about millions of
(32:46):
dollars and that transference right of wealth, then it better
be serious, right. So Number one, I wanted the opportunity
to negotiate for myself, to like have my own agency.
Number Two, I had to be very honest with what
my perspective was of the market and how the market
viewed me overall. So I went on this tour and
(33:08):
I just wanted as many shots at back to meet
people and to actually experience that, right. But what I
did not expect was that negotiating is more of an
art rather than the science, and that if you don't
own pieces of the media, perception can be reality. And
(33:29):
I think there were multiple parties that were not interested
in a player, a black player, that having legitimate agency
in terms of being able to advocate and represent themselves.
And the message that I was trying to share with
people is, look, I know that some people need agents,
they need people to work on their behalf. But like,
(33:49):
let's not get that twisted. Let's not forget right that
we also have intelligence on the field as well.
Speaker 2 (33:55):
Absolutely right.
Speaker 1 (33:57):
The ability to understand multiple moving parts and variables in
a second is a form of spatial intelligence that most
people in the world don't have. So what would it
look like for me to then take this intelligent and
have it applied so across the board, I wasn't seeing
the numbers that I expected. For whatever reason, I had
people in the media which wanted to demoralize my efforts, right,
(34:19):
and I had to accept that. Right. So I was
probably looking at being paid in other places two three
million dollars just on a one year proven deal, And
I say, you know what, the way this contract is structured,
if I just make it to throughout the off season,
I'll get one million. If I make it to training camp,
I'll get another two to three million. Then if I
(34:40):
play for the year, there's essentially a game bonus which
would get me actually eight million to eight million dollars,
and my thesis was right, and at the end of
the year I was eight million dollars.
Speaker 2 (34:50):
Richard always bet on me. I'll like it.
Speaker 4 (34:55):
Yeah, I like it.
Speaker 2 (34:57):
Well, speaking of bet and on me, you did something again.
You were a pioneer. So you go to Carolina, both
of our former teams.
Speaker 1 (35:05):
Beautiful city, by the way, an incredible organization.
Speaker 4 (35:07):
Yeah, thank you.
Speaker 2 (35:08):
Yeah.
Speaker 4 (35:08):
I live in Charlotte too.
Speaker 1 (35:09):
Yeah, I mean it's better than Alabama. It's nice, man,
Charlotte is nice though.
Speaker 4 (35:14):
It is nice. It is real nice. It's super clean.
Speaker 2 (35:16):
It's the financial capital of the South. Yeah, it's like
the New York of the South. That's what I call it.
But uh, you go to you go to Carolina and
you structure your contract again, but you do it in bitcoin.
Why bitcoin? Talk a little bit more about like why
and how that thought even came to be to try
(35:37):
to get your money in bigcoin in sead of actual funds. Yeah,
you like the standard, traditional standard or traditional way.
Speaker 1 (35:44):
Yeah, I'm gonna try my best, you know, But look,
I think people think about bitcoin a certain way, right
and everybody trying to figure out what biitcoin is and
why it's essentially important. And you know, the way I
look at it, like, just imagine for a moment, right
that you are on the football field and you're playing
in the game, and you're on the offense, and you
are moving into any enemy territory and you're on the
(36:07):
thirty and you're advancing towards the twenty and now you're
on the ten and you are finally in the red zone,
and the referees decide to move the goal post on you. Okay, now,
mind you, it's allowed. The game was on the line,
every single effort that you have to muster up everything
you possibly need. It's fourth quarter, you're doing everything right
(36:30):
and you're advancing again, and then the referees move the
goal post on you. Again. This is inflation. Yeah, this
is actual inflation. This is people working their entire lives,
doing everything right, and they're getting contracts and they're getting salaries,
and the more they get paid, the more they're expenses
(36:52):
and the things they want most in life run away
from them. And this is why bitcoin is so powerful.
Most portfolio managers have a mandate, we need to preserve
your purchasing power. But with bitcoin and the math in
the data that we've seen with it, it's a way
to grow your purchasing power. And what I saw back
(37:13):
then was the asset classes moving anywhere between two hundred
and four hundred percent a year. So let's just say
I was wrong and it moved to ten twenty percent
a year. Well, that definitely outplaces the rate of inflation.
So all I need to do is be a little
bit right, right, right, I didn't need to hit this
(37:34):
huge home run two hundred fur hundred percent in a year.
And all I need to also believe is that the
money that we see, the US dollar right is going
to continue to be decoupled. For morality, what does that mean?
In other words, that will be continued to be debased.
Most people like look at their assets, but they don't
think about their currency risk. They don't think about that.
(38:00):
They just say, Okay, well if I get this asset
and I do this under this and it'll grow. That's
not always the truth. Bitcoin is proved that it is
the most powerful asset in the world. At least it's
trending in that direction. Yeah, and I have a friend
and he says this, He says there is no second
best when it comes to the asset class. So look,
I'm not giving financial advice, but I will give life advice,
(38:23):
right and at this current point have on me. The
price of bitcoin is one hundred and seven thousand dollars,
so the price of building astronomical wealth for the rest
of your life. And this is being proven by many
different institutional managers across the board. It's one bitcoin for
(38:44):
one hundred and seven thousand dollars. That's the price. And
it's a price and a risk that I'm constantly willing
to take over and over, and I'm still buying.
Speaker 2 (38:53):
And you said the bigcoin gives you a excuse me,
you said, the bitcoin gives you a sense of freedom,
your free from financial institutions.
Speaker 1 (39:02):
Well, not just a sense of freedom, that is one.
So using that last example that I mentioned, the goal
right of the game here is to keep you inside
the game. The goal is not for you to win.
So we consider systematically how all of these things work together.
You'll keep striving and you keep trying to earn, and
(39:23):
you're never able to catch up. But what are you
losing your most important resource, which is your time. You
don't get that time back, you never get it back.
How many people right now are doing everything they need
to do, investing in pensions, doing everything, and they look up,
they're fifty sixty years old and their pensions cannot even
afford their cost of living.
Speaker 4 (39:47):
It's a real thing.
Speaker 1 (39:47):
That's most of America. So what is our option? We
need to look forward into the Futureoin It's bitcoin, That's
how I see it. I don't want to take away
from anybody's other perspective. When I decided to do that,
my mindset was this, remember how we should go to
those imposes rookie symposals. Yeah, right, And every year in
(40:08):
the NFL and NFLPA, they'll send somebody over and they'll
try to talk to you about wealth management and not
losing your money. And you know there's a stigma that
you know, players come to all this money even though
we're super young, right, and they don't know how to
manage it, right. And I had a thought to myself
before I made that decision. I said, what if we
can destroy generational poverty? What if that was possible? And
(40:34):
what if it was so easy that all you need
to do was to have a phone and you cook,
buy you don't need a financial advisor. You didn't need
a money manager to push you into a bunch of things,
a bunch of instruments, fixed income bonds, all these type
of things which don't outpace inflation. I wish are literally
just slowing down how much you're purchasing power not helping you.
(40:58):
But what if it was as simple as buying bitcoin,
holding it and not doing anything with it. And guess
what it is? And this is a problem that I
think can be easily solved right for many of us
who come from very challenging backgrounds, who don't have access
to wealth, who aren't going to Goldman and Morgan Stanley.
(41:21):
How is it? How is it that by me just
putting money into bitcoin, I have outperformed people from Golden
all these guys in New York, all these guys all
over the world, global asset managers, that I've outperformed them
just by holding an asset. Don't have a finance degree,
(41:42):
don't have an economics degree. It's that simple. We've never
seen anything like this ever, we may never ever see
it again.
Speaker 2 (41:49):
We'll be back in a minute. So if I wanted to,
can you make your own bitcoin?
Speaker 4 (41:58):
You can make your own meme?
Speaker 2 (41:59):
Coin.
Speaker 1 (42:00):
People make their own meme coins and own cryptos. Yes, right,
yes that is correct, but there's nothing like bitcoin, agreed, So.
Speaker 3 (42:07):
Bitcoin is the standard. It's like the gold bar. I'm
just trying to like who made the bitcoin? Like who
I mean, because there's a bunch of them out They're.
Speaker 4 (42:17):
Correct, it's only so many and there will never be
any more.
Speaker 3 (42:19):
That's what makes bitcoin different than so many others, like
ethereum and a few others that it's like bazillion of those.
Bitcoin is down to a select few, and so now
that because it's only so owned by so many, there's
only so many, it makes them valuable and they're actually
the standard in which all of them others are kind
of based upon.
Speaker 1 (42:39):
Is that then that's a good point. Right, So ultimately,
why do people see gold as valuable? So right now
gold is at I think it's went up to about
sixty five percent right now gold and they see it
as valuable because number one, it's it's a global asset. Two,
it has some function of scarcity, and three it's accepted
and approved from the citizen level tonation states, et cetera. Yep, right,
(43:02):
and bitcoin has all those elements, right, is that it
has a global value, it's scarce just like you mentioned,
yep right, it's immutable, meaning you can't go in and
change ultimately how it works. Yep right.
Speaker 3 (43:16):
That was the first real thing that everybody loved about
bitcoin was the actual technology behind it.
Speaker 4 (43:22):
The oh my gosh, what's the name of it?
Speaker 2 (43:26):
I don't know, you can't remember, uh, keep talking.
Speaker 4 (43:31):
It was like it was like.
Speaker 3 (43:34):
The cryptic the language behind the photography.
Speaker 4 (43:38):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (43:38):
Yeah, Like that was the first thing that everybody loved
about it was that like you knew exactly because like
sometimes when dollars are changed hand from hand, you can
lose track from what hand it got changed from. With crypto,
it has the blockchain, thank you. That's the word in
my mind, the blockchain piece of it. So it literally
tells you exactly what it is, and you can't go
in there and change it, like you can't.
Speaker 1 (43:59):
Change it, right. And I think the issue is that
even though we have dollar accounts, right, you can look
on your bank right now and you can look in
and so I have X amount of money, But the
question is do you really own that money? Right? Because
in most cases, you know, banks are taking it and
they're lending, they're lending it. Right. So the question about
(44:23):
what money is right is I think it's quite perplexing
because I think we need to constantly redefine money and
ask ourselves what is our relationship with the money, because
that ultimately dictates like how you see the rest of
the world, that's how our society works. Yes, right, And
I think in most cases, you actually own the bitcoin,
(44:46):
Like you cannot say, like, look, I have a real
estate property, right, we're actually getting ready to sell it,
right to buy more bitcoin, But we own this house.
But like I don't actually own it, right because let's
say I stop paying my taxes or whatever, right, like
it can be taken away from me. Right. So when
we think about the concept of sovereignty, right, that's something
(45:07):
which is so foreign to people. Where I actually own something,
it's not being right, really hypothecated. It's not being taken away.
I'm not looking at credit. I'm actually looking at something
of value that's mine and cannot be taken away from me,
that I can pass down forever to my children and those
after and those after. And the most powerful part about it,
it's code. It's cold that everybody has seen as valuable,
(45:29):
and that's amazing.
Speaker 2 (45:31):
You know what else is amazing was that physical transformations. Okay, yeah,
so I don't remember this version of you at all.
I remember you being a lot more just attacking foods,
pouncing on foods, destroying cats, coming off the line far
and off. Talk about this physical transformation that you've gone through,
(45:52):
with the way you've lost from your playing weight to
where you are currently right now.
Speaker 1 (45:56):
Oh man, I don't even know where to start. You know,
they say that freedom isn't the absence of struggle, but
it's the presence of truth. And the beauty of leaving
the NFL has been that I've actually been able to
(46:17):
explore what truth is, what my truth is, the truth
of where I come from, the truth of who I am,
what my interests are, Like who I am? Who am
I outside of this game? You know? The hard part
for me is like when you play offensive line, you're
always thinking about four other people and what our roles are.
And I remember leaving the game and it was the
first time I actually thought about myself, Like I wasn't
(46:40):
thinking about, Okay, how do I protect the quarterback or
how do I open this hole for the brunning back,
or like how's my guard doing right here? Was that
the first time I actually thought about myself and I
had to ask myself a very hard question, like who
am I? So I'm asking myself this question I just got.
I wasn't sure if I was done with football, and
I'm like, I'm sitting with my son. He's in the pool.
(47:04):
We had to pull instructor over and now he's learning
how to swim. He's two years old at the time,
and anytime I would get out the pool, he would
just start crying. He saw me as the sense of
security for him. And I'm on this on and off
this phone, and I'm talking to a couple of teams
and asking me if I want to play, and you know,
and how much we're talking about all of this, and
(47:24):
I thought back to my own life. You know, my
father he died brutally at that when I was three
years old, so I don't have a great memory of him,
you know. And the thing about him was that I
don't remember his voice, but I remember the silence which
(47:49):
emanated from it. I remember him not more in him
not being there, and like it's impact. So as all
these things are going on, it was actually the first
time I had thought about my father and long time,
and I'm looking at my son, and as the universe
has it, the universe will ask you a very important question.
So while my father wasn't there in my life, I
(48:10):
see my son. He's becking and crying out for me.
I'm asking myself, well, now I have the opportunity to
be here for him. But I can't let this thing go.
I can't let football go. I can't let the security,
the money, and all the things which come with it.
And it comes out of the pool. And I'm thinking
about it all day, and I sit down and I
(48:32):
look for inspiration, and I open up the Bible and
I'm reading through Deuteronomy. Right. I was going back and
forth between Exodus and there's this leader, and this leader
I saw many of his people in hardship, his family
in hardship, and he decides that there's more to it
than this current situation. And I'm reading this and I'm
(48:57):
having some similar problems and issues in terms of like
where I want to leave my own family. And something
very important happened. This leader, Moses is his name. By
the way, he goes up to this mountain and he
doesn't eat for or a drink for forty days. And
(49:18):
I looked at my wife and I asked her. I said,
do you think it's possible, really possible, for a man
not to eat for forty days.
Speaker 2 (49:29):
She's like, yeah, yeah, No, she didn't say yeah, did
she She.
Speaker 1 (49:36):
Did, okay, And I'm not believing it. I said, no, no, seriously,
do you actually believe this happened in the Bible that
a man felt that he had to connect with God
in such a way that he could not eat or
drink for forty days? You think this happened. She's like,
I think it happened. And I looked at her and
(49:59):
I said, I'm not gonna eat forty days. And she says, now,
mind you, she's pregnant. You gotta kid already. She's like okay.
And I stopped eating. And it wasn't like, hey, I
I stopped eating right there, right then and there. I
wasn't like, let me, let me start to work my
(50:22):
way down and like start to pull carbs away one
meal a day. Why I stopped right then and there?
You know, And and I got to tell you a
lot of people ask me how I did it, and
I would say, there is something. There is a prayer
(50:50):
so powerful that you will decide to not eat or drink.
In my first case, it was me not eating and
I did it again. I've also done somewhere I don't
have water at all.
Speaker 4 (51:11):
For how many days did you go without water?
Speaker 1 (51:14):
I've done four days. But my goal is to get
to twenty one days in my lifetimes, to go no water,
no food for twenty one days. That's my goal, all right.
Speaker 4 (51:27):
I mean I was going to ask about the forty
day fast that was? That was real it all up?
Yeah you did. I appreciate you taking us on that journey.
Speaker 3 (51:36):
I've read that story in the Bible as well, and
it's it didn't mean I wanted to try it.
Speaker 4 (51:42):
You know, I half fast before.
Speaker 3 (51:45):
The most I've done is four days, and uh, but
I drank water.
Speaker 4 (51:51):
I just didn't eat and real, yeah, like I didn't
want to try. I didn't know that's where he got
that from.
Speaker 2 (51:57):
I'm very taken back by that.
Speaker 1 (51:59):
Well, Yeah, I got to tell you, man, it's uh,
you know, my understanding of reality, particularly in that phase
when you go that deeply, is it's different.
Speaker 2 (52:11):
Man.
Speaker 1 (52:11):
You see things for what they are. You know, this
world's constantly pulling at you, telling you who you are
and categorizing you. You're consuming and it's trying to tell
you how to be angry. But I'll tell you when
you get to day twenty one of the fast. Let's
say you have an issue with your wife, whoever, it
doesn't matter. With your kids, You're worry about your kids
and all this type of stuff doesn't exist. You see
(52:33):
what's real? Yeah, I got to I was looking at
my skin and I'm like, oh, well, I'm realizing this
is just a shell who I am on the inside,
my essence, my spirit, that's real. That's the thing you
wish doesn't die. And I feel like it's an important
question for me to ask, particularly with you know, my
father you know is Oh I realized, Oh, we don't
(52:56):
just die. There is something much more beyond this physical experience.
Speaker 2 (53:02):
I want to know about Mount Rushmore. So this is
all that we asked all our guests. Okay Mount Rushmore question?
Speaker 1 (53:08):
Right? All right?
Speaker 2 (53:08):
You are an exceptional young man. You have lived this
life that you found yourself in the fasting and football
and bitcoin. How much weight have you lost and everything?
Speaker 1 (53:19):
Over one hundred pounds? I was actually down to one
hundred and eighty pounds. Oh, step I know my wife
has giving me a look like I don't know about
this one.
Speaker 2 (53:30):
Sorry, yeah, no, that was good and that was good
with But you get four picks of people that have
had that have given influence on you, that have helped
shape mold you into the man you are today.
Speaker 4 (53:42):
You get four picks. Who would those four people be?
Speaker 1 (53:47):
Four people? Yes? Sorry, four people wouldn't do it justice, man,
I'll try. My first pick is my wife. She is challenged,
encouraged and stood aside with my ego and all of
my issues and my radicalness.
Speaker 3 (54:07):
You know what you do seem radical? You do come
across his radical not eating your dream.
Speaker 1 (54:12):
Trying to get to forty days. Imagine my wife, man,
she gives me every single day, right. So she is amazing.
Speaker 2 (54:20):
Man.
Speaker 1 (54:21):
I love that she is my best friend, my best encourager.
Speaker 4 (54:27):
She is.
Speaker 1 (54:30):
A lion and a lamb. I get both. I get
her tenacity, but I also get this gentleness from her
that I've always needed in life. My second pick would
be my oldest son. He forced me into dealing with
moving on from the phase of the game that I
(54:51):
thought I could never leave. You know, he encouraged me
and challenged me. My second would be my second son.
His name's Exodus.
Speaker 4 (55:00):
Oh nice, all right, So it's your first son's name.
Speaker 1 (55:02):
Cairo Okay, Cairo Bassie okum. So he holds he holds
the family name. I always holds the family name. So
he has. We actually have many names. I can get
to it another time. But my second one, Exodus, he
stretches me the most. I mean, this kid has made
(55:24):
adults more than anything than ever before. I love him
for that. My third is my baby girl, my first girl.
She has the name of my mother and also my
grandmother on my father's side, you know, but also the temperament.
She's also she's given me way too many slaps in
(55:46):
my life. She's two years old. Her sign of love
is a slap, so she messes with yeah and then
you know, I know that. I know. I said four,
but I'm gonna add one more. Another very important person
for me has been one of my offensive line coaches,
Tom Cable. Oh yeah, Tom is a person that I've
(56:10):
been able to connect with and be very honest with
in terms of like who I am. You know, honesty
is a very difficult thing in the NFL because you
want to be straightforward about who you are and you're
feeling something, but that could mean your job. That can
mean you're not focused, you know. And Tom was the
one that always created an environment for me to be
(56:31):
very honest with who I am and to get out
my head sometimes, you know, but also achieve the fullness
of who I am. So he's always kind of created
a space for me. So that's my uh. I wrote
my mount rushmore for sure.
Speaker 2 (56:49):
I like it.
Speaker 1 (56:52):
Hey, I like you.
Speaker 2 (56:55):
I like what was that? That's a slap.
Speaker 1 (56:57):
I like, I've figured you were a deep guy.
Speaker 3 (57:01):
You're way deeper than than the twelve foot pool, way
deeper than that. And it's appreciated. And I hope you
get that appreciation in love from your your wife, your family,
your friends, and continue.
Speaker 4 (57:14):
On this journey. I mean, you are a water snob
and I can't.
Speaker 1 (57:19):
We'll finish this guy over.
Speaker 2 (57:23):
Them some water from Walmart and he was like, nah,
I need your body is a temple man.
Speaker 1 (57:28):
My water got to.
Speaker 2 (57:29):
Come from the ocean and the springs, and the house.
Speaker 3 (57:34):
Got to be out of a glass. And I was like, oh,
you like alkaline water. Well, actually I went through that phase.
Speaker 1 (57:38):
I'm a water enthusiast.
Speaker 3 (57:40):
Water enthusiast is the correct term, water enthusiasts, Bitcoin pioneer,
and what's the water of choice right now?
Speaker 1 (57:49):
Watermelon?
Speaker 4 (57:50):
Watermelon?
Speaker 1 (57:51):
At this point I'm only just eating a bunch of waters.
Turk your walk. But I'm on a journey, man, I'm
on a journey.
Speaker 4 (57:58):
He is.
Speaker 3 (57:59):
This is a real thing, all right? Man, Well Russell Man,
thank you so much, man for joy us. Man, Thank
you guys blessing us with your time.
Speaker 1 (58:05):
Man, Can I say one more thing? I want to
thank you guys. You know, I spent a long time
since I've actually spoken to the media and spoken to
people about this journey and more personally, and I think
what you guys are doing is amazing. I think people
being able to share not just a man with a
helmet on, but the man behind the helmet and really
their families is an incredible gift. And I'm wishing you
(58:28):
guys much rest right that you also get the chance
to sit back, take this and enjoy it. On the
other end, I know you guys are probably pumping different
things out and you guests have to guess, but I
really appreciate this and thank you guys.
Speaker 2 (58:40):
So we would talk to you all day, but our
producers like kick them off. We've got somebody else, So
we just trying to were just trying to I'm saying,
we're trying to talk now. No, I received that. We
appreciate that, and it's always about just yeah, man, we
want to hear about what our other brotherren are doing.
You know, even though we're not no longer playing the game,
(59:01):
we know we there is life after football, So we're
just trying to see what everyone's doing, man, and just
give him that shout and just show them some love.
Speaker 1 (59:07):
You guys, we're fraternity.
Speaker 2 (59:08):
Absolutely come back, all right, we'll come back. Come back
skinnier though, Stay like that. You're good.
Speaker 1 (59:17):
She's like, I'm good with this. I'm good.
Speaker 2 (59:20):
I like the Russell this way, like Big Luth, little Luthor.
Speaker 1 (59:24):
Yeah, I like Big Luther.
Speaker 2 (59:26):
Big Russell's like too, Little Russell ain't gonna.
Speaker 1 (59:29):
Do nothing, thank you, guys.
Speaker 2 (59:31):
Doubt man.
Speaker 3 (59:31):
Hey, look, anywhere you pick up your podcast, whether it's iHeartRadio,
app or Apple podcasts, make sure you always tune in
and check us out, man, whether like, share, subscribe, leave
a couple of comments.
Speaker 4 (59:41):
Peanut loves to answer those, and also.
Speaker 3 (59:44):
Check us out on the NFL pages the NFL's YouTube.
Speaker 2 (59:47):
Channel dang it, I said pages cool, get us out here.
I'm Penut, just Roman. That is Russell, And this is
the NFL Player's Second Act podcast and we are out
a
Hosts And Creators
Jamie Erdahl
Jason McCourty
Kyle Brandt
Peter Schrager
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