Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:06):
She asked me if I want to have a glass
of rose. I said absolutely, because he turned down Julia
Roberts in a glass of rose. And we ended up
finishing off a bottle of rose and it was fantastic.
Every year I sent her a case of rose. I
don't know if he drinks it or not, but you
know I send it to her.
Speaker 2 (00:26):
We have a living legend on the Bobby Cast Today,
super Bowl Champion with the New York Giants. He's a
Hall of Famer. He's co anchor of Good Morning America.
I'm gonna talk to Michael Strahan from setting a single
season sack record, he flew in Space with Blue Origin,
which we'll talk about. Like he's all over the place.
He also has a collection and it's called The Collection
(00:46):
by Michael Strahan. It suits, It's in one hundred Belk
stores and it's online. And I love this guy. I've
been able to work with them a couple of times
beyond Good Morning America, and he was so nice. We
talk about that and we talked football on TV and
business space and everything in between. If you don't know him, well,
you're about to love him. Here he is. My conversation
(01:07):
with Michael Strahan. Michael Strahan, what's up, man?
Speaker 1 (01:11):
What's up? Man? I'm so hungry. I'm on here eating
from Starburst.
Speaker 2 (01:16):
You eat Starburst. I'm surprised that you, for two reasons,
would eat Starbursts.
Speaker 1 (01:21):
Probably had him in years, but and that's why they're
probably harder than a rock. They're all kind of harder
than a rock right now, but I mean, deferate times
off for different.
Speaker 2 (01:30):
Is it that desperate you gotta eat old Starburst?
Speaker 1 (01:32):
I'm not desperate right now.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Let me just say it's been it's been a few minutes.
I don't even know if you remember me, but I
have a couple of Michael Strahan stories. Once once I
was in New York for something else, and I got
a call going, hey, will you go up to GMA
and talk to Michael Strahan about Old Town Road? And
I was like, yeah, sure, So I threw on some
g I literally threw on some jeans and a B
(01:57):
plus shirt and went up and talking about Oldtown Road
whenever Lolana's X was blowing up. Now it's kind of
fun because you're just the easiest got to be around.
And then obviously when I you know, I want to
dancing with the Stars. That was kind of odd that
that was a fun one too. But uh, I always
tell people like, you're a big dude, but you're a
very warm guy. You feel like you've always been that
way towards people.
Speaker 1 (02:16):
Uh yeah, yeah, I appreciate that. I appreciate that, and
I remember meeting you every time. So yeah, I've always
felt like people are important. I was always growing up
as a kid, was kind of had those jobs that
you weren't the scene person in when you're cutting the
grass or you're moving furniture and people just don't see you.
(02:38):
You're kind of just there. So for me, it's always
about being warm and making people feel seen. So and
I like people, so yeah, I always I feel like
I'm that guy except for the football field. Outside of that,
I'm actually pretty nice.
Speaker 2 (02:53):
Was that a switch?
Speaker 1 (02:56):
Oh yeah, Oh yeah, you gotta have a switch. You
have to be a It's weird when I was a
kid kid, being like twenty one in the first year
in the league. You have to you think for years,
like I got to be mad at that guy. I
gotta be mad he said something about my mama, Like
you're creating all these scenarios in your head. But as
(03:17):
I got older, it was, hey, we can have the
conversation right now. Like to hold on, Bobby, put my
helmet on, run out there, look at the guy, Smile
at him, beat him up a little bit, come back,
put the helmet down, and continue the conversation. It was
more about learning how to control your aggression and how
to control your focus. And it took me some years
(03:38):
to do it, but it made the game easier, made
it more relaxed, made it more fun, less stressful. So yeah,
I definitely felt like you have to have a switch.
If you don't, you'll burn yourself out quickly.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
I think it's been pretty amazing to watch the new
professional identity you've created. But I do, and I work
for the NFL, and I work with Matt Cassel, who
was a quarterback, and we talked a lot about athletes
when they leave, they kind of have to figure out
who they are because all they've ever done is be
that was that you know mentally for you? Was that
a struggle?
Speaker 1 (04:08):
Absolutely? I knew I had a job with Fox when
I retired, I mean that was that was done. I'd
already had a deal that signed and put in a
drawer and the first year of that deal went by,
and I still I went back to the Giants. It
wasn't about having a job. It was about having a
you know, being comfortable. And my first year at Fox,
first three weeks, I was thinking I should have gone
(04:30):
back to play football. This TV stuff is not for me.
It's hard. It's a lot harder than it looks. But
once I got it down, I love it. But yeah,
football was just it's something we've done on our whole lives,
and how do you transition out of that? And you
walk into a room and you feel like that's all
everybody sees as the football player. They don't see the
(04:53):
human being. They don't see someone who has other interest
someone who is more rounded than what they expected an
athlete to be. So yeah, that was a big adjustment
for me. Even though I knew I had a job,
it still was tough.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
Did you feel like when you would go into a
room that you would try to prove you were more
of what you actually were, but try to be more
of that so people would take you as that instead
of just an athlete.
Speaker 1 (05:16):
I think at some point probably probably, But I remember
I was talking to a movie guy, movie producer, and
I remember saying to him, Yeah, you know, I feel
like I go into these things because I thought I
wanted to be an actur at that point. So I'm like, yeah,
I go to these auditions and I feel like I
(05:37):
walk in and they just go. Hear the football player
and he said, people will see you as you see
yourself and he said that, and it kind of like, Okay,
I got to take myself out of just that football
player of mentality. And once I did that, it's like
a lot of different things start to happen. I think
people did see me in a different light. I think
(05:58):
being just taking advantage of opportunity, and by that I
mean getting over the fear of failure, to feel your
fear of being in front of a group of people
and something not working out, just saying yes to something
just for the experience of it, and see where that led.
And I look back now and I'm so grateful that
I kind of got over the fear of the failure,
(06:19):
the fear of feeling like you're you're you're gonna look
stupid if you do something, and just get rid of
all that stuff, drop your ego at the door, and
go to work. And that's what I did, and it's
worked out.
Speaker 2 (06:33):
How early did you start doing Live with Kelly and
Michael from after you retired.
Speaker 1 (06:38):
Think a fourth year out of football? Yeah, I think
my fourth year out.
Speaker 2 (06:45):
Did you feel like you were ready for that or
do you feel like that was training camp for what
you're doing now?
Speaker 1 (06:50):
Oh? No, I was ready for that because coming from Fox,
got four other guys that have to listen to and
pay attention to. That was tough. Live was probably the
easiest show I've ever done, to be honest with you,
because it was more personality driven. It was more you know,
paid by celebrity driven, more fun and upbeat. So that
(07:14):
was just kind of natural to me, and I enjoyed it.
I loved it. It was It was really a lot
of fun. And GMA is a little bit of that,
but you have the news and you have other components,
so it required for you to have a different range
and much more and much more rounded range and Live.
But I felt like I was ready for Live. GMA
(07:34):
and Football were the two that when I first started,
I was a little overwhelmed. Live felt natural. It was
just a good fit.
Speaker 2 (07:42):
Did you feel like playing football you would get more
scrutiny like film or once you started doing GMA when
they were Were you getting scrutiny from you know, producers
or executives.
Speaker 1 (07:53):
No, it's it's weird producers and executives in a lot
of ways. You need people around you outside of that
who we're going to tell you the truth. And not
that they don't tell you the truth, but I think
a lot of them is so afraid to upset what
they call the talent, so they they will go around
and try to hopefully get around that gets to you
(08:15):
around the bend, not directly to your face, but coming
from football, I'm used to it, like a coach cursing
you out, screaming at you, talking about everything about you.
You just got to take it, or you just got
to tough en up. And I'm being on the field
and having guys do that or being in to have
the media do that to you have to have a
bad game or bad season. So I was pretty tough
(08:36):
from the football aspect of it. I think that the
other criticism that you get, I think I was. I
judge myself a lot harder than anybody in the newspaper
is going to judge me. So I just learned when
I played football, and I remember telling one of the
reporters this after he had kind of pissed me off,
I said, well, you know what I learned, I'm not
(09:00):
gonna let take that. I'm not gonna let the opinion
of someone upset me who the last time they put
on a football uniform is when their mom took them
trick or treating. And it's very easy for me to
criticize what you do. I can't do what you do,
but I know one thing I could do what those
guys were doing. They couldn't do what I was doing
at the time. So I used to always look at
it and think, no one is more. People want to
(09:23):
our people want to see succeed, but most people, you know,
sometime they don't. But then if they don't and you
have a comeback, they like that too. And being in
New York to have that thick skin, so I developed
it here man, and it's worked great for me.
Speaker 2 (09:37):
It's weird. You bring up a great point, like our
culture is funny because they love to build you up.
They don't always love to see you stay up there
because then they love to knock you down, and then
they love to see you build yourself back up again
after they've built you up and knocked you down. It's
almost like they want to yo yo you. That's exactly what.
Speaker 1 (10:01):
Yeah, But I will tell you, if you could build
yourself back up after getting knocked down, then you almost
feel like nothing could take you down again, you know,
unless you do something to sabotage yourself. But I enjoy that.
I enjoy channing and being challenged. I enjoy people doubting.
I think that's what motivates for me, to be honest
with you, to keep on doing all these things that
(10:23):
no one expected this football guy to do. So I'll
take it as motivation and I take it as fuel.
I don't feel like I have anything to prove anymore
to anybody, and now I do things that I love
to do, and I enjoy doing it and just trying
to prove to myself that I can accomplish and be
good at something.
Speaker 2 (10:39):
What time do you wake up in the morning?
Speaker 1 (10:41):
Five am? Oh, that ain't so bad, not so bad,
you know, Like George wakes up at three three thirty
and Robin's like four four point thirty, and they're like, oh,
we meditate. I'm like, well I do too, it's called sleep.
Why why so I wake up at five and it's
(11:03):
it's a great job, man. I love it. I actually
enjoy going in. I think moving our studios all the
way downtown has brought a different kind of vibe and
feeling to it and has reinvigorated everybody there. So it's
a lot of fun.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
Do you have any moments with Good Morning America? And
I'll just compare it out for a week, I went
and I hosted The Today Show. I hope that's not a.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
Bad word, but I want to know not at all.
I love them.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
I hosted The Today Show and Queen Elizabeth died one
of the days that I was doing it, and so
it just it threw everything off, meaning it was like, Okay,
we had all this planned, but now we're going straight coverage.
It's Queen Elizabeth. Has have any of those big world
events happened to you where you've had to go all
right time to you know, just tighten up and we
got to change.
Speaker 1 (11:44):
Oh yeah, absolutely every day. I mean, we we got
a situation going on and you're on right now. So
it's like you're in the middle of something and something
happened and it's breaking news and you got to break
in the show. Get thrown in flux and when you
first start, oh man, you don't know what's going on,
your mind just spinning because you've never experienced it. But
now you kind of get used to it. It's not
(12:06):
that it's easy, but you're able to calm yourself down
and process everything to get through it. And that's what's
kind of fun about is the unpredictability of it, because
if every day is just the same, after a while
you can go in there and be a robot and
do the job. I'm like, okay, you guys can just
ai me and I'll stay home. You still get this
(12:26):
job done. But yeah, you got to be able to
just move and flex and be flexible with everything. Sometimes
one of the worst is went out like we're talking,
all of a sudden, you're remote messes up and then Cara,
You're like, we got to probably be right back. The
panic is real, But it's fun. Man. That's the interesting
(12:47):
part about my job is that I get to talk
to interesting people like yourself, get to meet a ton
of people, get to cover world events. So my highlights
I went to to when they coordinate King Charles, I
did the coordination for ABC. I let the coverage so
I'm throwing all the raw experts and I have to
be an expert on the subject myself to go to
(13:10):
places like Easter Island and cover the Mai statues and
the ecosystem there. So it's like all these interesting places
I get to go around the world to cover different
things and topics and people and animals and everything.
Speaker 2 (13:23):
It's fantastic the documentary you did about your daughter's fight
against cancer, and I believe that's even in the title
of it, that's that's professional, but it's extremely personal. And
this is a professional question. But I'm assuming in final
cuts when you get the decision of what's going to
be shown, like you're having a balance. This is your
daughter's journey, and yet it's also being made as a documentary.
(13:47):
To me, what seemed like to allow people to see
they're not alone, and like to also to show you
know what had happened, but that a lot of folks
are like, how did you balance that?
Speaker 1 (13:57):
Well, that's all unheard. I'll be honest with you. My
daughter the main because I when when we got the
diagnosis and she was going through what she was going through,
she couldn't find anybody her age to to communicate with.
To to share, to be comfortable with. So that's why
she wanted to reach out and like post all these
(14:19):
blog blogs and do all blogs and do all these things.
And when they came to when we thought about doing
the doc, I'll be honest with you, Bobby, I've never
seen it.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
Oh still still because it because you lived it or too.
It's too hard that much.
Speaker 1 (14:34):
I lived it, and it's too hard to watch and
be in there every day and senend it every day.
That is one the one project where I said, okay,
if you want to do this, I told her you
don't have to do this. She wanted to do this
because she wanted to help other people. So I was
a one project. So I said handed it to the
team and said, here you go. This is this is
(14:57):
my baby. Take care of my baby. But I can't.
I can't be involved on a daily and look at this.
But she's been remission, she's you know, checkups are great,
she's back in college. But yeah, it's a very hard.
That was a very hard time because I have to
go to work every day and put on a brave,
(15:18):
happy face, but yet I know when I go home,
I'm dealing with a daughter who I have to take
to get radiation treatments, or I got to go to
give her you should take her to do her chemo treatment.
So it was, it was it was tough, you know,
rushing to the hospital at night if she gets the fever,
and then you know, showing up in the morning and
acting and being in a way in which, okay that
(15:38):
I can't let my personal side interact with my professional side.
But her putting it out there really did help me
in a sense that I didn't feel like I feel
like I could express what was going on with the
people that were close to me, and I feel like
I had to hold something back. And because she didn't
want the world to know, she wanted the world to
know because she felt it was a good way to
(16:00):
to help other people in the world.
Speaker 2 (16:02):
How did you compartmentalize that?
Speaker 1 (16:04):
You know, it's kind of like football a switch. Be
honest with you, It's like a switch. And it's a
gift in a curse because I can have something serious
and I can block it out and do it, can
do in a moment, and I can go right back
to it, and I can block it out and go
do other things. It's a gift in a curse. But
in this case it was the gift. And yeah, it
(16:25):
was just compartmentalized then. And I think playing sports, playing
football and having to develop that skill helped in this case.
Speaker 3 (16:34):
Let's take a quick pause for a message from our sponsor,
and we're back on the Bobby Cast.
Speaker 2 (16:50):
And I spent time going up in Germany. I'd never
been until recently, and I stopped in Munich and I
got a hot dog, and I really put I put
a lot of pressure on that hot dog being good,
just because you got a broathw was I got it? Yes,
and so at high, hopes high and I got and
it met every expectation that I could have ever had. Yes,
And I talk about it. If anybody's like, you ever
(17:12):
been to Germany, I'm like, not only have I been
to Germany, let me tell you about this hot dog
at a street fair? It was abroad. There's definitely a broade.
So what ages were you there?
Speaker 1 (17:21):
I was. We moved in Germany and when I was nine,
and then I came back to the States for half
of my senior year to play football and lived with
my uncle in Houston for five months, got one football
scholarship the Texas Southern, got back on the plane in
December for Christmas and flew back to Germany and graduated
high school there. So I was there from nine till seventeen,
(17:44):
eighteen years old. My parents stayed until I was twenty seven.
I was in the NFL for a six seven years
before my parents moved back, So I would still go back.
I'd go see my family. Obviously, I felt when I
first came back here for high school for that half
of my senior year, I felt more a German and
European than I felt the American that was home. And yeah,
(18:07):
it was. It was definitely a culture shock to come
back to the States.
Speaker 2 (18:13):
Did you only play American football then? For one year?
Speaker 1 (18:16):
I played one year in high school. Yeah, I had
no idea what I was doing. Man, I was just
like running around getting the guy with the ball just whoever.
I had no idea. I knew no technique. I watched
the game on TV. You know, you just tackle the
guy with the ball. So if I could do that,
I got one scholarship and then from there I figured
(18:37):
it out and I learned, you know, I really learned
a lot about how to do it. I watched TV, man,
I would watch NFL games on Sunday. Even when I
was in college, I'd watch NFL games on Sunday, and
I'm just watching a guy and what he's doing and
how he's successful at different things. And I remember reading
in those something and these magazines that needs to have
(18:58):
the players their size, their weight, all these things, and
I remember going, I need to be six five two fifty.
I need to be six five two fifty. And my
brothers aren't big guys really, And I ended up being
like sixty five at times in my career, a little
bit over to fifty other big bone but but by
the end it up. But by by the end of
(19:20):
the day, I ended up being would always imagine I
needed to be in order to be successful in the NFL.
It's crazy.
Speaker 2 (19:27):
Is there a person, both in sports and in your
we'll call it your second life in media who believed
in you and you look at that person and go, man,
if it wasn't for that person, I don't know if
I'd be here.
Speaker 1 (19:37):
I think it's it's two people at different favors than
my life. Number one is my dad. My dad, Major
Jean Willie Strahan Senior, passed away a few years ago,
but incredibly great, great father and a great man, and
my dad growing up would always say when not if so?
(19:57):
He said, when you do this, when you do that,
when you go back to this day with your uncle
and get the scholarship, when you make it to the pros,
when I mean everything was when never if so? In
my mind, I believe anything was possible. I never had
any doubt. So my dad was that growing up. And
then once football was over, my business partner, Constant Swarts,
(20:20):
it was like Constance kind of picked up the baton
and I'll never forget the first time I did live
I was a guest host. I was nervous as all
could be. I do it. We get backstage and she
looks at me and go, this is what you're gonna do.
This is your next job, this is your next get.
This type of business is what you're gonna do. And
(20:41):
from there to everything that I do now on the
business side to the television side, it's all because Constance
has taken over the role that my dad had all
those years growing up. And yeah, between the two of them,
they have really taken care of me.
Speaker 2 (21:00):
This may be a really corny question, but what was
it like in space?
Speaker 1 (21:04):
Oh? Amazing? Well, I tell you. People will ask me that,
and I could sit here and take our whole time
together to describe it to you. But in essence, the
whole thing was twelve minutes up and down twelve minutes.
But because you're so hyper aware of every sound, every feeling, everything,
(21:28):
it feels like it was ours. When you're sitting in
that capsule and you're watching that screen and it's telling
you the countdown clock, and then they added more time
to our countdown clock, which makes you go, huh, why
did they do that wrong? And they're coming on they're like, no,
nothing's wrong or okay, and you're watching that countdown clock,
and once you get to two and a half minutes,
(21:49):
then it goes on the computer. You're locked in. So
until then you got two things you can say one
time out, which means they'll come on and try to say, okay, Bobby,
you can do this, you got it, or I don't
want to fly today. Then they'll just come take you off.
And I'm looking at the countdown clock and I'm like, ooh,
is anybody on here gonna say they don't want to
(22:11):
party to break? And if they do, will I go
with them? And once you get past that threshold where
you realize you're locked in and you have no other
option but to do it. It is such a calming
piece over your body. You're not even scared. It's a piece.
And once we took off and the thing is moving up,
(22:32):
everybody just screamed, like unprompted screen because it was like
all this joy and press are relieved and you're flying. Man,
I mean you look up there to screen, it's like, oh,
we're forty thousand square feet I mean forty feet thousand
feet in the air and we have we're going three
hundred mileths per hour. You're like, okay, cars that due
three hundred and forty thousand. I've been on a plane.
(22:54):
Next thing, you know, you look up, you're like two
hundred thousand feet in the air doing two thousand mileths
per hour. And you were in the light looking at
the darkness. Now you're in the dark looking back at
the light. And the first time you realize that they
released the main rocket and you go like that and
you go, oh my gosh, my arms are floating. Then
(23:16):
once you release your seat belts, you put them, you
take them off, You push yourself with the pressure of
holding up a cell phone with two fingers. That's it.
Don't ever use your left You'll break your neck. Don't
blow like the cartoon. You're not gonna move anywhere. Don't
do that. You're not going anywhere. It doesn't work that way.
But you push off of that seat and you're just floating.
(23:37):
You're doing spinning, and you're looking out the window and
it looks like you know, when you leave your phone,
your TV on the iPhone and I mean the apple
and the circular screen and just looking back at the planet.
It makes you realize how insignificant we are to the
grand scheme of everything here, and it gives you a
(23:59):
different sense of what your life is, your family like
you start you get become peaceful with the fact of
death when you're getting ready to take off, because you
realize this could go awry. But then you know, I
don't want to leave my family. I don't want them
to leave me. And you realize how much love that
(24:20):
there is that you have inside of you, uh, and
but how insignificant the grand scheme of the world you are.
At the same time, it's just the most unique feeling
I've ever ever felt.
Speaker 2 (24:30):
Man, And you didn't take it all to yell, I
don't want to do it.
Speaker 1 (24:33):
You were in.
Speaker 2 (24:33):
You were locked in.
Speaker 1 (24:34):
Absolutely. I thought I didn't want to do it. You know,
when I got the call to do what I had,
I was at I went to the first launch that
Bethos dead. Jeff and his brother Mark and I went
for gm A and I'm like, okay, you know I'm
gonna watch these guys go up in a spaceship. I'm
not a space guy. I watched it, and I said,
(24:55):
this is the coolest thing. When the rocket came back
and landed on the pad by itself there you can't
see that. I'm thinking, I'll just see them up there
and they'll come down like a roller coaster. That's really hot.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
Hot.
Speaker 1 (25:04):
No, they were gone, then they come down. I talked
to them. It was the most unbridled joy I've ever
seen out of human being in my life. Everybody who
did it, and I said, this is the coolest thing
I've ever seen. When that rocket land I think this
is like Iron Man cool. A few weeks later, I
get invited to dinner with them and another couple and
(25:26):
I got there late because I was doing Thursday night
football at that point for Fox, and I'm eating my
cold left the cold leftovers that they left me, and
I said, you know that rocket thing. I would say
I would never do that, but I would do that.
That was one of the coolest thing that I've ever seen.
A few days later, I'm playing golf and I get
a call and it's Jeff and he goes, I think
(25:47):
you know what this is about. I'm like, yeah, And
I was so excited for you. I'm in, man, I'm in.
A week before I was like, maybe I got COVID maybe, dude.
I was scared to death. I was like, what did
I sign up for? Because then the interim you got
to get your paperwork in order, you know. I'm like,
(26:09):
this could be the last week I'd see my family
and friends. It could be it. But it ended up
being magnificent. And by the time you get on that ship,
they've explained everything to you. You sat with the engineers
who built the rocket, you set with other astronauts who
have gone in the space. They do an incredible job
of educating you. So when you get on the ship,
you feel confident you're ready to go. My family cried.
(26:32):
I don't know if they were crying because they wanted
me back or they didn't, but they said they cried
and I had the best time, the best time.
Speaker 2 (26:40):
I want to ask about the coach vic experience as
a kid growing up, love Michael Vicker Virginia Tech, like
he was that dude. I read the commercials, the Mike
vic Experience commercial on the roller coaster, you know, so
the rise of Mike Vick and then you know when
he went to prison and he's back at So I've
just kind of seen Mike Vick, the roller coaster of
Mike Vick. And I wonder now, because I don't know
(27:01):
him and he's coaching now, like, what did you take
away from Mike Vic as an adult and as a
coach and as a leader of men.
Speaker 1 (27:08):
Well, one thing I will say about Mike. I've known
Mike a long time and I have so much respect
for him because he realized what got him in trouble
back in the day and the way that he was
living his life back in the day, that was the
wrong way to live his life. And here's the guy
who grew up in a certain way, doing certain things
(27:30):
that seem normal for the community that he came from,
but they weren't and they weren't right. So he paid
his debt, he went to prison, came out of prison,
got back on the football field, but also had a
lot of you know, he owed a lot of money
to a lot of people, but he didn't found bankruptc
and ripped everybody off. He paid people back. So I
look at Mike and I think Mike had a lot
(27:50):
of honor. I think as a coach, I don't know
if there's any other player I would listen, I would
be amazed look at Mike and I look at Dion.
I mean, the'se got some of the goats of what
they did. And they both are the guys who were
signature like they's so incredible at the time. They're one
of the few football players at the top with their
(28:11):
own shoes which are on a parel line through Nike,
Like we didn't get that as football players. That's how
exceptional these two were. And I love Mike as a
coach because I think he's had some life experiences that
other kids, these kids need to hear. The kids need
to experience someone who's been on top, who's been on
the bottom, who's making their way back. And I think
as a coach, it is so much, probably more than
(28:34):
he thought it was going to be. It's a lot
to bite off. It's a lot of work, there's a
lot of time away from your family. They're the reason
I got into TV, because I wouldn't want to be
a coach. So I think that Mike is a great
example of resilience. I think he's a great example paying
your debt to society and getting back on your feet.
And I hopefully he can turn Norfolk State back around
(28:56):
because last year was a rough year. But I think
he's also learning along with these kids as the coach,
and I think they're learning from him as men.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
Do you think you could have played another year?
Speaker 1 (29:07):
Yeah? Absolutely? Why? Yeah? Why didn't I say I walked
off to field, Bobby, I didn't lent Okay, why and
we won a super Bowl? Man? I had fifteen years.
I did everything I wanted to do.
Speaker 2 (29:19):
There was nothing left to do.
Speaker 1 (29:20):
What was I'd won every awards, I'd done all the
individual stuff, and after so many years of that, you
kind of go, this is not really fulfilling. The only
thing I hadn't done was one of Super Bowl. So
once that happened, it's like, why am I sticking around
for the money to blow my knee? Out and the
next thing, I got something that's going to mess me
up for the rest of my life for a few bucks,
(29:42):
and I just kind of felt confident enough that I
could make something happen outside of the game of football.
And thankfully I've been able to do that. But yeah,
I could have played another year. Physically, I felt great.
There are days I wake up now and I feel
like I can give him another year.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
Did you have good financial life?
Speaker 1 (30:01):
Yeah? And not because not because it was because I
had a chance encounter with the guy who ended up
being like one of my He is one of my
best friends and my brother who has looked out for
me over the years, and it was like a ten
year age No, it'st well, hold on, yeah, it's like
(30:23):
twelve year age difference. We met on a golf trip
when neither of us played golf. We ended up being
like sweet mates and we just really hit it off.
In nineteen ninety four and he got into an accident
in the city and call and his wife called me,
who was nine months pregnant at the time in her
(30:43):
mid forties, which is back then the very risky pregnancy.
And I went to the hospital and saw him and
made sure that she had nothing to worry about and
took care of him, made sure I got all the
doctors I made that happen. And his promise to me
was you took care of my wife and my own
born son, who is now mid twenties and works a
big head fun. I can't teach you. I want to
(31:09):
do something for you. So I can't teach you football,
and I'm like, yeah, because from the accident when you
gotta hit roy roller blader, you can't take ahead, so
it was pretty bad how you look. So I want
to teach you about money. I don't want to invest
your money. I don't want to control your money. I
don't want any say over your money. I just want
you to bring me every deal that anyone brings to
(31:31):
you and all the things that you've done before you've
met me, and I want to make sure we go
through it. I wanted to teach you how to look
at money. I want to teach you how to value money.
I will teach you how to understand it, what question
to ask when people want it, like everything, And that
was the life lesson of the best financial literacy that
anybody can have as someone who's in that business. In
the finance world, who takes you under their wing for nothing,
(31:54):
never charge me one penny, and has been that guy
for me for over thirty years. So I got very lucky,
very fortunate in relationships.
Speaker 4 (32:05):
The Bobby Cast will be right back. This is the
Bobby Cast.
Speaker 2 (32:19):
I'm gonna ask you a question that I've asked a
few people recently. I don't have any kids yet. My
wife's about to have our first kid, so thank you
very much. Vegas. Could be like, give me some advice.
Speaker 1 (32:31):
Well, when the baby's born, you come home, they don't
give you a manual, but don't panic. I think that
first of all, you'll know what you're doing without even
knowing what you're doing, and you'll figure it out. And
kids aren't as delicate as you think they are. They
were off, I mean, we were all kids and ran
and fell and hit our head on coffee tables and
(32:52):
everything else, and look at us, we're functioning somewhat. So
I would say, you're gonna love your kid more than
you ever thought you can love anything, including yourself, because
I tell my kids all the time, because I'm that
annoying dad who's sending them, you know, stuff, fuf Instagram
(33:13):
watch out for this when you're in an uber do
this and they're like, oh dad, you're going to take
self defense because oh Dad, I'm like, you don't understand
when you're not with me, my heart lives outside of
my body. You're my heart now, So wherever you go
and whatever you do is me. And that's the thing
about having kids. It makes you realize that your life
(33:34):
is a lot bigger than whatever you do for a living.
And you know, whatever car you drive and how many
people you know doesn't matter. Kids are the krem to
krem of what life is about. If you have them,
and you'll be fine, don't be nervous, and you'll you'll
crush it and whatever they most, for the most part,
(33:54):
whatever they learn in life, I think it's Fathers were
always told that, you know what I mean, you got
a baby, what are we supposed to really do? And
I'd read I read a book of years ago that
said the first three years of your kid's life are
the most important of the father because we always get
this idea that oh, I'm not breast freeding, I'm not
doing this, I'm not doing that, but being there, your
(34:16):
rhythm of your heart, the smell like everything and your
kids could get as at tapped to you as they
can to anybody. And I'm telling you, man, it's going
to be magical. I can't wait. Do you talk to
you in a few months or a year and you're like, Michael,
this is the most amazing thing ever. And I'm having
a second one.
Speaker 2 (34:36):
I got three final questions for you. I love when
people do like lines of clothes because there's a lot
of like themselves in it. And I know that you
have at Belk stores. You have is it suits? Like
what do you have? And how much of it is
like your style?
Speaker 1 (34:51):
It's all of it's my style everything. So we have suits,
we have belts, we have all the men accessories. So
everything that you need to get suited and booted is
what we got and it's all my style. I don't
wear everything. Every time you see me in a suit,
it's my suit. See me in his shirt, it's my shirt.
I don't go out and buy something else and wear
(35:13):
and try to say, oh yeah, this is mine everything,
because I believe if I'm gonna put my name on,
it's got to be me. And but I am kind
of a I'm not a bougie guy. If that's a
word like, I'm not this fancy, hoity toity guy because
my suits are affordable, but they're nice and there's a
(35:35):
lot of thought that goes into them, and I would
touch every fabric. Oh, I like this pocket, I like
that lapel, like obsessing over it because I didn't want someone.
If something the success and you're getting credit for it
and you were really really invested, you can feel good
about it. If it were success and I had nothing
(35:56):
to do with it and they're giving a lot of
credit to me, I would feel bad just like it
fit the failure and I didn't put anything into it.
Then I'm mad at myself because maybe I could have
made it success by investing. But if it's the failure
and I put everything intwo of it, I could live
with that. At least I try. So everything is me everything,
So I love the business. It's organic to me and
(36:17):
organic to my life. And being a football player, we
had to dress up. I love getting on the road
trips because you would see some of the most interesting
outfits you'd ever see. A chameleon suit that changed colors
with every freaking way you walk, to suits that looked
like skittles bags with yellow, green and purple and everything else.
So yeah, interesting life.
Speaker 2 (36:39):
Okay, two questions left. This one's probably gonna be tough,
but I got if you could go one through three, like,
who have you been able to interview that you were
starstruck by when you sat down with them?
Speaker 3 (36:50):
Wow?
Speaker 1 (36:54):
Julia Roberts. Julia Roberts, how about that go first time? Fantastic.
I interviewed her at the Beverly Wilster Hotel the anniversary
of Pretty Woman, and I interviewed her in the suite
where they shot the movie. And when we finished the interview,
she asked me if I want to have a glass
of rose? So I said absolutely, because who turns down
(37:16):
Julia Roberts in a glass of rose? And we ended
up finishing off a bottle of rose and it was
It was fantastic. And her birthday is the same as
my twins, so you know, every year I sent her
a case of rose. I don't know if she drinks
it or not, but you know, I send it to her.
But yeah, Julia Roberts was one.
Speaker 2 (37:37):
Man.
Speaker 1 (37:39):
It's so weird because I've interviewed people multiple times now,
so I'm not really as nervous. Oh, I had Nicole
Kidman yesterday and Jamie Lee Curtis.
Speaker 2 (37:50):
Nicole Kidman is so nice. She lives here, like yeah,
and I know she's local and I know her, and
I knew her and Keith when they were together, and
I knew them both really well. She's so nice, Like
she shouldn't be that nice, you know what.
Speaker 1 (38:03):
She's so nice. And Jamie Lee and her, of course
complimented each other, and I love the way in which
they met and they're working on this project together, and
so I Jamie Lee said how nice she was, and
you could just see it. She's a gentle soul man.
So she kind of intimidated me because I love her work,
(38:25):
like I love everything she does. I think she just
is fantastic. And the last one who would be number three?
Speaker 2 (38:33):
You stop? What about it? We're gonna stop it, Like
what about an athletic? When I interviewed Derek Jeter, thought
that was pretty cool? Or it's usually anybody from when
I was a kid that I looked up to, because
when I meet them, I'm like, this is crazy, because
I still have that inside of me, even if I
know everything's like real and you know, people are people,
but like when I meet somebody from when I was
a kid. I still have those feelings.
Speaker 1 (38:55):
I mean, you know what, the guy that they're really
good like, Jeter's my buddy. I mean, I don't get
me started on that knucklehead, but I love it. The
one guy who I loved too is a good friend
and everything else, but you see him and you're still like,
WHOA what. I remember the first time I interviewed him
with first year he got into NASCAR, and I was like,
(39:17):
Michael Jordan. I mean, MJ is still MJ. And so
that was like the one guy. And as a kid,
I started trying to walk a little bow legged and
stuff like that, and wish I had grown to six
six and about two fifteen so I could have played basketball,
but that didn't quite work out, so I had to
go to football. But MJ. MJ is like one of
(39:38):
those athletes that I look at I'm like, Okay, this
is Michael Jordan. This is the guy who I still
get a bunch of highlights on Instagram for my buddies.
Speaker 3 (39:47):
Let's take a quick pause for a message from our sponsor,
and we're back on the Bobby Cast.
Speaker 2 (40:04):
Final question for you. You've done many things, and you've
been successful at many things like what's the key? What's
the key to people doing things and making it.
Speaker 1 (40:16):
Really enjoyed and having through the athm for it. Just
don't show up at mail in mail it in. Be interested.
I think that's the thing a lot of people do
things because then we've all done things like oh, I'm
gonna make a lot of money. But you just don't
jump into something and make a lot of money. You
got to build up to those things. But the only
(40:37):
way you're going to build up to it if you
have an interest and to stay in it. And I've
always been interested in things and that I've done. I
think I try to do things that really make me
want to do them, and that's just has seemed to
be the magic. On top of just being nice to people.
I think that is like the greatest thing for me
(40:59):
is just people being nice to people, understanding people, having
a feeling for people, like I said earlier, making people
feel seen, because if you treat people in that way,
people were going to be around you. We never have
you ever seen somebody walks in a room and you're
like oh, man, or somebody walks in the room and
you're like hey, And I think that's just from the
(41:21):
vibe and energy that you give off. So for me,
I've just tried to give off the vibe of you know,
I'm easy. I don't want anything from anybody. I don't
need anything from anybody. I just want to truly be
friends with people. I think there's so much more fun
in that than always having an angle. So yeah, show up,
be authentic, be interested, and do the best you can
(41:42):
at it.
Speaker 2 (41:43):
Life ain't that complicated. I'm gonna check out. I'm gonna
check out the suits. If those are the ones you're
wearing on TV. I'm gonna check out the suits.
Speaker 1 (41:50):
Then that's it.
Speaker 2 (41:51):
You let me know.
Speaker 1 (41:51):
I'll sing you some man. I got you now, nobody
get your sizes.
Speaker 2 (41:55):
We'll shit you some suits, all right, all right, apper
dad man, I appreciate that. Like I said, I'm not
just saying it because you know we're on Netflix now
or whatever. It's like you were always so kind to me,
even if you didn't know you were, Like you naturally
were that guy that you're talking about right now, Like
that's who you were to me. And that is always
the impression when people ask about someone like you, or
(42:16):
even someone like Dion, who I know like it's like
people make you feel a certain way when you're around them,
and you were that guy. So I really appreciate you
being so nice to me.
Speaker 1 (42:24):
No, you kidding me. You've a great man and ana
and we've talked about it today. Dance with the Stars,
by the way, congratulations again every athlete that I've talked
to who's done it, and Emmitt Smith won the first
year he came to New York and I took him
to dinner and literally we couldn't walk in the restaurant
like women getting up from each table we passed, and
(42:45):
he'd have to dance with each one of them to
get just to the table. Can we just eat hungry?
But every athlete I talked to you said, man, that
is the freaking hardest thing we've ever done. I said,
That's why I'll never be on the show. I don't
want to work that hard boy. See you go on
(43:05):
and not what I'm dancing background or anything. That's what
I loved about it, man, And it's how tough. I
know it is because I've been around everybody's been on
that show. And for you to go out there and
crush it like that, I was fun to see man.
So congrats again, Champion.
Speaker 2 (43:19):
I appreciate that. I'll end on this since you brought
up Emma. This is my favorite Emma Smith story. I
didn't know Emmett at the time. It's the finale and
you know, and you've judged Dancing with the Stars, right,
You've like you've been up there and you soudge. Yeah.
So on the finale, everybody's super tight because you're just
trying to do your best. There's everybody's trying to win.
You're doing multiple dances. I'm in the back and I've
(43:41):
got one more dance to do. I did not know
what I was doing the whole season, like I was
just every week. I was just piecing it together. And
I run into Emmett in the back. There was like
the craft service is the catering thing, and he sees me,
I'm a little bit outside my mind, and he also
knows what it's like to be in that spot because
he won the show, and he said he came up
to me and he said, how you feel one? And
I was a little too just wired for the show
(44:03):
to go, holy crap, this is EMMITTT.
Speaker 1 (44:05):
Smith.
Speaker 2 (44:06):
And so I was just talking to Emmett another a
champion of Dancing on the Stars. I said, I'm doing
pretty good and he said, he said, look look at
me in the eyes, and so I like focused on
for a second. He put his hand on my shoulder
and he said, look, you have worked every bit as hard,
if not more than any single person to be here.
You have one more dance to do. That dance is
already done. You haven't done it yet, but it's already
(44:26):
done because of all the work that you've put in.
Just go out there and exist. You're gonna win this show.
And then I went out and I'll never forget that.
And after I won, the first person to hop up
on stage with me was Emmett to take a picture
like he gave. He gave me the go get one
for the giver's speech right before I won.
Speaker 1 (44:43):
I love it. Hey, I kind of got some chills
down on me.
Speaker 2 (44:47):
Tell them the make me do me doo. Uh, Mike,
thank you, thank you so much for the time and
uh continued successes and hopefully our pats will cross again soon.
Speaker 1 (44:57):
I hope. So man, anything for you, Bobby love it.
I appreciate you man, and continue success and everything you
do and the honor and pleasure to do this with you,
so thank you. Man.
Speaker 2 (45:06):
I'm gonna get a couple of those suits, even if
I gotta buy them, I'm gonna get them and I'm
gonna wear them all. We got you, all right, We
got you all right. Thank you, Mike, Thanks brother, see
you later.
Speaker 4 (45:15):
Thanks for listening to a Bobby Cast production.