November 4, 2025 • 50 mins
This episode is brought to you in partnership with RCX Sports. To learn more, visit https://www.youth.inc/rcxsportsGreg sits down with Super Bowl champion and father of two, Chris Long, for an authentic conversation about parenting, purpose, and the values learned through sports. Together, they reflect on growing up in athletic families, the pressures facing young athletes today, and how parents can strike the right balance between discipline and fun. Sign up for our newsletter at https://www.youth.inc/newsletterFor more, visit https://www.youth.inc/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
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(00:00):
What's up everybody, welcome back to another episode here on
You think it and this next guy II've known him for a long time
and I'm very I'm very interestedto have the conversation of the
transition from him and my brother coming down on spring
break from the University of Virginia down to Miami sleeping
on my couch to now being AT balldad, father, husband.
(00:23):
I I always find those transitions.
I don't know if I ever would have imagined you and I spending
the amount of time on T-ball fields 15 years ago when we were
running around Miami on spring break.
But without further ado, Chris long dude, appreciate you
joining us. Greg, what up, man?
I think dude, I I think that wasmore like 2020 years ago. 20 it.
(00:44):
Was it was 20? Years old.
He was trying to be like, yeah, we're not that old, bro.
I think that was like so bad. I remember coming down there and
then just over running your house.
So I appreciate you, man. You were great.
You're great host well. We, we were in school and you
and my brother and whoever else you guys could muster up with,
we're on like a full week of spring break and going out and
(01:05):
like we're trying to, we're doing like morning lifts and you
guys are out still. It was the, the, the month of
that, like May, March and April in Miami.
You got every College in Americaspring break.
So it was a It was a fun but difficult time to actually try
to go to school. Yeah, that was the big leagues
for us. That was definitely a lot
(01:25):
different than Charlottesville. So we were.
We try to be on our best behavior, but you're a great
host. Once again, you're you and the
boys. Honestly, I got a bunch of guys
I still talk to from from from your team just because we came
down there and bugged y'all. So Coconut Grove, not a bad
spot. Decent spot we've had, We had a
couple fun nights. But dude, obviously so much,
(01:48):
you've accomplished so much Super Bowls, you know, second
overall pick, long career in theleague.
I mean, you really accomplished it all.
But we're not going to dive intoa lot of that today.
Like I want to talk to you as a dad, as a father, this youth
sports journey. Obviously a lot about your
upbringing, your father, how he was a colleague of mine at Fox
(02:09):
and like might be the nicest manon the planet, at least as a
colleague. We'll talk about what he was
like as a sports dad. But I want to start there.
Like obviously you, your brothers, you've gotten to know
Kyle. Obviously he had a great career
in the league as well. Kind of a dual spark kid growing
up, growing up with your dad. Your dad was probably like one
of the first like true superstars NFL player crossover.
(02:33):
Just give us a little idea of what your sports upbringing was
like growing up as a kid. Well, Greg, I mean the three of
us myself, Howie, who's the youngest and Kyle who's the the
middle, but the big guy and we all had very different kind of
athletic careers early. We all had different, you know,
(02:54):
tool tool boxes, so to speak. Kyle's was just contained a
hammer. He's he's, you know, 6 foot
seven, 330 lbs just giant and everything he picked up.
Kyle was just, he's one of thosegreat athletes where like he
goes plays badminton. He's incredible at that.
(03:14):
Like you go play horse. Like he's got a really natural
looking jump shot. Obviously it was a great
baseball player. Drafted by the White Sox, went
to Florida State to play baseball.
How he was a lacrosse player, really skilled athlete.
I was probably the least skilledof the three as far as like just
picking up stuff early. You know, I was like a string
bean, kind of like grown into mybody kind of thing.
(03:37):
And I wasn't very good at, at, at football, honestly, probably
until, yeah, gosh, the end of middle school.
And then, you know, even when I got to to playing varsity, I
remember, you know, state championship my freshman year
sitting there and, you know, damn near catching a cramp.
I was standing still so long I didn't touch the field.
So it wasn't like a thing where it just took off for me
(04:01):
immediately. And not even in my college
career. It was like, you know, my first
two years I was a good player. I was a four-star recruit, like
all that stuff. But you know, I, I didn't
really, it wasn't until probablyspring game my, my second year
where I realized like, oh, I, I might have a shot.
Like I just had that kind of day.
And I'm sure you remember this when the older guys kind of look
(04:22):
at you and they're like, damn, you're going to be pretty good.
Like it's just kind of the way Iwent about things growing up was
open minded, didn't know what sport I was going to play, loved
baseball, wanted to play that like in college.
Then I got to start lifting weights and couldn't hit the
curveball. So, you know, I didn't really,
it wasn't like a thing where I picked up football at 9-9 years
old and just ran with it. But the one thing my dad tried
(04:46):
to do was instilled the value ofhard work, which obviously your
dad did as well. You being a coach's son, me
being a, you know, NFL player's son.
It's just part of the deal. And there was a point when I was
13 and and I was a a soft kid, alazy kid, all that stuff.
At like 11 years old, if you went to my baseball game, I'd be
(05:07):
picking daisies in the outfield instead of like paying attention
to the batter and talk about full circle moments.
My son let a grounder go throughhis legs in the playoffs last
year. He's 10 years old.
And I was like, come on, dude. It happened to me.
But my dad at 13 hired a basketball coach to run me and
like, you know, get me in shape.But more than anything, like it
(05:30):
was to break me mentally, I think.
And and that was his thing was like he didn't care about any
anything skill wise. Like we didn't go out in the
backyard and work pass rush moves at 12.
We weren't doing 1000 jump shotsor, you know, he definitely took
me to, you know, fall ball and people through BP and that stuff
and that sort of thing. But for me with my dad, it was
(05:53):
all about hard work. And I'll never forget like
working with Dan Dalessandro, who's his basketball coach now
around here, He just told him, Ithink to run me until I cried
and, and, and keep running me and, and, and things kind of
changed that day. I, I hate to like boil it down
to one day, but like, and I knowit's not necessarily a healthy
dad strategy now, like, hey, just take your kid to a
(06:15):
basketball coach and have him run suicides until he cries.
But that was like dad's way of doing things.
And, and he, if he was going to make sure I was going to be
anything, it was going to be a hard worker.
And that, that stuck with me honestly, because I had talent
and I was able to make it to thenext level.
But like, you know, this from playing me like I was talented,
(06:36):
but you know, I wasn't like Julie his Peppers bro.
Like I had to work really hard just like you, you know, to
sustain a long pro career. And that foundation really,
really mattered for me. So that was what it was, man.
It was all about installing hardwork and and doing things the
right way for my dad growing up.Well, it's just it's I'm sitting
here like having flashbacks and not only playing against you in
(06:58):
college, but also then obviouslyplaying against you in the
league. And like you were the guy that
going into the game, it was likeif you let up for one split
second on this guy, he's going to try to bury you in the
ground. He's going to sack, he's going
to make the tackle, he's going to make the sack.
Like if you don't match his effort.
So like every time I think of you and yes, you are damn near
top overall pick, like you had the talent in the physical, but
(07:21):
like I just remember preparing to play you was like, if you
don't match his effort on every single place on, it's hard for
me to believe it took that. Like if you always just assumed
that that effort, that consistency, that work ethic,
you're just like born with. So to hear that you guys
cultivated that, I think it's a great lesson for a lot of the
(07:42):
parents out there right there that are like, listen, I don't
know if my kid has it right now and they're going through the
whole, you know, nature versus nurture.
Can you bore them? Here you are saying you can
think of an exact day where whatyou, you know, for what a lot of
your career was pinned on was just relentless effort,
relentless hard work. The way you, you, you approached
your your career. Like, I think that's pretty
(08:03):
encouraging for a lot of families and a lot of parents
out there that maybe have a young kid with some talent, but
hasn't really shown that level of of grit yet.
Yeah, you know, like, listen, I I think it's a 360 deal and it's
how you raise your kid in the household like as well.
I was never certainly a you know, I wasn't like a
disrespectful kid or, you know, like just AI was a first born.
(08:25):
I had all those first born qualities, but I wasn't
necessarily a 1011 years old like driven in a football sense.
And I certainly wasn't driven tothe to the degree that I was
five years later. And and so to your point, like
there, there is an opportunity if you see your kids not
exhibiting like a plus work habits to like change that.
(08:46):
And for my dad, I think the big the big thing was he didn't just
make that a football thing. You know, I, I'm using that
story to illustrate the way thatmy career took off.
But he was that guy as a dad around the house, you know, like
if I was going to, if I had a push broom in my hand, the back
deck was going to be, you know, spotless.
(09:07):
If I was mulching, it had to be,you know, the job had to be
finished. If I was mowing the lawn, I was
going to be out there as long asit took.
You know, it's just instilling those habits in your kids in
every situation. I think some people think about
sports like out if I want my sonto be great in a sport or I want
him to bust his ass, I got to focus on the sport.
(09:29):
You got to focus on everything. And that's just kind of what I
try to do with my kids now to keep them grounded is kind of
raise them like they don't have a safety net.
You know, they definitely have asafety net.
Our kids do, your kids do. We worked hard to provide that
safety net. My dad worked hard to provide
that safety net. He didn't have that safety net.
You know, he, he grew up, you know, bouncing around different
(09:53):
houses and, and not having a, you know, sure thing down the
line like we did. So how do you teach like a kid
who has a lot to play or work, like they're not going to be
fine if it doesn't work out? I think that's the battle that
especially like us fight like second generation kids.
(10:14):
You know, you and that's why, like I took a lot of pride and,
and, and my brother, I know I feel it feels the same way about
it like being able to to get to the league.
You do see some second generation kids now in the NFL
and I think most of them will tell you like, Hey, there's a
lot of pressure on you. And you know, for a lot of guys
like you didn't have to, you know, we, we both play with a
lot of guys that didn't have a choice.
(10:36):
And so how can you get your kid to work like he doesn't have a
choice even if he does? I don't think it's just a
football thing, but boy, am I happy he did that because I, I
did take a lot of pride in playing hard.
And, and that's one of the reasons why when you now, when
you see guys like make make decisions on the field with
effort and you're like, I, I just can't relate to that.
(10:56):
I just don't understand it as ananalyst now.
And you're doing it too. I'm like, I'm trying to put
myself in somebody's shoes to who doesn't finish a play or or
where she had loafs in a big situation.
I'm not just talking about one guy.
I know there's something that's popping into our heads the last
month, but like, it's just so hard for me to figure because it
takes so much effort to get where we went.
(11:17):
No doubt is is how he was he a like then I'll move on to you as
a dad. I I think our listeners would
love to know like they see your dad obviously on TV everyday.
They know his career. He's this big, good looking,
strong, big ass guy, like when you guys are driving home at 12
years old and you you loafed andyou didn't get back on defense
or you struck out and you threw your shit.
(11:38):
Like is how we wearing you out? Like is he getting on you?
Is it like a soft talk? Like what?
What approach did he have in as like a sports dad?
Honestly, his approach again, itcomes back to the household like
where like if I was going to getit, I was going to get it
because I was disrespectful to my mom because I was, you know,
lazy at home, didn't do something correctly, was rude to
(12:01):
AI. Remember one time I was rude to
a girl at school and you know, like I was 11 years old and I
was playing for like the Elks. It was like a Little League team
here were actually Chris Miller,my my Little League coach still
coaches. He he called me this fall about
my nine year old son and it was like a big deal to be on the
Elks and I was an 11 year old and and I was rude to a girl at
(12:22):
school and my dad, I came home. He's like you're, you're, you're
suspended from the Elks for likea month or something like that.
It's like in the meat of the season.
So he just didn't, he didn't mess around.
He didn't like when it was time to come down on me, you know, it
was punishment. There was no like threat of
(12:43):
punishment. And then you're, I remember one
time I got grounded for like months.
And that's when I there's, there's a lot of adults.
Listen to this podcast. That's when I found out what
Jack Daniels was. He came, you know, came home and
and it was obvious that I had been partaken.
(13:04):
But I was rounded for like 6 months.
Like he just when the hammer came down, the hammer came down.
I remember like getting kicked off a baseball trip and having
to ride back 8 hours, me and thethree other kids that got in
trouble and we're sitting in on the bench and, and they're, you
know, my one friend's like, oh man, my dad's going to be so mad
when I get home. Like dude, my dad's 65270 and
(13:25):
has a flat top and it's a badasswaiting at the door, bro.
Like and it's. A badass dude.
Yeah, so I was afraid. I had a healthy fear of my dad,
which is which is natural and but it's also useful because
like he he kept me straight and and it was honestly when it got
to playing football, he just hadto be honest in sports and it
(13:47):
and it persisted through my pro career.
And I'm sure your dad was like this for you where it's like
when you walk out of the tunnel after a game and everybody's
kissing your ass, but you didn'tplay well and you know it
because maybe you caught a touchdown or something.
He's going to be the one to say,hey, you could do that thing
(14:08):
better. Or, you know, I thought you
could have showed more effort inthe third quarter, like where
you gassed, you know, like, and he doesn't need to yell.
He doesn't even. He just needs to be honest.
And that's what I try to do withmy kids is just be really honest
about everything they're doing. That means don't withhold
praise, like worrying about pumping their ego up and don't
worry about, you know, knocking them down and telling them, hey,
(14:31):
that wasn't good enough from an effort standpoint.
Are you threw a tantrum? Like my son plays flag football.
He's six years old and he's I, Iswear he's, he's going to be
like a boy Christian McCaffrey, dude, I call him little CMC.
He's got like the CMC gene. I never had that.
Like he's he's he's cutting in in the open field like it's
(14:51):
crazy, but naturally he wants the ball.
I heard him the first game, likeasking the coach like, hey, what
am I getting the ball again? I walked over in the middle of
the game. I said, you asked that question
again. You're not going to play for
this team anymore. He's six years old.
Some people might think that's harsh, but I was also to flag
football game last week where I saw a kid screaming
uncontrollably at the refs, at his coaches, at the other team.
(15:16):
The guy was throwing tantrums the whole game.
And I'm like, hey, it wouldn't take much to nip that in the
bud, would it? Course, you just have to be
honest with your kid and you canbe your kids best friend and be
the heavy too. And that's kind of the way it
was with me and my dad. This episode of You Think is
brought to you by RCX Sports. RCX was founded to breakdown
(15:36):
barriers to access and expand participation in youth sports so
every kid has an opportunity to play.
To learn more, we spoke with RC XS CEO and Founder Isel Reese.
What was the inspiration like? Where did RCX come from?
What was the problem in the youth sports world that you guys
are trying to address and what has been that that impact that
you guys are making? Yeah, yeah, you, you so, so RCX,
(16:00):
you know, we launched if you will, in in 2018 when we
launched, we were already doing some things with the NBA and
NFLI was doing camps at the Super Bowl actually for working
with the NFL. But I'm a big fan of you
appreciate if you get a play in a playbook and you can run this
play and it continues to work. You don't change it.
So as far as what it came to lead play, creating events, it's
(16:23):
a watch for instant repeat modelfor us.
And so we think NBA and WNBA. So that was a 2 for there.
It's league play. It's it's the same model, it's
the same concept. NHL street hockey, you know, we,
we, we, we got with NHL and initially we were saying, hey,
ice and let's do three on three.We kind of got into think tank
together and then, you know, we,we came up with ball hockey,
(16:45):
street hockey and and so it's, it's giving opportunities, You
know, across the board, MLB, we work with pitch hit and run a a
long standing program. And so, you know, we've been
blessed to oversee that as well.Major League Soccer, I'm working
with them and, and, and now in this pilot phase with USTA of
getting more kids involved with tennis.
(17:06):
And so we're doing some unique things there.
We're putting kids in jerseys, we're putting multiple kids on
on the court because my kids play tennis and it is a very
expensive sport. And a lot of times, you know,
that's the first barrier that isthere for kids.
So we've built an affordable program and also giving kids
jerseys and so forth so they feel like they're in a team
environment and just getting back to what all these sports
(17:29):
are, which is fun and every kid should be exposed to it.
And also the ability to have multi sports.
So the thing that I like most about it is, you know, when,
when we have this opportunity towork across all these different
pro leagues and our governing bodies as well, when we all get
in the room together and everybody's saying the same
thing. Everybody believes in multi
sport. Everybody believes every kid
should have a great experience and opportunity at the rec level
(17:53):
and not be priced out. You know, it shouldn't, it
shouldn't come at a premium price point for kids that have a
phenomenal experience in youth sports, you know, if they want
more and other things. And I know it's a lot of things
out there, but every, every kid in every community deserves that
opportunity. And so, you know, it's, it's
things that we were accustomed to when, when we grew up, right?
And how do we, how do we get back to the basics of getting
(18:15):
kids those opportunities? What really took things off and,
and went to another level for usand which I'm excited and
honored that we've had the opportunity to do it overseeing
NFL flag football. We're well over 800,000 kids
participating in NFL Flag and it, it, it is truly become
something greater than I anticipated.
But you know, good to to get more kids involved in the game
(18:37):
at all ages and continue to evolve NFL Flag and what it is
today. For more from our interview and
to learn how to find or start a team, visit Youth dot Inc slash
RCX Sports. It's just a matter of of just
being the truth, right? Just telling the truth.
When you're good will be your biggest cheerleader, but when
it's not good enough and you fall short, and mostly it's
(18:57):
through effort, it's through your routine.
Like my kids are getting a little bit older now.
I got two 7th grade twins and aneighth grade boy.
You know, so and all the things we talked about is like you
don't have to. If you're not the fastest kid,
you're not the fastest kid. If you're not the biggest kid,
you're not the biggest kid. Like some of those things are
outside of your control, but youknow, you can control what you
do Monday through Friday before your Saturday tournament.
(19:20):
That's right. You can control what you eat,
how you sleep, get your homeworkdone.
Like you can control all the easy stuff.
And then if you don't like the result, we're not going to sit
here and say it's OK like you did.
If you didn't put the work in and you didn't get the result,
Let's talk about it. Let's figure out, let's connect
the cause and effect. We're not going to sit here.
I I had this thing when we coached the kids team.
(19:41):
Like not everything's OK if we're not in the part where it's
OK, it's OK, everything's not OK.
Like it's not OK. Now, did you just make a
legitimate, you know, the ball went between your legs or you
dropped it? Like that's going to happen
Effort you didn't you miss practice the day before the
game. Why do you expect to have a good
game? Like trying to get them to
(20:02):
understand that while not everything is in their control,
a lot of things are in their control and let's put all of our
focus and effort into that. Because we're so worried about
the outcome, We're so worried about how many hits we got or
how many catches we had or how many sacks we made.
And I think it's so easy now, especially raising these kids in
today's world with highlight reel culture.
(20:24):
Like it's very easy to lose track of the journey.
It's very easy to lose track of teaching the process because
everybody coaches to the scoreboard, everybody coaches to
the highlight reel. They coach to the Instagram clip
and I think it's a big reason why youth sports has gone off
the rails a little bit is because we do ignore everything
we've talked about up to this point, everything you just laid
(20:46):
out. I think for a lot of kids around
the country, that approach has really been lost.
I would agree with you. And I got to be honest, like for
somebody listening or, you know,who might have a kid that you
think could play college football or, or, you know, in
the pros or, you know, get a scholarship for some Olympic
sport, whatever it is these verythings that I'm sure this
(21:06):
resonates with you. But like, it's not just going
to, it's not just going to be how your kid plays youth sports.
It's going to be how your kid does everything as an adult and
you only get one shot at it. And, you know, people can change
as they get older and people canmature in their 20s.
We've had team mates who, you know, show up and they're super
talented, but like they're, they're just, they don't give a
(21:27):
whatever. And, you know, sometimes they
change more often than not, though, like people are who they
are in their 20s and 30s and that sort of thing.
And so like, if it weren't for the things that the process
oriented, the process centering mindset, I don't think I'd have
been able to get through eight years in Saint Louis.
You know, and, and I think, you know, what I'm talking about is
like, you know, we're one in 15 doing 14-7 and nine, six and 10.
(21:52):
And so like having won in the NFL at the tail end of my
career, I look back and I'm like, how'd you do that?
Well, I did it because all I cared about was when somebody
turns on the tape, do I give great effort?
Do I control what I can control?I don't know how many times I
heard my dad say is a pro control what you can control.
And it's the same things we're talking about that you're saying
(22:14):
to your 1213 year old son or daughter.
And when you are an adult and mom and dad can't help you in
the real world, you have to havethose things instilled in you so
you only get one shot at it. I'm going to air on the side of
my kid being tough mentally and and hard working.
Yeah, we're, we're going to be tough as hell physically,
(22:35):
mentally, and you're going to compete your ass off and
everything that you do, you're going to have a great attitude.
You're going to treat your teammates good.
Like all that stuff is so teachable.
We can't control if they're 6-7.We can't control if they run
4-5. There is good, you know.
What we in touch, we can if we get in touch.
First of all, really well done my younger son.
(22:56):
I can't even say the number six without him yelling 7 at me.
It's off the board. He's like how?
How? It's funny.
He's at Bernal, Washington. I'm like, he's 6-8.
You know, I just lie now. I just lie.
I just make up things. But you know what's so funny
about it is before this became like a thing, I don't know if I
realized how many times we all actually say, I don't know, like
(23:20):
6 or 7. Like it's such a common free
saying. Like I don't, I don't get it,
but I hear it all the time. But now I find myself like mid
sentence being like, yeah, it's like 6.
It's. 9 but just G please don't be.
I don't want to be watching a game.
And by the way, you're the best.We love watching you call games
dude, you're just I've told you this, but you're you're
(23:41):
incredible at it. Appreciate it.
And so is my brother Kyle, by the way.
I think he's gonna be up there with you one day.
I'm hoping. But but if I catch you doing the
six seven thing, I'm going to turn the TV off.
You're not going to catch me. I don't do gimmicks.
OK. Do you?
No, you don't. That's why I left.
I don't do gimmicks. That was an inadvertent.
All right, I want to dive into you.
(24:02):
Yeah. Not on the ride home.
Not as a dad, like on the field.If you're coaching T-ball or
flag football or one day with your coaching at the high
school. Like what kind of dad coach?
Are you? I'm the guy who I'm looking for
the lonely kid, the kid that's like a little bit, you know,
reserved or whatever and trying to trying to hype him up, trying
(24:22):
to joke with him, trying to get,you know, it's a lot like being
a leader on team is like, you know, just social glue, keep
things together. I'm the guy in baseball that
like, I don't want the lineup, although by the end of the year
I was weighing in on that thing.You don't need to be first base
coach. I'm the dugout starts.
Yeah, I know it starts. They pull you in.
(24:43):
Everyone says that. I laugh because everyone says
that. Oh, that's not going to be me.
Yeah, I just all right, OK. It's addictive, though.
And then like so, so we were my boy, one of my best friends,
Kevin, he's like a coach. His dad's a coach like, you
know, like your dad, like South Side Chicago legendary coach.
He coaches football here at my high school.
(25:05):
And he wrote me into coaching our son's baseball team with
him. And, you know, the beginning of
the year, I was like, I'm not doing, you know, yadda, yadda,
yadda. But the minute you get in there,
it just reminds you that, like, there's nothing better than
working with kids for this very reason, because you're like, you
can make a real difference. You can change the trajectory of
somebody's life. And it's not necessarily because
(25:25):
you taught him to be a better baseball player.
Like I was a pretty good baseball player, but what do I
know? It's really about like how you
handle situations. So like, you know, for me this
year there was a kid, you know, he's 8 years old and he's not
giving great effort and he's kind of, he's kind of, you know,
huffing and puffing and that sort of thing.
Like, so how do I handle that? Because like, how would I want
(25:46):
somebody to talk to my son aboutthat if they were my if, if they
were my son's coach, You know, so it's a delicate thing like,
but you know, I had a conversation with a kid very
brief and just kind of said, hey, like, you're better than
that. Like you're definitely better
than that. Not coming out of the way of,
Hey, that's not good enough. But like, hey, set your standard
higher because you are great. You can be great.
(26:07):
Like this isn't this isn't you do I mean that I don't know,
like I just met the kid. He's 8 years old.
But the point is, is like bizarre.
Chances are you're better than that.
And so, you know, like I, I, I enjoy connecting with kids that
are struggling, you know, and trying to lift them up.
I enjoy being the guy that like can calmly and in a socially
(26:30):
intelligent way be very honest with the kid about effort or
attitude. And I enjoy being the guy that
runs with the kids when we make them run the hill at the end of
practice just trying to beat them up the hill, you know,
hyping kids up when they make big plays.
Like what I see in kids is you see yourself.
You see, you know, the youngest,most vulnerable version of you
(26:54):
that needed a pat on the shoulder and needed to pick me
up or maybe needed to be told, hey, that's not good enough.
But for whatever reason, somebody at home is not doing
that. And and it's not me thinking,
hell, I know more than the dad or do.
It's just we're athletes. So I have an unfair advantage
when it comes to that. And whether it's baseball or
soccer or like whatever, it's a mindset thing.
(27:16):
And so really when you're coaching youth sports, you are
teaching a mindset, you know, you're teaching a life skill
like how my kid swings a baseball bat.
There's still time for that, youknow, luckily, but it's it's a
deal where, you know, I can teach my kid a lot about how to
use this and and I can teach theother kids that too.
(27:36):
So I just love being the dugout guy, man.
But when it comes to coaching football, I love coaching young
D lineman. I love coaching high school HD
lineman and college D lineman because I have such respect for
what it takes to, to, to be great at that level and, and at
that position. And, and, and when I'm with
(27:57):
those guys, it makes me feel like I'm still playing in a
sense, you know what I'm saying?Like it makes you feel like
you're still in the building. So I love doing that.
I mix it up. Certainly we both have like
primary careers that we're busy with, but anytime I get a chance
to do something on the side, I really love coaching.
I, I always joke like my full time job is youth sports dad and
(28:18):
then my like part time job is calling games for Fox.
Like that's always like that's what it feels like.
It's what it feels like most of the time, you know, you know,
it's funny. So this this past year, it is
the last couple years we coachedthe kids football team and now
they're getting older. So this past year, my oldest
son's in 8th grade, we did theirmiddle school team.
And I would, when the kids were young, especially when I was
(28:38):
still playing, like we would always run after practice and
I'd run with them. And, you know, you feel like
King Kong because you're out in front of the hill or whatever
you're doing. But now, like, I've obviously
dropped off a good amount and these kids are getting big.
They're 14 years old, 15 years old.
Some of these kids are like men,you know?
And we're running after practiceand I'm no longer even close to
(29:01):
the front of the pack. And two of my assistant coaches
are Jonathan Stewart and Luke Kuechly.
They're still, they're still like rocked up, you know,
They're Stu. Stu could lose 50% of his burst
and he'd still beat everyone by a mile.
That's crazy. Luke's like a damn Navy SEAL.
That dude is ripped up. And so like, and not only am I
not beating the kids, I'm not even close to competing with my
(29:23):
assistant coaches. So it's a it's a very humbling
experience nowadays. Don't do your Achilles bro.
Stop, stop, stop, stop. It's my greatest fear in my
life. Me too.
That's why I like, I'll create myself playing too hard in the
backyard and I'll be like, hold on, bro, hold on.
You I ever I ever, I'm not even going to say the word, but if I
(29:44):
ever did that you can just Take Me Out back It's over.
I'm done. I I don't have time right now
for a year long. I don't have time for a year
long rehab. I've been I've been on enough
scooters in my day, But but dude, it's so funny you say like
working with the kids as they get older, it really changes,
you know, like I, I we've seen it now.
(30:05):
I haven't gotten to the high school age yet.
We do a little stuff with the high school kids, you know, here
and there because our our schools K through 12.
So it kind of blends together. But we're we're almost there to
the high school. But like thinking back to just
when they were super little, allthe things you're talking about
that you really it's not even about the sport, right?
Like the sport is the easy part,teaching a kid how to make a
(30:25):
layup, teaching a kid how to dribble with his left hand, or
that's like the easy part of it all.
But as you get older and it getsmore and more competitive, it
gets more and more real. This past year doing 7th and 8th
grade, we have some 8th graders that are like real football
players, like we can teach. You know, I, I only coached the
O line in the D line. So I'm with you.
Like there's nothing better thanthat group of kids, right?
(30:47):
The pride they take. And dude, you're practicing
setting edges and we're practicing get off and we're
striking the sled and like you take a step back and you're
like, all right, we're, we're playing real football now.
Like this, this feels different.These kids are like men playing
real ball. There is nothing better, man.
Wait till when your kids get older, like wait till you're
(31:07):
doing it with your boys at an old enough age that you can play
real sports. It's.
Dude, there is nothing, that's the time where it's going to get
interesting for me. And I don't know how you feel
about this, but like you're obviously, you know, a legend
and everything and, and, and your kids walk around and
they're Greg Olsen's son. And you know, I, I, I went
through that with my dad. My kids are going to go through
(31:29):
in this town with me and that sort of thing.
And, you know, I, I kind of wantto be cognizant of like my dad
was good about this where he kind of coached the team, but
then like on game day, he'd be back in the shadows because he'd
be a little bit of a distractionmaybe, or that sort of thing.
And there's a lot of pressure onour kids, man.
You know, so I'm always cognizant of like, hey, when it
(31:51):
comes time for that, you're going to have to teach your
kids. And I'm going to have to teach
my kids all the skills we're talking about.
But then another skill on top ofthat, which is dealing with the
pressure and the expectations ofbeing your son or my son.
So that's a very unique responsibility that we have.
We've had a lot of honest conversations exactly like that,
(32:12):
and more so as they've gotten older.
Like when they were little, I don't even think they realized
what was going on. But I'm very honest with them.
I'm like, listen, man, in today's world, whether we like
it or not, we can debate. You know, the reality is there's
a lot of people that are showingup to games that want you to
fail. They, they don't want to see you
succeed. And you just need to, you need
(32:33):
to lean into it. You can't run away from it.
It can't paralyze you. It can't stress you out.
Like lean into it, man, because guess what?
It's not going anywhere. I said there are very few people
in this world that genuinely want to see you succeed.
And your mom and dad are at the top of the list.
And hopefully your coaches and hopefully as you play for more
(32:53):
and more people like those people all have your best
interests at heart. But the reality is there might
be people on your own team, there might be people in your
own school, certainly on rival schools and rival teams around
the area. Like that's just the way of the
world, man. And you either run from it or
you run towards it. And we really have a lot of
conversations at our house aboutwe are not going to shy away
(33:16):
from it. If there's a target on your
back, my back. People don't like the way I
coach. People don't like the way we
play. That's OK.
We don't have to be for everybody.
But I'll tell you what, man, we are not going to let it change
how you compete, how you work, whatever talent level you end up
having. Who cares when they watch you
play? They should never walk out of
(33:36):
the gym, the field and say that to that dude works his ass off
and that guy plays his ass off. They say those two things.
That's it. You should be motivated to prove
just that, which is like, hey, Idon't know what kind of player
you're going to become, but nobody's going to walk out of
there and be like, man, that guy, that guy's soft or that
guy. Or he's only playing because his
dad's part of the team. He's only.
Or he doesn't care. Or he's not hungry, you know,
(33:58):
because that's the truth is like, and we touched on this
earlier, there's a lot of hungrypeople playing football, man,
like that make it to the top. And so you, I mean, that's the
one thing that I don't think people understand is the hunger
inside an NFL building to succeed.
The the pure willpower that so many guys that we play with,
they they didn't have choices. And so you know that, yeah,
(34:18):
we're going to raise kids that luckily and they all our team
mates are going to raise kids that luckily do have choices.
But you got to play like you have no choice.
And so, so I think that's cool, man.
But also I think, you know, there's something there for
every kid, which is like, hey, when our kids take the field or
when I took the field growing up, there was a lot of people
(34:40):
and there were a lot of eyes on you.
And it felt like, hey, whether people rooting for you, against
you, that sort of thing, that you're a big deal.
Not to say like, oh, I'm a big deal, but like everybody's
paying attention. And this is the truth in today's
day and age too. No one's thinking about you.
They are for like a minute of their day.
No doubt. When you've got something going
(35:02):
where you're in your own head oryou think, hey, like my problem
is the center of the universe. If you're in an NFL locker room,
you know, we've been there whereI, you know, for six years of my
career, I didn't miss a game, played through injuries, the
whole thing, got hurt, got on IR, was walking around the
(35:23):
building thinking everybody hates me.
Like my team mates, they love me.
I'm like a captain. These are all my boys, man.
But all the. Time, but you put it you, you
plant that seed. You plant that seed in your head
and the pressure put push you ina spot where I'm walking through
the hallway like everybody's thinking about I should be
coming back sooner. Everybody's thinking about I'm
(35:43):
not rehabbing hard enough. Everybody's thinking I'm not
producing. And the truth is when people
walk by you, they might be thinking about what time the
meeting start or they got their own problems or Hey, coach is
pissed at me. I jumped out of my gap last week
or you know, like what's going to happen in this meeting
because I missed the block. Like every or I have some some
problem at home or, or or I'm inmy own head.
(36:06):
Everybody's got their own problems.
And so as much pressure as you might feel, whether you're our
kids or somebody else or just a regular kid, like at the end of
the day, I don't mean this in a,in a way to like knock you down.
I mean it to build you up. Like nobody cares.
It's your problems are are it's everything's relative.
You have tiny problems in the grand scheme of things and
(36:28):
people are thinking about you even on your worst day.
You know, the people that that are the main characters on
Twitter that have like a terrible day.
They tweet the wrong thing, theysay the wrong thing.
You might say something totally uncharacteristic.
Screw up on live television for an hour.
You're trending. Nobody remembers.
Most of the people you know never saw the the thing.
(36:49):
Most of the people you know are not talking about the thing.
So just get over it and move theF on.
Oh, it's so true. It feels like you're, it feels
like all eyes are on you and center.
But it's so true, man. Like your problems are not
nearly as big in the real world as they are in your head.
No, they're thinking about. Everybody's thinking about
something else they think about.Oh, look at that stupid, you
(37:11):
know what the Greg Olsen did today?
And then they're like, what do Iwant for lunch?
But you're sitting there thinking about what everybody's
thinking about what I said or what I the play I didn't make or
you know, and I think there's a lesson there for athletes
growing up because this day and age you're going to be, there's
always a conversation about is, are these athletes tougher or
softer than the last generation?I think yes and no.
(37:33):
I think they're tougher in some ways because they have to deal
with the scrutiny that we didn't.
It's a it's literally like we went from like, you know,
there's a a national broadcast of our game too.
And you might not be in the market to see a Rams game to now
every play is on is is on the Internet.
(37:53):
There's a discourse about it. Everybody's got social media.
Any slip up in the media, you'reso these guys are tougher in a
sense. We definitely were tougher
physically because we had actually go to training camp and
that sort of thing and there wasinside run and and and now
everything's all RPO, you know, fast to the flat.
(38:13):
We used to fit counter and powerall day, but these guys are
tougher in a way because they'rescrutinized at a level than we
never work. Before we get back to the
episode, let's continue our conversation with RCX Sports
Founder and CEO Izel Reese to hear how they are working with
professional leagues to elevate the youth sports experience.
These clubs and these teams of, you know, pictures for NBA does
(38:36):
a phenomenal job as well. They've been wanting to do more
and so having this conduit and having us in the middle to kind
of be an extension of them. And but this is all we focus on,
right? So because at the end of the
day, the pro leagues and their their respective teams, they
want to do more, but they also have a professional team or
(38:57):
professional club that they got to run and they got to go get a
Super Bowl or go win a championship, right?
So, so, so having us in the in the middle to kind of be this is
all I'm thinking about. My my Super Bowl is youth
sports. My Super Bowl is, you know,
seeing, seeing these kids and them getting that opportunity.
So now you got somebody who has expertise, but then also the
(39:19):
league operator. So I'm going to go to the other
spectrum, that local park and rec, that local.
Why those those different type of groups, independent groups,
those are what we call them. We say that local league
operator where those those people that are those boots on
the ground, those coaches that are volunteering those time
there's officials that are involved and and getting behind
them and supporting them. And so that's what we spent a
(39:41):
lot of emphasis on and supporting those 2000 plus
league operators, creating efficiencies for them, giving
them tools and resources, truly being at one stop shop for them
and supporting them and servicing them so that they can
deliver that good, that great experience for those kids within
those respective communities. So.
(40:01):
And that's, that's kind of how, you know, again, we're, we're
connecting all the dots, if you will, And it's worked it
extremely well. You know, still a lot of runway
and continue to, to, to grow andaccelerate it and enhance it.
And I, and I think it's a constant push to get more kids
back in sport. Cause at the end of the day,
there's still a lion's share of kids that are not playing sport.
(40:23):
How do, how do we get them back to, you know, to being involved
in engaged with sports? Youth sports isn't, isn't going
anywhere, but we do know that there aren't as many kids
playing youth sports as it used to be.
And, and some of it is because of barriers, some of it because,
you know, a variety of things. And so I don't see any slowing
(40:44):
down because, I mean, you know, you have this opportunity to
continue to enhance and pulling kids back in.
And every parent wants, every parents wants their kids on a on
a local giving Saturday in theirlocal community to participate.
And it also to be a better and great experience.
And so I don't see this slowing down at all.
I mean, I know we got our foot on the gas and we're going to
(41:05):
continue to do it and it's working.
And so there's also a lot of demand for, you know, from, from
other sports that have, you know, inquired and asked, Hey,
how can we be on your platform and what you're doing?
We see what what's happening, but we want to make sure that,
you know, we can continue to deliver and die the IS and cross
the T's and make it a good experience for for the sports
that we're involved in now. For more from our interview and
(41:27):
to learn how to find or start a team, visit Youth dot Inc slash
RCX Sports I. Want to ask you another thing
before I let you. I want to ask you like knowing
what lies ahead. It's a very crazy world than
what we recognize, right? It's not.
It's not going to be what you grew up doing when you played
for the Elks and you played withyour buddies and then you went
to the basketball gym and then those same kids in the fall got
(41:49):
ready for football. Like those days, at least where
we live, like those days are over.
How are you guys going to handlelike the pressure to have your
kids just pick a sport young, the pressure of your kids to fly
around the world playing travel sports?
Like have you have you guys had any discussions about cuz that's
it's coming down the line. You're.
Oldest is what? 99 so you're getting there.
(42:10):
I mean 10 it's happening now at 1012 years old.
Like have you guys had any like thoughts about how you want to
approach it? We talk all the time about this
cuz my wife's an athlete jersey gal and played from Morristown
to South. But but lacrosse in in college
and all that stuff. And she's like, she's the one
(42:34):
who's like on my kids asses. She's the like the, the sports
dad. I'm the chill sports dad
compared to her. She's the, the quintessential
sports dad and she's like tryingto get him into two sports at
once and all this stuff. And, you know, she's like
anything my son has to do, she'slike, yeah, we'll, we'll do
that. Like, you want to play AU
(42:56):
basketball on top of flag football this fall?
And I'm the one like, yo, pump your brakes.
Like, let's focus on one thing and pour everything we can into
that one thing one season at a time.
Now, I was a hey, I when I was in high school, you know, I'd,
I'd, I'd lift for a football after basketball practice, I'd
be in the gym till 89-O clock. But we're nine years old.
(43:17):
So like, my thing is, let's, let's bust our ass at what we're
doing and play as many sports aswe can.
If you want to do one practice of fall ball, you know, for
baseball every week, that's no big deal.
But like to do 2 travel sports at once.
Like hey, it's hard on the kid. It's also hard on dad in the
(43:38):
summer because that's when AU basketball is, My son said, Hey,
I want to play AU basketball andI'm like, damn, my, my, my
recreational time on the river is going to be cut in half as a
result of my son wanting to be LeBron James.
I got 2 boys playing summer travel baseball when school ball
ends every summer and traveling to all over the world and then a
(43:59):
daughter that plays travel basketball and does track in the
summer. So like, you know, we had these
dreams of like our summers beingat the beach and going on the
boat and like having actually a summer.
Ain't no summer we. Haven't had a summer in five
years? Yeah, and that's what they don't
tell you but but here's what I will say.
But I'm the asshole out there actually coaching the team,
making the schedule. So I'm part of the blitz.
(44:21):
I made the schedule. I booked the trip to Myrtle
Beach, SC in Atlanta. I'm.
The one that's booking the tournament, so it's probably my
own fault. Myrtle Beach, That's rough.
Well, I, I just, I, I'll say this.
I grew up, played four sports, played football, basketball,
baseball, lacrosse. I went back and forth between
baseball and lacrosse because meand the baseball coach didn't
(44:42):
get along the and you know, I'm really glad I played all those
sports. Like I think it made me a better
athlete as, as, as a whole, being able to play all those
sports. I think special specialization
is a little bit overboard. It's not a hot take in today's
day and age. I think a lot of people are on
to that whole thing. I just think like when you make
(45:04):
a commitment and it's kind of like me as an adult, I, I don't
say no, I, I don't know if you have this problem when you say
yes to everything. I'm the worst, freaking worst
dude. And I, it's taken me 40 years to
figure that out. But like, if you say yes to
everything and you half ass halfof it, it ain't doing anybody
any good. You know, you think you're
helping them, but you know, they're waiting on the request
(45:25):
that you said yes to for three weeks.
That sort of thing is the same thing with a kid when they say
yes to too much, too many different sports or too many
different engagements. Eventually your wife and you
were going to be sitting there like he's got a birthday party
tomorrow. Like, does he need to go to that
practice? Like, well, you're the one who
signed him up for that sport. You know, it looks to me like he
(45:47):
made a commitment. And so as inconvenient as it is,
it is now he's not going to be able to go to his buddy's
birthday party or, you know, there's a conflict with his
basketball and his baseball game.
Like, that's why I like to keep things kind of like clean where
it's like, hey, let's commit to one thing one season at a time.
And if there's a way to do 1 andlike 1/4 of another sport, like,
you know, take BP every week, stay on your baseball, then
(46:10):
let's do that. But like what I don't like is
when all of a sudden we have to make decisions and my son's not
at every practice or every game.And that kind of reinforces A1
foot in, one foot out kind of mentality that I just want him
to be all in one thing at a time.
And I do think it's valuable to play multiple sports.
Oh, I do too. I I'm, I'm a big believer in all
(46:32):
that it, it is very hard to be, to play multiple sports at the
same time. We went through it this year
with the boys try to keep up with fall baseball.
And obviously we're in the thickof like a real football season.
We got practice every day after school and then they're racing
from football to try to go get there, you know, throw their
bullpens or they miss a bullpen this week and the next weekend
they pitch and their arm hurts and it's just like this never
(46:53):
ending cycle. But when you figure it out and
you figure out how to not do it,let me know.
Yeah, because you're you're doing it.
We haven't figured it out yet either.
You you're raising some Shohei Otanis?
No, we're just trying. To survive, man, we're just
trying to survive. But Chris, man, I, I, it's just
so cool to do to just see all you've accomplished.
(47:15):
We can go on and about your charitable work with water boys
and and obviously you got your own pod.
We could like that. I've been on with you, I think a
handful of time, two or three times at least, yeah.
Yeah, it's so we're getting moreof a starting to run together.
I don't know how many years we've been out, but.
Dude, man, you've accomplished so much.
It's been so cool to obviously get to know you in college as a
friend of my brother Chris, teammates at Virginia, and just
(47:36):
see everything you've accomplished as you reminded us
over 20 years. I don't know how you feel about
that, but dude, man, it's so it's just been so cool to get to
know your family, your work withyour dad.
Obviously gotten to know Kyle now and super cool man.
Just wish nothing but the best for you and when you figure out
all this parenting stuff and raising them, send over some
advice because we sure as hell don't have it figured.
(47:58):
Out dude, we'll we'll compare some notes and the respective
mutual bro, I've always appreciated you and and as I
said, you are just acing it at this in this juncture of your
professional career. Bro we love listening to you
call games man. You're nobody better.
Appreciate you man. Good.
Good to see anybody. I'll talk to you soon.
Before we wrap up, let's close out our conversation with our
friends at RCX Sports. I spoke to a father and daughter
(48:20):
who are living the youth sports experience daily to hear how RCX
has helped them. I get excited to know that
they'll have memories of doing some of these things.
They'll know that their parents were able to take them out to go
play these sports. They'll they'll make friends all
over the city. With the way our city is now
with no, not really Community Schools because everything's
(48:41):
charter, you have like people spread all over the city.
So it gives them a chance to meet new kids and, and, and have
those experiences. And so that's something that
brings joy to my heart, knowing that they're going to have a
childhood that's full of joy, that's that's full of fun.
And they get a chance to play all these different sports and
see what they like. So that's been that's been
really, really exciting. It feels like I'm a pro and it
(49:04):
feels like I'm actually playing for like the team I'm wearing
and it feels like I'm the big team.
They've done a great job of going all over the city,
connecting with different schools, connecting with
different, with it, with different communities and
creating a cost that allows all families to get a chance to be a
(49:24):
part of, of playing, of, of getting a chance to be, to be in
the sports and, and to be a partof these teams.
And so they've done a great job of just connecting with
different community, different community members, getting the
word out. I think you can tell about
what's going on with 18th Ward that they're just doing an
amazing job and they're not all trying to do just one sport.
(49:46):
They can do many sports. So all those things create an
environment that that creates a a great place for kids to learn
and grow. Having fun is very important
because what's the point of playing the game?
For more from our interview and to learn how to find or start a
team, visit Youth dot Inc slash RCX Sports.
What's up everybody, welcome back to another episode here on
You think it and this next guy II've known him for a long time
and I'm very I'm very interestedto have the conversation of the
transition from him and my brother coming down on spring
break from the University of Virginia down to Miami sleeping
on my couch to now being AT balldad, father, husband.
(00:23):
I I always find those transitions.
I don't know if I ever would have imagined you and I spending
the amount of time on T-ball fields 15 years ago when we were
running around Miami on spring break.
But without further ado, Chris long dude, appreciate you
joining us. Greg, what up, man?
I think dude, I I think that wasmore like 2020 years ago. 20 it.
(00:44):
Was it was 20? Years old.
He was trying to be like, yeah, we're not that old, bro.
I think that was like so bad. I remember coming down there and
then just over running your house.
So I appreciate you, man. You were great.
You're great host well. We, we were in school and you
and my brother and whoever else you guys could muster up with,
we're on like a full week of spring break and going out and
(01:05):
like we're trying to, we're doing like morning lifts and you
guys are out still. It was the, the, the month of
that, like May, March and April in Miami.
You got every College in Americaspring break.
So it was a It was a fun but difficult time to actually try
to go to school. Yeah, that was the big leagues
for us. That was definitely a lot
(01:25):
different than Charlottesville. So we were.
We try to be on our best behavior, but you're a great
host. Once again, you're you and the
boys. Honestly, I got a bunch of guys
I still talk to from from from your team just because we came
down there and bugged y'all. So Coconut Grove, not a bad
spot. Decent spot we've had, We had a
couple fun nights. But dude, obviously so much,
(01:48):
you've accomplished so much Super Bowls, you know, second
overall pick, long career in theleague.
I mean, you really accomplished it all.
But we're not going to dive intoa lot of that today.
Like I want to talk to you as a dad, as a father, this youth
sports journey. Obviously a lot about your
upbringing, your father, how he was a colleague of mine at Fox
(02:09):
and like might be the nicest manon the planet, at least as a
colleague. We'll talk about what he was
like as a sports dad. But I want to start there.
Like obviously you, your brothers, you've gotten to know
Kyle. Obviously he had a great career
in the league as well. Kind of a dual spark kid growing
up, growing up with your dad. Your dad was probably like one
of the first like true superstars NFL player crossover.
(02:33):
Just give us a little idea of what your sports upbringing was
like growing up as a kid. Well, Greg, I mean the three of
us myself, Howie, who's the youngest and Kyle who's the the
middle, but the big guy and we all had very different kind of
athletic careers early. We all had different, you know,
(02:54):
tool tool boxes, so to speak. Kyle's was just contained a
hammer. He's he's, you know, 6 foot
seven, 330 lbs just giant and everything he picked up.
Kyle was just, he's one of thosegreat athletes where like he
goes plays badminton. He's incredible at that.
(03:14):
Like you go play horse. Like he's got a really natural
looking jump shot. Obviously it was a great
baseball player. Drafted by the White Sox, went
to Florida State to play baseball.
How he was a lacrosse player, really skilled athlete.
I was probably the least skilledof the three as far as like just
picking up stuff early. You know, I was like a string
bean, kind of like grown into mybody kind of thing.
(03:37):
And I wasn't very good at, at, at football, honestly, probably
until, yeah, gosh, the end of middle school.
And then, you know, even when I got to to playing varsity, I
remember, you know, state championship my freshman year
sitting there and, you know, damn near catching a cramp.
I was standing still so long I didn't touch the field.
So it wasn't like a thing where it just took off for me
(04:01):
immediately. And not even in my college
career. It was like, you know, my first
two years I was a good player. I was a four-star recruit, like
all that stuff. But you know, I, I didn't
really, it wasn't until probablyspring game my, my second year
where I realized like, oh, I, I might have a shot.
Like I just had that kind of day.
And I'm sure you remember this when the older guys kind of look
(04:22):
at you and they're like, damn, you're going to be pretty good.
Like it's just kind of the way Iwent about things growing up was
open minded, didn't know what sport I was going to play, loved
baseball, wanted to play that like in college.
Then I got to start lifting weights and couldn't hit the
curveball. So, you know, I didn't really,
it wasn't like a thing where I picked up football at 9-9 years
old and just ran with it. But the one thing my dad tried
(04:46):
to do was instilled the value ofhard work, which obviously your
dad did as well. You being a coach's son, me
being a, you know, NFL player's son.
It's just part of the deal. And there was a point when I was
13 and and I was a a soft kid, alazy kid, all that stuff.
At like 11 years old, if you went to my baseball game, I'd be
(05:07):
picking daisies in the outfield instead of like paying attention
to the batter and talk about full circle moments.
My son let a grounder go throughhis legs in the playoffs last
year. He's 10 years old.
And I was like, come on, dude. It happened to me.
But my dad at 13 hired a basketball coach to run me and
like, you know, get me in shape.But more than anything, like it
(05:30):
was to break me mentally, I think.
And and that was his thing was like he didn't care about any
anything skill wise. Like we didn't go out in the
backyard and work pass rush moves at 12.
We weren't doing 1000 jump shotsor, you know, he definitely took
me to, you know, fall ball and people through BP and that stuff
and that sort of thing. But for me with my dad, it was
(05:53):
all about hard work. And I'll never forget like
working with Dan Dalessandro, who's his basketball coach now
around here, He just told him, Ithink to run me until I cried
and, and, and keep running me and, and, and things kind of
changed that day. I, I hate to like boil it down
to one day, but like, and I knowit's not necessarily a healthy
dad strategy now, like, hey, just take your kid to a
(06:15):
basketball coach and have him run suicides until he cries.
But that was like dad's way of doing things.
And, and he, if he was going to make sure I was going to be
anything, it was going to be a hard worker.
And that, that stuck with me honestly, because I had talent
and I was able to make it to thenext level.
But like, you know, this from playing me like I was talented,
(06:36):
but you know, I wasn't like Julie his Peppers bro.
Like I had to work really hard just like you, you know, to
sustain a long pro career. And that foundation really,
really mattered for me. So that was what it was, man.
It was all about installing hardwork and and doing things the
right way for my dad growing up.Well, it's just it's I'm sitting
here like having flashbacks and not only playing against you in
(06:58):
college, but also then obviouslyplaying against you in the
league. And like you were the guy that
going into the game, it was likeif you let up for one split
second on this guy, he's going to try to bury you in the
ground. He's going to sack, he's going
to make the tackle, he's going to make the sack.
Like if you don't match his effort.
So like every time I think of you and yes, you are damn near
top overall pick, like you had the talent in the physical, but
(07:21):
like I just remember preparing to play you was like, if you
don't match his effort on every single place on, it's hard for
me to believe it took that. Like if you always just assumed
that that effort, that consistency, that work ethic,
you're just like born with. So to hear that you guys
cultivated that, I think it's a great lesson for a lot of the
(07:42):
parents out there right there that are like, listen, I don't
know if my kid has it right now and they're going through the
whole, you know, nature versus nurture.
Can you bore them? Here you are saying you can
think of an exact day where whatyou, you know, for what a lot of
your career was pinned on was just relentless effort,
relentless hard work. The way you, you, you approached
your your career. Like, I think that's pretty
(08:03):
encouraging for a lot of families and a lot of parents
out there that maybe have a young kid with some talent, but
hasn't really shown that level of of grit yet.
Yeah, you know, like, listen, I I think it's a 360 deal and it's
how you raise your kid in the household like as well.
I was never certainly a you know, I wasn't like a
disrespectful kid or, you know, like just AI was a first born.
(08:25):
I had all those first born qualities, but I wasn't
necessarily a 1011 years old like driven in a football sense.
And I certainly wasn't driven tothe to the degree that I was
five years later. And and so to your point, like
there, there is an opportunity if you see your kids not
exhibiting like a plus work habits to like change that.
(08:46):
And for my dad, I think the big the big thing was he didn't just
make that a football thing. You know, I, I'm using that
story to illustrate the way thatmy career took off.
But he was that guy as a dad around the house, you know, like
if I was going to, if I had a push broom in my hand, the back
deck was going to be, you know, spotless.
(09:07):
If I was mulching, it had to be,you know, the job had to be
finished. If I was mowing the lawn, I was
going to be out there as long asit took.
You know, it's just instilling those habits in your kids in
every situation. I think some people think about
sports like out if I want my sonto be great in a sport or I want
him to bust his ass, I got to focus on the sport.
(09:29):
You got to focus on everything. And that's just kind of what I
try to do with my kids now to keep them grounded is kind of
raise them like they don't have a safety net.
You know, they definitely have asafety net.
Our kids do, your kids do. We worked hard to provide that
safety net. My dad worked hard to provide
that safety net. He didn't have that safety net.
You know, he, he grew up, you know, bouncing around different
(09:53):
houses and, and not having a, you know, sure thing down the
line like we did. So how do you teach like a kid
who has a lot to play or work, like they're not going to be
fine if it doesn't work out? I think that's the battle that
especially like us fight like second generation kids.
(10:14):
You know, you and that's why, like I took a lot of pride and,
and, and my brother, I know I feel it feels the same way about
it like being able to to get to the league.
You do see some second generation kids now in the NFL
and I think most of them will tell you like, Hey, there's a
lot of pressure on you. And you know, for a lot of guys
like you didn't have to, you know, we, we both play with a
lot of guys that didn't have a choice.
(10:36):
And so how can you get your kid to work like he doesn't have a
choice even if he does? I don't think it's just a
football thing, but boy, am I happy he did that because I, I
did take a lot of pride in playing hard.
And, and that's one of the reasons why when you now, when
you see guys like make make decisions on the field with
effort and you're like, I, I just can't relate to that.
(10:56):
I just don't understand it as ananalyst now.
And you're doing it too. I'm like, I'm trying to put
myself in somebody's shoes to who doesn't finish a play or or
where she had loafs in a big situation.
I'm not just talking about one guy.
I know there's something that's popping into our heads the last
month, but like, it's just so hard for me to figure because it
takes so much effort to get where we went.
(11:17):
No doubt is is how he was he a like then I'll move on to you as
a dad. I I think our listeners would
love to know like they see your dad obviously on TV everyday.
They know his career. He's this big, good looking,
strong, big ass guy, like when you guys are driving home at 12
years old and you you loafed andyou didn't get back on defense
or you struck out and you threw your shit.
(11:38):
Like is how we wearing you out? Like is he getting on you?
Is it like a soft talk? Like what?
What approach did he have in as like a sports dad?
Honestly, his approach again, itcomes back to the household like
where like if I was going to getit, I was going to get it
because I was disrespectful to my mom because I was, you know,
lazy at home, didn't do something correctly, was rude to
(12:01):
AI. Remember one time I was rude to
a girl at school and you know, like I was 11 years old and I
was playing for like the Elks. It was like a Little League team
here were actually Chris Miller,my my Little League coach still
coaches. He he called me this fall about
my nine year old son and it was like a big deal to be on the
Elks and I was an 11 year old and and I was rude to a girl at
(12:22):
school and my dad, I came home. He's like you're, you're, you're
suspended from the Elks for likea month or something like that.
It's like in the meat of the season.
So he just didn't, he didn't mess around.
He didn't like when it was time to come down on me, you know, it
was punishment. There was no like threat of
(12:43):
punishment. And then you're, I remember one
time I got grounded for like months.
And that's when I there's, there's a lot of adults.
Listen to this podcast. That's when I found out what
Jack Daniels was. He came, you know, came home and
and it was obvious that I had been partaken.
(13:04):
But I was rounded for like 6 months.
Like he just when the hammer came down, the hammer came down.
I remember like getting kicked off a baseball trip and having
to ride back 8 hours, me and thethree other kids that got in
trouble and we're sitting in on the bench and, and they're, you
know, my one friend's like, oh man, my dad's going to be so mad
when I get home. Like dude, my dad's 65270 and
(13:25):
has a flat top and it's a badasswaiting at the door, bro.
Like and it's. A badass dude.
Yeah, so I was afraid. I had a healthy fear of my dad,
which is which is natural and but it's also useful because
like he he kept me straight and and it was honestly when it got
to playing football, he just hadto be honest in sports and it
(13:47):
and it persisted through my pro career.
And I'm sure your dad was like this for you where it's like
when you walk out of the tunnel after a game and everybody's
kissing your ass, but you didn'tplay well and you know it
because maybe you caught a touchdown or something.
He's going to be the one to say,hey, you could do that thing
(14:08):
better. Or, you know, I thought you
could have showed more effort inthe third quarter, like where
you gassed, you know, like, and he doesn't need to yell.
He doesn't even. He just needs to be honest.
And that's what I try to do withmy kids is just be really honest
about everything they're doing. That means don't withhold
praise, like worrying about pumping their ego up and don't
worry about, you know, knocking them down and telling them, hey,
(14:31):
that wasn't good enough from an effort standpoint.
Are you threw a tantrum? Like my son plays flag football.
He's six years old and he's I, Iswear he's, he's going to be
like a boy Christian McCaffrey, dude, I call him little CMC.
He's got like the CMC gene. I never had that.
Like he's he's he's cutting in in the open field like it's
(14:51):
crazy, but naturally he wants the ball.
I heard him the first game, likeasking the coach like, hey, what
am I getting the ball again? I walked over in the middle of
the game. I said, you asked that question
again. You're not going to play for
this team anymore. He's six years old.
Some people might think that's harsh, but I was also to flag
football game last week where I saw a kid screaming
uncontrollably at the refs, at his coaches, at the other team.
(15:16):
The guy was throwing tantrums the whole game.
And I'm like, hey, it wouldn't take much to nip that in the
bud, would it? Course, you just have to be
honest with your kid and you canbe your kids best friend and be
the heavy too. And that's kind of the way it
was with me and my dad. This episode of You Think is
brought to you by RCX Sports. RCX was founded to breakdown
(15:36):
barriers to access and expand participation in youth sports so
every kid has an opportunity to play.
To learn more, we spoke with RC XS CEO and Founder Isel Reese.
What was the inspiration like? Where did RCX come from?
What was the problem in the youth sports world that you guys
are trying to address and what has been that that impact that
you guys are making? Yeah, yeah, you, you so, so RCX,
(16:00):
you know, we launched if you will, in in 2018 when we
launched, we were already doing some things with the NBA and
NFLI was doing camps at the Super Bowl actually for working
with the NFL. But I'm a big fan of you
appreciate if you get a play in a playbook and you can run this
play and it continues to work. You don't change it.
So as far as what it came to lead play, creating events, it's
(16:23):
a watch for instant repeat modelfor us.
And so we think NBA and WNBA. So that was a 2 for there.
It's league play. It's it's the same model, it's
the same concept. NHL street hockey, you know, we,
we, we, we got with NHL and initially we were saying, hey,
ice and let's do three on three.We kind of got into think tank
together and then, you know, we,we came up with ball hockey,
(16:45):
street hockey and and so it's, it's giving opportunities, You
know, across the board, MLB, we work with pitch hit and run a a
long standing program. And so, you know, we've been
blessed to oversee that as well.Major League Soccer, I'm working
with them and, and, and now in this pilot phase with USTA of
getting more kids involved with tennis.
(17:06):
And so we're doing some unique things there.
We're putting kids in jerseys, we're putting multiple kids on
on the court because my kids play tennis and it is a very
expensive sport. And a lot of times, you know,
that's the first barrier that isthere for kids.
So we've built an affordable program and also giving kids
jerseys and so forth so they feel like they're in a team
environment and just getting back to what all these sports
(17:29):
are, which is fun and every kid should be exposed to it.
And also the ability to have multi sports.
So the thing that I like most about it is, you know, when,
when we have this opportunity towork across all these different
pro leagues and our governing bodies as well, when we all get
in the room together and everybody's saying the same
thing. Everybody believes in multi
sport. Everybody believes every kid
should have a great experience and opportunity at the rec level
(17:53):
and not be priced out. You know, it shouldn't, it
shouldn't come at a premium price point for kids that have a
phenomenal experience in youth sports, you know, if they want
more and other things. And I know it's a lot of things
out there, but every, every kid in every community deserves that
opportunity. And so, you know, it's, it's
things that we were accustomed to when, when we grew up, right?
And how do we, how do we get back to the basics of getting
(18:15):
kids those opportunities? What really took things off and,
and went to another level for usand which I'm excited and
honored that we've had the opportunity to do it overseeing
NFL flag football. We're well over 800,000 kids
participating in NFL Flag and it, it, it is truly become
something greater than I anticipated.
But you know, good to to get more kids involved in the game
(18:37):
at all ages and continue to evolve NFL Flag and what it is
today. For more from our interview and
to learn how to find or start a team, visit Youth dot Inc slash
RCX Sports. It's just a matter of of just
being the truth, right? Just telling the truth.
When you're good will be your biggest cheerleader, but when
it's not good enough and you fall short, and mostly it's
(18:57):
through effort, it's through your routine.
Like my kids are getting a little bit older now.
I got two 7th grade twins and aneighth grade boy.
You know, so and all the things we talked about is like you
don't have to. If you're not the fastest kid,
you're not the fastest kid. If you're not the biggest kid,
you're not the biggest kid. Like some of those things are
outside of your control, but youknow, you can control what you
do Monday through Friday before your Saturday tournament.
(19:20):
That's right. You can control what you eat,
how you sleep, get your homeworkdone.
Like you can control all the easy stuff.
And then if you don't like the result, we're not going to sit
here and say it's OK like you did.
If you didn't put the work in and you didn't get the result,
Let's talk about it. Let's figure out, let's connect
the cause and effect. We're not going to sit here.
I I had this thing when we coached the kids team.
(19:41):
Like not everything's OK if we're not in the part where it's
OK, it's OK, everything's not OK.
Like it's not OK. Now, did you just make a
legitimate, you know, the ball went between your legs or you
dropped it? Like that's going to happen
Effort you didn't you miss practice the day before the
game. Why do you expect to have a good
game? Like trying to get them to
(20:02):
understand that while not everything is in their control,
a lot of things are in their control and let's put all of our
focus and effort into that. Because we're so worried about
the outcome, We're so worried about how many hits we got or
how many catches we had or how many sacks we made.
And I think it's so easy now, especially raising these kids in
today's world with highlight reel culture.
(20:24):
Like it's very easy to lose track of the journey.
It's very easy to lose track of teaching the process because
everybody coaches to the scoreboard, everybody coaches to
the highlight reel. They coach to the Instagram clip
and I think it's a big reason why youth sports has gone off
the rails a little bit is because we do ignore everything
we've talked about up to this point, everything you just laid
(20:46):
out. I think for a lot of kids around
the country, that approach has really been lost.
I would agree with you. And I got to be honest, like for
somebody listening or, you know,who might have a kid that you
think could play college football or, or, you know, in
the pros or, you know, get a scholarship for some Olympic
sport, whatever it is these verythings that I'm sure this
(21:06):
resonates with you. But like, it's not just going
to, it's not just going to be how your kid plays youth sports.
It's going to be how your kid does everything as an adult and
you only get one shot at it. And, you know, people can change
as they get older and people canmature in their 20s.
We've had team mates who, you know, show up and they're super
talented, but like they're, they're just, they don't give a
(21:27):
whatever. And, you know, sometimes they
change more often than not, though, like people are who they
are in their 20s and 30s and that sort of thing.
And so like, if it weren't for the things that the process
oriented, the process centering mindset, I don't think I'd have
been able to get through eight years in Saint Louis.
You know, and, and I think, you know, what I'm talking about is
like, you know, we're one in 15 doing 14-7 and nine, six and 10.
(21:52):
And so like having won in the NFL at the tail end of my
career, I look back and I'm like, how'd you do that?
Well, I did it because all I cared about was when somebody
turns on the tape, do I give great effort?
Do I control what I can control?I don't know how many times I
heard my dad say is a pro control what you can control.
And it's the same things we're talking about that you're saying
(22:14):
to your 1213 year old son or daughter.
And when you are an adult and mom and dad can't help you in
the real world, you have to havethose things instilled in you so
you only get one shot at it. I'm going to air on the side of
my kid being tough mentally and and hard working.
Yeah, we're, we're going to be tough as hell physically,
(22:35):
mentally, and you're going to compete your ass off and
everything that you do, you're going to have a great attitude.
You're going to treat your teammates good.
Like all that stuff is so teachable.
We can't control if they're 6-7.We can't control if they run
4-5. There is good, you know.
What we in touch, we can if we get in touch.
First of all, really well done my younger son.
(22:56):
I can't even say the number six without him yelling 7 at me.
It's off the board. He's like how?
How? It's funny.
He's at Bernal, Washington. I'm like, he's 6-8.
You know, I just lie now. I just lie.
I just make up things. But you know what's so funny
about it is before this became like a thing, I don't know if I
realized how many times we all actually say, I don't know, like
(23:20):
6 or 7. Like it's such a common free
saying. Like I don't, I don't get it,
but I hear it all the time. But now I find myself like mid
sentence being like, yeah, it's like 6.
It's. 9 but just G please don't be.
I don't want to be watching a game.
And by the way, you're the best.We love watching you call games
dude, you're just I've told you this, but you're you're
(23:41):
incredible at it. Appreciate it.
And so is my brother Kyle, by the way.
I think he's gonna be up there with you one day.
I'm hoping. But but if I catch you doing the
six seven thing, I'm going to turn the TV off.
You're not going to catch me. I don't do gimmicks.
OK. Do you?
No, you don't. That's why I left.
I don't do gimmicks. That was an inadvertent.
All right, I want to dive into you.
(24:02):
Yeah. Not on the ride home.
Not as a dad, like on the field.If you're coaching T-ball or
flag football or one day with your coaching at the high
school. Like what kind of dad coach?
Are you? I'm the guy who I'm looking for
the lonely kid, the kid that's like a little bit, you know,
reserved or whatever and trying to trying to hype him up, trying
(24:22):
to joke with him, trying to get,you know, it's a lot like being
a leader on team is like, you know, just social glue, keep
things together. I'm the guy in baseball that
like, I don't want the lineup, although by the end of the year
I was weighing in on that thing.You don't need to be first base
coach. I'm the dugout starts.
Yeah, I know it starts. They pull you in.
(24:43):
Everyone says that. I laugh because everyone says
that. Oh, that's not going to be me.
Yeah, I just all right, OK. It's addictive, though.
And then like so, so we were my boy, one of my best friends,
Kevin, he's like a coach. His dad's a coach like, you
know, like your dad, like South Side Chicago legendary coach.
He coaches football here at my high school.
(25:05):
And he wrote me into coaching our son's baseball team with
him. And, you know, the beginning of
the year, I was like, I'm not doing, you know, yadda, yadda,
yadda. But the minute you get in there,
it just reminds you that, like, there's nothing better than
working with kids for this very reason, because you're like, you
can make a real difference. You can change the trajectory of
somebody's life. And it's not necessarily because
(25:25):
you taught him to be a better baseball player.
Like I was a pretty good baseball player, but what do I
know? It's really about like how you
handle situations. So like, you know, for me this
year there was a kid, you know, he's 8 years old and he's not
giving great effort and he's kind of, he's kind of, you know,
huffing and puffing and that sort of thing.
Like, so how do I handle that? Because like, how would I want
(25:46):
somebody to talk to my son aboutthat if they were my if, if they
were my son's coach, You know, so it's a delicate thing like,
but you know, I had a conversation with a kid very
brief and just kind of said, hey, like, you're better than
that. Like you're definitely better
than that. Not coming out of the way of,
Hey, that's not good enough. But like, hey, set your standard
higher because you are great. You can be great.
(26:07):
Like this isn't this isn't you do I mean that I don't know,
like I just met the kid. He's 8 years old.
But the point is, is like bizarre.
Chances are you're better than that.
And so, you know, like I, I, I enjoy connecting with kids that
are struggling, you know, and trying to lift them up.
I enjoy being the guy that like can calmly and in a socially
(26:30):
intelligent way be very honest with the kid about effort or
attitude. And I enjoy being the guy that
runs with the kids when we make them run the hill at the end of
practice just trying to beat them up the hill, you know,
hyping kids up when they make big plays.
Like what I see in kids is you see yourself.
You see, you know, the youngest,most vulnerable version of you
(26:54):
that needed a pat on the shoulder and needed to pick me
up or maybe needed to be told, hey, that's not good enough.
But for whatever reason, somebody at home is not doing
that. And and it's not me thinking,
hell, I know more than the dad or do.
It's just we're athletes. So I have an unfair advantage
when it comes to that. And whether it's baseball or
soccer or like whatever, it's a mindset thing.
(27:16):
And so really when you're coaching youth sports, you are
teaching a mindset, you know, you're teaching a life skill
like how my kid swings a baseball bat.
There's still time for that, youknow, luckily, but it's it's a
deal where, you know, I can teach my kid a lot about how to
use this and and I can teach theother kids that too.
(27:36):
So I just love being the dugout guy, man.
But when it comes to coaching football, I love coaching young
D lineman. I love coaching high school HD
lineman and college D lineman because I have such respect for
what it takes to, to, to be great at that level and, and at
that position. And, and, and when I'm with
(27:57):
those guys, it makes me feel like I'm still playing in a
sense, you know what I'm saying?Like it makes you feel like
you're still in the building. So I love doing that.
I mix it up. Certainly we both have like
primary careers that we're busy with, but anytime I get a chance
to do something on the side, I really love coaching.
I, I always joke like my full time job is youth sports dad and
(28:18):
then my like part time job is calling games for Fox.
Like that's always like that's what it feels like.
It's what it feels like most of the time, you know, you know,
it's funny. So this this past year, it is
the last couple years we coachedthe kids football team and now
they're getting older. So this past year, my oldest
son's in 8th grade, we did theirmiddle school team.
And I would, when the kids were young, especially when I was
(28:38):
still playing, like we would always run after practice and
I'd run with them. And, you know, you feel like
King Kong because you're out in front of the hill or whatever
you're doing. But now, like, I've obviously
dropped off a good amount and these kids are getting big.
They're 14 years old, 15 years old.
Some of these kids are like men,you know?
And we're running after practiceand I'm no longer even close to
(29:01):
the front of the pack. And two of my assistant coaches
are Jonathan Stewart and Luke Kuechly.
They're still, they're still like rocked up, you know,
They're Stu. Stu could lose 50% of his burst
and he'd still beat everyone by a mile.
That's crazy. Luke's like a damn Navy SEAL.
That dude is ripped up. And so like, and not only am I
not beating the kids, I'm not even close to competing with my
(29:23):
assistant coaches. So it's a it's a very humbling
experience nowadays. Don't do your Achilles bro.
Stop, stop, stop, stop. It's my greatest fear in my
life. Me too.
That's why I like, I'll create myself playing too hard in the
backyard and I'll be like, hold on, bro, hold on.
You I ever I ever, I'm not even going to say the word, but if I
(29:44):
ever did that you can just Take Me Out back It's over.
I'm done. I I don't have time right now
for a year long. I don't have time for a year
long rehab. I've been I've been on enough
scooters in my day, But but dude, it's so funny you say like
working with the kids as they get older, it really changes,
you know, like I, I we've seen it now.
(30:05):
I haven't gotten to the high school age yet.
We do a little stuff with the high school kids, you know, here
and there because our our schools K through 12.
So it kind of blends together. But we're we're almost there to
the high school. But like thinking back to just
when they were super little, allthe things you're talking about
that you really it's not even about the sport, right?
Like the sport is the easy part,teaching a kid how to make a
(30:25):
layup, teaching a kid how to dribble with his left hand, or
that's like the easy part of it all.
But as you get older and it getsmore and more competitive, it
gets more and more real. This past year doing 7th and 8th
grade, we have some 8th graders that are like real football
players, like we can teach. You know, I, I only coached the
O line in the D line. So I'm with you.
Like there's nothing better thanthat group of kids, right?
(30:47):
The pride they take. And dude, you're practicing
setting edges and we're practicing get off and we're
striking the sled and like you take a step back and you're
like, all right, we're, we're playing real football now.
Like this, this feels different.These kids are like men playing
real ball. There is nothing better, man.
Wait till when your kids get older, like wait till you're
(31:07):
doing it with your boys at an old enough age that you can play
real sports. It's.
Dude, there is nothing, that's the time where it's going to get
interesting for me. And I don't know how you feel
about this, but like you're obviously, you know, a legend
and everything and, and, and your kids walk around and
they're Greg Olsen's son. And you know, I, I, I went
through that with my dad. My kids are going to go through
(31:29):
in this town with me and that sort of thing.
And, you know, I, I kind of wantto be cognizant of like my dad
was good about this where he kind of coached the team, but
then like on game day, he'd be back in the shadows because he'd
be a little bit of a distractionmaybe, or that sort of thing.
And there's a lot of pressure onour kids, man.
You know, so I'm always cognizant of like, hey, when it
(31:51):
comes time for that, you're going to have to teach your
kids. And I'm going to have to teach
my kids all the skills we're talking about.
But then another skill on top ofthat, which is dealing with the
pressure and the expectations ofbeing your son or my son.
So that's a very unique responsibility that we have.
We've had a lot of honest conversations exactly like that,
(32:12):
and more so as they've gotten older.
Like when they were little, I don't even think they realized
what was going on. But I'm very honest with them.
I'm like, listen, man, in today's world, whether we like
it or not, we can debate. You know, the reality is there's
a lot of people that are showingup to games that want you to
fail. They, they don't want to see you
succeed. And you just need to, you need
(32:33):
to lean into it. You can't run away from it.
It can't paralyze you. It can't stress you out.
Like lean into it, man, because guess what?
It's not going anywhere. I said there are very few people
in this world that genuinely want to see you succeed.
And your mom and dad are at the top of the list.
And hopefully your coaches and hopefully as you play for more
(32:53):
and more people like those people all have your best
interests at heart. But the reality is there might
be people on your own team, there might be people in your
own school, certainly on rival schools and rival teams around
the area. Like that's just the way of the
world, man. And you either run from it or
you run towards it. And we really have a lot of
conversations at our house aboutwe are not going to shy away
(33:16):
from it. If there's a target on your
back, my back. People don't like the way I
coach. People don't like the way we
play. That's OK.
We don't have to be for everybody.
But I'll tell you what, man, we are not going to let it change
how you compete, how you work, whatever talent level you end up
having. Who cares when they watch you
play? They should never walk out of
(33:36):
the gym, the field and say that to that dude works his ass off
and that guy plays his ass off. They say those two things.
That's it. You should be motivated to prove
just that, which is like, hey, Idon't know what kind of player
you're going to become, but nobody's going to walk out of
there and be like, man, that guy, that guy's soft or that
guy. Or he's only playing because his
dad's part of the team. He's only.
Or he doesn't care. Or he's not hungry, you know,
(33:58):
because that's the truth is like, and we touched on this
earlier, there's a lot of hungrypeople playing football, man,
like that make it to the top. And so you, I mean, that's the
one thing that I don't think people understand is the hunger
inside an NFL building to succeed.
The the pure willpower that so many guys that we play with,
they they didn't have choices. And so you know that, yeah,
(34:18):
we're going to raise kids that luckily and they all our team
mates are going to raise kids that luckily do have choices.
But you got to play like you have no choice.
And so, so I think that's cool, man.
But also I think, you know, there's something there for
every kid, which is like, hey, when our kids take the field or
when I took the field growing up, there was a lot of people
(34:40):
and there were a lot of eyes on you.
And it felt like, hey, whether people rooting for you, against
you, that sort of thing, that you're a big deal.
Not to say like, oh, I'm a big deal, but like everybody's
paying attention. And this is the truth in today's
day and age too. No one's thinking about you.
They are for like a minute of their day.
No doubt. When you've got something going
(35:02):
where you're in your own head oryou think, hey, like my problem
is the center of the universe. If you're in an NFL locker room,
you know, we've been there whereI, you know, for six years of my
career, I didn't miss a game, played through injuries, the
whole thing, got hurt, got on IR, was walking around the
(35:23):
building thinking everybody hates me.
Like my team mates, they love me.
I'm like a captain. These are all my boys, man.
But all the. Time, but you put it you, you
plant that seed. You plant that seed in your head
and the pressure put push you ina spot where I'm walking through
the hallway like everybody's thinking about I should be
coming back sooner. Everybody's thinking about I'm
(35:43):
not rehabbing hard enough. Everybody's thinking I'm not
producing. And the truth is when people
walk by you, they might be thinking about what time the
meeting start or they got their own problems or Hey, coach is
pissed at me. I jumped out of my gap last week
or you know, like what's going to happen in this meeting
because I missed the block. Like every or I have some some
problem at home or, or or I'm inmy own head.
(36:06):
Everybody's got their own problems.
And so as much pressure as you might feel, whether you're our
kids or somebody else or just a regular kid, like at the end of
the day, I don't mean this in a,in a way to like knock you down.
I mean it to build you up. Like nobody cares.
It's your problems are are it's everything's relative.
You have tiny problems in the grand scheme of things and
(36:28):
people are thinking about you even on your worst day.
You know, the people that that are the main characters on
Twitter that have like a terrible day.
They tweet the wrong thing, theysay the wrong thing.
You might say something totally uncharacteristic.
Screw up on live television for an hour.
You're trending. Nobody remembers.
Most of the people you know never saw the the thing.
(36:49):
Most of the people you know are not talking about the thing.
So just get over it and move theF on.
Oh, it's so true. It feels like you're, it feels
like all eyes are on you and center.
But it's so true, man. Like your problems are not
nearly as big in the real world as they are in your head.
No, they're thinking about. Everybody's thinking about
something else they think about.Oh, look at that stupid, you
(37:11):
know what the Greg Olsen did today?
And then they're like, what do Iwant for lunch?
But you're sitting there thinking about what everybody's
thinking about what I said or what I the play I didn't make or
you know, and I think there's a lesson there for athletes
growing up because this day and age you're going to be, there's
always a conversation about is, are these athletes tougher or
softer than the last generation?I think yes and no.
(37:33):
I think they're tougher in some ways because they have to deal
with the scrutiny that we didn't.
It's a it's literally like we went from like, you know,
there's a a national broadcast of our game too.
And you might not be in the market to see a Rams game to now
every play is on is is on the Internet.
(37:53):
There's a discourse about it. Everybody's got social media.
Any slip up in the media, you'reso these guys are tougher in a
sense. We definitely were tougher
physically because we had actually go to training camp and
that sort of thing and there wasinside run and and and now
everything's all RPO, you know, fast to the flat.
(38:13):
We used to fit counter and powerall day, but these guys are
tougher in a way because they'rescrutinized at a level than we
never work. Before we get back to the
episode, let's continue our conversation with RCX Sports
Founder and CEO Izel Reese to hear how they are working with
professional leagues to elevate the youth sports experience.
These clubs and these teams of, you know, pictures for NBA does
(38:36):
a phenomenal job as well. They've been wanting to do more
and so having this conduit and having us in the middle to kind
of be an extension of them. And but this is all we focus on,
right? So because at the end of the
day, the pro leagues and their their respective teams, they
want to do more, but they also have a professional team or
(38:57):
professional club that they got to run and they got to go get a
Super Bowl or go win a championship, right?
So, so, so having us in the in the middle to kind of be this is
all I'm thinking about. My my Super Bowl is youth
sports. My Super Bowl is, you know,
seeing, seeing these kids and them getting that opportunity.
So now you got somebody who has expertise, but then also the
(39:19):
league operator. So I'm going to go to the other
spectrum, that local park and rec, that local.
Why those those different type of groups, independent groups,
those are what we call them. We say that local league
operator where those those people that are those boots on
the ground, those coaches that are volunteering those time
there's officials that are involved and and getting behind
them and supporting them. And so that's what we spent a
(39:41):
lot of emphasis on and supporting those 2000 plus
league operators, creating efficiencies for them, giving
them tools and resources, truly being at one stop shop for them
and supporting them and servicing them so that they can
deliver that good, that great experience for those kids within
those respective communities. So.
(40:01):
And that's, that's kind of how, you know, again, we're, we're
connecting all the dots, if you will, And it's worked it
extremely well. You know, still a lot of runway
and continue to, to, to grow andaccelerate it and enhance it.
And I, and I think it's a constant push to get more kids
back in sport. Cause at the end of the day,
there's still a lion's share of kids that are not playing sport.
(40:23):
How do, how do we get them back to, you know, to being involved
in engaged with sports? Youth sports isn't, isn't going
anywhere, but we do know that there aren't as many kids
playing youth sports as it used to be.
And, and some of it is because of barriers, some of it because,
you know, a variety of things. And so I don't see any slowing
(40:44):
down because, I mean, you know, you have this opportunity to
continue to enhance and pulling kids back in.
And every parent wants, every parents wants their kids on a on
a local giving Saturday in theirlocal community to participate.
And it also to be a better and great experience.
And so I don't see this slowing down at all.
I mean, I know we got our foot on the gas and we're going to
(41:05):
continue to do it and it's working.
And so there's also a lot of demand for, you know, from, from
other sports that have, you know, inquired and asked, Hey,
how can we be on your platform and what you're doing?
We see what what's happening, but we want to make sure that,
you know, we can continue to deliver and die the IS and cross
the T's and make it a good experience for for the sports
that we're involved in now. For more from our interview and
(41:27):
to learn how to find or start a team, visit Youth dot Inc slash
RCX Sports I. Want to ask you another thing
before I let you. I want to ask you like knowing
what lies ahead. It's a very crazy world than
what we recognize, right? It's not.
It's not going to be what you grew up doing when you played
for the Elks and you played withyour buddies and then you went
to the basketball gym and then those same kids in the fall got
(41:49):
ready for football. Like those days, at least where
we live, like those days are over.
How are you guys going to handlelike the pressure to have your
kids just pick a sport young, the pressure of your kids to fly
around the world playing travel sports?
Like have you have you guys had any discussions about cuz that's
it's coming down the line. You're.
Oldest is what? 99 so you're getting there.
(42:10):
I mean 10 it's happening now at 1012 years old.
Like have you guys had any like thoughts about how you want to
approach it? We talk all the time about this
cuz my wife's an athlete jersey gal and played from Morristown
to South. But but lacrosse in in college
and all that stuff. And she's like, she's the one
(42:34):
who's like on my kids asses. She's the like the, the sports
dad. I'm the chill sports dad
compared to her. She's the, the quintessential
sports dad and she's like tryingto get him into two sports at
once and all this stuff. And, you know, she's like
anything my son has to do, she'slike, yeah, we'll, we'll do
that. Like, you want to play AU
(42:56):
basketball on top of flag football this fall?
And I'm the one like, yo, pump your brakes.
Like, let's focus on one thing and pour everything we can into
that one thing one season at a time.
Now, I was a hey, I when I was in high school, you know, I'd,
I'd, I'd lift for a football after basketball practice, I'd
be in the gym till 89-O clock. But we're nine years old.
(43:17):
So like, my thing is, let's, let's bust our ass at what we're
doing and play as many sports aswe can.
If you want to do one practice of fall ball, you know, for
baseball every week, that's no big deal.
But like to do 2 travel sports at once.
Like hey, it's hard on the kid. It's also hard on dad in the
(43:38):
summer because that's when AU basketball is, My son said, Hey,
I want to play AU basketball andI'm like, damn, my, my, my
recreational time on the river is going to be cut in half as a
result of my son wanting to be LeBron James.
I got 2 boys playing summer travel baseball when school ball
ends every summer and traveling to all over the world and then a
(43:59):
daughter that plays travel basketball and does track in the
summer. So like, you know, we had these
dreams of like our summers beingat the beach and going on the
boat and like having actually a summer.
Ain't no summer we. Haven't had a summer in five
years? Yeah, and that's what they don't
tell you but but here's what I will say.
But I'm the asshole out there actually coaching the team,
making the schedule. So I'm part of the blitz.
(44:21):
I made the schedule. I booked the trip to Myrtle
Beach, SC in Atlanta. I'm.
The one that's booking the tournament, so it's probably my
own fault. Myrtle Beach, That's rough.
Well, I, I just, I, I'll say this.
I grew up, played four sports, played football, basketball,
baseball, lacrosse. I went back and forth between
baseball and lacrosse because meand the baseball coach didn't
(44:42):
get along the and you know, I'm really glad I played all those
sports. Like I think it made me a better
athlete as, as, as a whole, being able to play all those
sports. I think special specialization
is a little bit overboard. It's not a hot take in today's
day and age. I think a lot of people are on
to that whole thing. I just think like when you make
(45:04):
a commitment and it's kind of like me as an adult, I, I don't
say no, I, I don't know if you have this problem when you say
yes to everything. I'm the worst, freaking worst
dude. And I, it's taken me 40 years to
figure that out. But like, if you say yes to
everything and you half ass halfof it, it ain't doing anybody
any good. You know, you think you're
helping them, but you know, they're waiting on the request
(45:25):
that you said yes to for three weeks.
That sort of thing is the same thing with a kid when they say
yes to too much, too many different sports or too many
different engagements. Eventually your wife and you
were going to be sitting there like he's got a birthday party
tomorrow. Like, does he need to go to that
practice? Like, well, you're the one who
signed him up for that sport. You know, it looks to me like he
(45:47):
made a commitment. And so as inconvenient as it is,
it is now he's not going to be able to go to his buddy's
birthday party or, you know, there's a conflict with his
basketball and his baseball game.
Like, that's why I like to keep things kind of like clean where
it's like, hey, let's commit to one thing one season at a time.
And if there's a way to do 1 andlike 1/4 of another sport, like,
you know, take BP every week, stay on your baseball, then
(46:10):
let's do that. But like what I don't like is
when all of a sudden we have to make decisions and my son's not
at every practice or every game.And that kind of reinforces A1
foot in, one foot out kind of mentality that I just want him
to be all in one thing at a time.
And I do think it's valuable to play multiple sports.
Oh, I do too. I I'm, I'm a big believer in all
(46:32):
that it, it is very hard to be, to play multiple sports at the
same time. We went through it this year
with the boys try to keep up with fall baseball.
And obviously we're in the thickof like a real football season.
We got practice every day after school and then they're racing
from football to try to go get there, you know, throw their
bullpens or they miss a bullpen this week and the next weekend
they pitch and their arm hurts and it's just like this never
(46:53):
ending cycle. But when you figure it out and
you figure out how to not do it,let me know.
Yeah, because you're you're doing it.
We haven't figured it out yet either.
You you're raising some Shohei Otanis?
No, we're just trying. To survive, man, we're just
trying to survive. But Chris, man, I, I, it's just
so cool to do to just see all you've accomplished.
(47:15):
We can go on and about your charitable work with water boys
and and obviously you got your own pod.
We could like that. I've been on with you, I think a
handful of time, two or three times at least, yeah.
Yeah, it's so we're getting moreof a starting to run together.
I don't know how many years we've been out, but.
Dude, man, you've accomplished so much.
It's been so cool to obviously get to know you in college as a
friend of my brother Chris, teammates at Virginia, and just
(47:36):
see everything you've accomplished as you reminded us
over 20 years. I don't know how you feel about
that, but dude, man, it's so it's just been so cool to get to
know your family, your work withyour dad.
Obviously gotten to know Kyle now and super cool man.
Just wish nothing but the best for you and when you figure out
all this parenting stuff and raising them, send over some
advice because we sure as hell don't have it figured.
(47:58):
Out dude, we'll we'll compare some notes and the respective
mutual bro, I've always appreciated you and and as I
said, you are just acing it at this in this juncture of your
professional career. Bro we love listening to you
call games man. You're nobody better.
Appreciate you man. Good.
Good to see anybody. I'll talk to you soon.
Before we wrap up, let's close out our conversation with our
friends at RCX Sports. I spoke to a father and daughter
(48:20):
who are living the youth sports experience daily to hear how RCX
has helped them. I get excited to know that
they'll have memories of doing some of these things.
They'll know that their parents were able to take them out to go
play these sports. They'll they'll make friends all
over the city. With the way our city is now
with no, not really Community Schools because everything's
(48:41):
charter, you have like people spread all over the city.
So it gives them a chance to meet new kids and, and, and have
those experiences. And so that's something that
brings joy to my heart, knowing that they're going to have a
childhood that's full of joy, that's that's full of fun.
And they get a chance to play all these different sports and
see what they like. So that's been that's been
really, really exciting. It feels like I'm a pro and it
(49:04):
feels like I'm actually playing for like the team I'm wearing
and it feels like I'm the big team.
They've done a great job of going all over the city,
connecting with different schools, connecting with
different, with it, with different communities and
creating a cost that allows all families to get a chance to be a
(49:24):
part of, of playing, of, of getting a chance to be, to be in
the sports and, and to be a partof these teams.
And so they've done a great job of just connecting with
different community, different community members, getting the
word out. I think you can tell about
what's going on with 18th Ward that they're just doing an
amazing job and they're not all trying to do just one sport.
(49:46):
They can do many sports. So all those things create an
environment that that creates a a great place for kids to learn
and grow. Having fun is very important
because what's the point of playing the game?
For more from our interview and to learn how to find or start a
team, visit Youth dot Inc slash RCX Sports.
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Ruthie's Table 4
For more than 30 years The River Cafe in London, has been the home-from-home of artists, architects, designers, actors, collectors, writers, activists, and politicians. Michael Caine, Glenn Close, JJ Abrams, Steve McQueen, Victoria and David Beckham, and Lily Allen, are just some of the people who love to call The River Cafe home. On River Cafe Table 4, Rogers sits down with her customers—who have become friends—to talk about food memories. Table 4 explores how food impacts every aspect of our lives. “Foods is politics, food is cultural, food is how you express love, food is about your heritage, it defines who you and who you want to be,” says Rogers. Each week, Rogers invites her guest to reminisce about family suppers and first dates, what they cook, how they eat when performing, the restaurants they choose, and what food they seek when they need comfort. And to punctuate each episode of Table 4, guests such as Ralph Fiennes, Emily Blunt, and Alfonso Cuarón, read their favourite recipe from one of the best-selling River Cafe cookbooks. Table 4 itself, is situated near The River Cafe’s open kitchen, close to the bright pink wood-fired oven and next to the glossy yellow pass, where Ruthie oversees the restaurant. You are invited to take a seat at this intimate table and join the conversation. For more information, recipes, and ingredients, go to https://shoptherivercafe.co.uk/ Web: https://rivercafe.co.uk/ Instagram: www.instagram.com/therivercafelondon/ Facebook: https://en-gb.facebook.com/therivercafelondon/ For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iheartradio app, apple podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows. Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com