June 10, 2025 • 46 mins
Have you ever wondered what would happen if you give a former NFL QB 2 hours of radio in one dau? This show makes that happen with former 12-Year NFL Veteran Scott Mitchell from 10-11am on ESPN 700 & 92.1 FM and 1-2pm on 103.9 & 98.3 ESPN The Fan. Scott w
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
You are tuned to The Down and Dirty with Scott
Mitchell on Kall North Salt Lake k x R k
HD three, ESPN seven hundred ninety two to one alf AM.
This is the Down and Dirty with Scott Mitchell, the
Utah football legend and twelve year NFL veterans on Utah's
number one sports talk ESPN seven hundred and ninety two
(00:23):
to one alf AM, a proud part of Utah's ESPN
Radio network.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Hello, Downot, Good morning sports fans, Welcome on in. It
is The Down and Dirty with Scott Mitchell here on
ESPN seven hundred ninety two ONEFM. So glad you could
be a part of our show today. Oh, we got
a good one today. I think we're gonna talk a
bunch of trash. We're going to trash talk today. That's
the thing I think and theme of today's show is
(00:52):
talking trash. We also have some rather interesting things going
on in the world of the NFL. The you know,
sports just moves on, so a lot of fun stuff.
If you miss part of it, don't worry. Just download
The Down and Dirty wherever you get your your podcasts,
or you can go to ESPN seven hundred Sports dot
(01:13):
Com or ESPN seven hundred Sports. App Apparently you can
just also tell your smart speaker just play the down
and dirty with Scott much So, we don't want you
to miss a part of our show. We love to
be here, and we love that you are here. A
lot of great fans of the program and really appreciate
you your patronage and listening and tuning in. So let's
(01:37):
have fun. Okay, Trash talking is the thing. It's a
real thing, and I think there are many, many different
forms of trash talking. But I want you to We're
gonna play this little clip here and I'm gonna talk
about what does trash talking mean in sports? Is it really?
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Does it really work? What is what is trash talking?
The feel? Feel? You can't hard this, I'm almost see
you talk, don't turn my chalk. Welcome, Welcome home baby,
(02:23):
what you say to him? Welcome to the NFL.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
All right, that's just a little clip of Actually one
of those is Michael Strahan, another one is ray Lewis.
Of course, a lot of a lot of trash talkers,
so it's kind of an interesting thing to hear these
different people talk about their mom. Uh, they're nice and
welcoming them. They're talking about some of the equipment that
(02:49):
they wear, like a jock strap. They're telling the player,
giving them directions, they're giving them, uh pointers and and kinds.
And I I've I've I've trash talked. I've heard a
lot of trash talking in my career. I've seen it
it work very well. I've also seen it backfire. So
(03:13):
it's it's definitely a part of sports and and in
some regards it's, uh it's even a rite of passage.
Like if if people are not trash talking to you,
you're not significant enough for them to be worried about
you and to care.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
So consider it.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
An acknowledgment of your presence and your concern for them
and the threat that you are to them, that that
they have to track trash talk. Sometimes you could even
say trash talking is a form of insecurity. It's like
you got to talk and say all these things, and
if you you know, to try to maybe even convince
(03:56):
yourself that you're you're you're good enough, like you know,
trying to be little another person to make yourself look better.
A lot of times it's just pure strategic gamesmanship.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
You're just trying to get another dude's head.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
And if you can get in their head and you
can get them off their game, if you can find
some little advantage, some little edge, you'll take it. And
you know, some guys are like, I'm not saying a
freaking word. I don't have the energy, I don't have
the time. I don't I don't I don't want to
bother with it. So it runs the gamut of of
(04:34):
kind of it's its relevance, importance meaning, but it's there.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
It didn't make no mistake about it.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Trash talking is like there, it's in the middle of
everything that goes on. And and don't kid yourself at
all where thinking that, you know, just because you're watching
the sport on television and you don't see that the
you know, kind of the gym jabber that goes on
between the players. Uh for one second, don't ever think
(05:05):
that it's that. It's it's not happening. And of course
it goes up into the stands, it goes everywhere.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
Uh. So there was a guy, John Randall, and John
Randall was.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
Maybe the most thorough, maybe the most extensive, maybe the
most uh. And it wasn't annoying like Warren Sapp was annoying.
Warren Snap talked all the time.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
Blah.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
But you know, and and with Warren he talked so
much that you just it just it just it was
it just like.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
Fingernails on chalkboard. It just it just was annoying. Now.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
John Randall, on the other hand, talked a lot, but
he was funny. John Randall was actually funny.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
Now.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
John Randall, of course, played for the Minnesota Vikings. Long
great story about John Randall, by the way, how he
ended up making it in the NFL. He was an
undersized player, you know, he was. He was like he
just didn't kind of fit anywhere, too big to be
a linebacker, maybe too small to be a defensive lineman,
(06:11):
or too short to be a defensive end.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
Whatever.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
And he just carved out a niche for himself and
made a phenomenal career and ended up in the Hall
of Fame, and rightly so.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
Very good player. But John Randall would talk.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Now, now, most people are pretty unsophisticated in their talk,
you know, like what we heard, you know, just get
off the field and you can't hold my jock and
welcome to the NFL.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
Like that.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Those are those are very uncreative things. John Randall researched you.
John Randall knew about you, He knew where you were from.
He didn't know that you had a mom. He knew
her name, and he would let you know it and
and he would call you out by name and and
(07:01):
uh and try to get in your head. And this
was in some regards it was like wow, this this
maybe that's a little creepy. Like he's done like all
this research and you know, tried to find all these things.
You know, probably got a private investigator too, who knows, uh,
find out how many traffic tickets you've gotten in your
(07:23):
life whatever. But John John Randall, he uh, he would
say stuff like like he says, Scott Mitchell, Springville, Utah?
Where is Springville? And the crazy thing is he didn't
have a script, right, he was on a football field.
He didn't have like his notes, he didn't have his
(07:43):
iPhone like he knew this stuff. Like this guy went
to serious lengths to to to remember you and and
to you know, to find out who you were, just
to see if he could. You know, he told me
my mom's name, and I was like wow. But what
(08:04):
happened for me was John Randall is it. It was
just funny like like he and he wore the he
wore the eye black, you know, basically all over his face.
I mean he had you know, he was some ancient
warrior looking person with all with all the you know,
he had it all over the place. And he was
a NonStop like NonStop but funny. Warren Sap was not
(08:30):
funny like he was just he was just annoying. In fact,
it was an interesting thing with with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
So you had Hardy Nickerson, Derek Brooks, Warren Sapp all
great players. All you could argue hall of famers. Hardy
I don't think we'll get in the Hall of Fame,
but he was a great player. And of course Derek
(08:52):
Brooks and and Warren Sapp are but they all did.
They just talked and they had to talk because they
were in Tampa Bay. Right, What else are you gonna
do back in the day when you had the cream
sickle uniform and it just looked horrendous, it really did
it just it did it did not look it did
not look good. I know I talked to you about
(09:12):
the Arizona Cardinals and their and their uniform and their
whole just vibe like Tampa's the same way.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
Just get just begun, begne be done.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Now, when they switched their jerseys, Tony Dungeee arrives, then
all of a sudden, Tampa Bay becomes kind of cool.
And and the ironic thing is is when Tony Dungee
showed up, they all stop talking. Warren Sap stopped yapping,
and they all and all of a sudden they got good.
So I don't know if if the lack of trash
(09:44):
talking from Warren Sap actually translated into them being about
I would like to ask him that question. Actually, I'm
sure he I'm sure he'd never stopped trash talk because
because no one you you just do.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
You just do.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
The guy that I loved the most, and of course
they didn't play in the NBA, but was Larry Bird.
And and Larry Bird looks like this just kinda easygoing,
awe shucks country boy from French Lick, Indiana. Like that's
what he looks like, right, just looks like just a
good old boy, you know.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
Just just uh.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
But Larry Bird was not that way and that and that,
to me is is just fascinating because he just doesn't
fit the mold of what he looks like. And and
it's fun, one of my favorite things to do, my
favorite past and and and it and it shows up
a lot of my you know, my my search engines
because I've searched this out a lot. Is to hear
(10:46):
all of the NBA players talk about Larry Bird and
how he was just the greatest trash talker of them all.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
See.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
I like sophistication in my trash talking. I like when
someone you know has some thought to like like John Randle,
like he really went to great links uh to talk trash.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
He really did. But Larry Bird would tell.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
The players what he was going to do to him,
and then he would go out and do it, and
then he would point to them and tell them that
he did it. So that's the that's the formula of
a Southern Baptist preacher. By the way, I'm going to
tell you what I'm gonna do, I'm gonna do it,
and then I'm going to tell you that I did
it right. That's the formula and that and that's how
(11:40):
that and I may be off on that.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
I'm kind of winging that thought, but uh, you know,
it's just it's just you know that that's a good,
good speech, right, and Larry Bird would do this and
and and it's not like once or twice, it's like
all the time. Now you watched some of the crazy
game winning shots or shots that are going on, and
(12:05):
there's one there's one time when he's he's over on
the sideline by the Atlanta Hawks bench and and he's
just telling them all what's gonna happen, Like he's just
he's just letting them know. And he keeps doing it,
and he keeps doing it, and he keeps doing it
and by the end, the players on the end of
the bench are literally rolling almost on the floor because
(12:29):
of what Larry Bird has absolutely done. In fact, the
coach find the players because you know they they sided
with the enemy like they were just and it's just fun.
And it's just there's so many different people through time
that have talked about Larry Bird's trash talking, and you
have to wonder, like, for me, you know, it wasn't.
(12:54):
It wasn't like a lot of my game, right, it wasn't,
because it's kind of hard, you know, you would say
something to someone when they you know, when they hitch
you or something.
Speaker 3 (13:07):
You know, it's like, you know, like, you know, is
that all you got?
Speaker 2 (13:11):
Like I didn't feel that, like really, it's like you
got to bring a lot more than that, because you know,
so there were kind of things like that, you know,
a little impromptu, but I was never one to go
I'm going to strategically map out my trash talking. And
there are guys that do it and have done it,
and they do it well and it's kind of their
thing and I think part of it too. It kind
(13:34):
of helps these guys loosen up, you know, when they play.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
It's funny.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
It was funny to watch Chad Johnson because Chad Johnson's
kind of the wide receiver for Cincinnat Bengals. It's fun
to watch him because when he was a rookie, he
was the quiet church mouse, like, didn't say a word,
Like he didn't even know what play, what he was
supposed to do on the place like, and then all
of a sudden, he just blossomed into this you know character,
(14:01):
uh and and which was probably his real personality. But
I think after, you know, he got the confidence to
know that he really belonged to the in the NFL
and could really excel at it that he this just
came out and so so there's and and I believe
with John Randall, I think that's part of what helped
him kind of get into his game, get into his
(14:24):
mind mindset. And I think some players do it, you know,
to get kind of to go to the dark side.
You hear of, you know, Kobe Bryant, major trash talker.
You hear of of Michael Jordan and and some of
these players that were unbelievably good, but they really leaned
into trash talking to to find that edge for themselves,
(14:49):
not not even not even trying to get the other
player out of their rhythm, but to actually get them
in there into into a place. Now, if I was
a middle linebacker, I think I would probably I would
definitely be a trash talker. And there was a there
was a moment in when I was in Detroit. Lomas
(15:13):
Brown one of our tackles who was a really good player,
and and Lomas liked to talk, and and he there
wasn't a microphone that he was not you know, friends with,
and and he loved to say a lot of things
and and he even said things that weren't true, and
some of them are somewhat famous that he you know,
(15:35):
he claimed that he tried to get me injured so
he could get me out of a game. And then
of course he apologized later because because it wasn't true.
But you know, he's just trying to just trying to talk.
And we were we were one of the we were
nineteen ninety five, we were just on a role one
of the hottest teams in the NFL. And he publicly
(15:57):
came out and he just said, man, we got to
start talking about this. We've got to start letting people
know that we're pretty freaking good. And and and of
course this was right before our game against the Philadelphia
Eagles in the in the playoffs, where they kind of
put it on us, and so we weren't very good
or they certainly we were good, but they certainly used
(16:21):
us trash talking as a way to just get them motivated.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
And there's kind of.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
A written rule where you don't ever give your opponent
any any reason or any extra motivation to beat you. Now,
I remember Brian Cox, a linebacker played for the Miami Dolphins.
He was drafted a couple of years after me, and
(16:48):
really fun guy, a really good player, and he just
he didn't have a filter and he used trash talking
and he did one of the most amazing things I've
ever seen. He actually, we're playing the Buffalo Bills Miami
Buffalo nineties, early nineties, that was a very hot rivalry,
(17:12):
and we're going.
Speaker 3 (17:14):
To Buffalo and he goes, I hate Buffalo. I hate
the city of Buffalo.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
I hate their fans, I hate their players, I hate
everybody in Buffalo. And he says this on like a Wednesday,
And of course everyone in Buffalo is going to hear
about Brian Cox and his dye tribe into how much
he hates every last thing about Buffalo.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
And we're going to play in Buffalo Orchard Park.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
As you walk out of the locker room and go
down a tunnel and it opens up and they're fans
on both sides of you. As you're getting ready to
go on the field. On the right side, they have
a canopy covering you so that the fans can't really
see you, and then you get out onto the field,
otherwise they're just they might be throwing bear cans at you.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
Who knows what could go on.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
So we always would walk under the canopy out on
the field.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
Not Brian Cox.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
Brian Cox walked right through the middle of the tunnel
as it opened up into the field. The fans were
just mercive, mercy, mercifully on what anyways, They were just
giving it to Brian Cox. And he stood there and
(18:36):
gave him the one finger salute, one one hand point
in one direction, one the other raised his hands up
in the air, gave him the bird, and he walked
right down the middle of the tunnel and I was
just like, you are a courageous man. You may be
a stupid man, maybe not the smartest thing in the
(18:57):
world to do, I thought in the moment, but you
are a courageous man.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
And no one else followed him. He was on his own.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
The rest of our team we walked under the canopy
because we're like, we'll just let Brian take all the
bullets for us. And he gets onto the field and
we trounced the Buffalo Bills that day. I think we
beat him like forty eight to fourteen or something like.
We just kicked their trash. And I believe so much
(19:26):
of it was because of Brian Cox. And he just said, look, folks,
you don't scare me, you know, you know, I'm just
in uh and I loved it like it was one
of to me, one of the best moments. Now there
is another Brian Cox moment. Maybe I'll maybe I'll share
that with you because because it was it was a
(19:48):
different form of trash talk Utah football.
Speaker 4 (19:52):
Right here on your home of the uth CSPN seven
hundred and ninety two one FM, presented by Outlaw Distiller,
you were listening to about Down and Dirty with Scott
Mitchell on Utah's number one sports talk and Home Up
the Youth SKIESPN seven hundred ninety two one half m.
Speaker 5 (20:10):
We made up their mind and they started backing left
before the sun came up.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
Hello, Sportsman's welcome back.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
It's the Down a Dirty Here with Scott Mitchell ESPN
seven hundred nine two one FM. So glad you could
be a part of our show and a part of
the segment we were trash talking in the first segment.
Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but it's always there,
always there, always there. I think I think the worst
trash talking you can have is when you ignore someone.
(20:47):
I really do. The guys that made me most nervous
were the silent ones, because you felt like they were
a little bit off, like they could be just slightly crazy.
Used to scare me to death, like it was one
thing to get hit, it was another thing to get maimed.
Speaker 3 (21:05):
And the silent ones wanted to maim you. They had
no mercy. All right.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
I promised you that I would tell you a quick
story about trash breathing. I wasn't even a talking thing.
Brian Cows, linebacker, played a long time in the NFL.
We were teammates and then we were opponents. We were
playing on a Thanksgiving game.
Speaker 3 (21:26):
I was in.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
Detroit and he was in Chicago. Brian came in and
hit me. He didn't sack me, never sacked me anyways.
He hit me and he's laying on top of me
on the ground, and he said, hey, Scott, how you doing?
Because you know, we were teammates, and I really thought
the world of Brian. He was good, good player, good
(21:47):
because he's just a fun guy. And he and he
breathed on me. He says, hey, Scott, how you doing?
And then he breathed on me and he said, can
you smell my breakfast? And I was like I can,
I I literally can. I had never ever had a
player breathe on me. Before and and you you know,
(22:11):
you hear players, you know, as they prepared, like some
guys won't go they won't take a shower. You know,
Brian Cox didn't brush his teeth after breakfast. So I
got I got the breakfast breath from Brian Cox, and
I was just like, and the thing about it, it was,
it was it was, it was disgusting, and he wanted
(22:32):
it to be disgusting. And I kind of I laughed
simply because of the the ingenuity of it, the cleverness,
like who breathes on you? And I know there's a
lot of different things players do, and a lot of
disgusting things the players do. I'm not gonna get into
(22:58):
what they are. Maybe maybe another maybe we'll do down
and Dirty after dark and we'll get into all the
disgusting things that players do. Uh, we'll all have to
we'll all have to be decontaminated after that episode.
Speaker 3 (23:14):
And so the funny part, it just worked.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
And I could I could smell the eggs, the bacon,
the bank, I knew everything he had for breakfast, and
but I laughed because it was funny. So it's not
just about the trash talking. It's about the trash breathing
the things you do. All right, it's the NFL News
of Notes. We're gonna have a little conversation here that
(23:41):
about things happening in the NFL. Okay, we talked a
little bit about like holding out of mini camp, but
what really is mini camp? And you have h Terry mccallaran, TJ. Watt,
and Trey Hendricks and all defensive linemen by the way,
(24:03):
of course, one place for Washington, one place for Pittsburgh,
and uh and of course Trey places for the the Bengals,
my Cincinnati Bengals, by the way, Cincinnati. When you live
in Cincinnati, you learn how to spell Cincinnati and then
you find out that it's actually quite easy to spell
(24:28):
and uh. Anyways, uh, but if you don't live in Cincinnati,
you don't know how to spell it. So it's just
one of those things that that you learned. Now when
I when I read this, I was like, okay, you know,
I mean we talked about why players skip mini camps
(24:49):
and and a lot of them it's it's there their
warning shot. It's like sending the message to the team,
I'm sitting out, I'm not playing with you, I'm not
going to do my homework. I'm not going to eat
my broccoli. Because we negotiate. We learn how to negotiate
(25:12):
even as children. And how we negotiate is we just
we just say no. We said, I'm not doing I'm
not I'm not following your rules. I'm not doing I'm
not doing that. I'm not cleaning my room. And your
parents say, fine, sit there. You're not going anywhere, not
doing anything until you do and follow the rules. So
(25:35):
go ahead and sit there and do it. And that's
typically what happens. Nothing like nothing will come out of
this yet. And this is this is where the NFL
is notorious. Negotiating is like it's just negotiating for like
(25:56):
dummies in the NFL, if you ask my opinion, In fact,
I think there was only one time in the history
of the entire league where someone sitting out actually was
a good thing for anyone. Most of the time, when
a player sits out, they come back they haven't been
in camp. They haven't acclimated their body to the rigors
(26:19):
of what what they have to go through. You know
that you're you're not acclimated to the weather, You're not
acclimated to the physicalness of it. You're not acclimated to
the speed of it.
Speaker 3 (26:31):
You don't.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
There's an in shape in shape, and then there's game
in there's game shape. And usually every first regular season game,
everyone goes.
Speaker 3 (26:42):
Man, I'm out of shape, but you're not.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
You're just out of game shape because it's a different
type of shape, and it's it's different because you're not
playing games. You don't you don't ever play a game
in practice ever, doesn't ever come close to it, so
so you you need to time. So anygain who sits out,
they just they miss out on actual things that are
are relevant and important to being ready to play, and
(27:05):
it's it's acclimating your body to the whole process.
Speaker 3 (27:09):
So most of the time they fail.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
The only guy I ever saw who sat out and
it worked was EMMITTT. Smith, And I may be wrong
on this, there may be more people. There may be
more that's and Emmett sat out in it was like
the ninety two season and he's like, man, I'm not
getting paid.
Speaker 3 (27:28):
These are things.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
I'm one of the best, if not the best running
backs in the NFL period, and I am being paid peanuts.
And Zeriaf Jones says, fine, you're not eating your broccoli
sit there at the dinner dinner table and until you do.
(27:49):
For me, it was suck attash. By the way, if
you know what suck attash is, it sounds terrible. It's
just vegetables. I don't know why they call it suck atash,
but that's the name of it.
Speaker 3 (28:02):
And it's just like I was like carrots and peas
and stuff. I don't know lima beans.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
Why I love vegetables, by the way, love them, eat
him every day, but for some reason I just couldn't.
Speaker 3 (28:19):
I couldn't eat him as the kid. So Emmett sits.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
Out and they lose their first two games.
Speaker 3 (28:26):
These are the this is.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
The They had won the Super Bowl the year before, so.
Speaker 3 (28:35):
They start out and they lose their first two games.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
And now everyone's like, we can't win without Emmitt Smith,
and you're letting him sit out, you dummy, who cares
about his suck attash his broccoli. Get him off the table,
get him out of his room, and pay the man.
Speaker 3 (28:56):
And they did. They went on to win the Super Bowl.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
And that's the only time that it's that's it's ever
really worked because some guys they just let him sit
out and they'll sit out the whole year and the
amount of money they lose in sitting out is ridiculous.
But in the NFL, the the uh, the way that
(29:21):
people negotiate is they don't.
Speaker 3 (29:23):
They just sit there.
Speaker 2 (29:24):
It's just like a it's like a game of chicken,
Like there's no there's no there's no strategy to it.
Speaker 3 (29:32):
There's no rhyme or reason.
Speaker 2 (29:33):
They just go, we're gonna sit out, and the team goes,
we don't care, it's mini camp. I'll find we'll find you,
we'll take some of your money because you're dumb enough
to give it to us, and and nothing will happen.
And the only time anything really happens in the NFL
is like what happened to Emmett Smith. They finally go, oh,
(29:54):
we're not very good without him, we need him, and
and so negotiation happens at the eleventh hour. It's the
midnight pardon by the governor, the stay of execution. It
all happens like in the last moment, and as a player,
you just you just have to realize this, you know
(30:16):
this is what it's going to be.
Speaker 3 (30:17):
Now.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
Me, I was a fourth round draft choice and I
just wanted to be at practice and my agent held
me out. Mister Tony Agnell, who's been on our show.
He held me out my first day. I'm the fourth
round draft pick. I'm fighting two other guys just just
(30:41):
to be a backup on the team. I'm not even
fighting to play, and my agent is holding me out.
I got no leverage zero. I'm like, what are you doing?
Why are we doing this? And the first the first
day of training camp, I don't go my rookie year.
(31:03):
In fact, I just remembered this as I was thinking
about this whole thing. I totally forgot about this. I
was a holdout for a day and I couldn't take it.
And I was watching the news and they would, you know,
the sports would come on in the news. Court is
a big deal in Miami. Dolphins start training camp, blah
blah blah, and Miami's a big, big news. And for me,
(31:25):
I'm just sitting there going, oh my goodness, I'm this rebel,
I'm this terrible player. And I just begged myself I
don't care. I said, I really don't care. I just
need to be there. And they all laughed at me
when I came in. You hold out for that big money, huh, big,
big nineteen ninety backup quarterback money. Hold out for what
(31:51):
an extra five thousand dollars a year? You're really going
to get him on that one. So it was it
was quite a quite an experience, uh, to hold out
for a day, and in fact, trying to think of
I never I never held out. Now we did. We
(32:13):
did have an interesting thing happen in UH a few
years later with the Detroit Lions. Right, so they're like,
my my first contract expired, and they said, hey, you
you know, if you don't sign your contract a new one,
(32:34):
and here's what we're offering. We're just we're just gonna
franchise tag you. And and so my agent didn't say
anything at the time. So okay, it's interesting, you know.
And and like like I said before, nothing happens. And
and as a player, you wanted to happen, like immediately
can I get I want.
Speaker 3 (32:54):
To get this sign. I want to get this done.
Speaker 2 (32:56):
And so my agent comes to town, he goes and
meets with the general managers, said, hey, let let's see
if we can work this out. So they go to
a restaurant manager says General Manders says, you know, we've
told you we'll just franchise him.
Speaker 3 (33:09):
So here's our offer.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
And my agent said, well, you know, you can't franchise
Scott Mitchell.
Speaker 3 (33:15):
He says, what are you talking about.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
Of course we can, he said, nah, he was a
name plaintive in the original lawsuit and as part of
him agreeing to drop the lawsuit, you could never franchise.
And he goes, that's a lie. So he said, well
look it up. So they called. He called back to
his office and they said down, that's correct.
Speaker 3 (33:37):
Yeah. So he came back to the table where they.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
Were having dinner or lunch or whatever it was, and
he says, all right, what do you want? And that's
that's how it works. So you can hold out, you
can do whatever you want, and unless you have leverage,
you have nothing.
Speaker 3 (33:55):
We're gonna take a break. We come back.
Speaker 1 (33:58):
Missed something from the Sean O'Connell show.
Speaker 3 (34:00):
No worries.
Speaker 1 (34:01):
Just visit ESPN seven hundred, sports dot com or search
the Sean O'Connell show wherever you get great podcasts. He's
not down in dirty with Scott Mitchell on your home
of the ESPN seven hundred, that ninety two to one FM.
Speaker 3 (34:25):
Al Right, sports fans, welcome back.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
It is the Down and Dirty with Scott Mitchell here
on ESPN seven hundred.
Speaker 3 (34:30):
Ninety two NFM.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
We of course Utah is number one sports leader and
proud to be a part of the ESPN Radio Sports Network.
We got a network here in Utah. I mean it's
not just a station. We got stations, multiple and I
have the good fortune of being on on several of them.
So we do this Down and Dirty throughout the day
(34:55):
here on ESPN seven or ninety two one FM, and
also from one to two on one O three nine
ninety eight three ESPN the Fan. So I'm on four
stations of ESPN in this market, which is awesome, right,
love it. So you can also listen at that time
and on those stations, or you know, you go to
(35:18):
the old podcast version and you'll never miss a moment,
and if you miss a moment, you could miss something
kind of fun. It was a kind of a fun
conversation talking about you know, sitting out all that fun stuff.
(35:42):
So it's it's yeah that I had some some good
memories with that. There was an interesting thing that they
found about March Madness, the March Madness Tournament, the NCAA
basketball tournament, and they found that social media users abusing
players online was down this year during during March Madness.
(36:08):
That because apparently the main reason for this, of course,
the the the abusers are targeting these student athletes and
they're like sports betters, all kinds of different things. But
tournament officials coaches actually experienced a hike in harassment, but
(36:32):
the actual student athletes it was a decrease, and a
lot of that, they believe has to do with with
the the fact that there weren't very many upsets so
so these so it's like everyone's happy as long as
things are going well.
Speaker 3 (36:52):
Did I miss anything about this? Martin? So not really.
Speaker 6 (36:58):
The to the moral of the story is that just
people online just didn't attack players with text and tweets
saying how dare you blow this game? How come you
couldn't get twenty five and a half points? I think
that's good. I mean, I don't understand why they attack
them anyway to begin with. I mean, you're attacking a
guy because you lost a hundred bucks. You're the guy
(37:19):
that lost a hundred bucks, not the player.
Speaker 2 (37:22):
Yeah, you know, I used to get attacked like that
from time to time. I'm so grateful that I did
not live in an era of social media. I know
how I would have handled it today. I just would
have not listened to it. I would have not gotten
onto it. I would have just stayed clear, because that's
(37:44):
what I did. Anyways, I didn't read the newspaper. I
didn't watch the news.
Speaker 3 (37:48):
I was about to.
Speaker 6 (37:48):
Say, like your social media in the nineties would have
been just the sports writers that were annoying you with
all the microphones in your face, saying, Hey, what happened
on the third down play? Hey, what happened on the
touchdown throw? Why didn't you give it to Barry Sanders?
Just reading that stuff would just drive you crazy.
Speaker 3 (38:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:03):
In fact, I remember the first game I played in Detroit,
playing in the Atlanta Falcons season opener, my debut as
a Detroit Lion. In fact, I called an audible on
my first play through a slant pass to Herman Moore
for seventeen yards. We come back and win the game
in the last seconds, and in fact, I remember, you know,
(38:27):
we're about ready to get the ball back and the
fans are leaving, They're just walking up out of the state.
I'm like, wow, these people like this is the most
important part of the game. Why are these people leaving?
Why are they getting out of their seats? What I
found is there's a massive mezzanine area in the old
Pontiac Silver Dome, so people would actually walk up and
(38:48):
they could still watch the game from the because they're
so so expansive and massive that.
Speaker 3 (38:54):
So they were just getting a better view. I guess.
Speaker 2 (38:59):
Turned anyway, there was a play and I I could
have run the ball for the first down, and I
threw it to our tight end. And they're like, why
didn't you just run it in that situation? Why were
you throwing the ball? And I'm like, well, because because
we got a first down. Like the guy's open, he's
(39:20):
paid to catch it. I'm paid to throw it, and
and and you know, especially in those critical situations, you've
got to be able. And they were just appalled that
I you know, and I just remember going, that has
to be the dumbest question I've ever been asking my life.
I get, I get, you know, well, you know, run
the ball in that situation. And it was like maybe
(39:42):
I would, maybe I wouldn't, but uh, he also got
out of bounds and it preserved time for us, and
so and they, you know, and I just thought, boy,
what a strange question. And I did get asked a
lot of strange questions. I I actually even got a
burn betting slips. I think that was the thing that
was probably the most disturbing, because you know, now you
(40:05):
just talk to people online. Back then, they sent you
a letter like they sent you proof and and they said,
see what you did, you know, and of course they
burn it to emphasize, you know, how how mad they
are at you.
Speaker 3 (40:19):
And they said they sent it to me in the mail.
That was my fan mail.
Speaker 2 (40:23):
Was was And then I had I had another one,
and this was kind of creepy. I had this this
guy and he'd write these letters and he was he
would say, man, it was so nice to be at
your wedding and and I love you know, and the
reception was so incredible and it's just great to see
(40:46):
all these people and meet them and all that. And
he's describing my wedding reception. And I'm like, okay, I
was in college when I got married and you weren't there,
and that was not my wedding reception. And he and
he would send me all of this stuff. That was
that was really it got more and more bizarre, like
that and and this interaction between and this intersection of
(41:09):
our lives, you know, and he and he would say
all this stuff that was that was that was not
even accurate or true, but it was very personal stuff.
And I just said, this is you know, it just
feels off. Well, then he starts sending boxes in the
(41:29):
mail and they're empty, and we have every team has this.
But you have a a liaison who is a former
FBI person and they they're connected like everywhere. So if
you ever have an issue with anything, do you go
(41:49):
talk to them?
Speaker 3 (41:51):
And and so things get resolved.
Speaker 2 (41:54):
In fact, the guy with the Miami Dolphins, I had
to get a passport that day, and he said no problem,
and I ended up getting a passport in the same day.
Speaker 3 (42:08):
Uh and and so so it.
Speaker 2 (42:10):
Just has there's a there's just a special magical person
with every NFL team makes all the bad things go away.
So he tells me, he says, do not open your mail,
like like, don't open don't open your mail.
Speaker 3 (42:24):
Okay, don't do it.
Speaker 2 (42:27):
And I'm like, okay, fine, And I got a lot
of fan mail. I still get fan mail today, like
it's it's it's crazy I open it today. But at
the time. So we had an equipment manager and one
of his arms had been accidentally severed.
Speaker 3 (42:49):
Uh. I think he got electrocuted, and he might have
been young.
Speaker 2 (42:54):
And so so he had a he had an artificial
prosthesis on one of his own arms and it had
a gripper, you know. So so you could function pretty
well with one arm, and this this artificial arm with
a it had a gripping device on it. And so
he said, look, he says, I'll open your mail because
(43:15):
if the bomb blows up, I'll just open it with
with my artificial arm and and nothing will happen. So
this guy, I said, fine, I said, look here, here's
the deal. Just give me the fan mail if there's
anything in there, you know, because sometimes you like you
just get crazy things in your mail. And I'll just
(43:36):
say I got pictures and articles of clothing or are underclothing.
Speaker 3 (43:46):
Then they weren't from males, uh, And so I just said, take.
Speaker 2 (43:51):
All the the articles of clothing and all the pictures,
separate them out.
Speaker 3 (43:56):
If you want to have them, go for it.
Speaker 2 (43:59):
But I'm him. I don't want to see him. And
and of course, you know, just just send me the
fan mail. So he's he started, he started separating out
all all of my mail. And because I had I
had this fan who was pretty psycho, and they went
to the guy and they actually told him, they said, look,
(44:21):
you've got to knock this off. Don't ever send him,
don't ever send him another another package again.
Speaker 3 (44:28):
And he didn't.
Speaker 2 (44:29):
He never did so, and our our equipment manager, I
think he wanted to do it because he wanted the
pictures and he wanted the articles of clothing, so so
that that was probably his motivation whatever. So so I
never I never had it. But man, I got some crazy, crazy,
you know, good stuff and and also also some some some.
Speaker 3 (44:54):
Pretty bad stuff.
Speaker 2 (44:55):
Now there there was one there was one piece of
mail that I think was the most fascinating that I
actually got. And this woman sent me a book and
she goes, you might find this interesting, and it's the
story of the Ford family and how they came into
(45:18):
you know, because Henry Ford, well, of course we all
know who he is. He basically automated and modernized the ability,
you know, for manufacturing. So he created a manufacturing plant
to mass produce automobiles. That's what Henry will Ford did.
And then and then his lineage, his I guess it
(45:42):
be Is I would have been his grandson was the
one who bought the Detroit Lions. And fascinating story. And
it's fascinating to find out how Henry Ford, how Charles
Limberg had an impact because because Henry Ford, Charles Lindbergh,
(46:02):
Harvey Firestone, and Thomas Edison were buddies, they talk about
a Mount Rushmore uh and and and it was Charles
Lindbergh's baby being kidnapped that actually resulted in the Ford
family owning the Detroit Lions. And there's a whole book
on it, and and and the fan sent it to
(46:23):
me and it was fascinating.
Speaker 3 (46:24):
So anyways, crazy fans
You are tuned to The Down and Dirty with Scott
Mitchell on Kall North Salt Lake k x R k
HD three, ESPN seven hundred ninety two to one alf AM.
This is the Down and Dirty with Scott Mitchell, the
Utah football legend and twelve year NFL veterans on Utah's
number one sports talk ESPN seven hundred and ninety two
(00:23):
to one alf AM, a proud part of Utah's ESPN
Radio network.
Speaker 2 (00:28):
Hello, Downot, Good morning sports fans, Welcome on in. It
is The Down and Dirty with Scott Mitchell here on
ESPN seven hundred ninety two ONEFM. So glad you could
be a part of our show today. Oh, we got
a good one today. I think we're gonna talk a
bunch of trash. We're going to trash talk today. That's
the thing I think and theme of today's show is
(00:52):
talking trash. We also have some rather interesting things going
on in the world of the NFL. The you know,
sports just moves on, so a lot of fun stuff.
If you miss part of it, don't worry. Just download
The Down and Dirty wherever you get your your podcasts,
or you can go to ESPN seven hundred Sports dot
(01:13):
Com or ESPN seven hundred Sports. App Apparently you can
just also tell your smart speaker just play the down
and dirty with Scott much So, we don't want you
to miss a part of our show. We love to
be here, and we love that you are here. A
lot of great fans of the program and really appreciate
you your patronage and listening and tuning in. So let's
(01:37):
have fun. Okay, Trash talking is the thing. It's a
real thing, and I think there are many, many different
forms of trash talking. But I want you to We're
gonna play this little clip here and I'm gonna talk
about what does trash talking mean in sports? Is it really?
Speaker 3 (02:00):
Does it really work? What is what is trash talking?
The feel? Feel? You can't hard this, I'm almost see
you talk, don't turn my chalk. Welcome, Welcome home baby,
(02:23):
what you say to him? Welcome to the NFL.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
All right, that's just a little clip of Actually one
of those is Michael Strahan, another one is ray Lewis.
Of course, a lot of a lot of trash talkers,
so it's kind of an interesting thing to hear these
different people talk about their mom. Uh, they're nice and
welcoming them. They're talking about some of the equipment that
(02:49):
they wear, like a jock strap. They're telling the player,
giving them directions, they're giving them, uh pointers and and kinds.
And I I've I've I've trash talked. I've heard a
lot of trash talking in my career. I've seen it
it work very well. I've also seen it backfire. So
(03:13):
it's it's definitely a part of sports and and in
some regards it's, uh it's even a rite of passage.
Like if if people are not trash talking to you,
you're not significant enough for them to be worried about
you and to care.
Speaker 3 (03:29):
So consider it.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
An acknowledgment of your presence and your concern for them
and the threat that you are to them, that that
they have to track trash talk. Sometimes you could even
say trash talking is a form of insecurity. It's like
you got to talk and say all these things, and
if you you know, to try to maybe even convince
(03:56):
yourself that you're you're you're good enough, like you know,
trying to be little another person to make yourself look better.
A lot of times it's just pure strategic gamesmanship.
Speaker 3 (04:10):
You're just trying to get another dude's head.
Speaker 2 (04:13):
And if you can get in their head and you
can get them off their game, if you can find
some little advantage, some little edge, you'll take it. And
you know, some guys are like, I'm not saying a
freaking word. I don't have the energy, I don't have
the time. I don't I don't I don't want to
bother with it. So it runs the gamut of of
(04:34):
kind of it's its relevance, importance meaning, but it's there.
Speaker 3 (04:40):
It didn't make no mistake about it.
Speaker 2 (04:43):
Trash talking is like there, it's in the middle of
everything that goes on. And and don't kid yourself at
all where thinking that, you know, just because you're watching
the sport on television and you don't see that the
you know, kind of the gym jabber that goes on
between the players. Uh for one second, don't ever think
(05:05):
that it's that. It's it's not happening. And of course
it goes up into the stands, it goes everywhere.
Speaker 3 (05:12):
Uh. So there was a guy, John Randall, and John
Randall was.
Speaker 2 (05:21):
Maybe the most thorough, maybe the most extensive, maybe the
most uh. And it wasn't annoying like Warren Sapp was annoying.
Warren Snap talked all the time.
Speaker 3 (05:33):
Blah.
Speaker 2 (05:33):
But you know, and and with Warren he talked so
much that you just it just it just it was
it just like.
Speaker 3 (05:41):
Fingernails on chalkboard. It just it just was annoying. Now.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
John Randall, on the other hand, talked a lot, but
he was funny. John Randall was actually funny.
Speaker 3 (05:50):
Now.
Speaker 2 (05:51):
John Randall, of course, played for the Minnesota Vikings. Long
great story about John Randall, by the way, how he
ended up making it in the NFL. He was an
undersized player, you know, he was. He was like he
just didn't kind of fit anywhere, too big to be
a linebacker, maybe too small to be a defensive lineman,
(06:11):
or too short to be a defensive end.
Speaker 3 (06:13):
Whatever.
Speaker 2 (06:13):
And he just carved out a niche for himself and
made a phenomenal career and ended up in the Hall
of Fame, and rightly so.
Speaker 3 (06:20):
Very good player. But John Randall would talk.
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Now, now, most people are pretty unsophisticated in their talk,
you know, like what we heard, you know, just get
off the field and you can't hold my jock and
welcome to the NFL.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
Like that.
Speaker 2 (06:36):
Those are those are very uncreative things. John Randall researched you.
John Randall knew about you, He knew where you were from.
He didn't know that you had a mom. He knew
her name, and he would let you know it and
and he would call you out by name and and
(07:01):
uh and try to get in your head. And this
was in some regards it was like wow, this this
maybe that's a little creepy. Like he's done like all
this research and you know, tried to find all these things.
You know, probably got a private investigator too, who knows, uh,
find out how many traffic tickets you've gotten in your
(07:23):
life whatever. But John John Randall, he uh, he would
say stuff like like he says, Scott Mitchell, Springville, Utah?
Where is Springville? And the crazy thing is he didn't
have a script, right, he was on a football field.
He didn't have like his notes, he didn't have his
(07:43):
iPhone like he knew this stuff. Like this guy went
to serious lengths to to to remember you and and
to you know, to find out who you were, just
to see if he could. You know, he told me
my mom's name, and I was like wow. But what
(08:04):
happened for me was John Randall is it. It was
just funny like like he and he wore the he
wore the eye black, you know, basically all over his face.
I mean he had you know, he was some ancient
warrior looking person with all with all the you know,
he had it all over the place. And he was
a NonStop like NonStop but funny. Warren Sap was not
(08:30):
funny like he was just he was just annoying. In fact,
it was an interesting thing with with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
So you had Hardy Nickerson, Derek Brooks, Warren Sapp all
great players. All you could argue hall of famers. Hardy
I don't think we'll get in the Hall of Fame,
but he was a great player. And of course Derek
(08:52):
Brooks and and Warren Sapp are but they all did.
They just talked and they had to talk because they
were in Tampa Bay. Right, What else are you gonna
do back in the day when you had the cream
sickle uniform and it just looked horrendous, it really did
it just it did it did not look it did
not look good. I know I talked to you about
(09:12):
the Arizona Cardinals and their and their uniform and their
whole just vibe like Tampa's the same way.
Speaker 3 (09:19):
Just get just begun, begne be done.
Speaker 2 (09:22):
Now, when they switched their jerseys, Tony Dungeee arrives, then
all of a sudden, Tampa Bay becomes kind of cool.
And and the ironic thing is is when Tony Dungee
showed up, they all stop talking. Warren Sap stopped yapping,
and they all and all of a sudden they got good.
So I don't know if if the lack of trash
(09:44):
talking from Warren Sap actually translated into them being about
I would like to ask him that question. Actually, I'm
sure he I'm sure he'd never stopped trash talk because
because no one you you just do.
Speaker 3 (10:00):
You just do.
Speaker 2 (10:01):
The guy that I loved the most, and of course
they didn't play in the NBA, but was Larry Bird.
And and Larry Bird looks like this just kinda easygoing,
awe shucks country boy from French Lick, Indiana. Like that's
what he looks like, right, just looks like just a
good old boy, you know.
Speaker 3 (10:22):
Just just uh.
Speaker 2 (10:24):
But Larry Bird was not that way and that and that,
to me is is just fascinating because he just doesn't
fit the mold of what he looks like. And and
it's fun, one of my favorite things to do, my
favorite past and and and it and it shows up
a lot of my you know, my my search engines
because I've searched this out a lot. Is to hear
(10:46):
all of the NBA players talk about Larry Bird and
how he was just the greatest trash talker of them all.
Speaker 3 (10:55):
See.
Speaker 2 (10:55):
I like sophistication in my trash talking. I like when
someone you know has some thought to like like John Randle,
like he really went to great links uh to talk trash.
Speaker 3 (11:09):
He really did. But Larry Bird would tell.
Speaker 2 (11:17):
The players what he was going to do to him,
and then he would go out and do it, and
then he would point to them and tell them that
he did it. So that's the that's the formula of
a Southern Baptist preacher. By the way, I'm going to
tell you what I'm gonna do, I'm gonna do it,
and then I'm going to tell you that I did
it right. That's the formula and that and that's how
(11:40):
that and I may be off on that.
Speaker 3 (11:42):
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (11:42):
I'm kind of winging that thought, but uh, you know,
it's just it's just you know that that's a good,
good speech, right, and Larry Bird would do this and
and and it's not like once or twice, it's like
all the time. Now you watched some of the crazy
game winning shots or shots that are going on, and
(12:05):
there's one there's one time when he's he's over on
the sideline by the Atlanta Hawks bench and and he's
just telling them all what's gonna happen, Like he's just
he's just letting them know. And he keeps doing it,
and he keeps doing it, and he keeps doing it
and by the end, the players on the end of
the bench are literally rolling almost on the floor because
(12:29):
of what Larry Bird has absolutely done. In fact, the
coach find the players because you know they they sided
with the enemy like they were just and it's just fun.
And it's just there's so many different people through time
that have talked about Larry Bird's trash talking, and you
have to wonder, like, for me, you know, it wasn't.
(12:54):
It wasn't like a lot of my game, right, it wasn't,
because it's kind of hard, you know, you would say
something to someone when they you know, when they hitch
you or something.
Speaker 3 (13:07):
You know, it's like, you know, like, you know, is
that all you got?
Speaker 2 (13:11):
Like I didn't feel that, like really, it's like you
got to bring a lot more than that, because you know,
so there were kind of things like that, you know,
a little impromptu, but I was never one to go
I'm going to strategically map out my trash talking. And
there are guys that do it and have done it,
and they do it well and it's kind of their
thing and I think part of it too. It kind
(13:34):
of helps these guys loosen up, you know, when they play.
Speaker 3 (13:38):
It's funny.
Speaker 2 (13:39):
It was funny to watch Chad Johnson because Chad Johnson's
kind of the wide receiver for Cincinnat Bengals. It's fun
to watch him because when he was a rookie, he
was the quiet church mouse, like, didn't say a word,
Like he didn't even know what play, what he was
supposed to do on the place like, and then all
of a sudden, he just blossomed into this you know character,
(14:01):
uh and and which was probably his real personality. But
I think after, you know, he got the confidence to
know that he really belonged to the in the NFL
and could really excel at it that he this just
came out and so so there's and and I believe
with John Randall, I think that's part of what helped
him kind of get into his game, get into his
(14:24):
mind mindset. And I think some players do it, you know,
to get kind of to go to the dark side.
You hear of, you know, Kobe Bryant, major trash talker.
You hear of of Michael Jordan and and some of
these players that were unbelievably good, but they really leaned
into trash talking to to find that edge for themselves,
(14:49):
not not even not even trying to get the other
player out of their rhythm, but to actually get them
in there into into a place. Now, if I was
a middle linebacker, I think I would probably I would
definitely be a trash talker. And there was a there
was a moment in when I was in Detroit. Lomas
(15:13):
Brown one of our tackles who was a really good player,
and and Lomas liked to talk, and and he there
wasn't a microphone that he was not you know, friends with,
and and he loved to say a lot of things
and and he even said things that weren't true, and
some of them are somewhat famous that he you know,
(15:35):
he claimed that he tried to get me injured so
he could get me out of a game. And then
of course he apologized later because because it wasn't true.
But you know, he's just trying to just trying to talk.
And we were we were one of the we were
nineteen ninety five, we were just on a role one
of the hottest teams in the NFL. And he publicly
(15:57):
came out and he just said, man, we got to
start talking about this. We've got to start letting people
know that we're pretty freaking good. And and and of
course this was right before our game against the Philadelphia
Eagles in the in the playoffs, where they kind of
put it on us, and so we weren't very good
or they certainly we were good, but they certainly used
(16:21):
us trash talking as a way to just get them motivated.
Speaker 3 (16:26):
And there's kind of.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
A written rule where you don't ever give your opponent
any any reason or any extra motivation to beat you. Now,
I remember Brian Cox, a linebacker played for the Miami Dolphins.
He was drafted a couple of years after me, and
(16:48):
really fun guy, a really good player, and he just
he didn't have a filter and he used trash talking
and he did one of the most amazing things I've
ever seen. He actually, we're playing the Buffalo Bills Miami
Buffalo nineties, early nineties, that was a very hot rivalry,
(17:12):
and we're going.
Speaker 3 (17:14):
To Buffalo and he goes, I hate Buffalo. I hate
the city of Buffalo.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
I hate their fans, I hate their players, I hate
everybody in Buffalo. And he says this on like a Wednesday,
And of course everyone in Buffalo is going to hear
about Brian Cox and his dye tribe into how much
he hates every last thing about Buffalo.
Speaker 3 (17:39):
And we're going to play in Buffalo Orchard Park.
Speaker 2 (17:45):
As you walk out of the locker room and go
down a tunnel and it opens up and they're fans
on both sides of you. As you're getting ready to
go on the field. On the right side, they have
a canopy covering you so that the fans can't really
see you, and then you get out onto the field,
otherwise they're just they might be throwing bear cans at you.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
Who knows what could go on.
Speaker 2 (18:09):
So we always would walk under the canopy out on
the field.
Speaker 3 (18:14):
Not Brian Cox.
Speaker 2 (18:16):
Brian Cox walked right through the middle of the tunnel
as it opened up into the field. The fans were
just mercive, mercy, mercifully on what anyways, They were just
giving it to Brian Cox. And he stood there and
(18:36):
gave him the one finger salute, one one hand point
in one direction, one the other raised his hands up
in the air, gave him the bird, and he walked
right down the middle of the tunnel and I was
just like, you are a courageous man. You may be
a stupid man, maybe not the smartest thing in the
(18:57):
world to do, I thought in the moment, but you
are a courageous man.
Speaker 3 (19:02):
And no one else followed him. He was on his own.
Speaker 2 (19:05):
The rest of our team we walked under the canopy
because we're like, we'll just let Brian take all the
bullets for us. And he gets onto the field and
we trounced the Buffalo Bills that day. I think we
beat him like forty eight to fourteen or something like.
We just kicked their trash. And I believe so much
(19:26):
of it was because of Brian Cox. And he just said, look, folks,
you don't scare me, you know, you know, I'm just
in uh and I loved it like it was one
of to me, one of the best moments. Now there
is another Brian Cox moment. Maybe I'll maybe I'll share
that with you because because it was it was a
(19:48):
different form of trash talk Utah football.
Speaker 4 (19:52):
Right here on your home of the uth CSPN seven
hundred and ninety two one FM, presented by Outlaw Distiller,
you were listening to about Down and Dirty with Scott
Mitchell on Utah's number one sports talk and Home Up
the Youth SKIESPN seven hundred ninety two one half m.
Speaker 5 (20:10):
We made up their mind and they started backing left
before the sun came up.
Speaker 3 (20:23):
Hello, Sportsman's welcome back.
Speaker 2 (20:25):
It's the Down a Dirty Here with Scott Mitchell ESPN
seven hundred nine two one FM. So glad you could
be a part of our show and a part of
the segment we were trash talking in the first segment.
Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but it's always there,
always there, always there. I think I think the worst
trash talking you can have is when you ignore someone.
(20:47):
I really do. The guys that made me most nervous
were the silent ones, because you felt like they were
a little bit off, like they could be just slightly crazy.
Used to scare me to death, like it was one
thing to get hit, it was another thing to get maimed.
Speaker 3 (21:05):
And the silent ones wanted to maim you. They had
no mercy. All right.
Speaker 2 (21:10):
I promised you that I would tell you a quick
story about trash breathing. I wasn't even a talking thing.
Brian Cows, linebacker, played a long time in the NFL.
We were teammates and then we were opponents. We were
playing on a Thanksgiving game.
Speaker 3 (21:26):
I was in.
Speaker 2 (21:26):
Detroit and he was in Chicago. Brian came in and
hit me. He didn't sack me, never sacked me anyways.
He hit me and he's laying on top of me
on the ground, and he said, hey, Scott, how you doing?
Because you know, we were teammates, and I really thought
the world of Brian. He was good, good player, good
(21:47):
because he's just a fun guy. And he and he
breathed on me. He says, hey, Scott, how you doing?
And then he breathed on me and he said, can
you smell my breakfast? And I was like I can,
I I literally can. I had never ever had a
player breathe on me. Before and and you you know,
(22:11):
you hear players, you know, as they prepared, like some
guys won't go they won't take a shower. You know,
Brian Cox didn't brush his teeth after breakfast. So I
got I got the breakfast breath from Brian Cox, and
I was just like, and the thing about it, it was,
it was it was, it was disgusting, and he wanted
(22:32):
it to be disgusting. And I kind of I laughed
simply because of the the ingenuity of it, the cleverness,
like who breathes on you? And I know there's a
lot of different things players do, and a lot of
disgusting things the players do. I'm not gonna get into
(22:58):
what they are. Maybe maybe another maybe we'll do down
and Dirty after dark and we'll get into all the
disgusting things that players do. Uh, we'll all have to
we'll all have to be decontaminated after that episode.
Speaker 3 (23:14):
And so the funny part, it just worked.
Speaker 2 (23:16):
And I could I could smell the eggs, the bacon,
the bank, I knew everything he had for breakfast, and
but I laughed because it was funny. So it's not
just about the trash talking. It's about the trash breathing
the things you do. All right, it's the NFL News
of Notes. We're gonna have a little conversation here that
(23:41):
about things happening in the NFL. Okay, we talked a
little bit about like holding out of mini camp, but
what really is mini camp? And you have h Terry mccallaran, TJ. Watt,
and Trey Hendricks and all defensive linemen by the way,
(24:03):
of course, one place for Washington, one place for Pittsburgh,
and uh and of course Trey places for the the Bengals,
my Cincinnati Bengals, by the way, Cincinnati. When you live
in Cincinnati, you learn how to spell Cincinnati and then
you find out that it's actually quite easy to spell
(24:28):
and uh. Anyways, uh, but if you don't live in Cincinnati,
you don't know how to spell it. So it's just
one of those things that that you learned. Now when
I when I read this, I was like, okay, you know,
I mean we talked about why players skip mini camps
(24:49):
and and a lot of them it's it's there their
warning shot. It's like sending the message to the team,
I'm sitting out, I'm not playing with you, I'm not
going to do my homework. I'm not going to eat
my broccoli. Because we negotiate. We learn how to negotiate
(25:12):
even as children. And how we negotiate is we just
we just say no. We said, I'm not doing I'm
not I'm not following your rules. I'm not doing I'm
not doing that. I'm not cleaning my room. And your
parents say, fine, sit there. You're not going anywhere, not
doing anything until you do and follow the rules. So
(25:35):
go ahead and sit there and do it. And that's
typically what happens. Nothing like nothing will come out of
this yet. And this is this is where the NFL
is notorious. Negotiating is like it's just negotiating for like
(25:56):
dummies in the NFL, if you ask my opinion, In fact,
I think there was only one time in the history
of the entire league where someone sitting out actually was
a good thing for anyone. Most of the time, when
a player sits out, they come back they haven't been
in camp. They haven't acclimated their body to the rigors
(26:19):
of what what they have to go through. You know
that you're you're not acclimated to the weather, You're not
acclimated to the physicalness of it. You're not acclimated to
the speed of it.
Speaker 3 (26:31):
You don't.
Speaker 2 (26:32):
There's an in shape in shape, and then there's game
in there's game shape. And usually every first regular season game,
everyone goes.
Speaker 3 (26:42):
Man, I'm out of shape, but you're not.
Speaker 2 (26:44):
You're just out of game shape because it's a different
type of shape, and it's it's different because you're not
playing games. You don't you don't ever play a game
in practice ever, doesn't ever come close to it, so
so you you need to time. So anygain who sits out,
they just they miss out on actual things that are
are relevant and important to being ready to play, and
(27:05):
it's it's acclimating your body to the whole process.
Speaker 3 (27:09):
So most of the time they fail.
Speaker 2 (27:11):
The only guy I ever saw who sat out and
it worked was EMMITTT. Smith, And I may be wrong
on this, there may be more people. There may be
more that's and Emmett sat out in it was like
the ninety two season and he's like, man, I'm not
getting paid.
Speaker 3 (27:28):
These are things.
Speaker 2 (27:28):
I'm one of the best, if not the best running
backs in the NFL period, and I am being paid peanuts.
And Zeriaf Jones says, fine, you're not eating your broccoli
sit there at the dinner dinner table and until you do.
(27:49):
For me, it was suck attash. By the way, if
you know what suck attash is, it sounds terrible. It's
just vegetables. I don't know why they call it suck atash,
but that's the name of it.
Speaker 3 (28:02):
And it's just like I was like carrots and peas
and stuff. I don't know lima beans.
Speaker 2 (28:12):
Why I love vegetables, by the way, love them, eat
him every day, but for some reason I just couldn't.
Speaker 3 (28:19):
I couldn't eat him as the kid. So Emmett sits.
Speaker 2 (28:22):
Out and they lose their first two games.
Speaker 3 (28:26):
These are the this is.
Speaker 2 (28:27):
The They had won the Super Bowl the year before, so.
Speaker 3 (28:35):
They start out and they lose their first two games.
Speaker 2 (28:39):
And now everyone's like, we can't win without Emmitt Smith,
and you're letting him sit out, you dummy, who cares
about his suck attash his broccoli. Get him off the table,
get him out of his room, and pay the man.
Speaker 3 (28:56):
And they did. They went on to win the Super Bowl.
Speaker 2 (29:00):
And that's the only time that it's that's it's ever
really worked because some guys they just let him sit
out and they'll sit out the whole year and the
amount of money they lose in sitting out is ridiculous.
But in the NFL, the the uh, the way that
(29:21):
people negotiate is they don't.
Speaker 3 (29:23):
They just sit there.
Speaker 2 (29:24):
It's just like a it's like a game of chicken,
Like there's no there's no there's no strategy to it.
Speaker 3 (29:32):
There's no rhyme or reason.
Speaker 2 (29:33):
They just go, we're gonna sit out, and the team goes,
we don't care, it's mini camp. I'll find we'll find you,
we'll take some of your money because you're dumb enough
to give it to us, and and nothing will happen.
And the only time anything really happens in the NFL
is like what happened to Emmett Smith. They finally go, oh,
(29:54):
we're not very good without him, we need him, and
and so negotiation happens at the eleventh hour. It's the
midnight pardon by the governor, the stay of execution. It
all happens like in the last moment, and as a player,
you just you just have to realize this, you know
(30:16):
this is what it's going to be.
Speaker 3 (30:17):
Now.
Speaker 2 (30:19):
Me, I was a fourth round draft choice and I
just wanted to be at practice and my agent held
me out. Mister Tony Agnell, who's been on our show.
He held me out my first day. I'm the fourth
round draft pick. I'm fighting two other guys just just
(30:41):
to be a backup on the team. I'm not even
fighting to play, and my agent is holding me out.
I got no leverage zero. I'm like, what are you doing?
Why are we doing this? And the first the first
day of training camp, I don't go my rookie year.
(31:03):
In fact, I just remembered this as I was thinking
about this whole thing. I totally forgot about this. I
was a holdout for a day and I couldn't take it.
And I was watching the news and they would, you know,
the sports would come on in the news. Court is
a big deal in Miami. Dolphins start training camp, blah
blah blah, and Miami's a big, big news. And for me,
(31:25):
I'm just sitting there going, oh my goodness, I'm this rebel,
I'm this terrible player. And I just begged myself I
don't care. I said, I really don't care. I just
need to be there. And they all laughed at me
when I came in. You hold out for that big money, huh, big,
big nineteen ninety backup quarterback money. Hold out for what
(31:51):
an extra five thousand dollars a year? You're really going
to get him on that one. So it was it
was quite a quite an experience, uh, to hold out
for a day, and in fact, trying to think of
I never I never held out. Now we did. We
(32:13):
did have an interesting thing happen in UH a few
years later with the Detroit Lions. Right, so they're like,
my my first contract expired, and they said, hey, you
you know, if you don't sign your contract a new one,
(32:34):
and here's what we're offering. We're just we're just gonna
franchise tag you. And and so my agent didn't say
anything at the time. So okay, it's interesting, you know.
And and like like I said before, nothing happens. And
and as a player, you wanted to happen, like immediately
can I get I want.
Speaker 3 (32:54):
To get this sign. I want to get this done.
Speaker 2 (32:56):
And so my agent comes to town, he goes and
meets with the general managers, said, hey, let let's see
if we can work this out. So they go to
a restaurant manager says General Manders says, you know, we've
told you we'll just franchise him.
Speaker 3 (33:09):
So here's our offer.
Speaker 2 (33:11):
And my agent said, well, you know, you can't franchise
Scott Mitchell.
Speaker 3 (33:15):
He says, what are you talking about.
Speaker 2 (33:16):
Of course we can, he said, nah, he was a
name plaintive in the original lawsuit and as part of
him agreeing to drop the lawsuit, you could never franchise.
And he goes, that's a lie. So he said, well
look it up. So they called. He called back to
his office and they said down, that's correct.
Speaker 3 (33:37):
Yeah. So he came back to the table where they.
Speaker 2 (33:40):
Were having dinner or lunch or whatever it was, and
he says, all right, what do you want? And that's
that's how it works. So you can hold out, you
can do whatever you want, and unless you have leverage,
you have nothing.
Speaker 3 (33:55):
We're gonna take a break. We come back.
Speaker 1 (33:58):
Missed something from the Sean O'Connell show.
Speaker 3 (34:00):
No worries.
Speaker 1 (34:01):
Just visit ESPN seven hundred, sports dot com or search
the Sean O'Connell show wherever you get great podcasts. He's
not down in dirty with Scott Mitchell on your home
of the ESPN seven hundred, that ninety two to one FM.
Speaker 3 (34:25):
Al Right, sports fans, welcome back.
Speaker 2 (34:27):
It is the Down and Dirty with Scott Mitchell here
on ESPN seven hundred.
Speaker 3 (34:30):
Ninety two NFM.
Speaker 2 (34:31):
We of course Utah is number one sports leader and
proud to be a part of the ESPN Radio Sports Network.
We got a network here in Utah. I mean it's
not just a station. We got stations, multiple and I
have the good fortune of being on on several of them.
So we do this Down and Dirty throughout the day
(34:55):
here on ESPN seven or ninety two one FM, and
also from one to two on one O three nine
ninety eight three ESPN the Fan. So I'm on four
stations of ESPN in this market, which is awesome, right,
love it. So you can also listen at that time
and on those stations, or you know, you go to
(35:18):
the old podcast version and you'll never miss a moment,
and if you miss a moment, you could miss something
kind of fun. It was a kind of a fun
conversation talking about you know, sitting out all that fun stuff.
(35:42):
So it's it's yeah that I had some some good
memories with that. There was an interesting thing that they
found about March Madness, the March Madness Tournament, the NCAA
basketball tournament, and they found that social media users abusing
players online was down this year during during March Madness.
(36:08):
That because apparently the main reason for this, of course,
the the the abusers are targeting these student athletes and
they're like sports betters, all kinds of different things. But
tournament officials coaches actually experienced a hike in harassment, but
(36:32):
the actual student athletes it was a decrease, and a
lot of that, they believe has to do with with
the the fact that there weren't very many upsets so
so these so it's like everyone's happy as long as
things are going well.
Speaker 3 (36:52):
Did I miss anything about this? Martin? So not really.
Speaker 6 (36:58):
The to the moral of the story is that just
people online just didn't attack players with text and tweets
saying how dare you blow this game? How come you
couldn't get twenty five and a half points? I think
that's good. I mean, I don't understand why they attack
them anyway to begin with. I mean, you're attacking a
guy because you lost a hundred bucks. You're the guy
(37:19):
that lost a hundred bucks, not the player.
Speaker 2 (37:22):
Yeah, you know, I used to get attacked like that
from time to time. I'm so grateful that I did
not live in an era of social media. I know
how I would have handled it today. I just would
have not listened to it. I would have not gotten
onto it. I would have just stayed clear, because that's
(37:44):
what I did. Anyways, I didn't read the newspaper. I
didn't watch the news.
Speaker 3 (37:48):
I was about to.
Speaker 6 (37:48):
Say, like your social media in the nineties would have
been just the sports writers that were annoying you with
all the microphones in your face, saying, Hey, what happened
on the third down play? Hey, what happened on the
touchdown throw? Why didn't you give it to Barry Sanders?
Just reading that stuff would just drive you crazy.
Speaker 3 (38:03):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (38:03):
In fact, I remember the first game I played in Detroit,
playing in the Atlanta Falcons season opener, my debut as
a Detroit Lion. In fact, I called an audible on
my first play through a slant pass to Herman Moore
for seventeen yards. We come back and win the game
in the last seconds, and in fact, I remember, you know,
(38:27):
we're about ready to get the ball back and the
fans are leaving, They're just walking up out of the state.
I'm like, wow, these people like this is the most
important part of the game. Why are these people leaving?
Why are they getting out of their seats? What I
found is there's a massive mezzanine area in the old
Pontiac Silver Dome, so people would actually walk up and
(38:48):
they could still watch the game from the because they're
so so expansive and massive that.
Speaker 3 (38:54):
So they were just getting a better view. I guess.
Speaker 2 (38:59):
Turned anyway, there was a play and I I could
have run the ball for the first down, and I
threw it to our tight end. And they're like, why
didn't you just run it in that situation? Why were
you throwing the ball? And I'm like, well, because because
we got a first down. Like the guy's open, he's
(39:20):
paid to catch it. I'm paid to throw it, and
and and you know, especially in those critical situations, you've
got to be able. And they were just appalled that
I you know, and I just remember going, that has
to be the dumbest question I've ever been asking my life.
I get, I get, you know, well, you know, run
the ball in that situation. And it was like maybe
(39:42):
I would, maybe I wouldn't, but uh, he also got
out of bounds and it preserved time for us, and
so and they, you know, and I just thought, boy,
what a strange question. And I did get asked a
lot of strange questions. I I actually even got a
burn betting slips. I think that was the thing that
was probably the most disturbing, because you know, now you
(40:05):
just talk to people online. Back then, they sent you
a letter like they sent you proof and and they said,
see what you did, you know, and of course they
burn it to emphasize, you know, how how mad they
are at you.
Speaker 3 (40:19):
And they said they sent it to me in the mail.
That was my fan mail.
Speaker 2 (40:23):
Was was And then I had I had another one,
and this was kind of creepy. I had this this
guy and he'd write these letters and he was he
would say, man, it was so nice to be at
your wedding and and I love you know, and the
reception was so incredible and it's just great to see
(40:46):
all these people and meet them and all that. And
he's describing my wedding reception. And I'm like, okay, I
was in college when I got married and you weren't there,
and that was not my wedding reception. And he and
he would send me all of this stuff. That was
that was really it got more and more bizarre, like
that and and this interaction between and this intersection of
(41:09):
our lives, you know, and he and he would say
all this stuff that was that was that was not
even accurate or true, but it was very personal stuff.
And I just said, this is you know, it just
feels off. Well, then he starts sending boxes in the
(41:29):
mail and they're empty, and we have every team has this.
But you have a a liaison who is a former
FBI person and they they're connected like everywhere. So if
you ever have an issue with anything, do you go
(41:49):
talk to them?
Speaker 3 (41:51):
And and so things get resolved.
Speaker 2 (41:54):
In fact, the guy with the Miami Dolphins, I had
to get a passport that day, and he said no problem,
and I ended up getting a passport in the same day.
Speaker 3 (42:08):
Uh and and so so it.
Speaker 2 (42:10):
Just has there's a there's just a special magical person
with every NFL team makes all the bad things go away.
So he tells me, he says, do not open your mail,
like like, don't open don't open your mail.
Speaker 3 (42:24):
Okay, don't do it.
Speaker 2 (42:27):
And I'm like, okay, fine, And I got a lot
of fan mail. I still get fan mail today, like
it's it's it's crazy I open it today. But at
the time. So we had an equipment manager and one
of his arms had been accidentally severed.
Speaker 3 (42:49):
Uh. I think he got electrocuted, and he might have
been young.
Speaker 2 (42:54):
And so so he had a he had an artificial
prosthesis on one of his own arms and it had
a gripper, you know. So so you could function pretty
well with one arm, and this this artificial arm with
a it had a gripping device on it. And so
he said, look, he says, I'll open your mail because
(43:15):
if the bomb blows up, I'll just open it with
with my artificial arm and and nothing will happen. So
this guy, I said, fine, I said, look here, here's
the deal. Just give me the fan mail if there's
anything in there, you know, because sometimes you like you
just get crazy things in your mail. And I'll just
(43:36):
say I got pictures and articles of clothing or are underclothing.
Speaker 3 (43:46):
Then they weren't from males, uh, And so I just said, take.
Speaker 2 (43:51):
All the the articles of clothing and all the pictures,
separate them out.
Speaker 3 (43:56):
If you want to have them, go for it.
Speaker 2 (43:59):
But I'm him. I don't want to see him. And
and of course, you know, just just send me the
fan mail. So he's he started, he started separating out
all all of my mail. And because I had I
had this fan who was pretty psycho, and they went
to the guy and they actually told him, they said, look,
(44:21):
you've got to knock this off. Don't ever send him,
don't ever send him another another package again.
Speaker 3 (44:28):
And he didn't.
Speaker 2 (44:29):
He never did so, and our our equipment manager, I
think he wanted to do it because he wanted the
pictures and he wanted the articles of clothing, so so
that that was probably his motivation whatever. So so I
never I never had it. But man, I got some crazy, crazy,
you know, good stuff and and also also some some some.
Speaker 3 (44:54):
Pretty bad stuff.
Speaker 2 (44:55):
Now there there was one there was one piece of
mail that I think was the most fascinating that I
actually got. And this woman sent me a book and
she goes, you might find this interesting, and it's the
story of the Ford family and how they came into
(45:18):
you know, because Henry Ford, well, of course we all
know who he is. He basically automated and modernized the ability,
you know, for manufacturing. So he created a manufacturing plant
to mass produce automobiles. That's what Henry will Ford did.
And then and then his lineage, his I guess it
(45:42):
be Is I would have been his grandson was the
one who bought the Detroit Lions. And fascinating story. And
it's fascinating to find out how Henry Ford, how Charles
Limberg had an impact because because Henry Ford, Charles Lindbergh,
(46:02):
Harvey Firestone, and Thomas Edison were buddies, they talk about
a Mount Rushmore uh and and and it was Charles
Lindbergh's baby being kidnapped that actually resulted in the Ford
family owning the Detroit Lions. And there's a whole book
on it, and and and the fan sent it to
(46:23):
me and it was fascinating.
Speaker 3 (46:24):
So anyways, crazy fans
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
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
Betrayal: Weekly
Betrayal Weekly is back for a brand new season. Every Thursday, Betrayal Weekly shares first-hand accounts of broken trust, shocking deceptions, and the trail of destruction they leave behind. Hosted by Andrea Gunning, this weekly ongoing series digs into real-life stories of betrayal and the aftermath. From stories of double lives to dark discoveries, these are cautionary tales and accounts of resilience against all odds. From the producers of the critically acclaimed Betrayal series, Betrayal Weekly drops new episodes every Thursday. Please join our Substack for additional exclusive content, curated book recommendations and community discussions. Sign up FREE by clicking this link Beyond Betrayal Substack. Join our community dedicated to truth, resilience and healing. Your voice matters! Be a part of our Betrayal journey on Substack. And make sure to check out Seasons 1-4 of Betrayal, along with Betrayal Weekly Season 1.