Vince Papale Invincible dreams - Ep. 276

Invincible Dreams: Vince Papale
In a story that stretches far beyond the chalk lines of the football field, Vince Papale's life is a compelling tapestry woven with the threads of dreams, family, and unbreakable spirit. After his remarkable tenure in the NFL, Vince embarked on a journey that would see him transcend the world of sports to become a beacon of hope and inspiration. His post-NFL life as a motivational speaker has not just been about recounting tales from the gridiron but about imparting the lessons learned from a life lived daringly. His story, immortalized in the 2006 film "Invincible," portrays a man whose spirit could not be contained by the four corners of a football field.
This special episode of "The Travel Wins" ventures into the heart of Vince Papale's extraordinary saga, highlighting not just his ascent from a high school teacher to an NFL icon but also shining a light on the profound impact of his travels and family life. Vince's journey is a profound narrative of transformation, from the fields of Philadelphia to stages across the nation, where he shares his philosophy of relentless pursuit and indomitable will.
As we explore the nuances of Vince's travels, we uncover how each city, each engagement, has contributed to his tapestry of experiences, enriching his messages of perseverance and potential. These journeys are not just about miles covered but about lives touched and inspired. Vince's travels have afforded him a unique vantage point, from which he draws lessons and stories that resonate universally, bridging divides and inspiring a collective yearning for greatness.
Central to Vince's narrative is his family life, the bedrock of his strength and resilience. It is in the quiet moments away from the cheering crowds and flashing lights that Vince's character shines brightest. His dedication to his family, amidst the demands of his travels, speaks volumes of a man who values the warmth of home as much as the thrill of the chase. This balance between professional pursuits and personal commitments paints a holistic picture of Vince, offering insights into how he manages the delicate dance of nurturing family bonds while inspiring others across the globe.
Join us on "The Travel Wins" as we journey through Vince Papale's life beyond the NFL, a voyage marked by profound connections, heartfelt inspirations, and the unwavering pursuit of dreams. It's a story that reminds us of the power of belief, the importance of family, and the incredible impact one individual's journey can have on the world. Vince's life teaches us that with resilience, gratitude, courage, and love, the road less traveled is not just a path to greatness but a journey to an invincible life.

Episode Transcript

(00:08):
Hey, welcome back to the travelOnes podcast. Today, my guest is
the one and only Vince Papli.He's an ex football player. More More,
more recently, a proud dad,proud husband had a movie made about
him called Invincement with Mark Wahlberg andDisney Movie. So super excited to have
Vince Papaula on the show. Howare you say, Vince. It's a

(00:29):
great man. It's great to bewith you. I had a great conversation
prior to coming on. It's reallycool. You know, we had to
I had to make a hurry upand hit that in the record button so
we can get them, Yeah,to run out of time to no more
time zones left. It's really cool, you know, just talking about kids
are basically our family and kids.And yeah, I can't wait to do

(00:49):
this. I was so excited aboutdoing this podcast because this is this is
the first time I've ever done anythinglike this. You know, in travel
and entertainment, you know some ofthe things you have to do to get
to where you got to get youand I've been to some pretty fun places
thanks to Invincible, and you know, places I never would have gotten so
I would never go in the cities, you know, if it weren't for
the NFL and getting that opportunity.So it's pretty cool. I'm a lucky

(01:12):
man. Oh I'm sitting here goingokay. One of the things I'd like
to talk about, obviously, istraveling in the seventies for an NFL team
is a lot different than how theytravel today, And just being in the
NFL is a lot different. Imean, I remember my dad telling me
stories in Cleveland in the off seasonbecause they weren't multi millionaires. You would

(01:33):
see and you'd see Cleveland Brown playerswalking around selling insurance door to door and
doing odd jobs because it wasn't abig cash grab. The expression taxi squad.
What's up? Have you ever heardthe expression taxi squad? And well,
you know how they came about.It was prior, Prior to then,

(01:57):
they were getting so little money thatYellow Cat used to hire a lot
of the former players or off seasonplayers and have them they were taxi drivers.
So they effectually were known as itwas a taxi squad. You know,
now it's a practice squad. Andyou know, I mean back back
when I was playing in seventy six, listen Pete, I signed for twenty

(02:20):
one thousand. After that tryout.You know, we could talk about that
when you want, if you want. But after that tryout, they pulled
me up and signed me for twentyone grand and gave me a two thousand
dollars roster bonus if I made theteam. Oh when I got two season
tickets, and I thought I wasa rich man, you know, because
I was teaching school for six years, working with my masters and the head
coach, and not even making twelvethousand dollars, you know, and I'm

(02:42):
thinking, oh my god, Ican work for six months and do that.
But what coach used to do,and this was coach for Meal,
is to encourage guys to come inand train in the city of Philadelphia and
trained with our athletic trainer that wehad there and our a waight guy or
wait, and that was Gus Hofling, and he trained Roman, Gabriel,

(03:05):
Mike Schmidt, you know, SteveCarlton, some of the best athletes that
they ever commanded Philadelphia. And theywould pay They would get hi five hundred
dollars stipend a month for rent.I mean, you can't get you can't
even get a bathroom, you know, you can't get a quarter party for
five hundred dollars. Now, butthey would pay guys to come in and
worked out, you know, andthey might even have some change left over.

(03:25):
But now it's you know, nowit's a hold. It's a whole
different ballgame, you know, andthey shut it down for a little bit.
But you know, the guys aregetting so much money. Everybody lives
within the neighborhood, and he getsinvolved in the neighborhood, which is which
is pretty cool. You know,God bless them, you know, I
mean, oh yeah, yeah,the way you get tossed around out there
on that field. You know,you get what you can get for as

(03:46):
long as you can. That's I'mtalking about. Talking to twenty five twenty
six yearls that are retired from footballand you're wow, okay, and what
do you do? Where do yougo? You know, I'm so lucky
because I had a fallback. Youknow. My fallback was I could have
gone back and taught school and atmy alma mater, where where I had
been for six years prior to thetryout. But you know, lo and

(04:12):
behold, something came up. Anopportunity to work for the CBS affiliate in
Philadelphia and I was there for twoor three years, and then they brought
a guy back in from Chicago thatwas there, that was there before I
was playing, brought me back andhe and I didn't quite see eye to
eye. So I was dismissed frommy TV job. But you know,
I did radio and I actually didyou know, the pre and post game

(04:35):
for the seventy six ers when theybeat the Lakers for the World championship way
back ye doctor Jay, And thatwas really cool. And you know,
but Morning Drive, that Morning drive, man, you got to get up
at four o'clock in the morning.And I was single, man, I
was at four o'clock in them.I was just coming in at four o'clock
in the Sometimes I just go rightto the studio. But you know that

(04:59):
that that that guy could over realquick. And then we were talking,
you know, about sales, andyou're doing the Stetson thing, which is
really cool. And you know,I got into I got into mortgages and
uh and then you know I haddone that, and you know, I
got into student student student loans andthen poop that this movie Invincible comes out
in two thousand and six and totallytotally changed my life. Did I say

(05:20):
that that had to be life changing. Yeah, yeah, you know I'm
watching. I was like, Idon't. I don't watch the Oscars.
I mean, I just can't getinto it. Once they started turning the
other way and yeah, well,let's just entertain people. I don't care
about, you know, this sideor that side of what side of the
fench one. I just want tobe entertained. But man, I went

(05:42):
to some some of the greatest backthen in the beginning with the SP's,
with with with Disney, We're aDisney movie, and ESPN and ABC they
own all that. That's all partof that conglomerate, you know, going
to the SP's and going to theOscars parties, like you know, my
head was like Linda Blair and Exorcist. Uh. I wouldn't know that,
but you would, you know,my head spinning around, you know,

(06:03):
and just whole like, you know, I can't believe I'm talking to this,
you know. And and they theythey thought I was pretty cool because
I you know, because the firstof all Mark Warburg was was pretty big,
how I would even back then,and you know, so it was
what an experience. I just experiencedit a couple a couple of weeks ago

(06:24):
out in Vegas. Uh. Yeah, I went to a Legends but they
were not we're not alone anymore,We're Legends. So I went to the
Legends party, which was at Caesar's, which was really cool. And go
in there and I'm being introduced tothese guys and and oh, man,
you're the guy from the movie andwhich like was I didn't you know?

(06:46):
And and I'm talking to guys thatare like I would watch on TV,
you know, and then you know, be out on the field playing against
them. What an experience. It'sso cool. I had that same experience.
That's right. I met you atthe Media days and when I'm there,
it's it's weird. Lawrence Taylor justwalking by you and you're like,
Lawrence Taylor, Yeah, yeah,well, you know, it's it's pretty

(07:12):
cool because once you get in there, you're sort of in You're in the
safety zone, and you know,you know why you're there. Yeah,
and uh And if you're not willingto give of yourself to those like you're
talking there, to you, Peterwhomever else, if you're not willing to
give of that and and to participate, then you don't belong there. You
know, you know, there's justno reason for you to be there,

(07:32):
but they're there because they want tobe there. You know, Lauren st
be looking for this, and forme, I was there. I was
there because because of a buddy ofMike, Eric Swan, which is one
of the greatest stories ever. Hecame into the NFL right out of high
school after one year of semi profootball, and he was with the Cardinals
and you know Eric Swan, youknow, so, and I knew enough

(07:54):
people at Radio Row and to beable to maybe you know, in this
er to the to the world,and you know, we're working I'm actually
teaming up with him to see ifwe can't get something going on, either
a documentary or something. But okay, well, you know you know what's
like there. You see these guys, you know, like The Rock,
you know, yeah, I gotat The Rock when he was doing a

(08:15):
game plan my kids were kids.This is right after we shot Invincible,
And it turns out that The Rock, you know, he's one of the
big He's one of the principles ofthe UFL, which is the combined XFL
USFL that my son pays in.And I just missed him by a minute.
And you know, I was Iwas more excited about the rock being
near than anything else, you know, in order the CM. But you

(08:37):
know, I just run into someof the guys. It's it's like pretty
cool. One was Charlie Johnson.Man. He was my uh, I
mean, oh god, a tightend for the Eagles that will come to
me eighty six And he came upto me, usc guy and he came
up to me Young. How youngright chow Young is? Oh my god.
You know, it's so cool tojust see him. Made my I

(09:01):
talked to him last week. Hestayed in touch since since then. You
have his number them do me favoriteif you can just send me his number
on Yeah, he's down in Austinbecause he disappeared. You know, you're
there, you're in an interview andyou know he sort of gives me this
hugging and kiss from behind and he'sgoing, yeah, it's suffered Charlie Young
to disappear. He's a big boy. He came up to me out of

(09:22):
nowhere and he goes, I likeyour hat, young man. I go,
that's Charlie. Yeah, he's justhad the greatest personality. Was the
sweetest guy in the world. Yeah, it's always one step off the line
of scrimmage for coach for meals.So that was the end of him and
the Eagles trade it up, tradedstraight up with Ron Jaworski for Charlie Young,

(09:43):
and that's how we got Jaws inthe Philadelphia. Oh, that's crazy.
He didn't tell me that he hadsome good stories. I'm gonna have
him on the show hopefully soon.Yeah, well tell him, I said,
hi. Absolutely, Yeah. Stevelarge came over and said high to
us because he played with them,and s I don't know he was there.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'msitting there talking to Charlie and Steve
walks up. I'm like, oh, that's Steve Larger. Yeah, I

(10:07):
mean he was. He was theman, you know, my son,
my honor was Tommy McDonald. Andas a matter of fact, you know,
I have a house in Philadelphia andJanet's there now, My wife,
Janet's there now, and she says, hey, I'm bringing home an extra
suitcase. She said what should Ibring? And I said, oh,
there's this great picture of Tommy McDonaldcatching a touchdown pass in the championship in

(10:30):
sixty against Green Bay and he's inand he's just slid off into the snow,
big snow pile on the end zone, and he's being surrounded by everybody.
And I but that that picture isso iconic, and I said,
please you I don't, I don't. I don't want anything of me.
I just want that picture of TommyMcDonald to remind me of my youth.
And you know, a guy thatI dreamed that I someday be and be

(10:52):
a friend of. And you know, here we were. We became the
best of friends. It's cool stuff, man. I'll tell you from being
a school teacher that the f Lwas really really cool about. I don't
know. It had to be aboutfive years ago, six years ago.
You might have received a Tommy McDonaldtrading card in the mail. Mm hmm.
That was from me. No kidding, you're kidding, wow, because

(11:16):
I uh, after I talked toDennis on the show. Mm hmm.
I was like, because I said, I asked Dennis, was he really
a Tommy McDonald fan or is thatjust in the movie? He goes,
no, No, he's that Thatwas his boy. That was that was
my guy. He had, Dennis. We lost him a couple of years
ago, right there. So Imailed you my Tommy McDonald trading card that
I had. How about that?Yeah, someone here at my desk and

(11:37):
Philly, I'll have to I'll getthat and and and i'll supercise that.
I'll super frame it right there.You know, if you don't have idols,
Dick buckets, yeah, Jesus,And he kicks him butt, didn't
he? Man? I ran intoI saw him in Phoenix at the radio
days and then he passed away justbe us later the loss. Yeah,

(12:05):
the story is about Buck's pretty goodstuff. And he was a gentleman,
you know when he was off todo. But that's the way I met
him. A couple of times.He was super nice. Just most most
I don't know, most of theplayers I've met have been nice. Well
why shouldn't they be? Yeah,I mean, you hope they are,
but they're just us. That happen. They get paid to do something other

(12:26):
than sell stats in their dolls,you know whatever. So you know,
and now Caesus with a free agency, Oh my god, you know the
money that's being thrown around you kid? How about even in college? Now?
Oh yeah, name and what's atthe end, what name like us

(12:48):
or whatever it is? You knowthat the high school kids or you know,
kids are coming out driving Mercedes Benzes. But legally, now we have
happened a loyalty and you know toteams and commitment and the you know with
the transfer portal. Oh well youknow, you know I'm in second string
now. I don't know if,yeah, I go somewhere else, you
know. Saban said that was partof the reason why he retired. Yeah,

(13:11):
yeah, said it's just not thesame. Well, a lot,
it's not the same. The NFLis not the same. So of all
the places you've been to so far, what's been the most influential city or
place that you've visited. Well,yeah, I was trying. I was.
I was rethinking that one of themwas. I was just in San

(13:33):
Diego after I saw you guys outat the at the Vegas I threw the
San Diego at the watch party,and there was and we were there.
I was at the Hyatt and we'reright right across the street is basically as
right around as the San Diego.San Diego Stadium stadium I ever played in
in a preseason game, And I'llnever forget that how emotional it was for

(13:54):
me to be there. And wehad six preseason games back then in seventy
six and to be there but numbereighty three in an ego's uniform on the
sideline, listening to the national anthem, crying like a baby, you know.
And I finally got into the gameafter the two minute warning and I
made a couple of catches against it, and I made a defensive read and
that gave me two more weeks oftraining camp. You know, seg a

(14:16):
matter of survival. It's the realsurvival. So we see on it's not
scripted. It really happened, andthat was pretty exciting. But then,
you know, after the movie andstuff, and I befriended a friend of
mine. His name is a MottoBararti, and they have they had this
event in Philadelphia. It was aTalian American event. I used to be
the MC all the time. Theywere giving these awards out in the city
of Philadelphia to an Italian American,like, you know, there's no retire

(14:39):
YOHI a duel, you know,I'm playing, and so I'm giving these
awards out. So Amato, asit turned out, was the He was
in the Italian Parliament and he representedanybody that had a dual citizenship in the
in the America, so the SouthAmerica and North America, one of those
kinds of things. And he andI and my family were friends forever.

(15:01):
So they said, come on,let's go and let's take Invincible to Italy.
And we went and we took itto Italy and guess wherever. We
took it to the parliament. Andnext thing, you know, after they
showed the movie and it had Englishsubtitles, which was really cool, you
know, Mark Wolberg Gaberus in Italian, which was so which was so cool
in the in the Italian Parliament.And afterwards they bring me up and they

(15:24):
give me this plaque and this wardand it's in here somewhere, and they
made me a Knight of the Calvairein Italy. I mean that was like,
are you. And then we wereshowing the movie in these little towns
in Italy and they would have likea projector, you know, they would
have a rewie profector and they'd havethe screen. You know, it's just
like you see in a commercial sometime, and that's how it was. And

(15:46):
you know, all the wine apastawas everything there. And we traveled to
about four or five these little townsin Italy and did that. That was
and I guess what we're going toresurrect that probably coming up, so we're
going to be going to Yeah,I got that was so that was that
was one of the ones that thatwas most influential. And you know,
just just as we spoke, youknow before p about you know, going

(16:10):
into some cities and places that Iprobably never would have visited visited in the
first place, I would never thinkto do it. And you know,
when I got there, you know, I got, I got in the
got it got into Cleveland. Idon't know if I would have gone to
Saint Louis, I know I wouldhave been in LA. But to play
in the Coliseum, you know,San Francisco, to be up there,
that was that was god. Youknow, I didn't get a chance to

(16:30):
play in Oakland, but got toplay them in Philadelphia. And I was
telling you you know, being Cleveland, you know, having played in the
Cleveland Stadium and and you know,but the ones that were really really impressive
was the Coliseum and also the Chicagoyou know, the yeah, and it
was just I couldn't leave it.And then you know, it was really

(16:53):
cool was to be in Washington andplaying in the RFK Stadium. So we
played in all those dual stadiums withthe baseball teams. You know, the
one guy must have made a mintbecause between Cincinnati, Pittsburgh, Saint Louis,
and Philadelphia, we all basically hadthe same stadium, you know,
with the astro turf, and itwas a combination baseball football stadium. Oakland

(17:17):
the same way. I remember thatit was quite cool, but just to
get you know, just to goand play them. But you know,
the play in the Meadowlands was reallycool. It was really that was one
of the first astroturfields right then.And I think the super Dome and and
and and also the AstroTurf. Yeah, I played in the I played in
the AFTERLM. Yeah, I playedin the Astrodome. And that's how they

(17:38):
got that's how they got the nameastro turf from the Astrodome. And I
actually out here. It's it sortof has a reputation of being the worst
turf ever in the history of allsports. And uh and I have these
I have these little place mats aroundmy doors, my front and back door
of my house here in Jupiter,Florida. And it's the original turf that

(18:00):
I got from the stadium, whichis pretty cool. So sometimes people when
they come and you know, Ihave fun with them. I said,
come here, let me show yousomething. I said, give me your
elbow, you know, just giveme your elbow a night straw, rubbing
your elbow on the surface. Whatare you doing, You're crazy. I
said, that's the turf that weplayed on. And that's all we had.
We had about like a half inchof foam underneath, rubber foam,

(18:23):
and I said that was it.It was just right on asphalt. That's
why I tell people. I go, the stuff they play on now is
an inch and a half. It'sgot an inch of rubber and then it's
got padding underneath and everything else.Back in the day, I mean,
Beverly Hills High School still has theold AstroTurf. Was it. My daughter's
played lacrosse, and so we wouldgo and play them in lacrosse, and

(18:45):
it was the I mean, it'shard. It's like it's it's just Howard
hardpan and and so when they playon it, they're like, oh my
god, this stuff is brutal,and I go, yeah, that's that's
the old Oh yeah, cooking.Yeah, the fresh game I played against
the Cowboys. They had the originalturf and you know, so they have
the opening in the stadium, andman, the sun was beating down and

(19:07):
it was like one hundred and tenhundred feet your feet in the summer.
Yeah, like you know Vinnie,my son Vinnie, you know when they're
playing. He was playing in Birminghamand and you know he was playing all
the games were being played in Birmingham, and if he had an afternoon game,
it'd be one hundred and ten andtwenty so that my feet would be
burning out there on the field.You know, it was coming away with

(19:30):
blisters. But hey, you knowwhat, it's all part of the game.
And you know that's what they callit, a home field advantage.
But some some fun stadium some somegreat places to be too. And yeah,
now and now with the speaking,I know I've done. I've got
to see some funky stuff. Soit was pretty cool. I don't say.
Now, do you think you travelmore now than when you did when

(19:51):
you were a player? Oh?No question. You know, player,
we traveled once a week and wehad back in the day, we had
fourteen games to begin with and sixpreseason. Now they have what seventeen games,
and you know they might they shouldjust scratch the preseason, you know,
I mean they they do it.It's like it's like, you know,
it's like two hand touch for cryingout loud, these new training camps

(20:12):
that they've got. But uh,yeah, we traveled. I traveled.
When we traveled, we're talking aboutthat, you know what it's it's it's
sort of the same as it was. We went charter and you know,
we flew whatever airlines we flew,and we had the same crew the whole
time. Yeah, which was reallycool. We had the same it's the
same part of his name was CaptainBob, and he would invite us up

(20:34):
and I was sitting there in theco pilot seabar. I mean, it's
the coolest thing in the world.No more that stuff anymore. But that's
that's the way it was back inthe day. You know. And then
you got to your hotel. Youknow, you always went in the night
before, the day before, andthen as soon as the game was over,
you know, they they loads upand go. You know, there

(20:56):
was no security. You know,I flew so the next time I'd ever
found I was doing a thing forDick for me in San Francisco and NAPA
with NFL Films. They wanted meto do a feature and I was doing
some stuff with films and ESPN NFL. So I did a feature on Dick
for Meo and his winery that hehas up there in Carmel in Calastoga.

(21:17):
And when I got onto the planeand what's going on pane for the first
time, I was shocked that Ihad to go to a security check and
all that stuff. And this wasone of the coolest things. I can
tell the story now. So afterthe games would be over back in the
day, you know, I'm talkingout seventy six, seven eight, so
you would they would give you refreshmentsand they'd give you a box of lunch,

(21:38):
dinner, whatever it was afterwards,and the refreshments were they either give
you two sodas or they give youtwo cans of beer. I used to
always get next to the guys thatwere the Christian athlete guys, and so
I would swap off, and youknow, there was it was great.

(22:00):
That's why we had so much funback there. I mean, this is
the NFL. You know, I'mwatching all this on TV and this is
the NFL. Oh my god,I can't believe this is so cool.
It's gotta be kind of surreal.Though. I mean to be a but
I consider a normal guy, andall of a sudden, you're yeah.
I mean, I wouldn't imagine beingthat big of a fan of a a
team like for me, my teamwas the Chargers in the Don Coriel Air

(22:25):
Coriel years. Oh yeah, Ilove the Chargers. It was seventy seven
to about eighty two eighty three,souse. I lived in San Diego,
so that was we used to doother games, and I couldn't imagine them
being on the team. Oh theunbelievable Yeah, with Lance Alworth and yeah,
yeah, well back then they hadCharlie Joyner, John Jefferson, Kellen

(22:48):
Winslow, Dan Fouts. I meanthey were oh you had them all,
you know, I mean they werethey were the legends, you know,
and that's when they had the mergerof the mergers coming up between them in
the NFL. It's pretty cool,and you know, you hit it right
on the head, Pete, becauseimagine, now I'm a season ticket holder
and I'm in the stands and I'mwatching all these guys, and you know,

(23:11):
and I see how Carmichael and youknow, Beroan mcgabriel and I whomever,
the running backs were, whatever,the players were, nothing. They
wondered Bill Bergey, you know,Bill, Billy Bradley. I love Bill
Bradley, you know, and someof the other guys. And then too
in training camp the next year.Now I'm a season ticket holder for ten
years and just loving the Eagles todeath. And then the next year of

(23:33):
being training camp and on the fieldwith these guys. The first week of
camp was the rookies and free agents, and that's how the pops thing came
up because they didn't have None ofthe big guys came except for Roe mc
gabriel. He was a quarterback.Well, Gabe and I had worked out
for three months part to training campafter I had to try out, and
so we had a connection and Iwas just you know, everything. He

(23:55):
was throwing the male and everything,and I was, you know, hitting
guys like crazy and blowing them upbecause back then, you could blow up
a defensive back, you could blockbelow the way, she could spear a
guy. Yeah, get a getawaywith just about anything. Hitting the guy,
you know in the knogging, whichwas which you wouldn't want to do.
So I'm just tearing it up withthis and then all of a sudden,

(24:17):
the veterans come in and I'm inthere on defense and I'm against you
know, a guy that was somebodythat was like one of my biggest idols,
not idols, but and I backedoff. I backed off from all
my hitting and everything else. Andcoach came up to me. He says,
well, you see not the sameguy you were last week. Are
you intimidated by these guys? Isaid, not intimidated, I said in

(24:38):
a physical way. I'm intimidated ina in an emotional way because they they're
like, you know, they're like, they're my guys. Man. He
says, I'm going to tell youwhat. He says, half of these
guys are going to be gone.He said, get your head out of
your butt. I'll give you twoweeks, three weeks, and let's go.
And next thing, you know,all right, here we go,

(25:00):
you know. And I did notmake too many friends in that portion of
training camp. And then, asin the movie, you know, that
big play against the giants that Imade at the end of the game.
I actually had several hits and aforce fumbled. Actually I forced thirteen fumbles
in my rookie year, which Ithink still still pretty cool, you know.

(25:21):
But anyway, you know, Igot invited to my first team party
and that's when I was accepted bythe team. And then the next year
they voted me captain. But youknow, I would go to a city
at pete and let's say i'd goto Cleveland, you know, and i'd
go to Cleveland, I go toChicago. Next thing, you know,
the headlines the next day is aboutthis guy, the real life Rocky.

(25:41):
Yeah, you know, I don'tknow how selvester felt about that, but
you know, it was always thisreal life Rocky thing going out because it
was happening right when Rocky was comingout. And then I would have some
of my teammates would give me alittle bit of crap about it, and
it was as hazing. I mean, you know, they were sincerely jealous
or upset about it, and someof the other guys and the other team

(26:02):
would you know. I remember onegame where you know, I wasn't featured
in a national TV thing on NBCabout teaching somebody how to do what I
did. And then you know,defensive back from the Cardinals, he's just
swinging his fist in front of myface. He's I'm going to clock you,
and he did, but I won'tthe ref you know, so he
got fifteen. But you know,that was the stuff I had to deal

(26:23):
with as a rookie. And thenyou know, my next year was but
still, you know, to beout there or like we were talking about,
you know, to be at theevents and you know, to be
at the super Bowl and to bea radio row and to see these guys
and the recognition that they had forme and to me they were the star,
they were the legend. But theyknew my story, you know,

(26:45):
and they would wow, man,that was really cool what you did.
And it's pretty it's pretty well stillstill pinching myself exactly. Well, you
know, like I can only imaginebecause well, for one, it was
just different I think back man,I mean, being a player, it
was wasn't as flashy as as Iperceive it to be. Now, yeah,

(27:07):
well we weren't as flashy. Imean there were some guys who were
pretty flashy. But you know,but I mean just like it was one
of the social media like you know, the advertisement, Well that was a
great thing. We didn't have itwe didn't have to look around, who's
taking a picture of you? Yeah, but they would have this one feature
they had in Philadelphia and it's calledI Was Spotted And go in to the

(27:32):
morning radio guy and say, hey, I saw Vispapa and Charles Barkley,
you know, and loutui You knowthese did you know Charles and loutuoy was
a TV sportscast for me. Werehanging out one time somewhere just having fun.
Next you know, and then thenthe phone calls, come running,
you know, come running into thehouse, you know, and you know
that was pre social media. Butnow you just you just got to be

(27:53):
squeaky clean, and you know,with the money they're getting paid, but
you know, and then then youknow, I mean it's just social media
is well, it's first to killerMan. Let's all I do not.
I do not say any opinions onsocial media. I got kids, I

(28:14):
got to protect, you know,and I have Well that's that's something you
know, Bennie's going to have toyou know, Benny has to deal with.
And yeah, I mean what's thatto deal with? When the movie
came out, it wasn't easy.Oh, you got to where you're guys,
because ro Man was Philadelphia. You'reat this movie Invincible. You know,
you're just a piece of this,you know, but you know it's
because you're pop, you know,and it's like, you know, try
to convince my kids, Hey,the reason you did is because you're talented.

(28:37):
Yeah, they got there, andthey've all reached you know, pretty
high levels of of of success andwhatever they've done athletically, intellectually, sports
wives, business wise. You know, something made him tougher. You know,
they they they didn't use it asan excuse. They use it as
a motivation. They you know,I could I could have used my mother's

(28:57):
mental illness. My mother was severelymenorial when I was growing up. I
could use that as a as anexcuse for being a dirt ball, you
know, going the other way.But you know, I had coaches and
teachers who believed in me, thattook me under their wing. And that's
why I wound up being a schoolteacher. To reward them and honor them
and to thank them for how theybasically saved my life. You know.

(29:18):
My dad, tough guy, Italianguy's father, a big former, you
know, I mean, he's justhe's working to survive. You know,
his whole different ballgame back in thefifties and sixties, and the development and
the way you treat things in yourfamily. You know, You've already mentioned
your girls a couple of times,and I've mentioned mine a couple of times.
You know, it's it's the fabricof our of our life, you

(29:41):
know. Back then, you knowit's more like survival and you know,
just just go with it. Butit wasn't easy for them, and now
you know, still with Vinnie.Every once in a while, he's got
to deal with it in you know, but it could be so yeah,
he's been he's been through it,so you can figure that out. Well,

(30:03):
you did name him as a junior, so that's a little rough,
not obviously not knowing you were gonnahave a movie made about you at the
time. Well, I'm never thinkingof that. Actually, it's the Italian
thing. It's not a he's nota junior. My father is Vincent is
Francis Joseph Pali, Francis Papelli,and Vinnie is Vincent Joseph Papali. So

(30:26):
you have to have your you won'tthere at least the the the the first
letter, you know, and sohe's but he's he became Vinnie immediately,
you know, it calls him Vincenzo, you know, but and Vinnie,
Vinnie actually is is going to bean Italian citizen. He just came back
from Italy and got all the papersand nice possibility, you know that things

(30:49):
might happen with Vinnie and and Italyin the future. So it's pretty exciting.
You know. It's interesting because Ican share with you. I played
high school football with a guy namedJimmy Ray, and at the time I
didn't know he was the third buthis dad was the offensive coordinator for the
Rams at the time, and hand Jimmy Ray's junior the dad coach.

(31:14):
Ray played at Michigan State when NationalChampionship in sixty four sixty five with Michigan
State as a quarterback. They wentdraft him as a quarterback so into the
NFL because he was black, sohe got drafted as a safety, got
hurt and it was a coach.But the whole time I went to high
school with Jimmy, I never knewhis dad was the OC for the Rams.

(31:38):
He never talked about it, andI didn't know until they did a
like at thirty for thirty thing onon Coach Ray and I'm like, oh
my god, I had no ideathat was. And I still talked to
Jim Jimmy's back office guy for Ithink the Lions now. But the whole
time growing up, he never talkedabout his dad like I just never.

(32:02):
You know, it might obviously thelast name is you know, because and
he's playing ball, but yeah,it's you or you and the same thing
for Gabrielle, Yeah, yep,toughly yep. But hey, you know,
I do this thing when I'm speakingand I say, you know,
some of the obstacles got to gothrough, and it basically comes down there.

(32:23):
It's it's it's resentment. It's it'sit's resentment, and it's called by
insecurity and you know that they don'thave the guts to do what you want
to do. And I said,that's all fueled by jealousy and it works
for all levels. You know,I'll be speaking out in Nashalle. I'll
be speaking to UH to castor oilbeen around for how many years on here,
twenty five years? Anytime you've gota lubricant for cars that's been around,

(32:45):
and that'd be one of the thingsthat I'll talk about you know that
you've got to go. Oh,you can't do it, will never be
done. You know. Well youknow with them the only reason you got
here is because your name. Butyou know, those those things, you
got to deal with it. Sothat's so I'll put a life and again,
you know, it goes back touse that as your strength and a
motivation for doing it for whatever reason, as opposed for an excuse for failing,

(33:08):
because it's already made excuse not you'respeaking how many events do you do
a year? Typically about two amonth now. When the movie first came
out, I was all the time, all the time, and you know,
it's an interesting travel, first classtravel, you know, and yeah,
in and out of the city.If you know, if I'm going

(33:29):
to do an event, and let'ssay LA not too far from you,
I go to I fly direct toLA and then they take me to the
event and i'd be there the nightbefore, I'd give the event on the
day of and then come back whereI could. I could stay at the
city if I wanted, you know, but that cost would be on me.
But now I'm down to about twoa month, which is fine.

(33:50):
You know, going to Nashville.I'll be in Nashville on the nineteenth and
twentieth, and you know, andI know I know some people there,
so you know i'd be because I'mtaking care of my own travel, I'm
able to extend extend that trip.And then I was just telling you right
before we came on the air,I'm real excited about heading out to heading
out to Crimel and speaking to thebest underwriters insurance. And while we're out

(34:15):
there, we're gonna go. We'regonna go, you know, up to
uh, up up to Calastogan,see a different meals winery and hopefully Coach
will be there. And then fromthere we're gonna go right from from San
Francisco over to Memphis and watch Vinnieplay because you can get a direct flight.
So with with me and where Iam is just right around the corner
is the greatest, Uh it's thegreatest airport in the world. You know,

(34:38):
it's the West Palm Beach PBI PalmBeach International Airport, and uh it's
it's it's pretty you know, solet's say that the PGA tournament. You
know, it's just literally built upwith all private jets and it's it's right
there where mare A Lago is.For crying out loud, it's like a
part five from our lago. Andbut there's very few direct flights to some

(34:59):
of the cities I'm going into,and it'll get it's direct to Dallas,
you get away, and San Franciscoyou get direct to Philly. That's the
important thing. It's svently a twohour flight to Philly, which is fine
from PBI. Yeah, PBI.Yeah. But then we have for Lauderdale's
an hour south, you know,a minute where Miami's and then now they

(35:20):
have these really great speed lines righthere. That's another part of the travel.
You forget about that is we havethe right line and that's just takes
you right down at about one hundredand twenty miles an hour. The three
stops and there's a shottle that takesyou right over the airport, which is
so that's a fun trip. Iwas going to ask you, I mean,
did you because you're traveling so muchwhere you moved to Jupiter, was

(35:44):
that part of the equation, likeyou got to be somewhat close to an
airport that could get you in andout. I mean, yeah, well,
you know, I never really thoughtof it. You know, it's
like when we were saying fire too. You know that that Blue Lives Matter
flag there, it's from a golftorn right I played in eight years ago.
I was invited down to speak towhat's called cops concerns the police survivors,

(36:05):
and it's for the falling off.It's for the survivors of falling officers.
And you know, I never eventhought that I would be living here.
And I came down on my ownbecause jan I usually when I every
time I travel and do an event, Janet always travels with me. She's
a big part of it. Yeah, yeah, I met her, meet
her room. An invincible team wouldlike to do that. But when I
came down for this, you know, he asked me what my fee was,

(36:29):
and my fee was pretty much morethan what I was making, you
know, when I was making myrookie year with the Eagles. You know,
I mean, that's the kind ofwhoa You're out of your mind.
You keep paying me for it,just get up on stage for forty five
minutes. But these guys, youknow, I did it for a couple
of beers at a hotel room.And that's the greatest, greatest people in
the world. And you know,little did I know anying about you,

(36:51):
but are not knowing about all theformer professional athletes, current professional rights.
Everybody here are kind of environment.And my wife had when I met her
in ninety two, she lived ona golf course or just right south of
Palm Beach. And so the nextyear I had just written a book and
in this book that Janet and Ihad written, because that USA is Janet

(37:14):
was on the USA WORL gymnastics teamand coach at the University of Pennsylvania,
we wrote a book about potential andso they invited us to come to the
golf tournament again right here in Jupiter, and she activated her because she was
a realtor. She's been for fortyone years, and she activated a realtor's
license here and we found this house, a little little little gem on Tall

(37:37):
Creek Golf Club they call it,and renovated it and here we have.
We've been since COVID. So Inever even thought about it to even think
about airports, right, you know, and figured, oh, you know,
I can go. I can goto Fort Little Hordell. That's only
an hour. I can go theother one that's only you know, it's
it is what it is. Soit's part of the deal. Man.

(37:58):
You got to be able to youhave to be able to sort of budgeted
in budget your time, you knowbudget. So it works, it works,
and sometimes and I'm not real fan. I'm not a real fan of
being on a plane. I like, the last time I was, we
did a NonStop out there to Vegas, you know, for all the stuff
that was going over with the SuperBowl, I was, I was able
to get a NonStop and it wasin the plane for six and a half

(38:19):
hours, and you know, andand I'm you know, because I have
Janet going with me, I passup on the first class and I'll take
two coach. I mean, that'sthat's the that's the compromise that I do
in order to be able to bringJanet with me. And so I don't
I don't have a problem if whatevermost you know, Dallas, whatever,
I can always go through Dallas,like and I always go through Atlanta.

(38:43):
I can always go to and withAnny's games, you know, and and
he's most of his games are eastof the Mississippi. You know. It's
it's a piece of cake, youknow, it's I'll go through you know,
I'll go through wherever I go.I'll go through Charlotte, I'll go
through Atlanta. Some places they'll renta car and take a two hour drive
and instead of doing the connection,which is fun, you know, I

(39:06):
do that. My daughter lives outsideof Knoxville, but I fly into Nashville
because they don't do direct to Knoxvilleout of LA So I fly into Nashville
and then I just do it.It's about three hour drive, but it's
it's a real drive. It's notlike California driving just oh yeah, you
know. And well with Vinnie whenhe in the first year of the USFL,
all the games were held in Birmingham, and you know, so and
so there he is. He's youknow, he's got his place in Birmingham.

(39:29):
But all the games are going tobe in Birmingham. So the easiest
way to go would be the flightof Atlanta. Rent a car, go
across Route twenty one hundred and twenty, get that done and it's right there
to the airport and you're in Birminghamin less than an hour and a half
at eighty miles an hour. Boom, and I have a hotel. But
there's a great quality in there,you know. I mean that's set up
that they have there in Birmingham forthe stadium and right there that they have

(39:52):
you know, you'd Rusity Alabama andall the bars and restaurants and everything.
And then before you know, theyall knew who we were. Yeah,
you're coming in for Ventis game again, mister p what's going on? You
know, I mean you're part ofthe fabric of that city, and that
was great. I wouldn't never goingto Birmingham. I played there one time.
I was playing in the World FootballLeague, but I never you know,

(40:12):
I certainly would. I might havegone to Memphis just to you know
this sniff the Elvis thing. Butyou know, now I'm there all the
time. I know, I knowMemphis like my backhand. It's it's pretty
crazy because I do that now whenI travel, even going to Hawaii,
you know, uh, for forwork. It's different when you go for
work versus just being on vacation.Yeah, while you're on Yeah, my

(40:36):
wife's always available for that trip,so it's a good thing. Yeah,
i'men. I have to go toNorth Dakota. She's a little busy,
but uh, she's she's wide open. Interesting how that works well, we
have a little we have a littlething. Like Janet's been in she's been
in Philly for the last ten daysto take care of some of the real
estates because Vinnie's in training camp andVinnie and you know, in aside from

(41:00):
training in the off season, he'sup there in Philly, and hey,
we're real excited. Just just tosay Gardner Minshew, you know, the
quarterback for the Eagles for a coupleof years, and the guy did a
great job with Indy last year.He just got picked up by the by
the Raiders. And Gardener was wasliving with Vinnie because they trained together.
Okay, Vinnie, So I'm reallyexcited about Gardner Minshew. But hey,

(41:22):
you know, it is what itis, you know, and you just
prepare yourself for it. Right.They just tore down one of the biggest
bridges that you could ever have righthere in Jupiter that goes right over and
you're looking over at the inner coastaland it's and you know, people because
the end season, now after Easter, it's going to start clearing out.
Yeah, the end season, andeverybody's bitching and moaning about the traffic.

(41:45):
I said, well, you knowwhat, why don't you just plan on
fifteen more minutes to be in thecar, you know, get serious,
get get music, do something listeningto podcasts, I said, just use
that time wisely, you know,instead of complaining about the traffic because you
know are going to hit it.What I what I appreciate is I've lived
in California for forty six years,my entire adult life. But when they

(42:09):
could it at their places Denver orNashville and they like, oh, the
traffic is getting like LA, I'mlike, no, it's not. No,
it's not nothing. Nothing like thefive or the one oh one.
There is nothing like l Wait traffic. Yeah, it's LA traffic for about
six miles and then you're out inthe middle of nowhere. Yeah, that's

(42:29):
when you're that's when you're looking atyour GPS and all you see is red.
Yeah, you know you're scrolling down. You know it's still red or
orange. Yeah. I did thatall last week. What if we do
you think about this, Pete?What did we do with our GPS?
Is? Do you remember the daywhen you'd have your directions written down and
oh yeah, Thomas got maps andright, you know, you're thick on

(42:52):
the light overhead. You talk aboutyou talk about traffic hazards and driving hazards
worth some of somebody being on thephone trying to read direc actions like this
or that. I often joke aboutif you took even like Gabby, you
know, anybody under thirty right andsaid, you get to travel to Miami,

(43:14):
but you can't use any part ofa computer. You're a smartphone.
You get a phone, but it'sjust a phone, no texting, It's
just a phone. How would youget there? That was easy for us?
Well, yeah, for us,we used to do it. Yeah,
just right down ninety five. Butbefore you had ninety five, would
you do? No? But Imean even like booking from from LA to

(43:37):
Miami, how would you How wouldyou book a flight? How would you
book a hotel? How would youget a car? Now that's that's a
that's a great story. Yeah,well like we did. I'll tell you
why one of the trips we didin Europe because Janet was not Janet was
so familiar with you when she's travelingaround part of the USA team when she's
fifteen, six, seventeen years old. Yeah, and Mindy would go over

(43:57):
to see her girlfriend get married orher daughter, Gabrielle, was eighteen months
old. And this was about Idon't know, twenty eight years ago to
you know, less than thirty yearsago. But we were driving through Europe
for six weeks without except for onecase, to go to the hotel where
we were saying for the wedding.We didn't have a hotel room. But
she was so confident that she wouldbe able to go. And in spite

(44:20):
of the language problem, we neverhad an issue. I just would pull
up to this whatever, really coollooking place and she'd walk in and she'd
have the baby with her, andyou know, Gabrielle, she was it
and that was you know, herdog. But the baby will take the
baby. But that was a wholedifferent. But back then, you know,
they didn't have what they didn't havegone to these GPS's. Well,

(44:44):
we're in Rome one time for cryingout loud, and and all of a
sudden we go round the bed andthere was a coliseum and I had a
parent, I had a pair ofreading glasses, you know, and I
had her in my hand and thewindow was open and I said, oh
my god, colosseum. And freakingwas not the word I used. Colosseum
and my classes broke out. NowI don't have any reading glasses and now

(45:07):
I'm trying to and go to apharmacy to try to get reading classes and
not speaking Italian. You know,hey, you know, so now you're
doing the fill. It didn't work. It's a different Italian you think about
it. That's a that's a goodpoint. Yeah, we are, We
do that sometime. Yeah. Yeah, half the kids can't read a map

(45:28):
right now. But but still,you know, and then then then you
you know, you go rent acar and then you'd have this thing whatever
what was that thing that you knowthat was the the the map, you
know, the the Tombs Brothers,we had the Toms brother guide maps,
the book and now you know yougot this, oh yeah, to get
from here to there. Well,and this has my translation on it.

(45:51):
You can you can translate languages whenyou're when you're traveling. Yeah, I
do that. At Rodeos. Weget a lot of people from different countries
that will come to the Rodeos,a lot of Brazilians and they speak Portuguese
and so I just punch in,you know, here's what's on sale,
here's the prices. You know,in English and it literally speaks it back
out in Portuguese. That's insane.Well, you know, there's the more

(46:14):
memory in this and than than whatwas in the on the spaceship that landed
on the move. It's pretty insane. And it's getting crazier too with AI.
That that really scares me. Ay, it's a little yeah, it's
a little freaky. Yeah, youknow, you know, I got a
feeling I'm going to be I'm goingto be replaced by AI real soon.

(46:35):
So put me out in the past, which maybe I'm a retirement is not
part of our language here in thishouse. But you know what they said,
what I try to remind myself ofis what I heard about AI was
you won't be replaced by AI.You'll be replaced by somebody that knows how
to use it better than you.There you go. So, yeah,

(46:55):
but A I won't be able tohave you think, A I can't speak
as a Vince Papali for for underwritersin church, it just can't happen.
Yeah, maybe they'll try, butyeah, but they won't have some of
this. No, yeah, Idon''t have any of them. And it's
a simple story. I mean,you know, it's you know, I

(47:16):
always use this great quote. Itwas given to me by my high school
coach who made such great impact whenI was doing with my mother's mental illness,
and he said, happier, thoseare dream dreams and are willing to
pay the price and make the dreamscome true. I mean, that's a
quote he gave me, George Corner. And the key word is, you
know, I point out at theaudience, I said, you're going to
pay the price. What's the priceto be paid? And I could being

(47:37):
a school teacher, you know,I get interactive with the stage. A
I can't, but you know itcomes from here. But their willingness to
pay the price, you know.And then you got the posers out there.
Oh you know, I got thisdream and the bar is said so
low. Oh my god, itjust drives me crazy. Oh anyway,
don't get me gone. You know, I'll start getting step. They don't

(48:00):
have the fingers that you have.They set up a big hand. I
don't know. No, no,you're you're left pinky finger. Oh I
left pinky. Yeah. That's aron Chawirski fastball, Thank you very much.
Right across the metal, Bill Bergiegot it on a slant and instead
of the ball coming in like that, it came in like this. And

(48:20):
when you're a marginal player, Ihave I have, you know, I
have fingers too. When you're amarginal player and you're the forty third man
on a forty three man roster,do whatever. But even you don't even
go to the trainer on that one. Back then they were trainers. Now
they're athletic trainers. I lost thetenon in this and I just taped it

(48:40):
up, figure and hey, it'sjust sprained. And that's what happened,
that the tenon had popped off andhold down my hand. I just kept
playing with it. And then whenI went finally went to the doctor,
they're like, now you brushed thetube that it goes through. So they
just cut it out. Oh four, it's caught a box item. They

(49:01):
wanted to amputated. I said,well, that's my wedding green finger.
So that's that's not a good idea. Don't take my wife would like that.
I don't know. I wouldn't wantto put the wedding wearing on this
finger exactly. No comments. Thisis a g rated show, right,
yeah it is. Now? Thatwas that. That was the first wife.

(49:23):
That's what I was going to say. But well, you know,
yeah, there's my favorite song.God bless you, Toby Keith, I
love you, and uh, youknow I had that. You know you're
talking about number one and that letteryou watched the movie it was actually was
said, and Toby has this greatsong how do you like me? Now?
Yeah? And that that's what Ithink about. You know, it's

(49:45):
just like you know people, that'swhat it is. You never go anywhere,
you never make any money, nevermake a name for yourself. Well
do you don't like me now?It's just pretty fiddy. Yep. Toby
was great. I got to know. I got to know. I love
culture Western. I actually I nevermet Toby, but uh, one of

(50:06):
the people we sponsor is Cowboy Troyand he plays a big and rich really
and so I've known Troy was mysecond guest on my show six years ago
and Troy uh was in Vegas forthe rodeo and signing autographs and our booth
and all that, and uh,I go, hey, what are you
doing today? He goes, We'replaying tonight at m JIM And I said,
oh cool, I go there's stilltickets. He goes, yeah,

(50:28):
he goes, I go, Idon't want a pre ticket. I'll buy
my own ticket. I just wantto know if there's still tickets available.
He goes, well, let mesee what I can do. He gets
me on the list. I'm likeblused. Right, we go there.
Big and Rich was opening for TobyKeith. And so I go to the
concert and and I'm like, Idon't know where the ticket is. And

(50:49):
he was like, oh, no, you have a wristband. And I'm
like, okay, you know,I mean I'm beyond front room. I'm
just on the side of the stage. QUI huh yeah, inside the pit.
But I'm like left of the pit. I'm like where the family people
are and all that. And soToby comes over and he's taught, you
know, and it was incredible.It was a great night. Oh they
are they know, they're just sofrindly, you know. And the Philly

(51:12):
there's a great venue that they have. It's right on the river in Camden
and Philly. And you know,I've got to got the chance. I
actually got to meet a lot ofthese guys because of somebody that runs security
and now he's running security for CaineBrown. Okay, and yeah, and
to him. I got to meetI got to meet Luke and Cole Swindell
and and Toby was on another oranother thing, and man, they're just

(51:35):
the greatest guys. Go backstage,have a good old time and Harry Chapin,
the great Harry Chapin. Yeah.One time a friend of mine took
me to Harry Chapin and they say, this is Vinster Paley from the Eagles,
and Harry says, hey, man, you guys had had a great
gig lass Line Atlanta. I heard. He said, no, no,
no, no, no no,And this is the guy that that that
sprung to the the song Taxi whenhe when this guy is my buddy Tony

(51:59):
was up there and in uh inin uh Boston, and uh you know,
he says, yeah, that wasa great gig did so And he
said, no, no, no, no, He said, this is
Vince Papelli from the Philadelphia. Hegoes said, what's your last name again?
And he says, you know you'rethat old guy, right And he
says, you know what, Ialways wanted to play in the NFL.
I said, well, you knowwhat, I always wanted to be a

(52:21):
rock star. Well, you knowwhat, he has me up on stage
at the second half and I'm singingone of his songs, which was so
cool. And then every concert wenthe had in Philadelphia, we would go
out before the concert and have acatch with a football because he was a
he was a quarterback in college andhe wanted to have a catch and that
was that was our that was ourtrade. So yeah, TAXI man,

(52:45):
so much for me, Jesus,this is this is what it's all about.
You know, all these people yourun into and think about as part
of my life now and and theexperiences that I've had, our children have,
my wife has, their family said, and be able to share it
with a lot of other people.So it's so exciting. You know.
I look at I look at thesethis memorabilia here, you know, and

(53:07):
I'm looking right here with a pictureof me and Mark and just say,
you know, how blessed are myYou know that this saw what happened,
and I would have been blessed regardless, but this is even more blessing.
It's pretty cool and to make itand the key thing is that hopefully make
an impact. So well. Ihad a conversation last night with a kid
with a Facebook for for a halfhour that was eight years old, and

(53:30):
I was title and I just dida cameo for his parents. I do
cameos and a Saren cameo for thekid. And you know, I said,
he's and he's going to write astory about me. I said,
you know what you want to,I'll tell you. We'll work together on
this one. So, I mean, how cool was that? I was?
You know, Janet's not here.I'm you know, I'm afraid.

(53:52):
You know, you know, thetask masker is out, so whatever.
Yeah, yeah, but I gota lot of I got a lot of
things checked off, so I knowthe feeling. I do the same thing
because I'm on the road. I'mtraveling a lot. So when I come
home, she's like, Okay,here's your to deal list. It's all

(54:13):
right, Oh yeah, we're herefor as hard as hard as my wife
works and as much as what shedoes and pulls together here that I don't
have to deal with the crap.Especially you know, when you've got to
be on man. You know,when you're out there speaking, that's a
lot of pressure. That's that's likebeing the quarterback in the Super Bowl.
You know, you can't throw aninterception, you can't make you know,
you can't get sack, you can'tdo an incompletion, and you're speaking to

(54:36):
total strangers, you know. AndI was used to be terrifying to start.
Now it's okay, It's what Ido. So the evince. Do
you get nervous? I don't getnervous. But it's game day. Man.
When I wake up and I haveto do an event, it's game
day. I know it's game day. All of a sudden, my whole
demeanor of the body, everything changeslike that. I know the feeling.

(54:57):
I did that this morning. Itook my bike ride. That's right.
I dropped my car off the service, you know. And here, you
know, I had to be wewere at the traffic. I had to
be aware of the of the familieswalking their dogs and their children on this
and all that stuff on the sidewalkbecause I'm still not real comfortable running on
the street. So but you know, you just go off on the driveway

(55:20):
and then how you doing? Imean, the one thing I've gotten from
you and prior to the movie,all the interviews I've seen online, is
that the incredible sense of gratitude thatyou have, and it seems like you've
always had it. But is thatsomething you just Is that because of your

(55:40):
mom? Is that because of yourdad? Is that? Well it probably
you know, they didn't have aheck of a lot. You know,
they're one of eight, you know, the from immigrant families and yeah,
and you know, and I grewup in a housing project. I mean,
you know, our house wasn't asbig as this garage for crying out
out and that's where I grew upin. But it was okay, and
you know, all these things.And to become a school teacher and make

(56:04):
an impact and become a coach,it wasn't about money. It was about
you know, it was about theplacement. You know, where I was.
Could I help, could I bethis? Could I impact somebody?
So you know, I signed myfirst teaching contract for forty eight hundred dollars
forty eight hundred dollars, and thenwe got a raise over the summer,
I got fifty four and now Ibecame the head track coach and they gave

(56:27):
me eighteen eight hundred dollars. I'mteaching, you know, I'm working nine
months out of the year and I'mgetting less than seven thousand a year.
Yeah, it wasn't about the money. You know, it was about doing
what I love doing. And youknow this, I'm so fortunate to have
all this around me. But morethan anything, it's not the physical things.
It's it's the memories, sure,the people, the thought of you

(56:47):
know, the thought of your We'retalking about, you know, your daughter
being a gymnast. You know,Gabby was a gymnast prior to my wife.
You know, my handshaking. I'mtaking videos of her once she's on
the balance beam, you know,watching Vinnie try out for the USA team
high school team in Jersey City,Jersey, right on the other side of

(57:08):
New York, and there's five hundredguys and to them, he's only Vinnie.
Vinnie just said, Dad, stepaway, just get out of the
way. I said, I wantto see you. And he went and
he did it on his own andwound not catching a touchdown against the Canadians
in Dallas, you know, andthose kinds of things that's you can't put

(57:28):
a price tag on it. Andyou know, the thirty years I've just
had with Janet, you know,it's from my you know, it's not
my first wife, but I've hadall my children with her, and it's
it's beautiful thing. And the kids. I mean, Jesus jess On man.
You know, we just told youyou know where I'm going for them.
I'll be gone every weekend for thenext ten weeks, starting Easter,

(57:51):
so allegedly allegedly. Yeah, Ihave pictures of my daughter in the wedding
dress, but I can't share them. You know, I have to because
obviously my my future son in lawcan't see the dress. So I have
to do it one by one.You know, there's no social media thing.
I have to like actually send outthe pictures and say, hey,
don't share this. But yeah,so hey, well maybe maybe she'll get

(58:15):
lucky and you know, get thisguy. So it's pretty cool. But
it's all good, you know,and we have fun together, you know,
and we have this destroy this cutelittle group chat that we all have
and it's it's it's hilarious that,you know, some of the stuff just
with a year anniversary yesterday with Gabrielleand her boyfriend, and you know,
just some of the comments going backand forth, especially from Vinnie because he's

(58:38):
got a wicked sense of humor andthe younger brother, you know, he
just loves like that Gabby. Yeah, but Gabby's got games. She's got
her mom's game because you don't messwith Janet. They call her the Bulldog.
So are you still doing are youstill going to do the podcast with
Gabby or yeah? Yeah, yeah, we got one. Yeah, some

(59:00):
stuff was happening and things that shehad to deal with in terms of business
and getting herself situated and moved,and there was a lot of stuff.
So we decided after the Super Bowl, we've got it. One of my
first guests is going to be CarlIt's going to be Doug and Jeanie Peterson
and get them together. We're goingto talk about they've been together since their
high school days and what it's liketo be with the player, the wife

(59:23):
of a player, and also andshe was a great athlete also in college
and the high school and you know, how they coexist and get together and
the things they've got to deal withon I don't think it's ever been done
before. So that's one of thethings I got Dick from me. I
got Borg lined up. I've gota couple of people from the US soccer
team that are from the Philadelphia area. Got them all lined up. So

(59:45):
yeah, we're going to start upprobably right after Easter. Okay, well,
Gabbing with Invincible and there's a fewthere's about six episodes out there right
now. So Gabbing with Invincible.That's a good show. Thank you.
So I'm excited to getting to getthat started up again. Thank you.
Thanks for the pitch. And youknow, if anybody what needs a great

(01:00:07):
sedative, I'm out there speaking.So you can catch me at Vince at
Vince papowi dot com. There's youjust go to you know, book Vince
and there's an interactive form and itjust comes right to me. You can
get to all the Vince gear.You got a couple of books out,
So a couple of books out.I have the Real Story and that was

(01:00:27):
written by ESPN. And then Ihave the potential reach your full potential.
And that's what being Vincible a paybookfor reaching your full potential. That's a
movie. That's a book between Johnand me. And then the Last Laugh
Dennis Franks and I wrote and wecame up with the Victor's Code, and

(01:00:49):
you know they talk about the lastlaugh. We all get that last laugh.
And people tell you that you can'tdo something that's impossible, undoable or
unthinkable. And in the end,when you do it, you get the
list. So it's pretty cool.Well, I appreciate the time. I'll
make sure to share all the linksso people can I hope. So Pete,
I'll get him out there, andthis has been a ball man.

(01:01:10):
It's great to see. It's great. It was great to see you out
there in Vegas. And it's evengreat to hang with you now if you
if you, if you have anyspare time in l A, I'll drive
you around. All right, let'sgo. Yeah, Well, we'll get
Marchiardi. My he's out there.Marchiard and Gordon Gray that I mean,
and and Ken Mott. They arethe producers of a movie. I still

(01:01:30):
connect with them. I was Ishould send you this great picture I took
with march Giardi that we did whenI was out there about a year ago.
And in the background the guy havein this background here in my background
are all the pictures that he's produced, all the sports. Wow. Well,
I mean you're talking miracle, Ohyeah, miracle Rookie, the new

(01:01:51):
guy. Uh, you know,you know the one out there all the
men on the dog and he's gothe's got a couple, he's got a
couple out there, but Secretariat anduh oh yeah, not to mention one
of my favorite movies, Invincible.Invincible. Well yeah that that that must
be a cool, cool setup he'sgot there. Yeah, it's it's pretty

(01:02:13):
cool. There it is. Nowthere you go Invincible. So Greg Knear,
Elizabeth Banks, I mean, sorryabout that book, but yeah,
they they did a great job.And I'm still in touch with them all.
So they say that's rare, andI'm good. You know, I'm
good buddies with Rudy. You know, we've connected. I do a lot
of card shows. I'll be outthere in Memphis, I mean in Nashville
doing doing some stuff. But youknow, it's it's pretty cool, and

(01:02:37):
you know, there's you know,there's another guy, great guy, Rudy,
great story, Daniel Rudiger. Yeah. Yeah, Mark and I are
still tight. We text all thetime. He loves my children. Well
in Vegas, now you should haveI wonder if he was Yeah, well
we tried. I had such aI had such a busy schedule and he
had a crazy schedule. Uh therehe was going to be at one place
and they were they already said therewas going to be five to ten thousand

(01:02:58):
people there. You know what,when he got down here, he came
to Rockos, Tacos and Del Rey, which is thirty miles south here.
It was great enough because as soonas he saw Gianet, my wife's Joanny,
he says, oh my god,my family's here. You know what,
Gabrielle, you know, Vinnie,Yeah, yeah, but Janet my
families are pretty cool. That's verycool. Well, I appreciate the time,

(01:03:21):
and yeah, I appreciate you,Pete. This has been awesome,
man, I appreciate it a lot. Thank good luck to your and your
children and your kids and your family. So appreciate it. Enjoy the next
few weeks. I will. Iwill absolutely happy Easter everybody. Yeah,
like you said, thanks Vincey Budd