Andy Frasco's World Saving Podcast - EP 121: Ricky Williams

Episode Date: April 20, 2021

Andy gets a friendly reality check-in from his loving manager. And guess what? HAPPY 420 you beautiful listener, you. Listen in on the Interview Hour this week cuz we have a truly fascinating individual: Heisman winning pro-football player turned mental health pioneer, Ricky Williams! Listen in as Andy turns from a big ol' fan to a colossal fan, in real time. Dolav has big news to share with the world. And we got Chad Cocuzza to help close us out. This is EP 121. Follow us on Instagram @worldsavingpodcast For more information on Andy Frasco, the band and/or the blog, go to: AndyFrasco.com Check out Andy's new album, "Keep On Keepin' On" on iTunes Spotify  Find out more about the legend: rickywilliams.life And check out www.thehighsman.com Produced by Andy Frasco Joe Angelhow Chris Lorentz Audio mix by Chris Lorentz Featuring: Brian Schwartz  Ahri Findling Dolav Cohen Arno Bakker

I heard you're coming back to Charleston in a week. Whenever you get here, I got you on whatever you need. Literally anything. Even that thing from last time. I talked to my guy. We figured it out. Just use the password. Come along.

So anyways, man, excited to see you. Be at least a week-long vendor this time if not more let's get it see you soon hey Schwartz it's Monday and you know what that means it means that Frasco is difficult he's he's thinking about himself before his career before his band before the people around him before everybody who scrambles to try to get guests for him, everyone who tries to schedule these things. It's all about Andy and Andy's schedule. Let me tell you something, Andy.

Life is not a fucking beach. And Charleston, while it's on the beach, is not where you live. You shouldn't be on a plane going to Charleston. You should be trying to relax for once maybe and getting rest. You know, we hear last week we have a big guest coming on the podcast, and you gave us the okay to schedule Thursday afternoon. Today, all of a sudden, when we ask you what time, if it works, you're like, no, that doesn't work for me.

You know why? Because you're in Charleston, and you're on East Coast time now. And at 6 o'clock, what do you have to do on Thursday? Tell me what you have to do that you can't do this interview. Is it drinking? Is it, does it get in the way of smoking weed? And you don't, I don't know what's going on. So look, get your shit together and look up John Worcester while you're at it. Before you dismiss shit, why don't you find out who John Worcester is and why he's so fucking amazing. Talk to you soon. who John Worcester is and why he's so fucking amazing.

Talk to you soon. All right. And we're back. Andy Frasco's World Saving Podcast presented by Repsy. I'm Andy Frasco. How we doing? How's our heads? How's our minds?

Are we getting ready for summer? Are we getting our working out? Are we eating right? You know, hot bod season is coming. Do I have to put on the music? Summer's coming, y'all. First time out of the house in maybe a year. It's time to feel good. It's time to feel fucking great, actually. Oh man, I just got back from tour. I am, I'm feeling good. I'm feeling energized, man. It's amazing. Um, when you get to back doing what you love and are excited again, it just really energizes you. And it was nice to be on the road for a week. All the shows were fucking awesome. Swanee was dope.

Fayetteville was unbelievable. I haven't been back in four years. I just played everything. Played for two and a half hours straight. I'm like, fuck it. I'm giving. Because that was like the first venue and the first real fan base we ever had.

That was the first time we ever drew like 500, 700 people in a town that wasn't the fucking, you know, Chili Fest or the fucking, you know, the fair gig or like the Thursday free show they do at the park. And it was cool to get back there and see all my old fans and sing along and have them still come out to the shows and said that they'd been watching me for four years and they're proud. It was just, it was really nice. So shout out to Fayetteville. I'm doing some work there. Let's go. Oh man. But going back to venues, man, it reminds me of the times when I

was booking bands and shit and I was booking myself and I'm so happy that Repsy is presenting the podcast. I mean, you know, before I used to say it was like basically an agency, like basically a new agent for bands, but it's not really that, actually. You know, I'd call it more of a partnership. You know, in reality, the function is very similar, but it also acts as an event producer for larger agencies. So if you want to get your band out there, it's a win-win situation. It's non-exclusive. You don't require long-term

contracts with Repsy. If you don't have an agent, it's 10%. That's it. I'm paying 15 for my manager and 10 for my agent. That's 25%. So it's cheaper on that end. And if you do have an agent, Repsy will handle your private and small club slash bar bookings for free. So it's a win-win. I mean, might as well put your band out there and see if you get some gigs. A lot of people in our market are charging 30% to 50% to these artists, and Repsy offers a significantly better deal for the same gig.

And they also don't dictate how artists operate. You could do your own thing. You want the gig, you want to play in, um, whatever shows you get from Repsy, you can or not. It's just another outlet to get your band out there. Um, I wish I had it when I was in, when I was booking my band. Um, Repsy is never going to force someone to raise their prices or dictate how you do business. So you fucking own this shit. You are the manager. You're saving 15% and you got guys working for you.

So if you're in a band, this is a win-win situation. So go sign up for Repsy at Repsy.com. Yeah, going back to these small venues. I mean, they're hurting. And it's nice that these venues are coming back and booking shows and we're trying, and it was super safe and we're trying to keep it rocking and we want summer to happen. So stay safe out there. Um, be considerate and, uh, keep rocking the mask and, you know, do the thing so we can get out there and do the shows the way we're supposed to

and the way you should deserve to see the shows. So go out there. Speaking of shows, I'm headlining Red Rocks May 27th with Keller Williams, John Craigie. I got to pick this lineup. I'm so fucking excited. And then our pal Kyle Ayers is hosting it. He's going to be doing some comedy. Go grab some tickets. I think we're three, four sold out. So let's

sell it out. This is the biggest show I've ever, ticketed show I've ever had to sell. With Keller on it, it's nice and it helps. But let's sell this baby out. Let's show, prove people wrong that we are a real fucking band. Let's go. Let's go, baby. We Let's show, prove people wrong that we are a real fucking band. Let's go.

Let's go, baby. We're moving up in the world. I love it. I love it. And the shit shows back too, ladies and gentlemen. This Thursday, we have Donovan Frankenreiter on the show. Vince Herman and I take mushrooms and do a cooking show called The Psychedelic Chef.

It is fucking, oh my God. He brought the strangest shit. And it's such a good, it's such a good bit. I love it. I think you're going to, I haven't seen the edit yet. Jameson's still working on it, but it's, when we filmed it, I was crying laughing. And we were so high.

We ate like eighth of mushrooms and tried to cook them. I'm not going to tell you the surprise, but head over there Thursday. Then we have John Craigie. Got to have my boy John on the show. Then our musical guests talk. Come out there this Thursday. Nocapshows.com. It's free.

If you haven't watched the shit show yet, there's like eight episodes now. If you're a person who likes to binge like me, I like to wait till the season's over and then I'll just binge that motherfucker. It's such a fun show. Shit show I'm really proud of. It's been getting some great buzz and stuff.

And we got some June dates as well. Those are almost sold out. If you are in the Midwest area, you should hop on those because they are almost sold out. If you are in the Midwest area, you should hop on those because they are almost sold out. Wichita Falls, June 15th. Oklahoma City is very old, like 10 tickets or 15 tickets left for that. Kansas City on the 17th.

Cedar Rapids on the 18th. Omaha, Nebraska still has a lot of tickets, so go out there. Come on, Omaha. Let's go see Frasco live. Then we're playing in a suburb in Chicago on the 22nd. Aurora, Illinois, 23, St. Louis, Missouri, 24th. We're going back to Indianapolis, home of Nick Gerlach, the legend. And then 25th and 26th in Columbus are sold out.

And Kansas City is almost sold out. So go grab your tickets. The band's kicking ass. We are rocking. And it's sounding tickets. The band's kicking ass. We fucking, we are rocking. And it's sounding good and we're playing everything. We're changing set lists and it feels good to change it up and mix it up. Oh, man. I'm on my way to Charleston.

Hopefully I can get Chad Cacusa from Spoon Fed Tribe. He's staying at my house. We're going on vacation. We leave for Charleston tomorrow. And maybe I get him to close the show with me. Because this is 420. Weed, baby. That's And maybe I get him to close the show with me. Because this is 420. Weed, baby. That's why we have Ricky Williams on the fucking show.

Dude, this is crazy. This is like full parallel. Ricky Williams was my favorite running back when I was a kid. When he was in Texas, when he won the Heisman Trophy. And then he went to the Miami Dolphins. Got caught up. They kind of based him as a villain, like, because he smokes weed,

failed a couple drug tests. And then he's like, fuck it, I'm out. I'm going to take a year off. He went on a year off and started learning yoga, started learning about plants. This interview is so fucking good. And now he's an advocate for, I mean, he was mental health. The whole thing with football players, like showing their emotions is,

it's like non-existent because they're supposed to be trained as warriors. And he talks about that and how he went through that and how he had bail out of that because he was, he has anxiety like us, like me, like a lot of people. And it's hard to be the best athlete in the world when you have social anxiety. So the fact that, oh my God, this conversation is amazing. And he's a weed advocate. He has a company called Heisman.

And it's such a great, and I can't wait because it was the perfect 420 guest because he's all about the granja he's all about um figuring out how to keep your mind right how to be the person you are you know he talks about that a lot where excuse me where he wasn't being himself as a football player and he was also he also people don't recognize that he was a professional. He got drafted to the MLB, Major League Baseball, out of high school to the Phillies.

And he didn't feel like that was the person he was as an athlete. And he went to India and he went to fucking everywhere to go find himself. And it's such a fascinating story of what it takes and what some people are willing to do to be the most genuine person to themselves. Because at the end of the day, that's all we got. We got to be happy with ourselves. Because if we're not happy with ourselves,

we're not going to be happy with anything else that happens in our life. Even the guy who won the fucking Heisman Trophy and got a big-ass rookie deal with the Dolphins. If he wasn't happy with himself, he wouldn't have had these ideas and had these movements to leave and focus on himself,

and now he's so much happier. We could have that same philosophy. Don't give focus on himself. And now he's so much happier. We could have that same philosophy. Don't give up on yourself. Don't try to be somebody that someone else wants you to be. Because at the end of the day, they're going to keep wanting you to be that person. truly how do I say this truly not spiritual but if we can try to be the most authentic

person to ourselves then we're gonna be happy then we're gonna have less guilt that I should have done this cause we are doing it cause that's exactly who we want to be. So go out there and fucking be exactly who you want to be.

And go listen to Ricky Williams find himself on this podcast. It is amazing. So hopefully I'll get Chad on the tail end. But you guys have a great day. Have a great week. It's 420. Fucking light it up.

All week. Shout out to everyone who's been doing the dance party. We had 600,000 people. Fucking insane. We got fucking 13-year-old kids dancing to 80s music. My job is done here. Fuck yes. Yeah, so we got a lot of things going on and

I hope you enjoy it and I hope you enjoy life because life is short. It was nice to get back on the road and nice to feel a little bit of normalcy Of what makes me happy And I hope you find the same Because you deserve it too

Alright guys, I'll catch you on the tail end Enjoy Ricky Williams Alright, next up on the interview hour We have Ricky Williams The pro football player. This guy's a bad motherfucker, dude. This guy was one of my favorite running backs. Hey, Chris, play some 420 friendly music while I'm pimping out the Heisman Trophy winner. He's a weed advocate, mental health advocate. I mean, he won the Heisman. He led the NFL

rushing in 2002. Took a year off. Found himself. Went back into the NFL. Started kicking ass again. And through all this, he was experiencing just mental health issues. With social anxiety. Trying to find himself. And through this, he gave up football.

And started really diving into being a weed advocate and figuring out how to get your mental health right. And through that, he found himself and he has a company called Heisman. And he has an online dating website that is based on your horoscope. This guy's doing great things. His story is unbelievable. We get deep in this one. He's this is this has been doing great things. His story is unbelievable. We get deep in this one. This has been a great interview.

So I hope you enjoy Ricky Williams. And I'll catch you on Taylor. What's up, Ricky? Oh, I'm just hanging out. Where are you at? I live in Venice. I'm in Venice Beach right now. How is it over there?

It is beautiful. We've got a nice breeze. It's starting to get busy again. I've noticed the past couple of weeks. It's like people are hitting the beaches hard. That's great. How was your quarantine? No, the truth is not much changed for me. You know, my wife and I are kind of homebodies and we just, you know, and we've been working on a couple of businesses. So it was almost perfect for us. You know, we got to get in the bunker and really take advantage of the free time and focus on some important projects. What projects are you working on? So we're launching two businesses, actually. One of them, we're launching on 420 called The Heisman.

And it's a cannabis lifestyle brand that really is combining cannabis and sports for the first time. Things that have been separated for so long. And the other project is a passion project. And I feel like really is my life's work. And it's a relationship app that uses astrology to help people understand themselves and understand the people in their lives better. What have you learned about yourself through the last 10 years of your life? Everything. I mean, you know, of course, there's much more to learn about myself. But I think the first thing I learned is that there's a process of becoming

yourself, you know, and I think, you know, realizing the trajectory of being, becoming an adult, you know, as we started out in a family who had certain ideas about who we were supposed to be and what we were supposed to be. And we're growing up in a culture that has ideas about who we're supposed to be and what we're supposed to be and how do we do all of that and become actually who we're supposed to be you know was there pressure as a kid to like not pressure but like kind of like this counter push and pull of what people wanted you to be versus what you wanted to be well i think everyone experiences that i mean the the fact that when we're growing up we have no idea we have no idea what's even going on and we're growing up, we have no idea. We have no idea what's even going on. And we're picking up cues about what's going on and how to function in the world from the people around us. It's a learning process. They call it enculturation. But part of the individuation

process is kind of, you know, freeing ourselves from the, you know, the toxic conditioning and, you know, taking on perspectives that are, that help life be more enjoyable. Life is tough enough as it is when you're holding your parents' rigid views about things that have no relevance in the current atmosphere. It just makes it worse. Yeah, and do you ever go back to thinking, even as a grown man, sometimes you'll think about something like how you used to thought of it because of the imprisonment of the idea that our parents still hold on. Well, my mom's visiting.

And so, yeah, I've been doing that all week. So tell me the difference between Ricky as, you know, trying to be a professional athlete hanging out with mom versus Ricky being a professional. I call you like a mental health advisor. Like you're really becoming one. That's exactly what it is. I've become my mom's mental health advisor. And, you know, when I was playing football, I was wrestling with my own mental health stuff, you know. When I was playing football, I was wrestling with my own mental health stuff.

And the fact that I wrestled with it and came to terms with it, a lot of it had to do with my relationship with my mom. And so as I've been able to heal from her parenting, and we all have to heal from our parents' parenting. But as I've been able to heal from her parenting, I'm hoping to help her heal from parenting. heal from her parenting. I'm hoping to help her heal from, you know, parenting. Because, you know, parenting is rough, you know, and you're, you know, you're going to mess up and you're, you know, you're going to see the results when you hurt the people that you care about and you love the most. And that's, that's rough. You know, mom guilt is real. I know. Like, when did you know you were a really good athlete? I knew I was a really good athlete in kindergarten. It was early. I had a kindergarten teacher and she said, every day we're going to run two laps around this field.

And I remember the first day I was like, what? This big field? But after the second day, a thought popped into my mind of, I wonder if I could be the first one, you know, if I could finish first today. And I dusted everyone. And then for the next, you know, 20 years, that's what I did. You started dusting everybody. Exactly, exactly.

What's the difference? You had young parents, right? Yeah, my parents were 19 and 20 when I was born So what was like Do you remember like How they raised you And like being so young It's kind of like this idea of like

Going to your parents' mind Like I'm still a kid And I still have my own things But fuck, I gotta raise this amazing athlete Like Yeah, well, you know, it's, it's connected, you know, cause you know, my mom, my mom's an Aries and so she's, she's a fiery competitive person. And, you know, compared to my friends, yeah, they would say it was a tough

upbringing, but she, she trained me to be a warrior. You know, that was, that was the kind of mom that I had. And, and it was, it was great. And then she was a young mom and I had to be tough. I had to be independent. I was doing my own laundry when I was six years old. It was real. And it helped me be able to deal with adversity of being a professional athlete, of being an activist, of being someone ahead of their time. These are all things that require a certain level of courage and fierceness. And I think my mom prepared me for that.

Do you feel like you're always misunderstood? I did until I realized that, you know, how can I expect anyone to understand me? I'm a unique person, you know? And so I stopped expecting people to understand me. And since doing that, I find that people understand me a lot more. Yeah. Isn't it amazing when we stop thinking that we have to form into this person everyone else wants us to be? I wish we learned that younger in our life so we didn't have so much anxiety. Did you always have anxiety growing up? I was always socially anxious, but to me, we are afraid of anxiety and we make it this negative thing. But truly, it comes from sensitivity, you know.

And I think if we're taught at a younger age how to handle sensitivity, it won't have to manifest as this negative thing we call anxiety. You know, for me, it was really social anxiety. And if I think about social, right, that's the people we're hanging around and anxiety. And if I think about social, that's the people we're hanging around in anxiety. And finally, I realized it's just information that these people I'm around, I don't have much in common with. Maybe it's a good idea to go find other people that I have something more in common with. And when I did that, the anxiety magically disappeared. Yeah. And it's amazing. You go to a town like you lived in Austin, where you're the fucking rock star of Austin with this social anxiety. That must've been tough, like getting famous with this social anxiety. No, it wasn't, it wasn't bad in Austin because in college you arrived to college and

you're still a kid. And so, you know, part of the whole sensitivity story is it's comfortable to be sensitive around people who care about you, right? That's a safe place to be sensitive. Right. And again, I got to college and there was this it was a family environment so I could be myself. And so even when I was winning the Heisman Trophy, I was still that kid that got here at 18. They saw me grow up. But when I went to the NFL and there wasn't that kind of connection and people just projected all this stuff onto me, it was too much. That was that was didn't feel comfortable because they didn't really know me they it was just this idea of who who they thought I would who they thought I should be but it was so far from who I was that it was just too uncomfortable for me what projections did they have of you when you got into the NFL well just the idea that football players are these big tough guys and they're

supposed to be extroverted in a certain way. And, you know, beyond anxiety, I'm always going to be an introverted guy. I'm just a deep, thoughtful guy. And, you know, and typically, you know, if you just go blurting out your deep thoughts, right, especially nowadays, cancel culture, you're out of here. I know. Right?

And so when you're in the public spotlight and you want to live a life where you're out of here. Right. And so when you're, when you're in the public spotlight and you want to live a life where you're authentic and you're being honest, it's tricky. You know, that's a, it's a tricky road to walk. Where did, uh, when did, when was the worst experience that your anxiety took over you? Was it a game? Was it a press conference? Like, do you remember the moment that you were just really having a hard time with it i don't you know my nature is that i'm a worrier and so there was anxiety but my my natural response is to is to resist and to fight and to try to move past it and so the nature of intensity it's almost as if the more intense it is the better you know and so i i don't really classify things as better or worse

because it's always like bring it on yeah i don't i don't justify something being intense or a lot as being a negative thing no that makes sense i mean like when did you understand that therapy because i feel like there's a stigma in early 2000s and early in the 90s that, you know, they didn't really have this idea of mental health and understanding that our brain needs nutrients just like our body does. Like, did you ever go through therapy when you're a professional or? Yeah. I mean, you know, one day I was just doing some, you know, self-reflection. And as I was self-reflecting, I realized that, you know, the majority of the relationships in my life were shitty.

And so, you know, I started, you know, dog cussing all my friends because they were bad friends. Then I was like, wait a minute, the common denominator here is me. And so I realized, okay, I need to work on myself. And so I called up a family friend and I said, I realized I want to do some work on myself. Do you have any recommendations of someone I can talk to? And so as soon as I started talking to someone and just, you know, I realized that one of the biggest issues in my life is I didn't have anyone to talk to about these things. And so just that, just the nature of being able to, because, you know,

you have, we have all these things going on in our head. And if we don't find a safe enough place to express them, then they stay stuck in our head. But, you know, it's like when you when you're with a friend, you really trust and you start talking through an issue. Sometimes just talking it out and seeing the words and hearing yourself say it. The clarity comes right away. And so, you know, and, you know, people make it a stupid stigma, like there's something wrong with you. To me, if you don't have someone you can talk to, then there's something wrong with you. Yeah. Where do you think that is? Do you think, were you afraid to get close with people?

No, it was, it was the same thing as if I would try to get close to people, I was such a famous person. No one could really see who I was, you know, the money and the fame and all that stuff. It speaks so loudly. It like blinds people to that. There's a human being underneath in you. Yeah, man. And almost like, and in that position, almost like the more vulnerability I would show, it was, it was, it was interpreted as a negative thing. And so that's why I'm saying I'm a sensitive guy, sensitive guys, you know, NFL, probably not the best place to be. Right. And it just took me a while of, of weeding through the, all the conditioning that that's what I was supposed to doing to realize that I'm a healer. You know, as soon as I realized that

I started moving in that direction and my life became so much more enjoyable and the anxiety, like I said, it disappeared. And so if we can listen to our anxiety instead of fighting it, it disappeared and so if we can listen to our anxiety instead of fighting it you know uh it's probably a better solution no i totally agree i mean how did you pick between like wanting to play professional football and picking to play professional baseball i mean that's got to be a mental challenge i was just i was just better i was just better. I was just better at football. It was, it was better at football. And it was, I was just better.

And the momentum of life, it was just pushing me in that direction. You know, if, if I could, if I could go back and do it again, I wouldn't have chosen, chosen either.

You know, I would have said, wow, I've been busting my ass for the past, you know, whatever year to, to, to become the best college football running back ever to play the game.

And I would have, you know, I would have taken the victory lap. You know, I would have spent a year traveling. I mean, I eventually did it several years later. But, you know, I just kind of went with the flow and said, OK, the next logical step is to go into the NFL. But, you know, I'm an adventurer. And I think if I would have given myself some time to explore and get to know who I was, I think I would have entered the NFL as a healthier person. Why do you think people are afraid that if they take a year off, they're going to be forgotten?

Because the nature of our culture and capitalism is that our only value is that we're productive in some kind of way that generates income. And so I think we have, it's kind of a taboo around taking a vacation, taking a break. I think even this idea of the stigma around altered states and cannabis is in its healthiest, in my opinion, in its healthiest, highest potential, this is what cannabis is. It's a way to help us escape for a minute, you know, highest potential, this is what cannabis is. It's a way to help us escape for a minute, let go, you know, reflect so that when life comes up again, you know, we're ready to deal with it. And I think life has to have this balance of on and off. We see it in nature,

right? If it was daytime all the time, we would go crazy. We need the daytime to act. We need the nighttime to reflect, recharge so that we can get up and do it again. And I think this kind of yin- another. Because in our capitalist culture, right, it's about being productive. And if you see the change lately, it's because people have realized, you know, you can't just work people to death, right? And so to make people more efficient in their work, right, companies are bringing in, you know, wellness consultants, right? And we're starting to realize is that we need balance. We need balance. Yeah. And like, you know, going back to you being And we're starting to realize is that we need balance. We need balance. Yeah. And like, you know, going back to you being a visionary, because you totally were, I mean, the whole thing that happened during your professional years about with the

weed and stuff and you knew the medicine in it. On some, on some level, it wasn't conscious deep down inside. I knew the medicine. I mean, you know, but but it was I had to go on some kind of adventure to be able to find the right people and books that, you know, we talked about cannabis. And I was and I saw, OK, I knew I was on to something. But now I realize there's this long, rich history of this as actually a very healing substance and even more so as a substance that people have used to connect to spiritual realms, you know, to connect to the deeper parts of themselves. And that was my deepest experience in my sessions, you know, when I lived in Miami playing for the Dolphins after practice, right? That I'd go home and I'd smoke a little bit and I could see the big picture. I didn't get caught up in this identity of only being a football player. I saw that, wow, life is this

amazing opportunity to grow and to expand. And I could see that me being a football player was not adding to my life. It was destroying my life. And that gave me the courage to walk away and find out more about the other parts of myself. Was that the hardest part, leaving something you're so good at? That was, it was.

Part of it is that it was that I was so good at it, but everything in my life, right? And I had I was so good at it, but everything in my life. Right. And I had lived a very rich life and pretty much everything in my life had somehow been attached to me being a football player. And so that moment of giving all of that up, it was scary. But at the same time, as soon as I did it, there's this huge weight lifted off my shoulders. And I felt for the first time a real sense of freedom. Yeah. I mean, it's kind of like the same as when people finally come out, you know? Yes.

With whatever sexuality they are, who are afraid to come out because of the institution we learned from our parents or our, you know, it's pretty heavy like that. So like when you decided to take this sabbatical, who was the, what, do you remember the first moment? Like who was your first mentor? Like when you're out there, like when you're like, just like, I'm getting the fuck out of the NFL, where'd you go? And who was the first person that really taught you like life? What a great question. So it was this, it was this guy named Steven. Okay. It was a guy a guy named steven and uh and i met him so uh soon as i retired i had a good friend of mine and she said you know i'm traveling to samoa um would you like to come and i was like i'm not doing anything you know it's kind of it's kind of

hot around here you know people are kind of pissed so i was like sure and so you know we went to samoa and then we went to fiji and i was so close to australia a place i'd been before and kept telling myself i wanted to go back so i hopped over to australia and i went to the small town on the east coast of australia called byron bay um and it was a hip this hippie town and i didn't know i just had been there before and just something about it i wanted to go back and so the first day I was there, I was walking along the beach and this guy, this older, he's probably in his 50s, he's a homeless guy. He said, hey, and I looked back and the white guy, he had dreads and he was wearing this bright Bob Marley shirt. And I promise you, if he didn't have dreads, if he wasn't wearing a Bob Marley shirt,

I would have just kept on walking. But I thought this is strange, you know. And so I went and we started talking and I ended up, you know, spending the next two months, you know, spending every day with Stephen. And he was a gardener, you know, and he just was really close to the earth and he knew the plants and he just was so connected to the land that he really was a mentor and really reconnecting me, you know, to in a sense to, to my roots, to the, to the land. And I started to change the way I, I, I eat. I became a vegetarian. It just, it really gave me a different way to, to look at the world. And I, I came back a much more grounded spiritual person because of the influence that Steve had on me. And I was talking about,

you know, cannabis and this guy, he lived he lived he was homeless he lived in a swamp um and he had a garden out there and he grew the most he grew the sweetest like most amazing cannabis in the world where when you when you saw it and you smelled it and you consumed it like there was no way to think that this thing is a bad thing you know and especially the way he talked about his the plants and the earth it was it was an amazing experience that really reconnected me to something deep inside of myself yeah do you feel like you lost your roots before that you don't feel like you're grounded well well you know i think when we say roots you know we we mean different things and i think in my culture i mean all of us have lost our roots.

It's just the nature of the story. And I don't mean it as like, it's a negative thing. It's part of the story, right? The idea of you lose your roots and then it's the journey to reconnect with them, right? Because roots are important, but there's certain things that roots take away from us, right? If we're too connected to where we come from, we don't have new experiences that help us grow. So sometimes we have to separate from home and our roots and then come back more fulfilled. And I can keep on going. But yes, I think. No, keep on going.

I love this. I think all African-Americans who were born here are to some level disconnected from our roots, even if it's, you know, realizing our culture is more earth-based culture, you know, where for us herbalism, treating, you know, treating illness with herbs is more natural. It's closer to us than pharmaceuticals. And so, you know, I think there's a whole lot of ways that we're disconnected from our roots. And I think, you know, part of our journey is finding a way to reconnect to them. Yeah, totally. This philosophy that you have about the culture, when did you start understanding that that was the idea?

Were you younger when you realized that? It was during this whole time. And I think we all have certain opportunities in life where the universe is trying to wake us up you know i think of the matrix you know and and i think you know that that moment i picked up the phone and called the nfl and said i'm done you know that was my blue and red pill moment yeah and i think it's true like once you make that step and cross over and you give up you know trying to meet this dream it's like your eyes are open and you see things differently and i think that was the beginning of that process was when i let go of the dream you know, trying to meet this dream, it's like your eyes are open and you see things differently.

And I think that was the beginning of that process was when I let go of the dream, I started to be able to see reality. Then was during this whole awakening, is this when you started looking towards the stars? This is when I, and you know, the way it works is I had this opening in this curiosity of, okay, I'm on this path, but I need some tools. And that's when I met my teacher, Swami Sita, and she introduced me to the stars and it blew my mind.

It was like, this is exactly what I've been looking for. I mean, it took another 16 or 17 years before I could really start to encode the language and use it to help myself and help other people. But I recognized that there was some magic and there was some, you know, I do consider myself a visionary. And what I mean by that is I've learned to not to disconnect myself from the matrix. And so I can see things that people that are connected to the matrix can't see. And I think it's all of our destiny to become less attached to the matrix. And so in that sense, I manifest as a futurist, but we're all getting there, right? We're all moving to a place where we can start to think for ourselves. And I think for me, the tool that's helped me facilitate that process

has been astrology because it's essentially a personal religion. It's saying, what is your unique path, right? What is your unique path in life? And it gives you clues on how to honor that. You just said so much here that I'm digesting. Okay, so de-attaching from the matrix. What was the first thing your teacher taught you that you really connected with that made you open to start discussing this more and deeper into thought? Okay, so at this point, when I meet my teacher,

I've given up everything that's important to me. And I've been on my own in the wilderness. Okay? Literally. Literally in the wilderness. Were you taking ayahuasca or anything or any of that stuff? I wasn't. Not yet.

I was starting to meditate. I was starting to meditate, which is a similar experience. So I was starting to meditate consciously and connect to deeper you know, deeper parts of myself. And, and so, you know, coming to terms with things, I was willing to be honest with myself. And so interestingly, what she pointed out was how much of my life I had created as a, as, as a pile of shit, you know, is, is literally, as we talked, I realized how I had just created so much tension and stress in my life. And it wasn't even that. It was that I was unaware of it. Because when she said it, you know, it was like, duh. Right. But it was it was a it was a wake up moment where I realized, OK, I have been doing this.

Now I can do something different and so it was this cross roads where i realized you know like that the main cause of my suffering has been the lack of self-knowledge right and that astrology could give me access to the self-knowledge because as soon as i realized that i was creating my life as a stress that's so stressful i could do something about it but if i wasn't aware of it, I just would keep on running. Yeah. Did you love yourself when you were younger? Uh, well, you know, I think we're taught to love ourselves by our parents, you know, and if our parents don't love themselves, then, you know,

we're kind of stuck. And my mom had a rough upbringing, so I did the best I could, you know, and I think that's where, that's where sports came, you know, because, you know, there's there's two kinds of love. You know, there's the foundational love that I think we need to feel safe to go and pursue a higher vibration of love. And I think, you know, because my mom had a tough upbringing, but I had wonderful grandparents. So there was enough there was enough love where I could love myself to recognize that I had a talent and devote myself to developing that talent. And so, you know, maybe not in a conventional way, but I love myself enough to become the best possible version of myself. And I think that's really the gift that I think my mom gave me is that she was a fighter.

And so I learned that regardless, you know, just keep fighting. Oh, my God. What about your, you have a twin sister, right? I have a twin sister, yeah. Okay, so what's your relationship with her? Yeah, so she was here yesterday. We're extremely close. You know, she's one of my favorite people in the whole world.

You know, it's something about knowing someone since before you were born. You know, that there's just a really deep connection that we know each other, you know, and we see each other. And there's this place of unconditional love and no judgment. And it's been a gift to me because I've been through some difficult times and I've always known I could reach out to Cass and she would get it. So when you're going through that existential crisis, when you're just getting bailing through the NFL, like what advice should give you? She just said, Rick, you know, she just reminded me this is who I've always been, you know, and it's and it's those people. It's those people that you've known for a long time that, you know, when we get a big head, right, they still see you.

And it was just that moment of like, this is who you always are. You know, you've always been, you know, love freedom. Like she said, go, go for it. Yeah. That's fucking coming from her. It is halftime at the Endy Fresco interview hour. Welcome back to review on your host. Ari Finling.

Today is a extra special review. We're reviewing pot for 420. You may know it as marijuana or grass or green or hash or weed or dank or reefer, Mary Jane, chronic nug, butter, flower, skunk, dope, hay, blaze, boom, or rope. There's a lot of different names, but it gets you high, baby. And there are a lot of different uses. Some people use it for anxiety. Other people use it for pain relief. People use it for hunger, for glaucoma. Some a duber and get high. The other thing that I do want to tell you is that while pot is legal in several states, including Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan,

Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, Oregon, South Dakota, Vermont, and Washington, it is illegal federally. What you don't know, and it's super secret, and Daddy figured it out, there is a strain of pot, of THC pot, that is federally legal. It's called Delta-8, and it gets you fucking high and gives Daddy a big old hard-on. So go on your computer, go on your phone, Google Delta-8 THC. You can buy it on the fucking internet and ship it to your goddamn door like a pair of nice new Nikes. So no longer do you have to buy your pot

from a seedy hippie under a bridge. You can buy it on the fucking internet like God intended. So get on your computers, search Delta 8 THC, and smoke a big old fat one. And if it gets you hard, send me a message saying, I smoke a big old fat one. And if it gets you hard, send me a message saying,

I got a big old boner. This has been Review with your host, Ari Finley. You learned all these things during the sabbatical. Why'd you go back to NFL? Well, that's what I learned, you know? That's what I learned. So I came across this term or this idea of Dharma, it's a Sanskrit word and it loosely translated as our purpose in life,

what we're here to do, you know? And, and, you know, what I realized was I'm here to do something and all this, you know, the spiritual awakening and learning and start all this stuff. It's not just for my own personal, like just for fun, you know the spiritual awakening and learning a straw all this stuff it's not just for my own personal like just for fun you know that is for a reason and all the adversity i've that i've been through it's for a reason and then you know i have to go back into the world and face it learn to manage it so i can bring these gifts back and so i i saw the bigger picture and realized this was a sabbatical to prepare me to come back and do it differently, to do it better. You know, it's like the caterpillar that turns into the butterfly.

He doesn't stay in the chrysalis forever. He has to go back out and fly around and, you know, pollinate stuff. Man, you are, you're a hippie. I love this. Okay, so you go back. Tell me about your first game. You know, were you nervous? Like, it must be fucking scary being a running back in the NFL, dude. um okay so you go back tell me about your first game you know were you nervous like were you

like it must be fucking scary being a running back in the nfl dude well i again you know my my whole life has been about facing fears and so scary yes but there's a level of excitement and a potential for for victory you know the agony of defeat hurts right the thrill of victory there's nothing like it and so i you know, I'd live for that. And so, you know, it was tough coming back. You know, it was a rough environment, but Nick Saban was the head coach, and he believed in me, and so that made it so much easier. And so I came back, and the first game was a preseason game,

and it was the Hall of Fame game. I remember we were playing the Bears, and, you know, I was just anxious to get back into the flow and see what it was like, you know, after having a year off. But then because I, it was, there was a suspension attached to me retiring. I had to sit out the first four games of the regular season. And so my first regular season game was in, we played against Tampa in Tampa Bay and, you know, they've always had a good defense and it didn't go well. You know, the game speed, the game was moving so fast. I was still trying to like get back into a groove.

The next week we played Kansas City and it was even worse, you know. And so I got off to a slow start. And what I realized is, you know, before I had my spiritual awakening, I could play off just raw adrenaline. You know, I was tapping into some kind of animal sense. But, you know, I realized after, you know, going through this year off and really connecting to a deeper part of myself, it wasn't just an automatic switch. You know, it's something I had to cultivate. And so it took me a while to get back into the groove. But once I did, you know, I ended the season with back-to-back 100-yard games and, you know, really had a very successful season leading the team to, you know, six straight victories. Let's fucking go. Let's go.

It was a rough start, those first couple of games, getting back into it. But I stuck with it and it turned out to be a really successful season. So how do you connect from changing your mind state to just adrenaline into playing, you know, presently? Well, first it was just realizing the shift, you know, and then, you know, okay. So it was, it wasn't so much about just raw natural ability. It was more about being skillful, you know, in, in realizing how to modulate that, how to modulate that, when to turn it up, when to turn it down. You know, you hear a lot of athletes say it's so hard, you know, to learn to turn it off. Right. You know, we expect to be warriors on the field. And then how do we learn to turn it off?

And that was the process that I think that I was figuring out as a warrior. Right. We have to learn to be courageous and to be passionate and to meet life, you know, to shoot first and ask questions later, right? But we also have to learn how to modulate that, how to turn it up and how to turn it down. And I think I went to the opposite extreme where I was sitting in a cave, you know,

oh, oh, you know, where I went from one end to the other and then when i came back it was about integrating the two and finding that balance is that life though integrating the both sides of you to try to find the heart it is and that that explains that gives meaning to the roller coaster and the up and down experience of life you know it starts off like this but if we stay aware you know it gets the up and down gets less than we find a sweet spot. What about what about like mentors in the NFL? Do you have any guys who thought the same philosophies as you that you were really close with? I didn't. You know, there weren't.

I think there's two. I think there's two reasons. You know, I think one of it is, is I kept at least the first half of my NFL career. I kept the weird or I tried to keep the weird and the different inside. So it didn't, it wasn't too uncomfortable. But what, and so for me, it was about the courage, learning the courage to just be myself and not care so much what people think. And when I did that, it opened everything up where I wasn't the weirdo. It was just, Oh,

that's just Ricky. And once I started to be myself, then I started to attract people that I could connect with. But if I'm, when I was hiding it, no one even knew about it. It just came off. It's just awkwardness. And so as I became more comfortable being myself, I started to attract like-minded guys and it wasn't mentors. Cause at this point I was the mentor in the locker room. So, but there were younger players coming up to me saying, you know, I have this ankle injury and everything I'm doing with the trainer doesn't seem to work, but you seem to like recover so fast. Can you teach me something, you know,

then I'll do a little, you know, body work on them or I'll teach them some yoga postures or teach them some breathing exercises or, you know, do energy healing on them. And so that was cool to be able to, to share my gifts and my talents with my teammates. Go back to this yoga thing. Why did you get into yoga? It was one of those things where when I was traveling around Australia, I met this guy who gave me a book on Ayurveda. And at the time, I didn't know what Ayurveda was, but I started flipping through the book and it just blew my mind at this different way to look at the body. You know, being a professional athlete, I was always thinking about my body and how to get it to function better. In this different perspective, it just

blew my mind. And so when I got back to the States and realized, okay, I got to find a job, what am I going to do? And I started thinking like, what do I want to do? And the thing that kept coming up was this Ayurveda book. And so I decided to become a healer and learn this healing system. And part of the healing system was yoga. And so we had one of the swamis from the ashram come to the school and teach yoga. And I remember after taking my first yoga class, I got up and I went to the teacher and I said, you know, where can I get more of this? This is the most, like, peaceful and relaxed and clear I've ever felt in my whole life. And he said, you know, you can just come down the street. We teach classes every morning.

And so I just got into it and I kept doing it more and more. And the truth was, it reminded me so much of football that I decided, you know, I want to become a teacher. And so I flew to India and I took a yoga teacher's training course and i'm telling you this course was exactly the same schedule the same feel as training camp no shit just but it was just like a spiritual training camp and so i you know every like like in football everyone was always complaining about it was too much work and it was hot and i was loving it and so i i really it really helped me you me approach my spiritual life, my inner life with the same kind of passion and zeal that I approached football.

Tell me about India. What did you learn? Why did you love about it? I mean, I want to go so bad, dude. Dude, it feels like everyone who comes back there understands presenceness more, if that makes sense. Well, it's like everyone who comes back there understands presenceness more, if that makes sense. Well, it's just so different.

It's so different and so extreme that it's impossible, whether you like it or not, it's impossible to spend more than two weeks in India and not come back a changed person. Just the things you see, the things you see, the things you smell, the things you hear, you know, it's, it's, it's, and you know, what, what, what spoke to me is, you know, one of the things that really led me to, to desire more than what football could offer me is I just sense that most of what we experience as life is so superficial, you know,

most of what we experience as life is so superficial, you know, like the music we listen to, you know, even having sex, everything is so like superficial. And I always had this sense that all of these things must have like deeper roots somewhere, you know? And then I remember being in India and I was at the, you know, the basement of like a 2,500 year old temple. Okay. And they're, they're dancing and they're singing right and i'm like okay and i got this sense okay that the root of most of everything we do in the world the root it's it was about us having a deeper connection to ourselves you know and so i felt like it just again it connected me to my roots where i could make the most out of that life became

more meaningful for me because it was connected to something deep inside of me it wasn't just me trying to like a monkey or a puppet trying to to play a role out in the world is this where you met your wife no no i met my wife much later i met my wife at a at a birthday party but like uh do you think you would have met your wife if you didn't know, learn these philosophies and yoga? If I would have met her, I would have found a way to screw it up. Oh, tell me about that. So what do you mean?

Well, you know, I mean, I think a lot of people, right, especially, you know, as you as we get into our 40s, you know, we look back at our relationship lives and we look back and we say, OK, some people were poor choices and then we look at other people probably good choices but we just weren't ready for it you know and and so you know my you know i've been divorced once and and my first wife wonderful woman but we're just we're just too different and like the both of our ideas about relationship that we use to get into the relationship were just so erroneous and bullshit that the relationship couldn't work. But again, I learned a lot. I learned about what I like and what I don't like.

Yeah. And so when I met my – and one of the things for me that I found is important is I need a partner who feels like they can go toe to toe with me. You know, I don't like that, that feeling of, you know, people getting out of the way because I have, you know, because I'm big or because I have a strong opinions or because I have all the money, you know, I want someone who regardless feels like they're my equal. And so, you know, when I met my wife, it was kind of that, like we could go toe to toe intellectually. When I met my wife, it was kind of that. We could go toe-to-toe intellectually. We could have conversations and she could say things to me where I was like, wow, I never thought about it that way. And that we could be honest, right? That we could talk about our past relationships.

We could even talk about our past sexual experiences with other people. And to me, that felt so good. It felt so freeing and that we can be real and so you know and for me that i realize that out the outer looking good on the outside is nice but for me it's got to have like it's got to be real and it's got to be raw and also understanding that's not for everyone there's been times in my relationship with my wife where I've said, I've realized, you know, my demands for authenticity and intensity can be intense. And I understand if it's too much. Just tell me, you know, turn it down or it's too much.

Right. Yeah. And so, you know, again, part of this is self-awareness where learning to be myself, right, to be considerate without having to turn who I am down or turn it off. And that's the balance that I think we're all learning in our intimate relationships. Seems like a lot of the things, transparency is really important to you. It is. It is. Because to me, life is short, right? And if we're going to spend time pretending, what are we doing? What are we doing? Then why'd you go back to the Ravens? What do you mean? Like, didn't you go back to football and then you came back to the Ravens?

Yeah. So to me, being real doesn't mean avoiding life. It means the opposite. It means facing it head on, you know? It's one of the things that, like, you know, one of the things that Jesus said that really stuck in my head as a little kid. He said, it's easy to love the people you like. So he says, if I'm teaching love, I'm not talking about loving the people you already love. That's easy. It's about loving the people you don't. And that's really that balance.

We can't run away from our stuff. Eventually, we have to learn to face it and realize that there's nothing that's bigger than us. There's nothing that can overcome or conquer us. Yeah. God. Ricky, I'm going to clap for you, Ricky. Fucking legend, dog. Come on. No. Okay. I want to talk one more thing about football and this kind of football, and then I want to go into what Rickyicky now um yo what's master p like um he was cool he was really cool you know he's um weren't you like represented by them no sports no limit sports i was yeah they're they're my first football agents um and pp was the founder and the owner of the company and you know i was really impressed and with him as a as an entrepreneur you know he was doing things that no no one else was doing in

the music industry and he had and he had built a family and you know one of the things always been important to me is family and so you know as i'm thinking about signing with an agent you know kind of the traditional conventional like slick, slick back kind of agents. It just didn't feel real, you know? And there was something about P where it was real, you know? When we weren't doing agent stuff, we were hanging out playing basketball, you know? It was like family. I was in the studio listening to them make music.

And that felt good to me. Getting in, like, seeing, like, kind of inside the doors of the music, because I'm in the music industry, that's what I do, I'm a musician. And do you see any parallels between professional sports and professional musicians? Well, you know, I think there's parallels, and

I think the music industry has actually been able to, like, grow out of and evolve more than we have. But, you know, this movement of musicians owning evolve more than we have but you know this movement of musicians owning more of their of their own music you know and being you know being more free of the of the record company of the industry but i you know i think in football one because you know the league sets the table and or you know that we're kind of beholden to the league that pays us. And so although it's our intellectual property, it's our talent, it's our skill, it's restricted and confined by the powers that be.

And so I think this idea of, again, I come back to capitalism, where you have the managers or the bosses or the owners, and then have the workers or the talent, you know, and it's this uneven relationship. And, you know, this is what I love about P is he was the talent and he was there was ownership. And so and I think we see it now where everyone's an entrepreneur. But I think there's something about that where we can benefit from our own talents and our own abilities, and we can join together as a group where it's not about control, it's about what can we create together that's bigger and better. Yeah, that's the one thing. We could talk so much bad about social media, but at least the good thing is it makes us individual properties, you know in a sense yes and that i mean

for sure that's got to help right yeah i mean anything that's new right is going to be immature right when we were one right we were trying to walk and we couldn't even figure that out we couldn't even figure that out and so you know this it's new right and so yeah there's we're working we're working the kinks out, you know? And I think as things keep moving, I think we're going to do better. We're going to find ways to use social media to create more connection and not so much alienation. I think, you know, it's unfortunate. And I have a 21-year-old daughter and I have a 14-year-old daughter.

And, you know, the kind of social media like games that you know that that young people can play that alienate people you know i think we'll outgrow that but i yeah i think social media has tons of potential to help like-minded individuals find each other and connect that's awesome i mean is that did that help you social media help you kind of get out your companies a little better you know as like let's talk about let's talk about your cannabis company well of course i mean of course um you know social media helps helps you get the word out you know and you know the nature of the way i do things is i like to disrupt and so um you know thinking about innovative and different ways to utilize social media, you know, and also, you know, doing something to change the culture, you know, to change the culture of social media. Because, again, you know, life is tough.

And the more we can realize that, the more we can stick together and take care of each other, you know, the ride is much more enjoyable, I think the better off we're going to be. And so we're really focused on using it to create community, you know, and to create a culture. You know, the Heisman brand is the lifestyle brand, you know, and I'm the founder and it really is roughly built off my lifestyle, right? And it's really about empowering people to be themselves and to trust themselves, even if the world says something is bad or something is wrong.

If you trust yourself, that's how you truly become a high school. And that's beautiful, man. So what are you doing to help disrupt the athletic awareness of cannabis? Well, the first thing and the easiest thing, and I think it's really the trick to being a disruptor is I'm being myself.

You know? Right? Like when I'm, you know, now, before, you know, if I was doing a if I was doing a Zoom call or I was meeting someone, you know, I'd go and I'd get the Visine and I'd put the Visine in my eyes and I'd, you know, change my shirt and make sure, okay, no one can tell I just smoked.

Just kind of buying into the stigma like I'm doing something wrong. And so I just started being myself. I just started being more myself. And I think that's the best way to be a role model is because when I left the NFL, there was all this talk about, you know, world's biggest underachiever, you know, pothead, retired to do all these things. And if I would have believed those stories, I probably would have turned into a self-fulfilling prophecy. But I was like, wait a minute, that's not my experience of myself. And I trusted my heart and I realized if I live my life and I show people that this isn't true, that's going to open up a lot of people's eyes to realizing maybe it's not true. And, you know, and the idea that, you know, you know,

the name of the brand is interesting because the year that I won the Heisman Trophy, right, I was going through a really rough spot and I wasn't a smoker and my roommate was, and he said, you know, you're tripping, you need to like chill. And he, and he, and he said you know you're tripping you need to like chill and he and he passed me he passed me a little bong and i took a hit and i did chill right i got perspective and i let go of the bullshit that was like in my mind and i truly think if i wouldn't have had that like awakening i wouldn't have won the heisman trophy and i think you know we have this stigma around cannabis but if we use it consciously it can really help us tremendously in life and help us achieve our goals.

Man, how did that make you feel that something that helps you is completely illegal or disregarded in this professional atmosphere you're about to get into? Well, that's the whole thing. How it made me feel, obviously, I ignored it. I didn't let them stop me i know no you know that's that's my mom was you know my mom was saying you know she used to spank me she used to beat my ass when i was a kid and we were talking on my podcast and she was like she's like one day i learned it doesn't matter how much i beat you you're still going to do whatever you want to do.

And so for me, if something works, I'm going to find a way to do it. And if I get caught and punished, I take the punishment and I keep it moving. Yeah. So how many times did you fail drug tests? One, two, three, four, five. Five. So five drug tests. Five out of probably 5,000.

Oh, fuck. That's not bad, right? Fuck no, dude. I don't get how, why the media makes you a villain like that.

People are doing way worse things to their body. Well, I don't think it's, I don't think it's about the drugs necessarily. I think it was the bigger issue of, I said, I'm giving up fame and fortune and all these things to do what I want to do. And I think that was the bigger issue of I said, I'm giving up fame and fortune and all these things to do what I want to do. And I think that's a dangerous trend

for certain people in the population. It's kind of scary because it's like either you, if you don't believe in capitalism, they fucking excommunicate you. Because you're a communist. Yeah, I mean, and that's what we were fighting for thing you know it's the same shit man that's fucked up i just thanks for opening my eyes to that that is really fucked up i'm gonna be woke now um so how's this how's the run how's heisman running is it are you guys feeling good about the growth of it? Or do you feel like you're making moves?

It's really interesting. The past several years, I've really been immersed in startup life. And so Heisman is actually the third startup I've been involved in. And we're really early. And it's like in these different industries, these different markets, there's slightly different rules. But what they all have in common is you have to function with a lot of uncertainty, you know, and, and you have to trust, you have to trust your, your instincts, but you also have to learn to test them, to experiment a lot. And so,

you know, from the experience we, you know, we've got, so I'm the CEO of an app company called Lila, you know, relationship app. The one I was saying that uses astrology to help people connect. And that's in the tech world, it's a whole nother thing because it's really expensive to develop technology. You know, we have a dev team and we have a marketing team, you know,

and so there's a lot of moving pieces and you have to typically raise money. And so talking, you know, to the suits, the VCs, you know, again, I'm showing up with my eyes red and the dreads and the football player and trying to pitch these VCs, you know, it's, it's again, this, these two worlds, right. And standing my ground and being myself, you know, it's, I'm learning a lot. Does it work or not? It's interesting. It's like, if I come in and I say, I'm going to try to be me and take you over, it doesn't work.

But I've had to learn the language, you know, I've had to learn VC speak. Right. And it's in a first, you know, I resisted and I said, you know, they should just accept me for who I am. But I realize I'm coming into their world and I embrace the opportunity to learn these things. You know, this is a world that I've avoided, you know, stepping into my whole life. Right. And now, you know, I'm my whole life. Right. And now I'm, you know, I'm right there, like begging the capitalist for money. Right. And so, you know, and part of it is like, I feel kind of split, like I have mixed feelings about it. And so, you know, after these meetings and like feeling, you know, that vibe that I can just feel the vibe, I said, you know,

screw this, you know, we're going to, we're this. You know, we're going to do it differently. And so we launched a crowdfunding campaign. And I said, I'm going to give people, you know, that are more like me, you know, that think more like me an opportunity to enjoy the upside of this amazing project that we're working on. And so it's been cool to grow and to evolve and to find creative solutions in a world, you that's that's that's so new to me and so i'm loving the startup world it's it's constant it's constant learning and and so heisman is easy right it doesn't cost much it doesn't cost it hasn't cost this much money to launch a brand yeah yeah it really is is about connecting to really good flower you know having a really good story and creating a, you know, a community around it. And for us, we're like, this is the vibe, you know, and if you pick up on the vibe, join the community.

Man, Ricky fucking Williams, dude. God damn it. Let's fucking go, dude. So are you picking up, I'm really fascinated about this dating site. Like how, how do you pitch VCs how to make money? Is it a subscription based dating site? Well, it's because what we're creating is something new. It's similar to a dating app, but it's really a relationship app. And so because it's based in astrology, so the first part of the app is people learn about themselves because the first relationship you have to have is you got to know yourself. so we help people understand themselves and then there's a section we call it social discovery where you can meet other people friends that whatever it's just connecting to other people that that are open-minded okay but the other part of the app which i'm most excited

about is relationship building yeah because even if you find the right person right that's where the work starts right there's process and people grow together. And I think, you know, so a relationship is about relationship with yourself, meeting the right kinds of people. And then once you meet, how can you grow together? And so this app, you know, uses astrology to help people in all those areas. You have so many different lives, Ricky Williams. What do you want to be remembered by? as Ricky Williams, what do you want to be remembered by? You know, just about being a symbol, right?

Being a symbol that, you know, that anything is possible, right? Just being a symbol that it's okay to be yourself, right? And I think people are, and I was one of them. I was so afraid to be myself. I was so afraid of the consequences. But when I finally, over it and was able to do it, it was a little bumpy at first, but it was more than worth it. You know, I wake up every morning and I feel happy I'm alive. And, you know, the one promise I made myself is I would never tolerate the feeling of feeling I wish I were somewhere else. And so every moment of my life, I'm doing exactly, exactly what I want to be doing.

Man, that's fucking beautiful man and that's I'm clapping one more time for that let's go it's so true man I preach this all the fucking time it's so hard for someone to be themselves because they're afraid to because they

are more worried about what other people think of them versus what they think about themselves. And the worst part is the people we care, we don't even like the people, but we care what they think about us. Yeah, fucking exactly. I don't like half those motherfuckers who don't give a fuck, you know, because they're not going to get me in the first place. I am just going to wear a costume my whole life just for them to like me.

What's the point? Yeah, I've done it yeah i've done it i've done it and then one day i was like let me try something else and i tried on a different costume with myself and it felt much more comfortable yeah was that costume you're wearing as an athlete not as comfortable i mean it was incomplete it was incomplete because you know you can ask the people that work for me i'm still a a fierce, you know, competitor. Yeah, I fucking bet, dog. But there's more, you know, there's more.

I've invited room for the philosopher, the astrologer and the healer. That's more, it's a more complete picture. With this being said, do you worry about getting achievements or anything? Like Hall of Fame or anything? I don't, you you know because i've achieved a whole bunch and and it was great you know to me the the achievements that feel good to me is when i you know i spend a couple hours with someone talking to them about their chart and they just they just feel seen you know they're not judging themselves some more they feel more

free to be themselves and to me that that, that's just as special as a trophy because that's something that it lasts. It doesn't just end after the trophy ceremony. Whatever we share in that moment, they go on and it keeps expanding the rest of their life and they touch other people and that keeps growing. Yo, I would love to get my chart read by Ricky Williams, dude. Well, let's do it.

All right, cool. I'll get your number or your email from the publicist and we'll do it. Ricky, it's been such a fucking pleasure talking to you about this, man. And I'm so proud that we're on the 420 episode together. And, you know, I've been a fan, man, and I've always

watched and I always felt like they fucking misunderstood this dude. And from talking to you one-on-one, yeah, man, fuck all those people. We're going to wear our own costume, Ricky. We're going to wear our own fucking costume. Amen to that. Why don't you give us the links to the

companies you have and we could have our listeners go to them and check it out. Yeah. Okay, so Heisman is H-I-G-S-M-A-N. We can check us out at theheisman.com and, uh, the app is Lila L I L A. And you can check us out at, Hey, Lila.com. H E Y L I L A.com. Well, look at that. Go, uh, follow Ricky Williams in his life and, uh,

kick an ass Ricky. Thanks so much for being on part of the show. I'll send you my email and let's stay together, okay? Awesome. I grew up in LA. I grew up in West Hills. I'm going to see my parents in May. Maybe we could hook up or something. Seriously. Seriously, reach out. All right, buddy. Have a great day, buddy.

Me too. Ricky Williams. I'm going to clap. That was dope as fuck. Dope as fuck. Oh, my God. Happy 420. That was so special. You know, I'm an athlete.

I'm a fan of athletes. And I was a fan of Ricky Williams. And now I'm just a super fan. Go follow him. Go check him out. He's the man. All right. I'll catch you on the tail end.

Hello, everybody. Welcome to Sports with Dolab. He's talking shit about the game. He's got a weird fucking name. It's Sports with Dolab. Woo-woo! This week, we're

going to be talking some NBA fantasy basketball Jamman style That's right We fucking made it It's the fucking playoffs baby We fucking made it One year later

No fucking COVID or pandemic's going to stop us this year 15 weeks 16 teams All the way down to 8 Shout out to E-man for making it to 16th place. Has 10th place. Lyle almost made it 9th place. Sorry, boys.

That's right. The epic battle we've been waiting for. Frasco versus Gerlach. Fucking Gerlach versus Frasco. Who's going to win? Pretty sure Gerlach's going to stop you, bro. Sorry, bro. It's going down.

Frasco's going down. And we got Wookie of the year matt in second place going up against jack brown's ass team he he's gonna lose you jack brown you frasco sorry boys y'all better luck out next year your boy dolov's number one i got first play lost one game all here now it's time to shine, playoff time baby, we're gonna get a champion, fantasy basketball league, let's go, that's right, what really matters though, is that I'm going to the Jazz Lakers game, today, we're gonna stop the fucking Lakers, cause Jazz are number one, yeah bitch. It's Sports with Doloff. Fuck you, Jack Brown. Fuck you, Frasco. And there we have it.

Ricky Williams. Wasn't that a great interview? I thought that was very high energy and he seems like the coolest dude on the planet. How? You were sleeping through the interview. Well, you know, I could hear a little bit of it andy it was nice

to go to sleep too it was like a soothing lullaby that my grandma was singing me we we did this interview literally an hour or two after we got back from our fucking 14 hour drive got stuck in the snow last night they had all the highways and every road shut down so we pulled up on the side of the murder motel and crashed out check kukuza how you doing buddy dude i feel good i'm glad everything's coming back a little bit yeah it's good to see some music and see some of our old friends and people dancing and smiling and crying i know people were crying happiness yeah happy tears people were crying at the shows i know it's it's it's kind of a magical weird time but it's it's a were crying at the shows. I know. It's kind of a magical, weird time, but it's a beautiful thing at the same time, too.

I know. You ready to go on vacation? Dude, I'm so ready. I feel like I've been on vacation for like a year already. Yeah, me too, dude. Just working vacation. What are we going to do in Charleston? So we're going to...

I like to rent the scooters. I like to go because you can just go back and forth up and down. You got scooters in Thailand that time. Matt crashed his.

Yeah, we went to Thailand. He got that on video. He's videotaping the sunset. He's like, man, these two European girls walked out right in front of me.

And it's on video and you see him and he's cruising and he's going, ah, fuck. Yeah, we went to Thailand together. You're my travel buddy. Yeah, man.

We travel a lot. We went on the river. You took me on a river? The river trip, man. River cats. That's how we got our nicknames, the river cats. How'd I do on that? You killed it, dude.

After about the 48th hour when you realize, all right, dude dude I don't think they have any Cell phone service In this canyon I just have to get over it But Those are some of the Some of the best times Of my life Around that river man

That's a beautiful time To just kind of get away Kind of get in between The bluffs And try to do A little fishing Or a little Just chilling out man

There's nothing like it And we also went sailing together. Sailing is also another one of my favorite pastimes. Yeah, you went on a big trip sailing. Did you go for like a month? We did, yeah. Last time, actually, we came and kind of surprised you guys at that weird little in the middle of the COVID in the woods party.

Oh, yeah. And Matt and I, you know, we're making a surprise. We're walking around. We got, you know we're making a surprise we're walking around we got uh you know people were fucking beer boxes on top of our heads so y'all didn't recognize us and then we commandeered a uh one or two man horse costume from our good friends out there and snuck up on stage with you guys and y'all like who the hell is this we were punching you we thought it was just intruders walking on the stage all fucked up. I had that little water bottle,

and I was making like I was peeing on y'all's feet. I know, and I kept on punching you. I'm like, I kept on punching your legs. And then we popped out, man. That was great. During a Van Halen song after Eddie. Yeah, after Eddie died. But yeah, you've been my travel buddy forever,

and now it's 420, and we're smoking that 14er weed. Go grab some 14er if you're in the Denver, Colorado area. It's the best weed. How do you like the weed out here in Colorado? Sticky, icky, icky, icky, icky, icky. Yeah, I'm going to try to smuggle some into Charleston. Right on. They don't really

check your bags when you're on an airplane. Yeah, just don't try to smuggle anything off Jam Cruise. No, I learned our lesson just don't try to smuggle anything off jam cruising. No, that was, yeah, no, no. I learned our lesson. We didn't even smuggle anything. Yelmer ate those 15 hits of acid or 10 hits of acid, and he just got deported.

Oh, yeah, I got, no, that was rock boat. Yeah, yeah, yeah. When the dog sniffers were in line. It was like they found like a crumb. They found a crumb. Oh, that'll be 500 bucks. Yeah, and i was waiting in line with all my fans you know we're all getting off and of course the dog sniffed me i'm like

just take me right now don't even ask questions just walk i don't want anyone to fuck yeah and it's just because your bad bag smelled like it yeah and then they hustled us for 500 fucking dollars yeah petty cash they're like we'll take cash i I'm like, fuck. I had to go call Joe and get the merch money. It was like a textbook shakedown, bro. It was. It was fucking Florida shakedown, dude. But, you know, we got out of it. At least you didn't have to get the cuffs on or anything.

Yeah, that's true. But speaking where weed's legal, go buy some 14er. If you're in the Boulder area, these guys are awesome. They're the best. Evan has been a good friend forever, and he's always supported the podcast. And now that he got their license back, we could actually have a partnership again. And that's awesome. And thank you, Evan.

Shout out to Evan for being an all-year podcaster, hosting the podcast. I love you. So go grab some 14er. It's the best for psychoactive and non-psychoactive weed. But Ricky Williams, dude, did you know anything about him? Well, yeah. I mean, for Texas, you know, I saw him at the U.T. games. Oh, yeah.

You're from Dallas. Yeah. I live in Arlington. It's right between Dallas and Fort Worth. It's where all the sports mecca is there. Was he Texas royalty when he was at University of Texas? Oh, yeah, dude. I mean, he was like just, you know,

anytime you turn on the UT game, you just see him hauling ass down the field with the ball. And there's like, you can barely, the camera shot couldn't even get anybody behind him. So it looked like he's out there playing by himself. That's fucking amazing. Oh, but a shout out to Nick Gerlach and shout out to Jordan fromlach And shout out to Jordan

From the Draft Experts Podcast For helping us pre-brief My boy Jordan He knows everything about any sport You could possibly ever imagine Thank you about that Jordan So that's it for today guys Once again

Buy tickets to our Red Rock show Let's sell it out. Let's sell that bitch out and prove all the haters wrong that we are a fucking real band. Right, buddy? Let's do this, dude. Thanks for having the Cucuzza brothers on there. Oh, yeah.

The Cucuzza are sitting in from Spoonfed Tribe. And so we normally end the show, Chatty, with inspirational. I want you to make a motivational speech. I'm going to play music under you, but fucking give these people what they should do. It's 420, what they should do all week, how they should motivate themselves. Are you ready?

Yeah, let's do this. Here we go. When you wake up in the morning and you look in the refrigerator and you see that beer from last night that you were saving sometimes you don't have to drink it you can grab the orange juice or some sunny d and slam it and i want you to put those spandex on those walking shorts and i want you to go get your nice pair of tennies on and i want you to take a nice jog down the street and take that day on like, ooh, baby, that's all we got today.

You can get up and do that every day in the morning. You can eat your Wheaties. And you can make yourself feel so good. I want you to look at yourself in the mirror in the eyes of the tiger and say, baby, I got this. Let's go. Have a great day, everybody. You tuned in to the World's 7th Podcast with Andy Fresco, now in its fourth season.

Thank you for listening to this episode. Produced by Andy Fresco, Joe Angelone, Chris Lawrence. We need you to help us save the world and spread the word. Please subscribe, rate the show, iTunes, Spotify, wherever you're picking this shit up. Follow us on Instagram at world saving podcast for more

info and updates. Fresco's blogs and tour dates you'll find at anniefresco.com Check our socials to see what's up next. Might be a video dance party, a showcase concert or whatever springs to Andy's wicked brain. Also, the shit show has returned. Find it! We thank this week's guest, our co-host,

and all the fringy frenzies that helped make this show great. Thank you all. And thank you for listening. Be your best, be safe, and we'll be back next week. No edibles were harmed in the making of this podcast. As far as we know, any similarity to actual knowledge, facts or fake, is purely coincidental.