Bussin' With The Boys - Playoffs, Dealing With Adversity, Staying Motivated + Alec Ingold Interview (Jelly Roll/Michael Chandler Co-host)

Episode Date: January 19, 2022

Recorded: January 17, 2022 | Everyone is equally as shocked to see Playoff Willy back on the bus and not back on a playoff team's roster, but until that phone rings we will have the boy in Nashville. Serving as co-hosts of the pod this week are Michael Chandler and Jelly Roll and the boys cover everything from mental toughness and motivation, the NFL playoffs, and to wrap it up Raider fullback Alec Ingold joins the pod to talk about his letter to Raider nation, Coach Bissacia, and making a trip to Nashville to come on the bus. House cleaning, tailgate plans, difference between Titans and Raiders (2:05-17:40) Mental toughness (21:22-36:41) Handling pressure (37:00-53:50) Staying motivated (54:15-1:02:05) NFL Playoffs (1:02:25-1:27:00) Will and Jelly's outlook on losing loved ones (1:27:51-1:44:36) Alec Ingold Interview (1:47:33-2:08:36) ----- EARN YOUR WOLF: Want to be featured on our Instagram Story? Screenshot this episode, tag @bussinwtb, and share it to your Story. The Boys will take care of the rest... ----- SHOP: https://store.barstoolsports.com/collections/bussin-with-the-boys FOLLOW THE BOYS Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bussinwtb Twitter: https://twitter.com/BussinWTB Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BussinWTB Website: https://www.bussinwtb.com ----- SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS: Chevy: Chevy Silverado - The Strongest, Most Advanced Silverado Ever. WhistlePig Whiskey: Visit barstool.link/piggybackryesmash for more info and make sure you grab a box in select stores! Roman: Go to https://barstool.link/RomanBWTB you can get your first month of Swipes for just $5, when you choose a monthly plan. Hooters: Visit https://barstool.link/HootersBarstool and use code BARSTOOL for $10 off $50+ orders Cross Country Mortgage: Go to https://barstool.link/crosscountrymortgageBSS so CrossCountry Mortgage can take care of you through the home buying process. CrossCountry Mortgage LLC. NMLS 3029 All loans subject to underwriting approval. www.nmlsconsumeraccess.orgFor more, visit barstool.link/bussinwtbSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hey guys, it's us The Jonas Brothers. I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called, Hey Jonas. We invented a podcast?

Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it. We're the first people to do podcasts. We get to ask other people questions because we're sick and tired of being asked questions. Well, sick and tired is a strong way to put it. But, you know, tired and sick. Listen to Hey Jonas on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Just listen.

We don't care where you hear it. Another podcast from some SNL late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, S&L's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter.

Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smygle and friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. podcast. What's up, fam? It's Isaiah Thomas.

And I'm C.J. Toledano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast, Point Game, the playoffs. We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season. And I'm looking back on some of my greatest playoff moments. If we didn't talk ever again, I was crying. You just understood. That's how personal it got. Wow.

Then after that game seven, Marquis come until he's like, you know I love you, dog. You know, it's all love. This was just playoffs. This was just basketball. So listen to Point Game on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your Podcasts. Rolling. Welcome to another episode of Bustin with the Boys.

I am your host, Will Compton. My co-host today, filling in for the boy, Taylor, Michael Chandler. Give it up for the boy, Mike Chandler. Let's go. UFC superstar. I don't know about that. UFC superstar. Okay, I'll take it.

Recurring guests on the bus. Recurring guests. That's what I'm most proud of. You're a friend of the bus. Friend of the bus. Your family of the bus. Family of the bus, for sure. We have a great episode coming at.

We're jelly roll is going to be crashing the pot at some point. We're obviously going to be going over all of the playoff stuff, the football, the this, the that, the Bessaccia. I think later on, Alec Engel might zoom in with myself and we're going to talk about, you know, stuff with the Raiders, his open letter to Raider Nation and all that fun stuff. But before we get into the episode, we have to shout out the greatest partner on earth to bust with the boys. And that is the Chevy Silverado. Give it up for the Chevy Silverado, boys. 2021 was a big year for Chevy trucks so big that Silverado has now made new headlines. And we're not just talking about the Silverado and the Lowell Award or Coach Prime

and all the goodness that Dion brings to life and football. We're talking about product news. The Silverado ZR2, Chevy's new flagship off-road truck, was introduced in September. And in the spring, you'll be able to see it at your local Chevy dealership. We use Freeland Chevy out here in Nashville. Shout out the boys of Freeland. What's next for 2022? Well, just a couple of days ago,

Chevy revealed the first ever all-electric Silverado built from the ground up on the ultimate, oh, damn it. On the ultium battery platform that brings with it new power, new flexibility, and of course, new range of what's possible in a truck. We've seen the show, the Silverado, EV, and it's really cool in the outside.

And on the inside, it's got all kinds of new features, all the bells and whistles that you'll love, just a lot of first for an EV. truck. Head over to Chevy.com to learn more and reserve your Silverado EV today. I mean, that was close to flawless. I mean, that's an almost home for recovery right there. You know what I mean? Almost home for recovery. Hey, we don't, we don't count on. We don't worry about the numbers. Yeah, we're not, I'm not a big numbers guy, but the facts are out there. What's up, bro? What's new? What do we got?

Oh, man. I've just been, uh, I just been following the, the Will Compton ups and downs and saga and just freaking getting after it. And then, you know, me just training, getting back after it, fully recovered now and spending some time with the family. Did you get to hear? I will say while we're on audio and this is on record, you did have a super nice tweet about the boy. I did. I did. You know, you can't get rid of them, man. Nobody, you know, you can't get rid of them. Even if you try, you don't want to. I'm just saying like I read that and I was just, I don't know. I appreciated it. Well, listen, you know, in the world of sports, you know, you're around a bunch of different people, you know.

And of course, I'm not just saying this because you're right here. There's the really, really good ones, the ones who train and do things right. And then there's a really, really, the full package, the dude, the boy who's got it, got it all, who gets after it. Just like you always talk about, the lunch pail. That's me and you, man. Like, it's, there's a special connection with certain people that have just pulled themselves up by their bootstraps, you know, and people make fun of me because I say that all the time. But it's true. Just a...

You're big bootstrap's work. Big bootstrap guy. You know, I mean, but, you know, you show up, no matter what team was going to call. you, you were going to show up with your work boots on, put your best foot forward, and that deserves to be rewarded for as long as it possibly can. And here we are year nine, dude. Year nine, baby. Your nine, baby.

Well, tour. Maybe. I don't know, man. I think you got to give us one more year. Hey, you never know. You never know. I haven't signed the papers yet. There's been some calls here and there.

You know, just kind of just some rumors circulating that I might be back out there ASAP. I'm just teasing everybody. But as I do say, before we get into it, I mentioned, I mentioned, playoff willie but we sold these playoff willie shirts i'm wearing them the day i know the boy's lost it's crazy because these things would have done even bigger numbers had uh the raiders won in advance because uh divine diablo the inside backer he went out with a concussion did not return that game the boy would have been back in action but anyway i'm wearing this playoff willie shirt because

uh we sold about 500 of these shirts boys let's give it up big shots to uh raider nation everybody who uh who bought these teas because a hundred 100% of the net proceeds is going to the DC for Kids Foundation. They're big in the children's hospital. They have one of the biggest networks out in the California area, the highest quality of treatment from pre-birth all the way to young adulthood. But the reason I wanted to give to Derek's charity is because when I had got there, it was like the second day or maybe my first day there and practice and everything was over.

All the meetings were over. and I wasn't wanting to, I was with the player personnel guy and asking about, hey, where can I rent a car and this and that? And cars were going to like $2.50 a week, $250 a week. And I didn't want to spend the $250 a week while I was there. So I hit up Derek and I was like, hey, man, you know, I put the text message out on Twitter, but I was like, hey, man, I'm a cheap bastard at heart. Like, I don't want to pay this money.

Do you have an extra vehicle? And he was like, oh, bro, absolutely. Where are you at? And I was like, I'm at the facility. He's like, my wife and I will be there in 10 minutes. And he just let me get the truck. never asked me questions about it. We were on the side of the road a couple of times

because that passenger door's got a little shit to it. It is the F word. It is an F word. It's not a Chevy. But no, man, he was there, bro. And I'm telling you, within 10 minutes of me texting him, him and his wife's pulling up. And he's just an incredible human being.

So doing all this ridiculous playoff, Willie stuff and making these funny shirts I wanted to give to somebody like Derek. But it's awesome, man. Anyway, let's jump into it, dude. The playoff weekend. A.B. Spoof. We're going to do some more house cleaning?

Oh, gosh. Since I'm on Playoff Willie, some more house cleaning. Did you happen to see the AB interview spoof? I didn't see the interview spoof. So Antonio Brown went on the Full Send podcast. A few days after, a few days after he had gotten cut from the Buccaneers. He sat down with this podcast. Shout out the boys.

Bob Monterie. Minnery. Fuck. Sorry, Bob. No disrespect, Bob. The voice of Buffalo Wild Wings. Yeah, and shout out the Nelke Boys. Yeah, the voice of Buffalo Wild Wings.

Shout out the Nelke Boys too. But he went on their podcast, Antonio Brown did, and it was just, I mean, if you watch the podcast and you see some of the clips, you're like this is one of the most wild interviews you've seen, especially with somebody like A.B. So we recreated it and did a little spoof where J.P. was Saleem. Jack was. I'm blowing it, bro. Somebody was Bob. Jack was Kyle. Alex was Bob.

Blas, he didn't want to show up. I did see. I'm just kidding, boss. I did see some of this. I did see some of it. I didn't see the whole thing. But we had such a funny time, dude. I think Bob, Bob commented too in the comments saying he wanted us to redo the Mike Tyson one, so we might have to do a spoo.

We might just become actors now, boys. We all need agents. We all need individual agents. We're going to start doing spoofs. What was the, who said every Friday? Jared. Friday film. What's the new Friday films, a new segment?

We might just have to bring Friday films of people every week. That's awesome. Yeah. Bob said it right there. Can you guys do the Tyson episode? Yeah, yeah. Yeah, dude. Yeah, I'd love to have Bob on.

Bob, if you're listening or you happen to watch this or the clip, we might just clip this thing up. We would love to have you on Bust with the boys. I would be super interested in talking about what your headspace was like that entire interview with A.B. Because Bob was the one person who was trying to ask questions, would try and stay there. And then it's tough. when the boys on your own pot are kind of already established on the other side of you. Like when someone he's like, no, I'll be real. I'll be real.

And he's like, all right, well, I'm going to need you guys to help me try to get stuff out of AB. I can't just do all of this on my own. But. A.B. Seemed like the kind of guy where he was going to give you some good gems anyway. Yeah. I mean, he was, I did see a little bit of it when he was kind of giving life advice type of stuff, you know? So it was like, you have a couple gems in there for J.P.

J.P. J. J. P lives by him. He's pro A.B. What else do we have for house cleaning items? Yeah, so this Saturday, we will be at Acme Feed and Seed, partying our asses off for the boys in the playoffs. The boys are fucking one seed that's coming alive.

January 22nd, Deuce Deuce Returns to the football field. King Henry is back with the fucking boys, baby. Let's give you. That's some energy, too. Let's go. Let's go. But we will be at Acme Feed and Seed. What time do we even want to go?

so we can go one or one-thirty, they were actually waiting for us to tell them. I'm thinking 11 a.m. 11 a.m. Broadway's going to be slam because they're doing watch parties on the actual street. Right.

They're blocking it off. They're doing a lot of watch parties similar to when the press were in the playoffs back in. When was that 17 or 18? But massive, Broadway's going to be jam-packed. Everybody be responsible down there. But make your way to act, feed, and see, I do think we need to get in there early,

partially because I can be there earlier because the boy, I'm trying to finagle. I'm trying to be somewhere else. partially I'm going to be somewhere else. You want me to say 11 right now? See what they say? Yeah, 11 o'clock, Agme, feed, and seed.

You got to start the pregame, dude. You got to start the energy early. Everybody in Nashville, and who's a Titans fan out there, is going to be wide awake like it's Christmas morning when Saturday hits. Oh, yeah. The mimoses are going to be pouring,

the Bloody Mary's, the beer, the piggybacks. I know people are going to be slaming piggybacks by whistle pig out there, but everyone is going to be in the spirit, and we got to be there early. We got to be there live. And, yeah, partially, I'm trying to finagle some pregame sideline passes because a playoff willy. I'm trying to make an appearance for the boys. I'm trying to do some daps.

I'm trying to, you know, hugs the babies. Yes, I'll be on the tight sideline. Yeah, because the Raiders lost. A truth be told, guys, if the Raiders win that game, and I'm not back on the Raiders this week, I would have went to the game wearing black rooting for the Raiders. Why? Number one, because I would get a Super Bowl ring if the Raiders win, like an actual one,

not like Taylor's like, oh, I'll get you a ring too. We'll get you some custom ring made that's like the playoffs that you'll be like the Titans or whatever. I want both the boys. I want all the boys to succeed. The hard part is they would have been battling in the divisional round. And the last several weeks I've been on the Raiders, bro, I'm a Raider. I've been a Raider. and the way that the organization has been,

trust me, I love you guys. I love Titans Nation. I love the team. I love the staff, even though I can be debatable at times in the organization. But the way the Raiders have treated me over these last several weeks and the way I feel about Coach Basatia and the way I wanted this team to win,

not only for each other, but also for Coach Basatia. And again, just the way that everyone's kind of really been there for the boy these last several weeks, there's just absolutely no doubt in my mind that I wanted to see the Raiders succeed. Not more than the Titans. I just want to see the Raiders succeed, which is tough because they would have to beat the Titans. But Raiders are out of it.

Now, the boy, I'm back, of course. I'm back. I'm always written for the Titans, and I obviously want them to win this weekend. So I will be in the Titans blue. But just to clear all that stuff up, because there's been a lot of rumors, a lot of headlines. I've seen the papers.

A lot of people wanted me to fail. A lot of people were mad that I wanted to cheer. for the Raiders over the Titans. And I'm very specifically thinking of Taylor in my head because I don't think anybody really cared. And I think everybody understood it and would understand. But yeah, I was trying to get that. I was trying to get that Super Bowl ring.

But the boys fucking, the boys lost, dude. They needed you. You know, I'm not saying I would have changed the game. But you're not a big numbers guy. Yeah, I'm not a big numbers guy. I'm not going to go that far to say, like, I do change what that game looks like on Saturday. But the energy would have been different.

Yeah. No, I mean, and there's no, there can't be any hate towards you for, you know, rolling with the Raiders, you know? Yeah. That's your, that's your, and I think that's what a lot of people don't understand. I definitely don't understand it whatsoever. I mean, I'm in an individual sport, but there's certain teams that I'm training with until I train with, you know, another team.

I've been with four different teams, if you will. But you guys are organizations from the top to the bottom, everybody there from the practice squad all the way into the locker room, all the way into guys on the field. And it's a realm that people don't quite understand. I definitely don't understand it. I've tried to be in your ear and texting you like crazy. Yo, give me some information.

Even like, yo, dude, is this for real? Are you trolling everybody? Because I'm about to put out a tweet right now. I'm about to put out a tweet that he's alluding to. I'm like, yo, dude, did you really get picked back up? Or am I about to look like an idiot that I got trolled by my own friend in private? You know, like I'm tweeting Adam Schaefter and all this. Yeah.

That was fucking crazy, man. But yeah, and to that point, they're also like, they're also catching the checks, dude. No. Like, you're rooting for the boys. And to be, like, after I got done playing with the Raiders in 18, and I played with the Titans. No, no, no, no. When I got done playing with the Raiders in 19, I played with the Titans in 20. Are we good?

Yeah, we're good. And I played with the Titans in 20. The Raiders had offered me to come back, like, in June, before I. I had the Titans offered in August late in training camp and that's why it ended up taking the Titans deal because we're in Nashville. I don't have to uproot and move and all that stuff. But even this past time when the Raiders had called in one of me on the team, Titans had called and wanted me to just do a workout. It's like every time they're both been right there to choose from, it's always seemed like the Raiders have wanted me. The organization has wanted me more and things like that. So there's just like a, there's just like a

personal, there's like that personal vibe that you just have like with them because there's been any like BS. There's never, they've never given you the run around about anything. They've never, they've always been like, hey, we want you to be here. Like, we're not going to take it to a workout. We're not going to do this. We just want you to be here. So I just feel like I have ties to, to like wanting them to do well.

I feel like it's tough too because I love Titans, uh, Titans nation and all that stuff so much. And obviously bust with the boys is here in Nashville. Like we are Titans priority first. Yeah. Um, but there's like that it's just. kind of hard to explain. Well, there's got to be, there's got to be a certain level of personal, that, that personal

connection, as well as less transactional, more from a personal standpoint, too. Like even, like you said, and of course, it's the NFL. It's the most, probably one of the most cutthroat industries. I think the NFL, and, you know, coincidentally, the UFC or mixed martial arts, pretty darn cutthroat. But when you can feel like it's a little bit less transactional and more like, hey, we want this guy on the team, not because of, not because of just. the X's and O's and what he brings on the field, which obviously the boy can ball.

But even just like you said, the energy, the level of professionalism or even just the energy that you bring to a team, you bring it to an organization. I mean, that's probably what you're eluding to, I would imagine. Yeah. And also, even when I'm getting cut or getting released or coming back in, like just being around the staff and the GM and people that all these transactions are happening, right? just the I don't know man it was all first class

you know what I mean like they were just super they were just like super fucking good to me the story yeah the story you told sitting right there too where the guy was around the corner and you know like are you cut yeah I know Dwayne Joseph shout out the boy Dwayne Joseph but I walked in and when I saw him and I'm like all you fucking cut me and just

seeing to having a conversation with Mayock and just again I don't know everything that had happened obviously that stuff plays into it they're wanting to be there for me they kind of hated cutting me the first time they're like hey use all of our resources and i'm like guys i promise like i'm doing all right like i'm solid um and just the nature of the the conversations whether it's the reputation and everything else where you kind of just know i know my role going into it so i don't know just all of it man they were just uh they were first class to me they

have been the entire time and again bro besatia the staff the players it's it's all like one family there. And you hated, you hated seeing the headlines that were coming out of Vegas because obviously they've been through so much shit this year with like dumb choices by some of the players and obviously coach Gruden being gone, getting canned and stuff like that. And just seeing the good vibe and the cohesiveness of that locker room, like how much guys leaned on each other, the leader, the player leadership, the coaching leadership, how much guys wanted to just win for that man, coach Passageo, which again, I'm going to. try not to get too much into him because we're going to have Alec come on later and we're going to

talk about Coach Basatia, but how much they wanted to win for that dude too and how much I respect him. And I've only been, I had only been with the Raiders collectively out of the two seasons, 11 weeks, you know, I'm talking and feeling and all this stuff. So I feel like it just says a lot about Basatia, the men in that room and just the organization too, just through all that shit. So you just wanted to see them be successful. Yeah, no, and it's interesting too, kind of that that firsthand experience because people can see the coach on the sidelines and they can hear them in the press conferences and they can see the wins and the losses on the field and whatnot, but they don't, a lot of people never get to peel back the layer of how the actual team and

organization, that, the, the internal, not the external. Everybody gets to see the external, the X's and the O's and the wins and the losses and the, the on the microphone during the press conferences, but they don't see the stuff that goes on behind the scene. The same thing with, with mixed martial arts. My experience of the UFC, a guy like Dana White, who's constantly on, on TV, constantly on microphones and people have their opinions of him and how he runs and operates his business. But then there's the complete opposite end of the spectrum of a guy like me who's completely into it, completely in the inside and completely gets a feeling. I don't remember everything that he's going to say, but I remember how I was, how I felt in these negotiations,

how I felt in the locker rooms, so to speak, or in these venues on the conversations, how you feel that it's more than just transactional. Even though you know, as you know in the NFL, it is what it is. It is what it is. And the show continues to go on. No matter what.

The biggest mistake we can make as athletes, especially in an individual sport like mixed martial arts or even on the football field, is thinking that you have more of a stake in the team or in the organization, or they need you more than they actually do because the show will continue to go on. Right. And that's one of the hardest things to accept.

But once you do accept it, then you can look at it with an unfettered lens of, okay, I'm just going to put my best foot for them and do everything I possibly can for as long as I possibly can, you know, year 9, year 10. Right, right. You were alluding to that, too, on the last podcast about just how you make people feel like, you know, at the end of the day, you don't remember what they say. You don't remember what they did, but you understand how people made you feel. And two, going off of that, do we, did we have a question about, I know I've been asked, like, handling, being cut the amount of times I was cut this year, the couple times I was cut this year, and jumping from team to team. Did we have a question because I want to be able to shut out that fan? Right. How mentally, this is from Caleb Gray at Sherband O7, if you're watching, if you're watching on YouTube, obviously, it's going to be sitting up there.

But how mentally strong do you have to, do you have to be to go through the NFL, especially, especially the way you are currently getting signed, released, signed, and released by teams. And obviously mentally strong means it sounds like this big. What's up, Jelly? You, you, baby, baby. Shout out the boys at cross-country mortgage. No free shout-outs, of course.

The great thing about hanging with your boys or girls is you get a lot of different point of views. But nobody has all the answers every time unless it comes to your mortgage. That's where cross-country mortgage comes in. Whatever you're debating, whether a new home, second home, refinancing, they have everything. to cover every one.

And they close on average in just a mind-boggling 21 days. Not a month, like the majority of people. 21 days, that's three weeks. Cross-country mortgage has a team of loan officers dedicated to getting it done and finding you the best possible loan terms available. They have an average close time of 21 days, which is ridiculously fast. I know I already said that, but it was also a little point. With huge variety of products, they cover everything from renovations to refinancing and everything in between.

Go to crosscountrymortgage.com slash barstool. so cross-country mortgage can take care of you through the home buying process. Damn, I was trying to bring that one home. Cross-country mortgage LLC NMLS-3029, all loan subject to underwriting approval, www. nmLS consumer access.org. But we were talking, so while I was about to answer this fan's question, how mentally strong do you have to be to go to the NFL, especially when you're signed release, signed release by teams?

Mike and I was going in on a conversation. I don't know. how can you summarize this so Jelly can be involved and we can catch them up on what we were just talking about? You went on that tangent of making people the way you feel, the sooner you accept what's out of your control. Yeah, I mean, yeah, especially in this, I mean, in all three of our industries,

whether it's music or athletics in the NFL or me, winning fights, losing fights, maybe getting a contract, not getting a contract, the ups and downs, losing sponsors, keeping sponsors. It's just you got to understand, too, that the journey is the goal sometimes too. Like we always get focused on that one goal when really what if it's just the journey to get there that is going to make you the man and the woman that you are so you're galvanized on

the other end of it. You know, you're the man that you become by getting cut signed, cut, signed, like all these different things you do, all the different things that we've been through, you know, and it's just a part of the journey. Your quotes and one-liners always give me fucking juice, dude. Because you reminded me it's like the goal is the process. Like journey is the goal. Have you ever been cut?

No, I haven't, but I have, I'll tell you what, I've had tears in my eyes, rolling my suitcases back up to my house in San Diego. After losing three fights in a row, I went 688 days without one in a fight, and I thought I was going to. That wasn't that long ago, was it? It was 2014, it was like 2013 to 2015. And it was like, and I had just gotten married. I'm supposed to be providing for my wife, and I can't win a dang fight to save my life. And you also have bigger goals of, like, getting to the UFC and all this stuff. So it's kind of.

Yeah. You went through some sponsorship then, too, or some sponsors bailed on. Yeah, yeah, which is, which is, yeah, and in my industry, too, it's kind of interesting. It doesn't matter how big the platform is. I mean, it's all about relationships. Can you, can you, because no matter what, it doesn't matter if it's the biggest bank or the biggest commercial deal or the biggest, the biggest record label or whatever. It's still heartbeats and people behind those decision makings, and you've got to have a good relationship. Do you have a good reputation and a good relationship with those people?

So, but yeah, it's been ups and downs. I'd love to hear what the playoff Willie had to say about this. Yeah. No, I think because I'll tell you from a friend's perspective, I think it was just as hard on us friends as well. Oh, we was all with you. I was the bad friend that could not quit laughing at the second post. When you were like, I don't believe this shit, I was like, knee-slapping laughing.

Like, my daughter was like, what's so funny? I have once again been cut from the Raiders. But Bailey was like, what's so funny? I was like, we'll get cut from the Raiders. She's like, that's awful. Why are you laughing? I was like, because it happened twice. I was like, and it happened twice.

I was like, In one week, in one week, bro. For me, I feel like I'm in such a different spot of my career. Like, to me, and you were saying it too, the sooner you can accept what's out of your control, the easier life is going to be for you, because things are just out of your control. And the sooner you can get over that hump and move forward and this, that,

the other, I know this last stand with the Raiders playing football, really, was just a reminder. reminder for me about how much the relationships, just the game, the love of the game in general and the camaraderie, like just how much that meant to me. So no matter what had happened, because number one, when Basatia first called me, he's like, hey, I don't know how long, you know, you'll be with us because injuries and stuff like that. But he's like, you know, I'll guarantee without guaranteeing you that I'll get you as much

the three games as possible because if you get three games, that's a credited season. So he knew I had wanted that before I went out there. So he, Bessachi is a guy who kind of keeps it, he keeps it at real with you the entire time you're out there. The second week I was there, I was about to get cut and put on practice squad. He was like, hey, we might cut you today. We'll put you back on practice squad and then we'll use two elevations. That'll get you your three games.

We've got to manipulate the roster around because of injuries, tight ends coming back, like different positions coming back. And so he's somebody that's just always communicated with me and been transparent. Is that normal, by the way? No. Like, does the head coach usually call? No. Okay.

No. Does not usually disclose a lot of stuff, like all the transactions. It would normally be your positions coach or? I mean, usually you just get a call. Hey, can you come to the facility and bring your iPad? And then you know you're getting cut. So then you usually just know what time it is. I think for me being 32 and playing for Bessatia and kind of having a little bit of a

relationship with him throughout since I've been on the Raiders the first time, you kind of just have the relationship to to say those things or calm up and kind of say, hey, here's what your role's going to be because I'm not a young guy anymore. It's not like, you know, I know when I got cut when I was younger

or bounced from the Washington football teams to the Titans, like, you know, it's a different approach with like the mental strength. But for me, you kind of know some things are coming. Yeah, I was bummed and it sucked, especially before the playoffs. I was really wanting to be a part of the playoff run. but it's honestly just accepting what you can't control

in knowing that that that plays nothing into the next decision that you're about to make. Like, okay, I got cut. Now what do I do? How do I embrace this shitty situation? That's maturity, man. That's the wisdom of the wolf.

I did it take in a while to like be that way too because you're in such an uncertain, Like all of us. We're sitting here. We're in like an uncertain. We're in uncertain industries. Oh, yeah. To where the turnover is rapid, especially in football.

I know with the UFC, I know once you get established in music, you can kind of ride that, have that momentum. You're still only as big as your last hit. Yeah. Make no mistake. Like he's as big as his last fight. You're as big as your last season in the NFL or who you played for, what position you played. Make no mistake.

Lucky for some of us, I'm blessed that I've built, I have a family, like a real fan-based that's a cult following. But ultimately, all these big decisions outside of the ones that are going to ride with me no matter what, I don't put out a good song this year. Nobody gives a fuck. That performance-based world, man. You're talking about, like, pop culture? Like, jelly roll supporters will love me if I don't write a song for 10 years, right?

But the pop culture people, like y'all would call them the casuals in MMA, they don't give a fuck. If I don't produce this year, it's over. Yeah. Yeah, that's fucking wild, man. It's scary. It makes you go to the studio with a different mentality. Always, because you're always, you always have that chip and you're always looking over your shoulder.

I was never afraid of not making it, and I am petrified of losing it. Yeah. Does that make sense? I was never afraid of not making it, but I am petrified of losing. That fucking hitter right there. It is.

It's like if I didn't make it, who cares? Like I told you before, I was, you know, I've been at the bottom, but, you know, whatever. I've been, I know what that is. Now it's like, if I have to go back there, I'm okay with that. I've settled on this podcast before because I know the place. I was a fucking tour guide.

but it's like, you know, but I'm, at night, you know, your fears are totally different than when you're coming up. So it's like, God, it puts a pressure on the studio that I never wanted. Right. You know, does that do? Does that happen for y'all in practice? Like, you know when this is year nine, when you show up to the Raiders, is it like, man, I got to bust my fucking ass. I got to show these 24-year-olds I belong here. A little bit, not so much.

It did in 19 when I was on the Raiders. Like, they had brought Preston Brown in, and I'm, like, late at night, like, like, like, like, fuck. Like I got to bust my ass because I don't want to lose my job. In this one, it's like I knew so much about what it was before I had gotten there. Not that I knew I was going to get cut twice in a week and stuff like that. And, you know, COVID and my mom passing and stuff like that. You don't know that that's coming, but you kind of know what your role is going to be in at all. So how can you embrace that little role that you might have?

Like there's half the team you know because I was there in 19. The other half you don't know, but they're going to have some type of curiosity about why are people feeling this way about Will when, you know, at the end of the day, he's just playing special teams and a backup spot and stuff. So it's just important to like coach young guys, not even coaching, but just kind of be around to ask questions. And whenever they had questions for me, like just being an open book and just being like somebody who always walks in the room and has like a positive attitude about something,

you know what I mean? Like especially recently, like, and I know people care about me and stuff like that. But sometimes I'll be really. around people, I'll be like, damn, they seem to feel worse for me than I actually feel for myself right now. Because when you do get cut and for people who are absolutely curious based on hard times that they might be in or whatnot, like the minute I do get cut, I can think, damn, why am I not getting another chance? Like, I just had COVID. I was sick for a week. Had symptoms. My mom just passed. Like, I know I was just average in the first came back with KC, but why can I get another opportunity or another chance? You can be that hard person to cut and be like, you know, feel sorry for yourself and think about all the shit you just endured to bring that into me being cut.

But it's, again, man, how quickly can you just accept that this shit is not in my control? Fine. There's always something to be grateful for. No matter how fucking down bad I felt like I was, there's always something that kind of look toward, whether it's like I get to go back and see the boys and be back on the bus again. I get to go back and see my wife who's seven months pregnant. I get to go back and I can get on the phone my dad a little bit more. I can do all these different things. And then, you know, how can I spin it to embrace this uncertain situation

and bring humor to people by being cut or showing people the inside of like, yo, I'm getting cut. It fucking sucks. I wish I could still play. Or the second time, I am once again telling you I'm getting cut by the Raiders. Like just finding out. I don't know if that's cynical or what, but you just, again, man, it's like direct your actions. How are you going to choose to direct your next actions after accepting what you can't control?

And I feel like that's something that is just always with me. It did take time because, like you said, when you're younger, you're super stressed because when I was young and on practice squad and stuff, you want to be a superstar or you want this shit so fucking badly. you fear getting cut and everything else. Not that you ever doubt your ability, but you live with that fear in your mind when you lay down and you're just like, fuck, I need to perform. I had a bad day at practice. I had this, I had that.

But Sachi always says a good thing. You can have bad moments, but don't ever have a bad day. You can have bad moments. You can have bad plays. We can coach the fuck out of you on this play. You can see it this way, but don't ever go to bed feeling like you have a bad day. Once you have that bad moment,

figure out how you learn from that moment, how you can accept it, how you can then pivot and figure out and adapt to and overcome it. And then from there, that is the positive in that bad moment. Therefore, you don't eventually have a bad day. You don't ultimately have a bad day. Was it like that for you in the practice room with big fights? Was it more pressure?

Man, I... I've been doing wrestling since you were kids, so it's just like, no, this is... Because that's an individual sport, too. Like, you're fucking... I know the fears that come in with... When I was growing up wrestling, my brother was a stud, but, like,

I know the fear, Like you're going on the- Shout-out Cody Compton. No free shout-outs. No free shout-outs. But that little fear you have, like, what is that like? Yeah, what is that like for you? Well, I've been sitting here just listening to this. And I think it should be a testament to any young, young athlete, young entrepreneur,

young, young man or woman out there, this stuff takes time to mold yourself into who you want to be. What we're talking about, a Wilcompton, who was able to come in, get in where you fit in, be the inspiration, be the light to younger guys, even if it meant them passing you up or younger guys, knowing what your role is. You think about the 23, 25-year-old Will was scared to death of everything, whereas now the 32, 33-year-old Will comes in with this almost guardianship mentality. You're going to go out there, you're going to ball, you're going to do your thing. And it's kind of the same thing with me as well.

I mean, there's a, there's so much maturity in all the stuff that you're saying. And it's not like you had this moment of wisdom. It took you nine years to get here. And then the five years, the four years before that in Nebraska, and then the years in Missouri playing football, it takes decades to turn yourself into the man that you have become and the man that I have become and the man that you have become. And it's, it should, if anything, people shouldn't be listening about, man, I wish I had that kind of wisdom. I had that kind of mentality. Will's over here talking about gratitude. How are you going to have gratitude when you get cut two times in one week and all that?

And it becomes so much more like we talked about with my mindset coach who was sitting here, Jim Hensel. Like fighting for me is what I do, but it's not who I be. You know, it's not who I am as a person. I am not fully encompassed by the sport of mixed martial arts. And I have become a man inside the sport who can govern, negotiate, and navigate this entire life based upon all the experiences that I've had. You know, and I younger, when I was younger in my career, I had the blessing and the curse of getting shot out of a can. And 18 months into my career, I was the number three lightweight in the world. And everybody was talking about, I want to see him go fight in the UFC.

So that brought about a lot of self-inflicted pressure. You know, self-inflicted pressure where I'm sparring with the guy and I get hit. And all of a sudden, I think, well, shoot, now I've got to go get it back. And now I just lost a round. If I'm going to lose around of this, quote-unquote, nobody, how am I going to be the best lightweight in the world? and we start to put all this pressure on ourselves. And then you can only do that for so long where you either crash and burn

and never make it or you crash and burn, pull yourself back up and pull yourself out of that valley. For me, it was three losses in a row, 688 days without one in a fight. Then all of a sudden, you do get to a point and you've probably felt this too, like, this thing isn't that big of a deal. You know, I put so much pressure on myself,

like this whole thing is the end-all-be-all, and that's probably a good indicator that you probably have a little bit too much of yourself, esteem yourself worth yourself image tied up into what you do. Yeah, your identity. Which you got to, I don't, I can't, you can't sit here and say that you can't have your identity in it, in it, maybe not fully, but it needs to be in there, or else you're not going to, you're not going to get to where you need to go. You definitely have to have some obsession with you have to. Who you are and what you're doing. But yeah, you have to, I feel like,

have that perspective that you aren't fully, what that sport is like Will Compton, the football player and all this stuff because once that identity, gets attacked, you are very, like, triggered and you can, like, emotionally react back to it. Yeah. And it's just a self-fulfilling, self-defeating prophecy a lot of times, too, when you kind of get in there and we've probably all gone through it, you know, and it's just, it's a beautiful thing, and it's a blessing and it's curse, but once again, it's that journey that we talked about, the journey of getting to where you want to go. It really was the goal. The goal was being the man on the other side of this trial, this valley, this hardship. Right.

Jelly, what's like getting cut equivalent to in your industry? Or is it just like people just stop fucking listening and then you're just, you're kind of in your own head with it? Right, your biggest fear is that my nightmares are one day, everybody wakes up at the same time and decides, well, we're over with the jelly roll guy. You know what I mean? Yeah, bro.

I mean, race from everybody's personal playlist. And I know it's an unrealistic thing. It's good to be sitting there talking to y'all. Like today I came in here and dealt with my depression to help me so much because I'm in the opposite space mentally of y'all too. I'm working on my new album, and there is so much pressure in the writing room. Gotta be. And it's like, I've never, you know why?

Because I never had a bar. Right? I never had a bar before. It was like, I've just wrote thousands of songs. And the good news is I know one thing about myself. I'm willing to write thousands of more because I love it. So I know I'm going to write another good song sometime, right? So it's like, because I'm willing to write thousands of bad ones.

But that's cool. But it's like totally different because for the first time when you meet new producers, right? You walk into the room, they was like, hey, I was thinking we love Dead Man Walking up because it's like number 20-something on rock radio. Can I get one? There we go. There's go. 20-something on rock radio.

Let's go. Each other, roll. It's shameless plug, man. My first song ever is at the radio. Go away, man. My first song ever is at the radio and it's doing beyond any imagination I could have had. So he's like, I love Dead Man walking. I was thinking something like that.

And I was like, oh, I got a bar now. Like, now it's not like, just let's write a good song. It's like, can we write a Dead Man Walking? Yeah. You're just like, I don't just shit those. When you say bar, you're saying we have, you have something that's solidified. Before it was just like, let's write a good song. Now producers are like, if you've tried something, you know, the tempo and key of Save Me is this.

And you're just like, oh, Jesus, you think I'm going to write another Save Me today? You think I just woke up like, if I could just write 20 of a motherfucker, you know, we turn the Save Me button on and go write the biggest song ever. You know what I'm saying? I'll go write Rocket Man again, right not. Yeah. The Joe's John in here, Jesus Christ, we just turn it out and write them. You know what I'm saying? it's not how it works.

Yeah. So it's like, but you're in these rooms and they have that expectation now. Is that, is that we're improving you can do it. Okay, so that's where the pressure comes from.

There's more pressure. Dude, and you're just like, man, I just want to like smoke a joint and write a song, dude. I don't,

it might suck, man. Is that okay? Is that okay? If that's not okay with you, I'm not the guy to be in the room with. Right. Because I'm like,

I might fuck this up just so y'all know, I'm subject to like, get too drunk too early. I don't know. I might blow this whole thing. to come in here and write another save me today. Yeah.

Because I don't have the, you know, it's like, I'm not, that's not what I, you know, it's the old days, those songs were written because I just showed up and blew one and was like, yeah, man, let's just write a song. And probably because you, you, not like string bad days, but you just have your own process, like, hey, it's going to come when it comes. Yeah, for sure. And now you feel like the expectation of being in the room with these writers, like, hey, you guys are expecting me to pop this thing out, like, what, within the next couple days or what?

Listen, they do factory writing. That's why I say Ernest is the most talented. person I know, you can wake Ernest up out of a coma and put him in a room with somebody and he'll just start writing a big song. That's just who Ernest is and how he does it. It is not how Jelly does it. I have a totally different approach.

I got to feel like writing. I got to want to write. You know what I'm saying? Admittedly, it might have to be a substance involved for me to be to feel maximum creative. You know what I'm saying? We're earnest. You could literally wake him up dead sleep.

Hey man, sit up, man. I got an idea. He's like, me too. Fuck, do you dream of that or something? Yeah, me too. Me too. It's like, was you fucking dream of that song? You know, where it's just a little different for me because the music's more cathartic.

So it's more of a, you know, I'm more of a deep thinker about it. So, yeah, I needed to hear y'all's mentality about how this shit doesn't stress y'all. He's just like, yeah, man, that's not my dinner. And you're like, yeah, man, I'm fucking a veteran in the locker room, dog, you get cut. No. Like, fuck y' y'all. Fucking, I'm over here. But, man, my butt holes puckered tight every time I walk in one of these meetings now.

Well, I think there's a certain amount of healthy. hate that he says that because you, I don't feel like we are just, we just feel that way. Well, kind of I mean, but I, but I think there was, there was moments where that,

that pressure was, was very important. There was moments and, and, and some days it gets to you, some days it doesn't, and sometimes in some seasons, uh,

and you just, you, you, you kind of navigate through it and you experience through it, you know? I saw all the advice about something. Yeah. I got everybody asking me now,

is it going to be a rock album? Are you going to do a rap album? Are you going to do a country album? And I never had a, deal with that before. I just wrote music and just it lived wherever it fell. So for the first time of my life, it's like, I don't know how to deal with that, because now when I'm in a

writing room, you know, I'm thinking to myself, what producer do I call? Because I don't know if I want to write. I don't know what I'm writing. You know what I mean? Like, I never thought about it before. It's almost like, fuck, I watched Joe Dirt with my daughter the other day. Best day ever, by the way. I took Bailey on a side tangent. I took Bailey on

this movie trend, right, where I make her watch all the old, like, my classics. She calls them classical movies like I'm making her watch black and white. Like gone with the wind. Yeah. But it's like my classic. I'm like, yo, so like we watch, we watch two, we watch an old marathon the other day. I have a list of my phone.

And we just check them off as we go. It's like 30 movies I wanted to see them. And every time we do it, we'll watch a funny one and a sad one. And Joe Dirt was the funny one this day, right? Forrest Gump was the sad one. Right? So we watched Joe Dirt. And it was like, first of all, I've never related to a story more than I think I

personally relate to Joe Dirt's story. But it was like when the dude was like, have you ever thought of like cutting the mullet? And he goes, yeah, I guess I could do that. Like he'd never thought about it. That's how I felt when somebody was like, are you going to do a rock or rap album? I'm like, never thought of it. Never crossed my mind until you said it.

Now I can't quit fucking thinking about it. Now it's the only thing I'm thinking about it. Because before you were just making music, jelly roll was just making music. Now it's like, now that you have the bar, you have the pressure. Now you have to think about what direction you go. you're saying? Never thought about it before. Yeah, I mean...

Yeah, that's tough. I feel like... That's weird, right? It is, yeah. Because, well, because you also have that, I mean, you have a unique sound that is also kind of between both, right? I was thinking that, too.

I feel like you bridge a lot of these genres into, like, your own thing. Because when people comment certain things about the pod and you think, oh, should we do it this way, should we do it that way? And then it's just, like, stuck on my head. head 24-7 that, you know, hey, guys, we should do this. I feel like you just get caught up in comparing where you should be based on what

somebody else's expectation is, whereas you've gotten to where you are and we've all gotten to where we are based on genuinely being ourselves. I think when you're like, when you are uniquely yourself, it all comes together. You know what I mean? If you get caught too much up into the rap or the rock, now if you've got something in the basement that you've been wanting to do that you know is yourself, and And there's there's inspiration behind it that you're bringing up. You're like, I've been wanting to do this.

Now I have the platform. And now is the time to do something like this. Fucking go for it. But if it's something that I feel like you're sitting there leaning on because you feel like a couple people said something and it places an expectation in your head. Because, again, I'm only going off of what I see because I am so obsessed with getting better at Bustin with the boys that I fall into that stuff too, that you start to change your expectation just because you're comparing it to somebody else's.

Right. If that makes sense. Now, I don't know what goes in your head as far as how much you love being in the rap or the rock. Like, I think you're talented. And again, like he said, I do think you kind of bring it all together to where you can kind of call it whichever genre you want to. But I think you're just being unique to yourself.

Jelly, they're asking too, because you would talk about either on here or Ernest, you were talking about you had a country, a rock and a rap album coming too. That's why they're asking, right? Because you were already talking about doing that? Yeah, well, I just, I knew that the sound was so. fused and this might be getting too deep into how the sausage is made but there's like

inside baseball unfortunately even though I don't believe the genres are a thing or should be a thing corporate America still does and they want you to like pledge allegiance to one you know what I mean like when you're on

I got to walk a fine line here when you're on rock radio rock expects you to represent rock music which I think I do represent the spirit of rock music better than anybody. I mean, y'all, you know, y'all know who I am. It's like country music. Cut the tape on it. Yeah, it's like country music. Y'all know me.

Cut the song now, baby. You'll get it. You all know what I do, yeah. So show me drunk and falling off stage. Insert clip here. But it's like, you know, country music is like, dude, I could sing, you know, amazing grace. It's going to sound a little country. I'm fucking from Tennessee, dude. You know what I mean? I can't help how I sound when I

sing, period. It's just a, it's a textural thing, right? I can't change that. and I grew up in hip-hop, so I feel like, it's like, I feel like one of them Mormons or something. These are my three wives, and I love them all equally. It's like, you know, what it's like? And, you know, we all have a unique relationship in our own way. So it's been trying to figure it out. But you saying that just, and that's what I've been teaching, trying to preach to myself,

I needed an affirmation. Is that what they call it? I needed an affirmation. I needed somebody to confirm my thought was like, just do what you do. And let them figure out what genre. it is. That's what I need to do. Just turn music in and go, y'all figure it out. Guys, the whiskey distillers at Whistle Pig Whiskey have cut loose. The piggyback pair of the piggyback

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party one time for Yellow Wolf with Interscope Records. It was a private party, right? And it's like right the night before the Grammys and all the big wigs are there from Interscope and Yellow Wool's performing till it's gone and all that stuff that was just just mega hits, right? And I'm with Yellow and we're upstairs and they are giving, they're, it's catered by Whistlepig and they're just giving free shots, never heard of this liquor because at the time I was way too poor to afford it. So I was like, this is crazy.

So because it was free, I drink as much of it as I possibly could. I got absolutely redneck drunk right there in the middle of this big Grammy party. And I met Paul Rosenberg, the guy who does all the M&M stuff. Have you all ever seen him? I thought he would look like you, right? In my mind, in my mind, he would be, you know what I'm saying, right? You feel me? Very.

In my mind, I thought he'd be a littler fella, you know, kind of, because that's how he sounds on the song, more of like a business guy. dude, this dude looks like a goddamn offensive lineman. This dude is like fucking 6-6 with the shoulders of Taylor LeWan and the girth of Rogers Affold. I was like, what in the fuck is happening right now? I shook his hand and was like,

holy fuck, you sound so different on the M&M songs. I was that drunk that I'm talking to fucking Paul Rosenberg about what I thought he looked like. Yep, shout out to whistle pig. Yeah, yeah, drink your whistle pig. That's a fucking fire. little ad. Do you have to choose

one producer for an album? No, no, no, no. I always dance around. Yeah, I worked the room. Okay. Yeah, yeah, for sure. So it's, that's kind of one of my things is, but it's like, with new success comes new opportunities, which both of y'all get, which is new to me. Y'all've been here a lot longer of me, right? As far as in the successful seat of life, so it's like, I don't know about that. I kind of snuck in the back door

and hoped didn't nobody notice me. Hadda boy. Oh, no, man. She's going to roll, baby. Yeah, dude. But it's like, so with that- I see gotten in my system. Back with a little white back in the day, man. So there's new opportunities there.

So you're meeting with new producers. And, you know, you're doing the, you're doing the man dance again for the first time. You know, it's like, oh, okay. So it's like, you know, it's like dating somebody again. And it's like, well, I'm happily married. I don't want to start dating all over, but I know I need to for growth.

You know, so I don't know. It's just been a unique thing I'm going through. And when y'all started bringing up y'all's shit, you were like, yeah, man, I just, you know, fuck it. I'm a veteran. I was just like, God, I needed to hear this today because it's not how I feel about where I'm at my career. I think this, whenever you get on the other side of the album that you're making, and then you see it for what it is, and then you realize you put way too much pressure

on yourself during that time frame. And then to me, that's how you, that's how I kind of learn and look back, like, man, we took that shit way too seriously. And you can kind of like, all right, you forgive yourself, and then move on and know how to approach it the next time. That's right there. That's where the rub is. I think it's, and that's kind of what I was alluding into it's okay to put that type of pressure on yourself to get what needs to be done, done, to then have the success or the failure. We've all gone through that and look back and say, man, I would put way too much pressure on myself. And then you grew to hear.

And now the next time you have a little bit of more of a unique perspective, and you're probably still going to put it. That's that age thing you were talking about early coming from age. Some things are meant for the skillets. Some things are meant for the crock pot. Yeah, exactly. God. There we go.

Let's go, man. You're jealous and jizzes. today, boy. Time under tension. You know, like the longer, the longer the journey, the more, the tension for the longer periods of time, Crockpot. And the good news is for the new album, I've got to put this. I'm not in a rush.

I got to put that quote of my notes. I'm not in a rush. So it's like, that's the cool part. I don't have to grill this album. I can smoke it. So I'm not in rush. That's a good spot to be in, too. Because then you also know you're not making decisions based upon unrealistic

timelines and expectations and and even just too just thinking about okay i'm i'm going to find the right amount of wisdom at the right amount at the exact right time to know exactly what moves to make relationships to have hands to shake producers to pick genres to lean towards all those different things i'm a big deal with y'all offline all right let's uh this is a good transition uh this is from red cast rob dash r ip john madden definitely rip john madden but redcaste robb As you continue to get older, how do you stay motivated every day, even on hard days? What do you focus on to get there? Mike, what do you got for us?

I know you got some gems with that one. Man, I mean, well, it's an interesting time for me. Obviously, I'm getting older and what I've been doing, you know, is mixed martial arts. I know that road will end in the coming years. You know, I'm closer to the end than I am the very beginning. So for me, I'm continuing to take a step back and look at my life from a 30,000-foot view of who Michael Chandler is. who he is as a father, a husband, an athlete, a businessman, all these different avenues.

Relationships have become more important to me because I've been so focused on my craft, and eventually that craft ends. So then you're only going to be left with what you've built, the legacy that you have and the relationships that you have around you, which you can continue to create more relationships. But, I mean, for me, I've been thinking, I have been thinking about, because my career isn't over by any means. So I have years left ahead of me.

But I know eventually this thing's going to end. And I think about, okay, how do I want to be remembered? And because people ask me that all the time, like, hey, what do you want your legacy to be? And really, I think part of my legacy is never thinking about my legacy. It's just constantly working every single day, you know. So as I've gotten older, continuing to take care of my body, continuing to squeeze every ounce of happiness and joy. and impact I can out of this entire career that I've had for such a very long time. And then I'm starting to lay the pieces of the puzzle together for what's next.

How do you stay motivated, though, on the hard times? Especially, I know you deal with depression and stuff like that. Like, how do you stay motivated on the fucking hard days? Do you have experience in being motivated? Or I know when you get in the tank, like, I don't know about all the clinical depression and things that can go on. But I know when you get in the tank, you can kind of. to be in the tank, but on days where you're kind of

towing the line, you know, on those hard days, how do you guys, like, you know, stay motivated? I got a write. That's your outlet? That's your outlet. I got a right. No matter what, some days I'll be really down and my wife will, like, push me out the door, like, go right. Like, go to the studio by yourself

and just pick up a pen and like, she took my phone from me before. Like, just go up there and open up your laptop and just write. And that's where, you know, some of the best songs my career came out of too. It's always been my thing. It's something I always had.

I was in and out of the juvenile system. Most of my younger life, I went into great detail on this story, story on this podcast. So it's like you spend so much time getting moved around from this juvenile prison to this halfway house to this group home.

One thing they could never take from me was my pen and pad. And that's kind of what kept me in the music, to be honest. So for me, it's just making myself, even if I don't want to, you gotta go fucking right. I'm sure for you,

it's like, I gotta go work out. Dwayne Johnson says that that's his anchor. His anchor is that gym. The world can shit on him, but he's going to go in there and throw something around. You don't care how he physically feels, mentally feels, spiritually feels. He's going to go in here and throw some weight around. What's that anchor for you? I think for me, when times are like hard, I feel like there's too much going on in my head.

Like I'm thinking of too many things at once. So I feel like for me, like staying motivated, I have to have clarity with what I'm going after. You know what I mean? So if I have, for example, if I'm looking at staying motivated with football, right, which this past year, I had a hard time staying motivated with training every day. I would tell the boys, even when we're going over to the gym, like I would have a tough time staying motivated to train for football because football, you know, with UFC, it's such a violent sport. You have to do these hard things to stay in shape, to stay strong, to stay fast, all these things because if you slack in one it ends up coming back to you.

I mean, so much so that during Thanksgiving, I was telling my family, my mom and dad, my brothers, how I was going to hang it up. Like, I was going to be done. I was starting to prepare for the next chapter. But it was so hard to stay motivated. But during like those foggy times of staying motivated and balancing the pod and trying to train and staying in shape for football, they're like, hey, am I going to play this year? Am I not going to play?

I feel like it's just something where. it's written down for me on what I'm trying to achieve. So from there, I'm able to know with clarity what I'm accomplishing. And if I get, if it gets too hard for me, it's just asking myself, like,

what is it? Like, what's actually bothering me? If it's too much going on on my head, like if there's too many things to where I'm too much inside the box, here's a little gym for you. If you're inside the box, you can't read the directions.

So zooming out, getting outside of the box and seeing the whole picture, if you can zoom out more, you kind of see with clarity, like what's going on. Like, okay, I have too much, I'm too cluttered in this area. Or I can usually figure out that I've been sleeping in or not necessarily sleeping in, but laying in my bed longer than I should. Or dragging ass downstairs longer than I need to before I go show up for a 9 a.m. workout and I'm showing up at like 9.45, right? And if I know that's jogging me down, I can usually ask myself

the right question. So I'm like, yo, you just got to fucking wake up and do your shit. Like you got to, you got to set an alarm you got to wake up whether it's breathing or making the coffee or like doing my routine before i show up and get there at nine o'clock have a good workout to where i'm doing the work out and I'm not checking my my phone and making sure I'm stuff with busting's going all right Twitter any of that kind of shit I feel like when it gets foggy up here I can usually identify like what's going on and it's something it's usually clarity for me like once I get clarity and what the avenue is that's when I wake up the next morning and try and like nip that in the butt and then that usually gives me the momentum that I need to stay motivated or or change the direction I need to go sometimes like you're just on the wrong path and you need to figure out something different

that you need to do clarity clarity and progress yeah I mean that's where that's exactly what you were talking about just making some sort of progress in your lane right what what makes you feel alive what makes you feel whole what makes you feel like you've got something done is writing what makes you feel alive and feel like you're getting something done getting clarity and that's the thing too even just going back to a guy who writes for a living write songs for a living I mean just as a in human nature as a human being. A pin in a pad is the easiest, most accessible, cheapest thing you can possibly almost get out there. And even just sitting down and feeling like you're cluttered, a lot of times this, you know, this guy just asked about being unmotivated. A lot of time we feel unmotivated

because we are so overloaded with what we think we need to do or we have too much junk going on or we are admittedly sleeping in too much or we're not sleeping enough or we're making bad decisions that are continuing to add to the more mental fog. And then even for me, too, going back to, which I didn't touch on earlier, is even just the gratitude, waking up every morning feeling grateful for what I have, even just the small things. I found myself when I'm in, when am I in my most grateful state, when I'm continuing to think about the little things that I do have, the little wins that I do have, the blessings that I do have in my life, it's kind of hard to be foggy, negative, unmotivated, you know, so that's what really helps me. I start, I've learned

to really zero in on what I need, right? Like, sometimes when I'm really depressed, Will, I'll have a need that I don't realize there's a need until I really think about it. Like little needs. Like every now and then I need to get in my truck and drive to this old country diner that I drive to, it's like an hour outside of town that I go clear my thoughts. And it's like my way of thinking. I won't listen to the radio. I'll crack the window to hear that wind come in, let that weed smoke out at the same time.

And I'll drive out there, just dead silence phone off. And every now and then I just need that. You know what I mean? Every now and then I need to go see my uncle. He lives out in the country. and I'll just drive out there and just pop up and knock on the door. You'd think I always think something's wrong. I just needed to come see you, man.

I don't even know what I needed to talk to you about. I just felt the need that this is what I'm so caught up in this other shit, this daddy shit and this jelly roll shit that this husband's shit that I just, you know, I need to get caught in somebody else's shit. What are you doing? What's happening around here? Killed anything lately? Are you still cutting the grass?

What are you doing out here, old man? You know what I'm saying? Give me your shit for a minute. You know what I mean? I need to get away from my shit. And that helped me a lot of my depression is learning those. moments of like, if I ever call one of y'all and I just started asking you questions, I just need to get away from my shit.

Drag me deep into yours. Which, too, you got to mention too, even what you said earlier. You knowing what you need, sometimes you need to take that ride, even but having people around you that know what you need. Like you said, your wife takes your phone away from just go up there and write. You need this. Having the people around you that know what you need and are willing to, you know, embrace it with you and knowing exactly, they know you as well as you know themselves,

whether that's your significant other, whether that's your team, whether that's your business partners, whether that's your family, whatever it is, the people around you knowing what you need as well. Right. If you're somebody who doesn't have people around you or someone around you, I think that the common denominator of all of our answers to is you end up getting, you end up getting to the point of the conversation you're having with yourself to where you ask yourself the right question or you get to like, yeah, I need to go do this. I need to go out to my uncles. I need to call somebody and do this. You get to figuring out what that question is that you need to answer to have the clarity.

And then from there, like you said, you make progress. Like once you get progress like that's what humans usually need to begin with is just finding some kind of progress and some kind of momentum. What do we got next, Alex? We can jump into football live and enough. I know you got Mr. Tennessee over here. Yeah, here we go. Come on, baby.

It's the best tweet of the year, dog. The tweet is underappreciated. I demand more retweets on it today. Send us up to stab up the flagpole for me, Pam. We are. A lot of people over there. Run is down for me, Dave. We're shifting the energy.

We're getting into Titans playoff. Jellyroll tweeted last week. I want to be the 12th man for the Titans playoff game. I want to stab that sword in the middle of the field. Let's go. I'm so fired up about this year. Titan the fuck up. I added the fuck part, but I felt like it.

I was hoping a Titan organization. You said to give a claim of the tape. The opportunity. that they let me stab the sword in the field. I went to, so the organization had brought me out and put me in the cool suite for the 49ers game.

Right, I was supposed to go see Blas and them, but y'all were, y'all, I heard y'all didn't want me over there. Oh, yeah, no, that's what I heard. Yeah, no, no, no, no. He said, no, that's what I heard. I still stand by what I said. What it happened was, I had missed her, but she came to me like, y'all,

I want to take you down to the suite. And I was like, yeah, I want to go see them for sure. But, yeah, man, it's like I went, And I seen the pain train was the 12th man that day. And he came out and put the sword on the field. I was like, that's what I need to do. I was like, that's what I need to do. I need to go out there and put the, you know.

You'll be trying to call somebody right now? Man, we should call somebody. Yeah. Somebody right now. I'll call Nate Bain. Make it happen. Jell, you didn't talk to Nate because Nate was trying to connect me with you. Yeah.

Nate's the homie, I think. I think Nate's the one that's been, I got a whole bunch of them. They took real good care of us. I said, I couldn't bring Bailey, unfortunately, because he was out of town. It was a week for Christmas. but I took the whole band. I brought my whole band

and some post-tour stuff. We went up there and got drunk, and then we went over to Kid Rock Suite and kept getting drunk, and it was awesome. It was incredible. We were calling Nate Bain. Shout out the boy, Nate Bane.

Let's fucking go. That's what I need to stab the sword, baby. I know. The organization is like, do not answer rules. Yeah, exactly. Like, hey, can I suit up this weekend? They think you're going to suit up this weekend.

Oh, that was our... He's on the phone with the other person that's going to be the 12th man. Right now, we missed it by three minutes, dude. Hey, and I do want to be out there this weekend. Yeah. So I just went on this... Hey, can I be the 12th man?

So I just went on this rant on Instagram on the way here. Tech 9 got to perform at the Kansas City Chiefs Halfton. game yesterday. Wow. Right. First of all, local guy to Kansas City, just watching him do it. I mean, we talked that week, and he was like, I can't even describe my feeling. He just left sound check and called me. He's like, this is wild. And I was just went on this rant. This is how I hope this plays out, because I want y'all to remember this and bring this back up in a few weeks. I hope we beat the Bengals, obviously, and I hope they beat the bills. And I hope we get the rematch of the 2020-AFC championship game here and next.

Nashville this time. Now, here's history. Tech 9 and Travis O'Gwen hosted my family to the AFC Championship at Arrowhead Stadium in 2020. I want to return the favor, and I want to host them in Nashville for this one, and I want to beat that fucking ass, baby. Just like we had to walk out Arrowhead Stadium with our head down, and Travis was a good sport about it, which I hope I'm half the sport he was. Because I'm going fucking crazy.

And I tell you something else you can quote on here, too. If we go to the Super Bowl, when we go to the Super Bowl, me and my daughter will be there, period. You already got the tickets? No, but there's not a price. I have a price in my head that I'm willing to pay. What are you willing to pay? I don't want to say it out loud.

Because I got a couple tickets now. We need to talk. Dang, dude. I'm just kidding. Okay, I'm going to say. Hey, man. I don't know. I don't want to say it out loud, but it's the number.

number I have, there's no way we don't get in the stadium. I believe you. You just sold your tickets over me? No, we're not, we're not, we're not, we're not, we're not allowed to serve our Super Bowl tickets. Okay. All right, do you hear what I got for them? No, we have to, what I'm saying is we're not allowed to buy our Super Bowl tickets

and then up charge and sell above the face value. Okay. Well, I'll back door you some. Yeah, we'll, yeah. Yeah. We can, I'll throw them to you. I'll just give them to you. For the pod, like, I will give you, I will gift you the pot.

I will gift you the tickets to the Super Bowl. Yeah. Yeah. Listen. Oh, well, y'all are in here sniping for my tickets. You might be doing a giveaway. I got a 13-year-old kid. You might be doing a giveaway for real, honestly.

We're about listening. I think we are going to be doing a Super Bowl ticket giveaway, so be on the lookout for that. Doug, I'm. He doesn't give these. He didn't gave these tickets to me. He didn't gave them to y'all. Yeah, man. He didn't give them to some fans on Twitter.

All the boys. All the boys are getting tickets. No, we'll get you taken care of. No, I'm just saying we're in here now. We're on the farewell tour. I know a couple of people. This is the year to call in the favor. Shaw wants us to come out for the fight companion to do a fight companion during the Super Bowl.

Really? Yes. The Calabasasas? Yeah, we'll do that that Saturday before the Super Bowl. Bro, me and you. It's during the Super Bowl. It's on Sunday? It's on during the Super Bowl.

Like, you know how they watch the fight and then do their fighter convenience? He wants to watch the-hearts. I know. Yeah. I'll go with you if the Titans don't go to the Super Bowl, but if the Titans go to the Super Bowl, I know Taylor's all in. I'll be telling y'all what's up because I'm going to be.

Because I want to be at the Super Bowl, too, if they're in it. But I could do with, I mean, I could do with just watching it. Huh? Yeah, that would be tough, man. If the Titans are in the Super Bowl, that would be tough. You're saying to watch it on the fight, the football companion. Right, yeah. You guess it would be called the football companion?

Yeah, the football companion with Brennan Shaw. I think I'm going to do the fight companion in the next month or two. I've been talking to. Right. We go out there and get lit. We were. We're going to get drunk, but I'm going to push the pace. I'm going to go out there and see what everybody's made up.

The Hillary roll is so funny, man. You're going to be in L.A. out in L.A. no matter what? For the Super Bowl or in general? Yeah. Just in general during that week. I don't want to time stamp it in case I'm wrong, but I think I'll be out there for the next month's fight. Yeah.

I'll just say it, I think. Yeah, I was supposed to go to Scottsdale to record the album. He was, uh... So I think I'm going to be out there and just fly to L.A. and do the Israel-A.? On the fight companion? Is that in Anaheim? Yeah, no, they're fighting in Houston, but I think Shab's sheds in Calabasas. I'm going to do the fight companion with them.

Yeah, we were talking about doing it for the national championship game, but there were so many moving parts that week of being cut, not getting cut. I'm like, hey, you know, I think I'll be able to come out now. You know, I just got cut. It'll be, okay, yeah, let me know. And then I got picked on the next day. Hey, man, I'm back on the team. I don't think I'll be able to make it.

Because, see, we were talking about before the Colts game, right? And I'm like, the way the Colts were playing, hey, after our last game on January 9th, I should be able to fly out to L.A. for the National Championship on the 10th. I was like, the only chance it might not happen is if we beat the Colts this weekend, which the Colts were hot. So it was crazy when we ups, set them and beat the Colts at Indy.

And so when we beat them, I'll say, hey, man, I don't know if I'll be able to make it. Because it looks like we can make the playoffs now. Did you know we had a 4% chance after that ass open in KC? 4%. The Raiders had a 4% chance of making the playoffs after that ass open in KC. Because of other teams needing to win and lose,

you're saying? Or just your guys' few versus them heads up. Well, I think, like, when they're going over it, like the chances when they're talking about the whole playoff picture, The Raiders had a 4% chance to get into the playoffs based on all the different variables of wins. So many teams had to lose. That's how the Steelers were. Right, right.

It was crazy. We had two teams in the AFC that just kind of almost just blindsidingly snuck in the playoffs last game of the season. Right. And it looks like people were already talking about it, but adding those two extra teams, both seven seats got absolutely destroyed. Yeah. Who you think is coming out of that Kansas City Bills game? I, I know you want the Chiefs. Well.

But that ass who up and the Bills are coming out with? Yeah, I mean, I tell you what I was hoping. I was secretly hoping the Steelers would have won and just get Kansas City up there. Correct, because that would have been best. That would have definitely been getting best kids. I didn't admit that because I love Tekkenil. They're my homies, but I was secretly, go big ban. But it didn't, it didn't pan out for me.

I can tell you this. I think that they'll play at Kansas City, right? Okay. Yeah, I don't know, man. It's hard to walk out of Arrowhead with a win. You've been Arrowhead a few times, I'm sure, right? Yeah, it's nuts. But the mafia's going to travel.

Oh, yeah, no, for sure. They travel here. Last I walked out of Arrowhead. We just got done ripping up that logo midfield, breaking it down and got them cheeks clapped. Well, does the score of that game? It was my first game back. I was like, oh, shit.

I think it ends up being the Titans. It's going to be the Titans. It's going to be the Titans and the Green Bay Packers. I said it and I'm saying it. Hey, Blas, how are you feeling about that? sucks to be wrong. I hate it for you. Hey, the Niners started fast last night, man.

I was fired up. They looked good. But the way the Cowboys were coming back at the end, they got to play complimentary football a little bit better. Yeah, no, I agree. You could also blame that on, like, the fact that they got a couple injuries through the game, too. And then you could always,

you could always count on Jimmy giving you a slight bit of hope. I mean, he tends to just get careless with the ball and give you one that you could build on. It's like Oprah. Is there any truth of the room? You get a-ball. You get a-ball might move to Dallas. I'm just kidding.

He don't throw picks like that. I'm joking. Is it? I just heard. Hey, yeah, we got to cut that out. Sorry, Jimmy. I ain't mean that. I was just making a joke.

I heard it was Dallas. Are they enforcing the vaccination for the... And I heard, listen, you know me. I'm obviously like the worst rumor mill ever, but from what I hear, from what I hear is there is that there is the backup and it's supposed to be to Dallas due to some COVID shit. Yeah, he pulled up some article about it. Jelly just looks like he has all the conspiracies.

Like, all the rumors. You know, that's what I heard. I'm over at 5 in the morning stone reading stuff. He's on Reddit. Yeah, yeah, yeah. They found some article here that might back what I'm saying. I don't know. I hope that because the tickets are, it's a way easier flight from here to Dallas

to this here. Dallas is the backup, right? Yeah. Yeah. Jerry's world. I'm hoping. I mean, that was a bad. I know I can probably get a couple tickets in a suite over there.

I got some country music buddies that got some pool over there. There you go. It should be the Raiders coming in Nashville this weekend. That's what it should be. The Raiders beat themselves, bro. We beat ourselves. God don't like Ugly. Did you?

He ain't seen these teeth, man. He must not sell these teeth. God don't like ugly. They cut you. Did you watch the game? Playoff Willie might have made it somewhere, though. That's what I said, man. It's arguable.

God don't like ugly, man. They're going to regret. It's arguable that the boys lost their juice when they cut playoff Willie. That's the record with, playoff Willie. Four and one. Six and seven? They were six and six and six going into the playoff game, I think six and seven. It's arguable.

It's debatable. Not a number, guys. What if? Yeah. What are you worried about with the Bengals this week? Joe Burrow and Jamar Chase. Just being swagger. Joe Burrow and Jamar Chase.

It'll be interesting to watch the Hendrickson throughout the week with his concussion protocols, but their defense is solid. but Hendrickson leading their team in sacks. He'll actually be going up against the boy. That'll be a fun matchup to watch. Strong bullrusher. So the boy... Taylor gonna spank that ass.

Yeah, he'll get... Yeah, this fucking play right here, dude. God. Where the ref blew the whistle in the middle of the snap and the Raiders stopped playing and then the guy catches the touchdown pass. All of a sudden he's wide open, but everybody forgets that the whistle was blown.

Everybody's like, oh, he would have caught the touchdown pass anyway. But the whistle was blown mid. play. As Burrow was Yeah, the DB stopped running and then he catches the ball. Oh, he was wide open. Yeah, because the whistle was blown. That is some bullshit, though.

Okay. Per the rules, an inadvertent whistle, some random-ass whistle in the play, the play is dead and they redo the play, right? We're bringing up the rule right here. There we go, highlight it for me. When an official sounds his whistle

while the ball is still in play, the ball becomes dead immediately, Jelly. If the ball is in player possession, the team in possession may elect to put the ball in play or it has been declared dead or to replay the down. If the ball is loose, hang on, hang on, let me read it again.

There's some irony here that's better at reading ads than you are NFL rules. Are you able to read that? It's got the red font. If the ball is a loose ball where it's, resulting from a fumble backward pass or an illegal pass forward. No, we don't need that one. You pretty much come.

It was the first one? That's all right. We got that. That's what we can use for the clips. Synapsis is, if the ball is in play, the ball is dead when the whistle sounds. Yes. Yeah. Yes.

Run it back. And you got to replay the down. Now you don't know what happens. They should bring you back and run it back. Don't, right? Get Willie out there spinning, man. How about the way the Dallas? How about the way the Dallas?

ended. You're not back on. I will, but does Cincinnati have an argument then if they do make that call

because technically it wasn't out of bounds? If they, what's up? Because technically it wasn't out of bounds, which is why they referenced. They would have to replay the down.

Right, but then you repeat. You fans would probably be upset, right? Oh, yeah, they'd be pissed because, you know, they're arguing

that they're due is wide open and that would have been a touch on no matter what. I hate to break it to them. They're wrong. But they replaying. play third and four, you don't know what happens after that. Could they get a first down? Yes, they could. Obviously, I'm saying the boys, the Raiders are stopping them. They're kicking a

field goal. And then at the end of the game, when the boys are driving, all they have to do is make a field goal. They don't have to score a touchdown. Tighten up. But the Raiders would have been coming to Nashville this week. What's just what we needed you do? I'm so sick of you wearing the fucking black. You're back home, dude. We just got to talk about that. I want to talk about that. No, it's so. I know. Let's go. You can roll with them. off Willie shirts, but after that, by the time the Bengals game starts, can we get some blue back on the boy? No.

Oh, yeah, yeah. We're back. I wore this just to let people know we got to give a few thousand dollars to Derek Carr's share. Okay. So I'm just letting people know we sold, how many, 500, about 500? We sold about 500 of these things, bro. Holy shit.

All the, you know. What's up? Now, Mike, what were you about to bring up with the 49ers? Oh, I said Dallas. Yeah, how the Dallas came in. When Jack Prescott Would I bet Horshit situational football by the Dallas Cowboys

Yeah and I think 80% of the people Didn't realize that what the line The line judge or the The ref umpire Whatever position he was in had to come and had to touch the ball Before it could be snapped Correct I didn't know that

I think that is a rule Somebody you'll have to fact check me I said correct but I That was a delusional response I mean that's what they said on the broadness I'll make him read another rule Yeah Bring up an ad or something

The reason why that is Mike The umpire needs to establish a neutral zone. Yeah, where it actually, okay, yeah, yeah. We're like, okay, we got to set it. So when that happens, here's what you got to do. He slides, Dak slides, right? Dak needs to immediately get up, just like you've seen Larry Fitzgerald do on the Cardinals.

Because this is going to be, Taylor and I was talking about Friday tape and variable in situational football. The Dallas Cowboy game is going to be the Friday tape based on the situational football that they were playing. Dack needs a slide and immediately get up and run to that ref and hand him the football. Or if somebody else is going to do it like Larry Fitzgerald would run

and grab the ball from somebody, like if there's an alignment, grab it, give the ball to the ref. Because you never don't set the ball down yourself. Number one, like you just move it up a yard. Yeah. Like the ref has to adjust the football. Never toss it to them. Never count on a ref to catch a football.

They're on athletic. You know what I mean? You hand the rep the ball so they can place it. And then they would have had time. They would have had a second left. Not saying they would have won the game, but that was a dramatic ending. I was like, bro.

It was dramatic and it was anti-climactic because everybody, I was like, oh, I wanted to see a, you know, at least one more shot. I can't believe the Niners weren't protecting the sidelines more. They were just giving them chunk plays, bro, to get it down there. They were talking about, like, that's, you don't want to start a two-minute drive. You couldn't start it any better because they started with the hook and ladder, and they gained, like, I think, like, 40 yards. And then they went with that.

They ran that out to the sideline. It's like you couldn't have asked for a better start. Yeah. Oh, they were, it was like, oh, shit, they might pull this off. Watching the Niners and the Cowboys play each other

was so nostalgic of like the 90s. Yes. Right? I felt like I was warped in time. This whole playoff bracket for the NFC. Yeah. It is just like, it is just insanely just nostalgic of like that era.

I had to call my dad, my old man up because back when I was growing up, I was a Cowboys fan. And I was like, yo, Witness while the Niners and Cowboys are, like, playing again? It was, bro. It was nostalgia.

I got a question. Do they only use one football the whole time, the whole game, or do they change that football out? Kickers got their own ball that they use. That was my morning stoner thought. Before I even knew, I was coming on the podcast, which in true Will Compton fashion, he gave me a 47-minute warning. He said, always in forever. You're trying to come and bust with the boys?

Always and forever, Bubba. You could be here in an hour? This team has spoken. Okay. Stoner thought. I woke up thinking about that. They all looked the same. Yeah.

It's the same one. I never say I'm switching. He used the same ball. That would be wild. What if it gets scuffed? A lot of people. Somebody steps on. Does it deflate?

All that was my morning waking bag. That's kind of a weird thing. Well, what's the minimum to get a Super Bowl ring? What do you need to, like, what's the required? to get a ring. Like you'd get a ring for the Raiders. The three games you're saying? Is that the...

No clue. I think if you're on the roster at any point in the year, you're part of it. You know what it is. No, I really don't. People were telling me that I was going to get a ring.

So that's when I was like, I need these boys to win. I wanted him to win. Then I needed them to win. Just make a comeback at the Super Bowl party. They usually have been, what, in August? The follow of the next year. It's like going back and be like...

Oh, yeah. Year 10. Live broadcast. days too, right? Get it on the bus. Take the bus to me. Not even on the squad. Hey, when do I get my turn with the Lombardi?

Yeah, I'll play of Willie. When do I get my shout at the Lombardi? I heard we all get a chance with it. Just call the guy you called earlier. I guess he's with the Titans, whatever. Call that guy. On the Raiders team. Hey, don't forget the voice went on that.

The Titans win now. You got the Lombardi sitting on here. Yeah. Listen. Oh, yeah, for sure. I got to be on that podcast. Putting steak in now, but... Just cigars and piggyback and whiskey pig pig whiskey. Yes, godly.

Just celebrating. Fuck, I've never wanted to do one more. Huh? Whistle pig. Did I say whistle pig whiskey whiskey pig? Sorry, I was already dreaming, man. Ready for the whiskey, that's it. It's already dreaming.

Yeah, just vibes, bro. That'd be a good time. We have anything else that we hit on, do we hit on all the playoff stuff? Pretty much. You guys really, you don't think Tom's got a shot here? Yeah. Of course Thomas. Of course Tom has a shot, dude.

I think when he said Packers are coming out, I know the Niners are going to Green Bay. I do think the Niners have a shot. It's just, I'll tell you what, if A-Rod, Devante is connecting early and often, it's going to be tough to get out of Green Bay, dude. It really is. because they run the ball will and they play defense. If they're not able to stop the Packers, they're going to have a long day. I don't think it matters who wins out of Arizona and L.A.

I think the Buccaneers will take care of that, and it'll be a fun NFC championship between the Buccaneers and out of respect for Blas, whoever comes out of the Packer 49er game. Do you think if the chiefs end up coming to Nashville at some point, Jackson Mahomes being on the sideline, will play a factor at all? Yeah, we want Jackson Mahomes. homes to perform at half time. Yeah.

For sure. Y'all are destined to collab on something. I'm gonna, I'm gonna go. I think based on the things we've said on the pod, that's probably why Patrick unfollowed me on Twitter, man. We'll have to get to the bottom of it. Damn. Hey.

No way. Stuff. Stuff. Stuff. But it is what it is, man. You can't, you know. We'll just talk about it. We'll keep it about the bills versus chiefs.

I actually, I think the bills are going to win just based on that ass open they put on those boys the other night the Patriots. I mean the Patriots like, yeah, they don't have all the weapons, they don't have this and that, but you know based on how you've been coached by Vrabel and everything else that they have team keys. They have what they take away. They try and

take away their best thing. They weren't taking away nothing. You know what I mean? Like they just couldn't stop him. And Josh Allen looked like a man out there. That dude slinging the rock, running around. He's tough to beat, man. Bill's looked tough. And if they if, I mean, who even knows what the game's going to look like against Kansas City,

just bombs over Baghdad. You're just slinging the rock all around. It's looking like what I say on Twitter, an aerial dog fight. They both put up in the 40s in the game, like, you're in a shootout. But if one of them beats the shit out of the other, it's like, that's going to be an interesting game in Nashville, because obviously I think the Titans are going to beat the Bengals. We're all boys in this bus, man. Is anybody in this fucking bus for the Bengals?

No. I don't know why I looked at you. Alex, I could see you being a cynical motherfucker dude and hoping that way. Yeah, just rooting for chaos. I have a guy that works on our management team that is friends with CJ for the Bengals. And one of my security guys is a Bengals fan on a tour. It's going to be an interesting week for us. Have you seen him yet?

No, no, I won't talk to him this week at all. Is it Chi-Hoo? Yes, Chi-Hu. Speak Chi-Hu. And you know what's even more fucked up? Cheehoo, big Chew my big Samoa. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. You met Big Maui.

But I got Chi Hu tickets, but not with me. You got him nosebleeding tickets. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. He's up there by God. So you're going to be there this weekend? Oh, for sure. Yeah, for sure. Where we're at that Influencer Suite?

I hope so. We get night on the phone. We got to call him. Yeah, we got to get a whole name. I haven't secured my spots. 12-man influencer suite tickets. Yeah, this is. We're not asking for.

for a lot here. Just a little TV time. I just think a sword. I hit up Jay Rob, I shot him the eyes and a text message. I was like, hey, what's up with them? Sideline passes. Yeah, we need some of them, too.

They come with this. Influor or Sweden if you can get us in there. Do they? Yeah, they gave me the field passes last time. It's fire. I got to bounce out.

Oh, yeah, 315? 315, hard stop. Oh, it's 317, bro. Let's see if Nate answers real quick. Softstop. This could change it for all of us. We could all. Let's for minus five minutes.

Yes. Crazy. He knows I'm on the pod right now. Just acting tough. Flexing on me. He usually answers. He usually answers. Something must be going on.

Yeah. He must not have service. I appreciate you coming, bro. Oh, thank you, man. What are you about to do? Pick up a little man? Yeah. Hang out with him.

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like a passing of the guard to a degree. You know what I'm saying? It's everything that was ever learned now bestows upon us and it's transferred into us. And that energy is now our energy for us to carry on and you got a kid on the way. You know what I'm saying? So eventually, as the cycle of life continues. You pass the energy little by little on, and then eventually you give all the energy you got and you go. And then they pass the energy on. And that's how we live forever.

Yeah. And we're immortalized by the stories we tell. Yeah. The stories that are told. Yeah. I think the shitty part is like, you know, she had at least a few more decades left. Yeah. You know what I mean?

Like a blood clot is just so. Don't feel them coming. Don't know they're there. Yeah. Like you're texting an hour ago with her and then, you know, you're just not anymore. That was the part that broke my heart the most whenever I seen you post. She was like suddenly and unexpectedly, I was like, oh, that's always the one that hurts the hardest, man. Yeah.

You know. Yeah, man. But. Because, like, the way my mother has lived her whole life, God forbid, she could die right now and I would be, it would be sudden. But I'd be like, man, old Burroughs a tough bitch, though. You know what I'm saying? Like, you know what I mean? Like, she really would.

You know what I mean? Where it's like, see, you know, it's just different when it's the other way. You know what I mean? I think, too, what makes me sad, not just, like, for myself, but just in general is she cried when we told her that she was going to be a grandma. So she out of like all the, and this is no slight at my dad or Charles parents or nothing like that, but my mom was probably the most excited grandparent. Right. And so I know she would have been, you know. Yeah.

I know she would have been I hate doing this voice I know she would have been you know the one that was like sorry my bad brother I didn't even know we were live I just was you know being I thought we were off camera for a second

I was just talking shit that was a weird one no that's my bad I mean I know no one everyone's don't be fucking sorry but yeah you just it just sucks man they had just built their their new house small house on like my grandparents a lot my dad's parents they had a lot in the small town of delosch out deluge um but she just got done

building that house and she fucking is somebody who did a lot of that shit too like built the fucking house nailed palms inside the dry wall because she's she was a catholic school principal so she just felt like it brought is that her connection with the Catholic church you posted? Yes. Okay. Yeah. Because, you know, people were asking about how they can donate her help and stuff.

And it's like, yeah, my mom would always want everything to go to the church. The confidence you said it with, I was like, okay, she must have been a real woman of faith. Oh, bro. Yeah, and I think you just get sad because I know my dad, he has his good days and bad days. But, yeah, everyone says it comes in waves. I'm sorry, I brought that title wave here. You're really good, you're good, man. Like, I just love you.

And when he was off, I was like, well, we're not filming. How are you doing, man, you know? No, it's all good. I don't want to cry with you today, neither for it. It's where I was. No, fuck. That one pot, I was able to kind of keep it together a little longer, but. Yeah, then I come in and fuck it up.

Fuck, oh. You know, it's, uh, you just sad, man. Like, I'm sad selfishly, and I'm just sad for her. Yeah. I'm just sad for everybody. Yeah. And, you know, your old man, like... Being able to identify that, the will, is so...

Such an important part of the grieving process. You know, some people just can't even just vocalize the simple... Like, it's so important just to be able to say, I'm just sad. And there's going to be moments where you're just going to be angry. There's going to be moments where you're... All the stages of grief. I'm sure somebody fucking rattled these off to you already. But you know what I mean?

You'll go through them all. You'll go through the anger, the sadness, the denial. All of that is just a part of it. You know what I mean? and then there comes, not a piece, but there comes like acceptance to it at the end, you know? And it's like, it's just, but it's just sad, man. And I love you, brother.

I love you too, bro. No, I don't, you know, I don't mind talking about it being filmed or whatever. I've gotten so many messages from people, you know, of it helping them. I feel like that kind of, like, helps me talk about it a little bit more. It's one of the reasons I talk about my dad so much. my dad could not talk about his dad or mother without crying, and it's because he wouldn't talk about him. Right.

So the few times he would actually vocalize it about him, he'd choke up and just be like, kind of like Forrest Gump is all I've got to say about that. You know, it's like he just wouldn't actually accept the emotion of it. And I want to be able to talk about my dad with a smile one day. Now, we're three years in and I still choke up. Yeah. Yeah.

It's turning in the... I hate you. Fucking hate you. I mean, I agree with you. Like, I hope, I know I can. Like, I know I'm able to do that when this stuff comes in waves. Like, I hadn't had one of those kind of waves. Well, maybe I'm late to the party, but I don't want to keep referring to it as child.

Is it a boy or girl? It's a girl. We're having a baby girl. Good. Okay. I thought I knew that, but I didn't want to fuck it up. Yeah. I didn't want to put a, you know.

Yeah. But anyways, you know, it's like the good news is, and dealing with it now, there will be days she'll be able to tell stories about her grandmother to her with a smile. And that's what's important to me. Mm-hmm. We watched yesterday the sad movie because of Snow Days. We just been doing this movie thing was Big Fish. You ever seen it?

Anybody seen Big Fish? Classical. One of those classical movies. Yeah. It's really good. You should watch it, man. It's just a gym. And it was, he says that one of my favorite quotes in there was we are immortalized by the stories that are told about us.

You know what I mean? And it's like, it's kind of that thing where it's like the story. that you'll be able to tell your daughter about her grandmother will be what immortalizes her. You know, and the cool thing about what we do, and this is the blessing to me and you have, that our generation has, that our parents' generation didn't have,

we are immortalized through that. My daughter will watch these. She will show, my daughter's daughter, daughter will show these to her kid. Many moons after me and Bailey are even gone. It's like, hey, this was your great, great, great-grandfather. This, it'll be on YouTube forever, dog. I'm saying, we're fucking like, you know what I mean?

Somebody, because listen, I've got lost in a lot of stupid YouTube wormholes. I'd give anything for one of them to have been my great-grandfather. You know what I'm saying? And kind of see what kind of weird fucking philosophies he had, you know? Yeah. So it's like your mother and podcasts like this and stories like this will be immortalized for your daughter. And that stuff will carry on forever, dog. And this is, it's important and it's a blessing, man.

And I, and as your friend, I'm, I'm, sad and sorry that I didn't make it up to Missouri. Oh, you're all right, man. I've truly felt everybody's support and everything. I made sure to send my love immediately, but I just was like, me and the wife was like, man, I don't. And you know, too, like, there's just, there's not much other than, you know, saying words that,

because it doesn't fix the problem that happens. I just wanted to bring me a hug. It's the only reason I want to come, but I got you one today. So we're up right. Yeah. We'll be even. Yeah, we'll have another good one after this.

Be good for. Breaking each other down. Yeah, yeah, for sure. I think we're that much closer now. Yeah. Hey, dude, hey, bro's to cry together. Stay together. Amen.

Amen, Bubba. You know what I'm saying? But I forget what I was going to say next, man. Yeah, hug your mom's boys. Yeah. Call you dad. Yeah, your old man, too. Yeah.

It's, again, you just get sad for, there's so many other factors. You give her the grandma coffee cup and stuff. And you just, you hate it because there was like, you know they're getting ready for that next chapter. Right. And getting ready for it hard. Like thinking about stepping down from being a principal,

she'd got that new house. The baby was coming. She would just brag, like, annoyingly brag about how she built the goddamn house. You know what I mean? Those are like the one-liners that Taylor will refer to in the eulogy. Like, I would just say all these things. I'm like weeping through this eulogy, right?

And, you know, I'll just talk about how big of a heart she had and how, you know, how she always had everybody's back and she was this and then. I was like, you know, she was also mean as shit too. We'd all just sit there and laugh. Yeah, that's awesome. But you just hate it. Because I know we'll have our daughter

and I know I'm going to just be talking about my mom and you're trying to tell her what grandma was like, but she'll actually never comprehend her really, know or be taking it as serious as I'm taking it, telling her, probably until she gets older. Right. You know what I mean? Then she'll want to know. That's the best part.

She'll sit you down and go, hey, yo, tell me about grandma again. Right. And that's cool. You get to that maturity when you get older and then you realize why your parents were their way they were to you growing up and everybody was around you. And then you get intrigued about those old stories about your grandparents and everything else. I want to know about it. I just turned 21 in December.

And I, even as old as I am now. I was like, what the What the hell are you just saying? I'm 21 forever, baby. Old enough to drink. And I still to this day, about once every three months that need, I'll have that need to go to my mother's house.

And I'll just sit down with her and ask her to tell me the stories she told me when I was a kid just because I want to hear them again and remember them fresh. Yeah. You know what I mean? Yeah. And to me, that's probably like that moment.

And I tell you what, if you don't watch this podcast, I hope. But I take my phone now. And this might be something for you to think about when you spend time with your friends. father is I take my phone now and I'll put the voice memos on and I'll set my phone down and get her talking. She'll never know it. I've got hours on my phone put in my drop box now. I've just heard telling these old stories about working the Shoney's car hop back in the 60s. You know what I'm saying? You know what I mean? Like these just super cool-ass stories that are like now I've got

them in my phone forever. So in Bailey's later when Bailey actually gives a fuck and she's like, tell me more about what grandma used to do. I'll be like, oh, check it's how I'll let her tell you. Buk, you know what I'm saying? I'll just listen to her just rant on about these old stories. So that's the advice I give to anybody I know that has an elder parent. Whether you think they're, you know, could die or, you know, and wherever they're at in their life, I will tell you this. We have too much technology not to capture the moment.

And that's what I learned from everybody, what my biggest regret when my father died, I spent those four months bedside with them, four months every day, four solid months before he died, knowing he was going to die inevitably, four months. not one time was I smart enough to pull my phone out and record one of those conversations that will live with me forever. You know, and I'm just as simple as a notes in the phone, voice memo.

I know, man. Yeah, I know. So moving forward, that's my advice to everybody. Next time you want you pops and get them riled up. Yeah, get him riled out, yeah. Get them on the podcast. That's definitely, dude, I've thought about that. I have them coming here and talk about you.

I heard, like, advice from somebody else. else out there, I'm not going to say who I thought because I don't want to get it wrong, but somebody out there had tweeted or something, get your parents on a podcast just because it's kind of like all the storytelling. And it's like a biography of them just being on the podcast and talking about stories and everything like that. But I do think that's a good idea. I think I'm going to do a podcast this year.

A little Bill on here. Yeah. Bring them on. I want to hear about the story about the weight room. Every time I see the picture of you posting there with your dad in that old wait room and you're like, it's where it all started. like a moment for me that's like, okay, that makes sense. Remember I hit you that.

He loves that. I was like, yo, fucking, is this where you? He was like, yeah, that's the old spot. We talked about it once. Like, I'm telling you, dude, I'm going to start a podcast this year, and my first guest will probably be my mom. I love that, bro. You're never coming and just rant for two hours

and tell these old wild-ass stores. Yeah, that's awesome. No, I think that's, my dad would love that, by the way. You asking about all that stuff. That was actually the weekend where did I get? Is that when I gave him the truck? Yeah. But I knew I was being,

like conscious about going and working out with him and filming us telling my my mom a day because I would always tell charl like I need to take more pictures and yada yada I am really happy that we had our wedding and because that was like the greatest that was like the greatest time yeah but also makes it like you have all these awesome memories like she had such a great life right and you have all these awesome memories like the wedding and everything else but i feel like i'll like look at those pictures and you're just it since they were so great it also makes it that much more sad because you have so much invested emotionally with that person, but that's also a good thing. Right.

I don't know. I'm just spewing and talking. But I do think that for people listening to that grieve and just have stuff in the basement, I do think it's important to talk and fucking be vulnerable and, you know, break down apparently every now and then. It's all right. And just talk about how they're feeling and everything else because that stuff does help. Yeah.

Like even as I, you guys might. not feel awkward, but when I do that, being emotional and crying in front of people has always been something that is awkward for me. So when that stuff, how it happens, and then I'm pulling back and feeling awkward, like, that's the kind of stuff I feel like you need to go through. I feel like to get more in tune with yourself

or vulnerabilities and stuff like that. I don't know what helps me. Tears being here helps me. I'm talking so much. Tears express what words cannot. There's not always a word for everything. That dictionary is small when you think about it, man. Yeah.

You know, it's like that when you really, really pipe it down to it, that dictionary is the end of. Sometimes there's just a lot more to be expressed than words can actually articulate. And I think that's the feeling of letting that out. I tell you why I do it. I just want to be able to talk about dad one day as easy as I talk about the Titans playing football. And I know the only way to do that is work through it. Right.

I mean, I just know, it's like everything else in life, you just got to work through it. So it's just like being very honest and open about it as much as I can be. Yeah. You know, but I didn't mean to drag us there, but I'm glad we got there. It's all good. I never think that it's going to go there because I've been able to have conversations about it all. There's no crying in baseball. No crying in baseball, right.

And so that's what we were raised on, which is on the list of class. That's a classic. I was just thinking that too. That's a classic. It's on the list. But when she told me that Forrest Gump was a classic, I was like, pipe down, kid. This is fucking, you're making it sound like I'm making you watch fucking, yeah, fucking old movie that had no words.

You've had some gems today, man. Thank you. I didn't come prepared. I just worked out and I haven't eaten, so I didn't know what I'd be worth. You have, you can tell you you have that gift of going and just writing. You know what I mean? Whenever I write stuff now, I think I might just give it to jelly bag. Hey, look this over.

Tell me what you think of this. How would you word it a little bit differently? You better stop. I'd give anything to be able to tweet the way you tweet. you're on fire. Listen, my nutritionist, my nutritionist

that's living with me helping me lose this weight thinks you are the funniest dude on earth. He is like, yeah. He does. Shout out Ian Lario's and George Lockhart.

But yeah, they were like, I told him earlier. He's like, you're going to be here for breakfast? I was like, I'll be late. I'm going to hang out,

play off Willie. Here we go, man. I'd laugh. He just sent LOL, oh, L o L o Loh, I have so much fun

on that app, dude. Yeah, That app loves you, man. They got a mixed bag with me. They fuck with me sometimes. That's part of it. That's why that whole embracing and finding the humor and shit, like, to me, I, you know, a lot of that conversation with yourself and everything like that can come off dumb shit like those social media apps, like Instagram and Twitter and all this stuff because comments can get inside your head. Right.

But, again, like all this stuff, when you get through it and you're able to look back and see how. petty some of that stuff was the way you thought about it and just how people don't think about you as much as you think right type of attitude because when you see a comment you're like oh all everybody sees this right you know what i mean and so i feel like working through those things and then finding kind of that uniqueness of having fun and embracing it it's i have a lot of fun on fucking twitter as you guys know but i know everybody's like oh twitter blah blah blah i know you have a mixed bag but i'm just like he's just got to embrace it's Race that bullshit, man. Because it ain't going away.

You're never going to beat the internet. You're never going to beat the internet. You just got to join that motherfucker. The internet is undefeated. Yeah. Great call. Great call, Alex. That's a good pull right there.

We will now, Jelly, we're going to have a huge genuine hug, and we're going to kick it over to. We're going to go through an ad. And then after the ad, we will jump into our Alec King Gold interview where we'll talk about Coach Pesachia, his open letter to Raider Nation,

and pick his brain a little bit and join the podcast. Yes. Dope. Love it, dude. So I just got kicked off is what happened. Yeah. All right, I got booted, everybody.

Used and abused. I came here to be his fucking therapist and then kicked off. Fuck you. We put an hour and three-pice in that thing. Look, no one's perfect. Even the best baseball players strike out with the bases loaded, the best golfers, sometimes three-putt with the tournament on the line, and even the boys sometimes miss a tackle in the open field.

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get roman.com slash busing and complete an online visit take care your ed without leaving your house complete an online visit today to connect with the doctor and take care of it go to get roman dot com slash buss and now to get $15 off your first order uh look there's a straightforward way to handle this go to get roman dot com slash busing and get started now to say $15 all right alick ingle welcome to bustin with the boys it's not your first rodeo dude this is your second time i guess technically you're on this doesn't really count. I needed you because the boys, obviously, unfortunately, we just lost. And you also had a open letter to Raider Nation that I want to get into.

But first and foremost, how's my guy? How are you doing? How's that New Year's? Knees going good. First day back, like we had exit interviews yesterday. A lot of whistle piggy going around Las Vegas. A lot of whistle pig. You had that can in that when you got cut, bro,

that video like I walk past so many people like it was played for four hours consistently around the facility like everyone was watching it everyone was laughing their ass off being like God like how how does this happen how does this happen bro? I heard somebody told me it was played somebody told me it was played in your guys's meeting we had a team meeting and you it was set up to the point where like we were expecting you to burst through. the freaking meeting room through the doors. There's going to be a spotlight on you and you like resurrect. We didn't know if you're going to be a coach, whether you're a volunteer assistant, whether you coach is a player. It's like, Will it was going to be, playoff, with it was live and well.

The boys were like, something's going to happen. And shoot, it was hilarious. That got everyone hype and then, you know, played the whole highlight tape after that. But you were the intro to our team meeting. That is so funny, man. I want to say maybe Adam from a quick. And obviously Foster, too.

Shout out the boy Foster. But I want to say Adam from equipment had texted me like, hey, Will, this is Adam from EQ. Just wanted you to know, like, we played, we played your Twitter video in our highlight in our highlight table. I just started laughing. I'm like, well, hopefully the boys enjoyed it because that could have been awkward too. Like everybody's like, what the fuck is? Why don't they got Will up there? He's like, now everybody started knocking on wood.

And I know, bro. I was so fucking bummed when I got cut. But, uh, hey. It is. That's the cutthroat nature of the NFL, man. It is the business. It is what it is. I want to talk about your open letter to Raider Nation because you came out a couple, you know, how long has it been? I feel like every day's kind of mending together, but like 10 days ago, right, a week

and a half ago, I feel like you dropped an open letter to Raider Nation before the Chargers game. It was titled, what was it titled? 14. The address? The address? 1475 Raiders Way. Yeah. 1475 Raiders Way. Talk about why you wanted to write an open letter to Raider Nation.

And not only Raider Nation, but you obviously knew that the boys were going to read that as well. What inspired you to want to do that? Bro, I've been so bummed with this ACL, especially right off the bat. Like, the toughest part is mentally, like, going through it and not being in that daily grind with your guys. And I've had to take such a different role on the team. Like I was, you know, captain, big on the offense, big and special teams, like super involved. Breaking the guys down right before we go, you know, into the, you know, right before pregame. Like, I'm in the middle of the huddle doing that with the guys.

And all of that gets stripped from you. Like, all that gets taken away. And you're just on a training table every single day. Just like watching, learning, listening. And just being forced to like take a different, like, take a backseat. I like I I I'm addicted to being around the guys. I'm addicted to being like in the football locker room in the grind. I just wanted to let the guys know, let the people know how much I miss it and how much

I was learning from freaking Max from Foster from Josh. Like you just saw all all of the guys that you came in with growing up so much. And I have a lot more free time. I'm on Twitter and Instagram. a whole lot more, you know, when you're, you're on the couch. And you just, you feel like there's people just hating on everybody in the building. And I just, I didn't, I wanted to kind of bridge the gap between the two. So it was a little therapeutic for me.

I was on the couch. I'm emotional at night and just like, you know, you had the ACL. But that made me feel better. It was a message to the guys. It was a message to Rich. It was a message to Raider Nation. just everybody, the whole family. Like, we've been through it all, bro.

We went through literally everything together this year. And just to appreciate the amount of freaking guts it took for those guys to keep strapping up and fighting down the stretch. I just wanted to give props and kudos to those guys. Do you feel like, do you feel like with all the scrutiny the Raiders were under with especially some of the headlines by choices that players were making? Obviously, Coach Gruden gets canned. There's been a lot of stuff that happened with the boys throughout. the year. Do you feel like you wanted to write that as well because it's kind of like from an outsider's perspective looking in, you read a letter like yours and you probably feel,

I would assume as a Raiders fan, that the culture is in a lot better shape that people perceive out from the outside looking in all around the country versus just Vegas? Yeah, I think, you know, you see the headlines and everyone was coming after us. Everyone was coming at the neck and any mistake that anyone had made after, you know, the Gruden, the Norox incident, like, everyone's social media was run through. Everyone was, like, under intense, like, an intense microscope. So to be able to kind of, like, let people know, guys are working their tails off, guys are working hard here. And that's, that was the, like, the culture, nobody panicked. Nobody blinked in the facility. Like, we all kind of got closer

through all this adversity. You can definitely kind of see a change of like, yeah, the boys went through it. We came out stronger. This is how we did it. Not. panicking, freaking out about every single, you know, headline that was ever written about us. Right. I know for me, like any time I've gotten on the, on the mic to talk about it, I wanted to express kind of the kind of something similar because you do, like even for me before I join you guys, you see everything that was happening. You're just like, man, like, you know, what's going on? Like, why are they making? Why is this decision choice being made, driving and this and that, the other? And you get in and you just see how the player leadership and how all

the guys, all the boys just lean on each other. And the leadership from the top down, too, not only in the locker room, but outside of it with Coach Passachi and everything else. And you just, you know, you sit there and hated because you're like, yo, these dudes, we got some good fuckers in the locker room. Like, there are some good guys in there that take this shit serious that, you know, people on the outside don't get to see that stuff. So I'm with you, man.

I agree. But I also just to shift it a little bit because I think, you know, you had message me a little bit about that letter, about putting it out and stuff like that. And I feel like the things that you are kind of about and do, I respect a hell of a lot because you're a younger guy. You know, I was even telling you, like, there's some, I wish I would have spoke up more as a younger guy and everything else. And I think you do a great job of doing that, even though I know you're being vulnerable and you probably have a little bit of fear behind you about what the perception could be, or even the acceptance of your peers, because you're putting yourself out there to let guys know how you feel about

them. Why do you feel like it's important for you to express to the guys how you feel about them? Because in a game that is macho and masculine and all this other shit to where you're kind of, you're flexing, you're stun, you're trying to, you know, sizing guys up every day. Why do you feel like it's important for you as a leader to let guys know how you feel? I think, you know, it's a balance, right? Like you got to, you want to be a role model for people outside the building, but the people that are inside the building, they, you know, we were talking. about this too. Like people know if you're about it, if you're not. And you kind of,

you dictate your character by your actions, right? And like, if you just show up the same way every single day, you're an accountable dude and you're in the locker room, you, it starts by all the work. It starts by all the actions. It starts by, you know, making plays on the field. And it's being that consistent, finding that routine. And then you're able to, you know, get the opportunities to speak your mind, to be creative, to, to be open with other people, but it starts with conversations in the locker. It starts with guys understanding what you're really about. And then it kind of affords you the opportunity to write a letter or go on a video or go on a pod.

And, you know, people will, you know, not take your words out of context or try and, like, twist it because they know what you're about. Right. And, you know, it's just about being consistent. But yeah, that vulnerability, bro, it was, it was scary for me to release something like that because it was so real. And, you know, the last time I was on the pod, bro, I was so scared because I'm, I'm a rookie. I'm coming in, like, super excited to be a will and Taylor and all the guys. And it's like, I haven't done anything yet. And I still haven't.

You know what I'm saying? But at least I'm confident in a routine that I've built that the guys that care about me are in the facility with me, like they know what I'm about. So we can have an open dialogue. We can be just, you know, on the bus and just talking. So I think it's different that way. And just to be clear, this doesn't count. Like you and you got to bring the boy Foster. Both of you guys got to be on the bus and we've got to be chopping it up, man.

But I wanted to get on because I wanted to talk about that open letter because I really do. I think super highly of you. I respect the hell out of you. And you're also somebody who makes it a point and is very intentional about being around the guys and being around the entire day while being injured. You do all your rehab and everything else. And usually what happens for everybody listening, you go in and you'll do your rehab and everything else. And guys are usually out. Your day's over with by probably 11 a.m. in the morning.

And from there, you know, you usually just leave. You're somebody who sticks around. You sit in meetings. You stand at walkthroughs. You'll be around at practice. You'll be around in the wait room. You're around all the time. And I just, I don't know, man, I think I really fuck with that.

I think very highly of you. And like I said, I respect you for that because not a lot of guys do that. And I do think you're, you take it very seriously. And you are somebody who's very much about it. So continuing to blow smoke and lift you up for everybody listening, Alec Engel really. is about that life. And he's a great dude. And he's somebody that everyone should look to and follow because he is a leader in this league, not only just on the team. But I want to talk about Coach

Pissaccia because, you know, for me, I've been on, I was telling everybody earlier, I've been on the team collectively for probably 11 weeks total, not even that long. And I feel like I try and do my best to talk about Coach Pissaccia, but it could come off that, you know, year 10. You want something else. You want to play for him. You want to play in the year and stuff like that. But can you describe what Coach Passachi is like? Why everyone, and when I say everyone, why all of his players hold him in such high regard and is the leader that he is around the locker room? Because I find it difficult to explain at times, maybe you as somebody who's been around him for three years now, you can do a better job explaining to people the type of man and coach that

coach passachi is yeah so i i've talked with a few guys about coaches in general and coaches coached in two different ways they coach the person and they coach the player so you need like you need to coach the player you need to be technical with them you need to be ruthus you need to be you know coaching technique you need to know what you're talking about but then you also need to know how to coach a player or the person sorry um you have to you have to be able to know how emotionally you can be consistent finding guys routines, understanding everyone's different. And Coach Missacha is one of those guys. He's one of the very few that can do both.

You know, some guys are just very technical. They know the entire playbook. Some guys are very emotional. They're going to give you your plus minus sheet and help you get up for those big games. Coach Missacha is like ruthlessly both at the same time. He can talk to you as, you know, playoff Willie as Wille as Will Compton coming in. Radio show. Having to learn.

Yeah, having to learn the entire. you know, playbook in one day, two days, right? And like just onboard you and get you ready to play. He has to like connect to you on a personal level. But then when number 57, like, messes up gets an MA, you know, he's got to double minus you and he's got to be ruthless in correcting that. And he knows what he's talking about. He's about that life. He's consistent with his routine. He shows up, you know, probably 4 a.m. every single day. And to be able to have a guy that cares about you and is both coaching you as a person and as a player, I think that's, you know, that's the biggest thing and why guys respect them around the league.

Yeah, I think you're right. You said it ruthlessly does both things because he, bro, when I was there the first year, I didn't even know he really liked me like that until I wrote that letter the next year. The Barstool blog about to the gritty players, the undrafted guys about training camp and this and that. And he shot me a note about, you know, complimenting it and everything else. And that was the first time I knew. I was like, oh damn, like Coach Pisaccia, I guess, liked me. Because he was all, you know, he gave me a lot of shit whenever I did,

that, it was the Titans versus Raiders, and I did that big jersey exchange with all the boys, all the boys in Tennessee. But he's somebody who, you're right, man, he's able to coach the player and the person because the relationships he has with guys. It's like, when I told the story of me getting cut, I go downstairs. And I'm like, hey, Rich, I'm like, you can't cut me upstairs and face me like a man. And all the boys are sitting down there at breakfast, and everybody starts laughing. and we come over and start hugging.

Like, he's somebody who can sit and have breakfast with you, lunch, have all the deep conversations, have his little newsboy hat on looking like an old Italian and sit there and talk to you. You know what I'm saying, though. The dude, like, gets to your level personally. And then when you're in the film room, you're right, he's ruthless there too, because he can be a motherfucker now coaching you hard and everything else. But I think that's the respect he commands. Do you feel like it's an Achilles heel to not be,

one side or the other when it comes to office and defense. Because, again, Coach Basce is coaching for, I assume a head coaching role next year. I know all the boys were wanting to play their ass off for Coach Pasoci. Me being one of them, you want to win because you want Coach Pasachia to get promoted. That's how good of a coach he is. Impact guys so well that they want you to get promoted. And so do you feel like that's an Achilles heel that he's just a special teams guy? No, it's just the reality of the situation.

You know, that's just his job. I mean, he's a running back coach back in the day in college and, you know, all the way through the NFL and obviously special teams coordinator, assistant head coach. But yeah, he's he's consistently around the guys. And it's just a reality of the situation because, you know, you could say it's an Achilles heel, but then on the other side, you could say he has personal relationships with guys on offense and defense. You know what I'm saying? And special teams. Special teams coordinators have to manage the entire game. You know, those are often the guys in the ear of the coach saying, hey, we have two, two minutes.

it, you know, drill coming up. We have two timeouts. You know, they've scored, you know, 20 points. What, like, the situational awareness of a guy like that is at a different level. So you could say, you know, it's good, better, and different. It's just the reality, the situation that he's in and we're in. And yeah, we were all on

one year, like, prove it deals. You know, everyone in that building. Everyone. Everyone was, and you could have either, the coolest part about playing with the guys this year was you could have either went for the stats, went for, I'm worried about what my film looks like and what every other coach across the league is looking at, or you could have played for the guy next to you and known that he's got

your back. And it's like we did the second. You know what I'm saying? Oh, yeah. It was a one, we were all just playing for one another. And it was a choice. Like we decided to do that because you could have easily decided to just play for yourself the rest of the season.

So, yeah, is unreal. That's what I think. a lot of people don't understand either is after you guys lose Coach Gruden, you guys come out and win the next week after all the shit that had happened that week. And you end up winning for Coach Basachi. And I kind of knew, like, we had been on the bus talking about it too. Like, what do you think everything's like in a locker room? And I'm like, I don't think dudes are going to blink because Coach Basachi is like one of the best leaders I've ever been around.

And, you know, you guys, like you said, you could have hung it up. Guys could have played for themselves. That's usually what you see happen, especially when the week that I had gotten there and we get by the chief. in the fashion that we do. And we have a 4% chance of making the playoffs after that. The boys go on a four-game win streak and getting the playoffs.

But I do. I think that is just a perfect example of in that situation most of the time, guys usually pack it in and start planning on their New Year's plans or postseason plans and going to Mexico and everything else. Everybody truly wanted to win for each other

and Coach Pesatia. And to go off your answer with the special teams coach, that's something I feel like I have to ask, like a challenging little question because I obviously agree with you. But he's somebody that also sits with the bottom half of the roster. He's somebody that understands how to talk to each guy in every seat because everyone knows how to coach the superstars.

Everybody knows how to be around those guys and know who the starters are and everything else. But as a coach who sits with the special teams in the bottom half of the roster, backups and stuff like that, you know how to talk to and coach the person, coach the player, all that stuff that I feel like really plays in his favor because, again, he knows the roster up and down. He knows how important the bottom half is just as much as the top half. And again, he has such good relationships with everybody. And I just think that speaks highly of him.

Yeah, he, you know, one of the first things he said when he took over is like he was coaching for us. You know what I'm saying? Like, don't get a twist. He wasn't coached for himself. He was coaching for the players. And, you know, just being genuine in the work that he put in up to that point to be able to say stuff like that and know that he means it and know it's coming from a true place of you know it it means a lot you know the words the words can all be the same you know interviews are probably going to like all

all the guys that are going to be on all these different podcasts and stuff is it's going to be similar but the way it said and like the the emotion behind it like you really have to pay attention to that stuff like the dude the dudes for real the guys were for real the boys were for real this year um it it it was a blessing to that you was a blessing to to be on that team. It freaking killed me. I couldn't be out on that field, bro. But like you said, I mean, it was, it was a blessing to be able to be around the guys in the mediums, in the weight room. Like, that's what helped me with my recovery personally, was being around this team, you know, mentally just keeping you in it. So, oh, man, it was.

You're out there making full bucks great again, dude. I hope you're back out there jumping over everybody again next year. Well, yeah, that's, that's no question. We'll get back. We'll get back in no time. I'm glad you're saying that the message will be uniformed across other players that go on pods or radio shows or anything else because I'm sitting here. Once we get done talking with each other, I'm like, man, we're really out here just, hey, we're just promo and coach besides you right now. But I do. I feel that strongly about the dude. Do you hope he's back next year?

Yeah, I mean, I think the whole interview process is going to be crazy. And, you know, I was up in his office today just talking with him. And it's just like you, the toughest part about those exit interviews. Like you're saying, like we could have been looking at your whole offseason plan months ago, but everyone was just so locked in on making a run, bro. Everyone was like this, it wasn't comprehensible that we were going to have these exit interviews, exit meetings. It just hits you like a freaking entrain, bro.

And it's like you believe that you had something so special, so unique that it's like, you just don't know what's going to happen. And it's, it's scary. But then at the same point, it's like, that's the NFL, that's the business. you got to be real comfortable being uncomfortable, bro. You got to be real comfortable just being put in tough situations and being a tough motherfucker and making it out the other side even better. No doubt, bro.

Do you, now I know you're on a little, your own a little contract deal as well. Do you hope to be a raider in the future? Yeah, for sure. I think we'll figure something out. Obviously, it's the restricted free agency deal. So it's, uh, oh, you're restricted? You got to try and, yeah, I'm restricted this year.

So it's, uh, oh, you ain't going nowhere. It's the undrafted. It's the undrafted grind, bro. Dude, I'm telling you. I'm telling you, you ain't going nowhere, though. Well, I won't dive too much into that stuff or your ACL stuff. I'll wait until you get on the bus and in person because it's much better that way. But bring the boy Foster.

We'll have some piggybacks, dude, and we'll have a great time. That sounds like a plan. All right, brother. Hey, I love you. Love you too, buddy. We'll see you. All right, man, see you. Hey, guys, it's us and the Jonas Brothers.

I'm Joe. I'm Kevin. And I'm Nick. And guess what? We created our own podcast called, hey, Jonas. We invented a podcast? Well, we didn't invent it. We just contributed to it.

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