Club Shay Shay - Adam "Pacman" Jones

Episode Date: August 30, 2021

On episode 34, Shannon welcomes in former NFL great: Adam “Pacman” Jones. Calling in from his J24 athletic complex in Amelia, Ohio, Pacman talks about his transition from legendary NFL cornerback to competitive boxer. He discusses his thought process and training regimen heading into his fight against Bobby Laing, which took place on August 27, 2021. Pacman also shares stories about his family history and upbringing in Atlanta, where he attended Westlake High School & won two state championships in basketball. He talks through his football career: playing with Steve McNair on the Titans, his suspension & release from Dallas, playing for Marvin Lewis in Cincinnati, and much more. #DoSomethinB4TwoSomethin & Follow Club Shay Shay:                                                                 https://www.instagram.com/clubshayshayhttps://twitter.com/clubshayshayhttps://www.facebook.com/clubshayshayhttps://www.youtube.com/c/clubshayshay Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoicesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Come on, man. roll the dice that's why all my life i've been grinding all my life all my life been grinding all my life sacrifice hustle paid the price wanna slice got the roll of dice that's why all my life i've been grinding all my life hello welcome to another edition of club shea shea i am your host shannon sharp i'm also the proprietor of club she Che Che. And the guy that's stopping by today for a drink and conversation is a former NFL great. He's a Pro Bowler, first team All-Pro. You know him as Pac-Man, Mr. Adam

Jones. You want to be called Adam or do you prefer to be called Pac-Man? I'm Adam when I sign my checks, but all my friends, all my guys, they all call me Pac or Pac-Man. Alright, so where are you? And give us a little, they all call me Pac or Pac-Man. All right. So where are you? And give us a little – and tell us about what you got going on.

I'm here at my facility at 1258 West Ohio Pike here in Amelia, Ohio. I have 6,000 square feet of indoor turf. Everything in here is state-of-the-art. No weights in the Pack Pack Club unlike the Shea Shea Club. We got everything. We got a nice little lounge in the back back here also.

I got a couple kids that we just got through trying. Y'all want to say what's up to the legend, man? Shannon Shaw right there, man. What? Shannon! What is up? What's up, what is up? What's up, guys? It's all great.

I watch this talk show like almost every morning. I'm pretty much the only indoor that's around in this area. So it's a great, great facility. I'm giving a lot back to the kids over here. Just trying to leave my staining over here. Pac, are you training guys for football or are you training guys for fighting? Or both? I'm training guys for

where we have boxing here, but I'm not training for boxing here. I'm training for anything athletics. Skill and agility, baseball, football, track, soccer, swim, pretty much anything that you can name when it comes to any kind of sports we have here.

We know you're very athletic. You're an NFL cornerback. You have to be athletic because you basically are required to backpedal as fast as most guys are running forward, and you did that at an elite level. What made you want to transition to get into the boxing side of it? I know it sounds crazy, but I had told my wife this probably about 2017 that I was going to take up boxing after football. She's like, oh, no, we definitely not going to go through that after football. I'm like, it's just something I want to do.

She's like, you think we're going to be able to sit there and watch you fight after we just went through 14, 15 years of seeing you put your body on the line? And we just came to a mutual agreement, and I pretty much had her come to a couple of sparring matches so she could see that I was pretty serious about it. And we made the decision to do the celebrity boxing thing while I was at an all-time high right now. And pretty much everybody who knows me knows that I'm a very physical person

when I need to be, and I don't mind getting hit. And I'm really good, though, man. I've been doing this training for probably about six months now, and I think I'm pretty good. I've been doing this training for probably about six months now. And I think I'm pretty good. We'll see August 27th. You say you've been doing this for, you've been taking up boxing, taking it serious for the last six months.

The celebrity boxing genre is at an all-time high. You're fighting a guy in Charleston, West Virginia on Friday, Bobby Liang. He's 5-0, three one-minute rounds. No head gear. I know it's a whole different ball game. You would visualize something like yeah, I can do this and now pack you're going to actually get in the ring against someone that's actually

trying to do damage to you like you're trying to do them. Yeah, that's no problem. This this part of the world that I grew up in, it's been like that my whole life. So at least we got rules and regulations. It's only for a minute. They're not jumping you for 10 minutes.

So I'm all up for it, Shani. And you know me, if I say I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna give it everything I got. But I'm eager to get in there and test the things that I've been working on. And this is just the beginning. You know, I'm going to win this fight, period, point blank. But regardless of what happens, this won't be my last fight.

I'm getting him out of there. He a bull, man. You know, I'm a bull, but I'm a smart bull. He only know one way, which is to come forward. And he leaving a lot of stuff open. So we'll just see how it go on August 27th. But all this talking and all that about how tough he is, man, everybody is tough where I'm from.

I don't know too many kids that grew up in Bankhead and Boat Rock that's not tough. You might have one or two out of the projects, but even if they couldn't fight shit, they was tough. So everybody tough. The question is, can he take this? I'm going to give him on August 27th. So you, you go walk, you go, since he coming straight ahead,

you hoping to walk him into something. Oh yeah. I'm going to walk him into something. See, see, see, see, they think I'm just going in here without a strategy. Tactics or a strategy, that's the word I'm looking for. I'm a cornerback, so of course I'm watching film. I'm not going to sit in front of a board the whole time and let them hit and bully you.

You know that's not going to happen. But I'm going to pick and choose my spots. I got really good feet. It's going to be real interesting. You say you're obviously a cornerback. You have to study your opponent. So I'm sure that you've sat down, you've watched him fight, watched how he likes to fight. You say he's a guy that likes to bull, likes to come straight ahead. So obviously you've been trained. I'm interested,

Pat, what made you decide to say, you know what? I want to try this boxing thing. I think I can be good at it. What made you decide to say, you know what? I want to try this boxing thing. I think I can be good at it. I've been doing it on the offseason since 2014. Okay. As far as hitting mix, you know what I mean?

I probably only spar once or twice. But I actually had a Mick guy start training all of the DBs in Cincinnati because it's all hand-eye coordination when you have the line press boom boom right stuff like that so we would do this every Tuesday I did this for probably the last 10 years of my career you know besides on the offseason too right but um this was this was my way of keeping my hands and eyes quick, you know what I mean, when I'm working on my press drills or swiping the ball, like little things that people don't realize that it goes a long way with football also. But here's the thing, Pac.

The difference between corner and boxing is that corner, you always try to stay straight. And in boxing, you only try to get a man in half. You don't want to have a big target. So you want to try to be at an angle. So how do you transform that go from like, I need to be straight so I can get do this, as

opposed to being here so I can do this, that? So now I'm just bailing. You know how you press bail? That's the best way to pull it. You know what I mean? So instead of outside press bail, I'm inside pressing bail. You know what I mean? Shooting the hand. So boom, I'm getting out of there the same way.

It's a lot of footwork that's pretty similar. That's got me a lot comfortable, a lot quicker than most people. I'm always using this up here more than people think. I wouldn't have made it years without being a little bit of smart. Cause you know, the athletic only gets you so far. With all the ups and downs I had, I commend myself for taking the time

and breaking down all of the details to be prepared on Sunday, which led me to playing longer, you know. No way I would have played as long as I played with all the I went through without being not just a Class A athlete, but a Class A student also in the room. You know, Pac, the thing is that I tell people when they try to branch over and play another sport, be it a football player trying to play basketball, basketball player trying to play football, regardless of the sport.

You got to respect the sport. And if you remember, Nate Robinson got in there. I don't think he respected the sport. I think he thought it was like a street fight. You just go in there and you got to move. But you got to be calm because if you run in there, you're going to run into a punch like he ran into. Yeah, I don't know too much about Nate Robinson,

but from what I've seen, I don't know if he did any training. I don't know if he's ever been into a fight. I don't know if he ever had put on gloves before then. But his show didn't look like, you know what I'm saying? But I'm not Nate Robinson. I can promise you that. I'm not no fucking way near as I can promise you that. I'm not no way near as a caliber

of a person, attitude, skill-wise, mentality-wise, and hand-wise. So, regardless of what go on, I'm not Nate Robson. It ain't gonna be that type of show. I can promise you that. But even if he had never put the

mitts on, the first thing that you taught in any fight is keep your hands up. How you going to run in there with chin? How you going to run that hands down, chin out? You're telling me to hit me right here. Right. And that's our whole thing. But, like I said, I don't think Nate been in too many fights. And I don't think he knew what he was signing up for, you know.

I know what I'm signing up for. Right. I watch damn near every show that they've had. I'm very into it, and I'm ready. If I tell you I'm ready, I'm ready. And I promise you that I'm ready. Come Friday night, I'm going to let the lights click on, and I'm going to take my time,

and I'm going to break his ass all the way down. You said you like this. You've been thinking about boxing. You talked your wife into letting you do this back in 2017. Is this a one-time venture, or is this something like you'd like to move forward and take on more celebrities?

Maybe a Jake Paul. Maybe you and your former teammate, you and Ocho. Win or lose or draw, this is going to be my last one because this is something that I shave. You know me. I'm from the west side of Atlanta. I really enjoy doing this, man. I'm not just saying that.

I'm not hurting for no money. I'm cool. But this is something. Same thing I said with the wrestling. Before I did the wrestling, there wasn't nobody doing wrestling right i said it said trend for wrestling then everybody wanted to wrestle so actually i had the car i was i was the car to fight check right on the the mayweather card right you get what i'm saying yeah and it's only so much I can say because I signed a non-disclosure for me not to talk about that. But Chad, my boy, he made a good decision with who he's taking.

I'm happy he did, too, because I wasn't ready at that time when I was saying I was going to take that fight. I was going to take the fight just because I believed in myself. I had been in the gym for three, four months. And who else gets a chance to fight on Floyd Mayweather's car? It was a once-in-a-lifetime chance. And I thought that would have been, you know, a stepping stone or something that I could put in the book. But I'm happy that it didn't work out because I'm like night and day

from there to today. Obviously, you're a big boxing fan. Who are some of the guys that you like? Obviously, Mayweather, Tyson, but who are some of the other fighters that you watch that you like? Say, you know what? I like the way he move in the ring. Right now, or are you saying just of all time?

Any time. If you like guys now. Right now, I like Devontae Davis. Okay. He reminds me of a kid from the inner city, like the same place I came from. Right. He's always against the art.

I've been to a couple of his training camps. He works hard, too. He's not one of those guys that just wait for the last 20 days or train to camp to get here and then go and bust his ass. I've gotten a chance to see him really tune in and watch him for 60, 70 days to get ready. Of course, my boy in Texas, man, that's probably my favorite right now, Earl Spence.

I'm a big Earl Spence fan. He's a humble kid. He works hard. He's the real deal, man. If you just watch him and see how he break down opponents and he take his time. He's never rushing

into things. That's my guy right now. Earl Spence is my Mike Tyson of this time between him and the young boy, but I'm more of an Earl Spence is my Mike Tyson of this time between him and the young boy, but I'm more of an Earl Spence guy. So which is harder, training for a boxing match or training for an NFL training camp? The 60 days in his boxing training is way harder than.

Well, I don't know. You're saying the whole training camp? Yeah. I mean, just getting ready for training camp because, you know, we can't just show up at camp. Well, it's different. It's a different shape.

Like, so, for instance, you know, we used to run in sprints and hundreds and 40s, suicides. Well, now you run in, you wake up, your first thing, stretching, you run seven miles. You know what I mean? And that's just the warm-up of the day.

Right. And we was doing, when we was in training camp, we was doing 300, 400 sit-ups a day, which is not much compared to what we did in football. But football is more, we lift more weights, I would say. We do more weights, and our thing is more shorter. Short yards, very fast. Yeah, because you only work it in football.

You do basically three, five seconds. The play's over. You go back to the huddle. They go back to the huddle. Get the defense. I get the offensive call. We come back to the line of scrimmage. But in this, it's continuous.

It's continuous. Like, we do this thing called PlayStation, right? Okay. So you set – it's four treadmills and four bags. So you never stop, though. Everything is two minutes. So there's one treadmill. You run at 10 miles per hour for two minutes.

You get off that one, you go straight into backpedaling jab while the treadmill is like 2.9. You get off that one, you go straight into back pilling jab while the treadmill is like 2.9. You get off that one, walking uphill at 4.0. You get off that one, it's body shots. You get off that one, it's one-two. You get off the next one, it's combos. We do that for 40 minutes.

Literally, non-stop. The rest is walking to the next exercise. This boxing shape is way different. I have so much respect for the guys that go through this and put their body through all this work and have to cut weight. And this is hard, man. This is not for everybody.

And I'll tell you that. And when I first started doing this, I was like, what the f*** have I signed myself up to? And I was eager to just push myself to get over that part, you know, like, cause I don't, I don't, I don't, I can't even tell you a time in football where I've jogged three miles. We've never had to jog three miles.

Cause you ain't never jogging on the field. No, we don't jog, we run fast, full speed. All out. As we can go. All out. And it's different, man. But it's a lot different. I'll tell you that. And I got a lot of respect for these guys that's doing this boxing thing and that's doing it the right way.

You know, some of the guys that be coming in 20 days before the fight don't have to cut weight, you know, and don't perform like the way. And you can tell, like, the guys who put in work, that's why they perform like that. Manny Pacquiao lost, but at 40 years old, he can do that because he get up every morning. He run 10, 12 miles. He doing 1,000 sit-ups, you know what I mean?

Doing 15, 30 rounds a day. So it's a different shape. Not saying that I have no love lost for all of us, all my brothers that's in the brotherhood with us, but that boxing shit, it's a different shape. I will say that. Yeah, because, and you doing all that, you got to keep your hands up. Because normally

when you get tired, your hands come down, that jaw get lax. Five more minutes, mommy. So let me ask you this So let me ask you this, Pat. Let me ask you this. Having played as long as you played in the NFL, getting blindsided, getting run over

by, say, a Derrick Henry or Eddie George or taking a shot you didn't see, which hurts more? I would take a shot that I don't see. As long as I don't get hit by James Harrison the way I got hit by him.

What is the name of that stadium in Pittsburgh? Man, I'm a... James Harrison almost broke my whole body. Oh, my God. So, as long as James Harrison not hit me, I'll take Bobby Lane the James Harrison not hit me, I'll take Bobby Lane.

Hit me, not seeing me or whoever else. What James catch you on the park return. Yeah. I must've too. Oh my God. I had C3, C4,

Nick surgery. The next two weeks. Oh my. And you know, I was young then. I went back in the game, man. I'll never forget this. Went back in the game and dropped the pick like two plays later from Big Ben. And my boy, Kieran Fox, he went to high school with me in Westlake. He's like, Pac, we going to kill your ass out here. I was like, the next play I caught a punt.

I think I had like 65 yards. I'm running down the sideline. I'm like, well, I'm ready to die. I'm ready to die. The next week I'm out was the rest of the year. I was out for the rest of the year after that. After I had the MRI, I ended up going back and played a decent game. We ended up losing by three.

Ended up finishing the game and figure out I need the next service. But yeah, I'd rather get hit by somebody in the face than getting blindsided by James Harris. Pack, let's go back to where it started from. You grew up as you mentioned, bankhead, west side of Atlanta.

How did that impact the man, the guy that we saw play those 12, 14 years in the National Football League? How did your upbringing shape who you are today? Man, my grandma should have a war. You know, I stayed with my grandma. She raised me, my cousin, Lewis and James,

and she taught us morals and respect. You know, she got us out of the projects, made us go and play up the street at a park called Sandtown, which I used to tell grandma, you know if you take me up the street, I gotta come back and play against the boys and the projects. And I don't think she really understood,

I mean, understand me at the time, but I understood what she was trying to do. Like, look, bro, it's something bigger than what we in right now. Just because we are over here, don't that we got to be in here every day. So I would give – I would say my grandma and my granddaddy, I would give them all the credit because they taught me, like, never give up. You know, I couldn't even – I mean, I couldn't read until I was in the fourth grade.

Right. I finally learned hooked on funniness made 10 50 on sat you know i mean she always told me she's like you got everything you know when you learn the little things you're gonna be real special um so um i give all the praises you know and and the environment that i grew up in we grew up in a tough environment and we pushed each other you know it was a it was a lot of pushing each other, looking up to the older guys, trying to figure out this and that, you know what I mean? Why to do this and why don't do that.

But I would say it take a village to raise a child. So I would, I would give everybody from, from, from, from Camerton road to Martin Luther King, Hollowell to Westlake to Camp Creek to Woodland Middle School to Randolph Elementary, you know, KKK. It was a lot of pieces of the park that, you know what I mean, that got me where I'm at today, you know. It was in the city. It was fast life.

But it's good that we're still here. We're able to talk about it. We're able to teach our kids something different. I love it. My kids are f***ing hustler babies, and I be telling them every day, you want me to drop you off down there with your auntie for about two or three days? No, daddy. No. Pac, you talked about your grandmother and how she did a great job of raising you and your cousins, but there are situations that you saw something traumatic happen with your own father and your mother's situation. Well, my dad got killed in front of me when I was eight.

My mom went to jail like two years after that for like four years. It was rough, bro. Like from third grade, second grade, third grade, fourth grade, probably all the way up to fifth, I would fight every day just mentally because I was so hurt in the inside. And during that time, you know, we didn't have no damn counselors and we didn't have all the resources that we had. You know what I'm saying?

There was no mental health expert that you could go to and talk to and say, this is what's going on. Yeah, I ain't have nobody I can talk to about, hey, bipolar. Do you know if you're bipolar? Where's bipolar? Hey, you look like you're mad as hell. Hey, what's going on here? So now, you know, I have the resources to not only financially,

but, you know, when you get older, you figure out a couple things. You figure out about your bloodline. You figure out about your other parents and stuff. And you learn a lot more about your history. So it took me a little while. And now that I'm 37 years old, I don't have no shame in my game. I'm open about my story because I want my kids to know right um i am bipolar um i haven't i didn't find out i find out until 2016 17 um and when i found out well i actually found out 2015 and i was kind of late in

my career and i didn't want to take the medicine because i didn't want it to affect me right on the field wise right you get what i saying so I battle with with with do I take the medicine do I not take the medicine to take it on the offseason and I'm finally at a place now well you know I mean I'm in a content place and I'm doing pretty good but Pat you know in our community talking about mental illness and taking medicine that's a sign of weakness. That ain't nothing wrong with you. That ain't nothing wrong with you. If I knew what I knew now,

I probably could have saved so many people in my hood because I know I'm a little off the wall, but I done seen some jokers that's off the wall that was so talented, man. Right. Of course. Man, this man, he was grabbing quarters off the backboard. How did this dude not make it?

Right. Right. Right. And we've all seen that, Pac. Like, I wasn't the most talented guy, but I was the guy that had the most level head. I had a grandmother that pointed me in the right direction to say, well, you going to school, you going to do this and do that,

where some of the other guys, if they didn't want to go to school, they was like, okay, you ain't got to go to school. If they just had someone in their corner like I had in my corner, there's no question in my mind because they had the physical abilities. Right, and that's why I give my grandma all the credit. She

sent me in the house, and you know how it is in projects. All you want to do is go out and play football and basketball. Yep. My 6th or 7th grade year, I can't think which one it was. 6th grade year, I sat in the house and did hooked on funnys for the whole year. I always been good with numbers and everything, calculating

and everything. I missed the whole AAU season. We was pretty good. I got about four or five national championships. I was like, I better learn how to read, boy, because this sitting in the house with grandma is not the move. Wake up with football every morning

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You say you fought every day. What was it about that made you, was it something that they said? Because I would get upset, you know, look, I didn't have any money, and I was wearing hand-me-downs. My brother's three years older, so when he outgrew something, that was going to mean they were going to be the perfect size for me. And sometimes the knee, my grandmother would sew patches over the knee because he'd been on his knees and wore a hole in them.

And I got holy, so I've gotten hand-me-downs. So if somebody make fun of me, you know, hey, bro, why you making fun of me? So I'm going to want to fight. What was it? Was it something they said? Was it something they did? Or was it just you as an angry kid because of the trauma that you had experienced at a

younger age? Well, younger, I would say when I was younger, it was a mixture of both, you know what I mean? With the trauma and the anger issues and you know what I mean? And plus, where I was at, like, you fall every day in

boat rock and bank. I ain't just saying you all trying to kill each other, but if you lose the basketball game, you ready to fight. You know what I mean? Hard foul. You get a hard foul, you got to fight. Oh, yeah. Hey, boy, you fouled me two times.

Hey, man. You got to see what your hands like. Hey, if we play a touch football, you tackle me, I got to get you. Oh, yeah. Yeah. That's just how we grew up, man. And I did have anger issues to shit still do sometimes today if i ain't going back and checking checking all my stuff you know i mean

that's why i try to visit the past but don't stay in the past but yeah um i mean of course i've had that um i've been through a lot you know. But the environment I grew up in, everybody fought. Like, we went to other projects to fight other kids. I like the call-outs they got now. We had them back in 2000, I mean, 1995. How has kids changed Adam Jones? Because I think the thing is that we become different people once we have kids because not only we trying to I

Tell people what I try to do I try yeah I want to make sure I give my kids from a financial thing But I also want to give them knowledge that my grandparents and my mom Didn't I didn't know that I can give them not just give them tangible things But give them knowledge because if I buy them a car if I buy them clothes or something That's gonna soon they gonna think you know, they're gonna get tired of that things, but give them knowledge. Because if I buy them a car, if I buy them clothes or something, that's going to, soon they're going to get tired of that. But if I partake this knowledge,

knowledge that my grandmother and grandfather, my mom, they couldn't give me, but if I can give them that. You know, my whole thing, man, my kids, you got to realize my youngest, I mean, my second daughter was born at 22 weeks.

Right. Okay. She's pregnant. We had to call the priest, like, two times. But she really changed my whole outlook. When you see them in there and you can't do nothing to help them, that'll change how you think, how you treat people, everything. That'll change how you think, how you treat people, everything. But my point is, you know, I've been through so much.

My kids old enough that they can read everything now. And they always say, Daddy, you're nothing like that. Like, I probably, if I yell in the house, it's got to be an issue. Like, I ain't going to be yelling in the house. You know what I'm saying? So I just try to love them, man, and show them some of the things that we ain't have, you know, as far as caring. And besides grandma, you know, it was, it was, it was, everything was hard. I mean, you know, my mom loved me to death, but my mom was in, she was dibbling and dabbling and doing what she was doing.

But my mom always showed me love and cared for me. But my whole thing with my kids is hey look i want y'all to enjoy everything all these fruits of the labor but at the end of the day i don't want to see none of y'all go through what i've been through and i want y'all i want i want y'all to be able to go to the stamp first you know i mean it ain't all about just sports which i can't say that because all my kids are talented but i'm big on school and i'm big on praying like it's nothing that we don't do in our house and pray and um i don't know if you know but um i adopted chris henry kids too so they up here with me um bubba and man man they are freaks of nature when they come to sports and

everything but it's just it's a love thing over here in our household. No, I did not know that. We love each other hard. We cry together, we pray together. You know what I mean? We do everything together over here. What led you to do that, Pac? Everybody know me and Chris was best friends in college.

I'm still close with this whole entire family. I'm still close with Lane, which is the boys' mom. We're inseparable. And we was just talking. I was like, Lane, I got to get the boys so I can take what we've done so far and, like, maximize it. You know what I mean? So we sat down.

We've been working on this for three, four years. And we finally got it done a couple of like six, seven months ago. And it's just, for me, it's heartwarming because I know my man up there just sitting up there smiling like, man, I really appreciate you. For the people that don't know, you're talking about your – I don't get too teared up about certain stuff, but, like,

I don't know, like, that was my man. Like, you get what I'm saying? Like, me and Slim was like this. We was the real poster boys when they first started talking about poster boys. You're talking about not only was he a teammate of yours in Cincinnati, he was a teammate of yours, Chris Henry, the only was he a teammate of yours in Cincinnati, he was a teammate of yours, Chris Henry, the wide receiver, a teammate of yours at West Virginia.

That's where you first met. Yeah. You guys were so close. You adopted, I think he has two boys, right? Yeah, yeah. And you adopted them recently. Man, that's big, Pac. That's huge.

Yeah. Yeah, so that's what we're doing, man. They're unbelievable athletes, and we all family over here. So in my house, I got five kids. Six, well, my oldest one in Atlanta at Westlake. Right. I got 13, 12. That's Bubba and Man-Man.

Right. Then I got Trent, who just turned 11. And I got Lil' Junie, who's three about to go on foot. Wow. You mentioned Westlake. You went to Westlake. Most people also know Cam Newton went to Westlake. And what people don't know is that you won two state championships at Westlake,

but you're known as a football player. So, which sport did you love more when you were in high school, football or basketball? So let me tell you this story. I had pretty much every school that offered me in football, but South, Alabama, I mean, not Alabama, LSU, Auburn, and Clemson. Those were probably the three schools that didn't offer me. Okay. And I had, like, Georgia Tech, West Virginia, NC State, LSU, and basketball.

Right. So I told my coach, I was like, look, man, think about signing this basketball scholarship at Georgia Tech. And he looked at me, he said, hey, fool, you 5'9". There's only one Allen Iverson. He said, there's only one Allen Iverson. You got all these officers. You going to take a chance to go play basketball?

He shot my whole dreams down. So I was like, man, you know what? So I end up going to West Virginia because I was supposed to play both sports. And then the coaching staff changed, and they wanted me to cut my hair at that time. I wouldn't cut my hair. So I ended up playing football, and it all worked out for the best. Drafted number six overall to the Tennessee Titans.

They put certain clauses in your contract because you had a couple of incidents at West Virginia. They put these clauses in your contract because you had a couple of incidents at West Virginia. They put these clauses in your contract. You were upset about that. So it seems like going in, you and the Tennessee Titans had a kind of a tense relationship, a contentious relationship from the jump. But really, you know what? I'm older now, and I look back.

It wasn't really no tension relationship. I want to say my condolences go out to Floyd Reese. I know he just passed away. He changed my life, you know. Him and Gary Richard, as far as back then, which was my agent back then, Gary Richard. Floyd changed my life. He's been nothing but good to me.

At that time, bro, I was just moving too fast. I didn't understand that I can do what I wanted to do, but I couldn't do it with my ass out in the street. So, you know, you live and you learn and you take the punches and it builds you up, you know, and it'll tear you down. But it can't do nothing but help you, you know, and to tear you down, but, um, it can't do nothing but help, you know? So I learned from that situation, but I love, I loved everybody in Tennessee. Um, it's not one person in that, in that office or in the stadium that could say

they had a problem with me. Like I've never had a problem with the upstairs. Yeah. I was, I was doing too much at the time. They had to protect their investment. Hey bro, you don't want to do, we got to tell you, we got to ship your own up out of here. And if you want to get shipped up out of here, the other $2 million that we owe you, you got to sign it up. If not, we're going to keep you right here. So, you know, you, you live and you learn and, and, and things happen, but I have no,

no ill feeling. I think, Bud Adams and the whole Adams family, they was great to me, man. You were in the 2005 draft class. Aaron Rodgers still playing. Frank Gore, Ryan Fitzpatrick, Richie Incognito. I don't know if Frank is still on the team, but Ryan Fitzpatrick and Richie Incognito and Aaron Rodgers are still playing.

Do you think, like, you know what? If I had taken better care of myself on the front end, done things the right way on the front end, know then what I know now. Do you think you could have still been playing? Well, I was the last defensive player playing, Shea, in my draft class. So I got to pat myself on the back. But that's pretty good.

It was a lot of us out there. Right. Now the quarterbacks, I don't know if I could have outplayed the quarterbacks. They get all the protection. You can't hit them hard. You can't do nothing to them. They don't get hit. They don't tell nothing.

You know what I mean? So it's kind of hard to outplay the quarterbacks. But as far as everybody else, I outplayed their ass except Frank Gore. That's my number of respect to Frank Gore. That's like one of my close friends. He worked hard. He take care of his body. You know, I mean, he had a great career. But far as the rest of them go down the list. I'll play dollar and

lasted long longer than all the DB's. I don't even know it was it. If it was a DB in my last four or five years. Your rookie year, you got an opportunity to play with Steve McNair. I know, I know, Matt. What type of person, what type of player was Steve McNair? Man, Steve was everything, man. He'll get you the shirt off his back, you know what I mean? I don't even know if I can compare nobody to Steve, man. Like, that was my dude.

I actually was with him two weeks before he passed away. We was out shooting Joe's versus Pro's. Right. Yep. Yep. But he was unbelievable, man. Like, Steve was Steve, man. He was up, up, up, up tempo guy.

Cool, chill, down to himself, crack jokes. He loved everybody, man. Steve was one of a kind. In 2007, you were suspended for the entire season. They took all your money. You don't get no money. When you get suspended, you don't get no money. Do you believe, did Commissioner Goodell, did he handle that properly? Is there something that you knew that they didn't know

that could have maybe stemmed some, maybe not get an entire year, maybe get six games? What transpired? I got the entire year just because of who I was. And the night before I went and met him, he had somebody following me. And I went to the strip club in New York. And Pat, come on, Pat, you know that.

I'm being honest. I'm being honest. That's why I got suspended. They ain't telling the people that people don't know that. I don't really think that it was about what had happened. The point was, I think he was like, damn, you ain't learning nothing. Are you realizing what the matter is at hand right here, right now? You come to me, commissioner,

and you take over here, talking about you going to eat some wings at the strip club. You know, at 20 years old, 21, I wouldn't have never thought that was a problem. I'm from Atlanta. Go to the strip club to eat wings. People don't believe that. Yes. Magic City got them wings. Magic City got them wings. They fire.

They fire for real though. Man, Cheetah got a steak that's better than any steakhouse I ever been to. What? Cheetah put it down like that? What? Man, Cheetah, oh my god. But at the time you know i mean um

i ain't gonna say i was being rebellion because i wasn't being rebellion it was more of young and dumb being a product of the environment you know i mean i ain't i didn't have nobody that'd be like hey pack don't do that shit you're're going to meet the commissioner. You know what I mean? And at that time, I probably wouldn't want to listen to nobody because I wanted nobody to help me out before that. Right. That was my whole point. Like, what the **** was that when I was broke?

The time I got all this money is, hey, boy, you're not supposed to do this. Hey, boy, you're not supposed to do that. And I've been suffering 21 years. Right. I ain't got a pair of shoes to go to school a car say good luck came all the way home from college when my grandma passed away didn't even want to go back to school if it weren't for coach coming to get me i'd probably still be in atlanta right now i ain't have a family member a friend or hey man get your ass up man you're way too you're way too good to be trying to sit

here at home right so it was it was more of a learning point for me Shay and I really think God do things for a reason and that was that that was my story you know he did that for a reason for for me to learn and be an example for some of these other kids. And pump your brakes, man. Pump your brakes sometimes. And try to see what the bigger picture is, you know? You leave Tennessee, you go to Dallas. Deion is your mentor because he's in Dallas. He's been with the Cowboys.

He knows what it's like to be a Cowboy player in Dallas. It's a whole different ballgame. Everybody, all NFL teams can't say what it's like. It's a different animal. It's nothing like Dallas. No. Period. Nothing.

So what happened in Dallas? Because it seemed like it was going well, then all of a sudden you got released. It was going great. And I went out one night, and Jerry had me on these security guards with me. And you know how we play in the locker room. Yeah.

So I go to the bathroom. This is honest to God, true story. I go to the bathroom. My security guard, he was peeing so i pushed him like on his butt like little lap type right he pissed all over himself he get he get like it's so mad i had to nervous come on my security so um that was a whole nother situation and i whooped this jerry was like god damn how you gonna beat up the security that i got you i'm like bro i was just playing with

him he got mad because i pushed him and he pissed on himself and i wasn't really trying to do and he just swung so hold on so now see that was not the story. No, yeah, for real. This is for real now, Shaq. You getting it wrong. I know you're telling me the truth, but you know the story that they had out is that the security guard tried to wake you up from a hangover.

And y'all... Hell no. So, the real... Man, that man ain't trying to wake me up from no hangover. So, the real is, you were joking around. He peed on his hand and got upset at you, and you beat up the security guard.

Yeah. Well, you need a new security guard anyway. Call Dion. Dion will tell you. Dion knows the truth. First of all, anybody that can beat up their security, they need new security. Because the guy that's being protected shouldn't be able to beat up a security guard, Pac-Man.

That's first and foremost. Jesus Christ. Okay, you get released from Dallas and you go to Cincinnati, right? Yep. Cincinnati seems like a perfect place for you. Your former teammates there, Ocho Cinco, Marvin. I love Marvin. Marvin was with me in Denver.

I love Marvin Lewis. There's nothing not to like about Marvin. Marvin just wants you to go. Marvin's going to tell you, look, do the right thing. I want you to play hard. Cincinnati's a really tough place to play because Mike Brown is cheap. Mike Brown ain't going to spend no money. You practice it right on the overpass. People park. Watch

you practice. Park their car right on the interstate. Watch you practice. So you know I know. Like high school. It is like high school. It seemed to me that you enjoy playing in Cincinnati more than you enjoy playing any other place.

I did. No, I ain't going to say that because I enjoy playing in Tennessee too. But I enjoy playing for Coach Lewis. Yeah. He slowed everything down for me and really, like, look, Pac, this is your last chance, bro. Right. If you got to come stay with me, I want this to work for you.

And he was probably one of the only coaches besides Coach Fisher that I had at that point that I really knew, like, he meant what the **** he was saying and he really cared about. Right. And I just tried to do whatever I can do and take it and run with it, you know. And it started off kind of shaky with the injuries. And picked that thing up, man, and started playing some of the best football that I ever played.

Pac, you had a saying once that said that you would pick your friends over the NFL. You still feel that same way? Who the hell said that? I said that? Yeah. How old was that? I said that? Yeah. How old was I when I said that? I'm pretty sure you were in your 20s. Man, them.

They all gone now. What a hit now. Hold on. Hey, anybody in here? See how quiet it done gotten here? Yo! Hold on. Hey! Anybody in here? See how quiet it done got in here? Yo! But, you know, but, Pat, real talk.

You know, look, there are people that you come up with that you feel have your best interest. But when you look back on it, they had their best interest in mind. And their best interest was you, and they didn't tell you what you needed to know. They told you what you wanted to hear. Because if they tell you the truth, Pac, you gonna stop the bus and make their ass

get off. So, I gotta tell Pac everything that he wanna hear. Yeah, Pac, you right. Pac, let's go on over there. Man, forget the NFL. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, bro. And now that you look back on it, you much older. You're like, man, forget the NFL. Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, bro. And now that you look back on it, you much older. You're like, man, I had to, I let them jokers lead me down a path

that I should have never been on. I might have had two of my boys that come to, hey, bro, you need to chill, bro. You need to leave an honor, bro. Maybe two. But at the end of the day, I don't blame nobody because all of the decisions came from me making them. I've always been an alpha mega.

I've always said what's going to happen. I've always led by example. I've always been the leader of whatever I've been in you know i mean whoever i've been around because i've always led and lead by example so um if if i had to blame anybody i would just look in the mirror and blame myself like i did you know what i mean and all the outside noise sound cool but in this world that can make me do something that I don't want to do. Right. So, like I said, my story, it ain't like everybody else's story. You know what I mean? God did my story different because, really,

I'm supposed to be probably dead or in jail. Right. But he sent me through these things and built me up and knocked me down and built me back up so I could help some of these kids out and help my own kids out and help my own kids out help my nieces and nephews you know I mean the little hands because at the end of the day like he took it all away but and built it right back up for me right like how I can't be no more no more thankful than that like I you can't do nothing but listen at this point. Right. Now, we're going to have, you're going to have a hiccup.

Whatever stuff going to happen. But at the end of the day, I don't hang with, I'm normally either me or two more dudes or however I am. But, like, I'm cautious of where I go. I try to eliminate certain situations. You know what I mean? So, at this point, man, I'm trying to be a model for my boys, man. It's way bigger than me, you know what I mean? I done had my fun to do whatever I want to do for the last 20,

well, 31 years, you know what I mean? Now it's time to be a parent and enjoy some shit. Right. You know what I mean? Pat, let me ask you a question. How was it on the same defense, you and Tez, Vontaze Burford? I loved it. I loved it.

Man, you know that man was doing some dirty play. Doing dirty play, Pat. Man, all this shit's not dirty, man. I cannot let you sit here and say all that was dirty. Come on, man. But some of it was dirty, Pat. 90% of it. Hold on.

90% of this shit is to the outside noise. If you go back and look in the place, yeah, he had some dirty place. I ain't saying he didn't have no dirty place. See? But, like, come on, man. Come on. Like, some of it, though. But, Pat, you know that was.

Like, at the beginning. At the beginning. At the beginning, I will admit. Okay. Because I said, look, bro. See, I knew you were telling the truth. This the 37-year-old Pac. Tell him the truth. Let me tell you what I thought.

I said, look, man. I know how much money you can pay. They not giving you this money back, T. You got to figure out. He's like, man, I can't do it. I'm like, bro, you got to figure out a way. And I will say, bro, he tried, bro. He tried. I don't care what nobody say. He tried. He like man, I can't do it. I like bro. You got to figure out a way and I will say bro. He tried bro. He tried. I don't care what nobody say. He tried. He tried

like the end of hit. Come on like the end of here was a did you you seen the end of here? I think that was the last one. Yeah, was that a bad hit? It was if it's no, no, no, I'm just saying it once you pack, you know how it is. Once you get that reputation, once you get that reputation, your reputation precedes you. So it doesn't matter that he went to another team.

Everybody still remembers what he was doing when he was in Cincinnati. So it didn't matter. But he was a good enough player, Pat. He didn't have to do any of that. Most of the games that Vontaze got in trouble on was what game? Tell me what team we was playing. The Steelers. And them motherfuckers, the dirtiest team in the league.

Come on, man. They had Pouncey. What was the other center name? Incognito? Yeah. No. But see, here's the thing, though. But here's the thing.

The hit on A.B. You don't think that hit on A.B. was dirty? Man, that man A.B AB winked at us, man. Y'all crazy. And that my boy. AB winked at us, man. Swear to God, man. God, strike me down.

You know I'm a God-fearing man. I pray every day. God, strike me down if AB did not wink at us. He got you. I swear to God on the ground. I cannot make this up, man. The man winked at us. He got you. I swear to God, on the ground. I cannot make this up, man. The man winked at us.

And you know, I'm going to tell you now. Yeah. I'm going to tell you the only God truth, whether they like it or not. Now, he come knock your block off. We got it down to where it at least should have been way

manageable. Then every time he hit somebody, it was 15 yards, bro. But here's the thing. Sometimes guys are not talented enough and they do things outside of the scope of the game. He was talented enough. You know, that was the only reason he didn't get drafted because he was doing that

boy job. Because Taz was talented. He could play. Yeah know that was the only reason he didn't get drafted because he was doing that boy job. Taz was talented. He could play. Yeah, he was. He didn't have to do any of that stuff, Pat, and you know it. You're right. You're right.

He played without a seatbelt. That's all I'm going to say. Them linebackers different. You know that. You was playing. What'd they get to do to you? Wait, wait, wait. But, Z, it's a different game now. But you know what?

I came up in the early 90s. Everything went. What? They were really knocking your block off if you go over the middle. And dare you to come back. Dare you to come back. Dare you to come back. Friday, Charleston, West Virginia.

Three one-minute rounds. So what are the headlines going to read Saturday morning? Adam Pac-Man Jones, first career fight ends how? Ends the new rough and rowdy champ Adam Pac-Man Jones. You know how it's going to look right now? Hold on, do it again, bitch.

Hey, so you're going to win the belt and retire. Hell no, I'm not retiring. I told you, this won't be my only fight, regardless of how this go when I whoop him up or how bad I beat him. I got a couple more things that I'm working on. You know who I really want to fight? Who you want to fight, Pat?

I want to fight the boy over there who's fighting Sunday if he can get down to 182 pounds. Who? Jake Paul? Yeah. Hey, I'm not Nate. I promise you that. I don't know if he's going to be able to get down to 180.

I don't know if he's going to get. He probably walk around. He probably walk around. They say he can get down to 180. What did he weigh? 193 this fight? Yeah. He kind of fat though, ain't he? Yeah. And so he weigh? 193 this fight? Yeah. He kind of

fat though, ain't he? Yeah. He probably dehydrated just to make that. He going to the ring, he probably walking in the ring at 205. How about this then? After I handle my business this Friday, you

come up with me a hit list. Okay. You want somebody on the celebrity circuit that you can go ahead? I don't know, but I mean, I'll watch that fight. I'll pay to watch that fight if you fight Jake Paul at 180. How much you wearing now, Pat? Yeah. Right now, I'm 170. Well, fight weight is 175, so I'm right there at 176.

Yeah, so he need to come down to 180. Yeah. And then he can beef up overnight. Because Nate weighed 178, 180. He walked in the ring at Nate. I mean, he was 198, so he probably walked in the ring at 210. That's too big for Nate. Yeah, way too big for Nate. Yeah, way too big for Nate. Man, I don't even know who gave Nate the idea to go sign himself up for

a dummy league. All money ain't good money, Pat. Who the hell is working with Nate? Do he got an agent? Not anymore. All money ain't good money, man. Nope. You got to tell him, Sean.

All money is not good money. You can't make me no money for the rest of my life. First thing I'm going to tell you, he got to get down for me to fight him. I'm not fighting him at 200 pounds. No. No. Nor should you. No. It don't make business sense for me, sir. But see, here's the thing. Nate let his ego get involved. And you know when you're fighting, you can't let your ego

get involved. Man, I'm a business. Business, man. There you go. Pac, good luck. You know, I used to business. Business, man. There you go. Pac, good luck. You know, I used to see you around the A. I'm out in L.A. now, so I hadn't seen you in a while. But we're going to link back up when I get back down today. I know you're down there every so often.

We're going to grab a bite to eat. I'll meet you at the barbershop, Peter Street. You know where we get our cut up at. You know where it is. Off the hook, baby. Hey, good luck, Pac. Yes, sir. Appreciate you for having me. Congratulations. I, baby. Hey, good luck, Pat. Yes, sir. Appreciate you for having me.

Congratulations. I'm glad to see you doing well, bro. Thank you, brother. Thank you, brother. This is why all my life I've been grinding all my life. All my life. Been grinding all my life. Sacrifice. Hustle pay the price. Want a slice. Got to roll a dice.

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