Crime in Sports - #307 - I Am Not Under Arrest - The Fieriness of "Mean" Gene Atkins

Episode Date: June 14, 2022

This week, we check into a man, who worked his way onto an NFL roster, almost exclusively on the back of his ability to use his body, with reckless abandon, to take down, and preferably hurt, opposing players. Some cracks began to appear, while still playing. He attacked a reporter, and fought with coaches & teammates. But once he retired, the full impact that his physical style began to show, on his brain. A charge of twice firebombing a business associate & long time friend. He had an epic, and disturbing showdown with police, who wanted him top stop choking & hitting his wife, with a remote control. But they didn't much better luck, with the whole thing escalating from violence to a showdown! All of this, and the NFL thinks his brain is fine!!Make it to the top of your profession on pure grit & violence, deny firebombing your friend's family home, and try your best to remember the months of the year with "Mean" Gene Atkins!! Check us out, every Tuesday! We will continue to bring you the biggest idiots in sports history!!  Hosted by James Pietragallo & Jimmie Whisman  Donate at... patreon.com/crimeinsports or with paypal.com using our email: [e-mail]  Get all the CIS & STM merch at crimeinsports.threadless.com  Go to shutupandgivememurder.com for all things CIS & STM!!  Contact us on... twitter.com/crimeinsports [e-mail] facebook.com/Crimeinsports instagram.com/smalltownmurderSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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So that's how that works. That sounds good to you. Let's get it going and start. And here we go. Wow. Is it wild? Let's get started with our fellow this week gene reynard atkins okay atkins gene atkins do you know who he is nfl player in the 90s um really really hard-hitting safety kind of like a like a poor man's andre waters we'll call him like that kind of thing nickname is Mean Gene of course after yeah you know I mean there's Mean Gene Okerlund who is the he's the Mean Gene yeah he's the standard bearer for Mean Genes but we'll take it obviously for this guy here Mean Gene he's born November

22nd 1964 in Tallahassee Florida oh. Florida through and through from a man here. Childhood, it's very interesting. He's a weird guy because later on he'll say and do some very, very strange things, and you'll attribute it, obviously, to head trauma. From Florida? And also just whatever the drinking water situation is down there or whatever the Florida disease is that seems to infect people. That in general plus the brain damage. But he's always weird.

He's just a weird guy. I don't know what it is, man. When he was eight years old, he claimed that he was picking pecans off an old tree, which I'll believe that. I'm sure they're growing. He could be picking them. I don't know. Sure. This is the part, though, that I'm – see, this is where the story takes a little bit of a left turn.

First part, perfectly believable. Everybody's been eight years old. I'm sure there might have been a pecan tree. I'm in so far. Gets weird when he says at that point God spoke to him. At eight. At eight. At eight. Through, I don't know if a pecan went like bop, bop, bop, bop at him or I don't know how it worked.

But God spoke to him and told him, Gene. Hello, Gene. Good to see you down there. You too, up there. Nice technique. I'm happy that you're using the pecans that I've given to all. That's excellent. That's very good.

There's still things you haven't even had yet. People don't even know. But call it an Easter egg. It'll be there when you discover it. It's delicious things too. Anyway, I have a message for you, Gene. What does it tell him? It's a message.

You are going to play professional football. Goodbye, Gene. What does it tell him? It's a message. You are going to play professional football. Goodbye, Gene. That's all. I have other people I need to visit. There's things going on, floods, and you know how it is. I'm God, for Christ's sake. That's funny, right? Okay. Goodbye.

And then he flew back off into the clouds. He picked pecans and decided that Jesus told him, God told him, And then he flew back off into the clouds after. He picked pecans and decided that Jesus told him, God told him. God spoke. Yeah. It's a fascinating time. It was a particular denomination of God. Just whoever's up there in the clouds.

Whichever one. It's all. Interrupting his pecans for football. That's it. And he said, quote, I knew, he said that uh you know he's uh he knew he could do it right then because you know obviously i mean god told him he's gonna do it so amen a pecan is kind of shaped like a football that's what i said did it just like kind of pop up talk to him like it opened up and closed did you see one with some threads on it yeah and he

was like yeah light stripes that's the one right there. Just fucking Wilson written on the side of it. The dupe over there. One with some bird shit that kind of looks like football stripes. Hey, that's the one. So, yeah, so he said with the message from God behind him, he obviously knew that he could do it. I mean, what more fucking – one thing if your parents tell you yeah we have faith in you you

could do it or a high school coach god told him from the heavens i'm here to try out for what whatever one jesus told you i should play i don't know me go home and specific tell you what coach go home you got a pecan tree in your yard if so you pick them for a little while god will tell you where i should play he's He's very vested in my future. So really, I think he's interested. He's going to talk to you. So now there's a friend of his name, Ed Haynes, who plays high school football with him in Florida here. And Ed Haynes said that Atkins hit him a couple of times on the football field.

And he says that, quote, when he he hit people it was like he was leaving the ground like a missile gene's the guy who punished quarterbacks and running backs he had a serious reputation a reckless reputation gene hit me a couple times coming across the middle it was in a gang tackle type situation not one-on-one i knew i didn't want to get hit by him one-on-one yeah so uh yeah this is a guy who knew like like, that's the end of my football career pretty much at that point. Like, he said, I don't want to get hit by a guy in high school. I don't want to go to college and get hit by guys, definitely. Right.

So, Haynes ends up joining the Marines. And in 1990, he's the first black man hired by the Miami Shores Police Department. Oh. In 1990. Real progressive. Real progressive. Very progressive. He was doing bodyguard work. He did work for Arnold Schwarzenegger.

When he would come to South Florida, he'd be one of his bodyguards, and he runs a company called Strong Safety Security, which is pretty fucking funny, whereas that's what Atkins plays, by the way, strong safety. So that's interesting there. That's Haynes, runs that company. So through high school, he's in a smaller high school. He's not in one of these big football factory high schools.

Gene's always under the radar. That's the thing about him. He's under the radar, a big deal where he is, but kind of always small fish in a you know are a large fish in a small pond so he ends up accepting a football scholarship in 1983 to florida a and m oh which is not a really an oh it's not a big program at all it's you know it's not a program that's they don't have a lot of number one draft picks type program it's not florida florida state um it's a historically black university as well and they have 15 black college football national championships in their in their history is that right so yeah they're storied in that capacity but they're overlooked by nfl scouts they were only playing black black colleges no they play other colleges too but they're they're in different, it's like a different league, essentially.

So, yeah, also 29 Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference titles. That's all the historically black schools in that one. Eight MEAC titles and one national, they're 2A, it's a 2A school. So, one national 2A championship. That was in uh 1978 they won the 2a national championship was gene there no gene was not there gene was there for the bad times um in the 80s well the 70s 78 they were winning and then by the 90s late 90s they started being good again but when gene there gene was there it was right after they like defunded the whole they

funded i gotta have some details on it here uh during the fort 2004 season they attempted to move up to the division 1a you know the for like the show play for the national championship and they and they would have became the only historically black college to uh do that but they were forced to abort its bid for some sort of money reason i believe so 86 87 here uh they said coach here said quote we had a lot of problems starting in the early 80s when our football package was cut so that's no right when gene came in there uh this was the guy whose guy who said this was the school's marketing and development uh the head of the marketing and development department he said at one time famu was the second most televised one double a school in the nation behind eastern kentucky then the cfa and the ncaa did away with our television package and that meant a loss of about three hundred

thousand dollars a year for our athletic department budget, which is huge back then. That was most of their budget. So, yeah, he says many years ago, most of our coaches were also teachers and were paid through different departments where they taught. Now our coaches are almost exclusively paid through the athletic department budget. That also took a big chunk out of things. So they just basically made it impossible to do anything so um yeah they couldn't draw enough people after a while as well because the team wasn't very good so people stopped coming and uh the stadium they had expanded it

when they were good from 10 700 seats to 25 000 seats right cost of millions of dollars and all that and then nobody would show up so they had this 25 000 seat stadium with you know 6 000 people in there yeah it was like an expose game you hear people's you know individual taunts somebody take a sip of a coke oh that's that's not great man yeah um so anyway they they started they tried to pull together i guess and do that sort of thing one of their coaches said i knew what i was getting into here when he got hired he said the coaches did what they could to cut down on expenses the players saw that and realized we were all in this together it took time for us to adjust to each other but once we did things started to go our way yeah that's the the university's story

kind of uh they had a a big dip there in the 80s due to financial issues and then and that is that is the bummer about college football is that they the the big gripe about it about college football is that it's treated like a business because it is a business but when it is a business you you compensate your employees and that was obviously the big bugaboo from the colleges. They don't want to pay. But when it doesn't make any money like this, this isn't the player's fault. No, it really isn't. There's no way to do it.

I mean, money is everything for these colleges. And you can't call it not a business when it's a you know they have billion dollar plus tv deals it's like okay well someone's making fucking money here yeah there's money going somewhere so where is that all going i mean it doesn't cost a billion dollars to put on a football program last time i checked no so i don't know um i do like the fact that they've done the name and likeness thing yeah there's some guys in college that are making like really good money right now like they're making hundreds of thousands of dollars which by the way might actually make them stay an extra year in college right if you're having a good time in college and you know you're it's fucking if you're a college football player guess

what it's fun your life is fun it is'm sure it is, yeah. Everybody kisses your ass. You get everything for free. It's fun. You're doing great. There's one guy I saw that's set to make like half a million dollars this year in endorsements. And you're making a half a million dollars, you might go, I'll stick around one more year. Fuck it. This is a good time.

I'm not poor. I'm still driving a nice car. I got a nice apartment. I have money to do things. My mom's doing yeah i could still i can help my family out and uh you know still have fun in college and bang fucking 19 year old girls this is great i'm staying yeah i think that's what they're thinking there so anyway um they nickname gene mean gene here at florida a&m and so you there, huh? So he becomes Mean Gene. At FAMU.

At FAMU. He said that he was taught, quote, that you kill a mosquito with an axe at Florida A&M. Jesus, what? Just most possible force you can muster on anything. So you have to, he said that you have to play hard and lay people out uh basically like it's like the al davis thing this one article was saying comparing to that where he said the quarterback must go down and go down hard is the al davis famous quote here so um he says this is mean gene here quote uh the coaches are going to say that they're going to cut you if you don't

hit hard or be physical he said um you know no weakness there's nothing that you can do that's weakness he said coaches look in the training room it's a sign of weakness being in the trainer's room meaning the medical office that you're hurt so you're supposed to even if you're hurt you're supposed to pretend you're not hurt and hit as hard as you can at all times that's the that's the culture of football further yeah yeah that's the culture of football um he said quote you're. That's the culture of football. He said, quote, you're not putting on dresses. We're gladiators who go fight. There's nothing soft.

It's a contact sport. Jesus Christ. Mean Gene, brother. Let me tell you something, Mean Gene. Yeah. This is why football was so great, though. I mean, for people to watch, yeah, I'm sure it was fun to watch people get eaten by fucking lions, too, back in the day. I mean, if that's what you were into, it was probably fucking entertaining to watch a man be eaten whole.

But if we're talking about, you know, fairness in business practice, you can't smoke in bars because it's unhealthy to the bartenders. You know what I'm saying? And so, like, every other job, and I'm just using that as an example of whatever the fuck, you know, i'm saying so like every other job and i'm just using that as an example of whatever the fuck you know like every job has these rules for that and football it's like well you know gotta get your skull bashed in like there's no other industry where you're allowed to bash someone's skull in it constantly i don't understand besides sports that makes it okay and i get it caleb your customers love to smoke. Mix the Cosmopolitan now. And I'm not saying there shouldn't be football because I'm a huge football fan and a giant hypocrite too because I want to watch it.

And I don't want guys to get brain damaged, but I do want to see exciting. So who the fuck knows? That's why there's no solution. Because even people like us who are on the player's side with all this brain damage shit, we're still like, but I still want to watch football. Yeah. And sometimes the play's called and the penalty's called, they appear so fucking soft. But I want to watch a sport that I can't do and that feels like I can do that. Yeah.

When you take all that out of it, it feels like, yeah, that was part of it is that guy got hit in the head real hard and then played the next play. I'd be in the hospital. That's what you're impressed with. It's part of it it feels like yeah that was part of it is that guy got hit in the head real hard and then played the next play i'd be in the hospital that's what you're excited you know impressed with it's part of it i get it that's i totally get it so uh here's a guy named alfred simmons we'll talk about here he is a teammate he's a halfback on the team while atkins plays safety he's also his roommate at florida am he's jeans mean jeans roommate mean gene and alfred here so uh alfred simmons and atkins they're they become super tight over this time period on the team and roommates um atkins quote um this is funny this is how they became roommates according to alfred simmons quote atkins was kicking somebody out of his room and i just passed by i said i'll be your roommate and walked in and put my stuff down that was easy so yeah

when they were moving into rooms apparently one guy didn't last fucking five minutes didn't last past orientation in the room before gene kicked him out um no one wants to trifle with Gene, by the way. He is, I mean, nobody. We're talking from other players to Don Shula to, uh, he ha he doesn't back down from, you know, a, a, a fleet of armed police officers. He has no on field and off on field and off reckless, abandoned full speed ahead. Nothing soft. We're not putting on dresses here this is full contact gladiator action all the time mosquitoes with axes all the time all the time so wow anyway um they end up uh becoming very good friends after graduation

though uh gene wants to pursue the nfl and this guy's not an nfl type player so they kind of drift apart for a few years here and uh our simmons ends up opening a construction company a little bit later on he works in construction and he's got a whole construction thing and we'll join up back again with simmons in a little while because he comes back into gene's life in a major major major way so go build some shit al we'll We'll be around. That's right. So he plays at Florida A&M, and by 1987, by the way, I cannot find anything for, all I saw was I think in 86 they were 5-6 the team. Otherwise I can't find, it's really hard to find any information on Florida A&M for some reason.

Really? Yeah, it's not, even if you look at football reference and you go to guys and you it doesn't have any other stats from there weird yeah you click on florida a&m on other things that goes to the basketball team you can't even get shit from the football team it's very weird go and watch and nobody took down any notes of what happened i mean i'm sure they did they just nobody's i don't know i don't know them to the internet yeah yeah nobody's keeping that shit like just, nobody's, I don't know. Putting them to the internet yet? Yeah, nobody's keeping that shit, like, collated or some shit. I don't know. Fam you.

We keep that in the family. That's it. It's all, hey, you know what? Don't tell nobody about this. Hey. They have football emeritus here. Let's play a game and nobody tell nobody. Nobody tell nobody what we're doing, all right?

All right, we won. Shut the fuck up, man. Keep it down. Shh, there's fucking reporters everywhere. Shut up. They're going to write it somewhere. Tell anybody. Jesus Christ, we're trying to keep this on the low here.

He might have the records for college sacks. Nobody has a fucking clue. It's possible. He might have had 48 interceptions in his junior year. We don't know. We honestly don't know. But either way, by 1987, he's done with school. He played four years, and he's hoping to be drafted into the NFL.

If not, he's hoping to catch on somewhere. So the 1987 NFL draft comes about. Jimmy, number one overall pick, 87 draft. Dickerson. No, that's 84. I don't know. 87? was it drew bledsoe that's like 92 91 that is 90 i'm getting close was it rocky bishmail that is later even i think you just went farther that's like 92 Who was number one in 87? Vinny Testaverde.

Are you serious? Oh, yeah, from Miami. They were stomping everybody. He was a number one? Number one overall draft pick, Vinny Testaverde out of Miami. He went to Tampa, so that makes sense to a Florida guy. I mean, that's to fill seats as much as it is for anything else. Number two overall, Cornelius Bennett, the great defensive player for the Buffalo Bills

forever. Alonzo Highsmith for Houston, who's a that's a bust at number three. Brent Fullwood for Green Bay and another bust. Exactly. Let's see. Kelly's the first quarterback after Testaverde is number six, and that's Kelly Stouffer. Oh, no. Yeah, not great.

All of these people, Jerome Brown, Shane Conlon go in this. Jerome Brown was great as well. All these people pick above. They don't pick number 10 overall. Rod Woodson, the Hall of Famer. Really? Missed him, everybody did. Number 10.

Wow. He's the guy that you wanted in this draft. After that, it kind of really deteriorates into DJ Dozier, Haywood Jeffries, Roger Vick. Yeah, not good. Rod Berenstein and his Bears. Jim Harbaugh at the end. Denver got Ricky Nateel that year, the third amigo.

Oh, no. They got him there, and then how far down 27 okay second to last in the in the first round and mark ingram the giants got with uh the last that's a good pick that's a good pick right after that though nate odom's a buffalo who's around forever uh christian akoya number 35 no kidding it was a monster yeah finally in the seventh round the seventh round pick 179 this year the new orleans saints select gene atkins how about that there he is um by the way one two three four picks later do you know who was chosen in the eighth round 87 seventh round seventh round about 15 years from now yes 13 years later right after this bo jackson was chosen by the raiders everybody

thought he didn't want to play football yeah he's just gonna play baseball they could have taken him with the pick they took gene atkins with and he might have played for the saints but everyone said oh no he's playing with Kansas City because he didn't take the offer with Tampa the year before. And then, yeah, they took a flyer on him, and next thing you know, we had Bo Jackson. Yeah, and then he's crumbling his hips on no hit. Yep, another five years from there.

So, anyway, number seven. So seventh round pick, though, you're not guaranteed to make shit. No. Or make the team. I mean, they're taking a chance. You might be selling patio furniture in a week. You have no idea. You're not renting an apartment.

You're staying in a motel during training camp. You're definitely not sure that this is going to work out. So July of 87, here, though, he's doing well. Everything's going well for him. He's drafted out of a small school, which was a breath of relief there. He marries his college sweetheart, of course, in July of 1987, right after he's drafted. So a couple months later after that, nothing can be better here. Everything is going great.

And he says, quote, my goal at this point is to see that the Saints have a winning season and make the playoffs. Hopefully, things will continue to look bright for me. Couldn't be going any better. In New Orleans in 87, they're even a good team. This is the strike year with the replacement players and all that. This is where Suge Knight played this year. Not in New Orleans. He played for L.A.

But the New Orleans Saints go 12-3 this year. No kidding. They were really fucking good here. They go to the playoffs where they get stomped by the Vikings 44-10 in the wildcard round. So that's not good. With Ahmad Rashad. I think he was done by now. Was he done by then?

I think Ahmad was on the announce team by now. Yeah. He was in the 70s, Ahmad Rashad. I think he was done by now. Was he done by then? I think Ahmad was on the announce team by now, yeah. He was in the 70s, Ahmad Rashad. He was so good. Ahmad was pretty good. Yeah, he was pretty good. He was very good for a guy that just stands there and talks now and is so handsome still. He was like knockoff. He was really good.

He was Hydrox Lin Swan is what he was. Okay, yeah. Go bot Lin Swan. Minnesota Lin Swan. Yeah, Go Bot Lin Swan. That's it. Sort of similar. He was fast. He was good, though.

No, he was a great receiver. I liked it. I mean, Lin Swan's an all-time great. It's not an insult to call him a B-level Lin Swan. So 1987 Saints, though, he gets to start when a guy gets hurt. Oh, there you go. Antonio Gibson starting strong safety, breaks his arm trying to make a tackle. Oh, no.

And they're like, you're starting now, Chief. Seventh round draft pick. I didn't think he was going to make the team. You're now the starting. You got two arms. You're in. You're in, buddy. So he says, the quote, the other players came up to me and said, this is a big game.

Just stay calm and cool. I didn't have time to think. I just played ball like I do in practice. So, yeah, he said the Giants were trying to test me and see what kind of defensive back I was, obviously. So he ended up getting two interceptions in his first game. What? Yeah, so that'll make you, you know know cement you into the lineup they're not going to want to kick you out he uh so yeah he did very well and uh also recovered a fumble the next week

so by the time the guy got healthy then uh he's already in place they don't want to take him out he's hard hitting ball yeah he's a hard-hitting guy and he said that he at first he was happy he made the team but quote i always felt I could play ball. I just had to get the system down. But it was very tense. It's not like college. You have to go 100% every day or you might be gone. I was fifth string strong safety going in.

Fifth on the death chart. Yeah, probably. In training camp he probably was, yeah. After that, nobody keeps five strong safeties. No. That's not a thing that you do. The coach of here, Dom Capers, he was the secondary coach at that point, not even a coordinator, who was a big-time coach. He said, we were looking for speed and coverage ability,

and it doesn't make any difference if you're playing at the biggest school in the country or the smallest if you can do those things. He's explaining why they found him. He's only about 6 foot, 200 pounds. He's not a huge guy, 6'1", 200 pounds. But he said he hits like a fucking freight train, and they love that about him. And also, he's returning punts and kicks at this point in his career, too. He's very involved in the game.

Very involved in the game. Punts and kicks, by the way, is where you get a whole lot of brain damage that's a that's you're running you have a huge head start and the people have a 40 yards head start running at you so the collisions that you're having are oh boy massive it's not just this guy's ready to hit you and then he springs up at you he's been running for 40 yards he's a and that's how they indoctrinate uh rookie receivers into the league brilliant that's that's a see if they can take it on special teams great then they're all hurt perfect that's great kill a man it's nuts who just wants to catch a ball he wants to run from line of scrimmage not this the special teams game is nuts i was reading

uh that jerry kramer the old packer from the 60s his book on one of the seasons in the 60s and he was talking about how beginning of his career he was on the punt and kick team he's like concussions all the time he's like every fucking day doing that it's just impossible not to you're just it's car crashes human car crashes it's crazy. So anyway, Capers says, quote, Gene's a tough guy who doesn't shy from contact at all. Not good. Remember that quote later, doesn't shy from contact at all. He said, to play defense in special teams,

you've got to be able to run fast and hit. He can do both. Unfortunately for him, he can do both, as we'll find out here. So off the field here, will on the field he plays in 13 games in his rookie season starts five of them he has three interceptions and a force and a fumble recovery so not bad not too fucking shabby that's good damn good uh off the field here um he loves it he couldn't be happier. He's walking on sunshine, Jimmy. He's having a great, he's when the saints are coming marching in and he's doing it all right now. Taylor Swift is soaring high. Her every move captured in the news cycle and devoured by her

devoted fans. She's broken billboard records and made Grammys history, not to mention becoming a billionaire in the process. But along the way, Taylor has had to wage war, first by taking on a very powerful, very famous manager, Scooter Braun, and then by going up against the biggest live events company, Ticketmaster. Hi, I'm David Brown, the host of Wondery's show Business Wars. We go deep into some of the biggest corporate rivalries of all time. And in our latest season, Taylor Swift will shake up not only the music business, but Hollywood and the NFL. Follow Business Wars wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen ad-free on the Amazon Music or Wondery app.

The wait is over. So far, you're not losing. The only thing you're losing is my patience. Quickly, I see that. Bing! The queen of the courtroom is back. I didn't do anything. You wouldn't know the truth if it came up and slapped you in the face.

I see he's not intimidated by anything. I can fix that. New cases. She wanted to fight me. Leave her. A-long. Okay, so, um... This is not a so. This is a period. She wanted to fight me. Leave her alone. Okay, so, um... This is not a so. This is a period.

Classic Judy. Did you sleep with her? Yes, Your Honor. You married his cousin. His brother. That's not him. Yes, ma'am. I would make a beeline for the door.

The Emmy Award-winning series returns. How did I know that? I i have crystal ball in my head it's an all-new season it's streaming you can say anything judy justice only on freebie he's uh he says he'll be at the grocery store and someone will say do you play for the saints and he'll just be like yeah yeah that's right that's right i'm wearing this jersey what gave it away the helmet in the produce section was that it taking this off ever it's i know yeah most people are wearing like hats or no hat i'm wearing a full helmet and shoulder pads i understand how that could be distracting yes i play for the saints what gave it away The coaches yelling at me to get which fruit to get behind me?

Blowing whistles and shit. He said, quote, they always say things like, we've been waiting 21 years for a winner. They say to keep up the good work and then if we make the playoffs, the city will have a second Mardi Gras this year. Wow. And they do

make the playoffs. That's a pretty low bar. Make the playoffs and get blown out by the Vikings and we're going to play that's twice that's a pretty low bar make the playoffs to get blown out by the by the vikings and we're gonna have a parade for that shit deal i'm in let's go wow they're really not no wonder why they were so excited when they won the super bowl 15 years ago holy shit so he said he loves it he couldn't be happier he's the starting strong safety for the Saints, and they're winning, and the fans are loving him. And he said he could basically walk down the street without touching the ground because he's half floating on air, and the other half of the time the people will be carrying him above their heads. He's so excited.

Grace, it doesn't get any better than this, right? They won nothing. You'd want to bottle this feeling, though, and keep it forever. If you could relive any year of your life over and over, I would imagine he would choose this one. Probably. Who the fuck wouldn't? This is amazing. Everything's going wonderfully.

And for him, it gets even better. We'll talk about it, but it's a questionable choice. March 28, 1988, in the offseason, a son is born, Jimmy. Okay. Son is born Gene Renard Atkins Jr. Gene. Absolutely. Although their middle names are spelled differently,

but this guy still, Junior, is on all of his shit. His father's middle name, has an r a y in his it's r e y n a r d and his is just r e n a r d does he not know how to spell his own name i don't know if he forgot what his middle name was spelled like but you may know this guy uh he's not doesn't go by gene he goes by geno uh geno atkins who who was an all-pro, pro-ball, all-world fucking player from 2010 to 2020 in the NFL. From the Jets, yes? No. From Cincinnati for 10 years.

Cincinnati. That's right. Yeah. Absolute. I mean, he's a monster. So good. Yeah. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight-time pro bowler.

Holy shit. Two-time first-team all-pro. I mean, he's a- That's Gene's son. That's Gene's son that's gene's son yeah gino gene said he knew right away he wasn't going to be a skill player he goes by the time he was five i knew he was going to be on a line somewhere because he's he's a he's a big guy gene gino here is ends up to be six foot one about 310 pounds he plays that great player really big guy amazing yep he had uh 2012 he had uh 12 and a half sacks and uh real good player though so that's his son make the

fucking hall of fame man he's he could he's excellent i mean he's he's a big name for the for the uh for the bangles too like yeah yeah huge for them that's who you're facing eight time pro bowler it's no joke that's a lot of that's a lot he gets a lot of respect there he really does For the Bengals, too. Yeah, yeah, huge for them. That's who you're facing. Eight-time Pro Bowler. It's no joke. That's a lot of respect there. He really does. But that's his son, but he does name him Junior. So we don't know what's going to happen now.

His career's over. We don't know. He could get into some shenanigans. Well, with the Junior part, it's one of the two is the fuckery. One of the two will always do it, though. Either the dad is so arrogant that he fucks up, or the boy is so arrogant because he's special. He's a fucking second, goddammit. I'm a junior.

This is Gene, and my dad's in the NFL. Look at that. But no, Geno's fine. This is Gene's hubris here of everything is so great, I'll name my son after me, and I'm sure I'll be fine after that. And then, of course, the curse of Junior follows Gene, not his son, thankfully. So his son can't help who the hell he fucking, what his name is. So the 88 Saints go 10-6 but don't make the playoffs. Is that right?

That's brutal, 10-6 and no playoffs. How strong was the NFC? Very strong. 88 was when the, that was in the middle of that time when the AFC didn't win a Super Bowl for 15 years. So that was right in the middle of that. They were crushing people. And then right after the Niners quit, then the fucking Cowboys took over.

Then the Cowboys took over. Oh, man. The NFC was so strong. They were tough for a long time. So, yeah, you had the Bears were good every year in the 80s. The Giants were good. The Redskins were good every goddamn year. There was a lot of good teams in that week.

So the Saints, yeah, even though they're good, they don't make the playoffs. But, hey, that's all right, though. Gene is playing. He plays in 16 games, starts six of them, four interceptions this year. Okay. That's goddamn good. Four interceptions, one forced fumble, two fumble recoveries, 50 tackles. Wow.

Having a goddamn good year. He's a part of it. He's known as one of the hardest hitting guys on the team. And this was a fun. These Saints were fun, by the way. I remember as a little kid having, not little, but a kid. These Saints were like, you know, Bobby Hebert was the quarterback. Guys like that.

Dalton Hilliard, Ironhead Haywood was on these teams. Pat Swilling on defense. They were nasty, these teams. So Sam Mills. Oh, my God. Yeah, these were really good teams. So April of 89 as well, he finishes his education and ends up getting his degree as well. He went back to school stuck

through it yep got a bachelor of science and physical education degree from uh florida a&m in april of 1989 so look at that now he can be a pe teacher now he can be a p well if he could remember any of his students names later on which he won't be able to he could definitely be a PE teacher so he is known for intensity that's what he's fucking mean gene man I mean he's known he's got he plays with the intensity of a macho man savage promo like it's let me tell you something mean gene my fucking goddamn veins are gonna explode in my forehead he's got that on a football field playing oh it's a lot so he was uh one time he took out they're in a practice they're it's during practice they have the scout team running plays and then the defensive guys do their thing it's supposed to be it's not a hundred percent speed

it's casual it's a workout in yeah you're not supposed to try to kill guys it's not 100% speed. It's casual. Let's just put a workout in. You're not supposed to try to kill guys. It's not a full force practice. Break a sweat. Some conditioning. Kind of a walkthrough situation. So there's a running back named J.J. McCleskey who he hits so hard that trainers have to pick him up and carry him off the field. He's dead. He basically put this man in a coma during practice for no reason.

So Coach Jim Mora yells at Gene for hitting him so hard. He says, save it for the game, for Christ's sake. What are you doing to your own teammates? So later on, once McCleskey regained consciousness and figured out which end to shit out of again. Got the blood out of his fist. Yeah, all that sort of thing in his eyes. He challenges Atkins to a fight on the field. Are you out of his face yeah you know all that sort of thing in his eyes he challenges atkins to a fight on the field are you out of your mind and so then they end up being restrained

mutually restrained and there's no fight that happens so mccleskey says he's pissed though quote everybody's going half speed and this guy hits me like a truck of course i stood up for myself but nothing happened in the end he's six foot foot and 200 pounds. I'm five, seven, one seventy five. Oh, my God. You know, I would. I guess I'm that man. I guess I'm glad nothing happened. I wouldn't call it intimidation, but afterward, I always look to see where he was.

I think that's what he got. Yeah, I think that's his whole point of how he plays. He wants everybody to be like, where the fuck's that guy? He's going to hit me hard. Do we know what number he is? 28. All right. Where's 28?

Yeah, you're just constantly looking for those two. Get the two and the eight. Keep an eye on it. Yeah. So the 89 New Orleans Saints here, they are 9-7, still Jim Mora coaching. No playoffs again this year. They were good, too. They were exciting, these teams, I remember.

They were fun. 89, he plays in 14 games, starts 12 of them. Doing a lot better. Only one interception, but I mean, interceptions are, coaches can't look at numbers of interceptions to see how good a guy is. Because it's all about where he is on the film.

Because interceptions, half the time, most interceptions you get are luck. Right. Most of them are. Balls or, yeah. Balls got tipped up in the air. You're standing there and it falls into your fucking hands or shit like that. A lot of picks happen like that.

Or even a Hail Mary at the end of a half or something, that pick. No coach is counting that as you're a spectacular player. You didn't play that right. That wasn't on him. that's on just the luck and the position of yeah of the ball and it's just eight people jumped into the air and you happen to come down with the ball like that's not a real he just decides to throw that side you know what i mean that doesn't mean you're a master of coverage that's so they're not looking at it that way uh he does have another forced fumble and two fumble recoveries again. So he's a ball hawk.

He's around the ball. He's aggressive. His hits cause fumbles as well. 1990, now he starts, God, he really gets weird with the God stuff here. It's beyond religion. He has a, you know how people say they have a personal relationship with Jesus and stuff like that? He has a different type of relationship. He's got a relationship where God is pretty much kind of like his supervisor at work.

God's courting him? He's like his shift manager. Yeah. And he's just kind of keeping note of his infractions and doling out punishments along the way. God's a micromanager really in gene's life not even like the big things like i saw what you did i'm gonna give you cancer when you're you know 50 not even that real micromanaging yeah i i saw what you did i'll see in three months for another review not three months i'll see you're gonna be punished for that and you get

rewarded for this but on like a daily basis. There's constant. Seeing tomorrow's shift? Yeah. He's the shift manager. He's really going, listen, you did a good job. I'm going to give you an extra day of PTO because you put some hard work in today. Give you a chairman's day. Well, he said several times over this time period, he sinned. You know, nameless sins.

Just who knows what he considers sinning, but some sort of sinning. I don't know how well he sticks to the list or whatever, but how egregious it was. He sinned and he said God punished him every time. It was a, you know, like a child. You did this. Now it's time out. I mean, it's a punishment that immediately after the crime. As long as it's pretty.

Yeah. He even said God at times, most of the time, thankfully for Gene here, he said God warned him he was going to be punished before it even happened. Oh. Yeah. Wait till I get home, that kind of thing? Gene? Gene? Hello.

No, me again, Gene. Hi. Hi. No. Yeah, it's God. It's God. Yeah, no. It's not Terry.

It's God. Hello. I saw what you did. No, no. It's not Terry. It's God. Hello. I saw what you did. No, no. It's not Frank. It's G-O-D. God. Yes, God.

Yes. Okay. Hey, Gene. I saw. I've been watching you. That sounds creepy, doesn't it? I like saying it because it's creepy and creeps people out. I've been watching.

But also, that's what I do. I mean, I'm God here. I got to watch and make sure and you creeps people out. Like I've been watching. But also, you know, it's kind of what I do. I mean, I'm God here. So I got to watch and make sure. And you know how things are. So I look over. So that means this could be positive, but you already know it's not. You know it's not. I have a list.

I have naughty and nice. No, no, that's me. I'm Santa Claus too, okay? I wear many hats. Let's just say that as God. You know, as a God hat. Sometimes it's a Santa wear I wear many hats. Let's just say that as God, you know, as a God hat. Sometimes it's a Santa hat. You never know.

I put on a baseball hat. I go to a game once in a while and blend in. You know how it is. It's very stressful. So anyway, what I wanted to tell you. My favorite team is the Saints, obviously. Obviously, I keep a closer eye on the Saints than most other teams. You know, the Saints, I've got to get to an Angel game later on as well.

You know, there's certain teams I like. Notre Dame is playing on Saturday. I like them sometimes. So anyway, I just wanted to tell you I don't like what you did, and I'm going to punish you for it. Okay? All right, Gene. No, no, I just wanted to tell you for it. Okay? All right, Gene. No, no, I just wanted to tell you in advance,

you'll be punished and, you know, also, if you keep at it, obviously, hellfire, that's always the threat and it's a persistent threat. So keep that in mind and, you know, I'll punish you as it goes along. Okay, Gene, you have a good one. I have other things to do. Goodbye.

And he's gone. Yeah, when you get the punishment, you'll know what it goes along. Okay, Gene, you have a good one. I have other things to do. Goodbye. And he's gone. Yeah, when you're in punishment, you'll know what it's for. You'll know what it's for. You'll understand, Gene. It's okay. Gene, I'm here again. So he said that happened. He says this is the way

he puts it. Quote, you know what? I think this deserves an in their own words, probably. Let's hear from Gene. Want to hear what Gene has to say? Let's do? Quote. You know what? I think this deserves an in their own words probably. Let's hear from Gene. Want to hear what Gene has to say? Let's do it, everybody. In their own words, quote. If you're a child of God, there are certain things you have to do and certain things you have to stay away from.

It's just like my character. I'm sometimes forceful and mean and have a temper. All those things are good on the football field, but I have to let go of that a little bit off the field. I need to be at peace with myself because when I go home, the best thing in the world is being gentle and loving and getting a hug from my wife and kids. Keep that in mind, by the way. Keep in mind his gentleness later.

So 1990 season, Saints eight and eight and don't make the playoffs again obviously not great um this year they move him to free safety from strong safety and he starts all 16 games this year oh and really gets kind of known as a badass around the league at this point too two interceptions he has five forced fumbles five that's a shitload of forced fumbles that's he is leveling some running backs and wide receivers here um and also three fumble recoveries as well so ball hawk i mean to me i look at the interceptions ago only two picks be forced five fumbles so to me that's as good as a couple more picks i'm just as happy with that you know that's turn potential turnovers i'm good uh 1991 they have another they have a daughter now so okay now he's got two kids uh santrell is her name with two l's

expecting gina g that g-e-n-a as 100 what i was expecting to when When I saw it was Santrell, I actually went, oh. Like, that's disappointing. That's very disappointing. I wanted Gina. Gina Raynard Atkins. That's what I wanted. So, 1991 New Orleans Saints. They go 11-5 this year.

Make the playoffs, and they play Atlanta in the first round. This is the Deion Sanders Atlanta Falcons when they switched to the black uniforms and they were cool and shit yeah remember that mc hammer was hanging out on the sidelines singing too legit to quit this was yeah trying to make that team fun yeah this was ridiculous uh well they lost to atlanta 27 20 so ouch i don't know if it was mc hammer that did it to them what, but God damn it, the Falcons beat them. So not too great. But Gene, on the other hand, this is one of his best years.

Starts all 16 games. He has five interceptions and leads the league in receptions, like yardage on reception returns. Really? He has 198 yards on five picks that's what is what think about that wow that's yeah it's about 40 yards a pick he's average yeah he had a couple real long ones it looks like but no touchdowns somehow so somehow they would catch him at the end i don't know how that works but he had a long of 79 yards too so impressive moving still didn't get in the

end zone still didn't get he got caught from behind probably by a receiver also four forced fumbles as well okay and two fumble recoveries so this guy and 75 tackles so he is all over the place oh three sacks this year too my god three sacks from the free safety spot when they do a safety blitz he's the guy because the most incredible play hits like a freight oh it's. Imagine being a quarterback and being like, okay, that guy, that guy, that guy. What the fuck's he doing there? He's not supposed to be. Oh, shit. And he's in full sprint already.

There's nothing you can do. I have no way to account for this guy. He's way faster than these big guys. No one's blocking him. Right. Shit. This is bad. So anyway, yes, he's doing really, really well.

Also, he's been returning, like I said, punts and kicks for the last this he only does it four years 91 season once he's this good as a safety they can't risk him getting hurt yeah return plays anymore but he does he does about 20 returns a year before that actually um uh kick returns not punt returns and no touchdowns but pretty decent averages one year he averages 25 yards of return so it's pretty good yeah not too bad at all 92 new orleans saints they go 12 and 4 man right that is fucking awesome in 92 they were that good yeah really good you you probably don't remember because they lost in the wild card round so it didn't matter yeah yeah they lost to philly uh 36 to 20 eagles got them yeah randall cunningham and you know reggie white jerome brown that was a yeah they were they were good at that point eagles that that was like the best team of that era to never make a super bowl think about it those late 80s

early 90s they had so many good teams so many like good players keith jackson and byers and cunningham and all these great players and they just never quite could get over that hump stunk it up yeah well they they were like the second tier of those teams you know we mentioned like bears redskins giants niners being kind of the big ones of the late 80s they were kind of the fifth or sixth team in there and in the the early 90s, the Cowboys were so fucking dominant. So dominant. They were good, and the Niners were really good, too. So one of those teams was going to bump you off.

And this year, the Eagles bumped them off. And I'm sure the Cowboys bumped them off. And that's how that worked. So anyway, he's doing very well. Three interceptions this year. Plays all 16 games. Starts them all. Has a forced fumbleumble a fumble recovery

84 tackles yeah he's cruising i mean there's no good he's no he's really good he's really good the saints they fucking love him i mean he's he hits like a freight train he's their whole kind of defensive personality starts with him kind of like solid seventh round draft pick that's what i mean great draft pick and it's kind of like solid seventh round draft pick that's what i mean great draft pick and it's kind of like they kind of model their defense it seems to me anyway off the way the eagles defense is they see how successful they are and i think that's what they're trying to do hard hitting free safety yeah they got the you know the linebackers alignment same kind of same kind of dealing and free flying just let that guy go and let him

just be a spy and let him be i don't want to say dirty but definitely willing to waters was just dirty but yeah this guy this guy's just reckless abandoned the way he plays 93 the saints are eight and eight again so no playoffs it's at this point young Gino starts to come to the, he's coming into the Saints locker room and all that. He's getting the idea. He's taking him in there. Young Gino says, quote, I remember my mom telling me about how when I was real little, I'd go into the Saints dressing room when my dad played. And I'd put the player's shoes on and try walking around in them. Giant NFL dicks walking around.

Right at his head level, too, at that point. Well, he's just stomping around in a size 16 cleat. He comes out of there with two black eyes. Two black eyes like, Mom, I don't feel, I'm dizzy. I don't know what happened. Man, I got knocked around something fierce. Shit. Fat lip.

Rolling around in a mushroom patch what was happening in that hell happen to you he's getting whooped um so gino also says i went to a lot of nfl games when my dad was with new orleans and the miami dolphins i'd sit with my mom during the games and i'd wear the team shirts and everything but then other times I'd get in the dressing room around all the players and it'd be like a kid in here being around, be like a kid in here now around us, which I guess means awkward. I don't know what that means. I don't know what that means either.

Gino, what happened? Gino, I don't know about Gino's brain damage or whatever, but Gino is a man of remarkably few words like it's every article about him like about his personality is everyone saying i don't know shit about the guy never says a word later on there's this quote from the guy who has the locker next to him he's like i don't know a goddamn thing about him i've i hardly ever hear him talk it's the funniest shit in the world it's so funny just be dumb like me or is he like has he heard that phrase of like better to

better the idiot thing you know what i mean i don't know better to yeah i know that is very appropriate and and be thought of a moron than to open your mouth and remove all doubt. Right, there it is. There you go. Say it's an idiot phrase. There you go, that one. No, he'll say stuff, but he'll just like shut shit down. He'll be like, yeah, I'm not going to talk about that.

And then just be quiet. Okay? He just doesn't want to talk. It's like a weird shtick that he has of quietness. It's genius. I guess after a while, the press would probably just kind of leave you alone. Yeah. What do you feel about the game today?

It was good. All right, thanks, Gino. And they're going to go to the next guy. Bye. It didn't work for Marshawn Lynch. He would do that shit to them and just, yeah, they'd stick around. Because he refused to talk, which makes them go, why aren't you talking? Whereas Geno, he'd just be like, I'm talking, I don't talk much.

And then they'd talk to people and go, I don't know, he doesn't talk to me either, so what the fuck do you expect him to talk to you for? I don't even have a microphone. Yeah. At one point, the head coach goes, he never says a word to me except like, hi, coach, but I assume he talks to the other players, I don't know. And then they go to the other players and they're like, doesn't talk to me. I don't know shit.

It's so weird. We'll get to it. There's quotes. It's funny as shit. So 93, Geno, or Gene, not Geno. Gene starts. Geno is like six years old. Gene starts 16 games the whole season, three interceptions.

He's got a couple of fumble recoveries a sack 75 tackles yeah he's remaining a very very good player so for the 94 season he is a free agent and on the market yeah and there's a lot of teams out there looking for some guy you know come in and strike some fear into the heart of these wide receivers coming across the middle and shit like that and the number one suitor is the miami dolphins oh they're gonna pay him they give him a five-year deal worth about 1.825 million a year so he's into the afc yep now he is in the afc and he's also making really good money now so from a seventh round draft pick you're not making dick no i mean you're making the league minimum so that's tough now here he's actually this he's cashing it in making some dough everything's going great couldn't be better right now could it be better jimmy really very very

little could get much better he's playing with dan marino for christ's sake he lives in he's been in new orleans he clearly doesn't mind humidity so this will be fine for him yeah miami's gonna be a walk in the park compared to that so he's the dolphins this year they go 10 and 6 and um the they win in the wild card round versus the chiefs 27 17 because the chiefs used to lose every year in the wild card round they were the they were the uh saints of the afc yes basically and then they lose in the second round though 22 to 21 against the chargers is that right who went on to get fucking rip ass ripped by san francisco in the super bowl like 55 to 10 or some ridiculous shit so i enjoy that that was fun this dolphins team is dan marino still the starting quarterback backup quarterback bernie kozar is that right yep this is when uh

had he left cleveland dumped him yeah yeah yeah cleveland dumped his ass yeah they were because they were trying to reconstitute or whatever they wanted because they had a new owner they didn't want to give him any money it was a mess he's a third or second that they ruined quarterback wise like because the browns yeah they ruin everybody but i mean for that era i mean there has never been a successful quarterback out of uh cleveland since then no no i think it's over for them it was brian sipe and then it just never again there was never a decent quarterback there ever again bad shit and they couldn't even go be good somewhere else. Nope.

Well, they did. When they went somewhere else, they won two Super Bowls. But back in Cleveland, Baltimore's been fine. No, no, no. I mean their quarterbacks. Oh, their quarterbacks. They meant the team themselves, the Browns. No, I just mean, was Kosar one of the first of sending them out and then it's just over for them?

You know what I mean? Yeah, probably. Yeah, maybe. Maybe. I'm thinking about it. Nobody has won since then. Because Cozart actually was a good quarterback. He was.

That brought them to several AFC championship games. And only the magic of John Elway's insanity fucking beat them. Yeah. Also on this team, just some names from the 90s if you're a 90s football fan this will warm your heart to hear these names bernie parmalee what are these named bernie parmalee irving spikes keith byers terry kirby wow james saxon oj mcduffie keith jackson who uh went from the eagles to the uh to the dolphins atins at that point, Mark Ingram. Wow, that's just cool to see.

Nice team. Reggie Roby still on that team? Probably. Now, this is when his kind of some – before this, everything about him has been positive, okay? He was in New Orleans. Everyone loves him. He's great.

Everyone loves the team. New Orleans is like a small market where if you do half decent, everyone will just praise you and no one will write bad shit about you. Miami, not that way. Miami, they're looking for stories to, you know, whatever. So he pulls his hamstring. It's a mild pulled hamstring. He only misses one game. It's not like it was the end of the world.

And apparently he freaks out, gets in a huge shouting match with the Dolphins training staff, has to be restrained. He's going to punch the doctor because he pulled his hamstring. And Atkins says about why he did that, quote, they wanted me to do something a certain way and I told them no. Their job is to know how to get people's body in shape. But I believe I know my body better than they do it was no big deal it was just a difference of opinion football marries you to a lot of people sometimes you're going to have a disagreement but disagreement doesn't mean divorce i think the trainers do a fine job that's why i embarrass them on national television by screaming in their

face and then saying i know my body better than they do. It's a very kind way of saying probably something horrific that he just shouted in their face. Oh, yeah. And he was like fucking finger right in their face point looking threatening. I mean, for a guy who mauls people on a field, that's scary to somebody who is like a part of the medical staff who doesn't do that. Yeah. Yeah. So, by the way, he has a habit of, and it'll really develop into a habit of, when people tell him to do something, he just says, no, I'm not going to do that.

Yeah. In situations where you can't say no, he still says no. Yeah. It's very interesting. So, he missed a game out of this. Not for suspension because of the injury. They just, the team didn't care. They let it go.

They just let that incident go. He's passionate, that's all. He cares. He cares. He came out of the game. He was upset. He cares about things. What's good for the team is good for me.

Yep. He wanted to play in this game, but the coaches told him not to. He said, Coach called me aside and said, it's a long season. You've got to take care of yourself and get healthy so you can help us down the road. I agreed, but it was hard. I like being in the mix, making things happen. Yes, he does. Boy, let me tell you something.

He likes being in the mix. So in the game against the Raiders, there's a good article about this. There's during the Raiders game they play. He makes a huge play in the first quarter apparently the Raiders ended up um having to settle for a field goal because of a big play he made on third down and the Dolphins ended up winning in overtime so you know and a credit to him big deal uh Jeff Hostetler was the quarterback of the Raiders with his neck. Fucking mustache.

Whole career, back up. Comes in for like seven games with the Giants, wins the Super Bowl, and then somebody gives him a contract. It's amazing. He played for the Giants another year or two before that, but still. He gets sacked for a one-yard loss by Gene Atkins, who came up from the middle and drilled him. Then it was third and four,

and he ended up Hostetler rolls right, and he ended up throwing a pass. Or no, I'm sorry, he ends up running. Basically, he's rolling right, and Atkins is shadowing him and trying to figure out what he's going to do. Hostetler decides to run instead of pass.

And Atkins said, quote, from watching film all week, we saw he likes to scramble a lot. So when I saw him come out of the pocket, I thought, this dude ain't going to throw. He's going to try to run it. When they're down that close, the middle is cut down. So there's no sense in sitting back there for long. I said to myself, let me find some action. And I found him. no sense in sitting back there for long. I said to myself, let me find some action. And I found him.

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Find some action. Let me find time for some action, motherfucker. Let's do this. And I found him. Now, Hostetler. Hostetler's a big guy. Quarterbacks, you know, they look weak, but they're huge guys. Hostetler's 6'3", 215.

It's a big guy. He's bigger than Atkins is, but when one guy's running full speed at you and spears you in the chest with his helmet, though, it's different. It doesn't matter. So Haas-Stetler went down at the one-yard line, saved the touchdown on this play, but Atkins ended up getting a stinger in his neck from this. Oh, no.

Didn't sit out long, but he said that just was kind, just was kind of a little dinged up from it. Stinger. Which, for him, too, he probably had a concussion also, as we'll talk about. Yeah, he's got a concussion because he led with his head and compressed his spine. That's going to give you a stinger. Exactly, yeah. That's the problem with this. So he said, though, it was worth it, though, because he got a good shot in on him.

He nailed Hostetler good. He said, the first time, I couldn't get a good lick on him. The second time I tried to really lower the boom and send him a message, next time will be worse. Okay. He said, no way he's getting into the end zone. He's big and he runs over guys, but I said to myself, no way he's running over me.

He's a quarterback, and that just ain't going to happen. There you go. So, yeah, he said it ain't gonna happen okay there you go um so yeah so it ain't gonna happen at all and um yeah he said he's uh quote who is this oh uh this is his defensive coordinator said he's quote an intense football player a big league hitter an excellent safety he's a true professional in that he wants to do it exactly the way you tell him to do it no question he's been a significant addition. He's just, they love him, even though everybody hates him. It's perfect here.

He replaced Louis Oliver, and he said, Oliver was a good, this is Gene, Oliver was a good player when he was here, but he's not here, and I am. I've got to play Gene Atkins' ball. It's not flashy, or it's not fancy or flashy like Dion. No hootin' hollerin', but I'm going to play Gene Atkins' ball. It's not flashy or it's not fancy or flashy like Dion. No hooting and hollering, but I'm going to hit you and I'm going to try to intimidate you. Yeah, that's that.

That's what it is. I'm still learning the system here, so I'm just trying to play sound technique. But when I get fully comfortable, I can really start to roam and then I'll get better, a whole lot better. Uh-oh. Everything's a threat. Now, off the field, you might be saying, what does this monster do off the field you might be saying what does this monster do off the field what does he do eat babies and you know go around kicking old ladies in the chest for getting in his way in the grocery store aisle yeah no off the field he's just a wonderful man

off the field apparently oh my god a man of god man of God. Man of God. Yeah. This article says Atkins is also a solid citizen off the field. After reading recently that the Carroll City High School band had been devastated by an arson fire, he and his wife Sandra decided to contribute $2,500 to replace instruments and uniforms so the Chiefs can take part in a statewide competition next week in Tallahassee. Look at that. Sandra's his wife. Sandra played saxophone in that university's Marching 100 band. So she sympathized greatly. So, yeah, his wife's a musician.

That's why she played saxophone in the band anyway. Knows music. So, yeah, he donates to that. That's a high school in Miami, by the way, Carroll City Senior High School. They said he also works with the Sickle Cell Anemia Foundation. Right. As well as the Special Olympics, Jimmy. Really?

What a trifecta. Helping kids play music, Sickle Cell Anemia, Special Olympics. This fucking guy, that makes up for it. Gene? Gene? It's okay, Gene. I've decided that it's all even now I was going to punish you

No, but I had you down for last night I saw what you did last night, Gene I'm not going to lie I was looking That was disgusting and you know it So I had you down for one punishment But then I see you signed up to help the Special Olympics So, you know what?

I'm going to let it slide this time, Gene. There's credits and there's debits, Gene. It's okay. Zero demerits. Zero demerits, Gene. It's going to be fine. So, yeah, he also has become, this is amazing. Oh, for Special Olympics, the Dolphin spokesperson also said, quote,

he's one of the people on a regular basis who goes down to these schools and tells kids to stay in school one of the few one of the few he's also becoming the spokesman for the children at the baptist hospital who are on dialysis and in need of his kidney transplants he's a he's a darling james what a nice man you'd never imagine this guy is bloodthirsty on sunday but he is he's thirsty for two kinds of blood jimmy yeah what's that the blood of christ yeah and then the blood of a quarterback that's what he wants those two things christ that's what i want god damn it so uh also around this point, remember his buddy, Alfred Simmons, his college roommate? Yeah, he's out there building shit.

Yeah, Alfred Simmons. He went into construction. Now he also became a preacher on the side. Is that right? Oh, absolutely. Every Sunday he travels 200 miles, Alfred Simmons does, from his home to, quote tend to his flock he's a he's a preacher yeah they suffered oh yeah he says about gene atkins quote i'd say we're almost like brothers because gene if you look at god then yeah you're you're definitely brothers yeah i mean everybody

would be at that point so if you want to be specific about it, Alfred, don't twist my words, Alfred. I know what you're doing. I have my pen above the paper. I'm going to market. I'm going to market. You'll be punished. It's going to be, I'll put that referral into the system. Don't think I won't.

He said that when he came to play for the Dolphins, that's where Simmons was living. So that's when Gene and Simmons started talking again. Cool. And eventually they start talking about forming their own construction company. All right. And they do. Atkins Construction was born. I'm the money man.

You know how to do it. Get out there and do it. Yep. I'll be over here making sure quarterbacks drool when they're 60. So they build commercial buildings, schools, and some kind of sewer stuff too. That's what they do. So that must be what the guy was specializing in anyway. He said that Simmons said that Atkins was super generous to him as well.

Simmons says, quote, I went to all the home games. He gave me free seats. We'd go to his house to eat. We'd take our kids out together for Halloween. He said they had cookouts at his big, nice house. He said one of my daughters even called him Uncle Gene. Oh. Uncle Mean Gene coming to town.

So 94 here. He plays in 15 games with the Dolphins. He has three interceptions, three forced fumbles, 64 tackles, and a sack. Not bad. They got exactly what they paid for. An intimidating guy that does all of that. Now, 95 comes around, and in the training there of the

training camp, here's a little bit of an issue. With what? A little bit of an issue here that we'll talk about with a reporter. But before that, I'd like to talk about how there's two sides to the man and how he's also, as he puts it, a servant of God. Now, before we get to that, we need to know about how he serves God. All right. Now, on game day, he's a different guy, but the rest of the time, he's sweet, lovable, soft Gene. His four-year-old daughter doesn't get too close to him before games because she told a reporter, quote, he puts on that ugly face. Yeah, he gets mean looking.

Turns into mean Gene. That's how it works here. So he says, quote, lives in a positive way. I want to improve the community. I want to be a positive role model to our kids. I see myself as a person God put on this earth to touch people. That sounds terrible, by the way. That's not good. That is not good. Gene?

Hi. Gone again. Reword that, please. Uh, no, no. There's a couple of people. I'm going to use you to punish them Gene that's how it will work please touch them no no lower

and around back there you are touch them there so he says that yeah that's what he wants to do and then he says quote I want to be a good servant of God so he's going to touch as many people as he possibly can.

Yeah. That's what God wants. What do you want from me? On and off. On and off. Jimmy, I need to put my hands on people. That's all there is. God wants it.

Sorry. So he would go, he goes to the, he helps this church, the Tabernacle Missionary Baptist Church. Wow. In Tallahassee. The church needs all renovations. Like, shit started falling down, dilapidated. So he gave them a check. He gave the Reverend Stan Lee Walker a check for $100,000.

Wow. That'll do it. So they were able to fix it all up. His mother, Jean's mother, whose name is Pearl, of course. That's a great name. Pearl for an old lady. It was a wonderful moment, she said. When Jean

gave over that money, there was hollering and clapping and thanking God. Many football players don't think of anybody but themselves. My son is different not my gene he's a good boy my gene i'll tell you something right now good good boy god knows it yeah god touches him and he wrote it down god gave him one uh credit for a demerit sometime whenever he wants hall pass hall pass this is definitely hall pass action here this is uh get out of jail free card i think this is so um he said atkins they when said well what made you do that he said quote

well i was sitting in my house and uh it's not a quote but this is what he says i i was i don't know why i said quote he's i was sitting because i'm a moron probably. He said, I was sitting around and God told me to give to the church. So I did. I heard it. Gene? Gene? There's a bad roof on the Tallahassee. I know there's a lot of churches, Gene.

I have to go from one to the other. My time is very, very thin. So he says that, yes. he said it's obviously he said that god talked to me when i was little god talks to me all the time and i do what he tells me yeah do what he tells me that's it so at construction here at his construction company he's the president and ceo that's what he does and uh does the books and all that kind of shit they say they go here this is from an article, quote, Atkins sits in a finely appointed leather recliner

behind a sleek mahogany desk. A CEO report sits in front of him, and pictures of his family are on a table behind him. Like a regular business guy. That's what they're trying to say. Look at that. He shares space with Strong Safety Security, by the way remember that one yeah his buddy from high school right he's also in the same building so he's got his high school buddy and his college

roommate in here all kind of in the same deal they're not in the same company but um anyway um i guess atkins ended up buying into that company as well so he's got pieces of his friends shit he's doing his thing um they're bidding on their first project the construction company which is to make additions and renovations to brownsville middle school okay so he says we're not making money yet because we haven't gotten jobs yet but to me it's already a success he said i employ four full-time people and i plan to employ more people and i like how he hires black people he goes to hire black people in management and construction he's trying to do that so they'll

can maybe open their own company someday is what his goal is here he said that uh his office manager patricia tate and his administrative assistant annette chandler were unemployed when he hired them well that's good i mean it's about half and half i mean yeah you tend to look for a job harder when you don't have one um you know so most people that are hired are probably i don't know though i'd love to know no you know what because tons of people look to move jobs so yeah i'd love to know the percentage of hired people that are unemployed as compared to employed right i bet it's way more employed people get hired than unemployed people i bet it is i bet it fucking is just because it seems more desirable that someone else still wants them you know it's like a it's like a married guy being flirted yeah it's like a guy

with his wedding ring on they're like oh i don't know i mean this guy he can go all the way he can go all the way so if he go all the way. Same with women. If he turns me down, he's perfect. That's the catch-22 there, though. He's the best guy for me. If he turns me down, he's the best guy, even though I can't have him. It's perfect. So anyway, he says these people were unemployed,

and Ed Haynes here, he says, was rich with ideas but short on funds when Atkins put money into his company as well. Alfred Simmons has a degree in architectural engineering from Florida A&M. So in addition to playing on the football team, he went to class, actually, I would say. Architectural engineering sounds like you actually have to know shit or else buildings will fall down. Yeah. You better know what the fuck buildings will fall down. Yeah. I don't know what the fuck. There's consequences. Yeah.

You can't just have like, you know, some cheerleader do your homework when it's that shit. You got to know what that stuff is. I would think. I guess he's been working for large companies for the last 10 years and he wants his own company now. So that's this is finally the chance he gets to do it. 10 years and he wants his own company now so that's this is finally the chance he gets to do it and gene says quote about all his employees quote i want them to be at peace i want them to be at peace when they come to work i want them to know they can be happy here and that their futures are safe here man this guy is just an altruistic motherfucker isn't't he? Man. He says that now one of his assistants said that she's very happy working for him.

She says, quote, Gene listens to us. Everyone here matters. He's not your average boss who comes in, grunts at you, and closes his door. Gene's door is always open, and he doesn't let anything slip past him. And, quote, he's paying me nice, too. Of course, you'll have to ask me again next year if he's still paying me nice. Unless he cuts your pay. So that year, though, that's his nice articles about him.

That's kind of the first year. Then his training camp of 95 comes. And it's right after that. Then there starts to be a couple of negative articles about him. Oh? A couple of negative articles. And in that article, a writer takes quotes from an anonymous teammate who basically says he's a bully and an asshole. In the locker room, on the team.

Yeah. A guy tells him, but it's an anonymous, so he doesn't know who did it. This happens, by the way, constantly in sports in sports really yeah yeah it happens all the time and guys kind of have to let it roll off of them or they handle it internally to the press they go well you know who knows i mean guys say things who knows but i'm just concentrating on my game blah blah blah but you don't go to the press and go who the fuck said that, motherfucker? And that's what he does. Really? Uh-huh.

He absolutely does. He's pissed off. There's a newspaper article. He reads it, throws the paper down, stands up, and says, who wrote it? Who fucking said this? Who talked to that writer? Come meet me right now. Face me, you fucking pussy man to man

yeah and everybody just sits there not me yep he's pissed off the article because someone talked about shit about him and the article talks about his salary and um all this other shit so he's like how dare they get into my personal life you play in in the NFL, motherfucker. Yeah, and salaries are, they're just known. Everybody knows what you make. You play on national TV constantly. People are going to, yeah, that shit's well known. As soon as you sign, they put it in the paper what you signed for then immediately.

So he says then, quote, we can't have players talking, degrading other players. We don't need those kind of players. Those are the same type of people who will start to point fingers and lay blame if things don't go right. Yeah, that's what he says. No one comes forward.

He sits back down again, crosses his arms. Pissed off. Pissed off. Next day comes. He couldn't still. He's been trying to get this person to come forward. He's been asking other people. Do you know who talked to that reporter? Nobody knows, right? He asked God.

God's like, sorry, busy that day. Wasn't there. Didn't know. He's asking everyone he knows. So finally, he finds the guy who wrote the article. Oh, and who was it? Who comes in. Some guy.

Who the fuck knows? One of these Florida sports writers. Who comes in. Some guy. Who the fuck knows. One of these Florida sports writers. So he ends up getting upset at him, basically. He runs over to him.

We'll talk about what happened here. But he basically overpowers this guy and knocks him down and then grabs him by the throat when he tries to get back up again the reporter reporter a reporter yeah and they the guy's like i think he's older than that than him and it's you know he's definitely like out of he's not a fucking nfl football player an athlete he's not an athlete yeah um she so he this this gets a huge national story now you can't beat up a fucking reporter in the locker room that's not okay like that's in football that's one thing they tell you doesn't matter what happens don't beat up a reporter please because that's that just gets every journalist in the country to hate your fucking guts and they're gonna try to get you out of the league because

why not they don't nobody wants to be roughed up by this asshole so uh he says about it quote i have a temper just like any other person but i'm disappointed about what happened yeah he's sad shouldn't have done that about the about the reporter or the about roughing him up about roughing him up both really but you know he shouldn't have taken it out now sandra atkins his wife when she heard about it, she said, quote, my heart sank. I know he probably just saw the guy who wrote the article and all the anger came up on him. That night we sat down and talked about it and how something like this could affect the kids in school. A bad article like this. I told him, you're getting older now. You should know better than this.

But maybe he's not old enough yet. I guess not. He's in his 30s, right? Shit, he's got to be 30 i think right now yeah so it's that's old enough so the the point of this was um he got mad here cole is the uh i don't know his first name here what the hell is his first name i can't find it but his last name is cole the reporter so anyway he gets into an argument with him. He gets chest to chest with him. And he knocks him down, this guy.

He is 5'11", 242 pounds of doughy. Doughy writer shit. Doughy sports reporter. Yeah, this guy eats the layouts that the team put out. A lot of donuts. Yeah. Knocked that guy down because he won't divulge his fucking source. He was angry that he even wrote it, I guess.

So the coal guy here, the reporter, he slowly rose up and Atkins follows after him, I guess. And Cole put his hand on Atkins shoulder to say, like, hey, it's OK to try to calm it down. hand on Atkins shoulder to say like hey it's okay to try to calm it down so Gene rather than you know do anything get off of me or anything like that verbally he just grabs him by the throat Gene grabs this reporter by the throat with his left hand and kind of throws him away by his throat basically while yelling get your hands off me get your hands off me because the guy touched his shoulder so a team public relations official then had a stroke fucking standing imagine you're the guy who then has to smooth this over right fuck my job no this sucks um he has a stroke he's standing nearby doesn't have a stroke but he jumps in the middle to separate them oh god jesus don't make this worse and um

and atkins and they were all separated and all that sort of thing later on don shula said that he's going to fine him he's going to fine him for this atkins he says that fine will make it unmistakable that that kind of confrontation that occurred today with a member of the media simply will not be tolerated and we will do everything we can to ensure that it never happens again including not suspend him and take no other action but a fine i'm gonna make sure up to and including uh letting the rest of this arrive yeah up to and including doing jack shit so um they the len pascarelli who's the president of the professional football writers of america said as detailed to's the president of the Professional Football Writers of America, said,

As detailed to me, the actions of Gene Atkins can only be termed reprehensible. Okay. Yeah. So, holy shit, this is fucking ridiculous, man. Jason Cole is the guy's name, by the way. Writes for the Sun Sentinel of Fort Lauderdale. Oh. And Atkins said afterward, afterward quote we just had a misunderstanding

he said he apologized to cole after that and he said i'm kind of pretty much sorry that it happened i'm kind of pretty much sorry that it happened if you told your kid apologize and he said i'm kind of pretty much sorry it happened you'd fucking go try again one more time take two running from the top here we go back to one motherfucker let's get it going camera it's still rolling just just let it go we'll get it in post do it again wow i'm kind of a misunderstanding so that he softened it three times in in two sentences misunderstanding kind of and pretty much all of those but he doesn't say because he felt really bad he doesn't want to hurt anybody he said i'm kind of pretty much sorry that it happened because my soul don't feel comfortable with what happened okay so it's all jesus now it's

it's my soul it doesn't fit into my my whole deal there i'm gonna go to hell if i don't rectify this jesus so this year miami goes nine and seven uh they do make the playoffs in 95 though losing to the bills 37 to 22 in the wild guard don't worry they'll get theirs yeah that's all right so anyway there he has some more weird reporter moments at one point there's a ball that he misses an interception that i say it literally it's in the end zone so it would save a touchdown and it literally goes directly through his hands like oh no you're you're eight year old could catch this ball and then new england scores a touchdown on the next play oh jesus so not great so they ask him you know was that hard you know

that must have been tough having that happen to you, huh? And Gene says, quote, no, it wasn't tough. And they were like, what? What do you mean? Even just say, yeah, that sucks. He was like, no, it wasn't tough. He said, quote, my arm was dead. I couldn't feel my hand.

The nerves were dead. It probably touched my hand, but I don't know. I couldn't feel it. No, it wasn't tough. Huh? Do you have a nerve problem now? What's going on here? I don't understand it.

This is, by the way, this is the tone the media takes with him now after he choked a fucking media member. Quote, you want answers? You get excuses. get excuses. Wouldn't have all, wouldn't have been surprising, wouldn't have been at all surprising right there in the locker room to see Atkins produce a doctor's note

from somewhere inside his uniform pants. Dear Mr. Shula, please excuse Gene Atkins for failing to complete his assignment. He had what has been clinically diagnosed as a really bad boo-boo. Wow. If one of Atkins' hands wasn't working, he shouldn't have been either he should have asked

out he has all of one interception this year when his hands are feeling perfectly fine but then it's a lot easier to make alibis after the game than it is to make plays during it isn't it funny it didn't look dead the hand i mean the brain maybe the team maybe but surely not the hand oh my wow no on the sidelines atkins hand looked very much alive you could tell by the way he kept jabbing it angrily index finger extended in his defensive coordinator's face jesus fucking christ this is wow you want to talk about taking itew, taking it apart with words. Yeah. The pen is mightier than the sword in this particular case here, because he might have choked a guy, but this guy just said, wow, funny it didn't look dead, the hand, I mean, the brain, maybe.

He called him a slacker and a moron in the same sentence. And then disrespectful into his coach's face yeah a lazy untalented ungrateful slacker who is uh disrespectful to his coaches that's perfect and football that's all bad things for football so that is fucking funny then he says atkins felt after the play that the coaches and teammates were blaming him for giving up the points. He said the defense called for him to get sucked into the middle and that he told the defensive coordinator, Tom Olivadotti, to, quote, live with the decision you made.

These are your consequences. You did this to us. You put me in the middle and you told me to hold my hands this far apart. You should have told me one more inch tighter and I would have caught it. That's what happened. It's just one play, but I mean, it's the next play that is the dagger. So it sucks. In the red zone, if you blow an interception, that's huge. That's not good.

That really sucks. At asked whose fault the touchdown was, Atkins actually said this, quote, I'm going to leave that alone. I'm not going to point any fingers well hands dead and he was pointing fingers on the sideline quote after the touchdown Atkins screamed at coach Don Shula told his teammates to get the fuck over bleep but of course no it's fuck get the fuck away from him then punctuated his charming display by sticking his finger in the faces of both oliva dotty and cornerback troy vincent 10 minutes later vincent as professional as anyone you'll ever find in sports followed he's nice to us read um followed atkins around trying to talk

to his teammate atkins put up his hand dismissing vincent and walked away to be with his buddy michael stewart so wow he's a he's he's acting like a child here uh if troy vincent said because he's trying to be hey good teammate he said quote this is political this is great i know what happened on the sideline looked terrible and when you lose people will point to it emotions just started flowing we weren't making any plays and frustration settled in to be honest no one wants to take the blame gene can't be everywhere he can't be the one on one side of the field helping me and on the other side of the field helping jb brown and in the backfield tackling a runner for a loss so he just didn't answer that was a amazing political debate

question everybody's great okay next question i'm a good teammate that year gene plays in 11 games only starts 11 uh or plays in 16 starts in 11 has one interception one forced fumble one fumble recovery 68 tackles so still a decent year but contributing yeah definitely they're saying that he's also fucking shit up at some point. 96, this is the year that they fired Don Shula after 26 years of coaching or some shit like that. 28 or whatever the fuck it was. And they hire Jimmy Johnson coming away. Remember, he left the Cowboys, goes to the Dolphins. They go 8-8 this first season.

Yikes. And, yeah, he only plays in five games, though. Really? Yeah, our guy here five games doesn't do much that is because in mid-october 1996 he's waved by the dolphins waved not just we don't need you bye we're eating your salary here you go asshole that's it we'll eat it on the salary cap we don't even need to trade you he uh waves him. Jimmy Johnson said, quote, he just didn't fit into the system. Gene's number one forte is run support and hitting. But our safeties have to be playmakers, playmakers in the passing game as well.

They have to be able to make the play on the ball. Gene has done that at times, but he just didn't quite fit. So that's why we made the change. Yeah. Remember when he said, I don't play like Deion Sanders? Guess who I used to just have a couple years ago yeah i just had him and other guy yeah i'm coming from winning multiple super bowls and he's not perfect and uh what's who the hell was the other guy god damn it um

woodson cowboys yeah not rod woodson the other darren woodson at him as a safety so they said atkins was forced to take a 1996 pay cut during training camp from $1.2 million to $700,000. But he's going to cost the Dolphins $915,000 for the season this year. For that year, and $565,000 for being cut after June 1st, plus half his base salary. So that's $915,000 they still have to pay him this year. So not bad now june of 97 he's out of football no one else signs him a year goes by he's done no he's got a terrible reputation nobody wants him oh boy it's one thing to have that terrible reputation if

you're in the you know the the sweet spot of your career if you're in your peak everything and you're dominating you can be an asshole people assign you but when you're in your peak everything and you're dominating you can be an asshole people assign you but when you're a cancer a locker room cancer in your fucking 30s and the the twilight of your football career long in the tooth bad for pr all this type of shit then you go there's another mediocre safety we can get to play backup safety we don't need this fucking asshole so that's what happens to him so he decides he's got to concentrate on the construction business that's what he's gonna do it's decides he's got to concentrate on the construction business. That's what he's going to do.

That's all he can do, which is good. At least he has something to fall back on. A lot of these guys, they get waived. They go home and they go, well, shit, what now? And then that's when trouble starts. He's had a business going for a couple of years, so this should actually be good for him. He has an office to go to, a place to go. Instead, it doesn't work out like that.

No. this is when his behavior starts to become excessively erratic in miami it started obviously because before that he was always considered a nice guy off the field he wasn't choking fucking going at trying to yeah trying to fight teammates and shit like that that wasn't part of it yeah so this is when he starts really acting erratic off the field he simmons said that atkins told him he wanted a bigger role and he doesn't need simmons input as much as he did before anymore at the company yeah don't really need you anymore guy with the architectural engineering degree right yeah i got this covered i'll bid these projects myself yeah i know don shula so it's no problem i got this covered so i guess the business was going well at the time too which is why simmons didn't

understand what's going on like we're making money what are you talking about this is like a band where their number one album and someone's like i want to go solo like why let's fucking make money first yeah let's run this fucking string out before you start a new one let's let's approach a different genre of music i don't like the one we're in yeah this is jesus something so atkins talked of uh he was saying maybe we'll have a merger with another company then one day this is what simmons says quote he said i don't need you anymore I said fine and left the last time I walked out of there was the last time I talked to him wow this is his college roommate he just and never come back no don't need you motherfucker that was that so apparently at that point Simmons

just went and got a job as vice president of one of their competitors. That's all. I'll run you out of business. Sterling, well, this guy needs a job. Sterling Contractors in Miami. And he said he thinks Atkins was jealous of Sterling Contractors because they got more business than them. There you go. He made it worse. Now, that's June of 97. That happens. So, less than a year.

10, 11 months go by. Well, actually, it's about nine months go by. And March 29, 1998. This is, wow. Jesus Christ. The Simmons are at home. It's, you know, middle of the night or whatever, 1.30 in the morning, I think it is. And their front door, basically someone threw a Molotov cocktail at their front door.

Jesus. The Simmons family. Yeah. Okay. He's a preacher and a construction guy. Someone threw a Molotov cocktail and doused Angela Simmons' van with gasoline. Oh, my. That's his wife.

So Alfred was about 200 miles away with one of his children doing some church activity. So, quote, as the flames spread, Angela Simmons hurried her two children outside, then called 911 from a neighbor's home. The fire on the door, van, and lawn fizzled before the firefighters arrived. It's a limited amount of gasoline. And it's also Florida, so it's so humid in the air. You can't. And the grass is wet. Oh, it's wet.

And we told you a little while back, too, it's just little alligators down there, too. So we told you in Small Town Murder. The alligators with water all over them. That's all. So they're meth gators. So three days later, that's scary. So Simmons comes home, finds out that somebody threw a Molotov. But who knows?

That could be any crazy kids or wild teenagers or some shit. Anybody. Then three days later, something else happens. Three days later. According to a policeman that covered this, he said, quote, when it didn't work the first time, the suspects went back again. And also, he tried to burn a house down with a dude's wife and kids

in it. Not even him. He wasn't even there. Weren't even checking. Yeah, didn't even fucking care. So this time they realized, well, you can't just throw it at the door. It'll set the door on fire and it'll go out before anything happens. So this time they were smart and

Alfred Simmons said he heard a rock crash through his window followed by a fire bomb after that boy and uh that spread a pretty good fire as you can imagine on the interior it's a little bit different much more flammable yeah and much more flammable items carpets couches these are all very flammable items so he uh that's what happened uh fire alarm went off in the house they're like holy shit so he scooped up he got his daughters he's got angela adriana he's got three kids six three and one oh my god in the house his wife grabbed the baby he grabbed the back uh the other kids they ran out the back door luckily nobody was fucking incinerated in there um yeah uh but police say that angela simmons immediately said she suspected gene atkins of

this really immediately her husband agreed as well but he also said who knows though i'm i'm you know like a vice president of a company i might have some disgruntled construction worker i've been in business a while it could be literally anyone you fire a construction worker he immediately does like three pounds of meth so it's these guys are spotty after a while so um anyway they they're they're going to look into the whole thing and once they do in less than a week gene atkins is arrested oh and charged with hiring three men to firebomb his former business partner's home hiring not even him he's charged with eight counts of attempted murder and two counts of arson in connection with these firebombings holy shit of as the paper puts it

a minister's home which sounds even worse does sound bad firebombing a minister's home has it just sounds so different than I'm going to get back against my ex-construction partner. Right. Sounds way more sinister. He's going to be pretty upset about that. Yeah, he's like, shit, goddamn. His ministry had nothing to do with this.

Why does he have to preach on the weekends? I love God too. Shit. So they said that police said that Atkins hired three men to torch the home of his former business partner. The firebombing stemmed from ill feelings between Atkins and Simmons over the operations of the company. I would say that's ill feelings. It's a mild way of putting it. Jesus Christ.

He said, this is the deputy chief of police. He said, Mr. Simmons wanted to run the business one way. Mr. Atkins wanted to run it the other way. Right. Yeah. He wanted him to be on fire. And Simmons said, I don't really want to be on fire. And that's the difference of opinions.

Then you're fired. Oh, yeah. I thought you said fired. You said I'm going to be on fire. I didn't realize you said I was fired. Shit. I thought you said I was fired. And it turns out it's much worse.

When I fire people, I fucking fire people. I fire them, god damn it. Alfred Simmons said, quote, I never knew he would do something like that. I helped him through some tough times. My little daughter referred to him as Uncle Gene. That's how close we were. That's, well, he tried to set his little niece on fire then so um when they talked to uh gene he immediately says i'm not saying a

fucking word he never makes any statement to investigators he's taken to jail and held without bail without bail yeah they're like you tried to burn up three little children. We're going to put you in. I don't think so here. You haven't proven Gino's career. We almost never got Gino Adkins. Maybe he would have been even angrier. Who knows? He might have hit harder. Burn victim Gino Adkins would be pissed.

Oh, boy. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Jesus Christ. So he said, quote, money was the—well, he didn't burn his own house. He burned this guy's house. Oh, yeah. I know what you're saying. No.

God damn it. We're mixing up people's house. He burned this guy's house. Oh, yeah. I know what you're saying. God damn it. We're all mixing up people's kids. He's named after him. He's Junior. How'd you give him to Alfred Simmons? I named my son Geno Atkins Jr. That's what I named him. That'd be like me naming my son Jimmy Wissman Jr.

Alfred, why would you do that? It would make no sense. What are you doing, Alfred? Jesus. So uh he loves him special agent tony pinata jr he said quote money was the motive no shit um now uh atkins friend and former agent said he doesn't understand why atkins would do that he's never heard anything about him having financial problems he said i'm not aware of him doing poorly okay so they don't understand it

so yeah charged with a attempted second degree murder arson battery and conspiracy that's too much that is a lot yeah that's like 30 years stuff holy show it's it's possible life if he's convicted it's a lot of shit yeah all those aggravators and everything else so um apparently here the uh the three counts of attempted murder are in connection with the first fire bombing and then three where three people are in the house and then the other one all five people are in the house that's another five counts that's eight so now you're up to eight now where he would he would go, isn't that redundant? I wanted to kill the same three people twice. So can we make it five?

I get more charges for another shot. It's all in the same act, isn't it? Same people. Same people, same everything, same cast of characters. What are we talking about here? So they say two of the three men they have in custody at this point. One is Diedrich Blocker, 25, and Corey Graham, who live in Miami. They captured both of these people.

They're being held without bail as well. One of the guys was already in jail on a previous robbery violation, parole violation for robbery. So the fourth subject, Anthony Holloway, was still at large, and they said atkins knew holloway and holloway contracted the other guys there you go they have a pretty intensive search for him now simmons once he finds out that it was gene that did it and he's charged with it he's like he says quote i guess he felt i was responsible for his business failing

he said i was hoping it wouldn't come to that. People lash out in different ways. He said that we were good friends. We did call Gene mean Gene on the field because he loved to hit people. But he thought he was such a nice guy off the field. He doesn't get it. He was this mean, yeah. No.

Now, Gene's attorney, though, Ronald Gaynor, he says, nothing to see here. Yeah. Nothing to see here. Completely innocent. These people who have no connection to this Simmons guy just must have picked him out randomly out of the phone book like the guy in the jerk who was shooting at Steve Martin. Yeah. And decided to go after him. He says that his client is innocent.

He said the time all the evidence comes out, it will be abundantly clear he's not guilty. He's not a criminal this is a man who while playing football and after has devoted his life to giving his career to the community yeah duh couldn't have firebombed this guy i'm sure and his brain by the way working perfectly yeah all cylinders firing um simmons says he has no animosity toward Atkins and said drop. He just prays for him instead. OK. So, yeah, it's probably as shitty as it sounds.

Yeah. So he does think that Atkins must do jail time if he's found guilty, though. But he does hope that Gene will straighten out his life. He says, I hope that, you know, I hope that in all that he's done, I hope he realizes that he still needs God. He says, sometimes the Lord has to get us on our knees before we listen. Oh, God, that sounds so funny. That sounds really bad. The Lord wanted me to touch people that I put on my knees, that I put on their knees.

Wow. Yeah, it's true, though. If someone forces you to blow someone you're probably going to find the lord in that moment you're more you're more likely a little yeah you might become a little more submissive and just do what they say you're more likely to find jesus and be like please get me out of this lord this is terrible so um yeah as he says he's innocent he said their evidence is supplied by one of two career or one or two this is terrible. So, yeah, as he says, he's innocent. He said their evidence is supplied by one of two career or one or two.

This is amazing. Quote, their evidence is supplied by one or two career criminals who will say anything to implicate Gene Atkins in this crime. How else would they know these people and fire? But what reason would they have to firebomb them? He's the only connection between them. The prosecutor said the evidence all points to Atkins. He said, we believe not only did he know what was going on, he was the bank financing the whole thing. So he ends up getting bail eventually.

They set bail at $275,000, and he gets out. They asked for a $1 million bail, but the judge set it for less than that. So there you go. Atkins also is not to have contact with the victims and must be monitored as well. I would say. October 1998, the charges are lowered. To what? He's no longer facing attempted murder charges, apparently. Was it lighting a fire on a no burn day i think it's

like a no burn day or like it's a zoning regulation i believe you know open flame day he said that uh he said that it's uh what is it here they replaced the initial 11 charges with just one count solicitation to commit aggravated battery that doesn't seem like enough for that jesus christ man how do you get to firebombing from that his a defense attorney said quote this is certainly a far cry from attempted murder and the rest of those charges he faced i don't think he should be charged with anything this happened to him because he's an ex-dolphin, and he's famous. Okay. Good God. Happened to him. He was at a construction company, and there's no other connection. What the fuck are you talking about?

He hired guys to burn a house down with people in it. Oh, my God. By the way, by 2000, he is complaining to his doctors of severe headaches that go on for days, depression, thoughts, and even mild attempts at suicide at this point. Yeah, the CTE is starting to set in here. Brain damage is starting to be a factor, let's just say. So 2002 is his trial for this. For the firebombing.

For the firebombing. It's a relatively short trial somehow, but not that big of a deal. And he is acquitted of all charges. What? How? How is he acquitted of all charges? I don't know, but he is. What the hell happened there?

Wow. I wish that televised that fucking trial. I don't understand it. Co-conspirators, I don't know if they didn't have the evidence, but like, the only thing I could think is they couldn't get the holloway guy to flip if you couldn't get the middleman to flip then there might not be the connection that they want and then it would be hard to convict even though you can't convict just based on well how the hell else would those people know to do that that's not enough there has to actually be evidence so that's fine 2003 you know remember

how he said that god had ticks him off from time to time yeah credits and debits well apparently that's a big uh debit in his column they're getting acquitted for firebombing because by 2003 he can't function anymore he's having problems uh's shitting his pants and stuff? Not quite there, but he's been going from job to job. The construction company folded, so he tried to open up a sporting goods store. That didn't work. He was coaching. He tried to start a semi-professional football team. It didn't quite work out.

It's not great. He's had a ton of injuries, many concussions and all this type of shit. By 2003 here, he's no longer able to function at a full-time job. He can't go all day and stay focused and do all that. So

May of 2004, he must really be cooking in there because his wife calls the police on him. May of 2004 calls 911 and basically ran out of the house. This is shortly before 10 p.m. on a night here. She tells the cops that Atkins she wanted to leave the house and Jean pushed her into a wall choked her hit her in the face chased her into a wall, choked her, hit her in the face, chased her into a bedroom, ended up he bit her after he choked her,

and then she bit him, and then he hit her with a remote control in the face. Yeah, just got to bless her sometimes. He beat her with a remote. Well, that's how you anoint things. Certain churches have different things. Sometimes it's like an incense or a water or some shit like that sometimes you take one of those big universal remote controls and you crack them right in the forehead with that thing was like i think it's a brick that's huge yeah and he said that's the lord's blessing right there and pow and then you do that and god goes good job

gene thank you so no this is fucking horrible he beat his wife with a remote control in the face. What a monster. Beat her in the face after he choked, kicked, and bit her. So when the officers arrived, she runs outside like a fucking, you know, screaming like it's on fire, like someone firebombed it. Like Ariel Castro's girls. Exactly. That's exactly how they run out. So he runs out.

She runs out. And one of the officers goes to the door. And he slams the door, obviously. So they force their way into the house. Well, don't really force it. She gives him, the cops, the keys. And then they open the door. They go into the house.

Now, they see atkins he is uh fuck he's at the top of the stairs at this point and at that point he is they tell him let's see your hands and he has two knives in each hand wow which is a weird way to stab because that seems like it seems like it's counterproductive in a stabbing fashion it's like the boss of a of a level you know what i mean he's like give me five minutes i'm making a freddy krueger fucking glove thing hold on i gotta get some glue and shit just give me five minutes the man's got four knives he's got four knives. He's seen quadruple? One Freddy Krueger glove, guys. Hold on. So they said, hey, buddy, you're under arrest.

You know, that happens. He then said, quote, no, I'm not. Which might be my favorite thing anyone's ever said to him. See what I mean? No, I what i mean yeah no i'm not no i'm not he just says no to things that don't really aren't no answers um does he say it in like a fashion of like oh no i'm not oh no i'm not i feel like that's what jimmy he said to jimmy johnson when he cut him sorry we're gonna have to let you're cut no i'm not no i'm not i'm getting suited up and i'm starting tonight at free safety.

No, you're not. No, yes, I am. Then he says, quote, that he, quote, wasn't going to jail tonight. Okay. Not happening. When are you free? He then punched the officer in the throat and slammed the front door. No, I'm not.

Not going to jail tonight. Pow. Slam. Have a good one good one everybody and he walks back into his house like that ought to do it should be good there right okay so he does that shit hits him in the throat um locks the front door so then they get the house keys they open up the fucking door again yeah that's what it is um when they get inside um he still has two not now he has two knives again he's got his two knives in each hand again picks those back up and they're telling him to put the knives down and he won't put the knives down so

they shoot him with a taser uh-huh that'll do it okay well it doesn't because he crawls down the hallway into a bedroom and closes the door. So, Jesus Christ. Then the officer kicks the door into the bedroom looking for him. Gene is hiding off to the side. Jesus Christ. Atkins grabs him and throws him into the bathroom, slams the door, and then runs into a different bedroom. He's like a 12 year old he is a dangerous brain damaged 12 year old who's playing some weird game of hide and seek this is crazy this is with taser things hanging off of me

he's got the fish hooks in his back he punched him in the fist as well grabbed the guy when he came through the door threw him in the bathroom as well. Grabbed the guy when he came through the door, threw him in the bathroom, closed him in there, and then went to another bedroom. Like, that'll solve the problem. Amazing. It's the room that I'm in right now that they were after. If I go to a different room, they won't bother me. I understand. I get it now.

So, yeah. Then he barricades himself in that bedroom for several hours. Yeah. Saying that he's, altern alternately he's going to kill other people kill himself kill this one leave me alone go away now we have a negotiator god told me not to go to jail tonight i believe is one of the things if i go that's a demerit i don't want to suffer the punishment god said i'm not under arrest guys write it down yes so yeah please i need to i need to reach him so eventually here after several hours he gives up and uh he he's charged with he has 20 criminal charges pending from this

uh fighting with police in a domestic dispute domestic violence you name it it's all sorts of charges there so in court he broke down and cried during his bond hearing in court they're talking about um you know bond money and does can he afford what he could blah blah blah he broke down and sobbing to the judge circuit court judge uh jeffrey cohen he said quote i don't even have a car while he sobbed he's brock fucking bottom yeah rock bottom uh he says he's completely broke no money doesn't even have a car the judge set his bond for 280 000 and um yeah he can't raise that it's a battery on law enforcement officer aggravated assault on an officer, false imprisonment, obstruction, domestic battery. It's a lot of bad charges.

A lot of shit here. Now, in between that and the court for that, December of 2004, he applies for disability benefits under the NFL player retirement plan. player retirement plan. Within his application, he described three conditions which caused him to be disabled, all of which he attributed to his 10 years playing NFL football. Quote, unable to lift his right shoulder or move arm to functional positions, cannot reach up more than 90 degrees to either side, has several dislocated shoulder injuries, and eventually had a pin inserted to keep his shoulder in place. The pin was removed in 1996 because of chronic pain in the area.

I have trouble driving because it's difficult to turn the steering wheel. Chronic constant pain at the base of head and neck. Pain sometimes radiates through arms and my hands feel like plastic. It's a weird. It's the weirdest description I've ever heard of anything and my hands feel like plastic. It's a weird. It's the weirdest description I've ever heard of anything. My hands feel like plastic. Maybe not. Are they rubber?

I guess. I don't know. Not right. Crinkly. I don't know. Crunchy. Feel like plastic. Everything I touch feels numb and I drop objects.

I try to pick up unbearable pain most Most days I had several stingers while playing, but did not feel any effects until I turned 38 years old mood swings because of my inability to function without constant pain. My mood has been affected depression over the physical condition of my body and not being able to work. So he then writes this. This is his, uh,

he writes a letter within his application. And this is the last paragraph here. He says, quote, I suffer from depression and probably have for several years, but I was in denial. I have not sought any medical attention because of my lack of insurance coverage. I've not been able to work. Therefore, I'm not covered by any insurance. I'm now seeking disability income to recover and hopefully get better to where i can function and take care of my children i'm in

great need of immediate medical attention and would welcome the opportunity to be seen by your physician in order to receive the help i need so apparently yeah the nfl you don't get even if you're in the league 10 years you don't get the benefits right away. You get them later. You get them like 55 and older. Whereas, like Major League Baseball, I know this from Rod, as a fact, if you have your time in, if you, baseball, for the pension, it's your time. But for medical coverage, if you have one day on a Major League roster, you're covered for life medically. That's great.

One day. Yeah, and it's amazing coverage. Like, he had to have some surgery done. He had a private room at the Mayo Clinic and all this shit, and that was, he said, 100% covered by his baseball insurance. Sick. I was like, fuck, what's this place costing? And he goes, not a fucking dime.

I was like, wow. It's all free. Want a daiquiri? Split finger fastball made this shit. Hell yeah. Cheese stick? Cheese stick? Yeah, he had made this shit. Hell yeah. Cheese stick? Cheese stick? Amy had them too.

That's the crazy part. So that's what he's trying to do. He said that he was sent to various positions selected by the retirement plan. The first position he visited was a guy named Raul Aysern Jr., M.D. in Beaumont. Raul Isern Jr., M.D. in Beaumont, he saw him in 2005, and this guy never turned in a report to the NFL subsequent to his examination. So that's what Jackens, I don't know, he says he screwed up. So then at the retirement plan's request, he was examined by another doctor, an orthopedic specialist in Dallas. This guy indicated he completed on a form created by the plan and sent to the head person there, the doctor, that he thought Atkins could, from an orthopedic perspective, perform many tasks which did not involve heavy lifting, but indicated that headaches and arm-hand

numbness may signify non-orthopedic problem, should have a neurological evaluation. Yeah, he's probably got brain damage, spinal stem injuries, probably spinal cord injuries. Absolutely. It's all nerve stuff. Nerve damage, all sorts of shit. So on May 20th, 2005 and May 16th, 2005, the retirement plan had him examined by another doctor, who's a psychiatrist, this guy. He concluded that Atkins was totally disabled as a result of the following impairments.

Poor cognitive functioning, chronic pain with depressed mood, chronic headaches, and possible neurologic deficits. Kessler indicated that it was his opinion that the chronic pain with depressed mood, chronic headaches, and possible neurological deficits were all related to playing football. Like another orthopedic specialist indicated that Atkins should be examined by a neurologist and indicated that Atkins needed to be seen by a pain specialist. So all of these reports were obtained by this plan. All of these reports were obtained by this plan. The initial decision maker for the plan, this is the Disability Initial Claims Committee, deadlocked in its decision whether he was disabled or not. Deadlocked. Deadlocked. Not sure about that.

It was reported by Atkins by letter dated June 15, 2005, which indicated that since the committee had deadlocked, his application for disability benefits were therefore denied. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. Yep. They said, yeah, that's it. No decision means no decision. He appealed the committee's decision, and in response, they asked him to go to another orthopedic specialist and a neurologist.

Well, maybe it'll get done this time. So he goes to an orthopedic specialist in Houston and they examine him for approximately 30 minutes. And they indicate on the form that he has impairments in his neck, right shoulder and thumb, all of which were caused by football. But he indicated he felt that Atkins would be able to engage in light duty or, you know, like a seated job, office work. So Atkins was examined by a neural neurologist also in houston and this guy dr martin determined that atkins was quote totally disabled to the extent that he's substantially unable to engage in any occupation for remuneration or profit why does the nfl fight so hard to not take care of these guys oh gee i wonder why i wonder why it's too expensive

yeah they don't want to fucking pay for it that's it they want our our 12 billion dollar tv deal we just can't find a slice for that sorry guys sorry well this guy's got so much head trauma he thinks fire allegedly thinks firebombing is an option. A normal option. A normal, yeah, like he's on the fucking wire and Randy has been telling on people. So it's ridiculous. So he said he's disabled as the term, i.e. disabled as that term was defined

by the retirement plan. Dr. Martin indicated that the impairments which caused Adkins to be disabled were bilateral numbness in hands, frozen right shoulder, neck pain, and limited range of motion in neck, chronic headaches, and memory problems. On the NFL form, he indicated that numbness in his hands, frozen right shoulder, and neck pain all resulted from playing football. He was unable to say whether his memory problems were football-related because he doesn't know. At that time, too, they didn't know.

So during this time, he attempted full-time work. He applied for and got a job at a Target store. Wow. Yeah, he's got the red shirt on. Near his apartment in Round Rock, Texas, where he lived with his wife, new wife now, Patricia, and their sons, Jason and Jared. New kids. Yeah.

A new family. His responsibilities were to hang signs and perform other tasks due to his constant headache shoulder and neck pain limited range of motion and numbness in his hands he was not able to perform the debt the tasks required of him and was forced to quit three months after being hired shit from target he can't handle it october 25th or 28 2005 10 months after he submitted the claim the body can body considers appeals of denied claims for the retirement plan here they advised atkins that they're deadlocked too they don't know they can't decide so that means that um his claim would now be referred to the medical advisory physician for a determination of

disability that would be binding on the board. So if they deadlock twice, it goes to a tiebreaker person, apparently. So he was seen by some other doctor now in December 2005. He's a neuropsychologist. We're getting more specific every time. After having assistant uh administer a test to atkins by having atkins answer a long series of questions this doctor determined due to impairments of illiteracy and borderline mental ability he has forgotten how to read and has now has borderline mental ability like iq wise they're talking like he's basically made himself Forrest Gump over here. He slowed it down so bad that he's now challenged in that way. He's a college graduate who's now illiterate.

Right. That's terrible. That's amazing. Major depression and pain. He indicated that illiteracy and borderline mental ability was not related to football, but the pain was related to football. How the fuck else would a 40-year-old man year old man's brain be putting that he went back to college for christ's sake do you think it's a strange coincidence how many pudding brain 45 year olds

do you know jimmy a lot of them complete pudding brains not particularly no how many nfl players do you know probably not a lot of them either. Not many. Most people, if you're 45 and you can't remember what your fucking address is, and you've bashed your head into other people for 10 goddamn years, I'm going to assume that's why, probably. Guys the size of Jeff Hostetler. Yeah. I get that it's anecdotal, but Jesus Christ, can you make anything more fucking obvious than that? Anecdotal or not, can you make anything more fucking obvious than that?

Anecdotal or not, why do all the anecdotes end the same? It all adds up, man. So, anyway. At some point, anecdotes all equate fucking scientific. Yeah, just because something's anecdotal doesn't mean it's not true. Right. That's the other thing, yeah. When they're all the same.

All the same shit. February 2006, in court. this is for the domestic violence he makes a plea deal okay get out from under that and uh the judge is ready to sentence him and so you sir may fuck off three years probation oh nothing three years probation three years was still pretty tough if it was going to be three years jail that's tough that would have been tough on a guy who doesn't know where he is right so uh still though you can't fucking choke your wife hit her with a remote control and then start throwing cops around in bathrooms you can't do that no it was not okay um so yeah they um it's not i guess the court agreed to withhold adjudication. So the charges of domestic battery, battery of a law enforcement officer, and resisting arrest with violence will not appear on his record after his probation if he doesn't violate it.

He's expunged after three years. So, yeah, he got pretty goddamn lucky there. Sure did. So, yeah, I mean, this guy, he's got to come home and go wow yeah holy shit i could have been in prison i don't know what to do he also has no money or job or way to make money and he can't think straight he could really use yeah he could use employment but who wants to hire a guy who's fucking got brain damage you know what i mean who wants to hire a guy who can't i guess jesus or there is a knock at the door and it's opportunity knocking it's vince mcmahon ceo and chairman of the wwe

and he says How is it you've come to arrive here? You beautiful, aggressive bastard, you. You know what you don't need to do to wrestle? Read. I don't care if you read or not. I don't care how much you read. I don't care. All of our guys, it's brain damage is the name of the game here.

My business is built on brain damage. And you have so much beautiful brain damage. Oh, God. The inside of his brain looks like a chocolate instant breakfast. It's ridiculous. And I love it. Oh, God. A taser won't take this guy down.

Oh, Jesus. Oh, I'm going to cum in my pants. He's so amazing. He doesn't know what he's doing. We can tell him to do anything. And he'd do it. And he wouldn't even ask for medical insurance or a contract oh oh god oh jesus god oh my god i have to i have dexter it's perfect oh my god oh jesus christ door slams behind him

in a cloud of 1099s and lawsuits he's uh he's gone and gene is very excited for about five minutes and then he forgets the whole thing happened and uh he doesn't remember anymore he just has this card and he's like well vince mcmahon who the fuck is this guy he has no idea what he's supposed to do so back to his disability thing here there's a letter dated february 23rd 2006 by the the board notified atkins that his claim for disability benefits had been approved. However, the board also determined that his disability was unrelated to football. Okay. Accordingly, which is ridiculous.

What are they talking about? He got tons of head injuries while sitting in a fucking office at a construction company. Okay. So, accordingly, in the parlance of the retirement plan, he was approved for inactive total and permanent disability. So, the board found the effective date of disability, the payments would commence being June 1st, 2005. This is fucking ridiculous. Now, it says, although the details of the plans trend toward providing leverage for the denial of benefits rather than their approval, the NFL retirement plan and the NFL player

supplemental disability plan by their covers are promoted as a safety net for ex-players such as Atkins, and they are intertwined. So that way, they have another route. They can't just stay denied or approved. You can say denied for your football stuff, but we'll approve you anyway, and then you get way less money and less benefits. Because we're good people. Yeah, because we're good people.

So we gave ourselves an off-ramp here so we don't look horrible by not giving you anything. And if you complain, then you get nothing. That's how it works. So it says if an ex-player is disabled, but that disability is deemed to have been caused by disease or injury unrelated to football, the retirement plan provides a formula for disability benefits for that employee, but the supplemental disability plan is not triggered. This is what occurred to Atkins in February 2006. This is what occurred to Atkins in February 2006. He has a net credit for 10 seasons with the NFL.

In accordance with the formula within the retirement plan and providing for cost of living adjustments and plan modifications as of April 1st, 2008, Atkins is paid. What do you think he's getting? $800 a month. $1,225 per month. That's ridiculous. And his ex-wife gets the same amount pursuant to a divorce decree. So he should get $2,500 a month, and instead he gets $1,250. She gets half the money. That's gross.

Oh, that sucks. So most disability plans pay the disabled employee approximately 60% of his or her pre-disability earnings up to a certain cap. of his or her pre-disability earnings up to a certain cap. That cap is often in the neighborhood of $20,000 per month for executives, most of whom during their working days earn far less than most NFL players. Benefits are generally not reduced or eliminated when the disability is not work-related. The NFL treats its former employees who have become disabled much differently. For those that become disabled from a condition deemed to be unrelated to football, the players are paid a pittance of their former earnings. This is from the court document here. The retirement plan currently pays Atkins disability benefits that are approximately

3% of the salary he was earning at the end of his football career. Had the board approved Atkins for disability benefits that were football degenerative, meaning that the disability is deemed to have arisen out of football activities he would be paid substantially more under the retirement plan see what i mean this is why they have such incentive to deny the cte because even if they deny it for 10 years or 15 years you add up how much money they're saving in those 15 years they don't give a fuck about these guys not a one iota of a fuck about it. That's so shitty.

It really is. Atkins was relieved to finally receive some disability benefits from the retirement plan after more than a year of endeavor, having visited six different specialists chosen by the administrators of the retirement plan. However, he was shocked to learn that the board did not consider his disability to arise out of football activities. Yeah, I would say so. I'd love to hear the reason. Oh my God, man. It's fucking wild.

This is wild. February 2006, the board awarded him inactive total and permanent disability benefits, which gave him $911.25 a month. So then he went to a different doctor. He brought medical records and films with him, but Dr. Gilbert advised that he didn't need to see them,

conducted a physical examination on Atkins that lasted two or three minutes, then told Atkins there was nothing wrong with him. Nothing wrong with him. You're fine. Dr. Gilbert's notes reflect that he spent a total of five minutes with Atkins. In his notes, Dr. Gilbert indicates Atkins has no neck pain, no neck stiffness, even studies show relatively mild abnormalities, including carpal tunnel and cervical radiculopathy. I don't know what the fuck. There you go.

This contradicts the findings of previous physicians who had examined Atkins a year earlier after taking his own x-rays of Atkins' neck and shoulder. Another orthopedist described the degenerative changes in Atkins' neck as significant. Wow. Jesus Christ. Another one, another doctor they sent him to, also said that his

benefits would continue to be classified as not arising out of football activities. So, Atkins depressed due to his constant pain and troubled by what was perceived to be him and others around him such as his wife Patricia as a gradual decline in memory concentration and cognitive

skills went to see a neurosurgeon in February 2007 holy shit this guy specializes in post concussion injury all right now we're talking after conducting a number of tests on Atkins this doctor diagnosed him with post-concussion syndrome and early east early fucking ct so early ct he uh he says that

he indicated that atkins was not able to work due to demented mental status jesus you don't want that you don't want that on You don't want that on paper. Demented. You can't say, you can't. Imagine getting in an argument with your wife at that point. You said we were going there next Saturday. What the fuck do you know? You're demented, you fucking idiot.

You don't know a goddamn thing. You son of a bitch. Demented motherfucker waving a piece of paper in your face. Shit. Demented. You want to be demented? I'll tell you. I'll fucking make sure you want to be demented i'll tell you i'll fucking make sure you know you're demented every damn day so he said his men they said the mental status was caused by head trauma from professional football activities and that the condition was permanent

so the administration the decision by the administrative law judge with the social security administration's office and disability disability adjudication and review wow found that atkins has been disabled since january 1st 1998 and uh the judge based his decision on this doctor that he just heard here now so obviously they send them to more doctors it's fucking by, he's still going to doctors because he's appealing all this shit. He was advised after the board meeting on April 30, 2008, that the board had tabled its decision on the appeal and wanted Atkins to see yet another physician. They've sent him to 20 different doctors. They're going to send him to doctors until a couple of them are on their side, basically.

All right. They're going to send them to doctors until a couple of them are on their side, basically. All right. So June 2008, the benefits coordinator advised Atkins that he was to see a neurologist, a different one, in Seattle. As before, Atkins complied, saw the doctor. The doctor evaluated him for the following health conditions, concussions, headaches, and memory loss. This was the third neurologist and the eighth physician who evaluated him at the request of the administrators administrators of the nfl retirement plan right seems like overkill here the board's next quarterly meeting was scheduled for july 23rd 2008 at which time atkins claim was supposed to be decided neither atkins nor his counsel received any

prior notice that an addition extension was necessary. By letter from the plan director, Atkins and his counsel were advised that its meeting with the board had been tabled again. Fucking again, basically. So they just keep blowing them off. What do you do? Well, you go on Real Sports with Brian Gumbel on HBO in 2007. And this was a couple times. They always do this.

He can't recite the first six months of the year in order, as we'll talk about specifically later. One guy here, a fullback on the 94 Dolphins team, said, I looked up to Gene Atkins as a leader and a man. I saw him on television, and they were trying to talk to him and he was a shell of the man he once was um now teammates after this this is the time when they start 2007 they're wondering about their own headaches and memory losses and shit like that everybody's starting to do that but also they said that a lot of people there's a lot of skepticism over these concussion lawsuits for some i get why the owners want to do it.

I never understand people shilling for the entity that has all the reason in the world to lie. I don't understand that. Benefit of the doubt wise, you would think they'd go, well, let's just err on the side of fucking give these people some money. But I don't know what it is about people, but people who aren't satisfied with their own lives don't want other people to have shit, even if they deserve it. It's the weirdest fucking mentality. I don't get it. When it comes to lawsuits that are medical like that,

the payouts oftentimes are astronomical, that people don't understand how the money is that big so fucking what but no you care my point is that they're worried that no no my point is i think they might be worried that that kind of money would devastate the nfl and it would be over are they worried that that that they don't get their bullshit on sunday maybe but because it's not just this it's with other things too people don't want remember how much they made fun of that lady for getting the burns at McDonald's? And now we know how severe they were. There were blisters on her fucking vagina, for Christ's sake.

They didn't care. It was just a matter of... And everyone was like, how fucking $100,000? That is nothing to McDonald's. They used to spend that on those little tin fucking ashtrays in a month. You know what I'm saying? That is nothing at all to them. And people were like, how fucking dare she it's unreal bro it's un-fucking-real that turned out to be

like the poster child of frivolous lawsuits meanwhile it's the least frivolous lawsuit ever well people were pointing to two particular players that were on the list going well look they're on it well it must be bullshit garrow you premian the kicker um who says i kick a touchdown so maybe he had brain damage then who knows yeah also you can't touch that guy so he shouldn't have brain damage at all and uh and jim arnold who was a punter they're saying well he couldn't have brain damage well you don't know he they get it on special teams plays. Maybe he took a couple shots to the fucking head. Either way, even if those two don't, you're going to tell me some goddamn running back

that played for nine fucking years doesn't have it who got hit in the head every fucking... What, are you kidding me? Like, what? I hate when people dig in like that. I just hate it when it's like, oh, these people trying to get something for nothing. Like, you don't try to get something for nothing,

you fucking twat. At least they played in the fucking league and built up some sort of fucking equity to get this shit. You play the fucking lottery. What's that, motherfucker? You don't deserve that. Yeah, you think your dollar deserves fucking $100 million from Powerball? Do you really think that, you motherfucker?

No. How many times have you lied about your overtime? Stop it. God damn it. Yeah. How many times have you come back a little fucking late from lunch and fucking write it in the right way if you don't have a goddamn time clock or have somebody punch you in? We all fucking do it. Everybody's taking more than their share.

Difference is, I can remember my kids' names. This fucking guy can't. That's the difference. So he can't do other shit. That's the difference. So he can't do other shit. That's the problem based on this, which is the whole issue. So anyway, fuck, man. The one guy here. They may just get upset, too, because they're not getting free money and they punch their wives, too.

Yeah. What the hell, man? They just don't have an excuse for why they do it. One ex-player says this, quote, I don don't know i was never diagnosed with a concussion my personal feeling is that the pendulum has swung way too far and they're kind of using concussions as a whipping boy or excuse this is a player that's talking about their fucking ex teammates that's how brainwashed these people are from the time they're fucking eight then he says i mean there are clearly people, ex-NFL players

who've had a terrible problem with multiple concussions leading to all sorts of very traumatic things. But I think also we should ignore that because Gowery Apremian might be faking it so everyone else can go fuck themselves. These fucking shills for the man. That's what these people are, all of them. It's fucking gross.

There's so many shills for the man in our society now. I just want to, I swear to God, I want to just rub everybody's face in shit at this point. I'm so sick of it. Like a dog that you don't like in the 50s. That's what they used to do. Nobody does that anymore. Listen and look at Joe Frazier.

Listen and look at Muhammad Ali. Head trauma is a problem. And you fuckers led with it in almost every hit in that league for ever it's just the stupidest fuck it's the dumbest thing you could think of to not think that your brain is bruised and messed up what is wrong with you and it doesn't regrow no fuck man at this point as much of an asshole as he is you got to kind of feel bad for him because i don't really think he can help it i really don't i don't know yeah i mean maybe you feel bad for all the people around him i mean i feel bad for all these people jimmy but not nearly as bad as i feel for gene atkins outside sales manager at american home energy corporation in roseville, California. Gene Atkins, maintenance manager at Constellation Brands in Fresno.

Gene Atkins, welder slash fire chief at Oklahoma Department of Transportation. Those are very interesting jobs to do both of. That's the best guy to have around when welding. Yeah, I set him and I put him out. I do them both. Gene Atkins, retired from the university or united methodist church in kansas city missouri gene atkins quote living my life and having fun dallas texas not the same guy this is he's like he owns a landscaping thing and finally gene atkins who uh in 2020 was

ordered to stand trial on multiple charges after a Trader Joe's assistant manager was fatally shot by a police officer when a gun battle broke out after a police pursuit that ended with a standoff inside the store. Holy shit, Gene. Atkins didn't shoot the woman, but he's facing charges for her murder on the theory that he set off the chain of events that led to her death.

He allegedly kidnapped his teen girlfriend, this guy, and forced her into his grandmother's car, which he crashed into a light pole in front of Trader Joe's while pursuing while fleeing the police. He then fled inside the market while exchanging gunfire with pursuing officers. gunfire with pursuing officers. Over a three-hour standoff, he held three people hostage inside the store, and several employees and customers were able to escape, while others were released from him at various times before he eventually surrendered. He's charged with murder, attempted murder, attempted murder of a peace officer, assault on a police officer with a semi-automatic firearm, kidnapping, fleeing, pursuing police officers' motor vehicle while driving recklessly.

Grand theft of auto of an automobile. Discharge of a firearm with gross negligence. Shooting at an occupied motor vehicle. False imprisonment of a hostage. And mayhem. At the end. Was he the ex-running back of the Chargers? I believe it was, yes.

It's Natron Means. Was he the ex-running back of the Chargers? I believe it was. Yes. It's Natron Means. So 2011, he's 46 at this point. He's living on Social Security. Fuck.

He's living on whatever it is, $1,200 a month. He says some days are better than others, but he struggles with his concentration and focus, constant pain and headaches. You know, he said it's just a mess. He said he and now they're talking about other people that he's been around who are like him. Andre Water. I'm sorry. Dave Dewarson and Andre Waters are comparing him to a lot. Andre Waters committed suicide in November of 2006 and Dewerson killed himself in February of 2011. Not good.

Not good. And Doerson, a suicide, Atkins said hit him really hard, but he admitted he could, you know, he's like, it was terrible, but he doesn't know how to deal with it. And his friend and lawyer is trying to get him some financial help, and Atkins said, quote, the NFL told me my biggest asset was my memory. He said, Dom Capers, the New Orleans coach, had a very complicated defense. It was like a chess game.

I learned it in two years and mastered it in four. He said, though, he admitted during this that he doesn't remember the question that the reporter just asked him. Oh, my God. He'll think about it for a second, then go, wait a second. What did you just ask me again? So, um,

he said he doesn't have much of a short term memory at all. And a doctor confirmed that the layman would know this after talking to him for five minutes. You don't need to be a doctor. You talk to him for five minutes and he's going to ask you three different things of what the hell are we doing? What do you just said? He'll say something that he just said

before because he doesn't know he said it because he forgot he's got shit like that uh going on here he said quote i mastered that defense grades of 90 to 80 in 100 to 80 plays and maybe one or two errors but um he said though that's you suck it up and that's what football is he goes man suck it up if you can walk you can play that's the mentality gino take care of him i don't know i would fucking hope so he's got no money he said they asked him kind of you know how many concussions what are you thinking and he said uh quote maybe over 20 concussions sometimes i couldn't see, and I would tell Saints defensive pack Brett Maxey or linebacker Sam Mills to cover until I get my vision back. The trainer would come out and never report a concussion, because unless you were unconscious, they wouldn't report a concussion

back then. He said, I had one listed concussion. You're just dizzy. Can you see this? If you went to the sidelines, you were a wimp. That's peer pressure. Wow. And he said he was a gladiator, and he wanted to be known as the roughest and toughest on the field. So he would do that. Guys now do that even more. Some guys do. Some guys are scared, so they follow the protocol. Some guys, if they get hit in the head, will lay down and pretend they got the wind knocked out of them.

That's what they do. They'll lay there. They said immediately, if you get a head injury, you go down, every single guy grabs his chest because that's, I got the wind knocked out of me. You can actually lay there. If you got the wind knocked out of you, you can lay there for 10 seconds and get your

head back together and no one thinks you're unconscious. They're like, oh, he's getting his wind back. No worries. No one thinks twice about it. So he goes, they all know instinctively to grab your chest unless you want to be taken out of the game. Don't put your head anywhere near your head. Don't put your hand up there on your chest. When anybody comes, go, wind.

That's all you do. Go, wind, wind, wind. And then everybody will leave you right alone. Oh, it'll be fine. Wind knocked out of him. So, yeah, he said everything was about intimidation. Put fear in the offensive guy. Tough, rough, and rugged. There was intimidation. Put fear in the offensive guy. Tough, rough, and rugged. There was no hitting with the shoulder.

You know why? He was hitting with his head. That's why. Think about that. If I played today like that guy in Pittsburgh, James Harrison, they'd probably fine my whole paycheck. You can take your car after an accident to a body shop, and the guy says he can fix that. But after five or six times you can't fix that. The same

goes for your brain. You can't change that. That's a good way to put it. Once you've made the metal weak, it's not going to keep fixing. He said he's never heard from his former owners. Never anything like that. They do point out that at this moment in time,

the Saints owner was receiving about $185 million in cash payments to keep his team in New Orleans from the governor and the Louisiana state legislature between 2002 and 2010, quote, as a thank you for not breaking his Superdome lease and leaving New Orleans. Is that right? Stay here, we'll straight bribe you. We'll give you cash.

$175 million? $85 million. Oh, my God. And you put that right in your pocket, and this pudding-brained fuck that hit people for you for a long time can go to hell. That's what that is. Oh, shit.

Atkins made an observation here. He says he thinks that a lot of the off-field problems that a number of active players have may indicate something's going on with their brains. Yeah, you think so? He named two players in particular that they wouldn't list here, but he said back then, the problem is,

back in 87 during that strike that we talked about, he didn't pay much attention to what they were even talking about. He said I had no idea what we were striking for i just wanted to get vested i think we they were uh talking about uh the plan and then he stumbles and the reporter has to help him back on track because he doesn't know what he's talking about and then he goes plan b free agency i was focusing on making the team he he uh basically he said he was told the story about uh jim burt who's the former giants

and niners player who waited in the giant stadium parking lot until the striking players decided to walk into the stadium for practice in mass in 1987 after the players association pretty much collapsed burt said as football players we were used to getting hit over the head and he was happy to be back even though the players gained nothing by going out. Atkins asked how long Burt was in the league at that point, and it was seven years. And Atkins said, well, if he didn't know what was going on, how the fuck would a rookie know what was going on? Because he didn't even know what he was doing here. So it was around, he was still around in 93 when they reached a new collective bargaining agreement

that included better pension and some post-career health benefits for five years if a player became a four-year vested veteran so then you'd have five so for five years after you're done you get health benefits then you're on your own until you're 55 or whatever so the owners and players collective bargained and working uh working uh collective bargained working conditions with the players are bad at this. They opted for money instead of long-term health benefits, basically. So five years isn't enough protection for people who could get in the shit beat out of them. Sometimes those symptoms don't even show up until five years after you're done playing. That's the problem.

But that's why they did it. That's why they did it at five years. They knew that. So 2012, finally, it's the federal appeals court denies additional disability benefits sought by him. Unreal. Denies him. Yeah. They said that it's fucking. It's like a classic case of this shit.

Oh, it absolutely is. He tried to firebomb a guy. I mean, Jesus Christ. He said he wasn't under arrest. They said, quote, wow, this is the New Orleans appeals court panel unanimous ruling. While we are sympathetic to Atkins' plight, the board's decision does not meet the standard for an abuse of discretion given the mixed collection of evidence that could have been construed to support an award of either inactive or football degenerative benefits the mixed bag of medical opinions simply didn't do not provide a clear answer as to whether atkins disabling and injuries did or did not arise from football therefore the retirement board's discretion cannot be termed as an abuse of discretion that's why they sent him to 20 doctors so there's 20 different opinions and they sit down and they go well there's 20 different opinions we can't decide right we're not doctors how do we decide who's more right

denied that's how that's the nfl is they're fucking machiavellian and shit man this is it's messed up so um anyway three seasons are required for a pension and with the average career lasting less than four a lot of players don't qualify for this for the benefits which don't kick in until age 55 wow a major league baseball player one day on an active roster qualifies you for lifetime health care so um is that why tom brady's still playing so that he can just be covered forever i think he's just going to play till he's 55 and then move right into it so there's a lot of guys talking about this. They're all of their, you know, a lot of, they also, some people try to blame it on weight.

Where there's some people going, it's not that the players are getting hit in the head and that's why they're bad. It's because they get real fat and then they have a stroke. What? So they got calories on the brain? They're retaining cholesterol? Yeah, they're retaining sugar, I believe, is the problem. What the fuck? So they're saying because they're so fat.

They retain trans fats on the brain, I think, is the problem. That causes stroke, which causes brain damage, which is not football related. Yeah. And the thing is, though, you can avoid that afterwards. You can try to do something different, but you definitely can't fix your fucking brain. Never. So that's a problem here. But they go over that a lot.

Then there's the movie Head Games, which is the documentary. That's the one I think that's the concussion movie is based on. That's Chris Nowitzki is the guy who made it. He's a college football player at Harvard, and he also wrestled for WWE for a long long time he's the guy who started this whole thing and really made it a a big deal um now in this film gene is being interviewed by a neurologist they show him in there they tell him quote repeat the months of the year between january and june he says january may april yeah that's not the months between january and june i mean well then he says can you do it sequentially and he says january and after some struggle february march apr, and then June.

So then the guy says, what's before June? And he says, July. So he has, see what I mean? How he steps on, it's like a whack-a-mole in his brain. Pins one down and then another one pops up. It sounds very frustrating to be him. So yeah, he's in this thing and it's really bad. He says, quote, I'm just a mess right now in this. His son, Gino, though, talking about Gino because he's doing well and on a high note

here, Gene says about Gino, I always saw that he was going to be a star because sometimes I would tell him that we're late bloomers, but when we bloom, we blossom. And that's how my son was. So it was a surprise to me that his name is, is was a surprise to me that his name is as big as it is right now. No, he had it from the beginning. I'm not trying to brag on my son or anything like that, but you kind of know when the person has talent and they can take it to another level. And that's what he decided to do, and that's what he's doing. I'm very proud of my son because he's pretty much doing his thing.

He shows up to play each game, each season, and that's all you's doing. I'm very proud of my son because he's pretty much doing his thing. He shows up to play each game, each season, and that's all you can ask anyone to do. Love the game and play the game the way it's supposed to be played. So his son doesn't talk, like I said, okay? Yeah. Defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer said, quote, Geno doesn't say anything, I mean ever. He said, ask, how you doing, Geno?

And he says, good, coach, that that's about it he's a great guy but that's all you get out of him he talks a lot more around the guys than he does around you or me but i wouldn't put him up on the speaker's tour i guess not defensive end carlos dunlap who dresses two lockers away said quote i've heard his dad was a heck of a football player same as he is but gino's a very quiet guy and he doesn't say too much. He just lets his actions speak for him. Another, the guy next to him, a fellow tackle, so they're on the same team, they talk to talk about shit, D'Amato Peco, said his locker is right next to him. He said, quote, I'm not too familiar with all that because Geno doesn't say much.

He's pretty humble, but I heard his dad was a hell of a football player nobody knows anything about this man nobody knows anything about this man um so uh he they when they ask him about his dad's brain gino says he's still bothered by headaches and things he's just he's just making it a day to day as best he can. And then, uh, they said, well, uh, you know, he said, quote, my dad follows me every week. He texts me before each game and every game with words of encouragement and how I should prepare that week. They said, are you worried following in your dad's footsteps that you are going to maybe have to deal with this also? He said, quote, no, I don't worry about that we play two different games my dad was more physical than me he was a hard hard hitter i don't really have any hard hits yeah but on the line you

guys butt heads every fucking play that's the problem it's not it's not the car accident hits but there it's the collective same spot hit hit hit chinese water torture brain So can't get enough of Geno Atkins. What happened? Well, nothing. He's just, he's still in limbo. He hasn't died or anything, but hopefully they give him some goddamn, his correct amount of money.

This is ridiculous. Get him some help. Can't get enough. You can get an autographed Geno Atkins card for $3.50. So the card and the autograph, $3.50 on eBay. Or you can go to

the world's newest theme park, the Geno Atkins Experience, where you just bang your head into a cinder block wall for two fucking hours then try to recite the months of the year in front of a camera crew. It's very exciting. Take the kids there this summer. It's going to be great.

In sequential order, that order that everybody is gino atkins no gene atkins gene atkins not gino gino's fine i just i had it right in front of me and my note says gino gino for now just fine we'll see what happens later because gene didn't start getting noticeably from the outside crazy till for you know even the firebombing we were like well we didn't start getting noticeably from the outside crazy. Even the firebombing, we were like, well, we didn't know that was degenerative brain disease. That could have just been he thinks he's a gangster. We don't fucking know. Yeah, people do that all the time.

I mean, shit. So you don't need to. I mean, we do small-town murder. How often do those people have CTE on that show? Never, pretty much. It's all other issues. Almost never. If they have have it's never found yeah so that everybody is gene atkins that is the show hope you enjoyed it if you did tell the world about it get on wherever the hell you're listening to this show apple

podcast or wherever the hell give us a review five stars is helpful doesn't matter what you say make some shit up and say it. Doesn't matter. Tell us what, tell us, let's see here, what the least fire-bombable type of door is. There you go. Oak, cinder, block, metal, I don't know. Fiberglass, possibly. I'll bet those are the best. Can't have one with those windows up, so we'll go right through that shit.

So that's a problem. Solid core. I don bet those are the best. Can't have one with those windows up, so we'll go right through that shit. So that's a problem. Solid core. I don't know. Do that. Also, go to shutupandgivememurder.com where you can get everything crime and sports and small town murder related, including merchandise, all sorts of new stuff up, tickets to live shows all throughout the year. Get your tickets to, if you want to see Crime and Sports Live Sacramento, we're there in

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So Jesus Christ, represent people, please. So do that and uh find us out there as well as uh follow us on social media at crime and sports on twitter and facebook at small town murder on instagram and uh also patreon is good stuff oh yeah you want your patreon patreon.com slash crime and sports is where you get all the bonus stuff. And holy shit, is it good. And it's not going to change any at all this week. You get, for $5 or above, everything, both shows, episodes. You get fucking everything, the whole back catalog.

If we make it, you're going to get it. So this week's two episodes, you're going to get for Crime and Sports, you're going to get Doc Ellis. We're going to talk about him. Not really a criminal or anything anything but just a really entertaining amazing guy who threw a no hitter while tripping his balls off on acid that's illegal story oh i'm sure the story behind that is entertaining and then he's just a guy who says a lot of really colorful outlandish shit that's fun to listen to so we'll talk about him get some quotes speaking of quotes for small town murders bonus we're going to go with a really really requested one here we're

going to talk about the uh confessions of a killer the john wayne gacy tapes documentary and i'm going to supplement that with a lot more of his quotes from his lawyer's book as well and there are some doozies in there that are just unreal so it it's going to be crazy. Let's hear what an asshole has to say for himself. Amazing stuff. Patreon.com slash Crime and Sports. And in addition to that, you'll, of course, get a shout out because, God damn it, we appreciate what you're doing for us. That said, I think it's time, Jimmy.

Hit me with them. Hit me so hard that I won't remember the months of the year by the time I'm 50. Jimmy, hit me with them. Hit me so hard that I won't remember the months of the year by the time I'm 50. Jimmy, hit me with them now. This week's executive producers are Jordan Bennett and Melissa Turner, who drove all the way from New Hampshire to Philly to see our show this weekend. Thank you so much, Melissa. Thank you so much. Her dog's a mess, so she had to bring her pup with her because the pup is like,

yeah, she's not doing great. Or he, I don't know. The pup is sick. So she had to bring the pup with her to be in the hotel, and I really appreciate you making that effort, Melissa. Thank you. What a couple of great shows. Those were fun.

Yeah, good times. Other producers this week are Centeno Kennels in Canada, Liz Vasquez, Jake Antognoni. That's an Italian name, and onion is right in the middle. That's what I see. Peyton Meadows. What is it? Never mind.

Ant-Onion-y. Ant-Onion-y, yeah. Yeah, that's what it is. My Aunt Onion-y. She smells like shit, I'm telling you. My Aunt Onion-y, I don't like her. Peyton Meadows is thrilled about Summer. Her buns are out.

Bella and Owen Beaumont. Your dad said hello. Phil McCunt. Proud of yourself. Nicole Stacy's shingles. I hope those go away soon. Kayla Streeter. Janice Hill.

Champion of the sun. What is that, James? Do you know who that is? Fucking always sunny. That is the day man. That's who that is. Always sunny, bitches. That is the day man. That's who that is. Always Sunny, bitches. Boyd McCommish.

Chuck Terry's old crusty birthday. Happy birthday, Chuck Terry. Steve Schnell. We missed him in Philly. I'm so upset about it. Oh, shit. I miss him the most. We love him.

Brendan Ables. Ashley Stewart gave Kara her live show tickets and refused payment. So thank you, Ashley. That was sweet of you. Wow, that's really nice. Michelle Wandi. Tammy with no last name. Jared Stemmen, Grumpy Chicken Farm, Michael Ratinsky, I think, Evan Miller, Stephen Windles, Christian Entz, Christopher Soley, Carolyn Gergel, Rob Colino, Crystal Hilliard, Shane Flurry,

Anna Marie, Brandon Samarco, Robin Long, Andrew Thomas, Thompson, fuck, Scott Volz, Carrie Renswick, Priscilla Graff, Oscar Rodriguez, Angel Lozano, me too, Cassie with no last name, Ellen Mitchell, Athena Montgomery, Chris with no last name,

Gabriella French, Katie Donahoe. Angie. Angie Dorigati. Jeremy Gamble. Caitlin McLaughlin. Faith Hook. Nope, that's Cook. Daniel Sam.

Catherine LaFaro. Lo Faro. Paige Snyder. Wendy Horn. Charlotte Savage. Gavin Price. Jennifer Edwards. Renee Wapsuck-Pawinney.

She donated twice, so I imagine she needed another Patreon for somebody else. Brent Heilman. Was the word Wapsuck in there? Was that something I heard? Wapsuck. Wapsuck. Wapsuck. Renee Wapsuck.

If you were like Wapsuck, I was like, really? That's your middle name? Fuck those guineas? I think it's a hyphenated last name. I believe so. Brent Heilman. That's not a good last name either. That's tough.

No. Todd Wurtenberger. Casual Nazi Heilman. That's not a good last name either. That's tough. No. Todd Wurtenberger. Casual Nazi Heilman. Come on, bro. Come on, man. Heil. Ben von Grunengrigendenchen. I don't know.

Yeah. Casey with no last name. Angus C. Bell-Smith. Tori Swiacki. Ainsley Harvey. Angela McColl. Jolly Tomato. Austin Painter.

Alicia Larson. Tyler with no last name. Alexandria Ramage, Pamela Harvard, Kyle Thacker, Susie Q, Michael Conway, Luke with no last name, Flappy Beaver, CTMBR, Christina Paxton. Karen Mitchell. Kathy Mancoll. Mancoll. Mancoll. Amanda Goss. Aaron Altenhoff-Long. Allison Carmichael. Carmichael, maybe. I'm not sure.

Devin Baumgartner. Lisa Ferguson. William Breakfield IV. Vincent DiBano. Marianne Dayton. Claire Muley. Mully. Dylan Sessions.

Samantha Spriggs. Michael O'Brien, M. Foxhill, Hunter Comer, Jab Arts, Melissa Ward, Lakeisha January, Michael Cartinis, Justin Reed, Cindy Brown, Heather Armstrong, Joe Salerno. Is that the name of that

fucking investigator? Was it Joe Salerno? I think it was. I'm sure it's not the same guy. Frank Salerno. Frank Salerno i think it was yeah i'm sure it's not the same frank frank maybe it's frank maybe joe's his kid charissa nelson carissa nelson keely folger stephanie o'hara uh cory colter joe gardner yeah uh alan alan brennan kathy with no last name grant with no last name ben spicer michaela brown joe turecker t, Romeo Romeo, Chapa, Matthew Rowland, Amanda Harper, Bethany King, Jasjit Kaur, Jasit. I'm never going to learn that one, ever. It's not going to happen.

Probably not. Jeremy Sermon, Seaman. Oh, boy. Sassy McSassy Pants, Pamela Vongesia, Liz V, Richard French, Noelle with no last name, Todd with no last name, Abigail Barbier, Kurt Marcotte, Capri, Catherine Schutt, Tyler Draper, Bill Bibbity, what is this, Blibbity, Blibbity Blah Blah, Josh Van Gordon, Danae Andrews, Miss Slocum's Pussy. Oh, boy. Lexi White.

I don't know what that's. Appreciate that. Amanda Helton, Emily Fredericks, and Luke Katerberg. Liz with no last name. Jason Weiland, Dylan Benitez. Nathan with no last name. Melissa Carter, Paul Bedford, Zoe Graham, Abby Hayes. Daniel Archer, Kristen Turner, Caitlin A. Rhee, David Baker, Rick Wood, Eliza Skontz-Siderski, Courtney Bremer-Kira, and Amy Peach, and all of our patrons.

You guys are amazing. Thank you so much. Thank you, everybody. Thank you, thank you. From the bottom of our damaged, damaged hearts that are worse than Gene Atkins' brains, we do appreciate it. Thank you for everything you do for us, and thank you for coming out to the live shows,

all you guys that are doing that. We really do appreciate it. We like seeing you, and it's amazing when the tickets were sold two and a half years ago, and still over 90% of the people that bought tickets show up. That's fucking unreal. And thank you so much for that.

You're blowing the minds of these venues. These venues are like, it's usually like 50, maybe 50% will show up. And we're like, I think our people are a little different. And then they're like, 93%, your people are a lot different. That's better than normal shows go. Never mind ones that were sold two and a half years ago. So thank you for making yourselves and us look amazing to all these people thank you so much and thank you for everything you want to follow us on social media very easy to do

our individuals you can get us on go to shut up and give me murder.com we're right there or just you can search small town murder podcast hosts there's only two of us they're crime and sports podcast hosts either one do it up and you. They're crime and sports podcast hosts. Either one, do it up and you'll find us. I think Small Town Murder will come up first, though. Probably. So try that. So do that.

It's crazy. So keep doing that. Find us. Keep coming back with more crazy, insane, brain-damaged adventures. We will be there and we hope you will, too. Live from the Crime and Sports studios, we will see you next week. Bye. Hey, Prime members, you can listen to Crime and Sports early and ad-free on Amazon Music.

Download the Amazon Music app today, or you can listen early and ad-free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today, or you can listen early and ad-free with Wondery Plus and Apple Podcasts. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at wondery.com slash survey.