First Things First - Validation Is Like Anesthesia: Micah Parsons, Bill Belichick & Jalen Hurts Prove It | BONUS

Episode Date: September 5, 2025

Kevin Wildes compares validation in the NFL to anesthesia — too much can hurt, too little isn’t enough. He connects the idea to Jerry Jones trading Micah Parsons, Bill Belichick’s UNC opener, and Jalen Hurts’ leadership. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome back to another episode of Wild's podcast that we're still experimenting with. I'm giving it a hundred times. And then it's like, you know what should be called Kevin Wilde's podcast, just like everything. They should call it Dell. What's your name? Michael Dell. We should call it Amazon. What's your name?

Jeff Amazon. So this is about validation. And a lot of the stories that are popping up in the news, Micah, the Eagles come back. Bill Belichick, a little bit of Patriots, is all about validation. And I was watching the last video that we did. And I realized, John is the star of the show. And I texted, I was like, I'm just kind of your Uma Thurman at this point. And you're Quentin Tarantino.

I'm there. I'm on the screen. But this is really your artistic vehicle. because I'm okay not getting the credit. I am. I'm generally like not a big credit guy. I think it's just because maybe I'm full of it. You know, what do you actually think about it?

Maybe I'm like, I want credit for not being the credit guy. It's all just, it's all just a Russian doll. Like he actually doesn't want credit. He deserves the most credit. That's what I'm saying. Validation is an insane drug. So I wrote down validation is like anesthesia. Too much?

Kill you. Too little. You're like, what's going on here? Why are we even doing this? You know what I would be bad at? Like getting surgery in Civil War. Like old-timey surgery.

They're like, here's your belt. And then they do give you free bourbon. That does not. They give you a free shot of whiskey, but then you have to bite your belt as they amputate your leg. And then they burn it. like can I get another like no two shots of whiskey that's two shots of bourbon is all we've got like ah not good and thirdly if you really need it often anesthesia and validation you're probably

in a bad spot the reason why I got on this validation kick was this quote um from tom Brady on how he was judging the leadership of quarterbacks that he was watching because football is the ultimate team sport. And even in this broadcasting role, Chris, that's what I look for all the time. When a quarterback throws a touchdown pass, I actually watch to see who he goes and celebrates with because what did I do? I looked for my offensive lineman every time. I went down and celebrated in the end zone with my teammates every time. I wanted everyone to feel like they were part of the success. I told the lineman, we're all running into the end zone and we're celebrating as a team Because I think that's way more intimidating than a quarterback doing his six-shooter guns and going up in the crowd and doing all that other bullshund.

That's very self-promotional, but it's not about winning. And I think winning in football is about a team, always a team attitude first. Tough break there for Shooter McGavin. I feel like Brady should have a carve-out for Shooter McGavin if you want to because that's what he did. It's an old movie about golf. So Brady's big thing is obviously don't have two. much validation on yourself. That's not good.

You should be offering validation. It's a little bit like a prayer that I like. Are you praying to be blessed? Are you praying? Shoot. God doesn't mind if I stumble through the prayer, guys. Okay? What is it?

Are you praying for blessings? Are you praying? Are you praying to be blessed or to be a blessing? You get it. Are you offering validation to your? offensive line. That's what Tom Brady wants you to do. So here's the other thing. This is actually, and maybe it's intrinsic for superstar leaders, but it also feels like a learned behavior from somewhere. So even Tom Brady's critique, I don't think he's necessarily 100% critiquing

quarterback finger guns. I think he's also critiquing the coaching staff. And there's a famous, moderately famous just because I've watched it 30 times, clip from a Patriots documentary where Bill Belichick goes in and starts showing clips of guys making sacks and he's encouraging celebration. Ty Warren makes a sack and nobody congratulates him. Somebody else makes a great tackle.

Nobody celebrates them. And then he shows a different clip of the Patriots against the Broncos. Do you think we were ready for this game and someone scores in the end zone in the whole team? comes over. It's all about teamwork and validation and celebration. Which brings me to this Mike Vrable quote. Drake May throws a touchdown in training camp and

Vrable has to tell him to go celebrate. Take a listen. Get out there, Drake. I just really want to, if we got to play, like go get in there. You know what I mean? It's hard. How many touchdowns you guys score last year? The answer is not enough. That's it. There's one answer. Not enough. We got to score them. Celebrating for score. Tell them how you score.

We actually scored, if you were wondering, 17 points a game. Second worse in the league under Drod Mayo. So now we're going to score more. Drake has to go celebrate. Offer validation to your offensive line. Offer validation to your wide receivers. And get a little bit for yourself. Not too much.

Don't want to overdo it. But get a little bit. It's important to have some level of validation that you're not doing it all by. yourself, which is why this week's loss in North Carolina with Bill Belichick, I could have seen that coming. Bill Belichick went from a lot of we to a lot of me, not me, but a lot of him, where I think the biggest critique of Belichick's legacy was a certain amount of hubris that came with success, where in different steps he said, you know what, I can do it without Brady.

I can do it without Josh McDaniels. I can allow Josh McDaniels to poach a lot of the current staff because I'm good. I can do it without my own head of staff who went to go work with Bill O'Brien and I will replace him with my 24-year-old girlfriend, who seems overmatched for the job. But after the loss, when Bill Belichick was doing a press conference surrounded by balloons, that's all I really need to see to know that this guy has gone down the wrong path. He has insulated himself to a degree where he has betrayed the mantras and rules that he made for himself that led to success. You know that Rolling Stones M&M story?

I've told that story before. It's not my story. I don't know the Rolling Stones. I did see the Rolling Stones once. That's not the story. This might be apocryphal. But even so, it's a good story. So the Rolling Stones are traveling around, right?

They're traveling all over the world. Singing satisfaction. And there's a lot going on for the Rolling Stones. They've got lights. They've got microphones. They've got an amp. So they go in and they had like a little test. that they devised where they would put on their rider,

you know, all sandwiches. Everyone always like sandwiches and sprites. And they would say a large bowl of M&Ms, no yellows. So that eventually came out like, oh, weirdos. You guys don't like yellow M&Ms? I don't even know if there's a different taste. And eventually someone said, actually that's just a test. So they can go in, look at the M&Ms real quick.

If they see there's yellow M&Ms, they know the whole operation is not, buttoned up in Saskatchewan as buttoned up as it was in Tallahassee. So they know, oh, all right, there is yellow M&Ms. We need to double check everything because that is an obvious sign that you don't quite know what you're doing. So when UNC is getting blown out and it's pretty obvious, someone should have taken down the balloons. It's a sign that things are going wrong. And it's a sign that Bill Belichick has lost his.

his way and is no longer focused. Here's the other thing that's really bothering me of Bill Belichick. He was the king of looking forward. No rear view mirror. And he gave a quote to the Boston Globe about, hey, what's the difference between pros and college? He's like, you know, there's no owner. There's no owner's son. Like, buddy, your sons are on the staff.

You're killing me with this. he said when we had our best years in new england we had fewer people and in more of a direct vision and as that expanded it became harder to be successful i buy that but you've swung the pendulum in the other way where you're just surrounded by family and friends jordan hudson i don't you know she's not doing anything wrong horrible but the balloons are too much finally micha parsons i'm going to tie this all into micha parsons it feels like jerry jones is another guy. He's like, you know what? I'm going to do this. And at some point in this Micah Parsons trade saga, the story shifted from we had a handshake deal that he and I did and that you don't

turn back on your word in Texas to Micah can't stop the run. Have you looked at the advanced analytics in the playoffs? Like, huh? We were doing show. You kept on talking about not calling the agent doing the deals. Now it's about stopping the run. I think it was actually just about him. And the warmth of the spotlight. Either way, I don't think winning's the goal. It's just like, this is going to be my way.

Either way, either it's going to be my way where I sign you or my way if I trade you, but it's still going to be my thing. To the point where this is when there's like too much validation can get you. Last year, the first game that the Cowboys played the Eagles, the Eagles crushed them. And they said, Jerry, are you frustrated? And here's what he said. Frustrated like everybody else that was, but since I had a lot to do with what we're seeing, then it's the proper frustration as far as I'm concerned.

He wants credit for the Cowboys getting stomped. It's almost like, I don't know, I think it's odd. He does want that credit. Then weeks later, when he goes to Philadelphia, he gets on the radio after he's being heckled. He went on the radio and said, yeah, the Eagles fans said, keep doing what you're doing. Because Jerry wants it to be his.

For good or for bad, it's like the disease of Frank Sinatra. It's like, I did it my way. Oh, we had some rough roads, but it was my way. And it's better to go my way. And for me to execute my vision and lose, then maybe share the credit and win. You know what I was thinking about that?

Jalen hurts. That's the next podcast. Gila hurts part three.