Games with Names - Highlight Reels: Super Bowl Champs' Stories

Episode Date: July 6, 2025

In this week's edition of Highlight Reels we've got our favorite stories from Super Bowl champions including Rob Gronkowski, Danny Amendola, Matt Light, Ty Law, Cooper Kupp, Andrew Whitworth and Howie Long. From insights on preparing for the big game, all the way to the Super Bowl parade, we've got you covered.Support the show: http://www.gameswithnames.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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Listen to NFL Daily's top 25 players of the last 25 years starting on June 30th on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. A Body, a Suspect, and 100 Years of Silence. Buried Bones is a podcast about the forgotten crimes history tried to leave behind. A common misperception about serial predators is that every single time they commit a crime, they commit it the same way. The past is a way of talking if you know what to listen for. New episodes every Wednesday on the Exactly Right Network.

Listen to buried phones on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I always had to be so good, no one could ignore me. Carve my path with data and drive. But some people only see who I am on paper. The paper ceiling, the limitations from degree screens to stereotypes that are holding back over 70 million stars. Workers skilled through alternative routes

rather than a bachelor's degree. It's time for skills to speak for themselves. Find resources for breaking through barriers at tearthepapersceiling.org. Brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. We're bringing you another compilation of my favorite stories from Games with Names. Let's go. Now Rob Gronkowski on his first Super Bowl memories. We won the Super Bowl. That's the best part about you. That was the best part of that year.

Yes, 100 percent. That's was just the Super Bowl Club, bro. Honestly, the Super Bowl Club. The first one was pretty special. 14. What are you reading over there, Gronk? I'm reading your tweet. I'm sorry, bro. What are you reading over there, growing? I'm reading your tweet. I'm sorry, bro. My tweet. To Gronk, you look like a fighter.

Hmm. They say, oh, you play football from the actor from Flash Gordon me. But he's the only best tight end. Oh, oh, my God. Oh, bro. Sorry. That was a great tweet. What? That was a great tweet. Incussion. Yeah.

And then and then Tom, even I couldn't tackle Gronkowski last night. Tom, you can tackle anyone. So like. Actually, he had one tackle in his career was pretty nice, didn't he? Which one? The one he had. I gotta do some digging on that. Oh man. What were you saying though?

I was reading, but you were saying something before that. I don't know. I was trying to read my tweet, but I couldn't read my tweet. Oh, we were talking about the first one being the sweetest. Oh yeah. Oh, it really was. So we lost a one versus the Giants in 2011.

And if you didn't get hurt, we would have dominated. I know, man. I know. Fucking Eli. Oh, but it's all right, because then we won this one. And once you get in that Super Bowl club, man, that felt good. That's all good. I mean, because you never experienced it. Exactly. And we were always, you know, I was always so sick and tired of hearing about fucking the old Patriots.

Like we, it, cause Bill would bring it, you know, Bill would, he was there for so long, he'd bring up all these cuts. We've seen the same clip of Troy Brown stripping the San Diego Charger in that one, you know, I've seen that clip. It marked our era. Yeah. The new Patriots era was here. Yeah.

It was, it was good. And they motivated us, those older guys. They set the standards. It marked our era. Yeah. The new Patriots era was here. Yeah, it was good. And they motivated us, those older guys. They did, they set the standards. They set the standards. 100%. You gotta appreciate them big time. They set the standard. But I was sick and tired of hearing about

Willie Mack, Teddy Bruski. Yes. Because that's, Bill would bring it up every day. He would. Every day. And then after this, you had to go and win another one. Yes. You know what I mean?

Yeah, just to show them. Just to show them. It was our era. Matt Light is up next on Super Bowl locker rooms. What's your favorite thing you stole from another stadium? Like, listen, is there statute of limitations? I mean, I'm not going to jail on your podcast. No.

You know what I'm saying? Like. Double jeopardy, bro. It's gone. That's a good point. Yeah. Yeah, it can't be tried twice. There's no way. Gosh, man, the best thing ever. I'm like. I'm like. I'm like. I'm like. I'm like. I'm like. I'm like. I'm like.

I'm like. I'm like. I'm like. I'm like. I'm like. I'm like. I'm like. I'm like.

I'm like. I'm like. I'm like. I'm like. I'm like. I'm like. I'm like. I'm like.

I'm like. I'm like. I'm like. I'm like. I'm like. I'm like. I'm like. I'm like. I'm off the field, right? It was like my goal to get to the bar as quickly as possible. Bar Louie's, baby. And I would rip down all these banners.

I remember just jumping up and just running. Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, wadding it up, throwing it. Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding awesome banners from the Super Bowl eras. Like the ones that hang in a hotel. Yeah. When we get to the hotel, I couldn't stop myself there either. They'd be like hanging off like a big atrium. And I'd find my way up in there and like, sink, sink, sink, sink, sink.

Up next, Cooper Cup on his Rams Super Bowl victory. How was it playing a Super Bowl in your home stadium? Was it an advantage? Cause you guys had to stay at home and stuff and stay away from like, how was that? Cause yeah yeah, I mean it takes away from the experience But it's also kind of like a baby advantage because you get to be in your own space. Yeah. Yeah I slept in my own bed until Basically the night before the game which is a huge amazing like I love that. We were in our own locker room

You know like it felt it would what it did I was thankful that we I had own locker room. You know, like, it felt, what it did, I was thankful that I had been to one before, even though I wasn't playing in it, I saw how much of a buildup there is to the Super Bowl and how much it lends itself. Like, even when the game's about to start, they don't tell you, like, there's so much more that's about to happen still.

They don't tell you the Rock's going to give a monologue. You know, out there, as you're're on the field getting ready for kickoff No, so like there's all this buildup, but then once you finally kick the ball off, it's just it's the game Yeah, right. And so I was we had kind of in preach like hey guys, this is again There's gonna be so much build up to this just let it be once the game gets here It's just it's the same game it helped that we were in our own like it was our own Rhythm any other game that kind of helped lend itself to like hey, this is this is just like any other game We've played just go out there and play your game. Yeah, I mean it's gotta be that's that's

Kind of an advantage you're you get to stay away you get to have your guys in their own area Because half the time there's at least one or two guys that are yeah Yeah, because half the time there's at least one or two guys that are yeah Out past curfew guy out in Oakland Raiders went to Mexico. I never came but like there's always a story. Yeah Yeah, yeah Good teams just have to start, you know owners of teams Just you start paying seven billion dollars to build a stadium and then they can host the Super Bowl and then get to the Super Bowl when it's your turn or you could be an owner and you can have a city pay for your stadium and then they can host the Super Bowl and then get to the Super Bowl when it's your turn. Or you could be an owner and you can have a city pay for your stadium

and then have people come to your stadium that you own. That's a tricky, that's a tricky, tricky path. I think you just make the seven billion, you make the billion yourself and do it yourself. Exactly. Next up, we've got Danny Amendola talking about the aftermath of Super Bowl 49. Tell them the story about how we were after the, um, the first Super Bowl, we

won, how we hired that guy to just follow us around with a broom. We went to, I forget the club. We went to the club in Boston and, uh, we just said, give us 40 bottles of champagne. I don't know why we just started spraying each other. us 40 bottles of champagne. I don't know why we just started spraying each other. It was kind of 14, remember 14 in LA. Yeah. Was it 14?

We had started, it originated in LA at like the beach club, but we hired this guy and we got 40 bottles of champagne and they brought them out in a wheelbarrow. And then we're like, follow us. And we just walked around the whole place and we'd either spray it and then bust it on the ground or just bust it on the ground. And then we gave a guy some money to follow us around with a broom and a pail to just pick up all the broken glass.

All the broken glass. Just like complete destruction. All that. We're walking down the street, wheelbarrow, and then a guy with a broom, and we were just chugging champagne, spraying it, and breaking glass. That's how you know you're balling. Yeah.

It was a snowstorm that night. Yeah, it was reckless. We started the night by coming off the, there was a lady stuck. We got out of the car. Yeah. We just won a Super Bowl. We got out of the car to push her out.

Yeah, she was stuck in the snow. Yeah, some old lady. On the bridge, dude. Remember that? Yeah. Dude, good Samaritans over here. She was stuck. Old lady.

She's Louise. Now we've got Howie Long on the legends of the 1984 Raiders Super Bowl team. Let's get into the Raiders team. I'm looking at this roster, and I go Jim Plunkett, guy who goes to the New England number one pick, Heisman Trophy winner. Stanford. Gets mauled.

I think they might've been the Boston Patriots at that point. Yeah. Gets mauled and just gets churned out there. You know, an organization that mismanaged and didn't put the people around him and got beat up. And you know, one of the great deep ball throwers of the time. And goes to San Francisco, same thing.

Bad experience, gets mauled, doesn't fit. Al Davis, as I mentioned again, it's guys that Lyle Alzado, who had been in Denver and Cleveland and got to the Super Bowl in Denver and got blown out and is a guy that is 33, 34 years old who would give his right arm to win a Super Bowl. I'm sure you had guys that come to come to New England,

like Chris was one of those guys. I mean, they come to New England to win and he came there to win. Cliff Branch was, if not the fastest guy on the planet, one of the top three, four fastest guys on the planet. It was so fun watching him and Daryl Green play in this fucking matchup, because Daryl Green was like the fastest guy

in the NFL as well. Yeah. Like that was a fun matchup. And Cliff was 30, I think I don't know what he was at the Super Bowl, he might've been 33. Man, 33 playing a young. I think it's- He was 35.

At 60, he could run a 4-4. Geez. I mean, seriously. I lived with a guy named Cedric Hardman, who was a great pass rusher from San Francisco. Yeah. On the, they called it, I forget what they called that, Jimmy Page, you know, Cleveland, Elam, you know, these guys were really good. And Cedric and I lived together,

my rookie year, and some people kind of questioned the, the wisdom of that. But, you know, Cedric really was a, had a great impact on my early part of my career. And Cliff would sleep on our sofa. You know, it was a different time. I mean, not really. I mean, we, I shared a house with five guys my first three years of my career. Cause you didn't know if you were going to make the team every year.

Yeah. And I'm making, my check was $1,007. Now we were making decent money. League minimum was like $360. I had a used Coupe DeVille, powder gray, spoke wheels, velour interior, and a truly, an eight cassette deck where the cassettes were that big. A-track. Was that A-track?

A-track, yeah. And you know, Cedric A-Track. Was that A-Track? A-Track, yeah. And you know, Cedric had a red El Dorado and convertible with white interior. And we were, we were rolling in Oakland. As football in the 80s. I love it. Best two-gab nose guard you could ever play with. Greg Townsend, I think Greg is, you know, is to me a hall of famer. Lyle Alzado, you know, I mean, listen,

he can change the attitude of a room really quickly. How? He was such a violent, you know, the needle went into the red, and he was unpredictable from that standpoint. You know, you base the rest of your day on, hey, good morning, Lyle. You know, and the rest of the day was kind of based on that. One of the best nicknames I feel like in NFL history. Three

Mile Lyle is pretty good. Three Mile Lyle because it was like Three Mile Island was a nuclear plant that blew up and you know, you just never knew when he was gonna blow. So was he the team asshole? Or who's the team asshole? Lyle was kind of quiet. I'm trying to think.

I'm looking down the Kenny King was a great back from Oklahoma, situational guy. Frank Hawkins, really good fullback. Cleo Montgomery, tough, tough, tough. He dropped a guy on a plane one time. On a, he guy was sitting in his seat. He didn't get up. Oh teammates.

And he was one of the quietest guys you could ever be around. And this guy just sat, got in his seat when he went to the bathroom and you seat your seat on the plane. Yeah, yeah. It's once again, it's that last blade of grass. It's the push at the end of the play.

And he asked him really quietly, very nice a couple of times and then just, boom! And that boy's eye closed shut on that flight. But we had a lot of flights like that. That's a real deal. Next up, Rob Gronkowski on his Super Bowl parade memories. It was a game that got us in the Super Bowl club as well. The aftermath.

Just overall everything that whole entire year. Man, we win our first Super Bowl in 10 years. Y'all's first ever. Our first. What about the parade as well? Yeah, let's hear some parades. Oh my gosh, bro. It was the best party of my life.

I never been to a parade like that in my life. We got snowed in. Yeah, we did get snowed in. They had to, they had changed parade date because we had a North Easter and we got, yeah, we got hammered. Yeah, we got hammered. There was 50 beers getting thrown at me at one time. Like you had to get hammered.

Little fireball shots. Shout out just to the city of Boston as well. They know what's up, man. They know how to celebrate. They love the Patriots as well. They love their sports. So without them as well, the parade would never be the parade without our fans too. Straight Ferris Bueller's day off.

Literally, that was such a, that was the fun, that was so fun. What was with the Minions hat, Gronk? I'm not sure, I was leaving my house, there was a couple Minions hats on the counter and I just grabbed them. Love the Minions hat. Yeah, I was like, man, this goes good with it.

Minions, I'm about to have a Minion party. A million? A million drinks. Oh my God. Oh dude, I almost didn't make the parade because I was passed out in the airport because I went to Jimmy Killam. I went out in LA, I tried making it back. I almost didn't make it back and there I was passed out in the airport. Now we've got Ty Law on the impact of experience in the Superbowl. Do you remember anything different going in this? You guys, this was your third Super Bowl.

Second. Oh third, third, third. You guys lost your second year. No, we lost my second year. Then we won the Rams. Yeah, so this will be your third Super Bowl appearance. Right, with, yeah. Did you feel like you had an advantage?

For Carolina, Carolina. Did you have an advantage because you guys experience. Yes experienced it Yeah, we thought we had advanced but at the same time we were also those guys before you know, you know on the come-up, you know, we came in and and Hey, we wanted to win. So just the last game as you know playing and as many as you've played in man It's like anybody can win that game. And they started off, hit us with the big one, quick. You know what I mean?

You know, it was Jake DeLonge, you know, he running around, he talking to all kinds of shit. But now- Who used to talk on? We had Tom Brady, you know what I mean? And now, by that time, you know, it was, when he was with us, you know, first go, that's Tom Brady.

You know who he started to be in that time, Con? Tom motherfucking Brady. Tom motherfucking Brady. That's the difference. See, we had, like, we had Tom Brady. You had Tom MF-ing Brady, motherfucking Brady. See, that's who he was at that time. So when you have that, and we knew,

if we stayed in here. You had beer drinking, Tom. I had. Exactly. at that time so when you have that and we knew if we stayed here drinking Tom exactly I had chiseled jaw avocado yeah beautiful hair yeah skin complexion exactly and how do you smell good after practice Tom hey so when you get that man we was like we knew what we had all we had to do is now you don't mess up now we don't mess up All we had to do was now, you don't mess up now, we don't mess up because we know we give you a chance. You done already proved it time and time again, not just in the big games, but any game, we gonna win.

And Tom, like I said, I've never seen anybody like him when it comes to being so cool and calm under pressure. It's that one man, football, And that's Adam Vinatieri. Adam Vinatieri. Wow. Mr. Clutch. Yo bro, you talking about somebody as like no fear? You know, like imagine going up there

and you guys gotta take that free throw. As easy as it might be to have to take that all the pressure and everything riding on you. That's why I said they need to bronze his damn foot. Like Tom need to have his statue, of course, but they need to have a big ass replica of Adam Venturi foot somewhere around on that stadium. You know what I mean? Somewhere put Adam Venturi foot.

Up next, Andrew Whitworth talks about the Rams Superbowl victory. Did you have a template because you guys were there a couple of years before? You would think, but it ended up being a home game. And then the league actually, which I, you know, it's like one of those things for me. Hey, listen, it got perfect. I have no complaints for the young guys. I feel bad that we're on that team that never been to a Superbowl. Because when we went to Atlanta and play you guys, you get the all in a year on the road.

Like we're in a hotel, we're busing the media days. You see all the security. You guys stayed at home. We stayed in our facility and practice and stayed in our houses, like literally bused to the game. I didn't even think about that. We literally went to the game like it was a home game and like, hey, the night before, stayed in a hotel by the stadium and just rode over to the game. And so it was the weirdest week we even did.

They even allowed us to do our media at our facility. So we didn't even have a media day. Oh, wow. So it was a weird, weird week. It felt like a, you know, late December game that you're just at home. And obviously in Cali, you know, you have the great weather. So just, it didn't even feel like you're playing in the Superbowl. It was very strange compared to going to Atlanta.

Almost could be taken as an advantage though, for a young guy, because there was less distractions. For sure. I just mean like, I hate it for them, but they didn't experience like the allness of what a Superbowl feels like. Right. And that, that's what I remember the most. And then, you know, really of the game, I just remember it felt like every five

seconds I turned around, we lost an offensive player, like wait, who's out? You know, like you're on the sideline, you know how it is. Like, wait, you're going to get in the huddle and you're like, wait, wait, where's our tight end? You're like, oh wait, where's, where's the receiver? Uh, it was just constant the entire game. We were losing guys. Did you guys get to use your same locker room that game? Yeah, oh, okay. Everything was the same. That is it wild. Yeah, it was wild Thanks for listening. Remember to tune in every Tuesday for a brand new episode and every Sunday for another games with names highlight

that. In 2012, 16-year-old Brian Herrera was gunned down in broad daylight on his way to do homework. No suspects, no witnesses, no justice. I would ask my husband, do you want me to stop? He was like, no, keep fighting. After nearly a decade, a breakthrough changed everything. This is Cold Case Files Miami, stories of families who never stopped fighting. After nearly a decade, a breakthrough changed everything. This is Cold Case Files Miami. Stories of families who never stopped fighting. Listen to Cold Case Files Miami on the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Who are the 25 greatest football players to grace the gridiron since the year 2000, introducing NFL Daily's top 25 players of the last 25 years. Join me, Greg Rosenthal and an all-star cast of media personalities including Mina Keim, Steve Weisch, Kevin Harlan and more for a look at football's best since the turn of the century. Listen to NFL Daily's top 25 players of the last 25 years starting on June 30th on the iHeart radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts. A Body, a Suspect, and 100 Years of Silence. Buried Bones is a podcast about the forgotten crimes history tried to leave behind.

A common misperception about serial predators is that every single time they commit a crime, I always had to be so good, no one could ignore me. Carve my path with data and drive. But some people only see who I am on paper. The paper ceiling. The limitations from degree screens to stereotypes that are holding back over 70 million stars. Workers skilled through alternative routes, rather than a bachelor's degree. It's time for skills to speak for themselves. Find resources for breaking through barriers

at tearthepapersceiling.org, brought to you by Opportunity at Work and the Ad Council. This is an iHeart podcast.