Games with Names - Matt Light Stories

Episode Date: May 3, 2026

Matt Light shares his best stories with former teammates like Julian Edelman, Rob Gronkowski, and Rich Ohrnberger. Light shares his experiences with the Patriots, Tom Brady, and Bill Belichick.Support the show: http://www.gameswithnames.com/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me. Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media.

Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifers Show. This is a place for raw, unfills of conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to The Clivert Show on the I-Heart Radio app,

Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok podcast network on TikTok. 2%. That's the number of people who take the stairs when there is also an escalator available. I'm Michael Easter. I'm on my podcast, 2%. I break down the science of mental toughness, fitness, and building resilience in our strange modern world. Put yourself through some hardships and you will come out on the other side a happier, more fulfilled, healthier person.

Listen to 2%. That's TWO percent on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On the Look Back at it podcast. From 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84 was big to me. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a year, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it.

With our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors. Like Mark Lamont Hill on the 80s. 84 was a wild year. It was a wild year. I don't think there's a more important year. for black people. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

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Welcome to Games with Names. I'm Julian Edelman, and we got a brand new compilation highlight reel starting now. Now, Matt Light's hilarious prank on Bill Belichick. And Bill's kind of pissed off. Yeah, what did you do? I heard that story once. You went into his office and what did you do? So I had this remote, right?

And again, this is back in the day when this stuff didn't really exist, but I was always surfing in that. And it was a mouse, and it plugged in, actually. But it didn't do anything when you plugged in. You couldn't actually control the mouse. But there were, I don't know how you get this much energy out of two AAA batteries. But those two AAA batteries, when you hit that mouse button, it would send, like, Jesus through your body, like, real quick.

And so he was in a staff meeting. It was in training camp, and nobody was there. So I slip in. I'm on my way out. They're still working really hard trying to make us better. And I go in there and I put that thing on his laptop on his desk. I come in the next morning, he's not dying next killing me. It's like to start train camp.

I'm not even thinking about what I did the night before. And Bearers is like immediately when I walk in, he's like, not good. Like seriously, like, and you can see in his eyes. The Bear's. The Bear's not good. And I'm like, what? But I know what he's saying, right? but I'm like, what are you talking about?

Deny to you die. And he's like, just telling you, it's not good, man. What happens is not good. And I'm like, hey, look, I can't play this game right now. I got to go get ready. So I walk into the meal room. And when I walk in there, Maddie P is just got some toast or something. And he turns around and he sees me and he's like, you're an idiot.

And I'm like, what? I'm like, you two? And he's like, hey, man, he's fired up. And because of your dumb ass, we spent like two more extra hours here last night. And I'm like, for what? and he goes, well, he goes, I know it was you. And when he shocked himself the first time, he had his hand off the keyboard. The second time, his hand hit the keyboard and it deleted his notes.

You know how he takes notes every single day? Of everything. Everything. Hey, by the way, this is crazy, man. Here's a great example. Let's say we're playing the Jets, and it's Monday afternoon. So we're playing a divisional game, right? it's we're coming off a loss on the road and you know we we have we have a two key players on

defense that went down he'll go back in his notes and do keyword search or something and he'll find a scenario that mimics that almost to a T and then he'll look and see how did I address the team did I go hard on him did I take it easy on him did I push him and how hard did I push him did we practice a certain way what was the outcome how did it come out all that stuff gets analyzed man that's the craziness and the complexity that a lot of people don't realize. I don't know how much that weighs in his success or whatever else, but that's who he is, right?

Now, by the way, first time he didn't have his hand on the keyboard. Second time he shocked himself, he did, and it closed on a program. The way I look at that is you're an error repeater. The first one was my fault. Second one, that's your fault. Now, we didn't talk about that, but I will say this. When he lost that, that was not a good day because it wasn't like auto save, apparently. So all of his notes for that day apparently went back.

bye-bye. And what I thought was real. So I wanted to go get my mouse, but I left that thing in there, buddy. Once I heard about that one, I was like, yeah, that thing's going. What did he say to you? I mean, literally, he said something like, I mean, he stopped me. And by the way, Bill's kind of like Tommy. Like, I have no idea how Tommy got from one meeting room to the next. I don't know if he floated in the atmosphere. He like became particles and just reappears like in weird places. Obviously, he didn't shower. Tommy never showered. Never. Nobody ever saw him in. there. Weird. Well, actually, I see him a couple times. He'd have

the two shower heads on him. Remember you would be in the corner sometimes? Rarely. And he would do two shower heads. I'm like, dude, you get two showers? I know. And neither one of those heads wanted to be pointed to him. No. Seriously. Like, the water was like, he's, he's hydrophobic. Like, water doesn't like him or something. I mean, you got to think about it. He probably goes to, like, his

sick home where, like, he's got, like, hydrogen-based water. Listen, I think he has to wash him every day. I think so, seriously. That's Alex. Alex Guerrera, yeah. Little tiny hands. So what did Bill say?

Hey, man, he was fired up. He basically told me, if you go in my office again, I will kill you. And, of course, I denied it. I'm like, coach, what are we even talking about? He's like, you know exactly what we're talking about. I really don't. I said, but I'm going to get some food here. I'll see you in the meeting room.

But it was weird because Maddie P. came at me and so the bears. and I thought they were like flipping it on me, right? Like, oh, we're going to make him think that, you know, coaches really fired up. No, because Dante was the last one. Because you know Dante doesn't mess around. Dante was real matter of fact. What does Scar say? He's like, I don't think that was a good idea.

You probably shouldn't go in the head coach's office. And I'm like, you two? I'm like, I don't know what you're even talking about. So did you deny it till date forever? Forever. But that's the, so again, we didn't have a conversation about it. It wasn't like at some point he came to me. It was like, hey, that shit was kind of fun.

You got me if that shit hurt you know like I'd be cool to acknowledge any of this like hey Bill remember that email you sent me like that was funny But there's a part of me that believes like what he reiterated on his concluding remarks email that he was kind of serious You know what I'm saying dead serious Bill used to he was notorious for fucking Quizziness on spot And I could have sworn Matt Light was sleeping in a meeting and Bill tried to catch Matt And he goes Matt, you got all the fucking answers.

Exactly what he said, actually. I was just going to say that. Matt, you got all the fucking answers. What coverage is that? And you hit the coverage. What was it? Like two blitz zone, two C? It was like, the square root

and I saw these triangle is equal to the opposite. And everybody turns around and they know I sleep. Like you know I sleep. I slept through every meeting. And I don't, honestly, my wife was like, you're going to get fired like my first year. I remember Dante Scarnacia, my line coach, would make me stand up.

in the meeting room when we had our offensive line meetings and I would fall asleep eating a candy bar trying to stay awake eating a candy bar fall asleep standing and he would be like like if you fall asleep one more time I will kill you and I'm like oh man like I'm a rookie I didn't know what was happening on that one though so this is the greatest right so notorious sleeper Copen would kick me he sat right behind me

he would always feed me the answer too because I have no fuck I don't know what Bill just said I was asleep and so and by the way Like football, like, yes, we're a bunch of Neanderthals, but like, I don't need to watch that 700 times. Like all we do is sit and rewind, watch, rewind watch. So on this one, if you think on that season, we had a bunch of young guys. And defensively, as you know, the defense could get everything. You know, Bill would be like, all right, look, you know, what are we expecting? You know, he'd be talking to the offense in this situation.

What are we expecting them to do? I mean, it's third down. We're in a red zone. I mean, you know, we got, you know, whatever. We got trips. You know, and he'd ask somebody a question. And it'd be like a really did. difficult question and and we would come up with an answer that's pretty good.

I mean, he'd be like, oh, I'm not, what the fuck. You know, that's not what they're going to do. I mean, God damn it. You know, have you watched an ounce of film? And then he would go to the defense and he'd be like, all right, guys, like, what's one plus seven? And they'd be like, uh, six and a half and they're like, oh, that's pretty close, pretty good.

All right. Now I'm moving on. I'm like, what are we talking about, coach? Like, those guys have no idea. What color are their jerseys? Right. Like, he would give some fucking terrible. He'd give the easiest questions.

these fucking defensive guys. And they always got a pass. Always. So I'm listening to this and I'm like, these cats have no idea. And Bill's kind of pissed off. Like we had a couple weeks of coming in and I want some answers. It's a Wednesday morning.

And you better have my answers, right? Well, they weren't having it. So I go on my way out. I don't know why. I just had this epiphany. And I walk into coach's office, which is always awkward. Like you don't go in there just to go in there.

Oh, no. And you got to pass bears, the little man purse, right there at the front, right? And I love bears, but, you know, so anyway, I go in there, Coach is working at his computer, and he looks up at me, he's like, you know, like there wasn't a question. It was just like a, you know, and I'm like, uh, and I'm right then immediately,

I'm like, why did I do this? This is not going to be, I'm like, coach, hey, listen, I'm like, these guys don't have the answers. They're not coming in with stuff. I said, I thought it'd be funny if, like, you know, next time we do this, like on the next Wednesday or whatever, you throw me some questions and I'll just rattled him off. It'd be like shit that even Brady wouldn't know. And he's like, you know, all right. What are you thinking? And I'm like, well, you know, like, you know, you say something.

Then I, I rat off an answer. Then you try to hit me with another one, try to catch me slipping. And I'll just keep rattling them off. And all the guys are going to, and that way now they're going to know, like, I got to get in the film room. If light knows this shit, then I really need to do a little bit more studying. And it fell on deaf ears. Dude, he was just like, I don't look. I mean, you know, like it wasn't like a, hey, that sounds like a great idea or that's really stupid. It was just like indifferent. So I walked out of there thinking, all right, that failed. Three weeks go by it. I'm walking in and Bears like, hey, Bill wants to see you. And I'm like, oh, snap, what did I do? Like, I totally forgot about the whole conversation, right?

And I'm not kidding you. I walk in his office and immediately he goes, all right, look, you know, I'll hit you with, you know, what they're doing in a third down. And then I'm going to talk to you about, you know, when we get into the red zone, you know, what that looks like. And then the last one, I'm like, and he rattles off these three questions. He's going to ask me and I'm like, okay. And I'm like, what's the answer? Like I have no idea. You're speaking like Swahili.

I have no idea what you've been referring to, Bill. And he's like, oh, well, so I grab a pen and I start writing the answers on my hand. And we go in, team meeting kicks off. And he starts off with his typical, I mean, you know, in the category of what we're not looking for. And it's some Bengals, you know, problem with some guy getting arrested at a strip club or something. Always a Bengals player, right? I swear to God, always a Bengals player. And then he looks at the way

In the Bengal formation The F was all the way in the inside Because he was in jail In jail Yeah easy way to remember that So when he asked me When he says exactly what you said All right like you got all the fucking answers

All right here we go What are they doing this? And I literally just rattled It off immediately I remember I could hear The air come out of Copen He's like shit he's awake And I didn't even know that one So the next one he throws out there I immediately answer that one

And the third one I'm like literally looking at my hand of course And so when it's done and we leave the team meeting room, I remember the guys coming up to me and they're like, what the fuck? I'm like, hey, dude, just get in a film room. You know, like, I didn't acknowledge the fact that Bill and I set that up. And you know, here's the best part, Jules, I've never had a conversation with Bill about any of the funny stuff that's ever happened. Now, Matt Light and Will Campbell talk hot dogs. I'm really not like a huge baseball guy. Like, I definitely cannot watch an MLB game on TV.

but like going to a stadium. Eating a dog? Not into eating hot dogs. No hot dogs? No, but some nachos or something like that. Watch a game. I can go with that. Would you do batting practice if they asked you to?

Yeah, I would do that for sure. Can we go back, just a quick little rewind? Did you get, like, was there a problem? Did you choke on a hot dog when you're, why don't you like hot dogs? I just don't. You've never liked a hot dog? Yeah, I think my mom, like whenever I was like six or seven told me what they were made of and I just, like, I don't really want to eat.

Okay, so you would eat, like, because I brought, I brought, you know, snacks. Yeah, I eat that. Like a good elk dog or something. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm just not eating Oscar Meyer from. All right. Stop and shot. I feel better now because I don't like the judge, well, and you're a great young man.

But I was starting to get a little judgy. I was like, I'm not sure about this guy. You're going to eat the hot dogs Matt Light producers, though. You guarantee you that. Yeah, they're good, but they are, they're all natural. They are. Natural casings, the whole nine. Made with the love.

Next, Matt Light confesses to the best things he stole from NFL locker rooms. What's your favorite thing you stole from another stadium? Listen, is there statute of limitations? I mean, I'm not going to jail on your podcast. No. You know what I'm saying? Double jeopardy, bro. It's gone.

That's a good point. Yeah, it can't be tried twice. There's no way. Gosh, man, the best thing ever. Hey, you know, so some of my favorite stuff that I have hanging now, We just moved down to Chapatchett, Rhode Island. And in the move, I found some stuff that I had ganged from the Super Bowls. So, again, I was always the first guy out of the field, right?

It was like my goal to get to the bar as quickly as possible. Bar-Louis, baby. And I would rip down all these banners. I remember just jumping up and just running. Ting-ting, ding, ding, ding, ding. Wadden it up, throwing it. Ting, ding, ding, ding. And I have all these really awesome banners from the Super Bowl.

eras, like the ones that hang in the 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. Can we just get it? What is your craziest prank that you did as a New England Patriot? Okay, so I would say probably the best one that I did on a team, I mean, the best one I've done, period,

was having some guys pulled off their private jet. That was one of the greatest of a lot of. all time, man. What do you mean? I mean. And by the way, I did have a guy and you can look this one up. I just did a full video on it. I had a guy kill a turkey and he thought it was the world record albino Osceola. And Osceola is only found in Florida. It's a version of a turkey, right? It's a subspecies. And he went hunting with me. But what he actually killed was a broad-breasted white turkey that was farm-raised. And like some, like literally, I got a double wide in some guy's backyard. And I just put it out in the woods and he shot it and he snuck up on it i told him that if you squat down like a sumo wrestler

and carry a fake turkey tail fan that you can walk right up on him but you cannot do that but he did it and he practiced it for a while and it's one of the funniest things ever i have it on video like by way i was right next to him when he shot it but he had no idea it was in a full gilly suit in a palmetto bush snake almost bit me and and when he sneaks up on it i swear to god when the turkey saw him it was like oh thank god there's a human i've been out here in a wild like what the hell like he came from like literally a guy's backyard and so he shoots and misses him and the bird he was so fat he could barely walk 44 pounds like dude that's twice as big as any bird and he started walking my way i'm like this how i die being a dumb ass this is how i die and thank god

he didn't shoot me but anyway he my brother calls him as the head of florida game and fish i made up 200 copies of a magazine where he's on the cover and he thought like i'm dead serious dude I mean, we'll put a lot of effort into this. A year later, he gets up on stage at the shootout, where we sold the hunt to begin with. And I said, Jamie, you got to come up here and help me sell this thing, man. I'm like, it's going to go for big money. You just shot the... And so he gets up, and he's talking about how he killed a Moby Dick of Turkey.

He's the Tom Brady of Turkey Hunt. I got it all in video. I had my guys there wearing Florida Game and Fish collared shirts that I had made up because they were there to get content for their website because they were getting ready to launch it. They brought 200 advanced copies of the magazine. He's signing the magazines for people at the event. Like, you can't make this stuff up, right? He had it mounted.

A farm-raised bird mounted. So up on stage, he's talking about all this stuff. I'm the Tom Brady of Turkey hunting. I killed the Moby Dick of Turkey. And then I said, well, you know what? We actually have this on film. Why don't we roll it? And in front of 500 people a year later, he finds out it shows me getting the bird.

And he's on the stage like, are you serious? Like all this realization. It's one of the greatest videos you'll ever watch, man. We laugh so hard. I'm Luke Wilson. Join me each week for Film Never Lies. Since retiring from the NFL, I've had a lot of my mind, and now I've got my own show. So if you're tired or lazy takes, if you want honest conversations, join us each week.

Film Never Lies available on all TSN platforms in the IHeart Radio app. 2%. That is the number of people who take the stairs when there is also an escalator available. I'm Michael Easter, and on my podcast, 2%, I break down the science of mental toughness, fitness, and building resilience in our strange modern world. I'll be speaking with writers, researchers, and other health and fitness experts, and more to look past the impractical and way too complex pseudoscience that dominates the wellness industry.

We really believe that seed oils were inherently inflammatory. We got it wrong. Many of the problems that we are freaked out about in the world, by the result of stress. Put yourself through some hardships, and you will come out on the other side a happier, more fulfilled, healthier person. Listen to 2%.

That's T-W-O-Persent on the I-Hart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me. Clever Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits,

the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast.

It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to The Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tap Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye says, Said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do a little kill?

Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick it here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack.

I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed correct. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you for finishing that sentence. Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really?

Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Next, Matt Light's conspiracy theory about the Tom Brady statue. Were you there for like the whole unveiling? Was not. Okay, I wasn't either. We were out of town.

Same. I just, I want to know this much, right? So the most iconic thing, like if I had to pick, I do like the arm up thing is kind of like, it is him. I wouldn't say it's like the first thing I would have thought of. What was the first thing you would have thought of? The double hand, although we used to call that the lighthouse because the guys used to always make fun. It was my only move I had. It was like, throw both hands up.

But Tommy did that quite a bit, right? Both hands up, you know, yes, and then celebration. So the one arm, I mean, maybe it was just easier for the bronze guy to do the one arm versus the two arm. I don't know. The problem I had right out the gate is it looks lonely. Like are we doing anything else around there? It's like the base. He's kind of in that big concourse all by himself.

Yeah. Right? I think he needs a little squirrel next to him. That's what I think. I was thinking like Logan and I and Copen since we're local. we could go meet with the bronze guy. We could accompany him, kind of get around and make him feel a little bit more at home. You guys should definitely get cast as well, you know?

I don't think that. Or we could just go stand there and act like, do we get a check? That's probably not. Probably not. Probably not. I'll still be there. You've seen it, though, up close and person. No, I haven't yet.

I haven't either. I've only seen pictures. I'm going to see it soon, though. I'm excited. Yeah. I thought they got the phase done pretty well. Hey, here's one thing I will tell you. The body as well.

They got the body done. They got the wide rib cage because he did wear that big rib cage thing. Yep. Yep. Skin tone looks great. You can obviously tell no nightshades went into that man. None. And here's what I would say, though.

I am, and this is my own theory on this. I'm not saying I have any proof of this, but come on now. I was up there at Patriot Place at, say, 9.30 on like a Tuesday. And while I was there, I'm not kidding you. I saw at least four different groups of women, not a woman, but like three to four that were all googly-eyed over the statue and taking pictures and having their friends, individual group shot, grabbing people. Here's my theory. That's some of a bitch is paying these people to do this. There's no doubt in my mind. That's not organic. You don't find like groups of women like that.

And by the way, like they were kind of all done up in the whole nine. I think he's got them on rotation. Just make sure you keep having girls go by there, make it look like everybody's taking pictures. Wait a minute. You think Tom's paying people to go take pictures in front of his brand new beautiful? Is it Tom or is it RKK paying these groups of ladies? I don't know that RKK's ever paid, you know, women. Now, Matt Light keeps it real about the Buffalo Bills. Now let's score the game. Is this the greatest game of all time? Let's score it. That's a zero. Stakes. Huh? Not the greatest game of all time, no way. 1 to 10, decimal's okay.

Stakes. Stakes, 0.5. Point five. Yeah. As you do it too. Yeah. I'll say a four, five. AFC East on the line.

Yeah, you're right, you're right, but yeah, in a great scheme of that I mean, it's Buffalo. You know what I'm saying? Little brothers. You know, it sucks that now. We're the little brothers. I know. At least when we were the older brothers, like the big boys on the block, we were going out beating up the other kids.

By the way, one of the greatest Buffalo games was we ship law dog down there. Lawyer. And they whoop our tail 31 and nothing. Season opener. And by the way, we shipped in there like the week before. And it was so awkward. You know how. Like when that white buffalo comes in and snatches a dude, the feeling in there is so weird,

especially when it's one of your top guys. And then... Can you explain what the white buffalo is? Yeah. So we always said there's this bin that they bring out. in the locker room and they throw all the guy's stuff and they clear out that locker and you come in and man that dude just gone the turk yeah man and and that when that happens to a guy like him though man it it takes a little bit like i like when logan was traded that was weird that that had to be crazy i wasn't

there for that obviously but you were there i was there it was crazy i was like what the fuck are we doing and by the way what was he thinking we won a super bowl that year i know that's the crazy thing but that was not a good move on his part in my opinion but whatever what do i know i'm not a world record coach um you're world record handsome gentleman thank you let's get back to star power you didn't have to say that one to one to ten star power of this game i don't know four four i'm not good with these numbers that's all right i'll say six okay the gameplay of this game it was a blowout well i mean from our perspective. It was pretty, pretty stellar. Pretty amazing. You guys ran what, 214 yards?

Every fat man's dream, man. It's just to run the ball every single play. You'd rather hit someone than get hit? All day long, man. Back and up sucks. Go forward. Give me a nine on gameplay. I'll give it a 8-1. What's the name category mean? You got to score the name in the game. Oh, okay, score the name of the game. And the cultural impact of the game. How much it has a lasting.

Yeah, I'm going to go nine again. Because I felt it on this game. I'm going to go 7.8. 7.8, all right. Geez, look at these guys. The Russian judges. Yeah, we went full Russian judge. That was before I knew it had a great name,

a Diamond Store for Life game. 5.8. Where does that go on the leaderboard? That puts us dead last. Just below game two of the 2014 NLDS. So we're like the 50 spot. You guys have like a whole system here. like,

it's wild. Those are all the games we've done. Holy so that's a lot, there's a lot of work being put into this. I see this. You know, you know, like, so I've never been on social media

in my life. Yeah. And so I'm a little bit of a dinosaur myself in that respect. But you know what? Here's my theory, man. I think it's actually going to become, like, the cool thing down the road.

To be like retro? No. Yeah, you know what I mean? Like, bell bottoms and all this stuff, it ends up coming cyclical, right? I think there's going to be a cachet to the people that, like, I don't know anything about this cat. Like, I can't find nothing.

I mean, although I've kind of shared most of my secrets today, except for one, thank you. Thank you. Sinner. Next one. Now, Matt Lake talks rookie skits with the Patriots. I went back in time and I was reliving some of the rookie skits and some of the things. And I'll never forget my rookie year, we did Patriots Jeopardy.

And then Patriots, Who Wants to Be a Millionaire or something like that. And we had some great questions. And we, man, we got on the coaches. We got on the players. I remember we had some of our rookies were Ty and lawyer Malloy. And those conversations between those two are legendary. Man, that shit, man. You know, just, you know, phone a friend.

And it's Ty calling lawyer. I mean, we had so much fun back in the day with the rookie skits. And I think for some reason, the outside world got a bad taste of like, oh, it's hazing or whatever. It was never that in my eyes. And honestly, on all the teams I played, We actually had fun. It brought us closer together, and it kind of forced us to get to know the guys on the team, right? And I think that's always been the intent.

I think there's, you know, I've heard stories of guys that kind of took it the wrong way or got upset about it or whatever. But I would think it's a great tool, man. Yeah, I mean, it's, it's something to be embarrassed. Like, I remember being so nervous for doing my, I just did. The fight song got booed off, did a couple things where I was Welker and Tom. But that sense of embarrassment in front of the guys, it's different. Like, you need to feel that.

You need to feel that because after you felt it, you guys, it kind of brings you together. It makes you more comfortable in the long run with everyone as well, in the locker room. See, we did the Jeopardy and they hated it. You did it. They hated it. Yes. It still lives. Now we have Rich Ornberger's favorite Matt Light Prank story. what's something that stands out with Matt Light that you remember?

Matt Light. Oh, man. In a meeting. Matt one time he put a, I don't even know what to call it, a microchip or he switched out the mouse on Dante Scarnackia's computer. He told that story. Oh, he told it on the, okay. So I won't repeat the story. Well, I'll give you the briefest version. So basically this little mouse, it messes with the cursor.

on the screen. So it'll work for about five minutes, but at some point you can have it on a timer. It's going to go away from where you're trying to point to. So Dante, for, I'm not kidding, the better part of like 10 weeks of a season thought that the IT guys in New England were complete idiots. He was like, I mean, they come in and they're over here circle jerking around the computer and nothing's getting fixed. I can't fucking teach. If I can't click on the right, I'm trying. And they would walk in and be like, Dante, what are you trying to click on? I'm trying to click on cut up number two, you know, and he's giving them the business. And then they try it with the mouse.

But Matt, when Dante would leave to get the IT guys, pull it out, he would switch it back out. And nobody would see him do it. So then the IT guys would come in and be like, yeah, Dante, like the mouse works. Like, everything's cool. And so Dante thought he was going nuts or he thought they were lying to him. It was like this, it went on so much longer than was fair. like Dante Scarnackia was losing his fucking mind that year and it was all Matt Light. It was all his fault.

It was incredible. I still don't know if Dante knows what happened that year. I don't think he knows. It was incredible. Yeah. But then Dante was the ringleader. He had to try to find a way to rein in all of this. Like in, I mean, to this point in my life, I don't know if I saw a more cohesive unit on any football field than the New England Patriots offensive line.

when he was at the head of the class, because Dante, he just found a way to connect with everybody. He was an amazing teacher. He'd slow it down for some. He'd speed it up for others. He spent the time after practice. There are so many coaches, assistant coaches, who are in a rush to get off the field.

He really spent the time with us. And I benefited greatly because my whole life, I feel like every single situation I've ever walked into, I'm an unfinished product, like by leaps and bounds, like, I look around me. I'm like, why is everybody so much better than me? And like, I needed help and Dante gave me help. I love that man.

He taught me hard lessons. He taught me the right lessons. He was an incredible coach. Incredible teacher, too. I saw that when we, when he was gone. You know, I just, I didn't realize it until he was gone. Because I remember when he would, he would yell at these linemen. He would yell at you guys.

Oh, my God. And I want to get into your welcome to the NFL moment with Dante Scarnikio after this. But he would yell at guys in front of the. in the offensive meeting, but he would yell, he would, he would call him a fat fuck or a fat piece of shit,

but then he would follow it up with the technique that you had to do. So he'd go, you fat fuck, put your right foot, drop it right here, and you put your left hand right there instead of a coach that's just yelling,

like, come on guys, we gotta do it better than that. Like, he would give you play for play what you needed to do to get it right. And that's what I saw

he was such a fucking great coach. One, thousand percent. You know what I mean? It wasn't just like, hey, you screwed it up. No. Do better. It was like, this would be a Dante line. He'd be like, hey, ass eyes. What the fuck were we doing in the meeting room the entire time before we took the goddamn field? And you'd be like, I'm not sure there was so much. And he would be like, we were working on, you know, whatever we called it there. You know, if the Mike Backer is mugged up in the A gap and he bails, you got to pop if you're the center and look out to the fucking right because Sam's screaming off the edge and you're like,

okay, I'm sorry. But like, you're hearing all this. And like, meanwhile, internally, you're doing all this stuff I was just doing. And like, on the outside, you're just like, you got it, Dante. Yes, sir. And don't call me, sir, motherfucker. That just means fuck you. And you're just like, okay.

Now another thing to remember, I can't call him, sir. It was like, it was intense. It was intense. But it was incredible because. you learned you learned really quick who was going to survive and who wasn't there were guys who could handle the pressure and that's all it was it was just a pressure test if you can't handle a five foot six uh assisting coach who you know i mean like he wouldn't be able to knock you over if he tried shouting in your face at practice how the hell are you going to be able to handle

the Cincinnati Bengals or the Seattle Seahawks or the Dallas Cowboys like you better be able to this. Otherwise, you're not going to do any of that. Thanks for listening. Remember to tune in every Tuesday for a brand new episode and every Sunday for another games with names highlighted. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my

brand new podcast, The Clifers Show. This is a place for raw, unfills of conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok podcast network on TikTok. 2%. That's the number of people who take the stairs when there is also an escalator available. I'm Michael Easter.

And on my podcast, 2%. I break down the science of mental toughness, fitness, and building resilience in our strange modern world. Put yourself through some hardships and you will come out on the other side a happier, more fulfilled, healthier person. Listen to 2%. That's TWA% on the IHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On the Look Back at it podcast. From 1979, that was a big moment for me. 84's big to me. I'm Sam Jay and I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick you here, unpack what went down and try to make sense of how we survived. with our friends, fellow comedians, and favorite authors.

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