Green Light with Chris Long - Howie Long joins for a Father’s Day Mailbag. Macon is a Dog Dad.

Episode Date: June 22, 2020

0:52 - Open and Macon and Chris on being fathers on Father's Day. 14:50 - Howie Long on Father's Day. 29:25 - Mailbag with Howie Long: Favorite QBs to sack, Memorable NFL Teammates, and Kyle Long the movie villain. Green Light with Chris Long: Subscribe and enjoy weekly content including podcasts, documentaries, live chats, celebrity interviews and more including hot news items, trending discussions from the NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, NCAA are just a small part of what we will be sharing with you. 🌍🏀🏈SUBSCRIBE NOW ⚾🏒⛰️ http://bit.ly/chalknetwork Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Father's Day. Again, y'all are listening on Monday. It is no longer Father's Day. But when you got a dad like mine, every day is Father's Day. Love my pops. And everybody always wants them on the show. But we got to give the people what they want. I got my dad on. I got my dad on Zoom, which is no small feat for any dad right now. And we are in separate rooms in the same house on different computers conducting a podcast on Father's Day. What's up, Dad? I'm doing great. Happy Father's Day. Happy Father's Day. It's a crazy time and we're all doing what we have to do to get through it. Two big things for me, this podcast, and we've had a ton of interesting guests of late, which has been great. And then hiking, which I love doing, like to get outside, nice place to be where there's not a ton of people. There's a ton of good hikes in Virginia. I've been hitting the trails a lot.

And that's in large part due to all birds. They are the new sponsor of the Greenlight Podcast. And I'm wearing a pair of these shoes right now. beige tree dashers they sent me. They're great. They're lightweight. They're tough. And they have to be.

Because believe me, I can put a herding on an athletic shoe. I could Zion Williamson a shoe on the trail. And these things stand up. Allbirds also walks to walk when it comes to the environment. So my tree dashers are made of all natural materials like merino wool, eucalyptus fiber, and sugar cane. And they look good. Really thrilled to welcome all birds to the green. Greenlight Pod, go check them out at allbirds.com, the tree dashers.

Happy Monday, Greenlight Pod. I'm your host, Chris Long. And I've got another person online. The people have been asking, where is Making Gunner? And I got Making Gunner right here for y'all. Making Gunner has been taking care of his new dog. So in a way, happy Father's Day, Make. What do you mean in a way?

It's a full-on happy Father's Day to me. and I appreciate it. Zoe has been in the house for, I don't know, six weeks now feels like about six years and the love is unconditional and we're one big happy family. Hey, happy Father's Day to you as well. I know you have a couple human progeny over there. Yeah, I mean, similar, similar feeling, I'm sure you waking up this morning and enjoying your first Father's Day as a dog owner. you know, and me. It is. I've been doing this Father's Day thing now four years.

So maybe it's not as big a deal to me as it was. What, how old is, how old are Waylon and Luke? Okay, Whalen is four. And Luke is one and a half. And Luke is,

in my opinion, it's funny, when you first have a kid and dads will tell you this, the first kid, you count months for like way too long. People are like, how old is the kid? You're like 31 months.

Like, just say that they're two, you know? Say that they're almost three. I need to interrupt. I couldn't agree with you more. And I just figured out why people do it that way, because I got screwed up with weeks and months with the dog. I was like Zoe's three months old.

Yeah. And then it was tracked back to three months. So her birthday was three months ago. I was like, oh, nah, it doesn't quite work like that. Yeah, she's 12 weeks old. So I now feel the people on that. What has been your favorite year? Zero, one, two, three, or four for the way, man.

You know what? I would say two. Two is my favorite. They say terrible twos, but like in that year and a half. Now, I'll say this, it does always get better. You get caught sitting there thinking, like, do I want him to get any older? Like, would I be cool if he was just frozen in time as a top? toddler forever. No, you wouldn't want that. As much as you love baby talk and hearing him say

dumb stuff and do cute things, like eventually kids got to grow up. So you fight the urge to want them to stay the same age. But I will tell you, even though every year is better, my favorite in the moment was probably that one and a half to two and a half range, where they're just, they sound cute when they talk. They're kind of fat. I love that. You know, like for a while there, We would root for him to get bigger cheeks and, you know, to have a bigger belly. I mean, he does have a beer belly. He hasn't shed that yet, but he slimmed out a little bit. And it almost bums you out.

You're like, good for you. You're slimming out. But at the same time, I really enjoyed that stage. And then on top of that, Whelan has a mullet. And that's kind of turned into it, a tail. And I've recently started wondering, when is the right time to address that situation? I'm going through the same thing with something on my face. present so I feel your pain. Is that a beard? Yeah, I guess. I'm always flattered when people call it a

beard. It's nice when I wear the mask because you can't see that none of it connects. Yeah. Neck is really coming in. A mustache, more of a blonde situation. Soul patch, fairly strong. But the neck beard is is thick there for people that I'm seeing it on the Zoom call. You have gone full Christopher McCandless, who I explained to you last night, is the guy from Into the Wild. Actually, they just hauled that bus out of Alaska. Did you ever see that movie? Nah. Well, you look like Christopher McCandless.

He was a dude that went into the woods willingly to live and eventually died. I physically, distancedly, saw you and your lovely wife Meg yesterday. And she said, Meg shoots it straight. Yeah, she doesn't lie. I feel. And she said, it really does look like, and I was waiting for the punchline here, it could have gone either way. And she goes, it really does look like you've been living outside. Yeah, you know why? Because you also have completely relaxed your dress code. When you went into quarantine, you were a, you know, dockers, J crew, khakis, button downs. Like, you never wore things like I saw you

wearing strolling up to the crib last night you had like a loose short sleeve button down some khaki shorts which i don't see you in shorts a lot and then the scruff and the i mean you looked like a hippie dude from oregon yeah yeah and i don't know when else it would happen so i still had i think a madras pattern on my top with a collar so it's not like i'm going too crazy now in the spirit of shooting you straight make when you left i'm not going to lie she did say he should shave that Well, my lovely wife, Kate, agrees with that sentiment. So there's a lot of pressure building. I'm going to hold strong for as long as I can.

What do your children or perhaps just whaling at this stage? What do they call you? What variation of the word, dad, or do they call you, Chris? Well, sometimes when Whalen calls me Chris, he's being a prick. And I have to let him know that. That's awesome. But Waylon calls me, he still calls me dad-da. I mean, the minute he calls me dad, I'm going to be bummed.

And even when I do that thing where you explain in the third person what's going on that every parent does constantly in the third person, I have made a point that at times I've been like, when dad, you know, and then I stop and I'm like, when dad-dad does this. Yeah. Because I don't want him going to, you know, the dad, I don't know what you'd call it title. too quickly. I love Dada. And then, yeah, it's the same thing with Luke right now. I love on one to a hundred. I love my dog, Zoe, about a hundred. Yeah. How many, what, what? First off, what does Zoe call you to hit the tennis ball back to your side of the court? Yeah, she's not speaking yet. But that unconditional love is reciprocal. and it's very clear she just does it in different ways yeah I'm kind of I'm I'm I'm fun dad

like when she will trot into the living room from the kitchen I will introduce her I'll go that dog from Virginia 22.2 pounds Zoe rabbit her last thing she ends up being 22.1 pounds within a matter of seconds because she takes a shit in your living room she is for the most part stopped using the house as a toilet. I'm happy to do. That's good. Yeah. What do people think about this beard when you're out showing MLS?

Again, that's the beauty of the mask. Like, they can see it. And people who know me are like, I grew a beard. I was like, ah, yeah, you know, as folks are wanting to do in quarantine. But again, it doesn't look as awful. With a mask on. Yeah, with a mask on. Yeah.

You were asking me a question. I'm sorry. Okay, I love my dog 100 out of 100. Would you say your love as a dog owner in your life many times over? Dog human love about equal? Definitely not equal. What I'm doing right now is trying to figure out how many hundreds of times more you love your kid than you love a dog. Which could be hard for you to ascertain right now because I can really tell that you are all in on dog ownership being like a parental kind of. I mean, Kate, your lovely wife, Kate was telling me you kiss the dog.

Oh, yeah. You know, you talk to the dog a lot. And that's part of being a dog owner, but it's not the same. I would say probably at least 50 times. And I only say that because your brain is not going to be able to comprehend it if I take it to a power of 100 or 200. Yeah, it's hard to comprehend 50X, bro. It's kind of like, let me explain to you this way.

Right now you have your first. high school girlfriend. Okay. You are drunk with love, hormones, you don't know which ways up and you don't think it could get any more serious. You and that dog are getting married. But I want to give you some sobering news. Eventually, life's going to go on.

You know, the dog's not going to live to be 100 and it's a hard thing to hear right now. And the dog is also not a human being. you become you know a you know responsible for a child it's much much different it's like the difference between that high school relationship and actually getting married but even even more serious than getting married because you can't divorce your kids i think that's probably a phenomenal analogy by you thank you here's how here's how messed up my brain is i see her at 13 weeks and i'm like damn you're gonna be in like 15 years. This is really sad.

Like I'm already getting sad for the year 2035. Yeah, well, I mean, when it gets here, you'll have a ton of great memories and you'll be able to recount, you know, you'll have pictures,

you'll have videos, you'll have a ton of great conversations that you all had to look back on, you know, all the things you say to each other. Take, you take your dog to the Little League and the high school graduate.

and that sort of thing. You see the dog take its first steps. Oh, no, the dog was walking when you met it. Listen. Because you drove your car to a breeder's house and picked up the dog and separated it from all of its kin. Dog ownership problematic. Let's go one for one here. What's the hardest stage of being a dad so far for you?

Nice. The toughest stage? It might be the three stage because, you know, as I mentioned, they're coming out of that very angelic, chubby, they're basically like a cherub. You know, they're also napping. So that's nice. They're not crying anymore. They're potty train, that sort of thing.

And then all of a sudden, they start thinking for themselves, you know, questioning things, pushing the envelope with you. They know how to, they know, you know, everything's a pissing contest sometimes being a parent of a young child. And they know how to piss back now. You know, they're not just pissing aimlessly. They're pissing with accuracy. And on top of that, they stop taking naps.

And then on top of that, if you have a second child, that child is going to change because the attention has shifted as well. So an upside of this age is they get to start going to school, which is big for mama's happiness and, you know, dad's free time subsequently and all that. But, and it's fun to see them at school. It's fun to see them make friends. but all of a sudden, they know what they're doing, and it's a different ballgame.

And they get skinnier. Without further ado, let's get to Howie Long. And Macon, come back soon. I know that we've been rolling in the guests, but we've got to do the people are demanding that we see and hear more of Making Gunner. Hey, man, whenever you need me, my phone number is. And make a deepest of Happy Father.

days. Hey, likewise, bro. Why isn't there a brother's day? It's a great question. I think Instagram has made it so that there's a, you know, a hashtag day for everything. So you have an excuse to post your thirst trappy picture. You know, I've seen some people today just turning a Father's Day picture into a thirst trap picture. And that's really shameful. I know people love to congratulate themselves on birthdays and they like to turn, you know, a ton of occasional. into an excuse for posting a picture of themselves that they feel like looks kind of sexy.

Father's Day is not the day to do that, guys. Nah, nah. I'm curious as to how much longer we can draw out this goodbye. Seven seconds. Let's get Howie Long on the line. Peace. Main event here, Father's Day.

Again, y'all are listening on Monday. It is no longer Father's Day. But when you got a dad like mine, every day is Father's Day. Love my Papa. and everybody always wants them on the show. I only had them on once in a segment we called Hey Dad that turned into a really interesting interview

to last about an hour. But we got to give the people what they want. I got my dad on. I got him queued up on Zoom, which is no small feat for any dad right now. And we are in separate rooms in the same house on different computers conducting a podcast on Father's Day. What's up, Dad?

I'm doing great. Happy Father's Day. Happy Father's Day for the same. I mean, and so the listeners, no, we've told each other that in person. Yeah. Texted each other in the morning, so we're not like just weirdos where we got to get to get a good podcast.

Can't say it enough. Yep, no doubt about it. And to all the dads out there. Absolutely. Fighting the good fight. Fighting the good fight. We were just down at the pool with the kids, fighting the good fight.

Waylon has started swimming with the help of my parents. They are somehow great swim instructors. I'll tell you what. It was June 12th, and I think it was around 3 o'clock. So I know exactly when it was. It's funny when you guys were young, I was playing, and I was so, you know, it was just a different time. You know, none of the money was guaranteed. You could be let go at any time.

So, you know, there was always that pressure to provide for the family. And you didn't really take time to stop. and, you know, take a Polaroid of what's happening. And I'll always remember him taking that first stroke on June 12th, which was just fabulous. Yeah. And he's like in a week, just all of a sudden, like, Aquaman out there. So we got that going for us, and we'll be able to be out on Flathead Lake soon,

swimming in Montana, which is always our summertime. You know, that's the light at the end of the tunnel with whatever's going on. So excited to get out there. and maybe we'll do another podcast. But for now, I told Dad, you, the listeners, had submitted a number of great questions, actually. It's, you know, sometimes when I, it's interesting. Sometimes I don't, if I said my dad's coming on,

I wouldn't know exactly what to ask him, but you guys ask all the right questions. I'll start with a couple of mine, though. I did jot down in the spirit of being, you know, not a totally lazy podcast host. I got questions from my own dad about fatherhood. What was one thing you wish you knew earlier about being a dad? Oh, I wish, you know, and I think we just touched on it.

I wish I was so caught up and trying to be the best provider that I could be and be the best football player I could be. And, you know, even when I was home, I was there, but my mind was moving around in other places. How do I, you know, I retired and there wasn't. wasn't a lot of money, and we've been fortunate to make most of our money after football, but I would say being in the moment, seeing the Polaroid that you can lock in your mind of those moments. And I certainly have a number of those locked in my mind of you guys, but would have liked to have had those earlier. Yeah, you know what? It's funny because you've

said that before, and I think one of the great things about you as a dad is like you have that reflection, but then you communicated it to me. You didn't just keep it to yourself. So as I'm like staring down the barrel towards the end of my career, knowing, hey, maybe it's a year or two more, maybe it's three years more. I don't know if I'm lucky. Is it worth it? You know, because, you know, you describe wanting things to slow down. And I, of course, had kids later in my career and all that, you know, being after 30 and whatnot. But that factored in, like what you told me factored into when I thought about, hey, like maybe it's time to get off the treadmill. And then also like being cognizant the fact that when I get home trying to be present, which was hard as a football player sometimes.

Really hard. And, you know, there's so much, and now there's even, I think there's even more pressure now to a great extent because of all the mediums that cover you. If you make a mistake or you do something good, it's shown 5,000 times that day and that night. And it's across the world in China in 30 seconds. Yeah. You know, people, there are no shortage of critics. There are no shortage of people who are willing to pat you on the back. And I think you have to take both with equal measure. What was the hardest transition into being a dad? Well, you know, and you and I've had this conversation. I'd like to think that some of you being a dad, and hopefully when Kyle's a dad and hopefully when Howie's a dad, you know, you take some of how we

did things here. And, you know, the main consensus is you're all. always going to make mistakes. That's a consistent theme, but you just have to kind of reevaluate every night when you lay your head on the pillow and say, was I a good dad? Is there something I could have done better? And when you have one, two, three boys, it becomes more of a challenge. I would say because of my background not really having that dad there, my father grew up in an orphanage from birth to 18 years old and then went in the army. And first woman he met was my mother. And, you know, for whatever reason, the whole thing went south. And my dad was living in a car on Main Street. So I certainly can't take that frame of reference and use that in terms of raising

our boys. But as you and I have talked about, the older I get, the more understanding I am of what a difficult situation he had in his life being in an abusive, you know, orphanage and then, you know, having going to the military. And because he was six, seven, you know, at that time, the legal limit was six, six in the military. And they had to find someone else to put you, somewhere else to put you. And they put him in the Alaskin ski patrol and threw a couple of head two-twine ones on his feet and said, go down the hill. So, you know, I think that was probably, I think I give your mom a lot of credit watching your mom, your mom who's a saint. And, you know, every day is just the best person I know.

And she has such a big heart and has such great patience. And that was something that I needed to learn. And, you know, as a player, we're taught to be fast reactors and volatile. That doesn't work at home. Yeah, and I thought to your credit, like, and you and your dad got closer towards the end of his life. And I thought that was really cool to see you guys kind of figure some things out. I thought it was important later on in his life. And, you know, as my career winded down and we were in, and really kind of the catalyst for that was Montana, which is, you know, my dad would sit out. He'd come up there and, you know, coming from Charlestown, he would be out in that fire pit. Yeah.

Four in the morning drinking whatever he was drinking and smoking, whatever he was smoking, and just loved it to death. And he was on the trampoline with you guys. He really was a big kid. It was Amaretta and Marlbrose. Amaretta D. Cerrone, I think. Yeah. Uh-huh.

Whatever that is. I don't even know what it is. Yeah, it's not my taste of liquor. And, you know, I thought it was important, as I also thought it was important, I thought it was important for him to be a part of your lives. And I thought that was a good thing. I also thought it was really important that when your grandmother on your mother's side passed away, I had talked, you know, Frankie, your grandfather into coming and living with us down here. and I really thought he was such a, he would be such a great influence

and it would be a great experience for you three boys to have him around and as it turns out, those 10 years were a blessing. Yeah, he was a great grandfather. And I think one of the things about like fatherhood or just learning, you know, how to be a man or whatever. That's like a never-ending, that's a never-ending journey. And, you know, we're always improving.

like to see him have that second opportunity as a grandfather and then you all become friends. It was, it was cool. So what was, what's your best moment as a dad? Your highlight real as a dad, give me, give me the number one. Oh, God, there were so many. I don't think there's a number one. I mean, certainly with you, it was, you know, down in Atlanta, I mean, down in Houston and playing Atlanta in the Super Bowl.

and, you know, that day ran the gamut of emotions because not that I had talked you into going to, you know, New England, but, you know, I'm trying to push you in a direction or give my two cents on what direction gave you the best opportunity to win because there's nothing like winning a championship. And I think I felt somewhat responsible when I think the score was, what, 28 to 3 in the 10th? Yeah, you felt like an asshole. I was like the worst dad in the world. And it's, you know, I can't help you with your chemistry homework, but I should at least be able to help you a little bit with football. And it didn't look good. And to watch that comeback and to see,

you see the emotion on your face and to have wailing and make there. And, you know, it was just fabulous. It really was. That was a great moment. I go back to Cote Creek. Coke is another great moment where. Little League. 13 year old league.

Yeah. We go from Little League down in McIntyre to down to Coke Creek, which was another league in a bigger field. And, you know, there were a lot of kids who were really, really good in Little League. And, you know, at some point, genetics kind of catches up. And it caught up that one final two weeks of the playoffs and the championship game. And you end up winning the MVP of the league. Yeah, I don't remember much about that other than hitting five dingers in a weekend. Oh, I remember.

I'm just fucking with you. saying I remember my exact stats. We were the fifth best team in a league of five, okay, which is a small league. But, you know, this, this Cove Creeca has so many levels of competition. So we were number five by a why, like the only reason we made the playoffs, because they said every team makes the playoffs. We played the first seated diamondbacks. They had a kid named Jeremy Crawford, who was a bad ass dude. And that dude was hitting bombs like he was 23 and he had a mustache, the whole nine. We beat the dime. We beat the Diamondbacks maybe 2114 or something crazy.

We beat the Philly and then we beat the Mets in the championship. They actually, in the championship team, they actually walked you with the bases loaded to walk in the tying run because you had hit two home runs that day. A few things. So I remember like it was yesterday. That's good. That was the original playoff run.

The Eagles playoff run was improbable, but Cove Creek, 1998, might have been the, the most in my career. Hey, what about what's a period in my life that you've been the most nervous or scared for me? That's a good one. I think when you make the transitions, you know, the same thing that I was nervous and, you know, I don't know, scared is maybe not the right word, but really nervous. For me, it was going through the busing riots in Boston and being raised by my grandmother and, you know, growing up in a few different homes. And my grandmother reaching out to my uncle Billy who had two kids and two adopted kids and taking me in, working in the projects and

making no money, building, you know, doing painting on the weekends. So working seven days a week. And I just remember him having that hole in the passenger side of the Maverick, the side of a size of a basketball. And he drove every day an hour into work and an hour back home and then painted house is on the weekends and we we didn't have much money and uh to make that transition i'd never played organized sports i'd never played on one team and we walk in there and a high school coach sees me there and and it was that kind of a transition for you where you're going out for high school football unfortunately you have the burden and it was something that i hadn't i hadn't really thought about when we had hit there's that added burden of

of you being my son and the expectations and the pressure and all of that and, you know, making that transition and watching the player that you became, you know, throughout the course of your career in high school. And then making the transition to college, it was like for me, that was a frightening time. I remember, you know, the first week of training camp of Villanova. And I'm sure you had the same kind of nerves. And, you know, and you guys had a real, really good physical team and your practices were very physical. That transition and then of course the transition to pro football. But you know, you and I've said this many times, you just, you're a 15 rounder.

You're hard to kill. You're like, what's that character, Denzel Washington plays? And there's three. I feel like all of Denzel's roles are pretty, he's hard to kill. almost all his. Yeah. I was going to say maybe a cockroach for me. Yeah, he's tough in those movies.

Let's do some mailbag from the fans here, okay? You got it. This is from Riley Welker. For your dad, what was your favorite game to watch when I played? This is, I guess, me asking a question. In my career, what was your favorite game to watch? Maybe not Super Bowls, because those are obvious, and I don't want to make you choose sides.

You know, there were so many games. And I would say, obviously, we talked about the Super Bowl down in Houston and then to follow that up, the improbable follow-up of, you know, deciding to leave New England and going to Philadelphia and, you know, reestablishing yourself literally from the ground up. Because people don't realize when you make that kind of a transition that, you know, you've got to earn every every ounce of and every minute of playing time. Especially when you're older, yeah. Yeah. And to watch what you did through the course of that year and the number of, that was really the thing, being in New England was about being selfless. Being in New England was about being part of a program and the program's bigger than you. And where you play week to week depends on what's best for the program. And that's not for everyone. And going to Philadelphia and having the opportunity to turn it loose to a great extent. at a position that you're used to playing. Yeah. And watching the number of big plays that you made to contribute

and particularly late in games was so much fun to watch. There was a fun run. I was thinking back to your career. And you did a great job of shielded me from being aware of, you know, how special your career was or, you know, how different you were going to work every day and being a part of, you know, being a Super Bowl champion, a Pro Bowl and all that stuff.

you were just my dad so when i turned a tv on i always tell the story about when you were playing the bills game uh in the snow and how cold was it again 27 below and just going back and forth this is when i'm maybe six years old because it was 91 maybe or 99 91 so we were just me and my buddy blake solomon shout out to blake solomon i don't know if you still listen if you listen to green light pod somewhere wherever you are uh we were just playing nchl on sega and we were going back and forth as if it wasn't a big deal that you were playing in the game. So I'd always love to go back and watch more games and maybe that. I've never seen you play, you know, Washington and the Super Bowl, like front to back.

I want to see that game, you know, maybe one of those chippy games. So I'm going to dive into the film room now that I have access. You want to watch the Washington game in 83 in Washington. Okay. We lost to set up the Super Bowl rematch. Got it. Got it. Okay.

I'll start there. Somebody said, Hank says, ask him. between you and your brother, who would be better with a flat top, and who would be an evil henchman in an action movie? Oh, I'd say, easy, you're the flat top. I've seen the flat top on you. Yeah, with the wind, the wind hits right on the C-Doo. You know, I got a little bit of a baby.

Right around Whalen's age, I think it was. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You had a really good flat top. And Kyle. Yeah, easy. He's built for the, he's a total evil, you know, Listen, not only does he look just like, unfortunately, the guy that got backed into the propeller in the Indiana Jones movie, and we all know that scene. But he has phenomenal villain range.

I mean, I could see him, you know, being sea bass and dumb and dumber, kicking in the stall door. I could see, you know, him being a villain in Roadhouse, Bloodsport. He could be a villain in almost any genre or subgenre of movie. Yeah, yeah. No, bring in the cracking. Yeah. That's him. Ryan Taylor, both of us.

Who is your favorite quarterback to sack? You know what? I'd have to say the one that was probably the most challenging two sack. I know he's going to say. And it was the one I saw so much was John Elway. And to add to that, when you're playing up in Denver, people don't realize, you know, that altitude is real. And, you know, if they go no huddle the first drive,

and they drive the length of the field, and then your team turns the ball over really quickly and you're back on the field again, you're digging down to a place that you've never dug before. And John was really ahead of his time from an ability standpoint. His ability to bootleg, throw the ball, you know, 70 yards downfield across the field.

He was Patrick Mahomes before Patrick Mahomes. And I don't know that they really knew what to do with it initially and they tried to fit a square peg in a round hole but then they they found their their stride and and unfortunately for him or fortunately for him he he ends up winning back back super bowl's and retiring but the john you saw in those yeah it was not the john that i saw uh and i was happy that he got two super bowls and happy for him but he was probably my favorite to compete against. Elway in the helmet with the Bull Durham logo and the bright orange uniforms was different

than Elway in those hideous, you know, those weird pant stripes and the, you've seen his helmet in the gym. Yep, yep, that's one of the good ones you got there. You got a lot of great helmets. I would say for me, you know, two guys that I had hat tricks against and Russell, I had a few hat tricks against, but Drew and Drew Breeze and Russell Wilson, for Drew Brees, I mean, that's the best player I sacked a lot. Now, Eli Manning, I damn near finished and ended my career with,

sack one was Eli, and sack 69 was Eli, or 68, because then my last sacks were two against the Sean Watson. Russell Wilson. Should have been four. Should have been three or four. I missed one that just haunts me. But you know how bad I just wanted to get to 70 and call it a day. Yeah.

You know, Russell, for me, because it was a division rivalry, it was he. their line were and I respected them but they were a Tom Cable group they were a bunch of pricks so to hit him and we were stacked up front and we hit him a lot you know me and Rob would have multiple three sack games against them and most of those games we'd lose it was wasted yeah it was wasted but I love Russ because you know we both saw Russ growing up he really is you know a classy dude and a dude that has been on my underappreciated in his career. As much as I'm saying,

Drew Breeze is that's my Hall of Famer that I love. I'll put that picture up for my kids to see all the times of Sack Drew. Russell might end up being better. You know, it's interesting about Russell because, you know, our family background with him because he played in the same division in high school, football and baseball. And I still remember throwing the football with him in a parking lot as, probably a 13-year-old.

Yeah. And calling over to Virginia saying, University of Virginia saying, there's a kid out here in Richmond who throws a ball better than anybody you have on your staff in your team. Yeah. You need to offer this kid as soon as possible. Now, fast forward, you know, did I think it would catch up to him

going from high school to college? I'm a big, big fan and always have them. Love Russell. Yeah. But I admittedly thought it would catch up to him a bit. You and everybody. I mean, who knew at that point? But then he goes from NC State to Wisconsin,

leads him to the Rose Bowl. And again, I'm thinking to myself, yeah, but you get to the NFL, and it's going to be different. The height thing, the build thing. He just didn't look like, you know. You know, but. How many doors he opened up for other quarterbacks?

Yes. Because I think if you have a young, mobile quarterback who can both throw from the pocket and pull it down and run and look to throw versus looking to run. You want to show them tape of Russell, not just for that, but also for the number of hits Russell doesn't take because Russell's smart. Right, exactly. He's the proof that as a mobile quarterback, it doesn't mean that he's necessarily going to get beat up if you know how. Now the one thing he has he struggled with sliding at times in the open field but it's the weirdest thing. He's such a great athlete but he didn't slide well. But I think the biggest thing is opening that door

for shorter quarterbacks as well. I mean he you know he's not the first short quarterback but you know you wonder how many great quarterbacks got passed up on for years because there wasn't a Russell. How many great quarterbacks ended up being running backs wide receivers? Yep. Yeah. Hell. We could go it we could go deeper and deeper and deep. deeper, but I played against Warren Moon. How did Warren Moon have to go to Canada for five years? Yeah, well, we know how. It boggles my mind. Yeah, no, I know. But, you know, the kid out, I'll give you another example, the kid out in Arizona, especially. Yeah, yeah, but how many opportunities would he get if it's not for Russell Wilson or guys that are shorter, you know. But what made me think

of him was the slide, because they're both kind of middle infielder guys. Yeah. And the kid in Arizona goes from vertical to horizontal in a split second. Not far to go. You just can't, right? There's a short joke. I mean, I'm not trying to make it. But it's true. I mean, you know, is Brock Oswald are going to slide better than Kyler Murray?

I don't think. No, and that was Cam. Cam is, first thing I said when I saw Cam in person, so I said, damn, you're a big son. Yeah. You know, it just, it spit right out of my mouth. I was like, oh, my God, he's big. Yeah. he had a hard time getting from vertical to down to avoid the hit.

And it's one of the reasons why he took so many hits. And part of that is Cam's such a big physical guy. He thinks he can truck everyone. And you want to use him that way. I mean, they ran more schemes where... Particularly in the blue one. Yeah, I mean, and that's tough. I mean, that's really tough.

So, you know, the Cam thing is a whole other topic. The next one from Derek, how would Howie have handled the social media criticism Chris face, which you've kind of already answered. And then what would I have appreciated if I could have played in your era? And maybe you could chime in and think for me here. But I would have appreciated it. I don't know if I would have appreciated anything because you all played on AstroTurf. You had long training camps.

Yeah. Less money. Maybe the O-line technique. You know, like maybe. I would think as it applied to, I was, I'm viewing your question as one that's directed towards social media. Yeah. I'm not directing it towards, yeah, the turf was horrible.

The kingdom was horrible. Philadelphia was the worst. They're literally those steel kind of plates that you see on highways or in the city that are covering up a whole. Yeah. They had those underneath the turf. And then if you had a baseball field that got converted to football, there were scenes where you catch your foot. Yeah. And you'd also catch your foot, obviously.

And the thing about Buffalo was, Buffalo was on a crown, and they knew exactly where it was. But as the weather got bad, one section going down was really slippery. The other one wasn't. So they called their plays and ran their offense based on that. That's wild. I had no idea. I had no idea.

You find that afterwards. And then, you know, the word was they always had, like, and you're too young to know snow tires, but. No, I know, I know them now, but I don't have to use them. Well, snow tires have a little, a little metal. Yeah, the metal meshing that you put around the tire. Well, no, it's a little nub. It used to be in the tire.

Well, maybe I don't know. All these little metal nubs in the tire. So what they would do is they would take a, like a small screw, screw it into the bottom. Remember those, remember those Nike turf shoes that had like, you know, a quarter inch all over the bottom? they would screw right into that and then snip it off. Golly. So they'd have essentially have snow tires.

Buffalo doesn't fight fair. No, a Buffalo is a great team. I know, but that might be a second. And you always love Jim Kelly and those guys. I mean, you just had gushed with respect that you had for them. And then also I know that was just a hell of a place to play. I love playing there. This is a segue.

And the next question, coincidentally, M.G. asks, love the pod. would love to know your pop's favorite place to play and loudest place to play and mine as well my favorite was probably candlestick because the indivision playing out in the something about playing on the west coast felt almost primal to me because you played there so like if i played the rams at the coliseum and saw that flame i'm like you played right in front of that thing i have to tell you you it's interesting and i don't want to go backwards on in terms of the interview we did that game when you play the Rams. Oh, the Eagles played the Rams out there. When you were with the Eagles. Yeah. And you end up making

the play at the end of the game. And I'm at the stadium. I'm there. So I'm seeing this in person. And it's just fast forward 24 years. And Whalen's making that play in L.A. Right, right. It's surreal. It was surreal. For me and in Philly. or something, yeah. Yeah, I'm doing live TV and I can't help but act the fool. Yeah, luckily, though, you don't have to go on for a little bit. You had some time to gather yourself. But yeah, for sure, like the history of, you feel the history. When you walked out in the Coliseum, I know it's going to be no more.

Or when you walked down in a candlestick, Candlestick was a very stripped down. I mean, you walked off the bus through a double door. There's fans everywhere. There's trees growing in the parking lot. It's just dilapidated. You walk through the door. The locker room's right there on the right in the field's fucking 50 yards ahead. And I can remember countless.

Yeah, bloodbath-type games with the Niners in that group and just feeling like you walk through this door, it's just going to be a fight. And you loved it. I mean, it was like throwback football. I'd say the loudest place for me was Seattle. It's one of those gladiard games. I will, I'll go. Mine, same kind of direction was one, loudest is easy. it was the kingdom.

And the kingdom was louder than Seattle. It was louder than the new stadium in Seattle. It was just a concrete reverberating kind of, it was if you were at an ACDC concert right on the speaker. And the games were a hard to play up there because your offensive line really, really struggled. You know, they had a very good defense. They had a very good defensive line.

And they keyed on getting off on the ball. And, you know, inevitably you would bumble or turn the ball over early. And the next thing you know, you're down 14 points. And the kind of game you play on defense versus a 14-0 deficit versus a team that like to- It sounds exactly like us playing the Seahawks at that ballpark in the NFC West. It was like a 14-9 game. You're hanging in there. You're just kicking field goals late in the game.

Their D-Line fucks some shit up. You know, fumble return for a touchdown. We're out of it. Yep. And I would say best would be, I just enjoyed playing, you know, one, in San Diego, the weather was great. The grass was cut tight. It was really tight. And the funny thing was, and people don't even realize this, where you came out of the locker room in the one end zone at the old stadium, that end zone from the 10-yard line in, was downhill. So if you had them backed up inside the 10, imagine pass rushing downhill, literally. Yeah, you got power.

Literally downhill. I mean, you could roll a ball down the hill. But the rest of it was great. The weather was great. More often than not, we would be playing down there when it's maybe a Monday night or whatever. And, you know, early on in particular,

when Dan and that whole group, that whole group looked a lot like the old ram on offense. Right. The only difference was it was Kellyn-centric. You know, I mean, my rookie year up, he scored five touchdowns on us up in Oakland. And it was like, you know, it was like, it was like Baskins and Robbins, you know, I mean,

pick a number. He's Birmingham. You know, he played great and they were a great team. How about somebody. asked, the brass ask, can we get your pops all dark alley team? Is this from my team? From your teams and your day. Oh, Lyle is right there for sure. Yeah, he goes in first. Yeah, yeah. Just to see what's in the alley. I'd say Bill Pakel. Godfather. Yep. Bill would die for you. Literally die for you. I mean,

quick Bill's story. He had a guy came over dating his daughter and high school and this is the best line I've ever heard. So Johnny, what are you going to be doing tonight? Well, Mr. Pekyll, we're going to go over to Jimmy's house and, you know, he said, well, is there going to be any alcohol there? And, you know, it kind of stuttered and Bill said to him, and this is when Bill is big now, but he was in shape and different than he said, because I just want you to know, I'll do the time. That's the best line I've ever heard in my life. Rick Townsend because he's quick. Matt Millen, even with the new heart,

Chester McLaughden, you know, that's a good group. Yeah, the real good group. You guys had some tough. I'm going to go, Aaron Donald, one of the baddest dudes. I mean, you know, a lot of great players don't necessarily mean they're tough guys. This guy is a tough guy.

And physically could pick you up and throw you over a fence. You know how people throw people through windows in a movie. Aaron could do that in real life. William Hayes, one of the strongest people, one of the most loyal friends I've ever had and was my rush right next to him. He came in the game after me in St. Louis, and he was one of the most underrated players,

but also just a badass. Kendall Langford, like a bear. I mean, this dude, he gets his hands on you, it's over. Eugene Sims. Not a lot of people know, but Eugene Sims is one of the, when you want to talk about fighting and actually throwing hands, This guy's like a 280-pound featherweight. Some people don't understand.

Some people are good fighters. I was a good fighter. Kyle's too good a fighter. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You told the size in there with Kyle, it's not really a fair fight. And there we go. I'm going to throw Kyle in at the end there.

What's that for the alleyway? Yeah, for the alleyway team. I mean, he's going to know Kyle was an option to go in the alleyway. Well, you know, because he's in my family. I pulled him, although he played for another team. my Polk Island. So that's pretty good. We got a good line up there. Anthony Zamora asked, do you, this is for me, do you have plans to retire a Ram or is that bridge burned? The bridge was never burned. And my dad could tell you this because we had less need over for dinner in

Montana a year ago. Like, I've never, and my dad could tell you this, I was never bitter about the Rams thing. I was never bitter about the Rams thing. You know, pragmatic about it. Yeah. And honestly, I would have retired a Ram, but they moved to L.A. I'm not in L.A. Ram. a St. Louis Ram. And to be honest, you know, the team that I most associate with now is, you know, Boston, I was there for a year. I loved a lot about that, but I didn't live in the city. I wasn't like a big part of the community there. And, you know, fans are super supportive, but I can get to know them the way I knew people in Philly. And that was a lot of that was geography and I was put my head down and just there for one reason. And in Philly, it was like the city just got a hold of me. So if I

ever do the official retire as something, you know, I'd probably do it as an eagle. But, but, you know, But I really, you know, I might just want to go back to St. Louis and pick my favorite dive bar and retire as a St. Louis ram. I have my little press conference with one of my drinking buddies there, maybe one of the old equipment guys that's left living in St. Louis and we have a little presser. I felt like you immersed yourself into that city, being living downtown and being a part of it. And I remember that night after the championship game, that was versus Minnesota. Minnesota. Yeah. And you made the big play and forces of flutter ball and interception return for touchdown and games over.

I remember your mom and I were stuck. We ended up barricades downtown. We couldn't get to our hotel. We had to park at a hotel five blocks. And it was honestly. it looked like the purge. Yeah. And your mom and I are walking.

Of course, mom, your mom is like, oh, I'll have to say a load of people. We're going to keep your head down. Because I'm thinking, who am I going to have to knock out on the way back to the hotel? Yeah, because everybody's drunk. Even if they're on your team. No, but thankfully, you were a big,

part of that team and that city. So you were good that night. I had Car Blanche. It was like I had, you know, if I were getting pulled over by the cops and I had a cop car. Yeah. I had the Chris Long car. What's the biggest difference between his and your era of NFL playing days? I think the second part of this conversation we had.

Who had more tools in their past rushing toolbox? I may have had more different like moves. No question. And been an edge rusher more, but you could do edge rushing and rush inside. And you could rush inside at such a high level that for me, that versatility, I think, gives you the edge. And you got more sack by 13. If I got you in a phone booth, I was good. Yeah.

I could win in a phone booth. The further away from the ball I got, the air got thinner, and I wasn't coming. You know, it's funny, everybody's always like, just like your dad, you guys are the same. You know, obviously you were a better player, but like at the same time, like, we didn't play the same positions. So it's always a lazy comparison with any delinement to be like, this guy is this guy, is this guy. You know, it's like people not understanding, I went into the Hall of Fame as a defensive end. Calling me a defensive end is like putting a ribbon on a pig.

Yeah. I played a base pure two gap, three, four, every snap. And then on third down, moved inside on the guard or over the nose or over the other guard. So anywhere between those two guards, I felt comfortable. Otherwise, I didn't think I was my level of play when, up exponentially between the two guards. Right. I was comfortable sitting head up on the notes.

If we went bare front and I could get an ISO on the center, I was very comfortable. Yeah, I mean, especially, I've heard you talk about this since, you know, in high school, I've lined up in bear sometimes and maybe in college with ball hand, ball hand, you know, get on that ball hand to the center. Well, think about it.

Think about that, how puckered up that center is. When the stud duck suddenly pops down there and he's cocked on your ball hand side. And he's got to snap the ball and then get his ball hands hand up to block you. And what that opens up is a guy overcompensating and oversetting. And when he oversets, he's over there, he's through that right hook from Cleveland. Yeah. What's your favorite, uh, somebody asked what my favorite St. Louis sports figure is. I'd say Yadi, and I didn't even like baseball, but Yadi was like the every man. He's catcher, badass, neck tat, humble dude, just like a dude you didn't

want to fuck with even though he's a baseball player and you and you knew it. Stephen Jackson for me as a teammate, a guy that our primes overlapped only slightly, but a guy that for me with his stats and you consider the context of what he played in, I think there's an argument to be made for him getting in the hall. So for Jack, I love Jack. How about you in Boston? You grew up in Boston. You have a favorite athlete. Bobby Orr. I know. Easy. Bobior. I have one picture. I have one picture up at my office of aside from you guys, of an athlete. And it's Bobby Orr. He was everything in Boston. And hockey was huge in Boston. And, you know, I grew up playing street hockey. And whenever I could afford to or I had, you know, was fortunate enough to get a ride someplace to play hockey on ice,

which was a real challenge. But I lived, slept, breathed hockey and loved hockey. I wanted to be a pro hockey player. Somebody asked, do you have a favorite sack that you had in your career? That's a good question. I hadn't really, you know what? I never really, it's funny, I never really, it's not like in today's game or where you're playing defensive end.

My whole thing was, and this is what Al, Al Davis, preached. to me was you disrupt everything. Just disrupt everything. And that's what I want you to do. Be a disruptor. Don't care about numbers. And we never really made numbers a point of emphasis. They just do now.

It's just so. Yeah. I mean, we just didn't do it. Elway, you know, there were big sacks. But there are a lot of those, you break free in a split second. The quarterback dodges you and somebody else hits him. Yeah. there was a lot of that.

I guess I'll go any game winner. You know, there was one Christmas game where I was do a bonus if I got to eight and a half sacks was like my third or fourth year in the league and I was really starting to come on. It was my third year, I believe. And I beat Anthony Davis, who him and I had quite the relationship. I beat him for a sack, stripped Alex Smith, we win the game. got the bonus. It was a large bonus. The Jets in New England, that was a fun one.

That was a walk-off, the Ramsack. But honestly, like you said, a lot of it's not even, you know, a sack. You know, for me it was hitting Keenham's arm or I guess I guess maybe the, here's one that I forget, like my last game. I felt like I was kind of dominant in that game a little bit quietly. It's hard to be quietly dominant, but I had a really good game. And I'd say sack and Drew Brees in my last game in the pro, and finishing on a high note was one for me.

So how did it? And that was one of those games where that was a second time around, correct? Yeah, we got our asses kicked the first time. God, God. And then we kicked their ass other than that, the fake punt and the goal line sequence. Yeah. And if Brandon Brooks doesn't get hurt, who unfortunately is hurt again and hope he recovers one of the best at what he does, if he didn't get hurt.

You had such a mentally huffed team. Yeah. Uh, he really did. We just won too many. We ran out of lives. And it just, I really thought if we won that game, and I hate doing the if thing because the Saints did it to us the year before, I believe it was.

If they had beaten the Vikings, they would have beaten us. I do believe that we would have had a shot, had we beaten them. And, of course, the Bears could probably tell you the same thing. You know, with the double-doin game and all that, it's just playoff football. How did your dad get cast his Tom Hanks boyfriend and that thing you do? It was Tom is a big Raider fan. Really? Yeah.

Tom Hanks is a huge Raider fan, like old school Raider fan. And, you know, got a call and, uh, you know, Howie, can you be my boyfriend? I did his role and I said, you know, it was funny because it wasn't, I wasn't overtly his boyfriend and, you know, there was, there was no, you know, swap and spit or anything like that. I was just driving him around the car and I was waiting for him in ballet parking and, you know, it was a brief,

probably a two-minute scene. Yeah. And it was a Disney movie, I believe, and what ended up happening was I ended up in the director's cut, but not in the theatrical release because Disney wasn't comfortable with establishing, I'm not sure this is what I heard.

It could be that I was just terrible and Tom said, can that put that on the floor. But, you know, Tom being, you never established the fact that Tom was gay in the movie. Right. And my scene pretty much established it. Right, right, right. With a lot of how, you know, a lot hinged on that two-minute sequence of who's this big guy with the flat top.

It was a cutting moment in the film. And you know what? I think they did you dirty there because from everything I hear, that was the director's cut is magnificent. What was the last time you had a different hairstyle or had had? facial hair. 83. Super Bowl year I had long hair. You had kind of a mullet.

And about a month ago, I had, I had a mullet coming in with this whole, you know, you looked good, man. You looked good. I'll tell you what, though. My hair is thick. It just. Yeah, I know. We get it.

And when the humidity starts popping up here, I felt like I had a mop on my head. Yeah, yeah, yeah. You got a good head of hair, man. Good for you, man. All right. So, uh, let's see. couple more here. Oh, asking about how good Lester Hayes is and why Lester's not in the Hall of Fame. Also, how good was Greg Townsend? You know, it's one of those ones that I just don't understand.

You know, you hear people say stick them and stick them was legal at that time. And as you know, there are many tricks to the trait. You know, I mean, offensive linemen would spray silicone on their jerseys so you couldn't grab their jerseys and they would tape their pads down. you know, quarterbacks, for the most part, doctor a ball up one way or another. They're not just taking a ball right out of the box and throwing the football.

They're roughing the football up. They're doing whatever. I, what do you think? You guess. With Lester? Yeah. I don't know.

I do think it's strangely like, and you've said the same thing about like Tom Flores, like with the Raiders, who are such a storied franchise how some of these guys don't get in. They're not a popular. That's what I'm saying. They're very storied and popular, but kind of not popular in a while. They're not popular in the room.

Right. And you look at the number of Raiders that were first ballot. I was a second ballot Hall of Famer, and I think a number of guys that you know, and you've been around who are great, great all-time players were second ballot Hall of Famers. I think Lester belongs in the Hall of Fame. I think you could give Todd Christensen

consideration at some point. You know, he was a ball machine at one point. Tom Florey's. Yeah. I'm trying to think of who else. Well, they mentioned Greg Townsend, who's probably not a hall of fame.

You know what? If Greg... If Greg played today, yeah. Greg would have 160 sacks. Right. It's just... Because the...

Because the game today is built for Greg. Greg came in on third day. He was a situational pass rusher. Right. So he got all those numbers coming in on third down. Yeah. For the most part, unless it was the end of the game and they're going no huddle. Right.

Greg was a great combination of power and speed. He really, really was. And he had a couple of moves that were so unique. He would go under on a rip, grab the charge. Jersey and sling because he would get them going so fast. Yeah, it's like a weird hump. Yeah, it was a hump, but it was like this. It wasn't like this.

And for people that don't know what the hump move is and are probably like, what's a hump move? That sounds funny. It's what Reggie White did tremendously. Like my dad did it. My dad and Reggie were the two that really kind of architect that whole. Reggie came to me in Hawaii at the Pro Bowl. and we worked on it in a long.

And how powerful he is is the perfect move for him. I mean, and you threw a lot of people out of the club with that even before Reggie, but like it's hard to duplicate. Very few people can do it. So it's a difficult enough move to do. You need momentum. You need leverage. You need timing.

But for Greg to do that the way dad's describing it, he's not even humping cross-body. He's allowing somebody's momentum to carry straight out in front of where he's running. He uses, he would use there. And it's interesting because it's funny you mention him because I saw something on Instagram and it was Greg Townsend's career and pressures and, you know, quarterback sacks. And I texted him and said, you were special, my friend.

And this was like one in the morning. Yeah. He texted me back. And, you know, he texted me today wishing me a happy father's day. Greg was such a great teammate. Bill Pekyll, Reggie Kim. Law, you know, Lyle, Sean Jones. We had a pretty good group. Listen to this. Lyle's got over a hundred stacked. Greg's got over a hundred sacked. John Jones got over a hundred sacked. Yeah, that's a hell

of a group. Right. Pretty darned. Even today in a past happy league. And of course, the alignment are better now with their hands and that sort of thing. And I know that's not across the board. There were some great tackles, but to have a hundred sack guys on one D-line at that rate is insane. I haven't seen that. As you know, it's part of it is what scheme are you playing in? Yeah. Like I remember when we would be playing, I'd be two-gap and every play. And, you know, just saying, oh, boom, boom, boom, you know, four, two-gap, no slanting,

no, you know, not kind of a two-gap three-man front scheme where you're- There's not many of those schemes left. No, but some guys do, no, there's not a lot of people that do straight two gap. But we would look at Minnesota, you know, with Chris Dolman and that whole group in Millard, who was a great player. At 18 or 19 in one year. Right. Right. Yeah.

Yeah. But they were rushing the quarterback every play. Right. It was one of those defenses where, you know, let's just meet the quarterback. And if we run into the run on the way, great. And then the Bears was, in my mind, was the perfect mesh of talent and scheme. Yeah. Where at that time, nobody knew how to block it.

So you were guaranteed a one-on-one and often unblocked. Yeah. So playing in that kind of scheme would be great. And I dreamed about playing those kinds of schemes. craziest La Lai-Lau-Zato memory playing with him Oh God, there's so many

Some you can't share But talk about throwing people out of the club Quite literally One time in traffic You know, and I called him Three Mile Lyle After Three Mile Island The Nuclear Power Plant

Because you never knew when he was gonna go, you just didn't And Lyle could be Benevolent and kind And looked out for me spend time over his house, you know. He was a good friend. It got to the point where I actually bought him a mood ring

and even the mood ring and it almost came to blows over the mood ring. But you just had to base your whole day on the first hello. Right. On a Wednesday and say, hey, La, how you doing? And you could base the whole day on that. And he was an angry guy. guy, you know, I think it was Chris Ward, I think was the tackle from the Jets. He ripped his helmet off, tried to beat him with it, and then chucked it 30 yards down the field. Yeah, I mean, it was a

different era. I mean, that was that. One time we were, we were driving down the road and somebody kind of, you know, cut us off a little bit. And I'm like, oh, no. Lyle gets out of the car and he's got this poor guy was barking a little bit, which is just a mistake. You know, I I mean, just don't bark at the guy who looks like he just got out of Alcatraz. Yeah. And Lyle is, you know, he's benching 570. He's, you know, jacked beyond belief. He's got muscles where you shouldn't have muscle.

He goes out of the car and he's got this guy by the shirt half out of the car, dragging him out the window of the car. and I go over there and fortunately get him off the guy and we get back in the car and he's angry for the next four or five minutes. But he was. It just depended on the day. Yep. How's your day going? That was it.

You could say hello in the morning and base your whole day off of that. That's so funny because you used to say me when I was a kid is your mood ring white and bright today. And I know probably where that comes from a while. Somebody said, I've heard mention. of Howie leaving the stadium with the boys in the car and some fans in quotes were shouting negative things.

He said he got out and settled things. What was that like? Well, that was you. Yeah, no, but I don't remember it. You were in a, yeah, and I tried to kind of... I remember more vividly my mom nearly killing a guy over him being a dickhead in traffic than you.

Yeah, and people think I'm the one you have to fear. She's the one. It was at the Coliseum, and I was recovering from torn ligaments in my ankle and we were walking up the tunnel and this guy was yelling in the stands yelling yelling yelling and we parked right outside the top you know that top of that tunnel at the coliseum we were parked right across the street from that and i think i had a bronco at that time and uh and now all the sudden through the crowd you know people

saying, hey, hey, how you doing? How you doing? Because we didn't have a private parking lot. It's not like now. Yeah. And this guy, these two, three guys who have been heckling me from the crowd, and I'm wired tight at that point. You know, anything can kind of, I'm ready to go.

Fill in the blanks. I see the guys walking towards me in the parking lot. Now I'm thinking, I'm going to have to kick their asses right here, but I've got my kid with me. I've got you with me. Yeah. So there's this really nice man who I'm signing something for

and his car is parked right there. I said, would you do me a favor? Something bad is going to happen. I need to put my son in your car. Can you just sit there with him to make sure that he's okay? Yeah. And these guys came over and I thought it was going to be a fight

and now they want to make up. Right, of course. And I didn't want to make up and I, you know, blew it off. But that was probably the closest I've come in a parking lot at a stadium to doing that. Just, you know, all logic goes out the window. When the fence is down and the cattle crossed the cattle gate, people act a lot different. Totally differently.

So if people realize what NFL players, what you don't get, it's kind of like watching a lion at the zoo. or a tiger at the zoo. It looks like a big majestic animal and it's laying on the ground. And then all of a sudden, a tiger gets up, runs and jumps over a 10-foot wall and you go, oh, my God. That's what?

And you know what? It looks normal on the field, but that athleticism and conflict management if it spills outside is not so fun. And that's the thing fans don't understand. That's the reason most fans say big, mean things on the internet. or from behind a wall and then when the wall's gone, things change.

How about trash talk on the field? Who in your day and in Howie's day were the strongest shit talkers? I would say to me, it was the smaller the guy, I know you were a talker. Sometimes. The smaller the guy, the more he talked.

It was always the DVs. Right. Or a small linebacker because they weren't winded. I was, we didn't substantiated. to them. Right. So if I'm playing 85-90 snaps, I don't have time to be, now there were certain games, maybe with Washington or with Denver. Kansas City. Or with Kansas City. Those were some games where there were some words exchanged, but Lyle was the most colorful. Because Lyle would say,

you know, I'm going to meet you in the parking lot. I'm going to kill you in front of your family. Yeah. Like, who comes up at that? Did he think that up at night? Right. Yeah, Lyle, I could imagine one that, huh? And he meant it. Yeah, I, Lyle, I could imagine being one that people are like,

I'm going to hold off on inciting this guy this week. You know, it's just like maybe don't poke the bear. And the one guy I forgot on the alleyway and also a guy that you just didn't want to push too far was Chester McLaughlin. Yeah. Who lived with us for a while up in Palis. Verdie. Yeah, I remember. He said it was a barn. It wasn't a barn. It was a guest house. It's a nice house. Yeah, he's got me living in the barn. Yeah, stop. He was a man. He was a great,

I thought of him as a house guest, but evidently he was living there. Same thing when Nolan Harrison would come over. Shout out to Nolan, he gave me all his video games when he was done with him. And I had this great little Nintendo cash that came from him. And Sean Jones was with us for a while, too. Yep. I would say on my end, and I was never like I'm going to come out and talk shit. But if somebody was to push me, I could go from zero to 100 pretty quickly verbally. And usually I was aiming to hurt your feelings and seeing I want to get you as mad as possible. Depending on who you are. Now, I don't want to get, there were certain offensive players you don't want to get mad.

But an offensive lineman, I was never afraid of pissing off because if O. linemen are mad, they don't play smart. They don't say the same. They over extend. You're off balance. You get a big fat guy mad. A big fat guy acts like a big fat guy. And now teammates, Brandon Graham, talk probably the most, but he never cussed and he was always smiling. So I was like, what are you doing?

He was like a video game trash talker like, you know, the canned movie trash talk, scripted. Yeah. Yeah. And I didn't, you know, but as far as shit talkers are concerned, there was never. William. William? Oh, Will. Will Hayes? Will Hayes got my brother to nearly kill him. And realized that maybe he shouldn't do that anymore. Yeah, that's, you know what? It's just the wrong tree to bark up. Yeah. Yeah. I guess it's nice to have the big brother thing. So at least I have a little bit of a mental edge. Thank God for you that day. Thank God for you that day. Yeah, because I pulled him out of there. I actually, you know, I get thrown out of that game.

I think the refs were thinking about our family dinner, and I appreciate that. Oh, it was a tough day. Yeah, yeah, tougher for the Bears, because the Rams, we got one of our rare Ws. So, Pops, we got to, we got to go because we got to go grill out and hang out. But I know people really love having you on to listen to all your stories and stuff. And it's cool on Father's Day to have you on. Well, I appreciate it. And to watch the kind of father you've become is just, oh, warms our hearts.

Thanks, man. And I know that you're going to be, you're going to be stumped for guests when you're up in Montana. So I might make a return. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, Dad, with the technology, I just want to break this down for you. I know we're just a room away, but this Zoom thing works across the country. So we're going to keep rolling, man. But I will say this.

I think one of the greatest things about my dad is that it's not just because being a dad is, as we alluded to, and I could already tell in four years, but watching my dad is like a lifelong process. So like you're not just the dad that made me food when I was a kid or like that took me to little league. Now you're my friend and my dad. And that's a totally different job. And I get to watch you being a granddad and all that stuff.

So I think your versatility. You're a versatile player. You're a versatile dad. And you've hit a home run at every turn. So love you and appreciate you being on, bud. Love you too, man. So signing off, we will see you Wednesday, and pretty soon we'll go to two pods a week in preparation for my vacation and my sanity, trying to maintain my sanity. Three is tough.

But this week, we got three very good pods, including this one that you just heard. I think it was good. Wednesday, we have an NFL quarterback. Friday, we have an NBA retired star, a big personality. I'll let you guys take some guesses, and I'll see you all Wednesday.