Higher Learning with Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay - Van at Super Bowl Radio Row Pt. 2

Episode Date: February 21, 2025

Van’s radio row adventures continue, as he welcomes Pacman Jones and Evan Rosenblum to discuss 'The Pacman Jones Show' (0:00). Then he welcomes Carolina Panthers beat writer Sheena Quick (19:13) and NFL draft prospect Tetairoa McMillan (28:58). Plus, Bears wide receiver Rome Odunze (34:20) and Steelers legend Joey Porter (40:20) join the show. Host: Van Lathan Guests: Pacman Jones, Evan Rosenblum, Sheena Quick, Tetairoa McMillan, Rome Odunze and Joey Porter Producers: Donnie Beacham Jr., Cory McConnell, Chia Hao Tat, and Ronak Nair Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

All right, man, I hate to say this, but this is my most anticipated interview of my entire time here in New Orleans. Yeah, all right. It's true. On my right, we got one of my favorite athletes ever, swag personified, Pac-Man Jones. And on my left, legitimately, we got one of the people who put me on, one of my producers at TMZ, Evan Rosenblum, two people that are behind the Pac-Man Jones show, y'all going up, man. Man, trying, man.

Ev does a great job of helping me get what I want out. And it's so happened to be there. It's kind of clipbait because I'll be talking a lot of shit on the viral moments that we be talking about. And I put it in a way that nobody else will ask it. You know why? Because, and this is something that I learned when I was at TMZ, I learned how to write a headline.

I learned how to, I'll tell you something real quick. Real quick, Evan's story, real quick, because we don't dick ride, but real quick, Evan's story. I remember there was just a B-roll. It was like LeBron James, just a piece of video, and LeBron James didn't talk to the camera. He didn't talk to the camera, so I'm like, God damn, we got LeBron, and he didn't say anything.

Evan looks at the video, and he goes, what kind of car is that? and I'm like it's like some kind of Lamborghini Ferrari whatever whatever he goes huh next thing you know LeBron James leaving the L.A. Club and crazy 325

that goes to the model of the car goes to the top of the board so sometimes you have to extrapolate what people are interested in out of the clip and you don't even know it right like what lessons have you learned about the media since you've made

the transition into the media The biggest thing is not asking the question that somebody else have asked. You get what I'm saying? A lot of people just look at other folks' interviews and ask the same question the same way they ask it. Like it's so many ways that you can ask that question without asking it the same way someone else. Or you can answer the question why are you asking them to question? But I think it's all about a picture or what they can see. And like if you can connect with the picture, it's kind of easier to dissect it.

Am I'm saying that way? Yeah, I mean, what PAC is really good at is, number one, the filter there that a lot of people have because they're scared to talk about a particular scub subject or something like that. Pack has this ability to connect with people and talk about stuff that most people can't, right? And I think it's because PAC's been so open about his life. Yeah. Right? He's so comfortable with himself and he's so open about his life that it's like, well, I'm open about all that. I'm just asking you about yours.

I'm not trying to be mean or there's no agenda. I'm genuinely curious about your story. does a really good job of listening to people and getting good content out of them the other day. Let's talk about that. You were one of the athletes and over the time that you played, there was a very distinct

knowledge and reputation about you on the field and off the field, right? And people didn't always say flattering things about Pac-Man Jones. How has that played itself out in the second act of your career as a media person? do you find yourself contending with what a lot of people thought? I never really care about a fuck about what anybody talked about me of me as a person.

If you don't know me, you like I ask, everybody got one, right? But I did go through a time where ESPN had me on there every day. All the news is trying to have me on there every day. And that was because some of the shit I did bring up myself, but a lot of it was I didn't have a stage or a platform to say what really happened. Back then, you could put it. paint the picture the way you wanted to paint the picture because I ain't got nowhere to paint my own picture and I think now for instance like when I went through the shit in Dallas like I had a chance

to show oh let me show you all really what happened it wasn't like I'm just going out here going awl you know I mean I think now um but where we're at in society like everybody got a camera everybody got a phone so you can pretty much control the narrative if the narrative is right of what you said. Do you get what I'm saying? Can I jump in for a second on that? Because when I had heard what happened with Pac-Man in Dallas, the first thing that I did after we spoke on the phone

and he told me what happened is I was like, great, let's go find the footage. Because of exactly what we just said, everyone's got a camera. Yeah, for sure. And so we found it, and guess what the footage shows? Everything Pac-Man said happened? Right.

Exactly. And by the way, years ago, when he was on the ESPN thing that he was talking about, it would have been just, you know, all the bad stuff without any pushback at all. So when you saw that and when that turned out the way that it did,

for somebody like you, how do you approach that? Do you approach that in a told-you-so manner? Do you use that as a teachable moment that may be other athletes? So fuck you moment. Fuck all you motherfuckers. No, I ain't trying to be like that,

but like fuck them, though, for real. No, I'm dead ass for it. I'm dead ass for it. Fuck them. All you motherfuckers that be doing this right here, fuck you. And I admit, like, every time I've been right, hell no. And guess what? I say when I'm wrong.

Hey, bro, I had too much a drink. I just felt like fighting. Hey, bro, like, it was just going to, we had to fight. But, like, I'm pretty much open and honest with myself. So there's no need to lie on you. Right. Right. I tell you the truth.

I was in the script club last night for three hours. Through probably about five or ten grand. How did you like? I had an unbelievable time. The Wings was good. I was drunk as hell. Bye. See you?

So I don't really, my mental is so good. Like, I have no reason to, like, lie, first of all, to myself. Second of all, to anybody else. Because I really don't care about what you think about me. I don't care about what you think about me. Like, that's not my intention to go around. I hope this guy. I hope he.

really know me as a person. What is your intention? For all of the years that you've been, all the ups, all the downs, what's your intention now? What's your mission and your goal? My intention and goal is to raise my kids to be better than what I was. My intention is goal to have my kids not start where I had to start from. My intention of my goals to have my kids 401 okay ready for them.

My attention my goal is my kids to be better than me. That's my intention and goals. of and with that being you know of course wife family all of that but my true I want my kids to have way more than I have I don't want my kids to go through what I went through

you know I mean that's my whole goal about this that's why I adopted the boys and tried to get them something better and help them out like that's my whole goal and attention as long as my kids are exceeding

way more than I am I'm shit I'm getting old my story is pretty much written by the way his kids love the show. His kids are amazing. Yeah. And his son, Junie is one of the fat,

the third fastest, the third fastest kid in the country. Seven-year-old in the country. Oh, my God. You got to see the, I'll send you highlights. My daughter is at Mississippi State. Okay.

She's getting paid, a track. She runs 100 hurdles, 200 to 200, and the 300 hurdles. My youngest, my other daughter, trend, she's one of the fastest in the state, and then I got a little Junie. But, like, yeah, man. Junie.

By stock and June. now oh my god purpose that's that's crazy you said that but like it's definitely not for somebody for me to think about what somebody think about me because like if you if you've met me or you know me you know my heart is pure like i'm a genuine person i give the shirt off my back i just got on the on the off switch man like i've been through a lot of shit bro like my daddy got killed right in front of me like i went through i went through a lot of stuff and i'm not using that as a crutch and then But let's stay there. I think that's an interesting thing to bring up, and I'll tell you why, bro.

Because when you see somebody at the draft and they get in their name called, or they make all-pro, or they make all-American, you always hear about the harrowing story of what they've overcome, what they've been through. This person was homeless. They were adopted by this family. They had to do all of this stuff. But when there is a setback, there is never any grace a lot of times. for those people based upon some of those things that they might have went through in the ways

that they lived with the world. Humanizing athletes and looking at them as full holistic people, what do you, how far do you feel like the media has come in that? Do you feel like we're more sensitive to the plight of some things that people have been through or do you feel like because of the 24-hour news cycle on social media, there's more... I don't think nobody's sensitive of what nobody went through. I don't think the media is sensitive that my dad got killed in front of me. I don't think the media is sensitive.

DeHop, his mom went to what she went through. I don't think the media have no sensitive to that. Because everything is what you did for me lately, clipbait. Boom, boom, boom, boom. So, hell no. How would you like to see them treat these young men? It's not really about how they treat them.

It's about the guys, the people that are going through that, getting somebody that they can talk to or shrink or whatever to get them past that point. You know what I'm saying? But like, I tell my kids every day when you grow at this house, you're going to be judged way harder than any other kid just because of who that is. So you've got to be on your shit when you're still about to go. If you're playing sports, they're going to look at you way harder than they're looking at any other kid.

And that just comes with the territory of what we signed up for, you know. But I don't think the sympathy, really don't need the sympathy. I think more of needing the tools to deal with it. You wish that some of these leagues maybe invested a little bit more into the mental health of the players in the leagues? Do you think it's the league's role and jobs? I think the NFL do a good job. Oh, you think they do a good job, okay? I think the NFL do a good job.

I went to McLean House bidder, so I think they did a good job. And, like, after that, continually I've been checking in, you know what I mean, and make sure all my light bulbs are on. But, yeah, I think the league do a good job a bit. Now, when we was working at TMZ, we covered you. Yeah. Did y'all have to piece it up? Did y'all have to break brand and talk about some of the ways that you ended up on TMZ sports? I really, that's like he got a job to do.

Okay. Can I tell you the first conversation we had? Yeah. Because I remember it. Because I remember. Shade was like, who the fuck is his guy? I wasn't going to say his name. But yeah, LeShallel.

Like, if we got this motherfucker in here, he was talking about us. Oh, fuck, here we go. Yeah, I was like, all right. So, but Pac and I remember this where I was like, you know, he said, I know who you are. And I was like, okay. And I was like, are we cool? And he goes, are we in the same team? And I said, yes.

And he goes, then we're cool. And that was it. That was it. You know, hard feelings, bro. Like, a lot of stuff I went through, I brung on myself. And, like, the roller coaster was good. But, like, what they say? Oh, bad press.

All bad press. All press is good. And can I tell you something, too? I mean, you know this, too. Like, when you're in the news world and that you're consumed by that job, which is a consuming job. Yeah. It's sometimes, you know, you lose a little bit of yourself in it.

And now that I've been out of that world for four and a half years now, and I'm not trying to disrespect the industry at all or the people that we work with in that stuff, but I've changed a lot since I've left that job. The moment you're out the door. And, you know, the things that were priorities when you were in that are not priorities and different priorities, making real genuine connections and doing stuff that you're more passionate about. And that's what I've honestly found with PAC.

Like, we get a long rate in our show. We have, you know, we've got different perspectives on stuff, which is part of the reason it's funny. When we talk to people, you know, we see things differently. And we talk about it and we have arguments about it. But it's not. I want to say arguments. Well, heated discussions.

He did discussions. He did discussions. Yeah, but it's constructive. It's not destructive. So there's one question I wanted to make sure that I asked you, because this is one of the questions that's blowing up in the group chat. Travis Hunter's coming out. He has the opportunity to be maybe the best defensive back in football

has the opportunity to be maybe the best wide receiver. I don't know about Y receiver. You don't know if he, okay, you don't know if his ceiling is like that at Y receiver. I don't think this, and this is just me. I think Travis Silling is all the way up to the room. As far as being an NFL wire receiver as a number one, I don't know. So that's my, I think it's how to, it's more on the defensive side of the ball. And then just put a package in for him, like third downs and get him 10, 12 plays on offense.

You were dynamic both sides of the ball and in the return game. If you were advising him, which path would you tell him to take? I would go defense. It's going to be a lot easier than that going on offense. Of course, you're getting paid more as a receiver. But DBs are getting paid, too. They can get some foul in the 50s, too. But I think the upside ceiling is it's on the defensive side of the ball.

But I don't think he can play both ways Four time in the NFL The game is too physical Too fast Like it's no way We got 18 weeks You can't do that He wants to

I know he wants to It sound good Like that Not going to happen Do you think that It'll be up to An organization To talk him out of it

Or do you think He is going to just Well that's not a Like I realize the league Is a little different Like You don't really have no say-so

Where we're putting you at like you get them saying like you know how to I ain't gonna say slavery but like you know what I mean it's modern day slavery I draft your ass out on the rights to you you're gonna do

modern day slave no for real it is bro for like first rounders like just think about it you realize that's a controversial to say that slaves didn't get paid oh man I ain't saying it like that

right well I don't know some slaves might get paid you know you was a good one all right well it was great talking but yeah but what I'm saying is Like, go ahead. We're good.

On the upside, you got to do what, as a head coach, if I say, hey, I want you to do this, you have to. You have to. And that, that. Ain't nobody did that, man. Like, it's going to be hard, bro. Like, and if he could do it, there's no way he can be able to practice four days a week and play 189 plays. No way. Tell us about the Pac-Man Jones show.

Like, you guys. Smell me, no cap. You guys told us a little bit about it. Lots of shows out there with ex-athletes. They always got a random white guy on the show. So with the Pac-Man Jones show, how are y'all coming at, sports media? What's the hook? Why should people and why are people tuning in to what are?

We're straight to it. We're like politely raw is what we say. But we uncut. We're going to tell you what it is. we're going to tell you what the coach really wanted to say when he said, oh, you know, guys, we had turned now, coach, what you really want to say? What about you doing his job? You know what I mean?

So we can break things down because we got a really good insight on sports. We got a really good team, too. And it's, it's, it's, it's, um, I show, shout out a bit online. Yeah. Also, um, our sponsor. I show is, it's almost like Bible Shop talk, bro. Like, but good Bible Shop talk. Right.

Like, um, and I bring up stuff that. other people will not even talk about. I mean, look. I'm looking at the bugger in the nose, you know what I mean? I'm going to tell you got one in there. If you got one in there, I'm going to tell you so you can get it out. And plus what we can add is the perspective like, you know, just like you, you know, on the media side. Yeah.

You know, so it's like we're having this conversation about something that happened on the field or off the field, two different perspectives. And it's interesting because I've never been in an NFL locker room, right? So I don't know what's going on after a game. You know, what happens when Mark Andrews drops the winning touchdown? Oh, yeah. What? Like, we can all think we know what's happening, but you know what's happening. Yeah, that motherfuckling loud room.

Quiet, my boy. Real quiet. You can hear a mouse in there. No grace? No nothing. All right. And then I can tell you how the media works from somebody like Justin Tucker's being accused of what Justin Tucker is being accused of.

Or when the various myriad other stories come around. Yep. How we respond to it, what we look at it, how we do it. By the way, Justin Tucker's fucked. Yeah, it's fucked up. It's fucked up. Y'all better talk about it. Y'all got down, y'all gave the other one hell now.

I want to talk. Just keep that same kind of energy. Nine with Justin Tucker. Same thing. Yeah, same way they did. Exactly same thing. Did, uh, uh, Sean Watson. I want to see y'all keep that same energy.

Yep. Last question before you get out here. Uncut. Uncut. You know the game better than most people. Give me a player in the NFL that's overrated And a player in the NFL that's underrated Overrated

I would go with Josh Allen Oh Overrated What makes you say that about Josh? Because everybody keeps talking about Josh Is in the top three, four quarterbacks No the fuck he's not He's probably at five or six bro

Like really If you look at his tangibles Um scrimped Yeah he got that but like He makes a lot of dumb throws But he's just throwing the ball I would say he's overrated and I'll give you one that we had

that Terrell Suggs pointed out to us twice on our show By the way, Trill Suggs, my buddy from Colorado there you know, he's on the show. Kobe Bryant Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Kobe Bryant. I'm going to say Michael Jordan. I was saying, I remember it was a...

Kobe Bryant from the Seahawled out this year. Yeah, he had a good year. So Kobe Bryant, underrated, Josh Allen, overrated. Yeah. Okay. Y'all, that's Pac-Man Jones that's Evan Rosenblum

Pac-Man Jones show fellas so happy y'all could join us man yes sir it's a pleasure and honestly I'm so proud of you appreciate you're the man you're the man appreciate it man it's awesome thanks for having us on the show glad to see you doing good too yeah sirsky shout out of our team at bed online did you know about one and three people

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So let's get right into some Carolina Panthers stuff. Bryce Young, there seems to be life. Yeah, there is. I would, it's more than life. Okay. I mean, I feel like it's a resurgence. You know how your phone gets wet. You put it in the rice and let it dry out.

That's what that benching did for Bryce. It gave him like a hard reset, like a factory reset, if you will. What was needed from him? Because I remember watching him at Alabama, and it seemed like he was the perfect quarterback in terms of his mental makeup. Now, obviously, the size was always going to be a concern in terms of being a prototypical NFL quarterback. But he just always made the right play. seemed like you can make any throw, and then he gets to Carolina, and it didn't seem like you could do anything right.

What light switch got flipped on? First of all, they fixed the offensive line. I mean, he got sacked 62 times. You know, Sam Donald said he was seeing ghosts. Bryce never gave us that sound bite or that viral quote or whatnot. But you got to think about how the effect that that took on just how he processed things when you have someone in your face as soon as the ball is hiked. I mean, outside of those 62 sacks, they're the quarterback hits.

to the quarterback pressures. They didn't have a great receiving core. They were last in the league in terms of separation. There was just so much going on. Everything that could have gone wrong in Bryce Young's first year did, except for health-wise. He stayed healthy. And out of those big three quarterbacks, he's missed the least amount of time to injury. You know, everybody was worried about his durability, but he's missed less time to C.J.

Stroud and Anthony Richardson. So you're telling me that the Panthers are not going to always be trash? Because it kind of feels like they are. They are absolutely not going to always be trash. It is looking up. They have a new coach who was committed to making Bryce better. They committed to fixing that side of the ball. You see the offensive lines playing much better.

They spent some money when got Robert Hunt, when got Damien Lewis. Ikea Kuanu, he had a really, really rough sophomore season, seemed to kind of come around this year. You know, they had a rushing attack. And Chuba Hubbard, which, you know, a lot of people were expecting it to be Miles Sanders, but it's Chuba Hubbard. You know, they added some receivers. Adam Thielen is a dog still.

He's going to always be a dog. All veteran? always going to be a dog in my book, but they put the pieces around him, and I know some people are like, okay, yeah, but the first two weeks were still terrible. I still think he was shell-shopped. I think it just took times for him to get his rookie season out of his head. I think that Bryce Young's thing was here, and that was always his strength. So when he didn't have that, it just looked like the world fumbled around him. But being able to kind of step back and be in a situation that he's never found himself in.

Bryce Young's always been a winner. You know, he lost more in Carolina than he probably has lost cumulatively since he was in Pop Warner. Right, right. You know, he's always been that guy. So being able to kind of step back, probably slowed the game down for him, and it got him to just reset. So I saw you eat some raccoon with Xavier Leggett. Now, look, I'm from Baton Rouge. Shout out to all my people from Bachelor, from, you know, New Roads, all the Dixons and Watson's up there.

I've eaten at all. I've eaten raccoon. I've eaten wildcat. Now what's you doing eating a wildcat, bro? I've eaten squirrel. I've eaten rabbit. Deer meat is my favorite meat ever. I've had deer jerky.

Let me tell you something right now for everybody watching. The best meat in the world, Paul's, is if you take the back strap of the deer right along the spine, cutting into some medallions, stew it down, amazing. You, though, ate the raccoon. And did. How was it? It was spicy, and it was like the consistency of pulled pork. So because it was something, it looked familiar.

And people had their phones out. I couldn't be a, you know, I could be a wimp and wimp out. I was like, man, this went kind of fast. I don't know how I got volunteered as tribute, but here we are. Now I got to taste the raccoon. Yeah. You know, David Moore was in the back instigating, and, you know, the lights were bright. I had to show up.

Did you like it? It was decent. It wasn't nasty. Okay. It wasn't nasty, but I wouldn't eat like a full meal of it. I mean, I wouldn't make it my entree or anything like that. Like, you know, I couldn't back down. I'm with it.

I'm a little too adventurous. I need to stop. So as I look around here, as I look around here, I see a lot of black ladies represented. Oh, yeah. Just in the Anderson right next to us. Oh, yeah. You're yourself. I see a lot of black women in sports media around here.

And it seems like we have a growing presence of black women. and prominent positions in sports media. First of all, you've been doing this for a while now. What work remains to be done? And how do you feel right now about the representation in the space? When it comes to representation, I think that we're seeing more black women in the space because we stopped asking for a seat at the table and we just built our own damn table. So you're seeing a lot of black women here that are, their outlet is their own.

It's their baby. Like Josina here with the exhibit, you know, we stopped asking for a seat at the table. We stopped asking for permission and we started doing things our own way. And you're going to continue to see that presence grow. There's more mediums like social media. It's not just print journalism. It's not just news. It's not just ESPN.

You know, you're seeing a wide array of mediums for people to take advantage of. And I think that we're going to continue to see a growing presence when it comes to that. As a woman doing this, being so close to the players, being so close to the game, What is the biggest challenge? Do people call into question your bona fides? Do people, what is it like? For me, people call into question like if I get breaking news. So a lot of people, a lot of my followers kind of met me as a Carolina Panthers reporter.

They don't know that I'm a mom of three. They don't know that I'm divorced. They assume that I'm a single mom or I was a teenage mom. They don't know I'm 40. They don't know that I'm not super duper social. I'm not out all the time. I cook every night. Like they don't know those parts of me.

they also don't know that I was a D1 athlete. So a lot of these relationships as far as information and things like that, they come from people that I've played basketball with, an AAU circuit when I was 12, or that I ran track with when I was 13 to 18. And, you know, and some of these guys went to college with me, and they're no longer players. They're now the GMs. They're now the VPs of player personnel.

They're now position coaches. And there's a respect that has grown and been cultivated for over a decade. Just because you see me break this piece of news that has absolutely nothing to do with Carolina Panther football doesn't mean. that it's not a valid source because I'm never going to put myself out there like that, but it's also a relationship that has like five or six or seven layers to it. Like anybody else develops relationships over time, right? But it's different when it's a woman.

It's different when it's a woman. I even watched her name's Stap Baby, Treasure Wilson. Yeah, shout out to her. Yeah, she did some real. She's making some noise too. She did some reels down at the Pro Bowl. Completely covered. You know, I know I got a little corset on today, but she was completely covered.

Her clothes weren't tight. There was no sexually suggestive type of, line of questioning. She was asking the guys about their favorite meal that they could cook themselves. And I'm looking in the comments and there's always at least one person is like, oh, I know all the players hit or I know everybody slept with her. And it's like there's nothing to suggest

that from this 30 second clip about food. So I think that that's the challenging. You just have to be able to block that out. I have given myself a rule. I'm only going to reply twice when it comes to Twitter because you know I'm not a bigger person. I'm just not. Like I have to just mute the conversation. I'm not

the bigger person. I'm not going to just glance over your comment. If it's derogatory enough, I'm going to your page, I'm going to see what your interests are, I'm going to find your ugliest photo of yourself that you posted, I'm going to see what your family looks like, because you could have just scroll. Right.

So it's just things like that that you have to kind of put mind over matter and have to kind of just shrug that stuff off. I mean, I'm pretty sure she knows she was sleeping with people at the propo, but it's unfair for her to continue to have to even see those types of comments when she's down there, you know, doing her job. Yeah. Yeah. Last question is maybe the most important question.

I don't know if you've seen what happened on higher learning, but my co-host, Rachel, shamed herself. She shamed herself. She shamed the community. She shamed the culture. She shamed the podcast. You're about to try to take my black car van. I'm not.

I feel like you are. I'm not going to do that. Okay. I'm going to ask you this question. Okay. And then you'll either. offer it or you'll retain it. Rachel said she doesn't like Anita Baker.

As a person? As a singer. I mean, because there's some people that don't like Anita Baker as a person. She doesn't like the music. So the question I would ask you, is that okay? I think so. Wow. It's okay.

It's okay not to like Anita Baker as a blick. Yeah, I mean, she's not being given. the ox quarter or anything like that but i mean i think that's fine who do who don't you like you like you like winnie houston i love Whitney Luther i love Luther i feel like there's something there because you're too open to this anita baker thing that we're gonna we go we go there's something there i like Anita baker but it's okay for you if somebody else doesn't like her yeah okay rachel i held you down girl we never met the sisterhood will never crumble okay you'll never you'll never crumble the sisterhood they are

all be on the same email and stuff like that. I don't know. Y'all, that's shooting quick. Thank you for joining this. This episode is brought to you by Spectrum Business. Fast, reliable internet means everything for your business. And even this podcast, that's why I trust Spectrum Business. They keep companies of all sizes connected with internet, advanced Wi-Fi, phone, TV, mobile services,

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Yeah, you'd be pretty happy about those weather tech seat protectors. So just to be clear as the mud, you're inevitably going to step into the summer. You don't need weather tech unless you plan on. doing summer. Visit weathertech.com today. All right, coming here from New Orleans. We got Tetaro and McMillan, unguardable.

Brough, let me tell you why I say that. I'm a big college football 25 player. And there are a couple of players that make the game annoying. Jalen Milro makes the game annoying, and you are unguarable on the game. Do you ever play the game and try to contain yourself or play as yourself on the video game. You know what?

It's funny you ask that because everyone I talk to, they say my guy is this and that and really good. He don't be doing that for me. Like, come on. How do you not go? How, when I use my own guy, I can't be good. Maybe I'm just trash at the game, but I don't know. That could be because let me tell you what you can do.

This is easy. This is easy if you want to get 20 catches for 270 y'all. with T-MAC on the game. Hot Route streak. Throw it to you. Switch on B. Go up, make the contested catch. You never drop it.

No one ever gets it from you. Easy work. My little brother got mad at me. I'll be trying to loft it up to my guy. What do you do? Like, I don't know why he don't be doing it for me. Like, come on, bro. Be better.

You're here with Sharpie. You're one of Sharpie's 20-25 rookies of the year. Yes, sir. What's your favorite color Sharpie? Oh, black. It's a regular black one. You know, I'm just so fortunate to put my name next to Sharpie.

Like you said, I'm a rookie of the year for Sharpie this year following the lead of Roma Dunzee and Michael Pennix. Yeah, yeah. And, man, I'm just looking forward to making my mark and signing my first contract, my first NFL contract with a Sharpie S-JL pen. Man, what is that like?

What is it like to be on the precipice? you have been such a force in college football for the last couple of years, but now you're at this transitional time in your life where you're moving from dominating on one stage and everybody is expecting you to go and dominate on the next stage. What is going through your hair right now? What is life like? Man, I'm just taking a day at a time.

You know, I'm just super blessed, super grateful to be in the position I am. You know, not too many people get to do what I do. And me being able to do it at this high of a level, you know, I can't do nothing, I can't complain. You know, I'm super blessed, super grateful, and I'm just looking forward to it, man. I'm just, I've been telling people this whole time doing this process, you know, it don't feel real.

You know, it feels unreal, you know, it's like a movie scene. Right. You know, like I said, you know, 1% of the 1% get to do what I do, and shoot, I'm living it, so I'm just grateful, man. You know, there was an internet clip going around, and it was all your reps against Travis Hunter. Did you see it? I saw it.

Okay. What was your thoughts on it? Because people were going back in the comments about who won those reps. Half the people were like, man, Ted is getting the best of Travis Hunter in these reps. And then the other people were like, Travis Hunter is all over Ted in these reps. What did you think about it when you saw it? Man, I didn't mind it. You know, he's a phenomenal player.

You know, Hygman winner. And we might have to run it back because we won in one right now in college. Right, right. He got one win on me and I got one win on him, so we might have to run it back. Are there any other corners in the league that you're looking forward to competing against being that you're such a crazy, hard one-on-one matchup for people? There are any other guys that you're like, I'm studying him to see how I'm getting out of my breaks or stuff like that, any other guys? Man, I'm looking forward to playing everybody. You know, it's the elite of the elite.

You know, we're not playing scrubs no more. Right. You know, everybody is the best in the world. But I feel like one guy that I'm really looking forward to is passive 10. He's probably the best corner in the league right now up for a defensive player of the year this year. And man, just being able to play versus the best of the best. That's why we play this game.

So I'm looking forward to it for sure. How are you going to keep a level head being that you are now a rookie and you got so much ahead of you? What do you do to keep yourself grounded to keep your eyes on the prize about what your goals are for the next 15, 20 years? years of your career. Yeah, I mean, that's a good question. For me, it's just, it's only the beginning. You know, people for people like me, you know, to be able to do what I do in the position I am, it's easy for someone like me to get complacent, get comfortable and just kick their feet up. And it's the end-all be-all. But it's just the beginning, man. You know, we got here,

and now we've got to stay here. So it's a dog-eat-dog world, you know, so everybody in league trying to take everybody's spot. So for me, it's not. lose that fire and just keep going. What up? Hey, look, I'm going to be reaching out to you because I want you to be able to enjoy playing with yourself on the game, man, because everybody else be busing

my ass with you. It's only fair that you should be able to bust somebody else's ass as well. You know what? I'm going to do more practice modes. More practice mode. I'm going to hit the gauntlet or some. Not too much, though, because you got do it in real life. All right, thank you for joining us. I appreciate you for having you, man.

We are here with Rome Odunzee of the Chicago. Barrago Bears, man. How are you doing, brother? I'm doing well. Thank you. Thank you. Thanks for having me.

Now, you're here with Sharpie. That's right. Iconic pin. It's the mark up. Yeah, marker everywhere. Sharpie, man. Like, they made you one of their inaugural rookies of the year, man. That's right.

That's right. So the same thing that you signed the autographs with, which you've been signing, is now they're supporting you. How does that feel? No, it's been awesome. You know, we grew up using Sharpie, you know, whether it was, you know, signing footballs or doing the little, when they had their little smelling pan line. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

So it's been awesome. You know, was able to do the rookie of the year last year with them. Had my S-Gel pen with me all year through taking notes. I'm a big note-taker, so, you know, it helped me out with that as well. And now me and Michael, who did it last year, Michael Pennix, are passing a pen, passing it to Ashton Jenty and T-Mack, you know, looking for them to make their mark, you know, like they did in college now at the highest level. So excited for it.

What's your favorite color, Sharpie? My favorite color? Ooh, I love the bronze. The bronze is nice. Oh, yeah, the bronze. Sneaky nice. A man, a taste. Uh-huh.

Yeah, of course. Yeah, I still got the red still, because that's what the teacher used to mark in, you know what I mean? So I still got like PTSD from the red. Oh, she had a lot of red. She had a lot of red. She had a lot of red. She's marking all over the thing. Let me ask you this, man.

Your thoughts on the rookie year of Caleb Williams. Right. Now, number one overall pick came into a situation like with you guys. You played, there were some ups. there were some downs, but it seems like when compared to some of the other rookies that maybe at the end of the year, he got lost in the shuffle. You guys got new coaching there. You have the young quarterback that everybody was so high about.

How do you, from the inside looking out, look at Caleb Williams' this first year? I thought he handled it well, honestly. I thought that, you know, he had a lot in his plate this year, being the number one pick, being a quarterback coming into a franchise that he was trying to, you know, turn around and make an impact on, like my, myself, I thought he handled it well, honestly. I know people from the outside, you know, have their own opinions. And it always is going to be, you know, when you're the quarterback of the team and the number

one pick, there's going to be scrutiny and criticism on another level. But I thought he handled it well, man. He came into the building and worked hard every single day, made a lot of plays and through the changes and through all the adversity that we face during the season, he continued to stay consistent and tenacious. So I was proud of him in that manner, and I think he's going to take a huge step going forward. What are you looking forward with the new coaching regime coming in?

I'm looking forward to, you know, their creativity, you know, their coaching style and everything, you know, what they bring to the table. I think from what I've seen, it's an intensity and it's a strive for greatness that I can appreciate and that I've seen them, you know, turn, you know, other organizations around with the same sort of style. So I'm excited what it has in store for us. And I think the chemistry and the connection is going to go great. Have you experienced summertime in Chicago yet? I haven't. I haven't to the fullest extent. Yeah, that's, I heard they call the summertime.

Shye. Somertime shot. Look, I got to tell you, Chicago, one of my favorite cities, bitter cold, but then in summer, you got all the, they feel like they got their own beach. It's everybody laying by the lake and the beach, man. Are you going to be there for the summer these year to experience? Oh, yeah. No, I'm definitely going for a little bit of summertime shy, for sure, 100%.

It was kind of the same way in Seattle. Like, Seattle's got that gloominess, like, all year. And then that summertime kick around, you're like, hold on, this is a whole different flavor, different feel. And it's probably more so in Chicago when they, they, going through negative temperatures. They can't wait until summer happens, so I'm excited for it. Yeah, 55.

They're outside. Oh, yeah. A couple more questions. Your old coach, Kailen DeBore, is now the coach of the Alabama Crimson Time. I'm a huge LSU fan, so, you know, I can't say that I want him to succeed too much. But his first year up and down, you played under him in a prolific offense. you and Michael Pinnock Jr. up there, what would you say to

Alabama fans that are a little nervous about Kailen DeBore and Alabama being that they had what, by Alabama standards, is a subpar season issue? Yeah, yeah, they got high standards over there at Bama, so I understand they're feeling and

I understand where they come from, but man, Kaelin is a generational coach, you know what I mean, and he does a great job. And with Grub coming down from the Seahawks to be the the offensive coordinator. It's going to be just like it was in Washington. And I think, you know, they're going to get ahead of steam and start rolling just like they were.

You know, it's going to take anybody to come and feel saving shoes a little bit of time just to get everything situated and everything right. But I'm excited for the future. I know they're working diligently and working hard to get everything right. So I'm excited for them to go out this next year and make massive improvements. All right. Last question before I get out of you. Get out of here. I got to ask you this because you're a young buck.

Who won the battle, Kendrick or Drake? You got to answer. I got to answer. You got to answer. Who won the battle? Kendrick or Drake? Oh, man. If I'm being honest, I think Kendrick won the battle, like the rap beef.

But at the end of the day, like, Drake still makes hits, bro. And you can't deny Drake makes hits. Like, you know, they both make hits, but I think Kendrick won the battle. But at the end of the day, it's going to make me stop listening to Drake or, like, you know, not listen. How can you, I don't even think it's possible to not listen to Drake. Right. You put on any playlist there are going to be a Drake. on there. So I think Kendrick won the beef, but Drake's still a great artist, and I'm still going

to be listening to his music. You guys heard it here, Rome. Team Drake loves Drake. The biggest Drake fan ever. I didn't say that. I didn't say that. I didn't say that. I didn't say that. I didn't say that. Hey, brother, watched you at Washington. One of the most dynamic, tough receivers. Yeah. You mild manner, but you're tough. You're tough. Looking forward to your career. Thanks for joining this, man. Really appreciate it. Thank you. Seriously. This episode is brought to you by Sweet Green. The day doesn't ask for permission.

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Before a treatment, your doctor should check you for infections and tuberculosis. Tell your doctor if you have an infection, flu-like symptoms, or if you need a vaccine. Imagine being a million miles away. Explore what's possible. Ask your doctor about Trimfaya. Tap this ad to learn more about Trimfaya, including important safety information. We are here with four-time Pro Bowler and Super Bowl champion. Joey Porter, Senior.

It's senior now because the young man doing some things on his own now. Joy Porter, Senior. How proud of you or your son? Man, super excited, man. You know, just to watch him accomplish the stuff that he's been doing, chasing the dream. The kid been at it for a long time. So watching him develop into the man that he is and having a success that he having and making it back to Pittsburgh is just awesome.

Fantastic. So you're here to do a little bit of talking about health. and wellness. And I know particularly for football players, concentrating on your health and your wellness after you played is very important because of what you guys put your bodies through. Talk a little bit about how you got into that and what do you do personally to make sure that you're still in great health.

Okay, so start for me as a player. I use a lot of GNC products. Okay. You know what I mean? I was big on the multivitamins, the pre-workout, creatine, and weight gainer. There's only four things that I only want to take.

And now that I'm not playing, but my sons are still active and love to lift, I still give them some of the same things because the way it is now, you don't never want to be in a situation to where you're getting the stuff that you're putting in your body.

I ain't never took nothing from GNC that I had to worry about not being legal. Right. Right? It's creative. Yeah. It's pre-working. workout. Weight game. Yeah. Like, what else is you trying to put in your body? Yeah.

I don't need to go to the janky shop to find out something weird. Like I'm trying to crack the code of doing something extra. I just want a little cretine ain't. I want the basics because I'm going to do the work myself. I don't need nothing extra. I'm going to do the work myself. And with this little creotene is this is going to allow me to live longer so I'm going to get stronger.

You know what I mean? So with that now, me not playing, I like to take something the same, supplements, but what works for me now? Like, I don't lift like I have a game. Right. Man, I'm retired. I'm at home. Like, my biggest challenge is looking at them stairs every time I've got to go.

Right, right, right. You know what I mean? Yeah. I got new little challenges that, but lifting and that, I just do it now. I do enough to put my wellness check. So me and GenC, GNC always been a partner with the Steelers now. They're partnered with me. So I got to ask you a question and it's a personal question.

okay for me you know I'm a little heavy right now but I also cut a little bit and I get down a little bit and whether or not I'm thinner or whether or not I'm heavier Joey I can't get rid of my tities Can G&C help me get rid of my tities?

Yes I'm gonna tell you anything that I could take is what if I was coming to Joey Porter see don't I'm gonna tell you right now tell me right now how you get rid of 50 pushups a day Keep the rang of tangs away If you don't do no push-ups Your nipples will get to start pointing that way

And that way You don't want the rang of tangs Because you ain't have to have the ring of tangs I feel you, yeah 50 push-ups I don't give a damn If you break them up Throughout the day Okay

Five sets of 10 throughout the day But if you do 50 push-ups a day That'll keep the ring of tangs away That I keep them away Yeah Is there anything I need to take From G&C that also help me So the pre-workoutout is going

get you fired up to get them 50 pushups out the way. I got you. You know what I'm saying? You don't need no weight gainer because it's already. You already got that. I appreciate it. You know what I'm saying? You ain't tripping on that part.

I appreciate you. So us, us like really is supplements that we're taking right now, like the multivitamins, stuff to get you feeling good. You know what I'm saying? Like getting feeling good to the workout. Man, we ain't about to go on there and load up all the 300, all the 45s and get the working out.

Now, man, I'll take enough of this stuff to get me fired up. After I take my pre-workout, my multi-vitamins, I can go knock out my little 35, 40 minutes. It's going to be a change find the workout. Like, I'm not about to go in there and making the weight. It's not that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

I'm going to feel good. My pre-workout, after I do my 30 minutes on the elliptical, I'm going to be sweating already. So now I'm about to go over here and, like I told you, add my little full-fool workout in because, like, I ain't walking around like Harrison. I was about to ask you, he will with it. He's still laughing like that. He's like he.

He thinks he got a game tomorrow. I ain't got a game tomorrow. Like, the workout I do, I ain't trying to mess up my golf swing. I feel you. I want to ask you about something else. So your son is competing at the highest level right now. He's competed at the highest level for a while. We're talking about Joey Jr.

From Penn State to the Steelers. We're seeing a lot of sons of professional athletes all over the place. NBA, the NFL, Major League Baseball. I look up and I'm like, Vladimir Guerrero Jr. Oh, my God. You know, you see a lot of guys. A lot of people talk about Bronny James being in the NBA playing alongside his dad. What do you think about the relationship between Brony and LeBron

and having a father and a son play together in the NBA? A little bit different than you would go for it. I mean, what do you think about it? Awesome. Because we would, first of all, think about how good LeBron. is to still be able to play with this son. Like, they look at LeBron like, oh, man, man, I think that dude got another five years left.

Like, he is, he's not running like this is his last year. Right. Like, the way he runs and take care of his body, like, I don't know that many guys. His age still jumping like that. A triple double a couple nights ago. Like, let's put into context. Like, you would start to think, all right, all right,

this is where he tell off. Like I remember when he was watching Vince Carter, like, okay, when is Vince Hopps going to leave? Right? Okay, we're like, okay, he ain't going crazy no more. But he's still a poke on you, but he ain't going crazy no more. LeBron keeps getting, like, his body in shape,

because that's the only thing that's going to stop him from playing is his body. Right. And, man, he, when he'd be doing the interviews, I'm like, how many years he got left? Yeah. Like, literally. As a father who has a son that's playing at that level, when you see the criticism that Bronny gets sometimes or that Bron and Bronny get some times, what are you think?

He's going to get that because he's doing something nobody can do, and they're jealous a little bit. Let's be honest. The league's been controlling the way they want to do it for the longest, but it's only so many people that are putting situations to have some say-so. Man, he got some say-so. You think if Michael Jordan's son wasn't good enough to have some say-so, he wouldn't have him in there? his son wasn't good enough to get slid in there. Brunney, obviously, he's done enough to where they want LeBron, and he's told him, like, my dream is to play with my son.

It ain't no secret. He'd been telling people that when he was in junior high, man, I want to play long enough to play with my son. Now he's actually played long enough to play with the son. I say, I don't think I could have played football long enough to play with my son. my neck ain't going to take on that you know what I'm saying but he's actually did something that nobody thought was going to happen and I'm not here to criticize brony because I still have the age different in my head how old he is many in the NBA yeah you know what I'm saying they sent him to

the G league he was giving him some 30s he's always going to be judged because how it happened and it's lebron and everybody else going to go all the way to low I thought so-and-so was better. I thought, man, he here. Word. So let's get to the game. Chiefs Eagles. Who you got?

How is it going to happen? What's going to go down? Well, I can't tell you how it's going to go down. I think the rematch is going to be serious because, like, Philly is better than what I think people are thinking. Like, Philly, we got beat by both of them. But Philly handled us in a way. I didn't like being handled, if I'm being honest. They had some 10-minute drives.

I mean, they did some stuff that, from a football standpoint, like, dang, man, they took control of the rock, you know what I mean? I think they have a real good old line. I think they have a good D-line. I think Kansas City has a good D-line. Great D-line. And I think that Mahomes is the difference maker, obviously. Like, he's going to keep the ball more on these third down in twos and ones.

Like, all during the season, he could just get the first down. He's not having silly turnovers when the game getting on line. Just look at the playoffs and watch regular season Mahomes and playoff Mahomes. Playoff Mahomes always keeps the ball on those third ones. Surgical, perfection, methodical. I'm not giving you the ball back. Yeah. And I'm not going to give you a silly turnover.

I'll run it. I could have did this all year, but it just wasn't because I'm really athletic. Pat. He just, he just. changes the game. Do you buy into the conspiracy theory that the refs are in the back for the Kansas City Chiefs? What do you think when you see people say that? You was on the field?

I look at it. Like, it's funny that they say that, right? So what the hell was they doing with Tom Brady for all those years, right? Like, let's be honest. Like, I watched Tom Brady get literally, the first person I ever seen get slapped on the helmet. I didn't hit my teammates for making a better place harder than the hell of that. When I slapped him on his helmet for getting a sack. Yeah.

And you did that to Tom Brady was the first time I seen 15-year-old. I was like, what? So now that it's not Tom Brady, like, mind you, mind you, when they bring up cheat, it ain't going to never get as bad as what Tom Brady in New England had, right? That shit was so bad. They had to burn the footage. It's talking about Spygate now. What we're talking about now?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Like, what, man, if you go compare it, compare it. They created shit when they was on it. We've never heard of the Tuck Rule, and all of our existence, of football ever. Imagine this. Your whole life, you've never heard of it. Then they're going to say, man, have you heard of this new rule?

What? We're going to call this shit the tuck rule. What you mean? Well, he was going to throw it, but he tucked it back in. Yeah. Tell him that. Are you kidding me? So we go call this little shit that happened, cheating?

Nah, bro. Is this a new person who they rooting for? Right. And there's getting the calls. Right. But when it was Tom, nobody was tripping. At all. now it ain't time when it was time and jacelle it was great

now was patten and Kelsey yeah yeah yeah right Taylor Swift yeah like that's who they're showing like now y'all y'all mad at that yeah but it was good when it was and the Gillette said them when it was Tom and Jacell that was cool slapping him on him at 15 breathe on him wrong 15 all that was cool now was my home getting that same it's a problem so I only got a problem because ben was too tough so he wouldn't go get those calls

You know what I'm saying? He's known for throwing people all off of you, so he wasn't going to get none of these calls anyway. So it ain't affecting us, but I'm not, nah. Last question, you brought up Taylor Swift, and thank you for joining us. She's going to obviously be at the Super Bowl. We're going to see her. What's your favorite Taylor Swift joint, man? What's your favorite Taylor Swift song?

You know what? It's funny because I'm not about to get trouble. I don't know, but there's some songs that I didn't know she sung. And then I was just sitting in the car, bumping you. bumping and this shit came on and I knew the words and then my wife was like I thought you don't know no Taylor Swift song yeah I was like who is this that's Taylor Swift I was that that's how that happens you're gonna put you on one when you use it look up a song called style Taylor Swift's style from the 1989 album Joey I just put you on baby you're gonna love it

okay you I just you I love it joy Porter or Swifty man thank you now you I'm back how did that just happen I'm a Swiftie now. Thank you for joining us, Joey, bro. It's a pleasure to meet you, man.