New Heights with Jason and Travis Kelce - Joe Thomas on Skipping The Draft, Being The NFL's Iron Man & Reviewing Real Life “Quidditch” | EP 136

Episode Date: April 23, 2025

92%ers welcome back to another episode of New Heights brought to you by our friends at Sauve Men. Check out their no-nonsense self-care today! On today’s episode, we’re joined by Cleveland Browns legend and NFL Hall of Famer, Joe Thomas! Before we get to Joe, Jason and Travis catch up by breaking down the greatest Easter tweet of all time and announcing the movies we need you to vote on for the next edition of the New Heights Film Club. Joe Thomas joins us to share his hysterical reason he skipped the NFL Draft, the wild story about meeting his starting QB for the first time while in the huddle, and how he really feels about all those Browns losing records. We also get into how he mentored a young Myles Garrett, we answer a not-dumb question about finger liquid, and why he might be headed to a “Beef Off” with Jason. We will be back next week with reactions to the NFL draft and another incredible guest. To learn more about Joe’s Hall-of-Fame beef, visit: http://sixspringsfarms.com/For even more New Heights, check out our New Heights YouTube Membership! As a member, you'll get access to full episodes, bonus videos, badges, and other stuff that will make you stand out. You can also listen to new episodes early and ad-free on Wondery+. Join Wondery+ in the Wondery App, Apple Podcasts or Spotify. ...Download the full podcast here:Wondery: https://wondery.app.link/s9hHTgtXpMbApple: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/new-heights/id1643745036Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/1y3SUbFMUSESC1N43tBleK?si=LsuQ4a5MRN6wGMcfVcuynwFollow New Heights on Social Media for all the best moments from the show: https://lnk.to/newheightshowCheck out all of our new merch’ at https://homage.com/newheightsSupport the Show:  SUAVE: Suave Men: No Nonsense Self-Care for Men. Find NEW deodorants in stores.REESE’S: Reese’s new PB&J cups. What’s your jam? Found wherever candy is sold!AMERICAN EXPRESS: For full terms and to learn more about the powerful backing of American Express, visit https://americanexpress.com/withAmexKINGSFORD: Grill with Kingsford https://www.kingsford.com/ BOAR’S HEAD: Head to your local Boar’s Head deli counter to discover thecraftsmanship behind every bite.DRAFT KINGS: Don’t miss out on all the action this week at DraftKings! Download the DraftKings app today! Sign-up using dkng.co/newheights or through my promo code NEWHEIGHTS.Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER. Help is available for problem gambling. Call [phone] or visit ccpg.org (CT).18+ in most eligible jurisdictions, but other age and eligibility restrictions may apply. Valid only in jurisdictions where DraftKings Pick6 operates. Pick6 not available everywhere, including, but not limited to NY, and CA-ONT (for up-to-date list of jurisdictions please visit pick6.draftkings.com/where-is-pick6-available). Void where prohibited. 1 per new Pick6 customer. $5+ first Pick Set to receive $50 issued as non-withdrawable Pick6 Credits that expire in 14 days (336 hours). Ends 5/4/25 at 11:59 PM ET. Terms:pick6.draftkings.com/promos Sponsored by DraftKingsSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can listen to new heights early and ad free plus unlock access to exclusive episodes of the show Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app Apple podcast or Spotify today Think you can handle the heat try quesada is all new ghost pepper chicken mole for a limited time tender chicken rich Mexican Mole sauce and then boom ghost pepper fire quada, real Mexican flavor to the max. Order in store online. Brunch is really the best meal. There's nothing better than a good brunch. I'm a basic bitch. I like brunch.

You're getting a mimosa. Yeah. More of a Bloody Mary guy. You look like you just fucking house those things. It represents you very well. If you were a drink, you'd probably be a Bloody Mary. Thick, a little too much spice sometimes. Okay. Salty.

Very salty. You have the right amount of me. It's good. And you're happy about it. You have too much of me. You're like, I gotta get the way of these fucking Bloody Marys. Hey, let's go.

Welcome back to New Heights, a wonder show produced by Wavesports Entertainment and brought to you by Schwab Men. No nonsense, self-care for men. That's what Schwab says. That's what they're selling to you people. It's good. We're your hosts. I'm Travis Kelsey.

This is my big brother, Jason Kelsey out of Cleveland Heights, Ohio, Cincinnati Bearcat alum. Subscribe on YouTube, Wondrous Plus, wherever you get your podcasts and follow the show on all social media at New Heights Show with 1S Jason. Ha ha. Did you eat breakfast today? I did, I did. Nice, he's in a good mood.

Let the people know what we got coming up. Ha ha ha ha. We got another great episode for you guys coming up right now. All right now. We're first going to get to the regular episode that we always give you guys a little bit of new news bringing back new heights film club. Little NFL draft that's happening tomorrow. Oh, shit, the draft is happening. Well, unless

some type of hurricane or natural disaster starts to strike Green Bay, they'll probably just, they'll probably just pivot to New York City. But yeah, anyways, yes, the draft is happening tomorrow. And we're going to get into it with an incredible guest, Mr. Joe Thomas. Oh, yeah. To Cleveland professional sports guys back to back. Well, man, right there. Son of a buck.

I know before we jump into it, we are going to talk a little bit about Easter weekend. That's right. We have potentially the greatest tweet ever tweeted on Easter day. This is the best thing ever. This is so fucking done. Listen, we don't give Jesus enough shout outs for taking one for the team. If we're all being honest. He's a team player. He's the epitome of taking one for the team. He died for our sins. Best leader out there, yeah. He did.

And then he rose three days later with a giant double bird as he ascended. There's no other way he didn't come out like that, right? He's straight out of that freaking tomb. Yeah, like he had to have there had to be like some Ray Lewis or WWE. Like he didn't just walk out there with his sandals with no swag. Like you rise after three days, you're coming out there with the greatest freaking entrance of all time. Somebody broke some glass and he just rose out of the ground. Right? Out of nowhere. They had a guitar back then they just

they slammed a bottle of wine down. He's got a table. Here comes Jesus with the table. I don't believe what I just saw. This is epic. Yeah, this shot, this old tweet, famously old tweet from Travis Kelsey, Happy Easter to all. Shout out to Jesus for taking one for the team. My favorite part of it is the ha ha at the end. Yeah, well, I didn well, I wanted to make sure everybody knew I was having a good time joking about this, but I couldn't take it too serious. He died for our sins so that we can sin without having any type of ramifications for it.

Yeah, and we get school off. It's a holiday. It's no school. Was that why this was tweeted? Of course. And we get school off. It's a holiday. It's no school. Was that why this was tweeted? Of course. I thought it was like a realization that this guy died for our sins. It's a free day. It was just about the free day.

That's so good. Oh, that's great. Wait, no, Easter's on Sunday. Yeah, but usually you'll get an Easter Monday sometimes. Our girls are off Easter Monday. Oh, Good Friday. That's what. Wait, no Easter's on Sunday. So yeah, but usually you'll get an Easter Monday. Sometimes our our girls are off Easter Monday Oh good Friday. That's what it was. Yeah. Alrighty and now it's time for We're bringing it back that's right new Heights Film Club brought to you by Reese's and their new peanut butter and jelly cups, holy PB and jelly cups. Holy shit! Ooh, PB&J cups? Peanut butter and jelly cups? What flavor jelly?

Did I, guys, did you guys give me some of these? Why don't we have these? Yeah, I want to be able to try these. I want to, you gave us all the other Reese's. We don't have any products? Have they came out yet? Could somebody answer me who's in charge of our brand placement stuff?

I'm trying. I'm sure they're on their way. I'm sure the good people at Reese's are shipping them as we speak. It's grape jelly, by the way. It's grape jelly? Well, I'm a grape jelly guy. There we go.

Are you a grape jelly or are you a strawberry jelly guy, Brandon? Grape. So this is where I do think there's better than grape. Blackberry is very good. You know what's very underrated is raspberry jam. Boisenberry. Raspberry jam. Raspberry has like a nice tartness to it. I don't even like raspberries. Don't like raspberry juice, cranberry or whatever the fuck that shit is. But raspberry jam. God damn. It's got just a really nice

tartness to it. It's very good. Do you have a grandfather clock? No, but I do want to get one. That noise was a grandfather clock. I mean, it's trash. We had one growing up. I know what a grandfather clock sounds like. That was a grandfather clock. We never wound it though, so it never went off. Oh, it did for a little bit. It worked for a while until we stopped bumping into it. It still works. Does it? Yeah.

Is that what it was? Is that O'Clock that I just heard? No, Jason, I'm not. All right. We are way off topic. New Heights Film Club, we're back. 92% as we do need some help picking movies as always. Listen, it's the off season. It is the off season. We got to find ways. We got to find ways to keep busy. You know what I mean? Football, there's a draft coming up this week. Thank God there's something to fucking talk about. So we got the draft. After that, you know, I think we're in the middle of baseball season.

Baseball season. There's great playoffs happening right now. NBA, NHL, NHL, shout out to Cleveland. There we go. Let's go, Kaz, baby. One and oh, hopefully get two and oh tonight. Yep, that'd be big. So I thought we were going to choose between baseball movies or sports movies in general. I kind of like limiting it to baseball movies to start then maybe going sports movies. Yeah. Let's go baseball first. Does that sound good? Yeah, let's go baseball. Let's give

them this. Let's do our top four. It's baseball season. Spring is here. Sun's out. Feels like baseball time. We got to narrow it down to four. Do we go with iconic movies? Or do we go with movies that would be fun to rewatch ones that we might not have seen since you've been older? Cause I mean like Sandlot is the greatest baseball movie of all time. That and major league to me are the top two. Major league. God damn major league is so good. Fuck. Major league is good. Yeah, it is completely different films, but both very good. Another movie that was really awesome and I'd be curious to watch it now that I'm older

is Bull Durham. Because I feel like I was too young to really comprehend it. It'd be fun to rewatch it. I fucking love that one from the get go. I loved it. I'm not saying I didn't love it, but I think it's one of those movies you're going to watch now as an adult, then you're going to think it's like 10 times funnier, or like better because you're going to be able to relate more to the characters and what they're

going through. Field of Dreams. I mean, I don't know. There's a better feel good movie than Field of Dreams. Yeah. League of their own. Oh man. League of their own Hensley, Jr. As two siblings, I think, you know, Dottie prevails for most of the movie and then loses it at the end to the younger sister whose name escapes me now. But for being honest, Dottie dropped the ball on purpose, right? Marshall S. Hensley, Jr. I guess, yeah. Stan Do you think that happened? Marshall S. Hensley, Jr. No, it couldn't have. Stan Do you think she did? They don't really tell you.

I like movies that don't leave it up for interpretation. Well, I mean, yeah, she literally like let the ball go out of her hand. I mean, catchers, people drop balls all the time. Yeah, well, maybe she was not unconscious. That play is actually illegal now. You can't do that. Well, yeah, well, it wasn't then. Just like Brian Dawkins taking off people's heads over the want to go over the middle. That was legal then.

No crying in baseball. There is crying. There is crying in New Heights. No crying in baseball is crying in New Heights. Bad News Bears is another one we might throw up there. Which one? Which one you're going to go on? You're going Billy Bob or you go on original? Probably Billy Bob. Yeah. The Billy Bob one is electric.

Yeah. So which four we going with? You said Bull Durham Yeah, the Billy Bob one is electric. Yeah. So which four are we going with? You said Bull Durham, so we'll do Bull Durham. Field of Dreams? Why don't we throw that one in there? No. League of their own?

League of their own, Bull Durham, League of their own. Two very similar movies. Cool. Do we go Major League? Yeah, throw Major League in there for the fun shit. The Rookies are great one, but again, it's another one that's like real. Rookie of the year is hilarious. Haven't seen that one in a long time. So Rookie of the year is the one where he actually pitches. What's the one where he just takes over the team as like a GM, but doesn't actually play? Do you remember that one? It was another one that was just like, fucking so stupid. But it was great.

I say either Sandlot or Rookie of the Year. Which one? Little Big League was the one I was thinking. Sandlot or Rookie of the Year, if it's between those two, it's Sandlot. I mean, as much as I think Rookie of the Year is great, Sandlot's the iconic movie of baseball. And they tried to recreate it, which I mean, Big Miss say, you can't recreate a movie like that. Like, who's playing Chunk? Like, or I'm sorry, who's playing? God damn it. Chunk. Yeah, no. Wrong movie, Jason. Fuck. Yeah, you can't recreate that movie. I think that's it. I think it's Sandlot,

Bull Durham, League of their own, Major League. That's a good four to choose from. I love it. I'm excited to watch any of these. I haven't seen them in a while. Let's hear it 92 percenters. We're going to drop this poll on Solider for you guys to vote and we'll let you know when that review is coming. Once again, New Heights Film Club is brought to you by Reese's and their new peanut butter and jelly cups. Can't wait to try those out. All right nows-Siemen Alright, now we got some more new news. Jason discovered televised Quidditch. That's right. Jason, big Harry Potter guy. He read every book when he was little and... Marshall S. Yeltsin Well, they weren't all out when I was little. I started reading when I was little, progressed to be a full grown adult reading children's books,

yes? To being a full grown adult reading children's books. Yes. Well, you were tweeting that ESPN News had Quidditch games on TV. This is correct. They did have. So they were calling it quad ball. I firmly against it being called quad ball. That's fucking Quidditch. What's happening was they had a stick between their legs. Do you know what Quidditch is? No, but it sounds like hobby horsing. It was the exact same thing as hobby horsing, just now they're playing a game with a ball. And instead of pretending like they're riding horses, they're pretending like they're riding brooms.

So Quidditch, you played on brooms in the Wizarding World, and then there's three rings. You try and throw the quaffle through one of the rings, and that gets you points. Okay. There are two balls that are like, they try and attack you and there's guys called beaters with bats that hit the balls at you. Trying to remember what those balls were called, beaters, bruisers, anyways, those balls are kind of like you're hitting them at them with baseball bats,

Anyways, those balls are kind of like you're hitting them at them with baseball bats. Bold bludgers, bludgers. All right. The last bit of Quidditch is really there's also goaltenders protecting these rings. There is a little thing called a snitch, which is a golden ball with wings and it flies around. It's really hard to catch and there is a seeker for each team that tries to catch the snitch. If you catch the snitch, I forget, it's like 100 points or something like that. So basically, in the in the real quidditch, whoever catches the snitch wins the game most

frequently. So it has nothing to do. So you why do people even try and throw in the rings? Well, there is like a little bit of if you're over 100 points, you would be in a conundrum of if you're losing, you wouldn't want to catch the snitch because the game's over if the snitch is caught. So if you catch the snitch, you'll get 100 points, but you'll still be losing points wise. It's just usually that wasn't the case in the books. Usually Harry just caught the snitch and he won the game. The real life version

of this has men and women. It is a, what's that called when men and women play the same sport? Coed. It's a coed sport. They have a stick between their legs. Big problem I had was that it was not an actual broom. If we're going to do this make-believe stuff and bring it to life, I want a real broom, wizard clothes. I don't want regular jerseys and a make-believe stick. Yeah. If we're going to LARP, you got to go full go. Exactly. Somebody responded and said that the bristles were causing like chafing or irritation. Don't give a fuck.

That's something you gotta deal with. Wear some fucking compression shorts. I don't want to hear that nonsense. Put a goddamn broom between your legs. Otherwise, what are we even doing? They still had the coiffle. People were throwing that through. Goaltender.

Instead of the beaters beating with bats, they had the balls. They're playing dodgeball, right? So they could just hit people with the ball whenever they wanted to, which was pretty fun. The funniest goddamn part of this whole thing, the snitch, was just a person with a yellow shirt on and the word snitch written down his clothes. And he had a towel in the back. And in order to catch the snitch, you had to get the towel off of the guy's back, the flag. Do you get a hundred points for grabbing somebody's towel?

Well, it was different in the in quad ball or real life quidditch made up word. The you only have 30 points. So the snitch is worth way less. So not as not as fun. I think if I played I get that snitch in a heartbeat. That guy was struggling. He was getting like passed off. The guy, the seeker that was trying to get it was just getting pass blocked and he like had no moves. Like, dude, fucking you got to get a little swim and a fucking get his hands off of you.

It was embarrassing. He was getting it took him a long time to get that snitch. You sat here and watch this. Honestly, it was the most fun I've had watching a sport in a long time. It was fantastic. And I want to participate. Yeah. All right.

But we're going real broom. I'm going Nimbus 2000. I think it's Nimbus 2000. What is that? Don't worry. It's a really good broom. It's the best. Oh, nice.

Yeah. Yeah. So anyways, that's what I did this weekend while I was watching ESPN. Jason, not a joke. You have been invited to Quad Ball Nationals happening in Richmond, Virginia. I mean, listen, I don't know when it is, but if I can make it, that's not that far. I would love to potentially play. Is there like an exhibition before the Nationals game that I can partake in? I would love to try and get out there on a broom and see what I can do. I've always wanted to play.

Sweet nerd. All right, here we go. April 26th, 27th. So, uh, get ready. It's like two weeks. Yeah. It's pretty soon. It's coming.

That's this weekend. Yeah. And the last bit of new news would be,, I won't be able to make it, but... Thank you to everyone who voted for the 2025 Webby Awards, New Heights to Cove, the award for best video series, and was honored for best co-host. So here we go. Nice. So we aren't really the talent here.

Our editing team is the talent here. Our editing team is the talent here. So thank you guys for voting and shout out to our team that edits all the video stuff because you guys just won a Webby. And that does it for new news. Hey, let's get to this Joe Thomas interview. Cleveland's finest. He's not from Cleveland, but he is Cleveland's finest. I mean, he was there for long enough. He counts Wisconsin's finest. Big, big shout out to our sponsor, Suave Men's Deodorant, new and built to handle serious sweat. And it's under three bucks without breaking the bank. And the new Suave Men's Deodorant comes in three killer cents and is loaded with sweat fighting ingredients

That actually hold up through the real life. What are your sweaty? Situations you deal with Travis as soon as I get dehydrated. I'll drink coffee and start sweating leaking out of my pits dehydrated How do you sweat if you're dehydrated if you're dehydrated? You have nothing to sweat you got to be hydrated to sweat if I drink coffee or I drink something that's going to dehydrate me like beer Alcohol or anything like that like I immediately start sweating. Yeah, I agree with you have beers is a big one Are you are you more of an armpit sweater or an ass sweater armpit? Maybe two. Okay. Well anyways, whatever your sweaty moment is It's handled with suave because it has more sweat fighting power than the number one brand available now at retailers nationwide. Thank you to our partner Reese's and their new peanut butter and jelly cups, which we are really looking forward to trying out.

In strawberry and grape, now for a limited time only. The iconic PB&J taste we all grew up with. Plus, Reese's cups, the greatest candy in the world. That's an instant must-have right there. And they're only for a limited time. That's right you gotta go now go fast because they're going fast. That's right Reese's peanut butter and jelly a complete candy no-brainer. No-brainer indeed. Reese's is always trying new combinations. Could this be the best one yet Jason? I'm probably gonna lean towards grape every time. It's interesting because I feel like strawberry pairs better with chocolate. Like chocolate covered strawberries is a thing. Chocolate covered grapes isn't. So like peanut butter and jelly to me is always peanut butter and grape jelly. Strawberry might be something

that would taste good with a Reese's peanut butter and jelly cup. So get into the greatness of not just one, but two new Reese's peanut butter and jelly cups in strawberry and grape. Decide which one you love most or just fall in love with both of them. Get them while you can because they're here for a limited time only. Reese's new peanut butter and jelly cups. That's right. What's your jam? Found wherever candy is sold. Now a moment brought to you by American Express. Yeah Jason, what do you uh what do you look forward to on a trip? I look forward to food. I look forward to fun, having fun outside the hotel.

I look forward to what is the hotel like and how's the bed. Well, Jason, all of those things you can get with American Express. No matter what kind of traveler you are, the American Express Platinum Card offers a range of benefits designed to enhance your journey, Jason. Like... Enjoying access to Centurion lounges

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around the globe. When you add your platinum card to your Rezzy profile. That's the power for backing of American Express. Yes, yes it is. For terms and to learn more, visit americanexpress.com slash with Amex. There's tons of things you can bundle with it. It's not just a credit card that allows you to pay for

things. There's a lot of deals. There's plenty of things to go on. There's interactive ways that you can interact in the real world with it. So, you should go get one maybe. Yeah. Yeah, what a warm welcome my friends. Yeah, looking good. What's up, dude? What's up guys? How we doing today? Jason's trying his hardest to to pull off the Joe Thomas have a Hall of Fame career

and then just turn into an action figure afterwards dude. Dude look at that guy you've made me extraordinarily jealous with them guns showing up on my screen I'm gonna call the cops here in a second this is dangerous. Holy shit. So good. What you got going on? Not much just out at the farm today you know doing the cattle thing hanging out and enjoying some beautiful weather, getting ready for heading up to Green Bay for the draft. So nice busy week. Nice. Yeah, baby. Let's talk about it. Love that. Let's do it. Let's talk. All right, here we go. Jason. Alrighty, our guest today is NFL Hall of Famer from Brookfield, Wisconsin. 10-time Pro Bowler, 6th time first team All-Pro, NFL 2010s All-Decade Team, a member of the

Cleveland Browns Ring of Honor, and the record holder for most consecutive snaps played with 10,363. God damn! 90% of the players, please welcome NFL legend Mr. Joe Talibas! the the the the I'm so happy to be here and have a chance to chat it up with my boys. We have got a little bit of a long history together So this is great that we get a chance to chill and hopefully those guns that you're showing me here on the screen

Jason don't jump through and shoot me. I'd like to make it to the draft this weekend. I know I know you're being Funny here, but you're covering yours up. You got some guns under there. I know you do. Oh, yeah How much how much weight did you lose right away when you retired yeah so watching a bunch of guys that had done it before me I knew like hey I'm either gonna lose this weight right now or I'm gonna go the other way and be like 400 pounds so I lost like 60 pounds I think in the first six months after I retired 60 pounds and you did that keto, right? I think I remember talking to you before. Yeah, yeah, we chatted a little bit after you retired and I was like, hey, what's the

fastest way to do it? You know, I talked to our nutritionists a bunch in Cleveland and, you know, reading online trying to figure out, okay, you know, how do I do this quickly? Because I would like to feel better. A big reason why I retired, even though I tore my tricep my last season, it was really because I had a real bad knee and the doctor was like, Hey man, you need to lose some weight. And for every pound you lose, it's basically three less pounds that goes through that knee.

So the faster you can get it off, the better that knee is going to feel. And I felt horrible, like walking down the stairs on my butt, like going backwards. Like I was, I was hurting a lot. Oh man. I think I only practiced like three times my last, uh, season in the NFL. Cause I just couldn't do it. Right. So I wanted that knee to feel better. So it was easy to get that weight off quick.

Well, that's what 10,000 snaps in the NFL consecutive will do to you. I mean, it's going to be hard on the joint. Yeah. What is so how does the knee feel good now? Is there hope? Great. Yeah. It was weird because you know, just playing left tackle, you get like very specific joint issues playing for sure of offset, you know, one leg forward. Yeah, exactly. Always turning like that. So I have like

bulging discs all on the right side of my back. I've got, I just had my right hip replaced and my left knee, the outside of my left knee was really like shredded cheese. So that was really the issue that was causing all sorts of pain was just being in that stance. That stance that I always kind of had with my left leg really tucked up under it. And so now that I don't do those left tackle things anymore, like I can function very normally and my knee feels great. Fuck. Yeah. You just say you had your right hip replaced. Yeah. Like three weeks ago. What?

Why? What happened? Already back working on the farm. This guy is fucking. Yeah, yeah, football. Hey, the cattle ain't waiting for anybody, man. Toughest guy. How does it feel?

It's feeling great, actually. Like I did a couple posts on my Instagram because a lot of people have hip problems and they're kind of putting off the hip replacement, but all the players that I talked to that had gotten hip replacements early in their 40s were like dude do it right now because it's like three four weeks you'll be back on your feet you'll be doing most of the normal stuff six weeks about

perfect health and you will never look back because really basically the rest of your life you'll never have to deal with those hip problems that you had so it's been even better than I kind of anticipated. Day one, walking around and now I'm three weeks out and chasing after cattle a little bit and chasing the kids at home. So it's been awesome. Hell yeah. Let's go baby.

Let's go back to where it started. Well, I guess where the NFL started. You mentioned you were going to the draft in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Wisconsin Badger himself, since the draft is tomorrow, what was your draft day like? We know you jumped on the water, you went fishing with the family, right?

I remember that day in 2007, Washie, because Cleveland was our, back in 07 was our team. You know what I mean? That's our pride and joy right there. So we knew the story and everything, but tell us a little bit about why you did the the boat and instead of going to New York City and how fun it was to be on the water Yeah, you guys were in short pants there back in Full of bronze gear on it

Yeah, it was awesome So I really never had grown up watching the draft because you know, when I was a kid, like the draft, maybe it was on TV but I couldn't find it. I mean, I didn't have cable so uh I never watched the draft and dreamed of that moment. Of

course, as a kid, I wanted to play in the NFL but to me, the draft was just like getting the answer, you know, the the results of your test in science class where it's like, hey, you either did a good job or you didn't do a good job and

then, you know, this is where your life's gonna go from there And so I always had a tradition on Saturdays as a kid growing up that I would go fishing with my dad Like that was our thing. That was our time together So cool man, and you go through the whole pre draft process, right? So you got the combine and the workouts and you do all these things You don't have a whole lot of time for regular life and And then the draft comes and you have a very, very small window before they whisk you away to wherever team drafts you. And you got OTAs and mini camp, you go right into training camp. So this is like your only little window to reconnect with family and friends before you're pretty much disconnected for like a year.

Right. And so I was headed in my mind like, hey, I got a little time. I'm going to go fishing. Like I don't have to be anywhere right now. He's in the barn as far as training and stuff. So I was going to go fishing in it. And then, uh, at that time they invited five players to the draft. So they would kind of pick the top five guys that they thought it was only five. Only five.

Right. Wow. Very interesting. And so I didn't even really think about like, Hey, they might've asked me to come. I knew I was going to be a high draft pick, but, um,. And so, I didn't even really think about like, hey, they might have asked me to come. I knew I was going to be a high draft pick but um

Bill Brandt, the hall of fame scout from the Dallas Cowboys, he was in charge at that time of being able to decide, alright, you know, who's going to go to the draft, who's coming, right? So, he calls me up and he's like, hey, Joe,

congratulations. I want to let you know that you're going to be going to New York for the draft. You know, we'll get somebody in touch that can do the logistics, but we want you to fly out there like on Wednesday. And then you got this thing to do and that thing to do. Make sure you get a couple pairs of suits. And and then like Saturday is the big day. And you can, you know, bring a couple of your family members and get to go on stage with Roger Goodell and all this stuff.

And he was hyping it up like I was going to be all excited. And there was a big pause on the phone and I was just like, hey, bad news, Gil, but I already got plans on Saturday. I'm going fishing with my dad. He was like, wait, wait a minute. Nobody's ever said no to the draft. He didn't even comprehend it just the way I didn't comprehend ever going to the draft. And I think he was like, all right, just a minute. I'll be right back to you. you know? And I think he probably like called up the people in the draft and you know, at that time, they were trying to make a big show out of it, right?

So they needed the actors to show up for the show. Oh yeah. And so he calls back the next time and he's like, Hey Joe, I know you said you have plans, but we really need you there. You know, we got the TV there. You got an opportunity to market yourself, get your face out there to NFL fans and corporations

where you can do some stuff and start making some money. And I go, Hey Gil, I'm an offensive lineman. I don't exactly think that I'm going to make any money marketing or endorsements. Have you looked at me? I'm like, if I make money in the NFL, it's for how I play. So thank you for the offer, but I'm really not interested. So he was again, taking a back.

So then he calls back like a day later and he's like, Hey, you know, we really need you there. Like some scouts have been talking that you're pre Madonna, that you don't want to go to the draft. It's really going to hurt your draft stock. And at that point, the pre Madonna from Wisconsin. Yeah. I'm like, okay. The pre Madonna going fishing with his dad.

Yeah. Sorry. I spent the time with my dad. I mean, get the fuck out of here. That's such a joke. So he's like trying to play that. And you guys know how it is. Like us as athletes, I think generally,

like we try to be kind people because we were always the biggest kid in the class. You know, we didn't want to like beat anybody up, get in trouble, you know, unless we had to. But when we had to, like, we were going to throw some shit down and then it was going to happen. And now all this stuff that's like, fuck me, fuck you.

Yeah, that's all that's up. All right, I'm definitely not fucking going because you're trying to pull this pre-Madonna shit and so like don't even call me back I'm not interested like don't waste my time anymore I don't want to waste your time. So I called my agent and I'm like look I'm not going and he's like well I totally get it it's no problem but we just need to make sure whatever you do that day you need to have cell service because we need to be able to call you. It's important. As you guys remember, maybe on your draft day, I think you probably did, like they want to call you and talk and just make sure have you been arrested. Make sure you haven't gotten hurt and nothing's happened last second. Yeah, exactly. Like everybody, not everybody,

a lot of people party a little bit, you know, the night before their draft, they got family, friends or whatever. They want to make sure everything is the same. You know, you're not in handcuffs, you know, nothing's happened. And so I was like, all right, I can make that concession. I'll fish close enough to the cell phone towers that I can talk to the whoever drafts me. And so he's like, Okay, great. I'll handle it from here. Like you don't need to stress about this anymore. And so, like, I didn't hear from him for a while, like few weeks and my agent, he handled a Peter Schaefer did a great job and then like finally I think Gil came around and

understood like he ain't coming to the draft so I finally got a call like hey I'm sorry about that you know don't worry you don't have to come to the draft it's okay you can go fishing with your dad and it was kind of like yeah he was trying to smooth things over again yeah so that's the story I ended up going fishing with my dad got drafted third overall by the Browns and the Ironic thing about it all was I was doing it just to spend time with my dad Get away from the cameras and stuff and like didn't want to make a deal about it or a big story But now it's like every time the draft comes up

That's what people want to talk about the funny thing is is that this made so much more headlines for the NFL doing this than going to that. Like, how relatable is it? And first of all, like, you know how much this entrenched you right away in Cleveland? Midwest town, driving you. And it's like, this dude's going fishing with his dad and telling New York to fuck off. Yeah, sign us up for this guy right now. They're so relatable for so many people out there, right? Like this guy's having the pinnacle of his entire athletic career is about to happen. He's

about to realize his dream of playing the NFL and how's he going to do it? He's going to do he's going to have a moment with his dad fishing and doing something that he's loved his whole life and stay true to his roots. So good on you. How was the day though? What'd we catch? What we catch? What was the water good by the cell towers or were we, you know, we made it work. And you know, the humble brag in me says, you know, I didn't have to wait too long. So the fishing trip was not as quickly as long for some other people. Cause I got drafted third overall. So we ended up catching a couple of Brown trout, which I thought was kind of cool.

the they're going to fly to you like walk show, Wisconsin, tiny little airport. They're going to pick you up. They're going to turn around, take you to Cleveland because you do need to finally get a suit, put your suit on, go to Cleveland. They need to have this introductory press conference. It'll be great. You'll love it. And so I brought my, uh, I think my, my fiance at the time, Annie, and then my parents and stuff and we flew out and did all like the dog and pony show and stuff. And in the end, it turned out it worked out a lot better for me and the NFL, like you mentioned, because, you know, what's better for the NFL than like,

Hey, there's some down home guys that are shining the spotlight. They just want to be all about football and family. Absolutely. Hell yeah. Bait and tackle you fly fishermen. What's your, what's your preferred fishing style? Yeah. So I love all fishing. My favorite type of fishing is like Bobber fishing, honestly, or like little jigging. You know, I grew up fishing and going on Lake Erie when I was playing for the Browns that guy would go out every chance I got and if I could cast for walleyes like drifting cast or like throwing yeah like the old Erie Deere's and stuff like that like anytime I can be connected to my bait

where I'm feeling that hit that strike to me that's fishing like I do a bunch of trolling and that's how you you collect meat if you're out on Lake Erie you troll for walleye you troll for steel right yeah it's not as much fun just really you're going for trophy fish big fish you got a troll but yeah it's definitely I hate trolling if I'm being honest I've only done it one time it's not my style now I like feeling it so I remember watching your draft day highlights because I obviously we were both Cleveland

fans yeah we had the third pick we're all used up like who are we gonna take and everybody kind of knew we were both Cleveland fans. We had the third pick. We're all geared up like who are we going to tag? And everybody kind of knew we were going to go after you. There was all these highlights of like, not only is he strong, but he's out here on a receiver screen kicking out a court. Like there was athleticism showed. What is your prototypical lineman that you think of? Like if you're evaluating guys coming out of college, what is the like the tackle? What are the traits that you think of, like if you're evaluating guys coming out of college, what is the like the tackle? What are the traits that you think every like a premier tackle should have? Well, it was interesting because like the late 90s, to me was

like the golden era of offensive tackles like Jonathan Ogden, how Jones like there was Willie Rove, there was such a big group of enormous human beings that were three 50, three 60, and they were great athletes. They were ballerina on their feet. Um, and nobody got through them and they were great run blockers. He always kind of saw myself as an undersized tackle. Um, great athlete, I could move, but the thing that I had to learn the most when I got to the NFL was how to stop the most when I got to the NFL was how to stop the

bull rush, right? Cuz you got guys like Demarcus Ware screaming off the edge. Terrell Sugg screaming off the edge. James Harrison. They're trying to run you over, right? Especially as a rookie like they want to see if you can

have any lead in your ass and you can probably stop the bull rush, right? Mm hmm. And so, I got a lot of that early on in my career and it took a little while to figure out how to react, see the bull rush to sit quick but also to be light enough where you could react to that second move.

Um, but to me, if I'm looking at like today's NFL, I'm like, Trent Williams is like the prototypical, like the best, if I could look and, uh, have the athleticism and the strength and power of Trent Williams, that'd be perfect. Like 325, but still running that four eight, still running that 4.3 pro agility like... Oh my gosh. To me, that is exactly what you want in a tackle. But you're seeing a lot smaller tackles nowadays than when I first got in the NFL. I think because it's much more of an open game, right? There's not as much of a focus on can you grind people out in the run game.

Let's talk about a little bit of what you're doing in in Green Bay for the for the Browns. You're announcing the Browns second round pick. That's right. I'm pumped. You know, have you have you kind of stayed around the organization mentioned you are in Germany last year, but have you kind of stayed around the organization in terms of I don't know just kind of keeping the keeping the relationships and and getting around Cleveland when you can. Yeah.

So even though Kevin Stefanski is a coach that I never played for um I have a really good relationship with a lot of the coaching staff. Um Andrew Berry, the GM. He was actually an assistant GM when I was there. So, a little relationship there and obviously relationship with the Hasm and a lot of the people that are still there in the organization and when I retired, I was like, you know what? It's it would be really

hard to transition to a post career without having football in my life, without having the Cleveland Browns in my life. And so they were really lucky. Sorry, I was really lucky that they were willing to open up a space on the media side for me. So I do their preseason games. I do a radio show during the week with them after their, uh, after their games and then throughout the season, I just do like fun content with them,

right? Which is just fun more than anything, just staying plugged in and going out there for a weekend training camp every year, which gives me the opportunity to be able to do a little bit of that media stuff, but also get in there and watch practice, meet the guys, maybe give some coaching points to a few of the players and you know, try to just give some of that wisdom that I've learned all throughout those years to the guys that, you know, I really want to have that success throughout their career. You got to pass it along, man.

Was there anybody, uh, when you came into the league, that was like the one giving that wisdom, whether they were on the team or just, uh, kind of a, a phone, a friend type deal. I was really lucky because when I was a rookie in Cleveland, a lot of the linemen were older guys and, uh, you know, one of the guys that really, really helped me was Hank Fraley. He was our center. Yeah. Oh, begot donuts.

If you're an old honey bun, don't have winners from the honey buns. That was him. Um, and he was helpful, right? Because he was a center. He was really, really smart. He understood technique. He played with Trey Thomas and John running and in Philly and those guys are two all pro pro bowl tackles that he learned a lot from, but he was also super smart, like super cerebral. And so he helped

me see the big picture because that's what you have to do as a center. And when you come in as a tackle, especially a rookie, like I'm just trying to figure out who the fuck I'm supposed to block. I'm not worried about everyone. I'm just trying to

figure out who the fuck I'm supposed to block. I'm not worried about everyone. I'm just trying to figure out who the fuck I'm supposed to block. like super cerebral and so he helped me see the big picture because that's what you have to do as a center and when you come in as a tackle especially a rookie like I'm just trying to figure out who the fuck I'm supposed to block I'm not worried about everybody else but understanding through his eyes when you see the big picture it makes you the puzzle that you're trying to put together on every play it makes it so much easier so even though I don't know exactly what I'm supposed to do like I can use deductive reasoning if I see the big picture to be able to figure out, okay, how does this work together? Right.

And it just makes your brain work faster when you're reacting on the field. Context closed. Yep. I remember when Hank went in there, when he was in Cleveland, who was the center? So he came in the starter, got her. Was it Fane? Was it? LaCharles Bentley. I think Charles, but LaCharles with a huge free agent signing, right? All pro center in the league. And he comes into Cleveland. First walkthrough. The first, like first thing of training camp.

And he blows out his patellar tendon and never played another down of football again. Just a terrible story. Damn. And he was a hometown hero because he went to St. Ignatius. He was from the Cleveland area. He had come back. But yeah, Hank played pretty dang good, I thought.

Like he was, as somebody who didn't really know much about the game at the time, he stood out to me. What was it like getting drafted to the Cleveland Browns, man? Did you know anything about the city? Did you, like, what were your, like, where were the first places you went in the city? I'm so curious on everybody's like first introduction to cleveland Um, tell us about it. Yeah, so

with three cleveland guys here, this is easy to uh Pump the tires of the cleveland area, but man, I was so happy dude Let's go because One my dad's side is all from the Toledo area. So I used to come to Toledo every summer and we'd go out there for the family reunion. We'd see all my dad's side of the family and we go fishing on Lake Erie. And, you know, obviously fishing big part of my life. So being drafted and being able to live right on Lake Erie and go fishing in my free time,

I was so pumped. And then I think also for me at that time, it was really important for me to stay in the Midwest. I was really interested because I think that, you know, East coast fans are incredible. There's a lot of them, right? They're super passionate. Um, but I think there's something about like throughout the Rust Belt in the Midwest, like that's all they got right is their team and they just love it. And they just absorb, uh, every single little thing, little detail that comes out

of there and they're a ride or die no matter what happens. And I knew that's how the Browns fans were. I was able to absorb every single little thing, little detail that comes out of there and they're a ride or die no matter what happens and I knew that's how the Browns fans were and I had known a little bit about their history because we had a guy on the the Badgers

with me, Dante Sanders, who is he's a Cleveland guy. Oh yeah, he's a Bedford guy. Yeah, yeah. Bedford. Wow. Back there coaching now somewhere but he was a huge Browns fan. So, he'd always turn the Browns games on in the locker room in college. And so I knew that, you know, they had this incredibly

robust, proud history of championships with Jim Brown and Otto Graham and all these guys. And since the Super Bowl era, they haven't won a Super Bowl, haven't even been there. And then since they came back in 99, they've been kind of poopy. And so for me, it was- Understatement. Yeah, I've always enjoyed like building something from nothing, right? Take a lot of pride and really just sinking my teeth into something and being part of like,

let's build this from nothing, from the ashes and make these champions. And we didn't do that, spoiler alert. But when I got drafted, I was just full bore ahead thinking, man, this is great. This is exactly where I want to be. It's in front of the fans that appreciate offensive line play. You know, they're not bowing me because you drafted a tackle number three overall and just being able to live in Cleveland amongst people that I understood.

Like it was just a perfect fit for me. Why didn't they do that? What do you think when has been going wrong in Cleveland? Not as of late, I guess, let's just talk about your career. Like, you guys are close. You guys had some great offensive lines during your time in Cleveland. Yeah, never played in a postseason game. Like, what was that process like playing?

I mean, you played on a winless team in Cleveland. I can't even imagine that Travis hasn't had one losing season. Like you're talking to the most lucky fucking guy on the planet. One head coach. I mean, anyway, so yeah, I don't know. What was that like? We're very jealous. Trust me. Trust me. Talking to guys, guys with multiple Super Bowl rings on the other side, I'm very jealous.

But you know, it was tough. I mean, there's no easy way to put it. Losing in the NFL is so hard. And I think the Haslams took over in, I don't know, 2014, 2013, somewhere in there. And you know, in 2016, 17, that was the two years we went one in 15 and no one 16. And I think their philosophy at that point was like, Hey guys, we don't have a team that's good enough to win right now. So we're going to trade back. We're going to collect draft capital. We're going to collect salary cap space. And then we're going to get a bunch of young talent.

We're going to let them play together and kind of go through the challenges and the difficulties that when you have a young team you deal with. But then year three, we're going to be a lot better and we're going to have all the salary cap space to spend on free agents. We're going to have these draft picks. And I don't think they fully understand or at the time understood how painful it is to lose in the NFL. Right. You only get one one chance every

week and how you feel that whole week is 100% related to whether you won or lost. When you lose, you feel sick the whole week and in Cleveland, you guys know it. Everybody in town feels sick that whole week when you lose. It is so painful. It is so miserable and to go one and. And to go one in 15 and then go, oh, it's 16. Well, you can imagine it was not a lot of sunshines and rainbows in Northeast Ohio, and certainly not in my house there in Westlake, it just sucked. Like you hated going to work every fucking day. The fans booed you. They, you know, they still showed up because it's Cleveland,

but they were there to boo you not to cheer you. Yeah. Damn man. One of the hardest things to kind of weather is is how many quarterbacks you guys went through and obviously the notorious jersey of like long listed names that's that's how many of them could you name do you think? Very few. I'm trying to remember very few of them. Uh, not exactly the greatest memory ever, uh, is all the different quarterbacks. I think I played for like 20 and 11 years. So, well, who are your, uh, who would give us, give us your, uh, your top five, who you, who you play. So, um, my rookie season, we were actually 10 and six.

It was my only winning season. So Travis, let that sink in. One season in 11 years. Uh, Derek Anderson was our quarterback. He didn't even start this season. We had Charlie Fry was the starter week. Yes. I should have just retired after week one because going into that game, uh, Charlie Fry was our starter.

He was also the captain and he was the hometown hero. We play the Steelers at home. My first NFL game going against James Harrison, who will be in the hall of fame soon, and that was tough enough, but we were getting our ass kicked. He got sacked. Charlie did like six times in the first half at halftime. They benched him. Okay.

Derek Anderson comes in, doesn't do much better Monday after the game. Mind you, this was our starting quarterback and our captain. And I came from Wisconsin where we had a lot of success. And, you know, if, if you have a quarterback and he's your captain, like he's your dude, like, he's your writer guy. Like you would do anything for that guy. And you're spending all off season trying to build camaraderie and relationships and see the same things that he does. And on Monday, they traded him to the Seattle Seahawks for like a six round pick. So I was like, what the fuck is this NFL stuff? Like our starting quarterback, who was our captain, just got traded and benched in the first two days of facing my NFL season.

It's aggressive. It's pretty aggressive. Yeah. You guys ended up going to get another quarterback that that following year and Brady Quinn though, right? Brady was actually in my draft class. So I got drafted third by Cleveland and a lot of people in Cleveland because he was a Columbus guy, but the other hometown ish guy grew up a Brown sand, love Bernie Kozer. So a lot of people thought they would draft Brady third. Well, he slid in the draft and then they traded back up. I think with the Cowboys draft him like in the 20s. So, a lot of people thought they would draft Brady third. Well, he slid in the draft and then they traded back up. I think with the

Cowboys, right? Draft him like in the 20s. So, we came in together and he had a couple years as a starter like your twos, two, and three of my. He was the most jacked quarterback I had ever seen. Yeah, that was probably what held him back.

Like, his arms were bigger than uh. Jason's over there. I'm not sure if that's even possible but it's kind of hard to throw when you got pipes like that, bro. Man, it's in the way to watch. I was uh, that was I remember that was the first like college game I ever saw was Brady Quinn versus uh, I was Pittsburgh. It was Notre Dame, Pittsburgh Um, I forget the let uh, palco Oh, yeah, yeah, Tyler palco. Yeah, shout out to Casey. Either way, man. Brady was a stud. You played, fuck man, you played with a lot of fucking QBs, man. Remarkable, to be honest with you. Yeah. And

still had the Hall of Fame career you did. Did it ever get to the point where you just stopped introducing yourself to quarterbacks when they walked in? Well, I did have one time in my career. It was like, I don't know, year five or six, uh, another spoiler alert. We weren't very good. Uh, I think we were four and 12 that year, but we were playing the Steelers the very last game of the season. It's in Pittsburgh, right? And of course you hate Pittsburgh.

You want to fuck them up, even though, you know, we're not going to the playoffs and they are. Um, and so it was actually kind of a close game down the stretch at the time. Thad Lewis was our starting quarterback. So there's another one I remember. Great. I should say proper introduction. The great Thad Lewis was our quarterback and it was like a six to 10, six to 14 game. Either way, it was like a one score game in the fourth quarter. It was a slugfest, December 31st. Holy shit. I got my long underwear on my fur and my helmet.

And I'm like, holy cow, we may actually win this game. Like we're driving down the field. It's in the fourth quarter and we're just getting into the Heinz red zone. You know, we're going towards the river there and the old Heinz field. I don't know what the fuck they call it now, but it's not. I feel it's called Acresure. It's still Heinz field to me. Something I can't say, but it's high for me.

Yeah. So we're going there, going in the river. I'm like, damn, we can fucking win this thing. And, um, my left guard, who is a backup, he, uh, as you'll give some appreciation was his first, like couple of games as a starter. And we have just a two jet protection, just super basic, like we're sliding left. Like this is the first protection you install in your playbook. No doubt. And Alex Max, my center, he says lion, which our call then was like, Hey dipshit, even if you didn't hear lion, like two jet, we're going that

way, bro. Find the mic. So what does he do? He goes to the right. And so they're playing a three, four at the time. So opposite of a lion. Okay. Is it of a lion opposite of a two jet? Like this is not possible. So he goes to the right and James Harrison's at outside linebacker. So I'm sliding out to him. And, um, I think it was maybe Brett Keisel was playing the end or four technique, I can't remember for sure, but, um, he's on block now, right? Cause left guard, that's your dude.

You're kicking out the other way. If Gar goes the wrong way, goes the wrong way. So he steam rolls that and you know, detaches his head from his body. That's already our third string quarterback. All of a sudden in the huddle, we're like, damn, this is not good because we

actually don't know who the next guy in is, right? Like that week that we had signed a guy to be the backup emergency quarterback, but I didn't know who he was. Right. So we looked at the sideline. Of course, this guy's like panicking. He's like, you know, trying to warm his shoulder up, get a couple of throws in,

and the trainers are taking their time on the field, you know, because the quarterback's down, but they don't want to hurry up because we've got to get this other guy like up to speed and warmed up a little bit. It's a cold day in Pittsburgh. So he trots out on the field after they get Thad Lewis's lifeless body off the field. He comes into the huddle and it's still a TV timeout. And I look around the huddle I could see in everybody's eyes like nobody knows who this fucking and I can feel that you're this cadence for the

first time. I guarantee this will be a sack. Yeah, blaming me the guys watching in Japan are thinking that the Bozo left tackle doesn't know staff. Yeah. Well, it was a quarterback, but I can't say that as a captain. I'm like, OK, I got to do something here, right? There's a lot of tension being built here and it's just rising as this time out keeps going on. And so I like I was I got to say something funny.

So I'm like, hey, nice to meet you. I'm Joe Thomas. I'm your left tackle. Let's go down the field and get a fucking score and win this game. You know, everybody laughed and I learned in that moment. His name was Josh Johnson. He ended up playing like a long time. He's still playing.

Somewhere. I think he played for 14 teams. But anyways, next play. It was third down and I think he threw it in completion and we lost the game. But speech led us to victory. Universe that worked out perfectly. When I write my biography and they do the movie like we go down and scored win the game and like, somehow like maybe we

have a parade. But but that didn't happen. But either way, I got a fun story out of it. And I learned who Josh Johnson was. Shout out to Josh Johnson. Shout out to Josh. Thank you for coming in for one play. You played against some absolute monsters on defense in your time in the AFC North. Who are the guys that were either like you're welcome to the NFL moment or like, just like you're playing them in their prime and you think of as Some of the best defensive players in the NFL from that time

Yeah, so when I was a rookie the other three teams in the AFC North It was I was going against Justin Smith who I think Was like one of the first dudes ever to be named first team all pro at two positions in the same season, because he was playing in the three, four in San Francisco at the time. And he got named as an all pro defensive tackle and DN, you know, because he played that four, four I, so, you know, he got most of the tackle and base. He's a DN.

Yeah. Yeah. So I was going against him. So that was, um, the second game of my career. The first game of my career was James Harrison. I was like, okay. Right. And then the third guy will be future hall of famer trail sucks. So I was

playing against like three hall of famers potentially. I don't know if Justin will make it, but like the other two guys for sure. And, uh, it was not, it was not pretty, but you know, you better buckle up your chin strap like, and get your shit

right rookie Because there's no easy days here in the AFC North. Yeah, I'm glad you run up Justin because that was one of the first games I played my rookie year, but he was in San Fran Yeah And I had never really heard like I was like high pick for Cincinnati for some reason he didn't have like a big name Around him and we're getting ready to play the 49ers when they had that front where it was like they had him They had Ray McDonald. They had Navarro Bowman, Patrick Willis. Alden Smith on the edge was a monster.

They were unreal. And this dude is bull rushing every snap. Like, you know, how do you even have the endurance to do that? Because typically like a bull rush early on, I'll stop it. I'll get that like once or twice. I'll get like a real good one from this guy. The rest of the game, we're going to be playing a different type of game. It was ever.

I'm like, this dude is amazing. This guy's the best player I've ever seen in my life. I don't know how we're going to block this guy. He, and we didn't. Yeah. He played every snap as a D tackle DN. Like he never came off the field. Like he's as much of an Ironman as anybody in the NFL. And

we always said like, if there was a train wreck and 200 people were involved, like 199 would die and Justin Smith is going to dust himself off and walk away and go to a pub visor at the bar down the street. He was just that old school, like he had an Analyzer Bush tattoo on his arm. He was just an old school country boy. Like all he knew was just playing ball. Gosh, he was good. I mean, obviously Terrell Suggs, I mean the biggest head I've ever seen, I think on a defensive end, I mean.

Came through Kansas City and catapulted us into the Super Bowl, man. There you go. Sizzle was, I was not trying to fucking be in basketball protection against him in protection against some of those old school dudes like Harrison and and and Suggs. I mean, don't get me wrong. It's not like they were ever out of their prime. They were good until they stopped playing. But

man, some of those dudes could just literally pick me up and move me over just like, excuse me, little guy. What was your strategy to stop James Harrison's dip and rip? It was like the most unstoppable move I think I've ever seen anybody have where he would just bend real low and then he had the biggest biceps in the world that he just like lift up on. How do you stop that move? Jason, you were doing that just to show off the guns, baby.

Yeah, for sure. Trust me. I love that. You get an O-lineman on, he's going to humble you real quick. We keep each other honest. That was awesome. I love it. I think that one of the things that, um, really helped me as an alignment, like I wasn't as big as a lot of guys, but like I took a different game plan

and strategy on how I block every single person I went against. And even the same guys from like year to year, I would maybe attack them differently, right? Cause I knew that in order for me to maintain the upper hand, I had to be different than what they saw in film, different than what they practice for. So with James, the big key on that dip and rip was like, you had to keep space, right?

Cause the only thing that James really didn't have, right? He was super powerful. He was very short and squatty, which allowed him to get under your pads. If you let him get into your body. And he was really quick too, but- He didn't have length. Didn't have that length.

So I knew that that was my advantage. So I just was really, really super conscious of picking my spot on his shoulder pads or on his bicep to be able to hit that spot and extend and keep him away from my body because the rip only works as if he's in your body and he's able to get that arm kind of under your armpit. Exactly. I mean, it makes so much sense. And I've always thought about it similar. It's almost like you're a boxer. Like when you're a shorter boxer, you want to get into the body when you have the length advantage, use that advantage and keep that guy away from you. And I've always drawn that comparison. I was always the undersized guy. So I'm was let me get in this body. All I want to do is get in the body and grab these tits. Nothing changed from my career for me. A lot easier to do that inside than on the edge. But anyways, when

you were blocking a defensive end or an edge rusher, what were the things that you struggled with most? What was like the combinations that gave you the most difficulty in trying to defend? If that is a yeah so sensible question yeah I think we'll go with it I'll try to make some sense out of that please please make a chicken salad here so what I found really hard was if a guy tried to break down your feet and then tried to beat you with power so for instance if you get a guy who's wide, right? Because everything's about angles when you get on the outside. So you've got a wide rusher, right? Yeah. If

they just try to beat you around the edge with speed, like I'll be able to keep up with them and pushing past the quarterback. No problem. That's what I wanted them to do. Right? Sure. Further away. And now they're just trying to outrun me. And in a foot race, I can go backwards pretty fucking fast. What I struggled with though is if they were wide but they rushed from that wide rush position straight at my inside shoulder because now what that does it doesn't allow me to kick back because my advantage was like I know the snap count and my first two kicks are going to be really fast and long so I can get depth and then now when I get to that spot now the quarterback eventually is gonna get to his spot and then now they got to

beat me and they've already wasted a second and a half I get to that spot, now the quarterback eventually is going to get to his spot. And then now they got to beat me and they've already wasted a second and a half to get to this spot. But if they rush right at my inside shoulder, I can't kick deep because otherwise he just keeps running on a straight line and beats me to the inside. So it made me stop my feet. So I take, I basically would only get one kick, stop my feet. And as he's getting closer to me, give the head and shoulders. Yeah, that kind of usually would break your hands. You drop your feet, drop your your hips, your

center of gravity. And then when that happened, now he can now he's basically on my same level. And now if he decides to run around me to the outside, he's faster than he's short. He's short yet. He's got a better angle to beat you around to the outside and it's really hard for a lineman to go from basically being in a static position in a static spot to all of a sudden accelerating really quickly and trying to pick up to a guy that's running already full speed because if you imagine a defensive end, he's running full speed. Now he's just got to change the angle that he's running full speed on where my feet are stopped. I am in one position and now I gotta rapidly accelerate to get to the speed that he's going as he's already

running forward and I'm running backwards and so it was really really hard when guys would do that um because also if they try to give you the head and shoulders and then now they think like they're gonna go outside, you're trying to

accelerate backwards and now they can go beat you back to the inside or if you get on your heels, they can just run you over by just steamrolling you and they've got a lot of momentum built up from being wide and starting to run really fast and really powerfully right at you. You're such a technician, man. Just to be able to hear you talk about these kinds of things. It's awesome. And the fact that you approached each game, each player differently, man. It's fascinating stuff, dog. Appreciate it, man. Yeah. I feel like

a lot of it's serious. A lot of a lot of I feel like it's like Kevin Green speed to power, get the tackle moving back and then go through them, get them off his like get them moving backwards and retreating. This is like the tilted guy who's running right at you where you can't go back, shortens that edge. The shush, I hate it. Like, I don't want to see this. I don't want to see that. I don't want to see all that. Dude, we already talked about the 10,363 consecutive snaps. We got to talk about the first time you weren't out there on the field, man. How, how hard was that? Cause you're, you're the Ironman. You, you played through so much.

You did so much for your team. Those teams up front for the Browns, the whole line was never the issue. You guys, you always had those guys rocked and ready to play. How was it just not being able to be out there with the guys for that first time? It was really tough.

My best friends were my linemen, right? John Greco, Alex Mack, Joel Bittonio, Mitchell Schwartz, your boy in Schwartzy, like those are my dudes. And we played a lot of seasons together. And we had really good offensive lines, never really got probably the credit we deserve because we just weren't on very good teams. Never ran for like a ton of yards because we never had that that dude as a running back. At one point in my career was me and Joel, I don't know how many

Pro Bowls we got between the two of us. Alex Mack, I think he made six or seven. Greco should have made a pro bowl. And then you got Mitchell Schwartz who made like four or five all pros. So like, we had a lot of hardware there between all of us. And so the hardest thing like Lyman, they're so close and tight ends are sort of an extension of the offensive line. And you know, those are usually the closest rooms on a football team and so I almost you have this like feeling inside of you not that you

betrayed him or you let him down but like that was almost the feeling and the emotion that was coming out of me when I couldn't be out there anymore because it was just such a thing that I took for granted. I didn't even think about like

hey, do I go and strap it back up and play this week? I'm I don't know. I'm kind of banged up. I got MCL sprain. Like that never crossed my mind. It was just like, I got a job to do. I'm going to show up and do my job. And I can use all of my brain space now to think about how I'm going to beat this guy rather than wondering like, Ooh, am I healthy enough to play? Can I go out there? I don't know. Should I sit down? Like it never crossed my mind. And I think it helped me. But then that moment it's gone. There was like some mental health issues that I had to deal with a feeling like I let those guys around me down. And, you know, even though the team sucked,

like I still had that really strong connection with the fan base. And I had that same feeling with them. Like, you know, I felt like I always owed it to them to go out and give my best and do whatever I can to try to turn this thing into a winner because they're so loyal, so passionate. And I wanted to give them that gratitude by going out and give my best and do whatever I can to try to turn this thing into a winner because they're so loyal, so passionate. And I wanted to give them that gratitude by going out and playing great ball. So it was, it was really, really hard dealing with that. And I did whatever I could with the team, trying to help the other linemen, you know,

prepare for games, watching film for them, taking notes. And the one benefit I would say for me is it was Miles Garrett's rookie year. So I was able to really spend a lot of time with miles and help them see the game from an offensive tackles perspective. So damn you, Joe. Damn you, Joe. I wasn't going to do that until I was definitely out of the league. But I would write them scouting reports and I would give them like, Hey, okay, this is what this guy's good at.

This is what he's not good at. This is the rush I think you should feature, but don't do it at the beginning of the game. Set them up first two quarters. And then in the second half, when the game's on the line, now you pull out your best stuff and then you give them what you've been giving them and then you'll probably beat them. And then, you know, it turns out he's also a really ridiculously fucking good athlete. So we can kind of do whatever I ask them to do, which is also going to be fun. Just go out there and have fun, Miles.

Yeah, go. Just go. Go get him. Freaking, he's like a scorpion, a girl. Like, it's unreal. To that point, though, it is fascinating how much guys come into the league, and they don't necessarily understand what guys on the other side of the ball

are being taught. It's one thing to understand what coverage they're in, what front they're in, but it's a whole nother like level of preparation to understand how you're being defended in routes, how this guy is going to use his hands or use his use his moves throughout the day in terms of pass rush. And that really that that 100 percent took my game to the next level asking guys like Eric Barry, uh, about coverages, about his leverages, asking DBS, you know, where, what are you thinking in this sort of coverage? You know, going up to a guy like spags, uh, defensive coordinator in KC

and asking him, you know, later in the game, what are you thinking in big time situations? It's just you, you, you ask the right questions to the right guys and you're going to you're going to see yourself progress down the line and miles had a **** Hall of Famer sitting right there telling them what they got. I mean, that's a **** cheat code itself, let alone how athletic that dude is. Yeah, man. I tried to be a psychologist, right? I wanted to know what that dude was thinking. I want to know who his girlfriend was. I wanted

to know what he ate for breakfast like because I felt like that's how you slow the game down. And as you get older, you get to be a shittier athlete. But like if your brain is speeding up, you can play faster. And that's how guys are able to stick around, especially on the old line, a lot longer than their athletic ability should allow them is because the game's just moving so slow for them because they know everything that's going on and they can see things before they happen. Absolutely. Let's talk a little bit international football. Fuck yeah.

You've been in Germany for almost a full year, right? Yup. Yup. Munich Ravens, baby. There we go. Yeah, baby. How was the experience? Amazing.

Yeah. Amazing. Was it? Okay. I was trying to twist your arm to come over and hang out. I wanted to so bad. Lots of stuff going on, but a great time. Munich is just incredible city. It's in southern Germany in Bavaria. It's right on the edge of the Alps. So like when I wanted to go over and coach American

football in Europe, obviously I wanted to scratch the itch of coaching. I wanted to all my kids to experience living abroad, living international, like challenge them, put them in uncomfortable situations. Like my kids made them play rugby, went over there with my daughter, my 10 year old daughter playing rugby with the boys. And so awesome. Like I wanted to do all those things because I thought it would make them better people. We'd have a great experience to be able to travel. Um, but I really wanted to have an opportunity to go and coach professionals, coach adults without having the time commitment that it takes to be like an NFL coach. I really wanted to impact players that love the game.

And it was really, really fun because, um, these guys are basically playing for peanuts, you know, they're not getting paid, but a few hundred euros every month to go out there and they're working regular jobs. And so it was so joyful because these dudes had talent they just didn't have the coaching they didn't have the resources growing up so you could take a guy that was here and throughout the course of the season you're seeing significant improvement every single week and not a single time you ever have to ask them for more effort you never have to ask them to focus right because they're signing up to do this for nothing they

wouldn't be there if they weren't obsessed with the game of football. That's awesome, man. So were all of these guys like German football players or were there any like international like US players playing over there? Yeah, so good. Sorry, I'm sorry. Cut you off. Poor guesting right there on my part. Cut his ass off. I'm an idiot. Don't worry about it. I'm an idiot. Don't worry about it. No, no, no. No. In the ELF, European League of Football. So every team is allowed four Americans. Typically, it's a

quarterback, receiver, and then two DBs, right? Because those are positions that are harder to find in Europe. Sure. But all my offensive linemen were German guys. You're allowed a certain number of players outside of the country that your team is based

in. Um, but lineman is what Germany does best. That was the reason I wanted to go there. Right. So yeah, baby. Uh, yeah. All German guys, which is cool. Cause you got to get a little flavor of the German culture. You take a little bit of like the slang, the language and started to understand

them a little bit more and filling up on those snitches or what, lots of schnitzel, mit p, lots of Helles Bier. You know you were living in that country, which is such a different experience. Yeah, then if you're just vacationing or just traveling as a tourist. I love it. Is Europe ready for the NFL? What was your takeaway from Germany? Do they love football? Oh man, they are obsessed with football.

Really? They're obsessed with the NFL. Well, we played over there. It was through the roof and that was Frankfurt. So I can only imagine what a big city like Munich is. Yeah, man. Like you guys are freaking heroes. Like I didn't get noticed much over there, but like you two guys are fucking kings over there. It is so cool just seeing how popular the game is. Right. They love it. They're obsessed.

And the NFL has done a great job putting games over there, giving them a feel of what an NFL game looks like from a fan experience but also like on the field, what we do every day, the Gladiators that we are, I used to be going out there putting your body on the line for your team. Like they totally get it. Like it really resonates with the German mindset, the German culture, the teamwork aspect, the sacrifice, the toughness, the way that the game is violent. It's just perfect for them. And I think that was really what sparked my interest in going to Munich because I worked the Munich game for the NFL network and I got to be in that stadium, Allianz Arena. I was like, holy shit, these dudes love

this thing. I got to get over here and be part of it. Yeah. That's awesome. Did you do Oktoberfest while you were over there? I just got to ask. I've always wanted to go. We got to ask. We got to ask. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. It's a great party. Oktoberfest was so fun. It was cool. So you got to buy tables. Like it's really hard to get. Like you got to know somebody and thankfully our special teams coach over there, Tom, he was head of security. It's always the teamers, isn't it? It's always the teamers. For one of the big beer companies. And so he had a couple of tables. So we, it was right after I was there and had a, all of our team got them all together,

you know, bought them all the beers and stuff. Cause these guys are basically poor college kids. So we did the whole deal. We had like 20 or 30 of the guys from the team there. And we celebrated the end of the season the way you're supposed to with good, good German Hellas beer, polka and some so and we blew it up. It was it was a tremendous time. And when you get that experience with the locals, like you're getting the proper experience.

Hell yeah. That's fucking awesome. Dude, you're our only connect to Oktoberfest, so we might be hitting you up here in a few years. I got you guys. Yeah, let's go. We might be back in the fall. Let's do this. Let's do it. Thank you to our partner, DraftKings. That's right, the NBA playoffs have officially begun.

Let's have you construct a same game parlay extra of your favorite picks. Sure. For those who are unfamiliar, same game parlay extra is a parlay with at least two of the bets from one game and at least one pick from a different game. That's how it works. All right, where do we want to start here, Brandon? Here's what I'm going to do. Since last week, you didn't love my little bets. You were like, oh, I don't like little bets. I didn't say it. You were out on them. I could read your face. So here's what we're going to do. We're going to do friend of the show, Donovan Mitchell. We're going to go more 25 and a half points. Love it. Love it. I'm always fan of overs. I believe in playoff Donovan and I'm going to go Steph Curry more.

Also 25 and a half. Steph Curry is absolute demon in the playoffs. Maybe my favorite athlete to watch. So we need one more pick from that same game. Ooh, okay, okay, okay. So either Miami Cleveland or Golden State Houston. Let's go Tyler Hero. More 23.5 points. Let's throw him in there. That's what I've built. Enjoy. If you bet $5 on this and you hit it big, you'd get some pretty good coin because parlays, that's how they work. They kind of compound. It's compounding, betting, payout. All right. Check out all the odds for the playoffs and more on DraftKings Sportsbook. Now that everyone knows about some of the awesome bets that are available on DraftKings,

you're ready to watch the games, which are going to be even more exciting because you have money on them if you so choose. Anyways, those of you who haven't checked out the DraftKings app, you can get a new customer offer. All new customers who bet $5 or get $200 in bonus bets instantly download the DraftKings app and sign up using promo code NEWHYTES. The crown is yours. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER. Help is available for problem gambling. Call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org in Connecticut. Must be 18 and over. Age and eligibility restrictions vary by jurisdiction.

Pick six not available everywhere, including New York and Ontario. Void were prohibited. One per new customer. Bonus awarded as non-withdrawable Pick Six credits that expire in 14 days. Limited time offer. See terms at picksix.draftkings.com slash promos.

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since 1905. Kingsford, thank you to our partner, Kingsford. That's right, are you missing those game day vibes? Here's a hot take, tailgating isn't just for football season, guys. I'm talking about bringing that legendary parking lot party energy to everything. Think about it, you know, you get kids soccer match, dance recitals.

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Really quickly. Was it always going to be football? I was actually more of a basketball guy until I stopped growing up and started growing out. So when I was 14, I was six, seven, and then I never grew another inch. So I realized, damn, were you I was about, seven, and then I never grew another inch. So I realized it's called football. Were you, I was about to say, were you getting looks through high school or? So I had like some small offers, like walking on Wisconsin, Marquette, like some, um, small offer scholarship, like Holy Cross and some other,

but like, okay, I could go play hoops at Holy Cross or I can play football at Notre Dame or Wisconsin or Miami. You're like, you were seeing like, okay, I get it. You're, you're, you're telling me without telling me that it's going to be football. But do you think you could have played in the NBA? Hell no. How is this the hustle guy? I could get some rebounds. You have a mean six man or on the block or what? Coach who had the biggest impact on your game?

Probably George Warhop. He was the offensive line coach. I had the longest during my career. He was tough. He was very technically sound. He forced you to just do an unbelievable amount of homework and notes and extra individual, like, you know, probably like Stoutland, like all those things, right? But at the end of the day, you respect him. You love him like a father and he can be safely say like he had an outsized impact and you wouldn't be where you were when your career was over without him touching your life. You're inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2023. How did you find out you got in?

It was a very special day. So Walter Jones, who was my idol growing up, came to the door, knocked on the door, had no idea that I was going to have the messenger man show up at the door at that time because up until that moment they used to bring you down to the Super Bowl in a hotel room and then they would knock and like say congratulations or they call you and say sorry didn't make it which sucked because your family's there and everything then you got to fly home. So they changed it my year where they actually called your wife, talked to her, like set it up,

make sure you're at home so they could surprise you at home. Um, and so I was, um, actually we were, she told me we're going to go to dinner. We were, it was Friday nights. We were going to go to a fish fry with the neighbors, you know? So I was kind of like, always got fish involved. So, so I was out at the farm, uh, doing my cattle stuff for Hall of Fame beef during the day and I got home and I was kind of dirty. So I was just in my underwear and

she's like, Hey, we got to go to dinner. You got to get changed really quick. I'm like, don't worry about it. Like she's like coming, coming to the kitchen, we got to talk about something schedule lies and she's like, but put your clothes on. I'm like, why like I'll do that after we have our little meetings. She's like, No, you can't come in here unless you have your pants on. I'm like, all right, whatever.

Like it's always gotta be your way, doesn't it? Jeez. So like I got changed, I went in there and she was just trying to get me away from the door because she didn't want me to see like all the cameras show up and she wanted like that surprise factor. And it was so cool because my kids were in the kitchen with us. We were having a family meeting. And so the kids run around the hall and they

see everybody through the door. So they see Walter Jones. He's wearing his gold jacket. They see the film crew and they just burned back to me and started screaming, daddy, you made the whole thing. It was just so special. That's awesome. Yeah, man. Man, that's a good story. What is the best Great Lake? Lake Erie. Best fishing, man.

There we go. It's a fish factory. It is. I love it. I would say, baby. I love it. It was perch fry. Oh, come on.

Let's go. The University of Wisconsin, Madison was named one of the nation's top party schools. Something that a lot of people wouldn't necessarily assume. Earning the number six spot on the Wall Street Journal's list of best party schools in the US for 2025. Does it live up to the reputation? It does.

I'm disappointed that it slipped because when I was there we were number one every year On that rating yeah, man the people there they just want to have a good time and they're not afraid to drink some beer Hell, yeah, you got shit for playing with baggy pants. Are you aware of this joe? Yes, I loved it. Can you explain? Why you chose to wear baggy pants? So I loved it. I wore baggy pants because I'm all about function, not fashion. As you can see, I am all about, all right, how do I get this fat dude to go as quickly as that skinny fast dude?

Yes. And if you're wearing those tight pants that show off these great legs and great ass that I never had, I had an ass at all. Like there was there was no ass in those pants. Uh like it's kind of hard to move especially if you throw like the knee sleeves and the knee braces and all the gear and the kit you're wearing underneath. Oh yeah. Uh it slows you down a lot. So, I always thought, you know, what's the quickest, most nimble

thing on on planet Earth? It's the ninja, right? Yes. And X pants. No. No. They wear down. Nice comfy baggy joggers, I was like, I'm a ninja, right? Yes. And X pants. No, they were nice comfy baggy joggers, right? So I was like, go to the room. Give me the largest pants you have. And we had a guy named ish melee kitchen who was like a nose guard, maybe five, 11, six foot, 350 ish.

Big boy. I wore a pant size that was too bigger than him. So you know that I was really, really stretching it. And I actually had to have a lot of like elastic, sticky, like I know what you mean. So on the inside of my pants. So they wouldn't fall down. It would fall down. That's fucking money. Shout out to all the equipment guys making it work, man.

I was doing the same thing right now. They don't make pants big enough. No. Even if you go like a size 40 or 42 waist, they still ride up over your knees. And I'm a big, my fucking knees have to be covered. All dudes are doing, like guys are fucking putting their helmet right on my fucking kneecaps.

I need that, I need those fucking things covered. That's right. And I still wear those old-school pads It looked like thigh pads in the knees But now they were they were like extending of like an extra like three or four inches because they weren't fucking making them long enough Man, shout out to all the equipment guys. Yeah by all these young gen Xers gen Z's whoever they are Like are they teasing you for your pants? They more so tease me for fucking throwing a fit when they shrink The fucking old guy getting all pissed off So tease me for fucking throwing a fit when they shrink.

The fucking old guy getting all pissed off because his pants don't fit. It's like, oh, so good. All right. You've said it took you four hours to play for a game. What was your pregame process? Well, I won't waste all four hours telling you what it was, but it was very long because I was always one of the first guys that got there. And I would always make sure I go on the field first because I wanted a little moment of serenity before anybody was in the stadium to go on the field and just Absorb it and just appreciate the fact that I get to go play in an NFL state

So few people in the world that get to do this and they're going to pay me to do this today you know that was sort of me like uh telling myself this is worth it to go out and like Shred your body for three and a half hours. Go out there where there's absolutely no upside whatsoever. If I played the world's greatest game as a left-ackel, nobody knows. We're 0-15, but it's worth it. We're talking about it for three fucking years. So it was that one moment at the beginning where I'd be like, all right, this is really cool. And I would just kind of walk around. Didn't have any of my stuff on yet and just take it in, check the field too.

That was important. Like trying to figure out exactly, you know, how my cleats were, like was everything proper? You know, how cold is it? Where's the wind and stuff like that. Um, then went back inside, took a shower. Then it was a long time in the training room, you know, hot tub if they had it. And then putting all the equipment on just took forever because I was wearing two knee sleeves, elbow sleeves or elbow braces, you know, all the other stuff that you normally put on taping the ankles, the whole deal and then I even took it a step further. The only other thing I'll mention out of all the stuff that I usually did was,

you know, the QDA, the quick drying adhesive that they spray in your ankles before they tape it. Yeah. So I took a bottle of that. And I would spray the bottom of my feet. And then I would spray my legs so that when I put my knee sleeves on, they wouldn't slide and then my socks wouldn't slide down. Right. Because nothing more annoying than your socks slide down. Have to deal with it. They find you for one. I want to give up my money to Roger Goodell. But then I also sprayed the bottom of my socks because inside my shoe, one thing that happened early on in my career that I fucking hated was like, it gets hot, you're sweaty and your

feet start sliding. Feet start sliding. It's the worst. You can slide and then you can't feel the ground the way you need to. Like I always thought of myself like an eagle. Like my feet were the talons and I was gripping the ground and that gave me the balance and the agility that I needed. And so when I figured out how to like spray basically my whole body and sticky stuff so I wouldn't slide at all, that was that was the next level. And then on top of that, I would I would be like a bunch of tape on my hand so that I was like a boxer, you know, I was like a Ninja Turtle, taping the fingers together and then taping

the thumbs so your thumbs don't get screwed up. So it took a long time just put all that stuff on just spraying the sticky shit on you like it's sunscreen or something, just shh. That stunk too, like there's definitely some cancer warnings in that shit. Oh yeah. We've done worse, right? Did I used to do some stuff?

I would also set like little alarms. I would have my phone, I would set alarms at every 15 minutes to like, all right, now I'm gonna get my ankles taped. Now I'm gonna take my pre-workout. Now I'm gonna tape my fingers. Now I'm gonna. I would also set like little alarms. I would have my phone. I would set alarms at every 15 minutes to like, all right, now I'm gonna get my ankles taped. Now I'm going to take my pre-workout. Now I'm going to take my fingers. Now I'm going to like warm up. Now I'm going to do this. And, and speak. I used to hate that foot thing. Under Armour made a cleat insole that was like rubber for like a couple of years. And I just like scoured all of these cleats just so I could get this like I hate the cloth that's on top

Oh, why would you leave your clothes? It doesn't make no sense exactly stupid. Yep. All right. Well we agree on that Speaking of dumb, we're gonna get to our next segment. No dumb questions Pick your favorites we can either do Liquid out of fingers. What the fuck does this mean, Brandon? Kentucky Derby horse game? Nobody knows anything. All right. Let's do Kentucky Derby horse game. First off, tell Joe what this is.

Tell Joe what the segment is. These are questions for fans. Thank you, Brandon. You're the best, as always. And then you lost such an hat. Oh, because your friends are here, you're gonna be nice to me. What is that shirt?

I'm always nice, you're my best friend. What is that, steel, still rockin'? Still kickin'. All right, there it goes, still kickin'. From my best friend. What is that steel still rocking still kicking? All right there Okay from my local liquor store Love that, uh, how many bottles of booze you gotta buy to get a free t-shirt from the local liquor store, bro Uh my my parents watch this show so we're not gonna answer that one Don't worry about it. They have a wonderful wine club

All right. All right. So, No Dumb Questions is fan submitted questions that are usually really stupid, but we call them not dumb to encourage people to feel comfortable enough to submit really stupid questions. We have one question that's going to be related to liquid out of fingers. We have another question that's going to be related to Kentucky Derby horse name. We have another one related to NFL team of other pro athletes. I don't know what that okay or Scottish sports, which one of those is speaking to you most show. Let's go Scottish sports. That's why we need more lineman on the show. Alright, Scottish sports hit us. Brandon. on the show. Scottish sports hit us, Brandon. Hi Jason and Travis, calling from Glasgow Scotland here.

Just a dumb question is, what would you do if you would come to Scotland? What sports event would you undertake? Cheers, all the best. Wow, first of all, love the accent. I mean, if we have Scottish people calling in, Brandon, they get first right of any of the questions. I don't care. That's just what I can do that. All right, Joe, it is. You're the guest. You have the honors. How do you want to answer that? Yeah, if you're going to Scott, Scotland, what sport are you playing?

Yeah, I mean, golf is the easy one. But I was over in Ireland for Alex Max wedding a few years ago and they play this game called like hurling. It's kind of like rugby. Dude, lacrosse. Yeah, dude. That game is fucking lit. I was trying to... Go ahead, please. We were talking about like bucket list items. One of my bucket list items is to go to like, I was thinking about it afterwards, didn't say in the show, but to go to one of these games, but like the Olympics version of this, like the like the World Cup version

of this, like I want to see the best of the best go at it with this ship because it is absolutely electric. Jason, do you know what he's talking about? I actually so where I live in Philadelphia is one of the biggest Irish like collections of like a population like direct descendants. So So they have leagues of hurling and actually another sport in Ireland that's really popular called Gaelic football. Yeah. Which is like, yeah. So you play it with a ball, you kind of have to kick it every two steps. That's a version of dribbling, but then you, I don't know. I don't really understand

all the rules behind it. I watched it once. Pretty cool. But hurling is very interesting. Seems really hard. I played the cross. Seems like much easier to put that ball in a net than like balancing it on a wooden stick. I don't really understand how that's possible. Yeah. Yeah. And it's probably incredibly derogatory and offensive that we've just taken Scottish sports. I wasn't going to say it, but I'm like, I'm pretty sure this is not the same area. The only Scottish, the only Scottish sports I know are golf and the Scottish Strongman Games. I forget what they're called. Highland Games. Thank you. That would be sick.

I would love to see that. They throw the pole in the kilts and they're like throwing it over their heads and they got to get it to like flip. I'd be into that for sure. Trav, what do you got? That sounds like a Renaissance fair. I'm just going to go golf since you guys didn't go golf. I'll go over there and play some golf. All right. So liquid out of fingers, Kentucky Derby horse name or NFL team of other pro athletes, which liquid out of fingers because I'm very curious. I'm curious.

I'm very curious what they're all about. I'm curious. Hit it, Brandon. Hi, Jason and Travis. I just have one question for you. If your five fingers could dispense infinite liquid, what would your five liquids be? So for example, minor fresca, gasoline to put gas in your car, water, coffee, and Tito's. Yeah, what would your guys five words be? Thank you.

Love the show. I love it. Awesome, good question. I like this out of the box question. That's a solid question, yeah. All right, Joe, again, you are the guest. You do the honors, sir. Unless you would prefer to go last.

No, I'll do it. So I'm gonna try to count to five. Hell's beer. Hell's beer. Hell's beer. Being in Germany, fell in love with that beer. Coffee. That's non-negotiable. I'm going to go diesel fuel because I spend a hell of a lot of money on diesel fuel out at the farm.

Like, that's a big check every month. Smart. Just put your finger in the gap. I'm filling up again. Here we go. Just going to fill up the whole tractor. Another 300 gallons for nothing. See that kids? Free diesel for life.

Let's see water. Is that four or five? We need Brandon. That's four. And then the last one milk because whole milk. My kids drink an insane amount of whole milk. I got four kids and so I think we go through like a Gallon a day right now. My oldest is only 12 and when I was in high school, I think I drank a gallon every day by myself

so Two gallons a week but not again that's pretty intense what time out you've brought up hellish beer the only reason I know what Hellas beer is is because I had this like brew game on my phone and you had to like brew different beers and Hellas was one of the beers. What kind of beer is a Hellas beer? Do you play a brew game on your phone instead of like tic tac toe or like backtack? That's amazing. I love it. I need to check out that app. But I'll send it to you. I need to check out that app, but I'll send it to you. Yeah. Yeah. So the Hellas beer is like the beer of at least Southern Germany, but down in Bavaria where I was coaching in Munich and it's fantastic.

It's like the most clean, clear, crisp, refreshing. Yeah. It's like just amazingly refreshing, like a blonde lager. That's just fantastic. They have the German purity laws, so they're only allowed to use a few ingredients So it's like very consistently awesome. No matter where you go. There's like no preservatives So it's not something that you can get in a lot of places Like it's usually out of the keg and it's fresh from the brewery and it's basically kind of it was my water that I drink

Every day when I love it. All right, I guess I'll go I'll go water. I'm not gonna steal diesel gasoline room That's a freaking great answer. I want to steal it so bad. Yeah, that was good. I didn't go that far. Gosh. All right. So I'll go water beer. I'll go drink garage beer because that's our beer. Travis and I own a beer company. So we got to go drunk. Yeah. You guys should do a hellas man. I love that. Ooh. All right. Talking us into it. I love it. All right. All right. The Joe Thomas Helles brought to you by Garage Beer. Get on it, guys. So we got beer. We got water. What other liquids do I consume on a regular basis?

I'll go. Gasoline was a great one too. Coffee. Why did that take me so long? Coffee. That's because I didn't have? Coffee. I need some coffee. I'll go whey protein because I spent a bunch of money on whey protein. It's not a... All right. Once you mix it up, it's still liquid, right? So I go with the pre-made drink, whatever that is. Yeah. There you go. Fair life, fair life protein rich protein or whatever.

Shout out to fair life. There's your free advertising for the day. And then I'll go milk, but I'm going to go cereal milk. I'm going to go Reese's peanut butter puffs milk. Chocolatey delicious. That's pretty good. That was pretty good. Go ahead.

All right. I'm going to the the drinks that I drink every single fucking day. So I'm going accelerator, active energy, active energy drink. I'm going recover 180, which is my favorite sports hydration drink. I'm going to Zen water because Zen water's the, it's got really good HP levels. And what else am I going? Oh, I'm going Casa Azul tequila.

My favorite tequila. It's the most purest blue agave, no fucking added bullshit. And my last one, Garage Beer. I'm going lime Garage Beer though. So just- All right, Travis is a walking billboard for all the athletes. Great job, man. Travis is a walking billboard for all the ads. That's a great job.

I'm the one who makes all the money in the family on marketing. All right. Before, first of all, that was no dumb questions. You can submit your no dumb questions in the comments on social or give us a call at 929-399-7260. Joe, this is all we got for you, but I do have one more question. You're wearing the shirt. We haven't talked about it yet. How's hall of fame beef going?

How do you like being a cattle rancher? Yeah, tell them I have a 2% or a farmer. Are you a rancher or a farmer? Which so typically ranchers are people that raise cattle, but in Wisconsin, where my farm is where I grew up, like they call any land, any ag land is a farm, right? So I am conflicted. I don't know if I'm a rancher or a farmer, but I just generally call myself a farmer, but it's been going great. Like 2007, my kids told me

they wanted some pet cows for the farm. And I was like, okay, but we're going to have to eat them because I love eating beef. And like, if we're going to raise these things, we might as well enjoy it. Yeah. So I started with five and then the first year we raised, uh, we ate it. Turns out it was fantastic. Whatever we did, we like nailed it. Found lightning in a bottle right off the bat. I gave it to a buddy who's a James Beard chef in Madison and it was just like, Hey, what do you think?

He cooked it up. Thought it was fantastic. Said it was better than any of the stuff that he gets in the restaurant. Supply from all these fancy cattle ranches. And so then that's when like the the brain started working overtime like, hey man, maybe

I could make this like a business. This is too good to just keep to myself. Um and so we've been just kind of going full bore since then. We're raising Wagyu beef which is like you do a lot of five. Oh yeah. Beautiful stuff. We're

raising Angus beef right now and we're selling direct consumer. We got like these amazing beef sticks for the kids. So like I'm getting a lot out of it. That was my question. Yeah. I want to know is it Angus? Is it Angus? Hereford crosses? Like what are we working with? Black Angus? Yeah. So we have black Angus semen talls right now. And we're kind of shifting the herd as we're like improving genetics. I'm trying to treat these things like pro athletes. I'm trying to think of like, I know what it takes to have high performance, what it takes to be at your best, to grow the most muscle and strength and power and all those outputs. And so we're like, Hey, these are our pro athletes. So we need to reduce the stress.

We need to figure out from a nutritionist, what's all the nutrition that they possibly can have so that they're the healthiest beef for us and for themselves. They have the most marbling, so the best buttery mouth feel possible. We raise them on the banks of the Blue River. We got just amazing pasture on our farm. We keep really, really low density,

so their stress is really low. Wow, everything we feed them is raised on our farm and they're born on our farm. And from the day they go to heaven, they live in our place. So we think that we're raising some really great stuff. And it's kind of been a passion project. When you retire, you got to have some purpose somewhere, you know, like, hell yeah. So many guys, they just wander in the wilderness. They don't have that purpose. And for me, it's like, all right, I want to see if I can raise the best beef on planet earth. And so, you know, hall of famer, I was like, Hey man, let's name this Hall of Fame

beef and see if we can find a way to raise the best beef on planet Earth. So it's been a lot of fun. And I'm, and I was chatting up with Emily Reese, the great Emily Reese, who I was working with her at Under Armour way back in the day. And she said that you got a beef company too. So maybe we need a good old fashioned like beef measuring contest. Well, Travis, we both give him steaks and then he cooks them up and then we get a rating here.

I have a feeling you're gonna kick my ass, but I would love to learn a lot of tricks of the trade. We're just getting started with it. Like you said, you need hobbies and I love beef. You just explaining this, I wanna steak so bad right now. I can't even explain it. So yeah, I'm all in on that. I would love to learn something from you and Hall of Fame beef and get together on that.

Since you haven't decided on your breed, like we've we're gone down that genetic rabbit hole already. So maybe I send you some embryos and some semen of the old Hall of Fame beef wagyu and then you can kind of like take that and explode it. That'd be fun. That would give me great joy. So if I could send you some of my semen. Dude, I'm in the moment you said semen. Absolutely. Yeah.

You guys are fucking hilarious. Travis is like, I'm not laughing at that. That's not okay. You guys are having an old beef off right now. Oh my gosh. Dude, Joe, Hall of Fame player to Hall of of Fame beef to Hall of Fame, dude, man. I remember going on your show back in. I can't even tell you when we're going on radio row and hanging out with you and Andrew

Hawkins on Tomahawk, dude. You've paved the way for so many guys on the field off the field. Keep being you brother. And thank you for for joining us. Thank you for everything you did for Cleveland, man. From one Cleveland there to somebody who lit up the city, brother. Thank you, man. Well, thank you guys so much, man.

It was truly a pleasure being on here today. It was the best part of my week, you know, when you get a chance. That's what I loved about doing a podcast. You go on with some buddies and you just have a great chat that's uninterrupted by phones because you got to turn that shit off and all the distractions of daily life and you get to just chop it up with some good friends So truly thank you guys so much for having me on it was a blast. My man. Hell. Yeah awesome, enjoy this weekend on

Old Green Bay, brother. I'm sure it'll be a fucking blast getting back around the game, man Make sure you subscribe subscribed on YouTube to New Heights so you know when all the new episodes are coming out and make sure you're on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts to keep on listening. We will be back next week with draft reactions and a huge guest. Gotta love a huge guest. You know it baby. Draft reactions like the draft is just a slot machine for the NFL. It's just everybody's playing you know. You know it, baby. Draft reactions, like the draft is just a slot machine for the NFL. Cha-ching, cha-ching.

It's just, everybody's playing, you know, gambling. Slots. Yeah. Like it's like, it's slots, slots. You can listen to new episodes of New Heights Early and Ad Free right now by joining Wondery, plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcast. Once again, New Heights, a Wondery show produced

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And thank you to the 92%ers always for listening in. Hope you love Joe Thomas. Appreciate you. Big Tom, big Joey Tom. Shout out to Cleveland. podcast. You can listen to New Heights early and ad free plus enjoy exclusive episodes of the show by joining Wondry Plus in the Wondry app, Apple podcasts or Spotify today. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at Wondry.com slash survey. Shopping local might seem like a tough cookie, but truthfully finding Ontario made products is a piece of cake. That's

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