Purple Insider - a Minnesota Vikings and NFL podcast - Hall of Fame former Vikings kicker Morten Andersen explains kicking a game-winning field goal

Episode Date: October 13, 2021

Matthew Coller gets together with Morten Andersen, who is one of two Hall of Fame kickers, to talk about what it's like to kick a game-winning field goal and why many kickers fail. He talks about play...ing with Daunte Culpepper and Randy Moss and why more special teamers need to be in the Hall of Fame. Andersen also talks about becoming a podcaster and what he's learned from some of the greatest NFL players of all time. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript
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Starting point is 00:00:00 Hello and welcome to another episode of Purple Insider, a very special episode as we welcome in the great Dane, one of the all-time great kickers and a pro football hall of famer, Morten Anderson. What is up, Morten? How are you? Following NFL football, a lot of things going on and the Vikings, big win, ugly win, but nevertheless a good win, right? You're right about that mike zimmer would certainly take it so i want to start off and there's so many things i want to ask you including playing for the vikings uh kickers kicker mentality all that but i have to ask you about your podcast and what it's been like for you getting into podcasts and you're doing a lot of really cool interviews your podcast is great day nation which i've just started listening to.
Starting point is 00:01:06 So tell me about being a podcaster, man. It's interesting. It's been eye-opening for me because I'm usually the one answering the questions. And now I'm forced to kind of figure out, you know, what would I want to, if I was the interviewee, what would I want to answer? What questions would I want to hear? Do I want the layups? Do I want to, if I was the interviewee, what would I want to answer? What questions would I want to hear?
Starting point is 00:01:27 Do I want the layups? Do I want the easy ones? Or can we dig a little deeper? And I think what I've kind of found out is that because I know all these guys, either played with them, against them, or they're Hall of Fame brothers, or when you play for 25 years, you pretty much have seen it, you know, everybody. So I found that the guys tend to open up and give me some really good morsels about their lives. You know, one of the things that all these guys, these high performance guys have in common is that they all struggled at some point.
Starting point is 00:02:07 There was always a some difficult, difficult roads and bumps in the road and unexpected turns. But but they they persevered because, number one, they were extremely talented and then they had an opportunity to do it, right? I think that's the big one. Somebody helped them along the way to get an opportunity to be seen, to mentor, be taught. And then they excelled at it. They got the confidence and excelled and they never looked back. So for me, that's really the fun part is to listen to the story, the aha moment. When did it come for Warren Moon or when did it come for Tony Dungy that we are releasing tomorrow? And what is it that makes these guys tick?
Starting point is 00:02:53 You know, what is it that makes them go? And what is it that's so uncompromising in their life? In other words, what is non-negotiable to them that maybe normal human beings, if you will, are not willing to do? There's just something about the high performance person that strikes me as being very uncompromising and stubborn and willing to go a place that's very distasteful in order to go to the greatest heights, I think. And that's been very interesting for me interviewing. Yeah. You know, I think that that's what makes sports so fascinating, right? Is that
Starting point is 00:03:33 sometimes even athletes don't realize the percentile that they exist in of all people that ever tried to kick a football, for example, and what it takes to be one of two Hall of Fame kickers ever, or whatever it might be, a Super Bowl winning coach or a Hall of Fame quarterback that, you know, I think that sometimes they don't, while they're in it, they don't recognize sort of how special that is that you have to be. So is there something that you think is kind of pervasive through everyone that you talk to? I mean, I know you said that they go through bumps, but how they overcome those? Is there something that you've sort of taken away? Yeah, I think the one common denominator for all these guys is that they
Starting point is 00:04:17 invite failure in. They welcome failure. They yearn for it. They need it. And they need it exactly because you improve much more when you fail than when the hands are above your head. And for me, that's the interesting telling element of these guys is that without exception, they were all willing to fail miserably to become legendary. And if you look at the corporate world, entertainment world, science, anybody who's a trailblazer, anybody who's a trendsetter usually fails miserably or big, big time before they, you know, succeed. And that's, you know, that's the beautiful lesson there, I think, is to celebrate the imperfection of humans yet, you know, and celebrate the perseverance, I would say, in spite of it all. I think for myself, being unemployed 20 months in a public park in 2005,
Starting point is 00:05:33 after leaving the Vikings in 2004, and I had a good year with the Vikings, but I was thinking, oh, I'm going to get a call right away. I'm going to be playing my 24th year in 2005, and the phone didn't ring for 20 months. That was disheartening. That was difficult. That was distasteful. That was the world of suck, and people are saying,
Starting point is 00:05:54 Morton, you had a good run. Maybe it's time to hang up the cleats. But I was 77 points away from becoming the all-time leading scorer in the history of the game, and that was important to me. So what are you willing to do, So what are you willing to do? And what are you willing to sacrifice to get there and become legendary, right? And it was literally, you know, 20 months in a public park. And when the Little Leaguers came, I would have to defer the field.
Starting point is 00:06:18 I would have my little outfit on. I would have the Kenny Staple shoulder pads. I would have my Vikings jersey on, my Giants helmet on, and my Pro Bowl socks. And I would go out there in this getup and kick footballs. And nobody was watching and nobody cared. And I would bribe the grounds crew to cut the grass for me, you know, and take them to lunch.
Starting point is 00:06:40 And then 2005 turned to 2006. And when the opportunity came, I sat in my basement and watched the guy for the Falcons miss four field goals. I said, you know, I turned to my neighbor Eric and said, I'm switching to water now because the phone's going to ring. He said, it hasn't rang in 20 months. I said, I know, but it's going to ring. And 20 minutes later after
Starting point is 00:07:05 the game, the phone rang. And the next day I was, you know, in a tryout with four flat bellies, half my age who wanted the job too. Now I'm 46 years old and these guys are 23 years old, but I had a really good tryout. I hit that orange stripe in the net that signals the middle. I hit it 14 times out of 15 and kind of turned around and said, questions anyone? And my special teams coach said, yeah, I got one black and blue ink. So it became black ink. I signed my one-year deal. And three months later in the Georgia Dome, I became the all-time leading scorer and they stopped the game and handed my jersey to my eight-year-old son. And family was there.
Starting point is 00:07:49 And so you think at that point, was it worth it? Was it worth it to go through that world of suck for 20 months? And you emphatically answer that by saying, of course it was. Because now you're legendary, right? Right was but you kicked great now you're legendary right right but you kicked great for the falcons 87 one year 89 the next year uh so why did you want to keep playing was it just to go for that record or just because you believe you were still one of the best kickers in the league yeah well i mean finish, to finish on my terms, a lot of guys don't get to do that. A lot of guys are being told that's enough.
Starting point is 00:08:29 We've had enough of you. We're going to go with a younger, newer, cheaper model. Let's face it. That happens to the majority of guys. So that feeling of being able to go out on my terms was really, really paramount for me. And then to put myself in the history books of being the all-time leader in points in the history of the game, in a game I didn't grow up watching or playing. I came from Europe.
Starting point is 00:08:56 I was a soccer player. That was kind of cool. That was like, hey, the American dream. So that was important. And then to prove to myself that I could hang with guys half my age and beat them and excel at it and be great at a late age. I was, when I was 47 years old, my very last game in the NFL, I kicked four field goals against the Seattle Seahawks. And I was named NFC special teams player of the week at 47, the oldest to ever be that. And so that's kind of cool.
Starting point is 00:09:32 It is. Yeah. I mean, that's a heck of a way to go out. And I was going to ask you about, because Minnesota and kicking woes are connected now, not in 2004, it went fine in 2004, but other times not so much. And I guess I wonder about when you talk about overcoming failure and there were years in your career that you had dips. And I'm sure that along the way there were kicks that you could have won games that you didn't. But it seems like there are some kickers and we just saw this in Minnesota where Greg Joseph overcame earlier this year, missing a kick, missing a kick in that game to hit a 54 yard game winner. What is it? What's the mentality that separates the kickers who can get over that and the
Starting point is 00:10:12 ones who can't, because we've seen many times guys miss a key kick and that's it for them. You don't see them again. Yeah. It's a long, steady grind. It's a marathon. I tell my guys, it's not a sprint, it's a marathon. And you got to be able to persevere over a long period of time. They don't hand out the prizes in September or your rookie year. That's way down the line, hopefully, for you. And let's look at a career of 15, 20 years. In my case, 25 years aren't very unusual. But let's at least get 10 years and look at that body of work and what are we doing year in and year out.
Starting point is 00:10:51 Are you able to be consistent? Are you able to not have three, four, five misses in a row? Are you able to go to a happy place, go to your base, and be able to kick at a high level despite having a distasteful situation maybe earlier in the game. If you miss early, are you able to come back and make late in the game and all those things that it takes to be great at this position. It's a very polarizing position.
Starting point is 00:11:19 It's one of the most difficult and one of the most important on the football team next to the quarterback. Quarterback handles the ball every snap. I totally get it. But the kicker influences and affects the game probably more than any other position besides the quarterback. It's crazy when you look at the end of the year, who's got the most points. And I believe you own the New Orleans Saints most points record, right? I mean, so I think so. I can't don't remember anymore. Your Wikipedia has got a lot of records
Starting point is 00:11:45 there morton so i think that's one of them we'll go with it well yeah so because uh you know blair walsh for example missed the field goal in the playoffs and then the next year it just seemed to carry over and i think for people who've never done it like myself um it's sort of a mystery it's like well why don't you just kind of put it in the past? But obviously it's much more complicated than that. Yeah. And I also think that there's a tendency on the part of the coaches and management to pull the trigger really fast on that position. So if, if the guy's having a bad game, well,
Starting point is 00:12:18 we can just go get another guy where you can't just go get another guy. And you got to realize it's a luxury. When you find somebody who's good and consistent, you want to, you want't just go get another guy. And you've got to realize it's a luxury when you find somebody who's good and consistent. You want to nurture that guy. You want to pay him well. You want to stick with him and make him understand that he's your guy, that I'm not bailing on you if you have a bad game.
Starting point is 00:12:39 I mean, you're not going to bail on a wide receiver because he drops four or five balls in the game, are you? I don't think so. So the same with with kickers right i think you just need to sometimes have a little bit of patience especially with a young guy and develop him especially if you see that potential listen there's there's 200 guys that can kick the ball really far really far uh and and really well but when the lights come on at one o'clock sunday afternoon you get about 80 that drops right off and i'm not a factor anymore because of right here between between the years and then you have a you know 20 who who will some will be journeymen and bounce around and not be able to – because of what I just said, the impatience of the coaching staff,
Starting point is 00:13:32 the management, also their inability to put games together productively. And then you have elite guys, a handful of guys where you say, these guys can be legendary, the Justin tuckers and the harrison butkers and you know those type of guys where you say wow they're difference makers for their football team they're a weapon they they could make it to the pro football hall of fame one day if they keep this going they could be considered maybe the best that that was. But they're far and few between. They're far and few between. And so it was the same when we played, and we didn't have the luxury of K-balls.
Starting point is 00:14:13 We didn't have the luxury of a designated long snapper and being with a punter the whole time, and he was my holder. There was a lot of musical chairs in that environment back then. And so that has changed to the benefit of the guys now. They're better because they have better opportunity to be better, in my opinion. Although you kicked one from 60 yourself, so you weren't that far away from a Justin Tucker 66-yard kick. I wanted to ask you to describe to me, because who better to ask,
Starting point is 00:14:47 what it's like to trot onto the field for a 54 yard game winning field goal. I mean, just like what goes through your mind? What is it like lining it up? What is that feeling? You've got a packed house. You know, I mean, just take me through that. Well, nothing different than a 49 yarder
Starting point is 00:15:02 with five yards to spare because that's what a 54-yarder is. So, you know, you have a same-kick mentality. I think that's really important. You realize that not one kick, good or bad, defines your ability as a kicker, and it doesn't validate you whether it comes in the first quarter or in the fourth quarter or in overtime. So I think that's important.
Starting point is 00:15:23 I think you need to realize as a performer, two things you control and two things only, attitude and effort. Everything else is white noise. Where we get in trouble in this business is when we start paying attention to things we don't control. We take the focus away from our positive behavior and what we control and making that
Starting point is 00:15:47 dominant. So kicking is very simple to make your positive behavior that you control dominant. And everything else is white noise and you shouldn't pay any attention to it. You got to keep it simple. Having said all that, when you go out on a field for a game winner, you need to just be. And what I mean by that is when a young guy plays, he tends to force himself on the game a lot. There's a certain level of impatience where he goes, I wish I get a kick in early in the first quarter, then I'll be off to a good start. And then I will have a good game. But what he needs to realize is he doesn't control it. The game has no memory. The game doesn't care.
Starting point is 00:16:35 The game will play itself. And what you need to do as a performer is plug yourself into the game when the opportunity comes. And then you need to trust. And then you need to release and you need to be free and pull the trigger fearlessly. Easier said than done, but that can be trained mentally. That can be trained with a clear mind.
Starting point is 00:16:58 And I think a lot of times when guys don't get it done in these perceived pressure situations, and I don't like the word pressure because pressure happens only when your skill set doesn't match the task at hand. Think about that, right? If it's in your wheelhouse, then you should have clarity of mind and you should be able to freely, with good breathing and a relaxed technique, go through the ball down the target line. But when you can't do that, it's because your mind's cluttered and you're scared. You're scared of failing. You're thinking about failing instead of just focusing on two things, effort and attitude, and pulling the trigger and owning your workbench, understanding the moment of truth,
Starting point is 00:17:46 which for a kicker, a moment of truth, when the plant foot hits the ground, that's the moment of truth. Why? You're either right or wrong. Once that plant foot hits the ground, it's like a quarterback on a seven-step drop. When that last foot hits the ground and he gets ready to throw he's either right or wrong moment of truth so there's moments of truths and work benches in everything and every position that we uh that we play it just happens to be that the kicking position is so visible and so vulnerable and so out there because feedback's immediate. Right. It's immediate.
Starting point is 00:18:28 Yeah. Right. And if the quarterback overthrows his receiver, people probably won't remember one of 40 passes, right? And if a receiver, you know, listen, standards now for kickers, and we're kicking it around 50, I mean, 80% plus now. That's average. The good guys are 90% plus. I would venture to say that if a receiver caught eight out of 10 balls,
Starting point is 00:18:54 he would be all pro every year. And that's just average when you take kickers. So the comparisons, you know, it's difficult for me to understand when people criticize a guy that misses like a 49-yard field goal. Well, where's the critique when that 15-yard out was dropped, when it hit you right in the chest plate, and you could have had a first down and continued to drive or maybe scored, run a fade route, oh, off the fingertips.
Starting point is 00:19:24 Why wasn't that ball caught? And why does that have less credence than a kicker missing a field goal? Therein lies my conundrum. Folks, football season is in full swing, but we've got basketball and hockey getting rolling as well. And SodaStick has got you covered. You have to see the moose T-shirt designs for Marcus Foligno. You can also get your hands on the very popular Dollar Bill Kirill shirts as well. On the
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Starting point is 00:20:17 Check that out today. Use the promo code Purple Insider for free shipping and also follow myself and Soda soda stick on twitter for our giveaways the brutal nature of the game morton but uh you overcame that for many years i was gonna say i'm up in the press box drinking diet pepsi and my heart's racing in those moments so i just can't imagine how different i mean how different you are than me to be able to comment. Well, you need to switch to a beer and relax a little bit. Back in the day, they might have had that in the press box. Today, it's only the Diet Pepsi.
Starting point is 00:20:53 I wanted to ask you about, you talk about receivers and being all pro. In 2004, you got a chance to play with Dante Culpepper, Randy Moss, one of the great offenses that's ever existed in the NFL. I just wonder what you sort of observed there is somebody who had in 98, which we don't have to talk about, had beaten the Vikings and seen Randy Moss, you know, from playing the Vikings against them. And then you get a chance to play with those guys up close. I wonder what that was like for you. Well, they were both great players, but it was funny to me. There were rules for us and then there were rules for Dante and Randy, the Randy
Starting point is 00:21:30 rules, Randy ratio. Yep. So that, that, you know, I thought that was funny. I mean, a little bit, a little bit disrespectful to the rest of the team, but never, never mind that it's, they were great players and, were an important obviously very important components of our offense and we did go deep in the playoffs i mean we we lost to philadelphia in the divisional playoff that year in philly and we probably could have won that game had it not been for a couple of plays here and there that's always the case uh but we had 12 men on the field on a fake field goal. Rookie offensive lineman didn't get off the field. Randy split out left and we were going to throw it to him. Nobody covered him, but we had 12 men on the field. So we backed up.
Starting point is 00:22:16 It's happened a couple of times to the Vikings, actually. So instead of getting seven, we got three. And that was really a difference in the game. Yeah, that's that's not the only 12 men on the field that hurt the Vikings in 09 as well. I mean, when you think about the number of just different teams that you played with, is there something that when you played with great teams? I mean, the Atlanta team, of course, was incredible in 1998 and a missed kick ends up sending you to the super bowl but nonetheless an incredible team um is the teams that stick out to your mind now um i guess what made them special uh teams i played for yeah teams teams that were were great i would say the 98 sure yeah i would say the 98 uh the 98 team was just full of great personalities guys that were willing to go to
Starting point is 00:23:05 bat for each other guys that were willing to handle everything internally so if there was a problem it would be handled very very strong type a personalities who were ballers who were great and who didn't put up with crap and didn't put up with people being lazy or late or any of that stuff. Coaches didn't need to do anything. The players handled it. So that was a great football team. We, we could have won it all. We ran into Denver and in, in always last year there. And we got bogged down in the red zone in the Superbowl instead of touchdowns, we kicked field goals and I missed a field goal. And, you know, they made a couple of big pass plays on us but overall we were a really good football team listen we were we were
Starting point is 00:23:51 13 let's see we were 14 and 2 and had to be go on the road against the Vikings and we were road dogs coming to the Metrodome Vikings had that offensive juggernaut, um, uh, with Cunningham and the gang up there with Chris Carter. And I think it was, um, might've been Randy Moss's rookie year actually. It was. Yep. Um, and they had a defense with Randall and all the guys. So we were, you know, we were fortunate to hang with them all that that whole game and and and win it in overtime um but we had a special team and we we we felt that we we were not intimidated by the vikings everybody thought the vikings would win but uh we weren't intimidated
Starting point is 00:24:40 so that was a really good football team we had some teams in the 80s with the Saints, with the Dome Patrol, with Sam Mills, Ricky Jackson, Vaughn Johnson, and Pat Swilling. Unbelievable teams. Ball control. Jim Moore Sr. was the head coach and Jim Finks, GM. Really good football teams where we made the playoffs several years in a row, but we got beat in the first round. I think one of the
Starting point is 00:25:05 years actually against the vikings um so we just weren't able to punch the ticket to the big game down there we should have on several occasions we were good enough but we didn't and then you know the chiefs were really good no two and oh three when i was, we had an offensive, just a slew of offensive weapons with Priest Holmes and Trent Green at the quarterback, Tony Gonzalez and Kennison, and just really good players, Will Shields and Willie Rolfe on the line. Great running game. We were good. We scored points.
Starting point is 00:25:42 But, again, we got beat. Got beat by the Colts and Peyton Manning in the playoffs. We had home field advantage. We had a bye, but we still got beat. And so there's a lot of frustration there. Doesn't take away from us being a really good football team. So I've been on great football teams. I've been on some very average ones, and I've been on some really bad ones.
Starting point is 00:26:01 And I would say the biggest difference really is the quality of the players and the quality of the direction that is given by the head coach and that type of personality. You know, Dan Reeves was an ex-player. He was very good. Dick Vermeule was very good with the players and handling and administering that. And then there were some that were not as good. And I'm not going to mention them, but they were just people that were less excellent than others. That's a good way to put it. Yeah, it's so interesting when you have a career like that
Starting point is 00:26:35 and you start off in the 80s and all the way to the, basically where the game becomes what it is today. That gives you a perspective that very few other humans in the history of football have had. I have two more questions. One of them is kind of funny, but I've always wondered it. And then the other one. Before you do, let me lend some perspective to what you just said. I'm one of the few players that ever played for the three commissioners, Roselle, Tagliabue, and Godel. I played in the 80s and 90s and the new millennium. So three decades. And I went through two strikes, two player strike,
Starting point is 00:27:09 1982 for pension benefits. The reason that we have an okay pension now is we went on strike in 82. And the reason that there's player movement, salary cap and free agency was 1987 and Reggie Wyatt and us going on strike in 87. So just wanted to throw that in there. Yeah. I mean, you got to see really the evolution of the game,
Starting point is 00:27:30 not only from a perspective of football on the field, but also what it is as a business when you started playing. I mean, it was, I was even thinking about myself, like they used to blackout games. It was just now last night I'm watching the game on my computer here and just how much that's changed. There's so many teams that you were on that I would love to talk about. I mean, the 95 Falcons with June Jones and Eric Metcalf and Jeff George. I mean, you just got to see up close so many cool ones. But I wanted to ask about your face mask because kickers and face masks, what a bizarre relationship. I mean, you have the Matt Barr that was just no kind of face mask.
Starting point is 00:28:09 And he used to tackle people. And then, you know, now guys are kind of a little more normal. I grew up in Buffalo. Steve Christie, one of the great all-time kickers. He had to kind of went down and it was like over here. But you had one of the most memorable face masks. That's right. Just that it was like someone shrunk a regular face mask.
Starting point is 00:28:26 Explain that face mask to me more. Well, it gave me a lot of vision. I wanted, you know, I never liked that. I didn't want to get that nose bar in there because I wanted to make sure I could see clearly. You know, if a fist came in there, so be it. You know, that's collateral damage. So the two was just really to protect the teeth a little bit, the mouth, cheekbone.
Starting point is 00:28:51 And I would take that face mask with me everywhere I went, and we would dip it in. So for Vikings, it would be purple. It was the same one. Oh, yeah, it was the same one. Oh, that's amazing. And we would just change the color. We would just change the color of it.
Starting point is 00:29:05 Yeah. Yeah. It went with me everywhere. Just like my Kenny Stable shoulder pads. Yeah. I mean, did you ever have to, I mean, I'm sure you did, right? Like make a couple of tackles along the way because that had a couple where I pushed a guy out of bounds. Deion Sanders got scared when you saw me and ran out of bounds. So that's about it. Okay, so you never had one of those moments
Starting point is 00:29:30 where you got to deck a guy like Pat McAfee style? No, that wasn't really my thing. I mean, I got decked a few times. I got earholed. I got blindsided and stuff like that. I was a speed bump on a couple of occasions. But yeah, that's about it. Yeah, I did a story about kickers
Starting point is 00:29:45 tackling where with the special teams coach and i asked kai forbath about it he didn't really like the question he was just like yeah what are you making fun of me like no i really want to know what your thought process is when the guy's coming at you at 23 miles an hour but well mine mine you know my nickname was the matador so you can so you can figure it out. There's the goal line, you know? Everyone thinks of you as the Great Dane. They don't know the Matador. That's great.
Starting point is 00:30:14 Okay, so last one is, I mentioned I grew up in Buffalo. Steve Tasker, to me, belongs in the Hall of Fame. I agree. I just wonder what you think of, and even Steve Christie's got a case too, the very limited number of special teamers who are in the Hall of Fame. But as I mentioned, there are many kickers who own team records for the most points ever scored by a player from that franchise. And you look through the great somebody reminded me of Jason Hans get a gold jacket and what you think of the future. If there are going to be many more opportunities for kickers, punters, specialists, Bill Bates was a great one back in the day.
Starting point is 00:30:53 Matthew Slater is a great one. Devin Hester. Devin Hester. Of course. Yeah, for sure. Well, I think, can you, can you answer the question? Can you write the story of the NFL without mentioning this guy? And clearly you can not write the story of the NFL without mentioning this guy? And clearly you cannot write the story of the NFL and special teams without Steve Tasker. It's impossible.
Starting point is 00:31:10 He was a game changer blocking kicks and in the return game, but especially on coverage, but especially blocking kicks and changing the momentum of a game. So Steve Tasker absolutely belongs in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. So does Devin Hester. And there's others, you know, Gary Anderson belongs in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. You know, he's, he had an unbelievable run and he's one of the greatest kickers in the history of the game. You cannot write the story of the NFL without mentioning Gary Anderson. Same with Jason Hansen.
Starting point is 00:31:51 Maybe Sebastian Janikowski and their punter, Leckler, Shane Leckler. Another possibility, Sean Landetta is another punter that should be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. You can't write the story of the NFL without understanding that Sean Landetta was a weapon for the Giants, Philadelphia, and wherever he played. So, you know, it's just that there's a lot of traffic at the door, you know, and I found that out. I was the leading scorer in the history of the game.
Starting point is 00:32:20 It took me five years to get in. Right. So Adam Vinatieri, he's in. He should be first ballot. And then Justin Tucker hangs it up. He'll be there. I'm sure of it. And, you know, if some of these young guys keep going, who knows?
Starting point is 00:32:35 But it's going to be a slow process, unfortunately. But I hope it changes. I hope we can get more guys in for sure. Yeah, me too. I think that while growing up watching Marv Levy as a coach, he was one that really emphasized special teams. He was one of the first. Him and Dick Vermeule were the two first special teams coaches in the history of the game. Right. So I always sort of looked for that value of those guys. And Steve Tasker, I love your comments on him. So, uh, well, we'll see if it happens. I think if the NFL would be smart to put a lot of guys in at
Starting point is 00:33:09 once who've been deserving and have been waiting to sort of open it up. Um, they just did that. Yeah, I know. That's right. That's right. They did. And I feel like you need a couple of those because there's just been so many guys backlog. Um, but anyway, um, more, more, and this has been a super fun conversation and I love when I can walk away and feel like I learned a lot from my guests. The great, yeah, no, I did. I mean, I really did. I'm still going to get nervous up in the press box though, when it gets to the fourth quarter and I'll be shaking my fingers, typing my story. So great day nation is your podcast. And you, you, you probably got a decent Rolodex there of guys you can reach out to for your show.
Starting point is 00:33:48 We've had to date, I think we're 57 episodes in. Tony Dungy gets released tomorrow. We just had Warren Moon on, and we just keep going. Over 35 Pro Football Hall of Famers so far. We've had Bill Marion, Charles Barkley, and lots of just, you know, influencers and thought leaders. Tony Dungy was riveting, really good conversation about his leadership model and what, you know,
Starting point is 00:34:17 what he stands for and believes in. And it's an interesting listen if you, you know, if you want to learn stuff, that's for sure. From a guy who did it at the highest level and did it the right way. Yeah. And the Minnesota connection there as well with Tony. That's right. Honored to have you on.
Starting point is 00:34:34 Well, I'm at two Hall of Famers. I have Chris Carter and you. So we'll keep on working through our list. But great, great stuff. I'm really glad we can do it. You're welcome here anytime. And appreciate you. Thanks a lot, man.
Starting point is 00:34:46 All the best. See you.

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