The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz - Our Weekend with the Most “Extra” Player in the NFL

Episode Date: November 1, 2024

Pablo travels to Minneapolis to spend a weekend with the player responsible for the best celebrations in the NFL: Vikings safety Cam Bynum, a rising star — and proud Filipino-American — whose story is about love at first sight, the value of patience and connecting two countries on opposite sides of our planet. Also: lumpia. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Welcome to Pablo Torre Finds Out. I am Pablo Torre. And today, you're going to find out what this sound is. My wife, she's in the Philippines working on her visa. It's been getting denied. So if anybody out there can help with the visa process, I greatly appreciate it. Right after this ad. You're listening to Giraffe King's Network. For people who are not watching us and just listening, you should know that something

very important is happening. You tell me what that is. We have taken our shoes off, left them at the door, because this is about to be the most Filipino American interview in sports history. Because in my house growing up, I would get yelled at? Absolutely, because it's filthy. It's disgusting. I don't know why it's not a worldwide thing.

It's a Filipino thing. You better take your shoes off before you come in the house and leave them at the door. We're going to discuss many things of global importance. I don't know if there'll be a more important one than then it's gross that you Americans don't take your shoes off when you get home. Yes, and we are clean. I do want to establish for people who are not in the room with us that you've invited me into your home,

and this is a special occasion. So, sincerely, thanks for letting us, you know, set all this junk up. Yeah, thank you for being here. This is a big time just being able to meet you in New York and then come here now. And we talked about it for a while, but finally we're able to make it happen. And what better way to do it than in my place.

It's not easy to meet with an NFL player like this in the middle of their season. But Cam Bynum, as you'll see, isn't most NFL players. I had first met Cam back in New York City in May, and I had no idea at the time that the 5-2 Vikings would turn out to be this good. But what I did know, as of a year ago, almost exactly actually, is that I wanted to tell Cam's story. And I wanted to tell the story of his wife, Lane. And that was even outside of the fact that we all happen to be members of the same

karaoke-loving, pork-roasting, Southeast Asian diaspora. And so when I caught wind of a party being planned for the Pivotal Lions-Vikings game, which took place nine days ago, in the middle of October, which you should also know happens to be Filipino American History Month, I wanted to visit with the 26-year-old starting safety for the Vikings in person. I wanted to find out what that specific Sunday in Minneapolis looked and smelled and sounded like myself. I just need you to understand how surreal it was for me to be in a section of roughly a hundred Filipinos That's crazy.

watching a Filipino-American NFL player during Filipino-American History Month Right. in Minnesota. Right. And just basically being surrounded by cousins and titos and titas that I did not know. All of whom are like...

Yeah. Yo, I say that Filipinos are like first team all wedding reception. For sure. You know what I mean? For sure. 100%. Everybody was extra. Everybody was extra. Then come to realize after, some of them are related to us.

Like my wife, she found one of her aunts there. And it's like, and they're actually related. Not just saying it, like, they knew, like, common family members. And it's like, what a small world. But really, just having, like, the energy there of the people, like, seeing how supportive they are. It's dancing, it's singing, it's celebrating,

it's pointing at things with your mouth. It's, you know, like just trying to call it. But just like all of these people together, the title that I think you deserve, having experienced that, is that you are not just one of the best young defensive backs in the NFL. You are the most extra player in the league. I take that.

That actually means a lot to me. That's probably the best title I've had over anything because that's literally my goal to be extra. Yeah, so I was talking pre-game on the field to Josh McCown, who's an old friend of mine, quarterback's coach for your Minnesota Vikings. Yep. And he's like, he's the greatest celebrator I've ever seen.

That's a title. And he's played, Josh has played for, I believe, 16 different teams. So he's seen lots of people attempt to do what you've been doing. Like for you, like doing the worm is like a B minus at this point celebration for you. That's like regular.

Yeah, that's the forgotten about one. Yeah. Really, it all goes to my preparation. I take football real serious and I take every single part of it serious. Studying how to make the plays and having a plan when I do make the plays. Every celebration is like, okay, there's some thought, some creativity behind it because I'm like, I always say it has to be a movie.

I want people to be entertained when they're watching this. Two receivers left, two right. Rogers blitzed again. He'll fire over the middle. Intercepted! Yes! Picked off at the 42-yard line by Cam Bynum! Serena! Let's go, boys! The case of, like, you in London against Aaron Rodgers, you evoked a literal movie.

They recreated the famous handshake from the Parent Chaplet. Take a look. It's so good. One of the best movies out too and it was based in London. So it's like that's the creativity I'm talking about. The levels to getting Lindsay Lohan to appreciate that you were pulling off the multi-part parent trap dance. That's big time. One of the greatest of our generation. Every childhood movie she was in and actually executing the handshake. It's absurd to be like, I'm going to be ready just in case I pick off Aaron Rogers. Oh, I knew that was going to happen.

What's the math on fumble recovery at Lambeau week before that against the Packers? Because you hit a casual backflip. That was a thirsty celebration because I didn't even force the fumble. week before that, against the Packers, because you hit a casual backflip. That was a thirsty celebration, because I didn't even force the fumble. I was going to say, I was about to hold you to a count. You were just ready though. I was ready, and it was like, I kind of rushed it. I should have waited for an interception

to use the backflip. The guy that forced the fumble, you get all the praise, because that's the hardest part. Picking it up, jumping on the ball is nothing, but I'm like, I have the ball in my hand. I'm doing it. The week before that, it's the Texans game. Yep.

And the C.E.J.'s ground back to pass. Patrick Jones got picked up. Byers over the middle. Intercepted! Intercepted! Cam! Deep in you, did you always want to do the Usher glitch dance? Yes.

A number of defensive celebrations for the Minnesota Vikings. Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!

Man, he can be boot walking. I want to clown when I'm on the field. I want to do goofy stuff. I don't want to just do TikTok dances. I want to do stuff that's legendary. So that's from 10 years ago. Right, this is like a deep cut. Yeah, that's a deep cut.

But then he brought it back in the Super Bowl. Yes. When he performed in the Super Bowl, he did just a little of it. Oh, but I mean, it's a glitch dance into his own hoppy moonwalk. Exactly, to a moonwalk and Oz and Cleats. So I'm like, that gets extra points.

I did not understand how you did it still. I practiced. I practiced on the turf. I was like, okay, I can do it. I just have to be light on my feet so I don't dig in. And it worked. Catch it. Tell the camera to come here. Spin the ball.

I do realize in my exhaustive research that you did practice at home. Yes. And like taped yourself. For months. Months. It's like setting... I like how like...

Because I can't dance. The takeaway from everything we just said is not for me, this Filipino-American cannot dance. Yes, I cannot dance, but I can learn. I'm a learner and I'm a studier and preparer. So I prepare to make it look like I can dance. You have an approach to joy and celebration, like a bank robber. Pretty much. Like you're casing out the joint, you're like, okay, here are steps one through 25.

This is it. I'm going to go to this end zone. Like when I say everything is planned for like a certain situation, certain moment, like that stuff is serious to me. Yeah, I'm noticing this is a bit of a through line in your life. That you are ready to be extraordinarily extra at all times. Everything has to be over the top. That's why I say my life is a movie

because I like doing abnormal things that seem fake. It's even possible to pull off, but you pull them off. So, it's probably worth observing here that Cam Bynum, at around 6 feet tall, 200 or so pounds, is far from the biggest or strongest or fastest athlete in the league. But he did have more tackles than any defensive back in the NFL last season. And to truly understand the reputation of a safety like this, you should probably hear from a very specific demographic. Wide receivers.

What's the hardest hit you've ever taken? This past year, Dooloo 24 from the Vikings. Camp Bina? As this clip of Detroit's Amon Ross St. Brown interviewing Chicago's DJ Moore might indicate. He blew my back out and I was like, dog. Ran a seam, bro. He came out of nowhere.

I thought I had a clean catch. He said, boom. I said, ooh. I was like, my whole face showed on the screen and everything. I was like, dog, I got to get out. But the thing that made Cam himself feel that way happened back when he got to college at Cal Berkeley as a cornerback. And he realized that his real childhood dream, a dream shared by many young Asian-Americans, was not going to go as planned,

which I, of course, could very personally relate to. I took becoming a doctor really serious. So like my freshman year of school, like I went to Centennial High School for three and a half semesters of high school, but I did one semester my freshman year at a private school in Orange County called J. Sarah because they had a medical magnet program or something

because I wanted to get a jump on med school through high school. So I took it serious. I wanted to be one of those off-season doctors. You know, those classic off-season doctors. Yeah, and it sounded good until I got to that first semester of college and failed every class. Yeah, so okay.

So Cam Bynum's GPA at Cal, first semester freshman year was? 0.33, 0.33. Not 3.3, 0.33. That's incredible. That's bad. That is- That made my life stressful.

That feels like you shouldn't be here talking to me. I shouldn't have. I had to write letters to the dean to keep me in school. I basically got kicked out. They had to pull some strings to get me on academic probation and extra semester because I didn't get it high enough. And I'm the smart kid.

I've always been a smart kid. I was going to say, the kid who wants to do the doctor thing is not the kid who's lazy. At all. It was just tough. My parents are doctors. I show up, go to like intro to biology. And I get the syllabus, I look at the syllabus,

I look around the room and I'm like, I'm never going to come back to this class. Exactly. And I pulled the parachute cord way before you did, it turns out. I tried to stick it out a whole semester. And I didn't even get to the hard classes yet. So I want to get to your theory of talent though, right?

Because what you learned in college, when you pivoted away from pre-med, you ended up sort of understanding even your own sort of like life story and football a bit more. Which is to say that by your own estimation, it doesn't sound like you were, I mean you were fast, you were strong, but you weren't the fastest or the strongest. And it sounds like you taught yourself technique. You have to do certain things right if you want to have sustained success or if you want to get to that point if you're behind. So for me I was behind. I was like this one of the smallest kids on the team, really slow, really below average.

My sophomore year I was fifth string on JV. You know, most NFL players you talk to. Fifth string on JV is basically not on the team. Exactly. So there's games where we're blowing a team out 60 to nothing and I still maybe might get in last minute of the game when they're taking a knee. But there are games like I didn't touch the field at all. I didn't realize this.

Yeah. That's bad. That's terrible. And you talk to most other NFL players, all of them freshman starters on varsity. And just seeing how behind I was, it's like, OK, how can I get better? And I found a coach, my trainer, Anthony Brown.

He still trains me to this day. And he said, I don't care how slow you are, I don't care how small you are, I can build you. I can get you to college. You guys won't be paying for college." And he went up to my dad and said, I need to see him at 5 a.m. tomorrow. And the 5 a.m. was just a lift, just to see,

we just lifted. He's not even like a lifting coach, but he just wanted to see where I was mentally, if like I'm willing to put the work in. And so from that end of that sophomore season to the start of my junior season, I went from fist-string on JV to varsity starter. And that was just because I showed up every day at 5 a.m.

for that entire summer. Didn't post anything. Everybody was like tripping, like, how'd a camp get good? He's balling out of nowhere. Like, this guy sucked and now he doesn't suck anywhere. If I do something well, they're cheering for like, whoa, no way he This guy sucked, and now he doesn't suck anymore. Yeah, I was a kid where if I do something well, they're cheering for like, whoa, no way, he just beat the varsity receiver.

And then I'm like, it becomes consistent, and now I go from there to being able to really just learn the game and know the game, and that same process of being a technician, just training little small details, the rhythm, the footwork, the eyes. That just brought me to the NFL and I train the same exact things now.

I mean, you do realize that your approach to celebrating has also been your approach to learning how to play football. Exactly. Everything's detailed, everything's thought out. Surprising to people when it pays off. Yes, surprise being a surprise and I'll do the right thing, whether it's on or off the field and it'll pay off You know when you go to the NFL and the Vikings take you in the fourth round and they switch you right you were a cornerback a cow

You're a safety now. It sounds like yeah a safety is not just a technician but also kind of a choreographer Yes choreographer a leader. You're really orchestrating. I like saying the conductor Yeah conductor of an orchestra. You have to tell everybody what to do or else we're all going to be wrong. So if you're studying choreography in this sense and you're also there to sort of scan the field and make sure you're aware that your eyes are always moving,

I'm curious how you scouted your wife. Great question. How does this bring us to that moment? She's from the Philippines, but she got hired to perform with her dance team in Dubai. So it's a Filipino place, so they're all Filipinos. So it was also cool. It felt like home in there.

And she's performing with a band, and she was one of the people on the dance team. What do you remember about him showing up to watch you dance? The first time or because there's so many times that he was there. My mom was there, aunts, uncles, cousins. So after the show at night, my aunts start messing with me like watch can't we're gonna get you to take a picture with them and so we go in there and they're being messy yeah they're just you know how Filipinos are I know this I know this feeling very well trying to force me to go meet her his

aunt is just talking to me they're speaking Tagalog like some of them they're trying to speak Tagalog. I remember him saying like, okay, let's take a picture, like all of you guys. And his aunt telling us that he's a football player, but obviously I don't have any knowledge about football, especially American football. So I'm like, cool, soccer.

So I take a picture with the dance team, and then they keep talking to specifically my wife. Because my aunts know what they're doing. They're talking to her, waiting for everybody else to go inside. They're like, okay, now you're alone. Take a picture, just you with my nephew. And I'm like, you guys are so extra.

This is not subtle. But part of me is happy, because I'm like, OK, I get to meet her. And so we ended up taking our picture. His aunt followed me on Instagram first, and then I think his mom. Wait a minute. Wait a minute.

And then Cam. Hold on. Cam was third string in terms of people from the Bynum family. If I remember it right. So we get home with my family and my mom says, it feels like we've known her for a while. And it was just like a weird piece when I met her. Like, wow, she seems really genuine. And so, you know, as we show up the next day.

The next day, the next day. You become the biggest fan of this dance team in history. The place is like fun. One night, you know, we're ready to perform. And that time I'm preparing to do my back flip. So. You can back flip also? With the to do my backflip. So. You can backflip also? With the help of my, my team.

How many people in this family can backflip? This is like a funny story because I didn't know he came back and then he just popped up and like, hey, he started cheering. And I'm like, wait, same guy, like he's back. Day in and day out, we kept showing up. Got to know her a little more.

We only talked like five, ten minutes every day. But it was like old school, where you get to see in person every day. You're not texting, not calling, but you're just showing up in person every day. I just felt peace in my heart from God. Like, okay, give her a try. This scene is different. This scene is different.

This feeling is different. And I felt that, like, directly from God. So all of this is feeling like, again, in retrospect, this is all making sense. But how long does it take you to actually propose? Nine months. So this plan, the plan of, okay, within nine months, I'm proposing. You don't, as plan of, okay, within nine months,

I'm proposing. You don't, as far as I know, you did not actually live in Dubai. No. How does this all work? So the Philippines was our hub. I'm really a really intentional person, so we made sure to, a little bit.

My mindset was, okay, if we're going to think about dating, we need to do things where we can evaluate each other. So let's go serve with our church. I've been wanting to do some things with the Filipino community and want to give back. That's been my dream. So really our first few months together was being able to serve our people.

And I was able to evaluate, okay, how does she treat people? How does she talk to people? How does she treat people that can't do something for her in return, and what does her heart look like? And being able to do that from the beginning of our dating set everything up. The proposal itself feels like Ocean's Eleven. Like a bank heist.

Yes, yes. So, okay, so walk me through the steps here. Because it's about as elaborate a routine as I've ever seen. Yes, it was a process. Our pre-marriage counseling, I told them, okay, give us an assignment where we can't talk to each other for a few days, basically do fasting from each other, where we have to prepare our vows and everything.

You got the marriage counselor involved so it doesn't look like I'm in it. So I told them. You're a psycho. I am, I'm genius. So I told them, okay, tell her that you guys can't talk for three days so you can prepare your vows. Did you know that he had gotten the marriage counselor

in on this plan? Actually, that's like every time my friends will ask me, so how did he propose? I love to say he lied because that is like a funny way to tell the story. We had a long process, so we had to kind of plan our wedding and I had to plan the proposal because we only have a short window of off season. You're doing this during the NFL season. During the NFL season.

From the United States to the Philippines. Yes, so gave me time to get there. We rented the place out where we had one of our first quote unquote like fancy dates. We are here, Belay Daco, February 1st, 2023. Layne has no clue I'm in the Philippines won. She has no clue I'm about to propose to her. But this is exactly how it's about to work.

Come on. The crazy part is that you taped yourself basically being like, this is how I'm going to rob this bank. Yes. I'm going to walk up these steps. Yep. You did provide evidence. I did.

I did. She's going to walk in. As. Yep. You did provide evidence. I did. I did. She's going to walk in. As soon as she touches this first step, still in love with Brian McKnight. So she's going to walk in. What is this? What is all this music?

Oh. Push the door open. So it's going to be fog all over the ground. So it looks like heavenly. We in the cloud, right? Curtain opens. Meet me at the altar. I'm not keeping it simple doing will you marry me, that's boring, meet me at the altar.

It's like, I'm not asking, I'm telling you. And it went exactly how we planned on it. Spoiler alert. Like step by step, she walked in, looked around like I said. Will you meet me at the altar? answer? I love you so much. Baby. Look at you baby. Does it make you?

Baby. I still can't believe you did that. Yeah, he did to you what he does to quarterbacks. He's disguising his coverage. For sure. He's being deeply dishonest and then he's to quarterbacks. He's disguising his coverage. He's being deeply dishonest. And then he's picking you off. Now I'm just realizing that's exactly what I'm doing with the celebrations. And that's pretty consistent.

I didn't realize that until now. You didn't realize it until this interview? Right now. Like, dang, I'm doing the same exact videos then as I'm doing now. That's actually crazy. [♪upbeat music playing.♪ She says yes. And you become husband and wife. The problem being that she had never been to the United States at this point. Right, right.

Had you considered this? I'd never considered it until a few months into dating. I'm like, you want to come to a game? And she said, I can't. I said, what do you mean? No, I can just buy you a plane ticket. You can come to a game. She's like, no, I can't.

I said, what do you mean you can't? I got it. Like, I'll take care of it. She said, I literally can't come to the States. So I had to do my research because the only thing I thought a visa was, was a debit card. A visa, in fact, is a document that allows a foreign citizen

to enter the United States for a specific purpose. And visas are notoriously difficult to get. At this point, for instance, Lane Bynum had applied and been denied three separate times over almost two years, twice for a tourist visa and once for a spousal visa. And this was with no real clarity, she says, on what she could do differently to get it accepted or how long it would even take. And none of that is particularly uncommon. As much as we always want to talk about the positive side of it, it was so hard because

the time difference and being married and knowing that okay I can't be with my husband and like this is a very important time for us, like season for us to really spend time together. And also, you know, like him as a professional athlete, you need to know like, okay, what do you need right now? Do you want me to be an encourager or just be your friend and listen to you? And I don't know how to like start the conversation. Sometimes we're just in FaceTime and we don't know what to say because we're just both sad and like realizing that,

okay, we still have a few months and it's not… It's not guaranteed that we will be together next year or maybe we need to wait a few more years. And we got married and I feel like we got everything like so easy. And then there's this one thing that we don't have any control. I didn't fully appreciate how much of a problem

this would be for you when I first heard about this story. Right. The first time she did it, denied, then it took eight months to get another interview. So the line just to get an interview for it, just to give it an either yes or no, takes eight to 12 months. So it's like, if you get told no,

you have to wait in a whole another eight months just to ask again. Yes. And we had that. It's really hard. We had to know from that twice. But I want to explain the moment in which I realized that you were a story that I wanted to find out more about. I see.

Because it was Monday Night Football. Yeah. It's October, 2023. You're playing the Niners, the Niners who would go on to be in the Super Bowl that year. And your mentality headed into this nationally televised opportunity, speaking about your preparation,

your intentionality, your planning. Did you know that that was going to be the platform where you could say something to America about this? 100%. Before the season, when she had her last interview and we got denied it was in September the week before our first game and she got denied and it was like really sad because we thought It was our second time going through it and we're like, okay now our application is good. This is gonna be the one We did it the right way and we still get a no and I told my wife, all right, we got to ask for help.

You have the game of your life on Monday Night Football, on national television, against the Niners. You pick off Brock Purdy the first time. Purdy on a deep drop. He's going to pass over the middle. Intercepted! Yes! They took the ball from the Niners!

And it's Cam Bynum with the interception of Brock Kurdi! Did you do the worm after that one? Yeah, that's when I did the worm. Right, just a casual worm, right? Yeah. But the second pick is the thing that basically wins the game. That's the game winner. ...Byrdi back to pass him and he needs to sack him.

He loops it over the middle. Intercepted! Yes! The Vikings beat the Niners! And Cam Bynum has a two-interception night. Shout out to the P's! It's a movie! And so your opportunity with Tom Palacero at the NFL Network postgame, it's time. It's time for you to pay off this plan. Yeah.

Cameron, prime time, national TV, a top opponent. You have two picks to seal the victory. How does it feel? First of all, all glory to my Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. It feels amazing being able to be out here and just get a win for my team and to come up big on a big time game and support my country with my foundation. We got the bags on our helmet, and we're able to just really support things bigger than me.

It's bigger than me. I'm not out here for my glory, it's all for God, and all for the people back at home. And also my wife, she's in the Philippines working on her visa. It's been getting denied, so if anybody out there can help with the visa process, I greatly appreciate it. I'm just scrolling through your social media, and it's all about Cam, you know, his interception. And then I saw this, I think my friend sent me, I can help with the visa process. I greatly appreciate it. I'm just scrolling through your social media

and it's all about Cam, you know, his interception. And then I saw this, I think my friend sent me like, look, Lane, like he said something about like the visa. And I just remember crying. Like I was crying because I'm just thinking of the scenario of like my husband is Superman and he can't even save his own wife. I was prepared for the moment whenever it came to use that as our stepping stone,

to use our platform for something good. And even beyond our situation, it brought so many eyes to the world, because that's an issue for a lot of people, not just Filipinos, but everybody in the world. It's a topic in the news all of the time now. Exactly. Immigrants, do they deserve to be here? There was an article in the Minnesota Star Tribune

where the executive director of the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota, her name is Vena Eyre, said, and I'll just read the quote, the issue he is raising is one that so many Americans and green card holders experience every day. That made me really go back and look back at myself like, hold on, I need to learn a little bit more. People can at least have more grace on people

that are going through the same situation as us. Maybe that they might have kids. Yeah, these are families who can't be together. Exactly. And it's like, okay, us, I'm able to be on a platform, but what about everybody else? Are the other millions of people that are still in the process? Yeah, this is also the Filipino-American experience.

Right. Is that difficult? We export people all across the world. And everybody in the end wants to and wishes to be in America. Right. Do you remember when you got the news that, oh, my wife is actually going to get to be in this country with me? Yes, I remember it very, very vividly.

I knew she was going into the interview and she called me and her face didn't look sad like the last one. She didn't even say any words yet, but she answered and I saw the smile and then she said, we got it. I was like, no way. So we start adding everybody to the FaceTime call, add my mom, add my siblings, add my cousins. Then we're like, all right, let's book this flight. She needs to be at the next home game. Lane Bynum had finally been granted a temporary tourist visa, and she and Cam both say that for all the attention that her case had received as a result of Monday Night Football, there

was no special expediting of the process, it turned out, and that Lane, right now, is actually still working her way through the system, hoping that her spousal visa will eventually get approved. Although one giant hurdle has finally been overcome. Do you remember what it was like for your plane to actually land in the United States of America for the first time in your life? Yeah, I remember for sure. How can I forget? And yeah, my mother-in-law had a flight to the Philippines to pick me up. And then we…

You got a chaperone. Yes. And then we flew to… I landed in San Francisco. It's just wild watching his game in one of like the establishments in San Francisco. And I'm like, okay, all the people is just like super excited to watch a game. And it's not like that in the Philippines. Right, like these purple shirts are really popular it turns out.

Yeah, and like all the families that you know, we're just there watching his game and me thinking, wow, like I will see him in like three hours. Finally be able to see my wife. I'm about to cry. Oh, okay. Oh! You're welcome to Minnesota. She's crying. We made her cry. Thank you to my beautiful family.

Thank you to all of you that have helped. We did it. My wife is here. Finally home. And she got here in the middle of the week. But I didn't tell anybody that she was here yet We did it. My wife is here. Finally home. And she got here in the middle of the week, but I didn't tell anybody that she was here yet, because I wanted her to surprise everybody at the game. Of course. Yeah, you know, I had to be extra, so it was just a crazy moment, just how her life changed from the day that the Niner game,

and then three weeks later she was at the game against the New Orleans Saints. So it was just a blessing. You made it out here. Thanks to y'all, white is here. All glory to God. Now let's go ball, baby. Woo! It's interesting, like that season, 2023,

you have a really good year. Yeah. I mean, you lead every defensive back in the NFL in tackles. You're establishing yourself as a really important part of the Minnesota Vikings. You're becoming known locally and now nationally. Right. And the thing you want to do, I realize now,

as I think about this and the chronology of it, is your wife gets to finally be with you in America, but you simultaneously to do, I realize now as I think about this and the chronology of it, is your wife gets to finally be with you in America, but you simultaneously are like, I want to be spending more time in the Philippines. Yeah. Every second that I'm not in football, I want to be not here and nothing against here, but I just fell in love with being able to travel

and specifically be in the Philippines. It's just a different life. And I'm so grateful for my time here in the U.S. because of all the things that we're spoiled with. But I also love going back to the Philippines and having to slow down and have to be back in community where it's a lot slower of a lifestyle out there and community is still a big thing, family is still a big value out there in the Philippines. So really, every second I get, I try and be out, just so I can live both types of lives.

I just want to make this very clear to people. No one else does this. True. No one else is like... Nobody lives overseas. You're like, oh, where are you spending the off season? It's like, oh, man, Malibu. I'll go to, you know, Cancun.

You're living in the Philippines. On the other side of the are you spending the off season? It's like, oh, man, Malibu. I'll go to Cancun. You're living in the Philippines. On the other side of the world. In the off seasons. Yes. I really gave it a shot to live there and ended up falling in love with it. On top of my wife being from there, that's for sure a big reason, because her family,

everybody's there. And she really helps me when I'm out there, be able to really know how to live life out there. But being able to go feel the experience of actually living there and be a local and not just go to the beaches and all the island hopping. All that's fun. But I have more fun being in Manila. I just like how you're like the one guy who's like,

I love sitting in traffic in Manila. There's something about... As sitting in traffic in Manila. There's something about slow. As long as I'm not driving. I hate sitting in it if I'm driving, but if it's a two hour drive and I'm in a backseat, I'm good. So I just got to jump in here quickly to point out that Manila is in fact one of the most congested cities on planet Earth

It is not a beachside resort and also If you want to know what kind of couple Tam and Lane Bynum are you should understand that they spent their honeymoon last year Visiting the same typhoon victims who had inspired them to start their Bynum Faith Foundation in 2023. The Bynum Faith Foundation is a charitable organization devoted to donating food and rebuilding homes and also teaching the same craft that Cam's own coach back in high school had once taught a fifth string junior varsity defensive back that pretty much nobody believed in. For people who aren't familiar with the Filipino

sort of like deal, basketball, boxing, cock fighting, billiards. Yeah, exactly. Football's not on the list, but you're actively holding camps in the cities. It started when I met a few guys out there. You were able to meet them yesterday, Daggs and Brian. There's Bruce, there's Paul.

Like my closest friends that started off from day one, they hit me up on Instagram and I saw, okay, they live in the Philippines and I started looking at their pages and they're doing like football stuff. And I'm like, oh, they play football out there? I didn't know there was football stuff in the Philippines. I didn't know either.

I didn't know that the Philippine Tackle Football League was a league. Exactly. That's why I followed them back, because I'm like, okay, there's some people doing football. So I get there in my first few weeks of the off season, Dags hit me up, like, hey, we have a practice tomorrow, we'd love for you to come. And he was just shooting a shot,

like hoping to get a quote unquote celebrity to get there. And I said, all right, you think you can pick me up? He said, he screenshotted it, sent it to every group chat he had. He's flexing all his friends, like, look, he replied to me. And I pulled up just cause I'm like, yeah, let's go get some work in. And 30 people were there.

And when I tell you they're passionate about learning and I'm teaching stuff and they're like sitting there like ears, like just, they're just like open. The sense I got from talking to them pregame was like, they are serious about this. Literally, like this is like life for them. What are you realizing about the difficulties of trying to grow American football in that country?

I'd say the main difficulty is there's not enough platforms for people to play. There's a lot of people training, a lot of groups training, but as far as consistent tournaments. And I just see the difference of I grew up in Southern California, and there's a seven-on-seven tournament every weekend, practice on the weekdays, like seeing the serious system that it is in the offseason.

You had five strings on your JV team. Exactly. And that's just JV. They have more passion for football than the average person out there. They wake up at 1 a.m. to watch games, and stay up all night to watch games. So when I saw that passion, and I realized, okay,

they have that passion for football, but they don't have the opportunities to play like we do in the U.S., I'm like, why don't we just put on camps? Just for me to be here and spread love and continue to further this game, that's the whole goal of this, is to bring football to the Philippines and to this side of the further this game. That's the whole goal of this,

is to bring football to the Philippines and to this side of the world. So couldn't have done it without you guys. Give it up for yourselves. You know, I was watching one of the videos you put out from your latest camp, and you say to the guys at one point, and every time I'm on the field this coming season,

I'm thinking of every single one of you guys here. The better I play, the more resources and recognition we bring back to this country. So let's continue to do it. Every time I'm on the field, I literally have flashbacks of, okay, this is bigger than just me out here. Yes, I'm having fun.

Yes, I'm making money. But everything I do on this field today in this game can benefit them back home in the Philippines and all of Asia. So I think of the kids we help and the families we help, the typhoon victims. My mindset is every interception, every tackle, every play I'm on that field.

Every celebration. Every celebration. All that is an extra meal for a kid that may be starving or an extra house that we can provide. And if I'm able to help them by what I do on the field, that's a no-brainer for me. So I do want to go back to what it was like for me to watch this game in that section. And then really like experience the post game. So for people who are unfamiliar, this was Lions Vikings, this felt like a preview of

the NFC title game, frankly. I'll say it. It was a thriller. Maybe the best division in NFL history just based on the statistics. And it's tight, it's close, you guys lose on a field goal. From 44 for the lead. Bates has delivered. Detroit is on top with 15th. And you're shaking your head because that has got to suck. Yes, it does. Especially being undefeated and top of it being a divisional rival.

Right. And so post-game, all of these Filipinos, the hundred of us, are wondering, is Cam going to like stop by? Right. Because you guys hadn't lost all year and and it's like, this sucks, and it's miserable. And can you describe what you saw when you did, in fact, show up? Yeah, so even before I came out, the disappointment of when we lost the game, it's like, ah, I just want to come sit here

in this locker room, take my time, and as a competitor, you hate losing. But I had to really rewind my mind to, okay, be a human, and don't be a football player right now. Go appreciate all the people that are here. The fact that everybody waited that long for me, and just to go come get a picture, and to just be able to let me know that they're supporting

and to really just show their love after the game, whether we win or lost. Like that meant so much for me to come out there and to see a hundred people out there waiting and come into my game to support me with my jersey on with shirts customized for me that day. I wouldn't have imagined this as a kid. Yeah, I mean, to be clear, the reason I wanted to come visit you and fly from New York to Minnesota was because I also did not imagine this when I was a kid. Right.

That scene in Minnesota with, again, a Filipino-American, like, rising star in the league. And then the postgame. So I was sitting next to Budava, who was the head of the Phil Minnesotan Association. And he's like, you should stop by. We're having a tailgate. Right.

And it was at the Philippine Center of Minnesota, a place I did not know again, even existed. Exactly. I go out there and I'm like, this is the reason I came. It was beautiful. It was the sun setting, it was the leaves turning, and here are all of these Filipinos in Bynum jerseys. Exactly.

With the smell. Of Filipino food. Of Filipino food in a place I did not expect to smell it. It was genuinely moving. It was. When I drove up and parked my car and I'm just looking at all these people that gathered for that specific reason to come support me and support the Filipino community. On top of that, the smell of the food. On top of that, seeing families and kids running around.

Yes. And like, wow, this feels like home. One, two, three. There's, again, just this running theme in this story and in your life of celebration. And here you have people who, again, you're not supposed to feel this way after you lose. You're not supposed to have this kind of a feast.

Exactly. I was housing lumpia. I was housing a seasick. You know, just like fried pork face. I was eating rice on top of a mailbox at one point. I was watching you and I was sort of like seeing you get emotional as, by the way, the mayor of Maplewood was there.

I didn't know that you had secretly prepared. Well, hold on. How did the mayor of Maplewood know the parent trap dance? So she came up to me and said, hey, I'm the mayor. I said, whoa, you're the first mayor I've ever met in the US. So that was cool and won.

Then she said, can we do the parent trap handshake? I said, you know it. She said, duh. One, two, three. Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Yeah! Oh!

She executed it pretty well. Yeah! Yeah! I didn't expect that. I didn't know that we were going to have, I was going to be bearing witness to a declaration, a legal official declaration that October was going to be in Minnesota Filipino American History Month. I, Barry Lee Abrams, Mayor of the City of Maplewood, do hereby proclaim October 2024

as Filipino American History Month and recognize the Philippine Center of Minnesota for their outstanding contributions to our community. In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand on this 20th day of October, 2024, signed Mary Lee Abrams." And that also additionally, quote, the first recorded presence of Filipinos in the continental United States occurred on October 18th, 1587. 1587, when the Luzones Indios came ashore

from the Spanish galleon Nuestra Señora de Esperanza and landed at what is now Morro Bay, California. See, I didn't know. We both found some shit*** out that day. I just left an NFL game and just pulled up to that. I'm like, cool. Turns out we've been here a long time, Kev. Right.

Once again, I just thank you guys all for being here and making this happen. And it's, I get emotional just seeing everybody gather for a cause and doing the things that we're able to do. So I appreciate you guys and love you guys. The fact that they had this program just to honor Cam and hearing it from them, that they're really aware with what Cam is doing, that he's trying to represent, you know, the Filipino culture.

Seeing a lot of, I mean, more Filipinos in Minnesota, I'm just, wow, I feel like I'm home. Yes, we all wanted you guys to win. Right, that's obvious and clear. For sure. But in terms of what it proved, to be able to celebrate like that after a defeat, it sort of isolated the variable of like, oh, this is about more than just, the Vikings are really good this year, guys. Like, we know that now, it's true.

But it felt strangely like the culmination of your story in a way that you could not have planned, actually. Like the payoff of this, like, you wouldn't script, you didn't script it like this. That part of it, in its own way, made it that much more profound. It made me realize that it actually is bigger than football and like whether we won the game or lost the game,

it probably would have been the same exact love and same exact vibes. One million percent. Yes. They might, like, you know, if I got an interception and had a celebration, they would've been talking about the dance. Absolutely.

But, regardless. But guess what? We were still dancing anyway. Exactly, and people were still asking, okay, what's the next celebration? And I loved your last one, so. Right. No matter what, it really went to show,

like, it's bigger than football, and it's way more important than just what you're doing on the field. And so you brought it up, so I'll be the millionth Filipino person to be like, I have an idea for a celebration. Okay. You're familiar with the national dance of the Philippines? Ocho Ocho.

What is the national dance? Tanikling? Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. So for people who don't know, Thinicling is basically a double dutch with bamboo poles. Yes. So you have people jumping in and out,

except two friends on either side are in the sticks. Banging bamboo sticks. Yes, yeah, exactly, exactly. I feel like you can pull that off. Easily. But I wanted to wait a little bit so I can teach the guys holding the imaginary stick to be masters at it.

And I want to learn a cool routine, like the footwork of it. Yes. Because if I do it, I want it to be like exactly how it should be. All right. Who is who we calling out? Is it Harrison? Harrison Smith and Josh Metellus. And Josh Metellus. Those are my two... Josh and Harrison. Where's the camera? Which camera are we looking into? Let's go this one.

This one? Right there? Perfect. I see both of us pointing at... Josh and Harrison. Learn how to bang bamboo poles on the ground so this man can fulfill his ethnic destiny. And the whole Filipino community will support you guys like they do to me, and you'll have the keys to the city when you go to the Philippines. Granted, that city is mostly made of pork.

They both eat pork, so we're good. Um, canbino. Happy Filipino American History Month. Same to you. It's been a pleasure, man. Appreciate you for everything. This has been Pablo Torre Finds Out, a Meadowlark Media production.

And I'll talk to you next time.