THE ED MYLETT SHOW - Marshall Faulk - The Ultimate NFL Running Back

Episode Date: May 15, 2018

Marshall William Faulk is a former American football player who was a running back in the National Football League for twelve historical seasons. Faulk played college football for San Diego State University, and was a two-time consensus All-American. He was selected by the Indianapolis Colts as the second overall pick in the 1994 NFL Draft, and he also played professionally for the NFL's St. Louis Rams. Faulk was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2011 and the College Football Hall of Fame in 2017. Faulk has a charitable foundation in San Diego, California. Since 1994, the Marshall Faulk Foundation has been dedicated to building brighter futures for today’s underprivileged youth. Where they have been able to help young people tackle the challenges they face that often prevent them from achieving their dreams.

This is the Edmila Show. Complete lead and win. Welcome back to Max Out with Edmila. This gentleman to my left does not need any introduction, but I'm going to give him one anyway. This is NFL Hall of Famer. Only man in the history of the NFL with 70 rushing touchdowns and 30 receiving touchdowns in the history of the league this man right here. So this is the great martial foc join them here today. Thank you

for being here. Thanks for having me. It's really, really a blessing. So I knew who you were before the rest of the world does. And when I tell you this story, I don't want to tell you off camera, you're going to know right away what I'm talking about. I went to college at University the Pacific. You know what I'm about to tell you? Yeah. So, I major school famous. Yeah, you, well, you became famous because of my school. Actually, it's how I look at it. So, just so you all know, I knew who this man was before the whole world did really in

football. I played baseball at University of the Pacific and my sophomore year they asked me to come play football because our corner got hurt. And luckily I pulled a hamstring that week so I sat on the sidelines and watched this guy enter the game. Let me tell you what happened. Okay, first off he wasn't even starting running back that day, right? You weren't even the starter? No.

He's not the starter. This pin ends up getting in the game and goes 37 rushes for 300. Make sure you get this right. 386 yards. Did you see what I said? 37 rushes, 386 yards, seven touchdowns. It was responsible for 44 points in this football game. Do you remember that game?

Oh, yeah. Oh, my God. And so at that point, I went, A, I'm not playing football because I don't relate to that at all. And B, I just watched one of the greatest football players of all time way back when. That was really the beginning. Kind of wasn't it for you?

That was the start of everything. It was. Yeah. That game was like, hello world for you. That was that was the start of everything. It was that game was. Yeah. Yeah. That game was um it was like hello world for me. Yeah. Uh and and people always ask me like man because you and because you envision yourself you don't you don't have those kinds of dreams. You have dreams of being successful. But to that degree. Yeah. It just it you can never fathom or or thinking your head that that's going to happen. But I always told people I was prepared for it though. What do you mean by that?

I was prepared. The work that I put in making sure I knew I was to back up and asked to back up. I got a senior playing in front of me. He was all conference. The chances of me playing slim the none. The week before I got like two snaps. Is that right? And then you know second week of the season,

he goes down and I'm in the game and coach looks at me and he's like, you just hold on to this football. Yeah. You think about the film work that I put in, just wanting to make sure that if I do get in, I know what I'm doing, I know what I'm supposed to do and I'm not going to let the other 10 guys in the huddle down.

And that's the work that goes in. And the opportunity presented itself, I'm just glad I was prepared. You talk about taking advantage, because I think in every career, that's true. I mean, what if you don't? If you think about what if you don't perform it, what if you put a couple on the ground that day, right?

I mean, we may, it's possible, you never even see the football field again, it's possible. So it's true for all of you, like even starting out the interview, there's gonna be times in your career and chasing your dream, where there's gonna be a moment. Oh yeah.

And those moments are few and far between, and when they arrive, you need to be prepared for them because that was the hello world. I mean, I'm telling you, I've been to a lot of sporting events of life. I've never seen an athlete dominate other athletes in my damn life like I did that day.

And I knew after that point, I better keep an eye on this guy so before you get there though before you become an NFL Hall of Famer and one of the you know arguably the best football player I've ever seen right and and guys that I know that we're in the league will tell me that often the best football player I've ever seen is Marshall Fog and so but you go to San Diego State right so were you not we're you have to be a great high school player but how do you only end up at San Diego State? I don't mean to put down San Diego State.

It's a great school. But this isn't USC running back University. Right. So how come you end up at San Diego State and not one of these big schools? It was it was a combination of back then they didn't label. You were only labeled to a position. If you were running back, you're

running back. If you played defensive back, you played defensive back. You played receiving, you played receiving. They didn't label, you were only labeled to a position. If you were running back, you were running back. If you played defensive back, you played defensive back. You played receiver, you played receiver. They didn't have this thing called the athlete. And in high school, I played quarterback, receiver, tight end, corner, safety, I kicked, I punted. Oh my God. I returned kicks, I returned punts. Oh my God.

I kicked the field goals, I helped with a field goal. Really? Did you really? I did everything. Wow. Oh my god. I kicked the field goals. I helped with a field goal. Really? Did you really? I did everything Wow. I did everything and my football coach Your football player exactly. Yeah, he built football players. Yeah, we were we were um we weren't a big school Mm-hmm, and and but we but we were like we were the smallest school in the biggest division Okay, and we didn't have a like I mean, I played I played whole games in high school literally every snap I got on the field. Yeah, I didn't come off until halftime

I put off in defense. I was on every special team. Oh my god. I've never left the field Huh, do you think that had something to do with the way you played in the NFL? Because you were like you were really kind of that new breed of like a complete football player at running back You you blocked well you understood the blocking schemes. You were a great receiver, right? Obviously a great runner, too. Do you think that had something to do with it? A lot to do with it.

Yeah. I became the why we're, why are we doing that? What is that? Yeah. I want to do that. And my coaches, early in my career, my coaches, they didn't like it. Okay. It was, coaches don't like explaining why.

They were gonna do this. Hey coach, why were we doing that? I watched the film, they do this, this, and this. They look at you like, you couldn't appreciate the fact that I was watching film on my own. You were. You know, out of young age. Did you really, having a young boy?

Yes. Yeah, you're always gonna student of it. Just, I love football. And there's only one way to get better. Yeah. And everything that I did, I went home, I watched film, I watched practice. We watch practice and I go home, I watch practice. You did. Yeah. And that's not the only way to get better. Is that and that's the only way to get better than anything. Right. Is that a separator? I that's what I wanted to ask you. So you get to that you get to the NFL. By the way,

I remember Mike Mark saying literally they're going fo it was almost like a basketball player like LeBron. You want to get him as many touches as you can. You're really one of the first football players I ever saw where the the coordinator literally said we need to get him X amount of touches of football game. And that's is that part of that's because of your preparation too. It was Mike felt if they tried to get me to as much he could give me the ball as much as possible. And when they couldn't get it to me if I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, I mean, the one on one, as soon as they get me to draw any attention to my position. It's totally different way of using a running back in that time, right?

It's still not all that common. I mean, it's still not that common. You were certainly the first. Some teams, some teams, Pittsburgh, they do it with Evie Amdell, Buffalo, they do it with LaSham McCoy, Dallas do it with Zeke. They get him involved in the passing game. Maybe not as much as lining up as a wide receiver as I did, but they get him involved in the passing game. Maybe not as much as lining up as a wide receiver as I did,

but they get him involved. And here's the reason. In football, the minute you break a huddle, running back, running back, you think he wants to run a football. If you run a swing route and they throw you the ball, the big 300 pounders that they have in the middle of the football field, you just got me away from them.

And there's the advantage. Now you've got 180 pound, 190 pound corner by who really doesn't like the tackle? Right, you want to tackle. You've got to tackle me when I'm with. Awesome. I get there, but you got that. See, I think you were the first players I saw and I love football.

Obviously, I don't know anything about it compared to you, but I would read that this man knew what everyone on the offense's responsibilities were. You knew what the guards was, the tackles was, what route the receiver was running, and I think that helped you get in space, too, didn't it? I mean, that's they trusted you getting the football for those reasons. Understanding the game, you know, and I took it to, I took it to the quarterback level. I don't wanna call it, it's the quarterback level. And this is what I tell people.

A lot of, you know, I watch, I have friends who work in Hollywood and, you know, let's say you get a script. What if you only know your line? How are you going to know when their line is doing? So you have to learn the whole script. So you understand the principles and what you're trying to accomplish. Do you think that that was the, that's a good point?

Was that, I always wanted to know, when you get to an elite level, because a lot of people that watch this, whatever they're in, they can be in business and fitness and any sport, they're at a pretty elite level. And then how do you separate? Because we're talking about before, you ran a Ford 3540, that's fast.

But there are other guys in the league, you're in four fours. What's the separator? Is it preparation? Like what's the separator at the elite elite level in sports or business in your mind? What's the little inch that difference? Um, preparation, mental toughness, and understanding that when you come into the game,

your skill level is here, and your knowledge is here. And you're going to intersect to where, like, you're playing and then they're gonna pass each other where your skill level goes down and your knowledge in a game goes up. The faster you can raise your knowledge, the longer time you're gonna have to be as good as you are physically and as smart as you can be mentally. the longer time you're going to have to be as good as you are physically

and as smart as you can be mentally. That's the elite players. They're up here a long time. The Kobe Bryant's, Kobe was like once he got it and understood the game, he was able to slow down the deterioration of his body. I got you. Do you think that's how he continued to grow? Do you see that in a guy like Brady a little bit? Oh, yes, without a doubt. Like Tom is, Tom is, he's fighting for the time. Yeah. That's why crazy diets, all these workouts, all the stuff that he does, because he understands,

mentally, just do it as maxed out. I mean, he knows everything. You might be able to trick him once, but you're not going to trick him all game. Right, right. And he understands the only thing that's keeping him back now is age. So he's trying to slow it down.

And so his preparation is physical preparation, a diet preparation. That's that little stuff. Any anything to slow down the aging process of his body, so he can remain at that peak. That's crazy. And I watched it. Here's a a football question about that I just always wanted to know you played with patent when he was young right and then you

played with Kurt Warner uh-huh curious what were the similar to great football push you caught patent earlier in his career but of those two guys just at a curiosity what was this what are the similarities and what was different about the two of them both of them they have unbelievable leadership skills and they're committed to doing things the right way. What do you mean by leadership skills like specifically like what's that look like a little bit. They know that each player requires a different type of encouragement. You don't treat everybody the same. No. Yeah. Some dudes you can lay on and get on. Payton Kurt, whether it was Payton or Kurt,

we have conversations and they knew the conversation with me had to be intellectually about how we're going to pick up the blitz, what we're going to do, these adjustments. He go to the tight end and he say so when I do this, where would you like to be, you know, do you need me to let your motion go a little wider so you can hook the in or do it. So it's all about encouraging people, letting them know you understand what their job is and that you are out to help them do their job better. Not you.

Because let's be honest, the five guys that protect the quarterback, you only hear their name or number if they hold it. That's up, that's up. When he's going to touch down, they never say, number 71! That's so true. That's so true. That yellow flag come out holding, number 71. Right.

So when you take them to dinner, you invite them to your house, pay them a curtain. Let's sit down and watch film with Offense Align. Yeah, yeah. Did you ever do anything for with Offense Align. Yeah, yeah. Did you ever do anything for your Offense Align? Oh, yeah. Dinner is bottom stuff.

I mean, yeah. And here's the reality. When you do things for those guys, this is hard. No one guys are taking care of their Offense Align. Quarterback on his back. Running back on his back. They did it. pick you up. You pick it up, yeah.

Cleaning guys off. It is kind of telling you clean. It is telling sometimes when you see that not happen. It's like, you do, you see it not happen. You're like, wow, what's going on in my football? I told people that I was like, I watched a Washington Red Skins, I couldn't figure out why they wouldn't give Kirk cousins the big deal.

And then they moved on. Offensive line never helped them up. You never heard a teammate say, and we need to pay him, we need to keep him, something was wrong. Well, you just knew it from being in there. Something was wrong and I don't know Kurt personally, but if I did and I was in his circle,

I'd tell him, you gotta work on your leadership skills. And you gotta fresh start this time, so you better clean it up this time. You gotta work on your leadership skills. That's awesome, what a great insight. So I'm curious, a couple more football things. You played on great teams. You've won Super Bowl, right? I was at that Super Bowl, by the way. I'm you probably enjoyed a little bit more than I did, but, but you also were on teams that weren't great. Yeah. Do you know? Do you know? Like you're in camp, you're like,

we don't have it. Or do you do? Does every camp is everyone going to be like, we're going to win the stand Super Bowl this year? Or did you? is there a point where you're on a good football? You knew you were the greatest show on turf compared to a team that won five games. Do you know, or is it, do you not know until the season reveals itself? Every team at the start of the season, they are playing their best players.

And you feel like you have a chance of winning every game. The special teams, there's just something different. The started a season on teams when we went three and 13 or 13 and three. It was the same. It was the things that It is, okay. It was, it was, it was the things that happened throughout the season. I hurt my knee, I go down, my back up comes in and scores three touchdowns. You know what, thanks for being ready.

Yeah. Kurt Warner goes down, the back up comes in. Yeah. Trent Green throws a couple of touchdowns, we win a couple of games, Kurt don't play. Those are the kind of things. It's not as much to players that the 22 guys that start,

it's the guys behind them. Because every team you're gonna have, you're gonna have bumps in the rows, you're gonna have roadblocks, there's gonna be obstacles. Yes. And you can't expect those 22 guys to solve every problem.

That's interesting, because I'm a Patriot fan. In every offseason like this, I watch, they lose these guys That's interesting, because I'm a Patriot fan. In every off season like this, I watch, they lose these guys, you know, and I'm like, but it seems to me that they understand building that back end of their roster, too, because that's gonna be part of the football season. You're just gonna have a trition during the football season.

You have to. So I'm curious, let's talk about Super Bowl just real quick. Is that the highlight of your career? We're gonna talk about the big highlight at the end here in the Hall of Fame, but I'm curious, what's that feel like? After all that work, you'd been playing a while too, right? And what was that like and then compare it for me to the one against New England? I played football, basketball, baseball, rent track, and had been a champion at everything other than football. I never wanted

a championship in football. You kidding me. So the dream, the dream as a kid, we growing up, always me and my friends, we ended the day when it was time to go home, this play has put a super bowl. You were on offense or defense. So it was all, and I never got a chance to experience that. Not only did I get a chance to experience it, it came down to this play.

One play. It's the point you wanted to see. You wanted to see it in whatever, right? Yeah. I play. It's just, you want to know. You want to know, or whatever, right? Yeah. I mean, there's no, I could have retired. Seriously. That was like, I could have retired after that game. I didn't have, I really, I had to refocus,

set some new goals. OK. Because I was playing for that. I didn't need to win multiple. It wasn't about I want to win three or four and beat it, but no, no, no. I have a childhood dream. Wow. I'm playing this game because I want to win a Super Bowl.

Wow. I want that I want that dream to come through. It came through. That's amazing. And is that stick with you more? I'm curious like every day you're walking around your martial fog. Everybody knows you. You got your post football life now.

Does that stick with you more? You know what I mean to rub it in, but I'm curious, is that stick with you more than the loss? I'm a glass half full gun a guy. You are. So, um, anytime football is a joy to me. And, uh, and the many of Patriot fans out there, they, they, they think I hate the Patriot music. And they have no idea my relationship with Tom Brady.

My relationship with Mr. Kraft, the Howard Respect him. Just so you know, I know you got a lot of Patriots fans. I was the first player ever, ever, ever that Mr. Kraft sat down and talked to when he became the owner of the team. It was my draft year. They flew me in. We had a great, we had an awesome lunch. Yeah.

I mean, we went to dinner that night. I met his family. Wow. Got to meet his wife who's an awesome woman. That's awesome. And he and I, we've always, there's just a respect. And we talk about it. And he says to me, if I were to let Bill make the decision,

you would have been with the Patriots. You want an amazing day in Patriots playing. Bill just looking in the front of the box, come on. Bill was in into it, but it was Marcel. That's right, it was Marcel. Was it into drafting, running backs, didn't like California players? Is that right?

Yeah, I mean, if you just look at, you didn't go those, you just go. Yeah, offensive players. If he was draft defensive guy, but never really like California players who played offense. But but anyways, that was that was my that is my lead actually just last spring. I was one of the players. Um, one of the Hall of Famers who went when Mr. Craft to Israel. Oh, wow. Um, yeah. So I, I

support for everybody to know. I love and respect. But I have a duty on television. My job is I'm anti-patriot. Right. So, so I play my role. You play the role. There's a role. TV is a role. That's my job. I play that role. I poke holes in everything that they do. Yes. But understand that I respect everything that Mr. Crabb, Bill Belichick, Tom Brady, what they built. I mean, it's it model now, and what you want to do it, and how you want things to happen. Wonderful.

And segue that a little bit into the broadcasting. You're my favorite guy on TV. I'm not saying, because you're here either. I'm saying that because, and I think of other analysts, this is true. I've watched NFL Network, and they'll literally say they enjoy being in the green room with you off camera. Everybody just, you know, this is true, isn't it?

The other guys at the network will say they've enjoyed and other places you broadcast and will continue to broadcast but they'll say they enjoy being in the green. They love watching football with you because of your mind about the game. Other players say that. You know that. I say it. You wouldn't say it. And so is the same preparation for you now going to doing the broadcasting stuff as it

did playing and that's why you're so open. Very similar. Really. Very similar. You watched film even yeah you do yeah I mean I enjoy it I just love the whole game yeah it's just a part of you know if if if if if if the NFL network right now if there's a game on yeah like oh they show like classic games or whatever yeah I'ma watch it again you do as if I hadn't seen it before whether you played it or not. Yeah. That's crazy.

It's all teaching moments. You know, like people don't understand, like they think, okay, they just draw a plays and go play. Yeah. There's a whole strategy before you play the game and then once you start the game. There's adjustments. You have a plan, I have a plan.

Somebody's plan is not working. Yes, right? Right. Yeah, somebody's plan is not working. Mm-hmm. Yes, right? Right now when your plan is not working What are you going to do right and then I have to decide is that enough to get me out of my game plan? Right. Yeah, yeah, and then if you get me out of my game plan do I show What I'm going to do versus this because because I might have a divisional opponent next week. Wow, wow. I mean, there's so much that goes into it. That's why when you get to the playoffs

and you don't know if you're going to play the next week, you're all in. Everything's in, then. Everything's in place. So guys will actually not reveal things in particular. Oh yeah, because of their playing, that's fascinating. What do you, I'm curious,

and we're going to shift into business in a second, but I'm curious, what do you miss about playing? Because like just right now talking to you, I'm curious, and we're gonna shift into business in a second, but I'm curious. What do you miss about playing? Because, like, just right now talking to you, the camera went on also and we started talking about football, like, your face changed, just so you know, like, you're lit up, I can feel your intensity, right? So, what do you miss most about it? The locker room. You do.

The comrader. Can I say that alone? Yeah. You don't, I don't care what we do. That's a civilian. You don't, when you're not playing a team sport, you can never get that feeling. At the country club, we're not sitting around

and our boxer is talking about like, we're not in the hot tub, we're not in the jacuzzi in the steam room, Paul Olin. You're talking about this week's opponent, we're not doing that. We're not sharing stories of what happened last night or your camp took its first steps, and I probably wear a father,

or you don't have that intimate setting to really conjugate, that's men. We don't have that, women, they somehow get it. We don't have that. That's it, it's the locker room. And you somehow get it. They find a way. We don't we don't have that. That's it It's the locker room. You only get it in team sports. Wow that is me and team business too By the way, some of you that are building team business you get something similar to that one last football question What don't you miss? Is it how you feel Mondays or what do you not miss about playing football?

I think I said me Mondays like I rent before running back. I've been through you know 30 car accidents Yeah, then my I didn't I didn't play that way I bet guys tell me, Monday's like I rent before running back. I've been through, you know, 30 car accidents. Yeah, I didn't, I didn't, I didn't play that way. You know, I didn't, I never was out to prove that I was more macho than anybody else. I just, I wanted to do my job. And if I got my job done and I didn't have a headache, fine. Really?

But what don't I miss? Yeah. You love it. Look at you. I'm just thinking. I mean, I mean, because I probably, you know, there's the work, losing. I'm thinking about it. Yeah.

Because you put so much work into it. Yeah. And I know it's not war, but bloods, wet, and tears out there. Yeah. And, you know, when those 60 minutes are up and you lost, it's a bad, a miserable feeling. It's an awful feeling. For the great ones it is, I think we both played with guys who didn't bother quite as much. Yeah, that's true.

Somebody's learning for the job. It was a job for them. Yeah, I'm fascinated by getting in the mind of a champion of a Hall of Famer. And so the last football part, I mean, I literally, it's fascinating for the job. It's a job for them. Yeah, I'm fascinated by getting in the mind of a champion of a Hall of Famer. And so the last football part, I mean, I'm literally it's fascinating for me. Because you do this stuff for Flexible. This is who you are. But not everybody's this way.

People need to learn these things and oftentimes. Now you're a member of the greatest team, right? There's something really special to become in a Hall of Famer. What was that like, the call and being a part of that group now forever? I mean, down in history, someday your great grandchildren are going to be part of that legacy that you're in the Hall of Fame in the NFL. So what's that feel like? It was and it still is surreal. I'm a football junkie. Part of my story is being from New Orleans, poor,

not being able to ever see a pro game by buying a ticket, I paid, you know, at the age of 13, 14, 15, and 16, I would hustle up to get five, 10 bucks, whatever it was, the price increased, you had to pay that to get your rack to sell your popcorn or your peanuts. That's how I got to watch games. Wow. So I'm a football junkie. Yeah. Respect the game, love the game, do appreciate everything that was done by

the guys who was before us, who made the game what it is. So so we can have the lives that we have. People don't understand they have summer jobs. They sometimes work during the season after practice. They have to go to work. It was totally different in the game that we play now and how we have it. And I get an opportunity to see these men don the yellow jacket and call myself a hall of fame.

I have a number, just like they have a number. And I get to call them teammates. I get to call them teammates. I get to call them friends. I get to socialize. I get to sit down next to Tony Dorset and just I'm going. You know, when you think about it, I grew up with it. Barry Sanders and image smith Eric Dickerson. Yeah. I grew up idolizing these guys. Now you're on the same team. And now now they talk we they talk to me. Like we're friends. That's the that's the that's the reality of being a part. They embrace me. They take you on the day of weighing,

they tell you, hey young fellow, you gotta take care of yourself when you get old. Right, right. That buys you the things and it's, you know, I have five older brothers. It's, but it's so different. Yeah. The advice and being a part of that

and having the opportunity to just, to just rub elbows with those guys. It's wonderful, bro. I sit around and listen to the stories. Yeah. And we have that week, that whole of the fame week, it's unbelievable when we welcome the new guys in, but to hear the older guys talk.

And actually, just this past, actually last year, July was my first time getting to speak at the Nisky luncheon. I got to speak. I mean it's like you know they really the near was like hey Marshall you know you tell us about your experience I'm like oh my god really I did tell you my experience so it's you know it's just fascinating and now for me you know I was part of the new wave that came in in 2-11 and 2011. And now a bunch of the guys that come in are guys that I played against, Brian Erlocker. You know, Derek Brooks came in last year. I'm like, it's so cool now.

Not only is it guys that I looked up to, but it's now it's guys that I compete against. It's awesome. It's awesome. That's awesome. I'm having Trello and on my show in a few weeks and I'm going to play him this clip so that he can see this. It's so good for me just so you know because obviously my generation you're a hero mind just to see how grateful you are. I don't think all people give themselves the gift of gratitude.

Like you're grateful for all this. Oh, without a doubt. I asked you what it's like to be like. You could have given me a million answers. Your answer was gratitude. You know, and that's just wonderful. It is, man.

That's so wonderful. It's it's it's it's the reason we have the game that we have. Awesome. I love you, passion. I like I'm so so grateful that you're doing this. Bam.

That just struck me because I didn't know that would be what you would answer. So that's just so powerful. I want to I want to segue a little bit into your work as because of a Hall of Famer. You're real passionate about these former players.

Like not only the ones that are on your team now on the Hall of Fame, but also you're doing some work now that you're passionate about both for inner cities when it comes to the financial services business a little bit. And then also you're partnering with a couple of my colleagues with Hannah and Bobby at Art Firm and also you're really working with former players and you know you're passionate for inner city stuff. So talk a little bit of how just step into this into the financial sector so to speak.

You know I've always actually I go back to my college days I was interning in and the public relations office for the San Diego Padres and at the time the San Diego Padres and the San Eagle Chargers shared a stadium together. And I got to meet Junior Seahaw. And Junior said to me, you know, whatever you do, you're going to be a great player. Just remember this community give back. And I was like, okay, whatever. Right. And then I watched what he did with his foundation in San Diego and how he went back to Oceanside

and not just Oceanside, but all of San Diego. His thing was uplifting people. You know, reaching that hand out, trying to make sure other people had an opportunity. And for me, that became kind of my thing, philanthropy. I wanted to, my rookie year, I did a football camp, 1994. We did a football camp, we raised money, gave the money to the Boys and Girls Club,

started from there. Then I started in golf tournaments, then we traveled to the Super Bowl to do golf tournaments and provide experiences. And my foundation started to grow. And I wanted to give back and have inner city kids like myself who was not exposed to much.

Just so they can see there's more to life than what's on the street corner. And drugs, gains, affiliations with bad things. There's other things out there and we figured out if you expose them, if you show them college, they're going to want college. If you show them this beach, they're going to try to get to this beach. They're going to try to get back to it. And those are things that sometimes as adults, we don't understand.

Kids, they sometimes need to be shown the dream, so they can dream, so they then have a blueprint to follow. That's so true. If you're living in a nightmare all the time, you're not about dreaming about things all the time. That's it. That's it. It's nightmares. It's not dreams. Your dream is you got shot. Your dream is your house got robbed. Your dream is you got shot, your dream is your house got robbed, your dream is, you got survived. Yeah, exactly. There's a big leap between survival and actually chasing a dream.

And so I think it's wonderful. What about the former players? Like, you know, I've had a lot of guys on us, something I noticed too, just from a career standpoint or a life standpoint, I know you're passionate about even former players too. Like, what are you doing with those guys and how are you helping them? Well, I do as much as possible with any type of fundraising that goes on for former players, any way that we can help. And my newest partnership, obviously, with WFG and what they do, but maturity financial partners, we've kind of signed on the deal with the NFL alumni

to kind of bring them the services that we offer to give them an opportunity to see what, and it's crazy, but what what having financial freedom is all about and having a financial education, understanding all the things that are out there for you, all the different tax laws, all the different polls that if you don't have enough money and you can't go to Goldman Sachs and stuff like that, you're not gonna understand well we've provided techniques and tools for them to use and it doesn't matter what your level of wealth is, what your level of

income is, if you want to leave a legacy for your family, for your kids, we can help you create that. It doesn't matter how much you make. Yes. It's about how much you put away and how smart you are with what you make. That's so true.

I'm amazed at you. Like, I don't have a meta-athlete who's able to speak on so many different things and such, no really, I mean, seriously, when it comes comes to, we're called golf before the interview, football, business, life. I'm really excited that we're partnering with you on this stuff, too. I think it's wonderful. I love your heart, brother.

I love people who pay it forward because you've had a blessed life. You've really had a poor, but it's this gratitude that you have. It's such an important emotion that we all have. I love what you've talked about being a separator. I want to be curious because there's a lot of young people that watch my stuff. They look up to you obviously and we've got a few minutes left but I would mess up if I didn't give you a chance to do like a dress young people because they're talking about inner city kids as well. So let's say one of these

kids, no matter who's watching this, they got out of that nightmare and they got a dream. It's to play in the NFL, it's to be an astronaut, it's to be a successful business woman, whatever it is. What advice would you give a young person who wants to chase their dream? What counsel would you give them about it? I mean, it's chasing the dream is easy. It's your dream. The stupid thing is to not chase it because you own it, but I just encouraged him to always look back, try to help others, and try to help others get ahead.

Be careful of the people who want to take advantage of you, and only do the things that you're passionate about. Don't do them because they're popular. Man, the thing I got from you when we were off camera and we're on is I think sometimes I discount people that are great at something that they're passionate for it. Like you love football. I love it. I actually think you love to compete.

Oh, without a doubt. I think it's like, I think if we're playing golf, I mean, all of a sudden I saw your face change, we're talking golf. I love it. I actually think you love to compete. Oh, without a doubt. I think it's like, if we're playing golf, I mean, I'm a sudden I saw your face change, we're talking golf. I talk about golf, like it's fun. You talk about golf, like, hey, I'm not playing around with this yet. You and I, we're competing right now.

I just want to make sure that I'm better than you on your podcast. You don't know that, man. I just want to go down. Well, I wish you the best of luck on that. No, I enjoyed today so much, my friend. Seriously, we went, I want to go longer, but friend, seriously. We went, I wanna go longer, but we went as long as I've permitted to go

because I wanna respectful of your time and everybody else's time here. This is how a Hall of Fame or thinks, but more importantly, everybody, this is how a Hall of Fame person acts and conducts their life. They're grateful, they give back, they pay it forward,

and they're humble about all of their successes. So from all the way back, do you kick in the heck out of UOP in 1991, you got your revenge at the Super Bowl with the Patriots. I think it was a little bit of a bad one. There you go, there you go. There you go. But what I got was I got to make a dream come true

of mine, which was meeting you today. Oh man. And spending some time, and I'm excited about our new partnership together, and I want to thank you so much for today. Thanks for having me. Thank you. Everyone out there, you know, I bring these unbelievable

people to you for free. Here's all I ask, right? It's free. Just give myself in the podcast a nice review on iTunes or a comment here on YouTube. Say some great things about us and please continue to follow Marshall Falk in the progress he's having in his career. Max out everybody. God bless you. The Edmila Show is brought to you by Chick-Ease, some ass