The Herd with Colin Cowherd - All Ball - Team USA Gold Medal Recap and Pt. 2 with Maurice Clarett on Ohio State Ending, NFL Regrets, Public Downfall, Prison Transformation

Episode Date: August 9, 2021

In this episode, Doug recaps the best and worst from Team USA's gold medal run, and sits down for part two of his interview with former Ohio State standout running back and national champion Maurice Clarett, who explains why he ultimately decided to leave Ohio State instead of continue to fight for eligibility, what it was like taking on the NFL to enter the draft as a 19-year old, inside his disastrous combine, what went wrong with the Broncos, what really happened with his public arrest for robbery, and how he transformed his life while in prison. Make sure you download, rate and subscribe here to get the latest All Ball Podcasts! Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.comSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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I'm Doug Codley, and this is All Ball, and I'm really excited for you to hear part two and what will become part three of our interview with Maurice Claret. And, of course, if you want to go back, you can always search out All Ball, and kind of go back through your queue. You can hear part one. Part one is a little bit more about his playing days

in high school and college, let him to Ohio State. I'm not saying it's not interesting, but now we're getting to the meat. We're eating a rib-eye, right? You know that the tenderloin kind of part of the rib-eye? That's what we're biting into here. This is some really good stuff.

Before we get to that, I do want to talk a little basketball with you because Team USA won a gold medal, which I think is a monumental achievement. And I know what happens is there are some guys that I do feel like went over the top and said we have no chance. And you could label them haters if you want. Those are the guys I think Kevin Durant is probably talking about with Raymond Green.

When I throw out the cautiously pessimistic, this shit does not look good, I'm also reasonable to understand that things can change. and the addition of Chris Middleton, Devin Booker, and True Holiday. There's a lot of things that help them evolve as a team, but let's be honest. Those three, especially Booker and Holiday, they really changed this team for the better. And when they lost to France, those guys had just gotten off the plane, right? So here's what we'll do. Let's go through it.

One thing that has not been mentioned, and you're going to hear mention right now, And all you are like you listen to this most of your basketball people is one of the best part about the smartest thing they did is they really only had 10 guys, right? Kelton Johnson didn't play, Phil McGee didn't play. So why is that important? Look, if you bring 12 NBA guys that are all stars, they all want to fucking play. And it's really, really hard to manage. You know, it's like I have an AAU program and, you know, the magic number is eight, right? Eight's the magic number because A.U games are much shorter and it's much harder to get everybody in, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

So eight is really good because now you feel like, you know, if you have a backup big, you have a backup guard, you can backup wing, you can rotate through guys and you can get everybody in. And then, you know, you want to play to win in the second half. You play to win in the second half. Once you get to like 10 guys, it's hard. Now, you know, remember it's a 40 minute game, not a 48 minute game. So it's harder to get people minutes. So I do think that selecting Javelle McGee, who was just there, Javelle's an enjoyable personality. I know he's a goofball, but he also can block some shots. The idea of Javelle McGee, fine. Keldon Johnson, around the team, fine, but they didn't really play. All right, so let's go through the guys.

Obviously, Kevin Durant was fantastic. Now, I believe he's the best player in the world, but we also have to realize that the guys around him. The guys outside of Luca, there's nobody else in that discussion. that was in that tournament, right? So, yes, he should look better than everybody else. But there was, there was no Yonnes. There was no Anthony Davis. There was no LeBron.

There was no Steph Curry. There's a lot of guys missing. So, of course, there's a gap. But I think what people have started to understand is that Kevin Rance, one of those guys that has, you know, even though they lost with the Thunder up three games to one. And he didn't play well in game six since winning an NBA championship. And even before that, he's figured out like he is a fearless score.

What many people forget is the last two Olympic teams he played on, the truth is, even with Kobe, he was the go-to guy. He's been that good. He's been that guy for a long time. And I thought that Greg Popovich, and part of it is you have Steve Kerr on staff, so he understands how KD works. Like, look, if you look at their slow start. in all the games except the France game,

that they were a slow starting team. There's two reasons why. One, I don't think Damien Liller was particularly good in this tournament, especially defensively. But two, Kevin Durant didn't make shots in the first quarter. He just didn't. But Pop understood that that's how KD needs to get kind of his motor going. He's going to miss some really, knowing he's going to make him late.

So I think part of it is Kevin Durant's unbelievable presence. He played very good defense. But part of it is Pop let KD beat KD. And all of those guys knew he was the alpha. And that's really hard, I think, on many levels. You know, in an NBA locker room or in this locker, like, you know, Devin Booker, he's just playing NBA finals. He's average 25 a game.

I know he's a lot younger and he probably grew up watching KD play. But still the point is that when you're all of these guys sacrificed their egos and admitting that dude's better than I am, he's the go-to guy, those are big things for NBA superstars. So the first thing is Kevin Rant was amazing. I think he continues to establish himself as the best player in the world. That's what I believe. I know he's not the creative passer of a LeBron or of a, you know, of a Luca.

And, you know, he's not, maybe it's because he's not as little or he's not as energetic at times as a Steph Curry. KD's amazing. I mean, he's really an amazing basketball player. And I think his improvement since he joined the Warriors on the defensive side started to solidify the conversation. of them actually being the best player because you got to play both ends. Conversely, I didn't think the Lillard was particularly good. And I think that one thing we have, it's a hard balance because this is not NBA basketball. The style of defense is different.

The construct of the team is different. And he's not as bad defensively as I think he looked at times in international basketball because the style is so very different. And it's not just that some of the rules are different, the interpretation of the rules are different. but it also if I'm being fair why has Portland quote unquote underachieved at times in the playoffs there's your reason like he's kind of a one-trick pony when dame is making jump shots he's unbelievable but when he's not he's not he's kind of a jag just a guy you know like he's an amazing scoring guard but it requires a volume of shots now I'll also point out that pop stuck

with him as a starter. And while it didn't pay off for the start of most of these games, look at how it finished. Because Katie got tired in the fourth quarter against France, and Katie was out a little bit in the fourth quarter against France. And who carried the team? Damien Lillard, he had some big shot. So as much as it was probably a disappointing performance

in terms of how well he played, how well he shot, how poorly he defended at times, the takeaways are, one, Damien Lillard bought in. When he'd come out of the game, there was no pouting, no pouting. He clearly tried to do a better job and be more physical defensively something he's not great at. So just giving an effort and giving yourself that to me, that's hard for guys to do. I appreciate it. It did point out some of his weaknesses.

And I think that, you know, like, look, if you're Philadelphia and you're trying to acquire him, you have a great rim protector in Joel Embed, so maybe it doesn't matter. But if you want to know why he's not staff, he's not quite as good offensive to his staff. And honestly, he's not as good defensively. Stefan, Steph's not a great defensive player, but he makes up for it with incredibly quick hands. And he cheats and he reads things. Not a great defender either.

But I think there's a difference between these superstars and where Dame is. Dame is a superstar because of his personality, his likability, his ability to rap, and his story. But I don't actually think he's one of the top five, ten players in the world. And I think if you watch the Olympics, you'd probably agree with that. Conversely, Drew Holliday, has been the greatest month. with Drew Holley, like finally getting the appreciation he deserves. They don't win that tournament if they don't have Drew.

He's so good defensively. He was the one guy who, when he would drive, he would drive to finish where so many other guys were driving, looking to kick out for three, he's playing a little bit too much Euro ball. He just has this knack for getting his hands on a basketball. He's a very good rebounder. He makes enough shots,

although he took one really bad one in the gold medal game and had a bad turnover of five in the gold medal game. I think this has been like Drew Holiday Appreciation Month, seeing what he did with the Bucks, winning a championship, and now winning a gold medal. I thought Devin Bucer was really good. Coming off the bench, making shots, showing he defense. Zach Levine, I thought Zach Levine might have improved his stock overall in basketball, more than anybody else.

Look, he hadn't played any game that mattered since being a Chicago Bowl. And now you're coming off the bench. You've got to take better shots, and he really defended. Of the guys who had a great summer, he had a great summer. I'm much more in on Zach Levine. Now the Bulls are putting pieces around him. a chance to win, whereas I don't know if he was a winning player understood the little things or had ever been in a situation where he could show he could do the little things. He did the little

things. My favorite line I've ever had on Twitter was that Bam, out of bio, doesn't need to be vaccinated because he can't catch anything anyway. Like, he was bad. He was just, it was, it felt like he was a fish out of water. He did make some play in the gold medal game. He does block some shots, but he is not a great international big, which only continues to signify all of our big guys just want to face up. And we just, it's really interesting on how the NBA, the true centers are almost all foreigners. Carl Anthony Towns, whatever you want to consider him,

because he played for the Dominican Republic, can't play for us. But we really don't have quality big guys. You know, look, there's some, Chris Milton was up and down. I mean, he obviously is very confident. He had that big turnaround baseline jump shot in the gold medal game. there's some meat that he leaves on the bone. He does have a tendency to miss an easy finish or two here or there. But overall, Middleton was a big part of what kind of turnaround USA basketball.

Remember, they lost to Nigeria, lost to Australia, lost to France, and they're there. And that, it became a close game because they kind of fell asleep at the wheel, but they were really dominant in the gold medal game for absolutely being fair. I thought Greg Popovich and Steve Kerr working together, getting the guys to buy in. They didn't switch everything in the gold medal game. They didn't. They, you know, when Draymond was in, they switched everything. When Bam was in, they switched one through four.

So there were some adjustments made on the defensive side of the ball from USA basketball that they hadn't made leading into the gold medal game. I thought that part was growing. More than anything, look, it's not easy to throw together all these guys. We don't have a system. They haven't grown up playing together. Matter of fact, most of them have been playing against one another. And there's no real American system, whereas there are an Australian system, there are a French system, et cetera, et cetera.

And so we're at a little bit of a disadvantage. We're a disadvantage not playing those rules or understanding how the refs operate, whatever. But at the end of the day, they came through, they basically led to tip to finish, won the gold medal game and improved in just about every game. Coming from down 15 with the cul-monds to go in the second quarter to win going away by, 19 against the Aussies. That shit was awesome. So congrats to USA basketball. It's not the most talented team we've ever sent, but because of all their limitations, not having three rotation pieces, you know, until they basically got out of pool play to come together and improve that much, I would make the case that this was the best team. The rest of the world is catching

up on us. It's undeniable. But they're also, we're also playing a different style of basketball. we're kind of slow, we are slow to assimilate to their style, and they're kind of meeting in the middle with what European basketball used to be with the trapezoid lane. And I thought that was a big step for us continue to use pros and use guys the right way. All right, let's get to this interview. I'm really excited. When I say the name Maurice Claret, what do you think of? I think a lot of you would think of maybe a waste of talent, a guy who had it all and gave it all away, right?

Remember, he played one year at Ohio State. He tried to leave to become an NFL player. And in this episode, you'll hear how he actually sat for two years and what he did during those two years and why he was a failure as an NFL player. And what led to his downfall led to his spiral. He tells you everything. So this is a crank up the volume. I cannot thank him enough for being so open and honest with his life story. This is part two.

There is a part three. Enjoy it. Here's Maurice Corrette, former superstar running back, Ohio State, sharing with us on All Ball. Okay. When episode one, we kind of ended off where you finished year one, okay? You had all intentions to coming back for a year two. All right? All right.

So how'd the NFL thing come to be? Because I remember it. And I think most people sort of remember it, but they don't remember it like it was yesterday like you do because it was your life experience. What actually happened? Yeah, so I tried to come back to school and the school had like some ridiculous requirements for me to come back after I served my suspension and all of the initial penalties. Wait, what remind me, why were you suspended? I was suspended. So just to kind of break it out in detail, I had like a $50 check that I got from a, from like a,

a fan of some sort. They wanted me to come to like a children's birthday party. So they gave me like $50, $100 or something like that. The biggest infraction that people just weren't clear on, I had a cell phone that was paid for me by a high school booster. And he paid for the cell phone from like my junior year of high school until my freshman year of college. And that actually crippled me more than anything. And so every month that the bill was paid for, they consider that a different infraction. Instead of just saying, hey, you have one cell phone bill that's paid for, we've given you a different infraction for every month that somebody's giving you money to pay a bill, which is, you know, right now sounds ridiculous, right?

It's crazy. It's literally crazy. Like, look, I'm not just be honest. Like, I'm not a, I'm not a pay for play guy. I've never been. But, I mean, now we get to the point of just being ridiculous, you know? We get to the point of, you know, of, of, of, of, of, of, of, of, of, being ridiculous. So what was what was Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced

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you get your podcasts. Coach like when all this stuff went down. So he was, they kind of insulated him. Like, when everything happened, it was really me insulated from everything going on. You have to imagine, a coach's getting ready for training camp. And so this is a big thing like brewing outside of the facility. And I'm, I'm pretty sure he knew what was going on, but they didn't want, like, me in the facility and me becoming a distraction because we were supposed to go on another run to, um, to try to win another championship. And so what ended up happened was after after like the ridiculous request for me to come back and do punishment runs and all this other nonsense.

I just said, hey, man, you know what, I'm done with this. So when I said I was done with this, it wasn't like, hey, let me go to the NFL. At the time I had an agent. And the agent was like, hey, you know, the agent was like, hey, you know, there's labor laws in place right now that somebody can't stop you from working. And so the agent, along with Jim Brown and along with Alan Milstein, and along with, it was like a handful of people who said, hey, you know, if you just basically go and apply to the NFL to become a player that they can't stop you because of labor laws.

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Like it used to be bigger than couldn't you be in the hardship draft? No, so we tried that and they said I wouldn't qualify because some of the same regulations some of the same regulations that existed within the three have to be done with three years of high school existed within the hardship things and so believe you me I would have tried everything and I would have tried anything but at the end of the day we couldn't go we couldn't go there was nothing that we can do outside of what we did and I believe I had great representation and guys who were doing it but

I just remember Alan Milstein coming to me he said hey man the NFL is not fight back towards you this is all of the people who sponsor them and spend the ad dollars. Those are the people who really are in the court system pushing back. And then, you know, you get to a point where you just understand you're fighting something bigger than what you have resources for. It wasn't a victory, you know what I'm saying? So here's my biggest question, I think.

Look, you're a kid at the time, right? You're how old this time? 19 years old. You're 19 years old and you went from like zero to 100 to being a superstar, right? Playing in a national championship game, you know, an incredibly hard fought national championship game. Winning the damn thing. And then all of a sudden now like the world's feels like the world's against you, how are you handling it?

How are you processing it in terms of like, are you a mess? Are you focused? Like what were you doing personally outside of all of this, the lawyers and guys giving you advice? What are you like emotionally during this time? During the process, it didn't really affect me because you don't know the outcome. You know what I mean? Like there's no way that you can conceive that your college career is about to be over. You know, it just like you don't say, hey, I go win a championship.

It's kind of like, what is his name, the Greek freak? It's like the Greek freak winning the championship right now. He assumed he's going to play next year. Even if he got into something or something happened, he would still believe that in some way he's going to come back next year and play. And so for a large part, I thought that I was still going to be able to come back and play and everything would be all right.

It wasn't until after everything it happened. So once the attorneys were gone, once the agents were gone, once the Ohio State thing was going on, once the NCAA was gone. That's basically, and you don't sit at the time, but that's kind of like when I started to self-destruct. You know what I mean? And what I'm referencing it to.

So the, the, the self-destruction, okay? Which we all have a self-destruct button, right? I had it. I self-destructed at Notre Dame. We all have it. When did the, when did it start? Like, did you, when you were high school, did you drink?

No. So I was like, I was one of your like super dedicated, super motivated, super, like, this is where I'm trying to get to and this is where I'm trying to go type of people. Like straight, B-line, you know, like, you know, like, you know, I'm, average gym rat, you know what I'm saying up in the, up in the gym after school, the whole nine. And where it started for me was that the, and I think this is what happened with a lot of guys, but it just happened to me at 19. Once you're done with football and you don't have the time to go do play football, practice,

or participate in sports in any regard, he started to say, hey, what do I do myself to like basically entertain myself? So then you start to go out, then you start to see women, do you start to drink, do you start to party, do you start to play pool, you start to have fun, you listen to music. now, even though as destructive as fun, you know, so I'm not one of those people who say, like, you know, oh, I just ruin my life and I just had this horrible time. No, I think partly you ruin it because you're having a good time doing the stuff, right? And I think that was my thing, like, you know, hey, when I was practicing the returning kicks and running the football and taking

on linebackers and sitting in ice tubs, you know, that was part of the journey to attain the dream. But when I did the other stuff, like, you know, I'm not about to sit here and say I didn't have a lot a fun doing it. You know, was it the best thing for my life to do? No, but the addictive part about it was that you have a bunch of fun acting like a degenerate, you know what I'm saying? Like I'm not going to lie, you know, being a degenerate and being carefree, you know, when you're younger, you think that, you know, you think it does just, you know, what you do. What was pool your jam? Was that, did you start taking dudes money playing pool? No, no. So when I was talking to it, I just think about this place. I used to go to a place in Columbus and, you know, we would go,

we'll play pool, but you know, you can lose two, three, four, five hours playing pool. You know what I'm saying? And you can sit around, listen to music, and play pool, and you can have a bunch of fun. But, you know, you're viewing yourself as Maurice Claret, who comes from Youngstown, Ohio. I'm not viewing myself as some premier athlete who needs to take care of himself. And, you know, you don't even know how to deal with your emotions, you know what I'm saying? Like, when you look back on it, like, you're just, like, emotionally drained from the whole process. You know what I mean?

You've gotten something. that you worked so hard for kind of like taking away from you. You've contributed, other people contributed. You know, it's a lot to even make sense of things that you really don't have a great understanding on. You know what I'm saying? You ask yourself like, man, like, how do I go from playing football to not playing football

and like I don't even have like my future in sight? And so, you know, I think that's from a little bit more forgiving to people when they go through stuff because if you never really went through a major life challenge and try to ask yourself, like, how do you begin to sort through things? And, like, in therapy, they got this thing called the emotional will and understanding and identifying and putting a word on the emotion helps you to diagnose it and address it and go through it.

But at 19, you know, you don't fucking think like that. You know what I feel bad. You don't have, you don't, you're not, you're not really equipped for it, you know? I mean, and, and I wonder if you went through this, right? Like when you're in football, like it's not like you don't care about people outside of the football team, but those are your brothers, right? They're everything. They're your closest friends. But now they still have that.

And you don't, right? And it's like they don't mean to leave you behind, but it's just kind of the natural like, sorry, dude, you ain't going to practice. You ain't going to film. Like they just kind of leave you behind. So it's really, you're just kind of floating out there into the ether. and you're grasping onto people, I'm guessing when you go to play pool, there's lots of people who are new friends

who, like, it probably wouldn't have been your friends if you're still playing football, right? 100% correct. But you don't have any other friends, and these guys seem to like you, you know, so you're like, all right, straight. Like, let's hang out.

But they, they don't have the, they don't have the drive that you have, right? They haven't, that's just not how they're wired. That's why they are who they are. So it was a, it was a, year right without football if I remember correct two years yeah how often did you work out uh there was no working out so I went I went to L.A and I was in L.A. for two years and so you know just I worked out I didn't train so let me let me just let me just distinguish it too and so was I

going to L.A. fitness hitting the bench press hitting like you know your aesthetic really look at muscles yes I did that stuff right I'm still 20 and I'm still built like a tank at that time right But there was no like, hey, let me go to these sand dunes and let me do some sprint drills, let me do some conditioning, let me watch my body fat. It was nothing like that. And, you know, essentially, like, it's not this complex story, right? Had I took care of myself and came back and played, we wouldn't have had all these other stories that came from it.

But it's very, it's unique dynamic. And I think I identify with Mike Tyson on this, right? Mike Tyson went to prison for three years, right? and I don't care how many tough guys he was around in prison, there's nothing like going to practice and competing and seeing a person you're competing against and being in that environment of people pushing on you, prodding on you, you know, you get your ass kick that practice.

You come back and say, fuck his dude, kick my ass, it's time for me to kick his ass. You have purpose. Yes, you can't simulate that. I don't care how good you are now. You may be able to be like a long snapper. You may be able to be a kicker. like there's different positions that like there's a singular function that can be developed

outside of anything but if you're not a quarterback you have to be thrown against coverage you have to look at a thousand reads if you're a lineman you got to feel this motherfucker who's 300 pounds pressing down on you you have to get out your stance you know what I'm saying there's just more to it than hey I'm about to just wake up and say fuck and I was playing casual basketball and playing his fitness then I'm about to go compete in the NFL no I mean like I'll give you So I got in trouble with Notre Dame and I had to leave. I had to leave for taking dudes credit cards. And what I did was, you know, one of the reasons I wanted to,

I thought about transferring to somewhere else right away was for that same competitive aspect, right? That you're practicing you with a team. But also, but then I was like, man, I can't, I can't make a mistake twice because Notre Dame wasn't a great fit for me in terms of how I played. I want to let kind of the dust settle a little bit. So I was like, I basically redshirted at a junior college where my high school coach, where my high school coach coached.

And then I was like his assistant during games. And my brother had just become an assistant coach. So I kind of tried to fill my life, you know, with basketball. And the practices, I would try and win every practice, right? I'd just try and kick everybody's ass in practice. Right? Because you get these. These guys have like, well, I just, I set out a year.

Like, do you know what that does when you're not competitive for a year? And there's, like you said, there's nothing, even basketball, which you can play with football, you can't. It's like going down to play at 24 hours is not, it is, it is, is, it. And your body, like, your body atrophies, your skill, skills atrophy. And I can't imagine, I can't imagine in football. Okay. So, um, during the two years, you get, you, now you get ready for. the combine.

Okay. What do you remember about the process of trying to get sharp to the combine? I really tried. I knew the combine. What is like February-ish? I remember trying like a couple months. And you think to yourself like,

April. No, no. The drafts in April. Yeah. Yeah. The drafts in April, right? So it probably. Somewhere around there.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I just remember like, man, let me get six to eight weeks prepared. Like, let me get prepared for it. And in my mind, I really thought it can happen. And so I was like, okay, I go out here. I'll run.

and I never time myself prior to going to the draft. I never did any, like, cone drills and L drills and none of that stuff. Like, I did it casually, but wasn't just taking it serious. But in my mind, like, if you were to walk to me and look me in my face and said, are you ready for this? I'm like, man, how hard is it to run a 40, catching football and all this stuff, right? Because you do it for so many years, or you do it so much. You think it's going to happen, right?

So I don't like, like, and for people who you got to go back and list our last episode, right? Like you shut up at Ohio State and you wowed him on special teams, right? And then you got an opportunity in goal line and you impressed them. And now you're starting running back as a freshman playing for national championship, right? It just all happened. You just your mind was that powerful. You were that good. So of course, like you get back on a football field.

You're like, I got this shit, no problem, right? And this is my mentality, right? So I go out here and I run the first 40-yard dash and I ran slow. And I remember coach came over to me. He's like, yo, bro, like, you know what I'm saying? Like, make sure you get a lot. a good start. Like, you had, you, like, you had a group of people curious, but then you had another group of people who wanted me to do well in that moment, right? And so I ran again, and it just

wasn't, it just, it just wasn't, no, so hold on, I'm mixing two events. I'm mixing two events one time. After I ran the first 40-yard dash, um, I basically didn't run a second one because the coach came to me and talked to me at the combine. When I went to go do my regular workout, that's when I ran the first 40-yard dash again, and it was still slow, but it was faster than the combine and he came over to me he said go again and you know basically run again and so then when the position drill started to happen that's what things kind of fall apart uh going in and out of cones and then you had uh coaches who were purposely and i didn't sit at the time but like looking back on and now they were purposely trying to pry me just like hey man hustle from drill to drill

hollering yelling um you know he just hard on somebody you know what I'm saying well they're trying to establish they're trying to figure out if you're an asshole yeah pretty much right I'll give you Let me give me give you a quick example. Okay, so when I was in college, they used to have a rule for basketball where you could go and work out with somebody's summer league team in workouts. You just had to pay your own way. They couldn't fly you whatever. So a guy named Mark Warfant team was the GM of the Portland Trailblazers at the time. And I stayed with a friend named Jason Levy up in Portland.

And I never forget that I was one of the guys, the point guards, was Jeff McKinnis, everybody calls him Touche. So Tushay was a first round draft pick out of North Carolina, but he had a reputation as being a guy who was hard to coach, right? And look, he played, he was a star at Carolina with Rashid Wallace and those dudes and Jerry Stackhouse. He was a first round pick and started. And so now he's, but he's not actually, you know, in Summer League and that level, he wasn't coming to Portland to be the starters. They wanted to see if he could be the backup or the third stream point guard.

And that mentality is completely different, right? It's like the mentality of a, you know, like a second stream running back up running back in the NFL. You ain't getting the ball. You got to play special teams. You got past protect, right? So they don't tell you this shit when you're growing up. So I'll never forget this. We had a workout and we're doing two a days and we're getting ready to scrimmage.

And all of a sudden they stop and the strength coach comes over and we start doing ladders. Ladders and basketball are, you know, like one group's at one end, the other groups at the other end. And you go one and then they go one. And then you go three and then they go three. And like, when you finish, they start, right? And we keep going up. Like, we're like 13 and we're like, dudes are falling out and we're down 11. And then like, again.

And guys are look. I'm sure NFL guys like this. Like, look for them like, are you fucking kidding me? Like, it's the summer. We're here to who. And so I'm, I will never forget this. So I, uh, uh, afterwards, I get done and, uh, Mark Warkinthine comes over. And he was like, hey, man, he did a good job.

Like, that's a talented group of guys. You know, you're just a college kid or whatever. And I said, uh, hey, hey, Mark, can I ask you a question? Like, why we run ladders? Like, that seems weird. Like, we're only here for three days. You're not trying to get us in shape. He goes, good question.

We want to see if too she would quit. I was like, what you mean? Oh, wow. They just. You know, they, they wanted to see if he was an asshole or now, right? Like, if you're going to be the backup point guard, a third string point guard, you got to not say shit, you got to pick up a dude 94 feet, got a change tempo of a game.

And there'd be nights when you're not going to play very much. Because at the time, Damon Stathamower was starting point guard. He didn't fucking remember. Right? Right? So, and I think, I'm guessing, right? Nobody's seen you. You know, you're a guy that challenged the system, right?

Yeah. You're a guy, you know, you're a guy, NCAA violations. They're going to try and poke you, right? Try and poke you to see. So how did you react to that? Were you defensive? Did you shut down or did you push through it? What were you like?

No, so I started arguing when he walked off. I can say so. Imagine an Olympics where doping is not only legal but encouraged. It's the enhanced games. Some call it grotesque. Others say it's unleashing human potential. Either way, the podcast's Superhuman documented it. all embedded in the games and with the athletes for a full year.

Within probably 10 days, I'd put on 10 pounds. I was having trouble stopping the muscle growth. Listen to Superhuman on the I-Hard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, everyone, it's Ryder Strong and Will Ferdell from PodMeets World. And now the Pod Meets Twirled podcast. We're two men who were completely clueless to reality TV, who now have covered dancing with the stars, traitors, and we're gearing up for the season. finalie of Survivor.

So yeah, now we're experts. I know we annoyed a lot of our listeners by our severe lack of survivor knowledge. That is the point of the show. I'm just going to remind you. I have watched some Survivor. I obviously haven't watched enough. Did people not like it?

Like what was just because we? Yeah. We'll be recapping the big conclusion in the 50th season from the final attempts at gameplay to the desperate pleas of finalists to a bunch of, ha, who. Ha, ha, who. Again, we are experts.

So make sure to tune into Pod Meets Twirled for all our Survivor 50 takes. Listen to PodMeets Twirled on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Agency, the ability to know that we're the experts in our own body. On the podcast cultivating her space, Dr. Dom and Terry Lomax create a space where black women can show up fully and be heard. I wholeheartedly think, you know, you hit 30. You shouldn't have to share one with anybody. from navigating friendships and healing to setting boundaries and prioritizing your mental health. These are real honest conversations.

We don't always get to have out loud. Totally unreasonable with different parts of life, right? Like, oh, have all three meals and make sure you're mindful during all of them? Absolutely not. During one meal, I'm standing. I'm standing and handing my children food. Because healing, empowerment, and resilience aren't just ideas, their practices, and this mental health awareness month,

there's no better time to pour back into yourself. Listen to cultivating her space on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Hey, I'm Jared Adano. You might know me as that loud guy who yells out, help on the internet. Help! Somebody!

But there's so much more to me than me. I'm an actor. I'm a comedian. And recently, I've become quite the helper myself. And on my new podcast, hope from a hypocrite, I'll be changing lives, helping people in need with my sage advice and thoughtful solutions. Sike, I'm a comedian. I'm not qualified to give good advice. Join me and my comedian friends as we riff rant and recommend some of the most legally dubious advice known to man. If I'm calling you, even if you're on your phone, let it ring twice.

One ring is too scary. Oh, cream of chicken suit. Hey, cream. Cream and chicken suit. This is Help from a Hypocrite, the worst advice from the dumbest people you know. Listen to Help from Hypocrite as part of the Mike Cultura Podcast Network available on the IHartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. So they won. They won.

So let me tell you. Like, and I can laugh about it now, but in the moment, in the moment, I'm like, who the fuck is this guy talking to? You know what I am? Fucking Bruce? So I'm like in the moment I remember it was a matter of fact it was coach Anderson he was the running backs coach for the Bengals for a bunch of years right and uh me and me and him had laughed about it like years later but it's funny now and I just like couldn't believe I like what is this dude doing like we're here for a workout bro like this is what I'm thinking of my head but you know nonetheless I ruin that whole moment and then after that I was like I'm not getting drafted like I just bombed like both of these instances you know what I'm saying and There's no way. That's somebody would draft me. You know what I mean?

So what was it like to get drafted? Initially, like you feel like this cool feeling because I think just to say that, hey, I've got drafted. It was cool. But I could tell you, this was the first time that I remember feeling like a shit ton of anxiety. And this was because I know I wasn't like. So I'll say this and I humbly say this.

I just understand the work it takes to be like, you know, fucking, even in the conversation of being the. best at doing something, right, the workload. And so you don't get to even be in that conversation if you just don't work a fucking time, right? And all this extra work. So I was honest with myself when I knew I had to go to Denver because I said, yo, bro, you didn't even put them a fraction of that work to even to even put yourself in a position to compete, right? So I was already like, feel like. So it's like walking into a final, final at like a test. And, knowing you ain't studied, right?

No, you're studying, yeah. And you'd actually kind of passed other tests, probably, you know, by looking at somebody else's paper, cheating a little bit, right? And you're like, dude, I really don't know what I'm doing here, you know? I know how to play, but I'm really not prepared for it, which gives you anxiety, right? It gives you, because you know on the inside that even though you can do it,

you're not really ready for it. And I'll tell you what happened, right? So I've competed with enough people. And a large part of my high school career was spent in the boxing gym, right? And typically when you spar with somebody or when you see people spar, you will see what somebody's condition breaks down. And they say, okay, here's the fight. You know what I'm saying?

And so I knew all the time in sports that at some level, the wheels fall off the car. So every time I'm in Denver, like there would be just an instance where my body couldn't go no more. Like, it's too fucking hot. I'm not in shape. I'm not quick. I haven't been working on cuts. I haven't been working on past catching drills.

You could just start to see it reveal itself. And so, to their credit, like, that's why I don't beat Denver up. Denver tried to put mechanisms in place to help me. They tried to give me a sports psychologist. They used to try to keep me back on a weekend and said, hey, man, let's get you in better shape. They tried all of these things.

And so when they initially started trying, I would have spurts. Like, I'll have a good day and practice on Monday, a decent day on two. Tuesday, a better day on Wednesday, like, fucking totally fall off the map on Thursday because my body couldn't take it. And they were still trying to help me. And so, like, socially, it was just too much. I was like, fuck, man, this is too hard. Like, you got to, you know, you have to, you have to take this into consideration, too. I was getting in the house in L.A. at six and seven

in the morning because I was living Los Angeles, California lifestyle, right? And now I'm, I'm, I'm waking up at six and seven in the morning. I'm being a professional athlete and rigor of that. and it was just a total lifestyle change. And me, I wanted to continue to do what I was doing and going back to L.A. on the weekends and hanging out with my buddies and I thought it was a joke. And eventually over time, like, you just see what happened. Like, they called me to the office and sat down to position coach,

set down coach Shanahan. And it was just time and time again, like, yo, bro, we're trying to help you. And then at some point, they just had enough. You know what I'm saying? Like, yo, bro, we've had enough. We've tried to help you. And you know how it goes. Like problematic people, they know how big the opportunity.

is so they try to do things for you to help yourself if you have some level of potential. But when you're resistant to all of the resources that they have in place, like at some point they're saying like, yo, bro, like, you're the fucking fourth string runner back. You know what I'm saying? You're not in Ohio State anymore. So that became like, you know, evident. And, you know, that's essentially what happened. This episode is brought to you by Dexcom. Don't let diabetes get in your way. With Dexcom, you'll spend more time feeling good because you'll spend more time in range. And don't you want to feel better more often?

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Walk a mile in my shoes. So when they let you go, what happened? Yeah, so I go to California, and California didn't feel the same anymore. You know, and to anybody who's ever been to L.A., and you got to L.A., and it felt magical and dreamy and cool, and just like the best place on earth. Like once you become depressed and like once you just start feeling like shitty personally,

like all of this stuff didn't feel as cool. And I can remember the day I decided to leave LA. So I come back out to LA and I'm there for maybe like a week. And really still like embarrassed, like kind of sort to sort through stuff. And I was embarrassed that like, you know, you failed in college. You felt in the NFL and like where do you go from here? And I was like, you know, a thing that was on my mind.

And so what ended up happening was that I was in a party and I remember being in the party, man, I was like, yo, this is just, this doesn't feel like a party. Like, this feels like I'm out of place. And so I said, I need to take myself back to Ohio and basically go back to this blue-collar mentality. And just basically start all over. And so I left L.A., came back to Ohio and really just started all over. And I had every intention of going to NFL Europe.

And at this time, this was maybe September. And they had a, what is it called, a tryout in Orlando that December. So they had trial to Orlando then. whoever goes to NFL Europe, they go for the next spring and so on and so forth. So I said, okay, get yourself in shape from September to October, go to NFL Europe for a year, and get from there. I actually had reconnected with Coach Trussell during that time. So I come back and I'm working out, and it was just another thing.

I had so much free time in my hands, right? So I got free time with my hands. And in my mind at this time, I still believe that I'm a gangster. Like I'm a gangster who plays football. I'm a gangster who just does whatever, right? And so I'll just jump back into the streets and so I'm back to hustling, back to doing everything.

I basically... So let's do you. Help me out here. When you say I'm back to hustling, like what was your hustle? We don't just, you know, just same thing everybody else sell.

Sell them? Okay, so. So TJ Hushmanzada, he joined me on this pod while back. And T.J., he started, he was, I think, 13. He was in Oklahoma City. his mom was on drugs and

and this is the story he told me. He started selling because he was shooting dice with a buddy, like his best friend. And he said, hey, hey, stop. Why are we taking each other's money? Let's put the money together. Okay. Let's go buy some.

Let's cut it and let's sell it. Like, why are we taking $100 off each other? When we could take $100 off somebody else, flip it to flip it, flip it again. again and flip it again and flip it again, right? That's how that's how he started. Then he moved to Barstow, California, and if he had been selling crack before, now he's selling weed. So what do you, how did, how did it start? But what was the first time you sold? Oh, this is eighth grade. It had to be eighth grade. I wrote about the whole thing in my book out that basically I put out. And it literally

started eighth grade, but this comes from just watching guys in my neighborhood, watching my older brother and just watching basically guys make money from just illicit activities you know what I'm saying selling drugs or whatever crime did they commit and basically that's how started started with um some crack at this time this was about a quarter rounds of crack and basically set up shopping inside of a girl's house not a girl's house but it was a woman who was a drug at it and I would go to school and run track and play basketball and play football and after I was done I would go to her house and basically she would help me to sell the drugs until I figured out what was going on And, you know, like, I don't know, even when you look at as a 37-year-old adult now, sounds like so crazy.

But when you're inside of those environments, it just seems like, you know, it seems as simple as going to the store and going to get a pack of chips or a bag of chips or something. It's just really hard. I think what you're, is what everybody, it's, it's, I'm not excusing what Mike Vick did with dogs, right? But it's, again, if you're brought up an environment where dudes fight dogs. it's just different than if you're brought up in a in a house in the suburbs with you know two parents in a two car garage and everybody goes to work like it's just that's the environment you're raised in and it feels normal to you like where to me it's like like i i never seen cracker or or co i remember the first time i saw a weed when i was in high school i was like freaked out by it but again that's my environment that i was i was brought up it right so but but it had to be different when you you're Maurice Claret and you're an Ohio selling, right? That feels to me like that's especially on one level, you'll get the dude who's like, yo, I want to buy off Maurice Claret.

On the other hand, like, that feels especially risky. What is it like to be a star football player who got this little side hustle going on at the same time? Here's the thing about it. Even the people from your neighborhood, they don't view you any different, right? So the world views you as Maurice Claret, the people in my neighborhood and family members view me at Reese. You know what I'm saying? So like, as you're even talking about this, I'm just like, man, sports blend so many cultures together. You know what I'm saying?

And even as you were talking about that, I was like, man, just how normal that is to people I grow up at and just how abnormal. And then you blend all these cultures and these mentalities. And, of course, we're trying to accomplish a goal through whatever sport. But it was just normal. You know, there wasn't like, hey, man, I hope you make it back to the NFL. You know, you can say you wish you had more people around who are like that, but you're dealing with people who are in survival mode. So if you have something to help them, you know, create a means to an end,

they don't view or care about Maurice Claret. You know what I'm saying? So, like, I'll tell you like this because I live in a suburbs. I live in an affluent suburb over here in Columbus, Ohio. And the biggest thing that I can say is that when you're dealing in more inner cities a survival mentality, right? Like basically surviving basic necessities, basic bills, basic everything. And that's the dominant culture. It's not everybody, but it's the dominant mindset or mentality of most people where when you're in a suburban environment, you're most focused on

building and in structure and organization and there's no threat or there's no, there's no sense of urgency. You're not, you're not, this is actually a great, and I have the, discussion sometimes with guys that grew up in, you know, in, in, uh, in urban environments. And their challenge now is like now we have kids, right? And you want to give your kids everything you didn't have. On the other hand, they watch their kids play like, man, that dude is soft this shit. Like, yeah, because he ain't fighting for his next meal, right? He ain't, he ain't, he ain't hooping for his next.

I didn't grow up. I mean, like, look, I didn't grow up in, I grew up in, I grew up probably in low. middle class in a town called Orange, right? My dad lost his job in the mid-80s coaching college basketball, and he had to figure it out, and he just kind of figured it out. So there's a certain type of hunger with how I played that was naturally instilled in me, and he was when he was a kid early on, he lived in the Bronx, and then by the time he was a teenager, they were affluent.

But anyway, the point is that every most former professional athletes, I know, like, their big challenges like, man, my kid is soft because we give them some, because we don't want them to grow up the way we grew up, right? So there's, I think, an understanding with people on how that, that does sharpen you and makes you hungrier. On the other hand, it's a very different environment and the ability to, hey, I got to figure out how to put food on my table, I got to get some money in my pocket, and this is just a very normal way to do so. So you go back, you go to Columbus, you're doing. doing your hustle. You mentioned you reconnected with Coach Dressel. What was that really like?

Was it, was he just checking in on you or did he really give a shit about what's happening? No, I reached out to him to help me get to NFL Europe, you know, because I didn't have a path. And I knew I was lost. And I was, I was like, like one thing I'm, I've done a lot of stupid shit, but I'm not dumb. You know what I'm saying? And so like I'm pretty obvious. Pretty obvious. Yeah, right. Yeah. So I reached out to him and I said, yo, bro, I'm lost. You know what I mean? but I knew, like, you know, just coaches, you can be honest with coaches. I think coaches, they just see you in so many different vulnerable situations through action and effort.

They just know who you are, you know what I'm saying? And I was like, yo, I just need some help getting from A to B. And so he was like, yo, let me try to tee this up for you to get down to Orlando, but he just needed me to make it from September to December. And it wasn't like what happened from 6 a.m. to maybe 8 a.m. after I got done training, the destruction came from just so much, three town throughout the day. So essentially, what happened was I committed a robbery in downtown Columbus. This was New Year's Eve, 2005, that was he in 2005 transition in 2006. And so

that compound. Wait, wait, look, if you don't, if you don't mind, indulge me. So you say, was it, was it a long time planning? Was it spur of the moment? How did it come to Yeah, no, so I thought somebody else was, like, so somebody else was supposed to be back there, the person who ended up robbing, and what ended up happening was I went back to the person. Okay, wait, so where is, what, what is somebody else? What are you talking about? Was it a drug deal? Was it a store? No, this was just some inner dealings I had with somebody, and I thought that they were back in the alley,

leaving the nightclub that they own. And so I was going to approach them in the back to try to take something that was mine, or, you know, that we had a previous discussion on. And he wasn't back there. So whoever was back there, which happened to be two victims, I ended up robbing those two victims. So they were just innocent. To be honest with you, they had nothing to do with nothing.

They didn't, you know, they just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong town with somebody who just had like somebody got a shitty mood at the time, which was me. And so, you know, they end up basically getting charged and caught for that. I bonded out. When did you get, when and how did you get? picked up? So the robbery happened that day, and that was like on a Friday, Saturday,

and then I turned myself in on a Monday and probably bonded out on a Tuesday. So it all happened like within the four to five-day span. Was that the first time you've been arrested? No, I got arrested as a juvenile, but the first time as an adult, yeah. Okay, when you're in Columbus, where you're still-

Mar-a-old. Yeah, that was the first time I got arrested as an adult. Like, like, I remember, So my deal was I took a couple kids credit cards and then I drove home with my brother. And I thought nothing of it. It was like $950,000 stupid shit. And then what happened was they found out because, and I thought like, it's credit cards. They're all going to their, the charges are going to their parents.

These are all rich kids. Nobody will know, right? And somebody looked down like jewelry because I got like a stupid bracelet or whatever. I mean, dumb shit, right? And which I still have, by the way. So I'm like, look, I paid through, I paid through my nose for that shit, you know, restitution and all that other stuff. I might as well.

Subliminal. Yeah. Right. Right. No, it is. It's like, this is what the bottom looks like. So, so, but, but anyway, I was, they were, they just wanted me to leave. And I didn't want to leave.

And anyway, there was an article in the school news. favor about me transferring out and everybody had said i just transferred to stay close to home the students are involved got pissed they go down the nbc station it becomes a real thing they charge me i have to fly back and go through it and it was it was it ended up being a misdemeanor whatever but i i will never forget the moment where you're doing your fingerprints and they take your picture you know front and to the side and you're you're looking and you're like this is fucking real you know and um and did you have that or were you such in a bad place? No, I mean, it was just the normal booking process where it just, you know, you go down there.

Well, I kind of knew the booking process from just being in the juvenile system and having brothers go through the system. And so I went down, you know, got arrested. They take you, they book you and then, you know, but I also knew going into it that I would be out within like 24 hours because the attorney who had walked me down or kind of like walking me through like, hey, we'll come and get you out. within 24 hours. So essentially that's what happened. And it wasn't like a long and, it wasn't like some long and arduous sort of process. It was just short to the point,

get in, get out, and go from there. But just the way I felt about life was different after that. I think that probably 2006, January to probably when I got picked up in August, and this is a real thing. I don't think people, one, I don't think I understand the depths of stress and depression. and how you can just, you can get into a funk and know you're in a funk and know you have to get out the funk, but you can't get out the phone just because you just don't even know where to start, right? And I think that couple with a lack of sleep, this is real funny. I remember when they said

Michael Jackson had died because he couldn't go to sleep, right? One of the most toughest things I've ever been through in my life in general was that in 2006, I couldn't sleep more than like 30 minutes. You know what I'm saying? So just all the stress on my brain, all of the thinking, the overthinking, the analyzing, the feeling sorry for yourself, all that stuff. I just couldn't go to sleep. And so I literally would just toss and turn and toss and turn. And if you've never tried to live a day or go through a day when you have not had sleep, it's not to, it just feel horrible. You know what I'm saying?

It makes you feel awful. Right. You feel sick and then you're jittery and then, you know, it's a, and you add in depression that you're already going through. I mean, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a, it's a negative vortex. And you're spinning down and you're just trying to kind of reach out, reach up and stuff.

So this lasted from January until August. August, until I got arrested, yes. And so essentially, you know, went on a huge police chase, um, essentially got arrested, caught with guns, the whole nine. And I always say, man, like, um, people can believe in whatever they want to. But I do believe that they're, um, is divine intervention in some things, right? And I think that even the night that I got arrested

and the intentions I had of harming those people and getting arrested, like literally like probably blocks away from where these people were from doing a U-term, it was probably the greatest thing to happen to me. You know what I'm saying? Like it probably spared people. Go ahead. No, and you would be in jail for the rest of your life, right?

So take me to the, I'm sure you remember, the start of that day, okay? What happened in that day? No, so the start of the day, I'm just thinking to myself, like, you know, in mind, you, everything deserves context, right? So I think I'm this gangster who's going to kill witnesses so they don't show up and testify against me at this trial. For the previous thing outside the nightclub, right?

The robber, yes, yes. Okay. You know, so it's exciting to think about, like, you're about to bring harm to people. who have nothing to do with anything. Okay, so, so, so that's, you wake up, that's your intention. You already had the guns, or did you have to go buy the guns? I had the guns already. No, I had the guns already.

How many guns did you have? Really, the TV made it seem a lot more elaborate than what it was, but I just had a handgun on the seat or the bigger gun was in the back seat, but the handgun was the only thing I had, and other guns were in the back. So I had three guns, but how many guns did you have, Mo? Three, I think three or four. I was a three or four. I don't remember like that.

It was so monumental. What kind of car? What kind of car? I was using my mother's Hyundai. She had a Hyundai Santa Fe. Okay. So you're rolling your mom's Hyundai Santa Fe. Yeah.

Are you smoking a black and mild? I'm like, what, get me to get my gangster on. I'm going to smoke a switch or sweet or something, right? No, it wasn't movie-esque. It was pretty simple, which is, hey, man, you, you, you, uh, you dressed. stuff and you're ready to execute some delusional mission. So, so, so I mean, have you ever shot at a person before your life? I don't know, man.

I know, I've never shot nobody in my life. I don't know. No. Okay. I'll let that one go for a second. So, so you're, you're driving to where you think these people are. And why, what caused you to make a, you turn? Was it your conscience?

No, got up for the wrong exit. Got the wrong exit. So, so, so. So it was just an exit that, you know, loops around in one direction. And like, you know, you just get off at the wrong exit. You get off one exit takes you north and the other one takes you south and I just got off on the wrong exit. Okay.

So you get off the wrong exit. And then when did the cops, how did the cops find you? How did that happen? I'll just, me, just to be honest with you, bro, just made a U-turn and a cop have been sitting in like a Home Depot parking lot. And I said, like me at U-turn, I've seen him. and when he jumps out of the, when I make the U-turn,

he jumps out of the parking lot and he puts his lights on. He puts his lights on. He's walking up to the car or pull me over walking up to the car. As he walks up to the car, I pull off and, you know, at this point I'm trying to get away. And when I'm trying to get away, and it had to be like when I made a U-turn,

like I don't know if cops notify other people that they're in the area doing a stop of some sorts, But, you know, probably within like five minutes, bro. It's like, I don't know, fucking probably three or four cars chasing. You know what I'm saying? So, like, it didn't take long. You didn't, you did you pull over first? And then he starts walking to the car and you take off?

Yeah, that's what happened. Yeah. I thought I just said that. Yeah, so he walked up to the car. You did. I just want to make sure that it was, I just want to make sure that it's clear. So you, he lights you up, right? You pull over.

He starts walking up to the car. You know that when he walks up to the car, he's going to see the guns. Right. Listen to me, so you can hire the handgun. You can hire the vest, but you can't hide the AK-47. You know what I'm saying? And so the AK-47 was sitting on the seat, so I knew he was going to see that. And so after that, just, you know, I took off and I was like, hey, you know, like, I'll tell

like this, even though, like, you know you're going to get caught, you're just trying to delay the process, you know, at the end of the day, that's all that was. You didn't think you get, you think, like, I know the streets better than anybody else. I can, like, no, I mean, so, so I, like, in a more serious vein, like, once he, once he put the lights on, like, at that point, you know, you're cop, like, like, let's be serious, you're not a Hyundai Santa Fe, you know what I'm saying? Like, you know, you're not going to get away. This is Columbus, Ohio. This isn't like somebody where to have, like, three police officers that patrol the town. They have an entire police force. This is a major American city, you know what I'm

said. So how did you, how did you eventually give up? Did they spike your tires? Did they bang you? Did you eventually pull over? No, so I was, I was driving, and I was driving towards, it's a town called Pickerington, and it's sort of like rural. Like, once you get to the back side of Pickerington, it's like, as our rural.

And so I was like, man, I can't go out here and get away. Like, there's no way that I'm basically going to get out there. So I turned around. And in some way, I was like, okay, if I get to the inner city, at least I can get out and run. But by this time, I had, you know, like I say, four or five police officers behind me. And they threw the spike strips out there. And now they busted the tires and I pulled over.

And after that, that was it. You know what I'm saying? And next thing you know, get out the car. You know, they take, they put a spit mask over my face and, you know, it tase me and throw me in the back of the car. And after that, that was it. What do you remember about, about, like, there's obviously an incredible amount of adrenaline there, right? Right. Fear, adrenaline, you're not sleeping. No, at this point, though, like, this may sound crazy to others, but at some point, like, you become released because you're now out of your way, right?

So anybody, anybody like in a self-destructive mode, like, their ego won't let them tell you while they're in the mode that they need help, right? But all you're really saying is like, yo, bro, I just need somebody to help me manage your shit. I don't even know where to start with my life. So in a roundabout way, that day, which was probably the worst when going through it, when you look back on it, it was the first time that the circumstances have forced me to be locked in the cage, locked away from doing our continuously to destroy myself mentally and physically and spiritually and just allowed to put a pause in my life. But, you know, I credit that day, August 9th, 2000 and what was that, 2006,

it was probably the greatest day of, like, my adult life, you know, and I'm talking about that, that was better than even the birth of my kids. And the real reason, like, I don't even think I'll be here had that day not happened. I just don't even think that I'm even, you know, remotely even thinking of, like, how you even live your life, you know? So, like, unless you've been through a traumatic situation or unless you've been through shit that's had to force you to reflect, you don't really, you take everything for for granted, everything a fucking joke. Everything is like, eh, you know what I'm saying? But when you really

go through like something serious, you're like, yo, I got to like fucking grow up. You know what I'm saying? And so, like, obviously it took me months to get to that point, but at the end of the day, had that day not happened to stop me, and then you're an institution. So you're in a sale, you're forced to stay here. You're forced not to go anywhere. There's no drinking, drug, and you can't hide from yourself. You know what I'm at that point, you're dealing with your reality. And that's essentially what happened. That's what all life have basically assisted me in doing it. 15 years ago.

Yeah. All right. So what's jail like? So they take me, book me on the third floor. And when you're a high profile individual, or if you have a notarized case, they take you and put you in individual sales. And so you're in a big dormit,

not a dormitory, but you're a big hallway full of individual sales. So this is what? And you're on 23-hour lockdown. So 20 minutes to shower, 20 minutes to use the phone, another 20 minutes to go to another cell and work out. And so when you're in here, you know, I'm just giving like the framework of it. You know, you eat at 4 a.m., eat at 10 a.m., and you eat again at 4 p.m., something like that.

Like, it's from 4 to 4. And this is like all of your meals. There's no windows, it's fucking dark as shit. You don't know when it's day or night. Like, you have no fucking daylight. with anything. You have no, nothing. There is nothing.

It's just you and your fucking thoughts. So the first part I'm there and then I was locked up where there was one person down the hall but there's nobody to talk to. So it's just you. That's how I say like, just stick yourself in the room as just you. You know, so you had the people who come by

and pass out food or they'll pass out the commissary list but that's as much as human interaction as you get. Rather than that, you're in an 8x-by-11 sale and you're just thinking. So initially, the only people the information you have to read is the Bible or some sort of religious material just because it's, you know, required. So you're reading that. Then you start to get mail from fans and then you

start to reflect them what people are talking to you about. Did the, did the, did the, did the, Bible resonate with you? Was there, or were you? No, so I think the only thing that really made sense was I, and I think you can, any day we can crack it today, and I think anybody can always receive something from Proverbs and Ecclesiastics. And I think that, that unless you're, unless you're into wanting to understand the books of the Bible, it just sounds like a bunch of words, right? It just sounds like a bunch of words and stories. Yeah, so you don't really have a connection to it.

But if you just go to Proverbs, you can dissect any verse from Proverbs and apply to regular life and say, okay, this is wisdom that I can apply towards anything. I mean, all self-help books are just derived from the Bible and self-experience. You know what I'm saying? And so, but I will tell you what happened. So I was there for seven months. One, it was the first time that I was diagnosed with severe anxiety and depression. That's when I started taking mental health medication.

And the second part was that, and I always credit this chapter of my life to a small book as a man thinking. So getting arrested and reading as a man thinking were probably top five moments of my adult life. Like those are two. You know what I'm saying? That was like the greatest shit to happen to me. And so this was the first time that I read something, and it was basically talking about you control what you think, right? So as a man thinking, so shall he come, nothing but thought of, nothing, nothing changes but thought and circumstance.

The character of a man should be revealed upon under every condition. And it was illustrating on how everything that goes into your mind, everything that goes into your eyes, everything that basically, sorry, everything that basically happens to you, whether you want to accept it or not, you create the world that you live in, all the words that come up your mouth, become a part of your life, the jokes, the subtle statements, the statement set on intention,

the music you listen to, and I had never connected it like that, but after it was illustrated to me like that, I was like, oh, this shit makes sense, right? So I fought to myself, like, how much I thought, that's always talking about, I thought I was a gangster, right? So no matter, if I was playing football

and running people over, I still thought I was a gangster playing football, so that gangster mentality helped me to break or tackle are. If I'm looking at you coming to get a blitz, I'm like, motherfucker, I'm a gangster. There's no way you're going to bowl me over.

You know what I'm saying? And if you look at athletes, younger guys, you can see it in them. You know what I'm saying? You can look at how a guy, he may be out there dribbling the ball, dunking, pass and everything. But he's going to illustrate in some fashion

how he feels he is, right? There's a difference between the guy said, I'm Giannis and I'm just fucking dunking everywhere because I'm just excited to play the game. And comparison to another player who feels like, bitch, I grew up on a playground. I grew up in a struggle. I feel like I'm a gangster playing a sport, right?

And you can see it. I can, if I, if I seen people, I'd be like, I can see that. I can, you can just see it if you know it, right? So what I'm basically saying is that that helped me to understand how I was in that situation. And so as crazy as it seemed to everybody else, I was happy that I was like, fuck, I can like think about my situation. I can think about where I'm at.

I can understand why I'm in a situation, but also I can get out of this situation just changing my thinking, right? I used to read a bunch of Duane Dyer or two. Nothing changes the way you think or until the way you think changes, something like that. But the power of intention, right? He used to always talking about living with intention and living on purposes. So prior to 2006, I never heard this shit before.

It was academia to stay eligible for classes. There wasn't any critical thinking. There wasn't any cognitive processing. there wasn't any reasoning. There wasn't any of that shit. You know what I'm saying? All right. So that's part two.

Part three is about what now? You will not believe his personal turnaround, his personal success story, which you started to see the blueprints of in talking about his time while being confined, but there's so much more to it. Thanks so much for listening. Remember, you can listen to Doug Gottlieb show daily,

3 to 6 Eastern, 12-3 Pacific, IheartRadio app, Fox SportsRadio.com, your Fox Sports Radio affiliate, or you can listen to on SiriusXM 217, 203. Make sure you tell a friend about this, send it, tweet it out. If you like it, you dislike it. I'm sure Maurice will love it if you share some of his story. And some, I mean, that stuff is crazy, right?

Like, if he doesn't make a U-turn, like he's in jail for the rest of his life. that's really, that continues to resonate with me. So thanks for listening, download, subscribe, rate, write a review. Even if it's a comedy one, I think I actually might make some money through the right review, especially a good one. And if I don't, maybe you make some money. Okay, maybe you don't, but still, it sounded good at the time. I'm Doug Gottlieb. This is all balls.

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Kirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Day and head writer, Streeter Seidel, help an a cappella band with their between songs banter. Where does your group perform? We do some retirement homes. Those people are starving for banter. Listen to humor me with Robert Smigel and Friends on the I-Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

The story I told myself can then shape my behavior, and that can lead me to sabotage the possibility of connection. This Mental Health Awareness Month, tune into the podcast deeply well with Debbie Brown if you've been searching for a soft place to land while doing the work to become whole. This podcast is for you to hear more. Listen to Deeply Well with Debbie Brown

from the Black Effect Podcast Network on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Will Ferrell's Big Money Players and IHeart Podcast presents soccer moms. So I'm Leanne. Yeah. This is my best friend, Janet. Hey.

And we have been joined at the hips since high school. Absolutely. A redacted amount of years later, we're still joined at the hip. Just a little bit bigger hips. This is a podcast. We're recording it as we tailgate our youth soccer games in the back of my Honda Odyssey. With all the snacks and drinks. Why did you get hard seltzer instead of beer?

Oh, they hit a bogo. Well, then you got it. Listen to soccer moms on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. What's up, fam. It's Isaiah Thomas. And I'm C.J. Tolodano. It's our favorite time of the year on our podcast, Point Game, the playoffs. We're digging into the biggest surprises of the season.

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This was just playoffs. This was just basketball. So listen to Point Game on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is an IHeart podcast. Guaranteed human