The Herd with Colin Cowherd - Unbreakable Episode 19 - Brandon Marshall

Episode Date: January 18, 2023

Welcome to Unbreakable! A mental health podcast hosted by Fox NFL Insider Jay Glazer. On today's episode, former NFL star and longtime advocate of mental health Brandon Marshall sits down with Jay for a paramount discussion. This is a chat you do not want to miss! Follow, rate & review Unbreakable with Jay Glazer here!https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/unbreakable-with-jay-glazer/id1641935224   #fsr #2pros #herdSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an I-Heart podcast. Guaranteed Human. Another podcast from some SNL, late-night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends. Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk 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 IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. 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 IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes.

Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of tauntons and wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith ruling. of two. Listen to Stuff to Bole Your Mind on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is Unbreakable with Jay Glaser, a mental health podcast, helping you out of the gray and into the blue. Now, here's Jay Glaser. Welcome in, everybody, to Unbreakable, a mental health podcast with Jay Glazer. I'm Jay Glazer, and I've had a lot of friends in this business.

that we get friends through football, friends through fighting, but also we become friends through mental health. We had Terry Brouchon a couple of weeks ago, and he's somebody that really was able to open up early and show me it's okay for me to talk about it, but somebody else here who led the way as well. And kind of, I would say he was ahead of his time. Played for 13 years in the NFL, six-time pro bowler,

21 catches in a game, a good friend of mine, Brandon Marshall, welcome him in. And Be Marsh, before we were all talking about this, This is like you first came out and talked about what you were going through in what, 2011, 2013? That's right. 2011, bro, came out and, you know, told the world, you know, what I was going through, what I was dealing with. Spent three months at McLean Hospital, and it just totally transformed my life and opened up the world. Tell everybody what you said you were, because I tell everybody I live in something called the Graham.

Mine is depression, anxiety, ADD, bipolar. What did you come out and say? Yeah, so I was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. The best way to describe that is an emotional disorder, right? Like, you know, you cover sports, fights, the games, right? You see that emotion, that raw emotion. Well, that's good for ball, but it's not great for life. It's not great for business.

It's not great for relationships. In between the lines, good. In between the whistles, good. But you got to have a switch. I didn't have the skills and tools to be able to self-regulate. Walk into a bar, then walk into even a meeting room. coach say the wrong thing, person say the wrong thing. I may just fly off out the mouth, right?

And then now you find yourself in a bigger situation. So I didn't have the skills and tools to be able to self-regulate. Shit happens. Me and you are both on a Zoom call. Justin's on the Zoom call in the back. And, you know, it's all valid when we feel like, damn, this person totally disrespected us. And now do we have the skills to be able to go from 100 back down to baseline,

which is zero? I didn't have that. So I had to take dialectical behavior theory. self-assessment, mentalization therapy, calling the behavior therapy, one-on-one with the great Dr. Gunderson. But before we even figured out what program I need to put together, I had to do a clinical advice.

No, first I had to want to help. Right, right, right. Right. You got, listen, there was five years, those first five years, you covered me. It was like Brandon Marshalls again, Brandon Marshalls again. I didn't, I thought it was everybody else's fault. I thought it was Josh McDaniels' fault.

I thought it was this person's fault, that person spoke. And it wasn't until I looked at myself in the mayor and said, no, how do I contribute to this is when things totally changed? And I wanted to help. And then that first, the first thing I did was a clinical evaluation, right? That's where we came up with the diagnosis of borderline personality disorder, BPD, and then also a neurological evaluation. Sometimes people got things going on their head that is chemical or they may not even be capable of changing. So I did that. And then I spent three months, man, in the outfit. her outpatient program and I did it every single day, Monday through Friday, nine to five. That became my campus, you know, all of the clinical books and patient books became my playbook. And it was the year of the lockout. So I had the opportunity to just take off the whole offseason. I moved my whole team of trainers, chef, everybody up there. And I just went all in.

And that's a whole other conversation because, you know, I was making $10 million at the time, all right? And it was costing me almost $50,000 a month to get the help I needed. Pay for the treatment, have my support team up there to stay on task for business and the football season. And the average person can't afford that. Right. Yeah. They can't even afford to take a day off. Right.

No doubt. And that's so hard. It's so hard to navigate it. But I think you just hit on the head. First thing is wanting help. And same for me. Like I'm paranoid with my depression, anxiety and my gray. So I always think it's somebody else or, man, somebody else has it out for me.

Or somebody else has something against me. Or the universe is against me. And it's not true. So you've got to want to help. But again, I'm talking about it now. What I want to do by writing my book Unbreakable is to give mental health words. We talk about it, but not enough people give it words. I want to give it words so we can have these conversations.

But back then, there were no word. There was no conversation. What gave you the courage to be one of the first to come out and talk about it? Because that would have been scary. Bro, this is a question that people ask me. And I'm sure they ask you all the time. I'm kind of getting really emotional. I wish you, like, fucking goosebumps.

tears in my eyes right now, man, because, you know, even you saying unbreakable, you wanted to put words to it. I wanted to put a face to it. So in 2011, I said, it's time for us to put faces on it. Now we're- And there's the thing that, and this is why I got goosebumps and I'm going to answer your question. Bro, that was one of the hardest things we probably both did to the world, you know, standing up and saying like, hey, diagnosed with depression, anxiety, right? PTSD, borderline personality disorder, all of that stuff. I didn't think twice about it. When I was at McLean Hospital boy, I walked in that first day.

I was so broken. Man, I didn't know. I didn't even know I was hurting. I was so broken. And then a month and a half in, halfway through, my world totally transformed. Everything clicked for me. And I went from one person to another person. I couldn't believe that I was experiencing this.

And right in that moment, I wanted everybody else to experience this. Because I knew, you know, 320 million Americans, give or take a few that there was probably like a hundred million Americans also living with this, but not getting the help they need or couldn't even afford it. So that's, for me, it was very selfless. I said, fuck, I got to go talk about this. I want to share my story, not even knowing, not even thinking about the stigma around it, not thinking about teams may devalue me because now I'm saying I have diminished capacity,

right? So I'm answering the question because you probably, you're probably not saying situations like, man, this is powerful shit. And I just want to help people. And you ain't think about it. The same thing for me, which to me, when I hear people like you, your stories, you know, and there's others out there, it's

like, those are warriors, those are champions. Because there's a lot of people that's dealt with things, but never stood up and shared their story because they were too afraid, right? The reason why I love this topic right here is because you know, it's hard to define what that is.

Like, you tell me, I don't know. You tell me what was it for you? Like for me, I didn't even think about it. One of the things that helps me, and I write about this a lot, and I talk about a lot. One of the things that helps me through my gray to see some blue is being of service. So people say to me all the time, man, you're so brave for talking about this. And I go, no, it's not brave. Like, this is me being of service, right? This is me giving word. So I kind of got excited also. But also for me, it was therapeutic for me to finally come out and explain to the massism, but more so to my friends.

And this is why I act like this, right? And I wrote a line in my book. It's a hard line to write. But I said being friends with Jay Glazer's hard because of what my mental health illnesses and issues. And I shouldn't say, I don't like to call them illnesses. I like to call them things we've overcome. But I wanted to almost take the cap off to show my friends who stuck by with me all

these years and seeing the outbursts and seeing the stuff I've done at night. And man, after a night, taking too much Viking and drinking too much. to get through that fucking gray and have all sorts of issues and fucking letting my hands loose when I should not be doing shit like that or why I snap on people or why all of a sudden I call someone and think,

man, why are you against me? Or why is this happening? Or why is the sky falling? Like people knew I was crazy and that's a badge of honor in football and fighting. But they didn't know what kind of pain I was in. This allowed me to show them

what kind of pain I was in, almost like a thank you for sticking by me. I'm getting choked up talking about it. But it was almost like a thank you to you. for sticking by me for as difficult as this makes us. Right. It's powerful, man, because when I knew I needed help,

I was actually on the field training with morning. My dear buddies, Mike Simv Walker, he's playing for Jaguars. And the whole workout, we were just arguing, yelling. Now, this is a guy that was my roommate in college, at the University of Central Florida. So it's like my brother, brother. Okay, we've been through everything together. So we both make it to the NFL,

got the world at our fingertips, and now we find herself in this off-season session. down in sunny south florida and we're going through the freaking ladder drills and the whole time bro he's like i don't know who you are i don't know who you are you different you change you changed you different you change and i'm looking at him like he crazy like what are you talking about and it wasn't until a couple months later where i finally realized that i was suffering didn't even though i was suffering didn't even though i was changing even though i was changing so for you to say like it was a thank you to your friends sticking by you like now i i'm sitting down with those same friends of

mind that was there from day one. And I say it all the time. Like I was such a terrible friend. Right. Like I didn't know. I didn't even know how to be a friend. You know, I didn't even know what I was dealing with.

And couldn't give you guys any advice how to help me. I wasn't even expressing myself to you guys. That's a big thing, bro. And I know why you're getting choked up, man, because it's so relational. When you go through certain things, a lot of times it's taken out on the people that are the closest to you. You know, it could be wife.

It could be children. It could be your best. spring could be your mom, your dad, your brothers and sisters. And it's painful. It's like, man, I fucking love these people. It's the shame. And it gives us shame. And that's what a lot of people go through also. The shame that we feel after is, man, just as dark as the gray itself. Am I allowed to curse? Fuck yes. You who you're talking to here. How long have you known me? You're a cork guy, too. You know, you play both sides. Fuck, no. I don't know this. I don't know of the Unbreakable podcast is on the

I don't change, man. You know me. The only time I don't curse when that red lights out on Fox and it all Sunday. Fuck it. I let loose. I love it. No, this is good, man.

I appreciate you so much, man, creating this space. You are a pioneer in this space. It's kind of cool, Jay, seeing all the athletes, entertainers, prominent men and women, even influencers now use their platforms and talk about anxiety and depression.

I guess I got to, a question for you. When did you notice that change, right? Because when you and I were talking about these things, you're talking about putting words to it, me putting faces to it, you know, it was still really taboo. Now it seems like it's a badge of honor. Now it seems like it's trendy, you know, for people to stand up and say, oh, no, I deal with anxiety or depression, right? And feel really good about doing it. When did you see that shift? I didn't tell anyone that I had panic attacks, anxiety attacks, every time I've ever been on TV, even scripted shit like ballers, which, you know, again, for me, is kind of weird that that would happen

because I'm great in chaos. I suck and cop. So I'm great in a cage. I'm great on TV. I'm fine, but, man, something happened to me in 2005 where it happened and it became habitual every single time I've ever been on TV for the first segment. It's just, it's weird. So a couple things.

One, when I described it and told everybody what it feels like to have an anxiety attack, I can't tell you how many people in the TV world said, oh, my God. That's what it is. Oh, thank you. I've had the same thing. Thank you. And all these people like I used to think I was having a heart attack instead of a panic attack because we didn't know what, only in 2005, what the fuck an anxiety attack was.

And we talked about it back then. So for years, I just had a suffering silence. But ever since I've talked about it publicly and I started doing mental health checkups on my Instagram, social media, now here on this podcast. And then writing the book and doing these interviews, there is not a week there goes passed, I'm going to try and keep it together here too, where somebody doesn't say thank you, you saved my life by talking about this. And then I have grandmothers now saying, you've given me the words for the first time in 80 years to talk about this to my family.

I didn't know what to say. So here's the coolest one, though. Coolest one. We had a guest on this podcast a couple weeks ago named Keith Madden. Keith was on the way to Hilton Head, South Carolina, it to kill himself. And he took a wrong turn and ended up at a target. And my book was sitting right there. And he was planning to do it on the third day that he was in Hilton Head. So he picked up some supplies and including my book. And he read Unbreakable. And he said he read almost all of it in day two by the morning of day three. There's no longer any reason for me to kill myself. And I packed up and went home. And he has since bought a bunch of books. And I've sent a bunch of some free books to and handing them out to people. But he's now telling his story openly. And I got a

message from him yesterday, yesterday in tears that a woman, a stranger, walked up to him and said, excuse me, are you Keith Madden? He said, yes, I am. She said, oh, my God. Thank you. You see of my life. Wow. Oh, my God. Dude. So that's someone, and I tell people all the time, like, man, we got to stick around because you never know what lies around next Tuesday. Where a man, next Tuesday, something great will happen for you. A Tuesday for me was when I finally got my first job. But you never know. And if he had completed that, what he set out to do,

that woman wouldn't be alive right now. That's why we got to stick around. That for me, like, Be Marsh, I'm now getting these every week. And that is making this, we want to talk about even more and connect with the world. 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 IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me. Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined.

And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life. mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told,

and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tapped Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people.

I know what you're thinking. What the hell does George Bush got to do a little Kim? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam Jett. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill, waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because.

of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so y'all know. I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. So I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you finishing that sentence. Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black people.

Really? Yeah. For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your That's life's work, bro. That's life's work right there. And the coolest thing about it is that that just showed the power of telling your story. So you tell your story, but you don't even know how many others you are touching, right?

So Keith, he hears your story, reads your story, boom. And now he starts to share his story. And now this lady is here today. and now she's going to open up and tell her story. Right. Right. And she's going to impact people in the same way, right? And that's why, bro, in 2011, when I stood there,

it was in Dolphins camp. And everybody was like, all right, where's Brandon Ben? I'm going to respond. And I just stood up and I said, listen, the last three months, I've been at McLean Hospital. I was diagnosed with borderline personality disorder. You know, it really touched me. I've learned a lot.

And this is actually my life's work. I want to walk the halls of Congress. I want to put faces to it. I want to have these conversations at the dinner table and the schools and in corporate America. It's time to do that. Right. And when I when I, when I walk off that podium, Jay, I had a teammate pull me to the side. Right.

And you know this teammate, very powerful person, awesome athlete. Pull me to the side. whispers in my ear, bro, I live with bipolar disorder. Thank you for telling your story. Jay, I thought it was cool, but I was also pissed off and sad because here I am standing in front of the whole world.

Bro, they live streamed this. Like, I never had a live stream press conference. I practice. It was on all NFL network. It was on ESPN. It was everywhere. And so I just told the world, definitely the sports world,

what I was dealing with and what I wanted to do moving forward. And I was bold. I was strong. That's what I'm saying. Courage. That's why when you, I got goosebumps when you talked about it earlier as far as like,

what made you, you know, stand up and tell your story. It's like, bro, I don't know. You know what I'm saying? I think it's something in our DNA, right?

Because it's, it's scary. And I understand why it's scary because of the stigma around it and how people perceive you or how people treat you after. But so boom, I'm talking to him. I'm like, I just told the world this.

And no one was around us. And he had to whisper in my ear because he wanted to make sure he protected that and nobody heard it. And I was like, this is why we need to continue to tell stories. And this is why, you know, it's important for us to do this because people are scared to open up. But I get it. Yeah. And we're in the majority. And our job is to show people that we're in the majority.

I think people, especially nowadays, where how much social media fucks with everybody and what COVID did to everybody having to socially isolate, I think we're in the majority of those who are going through. if not depression, anxiety or both or something. It's just, it's different. Our brains are different nowadays. How much we're sitting there are looking down on our phones, and it's just taking up our brain waves, and our brains are working differently.

And we're comparing ourselves to everybody else's filtered fraction of a second of their Facebook post or Instagram post, and it's fucking not real. It's too much stress and pressure. I want to ask you this, because I just gave you a moment for me this week that was like, wow. And you can't again. Gaming one also right here, but give me like one of the coolest moments that happened for you since you've come out.

Because here's the thing, too, look at, I want people here to understand this also. Brandon and I've been friends for a long time. We sat there on the Rams field this year in training camp. We didn't talk football. This is all we talked about. And we were so excited to talk about this and share with each other. And I think that when people open up now about this, it makes their relationship so much stronger. It makes our bonds.

It makes our conversations so much deeper and a relationship just so much stronger. You know why? The reason why is because when you sit there with depression or you sit there in anxiety, bipolar disorder, substance abuse, all of that stuff, you almost feel like it's just you. And then what happens when you lean in and you say, yo, I'm actually depressed or I'm dealing with this or I'm learning about this. You know what they say? Me too.

Me too, right? Right? Like that whole, like that me too is so powerful, but it's for so many other communities. And in our community, that's why I gave those numbers. 320 million Americans. And for everyone, it touches five to six. If you do the math, that's almost 100 million Americans living with something. So it's powerful, bro. And so, you know, yeah, I know where you were going. Yeah, give me a story that for you that something somebody said to you, you're like, holy shit. I just, wow, I can't believe I changed someone's life like this.

Right. So we launched our nonprofit and we launched our nonprofit that year, 2011. So we start doing some work. What's called? Project 375. Okay. Project 375, but we morphed into House of Bath, more for-profit, creating our own revenue to give back to the community in a different way. We can talk about that another time. But so we launched our nonprofit and our work is really built around prevention and intervening early, right? And so. we go around teaching signs and symptoms. 2005, like you said, we didn't know what a panic attack was. Right. Right. A lot of times it presents itself as a heart attack. So people think they're dying. So boom, what is that? Okay, let's identify it. And then once we identify, what do we do? Right. How do we help someone through a panic attack? So our nonprofit goes around teaching us globally, okay?

Love it. Love it. All of this stuff. So we go out to Seattle and we're sitting down. And we're sitting down with the school district out there. And, you know, we go through this training with just administration, teachers, support staff, all of that, and some parents. And we talked about, you know, suicide. Like, if you, if you, if you know that a kid is suicidal, you know, here's the steps that you need to take after, right? But it first starts with this asking somebody, are you suicidal? Are you contemplating suicide? We're scared to use that word. So anyway, our team, you know, teaches, implements our program. Everybody goes off to their world.

Teacher goes in class. At the end of his class, he just asks his kids, hey, is anyone suicidal? Please talk to me. Everybody leaves. One kid stays back. Wow. Right? Kid says, yes, I'm actually suicidal.

And then so here's a, here's part of the programming. You learn, okay, now what to do? Now you're in it. What do I do now? And the teacher asked, he did what he's supposed to do. He said, well, how are you going to do it? How do you plan on doing it? The kid opens up his book bag and it's a book bag filled with pills.

So then sits down with the kids, calls in the support and the help. This kid is still here to this day. So that's one of those powerful. Bravo. Love it. Right. And then there's so many others, man, where like you, it's anywhere I go, everywhere I travel. You know, people are talking about two things. mental health and my podcast.

That is it. And they're literally breaking down the tears. I remember being in Vegas at a big fight. And a family from Chicago walks up to my wife and I. And it's like two in the morning. We had some drinks. And we're like, who the hell is this walking up to us? It's kind of awkward, like tearing up.

And it's this family, probably white family, probably like 50 years old, 55 years of age. And they're like, you save my daughter's life. And it's like, and I'm like, oh, man, you know, so thankful and all that. It's like, no, no, you need to understand this. You saved my daughter's life. She went on YouTube and Google borderline personality disorder. She was suicidal.

She's about to take her life. She saw your message and she's still here to the day. So there's a thousand of those, right? So to your point, and it's so powerful, man. 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. bet it 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. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care which I'm saying.

Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music.

The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me, or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right what you need to be. Listen to The Clifford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. Do you remember when Diana Ross double-tapped Little Kim's boobs at the VMAs? Or when Kanye said that George Bush didn't like black people. I know what you're thinking.

What the hell does George Bush got to do a little kill? Well, you can find out on the Look Back at it podcast. I'm Sam J. And I'm Alex English. Each episode, we pick a here, unpack what went down, and try to make sense of how we survived it. Including a recent episode with Mark Lamont Hill waxing all about crack in the 80s. To be clear, 84 is big to me, not just because of crack. I'm down to talk about crack on day, but just so you all know.

I mean, at this point, Mark, this is the second episode where we've discussed crack. so I'm starting to see that there's a through line. We also have AIDS on the table right now. Thank you finishing that sentence. Yes. I don't think there's a more important year for black people. Really? Yeah.

For me, it's one of the most important years for black people in American history. Listen to look back at it on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. It's every week, man. It's just great. And it's just, you know, it's amazing that the thing that we feared the most and that hurt us the most is now giving us the most joy.

The last line of my book was, for years I felt I was cursed with depression and anxiety. Now for the first time ever I feel like God bless me with depression anxiety. Yes. Right? Because that book, like you just said, you tell your story, but we're putting things in the world that's going to forever be

and it's always going to touch someone. So this podcast, video, the audio, the book, you put it out there and you never know, because people are out there searching this stuff. Right. And then it's people that you never look at eye to eye and shake their hands and it's blessing them. So I feel that too. It's definitely a blessing, man.

And we're still probably 10 years away from where the league actually asked me recently. Because I went to talk to the Seahawks and Vikings both about mental health and the preseason. I did also the whole USFL for the league itself, right? The league office said to me, hey, where else can we help? And I said, you're probably still 10 years away, you know. You've got to make this just like, you know, mental health, like physical health. You have so many trainers for the physical health. You're going to need the same amount of therapists there for the mental health

and make it more proactive than reactive. And you're probably still 10 years away. People talking about this now, like I can't tell you how many people say they'll talk to me about what I have. And then finally, months later go, okay, me too, like you said, right? But they're not saying it right there. They're saying it all these months later, they're finally having the courage. So I think we're probably five, 10 years away from being normalized the same way. And I look at therapists like coaches, right?

I don't look at it. I try and take away that stigma. So, man, I got to. They need to be trained up. These coaches need to be trained up. Yes, they do. They need to be trained up. We also need to realize, hey, if you're going to work on, like, you don't only catch

passes when you have the drops, right? You don't only work on speed training when you think you're slowing down. You do it all the time. We need to start doing the mental part of that same proactive approach. Jay, I had the opportunity to, and I say this humbly, but I had an opportunity to, you know, the first player to speak to present to the owners at the owners meeting, right? So I did that. I remember that.

Yeah. Yeah. And so when I stepped in, I said, you know, look, I'm doing some cool things on the field, but I want my legacy to be that we change the way we approach mental health as a league. Two things need to happen. Here are the two things. Number one, to be mandated that every club has a mental health practitioner on staff. Okay.

that wasn't that wasn't the case back then 2015-2016 we end up getting that done meaning the league as a whole the second thing Jay as to what you said I looked at them and I said I envision a day envision a world where you walk

into the weight room and I have my strength and conditioning coach right here and then right next to his office is the sports psychologist mental practitioner the team whatever right there because now it's on the same level. If you walk into most organizations,

what you'll find is the strength and conditioning, the training room, the weight room is right outside the locker room on the first floor. Then if you go up to the second or third floor next to the janitor's office. In a tiny little office, yep. Yeah, next to like, you know what I mean? The marketing department that has four or five cubicles, but people don't go that way,

that's where you're going to find the mental health practitioner. No, you need to have it on equal playing field and it needs to be right there. So when I walk in, you don't know if I'm working on my mind, my brain, if I'm working on my body, it's all the same, right? So to your point, that's what we need to do. What I used to do when I was playing for the Chicago Bears and then the Jets, you know, so the Chicago Bears, I went from Denver Broncos to the Miami Dolphins for two

and then to the Chicago Bears for three, and then the Jets and the Giants for another three, and then I had a cup of tea somewhere else and that was it. but those six years or six years, bro, where Chicago Bears, you know where I did my one-on-ones with Gail or our team doctor? Where? In the wake room every Tuesday. So right there on the bench. I said, I'm not going up there.

I'm going to right here because they need to see this. Yeah, I don't care what I'm going through, but they need to see that it's okay to do this. But if they don't see me doing this, then they're not going to think it's okay. When I played for the Jets, I would do it every single week in the cafeteria. So now everybody from players to marketing team to janitors to support staff to grounds crew, they would see me talking to Dr. Sweet's, right?

It's the same, bro. Beautiful. I love that. Man, I love, you know, Sean McVey and I were talking about it. He goes, man, how many my players you think got that? I said, no, no, no, no. That's not the question you need to ask yourself. It's B. Marshall, what you just said, how many of your scouts, your secretaries,

people who work in your lunchroom, your ground, It's everybody. That's it. If you're going to be a team, it's going to be, it's going to be everybody here. And it's so much more than just that locker room. And then also, let's say here for you do that. Another 30 seconds, bro. Also, it's, it's being proactive too. Not everyone has to have a diagnosis for their life to be living hell for their life to be living hell for their life to be a living hell. You don't have to. So these things that we're talking about, all of these skills and tools that we picked up through therapy is also important for the at-home dad, the at-home mom, the weekend warrior for the entrepreneur, for the doctor, the nurse, the clinician. Life can be hard. So you need to be proactive when it comes to training your mind and developing your brain. Okay.

So if we keep saying that life in sport is 80% mental, then why are we spending so much more time and more resources on the physical? Change it. Absolutely. And like you're saying, too, it's got to be proactive because it's so reactive nowadays. Normally a mental health professional is getting somebody after the sky's already fallen. And that's too late, right? So exactly to your point, get out ahead of it. And not just when you have the gray of anxiety, depression. We all go through something.

Meditation, yoga. Love it. Breath work. Yes. Breath work. Love it. All of stuff. I want to shift gears now because you've got something exciting that you've launched to your house of athlete plus. Fill us in.

Tell me all about it. Yeah, so you talked about my nonprofit project 375, and I'll be honest, Jay. You know, I think I would like to consider myself a winner, and I want to win big. I never won a Super Bowl, but I feel like my Super Bowl is going to come in the mental health space. I want to help bridge the gap in the mental health community. So what I say all that to say, I was so tired of going out there and only raising a couple dollars, putting a year's worth in in this event and only bringing in, you know, $100,000, $200,000. Now, that is big for a lot of people, but for me, when I look at the impact that our platforms can have

an amount of resources needed for other people, 100,000 was just not enough for me. So I shift gears to a for-profit House of Athlete. And what House of Athlete is is basically Project 375. Because when I was on the campus of McLean Hospital, I truly believed I had the reaction I had and my life was totally transformed because I leaned into everything. It's not just therapy, talk therapy. and the group therapy. It's also, how are you moving if you're training? It's also, you know, are you meditating? It's also, are you recovering? So are you getting, you know,

five, six, seven, eight or nine hours of sleep? What is it? It matters. It matters. My body spirit. Absolutely. It's all of it, man. So I took my 13 years experience of having like the best coaches and best gurus around me and put into House of Athlete, which started as a brick and mortar facility for like unbreakable where we have, you know, the who's who and who and in there, but we have pro athletes, youth athletes. We have everyone there. But now how do we scale what we're doing at Unbreakable? How do we scale what we're doing at House of Athletes?

So I took all of that work that you and I have been doing and the things that we're talking about now shows up a little bit differently for me because it's two different brands, but I put it into this app. So like on Wednesdays, as an athlete in the offseason, typically it's a recovery date for us. We train Monday, Tuesday, then Wednesday we recover. We jump in the pool. Thursday, Friday, we train and then we do some cool stuff on the weekends, right?

So on this app, on Wednesday, we have our mental and practitioners. You can't even train on our facilities or even our app. You can't even train on the app or in our facility. We have mental and practitioners. We have meditations. We have boot therapy going on, right? Because it's that important. So we totally feel like we're disrupting how we're approaching this whole boutique fitness world.

And it's really to get more people to adopt the things that we're, we're providing from a mental health standpoint. So if athletes are the healthiest people on the planet, my goal is to get more people to adopt their lifestyle. What does that mean? Tom Brady's 45 and look how he's been through a divorce, he's going through all this stuff, so many things that we don't even know about,

and he's still able to perform at a high level. You got Serena Williams. She was performing at a high level. You know, you got the LeBron James. Do we think that they don't deal with the things that we all deal with, too? So how are they able to perform out a high level? It's because of the routine around them, how they're taking care of their mind,

how they're taking care of their body and their spirit. So that's what this is, this man, it's like, here's what the athletes are doing, and here it is for you. I just want people to get results. So how do we get?

Do we sign up at the app store? You go to app store, House of Athlete Plus. You got to spell out plus, PLUS. So House of Athlete Plus in the app store. So then take me through to look. It gives you your workouts,

but also it helps you, like on those recovery days. It helps you with that recovery for the body, recovery for the mind. So it's simple. It seems like it gives you a blueprint, right? That's what it is. It's simple for me. It's there's a lot of things out there.

There's a lot of trends and a lot of fads. And I'm looking at the Tom Brady's of the world, the Russell Wilson's of the world, the LeBron James of the word. I'm looking at what are they doing to perform on a high level? That's what we all want. So just taking how athletes approach all of that stuff, how you recover, how you train, how you sleep, and putting it to one space, right? This is what athletes are doing because there's a lot of trends, a lot of fads out there.

So that's what the app is. It's the fundamentals of health. There's a lot of things that we can be doing from, from prescription drugs to drugs to, you know, different forms of medicine, like there's so many hospitals out there. But what about the fundamentals? What about just understanding that if you're dehydrated, that performance decreases by 25% and it can mess you up mentally. Your brain literally just detached from your skull when you're dehydrated.

So this is optimizing people. Yeah, this is optimizing people. Because that's the thing. There's a difference between training and training for optimization. There you go. For optimization. But it's simple stuff like hydrate. A lot of people are walking around fatigue and a mental fog because they're dehydrated.

Yeah. But we're not having that conversation. What about what about all these people that saying, oh, team, no, sleep and it's grind season. They're only getting three, four hours. That's where your body is recovering and doing what it needs to do to prepare yourself for the next day. Just fundamentals. That's what the athletes do. It's just leaning to the fundamentals. And who better learn from the guy like you who's been through it so many ways. I love it, man. I love what you're doing. I love where you doing. Before I let you go, I ask all my guess this, give me your own breakable

moment. Give me the moment that, man, you went through the deepest, darkest tunnel. It could have broken you, but it didn't. And you came through the other side of that tunnel, much stronger as a result. Man, there's so many. The first one was in college, and I grew up as a superstar, right? Like on this pedestal.

And then there was three years where I didn't think I was going to make it to the NFL and hit my goals. And I never forget laying in the tub in an ice bath a day before the game body just feeling like crap, mine feeling like crap. And I was just crying my eyes out.

Anyways, but I ended up. up doing is jumping out of that tub, going to the tattoo parlor, and getting two stars on my side. One says born, one says die. And that was my way of, like, coming out of that moment where it's like, I may be in some shit right now and that's where I want to be, but I know I was born a star and I'm a die of star. So before every play, every moment on the field, you see me tapping my sides and then doing this, and that was me going back to that moment, like, don't forget who you are and why you're here.

There was another moment in 2011 before I went to McLean Hospital when my buddy, right, where Mike Sims Walker and I were fighting on the field. And he basically like, I don't know who you are, I don't know who you are, right? And so in that moment of going to McLean Hospital, I was there for three months, man. I was sitting there where people had blood sleeping through their arms because they were self-harming. There was a young lady named Sasha. We call her Sasha Bear. She was 15 years old.

She was in a three-east program. She completed suicide. Like I was in some real stuff, man. I was on campus where people was literally walking around talking to themselves. And you say hello, they won't even respond back. You weren't even there dealing with psychosis and so many different things. In that moment, like, I could have, my life could have went totally left or could have totally right.

And then the last moment is right now. Like, I'm in probably one of the toughest moments I could ever be in, right? Maybe even tougher than where I was, right? Building this company, entrepreneurship, 89 employees. You know, I invested all the money, building apps and building this stuff. Bro, when I tell you, I'm dealing with some stuff, I'm dealing with some stuff. But now I have the resources and skills to be able to cope with the abs and flows of it. So it's tough.

I cried two nights ago. I cried two nights ago because I found that there's someone that in my circle from a team standpoint, I got to let go. And it's breaking my heart. I got to let this person go because there's so many other implications to that. And so, like, I've probably cried over the last three years, probably six times built in this company, bro. I can't give it all to you because I'm saving it for my book. Okay, sure. I got it.

But you just got to trust me, bro. You got to trust me. And so, like, now I'm able to deal with it and still perform at a high level because I'm taking care of myself. You know, listen, I started Unbreakable, and then I started a non-profit-ciful MVP, emerging vets, and players the same year. and having two startups seven years ago, and being the boss, man, it sucks, it's lonely, and I'm not used to being hated. People hate the boss a lot of times.

And I wasn't able to handle that. I was not able to deal with that mental health. I couldn't be the common enemy with my mental health issues. And that is still a big struggle for me. So I understand what you're going through. Man, you just got to appreciate what you've done, okay? And appreciate the toil of the climb. Don't worry about, man, where you're going to end up?

Just say, man, I'm proud of myself what I'm doing today. That's right. Dude, I love you, man. I appreciate you joining me, man. This is great. Always love to see you. And by the way, for people don't know, Brandon play wide receiver, but he's not.

He's a defensive end who somehow got slotted over at receiver. I don't know who fucked that one up, man, but you're not a receiver. Let me ask you this question. Who wins in the octagon right now? Me or you? Oh, me. Absolutely. A million percent.

Because you know what? Once I start kicking those fucking legs out of yours, you can be like, oh, no, no, no, no. I didn't sign up for this shit. I didn't sign up for this. You know, hey, now, and the other part, too, is you app,

you're more athletic than me, you're stronger than me, you're bigger than me. But, man, I will just keep coming and coming and coming and take all you got. You go, I didn't sign up for this shit. I didn't sign up for this motherfucker to go down. I ain't like that, man. No.

So you, and you know what? Here's the thing, too. I tell my guys, too, I always tell people, I don't give a fuck if I win or lose. I just want the dude across me to go, that fucking sucked.

That was the worst thing going against it. So if I take the ego out of it, of the loss, right? I just want you to have the worst afternoon you've ever had. That's all I care about. That's powerful. That's a lot to that. A lot of athletes can take from that,

but that's a whole other podcast. That's a whole other podcast. We'll do it separately, man. When you have me on yours, I'll talk about that. Let's do it. All right. Be Marsh, I love you, dude. I appreciate you so much.

Love you, man. All right, folks. Again, I want you to all go and download House of Athlete Plus, spell out the Plus when you go to the app store. And if you haven't already bought Unbreakable, how I turn my depression, anxiety and motivation, and you can too. It is on sale right now. And I appreciate being March and everybody else walking this walk together. Another podcast from some SNL late night comedy guy, not quite. Unhumor me with Robert Smygel and friends.

Me and hilarious guests from Bob Odenkirk to David Letterman help make you funnier. This week, my guest, SNL's Mikey Dave. 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. 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, this is Robert from the Stuff to Blow Your Mind podcast. Joe and I are both lifelong Star Wars fan, so we're celebrating May the 4th with a brand new week of fun, thought-provoking Star Wars-related episodes. Join us as we tackle science and culture topics from a galaxy far, far away, such as the biology of tantons and wampas on the ice planet hot, or the practicality and corporate business sense of the Sith rule of two. Listen to Stuff to Bo Your Mind on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.