Episode 77: Captain Andrew Whitworth

join us on the Calm Down Podcast. A sixteen year NFL VET, a four time pro bowler, Walter Peyton Man of the Year, National champion and now Super Bowl champion, the Captain joins us on the Calm Down Podcast and it is gonna be a storyteller. Love it, m M, Let's do it. Sixteen kid, you could drive a car with the a number of years that you played the Ladies and Gentlemen super Bowl winning you really don't need

an introduction. Andrew with you know who had a great introduction last night, you and Matthew Stafford in the Yes. Oh my goodness, go Kings go Andrew what Worth. You have won a super Bowl. You are the Walter Peyton Man of the Year and you played sixteen years in the NFL. Welcome to the Calm Down Podcast. This is your gift for that incredible resume. I was gonna say, how low is your life now that you're a dog

kidding joking. The highlight of everything that's been brought together at this moment pulmonates right here in the wine fridge. I mean, grab a bottle, pop a bottle, and let's talk about it. You're a retired man, how do you feel.

It's a pretty good feeling. I think it's one of those things that the actual retired part probably won't hit until training NFL training camp starts, but right now it's it's a lot of fun and just enjoying, you know what has been an insane rod for sixteen years and some amazing experiences and getting enjoy it with my family and all the friends and the teammates and coaches have been a part of it. We call um in our house when either my seasons done or Jared's season is done.

Re entry where it's like you get to know your partner against sometimes good, sometimes bad. You guys have kids, so your dad again, even though I know you do a great job during this season. What's been maybe the hardest,

slash funniest part of re entry retirement for you? I think probably you know, when I walk in an NFL locker room or facility, I'm I'm the captain for the last years, right, um, and I call I. I don't call the shots, but I think you have the you know, freedom to probably call a couple of shots here there and kind of run the room, in the locker room and everything else. And when I walk in the re entry time in the off season, I'm quickly reminded that

Melissa is the captain of the house. So I, um, I might suggest a few things every now and then they get shot down pretty quickly, and I usually get hit with some thing like this is what I do three five days out of the years. Yeah, is there a snap with that? Your girl is sassy and we

love her. She's that. It's usually a snap and maybe a choice word or two that just lets me know, um, you know, go back to my seat and enjoy my sparkling water instead of her way, you know, Andrew, I mean, there's not a person out there that is not a fan of yours. You have done it the right way. On and off the field, and to have the exclamation point of an incredible season for you culminating in a

Super Bowl victory. When we had Matthew on, we had him walk us through that moment when he knew that you guys did it. What was that like for you? Take us back to that moment where you're like, holy sh it, I'm about to win a Super Bowl? It was pretty wild. I mean, obviously the last draw for offensively to go down and score that touchdown was just this.

You know. Ever, how long it took six minutes, it felt like it took three years, but it was one of those things that once you did it, you were like, all right, we got one of the best defenses in the NFL. We have a guy any Maren Donald. You just know this guy's gonna make a play at some point. But there's still obviously the nerves of anything can happen in a football game, and standing on that sideline, I can remember when he actually makes the play and takes

brow to the ground. The ball hits the ground incomplete and I literally was just frozen. I can remember Jake Jervas when of the guys walks up and gives me a hug, and I'm just like scaring as hard as I could, Like, what just happened? Was that fourth down? Was that the end? Like what happens now? Like there's gotta be some other right, So, but it was unbelievable. I can remember just me and Matthew just kind of make an eye contact and it was like what just hap?

I mean, it was just an amazing emotional moment. So Matthew said that, you know, he Cooper, they didn't know it was fourth down at all? What I mean you just said it is it fourth down? Did you not know? Or were you like it is? But your mind is boggy?

What was you know? What was happening there? I wouldn't say I'm a superstitious guy, but in the NFC Championship, at a point in the game, I just stopped sitting on the bench and I started going down on the edge of the sideline, just like sitting on a knee, almost out of the area of the team per sedge, watching the game, like on a knee from a link.

And so I was like it just fell for some reason, like just sitting on the bench just waiting, it felt like I was engaged more and so I was watching the game that way in the n FC Championship, and obviously things worked out, and so at some point in the Super Bowl I was like, you know what, I'm going down there, I'm gonna just kind of get way

away from everybody and watch from an angle. And that's where I was standing down there, so I knew it was fourth down, But it was like when the ball fell, you still start questioning every rule you've ever been taught back because it's like they're a situation where they get the ball back somehow, Like what what rolodecks do I have of situations where there's something that could happen and something bad could happen. So it was took a moment to just be like nope, that's it. Okay, all right,

it's it. We won. But it's like once it hits you, you're just you know, obviously all the emotions go, but you wanted to question the moment so much at first. Well, and this is coming from me as a Seattle fan growing up there, Yeah, we thought we had won that second one and you're like, holy ship, this is it.

We got it. And then an interception, So to your point, like in a second, anything can change and so when you actually know that times expired, you're not seeing an official and make some ruling that we're going back on the field for one second or whatever it was, it's got to be pretty incredible. And going back to I won't I won't make you pick, because that's not fair. Was the Lombardi or the Walter Payton a bigger reward for you? Because they're both incredible in their own right?

But when you found out that you were the Walter Payton Man of the Year, how did you feel when you were when you were gonna know that you were going to be a recipient of such an incredible award? I think, um, it was an amazing experience and something that's so humbling to be chosen amongst your peers that way. I do feel like for me personally, I'm a complicated human being sometimes when it comes to that stuff. What do you mean? I love doing things for people. I

love charity work. I'll love people that that's how their hearts driven and like that's what they want to do, is make things about more than just themselves. That that just I love that, But I hate the attention around it sometimes. And so it was always like, you know, obviously I was nominated I think four or five times, and I never wanted to play Alonge like you have to post about it, you kind of have to, like they want you to, like, you know, get followers, and

so I never posted in the five years. Ever, I always refused I was a bad you know, NFL player, if you want to say, in the marketing of Walter Payton in the year because I just felt like it was one of those things that I always wanted. Maybe

it was just for me personally. I always wanted to keep it about the people I'm doing it for and about the causes that matter, and not about myself, and so it was hard to kind of like it took a lot from Melissa and my wife to get me to like just accept it, like it's okay, Like there's nothing wrong with being acknowledged that way. It's real, it's who you are. So it took me a little while

to honestly accept it. And then once it kind of happened, and honestly, the video before I went out to speak, that's just that makes any sense, like like watching out in the community and made me feel like, Okay, that's just who I am, and that's okay, and I'm gonna

go out here and talk about it. But then you go out there and you I mean, you should teach a class on either memorizing that speech or reading the teleprompter, because I mean, I'm sitting next to Jared and he's like, is he reading this or is this you know from memory? Or is he just going I'm like, I don't know. I don't know. I mean, you got it. You could teach presidents, you could teach me. I mean, you nailed it. What went into it, memorizing it or reading it? Tell

us everything because you nailed it. Well, what was cool was that Tuesday before they kind of they said, look, you're one of the finalists. You need to write speech. And so I just came home from the infamous Breakfast Club and I was like, you know what I just did with Matthew and Coop and everybody and and all the wives, and so I was like, you know, I want to sit down and just reflect for a second. If this is really what happens, what would I want

to tell people? And so I just sat out like with my computer and just started typing and kind of text what I thought I would say. And then obviously Melissa helped me not sound like an idiot, and she came home for me. Um. You know, I'm not exactly the best speller and writer in the world, but I can talk if you give me something to talk about.

So I felt good about that part. But when I went out there, it really just became a mixture of kind of the thoughts I put together that Tuesday and what was on my heart, and I kind of just blended both. And I really have always kind of had a knack for when I have a message or something I want to talk about, I don't really need anything any any prompters or notes or any of that stuff. I just kind of go from a place of what I feel comfortable is a representation of what I believe

and think. And so it was really cool. I think part of that speech, I'm up there like looking around the room, like, Wow, he's in this room, how cool this is. You know, as an offensive lineman, we don't even know what that means. The only time as us my attention is like whether they're throwing a flag or saying we did something wrong. So uh, that's about the only time you get attention in the NFL. So it was a really cool moment for an old one. So sixteen years you could go back to your first year

in the league. You're a rookie. What advice do you give yourself? Oh, man, I think there's so many things that you know, it's probably a rough couple of years there where I had a lot of things I needed

advice about. But you know, I think, really just embrace the moment, put your head down and realize that if you'll just invest your energy and time and then chasing that better version of yourself and realize it'll be greater or later if you'll do that, and you'll sacrifice a little bit and just trust the plan, trust the passion you have for yourself, and realize that you're your own

best investment. And if you can invest in you, um, you'll have a chance to be successful in one way or form or fashion and one day down the road that I think this is one of the coolest stories, just being able to sit with you guys off the field, you and Melissa, Um, you're just telling us how close you are to Peyton Manning and some of the things he's taught you along the way, and I know you've kind of used them in your life and with other

players you didn't play with the guy. Can you talk a little bit about how the relations started and maybe some of the cool things that Peyton maybe taught you. Um, was there something about a handwritten note? Maybe I don't know. I don't want to steal the thunder, But I just sat that night and listened to all these stories and

I love them. Yeah. I think that for me, really, Peyton our relationship as unique because it's one of those things that obviously when you admire somebody as an athlete and you look up to what they've accomplished and maybe that way they've done it. Um, I got an experience that my very first Pro Bowl was actually after years of trying to get in being an alternate all the stuff, I finally make it. And it's actually Peyton Manning's last

Pro Bowl. And I went there and this is like the fourth, thinks time he'd been to the Pro Bowl, and that week I was at all I just followed him and obviously were both from Louisiana, so there's a little bit of a connection there of knowing each other already, and um, we had some similar friends from Louisiana and so we we spent a little time that week, and I think I was basically just the young guy who was job it was to keep people away from Peyton

and asking him for autographs and you're the bodyguard. Yeah, and break anybody's phone that tried to take one. You know, it's a lineman. You know, these bettering quarterbacks, they know what they're doing. They see a young lineman, they know that meets an instant security game. So I followed him around and I thought it was the most amazing thing that in his fourteenth Pro Bowl he walked around with a notepad and like took notes, and when he didn't

have a notepad still ask the questions. And you could tell it was really like trying to memorize every little detail he could get out of somebody's You know, he's just walking up to Jason Witten and saying, hey man, you know what do you What days do you guys work on red zone during the season, or how do y'all put in your third down package? You know, you just you just you know him. He's almost like a

reporter to say that. He's like he knows he's like the Larry David of football, and he kind of gets every guy to just get super comfortable, those a couple of jokes, pops of beer, and next thing you know, you've given him the entire game plan for like next It's amazing. So I thought it was so cool how well he related to guys and what just a passion he had to figure out a way to be better.

And that was something that I really took from that Pro Bowl and said, you know what, I've got to get more invested in relationships with guys across the league, always seeking that information, because here's the guy that does it as good as anybody in the world, and he's looking for every little nuance he can to find a way to be better. Who is your favorite player growing up? Who was the guy in any sport? I mean, Aaron

and I share affinity like most people do. From Michael Jordan or herds was Larry Bird or mine was Dean Sanders. Like for you, who was the guy that you're like, I want to be, not even be, but like that you wanted to emulate And then did you get to meet him or who? How did that play out? I would say, you know, obviously I was. I was a multi sport kid. I loved everything and they played every sport. You know, and I'm a big I know I've heard you all talked about different things. You you know, you

kind of hunkered down on. I'm a big genre person. So when somebody says, what's your favorite food, I have to like lay out the different cuisines of food. I like saying, all right, if I was gonna say Italian, it's this, I don't like labeling one of one, so I'm gonna go score tennis. I was an andre Agassi guy. I don't want that hair I get. I thought I was the man um and then if I went to basketball, I would say, you know, being an L s U guy, being big. I was a shot guy. I loved shot

chat was my guy uh personality. I got big feet too, so you know, I had some shock pumps. You know. The reason I'm a seventeen eighteen kind of depends cleats. I'm eight teens and Tennishoe was seventeen, so my shoes there. You have to you have to you have to orders you right, there's no seventeens or eight teens in the world, just like you're not walk and yeah, no chance. So you know, would be my basketball guy. You know, baseball is and Nolan Ryan, Randy Johnson. I was a left

handed pitcher, so I loved those guys. And then football, the big unit, the big unit. Baby, when he made that bird explode, do you guys, well, yes, it's with Peta, but yes, I mean it was it was outside of that yes, right, I do live in California. Careful. Um, so football, it's a weird one because he's actually a guy who has been so cool to me with kind of the last couple of years of my career and

then possibly what I want to do next. Um, And I don't even think I've actually told him this, but it's I was a massive Troy Aikman guy, and so I loved I grew up in North Louisiana. Most people are Cowboy fans or Saints fans. I was a huge Cowboys fan. I love Troy Aikman and so, um, it's really surreal for me sometimes when because he's just such an awesome dude to talk and have a cool conversation with him, and I'm like sitting here going like, oh,

my twelve year old meat, don't come out. Oh that's cool, so cute. But he's a such an awesome dude, so it's been it's been really cool to get to know him personally. And the one thing I know about Trey Aigman is he loves his lineman and he loves lineman in general, just because obviously the position he played in his appreciation, I too, am a huge offensive lineman. Girl. I've said this to you before, I've said it to all my guys that I love you. Guys remind me

so much of hockey players. You are selfless. You don't get a lot of credit the what you put your body through. What is the one thing, even people that are die hards of NFL or football, that people don't know about offensive lineman? And it could be funny, it could be gross, Like, what is the one thing people

do not realize about that position. I think the most unique thing that I would tell people is maybe to some people, when you watch a game, you think about who blocks people, who doesn't, and what the laman out there are some of the best players in the world. But if you really think about what's expected of alignement and is a grain analogies to tell people, if a defensive lineman gets one sack of game, he'll go down as one of the best pass rushers in the history

of the game and go to Hall of Fame. If an offensive lineman loses one sack of game, he'll never have an NFL career and make it in any team. So the threashold of difference, obviously it's harder to get to the quarterback, is that seven to the time. As a lineman, you've got to do your job to be considered a really, really good one. And you look at the really the difference there is a d lineman you could win one out of eighty reps and you're the

best ever. So it's it's it's a crazy discrepancy when you really think about old lineman, what it really takes to be a really good one, The consistency it takes to be good play in and play out. Those guys have to be so diligent and so on top of everything they do, because one little technical mistake and you're cooked.

And so I think what it's harder for people to wrap their heads around is really, you see the one holding call, you see the one mistake, but what you don't realize is there's sixty five seventy other plays that they did their job, and you're really getting someone who messed up once out of seventy times, you know what I mean. And so it's it's a pretty wild discripancy when you really think about it. Not to mention fun fact, y'all might be able to figure out if I'm lying.

Only position in the world where you play with your back to the ball. I love when you say that, Yeah, that's cool. Think about that. The only position in the world where you have no idea where the ball is only yeah, in the world like times like you, you don't. You don't know where the running backs going. You know where the quarterback is with the ball you're getting like TV, you don't think about it, but that lineman has no idea where the quarterback is expect like think about the

guy who played for Patrick my homes. You have no idea where he's standing. Yeah, he's running around all over. But even another fun fact, this has nothing to do with anything. I just learned the other day that the only sport that you can't wear a white shirt in is ping pong. You can't see the ball. Get a little trivia for you. You know, guys, you one of my after dinner drinks trivia questions. Now I got a kid, so your this is we gotta do this one night.

We gotta have a game night. I feel like this group would like be really good with whether it's fictionary or trivia or something like that. What you go to board game? Oh, you know, obviously at this stage of life, I got the kids that are just now old enough

to understand. We go to a lot of monopoly. There's a big you know, we got We're teaching a little bit of finances and money, you know, every time for a stipend to get on you know, Madden Football games, I need to buy you know, the Aaron Donald card or you know, I'm trying to re create a little value of how many cards they don't need because in their allowance money. But yeah, so we play a little monopoly every now and then to get a little except

of that. So there's a lot of monopoly competitions in the house. Usually it's a fight between mom and dad because one of us is winning. But it's okay, what what what are we calling it? The symbol? What are what are? What are you? Usually? What do you go for? I go through for the thimble because it's easy. They

have that. Yeah, they still have that. Um, I'm a Scottish dog person use because I'm the dad, so you know Mom's gonna choose hers, and then the girls are definitely choosing theirs, and then the boys get their feelings hurt if there anything that they don't think seems like the boy symbol. So I usually just get handed whatever object it is and told Dad, this is the one. You are so cute. You can say this now because

you are retired. I need a I mean, you have so many stories from you know, sixteen years in the league. I need a story that most people wouldn't know, or just something funny with a former teammate or a situation just opened up the playbook of stories in the NFL that you have that you can share for the Calm Down podcast. You know, one that doesn't get talked about

because you get praised all the time. And I already told you I'll have a really bad problem with that is that I've actually the Walter Paynton Man of the Year has actually been ejected twice in his career for fighting. So I actually have two NFL ejections. In two thousand and eight, uh in a fight that was pretty big all across the field, involved a lot of people and then I actually got ejected with Lamar Houston for fighting

in two thousand and twelve. Um, so I've actually been ejected in the NFL twice, which I haven't really informed the boys about yet, but one day we have that conversation. So I got that's a definite story. When you talk about John Henderson, big bad John. This guy was six nine sixty pounds. He was a big man. I'm a big man. He's a really big man. Uh. That was that was a young That was kind of the one I'd came a captain in the NFL. A lot of people don't know that story. But Cincinnati was oh and

eight that season, and that was my second year. They're a third year there, and we had not been very okay O and eight I can remember Justin Smith saying that all the time. But we literally were oh and eight and I had just come from l s U. We won a national championship and been really good. I'd want I'd done fifty eight and two in high school. I never lost like this in my life. So I

was very frustrated. And I actually had a moment as a young player right after I walked through where I pulled the offense up and just kind of said, look, I'm just tired of us like being this kind of organization, this kind of team. At some point we have to prove that we're not just take it from people and lo and behold. There's always situations. When you open your mouth, you get put in that situation. The next day, we end up having an amazing game, best we've played all

year with beating Jacksonville. And John Henderson takes a swing at me in a game and I end up taking swings on him too. We both get ejected. I get thrown out of the game. He was trying to gouge your eyes out. I'm I'm reading about it right now, a picture where you stuck yeah, and stuck his stainers in my eyes and try to galange my eyes out.

So I ended up fighting him, and I'm waiting in the tunnel when we win the game, and every single guy who's Carson giving me hugs, like and from that day on, I was the captain of the team, like a big wit. Getting injected getting out of that daddy. Yeah, pretty cool story. A lot of people don't think about it, but that's actually how I became a captain in the NFL. And the leader of a team is um. In a moment where I got pushed around a little bit, I had to stand up. What do guys do in the

locker room when they're ejected? What do you guys do? We know some players just leave or some go back into the stands. Yeah, what if guys usually do? You're having a snap? What's happening? You're texting your wife, Hey, drive home because you're not gonna want to be in the car with me. From texting Melissa because she's probably trying to get down on the field to fight herself. Yeah, she's had whatever bad fan every day is called on pretzels.

I'm calling her and say, hey, calm down, and but yeah, I think I literally was so mad and upset. I think it just walked around in my paths like can circles for the Yeah, could not calm down and finally got calm enough to like take a shower, get dressed and wait for the guys when they came to the tunnel. But it's, uh, it's definitely interesting. Even when you get hurt, it's like the weirdest feeling ever for the whole team to be out there and you're in the locker room

in the training room. Uh, it's it's pretty pretty weird. But yeah, I get dejected twice. That's uh, that's one. Eventually I'll have to tell the boys the story of but I'll have fanagul in a way that I was right. Probably you always find the silver lining and things. So turning the page forward in the chapters of your life,

what's next for you? You You mentioned, of course we um you know, Aaron talked about how great you are on stage and how easy it is for you to speak in front of a group, and being a captain also prepared you for maybe the next chapter. Is it broadcasting? What do you want to do next? I think right now it's really true to find where you could fit in and be something that you're passionate about and get to be a part of a game that I love so much. So I really I've explored the media route.

I think that's something I'd be really interested in doing. Obviously, I'm not somebody that likes to speak in absolutes before I do something specific, whether that be calling games or being in a studio. I think for me, just covering the game and talking about something I love was super

exciting and fun. And also I think whenever you're with the team, I'm so team center can like I was worried about what you do that I think it'll be a lot of fun to learn more about the inside part of what certain players in the league that I might not have played with or that I've always been

fun of. Just from afar, what makes them tick, what makes them great at what they do and who they are, and what makes them special to their building, I think, but just finding the ins and outs of that and talking about it would be so much fun because to me,

the game of football is so complex. There's so many different people from equipment managed to trainers to coaches to everyone that make it so special and every unique building you go to in the NFL, And it's more learning more about that and articulating it to people, to to know the stories they may not know, and to cover the games in a new way I think would be

a lot of fun. So I'm excited about that opportunity and hopeful that I can continue to find a way to chase the next chapter the same way I did. I think, Yeah, I think I just realized to show you also could pitch potentially if you wanted to Chris, and I got to see it firsthand a night with you at Georgio. You are one hell of an orderer And there's prep that goes into this right with I mean, we know you can nail a game plan. We know you're studying you had to do throughout the week to

get ready for your big matchup. But when you get ready to go to a restaurant, you've got it nailed. You've got a blueprint as well, right, take us through it. It's a lot of pressure to order to the grove. Yeah, that's one of our favorite things in the world to do, is is to be the guy who puts in the order and kind of have a plan for everybody at the table and what they're going to kind of create

the experience if you will. Uh you know. So I think that comes with having a little juice, being a little fun, and being a plan of what people like. And so I love to do that kind of thing. But you really think about it, there's little things that you don't realize. But to me, like being a captain

does not mean that I'm in charge of people. It means that I have an ability to find out what kind of makes people tick and what makes them who they are, and I know how to speak to them or relate to them, or find ways to make them enjoy what they do. And to me, leadership is about the ability to make people want to walk in a room with you, not tell them to go in there. And so I think that part of that is just

that's what I love to do. I want guys to have an awesome experience when they're playing the game, or they're sitting around the locker room, or they're hanging out in the cafeteria thinking about what's next for him. And so to me, I look at dinners like that the same way, like I want people to be like, that's somebody I want to be around. That's somebody that I want to go to dinner with, their walking a room with.

And I think for me that's kind of been a part of who I am as a leader, creating those kind of cool opportunities where we all spend time together. I'll order a bunch of food or go to a pick out, a really cool place for us to all go hang out. And um, I think that's been one of the things I'll miss the most with the guys APIs. But I always got you guys that I'll you know, we'll do another dinner advenution. You know, you know, I'll know my word skills. I don't play around take it away.

That's why you want the captain. I want nothing to do with that because it's so much pressure. There's only a fail in it when people like, oh, I don't like this, I don't like this. So he had six pastas on one plate, all divided for all of us. It was the best night of my life. It was everything. Somebody's bound to like something right, But you gotta have a plan, and then there's gonna be trial and error.

But eventually, once you figure out you know what everybody likes, you can create a good experience, plan your work and work. Your plan is what my father always says. We're gonna say. I'm gonna lose my mind. I cannot believe I didn't ask this earlier. And I know we've got to let you go. But Andrew Whitworth played for Nick Saban in college, and I have we haven't really, you know, off the field, gotten to talk much about that wit. I know you

said you have great stories. I'm obsessed with him. I would like to name our first child Saban even though I'm a Florida Gator, but I love him so much. Chris, I got to meet him at the Masters. Can you give us your best Knick Saban story? I'm sure you have a thousand. Oh man, Uh, there's a lot of

really good Nick Saban stories. And I was actually going to relate Nick to my ordering skills because one of the things I learned from him is that most people don't understand that Nick's explosive things and things he goes off on, they are already predetermined, Like he already knows what it is that drives him crazy, and he's prepared a statement that the right person asked the question, He's gonna let it rip. He's not actually out of control.

He knew what he was doing, and that's why he can go from like explosion to our next question because he he are He kind of knew he was about to do that. And so I have always been someone the way I can go to a dinner and do that is that I'm preparing ahead of time, like I kind of know exactly. I don't ever walk in a situation that I don't I've already thought through or prepared that.

That's what I'm gonna be doing and I learned that from him, and so yeah, my best nick saving story is that exactly his ability to actually come off as this jerk who like rips people and creates this scene. But what people really don't know about him is that that's actually kind of funny to him, and he actually

enjoys it. There's plenty of times of like in a practice, a young dB messes up, He'll walk by like, hey, win, watch this, and then just float all over the kid, the coach, everybody's you know, and he's just coming by with a little smile, little snicker in his face, like

you know. He he loves that control that he has, and I've seen him knew it so many times that it's great because like for me, him and I had a great relationship because I'd just be like, what's up, jerk, you know, and he's just like he loved like he he like all right, you know, like he knew that I knew it was kind of like playing it prepared.

And I think that's one of the unique things about him is his ability to be on every day and in every moment and of pre thought of situations and how he's going to handle him, and what he's gonna do to address him is so rare. I mean, it's just hard for people to ever have days where they can do that consistently day in and day out, be locked in as he is. What a incredible I mean I've gone and on, but I had never met him because I didn't cover the sec I always covered the

big ten. So when he walked in the room, he has this presence that is, you know, there's only a few guys that really haven't Jeter has it. He has it. I mean, Michael Jordan's there's just those few guys and he is, you know, the upper echelon. So what a gift that was for you to be able to, you know, play for him. I'm gonna leave this. This is the last question I have and we'll let you go it. You got to go enjoy retirement. Um. Football has taught

you blank oh um. I think one of the greatest things for has taught me is how important who you are in the good times and the bad really defines you as a person. Because to me, sports is the greatest thing in the world because it combines people from

every walk of life. Every you know, humor, there is to everything you're into and not into, to every color skin of person that's out there, to every zip code and economic background, and you all come together for one common goal, and that's to chase the goal of that team that you're on, and and whatever that inspiration is that you each give each other. You find ways to put all your differences aside and find a common goal

to chase together. And so to me, really being able to understand what it means to find out how to relate to people that aren't just like you and chase the good times the bad times, and be there for them in all of those times, and be able to be somebody who really is a part of that process and understands that there's gonna be ebbs and flows to everything we do, but we're all going to do it together, and we're all gonna have an investment in one another

while we do it. I think, to me, that's what sports is so amazing and why there's nothing greater in the world, and why there's so many people that cover it and so many channels that have it on TV, is that you just it's hard to emulate that. I think football is one of those great representations of what we all could be if we could figure out a way to all be on the same team and chase

what everybody really wants in life. And so to me, football has given me the greatest example of what life could be if we all work together and just put us out our differences and had a passionate love for each other to achieve one goal. The ladies and gentlemen, I mean this is taking steps. When you're getting your eyes gouged out in two thousand eight, you know I'm

kidding I on the prize, you're the ultimate teammate. Congratulations on an incredible career culminating in the opportunity to hoist that Lombardi Trophy. Well do Thank you, my friend. We appreciate you. And you're ordering skills. Yes, that's right, coming to a theater near you. Against don't worry. I'll have an order prepared. The ultimate teammate and hopefully maybe you're our teammates soon. Love you, buddy, Thank you, that'd be fine. Calm down with Aaron and Chrissa is a production of

I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from my Heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you get your podcasts.