Coxzilla 😈

Hello, it's me Art Simone, and I've got a confession to make. I hate boring people. People with no sparkle, no color, no personality, no nothing. It disgusts me. That's why I'm finding the most interesting people, ones with unusual jobs, weird hobbies, and sometimes scandalous secrets to chat with. Truthfully, sometimes they do seem a bit boring at first, but that's because I don't actually know what it is that makes them interesting. We'll find that bit out together. This

Hello. My name is Mason. I'm a thirty two year old male. I hail from the place of Dallas, Texas in the United States. I'm six foot eleven, so very very tall. I also have a mechanical engineering degree from Oklahoma State University. Tea is one of my favorite hobbies I enjoy in my free time, and I am probably one of the most unique people in my career choice that you could possibly find.

Oh amazing, How are you?

I am well? How are you good?

Welp me to the concealed studio. How do you find it so fast?

I'm stoked to be here.

Oh good, good. So let's recap a little bit, all right. Thirty two. Tea is a hobby, which is a very strange thing. I don't know what that specifically entails.

It's like an obsession of mine. I love tea, every single flavor. Get into it. Sis. It's one of those things. I'm just I'm far, I'm all over it.

One of those people where you think you think that like tea can fix anything. You're like, I've got a tea for that. Yeah, I've got a tea for that. Yeap, sleep energy, So you can just solve all problems with tea.

Do you have any issues I need to figure out?

No, but I was going to go that I love t but I love a different type of tea, which is the truth, which is when you talk shit with your friends and go tea.

All right? And Dallas, Texas?

Ye right?

Okay? And how long have you been in Australia for nine years?

Oh?

Okay, I'm a citizen now?

Oh can grat you? Do you like veggimte yet? Well I'm going to revoke that citizenship right now. A mechanical engineering degree. Oklahoma. When I hear Oklahoma, all I think is, oh, Alkohoma weather. I don't know the rest of the words in the musical Oklahoma, right. So what got you into mechanical engineering?

It's it's in the family. Mom and dad, both mechanical engineers, follow down the same path. So it's very cute.

Yes, what's the mechanical engineer? Can you?

Can? I do probably anything from fixing cars doing that kind of stuff, to heating and ventilation air conditioning stuff, so you know how buildings are built and things like that.

To have you used your mechanical engineering degree recently?

Not at all? Got nine years?

Okay, Well that's at least you kept busy and all right.

Elephant in the room six ft eleven? What did you eat as a child?

Everything that was put in front of it? Anything and everything?

And giant people running the family? Are you a family of giants? The bfgs?

Yes, The BFG is my favorite book.

Grind there you go.

It's me six foot six brother and then six foot eight brother, and mom's about six foot so we get it from mama's side.

Okay. And what there been like for you being a giant person.

It's it's good and bad. Don't get me wrong. It's like some pretty amazing opportunities in life. But whenever I go to flight, maybe it's not so great. A shower fitting through doorways, shower head, I'm and it's just washing the tits all It's not really shit, It's great. I'm fresh from there on down. We don't really know what to expect, all right.

So what am I gonna do is ask you three questions, and from the answers to those three questions, I have to determine what it is you were concealing from me. Yes, okay, alright, you ready it all right? First question I have for you is do you have any nicknames?

I do. The best known nickname is cox Zilla, kind of like Godzilla.

Cox. Why are you Coxzilla? How do you call?

Is similar to Cox? Oh yeah, not the other way you're thinking, yeah, okay, all right, And it's similar to Godzillazilla, big massive animal.

Do you think of yourself as a god?

No doubt? No, tower over people. Okay, there's a little bit, I guess. No, no, no, never consider myself a god?

Okay, all right, So so Cox, where's that coming from?

I can't tell. We'll give it up.

Oh oh what okay? Question number two? Which one animal do you think would survive the apocalypse.

I would say a magpie.

A magpie? Why a magpie? Well, Maggie.

Yeah, they're aggressive animals, very aggressive animals. Don't mind swooping people, keep you know, people, people away from their nests.

Do you think that's how they'd survive?

They can also fly, you know, I mean, like, how cool to be to be able to fly? You know, you can get out of situations easily, not many people that are probably coming after you in the air.

Flying seems like a lot of effort. Imagine how hard you like your arms would hurt, you know it would?

It would be amazing. Imagine soaring above the clouds.

I rather just sit down. No. I like magpies because I get called a bagpie all the time because I like sparkly things and shiny things, and I collect lots of sparkly, shiny things, so people often call me a magpie. So maybe by proxy I'll survive the apocalypse. The only things that will be left after the apocalypse share yep, cockeraches and magpies. Final question out of the twenty six letters, which is your favorite? Gee for God? Smart? Okay? God? Alright, okay,

Probably has to do with where I enjoy spending time.

A letter, G letter Okay, okay, Jim, Maybe Jim, that could be the gym.

Alright, yeah close, you're getting there.

Yeah, okay, Jim, all right, I haven't been in one of those in a long time. But that's okay, that's you know, I still pay for the membership.

You know, just in case you're supporting smallers.

Anytime Fitness Alton and no even though with the Geelong now.

If you want to, I can't get to ALTONAO to cancel my membership, which I've had for like the last four years, even though I live in Geelong.

Could you please just cancel it?

Things anyway? All right, Okay, recap Okay, likes tea, spilling secrets, Giant Man Dallas, Oklahoma, God Magpies g could be Jim. Okay, I'm going to put this together. Oh I was going mafia for a second. I was just singing mafia because you know the God you know, that could be your like mafia name Cox Youler, alright, and you could be a mafia who uses T as a code name to sell things. But now I don't think so, okay, because

Am I right? Are you two people?

No? Not at all. My full name is Mason Cox. I am an American AFL player, a place for the Collingwood Magpies at the mcg or also known as the g and currently the only American Borner Bread player to play one hundred games.

A sporting star.

I wouldn't say start.

I don't know that. You're pretty starry, giant, sporty man AFL.

Oh my goodness, I should have done some push ups.

Oh my god. So Mason is not two people in a trench coat. No, he is actually a Collingwood football player. And I tell you what I do like ball sports, so this could be fun. We're here with Mason the professional AFL player, but from Texas.

I'm confused.

Please explain how did you come all the way from Texas and then end up in the AFL.

This is a very very long story.

Cliff notes.

Cliff notes love that Okay, in a long time, went to school to Colombis State University Stadium mechanical engineering, and then from there it got recruited to go play on the basketball team, actually get recruited from playing women's basketball. If you can believe that. Very weird women helped the women's team play basketball, so i'd emulate one of their oppositions, who was Britney Griner was recently in Rush. Yeah, as her play that. And then the men's team asked me

Years because top people know we played basketball.

Right, Yeah, I was a late bloomer, is what you would call it. Six inches in a summer is what I grew in height. Oh, it's to hit puberty.

Yes, six Actually it sounds like a movie. I've watched six Inches.

And then from there, God's offered to come over to Australia to try out a new sports in AFL and learn it from scratch.

Who found you and said AFL.

I played soccer growing up, so like soccer and basketball to that kind of correlate best to AFL, so kind of a good mixture to go.

Into people in America. I'm confused.

It was a basketball draft scout that the AFL had hired to find me in the US playing basketball. Yeah, very weird. Unique hasn't been done since.

It's a very odd strange.

Yeah, it doesn't make a lot of sense.

Someone comes up and says, hey, you're tall. Yes, he's a business card. And then they said AFL, what do you do? You go what?

They go, you played soccer before, you can kick something right, And I was like yeah. And then they go, you've played basketball, you can go and like understand the three sixty degrees of sport. And I said yeah, and they said I think you might be okay to play AFL. I said, hold on, you're going to pay for a free trip to Australia, to a beautiful place. So I never didn't know anything about it, never heard of Melbourne before it. Only heard of Sydney, beautiful Place, Sydney Opera,

What did you have to leave behind to like be all right, I'll take the golden ticket. We'll give it a shot. Come on.

One.

I had a job at Excellent Mobile and working as a mechanical engineer. I was going to travel the world doing that and then got this weird call and came over here, did a combine in Los Angeles, then kind of did one in Australia and they said, look, do you want to drop that combine.

I'm going to be stopping you at a thousand times today because you were speaking another language to all right, sleigh hunting work.

A combine is like a athletic testing kind of expells gus. Like fitness tests, Yeah, fitness testing for the big tests.

In high school?

Didn't How did you do on the big test?

Not very good? Look at judge, judge away, that's what I go for it. No, I was awful at the beat tests. That's afled at anything.

I've never done a big test. Really no, I don't think so.

I think the thing you'd struggle with is just having to bend down to tap to.

Like yeah, I'll be more of just like touched with the foot.

And maybe you could have an extender.

Oh, I've been inspector gadget.

So you did some fitness things and they you're actually all right, and then you do some more fitness thing combines whatever here and they go, oh, actually all right, what happens? Then they go okay, you get drafted.

They flew me out to Ash, all expenses paid. I didn't think it was a real thing like AFL. I'd never heard of it, never seen it.

So your family and is over in America, right, so you're just saying bye, yep, see you later some man time, and to come to Australia. I don't know, I'm just going to do it, you said, by family, I don't care. How old are you at this time?

Twenty three?

So you get to Australia. What's happening.

I'm realizing it's not kangaroo and quallas everywhere. I'm realizing there's not as nice as a weather in Melbourne as probably you would expect. And I have to learn this whole sport from scratch.

Right, how do you study? Do you watch lots of videos or you're just like on the field.

I don't know anymore.

The first two months spent with coaches and stuff learning the game, just kind of vision and stuff like that. I didn't go into games and then got thrown into training with like people that are Hall of famers and stuff like that, And.

Well you drafted to a team.

At this stage Collingwood, they're investing a lot of time and money in you. Do you feel like a secret weapon that they're like, we've actually got this Mason Cox, I don't tell anyone. It's like top secret. It seems like it's like some military compound where they're like training up a superhuman there was Did they grow you in a lab? Are you lying?

I gained eleven kilos in two months?

What does that mean?

No?

Okay, right, so they were really training you. Do they do a big reveal they're like, you know, like did they take off a big piece of fabric and be like tea and you're.

Like, yeah, whatever you play?

I don't know.

Do you have a position?

What do you rock?

Yeah?

I'm your new rock.

It wasn't that good of an introduction.

I've just never heard of like this. It's crazy.

Yeah, do you feel like a secret superhuman weapon thing?

I wouldn't say that. I would say I feel very unique because no one else has kind of done the same thing I have, which is kind of cool. So there's only been one other born and bread American player. I Fly only played like three games, so yeah, it's very different.

It wasn't a hard record to beat, then.

Break record every week plays.

So I like to think that, Okay, so you've trained up, alright, you're good to go. How long is this process before you get onto the field.

So I played my first game about a year and a half into learning what the sport was, and I played it on as a day.

They're really investing in your time. It's a big game. I know that one day. Is it Essendon? Is it against Well Died?

I said, you weren't a footy fan?

Well I'm not, but I've lived in Melbourne long enough.

There you go the Bombers yep. Oh geez, what's Collinwood's mascot bagpies? I just had the double check?

Okay, year and a half.

Anzac Day eighty five thousand people.

You checked out. They go, all right, go out there, sinkers. We're unveiling our new secret weapon. Go for it.

How did you go kick the first goal?

Oh?

That's three good, right, start, got the win pretty well. Tick tick okay, So that was a good start to the career. I'm not going to say it was easy, say, very nerve racking to go in front of eighty five thousand people absolutely love the sport and are crazy about it, and you're like, hey, I just showed up here. I'm I'm really sure what's going on.

It's just a couple of weeks to it.

It is, Yeah, performed in front of the little big crowds.

Not eighty five thousand. What's the largest crowd up to down? I think like five or six thousand, but.

Still five You still get the energy.

Yeah, give me.

You're in a group.

All right, you're in a group after.

You got that by myself.

Yeah, I mean twenty two eighty. By twenty two, you'd have more fans per person than I would.

Stop lifting me up. Hey, all right, stop giving me confidence. But it's not about me.

It's about you.

Thank you avoiding the questions here today. All right, you're now playing the game, how do what does everyone else think?

What are they feeling? What are they vibing? They're like, who is this? You know? Yank?

Yank?

Is that offensive?

It's not early days. It was very much like teaching me the basics. So you can imagine it'd be quite probably frustrating as a teammate whenever you have someone else who's that far behind someone and skill set. Right, yeah, but the but yeah, it was like I say, steep learning curve from the beginning, and then once you kind of get put into the deep end, you start, you know, swimming a bit better as far as the more experienced.

I don't want to alarm you, but you're not actually a swimmer. You play a f L. Yeah, I don't. You got a bit confused.

I totally get that, though.

I will say something that's unique about me is I actually wear goggles in games. I've had six, i think eye surgeries from people poking my eyes out, so I now have to wear protection for him.

You're the bagpie. Yeah, I know he's going and poking your eyes.

Well, it's everyone's hands because they can't actually get to the ball, right, so they have to scratch through my head. And pull back.

Is that actually, like, do you think that's a hype thing?

They're like, that's as far as I can give to the head. And then the fingers go into the eye sockets and ripped the eye out. So yeah, footy injuries loved.

Even in trouble for stabbing your eyes.

It's it was considered an accident. Unfortunate. That's why I haven't now. Yeah, so if you try to just got a little well, I can't touch this.

Does that distorge your vision at all?

Though? I feel like it'd be bad for your peripherals.

Yeah, but they're customs, so they're tinted because I've had an issue with minds as far as my pupil, so you see, maybe one pupil is different than the other.

Very David Bowie, very David Bowie, very good.

And yeah, so I've got one that's tinted, which is kind of unique. And it's also prescription, so I can see better with mine.

Curious, okay, very interesting. So is there a player or a team that you have it out for because of like the I thing, what teams you have beef with? You know what team you're like beef with? I'm not with them. Megan.

People always say I've got beef with rich men because I've we've played them a few times. There's a bit of a rivalry there. And I will say this, I don't mind a bit of trash talk on the field.

Can you do some trash talk for we pretend I'm rich?

Hi, girls, I'm gonna beat you.

Yeah, I kick so many goals. Fine, I'm gonna do the one in the middle goals.

Yeah. I love your How much you know about ifl it's so good. I've been doing a couple of games, don't you worry? Meat pies, Meat Pies all four and twenties? Yes, yes, No, I think I don't know that. The trash talk is more after goals and stuff. So if you do something, well, so let's say you jump on someone's shoulders, sticking it in the back of someone's.

Head, is that allowed?

That is allowed? Just doesn't sound very safe at all.

But get yours, get my tits?

Oh my god. But no, I think a little bit of trash talk is always good. And it's always like if you do something that's like bad for them, because I feel like it's a mental game a little bit, I fl and you're allowed to trash talk and get into people's heads. So that's kind of something I'm probably known for, and I'm being America, yeah a little bit.

The crowds wouldn't hear any of this, would they?

You know?

Eighty five thou people.

Although I've realized this umpires now with microphones, I do pick up things here and there. So if you see a little greens, you gotta shut the mouth and are really just giving reel it in a little bitch.

Yeah, flap our wings and just it's so good. Oh my god. Do you have like a team like chant before you play a game?

We have a team song.

Yeah, but me and the girls that were on drag Race together. Whenever we do shows together, we have a chance. We say beforehand and we say none of this come by our ship. Ten inch cock is what we say. And then we go on stage or if I'm on stage with my good friend, etcetera, we say, none of this will matter. When you did, We've actually got a single play it now, Dull added in post none of this a.

Met Thank you whoa good song? I love it?

We do like it. I love that thank you great song? Do you have a pump up song? We all chant? To okay, do you know run this town? But Rihanna, Yeah, yeah, what do you Actually it's like, you know part of the song it's.

Okay.

So we all yelled that whenever it comes on during that song because it's one of our pregame songs, so we all stop our warm up and just scream that part of the verses. And that's the way we get into a game.

Oh my god, yeah, is there anything.

A bunch of testosterond Rihanna gets this go on.

I was like, are you sure? Well, I guess we're not that different. You know, both physical demanding professions. What's it like getting old?

Yeah, it happens pretty quickly in AFL. I think most careers last three years, is the average career?

Really?

Yeah, and then you go into retirement. So the fact I'm at nine is pretty pretty crazy. Yeah. Yeah, it's a quick turn, right, Like there's I mean, you can have an injury tomorrow and you know your career is done. Well, it's very much.

Side that or do they tap out like say that you've had your other injuries, have you been like, you know, just put me out to pasture after this, you know, like a horse falls over and America you do get the feel.

Yeah, you do get the feel. Some people like concussions and stuff, like doctors said, look going forward, this is the best case in ara few is to stop playing sport. Yeah, so some stuff like that. People have had shoulder injuries and their shoulder keep popping out, keeps popping out, and they can't deal with that. So sometimes your body just says you can't do this anymore. You have to move on something else.

Engineering.

Engineering, it's not a bad plan.

B where'd you go back to it?

Ideally? No, I don't think I could sit behind a desk and just sit there all day. But yeah, I'm in the media world to do a podcast just like you hear that show?

Oh is this where I have to credit the Mason Cock Show? Everyone? That's the Mason cock Show. But it must be weird because you have such a big fan base here, especially in Australia. What's it like for all the people back home?

Very few. I was on sixty Minutes US, which is like thirteen million people watch that. That was cool, but yeah, it's unknown in America. So the cool thing about it is obviously Melbourne's kind of a bubble for football, Like everyone loves football here and they go home and people like, what do you do for living? I'm like, oh, I play footy and they're like, oh soccer, Oh, soccer. It's good.

Every day person, yeah, every day.

Talks from actually being here in Melbourne.

Every day giant person.

You could be like, oh, thank god, it's only just back to being recognized of being a giant man, not being a giant man and a sporting star.

Yeah. Yeah, it's true.

That's basic. Yeah, that's true.

I get it.

Everyone still thinks I play basketball though.

It must be nice. You can just you know, blend in.

It's like having two different lives.

Oh, I wouldn't know what that's like. Okay, why AFL and not drag?

Why I fel not?

I feel like you started in.

The drag you were starting, you know, playing pretending to be a Russian woman.

I would be probably the tallest drag queen ever.

I think, well, I have to check that, because I performed with a drag queen. Her name is Passion Coatur and she is a tall thing, living, living drag queen in the Southern Hemisphere. I don't know, but that's why I like performing with her, because I look so little. I'm like, and everyone needs to see me on videos and things before and with her and in the meet when they're like, oh, you're a lot bigger than I thought, I'm like, shut up.

Would you rather be smaller than taller?

It's nice to be a little petite lady, but I like being like tall when I put my heels on. I used to wear giant, like, you know, fourteen inch heels when I first started, because when you work in a nightclub, you need to be able to see over everyone.

Yeah, that's my greatest strength.

Was hand like, oh they're over there, Yeah here, we're doing this.

Yeah, this happens with me all the time. I'll go to a place and people just stand in my circle, like stand in my like bubble, like real close, and you're kind of like, hey, can I help you? And they go, yeah, I'm just looking for my friends. I told them to go find the tall side the bar, and I'm standing next to I'm like to shame. That's actually pretty sure. A landmark. That's it.

A giant man will be by the giant man.

It's three, I am okay. I want you to teach me a phrase or two to yell at if I'm in the crowd. Okay, So it sounds like I know what I'm talking about if I'm at an AFL game and I'm going to do it. So what do people don't scream.

The big thing? People scream at AFL game? Right, So if an umpire makes a decision and someone gets tackled and they're not sure if they disposed of the ball properly, they just scream out ball, right, So like this is the thing.

Right.

So it's like there's like someone and you just have to go and it echoes across the whole stadium.

All right, all right, so I'm not happy with the ball. So it's real ball, isn't it a ball? That's what I normally do. But it's like I'm angry.

Oh damn you, I'm batch.

That was on the money. Oh my god?

Okay, thank well, gone, thank you. It's like it's like, isn't two.

Men in the trench coat?

No?

He is apparently a well known AFL footballer for Collingwood.

Good for him.

You've been listening to an iHeart Australia production concealed with artsimone. Listen to more of what you love on iHeart and to check out two people who are really good at handling balls. Check us out on the socials