It's time for the Happy Half Hour with your friends Christian Balboni, Will Bryant, and Darren Gap And welcome to the Happy Half Hour podcast for super Bowl Week. And I would ordinarily say it's two thirds less happy because both Kristen Balboni and Will Brian our own special assignment this week. I think Will's out trying to get himself on the Swiss Olympic team or something at the moment.
But we got special guest baby, and they are special. Indeed, I have called in the big guns for Super Bowl Week, none other than Panthers legend Brad Hoover. Brad, how are you? Man? I'm all right right out of the top. When you walk through the Harris teeter, do people see you and go? Who know? Most people have no clue, which is great. I found that impossible to believe. I mean, somebody who played here as long as you did, you know, to to be able to walk around in anonymity is that
a real thing? It is? Uh. What's even funnier is my my oldest daughter had jersey Day yesterday and I asked her how it went. She wore my my old jersey, and nobody believed that I was her dad, which is even funnier. Oh man, this man had a long NFL career. How many years? Ten years? I mean, that's one of the most amazing things, Brad. I mean, when the average and length of a career is less than four seasons, to be able to get ten out of it is just amazing. I mean, and you know, a testament to
your work ethic to your talent as well. And I kind of tease you a lot of times about that talent. I mean, you're you're still one of Jackson County Community College's greatest athletes of all time. Um, that's Western Carolina for you if you're not familiar. But Brad all So has the great distinction in Western Carolina football history of actually beating Appalachian State one time. So it didn't happen often, but Brad made it happen. So now it was a
good time. You're right, it doesn't happen very often, but I got to enjoy it one time, and uh, I have a lot of time memories of it, no doubt, no doubt. Well, listen, no one had start off the show just kind of talking to you about your role and your your title here with the Panthers. Alumni affairs in turn. And I mean, just if you could kind of walk us through a how you came to be back with the organization and be what you do in the alumni affairs department. Uh, well, how I got back
to the organization. UM, I really didn't think I would probably step back in this building, to be honest with you,
other than visiting. And um, you know, between Riley Fields and David Monroe, which is two guys that have been around here for a long long time and that I have good relationships with, they kind of proposed this idea of you know, bringing a player back in to help with the alumni fair side of of the table within the organization, and you know, I thought about it for a little while, and you know, I was like, I
could do this. I mean, I've got a lot of good connections with guys not that I play with, but also guys before me and a few guys after me. So like, uh, trying to bridge that gap between you know, as a former player, of bringing guys back, keeping guys in the loop. And uh, you know, it's nice to be back in the building and it's been really nice
to catch up with some guys. What what kind of stuff are you trying to keep guys connected for Because I was having a conversation with Steve Smith's several weeks back and he talked about when he went to Baltimore, he realized, then, Okay, you see old guys walk through
the building. You see former players always there, and it makes a difference in terms of not just the business side and keeping fans engaged and that kind of stuff, but really even down into the locker room, I mean, what do you what do you guys hope to do. What's kind of the goal of keeping guys connected? Well, I think the big thing is is for me is just to re engage with these guys and let them know that A I don't want anything from you. All I want to do is be able to help you
and whatever way being able to help you. I know, for me personally, when I've kind of retired from football and walked away, you know their benefits out there and and stuff that the league does, but you have no clue of what it is. And for me, I had
no no one to really rely on. So it was just kind of through trial and there that I found a lot of these things and so really sharing that experience of you know in in the league, the different programs that the NFL has and two former players and that could benefit former players falls in a lot of buckets now, whereas there there weren't maybe ten twelve years
years ago. And so you know, just keeping people and you know informed and bolbed and just know that I'm here as a liaison to try to help guide them on the right path. I've never claimed to have all the answers, nor am I ever going to, but like, if I can help in any way, that's kind of my role here, right, That's cool. How many guys would you say, in a regular week you have contact with our email or talk to on the phone. Ah, It varies. It really depends on what we're trying to get accomplished.
I mean, if it's a low week, I'm I'm just trying to check in on guys. You know, it might be in season or an off season that we're looking for guys for events. So I'm definitely having more contact to try to get them to commit to something. But I don't say there's a set number. It's just it's just good to connect when we do connect, right, And I know I mean, for instance, I mean Greg Olsen is always around here doing events, you know, charity events.
He's one of the more visible alumni around here. And I know it's great having a guy like Greg around the organization. And I mean, what are you kind of what's the goal in your mind in terms of keeping these guys connected. I mean, is it you know, just showing the community, keeping everybody mindful of the guys who used to be here, reaching out. What's what's kind of your vision of it. I think it's a little bit
of both. Uh, you know, guys who have spent all you know, i'd say a good portion of their careers here in some way somehow, and uh, just showing that that there's somebody with this organization that has been in their same spot, you know, in a locker room and uh, you know, on a game field and just say hey, I'm here to help. And you know, there's a lot of guys that call Charlotte home and you know, do a lot of good things. And so it's it's just
trying to keep communication lines going. I don't think we won't anything from these guys other than hey, how can we help you? What can we do to kind of facilitate things between the wordization than you and just you know, just be there as a liaison to help them in some way. Got so cool. And like I said, I do think it's it's neat for an organization, you know, to realize that it is beyond the scope of one season or any any particular. You know, seasons are gonna
go up, seasons are gonna go down. But you know, the Carolina Panthers are always going to have a Brad Hoover. The Carolina Panthers are always going to have a Steve Smith or a Checked Along and those kind of guys. And and I think it's cool having that connection because it does bridge the generations and you know, their kids growing up. We've kind of hit the point where there are generations of Panthers fans and people who grew up watching Brad Hoover, you know, and that's pretty cool to
think about. You know, really when the organizations as young as this one is. Yeah, and I wouldn't say I mean, I know we're still young, but we're over twenty five years. I mean, it's hard to believe back. You know, I started my career two thousand five years in so I mean the organization, John, I'm old you're You're slightly less old than me, Brad, but still very still occupying a vital role. I think here in the organization, it's cool
having you back in the building. It's it's just neat being able to walk down the hall and seeing intern Brad as I like to tease him, you know, sitting at his desk. I mean, it's it brings back a lot of memories on a regular basis. Speaking of memories, it's Super Bowl week. You played in one of those, didn't you. I did. I did have fund memories of the OH three you and really OH four super Bowl,
so pretty cool. I was mentioning this in in a piece I've written for the mail Bag that we're gonna run later on today, which you should absolutely read on Panthers dot com. But I talked about how in that game, the Cincinnati team right now kind of reminds me of you guys, because a you weren't supposed to be there. Be you had kind of struggled a couple of years
leading into it and turned things around quickly. But I remember in OH three, there was there was no sense among you guys that you weren't supposed to be there. There was kind of an earned confidence that you guys build up along the course of that season. When was the moment when you kind of figured out, hey, this team might actually be pretty good. Huh, that's a good question. Um, I don't know. I I think for us, we it
was a combination a lot of things. I mean, and I look at each NFL season like, you have to stay healthy, you gotta be a little lucky, and you gotta be good. Um. And in particularly that team probably wasn't the most talented team I've ever played on, but we kind of hit that. You know, there's three things at the right time. And uh, you know, I think once, I think it's like every year, once you get into
the playoffs, you got a chance. And for us, it was just yeah, because I was on you know, a two thousand team that would it was okay, oh one team it was horrible. Um, and I don't mean horrible in a lot bad way before horrible from a record standpoint, one fifteen that counts bright and and then two thousand two you're kind of building to it, and then two three we just took off. And I'd say about halfway, a little over halfway through the season, you starting to
feel Okay, we're starting to put this together. Uh, and then it just keeps rolling and rolling and rolling. Then you get into the playoffs and you win pivotal games and you're like, holy smokes, were good. We just gotta keep it going. And we we wrote it all the way to the Super Bowl. Yeah, one of the things
that happened along the way. And and I wanted to kind of get your memories of it because it was such a kind of cornerstone moment for the franchise before that Dallas playoff game when when Sam Mills gathers the team up out on the practice field day before the game and of the speech, the keep pounding speech. I mean, hey, what do you remember about that day? And be did you realize what you were hearing when you heard it?
I think looking back now you appreciate it more. At the time, you're just kind of going, Okay, I know what this. You know this guy, that um, that coach Mills, And that's how I respond to him. But that as a player and a coach for us, what's going through We knew what he was going through, but not to the extent of you know, the keep pounding matra and uh, kind of that mantra become the rallying cry for this organization. At the time, I don't think you experienced that, but
looking back, you go, holy smokes. You know, I got to sit in firsthand on an experience that not many people got to experience, and uh, you know, I really think that was kind of the the rallying cry for us that year, was you know, fighting now only for ourselves and professionally, but also for an organization. And then coach Mills and himself um to motivate. And one of the things players who were there have told me was
that they were kind of impressed. I mean, Sam Mills is continuing to coach while going through cancer treatments and you guys knew that. It wasn't a secret or anything. But several guys have told me over the years that Sam's big thing was he never wanted to make it about himself. And and how do you how does that
come across? I mean, how is that delivered in terms of you know, here's what I'm going through, put and putting it into the context for the team to become kind of a motivational message as opposed to poor me, and I don't you know, for me I look back at it, and it's it's just Sam being real. I mean, just you know, because I I look at football teams
like extended families. I mean, we're around each other more than we are our family sometimes, and you know, he was just being honest with us and upfront with us, and you know, and and really telling us how he felt, and for us as family members or team members to kind of rally around that. That's that's what I remember about it is you know, you never saw him walking. You never saw him philossur for himself. I mean, he
was running somewhere. He was always positive, and you know, I've never met a guy that was kind of going through the situations that he's going through. I don't know if I would feel that way. I would, you know. I don't want to say I feel sorry for myself, but I don't know if I would be in a jovial mood all the time. And you never saw him not. He cared more about others than he did himself sometimes, And I think that's important to be recognized. Is in
society this day and age, that doesn't always happen. No, it does not. And that was a special time, you guys, thus inspired continued that run all the way to the super Bowl. We're down in Houston, it's Super Bowl thirty eight and here come the New England Patriots. Are Are there things that stand out in your memory now that about the week leading up to the game, the setting, the scene, all the extra stuff that goes with being in the Super Bowl. H I mean, it's just foreign
to a lot of us at the time. That's you know, whereas uh, you know, New England and had already kind of cause you know, they've been there, so they had some experience with it. For us, it was just it was kind of like going on I don't want to say a field trip, because it wasn't it was a business trip, but like it was just new fun experience and we were kind of you get caught taking it in sometimes. Um, you know, just how the Super Bowl structured.
You know, you go from N season, preseason, n season to even playoff games. You're you're I have have one day before, two days before, depending on location, super Bowl, you're there a week until you're living there. You're you know, it's a different environment. Media's constantly involved, where you don't you you dealt with media on a daily basis. Uh, in season, but you know, you weren't dealing in national media. It's
one thing having me wandering around the locker room. It's another thing having a couple of thousand of my friends coming with me. Bra Yeah, yes, sabotage, right, But I mean it was a cool experience. It's just it's just it's a break or where all creatures that have it. So like the players, I think we like consistency, and that breaks it for you, you know, because it brings
in a different environment. As far as the game itself, I mean, I think as time passes and you look back on it now, you realize if you were there or you saw that game, that was one of the great Super Bowls ever. I mean, people might not necessarily think about the Carolina Panthers being involved one of the NFL's all time games, but that was a great game. Back and forth, scoreless first quarter, slow starting, boom slow, third quarter boom, and that fourth quarter was just back
and forth. What's it like for you guys when you're in the middle of it and going through that game against a guy who has done it before, and Tom Brady, well he's done a lot a lot after that, so you know, it's hard to say, but you know, for me, I've never been a person who has got real nervous about games. And I remember that game specifically like almost
hyper ventilating the whole first quarter. I mean, you just right that there's that much of an emphasis put on this, and it could change the way this team was viewed, the way you, as a player of his viewed, you know, have winning one and you know, just being extreme and nervous and then you kind of settle, in which I think that's how the game played out. It is kind of how we were riding the high or dealing with circumstances, uh that we were all kind of nervous and then
had to calm down. And when we calmed down, it's kind of when we hit our stride. And it was back and forth, back and forth, back and forth, and unfortunately at the very end it was just wasn't our time. But I felt like that day it could have been coin flip. It could have gone either way, and unfortunately we didn't. What one more minute on the clock, a little more time, you know, any anything. There were so many points in that game where it could have broke
either way, and and it does. It does amaze me sometimes when you think back on it, just how close you guys were too pulling off not what would have necessarily been an upset because the way we think about the Patriots now, it wasn't necessarily that way then. But you know, looking back on it now, after that guy stacks up another five super Bowls after that one. I mean, it's just insane to realize, but one of one of
the classic games of all time. Are there any other memories you have of whether it's that we can Houston the game itself, that are always going to stand out to you? Uh, there's always parts of my career that, um you know, somebody asked me what are the three things you remember about your career? And you know, definitely Super Bowl is is one of those. I have an opportunity to play in the Super Bowl and I had, you know, come close to playing another, but I only
had an opportunity to playing one, and I remember that. Um, then it's how on my list? Um? Yeah. The other one is probably my rookie season, the Green Bay game. That's probably one thing that good or bad. I think it kept me around for my career. And uh so it's when I remember a lot and kind of look back on. And the third is the year that both Jonathan and D'Angelo both went over eleven or yards. Those are kind of my three highlights of the career. Was
Super Bowl being the one up top. Pretty good highlights. Pretty good highlights for an undrafted rookie who defied every odd to get I mean, and I do, I I say this, and and we kind of joke about it sometimes, Brad. But the most impressive thing to me is a guy who can play in the league in ten years or four ten years, because anybody can have talent, but you can be unlucky, you can get in a bad situation.
But no matter if you're a first round pick, a seventh round pick, undrafted, to make it in the NFL ten years is an incredible testament. And I think your work ethic and what you put into the game and your passion for it is a lot of that. I mean, nobody was more passionate on the sidelines, nobody, and nobody was more prepared, and nobody worked at it the way you did. But uh, it's an incredible achievement. Um. Wanted to take us out on a little bit lighter note.
Wanted to ask you Super Bowl questions? Do you have parties to watch the Super Bowl? Are you a guy who watches the game by yourself? I don't say I'm I'm a big party guy. Um, I have been, and I don't say I'll watch it by myself. But I've always watched football differently than maybe a fan watches for so I'm watching the little things that make difference. So even when I'm watching the game, even if people are around,
I'm kind of glued in. I might be paying attention to a conversation, but I'm still looking at it and and viewing it in a different light than maybe other people. What's the perfect football food for Brad Hoover? Ah, that's hard. I don't't say the perfect football food, but like, uh, the food I what I love my wife to fit. So I call it liquid gold. But it's twice baby tatoes and just it's it's on fire when she doesn't. So anytime I can sweet talker into making something to
that that extreme, I'm on. That's the go to recipe. I think it's good to lay down a good starch base for a good Super Bowl Sunday, and that's important. Uh. And here's the last thing I got for you in terms of Super Bowl memories? Did you realize Janet did that we had no clue until after the game, and that it just adds to the mistake of the game we played with super Bowl thirty eight. But no, I
had no clue until after the game was over. And not only do we have Janet Jackson flashing America during the halftime show, there was a streaker during that game too. Were you on the field for that? I was not on the field, but I remember kind of chuckling when the Patriot got tackled and it took him down. But it's kind of funny. It is wild. That game had it all. It had Janet Jackson, it had a streaker, and it had Western Carolinas on Brad Hoover. How cool
is that? Oh? Yeah, I never in years thought I'd even be playing in the NFL. But also to play as long as I was able to play and then have an opportunity to play as to both. So I'm extremely blessed. Yeah, and we're blessed to have you back in the building on a regular basis. That is Panther's legend, Western Carolina great tenure, NFL star Brad Hoover Brad, thanks for dropping by the Happy half hour. Man, I appreciate you filling in. This is pretty good. Don't tell Will,
but uh we may have replaced him. I don't know this good. I could easily see this turning into a regular thing. I appreciate all of you guys dropping by. That's the Happy half Hour for another week. We'll see you on the other side. I'm