Happy Half Hour Episode 68: Keep Pounding

here to pummel me. But yeah, Brad Field in force last week, it wasn't quite the same it was. It was less happy, uh more half hour, but less happy without Brad. I mean I went to a soak on school too, you know I wanna Yeah, it's not Jackson County Tech like Brad went to. But I was waiting for all the ways you could describe Western Carolina and it was cracking me up just a little bit. Brad. Brad's a good sport I like Brad a lot there. He was good to fill in for us last week

while you were out on special assignment. I know it was. It was a fun special assignment. I'm still trying to recover from all the soreness of going down the mountain. Now, let me ask you, when you ski, are you just a start at the top of the hill and survive until you get to the bottom or are you actually a skier and do you do tricks? No, I'm but I'm now unfortunately, I'm now in some weird purgatory of skiing where the greens that I've been doing are kind

of boring. They're no longer life threatening like they were two years ago, but the blues still seem overwhelming. Are the blues the middle? Yeah, and the blues and snowshoe are more like the blues in Colorado than they are like sugar and beech. So there you look at them, and that seems like a lot. So but I go down the greens and yeah, no, I'm not hanging on for dear life. You know, my my coats on buttoned.

I'm just kind of going back and forth, you know exactly, You're You're just you know, you're stopping for pictures, You're you know, every once in a while, there'll be some kid that goes into the forest. There's like these little forest things and they just like come out over a jump over, like just some little hill and you're like, what what, No, Now I'm not doing that. Yeah, it's probably best. I mean this, this body is getting older.

These bones don't do those things. Somebody asked me about skiing recently, and and I actually skied when I was at Appalachian State. I did a reasonable amount of skiing because it was cheap for students and you would go a lot. But I quickly realized the price of overconfidence. And when I was not quite a blue, a steady blue skier, I said, let's see how bad the black one can be. Yeah, And it was bad. Ad. Yeah, I came out of a I came out of a

cloud the snow. The wind was blowing so hard one day, it was blowing everything that came out of a snow gun back up the hill. So I sort of came through a cloud one day and there was a guy stopped in the middle of the hill, and yeah, I just can't do anything about that. It was a yard sale. There was stuff all over the place. Um. The thing I remember the most about that, after I kind of came to my senses and I'm laying there on the side of Sugar Mountain and it's like, what just happened

to me? And Appalachin State had a big seven foot center at the time named Tim Powers who was from Nebraska. And I remember Tim Power's going over the top on the ski lift and he was like pointing and laughing and I'm like, what are you laughing at? You can't even dribble. And that's my skiing story. That's fantastic. Uh, Darren, there's a quote unquote a big game that happened a couple of days ago. Yeah, the football happened. That the

football big game happen. What are your initial thoughts takeaways? Give me one thing that stood out to you. I mean, the team that had the best player in the building one, you know, Aaron Donald should have been the Super Bowl m V p uh By, you know. I mean, Cooper Cup was a nice story all year. He had a great season. He certainly had an impact on that game.

But Aaron Donald's the reason the Rams one and all week leading into that game, anytime anybody would ask me, I would say, well, I kind of hope the Bengals win. The Bengals are fun and Joe Burrow is fun and they don't get to enjoy stuff like this all the time. Uh, But the Rams are gonna win, aren't they because they got all the good players. And that's kind of the

way it worked out. I mean, it got to a point where, if not for that disgraceful uncalled O p I at the beginning of the first half, the Rams just kind of shut him down on defense. And there's too much Fon Miller, too much Jalen Ramsey, and way way too much Aaron Donald for that offensive line. Two little bits about the m v P part you tweeted, and not everyone knows this the way that gets done. Our votes from the press box, from the media that

largely get picked up by the two minute warning. Correct, correct, So things that happened in the height of the game, the climax, the final drive often aren't factored in right, right, And and I distinctly recall, I mean, I remember a couple of things about Super Bowl thirty eight. Number one being asked to vote for the m v P of the Super Bowl was kind of neat for a young reporter at the time. I mean that was two thousand three,

so I was still I was stealing my twenties. And I remember distinctly Lee Remmel, the former Packers pr director who had the voice of God. When Lee Remmel would introduce things in the press box, he would say, Brett Farve touched. You know. He just had that big, basso profundo voice that was fantastic to hear. And Lee rem Will call me on the phone one day and he said, Darren, this is Lee, I know who this is, Yes of

wars Um. But when they asked you to vote, they do want them by the two minute warning because they want to be able to present while confetti is still falling and all that fun stuff, which is a logistical nightmare. And I remember in Super Bowl thirty eight, I handed him a ballot and I had written on it Tom Brady if New England wins, Jake Dilome if Carolina wins. I mean, because the game was going back and forth and it was going to be one of those two

guys at that point. But you you know, you're just in that spot. I believe that they are able to harvest some of those votes electronically now, which speeds it up a little, but they still try to get this thing in before the gun and that's you know, tough because you know the pressure Aaron Donald put on late when Bengals had that last chance that decided that the

run stop the sack. Yeah. Absolutely, And another part of this, I'll ask, do you think was there any you know, I mean, no one, no one wants to admit it, but do you think there is any kind of mindful influence the fact that maybe people felt like Cooper Cup, that's screwed out of m v P for the league year, you know, because he's a wide receiver because of you know, all that conversation coming out of NFL Honors and then

you know, let's give it a Cooper possibly, I guess maybe. Uh, it's kind of hard to tell on a lot of that stuff because without knowing who's doing the voting, I mean it's usually a cast of characters doing the voting. Who is who have been around, who covered the teams involved, and or you know the longtime national writers who you know aren't as easily swayed on some of that stuff. I mean, there's no shame in Cooper Cup. I mean, if you look back, I mean, he's a perfectly deserving recipient.

I just wouldn't have voted for him. I would have gone the other direction and voted freer and Donald. I think buying large defensive players get jammed out of a lot of those things anyway. Um, and it's hard, but he was the guy I mean, and it's he's the one everything's built around. Everything is going to you know, the parts for were the rams in the future. You know, who knows what von Miller's future in l A is,

how long he's going to be there. Who knows how long Odell Beckham if he's ever going to show up there again after the unfortunate knee injury, and he's going to be a free agent. You know who knows all these corollary parts. But Matt Stafford is gonna be there, and Aaron Donald is going to be there. And I think when you're putting together a defense, as long as you got Aaron Donald in them and love it, you're gonna have you got a chance to be really, really good.

Because that guy is is crazy talented. He's matchup nightmare, especially for a Bengals offensive line that can't block anybody anyway. I mean, they only gave up seven sacks in the Super Bowl, which is a lot by any measure, but it's too fewer than they gave up against Tennessee earlier in the playoffs. So God bless Joe Burrow for surviving. I hope he's I hope he's in the cold tub and then the hot tub and just relaxing, probably with

a scar somewhere. So speaking of Los Angeles, speaking of the Super Bowl, you yourself were out there for something entirely different and much more important honestly, for for those here in the Carolinas. On Thursday night, Sam Mills selected

to the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Yeah, that was pretty neat and uh, it was quite a moment, and you could tell, Uh, we had the opportunity while we were out there, uh to visit with his widow, Melodie Mills, his son Sam Mills, the third longtime Panthers assistant coach, And you could tell they had been in this process for a long time and they had never you know, I've known people, you know, from being involved in the voting process forever ten years. You know, people get frustrated

at times and wonder why not me? And this has taken too long? They never really expressed the frustration, So, I mean, it was just an overwhelming sense of gratitude from them that a guy whose legacy means so much to so many people was finally being recognized. And the

family is fantastic. They're so humbled, they're so gracious, they're so you know, overwhelmed by the reaction, and and you know, it was kind of interesting when you get Usually this is a room full of large people, and especially this year. I love, as somebody voted on it, I love this year's class because it's not full of quarterbacks and it's not full of fantasy football guys. It's an offensive lineman.

And Tony Boselli, who was the great left tackle of his generation, you know, who didn't get to play as long as other people did or would have wanted to because of a surgeon jacked up his shoulder, made a mistake during a surgery kept him from ever being the same guy again. Um, but was the dominant player. And then you come back with all defense with Sam Mills, with Bryant Young, a defensive tackle who was kind of not necessarily the Aaron Donald of his generation, but had

a similar kind of impact. You can build a defense around that guy. In the forty Niners did well. Roy Butler the great Packers safety who invented the lamb boat leap um Richard Seymour, who played every position along the defensive line for those Belichick defenses in New England before he was traded to Oakland. I mean, he's just just a phenomenal class of guys who made impacts in ways it's hard to count. I mean, as a Hall of fame. I I think they get hung up sometimes all on

on pass rushers because sacks are easy to count. You know, quarterbacks, big touchdown numbers, big uh passing yard numbers are easy to count. Receivers are a little bit of a quagmire right now because there are guys hung up in line because it's hard to separate between you know, three guys who once got more in this category, one's got more in this category. But the class as a whole, I mean it kind of it's full of character guys and

grind guys. I mean, Tony Boselli burned brightly for a while, but the rest of these guys had long careers and were excellent over the long haul. And and that was Sam Mills. I mean I could and you know, because you've heard most of it, but I could jump up on this table and talk about Sam Mills for hours and hours. I mean, it's just to me the story of Sam Mills, I think overshadows sometimes how great he was at football. I mean, let's just start at the top.

A five ft nine shop teacher from New Jersey who was a twenty seven year old NFL rookie is not supposed to go to a place in New Orleans where they've never ever won and create one of the great defenses in the NFL in his era at that time. And then at thirty six, he's especially not supposed to come to an expansion team and create one of the top defenses in the NFL right off the bat. You'll go to the NFC Championship game in their second year, and all these things that were never supposed to happen

kept happening around Sam Mills. And when it happens for fifteen years, when you include the three seasons in the USFL where they created a thing out of whole cloth and he was the best if into player in a league that included Reggie White, all these things kept happening around Sam Mills. And after fifteen years, you realize it's because Sam Mills and so that's why it was. It was gratifying for me to be a small part of it, to you know, be there to see that family enjoy

that moment. Because when Melanie is surrounded by all these giant people on stage, it's like, Okay, who is this

small person? But from talking to those guys behind the scenes, talking to her and Sam after the fact, I mean those guys in the class, Young and Seymour and all of them and Sally, they really embraced her and they talked about what Sam meant to the game to her and Sam and they were just the emotion was clear, and talking to them after the fact, just being embraced by those guys really made a huge difference for the family.

And you got to, you know, as you said, you got to speak to Sam the Third and Melanie um that the next day, and let's take a quick listen to just some of the emotions in their voice and and some of the things they had to say about that night. We're in Los Angeles with a crowd that could maybe use a little more sleep, but a very happy and proud family. Welcome to the Mills family, Melanie Mills, Samuel's the Third, Thanks for taking a minute to join us.

Just tell me what the last twenty four hours have been like hearing the words Hall of Famer Sam Mills. Absolutely well, it's been phenomenal for our family to experience this great accolade for our beloved Sam. Great to see the game acknowledge him and for all he's put into it. Um. He loved this game, and it's good to see the game give back to him and him being with that elite class. Now, when you hear the other players talk about him, what are the messages you're hearing from the

other guys in the hall? You know, kind of his peers now when they when they talk about him, they talk a lot about his leadership and its toughness. And then when they talk about the Hall, they're talking about a brotherhood, you know, a fellowship that they're gonna have that's gonna last forever. And you'll ask some more guys, but it's a very you know, unique and elite group. The reaction back in Charlotte, it's been phenomenal. I mean,

he touched so many people across the Carolinas. When you realize that impact he had in Charlotte, what does it make you think of now? While we were there from the beginning, to see the team advanced this far, to just see that the fans still love Sam, that that statue is still there, that we can go visit him when we miss them. Uh, it's great and I look

forward to experiences in their happiness as well. If you had to just pick one word or one memory, what stands out to you the most about Sam, That's a tough one, but honorable. Yeah, I'd go with that. And um, I also think you know pator Nation in the Carolinas, both the Carolinas, I think that keep pounding mantra. You know, it really embodies the spirit of him, and um, the town is taking it on and they believe it in

and it's in their blood. And so are you. People that your family is in a lot of hearts across the Carolina and it and a lot of people are very happy for you this week and dare in our hearts as well. That video is on Panthers dot com. You you know the story kind of about the way that they described it. One of the things that I think I took out of it was that Sam the third his first thing which he came back to sit down, was that video where's the Panthers stuff? You know, you know,

and and God bless him. I mean, NFL networks trying to put together a show and how do you encapsulate a Hall of Fame career in fifteen seconds of video clips? And I think probably because Ricky Jackson, his old Saints teammate, was the one UM introduced him, and because Sam played nine years in UM New Orleans before he played three

years here and then another six coaching UM. I think it was kind of it just kind of got lost, and I'm sure some junior staff at NFL Network was just throwing together highlights into like this looks good, this looks good. Boom boom boom, and that's it. It's fifteen seconds of video. But it was all Saints highlights. And there were a lot of people in that room who were like, wait, something's missing. And Sam the third was he was he was so funny about that. He is UM.

You know, obviously they're very protective over their father's legacy. The New Orleans are meant a lot to them, but you could tell, I mean, Charlotte's got a special place in their heart. And Sam was an assistant here, you know, he was on staff here for so long, right, and Sam, you know, it's always awkward when someone is someplace for a long time and then he isn't. But Sam just kind of he was like, listen, I get it. There's no hard feelings. I was part of the staff that

was here for a long time. Staff's change when head coaches leave, their assistants leave, and so he gets it and they understand it. But they've still got a lot of ties to this area and they are always going to be tied to this area, I think for a lot of reasons. But it, uh, it was a neat deal. And Sam kind of laughed, but he was like, where the Panthers highlights? And you know, I know, and I've

already heard from some fans. One of the things I wrote Thursday night, right after the announcement, while was really for the Panthers. This is kind of the first of hours, so to speak. I mean, one of us is finally in the Hall of Fame. You know, there were guys

who have passed through. Kevin Green played three seasons here, but he also played seven for the Rams and three for the Steelers and a season for the forty niners and was kind of all over the map and Bill Polian was here and put together that first team, but he was also the guy drafted Peyton Manning and put the Bills together. Um, Mike McCormick, the very first team president, was a Hall of Famer when he was hired. So

there have been guys. You know, Donnie Shell worked here in a support role, but Donny shells a Steelers guys, so there there wasn't really a Panthers guy and a lot of and a lot of Saints fan like, listen, y'all, there's listen y'all. There's enough of Sam Mills for us to share. And I thought Jim Porter, the Hall President, said it best. He was like, listen to somebody with a heart as big as Sam Mills. There's enough of that to go around. And I think Saints fans can

celebrate it. I think Panthers fans can should and will celebrate it. And it's gonna be really cool. It's gonna be a neat five months leading up to August. Yeah, so some of the details about that I think I saw on NFL dot com is in August five six is around there. First weekend in August is going to be the entrinement there'll be an announcement later on Hall of Fame game which teams are involved. Don't know any of the details on that yet, but it's gonna be

a it's gonna be a cool deal. There's not you know, sam not being there takes away some of kind of there's not that speech and so many of those Hall of Fame speech has become a legendary, And God, could you imagine what Sam Ells would say if he was on that stage. I mean, this guy, you know, created this emotional wave for an entire football team, which became a mantra for an entire city, in an entire region

before a football game. Could you imagine what he would say is he was going into the Hall of Fame. I think it would be fantas aastic for football, for the hall um. But I think the words he left behind and and the family and what they'll be able to put together to kind of honor his memory is going to be super neat. And as they put together their stories, we wanted to kind of prime the pump

a little bit. We've already received just off Twitter, on the on the website, things that you've heard already, you know, fans around this region fans that have been here for a while, you know, the stories they have that personally touched them about Sam. And as we get going into the spring, that's something we're going to try to build around. From your perspective, you're the listener, we want you to

think of your stories. You know, what, what moment did you have at a driving range that you know, Sam rolls up and asked for some help on his slice. You know that we've already heard that. You know, like, what are the things that you had with Sam Mills that impacted you? You know, maybe just something about key pounding that impacted the way that you saw your life, your future, your connection to this community. That's something we're gonna be we're working on for Panthers dot com. Obviously

you'll uh stay tuned to that Darren's Twitter. Um, we'll be putting that out further the spring. But yeah, we just want your your stories, your feedback of you know, how did this man impact your life? And and I imagine we're going to get a good response to that because he is a guy who did touch so many people. Um, you know, just in the stuff in writing the stories leading up to it. Going into the selection meeting, which

was in mid January. I wrote a piece and talked to Steve Smith and Dan Morgan and Thomas Davis and you know several other guys. Luke Keikley Um talking to Brett Maxie last week, I mean, just the people who were near him. It's hard for them to describe sometimes exactly what Sam meant because he was he was so central to everything that was happening here. And listening to Steve Smith talk about how Sam's words impacted him not

only as a football player but as a father. Listening to Brett Maxie tell a story and you know, Brett and I were able to laugh last week. I mean I remember him telling the story at Sam's memorial service, which was here in Charlotte. Um, you know, kind of laughing because Sam was a good sport. And when Sam retired, he said, I don't know if I want to coach.

I think I'm gonna get an insurance And I was like, yeah, you look like an insurance agent with your little glasses and your little sweater, and you know, everything was kind of teasing him. But Sam was a fantastic sport, but just didn't Talking to Brett, I mean, he told me he's like, I don't know what it's going to feel like. I can't imagine what it's going to be like to hear those words, you know, into for him to get that recognition. I mean, it means so much to all

the people he touched for so long. Yeah, man, tough to to move away from that at this point. But Yeah, anyway, we're wrapping up the Happy Half Hour, and that's Will's way of saying, Darren's got a lot more Darren's gonna be talking about. Yeah, I mean we're going to be the Happy Hour and a half honestly the ore programming schedule for for those of you, you know, checking your calendars. We're looking ahead. We've got the Combine coming up in

a couple of weeks. After that, we'll probably will have another podcast here to kind of wrap up Darren. You will be in Indianapolis, hopefully some really great insider info with general manager Scott Fither up there. Yeah, well, we'll see those guys will be up there, you know. Unlike the Senior Bowl where we came back from the other week,

I mean, uh, that was primarily a scouting opportunity. Combines the place where coaching staffs get a little more involved, and those guys get a chance to meet face to face with a lot of these prospects, and that's a big part of it. I mean, we get hung up on the televised portion of the combine and forty yard dashes and drills and how this guy is throwing and

all that kind of stuff. Um, that's all well and good, but most of the guts of it is the medical test, meeting these guys, talking to him, getting to know him, and and we'll have plenty of content from the combine on Panthers dot com, so stay tuned for all that. And that is also kind of the kickoff to the free agencies. And as you know, there's a lot of stuff going on here. The Panthers got a lot of dudes about to hit that market, whether it's Dante Jackson's

to find Gilmore Hassan Reddick. A lot of a lot of questions to answer in the next couple of weeks and we'll be all over Darren. Finally, for those that follow you on Twitter, uh, they know that the Darren Gant Twitter account can range almost almost drastically at times into you know, I enjoy it because I get to kind of hear it and see it every day for those that maybe aren't around there, and it can I I do. I live it. You know, they're not exactly

sure where some of these tweets come from. Darren, just to kind of give a shout out to what else is happening in this building. And the next couple of weeks we're gonna be kicking off MLS franchise here, are you gonna be tweeting about soccer? I you have thoughts. I have thoughts about soccer. Um, Yeah, I have thoughts about soccer. I'm curious to see it. I can't wait to see the reaction and and one of the things

that I think is gonna be neat for me. Um having been around Charlotte for a couple of expansion teams now, whether it was the Hornets, whether it was the Panthers, seeing the reaction in the late eighties to the Hornets teams, which and those teams were bad right off the bat,

but people loved them anyway. And I remember being a part of twenty three thousand people screaming their lungs out on Tyvola Road, being here in nine and going down to Clemson and seeing games down there, and people who didn't really know how to respond to the NFL just wrapped their arms around it. I think it's gonna be a fantastic environment. I'm looking forward to it. I think it's going to be neat seeing this thing put together.

I think a lot of people in Charlotte really I think the soccer community is probably a lot were familiar with international you know, soccer World Cups in the English League, that kind of thing, as opposed to the MLS. But I think is this marketplace grows, my suspicion is there is going to be that core of grassroots support that's just gonna be all over this thing. Win, loser, drawal and draws a thing. Remember draws allowed and sometimes positive. So yeah, you get a point for a draw, you

get a point for that. It's gonna be neat. Yeah. That crowd down in Charleston last week for their first exhibition, the Carolina Cup, I think it's called. I mean, incredible group that went down there, you know. I I am looking forward to kind of just the energy. There's a

diversity about it, you know, young, old, black, white, Hispanic. Um. I think that's going to bring a really great vibe into the stadium, right and you know my rule, whether it's a concert, whether it's a ballgame, whatever it is, if you've got thirty forty fifty sixty seventy thousand people in a building to see the same thing, that's gonna be pretty cool. Probably, But because there's an energy in the collective that you just can't replicate watching something on

on TV. So I think it's going to be fantastic. I'm looking forward to being here. You go to Charlotte Football Club dot com to get all the information on tickets, schedule, all that good stuff. Thanks Daren, has been a great podcast. Thanks for letting me come back. I was worried there for a second. Absolutely, we you know, we like Brad, we appreciate brad um, but you're too centers happy half our Thanks. We'll wait till Jonvan Stewart kicks me off in Yeah, do that