Ali Marpet: trading dollars for a doctorate, guarding Tom Brady, climbing Kilimanjaro

What's up everybody.

This is Spice Adams and you're listening to the NFL Player's Second Acts Podcast.

Baby, and welcome back. Thank you for tuning in to the NFL Players Second Acts Podcast. It's been a minute, but were back on, Peanut, and I got my uncle Whitney as always, mister Roman Hormal.

So what's happening you good? I was not ready for the drum roll or whatever you call that at the beginning.

That's not the normal introduction, that's not how it actually works.

I will not say your name because I don't want to give away who our guest is, but just know that it's a different.

Opening every single time come on here.

It's it's so I never know what's going to happen comes out of this guy's mouth.

I don't know as well.

All right, before we get all that this, you know, I want to thank all of our listeners for always tuning in. Could you give us a five star rating wherever you listen to your podcast where it's Apple Podcasts, iHeartRadio, Please give us a listen, a follow, subscribe. Let's continue to push it on forward. Peanut, who's our guest today?

Today? We got an oldie but a goodie. This gentleman played seven years for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He was drafted in the second round by Love Smith, one of

I appreciate you, Thank you.

Hold on all right now, all right, before you even go into Ali, we gotta address the elephant in the room.

All right.

You were a second round pick by Tampay Bucks from.

A Division three, Yes school, that means you, William Smith and Baylor.

I can't even pronounce it. They got like eight names.

You got like three different D three programs right there. Yeah, so yeah, so three player. Uh so I'm hyping myself up here. I like to do it. You should introduction. I'm proud of it. Now.

So I was the I'm playing with D two guys, never get three.

That was the highest drafted Division three player in NFL history. So that the small school guys. You gotta you gotta have school guys. Yeah.

So I read though that you were the offensive player of the year as a lineman.

Yeah, other things I feel proud of. Yeah. So I was co offense. I don't know if does that work another quarterback, but yeah, so I was a co offensive player. At the conference, I was did you have any touchdowns? No touchdowns or anything like that. So no real stats, but I'm telling you I was better. Just put up politely. I was better than my competition pretty significantly enough to to garner that honor. But yeah, so I was like, oh,

To how much you have dominated a D three school?

Nowhere near as much as that.

I'm just saying, like, so I play with a guy, Jarry Evans, who went to Bloomsburg University. It was a D two, right, and so I was like, how do you get drafted from a D two school? And he went like fourth round? You being second round. It is like that's like being first round of any If you went to D one, you're going first round. But he went to small school, so everybody's like they're going to question it, but second round is just like going first

I mean, so that is kind of I got a little bit hype myself up here, but a little bit. That's how it has to play out. And also like for me, like it takes a GM like or a coach like to take their SHOT's gonna take the shot on the It's so much easier pick the Alabama or the SEC. You know what I'm saying. So like it does take it like to kind of put it out on the line, be like I trust my ability scouts, my ability to evaluate talent, which is like a really hard thing to do for those.

Smaller school So how was it when you went to the Senior Bowl?

Yeah, so that was kind of like an eye opening.

Experience, Like damn, okay, I'm not really storing people or.

So I actually did okay the Senior Bowl too, and that was like a surprise for me. So like my first rep one on ones, like that's the that is Wednesday exactly. So like they say, the game doesn't really matter, it's just really one on ones that matter anyway. So my I'm like getting all fired up. It's exciting for me.

Yes, competition.

Here, and I realized they realized that I shouldn't be playing left tackle, I think right. That was another.

Thing I was gonna say, like, so you played tackle in college and then you transitioned to guard, because yeah.

Even if the senior ball is playing next to Trent Brown is a tackle and.

Six eight, yeah Trent three.

Yeah, yething like that and had a terrible pro day,

Yeah, exactly, great player, great dude, great player. But I was. I was playing left tackle and I'm six four, three oh seven or whatever. They got this left guard next to me who's six sevens whatever, he is three seven or something. Maybe we should switch those guys. You'll play left guard tackle, you play left guard. So that was a switch. Real.

So you were at your heaviest weight, you were three or seven. What was that process like to go through and eat the calories? I mean you weren't naturally big. I think I read somewhere where you were like to eighty to ninety three hundred, and you just kept putting those calories on and on.

Like yeah, I mean yeah, you can see where I'm at right now. I mean like, yeah, yeah, some down seventy five pounds or whatever like that. So I'm at my weight where I feel like I should be sitting that. But yes, it was hard, like when people tell me they can't gain weight like young athletes, and I talked to them like, yeah, I can't, Like you know, I'm trying to put on weight, like I can't gain with like sit eat with me for a day, Like I guarantee you you're going to gain weight. Like I had

So do you eat less or do you eat differently?

I just eat less. I last night I had went if I don't know if you guys been here, but who's your Chicago baste? So ocell there's an Ocean burger place here and there. Last night, I'm still eating your hood. I'm just.

Bacon.

One of the best burger get.

You have no idea, one of the best Burgers in Chicago shout.

Out to.

Shout out.

Yeah, so yeah, I just have to eat less of it. But again, the intentionality around food is not something I can just like, you know, forget. So that's that's ingrained in me from all those years of gaining to be you know, aligneman.

So you look like a tight end right now. First said it looked like a tight end.

Looks just like a tight end.

Yeh. I don't know if I got the hands for it.

So you you were co MVP and college you can do it.

Hyping you up.

Now you should come back as a tight end. You can go to tight End University to be with Greg Olsen and there do some stuff.

No. So, Actually, one of my workouts for the in my senior year, I was with the Bills, and the o C tight ends coach and the line coach came to Hobart. So it was I don't know, two hour drive or whatever. So they all came out to the

What I want to ask is, when I retired, I built a boat. I built a rowboat, and I rolled across Lake Michigan. It's fantastically twenty twenty five, twenty six hours, non stop straight. We built a boat. My buddy of mine, Jake, we built a bowl a rowboat from scratch, and that was kind of a you know what, I still got it in my tank to do something competitive orthing like that. So you retired after seven seasons. You retired fairly young,

It's a good question. Uh. I would like to think that I could have. But so I was inspired by a teammate of mine, so Bo Allen, who was he was three, He was a de tackle. He did it at three twenty probably at the time. So I like to think that if he did it, I could do it. Yeah. And then also, uh, that same trip Pilodinada. He announced his retirement up there.

I remember that.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, okay, so I know you were So I did it a couple of years later. Yeah, but not to I heard stories about it. They need a little assistance now, But you're three thirty, you know, sometimes you need a little help carrying some So I like to think that I could do it. I think, yeah, I get it, I get it done.

No is it Is it a walk or is it like like a legit climb.

One of the reason it's so popular is because it's not like a technical climb, Like it's just like you just need you're on your feet for hours, so you guys, anyone can like get it done. Yeah, it's just it's just kind of a grind.

And how long did it take?

So it's six days in and out, but it's like five days in and like the summit night that's the hardest. The rest of the time you're just walking fine. So at like midnight, youbously you start your start your climb and you're hiking pitch black with your head lamps. Yeah, at like you know, seventeen thousand feet or something like that, and just one foot at a time. Incredibly slowly, just like inching away up until you get to at sunrise at six o'clock or seven o'clock in the morning when

Air, super thin, Like I was struggling.

Really okay, So what was the training before you get there? Like did you train it all or you just showed up?

Because you seem like a guy Ali that likes to prepare.

I am you come off as that guy.

I appreciate it.

And so I'm friends with a guy that does a lot of these mountain climbs nowt he's really gotten into it. He has his own oxygen machine. He's like like high deprivation. He watches TV for hour every day and just at low oxygen levels just to like prepare and do all these things. The shoes, the gear, what all did you have? What did you not have? What would you suggest anybody else to do this?

So I like to prepare. However, this trip kind of came last minute. Like three weeks before the trip, They're like, hey, someone dropped out, you want to come? I was like bet so. So what I ended up doing was buying all the gear and like walking around Central Park because like that's like what else are you going to do to train besides being on your feet? Like that's what they recommend. So I had three weeks from just walking with my dog around the Central Park trying to break

Didn't know brain swell either.

I didn't either. You that's something new.

I've never heard that. Did anybody know that the brain swell?

You're not supposed to You're not supposed to tell.

People that, right, because everybody just rose behind the cameras is all like, nah, I ain't know that.

Nobody like isn't supposed to be at that elevation. Like, it's just your body is just not your organs aren't functioning properly.

I was gonna say, let's climb the mountain, but you say, my brain is swelling. So I'm good, No, we're not gonna do that.

I'm it's cold, I'm straight. I have adventures in my life, and I'm just like, no, I'm good.

Yeah, but I'm.

Glad you did that.

It's fun, it's cool.

It was really good.

It's not for everybody, but that's cool too. But it was with honestly, I just want to plug it. It was with a great organization, so with Chris Long's Foundation, water Board.

Yeah, so you're supposed to do it one year and I couldn't.

Well, it's not too late, tapped out. Not too late.

Hey, if you're listening at me, water boys, I'm down. Let's go. They're finalizing the list for next year, finalizing the list for next year. It's dope. So one of the reasons you got out, it's just for you know, talking about brain swelling and everything you played seven years. I mean, you just won a Super Bowl All Pro like Finn to come into like a large sum of cash, and for you you said, nah, I think I'm good. Yeah,

To I mean, I think for most players and for myself, it's the hardest decision I've ever had to make. I mean it's it's so for me. I think I've always sort of valued my health, right, there are certain things that I value my life, and health is paramount for me. So if I'm going to live authentically within my own values, right, I couldn't continue to put my body in that you know,

I want to put this perspective too, though, because it's not just a little bit of money.

It was two years, twenty million dollars you left out there.

I mean, so you checked a lot of boxes and so at that point, because I won't like for me, I'm like, did that decision did it already start to happen like early in that year or was it like starting your seven Like, man, I'm just tired because before retirement, we all kind of know that we sent something's changing

I'm good. Yeah, now I can let go.

So I so, actually, so my last game was actually Pro Bowl last the Pro Bowl out in Vegas, So that was my last game, which was kind of a cool way to end it for me. Yeah, but yes, I think actually, I know it sounds it might sound silly, but like I think I started my football career with the end in mind a little bit. I think, like we all know, right, it's not it's it's not forever, right exactly, And I think.

Right starting at the end, So I think I.

Think for me also coming from the D three school, right, so like anything was just like I felt like I was playing with house money, right, So, like I didn't think that I was going to have the career that I did. So I kind of always identified and expected that my career was not, i mean, going to be shorter. So I kind of always had that framework of what life after football is going to be.

So it was just like a bonus for you to make it to the league, like I made it to the league. All right, cool, but it wasn't really in my I didn't see myself playing. But now that I'm here, y'all do it for a couple of years and then all right, now I'm gonna do something else.

That's kind of how it felt for me. So like I wish I was the kind of guy that like circled like and like, I'm going to play in the NFL when I'm five years old, Like.

That was not me, like a thousand person.

I love that respect that was all day long. Yeah, I wish I could like and I worked.

I worked for that. This is what I want to do, Like I have that mentality and Nope, I'm going to get drafted. I'm going to go here. I'm gonna like I had, I wrote out goals and you know I wrote, I had a chalkboard that I legit wrote my goal. Right, I'm going to run this, I'm going to this pro day, I'm going to do this, this, this and that and and it played out every way I I scripted my life and it played out exactly the way I wanted.

So first of all, you seem like a disaster prepper, right, like like I'm preparing for the worst all the time because when I get here, I'm like, dude, any at any time, I can be gone.

Sure, which it actually turned out.

To be a benefit for you, and so as you make it, because I still want to know, like when did you decide? Was it? Was it after Super Bowl? Was it at Pro Bowl?

Was it during this?

I want to know when you decided, like, you know what, this is probably going to be it, because I'm sure they didn't know that until yeah.

I mean so, I definitely don't think I was ever going to be the guy that played ten twelve years. That wasn't going to be. After my first training camp, I realized that it's like in college, I'm like.

It's hard camp.

It's like for y'all hard, it's real, Like I'm not going to be like, oh I'm doing this ten more times.

I know hard three And I was like this stuff is hard, Like I don't know, and I'm the guy that can run on and I was like, yo, I don't know if I could do this.

I called my dad, and my dad this is like, I don't know, this is what I want to do.

And he was like, Roman, I want.

You to look at that check that you got all right, and you've been working for this your whole life. This is like what you wanted and just see what you really want to do. And I was like, you're right, get back out, get back.

Here that limon go. Like what were your reps? Like do you do all the reps with like scout team, first team, second team, thirteen? Do you have to do special teams?

Special teams do or something like that? There's no there's no you know, tapping anyone else in Like that's the thing about playing line. You're getting all the reps, especially as a young guy. And also that was always my mentality too, even like as over year six or seven, where maybe I could have cut back on something like I was always the guy that was going to try and get everything that I could, and I think that may have possibly contributed to the fact that I'd sort

I was just so addicted, like I just loved it. But then again, but you're a lineman, so you guys are every plate.

It's different.

I was not like that corner safety like I just I just ran more right, I wasn't a banger.

If it was running like I think like to think that it would be different. But again, there's no like getting away from It's like just sure.

I've heard a lot of linemen talk about that, so tell me this part. How did your family take this

Uh So to your point, my mom and I always kind of joked like I was obviously a big dude, so so big that I would have like gravitational pull, like that's what football does, right, things everybody is does. So my family wuld always congregate after games. So you're right, there's there's not just you, it's everybody. Everybody that's part of it. So I think even for like other people in my family, like just navigating what the fall looks like this past fall, like all right, what do we

So you being so young, like, yeah, what are you twenty nine?

I'm thirty thirty?

Okay, just turned the Big three? Oh yeah, April?

Right, should you guys do? Come on?

Called research?

It's called preparation. It's like watching game film.

Little bit.

We got good coaches too, Sure we got good coaches.

Still a good team, damn good team. But would you do?

I'm loky, so like I love one, I love food, I love you know, people around me. So I had people at the house, got a sush sushi chef pretty much like all you can eat sushi and just hung out there.

What's your favorite role sushi roll?

Oh? Interesting, I know, I don't think I've been asked that question. Uh, just I'd go tune to salmon avocado something like that, something simple that we might go to. Yeah, yeah, but I'm big huge food guys. You can tell Oshibol sushi. That's me.

Yeah, so what what is your favorite type of food? Then out of you know, that was just I'm going Japanese sushi.

Favorite.

Have you ever been in Japan?

No? I need to. So I have done a fair amount of traveling. So since that, we were going, Yeah, let's do it out there. We're doing the shots, so let's let's talk. Let's talk, let's talk travel, let's talk travel. So actually, my my fiance and I when we first sat down on our first date, we're like the three places you want to go, right, So we both had Hawaii, Greece, and Italy. Right, those are those are like.

Good places together?

You guys? Which one? All three?

All three?

All three together? No?

No, we didn't know why together. So we've we've been agree together.

Yeah. Cool. Yeah.

Anyway, so we did not hold hands romantic trip.

Yeah, did not hold hands with this guy. No, I can't hold hands with your pass.

No. But so that was Those are the first three trips that we took when I retired. It's like, all right, we have let's bucket list types of trip trips. So we did those three. Since then, we've done We did Thailand, I did India, with my dad did come and draw. We talked about London and Paris. We're going to Spain next month. So like all those types of things, like the things that I felt like I couldn't do when I played right, when I felt like I had to

They don't fit you, they don't fit me.

The free weights go up to forty five pounds. That's not I'm not training over there. So I put all that stuff off and now I'm able to do that, which is.

I love child, and I think it's a I think you learned so much more. Uh, seeing other cultures, other people, how they live life and things like that. I'm not naturally somebody that loves to travel, but being married to one, uh it opens it up.

And yeah, they did.

Greece. That was really hard for you.

We met you in Athens, met in Athens and got on a boat and went to We were in Greece, Athens in Italy, Croatia, Croatia in Italy.

It was great.

I do want to go to Japan though, I think Japan's got to be That's one of my bucket list places and the reason why I want to go to Japan so much. Number one is how techi in advanced is. But it's also the mindset that the Japanese people have is that, yeah, I do respect their culture and just like it's one of the few nations that have never been colonized, Like they've always had to depend on themselves to always make it. That's like they're things that so they.

Always want to very forward thinking. They all, you know me guys.

So this is like for me, I just want to be around that because I want to see it.

The last Samurai coming here too with Tom Cruise, and they were talking about the whole Japanese custom and samurai and this, and so yeah, it really made me want to go check out Japan a little bit.

We'll do a trip, take the show on the road, and we can.

Let's go, Thomas, Melissa, let's go. We can we can definitely do this. Get the show in Japan perfect. We can definitely do this, and.

We'll be right back.

All right.

So now let's talk about some traveling. We'll get back

This last year and a half learning.

Now, you were an economics major in college, but now you're.

You're trying to be a psychologist.

Like I understand the body, the health, the whole total wellness thing. This is your packet, Ali, Please let the people know share with us why you're on this journey.

Yeah, I think a big part, like when I said, I started with the end in mind. For me, I always talk about the values, right, some health being a value. Another value of mind, like being of service to others, which I think you guys can both relate to, right. So for me, I was trying to navigate ways in which I can be of service to my community right in a way that felt satisfying and interesting to me.

Yeah, yeah, definitely.

So that's kind of the mission that I'm on right now, and it's a long process. Right, So in the fall, I'll be starting doctor in psychology, So it's a five year degree, right, So, like I've got all this is a long time horizon. Yeah, but again, I'm learning about things that I'm interested in, and at the end of it, I hope to be able to help people in some capacity, which is I think something that feels really important to me.

So I think, so that's kind of where if that makes sense, No, do you know what you would want to specialize in more or or as you continue to learn, like you're using this as a runway to now figure that out, you just know this is the pathway to it.

Yeah, So I don't. The truth is I don't know specifically what population I want to work with, but I will say the full spectrum of mental health is incredibly interesting to me. So I think that there are people like you're probably familiar with sports psychologists, right that sort of work on the visualization techniques and how to improve performance. And there's also with people that work, you know, with higher needs populations, and I think all of that, all

So so like, I'm very stimulated by this too. Because I've watched I've gotten into a lot more tennis, Peanut, I know you don't know that, but I've gotten the whole conversation about it, And so before you got breakpoint

Yeah, but do you have that when you play golf?

No, I don't full swing because that's.

I like full swing.

You good all the time.

I'm calling you to get golf.

How do you how do you think you guys would do in an individual sport? Like if that like you're you're the guy, tennis, whatever the sport is.

I think that a great, great question.

I am going Thomas cannot curse. I can't curse. I'm crush it.

I love that.

Yeah, I'm gonna suck it first, right, I'm going to be terrible at first, but the way I think and how I train, I'm going to obsess over it, and I'm going to work, work, work until I get whatever it is that i'm trying to fix or get better on. If you want to call it the Mamaman Mamba mentality. Yeah, that that's what I would do. I'm actually currently I'm trying. We need to play pickleball because I am going to crush it at pickleball.

You haven't played, but you just know you're going to crush it.

I played pickleball and it's so slow.

It's the sport that you don't have to be an athlete.

You don't have to be and I'm saying I would crush it. But that's just my That's how I think. Like I think as a guy man, like we size each other up, like all one of the first things you said, okay, he looked like he looked like it's tight end he sized and you go up. But naturally that's like what we do. Though I can't take him he kind of big or like we're sizing sizing each other.

I think I think the big watching those documentaries, the biggest thing was like in times of failure, right, who do you have around you? Because like and who you have to be the one to sort of pull yourself out of it for sure? Like how did you do? Like I'm sure, I'm sure you've lost in some capacity.

I have a guy.

You got a guy, I have my guy.

I have a guy in my corner. One of the best things that he ever did was I read a book called the World's Strangest Secret by Earl Nightingale, and people have pondered this since the beginning of the time. What is the world's saying, philosophers and everybody else. We become what we think about. And that is something that when I started playing, I read this book and I still use it with me to this day. So if I have success, I'm thinking, you know, something positive. But

Yes, I read. I read a lot of hundreds of quotes.

Take.

I take quotes. I can't give you like five right now, yeah, but I have. I have them in my phone when I read them, and I'm like, okay, yeah, like I but that's how my brain. I'm attracted. I gravitate toward that, and that kind of helps me stay out of that negative, that down, the darkness and all that. So it's yeah, it's great. I love it.

And Ali, I'll be honest, I think I would not be essex in an individual sport because I've always been a really good teammate. That's like what I pride my cell phone is that I've been a great teammate. I haven't always been the star. I've been around a lot of really great players, and I've always been able to add value to any situation I've been in. I know how to get along with anybody. I know to pick guys up when they're down. I know how to leave

I try and golf as.

Much as I can and whenever I can. I've gotten a lot better in a short amount of time because I'm actually focusing on it, and so.

I'm seeing these results. And look, man, it's tough.

All of a sudden, you get a bad lie and I should probably hit an iron out of this, but I'm gonna hit this three wood anyways, and I don't do well. And then trying to shake yourself out of that, and just like with all these individual sports, like we've seen on point break or full swings, these guys and these women, Man, when one thing happens, it's really hard to shake yourself out of it. When you don't have anybody else to lean on to get you out of

I appreciate that. And I'll just say real quick again, so not clinical advice or anything like that, but I would say from a framework of experience right to your point on sort of being in that team environment, like what former players struggle with, right, So like what does that look like when we don't have that, when we're not leaning on each other? Just how much harder are life? Right? We don't have that locker room that we're used to. I think to your point, that's one of the many

Yeah, And that's a perfect sad way to my next

Sure, Okay, so there's a lot to unpack and them them thinking about a lot of different things. But I would say we're still.

Kind of going through it too though. You're still trying to figure it out though, right.

So I think that that speaks to where, like where I'm.

At, right, Yeah, And that's what I was saying, Like, great question, but you're still trying to figure it out, like you're navigating through it.

I'm in it.

Yeah, I'm in it, That's what I'm saying.

Yeah, So I would I would say is and I I almost would say I anticipated feeling. I'm not like diagnosing, but like depressed the like things like I anticipated that after retirement. After talking to guys that are retired yea. And I would say that like the lack of structure and lack of clay, like those are things structured Claier, that's where I live, that's in a safe space. So like without those, I struggled, Uh you know pretty significantly.

I felt?

Yeah.

I was the same way. Like I was like, all right, I know what I want to do. I'm gonna do this and that, and then I'm doing everything and I still struggled. I was just like, man, I miss football, Like what's god, I don't have my locker room mind.

I didn't expect it, but there are times where like I would legitimately just I mean I did, I would cry or whatever, and it was because of the feeling of grief. Like it was a very similar process for me, so like, yeah, that was a part of my journey, and the way that I would describe it is just

I think for and this was my struggle was at I just I wasn't confident in myself in doing other things as well, Like I've just been so good at football, and I mean, I just.

That's what I did.

And you gain all this confidence because you confirm validity with all the successes that you have.

You just continue to knock down doors.

You know, you get the scholarship, the first scholarship, you know what I mean to go to college, so.

That builds confidence.

Then you get to college and you're on the bench and all of a sudden, you're playing you're like, dude, that builds confidence, and then you see yourself in the newspaper and then and now you get drafted, and so you just continue to stack all these things that happened for you're like, man, you just get more confident who you are. That switch is turned off. And now you're trying to transition because you know that's what we all say we're gonna do. We're gonna be great at it, and.

You don't know, and you just you just like old block you've ever had in your life because you we've we've all been fairly successful, right right, you're the top one point one to make it to the league, right and then when you retire, when we retire, it's like that. It's the first I don't know, I would say roadblock that that's happened in our lives, Like whoa wait what happened?

And for me and when I tried to do some things, it was like, man, am I even good? Like I don't know, like I know in ball because like you see it, do you understand it? And you get you get promoted because of it. In other lanes, it's just not as a clear.

So here's the question I'd pose and I think it's like it's extraor rhetorical, like what does successful transition even look like? Like if I'm crying and I'm upset like that, that can still be part of the transitions. Like so, like I think I don't even like it's like I want to be I want to have a successful transition, but I don't even know what that looks like. At times, I didn't even know what that even meant, you know

I think that's what's huge. Yeah, that's great. That is what's I think it's what you make it. That's what makes it successful.

Yeah.

Yeah, I have to take a day and cry a little bit and grieve and you know what.

I think though, so and then another So that's at least something that I've I've found for myself. And then to your point as well as earlier in your question as far as other things for young guys transitioning and I'm still young guy transitioning, but the strengths that we have as players, right, so I know that people talk about that and your strengths you're saying in the locker room, like the community, like build whatever your strengths were as

Total makes total sense? So so now the fun questions

So I mean I can say earlier like that moment one on one with at the Senior Bowl. Like for me, that was the first experience that I had. It's like, oh, I'm like you to think mentality like a D three, like I'm playing for the love of the game, right, there's no scholarship, like this is just this is just I'm out here. I'm like this guy's so Florida, Alabama or whatever. I'm like, oh wait, like I'm I'm I'm

But yeah, nice, all right.

I mean my first preseason game, I think I played like four plays.

I didn't even play. It was I mean, I didn't even care. I was just happy to be out there. Yeah, it happens, all right.

My question is what is your best Tom Brady's story or I actually like Gronk too because he's pretty entertaining. Not gonna lie, give me one of those two. For those two to come to Tampa Bay, it probably really changed everything. I know, the ticket sales went way up.

Oh sorry, having like I can define my career of what like football looked.

Like prem post I'm telling you.

Like like like like prior to Tom, like the bucks were weren't that that could yeah uh and like I don't know even like going out right and public, going to restaurants, but don't we cared. It's just fine, like I preferred that way. Yeah, yeah exactly. And then Tom comes around, we start getting you know, five uh, you know, primetime games, and people start to know what's going on. And I think either the community in Tampa became a little bit more of a football town which is awesome movie be

Him something something about when you start winning. We're like we were in Charlotte. We would come home at like midnight from you know, coming from the West Coast, and then we get home at like midnight one am, and it was fans outside and it was regular season already even in the Super Bowl yet you know what I'm saying. But it was just it's something about when you start winning, it's gravity. It pulls you in. You know what I'm saying, Like it's it's I don't know. I think it's just

Is it bad?

I'm gonna have to go back.

And google, like what you look like? Seventy five pounds.

You had longer hair, right.

I think I'm looking at you and I'm just like, I can't even imagine you playing old line right now. You just don't even have to look. And a lot of people that lose weight like they look like they just had a.

Big old head. It's all in your face.

It was all my arrest of my body too. I mean I'll get you another kacure.

You can see his cheeks.

So I had a little a pretty unimpressive beard, but so I would what I do is I would cut my hair like once every two years, let it grow out, cut it again, buzzet right before the season, and then also I would let my facial hair grow out throughout the course of the season. So clean shaving and training camp and the beard grow out. Beard was pretty unimpressive. But my next profession, psychologist, I like to think, is

This like I'm not used to seeing the you know all this, he's you finally just letting it go. I had a lot of.

Haircutting, well my barber.

My barber had his mom passed away, and just like just every everybody's off thank you, thank you.

I feel like that appreciate it.

So here's a Jewish question for you at my ancestry dot com, like two percent Jewish whatever.

So how about that.

Part of the tribe. So uh, I never had a mitzvah, Uh was never offered that as a kid because I didn't know I had the two three percent Jewish in me. And I know you passed on yours as a kid.

Right, So so I yeah, I did not do a bumbs. But you keep going, this is going.

Are you gonna have one?

Is it?

Is it too late to have one?

No, it's not too late for either one of us. That's exciting. Dude. You want to have a bar mittal, Let's do it.

Let's do it.

You would have it would be an elite celebration.

My god, I am so game.

You know, I don't know if you're waiting for an invitation for who We'll get you connect to the rabbi. It doesn't matter. Let's let's do it. Well, do I need to do one too? So way we can do a joint bar mits. I'm with it.

So I was at ah So Chicago, a lot of Jewish people, right, I know a lot of Jewish people in the community. So I'm in Houston and I'm the best man, and I get ready to give a I get ready to give a toast, and I grabbed my my my glass wine and I go lime everybody and it did not go over well. It was just cowboys and black people, and they were like, is he choking on something?

What the hell is know your audience.

In Chicago, but it's amazing. It's like, because I know there's a lot of Jewish people in the audience, I do that and they were like I was like, Okay, that didn't go over it. And it was like just give the toes, dumb and I was like all right, yeah, best man, love you, bless you, blessings right drinko.

Yeah, but yeah, you're halfway through your bars now.

So this is this is my last question is that it goes back to traveling because we talked about the

So all the ones that I hit, So Italy to me is that's a must. So Florence is unbelievable. The Malfi Coast is unbelievable, but all put that as one. Two Greece is unbelievable. Islands off Greece are great. So those are two places that I've done, places that I want to go hit. Three Portugal I want to go and I'm gonna be going uh in Japan would be. Those are probably my next three trips. So yeah, I'm I can't wait.

All of those places.

Look at you.

Every single place I've been to the.

World Traveler, he is, he is, He's encouraged me to do I'm trying to encourage him.

True story. We went to Croatia. We're in de Bruvnick. We went to the Brevnick Croatia, went jumped on the Mediterranean and tried to play like two big black guys trying to play water polo.

How'd that go?

Terrible? Because mister Harbor over here jumped in the lake or the met the sea. He jumped in and he goes, jumps down and comes up and goes, ain't no bottom.

A little bit different. That's a little bit.

Different, first of all, because it was like little kids out there. You got to understand, I just draw the picture for everybody, all right, So it's little kids out there. We're in our speedos because that's what everybody has, and and so we're all.

In Oka and so.

And then so so we get out there. I'm like, if little kids are out here doing it, like I could do it too. It wasn't that bad. So I go in and I'm just you know, standing up top at first. Then I'm just gonna kind of relax, go down and then come back and get my breath. And I went down and I kept going, kept bro I came back up like, I ain't no bottom, this is not it. And so from there on I was very uncomfortable the rest of the time the water polo bottom.

The water polo experience was not good for me. It was not great.

We had a good time, but overall, I mean I just didn't realize that you just you know, you're just out there.

Yeah, yeah, it wasn't it was.

Yeah.

Mary was great, but that was probably his worst experience. It was I just remember him coming and saying, it ain't no bottom.

I was like laughing. So I was a little nervous.

O my god.

All right. The final question to you Mount Rushmore. Okay,

Yeah, it's a great question. I think for me, I was super fortunate that like I could name the people individually, but like my family, So I'd start with my mom and dad, Like for them, you.

Don't make that make it too because.

Yeah, so I actually put them one one into put them for two different reasons. My dad from like a work work ethic standpoint, like a standard of like sort of excellence like that coming from him. And then my mom just from like I don't know, from an emotional standpoint, like from a compassion to myself and others and being the service of others. Those those two things that are ingrained in me. So those two i'd say, Uh. While I was playing my fiance right now soon to be wife,

So you like the standard at your college, like, hey,

It's more like if you do everything right and you can check these boxes, then they'll find it. They'll find a way. Like that's the truth.

So why do you think you didn't get like a D one offer or a D two offer? Why do you think that is?

So? I grew up in Westchester, New York, so sellers in New York City. It's not really like football country. It's like so that. And then also I was super undersized. I was like two hundred and twenty whatever pound offensive lineman. It's not playing D one. And then I also didn't have the best frame of reference. I wasn't going to like camps and things like that and how someone tell me to do X, Y and z. So just navigating those things. So that's why cool. But I do have

I will get it after we wrap up on the show's not about just our football prowess.

I feel like that's apt for our setting here so.

Perfect and with that, we're done. That's that's my job. That's like the perfect outro.

Don't drop the.

Metaphor I heard gonna build us on that. We can't do that. Hey, Ali, I man, this is good. All right, well this was great.

This is great for me.

I appreciate it. Man, Thank you for all of our listeners out there. Continue to tune in wherever you get your podcasts. At oh, I can look into the camera. I forget we had got a camera out here. All right, wherever you get your podcasts. That was iHeartRadio Apple podcasts. Remember to give us a quick hit review. Subscribe five star rating. Please, we appreciate that. And like always, man, keep listening, keep looking at us.

We're doing our thing.

Tell a friend to tell a friend to tell a friend were out put. Hey, thank you, this is dopeciously. I'm glad we get to do him in person. We'll exchange rumbers offline. But like your transitioning everything, feel free to use me as a reference or a resource, not reference a resource room. He know everything. He's probably what he been playing. Would you retired here. He retired in twenty sixteen. But he started playing in the eighties.

That's why.

The first time I met him, I thought he was like forty five, but he was like, no, man, I'm twenty seven. I was like, ain't no way, but yeah.

He just yeah. But wealth and knowledge, you said.

Yeah, oh my god, so much.

We're going to end the show.

Oh sorry, we got to end the show. We appreciate shall thank y'all for tuning in. We out