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IM Now for another episode of Pasts from the Past podcast brought to you by whom At w B Nation You're one stop shop for all your business needs and Brian pretty intriguing guests. We have today a guy that you worked at the same place with I did, somebody who I work with currently. Today, you want to talk about the tables being turned former Patriots quarterback and voice of the New England Patriots on ninety five The Sports I'm Scott Zlac, So how about me asking you questions?
I think technically, like Bob Soci's the voice of the Patriots, you gotta go with the plane.
You're the color guy.
I am. I'm the I'm the color voice of the Patriots. I would and you certainly provide color. I think I'm the energy guy. I think I'm the you could call me the Patriots type man.
I think energy Guy's a good way to say it. How you doing do it? Great? It's good saying you guys.
Of course, a great relationship with you, Matt with all access and uh he've done over the years. I got way back with Brian back when I got popped from the league and you're sitting around and Cobra runs out when I say, Cobra, your healthcare benefits paying a ton of money and you know this, we swear it here.
Yeah.
Sure, sort of a shitty job down in Providence, Pops, open this up. When I say shitty, I'm not talking about the building. I'm talking about the time slot five thirty. So I've never done radio before, and they said, we have this opportunity. There's a five thirty AM slot, five thirty to nine am, and uh, we'll give you a decent not.
A decent salary. It was a shit salary and five five figures. Uh yeah, that's fine.
Oh yeah, yeah, but mid fives it was. I mean, I don't want to deal with money, money money there. Yeah, you worked there, you know what it is.
But it was full benefits. So when you got do you have kids yet? Oh yeah?
I had, uh one two and we're Brody was just gonna be Bertie, which she was praying with Brody I ain't at the time. So yeah, then all came together quite nicely.
Wow, from a benefit stamp, what we want to work? The environment a little different?
Yeah, well, we'll get into the radio stuff, Scott, because the people who are listening to this probably a lot of them only know Scott Zolac from being on the radio. But there's a lot more to Scott Solac that got him to the radio. And here's another one. You've been in New England now, Scott since ninety two, so that's almost thirty years here in the area. But maybe people don't realize you weren't born in this area.
Where were you born?
Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I think I was ten pounds thirteen ounces. My mom had me naturally, which credit to her is for people to know me and see me on some of the pictures on the Patriots website. My head is rather large, so for her to push me out, that's pretty impressive on her part. You're gonna have some good pregnancy talk here, otomy I mean, for history's sake. I go up Morestern, Pennsylvania, hot hot bed for athletics.
My dad went to the Nora High School. He was teammates with Ken Griffey Sr. So Griffy Senor who eventually played for the Reds. And we all know about Ken Griffy Jr.
Later in life. Ends up being what Cincinnati Moler. I think it was a high.
School at the time, and my dad was buddies with Griffy Senior played ball in high school. Uh he went on to coach, ended up coaching Joe Montana in high school way before Ken.
Griffy Sam Musual was from our home. Oh yeah, wow. So stand a man, a splendid splinter.
I remember I eventually went to the University of Maryland, and I remember coming home and any time Montana or Stan would come back to town. Now we're still milltown. Both my grandfathers worked in the steel mill. They made all of our tools at home, the hatchets, the hammers, sledge hammers. I stood in line for cheese and bread, Government cheese and bread with both my grandfathers. So sports was your way out of town there, and we came together as families Friday nights. It's it's like the movie
All the Way Moves with Tom Cruz. Tremendous Friday nights shut down, you know, and you'd get on those buses you wore, you wore your game jerseys the school on Fridays, and there was nothing better in high school football, man, until we had to go to All equip and play Tylass Town.
When they Yeah, they it's basically you know you're playing.
It's called the pit equipping. I'm sure you've done stuff with ty Yeah.
We like spring.
By the way, he just texted me. I told him we were doing this. He says, Hello, that's my man. He's probably opening up what is forty seventh Trampoline Park.
Uh, he's going to vodka. Yeah, one vodka.
I even heard the voki yet his vaka is better be better than Matt Lights, Matt Frozen the freezer.
I've heard that ty Law's vodka is exceptional. Same here from Pittsburgh. So how far away was all equipper from your town? Thirty minutes? Okay? Everything. You can put a dot and draw a thirty minute radius and circle that.
And Joe Namath Montana, Johnny Unitas, Hostetler, Jim Kelly from East East Brady, PA. We're all from that centralized area there, Marino downtown. Of course, you know my later we'll get to the Marino part of it. That was one of my one of my favorite years playing pro football was my last year with Dan Marino in Miami.
It was my idol growing up right so and Montana went to the same high school you went to. Went to the same high school. I went to my dad.
My dad coach Joe. Joe's senior year was nineteen seventy four. Joe was a better baseball player and basketball player than.
He was a football player. Wow.
And he had this long flowing hair, and his nickname was Joe Montana Loo. I still have the high school chin straft from Joe's last high school football game he flipped to me.
Flipped it to me because I was a seven year old water boy at the time. Joe used to kick off for the high school team.
And my great stories about being a seven year old was being around my dad. And you know, I remember him cutting tape in film and I talked Coach Belichick about this all the time too, when we do some of the interviews, and you know, Bill's clicking on film and you know, you're dragging stuff and Jimmy Diane a great job he does here with the video crew. Everything's digital now. We would literally have to splice it and cut it with Scott's tape and put it in a splice machine.
But do that with my dad.
I would run on the field and get the kicking ta after Joe kicked off every game.
And I'll never forget that. I could still remember this old tunnel that they walked up.
It's the old Legion field Legion film in uh in DeNora, Pennsylvania, and it was the middle school because you would dress in this little locker room and you have to walk up this cement tunnel. You can still hear the click clack into those metal back in the day were middle cleat sure, those screwins and if they were out, they were never gonna wear out because they were metal. You know, nowadays these kids got these multi cleats now and millennials like you.
So when you got older, Scott, do you remember when was the first time that your path crossed with Joe?
And what was that like?
Great question of course. Uh, my dad would follow Joe everywhere when all the Super Bowls. He would go with my old high school coach and they would find a way, you know, on an athletic director or former coach's salary, a teacher's salary with the head coach to scrap up the money to get in touch with one of Joe's family members to where they could get two tickets and you know, hey, we get the experience of going to
the Super Bowl. So that's a great thing about being around the Patriots, and the tough is finding and getting that hotel for the four at a price that you could manage. You know, you're trying to stay to La king through a motel six and get four guys to sleep in one room and shoot, okay, it's in New Orleans. Should we drive from Pittsburgh? When should we leave? We Wednesday, We'll get there Thursday. You know, Joe's family's got the party that we're all invited. But I remember my dad
doing all that. But when Joe was with Kansas City and uh he was shut down because he had an injury, came here and we were playing it. But I remember, you know, being on the bus and Joe would bring me on the bus because he wasn't playing. He was in street clothes at the time and would sit around after the game. And it's the old Foxboro Stadium here where the old visitors locker room. Remember where Will mcdonnaugh gott in that infamous fight. Yeah, right down in that lot, down in that.
And the buses.
They would put the buses at the top of that tunnel, and uh, I just remember all people being trying around just get a peek at Joe, and it's sort of stuff we see now with Tom. And that's the coolest thing about being around the team now covering it, because I see a lot of stuff with Tom that I saw with Joe back in the days, and so it was kind of second natural to me.
And I'd sit there and chuckle and look at these.
People either just trying to get a get a snapshot or a high from Brady or Wave. And I just remember sitting on a on one of those buses with Joe and he has feet up and they had like a keg of beer in the back of the bus.
Time. This is thanks a lot, been lot, and this is prod of Hill probably nine to eleven. We were able to do some things.
And okay, yeah, we'll get to some of those stories too, some of those away trips on the West Coast trips and how we got through.
But so you're on the bus with Joe as and and he what he remembers for you, Steve Bono, you know it's a seven year old ball boy and your dad doing him.
My dad was there and he brought my dad on it. And you you haven't seen him, and you know, probably ten fifteen years and you know, every time, and I would always go back to see Joe when he would come back, and it would not be often when he would come back to little mononga Hella, you know, a little Steell Town valley on a riverbanks of you know,
one those small towns in Pittsburgh. Back the day, it's not really really attractive for Joe coming from San Fernando Valley or wherever the hell he lives out there in San Francisco, you know, you know today with his wife Jennifer.
At least she remembers though, right, Oh, you know, you never forget where you're from. Man, that's awesome.
Yeah. And I remember my dad bringing him back one time and we.
Became really good friends with Eddie de Barlow, and Eddie facilitated a lot of this because he would fund the trips of Joe to come back. Because Joe's on fly commercial right as I'm sure twelve doesn't fly commercial. Sure it's you know, back in the day, there wasn't a lot of private travel at that time.
That was a big deal for him. You had to know the owner. The owner had to have a plane, the owner had to pay for the gas. Get him on it. Karmen policy like the barbelow.
Karmen policy would come back to these banquets we would have at the VFW downtown in Monongalla, Pennsylvania. Here's Jo and his wife, Jennifer and Joe's family, and he could tell Joe's Joe's dealing with it, but he's.
Sitting on the folding chairs and ain't the ritz plastic cups.
It ain't the rits man. But that's what made you home. You knew that's where it started. That's where it started. Joe's dad made him come back, his relatives made him come back, and that that was the balls back in the day man, And it started the so many guys, why that's ste that's Steeler Country he's coming back to too, And why is it such a hotbed.
It's not like that's the only area that country played football.
There's no lacrosse, there was no soccer, there's no ice skating. At the time, there's football. You played football or baseball or basketball, and sports were seasonal. And this is the biggest thing I learned. And my daughter is seenior throughout her three years of high school. She's she's at UMass now and we did the au circuit. We got sucked into that, and you end up playing year round. What's
sports basketball falls part? She's three year starter, started as a fresher and didn't Eve want to play her senior year because the sport burned her out. And there was a lot of kids on her team that also played club soccer. And I look at these parents racing back and forth and it's year round. I'm like, I never did this. I remember growing up in Pittsburgh and we had we had Christmas break. You get out Christmas in
your back January second. There's no freaking February stupid ass vacation where you gotta pay five grand to fly your family to Disney World.
There was no April break. You had Easter.
You were off Good Friday and you had off maybe Easter Monday, depending on whether we're Catholic or or you know, I'm rushing Orthodox. And we had a lot of those our honkeys back in Pittsburgh. We like to call them Eastern Europeans. So Friday through Monday of Easter week was big.
Those were our vacations because when Friday, Memorial Day weekend hits a half day of school and our asses were running down the street to go to Jake's Pizza down to Belverne AND's a little pizza shop, playing arcade games. There was Galacta, there was a what was that centipede? Was the big game Space Invaders? Space Invaders And that was the beginning of summer. And we had off from that day until we reported around what for Camp in middle of August, and we had real summers.
My kids today don't have summers. Our kids go till the end of June.
And if you play sports, playing freaking baseball, traveling to Long Island in July, your Fourth of July weekends are rum I.
Was spending, you know, fourth of July weeks in the middle.
Of Pennsylvania at this massive complex getting run out of gyms with her forty to four to four.
I've sponsored teams. Hey, coach, we haven't fun yet.
You guys have a good time because I'm missing kak Cod right now. For anybody listening to this, you get kids in it. You know, let your kids enjoy life. Enjoyed life with your kids. They grow up fast and and boom they're gone.
I mean, you got to have a summer, you know what. I mean you know what I've done.
Oh, my son played AAU baseball club baseball only at fifteen, and then my daughter plays club lacrosse because she begged to.
That's different.
Once did we push you to that? Like, it's all about what she wants and I want them playing multiple sports. That's good, that's good. You know, I've talked to you. I've talked to Christian about this.
I've talked to brew Teddy Bruski who you know, when you have it's coming up in their ninth grade, tenth grade, eleventh, twelfth grade kids, you want to be around and you want to help coach. Those guys are coaching down there at Feeing and the like.
It's different when we played.
Man, these kids nowadays, you know, you don't hit, You gotta baby them, you gotta hold their hands.
You get into clicks now, you know.
And man, if you get outside that circle and you didn't play in the spring, but the eight other.
Girls did or the eight other boys did, You're done. You missed it.
Man, you missed that time and they sort of phaded your good coaches will kill trip you into getting their ass down to this this training facility in the summer because we did a two day session.
We started five start at six am. Man.
I played football, I played basketball, and I played baseball. I actually end up running track my junior senior year because I threw the javelin because my dad didn't want to be playing baseball because everything was side arm with me.
Everything was over the top.
Now with football when you're six five, you know, but nobody wants to unless you're Chuck Long from the University Iowa throwing side arm or Jim Everett.
Back in the day, that's what there were fun days get recruited by those schools, all right, So let's talk about that.
So, as a kid who's growing up in western Pennsylvania and is the ball boy for Joe Montana, I gotta believe did you was Notre Dame?
Did you want to go to Notre Dame? Why? Maryland? I should not want to go to Notre Dame? Okay?
So I love Okay, So just kidding. You gonna love this story. So my dad, my dad was the idea at the time.
It was not my coach.
And Jerry Sandusky, the infamous Jerry Sandusky from penn State, was the first guy to ever recruit me, coming on in ninth grade, Jerry would make a visit to my house once a month to had we had a bumper pool table, not a big poll table. We had little house couldn't fit a big pool table, so that next best thing we had bumper pool. Jerry would come into my house and just shoot stick with me in the basement.
And man, I was going to freaking Penn State from ninth grade on, and I ended up having you know, meat balls a Joe Paturno's house. Could still see the red and white check table on a folded table in his nondescript house in the middle of Penn State's campus, you know, one hundred thousand people. And I went to every camp from ninth right on, and then my senior year, they come to me and tell me they're gonna take Tom Bill out of Tom's River, New Jersey, and they're gonna be the quarterback.
We're only gonna have one scholarship quarterback.
But you're six five, two thirty. We want you to play linebacker. We're gonna make you a linebacker here. Jim Kelly went through that, Jeff Hosteling with it. They all got recruited there to play linebacker, even though over quarterbacks coming out of Western ba Jesus, I was the I was the number two kick coming out of the state of Pennsylvania. It was me and Major Harris Old West Virginia courter. We're all getting recruited at the same time. Eddie McCaffrey was in the center of the state. We
all played a big thirty three All Star game. Eddie was my receiver. Shoan Browski Michael Owens were my tailbacks. They both went both went to Syracuse. All our lineman went the Nebraska and we're playing in a state of Texas, you know, in this big, big thirty three game, thirty five thousand people for a high school game and Hershey Park and you smell the chocolate. It's just discussing at ninety five degrees.
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But the whole recruiting process was awesome. Like I love Jerry. I wanted to go to penn State. They ended up screwing me over. Then I fell in love with Pitt and Foge Phasio.
Oh wow. He ended up getting cammed.
Mike, godf you got hired, so I got Cotton a transitional phase. Their Pitt still offered me, but Hirad Schnellenberger won a national championship with Jim Kelly at the time. Yeah, ended up going to Louisville, yep, and try to resurrect that program.
They recruited me hard. My dad wanted me to go to Louisville.
Like they're sending private jets to get you there, and you know, you land and the bands waiting for you on the tarmac. You got shown around that town real well. Duke recruited me very hard. They were one and ten number two kick coming out of State of Pennsylvania's not going to Duke mom. Mom wanted to be going to Duke. Dad would be go Louisville, You're gonna start as from Mom.
Wanted to be going to Duke. She cried when I told Duke no.
Steve Spurrier was a Duke as an assistant at the Steve Sloan was the head coach, so West Virginia recruited me hard. I ended up going there on my official visit. I fell in love with Maryland because my uncle Chuck, my dad's brother, lived in Ellicott City, Maryland, which was twenty minutes from the Maryland campus. And my uncle Chuck was the lone undefeated quarterback on the Delaware Bluehns teams for Tubby Raymond back in the day. But Kennedy got killed.
They ended up canceling the season after Kennedy ended up getting killed. They didn't playny games after that.
During the assassination of the president, And just like my uncle would drive every Friday night he worked at Ellicott still down in Maryland, would drive up on Friday nights to see me playing Friday night and turn my on a dry back.
He had a mountain He had two Mountain dews that he would drink. And that's the highest.
You know, caffeine, Baby, in this business, what gives you the most caffeine? You didn't have You didn't have rock, you know, red red Bull, none of that stuff existed. So he had to find the caffeine. My dude gave that zing to him. So I felt loyal to him and plus Saint almost fared. The movie came out, uh the soundtrack, I fell love, I loved rob Low. When I got recruited by Maryland, they took my ass straight
to Georgetown because the drinking age was eighteen. We loaded up ten kids in a car and the guy showed me around Maryland, showed me the best time ever.
He made me funnel a picture of Long Island iced tea.
What as an eighteen year old kid, I had freaking alcoholic poisoning and then a passed out face down outside the chapel where if you look, Maryland's campus is Long Sprung And they found me there, got me back to the end because I was supposed to have breakfast with Bobby Ross.
The next morning. Who's a hard ass? Who made you do that? Funnel? My? Oh god? He was a defensive back of forget his name at the time, your host.
And it was great And I'm like, this tastes so good. It tastes just like iced tea and lemonade. And I'll never forget. And I've been there multiple times, trust me. When the lights starts spinning, never room starts spinning, and all of a sudden, you feil coming up man, and you got one hand on the bar and the floor. I hacked all over the bar and it was the vu. The bar was the voo in Maryland. And there was
so much liquid on the floor. I remember the pictures laying on the floor to take the pictures up, rit them off, and it was pictured beer.
They played Rock and Robin, you know by the Jackson five. I'm like, place is freaking great.
I committed it right there, I'm coming here. I went to West Virginia. They took me freaking bowling. It's the worst trip I ever had. They had the best facilities out of anybody at the time. Don Neeland was in West Virginia. So I committed to Maryland and next thing you know, here comes Jimmy Johnson from Miami. Jimmy gets ahead gig at Miami. He and Gary Stevens start recruiting me. I committed, every coach's you come on down, take a trip down to Miami. I said, all right, I'm already committed.
We still want you to down. But set up Arriving in Miami, Jimmy had his own fishing boat that me and Gary Stevens, who ended up being his coordinator down Dallas, wants that all these guys. Tony Wise was there at the time, his offensive line coach. All these guys fall him to Dallas, falling back to Miami. I want Jamie's fifty four foot like Bertram. It's just me and him on a fishing boat. There's about thirty other recruits on
the other boat. We went out of Monty trainers at the Bay and this is where we all came together, you know, was recruits going down to Miami and I'm like Jesus, this is one full court press here. So at the time they win the national championship in eighty six, it was Tessa Verdi that hosted me on my recruiting trip. So I remember Jerome Brown, all those guys were there.
We ended up breaking into the school pool, the swimming pool, the Olympic swimming pool, and Betty Blades and those guys at the time took me up to the high dive, threw me off the fricking high dive, and you talk about hitting water at about three o'clock in the morning, get hard as you can. Who guy that we went to an after party at his house. It was that Evan Shapiro guy at the time, it was connected to all these Miami guys. Big Booster had a house party there.
I just remember never seeing an edge of the campus to where, okay, they're separation. Here, here's the Miami campus. You never felt like you were on a campus at the you now hell football program, no doubt about that. Scared to hell to me, almost changed my commitment to go to Miami. But I'm like, man, it's before a playing ride. My family could drive see me to play in Maryland. Fell in love with Maryland's campus to this day, you know how.
I talk about it. Man, Absolutely, that was It was so cool to go back there. Last year. We stayed at the new hotel.
On campus, and I remember walking around with Jim Nolan, who was works here with the Patriots, And there was nothing better than walking around and seeing the new stuff and but seeing the old stuff, you know, touching.
The the.
The head of the turtle testudo there at the library which I never went into, which which was haunted. So I told my mother it was the library five years five Summer's Pride. Never went into the Maryland Library. I did go in once because you had a date. No, they had an archive of movies and this is you know, I'm not gonna pay for block bluster. I remember scraping money together to buy pizza out of Dominoes in my roommates because you you couldn't get paid as athletes at the time.
But I remember going in there to watch one Fluid contests on his hard drive because they had this no movie section. That's my favorite movie of all time. That's funny. Yeah, so it's funny. I already came together. And then also what Dick mciers recruited me really hard to go to Syracuse.
That's interesting and that trip that comes a little bit full circle. But I don't know if Patriot fans realized at the time that Miami. And I don't want to overstate this a little bit, but that's a little bit like quarterback you at the time, right, I mean you're a good guys.
Donald was No, that's Maryland, Maryland. You said Miami. Sorry, but I mean even Miami at the time, and you get recruited there.
So it was Kelly cozartose guys, I'm Creig Harrison and Craig Erickson end up going to Miami doesn't really get recognized. It's true that was one of the coolest things watching film with Bobby Ross and eventually my quarterback coach.
He's not with us anymore.
Joe Kreevak Uh Kreevak was a quarterback coach. He ended up taking over when Ross bolted and shoot, I forgot shit. I forgot to talk about Lenny Bias. So during my recruiting process in Maryland, I went to ACC games there to see Duke.
Play Carolina, and so I saw Lenny Bias play in college.
My recruiting trips at Louisville, the Pearl Washington games, Chris Washburn, Ency State, Syracuse, all those I saw Syracuse Louisville games.
At Louisville, I.
Was at Cameron Indoor watching Carolina and Duke on a recruiting trip. And when I went in and started to work out that summer, I saw Lenny play in the quad courtyard outside where there's just like a thousand kids around the court watching him come down. He had to spread dunk Baseline, spread dunk, Tomauck dunk, or Lenny would spread his legs and thunder dunk it.
And then you get the news a week later the tragedy had happened. And right after this drafted him.
It sent our entire program in a tank at Maryland because Lefty Drizzelle ended up getting fired. After that, well we had to leave, Bobby said, I doubled down. I'm not going anywhere. Well, they changed our academic standards and it was harder to get into duke in in Virginia and in Ivy League schools than it was mary Maryland. It ended up harder to get into which totally transitioned to different type of recruit we could recruit at the time.
Would changed everything. But getting back to our original question here about the quarterback. You you know, we watched film on Boomer We watched the Frank Wright game on the twenty eight point come back against Miamia. Was it thirty one thirty five to three thirty five three? So it was thirty That's right, it was thirty two points. It was the twenty eight points he was down in Buffalo when he was with the Bills. Oh, then that's what I'm talking about. That Stan Gelball was there next. Then
it was Neil Ol'donald than me. And one of the coolest things my second year when I ended up getting started when Hotson and Milan were hurt Neil o'donnald was starting for Pittsburgh, Boomer was starting for Cincinnati, Stan Gelbol was starting for Seattle, Frank Reich was starting for Buffalo. All five of us started, and Miami can't say that, but we could say that that's something we had over Miami, which is known as quarterback. Ye you say quarterback, everybody
thinks Miami, and that's already said Miami. But all five of us started on one Sunday, and that was pretty cool for our coach.
That's pretty cool. That's pretty cool. Do you remember your first start at Maryland?
Oh god, yeah, yeah, uh, crap in my pants was Virginia Tech. Ended up throwing for like three and twelve yards. I think I had twenty eight completions, set the school record at the time. It's back in nineteen ninety one, set the school record. Frank Wycheck was a true freshman. So we invented sort of the h back offense. So everybody's running that split back offense that Bobby Ross recruiter's on.
So it's sort of like the Dallas offense that who's that. Who's a coach of Dallas nor Turner.
So it was a split back split right scat right that we had with Ernie's Mpzi here and you know Cory and those guys, we ran the same stuff. So it was sort of turnkey when I got here with the pros. But my first started Maryland throw for three to twelve. Next week we go to West Virginia, throw for three to fifty. That game, we win the game on comeback game, right, both of them, both of were
comeback games. And I checked the slant route to this guy, Geene Thomas, he was a junior college cansfer, and hit him for a sixty five yarder, you know, against Virginia Tech hit him for like a seventy yarder. And last played the game against West Virginia. At West Virginia. We all going, we're jumping on state in West Virginia. We're getting your bear bottles of their buses. On the way out of there, we're flipping off. You know, all those
Hicks are in West Virginia. And week three I was top five in the Heisman race just based on two starts like that, that's how quick. And then we played at Michigan the next week and my first pass the game was pick six, So the Heisman RACI was over at that time.
And then he got sacked ten times against Georgia Tech. Think about this.
So at West Virginia, Virginia Tech, at Michigan, at Penn State, Oh, in Miami, we're out of conference games now they do these freaking cupcakes.
That's a schedule pathetic. What these schools doing now to Patrick Skindle, so so did you? But I got me ready for the next level.
When you're coming out of school, where did you Where did they tell you you were going to go? Where did you think you were going to? Not team wise, first, what round did you think you were going to?
I thought it was potentially.
I was climbing up the draft charts. Best thing I did I went to the combine early, got invited to the combine. Now it was only like a year and a half starter in Maryland and okay, so I'm a big kid, six five and a major two twenty eight kids, got a rock arm command. We went to throw defensive backs for five days prior to the quarterback workouts. So I did that and I got a lot of exposure.
So at that time, I exploded up the draft board charts and it was Tom Maronovic took a flyer on first round graders did Daan MacGuire went to Seattle.
Big kid right, and here comes here comes in Atlanta and Jerry Jerry, Jerry Glenn was interested in me. George Young was interested in me.
With the Giants, I got a lot of run out of the Redskins, Bobby Bethard and then Joe Mendes here, So there was a lot of a exposure there and I could have went anywhere from second round to seventh round. And at that time it was twelve twelve round draft, two days. It was a long process, long first day.
I ended up going that first pick in the fourth round, eighty fourth that first day, Yeah, eighty fourth, which I held out because great agent Ralph Sindritch your technically third round, there was an issue there, so I held out for the third round money, which he ended up.
Getting, which was great. That's great. Yeah, but yeah, I thought I was gonna go second round.
They end up taking a far so Farve ended up going there, and then Brownie Nagel went to the freaking Jets.
Yeah yep, and and then I went. So I was the fifth guy taking that year. So what'd you know about the Patriots?
Did you know anything newly weren't very good one in fifteen and nineteen ninety six.
I knew Steve Grogan. And when you play the position, you sort of watch everybody to watch the quarterbacks. I'll never forget this guy playing with a neck roe. I'm like, who the hell is this guy playing with a neck roll? And then you hear about you're playing on concrete, you know, basically appear with that old turf.
And but I loved the uniform at.
That old red and white Patriot throwback logo, which I think they should get back to for a game.
No question. That sucks that you can't do that my helmet color.
But I don't understand why you can't because they swear your silver helmet.
It just wouldn't be the same. Yeah, you know what it looked like.
It would look like what's that movie there is the Replacements that has a silver helmet. Yes, with the red jerseys with Falcon quarterbacks. So it was Falcon my quarterback.
So so what week was it? What week was it in? So you didn't play in ninety one, right, right, so ninety two? What week was it at Indy that you started that game?
They were nine nine, okay, and so and your dad went to the game, because I remember watching went to the game with my high school coach.
Shot to your dad in the stands, I.
Got seats on a fifty yard line. I said, shit, you're gonna play one game, you do this. And I remember being on the team plane with a guy by the name of Billy Fairweather. And you know Billy in the business. He was working with Frank Malcot and those guys. I think it was Channel fifty six at the time, the greatest bar. Yeah, he's he's part of the part
owner down there Wakefields. So remember Saturday night at the school play and they had the TV cameras on there, and this back in the day where you could go up and talk to these guys. Now they keep everybody squestion to apart from everybody that said, Billy, get them fucking cameras, right, I said, because I'm a winn this game, Sorry for swiering. We're gonna get off the plane and we're going straight to Clarks down a Fanuel Hall. And this was like one of my favorite bars at the time.
You know. It was a little bar right at the right at the end of Fanuel Hall because you get pizza right outside Saws and sandwiches, and we end up playing that son of a bitch up there. Man.
Ben Coach catches my first touchdown that happened early, which is great, which got me going.
I got confidence. But Irving Friar, man of all people, is really good to me. I got the good Irving.
I didn't know the bad Irving at the beginning of his career and some of the issues he had, But I got a I got a guy busted his ass at the end of his career here and he went on to play well for Miami, was well for well for Flip Philly Redskins, and he said, you just hanging at men. Heat talked me through that game so much because I you know your third guy, Man, you're thrown in the mix. You really don't know what you're doing.
And I remember at the end of the first half, we had a little bit of time left, and it's really one of the old times I really could recoverage really well and freaking safety split and I had Greg mcbirchie on an inside slot and he's running a skinny and two guys are converging on me, and I remember just closing my eyes and throwing a strike right up the middle of the field because both safety split and I ended up on my back and my head hits the head hits the turf. At the time, it's the
old RCAA Dome in Indy and this is that. That was a Jeff George game where he came out and he's flipping everybody off, and he asked him, why are you giving a finger to the crowd and the introductions.
He said, because I'm good and I'm good looking. That was the end of Jeff George. Yeah, oh my god.
I ended up playing against him when he was at Atlanta later. You know, well during a par sales game. But and I hit mcmurtury for a touchdown air. I remember turning looking for no flags. There was no flags. I took my helmet off and about it. The second at the fifty yard line, Fritz Marles picks me up. We run in the locker room and shit. We end up winning that game on Charlie Bouma kicking overtime because I hit John von on a bunch of checkdownts.
I knew at the end of that game, I'm not going to force the ball to every one of the ball.
He's like, I want the game winn I want the game winner, like nope, checkdown, checked out, John Von John Vugh, John Vond, benk coach John Vaughan, and it boom.
Charlie Bouma kicked it through. So twenty of twenty nine to sixty one and two touches. But Brian is he player of the week. What does everybody remember about that game? Six Shooters? How did you come up with that?
So the six Shooters And for you guys listening on this on the podcast, look it up on YouTube go nineteen ninety two. Yeah, Patrick Colts over time and just put in zo Lac and watch Zoe Lac with the six shooter.
I tell everybody this now too.
And nothing is thought out with everything that I do, as you know, and you watch me if you watch me on our simulcast on radio, or you see me on All Access, or you'll watch me on something.
Scripted some of the boothcams on ninety five we're calling the games. Nothing is scripted with me. It's it's everything's off the by the way I can attest it. I sorted on a script and he's never stuck to it.
So yeah, I mean, we do this at the Hall of fame stuff like here's your scraps, me real rigid, Let's bring this guy, Let's bring it man, let's go.
Teddy gets your ass up here, let's go.
So it's a I like to I like to make it like we're doing this, like we're like we could be sitting around shooting ship, having a beer, having some chicken wings, you know, eating some crab legs, having the son out, listen to Kenny Chesney or you know.
This is what sports should be, right. It shouldn't be rigid. It's it's just guys sitting around having a good time.
And I try to do that with the broadcast but still give you as much inform information as I can and still do the same thing when you're trying to be professional weather on TV or radio.
It's I think there's a ballot delicate balance there. But so that just came. That just came to you.
Just start like I'm going down the field, I'm happy, and the guns come out and then I remember, uh, the Atlanta Star with parcels. No Scar at the time was anturnment cuts. Scar tolerated all that stuff.
He was good with it. You know, you're like shit, guy on the moon it's great. Let him let him go.
And I remember doing it down in Atlanta when the Georgia Dome opened up. Jesus, I cant hit by Chris Dolman. I lost skin on both my elbows. That was the hardest hit ever. Toda guy came. Scuji Chung was freaking puked in a huddle.
He had the flu that day.
He missed a slide protection just Colburt missed Ole mean, I didn't see him coming because I thought my backside was protected.
And I got lit up. But I hit Vincent Brisbee on a slant another one. I checked to it. When you hit that slant, you checked to it, you thread that needle.
You're feeling pretty good. So I got down on one knee and it's a brand new Georgia.
Though. Took an arrow out of my backpack.
Not I didn't have a backpack, but I took the arrow out, shot it up in the ceiling and the parcels don takes hets off because get fuck you're doing?
What are you doing?
I said, I'm the coach to try to try to shoot the shoot the arrow through, to take the shoot the roof.
Down up there, you know, because it's all blown up. Don't do that shit anymore. Yeah, nice, throw it off.
And that was the greatest thing about Parcels, the ability to scare the hell out of you. But when he gave you credit for doing something or gave you a pat on the ass, I think most guys want that nowadays. For a coach would be hard on him, coach him up. But damn, when you make a play, get the guy credit for making a play.
And he was so good at that.
So can you just tell us what it was like before Parcels and then how he changed it?
Well, I mean, obviously we weren't winning games, you know, back in the early days.
And yeah, I felt bad for mat because Mack got sick and sort of got caught in that transition. And I think when you get used to losing, that was the biggest thing Parcels taught us. When I remember being out in Arizona, We're getting her ass kicked, and I don't know how many games it was in we were owing something and he came in and took gatoray core and slammed it into the blackboard and broke it.
And he goes, what are you guys gonna get sick of? This shit. He goaes, you want to talk about sick of losing? He said, it's infectious.
He goes, we gotta stop this shit now, and we end up coming back winning that game. I think Drew he had his knee all banged up, but I mean, you looked at the crowds. You could feel the energy in Foxboro Stadium like that was a good intimate crowd. I's on top of you football type environment. They wanted a winner, and when you hired Parcels, you felt you had a winner. You change the uniforms, you come in
and the whole place start. You could see it filling up game to game, and all of a sudden, you're playing for the soldout crowds.
This thing's real.
And the ability of him to bring giants in, whether it was Merongeiten or you know, Bob cratch back in the day, Will Roberts, David Megantt David Megan. Megan was one of my favorite players. I know David's got issues now, but that's not for this. But David was a great freaking teammate and he taught you how to win. He taught you how to work. Parcels brought guys into established culture. And you see this with other guys that go to places and whether it's the Belichick tree and guys go out,
you know, you bring guys in. You want that, you know, you want to establish what is winning, what made it work here? That is going to try to attempt to make it work here and circle the wagon.
Guys he calls them, work ethic, man, work.
Ethic, and talk to you. Internalize everything. Everything you hear here, say here stays here. You know, everybody out there is trying to put a drivel weds between you and me, meaning media. He was good at dealing with the media. He knew how to handle the media. He knew how to make us feel like we circle the wagons someone use against the world. And I think that's still true today. And I think Belichick takes a lot of what he learned to partselves, you know, with it.
More to come with Scott Zolac in Part two of our Pasts on the Past podcast presented by who but wb NAS.
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