#49 - Ricky Williams

shout out to Ricky Williams. As a child, I watched him play college football, and then I watched him play NFL football, and then as an adult, I drafted him into fantasy football leagues in which he may or may not have won some money for me. With that being said, he's on the show. It's been a good run. I don't know what episode number this is. I think this is fifty ooh, forty nine, forty nine er, it's a little forty ninety motherfucking forty nine. Shit, Welcome to episode

number forty nine. I'm a little up, tired and delirious. Grammy weekend was long, but we hear. Shout out to our sponsors. Man odd Socks go to odd socks Official dot com and use that keyword bootleg keV, and you'll save twenty percent off of your favorite socks. Man the most comfortable socks in the world. They're my favorite socks, all right. They got the odd socks basics, they got

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feel good about it later. But if you go to vapincbd dot com you use a keyword bootleg keV, you'll save twenty percent off there too, So go do that. Let's get into today's episode with Ricky Williams Heisman Trophy winner. Let's kidd it bootleg heb podcast Man very excited about our guest today. We have got the legend Heisman Trophy winner. Fantasy Football. God, by the way, when you when you bounce back, I think it was two thousand and nine, yep, oh, man,

I picked you up off Waivers. Was going fucking crazy, Ricky Williams this year, welcome man, two thousand and nine. I remember that year very specifically because it was the first year I ever played Fantasy and I picked you up off Waivers and that was that the year that the Wildcat was going crazy, was like Ronnie Brown and you. And it was a year after and Ronnie got hurt. So I was having a pretty good year. And then Ronnie went down towards the end of the year and

I got a chance to start. And my first start was Thursday night against the Panthers the year. Three touchdowns that game, and I ran for over one hundred yards, and I think I went three straight hundred yard games. I remember. Yeah. Yeah, it's crazy because I remember as a kid. I was never ever as a as a kid, I never was big into college football, but I remember you because you were like a cultural phenom when you

were at Texas, like you won the Heisman Trophy. And I specifically remember that Sports Illustrated cover when you went to the NFL was was it was a union Mike Dica? Yeah, yeah, I remember, like that was just just liken iconic moment that I always remember as a kid, like you had such a crazy year or a crazy career. But you know, with where the NFL has moved, when when it comes to testing weed, do you feel like you kind of had to take like you kind of took a lot

of bullets for everybody when it came to the weed. Shit. I mean that's not that wasn't the plan, but I think looking back, yeah I did, and only because I was really the first person to tell the truth about it, because I mean, it was strange when I started, when I got put in trouble for smoking. You know, I wasn't even a real smoker. I just it was just

bad timing. There were dudes on the team that were real smokers, and you know, but nobody knew for me because I was I was one of the top players, and because it was made public, and then when I was put on the spot, I didn't lie about it. You know, it became a story and it was funny. What I've realized is it gave people, especially back then this is you know not now in California. Back then, it gave people an excuse to say weed, or to say marijuana, or to give people an excuse to talk

about it. So you just started seeing people having more conversations of something that was kept you know, we don't talk about this. We were talking about Now everybody was talking about it, And I think that's really what's helped, is that it just started the conversation. Yeah, I think you know, back then we all remember it was it was it was you know, weed was in the same conversation as people who'd be doing cocaine or like just the idea of smoking weed and being leveeled or trouble maker.

It's like crazy, you know what I mean. Did you find that because back when you were in the NFL BRO when you first got drafted, concussions weren't a thing. I'm sure you know, taking as many shots to get you out on the field was very normalized. Putting you on as many painkillers was very normalized. There wasn't. We weren't as aware of, you know, the addictive effects of all these things. And weed to me is like the

anti inflammatory. That's like, you know, for any sport, but really for football, it should be pushed to the players. I mean, that's that's what I believe from my own experience of being an NFL player, not just playing myself, but also being around other guys and seeing what happened to the guys that you know, they live off taking shots and drinking beer with their Viking and that's their

their pain regimen. And we know what that does to people over a long period of time, people that we used to have to take these indocents what they are called, and we used to have to take them the night before before practice. Yeah, because if you didn't take it, you know, you went out to practice and you felt like you were eighty five years old. But if you took innocent, it's an insight. It's like just a really

strong ibuprofriend. And if you and if we took it, I mean, if you didn't take it, you feel like eighty five. If you took it, you feel like you're twelve years old. Was this something that was is still around? Yeah? They, I mean they give it out. So it's it's standard when you get into the NFL. The first time you know about yeah, you get everybody or the tortof shot, right. Everybody in the NFL knows about this because it's a lifesaver and and that's what that's what was the norm.

And for me, I remember one day I was sitting in the training room and I was seeing guys come in one by one to get their tourt all shot. And I was thinking, if we're doing this for our whole careers, we're having to get shots, what is this going to do to our bodies? And then I kind of took a challenge on to myself. I said, I want to see how long I can go and the season without without having to do that. And I started smoking a little bit, and I was in the drug program,

so I had to like measure it out. You know. I could take two hits the night, you know, the day after I got tested and still be fine. And so I found that that worked. I did a little extra stretching, you know, just was more in touch with my body and I didn't have to take those those medicines. And so I learned from myself that cannabis was better for me than how long did you did you go the whole year where her having to take one of these I had to take. I had to take one

in the second to last game of the season. But that was it. What year was that? This was two thousand and uh, this two thousand and three when I led the NFL and carries I carried them almost four

hundred times. That's crazy, man, It's crazy when you look at your stats, right, and I believe you're like around top thirty and rushing, Like to think like what your stats would have been had none of this bullshit happened, had you not had to have gone and played in Canada for a year, like you know, like it's crazy because in O nine, we're talking about O nine, like people counted you out by then. Yeah, especially in running

back years. Yeah, yeah, and it's like this guy bounced back, And do you ever do you ever have any regret about how things played out? You know the main thing for me, I think the reason I don't have any regrets is because I got over the ten thousand yard mark. That was something that was important for me to say, Okay that my time playing football on the field in

the NFL wasn't wasted because I accomplished something. And yeah, and I did it in eleven seasons and one of those seasons only lasted a quarter because I tore my peck. So essentially I almost average one thousand yards a season. And considering I didn't start for half my career, and considering I was out for a year, then back in, then out for a year, and then back in then out for a year and back in that I feel like I did it and I did it my way, and so I don't have any regrets. When you got

drafted to the Saints, what that that season? Who was the quarterback is Jake Alone? And well, yeah, wow, Jake Alone came on like that. He was like he was a third string guy. Yeah, and he just came Wait before we knew him with the pants. I went to the Super Bowl exactly, he can't. He came in against the Cowboys and beat a playoff bound Cowboy team. That was really kind of his coming up party that year. Who were you hoping to get drafted to the Browns?

The Browns? This is this is like the that was was that the first year the Browns. They were back, and they take Tim Couch. Took Tim Couch exactly. So the first thing is is I wanted to be the first player because I thought I deserved it. Too, you were the best player in the draft, and too and too. I felt like just who I was and the way I played the game, it just fit well. Cleveland, Cleveland, like it's a grimy town, like they would appreciate, like

Jim Brown was there exactly exactly. That was what I was hoping for. It didn't work out. And then my next My next was Indy because I thought it would have been cool to play with with Peyton. No, no, no no, My next was fit was was Philly, And because it was the quarterback of Philly, it wasn't McNab wasn't. That's who they drafted. So it was that year. So they drafted mcnapp. That was it was. It was number two that year. That was my second choice because Andy Reid.

I just loved the West Coast offense. I think, I'm and it seems like you were right. He's been onto something. Yeah, exactly exactly. I love that offense. And then third was Indye played with Peyton and I got skipped past all those and ended up in New Orleans. We don't remember because if there's a lot of recent football fans who who think the Saints are this perennial powerhouse, I know, and when I was a kid, they were the worst.

It was. I always thought of the Saints and the Bucks as the shittiest teams when I was a little kid. This is before the Bucks had like like you know up early nineties, mid nineties. Bucks were not good before Tony Dunge you got there. Yeah, I always just thought the Bucks and the fucking Saints like trash. So you go to the Saints. Mike Dicka was he like he seems like I've seen some of his interviews like recently, he seems like not the best, like funnest guy to

play with or play for. Rather, how how was your guys' dynamic because so he that seems like an act, but but it's it's exactly the opposite it, you know, because there are some coaches who never played, no, and so I think sometimes they treat us like we're on a Madden game or we're chess pieces. But the coaches that played, you know, he's a real football guy. Yeah, they've been there,

and so he's a hard ass on the outside. But but he's the most amazing, like coolest coach ever to play for because he's been there before, you know, So he yeah, So you know, our first preseason game my rookie year, we played in Miami and we were in Lacrosse, Wisconsin for our training camp, and so we played in Miami and then we flew back and curfew was at two o'clock, but we got in at like one, and so we only had like twenty minutes at the bar.

So everyone ran to the bar and Dicker was in the bar too, and he looked at his watch and he said, curfew has moved back to four A, and so he got he was probably hammered as well. Of course, of course he was, but that's what I mean. He was one of he was one of us and so the guys go to war. They go to war for Yeah, it is It's like I said, it's interesting that they like when you got when you went there, did it feel like there was like you always hear about places

have winning cultures, like places have losing cultures. You know, we hear New England and and you know Pittsburgh, certain franchises we always hear have that culture where things are expected, and then we hear about the other the opposite end, right Philly, right now, you know, like the Texans right now, when you got to New Orleans, did you feel like it was a losing culture. Yes, it felt like a losing culture. And I'll tell you and I'll tell you why.

Because the winning cultures. I think the best example is where the Patriots with Tom Brady is because there is a there is a certain standard, and everyone fit that. It was about that standard. It wasn't about one player, it wasn't about it was about the standard. It's like it's like they draft players to fit what they do, not who's best, not who's the name. Exactly. In New Orleans when I got there, they had a we had a lot of really good players. We had a lot

of really good athletes and especially that first year. Who's your who was your guys's wide receivers that year? Yeah, we didn't have that many good receipts. Eddie Kennison, Andre Hastings, no idea exactly. Okay, fair enough, I played for yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, so so yeah, so but we had we had but those guys could fly, right, So we had athletes, but we didn't have a team. Right. So then when I came in, it wasn't like, let's rally around this rookie

and maybe we can get to the playoffs. It was like, who does this guy think he is? You know, he's got to prove himself and and that's part of it, but but it just wasn't that that welcoming environment. And but converse, when I got traded to the Dolphins, they've been to the playoffs like for the past twelve years.

I mean, it stopped when I got there, but it was a winning it was a winning environment, and when I got there, it was that feeling of Okay, Chad, Chad Pennington was still there when you got there, it was it was Jay Fiedler was right, It was right. No fielder Jay Feeley is a kicker, for the card. It was right after it was right after Marino retired, and then they brought they brought Jay. Tell me if I'm wrong, what like, tell me what happened with the

running back in football? Because it went from being the running back was the most popular player when I was growing up. There's Barry Sanders and Emmitt Smith and you know, uh, Terrell Davis and all these guys were the guys who you almost like, when you would play Madden, you would pick the best running back team, you know what I mean? Because and somehow I feel like the NFL has made

running backs very disposable. It's like, you know, it feels like they're the last guys to get paid when it's time. When it's time time comes up for them to get a contract, usually they'll it's that running back by committee is a thing. Now, what do you think happened with the position that because back then, when when you got drafted, it was they expected you to carry the offense. Yeah, you know, I think it's a couple of and you know, my theory is the first thing is I think the

nature of coaches changed. I think when you had the old school, like you know, Vince Lombardi style of the coach like Ditka right there, play defense and run the

ball right, very conservative, smash mouth football. And then you started having you know, these intellectual, smart coaches like the guy Arizona right, and so they start scheming right, and it's yeah, and it's more fun to scheme a passing game and throwing the It's more exciting, right to scheme a passing game and throw and throwing the ball around than it is to scheme a run game and turn it in the hand the ball. That's part of it. The other part is running backs, especially the old way.

You know, we took a pounding and it just you couldn't depend on a running back. You can't even think of like like when you said you had the balls carry about four hundred times and so yeah, you can't even think about it. Yeah, So so that doesn't last long.

And also, I think running backs, even though I think it's the most skilled position because you have to be able to do a lot of different things, it's pretty easy to get to get running backs, and I think they learned you have to move him through because you can't just depend on one guy for too long, especially now with this this these fast offenses. And also I think a receiver, you know, a receiver has a good game. You know that's ten to an amazing game is ten?

You know ten touches right, you touch exactly, And sometimes receivers will catch the ball and go out of balance. And so you can have a star receiver and pay him a lot of money and be feel confident he's going to stay healthy. But at a running back, you give him a lot of money and he's taking a pound you don't know. Well, you did a good job of of like I said, I feel like some people might have counted you out and then when you came back you were murdering shit. So you did a good

job of like extending your peak. I guess right. Nowadays, we'll see someone like, you know, someone like I'm trying to think, I feel like, you know, we saw it a little bit with Zeke this year, but you'll see somebody who is like David Johnson. Let's use guy on the Cardinals, right, David Johnson. I just remember had like the crazies season. He had some injuries, but when he came back, I feel like the drop off for running

backs is quick and fast. Like, why do you think that is now, like, what do you notice because you did a good job of I feel like you came from the days where like most running backs had like nine ten years. You know, we think Emma Smith and Drome bettest time. Yeah. Now Jan Peters ap, now we see motherfucker's in there. They're in and out. They got three or four years, they get a contract and usually it's like you always hear the people always criticize the

NFL teams when they give the running back the fat contract. Yeah, because like have you not learned? Yeah, yeah, yeah, But that's what I'm saying, because running back is such a difficult position because you know that if you're carrying the load every there's a target on you. You're going to get hit a lot, right, I think you know when you're hungry trying to get that check, it's easier once you get paid. It's human nature who reminds you of

of the way you used to play. Now. Fournette, Leonard Fournette, Hey, I was so happy to see him with a Super Bowl. He did good to him so dirty in Jacksonville. He looked so good. But it was a wake up call for him and he responded and he responded, he looked, he looked really good. I was. I was impressed. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I I I thought because I you know, when you look at the stats he had his last year with Jacksonville, it's like they just kind of just nobody wanted a

trade for him. Like I feel like Tom Brady's putting together like you know, like kind of like like Pitts, you know, or the Patriots used to always take chances on players and if didn't work out, they just cut him. But you know, they brought out a sink over there. They brought what was the big fat dude who was on the Redskins that they took the overpaid lineman. Dude, he was offense or ship. He was on the Redskins. The Redskins paid him out and then I forget his name,

big ass dude, defensive lineman. It was a defensive lineman. Yeah, I don't know, but but Moss right because people people kind of cast him aside when he was with the Raiders. But I feel like Tom Brady's kind of doing that now in Tampa Bay. Yeah, it's just crazy. Like Antonio Brown, I feel like I feel like he's picking it up. But I mean because there's there's nothing like experience. And if you can get people on the same page and they have experience, is there's no there's nothing that can

beat that in the in the league, nothing. And it's it's probably the X factor of there's probably like maybe three or four players in the league that everyone respects. Yeah, exactly, right, Like, well, you know what we got you, You're Tom Brady. We know what, we know what we're here to do. You know what I'm saying. Yo. When you were coming up, you worked with No Limit Sports. Yes, master P at the time was the hottest ship moving. Yes, I had a little fake No Limit chain when I was twelve.

Like man, No Limit was insane for you know, for their run, and master P starting a sports agency was kind of like, you know, I don't think I think the only other person who was doing somethingiwilar that was Jay Prince when he was doing boxing and and manager Floyd Mayweather. Right, because this was before there was Rock Nation Sports all that. How did you link with master P outside of being in the same city. You know,

you're in New Orleans. We ended up, I mean I linked up with them when I was in school in Austin. Still and and you know what typically what happens is agents have runners. You know, agents usually don't go after the players. They hire someone younger that can relate to the players, and they create the relationships and then they introduced you to the agent. And so Terry Terry, that was his runner. Yeah, that was his runner. And me and Terry were just cool. You know, we're just cool.

And and you know, I just knew he was connected to No Limits Sports, and like you said, p was like was everything every everything, you know, especially me coming from southern California going to school in Texas and being just being introduced to that that whoay, it was. It was real, you know, fat Pat it was. Yeah, it was. So it was you know, mine expanding for me, and you know, No Limit was was was a big part of that. And so I had an agent because I

was a baseball player. So I had an agent and I just thought I would keep that agent into football. But that relationship fell apart, and so I didn't have an agent. And then so all the like the normal dudes started coming at me, but they just felt like grimy. And so I thought about and I said, you know,

I'm at the top right now. He is at the top like this could be an amazing like partnership that really opens up people's minds to doing things differently, right, you know, you don't always have to go to that to that same guy that you know, can we can overlap the world? And so I, you know, I said, let's let's do this. And the contract that you that they negotiated for you was was was what did it end up? Not like did you ever regret making that decision?

Of course? Of course, of course, of course, But you know it's it's not a negative regret. It that regret. Like I was young and naive and I had like these ideas, realistic ideas about what I wanted to do with my NFL career, and I don't regret that, you know. My I just remember growing up and hearing people complain about overpaid athletes, and I just didn't. I wanted to

be different. And so what I told Pa and in Leland, my agent, is I said, here's what I want, you know, because I knew, you know, there's a there's a every team has a certain amount of money that they get in order to sign out. Well, it's a rookie salary, yep, and so and so I knew I was the only I was the only draft pick that year, and so I said, just give me the max of whatever that rookie salary cap number is, and then I'll make the minimum and make everything else be based off incentives. So

it was sure I did have everything incentive. It was it was me and then and they tried to talk me out of it. They said, listen, you have all this leverage, and you have an opportunity, you know, to be the highest paid rookie ever in the history of the NFL, and you were I and I said, it didn't feel right. I mean I didn't feel right. I was young. I mean, looking back, I'm like, what the hell you know? But but it just didn't feel right to me at the time. You know, I didn't. I

didn't want to. It didn't feel right. I wanted to earn it. But and the one so what I regret is I didn't consider what if I get hurt and I can't play, And then my first preseason game I get a bad ankle SPRA and I ended up missing ten games my first two seasons, and so it backfired. But you know, once I got healthy, you know, I put up numbers where you know, hit those incentives? What what? What?

When did you sign your second NFL contract? So I didn't sign my second well, technically I signed my second NFL contract. I did it because was the first contract was four years or eight years? Oh, seven years with the option seven. It was seven years with the option. That's fucking crazy, yeah, seven, because now that's not even an or. No, I mean, what's his name? A home

just signed a ten year deal. Yeah, but usually for yeah, usually for a rookie, they take four or five five year deals because at four years, at four years, your you're a restricted free agent. But again, eight year deal, that's like that's piping ship in the last dance. But you know, but I was thinking, you know that, that's why we did the wedding. The wedding, the wedding, right

right right, we're buried. You know, I was thinking, there, they traded traded everything for me, you know, like, let's do this. You know, I'm not messing around. I'm not trying to be hopping around from teams. Let's let's do this. And so but when I got traded to Miami, my agent, Lee Steinberg, my new agent, talked to the Dolphins and said, look, you know, you made this big trade to get him over here. You know, that's at least that's at least

like switching around a little bit. So we talked about the incentives. And then I bawled out that year led the NFL and rushing and was able to you know, get back on track. So that was technically my second contract, but really it was just an addendum. So my first contract last. Still, it lasted all the way till I finally became a free agent and then I signed with

the Day. That's crazy. So with the master P thing, you were around master P kind of in the peak of No Limit, right towards towards the Yeah, it was about the peak. Ninety nine was the peak. Yeah, you're playing football in New Orleans, you had to be around some crazy shit. I was, you know, I was, you know, So they were their their compound, all their stuff was down in Baton Rouge, which was about sixty miles from from New Orleans. But yeah, I was down there and

it was it was crazy. It was just so it was just so dynamic. You know, Like I was down there one time and they had signed this basketball player from the WNBA and she, you know, she would mess around on the on the beat machine and they were just messing around. They went in there and they recorded Hoo doy who like like just just just sitting out like in the studio like this hanging out and she just was messing around there like hey, let's go in

the studio. And then dudes just showed up. They were in the studio all night and came out with us and the man that was my ship, he was off the True of the Game Ship, the True album. It was like that where it was the people coming together, like talking, getting the recordings. That's why they were putting out albums every two weeks. They were so many. Everybody had a fucking album. Wait, so who do you who? Was helped produced by a w NBA player? Yes, holy who?

What do you know? I don't remember her name, but I mean that's fucking crazy. So it was live like that, and then you know they go to l s U down the road shoot basketball. It was and it felt like a family. It really felt like a family. Yes, he murdered. They're all brothers, you know. Yeah, that's crazy. Man. How long were you actually like how long was master P your agent? How long did it last? About a year?

About a year and you realize like, ah, man, well the agency just started to it started to fall apart. You know, I think, and you know, kind of my fault because I think if I had taken their idea of the contract and become the highest paid player, that would have looked better for an agent. No, and I think it could have turned into something more. But we got so much negative publicity and negative media coverage that it wasn't the story. Wasn't you know, rebellious upstart you know,

you know, pushes back against agents. It was look what these you know, look what happens when you hire a rapper to represent you, right, that's crazy. When you mentioned earlier you were a baseball player, a lot of people don't know you were drafted by that Phillies, right, And that was because you know, our guy in Arizona is one of those guys. You know. I'm just I'm afraid Kyler Burdys to go funk around and want to play for the Oakland A's one day and then we're fucked.

Then we got I don't know who, but he's not I hope not. But I like being a too two sport athlete. Like how like did you ever take getting back into baseball serious at any point in time. This is a great question. I did. I did so growing up in San Diego. It was big, big Tony Grin fan, and I always thought since I was a kid, I'll be a professional way because I felt like he looks like every other guy in the world and he was just a fucking hit anyway. Continue, so I always thought

i'd be a professional baseball player. Started playing when I was second grade. Didn't start playing football until I was in seventh grade, but started playing football baseball was about the same high school, I started to take off in as far as football, but I still had a dream to play baseball. And so my senior year colleges, junior year colleges were looking at me. Major League baseball teams, you're looking at me. And I told all the colleges

I'm playing I'm playing minor league baseball. I don't care. And then I told all the baseball teams, I'm playing college football. I don't care. And they both were like cool. And so I was drafted by the Phillies and I went to Texas to play football. And so what I did is in the summers after after school, I would drive my car to Florida to Clearwater where the Phillies I used to live in Tampa leve me some clearwater.

Yeah yeah, yeah, so yeah, So we go to clearmonter and I would do like I get in baseball shape, and then they would send me. I played in North Carolina for two years, played in Virginia, and then I played in upstate New York for a year for a summer, and I played baseball all summer, and then at the end of the summer, I'd go back and start football training camp. And so when I got to the Combine NFL Combine after my senior year, all the NFL teams

said you got to choose either baseball or football. And I was much better at football, and so I said, okay, I'm going to give up baseball. And then after my second year, after my second year in New Orleans, first year again, I told you, I met ten games. So I was starting to think, fuck this shit, man, we might have to go play baseball. I had to go

play baseball. And so I rented a spot down in South Mission Beach in San Diego, and I called up my old baseball coach from high school, and I said you know, can you get me back into baseball shape? And so I called up my old baseball agent. I started like reaching out to baseball teams, but my strength coach from the Saints called me up and convinced me to come back to play football. So when you said baseball shape, what's the difference between baseball shape and football shape,

it's about twenty pounds. It's about twenty pounds, and it's about twenty pounds of muscle. Is really so I would you know? I I in college football. You got to lift a lot of You lift weights a lot, right, So, and I'm the kind of person I lift weights. First time I ever lifted weights when I was a teenager, I had stretch marks the next morning. So I live waits. I get swollen. And so when I was an instant results exactly. So when I was in college, you know,

I would be I'd be swollen. I leave to play baseball, and I'd come back skinny and fast, because you know, baseball it's hot, first of all, it's hot in the summer, and just throwing the ball all the time, you know, the bulking the shoulders and swinging the bat, I would get I get down and be in great shape when when the football season started. That's crazy. We think about all the all the players who could have like Benure,

Kyler Murray obviously, Deon Sanders, Bo Jackson. You probably was like, I'm gonna be the next boat Jackson out this motherfucker. That was my idol. That was my That's why I wore thirty four. That's crazy, want to be the next bow Jackson. Yeah, you played four years in college, which is something else that nobody does anymore. Yeah, and then

you still went on to have a long career. But by the time you got out of college, like playing that much, I mean at a high level, the highest level, Like, did you feel like your body was already kind of beat down a bit looking back? Hell yeah, But I think in the time, it just was so excited and I found invincible. I wasn't even really thinking about my body like that, you know. And you asked about regrets, and and that's one regret I do have, is that, And it's it's crazy, but I think I would have

I should have done it. Is I should have taken a year off, you know, after after college, after college, because NFL wasn't going anywhere. I would still be in my early twenties. But I think having a year off to travel and just you know, get my mind off of something else. I think it would it would have served me. It would serve me. Well, I have to ask this question because my friend is a big U. C. L A fan. That's what I was gonna be talking to you. So he said, ask him about the time

we beat them sixty sixty three or something like. It was something crazy. Do you remember this game? It was? It was so I mean it was two years in a row, you know, because in college I do the home and away series, and so we started off. It was my junior year. We started off ran like number eight eight, and we won our first game, and they were coming in they lost to Tennessee, and they came in and we were, you know, cocky, thinking we're gonna run all over them. I mean, they beat the piss

out of us. It was one of those games where it just it was like I felt like I was in a nightmare. I mean, cade mcdown, It was like the cade mcdown show. That dude is I mean that day and even the next year, how many fucking mcnown's are there. That's there's mccowns and mcnowell. Okay, yeah, but cade McNown was, that's the best college quarterback I've ever seen in person. He he tore us, He tore us to pieces. It was nasty. I mean, it just was like it just kept going going. Who's the best NFL

quarterback you ever played against? When you saw him with your own eyes and you were like, God, damn, I feel like everyone feels that way about my homes now. Like some of these throws, even when he was getting shit kicked out of him, you know, planking across the field. I mean that yeah, that shit. That was yeah, yeah, that's the next level. But like when you were playing, who did you see in person? That just were you?

You just mail and it was part of it. Part of it were the throws, but just how you know, he'll walk up to the huddle and whatever the defense is doing, right, he'll just call it out. He's doing that, he's doing that, he's doing that. Okay, we're gonna do this. We're gonna do this, and then just go And there's when he's when he was on and then you look over it and you got fucking j Fielder and you're like, fuck, we're fucked. We're fucked boys. It's as we were running

the fucking wild cat. There is no quarterback on the fucking field. I mean honestly, that's that's the feeling when Peyton Manning is on, that's the feeling. And there's nothing, there's nothing like what are we gonna do? Nothing you can do? Is we got an intro? Yeah? We got and he gets rid of the ball. He got rid

of the ball so fast it was nothing you could do. Man, what would have happened if they would have got Edred and James and you were fucking if you and Peyton Manny would have played together, No, I mean, Jesus correct. It would have been fun. It would have been fun.

I would have been insane when you when you were like, you know, whenever I feel like, uh, you're as high caliber of a college football player were, especially your last year, right, pros reach out when you kind of have a feeling when you might get drafted places, sometimes players on that team will reach out and try to connect with you early. Did anybody of notability do that to you when you

were obviously coming out and to go in the NFL? Hmm? No, And you know, usually especially if you're coming out of college usually as guys that you played with in college rather than on a team. And so the couple of guys that I knew in the league, they weren't on teams that were you know, that were that would have drafted, that would have drafted me. So so no, but you know, I got close with Marshall Fault because he went to

San Diego State. I grew up in San Diego and he was in college when I was in high school, and so we we kind of bumped into each other. And he had just been traded from Indie to Saint Louis because Saint Louis had that they had that pick, and I was I had visited with Saint Louis and then they made that trade Marshall for the draft, and then you could have been playing with the greatest exactly. Yeah. But in that style of offense, though, I just I

really liked that. And I think people looked at me because the Texas we ran the eye more so people just assumed that I was I running back. But I consider myself exactly I can do everything, and so I think I got pigeonholed a little bit. And when this when the Colts thought about Peyton Manning and the shotgun all the time single back. It was closer to what Eddern did at Miami, and so he was he was a better fit in there. So who's the craziest guy

you've played with? And that could be crazy like this guy's a good time or or crazy like this guy will fucking take your face off if we're not do another another be the good time guy, and then the crazy guy like you want to have behind you at the bar when you're about to get into a fight. Another another Sun Devils. Do you name one of my

best friends in the league, Terrell Smith. He played fullback with me in New Orleans and he just was crazy for I mean, being fullback in the NFL, you gotta be crazy, especially back then when the fullbacks were a thing, especially when when with Coach Dicker, I mean in the kind of offensive here running and so Terrell would, I mean, he just was. He gotta get himself so geeked up that sometimes you know, he have to do push ups in the middle of the game just to like calm

himself down a little bit. When you say geeked up, like the kids mean that, what do you mean by geeked up? Even do it on I mean he was on some ship. Well it was you on there, Michael Irving. So no, no, okay, just but but but they they did. So this was this was back in the day before Federa was out, was banned, and so hydroxy cut they had this ripped fuel. They had these and you would take that. It was like taking meth. Yes, yes, yes, yes. And so T was on that. He was on that

just he tried. He tried to give me something sometime and we were I remember we were playing the Panthers and it was in our quarterback through an interception, and I remember which quarterback was put him on blast. It was it was probably Aaron Brooks. Was he number two?

Number two? It pick yeah, And and I was so like he hopped up on this that I like, I ran, I ran to try to, you know, make the tackle full speed and I missed him and I got back up and I chased him down like thirty yards and I finally made the tackles like that that d yes. But I was so hopped up. I had to go and I had to go in the in the in the in the locker room for like twenty minutes just to like calm down. I was my heart was beating so fast. That stuff is dangerous. So he would be

on that, and that just made it worse. Everybody was probably on everybody was on that. Yeah, Yeah, that's so crazy. Was everybody was, was like, because I feel like, you know, we're in an era where things have swayed for weed because I don't they took it out of like they can't test for it anymore, right, but they don't. They don't suspend players anymore. But recreationally, weed is widely accepted now. I think recreationally there's a bunch of drugs that are

probably not as big as they were. But when you were we always hear about the nineties and like we watched movies like The Last Boy Scout and and you know, and like all these players just fucking snort coke and fucking bitches and doing steroids, and like was that like the like was was the because you you played through kind of two errors low key? You know what I'm saying, Did you feel the vibe? Like was that the vibe ever?

Like when you got into the league as far as just like some guys were just fucking shooting up in their ass. Pause you know what I'm saying, And just like and you were a pretty fucking big dude yourself. Yeah, but like was that something that was more widely like like it's it's just going on. So I think, you know, I got in the league in very late nine, nineteen ninety nine, it was at the very end of I

think when that was more wide spread. I think the heyday of that was Yeah, those Dallas Cowboy Michael Irvin days. But but I think, you know, it's it's a couple of things. One is, every team is an ecosystem. You know, every team is an ecosystem. Some teams are chill and some teams, you know, they just they have fun, right. So and then you usually have a player like Michael Irvin, you know, who is an animated player, who's you know, who wants to have a good time. And football is

a very stressful job. And if we all need a way to find and release and so I think we're intense kind of people. And so yes, sometimes football players get together, they can get carried away. But in a healthy sense, we all we got to release. We gotta release that stress somehow. Let me ask you this, out of all the sports I DJ do nightclubs do strip

clubs do all this? Right? I feel like at every sport it's for other fucking NFL players everywhere, Right, It's like, no matter where I'm DJing, it's like, yo, the car, Like we got four Cardinals over here randomly, the fucking rams are in the building. Like what it's not it's not even football season. What are they fucking doing in Scottsdale? Like, what is happening? Yes, it's in my tripping though. So so if you do the math right, there's more players.

There's a lot more players, right, there's a lot more players, a lot more players. There's you know, fifty two roster and then you know seven or eight guys, and most of those guys we have no idea what the fuck they look like exactly. Yeah, we might recognize their name from you know, right if you hear the names, I've seen he's got a fucking halbut on every time I see him, exactly. But it's just it's just a lot

of dudes. You know, there's a lot you have a guy, you know, you have a lot of guys that play for a year, play for two years on the practice squad, and they're in the NFL you know, or technically just got cut and they're just free agent, you know, way to get picked up. They're in the NFL. So yeah, that's crazy funny. What do you you know, what's your

involvement in the in the weed game now? Because I feel like, you know, you're when we think of athletes and and celebrities who have you know, I associate you with being Ricky Williams, the hippie who smokes weed and fox dudes up on Sunday. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's that's me. And and that's really what I'm working on is you know, thinking back when I was a kid, and and you know, the potheads and the and the jocks and the athletes

the stoners are the same guy. They didn't hang out, right, Yeah, they didn't hang out because that's that was the time we live in. And as I you know, matured and grew, you know, I realized that I was a jock and I was a stoner and they were separated. And so for me, it was work on trying to bring him together. And so I'm launching a brand on four twenty I called the Heisman h I G H S m An And it's and it's really the bringing sports and can of together. And so this is going to be a

like marijuana. It's gonna be, it was gonna be. It's a lifestyle, but it's a cannabis lifestyle. Okay. So it's kind of like clothing lines merch exactly. They'll even be Heisman houses. So, uh, sports, we got to get you your own strain bro exactly what we're working on it right now. So so yeah, I'm gonna get you hooked up with Burner over at Cookies. Man. I mean, Cookies is doing it, is doing it right. Yeah, I mean Cookies is a great example of of Garry Peyton's selling

a lot of weed with them. I saw a lot of weeds trying to get my picture on a little bag, a little bag and come on, man, make it happen. I'll call I will FaceTime Burner right now after we get off this. When you moved to Austin's one of my favorite cities. I used to do south By Southwest out there every year. I used to throw shows and do all that. But it was like one of the cities. When I first went there, I had no idea what to expect, and when I got there, I just fell

in love. It's like his own vibe. It's you know, I always, you know, explain to people from where I'm from. It's like Mill Avenue and Tempe, but like Times twenty sixth, sixth Street, it's fucking crazy. But it's a liberal city in a red state. Was it always like? Was it always kind of that? Like? And when you went there, how did you like Austin? Like? How because you came from San Diego, which is its own thing as well, people go to San Diego, La two different vibes. Yes, yes, yes,

So I mean I had a very similar experience. So I went on my recruiting trip to Austin, and I never really been out of California, so I thought, you know, Texas. I thought there'd be like tumbleweed down on the airport, and so Austin's a beautiful city. So flying in over the lakes and stuff, I was like wow. And it was December and it was seventy two degrees. I remember I landed and I just and I fell in love probably within the first two hours I was in Austin,

and it was much smaller. I think it was about five hundred thousand people, and it was really just the capital and the Texas University and that was it, and especially in the summertime, there was nobody there, but it was always liberal. You know, uh Billy Nelson uh has a has a statue there, and you know, he's an icon in Austin. So it was always more more liberal than especially than Dallas and Houston. But you know, as it's grown and it's grown crazy, it's crazy. And then

Joe Rogan just moved. I memory's fucking everybody moving there. No state taxes, I mean no state Yeah. Me and Freddy Gibbs were out there like two weeks ago for a few days and we were going to comedy shows and it was just like it was. It's crazy though, the homeless shit downtown kind of looks like parts of l It's getting bad in Austin right now, is man. I was like, what the fuck I was getting ben since like twenty seventeen, I'm like, where are all these

fucking homost people? Liberal mayor somethelling you liberal may. Yeah, it's crazy because like there's a such thing as being too liberal. Yeah, we were because I'm a fucking Democrat. I'm not I'm independent, but I've always voted Democrat. But I was someone who really liked Bernie Sanders a lot when he was running, you know. But there is a such thing as just being too liberal. Yeah, and I feel like that's what's happening here. It's happening in Austin.

It's happening in Austin too. Yeah, because there's that area at the end of sixth Street before there's the other side of sixth Street where there's like the parking lot with the bridge like you could and it's all homeless tents. And I was like, ah, hell no, Like we used to walk from one side. There was this thing called favor for it. We'd just walk over that, like under

that bridge, like all homeless people, I'm telling you. And also, I mean I was like dank when I saw like the homeless people in their tents, they're starting to hang art. They're starting to hang artwork. That's the way it is out here. Maam, you're in fucking Venice. You live in Venice. Yes.

I rode my bike through Venice last week and it was the first time I've been there in probably two years, and I was blown away by how like the handball court people just turned them into apartments, like like like you said, like, you'll walk by some of these fucking la homeless tents and they're better than some of the

apartments that some of these studios motherfuckers are rinting out here. COVID, you know, COVID people abandoned, you know, people weren't visiting Venice as much, and then homeless people just just I was sitting there and there was like five or six tents set up on like a part of the little hill in front of the beach in Venice, and I was like, these motherfuckers have beachfront property and they're paying

zero dollars. Now I don't know where they're taking a shit and shower and every day that's different, right, because that's where things get a little dicey. But I'm like, these homeless motherfuckers wake up every day on the beach. That's the best. That's the best. Homeless. Like, if I was homeless, that's what you'd want to be. If I was homeless, exactly, That's exactly where I would be, do you Like, you know, I've seen some people who live

in Venice who are very specifically with that area. Because it's so expensive to live over there, a lot of people have worked their entire life to be able to afford to live in a place like Venice Beach. But now it's like you walk outside, you might step in hum and ship. Yeah, has it kind of like like made you reevaluate maybe being over there? Is it frustrating?

So so when I when I first moved to Venice, I was right next to Santa Monica and and there's a lot of homeless people walking around, and there's for the record, there's always been homeless people, but by Venice Beach. But it's something else. It's yeah, it's it's some other shit. It's more. It usould just be one or two blocks and now it's it's it's more. But I'm lucky where I live is like a little like gated community, and

so I'm good where I live. But I can see the people that you know, paying you know, almost two million dollars for it be fucking sick square foot home. And you walk outside and there's sixty year old dude shooting up and taking a ship outside, I'd be pissed off. Oh it's terrible. Why'd you leave us? Like why not living in San Diego? The truth is there's there's just

more going on up here. That's fair. There's just and you know, I was, I was talking to a friend that I was driving up here, and I was like, it's just surreal to me. It's just surreal living living in LA because just like having this converse walking into a walking into a studio and someone saying, hey, I got some we've It's just it's just surreal. And there's some of that in San Diego. But it's just it's not like I go to San Diego a lot, and even the weed thing, it doesn't feel like it's like

a like out here. It's like it's like a culture, like everyone's walking around small San Diego hasn't gotten there yet. Yes, even though you know it's recreational, you can get the little like, but it's not the same. It's definitely. I love Ocean Beach though. That's my I like the hippie beach man. I love Ocean. It's my favorite beach. That's the spot on the West coast that's one of the unknown spots. That's because when I was a kid, my

cousin worked at Sea World. He was like a line chef, and I was so poor when I was little, we never could go. I never went to any theme park in my life. We only went there because he gets free tickets. So, uh, my aunt had this ratchet ass apartment. What was the name of the street it was. It was in the fucking trap though, My god, it was like really bad. But then we'd go to Ocean Beach every summer for like three years. We would go to Ocean Beach and they had this fucking the Dog Beach,

you know, I love dogs. And then they got these they had this place at these big ass slices of pizza and there's that smoke shop, the black there. I used to go buy my fucking black light posters from there and take them back to Arizona. They have the ill posters at that spot. Yeah. I fucking love San Diego.

That's the hippie beach, though, I feel like you go to the other beaches, it's like, you know, it's like it's not a you know, I like around everyday people, you know what I'm saying, Like, especially like La Joya, so up, diddies, It's like, yeah, it's crazy, do you think as obviously I keep growing up in San Diego. When the Chargers came to La like that, that had

to be heartbreaking. Man, I can't even imagine, like growing up and that's your team, and then it moves stuff because you know, when I when I was a kid, the Raiders were Raiders were in LA and the Rams were in l A, and and so San Diego we were Raider haters. You know, we hated the Raiders and we hated LA. You know, even Padres hated the Dodgers. And so when the Raiders went to Oakland, you know, we could still not like them. But it wasn't it

wasn't the same. There's a real rivalry between Santo and LA. It wasn't the same. It wasn't the same. It wasn't the same. And then the last straw was when LA chargers like that. Yeah, I can only imagine it be like Arizona. We have that same relationship with LA. It's like, you know, it's it's like beat fuck the Lakers, beat

the Lakers, beat the Dodgers, et cetera. Yeah, when I moved out here and I started to do radio out here, and they told me you might want to start wearing a Dodgers hat, I'm like, you know what, I can do that because I don't care about baseball, but I'm not doing that with football or basketball, you'll never see me. And I love Lebron, you know, but I'm not. I can't wear anything that those Lakers on it. It's not in my it's not in my nature. Man, it's so so the Suns, you know on uh, you know, I

played two K every once in a while. My favorite team, which is the six Sons with Steve richardson Mary. Yes, yes, that's my squad. And what's crazy is Barbosa. Yeah, it's crazy because like it's not even like there's players off that bench that I don't know why they didn't make them, because the bench, you know what's crazy about those old ass teams on two K is the most Like the players on the bench are just made up players, made up players. Yes, yeah, it's like, fuck, man, where's you know,

where the fuck is Tim Thomas on the bench? You know? Or yeah, what's your in your opinion, the best game you ever played? Mm ah, probably the probably the game actually my my freshman year in college. Freshman year in college, we were playing Texas A and M, and back then they had the best defense in the country and I was a freshman fullback and I was scared. I was scared. And I remember it was like the first end of

the first quarter. They ran a blitz and we ran a draw play and they kind of ran themselves out of the play and I just broke up the sideline for a touchdown. And I was so like so shocked that I had a nice play. And I ended up finishing the game with one hundred and sixty five yards and two touchdowns and we we beat them and in

the conference championship. That's crazy. So that just as a freshman showing up against the you know, sixty yeah, wow, what's what's your what was your career high in the in the NFL when it came to yards, like in a game, you know, two twenty three. I think I'm one of only four players I have back to back two hundred yard games. I think I had two twenty three against Buffalo. Then I had to sixteen the next week against Chicago. Jesus Christy, I was, I was, I

was on one. I was he was on that fucking hydroxy catch ship. Waitit wait wait wait wait wait's was that what? The dolphins of the Dolphins? Yeah, fuck Dolphins. The defensive players that scared you. Okay, if I'm being honest, John Lynch, a little bit safety for the for the GM of the Yes, yeah, exactly, Ray Lewis. I mean I remember my my rookie year we played him. I was hurt, but I was I was glad. I was hurt that game because he just is so smart and so fast and and and so girthy, like when he

hits you. I mean he was all over the field and when he hits you it hurts so so he was one he's laughing about girthy. He was sick. Fuck. Sorry, continue, I guessn't say the mind always, the mind always goes there. Who else? Yeah, that's it? You know. You know there's there's two two players both played for the Patriots who I had like battles with. I wasn't I wasn't intimidated, but they would come hit you, Rodney Harrison uh and

Lawyer Malloy, but mainly safety. So every every Wednesday when we would get our scouting report, and the first thing I would do is I'd look to see how how much the safeties weighed. That's how I knew what kind of week it was going to be. If they were two ten and under, you're going to destroy him. I got you. I got him? Are the two twenty safeties? You know? I got you? Gotta get your mind right, Yeah, because what Rodney Harrison? And when you were in that division?

When did Patriots win their first Super Bowl? One oh one? So you were in the division? We already in No you you got there? No two? I got there. Two. We played him in one when I was in New Orleans, but I got there to Miami and O two. Yeah, when you played him, was was it Brady or bled Cell? It was Brady? Ah, that's crazy. Do you remember, like like at the time that we didn't know that Tom Brady was going to be Tom Brady. But it was two thousand and one, two thousand and one, no one knew.

I think nobody knew. That might have been one of the first games nobody knew. And he's like, he shredded us because in New Orleans we had a really good defense. He's like, we went up there, he shredded us, and so every everyone was taking note. But nobody knew, nobody knew what was coming. That's crazy. Yeah, and then you had to play him twice a year after that. I used to love playing I hated him playing them, and I love playing them. I loved it because of the competition,

but I hated it because they were always ready. Yeah, you know, because we always hear about Bill Belichick being this defensive mind, so he had to defend you for however many years? Is it all true? Was it was? It? Is it the coaching? Is it the players? It's it's mainly the coaching, And a lot of it has to do with scouting. For instance. They like how they watched film and the scouting team right that they had this note that whenever I adjusted my gloves and then it

was going to be a running play. So so every every little queue, every little queue they could find, they give it to the defensive players. And so a lot of the times you playing the Patriots and they're calling out to play before before, and was that true? It's true? So every time you just but but I mean it wasn't true one hundred percent of the time, but the enough time enough times where yeah, you get ahead start, you know, and we ran the ball so much that

it didn't matter. But but yeah, so and the you know, we played them in two thousand and nine, two thousand and eight, the Wildcat Game, and it was the opposite because they had never seen the wildcat, so they couldn't prepare for it, and they didn't know what to do. They were running into each other, arguing on the sidelines and we it felt so good to whoop them up. Yeah, when ya were doing the Wildcat, it was you and

Ronnie Brown. And at the time I don't recall there being a better one two punch when you really because Ronnie Brown was a fucking monster. Yeah. The Cowboys they had Marion Barber and oh and Barber and the other guy. I know you're talking about, Thomas Jones. Thomas was it Thomas Thomas Jones, Felix Jones, Jones, Clix Jones, and Marion Barber. Yes, yeah, yeah, But but but the Wildcat, I want to say, you guys are first. At least I'm a pretty big football fan.

I don't think I saw anyone do it before you. Well, just before we did it. Our offensive coordinator quarterbacks coach David Lee was at Arkansas and Felix Jones and uh uh uh McFadden they ran it at Arkansas year Fadden. Wow. So when when you guys decided to do it in the NFL, are you thinking like this is fucking crazy? We're gonna get ate up were this is. I was like this, I was like this high school high school bullshit. But then we started off hing two and then we

were like, Okay, we gotta try some ship. Try we gotta try some ship. And so we we we put it in against the Patriots that first game, and Ronnie had like, you know, had a sixty yard had one twenty through for a touchdown. I had like almost one hundred yards Russian and and we ended up making the playoffs that year. So it was really was it that wasn't Brandon Marshall was in. It wasn't there yet, right? He came the year after the did you play with him? I did? How was he as a as a as

a dude? Man? Because I think he's one of those wide wide receivers who don't get enough praise for the career he's had. Because man, I remember when I was like twenty something catches in a game. Yeah, I mean, you know, if you just send it next to him, he's a he's he's he's like a lot. He's like a lot of defensive end. That's how big he is. And great athlete, a great teammate, And I think I got him later in his career where he was starting to fire it out and kind of mature a little bit,

and we were really close. But yeah, when he was on uh, he couldn't he couldn't be stuck. Can you reveal who your biggest smoking buddy was in the NFL? Hmm? So okay, So here, here's here's the issue here. Yeah, is that you don't want to snitch. Well, it's not even that I want to don't want to snitch? Is that for eighty something percent of my NFL career I was in the NFL's drug program and I was the star player for most of that time, and so nobody on the team was what he wanted to be was

trying to smoke with me. Yo, how did you finesse the drug? Because because when you're an NFL drug program, it's their job to try to catch you up. So how did you get through it as much as you did? There's this drink. There's this drink and I forgot what it was called detox because because everyone knows we takes like two weeks to get out of your system. Right, Well, well, it depends on how much you smoke. It depends how much you smoke. It depends how much body fat, it

depends how active you are. And so I got it down to a science where eventually I realized, So at one point I was being tested nine times a month, Okay, so that's yeah, so that's like two times a week. And so what I realized they never tested me on back to back days. So if a dude would call me up and he tested me in the morning before I went to work six am, I p in the cup.

You know, I had a good day because I knew that when I got home, I could smoke that night and I could take I could smoke probably five hits and be good for like three days, okay, because I wasn't it wasn't stacking, it wasn't building up in my system. It it would go in, then it would go out. And then later I realized, you know, it got to the point where I could take two hits the day before a test and still pass the test. And so I just had to like rash it. I just had

to ration it out. But earlier in my career, when I was just smoking, I just would drink or drink and get it at the head shot, and you the guy would call me and say I'll be there at six o'clock in the morning. So I set my alarm for five I get up, I drink to drink, wait fifteen minutes, drink water, fifteen minutes, drink water. Pee one time, and then you're you're in this clean for five hours. And that worked. I mean I used to have like in my closet, I just had like like probably twenty

boxes time all that shit. Yes, cases, I buy him out every time. I would. You never used anyone else's pee because in the NFL, they probably watch the NFL is to your knees, you know, pants to your knees. That's crazy, That's fucking crazy. Oh man. But you know, but I will say, I will say later in my career, the drug dude, the test dude, it was the same guy, and we became really cool. And so then sometimes, you know, I tell my wife to to be and put in

the bathroom and then when I go in there. But but yeah, do you recall the highest you've ever been in your life? And it could be on anything, mushrooms, I don't know, whatever, I don't know. Do you recall like just the the most out of your mind you've ever been? I don't know. I mean I had a rough week last week. I ate mushrooms, ate inedible, smoked my face off and got shipped. Okay, I do in Austin. This was in Austin, Yes, I do. I do remember. I do remember a time and it was like it

was mixing. It was mixed. It was when I was in New Orleans. Yeah, I was young. I got smoking, I was drinking X probably something else I don't even remember, but yeah, I was. I was gone. I remember. I was so gone. Uh. I was telling my friend I had to be some good ect if. It was in the nineties. Yeah, that was when ectasy was real. It was yeah, early early two things. Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,

I just remember I was. I was gone in New Orleans and where I thought I was in one part of town, but I was in a completely different part of town. I don't even remember how shut up in Magnolia Project. All I know is that I got dropped off at my house by a by a sheriff. Yeah. Here, here's all I remember. I got dropped off by the sheriff and he called me the next morning to cooperate our stories to make sure that I was good. Wow. So he could he could have arrested you. Oh, I'm

guessing because he looked out for me. He was like, you're the fucking You're Ricky Williams. Man. We got a game. I was. I was close friends with his boss and and thank god, wow, I was When you were in New Orleans, it was like the beginning of cash Money. It was the beginning. It was like No Limit was kind of you know, and cash Money was like this, Yes it was Yeah, I remember I was in New York. I was in New York, uh for the Heisman stuff

in the club and they just started playing that juvenile Juvenile. Yes, yes, they just started They put they put jay Z on the remix and ship just started playing it. I was at the club of New York, I remember. Yeah. Yeah, So like did you did you end up? You know, we always see the young rapper dudes always have relationships with the big superstars in the city. Did you ever end up? I mean there was kind of a weird there was a weird rivalry between No Limited Cass in

the middle. Okay, but early early when I was there, my first year there, I was at a at a club and Juvene I was there, and we you know, we said what's up. And then at towards the very end when hot boys were getting really big, then I you know, hung out with them a lot more. Your time in Miami early early two thousands, Miami was fucking Trick Daddy and record Trina. I mean, how was what was it like being in Miami in the early two thousands and and and having your best professional yeah's your

best year there? Yeah it was. It was. I mean it was it wasn't the same kind of rivalry, but but you know, but Trick and Trina, like they were tighted with Edgrin, you know, he's from there exactly exactly, so it wasn't you guys, and everyone kind of compared you guys. Yeah, so, but I mean, I love it, we're tight, but it was just kind of that. But I mean, whenever I saw him, it was it was cool. He's a Florida boy for real. Yes, yes, exactly, but but it was, Yeah, it was awesome. It was awesome

being in Miami at that time. You know, South Beach was was was popping. I mean, like, how much pussy were you getting at the time in life? Like you I mean, listen, you're in Miami. I mean by the way your college had to be crazy. College college was crazy. I'm more of a quality, quality of a quantity. I love a quantity of quality, quantity of what's the highest amount of quantity of quality you've had at once? At once? Just three? But in like a day, foursome seven? So

you had three girls and you three and me? Yeah, oh so fame, but but in a day probably seven. So in Miami, yeah, because in my Miami is just it's just such a sexy city. Like every time I go down there, I can't help it. It It just I just love going to tutsies. Man, I mean, I love toutsiest. I bit you. He's like, I've ran in and out of that place. The IP is four hundred bucks. Anyway, wait wait wait, how old were you gonna have your foursome?

That's got to be that's a moment in life. This was right out of right out of right out of college. So this is when I was in I was single, I was in New Orleans, Rookie. I had a big ass house just running it up. Yeah yeah, you know, I mean I don't want to like, you know, seven in a day too, that's impressive. Yes, you know, that's just being dumb hydro. That's just being dumb and flexing your muscle. You know, you had to be on hydrogen. Seven girls in a day. You gotta be on something.

You gotta be on some hydroxy curves. Some of that ship you were talking about that your fullback was on. That's impressive. The most I did two in a day, you know, in my hey day seven is you know, but that's why what groupies? Right, when there's people that are called groupies, it's easy. It's easy, right, it's easy. It's harder to say no at some points and then just to say yes back then. You know. Nowadays it's

very popular to have to be a beautiful woman. And like you said, there's more NFL players than anybody, but most beautiful women that I've ever met, some sort of NFL player slides in the DMS right in. It's funny, he's laughing. In your day, we didn't have social media, so we're like, obviously there's clubs. Do it literally be bitches in the hotels though, like just trying to get shows, no, because like on the hotel, in the hotels they have

we have securities. Okay, okay, we have a security outside the elevator, and so is more like they just know the bars or the clubs or whatever that the players hang out. That's that's really How did you ever have or like if we do like charity events or something, they might you know, they might show up. You were a celebrity at the time, culturally, not just if you're a sports fan. Did you ever get any sort of attention from any celebrity females? I didn't. I mean I

don't think so I had. I had fantasies, you know, like everyone in my halle Berry you know, let me ask you something. You see Monsters Ball? Yeah, and so I remember the first time I saw halle Berry's tits was in Swordfish with John Travolta. I saw that ship at Metro Center Mall, and as soon as it came out on DVD, I just paused it. It was a VHS. I was like, I was like, look at those and then Monsters Ball Billy Bob Thornton just kind of did a sting Man. Is halle Berry like the it for you?

Like when you were growing up? She was? Yeah, she was, she was. She was the one. Yeah, halle Berry in the nineties was the one. Was Halle halle Berry was in the the Last Boys. We talked about that movie. Ever, wasn't she in that? That was a crazy movie? When the fuck and that the running backs running, he pulled the gun out start shooting players on the field. Fucking crazy, Damon Wayne's Yeah, that what's your what do you what do you think is the best football movie you ever made?

There's some good ones or your favorite? I like, I like any given Sunday, Any given Sunday was good. I mean because I was. I think I was in Miami. I was in Miami at the time, and so I got That's when I got really close with Jim Brown when he was there and shooting shooting that movie. But uh, I just I think it wasn't one hundred percent accurate, but it was the closest. It was the closest. Like, I know, we got guys like that on the team. Yeah, exactly.

Who was like the superstar guy that you were like, you know, like like who was like the most diva guy? No? Was the diva is probably a negative word to use, but when we think of like the Prime Times or the you know, Michael Joe Horn, Joe Horn, I mean nickname was Hollywood, Hollywood so he was on that ship. He was on that wide receiver ship. It was a It's a good story because you know, he he got picked up by the by the Chiefs, played a little bit, and then as a free agent he came to New

Orleans and no one knew who he was. He ball, he bawled out, so he was always Hollywood. But but he you know, he earned it. He earned it. You know the one where he had the cell phone, He had the cell phone. Yeah he did add any celebration, right, yeah, yeah, he had the cell phone in the in the goal post and he came pulled it out that It's crazy. Would you ever get into coaching or anything? Now? I have, so if the right situation came. I coached some college

kids in China. It was I coached Team Folayers in China. Yeah, I know, just Chinese football players. There are. When I got there, there wasn't, but now there are, so we coach these kids. Are you saying that you're responsible for Chinese football? I am. I respect that. Yeah, okay, I

have a lot to do with it. That was beautiful and so you know, it was a job where I got to travel and it was like two weeks two weeks and then take them to Sweden to play in a tournament, and then I coached some kids in Tijuana. I like international coaching because you can make a bigger effect on the kids and because you're teaching them an American game and it's it's you know, less time consuming and it's fun. It's fun because you're like, it's almost

like these kids, aren't you know. We come in a culture of entitlement now, you know, even with athletes, right, and and to be able to I'm sure teach someone a new sport that you're so passionate about it kind of brings it back to why you did it in the first place exactly. And their their college kids and so like they're in they're Chinese, so they're super smart.

And teaching them the people, I mean, it's it means that they value they value they value intelligence and so where and so they were coming as these intellectuals trying to learn this game of football, and they learned the game like this, like I can install I can put an NFL type stuff and they could pick it up.

The hard part was when we got them on the field and I had to teach them the defensive guys when the ball snapped, you have to go that way, you know, because the linebackers with the ball snapped, they start back pedaling, right. So I just had the idea of the game where you have to be aggressive and you have to go attack. That took a little bit of time to try to teach them, but but the x's and o's they picked it up quick. When you were coming up. What was the best club in Tijuana

Revolution Revolution? Yeah, okay, t Wan is a great place. There's a strip of streets where everything gets kind of interesting. Yes, there's like Adelitas and Chicago Club. And did you guys frequent the TJ when you were young? So quite often. The big thing with TJ is you can go when you're eighteen. And I turned eighteen like two weeks before I left to go start playing baseball, and so I did TJ when I came back, when I came back to visit from Texas from college. T Want is a

crazy place. Now there's this place called Club Hong Kong there, Yeah, the strip club that's everyone wants to check out. Just read the yelp reviews. Has Yelp reviews. That's what convinced me to go. I was like, let me see if there's Yelp reviews in this place, and I was like, oh Jesus Christ, oh, I gotta check this out. I got to check this out. Yo, Why did you never get into a because I feel like you got a great personality and I feel like, like like I said, culturally,

you're fucking huge. There's some really shitty dudes doing football commentary and getting paid handsomely for it that used to play football. They were never that good. Like, I don't know how to fuck. Matt Hasselback's brother talks about being a quarter Tim Hasselback. This motherfucker was horrible, treented over was fucking up. Anyway. They sat in a lot of meetings so they they know it. But did you ever think of taking that career? Dad? I did, and I

dabbled in it a little bit. For the past seven years. I've been doing some stuff for Texas. I do the pregame show in a post. Oh nice. So I did a little bit, and I even got invited up to Bristol and to do some stuff at the ESPN. But it's too much. You know, you sit there all day. You live in La Man Sports Center's right here. You can it's too much, like the study and like it's

too much. I like to come in and coach and teach what I know, but having to watch film and talk about what everyone's doing, like it's just too it's too much to be prepared to do a good job. So I decided, what are your thoughts currently on Texas and UH and its football program? And you know, I think, you know, obviously the football career program has seen better days, you know. Yeah, I mean we've struggled. The past couple

of years have been a little bit better. We just hired UH Sark, you know who was at SC and I think uh a great offensive mind. I think, you know, going through struggling with alcoholism and humbled him. Yeah and so, and he spent some time with coach Saven. So I'm excited. I'm excited. I think I think he's ready to shine and Texas is ready to get back on top. So we got a great running back from actually from Arizona. Nice. Yeah, Jehan Robinson. He was a freshman last year. He was amazing.

So yeah, we got we're off to a good start. Are you the greatest Texas Longhorn football player of all time? I have the most records. I was just just gonna say, it's it's it's gotta be you. And the only other name I can think of is Vince Young. Earl Campbell, Yeah, Earl Campbell. Fuck, Yes, that was Yeah, So I think it's different. I think you know, you played four years too, Yeah, Vince. I think if Vince would have played another year, he

definitely would be he'd be the best. But even when he did what he did in the Rose, the Rose was legendary. That's that's gonna that's gonna go down as best performance by a college football player ever. That was legend and that and that's almost like I always look at that game as like when lebron beat the Warriors. Yes, because USC back then was like the dream team. They had Lendel White and Reggie Bush and Matt Lioner. It was like two winners on what the fuck is going

on here? Yeah, it's great. By the way, Lendel White's a wild dude, man him in person, crazy guy. Yeah. I think when we think of college football, Vince Young coming to the NFL, he run Rookie of the Year and then man, I feel like the NFL I think Jeff Fisher did him dirty. You mentioned it earlier about about running backs and longevity is so much running backs, any position but quarterbacks running backs. It's fit. It's just

do you have a good fit with the system. Do you have to coach with the head coach if you if there's a good fit, you can play for it. Yeah. I feel like Vince Young could have maybe went to anywhere. Okay. I feel like Jeff Fisher was was hard on him man like. So the story is that the owner, the owner from Houston, and that's where that's where view eyes from when it said we're drafting him, and and coach

Fisher was like, no, I don't want them. They bumped heads and so he kind of held that against Vince the whole his whole career, which is trash. This is trash to me, Like young players in the NFL, college players and college kids. Coaches have such a pivotal role in their lives, and I've seen coaches ruin ruin young men. Who do you who do you think right now is an example of that that you feel like is like, fuck it, You're just in the wrong place. Hmmm, that's

a good question. It's probably a quarterback. I would say Sam Darnold would be the first person that comes to mind, just because he's probably had some of the worst coaching. I don't know that Adam Gaves was fucking horrible. Adam Case is bad. Is bad. Yeah, I think Drew Luck. Drew Luck. Okay, I think Drew Luck. I mean I saw him playing. He was great in college. I saw him playing college. He's got an arm He's got so much talent. It's just him finding finding the right coach

in the right system. M M. Because he seems like the kind of the kind of player who really will put the work in, will study. Yeah. Yeah, And you know, I think that that The Cardinals are a perfect example of why the coach matters. It's like, oh, they literally like they hired that guy and they're like, yo, you need your like you know, it's a fit thing. It's like it's everything I'm telling you. If you look you look at you look at Belichick and Brady. I mean,

that's that's the best example. And I think you know, when when Brady went to Tampa early in the year, what did you notice, Yeah, it was kind of dicey. It was kind of dice r and the Arians don't give a fuck. He'll say some ship in the press conference, they got everyone talking like are they beefing? What the fuck is going on in Tampa? But they got on the same page and exactly, and I think that's probably

the most talented offensive team payt Mags ever had. You can say West Walk or Randy Moss, but like top to bottom and now all the receivers got stars and then and then his running backs are crazy, two of them. Two of them are crazy. Yeah, and Lashawan McCoy's like the third guy. Yeah, exactly, Yeah, it's it's wild. Well, look, I appreciate you for coming through. Anything else you want to promote while you're here, man to my podcast. So I just I just started a podcast, oh ship. It's

called Curious Questions with Ricky Williams. And one of the things that I got into in the middle of my career was astrology. And so I do I bring people on, I look at their astrology chart and then I just asked some questions based off of what I see. So astrology, when you say this, because I'm not an astrology guy, so you got to help educate me. This is kind of like a this is not like like a scorpio. Yeah. Yeah, So I'm gonna okay, So I lean on the belief

that I don't I don't. I don't know about that ship, is what I'm saying. Yes, I don't know if it's bullshit. I mean, people say, oh, you're in a queris this means I'm like, does it? Yeah? How do you know? But with that being said, give me a like a breakdown of astrology and why you're so passionate about it. It's a very interesting thing to be passionate about. Yeah. So so when I when I retired in two thousand

and four, I just left everything. Yeah, and right before I retired, I realized that everything in my life had been built on me being a football player, and I gave all that up, and so I was kind of I was lost. And I met this lady and she I heard I was a football player, and so she got curious about my astrology, and so I gave him my information and she looked at the chart and it's

just a strange lady. I didn't even I just met and she looked at my chart and we had this conversation and based off my chart, I just felt like, this woman knows me better than my closest friends. And so I just got really curious and it just gave me a lot of clarity and direction in a time where I was lost. And so I got curious and just started studying it. And the more I studied, I just started to notice, Wow, there's just some crazy, like crazy connections going on. And the more I studied, I

just started to notice more crazy connections. And then I just started talking to people about their charts and people got something out of it, and so I just kept doing it. So your podcast, you look at people's charts and based on that you can kind of hit them with some questions, some interesting questions. Wow. Yeah, so an example. And I don't like there's a whole chart. It's not just you know, being an Aquarius. There's a whole bunch

of other stuff going on. But like if in general, right, if I was had an Aquarius on, I would talk about that. You know, for Aquarius, a lot of it has to do with with learning to to not care what other people think. Okay, I mastered that, yeah exactly, And so I would I would ask I would ask questions about stories because I want the listeners. Because when someone says they're inn Aquarius, it doesn't really describe you. It describes, It describes the dramas that you're going to

experience in life and the dramas that aquariums experience. What is the drama of being an outsider and learning how to be comfortable thinking for yourself. That whole process and how it looks for everyone is going to be different a lot of times with an aquarius, and probably eighty percent of them. This works because the aquarius is about questioning authority, and so typically like one of the one of the one of the parents, one of the parents,

you know, as a difficult time with the with the aquarium. Yeah, yeah, I know that's I question authority my whole life. Yeah, I'm always butting heads with bosses a bit. What the fuck did this motherfucker god is doing over here? Yeah? Yeah, like what the hell? Yes, damn. When you when you left football for those years, it was it was everyone was surprised, caught off, Like, you know, you were what like five years, six years in the league, six five

years and you leave football. You know, I think a lot of people the perception was you turned into like this hippie guy, right, I did, right, So you turned into this hippie guy. You learned about aquarius and astrology. Uh did was there anything else spiritual that you went through during that time that that helped shape you? Yoga, yoga, meditation, holistic healing, like, all of that, all of it came in that time, in that time period, and it surprised me.

I didn't know I was a hippie until I just I ended up in this town in Australia called Byron Bay, and I just felt you ended up there. I just I mean, so it's kind of it's kind of funny. I mean, it's kind of funny where I ended up this teleport over. I had a friend. I had a friend who right after I retired, she said she was traveling to Samoa. So I was like, shit, I don't got nothing to do. Let me go with you. And so we went to Samoa and then we went to

Fiji and then she started tripping. So I was like, bye, and I tripping on hallucinogenic just freaking out on acting like you know anyways, and so I was like, you know, I don't need this, and I was, Okay, what am I going to do now? I'm in the middle of the Pacific, you know, And then I and then I was like, oh, Ship, Australia is like really close, and I want to go back there because I had a

good time. And so I flew back to Sydney, hung out in Sydney for a couple of days, and then I got this idea of this town called Byron Bay that I always wanted to go to. And I never really been on a greyhound except from San Diego to El Centro and so I, and in Australia the greyhound

is like everybody travels in the greyhound. So I took a Greyhound from Sydney to this town and Byron Bay, and I thought I'd be there for a couple of days because I wanted to photograph a lighthouse that was there, and ended up standing there for a couple of months. And I learned there that I was, that I was a hippie, and then from there on I came back and started doing hippies. I became a vegetarian, started doing yoga. Are you vegetarians? No, not anymore. You got to meet man.

After I retired, I moved back to Texas and it's too hard. Yeah, yeah, barbecue, some of that barbecue in Texas. Man, I had some pork belly. That was like life changing. A couple of weeks ago. I was like, why can't they make it like that in California. It's just it's just that. So now you're not you're you're back to eating meat. Yes, we always Mike Tyson always describes how he found like d MT. Yeah, did you ever get into any of the haucinogenic side of things? Ayahuasca? Yeah?

So ayahuasca is something you did. You did ayahuasca? Yeah, me too. I really want to do it. Yeah, it's an experience. You gotta have a shaman and like it's helpful. I think it's better if you have a shaman. And I say do it at least how many times? Have you done it? Seven times? I say do it at least at least four times because the first time, lot of times it's just getting your bearings. But you got to do it a couple of times. Really did you do it? Like did you go to Costa Rica? Where

were you at? I did it? I did in southern California. This there's a shaman from Hawaii that he would come here every year for six months and he would do pretty much every every weekend. He would do a Friday Saturday Wow, And so I did it with him a couple of times. I have another friend in Tapanga who has ceremonies at his house. I did it a couple of times. But I would love to go to the Amazon and do it. I heard it it's hardcore there,

but but I want to. I want to have that experience they you know, I had a friend of mine who did it, who was addicted to cocaine and uh, you know, had an issue with you know, sleeping with every woman he met and gambled like a crazy person and he did two days straight and it like changed his life. He said, it was like doing thirty years of therapy. It shows you stuff. But the truth is you have to be ready to You have to be ready. You want to see that. You got to be ready

to see it. But it shows it shows you stuff. What's do you do? You remember the craziest thing that you got out of it or that you saw while you were while you were on eyewash Because I'm really curious into trying it. So for me, you know, I'm more kinesthetic. So it was more of the feeling of it and when you drink the drink, like, the experience was you can feel like going into your stomach and like pulling like stuff out of your body. And then

most people purge. And so when you go to ayahuasca, you know, you sit down in your spot and they give you like a bucket. They call it purging because it's not really pukey because you're not supposed to eat. You're not supposed to eat going into it. Yeah, and so it's really it's stuff like it's coming out of your mouth, it's coming out of your eyes sometimes coming out of your ears. That happen to you, yeah, yeah, yeah.

And and I you know, I had like I don't know if it was past lives up, but I had, you know, images of being like a Native American Native American warrior and having to choose between going to war and and going to train with the shaman. And that's kind of that's kind of how my life has kind of been, you know, where I did the warrior football player thing, now I'm kind of moving towards the shaman. Yeah.

Someone my friend said he felt he said there was a lady like a voice her or whatever he was saying, right, and and he was like he was like, there was like trauma that I had as a child. I don't even remember, but it was it was holding me down without even knowing it. And he was like, it was almost like they committed surgery on me and they cut

it out of me. Yeah, that shit's crazy. Do you did you hear like a lady or like, because I've heard that multiple times from people that there's like, you know, some something that's talking to you, talking you through it, or like so, yeah, so I haven't heard a lady, but but you know, for me, it's in ayahuasca, an animal will come like a wolf came one time, in a white rhino came other time. Wow. But you know, it's it's kind of that same state that you experienced

when you daydream or even sometimes a night dream. You know that that's yeah, and it shows you, it shows you stuff. Did it change you? It did it? Did? You know? But I've been doing this work for a long time, like meditation, like doing a lot of retreat exactly exactly, so when it comes up, it's like, okay, okay, okay, this this is this is what's next. This is what I'm moving through right right right right. That's fucking wild man. You gotta do it, man, I know I know, I

need to. One of my friends had someone in Malibu that does it. Yeah, but I definitely I want to do it, like so make sure I'm with the right person. I mean the group, the group you do it with. This is extremely important. Yeah. Yeah, that's wild. Well, look, thank you for coming through. Of course, your podcast How many episodes have you done? Number five is releasing number five tomorrow. Who Who's it with Bethany Cosentino. She's singer part of a Best Coast Okay for sure. Well check

out the podcast. It's called Curious Questions with Ricky Williams. Ricky Williams, Yeah, you gotta get you got to go to Austin and get Rogan Man. Yeah, I mean, I mean we reached out to him, so we're working on it. I mean he's got I mean, listen, if he wants to tap it with the King Austin, he's got to hit you up. Man. They got to put your statue next to Vince Young's statue, and then you know what

you know. I mean, I say, Austin is the only the only town in America that has statues of twupot heads, me and Willie Nelson. Mm hmm. Willy Nelson. Do you ever smoke with Willy I have fire? Yeah. Do you ever smoke a snoop? I have me too, I've only done snoop. Oh and have you ever met Wiz? I

haven't met. Will make that happen please? Yeah? Yeah, yeah, he's a legend, the only Yeah, I think I've hit all the bucket list rappers I just haven't smoked with with like Willie Nelson, or I smoke with one of the Marley brothers, which is cool. I haven't even done that, or one of one of his sons, Steven Marley. I smoke with him in Boise Idol. Yeah. They had this big ass like monster jar on the bus of just fucking just the craziest weed. And it was like you

gotta Bob Marley tattoo, right yeah? Yeah yeah, And it was like, Okay, I spoke with the Marley man. I'm chilling crazy. By the way, Rest in peace to Bunny Whaler. That's how we're going to end the podcast. Ricky Williams Man