The Dave Pasch Podcast - Ron Wolfley

to the previous forty nine episodes. We wanted to do something a little bit different for what we consider a special episode the fact that they haven't taken us off the air yet and we've made it to fifty, so I wanted to bring in one of my great friends and longtime broadcast partner on the Arizona Cardinal Games, Ron Wolflee. For those of you that may not know, Wolf was a very good NFL player, four Pro Bowls in ten

NFL seasons. Wolf will talk about his playing days, why he decided to get into broadcasting, and we'll also go a little bit more in depth on Ron Wolflee the man. There are people that listen to the games and listen to Wolf on the radio and have an idea about who Ron Wolfley is at his core. This episode, we'll go a little bit deeper with Wolf and you'll get a greater appreciation for who Ron Wolfley is as a person.

I went out under the football field. That's Spring, the spring where my dad was lying in bad dying, and I said to myself, at one hundred ninety eight pounds, you know what, I don't care if I'm one hundred ninety eight pounds. I don't care how big you are. I don't care how bad you are. I don't care about any of it. I'm gonna make you feel what

I feel. We'll also bringing our longtime producer Jim Mhundro to play some clips that have never made air before, some behind the scenes stuff between Wolf and I during game broadcasts and frankly, it's kind of embarrassing. Dude, Wolf Wolf, Just dude, Yes, believe it, man, No, cannot believe. We're gonna be doing a game next week to play for the Super Bowl. Oh my gosh, I'm not even talk about not being able to move my jar right now.

I'm gonna be locked up, baby. That's coming up as well, along with some talk about Wolf as a broadcaster, Wolf as a player, and much more coming up here on this edition to the Dave Pash Podcast. We are presented by BETMGM, the official sports betting partner of the Arizona Cardinals, and by Hila River Resorts and casinos. The bet MGM Touchdown Boost token is here increase your payout. With every

Cardinal's touchdown. You'll receive an extra ten percent boost off every Cardinal's touchdown, and your boost can be used on the following week's game only at BETMGM, the king of sports books and the official partner of the Arizona Cardinals. Visit betmgm dot com for terms and conditions. Twenty one years of age or older to wager Arizona only. All promotions are subject to qualification and eligibility requirements. Please gamble responsibly.

Gambling problem called one eight hundred. Next step All right, Time to hear from my long time broadcast partner on the Arizona Cardinal Games, the one the only Ron Wolflee. Guests number fifty. So before I actually introduce you, Wolf, let me just go ahead and list off the previous forty nine to just give you a sense and perspective of the kind of company that you're in here. Here

are previous forty nine episodes. Kurt Warner, Buddha Baker, Cliff Kingsbury, Medichime, Steve Levi and Bryan Greasy, Michael Bidwell, James Rode, Scott Hansen, Jason Wright, Kirk, Herbstreet, Frank Kelly, Endo, Steve Kim, James Jones, Mike, Rico Vans, Joseph, Jeff Van Gundy, Adam Shine, Colt McCoy, Bill Walton, Chris Spielman, Carson Palmer, Drew Stanton, Al McCoy, Adrian Wilson, Christian Kirk, mckel Bridges, George Kleoff, Cough, JJ Reddick,

Andrew Jeremiah, Quentin, Harris, JJ Watt, zach Ertz, Justin Pugh, Cliff Kingsbury again, James Connor, Jeff Rogers, Dusty Divorchek, Jason Light, Dabbos Sweeney, Charles Davis, Marcus Spears, Damian Lillard, Kevin Clark, Greg Olson, Mike dj Humphreys, Greg Sanky, Scott Van Pelt, Bobby Hurley, Jim Nance, and Ron Wolfley as guest number fifty for several reasons, because, first of all, it brings back memories of the time that you and I went and got fitted for suits and the guy came out

and said, we got a fifty. They had to find a special suit. Okay to you and your guest number fifty, And you and I've been doing this together for eighteen years, so I wanted you to be on this very special episode. Well, David, I really do appreciate that. But my goodness, you read those names off and all I can think of is, which one of these is not like the other? Oh, my goodness, that's pretty astounding. Well, this is the first one that I have not written anything down. Normally I

write out all the questions. But I figured you and I would just kind of riff, oh, I say, because we get a lot to talk about, ye and we're not really going to talk football because you're on sixteen hours a week on Arizona Sports. You're on multiple platforms talking constantly about the team. So I figured, let's talk about something else. Let's actually give people saying I'm overexposed, David. Let's give people an inside look at Ron Wolfley and our dynamic two in the booth, because I do think

there are people that find that interesting. It is it's been eighteen years. I remember the first time I met you was when I got the job in two thousand and two. I came in and after the interview process and got the job. At the time, John Missler was the analyst, and they said, we really liked John, but we want to hear how you sound with other analysts, because it's not definite that John's going to be back, so let's go ahead and bring in all these other guys.

So ten people came in and we called the same game. You were one of the ten. We did Raiders Cardinals from two thousand and one, and I remember, like I by the end of it, I was delirious because it was the same game over and over. I started making up names or you know, calling guys George Bolttnikoff, just to change it up. And you stood out above all the other guys. You stood out. It was it was

clear that you were very gifted. And you know, John was still the guy at that time, and John was great and did a few more years, and then you got the job. And here we are eighteen years later, and obviously we've been through a lot. We've seen a lot of losses. We've also seen a lot of great moments, including the Super Bowl. And I'm just curious, wolf from somebody who played ten years in the NFL and played at a high level. I know I joke with you, but look, you went to the Pro Bowl four times.

You were a legit dude in the NFL. Did you know then that you wanted to not just be in broadcasting but do games, because I think there is there's a different type of former player coach that can do games. It's not for everybody. Studio is much easier than to talk really quickly and react to something on the fly and do it over and over again for three hours. Yeah. No, you know what, Honestly, I did know that I wanted to get into broadcasting. And it wasn't my own idea.

It was Jude Lacava, you know, Jude Lacava, right, Jude Lacava, local news anchor here, of course, Jude Lacava legend. Jude was the guy who said, Wolf, you ought to get into you ought to get into broadcasting because I always had a vocabulary and I'd like to use my vocabulary and I like to speak. I love English, I love it. So he said you should get into broadcasting, you know what's And I said, hey, you know what, that sounds great because I could tell stories. I could sit around

and talk about what it was like. You know, it's kind of like you, David. I have a writer's brain, Like I look at people and I imagine something that I could write. In a novel or something like that. And the first time, it's amazing you you bring up the first time we met. The first time I met you, Matt, you actually had hair. You had hair right there ahead

and seriously, it was a bush. I don't know what happened since, but you got more hair on your nose than you do on your head right now, Buddy, used to be a bush. And that's what's truly amazing. You know, time does go by, does it not. You still have hair, it's gray and it's spiked. Yeah, you also have teeth because yesterday or Sunday, Wolf had lost a tooth. Yeah, eating something on the way to the game. But you

got that fixed that you were not supposed to. You know, the rule was since the Cardinals won, you were supposed to hold off until they lost again before you get that. Yeah. Well, you know what. I hang in there because dinner tonight, I'm sure if I bite into something a little firm, it might come out again. That's what the dentists said. So well, if people are drawn to you, I feel like that's something about your personality and your character. It's clear off the air just watching when you and I

always go down to the field before the game. Every game we do, and in particular State Farm Stadium when we do it, everybody Wolf Wolf, Hey Wolf, And You're always responsive and kind And is that something like will you like that as a player? Did people love you as a player? Yeah, for the most part, David, I always, I always made that connection with the common man in the stands. And the reason why I say that is because they looked at me at six foot two hundred

and eighteen pounds and said that could be me. I could be that guy. They knew that I wasn't very talented. They knew that nobody was going to hand me the ball and say go run the ball. Nobody was going to try to throw me the ball. They knew that I was out there to do one thing and one thing only, and that was to give damage and take damage. And I think that appealed to a lot of guys. Especially when I went to Cleveland in front of the

Dog Bond, they absolutely adopted me as their own. And yeah, I just think I made that connection with a common man because they thought, man, that could be me if I got a break. So along those lines, you talked about your height and your weight, and first of all, there aren't many fullbacks anymore to begin with, and not many Ben Skarnik, who we just saw off of the rams, Yeah, you know, he's not a fullback yet. I think he's even bigger than you. Yes, or at the time, How

did you survive? How did you make it years? How did you go to the Pro Bowl four times? Yeah? You know, that's that's great. Thank you, Lord God from what you have done for me, because honestly, I was two hundred eighteen pounds, like I said, and they drafted me in the fourth round one hundred and four overall. Never forget the number that you were drafted, David, never one hundred and four overall. And then whenever you find somebody who's drafted after you, you just rapped them mercilessly.

You're one hundred and five. You've got to be kidding me. Anyways, I digress. First of all, didn't one of the coaches on the Cardinal staff think that you were the wrong person? They drafted you and thought, actually you were somebody else. No. I kind of suspected that when I showed up, because they looked at me. They walked up to me and looked at me and said, I thought you were bigger. I mean here, I am six foot two hundred and

eighteen pounds. In an era in the National Football League where every fullback was two forty five two fifty plus. Didn't they ask you what number you wore? Yea, they did the watch? Were they watching the wrong guy? And take it. There was a guy that was forty six and I was thirty six. John Gay number forty six. He was a tailback behind me, but he actually outweighed me. He was two hundred and twenty five pounds two hundred and thirty pounds. I was two hundred and eighteen pounds

when I was a senior. They moved me to fullback when I was one hundred ninety eight pounds. Once again, we're talking about in an era where every fullback was two hundred and fifty pounds. In David, it was hammer and nail. Hammer and nail. That's all it was. There was none of this zone scheme or anything like this. It was run as fast as you can through the bee gap. And oh, by the way, there's gonna be another human being and he's gonna be running in the

opposite direction through the bee gap as well. And the two shell meet somewhere at the line of scrimmage. It was. It was brutal and it was beautiful or brutiful as I like to say, Who was the toughest football player that you ever played against? Oh? Have you heard of Bill Boy Bates? Special teams legend for the Dallas County. Without a shadow of doubt, the toughest Bill Bates was the toughest Bill Boy Bates was. He was tough. Now, once again, when you say tough, I'm not talking strength.

We're talking toughness. Toughness is the ability to endure damage, to give damage, and to absorb it. And Bill Boy Bates. You go against Bill Boy Bates one on one on a punt return, whether you're the guy that's on the return team or whether you're on the punt pro team, and he was trying to keep you from running down and covering the punts. I could promise you right now abandon all hope ye who enter here, because he would

never quit. You could take a metaphorical bullet and stick it in his head, and I'm just telling you he would get off the ground. He would never quit. He'd fight you tooth and nail all the way down the field. As a matter of fact, there were times where Bill Boy Bates and myself running down the field. This is my rookie year. We just run down the field side by side, and I'd be punching him in the face and he'd be punching me in the face on a

punt return running down the field. And I remember, David I used to get I mean, this was Bill Boy Bates. They started sending a human being to the Pro Bowl for special teams because of Bill Bates, because John Madden saw him and said, oh my goodness, look at this madman covering these kickoffs and these punts. So all of a sudden, because Madden would start highlighting him, the NFL said, we ought to send a guy to the Pro Bowl

every year. And it was Bill Bates who started that, and I knew he started it, and he had beat me two years into the league, and all of a sudden, I'm in the league and he's like year three and I'm punching him, and all of a sudden, I'd stop, the whistle would blow, and I'd look at him and I'd say, Bill, you created me, Bill, you created me. Now your better has come in. He would look at me like shut your mouth, but he never said a word.

Bill Bates would never say a word. He'd punch you, he'd fight you tooth and nail, but he'd never speak to you. Interesting, speaking of punching and fighting, how many fights were you in on the field? Forget off because it's funny, Wolf. I hear these stories about you, and obviously I've been around you a lot over the last two decades, and the guy that you talk about that you were, I don't see I see somebody different. You

remind me in a lot of ways. We talked about this off the year, but for folks that maybe listen to the podcast or want to go back and listen to the podcast I did with Chris Spielman, who's now one of the top executives with the Detroit Lions. I worked with Chris at ESPN for a long time, and there were there was an in there was a an intensity underlying intensity with Chris and with you, that's there.

But you treat people. You've got a big heart, but mess with it a little bit, poke the bear a little bit, and I could see the beast coming out. So obviously you use that as a football player. You've talked a lot about that you turned you you went into an altered state of consciousness to play football. Yeah, so that beast fought how many times on the football field. I don't even know dat two hundred? I I want to say, no, I don't want to exaggerate here, but

I would say between college and the NFL. Yeah, Um, I would say probably seventy seven. It really is a lot. But you gotta remember, I was a poor kid that grew up in a rich town, David end. You know, I grew up on a dead end street as you know, that emptied into a gravel pit. And I never had the right shoes. I never had the right jeans on. I never had the right clothes because we had seven people living in my house, and you know my parents. My mom didn't work, of course, my dad was a

truck driver. We didn't have a lot of money, man, we didn't and growing up in that rich town filled with doctors and lawyers, even though we were at the other end of the street, so to speak metaphorically. But man, I can tell you, David that it was hard because kids would just be so mean to you and tease you, and you didn't have the right genes on and sometimes when you were twelve years old and they tease you

for your faith. Oh, you believe in Jesus. You believe in Jesus, And they would mock you for believe eving in Jesus. You know what, I'd beat the dog hut of that, can I just tell you. And I didn't care how big he was. I didn't care at the time. I'll never forget my mom coming in and the principle saying, you know, your son esther. Your son got in another fight, and it was because they were mocking him for his faith.

And I said, yeah, that's right, Mom. You know I'm not gonna and she would say, Ronnie, you know you can't. You can't allow that to happen. You cannot. That's not what Jesus wants you to do. And I came to an age where I realized that. But on the football field, once you stepped in between those white lines, the entire paradigm was changing, and it changed to a point where you could just knock the dog out of somebody. It's one of the most wonderful things. And I thank God

for this, David, I really do. So you could change You're saying you could channel all that all bit and put it into hurting somebody else on the football field. Not the intent to hurt, but to play the game at the highest level, because that's what you brought to the table. And it got me into a lot of trouble. It would get me into fights because I would fight you tooth and nail. I do it legally. I'd never

cheap shot you either. I do it legally, but I would fight you to the bitter end, tooth and nail. And it got me in a lot of trouble on the football field because I was not going to back down. And I need to tell you this story. I learned to play the game of football because my dad was dying of leukemia when I was eighteen years old. Okay, I went through high school and everything else. I thought I was O. J. Simpson. Pitch me the ball. I'll run and I'll know I'm running a four six forty.

I'm one of the fastest kids in my high school. Pitch me the ball. I'm a running back. Day three of going to West Virginia, they recruited me. Of course, I signed my letter of intent. I signed I was a mountaineer. Day three of being in training camp, my freshman year, they said, getting a three point stance. Suddenly they moved me to fullback. I weighed one hundred and ninety eight pounds and they moved me to fullback my freshman year. I went out that spring. That spring, my

dad was dying back at my house. Forty five Hodson wrote, google it, go ahead and look at it. In our living room. He was in a hospital bed dying of leukemia. David, Yes, I grew up poor, there's no doubt about that. Yet at the same time, I can tell you that there was a lot of love in that house as well, and I love my dad a lot, even to this

day when I think about him. But I went out under the football field that's spring, the spring where my dad was lying in bed dying, and I said to myself, at one hundred and ninety eight pounds, you know what, I don't care if I'm one hundred ninety eight pounds. I don't care how big you are, I don't care how bad you are. I don't care about any of it.

I'm gonna make you feel what I feel. You want to talk about, psychological, you want to talk about I'm sure somebody would have loved to have put me on a couch at that point in time and throw some questions at me. But I was like, literally, any pain that I felt didn't matter to me. I was going to transfer everything that I was feeling inside onto you.

And that meant running full speed into whoever the end man on the line of scrimmage was, or whoever the mic linebacker was in the middle running an io, or whoever was in a wedge, and I was going to be the wedge buster on special teams, busting it up whatever it was. Where When I got the opportunity to run full speed into somebody, I never hasated. I never broke stride, I never gathered myself to hit him. I

ran full speed. Look, I was running into a wall without breaking stride, and the collisions that were happening at one hundred ninety eight pounds, I was getting killed. It was nineteen eighty one, okay, And that's the way that it was back then. I cannot tell you how brutal that spring was for me, but I will tell you four years later when I left there and Paul Crossula was still the running back coach there. When I got drafted in the fourth round one hundred and four overall.

I went in to say goodbye to coach Crsula and I said goodbye. When we had a great conversation. I turned to walk out and he said, hey Wolf, and I turned around and he said, you remember spring of your freshman year. I was like, do I remember? How could I forget the way that you treated me? He said, I did not because I loved you and I saw something in you and I knew I needed to bring it out. Are you kidding me that that was the way that it was hard coaching back then? Man? It

was a beautiful thing. And I know I'm all over the place, David, but you opened this can or weren't. Look it's it gives people that are curious about you. I get asked all the time about two analysts, you and Walton. People ask is Wolf like that? Off the year? What's what's Bill like? Is? He always liked that? Is Wolf always liked that? So I think this gives people some insight to who you are. And you took that anger rage and used it to your advantage as a

football player for a decade. When retirement hit, and I'm around retired athletes and coaches all the time because the people you work with, well, I work with on college football, NBA, college basketball. They're former players. Some of them are Hall of famers, either future or are already in the Hall of Fame. Some were guys that had a very short career in pro sports or none at all. So how guys handle retirement? Everybody's different. Yeah, how did you handle

retirement before you got into this business? Yeah? I think I handled it very, very well. I always had prepared for the day, at least I felt that way that

I was going to be done playing football. For me, the greatest thing about playing the game of football was the fact that you could step in between those white lines on the gridiron and you could act like an unmitigated savage, David, unmitigated savage, and yet you could walk outside those white lines and you love people and respect people and treat them better than yourself, David as a man.

It didn't get any better than that. For me, personally, it didn't, So I never used to write poetry about it. The fact that I could step outside those white lines when I was grown as an adult and totally love people and respect people and treat them better than myself. But on that football field, it was like I'd never cheap shot you, but you were gonna get my absolute

best period. And I love that dichotomy that it was so awesome to be able to be primal when you needed to be primal, and then walk outside those lines and love people and treat them right. And yeah, for me, I really didn't have a problem with that. Between the end of your playing career and broadcasting before you actually got started in this and like I said, it's many eighteen years doing the games, but you were doing some

other broadcasting prior to that. When did you come out to Arizona to to make your home officially and what was the transition like when you started getting into broadcasting knowing that, hey, this could be my career. Yeah, David Um, very tough set of circumstances, very difficult situation, married and getting a divorce in nineteen ninety eight, and I came

out here. I call it my dark days. I came out here in nineteen ninety eight, and I came out here basically to die because I thought my life was over. At that point in time, I was happily married and

a father of four. And for me, I came out here and drank a bottle of Jack almost every other night, and I'm talking about drinking a lot, showing up at eleven o'clock in the morning, and shutting it down twelve hours later, for the most part, And it's so hard for me to recall that and remember myself being that way. Yet I was David, and it was very, very difficult. And I came down here because Jude Lacava once again asked me and said, there's a new radio station KMVP

eight sixty am that is opening up. Why don't you come down here and actually try broadcasting. Why don't you try out? And that's what I did, because I thought my life basically was over. Yet at the same time, I needed to make some money that I could send the money home and of course make sure that I was buying Jack Daniels plenty of that for the evening. So in a span after playing ten years in the

National Football League, I lost so much. I lost everything for the most party, and it was all my fault because I allowed myself to walk down that path. And to this day it's very, very difficult to talk about because of how I failed, my family failed, my wife failed, my kids failed, my family period, and yet I came down here, David, I drank a bottle of Jack Daniels in somehow, some way, I'd be ready to go the

next day and I'd start broadcasting. I'd go right to the station, I'd broadcast and go right back to the bar. It was, I seriously, it was unbelievable. I'm so glad that God pulled me out of that, but it was. It's hard to recall, Dave. No. I appreciate you sharing because I think it's a story that maybe a lot of people haven't heard. And I think a lot of

people can be inspired by where you are now. And I think one of the very interesting aspects of that dark time for you was and you've told me the story, and I know you've shared it. I don't know if you've spoken about it publicly. But the waitress who was serving you at that time was serving you alcohol, has been your wife now for two decks. I mean it's incredible two years how you and Stephie Well, David, as you know, Jesus Christ is my Lord and savior. You

know my faith. You cannot take my faith from me. You don't have me. You have nothing. There is no life from my King, there is none, and because of that, and I've believed that since I was twelve years old. I accepted Christ as my savior when I was twelve years old. I basically was raised in a family that was Amish, except we drove cars and used electricity. It

was so fundamentally biblically sound, I kid you not. I'll never forget when my older brother, Craig, who played twelve years in the National Football League, was drafted by the Pittsburgh Steelers. He's five years older than I am. I'll never forget the huge family meeting we had because Craig

was going to play on the Sabbath. Okay, so now, all of a sudden, this was a huge deal in My grandfather said, you know what, I think he can actually do more of God's work by actually playing on the Sabbath and using the platform that God has given him. Then it's going to be a negative anyways, you know the family that I came from, and um, so for me, it was a situation where when I went down that path the dark days, it was never a rejection of my God. It was never a rejection of my King.

It was never a I don't believe in you anymore. I was broken. I was. I was just heartsick and blind and walking down that dark path on those dark days by myself. Man so hard to recall them once again. But suddenly, after four years of doing that, there is this firefly named Stephanie who's had this bar and it was called McKenna's. And there there she is, and she was blind, and she was absolutely beautiful. And yet I would know or say a word to her, because this

wasn't a party. This was spread the elbows, drank the Jack Daniels, smoked my three packs of Lucky Strikes a day. Go ahead and do that, and you know what, don't talk to anybody. Was it a leaving Las Vegas type, That's exactly what it was. So you were You were there too. I was there to yes, drink myself into oblivion for the most part. And yet here's this blonde who was just beautiful and like a firefly, David, she was just like in all the darkness, I was surrounded

by it, and yet she was this firefly. And my God is faithful, even though I was unfaithful, he was faithful, And suddenly, somehow, some way he put us together. She actually had her faith as well, and believed in the same Jesus that I believed in, and was running for her own reason as well. And suddenly God put us together and we grabbed each other's hand and said, let's do this together. And I've been with her for twenty

two years, Thank you, Lord God. And you've been sober, and you've been fruitful, and you've got a family with Stephanie children, you've got a great career. And there's no easy way to segue from how serious that is to what we're about to do. But I one of the things I really appreciate it about you is you don't take yourself too seriously. You laugh at yourself. You broadcast

games because you love the game. And when we've had some seasons here where things haven't gone well and we've we've had to try to manufacture joy and fun because our job is to serve the listener. So how do we keep the listener entertained? How do we keep the listener engaged? Where the listener can experience a football game, but experience maybe something a little bit different. And you're different,

you're different analysts. All the things you've talked about, the good, the bad, the ugly, everything surrounding it your life, from where you were as a child to the things you've gone through to being a Pro Bowl player to now being in broadcasting. That all comes out in you're talking about how you channeled that anger as a player, the love for the game. I think you channel that very well on the air. I think if you're a listener, you can't. I mean, I'm sure there's people that love

Ron Wolfley and people that don't. There's people that like me and people probably hate me on the but you can't say Ron Wolfley is I'm passionate. Ron Wolfley doesn't love the game? So is that something like do you think about that before we do a game? Or it just comes out ever you? And I know you know that too, because I never do. Are you kidding me? The game of football is brutal and it is emotional, and it's one of the things that I loved the most.

Not everybody could do it, David, Not everybody could do it. Listen. The NFL has changed a lot, and it needed to change it did. The biggest change in the game of football is how you train a human being to play in a football game. Period. You don't beat the living dog out of a human being to get him ready to play in an NFL game. That's what you used to do. Anyways, it's all changed. But having said that,

football was my way out. Football was what got me out of that that dead end street, so to speak. Football gave me the opportunity, by God's hand in my life. Using football, I was able to suddenly, um change the paradigm for me growing up completely. I used to say it all the time, and it's so true. Mother Gridiron, right, the game of football itself will love you. It will

love you. It will nurse you like a newborn babe nursing on its mother, if you will just embrace it with everything that you've got, if you will just go out onto the field and let yourself know. I'm seriously I was trying to go down a different path with this, but that's all. That's okay, you're getting fired up again. It's good. I'm setting out right now. This is the game will reward you if you'll just love her back and give everything you've got in between those white lines.

Not enough people understand that I had no right playing in the National Football League for ten days, let loan ten years. I not only played ten years, but by God's grace in my life. Went to four Pro Bowls. As you said, I was team captain eight of the ten years I was in the National Football League. Why because I knew what it was like to give all that I had, which is one hundred percent. Don't give me your one hundred and five percent day, don't give

me your one hundred and nine percent. I don't want to hear that you don't have it. There is no such thing as one hundred and ten percent. It's one hundred percent. I was trying to channel this back into broadcasting. I don't know if you're going there. I don't know if that's where you're going. No, Okay, I was trying to Are we gonna have to addit? This man point I was making is that all the things you did to work yourself into an altered state to play football, Yeah,

in a way comes out naturally in broadcasting. And I want to bring in our producer Jim one hundred, who's been with us for eighteen years. Because Omo his nickname, he's been part of the organization for a long time. His dad was the head trainer for the Cardinals forever, and so he's kind of been a part of this and knows you as well as anybody. And you know I mentioned that you don't take yourself too seriously. And I think for again a lot of Cardinal fans before

I bring in Jim. Just the year we went to the Super Bowl, I'll never forget you and I are on the bus going over to the game from the hotel and Kurt Warner is sitting in front of us, and you and I are sitting next to each other, and we're like, it's Kurt Warner. Kurt Warner getting ready to go play in the Super Bowl. What's he's played in this game before? I wonder how many other guys on this bus right now are crapping their pants, and

how many of these guys are looking at Kurt. Look, I'm gonna look at that guy, and I'm gonna follow that guy. And I remember you and I kept telling each other like, hey, we don't know if this is ever gonna happen again. From enjoy it, soak it all in. And I there's so many things about that day that I remember. And then we've had other great playoff games, the Packers with Baum, the Packers playoff game after we

went to the Super Bowl. There have been great moments in great playoff games, but there have also been times where when things weren't going well, we had to how do we keep the fan entertained in tuning in to the Cardinals and being interested in Cardinal football and being

entertained at the same time. So anyway, Ohma, why don't you jump in here, because I think there are a lot of moments we've had over the years that kind of illustrate that that if I'm a fan, I can even if things aren't going well, I can still enjoy a Cardinals game. I think that you said it well when you when you said that even if the season isn't going well, you still found a way to have

fun and bring the entertainment. Little did you guys know that you brought the entertainment to me in several different ways. And you guys know me, you know better than anyone. And the recorder is always on, no matter if it's uh on the air or off the air. So I have a library that often joke to you guys that you know your roast is gonna be amazing, but today, basically you're gonna self roast. I pulled probably six or seven clips from over the years. I actually ran out

of time. There's way too much we could do this every year. So oh yeah, so I you know, every broadcast starts with mike checks. Now we have the right level. Let's say, hey, can you give me a mic check? And uh I put together some of the uh the fun mic checks from over the years to take a listen, Hi over Body, Cardinals ran anyone ring, Woefle Woefle. Yeah, yeah, that's that's real, real dis Yeah yeah, wolf check one one two, one two your botta chuck hot? I know

how all right? Yes, one, two, three, Ladies and gentlemen, Ron wilfully getting ready to broadcast from the Edward Jones Down. Yes, yes, I got your order. Gonna hit them high in them all by. First of all, are you sure that's us? I don't know that. I don't know that I could fully believe that. I believe that was wolf. I'm not sure that that was really Yeah, that was I think about a minute worth, but I could probably put a ten minute. Well, uh time, Well you have the floor next.

There's often times, too where in broadcasting you say things that everyone knows what you're trying to say, but it doesn't come out that way. And once upon a time you heard Edward Jones dome in at last clip. Once upon a time in Saint Louis, Dave Pash had one of those moments, and it left me on the floor of the booth, and it left Wolf quite speechless for a few seconds. Let's just take a listen. Here, Warner takes the snap straight drop, looking left, firing into the

end zone. It's battered up in the air by Fakir Brown and out of bounds in the back of the end zone. It hit Brown or right in the helmet, right off his dong and out of the back of the end zone is dong. You know what I meant third domin eight at the fourteen yard line of Saint Louis. I meant his ding. I meant his dome. I meant his dome. The best part about that clip is Wolf's just paused and then he goes Who's dome? Okay, so

full disclosure. That may have been the game that I was not fully there, meant to leap because I had a foreign substance in my system. Okay, wait a minute, this isn't the t shot you touch I woke up. I think it was that day I woke up. I couldn't move my neck, couldn't move it. Yeah, And so you convinced me because you used to get shot up every game. You're like, go get go, get shot up by one of the team docks. Yeah. And I'm like,

what do you mean. He's like, I'll trust me, it'll feel better, you'll be able to do Lynda Blair right, three sixty exactly. And so I go downstairs into the locker room with Wolf and first of all, like everybody's kind of like, okay, well what's going on here. I'm like, I can't move my neck. Document her to adjust me a little bit. And then I go in and one of the docks pulls out a big needle and I said, so, what is this like four advil? He's like that it's

more like thirty. He shoots me in the rear end. Unbeknownst to me, Wolf is taking a picture snap he still has it on his phone, and then I show it to you, just so yeah, you don't get cocky. By the way, I couldn't move my neck, and I was pretty fired up. I was pretty juice. So that could have been the reason for the mistake. First of all, stop a thing about this right now. The way you set that up day that honestly, it doesn't do a justice whatsoever. You got shot up to do a broadcast?

Do you have any idea how legendary that is? At your behest, you forced me to do it. You were like, like, you know what would it? Would it help my neck? Honestly? Yea, David, Yeah, it's gonna help your neck. Look you know what, it will stick the blue juice right in your can and you'll be able to broadcast. That's it, man, I can't even believe that that is the most legendary thing. I wish that happened to me. Where I wish I would have gotten shot up to do a broadcast. As Johnny

Carson would say, we have a clip. Normally, Ron Wolfley is extremely passionate. That level of energy has reached the new height today as his broadcast partner was able to do something that wolf himself has not done in a decade. You were awfully proud to see it done. That's right, you've taken the shot, is that what you're talking about? Woke up neck and back, couldn't move my neck. We tried everything. The only antidote was to get shot up.

You are the stuff of legend. My brother shot up for a broadcast there it is said it at the time and will continue to say it. That is still, man, one of the best things that could possibly happen. You get shot up as a broadcaster to go talk a little t shot. Well, you know when Pash woke up and had a complaint. But over the years, there's been several times where each of you have complained about something and I put a few of those together. Got a crimp in my hip? All right there, chief Chief? My

butt is hurting first it was your hip. Oh but yeah, yeah, my knees are killing. It is warming here? Isn't? Yeah? It is? Wow? Is anyone else just ripping? Here? Is there? Anyway? Are you doing anything right now? Could you try to find me for Adville? I got this massive spike in my head, you know, and I think I got a couple here Wolf. What do you have, David? Adville's always worked the best for me, Man. I got a headache? Any advil? Oh? Yeah, I do. I've had it for

like three days. Seriously, you want it? Yeah? If he got something, you know, I got advil, Duke just like two, David crank it up. Now you're kidding me too. That will do nothing. I start with four. Really, yeah, here you go. Oh I've had it, man, I got it down now. Oh my goodness, I give me two advil please, David, come on, man, just cram it down. You want to

get rid of it? Or do you not? You must have an iron stomach when when you whenever that day comes and they do the autopsy, they're gonna be like, we just found a cure for something we thought was incurable, and it's in Ron wolf Lee's system. How do we extract it and use it worldwide? It really is, even to this day right now, Edville has very little effect on me right now. Sometimes you got to take six to get the job done, as does coffee. I don't

recommend that to anybody that is listening. I walked in here with a small coffee that's been half consumed. I give Wolf sent me a text of what he wanted from Starbucks. Let's just say there were four more shots in there than I normally have. Right, go ahead. So when putting us together, I knew over the years, we've all encountered great characters and players from team's past, and one of those guys is the Hall of Famer gray

Beard as you call him, Kurt Warner. One time, I believe it was around two thousand and seven or eight, we were playing and Kurt took a shot to the chin and he didn't have the hard chin strap. He had like a little cloth of one, and it became red because he was cut under there. And during the break I suggested a nickname that we should call him upon our return, and uh, this is the conversation leading back into the actual broadcast. The gray Beard turned to

the red Bear. You say that. I no, you say it, and then I'll say, hoist the calash. You're a slimy dog, baty me. Vernacles are kidding me. We're gonna call the rest of the game like a pirate dude. Stop cover that kick and do it smartly laughing during the break, Kurt Warner is no longer gray Beard. He's now called red Beard, right, wolf Bat. He's got a red beard with the blood coming off the chip and dripping after the hit by Kavika Mitchell, Hurt Worner calas, oh my goodness.

First of all, you tried to go right there, didn't you tried? Yeah, that was you, the little er the nicknames like that was easy. That was an easy nickname. Some of the nicknames that you come up with over the years. Larry Fitzgerald to this day despises You called him the Japanese fighting fish. And you got it from the movie The Naked Gun. Yes, right, single minded and deadly of purpose, that's what U. Who is the game show host who plays the bad guy? No, I am

Ricardo Montalba. But he wasn't a game show. He was in Fantasy Island. Ricardo. Yeah, he says, a Japanese fighting fish. It's a type of fish single minded and deadly purpose. And that's what you called Larry. You called the greatest yes player in Cardinal's history. That first of all, you gotta google Japanese fighting fish. Go ahead and google it, because you'll see it. It's a side shot. You get a side shot, a profile, if you will, of the

Japanese fighting fish. It looks like Fancy with the hair and everything that he's got. It looks like Fitzy in his profile for the ball's part. Right, and not only that, deadly and single minded of purpose, said Ricardo mappel Bon. Oh why um I called him the Japanese fighting fish. Because of the red zone. The red zone in Larry, if he got the ball, he was going to score a touchdown, right? Was he not going to score a touchdown? Of course? The Japanese fighting fish was deadly and single

minded of purpose. He was going to get it into the end zone. That's why I called we didn't need the five minute X one. I just was saying, oh, you didn't want but three of my favorite wolf leism. So again another bat had nickname, but the way he does hate it, just for he hates it. Most people hate the nicknames. Yes, you called Adrian Wilson the gas man. Yeah,

oh yeah, and again a bad nickname. But what was really funny was if if there was a big play by Adrian Wilson, Wolf on the air would go does anybody smell gas? That? Along with at the line of scrimmage you would say that's where the fur flies. I love that because it's such an appropriate picture for no doubt. And then I forgot what the other one was go

ahead of him? So I had something else, But the Wizard of Oz secondary you're forgetting not ah, that's right, the Wizard of Oz secondary where you had ten man, of course, and I think Greg Toler was brave. Total you remember, total right there, excellent go ahead. Speaking of another character, Neil Rackers, you know, he had a very solid kicking career. Um a few high profile misses, but for the most part he was one of the better kickers we've had here. But he also was known as

a pretty good tackler. For a kicker, he'd go in there and uh. He definitely left an impression on Wolf back in the day. Let's take a listen, were laughing at Wolf. Somebody get Neil Rackers and neck roll him flying that seem running serious Neil Kicker rage. He said, a frenzy down there, Neil Rackers. Let's let's see get him a neck roll, brother. I mean, you've got he can run too. He has a little feet. I cannot believe that. Whoa did you say? He was no Jay feeling?

All right? Jay would go down there, and Jay would go down there, he would. But man, Rackers was nuts. If you will hear the screaming of it. He was. He was a different dude. I think one of my good Way favorite wolf Lee is ms that he doesn't use anymore that I would love for him to bring back. But I can understand why it might have a negative connotation or a word picture that's inappropriate. Is like if an offensive lineman got beat, wolf would say he got

his Jimmy whipped. Yeah, right, exactly why can't you say that? I have no idea. I mean, it doesn't necessarily mean what some might think it does. It doesn't mean exactly. It's just a name you pick. You could say he got his Johnny whipped. Whatever. Well, that one probably is what a little bit more close to home? What are you talking about? Well? John and Jimmy John is a term that's used with Matthews. See why why do we have any more? Save one last time? A good walk

off one for this part of the program. Um So in two thousand and eight, everyone remembers the great run to the super Bowl super Bowl forty three, but two games before that, it's probably the most incredible memory I ever have, Like no one gave the Cardinals a chance to go into Carolina and win the divisional playoff against the Panthers, who were undefeated at home. It was Jake Delom's birthday, you know. The Cardinals got off to a huge lead and we just kept looking around as like,

don't don't say no, don't say anything. Don't say anything. And then it became clear like we're gonna win this game and we're gonna be playing in the NFC Championship. We found out the next day that we'd be hosting the NFC Championship. But listen that I always liked this clip and I always wanted to play it on the air, never really had the opportunities too. This is a good time to do it. You guys, especially Dave Pash sound like a little kid who just got the best Christmas

present ever. So this is off air and then it goes back to on air and then back off again. Just listen to the Jubilasian in the booth. I think I might even be screaming in the background on this one. But this one is one of my favorite memories in my twenty two years of doing this. Dude, Wolf, Wolf, Just dudes, do you believe it? Man? No, I cannot believe We're gonna be doing a game next week to play for the Super Bowl. Oh my gosh, I'm not even talking about not being able to move my jar

right now. I'm gonna be locked up, baby, blowout City, blow Up. Thank you so much. The Cardinals knock off the Carolina Panther's thirty three thirteen. They are going to the NFC Championship game back in a moment on the Cardinals radio network. Yes, we're playing for the right to go to the Super Bowl. I cannot believe it. I never ever ever thought I would see it this quickly, this quickly, dude, never thought i'd see it? Is that? Yes? All right? Boys right, never a doubt. Yeah, yes, you

gotta be joking. University of Phoenix Stadium will be a freak show. Wow you're predicting. Yeah, well we would host. Um that was two thousand and eight, so that was six years into it, and so and for me and I still feel this way. And this is my twenty first year you know, doing games. I love doing games for ESPN. Love it. Yeoh, this is different because the Cardinals had become my team. They became my team early on. I grew up in Wisconsin. I was not a huge

Packer fan. Don mccowski was the quarterback when I was growing up, The Magic Man. I met him one time and he called himself the magic Man when he introduced himself. Um, don't ever do that, kid, don't do that. Very nice guy though, but like I didn't have growing up in Madison. Again, kind of a Packer fan, but not really. And so when I got the job here, you know, you are around the team, you're part of the team. You live and die with what happens. So it became my team quickly.

And obviously I've stayed here for more than twenty years, so it gives me a chance to root. So just listening back to that fourteen years ago, I mean, that's real, that's real emotion. And hopefully Cardinal fans and they listen to us, Hopefully they sense that it's important to us too, that we care, because really our job is to be

the conduit. Like what you say and what I say, the fan is supposed to be thinking the same thing, and sometimes that means saying something that maybe somebody doesn't want to hear. Right now, I think we're good at that. I think we're very fair. I think we can criticize, but we criticize in a fair professional murder, sure, because sometimes there are things that need to be said because

the fans are thinking that and they expect that. David, for me, I can tell you right now, I think we are really really good at being objective on that. Am I a homer? Absolutely, I'm paid by the team. I bleed Cardinal Red. I had seven of my best years. I played ten years in the NFL, and seven of my best years it was with the Arizona Cardinals in the Saint Louis Cardinals. So yeah, there's no doubt about it.

I bleed Cardinal Red. Yet at the same time, I can be fair and objective and be able to look at it, and I think we do a very very good job and have done a good job of being objective and not being blinded by the fact that we want the Cardinals to win games. It's not like I'm doing a national broadcast. It's not like you're doing a national broadcast. We're broadcasting for Cardinal fans on the radio. So heck yeah, I'm not afraid of letting them know

that I want the Cardinals to win a game. Yet at the same time, I think we've always done a fair and accurate job of describing what is happening and doing it objectively. Ohms, anything else now, I was going to say to finish up on the Carolina game. The one clip I didn't play was the clip of former front office executive accidentally drinking Wolf's dip spit. Yeah, Nie accident went to sip his coffee and sipped Wolfs no dip spit. Oh my goodness, I want to bar fright now.

You want to seriously, what is going on? He looked, he saw a ghost. Um. The best memory ever for me personally was the NFC Championship game when we were going to the Super Bowl and we knew it that fourth down play right there covers zero. Here we go and suddenly went after against the Philadelphia Eagles, hosting it right there at the stadium a home game. The realization of knowing that we were going to the Super Bowl

still is my favorite memory personally to this day. For me, it was the Super Bowl again, just being a part of it, taking it all in, remembering every moment. I remember. I'd done a college basketball game at pitt the saturday before I went down to Tampa with the team, and then flew out to do my ESPN responsibilities, and I had an assignment at Pittsburgh, and so I flew from Pittsburgh to Tampa and I am the only person on the plane think of where I'm coming from, not in Steeler.

Geart whoa, And someone asks me sitting next to me, are you going down to the Super Bowl? Like, yep, you're not a Steeler fan. I worked for the Cardinals. You want to go. Thankfully this person was kind enough to not stand up. It's hey, we got a Cardinal. It was every single person on the plane with Steeler gear. And again, just from the bus ride over. First of all, we thought we might miss the bus. We'll close on

this thought we might miss the bus. We are sitting there, you and I are talking to the late great Bill Bidwell. We're having a conversation. Mister B is sharing great stories. One of the things I always appreciated about mister B was he had a very He had a wide knowledge of broadcasting. He really knew broadcasting, going back to Saint Louis and some of the legendary broadcasters going back to Jack Buck. He knew them all and knew about them.

And I'm very immersed in the history of broadcasting. And so he was telling all these stories and then storyteller, I look up. There's three people left in the meal room, you, me, and mister B. I'm like, oh my goodness, we are going to miss the bus to the Super Bowl and then we were like, wait a second, they're not leaving

without him. Good, but getting there. I didn't script anything, you know, you want to those moments where like when I do a TV game, I will always script my open the first thirty to forty seconds where you come on the air. You saw you show shots of you know, if it's an NBA game, the way it's set up a lot of times because the stars are the show, it's set up almost like a boxing match. So if you're watching an NBA game, you know, in this corner it was it was last week, So it's Lakers Clippers.

I'm doing it. You know, it's without saying in this corner, but it's Lebron James and the Lakers, Paul George and the Clippers, and you're kind of setting it up. So I usually script that. For the Super Bowl, I didn't want to script the end because I thought it would jinx it. If I wrote something down, I am going to jinx it. So I'm not going to do factor. Yeah,

I'm not gonna do it. When the Cardinals took the lead and Larry Fitzgerald ran into the end zone, and first of all, they're playing the Cardinals, touchdown music that we played at State Farm Stadium. And also this booth next to us full of NFL employees are looking at us laughing because we are going nuts, and actually the stadium has kind of turned and they're rooting for the Cardinals obviously not the Steeler fans. So I'm like, I

bet I better put something down. I better write something down because if they win, whatever I say, it's going to be played over and over again for a long time. I don't remember exactly what I wrote down, but I do remember that I tore it up and threw it in the trash about a minute later because Aaron Francisco fell down they got into steel Cardinal territory, and then Santonio Holmes two minutes. Yeah, in seconds. But look, there have been a lot of great moments since. There have

been some heartbreaking moments since. And Wolf, we've been doing this together for eighteen years. I hope we get to do it for at least eighteen. Yeah. I appreciate you coming in. Thank you for sharing a lot about who you are. If there are people that didn't know your backstory, whether it's as a player or some of the things you've been through personally, I think if you didn't love Ron Wolfley before, you'll you'll you'll come away love and Ron wolf David love you you great stuff. This was fun.

Thanks Wolf Holmes, thanks for helping appreciate it. There's play more where that came from. Well, we went about an hour. We honestly could have gone about four hours. There's so much more we could have discussed. Hopefully Cardinal fans and even if you're not a Cardinal fan, you've got a taste for who Ron Wolfley is at the core and maybe get a greater appreciation for Wolf as a broadcaster. You can just hear the passion in this conversation with Wolf and obviously that comes out on game day as

well as he eats and breaths Arizona Cardinal football. We are presented by bet MGM, the official sports betting partner of the Arizona Cardinals, and by Kila River Resorts and Casinos. Please follow us on social media on Twitter at pashpod, and also we'd love to hear from you. Tell us what you think about the future guests. You can go to your podcast platform, rate us, review us and tell us what you think about this episode or any of the previous forty nine episodes of the Dave Pash Podcast.

Thanks again to you for listening. Thanks again to our guest Ron Wolfley for being a part of the fiftieth edition of the Dave Pash Podcast.