Sam Acho: Let The World See You

is man, I'm so glad to be here. It's so glad to be doing this with you. Obviously, we go back a little bit with the Arizona Cardinals connection, right, You're an Arizona Cardinals legend and I got a chance to play there for four years, and uh, just knowing the man you are and what you stand for and what you're all about, I couldn't be more excited to be here with you. Well, let's start out with the elephant in the room. You're a free agent and were

recorded this before Week five season. Where's your head in terms of playing are becoming a legend. That's a great question. That's a great question. Yeah, we're recording this. It's week it's getting up to week five and the NFL season season. And funny enough, before I get to the answer of the question, last year, I was in a similar period last year around this time, I was a free agent and I was when I said I was stressed out. Stressed out is an understatement because I was the first

time of me being a free agent. I was always Also, I was on my last year. I was going on year eight, and I always been on a team, and I was things were fined, and for whatever reason, God had me on the sidelines for a little bit. And it got to a point last season when I said, you know what, I'm ready to be done, ready to be done playing. I want to move on. I want to do something different. And so I had a conversation

with my wife. I was with the Bills for training camp and I got released from the Bills and we happened to stay up in Buffalo while we were kind of getting calls from teams and training at a compa with my wife, I said, hey, let's just go, let's just move on. Let's do something different, and she was like, well, no, my God is still opened the door for us. I'm like, well, how do you know? Because I and so we have that conversation on a Friday, right before we Kate. We

were still in Buffalo. We leave Buffalo, drive from Buffalo to Chicago, where we had a place at a house in Chicago, and ready to go to Minnesota because one of my buddies was starting a company in Minnesota. And that weekend, right it was We're gonna leave on Monday to Minnesota. And that same Monday, I got a call

from Tampa Bay to go sign with the Buccaneers. And so I signed with Tampa last year literally the day signed with Tampa, finish the season in Tampa last year and was completely thinking I was gonna go back to Tampa this year, but for whatever reason, I haven't. I'm currently a free agent. And so you asked where my head's at the elephant in the room and reality or my head and my heart is at. I mean, it's tough, man, in a lot of ways. I'm ready to transition into

something new. Right the book, I couldn't be more excited about let the world see You, how to Be Real and a world full of fakes. I love that. I love speaking encouraging people. Um so I know God's given me a gift. But even as we speak, something in my heart is not ready to say no. So what is doing typical weekend routine now? As you prepare either way? Absolutely, yeah. So during the week, I'm training and doing some book stuff. Obviously throughout the week, and then weekends I'm actually, this

is the first time I've done this. It is probably gonna be a shock to a lot of people. My Sundays are spent only watching football. And I say this is a shock because in the past I would never do that. Last year, I couldn't watch games because I was sitting there like I should be on the field. I need to be out there. I'm better than these guys,

you know. And then when I was and then when I was playing, obviously we would play on Sundays, and if I was gonna watch games, i'd watch our opponent or i'd watch something specific to what it helps make me better as a player. But now I find myself almost like a fan. I'm watching all the different games at the NFL, like ticket the whole deal. And so I think there's a little bit of a transition going on in my heart. But that's my weekend routine. It's

Saturdays with the family kids. Sunday morning we'll hit up church. My dad is a pastor, so we go to his church. Uh, socially distanced and all that stuff. And then from there we're watching all the games. All right, you don't have a strength conditioning coach, so how you stand mentally and

physically fit and ready to play? Absolutely? So. I've been training at a place called XOS up in Dallas, and so it's a facility of performer facility with about there probably seven to seven to ten other guys who are training with me are the free agents. A couple of Baseball one baseball players training with us as well. So we're all training together. We've got a meal plan set ups,

so we're eating right. We're training together. We'll do drills afterwards, whether it's one on one drills um or or well, not a lot of one on ones because if you know, masks and stuff, but we'll do you know, linebacker drills and stuff like that, just to stay ready just in case we do get that call. And a lot of the guys I've trained with have gotten calls, right there's been probably three or four guys who have gotten calls and now they're on teams. Other guys have gotten workouts,

and so physically mentally, um, I'm staying ready. And it's the emotional and the spiritual part that are a little bit more difficult. And the Trust provide the xos as well. What do you know about that? Absolutely, So that's all through the trust, right, all through the NFL Trust and our NFL p A trust and so yeah, a matter of fact, I was wearing my Trust shirt yesterday right as I was working out, and so it's it's provided being provided free of charge, and the meals are provided

free of charge. And I'm from Dallas and so I'm actually it's been cool because of COVID. I've been just last few weeks. I've been staying with family. Before I was in Chicago training and Arizona training, and then I said, man, I want to see my family. And so my parents and little cousins and nieces and nephews and sisters are up here and so I've got a chance to see them a lot more often. All Right, here's a big question. If the full rings team calls, are there certain balls

you will accept that you will go. Are there are certain teams you may not want to go play. Yeah, that's that's the That's a great question, and he is. Um, I don't know. I don't know what's funny. In the past, if anybody would have called out of said yes in a heartbeat, absolutely, Whereas this year, obviously, I'd love to go back to Tampa Bay because I played there, and you know Bruce Arians I know well he was my coach when I was in Arizona for two years Todd Bowls.

The defensive coordinator was my coach as well, the linebacker coach. I got a really good relationship with all those guys, the coaches, the strength coat everybody. So I love to go back to Tampa Bay. So if they call it, I definitely would feel that call Chicago as well. I had a really great time in Chicago, so if they called it, I'd love to go back to Chicago as well. Um, those are probably top on my list, But I don't know.

I think every day is different, and you're right if if if I wouldn't necessarily say outright saying out right no to anybody, but I definitely no matter who it was, even if it was TAMPLA, Chicago. I definitely would would pray about it and consider, Okay, guy, what do you want me to do at this moment, at this time. It's interesting your book focuses on a lot on identity

and how much we hide ourselves. But when you say, out of all the sports, football players will be more prone to hide ourselves because we're the ones hiding behind that helmet, right if I would use that as a metaphor, what is a good example of an NFL player hiding his true self? Sam? Now we're talking. So my book is called Let the World See You, How to Be Real in a World full of Fakes, and it's it really talks about what it means to be authentic and

to be vulnerable. And I know for me, I don't know how it was for you or even anyone listening. It's hard nowadays being you, like being who God made you to be. It's so easy to pretend or to fit in or to try and act like someone you're not. You ask, when what's an example of someone in an

NFL locker room hiding? Well, me specifically, I know, like for me as a as a linebacker in the NFL, but also a Christian that I'm I'm a follower of Jesus, people woul look at me and say, if I ever got mad at practice, they'd say, well, Sam, you're not supposed to get mad. You're a Christian. You're not supposed to get angry with it, you know what I mean.

And so, and as a young player, I didn't know how to deal with that because I knew I love Jesus, but also but I didn't really know what these guys are gonna think of me. And so for me, my hiding showed up in me trying really hard not to get angry. Mm hmm. I'll try really hard not to get angry, so be at practice and I'd be so upset, but I would try to hide it. I don't want people to see me get angry, because when you're a Christian, you're not supposed to be angry, supposed to be forgiving.

And yadi yadi. If you actually like read the Bible, Jesus was slipping over table, Jesus was calling people out. Jesus was lying as well as a lamb. And so for me, that was an example of hiding. But there's another example of hiding as well, and personally as well I I could and academ me. I love learning personally, I love learning, love school, I love As a matter of fact, I got my m b A from the number one international NBA program in the world while I

was playing. And but here's the thing, and I didn't tell anybody. I hid. I hid. I did not tell any of my teammates. And you can probably guess why. I didn't want them to think that I was this guy who didn't care about ball or that was something nerd. And also my coaches, to coaches or general managers or I didn't want them to say, well, this guy is not committed. And so think about hiding. And that's just

in football. Imagine if whether it's in a marriage or as a parent, or as a spouse or anything at work, we tend to hide. And I'm really the purpose of this book. Anybody picks up this book and you can get it at sam i cho book dot com. It's my first book, so I'd love for everybody to go and check it out at sam i cho book dot com. You can like, once you read that book, you'll have a better idea to be able to know why you hide and what are the benefits of showing people the

real you. When you talk about genuine authenticity, how can a legend or current player, what do you suggest how they can live out genuine authenticity. I think it's actually really difficult in a lot of ways. The reason is

that you have to be extremely intentional. The waves of the world or of culture will naturally draw you towards like conglomeration, towards just coming together and being the same as everyone else naturally, So if you don't actively um Like for me, I do a lot of a lot of prayer, a lot of just like quiet time with myself, just like trying to say, man, who am I really right? As I'm praying going through scripture? Right? That's one piece another piece of saying, man, what do you actually like?

What are the things that I like as opposed to what does everyone else like? And I feel like I need to fit it? What do I like to do and what do I like? What do I love to learn about her? To read about her? To not read about what I mean, and so being really intentional about the things that you enjoy and then practicing those things, not being ashamed of those things. A lot of us really know who we are, but you talked about the insecurity we're afraid of showing the world who we are.

In your book, you talk about the affirmation you got from making a great play as a trap. How do we avoid traps like these? Absolutely so, just for a little bit of context with those who haven't read the book yet. UM football specifically is an interesting place to be in the locker room on a team because when you play well, all of a sudden, you start hearing the rounds of applause. You're the best in the world, and you hear it right. And if you play poorly,

all of a sudden, you start hearing less. Either either you won't people won't talk to you, or they'll tell you how bad you are. And so for me, I got caught up in the trap of people pleasing Oh man, I made a good play. My coach thinks it's good. Let me will do another one for my coach, or my teammates think I'm gonn let me go do it for my teammates, as opposed to doing it because I wanted to do it. I wanted to be great, right, yes, inside of me, deep down I wanted to be great.

But there's a little icing on the cake of Oh wow, my coach really thinks highly of me. Maybe now I'll get more playing time, Now I'll be have more favor in his eyes. Bibbles are clear, the heart of the kings in the hand of the Lord, right, like that's

God's decision in a lot of ways. And obviously we work and all these things, but I got caught up in trying to please my coaches and do the things, do it the way that they wanted me to do it, as opposed to having a conversation and saying, hey, coach, I see where you're coming from, but hey, this is my skill set. What do you think about this? And

then going that way. I was afraid. It's interesting that one of the unique characteristics about what's caused UH coach Bill Belichick to be successful is he finds out the unique authenticity and I'm using that word paraphrasing it about each player and he only asked that player to do that which he knows that player does well. So it's interesting some of the behind the mask of their success.

Identity is often difficult for NFL players and legends because we're often deemed just a football player, and after a while that's all we see. How do we discover the many facets of our identity and make a true impact on our world. Sam, It's either going to be the easy way or the hard way. Right, Like the easy way,

and is anybody listening. The easy way is to slow down, right, we're all on this rat race, Okay, let me slow down and let me actually tap into the things that I enjoy, or the things that will bring a benefit to my family, or the things that I feel like I have a calling to do, even if it's against the grain. That's the easy way. The hard way, which is what I experience, is essentially it's going to be done for you. And here's what I mean by that. I didn't I wrote this book last a little a

couple few months ago. As I was working on it last year. Um, I did not know I was a writer. It wasn't until I almost lost my marriage, almost I lost my starting spot, I tore my pack, I was out for the season, I lost a mentor, my house flooded. Uh, my wife's wallet got still, I mean so much. Her green coach she was won't even US citizen. Her green car got so we were suppos to take a trip overseas for a five year university. I mean, I was like I was doing all the things. I wasn't even

paying attention to things around me, right. I wasn't being a loving father to my kids. I wasn't being a loving husband to my wife. I wasn't being a good friend. I was just so focused on the goal, the goal, the goal, the goal of the goal. And so you talked about the easy way or the hard way. The the easy way we talked about is saying, Okay, am I going down the right path? Am I not getting people around you you can speak life into you. The hard way is saying, you know what, I'm just gonna

I'm just gonna do it and we'll be fine. And you're you're not gonna be fine. Your body, your body is gonna catch up to you. Your body keeps the score. And so for me, the hard way of going through all that, and in all reality, what came out of that hard time in a lot of ways was this book. And I say that to say I found that I'm a writer. So we all have all these gifts that

we don't know about. And either you're gonna use the gifts God gave you, or you're gonna find out the hard way, that you keep on running yourself into a brick wall and you're not getting anywhere. Marriage, relationship with kids are failing, all these things. How did you get what was your epiphany? Absolutely? Absolutely so? It was. So I just signed a multi year, multimillion dollar contract with the Chicago Bears, my first ever. Right, I was one

on your eight. Everything had else have been minimums, rocky minimum or one year veteran minimum contracts that had been my whole career. And by God's grace, I signed this big deal and so I was going into I was gonna be the guy. I was a star, I was a starter. And it was a week before training camp season and as I mentioned, like I felt like my our relationship with my wife wasn't going well, my relationship with my kids wasn't good even inter personally, like within myself,

like who am I? And I was sitting down with a friend and I looked at him and I was like, dude, I'm struggling man like I And I told him, I said, I just need the season to start, because said all this whole offseason, all my teammates are gone, my friendships are gone. I don't know, I don't know where everyone else is. I said, I just need this season to start, so get back to football. Then I'll be okay. Everything

will be fine once I get back to ball. And he looked at me and he said, Sam, if that's how you are right now, I'm afraid of what happens when when football ends for you, when it's over. And as I'm kind of sharing with him some of my struggles and think with you know, trying to be a faithful husband and trying to like really like love my kids, where is this hatred in my heart coming from? As I'm sharing with him this all the stuff, I start to cry. I started to cry. And he looks at

me and he says two things. He says. He says, Hey, Sam, maybe God is writing a book in your life. Mhm. And and you may only be on chapter two. Well he said that. Then he said, and oh, by the way, it's nice to see you. Huh. It's nice to see you, Sam, It's nice to see you. And I didn't understand what he meant. A matter of fact, I think I didn't understand, but I didn't want to understand what he meant, right because I was like, I felt like my life was over.

I was crying, broken, breaking down in front of this guy, one of my friends I've known, like helped me build business stuff. We did business stuff together and my brand and all this, and he said, I've never seen the side of you. I used to always think you were this perfect together guy. But it's good to know your human. You're not perfect. It's nice to see you. And so

we actually recommended I've talked to a counselor. He actually he actually had just finished meeting with this therapist counselor guy doing a life plan for his life. And you know, he's not a football guy, he's a business guy. But he said, he, I recommend you talk to this guy. And so I did. And the next opening this counselor had was the day reported a training camp. And so as everyone knows, legends of players know, you report that like it's like seven pm or five pm or whatever

time it is, it's your first meeting. Well, that morning I was at a counselor's office and I'm sitting in there, like, you know how it is, let me get in and get out, check it off the box, right, how long you know? And I'm like, how long will this be? He's like, Sam, this is not a one or two sessions issue. It's going to be a twelve the twenty four month process. Like what you don't know? You must not know me. I'm this is I come on, man, I just fly by it. He said, okay, Sam, we'll

start here. I got a couple of questions for you, so go ahead. He said, what do you do when you get angry? I said, okay, that's easy. I just don't get angry. M hm. He said, well that's interesting answer, but I'll ask you again, what do you do when you get angry? And I said, I tried not to get angry mhm. And he looks at me and he says, he says, Sam, everybody gets angry. And I proceeded to cry m hm. And he looks at me. He says, it is it okay if I And I'm like, it

wasn't just like a tear shad. It was like something was almost releasing from my yeah right the and so he said, do you mind. I'm I'm gonna put my hand on your chest right breathe, breathe. I putt my hand on your stomach. I need you to breathe. And I'm breathing and breathing, and he looks at me, right, he kind of back up a little bit and he says, or put his hand on my shoulder. He says, it's nice to see you, Sam mhm. And he said, oh,

by the way, get used to hearing that. And so you asked what was the moment, the aha moment, the realization of what it means to be me? It was not necessarily a moment, but more of a journey. The journey the next the next day, he recommended as we left, he said, I recommend you start. I don't know if you journal, but start journaling, start writing. I don't know if you listen to music, but start listening to music.

And so I did that night, report to camp. We go through our meetings, and I go back to my dorm room and I start writing and writing and writing, And as I'm writing, I'm crying again because I'm almost I'm like, God, why do you love me so much? Like? What have I done for to the earn or deserve you love? And I'm writing and crying and I don't understand. I'm calling my friend, like the friend who told me

about this counsel. I'm like, dude, what is what is going on, and so I go to I go to practice the next day and we do our conditioning tests. And we finished the test. Everybody goes inside and they shower up and they go to get some food, where I kind of just sit down, pop down in the in the chair in the locker room. Most people have left. One of my teammates have seen me. His name was Nick Williams, and he sees me, and he saw that I was a little bit dejected and wasn't myself. He said, hey, Sam,

are you are you good? And usually a nest I'd say, yeah, I'm fine, or I'm tired, or I've got a lot going on. Well this time I looked at him and I said, so you know what I'm not. I'm not doing good. And he said, well, I recommend you whatever is going on, let it out, let it out. So I did, and little by little the tears started to float. One of other teammates, Danish your Faithan, had just walked in the locker room. He saw me, and for whatever reason,

he went to the speakers in the locker room. Was bluetooth phone, was gonna do to it, and he changed the playlist in the locker room. Change the song usually in the locker room is you know, rap music, bumping ever country or whatever. You know. He changed it to worship music, and not any kind of worship music. It happened to be the exact same songs I was listening to the night before. And as these songs start to play over my heart, I started to cry even more.

And this time it's the really it's like that, and I'm looking there like telling him tell me to breathe. Guys tell me to breathe, and they're like, hey, I just breathe, bath and I'm breathing. And then he looks at me and he says, they watch. It's nice to see you. Mm hmm. And that was and has continued to be the journey that I'm on of what it means to be seen, and not only to be seen, but to be known, and not only to be known, but to be loved and accepted for who you are

from who God made you to be. And so I believe any legend listening, or any current player, or even a spouse or whatever, right, So not just a spouse. You have your own things that you do, right, whoever is listening to this podcast, my desire for you once you pick up that book, right Sam Macho book dot com at s A m a c h o book dot com. After you read that book and order that book and go through it, you'll understand why we hide, and learn how to name your emotions and learn how

to let the world see. You would understand that it's not an overnight process. It's not just an aha moment for everybody. Some people it is, some people it's not. But for me, it's really been a journey. Right, we're talking about this twelve or twenty four months journey of discovery of saying, man, this is the real me, this is who I am. Do you still love me? And the answer oftentimes is yes. There's a word pivot, pivoting,

and you've just described your pivot. So there's a part and you shared that about about that in your book. What advice would you give current players about how important it is to handle the transitions that come their way? Transition, pivoting, change, all these words as you see them, they're moving right, their movement words. They're not steady, nor are they stable.

I think a lot of us we want to get to a certain place, but it's just that unknown period that we fear in a lot of ways, or that we're not used to, are not comfortable with, and it could look different ways. For me, I'm used to going almost from team to team, are being ready to move and all these things. So for me, what transition looks like is from this guy who says, oh, let's go here today and go here tomorrow to saying, wow, what if I need to settle down for my wife, for

my kids? Right, there's just a little bit of fear there. I'm not used to that. And so my advice as we journey together. Right, I'm not a guru or whatever, but I've been on the journey and I'm currently on that path and I've seen what it's like is don't let people define you. You know you talks about that

idea where former player, legend or or NFL player. It's easy to get caught up in almost like trapped in that box of well, I'm an NFL player, look right, I played for this team, where I'm a former player or I'm a legend, But you are more than that. You specifically it is you're a former player, yes, you're a Hall of Famer, but we're also a pastor. You're

also a other. I've heard you teach and preach multiple times, and I see you know I never I didn't get a chance to to watch you play, right, I've seen highlights, but I've got a chance to hear you speak over my life and the lives of hundreds of pro athletes, specifically not even at your church. But it's some conferences, right,

because you're more than just a football player. Magine you said, well, I'm I'm pro, I'm Hall of Famer or whatever, and there are people that that relate to you because of that, right, But there's a comma after that pro football Hall of Famer and also pastor, and also father, and also business leader and also and also and also and so what I would say is I would just say, almost like learn how to get yourself out of that trap, out of that trap of saying this is who I am.

I'm a former football player, or yeah I played for this team. Because people get cut all the time, people get traded all the time, people's career careers, and all the time, no one, no one has ever played forever Father time is undefeated. And so I would say, as you're playing and as you're doing the giving it your all and doing your best, find your other passions, be you let the world see you because it will make you better at your current job. Final question, You're and

your brother Emmanual. You guys do a lot of community work. You're working in the community and social justice. Tell us about what you guys have done, why it is important that you do it, and what's it like in this

current climate that we're in. My brother he started, uh, my brother Emmanual, he started and a series and called Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man, And we had a conversation beforehand, and we've kind of been going through it, but it was essentially what we understood is, hey, what if this is our time to use the gifts that God gave us and share them with the world. And so for him, it looked like the Uncomfortable Conversation series.

For me, it looked like going in the different communities where I've lived then in Chicago specifically in other places and bringing people together to try and bring It's not even really biblical justice, but it's more that that idea of like, man, God, let your kingdom come and let your done. We were in Chicago, we saw what was

called the food desert. We saw an area on the West Side that had two grocery stores and seventeen liquor stores and a half mile radius, and something about that wasn't right, and so we got I love bringing people together, So I got some people together. We raise half a million dollars and bought up one of the liquor stores and turned into a food mark that's being run and managed by the kids. Every different person has their different

gifts and callings. I don't want to host a series called of comfortable conversation, right, And he doesn't want to be on the West side of Chicago meeting with random people and saying, hey, let's try and raise his money. That's side his thing. It's my thing, and his thing is not my thing, it's his thing. And so God has given each of us our things and the temptation and is too get caught up with our eyes on

someone else's thing. Man, If I if only I had that kind of cloud, if only it's only that I wrote my book last year, And it's interesting the timing that God God as a he's really kind and in a lot of ways, because the timing of that book could not be better. Let the world see you take off your masks be real, come out of hiding us COVID, because that a lot of us isolated in a lot of ways. And now it's like, even with COVID, let the world see you as a parent, as a husband,

as a wife, as a teacher. Let the world see you even with social race relations in America. Right. I talked a lot about the Kaepernick stuff that was going on. I was called upon by my team to lead the charge and ask and and and and the questions of what we wanna do during the national anthem. And I talked about that in the book, those discussions, what that

looked like. Right. I was in the crux of that for the Chicago Bears, talk about the negotiating the new collective bargaining agreement with the ownership right the title chapter title of bargaining with billionaires. So like God doesn't make mistakes, and so the fact that we are going through this time right now, it doesn't mean we're supposed to doesn't mean were supposed to go and say, I gotta go write seven books and be the guy. No Burage started

this book last year, you know what I mean? Like you know what I mean two years ago? And and by the grace that gotta happened. I mean you have to go and start a series, right, But it also doesn't mean you're going into hiding as well. You don't go and say, well I don't know what to do, so let me just wait till this pass is No. You find your places, find your spots like in football, right right, right place, right time, eyes, hands and feet right, open up your eyes, use your hands and let your

feet take you. That's all that it is. And so it's not it's not necessarily one extreme or the other. Right, you don't have to go and you know, start seven businesses during COVID, or you don't have to go and start nonprofits and foundations that deal with social injustice. Maybe just use your eyes, look what's around you, go with your feet in your hands and help somebody you need in whatever way that you can. Sam, this has been incredible, Thanks so much for joining us once again. The book

is called Let the World See You. It could be found where against Sam. Yes, so you can go to Samo book dot com, s A M A c Cho book dot com and it's also available right it's just coming out, so as soon as we're hearing this, it's just coming out. It's available anywhere books are sold, and so Barnes and Noble. It's gonna be in Target, um, anywhere books are sold, Amazon and wherever you get your books, audio book, anywhere you get your books. Just type in let the world see you, how to be real in

the world full of fakes, and you'll see it. Thanks for listening in The best is yet to come. Absolutely this has been the NFL Legends podcast. To provide feedback or request a topic for discussion, email us at NFL Legends at NFL dot com.