Welcome to the official podcast. Erik Ellen here inside the studio with a good friend of mine, a long time jet, a four average jet that of course is Marty Lions. First off, I want to say congratulations at forty years so the Marty Lions Foundation. What does that mean to you? Well, it means that I've been surrounded by good people for forty years. Because you can't accomplish anything in life by yourself.
And when you think about forty years, you think about all the kids and families that have come through the doors. And of course you think and you remember about all those children that you've lost, but you also remember the ones that God gave you back, that we were able
to create hope and memories for the families. And you know, to be truly blessed to accomplish something for forty years, you really you count your blessings that you've got people that believe in mission, people that support you financially, and um, you know, we're just we're getting ready to gear up to see how we can go to forty two forty three because we're not going to stop. Very simply, what
is the mission of the Martin Lions Foundation. The mission of the Foundation since day one, is to provide special wishes for termally ill children or children suffering with the chronic life threatening illness. Unfortunately, probably of the kids that we work with will not see the age of eighteen. And your line up, uh ten of them, and you
go which seven won't make it? And you know, every now and then God gives you back that one that you didn't think was going to make it as a reminder that your work has meaning, that you're making an impact. So again, we've been fortunate. For forty years, we've raised over forty three million dollars, helped close to families. We just announced we're going to open up but another chapter out in California, which will now give us I believe,
thirteen chapters. It truly is God's work. Though, Now, how difficult is it for you knowing that, yes, I'm going to be helping a certain number of people, but a number of these kids that I'm trying to help aren't going to make it. Well, I think one thing you have to realize is the rules to the game are
never going to change. And there's been many times where I'll leave a pediatric ward and I'll see two or three kids and you get stuck in traffic going back from New Jersey to New York, and you get frustrated, and you have a little conversation with the man upstairs and you go, when's it all going to end? And then you're reminded that the rules aren't going to change. God didn't ask you to do this. You chose to
do it and continue to do it. So we're all here to make an impact these kids that are being cheated out of life. If we take time to listen to them, we take time to understand their story and know that there's a name and a face. They're really true teachers in life. And the one thing that I've realized for forty years, none of these kids have ever said, why make They all understand that they're here for a
short time. They're trying to make an impact to the people that will listen to them, the people that will take time to understand that they're not different, they're special and h The number one thing is, you know, they made me believe more in faith because they make me made me understand that faith is believing in something you can't see. But if you have enough of it, you'll be rewarded. You know, when you pass away, you'll get
to see everything you believe that. We talked about this many times before, and I know a number of people who followed the Jets and followed Party Lions have heard this before. But I think we should go back. What three things happened in your life that made you decide that I have to do something well? When I was twenty five, my oldest son, Rocky, he was born on March four, My dad suddenly died of a heart attack
on March eighth. And then a little boy that I was a big brother too, named Keith, died at five and a half of March Town. So in a matter of six days, you go from the old and high to the ultimate low. And for me, I asked the Good Lord, what am I doing wrong? What am I doing wrong in life? That you gave me a healthy son, but you took away two people that I loved dearly days went to weeks, weeks went to month, and you realized time is not gonna stop for any one of us.
And then you realize that you had a platform. Your platform was playing in the NFL, but what was your real purpose in life? And my purpose was to take that platform, take the god given tools and the surroundings that I had and started foundation. I started it with Kenny Shroy, my teammate, roommate. We had six people sitting around the table. I didn't even know what nonprofit meant. All I knew is I had to do something. I
needed a vehicle so that I could move on. Because there's that old saying time heals everything, and I totally disagree with that saying. I think time allows you to find a vehicle to cope with the loss. It never takes it takes away the pain because there's always going to be an event, there's always going to be a celebration where there's a missing there's an empty seat, there's somebody missing. But we can't stop living because somebody has
passed away. We can't all children, all the people that you've helped over the years. I know, like they say, being a parent, you don't you love them all. You love them all the same, but um you feel about them in different ways because they're all unique. But that being said, what are some of the wishes that you guys have been able to help provide of late that have stood out right? Well? I think number one the first wishes always go to Disney just want to go
to Disney. Or number two they'd like to meet a so called celebrity. Uh. Number three might be a shopperings free. Number four we've been able to buy a couple of dogs so that they can have some companions. You know. First Holy Communion dress, which is very simple. In the early eighties, e I can coming in right behind going to Disney. Everybody wanted a camp quarter. And we couldn't understand.
As you're given the family and the child whatever they want, give them the world to give them their wish and it was very simple. They wanted a camp quarter. So we we're good friends with PC Richards. We had a family down in Florida from the Florida chapter. They had a child that was two and a half years old, which was underneath our threshold of three. So we made
an exception. I went to the board. I said, you know what, two and a half is very close to three, and unfortunately this child that's two and a half may not make it to three. Their wish is a simple camp quarter, So we dropped shipped them a camp quarter. I believe on a Monday or Tuesday, they had a surprise birthday party for their son in the hospital. It wasn't his birthday, but they had a celebration, took some pictures, created some memories. The child end up passing away on
third stay. I talked to the father on Friday and he said, I want to return the camp quarter. I said, you know, I don't want the camp quarterback. It's it's yours and your family. And he said, if it wasn't for you, wasn't for your organization, it wasn't for the people that believe in your organization, we would have nothing to hold onto. You gave us an opportunity to create memories of our son. We can never thank you enough.
And that's a simple camp quarter so you know, to help these families, Uh, it's just a It's a tremendous opportunity. It's like the more you give, the more you receive. And the simple thank you at the time of the event or the time you fulfill the wish is one thing. But to hear about it, to run into people in the community that will come up and say, hey, are you Marty Lyons, And I'll say, uh, I am. They say, you know what. You You sponsored my child in the eighties.
You sponsored my child in the nineties, we never had an opportunity to tell you thank you. And again I'll say, well, how are they doing? And there was more than likely they say unfortunately they passed away. But you you gave us that opportunity. You gave us memories, and that's what we try to do, create that hope because the families. As difficult as it is to lose the child, it's even more difficult to try to move on. What are
the images in the videos mean to you? When you see these kids experience something that they had always wished for and they probably thought there was never a chance that this was going to happen. Well, I think it's again it's a reflection on everybody involved with the foundation.
It makes you feel good, makes you feel satisfied. It makes you realize that I was fortunate to be a professional athlete, fortunate enough to come to New York in nine to be drafted, fortunate enough to be still affiliated with the Jets forty three years later, and to look at what we've accomplished as a group. It's very satisfying. It tells you that you don't have to be a professional athlete to make a difference. All you have to
do is care. And I think if the world looked back at the pandemic, we saw the kindness of the world, and we saw so much hatreds And if people realize if we just respected people for who they are, but you can listen to their opinion. You don't have to agree with it, but listen to it, and don't judge him for it, because you know what, We're all going to be judged one day by by by God when we pass away, He's gonna judge us. Who are we to judge other people for the way they want to
live their lives. Just respect it. It doesn't have to be the same as yours. Just respect it. Oftentimes I have a problem right now with how much hatred there is or why people are so angry when they refuse to take a step back and maybe to see what they have or what others don't um with you providing continually to provide to others. What do you say to young players when you talk to them about there are
opportunities off the field. Yes, it's great to be in the National Football League, but you're not going to be in the NFL forever. What I tried to explain to him is that there's a responsibility, there's an obligation, and there's an opportunity. You're playing in the NFL. So you've fulfilled your dream as a little kid. Now take it one step further. Used this platform to find your purpose in life. I was years ago, probably twenty years ago.
I was in the church in Alabama, and it was a Baptist church and I was there with a friend of mine and probably people. I was sitting in the back of the church and the minister got up that day and he started reading from the Book of Luke and he said, he who as much much is expected, and he would go on and on, and then all of a sudden he'd stop and he'd go remember he who has much much is expected. Well, yeah, the whole time he was saying that quote, I felt like he
was looking at me. At one time he said it. Like the third time I got up, I looked around me to see if there was somebody behind me, and there wasn't. So I said to my buddy, who's a minister down there, I said, rich, how did you do that?
And he says, do what? And I said, every time that the minister said he who as much much is expected, he was looking right at He said, that's your message that you need to carry on and tell people he who as much much is expected, don't look at your own life from the inside out because it gets distorted human nature, animosity, jealousy, It really gets distorted because people go, well, I work as hard as him, why don't I have that?
But if you look at your own life from the outside in and you realize how fortunate you are, how blessed you are, then you can put the backside of that quote on much as expected. Everybody has to find that spot in life where you're comfortable with who you are and then expect more out of yourself than what you're given. It's like Archie Manning once he told all of his boys Eli Peyton, you know, be more than you were born to be. That's open ended. You know, none of us know what we were born to be.
But just be a little bit more. What's that golf tournament like? What was it like? This year? You just had it and it's a big fundraiser for you, and you get all the guys coming back and together and the ladies, and then you finished the eighteen holes and everybody comes to dinner. Can you describe that environment. It's exciting because number one, we sold out in a matter of five weeks. We over sold the golf portion, and we oversewld the dinner. And then when the people come
in number one, it's been a long day. So you apologize for that new You make sure that they understand that one day out of our life, we had a long day playing golf. And then I have some of the kids that have survived their illness or are still fighting. They get up and speak and when now as a sponsor, you can identify where your money's going, it's not me telling the story, it's a recipient telling the story. And then we have parents that have lost a child talking
about what it is to lose a child. And then we have special awards that we have named after some of the children. We have an award after Mr Hess that we give out to an athlete, and we want to recognize all the children that have passed away to keep their memories alive and then let their parents know and let everybody know that they were important in our lives. They came here not to make a you know, uh, an impression. They came here to make an impact. And
there's a big difference. You know, everybody can make an impression you. You know what I met with the age nice guy. You made an impression on me. But you've always said that to me. But the way that you can change somebody's day by just saying hello, because people don't realize it and be honest with you. I didn't work really realize it until we had a little girl named Lauren that had a brain tumor and I used to call her after she went through her kemo or radiation.
She'd go back to school and I'd call her and I say, Lauren, you went back to school. That had to be exciting. How was it? And she'd say, I was invisible today. I said, Lauren, what do you mean you were invisible? She said. I said, at the same lunch table everybody walked by. I mean, nobody wanted to have lunch with me. Nobody said anything. And that's not
kids being mean, because adults do it. Sometimes we don't know what to say, but we have to say something because if you don't say something, in their world, it's another day where they're invisible. It's another day where nobody said anything kind to him. It's like the first thing you should do in the morning is look at yourself and say, hey, how can I make a difference. And I've read a poem or three lines, probably years ago that I try to recite to myself every day. It says,
to dream anything you want. That's the beauty of the human mind. Try to tell people dream as much as you can, because if you can dream it, you can see it, you can touch it, it might just come true. The second line goes to do anything you want to do. That's the strength of the human will. Your body might quit, but don't let the spirit. Don't let your human will deter you from doing anything. And the third line is probably the most important one says trust yourself to test
your limits. That is the courage to succeed. You know, sometimes we have to think outside the box. Sometimes when you are are putting together something like the Foundation, you have to trust yourself that you know what you're making the right decisions, you're taking everybody's opinion, and you're doing what's right for the kids. And it comes down to you believe in in yourself. You can take those three
lines and you can use them in corporate America. You can use them out there on the football field, you can use them in your everyday life to make sure that every day you try to make a difference. We're going to transition to football, even though that sounds quite impossible at the moment. But with that being said, if somebody wants to help Marty Lions forty three years down the road in terms of your organization now in this forty year, and they can help you in three and beyond,
how can they do it? All they have to do is go to the Marty Lions Foundation dot org. You can donate online. You can send us a message that you'd like to volunteer. You can send a message that maybe you have an in kind donation that you want to do. Um I encourage people if you want to volunteer, come to the foundation. Let us teach you how to fulfill a wish and let you make contact with the family.
You're that you're the coordinator of their wish. So now you're involved in every step and you build a relationship and you get to see these families that every single day for somebody's family, they get up in their routine is the same. You know, they picked their child up out of bed, they'll wash them, they'll feed them, they'll put them in a wheelchair. And then it's every day, every single day, and we've got to understand how fortunate
we are. And because we're in that position, it's our responsibility. The opportunity is going to be there e A. If it's not with the Marty Lyons Foundation, it's with There's a lot of nonprofit organizations out there that need help, and I campaign for every one of them. And I tell the people that I talked to find the one that fits into your life, Find the one that you can make a full commitment to. Find the one that as you're working, the rewards are coming back to you.
That's where you're going to give and that's where you're gonna make a difference. Congratulations, we salute you, We love you. You are Mr jet Uh speaking of being Mr jet How many years in the radio booth now for you and shooes Bob and I are going on twenty one and then I did I was fortunate enough to do the Jet Journal TV show for maybe eight years with MSG and then you know, I was fortunate enough to come here in VY nine and then retire in so
you know, forty three years. I tell people I've seen the good, the bad, the ugly. I've been a part of all of it. But there's something about Joe Douglas, There's something about Rob sala There's something that you feel about this stability at the top, and you just think that maybe maybe they got it right. And I think it falls back onto the players to actually believe. Number one, believe in themselves. Number two believe in the system, and number three go out there and execute. You get paid
to play football, that's your job. You don't get paid to lose games and go four and thirteen. And unfortunately, in the business world of the NFL, no no team will ever be the same. So the team is going to be special, but there's gonna be a lot of missing faces. Next year is not going to be the same. But you're going to into your second year with Rob Salah, Michael floor his offense, you know, and now it's time
to adapt. It's time for the veteran leadership to take these young guys, take their energy, combine it all, start fast. You can't go one in three, two and two to begin of the year oh and four because if you divide it before they've moved it to seventeen. Used to divide the sixteen game schedule into quarters. If you if you go one in three, your next quarter, you gotta go three and one, And people go, well, they got
a tough schedule. Well, you open up against Baltimore. Every team in the NFL should be tough, can be tough on a particular day. If you want to be the best, play the best, and the more you play the best, the more you're gonna build confidence. And you build confidence by winning games or understanding why you lost the game. You said you think the Jets have it right at the top, and I think everybody in this building feels the same way. Obviously I work here, so people can
say you're a homer. I don't think we've ever had a structure like this with Hommi al Hai president, Joe Douglas at GM, and now Robert Sala as head coach. Would you have liked planning for Sala? He seems to connect so well with players, and he's, you know, people throw around the phrase leader of men, but he has some natural leadership qualities and I think he's a guy who also lives it the way he talks to people
about strain. We saw him today with the six shirt on referencing the Navy Seals, saying that there's always more flight or fright or um flight or fight. Excuse me. Uh. He just has a way about himself present and I think people gravitate towards him. Oh, I would say, he's a people's person. You know. Here, I am sixty five years old. The first time I met him, you know what, I got goose bumps and I said, wow, you know what.
Watching him on TV when he was a defensive coordinator for the forty niners, when the defense would come up with a big play and he'd run down the field and chest pump his guys. That's a guy that's fully committed. And I think last year, his first year as a head coach, he kind of tried to taper that energy because maybe he thought or maybe somebody said, hey, you know, head coaches aren't supposed to do that. So it'll be interesting to see how he interacts with this players this year.
But you see more of that. I hope we do. I hope we see more of it. And uh, I would have loved have played for him. I think that the organization again, they have it right, this stability. They're bringing in the right players. You watch of these young kids play the energy that they bring, and it's got to be a mixture. You can't have all the youth without the experience. And I thought that that's one thing that hurt does Zack Wilson last year is unfortunately you
you lost your quarterback coach in an accident. But there was no veterans in in the quarterback room because Joe Flacco had gone down to the Eagles, and Zach, I think, was trying to be too much too early. You know, you'd have that five yard opener and then there's you know, they're running a double out, and he had the twelve yard uh not open, and he tried to squeeze it in there and he didn't realize that. You know, these defensive backs are pretty fast. Take the five yards, let
the receiver turn it up field. Maybe it turns into eight, maybe it turns into twelve. Take what the defensive as you to have have this year. You know, watching the first game, I think we all got caught up when Zak got hurt. But I remember going down on the field with two minutes ago, and I think if you combine all the quarterbacks, uh, their completion was seventeen out of thirty one. What impressed me the most out of
the seventeen nine of them went to tight ends. When you can get the tight end involved in your offense, that's your quarterback's best friend. And I think you've got multiple tight ends that can play this year. Oh, no doubt, Tyler. Confidence when one of the stars of camp, you got c j Usam, I got Jeremy Ruckert in the mix, finally getting team rops coming back from the injury, gets a touchdown himself. Lawrence Case, you're making a transition from
making place Joe Flacco. Is he the perfect guy for the situation these young jets are in. You added a bunch of vet in free agency, which he needed. We know that, But at the quarterback position, Zach goes down. We don't know the exact timetable. Fortunately escapes major injury, but he's gonna be out for a little bit. Fleck will look good out there today. We're taping after a joint session with Atlanta Spending Football. I've been a Joe
fleck o fan. I watched him win a Super Bowl, I watched him become an m v P. The thing about Joe was he doesn't get too high. He doesn't get too low, and I really think that the way he throws the ball is a lot different than Zach Wilson. I think he has a little bit more touch on it, so it gets to receivers. Maybe not as fast as Zach, but not as hard as that. So watching him throw the ball today, he was right on target. Corey Davis would come out of his break, he's right there, you know,
Elijah more right there. I think you have the skilled players now that all you have to all you have to do is get the ball to him, which now puts more pressure on the offensive line. I think the offensive line has got to be solid, starting with Connomer Governor in in the middle. He's got to be able to make the calls. He got two veterans tackle. I thought George Fan I thought he had the best year of any offensive lineman last year. You know, and uh
Vera Tucker. That kid can play. He missed one play last year because he got a little dirt in his eye. He's a tough kid. They're moving him over. You bring in Tomlinson, so I think the offensive line will be solidified. You got running backs that can run the ball, but they also can catch the ball. Coming out of the backfield, and that has to be a touch pass. You're throwing it a little bit in front of him so that they can run and catch it. Never lose stride of
going up the field. And I watched Joe throw today and I was pretty impressed with those passes. Also, defensively, you played on the famous front franchise history. But that being said, what do you think about the numbers? Possibly up front jets coming at you and waves. That's the way they want to do this around here. They don't want guys playing sixty five snaps. They want people fresh in the fourth quarter. Well, you know fresh and the
fourth quarters. One thing you know, all I know is we played first downs, We played second down, we played third down, we played short yardage, we played gold line back then. I'm not a big rotation guy because I believe that on first and second down, you could be setting that offensive lineman up for a third down move. You could you could be in the third down and they pick up a first down and now you know how he's setting on you. Now you throw another guy
in there and you start over. They have so much talent on the defensive line that, okay, if you want to rotate, rotate, But if you have somebody out there that's hot, that is really dominating the game, I vote to leave him in. Leave him in there. Ntil maybe laid in the third quarter, early in the fourth quarter, you want to give him a couple of plays out. But most of the players will tell you they don't want to come out. They don't want to come out.
You know, if you're a little winded, if guys are running a hurry up all offense, if you're play after play after play, you know, maybe you get a little tired to raise your hand and they put somebody in for you. But you know they have the depth. So if that's the way they're going to play it, then you know. I just think that when you when you start rotating the players in there, you have to have better communication. Like when Joe and I we're playing together,
Joe was outside, I was inside. I'd look over there to Joe and Joe give me a nod, or he'd look one way. It didn't matter what I plan on doing through to go or I knew what Joe was gonna do, and Joe is gonna take his tackle up the field, give him that stiff farm underneath his on the underside of his uh shoulder pad. He wanted me to hold the guard on the line of scrimmage to create that space. He was gonna come underneath. I was going to release outside. Two things can happen, well, three things.
Joe can hit the quarterback, you can throw the ball, Joe can get the sack, or Joe flushes him. If I have containment, I get the sack. So it's so important to have that communication. And sometimes when you're rotating the players in and out, maybe that communication breaks down. Example in the Philly games, you can't have your defensive tackle slanting in. Your outside defensive ends slanting in and there's no containment on the outside. You know, we were
talking about it outside Lamar Jackson, perfect example. You have to be disciplined. It's not just getting the pressure on him, it's having the pocket collapse at the same time. You get that pushed by your two defensive tackle. He's feeling the pressure, he's stepping back. It starts to collapse from the outside. He's got to go back to get outside.
You got plenty of time to catch up. Yeah, I know it's not sexy because people would say, how are the Jets gonna be successful this year and say Jack Wilson's gotta throw thirty two touchdown passes, four thousand yards and all that other stuff. For you, it's the little things, because what we saw early in two thousand twenty one Jets were losing a lot of football games by double digits. What we saw on the back half of the year is, yeah, they want some games, weren't able to close some. Tampa
comes to mind right away. That was probably the most complete impressive performance of the year, and they were unable to finish the deal. So the next step is winning those close games, right because they should be in. They should be in games from get here right. Well, you gotta start fast and finish strong. And there's no lead too big in the NFL that a team can't come back. Example, the Falcons play in New England in the Super Bowl. What they have them down to three at one time,
and then all of a sudden they score. Now it's twenty eight to ten, and your defense goes out there and they create a third three and out, and then your offense goes out there and they score another one. Now it's now you've got the defense playing on their heels. You've got a coaching staff going, whoa, whoa, you know, how how do we stop this? You know, the problem was you took your foot off the gas. If in the NFL, if teams can beat another team by fifty points,
they're gonna do it. They're gonna do it as a reminder that maybe the next time we play it, we're gonna we're gonna try to embarrass you. There's oh scholarships here, there's no hey, let's pull it back. Let's not bloods anymore. Let's take a knee. No, no, no, this is the NFL, my second game, my rookie season. We lose. We go in a halftime, it's thirty five to three. In New England. We lost fifty six to three. They embarrassed us, you know,
and coming from Alabama, I never experienced that. And I sat there and we get on the plane and I remember Matt Robinson coming up to me and he goes, hey, rook, what's wrong with you? And I go, I'm embarrassed. I'm embarrassed. You know, we lost fifty six to three. And he goes, well, don't think too hard about it, because we gotta play next year, next week. Let it go. Yeah, you gotta let it go. But it's still human nature. It sits in the back of your mind, just like a quarterback.
You throw an interception, you have a bad pass, you you know, you've got to let that last play go because you can't hit it back. You gotta keep moving forward. And that's something that I think Zach learned last year. Now he got hurt last year, he got hurt this year, and people say, and I was one of the ones that said, you know, when he got hurt, why didn't you run out of bounds? But we already know the
results of what happened when he came inside. Yeah, so it's easy to say that, I know because I say the same thing in the press box. I didn't have a problem with the play, But as soon as people see him go down, well that's a young guy's mistake. What the hell are you doing? No, he was just being Zack Wilson. What if he spun in and didn't fall down and picked up another ten yards, we would be going, wow, you know, look at look at the
athletic ability to Zach Wilson. It just you know, unfortunately, injuries are part of the game. I saw a lot of guys on that I played with, like Bob Crable, Lance Smell, you know, outstanding linebackers. Non contact injuries, you know took away their career. You know, I'm worried about McKay.
I think McKay has got uh. I would approach McKay just like I do all the salespeople that I have atlantic When I de scope a job, I do not start with what you did wrong, because if I start with what you did wrong, I'll never get to what you did right because it's just go on and on and on. And when I do get to what you
did right, it doesn't seem like a compliment. I think McKay needs all that positive reinforcement to let them know that hey, you're a number one draft choice, you're a left tackle, you're a big man, but you have to be fully committed not just to yourself but to your team and take the little steps given the encouragement he needs, and those little things that he's doing right, and blow him up to big things. Yeah, and he did a lot of and then then he's got to want it.
He's got a want. We can't want it form. That's that's that doesn't work all the way from the NFL all the way down to peewee football. So so everybody to a man said that he wanted he put it into work here this summer unfortunate. You're really excited for the start of the season, so are we. We're gonna end it right here. Joe Cleco one of three senior finalists for the Pro Football Hall of Fame. All the nine needs now is a vote in January and he will be getting his jacket, and Canton and I will
be there number one and number two. He will get the I think that for the first time in a long time, he'll be recognized and everything will be validated on who he was as a person, who he was as a teammate, and the way he played the game. And that's the most important thing is it's not what you think or you know what you thought of yourself as a player. It's what the people you played against.
And when you have Anthony Monio's, DWIGHTE. Stevenson, Joe the Lamellier, all those guys that have been in the Hall of Fame saying you know what the toughest guy went against was Joe Clucko. I mean, if we had fifty three Joe Klucko's we would have won the Super Bowl. Joe cared about his teammates. He made sure his teammates were ready. When I came in as a rookie, he took me underneath his wing. He said, hey, you know, this is what you gotta do. You gotta get stronger. He goes,
because I don't have a choice. I gotta play alongside of you for as long as I'm here. And then first part of the season we get into it. He gets into a fight, and I do you know the most responsible thing. I held him back. I pulled him out of the fight. And he looks at me and he says. We get back to the huddle and he says, you ever do that again, I'll kick your ass right here in front of everybody. He goes, because you either fight with me or you leave me alone. And right
then and there, I had a teammate. I knew that when he was in a fight, right or wrong, I was going to get in. If I was on in a fight, I didn't care what the other ten guys on the defense we're gonna do. I knew I had one. I knew Joe would be in that fight with me. And what makes it so special to me to see Joe have this opportunity, is the friendship that we still have after forty three years, that means a great deal. And you know, his son, Danny grew up into grew
up in the locker room. He was fortunate enough to play in the NFL. He has three Super Bowl rings too, with New England one with the Colts. And he was a heck of a player. Heck of a player. And I'm not saying this in disrespect, but he'll never have that Hall of Fame hall of famering like his dad will. That will make it complete. Well, Uh, Marty Lions, you are doing Hall of Fame things with the kids Marty
Lions Foundation forty years um, congratulations, bravo. And if hum an opportunity to help, not just Marty or anybody else, I think I think we all should do something because there's a lot of people out there in need. And uh, thank you so much for coming by. My pleasure, e A. It's always a pleasure to be here at the facility, to sit and talk with you and just to let the people know that are watching this podcast. You don't have to be a professional athlete to make a difference.
All you have to do is care, and all of us have that opportunity in life. Whether you take it or not, it's your choice. I encourage you to do it. M.