LaDainian Tomlinson Opens Up About Grief, God, and the NFL

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right, welcome everybody uh to the Lesson 1% podcast. Today we, you know, we have a friend of mine. Uh really,

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he's really a friend of mine. I I didn't bring him on here because of all the other stuff he done, but apparently I found out that he did a whole lot of

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other stuff. I'm lying. Uh you know, this welcome Leenian Tomlinson. Um you

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know, definitely a less than 1enter. definitely someone that changed the game. I prayfully knew about about him

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through um one of my one of my wife's friends and you know it's a pleasure to have you here today and I appreciate you

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spending the time and coming and talking to us. Absolutely. Glad to be on with you and uh I'm sure we'll have some good things

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to talk about as we did on the golf course. Yeah. Yeah. So we we spent some time on the golf course and I had to show him my

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my little quirky swing. So So but he you you were crushing the ball that day. Yeah. I mean, you didn't always not always

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where you wanted it to go, but it was it was legit. Yeah. And I I think, you know, golf is is such a humbling game, obviously,

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right? You know, but I think when you get to a point in golf where you can know what you're doing out there, like

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some of your bad swings, oh, I know what I just did there. And try to correct it. I I think that like that's when you

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really, I think, have control over your game, right? I mean, we play with people all the time that don't know where it's going. you

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know, they just hit it all over the place because they really don't know how to change their swing or fix it in mid

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round. I've always worked to the point where I I could say, you know what, I know what I'm doing. I

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know what problem I'm having in golf when I'm playing and try to fix it. So, that's the thing. I think that's a

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life thing. I think that's why I'm attracted to it cuz I mean, obviously played basketball and made that

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transition to golf, you know, when I wasn't playing anymore. And golf is that kind of game where it's like life. Like

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if you don't adjust it, it's like it's not just going to get better just doing the same old stuff. So I I love it. Did

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you have a hard time I mean you you play a lot. You play a lot. Yeah. Did you have a hard time going from a

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team sport to something that's individually focused? Um I not really. Um because I I think

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the things like in an individual sport, you know, the characteristics are are things that you want,

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you know, like selfm motivation and you know, like when you mess up, you like that's on me, you know, like those

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qualities. I already had that. Like I have no problem a lot of times say, "Hey man, you know that was on me." Like I

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didn't hit the hole right or I didn't catch that ball, PB, that's on me, right? I I've never really had a problem doing

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that. And I I think, you know, you go to a point where um you know, in in a sport

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like golf, you say, "Hey, I didn't play well today." Yeah. You know, and that's that's on me.

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But the great thing is I understand that there's always tomorrow, too. The sun

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will shine tomorrow, so strive to be better tomorrow. Um it's funny. So, so it's a humbling

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game. And then the the one thing so a lot of people know you perver perfully

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and you know and I fortunate enough to came and and support the you know Jack and Jill um and you know you had

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obviously friends family there and everybody's kind of like you know talking about you behind your back and

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the one word that comes up every time with you is is humble and humility. You know you mentioned humble in golf but I

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mean you know you're a killer. I mean, you were a killer on the on in in college. You were a killer in in in in

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the NFL. Made the Hall of Fame. I mean, and even meeting you and talking to you,

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you're so humble. Like, how how do you is that hard to maintain or is that just intrinsically who you are? And if it is

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who you are, where they come from? I I think it's it's entrenched in kind of my DNA, if you will. Uh, first off,

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my father was a very humble man. like this man like never yelled at all like

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at us the kids never ever yelled, never spanked us, you know, he was just so so

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humble like when I seen him interact with other individuals, you know, always

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modest. And so I think, you know, it came from that like he I I have his

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spirit, I like to say, you know, but I think, you know, like people cultivate that over time. coaches, you

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know, uh my mom, you know, different things that I think I heard growing up

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allowed me to stay humble. You know, one of the things my mom would always do, um

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she would find these stories in the newspaper about a kid my age, like,

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you know, getting shot, selling drugs, going to jail. And at the

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dinner table, at the breakfast table, she would just walk up and, you know, kind of hand hand you that story, you

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know, hey, I want you to read that and you reading the story like, man, this kid is my age. Like,

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and then there was always a lesson behind that story and we would talk about it.

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Same goes for when I was in college and I was starting to get national attention, TCU,

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right? And I remember my head coach Dennis Francion calling me in the into the office one day and you know he was

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right? And I remember my head coach Dennis Francion calling me in the into the office one day and you know he was

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talking about this national attention and the stories that people were writing on me and he looked at me he said

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all glory is fleeting and I I thought about that and he said

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you know all this national attention and all this you know notoriality that you're gaining one day it will be all

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for none. and it will be gone. Nobody will remember. And that always stuck with me.

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It always stuck with me. And and so that's why I say different things that people have instilled in me,

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right, has allowed me to kind of continue to I guess that humility and to be humble.

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So when I when I first met you, what struck me is is that you interacted with

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me like we had been friends for 30 years. like off off rip like just you

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were just like I just met you like hey you know and I've seen you interact with

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other people and like I said other people kind of talk about you is that something you try to do or is it just

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natural to you cuz I feel like I feel like that's a I don't know if that's something you can teach.

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You know what I'm saying? Yeah. No, I get it. Yeah. I but I never try I never try to do it.

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I think it's just who I am. Yeah. Um, you know, being someone that I I think I

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would say my friends can easily come and talk to me and they they feel like they can talk to me about anything and we can

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have all different types of conversation. Um, I've never been even

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in, you know, my highest moment, I've never been this standoff person or this,

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you know, look at me or shrug you off like who who is this guy? I've never been that type of person. So I think

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it's just natural for me to respect a individual until you show me otherwise,

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you know. Well, I got to stay on I got to stay on my P's and Q's then, right, Jordan? I

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got to behave cuz I got a history. But you know that that So I want you to pull up I want you there's two things

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and so I we got a clip of your of your uh record-breaking touchdown. Okay.

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And there's two things that I think are super funny. But in that clip, and I don't want to give it away, but

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you you definitely it's not a it you broke the record, but that you didn't act like you broke the record. You acted

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like the team broke the record. But let's play it. I don't want to I'm I'm over here talking about it. Let's Let's see it.

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You got the ball back at the seven. But hey, you've already seen the record tied. You got a chance to see it broken

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right now. [Applause]

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I said, "Guys, you we're going to all be old one day." When we look back on this clip, I don't want it to be about me. I

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want it to be about us. I was crying in the huddle just because I knew we're about to do something. I had tears in my eyes snapping. I was

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like, "Oh god, don't mess this snap up." And I'm like, "All right, LT." I said, "Get on my hip and don't dip. Let's go. We're going to score this touchdown."

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I'm like, "This is going to be great. I get to leave LTN. I'm going to be on NFL Network. This is going to be great.

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The play is designed to go straight up the middle. I see the safety. I'm going

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to go blow this guy up. I tripped. I fall.

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So, what did I do? I bounced it.

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It outside into the end zone. Charger fans are witnesses to history.

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I remember line. That's why you're the greatest. the joy they had picking him up and just

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everybody felt a part in him. The great number 21, as humble as a day is long, celebrated with all of his

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teammates in the end zone. There was no spotlight dancing. Pointing to the guys, pointing to the

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crowd is it wasn't about him and that's why guys loved him.

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That's awesome, man. Yeah. I mean, great memories. Yeah. Yeah.

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Yeah. Yeah. I mean, just uh you can see it cuz it's all live, man. You're you're

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not even really focused on you. Oh, no. No. I think the buildup when I think about

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the buildup to it, uh for one, throughout the game, you know, it was kind of

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a little back and forth at first. Yeah. You know, and and then as we started to uh take control of the game and and do

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what we always did, which was impose our will. That was kind of our model. impose

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our will. Um, I remember the defensive guys because right before that turnover,

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that Shawn Marman, the sack, fumble, turnover, right before that, we were thinking on offense, man, that was that

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was it. We weren't going to get the ball back. Like maybe next game we'll get the record. Yeah.

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And then when when that happened, Sean actually came came over and said,

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"Hey, that was for you. Like, let's go get this record." And as you see when I got up,

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even the defensive guys was like, "Let's go. Let's go get it. We just we just got the ball back for you. Let's go get it."

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And as um on that clip, Nick Harwick, who was our center, he actually did, you know, a lot of

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those guys had, you know, tears in their eyes. They're thinking like, man, this is this is pretty special. The

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atmosphere though, you know, I never won a Super Bowl championship. Yeah. But I would envision

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it will feel like that. the atmosphere, you know, the you know, that feeling of

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accomplishment and success, you know, at the highest moment. Um, it was it was pretty special.

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You know, I would say I'm I learned in this job, you know, I've been in the job for 10 nine years

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now, almost 10 years. And I didn't realize the impact that I have on people cuz I'm not, you know, I'm just kind of

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doing the work and like yourself, just trying to get teams and elevate people and make the world a

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better place. But I didn't realize how many people I impact. I went to a

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conference a week ago and and presented to a bunch of medical students and I was I was I was I was I felt I was I was in

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a bad mood. I was on the road forever. I was tired, you know, and um gave this this this

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speech to these kids and it was crazy cuz I did, you know, I'm from Toronto. So, I I did some stuff and I said, "I'm

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from Toronto." And right in the middle of the of the Toronto picture, I put on not Like us from Kendrick. Sorry, Drake.

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I'm I'm sorry, Drake, man. I love you, man. You know, you're my homie, but I put Kendrick on. So, everybody went wild cuz, you know, the whole battle battle

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thing, but they just talking to them, they poured into

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me like cuz you saw in their eyes the future was so bright. Like, they they're not callous and you know what I mean?

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They're not they're not like burnt out. They're just starting and everything is is amazing. And so the thing I would say

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about that, even me, you know, and I'm old. That gave me goosebumps because I saw

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the way you you know what you didn't even say I broke the record. This entire time you said we broke I

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mean I watched I watched like 800 interviews of this and you always talk about when when we were going to go

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after the record when we this when we that you know what I mean? like it's so I just I'm saying I know you didn't win

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a Super Bowl. I I so wish you did but on the other side of it that's people's

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Super Bowl you know they they you inspired so many people by the way you played not just your athleticism but

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also by the way you play and your humility and all that. Thank you. So I appreciate that. Yeah. This is you you are a blessing to people

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that you don't even know.

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Yeah. you know, and that's, you know, I think that's

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what we are when you're in a position to, you know, inspire people or motivate

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people um to do something that they didn't think they could. I think that's our

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obligation is to, you know, to really press in and and

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lean in about team. Yes. You know, like nobody gets there by themselves. I don't care what profession

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you're in, you know, how much money you have, nobody gets there by themselves.

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Um, and part of it is the understanding of who plays the part, right?

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You know what I mean? On any team, like who plays the part? My part on that team was to be the captain, was to, you know,

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to be the guy that the engine, you know, that that uh I think carried the team

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or, you know, motivated the team. U now the quarterback's job was to

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drive the ship. Yes. You know, that's his job to make sure the ship is going in the right

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direction, but it has to have an engine, you know, in the ship. There's all kind of parts to that ship. So knowing what

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part you play was a was a big thing uh you know for me. Right. Who who's the best leader that

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you ever that has either led you or you've been a part of or you saw you

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know who's the best leader you've ever seen. Wow. That's that's a good one.

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I've been around a lot of really good leaders but a guy right at the top of that is probably the late Junior

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Sayi man. the late Junior Sayi man. Yeah. The guy was just a phenomenal people's

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person. Yeah. You know, because he had a way, even if he didn't feel like it, he had a way of

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making you feel like he cared about what's going on in your life, you know, and that's hard to do on a

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team of of 60some folks, you know, to make every individual

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first from the 65th person to make them feel like and all different hierarchies, right?

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guys who's making millions and guys who just, you know, trying to get on the field. Absolutely. But the one thing that I I

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noticed with Junior, you know, it can be a guy that was a reserve starter. If he

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was h I mean reserve uh role on the team. If he was having an event in the community, you know, for

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his foundation and he asked Junior say I to show up. No, that man would show up. he would

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show up for his teammate and he would be so interactive and and so you know fun

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and and you know uh like that energy and that light that he had with other folks

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that's where I think like I remember when I first got to the league and I was in awe of Junior Sam you know because

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superstar you know all pro all world Mr. Southern California. Okay. Went to

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school in San Diego in high school. Went to USC. This man was Southern California.

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I remember walking into that locker room and being in awe. But the one thing that I did uh early on, I just kind of

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watched his move, his moves, his movement, the way he talked, the way he handled himself in the media, way he

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handled himself around teammates. Um, and one quick story about that. I used to see Junior Sea get in the cold

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tub every single day and I I would always wonder why does he do that? Like what what is that about? I knew nothing

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about the cold tub in college. We didn't do that. And that's and that's I mean and now it's now it's everywhere. I mean even

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I'm doing what is the um you know the the cryo the cryo you know. So now they don't you

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know took it to another level. But I would see Junior doing this every day. And I finally built up the nerve to go

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get in a cold tub with him one day because nobody really he was really one one of the only ones doing it.

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Yeah. And I went in and and you know he would always sit there right after practice and you know sometimes

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have his headphones on or sometimes he would be eating a meal after after practice. And I just went in one day and

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and and I said, "This is my time to just talk to him, you know, get an insight of of why he's

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so great." Yeah. Uh and I said, "So, you do this every day?" He said, "Every day." He said, "In

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this game, it's about discipline, structure, you know, how to keep your body healthy, you know, how to keep your

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mind healthy, all this kind of stuff." And I said, "Really?" I said, "How long

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have you been, you know, doing the code tub?" And he said, "Since I got into the league." someone else showed me how to

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do it, you know, kind of led me to it and I've been doing it ever since. After that moment, after that day, I

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started doing it every day and I carried on that tradition. Yeah. And so, he was just like a great leader

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and and really someone that was a great mentor. Junior Sean actually

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uh told me where to propose to my wife. Okay. Okay. You know, that's how that's how close and I think uh great of a

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person he was. You uh you have a spirit. You have a

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spirit. You have a you know, just trust me. You know, you have a spirit where you you emanate positive vibes. You

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emanate the abil, you know, you let people know they can be better. They can do better. I saw you support your wife

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and Jack and Jill. You know, that's important to you. Yep. The times where you're down, there times

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where you are are there times where you're in a dark place. Um even for a

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moment. Yeah. And and how so tell me about tell me about Yeah, absolutely. I I think um you know

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when I'm most of the time I think when I'm struggling and in a dark place, it

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has nothing to do with me. It's something my kids are going through. You know what I mean? Like you

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make me cry. something my kids are going through that I can't help them with. You know, they're dealing with something at

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school. Yes. I can't help them with it. I got to try to coach them or or

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navigate them through the situation. And it makes you feel helpless as a as a

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parent, as a father. Yeah. Um, you know, because like listen, I think I think the

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times where I have really been like down and struggling,

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honestly, those days are really over cuz it was about my career at that time, you

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know, like when it was about me when I got released by the Chargers. Yeah.

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You know, wondering my wife was pregnant at the time, wondering where are we going to go? our

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doctors are here. You know, she was like, "Yeah, oh my god, like we're pregnant. Like, we

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can't leave now. Like, why are they releasing you?" You know, those were hard times. And how

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I dealt with it, you know, my faith. Yeah. you know, my faith in God and

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knowing that he is never going to, you know, leave me or forsake me, but

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also he's never going to put me in a position or a place that I can't that I can't thrive if I truly I truly believe

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that. And so those were the times where, you know, I meditated and and really

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focused on what God was trying to tell me and what he was where he was trying to lead me.

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Another time was losing my father, man. you know, suddenly,

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you know, one day he's here, the next day he's gone. Was Oh, it was tough, man. And I and I'll open up a little bit

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about this. It was tough because, you know, when my mom and dad got

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divorced when I was, you know, 9 years old that my relationship with my father

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was, you know, up and down. You know, he was in and he was out. You know, there was time months went by

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where I didn't see him. And you know that depression of where is my father?

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Like do he not love me? Like why is he in why is he isn't he around? You know

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like where is he? When I first started to really get to

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know him was in college like really know who my

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father was because I was becoming a man. I can drive down to his home, sit on the

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porch with him for hours and just have conversations, right,

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about how he grew up, you know, why he left those things. And

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it was at that time where I started to understand my father, but more importantly, I started to

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understand me, you know, why I was the way I was. So, at the height of me

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starting to get to know my father truly, him seeing me have my greatest

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professional year, he's gone.

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That's tough. And it's God. Why? That's tough. You know, why? And I struggle with that for quite some time. And I didn't open

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up about it. You know, it was just something that I was dealing with. But, you know, as they say,

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time heals all wounds. that, you know, maybe not always understand

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why, but I think knowing um the purpose behind, you know, we're

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all made to to die one day and and you know, that's just what it is.

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So, yeah. Yeah. I mean, you know, there's definitely times where you you go through hard times and, you know,

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struggle, but my faith at the end of the day Yeah. gets me through those times. We um I'm

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so I'm sorry. You know, I'm still sorry for it. You know, it's it's to go through it. I can feel the pain. You

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know, I have had some, you know, fortunately haven't had um you know, deaths like that in my family except for

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my aunt, but I went through some stuff with my son and I'm still not healed. Like if I I'm not even going to tell you

24:03

about it because if I tell you about it, you know, we're going to have to cut all the cameras off because it's terrible. Um but I I I agree you know like I think

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having that greater purpose you know one of the things um we had a Leopold Lopez

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he is uh he was on the podcast we just released that podcast just recently and

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um he was uh in Venezuela he won an election and the dictator at the time

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didn't like that he won the election so locked him up and so he's in prison and

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he one time got a little you know a little depressed West was thinking about, you know, committing suicide.

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And he said the thing that helped me was was God. And so I'm thinking, okay, you

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know, you get in there, you pray, you know, God, help me out, you know, I'm in this position. Save me, you know, fix everything. He said, no, I didn't

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pray for that. I I was pray I prayed for gratitude. Said, thank you for putting me in this

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position. Thank you for the prison. Thank you for the bad food I have. Thank you for the water. And I was like,

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right. I mean, he was saying and I was here. Wow. You know, like, you know how you get that feeling when you start to well up?

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Yeah. I mean, right, Jordan? I mean, you you were sitting right here like, you know, at the to be able to thank God

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for the things that are terrible. Yes. Is a special is a special

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and it makes you it actually is the way that you do understand where you're supposed to be. You're like, okay, I'm

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going through it now. And usually when you go through it, I mean, you don't always come out of it with something better, but you come out of it better.

25:40

Yeah. You understand what I'm saying? Like you may not Well, yeah. But and I think about, you know, like so for example, like this the

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book Inner Excellence with Jim Murphy, right? Yeah. There's a point where he talks about um

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suffering and as humans, we don't think we should suffer. We don't think we

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should be in pain. Like it's not a human nature to say, "Oh, suffering is great."

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But why are we like that? Where Jesus paid the ultimate sacrifice for us and

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he suffered for it, right? So who are we to say that we shouldn't suffer? We shouldn't suffer or we shouldn't be

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in pain. And it makes perfect sense, right? So if we in the times where we're

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suffering and you know we're depressed or we're going through it, I really believe those times we should

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embrace it. and feel every feel, every moment, every pain. Feel it all. Embrace

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it all. That way, I think you can digest it. This is the reason why I'm feeling

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like this. I don't ever want to feel like this again. Okay. How do I move forward to make sure this doesn't happen

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again, right? I think it's perfect way to approach it. Yes. Yes. Yes. Totally agree. Um, so

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before I start crying, We um I just want to let everybody know

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that Leanian and I have the same last name and we don't think we're related

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and I'm not going to spring any DNA test. Ain't it ain't that type of podcast, but I I do want

27:18

You're not the father. Yeah. Yeah. You you are not the you are not his brother. But I I want you know this picture I sent this picture to my

27:24

dad, the one that we took on the golf course and um and uh you have that Jordan that picture. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh yeah.

27:31

He said he said wait a second. He said wait a second. He he got to be related. But just for the record for you know

27:39

Leanian's legal team going let me know we got the same name. But you know it's funny it has to be.

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It's not many Tomlinsons. No. Do you know what I mean? Like you're looking around. I'm like okay you know

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when when we saw you on TV I'm like you know I told everybody you know there's that's got to be my cousin. That's got

27:57

to be my cousin. But it's it's it's it's crazy. It's crazy. Um I do want to talk

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before we I have another clip I want to show, but I want to talk a little bit about Lorenzo. Yeah. Okay. Because um we I lived in Fresno

28:12

for 20 years. So played golf with Lorenzo or Lolo as everybody called. Lolo. Lolo everybody call it,

28:18

you know, and we playing um we were playing at the country club. We both joined it. He he lived in my

28:24

neighborhood. Okay. Like right in that I don't know if you ever been there. It was it was uh he lived right at

28:30

Well, no, no, this is in Fresno. Oh, in Fresno. Yeah, in Fresno when he was in Fresno. So, we played like I said our um you

28:38

know my you know through my wife's family we know him and we were playing golf and you know and he started now

28:45

listen you've seen him play golf. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I'm sorry you know he ain't that good

28:51

now. When he'll get a hold to every now and then and he's strong. But but you know you need everything.

28:58

And I was playing really good at that time. I was playing a lot and man, you know, fairway green.

29:03

Fairway green. And man, he was talking so much, you know. Yeah, that's what he does, man.

29:10

So, I got to tell this I got to tell this story about Lorenzo. One of my one of my greatest and funniest stories

29:17

about Lorenzo Neil. Okay, we're playing golf in San Diego and I want to say it's like on Memorial Day weekend. So, people

29:24

are at home. We're playing in this community where there's houses lining the fairway. Okay. So, we're on

29:33

this one particular Yeah, I know. And Lorenzo hits a bomb and it goes

29:38

right. It goes right. And this this man is in his backyard and the ball goes hit his

29:45

boom. you know, and so imagine, I mean,

29:50

it's probably a hundred yards from, you know, the uh the car path to where this

29:55

man's house is. He's way low. But we hear him, "Hey, you

30:01

come get your ball. You come over here. You come over. You know, you hit my house." Like he's going off. Lorenzo

30:08

fast walk starts walking over there. Okay. This dude's bad, huh? Yeah. He gets over there. The dude looks at

30:14

Lorenzo, sees who he is. Yeah. You know, Lorenzo got this fat neck and

30:19

like he's huge. Dude said, "Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't know it was you. I'm sorry. You know, don't don't

30:25

worry about it." You know, and just kind of threw the ball back. But it goes to show you that

30:31

people, you know, a lot of times, you know, overreact, right? And Lorenzo

30:38

could have easily jumped the gate. Yeah. you know, and and and went and went and said, "Okay, say it to my face." Yeah.

30:45

But his ability, and this is the guy that Lorenzo is, just such a great guy. His ability to go from one to 10, but

30:52

then to say, you know, back off of it because I've seen him in the locker

30:58

room, you know, with younger guys that challenge him, you know, dump him on the head like right away. This guy was a

31:04

wrestler in college. So, so he can get down the more which is which is probably the capital,

31:11

right? Brassland, you know, but to see him, you know, get over there and this

31:16

guy get so scared. Oh my god. My god. First off, we were laughing. We were dying laughing because

31:22

you were tough. You were tough about Yeah. When we were 100 yards away minutes, but now not so tough.

31:29

Yeah. Yeah. That's That's awesome. So, I want to I want to play this I want to play this clip. This is this one to me.

31:36

Um, I don't I want to ask you about the speech that you wrote because uh this

31:42

was this was p this is powerful. So, let's play that clip. This is the hall the end of your hall of fame speech.

31:58

I'm almost finished. When you are part of a team, you

32:06

understand your teammates, their strengths and weaknesses,

32:11

and work together toward the same goal to win a championship.

32:17

In this context, I advocate we become team America.

32:24

In sports, in sports, we're evaluated on our

32:29

desire, ability, and given a chance to compete. America is the land of opportunity.

32:38

Let's not slam the door on those who may look or sound different from us. M

32:43

rather let's open it wide for those who believe in themselves that anything is

32:49

possible and are willing to compete and take whatever risk necessary to work hard to

32:56

succeed. I'm being inducted into the Hall of Fame because my athletic ability created an

33:04

opportunity for me to excel in the sport I love.

‍

33:00

When we open the door for others to compete, we fulfill the promise of one

33:14

nation under God with liberty and justice for all.

33:19

Yeah, man. Yeah, that was powerful.

33:25

Yeah, I I see them, you know, MW like uh if you remember

33:32

at that time, I mean, there was there was marches in the street. there was so much social unrest, you know.

33:41

Um, and when I retired in 2012, that was

33:47

kind of the start of the social unrest where, you know, so much was going on between

33:53

law enforcement and and particularly our community. Okay.

34:00

It took me, I guess, maybe a year to

34:06

kind of formulate my thoughts into, okay, if this was going to be the last

34:11

speech that I would give that the last thing that people would hear me say, if

34:16

me leaving tomorrow and the plane crash and I was gone, what would I want to what would I want to say? What would I

34:23

want to say to this country as they have elevated me to this Hall of Fame status and I got this gold jacket and this is

34:29

my opportunity, you know, to say how I got here.

34:35

Again, it's not about me. I'm I'm seeing people marching in the street. I'm seeing young black kids getting

34:41

shot. That's what I was thinking about. And so that's where that all came from.

34:48

I spent, you know, months putting this together, you know, about what I wanted

34:55

to say and how I wanted to say it. And so that's how it came out. It it came

35:00

out brilliantly. I mean, and you just true to your nature. I watched the whole

35:06

speech 28 times and you were thanking everybody like you. I mean, there wasn't

35:13

like, you know, you were you know, like it wasn't like a MJ speech, you know. I remember when you did this to me and I

35:18

remember when you did that to me. You just went through. You think I feel awkward though, Mw.

35:27

It's obvious. You know, it's just one of those things that like I know what I did. Like I lived it, you know, I was doing it. I

35:33

mean, there's no need for me. But I think you I think you were doing it for more than yourself.

35:39

Yeah. You could tell. I mean, the weight of the world was on you, you know, every every snap. It see it it it feels like

35:46

so man it I I it was it was powerful. I I think not enough people play that

35:52

speech, you know, especially with all the drama now. And I don't you know, I'm not political. I'm not a political

35:57

person. I don't want to go into all that. But me, you know, for me, one of the things you said there is kind of similar to what I

36:04

say to everybody in healthcare. I say, you know, my job is to make sure that

36:09

everybody, no matter who they are or where they're from, have an opportunity to receive or impact healthcare, right?

36:16

No matter what barriers you have, no matter who you are, where you're from, or what you look like, it's my

36:21

responsibility to make sure that you have that opportunity. And I don't prioritize, you know, who gets more

36:27

opportunity than others, but man, there are a lot of people who don't get opportunity that I'm going to spend a

36:33

whole lot of time on. because I'm for I'm lucky. I mean, you know, um I feel so blessed to be in the

36:41

position I am, but to your point in that speech, if we just stop there. If you

36:47

get to the Hall of Fame and you just like, I'm in the Hall of Fame. I did what I need to do. Mhm.

36:52

I feel it you would feel incomplete. And I feel incomplete. That's why everybody asks, "Moo, why are you doing

36:58

a podcast?" Like, I don't need to do a podcast, right? How how why are you bringing in different people into this

37:04

environment to talk about life and being a less than 1enter and why you're sad and who's your hero? And I have one more

37:11

question for you. I'm not going to I'm not going to go there yet, but ask you all these questions. Why am I doing that? Is because I feel like my

37:18

responsibility is to change try to change the world. And if somebody can hear, you know, Leenian Tomlinson give

37:25

some advice or give some input or give some inspiration and I get to one person, my job is my job is done.

37:30

Absolutely. Because you you've you've worked for the position that you are in. Like you've put hard work into a sweat,

37:37

sweat, blood, and tears in to get to where you are. But there is some other

37:43

kid out there that don't believe that they can do it until they, you know,

37:48

till they meet you, till they shake your hand, till you tell them your story. People, I remind people all the time,

37:56

I didn't always believe, right, you know, that I can make it to the NFL. I didn't because I knew no one from my

38:02

city, from my town to make it. How do you believe in something that you have never seen? Right. you. But at the

38:10

same time, what changed was meeting Em Smith

38:16

and touching Em Smith, sizing this guy up and said, "Man, he's not that big." Like, okay.

38:23

But he's big here. Yeah, he's big here. And what did it take?

38:29

Yes. To be big here, you know, hard work, dedication, consistency, all those things we talk about. But I think a lot

38:37

of time we quit as as people like humans, we quit when it just get a

38:43

little bit too hard, you know. And I tell especially young athletes or even young student athletes,

38:51

um, a lot of times you could be right on the threshold. You could be close to

38:58

knocking the door down, pushing the door down if you keep knocking. But we get to

39:04

a point where our arm is a little tired, you know, and and we just we we you know, we're just a little fatigued and

39:10

we say, "You know what? It's never gonna fall." And we turn and walk away, not knowing that we're we're that close.

39:18

That tipping point was right there. Yes. Yes, man. Okay. I have uh so we do

39:24

this with everybody and you've been so gracious, but I'm going to I'm going to ask you uh a question and then we

39:32

actually want Do you have Do you have a family member you can call? Is it okay to call a family member?

39:38

Yeah, I'm sure. I mean I I got some Okay. So, what I'm going to I'm going to ask you a question and then we want to

39:44

ask them a question. Okay. So, the question I want to ask you and and you can't you it has to be something

39:50

that's unique to you. Okay. You can't just say, you know, it has to be you. Like, you know what I mean?

39:55

Like, like nobody else in the world is ever going to have this on tape, but Moo and Jordan and less than 1%.

40:03

I'm I'm nervous now. He went from leaning forward. He went from leaning forward to like,

40:09

I got that thing. I got to go. I got to be at the golf course at 2:15.

40:14

You got to get going. All right. No, no, no. Okay. So, what would you say now? You see behind

40:20

me all these these these uh action figures. Let me let me tell you let me tell you a little story first and then I'm going to

40:25

ask this question. So my daughter back to I'm going to combine what you said just now with in inspiration

40:32

and seeing it to my daughter. Okay. My daughter is uh you know both my kids both my kids are really you know amazing

40:39

kids are doing the thing. Ryan's at UT Dallas Athena's at Boston College. So we

40:44

go to Marvel movies. We just go to we all that's a family thing. We just go to Marvel movies. When we go to Marvel movies, you know, you

40:51

have a very, you know, I know your family unit is real tight. So, we go to the movie, we watch the movie,

40:56

and then we rate it. We get in the car and we talk junk. You know what I mean? And we rate it together. And we are just

41:03

eerily right on every single time. You know, this is a C, this is a B, this is a A. So, we went to see we went to see

41:11

uh Black Panther. The first one. I mean, you know, I watch Black Panther and I'm like, you know,

41:17

okay. you know, it was all right. You know, you know, I mean, it was good, but you know, it was all right. I mean, it

41:22

was a little bit of a I think for for black for black people, black Americans specifically, it was a little bit of a

41:28

coming out party cuz you had a dedicated, you know, there was Flash back in the day with Super Friends and

41:33

then there was Static Shock. We talked with Joelle. But, but now this was prime time Marvel.

41:39

Yeah. So, we left there. I'm like, Dena said, "Dad, what you think?" I said, "It's

41:44

good. It's good. It's a B. It's a solid B. is a B minus. She looked at me like she was going to tear my head off. And

41:51

I'm like, you know, cuz she we very similar. I mean, even my my son, we just very similar. And I said, "What did you

41:57

think it was?" And she said, "It was a A+." And I said, "We we never that off. What is wrong with you?" And she said I

42:05

said, "Well, what you know, Tchala, like what did you She said, "Dad, I like the

42:10

the the the sister in the lab." Wow. And then it hit me. Mhm. I say my daughter

42:16

who has two doctors as parents and I'm I'm grinding. I'm doing my thing. Like it's not like I'm

42:22

unsuccessful even beyond medicine. You have all the role models in the world.

42:28

But it takes a a lady with a science lab on TV that kind of looks like you, that

42:33

kind of moves like you, that jokes like you. And that's the inspiration she got. Yeah. And so to your point about

42:41

inspiration and just seeing it, it's more than just seeing it. EMTT did more for you than just seeing him.

42:47

Each shot I kind of showed you like here take the mantle like this is what you take. So So that was my transition to I had to

42:53

tell that story cuz it matches with what you said. But so that it it takes me to these superheroes.

‍

42:56

So what is your superhero and it can't be I'm on time. I hit the ball 320 in the win. It it has

43:08

to be something intrinsic to you that only you have. That's your superpower. Oh, my vision.

43:15

Oh, like my wife like she freaks out that I can see like stuff from long distance

43:23

like read stuff from long distance. She's like, "How can you see that?" like she used to like flip out like like bird

43:30

eye type stuff, you know, where where you know in one of my eyes I remember, you know, my eye doctor, you know,

43:37

seeing like I had like 2010, he was like that is, you know, like to at an older age, you

43:43

know, to be able to still be able to see. So without question and to that point of having vision,

43:50

that's why I believe I was a great runner. Yeah. because I can see things, you

43:55

know, I can see things and get to it. Um, but vision is my superpower.

44:01

Do you feel like you feel Okay. You feel like it's it's vision and awareness though or is it just cuz you're even even when we're

44:09

playing golf? I mean, you're seeing I saw you seeing like you're like, "Hey, moo, you know, watch out for that guy

44:15

and you know, oh, come say hi to my friend." You know what I mean? Like it's it's an awareness that you got. No question. I I think it is. is is

44:22

vision and awareness. Especially when it comes to, you know, kind of when I played the game. Yeah. Um I always

44:29

describe it for me it was really like the matrix how I saw things. The numbers are coming down. But I can

44:36

see people starting to move. And for me, I'm just the awareness of

44:41

seeing it and me being able to move against, you know, them or opposite of

44:47

where they're going is definitely. And the other part of it is probably um a

44:53

little claustrophobia, you know, cuz I'm I'm I'm claustrophobic. We got to make the room bigger.

44:59

But it's only in small like uh MRIs and stuff. Couldn't do it. being strapped

45:05

down, you know, when my arms came in, I can't do it. And so, another part of, you know, kind

45:11

of that quality of being a great runner is not want to be pinned down and and

45:16

finding. So, that's your kryptonite and you're trying to avoid it. Yes. Well, okay. So, before we go to the

45:21

call, when we set that up, I want to let's go to that clip cuz Lolo called

45:27

you something different. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. I'm sure he did. I'm sure he did. All right.

45:33

I've seen train monkeys, donkeys, elephants, big old tigers, and lions. I

45:39

said, "You've never seen a train jack rabbit." I said, "You're like a jack rabbit. When you get the ball, you don't know where you're going."

45:45

Oh yeah. I can see that driving.

45:53

I was at that game, by the way. I was at that game. You guys killed him.

45:59

Oh man, that was tough. That was so tough. We'll see you in the end, man.

46:05

Wow. Wow. Wow. Right. So, train jack rabbit. Did you Did you saw that before?

46:11

Yeah, I seen it before. I totally forgot about it. That's how he described it. But

46:16

yeah, Lorenzo, he would come up with all come up with all Jack Rabbit. I mean, have who's ever seen this Jack Rabbit

46:22

before? He's from He's from Leor. Anyway, I frankly I never seen the jack rabbit a little

46:28

more. But anyway, so what we do is um get your phone and he'll give you instructions and then you know if you

46:33

want to text somebody first or if you just want to call them and then I'll ask them what their super what your superpower is and we see what they say.

46:39

Okay. So pick anybody. Anybody? Well, I probably I'm probably going to I'm probably going to just text my wife.

46:45

Okay. Okay. Okay. And you said put on the headphones. Yeah, she can hear you on the mic. Um

46:51

she can hear me, too. So, I'll obviously I'll wait till you say hi and then

47:17

Hi, this is Tora.

47:24

You missed out.

47:37

Mom. Hey. Hey. How are you? Good. How you doing?

47:42

Oh, I'm good. So, listen. I'm sitting here. I'm doing a podcast right now and I'm live and we have you on live right

47:51

now so everybody can kind of hear you right now. Um, okay. So, um, I want you

47:58

to say hi to our our cousin that you don't know yet. His name is Amamu

48:03

Tomlinson. Hold on now. Now, say that all over again, please.

48:09

So, his name is Amamu Tomlinson. Oh, hello. Hi. How are you?

48:16

I'm wonderful. So good to meet you. Good to meet you. Yeah, we we we're trying to figure out, you know, where on

48:22

the tree we broke off. My family's from Jamaica, but we we love the last name. So, um

48:30

but we we we appreciate you. I know that you might be busy and uh thank you for answering, but um we're here with this

48:36

son and you know I just want to let you know he's such he's an amazing amazing man, amazing father, husband and you know

48:42

he's he I'm older than him but he's still my hero. So um

48:48

well thank you for saying all those nice wonderful things. No problem. And he is a good a good all of that

48:53

father son. Well you know you know but he's a good son too. Yes. Yes. A good person overall.

49:00

That's awesome. He really is. Yeah. That's awesome. So, so good to meet you. Good to meet you. Good to meet you. And

49:05

we have we have one question for you. Yeah. So, we asked Leian what his superpower was and he gave us an answer and now

49:13

we're asking you. We say we want to know what his superpower is.

49:18

I would say cooking, but then I I pick the breakfast. I would I would say that,

49:25

but uh I think it's his his humanitarian or his humbleness or both.

49:31

Oh man, that's Am I way off? No, I think actually you're way off with

49:37

him, but I agree with you. I think that's his superpower, but I didn't want to upset him. You know,

49:44

I we've been talking about, you know, being humble and all that stuff pretty much the whole podcast. So, for you to

49:50

say that, I mean, it kind of goes in line to what we were talking about here. Yes.

49:55

Uh but I I said I I said uh it was vision, you know, because my ability to

50:01

see and you know, all this and awareness, you know. So, yeah.

50:07

Yeah. Well, that's that's good. That's all of that is good. And I think that all goes into the more you know, the more you

50:14

see, the more you do. And so, you know, and it comes from humbling yourself so

50:19

that God can show you all the ways that he would have you to excel in. Yes, ma'am. Yes, ma'am.

50:24

All right. That's a word, Mom. I appreciate you. We thank you for answering the phone and picking up.

50:32

Thank you so much. All right. Love you. Oh, blessings and peace to everybody. All right. Thank you so much. All right.

50:39

Oh, thank you. Goodbye. Oh, that is awesome. So, mom said

50:44

I love talking to moms. I love talking to moms. Yeah, mom is always gonna She said cooking, though.

50:50

She said cooking and and I heard you could throw it down with some breakfast. No, quietly. Quietly. We watched the We

50:55

watched No, I I got to see the house live. But, but you know, when you did the you did like a tour when you first got in

51:02

the house. Yeah. And you were you know, you're you talk about the piano and then you said, "But I can throw it." And then the camera was

51:08

trying to go to the other parts of the house and he was like, "But I can throw down some French toast." He said, "Egg

51:14

scramble." I think he said, "This is where the magic happens." Usually people do that in the bed. Say that about their bedroom,

51:20

but he said, "No, this is where the magic happen." Exactly. We got kids and families watching.

51:26

That's awesome. That's awesome. That's great, man. That's great. That's great. Hopefully I didn't embarrass you too

51:32

much. No, no, no, you're good. No, it was it was it was good. I mean, you know, mom

51:37

is always she's always there, right? You know, like you depend on you. Pick up that phone and call mom.

‍

51:36

She gonna

51:44

answer. So, two more questions. One, I want to I want to ask you a little question about healthcare because you

51:49

mentioned that you just got a scan to check out your heart and everything like that. What what's your what's your

51:55

perspective on healthcare? cuz you know obviously you in the NFL you know post

52:01

NFL there's a lot of healthc care that you get based on you know being a professional athlete and then obviously

52:07

being having the means to be able to do that but overall I mean there's a lot of people

52:12

that struggle with healthcare what what's your perspective on healthcare in America? Um

52:18

well I I think your perception honestly it it changes as you get older right?

52:24

Yeah. you know, because when you're young, you know, we think we're invisible and, you know, there's no need

52:29

to go to the doctor. I don't feel any different. I don't feel like I'm sick or anything like that. So,

52:35

you know, like I'm just going to live my life. If something happens, my body will

52:41

let me know, right? Like that's been the perception at least, you know, for a lot of my friends. But I

52:46

think as we get older, what happens is we see our parents or you know our you

52:52

know our aunts or uncles or start to struggle with you know various diseases

52:58

or you know I don't care it could be heart disease or high cholesterol. You

53:03

see the ailments that they go through and so now you become concerned.

53:09

You know you're a concerned family member and you want to be involved. what can I do to make sure that this is not

53:15

happening to you? And then you find out it's not that simple for them to get insurance and to

53:21

see doctors. And so a lot of time, honestly,

53:26

for a long time, moo, I have felt like if you don't have money, it's hard for

53:32

you to live long or take care of your body or or see doctors. That's the way I felt for a long time.

53:37

And don't disagree. And and and it's unfortunate because yes, I've been put in a position where,

53:44

you know, I have insurance and the NFL took care of me for so long. And so I'm proactive now as I get older in going to

53:52

see my physician, stay on top of my diet, all these things that I do so that I can hopefully prolong my life and be

54:00

able to spend time with my grandkids in the future one day, right? Right. But the reality is that's that's not the

54:08

reality for everyone else. And so I certainly realize that there's a huge gap between the halves and the

54:14

have nots because most of my family are the have nots. Yeah. And so, um, I'm thankful for

54:22

someone like you who lends themsself and and educate people and and try to, you

54:29

know, help as many people no matter their economic status, you know, or anything like that because we need more

54:36

people like you saving family members lives that can't afford

54:41

to have insurance. You know, one of the things I say in the book, um, is I talk

54:47

about I talk about kids and I know you're in the throws of it. You know, we

54:53

you know, you doing the AU, you're doing the different sports and and and I think

54:59

that I I'm all in. You know, my daughter's at BC, my son. I'm all in. I

55:04

want to go to the league. I really do. Yeah. I mean, she might not, but it's okay. Like, in my mind, I'm like, that's a

55:10

possibility. But it's amazing how to your point

55:15

the numbers are very very very very small and a lot of kids will focus in on

55:22

the the sports even when they don't have the gifts and they'll ignore the other pathways you know

55:28

and I always say to people you know know your gifts if your gifts is your brain you know you might have to do things

55:35

differently than the gifts is your speed or your vision or whatever and so that's I think I think That's

55:40

something that, you know, um, Martellus was talking about that also that we need to do a better job at is really

55:46

celebrating everybody. You know, there should we should we should have signing day for, you know, for people when they

55:53

when they go to school, not just when they sign for their sport, right? Recognize. Yeah. Absolutely.

‍

55:52

So, um, so last thought, so somebody's, you know, camera, you got a camera over there. I want you to talk to the crowd.

56:07

What is your last like you know you know to your point you made a speech and said that this is your last word ever but is

56:13

there something that you want to give the audience knowing that people are people are watching this or listening to

56:19

this because they might feel like they're put into a box. Society puts them into a box. You know they're trying

56:25

to break out. We're trying to make them a disruptor and go out and be your best self and succeed. Is there any last

56:31

words you have for for people out there? H

56:37

man, I I'll put you on. I I would say

56:43

for one, we all have gifts, okay? Um you know, sometimes we don't want to accept

56:49

the gifts we have. We don't want to, you know, kind of um you know, hone in on

56:56

those gifts because we think it's not cool or you know, we're we're not going

57:01

to be successful. But I always go back to

57:08

my personal story, okay? And I'll say this, you know, I used to always hear

57:14

the the Bible um verse of, you know, God gives you the desires of your heart and

57:20

you know, all this kind of stuff. And I always wondered like really does God

57:26

really give you the desires of your heart? But then I have to look at myself

57:31

and I have to say absolutely he does. Here's why.

57:37

Um so as a 14y old for people who are believers sometimes

57:44

you have prophecies on your life you know about a pastor you know your your p your home

57:51

pastor might you know anoint you and say you know

57:56

this is a prophecy on your life. This is what you know the prophecy says you're

58:02

going to be x y and z. You're going to do x y and z. Well, that happened to me.

58:08

And at 14 years old, the prophecy said, "God will take you places you never

58:14

imagined." This is at 14. You never imagine if you honor him, if you give

58:20

him the credit. Okay? And so now the desires of your heart when that

58:27

prophecy comes down, the desires of my heart was he knew and I wanted to go to

58:34

the league. like I wanted to impact people. I wanted to inspire people. That was truly the desires of my heart.

58:42

When we talk about heart, what is it about? It's spirit. It's what's inside. So as we as as we

58:51

think about it and and and it you know nourishment throughout you know the mind

58:58

you think about it okay the body you know you train the body does it but

59:04

ultimately that gets into your spirit you dreaming about it and focusing on

59:10

and thinking about it that's what God means when he says I will truly give you

59:16

the desires of your heart if is truly the the desires of your heart,

59:21

right? Only he knows. So sometimes we can say I didn't even know.

59:26

Yes. So sometimes what I'm saying to folks out there, you can say you want something, you can say you want to be

59:33

this, but is it truly the desires of your heart?

59:39

That's why I say we have to sometimes follow the gifts that we've been given

59:44

and not say, "Oh, no. I don't think this is really, you know, one of my gifts. I

59:49

don't think this is really what God wants for me. I mean, and that's it for me. Like,

59:56

that's that's how I roll. That's how I operate. Like, no one can tell me

1:00:02

that I'm not here in this position because God had a purpose for me. No one

1:00:09

can tell me that. Because another quick story, at 17,

1:00:15

me and um you know, one of my high school classmates was in one of the worst wrecks

1:00:21

that you can possibly be in. I should be dead. I walked out of that. Walked out of it

1:00:27

with nothing. With nothing. We flipped. Wow. Got hit by oncoming traffic cars.

1:00:34

when we got when when we got out the car, the the doctor or the ambulance, you

1:00:41

know, uh you know, the guy said, "God, you shouldn't be here." Like,

1:00:47

honestly, so God is I tell you I'll tell you something.

1:00:54

You know, that was supposed to be the final thought, but I I have to take this and run with it a little bit. Sorry, Jordan. Just a couple more minutes. Um

1:01:06

um so so I was in a I was in a car accident. Same same thing, you know,

1:01:13

like you know, uh going somewhere where I

1:01:19

wasn't supposed to go, driving back and flip the car. Flip the car. But like I

1:01:25

mean uh there was a truck there's a trucker I passed you know.

1:01:30

Mhm. You know on your left boom late at night and I was driving and I

1:01:36

think I fell asleep. I don't I don't know. I don't know what happened. And he said that the car flipped

1:01:42

like like I mean flip. You know what does a flip like in like in the show like in the Transformers and it flips

1:01:49

and then it goes in the air and then it flips again and then and I was in a field in upstate New York

1:01:55

and I remember you got thrown from the car. No, I was in the car. You still in the car but you was in the field. I was in

1:02:01

the field in the car and I'll never forget cuz the car had had compacted so

1:02:06

much we used to put you know back in the day the old guys used to put 12 you know 14s

1:02:12

yeah you know in the back of your car the the the music was still on and the the the speaker was right by my ear.

1:02:19

Oh wow. Wow. So they I came the guys and the guys ran over to the car pulled pulled

1:02:25

tried to you know trying to bend to get you know to squeeze me out and to your point un unscathed not a not a not a cut

1:02:34

I mean I had glass in my hair you know my hair well I had hair then um but it's

1:02:40

you know when you said that I kind of had to stop because every everybody I meet that has done

1:02:48

amazing things in this world I I mean, athletic, academic, whatever it is, they

1:02:53

tell these stories where it's almost like near, it's almost like I want to write another book about these neardeath

1:03:01

moments or these situations where, you know, there's no reason that I should be here. There's no reason that

1:03:07

you should be here. And then all of a sudden, you're vaunted into a position where you can affect people's lives. is

1:03:14

it's almost like, you know, it has to be for God's purpose to show how great God is.

1:03:21

I believe like for what other purpose could there be? Yeah, it's it's amazing. So, listen, I

1:03:28

know I know you're busy. I appreciate you. I know you did not have to come here today. Um, though, man.

1:03:33

But I know you came, you know, because because you're that kind of person. And and like I said, I you know, uh just in

1:03:40

the short period of time that we've known each other that I really I really feel that spirit. I really feel like a

1:03:47

kindred spirit. You know, I felt like I could have been a better athlete if I had met if I had

1:03:52

met Emtt Smith earlier or if I have football in in Canada. You know what I'm

1:03:57

saying? I had this this football body trying to trying to shoot ba baskets, you know, like. But uh no man, I

1:04:03

appreciate you so much for coming by and and uh thank you for being part of the less than 1% family.

1:04:09

Absolutely, man. I'm good. Good. All right.

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