Pingy, pingy, pingy, pingy, pingy. Pingy, pingy, pingy, pingy. I'm ready to start. Welcome to Smart Letters. Smart.

Marius. Smart. Marius. Hey.

Yes, Will is joining us from Over the Pond there in London. It looks like you went ahead and treated yourself to a nice, at least a one-bedroom, maybe a two-bedroom suite.

Dude, look, who's counting other than you? I mean...

Yeah, it looks like you're doing.

Pretty well. Yeah, sitting in a wing-back.

Sitting in a wing-back. I felt like this is the chair that I've always deserved.

Yeah.

You.

Know? You sound like you're keeping it down because.

You're sleeping or something. Yeah, you're trying to stay quiet because the kids.

Are asleep. No, you know why? It's echoey in here. Yeah. So I'm just trying to be not as echoey.

Because you probably have hardwood floors in that nice hotel and- Sure do. -and high ceilings, right? Sure do, yeah. Yeah.

So I'm over here visiting some friends. And then, of course, I'm going to the football on Sunday, which I'm really.

Excited about. The NFL is having a game on this weekend over. They're trying to expand.

The league. You are something else. I'm going to see Liverpool play West Ham up at Anfield, their home ground in Liverpool on Sunday. Chappee and I are going. I'm very, very excited.

I can't wait. Would you ever consider getting each other rings? You and Chappee. Let me just tattoo it around your.

Ring finger. You know who we went saw yesterday? We went last night and saw Johnny Vaughan, my buddy who I've mentioned, who's on the radio over here, and he's a great talent. Oh, yeah. And so I went and joined the four to seven thing with his crew. Everybody from Gav, the Woodman Woods to Dr. Santha Templeton to Big Si and Little Si. And then we went out for a nice Chinese food dinner at a casino.

Oh.

How about that?

Like a bedding casino?

Yeah, it was different, but it was great. This guy hosted us. It was amazing. The credible Chinese food restaurant in the basement of this casino.

I can't picture, look at Jason's face. I can't picture anybody- It's just the world. I can't picture gambling anywhere other than Vegas. So they have casinos there. Does it feel like Vegas?

They got casinos everywhere, Sean.

Really?

Yeah. You ever heard of Macau?

I'm going to be going to Vegas in a few weeks here, and I'm anticipating not going to the tables at all because I don't drink anymore. I feel like I need to be inebriated to enjoy the mindlessness of gambling and the fear.

Of gambling. Sean can do it at breakfast. Is that true?

Yeah, I could do it. Oh, my God. I love it.

Wait, Sean, are you one of those at a buffet? Do you sit at the table, fill out the and everything?

Yeah, and then I go to Vegas.

I went with Sean once. Remember that years ago we went to Vegas? Oh, my God.

That was a long time ago. Do you remember that? That was so long ago. That was 2002.

Was this after Istanbul, you guys?

It was before Istanbul. Well, before.

I went to Vegas one time.

But maybe after Venice.

Oh, boy.

Because we've been Venice.

Italy, too. Does Chaffee know about Sean? Is he okay with him?

I'm trying to keep him.

Under their backs right now. Will and I have tattooed rings.

Toe rings.

I saw Sean one time out of the blackjack table just go nuts. And he was splitting and doubling down. And at one point, he was just playing like an eight-hand thing. It was so many splits and two-and-a-half.

But it was two-dollar units, right? It was just a two-dollar table.

No, it was great. I think it was that time or another time. You won? Yeah, I kept winning. I was really drunk and.

I was really young. See, that's what I mean. I don't think you can win when you're sober.

No. Yeah, because you make horrible choices.

Well, you make pragmatic decisions, and that's at odds with successful gambling, I think.

Yeah. Anyway, I had 300 bucks or 200 bucks left or something like that. And I turned it into 10,000 bucks, and I gave it all the way to the people at the table.

The people? Yeah.

Like Robinhood.

Just like Robinhood. Hold on a second. If you work for the IRS, if you work for the IRS, it was $9,999, right?

Yeah. How are you with the jet lag? Can you adjust.

Really fast? I'm okay. It hit me. I actually left in her a little bit early because the jet lag hit me in the between the eyes. I was like, Guys, I got to go to sleep. But I can tell you this, I'm really excited to go to my first... As you guys know, I do love Liverpool, and I love what they call football over here. I'm excited to go. It's a big thrill. Jay is a sports fan. You can appreciate how cool it is to go to a new stadium.

Yeah, they make sports fans look bad here in the States because you guys got the... They guys. You're one of them. Thank you. All the songs that you sing are just- The songs are incredible. It's real good fan.

Stuff all that.

I'd be into that. It's super, super fun, and it's a great environment. I've only been to one match over in Europe, and that was in Spain a few years ago. But I haven't been here, and I'm so excited. I love the football. I'm glad I'm saying football because it's reminding me- Oh, here.

We go.

-it's reminding me- Nice.

Talking to the guest.

Watch this. Our guest today, I'm so excited because I just want to get to him. This guy will. Our guest.

Today.

Is an incredible entrepreneur. He's a philanthropist. He's involved in all sorts of businesses, from media consulting to management to blenders to sports apparel- Oh, Blender. -to team ownership. This is a guy who has done so much, and a lot of it started because he had so much success on the football field. George Foreman? You talk about people who do amazing things, and then you talk about guys who were in the first round of the NFL draft, who played three seasons in both- Is this football? I'm going to explain. -twice led the league in touchdowns, voted to four consecutive pro goals, won a Super Bowl. And also, I think he got really well known for his incredible, what they call the Beast's quake, touchdown run. During the 2010, 2011 NFL playoffs, he rushed 67 yards while breaking nine tackles, considered one of the greatest NFL runs of all time. He's an all-time great. He's an all-time great guy. And he's also, more importantly, my friend, you guys, it's Mr.

Marshon Lynch.

No way. Hey, Marshon. Marshon, good morning.

What's going on? Oh, my God.

Marshon, can I ask you a question? Why do you spend so much time with this guy, Will Arnet? What happened? Does he have photos on you or something? You guys are so close. It's the weirdest couple in all of Hollywood.

No, man. I told him, if you ever call my phone, bang my line, I'm going to make it work. Because he gave me an opportunity to do some shit that I ain't never done before. So anytime you hit my phone, I'm.

Coming through phone. So that's just for forever. In perpetuity, he's got you as a guy throwing favors.

For sure.

Because I want to tell.

You that. Can we know what that was or no?

No, Murderville. Yeah.

A lot of people don't realize how hilarious Marshon is because they think of him as a football icon. I'm like, This is a funny dude. I'm so lucky. I'm so happy that you do return my calls. Marshon, we've never really talked about football in a way or how you started. Think about it. Over the last few years, we've talked about so much other weird stuff.

Honeymoon.

And all that other stuff. Well, we covered the World Cup. Last year, we did this thing together. We never talked about how you started in pro... Well, just in football in general. I guess that's on me, I should have asked. But I'm asking now, how did you... What was your first... Were you in love with football when you first started when you were a kid? What was the deal? What was your relationship like with football starting out?

The relationship with football was... I was big on playing it. Not too much of a fan sitting down and watching it. Really? That's interesting. But when it came to it, it was like, yeah, if we had the opportunity, every opportunity I had to play it, I was for sure getting down. Buti really wasn't, like I said, I wasn't big on sitting down and watching the game. It wasn't like no big-ass tradition that we did where everybody come through on Sunday and watch the games or Monday nights. It wasn't like, we got to watch this Thursday. No, I wouldn't know shit like that. Then the opportunity to go to college and play there, I thought it would all end for me after high school. Then we started sending letters like, Oh, yeah, you got opportunity to go to college and shit. That wasn't something that was really talked about in my household as well. Really? Yeah, that shit all seemed like a little fairy tale or whatever, but-.

Which college did you end up going to?

Cal, University of California. Oh, yeah.

Berkeley?

Yeah. I mean, the shit worked out for me in the long run. But- Yeah, for sure. When I first found out, I'm like, Hell, no. You want me to go to more school?

More.

Voluntary school. Like, no, hell, no. I'm cool off that. But I'm not going to lie. Luckily, I had two cousins who was really into that shit.

Was at school work?

Yeah, for sure.

Really into.

School work? Yeah, man. I'll say they took on the jobs of the teachers by making sure I maintained a reasonable grade point average to even be able to give college an opportunity. That's awesome. But then once I got there and seeing what type of time they was on, what I had to do in order to accomplish going to the next level, then shit just made sense. And it was like that shit clicked. Because now it was like, Oh, I got a goal and I got to do X, Y, and Z to accomplish this. Then let me just do what I need to do and see how far I could.

Take me now. Do you remember the process of getting used to getting hit? Did you start playing football so young? Yes.

Oh, sorry for him.

Were you don't remember it? Were you so young when you started that you don't remember it? Or or do you remember like... Because I never was allowed to play football. My mom was British. She wanted me to play soccer. But I got this one part in a football movie where I actually got to put on pads and a helmet and I played like a defensive back or something. And this one take, I had to tackle a guy. And I didn't know what to do with my head. I felt like, well, if my head hits that person's shoulder, it's going to break my neck. So what I thought would be smart to do is just to shrug my shoulders up and trap my helmet in the hole that the shoulder pads create, so it's locked in there.

Like a turtle.

Yeah, exactly. I'm not sure when you did this role in that movie, but you sound like you got that move from The Little Gians.

Exactly. I'm just a small, soft actor, and they all laughed at me. The movie was a comedy, thank God.

That's right, though, Jay. I wouldn't think of that. That is true. Because, Marshana, I'm the opposite of you. I'd rather watch it than play it because I played it when I was a kid. I was terrible. But when I watch it, then when I see the heads hit the bodies, I think the same thing. I was like, how does their neck...

Yeah. So do you remember that process? Is there a learning curve that's painful on that? Or were you too young?

Most definitely. I probably got the latest start out of it because it was a group of us. It was more family, close friends in the neighborhood. I think I was probably one of the later ones that started maybe around age 13. A few of them started maybe age six. Six, eight was around a normal time for them to start. They were called considered the veterans. One of my closest friends, rest in peace, we were doing hitting drills, angle and tackling. It's the biggest thing in football.

Is what? Is angle tackling? What's that mean?

Angling tackling drill.

What does.

That mean? Because you line up on opposite sides, put a cone out, and you come to a point where you have to earn your manhood. It's a lot of it. We're a lot of a scene. He was a veteran. This was my first year. This is my first year in full contact sports. Somehow he convinced me to go first, which was not a good idea. He called Go, and we ran and we hit.

Like a couple of rams hitting each other with their horns, right?

Yeah. Except for I didn't lower my shoulders or my helmet, and I went in standing straight up like I was trying to give him a bear hug. Like Frankenstein. He actually put his stomach. Exactly. He actually put his helmet right in my stomach. I'm talking about all the wind was blown out. I'm like, Oh, shit. I don't know. I had to make a decision because as soon as he had hit me, all you can hear is the coach is like, Man, what the hell you all doing? Line up. I'm like, Line up? Oh, you want me to do this again?

I'm laying down.

You want me to do this again? I don't know what to say. I want to tell them like, Hey, I just went. But then you know everybody in line. Hey, line up. Line up. You got to line it up. Coach, you said. I'm like, Oh, you want me to do this again? So it was like, Oh, hell no. I seen what you just did to me. I was like.

All right.

Now this time, I'm going to duck my shoulder in my head and run it into you. The thing was I was a little faster than him, so I was able to get to the point quicker than him. In the midst of him lowering his helmet and his shoulders, I had already been lowered and smashed. Bam. Coach is like, Oh, okay. The little rookie got something to him. Line up again. Now he's calling all his veterans to the front of the line. Now he want to see the rookie hit with all the veterans. It was a thing of like, Oh, this is just what you got to do in order to be a hiter on the team. Those are the people who get all the praise, all the cheerleaders make love, gold numbers, you know what I mean? Whoever your number is. I'm like, Oh, shit. If I become a hitter, then I could be one of them. Then I mean, my first position, I play offensive mind. That's where all my little, I guess, my toughness and all that ain't afraid to hit somebody. And then as much as for you all who don't know, I'm an offensive player, but my mentality is defense.

And we will be right back.

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By playing offensive line first, do you have sympathy for the offensive line men that once you became a running back, powerback, you start running into the backs of those offensive lineman? Do you remember the days when running back? You used to do that to you? I bet it hurts.

No, man, to be honest with you, I take care of my offensive lineman. And one of the things that I don't do is I don't run into the back of them. If I see a pal up or something like that, I'd rather bounce outside and run into a defender then hit my offensive linemann in the back.

Is that something that offensive linemen do complain about?

Hell, yeah. This is like, damn, pick your eyes. Because they feel like, hey, look, I'm doing my job. I'm running this dude out of there and you running into my back. If you want to hit somebody, hit one.

Of they played. The guy with one of.

The guys.

Yeah, for real. Was work harder during football or is work harder now with the acting? Because the hours in acting can be usually 12 hours, and sometimes that hard work is simply trying to manage boredom because there's no two people that are working at the same time.

And concentration, though, when it's gone, right?

Yeah. Or is the football harder because of all the obvious parts of it, the traveling and the strenuousness?

Well, see, the thing was the traveling, meetings, practiced games, being able to take care of my body, making sure I don't lose my mind. That became second nature. That was more so like just my walk in life. And then with this going over to, I guess you would call it entertainment, is more of a challenge to me. I'm not looking at it as, is it hard or is it strenuous? It's more so like, I want to understand it. I want to get an understanding for this the way that I did for when I was playing my sport. But ultimately, if I'm just looking at it from a time management point, when I locked in for I had to lock in for eight months after year. That was just what it was, regardless.

And why is it important to you, just out of curiosity, have you always had this thing in the back of your head that's like, you know what? I want to stretch this muscle in my head about this acting thing or this artistic side of me.

No, it's just that realistically, I don't want to be bad. Because I mean, shit. You hear about it all the time. For individuals after their first career, they go and get into something else and it don't pan out for them. In the same breadth in which, damn, he was a great football player or he was a good football, however you view me as a football player, you're not going to say I was bad unless I've done something to your team. Then maybe I'm shitty to you. But otherwise, you're going to say, He brought something to the game. And then, going into my second career, motherfucker see me on T. Like, oh, you know what? He ain't bad. He did.

A good job. It's almost like a challenge. You enjoy the challenge of it. Yeah, I could.

Say that. What about the gym? I imagine the gym would have been a big part of every day during your football career. What's the amount of hours you're doing in the gym per week?

To be honest with you, that was probably the place where I spent the least work at. Really? You got to think about it. My career, I played in the League with 12, 13 years, and then you got to think, college was another three, high school four, and Little League, I got about three in. Twenty plus years of doing the same shit. You got to think like, all right, I got to figure out a way to do some other shit in order to stay in shape or to get my body right. So then you start getting creative. I would say realistically, maybe three times in the gym a week. And it ain't to do like you see that you probably be pumping all this weights and all that shit. It might be just to get a stretch. You know what I mean? Or to utilize the swimming pool.

Or just see who's in the steam.

Yeah.

Yeah, that should work too. Sign of state is.

Wrong for sure. I have a two-partner, Marshon. When you were playing football, was there a person or a moment that made you want to... That clicked your brain into, What if I did this, expanded into entrepreneurial stuff. Was there a person that you're like, Gosh, I really admire the way he handled his career after football or during football? Or was there a moment? And the second part is, what is your favorite or most rewarding entrepreneurial effort so far?

Well, the first part is before Iefore I even knew about money or anything because it wasn't like that was something I came from. I remember they was having these, what is that? Financial advisors come into the facility and get a spiel. You can choose a financial advisor that way. That was the way in which we met financial advisors.

Also, the team brings people in to talk to players and help them figure out what they want to do.

That's good, actually. Yeah, the player personnel, the guy who looks after the players on a more personal level, he'll bring in individuals who they know, maybe through dealings with or maybe got introduced by another player. But I remember the first time my financial advisor came in, and he came in there and he was talking. Shit, I had this thing where I could go to sleep standing... I could go to sleep standing straight up. He came in and he started talking all of a sudden and I fell.

Asleep straight up. Yeah, he goes in one ear out the other.

Shit, it didn't go in no ear. I'm asleep, dead to the word. And he make a... He don't say nothing. As he's finishing up and he come to me up on the board, I see all these names. These names are names of NFL players who I thought if you're playing the NFL, you're the richest person in the world. I'm looking at all these names, and I'm saying they got a number on the side to the right of their name in another column. I'm like, Damn. Fuck. They got all this money. Then at the end of it, he go through three slides, and I'm talking about maybe some of the most notable names in football. At the end, he say, All bankrupt. I'm like, What the fuck? No money. I'm like, No, hell, no. Right. Now I'm up.

But.

Now it's presentation.

Now.

I'm awake. I'm like, Hey, hold on. What do you mean they bankrupt? I've seen some of the names of individuals who I looked up to. I'm like, What the fuck? After he said, Man, you slept through my whole meeting. I said, yeah, I did. Well, my bad.

But can you start from the.

Beginning again? I said the part where you said all of these players up here is broke now. What the fuck.

Is going on? And the number next to them is the millions in debt they are.

Man. And I'm like, how do I not become.

One of them.

Good for you. Good for you. Well, you know what, Marshad? First of all, you can't go to sleep in my meeting. Right. Quit bringing up old shit. We're talking about moving forward.

What was, early on, if you did make a just foolish purchase, do you remember one of the dumbest things you've ever bought?

You said, One of the dumbest things I.

Ever bought. When you first start out, you're like, Oh, I got an extra. Did you.

Ever buy an animal that should probably be in a zoo?

Yes, I have. But that didn't come- Did you really- -that wasn't early on. That was after everything was set.

Oh, really? And what animal was this?

I bought a monkey.

A monkey? You did, really? I've always wanted a monkey.

What monkey? A red-hand tamarie.

Is that true? Did you really buy one?

Yeah, about as big as my hand. Little pimp was.

His name. Oh, my God. That's L-I-L, apostrophy?

Man, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Is this the kind that throws stuff at you?

No, he don't throw no shit at you. Now, he will get He will get the yelling at you, though.

He'll yell. Really? Is he still with us?

Hell, yeah. No, no, no, no. See, they got a short lifespan.

I was always nervous. I don't want to get that a monkey would come and end up ripping my arms and my balls off or something.

He was about as big as my hand. About as big as my hand. That little motherfucker was fascinating. Oh, my God. He did some of the most crazy shit I've ever.

Seen before. Do you have to get a trainer for that, or do you train him yourself?

No, to be honest with you, he's really cool, though.

They come trained.

No, I won't say that. But as far as like, I mean, he's so little. If he taking shit somewhere, it's like, damn, is that rat shit?

Oh, he's.

So tiny. It ain't like there's no messy ass.

Shit like that. Never a diaper.

On Lil Pimp? No, man. We wasn't for... You're lying to me, man. Lil Pimp, he was a real truel.

Lowe Pimp. Rip, Lil Pimp.

Rip, Lil Pimp. But there was a few, I mean, there was a lot of guys that I started to see turn. I used to watch O'Jane movies, Jim Brown and movies. And just to see them being able to do it, it gave me like, Oh, it's an opportunity there to do that. And then I'm like, throughout the League, you had players who get into investments and like, Hey, man, I'm working with this company, blah, blah, blah. You're doing what? Oh, yeah. I'm an outreach person. Okay, outreach. Well, I don't really like people like that. But for the simple fact that I'm seeing you being able to be on a level of professionalism even after you're done playing football, I got inspired by that. I wanted to see what was actually out there. A lot of this shit that I did learn or that I did get into, it basically all started off like a joke. Kind of like, Damn. Well, see if they'll let me get ownership. Right. Okay. And then it's like, okay, yeah, you put a couple of dollars up and they gave you some ownership. Like, all right.

Yeah, you did that with the Seattle Kraken. You got ownership in that. Sean, you might not know this. Marshon is part owner for a bunch of sports teams, including the NHL Seattle Kraken. Really? Marshon and I did this thing for soccer for the World Cup last year. Then two weeks into it, he sends me this sweatshirt from the Oakland Roots. And he goes, Yeah, this is this MLS2 team that I co-own. I go, we've been talking about soccer every day for two weeks, and you're only telling me now that you're an owner of a team? But he's got all these pieces of these teams, which is.

So cool. Very cool. Very savvy.

Yeah. No kidding. Like team ownership, that's where it's at.

Yeah, man. Just trying to position myself.

I have $1,000 to invest in this team. Can I-.

Say look, you just a little bit too late. We just did a round where you could have bought into-.

That's his nickname. Too late, just his.

He could have bought into the Oakland Roots. We just raised two million in Oakland, more so like my team, my city. There's something big going on within the Bay Area just because within the last five years, we've lost the Raiders, the Warriors, and the A's. I think I just heard the A's are leaving too.

Wow.

Why don't you start doing a show like our friends Rob and Ryan and just have cameras following you around you go visit all the teams that you own pieces of. That'd be a good show.

Yeah, that would be a good show, actually. That's a good idea.

Thank you. It's not.

A bad idea. We're a podcast.

Thank you.

And we'll produce it through Smartness Media. Yeah, we will. We just made some money.

Well, that was why I came on here. I'm trying to see.

If we can- Here we go. Let's do that, Marshon. Let's get a podcast going with you popping around and visiting on the teams that you own. I want to hear locker room speeches. I want to hear play-by-play. There's all kinds of.

Things we can do. Wait a second. I was going to ask you about locker room speeches because you worked with some great coaches. You worked with great players. You got to know that Marshon's quarterback, when he was at Cal, was none other than Aaron Rogers. And then his quarterback, while he was a pro for most of his career, was Russell Wilson, two of the all-time great quarterbacks. Coach for a long time was Pete Carroll in Seattle. It's funny. I feel like sometimes great players and talents are attracted to each other, and you were with a lot of talented people. What was your relationship like with coaches? Well, specifically, Pete Carroll, but coaches in general through college and then into the pros.

Early on in my career, I must go like this, probably winter high school, it was easy because all the coaches was from my neighborhoods. They understand how to speak to me, understand how to get the most out of me. Then going to college, because I ain't grow up with no father in the household, so going to college and then I have, I mean, in Oakland at this time, probably 90% black. I got a white head coach and this motherfucker don't got no filter. I'm talking about maybe one of the most, how could I say that? At the time, I thought I regretted it. I'm like, Man, this motherfucker racist. I can't do nothing right. Then it was like, all of a sudden, it just clicked for me like, Oh, shit. I'm not racist. This dude was preparing me for going to the league and what I was about to go through in the real world. Knowing where I'm coming from, I was basically trapped in a box and he was opening my mind to shit that I didn't even know exist. Coaching was something that I didn't take lightly. Like, Man, fuck you. How are you going to tell me what to do?

Motherfucking you ain't playing. You ain't, you know what I mean? And then the running back coach that I had when I was in college, I found out he played DB. And I'm like, How the fuck you going to tell me how to be the greatest running back and your mother fucking ass played DB? Didn't make sense to me. But what it did was it taught me to learn from individuals from different perspectives.

He.

Knew what it looked like as a running back.

Right.

Coming downhill at a defensive back. Oh, interesting. He didn't know what it looked like as a running back, running down a defensive back. So he's able to tell me when he tell me, Marshian, right here, square your shoulders up. He knew that DBs don't want to tack a running back. No. So make him make a business decision. Make him stick his head through his shoulder pad. Make him wiggle his head through his shoulder pad.

It doesn't work.

You know what I mean? It doesn't work.

I mean, it doesn't- I was.

In the movies. It hurts. I wasn't paying attention to that early on. But like I said, when I figured it out, okay, this shit makes sense now.

We'll be right back.

Smartness.

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All right, back to the show.

It seems to me the guy like Pete Carroll, does he coach? I feel like a lot of his speeches are really esoteric, really out there, are they football related? Or does he make a lot of big, inspirational speeches about life and stuff? Am I right on that?

I've worked with Pete. I've won the championship with him. But as far as speeches and all that, I would leave out of his meetings.

Did you do any standing up sleeping in the Pete.

Carroll meetings? No, I'd sit down sleeping in that motherfucker. I wanted my good race. You dig in there. After a while, they just started to become repetitive for me. Then I'm not a guy who you need to get me ready to go and bust somebody. Because I'm already at a disadvantage because that's what my lifestyle was. I don't need that. That extra shit, that shit just going to make me upset. Make me like, All right, bro, you talking too much. I don't want to talk. I just want to bust motherfucker's head and you keep talking. You damn near talking me out of going to go bust a motherfucker's head. Now, I want to let them do something to you because you talk too much to the situation. I don't need... I don't need raw, raw, raw. He was that type of guy. Anytime I could eliminate the raw, raw, raw, I would do that. But I don't have some great coaches along the way. Men who who I feel has taught me to stand on principle, morals, and values, which I feel that that shit is a thing of the past. That shit is a myth.

If you hear somebody standing on principle, morals, and values, for real, he did. He must be hell of old or something. That ain't something right now that is looked at as a good thing. They taught me that walk, to walk with conviction as a man. I hold conversations with them till this day and still contact with them and reach out to me, reach out to them, check on them. But it's a funny thing because, like I said, for my mindset before I'm a coach, I was like, What you talking about right now, that shit don't concern me to, okay, no, these are individuals who have lives, families, and they actually walk with a purpose. I feel that once I opened up my mind to that, thanks to Coach Tefford, to seeing them for more than just telling me, Okay, Marshad, you got to run through the B gap. You got to run through the C gap. Or you got to cut back right here. I took it for more than what it was worth. Shit started to open up for me. It was a big thing for me. It's funny you talk about Pete Carroll because at the time, he had got another coach over there, Tom Cable.

That was my connection. Tom Cable and Coach Sherman, those were my connections to the team. That was how I got the information about what was going on because Pete was just a little bit... He was too much for me. You know what I mean? I'm telling you, you come in at... Because I had weird ass hours when you start talking about the gym and shit. I would come into the locker room maybe at four o'clock in the morning, and I go do some extra work, sign a steam room, maybe a little bike swimming or whatever. It'd be about five o'clock in the morning and I'll see Pete coming into the office and he, Hey, buddy. Hey, how are you doing? It's going to be a great day today. What the fuck? Hey, it's five o'clock in the morning, bro. Cool out. And you're like, Hold on, man. I just seen this motherfucker didn't leave out of the facility until 11:00, 12:00 at night.

And he's back.

At 5:00. And he was leaving. Hey, buddy, I'm going home. You can have a great night. I'll see you tomorrow. Make sure you're ready all the time. And he's like, Hold on, this motherfucker. This motherfucker. And then it ain't no difference when you see him at breakfast, you come in at meeting the same way. You see the motherfucker at lunch the same way. You see him on a practice field. You see him after practice and the meetings after that. And when he's going home, he's the same way. And best believe if you dare to see him come in in the morning, it's the same as well. It's like, man, this motherfucker got to be a robot.

Marcia, tell me. Do I remember this right? Did you spend an entire season not talking to the media?

A few seasons. What do you mean a season? There were a.

Few of them. Where you refused to talk to the media, right? What they do?

What they do to make you take that position?

What they did was they showed me who they was.

They.

Showed me who they was. The thing, like I said, I started to stand on principal, morals, and values. Because, like I said, I was raised different. I've seen things through different lenses. Then I listened. They used to come into the rooms and they tell all the media, there's that in the third and not your friend, blage, blage. Then they'll double back and say, You got to remember, no press is bad press. What the fuck? That was a conflict for me. Then you had a situation where it was a point in my career where everybody wasn't fucking with me, where I was doing shit that you would think a 20-year-old with a couple of dollars in his pocket, some mistakes that would be made. It would go from, I'd be here one day, Hey, Mon'Shane, you're the greatest. This and the third. Oh, yeah. And then I get in trouble. And then it was like, Oh, I knew that motherfucker was a thug. Oh, that motherfucker ain't shit. Oh, fuck him. He needs to be in jail, not on the football. And then there was all this shit started to... And I'm like, damn, this is the same motherfucker who I just seen last week was just telling me how much of a good run.

And he looked forward to seeing what comes out next week. And then, motherfucker, they turn out.

They turn out.

Yeah. Motherfucker make a mistake. Or a motherfucker got caught doing some shitty he shouldn't have been doing. But the thing was I seen how judgmental they was. And the thing was, all right, when you're not recording and doing all of that shit is he and I'm hold on. You motherfuckers is too confusing. It's too confusing to try to find out who you individuals truly are. So in my terms, instead of I'm thinking like, I mean, if we was back in the hood, I'd beat your ass. I'd roll your ass up. I take your camera, all that. And I was like, Oh, no, you can't do that. You can't act that way. So it was more so like Hey, if you ain't got nothing nice to say, don't say nothing at all. Now these individuals who talking big shit about me, I could care less what anybody else think about me. If this is my way to get people to understand where I'm coming from in X, Y, and Z, fuck that. Who I need to deal with, I talk to them individuals, let them know what's up, and then I just go about my business.

I don't feel I needed to broadcast it to.

The- That makes sense.

Sadly, we live in times where obviously we're negativity sales. I've seen movie reviews that start off with a negative headline, and then you read it, and it's not a bad review. I'm like, Oh, you just wanted people to click on the shit, and people just want that shit, which sucks. It's not positive. I will say this. One of the great positive things you do, I know, Marshon, you've got your fan for his family foundation, which is pretty awesome. I know you've been doing a lot of giving back through that. You want to talk about that for a little bit, how that came to be?

Well, yeah, that's probably the longest standing business that I got, and probably the... I started that immediately... Well, I'm not going to say we started that immediately after I decided to enter the draft. Since then, we've just been on a tear. It didn't matter, wherever help was needed, we tried to fill that gap.

What's the mission? Who are you trying to help? What's the main?

The inner city youth, we looked at a lot of the kids from our neighborhood, they don't get a fair shot. So we just tried to even it up a little bit by supplying some of the needs that they need in order to be able to compete with somebody from a higher background or education level. It just started as a football camp, but then it turned into architect camps. We do an architect camp for the kids over at Cal. Shout out to Cal for letting us utilize their facilities. We do reading programs, math programs, entrepreneur programs. We got Shopify, supply this with some shit, and we do beast mode of business where they create their own business and able to have it go live on Shopify site. Anything that you could think of, from coding to fucking building a shoe, creating clothing lines, teaching them ways in order to think outside the box of what we call it the 580 and the 880. But to think outside of that and show them many ways, like with the production company, everybody think you got to be the individual that's on the screen to make their money. They don't know that there's a guy back there holding a mic, that there's a guy holding a camera, that you got grips, that you got motherfucking ADs and all these other things.

Like I said, I'm watching you all right now to see I see two people on this boat. They don't know this. All they see is they're going to see the clip go from me talking my bullshit to to YouTube. And that's all they're going to see and say, oh, I want to do that. Not knowing it's a whole team that made all of this shit come to life.

Yeah, there's actually a group of people that are making it. The people on screen are just in it.

Jason, you said this once, and I love this. Everybody on set, when you go on a movie, everybody from catering to background holding to locations to team, to Driver. Everybody's a filmmaker. Everybody on that set is a filmmaker, and it's what.

Makes it. There's no one there that.

Doesn't need to be there. That's exactly right. I love, Marshon, I love that you're doing that. It doesn't surprise me because I know I got to know you're such a great guy. Man, it's so great to be able to talk to you. We've held you here too long, held you hostage. But I just want.

To- No, I told you, you folks, Brad, you're good in the hood, man, anytime. Well, it's good. I have no problem with that.

Marshon, you're the best, man. Thank you. Continued success. Thank you, Marshon. You're just always you. And we'll talk soon.

Thanks for being here.

Thank you, Marshon. All right. All good, man. You all have a blessed day, man.

Nice.

Meeting you. You too. Thank you, Marshon.

What a sweet fella.

What a great guy.

Yeah.

How cool is it that here's a guy who has not just a football career, but he wins Super Bowl and he goes to Pro Bowl and he's a first team all pro, does every basically thing he can do as an NFL player.

Superstar.

-and then has this retires three times, by the way he retired because he kept coming back. Then he retires and he turns all that into, becomes this entrepreneur, and he goes into the arts and goes into all this stuff. And I'm like, This dude is unbelievable. He truly is. He's gone beast mode through life, not just on the football field. He's just gone beast mode into everything he does. And I have so much respect for the guy. He's such a cool dude.

It sounds like you didn't need to. He held on to his money, and he probably doesn't need to continue working so hard, but that's just part of his makeup.

I love that too. He's such a savvy dude, and he's just so cool. And again, I should point out he's such a good person, too. I'm lucky that you came to him and I'm lucky to know him.

Yeah, he seems very kind.

Yeah, he is very kind.

Did you guys see Jason's headline, the meltdown thing?

No. Yeah, the little stuff you guys chop together and put on the show. It's like, make sure it has meltdown on... What are you talking about? No, I know. But to your point earlier, you said in the interview here that people will find a headline just so you can click through. Yeah, click through. And the fact that I said in it that I had a full meltdown, they were able to use that, put quotes around it, and then say, Bateman has, quote, full meltdown on podcast. So dumb. It's the headline they need. But it's good. It's a good press for us, I guess.

I haven't looked on the internet, and I'm so.

Stymied by that. Well, you'd need a Google alert on Smartless and or me.

I'm going to get one. I'm going to look into that. I might lease one.

You're going to lease a Google alert?

Yeah. What does it cost you to get into one of those?

Well, the rental is pretty steep, but...

Oh, you know what, though? Maybe I could- You can- Yeah. Go ahead. No, you're good.

I was going to say maybe if you can't afford a full subscription, maybe you could do a buy monthly.

Buy monthly. Why are you holding your stomach?

Buy. You have an Dave from a T-shirt on. That's pretty good. Sausage King of Chicago.

That's right. Jason, say bye.

Bye. Smart plus. Smart plus.

Smart plus.

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