The following podcast is a Dear Media production. Kylie Cole. Welcome to Sunday Sports Club podcast. Hello. Kylie is one of my good friends. Her husband plays for the Las Vegas Raiders. He is the punter, AJ Cole. We're currently filming this in Las Vegas. And last time I was in Las Vegas with Kylie, my husband was playing for the Raiders. So because my husband lost his job, I didn't get to see how last football season ended with the Raiders. I was also busy giving birth. So how was the end of last football season? How was Thanksgiving?

Okay, well, Thanksgiving was fun. We had a lot of people over at the house, which is good. It was just like open door. If you don't have family in town, please come over. We craw to the finish line with the football season. I had gone into training camp. I play volleyball. I had gone into training camp for my season to start. I didn't see those last couple of games. But it is what it is. We're here now. It just sucks when you're getting to the very end and you guys know that there's not a chance anymore to make playoffs. So it's like the vibe changes in the facility. And for the guys, it's like, Okay, let's get through these last couple of games and then just make our way into offseason.

I feel like for football season, you reach a point in football season where you're like, Oh, we might make playoffs. It's almost like you're where you get more energy, you're gearing up to try and make playoffs, or you know that you're not making playoffs. And in that case, you're just like, This is like...

Yeah. In that last game, too, where you still have that chance and there's like, okay, A, B, C, and D have to go right, and we have to win our game. And I believe everything had gone right that day. I think we were playing the Colts, and we ended up losing. And so even with the girls being all together and watching it because it was away, and you just feel like the oxygen energy just gets sucked out of the room of like, All right, well.

You just look around the room and everyone's like, So who's going where for offseason? You start making plans. You're like, So I'm going to book a flight to Mexico.

Literally.

So Kylie and I have been friends for, I mean, over a year. My husband, when he was picked up from the Cleveland Browns, I briefly came here for two football games. We met a few times. Through Kennedy. Yeah, through Kennedy Stidham. So shout out to Kennedy Stidham. Hi, Ken. We miss you. Her husband now plays the Broncos.

Facetime me back. We've been playing phone tag.

And so we met when my husband got signed, but then I didn't know if we were coming back to Vegas the next year. So then last football season, I feel like you were so welcoming because your husband has played his entire NFL career here in Vegas. So I feel like you're almost like the team mom in a way. Thank you. Not team Mom, Team Mom. But I feel like there's always a group of girls on every NFL team that's been there for a while. They know the coaches, they know the player personnel, Ansley. I feel like you give people a rundown, and you're also a really welcoming person. We met last year, and we sat at every football game together.

Yeah, no, for sure. Well, it's one of those things, too. You're saying, having been there the longest, I know that AJ's first... Aj's rookie year when we came in and he was texting me, Okay, I was going to the family weekend that was up when they were still doing a training camp in Napa. He was like, Okay, you're going to bring your bags up. You're going to put them in Kat Carlson's car. It's Daniel's wife. He's the kicker on the team. She's going to meet you in the parking lot and walk you in. I was terrified.

You're like, I don't even know these people.

Seriously. You know the stereotype of a NFL wife or girlfriend. You're like, oh, my gosh, is everybody going to be mean? Are they going to be nice? I'm so scared of this woman named Kat. I don't know her. Then, which is hilarious, and I love to bring this up with people because Kat is, hands I'm one of the nicest girls I've ever met in my entire life. Just so welcoming. I love to look back and laugh and be like, I was scared of Kat Carlson my first time coming to the team.

Who's one of the sweetest people ever.

Yes, absolutely. When new people get at it, and especially because We had already met before. Again, with turnover of the team and how much we've had in the last couple of years, I'm like, Okay, I'm the only person that Ali knows. She's going to come in, want to have friends to hang out with them. I'm not just going to go hide in the corner, but you want to be welcoming and open to everybody. Hey, do you know how to get to the stadium? Do you want somebody to go with? Yes. It actually is a little confusing. Do you have anybody to sit with last season when the Raiders played the Chargers in LA. Jl O'Neill, who her husband is Aiden O'Neill, he was getting to start that day because I think Jimmy was hurt. And she was all the way home for a wedding, and Aiden was going to be starting for the very first time, rookie year. Aj is telling Aiden, JL needs to get here. She needs to fly home. I'm telling JL, seriously, tell your friend.

It's funny when the NFL husbands are worried about how their wife is getting to the game. It's like, Hey, I need to talk with my coworkers, which are just other teammates, and get with their wives and tell their wives, Hey, direct my wife to where she can find me on the field.

Exactly. She's home, and they're from the Midwest. I'm telling her, Is there a flight that gets you to LA? Uber to this hotel.

Not you being an executive assistant for the team.

No, literally. I was like, AJ has already got a room for me. There's two beds in here. Come stay the night. We'll stay together. My family's picking me up in the morning to go to the game. Do you have any Raiders gear with you? She's like, No. I'm like, Okay. I'm I'm sending her pictures of shirts in my closet that have the Raiders logo on. I'm like, Which one of these do you want me to bring for you? I brought her clothes to this game because you just want to have that community of girls where everybody's going to help each other all the time. In the back of my mind, I just always want to be as open and welcoming as possible because I know I would want someone to do the same for me.

Like I said, team mom. Okay. So her husband, AJ Cole, is the punter for the Las Vegas Raiders. What does a punter do?

Okay. And I know for the people who do watch your podcast, you know what happens on offense. So you get four downs to go 10 yards. Depending on where you are on the field, let's just say, hypothetically, you're on your own 20-yard line. You get first down, second, third. You don't get those 10 yards. You now have your fourth down. You have the option to go for it again at your own 20-yard line. I would not recommend That's not going to work. You're not going to get that. But you have a player that is a punter on your team who goes out. On that fourth down, the long snapper snaps the ball to them, and they are going to kick it, punt it. If he gets upset when people call him the kicker? Sorry. Sorry, honey. He's going to punt it down the field and try and pin the other team's returner and hope that they don't run the ball back at all. And that is where defense will then set up for the opposing team's shot on offense. So it's like he's trying to kick it both as high and as far as possible so that the guys that are his gunners that run down and help stop the other team's person, he's trying to pin them back as far as possible so that our team on defense- Has enough time to get down there.Exactly..

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So for a punter, because I don't know much about punters. Surprise, surprise. I stick to usually to defense.

Not a lot of people do, so it's okay. Hopefully by the end of this, you guys all love fourth down because there is a teeny little negative connotation because it means we're not doing great on offense. But it's okay because he comes out and we're like, Yeah, let's go.

You're cheering for a turnover.

Everybody's upset like, Oh, my gosh. Why is an offense getting it done? And I'm like, Let's go.

Special teams, baby. I love that. For a punter, do coaches ever tell him, I want you to hit it to this yard line, or I want you to hit it in this corner? Yeah, actually- Because in my head, I'm like, Oh, a punter just kicks.

Just kicks it down. I definitely thought that for a little bit, too. There's these hash markers on the field where all the number markers are. Aj said, You want to kick outside the numbers. He actually is the one who gives the call to everybody that's on punt and is like, Hey, we're going left or we're going right. Yeah, which is pretty cool. They're like, Hey, guys, we're going this way. So he'll give a call so that everybody knows once that ball's off his foot, we're all going this way or we're all going that way to stop who's catching the ball at the other end.

I mean, it's just crazy that there's more that goes into it other than just kicking.

There's different punts too. Did you know that? No. So there's the spiral. We're getting into the nitty-gritty here.

I'm like, give us a rater secret.

Okay, so here it is. No, no, no. So there's spirals, which is like a normal punt, clean off of foot. There's end-over-end, which is exactly what it means. The ball spins like this. There's a pooch punt, which is... I know. It's a funny name.

I have one of those after being pregnant. A pooch. Stop.

But a pooch punt is they're kicking it a shorter distance. They're not trying to just absolutely- Nail it. Nail it down the field. Then there's also a banana punt, which AJ, I don't know. He holds it a certain way, and the ball just looks like it's spinning all a bunch of crazy directions. When you're looking at it, it looks like he messed up.

It looks like he fucked up. But he did not.

But he didn't. He did it on purpose because the returner who sees the ball is then all scramble, trying to- I guess you can-figure where it's going to land.

You can compare a punter to a pitcher in the MLB because there's curve balls. I don't know what type of balls there are when it comes to baseball. You know what I mean. But okay, so When he punts, it's a very specific time. You have to be there because it's not like he's on the field for 50 plays because you might only punt three times in a game. I don't know how often you punt in a game. I mean, hopefully you don't punt in a game.

Ideally, it's three or four. I've been to some games and watched him play, and I'm like, Okay, it's the first half and you've punted four times. Can you stop?

It's so interesting because I guess it gives- Could you just not? It gives you a good gage Which is how the game is going, where I'm just like, Oh, another turnover. Oh, another turnover. When you're like, Oh, he's played a lot.

I'm like, Okay, you're doing a lot of punning and not a lot of holding. Can we change this, please? So have you ever been in a stadium and missed a pun? Yes. It typically happens if I'm trying to go to the restroom. I try and time it up with like, Okay, he just punted, so I'm going to go to the bathroom now, or we're on defense, there's amount of time left on the clock. I've legit been in the bathroom, and they'll have it playing on loudspeakers or sometimes some stadiums. They're like, AJ Cole. Literally. Our stadium doesn't have TVs in the bathroom. Some do. Rude.

I think there should be a TV in every stall.

Can we change that? Could you imagine? The Raiders haven't- The Raiders haven't- No one would ever be out of the bathroom. They'd all sit.

That's very true. I mean, especially last year when I was super pregnant, I feel like I had to pee every five seconds. It would have been nice for I mean, the Raiders Stadium is new. They should have a flat screen every single stall.

It would be sick. That'd be really cool.

I would watch the game there.

But no, I've seriously been in the middle of washing my hands and left my purse, ran out, found a TV in the stadium, watched the punt, and then walked back in and had people look at me. I'm like, Sorry, that was my husband's one job. I had to watch it and then come back. Because I also, when I am sitting in my spot, I'll always film it because, again, he doesn't do a lot, hopefully. I'm like, I want to get it, especially if it's an exciting punt, if we end up getting the ball back or something crazy happens. But he also, after games, especially home ones, we'll go to the car, sit in the parking lot, and I like to show him all the videos I film.

He's like, Look, I got this video of you. He's like, Babe, I can watch it on film.

No, we'll sit in the car, and before we leave the parking lot, he'll ask for my phone, watch the punts that I recorded, take his phone out to get the hang time, hang Hang time, also very important when it comes to punting.

What is hang time?

It's the amount of time between when the ball leaves his foot and when it's either caught or hits the ground and bounces.

Hang time for a punter is good or bad? Good.

You want a lot of hang time. You want to hit 5-0s, and you want to pin them outside the numbers.

I love that.

He's going to be like, whoa.

He's like, Man, I've taught this girl a lot. He's like, I'm so proud. It's so crazy because with my husband being in the NFL for seven years, I know nothing about punners. So it's even so interesting sitting down and talking about just punner life.

Okay, but the episode that you did where you talked about special teams, you did a great job of explaining it.

Isaac, a lot of people don't know this. Isaac, initially in his beginning part of his career, played special teams. He was one of the guys running down the field. I'm like, This man is 285 pounds. He should not be running down the field.

Somebody's got to block. No. He's just like, he's not going to do it.

He's just body tucking people. Has AJ, as a punter, ever tackled somebody?

Yes, he has. The funny thing is that it happened two or three years ago in a game versus the Chiefs, made a tackle, forced to fumble. We got the ball back. It was a crazy, crazy play, especially because When the ball came out, no one knew that we had it. If you watch the end of the play, there's a lot of Raiders players that are just walking off the field super casually. The next thing you know, I think it was Foster had the ball and was holding it. He's like, I got it. We guys, we got the The funny thing about that is the game prior, they played the Giants in New York, and AJ had punted a ball and plays happening, gosh, maybe 30 yards, 40 yards away, whatever, gets absolutely blindsided by a guy that just straight up saw red, decided, I'm coming for the punter. Absolutely blasted AJ. He ended up tearing his labrum. He's totally fine now.

You don't really need your labrum to be a punter.

Exactly. It's his left one, too. He's like, Hey, he's right-handed, so we're good. Can still write all the good stuff, drive the car. But they got it all checked out, and the doctors had said, You'll be fine. We'll do exercises. You're going to strengthen everything around it. Just as long as you don't make any tackles with your left shoulder, you'll be good.

Next game makes a tackle.

Very next game makes a tackle, uses his left shoulder. I'm like, Oh, my gosh. And he's like, Yeah, I'm totally fine. I'm like, You're so lying right now. That does not feel good.

You're like, Okay, so we're off to a horrible I'm like, This is literally the exact opposite of what they asked you to do.

But he's fine. We're good now. And you got a really cool tackle, force to fumble, all that.

And AJ is really good at what he does. He's pretty good. I mean, he's one of the best punters in the NFL.

Yeah.

Has he been... What's it called? Pro?

He's been to the Pro Bowl the last three years, and then he's been an all pro twice.

Which, okay, so AJ is really fucking good. I just have to give a little shout out because they got married about a year and a half ago. Yes. And your wedding hashtag, or you have it on a shirt.

I have it on a shirt. I have it on a hat.

Forth and Cole.

Oh, my gosh. Okay, so The cuteest hashtag ever. This might be a little more our age range because apparently now it's really cheesy to do hashtags for wedding. Apparently, that's a thing. But this is before we were even engaged. I was like, Oh, my gosh, what would be a fun little hashtag, blah, blah, run it through my head. I'm like, it'd be so fun to do something that was based around football. Then it just clicked Forth and Cole. And I'm like, that's amazing. That's so cute. I love it. It's adorable. And then it was actually someone from the Browns. I can't remember who. It was either their last name put on a hat or some catchy little slogan for their husband. And I thought, why don't I do that with Forth and Cole? Just make a hat, wear it to games, and just She's so cute. People loved them. There were a couple of people that asked, like friends and family that asked for a hat. So I made some, gave them out.

You're just selling them outside the stadium.

You're like, Yeah, that'll be $50.

You're like, I'm making my money.

Speaking- AJ is texting me like, Where are you? I'm like, I'm working, okay?

I'm working, okay? You guys, I don't know if it's just me, but whenever I think about football, my mind immediately goes to food. Whenever I think about football food, I think anything on a bun, hot dog, burger, chicken sandwich, all of those you can actually get at Shake Shack. They're actually building a Shake Shack a few miles from my house, and I am so excited. No, I'm not kidding. Whenever I'm craving a burger, the Shake Shack burger pops into my mind, and then next to the burger is a chocolate shake. But I feel like football is a time to indulge ourselves. What's football without food and screaming at the TV? So my friends Shake Shack brought back free chicken Sundays from now until December. So pretty much the entire regular football season because everybody deserves a really fucking good chicken sandwich. I mean, especially on Sundays when you're watching your favorite team. And I know I'm sharing the low down on sports, but let me share the low down on the sandwich for a second. I'm sure a lot of you probably know Shake Shack for their burgers, but the chicken sandwich, you guys. If you guys have never tried the chicken sandwich, let me influence you to try the chicken sandwich.

The chicken sandwich is so underrated. The Shake Shack chicken shack is made with crispy white meat, antibiotic free chicken breast over lettuce, pickles, buttermilk, herb, mayo on a toast potato bud. This sandwich outshines its competition and extra points for being available on Sunday. You know what I mean? So from now until December 15th, Shake Shack is offering a free chicken shack with $10 minimum purchase with the code chicken sundae at a Shake Shack location on the Shaq app or at shakeshack. Com every single Sunday. Terms apply. So speaking of other wives, how do you feel about the term wag?

I know it's meant to just shorten wives and girlfriends because it's a lot of syllables. I get it. But I can't take it seriously. I'm not going to... Yeah, I'm a wag.

Do you ever introduce yourself? Hi, my husband's the punter, and I'm the wag.

No. I just know if I'm ever using the word wag at all, I'm so not being serious. I just can't take it seriously.

I don't think I've ever met any NFL wife or girlfriend that's called themselves a wag, seriously. Yeah.

Does not refer to the group of girls as wags. Like, nothing. We're the wives and the girlfriends or we're the women of the Riders. That's usually what I say. Yesterday, we had the Raiders women's brunch. I'm like, that's what I'm going to call it, not the Wags brunch. Thank you. I just can't.

I completely agree. I think every other wag in the NFL would agree.

It's just so cheesy. I get it. It's just a little acronym, but no.

I do love the group of women around the NFL, whether you're a wife or a girlfriend or a fiance, or you just have a child with an NFL player. I feel like there's a space for everybody. What is your favorite thing to do with other wives, girlfriends?

Gosh, We have a little group right now that's trying to get together and figure out to watch Gilmore Girls together since it's fall. We're trying to figure out a time to do that because, again, babies, sleep time, all that. Something I don't know anything about, but I know you know everything about. I'm just like, La, la, la, can we come to your house? They're like, It's my child's napping. There's that. Girls will go take workout classes together, do dinners. We just went to the Pink concert altogether. The Riders actually set that up. They put us all in a box, and we went to the concert all together. There's a lot of fun stuff. This year, especially, I don't know what it is that's different, but girls are constantly shooting stuff out in the group chat of like, Hey, who wants to do this? Who wants to do that? Really trying to get yes men on board to go and do fun stuff.

The readers do a good job of giving things to do and bringing people together and always having stuff at the facility, or at least when I was here, I feel like they do a really good job of going out of their way to make the families feel part of the team.

Okay. Do you want to know what's funny about that? That you're like, Oh, yeah. Like stuff at the facility. This past spring, because I I didn't go. The Christmas party that happened last year, I didn't go because I was working. I also work at a volleyball club. Shout out to Vegas United. I do their media photography, videography. Call me. You do everything.

You're a wife, you play volleyball, social media. You at all.

So this spring was actually the first time I had been inside the Raider facility because... Oh. Yeah. Got here. But think about it. They got here in 2020, COVID. No one's getting inside. 2021, there were still They're not even going inside. They're not even allowed. They're like, You're going to practice in the parking lot. 2021, all the regulations were still in place, so no one's getting in. Then we had a little phase where friends and family were just not allowed inside due to personnel. Then now here we are, and we've had three or four events inside of the practice facility.

I'm pissed. I want to see inside the Vegas Riders facility.

They gave a tour. Shut up. They gave a family tour, and I was so excited. I go on the tour, and someone's like, Wait, haven't you guys been here for a while? I'm like, No, you don't understand. I literally don't know what it looks like in here. No, last year- I had friends in town, too. They did an indoor practice, and I had two friends come into for the game. We walked in the front door of the facility, and I looked at them, and they're like, Oh, you're going to go up the elevator, and you're going to do this and turn that. I looked at my friends, I actually have no idea where we're going. This is a new experience for me as it is you, and all the girls felt the same way, too. They're like, Oh, my God, that's so cool. We're allowed inside.

Yeah, you're like, Thank you for letting me in my husband's place of work.

Yeah. There's some places that girls say that they could just drop by whenever. Morgan Petermont, her husband, when they were with the bills, she's like, Oh, yeah. I could just drop by. New the front desk girl. Oh, I'm picking this up. I'm dropping this off all the time. Super casual. I'm like, That is not.

The raters are like, You're not allowed in.

But now We are. So it's all sunshine and rainbows.

You're like, We are allowed in, but with a schedule.

Can't just sit at AJ's locker.

Hey. I was friend this week. You're like, Yeah, I missed you. I came in, wanted to visit you. So speaking of other teams, I always say I'm a fan of whatever team is paying my husband or has my husband on the roster. Do you feel the same way? I feel like you might have an affinity towards Vegas no matter what, because this is the first place he's been.

Definitely, yeah. So AJ's done his whole six years with the Raiders. His first year was when they were in Oakland. So they were the Oakland Raiders, now they're the Vegas Raiders. I'm from Dallas. So even though my mom's from Chicago, my dad's from California, he's from the area where where Cowboys always did their preseason training. He would go and watch them. He could literally go sit on a fence and watch them practice. Because he was a cowboy's fan, they ended up living in Dallas as we grew up. We're Cowboys fans. We're also partial to the bears. Not really. It's more my mom. Like, when the Raiders- You guys are fans of a lot of NFL teams. It's like all root for them when we're not playing them. But when we're playing them, it's all bets are off, don't care. Like, sorry, Dack. Throw it to the guys in black. I don't know what to tell you. When my absolute favorite thing that's ever happened, again, being from Dallas, is obviously they always play on Thanksgiving Day. That was my one thing that I told AJ. I'm like, Obviously, everybody wants to win a Super Bowl.

But aside from the pinnacle of playing in the NFL, if you play the Cowboys at Cowboys Stadium on Thanksgiving Day, I'm good. You could literally retire the next day. That is the one thing that I wanted. I think his third year, they did it, and it was the coolest game the entire world.

Oh, so he can retire now. Yeah, exactly.

You can go do whatever you want, AJ.

That's so funny. I feel like you being here for the majority of the beginning of his career, you'll always have a special place in your heart for the Raiders. For sure.

Yeah, 100 %.

What is his contract looking like? How many How many years does he have left on his contract?

So including the season that he's in right now, he has two years left on his contract. So we'll see what happens. But we want to stay. You're like, Please, Raiders. I just put some built-in shelves in our living room. Please let us stay.

Well, so speaking of that, so you guys have been with the Raiders his entire career. You guys own a house in Vegas. You have roots in Vegas. You guys have lived here for a while now. So how do you feel about the families who are getting released and leaving or new families coming in? How has that been just getting to watch that?

I mean, it's never fun. Nobody likes seeing people earn a position, earn a job, earn a spot on a team that's really hard to do, and then feel like they just got the floor ripped out from under their feet. Regardless of whether or not, knew it was coming or we knew that we would have to move on to a new team, blah, blah, blah. It's never fun, especially because you on the women side of it, you make these friends, you make connections, you meet their kids, you watch their kids grow up, and then all of a sudden they're gone for Contractual reasons, playing reasons, just whatever the case may be. It sucks because it feels like you got to start over. The older I get to, which is funny, I'm only 28, but in football years, I'm the old woman on the team. It's crazy that is old for the NFL.

It really is.

It's crazy. Last year was the first time I realized with new girls coming in that were asking me questions. I was like, Oh, shit. The team mom. I'm like, Oh, I'm supposed to answer you. I'm like, I literally don't know.

You're texting people. You're like, Don't worry, I'll figure this out.

It's weird being on the older, quote, unquote, end of it now. Everybody Everybody wants everyone to stay in the same place for as long as possible. But the reality is no roster is the same from week one to week two to week three. Aj said from the start of his rookie year in 2019 in Oakland, he's never played with the same 53 guys from one Sunday to the next, ever. That's wild. It does not matter how good the team does. It does not matter what happened in the game before. It's never the same 53.

I know it has to also do with injuries and people being elevated and people being deactivated and cuts and pickups. It's just so crazy that there's just so much turnover in and around the NFL. Even from a woman's perspective, if you look at the family room in the beginning of the year, it's not going to look the same at the end of the year. No. I mean, literally look at Isaac's career. I was one of the women coming in the last two football games of the year, two years ago, and then last year, I was out. I'm grateful for the connections in that way, but it is so crazy how much turnover happens. And from the other side, I feel like when Isaac gets cut, I'm like, Oh, okay, I'm irrelevant now. I just need to leave, and I'll just shut up.

But you're not... That's the thing that breaks my heart, too. You're not, though. When I reach out, I'm like, Hey, if you guys are still in town, I don't know if you're having Scottie here or what the deal is, please come to the house, because it's like, yeah, maybe the... I hate to be like, Oh, the whole world is crashing you, but please- It felt like that. Let us, let our friendship be a little bit of stability, not to get so deep, but let it be a little bit of stability for you guys in all of the unknowns that are about to come. It's a crazy world. It really, really is.

When your husband loses his job, I just feel like it's such an icky feeling. Then you're like, Oh, why would I go to Thanksgiving with all of now his ex-teammates in it? You start to get in your own head. But at the end of the day, from the outside, looking in, obviously, our friendship doesn't end just because football ends. Exactly. But in a way, it feels like that. It felt like the whole world was crashing down. There were so many of you, you, Shelby, a few other girls that text me. They're like, Hey, if you need anything, do you need help? So I felt supported, but for my own mental, I was like, I can't.

I get that because there's a whole processing period for you guys, too, of wanting to be respectful of... I want to be able to help as much as possible, but I also have to know, okay, it's not on my time for when they're ready to either see people or hang out or do whatever.

Now we're here.

Now we're here doing a podcast.

Exactly. But I do feel like the Raiders do a good job of supporting families through all these changes. How do you think the Raiders are supportive for people coming in and out?

We have a new ops girl this year. Her name's Natalia. Yeah. No. Not in a bad way, but the Titans did snipe Ansley from us. A little heartbroken about that. So crazy. I mean, I get it. She's amazing at her job, so I'd be calling her, too, if I owned an NFL team. But yes, we have I'll tell you now, but they'll reach out and just check in with you. What do you need? Who's your family? What information do they need to know? They'll go over. They do a stadium tour of like, Hey, here's how you walk into the stadium for every game. Here's where we sit. This is how you're going to get there. This is your pass, blah, blah, blah, all of those things. I feel like they do a really good job of answering all of those questions. We have some girls this year from the bears, actually, because our OC just came from the bears. She was saying that there was never this level of communication when they were there. She's like, Girls never wanted to hang out this much. We never got this level of communication for game day. Isn't that crazy?

Yeah. I just assumed that... Again, because I don't know anything else. I just assumed that it was like this everywhere, especially because we went from having Ansley for so many years, and then now we have Natalia just stepping in doing the same exact role. I'm like, yeah.

You're like it's normal around the NFL.

Yeah, but apparently it's not some... Yeah, so shout out to Ansley. Shout out to Natalia. They go above and beyond.

It is crazy when you think about it because no other career where your husband goes off to work is doing like, oh, wives come in and we're giving a tour of the office. But I feel like the NFL is so different. It's not like you just apply to a job and get a job in the NFL. How many guys are on the team that are actually from Vegas?

Are there any? I don't know if there are any.

I don't know. So that just goes to show that everybody is new to the city at one point or another. So having a super supportive team for the wives and family is very important. I remember when Isaac first signed here and I was pregnant, I was like, Wait, I have to find a doctor to deliver my child. I was like, Hey, guys, does anyone have an OBJ? I have a recommendation, pediatrician. I'm like, Wait, I need a filling. Dentist. It's so... You have to start from scratch.

There's a whole list of things. I don't know if Natalia has one. I'm sure she probably does. But I know when Ansley, when we started last year, she She was trying to collect a bunch of information on places that women go, OB/GYN, dental, all of that stuff. Even like, Hey, you need a family photographer for Christmas pictures. Here's who a lot of people have used, or birthday parties, or whatever. I know she was trying to collect a list of that stuff. It's crazy.

I feel like every NFL team needs a packet of, Hey, you just moved here. Here's everything. Doctors, dentists, where to live, where to go. There's a lot of places you shouldn't go in Vegas. A little scary.

No. But I mean, aside from that, living here, though, it's been really cool. I've enjoyed it. I did my first two years of school at Arizona State for volleyball before I transferred. Being back in the desert, again, it's very similar. Phoenix is definitely more like an oasis, a little more green. Here, it's just straight rocks.

It's literally dry.

When we first came out here, I was like, Oh, this will just be the exact same as being in Phoenix. Then when we went to Phoenix for the Super Bowl, I'm like, Oh, no, there's more trees and grass here.

Got it. Okay. There's literally no trees here. Yeah.

Our grass is fake in our backyard.

You're one of those.

Yes, we are because it'll just die. We're not paying that water bill. No shot.

I do love Vegas, but one thing I love the most about Vegas and the Raiders is the Raiders Stadium. It's good. I love the Las Vegas Raiders Stadium. It, hands down, is my favorite stadium in and around the NFL. You and I sat together every game last season, and we ate some really good food. Yes.

So why don't you talk- Shout out to Hunter.

Why don't you talk a little bit about the Vegas Rader Stadium and why it's so different from any other NFL stadium?

Yeah, for sure. I feel like I have a very good baseline of crazy stadiums because, I mean, Jerry World, they built it when I think I was in fifth or sixth grade. Yeah, so a long time ago. It still holds up today. It's crazy. It's so large. To have this new one be built, first of all, it fits Vegas perfectly with all of the lights. It fits the Raiders perfectly. Although if you're flying in, the joke is it just looks like a giant Roomba. Right next to the... No. Now, okay, so now when you guys leave, you're not going to be able to look at the same. Legit, it just looks like a Roomba on the side of the road. Just cleaning up Vegas. Just cleaning up all the dust from the last windstorm. It's so cool. They did such a great job with it when you walk through the corridor. If you take a full lap, they've got pictures up from the Air Force base that's out here. They've got pictures and all these diagrams of what it took to go from the starting process of, Hey, this is the dirt where the stadium is going to be built, all the way through to These are all the renditions of the stadium before we settled on the one that we've picked now and just the whole process of building the stadium and all this cool stuff when you walk around.

It's really awesome. I think they did a great job. The Windfield Club is insane.

I mean, if you guys know anything about Vegas, Vegas knows how to party, and they brought that into the football stadium.

Everything is a show.

And it's not- There's a bottle service at NFL games.

Yes. So legit, it'll be fourth quarter, minute and a half left. We're up by three. The other team's driving. They're almost in field goal range, special team's brain right there. And you look down below you and the bottle girls are holding the little sparklers in the air. The sprinklers in the air and the guys that work there have this... What is it? It's like a plane, and they've got bottles in the plane because it's a crazy amount of money to get one of those booths in Wynfield Club. I mean, rightfully so.

I think it's like 20 or 30,000 minimum for a table at the Rater Stadium. Yeah.

So you'll see people, they'll get crazy food during the game and drinks and everything under the sun you can imagine. But it's when you hit the fourth quarter, I feel like that it gets the most interesting because you've got people that are realizing, Oh, I have $10,000 more dollars I need to spend to make being at this game worth it. We got to go now. They're just like, they're bringing out shots. They're doing all- Me and Kelly are like, Hey, He asked me the French fries.

I was like, Oh, my gosh.

Those Tater Tots right there were really good. Oh, my gosh. They got rid of the Tater Tots, by the way.

Yeah. So, Kylie and I always sat in the front row of I'm right behind the goalpost. And the Wind Club, it's the Wind Club, right?

Yeah. Windfield Club is right below you.

And Kylie had a friend down at the Wind Club.

Aj golfs with Hunter. He Hunter runs the field club, and you'll see him constantly like, boom-bopping around to all the different booths.

Mid football games, we would just get truffle, like tater tots, passed up to us. Out of nowhere, you just see this huge T steak. Oh, hey, girls, you want some fried Oreo? Let me get you some fried Oreo.

Do you guys need a drink? Do you want a Tomahawk?

He's clearly acts of service. He's just like, Let me feed you, girls.

Absolutely. Yeah, he's a really nice guy. But this last preseason game because our first home game is going to be this weekend, so I haven't seen him in a month.

You're going to miss him. He'll just say, I know, right?

This last home preseason game we had, I had asked for Tater Tots and something else. He's like, We don't have those anymore. I was like, Wait, what? He goes, Hold on one second, and then again, climbs up on the booth and then hands me up a menu. I'm like, What in the world? I I'm pretty sure we ordered just French fries and chicken tenders. This is also like Hunter, too. He'll bust your balls all the time. He's just got one of those quick personalities and ordered chicken tenders and fries. I handed him back the menu. He goes, That's it.

He's like, Let me get you a T-bone.

I'm like, Oh, I'm so sorry. Let me actually wag you, please.

No, literally.

I'm like, Don't get me wrong. I would order. But I'm like, I also don't want to be an ass and just like, Oh, give me all of this stuff.

If someone's offering, I'm taking.

Just give me some half-time chicken tendies and your girl's set.

I'm sorry, but if there's Wagyu involved, I'm going to take some. No, but when Kennedy invited me up to the stadium, Isaac's second game as a Rater, I was like, Wait, this is what NFL sweets look like at the Rater Stadium. There was sushi, and it was good sushi. Wagyu, nachos you've never seen, filets. They know how to do food in Vegas.

They do, for sure. It's definitely because of the influence from the strip. There's so many great restaurants there. You have to If you're opening a stadium, you have to have food that's worth it to come to a game for sure. Even with the Raiders facility, the chefs that they have that work for the team worked at restaurants that were on the strip, which is also a cool a cool little relationship because there have been times where we've wanted to go and do a dinner reservation, and maybe it's super last minute. Aj has actually asked a chef that works with the team, Hey, do you have a connection here? Do you know somebody? They will text someone that works at whatever restaurant and we're able to get in and get a table, which is really cool. But there's a huge emphasis at the stadium, at the Raiders facility, even at a bunch of restaurants off the strip where food is just so good because they They have to compete with the restaurants on the strip. Totally. There's so many places around us in the area that we live where it's just like top tier Italian or sushi or whatever.

They take food seriously. It's got to be top quality or else everybody would just go to the strip all of the time.

Well, and my favorite thing last year in terms of food with the Raiders, other than the Truffle Tater to Tots at the stadium, Fat Fridays. They had Fat Fridays at the Raiders' facility. Every Friday, they would bring in a few unhealthy things, whether that be like, Shake Shack or Chick-fil-A. When I tell you, I looked forward to every Friday because my pregnant ass was like, Yeah, bring home one of everything.

So AJ, especially in season, very big health nut. So even though Fat Fridays was happening- AJ didn't partake? Not partaking. No. The weight window.

Okay, he's a punter. Yes, but still. Defensive linemen are like, Fat Fat Friday is my favorite day.

You have to keep it on. No, he's very health conscious, especially in season. So we were not participating in the cool household in Fat Friday, but it did look amazing every time I saw people talk about it.

I'm just like, Oh, my God, I love Fat Friday. It's my favorite day of the Week. You've been with AJ, his entire NFL career. When did you meet AJ?

I'd said before that I was at Arizona State, and then I transferred. I actually met him at a student-athlete meeting When I transferred to NC State, one of my teammates, she was the rep, and we had two. I just had gone to her and was like, Hey, if you need somebody else to ever go to a meeting for you, I didn't know they had two reps at the time. But if you ever need somebody to go and take your place, if you can't make it to a meeting, let me know. I'd be happy to go for you. She said, Actually, our other rep, she just graduated. So if you want to go, we have our first meeting this Sunday, and we can go together. Sure enough, we go, and this cute little blonde sits down. We go and sit in our chairs, and he sits down right behind us, and they just start chatting back and forth because they're friends. I turned I was like, Oh, he's so cute. The funny thing with social media, we had followed each other already on Instagram. Interesting. But just with me transferring, I had a bunch of girls, guys, just student athletes sorry, from NC State following me, and he was one of them.

I made a mental note that I thought he was cute, but then I never saw him at training tables. I never saw him around campus.

No, he doesn't partake in fat Friday. He's like, I'm watching my figures, so I won't be eating today.

I'm also new. Just put in the back of my brain. Then he comes in to sit down behind us, and I realize I'm like, Oh, I've seen your face. I'm like, Oh, I follow you on Instagram, but I didn't say that.

I'm like, did you say that? You're like, Hey, I follow you on Instagram. You're going to be my future husband.

Hey, what's up? I'm so glad you cut your mullet. He had a mullet before I'd gotten to school and went home for Christmas break, and shout out to Kim. Made made him cut it. She's like, You're not coming in my house until you cut your hair. She cut it, it was short, and he had posted a picture from Christmas break with family. It was like, mullet photo, normal age. I was like, Oh, thank goodness. He cut his hair. That guy's cute. Mental note.

You're like, I want to be with him.

Now he has long hair again, which is so funny, but it suits him. It looks really good. I mean, I know I'm biased, but- He's just growing.

He's like, I'm one of the older guys on the team. Let me just grow my hair.

Let me just grow that stuff out.

He went to the Raiders as a free agent, or was he drafted?

No, he wasn't a free agent. He was a rookie mini camp tryout. Wow. Oh, yeah. He goes into it, and he knew coming out of the draft, just with the nature of special teams, 99% of guys, they're not going to get drafted. Usually, if somebody does get drafted, it's more so a kicker than it's a punter. But there have been punters in these last couple of years that will get drafted pretty high, which is cool.

But isn't that crazy that kickers and punters don't usually get drafted?

Yeah, it's wild.

But it's an important position. It is. Especially because kickers can be some of the highest scoring people in the NFL.

Or the person it comes down to at the end of a game. The go-ahead point, it could be them. But yes, he was a rookie mini camp tryout. There were two punters on the roster already. The first guy had been drafted. So he was drafted the year prior, and then they brought somebody in to compete with him in OTA, sorry. Aj was a rookie mini camp tryout, comes in. He did well. They cut one of the guys to keep AJ, and then going into the rest of OTAs. And then training camp, AJ was competing with this other punter for the starting job. And after the first preseason game, they ended up cutting the other guy, and AJ was the only one. The funny thing about that, too, is he obviously gave being in the NFL a shot. He was like, If it works out, then I want to take advantage of it. But he had a job lined up with IBM that he was supposed to start. The whole process- It was like a regular 9:00 to 5:00?

Yes.

Through the whole process, he would email the guy that had hired him and was just keeping him updated like, Hey, going to this try out. We'll see if I make it. Hey, I made the try out. We'll see what happens from here.

Just hold my job just in case.

No, seriously. Then after that first preseason game, called him, let him know Hey, thank you so much for the job offer, but I'm not coming to IBM anymore. It's wild. Isn't it? It's a crazy story. It's really cool.

It's crazy how life can take so many different changes. He went from probably working a 9:00 to 5:00 and just going to work every day, which there's nothing wrong with that, but then to being one of the best punters in the NFL. Yeah, it's so cool. What are your main takeaways from the NFL? Which you all are still in it, but like...

Main takeaways? It is an absolute ride in both good and bad ways. It can end at the drop of a dime and just enjoy it while it lasts because it's so cutthroat. I mean, seriously- NFL stands not for long. Yeah. The reality is Sunday could be, knock on wood, Sunday could be the last game. You don't know until he either decides to retire or just doesn't have, isn't cut out for it anymore, gets cut, or you don't even talk about injuries, something happening.

I'm just going to stop myself there. But that's the part where I feel like I get sad about because the last game Isaac played, I didn't know that was his last game for the football season. And now that he's still a free agent, two games into the football season, now about to be three. I'm like, Wait, is this over? All seven years of his career, is that just it? It's weird because there's no closure. It feels like a breakup, even though I'm not the NFL player, but this has been our sense of community for the past seven years. I'm like, Wait, am I getting broken up with over a text? But they never sent the text. They just like, Hey, maybe.

I think everyone across the board would agreeably say that if they can end it on their own terms, that's what everybody hopes for, that whether their body starts to hurt too much or they're just not having fun with it anymore. If they don't like getting up and going to football practice anymore and they want to retire, okay, do that. If AJ after this year is like, You know what? I just really don't like punning footballs anymore. Okay, let's go find something that you do want to do. But I think that's what everybody hopes for is Please let me end it on my own terms, which is unfortunately just does not... It really doesn't happen all that often.

It really doesn't. I'm still hoping that Isaac gets one game, just one game with our daughter. I hope so, too.

I hope so, too. Seriously.

If it doesn't, it doesn't. At least we have a great career to look back on, which I'm still crossing my fingers, though. But speaking of careers, let's talk about your volleyball career. Because not a lot of people know anything about professional volleyball. I didn't.

That's because it's typically been overseas. This last year was the first time a true pro volleyball league has been done in the US for the first time. They tried one a long time ago, and it just never panned out. But this is the first time that a pro league is in the US where you don't have to go overseas. We had the same rookie year. Aj is older than me, but eligibility-wise, we were the same in college. So graduated at the same time, same rookie year. He's in Oakland.

I go to France Wait, I did not know you went to France.

I went to France. We had a nine-hour time difference. Let me tell you, nine is the most awkward amount of time to have between you and somebody else, because when my day is starting, he's already asleep back in California. I'm going to lift. I have a little break in my day. Then I'm going to practice. Once my practice is done, my day is over and I've got whatever to do for the rest of the afternoon, he's already at the facility. So when his day, and he's also- You're not texting at the facility. No. And also being a rookie, too. He's not comfortable enough being there to call me on the phone or text me or whatever. There were a couple of times where I'm like, Hey, if you have five or six minutes, Can you call me? No, he literally run outside of the facility, call me, and we would talk, and then he'd have to go back in. But it's like that was the reality of our day. Then you're doing the same thing over and over again. Then when we do get time to get on the phone to talk, it's like, Hey, how was your practice?

Great. How was yours? Awesome. That was the year they played in London. You're like, This is so nice. So nice. Aj's parents got a double room so that where I was, I was a quick train ride to Paris and then a up to London. I was able to go, and then I wasn't able to go. We lost our... I remember my team, we had lost our opener, but it was to a two.

He was in the same... Well, not the same country at all.

We were in the same time zone for the first time in forever.

I mean, two professional athletes dating long distance sounds like hell.

It's not for the week. That's for sure. My gosh, it was wild. I mean, seriously, there are so many times we get on the phone and your day is not different or nothing exciting happened or you just can't talk to each other for a couple of days. It's like, what the heck are we doing? But we know we want to be together. So it's like, okay, we'll just figure it out and make it work. But at the same time, when I would come home, when I'd come home from France, I was going home to Dallas because that's where my trainer is. That's where a lot of my former club teammates were that went on to play college. They're now playing pro. There's a hotbed.

You had an off-season, too. Yes.

There's a hotbed of volleyball players in that would collectively get together to train to go on for their next season. You're going to be in this cycle of like, Okay, so we don't live in the same place. When I'm coming home, you're in OTAs, and then the time that you do have off is about a month, and then you're going back into training camp, and then I'm training and then leaving and going overseas again. Between August of 2019 and May of 2020, now granted, COVID was a thing, I I saw AJ for 48 hours, and one of those days was spent watching him play his game at the Bronco Stadium over Chris's break. 48 hours.

So you quickly realized that that wasn't going to work?

No, not at all. With that, talking about COVID and being home, I had decided that I didn't want to go back overseas. One, I was nervous about going back over, mainly because there were a lot of regulations and stuff that were being put into place where there were girls that I knew you had to have papers to leave your apartment to go to practice or go to games. You're not even going to the grocery store. Someone's going to deliver those for you. To be in a foreign country, you do not speak the language more likely than not. You don't know anybody. You're away from your friends and family. To be told you cannot leave your apartment ended so many people's careers because they're like, Screw this. I want to go home. This is not healthy.

Well, mental health-wise, it's not healthy.

No. But even before that, my rookie or being over there, it's hard. I tell everybody under the sun, if you're thinking about going overseas to play, do it because you might be someone that loves it. There are people that I know that have been playing for 10 plus years pro overseas because they love it. They have the personality for it. I just did not. We also knew, okay, we want to be married at some point. We've been together for so many years. That's not going to happen if we're never together. I stayed home. I didn't go overseas. They started something called Athletes Unlimited. It is a pro season. It's shortened, though. It's a pretty quick six-week season. Season, played in that in a bubble, which even then, okay, I'm in a bubble. Aj can't come and see me in 2021. So I did that. And then I didn't play again. I didn't play again until this last season, 2024, because I had an injury that I just didn't do anything about it. It had gotten to the point where I'm like, Oh, I can't go and play because I'm just stubborn like that. I'm like, oh, I can't go play if I have this nagging issue.

Got that resolved. Then it was going into the fall of... It was that point going into the fall of 2022 that all of a sudden this news article comes out that, Hey, PVF is happening in 2024 in the United States. One of my best friends, Ali, sent it to me, and I'm like, What the heck is this? It's an American League. They had, at the time, six cities or something. They wanted to start this pro league in the US for people that want to come back home, don't want to go overseas. That was the whole point is we're going to keep our Americans here, and we're going to let them play at home because they don't have that opportunity. I read through this whole article, and I'm like, You are preaching to the choir here.

Sign me up.

Absolutely. Also, I remember to the AU, the Athletes Unlimited season, they were playing in the spring, and then after that second year, they moved to the fall. So at that point, I'm like, Okay, now I'm really not going to sign myself up for this because I don't want to be gone during the season.

I just got back from France, and I'm not trying to go and do this.

Exactly. My career has been the one, and I would not change a single thing about how I've done it. My career is the one that in the grand scheme of things, if someone's making the sacrifices, it's me, and I'm fine with that, but it definitely gives me less options. I could go to Puerto Rico in the spring. I could do this Athletes Unlimited, or I could do this new PVF thing that they're starting for pro-volleyball. And so going into the fall, they're talking about this new league happening in 2024. I was like, All right, let's see what happens. Let's reach out, get my questions answered, and see if I can get on their radar about wanting to play at home. I straight up to him. I'm like, Look, I am your demographic of player. My husband cannot come and visit me between August and February. I don't want to go back overseas because the sad reality is not every situation is perfect. People will get taken advantage of. They'll sign bad contracts. They'll sign contracts that say, Oh, you're going to play volleyball for X amount of money, but you're also going to work in this factory.

I had that happen with a teammate from college. You're also going to work in this factory during the day and then come to practice at night. No, I didn't. I signed up to be a professional athlete. Or some people...

Kylie, that sounds sketchy.

Oh, yeah. That was crazy. Did not happen to me. But some people will go over and maybe they'll teach a class. They'll teach English, but either they opt to put that in their contract or they say, Hey, if you're going to be here, you also have to do this. It just depends on where you go.

Like signing an NFL contract and being like, I want a suite for my family, but you're teaching English.

It's the exact same. Those two parallels just me right there. English class, sweet. Boom. There it goes. I signed on and I got on the radar for the league. They did free agent signings. Everybody signed a one-year contract. Initially, right out the gate, I was signed to the Atlanta team, which is where my husband's from, so that was cool. I was going to get to be around all of his family that's there. A lot of our friends had actually moved from Raleigh to Atlanta after college. Which is nice.

Then your plan was to live in Atlanta during his offseason, which would have been your season.

Yes, would have been my season. There was just a little bit of overlap, but not enough to be like, Oh, I'm not doing that. It's like, Oh, we overlapped for maybe a month or so? That's nothing. Totally good. I did training camp with Atlanta. It I ended up not working out there, but I got signed to San Diego. So went home, went out to San Diego, which was another great landing spot for me because San Diego is somewhere that AJ has done a lot of his offseason training in. So he has a trainer there He has a punning coach there, and a lot of punners like to get together in San Diego anyway.

So they do like a- It's a punners meeting.

It literally it's a punner's business meeting. So the transition from me going from Atlanta to home, Then San Diego was so flawless because it's like, Okay, we just need to figure out where we're going to live and you pack up all your stuff. I'll pack up all mine, and then we'll get on the road. The thing that was funny about getting signed by San Diego is the day that it happened, AJ was in Phoenix for a bachelor party, and they just gone to... Because a lot of them were punners. They went to go and kick that morning.

Punners hang out with other punners. Legit.

Yes. Then they FaceTime each other, and they talk about ball all the time, and they, Yeah, all these things. But they went and got smoothies. Aj has a peanut allergy. There was peanuts in his smoothie. So they're driving home. He'd also forgotten his phone that day. So I'm calling him, trying to let him know, Hey, I'm packing up the car. I'm going to be gone in a couple of hours in San Diego that night. I need to be there now. Because we had a game in 36 hours after that day. It was something crazy. So I'm trying to call him and let him know, and he's not answering. And then when he finally does answer. I'm like, Oh, my gosh, guess what happened? I'm telling him and I'm all excited. We're going to San Diego, blah, blah, blah. Here's what's going on. He's like, I love you so much. I'm really excited, but I need you to know I'm in the middle of an allergy attack right now. Can I call you back? He has to go and use his EpiPen and then calls me back 30 minutes later. He's like, Okay, I'm good now.

Tell me everything. I was like, Well, I'm packing up. I'm about to head down. Once you're back from Arizona, you get all your stuff packed, get it all figured out. I found an Airbnb, so I drove in. I stayed in a hotel that night and then got into our Airbnb the next day.

Then you were in San Diego? Yes, we were in San Diego. It's so crazy that that worked out so well because the offseason for NFL players isn't really offseason because they still have to train A majority of NFL players live in a specific area where they know that they can train still and get bodywork and treatment and all that. It's crazy that it worked out for your career and for his.

Yeah, it was super cool. Aj I've somebody, too, he started doing this last year. He's tested in different off-seasons how he's going to do it. This last year, he did- He's just testing things. No, seriously. Okay, how much time am I going to take off? What am I going to do? This last year, he took no time off at all because he wants to be in a certain rhythm when he hits OTAs, when it's training camp of how he's feeling. Season ended, and he maybe took a week and a half off and was back to training, back to kicking, very shortly after.

What did he do that week?

Where he did nothing? Just hung out. He just decompressed from all of the craziness and then get right back into it. But it was the absolute perfect setup.

You've supported AJ throughout his entire NFL journey, and now he gets to support you throughout your volleyball journey.

Yeah, it's so much fun.

So he's a hab. He's a hab.

He's a hab.

Yes. Wagon hab. Look at us. Look at our acronyms. How has it been him supporting you at games?

It was It was so much fun. It felt like we were back in college again. He loved coming to all my games. He sat in the same spot. He wore his Wolfpack volleyball shirt. He got a fat head made of me when we were seniors. He loves volleyball in general, but he just is the best supporter of all time. Between 2019 and 2024, he hadn't gotten to see me play in a game in person since we were in college because over in France, they're doing live stream. The live stream was janky. It was tough for him to even watch or follow. It was also in French. He was like, Okay, I don't know who they're talking about unless they say your name. He's like, Wait, what? He's like, What is going on. Then I played in a bubble season, so he had not seen me suit up for a game since college. All of the emotions with that was so cool. Then on top of it, we're newly married, less than a a year. I changed my name. I'm Kylie Cole when I play volleyball now. That part was really fun, too, of just not to be super cheesy, but take a lot of pride in playing volleyball as Kylie Pickerol.

Me and my sister both had tons of fun, tons of success as Kylie Pickerol, Cassie Pickerol. Then to be Kylie Cole of like, Okay, let's see. Can Kylie Cole play volleyball? Does she like it? Let's and find out. Come on. But it was really cool.

You guys need a picture in your jerseys together.

We do. I purposely, I was number six, too.

Wait, that's so cute. I didn't even know people had numbers in volleyball. I probably should know. I don't know. I'm a swimmer.

Oh, that's so true.

We don't have numbers in swimming. But I feel like there is a stereotype when it comes to volleyball players.

Do you know it's- Wait, what do you think it is? Wait, I'm curious to know.

Well, I just know that there is a stereotype.

Oh, God.

Just tall?

How many times have people assumed that you were a volleyball or a basketball player?

Every day of my life. I feel like I still get the question.

I'm like, no.

That's never going to go away. I'm like, no, I'm a swimmer. Do you think there's a stereotype?

If you're talking maybe body type stereotype, maybe, but personality-wise, no, I don't think so. I just feel like I've had so many different personalities of teammates. It's like, I don't know. Cool people, fun people that like to crack jokes.

You're like, Fun girls? Okay, that's fine.

Down for a good time? I don't know.

When it comes to volleyball, because I know we touched on this last year when I was pregnant, I was like, Oh, are you planning on having kids and when? I feel like being a professional athlete when you're a woman is so different than when you're a man, because a man, he can have a kid in nine months. I'm like, he's still playing football. But when it comes to a woman, you have to make those decisions. I mean, you with your husband like, Hey, I want to play volleyball for this long. How much do you guys talk about that?

We a lot right now, actually. Like I said, everybody had signed a one-year contract in this PVF League, and I'm putting all of my eggs into one basket. It's either going to work or it's not. I'm in the process of right now trying to figure out, am I going to get this opportunity to play this next year? Some stuff has not really... The cards haven't fallen in my favor on me to assume that they were just going to. There was a situation that me and everyone under the sun thought was an automatic, and it's not. But that's how sports goes. It is what it is. In the process right now, figuring that out. But I don't know. Like, little me was like, Oh, I'll have kids by the time I'm 26 because that's what my mom did, and now I'm 28. It is in the back of my mind of like, Okay, well, I I want to have kids before I'm 30, but I'm trying to see if I play in this volleyball season. If I do that, going into 2025, I'll be 29 in September. But what if I do get the opportunity to play this next year?

I absolutely love it, and I want to go again. Do I do that, or do I just retire, or what if I don't get to play this year?

There's so much that goes into it.

Yeah. Do I keep training? Do I see what happens in fall of 2025 with signings and stuff? There's so much that goes into it. I was saying to Isaac before we started recording that I just really empathize with the situation that he's in right now because it sucks. For how much of, I wouldn't call it smooth because we've definitely had some crazy stuff happen with the Raiders over the years. But with how relatively smooth it's been for us with AJ's career, mine has been very like, Stop, go, here, there, everywhere. Okay, it might be happening here. Okay, it might not, blah, blah, blah. I wouldn't change it for anything. Maybe that's our little balance of like, that's what happens. The reality is I could go back overseas if I wanted to. Every once in a blue moon, I'll get a Facebook message like, Hello, Kylie, are you still interested in playing overseas? It's broken English.

I'm like, no. You're like, I don't want a nine-hour time difference with my husband.

If you're not Puerto Rico or the PVF, please don't Facebook message me. I'm not going to Serbia. I'm sorry. Oh my God. Shut up. Oh, yeah. Every once in a blue moon, I'll get one of those. But it just comes with the nature of I'm putting all of my eggs into this one basket, so naturally, it's going to be harder. There's new talent always coming out of college. There's more girls that want to come back from overseas and not play over there. They want to be at home. It's just a very-There's a lot that goes into it. It's a constant flow of just trying to figure out what's going to happen and what the move is going to be.

But do you think... I mean, women's sports are on the rise or on the up and up. Finally, do you think professional volleyball is next?

I do.

I love watching volleyball.

It's so much fun. I hope everybody watched it in the Olympics. I hope you thought it was fun. Pvf was on. It was on ESPN, I believe, a little bit this last year. Not all of the games.

It's in the up and up.

Yeah, it is. It's so much fun to watch. The games are exciting. There's a lot of girls who their husbands or fiances, they also play in the NFL. So you can have You can find your favorite player. I love Jordan Love and the Green Bay Packers because Ronika Stone plays for the San Diego Mojo. So iconic. That stuff. It's definitely on the up and up for sure.

I I love that. Oh, my God. It's so great hearing this beautiful love story, you guys being together in the NFL and volleyball. It's just like, I love your guys' dynamic. Thanks. So thank you for coming on the podcast. Absolutely.

Thank you for having me.

Where can the people find you?

On Instagram, I'm Kylie P. Cole. I'm the same on TikTok as well. I don't really use Twitter or X a lot, but you can You want to find me on there, I just like, read, tweet random stuff maybe once every three months. I do have a YouTube channel, but I haven't used it in a couple of years.

Hopefully you'll ramp it back up. We want to see the journey of two professional athletes being married. Do we got together?

I've been thinking about it. So It might...

I'm putting in my request right now.

It's been in the back of my head a lot recently in the last couple of months of like, why not? Even Kennedy says, too, with logging of like, if no one ever watches it, I have the memories back on, so might as well. I'm like, You know what, Ken, you're on to something. Exactly.

I second that. So now you have two requests. There you go. I have one last question. How do you think the Raiders are going to do this year?

I wanted to go, well, so bad. Just for the morale of the group, I think we'll be a playoff team. I think they're a sleeper right now. I think there's a lot of new moving parts to the team that just- For sure.

A new GM, a new head coach.

New quarterback. New players in different positions, tight-end, all of that, where they're two weeks in, going into week three. Everybody's trying to figure it out. They're amazing at what they do, but they're not superhuman at the end of the day. You got to build those relationships and figure out how somebody is on the field.

You all will get in a groove.

I think they're a sleeper team. I think they're going to be good. I mean, they meet the Ravens. I don't know.

You guys don't have Isaac Rochelle, but it's okay. All right. Well, I'll look forward to watching the Raiders, I guess.

I'm putting it here first. Once Scottie hits 14 months, we'll start volleyball lessons. Perfect. 14 months. I love that. I already saw her climbing the stairs and that whole thing. So, yeah, we're good. We'll start here real quick. Perfect.

Thanks for coming on. Absolutely.

Thank you for having me.

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