NFL Players: Second ActsTJ Houshmandzadeh talks flag football with Snoop Dogg, getting his GED, bad boy Bengals teams, and more
On this episode of the NFL Players: Second Acts podcast, former All-Pro receiver TJ Houshmandzadeh joins Peanut and Roman for a spirited conversation. TJ explains why the talented Cincinnati Bengals teams he played with were known more for their disfunction than winning. Despite tough years early on, TJ talks about why he felt mixed emotions when he made his first Pro Bowl, and why he wished he would’ve played for bad teams toward the end of his career. TJ says he never dreamed of making to the NFL, and he talks about his journey making it to the league despite being a high school dropout. TJ still stays connected to the game, and he shares how he and Snoop Dogg teamed up to create their own flag football league.
The NFL Players: Second Acts podcast is a production of the NFL in partnership with iHeart Radio.
I didn't care about life after football because I didn't realize how quickly it was going to come upon me. Yeah, and that's another thing that's real, like after life after football, start planning on it because I didn't. And when you have nothing, you just get bored more than anything, and uh, then you got to figure out things to do.
Thank y'all for tuning in. I'm Peanut Tuming and this is the NFL Players Second Act Podcast and with me as always, I got the fourth member of the OJS, mister Roman Harp on the show today. What's up Baby?
What's up baby?
I appreciate him and I learned who the OJS was yesterday here in Motown, So.
I know you line, I mean not really.
I don't really lie like that.
Okay, I'm just always surprised and I don't know everything.
We're gonna talk offline about that. Let's all right, all right, let's.
Get to it then. Yeah.
Let me thank all of our lists all of our viewers. Will always tune in. Wherever you pick up your podcast, whether it's iHeart iHeartRadio app or the Apple Podcast, make sure you give us a five star rating, leave a review couple comments. Also, make sure you hit that follow button, Peanut. I'm looking forward to our guests today. We have a good friend of ours who I've got to know just through NFL ties.
Man, watch this guy from a long time man.
He's an awesome person and we're really gonna dig into some stuff today. So I'm looking forward to it because he's way too honest and he don't even know it.
Yeah.
His seventh round pick in the two thousand and one draft out of Oregon State, played twelve seasons in the league, made a Pro Bowl in two thousand and seven. Since retirement, he's a media analyst, he's a trainer, has a flag football league with Snoop Dogg called the Snoop and Hoosha Flaglip Football League. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the show. TJ. Houshman's that up?
Or should I say the third men? Brother? Oh Jays? Which one? Who's the third member? He's a fourth member?
So the four I don't know the names neither, don't I know. Jerald LeVert Dad was like the original. He's one of the originals. I don't know. I just I'm gonna say Lavert one of the Leverts.
All there, you go.
Have you heard.
Okay, yeah, okay, I mean clearly he's trying to correct you.
I don't know.
I've heard of him, but I don't know how many members. Oh it's three three, it's three members. So he's like the step so member.
It looked like he got the age four though.
Now now, Peanut, I wanted to know, how do you do we say your name, last name right?
Because like everybody I.
Wasn't play played with you over the years, like like Room said, gotten to know you through all the football stuff.
I've never really known how to pronounce your name. I've only seen it like Chris Berman, like maybe he said it right, maybe he said it wrong. I thought. I said, yeah, that's right.
That's how I said.
Okay, cool, Oh.
Yeah, we're good.
Okay, So what's the the t J? What's the what's the t.
I'm a junior. I don't really know how t J came about. My name is Tara, Tara t o U are a J and I'm a junior. I don't have a middle name. I'm named after my father. Never met him with dam in my life.
Yeah, I mean that's silence right there. Let me let that soak in.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, never met him, But Hushman Zada, I mean, I just love TJ because that's what we call you.
So no matter, are you the only Hushmans.
That's exactly what you know?
What's crazy? Like I went into the Yellow Pages right now? How many hush Manzadas? What I see?
Bro? It's really crazy. So we're not gonna really get into this, right us, I'm gonna tell you, but we're really not gonna get it. So bruh crazy.
Man.
If a woman started stalking me right she changed her last name of my last name, her IDK to my house, no, yeah, seriously, I don't want to get into this. Bruh crazy yeah yeah yeah yeah, And so we won't get into that. But so I guess she's out there. We try to get her to change her name. I spent all this money. I don't know what goes on in our country where somebody could change their last name to my last name and it's okay.
The only thing that I will concern I'm only concerned with sometimes is how do I get fan mail to my house?
I'm like, bro, how you know that?
Yeah?
Bro, these people get on Google and they figure. I still get it sometimes too. I don't even send it back because I don't want you to keep sending you can't.
I'm gonna look into the camera right now. It's cool to be a fan of anybody a celebrity, but if you're trying to get something signed, do not all caps. I say again, do not send your fan mail to that celebrity's home. That is like stalker type stuff. Don't do it nine time, probably ten times out of ten times you're not gonna get back.
And don't go to the house, especially his.
Do not don't send it to anyone's house, not even mine, TJ's rooms. Anybody's like, we just do it.
I do have a sister though that I just realized.
It's her last name. Who spins up it is?
It is? I get you know, my father is Uh. He's from the Middle East and she just moved here, uh to America from the Middle East. I want to say some months ago, she's been reaching out to me. I talked Toronto phone. Yeah, I still have yet to meet up with her in person, but yeah, that's all I know of.
Do you get upset when anybody mispronounces your name?
No? Okay, good no, no, no, no, no, not at all?
And uh, I got to mention this because everybody knows that the fans will know me and you.
We've all joked about it before.
But the famous NFL commercial number one? How much did you have? Did you even know that they were doing that? TJ? Who's your mama?
Man?
Who's been ze Lee?
No? I don't remember the year. I don't remember the year, but I do remember being in training camp Georgetown, Kentucky, and one of the coaches had asked me how much they pay you for this commercial? I'm like, what commercial? I hadn't seen it yet. Obviously I ended up seeing a commercial. I had no idea. Didn't get ten cents off of it.
Oh, it was one of the best NFL commercials fantasy football ever.
To this day, man, I still get a lot of questions to this day, to this day.
Yeah, oh man, what was it like in your in the in the receiving room or just like on the team in general with the Bengals back in the gap, it was you, Chris, Henry Corey Dillon to Ko Lorenzo O'Neill, Chad, what was what was that? What was that locker room? Like, more portly, what was that receiving room?
Him?
Like, I mean the specifically the receiver room. People that know Chad, Chad is quiet, okay, cha is Most people wouldn't think that Chad is really not a talker. I'm probably more of the talkative one. But Chris Henry is also very quiet. Made rest in peace. At one point we had Peter Warriko talk a little bit. Uh, Kelly Washington would talk a little bit. He was always he was always dancing and stuff. Yeah, yeah, yeah, he was the most he was seemed like he was the dancer of the group. The overall locker room though, it was. That's what made it so fun. And I think that's the part that I don't think, I know, that's the part that everybody misses. Yeah, for sure, Lorenzo O'Neill man, that dude is a character. If y'all know Taquillo, he's a character. But you know low Neil ten five eleven, Max, I want to wrestle everybody on the Team'd be like, hey, Daddy, Hey, hey, daddy, come here, come here. I'll pin you in fifteen seconds, Daddy for one thousand dollars if you mean, like lo, if you don't get away from me, bro and like he would pin the biggest dudes ten fifteen seconds, can't move on the ground, give me my money.
Stay champed like I told you so, we interviewed low he was on a couple of weeks ago. A couple of weeks ago we had to five and the first time I ever met Lorenzo Nil, he was in New Orleans and he was friends with a kid named a guy named Mike Carney who he played full bath Arizona State.
So they were drunk.
It was mill of the afternoon, kind of getting towards the evening. Dude, I walk up to the place that's like by my house. Mike Carney leaves out there. Dude, Lorenzo o'nil is outside wrestling Mike Carney. Mike Carney is like brom trying to Lorenzo Nil. Must have body slammer this dude like fifteen times hery.
Well, if y'all ever interview Lorenzo O'Neill again, he ain't paying me, Okay. I got behind me, slamming him on the ground, jumped up and ran like man, when I tell you he was not going to leave me alone until he got me back, I'm like, nope, I just follow right here.
You got it, and we'll be right back.
I do want to know this though, TJ, because I never actually asked you this. It's like, dude, you guys had a team full of all stars, Like how did you guys not win at all?
Like?
How do we how do we not win?
It was too much playoffs? Yeah, Like too much talent for y'all not to win.
Yeah.
I mean you had Corey Dillon, you had to Kio, Lorenzo Nil. You talked about all these guys like the list can keep going on and on and on.
And we had quarterback play so Carson, Yeah, it was when you're in the locker room and on the team, it's just what you guys said, Man, we have this player, this player, we should be really good. And it wasn't until I stopped playing and you really delve into the why we weren't. Why weren't we good? And it's the off the field. It's the last of discipline. It's the complete lack of respect and structure of the guys on the team. Bro, we we because I was a part of we yee what we wanted to do. Man, I'm telling you, like we when I first got to Cincinnati, Bro, we didn't even stay in hotels for home games. Bro said at the crib or wherever we're outside, like we're guys would I don't drink, but Saturday night for home games, like dudes would do whoever they wanted to do. I remember vividly, I'm not gonna say this guy's name. You know, you meet up this you meet up Saturday at the stadium to get ready to fly out. We got a starter on our team that wasn't there. One of the two buses went to the airport. The bus that I was on because I was friends with them, went to his house. I go in his house. He was sleep. We're on the way to the airport to go fly out to play.
MMM.
Walked in there, woke him up. Hey, Bro, what you're doing? He was like, oh, got up, didn't even put his cloak, took a shower. You're gonn me get ready. They're not doing that on any other not playing. He played, And so it was just little things like that that you guys know matters so much and so.
But that's coaching.
Though It's also like, I so we're not gonna I don't want to point all fingers everywhere, but like TJ said, it was like you don't even know you're in this broken situation until you like get out.
You're like, bro, that's all I Cincinnati was the only team I had played for up until that time, and so I had And I can give you a bunch of stories. I'm not gonna do that, because y'all it's.
Not I've heard.
So I've heard a couple of them too.
And I will say that that was, uh, that was pre Marvin Lewis. But you know, when coach Louke comes in, he had to change our mindsets and the culture and that just take time.
But does now you talked about uh, discipline and seeing some things. And I've heard you talked about how you weren't supposed to be in the league.
You weren't supposed to be it.
And then I've listened to you do a couple other interviews and I didn't even know this, but you didn't graduate high school? Yeah, did not, So you didn't graduate high school. You take a year off. Some people call it a gap year, right.
You.
Took a gap year. Then you go to Juco.
You go to Juco and your coach is like, dude, you're not gonna be here that long. You need to go get a ged. Was that probably the best advice you ever got? And do you ever talk to other kids about Everybody's always like, oh, you graduate, graduated high school to be any worth anything successful, and you are the one that didn't have that.
When I do talk to kids, I tell him to avoid that part of it because I say I was lucky. People, you're not lucky, you are blessed. I don't know how that happened, man, to be honest with you, because I didn't play a lot. I didn't play a lot of football growing up, and so it wasn't as if like football is my sport, I gotta make it happen through this avenue at the best friend he's still my best friend to this day, named Cush. He went Juko. We was always together and I'm like, man, is he leaving? Like I gotta go with you? I'm not standing here. And so I just basically followed the mirror and I tell the head coach at my junior college, Frank Mazolda Soriudo's College, he didn't want me there. They thought I was a problem. Really never smoked the dam in my life, and during the springtime, my eyes the allergies so I'm constantly rubbing my eyes. They thought I was high, and I'm like, I talk a lot on fighting in practice. He was trying to send me home. I'm like, bro, I ain't going on and like literally trying to get rid of me because he thought I was high all the time and I was just growing my hair and I didn't know how to put in the ponytail, so my hair was down. My eyes are red, and like this dude coming to practice high every day. And so that same dude, because he broke his foot, I was his backup and he broke his foot like a couple of weeks before the season, and I became a starter. That was it. But yeah, I do talk to kids, but you can't not graduate. Yeah, Coach Mazola telling me to get my ged was a blessing. I still taught to coach Mo to this day, taking him to lunch probably next week when I get home. Yeah. But yeah, man, my path was very different.
Yeah, it was different. But it turned out pretty good for it though, because I know that two thousand and seven season, you had a good year. You made the Pro Bowl, Like, how great was that? When when you found out you made that Pro Bowl? Like, what was one of the first things that went through your mind?
Honestly, yeah, I should have been made it. That was what went through I should have made it the year prior.
Yeah, that's how I go though, man.
And when we were playing, Yeah, you made the Pro Bowl, it meant something, oh for sure. And so you know, the people that white men may watch this now, it ain't like I'd be a ten time pro bawler today's game because nobody wants to go. But it was satisfying. It really was because the steps that it took to get I like, I don't like football. I love it even to this day. Like I've always loved it. It's always mattered to me. Like when I got married, my wife would can we take a vacation. I'm like, you can't take a vacation. I gotta train. You can't train, you can't take two weeks. I'm like no, And so like I used to run myself into the ground, I'm like, I'm not taking a vacation. You can go take one, but I'm not going. And we didn't take a vacation until probably my eighth or ninth year in the league, and I was getting vice from other players and other people like Bro, you can take a vacation and I'm like, nah, I gotta work out. And so that was my even toy. I just love football, man like. And it could be because I didn't have a father forcing me to play sports that when I gravitated towards it. I mean to this day like I just I just love a game. Man.
So you talked about pro bo voting. I know, I know Thomas, we gotta we gonna do that. But what's the well, I want to know your opinion on pro bo voting versus all pro voting.
I was all pro more than I was a pro bowler.
Weird.
That's so weird to me. That doesn't there's no that none of that makes any sense because you could be first seen. It happened this year. That's why I Winfield Jr. He was a first team All Pro, but he didn't make the Pro Bowl.
I mean, you know it's a popularity contest because you vote as players. A lot of players it's after practice. You don't want to vote. You trying to get up out of there and go home. And or I talked a lot to all the dbs that I played against. I didn't here thet I literally had a pot on another team that was a safety, like, Bruh, they do not want to vote for you. I said, I don't give up.
I had the same situation, and I'm like, bruh, I wonder why he was dipping people.
But you know what's crazy, I think I'm cool. It's just once the game starts, I'm not your friend. Like I'm not one of them dudes that before the game, hey, bruh, No, I don't want to talk to you during during the game, I'm gonna talk. But after the game, once I calmed down, I'm cool.
Yeah.
But and it could be that I had and I think you were cool dude, So I couldn't people meet me and be like, bro, I hated you when I played against I'm like, what, Like, I was just playing hard, But I guess that's a respect thing. I'm not a dude that hey were running the ball here, you can chill. No, I'm not doing that. I'm not doing that.
And we we scrimmaged against these guys, the Bengals, and like they didn't even let y'all practice because I remember that.
I mean clearly we.
Thought y'all, I'm not gonna say what we thought about y'all, but you guys didn't even get to practice, and we were ready to go against these guys and they didn't practice.
So I remember that.
Those practices always end up in fights. Though, because we we were ready for that. We played, We practiced, we were ready. We played like we came in thinking like, all right, it is.
Chad and TJ, only Chris Henry practice, but like we didn't like we were ready because we thought something's gonna happen.
Yeah, for sure, I get it.
We had across the league. You'll see the Saints are having a joint practice with the Bears, the Chargers have We would see this and we're like, where are we gonna have a joint practice with somebody? So we finally had a joint practice and Marvin Lewis gets up and he's talking about what we better do and bet we shouldn't do, and we TJ and Chad, you guys will not be practicing these two days. To me, were not practicing. I was ready for it. I don't want y'all because the first person gets in a fight, you're not playing. I'm like, I'm not gonna fight. Yeah you are. He would not let us practice bro would not let us practice. I was fighting guys on our own team in practice, and so Marvin was like, no, like, yeah, I got in a good amount of fights just in practice on our own team. Just like, don't hold me because I'm not gonna bully nobody. I'm not starting it. I'm like, bro, stop holding me, and then they say something and then we fight.
Yeah, but that's how for those listening, Uh, I couldn't tell you how many fights I got in Brandon Marshall, when Devin. I fought Devon a couple of times. I fought Musta Muhammad a couple of times. Like, but at the end of the day, it's just like you're fighting your brother like it ain't nothing. It ain't no cheap shots, so you ain't trying to like end the career.
Nobody took no helmet.
Nobody took a helmet, like you you fighting and then you you know, you a little Yeah. But that to me, though, that's just that's competition, Like it ain't no cheat. It's just like, yo, I'm mad, well let's go. What what if you if you let's go, you fight, take a couple of plays off the next period, y'all got a scrimmage or y'all got to go against each other again, and then it's like, all right, we'll stop about it.
You literally might line up and be like.
Yeah, and you just keep it, you keep it moving. Yeah, we're gonna take a short break and we'll be right back.
I want to talk about your transition from the game. You've been opened by some of your struggles that you had post career, like because like you said, you loved football, and like you would have played for league minimum, but you only wanted to play for a good team.
But you would have played forever if you could.
You just good teams don't need you, though, So when you get offers of the basket, like, dude, I don't want to be there.
Good.
So let's talk about that part, accepting that and then moving on from that, and then maybe some of the struggles that you had, because that's why we like to come on and that.
Was a mistake on my part. I'm not playing for the bad team. Yeah, you should have just did it. Yeah I should have done it because I love the game. Yeah, but what happens is you start to watch TV and you hear go win a super Bowl, Go play for a good team. Well, they're in that position because they don't need me, right, and so I should have done it. Obviously, you can't go back and change it now. That would be my advice to anybody. If you love a game, just play, man, if you have enough money, don't let your agent gash you up saying you need to make this. Just go play, because when it's over, it's over. And I'm over it now, like I have no problem with it. But at the time, it was just like, damn, I'm better than him. I'm better than him, and I could be playing, but but it's not happening anymore. And I was like, all right, I'm done. Then you get calls you'd be like, oh, I ain't training, I can't. I been working out really like that, and so that part of it, I would say about the first year out, it was tough, and I didn't realize it was tough because I was I'm I'm fine. I don't I don't think I stress. I'm not tough just watching the game and being on a routine. That's probably you're on a routine. We live off of a schedule. We haven't. We live off of an itinerary seven thirty. You gotta be here at this meeting, eight o'clock, this meeting, nine o'clock, this meeting. And so it was like, now you don't have this itinerary. It's like what do I do? And so that's what it was. I mean for me, it was I took my kids to school, come on, and just be like, all right, what's next? And I did that for a year maybe longer, and so it was just like I gotta start doing something, bro like I'm a bomb, Like what is this? And but that takes time because you know they always tell you, all right, you got to start preparing for life after football. I didn't care about life after football because I didn't realize how quickly it was going to come upon me. And that's another thing that's real, like life after football. Start planning on it, because I didn't. And when you have nothing, you just get bored more than anything. And then you got to figure out things to do.
And what point in time did you realize like, Okay, I got to get off my ass and moves. You said you did it for about a year, maybe a little bit more than that.
Like I can't read them all what's exactly what it was? But I remember people at networks ESPN, NFL Network contacting me, Hey man, you want to come in and do NFL Network, You want to come in to Bristol and do some work with ESPN. And so I started doing some of that and I enjoyed it, and they would tell me like, you're really good, You're honest, but you're not disrespectful to the players. It's just real, candid, And so I started doing that and I enjoyed. It was the next best thing without playing, I guess yeah. And so kind of forces you to watch the game, forces you to understand what's going on and why a teammate or may not be doing certain things. And so it was like I was playing, but I wasn't.
Was that getting into the media space. Did that help you move on from football? Like missing the game?
I would say yes, But back then I didn't look at it as it because again, like no, I don't let things bother me, man, unless it's something big for me. It's just like whatever, it's water off a duck's back.
Guess what I want to That's a great point because I've heard you in another interview talk about how you don't show emotions and it's how you were raised like I want you to dive into that.
Why don't you show I don't know, like my wife. My wife will always tell me, do you have a heart? Like what you mean? Do I have a heart?
Like?
How nice to you? Right? And it's sure like during the game, I show emotion, like that type of emotion. And when I say emotion, it's the more that I don't show emotion, it's the more I guess sensitive side when you're with your spouse or even at times with my kids. I've gotten better with that because you know, I got girls and that's what they need. But I I was telling somebody this. I remember vividly when I left the junior college, my mama said I love you, and it felt weird because I had heard that a lot. It felt weird to hear her say that to me because I remember, I remembered. I remember that because it wasn't like I love you'll love around our house. We didn't do that, and so that could be why. I don't know. But yeah, the emotional part of it, I think I'm a nice guy, But the emotion part of it, I don't show that unless it's like a competitive type of emotion. But to my kids, now you know, I tell them every day I love them. I try to show emotion. I try to let my son at times know that it's okay to cry, but don't cry over nothing that doesn't matter. Could be a little wrong, but yeah, I guess it's just part of how I was raised and what I grew up around.
My dad doesn't know how to say I love you either, So it is how you're raised. And that's a true statement. It's okay. It can be understood without being said. That's what's up. That's more important than that. It is understanding. It is felt speaking of love.
I love how you ellen k when we said.
That, Yeah, I was going to the flag football. I would like to know how this thing get started between you and Snoop.
Uh, my son was. My son was playing flag foot. Snoop's been in football for a while. He's been tackled football. Yes, my son was playing flag football. We're in the league and we had started dominating the league and then they started like, uh this said league didn't want to let us play in the playoffs because we were dominating, And I'm like, this is the team y'all gave me my son, my cousin and other kids that y'all put on my team. Don't get mad at me because we win. Yeah, And so they started basically they pissed me off, and so I said, I'm leaving. So I left the league and I got in contact with Troy Vincent. I said, Troy Man, I need to start my own league, and he was like sure. I'm like, yeah, gotta explained on what's going on. He connected me with Isael Reese. I got with isaelh and we have been planning it for a few years now and got a buddy that works with the Chargers. Yeah, and he reached out to me and was like, we want to partner with you guys to do the league. And I said that, you know, sounds great. So we're planning it now for three years. We just launched in March. Had a good turnout. We had just under five hundred kids, which for the first season.
What's the name of your team?
No, so all the teams are Chargers. Oh, all the teams are charge Okay, yeah, all the teams you either wear the white or the blue or the yellow. But we have a location in Crito's. We have a location in Nelson Gundo. It's nonprofit, so all the kids that that can't afford it. The great Old National Football League, myself the Charger Snoop and will subsidize them, will sponsor them and let them play. Yes, got a bunch of kids from Snoops Tackle League that a playing the league and so it's been fun. It's been fun just seeing a different age group seeing because it's co ed. Hopefully we'll get to the point where it can just be strictly girls and boys, but we have co ed. I have a couple of girls on my son's team. But yeah, we're gonna win it. Yeah.
My daughter she just got signed up for flag football this year, so I'm really I'm looking.
Forward to it. The girls are good. Yeah, it's so crazy because we don't see young girls play football. It blows my mind how good they are. It's crazy. It's crazy. You're gonna watch your daughter play. You're gonna be like house called damn she nice.
Yeah. Watch, we gotta hit the gym this offseason. I gotta teach your cople things. She's gonna be out there.
I'm trying to convince my daughter to play eleven. I'm sorry, she's twelve. Sorry, Cambra, she's twelve. She's twelve, and she was like, I thought you said I can't catch. I said, oh, we can work on that. We're just gonna play catch every day. You'll get it. Yeah.
Yeah, Now do you ever run into like the real intense parents, like on the sideline and they just be doing a little bit, they be doing the most.
You can raise your hand if you want.
I'm that parent parent. Yeah, I am. I am. Everything we do, we compete. We're gonna sound like the intense, right I am. I'm not gonna lie. I hate. I hate to admit that I.
Am for if y'all. I know y'all, some of y'all will listen. But he's kind of yeah, I'm not. He raised his hands like.
When you see. But I do run into him. Also, I run into people like myself. I do.
So how does that work? When y'all two go at it? Do y'all go at it the two like yourself and like another intense parent. Do y'all go at it?
At times it's happened. I'm like, whatever, bro, I don't care how big you are, but I'm getting. I'm getting better at it though, I am. I got. I'm trying to stop that because my son plays AAU basketball.
I've seen him.
He's a good player, and uh yeah, I'm trying to get better at that. I know for a fact I need to stop that, and I'm going to stop it. But I don't talk to other parents. Yes, I'm cheering on our team. I never put down the other team. Ever, I'm not doing that the kids. I'm just cheering my team. And they may take it the wrong way and they say something to me, and I'm bruh, don't you talk to me. I'm not talking to you if you don't get your boy, if you don't get up out of here with this. And I don't care how big you are, because I'm not afraid of you. And I've never gotten into it with anybody. A couple of verbal altercations, but nothing physical. But I'm trying to avoid all of that because it's not it's we there for the kids and not not for us.
There we go.
So TJ I, it's funny that you raise your hand and say that, because in my family that's my wife. I call it her tiger Mom. She's very intense when it comes to our kids in sports, and like you said, there's no like direct like we're not firing missiles at each other.
It's all like you're yelling for your own team.
They say something, then you.
Yeah, Then our parents say something louder, and then it's like, I mean, we have proxy wars.
It ain't nobody, is it, but is it? Like that's what I'm talking about? Room ware to make that other kid look terrible.
Let's go, let's keep dumb. Come on people, and they just take, especially when they're a good tea.
Yes, especially I think basketball is really weird too, because the kids can hear the parents, The parents can hear each other's parents.
Everybody can see each other.
You're in a gym, it's intense a you get very competitive now, and so it just kind of happens, and especially if you're dealing like my daughter's team, it's emotional, like girls to start crying. Somebody gets fouled hard. We got a parent getting mad. Oh that's that's a foul. Everybody's complaining about fouls. The reps never call anything. So it's like all these emotions that just build and build and build, and then people explode and it's very very funny. But I love it because that my wife's where TJ is. So then I get to just relax. Yeah, it's because everybody thinks it's be me and it's not. I wouldn't say ask my whole family.
But if I get into it with somebody, they right there with me because we got to ride. My family, my wife and my kids, my daughters were tight. It's just a yeah. And so practices. Everybody goes to practice, Everybody goes to games, and I guess that's not common because people like man, y'all here every day. We ain't got nothing else to do, and so we support each other. When my daughters were athletes, everybody's at the practice, everybody's at the games, and so that's what we do. And so we're invested and our kids and my daughters are invested in their brother or sisters. But yeah, we roll deep. But I'm avoiding that moving forward.
Yeah, speaking of invested, who are the people that invested in you? If you could do Mount Rushmore, four people that really truly invested and showed emotion and just everything they pour their heart and soul into TJ from the time you were born to today.
Who would those four people be.
Wow, that's a great question. I don't know if I have for really to be honest with you, and some people may be offended by that, but I'll give you four. I would say, obviously my mother, but I don't think she invested in me like that. She don't watch I played as many games as I played. My mom has been to less than five games in my entire life really, from high school to jue Co to college and the NFL less than five. But I'll put her on there. She probably doesn't deserve to be on that. My uncle's Adrian and Anthony, they for sure. I don't recall this, but my uncle Adrian used to always say, like you were my son. You were with me and my mustang all the time, and everybody thought you were my son. So I'll throw those guys in there. Outside of that, I would probably be it. I mean, nobody else. I would say my sister. She's passed away now, but I remember when I went to junior college, I didn't have any money and she gave me about two hundred and fifty dollars to go to college with. But outside of that, man, nobody. I kind of did it on my own, really, to be honest with you, Yeah, me come from nothing, man, come from nothing. My sister's the oldest one. Then it's me brother under me and my youngest brother. The first three didn't graduate from high school, just the youngest one did, and so we kind of, you know, we got it how we lived and just did whatever we wanted to do. Man, I was technically a grown man at thirteen years old, outside in the streets doing whatever I wanted to do. And I'm like, I look at my kids, like I couldn't imagine them doing what I was doing and partaking in activities that I was partaking in at that age. I don't even know how they could survive that. And I did it like I was a grown man, and it's kind of crazy survival.
Man.
Well, look, all I can say is thank you for coming on this podcast, blessing them with this energy, these great stories.
The best thing is, like, hey man, we have better conversations. We have even deeper conversations at the bar too. So we're gonna get TJ going again.
Yeah, just so when they see me at the bar, you know, just now, I'm just cranberry juice and pineapple juice mixed. It may look like, but that is true. That is true. Man.
We appreciate you coming on the podcast. Thank y'all for listening Apple, Apple podcasts, Our Heart Radio.
Is this your outro?
No, I'm just okay, all right, let me get you all right, Let's get us out here the correct way. Man, Let's give me hey. Thanks you for always listening and tuning in wherever you pick up.
Your podcast, whether it's Apple Podcast, iHeartRadio, app make sure you give us a five star rating. Leave a review, a couple of comments. That's always good telling us what we're doing great, especially with all of our guests like TJ. He's got a great story his upbringing. Everything else man was beautiful, and the great stories from Cincinnati. I know we should get more and more you guys, just leave a couple of comments. Hopefully we'll reach out. We'll get the rest of that. Please, man, make sure you give us a followers, follow all those other things.
Man, we'll pee. We're gonna get it.
Can I say something really quick? When you just said Cincinnati made me think when y'all brought up Chris Henry, that boy's son is an animal. Really he just moved to California and I've worked with him a few times. Wow, what's his name? Chris Henry?
All right, Bill, you look look out Chris and your JR.
Animal, Chris Henry Jr.
We learned something new every time we come out here. Man, you heard it here.
First Football League, I guarantee it.
Okay, big statement, I like it. I like it a peanut TJ fourth Remember the ojs. That's wrong. Hey y'all we out NFL player second acts
