EPISODE 8: 3x Super Bowl Champion Matt Light 01:01:49

Bill loved the rookie skits during training camp. Did you ever prank Belichick or was that off limits? I remember I'm looking at Gronk and I'm like, this is going to be awesome. Well, big night tonight on the Try That podcast.

Super Bowl champion, three-time Super Bowl champion, Mr. Matt Light. Let's go, Matt. From the dynasty. What? The dynasty. Big night for me. Big night for you. Huge night for me. We might just let this be a Tully-Matt thing. Well, eventually. Matt, thank you, buddy. This is a blast. Thanks for coming on.

Let's get right into it because so I turned on the TV a couple weeks ago to watch the roast of the goat. So it pops on and all of a sudden there you are and I immediately texted Susie your wife and said oh my god this is amazing match there. I mean I'm sure you're getting asked about this a lot but I had to do it. How fun or awkward was that you know?

100% yes. Yes and yes. It was...

I think part of it was I had never seen a modern roast. So growing up, my dad, like Johnny Carson, Dean Martin, all these legends that were comedians, Jerry Lewis, right? These were the guys that I thought of when thinking of a roast. And they were true professionals, hilarious comedians.

I show up there and even before we got up on stage, right. And, and let's back up a second. Like this was a big deal. Like you could feel the buzz, you know, in the green room, you watch the Netflix executives bouncing around, you know, they had their big joke week or whatever it was. All the comedians were in town. They were filming a lot of stuff, but this was the main event, right? Like this was the big deal. And you could tell that they had a lot on the line, right?

They had all the heavy hitters there. I mean, you know, Dave Chappelle's in the green room, Jim Gaffigan's hanging around, all these, you know, just legendary comedians. And I remember I'm looking at Gronk and I'm like, this is going to be awesome because there was only two ways it was going to go with Gronk. It was either going to be an absolute abomination or it was going to be hilarious because he was so nervous, but I had never seen this before. So,

Up on the stage in real time at a live event, I'm listening to it going, this is unbelievable, right? Like, I had no idea. And there's a part of me going, I'm actually, I'm kind of glad they didn't ask me to say something. I would have had to, like, change everything, right? So it was an amazing, I mean, look, I'll say this, too. When it was all said and done, I remember thinking that the job that Kevin Hart did, Yeah.

was, I don't know that anyone else could have done it as good as he did in that moment. There was a lot to handle, a lot to manage. I think that

He kept it going because he could feel that this train was on the tracks and it was full steam ahead. Everybody was loving it. I mean, it went like an hour over what they anticipated. And he was the catalyst. He was the guy that kept going. Like, hey, F you, Brady. That was really funny. I thought it was funny.

Who was the best roaster in your mind? Maybe most awkward or funny. I mean, Nikki Glaser obviously got up there and she's one of a kind. But who did you think? Who did you get a kick out of? You know, part of me says that I got a kick out of like listening to Bill because it's like one of the first human things I've ever seen him do. You know, like...

Bill doesn't approach life like we do, right? Like he lives in a very different universe and it was good to see him actually having a little fun. It was amazingly awkward to watch he and Mr. Krabs share a shot. I wanted to ask about that. It was as awkward as it seemed.

Yeah, because first of all, I know that neither one of them do shots. If they did, it was a long time ago. And I don't know what was in it, but I promise you the camera didn't catch Bill's face. He was turned around like in our direction. I don't know what they put in those things, but it was god awful. But that was one of those moments that I have to suspect that if you're Kevin Hart,

And you're, you're planning this thing out. It's like, okay, for me personally, if I'm Kevin Hart, that's the highlight. If I can get those two to have that kind of moment, it's going to be a slam dunk. And he did it again. He, he won. He was, he was phenomenal. So I enjoyed listening to Bill, even though he started off roasting me, which is fair game because I clearly, I deserved it. You know, he's been holding a grudge for a while. Um,

But yeah, I thought, I'll tell you, the other one that I thought was really clever, and it wasn't just the one that he strung along, but Tony Hinchcliffe didn't have a lot of familiarity with him, had seen a couple of things with him, and he started out in the crowd. He was like,

He's like some guy asking questions. He had Dana White. He sat at the table, had a few little funnies to throw in, and then he just went on a tear. It caught me by surprise. I'm sure the people that have watched Tony just fell in love with how he approaches things, but he's got a hell of a mind. Yeah, that guy and that podcast that he has is unbelievable, and that's just a glimpse into what he does. He's really good.

I tell you what, not to wear you out because I could talk pats all night. You know that. But man, as a fan, it was super cool to see you guys up there. It was just, it felt like a good, it was fun and awkward, I'm sure. But like, it was really funny. And I was thinking about you, like, God, seeing Belichick up there. And like you said, take shots and.

Do all this weird stuff. It had to be crazy to look, look back on it. And now you're out of roast with Tom Brady, you know, after all those years. Yeah. You know, you know, look, it was, it was great to see Randy and Rodney and I mean, Willie Mack. I mean, I haven't seen some of these guys in a long time and you know, you, you, you think back on, on, I mean, the era of Willie Mack when he first got to new England, a guy like Rodney, when he showed up, you know, totally different, but yeah,

You know, there were so many pivotal guys that we got to play with, but we also got to sit across from guys that came from Tampa, right? You know, Tommy 2.0, you know, his little stint down there. You know, the sentence that he did down there, but, you know, it was cool to kind of hear their perspective because, you

Look, when I got to New England, Tommy was a backup of a backup that was driving a yellow Jeep. Nobody really heard of him. I hadn't heard of him, and I played in the Big Ten. There's different perspectives. Look, he's never changed, but the one thing I would say that most people don't know is that I think he's...

He's almost untouchable, right? Like if you put yourself in that position to have that happen. Oh, okay. Well, wait a minute. Actually, if I was given $25 million, I probably would have done that too. So nevermind. I'm going to Bruce. Yeah. Well, who am I kidding? Let's go. Hey, Matt, you were talking about when you first got in the league and is your rookie year 2001. Is that right? Yeah.

So you were there for the infamous season, right? Of Drew Bledsoe, starting quarterback, getting hurt, Tom taking over. That whole period. And I thought the Dynasty handled this episode pretty well. And what, you know, everybody kind of remembers that. But what I had forgotten is that in the championship game, Tom gets hurt. Drew comes in, finishes the game. The whole Super Bowl week, everybody's kind of wondering, is it going to be Drew or Tom?

What were you thinking in that two weeks? You know, I, I honestly was so caught up. I mean, you know, you as, as Dante Skarniecki, the legendary line coach, the guy that coached me my entire career in new England, he used to tell me light, you don't know if the balls pumped or stuff. You have no idea what you're doing. And he wasn't wrong. You know, I mean, my rookie season, I had never seen an NFL game until I played in one. And, and that's, that's, that's a, an absolute 100% fact. Um,

I grew up in the middle of nowhere, right? You know, small town. My parents didn't watch football. My dad had severe polio growing up. So, you know, football for me was something I did that didn't... I didn't go to jail when I hit people. I thought that was great. So to find myself, you know, playing for an organization, you know, that had, you know, the kind of guys we had, that first season...

If you're not a hardcore Pats fan, you don't realize who some of these no-names were and what they meant to that locker room. And here we are playing in this crazy AFC championship game, and I went down. I'm a rookie, right? I go down in the second-to-last series with a high ankle sprain. Tommy had a high ankle sprain. He was nursing the same kind of injury.

We don't have two weeks because of 9-11. We have one week. Oh, it was one week. To go for the NFC Championship. Yeah. So it was a very dynamic time. And I just remember it was like a whirlwind. And, you know, at that moment, there was also the... It was a little awkward when, I would say, about week 14, 13 or 14, and Bledsoe's

healthy right he's able to come back but the decision is hey we're going to stay with the young guy right he's on a roll you know we we had this breakthrough game down in washington where we didn't win but we started to see where where we were playing better as a team and then we started to string along these wins after thanksgiving but we're not going back to the 10 million you know per year for a 10-year guy to sign this massive contract and it was odd

And then the AFC championship game happens to your point. And it's like, Oh my, like, what are we going to do? Like if Tommy's not fully ready,

Are they going to go with Bledsoe? So, yeah, it was really awkward. And I was just caught up in my own misery. And, you know, it was just a crazy time, man. But at the end of the day, I guess that season for me, you know, you think about 9-11. You think about what the country went through. You think about us being named the pay. All the stuff that's been talked about, it was really – it really came down to the guys who –

They put everything above ahead of themselves, right? Truly sacrificed. And I say that now as the guy who went uphill both ways with no shoes and the, in the pouring rain, right? But, but in reality,

I think it's a big differentiator. You know, kids today don't suffer enough. People don't suffer enough. And we take things for granted. I look back on that season and, man, we just had a whole bunch of blue-collar dudes that wanted to go out there and play well, play for each other, have fun doing it, and work our tails off. You know, we've talked a lot on this podcast. That's a segue into this, but about 9-11 and about the spirit of the country after 9-11. Yeah.

And you kind of said it, that feeling of unity that we definitely don't have anymore. And I think you said it best. Like, I don't think people respect those times enough. Like how the bad times at 9-11 and how that was. And I really don't know how we've gotten this far apart. But it's funny you should mention that. Not funny, but that comes up a lot in this podcast. The spirit around 9-11.

But what an amazing career, I mean, you've had. I mean, three times Super Bowl champ. Is there one, is it the first one, or is there one of the three that really pop out to you? You know, obviously the first one in your rookie year. Which one of those three kind of stick out the most? When it comes to Super Bowls, and I'm actually not even joking about this, it's actually the two that we lost. So, look, I played 11 seasons.

It's kind of crazy to believe, looking back on it, that basically half of the time we were playing in the very last game, in the championship game, five Super Bowls. It's the two that we lost that I actually remember the most. I don't know if that's because there's

you know, as, as all of us can relate, right. When you're, when you're a driven person and, and you don't, you don't dwell on what you got, right. You know, you're, you're thinking about the things you didn't do at the highest level or, or what did you leave on the table? And the things that I remember about the Superbowl really pertain to those two giant games. And I will, I will say this when I left the field, we were winning both in both of those. Well,

Well, as a fan, those stick out as well. You know what? Scratch that. Cut that from the podcast. You know, I would say that all of those moments, but again, for me, in all of the Super Bowls, it was...

It was, you know, look, my grandmother getting on the team bus after the Super Bowl in Jacksonville and riding from the stadium with the team. That was with my aunt. I mean, that was one of the coolest things that that ever happened in my career. Right. And I don't know. I just I think family, especially in the game of football. I don't I can't speak to other sports, but I can tell you that.

you know, what kept me coming back year after year, it really was the relationships. It was the guys that I shared time with, the guys that I played with. And people say that, but I think for me,

It represents itself in the funny things, like the practical jokes, you know, the things we did on the field at practice that, you know, we were proud of. Like, we worked our tails off, but we also had a lot of fun. And again, not to be a Debbie Downer, but I'm not sure that the young guys that are in the locker room today, and I get a lot of this from current players, I don't think that they...

cherish the moments, the real moments as much as maybe we did back in the day. I think there's a lot of pressure, right? They all want to have a brand. They all want to have a platform. You know, they're taking time to do all these things to make money off the field, but not necessarily the really cool bonds that keep you coming back for the, you know what I'm saying? Like, it's just, it's different today. Oh, there's no doubt. Do you think the competitive edge and will to win is,

is less than it was as a fan. Sometimes I look at the dynasty, I look at those teams, you and a guy like Tom, like when at all costs, when, when, when, like whatever you guys had to do, it felt like, do you feel that in this age, like in the NFL or sports in general, I should say, like, does it feel like it's people want to win, but it doesn't have the same desire or desperate feeling to have to win as a fan? It sometimes feels that way, you know?

Yeah, no. And I totally relate to it because it took me a while to transition into the fan side of it. You know, I've never really watched football. You know, as I noted earlier, I hadn't seen a game till I played in one. And, you know, I was just ignorant of kind of what it was like and.

You know, my 11-year career, I became a player rep and then I was on the executive committee. I really wanted to understand what the whole league was about, right? Like, you know, what is the union? Why is it important? I mean, I was kind of on a fact-finding mission. And, you know, I learned a lot about the hierarchy and why the collective bargaining agreement is what it is and how dynamic those things are. And, you know, I would work with a lot of, you know, young players.

players if they were going to start a foundation I like the people side of the business right even in a business like football and so I was always on this mission to learn and the way I see the game today is that it starts now in the junior high right and and and you look at these high school players because of things like the NIL and all the rule changes and everything else

The entitlement switch just got thrown on full blast. And these guys, they won't even play in their championship game in college, right? Like what matters, right? You know, why does it matter to a college player whether or not they win or not? Because isn't winning based on

getting to the very pinnacle of, of, of achievement, right. Isn't like, I don't know how else I could judge being a professional football player. If, if I said, well, you know, my idea of success is just getting to the playoffs. Like what are we talking about? Like if, if I want to, if I'm going to be real, like we have to go to and win the Superbowl

to reach the very pinnacle, right? That's an obvious one. In today's game, these kids, like, they can walk away from the biggest moment of their lives and not bat an eye because, you know, the driving force is money, right? And I think that that's the part that's sad because it translates throughout everything that you see, right?

They don't practice either. The rules of engagement are different. So I don't know. I think it's very difficult to look at the game today and say that it's the same passion, it's the same kind of drive that you saw 10, 12, 15 years ago. I was going to ask you about the – I was going to get your take on the NIL and the locker room situation in college football now and what it's doing to these kids, the haves and the have-nots now.

I was going to get your take on it. Where do you think the future of college football is going to go with it? Man, you know, I think it's very difficult for me to look at college sports in general, but let's just say, you know, football, basketball as kind of your two big drivers, and let's just focus on football. It's hard for me to imagine that the game of football is going to be anywhere close to the caliber that we're used to. I mean, I think we've seen –

I think we've actually seen a precipitous fall. At the professional level, it may be even more glaring than at the college level. And what I mean by that is I don't think the execution is close to what it used to be. The line of scrimmage penalties, the guys that can't line up right, the poor tackling, the poor execution, the rate of injury. And by the way, the rate of injury should be a lot less. They hit maybe 30% of what we used to. We hit a lot more than they'll ever hit

Um, and, and we didn't break as much, but that's because our bodies were conditioned. Right. So when I look at the college game, the most telling thing is a guy like Nick Saban, right? Like he said a couple of years ago, this isn't right. He, he, he made it be, he made it known what his feelings were. And now the best coach in the game has walked away because I mean,

If you're him, you're going to put everything you have into it. You're going to dedicate every hour to be as good as you can be to prepare your guys to be as good as they are. And if you don't pay them enough money, they're going to walk in your office and tell you they're leaving. I mean, I don't know. I don't know.

I wanted to put my Alabama helmet next to the Patriot helmet. I wouldn't let it. Just because Saban and Belichick, they're like this, and they're buds. I mean, and they think alike. But they wouldn't let me put my Alabama helmet. They wouldn't let me do it. That's just part of the deal. Yeah.

Matt, on the NIL, the name, image, and likeness, to Neil's point, and you being a professional, it may not affect you guys as much, but for a young kid, if you're a lineman and working your ass off and sweating and doing all the stuff, and maybe your QB is not a super nice guy, and maybe it's not a good game, and he's kind of been just a jerk the whole time, is there ever a scenario like a kid

Kind of just step aside, whiff, and let him take a sack? Does that... I mean, in college, that has to happen at some point. At least you've got to think about it. You know, I've been asked this before, and I had to really stop and think about it. There was never a time in my career... I mean, literally, there was never a time in my mind that I said I was going to let that happen. But I also didn't really play with any...

You know what I mean? Like, my guys are good guys. I mean, to be quite honest with you, if you're a left tackle and you're only two quarterbacks from the time you left high school where Drew Brees and Tom Brady, you could be the worst left tackle in the history of the league for the world. I know.

And they're going to make you look good, right? So I've been spoiled. Fair point. Spoiled rotten. Those are the two best that any guy could ever ask for. And honestly, you know, especially a guy like Breeze, one of the better human beings on earth, right? So...

I would say this, that I know it's happened and I know guys have done it. Johnny Manziel. I would have whiffed for Johnny Manziel. You know, we got a lot of things to touch on, but as a fan, I have to ask you, how's our QB situation going to be in New England? You feel good? I feel good. You do? Should I feel good? You know what?

I think, so I used to always tell people, man, if you're making decisions right after the draft, look, I feel good. I feel good that we have a guy. And by the way, you know why I feel good? Because when he speaks, it makes sense. You know what I'm saying? Like, you know, it's amazing how, and you guys can relate to this, because if you think about

where your talents are, right? Songwriting, music, the whole industry, being able to relate to people, being able to speak truth and kind of highlight the things that are relatable, right? You understand when somebody BSs you, right? Some people are really good, but at the end of the day, give me five or six different moments with an individual and I can pretty much

you know, who they are, like what's at the core of them. When he speaks, man, I really like the way he talks. I like the way his family, you know, speaks to reporters. I like the competitive spirit, you know, with his brothers. That goes a long way, man. These are not intangibles. These are very tangible to what makes a good human, right? When you see those kind of qualities, and I put a lot of stock in that, man. I would take a good human over a really talented player any day of the week.

So yeah, I feel good about this kid. And I think that we're going to know pretty early on where they feel as an organization. Because Gerard Mayo is going to probably tend to think a little bit like Bill, given the fact that he spent his career with Bill.

He respected the way he did things. Bill was very thorough. And in that organization, if they see promise, they're going to put you out there. They're not going to... Some people say like, hey, we got to take it easy with this guy. He's a young quarterback. We don't want to throw him into the walls. We don't want to...

Get him, you know, distracted or set him up for failure, right? But there's the other side of the equation where you just say, hey, man, let's put him to the test and see what he can do. And my hope is that, you know, this kid can come along far enough in the playbook. He'll get out there, have a good rapport with his guys early during training camp, mini camp.

And that he is out there early. Maybe not week one, but that we see him during this regular season. Hey, Matt, I heard you talking about, you know, doing some pranks on the team. And that's kind of been your M.O. from what I understand. You were kind of part of that, being that guy and make sure you had some light moments. But I do have to ask, did you ever prank Belichick or was that off limits? Well...

My wife was convinced that my career would end because of one of my stupid jokes that I was going to pull on coach. And I'm glad that she was wrong in that, but there were definitely moments where bill I'm sure was debating whether or not he was going to cut my ass. I listen, I always err on the human side of things, right? Like if something's funny, it's funny. Even, even if you're dealing with a guy like bill that doesn't have much of

sense of humor at times and he's real serious about winning like always working hard on winning like gosh man yeah so I would I would go out of my way to to try to just bust his balls have a little fun and here's the one thing I did know and it's not like this anymore again because of this crazy culture of ours

Bill loved the rookie skits during training camp. Now, let me frame it for you. Training camp was the most miserable time in my life. It was the most miserable time in any football player's life. Training camp was horrible. It was a month of living in a hotel. All right? And so the rookies would be asked probably once a week, maybe twice a week,

to get up and do something to entertain us. You know, we're there all day, right? We're there from 6.30 in the morning until 9 o'clock at night. So Bill loved those moments, and I would take it upon myself to try to coach him up so that we could laugh properly, you know? Mm-hmm.

I felt like that was my job. Well, Matt, will you tell the story, like one of my favorite ones that, and I know you've told it several times, but the one I think is a Pro Bowl and you had a guy there and you're at some pool party, right? Can you tell the story about what you told the guy and how to get the drinks and all that? Yeah. Brandon Merriweather, one of our safeties, love this guy, still love him. And I'll tell you,

He showed up at the Pro Bowl as an alternate, and I think he got there on the second day, and he's down. I remember looking at him, and he's sitting with all the OGs, man. These are like the guys that have been to the Pro Bowl a million times. They're kind of at this big table, and he's sitting there. He's got a big smile on his face.

And I walked over to him and I said, hey, man, how's it going? And he's like, oh, man, we're good. We're good. And I said, hey, you got to be careful now. I'm like, these cats are going to try to stick you with the bill. And he's like, for real? And I'm like, yes. Yeah, man. I'm like, this is what they do. You're the young cat, man. They're going to stick you with the bill. He's like, man. I said, hey, don't worry.

All you got to do is just put it on Bill's room. When you're the head coach, they take care of everything, man. Right? I mean, it seemed like a, I mean, it seemed like, and by the way, he, he was all in on that one. So I walk away. I'm not thinking anything of it. Five minutes later, I'm hanging out with my wife and I'm sitting with Welker. And I think Brayboy and it's probably two or three hours later.

And I see Bill sitting with his girlfriend and he was like, he was in one of those like lounge chairs and he had like jeans and like a sweater on. It's like 90 degrees. Again, he's not doing human stuff. And he's kind of sitting there and it's kind of getting later in the afternoon and

I see Meriwether out of the corner of my eye walking up to him, and he's got the check card in his hand. And I'm like, oh, my God. Now, I hadn't said anything to anyone. So I give Bray Bull, and I'm like, dude, watch this. This is about to be amazing. And sure enough, he walks right up to Bill, and he hands him the check card.

And he's like, hey, coach, I appreciate you, dog. Thanks a lot, man. And Bill's looking at it, right? He's like staring at his check card and he's kind of looking at Brandon and his Bill's girlfriend, Linda, gets up and she can see that clearly the expectation is that Bill's going to pick up this tab. And so she starts making small talk because she lives in the real world and she senses these things.

And I remember Bill so confused. And finally, Linda took it. It's like, yeah, we got it. He's like, oh, thanks a lot, coach. And he just walked away. And I remember thinking to myself, like, I don't know when I'm going to tell him that that was not the case. But at the end of the day, at no point did I say, go give him the check. You're supposed to just write his name and scribble it. I mean, so good. We could talk football all night and we will come back to football. Yeah.

But you're also a big fan of music. And I didn't realize that you mentioned your son, who's my son, Jade, 17, is quite a bass player. So I want to hear about that. I want to hear about that.

You know, it's funny. I grew up in a very musical family. My mom taught music for 35 years. My dad literally, because he grew up in polio, he taught himself how to play the piano when he was like four. I mean, he's like a musical prodigy. He can play any instrument. We had a full recording studio in our basement. He taught music. He can literally fashion instruments. Like he's made his own violins. I mean, he's...

he's a freak of nature and he played with Woody Herman and Cy Zettner during the big band era so you know he's got this really cool background and he doesn't you know it's interesting how musicians think right it's such a mathematical artistic you know mixture of form and function and

And I got to witness it all, but I was just not smart enough, right? If you're going to be dumb, you better be tough. So I was tough enough, but I just wasn't smart enough. And I took it for granted. I really did. And I wish looking back on it, I would have done more because everybody in my family is musical, except for me personally.

But luckily, it did transfer to my kids and my daughter was a phenomenal violinist. You know, my son is in he goes to Foxborough High. It's a public school and they're one of the best music programs in the nation. And so they've made it into essentially Ellington, which is the top jazz competition in the country.

pretty much every year that they've had it. And, you know, when I get to see my son hanging out with Wynton Marsalis and, you know, Carlos Enrique, like all these like legends and, and they're pouring into him and,

He's gaining confidence. He got gut strings for his stand-up base. It's just so cool to see your kids succeed. I'm preaching to the choir. It's just amazing to see them find passion and really be into what they're doing and be present. There's nothing like it when you watch your kids discover their path.

It's very rewarding to see that as they get older. You've come out to some shows. I think that's how we probably met years and years ago. I never asked you, what is your favorite kind of music? What bands? What do you like? You always come out and hang out, but we never talk about that. What do you listen to? It's funny.

I listen to everything, and I think it's because of how I grew up, right? Like, when I was a kid, I can remember throwing, you know, the Carpenters 8-track in and just listening to it over and over and over again. I grew up... We never took, like, real vacations, really. We went to pre-1800 encampments. They call them rendezvous, where you literally couldn't have anything that was made after the year 1800. So...

we're staying in teepees and lean twos at these big national parks. And there'd be like a thousand campsites. And my dad's playing a hammer dulcimer. And, you know, he's, he's, he's got a gut bucket and he's got his violin and, and, and other dulcimer, like all these instruments and we're gathering around fire. So it's kind of like a bluegrass, you know, kind of hill. I mean, just, it's just a medley of different music. And so I've got all these different things. And then of course,

With my dad's background in the big band era, you know, I got to listen to that and listen to him. And Neil McCoy was a guy that graduated with him, and he played in the Army band and, you know, like wrote all this stuff. And those guys would get together, and all these dudes would come over and have jam sessions in the recording studio in my basement. And, man, I just felt blessed, dude. I mean, again, I took it for granted, but looking back on it really shaped –

Kind of how I think about music. And look, definitely my genre is country. I'm a damn good shower singer. I mean, I rock it. Like, I'm pretty good in that realm. But outside of that, man, I love it all.

You got some good natural reverb, you know, in the shower. You know, because I think we all sound a little bit better in there. Yeah, for sure. I do. And Matt, you've had a, obviously a storied NFL career, but you're one of these people that I think found or makes your real purpose and what you're doing now after your football career. And we definitely want to get to what you and Susie are doing with the Light Foundation. Can you kind of help share what you guys are doing there? Yeah, you know,

I, 2001, I remember a buddy of mine came up to me. I was, I was partying at the neon cactus in West Lafayette, Indiana when I got drafted and I'd never seen a draft and I literally never seen a draft. I had no idea where the new England Patriots were located. And a buddy of mine comes up to me and he goes, do you know what the guy made who was drafted 48 last year? And I

I shook my head. And when he told me the number, I almost fell over. I mean, I had no idea. And it sounds really ignorant, but I was just so naive to the whole thing. And I played football because I loved it, right? That's why I always played football. The fact that they were going to pay me, I felt like at any minute, they were going to find out that they made a big mistake. And so when my rookie year ends and...

you know, we just won a world championship and all this stuff is flying at me. I just kept hearing my grandmother who always told me two things. I may be the only person that loves you because I was a little bit of a knucklehead. And then the second thing was to whom much is given, much is required. And she obviously didn't write that, but it just told me that, you know, hey man,

You better do something real. And here I had this family of educators. And so I went to my parents, I went to my wife, we sat down and we said, okay, how can we do something really cool? And that's how the Life Foundation formed, man. Just this need to, feeling this need to do something bigger than just

you know, be a football player or win some Superbowls. And man, 22 years later now, you know, we serve over 7,500 kids annually. Um, and, and, and what we ask is, Hey, you make a commitment and you put some skin in the game. And if you do that, we will walk alongside you and we'll hold you accountable. And we'll have a whole lot of fun learning along the way. And, uh, and we have great programs. We work with kids from all over the country. Um,

We do a lot from a leadership standpoint. We have the Light Foundation Leadership Academy. And, man, we love what we do. It's really cool. It's a great ministry. And I thought what was exceptional to me in just reading about your story is the fact that you guys started that ministry.

like early in your career you know when you're rocking and everything and so busy and as your wife is saying you're kind of like a traveling circus and you got all kind of things going on and I just thought that was really cool and speaks to your heart you know to to a lot of people you know they want to take care of themselves first make sure we're all set good and then then later do it you you were you were doing that and giving back to kids and everything and in the height of your career which I just think is awesome.

You know, man, I honestly feel like I've never had to make a really hard decision in my life, you know, and it maybe sounds a little weird to say that, but I've been through some really difficult things, man. I've had 15 major surgeries where you go to sleep, you hope you wake up and you're good, right? You know, I'm not crying a river, but, you know, Crohn's disease and all this crazy stuff that's happened. And, you know, I think the best thing

part of going through tough moments is that it forces you to really take inventory of who you are, what you're doing, why you're doing what you do. And I'm on a quest to make sure that it matters. It doesn't matter what it is. I just want to make it matter. You know, we work with kids on that same concept all the time, right? If you're going to do that, why? And if you're

And I think as a country, we used to do that a lot, right? Think about the things we built back in the day. And now look at the Ikea version of everything, right? It's a throwaway society, you know? And so I'm hopeful that by pouring into these young people, you know, and we see it actually, that they're then going to pour into other people and there's going to be, you know, a chain of events that, and I do see it. I see it all the time with the kids we serve. I got kids that are coming back

And they're grown adults, you know, they got kids of their own and they're volunteering for our camps because they want to impact the kids the way they were impacted. And man, it's just a, it's, it's a cool community, man. It's, it's, it's actually the greatest thing I've ever done in my life is, is to take time to be around other people and really get to know them where they are and walk alongside. Matt, what's the age group of the kids that kind of come to that camp?

So it goes all the way from the kindergarten to graduating high school. And so my focus is,

I can't be there for all of them. We still split time between New England and the Midwest. We're getting ready to head back for our big summer camps. We're really excited about that. We have things for first graders like our light project where we're introducing reading, making reading cool with real books and things they can hold.

Most of what we do is outdoor based. So, you know, we've got but we do have a football camp. Right. We have leadership conferences. We have four year leadership camps. And again, the age group ranges all the way from kindergarten to graduating seniors. But a lot of the kids we serve are in that high school range. And it's just something that, again, it's a little bit easier for me to relate. And I'm getting older, but these kids keep me young.

So either you or your wife, Susie, or both, you guys raise chickens, right? Do you still have the chickens? Are they still around? Listen, I'm going to tell you right now, man, this is a topic, a hot topic here in the lighthouse. I've got a Deutsch Drahtar, which is like a specialized German wire hair pointer, right? And he's a maniac, and we love him. His name is Tech, short for Tecumseh.

But tech recently got a taste for chickens and our flock has diminished. It happens. And unfortunately, so is our neighbors. And that's not good. I mean, we have a we have a problem. But yes, we do have a few left. Let's talk. Let's talk a little bit of hunting. Oh, Neil couldn't wait to get here. Let's do it. Take it away. No, I saw where you have a you have a you have a turkey hunt, right?

We do one in Ohio and in Rhode Island. Now, that was my next question. I didn't know there were turkeys in Rhode Island. Are those Easterns? Hey, I'm going to blow your mind. I saw Rhode Island, and I was like, what? Who turkey hunts in Rhode Island? Of all the places I've ever turkey hunted, and look, in my career, right, like I couldn't really deer hunt. I mean, I got out maybe once or twice. Season was tough. Yeah, you're done in the fall.

But I took turkey hunting to the extreme. And I would say over at least the last 10 to 12 years, I average about 40 days consecutive in the turkey woods. I don't miss a morning. Oh, you're my hero. I travel. It is... Well, look...

Especially if you live in the northern climates, right? We survive winter. And when things start chirping and the woods come alive in the early morning, I mean, is there a better place on earth? No. It's a drug. It's the best drug. And talking to an animal, I mean, there's just nothing better. So with that said, in the northeast, I've never seen anything that compares to...

turkey hunting like what we experience here. And I'll put it to you this way.

If you came out here, we would kill. We'd start out at my place in Rhode Island. We'd jump the border to Connecticut by about 6.15. Our first bird would be dead at 4.50, 4.55, right off the roost. What? We'd be in position in Connecticut 20 minutes later, and we'd be calling birds there by 6 o'clock.

7 o'clock 730 if we weren't very good and we were failing we would have a bird dead and then we'd hop the border to Massachusetts and we'd have one dead there before 9 o'clock I guarantee it and then we'd jump to New Hampshire and we'd

Get one done before noon. You're kidding. See, I would have never, ever known that. Because down here, I mean, we're going from farm to farm in Tennessee, and then we're jumping up to Kentucky, and we're starting off in Alabama, and we're going up and kind of working. I would have never get my – I would have stopped.

you know, in Ohio, that would have been it. I would have not gone any further, any further North or Northeast, much less up, up there ever. The numbers are, are astronomical. I mean, there's birds everywhere. The state of Maine is one of my favorite places. I mean, they're, they're filthy in Maine. Um, and, and, and these are big birds. They're all Easterns. And, uh,

And look, the numbers are just incredible. So it's a phenomenal place to come. Even hunting public ground is incredible. That's amazing. That's amazing. If you ever need a guide in one of the hunts to get some kids that have never done it, let me know. I'll come up and call and do all that. I love doing that. I would rather call and get behind somebody than shoot them myself.

Oh, no doubt. Well, listen, come up to Rhode Island and get a taste for it and then stick around. We'll go chase a few ourselves, but it's a great spot, man. You'd love it. Oh, my Lord. Now, you're still tied in with the Buck Commander guys? You still involved in the Buck Commander? You know, those guys are such a bad influence. I'm trying to make better decisions in my life, but...

Yeah. You know, I mean, again, it's amazing how you come into certain circles and I just, I feel so fortunate, man, to number one, Roche was the first guy that I really spent time with. And as you know, there, there are people who are, are really dynamic and, and, and they're, they're leaders of men. And Adam is that guy. And if you're, if you ever get time to spend with, with Roche, you, you,

You know where he sits immediately, and whether it's his faith or the causes that he champions, that he goes out of his way to impact the lives of other people, and then the fun in which he...

can just carry any situation into, you know, the power of positivity has been lost in some circles, but man, it's alive and well in a lot of other places. And yeah, man, we, we're still close and I always look forward to, you know, spending time with those guys. Adam is a, is a, is one of the good ones for sure.

We met him years and years ago. He came out to a show in Texas. And from the minute we all met him, it was like me and you, like it was instantly comfortable. And Adam's been just a close friend of all of us. But you're right, super positive and putting causes above his own constantly. You know, well, that's great. I mean, do you remember this, by the way? Do you remember a certain birthday party in Steamboat?

Yes. I remember bits of it. Parts of it. Yeah. Do you remember what happened with one Adam LaRoche rental truck? Yes, we do. Please tell the story. Honestly, it's one of my favorite moments. So, you know, the LaRoche family, they're all lunatics. Like, they're certifiably, like, wrong. They don't think like humans, which is awesome. And so...

you know, I was talking to Jeff and, and of course, Andy was all in to mess with somebody and rental cars are a real problem when we all get together. And we, you know, you've probably seen what Jason took advantage of a D eight and a rental car that didn't end up well for the rental car or the pocketbook, but a lot of things have happened with rental cars. And, uh, I

I remember talking to Jeff and he was, I said, well, you know, let's say I got Adam's keys. And he's like, well, you're not going to get the keys. His assistant has the keys and she's not coming off them. Well, what he didn't know was I was feeding her shots all night. I knew I was going to get the keys. So I said, well, let's just say we did get the keys. How, how much fun could we have with this truck?

And since he lived there, he was like, oh, well, shoot, we could get it on the ski run right here, like right outside. I mean, the house was on a ski run, right? Yeah, right there. And I said, wait a minute, how the hell do you get a truck on this actual run on the mountain? And he's like, oh, easy. I know where we can get access. So I said, all right, well, let's go. And I showed him the keys. He's like, no way. And I'm like, oh, yeah, I already picked their pocket. We're good. So we go running outside.

We jump in Adam's rental truck. It was like an F-150.

And Jeff like literally dukes of hazards over this snow bank. And we end up landing on the mountain. And I remember thinking to myself, this is ridiculous. Now, they still have the lights on, right? So we could see our way down and he knew where the runs were. And the next thing I know, we're right outside the house where everyone is, including Adam. Yeah.

So as we get out, no one's looking out there. It's like one in the morning and we walk in the place and he goes, well, how are we going to tell him? And I said, I'm going to make it his idea to do this with Jason's truck because Jason had the exact same truck. So when we went inside, I'm talking to Roche and I, I can't remember exactly how I got him to do it, but he, he literally says, well, Hey, I told him something about, I think I have Jason's keys. I can get them.

We should do something with the truck. And he's like, well, Jeff would know what to do. And I was like, where would we put it? Could we put it somewhere around here? He's like, I bet Jeff could get it on the mountain. So we walk over to Jeff and I'm standing behind Adam and Adam starts telling Jeff, hey man, we're going to steal Jason's truck and we're going to put it on this mountain. And I'm standing behind him going, and he is dying. So

Yep. Straight face. He's like, all right, let's do it. So we go downstairs and we were going to film and, you know, like setting it all up. And I said, well, here, walk outside and show us where you're going to do it. And when Adam walks outside, he looks and he goes, well, hell, you guys already did it. And then he goes, wait a minute, turn that camera off. He's like, is that my joke?

That's awesome. Yeah. An F-150 just sitting there on the damn slope right out of the ski in, ski out. That's amazing. That was a great week. And you can't drive up the mountain, by the way. You can drive down the mountain. If you find yourself on a ski lift or on a ski run, don't try to go up the mountain. He had to drive that thing all the way down to the base to get around. Yeah.

That was a great week though. That was great. That was fun. Like, uh, speaking of vehicles, um, I'd read in your wife's blog that you guys have become RVers and, uh,

And you probably don't know this, but last few weeks, we've been talking about and asking our listeners, I thought it'd be interesting for you to tell an RV story and how y'all got into that because we've been looking for an RV so that we can go on the road and kind of wrap that thing and try that in a small town podcast, go to small towns, hopefully raise some money for people or go to the RNC and cause some havoc there or whatever. So how did y'all get into the RV experience and do you love it and what's it like?

Amen. So number one, you guys got to do it because we're looking, we're closer. We are looking, we are actively. That needs to be planned around the spring. Am I right?

Oh, you know, that's a damn good point. Yes. That's a great time to be on the road with an RV. Yes. Definitely want to come to the Northeast. Absolutely. So, so listen, I would say this, you know, for us, we, we love doing things as a family. We transitioned from the Northeast to the Midwest and it was like, all right,

You know, like every family, like everybody needs to have everything with them. And so we end up buying this RV. And I was the idiot that when the guy that sold it to me, and it's a Class A diesel pusher, 43 feet of what the front door. Like, yeah, OK, no joke, man. Like, I was just filming as he was talking. And I said to myself, I'll go back and reference this film and then I'll be good.

well you don't ever go back and reference the film when i went there to pick it up the guy just handed me the keys and i remember going into this giant like haitian refugee boat on wheels thinking to myself this can't be legal like i should have to pass a test and as i'm pouring out of the dealership the only thing i could hear in my head i swear to you

Was Jesus take the lead? That's good.

It was just ridiculous. Left turns, I'm okay with in the beginning, but right turns scared the hell out of me. Today, I can be multitasking. I could probably be surfing the web, which you should never do that. But now I'm totally comfortable. It's actually more fun to take a trip in the RV than it would be in your family truckster. It's the best. That's awesome.

All right, Neil. So you'll be driving. Take those tips. And we'll be going there in the spring and I'll be, we'll be teaching you guys how to turkey hunt. You really don't need a CDL or anything that there's no special license. If you guys run it through a business, I think you do have to have it. But as an individual, you know, it's, it's amazing. By the way, the same thing happened. I have a farm and I take down all these old barns and reclaim. I've done like a, I don't know, 120 barns and,

And I just do it as a hobby. It's not a business. I just love saving these old timbers. And I buy a semi with like a 40-foot Landall trailer that can haul 80,000 to max over the road. I've never driven a semi, and I jumped in it like I was like... I thought I was like smoking a bandit. I'm like eastbound and down, and I made it seven feet out of my farm. And apparently you don't use the clutch. You know, it's like...

Who knew that? Yeah. Well, we would need a driver because we have our first sponsor, Old Glory Beer, you know, for us is in Memphis. And they said they would load it full for us. So I think we would need a driver, you know, to come qualify. That's one of the reasons we need a driver. One of the reasons, yes. That's going to happen though. We're going to get an RV and kind of take it on tour with us and kind of do podcasts from the road.

That's the idea. That's the idea. That's the idea. It's loose right now. It's loose. It's coming together, though, I think. Well, yeah, and then you could experience some of the fun, right? So, like, y'all come up here. I've got a tank. We'll take the tank out. We'll do, like, a little tank experience. Really? Tell us about that. What kind of tank is it? Well, technically, it's an armored personnel carry. It's nine tons of aluminum.

fully tracked 55 mile an hour top speed and uh it's called a spartan fb 103 everyone should have one to be honest yeah that of course those are cool actually uh for the guys it's he's talking about apc um because i was in the army actually drove those and they're really fun to drive it was like a tote it had a turret you know it's a wire guided missiles stuff like that but driving it is the fun that's the fun

The best, man. You know, it's like a skid steer, right? Yeah. So, listen, we're going into some dangerous times. I would just say if you can go out there and get a tank, you might as well. Why not? Well, Matt, we appreciate you, man. You know, you're one of the good ones, too. And you and your wife are doing great things. We appreciate you coming on, taking your time. We know you're busy. From us to you, we appreciate you, man. Well...

Enjoy the time. You guys are incredible. Look, if I could do it all over again, man, I tell you, I went to the Stones concert last night at Gillette Stadium. And I don't get out a whole lot, but I got to tell you, I've always felt this way, man. And I'm not taking for granted what I did.

But my God, if I could be in music, I'd envy everything about it, man. I mean, gosh darn it. Hey, isn't that funny, though? Athletes want to be musicians. Musicians, all we want to be is athletes. But look at us. We're not athletes. Hey, speak for yourself. I would love to write a song. I've tried so many times.

You got to get in this room. Yeah, when we see you next time, we can definitely do that. And hey, before you go, could you tell these guys or the listeners, I know you've told them before, but one of the funniest stories about some of your, one time of your early morning workouts, right? And so you wake up, you put on whatever you had on, shorts, whatever, no shower, you just go in there. And this is Tom during his transformation, you know, when he was getting a little fancier. So I think you're referring to...

The fact that the cardigan, when a fat guy rolls out of bed to go into practice, I'm not, I'm not, first of all, I'm not showering. I'm going to wear whatever was laying next to the bed. I'm not doing my hair. Like I'm going to go in there because by the way, all's we do is strip down, workout, shower, put on pads, sweat. I mean like who cares? I'm not trying to impress anybody.

When Tom walked in that day, I'd had enough. I mean, this guy has a second locker. He has his locker. And then he has another locker where he has like different wardrobes hung up. And like, I mean, it was just, he has a hairdryer. Like, I don't even know who uses a hairdryer, but he's got a whole bunch of weird stuff. But he walks in this particular morning and

He's got like skinny jeans that tuck into like some designer shoe and his hair is all done up. But the part that pissed me off is that he's wearing like Mr. Rogers cardigan and it has, I swear to God, it was knitted with like a Yaks wool from the high mountains. Yeah.

It had wood carved buttons that were like super intricate. Like there was probably like diamonds hidden inside. Like hand carved. And I'm looking at him and I'm like, you gotta be shitting me. And then I watch him walk to his locker and when he took it off, he like folded it like they do in a department store and hung it on hangers.

What are we doing? There's nothing manly about that. And you still blocked for him. Well, he was really good at winning games. So I felt the need that when I went to go work out later that day, that I would try on this cardigan because maybe it gave him special powers. I don't know, but I can tell you this much.

When I put the cardigan on, it stretched the arms horribly. I barely made it. Thank God they were high-quality buttons, but I barely made it to close them. And then I guess the other thing I should tell you is that's the only thing I was wearing. And I walked into our weight room wearing a very snug...

cardigan and I was doing deadlifts and working out profusely. And then I hung it back up. I thought it would be funny that when I called him about the time that I knew he was leaving the stadium, which was much later than me, I was always home. He was like working hard, watching plays, trying to get better, just like bill. But I knew when he would be going home, I'd call him and be like, Hey man, is your cardigan a little stretched out? Yeah.

And to which he replied, what are you talking about? And I said, Hey man, just check your phone. I just sent you a picture and it's me doing like a deadlift profusely. And in my mind, he pulled over and burned that thing or ripped it off. I don't know what he actually did, but it was great.

That's awesome. That's a great story. That's a great one. I love that. Well, Matt, thank you for your time, bro. Yep. You're a special one. Thank you so much for doing this for us. I hope we get to turkey hunt sometime. We'll see you soon. Come to a show this year, maybe? We'll make it happen. Thank you, Matt. I'll be seeing you on Tuesday soon. All right, buddy. Thank you. Thanks, Matt. Appreciate you.

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