Aaron & Sanya Ross: 2 Champions, College Sweethearts Talk Love, RHOA & Parenting

FOLLOW THE PIVOT PODCAST: MERCH | https://pivotpodcast.com YOUTUBE | https://www.youtube.com/thepivotpodcast INSTAGRAM | https://instagram.com/thepivot TWITTER | https://twitter.com/thepivot TIKTOK | https://tiktok.com/@thepivot FACEBOOK | https://www.facebook.com/thepivotpodcast FOLLOW HAPPY DAD: https://www.instagram.com/happydad FIND HAPPY DAD: https://www.happydad.com/find Super Bowl Champion and 4x Olympic Gold medalist, who just happen to share the same last name, join The Pivot for our first ever couple to be on the show! That's right, Aaron Ross and Sonya Richards-Ross sit down with Ryan, Channing and Fred for a conversation filled with impactful moments of each's storied athletic career, highs and lows of their 19 year relationship and life now as parents finding their way into new passions. Sanya courageously opens up about her personal struggles on way to chasing gold at Beijing and shares how difficult the decision of having an abortion 2 weeks before the Olympic Games was on her and now husband Aaron. In an emotional statement, Sanya explains how the moment never gets easier to talk about but how she was able to find peace in the situation and alleviate blaming herself after missing Gold in an event that was supposed to be a lock for her. Dealing with the aftermath took a toll, but Sanya shares how she found comfort in her relationship and grace in winning gold again. Channing states how Sanya is the most successful athlete in the room and accomplished the most out of all of them and he raises the financial question if that was ever an issue in how little she made compared to her husband. Sanya and Aaron both laugh and say it was actually the opposite in college when Aaron called his then girlfriend his sugar mama! Reminiscing about the first time meeting Sanya in college, Aaron tells the guys how watching his wife work so hard at her sport at an early age motivated him to want to be the best at his. The first round NFL pick went on to win two Super Bowls with the NY Giants and both credit each other with finding the ultimate success in their passions. Aaron and Sanya discuss how becoming parents was a major transition in their lives as they both retired from their respective sports and adjusted to being together more and calling a new city home. Life with out football found Aaron in a two year rut where he can now look back and say he was in a depression but didn't know it while he was experiencing it. Currently, Sanya is part of the Real Housewives of Atlanta series that is airing now and the two talk about how they have embraced the show and found a way to become closer through it. Join Prize Picks now to compete against Channing, Fred and Ryan throughout the NBA Finals. Get a free $100 matched with your first $100 spent when you enter the code PIVOT. Start playing now: https://bit.ly/PrizePicksPivot Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Speaker names marked ? are inferred from speaking time and the show’s known hosts — they are not voice-verified.

• 0:01Speaker 00

  This episode is brought to you by Michelob Ultra. Good times mean competitions between you and your friends. Like seeing who can throw some pigskin the farthest, or rush the field the fastest. Winner gets an ultra. Because it's not just a superior like beer, it's also giving fans superior access to their favorite sporting events. Superior is worth playing for. Visit michelobultra.com/superioraccess to enter. Enjoy responsibly. Copyright 2026 Anheuser Busch InBev Michelob Ultra Beer, St. Louis, Missouri.

• 0:30Channing Crowder?

  So those are nice, but my shoes this morning weren't nice.

• 0:32Ryan Clark?

  The shoes weren't, they weren't not nice. They were mids though.

• 0:37Channing Crowder?

  So you need to have higher lows.

• 0:39Ryan Clark?

  There you go. I mean mids are okay, like if you got calves, you could wear mids.

• 0:43Channing Crowder?

  I have beautiful calves.

• 0:44Ryan Clark?

  You have terrible calves. You got big knees.

• 0:48Channing Crowder?

  I have big knees and big calves, look at my calves.

• 0:50Ryan Clark?

  Hey, your calves are not nice. Look, hey, we got people.

• 0:56Ryan Clark?

  What up, yo?

• 0:59Ryan Clark?

  Welcome in. Welcome, welcome to the pivot, yo.

• 1:08Ryan Clark?

  Hey Chan, ain't that crazy? We got all this chocolate in here, and you're red, Tim. Hey, that's.

• 1:15Channing Crowder?

  I call it the cream. Rises to the top.

• 1:42Ryan Clark?

  Man, listen, welcome to the pivot. It's an honor to have you both. I think this is, not I think, this is the first time we've done two guests.

• 1:53Speaker 03

  Really?

• 1:54Ryan Clark?

  This first time.

• 1:55Speaker 03

  We're honored.

• 1:55Ryan Clark?

  First time ever, and you know.

• 1:59Speaker 03

  We're lighting in the first.

• 2:01Ryan Clark?

  You know, I mean, it's very rare, it's very rare. You can have like a two-time Super Bowl champ on your show. It's very rare, right? Or a world champion. Track athlete or an Olympian, a gold medalist. It's rare you get an opportunity to have those type of people on your show. Even more rare, you have them both at the same time.

• 2:20Fred Taylor?

  Same damn time.

• 2:21Ryan Clark?

  Same time. And crazier, they actually live in the same house.

• 2:28Ryan Clark?

  What? That's wild. And that is, that is wild, man. Like, I don't, you know what I mean? Like, that's, I feel like that's the house when you go over and to visit your people. You feel like an underachiever. You know what I'm saying? But, man, y'all guys.

• 2:40Fred Taylor?

  I'm trying to figure out who picked out these nice outfits.

• 2:43Speaker 03

  Her.

• 2:48Speaker 03

  Her. I said, we gotta go looking right, man. We gotta go looking right.

• 2:51Fred Taylor?

  I was gonna have on a black tee, my ball, my baseball cap.

• 2:56Fred Taylor?

  You gotta listen to the lady, you know?

• 2:58Ryan Clark?

  Well, listen, welcome to The Pivot. You know, we just try to give people opportunity to tell stories that we think are fascinating and in ways that athletes don't always get to tell their stories. You know, Happy Dad is our sponsor. We appreciate them. For all the people who are watching, please subscribe, like, whether it's Spotify, YouTube, Apple. Also, also, the finals have started, right? Remember PrizePix? Right? If you want to get on PrizePix, whether it's Daily Fantasy, you want to get into player props, that's something that you could do. I am the best of us three at it. I don't, I don't know, I don't know if that's true. I know more about sports in general than you. Fred's smarter than both of us.

• 3:44Ryan Clark?

  I just know more about sports in general. PrizePix is available in almost 75% of the states. It's in all the big ones. Texas, California, Florida. They use the promo code PIVOT. They match it up to $100. And so PrizePix is dope and we appreciate them also for being a sponsor. So I read off some of your accolades and Freddie Flowers does that, right? There's gonna be a point in this show, he's gonna talk about being drafted in the first round. He's gonna talk about all the things we've done in Olympics and world championships. And we're gonna talk about the fact that you were recruited in high school, you know?

• 4:17Speaker 03

  This is not true. Where's my camera? This is not facts, not true.

• 4:22Ryan Clark?

  But the, the, the real question is this. This is what the world wants to know. How you shot your shot?

• 4:27Fred Taylor?

  Man.

• 4:28Speaker 05

  Oh boy. Nah, I seen her, um, I had to sit out for two years, um, coming out of high school. I wasn't clear with the clearinghouse, so, um, my mom loved track, so we would always go to this Texas Relays, that's a big track meet in Texas. And, um, we sitting first row, I'm like, damn, who is number five at this time? I'm not really understanding track like that. She got a five on her hip, I ain't knowing that's Lane five. I just said, I want number five, boo, when I get back up here to school, I'm getting, I'm getting number five. So that's how I shot my shot. And when I finally seen her, she ain't know I said all of this, um, before I met her, and then she actually the one shot the shot.

• 5:08Speaker 06

  Yeah, I was gonna say that, I actually shot the shot, cuz I know what I want. They say them Jamaican women aggressive. We are aggressive, we are, yeah, so I, so how I recall it, cuz I didn't know he saw me a year prior. And so it was my sophomore season, and he walks into the cafeteria, and I was like, damn, he fine. So, um, I said with my sister, and I called him over, and I was like, hey, you know, what's your name? And he told me his name, he said Aaron, and it was funny because the guy I had dated right before him, his name was Aaron. So I was like, oh no, I don't, no, no thank you sir, you fine, but go on about your business. And, um, yeah, so then I was like, no sir, not today. And then actually, I think he had a friend in common, he reached out. We went on our first date, and we were just inseparable.

• 5:52Speaker 06

  We went to like Bennigan's for dinner. And I was like, I was like, I'm gonna marry him, I just told him. And then we went to church, we went to Bennigan's on Saturday, church on Sunday. I said, this is my husband. Yeah.

• 6:04Ryan Clark?

  Did you, did you ever tell her the five story though? Did you tell her that at the first date?

• 6:08Speaker 06

  No, not the first date, lo, lo, long time after, yeah. I had no, I had, when he came up to me, he was cool as a cucumber. I had, I had no idea he even knew who I was. I thought he, and I didn't know he, I didn't know who he was either, I didn't know he played ball or nothing. But I had no idea for years that he had already kinda scouted me out.

• 6:25Ryan Clark?

  Hey man, that's what this is about, man, you know what I mean? Listen, I just wanna know, you know, your little Aaron, your son, is it possible to buy some stock?

• 6:36Fred Taylor?

  Right now.

• 6:37Speaker 06

  I think it's an appropriate question.

• 6:41Speaker 06

  We should probably talk about that.

• 6:42Speaker 05

  He's, he's super competitive, bro.

• 6:44Speaker 06

  He's so competitive already and so athletic, it's insane.

• 6:47Speaker 05

  He's crying now when he loses.

• 6:49Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 6:49Speaker 05

  When he ain't even, there's no way for him to win, he'd cry when he loses. So I, I love it. I love it.

• 6:55Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, it would definitely be a disappointment if he was like slow footed and, and, and slow.

• 7:02Fred Taylor?

  Goofy, stumbling around.

• 7:06Ryan Clark?

  But, but are y'all competitive with each other? Like playing at the highest level, doing what y'all did? Like, do y'all go at it?

• 7:13Speaker 05

  On certain things, if we bowling or something outside of even playing video games or card games, whatever.

• 7:21Speaker 05

  We get competitive at times, but for the most part, I wouldn't, I wouldn't say.

• 7:25Speaker 06

  Yeah, not really, but if we, if we're doing something where there's a score, you know, slowly but surely, it gets real serious.

• 7:30Fred Taylor?

  What about on the track?

• 7:32Speaker 05

  Nah, we ain't never raced.

• 7:33Speaker 06

  Track man.

• 7:34Speaker 05

  A tripper. A tripper. I ain't losing.

• 7:38Fred Taylor?

  I mean, but you probably, you, obviously you'll stand a chance in the sprint.

• 7:41Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 7:42Fred Taylor?

  In a hundred, in a hundred and down.

• 7:44Speaker 05

  Hundred and under.

• 7:45Fred Taylor?

  But under that? I don't know.

• 7:47Speaker 05

  Nah, I ain't racing.

• 7:48Fred Taylor?

  Not even just to see?

• 7:51Speaker 05

  I'm not losing.

• 7:53Ryan Clark?

  Have y'all, have y'all ever had those conversations though? Like talk about racing or he's always just like, you know, I'ma stay in this lane, you know, no pun intended.

• 8:01Speaker 05

  I got you in a hundred and down, you can have a two and up.

• 8:04Speaker 06

  Yeah, we never really talked about it. I think it's funny because my husband, you know, unlike football, I could never like go out there and play with y'all or train with y'all, but he could actually come out and do my workouts. And so in the summer times, like he would come out and he'd be like, bruh, like this, cause I trained for the 400, which is. Y'all know that's a, it's, it's hard, it's intense.

• 8:23Fred Taylor?

  The hardest race.

• 8:24Speaker 06

  It's the hardest race on the track. And so, you know, all the sprint stuff, obviously he was always great at, but man, I'm gonna repeat 200s or 400s, he'd be like, sis, I'll catch you on the other side, like.

• 8:33Ryan Clark?

  So I ran the four. Not, not because I was fast, right? Because I was too slow to run the other races and they felt like I had a good gas tank.

• 8:42Speaker 03

  And how did that go?

• 8:43Ryan Clark?

  So my fir- my first time, you know how it is, I'm fired up. You know, here I am, a very good football player in high school, so you know what I'm gonna do? I know this dude ain't faster than me, like, he's skinny, man, like, I've been working out a little bit. So the first thing I do.

• 8:54Fred Taylor?

  Fifty-three.

• 8:56Ryan Clark?

  First thing I do, Freddie T, jump out the gate. Boom, I'm ahead of everybody, and you know, I hadn't really run track, I was like, they been telling me this was hard. I'm killing these boys! And I'm not even registering why nobody else is, like, full speed yet. Man, we get to the end, man, they had a girl that was cheering me on, that's how you know it's bad. They had a girl that was cheering me on, and in my mind, I was still blazing. I didn't realize how slow I was going until I realized she was walking sideways while she was cheering me on. Come on, RC!

• 9:30Ryan Clark?

  And I realized, I realized at that point, that the way I decided to run this race probably wasn't the way to do it. But you guys, you guys go to UT.

• 9:40Speaker 03

  Wait, wait, wait, Ryan, wait, wait. What was the time?

• 9:42Ryan Clark?

  I ran fifty-seven, first one. I ran fifty-seven.

• 9:46Fred Taylor?

  You gave him a little love with the fifty-three. He got the short, lower torso, like, he can't really go nowhere.

• 9:52Channing Crowder?

  Your blood doesn't hold oxygen. Man, this motherfucker got sickle cell.

• 10:00Channing Crowder?

  He be joking, man.

• 10:02Ryan Clark?

  But I have the truth, but I've had sickle cell crisis.

• 10:05Speaker 03

  That's not right.

• 10:06Ryan Clark?

  I've had sickle cell crisis before, and I lost my organs.

• 10:10Speaker 03

  Is he your friend?

• 10:11Ryan Clark?

  He is my friend.

• 10:12Speaker 03

  I wouldn't, I don't know, I would...

• 10:14Ryan Clark?

  So, happy was, Sia, I went to Denver, I had a sickle cell crisis. I lost my spleen, my gallbladder, a piece of my liver.

• 10:22Speaker 03

  This is not funny stuff.

• 10:23Ryan Clark?

  And he thinks it's so funny.

• 10:25Speaker 03

  Oh, man, breaks my heart.

• 10:27Fred Taylor?

  Yeah, they can't help it, though, they're besties. Like, Chan- Chan is gonna always find an angle. And RC, RC usually takes the high road, 'cause he's such a pro. But, uh, damn, a 57, I gave him credit.

• 10:41Speaker 06

  You did.

• 10:41Fred Taylor?

  I gave him credit.

• 10:43Speaker 05

  Four, four seconds.

• 10:44Ryan Clark?

  I was running in the high 40s and I came in like second in district.

• 10:48Speaker 06

  Okay.

• 10:48Ryan Clark?

  Good. It's the first race, Fred.

• 10:52Fred Taylor?

  High 40s though, that, we gonna have to fact check that.

• 10:55Speaker 06

  We gonna have to fact check that. You ran a 49, 48 in high school?

• 10:58Fred Taylor?

  That, I mean, that's solid. You didn't, did you go to state?

• 11:01Ryan Clark?

  No.

• 11:02Fred Taylor?

  See, but that's, that's usually 48 to get you to state.

• 11:05Ryan Clark?

  I lost in regionals.

• 11:06Fred Taylor?

  New Orleans, y'all not fast like that. I mean, with Louisiana.

• 11:09Speaker 06

  I think you were still running 50s, RC. I don't think, I don't think you got.

• 11:12Ryan Clark?

  I ran a ton of 50s too. I'm talking about at my best.

• 11:16Fred Taylor?

  I'm gonna tell you my best.

• 11:17Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, does anybody ever talk about their average?

• 11:20Speaker 05

  I'm telling you the best.

• 11:21Ryan Clark?

  But, you know, we, back to the show, cause this has turned into a RC, an RC roast session. You guys are at UT and obviously you're an amazing athlete, you're an amazing athlete. What was it like to have an opportunity to support each other, you know, and being young athletes like that?

• 11:38Speaker 06

  I mean, I think, I don't think I could have made it as far as I did without having somebody who really understood the level of commitment that it took to be great in track. Like, I was in a thousand sit-ups every day. I was like going to bed early. I was, you know, like, why, like, all the things that I would do off the track to be great. I think it'd be hard for somebody who wasn't as passionate about sports to really get me and understand me and support me. And so, I don't know, I think I, you know, I had the best of both worlds and my husband. And then ironically, we kind of went through our struggles at the same time, so.

• 12:08Fred Taylor?

  highs and lows.

• 12:09Speaker 06

  Yeah, like I, my 2008, when I didn't win the gold, it was really hard for me, you know, Ross had just had an injury. And so, it was like we always were able to kind of be there for each other and like say the right words and, you know, and I, like, I always say, I don't think I would have been as successful without my husband. Because it was just, I always liked the safe space and just somebody who I could rely on, somebody to hold me accountable, like, all those things, so.

• 12:32Speaker 05

  So, she had like what I call the cheat code early, having her, her pops in her life that was a great athlete, that, um, played soccer, but didn't get a chance to, I would, in my terms, reach his full potential.

• 12:45Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 12:45Speaker 05

  And you know, when that happened. You know the things that you wish you would have done. You're able to pass those things down. So seeing her in college, having her legs propped up for a race and juicing. He's making her juices and not just putting fruits and vegetables in there. He actually has a book that he's breaking down and telling her, okay, this is for this. This go pour this out of you.

• 13:10Speaker 06

  Yeah, replace your oxygen.

• 13:12Speaker 05

  It was crazy for me to witness that and then the ice baths and sleep and sit-ups. So just to witness that as a freshman in college. It motivated the hell out of me to have somebody like that on my side.

• 13:29Fred Taylor?

  You mentioned juice and thank God for clearing that up.

• 13:32Ryan Clark?

  I got nervous at first. I went, I was like, no, everything ain't that type of show.

• 13:39Fred Taylor?

  But no, seriously, I want to stay in 2008 and we can move forward as we go. But in 2008 was also challenging times, especially now with what's going on in the world with abortion rights. You know, in your memoir, Chasing Grace, right? You mentioned that you had an abortion two weeks prior to Beijing Olympics. You still want to go.

• 14:02Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 14:03Fred Taylor?

  But how tough was it, you know, on top of everything else that you had gone through, right? And then you mentioned Ross was supportive. So kind of dive in with us about the abortion then and, you know, in that, making that decision. And then, you know, your support system here with Ross.

• 14:22Speaker 06

  Yeah, it's crazy because I get emotional even now and it's been how many years? A long time and, you know, I think it's very hard because, you know, I'm sitting here with all great male athletes, right? You all have accomplished great things. This is an issue you guys would never have to deal with, right? It's something that you never have to consider. And so it was just really hard. I think I was a sophomore in college at the time. And, you know, when we were in college, there's a lot of misinformation. Like, our peers just always say, "Oh, when you're at your fittest, you can get pregnant." Like, that was a real thing that I believed. And I'm training for the Olympics. I mean, I got, like, 3% body fat. You know, I'm at the fittest I've ever been. And so, although Ross and I had been very careful up until that point, you know, it happened.

• 15:07Speaker 06

  And, you know, I'll never forget, you know, having to make that choice. I said when I was nine that I was gonna be an Olympic champion. And here I was, like, on the precipice of achieving this dream. Ten years later. And, yeah, and I find out I'm pregnant right before I have to get on the plane to go to Beijing. And, um, it's like, no right choice, right? It's like, of course, I love my... We weren't married at the time. I think we had just gotten engaged. I knew he was my forever. I knew we wanted to have a family. But I also had this dream of being an Olympic gold medalist my whole life. And it's like, you find yourself between a rock and a hard place. And, um, and so, you know, I go to that clinic, um, and I have an abortion two days before I board a flight to Beijing. And it literally feels like you leave a piece of your soul in the clinic, you know?

• 15:50Speaker 06

  And I feel like, you know, I have a hard time talking about this because it is really hard. But I've never met a woman who wanted to be at an abortion clinic. You know, it's not... All this conversation about it, it's a very difficult and private situation, you know? And so, um, yeah, so I go to Beijing, and not only, um, I go there with a very heavy heart because I'm also a Christian woman who never thought I would have an abortion. So it's like, emotionally, spiritually, all these things, I'm way down. I'm different, you know? And so, I never like to say that, um, the woman who won the Olympic gold medal in the 400 obviously deserved it. But I feel like a part of me felt like I wasn't deserving of gold that night. I had won every single race that year. I was...

• 16:32Speaker 06

  They said it was the upset of the track and field championships, and it was. I should have won. But it wasn't just the physical part. It was the spiritual and emotional part that I was kind of weighed down with on the track that night. But I share in my book that I also have this incredible experience in Beijing, where I felt the loving arms of God in Beijing. So after the Olympics, so most of the times you get on the bus, you go to the village. You go back to the village. And so after I lost, I was like, I'm not going back. I can't, like, you know, everybody's gonna be like, what happened? And I didn't want to deal with that. So I was like, I'm gonna go find my family. My family was there, so I'm gonna go to there to find them. And so I get on the bus, but I'm crying so hard, I can't even barely see out my eyes. And I got on the bus and I realized I'm lost. Like, I get up, I have no idea where I am. So I'm in a strange country. Nobody speaks my language.

• 17:17Speaker 06

  I just lost the biggest race of my life, like, all of these things. And I, no lie, I literally feel like God wrapped his arms around me. He's like, you're forgiven, like, I love you, like, you're whole, you know? And for me, that experience was worth everything I went through, because I think that, you know, there's, it's like, our relationship with God is different for everybody. But I think when you have those experiences, it's like, wow, like, you know, like, God's love is not like our love. It's not conditional. He loves us regardless, and He doesn't want to punish us for poor choices that we make. And so I went on the track a couple of days later, and I won one of the most memorable gold medals of my career. After I let go of the shame and the disappointment and all the hurt, I won gold with my team in the four by four. So, you know, that experience is very special to me.

• 18:02Speaker 06

  But it's also a very, comes off on the heels, a very hard time. And so when you talk about the abortion rights and laws and all those things, my heart breaks for women. Because it's not like we are, you know, want to be there, you know? It's actually, we both play a role in it, right? Like, even when I was writing the book, I went through conversations with Raul. So I was like, there were times I felt alone. There were times I felt abandoned. Like, when I found out I was pregnant, Raul was at camp. He wasn't even physically there. You know what I mean? He's doing what he loves to do without interruption, without a pause, because it's not something he has to deal with. And that, I felt broken by that, and we had to go through that, you know?

• 18:39Fred Taylor?

  You know, nowadays, you have lawmakers and such that are making these decisions for women. As a man, how do you feel, knowing what your wife, well, your fiance at the time, but now your wife, what she had gone through? You know, what's your thoughts when you hear about the abortion rights these days?

• 18:57Speaker 05

  Well, at that time, I felt like...

• 19:00Fred Taylor?

  Especially in Texas.

• 19:02Speaker 05

  Right. It's um, like she just said, I was at football camp. I had nothing really to worry about that that was gonna hinder me from my dreams. So um, like I say now, I'mma support my wife on whatever choice she makes. And that's the way I feel today. I don't feel like we have us as men. Um, that's not really.

• 19:29Speaker 00

  This episode is brought to you by Michelob Ultra. Good times mean competitions between you and your friends. Like seeing who can throw some pigskin the farthest or rush the field the fastest. Winner gets an ultra. Because it's not just a superior light beer. It's also giving fans superior access to their favorite sporting events. Superior is worth playing for. Visit michelobultra.com/superioraccess to enter. Enjoy responsibly. Copyright 2026 Anheuser Busch InBev Michelob Ultra Beer, St. Louis, Missouri.

• 19:59Speaker 05

  Something that we should be able to dictate from a woman. I think we should support whatever decision it is and kind of sit down and discuss it and come up with the right plan for our family.

• 20:15Ryan Clark?

  So many times, like you mentioned it, and it was beautiful to hear you share that. Thank you so much because like you said, it is a personal moment. And it's also not something that you ever plan on doing, right? Nobody gets in that situation or has that situation purposely. Um, but you mentioned having that moment where you felt God's arms around you. Um, but you also said you had to go through some of those things yourself. What's the dynamic of, okay, I'm married to a world-class athlete or I'm dating a world-class athlete? But we truly live in two different worlds. Women athletes are treated much differently than men.

• 20:55Ryan Clark?

  Like you said, he's in camp and as difficult as it can be for him, like he's not having to do or deal with some of the things that you were dealing with. Did that, how did that impact the way you guys moved forward in your relationship? What type of understanding did that give y'all?

• 21:14Speaker 06

  That was definitely a defining moment for me as a female athlete. And my husband, being a male athlete, I realized, damn, like, it feels like we're doing the same thing, but this is not the same.

• 21:25Speaker 06

  But I think what has been, allowed us to be successful in our marriage, we've been together for 19 years now, is communicating. And so I think after I was able to kind of square how I was feeling and how it made me feel, I was able to share that with my husband. And as you can see, like, he, my husband is just, he's a great listener. He always wanted to be there for me, you know, so there was never any feeling of like, oh, those feelings don't matter or whatever. He was always like, yo, like, whatever I can do to make you feel loved and supported and, I hear you, babe, you know, like, we just were able to communicate through it. And for me, it drew us closer together. You know, because having somebody who just loves you like that and who will be there for you and understands the journeys, I think, I really think that that made us even closer.

• 22:10Channing Crowder?

  Ross, like, watching, watching your wife grind, like, she died. I, you know what I'm saying, my, you know, my, I was married to an Olympian, you know what I'm saying? So watching her grind, but I don't even know if I'm saying it right. Like, knowing that this is not a lucrative thing.

• 22:27Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 22:27Channing Crowder?

  You know what I'm saying? Like, we can go out there, ball out and get bread. Like, watching it through college and come up, like, how did, like, is the motivation just to be great, like, you know what I'm saying, like?

• 22:38Speaker 06

  Your girl is making some money now, though. Do not sleep on me, okay?

• 22:43Channing Crowder?

  But NFL, like, listen, let me, correct me, NFL-type money?

• 22:47Speaker 06

  I mean, some years I was making, you know, I would make, reach a million dollars in earnings on, you know, but it was, it was basically because it wasn't necessarily on the track, it was like the off-the-track stuff. You know what I mean? Like, being able to get those endorsements for the Olympics year. But that wasn't every season, right? And then we had something called the Golden League, where if you won six races, you could win a million-dollar jackpot, and I did it three times. But I shared the jackpot three times, and most I made was half of it. So I was, you know, your girl was doing all right.

• 23:13Channing Crowder?

  My sugar mama, sugar mama in college, man.

• 23:17Speaker 06

  And I bought him his first car, because I was pro-fans, okay? Don't get it twisted.

• 23:23Channing Crowder?

  Ross, you was a kept man in college, bro. Hey, hey, you ride there, roll the road, they thought you had NIL. Hey, you had NIL money before NIL.

• 23:31Speaker 05

  They had to call me to the office one time, hold on, you got too many shoes.

• 23:35Speaker 06

  Yeah, the shoes.

• 23:36Speaker 05

  What is this?

• 23:37Speaker 06

  Yeah, like, what, what's that?

• 23:38Speaker 05

  What kind of car we talking about?

• 23:40Speaker 06

  He wanted, uh, it was an old school, it was a blue old school with rims on it. So he was in class one day, I was like, babe, meet me out back of Moncrey, and he was like, okay.

• 23:48Speaker 05

  Pulled up.

• 23:48Speaker 06

  And I pulled up.

• 23:50Speaker 05

  At that time, a twenty, was it twenty or twenty-two?

• 23:52Speaker 06

  Twenty-eight, twenty-two, something.

• 23:53Speaker 05

  Yeah.

• 23:53Speaker 06

  It was the car he wanted.

• 23:54Speaker 05

  She had me right, she had me right.

• 23:56Channing Crowder?

  What's going on in Texas? Y'all can't get no players drafted, bro? What's going on?

• 24:00Speaker 05

  Aw, man.

• 24:02Speaker 06

  That's a good turn, that was a pivot.

• 24:05Ryan Clark?

  We was in like a happy place. I'm, I'm sorry.

• 24:10Channing Crowder?

  Yeah, go back to Chaney's question.

• 24:11Speaker 05

  Come on back over here, Ross.

• 24:14Speaker 06

  That's what we're gonna get at.

• 24:15Channing Crowder?

  We need to buy more cars, what's going on?

• 24:18Speaker 06

  Need more sugar mamas down there, what?

• 24:21Ryan Clark?

  But honestly, though, like, what is that like? I mean, we were all, we were talking about Pell Grants early on today.

• 24:27Channing Crowder?

  To be honest, you're the most achieved athlete in this room right now.

• 24:33Ryan Clark?

  100%, and it's not close.

• 24:34Channing Crowder?

  To be honest, like, you have ran away from us.

• 24:37Ryan Clark?

  Literally.

• 24:38Channing Crowder?

  Literally, like, that's the craziest thing, that's what I was trying to get at, that was, I don't know if I'm asking it right, like, you are better at what you did than all of us in here.

• 24:47Ryan Clark?

  Ain't close.

• 24:48Channing Crowder?

  But...

• 24:49Speaker 05

  She a beast.

• 24:50Channing Crowder?

  A monster, but, you talking about a half a million a year? My sorry ass, my best, I made six million, like, I was like, ah! You know what I'm saying, like, but, but to be there and to see, it's really, it's a marginalized...

• 25:05Speaker 06

  Yeah, absolutely, there's no doubt about it, there's no doubt about it.

• 25:08Channing Crowder?

  And to be on one side saying, yeah, I get drafted first round, I'm gonna get 20 million, but knowing your wife is the best in the world, a beast, and trying to make a million a year, like, like, did y'all, did y'all have, did y'all talk about that, did y'all have to come, how, how did that go?

• 25:23Speaker 05

  We, we never talked about the, um, the financial part of it, we always just talked about the grind and the journey. That was, that's how we supported each other the whole way. Like, um, like I said, seeing her...

• 25:36Speaker 05

  Like bust people ass for like ten years straight for a whole decade was that was the joy that I saw and then to see her her process that that helped me along my way to um while I was in college seeing her be be become a pro before I became a pro um it was just more for for me on the outside looking in it was more inspirational than anything um the money part I mean like she said she was she was this is my sugar mama so um there the money part she we we were good um and then once I got drafted to the first round then

• 26:20Ryan Clark?

  We were good good

• 26:21Speaker 05

  Yeah

• 26:23Ryan Clark?

  You had watched your wife grind and she showed the ultimate loyalty it wasn't it wasn't about gender and who's who's doing what it was like we rocking together and right now I have and so you're gonna have the the moment though like you said we we got right like we got to a point where we were said what was that moment like for you it's like nah babe like now we got it

• 26:44Speaker 05

  What they call now chasing the bag I came from humble humble beginning so um just being able to make it to the NFL that was a dream come true the money was some I I my scholarship was checked with eight hundred sixty four dollars and thirty two cents a month so to

• 27:03Ryan Clark?

  No to the penny To the penny

• 27:05Speaker 05

  So to to be able to get millions in your bank overnight and then have to trust financial advisors that you just met that same night and putting money in the bank and all of that it it I didn't have time to even I guess put it all in in context what the money actually meant and um yeah I used to check my account every single day like dang

• 27:33Speaker 05

  This is God high. So the money part, we never really sat down and had that conversation as far as we're good.

• 27:43Speaker 06

  But I think for me, when I think about what you asked that question, I remember Ross and I had been dating for, so we got together in 03, he got dressed in like 07, so it was like four or five years you were dating. So I'm putting a pressure like, bruh, I need a ring. Like, this ain't no like, you know? And I think for me, when you talk about like us being good and him feeling like, you know, we had gotten to that next level, he kept saying to me, I don't want.

• 28:07Speaker 05

  Oh, yeah.

• 28:08Speaker 06

  Yeah, right, like he was like, yeah, he was like, I don't want, I want to buy a ring better than you can buy for yourself.

• 28:14Speaker 05

  Right.

• 28:15Speaker 06

  You know what I mean? It was always like, he was like, if I buy you a ring right now, you could have bought that for yourself, you know? And so he made, and he made sure he bought me a ring?

• 28:22Channing Crowder?

  Yeah, I've been looking at it. I done seen it.

• 28:26Speaker 06

  I feel like, I feel like that was the moment.

• 28:31Channing Crowder?

  I've been looking at it. Every time she hit you with a one of these, yeah, check it out. Do y'all feel as if, because every time you talk to somebody that, y'all were together since freshman year of college?

• 28:44Channing Crowder?

  I love, I love love. I say it all the time. I love love. Like, I love, I love to see strong black couple. I love to see that. But do y'all feel as if y'all missed out on anything? Getting together that young, you being as a dog, you being a dog first round pick, like, I was in Miami as a third round pick and.

• 29:05Speaker 05

  This is tricky. This is tricky.

• 29:07Channing Crowder?

  Watch the winding road, y'all. I hit them streets heavy, heavy, heavy, heavy. Third round, no, like, do y'all, do y'all ever think or talk about y'all missed out on like y'all's young life, to be honest?

• 29:21Speaker 05

  Where's the suspense music?

• 29:24Speaker 06

  Cue the suspense.

• 29:26Speaker 05

  Run it.

• 29:27Channing Crowder?

  Hey, look, Freddie, I set up. Hold on. This is the first time we'd had a couple on. I'm, I'm intrigued.

• 29:33Speaker 05

  I guess like I've, I've broken it down to, I guess, plenty of times. When you first get into a relationship, I'm gonna speak for myself as an athlete, you have a few women. So when she first come on board, you just not getting rid of all your women. So it's, it's a process and then.

• 29:53Speaker 06

  How long was your process exactly?

• 29:55Speaker 05

  Oh, there we go.

• 30:00Channing Crowder?

  Hey, he gotta get it chronologically.

• 30:02Speaker 05

  He like, shit, hold up.

• 30:05Speaker 05

  Shit moment. Oh shit.

• 30:07Speaker 06

  How long was your process again?

• 30:09Speaker 05

  We been together for nineteen years.

• 30:11Speaker 06

  Yeah, how long was the process?

• 30:13Speaker 05

  We, um...

• 30:13Fred Taylor?

  CTE.

• 30:14Speaker 05

  CTE.

• 30:14Fred Taylor?

  CTE.

• 30:15Speaker 05

  CTE.

• 30:16Channing Crowder?

  Eighteen and a half years, we been good.

• 30:22Speaker 06

  Your brain, your brain is not working.

• 30:25Speaker 05

  Yeah, but nah.

• 30:25Speaker 03

  Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 30:27Speaker 05

  I, I, I, I enjoyed my time while I was free, so, yeah.

• 30:33Speaker 06

  And what did you categorize as free?

• 30:36Channing Crowder?

  I'm damn near forty, and looking back, like, I know guys that have been together with their, you know, woman since high school. And I just look at them as if, like, did you really experience life? Did you really experience life being together that young, like, before you really got to see the world?

• 30:51Speaker 06

  Yeah, I think, I mean, for me, for me personally, I felt like, and it's funny, because I never, ever thought about that before, or like, you know, until recently, I think somebody like Brent mentioned it, like, damn, you been with your husband for nineteen years, girl, and telling me what they were doing in their twenties? But I think, I think as a woman, it's like, I'm, I'm, I'm like, I'm lucky. Like, I found my partner early, like, a lot of my, all my girlfriends who didn't find their man in college have no man, still. You know what I mean? So I think, I think obviously, like, and, and for me personally, as a woman, like, you know, to me, there's no, like, I mean, if I'd have connected with you, we didn't make it, like, you know what I mean? So to, for me personally, I don't, I don't stress about that, I don't struggle with that, because I feel like

• 31:32Speaker 06

  I found mine forever early, and I feel very blessed about that, and, you know, he still puts it down like it was in college, so...

• 31:38Speaker 05

  Oh shit, that's what I'm talking about, girl. That's what I'm talking about.

• 31:41Speaker 06

  I'm like, I'm missing nothing.

• 31:42Channing Crowder?

  You still young, college rose?

• 31:43Speaker 06

  Yeah, he, he's still young.

• 31:45Channing Crowder?

  You, Chan?

• 31:45Speaker 05

  He's still showing out. Well, you gotta show out, bro.

• 31:49Speaker 06

  He's still showing out, so, I'm good.

• 31:51Speaker 05

  Hey, you got that drawer next to your bed with that stuff in it?

• 31:53Speaker 06

  Yeah, he has the drawer.

• 31:54Speaker 05

  He got, he got a drawer?

• 31:58Channing Crowder?

  I got so many goddamn battery powered things in that drawer, it's stupid.

• 32:13Speaker 06

  We've taken another pivot, we've taken another.

• 32:15Speaker 03

  It always goes here, it's so cool.

• 32:17Channing Crowder?

  Ross, we done kept Duracell in business.

• 32:22Speaker 06

  Charlie, how long you been married?

• 32:24Channing Crowder?

  Uh, 11, we just did 11. And on our 11th anniversary, we went to a nude resort in Mexico.

• 32:31Speaker 06

  What?

• 32:31Channing Crowder?

  Yes.

• 32:32Speaker 06

  And y'all were both nude?

• 32:33Channing Crowder?

  Yeah, walking around, everything hanging.

• 32:36Speaker 06

  Really?

• 32:36Channing Crowder?

  Yep. Only problem is when we, when, when you go at meals.

• 32:41Speaker 06

  Yes.

• 32:42Channing Crowder?

  I don't want your balls over my eggs. Like, you gotta get dressed when we eat. But, yeah, man, it's cool, yeah, yeah, we, but we keep it fresh. Like, yeah, man, I can, man, I can take y'all some stuff. It's crazy.

• 32:55Fred Taylor?

  I need some new tricks, it's been 19 years, I'm getting, I gotta need some new tricks, man.

• 32:59Channing Crowder?

  Man, jump off, jump off the nice thing, bro.

• 33:04Fred Taylor?

  He'll turn this into the rated R fest. So, I'm usually, he's a curator, moderator, and I sometimes have to bring it back. But we can, but we can always have fun. But, uh, you guys, man, just amazing couple. Five Olympic goals.

• 33:19Speaker 06

  Four goals.

• 33:19Fred Taylor?

  Four goals.

• 33:20Speaker 06

  Four goals, one.

• 33:22Fred Taylor?

  Four goal, you, you work your ass off. Two Super Bowl rings and a Jim Thorpe trophy. I'm sure a lot of other, um, precious medals around the house. Did y'all know, did you know that the gold medals weren't gold?

• 33:34Speaker 06

  I did, so they were gold.

• 33:35Fred Taylor?

  We just learned that, we had Caitlyn on.

• 33:37Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 33:37Fred Taylor?

  Caitlyn Jenner.

• 33:38Speaker 06

  They used to be gold, and then they're now gold plated. And then what they did was, they make them bigger. So like ours, like it's funny, my first one in 04 is significantly smaller than my 2008, 2012 ones. I just kinda threw that out there a little bit, but.

• 33:51Speaker 03

  Yeah, we heard it.

• 33:52Speaker 06

  Yeah, okay.

• 33:52Speaker 03

  He said a decade.

• 33:55Speaker 06

  But yeah, they're gold plated, so they're not gold all the way through, which I think is not right after all this work that we done did to get these. But y'all ain't paying, we don't get, we don't get paid at all to compete in the Olympics, which I think is insanity. All the money that's being made around the Olympics, even the frickin' starters making money. It's like, how do the people who are bringing, I mean, that's a, I could talk about that forever. But I'm like, at least we can get some gold.

• 34:19Ryan Clark?

  When you say, when you say the starter, that's the dude shooting the gun you talking about? Yeah, you gotta make more than him.

• 34:23Speaker 06

  Yeah, we should make more than him. You make money off your contract, so Nike, whoever your sponsor is, they'll pay you for your bonuses. But to actually show up to the event, you don't make any money, which I think is bizarre. I mean, the NBC contract, billions of dollars, the Nike contract, billions of dollars being, you know.

• 34:39Fred Taylor?

  Is there anyone in the sport, though, that's an advocate for wage increase?

• 34:43Speaker 06

  Yeah, oh my God, like, in 20, in 2012, I'll never forget, I spoke out about this. I was like, this needs to change. The Olympics no longer features amateur athletes. These are professional, this is what we do full time. Before the Olympics, they were amateur athletes, they were young people, you know what I mean? But that has been years ago. So I spoke out, I said, listen, athletes need to be getting paid. We had this campaign that I initiated with Track and Field, we demand change. You would not believe the response from especially Americans when I did that. They were, I mean, they were like, if you don't want to run for our country, go do something. Like, they killed us. And I'm just like, you don't work for free, sir? You're not going up there to Dale and saying, you know what, I just love this country. Dale, you can have my time. Nobody's doing that.

• 35:25Speaker 06

  So why is it that you think that I somehow don't love the country or I'm not a good citizen if I want to get paid for the hours and hours of work that I'm putting into my sport? So what I think is that people have been thinking like that for so long. They're not taking the time to say, okay, hold up, wait a minute. What are they really doing? How are they living? Like, you wouldn't want your heroes that you're watching, you got the flag at home, you're celebrating. These people are working at McDonald's, they're working at Home Depot, they can't pay their bills. It's like, so yeah, you know, you advocate for it, but the pushback is so severe.

• 35:55Fred Taylor?

  It's equivalent to shut up in drill war, shut up in play.

• 35:58Speaker 06

  Yes, yes, exactly.

• 35:59Fred Taylor?

  It's the exact same thing, but you, you put in the work, you're well deserving of it. Back to the trophies, right? Back to the trophies, real quick.

• 36:07Ryan Clark?

  Welcome to the show, guys.

• 36:09Fred Taylor?

  You guys got a lot of, like, that's amazing what you guys were able to accomplish. How do you store that, like, in the house? Safe deposit, safe? I mean, I don't want, I hope we ain't got no robbers or nobody crazy watching the show, but that's a lot of precious metal.

• 36:24Speaker 05

  In our home, before we got here, we, we had a trophy case where we would keep them. But, um, since we moved here, we keep them in a drawer.

• 36:33Speaker 06

  Unceremoniously, in a drawer, it's a disgrace.

• 36:35Speaker 05

  Closet, wherever.

• 36:36Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 36:37Speaker 05

  And my mom actually keep my, my Thorpe Award. Uh, when I won the Thorpe Award, I actually, when they presented it to me, I presented it to her.

• 36:46Speaker 06

  Yeah, I would like to, it's, it's funny because I feel like when you get to certain place in your life, it's like the trophies were cool, but it's like the journey, the experience, it's the memories, you know? So it's like at first you want them all there, and now it's like, you know, it's just like, they were cool to have, but it's like, man, what we did to get there, I think means more to us. So I keep telling Ross, I'm gonna do something with the office and put them up, but it just hasn't really been a priority for us.

• 37:06Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, you can, you know, it's crazy, it's like, they don't really understand what we do with, with our Super Bowl rings, or our gold medals and stuff like that, like, they don't, like, whether we, like, whether we store them, or if we ever look at them, but you know, when, when you put in the work to get those things.

• 37:24Fred Taylor?

  You just put it to the side? This is the thing, I, I did fall short of a Super Bowl ring. But, but I have some precious stuff that, you know, through my hard work. Three SEC championships, a national, you love your national championship ring, right? You know what I'm saying? So I work my ass off for it, so I appreciate it. Where are they now? I gotta ask my mom. She controls everything, you know, I got a Hall of Fame ring from Florida, a few other things. I mean, I got stuff, bro, I got stuff.

• 37:53Speaker 06

  My bad, man.

• 37:54Ryan Clark?

  I ain't got shit. Yeah, you terrible, yeah. Ross, so when I, I slid in Ross DMs, by the way, like, this is how all this happened, I slid in your man DMs, right?

• 38:02Speaker 06

  I, I'll allow it, I'll allow it.

• 38:04Ryan Clark?

  And at the time, at the time, I didn't know you were gonna be on Real Housewives.

• 38:09Speaker 06

  Oh, that's right.

• 38:10Ryan Clark?

  Like, I didn't know at all, like, it was, it was literally like, we were Having discussions about how to move the show forward. And I was like, man.

• 38:17Speaker 06

  And you know what, real quick, I gotta say this, cuz you guys have given us so much credit. This show is amazing. What y'all are doing is incredible. Creating this platform and traveling, like it's, y'all deserve a moment of.

• 38:28Ryan Clark?

  Oh, thank you so much. That means, that means a lot, especially coming from, from, from both of you guys. Thank you so much. And so, you know, you're on Real Housewives of Atlanta now.

• 38:40Ryan Clark?

  What kind of like housewife are you?

• 38:43Speaker 06

  What kind of housewife?

• 38:43Ryan Clark?

  You know what I mean, like are we, are we, right, cuz every time I see you, you laid, you, you dressed.

• 38:48Speaker 06

  Oh, thank you.

• 38:49Ryan Clark?

  You can't, you can't walk around the house in them heels then.

• 38:53Speaker 06

  So what, you mean what kind of real housewife am I? Not like on the show, but like.

• 38:56Ryan Clark?

  I'm, yeah, like.

• 38:57Speaker 06

  I mean, cuz I, I mean, I'm the same on both, but, uh.

• 39:02Speaker 06

  You should probably ask my husband. Babe, what kind of housewife am I?

• 39:05Channing Crowder?

  You better answer that question. Listen, we want y'all to be happy tonight. We don't, we don't want y'all leaving pivot and be arguing at each other.

• 39:12Speaker 06

  We don't want you to wear that shit.

• 39:17Channing Crowder?

  Got the damn bonnet on.

• 39:22Speaker 06

  Bonnet!

• 39:25Channing Crowder?

  When you, when you wake up and they got that little silk shit on their head, that ain't sexy. Take that shit off your head, I'm a.

• 39:31Speaker 06

  But you want me to look like this right now, right? So I gotta rock my bonnet. Oh my goodness, this is funny.

• 39:39Ryan Clark?

  Hey, we, cuz y'all had y'all, y'all had your own show.

• 39:41Speaker 06

  We did.

• 39:42Ryan Clark?

  At one point, and then, and now you're on, uh, The Real Housewives of Atlanta. What are the, like, dynamics and relationships like on a show like that?

• 39:51Speaker 06

  On the show, um, so, first of all, I never thought I'd be on Housewives of Atlanta. Like, I, after I did my own show, I kinda always let the door open to the reality TV. I actually really liked the experience. But, never thought I'd be on Housewives of Atlanta. I mean, one, cuz I didn't live in Atlanta. So it's like, such a big stretch. But um, so what I love about this season of the show, and like I told my husband, because obviously he had some reservations when we first started this conversation. Yeah, I was coming, I was gonna ask that question. About joining the show. Obviously, they say there's like a relationship curse, and I was like, we solid. We got a, we got a foundation, most people don't have. Um, but you know, but, so I had only met one of the ladies prior to starting the film, Drew Sodora, and then everybody else I was meeting on the show.

• 40:30Speaker 06

  And so, it's crazy because you're going into this situation that, you know, like, it's an iconic show. A lot of them already have existing relationships, so you're trying to build real meaningful relationships, while also being authentic, being, you know, and you meet people for the first time and just, ah! It's like, you know, you gotta kind of ease in, but I'm on a show, so I need to be, ah! You know, it's like, it's a lot, so, um, but I loved it, I loved the experience, I loved getting to know the ladies. We, obviously, like, our relationships kind of ebb and flow, and I know, I hope people will watch it, um, that like, you know, that watch reality TV. But, the dynamics, I felt, were very real this season, and I felt like we really were trying to build meaningful relationships, while also, you know what I mean, like, you know, so if somebody say something, you gotta respond, you gotta, you know, bring that part of it.

• 41:14Speaker 06

  But, um, yeah, I'm in a good spot with most of the ladies right now, and I really enjoyed the experience.

• 41:19Ryan Clark?

  Ross, you guys, you know, with what you've done for, for a living, it's not like you're new to the spotlight. But this is definitely like a different level of, of spotlight, you know, you, you were seeing so many times. Not even necessarily the relationship curse, but the fact that people start digging into your life when they see you on TV, they want to see, oh, is this, is this really how she is? Is Erin really as solid as, you know, as, as Sonya is making him every time he's on the show? Because like, that, that's real life. What, what were some of your reservations of her going into the show?

• 41:53Speaker 05

  I think the main thing was, was the, the whole curse, and, um, just me, us having the experience before to do the reality show, I would bump heads with the producers all the time. Because they would try to get us to do things that wasn't us, and causing conflict that wasn't true. Um, and I wasn't with it, so.

• 42:16Speaker 00

  This episode is brought to you by Michelob Ultra. Good times mean competitions between you and your friends. Like seeing who can throw some pigskin the farthest, or rush the field the fastest. Winner gets an ultra. Because it's not just a superior light beer, it's also giving fans superior access to their favorite sporting events. Superior is worth playing for. Visit michelobultra.com/superioraccess to enter. Enjoy responsibly. Copyright 2026 Anheuser Busch InBev Michelob Ultra Beer, St. Louis, Missouri.

• 42:45Speaker 05

  I felt like that was gonna be the same thing once we entered that world. So that was my biggest reservation. Then I asked to talk to the producers and kinda got a understanding with them. And I guess they told me what I needed to hear.

• 43:01Speaker 07

  Right, right, right.

• 43:03Speaker 05

  And then that's when we decided to do it. But for the most part, it was, it was good. I think my biggest, I guess, obstacle to get, get past was, I like to know people's story. And with not having a chance to meet the fellas, the husbands, before filming, it's hard to just go in and just talk to, for me, to go in and just talk to somebody and not really know their story. So I found myself always kinda, hey, they're talking about this and they trying to move the script along.

• 43:39Speaker 07

  Right.

• 43:39Speaker 06

  It's not a script, move the conversation.

• 43:41Speaker 05

  Move the conversation along.

• 43:43Speaker 06

  There's no script.

• 43:43Ryan Clark?

  He about to get us, he about to get the whole show.

• 43:45Speaker 06

  Yeah, yeah, there's no script.

• 43:47Ryan Clark?

  I'm listening to her, she was like, I'm good with most of the women. And I was like, shoot, you good with candy? You cool with, you cool with, like, you cool with candy? Like, who, who you, like, honestly though, what were you?

• 43:56Channing Crowder?

  But the drama, though, I, I say you get into the drama of it. Like, do y'all let that affect y'all's relationship? Because we, we, me and my wife, we had some, some reality TV type stuff too. And I will cuss somebody the [__] out. And that's what you were kinda saying, like, you know, you had, you bumped heads. Bruh, Ross, you, you could, you bumped heads. Like, that's called cussing somebody out. With that experience, but, but, but do, do those reality shows put pressure on y'all's relationship? Unneeded pressure, to be honest, in my opinion.

• 44:28Speaker 06

  I mean, I felt like this season, no. Because the thing about the show that I really liked was they really want you to be yourself. Like, they're not, like, they're like, "What's going on with you guys?" And they really want to dig into, like, what's really happening. And so, I felt like we shared our reality. Like, the issues on the show was like, were like our real issues. And, you know, my prayer the whole time, I said, "Lord," like, I was excited about this opportunity, but I said, "Protect my family." Like, I'll deal with the relationship with the girls afterwards, but protect my husband, protect my kids. And we, I felt like we got closer throughout the process of this show, so...

• 44:56Ryan Clark?

  I was shocked.

• 44:57Speaker 06

  Yeah, it really was, it was a good experience for us.

• 44:59Ryan Clark?

  You know, you look at, like you said, the, the, the relationships of it all. And all we see is like the finished product. You know, we don't, we don't know what the true relationships are. But, you know, we've seen people get tried on these shows. Right? And, and, nah, this is, I'm going, I'm leading up to somewhere, right? I'm leading up to somewhere, right? It's a different thing to like, try a lady who was in beauty pageants her whole life. Uh, try a lady who was just kicking it with Jermaine Dupri back in the day. And to try an Olympic gold medalist with very long limbs, so she got to reach. From, from Broward County. You want this? Did you, did you ever have some of those moments where you felt like,

• 45:42Ryan Clark?

  "Hold on, let me stand up and let y'all know, like, this ain't no game."

• 45:46Speaker 06

  Yeah, yeah, definitely. There were two times during the show where I felt like I just had to let them know, like... And it's funny, because y'all, I've been here for what, 20, 30 minutes? I don't lead with my four Olympic gold medals or none of that stuff. Like, I, I love, I love meeting people, I love being around people. Um, but, you know, somebody was act, you know, said, I don't want to give it away, because the episode has an air jet. But, you know, she was acting like I wasn't supposed to be at a table. I said, "Last I checked, I'm the only one that's probably be at this table." What are we, what are we talking about? And, like I said, it's not really in my nature to have to tell nobody, like, "Hold on, sis." So, yes, I do feel like there were moments on the show where I had to let them know. Because some of them maybe didn't know.

• 46:29Speaker 06

  You know, maybe they weren't sports fans, maybe they're not tuned in, so... Put some respect on my name. So yeah, but there were those moments. And then the thing about the show that's also tricky too is sometimes you leave a situation, you're like, damn, I wish I'd have said this, I wish I'd have done that. But I think that's real life too, right? Like, I'm gonna leave this, and everyone be like, damn, I should have told him this, I should have said that, you know? So there were those moments for sure, but um, but yeah, you know, and then of course, I read out in Jamaica in patois, I came out to have a course, somebody else had to tell about themselves, and I did that too.

• 46:59Speaker 06

  You know, you get a lot, you get a lot.

• 47:03Channing Crowder?

  No, I go to Jamaica once a year. I love my Jamaica.

• 47:06Fred Taylor?

  That patois, you get a lot of that? We all fuss and all of that, she come at you like?

• 47:11Speaker 05

  Yeah, that's normally how she talks, yeah.

• 47:14Speaker 06

  And it's funny because he's half Jamaican, like sometimes I'll talk to him, I'll be like, how do he understand all what we just said? And he just right with it. He's a Jafakin.

• 47:22Speaker 05

  Nineteen years.

• 47:24Ryan Clark?

  Hey, yeah, you know Ross, man, like, you know, we are, we are sitting in this spot and we bought you guys on as a couple, right? Uh, obviously because of Real Housewives and different things and, you know, we've been talking about some of her accomplishments and where she is. Like, you're accomplished in yourself. And so now that you've moved, you know, to Freddie calls it your second career. Freddie doesn't call it retirement.

• 47:52Speaker 05

  Yeah, no such thing.

• 47:54Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, like, what are your, what are your passions? Obviously, you've been a great husband, you're a great man, great father, you were a great athlete.

• 48:00Speaker 05

  You beat the goat twice in the Super Bowl.

• 48:03Speaker 06

  Yes, yes, yes!

• 48:06Ryan Clark?

  Like, like now, where do you, where do you find that, that drive or that thing that, that makes Aaron go?

• 48:13Speaker 05

  Um, first of all, first off is my son. Um, it starts, it starts with, of course, my family, but my son, I'm raising him to be a better me. So every single day, I try to work on me becoming a better me. So that's my drive from the beginning. But right now, um, being, becoming an entrepreneur, that kinda helped me get out of that, that depression phase that I, that I went through, um.

• 48:42Speaker 05

  Going into my second career. So having been able to build something, build a team, get all of the stuff that I learned from sports and kind of build a team and see it, set a goal and see yourself accomplished each year. And that became my passion. And then now it's just mentoring kids. Me and my homeboy that I've been knowing since high school, we have a foundation, Brand of a Champion, and it's kind of geared towards like helping kids succeed outside of football. We go with the football angle, but we try to,

• 49:25Speaker 05

  we know there's only less than 1% of us that's gonna make it to the NFL.

• 49:29Channing Crowder?

  Right.

• 49:29Speaker 05

  So we try to prepare them for life without football. And right now, we're actually taking them on a tour. I missed today there in Alabama right now. But I'mma fly out, we go to Jackson State, North Carolina, taking them to Texas, doing a little college tours. And now we got a team of financial advisors to where once they reach a place of getting some money, they won't feel like I felt. Handing your money over to a financial advisor that you have no idea about and you just gotta trust his words. So all the things that I've experienced along my journey, we've kind of put that in the foundation and building what we call a brand of a champion.

• 50:14Channing Crowder?

  So from a wife's perspective, did you see that? You said depress- I'mma use your words, bro. You said depression. Did you see that and how did you help him through that?

• 50:24Speaker 06

  100%. It was tough. It was really tough because my husband is, if I say the one thing that people say like, how would I describe him? It's like he has this joy, you know? Like my husband will laugh about anything. I'll come home with the worst news and he'll just laugh. And I'm like, this shit is not funny. Not funny, like. But it just always, for me, it was always like, because for me, everything is a 10. It's like the world is ending. This is it. We're gonna go see Jesus. And he's like, no babe, like, you know, it's just, the car will start again. Don't worry. This is just probably just the battery. And um, and so he had lost that. He had lost that joy that um, and it was probably about two or three years. He wouldn't even watch football, wouldn't watch sports.

• 51:10Fred Taylor?

  Two or three years?

• 51:11Speaker 06

  Yes.

• 51:12Fred Taylor?

  I didn't even know it.

• 51:13Speaker 06

  He didn't even know it?

• 51:14Fred Taylor?

  I didn't even know it.

• 51:15Speaker 06

  Yeah. And um, and he, so he started the, he was talking about entrepreneurship. He started the chauffeur company, a chauffeur service in Austin. And I think it just kept him moving, right? Like he's doing something, but he was just kind of going through the motions. And um, you know, shortly after Ross retired, I retired. And um, and so, uh, but the thing, so the difference with football, which is tough. Like there's a lot of advantages that you guys have playing in, you know, that kind of situation. But it's also tough because you don't get to choose when you retire, right? It's subjective, somebody else got to want you. In track and field, I chose when I retired, you know? Like I was able to say, okay, this is gonna be my last year. So I think it, it's different with how the mind can accept something like that. And so I just, you know, I just tried to show up for him as much as I could.

• 51:57Speaker 06

  And I just kept trying to drill into him that he was just so much more than a football player. And all that he brought to the world in sports, he could bring it to the world in something else. I always say greatness is not fleeting, it lives in us. So if you are great in one thing, you could be great in something else. It's just how you choose to apply yourself. And so, you know, I think for me, I just never wanted to point out that he was like, you know, sad. I just like kind of maneuvered around it and just tried to point out the things that he should be grateful for and that we are so blessed about. And then it wasn't until he kind of came out of his depression, he was looking back like, damn, I must not have been no fun to be around. I was like, bruh, for two years, bruh.

• 52:33Speaker 06

  It was how we were this, this ghost. Exactly, exactly. Six hundred days, I was like, yeah.

• 52:39Fred Taylor?

  How, how much of that was uh, being that both of you guys were away from your professional careers? And now you're spending more time together and really working on family?

• 52:49Speaker 06

  Yes.

• 52:49Fred Taylor?

  Yeah, a lot of that had to do with it.

• 52:51Speaker 06

  Yes, like one of the things that we, our big, one of our big issues in our marriage, which you'll see play out in the show, if you watch the show, is baby number two. So Ross and I haven't had a second child on purpose. Because so Ross and I both retired, which we already talked about, that's devastating in itself. We're in the house together every day, which. That's different.

• 53:10Fred Taylor?

  That's different.

• 53:11Speaker 06

  And you see, the thing is not only like with y'all, with y'all wives. We were both gone. Like, I've been Europe for months. So it's like, when we were together, and I think that was a part of the spice of our marriage, was like, we were gone from each other from us when we were together. Yeah, we didn't argue.

• 53:23Speaker 05

  You didn't even got flewed out.

• 53:24Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 53:26Speaker 06

  Yes. I was being flewed out constantly. So, so, you know, so, so we're doing, there were so many changes. And then we had our son. And I mean, that was like a tornado hit the relationship. Because like 14 years of just us two. We know how we move, we know how we like. And then it's like, oh, hold up, hold up. This is how I need you to support me now. So we haven't had a second son or a second child because it was so tough on our relationship during that time. And I don't think either one of us took into account all of the things that happened at one time to make it so hard on our marriage. And so, you know, I told my husband, I'm like, I don't know. Like, we finally got back to a good place, probably a year or two ago. Communicating well, you know, finding our groove. He want to have another baby. I'm like, are you sure? Do you remember what last time was like when?

• 54:11Speaker 05

  I tell her all the time, is, is, yes, those things were on the table. But I think our biggest challenge was, um, we didn't know, we didn't agree with how each other wanted to parent. I think that was our biggest, um, issue that, that.

• 54:27Ryan Clark?

  In what ways you think you didn't agree?

• 54:28Speaker 05

  Just, just, um, I guess, man are from Venus, um, Mars and women are from Venus. So she, she thought she was gonna be a certain type of parent, a strict parent. And I'm, I'm more of a disciplinary. I feel like I'm, with having a boy, I'm teaching constantly. I'm teaching and raising a man. I feel like she's raising, it's like my mom. She's raising her baby. And I know if the tables turn, if I had a girl, I'll be the same way. The girl fall 10 times, I'm gonna pick up all 10. Doos, my son, fall 10 times, I might pick him up once, maybe twice. Depending on how he cry.

• 55:10Speaker 05

  So we didn't really, um, connect on a lot of the things to where it can get as small as how to change his diaper. And, um, things where she wanted support on, support on, I wanted to do it my way. She wanted me to do it another way. And I think without lack of communication. We just kinda, alright, when I got deuce, I'ma raise him how I raise him. She have deuce, she raise him how she raise him. Instead of us figuring it out, getting in the, being in the trenches together, and really figuring it out, how, how we're gonna maneuver. And we, I think that was our biggest, biggest comment.

• 55:46Channing Crowder?

  That's a big part of a relationship, though. Cause that adds something to it. Y'all figured it out now, though?

• 55:51Speaker 03

  Yeah.

• 55:51Speaker 06

  Yeah. We did. But he, see, he's, it's so funny perspective because, like, when we talk about the issues that I, that I felt were in the early phase of, of us having a son. As a Jamaican, we used to have someone, we would call them a helper. Americans, you guys kinda call them nannies. But the reason Jamaica called them helpers is because the baby's not their primary role. Right? They really are helping the mom. So they come, they do laundry, all that kinda stuff. So I was like, when we have a baby, we're getting a helper. Like, this is what happens in Jamaica. He's like, I don't want nobody living in the house with us. That's like, it gets normal after a while. Like, and he's like, no, I don't want that. I don't want that.

• 56:25Channing Crowder?

  I'm, I'm.

• 56:25Speaker 05

  Get somebody.

• 56:27Speaker 06

  That, hold on, hold, thank you. Camera, babe, babe. So he says to me, Channing, listen. Well, well, stay here with me, Channing. Stay here with me. Stay here with me.

• 56:38Speaker 05

  We right here, listen. Let me turn my baby on.

• 56:41Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, I feel, I feel bad that you said it. Now, I feel like, man, I was out here slave driving.

• 56:46Speaker 05

  We Real House, we Real Housewives of the Pivot right now.

• 56:49Speaker 06

  Yes.

• 56:51Speaker 06

  So, listen, so he tells, Channing, he tells me he gonna be in the trenches with me. He's like, oh, what do I be in the trenches with you for the first six months? Then we can get somebody. And I'm in the trench, and I'm like,

• 57:03Speaker 06

  where is my husband in the trench?

• 57:05Ryan Clark?

  He ain't got no titties.

• 57:06Speaker 06

  He ain't got no titties.

• 57:10Speaker 06

  Well, then you should've got somebody that can.

• 57:14Speaker 06

  Facts.

• 57:15Speaker 03

  He, yeah, yeah.

• 57:16Speaker 06

  Friends, facts.

• 57:16Channing Crowder?

  He can't do that. But yeah, two, every, every two hours waking up, like, it's a lot, I got three, we got three kids, but yeah.

• 57:22Speaker 06

  It was tough. And so I think that, that caused, that caused the issues because it was like, I was like, man, like, if I, I didn't feel like he was doing what he said he was gonna do. And then I feel like sometimes men, I don't, I hate overgeneralizing, but, it's like, even the small things, I'm telling you, I'm like, this is important to me. He's like, stay up with me for an hour when I'm breastfeeding this time. And he's like, what's the point of me staying up? We're gonna both be tired. Yes. That's the trenches.

• 57:44Ryan Clark?

  I want both of us to be tired.

• 57:46Speaker 06

  I want us both to be tired. That's the trenches, sir.

• 57:48Speaker 03

  I'm in the thick of it.

• 57:52Ryan Clark?

  What's so crazy, though, is because it's a different dynamic, though. Right? Like, you guys' lives changed dramatically, very fast. Like you said, you were used to being in Europe or, you know, competing for this amount of time. You've always trained and worked and played. And so not only were those things over, but it was like, we got this little human.

• 58:15Speaker 06

  Yes.

• 58:15Ryan Clark?

  You know, and it's so crazy, you know, what you said about if you had a girl. Because I have two girls and I have a son. And like, I was really hard on my son. You know, and I would always get it, like, why you act like that with him? Like, you're not like that with the girls. I say, well, they don't ever have to run a household, right? They don't ever have to be able to lead a household in that manner, right? And I was like, and they don't have to take care of people. You know, I was like, I used to make him do certain things. Like, he'd have to get up every, my son plays at Arizona State now, but he'd have to get up.

• 58:44Speaker 06

  Wait, wait, wait, wait. You have a son that's how old?

• 58:45Ryan Clark?

  I have a daughter that's graduated from college.

• 58:47Speaker 06

  What?

• 58:48Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, she graduated from LSU.

• 58:49Speaker 06

  I thought you were talking about four-year-olds, five-year-olds, six-year-olds?

• 58:52Ryan Clark?

  No, yeah, I was getting busy early. Yeah, I was getting busy.

• 58:55Channing Crowder?

  He didn't know what a condom was when he was in high school.

• 58:59Ryan Clark?

  Actually, not true. Why do you attribute this way?

• 59:01Speaker 06

  What? You had your first kid in high school?

• 59:03Ryan Clark?

  No, he's, I was 19. I was in college.

• 59:05Channing Crowder?

  But you were skee-.

• 59:05Speaker 06

  Oh, but that's close to high school, though.

• 59:07Ryan Clark?

  I was a sophomore by that point. You know what I mean?

• 59:10Channing Crowder?

  I didn't have, I didn't have unprotected sex till I was 24, 25. That's a lie.

• 59:17Ryan Clark?

  That's why I said, okay. I didn't know if you wanted that to be on the record or the pivot.

• 59:21Channing Crowder?

  My hips are quick, though.

• 59:27Ryan Clark?

  Hey, that boy, glue's getting tight.

• 59:30Channing Crowder?

  Oh, hold it. That tingled, that tingled now. You gotta get up out of there.

• 59:34Ryan Clark?

  Hey, I was trying to make a good point, man.

• 59:36Channing Crowder?

  My bad, my bad. I'm sorry.

• 59:38Ryan Clark?

  I was trying to make a good point about raising kids.

• 59:40Channing Crowder?

  Because what I'm thinking about.

• 59:44Ryan Clark?

  No, I was just, but I was just basically, I was basically saying, though, like, I had that same issue in raising my son. And it was different in my household because it got to. To be compared to how I treated my girls. And I was like, you know, I'm gonna be the first, I'm gonna be the first man that loves them. I'm gonna be the first man that hugs on them. I'm gonna be the first man they ever see get angry about something. I said, I need them to know what that's supposed to look like from someone who would give their life for you.

• 1:00:08Speaker 05

  Exactly.

• 1:00:08Ryan Clark?

  Right? And I said, but my son, like, it's, it's a totally different thing. I was like, you know, there are gonna be some times he wants something, or his family wants something or needs something, where he gonna have to do things he doesn't wanna do. And I was like, I want him to be used to it. I don't want him to feel like I have to stretch and do this to provide for my loved ones. I want him to know that that's part of it. And so, and so I get that. How, how did you guys finally come to a resolution though?

• 1:00:34Speaker 05

  I think it just, it kinda happened. I think, um, we got tired of fighting with each other. And, um, I think it just, she kinda let go and let me be a father. And I just let her be, be the mom. And then we started, what, what our foundation is, is based on is support. And we saw that we, we were lacking that. And I think that's when we kinda came together and was like, alright, baby. I'm ready to listen now. What you need?

• 1:01:03Speaker 03

  Right.

• 1:01:04Speaker 05

  And then, uh, we had an open line of communication. And, um, and I think what really opened it up, we were able to, able to be raw. Cause all I would hear is you being a bad father. And that wasn't what she was telling me. She was saying you're not being a supportive husband. And, um, I think vice versa. She, she thought I was saying she was being a bad mom and that's not what I was saying. So, I think that's, that was the, the main thing, how we kinda came together and things start working out. How we like it.

• 1:01:36Channing Crowder?

  Like, I never, I never went through depression when I retired because all I did was play for money. Like, all, I, my whole goal was to make my, I've told, I've told the story before, like, and they told me, like, Freddie's gonna be a Hall of Famer. RC wanted to be, like, you know what I'm saying? Like, I don't know what you play for. I didn't give six [BLEEP] about going to Hall of Fame. All I wanna do was make as much possible money from these people as I can before my body breaks down. And that was my thing. So that depression, like, did, did it affect y'all's, like, physical life?

• 1:02:09Channing Crowder?

  You asked that very nicely, man. I'm very proud of you.

• 1:02:11Speaker 06

  That sex life?

• 1:02:12Channing Crowder?

  The sex life, like...

• 1:02:13Fred Taylor?

  Is that a sign, like, was Ross not Rossin? Like, he was doing in college? I mean, I don't know.

• 1:02:21Channing Crowder?

  You jump out the boat and you showing out. Baby pose. And then...

• 1:02:30Channing Crowder?

  And then now y'all sitting there missionary breathing on each other.

• 1:02:33Fred Taylor?

  Channing just happened.

• 1:02:38Speaker 05

  These boys crazy, man.

• 1:02:40Fred Taylor?

  You say two years at least, right?

• 1:02:42Speaker 06

  Yeah, it was for sure two years.

• 1:02:43Fred Taylor?

  Might have been three. I couldn't watch ball for three years. At all. I just couldn't do it.

• 1:02:49Speaker 06

  I'm gonna say this. I feel like my husb... Like, these two things on my husband aren't connected, really. So, I don't really feel like there was a major drop off. I feel like that probably was like the highlight of the date.

• 1:03:02Fred Taylor?

  That was a stress relief. That helped me out.

• 1:03:08Channing Crowder?

  That was the football game, nah.

• 1:03:12Channing Crowder?

  Put his shit strap on, he walking into that room. I don't know what to do with life, but...

• 1:03:21Channing Crowder?

  Hey, well, you know what?

• 1:03:23Fred Taylor?

  Let me go back.

• 1:03:25Speaker 06

  Let me go back to that movie, Ron.

• 1:03:29Fred Taylor?

  Nah, it's really, um... It really... It's really amazing for me. Because when you see, you know, Channing say he loves love. Certainly black love. And to see two very highly accomplished, you know, black individuals, black couple. You know, there are times when stress, you know, jealousy, or... You know, you trying to be the star of the household, or vice versa. These things can come into play. You know, and lead to, you know, you guys being in court, or whatever it might be. But to see you guys still standing strong on, you know, what you set out to do back in 03, you said?

• 1:04:05Speaker 06

  Yeah.

• 1:04:05Fred Taylor?

  03? I think it's a beautiful thing, man. And Ryan usually rap. I appreciate you guys for joining us and pivoting with us, man. Nothing but success and blessings.

• 1:04:16Ryan Clark?

  Thank you. Thank you so much because you know, you kind of never know how some things are going to work out. Like I said, it's our first time having an opportunity to be with a couple. Y'all laughed with us. There was a point I thought we were about to cry. And too though, the things that you shared and the reason we do this show is to help other people. And there's going to be somebody that's going through what you went through. There's going to be somebody that's going through what you went through. Somebody that's going through what you guys are going through together. And you are truly an inspiration to say, man, to walk on a campus, bro, and be like number five. And for her to see you and be like, say, say Brown, come over here. And for y'all to still be standing, man, is a testament to who you both are as people and how you love one another.

• 1:05:00Ryan Clark?

  So, man, thank y'all for pivoting with us. Yay. Y'all are our first couple. Woo, woo, woo. And y'all have set the, hey, y'all have set the bar very high, very high. Appreciate y'all. Thank you guys so much. Appreciate y'all, my dog.

• 1:05:15Fred Taylor?

  Appreciate you, buddy.

• 1:05:16Ryan Clark?

  That was great. Thank y'all so much. Y'all were amazing. Thank you so much. We appreciate it.

• 1:05:24Ryan Clark?

  Thank you so much, guys.