StarTalk Playing with Science – The Big Game Special Edition feat. Neil deGrasse Tyson

SERIES PREMIERE SPECIAL EDITION: This special edition of the series premier of our new podcast, Playing with Science, features additional content by Neil deGrasse Tyson before and after the show. In between, hosts Gary O’Reilly & Chuck Nice huddle up for Sunday’s big game with Super Bowl champs Osi Umenyiora (NY Giants) & Santonio Holmes (Pittsburgh Steelers), astrophysicists Charles Liu & Neil deGrasse Tyson, & comic James L. Mattern.

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

• 0:11Gary O'Reilly?

  I'm Gary O'Reilly.

• 0:12Chuck Nice?

  I'm Chuck Nice.

• 0:13Gary O'Reilly?

  This is Playing with Science. Today, we're taking a good, long look at the big one. The once-a-year circus that has the whole world watching. And that's just the half-time show.

• 0:25Chuck Nice?

  Yeah, and if you're just lucky enough to get to play in this once-in-a-lifetime game, man, I gotta tell you, you're in a very elite crowd. Unless your name is Tom Grady, in which case this happens just about every single February.

• 0:39Gary O'Reilly?

  Get over it. To help steer us through the defensive line and take out that quarterback, we'll bring you two-time winner and former New York Giant, Ossie Aminura.

• 0:51Chuck Nice?

  Yes, and going for touchdown gold, we're also going to have another winner and MVP, former Steelers wide receiver, Santonio Holmes.

• 1:01Gary O'Reilly?

  And of course, we wouldn't be without our special teams. And our hot shot today is none other than astrophysicist Charles Liu, who'll break down some of the science behind the greatest show on earth. And trying desperately not to fumble on every play will be Chuck and myself. We make no promises.

• 1:19Chuck Nice?

  Wait, wait, did somebody just throw a flag?

• 1:20Gary O'Reilly?

  No, they didn't.

• 1:21Chuck Nice?

  Already?

• 1:22Gary O'Reilly?

  Oh, outrageous.

• 1:23Chuck Nice?

  All right, let's get this thing started. And to kick things off, our first string, which we got astrophysicist Chuck Liu, and we have the man himself, Super Bowl MVP, Santonio Holmes.

• 1:38Gary O'Reilly?

  Woo, woo!

• 1:39Chuck Nice?

  Yes. What's up, Santonio? How's it going, guys? Good to see you, man. Thanks for joining us.

• 1:44Gary O'Reilly?

  Doesn't get better than that, MVP.

• 1:46Chuck Nice?

  So, you know, what we're talking about in this show is basically the big game, what it's about, what it feels like. And of course, we can't talk about what it feels like to win a Super Bowl, so we had to bring in somebody who knows what it feels like to win a Super Bowl. From a Charlie Sheen standpoint, winning.

• 2:10Chuck Nice?

  What Santonio Holmes does, all I do is win, win, win no matter what. So, uh, before we get into like what it's, what it feels like and all that, Santonio and Chuck, what we want to do is take a look at what we're calling the Santonio Holmes Super Bowl winning drive. Yeah. Because man, it, it was all you. So, and then Chuck will, will let you break down some of the science behind what's going on, but it's not just one clip. We got to show like all the plays because the entire drive was basically just, uh, Roethlisberger playing a two man game with the man who was sitting right with us. So let's take a look. Catch. Yeah, exactly. That's basically it was a, it was a game of catch. It was a game of catch that won the Super Bowl. Let's take a look at it.

• 3:37Speaker 02

  To the corner of the end zone. Does he get both feet down? Left definitely. Did the right tap as well with control. You have that control, both feet down.

• 3:53Speaker 02

  I say yes, I say both feet in, both feet down and control of the ball. Amazing. Three partners in there. You've got three guys. He had it on the other side on the play before though. Right. The right foot is coming up, but it's down on the ground. Is it down on the ground? Does he toe tap it as he has control of the ball? He has control all the way through and that's the whole issue right there.

• 4:18Speaker 03

  After review, the receiver controlled the football, came down on both toes, inbound, touchdown.

• 4:26Chuck Nice?

  He made no apology for playing the whole of that.

• 4:29Speaker 02

  History.

• 4:30Chuck Nice?

  It's unbelievable. How long did it take you before you let go of that ball?

• 4:35Speaker 04

  Uh, I think when I got on the sideline, maybe.

• 4:38Chuck Nice?

  Yeah.

• 4:39Speaker 04

  I gave it to one of the guys that put up for me. But, uh, I mean, that was an amazing opportunity, you know, that we had to, to display greatness. Uh, and it was displayed, you know, by a team effort. Um, granted, it came down to making, you know, four big plays at the end of the game.

• 4:57Chuck Nice?

  Yeah.

• 4:58Speaker 04

  But that effort of our defense to, to, to, to give us an opportunity, you know, to get back in place.

• 5:04Chuck Nice?

  Yeah.

• 5:05Speaker 04

  They, they gave up a big play. The guy scored, uh, with 50 running down the middle of the field.

• 5:10Chuck Nice?

  Yeah.

• 5:11Speaker 04

  I think that allowed our offense enough time to, to get out there and just have fun.

• 5:16Chuck Nice?

  So now, you know, let me ask you, when, uh, when, when you're in the huddle, uh, does the play, is the play called to you all? You know, and, and so the last four plays of that drive, is, is that your number being called every single time?

• 5:30Speaker 04

  No, no.

• 5:30Chuck Nice?

  No?

• 5:31Speaker 04

  No.

• 5:31Chuck Nice?

  No? So when you get in the huddle, what's, what happens with Roethlisberger? He's not calling your number, so what happens?

• 5:37Speaker 04

  Uh, Bruce Arians, um, was our offensive coordinator at the time. And the way our offense was set up was to be on one side of the field, we're playing versus man to man. Other side of the field, we're playing versus zone. And depending on the play call and how those guys are set up, that's where Roethlisberger goes and, uh, makes, uh, his reads. And knowing that we had a, I want to say a rookie corner at the time in, uh, Dominique Rogers Carmody.

• 6:03Chuck Nice?

  Ah, yeah.

• 6:05Gary O'Reilly?

  Not anymore.

• 6:06Chuck Nice?

  Not anymore, but yes, you're right, at the time.

• 6:08Speaker 04

  He's, he's, he's definitely established himself, you know, as a, as a prolific, uh, cornerback in the NFL now.

• 6:13Chuck Nice?

  Yeah.

• 6:14Speaker 04

  Uh, but at that time, he was young and very aggressive. And, and you can see in the video that he wanted to make plays, uh, uh, uh, to try to stop, you know, our offense. But Roethlisberger with his famous pump fake, you know, kind of gave, gave me an opportunity to, to get open and find the, uh, soft zones for me to sit down in.

• 6:33Chuck Nice?

  So did.

• 6:34Gary O'Reilly?

  So once, once you hit the corner of the end zone with triple coverage, you thinking, there is no way this ball's going to land up in my arms.

• 6:41Speaker 04

  I've never even saw those guys on the football field. To be honest, uh, the minute, uh, the, the linebacker stuck his hand out and he just whiffed at me. Uh, I, I stumbled, you know, getting off the line because I thought he was gonna jam me up. And if he jammed me up, this play was.

• 6:57Chuck Nice?

  Yeah, the play, the play is over. If he, if he, if he gets you a little jam at the, at the line of scrimmage, it's done. You know, cause you don't, you don't have time to get to the back of the end zone then. So he gives you a little whiff, you get behind him. Now, i- i- it, it kinda looked like, you know, there was a lot of, you know, and I don't know if that's just drama, but there was a lot of like, did he get his feet down there? But the way you sat, once you caught the ball, you're sitting with your legs spread. You're crating, cradling the ball like it's a little infant. Your head is down, your teammates are hugging you. But you could tell right then and there that you knew for a fact that that was a catch and a touchdown. So what was going through your mind when you're sitting there in the back of the end zone,

• 7:42Chuck Nice?

  on, on the ground with your little baby football in your arms?

• 7:47Speaker 04

  The main thing was, uh, was thank you God that this opportunity came. It was because of a dream, you know, a, a, a young kid from a small town in Belle Glade, Florida, who believed that one day he wanted to win the Super Bowl. And I didn't care if I won three, four, or five, but I wanted a chance to win one. And playing in high school state championship games, uh, playing in the national championship game, and getting the ultimate gold opportunity to play in the Super Bowl, I couldn't ask for anything more. And my dream came true when the prayers were answered. That I just wanna win the Super Bowl and this time I have to do something. I have to do something that solidifies myself and my place, uh, in this football world that I have worked so hard, uh, to, to achieve.

• 8:32Gary O'Reilly?

  But you're taking it a level further because that catch gives the Steelers. Six titles, that's a record that stands now. So, you know, the dream just got better and better and better.

• 8:44Chuck Nice?

  Let's jump into the science here, man.

• 8:45Gary O'Reilly?

  Yeah, let's get the background on what turned out to be the dream.

• 8:48Chuck Nice?

  Yeah, exactly. So Chuck, take a look and give us a little breakdown from a physics standpoint. When you are looking at a play, a pass play, and let's, let's kind of get right to the, uh, the touchdown pass. Because the touchdown pass is really the, the, the play that, uh, that, that has a lot of physics going on. So can you, can you take us through it? Like what is happening?

• 9:13Charles Liu?

  Here's my question for Mr. Holmes. Okay. From the physics point of view, what was going on there was a problem not just in jumping and touching, but in the rotation. Okay. Your feet were essentially the fulcrum for a big rotating system. Does that make sense? So you, your throw, Ben had to throw it high up so you could actually see what was going on. So the play really, and again, it's an amazing catch, Mr. Holmes. I really appreciate it. Uh, I enjoyed it so much when I watched it. Uh, it's really about angular momentum, right? Ben Roethlisberger had to throw the ball high enough and away enough from you that the defenders could not block it,

• 9:54Charles Liu?

  which meant that you had to reach out already. That means your body was already rotating. In other words, tilting downward and upward at this outward and upward and downward at the same time, while you had to keep your feet tucked down and touched down in order to make that catch. So you were reached out, you were already having this rotation that was going on, which would have carried you out of the end zone. And then the ball came and added an additional angular momentum vector, basically a torque to your whole body, which meant that you would be like acting like a lever and it could have pulled you out and off the ground. So my question to you was, did you feel that tug when the ball hit your hands?

• 10:38Charles Liu?

  And did you have to touch down with your feet specially, like twist your ankles, for example, to make sure to compensate for that additional added angular momentum? And if so, that is an amazing physical activity that you had to do in order to make that catch work?

• 10:55Speaker 04

  Uh, thank you. When I was in high school. I always thought, how can I play in the NFL? In, in order to make plays in the NFL, you always had to get two feet down and in bounds. So in high school and in college, I never followed the one foot rule to get my feet down and bounds. It was always about two. Coming to that particular play and even leading up until, you know, two years prior to that, uh, me joining the NFL, I'm pretty sure there are plays that I've made on the sideline where I toe tap toe tap here and there. To get to that point in the end zone, knowing that I had no room to move,

• 11:36Speaker 04

  that this was the only spot for me and to know Roethlisberger put that ball in the exact spot. I never felt myself come off the ground, but I actually thought that I stayed on the very tip of my toes.

• 11:49Gary O'Reilly?

  I can't hear him at all.

• 11:51Speaker 04

  But I do know that I, uh, after watching the video, saw that my feet came off the, off the ground elevated by, by inches. And to know that I was able to hit the ground before the defender was able to knock me out of bounds, uh, it all made, you know, that big of a difference.

• 12:12Chuck Nice?

  And is that, that's probably just, um, that's probably, you probably do that second nature. It's probably just a matter of your repetition. You do it so many times, so many times, so many times that you don't even think about it when you're doing it. Is that right?

• 12:27Speaker 04

  When you know there's only this much space in the back of an end zone or on the sideline, uh, your peripheral vision has to come into, into a factor. And by running so many plays toward the sideline and catching balls, uh, in practice and just for fun, the repetition, like you said, it became second nature to, I know that I'm in this place where the only other place I can go is out of bounds.

• 12:51Gary O'Reilly?

  Super cool, man. That's fantastic. Gentlemen, been an absolute pleasure. Charles Lu, brilliant. You think you'll be staying with us? Yes. Antonio Holmes.

• 12:58Speaker 04

  Stay, stay with me, guys. I'm, I'm still here. I'm just gonna show you guys something real quick.

• 13:01Chuck Nice?

  Oh, really? Okay.

• 13:02Gary O'Reilly?

  All right.

• 13:03Chuck Nice?

  What? Watch out.

• 13:04Gary O'Reilly?

  Here we go.

• 13:05Chuck Nice?

  Unexpected. This is kinda cool.

• 13:07Gary O'Reilly?

  This'll be good.

• 13:08Chuck Nice?

  For those of you listening, uh, we are, uh, vice via Skype with, uh, Antonio and he went, oh!

• 13:13Gary O'Reilly?

  Oh!

• 13:15Chuck Nice?

  That's a Lombardi Trophy that, uh, San Antonio just went and pulled up on screen for us. For those of you listening without the benefit of, of video. He's got the Lombardi Trophy right there. Is that, now is that because you're the MVP? That you get to, that you get to have the Lombardi Trophy?

• 13:34Speaker 04

  Hold on, I'm trying to, trying to take the glare away from it.

• 13:36Chuck Nice?

  Okay.

• 13:37Speaker 04

  But, no. Alright, so this trophy was, uh, to every player. Uh, we all, we to get a replica trophy, uh, for winning the Super Bowl. And we were all asked to put, uh, something on our trophy, uh, just in case we won the game. So my coach, Coach Ray Horton, uh, who was the defensive backs coach at the time. And asked, "Hey Tone, um, is this all you just gonna write just your name and wide receiver number 10 on the, on your trophy?" And I was like, "Yeah, Coach, I mean, that's, that's basically it." You know, he said, "Well, I think you should write something else on there." And I'm like, "What do you mean?" What's written on my trophy?

• 14:19Chuck Nice?

  Go on.

• 14:19Speaker 04

  Is Super Bowl 43 MVP. And this one is for the Muck, which is my hometown. Now, this was presented, this was written on this trophy two weeks before the Super Bowl.

• 14:36Chuck Nice?

  Oh, sir. Nice. Wow. Very nice, man.

• 14:39Speaker 04

  I feel like I should share this with everybody and let you guys know that, that my dream was to become a Super Bowl MVP. And it's written right here.

• 14:48Chuck Nice?

  Well, that's, that's very cool. That is, that is, thank you for sharing. That is absolutely incredible. Hey. To show us not just the MVP cap, but the Lombardi Trophy. There you go. That engraving.

• 15:00Speaker 04

  One, one more thing, guys.

• 15:01Chuck Nice?

  Alright, uh-oh, we got another thing. This is great.

• 15:06Chuck Nice?

  It's like, uh, San Antonio is breaking out all the stops for us. Love it.

• 15:14Chuck Nice?

  Oh, is that the MVP trophy?

• 15:17Speaker 04

  It is.

• 15:18Chuck Nice?

  That's the star.

• 15:19Speaker 04

  The P. Ozell. Yes, sir.

• 15:21Chuck Nice?

  The P. Ozell MVP trophy. Yo, man, that's, that's good stuff. That's good stuff. How big is your trophy cabinet?

• 15:28Speaker 04

  Uh, it's not very big at the moment. I, I got the rest of the trophies in, uh, at my mom's house. Uh, I just, I just trapped with the few that, uh, that mean the most to me, which is, uh, which is these ones.

• 15:38Chuck Nice?

  Yeah, yeah. And I don't, I don't think you need any more, to be honest. No, not really. Like, if you only had two trophies and those were the only two trophies you had, like, uh, you'd be okay, you know?

• 15:48Speaker 04

  Oh, no question about it.

• 15:49Chuck Nice?

  Yeah, no, nobody would come along and say like, where's your other trophies? I mean, all you got is an MVP trophy and like a Super Bowl trophy. I mean, seriously, like, right? Where's your bowling trophies? Ha, Santonio?

• 16:00Speaker 04

  Oh, oh, you want bowling trophy?

• 16:05Chuck Nice?

  If he pulls out a bowling trophy, I'm done.

• 16:12Speaker 04

  Hold on, you can't see it, but it's autographed by me, uh, right here, uh, Super Bowl forty-three MVP. This was at, uh, at the Brunswick, uh, uh, bowling lanes that we did with, uh, Third and Long Foundation.

• 16:23Chuck Nice?

  You're crazy.

• 16:25Chuck Nice?

  Santonio, man, you too much. You so much for sharing. That is absolutely incredible. Hey, man, make sure you come back, man. We'd, we'd love to have you back on the show, all right, man? Sure.

• 16:34Speaker 04

  All right, man. Send, send me the invite. I'll be more than welcome.

• 16:36Chuck Nice?

  All right, buddy. Thanks so much. So, of course, the big game is the most social day of the year. Yeah, pregame, halftime, and maybe some football. Yeah, maybe some football. And, uh, of course, to get a social look at the most social day, here's James Mattern. James, take it away.

• 16:52Speaker 06

  Look, if you're not watching the big game, you're crazy, okay? Not even about football, just a big party, it's an event. Look, you don't even have to know the sport to enjoy it. Go gamble. Yeah, don't even gamble on football. I got friends back home, they spent three months worth of rent before the kickoff. Yeah, that's right. Gamble on how long the national anthem is. That's fun. She holds a note too long, you're really gonna get nervous. How about the coin toss? Coin toss is what it's about. I got a friend who financed a Porsche because he had tails plus the points. That's the American dream. How about music? Who doesn't like music? We all like music because we have souls. Halftime show is the biggest gig of the year. Grammys ain't nothing on the halftime show. Ever since Justin pulled out Janet's boob, oh man, anything can happen. How great was that moment?

• 17:37Speaker 06

  All those years in high school, me with that Rolling Stone cover with Janet, with her boobs covered by some random dude's hands, me turning it upside down and sideways trying to see a nipple. And then at halftime, I got to see it? That's the moment I stopped being an atheist. Thank you, football. How about that time Missy Elliott showed up out of years in exile, still wearing a jacket that's a trash bag? After all these years? She doesn't want to wear a normal people jacket. No, she goes hefty or not at all. Get your freak on, baby. How about the time that The Who came out? And for weeks we're like, no way they're gonna play the same songs they play all the time there on TV. And they played the same songs that they do every time on TV. They hate rehearsing, apparently. We got fooled again, baby. We got fooled again. You know what else is great about the big game? Commercials.

• 18:20Speaker 06

  Yeah, what's more fun than gathering around the television after a bunch of foreign outs, seeing what out of work actor isn't themselves till they eat a Snickers? Yeah, that's exciting. Get those paychecks, Betty White. It's also fun to see movie trailers. Yeah, I got friends who know nothing about football. They don't know why you don't punt on first down, but they love Marvel movies because they're nerds. And if you talk during a Marvel trailer, guess what, baby? Boom, boom, there's gonna be some furniture moving. My buddy will throw food at you if you open your beak at any time during a Marvel preview. A few years ago, dude left all this guacamole all over the place. Why? Because he wouldn't shut his mush while Guardians of the Galaxy trailers playing. You keep your mouth shut while Rocket Raccoon is talking. That's the 11th commandment. Get it together, baby. Guys, enjoy the big game. It's gonna be a good time. I'm either gonna be rich or homeless. But boo, there's gonna be a lot of fun, baby. Bam.

• 19:06Gary O'Reilly?

  Okay, we are going to take a break. That's great. It's gonna be tough to follow an MVP from Super Bowl, but... It's gonna be tough to follow a bowling trophy. We're trying to do our best. We're gonna get a guy who's won two Super Bowls. Stick around, O.C. Amanura is up next.

• 19:23Gary O'Reilly?

  Welcome back, I'm Gary O'Reilly.

• 19:25Chuck Nice?

  I'm Chuck Nice.

• 19:25Gary O'Reilly?

  And this is Playing with Science. And today, we're taking a real good look at the big game. Yes, the game that's got everybody's attention. The game that gets the world talking. If it's not the halftime show, it's the TV commercials. But, sometimes, a game breaks out, somewhere around about in the middle. And one guy who knows exactly what to do when that game breaks out is former New York Giants linebacker, O.C. Amon-Youra!

• 19:52Speaker 07

  Yes, sir!

• 19:54Gary O'Reilly?

  There you go. All right, good, welcome to the show. All right, not once, but twice, you faced up Tom Brady and walked away with the world's biggest smile.

• 20:05Chuck Nice?

  Now, and you know, that is, let's look at who we're talking about. Ostensibly, this guy maybe go down in history as the greatest quarterback to ever play the game. I mean, people are having that conversation. But you, and your compatriots, see my little pun there, see what I did there?

• 20:23Speaker 07

  I see that, I see what you did.

• 20:24Gary O'Reilly?

  Did you see what I just did there?

• 20:25Speaker 07

  We were trying to ignore him.

• 20:27Chuck Nice?

  Yeah. But no, you and that defensive line will forever be known as the Brady Killer.

• 20:35Speaker 07

  Right.

• 20:35Chuck Nice?

  Because, I mean, you guys really dialed up his number. You had his number. So, here's what we'd like to do right now. O.C., we have a clip of you, and it may seem a little unorthodox, but it kinda shows the importance that you had on that defensive line. Because wherever you were, there was always an offensive line breakdown. So let's take a look at this clip.

• 20:59Speaker 08

  ...to get a clear shot at Brady. Third down and 17.

• 21:07Speaker 08

  Brady in trouble again, Justin Tuck.

• 21:23Chuck Nice?

  So right now, there's an injury on the play of a Patriot.

• 21:25Speaker 08

  Steve Beal is having a tough time getting back up. Well, watch Justin Tuck. He's in here in the middle. He does a great job. They overload the side with OC human urine, Jason Tuck, or Justin Tuck, and he's able to get a clear shot as well. Good job defensively.

• 21:40Chuck Nice?

  So here's what I love about that clip, OC. Justin Tuck came away with the sack. But that play does not happen without you on the outside, forcing a collapse of the pocket. What you see is Brady steps up into Justin Tuck. And the reason why he's stepping up into Justin Tuck is because you're on the outside going, "I'm gonna get ya."

• 22:06Speaker 07

  Yeah, yeah, exactly. And I think that was our whole game plan. We knew Tuck was gonna be tough for them inside. But what we wanted to do is we wanted to force Brady up into the pocket. So we were coming with relentless pressure off the edge, and he was just stepping right into, whether it was Justin Tuck, sometimes Strahan coming in the inside, Jay Alfred. He just kept on stepping into the pressure, man. So he fell exactly for our plan, and I think we executed it flawlessly. Meanwhile, I can watch that game a thousand times. I could just keep watching that over and over. Why are we not surprised?

• 22:40Chuck Nice?

  We've got plenty of clips for you. Hey, Chuck Little, Chuck Little, do us a favor. Why don't you jump in there and break that down? Yeah. Give us a little physics.

• 22:51Speaker 09

  Sure. Well, the basic point, which is just athleticism, regards, in that play, you see Justin basically pushing in through the center. And then you've got offensive linemen moving in the direction of OC. Now, OC's gotta take down one, two, maybe three people. Take them off, put them off balance and move them over while Justin then gets a clear shot at Brady when he's trying to step up in the pocket. So OC, my question to you is, how do you, as one man, successfully pull off what is physically not supposed to happen and take down three men at once? Were you using speed? Were you using leverage? Just the basic idea that the low man wins? Or did you have some other strategy that allowed

• 23:34Speaker 09

  you to put more of your influence on them even though they had more weight and more force behind them?

• 23:42Speaker 07

  Yeah, it was a combination of both. Um, speed was was my primary asset, you know, going into that game anyway. And um, you you the low man wins also i- is is a big factor in in determining who's gonna be able to push back the line of scrimmage. So what you wanted to do is you wanted to use speed and then try and turn that, you know, and get a little bit lower than the guy and uh therefore be able to win uh your your individual matchup. So uh it it was tough, you know, a lot of those, a lot of times there were two people on me, three people that would slide the line that way to try and uh um

• 24:13Speaker 09

  Yeah.

• 24:13Speaker 07

  Courteil, what me and Justin Tuck were doing, but we were able to continuously get pressure on him and uh it it it was a great day.

• 24:20Gary O'Reilly?

  OC, can you just break down what low man wins to the audience like myself who aren't real

• 24:26Speaker 07

  Right.

• 24:27Gary O'Reilly?

  aficionados?

• 24:28Speaker 07

  Right. Well, low man wins basically is whoever is lower than the other guy basically have more leverage on on your opponent when you're lower than him. It allows you to generate more power from from your hips and then from your quads. And that that's exactly what low man, that's what they teach. They want you to get lower than your opponent and you kind of strike you, you strike him from like a a down to up motion. I don't really know how to explain it that well, but it's basically you you wanna sink your hips and then strike from lower than him to create leverage and and and push him out of the way.

• 24:58Speaker 09

  From the physics perspective, it's straightforward because as soon as the man leaves his feet, all right, he can't drive off the ground to produce force to go in your direction. So if you are lower than the other opponent, then that gives you the chance to increase the amount of push you can get off the ground onto him, whereas he has a decreased amount of force to push down onto you. So it, you know, how you get into the angles, into the corners is what we're all about. You know, OC, you're, one of your most famous moves is the uh strip sack fumble, where you would come around the end and then you'd do that sort of uh chop with your right hand, right?

• 25:36Speaker 07

  Right.

• 25:36Speaker 09

  Usually suspecting quarterback, which is the right-handed quarterback who's like, you're coming in on the blind side, and you're able to take that arm and just remove the ball as a result, right?

• 25:46Speaker 07

  Exactly.

• 25:47Speaker 09

  So, yeah, so let me ask you this, and I've always wanted to ask someone who uses that tool. When you bring your chop down, when you bring your hand down,

• 25:56Speaker 07

  Mm-hmm.

• 25:57Speaker 09

  Where are you aiming? Are you aiming for the hand? Are you aiming for the shoulder? Are you aiming for the elbow? Where is it that you get the maximum amount of force input onto the arm so that the ball comes free?

• 26:08Speaker 07

  For me, it was always the hand, always the hand. For for some reason, like the quarterback, you know, they hold the ball, but they don't hold the ball quite as tight as as you would expect. Because in order for them to throw it, they don't they don't squeeze it. So pretty much any little thing that you do to the hand, you know, i- is gonna have the ball come out. So I I don't understand a lot of times when people, you know, take these shots at the quarterback. When they have a clean shot at him rather than going for his hand, because that creates a forced fumble, which is basically the biggest play you can have on defense. But what I would aim for is the hand and it's it would it would happen so fast, it was like split second. Like I would come around the corner and then within like, I don't even know, it was like a millisecond, I would just out the corner of my eye see it. And I would just reach straight for his hand, not his elbow or his shoulder, it was always the hand.

• 26:54Chuck Nice?

  Wow, so.

• 26:55Speaker 07

  Brilliant, that's really awesome.

• 26:56Chuck Nice?

  That's amazing. So in in in as quickly as a defensive play unfolds. In that time, your brain is processing the fact that you're going to fend off this offensive lineman. Get around him, locate the ball. And then strike the ball from the hand, all in what, maybe two, maybe two point three seconds?

• 27:18Speaker 07

  Yeah, it it was it. So to be honest with you, I still don't understand, I don't know how I how I was able to do that. Even some of these guys who do it now, I don't know, I can't quite understand the way we're able to do it. Because it just it happens so quick, you know, you come around that corner and it's like. As soon as he's lifting his hands, you're right there, you just stick your hand out right there, knock the ball out. And and it's out, man, but everything happens within it within a millisecond.

• 27:42Gary O'Reilly?

  Did you work on developing your peripheral vision OC as part of your practice and training?

• 27:49Speaker 07

  We would, I didn't work on it specifically, I think we all had, um. We all did drills like during practice, we would all do drills about, you know, knocking the ball out the quarterback's hand. But for some reason, I was just, that's just something that I was much better at than than the rest of the guys on our team. But I didn't work on it extra like that, man. Wow.

• 28:09Speaker 09

  I will, as a scientist, biasedly tell you, from my point of view, the reason you're able to do that is because your human brain is the best computer, far better than any machine that anyone could have, about figuring out exactly what your physical system can do in order to produce the maximum amount of force on that ball. You didn't have to write it down on a homework problem or anything, but your brain and your body were finely tuned to produce the maximum physical effect on your opponent. And I applaud you for that. It's really quite remarkable, really.

• 28:41Chuck Nice?

  Wow, look at that. High praise for OC's brain.

• 28:44Gary O'Reilly?

  I've never seen OC that quiet.

• 28:48Chuck Nice?

  So OC, from now on, whenever you talk to somebody and they're like, "How were you such a prolific defensive player?", you can tell them, "My brain. It's my brain, baby."

• 29:00Gary O'Reilly?

  My brain's faster than anything else. See, go back to that Super Bowl. You weren't really supposed to win it, the Giants. Then all of a sudden, was it helmet catch with Tyree? Changes the momentum completely. And at this moment, you're sat on the sidelines. How does it feel watching that unfold in front of you?

• 29:20Chuck Nice?

  Do we have that? I think we have that clip. Can we play that clip? Yeah, we do. So this is a clip. Go ahead.

• 29:26Speaker 07

  I'll tell you guys exactly what happened.

• 29:29Speaker 08

  From Thomas off the edge, Eli Manning stays on his feet, airs it out down the field. It is caught by Tyree. Oh my God. This ball's thrown and Tyree just goes up for it like a basketball player. Harrison trying to knock it down. And Eli, man, I don't know how he got out of there. I thought he was on the ground and then he came out of the pile and just slings it. That's a great catch by David Tyree.

• 30:02Chuck Nice?

  So when you look at this, it just looks like a play of sheer will. Yeah.

• 30:09Speaker 07

  Right.

• 30:09Chuck Nice?

  So what are you guys thinking? You're on the sideline, you're the defense. What are you, what's going on with you guys while you're watching this?

• 30:15Speaker 07

  Yeah, you know, the crazy thing is I didn't even see the play.

• 30:19Speaker 07

  Because I was watching, I was watching the game and then I, I saw, I knew it was like fourth down or something. I saw them grab Eli. And as soon as they grabbed him, I said to myself, oh, the game is over. We lost. And I put my head down. You know, I could feel, I could feel the tears starting to well up in my eyes. My head down and then all of a sudden I heard the crowd scream. And so I looked up and I saw Tyree, you know, standing up with the football. I was like, wow, something, something crazy must have happened here. And um, I didn't get a chance to see it until later. Uh, you know, when I was watching it on the Jumbotron, I was like, that was something incredible, man. So all, everybody else got to see the play except for me because I, I was so disappointed. I put my head down because I saw them grab Eli. Who knew Eli had that kind of athleticism?

• 31:03Chuck Nice?

  There you go.

• 31:05Speaker 07

  Who knew? I didn't know.

• 31:07Gary O'Reilly?

  Once a linebacker, always a linebacker, never gonna give a QB any credit.

• 31:11Chuck Nice?

  And I don't blame him because guess what? He's not hating, he is not hating on Eli right now. I looked at that play and I was just like, who possessed Eli Manning to make that play happen? Cause you know doggone well, Eli does not do that. But that's why I said it's like a, a play of sheer will, but still one of the most famous Super Bowl plays ever. And I'm gonna share something with you, OC. I was there on the sideline when that happened. And I was at the game for, for Fox and I was on the Patriots sideline. Now, I don't know if you remember, first of all, you guys were hitting. Okay. You could hear the hits. You could hear the hits up in the first and second level. That's how hard you were hitting.

• 31:51Chuck Nice?

  And I was standing for the first half of the game on the Giants sideline and you guys were losing. But this is the one time in my entire life that I wanted the Giants to win a game. Because the Patriots had beaten the Eagles in the Super Bowl. And I was no way I was gonna see the Patriots. Have an undefeated season and a Super Bowl title. So I'm standing on the Giants sideline. You guys are losing, but you're playing very well. And I thought to myself, I am jinxing this team because I am an Eagles fan. Standing on the Giants sideline. So halftime, I went through the tunnel and I stood on the Patriots sideline.

• 32:34Chuck Nice?

  And you guys won, so you can thank me whenever you want.

• 32:38Speaker 07

  I appreciate it. I thank you now. I thank you right now. I appreciate it.

• 32:43Chuck Nice?

  Hey OC, do me a favor. Uh, we gotta take a break right there.

• 32:46Gary O'Reilly?

  We have, we're gonna take a break, but you, my friend, must hang around. Got a little something special just for you.

• 32:54Chuck Nice?

  So, uh, OC, I don't know if you know this or not.

• 32:56Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  But could you use my initials too? NDT.

• 32:58Chuck Nice?

  NDT?

• 33:02Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  You know, you ain't nothing unless you got like some initials, you know?

• 33:05Chuck Nice?

  But NDT is actually a, an athlete. I don't know if you knew that or not. Uh, Neil wrestled, did some crew. My man's like, you know, he's.

• 33:14Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  The active ex athlete. Yes, thank you, thank you.

• 33:18Gary O'Reilly?

  I think we're all in that category.

• 33:20Chuck Nice?

  So now let, let me just ask you, uh, what do you see the common thread? Between all athletes and you can make this scientific or emotional. What, what do you see as a common thread between all athletes?

• 33:34Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  That's a, I, I would, I would not put all athletes in the same all athletes category.

• 33:38Chuck Nice?

  Really?

• 33:38Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  I think there's some categories of sports that have a certain stress level, training level, energy level, musculoskeletal level. That would distinguish them from other athletes. So for example, if you're a world-class golfer. I don't know that they're gonna give you a seat at the football table.

• 33:55Chuck Nice?

  Uh, OC, do, do you, do you consider golfers athletes?

• 34:00Speaker 07

  Uh, I, I.

• 34:02Chuck Nice?

  Don't answer, don't answer, Brian. Don't answer. It's okay. It's okay. We got it.

• 34:06Gary O'Reilly?

  I'm getting a vibe here. It's a no.

• 34:08Chuck Nice?

  We got the answer.

• 34:09Gary O'Reilly?

  It's a definite no.

• 34:10Chuck Nice?

  I'm not gonna put you on the spot. We got the answer.

• 34:13Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  So what I found is.

• 34:14Speaker 07

  They asked me the other day, they were like, do you consider people who play darts? Do you consider them athletes? I was like, what?

• 34:21Chuck Nice?

  Let me just say this, let me just say this, here's the answer to that. Any game you can play with a mug of beer in your hand is not an athlete. Okay?

• 34:30Gary O'Reilly?

  There would be others who disagree with you. For sure.

• 34:34Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  So what I found is that the, when I, and I learned this interviewing for StarTalk. When I interviewed professional athletes and they knew, or they saw some early photo of me coming off the wrestling mat. There was a little extra bonding, just a little bit of extra chemistry there that I felt in the interview. A little bit of respect that went beyond just, you know, what else I may have accomplished and, and I value that. It's a kind of like a brotherhood, if you will, of people who sweat and toiled and risked injury. But get injured, had to recover from injury.

• 35:07Gary O'Reilly?

  Does OC's position resonate with you? Cause OC was a linebacker, defensive end. And there's an awful lot of what I would call wrestling going on at the line of scrimmage.

• 35:14Chuck Nice?

  So OC, do you see yourself as kind of part wrestler when you're playing middle linebacker or defensive end?

• 35:19Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yeah, great question.

• 35:20Speaker 07

  Yeah, I think, um, I think a lot of really good offensive and defensive linemen actually did wrestling. Like they, they wrestled because it's a lot of leverage, a lot of, you know, you have to be able to get up under your guys. So a lot of the really good ones were actually wrestlers also, yes.

• 35:35Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Excellent point, cause I, cause when I'm wrestling, I gotta know where your center of mass is. And what is holding you up from falling down?

• 35:42Chuck Nice?

  Right.

• 35:43Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  And then I can hit that and then you're down.

• 35:45Chuck Nice?

  Right.

• 35:45Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Period.

• 35:46Chuck Nice?

  See, I would.

• 35:46Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  But, but I get to add not only the fact that I've wrestled, but I have a degree in physics. So I know, I know. So I got all the forces. I, I'm, sometimes I might have to think too much about it and then it's too late for me.

• 35:58Chuck Nice?

  Right.

• 35:58Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  But, but I'll know even how I fell down.

• 36:01Chuck Nice?

  Well, let me let.

• 36:01Gary O'Reilly?

  In other words, dangerous.

• 36:02Chuck Nice?

  Dangerous, yes, dangerous. I'm gonna let both of you know that I too did wrestle and, um, but I wrestled with emotional problems.

• 36:12Chuck Nice?

  Just letting you know, I think it's just as valid.

• 36:15Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  It's just as valid, it's just as valid.

• 36:17Speaker 07

  Yo, wrestling is hard, man. That's a, that's a really difficult sport.

• 36:21Chuck Nice?

  Yeah.

• 36:22Speaker 07

  Really difficult.

• 36:23Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Did I tell you, I say this all the time. I don't want to overstate it. But if you ask anybody, what sport is the hardest thing they've ever done?

• 36:30Chuck Nice?

  Okay.

• 36:30Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  You'll get a variety of answers. Cross-country skiing, long distance swimming, triathlon.

• 36:35Chuck Nice?

  Ping pong.

• 36:36Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  If they have wrestled. They'll tell you wrestling.

• 36:39Speaker 07

  They'll tell you wrestling.

• 36:40Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  They'll tell you wrestling.

• 36:41Chuck Nice?

  Right on.

• 36:43Gary O'Reilly?

  OC, while we have the great man here, was there any real science behind, once you get into the NFL, and what that brought to your playing career and the defensive unit? Or did they just say, "Go out and do your thing"?

• 37:00Speaker 07

  No, it was, uh, you know, we had some really good coaches, but what I found out was, once you got into the NFL, you almost had to start coaching yourself, because the coaches, they don't really have enough time to sit with you individually and, and you know, get you better. They're actively looking for your replacement every single year. So you almost had to have a, a sense of, yeah, it's the truth.

• 37:20Chuck Nice?

  That's serious, hush. No, that's some insight, man. That's some serious insight. So basically, they're looking for self-starters. The guys that, the guys that can sit, watch the films, the guys that wanna teach themselves, the guys that are motivated to do it on their own.

• 37:35Speaker 07

  Exactly. Those are the ones who, who, who succeed.

• 37:38Chuck Nice?

  Gotcha. Wow, that's, that's an incredible insight.

• 37:40Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  But think about it, these, you know, if you're in the NFL, you were the best your high school ever saw. You're one of the best in your college, so they can't still keep thumb-sucking you when you come into the NFL. Is that a fair statement?

• 37:55Speaker 07

  Fair statement, man. There's just, they just don't have enough time for that, so you have to, you have to be able to, you know, be self-motivated and get out there.

• 38:02Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  The nurturing is over.

• 38:03Chuck Nice?

  Nurturing is over.

• 38:04Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yeah.

• 38:05Gary O'Reilly?

  It is the school of hard knocks, quite literally, when it's OC playing, certainly. OC is a former Atlanta Falcons.

• 38:13Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Okay.

• 38:14Gary O'Reilly?

  And a man who has given Tom Brady two of the worst days of his life.

• 38:19Chuck Nice?

  Right.

• 38:19Gary O'Reilly?

  Am I correct? So, let's throw forward to the next

• 38:24Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  To the Super Bowl.

• 38:25Gary O'Reilly?

  big game, uh, in Houston. What are your thoughts from a man who has some serious experience?

• 38:31Speaker 07

  Well, I, I, I think Bill Belichick obviously is the greatest coach we've ever seen in the NFL.

• 38:36Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Okay.

• 38:37Speaker 07

  Um, the Atlanta Falcons are, are a hot offense, great on offense, but I think Bill Belichick is gonna find a way to kinda limit what they're able to do offensively. That being said, I think defensively for the Falcons, they have some excellent pass rushes. And the way to get after the New England Patriots is to first of all, stop the run and then turn your pass rush loose. And they have Big Beasley, Dwight Freeney, and they have some really good players who can really get after the quarterback. My thought is, uh, my head is telling me that the New England Patriots are gonna win. My heart wants the Atlanta Falcons to win. I'm gonna go with my heart, I'm gonna say the Atlanta Falcons.

• 39:11Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Alright. Can I, can I comment on that? Of course. Uh, I'm born and raised in the Bronx, so I'm a legitimate Yankee fan. And there, and the Yankees have, have been in forty World Series over the past hundred and twenty of them, right? So, we have, we have come to expect to win. And then when you don't win, we're disappointed. We, we barely cheer them for being in the, in the, in the World Series, you gotta win. So, so you get a little, you get a little complacent, you get a little fat, fat and happy about it. Right. So, I, I, I learned recently that Atlanta, for all four of their professional teams, the, the, the baseball,

• 39:52Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  hockey, football, and basketball have won championship in their history. And it was the Braves in nineteen ninety-eight, if I'm remembering the statistic, statistic carefully. So, the city wants it, the city needs it. And I think they're hungrier than the Patriots. And if there's that, that un, unmeasured extra factor, you can compare all the numbers you want and who runs fastest or who's got the best plays, but at the end of the day, there's that little extra bit that a player can put in that can transcend anything that they've performed before. And if that were not true for professional athletes, no one would ever set a world record in the Olympics. Think about it. What is a world record?

• 40:33Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  It's something you did that day that exceeded everything you did in all previous days you have ever performed. Right. So, so I'm gonna give, um, so I'm with you on this. My emotions are with Atlanta because a city shouldn't go that long and they have that many teams without a championship. Okay, well.

• 40:49Gary O'Reilly?

  Maddy Ice and Julio Jones, OC, is that, is that, is that the path to glory for the Falcons?

• 40:56Speaker 07

  Uh, no, no, no, no, no, no. I think, I think they're gonna have to lean heavily on their running game because like I said, Bill Belichick, he's gonna eliminate Julio Jones.

• 41:03Chuck Nice?

  Yes.

• 41:04Speaker 07

  Not gonna allow Julio to beat him.

• 41:05Chuck Nice?

  Right.

• 41:05Speaker 07

  Uh, they're gonna double cover him. He's gonna, he's gonna look for Matt Ryan or he's gonna make Matt Ryan use all his other weapons.

• 41:12Chuck Nice?

  That's right.

• 41:12Speaker 07

  I, I, I think what they, what they really need to do is use Devante Freeman and Tevin Coleman, who are not only outstanding runners, but they're also outstanding receivers. And, and they're gonna cause a lot of problems for, for the New England Patriots, um, secondary and their linebackers. I think that will be their path to victory because Julio, I'm not gonna say he's gonna be a non-factor, but he's not gonna be as big a factor as most people.

• 41:33Chuck Nice?

  Cause they're gonna try to neutralize him. That's, you know, of course. Now let me ask you on the de- defensive side of the ball for Atlanta. It's been my, my observation, and I could be wrong, that when you get to Tom Brady, uh, the Patriots off the offense really suffers. Like, I don't, I think he's a guy that's not used to being hit. And when he gets hit, he's like, hey, man, what the F is happening? What's going on, guys? Guys? Guys, they're hitting me, guys. Like, I- You really don't like Tom Brady, do you? No, I love Tom Brady. I think he, I, I'm gonna tell you the truth. I'm gonna tell you the truth. I'm gonna be very honest right now. I'm very honest. I think Tom Brady, I'm, I'm good. I hate to say this. I hate to say this. You wanna be Tom Brady, don't you? Brady is the best quarterback to ever play football. Okay?

• 42:17Chuck Nice?

  It, it pains me to say that. It pains, and, and, and it's only because he is a winner. Okay? He is like the quintessential winner. But, um, do I like Tom Brady? That's a whole nother story.

• 42:32Chuck Nice?

  But, am, am, am I right about the fact that when you hit him, you change his entire game?

• 42:38Speaker 07

  Yeah, he, he just goes to, he goes to whine. That, that voice you used, that's the exact voice that he uses.

• 42:46Chuck Nice?

  Guys, guys.

• 42:48Speaker 07

  That is the exact voice.

• 42:49Chuck Nice?

  Guys, they're hitting me. They're hitting me, guys.

• 42:51Speaker 07

  I've heard that voice. I've heard that voice.

• 42:55Gary O'Reilly?

  See, in the locker room before the game, the guys are just gonna huddle the linebackers defense. We're gonna get him to use that voice.

• 43:02Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  And that's, that's the key. They key off from there, I bet. All I wanna say Chuck, just you be hatin' on Tom Brady. If, if you can embarrass him and have him run away to another planet, that doesn't mean Jashel Bunshin's gonna come running to you. Aw, man. Breaking news, breaking news. Look at Neil getting right to the heart of the matter.

• 43:19Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  You know, Neil, you have done some tweets about the big game itself. Every now and then, just if I feel, my tweets are if I feel it in the moment, and then I just deposit them and look away. I don't, it's not a, it's, it's not like a movement or anything. That's funny. I believe there's a certain president who does the same.

• 43:38Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  But, uh, I believe we have some, uh. Yeah, I think we've got some that can pop up. Dug up some of my tweets? I think we dug up some of your tweets. They're out there forever. You should know that. Alright, what do you have? What do you have? Alright, go ahead Neil, let's read this one. This is just a few weeks ago. "Sometimes I wonder if we'd have flying cars by now had civilization spent a little less brain energy contemplating football." Oh, my God. You're losing your friend.

• 44:03Gary O'Reilly?

  Look at Ossie, you are losing your friend.

• 44:08Speaker 07

  Neil's my hero, man. Neil's my hero.

• 44:10Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  No, no, let me just, let me, let me explain. Oh, please do, please do. So first, first I capitalized F in football for that because, and I use the word civilization, because the whole world plays football. You're a Brit, don't tell me you guys don't vest, invest a lot of brain energy thinking about who's gonna play, who's gonna win, who's gonna be in the World Cup, who's, don't tell me that.

• 44:32Gary O'Reilly?

  Repeat, it's, it's, it's, just do it.

• 44:35Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  So we'd have flying, don't, don't, so now I'm just saying a little bit less of that energy, that's all. Okay, okay. I don't mean all, just a little bit. Okay. We probably have flying cars by now. So I got called out for that, just, I got called out on that, on that tweet. And I, so I, I'm gonna backpedal on it a little. But you've got no flying cars. Because I was asked if all those people who were football fans didn't think about football, it doesn't mean they're gonna be thinking about flying cars. They might just be thinking about where to get the next bucket of wings from, okay? So, a chicken wing. So I said, alright, maybe if they weren't thinking about just who's gonna win or lose, maybe if they thought about how to make the game safer.

• 45:16Chuck Nice?

  Right.

• 45:17Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  There's technology that you could bring to it that could possibly improve it. I mean, so the other ways that brain energy could be applied.

• 45:24Chuck Nice?

  I just love the fact that you cleaned this up while OC human euro is on the line and you're just like, yeah, I also meant soccer.

• 45:30Gary O'Reilly?

  Yeah, yeah. And all of a sudden it became my problem. It became my problem.

• 45:35Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 45:36Gary O'Reilly?

  But when you talk about the concussion and the impact, I think we're going to start to explore those areas with some technology. So on playing with science, we'll be dealing with that.

• 45:45Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  That's a whole show.

• 45:46Chuck Nice?

  It's a whole show.

• 45:47Gary O'Reilly?

  It is a whole show. OC, why will have you here? Do you have a question for his royal highness here?

• 45:52Speaker 07

  Something else that I always, well, not bothered me, but I wanted to know what your take on this is. Sometimes when I think about like the internet or, or, you know, planes or, you know, things of that nature. I'm like, are there some people who are just born with, with brains that can think on that level? Because for me, you know, the internet or, or, or think like I would never have thought to do that. Like, are there people who are just born naturally smart and they just know how to, they, they just know how to do things like that? Or is that, is that like a learned, a, a, a process?

• 46:26Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  That's a, that's a brilliant question. So let me, I let me answer it a couple of ways. One is, uh, don't confuse being good at something with being smart. You should think of those who are good at something as those who were committed to doing so. All right, you, you can, you could, you walk up to who's our guy from the swimmer? You go to Michael Phelps, say, oh, he's a born swimmer. And then you find out the guy trained 50,000 hours in the pool. Did you train 50,000 hours? No. Okay. So, so, so we're not honoring the drive to attain the talent. As much as we're coming in after the fact and saying, oh, look at how brilliant they are. We'll say that about virtuoso musicians.

• 47:11Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Oh, that's, they're born playing the violin. No, they, they, you know, I hate to sound like, uh, my boy who wrote the book on this, the 10,000 hour guy.

• 47:19Chuck Nice?

  Yeah. I forgot his name, but I, we know you're talking about.

• 47:22Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Malcolm Gladwell.

• 47:22Chuck Nice?

  Malcolm Gladwell.

• 47:23Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  But behind all of that is everything they've done. Right. For this. And and I had I had a, I don't mean to give a too long answer to this, but I had a cameo appearance in Stargate Atlantis. In one episode and and I rate myself a C plus in that playing myself. Okay. Rate myself a C plus. My own critic. My own, my own critic. I'm sitting next to one of their star actors and we're between scenes, we're in the director's chairs and I say, oh. So, so how long you've been acting? I'm just trying to make small talk. They said, oh, well, if you include commercials. Since I was five. It was like, whoa. Exactly. And and and when I see them act, what the the director said, okay, redo it again, but this time with a little.

• 48:04Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Add some emotion in the beginning, flatten it out midway and then look forlongingly at the end. In one sentence, all of that gets conveyed and I'm saying, oh, I can't do that. And so they're tapping deep into a lifetime of that experience and you know, and so, so I think it's insulting. To come up to someone with talent and say, oh, you have a gift. Born with this. Excuse me, this world is for people who work hard and if you're not working hard, then you'll know why you didn't achieve. And I got one other thing to tell you, even forget the fact that I taught major C's in eighth grade and. And gave my first public talk. There is no teacher in my entire time in school. Who at any time would have said, he's gonna go far.

• 48:50Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  My grades were kinda average. And in school, in school, it is the high grade people who they say that's the person who will succeed. So the the mindset and you know, of course you know, you, we all been in class and we all know who the straight A kids were. We all know and they were the teacher's pet, they were got all the awards and now think about who are the shakers and movers of this world. Greatest of the journalists, the poets, the comedians, the actors, the the great attorneys. Ask them, did you get straight A's throughout school? Chances are not, even the inventors of the internet. Look at, look at all the. Al Gore, Al Gore. Look at. Behave yourself. Look at the people who who who founded Facebook, a college dropout, um, Bill Gates, never finished college.

• 49:35Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Michael Dell. Never finished college. Right. The guy who founded, co-founded Twitter, never even went to college. So to say the straight A is the person who's gonna matter in this world? You don't understand how it is that people come to matter in the world. That's all I'm trying to say. Wow, that's your answer, you see?

• 49:54Chuck Nice?

  Great answer.

• 49:55Gary O'Reilly?

  Hit the bottom with that one.

• 49:56Speaker 07

  Appreciate it.

• 49:58Chuck Nice?

  And with that, I will just put something on the end of that, so please, please stop saying that I can dance because I'm black. I worked hard at that, okay? So, I'm joking.

• 50:08Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Not in your case, you came out.

• 50:09Chuck Nice?

  No, I can't. So anyway, that is fantastic, man. That's a great answer. Uh, OC, man, thanks so much.

• 50:16Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Oh, yeah, I came from midtown, so I'm glad I caught the tail end of this. Uh, OC, great to.

• 50:21Chuck Nice?

  Hey, man, well, listen, we certainly hope that we can get you back on the show again. It was really a pleasure, pleasure talking to you. Thanks so much for spending so much time with us.

• 50:29Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 50:29Speaker 07

  Anytime, man. Thank you, guys, man. It was an honor.

• 50:31Gary O'Reilly?

  OC, thank you kindly.

• 50:32Chuck Nice?

  Man, that was a good show.

• 50:33Gary O'Reilly?

  Wouldn't it?

• 50:34Chuck Nice?

  Yes.

• 50:35Gary O'Reilly?

  Yeah, so.

• 50:36Chuck Nice?

  It's, it's terrible that we're gonna have to leave right now, but we leave knowing that, uh, this Sunday, you're gonna be watching a big game and hopefully thinking about a tremendous, um, shot of a football pointing downwards as it comes your way. Thanks to.

• 50:52Gary O'Reilly?

  None other than Neil deGrasse Tyson.

• 50:53Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  Don't thank me, that's thank the laws of physics.

• 50:55Chuck Nice?

  Okay, that's right.

• 50:56Gary O'Reilly?

  Okay.

• 50:56Neil deGrasse Tyson?

  I'm a conveyor of these things, so, so that's what you should celebrate.

• 51:00Chuck Nice?

  Okay, that's, there we go.

• 51:01Gary O'Reilly?

  So thank you to the laws of physics. Thank you to Neil deGrasse Tyson.

• 51:05Chuck Nice?

  Neil deGrasse Tyson. Thank you to the laws of physics.

• 51:08Gary O'Reilly?

  Former MVP, Santonio Holmes and his amazing trophies. And of course, to former New York Giants, OC Amanura, and we would not be there without Mr. Chuck Lou.

• 51:21Chuck Nice?

  Yes.

• 51:22Gary O'Reilly?

  Sir, thank you kindly for explaining and breaking down all of the science behind those wonderful plays in Super Bowl.