Calvin Johnson, known as Megatron, & one of the most iconic Wide Receivers talks about his Hall of Fame career despite losing seasons in Detroit & the 0-16 year, why on cannabis, family life, dangerous hobbies and why he had to retire before marriage.

NFL stars are constantly in the limelight, appearing in articles, on shows and receiving large followings on social media. But this Hall of Fame Wide Receiver became a household name with one of the most iconic nicknames in sports, yet he was relatively unknown off the field. Ryan, Channing, and Fred sit down with Hall of Fame wide receiver Calvin “Megatron” Johnson to learn more about the man Ryan refers to as the “urban legend” of football. Calvin Johnson, better known as Megatron, and one of the most iconic Wide Receivers to ever play the game talks about his Hall of Fame career despite losing seasons and how he overcame the 0-16 year in Detroit, purpose and passion for promoting cannabis and healing while sharing stories of his family, opening up about some of his dangerous hobbies and reveals why he had to retire from the NFL before marriage. Valuing consistency over talent and understanding that those who have both consistency and talent are the unique ones as Calvin explains his journey to the guys and shares the reason of why he retired before getting married. The man who was once the most feared receiver in the league has turned his football-based lifestyle into a way of life focused around his family and other endeavors. Calvin explains walking away from the game at an early age was a move he doesn't regret although it shocked the football world, he respects the game and describes how he continues to bring a level of excellence to every facet of his life based on his mental approach to the game. He may not be Megatron anymore, but fame was never Johnson’s focus anyways as it was always about camaraderie with the guys and consistency on the field. New episodes drop on Tuesdays at 12 p.m. ET and Fridays at 3:30 p.m ET on YouTube, with audio available on all streaming platforms including Apple, Spotify and Amazon. 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.

• 0:00Speaker 00

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• 0:30Speaker 01

  Don't worry about it. That happened in Detroit, man. They look out, folks look out. You go places and they just like, yeah, they...

• 0:36Ryan Clark?

  It's crazy.

• 0:36Speaker 01

  They love your sports.

• 0:37Ryan Clark?

  Yeah. First off, okay Calvin, Calvin, don't do that. It's not Detroit, it's you. Nah, man. They do that, they do that a lot. See, I was about to say. You would be out there. Even you, Ryan.

• 0:52Ryan Clark?

  See, you see? It's you, Calvin. They know you. You 7'8".

• 0:58Channing Crowder?

  You're like the basketball player that try to walk little and sneak around. Can't go nowhere. Them 6'11" and be walking like this too, bro. Man, they see your big ass standing up.

• 1:09Ryan Clark?

  But like I was telling Freddie T, man, he don't understand what that, that week of prep like when you gonna play Calvin. I used to be sitting in the meeting. I was just like, "Yeah, Troy, so if they come out in this formation, you know, it's the one where they really like to go to Calvin, you should probably go to his side." You should go over there. Nah, Coach, I'ma stay weak.

• 1:30Ryan Clark?

  I said, "Coach, I said, the Hall of Famer is gonna be over there." That ain't, that ain't my side. I'ma stay weak. I'm comfortable over there.

• 2:04Ryan Clark?

  Welcome to the Pivot, bro. It is an honor for us three to have you sit down with us. Channing, Freddie T., I'm RC. Just being here in Detroit, and Freddie T. was talking about it at the draft. You guys bring out the current stars of the team. The Jared Goff's, the Hutcherson's, Amon Ra, St. Brown, and also you and Barry Sanders. Hall of Famers, first-ballot guys, no-question guys. And y'all walk up to the mic, and combined, y'all probably said five words. Right?

• 2:36Channing Crowder?

  Go Lions! Detroit, what up, though? What up, though?

• 2:42Ryan Clark?

  Bro, what has it been like to have this immense amount of talent, yet truly, like, not just one of those people that fakes modesty, but behaves in such a humble way?

• 2:55Speaker 01

  Man, it's just the way I was raised, man. You know, grandfather Baptist preacher. You know, my mom is now a minister, but you know, you would've thought she was a minister back in the day, the way she treated everybody in the household, you know? It wasn't no strand, you know, too far from the word back in the day, you know? But really, what that just taught us was a level of discipline, you know, that, you know, carried with us throughout our life. Now, on top of that, you know, just seeing them go to work day in, day out. You know, put their head down. My mom was a teacher, flight attendant, you know? She done, you know, went on to get her PhD, or her doctorate and stuff like that, just continually elevating, you know, her game. My dad, you know, just Mr. Consistent, you know? He worked for the railroad for 30-plus years. Day in, day out, he don't call. You know, they might call him, middle of the afternoon, we had a baseball game, they might call him at night, we in dinner, we don't know.

• 3:40Speaker 01

  But, you know, he's just consistent, going, go to work, come home, take care of his family, you know? So just being able to see that, you know, it wasn't a whole bunch of like hoopla and all that, you know, just consistency, though.

• 3:50Channing Crowder?

  Bro, fame ain't changed you at all? Because I'm with you, like, I understand growing up and being modest and having a good family behind you, and everybody knows that. But now you're the best receiver in the world. Now your name is Megatron. Like, you're named after a character in a movie. You ain't changed at all. Like, that didn't move anything.

• 4:09Speaker 01

  I like nice things. I mean, sure.

• 4:14Speaker 01

  I like nicer things, I probably did, I have, you know, better taste maybe.

• 4:18Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, yeah.

• 4:20Speaker 01

  That's about it, you know, I don't think it hasn't changed the way I act, you know, if you ask other people, maybe, because I mean, it strains some relationships, because you know, it's tough when you get into, as you all know, when you get into this position and, you know, a lot of people want things, you know, from you, you know, depending whether it's just your time, your money, or just you, just you, you know, so, just being able to say no, you know, that's, it's been tough, it strains some relationships, but, you know, at the end of the day, you know, you just can't, you can't just give, give, give, give, give, you know, not that, not that you don't want to give, but you can't just give, give, give your time and not, you know, be conscious of, you know, retaining some of that time for yourself.

• 5:03Fred Taylor?

  Before I ask my question, I want to say this, can we have a quick debate? Megatron gotta be the coolest nickname in all the sports.

• 5:10Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, it's dang good.

• 5:12Fred Taylor?

  I don't know a nickname better.

• 5:13Ryan Clark?

  It's dang good, and, and I think the reason it's such a great nickname is because he didn't give it to himself.

• 5:20Fred Taylor?

  Correct.

• 5:21Ryan Clark?

  Right, like a lot, a lot of these nicknames, like people give them to themselves, like they want to be called that.

• 5:26Fred Taylor?

  Right.

• 5:26Ryan Clark?

  And for your nickname to be so synonymous with your athletic ability and style of play, that it's just that name and you know who the hell you're talking about, is definitely the best of football.

• 5:36Channing Crowder?

  How about the, what, Round Mound the Rebound?

• 5:39Ryan Clark?

  That's a lot of words.

• 5:42Channing Crowder?

  I enjoy that one.

• 5:43Ryan Clark?

  And it's partial to me, I think there's no greater nickname than Air.

• 5:50Ryan Clark?

  Air Jordan is, that is...

• 5:54Channing Crowder?

  Megatron was a bad man.

• 5:56Fred Taylor?

  Yeah, Megatron is Megatron. Hey, we knew what happened when Megatron showed up. But, no, going back to my question, Noonan, Georgia.

• 6:06Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 6:06Fred Taylor?

  Your childhood and growing up there, what was it like? What are some of your fondest memories? And when did you know that you had an opportunity to eventually go this far and be a star?

• 6:17Speaker 01

  Yeah, born down there in Newnan, raised in College Park. Tyrone, Georgia, down there on the south side, man, just. I go back to College Park, man, I was fortunate, just, we are outside, man, it ain't like today, you know, we're playing outside all the time. You know, my friends down the street, remember Keisha, Patricia, you know, Patricia was a badass, you know, professional basketball player, you know, she was always whipping my tail, playing basketball as a kid, you know, so. That in itself kept me humble, you know, just her whipping my behind all the time, but it's always pushed me to be better, I'm like, man, I can't take this, man, you gotta do better, I can't have her whipping my ass all the time. But, at the end of the day, you know, her, my sister, and, you know, all my friends in the neighborhood, we were always just in the yard playing baseball.

• 6:59Speaker 01

  Football in the street, you know, sidelines of the curb, you know, baseball in the circle, in the culture set, you know, basketball in the backyard, you know, just whatever, you know, we were always doing something outside. And this competition, I think that's just what it is, just love to compete, just love to play, you know, and essentially, you know, that just continued to elevate and, you know, and then become more organized throughout sports. And, you know, baseball is my true first love. Yeah. I got drafted out of high school for baseball, but by that time though, I had started playing football at seventh grade, my mom wouldn't let me play when I was little, I wanted to play, it was the Fairbairn Flames. I wanted to play because they had, you know, blue helmets with orange flames on it, it just looked cool. Right. You know, but she didn't let me play because she didn't want me to get hurt till seventh grade, and at that time, you know, I was a scrub, I was running back, you know, DB, had to hit my growth spurt.

• 7:44Speaker 01

  High school, hit my growth spurt, lanky, don't know how to control my body, but, you know, it was really, at the end of the day, the team sport that what football was, that it took everybody to do their job in order for us to have success. And when we're able to do that, the feeling from that was just like, I mean, that's like the ultimate feeling, it's better than baseball, you know, winning in baseball is better than winning in basketball, you know, track is a solo sport, just being able to do that with your brothers, you know, so. I think that's why it took over, you know, just my love of sport.

• 8:09Fred Taylor?

  You say your sisters and your, and Makie, what was her name?

• 8:13Speaker 01

  Patricia.

• 8:14Fred Taylor?

  They used to beat your ass, then Channing used to get his ass beat by his sister with a car antenna.

• 8:18Speaker 01

  Yeah, my sister beat me with a car antenna one time, and then, then I threw, I threw a frozen Kool-Aid cup out her back, and then I got beat again for hitting my sister.

• 8:29Speaker 01

  But that's how it was back in them days. You just get like, the cord is handy, you know. You just get with the cord, you know. But I, I'm with you though. Like, first time I hit my sister, bro. And that wasn't the first time, but it was the first time when I got older. I was like 13 or something years old. We used to fight all the time growing up. She was four years older than me. But one time I got a little older, you know. She hit me, she hit me in my face or something. And I punched her right in the chest. She just sat, she fell back in the chair. And she was just like, mm. Wait till daddy get home.

• 9:00Speaker 01

  I went to the basement and hid the rest of the day. And my dad came home from work. I was hoping he didn't come home from work till like night while we were asleep. He came home, I just heard, doo, doo, doo, doo. See? They called me C. I can went upstairs, my dad, my dad's the scariest, scariest I've ever been in my life. My dad picked me up by my shirt, picked me up in the air and put me on the wall. You ever hit a woman? You ever hit your sister again, boy? And I forgot what he said after that. He might say he'd kill me, but...

• 9:27Ryan Clark?

  But you know what, though? That was the way we learned lessons.

• 9:30Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 9:30Ryan Clark?

  And, you know, even if it wasn't the conversation about, hey, just let me sit you down and tell you about how you're supposed to treat a woman. You learn through family. And that's what parenting is. Also, you mentioned like your taste changing. You also do like white people activities and rich people activities now. Bro, you ski and snowboard? Boy, you know you ain't grow up skiing.

• 9:55Speaker 01

  RC.

• 9:58Ryan Clark?

  Bro, come on now, Calvin.

• 10:00Speaker 01

  RC, I told you.

• 10:00Ryan Clark?

  How the hell you gotten to skiing?

• 10:02Speaker 01

  All right, all right, all right. So, you know, I'm from Georgia, I don't do nothing on ice. But I came up here in Michigan. You know, my wife always trying to get me to ski like towards the end of my career. She's like, come on, let's try it out, you'll like it. And I was like, babe, I don't do nothing on ice. And when I finally retired, she got me out there to go try it out. I tried out skiing and, you know, I enjoyed it. I skied for a year. And then, um, I switched over to snowboard because I, you know, I was, I had a couple instances where one ski would do something the other ski wouldn't do. And they get like this, I'm like, that's terrible for your knee. Like all that weight and stuff. So I like, let me get on the board and, because I like being locked in and ran, I ain't look back, bro. I love being on the mountain, man. If it was, shoot, if it was snowing on the mountain all year, I would snowboard all year.

• 10:41Ryan Clark?

  You ever figured out surfing?

• 10:43Speaker 01

  I tried surfing, but you know, I've always had a healthy respect for, for sharks because of Jaws. When I was a kid, man, they just messed me up, man. It ain't my element, man.

• 10:54Channing Crowder?

  So when you on the lift, your skis are still touching the ice, right? Your ass is too big to be on that lift.

• 11:06Speaker 01

  I do, when me and the wife be riding, I do weigh it down, like my joint be leaning like this.

• 11:11Fred Taylor?

  I tried to tell him my ski story. So Andy took me out and she was skiing, like she's an athlete, I got this. So I go out there and I'm trying for five hours, non-stop in the water. First time really on the slopes, but you get dehydrated, your body fool you, it's cold. So I go up to the blue, I cramp up. And the skis moving fast, I'm going this way, that way. I took them skis off, I chunk them shit to the side and I walk down. Take me back down, so I had to go catch that lift. Took me way up to the top gondola and then I had two or three drinks, like I'm done skiing forever. And I went down, I turned it into rentals and I retired it. I got on the board, I boarded for a couple of years, then I kept falling.

• 11:55Fred Taylor?

  I was like, man, fuck this, I'm tired. I ain't falling for free, I used to get paid to fall.

• 12:01Fred Taylor?

  But that's my life in skiing, I have to commend you for sticking with it, if you're really good.

• 12:06Speaker 01

  Man, I want to be doing it when I'm 60 years old, man, so, yeah.

• 12:10Ryan Clark?

  You mentioned your wife and her pushing you to do things. You know, you also didn't get married during your career. And you spoke about the balance of wanting to be a great athlete, but also wanting to be a great husband. In waiting, what was a bigger deal to you? Was it, I want to be a great athlete? Or I want to be a great husband? And I know I can't do that while playing.

• 12:38Speaker 01

  I think it was everything you just said there. It was exactly that. I knew for me, the selfishness that I had, the things that I did to take care of my body, the time that I spent, you know, after I come home from work, which ain't until 6 o'clock maybe, like I got like an hour maybe to give to somebody else. There's like an hour of downtime where I'm probably not doing anything. You know, I'm just like, that's not no way to treat another person that you want to spend the rest of your life with, giving them an hour of your day, because I'm going at 5, 5:30, maybe at the latest 6 o'clock, back home at 6 o'clock, in my hyperbaric chamber, doing my treatment, and then... Like I said, I got an hour of time before I go to bed at like nine, 10, 11 o'clock. I'm definitely going to bed before 11 o'clock because I gotta get up early. So it's just, I just knew that I wouldn't be able to keep all those buckets full,

• 13:23Speaker 01

  you know, and be happy at the end of the day and if I, you know, and keep her happy.

• 13:28Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 13:28Speaker 01

  You know, that's the big part about it. I just knew I couldn't. For me, I honestly, I don't know how, did you have, you had a family?

• 13:35Ryan Clark?

  I got married when I was 24.

• 13:36Speaker 01

  I don't, I don't know how you guys do it. You know, I'm like, God bless you guys. Like it just, it just, for me, it just, I just couldn't do it.

• 13:41Ryan Clark?

  I can be honest because I was like you. I did something, I had one day where I didn't do something after work and I was an early work guy. I was a late work guy and I was a huge studier. And so like I put my babies to sleep and my wife might go to the room and I'd be on my computer. You know, you had to put the disc in and then I'd be on my computer studying. So I wouldn't see him wake up, you know, and so I, I, I get that and it is hard. And it's one of those things that you had to be with someone who understood not only how much you loved them, but how much you loved that football. Right? And that's, it's a very difficult balance for people who didn't grow up with something like that.

• 14:19Channing Crowder?

  To that point, to this conversation, man, you're like you say, Hall of Fame, but like you, you one of the best receivers ever to play the game. How much did you think about that? Cause like me, I didn't care. I, I, I played in NFL like I worked at Walgreens. Cut me loose. Now I'm going to the club like, yeah, y'all got this check. Give me this check and I'm about to hit this club. But to be as great as you are and to hear like the hyperbaric chamber, Zach Thomas sold me his whole hyperbaric chamber, his old one. And I tried to figure out if I could fit somebody else in there so that we can do the nasty while the machine's on. So

• 14:56Channing Crowder?

  you know what I'm saying? Cause that, it's kind of, that big tooth, the big tooth.

• 15:00Ryan Clark?

  It's not comfortable enough in there.

• 15:02Channing Crowder?

  I know, but

• 15:02Ryan Clark?

  Ears popping.

• 15:03Speaker 01

  You're gonna get hot as hell though.

• 15:04Channing Crowder?

  Yeah. We in there for hours.

• 15:06Ryan Clark?

  And when you get hot, the tight spaces, you kind of cross the pole anyway.

• 15:09Channing Crowder?

  I know, but we can sweat on each other. I love it. But like, when certain people, when you were talking, I thought about it. Certain dudes that we have on, like how they thought about like being great. And for you to be as great as you were, like your entire day was built around being the best receiver in the world?

• 15:27Speaker 01

  Mm-hmm. I mean, it really was. I mean, just really just focusing on what's going in and out of my body. What I'm doing with my body all day, you know, just treating this as this is my business. And that's really like, that was all my focus, like my input and output. You know, what's happening right here, you know, how am I treating this? How am I getting this ready to go again next week? That's really where my mindset was. I mean, I really, I can't even fathom like, I was gonna ask you like, like, what is that like?

• 15:54Ryan Clark?

  It's hard. It's a, it's a, it's a difficult balance and it's about communications. If you don't communicate through it, you can't expect someone to understand it.

• 16:03Speaker 01

  So you got married when you was 24. When did you meet your wife?

• 16:07Ryan Clark?

  Seventeen.

• 16:08Speaker 01

  Oh, so that's different. So you, that, y'all got, y'all go back. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

• 16:11Fred Taylor?

  I think it goes back to, as a player, you had a set schedule. You know, you're, you're calling out your entire routine and it was set. And I'm sure we all can agree that everybody that you know or knew respected that time. They didn't interfere with that. Nowadays, in retirement, people won't pull you left and right. Can you do this? Cause you don't necessarily have that set block. About, you know, in the offseason, when you were playing, things probably got a little looser where you can give your time here and there. But at least for me was a, a, a compromise. But in the offseason, I get pulled.

• 16:46Speaker 01

  To your point, during the season, that circle tight. You stay locked in. Like, 100% in the offseason, okay, I'll miss a day, I'll be all right. I'm gonna go hang out. I'll be all right tomorrow, I'm not getting that day in. But you can make up for that like early in the offseason.

• 16:58Fred Taylor?

  You went to college in, in Atlanta. I'm sure that was a crazy experience. So every time we talk about Atlanta, he lights up. So I can only imagine going to Georgia Tech in the heart of Atlanta, what that experience is like.

• 17:14Channing Crowder?

  He went to a smart school.

• 17:16Fred Taylor?

  You went to old nerd school. Were you highly recruited? Were you highly recruited coming out of high school and why Georgia Tech?

• 17:25Speaker 01

  There you go, see. Yeah, I, um, man, at first I wanted to go to Oklahoma. You know, I had, I had recruiting letters coming from everywhere. Then I had some crazy stuff go down with the coach, what he was telling me and it wasn't lining up. So I was just like, alright, you know, I'm gonna stay close to home so my family can come see me play. So then it boiled down to Clemson, Georgia, Auburn, and Georgia Tech.

• 17:46Speaker 01

  At the end of the day, I think it just boiled down for me, you know, I was just thinking about education. I'm like, damn, if I go to Georgia Tech and I graduate from Tech, I'm good. I got a job, I'm coming out of here with a good job and I can go work wherever I want to work. If football doesn't work out, you know, so it was really kind of just academic focus to that point. When I was in high school, my mom used to send me up to, uh, my sister went to Clark. My mom, they went to Clark, Atlanta. My mom would send me up there on the weekend to get tutored by my sister. Neither one of us liked it, but at the end of the day, after we get done tutoring, I roamed around campus with my sister. You know, so that, being able to see that, that was part of the reason why I didn't want to go play, um, baseball. Cause I got to see what the college experience was like. And being in Atlanta, man, yeah, I was at Georgia Tech, so Georgia Tech, Georgia Tech was not a lot of black folks at Georgia Tech. You know what I'm saying?

• 18:30Speaker 01

  So there was not a lot of, you know, just our culture to hang out with necessarily, but the AUC was five minutes away. Clark, Atlanta, you have Spelman, you know, Morehouse. You know, so we go, you know, kick it there to AUC, you know, this is, I mean, it was, it was great. At that time, like, Atlanta has changed since then, like Buckhead has changed, like the whole hangout, like the nightlife scene back then was totally different than what it is now. But, and they cleaned it up, they like, alright, we gotta get all this club and stuff about a Buckhead, you know, keep, keep the, keep the values up. But no, man, um, that's why, you know, I love being in Atlanta, man, just that whole scene, yeah, Georgia Tech was tough as nails. Like, you want to even know, like, when you're at Georgia Tech, you don't even know you're in Atlanta. And once you step outside of there, like, you say your face light up, you're like, what's up?

• 19:10Channing Crowder?

  I got two questions about Tech though, cause you go over that bridge, the varsity's on your left. That shells on your right.

• 19:18Speaker 01

  Yeah, yeah.

• 19:19Channing Crowder?

  You take that right.

• 19:20Speaker 01

  Yep.

• 19:20Channing Crowder?

  What's about a half a mile down? That's Magic City, baby.

• 19:31Channing Crowder?

  The fact that you know all the turns from Georgia Tech is scary. Oh yeah, cuz you go over there cuz they got the black colleges over there. If you don't grab a normal girl, you slide to Magic City, it's girls in there all day long.

• 19:45Speaker 01

  You know what's crazy though? I swear to God, they selling Magic City wings on like Uber Eats now.

• 19:50Channing Crowder?

  Cuz Lou Williams, Lemon Pepper Lou blew up Magic City wings. They renovated, they renovated. That's wild. They don't do that no more. Nah, nah, I know. I sent you a video. They have renovated Magic City, it's a double decker now.

• 20:05Speaker 01

  Really?

• 20:05Channing Crowder?

  Oh, Magic City off the chain, I heard.

• 20:10Speaker 01

  You learn about this shit.

• 20:12Channing Crowder?

  But man, but it's funny, why Tech? I was there cuz you look behind me, we were both super 11. That's like the best 11 football players in the metro Atlanta area. We were both super 11, he look behind me. When I saw that you went to Tech with that Chan Gailey offense, I thought it was the dumbest thing in the world cuz they didn't throw the ball.

• 20:31Speaker 01

  That was different though. Chan was the professional offense. Paul Johnson, when he came in, they ran the triple option.

• 20:37Channing Crowder?

  And that's when-

• 20:38Speaker 01

  So I was fortunate, I got Chan cuz Chan was in Dallas. He was in Dallas Cowboys. So I went there because they had a professional offense. So like, they had that look, so I'm like, okay, I'm getting a look, a professional look. All these dudes came from the league already. Two years after I left though, Paul Johnson came in and then Bebe, Demaryius Thomas, God rest his soul, he was there, so he killed it. Because you got that triple option with all this-

• 20:58Channing Crowder?

  Get that 1-on-1.

• 20:59Speaker 01

  But he had a professional talent guys, but they were running the triple option. So they was unstoppable.

• 21:03Channing Crowder?

  That was dumb, but your numbers weren't crazy though. Yeah, last year, what, like 80 catches, something like that?

• 21:08Speaker 01

  I don't even remember though.

• 21:09Channing Crowder?

  Yeah, but them first two, cuz I went back and look, I'm like, what? Lot of catches in between then and now. But, I know, I've been a part of some.

• 21:18Channing Crowder?

  But Jeff, man, do you, do you, the Tech, the Tech decision, you say you made it as a educational thing?

• 21:27Speaker 01

  100% academic choice.

• 21:28Channing Crowder?

  Yeah, yeah, but it's still, you don't ever look at me like, damn, I should've went?

• 21:32Speaker 01

  If I would've went to anywhere else, it would've been UGA. But another big, another big part of that reason why I did go to Tech, well, it came down to my visits. I went on my, on my official visits and I went to my visit to UGA, man. And I ain't gonna put dude on blast, everybody gonna hate him if I say it. But I was on, I went to the, my visit there, and then the guy that had me on my visit, my man like dropped me off at some spot like with some other guy, I guess some, some younger players, maybe some freshmen, I don't know where we got dropped off at, somewhere in the middle of UGA, big old campus, you know, I'm just like there, and we end up going to some crazy ass club and stuff, end of the night, like, everybody all drunk, anyway, it was just a bad situation.

• 22:11Ryan Clark?

  It wasn't for you?

• 22:11Speaker 01

  I'm in a situation where I'm trying to learn if I like this place, and I just get dumped in the middle of nowhere, it felt, I mean, I know I'm on campus, but it felt like the projects, you know, just the way the camp, the dorms looking at the time, you know, so then I go on my, my visit to Tech, I had my first experience with cannabis, you know, I, I have, I mean, we're in the middle of Atlanta, we have a great time, Reggie Ball is my host, you know, he take great care of me, I'm like, this is my, this is my quarterback, like, we gonna vibe like this, like, I mean, it was like a done deal after that visit.

• 22:41Ryan Clark?

  You know, a lot of what your career, when you decided to retire, a lot was focused on, okay, this man's 30 years old, it's only been nine years, he has so much football left, and, you know, since, you talked about just how difficult it was to recover and repair and be prepared to play, and I tell people all the time, the game day didn't retire me, preparation for the game retired me, the, the reward was no longer worth what it took to be ready. You mentioned cannabis and your first experience with it, you know, you've been a proponent of it, how has, how did it help you late in your career, though, and why did you turn to it?

• 23:24Speaker 01

  Yeah, man, I think the biggest part with cannabis is for an athlete, it helps, you know, there's so many more applications out here now than it was really when, when I was using it, but, you know, I just, you know, roll one up and smoke it, but for me, it was the relaxation, the ability to wind down. Especially after games, you know, it's hard to go to sleep after a game because you're just so wound up, especially, you know, even, you know, going on a plane after a game, you know, sitting on that plane, your legs feel like shit, you know, just all those things, really at the end of the day, just me being able to wind down and go to sleep. Recovery, being able to get up the next day, that's everything. If you can't get your sleep, you can't go the next day. You can't go like you want to the next day. You can't be as sharp as you need to be the next day. So, I mean, I had my cannabis, I rolled up, I actually, I even made edibles for the road trips.

• 24:06Speaker 01

  Made brownies, so when you get on the plane, take that edible like right after the game, by the time you get on the plane, night, night. You know, it's just, the ability to just to wind down was the biggest thing, which in turn, you know, helped with recovery. But, um, definitely a huge proponent of it because I'm from Georgia, the whole Bible Belt, you know, just the negative stigma behind cannabis down there, you know, at the time, or just in general at the time, was, um, it just had such a bad rap. And just for me, my own experiences with it, I'm like, it ain't that bad. Damn, I ain't never had no trouble with this. I ain't never want to hit nobody or do anything crazy, I'm, I'm straight chilling.

• 24:42Ryan Clark?

  Bro, I told people all the time, I'd much rather be around my teammates who smoked or who use marijuana than drinkers.

• 24:50Speaker 01

  Yeah, oh yeah.

• 24:51Ryan Clark?

  Right, like, you can still communicate lucidly, only thing they gonna do is eat up all your food, if anything, you know, but, and also too, like, I realized that they were better that way. There was a lot of guys who would be in pain, right? And, you know, because it was one of my naturopathic doctors my last year, because it got to the point, man, where everything was so hard for them, I was 35, you know, and I still played like I played. And so, she was like, my doctor's like, look, you know, do you know how many people get hooked on opiates and get addicted to painkillers? And she introduced me to edibles. Because at that point, I still had that stigma, like, man, I can't be, I can't be a smoker, you know what I mean? But it was just to be able to get treatment and be needled and all those things.

• 25:33Ryan Clark?

  So, I, I am 100% with you, and not only the stigma as it pertains to athletes, but the stigma as it pertains to people in our communities. The sort of sentences that have been handed out to people who were part of selling marijuana, when now it's something that's been legalized in so many places and the government is making money off of it.

• 25:53Speaker 01

  Yeah, man, that's why we're definitely a proponent of Last Prisoner Project, man, it's one of the groups that we support, and their, their mission is really just to... They're not going to cease to exist until everybody's out of jail that has served, that is in jail serving for minor cannabis offenses. Obviously, nobody's done anything violent or anything like that. But if you're just serving for cannabis time, that's their mission is to get those folks out. They have some big releases every year.

• 26:17Fred Taylor?

  Having entered that industry, how is it? And how is business like? How is maneuvering through that space, meeting with maybe politicians? You're trying to get it more of on the record? Is it recreational here in Detroit?

• 26:30Speaker 01

  Yes.

• 26:31Fred Taylor?

  It is? So how do you operate in that space?

• 26:33Speaker 01

  Yeah, man. I mean, we got into the space back in 2019. You know, when we did, you know, we're in the real estate, you know, industry here, just, you know, buying of real estate, flipping homes and properties. And we end up getting stuff in the quote unquote green zone. And at the time, it was like, man, we could be a landlord here and just collect a nice check. We put together a team. You know, we chose the latter and put together a team with the goal of getting it fully vertical, you know, and being able to be fully vertical, having our cultivation all the way through our retail allows us to control, you know, our own prices instead of having to go up and down with the market so much. So that's been a blessing. But doing that was just part of, you know, that's just, you know, just a step in order to get to where we want to go. And our mission is to be innovative in the industry, you know, creating new applications.

• 27:15Speaker 01

  And in doing so, you know, I think about all the products that we use as players, you know, from the topicals, rehydration, you know, all the different tapes and all these things. And I'm like, man, you know, we can add this technology in cannabis, and cannabis and technology don't really go together. But when you're talking the size, the particle size of cannabis, we're talking about nanotechnology. And that's when we talk about the micro size of the particle and the bioavailability of that product because it's able to get to your bloodstream because it's so small and able to bypass through your intestine system mainly. So being able to create products that are nano, which is basically all medicine now, like you're talking all those things, it's all nanotechnology. So being able to, and the reason why we were thinking like that is because we had the ability

• 27:58Speaker 01

  to be in a consortium with, you know, Harvard, John Hopkins, UPN. So we're able to see what they're doing right now in research, the delivery methods that they're doing and how, you know, they're able to treat people, whether it's with cancer and whatnot, whatever different. And elements, I'm like, okay, they're using nanotechnology. So we're going to get ahead of the curve. Let's put this in our products right now. And then let's use products that professional athletes are using. We're using topicals, but none of those topicals have any kind of anti-inflammatory component to them. Let's do that. Let's add that to that. Let's create a better product there. Let's create a rehydration drink that has the cannabinoids inside of it. So we can reduce inflammation internally as well. So just a true believer in the power of cannabinoids, man.

• 28:36Speaker 00

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• 29:06Channing Crowder?

  But, bro, with the marijuana stuff, right? I remember, because Rick's been on the show, Ricky Williams. Ricky, a friend of mine, I played with him. I remember when he was getting criticized so heavy, I was smoking a joint, watching it on ESPN, like, damn, Rick. You know, but, and you had, like, your reputation is what is squeaky clean, but you know you have that stigma. Were you ever, were you ever, you know, funny about, or, you know, trepidatious about coming out and supporting the cannabis? Because there's still people that think weed's a drug.

• 29:39Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 29:39Channing Crowder?

  Cannabis is a drug. Did you ever not want to put a tax cannabis to your name?

• 29:44Speaker 01

  100%. You know, when the, when the industry went legal in California, it was always like, man, I want to get in, but like, okay, well, how do I tell my mom? Or how do I tell my family? Like, how do, the people that I grew up with always told me that cannabis was so bad. How do I tell them, you know? When my finally, my mom finally found out, and she down there wrote me off. She down there cast me off. Like, yeah. Well, she first found out I was in the industry, but, you know, now she actually uses the products.

• 30:12Channing Crowder?

  Wow.

• 30:13Speaker 01

  Mm-hmm.

• 30:14Channing Crowder?

  That's what you wanted to do. You wanted to change the...

• 30:16Speaker 01

  Exactly.

• 30:16Channing Crowder?

  The... And your name being attached to it. And you honestly, like when you explained it, second, being so well spoken about it. I think that's what changes people's thoughts of it. And it's not just some dude standing on the corner selling dime bags anymore.

• 30:29Speaker 01

  100, man. You can talk about it. You can, you know, educate about it. 100% people are more inclined to listen. Everybody want to learn.

• 30:34Channing Crowder?

  Yeah.

• 30:35Ryan Clark?

  You saying you chose football because of the team aspect of winning.

• 30:40Speaker 01

  Mm-hmm.

• 30:40Ryan Clark?

  And how that feeling is so different from baseball or other sports. You ain't win a lot in the NFL though. Right? And you had this phenomenal first ballot Hall of Fame individual career. But on the other side of that, you didn't have the team's success. How difficult was it for you to know I'm excelling as a player? But it's not equating to our team.

• 31:10Speaker 01

  Yeah, 100%, man. I think I was fortunate, you know, during that time to have a great coach in Sean Jefferson, man. He was assistant receiver coach my rookie year. So he wasn't able to, you know, lean into me as much as he wanted to. My second year on, dude, like my sixth or seventh year, he was with me, man. You know, I was just fortunate, you know. We went 0-16 my second year. So that's tough, you know. You sit there and, you know, you can't win a game, but I mean, had a good year though.

• 31:36Ryan Clark?

  Right.

• 31:37Speaker 01

  Went for like 1200, I'm on 13 though. It's just like... And it's not like garbage time stuff. So it's just like, you know. I had somebody in my ears just like coaching me, helping building me, you know, building my character. You know, because when it's easy for me to like, man, when the team's, you know, shit in the bed. You know, it's easy to kind of jump on the bandwagon and just like not give as much effort or not care as much. But nah, he was always there chirping, you know. What did I tell you at the beginning of the season? And what he tell me, he's like, you want to be great this year? Every season, you want to be great this year? You answer the question. What you gonna say? Of course you gonna say yes. Yeah, coach. I'm a coach. You're like, you gonna be great. And he did that, you know. So I have to, I have to give credit where it's due, man, because it wasn't easy. The damn show wasn't easy, but having somebody...

• 32:21Speaker 01

  Show me what it looked like, obviously the eye in the sky don't lie. So I'm able to see, I was able to see what it looked like. Cause he showed me when I was giving bullshit effort. And he showed me that's what it's supposed to look like. Even when we not winning, that's the effort you're supposed to give, even when we down 21-0.

• 32:37Ryan Clark?

  Got you.

• 32:38Speaker 01

  You still, that's the film, that's what everybody else in the league is looking at. So I was lucky to have somebody like that in my corner.

• 32:43Fred Taylor?

  You went from yellow jacket to gold jacket. But 2012 was something that we've never seen. We haven't seen it since. You mean to tell me you couldn't get another 36 yards, bro?

• 32:56Speaker 01

  Bro, you know, I look back, I didn't look back on it. Cause I know I had like, at least like, probably like a, like five to 10 drops on that season. Probably that was easy, probably another like buck 50, 200 yards. I'm like, I looked back and I was like, it's on me. It's on me. That 36 yard, that's one, that's one, maybe two, like.

• 33:17Fred Taylor?

  People viewed you as just, well, not just a deep threat. Cause you took shadows and took it to the house and all sorts of stuff. And you were just a massive threat with what you would do with double teams, triple teams. But looking at your average per catch that year, in the touchdowns that year. You had five touchdowns that season.

• 33:36Speaker 01

  Yeah.

• 33:36Fred Taylor?

  And 16 yards a catch, which was lower than what you were usually doing. That's like kinda oxymoronic for you. Did you pay attention to any of that then?

• 33:47Speaker 01

  I, yeah.

• 33:49Fred Taylor?

  Hit 2,000 yards?

• 33:50Speaker 01

  I didn't pay attention so much to, well, I can't lie. I paid attention to the touchdowns because like, yeah, you see those like 19 but five touchdowns. But then we look back at it, my coach showed me like, it's like nine or 10 different plays. Where I got tackled on the one yard line that season. Like for real, like that many, I was like, wow, that's like one yard and like, and a lot of them were tough. Like a lot I just wasn't getting in, but it's like, dang, like, hey, I could have maybe kept a little balance or something. I don't know, but there's like nine or 10 plays, I'm like, dang, I got tackled on the one yard line.

• 34:18Ryan Clark?

  Sure. Was it Dan Orlovsky's fault y'all was 0-60?

• 34:22Fred Taylor?

  It didn't help.

• 34:23Speaker 01

  It didn't help running out back in the end zone. It didn't, it didn't, it didn't help. It didn't help that Jared Allen was on his ass the whole game, like.

• 34:33Speaker 01

  Hey, bro, look, I'm running a comeback, it was a boot right. I'm running a deep comeback, 20 yard comeback. I'm coming out that thing, I see Roy Williams just running to the sideline, I see all his teeth showing. I'm like, what the fuck you laughing at? Why everybody running off the sideline? They like checker, checker, checker. We get to the sideline. You're like, man, that motherfucker did a round back of the zone. I'm like, I'm like, hold up, I can't fathom, I can't fathom, man. So I'm waiting till they show it on the replay. And I see it, I'm just like, oh, bro, like right there, he's like, oh, this is going down in history.

• 35:00Ryan Clark?

  It's so funny, man, because Detroit fans love Dan now. Because he's become one of the best analysts in the world. And we were talking to him the other night, and he was like, yeah, but when I was here, all y'all did was boo me. He was like, he said, everybody hated me. And I looked at him like, they probably should have. You didn't really do anything for them to cheer for you. But in, in going through all that, though, what are some of the best memories about being here?

• 35:29Speaker 01

  I'll go back straight to that year, 0-16. Two of my dogs, still talk to today, Gosser Cherlist and Cliff Avril. We're sitting on the bench in Green Bay. It's probably like, you know, between 0 and 10 degrees, little snowflakes and stuff. About 10 minutes left on the clock. I think they still had Brett Favre at the time. I don't know if, yeah, I'm not sure. But, um, damn, you sitting there watching the clock, and you're just like, man, bro. We all looking at each other on the bench, winding down to 0-16. And you can't, can't help it now, it's happening. We sitting here like, bro, all was dead ass serious, like, bro, I don't know how long I want to do this for. That's how bad 0-16 was, bro. Like, all was questioning whether how long we want to do this for.

• 36:10Speaker 01

  But then, you know, it didn't take long, like, after, you know, next day, check out, first thing, smoking down to Georgia, get back to nice weather, you know, all was good, you know? Until somebody talk about football, but, yeah, man, that was, um, bro, that was it.

• 36:24Channing Crowder?

  And, bro, it was when you hung it up after nine. The story, my mind went to, make it try and tie the losing. He got plenty money, he got records, like, he tired of losing. If you were, if you were on a perennial playoff team, would you have played longer?

• 36:40Speaker 01

  Yeah, I can answer that question. Yeah, 100%, man. It was 100% losing, it didn't help, it didn't help. I was at a time where my body, like you were saying. The preparation that went into it, really wasn't willing to go through that no more. Just because it wasn't, it zapped all the fun out of the game for me. You know, I used to love going through it. I know it's a grind, I know it's gonna hurt. But it just hurt a little bit too much, you know? I was just like, man, I can't even, like, I felt like I lost all the elasticity in, like, the pop, you know, in my ankles and all that, just. And, you know, that combined with the losing, you know, the body just telling you no. I even went to my dad a year before after my eighth season. I'm like, dad, after the season, I'm like, man, I don't, I think I'm done, man.

• 37:24Speaker 01

  Like, I don't, I don't, I don't love it like I used to. And he was like, you think you can do it one more time? I'm sitting on the couch and I'm thinking, I'm like, hmm. As I'm thinking about it before I say anything, he was like, well, since you're thinking about it, you can do it one more time. I was like, I guess I'd go out here and, you know, gimp around and all this. But like, literally, bro, I didn't feel like I had no pop. Like, I just felt like I was running flat foot, you know, all the time. And so it was just like, I just felt like I couldn't be myself. And I told myself when I started playing, I wanted to play 10 years and when I had 10,000 yards, just want to leave, make my, you know, make a statement while I'm here. You know, I was able to accomplish most of my goals. I didn't get to the 10-year mark. But I did say that, like, when I'm not able to be myself and feel like I'm myself out there and do the things that I want to do, I'm done. I'm not gonna be the one out here just collecting the check. I didn't want that.

• 38:07Ryan Clark?

  You know, you're a competitor and I love your Combine story. Right? To, to go there and to have made the decision, you know what, man, I'm not doing none of this stuff. You know, I'll do it at the school. The film spoke for itself as well. Take me through the thought process of a young Calvin who goes against what he was supposed to do in Indianapolis and runs 4.3.

• 38:33Speaker 01

  So, we're doing those meetings or whatever, and I weigh out here, the meat market. You know, you in there in your drawers and stuff and whatnot. And I get my weight, I was like, I was right at 240. But everybody was like, whoa, you know, I could almost hear like, actually in the room, it was like, oh, like, dang, it's fucking heavy.

• 38:54Speaker 01

  Everybody was thinking I probably would be like 230, but it was like, I mean like 5% body fat. I just couldn't lose weight, you know, just jacked from height, from you know, just muscle. I mean, I went to college at like 185, 200, left there at 240.

• 39:06Ryan Clark?

  Right.

• 39:06Speaker 01

  So we in there, you know, they doing the weight and all that. And so we get to the interview after they do the weight and everybody's talking about my weight. That's all they want to talk about. They weren't talking about nothing else. I'm like, like, damn, had a great college career and all this. Y'all just want to talk about me being 240, like. So then after that, I was like, they was like, well, you can't run. You can't run to being that heavy. Like, can you run, can you run a 45? Like, I was like, so I called my agent, I was like, hey man, I need some cleats, dog. I'm gonna go ahead and run. He was like, you sure you want to run? I was like, dog. Like, I'm down there training with Tom Shaw, like, I just, I'm fast. I feel like I'm fast just standing here. Like, that's how I just, we had like four, like the top five, you know, Toms that year in the combine. You know, from the whole group that I was training with was down there in Florida. So I was like, send me my stuff, man. I'm about to go run for these fools.

• 39:49Speaker 01

  When I ran, you know, and the funny thing is the story, everybody saw the dude give me back my cleats.

• 39:53Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 39:54Speaker 01

  Funny thing is, dude just came ill-prepared for his, you know, biggest job interview at the time. He didn't bring his cleats, so I let him borrow my cleats, just happened, so happened at the quarterback war 15. East Carolina, and they saw him, he was the last one to run. They saw him giving me back my cleats. I'm like, come on, bring my shit, come on, I gotta get over here. Cause they're like, everybody yelling at me, come on, what you doing? I'm like, trying to get my shit. And so they just saw that, everybody, they saw him giving me my cleats back. So it was like, oh, he didn't even run in his own shoes.

• 40:17Ryan Clark?

  Right.

• 40:18Speaker 01

  So I ain't saying nothing, I was like, it's cool legends.

• 40:22Ryan Clark?

  Now you ruined the story. I mean, I guess it's too late now, he in the Hall of Fame. You didn't ruin, that's what made the story good. You know, it went all kind of ways. They was too small, they was too big, you know what I mean? He still ran, and look, look at Calvin Johnson. These aren't even his shoes. Those shoes are for a midget, and they're for a little person. You know, when, to be, you know, all that you were able to be, and then now, look back at what you've accomplished as this man, a different man who said, I need to be in a different space in order to be a great husband, in order to be a great father. In what you've now experienced in that part of life,

• 41:04Ryan Clark?

  how do you feel about the decision to retire at 30?

• 41:08Speaker 01

  Man, I don't look back. There's so much that's happened, you know, since that time, man.

• 41:15Speaker 01

  Houseful, you know, I got, you know, three boys. I got a whole business that is flourishing, you know, is doing better than, you know, I honestly could have dreamed, I couldn't, I couldn't have dreamed of being in the place that we are right now with the business.

• 41:30Speaker 01

  You know, I don't look back. I don't look back. I made a living for myself. I set, I set goals for myself on like, kind of where I wanted to be with, you know, the time I put in, where I wanted to be financially. So I was able to accomplish most of those things and get to where I was. That's all I was comfortable, I was content. But I guess, you know, after football, as you know, you know, it's just, you know, I was looking forward to sitting on the couch.

• 41:49Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 41:49Speaker 01

  I, well, I couldn't wait, you know, who putting in work, you know? That didn't last long, you know, it was just that competitive edge that, you know, wanting to accomplish, the, just that structure that we're so used to having, you know, it keeps pushing you forward, you know? So then just opened up the business, put on the business hat, you know, tried different things out to try to figure out what stuck, you know? Did my Dancing With The Stars, I franchised and ended up sticking in defining something that I was passionate about in the cannabis industry, being able to be able to be creative there and, you know, like I said, that and my family take all my time. And really, I mean, at the end of the day, just truly just trying to, you know, bring that same level of excellence that I had on the football field to these things, family and, and the football, you know, still, still working on it, but I'm definitely working to get there.

• 42:32Speaker 00

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• 43:02Channing Crowder?

  What's the toughest part? Cause be honest, but you're not Megatron anymore. Calvin Johnson's husband, dad, you know what I'm saying? What's the toughest part of not being Megatron?

• 43:12Speaker 01

  I don't know, it's not necessarily tough, man, because I never really was the one to be in the limelight. You know, I kind of like to be on my, you know, low-key thing, just moving around as I do. But I guess the hardest part, I mean, is just the camaraderie.

• 43:26Channing Crowder?

  Yeah.

• 43:27Speaker 01

  I think that's it. You know, I don't miss the weight, pushing the weight. I don't miss pushing niggas around. I don't, I don't miss all that, you know. I don't miss, you know, fighting dudes off the line and all, none of that. I miss just hanging out, vibing with the guys, you know. So whenever you get the moments, whether the guys that are on your team, or guys like you guys that know the struggle, you know, it's always a good time.

• 43:46Ryan Clark?

  And looking back at having that, right, saying that, okay, the camaraderie is gone. Detroit's different now, right? The Lions are different now, right? There's a buzz around this team that was palpable when the draft started and they had you and Barry on the stage, you know, okay, representing the Lions greats. And then now they had Jared Goff and Hutchinson and Amon Ra St. Brown. You know, the two star receivers of the generations look a little different. You know what I'm saying? One of the guys, you know, is 6'5", ran 4'3". The new guy is 5'11", ran 4'6".

• 44:23Ryan Clark?

  When you look at this team though, how much, or is there any pride in seeing Detroit be able to have joy about what's going on in football?

• 44:34Speaker 01

  Yeah, man, it's a lot of pride, because even though, you know, we were only 16, they still showed up. You know, they always showed up, so there's a ton of pride around this team. I'm excited for these young guys, even more so because of Dan is back, you know. I played with Dan my first two years here, so, you know, being able to, you know, embrace him, the soldier that he was when he played. Because, man, he's out there playing, starting football games with one shoulder. I don't know if that spoke to him, you know, being a soldier or just the level of talent we had here in Detroit. But, you know, either way, you know, the man was a soldier. He's a man of most, you know, he's a great leader. And he surrounded himself, you know, with great players that played in the league. And that's what I'm so excited about, because you got guys that have guys that played in the league that they can look up to, that have been everywhere they wanted to go, you know, you're gonna have buy-in.

• 45:20Speaker 01

  And we see those guys buying in.

• 45:21Fred Taylor?

  How do you want to be remembered as a, as a player in, in your personal life, when it's all said and done?

• 45:29Speaker 01

  As a receiver, man. Just being consistent. You know, I make plays and do that, but I just want to be known to be consistent because I was consistently making plays, because I was consistently blocking, because I was consistently doing the right thing, because I was consistently where I needed to be. You know, just being consistent, that's what it's all about. I mean, it's true. More than being the most talented person or individual, you'd rather have that most consistent individual. You know, now, if that consistent individual was hella talented.

• 45:54Ryan Clark?

  Right.

• 45:55Speaker 01

  Shit, that's even better.

• 45:57Ryan Clark?

  Yeah, now you win.

• 45:58Speaker 01

  You know, so, yeah.

• 45:59Ryan Clark?

  You know, through your foundation, you know, you did stuff like have camps. And, you know, you even started pouring back into the younger generation with some of your knowledge from what you've learned. You've always had a passion for giving back to athletes. Where are you now with that? How are you trying to continue to pour back into people who are now in the shoes that you wore?

• 46:21Speaker 01

  I mean, I can tell you where that all started, man. I obviously grew up in a Christian household, but I was fortunate to have a great spiritual mentor in Derrick Moore. He was our chaplain at Georgia Tech. Now he is the, like, player development person over at Gamecocks in South Carolina.

• 46:35Ryan Clark?

  Yeah.

• 46:35Speaker 01

  He played in the NFL for a couple of years, but having somebody that, you know, been where you wanted to go, but that looks back down and built me up spiritually, you know, having that in my life was everything for me. So, knowing that, knowing what he was, what he meant to me, knowing that I can go and do that for somebody else, and even if it's just one person, I know the impact that had on me and how I've been able to, how it's been able to proliferate for me and stretch beyond me into the community. So if I could do that to one person and see how that thing stretches, I mean, shoot, I'm gonna do it every year. And maybe I could touch one every year. You know, but that's where it comes from.

• 47:14Ryan Clark?

  When you had an opportunity to prepare a Hall of Fame speech, what things were most important for you to communicate to people who didn't know Calvin Johnson?

• 47:28Speaker 01

  Man, that was tough, bro. Like, it's so hard to figure out how to thank everybody that helps you get to where you are, to the point, to the Hall of Fame, from childhood to that point in eight minutes.

• 47:44Ryan Clark?

  Right.

• 47:45Speaker 01

  It's tough to be able to tell people how much they meant to you, the things that they did, the characteristics, the traits that they maybe, you know, lived out that helped you to become the person, the individual that you are. That's the hardest part. And so, you know, that's all you're trying to do is how do I thank each level, so from high school or even before high school? You know, some people go back to L M like, how do I thank all these different levels? And then with each level, there's just more and more, you know, and it's just, man, that was the hardest part, being able to do that. And I had to take, I had to take all the names out of my list. Because like, man, I had names in my, in my speech. My wife and I were working on it like, literally like, up like, three in the morning, the night before, because I'm like, I got names in my speech,

• 48:30Speaker 01

  but I don't have all the names.

• 48:32Ryan Clark?

  So I'm gonna miss, I might miss some people.

• 48:33Speaker 01

  I'm going to miss people.

• 48:34Ryan Clark?

  Right.

• 48:34Speaker 01

  And I don't want people to feel a certain kind of way, you know, so how do we cover that? How do we, how do we make sure everybody's covered? So we figured out a way to do that along with, you know, just making it, you know, more personal. Because I had a coach, but we kind of made it, you know, she was like, that don't sound like you, you know, so we kind of made it more sound like me, a little more personal, but, you know, she was up with me getting that thing right, three in the morning before the night, before the speech.

• 48:55Ryan Clark?

  Right. You have like a, a very successful family. When you talk about your immediate family, it's like a family of geniuses, you know, and you mentioned your, your mother already. You also mentioned the way that your father worked. I read a really, really amazing story about your parents. The guy who wrote the story was a lifelong Detroit Lions fan, and he said he goes to a preseason game, and at the preseason game, your parents sitting next to him. So he asked him a question to probe and see if that was your dad, and it was. And he asked your dad, like, did he have any advice for being a father? And he said your dad said something first, and then he came back and told him, just be there

• 49:39Ryan Clark?

  for your kids. And he talked about always making sure they made it to your games as a professional, whether it was preseason, which we know you wasn't going to play, or regular season. What was it like, man, to have the ability to feel his love? But also learn from that?

• 50:00Speaker 01

  That's it, man, exactly what you said, man. That's a great story. But it's really just about being there. You know, more than being perfect, you know, just being available, you know, for your kids. I think in everything, just how do you be great at anything? Are you available to be great in the first place, you know? And I think that that's what my dad did. Like I say, he was on call all the time, but when he was at home, it was our time. Daddy, daddy, you know, you know, he's tired, walking up and down the railroad, getting up and down on that train. But, you know, you know, he come home and he knows, you know, it's time for us, you know? So he was just selfless and to that point, just available. So I think to your point earlier, you know, just how are you a great father? Just be there, you know, like I say, obviously, yeah, show up, just show up.

• 50:46Channing Crowder?

  There's always a struggle in every story. There's always a struggle, like just listen to it. Great father, great mother, baby genius, Georgia Tech. Like, you know, I'm sitting here waiting for the struggle. Like, it's always something when you have a Hall of Fame dude that's just like, yeah, this happened and like I had to get through it. But no, no, I'm 6'4" in ninth grade.

• 51:08Channing Crowder?

  I can run a 4.3. I always look for that struggle. Was there, was there any struggle? It was just like, I'm Megatron, fuck y'all.

• 51:20Speaker 01

  I mean, man, I just think back, man, he got in trouble. He didn't get in trouble where, you know, everybody know about it, you know? He didn't get ESPN.

• 51:30Speaker 01

  But, you know, just I really worked hard to use how you spoke earlier to keep my nose clean, keep my brand clean for a reason, man. Because I know there's life after football, you know? And if I want to have a brand and I want to be able to go in and step into the rooms that I want to step in, I can't be out here acting foolish, doing stupid stuff on my social media. Trying to be professional. I'm trying to walk in a room with a billionaire. I ain't trying to be out here on the streets and shit. You know what I'm saying? So it's just, you know, just trying to model myself for, for what's next. You know, I was always trying to be conscious of that, you know? Because a lot of guys aren't and that's when you, motherfuckers be out here on their social media doing stupid stuff and people looking. That's how you evaluating people now. That's how you evaluating talent. That's how you doing your background checks nowadays. So just, you know, just trying to be conscious of, of where I'm going.

• 52:14Speaker 01

  That's all, that's all. I was trying to keep my nose clean.

• 52:16Fred Taylor?

  Yeah, one of my favorite questions. I'm probably the one that asks it the most. Uh, the biggest pivot question, which is that one moment you can look back on and say, "Without this moment, it wouldn't be no me. I wouldn't be the person that I am today."

• 52:32Speaker 01

  Yeah, 100% man. Um, I had an internal battle, I think, you know, when I got to college. Just trying to figure out who I am, you know, like where am I going? Like, what's my identity, you know? And I like, I was fortunate to have my spiritual mentor Derrick Moore show up on time. And there was a moment, you know, we used to go on these retreats. You know, you're in college, man, you're living fast, bro. It's just like, I didn't have like many guardrails. I was raised in a Christian household, but I was straying away from that a little bit, you know? Just living, you know, just living, you know, just having a good time, you know, living that college life. But inside of me though, it was just like, you know, a little irritability, a little frustration. Just because like, I say, it wasn't like I was out here, you know, hurting people doing it. It just wasn't living right, you know what I'm saying?

• 53:14Speaker 01

  So, you know, over time, you know, I joined FCA, you know, Demo, Derrick Moore invited me to join FCA. Started going on these retreats and stuff like that. And it wasn't until, um, we went on this retreat, it was in the North Georgia or Tennessee Mountains or something like that. We up in these cabins and all that. We, you know, we have a good time during the day, socialize, and in the evening we come together and worship. At the end of the worship, he, um, there's the Clemson, um, chaplain at the time, I forget his name. He would always stand up. He was like, "Does anybody want to, you know, stand up and give their life to Christ right now?" And the second day, or was it the third day? It was the second or third day. Um, I'm sitting there and we're sitting in the room and we're doing our worship, praise, and you know, it was a great trip.

• 53:56Speaker 01

  So, he comes to that moment. He was like, "Does anybody want to stand up and give their life to the Lord right now?" And I'm sitting there like, "I know I need to stand my ass up, but I'm out here. I'm out here in these streets, you know, I know, I know what I need to be doing, but I ain't doing it." You know, Demo's trying to get me right and I ain't doing what he talking about, you know? Just, I'm not living right, you know? So, I swear to God, bro, I'm sitting here like, "I know I need to stand my ass up." Next thing I know, I mean, I feel like the man talking to my face. And I open my eyes, I'm standing up. I'm like, "Bro, I don't remember standing up, dawg." But I swear to God, like, I swear I was just like, "Damn." And they say, "I know it's..." I'm just like, "Thank you, brother. You can give your life to Christ." And I'm sitting here like... Oh shoot, it's me.

• 54:38Ryan Clark?

  Right.

• 54:39Speaker 01

  You know, but he like walked down and but that was a moment for me that pushed me past like, you know, being afraid of stepping up in front of my peers kinda. And at the end of the day, it just like helped me to step out and be like, alright, this is what I'm about. This is my ID.

• 54:53Ryan Clark?

  You know, I'm always fascinated by like when we get an opportunity to talk to Hall of Fame players. Because you guys vary in personality, right? There's like the Hall of Fame guy that when he gets into the Hall of Fame, you knew how important it was to him. Because you could see they played the game as long as they possibly could and like they wore that on their chest. You didn't live Megatron. Megatron was the name they gave you because you played football, right? It wasn't necessarily who you were, but it was the job you did. Troy Palamalu is one of my best friends, you know? And I knew that like making it to the Hall of Fame was a blessing for him, but that wasn't why he did it, right? He wasn't just hanging on to that. We talked to Ed Reed.

• 55:38Ryan Clark?

  We asked Ed about it. I'm thinking he's gonna say he's excited. He's like, man, I wanted to give it to Steve Atwater, like the Hall of Fame is something you could pass around. You know, he's like, I ain't care. He's like, I told a nigga put me in the next year. Did that matter to you? Did being recognized amongst the greats in the game, did it affect you when you were told?

• 55:59Speaker 01

  Yeah, 100%. I mean, you just being, you know, in the same ring is just, you know, the guys that built the game. I mean, we all built the game, a part of this game. But, you know, just being, you know, in the room with those gentlemen, man, 100, 100% it does. But it's not that you, you know, it wasn't anything that when you're playing, you're thinking about. You know, I think, you know, a lot of reasons guys get there, just it's how you carry yourself on the day to day. You know, I think, I just go back to like my dad always told me, you know, anything you do, do to the best of your ability.

• 56:31Ryan Clark?

  Right.

• 56:32Speaker 01

  I mean, I try to do that. Maybe I don't do it all the time, but when I'm really focused and dialed in, I do.

• 56:37Ryan Clark?

  I think the one thing I take away from this though, man, is, you know, I was 5'11", 185 pounds when I got to the league. Like, the way I adapted to the professional life was a necessity for me. Right? I couldn't be on the field with you, or Channing, or Fred, if I didn't live that way. Like, I knew I wasn't blessed. I didn't leave the hospital with enough. You left the hospital with everything. Right? But the way you talked about preparing for the game, like, that's why you end up, you know, where you are, man. So, we appreciate your time, bro. We've been wanting to do this for a while now, dawg.

• 57:11Speaker 01

  I'm glad to get on here, man.

• 57:12Ryan Clark?

  Because it's like, it's like talking to, like, an urban legend. It's like, I know he was alive, I just never heard him talk.

• 57:19Speaker 01

  He has words.

• 57:22Speaker 01

  We do want to give a special shout out to your sister and, uh, what's the other young lady's name?

• 57:26Ryan Clark?

  Matisha.

• 57:26Speaker 01

  Matisha? Uh, so my older sister Erica, we call her Shay. Uh, Keisha, big sister, and then Patisha, little sister. That's how they cheated all the time, bro. That's what got me right, though. They brought that pressure on. That did. So, salute to them.

• 57:40Ryan Clark?

  Appreciate you, dawg.

• 57:41Speaker 01

  All the same, man. All love, man. All love, man.

• 57:44Ryan Clark?

  What you talking about?

• 57:47Speaker 01

  Afternoon.

• 57:47Ryan Clark?

  What you doing? What you tripping for? We can't come to you no way.