Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Inside the big game continues, I am Gable Maranci, we're sitting next to a man who doesn't
00:24need any introduction, he is who he is man, you know who I am dammit, he's the one and
00:29only Ricky Williams in the house, we're extremely fired up man, we just had one of your boys
00:35on Kyle Turley, KT, yeah me and him go way back and he was spreading the cause about
00:41CBD's and THC's and how the National Football League needs to ease up on the testing and
00:47I know you and Kyle are good friends but you also have a lot of very similar projects and
00:53talk to us about healing through the gridiron.
00:56Yeah, healing from the gridiron, it's very much connected to what Kyle's doing and you
01:01see this a lot, guys retire and they think about giving back and so for me, I feel like
01:05I'm finally old enough that I can feel really good about how I've taken care of my body
01:10and I want to share that with the world and you know, NFL is a brutal, brutal game and
01:15if you don't heal from the NFL, you're not going to be able to have quality of life afterwards
01:20and so the topic is, you know, people see on TV all the banging but they don't see how
01:25we get better and that's what I want to highlight.
01:27Is it amazing, what do you think Ricky here, when you were villainized so much, I mean
01:33Joe Theismann called you an addict, you're smoking weed bro, it's legal right now in
01:37what 30, 35 states, whatever it is and what do you think right now, you were one of the
01:43flag bearers so to speak for this, what do you think when you look back now on this and
01:48you see it has come a long ways but it still needs to go further, right?
01:52It has come a long way and it hasn't fallen off the track so it's like the proof is in
01:56the pudding, you know, I'd say 70 to 80% of players in the NFL are consuming at least
02:00on a weekly basis and NFL is still a wonderful game, it hasn't hurt the game and I think
02:07what people don't realize and they're starting to more is that players need this to perform
02:11at their best, right?
02:13We put our bodies through hell, we put our minds through hell, anything that helps us
02:16recover and maintain perspective, it can't be bad for us.
02:20So other leagues have sort of embraced this and I remember, this was years ago before
02:23even in the legal era, there was a major league baseball clubhouse and people were like, man,
02:28these guys are smoking weed after the games, they're drinking in the clubhouse and they're
02:32basically, you know, it's like a frat house in there and the general manager told people,
02:36these guys are having fun, I'd rather, you know, they're collectively as a group, they're
02:40not getting in trouble and if I was running a team, I would rather my players healing
02:46themselves in a proper way than becoming addicted to painkillers.
02:49Yeah, I mean, one of the things that I learned the hard way is when you, anything, right?
02:53If you play hard, if you do anything hard, you have to match that with how you relax
02:58and recover, otherwise, you get out of balance and if, I mean, the way that we practice and
03:04the way the NFL practices is so hard is they have to find intense ways to relax and nothing
03:10like cannabis to do that.
03:11Let me ask you about your time in the Canadian Football League.
03:15So you were villainized in the National Football League, the Toronto Argonauts take you in
03:21and what was your experience like playing in the CFL?
03:24Let me ask you, what do you think about the quality of play in the CFL?
03:27I tell people it's a different game.
03:29I mean, it's still football, it's blocking and tackling but when you have three downs,
03:33it changes everything.
03:34I mean, it's a more fast-paced game, you need more chunks, you can't do three yards in a
03:39cloud of dust because you turn over on downs.
03:43So what's funny about the full circle moment here is the project that I'm working on healing
03:48from the gridiron, it all started really in Canada.
03:52So I was in Canada early in the season, I broke my arm and I missed two months and our
03:57trainer said, why don't you go see a doctor friend of mine and this doctor was an osteopath
04:02and I'd never worked with someone who worked on me with their hands and I went to see him
04:08every week while I was hurt, eight weeks, first game back, we were playing in Calgary
04:12and I had the best game of the year and I was like, I didn't even practice, like how
04:16did I play so well and it was the body work I was receiving.
04:20We don't realize it but all these layers of trauma on top of athletes' bodies, it affects
04:25the way we play and when we can take that trauma off, we play better, we feel better
04:29and for retired players, they get the quality of life back.
04:33Let me ask you, what does it feel like to be in New Orleans?
04:36You played here with Kyle Turley, Coach Mike Ditka was the coach.
04:41I was talking with Kyle about the hard surface of the Superdome, I was walking around on
04:45that stuff the other day, it hurt my knees, bro, just walking on it and I'm sure it's
04:49a lot better now than it was before and Kyle was talking about how much damage it did to
04:55his knees, what are your memories, when people say the Superdome, what do you think of playing
05:00football in that stadium?
05:02I think of the fans first, the Saints fans and the Dome, there's nothing like it.
05:08The passion, I know there's fans that are passionate about it.
05:11They love their Saints, on a soul level, there's nothing like it.
05:16But when Kyle and I played, it was the old school AstroTurf, it wasn't even the soft
05:21stuff with the rubber in there, it was concrete with a little layer of padding over it and
05:26then carpet.
05:27It would tear up our knees, it would tear up our skin, thank God, thank God it's better.
05:32They don't mind that but they don't want you smoking a bowl after the game, right?
05:35Exactly, hey, I don't want to make you run on all this hard stuff, I don't want to let
05:38you relax after.
05:41So we've only got times flying by here.
05:43I saw your interview with Danny the other day, I thought it was great, you guys were
05:46talking about astrology and you were talking about the stronger and the more dominant signs.
05:52I felt good because I'm born August 10th.
05:54Oh, perfect, of course.
05:55That's fire, baby.
05:56You got it, you see it.
05:57Do I got the fire, Ricky?
05:58You do, do you?
05:59So I wanted to ask you, you were talking about Tom Brady, what do you and Tom Brady have
06:03in common?
06:04We were both born in the same year, so we both, we would say our work ethic is what
06:08we have in common.
06:09I got something else for you.
06:10What?
06:11You were both drafted by the Montreal Expos.
06:14I wasn't drafted, I was traded to the Expos.
06:16No, it was a rule five.
06:17Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I got you, I got you, I got you, I don't people realize
06:22this about baseball.
06:23I didn't know Brady.
06:24Yeah, Tom Brady was drafted as well.
06:26I did not know that.
06:27Yeah, yeah, how good of a baseball player were you?
06:29Did you want to play Major League Baseball?
06:31When I was a kid, I did, but when I got to Minor League Ball and we had to play every
06:35day, I was like, uh, maybe this isn't for me.
06:40To me, it's like, at that level, you have to love the game to play every day.
06:45I played with a guy, Jimmy Rollins, you know?
06:47Yeah, yeah, Jimmy, yeah, great Philadelphia Phil, yeah.
06:49We get up in the morning and it was like Little League.
06:51Jimmy couldn't wait to go to the park, and when I saw that and I noticed I don't have
06:55that for baseball, that's when I knew I don't have a future.
06:57You know, Marshall Falk, one of the greatest running backs ever, he could play baseball
07:00and he told me, man, it was just boring standing in the outfield all the time.
07:04I wasn't bored, I just couldn't hit the curveball.
07:08That's why they made a movie, Trouble with the Curve, right?
07:10Yeah, yeah, it's real.
07:11We got 30 seconds, who's going to win on Sunday?
07:15So if you saw the piece on Levitard, I chose, I picked the Eagles.
07:19I think it's going to be one of the best Super Bowls ever, but I think the Eagles are going
07:24to pull it out.
07:25And finally, in closing, where can people find whatever you want to find online?
07:28What do you want to get out here, man?
07:29Yeah, the biggest thing is healing from the gridiron, it's healing-from-gridiron-dot-com.
07:36Check it out and see what we're doing.
07:37The legendary Rickie Williams, you the man.