Jason Kelce, Eagles Center, discusses climbing Mt.Kilimanjaro and "Hungry Dogs Run Faster"
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00:00Who else climbed with you guys?
00:01So it was me, Chris, Bo, and Haloti Nata were the four guys that have played with the Eagles.
00:06And Haloti?
00:06They said Haloti and Bo were the two heaviest guys that they've ever seen climb the mountain.
00:10And he announced his retirement at the peak, at the summit.
00:14After the climb, the mountain is now $16,000.
00:19Right over here is Jason Kelsey.
00:21How you doing so far?
00:24You enjoying the offseason?
00:26Yeah, it's good.
00:26We just started up again about two weeks ago.
00:29This week was the first week on the field with the coaches.
00:32So, you know, we're kind of back at it.
00:34It kind of seems like there's really not any sort of real offseason these days.
00:38The nature of the beast is that you just keep at it.
00:41Yeah, especially when you're playing playoff games and stuff like that.
00:43It shortens down.
00:45You know, we're probably seven months out of the year working.
00:49But, you know, that's pretty intensive work for seven months.
00:53Jason, is it a case of, I mean, is this sort of better that way?
00:56Because you've got to do more getting up to speed if you take too much time off.
01:02And if you kind of sort of keep at it, you're always just a tick off, you know, fighting weight, basically.
01:08Yeah, I think most guys lift year-round pretty much.
01:10I mean, you'll take a few weeks off here or there, go on vacation, whatnot.
01:13But most guys are always staying in shape.
01:15This time of the year is especially important for all the new free agents that we got in,
01:18all the guys that are trying to learn the terminology, the new playbooks.
01:22Well, your brother's, like, one of the best tight ends in the league.
01:26He does a great commercial, by the way.
01:28But he's tackling an eagle in that commercial.
01:31Or, you know, have we talked about this yet?
01:33He's dancing in the commercials, the commercial that I'm talking about,
01:36where he's sort of fantasizing and he's doing, like, an end zone dance.
01:39And then you realize that he's, like, standing in the middle of a store or whatever.
01:43So I wanted to ask you, because you guys are both at the top of your games
01:46and the top of your positions, who's the actual better athlete?
01:49Oh, Travis is not even close.
01:50Oh, right.
01:51Not even close.
01:53You got to call him as you see him.
01:55Yeah, yeah.
01:56Honestly, he's living it out in fantasy and you're doing it.
01:59Yeah, yeah.
02:00No, he's a special athlete and he always has been,
02:03even no matter what it was, basketball, baseball.
02:06You know, he just had a knack for sports.
02:10I think that, you know, I've always been big, fast, and strong.
02:13But the type of athlete he is, how fluid he is, the way he moves,
02:16his ability to change direction and things like that.
02:19But in spatial awareness, I mean, he's a tremendous athlete.
02:25Jason, you and Nick share something in common.
02:27You guys have both climbed Mount Kilimanjaro.
02:30You climbed Mount Kilimanjaro?
02:31I did.
02:32Yeah, I did it for charity as well.
02:33The organization you guys did it with was Chris Long and Bo Allen.
02:36The Water Boys is a fantastic organization.
02:38And, you know, when I did it, I thought I never want to do it again.
02:43Same here.
02:44Yeah.
02:45It's the hardest thing I've ever done in my life.
02:48But now it's been several years and I want to do it again.
02:51And part of the reason why I want to do it again is because of the work you guys have done
02:55for such a great organization.
02:57And I love philanthropic climbs at all.
03:00And to do it and make it that challenging is really impressive.
03:03Tell me your impressions of the climb itself.
03:06Same as you.
03:06The moment I started going up that last night, about halfway through, I was like, what in
03:11the hell am I doing?
03:13You're in the pitch black.
03:14You're going.
03:16What route did you go up?
03:18We did Ombwe.
03:19Ombwe?
03:19Yeah.
03:19We did Rongai, which is the only one from, like, the north side.
03:23Yes.
03:24It's the shortest, but I think.
03:25Is it steeper?
03:26I think it's at the top.
03:27It's a little bit steeper.
03:28Because everyone says it's, like Nick was saying, that basically as climbs go, it's a gradual.
03:33But there was one route that at the end, that's probably what you did, that it becomes
03:37a lot steeper.
03:37The summit is the hardest part of the climb.
03:40And you're already tapped out because you've done a climb for several days in a row.
03:43And then it becomes the steepest part at the highest elevation.
03:47Oh, that's wonderful.
03:48I don't know if it's any steeper.
03:49I shouldn't say that.
03:50But you do have to, once you get to the top, you don't go right to the peaks.
03:52You have to, like, walk around to the other side of the peak, which is a little bit
03:56more of, like, another two hours once you're already at the top, which is kind of like,
03:59you know, why in the heck am I?
04:01Are you walking?
04:01I should already be here.
04:02Is that, so you summit, like, a daybreak?
04:06So you get up at midnight.
04:07Okay.
04:08Before, that's what we did on this route.
04:10You have a headlamp on.
04:11It's the blackest of black you've ever seen.
04:13I mean, there's not a light.
04:15On a mountain.
04:16Yeah.
04:16Yeah.
04:16And you just start making your ascent.
04:18And at this point, it's a little bit too steep for, like, you know, guys like me to go
04:23straight up.
04:23I mean, the porters and guys who do this, I mean, there's nothing to them.
04:26They're walking up and down like it's just another day of work.
04:29Bastards.
04:30But for us, we go, like, kind of, like, sideways in these skip backs.
04:34And it took us seven and a half hours to get to Gilman's Point, which was the top of the
04:39wrong guy route.
04:40And then we had to walk another two, two and a half hours to the peak.
04:43So I got to the peak around 10 o'clock, 10 a.m.
04:46Who else climbed with you guys?
04:47So it was me, Chris, Bo, and Haloti Nata were the four guys that have played with the
04:51Eagles.
04:52And Haloti?
04:52They said Haloti and Bo were the two heaviest guys that they've ever seen climb the mountain.
04:56And he announced his retirement at the peak, at the summit.
05:00After the climb, the mountain is now 16,000.
05:05As we're sitting here talking to you, the texts are coming in.
05:07And I wanted to find out what you hear most.
05:10Do you hear hungry dogs, what is it, hungry dogs run faster?
05:14Yeah.
05:15Okay.
05:15Or if I don't eat breakfast, I'm pissed off?
05:18Yeah.
05:19Or from that speech, there were several highlights.
05:22Do people just yell those out to you sometimes?
05:24Absolutely.
05:25Okay.
05:25Which one do you hear most?
05:27Um, you know, I probably, I was actually surprised nobody this morning asked if I ate breakfast
05:33in the Bronx.
05:35You've heard it.
05:36Yeah, right.
05:37Oh, thank you.
05:38You know, but, uh, no, the, um, I probably hear hungry dogs, I probably hear hungry dogs
05:43run faster.
05:44Yeah.
05:44And that's not just from, I mean, that's still a mantra of Jeff Stoutland.
05:47I mean, he was just grilling some of the younger guys with it today and, or, uh, not today,
05:52but, uh, yesterday about, you know, we got some rookies coming in here.
05:55We got some, uh, new free agent signings.
05:57You want to talk about, you know, hungry dogs and he's trying to motivate people with it.
06:01I mean, it's, it's something that, uh, you know, was such a big part, I think with the
06:07team and the city and it kind of all correlated together that, um, I probably hear that one
06:11the most.
06:12That's Jason Kelsey.
06:13Yeah.