 This is the OTP presented by Farm Bureau Health Plans, plan on paying gloves for the coverage you need with Farm Bureau Health Plans. Get a quote today at FBHP.com. I'm Mike Keith, so glad to have you with us on this holiday and so glad to share a really great conversation with Titans great Blaine Bishop. We had an opportunity to do a follow me through Tennessee episode where Blaine and I drove to Gallatin and visited Swainy Swifts on the square. Now, if you haven't been there, you need to go. The burgers are fantastic. The desserts are outstanding. I recommend the Cookie Monster, maybe even for dinner alone. Just have the Cookie Monster. Anyway, we had a chance to talk in my Nissan truck on the way to Gallatin. Great conversation with number 23 himself. And so here is our OTP with Blaine Bishop. All right, let's talk Blaine Bishop. Let's talk football. Here's what I found most interesting about your career several years ago that I didn't know. So I'm at a University of North Carolina football game and I meet two of your teammates from Ball State. Unfortunately, I can't remember their names. But they told me, they said, you know, Blaine did not start his career at Ball State. So you come out of Cathedral High School in Indianapolis. Where was it you started your college career? Well, actually that school is closed now. Okay. Yeah, I went to a Catholic High School. Naturally, as you mentioned, Cathedral and me and a couple of the guys since we felt like we weren't getting recruited. We're all good students. I was not the captain of the team. And so we decided to go to St. Joseph's College in Rensselaer, Indiana. Rensselaer. Now, I know Rensselaer because that is three exits down from where my wife is from. She's from Crown Point. Oh, yeah. Yeah, we're Crown Point. I always had a great women's basketball program. Still do. And to be honest, I hadn't even heard of Rensselaer until we started doing research because I was getting recruited by a lot of Division II, Division III. Walking on it. DePaul. DePaul. Yeah, DePaul. I mean, I had all these kind of offers like that. Yes. And local schools there. Butler was one of the final ones that I was considering. And so, yeah, I went to St. Joseph's. I went there and it all kind of worked out because, you know, that really hurt that I wasn't a Division I player. I thought I was capable and not a high profile. My dream was to go Notre Dame. You go to Cathedral Fighting Irish. You want to go to Notre Dame? A lot of students went there. Maybe not players, but so, you know, they told me I was too small. I could walk on and those things. So I went to St. Joseph's and I was, you know, excited about the opportunity. I thought I'd have a great opportunity to play right away. And so that was appealing to me. And it was an up and coming, you know, Division II school that no one really knew. And, you know, wanted to go there really as far as football. But they had some good players. So, yeah, I decided to go to St. Joseph's College in Rensselaer, Indiana. It's cold. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, it was it was freezing. You get to touch it, you know, Chicago, a little bit of weather there as well. So it's kind of interesting, some of the guys that, you know, man, I just talked to him about a month ago. He's the piece of Coach Bates. Coach Bates was the defensive coordinator there at St. Joseph's College. Guess where he's at now as a defense coordinator? He's been there for a while, too. No idea. University of Pittsburgh. No kidding. Yes. He was my DC. Ha. So he coaches for Pat Narduzzi there. Narduzzi. Yep. Yep. I met him down there. They were in Georgia. So I drove down and met him down there one time during a camp time years ago. But yeah, so we've talked over the years and yep, that was his one of his early career stops, which is kind of fascinating, isn't it? So how do you, what did you play at St. Joseph's? Were you running back still? Well, when I went there, I made all state, all city, all metro and defensive back. So, and we had a three-headed monster. You know, we're playing, you know, power I.T. running back. So we all kind of blocked, you know, some of, sometimes I was the tail back. Sometimes I was the full back. So, you know, I was the motion guy. I was kind of the home run hit guy more so than the other guys. So I could go for five carries for 105 yards and never touch the ball again. Right. So very true team oriented type offense. And then I believe defensive back corner. So that's kind of how I grew. And then I, you know, I don't think I had enough carries really to be in a conversation of being one of the elite running backs, but my average yards of carry was really high. And I, and my heart and soul, I thought I was a running back. No, no doubt. No, you know, that was that era. Right. So, but one thing I didn't ever, you know, kind of dispute in which I, you know, I always try to convey to on air or, you know, to kids is that, you know, opportunities is to play on both sides of the ball and you never know where you may get that. Right. And even though my heart and soul was in a running back, I was never thinking about that's all I was going to do. So I played defensive back when I first got there. That was the intent when I got there and I started there. And it kind of had me at safety because they had another, they had a couple of other guys that were pro prospects corner. I think the guy from Florida named tombs and another kid. I can't remember his name, but, and so I was there at safety. And I was being very productive. I was getting interceptions blitz and it was kind of came like my foretape doing multiple things and I had cover skills because of playing corner. And I had a great, you know, I was a football guy. I was an instinctive player. So there came a time when it was week four and the two starting running backs were injured. So going into the game, they only had two running backs left on the roster. So they said, Hey, Blaine, we're going to have you teach you a couple of plays. You make it in the game. Maybe not. Hopefully it won't. Well, the first play, the starter got ankle sprain and then the second string guy, I think, wasn't as effective. So they just put me out there a couple of plays while I was still starting on defense. And then I ended up having a really good game. I scored two touchdowns as a running back intercepted a pass for touchdown. And then I think I returned a pun for touchdown. Wow. And so after that, you know, I didn't think nothing of it. So after that game, and I can't remember. I think we're playing like Kentucky State or someone. I can't even remember we're playing. But after the game, I'm coming out of the locker room in these two NFL scouts were there. Yeah, two NFL scouts, the Jets and the Giants. And they said, you got a shot at the national football league. And I looked at them and thought they were men. And I didn't even, I thought somebody was messing around. They said, no, and they had on their, you know, their golf shirts, you know, saying, you know, Jets and Giants. And they said, they were there to watch some other guy on the other team or our prospects. And I was kind of still kind of stunned and like, Oh, okay. So I thought that was pretty cool. Yeah. So yeah. So at that point in time, I just I never thought about it again until the season was over. So how do you get from there to ball state? Well, that's exactly what happened. So I went back to my high school coach, who was the president of the school, Coach McGinley, and asked him sitting there, literally six months after, you know, I wasn't recruited really. I think I had Southern Illinois in a moment. That was kind of the bigger schools at the time that I could have chose. I asked him, was I division one football player? No, he said, absolutely. And I didn't, I wanted to say what changed, but I didn't really change. And actually, it probably was great because I was working hard. And you know, when you're in high school, you're working hard, but then you ratchet it up to a whole another level and you become obsessed with just working out and kind of proven. I think that's where the hitman really started coming to life, really, because it hurt me so bad because I would see other players, and I really understood how good I was and how good I wasn't. You know, if somebody was better than me and I was like, Yeah, that guy, he's really good. And I don't know, we're about the same, you know, and I got a confidence. Also, there was a kid we played against in high school, and he was here behind us, but he went to Notre Dame on full scholarship. And I said, Dang, I'm just as good as him. I'm, I'm, we're the same size. So I came back to him, you know, my coach there, Mr. McGinley. And so he said, you can go to Indiana State, you know, programs nine, I think, you know, and he said, Ball State does good program, you know, you'll be fine there. You can start right away, or you can go to IU and you'll probably have to sit a year. And the rules are different there. So I was going to have to sit, but I was going to get to play after a year. I could practice, so I could use it as a red shirt, but that was the rules then. And so he called Balls, I said, we'll call Ball State. And because as he said, I can start right away. So he called Ball State, prepared the recruiting coordinator with Coach Land. And he called them and he said, Yeah, sure. We'd love to have them come on up because they had looked at me in the year I came out of high school, but they had already offered two kids and they actually ended up starting as true freshmen. While I was at St. Joe, they went to Mayo and Trinity in Kentucky, which were powerhouse schools. So, you know, yeah. And so they had no more allotment because that's why they didn't offer me. So they said, we'd love to have them walk on. And if he does what we think he can after semester, we'll see where we're at. And so that was huge for me because that's when I got a huge backing from my family went to all my games. It was just kind of like a family deal. And you know, my mom said she'd give me a year and we'd see where we're at, you know, paying for school. So how long before you get a scholarship? So after practicing in the rules then, I couldn't play, but I just practice every day. And they had me in multitude of positions. I was like the scout team. If there was an option quarterback, I was the option quarterback. I might have been the receiver or the running back or the defensive back. So I would do all those things in practice. So after the first semester, they offered me a full scholarship. Wow. So that was, that was cool. What was that like? That was pretty cool because I sat there with Coach Mentor. He was our DC, kind of became, you know, bigger guy. He left my senior year and went to Notre Dame DC. Rick Mentor? Rick Mentor. Yeah. And I think he was an interim head coach in Kentucky. He was been the head coach since then. His son now was head coach at Vandy. Now he's at Michigan. And when his son was here at Vandy a couple years ago, we used to meet for coffee there at Starbucks all the time. So I, you know, I'd keep in touch with all the guys who coached me and gave me an opportunity. But he was, part of this was him giving me confidence as well. So eventually I ended up starting and Mentor was the one who told me that, hey, you're going to compete to start a corner. And he said, what side of the ball do you want to play? I said, well, my heart is always going to be in offense. He says, well, I'm going to tell you right now, you are the third or fourth string running back on this team. And mind you, we had Bernie Pommely, played for Miami, the Dolphins, and Corey Crewman was drafted in the fourth round by the Patriots, you know, towards ACL, never really panned out. And so, and then there was another kid there and he said, you know, you're probably not going to be playing that unless you're going to be like third down, especially this guy or something. So I said, so I can compete to start on a cornerback. He said, absolutely, you can compete to start. And I looked at Coach Mentor and listen when he looked at me and I said, remember now I'm going on 19 and I felt like I had nothing to lose. I said, so who am I competing with? Like, there is no competition because I had seen the guys even though they started and they were good players and good people. Keith Hackett, who is now a pastor, he is in Louisville now, you know, the Indianapolis. And Rick Mentor said to me, he put his arm around me, said, don't worry about that. You just go be you and we'll be fine. And so there was never really any competition. They moved guys around and actually it was really kind of Keith Hackett, was the guy who I was room with on the road, traveled really great human being. His dad actually is in the Hall of Fame and his dad has never told me this until literally like five years ago. His dad is one of the people that's a statue in front of Kentucky football. Oh, no kid. Yes. It's whatever the Hackett guy is. Yeah. So I never knew that the whole entire time. So this guy has a history of success in athleticism in his family. And so, yeah, that's kind of high ballooned and started and making all Mack and everything else. The headcoaster Paul Shudair was a Michigan disciple from Bo Schembeckler. So kind of run the ball. You know, we started throwing ball a lot there towards my junior senior year, but and we're defense board and that's, you know, really good players. So you started at corner for three years. Yes. So you didn't play safe field? I never. Well, in high school, my senior year halfway through the safety got injured and they moved me to safety because the other guy, he was a real good player, but he just been, you know, he wasn't better than the other corner, but he was a really good player. So then they moved me to safety halfway through my senior year and Collins was playing corner. So that was really the only time I really play safety. Now I was a hybrid at St. Joe's. So I could say I did that there, but so it wasn't like it was uncomfortable, but I really had no, you know, in high school, you're just running around and chasing the car. I'm not, you know, I wasn't green keys or anything like that. But so yeah, I was really a cornerback. That was my background. So when, how many of the all star games did you play and how much did you go to combine? How much of that did you do pre-draft? Well, it was kind of interesting because I didn't even know I was getting scouted like that until my senior year and they said 15 teams are here to watch you play in this game. And I was like, oh man, Dave, why didn't you tell me? You know, they were like, well, I'm playing. I don't think you would have played any different. And I was what they called the boundary corner. And at that time, most boundary corners end up being safeties in the pros because you kind of bled your run support between, you know, then what we did there, I blitzed Rick Menner's defense, which was really complex and probably that's probably helped me when I got into 46 is learning all these defensive schemes. And because we had to wear cards on our wrist, everybody. And all I did was play press man to man. You know, I could play off, but I would never wanted to do that. So that's kind of where I was, I was cornerback. So I didn't know I was going to get invited. So all my invites came after the season where I was at the blue, gray, the senior bowl and then the combine that all kind of happened right behind each other. Wasn't like going into my senior, I knew I was going to do it or right when the season was going on or right when it ended. It didn't kind of belong into that till right after the season was over. More of our conversation with Blaine Bishop coming up on the OTP, but I need to remind you that seat geek is the official ticketing partner of the Tennessee Titans. Whether you're buying or selling tickets to Titans games or any other live event in Nashville, seat geek is the place to do it. Seat geek, the new official ticketing partner of the Tennessee Titans. So Titans fans can fan now more of the OTP with Blaine Bishop. So did you know that you were going to be a safety in the pros? No, okay. No, I did not. When did that? When did you find out that's what the expectation was for your career going forward? Or when was that determined? Well, when I got there, I was still a cornerback and it was more I was going to be a nickel. And I thought I was doing really good. I was doing really good because I had great lateral quickness and that you could see from, you know, my basketball day. So and then I was strong for my size. And so I was playing nickel dime immediately there with the then the Houston Organs. And they had three safeties get injured, which was a Mark Robb towards ACL. Then enough from the first round or two years before that, Mike Dunlis from IU, which I was a little familiar with, towards Achilles. And then the backup, I forgot what the backup was. He had a torn patella tendon. And so eventually it got to, and that all happened in training camp, my rookie year. So I'm still hadn't done safety. So they, they come to me in the meeting during training camp and go, Hey, you know, you're pretty sharp, you know, but we're going to probably move you to the safety in this defense. And we're trying to see if, you know, if that's something that you'd be interested in. And there's a huge part of me, I wanted to say no. But but it was like, Oh, so, you know, it's one of those kind of shocking. Oh, really? Dang. Okay. And so I, I didn't even know what was at store here when I, in the 46th, because I didn't practice it or anything until, you know, halfway through training camp. And so then I'm playing safety. And one day I'm in nine on seven with all the hogs. And buddy Ryan pushing me from behind in there and telling me to get up in there. And I'm, because I'm still, my mindset is a corner. I may have been an aggressive corner, but that's nothing like when they didn't plan half the time, you're a linebacker, you know, and then you're a slot cover corner to then your big, deep safety. So yeah, it took me the outlet training camp to come to realization. This is what I'm going to be. And that really, really then brought the Hitman out that, that did it because I couldn't have played and practice every day without having it. I mean, I went 100 miles an hour every single day. You had no choice. Yeah, I had no choice. I really didn't. And yeah, so I had to learn how to practice that way too, because I didn't know how to practice without going 100% because, you know, Coach Fish, you know, was like, Hey, you gonna slow down? You're not gonna hurt yourself, but you got your teammates. So I had to figure that out too. But that was after the fact, after Buddy Ryan left. What was your year like with Buddy Ryan as the defensive coordinator? That was, being a rookie, that was intimidating. And it was scary. There's no question. He called everybody by their number. So there was no, you know, hey, 58. And then, you know, I got to play with Wilbur Marshall. He brought Wilbur Marshall from the 46th. I remember watching Wilbur Marshall in grade school on the Bears because in Annapolis, we'd have the Colts. So we had all Bears games. Sure. So I was well familiar with him. And, and then all the guys we had Sean Jones, William Fuller, we had what we called the Freak then was Lamar Latham. 57. Yeah, he was a freaking major. He was fast for a big human being. So it was, it was a veteran team. And with a lot of experience, that was the year coming. My rookie year came off of them losing. I don't want to say 30 points they were winning by and they lost the game in the playoffs or the bills. Yeah, something like that. So, you know, going in or going in the training camp, you know, the late Greg, you know, Mr. Adams said that this is, if we don't go to the Super Bowl, this team will be dismantled. So, you know, I was a rookie. So I'm baffled like, Oh, I'm gonna get cut. I didn't know what was going on. I had no idea. You know, I'm in Indiana. I watched the owners, but I didn't know where they were and what happened the year before. I mean, I watched it in college. I was a senior and I remember I turned the game and I turned it to, I remember the Cowboys game and I don't remember who the Cowboys play because of a more competitive game. And then when I turned it back, it was fourth quarter and I saw that they were losing. Yeah, it's funny because so I worked Sundays and I got off work and came home and that game was on and I turned it off at 28 to three and took a nap and turned it back on and it was, you know, 38, 38. And it's like, what happened? Yeah, it's crazy. It was so going to my rookie year, that was the fault. You know, I followed that up. So it was, uh, because they fired Jim Eddy and they hired Buddy Ryan to be the defense coordinator. Yes, that is the history there. So, you know, my first go around with Buddy Ryan, I was nervous, scared, everything involved in that with like, because he was intimidating. And there was some adjustment there with some of the veteran players, you know, with this approach. So I was sitting in the back and just prayed that he would never say my number. So he just called you 23. Yeah, everybody though. It wasn't just me. It was everybody. Yeah. And he put the pointer. You have this, that, you know, the laser pointer, the red laser pointer. And I was like, Oh, please do not point that thing at me. And you started? Yeah, I eventually got to that, uh, as a starter. And I think that kind of, I had a really good game there on Christmas day as a starter at safety and played a lot up to that point. But then eventually I started and had a sack. I was almost Steve Young and I kind of set the tone for my career. But, uh, yeah, that was, uh, I wouldn't have ever imagined I'd have been playing safety and, uh, and that defense and having the success. But, uh, everyone's credit involved that whether it was the scouting department or coaching staff, Buddy Ryan and everything else. It fit every elite skill set that I had. Had to learn, you know, how to read defenses. I mean, the office of linemen and how to fit. And then I was always strong. So I hadn't, you know, I was squatting, you know, four and some pounds in college. So I was, he taught me how to use my power and even going against the guys that were bigger than me in six, five, 300 and how to come with all these different moves. Uh, coach Bettis, uh, was my BB coach and he's an older gentleman and taught me a lot of different things. How to, uh, not take the brunt of blows when I had to be inside the box. When did you become known as the Hitman? Well, I started that my senior year in high, uh, college. Really? Yes. And so I had to let him inject with Hitman on there and that kind of started. Because of Brett the Hitman heart? Uh, no, it was not, but I was a big wrestling fan. Okay. All right. So no, I, uh, someone, um, on the team, I can't remember, uh, I think it was Henry Hall, uh, my teammate and executive now in my own company. He, uh, he's the one to start calling me Hitman. Cause I guess I was aggressive for a corner. Uh, and they had never seen anything like that. And it was really just a habit. Uh, that really created the Hitman, the chip on the shoulder, all those things of maturation of my journey, my journey to, to where I was then, and it kind of just evolved and snowballed up. But I had to let him inject. Well, you know, they gave it to me and I put Hitman on the back and I would, my senior year, I had it on there and it kind of started it. And I started, you know, really buying into it. So that's where it all started. So your whole thing though, I mean, you think about undersized high school, not recruited, end up at St. Joseph's, walk on at Ball State, have to sit a year. You play all these different positions. When it is said, things happen for a reason that that's a hundred percent right because there is seemingly no way that you have the career that you ended up having. If you don't go through all those various experiences, the slights, which provided the motivation, but also the understanding of different positions being coached by different people in different ways. Really quite an amazing journey that is not typical of the five star safety who gets recruited place three years and then is the eighth pick in the draft and he's six, three, two, ten and runs four, four and completely different. Yeah. Yeah, you're right. I don't know if I even would have turned into that player if I hadn't gone through the, you know, not understanding that at the time. Oh, sure. For sure. But man, I thought my journey, I was well prepared for when I got the opportunity to, and I was just as surprised as everyone else, but as things kept going along, you know, even Rick Minner, once he left me my senior year and was at Notre Dame, and he's coaching, you know, Notre Dame, he's, hey man, he calls me after the season says, we have his kids going first round. That's what they're saying. And so he is, he said he's athletic and it was Tom Carter. Yeah, Tom Carter 25 Tom Carter. I remember him well and went to the Bengals, right? Yes. And so he says, I think you're just as good as this kid. You were better. Yeah. And so well, I'd end up being a safety bit, but he says, you know, he may be a little looser in his hips or maybe a tad faster or we, you know, we said, but I want to come down and work out with him. So I came down working that that kind of start spewing the confidence level that I could compete, you know, because back then all games were just on TV. So we were just watching games on TV. So, you know, I'm looking up to, you know, whether it was guys in Notre Dame, Michigan, Ohio State or Tennessee or all the SEC schools, you're just watching TV and said, man, I don't know if I could really compete on the same field with them. So that kind of built with me playing in the blue gray. And that's, you know, it's where I meet Trent Green, who went to IU, which we played against him. But then, you know, developing a relationship with these guys. And then I'm out there performing against these guys that went to Oklahoma in the blue gray or anybody, you know, and it's just start saying, oh man, I'm just as good. As I said, I was a realist about who I was. If somebody was better, if it was a time like, I don't know, we about to say. So that happened in the Singapore was just off the charts. I mean, that really, really put me in a mind frame. And that was when Alabama won the national title and all their players were in this game and practice every day. And we're doing they were the 92 national champions and they had some serious DBs, George T. Yeah, that's where I met George T. And developed a relationship with him. He could play. Yeah. Yeah. And he was the first, he ended up being the first one picked by Green Bay, right? The last pick or the second round. So, so, and he was, he was, he was, you know, he was built up to be, but he ended up playing safety. Approaching a railroad. Just like, so, just like it. So he, he would only practice one of the practice. So I was doing extra duty. So because I was on the same side as him, as far as the DBs. So I put into work and you're going against Quadrius, man. Oh, yeah. The missile. Right. The missile. So it all these different guys and the missile had me running to the goal post. I was running so fast, I couldn't stop. It's probably the fastest I ever read in my life. But so it, those things all happened and it built really confidence in what I could do. And then going to the combine, seeing how I matched up there. And again, I may have been where they saw, well, this guy's a really good football player, but it's not quite as fast as he needs to because I only ran like a four or five. I never ran a four or five. I always ran a four or four or something. But at the combine, I ran something, you know, four or five, four or something. And I was perturbed. I was like, oh, that's, that did it for me. I'm not going to get drafted higher. You know, that I thought because I was a middle round guy at that time. That's what they were saying. And you went in a round that no longer exists. But the pig does 214. Same pick as the Cortland. Yeah. Yeah. Do you, do you keep up with who number 214 is every year in the draft now? Do you always look to see who it is? Absolutely. Well, I was looking at the seed just to see who's still around, whether it's 230, 214, just to, because there was really good players to get drafted. And it's really hard to get drafted on so many really good players. So yeah, I kind of always watch and pay attention. That is my dream is to, I have one dream left. I've kind of lived a dream of dreams in my life being a broadcaster. That's one I wanted to be meeting a Brian Gumbel growing up and he was a keynote speaker at this, when I got this award for youth the year for the Boys and Girls Club. Oh, that's cool. Yeah. So I met him and I kind of started the pendulum. And that's why Ball State, I was part of the David Letterman building all those things and communication. So I won, I didn't know I was going to make pro. I wasn't that guy like that. I thought, oh man, finally I thought, oh man, I got a shot. But I didn't know I was going to make it. Like, there was a part of me like, hey, I'm going to give it all I got. And if I don't make it, I'm cool with that. I really was. And I had a job at State Farm coming out of college State Farm in Richmond, Indiana. So you, you're going to be Jake. We're in the khakis. So it was a, it's a heck of a ride. Jake from State Farm. He would have blamed from State Farm. I don't know if I would have been blamed by anybody. You've been blamed from State Farm. I don't know, man. So it was, it was a, wow, what a heck of a, it's been a ride. And then you get the whole thing happened. So you're, so you become a staple of the Houston Oilers. And then you're a staple of the Tennessee Oilers. And then you're a staple of the Tennessee Titans. You're one of only 20 who can say that you were all three. Oh, is there, is there 20 of us? 20 guys who could say I was a Houston Oiler. I was a Tennessee Oiler and I was a Tennessee Titan. Dang. Right. Okay. So, so who were the names? Oh, I mean, you don't know. Eddie, right? No, I know Eddie. Steve, Brad, Matt. Yeah. I mean, it's, but then there's some guys too that, that I wouldn't have to kind of Jason Layman. Oh, I would have never guessed that. Jason Layman was, was one who was, he was a Houston Oiler. He was a Tennessee Oiler and then he was a Tennessee Titan. Yeah. Kind of a, kind of a different deal for sure. Yeah. Yeah. You know, you can talk about even on draft day, it was another, you know, disappointing day. And that, and by the way, where were you? I was in my apartment there with my two roommates. That's it. That's it. This is remember my one roommate who I went to high school with was the kicker and the punter, Damon Keller. And the other one was on the golf team, Jeff Kotner. Okay. And so, eventually it became just me. So it wasn't like big family gathering? No, no, no, I never, I never bought it. You know, I was a really focused person. After the fifth round, I did not wash, I went to the library. I called it cracking with the Bracken Library. It was a three level library there on campus and I went to the library because I had a test on Monday and I said, I think I better pass this test. I haven't got drafted yet. Cause you may be going to work for State Farm. Yeah, that's exactly what I was thinking. So, so I did have a flip phone in the, in the Mr. Hollivac. Great Mr. Hollivac called me and then for a reason, those guys that we're going to take you in. I said, yeah, you guys called earlier in the fifth, but I didn't say you're going to take me, but you acted as though you were and then it didn't happen. I said, I'm at the library right now. They said, no, no, we're taking you. Just you got it. And I go, I don't, I don't, I'm a bird studying for this test. And then, no, no, well, when you get back home, just go look at the ticker. We're going to be on there. And so meanwhile, so now I'm, I'm distracted. I can't study. So I get up, leave and go home. My agent then is calling me by the way. I'm driving back and say they took you. And so then I, until I sit there and I'm sitting on the couch by myself and now nobody's there, you know, because I left, they left and I saw my name and I was excited. Okay. How much was your bonus? My sign of bonus, my rookie year was $20,000. That's why I laugh $20,000. And my since I was a late round pick like that, only got a two year deal and I made one 15 and then I think 125. But I mean, in 1993, that's good money, man. That is really good money. So after taxes, I think it was like $10,000. So what did you do with the bonus? Did you do any, did you put it in the bank or did you buy something or? No, I didn't do anything with them. I kept them. I didn't have a car until after my first year was up. No kid. Yeah. Yeah. Well, he says I didn't, but I did. Brad Hopkins, who was first round pick, we developed a relationship and I was real cool with the Illinois guys because we had two guys from my high school who went there. They were already graduate and they got drafted to Derek Bronlow the year before me, fifth round thing by the Cowboys linebacker and Mo Gardner, two years before that, who I played with as well, went to the Falcons in the third round. Okay. And so it was a natural connection and we were at mid, in the Midwest, you know, area. So I got to know B hop at the senior bowl. And so when we got drafted, he was the first round. I was the last round pick. And I just stayed with him. He stayed in a, you know, town home there right across the street from the practice facility. So, yeah. So I, I lived with him and I paid him a stipend like, you know, $500 or something above. Funny. Yeah. And then I didn't buy a car. So I would drive one of his cars. If I needed a car, I would have to ask him, but he had a, you know, two or three cars. He's a car guy. Yeah. Yeah. He's a car guy. And, you know, he was first round. I think he signed a bonus of 34 of me. I don't know what it was, but, and so I did that entire first season because I was still worried about that. I didn't know if I was going to make the team. That's where my mind still was at. No, that was 30 years ago. And I still had that mindset and it actually motivated me. I never took anything for granted. Yeah. I never did. I just like, I got to keep working, keep grinding it because that was a part of me. Like I didn't know after this year, even if I was going to be on the team. So even after my rookie year, I did an internship at Smith Barney down in downtown Houston. And they helped me facilitate that. They had a program there for the players because I was concerned. I said, well, let me see if I can work at Corbett and if I ever do get a nice contract that I'd like to at least know what to do with it. And so I did that and still concerned that, okay, I may not be on the team the next year. And I think some guys, being that I was a later round pick, it benefited me where some guys, maybe in the first round, probably would have relaxed and took things for granted. And it never dawned on me. I was always trying to evolve and be the better version of what I was the year before and work on all my weaknesses and address them where a lot of athletes, they don't kind of address, you know, if they're weak in, you know, whether, oh, I can't catch, you know, so I'm gonna work on my hands or my footwork, my covering skills. So that's kind of That is a great story. That's my conversation with Blaine Bishop as part of our follow me through Tennessee series, as we went to sweaty swifts on the square in Gallatin. And remind you that Duncan has it where it's always game on. That's right. Grab a cup of coffee and kick off the action, whether that's drinking a cup on your way to the game or grabbing one to go before watching the game at home. Duncan is always there to help you get your game on. Just like the pros, we need to be at our best come game time, which is why Duncan is the most important part of your game day ritual because it's always the best call for football. America runs on Duncan. Thanks for joining us for this special edition of the OT