 This is the OTP presented by Farm Bureau Health Plans. With Farm Bureau Health Plans you'll get lower deductibles and premiums and less hassle. Visit FBHP.com. I'm Mike Keith. This edition of the OTP will introduce Follow Me Through Tennessee, a series that we will run monthly through the 2023 season. The idea was hatched by an Amy Wells Wisecrack, which is also how the OTP was created. Amy made a comment last spring on the OTP about my penchant for finding special places in every county in Tennessee. She makes fun of me about it, but it is true. One of the best things about the job has always been traveling to every corner of this state, meeting some of the best people, talking Titan's football, and discovering some of the best places to eat that you can imagine. This season will introduce you to five outstanding establishments. The great Titans fans will learn about atmosphere, friendliness, and wonderful food, and a Titans helmet will let you know that the two-tone blue nation is always welcome. Follow Me Through Tennessee will not only introduce you to those five restaurants, but also to five talented people that accompanied me in my 2016 Nissan Frontier on these trips. You can catch the Follow Me Through Tennessee features on Titans All Access, on our social digital channels, and right here on the OTP. On the OTP, you'll actually hear our conversation from within the truck. So for the first, it's only fitting that Amy Wells was my travel partner. If you've ever wondered what our conversations are like off the air, you'll find out here on this Labor Day weekend edition of the OTP. We talk a lot of food, which we always do, not just when Amy's pregnant, but all the time. But we also get into her time with the Baltimore Ravens and the Indianapolis Colts, plus how she got the job with the Titans 10 years ago. We hope it doesn't bore you. We hope that it is a pulling back of the curtain, a sharing, if you will, whatever it is. It is real. So stay tuned to Follow Me Through Tennessee. But on this edition of the OTP, you get the first reveal. Amy Wells, in my conversation from the ride to Putnam County, Follow Me Through Tennessee on the OTP, presented by Farm Bureau Helpline. So are you interested to know where we're going? I am interested to know where we're going. We are going east to Silver Point, Tennessee. Okay. Have you ever heard of Silver Point, Tennessee? I sure haven't, but it sounds like a place you've been to. I actually have. Okay. It's near Baxter, Tennessee. Have you ever heard of Baxter, Tennessee? Absolutely not. Right? Okay. So we're in Putnam County. Have you heard of Cookville, Tennessee? Yes. I've been to Cookville, Tennessee. You've worked games in Cookville, Tennessee. I have indeed. That's exactly right. All right. So that's where we're going to that county, to Silver Point, and we're going to the Rose Garden Restaurant. Okay. The Rose Garden Restaurant in Silver Point, Tennessee has breakfast, lunch, all kinds of great things to eat. Apparently the biscuits are outstanding. Love biscuits. But what they're really known for is pie. Pie. Pie. We're going for pie. Yes. Not 3.14. I'm talking about real live pie, 10 different kinds of pie. People come from all over the state, actually all over the south to eat the pie at the Rose Garden Restaurant. Well, I want to be one of those people. I want to try the pie. Me too. I've never been. Really? Coach Mack has been. Oh, well, okay. Coach Doug Matthews took Coach Mack when they were over here recording a show, and Coach Mack swears by the pie at the Rose Garden Restaurant so it has the Coach Mack seal of approval. I have never had a bad dessert when I'm with Coach Mack, so I trust this place. I'm excited. I do too. So we're on the way to Silver Point, Tennessee, in Putnam County, and the Rose Garden Restaurant, and hopefully traffic won't be too bad. All right. Let's go. Let's go. How is there a place you haven't been in Tennessee? Well, I mean, there are a lot of places I haven't been, and most of the ones that I haven't been, I would say I've heard of, like the Rose Garden Restaurant. It's just my travels have never taken me to have time to be able to pop over. I've been trying for the last three years since Coach Mack told me about this place, but I'm either generally coming or going or I'm calling a game or something over here, and then I've got to, you know, get back to the house or get back to the office or whatever. So I'm over this way a lot, and there's really no excuse that I have not been to the Rose Garden Restaurant. You were waiting for me to come with you. Well, yes. Let's go with that. That's what you should have just, that was your answer. That was my correct answer. But you are going. I am. And, you know, you have been incredibly healthy through both of your pregnancies. All of us have been most impressed with your diligence. Well, you know, I try and eat a furred or vegetable, you know, which is a little different from my normal diet, but I do. I try and be aware of, you know, getting all the food groups and all of those things. You just try to be careful because you're not the only person that is being impacted. But my sweet tooth is just on a different level right now. So being able to go and have pie, is it different from your first pregnancy? Yes. In my first pregnancy, I wanted sour things. I wanted salty and I wanted sour. This time around, I want sweet. I want sweet and spicy. No kidding. Yeah. What's been your strangest crave so far? Oh my gosh. It's more that whatever I'm eating, I need it to be the hottest thing I've ever eaten in my life. Really? Yeah. And I don't. That's not usually your game. No, I like, I like a good spice, but I don't like things to be overly hot because, you know, at some point there's a line between like flavor and just heat. Right. And I don't like to cross that line. You know, I want to be able to enjoy it and still just taste that it's a little spiced. But right now I need everything that needs to be actually on fire. I need it to singe my esophagus. Like, I don't know why. Does it sound healthy? Oh no. It probably isn't. But it's just what I, what I need, like a spicy pad thai. Oh man. Oh, okay. Yeah. Like I need everything to be super hot, a lot of hot chicken. I don't think the pie is going to be, but I mean, hey, you could probably have something hot while we're here too because again, the food is supposed to be outstanding. But here's the thing. Immediately after that I need something sweet. So this is right up my alley. This is going to be perfect for me. We're going to get you in the middle of it. That's for sure. Oh man. I just, all the pie, what did you say, there's ten? Ten different kinds of pies. Shoot man. They're known for chocolate cream or chocolate ice box. I'm not clear on that yet. Definitely. But chocolate. Yeah. And then coconut, which I love coconut. Oh, a coconut pie. But there's not much better than that. But here's the problem. They're really the kind of pie like best is cherry. Really? I love cherry pie. I love cherry pie. But the problem. Because of the salt. That's right. Yeah. Warrant. Cherry pie. She's my cherry pie. Yeah. Yes, thank you. I figured. But my whole thing now is as an adult, I don't eat a lot of sweets. No. So when I'm going to do sweets, I want chocolate. Okay. Because I don't want to waste the calories. It's like I'm not wasting calories on pumpkin pie generally. I know. And I like pumpkin pie. Yeah. But the thing is, I'm just not going to, I'm not going to sit down and say, I'm ruining my diet today for pumpkin pie. I'm going to ruin it for something chocolate. That's why I like the Dairy Queens. That's why I like the Sonics. Yeah. That's, I mean, that's my thing, but I'm going to get chocolate. See, I prefer on the whole a fruit based dessert. I like fruit pies. I like fruit mixed into my ice cream. I like fruit like on top of a cheesecake or something like that. I love a cobbler. Yeah. With vanilla ice cream. Yeah. Treats. However, there is nothing like a good cream based pie. Like. Like fudge pie. Fudge pie. A good coconut cream pie. A lemon pie. I like lemon. It's not my favorite. The only pie I've ever encountered is in Indiana. They love the butter pies. Butter pies. Oh, with butter pie. What is that? It's gross. Don't even, don't even go down the road. It sounds terrible. You live in Indianapolis for a year and everybody tells you, you got to eat the butter pie. It's not. Who told you that? Everyone from Indiana. Okay. They have it in the press box for every single cult game. Butter pie. Butter pie. That's poor. It's like, you know, chess pie, how there's kind of a layers to it. There's like the lower layer. Chess pie is okay. And then there's the chocolate top layer. Right. It's only the lower layer. It's just. Why not just go eat a crust? It's kind of what it is. It's like crust filled with like a buttery kind of consistency of a like a pecan pie but no pecan. I've never heard of this. It's gross. I mean, unless you're from Indiana and that's everything you've ever wanted your whole life, but it's gross. Well, I mean, I have nothing against people from Indiana because I'm married to a woman from Indiana. She probably knows about butter pie. Yeah, I don't think so. She ain't doing butter pie. I've gotten a strict order that there better be a chocolate pie on the way home. Oh, see, you're a better man than I am. I didn't even tell my husband what we were doing because I knew he'd want sweets. And I'm not feeling inclined to share. So if you bring it, well, if you walk in with a pie. I'm not getting into that. Here's the thing though. There has to be solidarity here because if you walk in with a pie and I don't, that's a bad look for me. Yeah, well, that's your problem. So you're just going to hang me up to dry like that? Yeah, absolutely. All right. So you're going to have... I'm glad we've established this early on. We've established the rules. Every man for himself. That's exactly correct. When it comes to pie. Yeah, my wife is chocolate, chocolate, chocolate. Yeah. That's why I like her. But she'll do that stuff like if you give her some chocolate and she's not ready to eat it at that point, she'll like put it in the cabinet, lock it, or put it somewhere. She's exactly like my uncle Mike was. My uncle Mike was famous. We brought him some stuff from Hershey, Pennsylvania one time. Uh-huh. And he took it, he took it, hit it somewhere. He's like, oh, thank you very much. And then he just left for a few minutes and then he came back and he didn't have, you know, the big bag of Hershey's, whatever. Yeah. Just not sharing. He hit it. Yeah, and Michelle does the same thing. That's smart. That's a great play. It's not very... It's not very friendly, but if it was a gift for you, protect what's yours because I don't do that. I'll just put it in the refrigerator for later. After the time you come back and it's like, oh, you wanted that? Oh. Yeah. Yeah, I did. No? It was kind of a thing. All right. It's gone. So, I mean, maybe the hiding's the way to go. But the question is, are you going to have something else too? Or are you just going to try all 10 pies? You've got to have a salty component to break it up. So when you have like a... When you have like a milk with it to kind of separate, you know... Milk? Well, but I'm saying... You're kind of a monster. No, no, no. No, but I'm saying that you will, you know, cleanse your palate, so to speak. Oh, yeah, definitely. Probably with, I mean, like coffee. Coffee? Yeah. These kind of places always have the best coffee. They always have great coffee. They always have good, like, biscuits and gravy. Mm-hmm. You've got... When you're going to a down-home place, you've got to get the down-home classics otherwise you're missing an opportunity. Like, they probably... And I probably won't go in this direction because, again, you need a savory with the sweet. But I would guess they probably have incredibly good pancakes. Oh, yeah. I would guess they have incredibly good, like... Breakfast, like, scrambles or like a hash or something like that, you know? Oh, yeah. That's what country cooking is. Because they got a... They got a serious grill. And you know it's back in the back forever and it's like seasoned and exactly what you want. Soak in all the flavor. Oh! That's like my grandmother's skillet was. Yeah! See, this is how people need to eat. Anything that my grandmother did in that skillet was going to be unbelievable. You know, just do a grilled cheese or... You know. And it's got everything. That's why when people come to this part of the country and they eat the food, for the first time, they think they've died and gone to heaven. I tell every person that I know that moves to Tennessee, you are going to gain 10 pounds. But that's just your new baseline. Enjoy it. You'll love it here. Because the food here in this region is better than any other food in this country. And I have no problem saying that. I think it is, too. And I mean, I'd like to say it's just Tennessee because I'm from Tennessee, but it's really the South. It's the South. I mean, you go anywhere and you get something. It's like one of the best things in the world to me is when you get a covered dish at church. I love that. Yeah. I love that. You know? That's good food. Because these ladies, and generally it's ladies, they're going to bring out something and it's going to be like, you're kidding me. Well, I mean, no, because nobody's like bringing a throwaway dish to something like that. I mean, this is cooking for the Lord. Right. And so it's going to be your best stuff every time. Well, and... I've never brought a throwaway dish to church. No. You bring the good stuff. No, but you get to, you know, those older ladies and they don't exactly need recipes. Nope. They've got the, you know, the pieces they bring. And they ain't done it in a microwave either. Oh, no. No. My stomach is like gurgling. I know. It's so hungry. I can't wait. But I don't eat like this anymore. No. I don't have time to eat like this anymore because you've got to, you've got to sit down. Yeah. Enjoy it. Well, we just don't sit down. No. The way we once did. I have tried to make a concerted effort to at least three nights a week cook and enjoy a meal. That's a great idea. At least three nights a week. Because things get a little crazy in my home. We've got a lot of people going in completely separate directions at all times. But at least. And you get a one year old and another one on the way. Yeah. I mean, we've got, we've got a lot of moving parts in my house. But three nights a week. Sometimes it's a Friday night. Sometimes it's a Tuesday night. You know, it's not always the same night. But I cook a full meal. We can eat on it for a while. Yep. But we sit down. We eat a good meal. Because there's something about eating a good meal that like sticks to your bones a little bit. Well. It kind of revives you. And the thing is, even if like, you know, I do the whole calorie counter thing. Yeah. And I know that. I don't mess with that. I know, I know. But the thing about what you're talking about is, even if you eat a big meal that is more calories than other things, it sticks to your ribs, so to speak. So you're not going in and grabbing a handful of chips later or a handful of pretzels with peanut butter or whatever. Right. I think it's better for me. Yeah. I don't think you can eat every meal like that. No. But, and it makes you so happy. I think it's, for me, it's better for my mind. Oh. It's a, it is a mental restart that like, I'm not, because if I snack, I eat what I call intern food, which is, Intern food. It's what I ate when I did. You kind of got a name for everything, though. Yeah, I do. But when I didn't have any money and I was just kind of starting out as an intern and literally every dollar I had went to rent. And that was about it. I ate a lot of ramen noodles, apples and peanut butter, you know, pretzels and peanut butter, peanut butter on everything. But just really quick, high process things that you could do really fast, chicken nuggets, hot pockets, you know, things that were cheap. By the way, just to stop you, I think they've got a peanut butter pie. I'll eat that. I think there's a peanut butter pie. So go ahead with your story. Yeah, I'll eat that. But anyway, so I keep these things in the house because they're easy things to just throw in real quick and eat. You know, something else that, we're going by the Lebanon exit. This is where Cracker Barrel started. Wait a minute, what? The world headquarters of Cracker Barrel is right down this road, right here. Wait, Cracker Barrel started in Tennessee? Lebanon in Tennessee, not Lebanon, you know, that always lets me know. That always lets me know somebody's not from here. But Lebanon is where Cracker Barrel started. You think about it, and that's why, I think that's one of the reasons people like Cracker Barrel so much is because it's what we talk about. It's that kind of food. It's that kind of food. It's that kind of food. You sit down and you feel like you're having something that your mom or your grandma made. And I gotta have breakfast there every day. How did I not know this? I don't know. They are biscuits and gravy's phenomenal. Yeah, it's pretty good. It's really good. And we'll plug for Cracker Barrel here. Okay, that's good. They're catering phenomenal. Where did you have Cracker Barrel catering? Well, thank you for asking my key. Cracker Barrel played a big part in catering my Thanksgiving this year because we were a little busy. It was kind of a crazy time of the year. My family was coming into town. I was like, I do not have the mental capacity. It wasn't the cooking. It was the purchasing groceries. So what I did do is I got a turkey and a couple of sides from Cracker Barrel. They threw in a pie. But no, I'm a no winner. Did you get hash brown casserole? I sure did. Thank you. Yeah, hash brown casserole, turkey and mac and cheese. I like their green beans a lot too. Yeah. And baked apples. Baked apples are good. Yep. If you're seven. No. All the time. Because you eat them, okay, ate them for Thanksgiving dinner and then ate on them for breakfast for like five days. That can't do baked apples. I'll just have an apple if I'm gonna have an apple. Mike, you're so healthy. No, but I just Lame. No, not lame. Those baked apples are good. I can get after some Cracker Barrel. That is apples So you just found out in the Cracker Barrels in Lebanon. Yeah. Great job by you there. That's amazing. Yeah, you've only been here 10 years. You've never heard that. Where are you actually from? I get emails from them. From Cracker Barrel. Yeah. Yeah. More of my conversation with Amy Wells, but first, Hey Titans fans. It's always game on with Duncan. So grab a coffee and kick off the action. Whether that's drinking a cup of coffee 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 at 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. Remember, America runs on Duncan. Where am I actually from? Where are you actually from? I'm actually from Columbia, Missouri. That's not where you were born. But that is the place. Where were you actually born? I was born in Bloomington, Illinois. Bloomington, Illinois. Bloomington, Illinois. Yes. So I've lived there for exactly six weeks. Okay. So not really from there. I've only been there maybe one other time. Moved to Johnstown, Pennsylvania. Yeah. Home of the Big Flood. And the Johnstown Chiefs. Yeah. Yes. I lived there until I was seven. Okay. Spent a brief 10 months in Tays Valley, West Virginia. Where is that in West Virginia? It is directly in between Huntington and Charleston. Okay. So lived there long enough for a school year, essentially. Okay. And then we moved to Columbia, Missouri when I was in the fourth grade. Okay. So that's home. So you're from Columbia, Missouri? So I'm from Columbia, Missouri. Because we moved to Franklin when I was in fifth grade. Yeah. So I'm from Franklin. That's right. I get it. If you move somewhere in grade school. And that's where you grow up. Yeah. I agree. I agree. That's not where I was born. No. But people ask me where I'm from. Right. I would say Franklin. It's where you became a person. I don't know about that. I became a person in Columbia, Missouri. I also went to college there. So, and that's where you become a person. Theoretically. Yeah. I think so. Well, that's interesting. But. I knew you'd lived in Baltimore. I've, I bounced around early. But then you were in Baltimore. Then I was in Baltimore. You know, that's the thing that a lot of Titans fans can't get over about you. Then I worked for the Ravens for the Colts. Yeah. That you were Ravens, Amy. Yeah. Well, I wasn't even. I was. What did you do there? Intern number two. Intern number two. Essentially. Yeah. I was a public relations intern for the Baltimore Ravens for my first year in 2011. And it was right after the lockout. Yeah. Which. When did you get there? Oh, so I got there about six weeks before the lockout ended. Okay. So you got there in June? Yeah. The lockout. I remember the lockout actually ended on July 27th. Yeah. And I remember that because I was coming back. We did a whole family cruise and I had essentially got no news about anything. And the first thing that when I turned my phone on, it came up that we were going to go back to Baltimore because Mr. Adams was kind enough that he still paid us. Yeah. A lot of teams did not continue to pay their employees. I got two kids and, you know, and it's like, man, I need to keep getting paid. Right. And so that was a big deal. So go ahead with your story. Right. So the Baltimore Ravens offered me the internship in June on a Tuesday. I moved to Baltimore on a Thursday. I had never been there. I knew nothing about anything. Just packed up my stuff and moved. Why did you? Why did you even do that? Did you always want to be in the NFL? Well, I wanted to work in football. It didn't occur to me that I had the option of going to the NFL. Like the idea that I could get any sort of position internship or otherwise in the national football league didn't occur to me. I thought that I was going to have to work in a college for a while. And then you graduate to pro's, you know. But a friend of mine from my family's church back home, his cousin worked for the Baltimore Ravens in their communications department. He's still there now. And so he set me up with kind of an informal interview just to get an idea of what his job is and everything. We ended up talking for a really long time on the phone and a couple weeks after that he called and asked if I wanted to interview for their season-long internship position. I said absolutely. Did the interview during a storm so my phone kept dropping the call because it was storming so badly in Columbia at the time so I had to keep calling them back. Always a good way to make a good impression. Yeah, which is a great way to make a first impression. Well, you were memorable. Yeah, I definitely was. And they ended up offering me the gig but the lockout was going on so they basically said, hey, we don't know when this is going to end or if it's going to end but when it does we need you here. So we don't know how soon you can get out here but we need you to be here and just kind of on standby. So I said, how about in two days? And they said, great. And I just packed up but you all moved out there found an apartment. My dad had taken vacation time at the same time just kind of coincidentally and so he moved out there with me and or helped me move out there I should say and hung out there for about six weeks and then the lockout ended and I started that day. I was great. Come on in. Training camp starts tomorrow. So how did you transition for Baltimore to Indianapolis? So my internship ended. I moved back to Columbia, Missouri just back into my parents' basement was there for a couple weeks and was just kind of reaching out to people around the league and Chuck Pagano had been the defensive coordinator at the Ravens when I was there he got the head coaching job with a pulse. So I and Chuck Pagano was always so kind to me. He took care of me. He always made sure that like I wasn't alone on major holidays and you know I made it to work on time but he just kind of looked out for me. Coach Mack like? Yeah, very Coach Mack like very, very much so and so when he got the job at Indianapolis it kind of put the pulse on my radar and so I just started ambushing them with calls and emails and there were a couple other coaches that ended up going with Coach Pagano over to Indian so I had some character references that said they put in a good word for me and they ended up offering me the internship initially they just offered me a training camp position so to only be there during training camp and then they had a couple people a couple staffers who ended up leaving and they needed the extra help so they just asked me if I would stay the day before I left to go to Anderson, Indiana which is where the Colts hold training camp they asked me if I would end up staying for the entire season so I threw like a couple extra t-shirts and a lamp in my car and I was like I guess I'll figure it out when I get there and I committed to the whole season again side unseen I had never been to Indiana I had never done anything I just kind of rolled into town and figured it out when I got there I'm not eating the butter pie which I learned when I got there but you had a good experience there right? I had a great experience there everyone I mean I know down with the Colts but also everybody there was very kind I've kept in touch with a bunch of people up there you make a lot of fun of me for being the queen of Indianapolis No! but I think the city is really well designed for hosting events I always enjoy when we go back there we always eat really well when we're there so I enjoy I'm glad that Indy is so close and I'm glad that they're in our division because I enjoy having the opportunity to go back there we work with them we want to meet the Colts but every time we play them we have six touchdowns and they want to do the same to us that's how it is but we work with people it's like you know how I feel about Bob Laney who was there played by play announcer he's an exceptionally nice man and a professional the guy who's doing it now Matt Taylor is one of my favorite guys they have some really really nice folks that you get to know over a period of time I'm not going to sit and say I love their organization or anything because we they're our competitors we want to beat them yeah, bad but are there certain people that we think are good folks? sure well and that's the thing about working in the National Football League as a whole there's so few people that get to do this and you get to know people who are in your other position so who have your role for a different team and you get to know the PR staff and you get to know these people and you form real relationships with them like the person who interned with me in Baltimore is now my daughter's godfather like that's crazy but that's the person that I made strong relationships with he's worked for other NFL teams I've of course worked for other NFL teams but the friendship remained how'd you year about Archer? a Super Bowl actually I was at the oh my gosh 20 I guess it would have been the 2012 Super Bowl so it was the Ravens and the 49ers and I was volunteering to work there as NFL PR people do or used to do I don't know if they still do that but at the time you needed a job in the NFL you volunteered your time for about 10 days to go do PR for the Super Bowl because there's such a huge influx of media that a team PR staff of three or four people just can't handle that load so the league brings in a bunch of people to serve as support staff and that way the PR guys for the teams that are playing are able to enjoy the experience so I volunteered to go the Ravens, the team that I had just left were in the Super Bowl which was a real kick in the face but it made me very useful because I had relationships with a lot of the players a lot of the staff so I was able to kind of be in certain places and no one really noticed I was there because I'm a familiar face and so I was able to help out a lot but anyway I'm telling people that I'm looking for a job and kind of talking around and there was someone from the Tennessee Titans Craig Peters who used to do a lot of with the Vikings now he did a lot of writing for the Tennessee Titans and the website and all that before Jim Wyatt and he said well we have a position that's opening up I know you're doing PR and there's a lot of PR elements to it but it's also going to be kind of an on camera role not sure if you'd be interested in something like that he could have told me that you were washing the floors and I'd be like oh yeah I can do that like sure I just wanted a job in the NFL I wanted to keep this thing going and so I sent him my information I guess he forwarded it along I don't remember actually applying for the job but ended up having a couple phone interviews and then they brought me in for a real interview and never did I realize how on camera heavy it actually was I thought that it was mostly a PR job and so I came in I interviewed with you if you only do the back story I'm terrified to know the back story because I don't I've never told you the back story because I don't really want you to know no? it's probably bad it's not bad but it's fascinating well I thought this was a PR job it was like it was never a PR job and I did a like an on camera test with you yes you did and I thought this is a weird thing to do for a PR job and I don't really know how to do this but I'll try and I did and I don't know if that tape exists if it does it needs to be destroyed I think it exists actually I don't know where it is Jeff Harding would know where it is but I don't want to send it down yep we did talk about the polls because I wanted to give you something to talk about that I knew you would know well it's good you didn't ask about the Titans that wouldn't have been fair but that wouldn't have been fair the whole idea was you've just been there and I was interested to see how much attention you had been paying I don't know that I had been paying a lot but I got the job well you talked about what their off season moves had been what their strengths and weaknesses I remember talking a lot about their offensive lines thinking this is a weirdly specific thing to be talking about but that's what's top of mind right now but that was what separated you and the whole thing because I told Gary Glenn right after we did it he asked me he said she didn't have a lot on camera experience and I said oh no we can work with her because you had the knowledge you understood what was important that's what you were talking about in that bit with me is you were laying out what was important for the Colts off season which told me that you were plugged in to how things work and what people are interested in because you know that's the most important part of the job is you can talk great you can look great you can package things great you can write great but what you're covering is something that people aren't interested in because you don't get it you have no chance and you got that it was it was a terrifying portion of the interview I'm sorry it didn't seem terrifying oh no fake it till you wake it but I didn't realize what the job was until a couple weeks later when I showed up for my first day which oh by the way was going on the Titan's Caravan in Cookville in Bentham County you signed autographs the serendipity of it I shouldn't be doing this you were so excited to sign autographs well no one had ever asked you for an autograph you were a little excited to have chuckled a little bit about how excited you were to sign autographs oh I'm sure because you kept talking about how excited you were to sign autographs well it blew my mind never had I ever and I thought I was a PR person until this exact moment and that's what everything kind of changed and I realized what this job was going to be and I mean it's been it's been about that crazy of a ride ever since like this ride it's been great SeatGeek is now the official ticketing partner of the Tennessee Titans that's right the deal is finalized and SeatGeek is the newest member of the Titan's family if you haven't heard well get used to it because you'll be hearing it a lot more this season whether you're buying or selling tickets to Titan's games or any other live event in Nashville SeatGeek is the place to do it and SeatGeek the new official ticketing partner of the Tennessee Titans so Titan's fans can thank you we just passed Gordonsville tell me about Gordonsville yeah Gordonsville this isn't the first time I've heard you talk about this this is one of those places you'll love because you love high school football they are one of the great single A programs in the state of Tennessee Gordonsville I remember they they had a great all time team in 1984 won the clinic bowl which was the state championship against ECS out of Memphis and then they won another state championship 11 years ago when they were able to beat maybe Huntington Tyler Cohen was the Tennessee Titans Mr. Football that year I think he was the lineman of the year when there were less classifications and we used to do back in lineman once they went to 19 classifications we had to kind of cut it back because we knew that the Academy awards if they did all of the awards on TV you'd be there for like 7 hours you'd have to do lunch and dinner but so they have been to the state playoffs over 30 times I think it's like 35 or 36 times which is really amazing because until 1985 only the district winner went to the playoffs now it's tiered I think 4 teams from each region go to the playoffs and it gives people a chance in 85 to win championships from each district but they've won state championships and I remember Mark Medley was their coach in 83 and 84 I think they were runners up in 83 they won the state in 84 and then 2012 they won it and so it's one of those really cool places where football is such a big deal the last I checked I think the overall population of Gordonsville was less than 1500 people and yet they have strong football which is a community bond which is something phenomenal that's why I love high school sports well and if there's anybody who knows where there's good high school football in this state it's you well they were good when I was in high they were a big story when I was playing so I would read the newspaper you got your name in the paper and you wanted to read about everybody else and Brad Cowan was their big star you knew all these names and they were such a big deal and I still like to read all that stuff now because I think it's fun to think about what a big deal it is to those people and your husband does an amazing job with our high school football stuff and I mean if I had been around and the Titans invited me to be player of the week or coach of the week or to a camp or I mean I would have just I would have gone crazy well it's such a cool thing to be able to listen there's so much more than they want to be able to do when it comes to outreach and if the Titans had a staff of 38 people who could just be doing high school football things it still wouldn't be enough because there's so much that you could do in so many areas because the crossover is so natural and so easy but being able to just put the Titans logo that means so much to so many people around here on different things and let guys be associated with that brand for a game for part of the Friday night football series that the Titans do when they come out and they bring cheerleaders and they get excited or being a coach of the week or being the game of the week or just being associated with an NFL brand and being able to wear that sticker wear that stamp you know it makes the entire game the entire school and a lot of times the entire community the school is in feel like they're part of something so much bigger to be associated with the NFL it makes everything that much you know who digs all this too is Mike Frable oh yeah Mike Frable is like the biggest champion of it because he gets it well because I mean he still got pictures of him being the runner up for state player of the year in Ohio when Mark Edwards the running back who went on to Notre Dame was the player of the year and he was the runner up and I mean and we talk to guys all the time and their college memories are special obviously their Titans memories are special but none of that eclipses high school stuff no ever ever and that's not they can make all this money and buy all these cars and build houses and you know all kinds of stuff and be famous and whatever but man if you talk to Derek Henry about you Lee yeah I mean he's going to talk to you about that he'll talk to you about it and there's always that game you know either that game where they balled out and it was incredible and they just smile and grin or the one that got away uh huh and that one that will always bug them forever and the fact that that high school sports can have that lasting an impact on a person is I mean that's the best part of all this crazy rose garden home style cooking right there it's a real place it's a real place we're almost there here's old Baxter road and here it is we're here oh this really just sneaks right up on you doesn't it says restaurant oh it's cute this is it that does it for this edition of the OTP we hope that you have a great holiday weekend Framie Wells on Mike Keith thanking you for listening to the OT