 out of bounds with Jamie and Abby. I am so excited today. A little bit nervous, I'll be honest. Today we have my husband as the guest. We're going to talk about our life, our life in the NFL, how it got started, a little bit of, I guess, a little bit of a private because you're so private. Nobody, nobody knows you. So this is a good way to teach everybody. International man of mystery. There we go. There we go. And our first male guest. That's true. First dude on the show. Yes, sir. Yep. Nice. Okay. And you're kind of the reason we're here, you know? Well, I don't know about that. He's the reason I'm here. Yeah, that's for sure. And you're the reason I'm here. So it's really just a trickle effect. Been on the OTP a couple times with my team. Been on Kelly's too. Oh yeah, I did the thing with Kelly. A little different for me. It's a little more relaxed setting, a little bit more chill. Hopefully not too many hard hitting questions that will peel back the layers of the secrecy, but just kind of see how this thing goes. Well, the funny thing about it is he's never heard an episode. That's not true. What? I listened to the first episode. I think you had a beauty queen on or something. Mallory. Yeah. Mallory Irvin. I lasted maybe 20 minutes and I had to really push through and stomach the last 17 because I was ready to bail after three. But as trying to be the supportive hubby, I stuck with it for 20 and then I was just like, I got stuck. That's okay. It is geared towards females. You guys are doing great. You've got some great guests on and so I was like, there's got a ton of run. Are you impressed? I mean, I got a job. Yeah. Finally. She's paying the bills. Yeah. Thanks, Abby. Well, nobody bills she's paying, but yeah, she's finally a productive member of the family. I'm sorry. Okay. Well, so when I first got involved in everything, I'm an outsider to the NFL world and I didn't really even know what a GM did. Do you want to start by explaining like your roles and responsibilities and is it the same at every team? Is it different? Like just kind of go into your day to day? I'm still trying to figure it out. Abby, a little bit. I'm just kidding. That was a joke up. You'll get to know me. I'm kind of a dry sensor. Yeah, very dry like Sahara dry. But it's I've been asked that several times and I use the corny slogan. I generally manage a lot of stuff, but I do. When I first got here six years ago, it was my door every 10 minutes. Hey, can I 15 minutes? Can I talk about something? Hey, 10 minutes. Can I and there was just a lot of stuff from PR to trainers to video to equipment to I mean, I kind of I oversee everything with as it relates to the football team, the coaches, the players, the trainers, the video department, the equipment department. It's a lot of responsibility. I'm blessed to have a great staff and the one thing that I've tried to do from a leadership standpoint is to empower those who are heads of departments for them to do their job and delegate responsibilities. You know, I'm not a micro manager. They know how we want it to look and there's different ways of arriving at the end of task. One scout might look at a player this certain way and give them this grade. Another one will look at it different and I value the perspectives of everybody are relative to their specific part of the organization. Okay, so you're in charge of everything. Kind of sort of. Yeah, basically. Got it. I was trying to fill this. Trying to fill a buster there and fill up a little bit of time. But yeah, it's I oversee a lot of stuff. I think that most people are interested in like the player contracts. Would you say that's like a big chunk of your job or not? It is. I mean, there's some negotiating. We have our VP of football administration, Ben Marino. He worked at the league office for a while. I never knew that. He's very adept in contracts, negotiations, the CBA, the salary cab and all of that stuff goes into the player's contract. He negotiates a lot of that, you know, the back and forth between their agent, their representative. I usually come in at the end. He and I will meet and say, hey, we need to be here, you know, kind of in this area on this player. We need to be there and he'll negotiate through terms on that. And you know, some he can kind of close the book. He'll always ask me, are you good if we go here at this number? And I'll go, yeah. Or I'll say, hey, see if you can get it to here. And there's some where I have to come in and we play good cop, bad cop a lot, you know, when you're talking to their agents. And sometimes I'll, you know, be the good cop. And then sometimes I'll be the one striking the gavel. So that seems odd to me. He does not seem like he's a bad cop ever. Well, he uses me a lot. He's like, well, I'm going to be mad when I walk in there and ask for more money. So I'm like, make me the bad guy. He does a great job. But that that's probably not the biggest chunk of my time. You know, it's because once players are under under contract, you know, they're playing on say the bulk of my time is spent evaluating, you know, players that are available players that are, you know, maybe on other teams that we might sign in the off season. And certainly the draft prospects, you know, the guys that are in college getting ready to come out for the draft, preparing for what would have been the all star games. We just finished up kind of that circuit. And now we're getting ready for the combine up in Indianapolis where, you know, 300 plus players will will go there and we'll get to interview them and work them out and get to know them a little bit and see if they're fits for our football team. Would you say I'm a good cop or you're the bad cop? I wouldn't say you're a cop. You may, you may be a constable. You know, exactly. It's like it's like lower than a deputy in the sheriff's department. I want to ask the girls that. So what our viewers don't know here is we have a little audience and I'm bringing a handful of girls to Oxford, Mississippi here after this. And so when they get on the mic in a minute, we're going to ask them who's the good cop and who's the bad cop. And I would say probably, in all honesty, you're probably the bad cop because I thought I was going to be this, you know, this firm, you know, disciplinary and dad. And I'm probably the softy, you know, when it comes to the girls and she's really more of the, no, you're not doing that. And when they give me the puppy doll guys because I'm not home a lot. I'm, you know, trying to run a football team. And so when I am home and they're asking for something and I get the, yeah, go ahead, you'll be fine. And she's like, what are you doing? The worst is whenever the kids were little. That was, that was whenever it was the worst because he was traveling 10 to 10 days to two weeks at a time. And they were little. And it's one of those things whenever you're a little kid, if you're allowed to do it once, you're going to keep on, as you know, I mean, your kids are so small now. And I would get so mad at him. I'm like, do not give them that candy. You have to deal with it all the time. I have to deal with it. So yeah, it's true. All right. I never knew you could be a bad cop. But yeah, how do you turn off? Like, how do you relax? What do you love to do? Oh, do you turn off? Can you? So let me tell you, so we celebrated our 20th the other day and February 16th, it's our 20th anniversary. Little, little get away to a place not to be named. Get away, exhale, you know, still thinking back over, you know, the season and it ended too early. You know, at this time of the year, there's only one team that's happy, the team that won the Super Bowl, like they're all, they're jacked up. And there's 31 other teams that are like, and, you know, I was still kind of in there, if you will. And so we got away and it was hard. It was hard for me to turn off. And I know what she's going to say. She would, hey, how are you doing? And I'm sitting over there and she can tell when, you know, the motor's running up top. And it makes me sad. I was really sad. I really was because he can't turn off. Yeah, but it's, I filled up, you know, filled up five or six pages on a memo pad of things, things I need to do. And that's, that's kind of my way of, you know, get, hey, here's what we need, you know, we need to do this, we need to do this, we need to look at this, you know, and I did ask, I said, can we come back? Because this place was amazing. I'm like, can we come back? And he was like, yeah, but it has to be in May. So the draft is in April every year. So once the draft is over, then his mind does this. Yeah, it's, it's, and it's different, it's different times of the year for, for me after the draft, as, as Jamie said, the roster is, it's starting to take shape for, for the next season. You know, right now we're getting ready for, you know, for free agency and we have some players on our football team who, you know, you're working through contracts and you're trying to sign those guys, you're prepping for the draft. So the, you know, the, the, the core of the football team, the roster is going to be built, you know, from February until May and June. There's going to be pieces that you add, you know, kind of along the way, but there's a lot of thought that goes into it. There's a lot of evaluation. There's a lot of meetings. There's a lot of discussions that happen from, you know, from February to, to that May point, to the end of the draft. And then once the draft's over to her point, that's when I can kind of like, all right, it's in place. You know, we've still got to do a couple things, you know, to get it really where you want it. You don't, you don't know when that's going to happen. You got to be a little patient, but at least from a bind and hyperdrive mode after the draft is, you know, the best time. I wouldn't say I put it in nooch, but I get it pretty close to nooch. Oh, it's, it's my favorite time of year. That's good. That's when we can go sit by the beach with a cocktail in our hand and turn the brain off a little bit. Looks like you had a little spill there. I did. I, yeah, broke my wrist. Is she trying to hide it? Super fun. I'm not hiding it, but if I go blank just because I'm in pain. You were snowboarding? Yes. Were you trying to be the Olympics or something? Did you get it? Yeah, I was in Beijing. No, I'm horrible. That's the worst part. It's not even worth it. Like you didn't medal. I know. I was like, my snowboarding career is officially over. But what was so funny is because they went on their trip about the same time we went on ours. Right. And I was like, you're going to the, we're polar opposite. She's like, I'm going to the beach. And I was like, well, we're going snowboarding. And she was like, what? I would get hurt. And I was like, yeah. And then she sends me a picture from the ER with the ice back on. And did it hurt? Yeah, it hurt. Yeah. Only thing worse was natural childbirth. TMI, but I told the doctor that he's like, I don't know if that's a good thing or bad thing. But it's all good. It's all good. It could have been worse. So everything's fine. When you were telling me about it, my stomach was like curdling at that point. I'm like, oh, because literally she's texting. And as a doctor was about to adjust it, right? And put it back in place. Were you awake or did he put you? You're awake. Snapping in dog. Did you hear it crack? I felt it a little bit. I mean, they numb it. But yeah, they hang you on like a Chinese finger trap for a while and just like let it with a 10 pound weight for about 40 minutes. And then he just comes and adjusts it. There's no way I'm ever going skiing ever. I hope no one wants to go. Sorry kids, I know they want to go. No, not going to happen. So you can't turn off till May. We've realized that. I mean, on the weekends, it's, you know, you get a little down time. I mean, this is the time where coaches and, you know, personnel, staff, trainers and equipment, because we're so full go, you know, once we start training camp, it's seven days a week that you're doing something, you know, except for the bye week when you get a couple days there. But you're either on the road out of game, you're practicing, you're doing something, you know, for 17, 18 weeks of the season. And then if you get in the playoffs, you know, you're playing even later than that. So it's a chance for all of us in kind of the football world. We still have things that we got to work on. Like I said, it's an important time of year for us. But, you know, on the weekends, like you, you might come in for a little bit. You might not come in. It's just whatever you need to do. Technology has improved so much from the standpoint of, you know, watching and evaluating players. You know, we can watch film. We don't have to be in our office to watch the video of players. And it's got them. You can pull it up on your iPad. Now you can screen share it up to your TV. You can work from your home office. And I think that's the one thing that, you know, COVID showed us is that we can do things at home. You don't have to necessarily be in the building all the time to do that. Technology has really changed kind of how we, you know, can still be productive but not have to be away from our families. Right. You know, seven days a week, 365. So ironically, the other day, I was telling her a little bit about, like, where you got started, which we'll go into that here in a minute. But I was explaining how you used to have to go get the tape and rewind the tape for all the scouts that would come in when you were coaching and how technology is completely different. And when I first got started scouting, there was, I won't name the school, but it was, it was VHS tapes, those old VHS tapes. And there was one coach who you would go see that guy. It was a small school and he would give you the video of their last four, five, six game, whatever you need to look at. And you would go watch it over in this old gymnasium. And there was cobwebs everywhere. I mean, it was basically dilapidated, but they had hung up a white bedsheet. And we used a projector from, I don't know what looked like 1982, to watch the video on that. But in order to get the video, you had to stop and get two dozen donuts. That was like payment for the video. Oh my gosh. One dozen was for the coach. He was a big man. And then the other dozen was for the staff. But there's a million of those, you know, scouting stories. Probably my scariest scouting. I was at South Carolina and Lou Holtz was the coach. And they didn't practice until seven o'clock on Monday night, since the only time scouts could watch practice. And it was late in the year. It was a terrible job scheduling on my part because as a scout, you kind of have freedom to, hey, I want to be in Florida State this week to watch them play this team or I want to be at Georgia this week. And I'm going to go from Georgia to Georgia Tech. And then you kind of map out your fall. Well, it was late in the season. And there was a guy that had come up over at Jackson State. It's in Mississippi. So I'm at this practice at South Carolina. And we watched the first 30 minutes of practice. And then Coach Holtz kicks us out. The next day I had to be at Jackson State in Jackson, Mississippi, which is a long drive. So I drove across South Carolina, Alabama, and basically Mississippi. There was a wreck or something construction. Somebody hit a deer or who knows. I get to Jackson, Mississippi, and I'm staying at this hotel. And it's one of those outdoor ones where it's kind of like the old motel. It was right by the interstate. It was a little spooky. And it was a different kind of room because my bed was like up the stairs. It wasn't like this big extravagant suite by any stretch of the imagination. And it looked like there may have been a blood stain on the floor. There was 18 wheelers going up 55. And I'm kind of nervous. It's like one in the morning. And the doors are like a little loose. So I locked it. I put that little chain thing over and I'm like, all right, I got to do something with a little noise. So I take one of the couches and I move it over in front of the door too, just in case somebody's not trying to break in in the middle of the night and take my kidneys for sale. But we've all got stories like that, running the road, scouting, looking for players. At least you had Rick and Bubba on your CDs. We used to listen to those guys. Two guys out of, I think they're out of Birmingham. They're radio hosts, they're funny guys. What is the typical, I guess, road to GM? Like do you kind of go coach side or GM side early? Or how does that work? It's really different for, different people get to their spots differently. I started coaching collegiately. That's where I met Jamie at down at Nickel State in Tibode. In the Bayou. Down the Bayou. And I was in charge like the donut guy I alluded to. I didn't require him to bring donuts, but I was kind of that guy. You were the donut guy. They're called pro liaisons. So I was the pro liaison. So I handled all the scouts when they would come through Nichols and look at players. And I just kind of struck up a relationship with a scout from the Patriots at the time, Jason Light. Who's now the GM at the Buccaneers? Oh wow. And he recommended me for position, the scouting position. It was a couple years that we'd kind of exchanged emails or texts or whatever it was. He said, hey, would you be interested in scouting? And I was like, you know, I don't know. I kind of like coaching. I was coaching linebackers at the time. And he said, well, I think we might have a position. And, you know, it never really manifested itself. He came through the next year, same thing. Well, then I'm on the road recruiting in May and I get a call and he's like, hey, we want to fly you up to New England and have you visit and interview. So I'm like, well, I'm recruiting. I won't be done recruiting. I've only got so many days to recruit. Can I fly up Saturday? So sure. So I will back to a fly out of the world and go up and interview. And they call me two days later and offer me the job to scout. And what was crazy too was, I mean, we were newly married. And I remember when we were first dating, him come into me and we weren't dating that long. And he was like, I really think that this would be a cool job. But it's a single man's job. You know, you can get a condo in the city and then you're just travel everywhere. And so he tells me this and I'm like, oh, yeah, you don't need that job. You don't need that. So then it finally happens and he gets the call to interview. Then it was like, oh, well, when do you ever get approached by the NFL to interview? So it was pretty cool. Our stories really will, we'll get into that. It's really neat how it happened. But yeah, I started as a, you know, as an area scout. So I did a particular area of the country looking strictly at college players. And then, you know, I did that for I think three or four years. And then we had some scouts that had left and taken other jobs who were above me called national scouts. So there was a national scout position available. We moved to Dallas from Atlanta and I did the entire country, just looking at like the top, top prospects, not just saturated in one area. Did that for two or three years. And then our college director left into England. The college director is kind of, he oversees everything as it relates to the draft, make sure it's all organized. He went to Atlanta as the general manager of the Falcons, Thomas Dementroff. And then Coach Belichick said, hey, I want to make you the college director. So that's when we moved to Massachusetts. I cried and cried and cried. We had a four month old. My parents just moved to Texas to be near us. A little cold, a little colder than Texas. But we spent five years there and met a bunch of good people. Made a bunch of great friends. It's my favorite. And then ironically, the guy who got me into scouting, Jason Light, he gets the job with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers as their GM. And he says, hey, what's your situation? I was like, well, my contract was up at the time. And he was like, well, you come down and run the personnel department for me. There's two sides of scouting. There's a college side where you're really just focused on draft and those prospects. And then there's a pro side where you're looking at guys that are in the league, free agency guys who are on the street, whatever it may be. And he wanted to put me in charge of both facets, which was a huge step up for me. And at about that time, I was like, maybe I could be a GM somewhere, sometime, I don't know. But this would be a good stepping stone for me career-wise. So we went to Tampa. We made that move. We were there for two years. I interviewed for the GM job with the New York Jets and I didn't get that job. It was crazy because when I left New England, because I had a ton of respect for Mr. Kraft, and I'd worked for him for 13 years. And he's like, what do you want to do career-wise, John? I was like, well, I'd like to run a team someday. I'm not ready yet, but I think that if I can continue to grow, that I might be able to be a general manager of a team. And he was like, well, where would you want to go, John? And I was like, Tennessee. I was like, I'm from Tennessee. My family's in Tennessee. To run the Titans would be really, really cool. He goes, oh, I never thought about that. And then fast forward three or four years later. That's wild. Here we are. It was so neat because, well, in the spring, there's a meeting. It's called the Owners' Meetings. It's where all the owners, coaches, GMs, they all come together and the wives thank goodness because it's a lot of fun. Mr. Kraft came up to us at first one. And he gave John the biggest bear hug. And he's just, I'm so proud of you because he did it. And he put it in the universe and got answered and he did it. So it's cool. Very blessed, very fortunate. Amy's been great. She's awesome to work for. Her Kenneth Barkley, the entire family. Very supportive. What's crazy when you talk about careers and when you talk about jobs and when you interview for this job, well, how do you get that job? Whether it's a sales rep or it's a marketing. And I asked her, she picked me up and then on the plane we came here for my first day here. And I'm sitting there and I was like, I just got it. And I just felt comfortable having that kind of authentic organic conversation with her. I said, when did you know that I was the guy? And she, matter of fact, she goes, eh, after about 15 minutes. I was like, well, we could have saved about four hours. But she was like, no, I just wanted to get to know you. And everybody that we interviewed was smart. And they were all intelligent and they were all football guys. Right. And they all had a plan for how they were going to make our team better. She goes, I just felt like I connected with you and I could have a conversation about our family's football team and then you went about your plan. And that just kind of cemented it for me. So I was like, well, good. That's good to hear. But it comes back to the old thing about first impressions. You know, it's like, what is that first impression that you're going to have or you're going to make on somebody? And we're about to go through it at the combine with these guys. I did it at the senior ball. There's some of the guys within the first five or six minutes of the conversation that I'm having with a prospect. It's a first impression. And I either like them and I want to get to know more about them. There's some where you're like, I don't really know yet. Kind of on the fence. And then there's others where you're like, it's just not going to work. Because the culture is sometimes more important than like just pure skill. The culture is extremely important. Yeah. Yeah, it's you've got to have. Can't just have talent. Correct. Yeah, you've got to you've got to have good football players, but you've got to have the right kind of people. You know, we say it all the time. We believe in people more than players. You know, there's a lot of good football players out there, but we want to try to get as many good people on the team because you can count on those guys, you know. What was your first impression on me? Really on the fence. So let me start off by telling our listeners that I, in the small little town I'm from, I was a little bartender at a little sports bar called Bubbis 2. It's where all the coaches put it to you this way. It wasn't a students bar. It was a family restaurant. And so that's whenever I first met him. I wouldn't talk to him. He wouldn't. That was a hunky new coach in town. What was the first date or did? Start singing it. Start singing the Applebee song. You did on a date night. All right, Oreo shakes. That's it. The rest is history. Really big spender here. I was making a whopping $9,000 a year. So, but no, it was, it was cool. Like she was, she had a great family. I got to know them over time. But you know, it was just cute little blonde. I mean, I'm a young coach. I was 22, 20. He was blonde. He bleached his hair. Back in the day, I had the surfer look. Yeah. You wouldn't know what to look at me now, but I was cut up like Coleslaw. And it was, it was just kind of, we just kind of hung out. And the one thing that I thought was cool about, about her and, and, and my relationship was, I laid it out to her pretty early on. A month. When we started dating. About what my career path was going, I didn't know what it was going to be, but I knew I was going to do football. And I told her, I was like, listen, I'm doing this football thing. I'm going to coach. And like, we're going to get fired. We're going to get hired. We're going to move. We might be in Georgia. We might be in Wyoming. Like I know you're from here. Your family and your friends are here. And if this is where you want to be, where you want to live your life, then we probably need to go a different direction. I said, but if, if you want to kind of go on this crazy ride, like I like you and I think you're like me. And we, you know, I want to keep seeing you. And she was like, I'm down. Let's ride. At this point, it was funny because when we first met, I literally didn't want anything to do with them because he was, he was very good looking. At the time we were both seeing somebody else. And so I was like, no, absolutely not, not even going to think about it. And my boss at the time, my manager tricked me. They had a big golf fundraiser for nickel state and all the coaches went, I was working behind the bar. They came in all laughing, cutting up. And then, so my boss comes in and he's like, Jamie, come with us. Let's go to Renee's. And Renee's was a student bar that was across the bayou. And I'm like, I am not going to Renee's. I'm not going to be seen with him because I didn't know if the other guy that I was seeing was over there. He convinced me. He's like, Jamie, come on, nothing's going to happen. All of us are going in. There was probably about six of y'all and my boss's sister and one by one, everybody left, left. And it ended up just being me, him and his sister. And then we get to the bar and we find this little pity table sat out and Jamie Bath was our name, sat there with us. And all of a sudden, oh, look, I see that person over there, left us, left the two of us there. And I'm going, I'm going to kill her. I'm going to kill her. But honestly, and that was it. And then as far as the people that we were dating, they weren't serious. And we, by the time we actually started, because that's whenever you left to come back home, both of those relationships fizzled out on its own. And it just, that was it. And then he asked me to go to the Applebee's. So romantic. Big time. It was cool. And called my mom after that date. And I said, I met the man I'm going to marry. This is him. And she's like, come on, Jamie, you're only 19. And I'm like, no, no, no, no. This guy's different. This guy's real different. And sure enough, a month later, he gave me the ultimatum. Yeah. And then said, I love you. And then that was it. There we are. There we are. You could get ribs and chicken. You could get shrimp and rip. I mean, you could mix and match. I got a club sandwich. Did you guys go to Applebee's for your 20th anniversary? No, sorry. I barely was able to get him to go to dinner. At all. Because we had a frenzy and event the night before. Oh, that's right. And he was like, no, we're going out the night before. And I'm like, it's our 20th. It's the 2-0. We have to do something. Big time. Well, so over the 20 years, you obviously were committed to the moves and the raising kids a lot while he was busy. What was that like for you? It was crazy. It was hard. It was very hard at times. Because like his schedule now is way easier than what it was back then. I mean, he would be going two weeks at a time. And having babies, it was just, it was hard. So we had Taylor, our oldest in Georgia. So we moved from Tibido to the Atlanta area there for a couple of years. And then we had Taylor. And then we were, that's whenever he got promoted to National Scout, well, we were able to move to Texas. And my sister was living there. So for about three years with him working, and my sister was able to help me, her and her family. And then we get pregnant for Bailey. My parents was still living down the bayou at the time. Well, that's when all the hurricanes hit. There was Katrina, Gustav, I mean, all of them. One of the last ones that they were there living there, somebody literally came and asked to buy their house because they never fled it before. So my parents were like, well, this is, this is perfect. Let's go move near the kids. You know, they lived, I think it was like an hour away. So they moved in November. They moved into their house. We had Bailey in January. And this is what it's like. Okay. I had Bailey January 16th. We're in the hospital for a few days. He brings me and Bailey home. The very next day he packs up and he heads to the senior bowl. Leaves me and the baby. You have your mom and your sister there. You're good. What am I going to do? So while at the senior bowl, he calls me and says, Jamie, I think TD is going to get this job with Atlanta. We may have to move to Boston. And I'm like, oh, but my mom and dad just moved here. But of course I'm not going to complain. I mean, this is what I signed up for. And this, this is part of it. Is that what you went back to like in the hard times? It's just like, I knew from the beginning, this is it. And I will tell you, and my mom will also tell you a poor thing. During that time, I, my hormones were going crazy and a postpartum depression was coming out. My mom got the brunt of it. Yeah. Poor thing. I'm like, I'm so sorry mom, you know, but it was hard. I remember us going, looking at houses and I cried the whole time. And I'll be honest, I would move there in a heartbeat again. I loved it so much. You just don't know. Yes. I loved it. That's nice, but like the worst is in the mornings when I'd have to, when I'd go to the office and you'd hit the garage button and it would be white, white, white, white, white, white, white. And you're just praying that it stops at about three, four inches. If it got up to like nine or 10, it was going to be, it's going to be a long. You're out there shoveling. No. Well, I did for a while and then I bought a snowblower. Oh, yeah. And then what the end of it? So I was the guy on the snowblower at like four AM. Oh my God. I'm that guy. Yeah. So is, is this the longest? Well, it's public knowledge. Yeah. You just re-signed a contract. Yeah. So is this the longest you guys have been? It's the longest, longest stop. Yeah. Ever. Yeah, longest stop. In our marriage. Longest stop, last stop, let's hope. Yeah, I hope so too. And the good thing about that is like these, the moving, the boxes and moving. Like when we moved here six years ago, there's this one box and you know, when you get a moving company, they put a different color tab on it and it's got a number and they usually log it all down. And then like we had this one box, it had like a blue tag. It had an orange tag. It had a green tag. It had a red tag. It had a yellow. And it was the original tape. The original tape. Oh my God. It was my college box. We have moved this box seven times and never opened it. It was my moving toes. What's in this box? From fine you. Seriously, like we got to find the one. It's me. It's been across 37 states. It hasn't been open. I still have it too. Let's just bury it and see what happens. I finally opened it. I was like, I'm down. I got screwed. And I was like, it's some like old pictures. Like, can we fill these away? He's like, it's never, and she goes, oh no, we're going to have that. Like, of course. And you've moved twice within the city, right? Oh yeah. And it won't be the last. Yeah. Those are locals. Yeah. Hopefully it's last. Uh-oh. I just love it. I love, I swear if, if. She likes looking. I love looking. I should have been a realtor. Like, I always said that. I should have been a cowboy. That's a song, actually. Toby Keith. But it's fun. And honestly, the way I looked at moving from state to state is I had to look at it positively. Because if not, then I would have been a hot mess. And I just looked at it as I got to meet so many new people. And I think that's why I talk a lot. That's the one thing that I noticed and I loved about her is because of the profession that I chose. There was a lot of just her at home while I'm at South Carolina to Jackson State, to Florida State, to Auburn. And she has this unique ability to plug in and meet people and connect. So I felt like every time that we transitioned from one city to another city, within I would say a month, she already kind of had a friend network. And she's kept those networks along our 75 stops. I've been very blessed. I do think your personality helps in all that. Because you're like, it's like the second you meet people, they just love you and know you. She talks to me like sometimes for me. Like would you just stop? He does. He tells me that. I'm like, yeah, but you're never home. I don't have anybody to talk to. Or the kids will say, Mom, who are you talking to back there? I'm like, myself. I don't have anybody to talk to. You should hear me talk to the dogs. You can call me and talk to me. I will. But it really, I do enjoy moving. I am ready to stop. Well, and with the girls where they are in school, it's a nice time to have them consistent, right? Yes. I actually ironically asked Bailey last night, if we would come to you today and say, hey, we have to move and we move. And she was like, no. That wouldn't be good, Mom. And that's hard on kids. I think probably the hardest move for them was the Massachusetts to Tampa move. Yes. Because that was, we moved from Georgia to Dallas. Taylor was a baby. Bailey wasn't here yet. We moved to Dallas to Massachusetts. They were still young. And we weren't in Tampa long enough for them to really get close, close, close to friends. They still have friends that they know and keep in touch with down there. But not like Massachusetts. What grades were they in when you moved here? First, and Taylor was in fourth. Yeah. Yeah. And now they're seventh grade in a sophomore. We try to go once a year up to Boston, or they come to us. Taylor's best friend from up there was just here a couple of weeks ago. It has been hard, but it's been a blessing at the same time. That's so cool. Yeah. Yeah. Well, do we want to pull the girls in and talk to them a little bit? So today, as we're talking to John, I just so happen to have the girls in studio here going on our winter break, going to see Ole Miss to visit some friends and also do a little college tour thing. Since everybody is finally getting a peek into your life, I mean, and what it's like. I mean, so how cool it is that everybody can meet our girls. So we have Taylor who's 16. Yes, I am. And Bailey who's 13. Yeah. Taylor's me all the way, whereas Bailey is her father all the way. So girls, why don't you all say in your words what it's like to be an NFL kid? I don't I don't even know. It's like a lot of people. Well, a lot of my guy friends always try to ask me like inside scoop because I like I really like football. Like I I enjoy it and I enjoy like knowing like the inside stuff about the players and stuff. But dad honestly really doesn't tell us any a lot of secrets. No scoop. She tries all the time. I try. I ask every day. I'm like, I'm always asking, but it's mostly guy friends, sometimes girls, but are like, who is your dad going to sign this guy? I'm like, I literally have no idea. So, yeah. That's the way it goes. Right, B? Yeah. I'm keeping a secret. Yeah. I don't talk to anyone about it because they don't ask me. So it's a little different. You're a little younger too. Yeah. So I just know how football works. I don't need to know everything else. Taylor was your age when she started really getting into football and understanding it and telling me how the game is. She definitely knows more than you. There's no question. Which is crazy. But I explain it to everybody like this when again, I was 19 years old. You were coaching. You never sat on the sideline with me to explain the game to me. Well, you two. I mean, nobody explained it to you. Yeah. I just picked it up. But it just didn't. I mean, I did have the other coaching coaches' wives who did fantastic. But it's OK. Now I'll ask her what's going on. Yeah. Yeah. You do a lot. So are we excited for the trip this weekend? It seems like you just got off a break. You get to get more breaks. So we get a lot of breaks. Yeah. It's like break fast. We have like two weeks off in March. It's a whole thing. That's good. No school. Come on, man. Bailey, you go. Since you were so young. How was it when we had to move and what was it like for you to starting your school that you're in right now? Because you were in first grade. You were pretty young. I would think it would be a lot easier starting in lower school because you can still learn who your really good friends are. But if we were to move now, I feel like it would have been a really hard challenge since I'm going into eighth grade this year and meeting new friends would be a lot harder because people already have their groups and they're really close friends. So I feel like moving whenever I was a lot younger was a lot easier for me. Yeah. You're a little quiet mouse. Yeah. Yeah. I'm thankful that I got to move younger. I was in fourth grade when we moved here. It was like the very end of fourth grade. We came for like six weeks after standardized testing in Florida and then just started our school now in Nashville. And like I'm a friend and he was like, hey, do you know if your dad's getting a contract extension? I have no idea where that came from. And this was the week before. It was it was a week before it became public, but I knew. And so I was just kind of like no, I don't know. Trained. I just don't know anything clearly. But I just think about like I'm so glad that I get to like stay here. Favorite family vacay spot. What? I know. This is what you do on a podcast show. You guys want to go there all the time. Disney World. Oh yeah. Yeah. We love Disney guys. Everybody loves the mouse. We made him take us for the bye weekend. Yeah. So the bye weekend is supposed to be his downtime. You know, finally he gets to breathe. This year was especially hard because it was all the way in December. So it had been the end of July to December until he had his first day off. And we bring him to Disney World. Yeah. We had a great time. Looks 75 miles a day. It was awesome. It was great. And the French fries. The bar they had loaded barbecue pulled pork French fries on the boardwalk that I ate every day. Like I'm not ashamed to admit it because they were the best things I've ever had in my whole life. Oh my goodness. That's probably the highlight of the trip for me. Well, mine was when the guy ran over that side. When? When. No, do you remember we were walking like on the boardwalk and he like kicked the sign and then his friends started laughing at him. And then he was free. Y'all, I love people at Disney World because they are just. That's the best. People watching this. People watching Disney World. And the Star Wars line had the lady who was in the wheelchair and she ran over someone. Yeah. Family. You know what I mean? We're just your typical American family, you know. She got the motorized like so long. Ran over somebody. Got an Achilles. I was texting Tor Sally, our trainer. It's like, yeah, you might have an Achilles here in the line of Star Wars. I want to touch base on something that our family is very passionate about. I know this. People are probably wondering while you're bald. So probably. Let's go ahead and touch up on that. So I've been type one diabetic since I was six years old, which like, if you don't know what that means, my pancreas doesn't work. So I'm like, I don't produce insulin. And then floating Oregon. Yeah, I have like a dead organ just like in here. And then like, because I don't produce insulin, it just regulates food. So like, if I don't have this, if you're watching, I have an insulin pump. And so if I don't get that, then like, but. There you go. That's horrible. Well, that's what happens. Like this is like, I need this to survive. So anyways, I have that. And like when you have one autoimmune disease, you're more likely to get like another. It's not like everyone that has type one diabetes gets another disease. But I have two, which is like amazing. And I was diagnosed with juvenile arthritis, which is like, it's just arthritis, but in kids like, it's like your grandma's arthritis, but like I'm, I'm 60. Well, that's what it is. And then I also clearly have Alpecio, which is a hair loss disease. And I had that, I don't even know, for a while. And it would like come in waves. Like sometimes I would have most of the hair on my head. And then like, it would all, most of it would fall out. And then it would just like keep coming in waves. And then the summer before eighth grade, that was like two or three years ago, it was like really, really bad to the point where like, and I got really good at like covering it up and like figuring out like hairstyles, like a little side braid, whatever to hide my spots, not that I was ashamed of it, but just like, like I'm 13. I don't want a huge bald spot on my head, you know. And then it just got really, really bad. Like I couldn't cover it. So I just like, I just shaved it and I've been bald for like three years. So it got to the point to where she was like, mom, I don't, I don't, mom and dad, I don't think I can cover this anymore. And she said, if it ever gets to that point to where I just can't take it, I want to shave it. And I was like, oh, okay, okay, you know, we're always supportive. And then one day she came to us and she was like, okay, I think it's time. And she did. And we had a video of it. And she went and let dad do it. And dad was trying to do it. Yeah, no, the other funny thing that Disney, as we were walking by, this random worker who's, he's dressed up like a Star Wars dude. And he goes, he's walking and he walks by her and he goes, Shanaid O'Connor. And I'm like, no, like, genuinely, it was the funniest thing. He wasn't, he wasn't even in character at all. Like he was just one of those, like, you know, in Disney. He was on a break. You know, you just have those people that just stand there to make sure everyone's going where they're going. Like he had literally no job. He was just standing there. I'm telling you, he was on a break. Shanaid O'Connor. Yeah, he had a honey bun and a male yell. And he goes, Shanaid O'Connor. Funnest thing ever. He was like an old man too. That's what I'm saying. Oh my gosh. Yep. So anyway, it's bald. And it's been, it's been a crazy journey with it because not only have you had these illnesses, but you've also had to learn, you know, a different way of eating than other people. Oh yeah. My friend that's actually watching her mom is like one of the biggest helps. Like she helped just like get. Mima Cormac. Yeah. Let's say Mima Cormac. She's actually going to be a guest on here. Oh, really? She is. Well, she helped like basically fix all my food and everything. So I've been gluten free for like three years, like since before I shaved my head. And I've been like dairy free for like a year. And I went vegan like all of like basically over a year, like all of 2020. I'm not anymore. Thank goodness. It really is interesting the way that helps. Like we went the more natural route with like all of my arthritis. And you can't really go natural with diabetes. Like you need insulin, but like with my hair, my arthritis just like helping that if we went more like acupuncture, cupping, like eating better. And that seriously is like what helped. Like after fixing that, when I first shaved my head, like all my hair, not all my hair, but like all my spots were filled pretty much. Like I had no pain. There's a drug for rheumatoid arthritis called methotrexate. And she would give herself a shot once a week. And she was a chemo drug. It's a chemo drug. She was able to take herself off of it. Yeah. Because it would make you so like I couldn't go to school like every Monday. Every Monday I skipped school because I was so sick from it. Yeah. And I was doing like that. At one point they, when I first got alopecia, they had me on, they did steroid shots. Oh my God. And when we were in Florida and like she cried. She was in third grade. And then we switched dermatologists and our dermatologists happened to be type one. And he was like, they should have never done that. You're too young. And they had to put it in the back of her. Like if y'all feel the back of your head, there's nothing there. Yeah. But, but skull. Yeah. And they had to do it in there. I cried. Oh, I felt like such a horrible mom. Well, you're not. I really did. Well, thanks. So ironically, type one doesn't affect just children. One of my best friends from college called me a week ago, her father, who is in his sixties was diagnosed. So we're able to comfort parents with young children, but we're also able to comfort older adults. And because it was horrible, his, he went to the hospital when he came out. They never told him how to take care of himself. How to eat. I mean, I think the biggest thing is when you when you find out those things, it's there's like this loneliness. Like you're the only one that it happens to. And you're like, all right, well, I can't. I mean, I could fix a lot of stuff as a as a guy. You feel like, well, I can, I can fix that. Well, you just, we couldn't fix that. And there's this like almost panic that sets in within us. And it was like, then it's the blame game. Like why? Like why us? Why her? And it's everything happens for a reason. God gave it to her for a reason. And she has been a, you know, staunch advocate for trying to find a cure through fundraisers, through education, through. And Miss B has been supportive with with her friend group. Dr. B. Dr. Bailey. We just try to, you know, we try to help and educate and just be there and let people know that it's not just them. There's this whole network of of us. Because you do. You feel alone. Rich, our old neighbor, his sister had it. But. You don't really know. You don't know. You don't really know all the details. You're not off in the weeds like when you actually have it. So. And the ironic thing is the day that she was diagnosed, it was Easter Sunday. She went up to Rich. We were doing an Easter egg hunt and Rich every year would do a fundraiser for JDRF, which is the type one foundation. And so he would do this big 5k race in Foxboro, Massachusetts and randomly out of the blue. She went up to him and said, Mr. Rich, can I do your race this year? Lo and behold, that afternoon, I called them and said, can y'all watch Bailey? We have to bring Taylor to the hospital. She may have diabetes. I mean, it's it's been. It was it was crazy time. And the reason why we call Bailey, Dr. B is when Taylor was diagnosed, Bailey was two, three years old. And we had wanted to make it to where Taylor wasn't just getting all the attention and Bailey didn't feel left out. So we would call her over and go, OK, Dr. B, we got to get her stuff together so she would gather all her diabetes supplies and all her. It was just it was cute. And she's been Dr. B since. What do you think, B? She's not Dr. B. She's B. What's up, Ms. B? Nothing. How is it for you? How is it for you? Any response to that? You are so bad. I've been talking this whole time. Well, because you're the one who's like balled and has all the diseases and stuff. You're the one that has to watch. She'll be sad for me. B, how's your shoe game? Oh, great. Shoes game is on point. Yes. I have four pairs of shoes for this three day trip. Of course you do. Big sneaker. Sneaker games on point. Yeah. Nice. Yeah, she has better shoes than I do. All right. So let's talk about school. B, school is going good. Yeah. Okay. Jack. You are like... Word. I mean, I don't know what else to say. Talk about what's good about school. That is exactly how it so is. Favorite subject in school? Yeah, I don't know. Favorite sport to play? Soccer. Soccer. How's that going? Good. Good? Yeah. And then Tay, get ready for colleges. You got to go look and see. Yes, I do. NYU, two thumbs down. Too far. I like the idea of living in New York, but I would rather have an actual campus. NYU is just the city. It was cool though. It's just not for me. Well girls, thank you guys for coming on. It was great to catch up. I'm excited. Thank you, John. Thank you. Love you guys. Love you too.