Matt Hasselbeck full interview.

oh he's out today with backs spasms and I'm sitting here like are you kidding me like I can't even drive my car my ribs are broken I can't turn left you know but I'm gonna play in this week's game because I'm gonna let you inject me with basically Nova cane so I can play in the [Applause] game all right welcome back inside the EQ eqc studios I've got a special guest and someone I haven't spoke to in Forever uh we were kind of friends back in the day I got to get into that story but first of all I want to welcome Seahawks quarterback Matt Hassel man how you doing what's up Ryan what's up man oh not much or should or should I say good day mate dude look at you nailed it I love it nailed it did I or am I just feeding into every stereotype that you get no D it sound legit now I've heard plenty of attempts of that and now I'm telling you that's up there it's pretty good there's some bad ones I'm not goingon to lie there's some bad ones now so many people have because last couple days I said hey I'm going to have Matt on the show um and I've brought your name up throughout the years and people like how do you guys how do you two know each other it's kind of weird and it's not like we spent all this time hanging out as buddies but I did get some some good moments with you um but I just I want to clear this up the way we met was through a mutual friend Stacy prman shout out to Stacy and she's like she was coming up to Seattle and uh you know she had mentioned she's like yeah I know Matt I know I know Sarah really well this and that I'm like oh cool you know she works at ESPN I'm like at what extent she's like hey you know let's go to a Seahawks game I'm like for sure i' never been to a game by the way never been to a game and sure enough after G she goes hey um I said where are we sitting and she's like I always sit with match family I'm like excuse me I I was legit I I was like are you kidding so I had the best time and then afterwards we hung out dude I went to your house had a barbecue after the game it was great yeah listen you're you're you're dead honor with that Stacy prman went to high school with my wife she was uh I think a freelance writer for ESPN the magazine at the time and she'd come to Seattle and do features on all these different people I remember she did a thing on you and your story coming from where you know Australia and all that stuff I remember there was a skateboarder one time named um little tricky I think it was his like nickname uh Mitchie Brusco I think is his name and he would come over like it was like cool it's like a cool little connection but I think playing in Seattle when I started there it was one of my favorite things and it didn't happen a lot just kind of like you said but one of my favorite things was getting to know the other athletes in the city you know whether it was guys on the Mariners like R lean or Jamie Moyer or John olude or like you know like there there were some great baseball players that came through but even the the the sonics the Super Sonics were in town uh I sort of joke you know there wasn't room in Seattle for me and KD at the same time is what I would like say to my teammates they're like what are you even talking about like KD's like you know it's just sort of like funny but it was fun at the time like I remember my teammates playing pickup Hoops with those guys I remember even just like even in the the Seattle Storm days um when those early days going and supporting them the Sounders when Freddy lomberg came to town it was uh it was a lot of fun and I think you pick up little nuggets from people in different sports you know what you know sort of like what are some things that they hang their hat on and um and I think that was kind of like the common bond that we had initially too yeah for sure and you know it's it's funny too man because you know coming from Australia and playing baseball I can mention I can I can mention some baseball names and you know you mentioned Kang griffy Jr the dude was on The Simpsons right but beyond that there wasn't a whole lot of like name dropping going on it's like oh hey I pitched against you know Vladimir Guerrero right and everyone's like I don't even know who that is but when I drop a Matt Hasselbeck when I Dr hey I'm going hanging out his house and like having a barbecue dud I was you should I I had some serious credibility even back in Australia different circles I I just just like it's music you know I when I left the Seahawks I went to the Tennessee Titans and Tennessee is just like such a m or Nashville is just such a Music City like it's uh it's crazy like I I it was after the NFL lockout and like it was like I had 24 hours to find a house find a school for my kids and start training camp and we rented a house from Tim mcra and Faith Hill and like it just was like such a different just like the different circles you know and so like I don't know like a month before you're hanging out with Ichiro and it was like no big deal to somebody then all a sudden you're with a you know country music star and it's like people are freaking out you know like your your story about your first Seahawks game I think that was the first concert that I ever went to when I got to Nashville got there we had like two days two or three days of practice and then we got the night off and my teammates took me to a um to a Keith Urban concert and and I was like oh cool like where are we sitting and they're like oh we're in the suite with his family I was like oh ah like so so so you you're saying so all your teammates when you got there were you a country music fan before that I said I was like I said I was like I told everybody I was but then I got there and I was like oh I don't I don't know it like you guys know it you know and they were like who's you guys you mean y'all I was like yeah I mean y'all my bad hey I'm telling you I've been in Nashville a couple times I was there in in um I was there in like last December but like it's one of those ones I'm just in I'm just I'll be honest with you country music when I first got to the states I was just like how is this mainstream I because it wasn't mainstream in Australia whatsoever but then I I do enjoy it now but when you go to Nashville it's kind of like that it's like you have to get beyond the the the the popular stuff otherwise it's like bro like you know you don't know what the hell you're talking about basically so they had so when you went to Tennessee the football players had that that obviously that strong tie where you had like some connections there with some of the all the country music big big time names and everything else yeah it's just like a small it's it's a big city but it's a small City it's kind of like Seattle it's obviously it's an international City but it's a pretty small community like I would just even say like equating it to like Seahawks and Mariners we didn't hang out a lot together but we all we had we all had the exact same friends like we had mutual friends and we would do the same charity events together whether it was you know children's hospital or Special Olympics or uh Medical Teams type things like it was it was you know you were acquaintances and I think there was just a mutual respect and then the awards dinners and those types of things I think like the Seattle Post Intelligencer had like their Awards dinner every year or you'd see people at like different things and you never knew what people were like uh you know like you kind of saw them from a distance and then you get to see them sort of like when the cameras aren't around and that kind of stuff and it was like oh wow I I didn't think that guy was like that and that that's what he's really like oh man that guy's a loose Canon or that you know it was fun to see what people were really like um you know behind the scenes oh for sure you know it's funny too speaking of that like now that was I believe that was 2009 maybe when um when I first met you and that was at a time where I didn't know look I didn't know my football history right and I remember your wife Sarah talking about the days when you you know first came to Seattle and I never I remember this vividly where she was talking about been it was at the Husky Stadium right there wasn't even there was wasn't LOM and field at that point and she was just like in those days I'm sitting there going hold on a minute like I'm looking at Matt Hasselbeck here as being the dude and she was talking about back in like you know 2201 getting there and playing at Husky Stadium didn't even have your own own place and she was she said she was like yelling at people in the stands because people were so angry at like the Seahawks for so many different reasons she was probably yelling at me from the stands like throw the ball throw it away what are you doing um no it was listen 01 was my first year in Seattle and it was a great year for Seattle sports but it wasn't a great year for Seahawks sports like we were you know we were a team trying to rebuild a little bit we were figuring out our Stadium situation we were figuring out our quarterback situation and uh the Mariners were amazing like they were amazing that year they won hund and something games that year and I could even remember playing in games like we'd be on offense and like you know I'd be in my Cadence like you know Green 21 Green 21 and all of a sudden the the fans would cheer wildly and um someone would jump offsides and it was like what on Earth why what just happened and it'd be like you know Brett Boone hits a double or something like that at the same time you know so it I don't know it was cool like I I I can't say it wasn't cool it just felt like for us for me personally we weren't holding our we weren't holding up our end of the bargain in terms of SE Seattle sports and what we wanted to be what we knew we could be and what I felt like I could be so yeah the early years were were not easy and we figured it out eventually and got into our own stadium and then created a home field advantage that was so legit that um you know it makes it feel better now yeah like I said man it's just sometimes when you know I'll talk to kids and and I had a chance to play Major League Baseball and and do all this other stuff but it's like hey hold on a second like I need to tell you more about what this kind of this kind of year was or that kind of year was cuz there's always man that pathway you know and you it's funny too and and like I said all I knew was Lumen field I can't remember what those called first it was Seahawks stadium okay because it was Quest field and I think they wanted Stadium to be different than field you know because like I don't know they were right next to each other I think it was Seahawk stadium and then it turned into Quest field or I think wasn't it it was Quest I would just say Quest I think it was yeah Quest and then it was something else and then yeah but truly and honestly like for us like you know the name it almost doesn't matter like what matters is the intimidation factor that we have there now just like other other teams other quarterbacks other offensive line coaches like they literally go into games in Seattle with a couple of like rules like Hey we're not going to do the same audible system that we normally do on short yardage goal line third down um you know if we're backed up we got to do this if we're in the Red Zone we got to do that it's just it's a pretty cool thing because we didn't always have it you know they had it back in the day with the with the early teams and like with the kingom days and then we lost it for a little bit and then we got it back so um whatever the name is I know it's loud there yeah what like so that so it really is different to other places around around the US in regards to the noise and that kind of fact you're talking about offensive coordinators walking in how the change because of that yeah so like you know some teams don't respect it um until they play there you know like I remember the New York Giants came I think it was 05 they came and they jumped off sides 11 times in one game 11 times it's like crazy and I think they went in there just saying hey we're just you know block out the noise like all right it's great to talk that way but like no this is a real real thing and so yeah so like we would even do it we' go play in Dome stadiums like we would go into like certain game plans and we would just say all right we have a check with me audible system so let's just say we call play we call 93 blast alert n say 93 blast alert 98 handoff solid kill 200 jet dragon so there like three different plays in one if it's the first play we're going to say hey let it roll if it's the second play we're going to say alert alert the third play we're going to say kill kill or like some version of that when you get on the road in certain situations you just you just like you know what the heck with it man we're going to just call a play that we think is good versus most things and we're just going to run it you know even if it's a bad Play We we'll take that over jumping off sides or you know eight guys heard the play and not everyone heard the play um and then we basically just say hey running back got to make somebody Miss if we have a bad play Hey quarterback you gotta make something out of nothing if if it's a bad play so yeah the crowd noise is a real thing I mean it's not like other sports where it's just like oh it's loud and you can't concentrate it's legitimately like people don't know what play we're running on offense if that crowd noise is loud at the right time you know it's funny man baseball now I don't know if you have paid attention but like they're not putting signs down the catcher not putting signs down they're using a little the the the little head piece up here earpiece whatever you want to call it and I've talked to a bunch of guys like hey man it's it's we don't talk about it but it is an issue especially once you get late in the season that playoff push cuz guys are just trying to guys are trying to focus on EX hearing the pitch exactly with some of that crowd noise but well you also like in a hudle you get guys with different accents you know I'm from Boston Massachusetts my left tackle my left tackle is from Alabama you know if I say 29 text instead of 29 tax it's a totally different play and you know it's it's it is kind of I don't know it just takes one time one time that one person here's the wrong thing and the play has like no chance to be successful yeah I will well you can program by the way with these earpieces you can program different voices at you can ask like a celebrity to give you the pictures too like fastball outside apparent apparently I don't want to talk too much about that because I'm I'm not supposed to but um the the speaking of the the Seahawks history recently Mike McDonald come comes in as a new head coach and there was a big thing a couple weeks ago and and you know I've been asked about but who better to ask about what are your thoughts they they had the mural you some of the Seahawks history I don't know how far back the history went I was trying to look at the oh I do oh I I do don't worry okay what do you what are your thoughts on the fact they just put a put a giant white paintbrush straight to it well I don't know what the reaction was from the players um of the Pete Carol era I'm not sure what their reaction was like uh you know I'm sure everyone had a different opinion but I'll just take you back to my first day as Pete Carol as head coach we had accomplished I think a lot of good stuff in Seattle under Mike holgren and you know we were really proud of it in the first day like lit literally the first day Pete Carroll comes in has this awesome team meeting and he shows this highlight reel of all the good stuff that like the Seahawks had done like throughout the years and really threw out like a lot of my time there and he was like this is day one of him coming in introducing himself day one Pete Carol and all the guys from USC they come up and they show this great highlight reel like Seahawks you know is awesome like it was just it was super great stuff and um yeah he was like all right enjoy it like we honor it we celebrate it but that's over new regime New Era we're making new memories here we're gonna do it a different way here's how we're going to do it and like I remember as a player feeling like I was super proud and like it was super like I don't know like it was really cool that he honored it and and we really you know oh we were proud of it and a lot of those people were gone but like still it meant something to us it was foundational to me personally yeah and right when he wiped it clean like was I offended like I was it was it was something it was like an emotion I had to deal with it was kind of like all right I can put that on the back burner but I I didn't really appreciate the deleting of it you know what I'm saying but yeah but he honored it he did such a good job of honoring what it was that I think I was okay with like sort of putting it in the archives and saying hey Clean Slate let's move forward and and so he did a good job with that but if anyone now is sort of crying that the new head coach is doing the exact same thing then uh was it was it besides you you mentioned the video and and he was basically saying look you know that's done everything else what was a couple things what was the conversation like with some of your teammates who'd been through some of those years you like that would you been there for for a while that watching themselves in these highlight videos did you have conversations with them saying huh like trying to gauge their reaction as well it's funny a lot of the guys were gone a lot of the guys were gone already there was a coach in between Mike holgren and Pete Carol and that was Jim MOA and like what we had already known and there were different general managers along the way but what we had already known was and this is not unique to Seattle this is every team in the NFL when there's a new head coach or a new general manager or a new owner there's change there's change sometimes there's change just to make change and so like we all felt it and so some guys were already gone some teammates were already gone and you know I think mostly people were like okay new coach coming in Pete Carol guy from college how like how much is he gonna clean house and he cleaned house pretty much completely on the coaching staff and the feeling was like is he going to clean house with players and and really that I mean that's that's kind of what the norm is so the guys are just mostly feeling some people are like worried about their own job other guys feel like hey you're not only did you cut my friend my buddy my teammate you're sort of erasing his memory you know a little bit but um I don't think it's a bad thing to do you know and I I do think that this every year even when we were the same people with the same coaching staff our coaches would say Hey listen last year's team was last year's team this is a new team doesn't matter what you did last year it matters what we do going forward our goal is to go one and0 every week like how are we going to accomplish that and even when you go one and0 it doesn't matter what you did the previous week you got to move forward to the next week so I think that that mindset is a really is a really healthy mindset to take but um but I don't know I think you just got to you just got to do it I don't know you got to do it gently and kind of like I I guess I in summary I appreciated how Pete Carol sort of honored the past but um yeah he ripped the Band-Aid off it wasn't it wasn't um there was nothing soft and sweet about it with this in this mural too and correct me if I'm wrong here it's more for like obviously media members here but it's not like you know it's not like it's on the side of Lumin field where it's just like hey get a paintbrush on that thing get rid of it um for a public eye essentially it's more for it's more for and like I said correct me if I'm wrong because I'm not 100% sure I haven't looked into it far enough but you you basically it's for the players to walk past um who were there in that Peak Carol era only right it doesn't go back any any earlier than that there'll be some things that are so old that it's like it doesn't matter it's Steve larent it's just like oh it's Steve larent you know it's like he's like our mascot practically you know what I mean like put him in the same categories like an always and a forever um but no I think like I mean even in college I had three different head coaches in college and every time we get a new head coach it was new paint color in the locker room new signs in the locker room different signs in the weight room different murals it's just it's just the norise and so like this one with the Seahawks got so much attention and probably because people had opinions about it here and there but I mean no some of that stuff you can never take it away like when you hoist a Lombardi you'll never take that away but on the dayto day like on the first floor of a of a like in Seattle it's the first floor is where the players are basically okay first and second floor so like that area it's almost just like you wipe it clean this is a new year this is a new regime we're just focused on the future someday in the past when you're retired or you know someday in the future when you're retired you get to look back at the past but right now we're focused on what's ahead of us and and honestly that's exactly what Pete Caroll did exactly yeah did you you know how what was your relationship like in those early stages with with Pete Carol like even just I call it video happens day one comes in watch the video um what was it like those initial like you that initial relationship yeah I was I was almost 35 years old when he became the starting when he became the head coach and I was the starting quarterback and you know there was a lot of talk I think about like okay what's this college coach going to be like with this old older quarterback and truly like a lot of the stuff I expected not to like like a defensive head coach like it's like the list goes on and on um but I loved it like I loved playing for Pete I thought he was exceptional I thought he was really great you know his leadership style was so unique so different than anything I'd been a part of and you know I just kind of told myself hey like just buy in just totally Buy in Buy in as much as you can and and I didn't succeed always like I think I was skeptical a little bit early but um no it was good I mean like listen I'm almost 35 we're doing like bag drills like you do in high school we like you know Tapp in the ceiling to prove that we're all in he put up a sign over the door it said all in and if you had to tap the sign and there's literally like coaches sitting there like uh number eight yep he tapped all in uh number 11 nope he didn't tap all in number 30 he tapped in but it wasn't very energetic this guy tapped in with two hands and it was kind of like I don't think we all saw the method in the madness at the time yeah but uh I really I really enjoyed it I think Pete's a great coach um think I'm really proud of the year we had that year we w won the division we had a losing record won the division that's the Beast Quake season the Beast beastquake game against the Saints I I've I've often told people that's the year I'm probably the most proud of because it was the most difficult year with all the turnover the change injuries you know all the stuff that went into it and uh but I I think it was a foundational year for the success that Pete and those guys had later on you know it's I'm just thinking back right because you got to remember Pete Carol comes in he's a he's a college head coach coming into that situation you're 35 years old and I run into this a lot too I've had obviously just like you have man like from high school uh I didn't play college uh college baseball Minor League Baseball played years and years of IT Major League but I watched like you know for example I watch Like Hard Knocks right on on HBO and you see like the big conference room you guys have and the head coach coming out now again there's cameras on him so might be a little bit different and I'm sitting there going okay are you forcing this mess Mage like you're trying to give this big message now I get like I said cameras on you may be a little bit different but it's got It's ballsy man for for Pete Carol to to kind of take this this more of you mentioned the fact you're doing stuff that you didn't hadn't done in since high school he's coming from that like that college background to come into a situation and as a leadership role it is so hard to get everyone's attention to be able to to to gain the attention esecially from from veteran players but I watched that especially in NFL baseball's a little bit different but but you got these new managers like like um you know Steven vote with the the the the Cleveland Guardians joah Sparta with the the the Astros I listen to the way they talk they're coming from this this situation where they're a bench coach or or first time into that but have you ever had situations where head coach you've had some good ones obviously but ones where you're like d it's just you don't need to force this like just be genuine just just speak just be real be yourself here because they're trying to push it a little bit too hard yeah no doubt no doubt I mean I remember I even remember when Bob Melvin was the first uh year head uh or manager for the Mariners and he was younger than Jamie Moyer at the time like there there's some dynamics that are interesting no I mean it's interesting about Pete Carroll though he was kind of a failed head coach I don't want to say failed but like he was the head coach of the New York Jets and he was the head coach of the New England Patriots and he didn't have anywhere near the success that he had in Seattle and so he was coming he went Jets he went Patriots he went USC he was out of football for a year then went USC and then had a ton of had a ton of success at USC and so I think there was a lot of skepticism of him coming in and he's the head coach like when has he ever been a successful head coach and his offensive coordinator was Jeremy Bates he was younger than me his quarterback coach was Jed fish he was younger than me uh at that point in those guys' career they had never really you know they didn't have strong resumés necessarily um yeah but what what what I learned through that year is that Pete Carroll grew as a coach when he was out of football he learned from his mistakes in New York and in New England and he became a really really incredible Hall of Fame type coach at USC he developed who he was as a coach what his identity was was what his the DNA of his team was going to be what his criteria for Success was really going to be one that worked and how to win yeah and like he was a much different much better Coach when we got him in Seattle and I mean we I mean he was awesome like I said like I literally was looking for ways not to like him he was great and even the people that he hired like the young coaches like them plus Pete equaled something really special now we hit some adversity that year our offensive line coach quit right before the start of the Season there were some things that didn't go our way but um but I think as a coach I think you can sort of you're not always going to be the guy that you were 10 years earlier like you can you can improve if you choose to do that and Pete's one of those guys that did it and I think even like those young assistants um some of those guys to see where they are now is really really impressive and you know like the cream Rises to the top so to speak or like you know we say this a lot with athletes it's like hey you sink or swim like you figure it out the the best ones figure it out and I think the best coaches figure it out as well will you ever did you ever think about coaching when you got done playing yeah I thought about it um but like my kids were like really one of the main reasons that I wanted to stop playing was because my kids were entering High School I mean I finished when I was 40 and so my my kids were like so I really didn't want to miss my kids and I think that's probably one of the the things that probably hardest about coaching is that you miss out on so many opportunities with with your own children so that was that was probably the biggest reason that I shied away from coaching was it was it tough to finish obviously you finished later so it wasn't like I was in a situation where man I was just trying to fight to get a job somewhere I was call no one was calling me so that was a tough it was a tough transition for me and I was like man what do I do now like I had no idea I think for you it maybe a little bit different yeah this really which is a really lengthy career obviously for for an NFL player um you know baseball I mean everyone's oh you can play to your 40 where you can't you got to be a stud to be able to do that uh football you got to be really good as well but was it leaving football was it what was that like transitioning to was it something like okay what do I do now or were you ready just to sit back you mentioned your kids were going into high school are you ready to sit back and say you know what I'm just going to be a dad for a little bit um once from those first moments leaving football Well my two things that were like Weighing on me I think like so the biggest thing was going from being the starter to the backup and like so like near the end of my career I was leaving the Tennessee Titans and um was a free agent and I had the opportunity to like sign somewhere to play as the starter but the team was like not good the organization was like notoriously like not impressive and I think I was just done with that I was more interested in being on a winning team with a chance to hoist a Lombardi that was like everyone's committed and we're close and so I went I sort of had to choose to be Andrew Luck's backup and and sort of just like you know I don't know like punt on the opportunity to be the starting quarterback but you know then again have an opportunity to do something I was not able to do in Seattle and that was to hoist a Lombardi which is like the goal every year and so like that was a hard thing to do like it was a really hard thing to humble myself but I had had this experience in Tennessee where um a had a younger player and Jake Locker the former Washington quarterback that sort of like mentoring him was such a fulfilling thing for me and such a great experience that I felt like hey this is something that I can kind of give back to someone like Andrew Luck so that was one thing and then the other thing to your question no I I went like from the day I retired from the NFL I jumped right into my career at ESPN and oh you went straight into it straight away not even not even one day off and um wow it's not something I was really searching for it just kind of found me a little bit like the OPP found me and so I went from like playing football to being all in on this ESPN job doing Sunday NFL countdown and traveling to every Monday Night Football and doing Monday night countdown and working throughout the week and a couple years into that I'm calling College foot I'm calling college football games on Thursday night football with Adam Amin and Molly McGrath and Pat McAfee and like I was all in on that and it did make it hard at one point to be all in as a dad and kind of you know making up for lost time all the stuff I had missed out on their Athletics in you know their careers so but it's a it's a push and a pull I think for a lot of people with balancing that work family balance especially when it comes to sports with your kids yeah it's man I'm I'm kind of see I I didn't have kids as a player and you know baseball's it's interesting man there's so many guys who I've played with who like are still trying to hang on those last couple years the kids are starting to get obviously school age and then they're going to some tripa town or something or they they're just trying to search they don't know what they're going to be doing in 6 months man it's stressful like the Players Association have these career Summits every year and I I I go to them and I talk about broadcasting and and and and everything else but I'm looking at some some people around me when they just get out of the game like dude I know you I know you like you guys had really good careers and now you're sitting here like kind of lost you know it's hard like yeah you know that's a real thing I think you know I think for players you know a lot of guys miss the community I think for me what I missed the most when I left the NFL was I missed getting coached like I would walk into the weight room and there was a team of people there that stayed up all night thinking about all right how are we going to get him better how are we going to get him stronger how are we going to work on his weaknesses and I would walk in and I would just like turn my brain off and just do whatever they said and therefore I'd be improving and then when you're retired and you walk into a weight room you walk into a weit room and you're like what am I going to do today whatever I like to do whatever I'm already good at you know and and so you miss I think I missed that coaching aspect of it um for sure but I knew it was kind of time to retire like I was playing for the Colts and I'm uh I was going to get my first start in a while Andrew Luck had like a I know like a lacerated spleen or something and he was injured and and my girls had a lacrosse tournament somewhere I think in Boston actually I'm playing in Indianapolis and my wife's like girls uh do you want to stay back in Indie for to watch your dad he's going to start this week or do you want to go to your lacrosse tournament and my middle daughter was like like who are they playing and my wife's like oh they're playing the Jacksonville Jaguars and she was like eh we'll go to Lacrosse like was like I like literally in our in our house um wow you know my kids like athletic you know I don't know had sort of like trumped where I was um it's kind of funny um now looking back that's oh that is funny yeah it's you might bring up a good point man it's it's that shut your brain off like from when I was 18 on till you know I got done playing mid-30s where it was like you know go in and it's all kind of scripted for you or you kind of have something to shoot for now I'm just like just trying to you know drop a couple pounds that's pretty much it that's it's hard yeah well even in work like I that's I mean I've never heard a retired player say this but like it's 100% true like you all you hear the guys everyone says the same thing like ah the locker room the community like you could find locker room you can find Community but to find really solid coaching like I'm I'm telling you like this is an example I used the other day to somebody I was talking to like I could complete a pass in football but my quarterback coach like if that receiver has to change his gate as he's running he's going to give me a minus on my grade sheet like H that wasn't a good enough throw like to everyone else is like oh it was a good throw as a completion but to like have that next level of coaching be like n that could have been better like I crave that I appreciate that and so like you know even on TV I'd go on TV and you know after after a show like my bosses producers directors for the most part early on they'd be like hey good show be like uh I wasn't used to that I was used to like getting critiqued and coached and criticized and like but you know it's just like a different industry and it took me a little while and I think with relationship um you know you're able to speak into somebody's like you know hey Hey listen this wasn't good enough like I need you to be better here and I don't know like in a different industry it's just like like that transition was tough for me early on for sure yeah it it's so funny too and you speaking of the broadcasting side of things too like for me a little bit different to you you got you got done obviously you're you're probably very highly touted to be like hey look you know longtime quarterback can you come in and you analyze football and do a great job for me it was like all right I'm not Ken Griffey Jr I haven't had that pedigree how do I push push push and I had to had to push a little bit but the the feedback side of things I always I crave that feedback too that and it wasn't cuz like oh you know I was hard on myself every time I I went on TV I don't know how you were but I was like oh man that sucked I could have said this I could have said that I missed this I missed that and you get done and everyone's like yeah great job I was like no no no if it was a great job five years in I'd be calling the World Series if I was just doing a great job every time I'm not doing a great job because someone says getting a job over me you right so you know it's so funny you say that because that's kind of the way it is it's like give me some good solid feedback there is a couple people that that I I can lean on and be very honest with me uh in regards to to what I'm doing but you right now in regards to the I want to go back to the coaching real quick in baseball it's this it's so I don't know how it is in football in baseball now it's like you don't even have to be like playing the big leagues let you there's some coaches who haven't even played professional baseball who are coaching at the major league level it's so analytically driven now where it's like the track man can punch out these numbers and if you can you know dive into that and then translate translate that information to a picture somehow and change his grip and then he he's able to do it man dude you're you're in coaching how is it in the NFL like is it this situation where it's like oh you've never played in the NFL you not you're not going to get into this coaching position how does it work with the NFL yeah you certainly don't have to have played in the NFL the coach in the NFL I I think like yeah you know some of the best coaches that I ever had never were really great players and I would say that's probably the norm you know I think it's a little bit of both um you know like Andy Reid he I think he played like guard at BYU you know that was his career but he's one of the best quarterback coaches that I ever had he's probably one of the best quarterback coaches that Patrick Mam's ever had as well like it's just that's just the nature of it and I I think you see more people that you know never had their hand in the dirt and that's totally fine I also think that there's something really unique and special about someone who's been there and done it like my my position coach when I started with the Seattle Seahawks was Jim Zorn and like one of the things that really was helpful to me is that Jim had been there and done it like he understands what it's like you know looking down field when the guy's about to hit you with the crown of his helmet in the chin and probably sprain your jaw or break your jaw but that throw needs to be delivered on time like there is something to that also like I respect that but but no like my first year in the NFL Brett farv was the starting quarterback and Doug Peterson was the backup quarterback Brett Favre was a three three-time NFL MVP Super Bowl quarterback Doug Peterson was rarely a starter um but like I would ask a question to maybe those two guys you know I think Doug was probably better at explaining it to someone like me he was better at coaching it Brett was probably better at doing it Walter Jones probably the best offensive lineman that's ever played in football you know I'd hear young offensive linemen say to Walt they'd say hey Walt how do you block the nine technique when he's coming that wide and you're trying to hook him Walt would say something like yeah just uh just put him on his back he like oh GE thanks Walt like so funny appreciate that so I don't think like being a great player and um being a great coach go hand inand in fact sometimes it's sort of the opposite but the there is a danger with analytics and I saw it this is how I'd see it in football the number say to do this but when you're in a stadium and you know the history of this team and you know the history of their quarterback situation and you know they fans and you know they're like like hey if if we punt here and they go three and out the stadium here is going to turn on them everyone's going to go to the parking lot they're leaving town like I don't know how you equate that into analytics and I've seen people screw up the analytics game because they're just like they put the blinders on and it's just all about the numbers there's got to be a human element to it as well I think no I I totally agree man and that's kind of that balance I think they it's kind of swinging back in basball where there is that a little bit more of that human element so true man like I've had guys especially lately with the Mariners that's gotten like beyond what I was back when I was playing but like you know there I'm not going to name names here former Mariner but great dude he's actually i' I've spoken to him in depth about this but watch him throw a bullpen throw a pitch I don't know if if you're familiar but like you know the trackman sits there and you got the iPad and pops up all these numbers boom throw pitch literally spending a good 45 seconds looking at this iPad going oh yeah did this did that throw another pitch boom and then three weeks later he's in a game it's loud he's got to execute that slider and you just can't get it and then all of a sudden there's a run on second and then the game starts speeding up and then boom the guy on 98 with this Wipeout slider and it's like dude just get away from the iPad for a second and just get into this mode where like when you're get away from that 45 seconds in between pitches getting to that 20 Pretend There's run on so yeah there is that there definitely is that balance I just I was curious with football and that that I I think I think that the biggest thing I see is that a lot of this new stuff in in sports we'll take football as an example but it's any sport if the if like the quest is defined like literal like actual Improvement like to just to to find excellence and consistent Excellence fine but if the quest is really just a money maker for somebody else then we're probably on the wrong track and I think that's that that happens at times like you get all you basically get like a more expensive mouse trap like it's like very expensive stuff and it's kind of cool but like like we don't need that like literally don't need that like I literally need someone like Andy Reid to say take a deep breath and then and make sure you bend your knees like got it you know like it's all I needed I didn't need all this other like craziness you know but yeah um I'm most mostly in favor of it though mostly yeah I mean and you know you have a you have very athletic kids right you see that on the Youth Level too I mean in baseball there's so many hitting gurus pitching gurus it's just like bro like it's too much man and sometimes too when I talk to kids or I'm coaching kids I try and give them that hey just B you needs to take a deep breath way of doing things and they look at me like that's not good enough like because in their head they're looking at some you know some Gizmo or some you know magic pill online that's telling them this and that they're like oh no no I'm you know if Mom and Dad are paying for this whatever program then I this is kind of what I expect too easy it reminds me I'm going to screw this story up completely but it reminds me I had a coach once who told me um there was someone that sold like I maybe it's like pancake mix or whatever and it was like just add water and it didn't sell well at all and then it was like add an egg and add water and it was just like it sold better it was like oh it must be better if like it's a little bit more difficult but sometimes we make things like a little bit too difficult like we actually don't need it and I think that's probably so I've been coaching High School football for the last two years I'm coaching again this year and it was it's been really really interesting to me like some of the stuff that I've learned and like one of the things is how can I make things that are complicated seem very very simple and and that's really my quest and I always felt like as a player the coaches who could make it simple for me allowed me to play free and play fast and just to cut it loose and have fun and that's really the best way to play and um and you know like there there's a lot of I hear kickers talk about it sometimes like like here's an example I heard recently you know if there's a balance beam on the floor call it you know 12 inches wide okay maybe maybe yeah and like you're walking on it you're going to walk on it like it's nothing like it's absolutely nothing now you put it like 100 feet in the air it's still 12 in wide and you're going to walk on it like kind of off balance and nervous and just like tentative and you know like and it's just like what changed the 12 Ines didn't change or whatever like just your perception of like what would happen if I fail here changes and so like there's so much in the mindset training of for sure playing quarterback but like just just all of it and so I I I don't know there's there's something there but as a coach I think it's really important to uh you know to figure out the proper way to coach each kid and sometimes it's nothing that makes you feel like oh that was worth $50 an hour or whatever it is yeah but but man let's get real here man if if you go in it's who else is on the coaching staff by the way at this H school it's an embarrassment of riches I mean we had Rob ninkovic we had my dad on there we we you know like I said my coach is very successful he've been there for years but um yeah if if you're a if I'm a parent now I played I played sport at a high level if I'm a parent and my kids's like yeah hey Dad I'm really into football I go to high school and I got freaking Matt Hasselbeck as my coach I'm probably G to be like hey son listen if he tells you to bend your knees take a breath that's what you're gonna do regardless of whatever here's the thing though like you know we've been at the highest levels like there's some coaches in high school that are just as good if not better than some coaches that are in the pros like that's just I mean yes you know because you got to coach your players and I would even say like my first year coaching High School football I would have been more comfortable coaching Josh Allen or Joe burrow like it would have been a little bit more like my mindset like I I get how to kind of like we I don't know it's just like it's kind of the world I was in and to take it back down to high school was like a little bit of an adjustment the hash marks are different I'm not sure what you and your teammates can handle I'm not sure what's enough or what's too much or too little and like I I think there's some coaches I some of the best coaches that I ever had in my entire life um they weren't all from the NFL you know and like they weren't all in football so you know I just I don't know like I think I've got a I always had a lot of respect for High School coaches but I think I've got I don't know like a new respect for like whatever the level whatever the sport there's some great coaches out there and you know they just don't make as much money as some of the the others that's all I I got you I just uh yeah hey by the way I I might all fair I might have to get some parenting tips here D you got kids who are all going to play high level college sports I'm sting I've got I got a 9-year-old and a 5-year-old and I just feel like that there's that pressure dude like even for my daughter like I go to a basketball game she's just got a big smile on her face having fun but you just feel that like that like oh you know so and so so and so didn't miss a shot oh and so and so look how well she dribbles I'm like oh man kenedy's not dribbling as well as that other kid whatever it may be it's just I get it man I get it listen my girl I would just say this I'm a huge believer in multiport athletes you know both my girls earned scholarships to play lacrosse in college they're both at Boston College we're in the final four this weekend National Championship hopefully Sunday it'll be BC's seventh national championship appearance in a row but like you know it wasn't always lacrosse for them it was hockey it was baseball it was basketball it was soccer it was gymnastics it was triathlon it was just all of it until the sport kind of chooses you and then like for some of these Sports I know nothing about the sports lacrosse I knew nothing about lacrosse it's probably the best thing because I let their coaches coach them and I would just clap and cheer and hydrate and feed and you know be on call for injuries which happen all the time and I think it was actually harder for my son who again multiport athlete all this stuff two years ago I became his quarterback coach and now that's a dynamic coaching your own kid in a sport that like you know and I would say to him like hey make sure you do this and he'd kind of give me like the eye roll like yeah whatever and then all of a sudden like you know one of my friends Trent dord says the exact same thing and he's like yes sir coach dord got it it was like that was almost tougher you know being in that environment yeah I I Goa so was he was your son was he just straight like when was it like yeah I I love football dad like this is what I'm going to do like what AG I mean the rule in our house is like when people would say oh what's your what's your favorite sport or what's your best sport like the rule in our house is whatever sport you're currently playing like you're not allowed to say like what's your main sport you're not allowed to say that because my main sport growing up was baseball but like baseball didn't choose me back the way the football chose me back and so my son listen my son was committed to play Lacross at Maryland his junior year in high school his sophomore year in high school he was the third string quarterback on a team that won one game and so like you know even when he committed to play lacrosse at Maryland he was still chasing this dream and that's all it was was a dream to play college football and his junior year he was like a different kid he hit puberty um you know I don't know like I was coaching him so like there were some other things that were helping but like but he goes on he becomes a starting quarterback he gets a ton of scholarship offers to play college football he was Gatorade player the Year this last year we won the state championship but like had I let him just be one sport um you know I'd probably be sitting in a hockey rink somewhere like you've never heard of right now so I I'm a huge if you can't tell I'm a huge believer in multiport athletes and you can't do it in every sport I get I get that a little bit but um it definitely was my experience for sure my kids experience and I'm I'm a huge believer in it yeah no I'm I'm with you for sure just you the multi and plus to it breaks it up too man like travel B baseball now it's they they it's like a 12mon setup it's like come on guys like and that's you know talk about the arm injuries I've talked but I even think like I even think understanding like you know there were some sports where my kids were the best player on the team and then there were other sports where my kids literally were like the the last kid to make the team like make the cut and I think there's something about being a great teammate or a great leader that you understand like I heard Steve KR talk about this uh one time head coach of the Golden State Warriors I heard him talk about like on their team there's 13 guys and like everyone in the team needs to understand what it's like to be Steph Curry and the pressure and like all the stuff that goes into what it's like to be him player number one yeah but yet everyone on the team needs to understand and respect like what it's like to be player number 13 you know like maybe a backup power forward knowing that if a shooting guard gets hurt you did nothing wrong but now you're off the team because we got to bring in another guy and I think there's something great about leadership style and being a great teammate that that when you are on another team and maybe you're you know like you're on the bench or you're you know like you don't get the same love from the co whatever it is like I just think there's great lessons that I see now with my kids being College athletes like I see that those lessons like shine through for them and I think those those go like Way Beyond your athletic career I think those are important lessons to learn yeah oh for sure in life too especially man oh man um Hey listen I'll let you in just a second I've kept you for too long I do have to bring this up and and this came up a couple weeks ago I was on a podcast on awfulannouncing.com of course anytime you see your name next to Awful announcing he's sitting it's a weird name it's a great site it's a weird name but it's a great site yeah um but the I brought up the story I don't even know if you realized this map but 2010 I was having a terrible year in Seattle like terrible to the point where I was in Chicago gave up like just I can't remember how many runs it was it was we the bullpan was dead so we had nothing so I just had to sacrificial lamb out there just giving it up the next the next that night they're like hey look we have to put you on the Phantom at the time was called the the DL the disob list but now the Phantom I they don't do it as much anymore but in I don't know if they do it in football in baseball if they don't want to have to designate you for assignment make a transaction they want to keep you I'm just going to tell you they sometimes they come up with a little call it a fake injury so this story came up a couple weeks ago and I and I tell this story so I give it up I'm in we're playing the the White Socks give it up it's terrible I'm just like crawled like you in the fetal position in my hotel room afterwards and that I get a text message saying hey by the way we're going to put you on the we're going to put you on the Phantom tomorrow we'll let you know what your injury is all right no worries I'm walking I get off the bus I'm walking in into the where you enter the stadium I get a text message from Matt Hasselbeck saying hey man I heard about your back if you need a back guy let me know I've got one for you and I'm sitting like I'm like oh okay that's how I found you tell me the truth or did you just lie to me too I think I felt so bad because I heard this story recently because I think awful announcing picked it up and someone sent it to me and I saw it and uh and I sat there and I'm like I think he lied to me too like I don't think I think you probably were like oh wow thanks man like you know thanks I said well I'm not going hey well listen to this right I said hey thanks I'm sitting oh man how do I how do I turn around and say hey because you the reason why is because I I was so appreciative and I'm not just saying this because I'm talking here I was so appreciative of the fact that you actually reached out and said hey man I've got a B guy for you the the the dude he's in Vancouver and I'm like I was just so um yeah so yeah listen well you said you had a bad year in 2010 I had a bad year in 09 and it was really this like back injury that was like you know really started in 08 and it just I never let it get right and so I think most people with back injuries or really any injury you respect the person that has like you know what they're going to have to go through um but in ' 08 I think this is true I don't know if it's is true but I think I was the first ever NFL player on Twitter and so I was set up in 08 on Twitter when no one else was on Twitter and I would get these I was like the first to know everything and um so like I probably was like the F whoever some reporter you know reported it and that literally came to my phone immediate and then like I might have even known before you like I'm not is that what you're saying you did that's what I'm saying you did I had no idea that that's how I found out my back I dud I literally had to walk around the clubhouse with like a heat pack on my back right but here's the deal here's the thing this is what I'm getting to years later a couple years later I'm like you know I'm trying to I'm working out with Tom house I'm throwing really hard man like I'm I'm I'm resurrected guess what I hurt my back and I was going back through my text messag like oh who was that back guy he was talking about and Behold a year I had chronic back issues after that I had a couple back issues when you text me by the way I'll just say but a year after that I meet someone at USC he's like oh I'm from I'm from Vancouver was uh Vancouver up in Canada right and he's like oh yeah hey um you play for the Mariners on Matt Hassel I'm like yeah I know I know Matt like not like we're best buds but he goes oh yeah well I worked at the place like I worked at the play we helped him out with his back like you are kidding me so anyway listen I I developed a pretty awesome team up in Vancouver um it started with this guy Rick celebrini I saw a guy Dr Jerry V mageta up there Rick celebrini was amazing for me though I mean some of the hardest workouts that I had ever done uh really avoided surgery and you know was it m mine was a little bit unique and I think with like to to your point about injury reporting like what could I tell you that's interesting like in the NFL you have to report the injuries like you have to they're very very strict on it but they can report it sort of like they can get creative on how they report it so as an example like if a player has broken ribs and it's what happens when you have broken ribs well it actually causes your back to like spasm and so they can report oh back spasms but it's you have broken ribs you know what I mean and so like the result the the symptom is like oh like the entire right side of my like lat is seized up because I have broken ribs on the injury report it'll say backs spasms and so like when I was in my 30s I can remember feeling like a little bit annoyed like you're making me just sound old oh he's out today with backs spasms and I'm sitting here like are you kidding me like I can't even drive my car my ribs are broken I can't turn left you know but I'm GNA play in this week's game because I'm G to let you inject me with basically Novacane so I can play in the game and you're putting out there to the masses oh he's old he has backpack like I was like it's it's annoying like it's annoying so is there an advantage though you mentioned the fact that you know you do something to your ribs it causes back spasms therefore the report goes to be backs spasm whatever it is is there any advantage like I just mentioned with baseball that's to to keep someone on a Ruster so you don't have to put him on a waiver wire someone picks him up what in the NFL is there any advantage to that yeah they're sort of protecting you because like if the other team knows that you have broken ribs they're coming at you with like the blitz packages of the century that you haven't studied or seen on film and so if they're game planning like Tuesday Wednesday Thursday and all they're seeing on the injury report is like oh he's got he's got a backs spasms they're like these coaches wherever they are they're probably like oh yeah I got back spasms too no biggie they'll be fine for Sunday you know so like I I think there's there's something where they are protecting you um and I think in hockey too like they'll just say like lower leg injury they won't say like exactly because I think like you know people will be targeting you or going after it so that makes sense yeah it's uh it's all part of it like it's like a push and a pull like your pride versus their sympathy that you're gon to get like it's like which would you rather have um yeah right yeah so well I'm glad I cleared that up years and years and years later um you know like I said I I I I don't I can't remember if I I can't remember if I said hey Matt now it's just a it's just a fight not because I've never heard that so like so you probably lied to me too so our friendship that was forming is now like it suffered a little bit of a hit actually yeah it has and and I I man I don't want to leave this conversation I I had a Radio Show in Seattle I had a Radio Show in Seattle like it was like a short show um 710 Cairo and every week they would ask me one one year I think it was 08 they would ask me about my back and I sort of just to protect senica Wallace that was the quarterback that was starting instead of me you know like it was helpful to again same thing like senica was more of a runner than I was and so it would help the game plan against whatever team if we were like oh we don't know who's going to play this week but I had sort of known like I I know I'm not ready this week you know like I'm going to try but like I know the chances are like very very small and like the guilt that you have kind of like oh yeah I'm doing my best I'm doing my best but like you kind of know like there's like a 10% chance or like 50% chance like there's a small like I don't know like in your head you know what's probably going to happen you I get it you have a little bit of guilt with that but um but there are rules you got to follow them and and I I think for the most part the teams that I was on I felt like we always played that game you know the way that were supposed to be played yeah and by the way this is my first and only ever time doing like a little Phantom uh stint and uh I there was yeah there was real like they said hey look you have to this is what your injury is like this is how you have to play it the other thing was too like the media was so friendly to me that they were like oh so and some of them knew like they weren't stupid but some like oh so this is why you're struggling isn't it Ryan I was like yes this is why I suck this is why I got a 6 right now and it's a real thing though like I don't know what it's like for your sport but as a quarterback like and you play poorly you never want to admit that you have an injury because now it's like you're making excuse for like why you played poorly 100% you know like just you know I just I remember even in college like I played my whole senior year basically with a broken right thumb and like I never said anything about the thumb because I didn't want to be like this like excuse maker and it was just like and they knew about the th it just like just it's hard it's hard it's a tough place to be in as an athlete for sure that's when you'd love it I I actually think this is one of the things I would change about football um they have these head coaches get up and they do the press conference and they talk about the players injuries and like the coaches just hide behind like I don't know talk to the doctor whatever have the doctor have the athletic trainer have them do the injury report and have them protect the information but give me something like real you know like he's got an AC spr it's a grade two next you know instead of like some coach who knows just football doesn't know anything about medicine yeah he's up there like his shoulder's a little sore he like oh could could you make me sound any more soft you know thanks yeah I had a little tweak in my U but honestly that's more accurate information and there's plenty of people in the medical community be really good at sports medicine explaining that and I just think it would we would accomplish the goal of what we're trying to accomplish especially with like sports betting being such a big thing now and you want to level the playing field and like just just get a professional up there to just talk about hey high ankle sprain it's usually six to eight weeks might be four to six with this guy that's the deal next question yeah that's that's a one I might I might I might make that a thing especially in baseball cuz yeah you get the old like well no they they do they can get kind of technical these days that is for sure but Matt listen man I I really appreciate the time this was fun I'm glad we got to clear up um any uh I know you feel like I'm a liar liar what else Faker relationship oh yeah brutal but uh man this is fun I appreciate it so much man and uh yeah it was just it was good going back to some of those days back you know God man Tom flies but it was it was so what was the name of the bar we went to that the first time we met you know I was gonna bring that man see I was gonna bring that up kangaroo and kiwi which matter of fact they are a sponsor on the show hey you know what you you you've talked yourself into it I'm going to put you to the test here now you ready we're going to do now you've just oh man I'm telling you I feel like we can do it some other time but you know I just I'm glad you remember that no I'm going to bring this up I'm going to bring this up all right we have a segment uh m H we have a segment on this show called how to speak Australian I'm going to give you an Australian word and you have to try and guess what it is okay so theing the the how to oh no you you'll be fine the how to speak Australian segment is brought to you by the kangaroo and kiwi Australian Pub which is now in Ballad it used to be um there at Green Lake and and that's right you that's right it was my birthday um was a FanFest and and I was like I sent you a text they come along and you rocked up and I was like oh man sweet well can we can we even believe that it was really your birthday now there's a proven pattern it was just an excuse was it even your birthday you're like the guy that like oh it's his birthday and then they bring the dessert out you know like a free dessert oh Mana that's that's me um but uh let me just pull this up cuz I did have a good word for you cuz I was like oh man I I completely forgot I'm glad you brought this up um let me find it real quick is it going to pop up no it's not um okay here you know what look I'm gonna do this I'm gonna have oh man hey are you even from Australia like if if you were really from Australia you could come up with your own word right now I know this is ridic no there's plenty I got to I got to get something tough for you hey if I find out that you're from like Bloomington Indiana after all these years it be really mad you know first it's the fake back injury now you're not really from Australia you know like what else wasn't your birthday I know dude this this is this is shameful all right here we go all right this this is oh no I I was trying to think of the word for someone who who makes up stories like myself about my back but this is even better all right okay ready so how to speak Australian segment this is brought to you by the kangaro and kiwi Australian Pub the best the one and only Australian Pub in Seattle we are going to have a live uh watch party there later on this year but Matt Hasselbeck I got a word for you what does the word bludger mean oh bludger oh yeah that's an easy one that's an easy one it's like bludger I don't know let me think budger do you want it in a sentence can you please can you please use it in a sentence okay get off the couch and stop being such a bludger I think a bludger is someone who like plays Call of Duty all day kind of lazy person procrastinator what do you say yeah that that's it I that was too easy I gave it away I was going to go funny I was going to go funny and then I was like you got to be funny and appropriate it's a little harder to be funny appropriate so I was expecting another Australian accent but no you did he nailed it my goodness no a blood just you stop being such a bludger such a blg you know yeah bludger that that was me in 2010 faking back injuries I was being a BL B accent and an Australian accent are too aren't too far apart you know hey man I was playing triple F in P Tucket and I was I was speaking freeing easy W without the she parked a car over there near the garden she had to walk all the way to Fenway Park it was like the cruiser pulled up and got to gave her a pking ticket it's wied wicked bad there it is see you have that natural there's something that connection I'm telling you right now you have that natural Aussie accent you you'd be able to get off that quanus jet the Flying Kangaroo and just be riding home thanks thanks to the Boston background awesome Matt this has been great mate thank you so much I I I appreciate it and uh love to have you on again sounds good thanks Ryan

Channel: The Top Step w/ Ryan Rowland-Smith

Views: 9,576

Keywords: baseball, mariners, seattle mariners, pitching, mlb, major league baseball, ryan rowland-smith, baseball podcast, the top step

Id: Iz_Yask5Mqs

Length: 64min 51sec (3891 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 16 2024