Remembering Chris Wesseling

0:00This is an iHeart Podcast. Guaranteed human.

0:03Gregg Rosenthal:You know how it's never really about where you're going. It's about who you're going with. The right people can turn any drive into a great memory. That's something Toyota really believes. They design vehicles around real life and real people. The ones who make plans happen and bring everyone together. Inside, everything's built with passengers in mind. Comfortable seating, smart layouts, and space that actually works so everyone can relax and enjoy the ride. There's room for the people, room for the stuff, and room for the moments that happen along the way. Because when people are the destination, your ride is important.

0:39Gregg Rosenthal:Learn more at toyota.com and find the vehicle that fits your people. Hey guys, it's Erin Andrews. Everything these days is fighting for your attention. We've got work, family, social media, making it tough to figure out what to prioritize. I got something that should always be at the very top of the list, your breast health. In fact, if you're 40 and over, you should be getting screened once a year. And if you're under 40, it's never too soon to visit yourattentionplease.com to learn about breast cancer risk. Come on now, pay the girls some attention and take the time to find out your breast cancer risk at yourattentionplease.com.

1:18Trust me, your future self will thank you.

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2:25Gregg Rosenthal:Welcome to NFL Daily, where we're always thinking about Wes. I'm Greg Rosenthal. I'm here in the Chris Wessling Podcast studio. I'm taping it in the studio that bears my great friend's name before I head up to San Francisco for this Super Bowl 60. And I did want to just kind of stop in the middle of what's a crazy season, a crazy week, and recognize that it has now been five years since Wes died. And this week is always tricky because it's the Super Bowl, but it's also the time of year that Wes died. And if you've lost anyone, grief is so interesting that the dates are important. Like those anniversaries, you kind of feel it and you feel them in the air.

3:23Gregg Rosenthal:And it almost makes sense that it's all combined. It's the Super Bowl. It's Wes. And for me, especially, Wes was such a special person in my life. But initially, as a special person in my football life, I met him, I'm putting in air quotes, online on a message board. And his life force just leaped off that message board so strongly that I wanted to get to know this guy and get to meet him and eventually to hire him and become a great friend. And then we were out here. And so this time of year, you think about him because I share a birthday with Wes too. It's in a couple of weeks. It's the two of us, me, Wes, and the three of us, if you want to include Roger Goodell, the three pillars we used to joke about of NFL network, NFL media.

4:19We all share a birthday. Shout out to the people on the Pisces cusp. and yeah, it's to me a cool thing that it's a time of year and of course it's mixed feelings and it's heavy too and it's sad but I like the idea that it's a time to think about the person because the last thing I want to do is ever forget them, not celebrate them, not talk about them. I know if you're listening to this now, you're not going to forget them and it didn't feel right to go through this week without recognizing this anniversary in five years. and it's one of the first things Keisha taught me. You know, my great friend and the love of his life, Keisha, so early on, she really just had this feeling that it felt, it feels good to talk about the ones that you love and that you lost, and I'm far from a person who has learned wisdom over the years, but that is something that really has stuck with me that I think helps people.

5:24And it really stuck with me, the response we got in the aftermath of Chris dying, not just in the days after, but in the months, in the years. And even now, right before we started, Eric, our producer was saying, look, anytime we talk about Wes, it gets so much response and people wanna be able to share their memories because for so many of you, it felt like losing a really close friend. And it was. You had our podcast, the Around the NFL podcast, originally Around the League, in your ears three, four times a week for so long. And I think especially with Wes, he gave all of himself to that podcast.

6:15What you heard was what you got. And I think for a lot of our listeners who, of course, are younger and just growing up, and some people joined us in middle school and high school and in college, and it runs the gamut, certainly, but a lot of younger listeners, we heard, and this really stuck with me, that it was the first time a lot of people experience a loss like that. and it almost makes me think now like oh here it is like Wes teaching us life lessons again because Wes Wes loved a good time and that's one of the reasons why he made so many great connections here at NFL Media everyone's relationship with him was really different but how I connected most with Wes beyond the football and just working side by side and loving to like figure out his mind talking football was he loved to ponder the meaning of it all like he loved to debate the stupid stuff but he also loved to talk about why are we all here and spirituality and what it means to be a good person and yeah death and I almost think I could almost hear Wes's voice because we heard from a lot of listeners and I understood all the responses and for a lot of people, it was really so difficult to lose Chris.

7:36And I understood that the hardest thing that we ever did was do a podcast that week, and right in the aftermath and just continue to do it. And a lot of people told us, like, I love you guys, but I can't deal with it anymore, basically, like that they stopped listening at that moment. And I do totally get that response. But part of me also hears Chris in my head being like, come on, like face it, face it, head up like this is life. This is what happens. And it is terrible. And I don't want to get stuck in the bad stuff. But this week I do think about the fact, look, I drive past the hospital where Chris died every other day.

8:20It's just sort of part of my life. It is not hard. It's hard not to think about that, to always be next to the bar where me and Dan and Mark met up with his brother Phil right afterwards. And I always think about that because it's right next to the Trader Joe's. And I do think about that week because it was the worst week of my life. We're doing shows for God knows what reason, trying to kind of think that maybe what we think we're watching happen is not happening as it was. But I bring all that up just to say, like, I think it's a trap to get stuck in those moments. Again, I can hear like his his voice in my head, which is like, yeah, that sucks.

9:02But it was a miracle that the four of us all got to come together. It was a miracle that Wes existed. It was a miracle that Wes got to meet Keisha in the first place and have Lincoln and that he had this life force that was so strong that it brought him all the way to Tybee Island. at a part in his life where he didn't know exactly where he was going and that we ended up connecting and that he eventually found a lot of meaning, not just with football, but more importantly, with the friends and the relationships that he made through football. But football was the start to it. I saw this guy writing down every dynasty league ranking that he had And he was such a, you know, to use a West word, like irascible.

9:55Like he was just so opinionated, but stubborn, but open, but warm. But man, it was tough to get him to move off of a position. But you always respected that position. And part of this week for me, I had a little fun like going back and listening to some of the shows from that week. and I can almost, I'm amazed how concise we were. It's four of us and we're doing a 48 minute Super Bowl recap and it's just moving around. Eric, I'm looking at him and like, I could learn a little bit something. It was, it's a great show around the NFL. And it was fun to go back and listen because we have Seahawks Patriots.

10:41And so I thought, okay, well, that's a nice tie in here. Obviously, that was a long time ago. That was 11 years ago. That was only the second Super Bowl that the four of us covered together. We had one before Wes was fully on board and hired. And so that was the second Super Bowl we were all together. And I thought it'd be cool to go back and just listen. Here were some takes that Wes had. This was actually from the recap show. I listened to all of them from that week. But he was embedded with the Seahawks during the week. And then this was some of the takes he had after Super Bowl XLIX between the Patriots and the Seahawks.

11:23I think when you factor in the ridiculous curse catch, how well the Patriots defensive backs played on that entire drive, and then the final play of the game, to me, the greatest Super Bowl I've ever seen. Everyone always wants to say the greatest Super Bowl of all time right away. And I think it probably was. I don't know. Well, let me add some more points. Okay. You're talking about, in addition to the back and forth of two great quarterbacks, the best defense we've seen in at least 15 years, and possibly the best pass defense we've ever seen, you've got Belichick and Brady going for their fourth title in their sixth Super Bowl, and you're doing it the caliber of opponent.

12:02You're doing it against the reigning Super Bowl champions. Against the best defense in the league for three years running. First team like that since the late 60s. I don't want to hear that the Patriots-Panthers game was better. It wasn't. No. We're here last year, and we're talking about Peyton Manning's legacy. And going into that game, most people considered him greater all time than Tom Brady. A year later, we're not even bringing up Peyton Manning in the discussion. Brady has distanced himself a little bit from Peyton Manning. It is really interesting just to think about that game specifically and how things change.

12:34Gregg Rosenthal:And one of the great points Wes made, like there were a lot there, which it wasn't even included, was how he said while we're in the press box watching it that this next drive with the Seahawks moving the ball down the field and eventually getting right up to the goal line is going to impact how we talk about Tom Brady. And it shouldn't impact how we talk about Tom Brady because there's nothing really to do with Tom Brady. Tom Brady just orchestrated two touchdowns in the fourth quarter against the best defense in football. And I'm not planning to do football talk on this show, But to me, that was the relationship I had with Wes and certainly that you guys had with Wes, that it could go from the deepest stuff to the football stuff in a matter of seconds.

13:21And that's why I really enjoyed kind of looking back at all these episodes. Like, it was all combined. And I'm thinking of Nick Wessling today, too, because I talked to him. And I was supposed to include this on the preview, the pick show that it's already been out with Cynthia Freeland. and I'm reminded of it because Wes and I and Mark, I believe, did have the Patriots winning this game against the Seahawks back in the day. In this Super Bowl, by the way, Big Bro Nick says Seahawks by 30. I mean, just totally disrespectful. He's like, well, maybe not exactly 30, but that's what I said about the Eagles last year, and he got that one right.

13:57So I'm just putting that out there. another another clip we have here was a pretty famous one if you're a huge diehard of around the NFL and also if you go even now to the around the NFL Twitter page it includes a part of of this clip a really great edit where had a lot of the great moments of of Chris's time doing the podcast and it's still pinned to the Around the NFL Twitter page, which I love. And it has part of this clip. And I decided to go back and listen to it.

14:36Gregg Rosenthal:And what I found was it was, you know, even longer and had a little more depth and breadth to it than you even heard in that video. And I thought it would be cool to kind of play this on the show. And the crazy thing is to set this up is it just comes out of nowhere in a random week 14 Tuesday show about 20 minutes into the end of the news where we're just basically talking about how Reggie Wayne, who was in the final season of his career, was playing through a triceps tear and didn't look good. And that was all that set this up. And I'll let Wes take it from here. Well, I think I've been a little flippant about this, that I haven't given it the nuance it deserves.

15:27Reggie Wayne is playing through a torn triceps and is playing as bad as any wide receiver in the NFL. He's also a respected team leader, and I'm sure within those walls they want him to battle. They want him to battle through this and show what he can do. So I feel like maybe we should give it a little bit more thought. I mean, you and I have talked about why would adults be interested in sports? and I think this kind of speaks to that that you mentioned a few minutes ago I'm thinking like an analyst when I watch Game Rewind and if I think Mark's probably read this book Zen in the art of motorcycle maintenance he makes the point the analyst something is always lost in art or experience when you analyze it like Mark Twain once he became a riverboat pilot and learned the technical side of it the Mississippi River was no longer beautiful for him and I think that's part of being an analyst in football, we kind of lose track of what's important about sports.

16:24You know, when you get old, you know, athletes naturally rage against the dying of light. And I think Reggie Wayne's doing that and we have to let him do that. I mean, I just, I guess I just wanted to get that off my chest. You feel badly for being negative to a guy that's been a great player for a long time. Well, I think if I was to hire a sports writer, the first question I was going to ask him is, how do you reconcile the essential meaninglessness of sports? wow i should use that in my interviews with the new editors downstairs because there is an answer i mean how do you reconcile watching young men bang into each other and try to advance and inflate a pigskin against marked territory i mean that's what you're doing how do you reconcile the importance of that and i think it's that at its best sports is look at what humans can do this is the best that we can do it's like Shakespeare's poems or Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata this is going above and beyond we're sending somebody out there like you know we can't get to Mars so we send the rover this is we're going above and beyond and I think we've seen examples like the best Willis Reed hobbling out of the tunnel Kirk Gibson limping up to the plate against an unhittable closer Michael Jordan in the flu game when an athlete is injured and especially towards the end of his career like Reggie Wayne is.

17:43Look, older players can still get it done. It's just that those plateaus are fewer and far between and I think there's something to be said for an older player trying to do that. There could still be something left. There could still be some light in Reggie Wayne.

17:56Gregg Rosenthal:Look at what humans can do. The crazy thing to me there is that's just in the middle of a Tuesday show off the dome. A lot of it. I mean, out of nowhere. And, you know, it makes me emotional hearing him get to that, look what humans can do. Because I think like, yeah, Chris Wesseling podcasting, look at what humans can do. And it's such a unique relationship, I think, between really regular listeners of a podcast and a podcast like around the NFL that you get to know the hosts. and the crazy thing was like Wes was born to do that now he was even better in in life a raconteur would be another way that I would use it and so many of my best memories with Chris and Keisha are just sitting around the fire uh outside their house and and just talking late into the night about whatever.

19:06And sometimes it'll be ridiculous talk and sometimes it'll be that.

19:12Gregg Rosenthal:But it was brilliant and it was open-hearted. And when he says, look at what humans can do, look at how humans can be. I think good and bad, Wes always showed sort of a full breadth of, look at what humans can be. They can contain a lot. And it's so crazy to me that that's just dropped in the middle of a random episode. And I swear 20 seconds later, we just immediately go into Jimmy, Jay Cutler getting benched for Jimmy Clawson. And it was just like, oh, Greg's got to go handle the news. Let's get into Jay Cutler getting benched by Jimmy Clawson. And meanwhile, I'm thinking, look, listen to this back all these years later.

19:58No, bros, like, stop. He barely got any pop or response from that a little bit. I give TD a lot of credit because we did move on a little bit 30 seconds later. And then we did kind of mention like, oh, and he was just like, Wes was on fire there. That was awesome. And I guess it's a reminder. Just look, when you have those sort of moments, when you have those sort of people in your life, just stop and recognize it in those moments and appreciate it. And look, I'm thinking about Chris today. And we think about Chris all the time here in the Chris Wesleyan Podcast studio. And, you know, I'm just thinking about everyone that's out there, too.

20:45Gregg Rosenthal:And so I love all y 'all that are still listening. And I know so many of you have such love for Chris and everyone who is listening out there today. Yeah. Think about him a little bit. That'd mean a lot to me and Keisha and everyone that's so close to Wes over the years. Hell, look what humans can do. Get almost anything you need delivered with Uber Eats. What do we mean by almost? Well, you can't get a well-groomed lawn delivered, but you can get a chicken parm delivered. A little escape? No. A delicious bowl of grapes? Yes. Yes, that. An afternoon stroll? Sorry, no. A burrito bowl? Happily? Yes.

21:28Gregg Rosenthal:A day of sunshine? No. A box of fine wines? Yes. Uber Eats can definitely get you that. Get almost, almost anything delivered with Uber Eats. Order now. Alcohol in select markets. Product availability may vary by region. See app for details. Get almost, almost anything delivered with Uber Eats. Order now. You know how it's never really about where you're going. It's about who you're going with. The right people can turn any drive into a great memory. That's something Toyota really believes. They design vehicles around real life and real people. The ones who make plans happen and bring everyone together.

22:05Gregg Rosenthal:Inside, everything's built with passengers in mind. Comfortable seating, smart layouts, and space that actually works so everyone can relax and enjoy the ride. There's room for the people, room for the stuff, and room for the moments that happen along the way. Because when people are the destination, your ride is important. Learn more at toyota.com and find the vehicle that fits your people. Hey guys, it's Erin Andrews. Everything these days is fighting for your attention. We've got work, family, social media, making it tough to figure out what to prioritize. I got something that should always be at the very top of the list, your breast health.

22:44In fact, if you're 40 and over, you should be getting screened once a year. And if you're under 40, it's never too soon to visit yourattentionplease.com to learn about breast cancer risk. Come on now, pay the girls some attention and take the time to find out your breast cancer risk at yourattentionplease.com. Trust me, your future self will thank you. There's a fire inside you you can't ignore. Stand still, not a chance. You're a lifelong learner who's come this far. Now we're here to help you keep going further. Capella University, what can't you do? Visit capella.edu to learn more. This is an iHeart Podcast.

23:23Guaranteed human.