"Marshawn Lynch"

0:17I'm ready to start. Welcome to Smart Life. Smart. Let us.

0:24Smart. Let us.

0:30Smart. Let us. Hey, yes, so Will is joining us from over the pond there in London. It looks like you went ahead and treated yourself to a nice, at least a one-bedroom, maybe a two-bedroom suite. Dude, look, who's counting other than you? I mean... Yeah, it looks like you're doing pretty well. Yeah, sitting in a wingback. Sitting in a wingback, you know, I felt like this is the chair that I've always deserved. Mm-hmm. Yeah. You know? You're also talking... You sound like you're keeping it down because somebody's sleeping or something. Yeah, you're trying to stay quiet because the kids are asleep?

1:08No, you know why? It's kind of echoey in here. Yeah. So I'm just trying to be, like, not as echoey. Oh. Oh, because you probably have hardwood floors in that nice hotel. Sure do. And high ceilings, right? Sure do, yeah. Yeah. Yeah, so I'm over here visiting some friends, and then, of course, I'm going to the football on Sunday, which I'm really excited about. The NFL is having a game on this weekend over. They're trying to expand the league. You are something else. I'm going to see Liverpool play West Ham up at Anfield, their home ground, in Liverpool on Sunday. Chappie and I are going. and I'm very, very excited.

1:48I can't. Would you ever consider getting each other rings, you and Chaffee? Maybe just tattoo it around your ring finger. You know who we went and saw yesterday? We went last night and saw Johnny Vaughn, my buddy who I've mentioned who's on the radio over here, and he's a great talent. Oh, yeah. And so I went and joined the 407 thing with his crew, everybody from Gav the Woodman Woods to Dr. Sonta Templeton to Big Sai and Little Sai. It was just a... And then we went out for a nice Chinese food dinner. A lager. At a casino. Oh. So, yeah. How about that? Like a bedding casino? It was... Yeah, it was very...

2:28It was different. But it was great. This guy hosted us. It was amazing. It was an incredible Chinese food restaurant in the basement of this casino. Yeah. Good times, man. I can't picture... Look at Jason's face. I know. I can't picture anybody. I can't picture gambling anywhere other than Vegas. So they have casinos there. Does it feel like Vegas? They got casinos everywhere, Sean. Really? Yeah. You ever heard of Macau? I'm going to be going to Vegas in a few weeks here, and I'm anticipating not going to the tables at all. Yeah. Because I don't drink anymore. and I feel like I need to be inebriated to enjoy the mindlessness of gambling and the fear of gambling.

3:20Not Sean. Sean can do it at breakfast. Is that true? I could do it. Oh, my God. I love it. Wait, Sean, are you one of those at like a buffet? Do you sit at the table, fill out the bingo cart and everything? Yeah, and then I go to Vegas. Then he goes, I went with Sean once. You remember that years ago we went to Vegas? Oh, my God. That was a long time ago. Do you remember that? That was like 2002. Was this after Istanbul, you guys? It was before Istanbul. Well before. I went to Vegas once again. But maybe after Venice. Oh, boy. Because we did Venice, Italy too. Does Chaffee know about Sean? Is he okay with him?

3:57I'm trying to keep him on my laps right now. Will and I have tattooed rings. Toe rings. I saw Sean one time at the blackjack table just go nuts, and he was splitting and doubling down, and at one point he just had, he was playing like an eight-hand thing. It was so many splits and double things. But it was$2 units, right? It was just a$2 table. No, it was great. And that one time, I think it was that time or another time. Yeah, I kept winning. I was really drunk and I was really young. See, that's what I mean. I don't think you can win when you're sober. No, and yeah, because you make horrible choices.

4:29Well, you make pragmatic decisions and that's sort of at odds with successful gambling, I think. Yeah, and anyway, I had like 300 bucks or 200 bucks left or something like that. And I turned it into like 10 ,000 bucks and I gave it all the way to the people at the table. The people. Yeah. Like Robin Hood. Like, just like Robin Hood. Hang on a second. If you work for the IRS, if you work for the IRS, it was 9 ,999, right? Yeah. How are you with the jet lag? Can you adjust really fast? It kind of hit me. I actually left in a little bit early because the jet lag kind of hit me in between the eyes and I was like, guys, I got to go to sleep.

5:09But I can tell you this. I'm really excited to go to my first, as you guys know, I do love Liverpool and I love what they call football over here. So I'm excited to go. It's a big thrill. And Jay is a sports fan. You can appreciate how cool it is to go to a new stadium. Yeah, they make sports fans look bad here in the States because you guys got the, or they guys, you're one of them. Thank you. All the songs that you sing. Oh, the songs are incredible. It's real good fan stuff. I'd be into that. It's super, super fun, and it's a great environment. I've only been to one match over in Europe, and that was in Spain a few years ago.

5:40But I haven't been here, and I'm so excited. And I love the football. And I'm glad I'm saying football because it's reminding me. Uh-oh, here we go. It's reminding me. Nice going to get the guest. Watch this. You know, our guest today, I'm so excited because I just want to get to him. This guy will. Our guest today is an incredible entrepreneur. He's a philanthropist. philanthropist he's involved in all sorts of businesses from uh media consulting to management to uh he made uh to blenders uh to sports apparel oh blender to team ownership this is a guy who's done so much and it started a lot of it started because he had so much success on the football field and you know you talk about people who do amazing things and then you talk about guys who are when in the first round of the nfl draft who played three seasons in both football i'm gonna Twice led the league in touchdowns, voted to four consecutive Pro Bowls.

6:34I'm in on this. Won a Super Bowl. And also, I think he got really well known for his incredible, what they called the Beastquake. What? Touchdown run. What? During the 2010-2011 NFL playoffs, he rushed 67 yards while breaking nine tackles, considered one of the greatest NFL runs of all time. He's an all-time great. He's an all-time great guy. And he's also, more importantly, my friend, you guys, it's Mr. Marshawn Lynch. No. way. Marshawn. Marshawn, good morning. Marshawn, what's going on? Marshawn, can I ask you a question? Why do you spend so much time with this guy, Will Arnett? What happened?

7:12Does he have photos on you or something? You guys are so close. It's the weirdest couple in all of Hollywood. Nah, man. I told him, like, if you ever call my phone or bang my line, I'm going to make it work. Because he gave me an opportunity to do some shit that I ain't never done before so anytime he hit my phone i'm yeah i mean i'm coming through so that's just for forever in perpetuity he's got you as a as a guy throwing favors for sure because i want to can we know what that was or no no murderville yeah a lot of people don't realize how hilarious marshall is yeah because they think of him as like a football you know icon and i'm like this is a funny dude um and i'm so lucky you know i'm so happy that you do return my calls and and you know marshall we've never really talked about football like in a way or like how you started i we think about it over the last few years we've talked about so much other weird stuff honeymoon and we went oh well we went we covered the world cup uh last year we did this thing together uh And we never talked about how you started in pro football, well, just in football in general.

8:25And I guess that's on me, I should have asked, but I'm asking now, how did you, what was your first, were you in love with football when you first started, when you were a kid? Like, what was the deal? What was your relationship like with football starting out? I mean, the relationship with football was, I was big on playing it, not too much of a fan, sitting down and watching it. Really? That's interesting. When it came to it, it was like, yeah, if we had the opportunity, every opportunity I had to play it, I was for sure getting down. But I really wasn't, like I said, I wasn't big on sitting down and watching a game.

9:04It wasn't like no big-ass tradition that we did where everybody come through on Sunday and watch the games or, you know, Monday nights. It wasn't like, we got to watch this Thursday night. No, I wasn't. No shit like that. and then the opportunity to go to college and, you know, play there. I thought it would all end for me after high school. And then, you know, we started sending letters like, oh, yeah, you got an opportunity to go to college and shit. That wasn't something that was, you know, really talked about in my household as well. Really? I mean, it just all seemed, yeah, that shit all seemed like a little fairy tale or whatever.

9:40Which college did you end up going to? Cal University. Oh, yeah. California. Berkeley? Berkeley? Yeah. So, I mean, the shit worked out for me in the long run. Yeah, for sure. But when I first found out, I'm like, hell no, you want me to go to more school? More voluntary school? Like, nah, hell no, I'm cool off that. But I ain't going to lie. Luckily, I had two cousins who was really into that shit. What's that, schoolwork? Yeah, for sure. Really into schoolwork? Yeah. Yeah, man. I say they took on the jobs of the teachers by making sure I maintained a reasonable grade point average to even be able to give college an opportunity.

10:25That's awesome. Wow. But then once I got there and seeing what type of time it was on, what I had to do in order to accomplish going to the next level, then shit just made sense. And it was like that shit clicked. because now it was like, oh, I got a goal, and I got to do X, Y, and Z to accomplish this. Then let me just do what I need to do and see how far I can take. Do you remember the process of getting used to getting hit? Like, did you start playing football so young? Oh, sorry for him. Were you so young when you started that you don't remember it? Or do you remember, like, because, you know, I never was allowed to play football.

11:05My mom was British. She wanted me to play soccer. but I got this one part in a football movie where I actually got to put on pads and a helmet and I played like a defensive back or something. And this one take, I had to tackle a guy and I didn't know what to do with my head. I felt like, well, if my head hits that person's shoulder, it's going to break my neck. So what I thought would be smart to do is just to kind of shrug my shoulders up and trap my helmet in the hole that the shoulder pads create so it's locked in there. Like a turtle. Yeah, exactly. I'm not sure when you did this role in that movie, but you sound like you got that move from the little giants.

11:47Exactly. I'm just a small, soft actor, and they all laughed at me. The movie was a comedy, thank God. That's right, though, Jay. I wouldn't think of that. That is true. Because, Marshawn, I'm the opposite of you. I'd rather watch it than play it. Because I played it when I was a kid. I was terrible. But when I watch it, when I see the heads hit the bodies, I think the same thing. I was like, how does their neck? Yeah. So do you remember that process? Is there a learning curve that's painful on that, or were you too young? Most definitely. So, I mean, I probably got the latest start out of it because it was a group of us.

12:25And, I mean, you know, it was more family, you know, close friends, like, in the neighborhood. And, you know, I think I was probably one of the later ones that started maybe around age 13. Yeah. So a few of them started maybe age six. Six, eight was around the normal time for them to start. So they were called, like, considered the veterans. Right. And, you know, one of my closest friends, rest in peace, we were doing hitting drills, angling, tackling. It's the biggest thing in football. Is what? Is angle tackling? Angling, tackling. Tackling drill. What does that mean? Because you line up on opposite sides, put a cone out, and you come to a point where you have to earn your manhood.

13:13Uh-huh. It's not a lot of us. Sure. A lot of us. We're a lot of us seeing it. And, you know, he was a veteran. This was my first year in full contact sports. And somehow he convinced me to go first, which, you know what I mean, was not a good idea. But so he called go. And we ran and we hit. Like a couple of rams hitting each other with their horns, right? Yep, except for I didn't lower my shoulders or my helmet. And I went in standing straight up like I was trying to give him a bear hug. Like Frankenstein. He actually put his stomach. Exactly. He actually put his helmet right in my stomach. Ouch.

13:57And I'm talking about all the wind was blowing out. Like, ooh, shit, I don't know. And I had to make a decision because as soon as, you know what I mean, And as soon as he had hit me, all you can hear is the coach is like, man, what the hell y 'all doing? Like, line up. And I'm like, line up? Like, oh, you want me to do this again? I'm laying down. You want me to do this again right after? I'm like, I don't know what to say. Because I want to tell him, like, hey, you know I just went. But then you know everybody in line, hey, line up, line up. We got to line it up, coach. So I'm like, oh, you want me to do this again?

14:30So it was like, oh, hell no. I seen what you just did to me. And I was like, all right, now this time, I'm going to duck my shoulder in my head and run it into you. So the thing was, I was a little faster than him, so I was able to get to the point quicker than him. So in the midst of him lowering his helmet and his shoulders, I had already been lowered and smashing. Bam! Coach is like, oh, okay, the little rookie got something to him. Line up again. and now he's calling all his veterans to the front of the line and now he want to see the rookie hit with all the veterans. And so it was a thing of like, oh, this is just what you got to do in order to be, you know, a hitter on the team.

15:15Those are the people who get all the praise, all the cheerleaders make love. Go number, you know what I mean, whoever your number is. And I'm like, oh, shit. So if I become a hitter, then I could be one of them. And then, I mean, you know, my first position I played, offensive line. So that's where all my little, I guess my toughness and all that, ain't afraid to hit somebody. And then, you know, as much as, so for y 'all who don't know, I'm an offensive player. But my mentality is defense. And we will be right back.

15:53And now back to the show. By playing offensive line first, do you have sympathy for the offensive linemen that once you became a running back, power back, you start running into the backs of those offensive linemen? Do you remember the days when running backs used to do that to you? I'll bet it hurts. No, man. To be honest with you, I take care of my offensive linemen. And one of the things that I don't do is I don't run into the back of them. So I'd rather, if I see a pileup or something like that, I'd rather, you know what I mean, bounce outside and run into a defender than hit my offensive lineman in the back.

16:33Is that something that offensive linemen do complain about? Hell yeah. Because it's like, damn, pick your eyes up. Because they feel like, hey, look, I'm doing my job. I'm running this dude out of there and you running into my back. If you want to hit somebody, hit one of the guys. The guy with the other color on. Yeah, for real, for real. During the, well, was work harder during football or is work harder now with the acting? You know, because the hours in acting can be, you know, usually 12 hours. And sometimes that hard work is simply trying to manage boredom because no one, there's no two people that are working at the same time.

17:16And concentration, though, when it's called, right? Yeah. Yeah, or was the football harder because of, you know, all the obvious parts of it, the traveling and the strenuousness? Well, see, the thing was, you know, the traveling, meetings, you know, practice, games, being able to take care of my body, you know, making sure I don't lose my mind. That became, like, second nature. That was more so, like, just my walk in life. and then with this, you know, going over into, I guess you would call it, entertainment, it's more of like a challenge to me, so I'm not looking at it as, is it hard or is it strenuous?

18:01It's more so like I want to understand it. I want to get an understanding for this, the way that I did for when I was playing my sport. But ultimately, if I'm just looking at it from a time management point. When I lock in for football, I had to lock in for eight months out the year. That was just what it was, regardless. And why is it important to you, just out of curiosity? Have you always had this thing in the back of your head that's like, you know what, I want to stretch this muscle in my head about this acting thing or this artistic kind of side of me? No, it's just that, realistically, I don't want to be bad.

18:43Yeah. Because, I mean, shit. I mean, you know, you hear about it all the time. Like, for individuals, after their first career, they go and get into something else, and it kind of don't pan out for them. Right. But in the same breath in which they're, you know, damn, he was a great football player, or he was a good football player. However you view me as a football player, you're not going to say I was bad unless I done something to your team. Right, right. Then maybe I'm shitty to you, but otherwise, you know what I mean? But otherwise, you're going to say, you know what I mean? he he brought something to the game and then you know i mean going into my second career when my fucker see me on t like oh you know what he ain't bad he did he did a good job so challenge like it's almost like a challenge like a you enjoy the challenge of it what about what about the what about the gym i imagine the gym would have been a big part of every day during your football career is it this are you uh what's what's the amount of hours you're doing in the gym per week.

19:43To be honest with you, that was probably the place where I spent the least work at. I mean, you got to think about it. My career, I played in the league with 12, 13 years and then you got to think college was another three. High school, four. In the little league, I got about three in. So you, 20 plus years of doing the same shit, you got to think like alright, I got to figure out a way to do some other shit in order to stay in shape or to get my body right. So then, I mean, you start getting creative. Yeah. And, I mean, you know, I would say realistically maybe two, maybe three times in the gym a week.

20:26And it ain't to do like, you know, like you see that you probably be like pumping all this weights and all that shit. It might be just to get a stretch, you know what I mean? Or to utilize the swimming pool. Or just see who's in the steam. Yeah. yeah that should work too sign a standing room for sure um but so i have like a i have a two-parter marshawn like so when when you were playing uh when you're playing football was there a person or a moment that made you want to that kind of clicked your brain into what if i did this you know expanded into entrepreneurial stuff and what if i was there a person that you're like gosh i really admire the way he handled his career after football or during football or was there a moment and and the second part is what is your favorite or most rewarding entrepreneurial effort so far uh well the first part is uh before i before i even knew about money or anything because it wasn't like that was something i came from um i remember they was having these what is the financial advisors coming to uh coming to the facility and you know get a spiel You know what I mean?

21:36And you can, you know, choose a financial advisor that way. That was the way in which we met financial advisors. So the team brings people in to talk to players and sort of help them kind of figure out what they want to do. That's good, actually. Yeah, the player personnel, like, you know, the guy who looks after the players on a more personal level. They'll bring in individuals who they know maybe through dealings with or maybe got introduced by another player. But I remember the first time my financial advisor came in and he came in there and he was talking. And shit, I had this thing where I could go to sleep standing straight up.

22:22And so he came in and he started talking all the time. And I fell asleep straight up. Yeah, I know. It goes in one ear or out the other. Man, shit, it didn't go in no ear. I'm asleep, dead to the world. Yeah, yeah. And he make a, he don't say nothing. So as he's finishing up and he, you know what I mean, kind of come to him up on the board, I see all these names. And these names are NFL players who, you know, I thought if you play in the NFL, you like the richest person in the world. I'm looking at all these names and I'm seeing like, you know, they got a number on the side to the right of their name and another column.

23:00And I'm like, damn, like, fuck, they got all this money. And then at the end of it, you know, he go through like three slides, and I'm talking about maybe some of the most notable names in football. And at the end, he say, all bankrupt. And I'm like, what the fuck? Like, no money. I'm like, no, hell no. Right. Now I'm up. Yeah. But now it's presentation. Now I'm awake, yeah. So I'm like, hey, hold on. What you mean they bankrupt? Like, you know, I've seen some of the names of individuals who, you know, I look up to. I'm like, no, what the fuck? So after he said, man, you slept through my whole meeting.

23:34I said, yeah, I did. You know, it wasn't my bad. But can you start from the beginning again? I said to the part where you said, all of these players up here is broke now. Like, what the fuck is going on? And the number next to them are the millions in debt they are. Man, and I'm like, how do I not become one of them? Yeah, good for you. Good for you. Well, you know what, Marshawn? First of all, you can't go to sleep in my meeting. You know, how do you look? Right. Quit bringing up, oh, shit. We talking about moving forward. Was there, what was early on one of the, if you did make like a just foolish, you know, purchase, do you remember like one of the dumbest things you've ever bought?

24:10You said one of the dumbest things I ever bought. Like when you first started out, you're like, oh, I got an extra, you know. Did you ever buy an animal that should probably be in a zoo? Yes, I have. But that didn't come, that wasn't early on. That was after everything was sitting. Oh, really? And what kind of animal was this? I brought a monkey. A monkey. You did really? I've always wanted a monkey. What kind of monkey? A red-hand tamarind. Is that true? Did you really buy one? Yeah, about as big as my hand. Lil Pimp was his name. Oh, my God. Lil Pimp. That's L-I-L apostrophe? Man. Nah, no apostrophes.

24:45Is this the kind that throws stuff at you? Nah, he don't throw no shit at you. Now, he will get to yelling at you, though. He'll yell. Really? Really? Yeah, man. Is he still with us? Hell yeah. No, no, no, no. See, they got a short lifespan. Yeah. I was always nervous. I wouldn't want to get, that like a monkey would come and like end up like ripping my arms and my balls off or something. Or my face, like eating my face. He was about as big as my hand. About as big as my hand. Yeah. And I mean, that little motherfucker was fascinating. Oh my God. He did some of the most crazy shit I've ever seen before.

25:21Do you have to get a trainer for that, or do you train him yourself? No, they, to be honest with you, he really, he really cool, though. Like, I mean, as far as. Oh, so they come trained. No, I won't say that. But as far as, like, I mean, he's so little. Like, if he take his shit somewhere, it's like. Like a squirrel. Like, damn, is that rat shit? Right. Oh, he's so tiny. So it ain't like there's no messy-ass shit like that. Never a diaper on Lil Pimp? Nah, man, we wasn't confining him, man. And Lil' Pimp was, he was, hey, man, he was a real true one. He was a true one. Lil' Pimp. R.I.P. Lil' Pimp.

25:57R.I.P. Lil' Pimp. But there was a few, I mean, there was a lot of guys that, you know what I mean, I started to see turn, you know, like used to watch O.J. in movies, Jim Brown in movies. And, I mean, you know, just to see them being able to do it, it gave me, like, oh, it's an opportunity there to do that. And then, I mean, you know, throughout the league, you know, you had players who, you know, get into investments and like, hey, man, you know, I'm working with this company, you know, blah, blah, blah. Like, you doing what? Oh, yeah. You know, I'm an outreach person. And I'm like, okay, outreach.

26:34Like, well, I mean, you know, I don't really like people like that. But for the simple fact that I'm seeing you being able to be on a level of professionalism even after you're done playing football, you know, I kind of got inspired by that. And I wanted to see what was actually out there. And a lot of this shit that I did learn or that I did get into, it basically all started off like a joke. Kind of like, you know, damn, well, see if they'll let me get ownership. Right. Okay. and then it's like, okay, yeah, you put a couple dollars up and they give you some ownership, like, all right. Yeah, you did that with the Seattle Kraken.