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Tuesday

Mike Utley Interview: "I Have No Regrets."


Mike Utley played guard for the Detroit Lions from 1989-91 before getting paralyzed on November 17, 1991 against the Los Angeles Rams. Since then, he has challenged the confines of his disability by taking part in physically challenging activities such as skydiving, skiing, kayaking, and scuba diving. He has started the Mike Utley foundation to help find a cure for spinal cord injuries. You can help by visiting the foundation’s site at http://mikeutley.org. Here, he recounts his career and his life in this interview.

Mitchell Blatt, Fantasy Alliance: “Do you still pay attention to the NFL?”
Mike Utley: “I still watch the games. Do I know the ins and outs of it? No, I don’t track the players as much; I just watch the game for the game now.”

MB: ”What about the Lions? Steve Mariuci was fired. Joey Harringtons looking pretty bad. Do you have any comments on what you think about the Lions?”
MU: “As a former Lion and a big, big fan, I just want them to do well. I thought it was going to be coach, and I thought it was going to be Harringon. As a football fan, I just want them to do well, however they seem to get the job done, I just want that to happen. When it comes to the administration, that’s way above my head, that’s way over me.”

MB: “Athletes say they don’t pay attention to the media. Is that true?”
MU: “Oh, you don’t want anything bad written about you for god sakes, but a lot of these punks that do write never really played the game. They’re always the armchair quarterbacks. You know, with hindsight and 20/20 vision”

MB: “What is a typical day like for you?”
MU: “I get up at 4 am between 4 and 4:15 every day. I get one meal with my creatine every single day at that hour. I feed my cats. Then, I get up and do some stretching. Then, I shower up, clean up, and get ready for my day. From that point, I have another small meal. On Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, by 7:45, I leave for the gym. I do my training, starting at about 8:15, 8:30. I work out for about two hours from there. Then, I do some errands in town. We live about 35, 40 minutes away from town. From there, we make some phone calls for the foundation and do foundation business. My wife gets on the computer, and I usually do the phone calls or those kind of things. Then, we start prepping for diner, and if there’s an evening event, we go do that. Also, I forgot, on Mondays and Wednesdays, there’s martial arts training at one o’clock that I do. And on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I get up at four. I do the food. I do my standing frame and the cardio here. If there’s business with the foundation or something personal for me, I get that done. Then at two, there’s martial arts training for another hour, hour and a half, sometimes up to two hours. We get back, and we do errands around town. We do some foundation work the eat dinner. I go to bed early: around nine. Then, that’s it, my days done with.”

MB: “What does the training consist of?”
MU: “Weight training starts out where I do chests, shoulders, and tris. Then, I do back and thighs. Then, I do everything from body weights to floor exercises. I go from a stable position in my wheel chair to an unstable position on a beach ball. I do a lot of high reps.
When it comes to martial arts training, everything from the Filipeno sticks to the wooden dummy and hand-to-hand combat. These are some of the things that I do. If you get a chance, check out the show Fearless on OLN.”

MB: “If you didn’t play football, what would you have done?”
MU: “I believe it would have been either some kind of construction outdoors or some other kind of outdoor job like logging or something. It most definitely would have been outdoors and physical. I enjoy being outside and getting work done.”

MB: “What was it like growing up in Seattle?”
MU: “I had two older brothers, a younger sister, and mom and dad. It was a great thing. Mom and dad both worked. Dad worked during the day for Boeing, and mom worked in the evening as a registered nurse. They gave us the opportunity where they both worked, and they allowed us to go to a private Catholic school. It gave us an opportunity to see what the word sacrifice means. My mom and dad giving to their kids.”

MB: “You got a scholarship to Washington State. What was it like to get that scholarship? What was your reaction?”
MU: “It was great! My reaction to the scholarship was excitement, and the reason why I was excited was I had an opportunity to play against the best of the Pac-10. And Washington State was a school that I enjoyed. It was a smaller school, but you had the opportunity to play against any Pac-10 school in that division. For me to be able to go against some of the guys I did and the lifelong friends that were made, it was a great choice.”

MB: “What were some other schools you were looking into?”
MU: “The other school that I really, truly, gave a regard to going to was the University of Oregon, and it came down to where I just decided to stay in state. It was a great choice. The University of Oregon is a good school, but I just decided to stay in state.”

MB: “You were the second player in Washington State history to be a two-time All-American. What is the significance of that?”
MU: “The biggest thing about being a consensus All-American is that being an All-American comes from your team. All I looked at was that my team gave me the best position to be there and give 100% of myself. That was the best part about it. Then, the awards started coming, but for an individual to come and say, this guy was a decorated All-American, and the best player to come out of Wash U. … I enjoyed the game. I loved the guys I played next to, and I sure enjoyed the coach [Jim Walden for the first three years, then Dennis Erickson for the next two] who coached me.”

MB: “In 1987, you played in Tokyo in the Coca-Cola Bowl. What was Japan like?”
MU: “There was a bunch of little people over there. It was an eye-opening experience to be able to travel overseas and go play American football in front of all the Japanese folks. It really was a great opportunity and basically a way to say, ‘Wow!’ Thank god I was born in America and live here. This is a great place to be. [In Japan,] it was too crowded. Stores weren’t wide enough. Hallways weren’t wide enough. I love being here in America.”

MB: “How long did you spend in Japan?”
MU: “Ten or eleven days.”

MB: “Do you think Pro Football and college should continue to play games overseas and try to develop a global interest?”
MU: “Yes, I do. I do if the countries want us there. If they don’t want us to, don’t give them the time of day. If the countries want us to come out there, and the exhibit sportsmanship, those kinds of things, I think it’s a great thing. I don’t want to associate us with some of those antics that the soccer countries do. I don’t think that’s first class, but if they can go out there and enjoy the game for the game, then I think it’s a great opportunity for America to bring football worldwide.”

MB: “At what point in your college career did you realize that playing in the NFL was going to become a reality?”
MU: “I think the moment it happened was when my senior year was complete and over with. I had given 100% of myself during that time, during the five years at Washington State. And I looked forward, by competing with some of the other stars, to continue on with my career. At that point, there was an opportunity to go to the combine where I knew that I could compete with those guys at the next level.”

MB: “What was the combine like?”
MU: “The combine was where you had the top 300 athletes go to Indianapolis. It was eye opening. It was an experience that I will never forget. They poke you, prod you, pull you, and everything else. Now, I understand the whole picture. They’re buying the team’s future. They had to know everything about you. And for me to sit there and let these doctors pull your arms, twist your arms, test you, photograph you, and all that kind of stuff, it was an eye opening experience, but it was one I’m glad I went through. It allowed me to be in the NFL. It was great.”

MB: “After the combine, did you have any idea what round you would be drafted in?”
MU: “I had no idea. No idea. I would hope that I was one of the top few, and I was. I became third round, third pick, [sixth guard taken]. It was great.”

MB: “Was there any specific team you were hoping to go to?”
MU: “Growing up as a kid, I wanted the Seahawks to pick me up, but they picked a buddy of mine up instead [Center Joe Tofflemire of Arizona in round 2], so they went off my favorites list real quick. But, the Lions picked me, and that was a great opportunity. Remember, I tell people, getting into the NFL is a pure sprint. But, once you get there, it is a marathon. How long can you last, and how long can you perform at the highest level?”

(Seattle also picked Andy Heck, a guard from Notre Dame, in round one, so they weren’t in need of a guard later in the draft.)
MB: “The Lions picked Barry Sanders in round one of that draft [third pick right behind the great Packers tackle Tony Mandarich]. Were you pretty happy to be picked by a team with such a good running back?”
MU: “Acctually, I didn’t know who Barry Sanders was until I got there. Then, the first time I watched him practice and watched him move and those kinds of things, I said, ‘Man, we are going to be good!’ You know what, we were good.”

MB: “Was it hard blocking for him, with him switching directions so much?”
MU: “Nope. The biggest thing, as an offensive linemen, that the other five guys will tell you is to stay out of his way. The best part about it was that Barry was an experienced runner. He knew how to set the guys up to allow you to perform your job at the highest level. That’s what he did, and it came down to it where you could sit there and make a block and have it executed perfectly because of what Barry has done in the backfield, which you don’t even know until you watch the film.” …

…MB: “What was it like to finally realize your dream of playing in the NFL?”
MU: “I think it all set in when I showed up to play the Seattle Seahawks my second year. I had my family, my friends, and there were signs all throughout the stadium. The place was packed. Like one third of my friends and family were coming to watch me in Seattle. That was fantastic. A dream come true as a little kid. It was phenomenal… …That was a memory that will last you a lifetime.”

MB: “That rookie year, at what point did you realize you were going to start as a rookie?”
MU: “That’s a great question. When I knew I was going to start was when the offensive line coach said, ‘Get ready, you’re going in.’ During training camp, they don’t give you any information. But, on every offensive play I practiced, I practiced right guard from the very beginning. You still don’t know if you’re going to make the team. They just want to work you out, which I though, but some of the vets said, ‘Gosh, man, you’re doing good. Keep it up.’ I kept after it and kept hammering it. Why? Because I wanted to be there. I wanted to be the best. When I knew for sure that I was going to start was when the offensive line coach told me. The deal was: I start at right tackle the first game of my NFL career, which I had never played before, but our starting right tackle was hurt.”

MB: “What’s the difference between guard and tackle?”
MU: “Generally, the guys on the inside [center and guards] go against the defensive linemen that are 300 pound plus, their a lot stronger, they’re quicker. The guys on the outside are typically lighter. The guys they go against are smaller and faster—not neccesarilly quicker, but faster. Generally as a tackle, your technique is more upright, where your guard and center are more crawling and dive blocking.”

MB: “What was the big difference between the college and pro game?”
MU: “The difference between high school and college is pure size. How big can you get between high school and college? The difference between college and the pros is pure speed, not only physically how fast things happen, but mentally how fast they happen. In the pros, they do not wait for you. They expect you to be ready and prepared. There is no hand holding in the pro level where there is in college. They help you along. They help develop you and so on. There is no time like that in the pros. You’re expected to perform at the pro level regardless of what your status is.”

MB: “What was hazing like your rookie season?”
MU: “It’s a good thing! It makes you a part of the team. There was no brutalizing, for Pete’s sakes, but there was the fire hose and fire extinguishers in your bedroom in training camp. There was the old singing at lunch and dinnertime. During the week of training camp or during the season, you had to bring your veterans two Egg-McMuffins, a Danish, two gallons of milk, and two gallons of orange juice every Thursday. Then, a few times a year, I had to buy 14 dozen donuts, two gallons of milk, and two gallons of orange juice for the team.”

MB: “What kind of experience gain do you get from year one to year two in the NFL?”
MU: “Basically, what is rookie does, is his feet will move ten times to do this one drill. A vet, for example, will do it in three moves. So, the excitement and the adrenaline a rookie has is out of control. The adrenaline a vet has at the same time, after being there for at least a year, is more efficient on what he does and how he moves. … As a rookie, you’re more of a shotgun and then as a vet, you become a target shooter.”

MB: “Did the fact that you only played five games in your rookie season impact your development and transition into year two?”
MU: “It did. Or course, it did. I only had five games of experience on me compared to the eighteen or the sixteen games we played, but me being around the vets, watching film, lifting weights, even though I couldn’t perform, I got better physically and metally. So I was a step behind the other guys. There weren’t any other rookies at my position from the previous year, but I did step up and start again my second year, until breaking my ribs.”

MB: “You got injured a lot before being paralyzed. Did the injuries ever get into your head and maybe make you play differently that you would have?”
MU: “Nope. I have never changed one iota from one injury to the next. What I did on the field was right. I don’t care what it was: both my legs, my ribs, separated my shoulder or my hip. It did not matter. I did what I did, because I thought it was right at that point in time. There was always a reason why I did things. I look back, and it was right at that time. Now, after you look back, you can go, ‘I could have done this better and this better and that better.’ I did what was right at the time, and I will never second-guess myself. As far as the injuries go, I just wish I had never gotten hurt, but there was nothing I could have done about it, except doing what I did, and that is working hard through my adversity.”

MB: “You are asked to hit people and do stuff that comes unnaturally to most people. How do you get prepared for that?”
MU: “Well, actually, it starts in pee-wee football. Once you step across that line, it’s a pure battle. The guy in front of you wants to beat the hell out of you, and your job is to turn it on and turn it off. That’s one thing I’ve always been able to do. When I walk onto that field, I become an animal, but off the field, you must be a gentleman… …It doesn’t matter who you are. As long as you put that jersey on, you were as important to me as anyone else on that team. I have always been one of those guys who will defend what I think is right, and I always defended those guys who had the same badge of honor on my team as I did.“

MB: “Looking at the 1991 season, you went 12-4 and had the first playoff win in franchise history since 1957. Could you sense that it was going to be a special season going in?”
MU: “Yes. When it started was in that 1990 offseason. The majority of us stayed in Detroit, and we trained vigorously. We attacked every single day like there was no tomorrow. Then, when training camp came up, everybody was in shape. Everybody was ready to go, and we knew that. What it came down to was when we executed things on the field, the coaches had a phenomenal gameplan. And, we had played together for three years now. It worked out. The ball players had gotten the system down, and we just executed. It really turned out well, for 1991. Not what we wanted, but we came pretty dang close.”
(They lost to the Washington Redskins 41-10 in the NFC championship.)

MB: “What kind of a coach was Wayne Fontes?”
MU: “He was considered a player’s coach. He took the media on by himself. He defended us through thick and thin, right and wrong. He came in and made sure that if we all made mistakes or if you made a mistake as an individual on the field or off the field, he made sure that it won’t happen again. He was a coach that would get in your coach and lay the law down. I think that’s pretty cool! I have always liked coaches like that. I have always respected coaches like that, and that’s the way I think it should be. They will defend you, but behind closed doors, they will make sure that you know that they know that they are the chief… …I think that’s the only way to coach.”

MB: “Up to week six, you were 5-1, but coming off the bye week, you started struggling [1-3 in next four games]. What happened to affect you after the bye?”
MU: “I don’t know. I look back, and it’s been a while. I don’t know if we came out, and we worked too hard during that time or what happened. I really don’t know. That’s a good question. All I know is that during that time, we went at it. We knew we were good, and we wanted to make sure that we were going to step up to the plate. I wonder if we went too hard.”

MB: “After your injury [in week 12] against the [Los Angeles] Rams, the team kind of banded together, right?” (They ended up winning the final six including the win over the Rams.)
MU: “You know, people ask that. Was that the rallying cry? Mike Utley getting hurt cause the guys to say, ‘My god, we are a good team. Mike has put blood sweat and tears into this game. He believes in us, and we’ve got to start believing in ourselves.’ That might have happened, but all I know is we trained to dang hard in the offseason to allow us to do anything else but win.”

MB: “How did the injury to [starting QB] Rodney Pette [in week eight] affect the team?”
MU: “[Offseason free agent acquisition,] Erik Kramer stepped up and did a good job.”
(Neither quarterback was noticeably better as their QB ratings both bordered around 70, but with Barry Sanders, they ran the ball 456 times and threw it 459, which is an extremely high run-to-pass ration. Sanders gained 1548 yards.)

MB: “What was your first thought when you were down on the ground against Los Angeles on the play that you go paralyzed?”
MU: “I think the biggest thing when I first got injured was, ‘God dangit! I broke something else that didn’t let me walk off the field. My first year when I broke my leg, I told myself I would never be carried off the field. I was carried off in one of those rickshaw things. I really though I wouldn’t be carried off again. Then God dangit! I was. It really took me back. I became angry, and when the cheers of the crowd came up and I gave them the thumbs up to let them know I would be back, it smoothed it over for a time. But, when they got me down to the Henry Ford hospital, I realized I was hurt pretty bad.”

MB: “Knowing the consequences, would you go back again and play football?”
MU: “There is no other way to answer but yes. If I had the God-willing chance to go back and be 315 pounds and 26 years again, I’d do it in a heartbeat. There is no question I’d do it again. To compete against the best of the best in the world is an opportunity that people cannot allow to slide by.”

MB: “Is there anything the NFL can do to help prevent injuries like yours?”
MU: “There are two things that as a business owner—it can be profesional football, college, high school—is to motivate people to have a knowledge so they can have a second career. The other thing is when it come to play a sport or anything you can do out there is to make sure everybody learns to take responsibility for their actions. People always want to point fingers for this and that. God dangit! Quit pointing fingers, and start looking at yourself and saying what can I do to better myself. If you do that every single day, you are going to be better at whatever you chose to do…”

MB: “How much money did you have saved up from your career?”
MU: “I basically saved all my money. The two big things I bought from my career were a Ford Bronco, the first thing and most expensive thing I’ve ever bought, and the second thing was a custom stereo system that really rocks. I put the rest [of my money] in Merrill Lynch.”

MB: “Too many players spend too much now…”
MU: “Yeah, they work for the now instead of waiting for then. My parents had to be frugle, because they both worked hard to give us a chance, and I wanted to make sure that my kids would have a chance when I started a family...”

MB: “What was your involvement with the team after the injury?”
MU: “The number one Detroit Lions fan. That’s what my involvement was. People need to realize that when you play sports, if you are not contributing, you have no place on the team. That’s how the guys get together. You bind together on the field by performing together. And when you aren’t there performing, it’s hard to be a part of it with the players.”

MB: “After the injury, were you ever thinking about getting back onto the field?”
MU: “When I got hurt, I was laying on the field, Ken Fontes, the head trainer for the Lions, comes up, and I said, ‘Sir, take me mouthpiece out.’ For a ballplayer to give up his helmet or his mouthpiece, he’s done. I knew I was in serious trouble. I didn’t know what level of an injury I had, but I knew I needed help. When I’ve played ball, I have lost feeling in both arms before. I have lost feeling in both hambstrings, but I have never ever lost strength. This time, I lost strength, and I knew I needed the doctors. When I came to from the surgery, I knew my career was over right then and there.”

MB: “It must have been pretty frusterating…”
MU: “It was devastating, because something was taken away from me that I did since I was seven years old. This injury took the game that I loved to do more than anything else away from me.”

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Donyell Marshall Interview: "I Can't Even Remember Golden State."


September, 2006



His Thoughts on Sprewell's Choking of Coach PJ in Golden State?


Why Was He Traded 40 Games Into His Rookie Season After Being the #4 Overall Pick?


Complete Transcript

On Scoring 28 Points in Game Six Victory Over Wizards in ’06 Playoffs:
“Scoring 28 points in game six, that was the game we clinched to go to round two, and it was very good to be a big part of winning the series. I had a great game one [19 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists]. After that, they really played me defensively. To come back in game six, and find a way to come at them offensively was very special.”

On Center Zydrunas Ilgauskas’ Role in the Playoffs:
“He struggled a little in the playoffs, but he still helped us a lot. [Z’s playoff totals of 45% shooting and 10.4 points per game were both significantly lower than his season stats.] In the first round of the playoffs, Washington played small ball, so they matched him up on offense, so we didn’t get it to him as much as we did in the regular season. Washington didn’t always go with a center or a power forward. Sometimes, they went with Jared Jeffries, who was naturally a small forward, playing center. They went with Antoine Jamison, who was naturally a small forward, at power forward. They were a lot faster than Z, and Z couldn’t necessarily keep up with them. I think it affected him a lot, and in the second round, I think the first round affected him a lot. In the second round, he just didn’t play well, but I think he was still a big part of us advancing. He played good defense. He distributed the ball. Even though he wasn’t scoring a lot, he was still a big part of our offense.”

On His Comment After Game 1 vs. Det. That “Their knowledge is going to overtake our youth”:
“After the first playoff game [113-86 loss], a lot of people thought we were going to get swept. At that point in time, I though we had a young team, and it was taking a toll. The comment I made was probably ill advised. I always felt that we could win. It was an ill-advised comment. I shouldn’t have made it, but it was also a little bit true. I didn’t say anything bad. I didn’t say anything negative. If a reporter would have wrote it, it would have been fine, but because it was a player saying it, it was supposedly a bad comment.”

On the Biggest Challenge the Cavs Faced Against Detroit:
“The biggest challenge was coming back from the 0-and-2 deficit after the first two games. I think part of it was when we won game six [over Washington], we won it on a Friday night. We got back to Cleveland at like 2 o’clock Saturday morning. We had to wake up, pack, go in to practice, then fly to Detroit, for a 1 pm game on Sunday. We were a little tired. People didn’t understand that. I think the biggest problem was the deficit we had to come back from. We won three straight, but when you’re playing against a team that went to the championship the year before and won the conference title, it’s going to catch up to you.”

On Rasheed Wallace’s Guaranteed Victory:
“We all know Rasheed. We just pretty much laughed. Rasheed has done that before, and when you’re trying to get your team fired up, you’re going to say things. They weren’t necessarily playing well. We came back and beat them twice. It was unexpected. The way they blew us out [in the first two games], they didn’t think it was going to happen. We came back and we pushed them, and we probably helped Miami beat them [in the conference semifinals].”

On Missed Rebound That Lost Game 6 and the Series:
“We just didn’t box out. [Detroit missed a shot late, but Cavs missed the rebound.] We played well the whole game, and unfortunately, one play hurt us. That’s the way it is in basketball.”

On the Effect of Playoff Experience:
“Up until that point [vs. Detroit] the only people who had been to a game seven were Eric Snow, Damon Jones, and Allan Henderson. Some of the other players had been to the playoffs, but never experienced a game seven. A lot of people questioned LeBron’s playoff experience, but he played well in the playoffs. Now, he has experienced almost every part of the playoffs: being down 0-and-2, playing a good team, going to game seven. It really helps a lot, because next year going in, we can just say, ‘Okay, we’ve been here before.’”

On Cav’s '05-'06 Mid-Season Drop-off in Performance:
“Part of it had to do with injuries. Also, we might have taken some things for granted. We were 10-4 in the first month of the season, and we might have started to sleepwalk through games. We were still learning to play with each other. There were a lot of new faces [including Marshall, Damon Jones, and Larry Hughes]. You’re not going to learn to play with each other in the first month or even the first two months. We came together at the end, but I think it had to do with injuries and playing new players hurt us. We had to work Andy [Varejao] back in. We lost Larry [Hughes who was injured.] We had to work Flip [Murray who was acquired in a trade] in.”

On The Eastern Conference Landscape Going into This Season:
“Chicago made a big improvement [signing center Ben Wallace]. Milwaukee made a big improvement adding Reuben Paterson and Charlie Villanueva. Miami won the championship last year. Looking at our division, every team made the playoffs last year, and I think that can very well happen again. I think a lot of people look at our team and say, ‘They didn’t make any moves,’ but I think if you’re one game away from the Eastern Conference championship, you don’t really need to.”

On Being Picked 4th Overall in the 1994 Draft by the Timberwolves:
“It felt great. I remember in the days leading up, I was cool. Just an hour before the draft, I started getting a little nervous. There was a childhood memory of mine about to come true. I was nervous, because there are always people that are supposed to be drafted in the top five or top ten slipping down to fifteen or twenty, and I was hoping I wasn’t going to be one of them. I had my family and friends there and the whole city back home watching the draft.”

On Being Traded 40 Games into His Rookie Season:
“I still don’t know the reason. I learned some things from it. It was an adversity I had to face early in my career. One thing is I appreciate the playing time. I appreciate the game. Nothing was handed to me. I was the number four pick, but I didn’t start. I didn’t get much playing time for the first three years of my career. I played a lot as a rookie, but in my second and third years, I barely played at all. There were some games when I didn’t even leave the bench. That helped me become a professional and understand the business of the game.”

On Not Playing for a Winning Team Until 2000:
[He spent ’94-00 with the Golden State Warriors.] “Believe me, it was hard. It was something that I never thought would end. Right now, the Warriors still haven’t made the playoffs, so I guess I was right thinking that it would never end. Luckily, I got traded. I was so happy, especially because I was going to Utah. I almost cried. Sometimes when you get traded, you think, ‘Oh no, I don’t like this situation,’ but as soon as I got traded, I was happy, because I knew that I was going to a situation where I was going to the playoffs for sure. I was going to play in a great system with Karl Malone and John Stockton and [Coach] Jerry Sloan. The things that those guys taught me about staying in shape, eating right, and just approaching the game helped me stay in basketball for this long.”

On His Relationship With Malone in Utah After a Foul by Malone Injured Him in 1998:
“When I first got there, that was the first thing we talked about. The funny thing was I was not a big Utah fan growing up. I don’t know what it was, but I just did not like them. We talked about that right away. We laughed and joked, and he asked me why I even tried doing it knowing that he sticks he knee out. We joked about it. There was something funny about the way that I fell.”

On Controversy Surrounding 2004-05 Toronto Raptors:
“It was frustrating for me because I had started the year before, and they drafted a center [Rafael Araujo]. I felt that what I did before playing out of position, I could still get better numbers than what he got. It became even more frustrating when a lot of the teams that were going to the playoffs and making a championship push were trying to trade for me. It was frustrating when it didn’t happen, but when I was in Utah, they taught me how to stay professional, and it worked out for me, because I got a good deal and came here to Cleveland.”

On Tying Kobe Bryant’s Record With 12 3-Pointers in a Game in That Season:
“Twelve three-pointers in a game was very special. It’s something that only myself and Kobe have done, and it was on my wife’s birthday.”

On His Signing With Cleveland Following the ’04-05 Season:
“The final two teams were Washington and Cleveland. A lot of my decision was based on where Larry Hughes was going. If he had resigned with Washington, I probably would have gone there. Since he signed with Cleveland, I came here, because I knew that he was going to make his team that much better. We signed on the same day, but he agreed a few days before me.”

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Big D and the Kids Table: Singer Dave McWane




August 2, 2007


Dave McWane with his usual stage presence.










Argument About Selling Out




Entire Interview (20 min.)

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Desmond Clark Interview: "I Can Catch 80 Passes."

June, 2006



"I should be up there with the best... catch 80 passes."



"Did Ricky Williams Show Any Signs of Drug Addiction in Miami?"




Complete Transcript
Mitchell Blatt: "Last season, you were invited to the Pro Bowl, then two days later, you learned that there had been a mistake. How did that feel?"
Desmond Clark: "It wasn't as big of a deal as people may have thought it had been, because it was nice to be invited, but when I had been invited, it was like I almost didn't earn it. When they called back and said that I wasn't invited, I already had plans anyway for a vacation with my family, so I had to switch my plans back to vacation, which wasn't a big deal. I was looking forward to going on a vacation with my family, but going to the Pro Bowl would have been nice also. I want to get it where I receive the votes from the fans and my peers and also the coaches and I would want to get there that way and not get in through the backdoor." (Clark was mistakenly told that he had been added as a "need player" and not voted in, which is why he mentions that he doesn't want to "get in through the backdoor.")

MB: "One of the few things your defense had trouble with was Steve Smith. He had 218 yards [and 2 touchdowns] in the playoff game and 159 yards the first time he played you. He just had it with your defense. What was going on there?"
DC: "I don't play defense. I can't really answer that. He just had a wonderful game. I'm not sure what the problem was. I know we had a couple of defensive breakdowns. In the first game, he had 14 catches, but he didn't have any long catches. He didn't have any touchdowns, so I believe we may have had some breakdowns, but I can't really talk on that. I don't know the defensive concepts and what they're looking for out there."

MB: "That playoff game was such a back-and-forth game, basically decided by one possession. What was it like playing that game?" (Carolina won 29-21.)
DC: "That was my second time being in the playoffs. It was another chance for me, and I never played as a division champion. It was a great experience, and we were playing at home, so it was my first time playing a playoff game at home. It was exciting. We got down early [Carolina scored the first 13 points and lead 16-7 at halftime.], but we came back, and we kept fighting. In the end, we had a chance to tie the game and ultimately win it, but it just didn't work out." (Rex Grossman threw an interception on their final drive down the field to end any comeback chances.)

MB: "If you did win that game, do you think you could have beaten Seattle?"
DC: "I think at any given time, we could have beat any team in the league. Definitely, if we would have gotten past Carolina, we would have given Seattle all they wanted and more, but we didn't get past Carolina, so it's neither here nor there whether we could have beaten Seattle, but we had the players and the personnel to get all the way to the Super Bowl."

MB: "How did it feel to catch the touchdown pass in the game?"
DC: "That was my first touchdown catch in the postseason and it came at a big moment, which was the biggest thing, because we were trying to find our way back into the game. [Clark scored with 11:21 left in the third to cut Carolina's lead to 16-14.] Whenever you can catch a big pass like that in a crucial situation, you can't help to be excited, because it gets your team back in the game."

MB: "After signing with Chicago in 2003, you predicted 80 catches but ended up with 44. Could you describe the reason for the discrepancy?"
DC: "Well, I don't think I predicted 80 catches. I said if the top tight end was catching 80 passes, that's where I felt I should be at. I don't feel any different today. I feel like wherever the top tight end is at, I should be able to put up those type of numbers. The offensive scheme that we were playing in wasn't for the tight end to catch 80 passes, but catching 44 passes that year is nothing to be ashamed of. And, hey, if I'm thrown the ball that many times and that's the scheme that the offensive coordinator wants to run, I could catch 80 passes. I'm not saying that that's what I predict, but I have the talent to do that, but I got to do what the team wants me to do. It's not up to me how many times I get the ball thrown to me."

MB: "Well, do you think you should get the ball thrown to you more?"
DC: "Well, anytime somebody looks at the offensive side of the ball and asks if I'm a playmaker, I'm going to say yes. I would like the ball to come to me more, but I'm not a selfish player. I'm going to do whatever the coaches ask me to do. If I'm not getting the ball, that doesn't mean I'm not going to block, because I know that offensive scheme, and that offensive scheme is not for the tight end to get the ball six or seven times a game. So, when the ball does come, I'm going to make the plays that I need to make."

MB: "When your contract expires in 2008, will you maybe be looking to sign with a team that passes to the tight end more?"
DC: "At that point, I'll be 32, so I don't know. I haven't thought that far down the road. I'm just trying to play this contract out and see what happens. I haven't even thought about what happens after I finish my six years here in Chicago. I'm just thinking about this year. I'm trying to get into great shape for this year, and if I do make it that long, and that time comes, I'll think about it then."

MB: "Before the NFL Draft, almost everyone was predicting the Bears to draft a tight end, and even you said you thought they would draft a tight end, but they didn't draft one. Any thoughts on why not?"
DC: "Because they were comfortable with what I was doing. Most of that stuff was media-related. None of that stuff came from the Chicago Bears organization. Every bit of that was media driven about how Chicago needed a tight end, blah, blah, blah. Not once did Coach say that or the general manager come out and say, 'We need a different tight end.' Now, they did come out and say that we're going to try to upgrade at every position, which they do that with every position. And, it's no secret that they were trying to upgrade, and they do want a tight end, because they're trying to upgrade and look to the future."

MB: "But, was that in your mind before the draft? Did you believe the rumors?"
DC: "No. They weren't coming from the coaches and the front office. Like I said, I wouldn't be surprised if they did draft a tight end. You know, you've got so many draft picks, why not draft a tight end if you've got somebody that you like? That's at any position. So if they would have drafted a tight end, so be it. How many teams drafted a tight end this year that didn't need a tight end; they just drafted a tight end because he was the best available athlete at the time. So, I wasn't really worried about if they drafted a tight end or not."

MB: "Looking around the NFC North, in Detroit, they've got a new coach, two new quarterbacks and a rebuilding process underway. Do you think they're a team to watch out for in the future?"
DC: "I don't know, man. I haven't been keeping up with what they've been doing over there. Really, I don't even look at football outside of my team when it's not during the season unless it's something big, so I don't know what they got going on in Detroit. Hopefully, we're the team to look out for in the future, because we've got a young team, but as far as Detroit is, I don't know."

MB: "Do you seriously not keep up with the league that much? I'm just wondering."
DC: "Seriously, I don't. I'm a family guy. In the offseason, I'm not thinking about the NFL and things like that. Like right, now, because I'm up here [in Chicago] working out, the only thing I worry about is what's going on with the Chicago Bears. I don't come home and watch TV and keep up with what's going on. I'm going home, and I'm with my family, and I'm reading or trying to get things accomplished. Really, I don't pay attention to what's going on around the league unless it's some kind of big story that you can't ignore, for instance, T.O. going down to Dallas. Nobody could ignore that. "

MB: "What about the Ricky Williams suspension? Did you know about that?"
DC: "Yeah, see, those kind of things, you have to know about."

MB: "Now, you played with Ricky in Miami. Could you tell at that time that he might have any kind of tendencies that would suggest that something like this might happen?"
DC: "Are you serious, man? Are you serious? You can't be serious to ask that type of question. I don't know what that guy does in is own time. It's not like I hung out with him. Like I said, I'm a family guy. Practice ends at 1:30, and I'm home by 2 o'clock."

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