Top 10 Fish Tank Moments of 2023

00:00:00 Speaker 1: You're now diving into the ima. Been that Pi Tank who sitting down with Seth living Ojay Juice, And this is strictly for I'm a true fans Number one. Of course, y'all just ain't the other nevers bus talk now might have been that pitch tank. Welcome back to the Fish Tank, presented by iHeartRadio right here on the Miami Dolphins podcast Network, Seth Levitt and the only podcaster on the planet to catch the four hundred touchdown from an NFL quarterback and interview that same quarterback in twenty twenty three. O J. McDuffie Juice first and foremost, Happy New Year, my man, man, Happy New Year, big Seth Man. That's a man I got. I keep coming up to you, you you keep coming up with these great stats of mine, bro. Yeah, I researched that one. You know, sometimes I do the whole it's right until someone proves it wrong. They can't prove it wrong. I researched it off the sudden. The list. There's only a select few quarterbacks who even have even thrown four hundred touchdown passes, right, and every one of those dudes, some of them who are still playing ball. I couldn't find any of them that even has a podcast, let alone got their quarterback as a guest like we did with Dan Marino, So no doubt about it, no doubt. Man, Happy New Year to you, man. I had a nice, so quiet new year. Man. I'm getting too old for the regular traditional new year, So yeah, man, happy new year, brother. I appreciate that, and a traditional year. New Year for oj McDuffie was quite a party. But I'm glad that, you know, we've calmed things down because we've got, like, you know, a show to produce here. That's right, that's right. And as we say goodbye to twenty twenty three, it only makes sense that we take some time to reflect upon what an incredible year it was here in the fish Tank. And what better way to do that, juice, than to recognize our top ten most memorable moments of twenty twenty three. So I'll kick things off right now with our number ten moment of this past year. And that took place back in June when the X man Xavien Howard joined us X. He entered this season as the most tenured Miami dolphin on the roster, and he spoke with US about his approach to leadership in the locker room, where he's now looked at as the old head. So speaking of Javan and speaking of the twenty sixteen season, I think it was two Pro Bowls ago. He went right after his rookie year and kind of followed you around and did an interview with you for the Dolphins with the Dolphins content team. It was a great interview, and what jumped out to me I absolutely loved it is you told a story of your rookie year and you said, Cam Wake, Yeah, Cam Wait. He did not speak to you. No, he did. Penn steak guys man, maybe that's what it was. So, you know, first of all, he said he didn't say a word to you till you made a playout on the field. He ain't say nothing. I respect him A lift from that man. And it's like, you know, I got drafted thirty eight dollar roll. You got some guys that get drafted and feel like they made it, you know, feel like they ain't got to do nothing. Yeah, first round pick, first round pick. Yeah, time a shot now. But yeah, and Cam, I've seen who he was, you know, I've seen his work there and stuff like that. And so when I made the play. He ended up saying something to me and I was like, man, this dude say nothing to me. Do you remember what the play was that you made? And what did he say? It was a interception on kenn still, but he just came to me ship my hand like good stuff. Okay. Cam an't really talk as much right with Cam on the field, he means business. Yeah, but so that for him was like a big that's that's a big, outgoing movement. Yeah. Yeah, I love that. Did that experience shape the way that you work with younger guys because I mean I think about this past season. You want to talk about you as a mentor the DV room that started versus the DV room that you ended up playing with. You had a lot of young cats, and they, I mean they stepped up. You think about the cater Coohu's Noah stepped up. I mean even javon side for the players he is, he's still a young guy. So you were in this mentorship role. Did that Cameron Wake experience have any impact on the way that you work with a mentor? Young players have to do it different, man, you know, going into my seven years, so you know it's these guys different. You know, yeah, I feel like you can't have that same approach. Cam. Did you know. I had to get get in early and talk to him and let him know about how this lead work and what we got to do on the back end and everything. It was a cool experience. Like you said, cater Nor, a lot of guys had stepped up, and like we're looking forward to them guys doing even bigger and better things, bigger things this year. I'm going to touch on that what you just said, because you know, coming in twenty sixteen, you were playing with some old school cats. Now you're playing with some new school dude. It's like you transition from dealing with you know, they can't wait to the way these new new school kids they call me. Oh, I'm like, man, I gotta I gotta show these guys I still can run. You have to, like, yeah, like doing the off season, like competing running and stuff like that. They called me old head. I remember back in the day, I used to call Rashawa Jones, And now I'm like, man, look at it backfar on Man, such good stuff from X right there, man, And you could see a big seth Man, There's no doubt that the guys like Cater Kohu and Nick need him and Javon Holland. I mean, they've all looked up to him and learned a lot from him. I mean, I'm just glad for their sake that X didn't take that same approach that you know, my fellow Nitny Lyon cam Wake did because he was he was a little tough on him, a little bit right. He was man. He said he was all business. Though he was all business. Okay. Next up is moment number nine on our list with a guy I saw in a lot of huddles late in my career, Big Seth and as we all know, that's Big Kevin Donnelly, my man doing doing well. Kevin talked about how he had, you know, spent his first few years in Houston protecting Warre Moon, but then he got to Miami and stepped on the field with Dan Marino. I mean, he was a witness of something he simply wasn't prepared for. Though, you know, when he had him back there, you always knew you had a shot. You know, if there's you know, one of the greatest of all time and eight in the fourth quarter and game winning drive. So that gives you a lot of confidence as an offensive line, and you know, you put a game plan in everything's working well, you expect to stick with that game plan and what's been successful for you. But you know, Seth and I discussed this before we got on this podcast. It was it was one of those moments I'd never been around in my entire career where he had so much weight and authority and no one would question him. And we're fourth and ten. I don't know where we are on the field, but we're trying to get down there. If we don't get it, we're done. We lose. And it's fourth and ten and the play comes in from the coordinator, Kipie Brown, and the first thing I hear is Dan, It's like, if this, if you know we're not running this, this is what we're doing. I don't know if OJ remembers it, but like that's all I heard. And the next thing, I'm thinking, Okay, if that's not the play, you know, okay, what are we going to do? Blocking wise? And he takes the time that we have to really work out what he's going to do with the receivers, and he's communicated with og Aronde Gadson and said, you know, do this or this different, and you know, he wasn't the fact that this guy, so we kind of did a little trick him on him, a little slant and go instead of the traditional slant that usually it was just bread and butter. Right, oh, Jay, I mean that he wasn't going deep. He wasn't going deep. No, man, it was a great play and he still could not run. Anybody got caught before he got to the end zone. But the funniest thing about it, the reason I paid attention to it so much, and it's been such a fond memory of mine, was when, you know, when he said that to the play and just go ahead and change it right there in the spot. We got a few seconds to get this snap off and we're going to the line of scrimmage. I'm like, dang, damn, what's the protection? What do you want? What do you want? And basically he's like, Y'll do whatever the helly y'all need to do. All I need is a couple of speed bumps up there. I'm gon get rid of the ball. You know. I felt like, okay, cool, well take ownership for this. But at the same time, like we got no control. Right now, we'll call something, hope it works. But the backhanded, you know kind of part of that was like we weren't really that needed on that play. The five lineman could have just goes to the ground and curled up like a ball. He just needed wanted to just slow him down for just a half step, and he was getting the ball off and he did. It worked out great. The protection was fine, but I just you know, I'm a guy that worked. I watched film. I want to know everything ahead of time because I wasn't the most gifted offensive lineman. Like to work and scratch and fight for everything I got. And suddenly you're telling me just go ball, Hey, just put the ball, just get it done, just get it done. I'm like, I don't work that way, man, Like I need to know, I need a plan. What is the play? But we got it done. We won the game. I mean, so it was all fun in the locker room afterwards, but it was that was one of those moments I'm like, man, I've seen it all now. Man, I just saw him override everything. He just cashed into that like sixteen years of experience and said, no, I know better. This is my show. Right now, we're gonna go win this two's. I love that story so much, and it seems like anyone who has ever played with Dan had a similar experience. And how great of a storyteller was Kevin. Yeah, yeah, Like that was an underrated interview for sure, So I'm glad it made the list. But we're gonna up the field now from what you like to say is the best side of the ball. We're gonna get a little defensive. So we're going all the way back to March of this past year, where we were honored to host Rashad Jones for his first ever podcast interview. Heck, I'm not even sure that Rashad has done one since then. This might be the only podcast interview he's ever done. And he brought us our eighth most memorable moment of twenty twenty three when he shared a serious wake up call he received from the late Tony Sperano. May coach, Sperano rest in peace. Well, there was another guy in the building that was making decisions at that point in time. And so your first coach as an NFL player was Tony Sperano. Yep, and actually had for two years. Right, he was here for your first two years and he was known as a tough guy coach. You're known as a tough, physical player. Was that like a matchmate in heaven? Or did his personality help you evolve into the player you be. Give you a funny story about coach Sperano. Rest in peace of Tony Sperando. Man, great dude. So when I came here, when I got drafted here, it was yeah, my Bell, Tyrone Cover, Chris Clemens. We brought in John Emya and myself. We were the two guys that came in. Thomas Sperano. The last preseason game I had, I had a heel contusion. My heel was like sore, a real so I couldn't play. Thomas Sprano brought me upstairs. He said, you know when you when you when you got to go upstairs to see the head coach. That's not a good thing. That's not a good thing. You get what I'm saying. So I'm I'm a young player coming there. I'm like, man, what the head coach want me for? You know what I'm saying. So I goes upstairs, you know, sit face to face with Tomas Sperano. He said, hey, with shut listen right, now you're the weakest link. I was like what, I'm looking at him out of the eye. He's like, you're the weakest link. I'm like, what you mean? He said, we got five safeties, only four. We're gonna make this team. And right now Jonnamya is playing a hardm special teams. He's going crazy. Uh yeah, my Bells is a veteran guy. He's gonna be here. He ran down the list. I'm like, damn, you know, we got the same age. And I called Joe Sieger like, hey, bro, they're about to cut me. He said, I don't think so, Mauch. Yeah they are. You know what I'm saying. He bought me upstairs and let me know what it was. But what Tonas Sperano was doing was he seemed more in me. Like Joe said, he didn't he didn't want to cut me. He seemed more in me. He wanted me to give a little bit more, you know, special team wise. You know, coming in from University of Georgia, I never really I came in to play safety. I didn't know the importance of playing special teams. So if it's young guys out there, listen, hey, man, get next to those special team coaches, sir, and you can get a job in this NFL. You can get to make it. You can make a living in this league playing special team, you know. And I didn't know how special that was, you know, by playing special team. I thought, you have to make the team by being a starter or a backup, you know what I'm saying. And he put the mortal on my back to you know, continue to push harder and be the starter and be the player I was. I got to give a lot of credit to Tona Sperano. That's a great story. I also, you know, we had I think it was Kendall Langford was on and he said he got called in. Somebody told us he always had the lights down because he had the thing with you know, remember you wards right. But people that if you didn't know there was a condition, they just thought it was like they were being brought into the back room. I see, you know, I can imagine you as a young guy, and you are a young guy because you know you came out as a junior. Yeah, I was twenty two years old, you know what I mean. I didn't know nothing about the logistics of being in the NFL and how to cut in and making the team work. You know, I'm just here putting in work, running as much as I can, and you know, trying to make it happen. You know, And by me being a fifth round draft pick, I knew nothing was promised. You know what I'm saying like this, And you look in the locker room at that time, there was guys left and right. You know, you come in your locker room one day. Next day, somebody gone, you know what I'm saying. You see what I'm saying this shiit serious? Yes it is. So you know Sperano did put the motor in my on my back man to kind of pushing it and make it happen. Man, that was such a cool story, Big Seth. I mean, Withshad told us how you played with a chip on his shoulders entire career in that moment right there with coach Sperano allenge to him because he knew what Shad, you know, has so much more to offer. I mean, it really set the tone for Shad to play at a high level for probably the next decade. I always tell you, you know how defensive guys are. They're wide a little differently, Big said, they really are, man, even though I consider myself an offensive player that could probably hang with the defensive guys. I mean they were just different. And boy, oh boy, did that come to surface with my man, Dario Romero. Man, Dario, Man, what a tough nos dude. I mean, who had to literally fight for everything he ever got on the football field. But in our seventh most memorable moment of twenty twenty three, Dario shared with us that he was ready to fight anyone for anything, anywhere, even if it was outside of the children's hospital on Christmas. Nasty. I think we've got a theme here, man, We've got a theme here. You know, when it comes to you and fighting, man, I mean the crazy part is I mean, you think about it. It wasn't limited to just the field. It wasn't limited to you know, the the other side of football. Please tell us what happened with you and at the wall and Guglie outside of a children's hospital. Oh man, that was actually, that was a great day. We had a great time in the hospital. It was during the Christmas time, so we had our jerseys on, Santa hats on and oh wow, it's not like bass. Oh it's not like some bad Santa. It could have been. It could have been, it could have got it, could have got back. But anyway, after we're done, we're coming down and uh, Larry Chester, Big Larry Chester drove. So we're on the way and I called, I called a window seat. Somebody called shotguns, So I I called a window seat. You're right, you're right. There's rules, there's rules. There's rules. Yeah, there's rules. The defensive line. How many people are in this car? Bro we we had I think it held nine. I think we had seven or eight, and I'm trying to get a window, right and so so I called window and nobody you know, denied it at the time. So we get in there and I opened the door for Walle so he can head to the back. And while they just wanted to camp out in the seat that I called, and I was like, come on, man, I called it. He's like he just kind of looked at me, like I'm staying here. So the shorts ever done. The half man all of a sudden I snatched him out of the car. We were squared up. I was so I remember this clearly because I must have said, man, I'm gonna kill you or something, and he's looking around that teammates. He's trying to he said he's gonna kill me. So that hot Tim up, and uh, we kind of went around around the car. No, no punches were ever thrown. You're chasing each other around the car, dancing this dancing, yeah, and you got you got like tim bow there. Jermaine trying to keep everything cool, keep us separated. So they threw they threw the prince in the front seat and I ended up in the prince. Who's the prince? I know? Man, So so while they got ended up getting shot gun and they throw me in the way back because I'm still fired up, and they wanted to keep us separating. And it was quiet once we got in the car. Nobody kept it going, Yeah, I'm in the back. So wal throws his hand back and uh just fist bumped him and it was over at that point, you know. And after that, Jermaine Haley had to talk to me about like, hey, He's like, we can't can't be doing this, man, it looks bad. You're a new guy, Like, we can't be having this stuff out here. And I knew that and that I didn't have any hard feelings toward Walle. I just wanted my dang seat. You know what, man, at that point, you got to get your respect. Man. You know what I mean, it ain't about you know what I mean, It's about respect. But a man, I know, man, But it was on the way out. The kids were already back and took the way the kids have took away. They was on the way out. Man. It was good to go. Man, they're right, the children. Yeah, we were good to go. You're a bunch of grown and you're you're you're Dolphin superstars. You're there to brighten Christmas in the holiday season for these kids that are suffering, and you guys are fighting over a damn window seat. Yeah. Like you said, man, it is about respecting that locker room. And you get tested, you get tried, and you know it's it's a mind game. They want to see what you got and uh man, that's just me. Man. I got I got warrior mentality and I'm gonna I'm gonna get the respect that I feel I deserve and I believe I earned it because me and we were a boy at that time, you know we I think we were both undrafted and we would talk all the time about you know, how did you just do whatever it takes to stay on the field and earn a spot on the team. So there was no beef after that whatsoever. It was just like ju said, Man, it was an opportunity to uh just stick up for myself in their respect. Oh man, there's just too much juice. I can't help but laugh every time I hear that one. I like to have this picture of my mind of Dario and Wilele in Santa hats and they're chasing each other around Larry Chester's truck. It's absolutely priceless. If the catalog wasn't so damn strong, I might argue that this needs to be higher on the list. It was a crazy story, but the interviews weren't indeed strong throughout the entire year, and they weren't always filled with laughter. For a number six moment, we turned to our guy, Israel Gutiras of ESPN, who was so open and so vulnerable and sharing his story of coming out publicly after building a successful media career, and then the concerns that is he had about how those who knew him best would respond. And you showed up and there's six. You know, you talk about being uncomfortable in the NFL, locker room. So now you're walking in with all of these football players and JT. You know this whole what would JT think concept? After now coming out to the world, And if I recall, you guys had a little conversation and it went really well, and he was just one and a number of individuals that you covered that were incredibly supportive. Well, it's interesting with Jason because I didn't really know what any of his you know, thoughts were on the subject, and never really asked. And so the thing that I and I think I mentioned this in the email to you, I know I did to all my friends, is I never wanted you to feel like I was lying to you, you know, And so developing a friendship with Jason, it was like it was intimidating and it was cool that I was friends with him, but I just and I hate that sentence because it makes me feel crappy. But it never wanted to feel like I'm lying to anybody. And so whenever I was face to face with somebody for the first time after telling them, that's what I was thinking of, like, it's cool, like I trust you, I don't think anything poorly of you. It's just I just had to I had to wait. And so that's what that conversation was like, and it kind of brings up, you know, similar thoughts to when like I told my sisters, because you know, we have a great relationship my entire life, and I didn't tell him until I was thirty one. It doesn't make any sense, you know. So I think that's where I was at that time. It was like I'm ready to come out and show everybody. But you know, there's a back and forth with this, and like I always feel like, you know, I could have done better, and I could have you know, navigated everything a little bit better, and so there's always that feeling of like, hey, I'm sorry too, you know, but I can't imagine any of us needed that probably, I mean you that was that was all things that you were feeling and understandably so, but I can't imagine Jason, Dwayne Wade, your sister, anybody like was you were lying to me like nobody accused you of not no, and I mean like, yeah, I mean all these you mentioned. Dayne Wade, he reached out, you know, Gabby Union reached out, Dwayne Udonnasasm, a lot of people from the heat. It was just I don't know, like when you're in that sort of place, you know, you're in your own head the whole time growing up, and so you just have these conversations and you just figure you just make these assessments. And that's what it was like, where I just you know, I just thought that that's what people might think, or that's what people would think. And like, I will say, the one thing that it allowed me to do was like I can compartmentalize like a son of a gun, because like, you can tell me a problem, and I was like, oh, I'll get to that. I'll like triage that I'll get to it right when it's necessary. And so me like being able to focus on my career, being able to focus on my family, being able to and I send my family, I mean my sisters, my parents, my nieces and nephews, you know, and just a great group of friends that I had, you included really just kind of bullied me. And I didn't need that other part of my life necessarily, at least I didn't think I did. I probably could have used some of it, but didn't need it. And so yeah, whenever I think about all that other stuff, like it kind of comes out as you can tell in certain times and I talk about it like unexpectedly, but for the most part, you know, it was all a great experience, and like you know, somebody like JT just added to that and just and I think hopefully my experience and me being around to him maybe added to his, you know, thoughts on you know, the LGBTQ community in general. I'm sure it did for him, for I know what it did for me. I'm sure it did for a lot of us. Man, Big Seth, what an incredible story, man, I mean, I can't even imagine that things izz he was going through. And then for him to feel comfortable enough and safe enough to share that on our show, I mean that was really really special, man. And since you and Isla, you know, are both Gators, I get that part. Yes, sir, I guess we'll throw one more Gator into the mix here with an all time leader in fifth Tank appearances, and we know that is mister Channing Crowder. Now we've interviewed Channing at my house in the early days. We went to his house at one point. But this year, Big Seth the Dolphins really set us up real nice and organ nights a live Miami Dolphins Podcast Night to kick off the twenty twenty three season and had us on the improv stage. Man the improv stage, the lord you know our guy, Travis Wingfield, and here comes Crowder. I mean, this interview is everything you would expect it to be. And then some man. He also delivered our fifth most memorable moment of the year when he shared his thoughts on Dolphins quarterback to a tongue Valowa. But that's the thing, and I boyshit a lot of y'all see, but I do embrace the Dolphins. I love the doll I know every player, I know every backup. And so when people want to argue me about the Dolphins, like Colin Cowherd always wants to go at Tuur and I'm like, man, kiss my ass. Like Tua is a monster. When Tua played them six games, Bro, three hundred yards a game. Bro, Tua is a monster. He just has to stay healthy. What makes my monster, what makes him special? His accuracy, his understanding of the game. He really like you see him, he checks. It's like that little dumb ass camera they put on his helm and everybody want to talk about it. I looked at that and saw that mother fucking look twice both ways in like three seconds, and I was like, this shit's impressive. But people don't know. They're like, oh, that's goofy. I'm like, no, this ship makes sense and so but seeing it from a side of to get back to your question, Travis seeing it from the side of playing against Peyton Manny, playing against Tom Brady, playing against Drew Brees, playing against the Wood all them babies. Rivers was a monster too. But playing against those guys and seeing their processing, I had to look. I had to look at the processing of a quarterback. To a processes at a level that's above his age. He processes defenses at a level that is on the I don't want to see. Whenever you bring up Brady and Rogers and all those guys, they're like, oh, yeah, man, Rogers, that's Steth boys. But they're like, uh now it's mine again. Great, but they're like, oh, you compare Rogers. I'm like, I'm not comparing the Rogers. But how he sees the field is so special, and he knows this simplest thing in the world, Tyreek Hill is about to get opened sooner or later. He's two goddamned fast and Tua knows that and whenever he knows his break and they have the timing down like you're seeing. Like Tyreek said he gonna have two thousand yards. I don't know about that's a lot of damn yards, but Tyreek gonna have seventeen hundred plus because him and Tour on the same page. But two's processing. It was just reconfirmed when I saw that helmet video and saw him check right, check left, and go back right and deliver the ball. He had his hand off the ball before he went back and I was like, oh, that's that's special vision of the field. I can't imagine that anyone listening to this recap hasn't heard that episode with Channing, but if you haven't, I will just say this. By the time he was done, the management of the Daniel Beach Improv came up to him. They asked him to host his own comedy show. He was that funny. And now you can add he's not only a radio host, he's not only a former NFL player, and he's not only a podcaster. But you can add stand up comic to Channing's resume, because he killed it in his recent first show. And from what I understand there's going to be more juice. The guy is an absolute legend. All right, things are heating up here. I'm sure listeners are like, well, if Channing was only number five, who in the hell could possibly top that? Well, our number four moment came just recently, actually, when former Dolphins quarterback Scott Mitchell joined us. He checked every box as far as being a great podcast guest. He was engaging, he was funny, he was interesting, and he was really really candy. And for our fourth most memorable moment of the past year, Scott Mitchell discussed how he felt like a failure even after twelve NFL seasons. Let me go back to feeling like, you know, you failed in your career. And I think you can ask any player. I think you could ask Dan Marino this that there's probably more you could have done. Like like he goes, I never get I never got to win a Super Bowl. I don't know what that's like. And for me, that was all that's all I wanted, Like like like I never looked at like, Okay, what's you know, what's my career look like? You know? And I always looked at it like Matt's want to win. I just want to win the super Bowl. And when I played, I go, I'm not going to the super Bowl until I until I go as a player, right, I wasn't going to give myself the pleasure of that. And it's just it's just how you're wired, right, You're just wired to be competitive, and you go, give me another game, like, give me another quarter, give me another throw, whatever, whatever it is, I get it done. You know, You're just you're just wired that way, and it really never you're never satisfied with it. And I think that's part of what keeps you around, what keeps you going. When I was done at twelve years, I still physically could play. I just didn't have anyone that wanted to sign me. And I'm telling you that's worse than having an injury that I would have rather had my leg snapped off. So it's like, Nope, you can't ever play again, as opposed to no, I can still play, but you guys are just not letting me. That was hard and it was really hard to deal with. And I actually came to terms with all of this failure or feeling like I was a failure when I went on this reality TV show and it was it was a humbling experience, and I think, what what I really got from it? This is very real to me, it's it's it's all. This is a reality TV game show, right going this game show and whoever loses the most ways wins a prize at the end. I mean, that's that's how it works. But for me, it was it was like real as rain, you know, it was. It was a very personal journey for me. And really it was about surrendering to your weakness and surrendering to being humble and the thing that like is so challenging for you. If you will, if you will turn to it and just surrender, it's where you really find strength. And and for me, why I was so reluctant is I just knew people will probably take shots at me. Look at that guy, Look what you know, Look what happened to him? He let himself go. You know, he's he looks terrible, he looks awful. And and for me it was quite the opposite, Like I was willing to take those shots or whatever people were going to say, because it's it's something in my life I have struggled with and it's the darnest thing in the world. And it really is. In fact, I have stuff here right next to me working on, you know, losing getting in a healthy state. So it's been it's continues and it's been a struggle for me, but it's it's one where I just said, you know, I've got to accept that I can't do this on my own, that I need help from other people. It's just the thing that in my life that's the challenge. And what I learned on the show was those those failures, those moments in your life that aren't the most pleasant or you didn't succeed at, actually are the things that are the greatest blessings because you find so much more about yourself and who you are and what you're made of, what you're capable of in those moments than you would if everything was just kind of hunky dory. And so I really treasure some of those those tougher, more painful moments in my life, and they really helped me realize more of who I am and what I made of and developed a lot of things in my life that I cherish, you know. I like who I am, I like what I become in my life, and so much of that came out of those moments that maybe were disappointments or the maybe failures. Man, Scott was absolutely incredible, big seth. I mean, there had to be three or four other moments that could have made this list easily. And the thing about it was for me, I mean only one season with Scott and that was my rookie year, and maybe I was a little too young or way too early in my career, but after the interview, Man, I realized how much you really don't know about a guy, even after playing an entire season with him. And I learned so much more about Scott from our interview that it makes me wish, you know, I'd been able to get to know him a little bit better back in our day. A guy I did get to know really well and was honored to do so was my main man, Zach Thomas. I mean, twenty twenty three was a life changing year for Zach as he solidified his place in football history, putting on that gold jacket and making his forever home in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. I mean, we all saw how emotionally was for zactly hear the news that the weight, the weight was finally over, and in April, the weight was over for us as well. Zach though back into the fish tank for a very special episode, and he delivered our number three moment of twenty twenty three when he explained the thrill he experienced each time his elite preparation would payoff with a big play on the field. I mean, oh, man, like preparation, preparation. I mean when I first, when I was playing, I always yeah, with the over chiebo label, overachiever label. I saw that as disrespect, right, saying with tryhard guy. Oh, I hated that. That's the worst, and that's where Hey, it helped motivate me. But now with preparation, that's part of the part of the game, right and so but you have to have talent to be in the NFL. We all know that. But uh, I mean the way I look at is more like if you're a strong guy and somebody just says, oh, he's a gym rat. Okay, well why is that so for me? I mean when I played, to hear all that, I will be pissed. But now that I'm all favor of care, you know what I'm saying, I owned it, you know what I'm saying, like, yeah, man, there's hey, my prep was good Man. That's the one thing I will, you know, pat myself on the back. Man. My prep was good man, and it was something that skill I trained. And but that's what I love about the game. It's the locker room. But I missed the prep. Bad game nice, right, And you find one little thing on the tape and if they just even line in that during the game, and they might be on the right hash and you're like, I know it's coming that right, There is like a such a high, especially if you make the play and you're like, I own this team, right, you know, there could be one playout of seventy plays. But it's just that that is what I mean. It's just irreplaceable, you know. You know it's so funny you say that real quick, except because I hear the story with Peyton Manny talking about that's what I was gonna app Yeah, yeah, you're in my playbook. Yeah go ahead, Big said no, no no, no, no, Like I'm hearing what Peyton Manny saying about. You know how he would check and then you would check, and then you were checking and seem like it's like you were in his head his playbook, like you were talking about your preparation but he kind of figured out, you knew exactly what the hell he was doing too. One of the smartest guys ever played a game on the other side of football. Yeah, and you know what, I had It had fun when we played up in Indie because it was quiet when the offense right. That makes a difference, and it's hard when you're playing here, and it's hard on him as well. But we played them in our division twice a year until they moved out. But you start to figure out their numbers, but it doesn't matter because they have like the change colors in between a live color to a dummy color, you know, so you wouldn't know until maybe part way through the drive. But there were certain things, especially short yards. They didn't have a lot of short yards tape. So when it's short yards, I remember this one play they do a why flex. He's outside the receiver and they bring in two backs and they're always twenty one personnel, well eleven personnel. They brought in twenty one and so they put the tied end out wide and on tape. For the last two years they run the lead and all I said, I'm not knowing, you know, I know they're going to the three tech. So I'm just like, you'll lead right at the start, and I just seem like and I just I blitzed it, and hey, you know what I'm like, if it wasn't a lead, I mean, Marcus Paulin is gonna be behind here or whatever. But I hit it, made the play and just got up and I'm in your book, in your book all day, you know. And but that was one play, So maybe he's thinking that's all it takes, is that one play and they thinking you're in their playbook and I wasn't. And you can't be thinking like that anyway. You got to react. Even if you know the play, you can overrun the play, right. So it's one of those that it was that chess match up there was really cool, but lining us up and everything made everything look the same. But lining us up just so we wouldn't give up the big play was what I feel like I did good with. How cool was that? Yeah? Man, goosebumps juice, like goosebumps up and down my arms. Any of us who were in the building during Zach's story tenure as a Miami Dolphin saw first hand how much time and effort he put into his preparation, but to hear him talk about it like that special stuff. And speaking of special, we had heard from multiple guys just how special, and I'm using the Travis Wingfield air quotes, just how special the Blackwood brothers, Glenn and Lyle were. They were special players but also unique personalities who loved a good prank. But when Glenn Blackwood joined us in February, he shared one of the all time greatest stories we've ever heard on this show. The story, the subject matter, the cast of characters involved, and the joy that Glenn took and retelling it all combined to make this the second most memorable fish Tank moment of twenty twenty three. There was a lot of fun off the field as well, and that you and your brother had a reputation of being the ultimate team pranksters. And one of the stories that was one of the best stories ever told on this podcast, and it was told a couple different times. And I don't want you to worry here because apparently Marino knows at this point, So Marino knows the deal. But this gag about the stolen Da Marinos shoulder pads and the subsequent ransom attempt had to be one of the funniest things we've ever heard on the show. You got to tell us how the hell you got the idea you and your brother whoever was involved to say, all right, this is an opportunity with these with these shoulder pads stolen. Well, all things go back to Joe Rose to a certain extent. So Joe was involved in this. But basically, you know, you're in training camp and you're bored out of your mind. I mean, you're you know, I mean, in between practices, you're like, you know, what are they got soap operas on? What are we gonna do? Let's you know, and so everybody was you just get stir crazy. And so we're sitting there, we're in our room and this was back when we were at Saint Thomas we used to be called Biscay and College. And we're we're in our room and Joe Rose comes in and he starts talking to me and my brother, and you know, Joe's just trying to He's kinds like a little gadfly. He's trying to stir up something. And so Joe's in there and we're reading the paper and uh Lyle goes, look at this here, and we had just scrimmaged the falcons up and up in Swannye in Atlanta, and on the way back, somebody stole Marino's shoulder paths one of the I don't know whoever it was on the plane or whether they saw number thirteen's bag or they stole marinos shoulder path and they were they were gone. The shoulder paths were gone. And so we're we're sitting there, we're reading about it, and Marino's that there's a thing in the paper, and it's Marino's going, oh, you know, I just really men, you know, they could have taken anything but my shoulder paths. I'm so used to them. I've had them for all these years, and we're going, ah, that poor little fella. I just feel so bad for at all three of us, as me, Rose and my brother a kind of like, ah, y'all, we feel bad for Danny. He had that. And I said, hey, man, what if what if we were to call the Dolphins and Ransom, say we got the shoulder pads and ransom those things back. Well, as soon as I mentioned that, Joe Rose jumps up and we gotta do this, We've got to do this. Well, I would come up with the ideas, but my brother was the chief operation officer. He would put the plan together. And so what happened was we put this plan together to ransom these shoulder pads back to the dolphins. Uh and and for some sort of bounty, some sort of money. And we really weren't gonna do it, but we just thought it'd because we didn't have shoulder pads. How are we gonna do it? We didn't have so far. Yeah, you goa, you ain't gonna get no money. They weren't that that dumb, and so uh we we said, Okay, here's what we'll do. We kind of laid out the script and Joe goes, there's no way either of y'all can talk. Y'all have that Texas accent and they're gonna recognize you right off the bat. I've got to to the call. And laon I looked at each other and kind of like, you know what, he's right for one time, right, And so so Joe calls him. He puts a he puts a towel over the receiver of the phone, so he said he can muffle his voice, and he talks to He talks to Anne, who's Hula's secretary and he talks to her and he says and he says, yes, I was calling. I re reading the article about uh Dan Marino's shoulder pads, and I've got his shoulder pads and for five thousand dollars in unmarked bills, we will deliver the shoulder pads back to Miami Dolphins. Well, she goes, well, I don't know. I can't make that decision, and Joe goes, well, you're you're gonna have to make that decision because we're not gonna stay on the phone. You're probably tracing the call. He Hain's up. So so we get on the phone and we called. So we went on over and we there was two payphones in the breezeway, and we got the phone number off all the payphones and so we uh we went. So Joe Rose calls back and he goes, this just this's just the guy with the shoulder pads again. And anyway, he starts and he goes, you only have thirty seconds because we're only gonna have it, and she goes, you're not giving me enough time. And we felt bad for him anyway, So she's running around all of a sudden, and so we said, well, call this number when you when you make a decision. Well, we gave him the payphone number. So then we go kind of or we're kind of hovering outside our room waiting for the payphone to ring. So Stu they give the phone number to Stu Weinstein our security guys and Stu Stu they call the number and I can't remember his alignment. I know it was alignment. There's offensive or defense, I don't know. Was walking by the payphone. The phone rings, he pictured it goes hello, They said, we're calling about marine no shower bed. He goes, I don't know anything about no shoulder pads, and he hangs up. The next thing you know, there's buzzing going around in the locker. So I said, I'm gonna go over to the locker room to see how this thing's playing out. So I walked over in the locker room, act like I was getting stuff up. I can hear people running around, yell and screaming about the shoulder pads. I go back over the room. I said, guys, we gotta shut this thing down because we're gonna get in major league trouble. They're going all over the place all sudden Marino comes skidding up and is I think he had a corvette. The skins up to the locker room, goes walking in and they said they want five thousand dollars. He goes, I don't care what they want, pay them, and I mean it was there was so finally, finally, finally we called him back and said, look, with this thing's getting out of hand, we put the shoulder pads in a white there. We looked out there was a white van in the parking lot. We didn't know whose it was. He said, we put the shoulder pads in the back of that white band in the parking lot, and it just hung up and there they go running out. They opened the van up. There ain't no shoulder pads. So you got let out the window and there was watching the whole thing. And so look, man, by the time this ended and I said, okay, guys, we can't tell anybody about this because shootable flat cut irore in right. So we didn't tell anybody. We didn't tell anybody for like five years. I mean, it was, it was. It was a sacred information. It was so good. That was That was one of the many. There's others that happened but that was one of the great practical jokes of all time. That was so good, Big except me, so damn good. I mean we've heard three versions of that story now, but there was nothing better than hearing it from Glenn himself. And you're so right, man, when he starts laughing at you know, his own stuff and just thinking about it. I mean, it was absolutely priceless. I love you know that Danny was so worried about those damn soda pass because, I mean, you would think with this confidence, because we know about his confidence. You know, he could wear anything and be the best player on the field at any time. But man, oh man, Glenn and Lyle and our good friend Joe Roseman, they did a number on him that day. So you might ask, how in the world do you top that? Well, Big Seth, you know we can, right, there was only one way you bring Dan the Man himself into the Fish team. The number one moment of last year happened just a couple of weeks ago when Dan the Man joined us for the interview we've been waiting for just be created this thing and what five five and a half years ago, Big Seth, Yeah, and Danny of course being Danny did not disappoint. I mean, he was cool, he was confident, he was funny, and I'm pretty sure he had a lot of fun with as well, Big Seth. It was such an honor to share the huddle with my quarterback one more time, and it was on our amazing new set as well. I mean, it was absolutely perfect. So the most memorable fish tank moment of twenty twenty three was our top of interview with the man Damn Marino. Now we won't replay the entire interview, but what we do have for you is a fantastic fish tank two minute drill, orchestrated by the man who spent a career as the best to ever do it well, Danny, we end every episode of this podcast with the fish tank two minute drill. Okay, over the course of your story career, you had thirty seven fourth quarter comeback, so I think, juice, I'm expecting the best two minute drill we've ever had here. I mean, who can run a two minute drill like Damn Marine? Danny never won. No kicker ever. Nope, we're not kicking it. We're not kicking. We're gonna score a touchdown unless we have to kick we don't start off with that. So Mike's gonna put two minutes up on the clock. You want need timeouts because if you need him, you got him. No, No, that doesn't need timeouts. We're just gonna go with this thing. So here's what we're gonna start it with. Just some quick, short routes to move the sticks. We're gonna call this word association. I just need one word responses to the names that I throw out to you. We got to start with Don Shula, Okay, one word, one word, Don Shula, tough, Mark Clayton, bad ass, Mark Cooper. He's a badass too. Bruce Smith. He's a bad ass in the wrong kind of way. Yeah. Well, hearing all that, he used to take care of me a little bit, you know, I mean, yeah, it actually it actually hit me and actually picked me up. I don't think he did that from many people. No, that's pretty good. And that's that's not one word. No it's not. But that's all right. Oh. J mcduffey tough as it gets. Yeah, badass too, Joe Rose, I appreciate I want to get away. Yeah, I was going too bad, bad as too, man. Joe Rose soft is a tissue coming out of the I love it. Oh, this is so good. We're going to open up the offensive little bit. The clock is still running. All right, here's a quick release, but your answers can be more than more one word here, all right, A vent a pet detective. We know how you made Jim Carrey's career on that movie, one hundred million dollar film when that was a big deal back then. It is an absolute classic. But there were three things to me that I thought were incredibly unrealistic. But what was the most unrealistic? So was it that someone stole a living dolphin from the stadium? Was it that a caught a bullet with his teeth? Or was it the idea that you would actually be the holder on a field goal at ten? Yeah? Yeah, it was. Uh, it's all three of those, actually, you know, I mean, and and everything about that movie is unrealistic. Matter, But I want to say that that's probably the best work I ever did. Agreed, Agreed. So we all know that there's no defense of a perfect throw. Yeah, but which defender had the best job of stopping you? As far as a corner corner corner man? I mean, there were some guys I've real, real dudes I played against over the years, and Dion was really good, really good. Mike Haynes, Mike Haynes, that group Leicester, Mike Haynes, Albert Lewis, Rod Woodson, like those cats, like all those cats had a little bit there. Yeah, no, we I mean it wasn't like, you know, we got our guys, got our dudes. You got your dudes. I feel pretty good about our guys. So I'm gonna throw on you. I'm not. It's not like I'm not going to throw on you. But those those cats are real, real deal, no doubt. All right, final question here. This is a mystery that all Dolphins have wanted solved for quite some time. Jeez, did the director of that commercial just get under your skin? But was it really a flub? Which one, oh h it might have been a flub, but it was we were doing those commercials all day, like it was all day, and it was in Orlando, you know, Quarterback Club, and all the guys are there and we're going from one spot together. It was the last one and it was a young kid. And I'll be honesty, I mean, if he's watching somehow, I'm sorry. I was just I was just overall of it. And uh so it was it was no, that is the two minute drill. Yeah, Marino finds himself in the end zone. It sure you wanted me to say that. Just make sure you bleep it out. Everybody wanted you to say that, Danny. This was great. This was worth a five year weight to get you to fish that. I love it. Man. Hey, Daddy, thanks for diving in you mad Well, there you have it. No better way to end the year than with a damn Marino touchdown. Twenty twenty three was an incredible year in the Fish Tank Juice, and we are so grateful for the Miami Dolphins, for our late great champion, Jason Jenkins for believing in this show, for tom Garfinkel and a Nolan for continuing to believe. For this amazing crew that we get to work with of Mike Millius, J T. Santos, Taylor Wilson, Kyle Arnett, Hunter, Barbara Chris Clark, Christen Hinkston, everyone who helped to bring the Fish Tank to life this past year. Victor Ortega, he got us that brand new logo, Hero and the team that designed the new set. Truly, everyone who is a part of this special year and last, but certainly not least, We're grateful for each and every one of you who have cared enough to listen to this podcast. To all of the Fish Tank fans, thanks for diving in. You're now diving just like Jews said, Thanks for diving in to the Fish Tank presented by iHeartRadio. Be sure to follow us on whatever streaming platform you're using, and don't be afraid to rate the show or leave us a comment. We love your feedback, and remember you can find us as well as Drive Time with Travis Wingfield and all of our international partners on Miami Dolphins dot com at this time