Devon Allen
In this episode of Unfiltered Waters, Katie Hoff sits down with Devon Allen, one of the rare athletes to reach the highest level in two sports. A two-time Olympian in the 110-meter hurdles and former Philadelphia Eagles wide receiver, Devon shares what it takes to pursue excellence across completely different competitive worlds.
The conversation dives into Devon's unique journey from football standout to Olympic hurdler and back again. He reflects on the injuries that altered his path, the decision to step away from football after Rio, and why focusing solely on track did not produce the breakthrough he expected. Devon opens up about rediscovering joy in competition, how returning to football changed his perspective, and why having multiple passions ultimately helped him become a better athlete.
Katie and Devon also compare the demands of track and field versus the NFL, discussing everything from training philosophies and recovery to the mental challenges of competing on the world's biggest stages. Devon shares what it felt like to finish fourth at the Olympics, the lessons he learned from narrowly missing the podium, and why his eyes remain firmly set on competing at a third Olympic Games in Los Angeles.
The conversation goes beyond sports as Devon reflects on identity, discipline, coaching, and the importance of staying grounded through success and setbacks. From navigating NFL training camp and learning a new playbook to coaching athletes at his alma mater and mentoring the next generation, Devon brings a thoughtful perspective that extends far beyond athletics.
Honest, insightful, and full of lessons on resilience and growth, this episode explores what happens when talent meets curiosity, and why the pursuit of greatness is rarely a straight line.
Whether you're an athlete, coach, or simply chasing a big goal of your own, there's something in this conversation for you.
-----
Subscribe to the show on your favorite podcast platform, and follow us on social media (https://linktr.ee/unfilteredwaters) for clips, bonus content, and updates throughout the week.
-----
FOLLOW KATIE ON:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kthoff7/
-----
SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS
dreamrecovery.io use code UNFILTEREDTHIRTY for 30% off
-----
#UnfilteredWaters #Olympics #NFL
Available Results
Generated results are saved to the knowledge database for reuse and search.
Extract Knowledge
Pick what you want extracted first. Model, scope, and chapter options appear after a template is selected.
Transcript
Hello everybody, and welcome back to another week and another episode of Uncle Waters. And this week we dry land no unheaded. We have a multi-support legend. We have not only played for the Philadelphia Eagles as a wide receiver, he is also a Olympian and the real Olympics and Tokyo Olympics in 2017 and 2021. We welcome Devin Allen to the podcast as we I don't think I've ever talked to someone who is so versatile. I mean the fact that he football he also made it to the highest level of our support at the Olympics twice. He was injured. He is now an athlete actually at his almer matter and he was a hometown boy. And football and dragon field are so different. I feel like it's very similar. Dragonfield has so many similar qualities as swimming. And football has so many qualities that are so different than swimming. And so it was fascinating to kind of get a breakdown of, you know, his experiences and both his boards at the highest levels. And you know, how he kind of shifted his mentality, you know, how he chose to go for one or the other at different times in his career, um, you know, his college career at University of Oregon. And so my gosh, I I could have talked to him much longer. These conversations obviously were a little bit shorter because we were at the pack accelerate event. Shout out to the pro-athletic community for making these conversations happen. Um but Devin is now um working to rehabilit rehabilitate some injuries and working to uh compete at his third Olympics in LA as a hometown hero again, um being from Team USA. And so um I can't say enough good things. He has an incredible perspective for his age and for all his experiences, and I'm very excited for you guys to get to listen or watch. So hit that subscribe button, comment your favorite moment, and enjoy this conversation that I had with Devin Allen. Devin Allen, welcome to Unfiltered Waters. Awesome, thank you for having me. Yes, of course. I looked this up. I cannot, out of the 8 billion people on the planet, you are the one in 44 Olympians that are also in the NFL. And that is a pretty mind-blowing stat. I didn't even know that. So I'm thanks, thanks for telling me. I can start, you know. I coach high school kids that don't really, they don't even know me. They're like, who are you? Like, what do you do? Like shaking my hand, like, oh, what do you do here? And I'm like, well, I just I ran track and played football. I did a little software. But now you can tell them I'm one in 40, I'm 40, 44 and 8 billion people. It's a pretty, I mean, yeah, isn't it crazy how the relevancy just tanks as soon as Oh, so quick. So quick. And honestly, you know, like it's funny you say that because I started realizing it like maybe four years ago with other athletes that like I grew up as fans of, especially in track. So the world record holder, Eric's Merritt, my event, Olympic gold and silver medalist, uh, Terrence Tramel, David Oliver, like you you might not know who these guys are. But yeah, in my space right there, like 2004, 2008. And so I'm standing there, like, these are the best hurdlers in American history. Right. And the kids are like running up to me, like, hey, can we get a picture? And I'm like, yeah, like I appreciate it, but I'm just like the relevant guy now. And like these legends are just standing here just talking, just chit-chatting, chilling. I'm like, you should be asking these guys for pictures. But it happens quick. It happens so, especially if you're not like a student of the sport. I feel like I was, you know, I I look 30 years back and I but that's more rare. I feel like kids nowadays are like, who's like the TikTok star that I can get at? Which makes me a little bit sad, but you just gotta get your TikTok going. I just gotta get my the dances exactly. I am not so good. I'm very much fish out of water, so the TikTok dances are lacking. Fair, me too. Um That was my first one, by the way. Your first that was your first TikTok. I mean, pretty good with like hitting the hitting the low. So it's good. Um I yeah, I feel like your story is just so unique, but it sounds like football was your first love, right? And then you went through that, and it was almost like there's this silver lining that happened in your career. You had the ACL injury, and then you decided to transition from football, obviously at a very high level at Oregon, to then going and competing at your first Olympics in Rio. How do you frame that in your head? Yeah, I think, like you said, yeah, my first love football, I started playing when I was five. Um was always fast, so you know, I wasn't oblivious to the fact that I was fast on everybody. And then right before high school, you know, I had the opportunity to start running track, so I did. My dad put me in track and did pretty well. Um, but always thought in my head, my like, you know, as a young kid, I was gonna be an NFL player. So that was always like first goal of first, like, you know, growing up, you're like, I want to be astronaut, I want to be whatever. Like I want to be in the NFL. So um got the opportunity to play football and run track at Oregon, and obviously had a great career and excelled at both and enjoyed my time at both. But yeah, with the injuries, um, kind of made a decision after the Rio Olympics that I was gonna step away from football and focus on track um for at least the next four years, turn to five with COVID. Right. Insane. Yeah, so so that that was kind of like the mindset with that. You know, it's you know, whenever you compete, you always expect to win. That's just the mindset we all have, even if you don't have a chance, like you know, everybody is going there to win. So when I didn't win in real, I was like disappointed, like thinking that if I changed something, it was gonna change. And then I ran track for five, six years with just track, and nothing really changed. Like, I was just I kind of I mean, I did well, I was still excelling, but you know, I thought I was just gonna go like over the moon in my performances, and that didn't really happen. And then after Tokyo, I got fourth place and ran pretty well that year. Um ended up running 12-9, like the 20th person in history to run out of 13. So I uh thank you, thank you. Um so then after that, I was like, all right, well, like, you know, just got fourth. You know, I'm 26 years old. I think, you know, I still want to play football, so decided to start training for that. Did a pro day and you know, got signed with the Eagles. And it's funny to say, because like that was the year of 2022 I had my best track season when I was doing now football training with track training, which is like, I don't know why, I'm not sure what you know what the thing was. Like my my track coach personally, Jamie, he is a sports fan, he loves sports, and so when I told him I was gonna play football again, he was like all for it. You know, if I wanted to play ping pong, he would have been like, let's lock in. Yeah. So so he was with me, he would be with me on the field throwing routes. Like he was throwing to me. I'd run routes one day and then the next day we'd be back on the track. So crazy. And so, you know, and it's and and I thought of that a long a long time, and I'm not sure why it's that way. Like when I was doing both, yeah. I think that's a metaphor for life, right? If you like put like hyper focus on one thing and like grab onto it so tightly versus having two, I would imagine I cannot relate, but like the I would imagine the pressure's off a little bit because you have two you know, hey, if the track's not going well today, guess what? My routes are gonna go, you know, like I would imagine it just helped you relax a little bit. Yeah, and just have more fun. Right. Like, you know, fun job, but yeah, you know, when you're like you know the you know the routine, it's like the same thing. It's a grind. It's a grind, like, and people always, you know, kids ask me like what the biggest thing about being a pro athlete is is like discipline. Because like you're not gonna see really any improvement. Yeah, you're not gonna you're not gonna see improvement. It's gonna happen. You're not gonna see it, you're not gonna show up one day and be like, oh, like what just happened? Yeah, exactly. No, yeah. So for me, I just was like, like you said, that that five-year hiatus from football, I was it was so grindy. Like you said, you're like kind of like grasping something so tightly that there's no room for you to grow, like even as a like almost as a person. Right. Like I didn't do like I like it was COVID for me, and so like I was just locked in. I wasn't hanging out with my friends, like uh trained for three, four hours a day, played video games for six hours, and I was just like, and yeah, did I get better? Yes, but that I I think that didn't like optimize my potential because when I started doing the football training again, I was able to be like, you know, feel like I had fun, like change up my training a little bit, like oh, like let me put some strength on because I need to be bigger for football. And then like I didn't necessarily get bigger, but I got stronger in the meantime because I was like focused on actually you know something different, right? Yeah, so it's your superpower without you even realizing it, yeah, basically. And I and I tell my girlfriend that a lot like my superpower is to like hyper focus on something, and I can't focus on anything else. And like she she we're like, we're moving, we just moved, so we're like putting the house together. She's very type A. She needs everything to be like. I put the TV up and the the stud where we put the TV in the middle of the wall is like an inch offset. And she was like, You have to move it. Well, no, like I can't, because you're supposed to put, yeah, I have to put it in the stud. So so now the TV is just a little bit off. Right? Just a little bit. And it's it's really not noticeable, but she noticed it. And like, so she's so she's going through this, but I'm like, we're we're we're putting things to the house. And we'll start something, and she's like, Oh, let's let's put a let's put a you know stop to that and do something else. I'm like, can't like this has to get finished now. Like if we're hanging everything, if we're hanging to stuff, we have to hang everything in the house. Like we're putting up photos, like we gotta find every single photo. We need a Google search, what we want the print out, we gotta do that too. It's a blessing in a curse. So it's definitely a blessing and a curse. Um I I feel like people's relationship with being right off the metal stand, because I've experienced it, is either wow, they did a personal best, they're just proud representing their country, they're freaking fourth in the world, or it's I'm mad as hell because I'm off the metal stand by just a little bit. What's your relationship with that? It's a little bit of both. Uh and in our events, it's so like thousands and hundreds of a second. So that you you're even closer than some events, right? Like, you know, you could play volleyball or basketball and you know lose by 15 points in the bronze medal game, and like, okay, you have four. But in our events, right, from first to fourth place was five one hundredths of a second. Yeah. So like, which is not much time. You know that. Like, we just we just threw through like 25 one hundredths of a second right now. Yeah. So so initially it's like disappointed, and then as you get further away, you get more because when you tell people what you do, like when I ask, oh, what do you like? People ask me about my tattoo, like, oh, you like Audi's, and I'm like, no, I say Olympic. No, no way. Like, that's insane. No, I'm joking. No, people be like, oh, like the Olympic tattoo, like, what do you do? I'm like, I tell them track, they're like, oh, like, what event and what place? I got fourth. They're like, oh my god, that's freaking awesome. Right. Um so I'm more in that realm now. Um, and they did like, it's like funny psychology. It's not really funny for the people involved, but third place is more happy than second place. Right? Because second place is like, oh, I was so close to gold. Third place is like, oh, at least I got a medal. Yeah, I got another, I got on the medal. Yeah, exactly. So that's kind of my relationship. I'm still training, so you know, my goal is to now the LA Olympics, so that's my mindset. My mindset is gold in LA. So um, but you know, it is it is funny you say that because you know, being one off the podium is like in the moment, you're just like devastated. Right. You know, and like, you know, I remember going to bed and like I didn't watch the race for like six months. I didn't like I didn't fall asleep that night, like 5 a.m. hits and people are starting to move around, and I just go get breakfast and then like try to, you know, Tokyo was kind of weird because it was COVID, so like I couldn't go out in the city and like turn up. I just had to go home. Like they sent me home. Sit with your family. Yeah, so but then like you said, as you get away, it's great. Like so, and I'm I'm very proud, like had a good career, and then like after that Tokyo moment, I was like, all right, I'm gonna do football now. So something else to focus on and try to excel out, uh excel at. So it's been good. I would say so. Recovery is the superpower, and as you guys know, sleep is a huge part of recovery, and Dream Recovery has a suite of tools to aid in all of this. One of their brand new jobs and brand new products is their weighted blanket, and let me tell you from personal experience, it is heaven. It contains a patented cellulant technology that aids in infrared regulation, which essentially helps with your nervous system down regulation, it helps with circulation, it helps with getting into sleep cycles in a much deeper way. And all that to say, it is just so magical to get in bed at night with a Todd, Allie, our dog, and we fall asleep so quickly. And I will say it has a really cool cooling effect. So if you're someone who typically sleeps hot, it helps out in a major way as well. So we actually have a very special code for you guys. It is a UW blanket 20. All caps that give you 20% off this product, which is massive. This is definitely something that is a bit more luxurious than their other products, but it is so worth it. And of course, unfiltered 30 for 30% off for all other products. So go shopping and get better sleep and make recovery at your superpower. So you're one of the few that can actually answer this question what training is harder? NFL training or training for hurdles? I've hurt, I've hurt more with track training. Really? Yeah, like so and it's a weird dilemma. Like when you when you do a certain type of we call it speed endurance in for like sprinters, is like you're right over like the 90-meter threshold to where lactic acid starts to. So what happens when you sprint? And then the other stuff that like you know store glycogen. The science behind it. No, a little bit, not a ton. Yes, that was right. That was that was. No, that's the same thing with with swimming. Yeah, but my races were four and a half minutes. Yeah, exactly. No, but you but you feel the you feel the you feel that burn, so you have to train in that like that threshold. So any of the training that I that I I trained like in that like 300 meters to 500 meters was kind of like what I get that like burn. And it's almost like your you know your body goes into like the panic. Yeah. And I'm sure it's even worse than swimming. You feel like you might like could could drown. But you I mean, you're elite. I was gonna say, if I got to that, if I felt like what you were feeling while you were training, if I felt that I might just like you might panic and just be like, Yeah, I need a lifeguard. So, but yeah, so that's like the hard part. Uh football is just a different type of like physicality. Right. Right? Like there's days where I'm just tired because we're running around for two hours, you know, and you're just worn out. But it doesn't kind of it's kind of like elongated periods. Like you feel like that fatigue over like days, weeks, months, as opposed to in track where I'm like, I get zapped and I'm like, I'm not gonna be able to move for like the next two hours. So that's interesting. Yeah, that was my like like tell like talk talk to me about your training in terms of like because you're you know, four minutes. So it's also funny, track and swimming are so related in this in the sense of like uh like the men's hundred meter world record is very close to the men's four hundred. Yes, a hundred percent. So like they're doing 40, you know, 45 seconds of work, 40 seconds, right? And then same thing with the 400 meter is very close to the miles, like like your event, the mile, like like a fast women's tie would be in the four minutes in the track, and like a fast 400 for women would be four minutes. Right. So like you guys, you that's very similar in it in the energy systems, like in hearing you know, the swimmers talk about how they train, you know, and like obviously the 50-meter sprinters is much different. It's like a whole different world. It's a whole different world. I mean, I do think though, I think track and field like are slightly more ahead of us in terms of this science. I think swimming is getting that way, but for the longest time we were so old school doing like 10,000 meters of practice, just so much volume. Right, and I feel like you guys, and we are starting to do this, have adopted this. Okay, like if you're gonna train speed, it has to be at the pace that you're going to do it in the actual race. And so I've always uh been just very tuned into track and field because you guys are really smart in terms of how you use science, how you track things. I think it's I think it's awesome. Like I appreciate that for one, thank you. So kudos to track and field. Shout out track. Yeah, especially as a coach now, which I want to talk about. And honestly, so just like you were saying, so when I'm when I program for the kids that I coach, I coached at the Naval Academy. Um, and I coach high school now, like my high school in Phoenix. Which I think is so cool that you went back to your alma mater. Is that just like a crazy full circle moment? No, I I knew I would want to I want to get involved. Okay. I had such a great experience with when I was in high school with my coaches that like I want to be like the high school kids who be like, oh man, I had Devin as a coach, that was awesome. Yeah. So but when I could when I track is track is different in the sense of the training part, is because the volume that you do it has a lot of wear and tear on the legs itself. So like just beating up the actual tissues. Swimming, you still beat up the tissue, but like you're you know, you're in that buoyancy, like a little bit less stress on the actual like joints. So I would expect that's why you probably did so much volume, it could handle it. Yeah, because imagine like a miler doing, I mean, they probably do do 10,000 meters worth of volume, like, but they wouldn't be able to do that a lot. Yeah, so yeah, we definitely I think especially as you're younger, you but I mean swimmers' shoulders go air and tear, so yeah, no, I know that, yeah. Yeah, yeah, and and that's you know, I I have friends that are there are divers and the the Olympics, so they talked about the same thing, like you hit the water wrong, you like yeah, and like that's like the same thing with track, you can step weird and you know freak injuries happen. So I think it's probably good in swimming that the science is kind of evolving to where you get a little bit less over-training injuries for sure, keep everybody healthy longer, very much so people in the sport longer, yeah. So I want to talk about the mentality because I am married to a fullback, he played in the NFL very briefly, but just hearing the way that you guys approach a game, it's like I mean, it's like war, it's a battle versus the way that you approach an individual event on the track side. Can you compare the two? And do you go into different mindsets depending on the sport that you're in? Yeah, you definitely have to. Um football is just like you said, it's a different animal in terms of like once you're live on the field, it becomes just like live fire. And you practice so much, right? It's like it's like being in the military training. You train so much, but then when the lights come on and it actually happened, you're like you hopefully you train enough, you're confident enough you can do it right, but like you're almost just like reacting and trying to survive. Um, my position is a little bit like less so like your husband being a fullback, much more like much more violent. Just realistically, like my job is not that. It's like being like it's like being in like medieval times where you have the cavalry go out first on the horses and like the old line, right? Like you know, like with broadswords, and then you have like your people that are just fighting hand to hand, but then you have your archers in the back. Like that they have their job. So everybody in the in football has you're the archer. That's probably the best relation, right? Because like I'm not really my job is not to make contact with people. Yeah, if you make contact, it's a bad thing. Well, no, like I do have to block, like, and that's important. Like, and I take that seriously when I play, but my job is like, you know, ball to me, like score it. Like, hey, you're your job is get the ball in the end zone. Everybody else's job is like hit this guy out of the way, like get this guy out of the way, run him over, whatever. So um very interesting dynamic in that case, too, because that's how we treat things too, is like very do your job based. Like, we don't like you know, I I know what everybody else is doing because it's important, but I'm also like hyper focused on just accomplishing that. In track, you can't rely on anybody. So it's just it's just it's just me, so you gotta execute same thing with swimming. Yeah, I mean you have your relay, same thing with track relays, but you have to execute your part of it, even if you're on a relay. Yeah, like so, you know, it's a little bit more like secluded in my training. I trained by myself most of my career. So, you know, I had and I had a couple lucky good training partners at Navy when I was there too. So, but you're very secluded and trying to like figure out the perfect programming with your coach and like just like figure things out. It's way more like technical, you know, and track as well. Football is kind of just like sometimes the coach is like, just do it, just hey, get figure it out. Like, just get it done. All right, like then I especially at the NFL level, like you're expected to know the techniques, you're expected to know how. To do all these things, they're just like, hey, that's your job, man. Figure it out. So I was talking to Devin McCourty about this earlier. I I feel like people don't actually have enough respect and appreciation for just how heady, like intelligent, I mean, that football players have to be. Like when people are screaming at the TV, like, what they do? Like it's like you have no idea what that play was supposed to be, what happened, how it got messed up, how it got, you know, and so I feel like that's something, like, when you went to the NFL, how did you adjust to the speed? Yeah. Because it sounds like based on what I've heard, it's just crazy fast in terms of the knowledge you have to have right away. That was the biggest, like, not issue, but just like the hardest thing for me. Right. Right, because I had the physical tools to do it. It's just like catching up. I hadn't played for six years. And then trying to figure out like it's like learning a new language. And you're like trying, and you know, you know the words because like you speak a language, but you're trying to translate everything in real time. And like then you got new people telling you what to do, you got coaches yelling at you, you're just trying to figure it all out. So it's funny when people ask me about it, I like joke, like in a movie, like a war movie, when they like throw a grenade and they have like the ringing. Yes. Like my first two weeks in training camp, every every time a play's getting called, I'm just like, like, I'm I'm like, I'm like the ringing in my head, just like what's going on. And I'm I'll I'll like run out, and then I'll run out and realize like, you know, we'll have we'll be in a two by two receiver set, and like I ran and there's three receivers over here, and I'm like, oh I'm supposed to be on the other side. And then I'm like running over, and that doesn't look great. Like I figured it out quickly, but it was like it was so much so quick that like you said, like you're expected to know so much so quick that like it's like full full-time job. We're we're there all day anyways, and we go home, we're expected to be like, Yeah, gotta figure it out. So much more time, I feel like. Yeah, and then like the rookie quarterbacks and rookie receivers like me. When I was a rookie, like we're we would get we would get in at 7 a.m. during breakfast time, go on the field and run through the whole script of practice so we knew what was going on. So that like, you know, because we we we we ran through the whole script, then did walk through with the team, and then went to practice just so we knew what was going on. And then watched film. Then we watched film on what we were doing, and we just like and you figured it out. Like after a few weeks, I was very comfortable and I felt good about it. But um, yeah, definitely like some of the smartest people I know, like, you know, quarterbacks especially, but like O-linemen, running backs, fullbacks, because they have to know what like you know, what these guys are doing, what the deep what the defense is trying to accomplish with their with their alignment and their scheme. For me as a receiver, I'm kind of like look at the safeties and maybe the outside backer or the nickel and the cornerback and kind of see what their relationship is, and I can figure it out. But it doesn't matter what everybody else is doing because like I'm not really that involved most of the time. So it's just a lot. It's a lot, it's a lot. It definitely isn't like you said, fans, Philly fans especially, like, they're like, this freaking idiot. It's like, but they don't know, like somebody missed their assignment, so then they you know they it's like a yeah, it's like a domino effect, yeah. Yes. Do you I know we're gonna get to see a talent show tonight. Do you remember your rookie skit and how terrified you were during camp to do that? And can you tell me? I actually, this is a good story because I was terrified. I remember being in a hotel for like the first like couple weeks, just like because they just make you sing. Philly made fun of me. Oh, it's only a lot of people. I don't know, I don't know. I I'm sure you can do what you want. Like if you had like jokes, you could probably do that. Yeah. But in Philly, it was just like singing. It was like, you know, name, school, signing bonus. And like I didn't want to be embarrassed because I was like, Devin Allen, Oregon, I didn't sign it, I didn't sign a signing bonus, so I'm like zero zero dollars guaranteed. Well, actually, I don't remember what I what I signed for exactly, but it wasn't a lot. Everybody else is talking like two, three million, I'm like, you know, 15 grand or whatever. So I'm like, okay. Um but Nick Siriani, the head coach, never made me do it. Oh, he was like, Wow. I feel like he was just like, he was he was on my side. He was a big track fan. Oh, okay. He was like, he's probably like, dude, you were already in the Olympics, like you don't have to do this. You guys just track and field do rookie stuff. They do they don't do like hazing, but they make everybody get up and like yeah. So especially at the Olympics, like when they do the team bonding stuff. So um he didn't make me do it. I think he was just like, he probably in his head was like, man, you don't have to do that crap. That's nice. So that means you have to do it tonight, is what you're saying. No, I don't. I was you know what's funny is like I've been up, my brother's a musician. I went to one of his concerts like a while ago, he's in a new band, and I was like so obsessed with the bass guitar. So I was like, I'm gonna learn bass guitar. So my girlfriend got me one, and I've been learning, and I was hoping to have like some stuff figured out by now, but I've been too busy, so I'm not gonna be able to play or do any talent. Show us where you're at. Yeah, but it's not that I can play Gorillas, Feel Good Ink by the Gorillas. Okay, that's pretty good. But that's about it. On the bass, yeah. So are you gonna do a talent? No. Come on, dude. I don't have I don't have a talent. There's no pool around. I know. That's the thing too, is it's like everybody, yeah, people are so talented, but it's just like it's like in that forum it's stuff. Yeah, and and honestly, I heard it's gonna turn into karaoke. I'm down for that. Okay, I'm down for that. Like I'll yeah, I'll sing a little bit, you know. Yeah, I'll do some back shoot boys out of that over. Or tell jokes, you know, knock knock. But so all right, last question. What is a word that motivates you, inspires you, or just encompasses who you want to be on the daily? A word. Empathetic. Why empathetic? I think a lot of people, and me included, like get caught up in your own like world and forget like the people around you and like you know, the impact you can have on somebody's day. Just you know, just by being positive or like nice or whatever. You know, I think about that all the time. I I it's funny stuff. I'll tell you, quick story before we leave, for empathy and kindness. Yes, we need more of that. I I was you know, I was here training last summer, and I went to church with my my friend and his fiance at the time. They're net now married, and and my girlfriend. And the the pastor was talking about being on the airplane, and some guy was just being douchey with uh on a phone call, and the the the pastor was like, hey man, like you know, cut it out. And he was like, he's like, honestly, I I was getting upset. Yeah. And like, you know, probably a little bit too much so, like, you know, as a godly man. So he was like talking about that. And um so I took that story and I was like, okay, that's a good story to live by. Just you know, be nice regardless. Like, you know, there's probably a way you can do it. Um I go to an Eagles game just as a fan uh last season. And it's probably they're playing the commanders, and so it's a it's an NFC game, so it's a rivalry game. And I'm sitting in the stands, you know, got tickets from one of my old teammates. And I go into the the concessions line like for like snacks, and there's like one guy standing there, and it's like halftime. One guy standing there doing orders, and there's like a huge line. And uh the like next next to it, there's like a line that's that opened up, and then like a whole bunch of people just like bum rushed and like cut everybody, and like everybody was getting upset. And so I was just like, hey, like this is uh we there's only one like I'm trying to be like the mediator. I'm like, guys, there was one line, there's now two, just to stay in two lines, like to stay in the one line, and when they call you, just go up. Yeah, and like this guy behind me is just like Eagles fan, just cussing me out. And I was just like, you know what? Hey, deep drive. Like this, you know, I I don't know what this guy's going through. I don't know, like, you know, people are drunk, you know, so I get that. So I go and I go to order and I'm like, hey, I just want chicken strips and a beer. And I was like, and whatever these guys want behind me. And the guy was just like, this guy just went into shock mode and was just like so apologetic. He's like, man, I'm so sorry. Like, I just like you know, I was running, like, no, no, no, no, whatever the excuse was. And then I got and I was thinking about that in terms of just like how being just like kind or empathetic to somebody could like change their day. Yeah. And he was like, dude, like, no, let me pay for it. Like the guy behind me, he was like, no, no, no, let me I'll get it. I was like, no, I got it, I got it, don't worry about it. Like, then he's like, it's like we're kind of getting a lot of stuff. I was like, well, yeah, I mean, it's fine, like get whatever you want. And like, you know, then we made friends, chatted it up for a second, and you know, all was good. And I felt good, like, you know, I felt good about like that good deed. Yeah. And I think, you know, just in life, people need to be more like that. Yes, have the awareness. Yeah, that is such a good lesson. Not being like, not being their own. Yeah, yeah. You know, be like, hey, like, you know, you see a you see an old lady walking up to the grocery store, like, don't grab a card just for yourself. Like, maybe help her. Here you go, yeah. Yeah, yeah. I love that. Yeah. Awesome. Well, thank you so much. What about you? What's your word? My word this year is peace. Peace. Um, I just just I'm we're having a child, and so I want to birth my child into a peace, peaceful household and a peaceful mom. Thank you. That's I mean, that's a great way to live too. Yeah. Don't let people disturb your peace. Yeah. You know, I yeah. It is tough. I'm from Phoenix, so if anybody watching is from Arizona, the drivers are crazy. And I remember, and it's crazy it is crazy to me. Like, people is just like, you said, just having a bad day for some reason. Yeah. I'm like, I'm in the right land, I don't drive fast. I'm going like 75 and a 65, like pretty quick. There's like a car behind me on my butt, just like cussing me out. I can see him flipping me off. I'm like, and then he gets over around me, he's like, I'm just like, all right. Hope you have the day. Yeah, I'm like, geez, like what's going on here? But it's a good one. Something we don't know about. Yes. Well, thank you so much. I really appreciate the time and looking forward to seeing you the rest of the weekend. Awesome. Yeah, appreciate it. I look forward to seeing you scene tonight.