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00:00And we're live. How about that? Radio Row, Super Bowl 59, New Orleans, Randy Grimes,
00:04a great in the NFL for Tampa Bay and also we have some special participants here that we're
00:08going to join as well because I want to make sure we get it correct. Ms. Heather Stokes.
00:12Yes, thank you for having me.
00:14Let's get down to it. Let's have some fun now. How has your week so far been down here?
00:18Oh, this is great. I look forward to every year. You know, this is our 16th year to be here
00:23and I'm seeing, you know, obviously a lot of familiar faces, but also,
00:27you know, some faces that I hadn't seen in a while, guys that I played with or played against.
00:32So it's cool to reconnect.
00:35Absolutely. Now let's get, before you got to the NFL,
00:38Baylor University, how did you, now granted, you played big time high school football because all
00:42high school football is big time down there in Texas. How'd you get to Baylor?
00:46You know what? I had a chance to go anywhere in the Southwest Conference. You remember Southwest
00:50Conference? I had a chance to go anywhere in the Southwest Conference that I wanted to. And,
00:55you know, one visit with Coach Grant Taft and that's all it took. I came home from that visit.
01:01I'd already taken a visit to Rice and SMU and I just canceled all my other visits because I knew
01:07that's where I wanted to go. And I had a sister there that was already at Baylor and be it a good
01:13Southern Baptist, I wanted to make my mama proud.
01:15There you go. Keeping it in Texas there. But we do go to the NFL with Tampa Bay. You played
01:20over a decade going from Baylor to Tampa Bay. How was that?
01:24Oh man, the game just got so much quicker, stronger, faster. Guys were so good. You know,
01:31you think you're coming into college with a bunch of All-Staters, you know, and you think the game's
01:36really going to elevate them, but no, nothing like it did from college to the pros. I mean,
01:41when you go to somebody like Leroy Selma, you know, on the other side of the line.
01:46Absolutely.
01:47It was a great opportunity and I think I adjusted well. I mean, you don't get to stay in the league
01:5210 years unless you're adjusting well.
01:54Exactly.
01:55And winning most of those battles in the trenches. But, you know, I wouldn't go back as crappy as we
02:01were. You know, my best year was 6-10. As bad as we were, I wouldn't trade it for the world.
02:07Now, see, that's why we have a kinship because, again, I didn't make it to the NFL. I played
02:10Division III football. We were bad all four years. So I'm glad you brought that up. Like,
02:15how was the perseverance to get through it?
02:16But you wouldn't trade it.
02:17I loved every moment of it.
02:18Every moment.
02:20Just getting ready for, like, maybe the playoffs weren't there or just starting training camp.
02:23Because you're a professional athlete. You're getting paid. You've got to show up. How did
02:27you get through some of those times that were tough where maybe the light at the end of the
02:29road wasn't the Super Bowl at that time?
02:31Well, and you just kind of think every year of training camp that that's going to be the year.
02:36You know, that you all drafted that one player that you always talk about. You're one player
02:40away. But it never happened. You know, I can remember in my eighth year looking around at
02:45practice one day and not a single first-round pick was starting. So that's a problem. You know,
02:51that's some bad drafting when you don't have anybody starting as a first-round pick. So,
02:57you know, it was what it was. Tampa was a great place to raise my family.
03:03And I wouldn't trade anything for the world.
03:05Now, when we look at offensive linemen, honestly, the appreciation level isn't enough. And the
03:09reason I say that is because when I played with offensive linemen, the sprained ankles didn't
03:14matter. The knees didn't matter. The bad shoulders, they were always right up front. And me being a
03:18wider, she was like, hey, my ankle hurts. My hamstring hurts. Maybe I can't go today. Talk
03:21about the toughness it takes to be an offensive lineman in the NFL.
03:24Right. It is. And it's a battle. It's a battle every day. You know, people ask me, oh, who was
03:30the easiest guy to go against? And there was no days off. Everybody was good. But yeah, you play
03:36through those injuries. And that's kind of how my story started. Because I was that guy willing to
03:42do whatever I had to stay out on the field. Because if I wasn't out there in my position,
03:47somebody else was going to be. So true. Because when you talk about the NFL and they say it is
03:51next man up. And if you're on the sideline, because even if you have any injury, whether
03:54it's high school, grade school, like you want to be out there with your guys, you feel sort of they
03:58let them down. So talk about those struggles that you have, because you have a great story behind
04:02this where you've got to be there for your guys. But some of the tolls Monday through Saturday that
04:07the people don't see, what were they? Yeah. Well, and like I said earlier, I was a guy willing to
04:11do whatever I had to stay on the field. And what that meant for me was taking handfuls of opiates
04:17every day and practicing and playing through the injuries. And, you know, we played in an era where
04:23we used to beat the crap out of each other all week long. You know, it was that. Pads all the
04:27time. That Bear Bryant, Junction Boy mentality where if you don't practice hard, you're not
04:32going to play hard. So that's where a lot of the injuries happened with my era guys. You know,
04:38now it's so different. You know, they hardly ever put on the pads. True. Guys are having longer
04:42careers and less injuries. But, you know, I justified it so easy because I wanted to be the
04:48best center to play the game. I want to play forever. I wanted to have that next big contract.
04:52I wanted to be all pro. So, you know, I just never expected to take what I was calling a necessary
04:58evil into my private life. And that's when it really started. Yeah. Heather, we'll get to some
05:02good stuff in just a moment. But I like to stay down this path because it's so refreshing to hear
05:07athletes who can come clean and say, you know what, I live this life and we don't want you to
05:11go down that same path because I know there were probably moments where you knew what you were
05:15doing wasn't right, but you had to play Sundays. Did that wear on your family life? Like take us
05:20through like what that daily process was when you realized something isn't right at this point now.
05:24Yeah. And I can remember playing the last two years of my career. OK. And I was the center,
05:30starting center. I was the quarterback of the offensive line. I can remember playing those last
05:33two years in a complete blackout. Wow. I mean, I don't I'd wake up on my couch at ten, eleven,
05:40twelve o'clock at night after playing a game at Silverdome, Detroit. And I didn't remember any
05:45of it, you know, and I had gotten home and I'd been center. I was changing, changing blocking
05:50schemes at the line of scrimmage, listening to the snap count. You know, I was listening to the
05:54quarterbacks. Yeah. He's got an audible. All that stuff I was doing in a blackout. And that's when I
05:58knew it was really out of hand. I just couldn't stop at that point. Yeah. Couldn't stop it. And
06:03then when I when I left the game, you know, you talk about leaving the game. I didn't transition
06:09well. Yeah. You know, when I didn't have that uniform anymore or that playbook and that itinerary,
06:14I struggled for a long time. I thought I was ready. Yeah. But no, I wasn't. Like when you talk
06:19about like even like the maybe the players association or the team itself, because we've
06:23come such a long way. They weren't even acknowledging in your day like concussions.
06:26Hey, you know, how many fingers in front of me get back out there where now there's people to
06:30talk to. There's places you can go. Talk about from your time, what you dealt with in your time
06:34in the NFL. Was there a place to go or was it actually shunned at that time? No, there was
06:37nothing out there. And and you certainly weren't going to admit it. Yeah. You weren't going to
06:41admit you had a problem. Yeah. So, you know, I was suffering in silence there for years.
06:46And, you know, it's what's crazy is that in, let's say, eight years that this was going on
06:51while I played for the Bucs, not once did anybody ever say, Randy, why are you slurring your words
06:56or why are you late to practice? Yeah. Or why are you nodding off in meetings or or why are you the
07:01last to leave the building every night and people are missing out of the drug safe? Yeah. Nobody
07:05ever asked me those questions because I was always playing good. Yeah. If it ain't broke, don't fix
07:09it. Yeah. So that was the mentality back then. And like the concussion protocol, I remember getting
07:16knocked out in in Detroit. Yeah. And walking off and sitting on their bench, you know. Yeah. And
07:23they say, hey, you OK? And you say, of course, I'm OK. And you're right back after taking a
07:26snap on the next side there. So always interesting there. Now, Heather, coming into this, like being
07:30around Randy, like what have we seen, the recovery and also what you're up to as well with him also?
07:36Well, Randy has been such an inspiration. And, you know, 16 years ago, him being so bold and brave
07:44to say, look, this has happened to me, but there's a better way and there's hope. Right.
07:49When I met him several years ago and hearing his mission, I knew we had to work together.
07:56Right. It was just timing. And I, too, am a person in long term recovery. And it's about
08:03being bold and sharing your message. Created Serenity Light Recovery Wellness Center.
08:08It's a different way of looking at the whole treatment. Right. Because what's happening now
08:14is the revolving door and it's something has to change. Right. And we have to look at
08:20more of the wellness aspect and especially for the players. Right. It's so they can be their
08:27best self on and off the game. And even after their career, we're seeing more athletes accept
08:34help and such a beautiful thing. But they're going through a grieving process because they
08:39haven't truly grieved, you know, their retirement or not being able to play anymore because that's
08:45so much of who they are. But they're more than that. And so we get to walk that journey with
08:51them and then help them manage their pain without medication. There's so many holistic
08:58approaches to healing and it's just giving them that awareness and the know-how and then
09:05the resources to do it. It's such a great story because, again, we always like the biggest,
09:10toughest men. You figure you hide your feelings. You don't show it here. But just
09:13owning up to what maybe happened in the past. But also it's great to see that you'd be a
09:17guiding light. Say, look, this happened to me. It's OK. We can come out on the other side. OK
09:21with that. Yeah. And that's kind of part of the stigma that keeps people from raising their hand.
09:24You know, they don't understand this disease. It happens to good people. You know, I work with
09:29athletes and judges and teachers and pastors. I mean, this happens to good people. So, you know,
09:37our message is it's OK to not be OK, but you've got to raise your hand for help. And I couldn't
09:41do what I do without Heather, her guidance, her facility, the Wellness Center, Serenity Light.
09:48And, you know, it takes a village. It does. You know, it does. Now we are at the Super Bowl,
09:55so I've got to ask you. You've played in the NFL a long time. You know your offensive lines. You've
09:58got two good ones in the Super Bowl. Who's the pick for the Super Bowl? Byrds? Chiefs? Who is it?
10:02Well, I'm an NFC guy, so I'm sticking with the Eagles. You know, I'm from Philadelphia. 24-21 is
10:06what I'm predicting. But there are two great offensive lines. And I've said all along that
10:12whichever defensive line plays the best, gets the most pressure on the quarterback. That's
10:16going to be the team that wins. Absolutely. You heard it right here from Randy and also Heather.
10:19Thanks so much, guys, for joining us here on Radio Row. Great stuff all the way through.
10:23He's Randy Grimes. I'm Donnie Rightside. Thanks for joining us today.