0:01

Are you ready for this? Sean

0:04

Merriman A one hand effect. Boom

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boom boom, out go the light. This

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is Lights Out with Sean

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Merriman. What's

0:15

up? Guys? Were back again with another Lights Out

0:17

podcast with me Sean Merriman, And today

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I want to dress something. Yesterday

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I've made a post as I would normally

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do. Obviously, you guys know that our own Lights

0:25

Out Extreme Fighting. Um,

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I'm a owner, not only a owner,

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but a promoter, and

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so for me, part of my job is

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to promote certain fights. Um

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when I see two two people and you know, it's

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funny for me right now, I really do enjoy

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posting these and kind of uh making

0:45

light of some of these beefs is happening

0:47

between athletes, celebrities or entertainment

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in general. Right, So I post things all the time. Follow

0:52

me at Sean Merriman on Instagram.

0:55

Yesterday Kwanbie Brown Uh, former number

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one pick from the Washington Wizards.

1:00

Uh some time ago and

1:02

straight out of high school when you

1:05

know, let's be quite

1:07

honest with it. I mean he just didn't live up to expectations.

1:10

He was a bust. Uh never really panned

1:12

out. Um, it's for whatever reason

1:14

that was, we we don't know we're here that you know, Michael

1:16

Jordan was too tough on him. Maybe he was too young

1:19

coming in or too immature. Whatever. That reason

1:22

for Kwambi Brown not being successful in the NBA

1:24

was it doesn't matter, right, he

1:26

just wasn't successful. Now yesterday,

1:29

Uh, he came out and had some back and forth

1:31

talk um with Matt Barnes

1:35

NBA, Gilbert Arenas and Stephen Jackson,

1:39

and you know, it started on the podcast and he

1:41

were just really talking and and and in

1:43

my opinion, let me say this, in my opinion,

1:45

nothing was said that hasn't been said about Kwambi

1:47

Brown for the last you know, fifteen

1:50

years or so, right, So it's nothing

1:52

new there, But I think it's struck a different chord

1:54

hearing to come from. Uh. You know,

1:56

Matt barn Stephen Jackson, and Gilbert Arenas,

1:59

guys who are very respected,

2:01

uh and then be a very respected as

2:04

a you know, post career analyst.

2:07

Uh. So when Kwalmy Brown seeing that, he reacted

2:10

and he just went on a entire

2:13

rant, uh, saying a bunch

2:15

of different things, and it was it was kind of crazy.

2:18

I think that he was just fed up

2:20

with the talk. Now, I'm

2:23

always going to promote a fight. I mean, I

2:25

really do believe this. This, This is what I what I believe.

2:28

I believe that you know, next year, two years,

2:30

three years, you're gonna have athletes challenging

2:33

other athletes and they're going to be

2:36

uh real life fights and exhibition

2:38

matches, pro matches, amateur matches, or whatever

2:40

you wanna call it. It will happen. I've been saying it for

2:42

the past couple of years. Uh as

2:44

we see now with the Jake Paul's and these

2:46

guys uh Nate Robinson in these

2:49

fights lamar oldom my belief has a fight coming

2:51

up. It's gonna become more frequent

2:53

than it ever has been in the past because

2:56

the crossover there. It just makes sense.

2:58

Um, people always want to see their favorite

3:01

athletes scrap, right, That's that's

3:03

why this country loves football. That's why

3:05

you know this country loves the

3:07

parts of hockey when they're fighting. I

3:09

mean, people love to see their favorite athlete scrap

3:12

is just what it is. And so I posted,

3:14

you know, kind of making a you know, a

3:17

joke of it, but it was you know, when I say it's

3:19

always some seriousness in a joke.

3:21

I literally just posted, uh

3:24

that if Matt Brown, Matt Barnes, and Stephen

3:26

Jackson Gilblderina's wanted to squash

3:28

this and maybe I can set up a fight for them, that offers

3:31

still on the table. But the bigger

3:33

part of that is, um,

3:36

look in NFL, we we see

3:38

guys come in all the time and and

3:40

and and don't perform to Ryan Leaves, JaMarcus

3:42

Russell. I mean there's been tons, tons

3:45

tons of number one picks or

3:47

high draft picks that don't

3:50

succeed. Uh.

3:52

And I took from that conversation that

3:55

I don't think they were ganging up on call me brand. It

3:57

was all truth, but it's for

3:59

me. It was nothing and that we haven't heard

4:01

for the past fifteen years. Uh.

4:03

It sounded like and it looked like they called call me

4:05

Brown was just fed up with it. He was completely

4:08

fed up with it. Uh. He wanted to do

4:10

something about it. And they're still going back and forth

4:13

on social

4:15

media. Now. I always

4:17

said this and and I don't know if I've ever said

4:20

this live on there, but you know I tried to leave when

4:22

I was at the University Midal of my sophomore year. If

4:24

it wasn't for uh

4:27

Maurice Clarette and Mike Williams

4:29

wide received by the USC. If

4:31

they were to pass

4:34

that rule and getting there after year, after

4:36

being two years in college, I would have been

4:38

right behind him. I would have left after my sophomore year.

4:40

I felt I was ready. I

4:43

felt I was ready. I didn't say I was ready. I felt

4:45

I was ready to play UM in the NFL,

4:48

and I felt I was ready to go. But I

4:50

can tell you when you get up to the professional level level,

4:52

the game changes. And not just physically. Obviously,

4:55

guys are bigger, stronger, faster, uh

4:58

more athletic and explosive. And

5:01

this is in the NFL and NBA, but

5:05

the mental aspect, guys get smarter.

5:08

Guys get a lot smarter. Um.

5:11

They start to watch film and read

5:13

the playbook and out with you

5:15

and smart you on the football field, and

5:17

so that way it starts to take away some of

5:20

your athletic god given ability. I

5:23

was fortunate that

5:25

that rule didn't pass for them because

5:28

I wasn't ready. And

5:30

so when I'm talking about, you know, a guy

5:32

like Kwambie Brown, and I'm looking

5:34

at myself being a sophomore coming out

5:36

in college. It doesn't matter whether it's a football

5:39

of NFL or NBA. You're

5:41

coming in there and basically as a kid. And

5:43

there's only a handful of guys that,

5:46

if you look back, that's had real

5:48

success. I'm talking about real success,

5:51

not guys who played in NBA fourteen

5:53

fifteen. I'm talking about real success and Kevin

5:55

Garnett's of the world, the Lebron's

5:57

of the world. You know, those those guys who

6:00

left straight from high school, Kobe straight

6:02

from high school and became stars

6:04

in the NBA. You know, in

6:06

my opinion, one of one of Qualmie's

6:08

biggest mistakes is he wasn't ready. You

6:11

know, he didn't have the mental mental capabilities

6:15

of playing on that level. Excepting

6:17

responsibility. Fox Sports

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Radio has the best sports talk lineup

6:22

in the nation. Catch all of our shows

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at Fox sports Radio dot com

6:26

and within the I Heart Radio app. Search f

6:29

s R to listen live. But

6:32

anyway, you know, I'm looking also at at

6:34

the things that have said and look

6:38

like I said, Kwamy Brown

6:41

isn't the first top

6:44

draft pick that wasn't success successful.

6:47

He's not gonna be the last. There's plenty

6:49

of guys who have not lived up to

6:51

the hype, has not gotten, has not performed,

6:55

has not done anything on the next level, and

6:57

been great college players or great high school players.

6:59

I mean, it happens all the time.

7:02

So I'm sitting back and I'm looking at some of the things

7:04

that are being said, and and my question

7:06

is this, you know why now you

7:09

know my opinion? Why now? So?

7:12

Uh you know, I got I go and and

7:14

I talked to these high school kids all the time. I talked

7:16

to college players,

7:19

and the first thing they'll ask asked

7:21

me when I get uh to the

7:23

campus, how is it to play in the NFL?

7:26

What is it like? Right? So, if you're talking

7:28

about college, look

7:31

across the board, look at your standout

7:33

guys in college, the All Americans,

7:35

the All SEC, the All big you

7:38

know, the Big ten, all a CC. Look at

7:40

the top guys, and

7:42

then go to the next level. Take

7:45

those best to take your best guys there

7:47

was in in uh you know, in college on your

7:49

team, and you put them in NFL and

7:51

watch how many of these guys become average.

7:56

So when you're talking about the levels of the game, and I'm talking

7:58

to these players high school in college, that the first

8:00

thing I say is it. You know, it doesn't

8:02

matter. You can be all world here, it

8:05

does not matter. You're getting up there now where

8:07

everybody's great, everybody's

8:10

fast, everybody's athletic and

8:12

explosive. So you

8:15

know, I'm going back and I'm kind of reminiscent

8:18

of my own situation and possibly coming

8:20

out of college, my

8:22

sophomore year at the University of Maryland, and how

8:24

I would have not been ready. There's

8:27

no way I would have been ready. You're going up there with grown

8:30

men, guys who has

8:32

been around with five and ten plus years.

8:34

And I always used to laugh, and you know, I'll be

8:36

thirty seven coming up next week. I

8:39

always used to laugh. And when somebody

8:42

said old man strength,

8:44

old man strength, I never knew what that

8:47

was until I got about you know, after thirty

8:49

five years old, where that strength kicks

8:51

in. Where it's not about how, uh you

8:53

know, lifting weights, working out, No, you just have natural

8:56

strength that old man I'm a grown

8:58

man strength. And what happened what Kwalmi

9:01

Brown is he got up there with grown men and not only

9:03

was he not physically ready to handle

9:05

that mentally, because I'll

9:07

tell you this, there's a lot of responsibility

9:10

when you are hydrated when you're high draft

9:12

pick, top ten, top fifteen, first round,

9:16

hell even second round in some cases. But when you

9:18

were top ten, top fifteen draft pick, and

9:20

I'm speaking from experience, you know, being

9:23

selected twelfth overall by the Charges back

9:25

in two thousand five, I can

9:27

tell you there's a lot of growing

9:30

up you have to do. There's a lot of responsibility.

9:33

And I was twenty years old when I got drafted.

9:36

I was still in in in their

9:38

eyes, in the NFL's eyes, I was still

9:40

a baby. So

9:45

I don't fault Kwamie Brown. Look,

9:47

he had an opportunity to change his life

9:49

and his family's life by leaving you know,

9:52

leaving school world is skipping college, uh,

9:54

you know, going to play with the

9:56

Wizards organization, being beside George,

9:59

Michael Jordan and the there was more than

10:01

enough reasons to go. That's that that step.

10:04

But I can tell you that if you're not

10:06

ready, which not everybody,

10:09

not everybody is. If you're not ready, don't

10:11

make that decision. Don't

10:13

make that decision. And you

10:15

know a little bit of me say I want to sit back

10:17

and say, you know, with the rule changes that

10:20

they make you go to college for a year, or so before

10:23

you go there, be a professional you

10:26

know, professional basketball player or

10:28

in in some cases in football, uh

10:31

you know, be there for a couple of years and then go pro.

10:33

I'm glad that rule let's implemented

10:36

because there's a lot of guys that

10:38

aren't just ready and Kwamie Brown

10:40

was a victim in a way of

10:42

not being ready both mentally and physically to

10:45

planing that and uh NBA

10:48

period. So that that was

10:50

my thoughts to me. I look, I joke around a lot

10:52

on social media. Um,

10:54

obviously I'm in the fight business. So it's something I

10:56

love and enjoy doing. And

10:59

I on sleep to my heart of hearts,

11:01

believe that the next couple of years, there's gonna be a lot

11:03

of athletes and entertainers and bunch

11:05

of other um, you know, people

11:07

from different backgrounds and walks of life and genres

11:09

that are going to be fighting. It's

11:12

gonna happen. Mark my words. You guys

11:14

gonna see some of the most outrageous fights or

11:16

matches here coming up shortly in the

11:18

next couple of years, because that it'll just get there.

11:20

It's gonna happen. Thanks

11:24

guys, and listening in to another lightstop podcast,

11:26

Me, Sean Merriman and the guys

11:29

up this. These numbers are off the charts

11:31

and the subscriptions, the reviews,

11:34

um I was blown away.

11:36

I was checking it over the weekend as I was

11:38

coming back, um about to come back

11:41

from l A and just getting the numbers. And

11:43

I want to thank everybody for uh

11:45

just subscribing the Lightsop podcast. Listen

11:48

to me leaving these reviews because it's all important.

11:50

I see it. I wish I can respond everybody, but anybody,

11:52

I want to give a huge thank you. So next

11:55

week we're coming back with another one.