0:00

It will be so weird to even

0:02

think about seeing him wearing another, you

0:05

know, cut up hoodie or anything. But

0:08

I will say, knowing Bill, none of us

0:10

really know how anything will work out because

0:12

that's part of the reason why he's been

0:14

so great is the mysterious kind of nature

0:16

that he has. Hey,

0:21

what's cracking? Welcome to the Gym Room Podcast

0:23

where I'm fired up for this. I've got

0:25

a big time conversation on deck for episode

0:28

291 because today I have tracked down a

0:32

three time Super Bowl champion, a

0:34

huge piece of the Patriots dynasty,

0:36

a three time All Pro. He's

0:39

a member of the Patriots All 2010s team. He

0:42

is longtime New England safety Devin McCourty.

0:45

Devin was picked up by the Patriots

0:47

in the first round of the 2010

0:49

draft and he never left. He

0:52

spent his entire 13 year career in

0:55

Foxborough winning like crazy and ripping Lombardi's.

0:57

Now he's hit the ground running to

0:59

start his broadcasting career with NBC Sports

1:01

Football Night in America and Westwood One.

1:04

I cannot wait to catch up with

1:06

him. So let's not wait. Let's get

1:08

right to it. It's episode 291 of

1:11

the Gym Room Podcast with Pat's legend,

1:13

Devin McCourty, and it's coming at you

1:16

right now. Devin,

1:24

Gym Room, absolutely awesome to have you on this

1:26

podcast, man. I know how busy you are. I

1:29

appreciate your time. Great to have you. How

1:31

are things? Man, no complaints. Doing

1:34

well, enjoying life after football has

1:36

been awesome. Getting to still, you

1:38

know, be around the game and talk about it

1:40

and watch it and enjoy it. But

1:42

my body feels a lot better not running full

1:45

speed hitting people. Man, I bet.

1:47

I bet. Listen, I'm actually fascinated by your life after

1:49

football and I want to get into that. Let's

1:51

go back and start with the NFL's first ever Black

1:53

Friday game. You were a part of that. Let's

1:56

put aside, Devin, for a minute, the

1:58

beatdown that Miami laid out. on the Jets.

2:00

I want to ask you what it was like

2:02

to call the game for Westwood One Radio with

2:05

your brother Jason and Iain Eagle. How special was

2:07

it to share the broadcast booth with your brother

2:09

at the Meadowlands in your home state of Jersey?

2:12

Man, it was so cool. And I think, you

2:14

know, how things just happen organically

2:17

is hilarious. You know, Jason

2:20

retiring a year before me, he goes

2:22

and auditions and he actually does an

2:25

audition calling the game with Noah Eagle,

2:27

Iain's son. And then you fast forward

2:29

two years later, you know, he called

2:32

his first game on radio with Iain.

2:34

I called my first game with Iain

2:36

and then, you know, Black Friday, we're

2:38

together with Iain, doing something that

2:41

we've done together since we were 10 years

2:43

old playing football. And now we get to

2:45

talk about the game of football, laugh, joke.

2:48

I mean, we were we were shooting digs

2:50

at each other during the broadcast. So we

2:52

had a lot of fun and we hope when people listen they

2:55

can just tell how much fun we're having watching

2:58

and talking about the game. And that is the

3:00

best. What a blast that is. And listen, sidebar

3:02

really quickly. Iain, Iain is recognized as

3:05

not only the one of the best ever do it,

3:07

you'll never find a class here guy. What was it

3:09

like to work with Iain? Oh,

3:12

man, you know, you talk about being on air

3:14

with him. And for one, he's just so easy

3:16

to work with. You know, my first game, obviously,

3:19

I'm so nervous doing it. But soon as we

3:21

start, he's cracking jokes. He's he's singing rap music

3:23

before you go on air. Like it is just

3:25

all the little things. And then I think I've

3:27

been blown away. And it's helped me out a

3:30

lot is just the storytelling, whether it's right into

3:32

the game or being in the hotel, him

3:34

just sharing all his experiences and what

3:37

he's learned and telling stories about coaches

3:39

that he's had production meetings with just

3:41

all those small things kind of give me back

3:43

get me back in that locker room kind

3:46

of aspect of talking to coaches and different

3:48

people. So I've been a

3:50

great, you know, obviously, play by play guy.

3:52

But for me, just a small mentorship role

3:55

of being able to call games with him and learn from

3:57

him. Yeah, you get it. He's beloved. He's got this nack

3:59

of making everybody feel really, really comfortable.

4:01

You know, you, as far as

4:04

that game itself, I mean, you've seen some crazy

4:06

things during your years in the game, but have

4:08

you ever witnessed anything like the Dolphins taking back

4:10

that Hail Mary thrown by Tim Boyle for a

4:12

99 yard pick six heading

4:14

into halftime? And was that not the most

4:16

Jets thing ever? No,

4:19

our producer, we call him Snake.

4:21

He had to tap us to

4:23

talk. We're sitting there and Javon

4:25

Hollis starts running and

4:27

we're like, and I had, we're all like,

4:29

he's about to score. And just the

4:31

whole sequence of, you know, just a minute

4:33

before that play, the Jets got to pick

4:36

six. Then Miami got the ball back

4:38

and Miami threw an interception. So the Jets

4:40

get the ball back and they, it

4:42

was just the craziest, obviously

4:44

that play, but those plays all put

4:46

together. I don't know if I've ever

4:48

seen three interceptions in a minute

4:50

in a game that was right before the

4:53

half. And then I thought Mike McDaniel absolutely

4:56

stole the show by running full speed

4:58

towards the tunnel and then stopping and

5:00

watching the extra point from the tunnel

5:02

was probably one of the best things

5:04

I've ever seen a head coach do

5:06

mid game. He just was

5:08

like, he was having more fun than anybody else out

5:10

there on the field, watching

5:12

his guys go out there and compete. Dan, I'm

5:14

so glad you brought him up. Mike, I mean,

5:16

I love this guy. I've never actually spoken to

5:19

this guy. I've never met this guy. I cannot

5:21

get enough of this guy. I think he's fascinating

5:23

because you normally don't see like these fun coaches

5:25

last very long, but very clearly, this guy's

5:27

had this amazing journey. He's pretty open

5:29

and transparent about how he, like he

5:31

literally partied his way out of the

5:33

NFL, fought his way back in, understands

5:35

the moment and the

5:37

opportunity. And dude, he's just so different

5:39

and so funny. What's your take on

5:41

him? What do you think he'd be like to play for? Yeah,

5:45

I know that they don't seem too excited

5:47

to have the hard knocks, but what I've

5:49

loved about the hard knocks, just, you know,

5:51

only two episodes out, we

5:53

all see him as just this like fun, probably

5:55

easy going, but you can tell

5:58

like even in those meetings, when my- by guy

6:00

Campanelli gets up there and

6:02

he's talking to that team. Like they

6:04

are working hard and they're still going

6:06

after it. But what I love about

6:09

him from watching from the outside in, I

6:11

think what I would enjoy about being one

6:13

of his players is he's just himself. Like

6:15

he is who he is. He's going out

6:17

there having fun. He's going out there probably

6:19

cracking jokes with the guys. I

6:22

don't know if he even yells much, but if

6:24

he yells, it's probably a part of just who

6:26

he is. There's no act or he's not trying

6:28

to fill this role of what a head coach

6:30

should be. And I think especially for this generation,

6:32

I think he connects with all of

6:34

those guys a lot more than some of

6:36

these other coaches because they want

6:38

to see that. They want to feel like

6:41

me and my coach aren't that different. Like

6:43

when Javon Holland scoring on a Hail Mary

6:45

pick six, none of us has ever seen

6:47

that. Instead of him kind of

6:49

sitting there calm on the sideline, not reacting,

6:51

he's going nuts. And I think you can

6:53

see his players, you can see at the

6:56

end of games when he's running full speed

6:58

in the tunnel, they're like

7:00

dapping them up and they're getting ready to see him

7:02

run too. So I think it's been

7:04

cool to see how he just brings everybody along

7:06

with him on the journey. It's not as much

7:08

of that, you know, him standing at the front

7:10

of the room pointing and telling people what to

7:12

do. It just seems like he just grabs his

7:14

team and says, hey, let's go on this journey

7:16

together. I'll lead the way, but

7:19

I want everybody's input. And it's been

7:21

working. Miami looks like a really good

7:23

football team. And I think the way

7:25

they compete is what makes them

7:27

fun to watch. I think that's really interesting. Like he's

7:29

real, he's authentic, he connects and you can see it.

7:33

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