0:10

This is the OTP presented by Farm

0:12

Bureau Health Plans. Get the home field advantage

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with healthcare coverage from Farm Bureau Health

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Plans. They've been protecting Tennessee

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and since nineteen forty seven.

0:22

It is Thursday, October the first,

0:24

and it is Amy Wells and

0:26

Mike Keith, the duo

0:29

on this edition of the OTP. Amy

0:31

Wells, it has been it

0:33

has been an interesting week, Mike

0:36

Keith. You know how people when they're real tired,

0:38

they say, who, it's been a day. We've

0:41

been saying that for about four days now. It's

0:44

been a day. Well. It started in

0:46

Minneapolis on Sunday. And

0:50

one of the things about the game with the

0:52

Vikings that is unusual is it

0:54

was an away game on Central Time,

0:57

and that happens very rarely for us.

0:59

There have been many years that

1:01

the only away game that we have on

1:03

Central Time is Houston. So

1:06

normally we're in an Eastern time

1:08

zone playing it away game, and it's a

1:10

one o'clock and so you got it like an extra

1:13

hour to sort of gather. But

1:15

because we're playing at noon, and

1:18

because there aren't buses carrying

1:20

us to the stadium, we are traveling

1:23

separate from the team. We all

1:25

have to go together at the same time. So we go

1:27

very early in the morning on Sunday and

1:30

we're there early. We do the game. The

1:32

game is exhausting, and if

1:34

you watched or listened, we

1:37

hope you listened, you know what we're

1:39

talking about. The game was exhausting.

1:42

And so then we start to add

1:44

back to the airport. When we

1:46

get to the car, Amy Wells does

1:48

what is now her famous Mary

1:50

Tyler Moore impersonation

1:53

in Minneapolis. Yes, did

1:56

you know the Mary Tyler Moore show. Y's

1:59

the thing, Mike, Okay. I was

2:01

not present for

2:03

the original airing of Mary Tyler Moore.

2:06

However, round two, Nick

2:08

at Night, Mary Tyler Moore came on after

2:11

Laverne and Shirley. So I watched it and

2:13

in my little kid mind thought I was watching

2:15

it in real time. I was not. So

2:18

I am very familiar with the show from the reruns

2:20

on Nick well the iconic Mary Tyler

2:22

Moore Show. She worked at

2:25

a television station in Minneapolis,

2:28

and so we conned

2:30

Amy Wells into doing a Barry

2:32

Tyler Moore knockoff and

2:35

posted the video at

2:37

Titans Radio, tweeted it

2:39

out from the Titans radio account and

2:42

it turned out to be like this massive hit.

2:45

Yeah, and it feels

2:47

like that was nine years ago, doesn't

2:50

it. We were all different people back

2:52

then. We get in the card the

2:55

fifteen passenger white

2:57

van to drive back to the Minneapolis

2:59

airport. Brad Willis is editing this

3:01

video and we're laughing about

3:04

the whole thing and excited to be three

3:06

and oh. And Titans fans are excited to be three

3:08

and oz and they see the video

3:10

of you doing the Mary Tyler more impersonation.

3:12

If people just love it, and everybody's excited to

3:15

be three and oh. Then we

3:17

get back and we got back ten

3:19

thirty. Yeah, Sunday

3:22

night. Not bad, not bad at all. We

3:24

go about our business. On Monday, we

3:27

do Coach Rabel's radio show, we

3:30

do Coach Rabels television show.

3:33

And on Tuesday morning we

3:37

are coming in to do Titans

3:40

All Access. We shoot Titans All Access

3:42

on Tuesdays. And so i

3:44

am in the parking lot at Dunkin'

3:46

Donut. It's National Coffee Day, so

3:49

I'm picking up coffee. I've

3:52

got two instead of one day,

3:55

Big day, and I'm talking to Brad Willis

3:57

on the phone. I go to pull out, and

4:00

all of a sudden, my phone starts going

4:02

nuts, and the first

4:04

text I have is from John Robinson and

4:06

he says, we are not shooting Titans All Access

4:09

this morning, and I'm

4:11

like, why would we not be shooting Titans All

4:13

Access. So I pull

4:16

into the quick

4:18

Mart right there and

4:22

get on my phone and immediately see

4:24

that our building has been closed

4:27

and the reports are out that there are eight

4:29

positive COVID tests among players

4:31

and staff, and we've got

4:33

a real issue. And then I call Ashley Farrell, who

4:36

produces Titans All Access works

4:38

with us on the OTP here, and

4:41

I said, do we even come in? She goes no,

4:43

She said they're running us out of the building

4:45

right now. She was already there for

4:48

the shoot. And so then

4:50

I called you and said, don't

4:52

go in. And so then we tried

4:54

to figure out what was next, and

4:57

Tuesday was just an absolute

4:59

blur. Yes, fair to fair to say

5:01

all day today. You mentioned at the beginning of

5:03

the show we were recording on Thursday.

5:06

All day today, I have thought it was Wednesday,

5:10

And as you're retelling the story,

5:12

the reason that I think it's Wednesdays

5:14

because I feel like my week started

5:17

with this right. So Monday

5:19

is lost in my brain. It Monday

5:21

is a distant time, in a distant

5:24

place. My week started on

5:26

Tuesday when this happened, because it feels

5:28

like since we got the news, since you called

5:31

me, I didn't even know what was going on. I

5:33

have been on the phone all morning talking

5:35

to my family and just kind of catching

5:37

up on things as I normally do. In

5:39

the first couple of days, after we play a game, and

5:43

you were like, so we're not going in, I'm

5:46

getting in my car and I was like, Hey, why

5:49

why wouldn't we go in? And

5:51

so I feel very much like my world

5:54

this week started when I was on

5:56

the phone with you, which explains

5:58

why I'm so confused about what day it is.

6:00

Now. I get it. I get it. And so

6:04

we're getting calls all day

6:06

separately from people

6:08

who are asking what we know, and

6:11

the truth is we don't know anything. They're

6:13

either asking what we know? Are

6:16

are we okay? Yes? And

6:19

listen. So appreciate

6:21

people being concerned. But part of the

6:23

reason that we don't know things, and part

6:25

of the reason that we are okay

6:28

is we are not traveling with the

6:30

team this year. What I

6:32

described about the hotel and

6:34

the fifteen passenger van and all

6:36

of the stuff is because we

6:39

are having to travel separately

6:42

and we are one of less than ten

6:45

teams that is traveling radio

6:48

to various sites. We mentioned

6:50

that not bragging. This

6:52

is not John Wayne or Clint Eastwood

6:55

that we think we're so tough and very

6:57

glamorous. No, it's not glamorous.

6:59

And it's not because we think we're tough

7:02

or we're better than anybody, or we

7:05

just said we want to try to do

7:07

it if we can, we want to try

7:09

to do it. And Jonathan

7:12

Cutton couldn't make one trip because

7:14

we couldn't take a full bunch of people,

7:16

and Brian couldn't make this

7:18

trip because there was

7:21

another person who couldn't work at the radio

7:23

station due to a car accident, our friend

7:25

David Reid, and he's okay, thank goodness. But

7:28

Rhet was the only one allowed into

7:30

the studio that David

7:33

was allowed into. So we've had all of

7:35

these things, just like you and your work

7:37

out there as you listen to the OTP, we've

7:40

had all these things come up. We

7:42

don't know that we're going to get to go to every game we

7:45

hope, so we're gonna try. But

7:48

traveling commercially is

7:51

very different and not bad,

7:53

but it's very it's a very different experience

7:56

because of the timing

7:59

of it. It takes it's a lot longer

8:01

to do things the way we're doing it. But

8:04

in this case, we're not with the official

8:06

party, and because we're not at

8:08

the same hotel and all of this, we

8:11

don't know these things that are going on.

8:14

We did not know Shane Bowen wasn't

8:16

with the team in Minnesota.

8:18

Heard that on Vrabel's

8:21

teleconference on Monday, and I'm

8:23

like, he wasn't. So it's very

8:25

much like we're disconnected in

8:28

such a different way. Amy, Absolutely

8:30

it is. And to your

8:33

point, Mike, everybody that has reached out.

8:35

My phone has been ringing NonStop

8:37

since Tuesday. And I am

8:39

so appreciative of every person who

8:42

basically I've ever met in my life checking

8:44

in to see if you're okay. I think

8:46

that is just the kindest thing. And

8:49

I'm so appreciative that so many people

8:51

are concerned about us. I really think

8:53

that that's awesome. But they also want

8:55

to know. Oh, but they totally also

8:57

want to know because the

9:00

Titans are the national story

9:02

in the NFL. Because this

9:05

is the first team that COVID

9:07

has hit. Absolutely, I mean yeah,

9:10

it's also a bit of a fishing situation.

9:13

Hey are you okay? Okay? So who is it? Like?

9:16

I understand, I mean, it's national

9:18

news. It's a huge thing, and

9:21

we've all kind of been waiting to see what the NFL

9:23

was going to do with this. For us,

9:25

You're one hundred percent right, Mike, in

9:28

not only our travel situation, but also

9:30

kind of our work situation. The way

9:32

that we're doing things now, with the tiering systems

9:35

and everything, we are not as

9:38

close proximity to the team as

9:40

we usually are. We're still a practice,

9:42

of course, we're still doing

9:45

interviews and things like that, but we're not physically

9:47

in the same spaces as the team. Amy

9:49

and I are Tier three, which

9:52

means that unless

9:54

things change dramatically, which we

9:57

don't expect, we will interview neither

9:59

a player nor a coach this

10:01

year in person. When

10:03

we do things with Vrabel, we are

10:05

not in person. When we do things with Robinson,

10:08

we are not in person. So

10:11

we go in on Wednesday and

10:14

we tape titans. All access are

10:17

feeling at that point as

10:20

people, as people reading

10:23

things in the media, as

10:26

employees. From what we know from

10:28

our colleagues with the team, we think

10:31

the game's on, We

10:33

think the game's gonna be Monday. I want

10:35

to ask you this. I never thought the game

10:37

was gonna be Tuesday. I never bought

10:40

that. Yeah, it seemed

10:43

far fetched, just because a it's

10:45

not a natural football day be

10:48

there. Seems to me there would be a lot of TV

10:50

things that you would have to figure out from a logistics

10:53

standpoint. Well, they were saying it

10:55

was gonna be on CBS in primetime.

10:57

A media reporter from

11:00

The New York Post reported

11:02

that it was going to be on at seven Eastern

11:05

in prime time, but never

11:07

made it. Never made sense to me from

11:09

this standpoint. You've already

11:12

got the Steelers who are kind of

11:14

messed up in all of this because

11:17

they're the travel team. We've

11:19

worked closely with the travel folks

11:22

for years. You and I are friends with them.

11:24

We know their job, Understand

11:27

how hard they work. You don't

11:29

just call and get a plane,

11:33

no, right, you don't an entire

11:35

hotel or an entire hotel, especially

11:38

now in Nashville. Yeah.

11:40

Well, but but how many of them can do the

11:42

catering can do, the security can

11:44

do the meeting, because remember, those

11:46

guys can't leave anymore. When

11:49

they get to the hotel, they have to stay

11:51

at the hotel. So for

11:53

the Steelers to be

11:56

messed up with the travel thing, they needed

11:58

to know. And the

12:00

other part of the logistics is

12:03

then they're gonna get back on Wednesday

12:05

morning sometime, you

12:07

know, early in the morning, three, and then play

12:10

on Sunday and then play again on Sunday. That's

12:13

not really fair to them.

12:16

If you play on Monday, it's one thing because

12:18

tuesday's normally a player day off. They'd

12:21

be fine. But Tuesday

12:23

never made any sense to me. So

12:25

our assumption on Wednesday of

12:27

this week is gonna play the

12:30

game. Titans probably

12:32

don't get to practice. If

12:35

they do, it's one day, so

12:37

what play the game? Bring it on. That's what

12:39

they're telling the players. They're saying, Hey, we're going

12:43

you know, if they want to show up and play in the parking

12:45

lot at Kroger, We're rolling

12:47

man. Because that's that's the attitude

12:50

that the Titans. We're gonna take about

12:52

it, no excuses. They

12:55

show up, we show up, we

12:57

play. We understand this. So

13:00

I think when I go to bed last night,

13:03

I think the game's Monday. Yep, there

13:06

was talk the game was gonna be Monday

13:08

at four Central so

13:11

that it would not compete with the scheduled

13:13

Monday Night game, which I think is smart

13:15

because if I had Monday Night football,

13:18

I'd be annoyed getting scooped

13:20

by a really good game that's

13:23

two, three and oh teams Like this

13:26

game with the Steelers is gonna be a good

13:28

game. Whenever we play it, it's gonna

13:30

be awesome. So the real Monday

13:33

Night football teams, I'd be annoyed to

13:35

be losing my spot or having

13:37

a competing game. So I

13:39

understand having it a little bit earlier.

13:41

That's totally fine. But yeah, as

13:43

of last night, I thought

13:45

we were rocking and rolling on Monday. I

13:48

thought the game was gonna be on Monday, you

13:50

know. I thought that's that's the story.

13:52

We're gonna play on Monday. And here we go. Get up

13:54

this morning eight thirty

13:57

Central time, the news hits there

13:59

two more positive COVID tests

14:02

and the league has postponed the game. So

14:05

for us, we have to go back in for the third

14:07

straight day and try

14:09

to do something in regards to Titans

14:11

all access because some of what we have

14:14

done. We can't use now, Yeah,

14:16

we can't flat wrong, So

14:18

we fix that and

14:22

and now the Titans are headed

14:24

towards their bye week. That's

14:26

what this is now. So the players

14:29

are off until early next

14:31

week. But we don't exactly

14:33

know when the Titans are going to be allowed

14:36

back into Saint Thomas Sports Park,

14:38

which is the training facility. They

14:41

have been told to stay away from

14:43

one another, don't go to the park

14:45

and throw, don't get your families

14:47

together, don't have a supper

14:50

where everybody's even sits on the back

14:52

porch. You know what I'm saying. None

14:55

of that, because the hope

14:58

is that the positive tests don't

15:00

keep coming. Yes,

15:03

because number one, you

15:05

are so worried about people getting sick,

15:09

and you're so worried about the people who

15:11

are already sick because

15:15

you have family in the healthcare business.

15:17

I have family in the healthcare business.

15:20

And what has scared medical

15:23

people all along about COVID more

15:26

than anything else is what they don't

15:28

know. How it affects

15:30

people differently, what the long

15:32

term effects may be, how

15:35

it spreads so easily, asymptomatically.

15:39

So now the

15:41

football thing gets pulled out of it,

15:43

and I think Mike Vrabel brought it up very

15:45

accurately yesterday. The people

15:48

part of it comes to

15:50

the forefront, as it probably should have from

15:52

the start. That is the nice thing about

15:55

being able to definitively

15:57

know the game is not happening

15:59

this weekend. We know that now, so

16:02

no distractions know anything else. Let's focus

16:04

on our people. Let's make sure that everybody's

16:06

healthy. Let's make sure that they're getting the treatment

16:09

and the medical attention they need. Let's

16:11

make sure their families are okay and their families

16:13

are healthy, and let's really try to

16:15

contain this thing. I mean, people are still going

16:17

to be getting tested every day

16:20

throughout this bye week, so

16:22

to be able to make sure that

16:25

we're not going to a more positive tests, we're containing

16:27

and treating all the people that need that. Hopefully

16:30

it gives us a chance to get some things under control,

16:33

and then when everyone comes back whenever

16:35

that is, it can be all football. Yeah,

16:38

because this is this

16:42

is our family. You know, these

16:44

coaches and these players, even though we're

16:46

separated from them right now. We

16:49

mentioned the staff

16:51

who does operations, the equipment

16:53

staff, the medical

16:56

team, per se. I mean, you feel so

16:58

badly for the people who have worked

17:00

on all of the protocols for this

17:02

to happen, because we know they

17:05

have gone above and beyond,

17:08

and I think you know, Ian

17:10

Rappaport reported today that

17:13

there weren't fines coming for

17:15

Titans players or anybody for doing

17:17

anything wrong. Well, I mean,

17:19

in some instances there have been things

17:21

in sport where it has happened, but

17:25

this is one of those things. COVID

17:28

is sneaky. I

17:30

mean it's sneaky. You can do all of

17:32

the right things and

17:34

still get exposed. And now

17:37

you cut down your chances if

17:39

you do all of the right things. But

17:42

in this instance, these people

17:44

who have worked so hard to keep

17:46

this from happening, I'm sure they're

17:49

crest falling at the fact

17:51

that this has disrupted

17:53

this organization. Because

17:56

I will assure you, having known most

17:58

of these people for white sometime, there

18:01

is no team that took this any more

18:03

seriously than the Titans. There may

18:06

have been some who took it as seriously, but

18:09

it's hard. I mean, the whole

18:11

thing is just really really

18:14

hard from the personal side

18:17

to see these guys you

18:19

know down the way they are right now,

18:22

and to know that Christian Fulton is the

18:24

latest one to go on the COVID nineteen

18:26

list, and you know it

18:29

could be more days. There

18:31

will be more tests, there will be more results.

18:33

You hope that it abates

18:36

very quickly in terms of the numbers

18:38

of staff and players grow it

18:41

well. The very first time that Mike Vrabel

18:43

spoke to the media, he started

18:45

off pretty early on saying,

18:47

Hey, this is no one's fault. We're

18:50

in a pandemic. This is what

18:52

happens. There is no one to blame.

18:54

And I wrote it down because I felt

18:57

like someone somewhere would need to reference

18:59

that at some point, Like, you didn't do

19:01

anything wrong. There is not

19:04

anything more or less

19:06

that you could have done. You followed every step,

19:08

every procedure, and it still happened.

19:10

It's a pandemic like that, That's

19:13

what happens. That's why this

19:15

is a global emergency, Like

19:18

it's bigger than the protocols. And

19:21

sometimes these things just they

19:24

happen the way they do well from

19:26

a football standpoint. Back

19:29

to that for a second. The fact that

19:31

the team is an older team,

19:33

the fact that the team is off to a good start,

19:36

the fact that the head coach and the general

19:38

manager and everyone

19:41

around both of them have taken

19:43

all this seriously, all the

19:45

way through. I think it

19:47

gives the Titans as good a chance to

19:49

deal with whatever the fall at is because

19:52

here's the thing, Amy, I mean,

19:54

we don't know how much they're going to be able to practice for Buffalo.

19:58

Nope. The whole is

20:00

they could go back to work on Wednesday,

20:03

but we don't know that, and it

20:05

may be And now they're gonna have to play

20:08

thirteen straight weeks in the season,

20:11

you know, and that's the way it goes, and you're

20:14

not gonna and their attitude

20:16

about it is going to be this fine,

20:19

of course we'll play thirteen straight

20:22

weeks. That's what we're gonna do. I

20:24

mean, can you think of a better head coach in the National

20:26

Football League to be leading a team in

20:28

this situation than the guy we've got. Nobody

20:32

exists who is better equipped for this

20:34

kind of curveball than Mike Vrabel. Period.

20:37

There just isn't someone who

20:39

can take it, make decisive

20:42

decisions about what's about to happen, and

20:45

then keep pushing. That's what he

20:47

does, That's what it does every day. So

20:50

in that regard, I feel so

20:52

thankful for the leadership. John Robinson,

20:54

Mike Vrabel Amy Adam Strunk. The people

20:57

who are driving this ship are

21:00

one capable of making the right

21:02

choices in the best interest of this team

21:05

and getting them in a situation to be ready

21:07

to play football. And that makes

21:09

me feel really good. Also, it makes

21:11

me feel really good that we have two

21:13

AFC wins in our back pocket,

21:17

so there's not a hole to dig out

21:19

of. We're not sitting on any losses

21:21

right now, yea three and oh, and

21:24

so when this team gets back on the field,

21:27

they can continue to push forward and they're

21:29

not trying to make up for anything

21:31

else that they've lost other than some practice

21:33

time. That makes me feel good too.

21:35

Well, that's right. I think that's a good point

21:38

about all of it, is that you

21:42

have people and you know, when they

21:44

sat down and considered everything, and they

21:46

knew they were going to go into this season, there

21:49

was an understanding that competitive balance

21:51

at certain issues would go out the

21:53

window based on the fact

21:56

that some of that might

21:58

have to be given up if the

22:00

league wanted to play all two hundred and fifty

22:02

six games, that there might have

22:04

to be allowances. There were allowances

22:07

in how the off season was going to be

22:09

done, and the league is famous

22:11

for being inflexible. They've been

22:13

criticized for seemingly a hundred

22:16

years for being inflexible. They

22:18

were so flexible in this offseason.

22:21

They got the season started, and

22:23

we got through three weeks. We got through,

22:26

you know, roughly twenty percent of the season

22:29

before this hit. Had it hit

22:32

the Chargers, we'd

22:34

be having a conversation here on the OTP

22:37

presented by Farm Bureau Health Plans about

22:40

well, the Chargers, and it's tough for

22:42

them, but you have to. You gotta go

22:44

forward because if you're the league, you're going to do

22:46

it. That's what everybody's saying about the Titans

22:48

right now. Ye tough for them, but

22:51

you gotta go forward. I

22:53

think the league desperately wanted to play

22:55

this weekend, I really do. I

22:57

think they wanted to play on Monday night. I think

22:59

they wanted to get it in. But I think

23:01

they're medical people probably said,

23:04

with this situation as it is,

23:07

that team can't gather together

23:10

soon enough for them to play on Monday.

23:13

Right. Well, Mike, I'm gonna be completely

23:15

honest. I never want an NFL

23:17

team to win other than the Tennessee

23:19

Titans. Ever, Like, I don't care who's playing. I don't

23:21

care what the situation is. I'm rooting

23:23

for everyone to lose except for the Tennessee Titans

23:25

always because that is in the best interest of

23:28

us. However, when

23:30

we think about this season in its entirety,

23:33

we kind of have to think about the greater

23:35

good this year. We have to

23:38

be thinking for what is best for

23:40

the entire league. Do we have

23:43

some sort of a competitive disadvantage

23:45

going into a game at some point?

23:48

Potentially? Are we and maybe

23:50

some other teams inconvenienced

23:52

by the fact that our schedules

23:54

might have to be adjusted a little bit? Sure,

23:57

is a week four by that you find

23:59

out about out on a Thursday ideal

24:02

and relaxing, Not exactly, But

24:05

if this is what needs to happen for the National

24:08

Football League to be able to get

24:10

through and the entire

24:12

sixteen seventeen weeks season, this

24:15

is what we need. I mean, ask any rookie in

24:17

the National Football League. Was this offseason

24:19

fair? Probably not? But

24:23

we're playing absolutely, there's

24:25

football. We are playing football.

24:28

To your point about the greater good. We

24:30

are playing football and good

24:33

football and good football, and that

24:35

is the most important thing to all

24:37

of us and people, you

24:39

know, people Last Saturday, watching the SEC

24:43

man. It felt good to watch

24:45

SEC football on Saturday night.

24:47

I mean it was just because

24:49

this is there's so much whacky.

24:52

I mean, we talk about the

24:54

situation with our travel and how we're

24:56

doing things differently, and

24:59

we're just trying to pull you the

25:02

ot people behind the curtain a little

25:04

bit. We're not complaining

25:07

because we know in what you

25:09

do, you're facing the same

25:11

thing as well. People ask these questions

25:14

about how are you doing this or

25:16

what are you doing or how is this working?

25:18

And that's why we're

25:21

talking about it because people ask us

25:23

to talk about it, and so we do, you know.

25:25

So we come on the podcast and we have a conversation

25:27

about not complaining, not

25:30

complaining in the least because

25:32

we're playing football

25:35

and we knew this would hit. We

25:39

knew it would happen. And

25:41

guess what if it's

25:43

the last time it happens this season,

25:46

that will be the upset of the twenty

25:48

twenty football season, right absolutely,

25:51

And I think, Mike, we

25:54

have to take a minute to recognize all the little

25:56

victories that we have within some

25:58

of the larger income bedient us that everybody

26:01

is experiencing in one way or another.

26:03

It feels good to travel with Titans

26:06

Radio, just because we've

26:08

got the band back together and for

26:10

so long we didn't even think that was

26:12

going to be an option. So I

26:14

mean, you could put us on a bus, on a train,

26:16

on a commercial flight, I don't care. It

26:19

feels good to have this group of people together,

26:22

to be doing what we know how to

26:25

do again, like that feels

26:27

good. So in the midst of all the inconveniences

26:29

and they're not traveling with the team and this,

26:32

that and whatever, that part feels

26:34

really good. Being able to go

26:36

into a football stadium and call a

26:38

game or be part of the radio

26:40

broadcast, albeit from the stands,

26:43

and doing zoom calls on

26:45

the sidelines and some of these weird

26:47

things that we've never had to think about before

26:50

feels so good because there's football

26:52

happening and it's not like baby

26:55

pansy football. It's good, exciting,

26:57

compelling football, you know. It's

27:00

these are the things that we so desperately

27:03

have wanted for months and they're here, and

27:05

that feels good. I feel like we all

27:07

just need to cling to the thing the good bits.

27:10

Focus on the good bits, guys, like this

27:12

is what we need. That's it. I

27:14

think I think that that makes all

27:16

of the parts that are inconvenient and frustrating

27:19

a lot more manageable. Yeah,

27:21

I don't think there's any question. I think

27:24

if you're excited

27:26

to do it, then

27:28

it makes it makes the rest of

27:30

it just seem like okay, and listen,

27:34

it's amazing how nice

27:36

people were to us in Denver and Minneapolis.

27:40

I mean, like everywhere you go. People

27:43

at the hotel, at the stadium,

27:46

at the airport. I mean, people

27:48

have just been great because

27:51

they're like, look, we've we've

27:53

got to do a little bit more. We've got to help

27:55

each other out a little bit more. We we

27:58

get it. We've got to use com and sense

28:01

at certain moments. You

28:04

know that. That's

28:06

a kind of a good thing that you see through

28:09

this is that you

28:12

see some people sort of knocking down

28:14

some walls and realizing, look, I mean we gotta

28:17

If we're gonna pull this off,

28:19

everybody kind of has to pitch in.

28:22

And this hitting the Titans

28:25

drives home how hard this is gonna be,

28:27

how hard it is going to continue

28:30

to be, because there isn't

28:32

anything out there right now that says

28:34

it's going to get easier very

28:36

soon. It's October you

28:39

know it's it's October, but

28:41

but here we are, and

28:44

this is what we're facing. And the Titans are

28:47

not going to play this weekend. They'll have a boy,

28:50

well if thirteen games straight

28:53

to end the year, but we hope we play

28:55

all thirteen. And here we

28:57

go, Here we go, Mike.

28:59

I think this is gonna be just fine.

29:02

I'm I'm excited about this season.

29:05

I'm excited about what's to come. I

29:08

can't get over the fact that the Titans are three and

29:10

oh. I'm about to hang a sign

29:12

on my door. It's just made me so

29:14

happy all week long. I really

29:16

just like having that zero

29:19

in the losses column, Like it just

29:21

looks esthetically, it looks nice.

29:23

Three and oh. The idea of

29:25

like never losing is

29:28

an exciting feeling for me. It

29:30

just I can't stop saying

29:32

it. We're three and oz three and oh,

29:35

no losses, and I'm gonna keep

29:37

saying it through the bye week. And it was a

29:39

great win in Minnesota in spite

29:41

of where the Vikings are, because of how the

29:43

Titans want it, and it feels

29:46

like it was three years ago. It feels

29:48

like it happened in nineteen ninety four because

29:50

so much has happened between now

29:53

and then, but it

29:55

was a great victory. It was great leaving

29:57

there. And that

29:59

was one when the schedule came

30:01

out. Let's be really honest, you

30:04

saw you had Denver and at

30:07

Minnesota, and you thought, okay,

30:09

if we could get one of those. Yep,

30:13

if you can get out of September two

30:16

and one, if you beat Jacksonville. But

30:18

if you can get out of there two and one, you're good.

30:21

And to get both of them, it doesn't

30:23

matter how you did it. You got

30:26

both of them. And now you go

30:28

into October. Whenever you get to play

30:30

in October, ready to go. Well,

30:34

and Mike, we also can't forget that the Titans

30:36

play on Thursday night in November.

30:39

Yes, and that kind of gives you a little respite

30:41

too. You get a little relaxing

30:43

weekend after that time, the third weekend

30:45

in November. That's right. Yeah,

30:48

So I mean, there you go. It's

30:50

thirteen games straight, but

30:52

with a little comma. But you

30:55

know, the whole thing with the Titans

30:57

is after this, by five

31:00

of six at home also

31:02

very nice. Traveling is taxing.

31:05

Yeah, five of six at home, but then but then

31:08

a lot of traveling down the stretch.

31:11

Yeah, a lot of traffic. And look

31:13

at the end there, did you see

31:15

Green Bay? Yeah, I'm not. I'm

31:18

choosing to live in the moment, Mike.

31:20

I don't need to think about a how

31:22

just unbelievably cold. That

31:25

game is going to be in Green Bay.

31:28

And I'm one of those people who

31:30

gets really excited about big Man football

31:32

when it's snowing and you can't see the hash

31:34

marks. But from my couch, I

31:37

really enjoy watching it on TV.

31:40

I don't know if I am man enough for

31:42

big Man football in Green

31:45

Bay on December twenty seven, that

31:47

might not be me. So

31:50

that, Yeah, that's gonna be hard. Finishing

31:53

up at Houston is going to be

31:55

a challenge. Yeah, I mean we've

31:57

still got We've still got a ways to

31:59

go here, Keith, which is why I'm

32:01

gonna keep writing three and oh as long as that's

32:03

it, that's it. That's my plan.

32:07

All right, good stuff. That's uh. That's

32:09

going to kind of wrap up this edition of the OTP

32:11

presented by Farm Bureau Health Plans.

32:14

Look to the folks at Farm Bureau Health Plans

32:16

when you need someone who understands the xs

32:18

and o's of healthcare coverage, they've

32:20

been protecting Tennessee since nineteen

32:23

forty seven. Kind of a different OTP

32:26

than we usually do, but um,

32:28

we sort of wanted to share

32:31

some of the story of the week

32:33

in terms of how it had been experienced

32:35

from this perspective. Many

32:39

of you have have gotten

32:41

on you know, you've called us or

32:43

texted us and whatever an email to

32:45

see how we were doing. Thank you for that. But

32:48

also really cool to see

32:50

all the people on social media who

32:53

have been worried about the players and the coaches,

32:55

and that's we're

32:59

all concerned about the ball game. I get that we're all

33:01

sports fans, but sometimes you

33:03

think of those are the guys in the helmets,

33:05

and they're not real people, and they very much

33:07

are real people, and so um

33:10

makes me proud to see people say, hey,

33:13

worried about the fellas. Yep, people

33:15

helping people. There's a lot of kindness in the

33:17

world. Mike Keith, there you go. Listen

33:19

to that. I know it isn't that nice. You sound

33:21

like a song. I always

33:23

sound like a song. Sometimes it's an angry song.

33:26

But nonetheless, Galanis

33:28

Morisset. Um, she's

33:31

very popular. She was at one time.

33:33

Yes, all right, well, that's gonna

33:35

do it. For this edition of the OTP, thank

33:38

you to Brian Myers. Thank you to Ashley Farrell

33:40

for Amy Wells. I'm Mike Keith and you

33:42

have been joining us for the o TV

33:45

people. Welcome

33:47

to the Big show. We ever

33:50

got a knows house, We

34:00

got sighting Burro running through a fence.