Why do y'all think it is so hard for young
men, young black men to open up? Because
growing up, man, like it's, it's looked
like weak, corny, complaining, crying. You
know, I look at my daughter and my son
, and it's like, You know, I feel
bad sometimes because you crying, hey, you crying
? I give you something to cry about, and
that's the same line my dad gave me. And
that's the same line his dad, you know what
I mean? It's like we ain't, but the
daughter, oh, what's wrong? I mean,
you know, and it's like cool or, or
, or, or you ever have like, you
know, I won't get too crazy with this conversation
cause I can, I can get left and right
cause I, I'm, I'm really deep in these
conversations with my counselor, but there's some things that
happen to you, right? And you keep it
a secret for all these years, and then the
kid is still tripping about something that happened to him
when he was. 10 now he's 40 you still
bothering me because you never got that out. You
know cause cause it look weak in the hood to
, to talk about these things, you get what
I'm saying? Where now I would say, you
know what, hey, weak and strong as you
crying, get it out. Crying is weak.
It's a weak emotion that people look at, right
, growing up, and they should change the narrative
because it's not really weak. It's really being a
man and showing like emotionally, yo, I'm sad
. Show why you sad because it's. that's sad
, but they're so tough you can't even tell.
Yeah, I think, I think that's the main
thing. I think it's the environment you grew up
in because I mean it's really ain't a safe environment
to, to, to go to your homeboys at
a young age and, you know, cry on
their shoulder, you know, pour your feelings out
to them. And then not only that, like
, even family members, the way they grew up
is we show we tough. You don't, you
don't, it ain't no crying. It ain't no
, you know, sit down with a counselor and
all that. I remember my grandma and them.
Well, we ain't paying for no counselor. What
you what you talking about? You know what I'm
saying nothing wrong with me, go in your room
, do you know what I'm saying? So I
think like I said, you, you build scars
on that. So as you get older and older
, you could come up to me 24/7. You
could, you know, like you say, man
. You know, stay on people, and I'll
be, I, I'm good. I'm cool,
you know what I'm saying, because my whole life
, that's what I've been saying my whole life.
I got these c and then all of that,
man, if I open up the Ocho man,
he's gonna judge me, he's gonna do all that
. You, you're not even built like that.
So I think it's, it's crucial for young kids
out there to know that it's all right, man
. Talk to somebody, you know what I'm saying
? But not only that, like. Like I
said, man, you're more than sports. I
think that's the main thing. You more than,
like, we sit up here today and thank the
Lord that we were able to make it to the
NFL, but this dude is young. So like
Shady at, at 18 wasn't getting counseling. Shady
at 18 was trying to figure this stuff out and
deal with. It on his own in his dorm
room, you know what I'm saying? And I'm
sure sometimes it could have went left for Shady cause
there's a lot of times it could have went left
for me, but you wasn't reaching out to counselors
. You wasn't trying to figure this stuff out.
You was young. So I just think the main
thing is to understand that you're more than a football
man and you can't talk to people, man.
Uh, I, I, I just wanted to
have this conversation here in the facility, um,
in the locker room specifically because I wanted to make
sure we did our part to try to ensure that
those watching have extra tools and that any players and
their athletes that might be watching, uh, also
understand the value you all have in this world.
I, I wanna echo Shady's sentiment as I take
us to break and realizing that we need to change
the narrative. Around being vulnerable as a man,
we need to change the narrative around being transparent.
We need to change the narrative and the publicity around
uh displaying and showing emotions. I don't think that
crying is a sign of weakness. I don't think
that saying you're struggling is a sign of weakness.
I don't want the world to believe that uh saying
you're going through something hard is a sign of weakness
, when in fact, those are probably the greatest
signs of strength that you could ever display. In
this life, um, to the loved ones of
Kyron Lacey, just know our thoughts and our prayers
are with you and to all young athletes that might
be going through something, just know that you are
loved, you were cherished, you are cared for
and find someone to talk to. Uh, no
other way to go to break on another note,
but on the other side of the commercial break,
more discussions here in the facility.