We visit with Minnesota Vikings Director of Legends Relations
Welcome to the Kindness Chronicles, where we hope to inject the world. What are you shaking your neck so sarcastic. Okay. Welcome to the Kindness Chronicles, where we hope to inject the world with a dose of the Minnesota nice that it desperately needs. I like it better. John Schwetz here. That was better. I have a sarcasm problem. I know. I'm sorry. Do. Uh, here with my pal, Steve Brown. Hello, uh, kg. It's a Minnesota wild night, so he's, uh, he, we gave him the night off. He's on assignment with the wild. He's on assignment. We're, I'm kind of getting sick of him being on assignment That's okay. I know. We want him back. Well, he, he, he's good for ratings. You know, people love to listen to KG and all of his Bs Plus, he's a, he's a damn good broadcaster. He knows what he's doing. He's a broadcaster. He's got good questions too. I miss, I miss him on questions. He's a very talented fella. Yeah. We have a really cool guest later we do in the show. Um, I'm geeked up about it. Uh, you know, we like to keep the shows to like 30 minutes. Mm-hmm. I think I could talk to this guy. His name is Tom West. Yes, he is the Director of Legends of Legends, uh, uh, relations Legends, relations relations legend, which is fascinating. He said he works for the Minnesota Vikings. He's been with the Vikings for over 20 years, um, almost right after college. And he was a PR guy with him for a long time. I saw him on the field all the time. I, he was very fascinating to watch, you know, grow into that role. And now recently he got a new, um, he got it switched over and he's now working with. The legends of, uh, Vikings players and, and organizing, uh, events for them and services for them and how to coordinate the world back from football into real life. Yeah, it's really cool. So he's, his job is to connect with these football players. I mean, it sounds like the job that every young Right. Non-athlete who wished they were an athlete, right. Would want like a young John Schweitzer wanna schitz. Yeah. You'd be good at this too. I had such, you'd be great at this view from every football game, from the sidelines It was, uh, but man, I had, uh, Had a great seat for every game. Yeah. But right on the bench, I could do the, uh, the legends of Pioneer Football. Oh. In fact, I was with some of them last night. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. They're, they're legends. All right. They're legends in their own mind or, yes. Yeah. So instead of listening to you and me talk, I know that you do have, uh, you, you have a challenge that you'd like to put out there. I do. I do. So, once again, Steve, uh, was, uh, hammering. With ideas for the program. I said, we've got a great guest this week. We're not going to spend too much time. Uh, we wanna spend the time with him. Yeah. And we don't wanna wear our welcome wear out, our welcome with you. And we don't get, we don't wanna get preachy. We don't want to get, you know, we're not gonna get preachy, but go ahead, tell us what's, what's your, uh, what's your objective this week? Steve? Steve? Well, I, I haven't been doing as much. I don't have any research on a study, which I, I can't find that. I gotta look for that. You had it here. I. But, but I, I found something interesting, um, from a, a, a, an influencer. His name is Gary Vanerchuk. Oh yeah. Vandy Van Vanerchuk Vanerchuk. He's all over social. He's like, he's the guy that you go to and businesses go to. He's the guru of helping you understand how to, um, use social media for your business. But he's getting more and more, uh, he's getting very wise and everything's going back to kindness and, and treating people well. And it's fascinating watching him kind of do this. He's. He has a challenge. I thought we could kind of follow this challenge, but he's saying, um, wanna keep it real simple today? Be kind. You'll be surprised what will happen. Buy your coworker a cup of coffee and say something nice to them. Um, literally write an email to a coworker and that's something you admire about them skills and, you know, kindness. And go, let's go in depth. Let's, let's be careful. Yeah. Because not a love letter. We don't want HR to get involved. right? I mean, we don't wanna be giving advice over the, over the, uh, the inter interwebs about we're not going there something, we're not going way creepy, no. Or something. It's okay. It can be any, it can be a manor woman, whoever you work with, someone that you've, you find like, I, I think of myself sometimes. Someone that you find attractive. No. No. Okay. Shouldn't So we're not gonna do that. Yeah. Don't get that confused. That'll lines will blur. I remember doing this when I was, when I worked at Target, I, I learned a lot of things from people. Cause I was new to that industry. I found myself, I, I could easily find things that I liked about the traits that they were real, that, you know, that they were really good at. And I fed, I gave that back to people. And people were like, Steve Brown, why? Why'd you say that? Like, that's so nice. Like, because, because you're Steve Brown, that's what you do. Because people need to hear that sometimes they have to hear, you know, um, that they're the hardest working person. Or like, you know, sometimes people need to hear it cuz they don't get recognized. Especially people that I see that I don't wanna give it to the people that are asking for it. The squeaky wheels that want all the a. When you see people doing the good stuff, it's good to, it's good to do that. And I have, I have an easy time doing that with people for some reason. I don't know, some people don't like to do it. Uh, but anyway, back to Gary. He says, when you do this kind of stuff, a funny thing happens with the universe, you'll see. So he's saying, take a challenge. Do it. One act of random kindness. And I know it's seems, you know, simple germane to our, you know, show. But at the same time, actually do it sometime and like, do it this week. See what happens. And, uh, see the. You know, write it down from your journal, whatever. I don't know, but just make a note of it, you know, and, uh, and you do it. And I'll do it. We'll talk about it. Yeah. Last week we talk. Last week our show, we had, uh, uh, Andrea dewitt, who was, uh, Andrea Mine, dewitt, who, you know, spoke of Above the line. Yeah. Behaviors, both feminine and masculine. We learned a lot. We really did learn a lot. She's smart, but this to me is an example of perhaps above the line feminine behavior. Sure. I'm sp speaking specifically about the journal. Um, but Well, I mean, that's just so you remember it, so you keep track of it. So let's, let's both do that. Let's take this challenge. Okay. This week, gonna to buy, we meet journal. When we meet again, buy a journal with a, a handcrafted leather, says your name on it, maybe. Wow. Or maybe, Hey, you're good enough. Something like that on the front. Yeah. Stuart Smiley. Good enough. It's a mirror on the front. Yeah. I'm smart enough. You're good enough. You smart enough. And dogana people like you. Like you, John. have I ever told you my, uh, Al Franken story? No. Did you meet Al Franken? I didn't, but my son Jack did. Oh, and here's a funny, is this political? It is a little bit. All right, that's okay. But I'm gonna go there anyways. So my son, it was an eighth grade, uh, trip to Washington DC Yep. My son did it too. And regardless, regardless of your political leanings, yeah. You have to admit that Al Franken is a, is an interesting character at the very moment. Oh, he was an SNL guy for years. So they had this contest. He's got a colorful past. Yes, they had a contest. Um, these students were to go around and whoever was the last one to name a president that hadn't been named before, won the opportunity to ask Al Franken a question. Okay, well my children. We hammer in their heads. They know the presidents and they know'em in order. Wow. Oh yeah. The Washington home. Washington Adams. Jefferson, uh, Madison Monroe. It's Quincy, John, John Quincy Adams. Anyways. Wow. Jackson Van Buren. All. So they know all of the presidents. Okay. It's just this weird thing that we do, I guess. So it's, well, Jack, it's goods such an American family that it finally paid off because Jack was able to, I think that, that the winning was, uh, was that easy. William Henry Harrison, who I think was president for 31 days. Yeah, he got pneumonia. But anyway, the point is he got an opportunity to ask Al Franken a question. Oh boy. And his question for Al Franken, which I was so proud of, was. Mr. Senator Franklin, you were a, a, a writer for Saturday Night Live. How did that prepare you? Or more importantly, how did that eighth grader qualify you? Wow. To be a United States senator and Al Franken thought for a second. He goes, well, maybe you should ask your parents, cuz they're the ones that voted for me and his response. Probably not my parents. You didn't get an answer from the question, but he got a funny, he last, I mean, but, but I mean, Al Franken, the whole room had to go crack up, right? The, well, Al Franken is the guy who would hear something like that and understand that there was comedy Yeah. In that comment. Yeah. I was so proud of. Jack that he did that. Now, if it would've been your son, Ben, he would've asked him about the hair products. Ben, Ben would've asked him about what kind of shampoo he uses. He al's got a good head of hair. He's got a great head of hair. Oh, those schwetz boys, man. They've, they, that's great. Very. That's really funny. That's a great story. It's a great story. Yeah, that's fine. All right, we're gonna be back with, uh, your friends Mr. Tom West. Tom West Minnesota, Vikings. We'll be right back after this. All right, we are back Steve. Take it away. Hey, I have another friend that I want to talk to. I, I'm bringing him in. Um, I've known this guy since 1989. Oh, wow. He must be old. We We, well, hey, we went to college together. Graduated the same day. We actually Oh, very nice. We, the dinner with our families. Summa, Kum Lak, I would assume. I don't, I don't think so. You, you're not even probably familiar with what that means. That's Latin or something. I don't know. Something. I didn't have that at St. Cloud. Anyway. um, Tom, his name is Tom West and he was the former PR. Assistant PR guy there with the, with the Minnesota Vikings. Oh, cool. And now he's the director of Legends relations for the Minnesota Vikings. So, um, Tom, welcome to the. Thanks. Thanks guys. So legends relations. Yeah. Uh, uh, in our little pre-show meeting, we talked about how that makes sense, why you would be friends with the legendary Steve Brown. Oh yeah. Of Johnny Clueless. Of course. you know, that's where it started. Where did you grow up to? I'm just curious. I am, uh, originally from the, uh, small farm town of Louis, Minnesota. Lewiston answer your next question is, First town outside of Winona. Oh, very nice. I know where Lewiston is down south. Okay. It's a beautiful country down there. Oh yeah. Nice. Rolling hills. Love that area. Yep. It's shocking how that geography or, or would it be topography? Yeah. It's so much different than the rest of the state of Minnesota. Yeah. Yeah. We're, uh, we're very lucky we're, we're up on a farm. We. Had milk cows and everything, chickens, pigs, the whole works. Old school crops and, uh, and sometimes the, uh, the, uh, terrain, uh, through a wrench and things, it gets little dicey sometimes. And you're, you might get a flood down there, tractor, a, you know, 30% incline or something. Oh, yeah. Hilly. Yeah. It's. Very hilly. So, Tom, we wanted to have you on because we love talking about celebrities, whether they're music, celebrities, ath athletes, and the fact that you're the director of Legends relations, just you're, you're right in that sweet spot of what we like to talk about. So, before we, we, we, yeah. We wanna hear about like, what's your day-to-day, what do you do for the Vikings as a, as a director of Legends relations? Tell us a little bit about it. Well, uh, Our first and foremost, our, our mission is to keep, keep guys, uh, engaged with the club. You know, once they're playing days are over, uh, to help them transition from, you know, playing football to going on with the rest of their life, which many times is starting at 32, 34, you know, something like that, which is very young to most people. Um, If you've played, you know, 10 or 12 years in the nfl, you, you've, you've beaten the odds by long shot. Yeah, no kidding. Um, we help'em, uh, there's a, a lot of programs available to help guys with continuing education, um, continuing healthcare, uh, financial planning, that sort of thing. So we, we try to help guys navigate those waters. Cool. So they're getting, uh, to take advantage of the programs that are available to'em. but a lot of times it's just, uh, keeping connections. You know, keeping what football for these guys is such a big part of their life for frankly their entire life. Their is tied to, it's a when they, from the game that, that we're hopefully there to help. Um, find the best path through. You know, it can be, I talk to a lot of guys who, who really for a year after they're done, are, are kind of adrift. Yeah. You know, they, they don't know what they wanna do. They don't know if they wanna do anything. They don't know what they can do. They, they wanna, they wanna kind of decompress. They wanna get away from football. And on the other hand, there's guys that they can't get enough of it. They wanna come back, you know, three months after they're done. They, they wanna be back around the team. It's their family. Yeah. Yep. A lot of times it's, yeah, they spent so much time with it, they're probably closer to, to their teammates a lot of times than their families. I had a. Misconception of how this worked. When I, I'm not kidding you cuz I always thought that if, uh, you know, when I saw that you were the director of Legends relations, it would really be about what can these alumni, these former players do for the Vikings? What can they do for, for the, the community of Vikings, the, the community of Vikings when in many respects, brand, it sounds like, what can the Vikings continue to do? Kidding? For these guys that, that worked for? Right. Um, and, and there's a little bit of both. Sure. We, we like, we like to have the guys around. Um, and luckily, uh, between ownership and management and coaching, um, they have embraced the idea of having guys around as much as possible. Uh, it helps, I think, uh, selfishly, I think it helps the current roster to realize. That there is, you know, life after football, you don't, you're not just a replaceable cog in the machine. Yeah. Meat, Grindr kind thing. You're, you're, you're always welcome to come back. Activities every, everybody hang out for go to game. Um, make'em feel, feel the love. And then at the same time they, they get to, you know, a lot of times guys, Roster right now. They, they watch Chris Carter and they watch mm-hmm. Robert Smith and, you know, they, they, Randy, those are their heroes. Randy Moss. Yeah. That's cool. Right? Yeah. So it's, it's, and now there's a younger generation of kids fans watching Justin Jefferson and, and Theon and, and. You know, bill, eventually it turns over again, so. Yep, yep. It just, it kinda just gives a nice symmetry to the whole thing. How That's a, that's a, sorry, do you have a question? No, I was just gonna ask, do you have to play a certain number of years to qualify for your services or, you know, if you're, uh, no. Our. our, our criteria, and it varies team to team, but our criteria is if you were on the active roster for a week, you're a legend. Wow. Which, which for one thing, it again. Selfishly it, it's it, it makes us not have to pick and choose. You don't have to say, wow. Sorry you didn't. Oh, yeah. You know, so Yeah. There's a line there. Everybody's welcome. Yeah, everybody's welcome man. And frankly, a lot of you know, there's guys that played for, 18 years and there's guys that played for us for a week, you know, and, and they kind of, they kind of know where they stand and Okay. You know, if they, if they wanna come back, great. If they like, they're like, you know, I, I only played there a very brief amount of time. I, I really don't identify with that team. And like, okay, great. Yeah, here's the, you show on the mailing list when you decide if and when you wanna come back, come on back. So you're kinda, you're kinda like a. You're keeping the group together, you're, you're, you're showing them services, but you're also engaging'em in activities and events and stuff like that, so you're kind of working with event teams and stuff too. Yeah. Yep, yep. We have couple different events a year. We usually will have, like I, in season, we'll have a big weekend that will nearly a hundred guys and a guest. It's a, it's a pretty good, good size undertaking. And then we just have, you know, smaller, like mini reunions, I guess you'd call'em. Uh, for every home game we have, we, we are lucky enough at the stadium to have a, a dedicated suite for our guys. So we can get, you know, 25 guys and a guest in every week, which is, which is great. So is there an element, and this is, I, I may be way off base here, but for the guy, you know, there's such a tremendous amount of money for the really good players, um, you know, life changing money, you know, generational. Sort of money. And then you get those players that, you know, may have had a rippy contract and only played for a couple years, they burn it fast. Right? They, and they burn through it fast. It, it almost sounds like, is there an element of like social work? Do you, do you kinda Yeah. Connect people with services and Yeah. You, you, you, hopefully you're starting at during their playing careers where, you know, and that's, that's something we we're working on enhancing. You know, making sure guys are being responsible during their playing careers, however long those may be, so they don't fall into the pitfalls, you know, that they've seen other guys have. Um, and that's another thing where we try to engage legends that come back and, and, you know, for, it's not exactly scared straight, but it's, you know, it's, uh, don't let, don't, don't let, don't get bad advice. Don't listen to bad advice. don't make decisions that are gonna hurt you for the long term. Yeah. You know, that's, how long have you worked for the rankings? 26 years. Oh, wow. Right after. Right after college. Pretty much. Right. Tom? pretty close. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. Couple, not soon, not long after. What a dream gig. Yeah. Well, let me just say a couple things about, okay. About Tom. Tom and I met in college, obviously, and he used to come and see my band play, so him and I got to know each other, um, early band before this, before Johnny Clueless early bands and stuff. Um, and then, and then, you know, we both graduated and years went by and, and I knew he worked for the Vikings. And every once in a while I'd watch a. And he's on the field standing next to, you know, the top guys cuz he's the PR guy. He's has to mo Sure. Con you know, at the end of the game, um, all those, all the press around Tom has to kind of guide them where to, where to talk and like super, like, I'm like, Hey, that's Tom right there. Every time I watch the games, I would see Tom was really cool. And it's funny, Tom, I, I don't know if you know Kevin Gorg, but Kevin Sure is one of the co-hosts. He's got a wild game tonight, so he is not on with. Um, okay. But he depends on guys like you. Yeah. Are you the guy that helps? Sure. Organize. You know He did. Yeah. Yeah. That's very cool. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Archie? Yep. Uh, I know Aaron sick over at the wild Oh yeah. Relations very well. He's a great dude. Rochester guy. Yeah. Tom's been doing this a long time. Um, one of, uh, actually in a weird. Of events. Another kid from Lewiston, which I say, you know, 1300 people, uh, is working for for Sigman now. Um, he had interned for us and spent time with us and around the league a little bit and was, was Houston Texan. And, uh, Aaron reached out and said, do you know anybody? We're gonna have an opening. Do you have any, you need, you know, rising stars. And I'm like, actually this guy hit the Houston Texans, I'm gonna guess would be more than happy to come back to Minnesota. Wow. Super cool. In the water in Lewiston. So you were, yeah. You were around, uh, obviously then during the Red McCombs era. Sure. And it, I recall that Red McCombs really seemed to want to embrace the, uh, the, the, the, the legends, the former players. Um, yeah, it almost seemed like that was part of his brand was to make those former Vikings really feel like they were, that they were welcomed far more than the, the, the ownership groups before that is, was that your experience? Yeah, he, he did actually, the, the Ring of Honor was launched under red ownership. Oh, okay. Um, uh, he did a great job of, of reengaging with guys, um, and welcoming them back. And I, I can't say why it wasn't that way previously. Um, but, but it was definitely one of, uh, Red's tenants, you know, he, he liked having this guy. Steve's looking at me, he's, he knows how excited I am to talk to you about this stuff. He's like, I'm like, I just have got a couple questions, So of all of the guys that you've had the chance to work with, to get to know, you know, who's your Mount Rushmore? Of the guys that are just great guys? The kind guys that go out of their way to connect with the fans and just Yeah. Generally joyful people. Yeah. And then we'll talk about who the jerks are. No, I'm kidding. We won't Um, there's, there's a, there's a lot of, um, it's more fun if you have specifics. Well, Tom, there's, there's, there's guys that, that, uh, you know, we kind of, we kind of, uh, unofficially, I always kinda separated guys into, kinda into three baskets. There was, there were guys who. Were who just kind happy to be there. You know, like Yep. They, they, it was an happy accident. They just kinda blundered into it and the national, you know, didn't, didn't really, didn't really have a plan to be there and, and maybe didn't have a plan to stay the lottery winners kinda, and they didn't, they didn't last long. Right. Um, and then there were, uh, guys that were un, you know, remarkable. Obviously and, and highly motivated athletes, but didn't, you know, they, they would've been just as, uh, adept at, uh, playing baseball or basketball. They were just tremendous athletes and out football was their vehicle. And then there was a third group guys who, regardless of what their motivator was, whether it was. you know, if, if they, if they had found their identity in football or if they had figured out that that was the thing that they could really do good. Or, uh, uncle Bernie, um, around some, when they were kids and, and he, they were set out to, to seek their revenge on him through their, yeah. Proven. or they were, they knew that they were gonna be the sole providers for a family, but whatever it was that they were hyper motivated Yeah. To, to excel and that they were gonna get there regardless, you know? So, um, Those guys are, are really the fascinating ones. You know, everybody's got a great story. You don't get there without, you know, overcoming tremendous odds. Yeah. You have to, you have to stay healthy to be good enough. You have to be noticed. You have to. Yep. You know, um, they always talk about the, the funnel from, you know, there's x hundreds of thousands of high school players who funnel down to thousands of college players who funnel down. 250 draft picks every year. Who funnel down to making our 53 man roster? You know, so it's you, it's, you want your kids chase their dreams, but at great, you're keeping, you know, some options available. I hope you're doing well in school. You, you told me that theory about the categories. I thought it was really interesting and you also, I think I remember you. that then they're the people that, uh, sometimes they're amazing athletes, um, but they're also just incredible people. They just, they just are in a world on their own. They're, they've got it all together. They've figured it out. And they are, yeah, amazing. Amazing too. They're like an inspiration to the people in the club and to the people in the, you know. So tell us, yeah. Are there any cool people you can tell us about? Any cool stories you can tell us? Sure. I mean, I, I, I mean, you, you, no, I didn't work directly with this guy. He was ahead of my time, but I've gotten to know him. Over the years And, and you talk about a guy, like an Allen Page who you know Yeah. Was a first round draft pick, was a standout player. Was he's in the Hall of Fame. I mean, uh, mvp, wasn't he? The mvp Once the first defensive MVP of the league, um, he was JJ Watts and Lawrence Taylor put together before any of'em were born, you know, and to then go on to be a Supreme Court judge. Yeah. And then to, to, you know, do, do everything he does philanthropically with, um, he's got a display, uh, at the library downtown. Yep. Heard about that. Yeah. So it's just amazing, you know, the, the things he's done. And, and I, I, we just actually did an interview with him, with Fox, with Randy Meyer, and this is a great piece. and he would be the last one to bring a football, you know, football for him was a, was a vehicle. Yeah. But it was not his calling, you know? Um, he was little smarter than the, you know, Robert Embodied was a guy who was not defined by football. He, you know, he use as a vehicle to achieve things. He wanted to, was that Robert Smith's funny now? Yeah. Cause now he's on, he's on Fox and I, I like to give him a hard time about, it's. you're now making a living with the two things you hated the most. Football and the media Unbelievable. Well, the reason why we're kind of fascinated with, um, hearing about this from you is because, you know, given the environment of competition and, uh, you know, the, just overall it's a, it's a rough sport. Brutality. Yeah. We of the sport. Yeah. We think there might not, you know, that it's probably a, a juxtaposition to see people being really kind in moments where normally you think of it as, as. Uh, high competitive, high, you know, high stakes kind of people, but that, that's kind of interesting to us. Like we're always interested in hearing about that stuff. Yeah. The, the other, the thing we talk about that, that one, that that small subset of the guys that are, are best and hypercompetitive and, and we'll eventually have a, a bronze boss and a gold jacket, like that type of guy also I found always has, and I, I don't know how they. but they do it. And, but they, they have, when you talk about just flipping the switch on and off, like 90 seconds after the game's over, the switch is off. You know, they're not, they're, they're, they're not, uh, you know, um, you know, carrying out the, the last three hours for another three hours, you know, they, they just turn it off. It's a switch. Y'all always hear these stories. Yes, I'm done with that. Now, always hear these stories about guys like Larry Fitzgeral. Who, I mean, yeah. Minnesota guy. Mm-hmm. But, um, I had actually sat next to him at a twins game, uh, once upon a time. And the guy, you know, I wasn't gonna be that guy that was fawning all over him, but he engaged in conversation with me. So I thought, okay, he started this. Yeah. And he couldn't have been nicer. I mean, quite literally an absolute gentleman. Um, another guy, Kyle Rudolph. So, um, I did work for an organization that supports the Masonic Children's Hospital and Okay. I'm sure you're aware of the, the relationship that Kyle and his wife have with that, uh, that special place. And John Sullivan, I think was the first guy that really, really embraced the work that was done there. And I know Adam Thelan has been a big supporter. what a joy it must be for you to work with people that have a platform like that, but also have the resources both, uh, through their influence, but also their, their ability to make financial contr contributions. It's gotta be pretty cool. Right? And, and, and as you know, it's, um, to be honest. They can all afford it financially. They can all make the financial contribution, but to make contribution of time, yeah, it's what really matters. You know, it's, it's easy to, to write a check, but it's, it's harder to take time outta your week and, and go to the hospital for three hours and, and, you know, and host the parties and, and answer questions and talk to the parents and the kids, you know. Wow. Um, that's why I think the, the Walter Payton, the Man of the Year award in the league has become such a prestigious award. Um, absolutely it had always existed, but it, I remember, you know, Chris won it one year and, and it just wasn't, it was a different time, but, you know, it wasn't, it wasn't the, the bombshell, you know, award. it is now, you know. Um, well I think social media has a lot to do with that. You think of somebody like JJ Wat when he won, you know, the impact that he, he had in Houston? Yeah. After the, was it a hurricane? God, I can't believe, I can't remember that, but yeah, it's the flooding in Houston. Yeah. Right. The flooding in Houston. Yep. Yep. Yeah. Well, yeah, so there's one, I guess there's one good thing for social media. It's that right? How cool is it, Tom, that you now get to work with those legends? That's what you're, that's what you do. That's, that's amazing. That's part of your job now is Yeah. Cultivating that and keeping, you know, that's, that's, that's really incredible. I didn't know that that was a thing, first of all, by the way, John, I, I, a couple years ago, Tom, I think it was. Covid. Tom gave me a tour of the facility there. Have you been to Oh, the one in GaN? Yeah. Have you been there Just uh, at the TCO for my daughter's many injuries in gymnast gymnastics. Oh yeah. Well, I got a, I got a full tour. Tom gave me a whole tour of the whole area and I saw Bud Grant's office. Really? Yeah. I hear he's quite a character. Oh, he He is, he's 95. And then still, uh, still pretty sharp. Still joke, an angle, a free meal on it. Just letting Yeah. They keep an office for him if he wants to come in. It's, it's a beautiful office and he, you know, it's, yeah. Sets up and wants to check email, whatever. I don't know what he's doing. Well if, if there was a Minnesota Viking legend, he would be kidding. He would be right there. Well, thank you Tom, so much for joining us. This is super cool. I can't wait to. I can't wait to, for our listeners to hear this and, and, uh, you know, I'm, I'm, I'm glad you're doing well and kicking ass with the Vikings. Yeah. This is truly one of those interviews that, uh, I could go on and on and on. I am just so enamored with. We, we talk an awful lot on this show about, uh, oxytocin. You know, the charge that you get when you see acts of kindness and, you know, I could sit and watch little YouTube videos of professional athletes taking time to. Snap pictures, this kid. I mean, seriously. Yeah. I could watch it all day. And I do sometimes Yeah. Does your company know? But you get to live it, so that's uh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Um, it's, I'm beyond lucky. Good for you, dude. I'm so glad he beats working. Well, Tom, thank you very much. Uh appreciate your time And off we go