The Ups and Downs of Being a Jaguars Fan with Eric

Eric, a loyal Jaguar aficionado since Jacksonville's entry into the NFL in 1995. Let his journey take you back to your first exhilarating encounter with sports, as he recounts the evolution of his fandom from witnessing the creation of the team to present-day triumphs and challenges. With a rich narrative that includes memorable games, heart-wrenching losses, and an unwavering commitment to the Jaguars during the lean years, Eric's story is a compelling testament to the enduring allure of football.

Together with Eric, we delve into the prospects of the Jacksonville Jaguars clinching a championship. Drawing on his fan's passion and analyst's acumen, Eric sheds light on the team's potential rivalries and considers their chances of making it to the AFC Championship or Super Bowl. The conversation also ventures into the intriguing realm of football trivia, as we discuss Eric's impressive Jaguars jerseys collection and brainstorm a hypothetical all-time Jaguars offense. 

Towards the end of our chat, Eric opens up about the joys and trials of sharing his Jaguar fandom with his family. He candidly explores the difficulty of keeping his kids engaged with the team during tough times, and the pure joy when his sons' perspective changed following the Jaguars' successful 2018 season. From discussing potential relocation rumors of the Jaguars to London, to recollecting his experience at a London game, Eric's captivating recollections make for a truly immersive experience. So, whether you're a Jaguars fan, a football enthusiast, or simply love a good sports story, join us in this memorable conversation with Eric.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:10

All right, everyone, welcome back to Fandom from afar. Today's guest is Eric, who's one of the biggest Jaguar fans that I know. So welcome to the show. Glad to be here. Thanks, brian. So Eric has a unique story and many of you know that I live in Jacksonville, so you're probably wondering like, hey, that doesn't count, that's not fandom from afar, but we'll learn an Eric story that he has had to be a Jaguar fan all over the country. So let's start out first with your origin story, cause what year did the Jagstart?

Speaker 2: 0:42

Yeah, and we got team in 95. Ninety five, okay, and that was. That was our first season, the 95 season. So I was in middle school and I remember it being all over the papers, all over the news, I mean. I remember the radio, I mean everything. It was like the whole city, everything was buzzing and I wasn't old enough to appreciate how big of a deal it was. You know, if you had asked me then how many NFL teams are there, I would have no idea. I mean, I knew the, knew the big ones, but then you know, when you got to actually see the team on the field and playing real games, then it starts to really sink in. See, I was a middle school student, so get to go to a couple of games in middle school. You know, when I'm in high school, go to more games and just really start to like. By the time the Jaguars had that first real good team, you know, 96 made the playoffs, but then really that 98, 99, 2000,.

Speaker 2: 1:35

That was like my high school years and so having, yeah, having success as I'm like the new team, I'm a high school student, I mean it was like it really like just sealed that fandom.

Speaker 1: 1:48

That's awesome. Yeah, now you mentioned those early teams. One of my saddest moments as a Bronco fan was because of the Jaguars. What year was that?

Speaker 2: 1:57

97, 96, 97 was the playoff game.

Speaker 1: 2:01

Sure Sure.

Speaker 2: 2:02

January of 97.

Speaker 1: 2:03

Yeah, I had never been more sad.

Speaker 2: 2:05

We had such a dominant team and you guys just come in and who was the guy that the sports writer that's on the show on the ESPN show used to be the sports writer for Denver? It was Woody Page, yes, woody Page, and he just ripped the Jaguars. He called him the Jaguars.

Speaker 1: 2:21

Yeah, remember.

Speaker 2: 2:22

And man, our whole city took that so personally. And I mean, you know, you never know if you're going to win the game or not. But I tell you what I think if he hadn't read that article, we might not have won that game.

Speaker 1: 2:31

Oh, I think Bolton board material is real.

Speaker 2: 2:33

Yes, but yes, that was just, I mean just an epic playoff run to be a second year team and beat the Broncos who were supposed to, you know, be the best team that year?

Speaker 1: 2:43

Yeah, because we went on to win the next two Super Bowls. So everyone in Denver thinks it should have been three in a row, if not for the Jags. Yeah, yeah.

Speaker 2: 2:50

No, that was it. That was a man. Come to life as a Jaguar fan. Get to see like this miracle wins in the playoffs and again being a teenager at the time.

Speaker 1: 2:59

What a perfect way to hook you in for life when you have moments like that. Right away as a new team.

Speaker 2: 3:03

Exactly. I mean, that was huge, yeah. And then, of course, you know we have a lot of bad history after this. Oh, we can talk about that the last 20 years. Oh yeah, I forgot about that. Well, good.

Speaker 1: 3:14

So you were a teenager, they had some success, and then maybe what was it like college, young adult like, what was it like? What is it been during kind of the lean years for you?

Speaker 2: 3:26

Yeah. So you know we had like interim success here and there. You know you think about the Jags. You know you think Mark Brunel, jimmy Smith, fred Taylor, and that was like the golden days of original Jaguar football. And then we didn't have that much of a drop off. You know they let go Tom Coughlin, jack Del Rio comes in and they draft Byron left, which and he has some initial success and not like the best team in the NFL but made the playoffs. And then there's some doubting going on there and then they get David Gerard and they cut Byron and David Gerard has success, we go to the playoffs with Gerard. And so there was that stretch where we were like we were still relevant after the Mark Brunel, jimmy Smith, fred Taylor days, relevant for another five, eight years before the big drop off. So that was my college. You know my college was, yeah, I remember getting off work at the restaurant and running home to see them play the Steelers in the playoffs. You know prime time David Gerard. You know scrambling on fourth down for 30 hours.

Speaker 1: 4:33

That was what stuck out for me too. I was like, for some reason that play, like I just remember it for some reason.

Speaker 2: 4:38

Yeah, so you know, by the time I was college student, got married, started. You know married life and adulthood, you know the Jags were still relevant for a while and then, and really, they really took their downturn right around the time I was leaving Jacksonville you know, 2010.

Speaker 1: 4:58

Okay, yeah, so let's get into that a little bit. You first moved to Alabama Is that correct.

Speaker 2: 5:05

So we ended up in Alabama. We moved around a little bit first. So you know, I had this position where it was temporary travel, so I'd do a couple of months here, a couple of months there. So we spent time in South Carolina, we spent time in South Texas, spent time, and then we ended up spending three years in Alabama. That's where nobody cares about pro football. Yeah, you couldn't find a Jaguars game when you tried, except occasionally they would pick up the Tennessee market which is our rival, the Titans. So yeah, you could find the games there, but but it was. It was like. You know, you still love the team just as much. But you know, back in those days I mean I didn't have the money to pay for direct TV or whatever, you know, and a Sunday ticket was on at that time and so you just hope to. You know you follow the team on the radio, you follow the team as best you can from a distance on the internet, but it wasn't like now.

Speaker 2: 6:01

I mean, now you've got YouTube channels, you've got podcasts, you've got everything, and so you know I'm following from like through my, my dad. I call my dad up and like what's the Jaguar news, you know. But you know I'd still do everything I could to watch the games on Sunday.

Speaker 1: 6:16

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 6:17

Just they weren't always on because we weren't a good team.

Speaker 1: 6:20

Yeah, and it's tough because it's so hard for people to think about that now because there are so many options, but that would have been extremely hard. Yeah, actually, in that market when it's not something that they're prioritizing on the TV, even if you do go out to a sports bar or something.

Speaker 2: 6:35

Yeah, no, we, that's right. You'd have to go to a sports bar and know that they were going to play the game, or else you're wasting your time. You, we were in that when we lived in Texas for about a year. Everybody in Texas is a Cowboys fan. But now you have Houston. That came in, you know, after the oilers left and came back as the Texans, you'd get the Houston games on because we were in South Texas, pretty close to Houston, you know, a couple hours away from Houston. So when the Jags played Houston, another division rival, we'd always get to watch those games.

Speaker 1: 7:02

So that kind of works out that you were in both of their division cities.

Speaker 2: 7:06

And then Alabama really was so weird. I mean literally people do not care about pro football.

Speaker 1: 7:11

It's all about the time.

Speaker 2: 7:12

I mean, it's all about Alabama or it's all about Auburn, one of the two, and you're either Alabama or Auburn and pro football is like a joke and I'm like where are the pro football fans here? And occasionally I'd bump into another friend who you know was like followed their team from wherever. Huntsville is similar to Jacksonville, big military town. It was a big base there. A lot of people from all over end up in Huntsville and so you'd have a lot of people that liked the popular teams you know the 49ers, the Packers or the Giants or whoever it was but you could not find a Jags fan there I was gonna say did you ever find like one random Jags fan and you guys would get together and watch the games?

Speaker 2: 7:53

You know, funny. You say that I found one guy, I met one guy from Jacksonville and he was a Jags fan and we would get together and watch football occasionally. But because I mean, I guarantee you, most people there don't even know that Jaguars are a real NFL team. Yeah, if we were, you know the pedigree of, like the Cowboys or whatever then pro football maybe carries a little more weight.

Speaker 1: 8:18

Or they get them mixed up with other teams like the Panthers or something like that. Like I experienced that a lot with the Nuggets, where people always get as confused with the Jazz or the Pacers or something like that. They're just like, oh yeah, that team out there somewhere.

Speaker 2: 8:30

The team out there in the wet mountain west. Yeah, so really, you know, when I was in Alabama, I remember there were certain events that happened, like that's when the initial owner, wayne Weaver, sold the team, and so it was all over the news you know, national news, because this is a big deal when somebody sells an NFL team. And then you know, of course, they hired Mike Malarkey as the head coach and that was like what are we doing? You know who is this guy, I know he'd been a head coach once before, but it just seemed like weird all around. And they start signing all these free agents that nobody's heard of and it's just this rag tag team. And then, of course, that ushered in the Blaine Gabbard era.

Speaker 2: 9:13

The Gus Bradley era and, of course, blake Bortles, which, if there was anybody that you know you wanted to see, get a shot at success. You got a route for Blake and we were able to see a little bit of that in 2017. But yeah, I mean really 2010,. We moved back to Jackson in 2015. I mean, it was a dark decade for Jaguar football.

Speaker 1: 9:38

Even though the team wasn't good for you.

Speaker 2: 9:40

Personally, though, it was kind of like a breath of fresh air actually being around other fans though, so at least you got to talk about the team, yeah, you know people in the business say a bad team is just as good for media as a good team, Cause people like to gripe and complain and it makes for good radio or good.

Speaker 1: 9:58

TV Much easier to complain and everybody thinks that they know best and what'll fix the issues and stuff. Yeah, we are definitely experiencing that with the one in five Broncos right now. The Broncos.

Speaker 2: 10:11

It's amazing, nobody would have guessed Russell Wilson had been that bad. I mean some people maybe in Seattle when he left. But and then Sean Payton, I mean he just come in kind of with such pedigree, you're like I mean he has to turn around and again, maybe he will but man, what a rough start, not this year.

Speaker 1: 10:30

Well, you talked about your dark period for the Jags. We're hoping we can find our Trevor Lawrence and start stealing some success, like you guys.

Speaker 2: 10:39

Well, all right, the NFL and the whole NIL stuff is so outrageous I saw the story you probably saw it that Caleb Williams says he wants partial ownership and whatever team drafts it.

Speaker 1: 10:51

Oh, I didn't hear that. Are you kidding me?

Speaker 2: 10:53

Oh my goodness Like, get out of here. You haven't even played a snap in the NFL yet and you want partial ownership of whatever team you play for. That's wild.

Speaker 1: 11:02

Is he gonna demand a trade if the team says they're not gonna do?

Speaker 2: 11:06

it. I mean everything that I've seen. We would think he's the guy that's gonna do that.

Speaker 1: 11:11

Yes Wow.

Speaker 2: 11:13

We haven't seen that since. Since who? Since Eli Manning, I mean that first overall pick? That's like nope, not gonna play for your team. I mean, it's been a long time since anybody's been that way, yeah he did it.

Speaker 1: 11:24

And then I can't complain because, John L, we did it. That's how the Broncos got him Right. Oh man, now I've been dying for the Broncos to tank. Now I'm just like, oh what if we finally get the worst record? And then he's like nah.

Speaker 2: 11:37

Caleb Williams. I mean, who knows I don't know, I don't watch USC games I mean he could be Justin Fields. I mean, you know, everybody was high on Justin Fields when they beat Clemson in the playoffs a few years ago and Justin Fields looked better than Trevor Lawrence, or how high was everyone on Mac Jones?

Speaker 1: 11:55

just like two years ago.

Speaker 2: 11:57

Right. I mean, you know from what, from everything that I hear, caleb Williams is a different type of guy. But then you see, like somebody like CJ Stroud who from the outside looking in, is you know, I don't watch Ohio State football either, except when they're in the big games. He looks like he's gonna be a bust. And look at him, he's doing so good. He's killing, yeah, which I hate because, you know, not for him, but I hate the Texans.

Speaker 1: 12:24

So naturally division rival.

Speaker 2: 12:26

Deal with him for the next 10 years? Yes, but happy for him. Hate the fact that he's playing good, because that means yeah.

Speaker 1: 12:32

Now, well, you guys got your guy and I think he's legit. Do you think that this team, what is their record now? 4-2?, 4-2. Do you think they have what it takes to AFC Championship game or Super Bowl?

Speaker 2: 12:48

ever. I do think so, and the reason I think that is because of what the team went through last year. The team is almost 100% intact from last year and so that team went to the playoffs, won that Miracle Comeback game against San Diego, against the LA Chargers.

Speaker 2: 13:08

Oh yeah, and then went toe-to-toe with the Chiefs. Yeah, ended up losing by two scores, but that game was closer than it felt because there's a late turnover. So I think the team has the confidence. I clearly see a team that's capable of beating whoever they play. It's just a matter I mean it always is Do you come out and play your best and does the other team come out and play their best? Because I mean I would not if I were putting money on it in a Jag's Chiefs as much as I love the Jags, I'd still put money on the Chiefs because Mahomes, mahomes. I mean until you prove it that you can beat them, like the dude is, just figures it out.

Speaker 1: 13:48

I don't know how he does it. I thought they were gonna really struggle without Tyree Kill, but he's just like no, I don't care, I'll just throw it to seven different other guys.

Speaker 2: 13:55

Yeah. So I think the Jags definitely can go toe-to-toe with the Chiefs. It ends up being all the way the AFC Championship. I mean, hey, anybody's got a chance at that point. But you look at the rest of the AFC this year. We beat Buffalo, made them look like a bad team and of course you're a Buffalo fan. You're like, oh, it was the turf, it was London, it was blah, blah, blah. I'm like, well, we just played better than you and we, you know, made the bills look bad. We played the Bengals later this year, so we'll see if they're for real. You know, there seemed to be coming back after the bad start.

Speaker 1: 14:36

And Buffalo beat Miami, who's like one of the best teams, and so Miami is you gotta watch out for them?

Speaker 2: 14:42

I mean they're insane with the amount of points they're putting up. So yeah, you never know. I mean the division is, the conference is strong. I mean there's lots of good teams, but I do think the Jaguars are as capable as any of those teams.

Speaker 1: 14:56

And if we?

Speaker 2: 14:58

find a home game in the playoffs, or I mean the only one team gets a buy. Now I really don't see us getting the buy, See, I kind of do.

Speaker 1: 15:08

Just the division is so weak, you guys should win every division game Well you already lost, except he's turning it, except he's turning it. But I think there's a possibility. You end up as the one seed and then you're getting to go to some playoff games.

Speaker 2: 15:21

Yes, and I would think that if the season hadn't played out the way it has already, because you just thought oh well, the Chiefs are gonna have to play the Chargers this year and the Broncos are gonna give them a fight, and then you look at the Raiders, it's like they all stink and the. Chiefs are gonna coast all the way to that. Buy again and have the AFC Championship.

Speaker 1: 15:39

That's true. They're probably thinking the same thing. They're like, oh, we're gonna win every division game.

Speaker 2: 15:43

Yeah, so I would have thought that going into the year, because everybody's high on the Chargers and the Broncos are gonna come back. But yeah, I mean the Chiefs just make it look easy against everybody. I still think you guys got a shot.

Speaker 2: 15:55

Well, thank you, we'll take all the optimism and believe me in my heart, I'm as optimistic as they come. I believe we can do it and we're never gonna get the credit or respect as a bigger national brand. But I think we perform the best when people like to hate on us. People like to underestimate the Jags, hate on the Jags. We always play better. Anytime we start getting some street cred, we tank.

Speaker 1: 16:21

Yeah, like, ooh, we don't like this Get out of here.

Speaker 2: 16:24

Yeah, so yeah, I think, hey, if the Jaguars make it, 2024 Super Bowl, and this season I'm going to Vegas, yeah.

Speaker 1: 16:34

They'll be there. That'll be awesome. You gotta do it because, who knows, it might be a once in a lifetime opportunity, exactly, yeah, I will be there, nice, I like it.

Speaker 2: 16:42

I like it.

Speaker 1: 16:44

Now let's kind of rewind a little bit when the Jags were first introduced and announced was your family really into it too, or was it kind of just you and your buddies that got into it? Like, did the Jaguars become a family event on Sundays?

Speaker 2: 17:01

Yeah, it did it to a certain extent. My dad, I think, was into the Jags pretty early on and because they had success, I think it kind of roped in my mom a little bit, but we were never season ticket holders or anything like that, and I think Sundays were yeah, we'll watch it if it works out. And so I think it was really more of like a couple buddies and I that would just get together watch the games. Or one of my friends dad's got tickets through work and he'd take me to the game and one of the seasons I think it was the 96 season where we snuck into the playoffs there I think I went to almost all the home games, sat in the club seats with my friend and yeah, I mean that was really the. It wasn't so much that my whole family was, but it was a good enough. There was a good enough embrace of the team from my family, from the city that as you started to get a little success, everybody just starts to get on board. That's awesome.

Speaker 1: 18:02

And you've kind of carried that on with your kids. Now you're taking them to the games and kind of making it a special bonding time for everybody Last year.

Speaker 2: 18:09

I'll tell you what. So living outside of, it's really hard to get your kids to be fans of the team when you don't live in the market.

Speaker 1: 18:16

Oh yeah.

Speaker 2: 18:17

So like when my boys were little and I'd dress them up in Jaguar stuff, but they don't see anybody else wearing Jaguar stuff and the Jaguars aren't even that good like fat chance of them becoming Jags fans. Well then, we moved back to Jacksonville 2015,. So we're back in town, able to go to the games together, but still, when you don't win, little boys want a winner. They don't want to follow a sorry team.

Speaker 1: 18:41

So it's tough, especially when everyone around them's talking about how amazing Alabama is and all that stuff.

Speaker 2: 18:47

They're like why?

Speaker 1: 18:47

would I care about the?

Speaker 2: 18:48

Jaguars. Well, and you see it on TV and you're like, oh, tom Brady, he's a winner. And then your kid turns around and's like I like the Patriots. Like no, you don't, you will not live in this house. Yeah, so last year I took the boys to the Ravens game where we came back from like 17 points, won the game on a two-point conversion. Nice, I took them to the Cowboys game. We were also down 17 points, won it in overtime on a pick six. So we were there to witness those live. And then, of course, we watched. We were there for the playoff game.

Speaker 2: 19:23

Yeah Down 27-nothing, and the bitter call I mean has called us. Jacksonville's ever been, I mean, the coldest, one of the coldest football games I've ever been to in Jacksonville, Florida, and 27-nothing. We huddle up. I'm there with my wife and my two sons. I huddle up at 27-nothing and I look at them like hey, we were here for the Cowboys, we're here for the Ravens. We came back, we can do this. Don't give up, I love it.

Speaker 2: 19:49

This is our home playoff game. We are not abandoning this team. And then I mean to see that Epic come back. I mean, yes, like they are gonna be fans for life.

Speaker 1: 20:00

Oh yeah.

Speaker 2: 20:02

And I love that series of events three games in a row of just like edgier seat epic comebacks and then making it to playoffs. I mean that was awesome.

Speaker 1: 20:14

Well, even just having one of those games, let on three, but just to. I guarantee you to feel the energy in the stadium. They've never experienced anything like that.

Speaker 2: 20:22

Yeah, yeah, unreal. I mean the way that that stadium came to life in that playoff game. You know, you saw, it was halftime. I think we got a touchdown right before halftime, so it was 27-7, and you see, you know his cynicism of some fans are grumbling oh, we're leaving and I'm like no, yeah, I've seen it before. I've had in my lifetime of being able to purchase tickets and go to the game. Two home playoff games.

Speaker 1: 20:54

So it didn't matter what the score was. We are not leaving. It just happened to work out like a Disney movie.

Speaker 2: 20:59

Yeah, this team is almost 30 years old and there's been an opportunity to go to two home playoff games. Like we are staying.

Speaker 1: 21:06

Can you imagine the regret driving home, listening to it or something and then realizing you just missed one of the greatest comebacks in playoff history?

Speaker 2: 21:14

Oh, that'd be so sad. I couldn't live with myself. It'd be so sad.

Speaker 1: 21:17

But you got to experience it.

Speaker 2: 21:19

Yep.

Speaker 1: 21:20

Now, during those dark days, one of the big rumors well, it was a national rumor, I don't think it was actually true was that the Jaguars are gonna move to London. Obviously that didn't happen and I don't think it's going to happen, but they have been playing London games and you just got back from one. Yeah, so I actually haven't seen you since you got back from London, so I'm genuinely interested. Tell me about the London experience.

Speaker 2: 21:46

Yeah, so those rumors have been around ever since Jackson was a small market, jackson was been a bad team and so of course they're gonna be the butt of all the jokes or the rumors. And then, when you sign a 10-year contract to give up a home game, you only get eight home games. Well, now you could have nine, but you only get eight. And then you give up one every year for 10 years. What are people to think? And the reality is, from a business standpoint, shotkhan's making so much money on that London game that he can actually improve the Jacksonville amenities and stadium because the money he's making over there.

Speaker 1: 22:27

I think anybody who really understands it sees that I think the other owners are probably so jealous they didn't do the same thing.

Speaker 2: 22:33

Well, and from a fan standpoint, you're like why on earth would you ever give up a home game? And I get that makes sense, but really it's a neutral site game. It's not like you're giving up a home game for an away game.

Speaker 2: 22:47

And then, I think, truly the Jags. So my London experience I was there, went to the game at Wembley and they played the Falcons this season. It was incredible the amount of Jags fans. Now I'm telling you, 95% of that stadium was Europeans. You know British, other European countries that were there for the game, but they were all wearing Jags fans stuff. I mean you could represent every single NFL team.

Speaker 2: 23:18

You know, my boys and I got off the subway. We took the subway from downtown London to Wembley Stadium. You get off and there's like 50,000 people out in the lawn in front of Wembley Stadium and everything is teal. That's cool. All the Jags merch is sold out. You could buy Falcon stuff for days, but all the Jags merch is sold out before. And we got there like three hours before the game. But you look around you're like, oh, there's a Cowboys jersey, there's a Packers jersey, there's a 49ers jersey and I said to my boys like let's see how long it takes us to count all 32 teams jerseys and it took about five minutes. That's how long it took Really.

Speaker 2: 23:59

Because it's so diverse. I mean, you know, london typically gets one to two games a year period.

Speaker 2: 24:05

Yeah, it's like they spread out the teams Usually the Jags. But so if you're a NFL fan and you live anywhere in Europe and you can take a train or a quick flight to England and stuff coming all the way to the US, you're just wearing your Packers jersey because you're a Packers fan, but you wanna go watch American football. Well, but even that said, like there was so many Jags fans there and it was really cool to see I mean it legitimately felt like a home game.

Speaker 1: 24:34

That's cool.

Speaker 2: 24:34

The stadium, everything inside the stadium. They made teal and white and black. There's, I mean, posters the size of the stadium from Florida's ceiling of Jaguar's players like, printed out you know, for one game.

Speaker 1: 24:48

Yes, and they didn't really cut costs. They like tried to make it.

Speaker 2: 24:51

No, yeah, and all the Jaguars, like you know, the in-game stadium stuff, like the videos, the little clips that they play to like pump up the crowd. They had all the same stuff. It literally felt like a Jaguar's home game.

Speaker 1: 25:07

That's cool.

Speaker 2: 25:07

And now you're in Wimbledon Stadium and everything's red there. So, besides the seats being red instead of teal, it felt like a Jaguar's home game.

Speaker 1: 25:15

That's really cool.

Speaker 2: 25:16

And you look at like London alone and this is not all of England, this is not even you know. Touch, scratch the surface of Europe. London has 12 million people in it. Jacksonville has like a million. You think about the opportunity to sell merch, to grow your fan base in a country that has no other option. Right, like it's genius to me from a marketing standpoint.

Speaker 1: 25:41

Oh yeah, and especially as they're getting to know the game. Now, all of a sudden, you guys are becoming good and so more and more people are hopping on that bandwagon and it literally, you'll own a whole continent. Yeah.

Speaker 2: 25:54

That. Well, I'll tell you this story. We were, there was a Lids store like the hat store, you know, clothing and shoes and stuff that was hosting a meet and greet with Christian Kirk and Evan Ingram and Tony Bisselli. And I found it on like the Jaguars London homepage or whatever. Hey, two o'clock to three o'clock on Saturday, before the game, come to Lids, meet the players. So I'm like we should totally do that. This is awesome. There won't be anybody there. So we go to this little town called Camden it's like a little shopping district suburb of London and we get off the subway there and you, we see the Lids and I see a line like no kidding, that's like a mile long.

Speaker 1: 26:39

Really.

Speaker 2: 26:40

And every single person that lines got their Jaguar jersey on. And I look at my watch or look at my phone. I'm like there's no way we're getting in there in an hour. Like the thing is, the event's only an hour. We get in the back of the line and we made it all the way we were. I think we were literally like the last five people they let in.

Speaker 2: 26:57

Oh, really To actually get in and they were like we're closing, you only get one autograph. So I was like, look to my son. I'm like which one's which who's autographed you want? He's like I want Christian Kirk's. Bought a T-shirt and you got Christian Kirk's autograph. But it was insane. I mean there was, you know, other tourists walking up and down these streets and they're like what are y'all in line for? What is this? And I was just like proud to say like it's the Jaguars, american football, and they're like, oh, oh yeah, that's so cool Cause I'm guessing, did you?

Speaker 1: 27:29

I'm assuming you talked to some people in line and they were probably mostly European.

Speaker 2: 27:32

Yeah, oh yeah, I mean we. I mean I don't know how many fans travel to the game, but it's a very small percentage, you know, of the total attendance there. I think they had 85,000 people at Wembley.

Speaker 1: 27:43

Oh yeah.

Speaker 2: 27:44

You figure the Jag Stadium at capacity is like 72. And so out of those 85,000 that were there, I mean maybe five to 10 were like Americans.

Speaker 1: 27:53

Yeah, if that it just seems like a lot for us, cause we know so many diehards that they are the ones that always go, but yeah that's so cool. I didn't know. The whole atmosphere was like that and they had accepted the Jaguar. So much just cause, like you, assume that some people did. But that's really cool to hear so many have.

Speaker 2: 28:09

It was, it was, it was it blew my mind. I was like this is so cool. It's literally like a second home and for your team. And these people don't even they didn't even been to Jacksonville. You know, I mean most of them.

Speaker 1: 28:24

And do they get to watch most of the games on TV? Like, do they have a pretty easy way to watch them?

Speaker 2: 28:30

Yeah, I don't know the answer to that. My guess is they don't. But but they keep up with them.

Speaker 1: 28:35

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 28:36

And uh, the whole city was just buzzing with Jaguar fever. It was really cool. I love it.

Speaker 1: 28:43

Would you say the whole experience was like you enjoyed it enough that you're gonna do it again. Or was it just kind of like oh, that was nice to do, but I don't know if I'll necessarily make a point to go to Europe just for the Jaguar game?

Speaker 2: 28:54

Maybe, maybe it was that good. It's a lot of expense and all that, but it was a mountaintop experience for sure, absolutely yeah, and it was fun. We took the whole family, the kids got to experience it. Here's the funny thing that I would have never guessed you could not buy a Coca-Cola at that stadium.

Speaker 2: 29:16

Oh really you could buy a Coke Zero. You could buy any kind of draft beer you wanted, because everybody knows they drink a lot of beer in England. But you couldn't buy a regular Coke. And I went to 10 different concession stands like, can you have Coke here? Coke.

Speaker 1: 29:31

Zero.

Speaker 2: 29:31

I'm like I don't want Coke Zero. Yeah, give me that sugar. Apparently London I'm just guessing this has some sort of regulation where they don't sell sugared beverages of a certain size at venues which has blew my mind.

Speaker 1: 29:47

Yeah, I'd say that's so different from here.

Speaker 2: 29:48

but Don't tell me I can't have a Coke at a football game. But no, yeah, I can buy Coke Zero.

Speaker 1: 29:55

That's funny.

Speaker 2: 29:56

I would have never guessed.

Speaker 1: 29:57

You would have thought they would have been just trying to make money.

Speaker 2: 29:58

anyway, they can, right, yeah, but it was that stadium at Wembley you can tell that's the national team of England is super nice, the nicest stadium I've ever been to.

Speaker 1: 30:10

Until you go to the Super Bowl to watch the Jags in Las Vegas.

Speaker 2: 30:13

I haven't been to that new stadium in Vegas yet I haven't been to a lot of NFL stadiums but Well, that's cool.

Speaker 1: 30:18

I missed my chance last year when the Jags were playing the Broncos, but it'll cycle back around. I'm sure I'll eventually get to check that off the bucket list sometime.

Speaker 2: 30:27

Yeah, it was a great trip. England is a. London is a really cool place.

Speaker 1: 30:30

That's cool Well that's definitely a die hard thing, all right, so let's kind of wrap it up by playing some games. All right, normally I do kind of like silly games and just having fun, but I think you're very, very knowledgeable about your team, so mine's more trivia based this time, let's see. All right, well, we'll start off easy. This one you can't get wrong. What jerseys have you owned? I'm always fascinated by jersey buyers and I know I've seen you in a few jerseys.

Speaker 2: 30:58

Yeah, so you know, to be honest, I'm not a big jersey person. I don't know that I owned any jerseys until a few years ago. So if I had to guess, my first Jaguar jersey and this will sound crazy was Gardner Menshew.

Speaker 1: 31:15

Oh, really so recently.

Speaker 2: 31:17

And it was just like you had to, like you had the route for Gardner Menshew. You knew your team was not going to be good, but he comes in with the mullet and the jorts and I'm like, yes, this guy gets Jacksonville.

Speaker 1: 31:31

That's hilarious.

Speaker 2: 31:33

And I got a Gardner Menshew jersey, really just kind of for fun. You know, back in the day. I mean there's a chance I might've had like a, I might've had a. Oh gosh, I can't even give the guy's name, the Oklahoma State wide receiver.

Speaker 1: 31:51

Oh, Blackman.

Speaker 2: 31:51

Blackman. I might have a Blackman jersey because, man, we were high on him and he had such potential. He was supposed to be a beast, yeah so I think in back I might've had a Blackman jersey. And then you know what's funny is that year that Gardner Menshew came in and he got hurt. We played Cody Kessler as quarterback and I bought a Cody Kessler jersey just for the jokes.

Speaker 1: 32:13

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 32:14

Because, like this guy is gonna play all of one game for the Jags in his whole career, I'm shocked they even had jerseys for him no yeah, it was a hard one to find, but that's hilarious. And then I have a Trevor Lawrence jersey too now.

Speaker 1: 32:29

There you go. That one's not a joke. There you go. Very good, see you later.

Speaker 2: 32:32

Now my kids had a Leonard Fournet the boys I'd bought a Leonard Fournet jersey. Blake Bortles, now they have Trevor Lawrence, trayvon Walker. So yeah, you're grooming some young jersey wears. That's right I like it.

Speaker 1: 32:44

Now, just thinking about the Jags, I know it seems like y'all have had some really good skill position players, so I kind of wanted to see what your all-time Jags team would be. So if you had the we're only gonna do offense, but set your quarterback one running back, let's do three wide receivers and a tight end.

Speaker 2: 33:07

All right, so quarterback. As much as I do respect Mark Brinnell, like it's gotta be Trevor Lawrence.

Speaker 1: 33:15

Oh interesting, he's already made it there for you.

Speaker 2: 33:17

Yeah, I mean, again, you're projecting out his future here but, like, the talent that he has is just off the charts and you know that he's gonna be your guy. And so, yeah, mark Brinnell played for us. I don't know how many seasons six, somewhere in that ballpark. You know, if they pay Trevor, he'll be a Jaguar for 20 years. Yeah, you know, unless he has a terrible injury or something, I mean, they won't ever let him go. So it's gotta be Trevor Lawrence's quarterback.

Speaker 1: 33:43

If he wins a Super Bowl, he'll just own Jacksonville for the rest of his life.

Speaker 2: 33:47

It'll be his city Royalty yeah, running back's gotta be Fred Taylor. I mean, mojo was incredible.

Speaker 1: 33:57

I was gonna say, you kinda had two options there.

Speaker 2: 33:59

Yeah, but it's gotta be Fred Taylor. I mean Fred Taylor's ability and he doesn't get the respect he deserves because he played for the Jags, but I mean he was fast, dynamic, ran people over and I think he will get in the Hall of Fame. I know they're trying to make a push, but I think he'll be the second Jaguar in the Hall of Fame after Bacelli. So yeah, running back would be Fred Taylor. If I were doing honorable mention for fullback, it'd be Greg Jones.

Speaker 2: 34:28

Oh yeah, he was awesome he was so great for us for so many years as a secondary back.

Speaker 1: 34:34

There you go. We'll add him in. He's on there.

Speaker 2: 34:36

So, wide receiver, I mean you have to go. Jimmy Smith, and I have to think about it, because the combo of Jimmy Smith and Kenan McCardell is hard to separate and we haven't ever really had like a true number one since Jimmy Smith. He was amazing, yeah. I mean Blackman was that for just a flash, but he had blank gathered in his quarterback. It just wasn't gonna happen. So, wide receivers, all-time Jaguar team yeah, I mean, there were so many bad ones.

Speaker 1: 35:09

So many wasted draft picks. So many highly drafted bad ones. Rj.

Speaker 2: 35:12

Sourd was drafted you know what, second overall or whatever you know top five free eight, exactly where he was drafted, played like half a season and then it was a bust. And then we had, like we remember we drafted the quarterback from what? Was it? Arkansas or something? Matt Jones.

Speaker 1: 35:30

Oh yeah. As a receiver, Changed him to receiver just because he was such a good athlete. I mean that was a disaster. And then he really liked drugs.

Speaker 2: 35:38

And so did Justin Blackman, unfortunately. Yeah, that's true, that's what happened. So, yeah, our history of receivers is like ooh, I mean you know, that's true.

Speaker 1: 35:46

We might need to just cut it down to two all-time groups.

Speaker 2: 35:47

I hate to be, like you know, a victim of the present, but like I would probably say, christian Kirk, along with Jimmy Smith and Keenan McCardell. Yeah, that's kind of what I was thinking there's other guys, like Alan Hearns had a good season, alan Robbins had a good season, but they didn't have enough good seasons.

Speaker 1: 36:06

Yeah, it was kind of flashing the pan, yeah, and then tight end, tight end.

Speaker 2: 36:13

I probably have to say Kyle Brady. And again I'm going back to the early days of the Jaguars.

Speaker 1: 36:18

Again, I was thinking, you had two choices, because it was either him or Mercedes.

Speaker 2: 36:21

Yeah, and that's true. Mercedes Lewis had the tenure for sure. I mean what 10 years, I think, with the Jags and he's still playing. He's like my age.

Speaker 1: 36:29

Yeah.

Speaker 2: 36:31

And if he had been more of utilized as an offensive weapon, like he had a phenomenal start, I think his rookie year. He had like 10 touchdowns or something, and then he almost, he essentially just became a blocking tight end until the very end of his tenure with the Jaguars, the year that we went into the AFC Championship 2017 season, they started utilizing him as a weapon and I'm like where did this?

Speaker 1: 36:55

come from. Yeah, really, just waiting 15 years to pull it out.

Speaker 2: 36:58

Yeah, I mean it would be close between Kyle Brady and Mercedes, because Mercedes was really beloved by Jags fans.

Speaker 1: 37:04

I like the Kyle Brady pick, though, because I remember him. He was really good.

Speaker 2: 37:08

Yeah, and just super likable dominant. You know, yeah, and was with us during our golden years, so it's hard not to pick him.

Speaker 1: 37:17

I like it. I like the addition of Greg Jones in there too. All right, and this last game is called Not Just Another Guy, as some people refer to as a. Jag. Yeah, we'll start with QBs first. So you have three options. You can either pick Brunel, gerard or Lawrence. Each question will have one of those guys as the answer. Okay, all right, so first one he was a NCAA and Super Bowl champion, mark Brunel. Good job, I was hoping you would like it.

Speaker 2: 37:52

He won with the Saints Yep, absolutely I remember that.

Speaker 1: 37:57

And next one he won 41 straight games in high school.

Speaker 2: 38:03

It's gotta be Trevor Lawrence.

Speaker 1: 38:06

Maybe not. You gotta be correct, all right. Next one who out of the three has the most career rushing yards? They're all kind of pretty good scramblers.

Speaker 2: 38:18

Yeah, I would definitely couldn't be Trevor, because he's too early on his career, as much as I you know. Gerard was like the beast of a runner, but Brunel was sneaky fast. I'm gonna say Brunel, three for three.

Speaker 1: 38:31

You're doing good, all right. This one is just totally random. Who was born on Valentine's Day?

Speaker 2: 38:37

Oh gosh, I do not know the answer to that one.

Speaker 1: 38:39

I'm like rooting the perfect streak here.

Speaker 2: 38:41

I'm gonna just say David Gerard.

Speaker 1: 38:44

You're good.

Speaker 2: 38:45

Very good, very good.

Speaker 1: 38:47

And then who has the most wins as a Jaguar?

Speaker 2: 38:53

It's got to be Brunel, it is.

Speaker 1: 38:55

Brunel. I looked it up, I think Brunel had 64. Gerard was at 44, which was surprising. I didn't realize he won that many games. He had a couple good seasons and then Trevor's at 16 right now.

Speaker 2: 39:07

Yeah, I mean because Trevor's start was not great.

Speaker 1: 39:11

One and two win seasons.

Speaker 2: 39:12

I better remember Brunel had a 14 and two season. Oh yeah, I mean, it had a couple of years where we were a dominant team. So yeah, you racked up. You know people forget about it because he wasn't like Hall of Fame or quarterback, but he led that team for a few good years.

Speaker 1: 39:27

Oh, they were a fun offense. All right, you know your quarterback's very good, very good, and we'll do running backs. Like, as we said, two options for great running backs Fred Taylor and Maurice Jones drew. So this running back we'll start with an easy one, but we'll do it with all time and rushing yards. There you go. I just had to throw that in because, like fans like me, I had no idea he was that high up Like out of all the running backs that I've ever played. He.

Speaker 2: 39:52

Well, that's right and that's why I say he's going to make the Hall of Fame.

Speaker 1: 39:55

I think he has to with that many yards. How many?

Speaker 2: 39:57

running backs are in the Hall of Fame Probably 50.

Speaker 1: 39:59

Yeah. And how could you not take in a guy who's top 17 all the time and you kind of mentioned it before real quick, but I think it's totally true. If he would have played for the Jets or the Cowboys or someone, he would be in already. He would.

Speaker 2: 40:10

Yeah, I was just shocked, I had to throw that in there because I was like whoa, he had a lot of yards.

Speaker 1: 40:14

All right, which running back only made one Pro Bowl.

Speaker 2: 40:22

Yeah, maurice Jones drew had a year where he was the rushing leader and he had some other dynamic years, so he might have made two. I'm going to say Fred, because the guys his contemporaries, you know, just had that. It was Curtis Martin, it was Terrell Owens, it was not Terrell Davis not Terrell Owens, eddie. George. I mean those guys would just got all the accolades, even though Fred Taylor was just as good or better in my opinion. I'm going to say Fred only made one.

Speaker 1: 40:51

You are right, I tried to trick you on that one. After talking about how awesome he is on the first one, I was like oh, there's no way, you only made one Pro Bowl. But yeah apparently the competition was stiff. All right. Who had more yards in their very last year of their career? Fred being with the Patriots and Maurice Jones drew being with the Raiders.

Speaker 2: 41:11

That's a tough one because I did not follow them after they left. I'm going to say Mojo had more yards with the Raiders because I remember him having some success there.

Speaker 1: 41:20

Your perfect streak came to an end. Oh, fred Taylor, it was just barely. They both only had like not that many yards, like it was time for them to be done. All right, last one. You really can't get this one wrong. Who is a better commentator? Analyst, analyst yeah, I'll say that word eventually. Analyst on their respective network. Slash Fred doing the halftime at the Jags games.

Speaker 2: 41:47

Oh, I think Mojo is great at being on NFL Network and the stuff that he does. Now he was I don't know if he still is like the color analyst for the Rams, oh okay, you know, because he lives out in LA, but so I don't like that. But Fred, you know Fred's got his his niche, but he's not my favorite guy on on radio. Again, I'll do respect, I love the guy, yeah, but Mojo is just, he's got that colorful personality. He's enthusiastic tone. You know that kind of stuff.

Speaker 1: 42:21

Well, very good, that's what I would have said to you, so I'll count that as right as well. Well, you killed the trivia section. You've gone to London. You got faith in the team to win the Super Bowl. You're officially a diehard fan. Well, we'll have you back on. Once Jags are in the playoff and they're about to go to that Super Bowl, let's do it. But for now, let's get you out of here so you can go watch them dominate on some Thursday night football. You better win this game, all right, Thanks Eric, thanks Brad.