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Allison Coot
The following podcast is a Dear Media Production. What's up, guys? Welcome back to Sunday Sports Club podcast with Allison Coot, a podcast all about sports told by a woman. And that woman is me. Hi, guys. Happy holidays. Happy Thanksgiving. If you celebrate it, maybe if you're not in America, I guess you wouldn't be celebrating Thanksgiving. But for us, the holidays have always kind of been wrapped around football. And I thought it would be a good, fun episode to talk about what the holidays usually look like when it comes to the NFL and more specifically like NFL families and how players celebrate. Are there any cool traditions in around football and what do the players do to celebrate with each other? Fun things like that. And I obviously have a very unique experience because the past seven years our holidays have revolved around football. And crazy enough this year doesn't because Isaac still still not on a football team. And I feel like I can even talk about that real quick. Is, is there a chance Isaac can still get signed to an NFL team? And the answer is yes. Isaac actually played with a few players who have honestly been signed at like the last three weeks left of the football season. Now, what's the probability there? I mean, it's definitely not good. Like, it's on the lower chance of probability of getting signed, but there's obviously still a chance to do that. And when it comes to retirement, I mean, I feel like I can even make it its own podcast about that is like Isaac and I have talked about the benefits to him just retiring now or not retiring and, you know, kind of seeing how things play out. So maybe, maybe I'll save that for a different episode. Like I said, holidays have revolved around football because that's what my husband's been doing. And we have not up until last year because around this time last year, my husband got cut from the Raiders and sent us back in our bags back to Orange County. But up until last year, we had not had a holiday that didn't have some sort of practice or football game or Isaac wasn't there. Like, that was our first quote unquote normal holiday. But it wasn't really normal because we were expecting a baby in a few weeks and we were planning on spending Thanksgiving with the entire defensive line for the Las Vegas Raiders. And you know when you lose your job that you don't want to go and spend Thanksgiving with those people anymore. No offense to the people, but it just changed up things. So we didn't even have, we didn't have family in town or anything. We really, it was just me And Isaac making. We didn't make turkey. I'm like, why would we make an entire turkey for two people? I don't even like turkey that much. So we ended up, like, going to Whole Foods, getting a little bit of turkey, and then making all the fun sides, like the stuffing. I loved stuffing. I felt stuffed because I looked stuffed as I was very pregnant. And honestly, I think that the holidays that we spend, just me and Isaac, I'm gonna look back on very fondly because. Because it's definitely not the traditional thing to do. It's very much not the norm, I guess you could say. I mean, maybe some of you are listening to this podcast and you're either traveling back from seeing family or you're still in your hometown. Maybe you live in your hometown, or maybe you spent Thanksgiving alone. I feel like there is a norm. I mean, the norm being that when you think of the holidays, you think of is spending it with, like, family and friends. But I feel like that's not normal at all because everybody spends holidays so differently. So Isaac and I are going well, and Scotty are going to be spending our Thanksgiving in Napa Valley, California. One of our best friends. It's a couple. Their names are Matt and Steen, and they have a son named Navy. And they are some of our best friends. I mean, Matt married us quite literally. He, like, literally stood at the altar and married us. We. There's some of our best friends. We met them, thankfully. I mean, it's crazy because they're not in the NFL, but they've been through this NFL journey with us because we met them when Isaac played for the Los Angeles Chargers, and it was like, our first year in California. We met them at our apartment complex, and since then, we have grown just, like, in our friendships. What I'm getting off topic, but we are going to be going up to Napa Valley because her dad has a house up there, and he's actually not going to be spending the holidays with us, but we get to spend it in Napa. I think it's gonna be really fun and unique because we've never been able to travel for holidays in the past, which I'll get to in a little bit. So I'm really excited. I. This is, like, our first, quote, unquote, normal holiday, and it's something that we are choosing to do and, like, we're really looking forward to. So we are going to be heading there early, early in the week. We're heading there on Monday, and I'm really, really excited to get there. And then we're going to be going to some wineries, and we're bringing our babies along. It's also been so fun having friends who have babies around the same time you do, because even though he's a few months younger, like, we got to be pregnant together. We got to experience, like, just becoming moms at the same time and all the ups and downs and struggles. And it's been so nice having somebody I can, like, relate to. One and two, vent to, um, and now three. We get to be parents together and explore this new side of life. That sounds deep. Anyways, I think that this is a holiday I'm really looking forward to. Obviously, it's Scotty's first Thanksgiving. I don't even count her last Christmas as her first Christmas, because I got out of the hospital on Christmas Eve, and she doesn't remember it. I mean, she's probably not gonna remember this year either, but she was still like, a fetus, essentially. I mean, she was outside of my womb, but, yeah, she was sleeping the entire holiday. So I will kind of count this as her first holidays, essentially. And I think it's. Be cool all of the. Like, what are your traditions when it comes to Thanksgiving and Christmas, especially when it comes to having a kid? Because I want to create the household that has so many traditions and fun things that they do. And I don't know. I grew up in a family that kind of had traditions. I mean, we had a very small family. Like, I had one cousin. Like, so many people have, like, 20 cousins. 20, 30. I had one cousin, and that was it. So I'm really well. And Scotty already has more than. More cousins than I had. So we're. It's. We're on the up and up. But I'm looking into, like, all the holiday traditions that I want to start implementing. So she has, like, a fun childhood. And I guess I'm also, like, living vicariously through my daughter. I feel like we can all relate to that as parents, because Christmas now means something again, right? And the holidays start to mean something, whereas. And I feel like in your 20s, they kind of, like, hit a lull where you're like, I mean, yeah, like, I like to see my family. I like. Like, there's meaning behind the holidays, right? It's not, like, just for presents or just for food. Like, it's meant to, like, spend it with other people that you love and care about. And. Or maybe you don't. Let me try to be inclusive. I'm like, or maybe you want to spend it Alone. Who cares? So, yeah, I. I'm thinking more about what I want to do in terms of, like, traditions and. And whatnot. But. Yeah. So first Thanksgiving. Here we go. Let's talk a little bit about the past seven years of Thanksgivings, and we can go all the way back to Isaac's first year in the NFL. His first Thanksgiving, he was on practice squad with the Los Angeles Chargers, but he was a traveling practice squad member, which essentially means, like, you could be pulled up at any point. So I actually went out to California instead of spending it with my family. That's. This is going to be a theme because you can't spend the holiday in two places unless you live really close. But for Isaac and his career, that's never been the case. So for me and Isaac's first Thanksgiving together, we weren't living together. I was still in college. He was in the NFL. It was kind of weird, right? This was. This was post breakup. Yeah. So we were in a healthy era, though. But Isaac had. He was. Because he was a traveling practice squad member, he ended up going to Dallas because they were playing the Dallas Cowboys. We all know Dallas Cowboys have their, like, traditional. This was Thanksgiving, right? Yeah, it was Thanksgiving. They have their traditional Thanksgiving football game, which I grew up as a Detroit Lions girly because I'm from Michigan. And we also have the Thanksgiving football game. So, like, it's a home game every single year. So you can always count that with the Cowboys and the Lions. I don't know if it's any other team. I probably should have done that research before I started recording this, but, you know, those are the two teams that matter. So for the. I wanted to spend this Thanksgiving with Isaac. I think it was so keen on, like, going to see Isaac and spending it in California, even though he wasn't going to be there, because I just felt like that was like, the next step for our relationship was spending holidays together. Because up until this point, during college football, you do not spend holidays together. Obviously, even if. Even if your significant other doesn't play football, you still might not spend holidays together because it's college. It's like a new relationship, and you're like, I want to spend it with my family. Like, I want to spend with my friends, so it makes sense. But I think this was, like, the first step into, like, spending it with Isaac. And so I flew out to California knowing I would probably not. Probably I would be spending Thanksgiving alone. So while Isaac was in Dallas, I went out to Whole Foods, and I bought all of, like, the Ingredients for the sweet potato casserole and mashed potatoes. And I got, like, some of the Whole Foods hot bar. I think they had, like, many. Not many turkeys, but, like a container of turkey. And I went back. I was cooking up in the kitchen. I had my family on FaceTime. I was watching the football game. Oh, this is so cute. I'm feeling so nostalgic just thinking about this. So crazy. It was seven years ago, but I kind of took over Isaac's apartment. I played holiday music. I kind of decorated a little bit. And Isaac didn't get in to California until 12am So I went and picked him up from the Chargers facility, drove home, because we only had one car. Well, obviously, because I wasn't living there yet. And we. I like. I was like, okay, stand outside the door. I went inside. I pulled everything. I, like, had it in the oven, even though the oven wasn't on to keep it heated. Maybe I did have the oven on. I don't know. I was kind of stupid back then. So I pulled everything out into the counter and lit candles and, like, set the scene, put little fire on the TV and open up the door. And he was so shocked, surprised, and excited because he was hungry. And I just think back to things like that is when it comes to the NFL, you have to make a lot of sacrifices. If you're a significant other or if you're like a family member of an NFL player, like, you're just going to have to make sacrifices, especially a wife. Because I have to choose between my husband, who's like my family, or my parents and my siblings and my extended family, who's like my other family. And it's crazy because the two can't really come together. So it's always been really unique with the holidays, but that was our first Thanksgiving together. Even though we weren't together, I'm pretty sure it was like 1201. So does that really count? I don't know. But then, because Isaac was with the Chargers for so long, the team that you're with, if you're there for a minute, right? Because when you're not there that long, it's hard to make connections like this. But the Chargers had really became like our family, and we had started making friends in California. I mean, hell, we're literally going to Napa with some of our friends that we met because of the Los Angeles Chargers, and you just. It becomes like this, like an experience that they're experiencing, you're experiencing, and it just. It make weeks. I don't know. It brings you guys close. So every year that Isaac played for the Los Angeles Chargers, we spent the holidays with our. His teammates and with their wives and girlfriends and kids and family members. And, I mean, we would. I remember specifically, like, one girl usually would host. I mean, we had kind of, like a revolving door of, like, the girls I would host, but revolving door isn't the word. But. But we would have, like, one or two girls would always, like, step up to the plate that had, like, a nice house. They had bought a house and had enough space to fit people. And I remember, like, going over to my friend Tasha's house one time, and we used it as, like, a potluck. So everybody brought their Thanksgiving favorite, and it felt so homey, even though our family wasn't there. And I'm sure you guys are all wondering what. So NFL. Do NFL players get off for the holidays? Absolutely fucking not. No. There are no days off when it comes to the NFL. It comes to practices, whatever. Isaac has never in his entire NFL career had a full day off of a holiday. And, you know, in his career, he's usually been playing on the holiday. Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, even Christmas Day. That was the worst. Why would. Why the. Would you have a football game on Christmas Day? I get it for, like, entertainment purposes, but, like, are people actually watching? I should do my research and actually look up. If people are actually watching the football game on Christmas for Thanksgiving, it makes more sense. But I don't know. For Christmas, for. I don't know. It feels weird to me. So NFL players always have something on the holiday, whether that be a football game or they're traveling to a football game or they're coming back from a football game or they have practice. Every single year, at least Isaac has had practice. And they try and let the guys out a little early. Like, some teams are human and, like, have family values so they'll let the players out. Some teams are just like, no. Like, this is how it goes. Like, this is a sacrifice you have to make if you want to be in the NFL. Whatever. So I keep thinking of one day in particular, and it was the year that we went to our friend Tasha's house and her and her husband hosted, and I waited for Isaac to get back. I, like, put on the Macy's day parade on TV, and I'm just cooking up the kitchen. It's always FaceTime. Thank God for FaceTime, because I don't know what I would have done. I mean, when it comes to, like, my family and, like, seeing my family during the Holidays. So super grateful. Thanks, Apple, for making FaceTime. I know they weren't in charge of creating, like, face to face video chatting, but you know what I mean, it's just so crazy that, like, all the sacrifices you have to make. And I know with all this being said, I'm coming from a huge place of privilege, right? Like, some people don't have enough money to put fucking food on their table. And I'm over here, like, yeah, like, I made sacrifices because I didn't get to spend the holidays with my family. I understand where I'm coming from, right. Like, I hopefully will take accountability for that. But I'm. I am just speaking of my experience because I do think people are curious to see, like, what the sacrifices are. Right. Because that's the deal with this podcast, is me giving you guys a behind the scenes look at what sports and their families go through and everything in between. Because at the end of the day, is my podcast still. So, yeah, whenever I think about Thanksgiving, I always think of football. I mean, some people always do because they actually enjoy watching football. And I'm not gonna lie, it's kind of been fun. Like, it's given. Football has given a cadence to our life. So when it comes to the holidays, I always associate the holidays with football, which is why maybe this year I just haven't been able to, like, get into the fall spirit, get into the Christmas spirit, get into, like, it feeling like the holidays, you know, because I don't really feel like it's the holidays. I feel like it's like, slow. Like there's really no cadence to our life right now. But, yeah, back to Thanksgiving. So our years, we've been super, super thankful. Now let's fast forward it to. Let's go to the Colts, because the Colts have been very interesting experiences. That was our first year leaving Los Angeles Chargers, and it was a few weeks after one of our best friend, like a couple best friend, he got traded to a different team. So we were like, oh, this isn't fun. I think my family ended up coming into town and we ended up spending Thanksgiving with my family, like my parents and my aunts and I think like one or two teammates ended up coming over. All of our holidays have had at least one or two teammates. Okay. Because that's what the holidays are about. Like, inviting people in. I think that's something I'm so looking forward to having about our renovated house is I want to want an open door policy. I want to be the house that, like, if nobody has anywhere to go for the holidays, you can come over to our house. If you need a place to stay for a few nights, you can come to our house. Like, I am so excited about having a house where it's you. You can come. You're always welcome. And I think that's kind of what the holidays were all about, especially when it came to the NFL because so many players are not with their family or friends or their girlfriends, even their wives. Some people choose to spend it separately. And I just. I never wanted to spend it away from Isaac just because I have a smaller family. And I do feel like they came out to see us a lot. But my. The Thanksgiving with the Indianapolis Colts. Yeah, my parents drove in because it. My parents are from Michigan and it was like, really enjoyable and. But at the same time, it was like unique, right? Because you go from having this huge group of friends who just so happen to be employed by the same team your husband's employed by, and it's like this big family dynamic. And then you go to other teams where it's just not that it's not the same. There's definitely been NFL teams that are closer than others, and some, you know, that aren't as close. And I can even recall. I don't even know if I should talk about Christmas because I am very much the type of person that if it's not December, I'm not. I'm not talking about Christmas. I'm not listening to Christmas music. I'm not talking about the holidays. I think that they should be very strict and very separate because I want to fully enjoy Thanksgiving and fully enjoy the fall. And then I also want to fully enjoy Christmas. Okay, but I'll come out with a Christmas episode because Christmas has been so interesting. Like, I've spent Christmases alone and it's been so sad and depressing. But it crazy thing is I have not been back to my family's house for a Thanksgiving since college. It's been almost eight years now. And now that I have a daughter, will I ever go back? No. I think that I'm like, no. I think my house is going to be the house that is like the typical hosting house. Right? And I think that's something also that I kind of like didn't like about. Not that I didn't like something that I wished I could have been able to do, but just our circumstances I wasn't able to do was host for the holidays when it comes to the NFL because we were always in a rental. It was always a very temporary place because we didn't know if we were going to be there. And so I wasn't really the person to host. We always went over to somebody else's house and they hosted. And I'm really looking forward to, like, me being the hosting. You know, when it comes to luxury items, I'm not really the biggest fan of like huge designer bags or purchases, I mean, unless I'm getting them as a gift. But something I do not skimp on are my sheets. Okay? And my favorite sheets, Cozy Earth. They are so soft, so comfy. I don't want to leave my bed. And that's a good thing. Isaac and I do not like skimping on our sheets or anything when it comes to our bed for that matter. Because as some of you know who are parents, it's hard to get a good night's sleep sometimes. But one thing that I never have to worry about are my sheets and how comfortable my bed is. So if you guys haven't heard of Cozy Earth, Cozy Earth bedding products have 100 night sleep trial and a 10 year warranty that's longer than my relationship. We're coming up on 10 years, so give it a second. They also have pajamas. The woman's stretch knit long sleeve bamboo pajama set and men's pajamas are so unbelievably comfortable. And that's also coming from my husband, who doesn't usually wear pajamas. He usually just sleeps in his boxers. But this is something that we can both get cozy in and and getting cozier on the holidays is essential. So visit cozyearth.com Sunday and use my exclusive 40% off code Sunday to give the gift of luxury this holiday season. If you get a post purchase survey, do me a favor and say you heard about Cozy Earth from this podcast Sunday Sports Club podcast. In case you forgot, wrap the ones you love in luxury with Cozy Earth. I need to say thank you to my audience because in a recent episode I told you guys to go and tell my husband to fill up my water bottle. And the water bottle I'm talking about is my newest obsession, Hydra jug. Okay? I have been trying to drink as much water as possible because I've noticed that if I don't drink enough water, it decreases my milk supply and if I drink more water, it increases it. So I've just been on a crazy trying to drink enough water journey and my husband is supposed to be responsible for filling up my Hydra jug and also cleaning my Hydra jug. And he's kind of been falling short. So in a recent episode I told you guys, if you're listening to this, go and my husband and tell him to go and fill me up a water bottle because your girl is parched. But let me talk about Hydr jug because honestly I love my Hydra jug and I've tried other water bottle brands but this actually makes a difference in my life. Okay, so the Hydra Jug Traveler is one of my new favorites because it is leak proof cup holder compatible and has a hygienic circular flip straw for easy sipping. I have gone to girls nights. I'm always out and about traveling and not having a flip down straw is actually the worst. So the fact that this has a flip down straw like one. I drink more water when my water bottle has a straw but it's so annoying if it's constantly spilling out and water is getting everywhere. So honestly, this is one of my favorite features. It might sound like something that's not that important, but it's the little things in life. Okay? I can't believe I'm this obsessed with a water bottle, but I am. So take my advice and start replacing your current water bottle with one of these. And I'm telling you it's the best makes a great gift. Okay. The holidays are right around the corner and there's so many different colors, sizes, patterns you can choose from. The Hydro Jug Traveler comes in multiple colors. The sizes are 40, 32 and 20 ounces. So you can find the perfect bottle that matches your style or whoever style that you want to gift them for. So get Hydro jug traveler@www.thehydrojug.com. use discount code SSC to get 10 off your order today. Hydra Jugs are the game changer for anybody on the go. You guys know I' the go. So again, use the code SSC@the hydra jug.com to get 10% off your order today and start hydrating. Let's get into some actual questions. My My lover Chat GPT. I've been literally loving Chat GPT. Okay. If you don't use it, I highly recommend using it. So how do NFL players and their families celebrate holidays? When games are scheduled around them, you just adapt. I think that's what the NFL and holidays are all about is adapting. Because one year you might have a holiday that falls on a game day, right? It's not a game day that falls on holiday. And I think that you just have to adapt. I mean so many times we've celebrated Thanksgiving on different days or we end up having like a potluck with the teammates. And yeah, I think even The NFL teams in particular make it special and they'll serve like Thanksgiving food or like comforting foods like that. Some teams do, some teams don't. What is a typical Thanksgiving or Christmas Day look like for the family in the NFL? If you're not playing on Thanksgiving, you. The Isaac would wake up and go to practice and he's there to like 12 or 1, sometimes 2 or 3. I wake up, I start getting all the ingredients and cooking it up in the kitchen. I'm not really usually a cook, but I love to cook, especially when it comes to the holidays. So then I wait for Isaac to get home. I'm usually FaceTime with my family having a mimosa or two by myself, which sounds depressing. Watching the Macy's Day parade, I'm turning on football. And then Isaac comes home and we either go to a friend's house or we have family in town and. Yeah, but it usually always kind of revolves around football. Are there special team traditions or events around the holidays? So some. It varies really, team to team because every team is owned by their own owner. They have their own owner. It's his own unique organization. There's some things that are kind of normalized. Like some NFL teams have had like Christmas parties or they do Secret Santas or like fun Thanksgiving things for the wives just to give them, I don't know, like to bring everybody together. But, you know, every year has never been the same. How do teams accommodate holiday celebrations with such a demanding schedule? They don't. I'm gonna be very real. The NFL, they care about family and they care about their players. They care about their well being and all of that. I can genuinely say that. But when it comes to the holiday, like football is a business, right. And I think with the holidays, some people put holidays and football together. And so I don't really think that they, they ever put into accountability like the holiday. Right. Like, they're never like, oh, look, let's cancel practice because. Well, actually, no, that's a lie. I think when it comes to like, games, that doesn't matter. But when it comes to practices, sure, they're like, they'll let you out early. Or if you're traveling home from a game on a holiday or going to a game, I think that they try and make it as special as possible because at the end of the day, like, they're all human. Right. Do the players, families ever celebrate holidays in the locker room or stadium? No, I've never been in an NFL locker room. My husband's been in the NFL. For seven years, I've never. That's a lie. I've set foot in a locker room, but not like, ever on game day or like, I'm trying to think I did in college. But no, no, I'm not allowed in the locker room. I'm a liability. No, but during, like the. Before the football season starts, they'll usually bring in, like, the wives and family members to go and like, like explore the stadium or explore the facility. And they'll give you like a little tour of the locker room, which is very anticlimactic. Like, I don't need to see Isaac and where he puts on his socks, but, you know, it's still kind of cool. Our players families close knit, especially around the holidays. I think this is where I've definitely seen a difference in team to team. And it varies because one dynamic could be one way and one team dynamic can be the other way. I definitely think that when it comes to holidays, I've always leaned on other NFL wives and girlfriends to spend the holidays with because at the same to, like, at the end of the day, they're going through the same experience that I'm going through. And it's a very unique experience. So I feel like leaning on the girls of the NFL and of the league has been huge in, like, making you feel not alone and making it feel like the holidays and like, giving a sense of normalcy and not having to spend it alone sitting on your couch. Like, why not spend it on somebody else's couch with other people who are going through the same thing and like, experiencing that. What's the funniest or most memorable holiday moment you've had as an NFL wife? Life. Ah. Let's bring you back to when my sister was still in a relationship with the person she canceled her wedding with. So he played in an NFL team and Isaac played on an NFL team. And that year we had. They played each other. So my husband, my sister's boyfriend, played each other. Ex boyfriend, ex fiance, played each other on Christmas Eve. And so all of the families came to the game. It was a huge tailgate. It was so much fun. That's when Isaac was playing for the Los Angeles Chargers. And it was like, oh, my God. It's one of my favorite memories because you. Up until that point, we hadn't really spent the holidays with my family or his family or any anybody's family. And we all came together and it was so much fun. My. My parents ended up renting a Airbnb, like, near the beach in Huntington beach, and Some of Isaac's teammates came over with their wives and girlfriends and it was, oh my God, so much fun. That is one of like my favorite memories. It's also kind of funny in hindsight because Mister's no longer with that. Do teams or coaches give holiday gifts to the players or their families? No, I mean the teams don't. The players do. So usually you'll have like a few big money guys. That feels weird saying, but you'll have a few guys who have good contracts on the team. And that's usually like quarterback, could be offensive lineman, defensive lineman, defensive ends, whatever. You usually have somebody from like each group and sometimes they do huge holiday gifting. So Isaac has gotten some pretty insane gifts. And with the Indianapolis Colts he literally got like a moped, like a forty thousand dollar moped scooter thing. It was incredible. It was like engraved with his name on it. It was custom embroidered. It was beautiful. And it ended up getting stolen when we moved back to California. But there's so many cool things. Usually the defensive line will or, yeah, the defense will do a Secret Santa or like something along those lines. Isaac always has a go to gift when it comes to Secret Santa and it's giving somebody a gift card to an airline. He's like, yeah, like who isn't? Who's gonna hate that? Whereas in Isaac in the past has gotten like Louis Vuitton book bags and he's out here just giving people like Delta points. No, he's actually spending money. But still, Isaac, I feel you could have stepped it up. I guess we'll never know. Has an NFL team ever done anything over the top for Christmas? Los Angeles Chargers, their Christmas party was insane. They. I went to two of their Christmas parties and both were so much fun. And it just made the organization feel like family. Like they are already. Like the Spanos family, the Tesco family that was the GM at the time when Isaac was playing. They just, it was felt so family oriented. I talk very fondly of Isaac's time with the Los Angeles Chargers also. Probably because we were very stable in his career during that time. And he like had. Was playing really well and it was great and we had a lot of friends there, so I talk very fondly of that. But when it comes to the Christmas party, they know how to throw a Christmas party. They threw a Christmas party at the Pelican Hill resort in California, which is not cheap. If you look at a room, I'm pretty sure the minimum is, was a thousand dollars. And they had a Christmas party and you could bring anybody from your family. And it was beautiful and so well done. And it was also cool seeing, like, coaches and their families outside of the facility because I feel like sometimes it feels so stuffy and, like, strict. Now, we've never been with another NFL team that has done that. I don't even think the Chargers do it anymore. But I loved that. I honestly like so much fun. I have to say, I do think that when it comes to players happiness, there has to be a little bit of a correlation between players being happy and loving their teammates and hanging out outside the facility and a team doing good. That's just me. Okay. There's a lot of teams with drama and a lot of teams with drama. I haven't been doing that hot. Are there any unwritten rules about holiday gift giving among teammates or families? No, I don't think so. Like what? Like, please, like, I don't, like, do not give me Isaac's jersey. Like that. I think that there's, like, unwritten things like that, but usually there's, like, a maximum or a minimum for gift giving. When it comes to. Amongst the NFL players, I don't think there's ever a maximum. I think there's usually a minimum, but no, aside from that, I don't really think so. Has Isaac ever played on Thanksgiving, and how did that impact your family? I mean, yeah, he's played on Thanksgiving, I think maybe a few times. I. I don't even know all the times he's played on Thanksgiving, but, I mean, it impacted it, I think. Not even me just, like, coming to terms. I'm using this podcast as a therapy session. I. I'm grateful for all of the holidays in and around the NFL because they're just so unique, and we're gonna have the typical old holiday traditions, you know, coming up in the next few holidays. So I'm just so grateful for all of the crazy holidays because they're good memories. They make for fun memories. And I've never really been upset about Isaac playing on a holiday except for Indianapolis Colts Christmas Day. That was depressing. I was. I would cried on Christmas because I was so sad. I was all alone. I should have made different arrangements. How did you manage the stress of the holidays on top of the NFL season? I don't think that they're. I've ever allowed the holidays to become stressful. I know some people get stressed about the holidays with their family because there's a lot of, like, drama with family sometimes, and I think it can be a lot of pressure. And are you still single. Oh, you need to lose weight or. Oh, have you gained weight? Or whatever? Like, I've never had to deal with that. I've also been very, like, privileged in my life that I never have to say that. I've struggled with, like, putting food on the table for holidays. So I feel like stress is, like, a very unique word. But when it comes to. Honestly, I feel like the NFL made it easy. I feel like it took away stress because I didn't have to choose Isaac or my family. Like, it was always a very, like, blatant. Like, my family didn't care if I chose Isaac over my family because Isaac is my family at that point. So I don't really feel. I feel like the NFL made it less stressful. If anything, I feel like now I'm stressed because we have so many family members in different states. Like, we have. Nobody lives in the same state in our family. So I feel like now I'm stressed, and I want to make things, like, very special for Scotty. So that's also stressful. What do you miss most about the holidays during Isaac's NFL career? I don't know. I think just, like, the overall culture of the holidays when your husband plays in the NFL, I think that's, like, something I'm kind of missing right now, but it's also something I'm having. I've just grown to love over seven years. So now that it's, like, now that we're obviously not spending this Thanksgiving on an NFL team, so I can say that, yeah, I'm, like, kind of sad about it, but I look very fondly at it in the same time. And I also think that now we have our daughter Scotty. It is. It's just different. It's going to be different in so many ways. So it's not like a sad that it's. It's not like we're not spending this Thanksgiving with the NFL. I think it's more like, oh, it's just different because we have a daughter now. It's not even the football thing. So that kind of concludes holidays in and around, or even. Even just like Thanksgiving in. Around the NFL. At the end of the day, the NFL is a business, let's be very honest. And I do think that football can be very entertaining, and I'm thankful for football games being on holidays. And that's crazy to say, because at one point, I probably wouldn't have said that. I probably would have been like, I want my husband home. But maybe I just. Maybe I've just grown so independent that I'm like, meh, whatever. I also am not very type A person. I'm very type B. Like, I. I mean, I haven't changed my last name. I got married how many years ago. I'm very type B. And I think that me being adaptable has made me love the NFL journey and not view it as chaotic or stressful or be anxious about it. So, yeah, I'm really excited to be heading out to Napa here in the next few days. If you guys don't follow me on social media, I'm gonna be posting some tick tock vlogs of our experience of this Thanksgiving and fun things. If you guys don't follow me on my social or on my personal tick tock, which why the would you not be. But I'm doing Rochelle this year, which I've done the past two, three years, I think since the Cleveland Browns or maybe two years. And it is, it makes something like so stupid and like, it's like pranks, but it's so fun. And I'm excited that when Scotty's older, she can also help me prank Isaac. But it's really just like me pulling on Isaac and blaming it on the elf on the shelf, which we've named Rochelle. And it all came together because Isaac told me one year, Isaac told me when he played for the Cleveland Browns not to decorate for Christmas. He didn't want me to, quote, unquote, waste money on Christmas decorations. I'm sorry, I. That was a battle he was never gonna win. So then I ended up blaming all of me buying my Christmas decor on a little elf named Rochelle. And it started this series and now I have so much fun doing it. So really excited for Thanksgiving, but also really excited for the holidays, especially now that I'm a mom and I get to see all this magic. And Scotty's birthday is coming up and there's just so much good energy in the air and I'm really excited. So thank you guys for tuning in. I hope you have great holidays and you're looking forward to Christmas. Thank you for tuning in and be sure to tune in every Sunday wherever you get your podcasts. And follow us on Sunday Sports Club podcasts on all socials. Happy holidays. Please note that this episode may contain paid endorsements and advertisements for products and services. Individuals on the show may have a direct or indirect financial interest in products or services referred to in this episode.