← We're Out of Time
We're Out of Time
From NFL to TV Stardom: Akbar Gbajabiamila on Identity, Addiction & Resilience
00:51:22
Loading summary
Transcript303 lines
- [00:00]
A
I just took what I had made, you know, from the NFL and I leveraged that on myself.
- [00:06]
B
And then what happened?
- [00:07]
A
I got married, you know, and then I had a child.
- [00:11]
B
And then good things started happening?
- [00:13]
A
No, actually, no. After I got married and you know, and had a child, I actually started running out of money.
- [00:39]
B
If someone has a problem with substance use disorder, please call one call placement, that's 888-831-1581. And if we can't help you, we'll make a referral to someone who can.
- [00:51]
A
One call placement is affiliated with Carrera.
- [00:54]
B
Treatment Wellness and Spa and One Method Treatment Centers. Today on we're out of Time, we're joined by Akbar Bajabela.
- [01:03]
A
There you go, you got it. There's a bia milla in there, but you got it.
- [01:06]
B
Baja Biamela.
- [01:08]
A
Come on, man.
- [01:09]
B
Former NFL player turned television personality and Emmy nominated host. You know him from American Ninja Warrior and from his run on the CBS daytime show the Talk, which wrapped its series run last year. He also co hosts the new podcast 154 Africa. Akbar, it's great to have you here.
- [01:32]
A
Thank you so much. I appreciate you having me.
- [01:34]
B
Richard, is that your government name?
- [01:36]
A
Oh, there's more to the government name. You want the whole thing? Yes, I should make you say the whole thing. Akbar Oluwakemi Idowu Bajabi Amila.
- [01:46]
B
Dude, that's bitching.
- [01:47]
A
Yeah, yeah, that's a lot bitching. Yeah, there's a lot. There's a story behind it. You know, Akbar means great Oluwakemi. You know, God pampers me. Idowu born after twins. And then Bajabiyamila is big man, come save me. Yeah, so, and the story is that, you know, my great great grandfather, this is actually a nickname, it turned into, it was a nickname that became our last name. That he was, you know, a seven foot guy who's a mediator in his, in his village and people would call on to him to come and help mediate. And so that nickname then turned into a last name and that last name is one family's last name. So everybody who has that last name is a part of this family family lineage. There is no, you know, oh, oh, there's that person with the same last name, but y' all ain't in the same film. Like we're all part of the same family.
- [02:41]
B
So how many?
- [02:43]
A
How many what?
- [02:44]
B
How many in your family?
- [02:46]
A
A lot more than I can count. But in my immediate family that I grew up here in la, there's seven of us that's one short of the octagon. Yeah. Six boys, one girl, and mom and dad. They came to this country in the late 60s, early 70s, settled in Los Angeles here in LA. And yeah, there's that big old family. And now I found that I have a cousin, a second cousin, who is the chief of staff to the president of Nigeria.
- [03:18]
B
No kidding?
- [03:19]
A
Yeah. Yeah. Femi Baja Biamillah.
- [03:21]
B
Have you talked to him?
- [03:22]
A
No, but I'm looking. I'm looking forward to meeting him for the first time. Very soon I go to Nigeria.
- [03:29]
B
Have you been?
- [03:30]
A
I've been to Nigeria before. How is it, you know, when I went, I went for the, you know, for the first time with my father, and it was so cool. It was a while back. It was back in 2006, and it was probably the coolest experience I've had in all my life, all my travels. I've done 41 countries, but Nigeria, not just because it's home. And this was the story of my mother and my father. But I'll never forget. We land in Murtala Mohammed airport and we set up at the hotel. The next day we go to. To see my grandmother. This would be my first time meeting my grandmother.
- [04:08]
B
Father's side.
- [04:09]
A
My father's side. Yes. And my father is telling. Oh, like, there was no street sign. Some of the street signs were like, down or whatever. And he's like, turn here, turn there, turn here. He hadn't been back home in 32 years. And he just was like, everything was just snapping for him. Turn here. And then he was like, we're here. Yeah, all right, we're here. And he walks in to. Into his home. And he was like, you see this tree here? This tree they said that would never grow. My brother planted this one and I planted this one. And then look, this is the biggest tree in the courtyard. He says, you see, you never know. God's surprise. I'll never forgot that. But we walk in and he goes, elaji Alaji. And calling his mom, who had been to Mecca, so she gets the name Alaji. And she goes, who's there? Who there? He's like, emi, Emi, Mustafa. Emi. Saying, it's me, Mustafa. She goes. She kept saying, who? My Mustafa. No, no, wait, my Mustafa. She's saying, in Yoruba. And it was the first time in my life I had seen my dad as a child. I had never, like, he was just always dad, this big figure to me. And I had never seen him as a child. Like, wait, I knew it was my grandmother, right? Like, logically oh, that's my grandmother, you know, of course, you know, you see.
- [05:34]
B
Him revert back to, back into his child when he was in the presence of his mother.
- [05:39]
A
Yes. And it was, it was something I will never, ever forget. Maybe he start telling me stories about when he would sneak out the house and when I was like, you snuck out? Wait, what? It was just crazy. And her, the look on her eyes.
- [05:51]
B
And so how come she didn't recognize your dad?
- [05:54]
A
Because he hadn't been home in 32 years. He hadn't come home in 32 years. And just the struggles of making it in America, raising seven kids, time just goes by. And I, I thought the same thing. How does 32 years, 32 years can go by really, really fast. I know, and it sounds like a lot. I look at my daughter now, just turned 16 years old. I'm going, how did I get to 16 years? Like, you know, kind of jumping.
- [06:21]
B
I've got a 16 year old daughter too. Oh yeah, same thing, same thing. On the way to drop them off to school this morning. That's what I thought.
- [06:30]
A
Yeah, it happens fast. I was in Hawaii during the summer for my daughter's volleyball tournament. And I've always had this thing, like, because of this trip with my father, that I want to take my kids to Nigeria before they get to college. And before, like, I want them to have quiet memory. And when I say I was flooded with anxiety because I'm like, wait, if I don't take her this summer, then she's gonna go to college and then this, and she's gonna have her life and then, and before you know it, I, I'm going to miss this opportunity. And in my mind I thought, oh, I'll have time. When they get a little older, they can remember it. And then they get a little older and then they got this and they got that. I was like, I don't care what, sports, whatever. I called the coach. I said, coach, I'm letting you know we're planning this trip, we're going to Nigeria. And like, I don't care what happens, I'm taking them out of school. I'm like, it has to happen. Otherwise life just keeps going and it feels like you can never really, you know, catch up because something's always happening.
- [07:28]
B
And not only that, but you're, for lack of a better word, you're gonna get blocked by the school. And, you know, everybody's got their agenda. No, we can't miss this, man.
- [07:40]
A
Whatever. Every.
- [07:41]
B
There's always a million reasons to not do something there's only one reason to do it right, and that's just because it's right. Yeah.
- [07:49]
A
And also, too, because it's now. You know, I think it's so easy to take for granted now. Right. Because you just think you've had a lot of nows in your life, and you just think that now will always come. And we don't know that. You know, we really don't.
- [08:03]
B
That's right. We don't know when now ends.
- [08:05]
A
Yes.
- [08:07]
B
All right, let's do this. You grew up in south la, one of seven kids with Nigerian parents. What part of that upbringing built resilience?
- [08:18]
A
I think of seeing the hard work and knowing that both my mom and dad were business owners. My dad was plumber before he retired because of Parkinson's. My mom was a hairstylist before she passed away. And they both built their businesses from scratch. They came to this country, figured the way out. And me growing up a little bit later and seeing the hustle and the hard work that my parents did, I really respected that. But there was one defining moment. I talk about this in my book, Everyone Can Be a Ninja is, you know, my father. I've told this story many times before, but I remember, you know, there was a time where, you know, everybody was talking about food stamps and this and that, and I was like, dad, because I didn't understand it from that standpoint. But my dad rejected the idea that, you know, that he would get the help, government assistance. And not saying government assistance is bad. I want to make that clear. But for. For him, he felt like he could do it on his own. Him and my mom could do it on their own. And they did that with raising seven of us. And I didn't understand it. I used to always say, oh, I grew up poor. I've changed that since then. Because when I saw how my father grew up, I realized what my father was able to build in raising all of us. He made it. My father and my mother, they made it. And so I saw that hard work and that resilience that it took to. To build what they built. And I never forgot that. But it was also too, what my. My parents used to tell me, you know, like, you know, you start something, you finish it. They never let you off the hook on anything.
- [09:54]
B
When did your mom pass?
- [09:55]
A
My mom passed my senior year in college in a car accident. It was. That sucks. I was.
- [10:02]
B
You want to know it? Because I was thinking, I was hoping. Yeah, that maybe she saw you become the man you became, and maybe she saw her Grandchildren.
- [10:14]
A
Yeah. That sucks, dude. No, she actually crazy enough.
- [10:18]
B
God, that hurts.
- [10:20]
A
Yeah, her first grandchild, my brother Kabir, his first child was born the day my mom passed away. So she lived long enough to know that she had a grandchildren, but died later that evening. Yeah. In a car accident.
- [10:38]
B
Yeah, she died in a car accident.
- [10:39]
A
Died in a car accident.
- [10:40]
B
Drunk driver.
- [10:42]
A
Yeah. Yep. So. Yeah. But how long has your dad been sick since. Officially diagnosed in 2000 with Parkinson's. 1998, he was misdiagnosed, but then in 2000, he was diagnosed with Parkinson's. And you know, he's been battling that since.
- [11:06]
B
He must be so proud of you.
- [11:08]
A
Yeah, he is. You know, my father's a man of many, few words, but he is. I'll never forget when he first told me he was proud of me and that meant everything because he didn't use that, you know, like all the time. And so to hear it, I think hearing I'm proud of you a thousand times not as impactful of when you save it for the right time. So my dad telling me that time that he was proud of me, it sticks with me today because I know he meant it when he said it. He meant it. You know, I think now, you know, in this over parenting culture of you got to do this, you got to do that, you got to do this, you got to do that. I think we say. I know I certainly have said that to my kids all the time. I use it. And now it's kind of like, do they even know if I'm really proud of them because I've used it so much?
- [11:56]
B
Oh, please. I say that to my kids all day long. I'm so proud of you. I love you so much. It doesn't mean anything.
- [12:02]
A
Yeah, but I think it means something when you save it for the right time.
- [12:06]
B
For sure.
- [12:06]
A
Yeah, for sure.
- [12:07]
B
Let me ask you a question. Okay. What was a bigger deal to you being in the NFL or doing the talk?
- [12:22]
A
I would say playing in the NFL was a bigger deal. Just because I wasn't. I didn't dream of playing in the NFL as a kid. I dreamed of playing in the NBA. You showed me some special shoes that you had before you even pulled them out. These were some special 1987 Converse weapons. Huh?
- [12:38]
B
The weapons.
- [12:39]
A
Yeah. And those, those stand out in my mind because I remember the Magic Johnson and the Larry Bird commercials. Him getting out of the limousine, some massive basketball fan.
- [12:49]
B
Right.
- [12:49]
A
Growing up, that was my life. I was going to be playing next to Mac Johnson. So immediately I saw. Before you pulled Them off. Boom. I know what these are. All right. And so I always knew that I was going to play in the NBA, but that didn't happen. You know, fate would have it that I would be forced to play football and then turn to, like, football and then grow to love football and then play in the NFL. And the reason why I said it's a bigger deal is just because that's the only thing that I know that I'd worked so hard for for so long, and to see it actually materialize, you know, like, and there's. There's this finite amount of time that you can play pro ball. And so to work for something and to actually achieve making. To become a professional athlete was and still is one of the professional highlights of my life.
- [13:37]
B
What were you? A defensive end.
- [13:38]
A
Defensive end.
- [13:39]
B
Do you ever get. Do you ever get a sack?
- [13:40]
A
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.
- [13:42]
B
Now, Now, Now.
- [13:43]
A
Yeah.
- [13:44]
B
Okay. What was a bigger deal, getting your first sack or your Emmy?
- [13:51]
A
Well, not nominated for an Emmy, so. I still have never won an Emmy.
- [13:55]
B
Oh, then the question sucks.
- [13:59]
A
Yeah. Emmy nominated. Yeah. Okay.
- [14:01]
B
It doesn't count.
- [14:01]
A
Yeah, but even if I did get an Emmy, it would have still been that first sack for sure, because I still remember Warren Sapp looking over to me, hey, you popped your first cherry. I was like, what? What are you talking about? You popped your first cherry? Because I was just in the moment. I didn't even. I didn't even realize I got the sack. I was just. I got him out.
- [14:19]
B
Yeah.
- [14:20]
A
Like, you know, it was just a big moment. And when I come off to the sideline, that was the first thing he said to me, was, you popped your chair. Like, you got your first thing. Like, wait, you've been keeping up on my stats.
- [14:29]
B
He was so great.
- [14:30]
A
Yeah.
- [14:31]
B
Warren Sapp was so great. I. For some reason. I don't know. Somebody can check this, but I want to say he was drafted 12th for some reason. Right. Because of that whole marijuana thing. Right. I bet those 11 other teams just want to light themselves on fire.
- [14:50]
A
Well, I don't remember when he was drafted or, you know, what number he went, but I do know he was a dominant force. He was a dominant force. Yeah.
- [14:58]
B
What a star.
- [14:59]
A
What a star.
- [15:00]
B
All right, anybody from the U is a star. Where'd you go?
- [15:04]
A
San Diego State. The San Diego State University.
- [15:07]
B
With Marshall Falk.
- [15:09]
A
I didn't go when Marshall Falk was there, but I went there with Kyle Turley. Ephraim Salaam, Kyle Turley. Isn't he.
- [15:14]
B
No, no, that's not the Turley, Running back from Georgia.
- [15:17]
A
No, no, no, that's Gurley. Yeah. Girly. Yeah. Kyle Turley. Ephraim Salaam Azakim, who played with Marshall Falk on the Greatest show on Turf. My brother, he played for the Green Bay packers and, you know, San Diego State. We had a lot of guys.
- [15:31]
B
What's your brother's last.
- [15:33]
A
Same last name. Baja Bia Millet, but they called him kgb. In fact, it was John Madden who gave him the nickname kgb, because he said, I just can't say the last name. By the time I start trying to get to his name, they're on to the next play.
- [15:44]
B
That's right.
- [15:46]
A
He just called him kgb and it stuck.
- [15:48]
B
All right, that was good. So when I was in high school, I played football, and when I stopped playing, I had an identity crisis, because that's where I hung my hat. Right? I can't imagine playing in the NFL and then not going through an identity crisis and going through some type of depression before you were into your next thing. How did that work?
- [16:17]
A
You know, the depression is deeper and deeper the further you go along. You know, from high school, you've only technically committed, you know, maybe six, seven years of your life into this identity. And then by the time you get to college, that ramps up to about 11 years. And then if you make it to the pros, on average, it's about two and a half years. You know, let's say you played four or five years like I did. Right now you're looking at 17, 19 years of your life was kind of really put into this window of you've dedicated everything. And they say. And they say this, that what? NFL players, professional athletes in general, when they leave the game and through identity crisis is the same thing that happens when older people retire. And when older people retire, they've been on this job for 20 years, 30 years, and then when they retire, they go, wait, wait, nobody needs me the same way. They're not counting on me. What do I do? My kids are grown. What? Like. And you're going through this entire identity crisis. Like, who am I? What am I? I woke up every day with a mission to. To go accomplish, you know, X, Y and Z. And so the only difference is that you're 25, 26, 27 years old, and you're going, wait a second. I poured everything I had into making it to the pros and at the. What did I sacrifice? You had to sacrifice something to gain something, and you sacrifice all the extracurriculars.
- [17:41]
B
But now it's over.
- [17:42]
A
And now it's over, and you're. You're now stuck with, what do I do? How do I do it? You know, people see you a certain way. People only want to put you in a certain box, and you're trying to break out of that box.
- [17:55]
B
So how did you do that? How'd you go, first of all? So you're done. So you're done with football. What are you getting into next? How long was that gap before you figured it out? And you said, oh, this is my next job?
- [18:08]
A
Yeah, I moved through pain is really what I did. In order for me to transition, I had to move through pain. I was down in the dumps. You know, I remember not wanting to leave my house. I would go out at nighttime so nobody would recognize me. Not that I was super famous, but in San Diego, when I retired, I went home. Like, it's just people always ask me, you still play, you can still play. And I'm like, gosh, I don't want to answer this anymore. But what I did was I took a leap of faith. And even though I was feeling all of this sadness, I said, let me take the equity that I built up in my life so far, which was in sports. Sports. And let me try to leverage that. So I went to a local station in San Diego, NBC 739. And I asked, hey, can I do the Aztecs and the Chargers post game show and I'll do it for free as a broadcaster. And I knew that I didn't have a big enough name like some of the big hall of Famers and playoff guys or like my brother. So I had to figure out what I call the backdoor approach. And I needed to create some. Some sort of internship for myself. So I did that. And in that they let you do it? They let me do it because I was doing it for free.
- [19:12]
B
That's great.
- [19:13]
A
Yeah. I had a little bit of money that I had saved up to where I'm like, all right, I'll just bet on myself. And so I then started to really kind of invest myself in growing there. It suffocated the pain a little bit because I was busy and I wasn't occupied with what. What I was going to do next. But that was a real part. And that. That time took about. It took me about a year.
- [19:36]
B
Until they started paying you?
- [19:37]
A
Oh, no, no. It took me. I did two years for free. I worked for free for two years. And then my first job out of that was calling college football games. And I was making like $26,000. Hold on. Yeah.
- [19:50]
B
Best thing ever.
- [19:51]
A
Yeah.
- [19:52]
B
Because my buddy was going to work for Steve Jobs. He was supposed to be the CEO of the iPod. And he told him no. And I said, why? And he said, because Steve Jobs is an asshole. And I said, get out of my car. I literally told him to get out of my car.
- [20:17]
A
You told Steve Jobs to get out of his car?
- [20:19]
B
No, I told my friend to get out of his car because he said. Because I told him I would have worked for Steve Jobs for free for three years just to be in the presence of greatness. And that's what you did. But not to be in anybody's presence. You were willing to go to any length, no matter what, as long as it took to get to where you needed to be.
- [20:43]
A
Yeah.
- [20:44]
B
That is so impressive.
- [20:45]
A
I appreciate that. I had a high school coach, Coach Duck. We used to call him Maurice Duckett. And he was like, how badly do you want it? How badly do you want it? How badly do you want it? He used to always ask that question. And that's how badly I wanted it. I was like, all right, I'm gonna do it for free. And it's not lost on me, because I think some people. Well, you could do that. Yeah, I did. I made, you know, a decent amount of money. Not a lot. I was an undrafted free agent, so it's not like I was, you know, ballin in the millions or anything like that, but I just took what I had made, you know, from the NFL, and I leveraged that on myself.
- [21:18]
B
So you go ahead and you work for two years for free, and then you move over to this other place for 26 grand a year.
- [21:25]
A
26 grand a year.
- [21:26]
B
And then what happened?
- [21:27]
A
I got married, you know, and then I had a child.
- [21:31]
B
And then good things started happening?
- [21:33]
A
No, actually, no. No. After I got married and, you know, and had a child, I actually started running out of money. And the next year, I was making 28,500, and my money was just dwindling down. I had gotten down to my last four. $40,000 left in my bank account after playing in the NFL because I worked for free for two years. I had gotten married, you know, you know, kid on the way, you know, well, kid was born then at that time, you know. So now all of a sudden, life just accelerated. Everything just started costing. At one point, I moved back. In 2010, I had moved back to Crenshaw in the neighborhood that I grew up in, and I'm living in my dad's house. I'm living in My dad's house. And I lived there for six years until I was able to kind of get back on my.
- [22:20]
B
With your. With your.
- [22:21]
A
With my wife and my kids. So my kids grew up part of. Part of their life. They grew up in the same home, which was also an honor, but they grew up in the home that I grew up in. And I remember my wife looking to me and going, like, do you think you're chasing a pipe dream here? Like, you know, you're going at it, but, like, you know, the bills are adding up, stuff is stacking up on top of us. And I was, all right, you know, maybe you're right. And so I took a detour. I went to go sell artificial turf for a year. Went to go sell artificial turf, making $70,000 a year just so I could keep things moving forward because I wasn't making enough.
- [22:58]
B
But you weren't doing the other stuff when you were selling the turf?
- [23:01]
A
No, no, no. I told my wife that was it. I wasn't going to do the broadcasting thing anymore. Just I'd spend enough time in it and just wasn't. It wasn't, you know, it wasn't mathing.
- [23:11]
B
So you spent a year doing that?
- [23:12]
A
Yep. And then I hid from my wife. I gotten a call from my agents, like, hey, there's this audition over at the NFL Network. And I was like, oh, shoot, like. And I'm supposed to go sell this turf. Let me just make a detour.
- [23:24]
B
Yeah. F. The turf.
- [23:25]
A
Yeah, yeah. I sneak my suit into my car.
- [23:28]
B
That's right.
- [23:29]
A
I go do it. The audition. I mean, big names stacked up. I'm going to. I said, forget it. I'm just gonna do it. I just threw everything I had into it. I walked out, went to go sell turf. More turf. Try to go meet my appointments that I were late to. And I get a phone call about a week or two later saying, you got the job. And from that point, it's what started my entertainment career, because the year after I got the NFL Network, I got American Ninja Warrior. American Ninja Warrior catapulted. And then it would have it that, you know, years later, I would get my main. What to me was one of, like, one of my biggest goals was to be on a talk show, was to get the talk and to be able to be one of the hosts of the talk.
- [24:14]
B
That's so cool.
- [24:15]
A
Yeah.
- [24:16]
B
So you want to know what I always tell people?
- [24:18]
A
What's that?
- [24:19]
B
I tell people that children don't cost you money. They make you money, and it made you money. Too, Because.
- [24:26]
A
Oh, I see what you. Yeah, that's really. Yeah, that's a good point. That's a really good point. Yeah. Yeah. Because it lights a fire under your butt. Like, oh, my goodness.
- [24:36]
B
Sure. Because we're the dad now.
- [24:37]
A
Yeah, right.
- [24:38]
B
And you were like, I'm down to my last 40 grand.
- [24:40]
A
And people are like, oh, that's.
- [24:42]
B
You've got 40 grand.
- [24:43]
A
No, no.
- [24:44]
B
That's scary. When you've got kids and a wife and you're in your father's home and you're down to your last 40 clicks, you're having a bad day and you're.
- [24:54]
A
Seeing, you know, people. And to your point, people might see that, like, oh, man, I wish I had. Well, the rate in which. Living in Los Angeles and the rate in which that number was going down, I didn't see 40, I saw zero.
- [25:05]
B
That's right.
- [25:06]
A
I already knew where this. This number was just. I couldn't stop it. It was just a free fall.
- [25:10]
B
Because it was 200, like, six months ago.
- [25:13]
A
Yeah. Yeah, right. Yeah.
- [25:15]
B
Have you seen any of your Talk co hosts lately?
- [25:17]
A
Yeah, yeah. Actually, I just went out to dinner with all of them except for Jerry, because Jerry's filming right now.
- [25:23]
B
How is everyone?
- [25:24]
A
Everyone's good. I think we're all making the adjustments to the new day and new era in entertainment and figuring out what that is. You know, as you probably already know, I've heard and had conversations like, you know, this is an industry that has been a legacy industry for so long. It has been the backbone of Los Angeles. But, you know, production and all of that has changed in LA a lot. And so, you know, we had conversation about, like, what's our pivot? What's the ways that we're going to try to create and do something new and different? And that's been the big challenge right now in Hollywood is like, how do you pivot? The last time I made a pivot like this was coming out of the NFL and into broadcasting, like, trying to figure it out. But it's hard when there's a lot of noise around you. It's so hard to concentrate. It's so hard to think when there's a lot of noise or people saying, you should do this, you should do that, you should do this, you should do that. And you're getting all this stuff coming into your feed, and you'd be like, what the heck?
- [26:18]
B
What are you doing now?
- [26:20]
A
I created a new podcast with a partner and friends.
- [26:24]
B
What's it called again?
- [26:25]
A
154 Africa. And it means one continent, 54 countries. That's Africa. And it's a beautiful way that this kind of all came together. Godfrey, the comedian, you know, he and I, both Nigerian born in America, and this kind of idea and concept was inspired by talking to my uncle back in Nigeria, and. And he says, oh, I see you on the social media, the Instagram, and you guys are doing so good. And what I heard in his voice was pride. Like, I'm so proud of you is what I heard. Even though he didn't say it, this is what I heard. And I said, you know what? I never even thought anyone was paying attention to my feed in Nigeria. You just think, hey, I'm here in America. Only people in America are paying attention and not realizing, like, that's a big reach. And I'm like, what if we told the stories of. Of all those who were first gen, second gen, doing well in America in entertainment, in sports and in other areas in business, and we told their stories to be able to inspire all of those who were watching around, not just the ones here, you know, in America, Stateside, but also over on the continent.
- [27:36]
B
You would think that they would be like, you know, like when Yao Ming played here, like, there was such pride on over there. So that you're doing really well here. There's got to be pride at home.
- [27:48]
A
Absolutely. And because I'm not there, I don't get that sense of feeling. But what I heard in my uncle's voice was, wow. And I said, well, why don't we start telling those stories? So it's not just in Nigeria, but people of Ghana and Egypt and Congo and, you know, all over the diaspora. We want to be able to tell their stories. And so this season we've been telling a lot of the Nigerian stories and. And now we're getting ready to turn and start to tell the stories of the people from other countries. From Sierra Leone and from Mali and from Burkina Faso, from, you know, from Sudan to Somalia, Eritrea, all over. You know, I've been to nine countries in Africa, and it's my hope that I will be able to visit all 54 countries. I think the best way to carry it on is use the platform that I know how to, you know, to use and. And being able to multiply and share, you know, around for everyone. People are really finding it, love, you know, finding love in it because there is the commonality, but then they're also the little bit of the secret sauce and kind of like what drives a lot of the first gens and second.
- [28:54]
B
Gens, what do you love most about Nigeria.
- [28:59]
A
Niger last? You may not start out, you know, in the. In the beginning, but you definitely will not finish last. And so just because you start, you don't start off strong, you don't start off first, but you will never carry last. And that is a very popular saying. Naja no de Carillas. And I love that because it's been the story of my life. You know, got into the NFL as an undrafted free agent, got into broadcasting with not having a big name, you know, coming in from sports, you know, taking that career and then trying to find a way in entertainment, not being a. A lister and figuring out a way to kind of continue moving forward.
- [29:40]
B
Dude, you act like you ain't got nothing going for you. You walk in here, you're handsome as all get out. You're six.
- [29:46]
A
Six.
- [29:47]
B
Okay. You got a smile that lights up a room. I mean, did you ever think maybe the guy in that back room was like, yeah, just take the handsome guy.
- [29:55]
A
Maybe you don't. Maybe. Maybe. I never. I never. I never think about it like that, But I do. I wear this chip on my shoulder as. As an underdog, because I do feel like an underdog, you know, like, that's fraudulent. No, it's not fraudulent, though. It is.
- [30:09]
B
You think it's real.
- [30:10]
A
Okay.
- [30:11]
B
But to everybody else who sees you, it's fraudulent.
- [30:15]
A
Really?
- [30:16]
B
Yeah.
- [30:16]
A
How so?
- [30:17]
B
Because you're. You're. Because when people look at you, they're like, oh, he's special. He's a special man. He's an elegant man. He. He's somebody. Someone who is comfortable in their own skin. Let's talk about brain injuries in the NFL, because I just got done on Dr. Amen's podcast, and he was on mine.
- [30:42]
A
Yep, I heard it.
- [30:43]
B
We're running it now, and it's great.
- [30:46]
A
It was fascinating.
- [30:47]
B
He's great.
- [30:48]
A
Yeah, he's.
- [30:49]
B
He's magnificent. You know, I learned a lot on speaking to Dr. Amen, but I was watching the NFL the other day, and there's always that one guy, and he's usually a wide receiver, and he's usually in the slot. Right?
- [31:08]
A
Who's got the big, fat helmet?
- [31:11]
B
The big, fat helmet. Okay, now I get it. You either have to make everybody wear that, right?
- [31:20]
A
Or.
- [31:20]
B
Or nobody wear it, because if everyone's not wearing it, the one guy wearing it is getting grief. Right?
- [31:28]
A
Yeah. Yeah. You play the game on the brink of disaster. I think everybody knows that it is a combat sport. You can't legislate the violence out of football. I think the NFL, Roger Goodell and the NFL has done an amazing job, really, trying to take protective measures to protect the football players the best they can. But there's only a certain amount of protection you can give an NFL guy. They've changed the kickoff rules and the length and the distance and all this other kind of stuff. So in that respect, yes, But I think when you start talking about, like, brain injury, there are a lot of things, and this is not a deflective, you know, comment here, in that there's so many other things we're doing in our lives that has impact on our mental health, on our brain. I take, for instance, I present to you sugar. No, the worst sugar. And it's all over our culture, but it's widely accepted and the amount of inflammation that it brings to the brain. And if you look at the overall numbers of NFL players who are playing. And again, this is not to minimize. There are real guys who are going through real stuff that have taken a lot of head injuries and. But we also understand what we're signing up for. No different than boxing, no different than any of the other sports where. Where you can have the same amount of head injury. Now you get this repetitive injury with football, and it's dangerous. It's a dangerous sport. Nobody's going to tell you anything differently. I don't know how to reckon, you know, the choices and the decisions that you make. When you step into that, I guess you could make the choice and the decision not to play. My son has followed suit. I tried to get him to play basketball, quite frankly, I was like, I don't know if you want it, like, if you don't want it, like, you got to be a different personality. You got to be a different person.
- [33:07]
B
You got to be a different cat.
- [33:09]
A
You got to be a different cat. But he insisted and he stayed on it. And so is he that guy? Yeah, yeah, he's going to be that guy. He's still got a lot of work to do. He's going to be that guy, but he's moved towards that. But, you know, I look at myself, I look at my brother, I look at a lot of my friends who I played with, and a lot of them are healthy. And so I think when we start to magnify a lot of the injuries, right, like, if you started to magnify a lot of the plane accidents that are happening that we've seen, like in the media, you might. Dang, you feel like every other plane is going down. But overall, plane plane rides have been pretty safe. When you look at the overall, you know, and especially look at the, the, the length of time that NFL players play in the NFL, there's about two and a half years of, of that. So anyways, I don't. Again, I don't want to make it sound like I'm saying football is safe because it's not. It's a dangerous sport. But it's also a choice that a lot of athletes make.
- [34:03]
B
You mentioned your brother a couple times.
- [34:05]
A
Yes.
- [34:06]
B
He's playing in the NFL.
- [34:08]
A
Played. Oh, retired. Yep.
- [34:09]
B
How long did he play for?
- [34:11]
A
9, 10 years.
- [34:12]
B
And he did really well?
- [34:13]
A
Yeah, yeah, he did really well. Yeah. He was an all time sack leader for the packers before Clay Matthews broke it. That record. Record stood for a while. I was, I was actually watching the game when Clay Matthews broke the record. I was like, dang it. I wanted my brother to have that just a little bit longer. But it was cool to see a guy like Clay Matthews break that record.
- [34:31]
B
That's cool. When you said that, it just flew up in my head. About the Sharp brothers.
- [34:40]
A
Yeah, yeah, yeah. Sterling and Shannon.
- [34:43]
B
Right?
- [34:43]
A
Yeah.
- [34:43]
B
So it's. And it's always bothered me. I think it's been rectified since. I'm not certain, but it always bothered me that the better of the two brothers wasn't in the hall of Fame.
- [34:55]
A
Yeah. And then by a lot.
- [34:57]
B
Yeah, by a lot.
- [34:59]
A
Yeah. And it's been rectified now that Sterling is in the hall of Fame. You have both brothers in the hall of Fame. That was a beautiful ceremony. I watched every from the beginning to the end. You know, I watched this the same year Antonio Gates went in as well. And it was cool to see that. It took a long time for Sterling to get in. Of course he had that. Nick, he had that neck injury where a lot of people was like, well, what happened? Because you didn't see his full career.
- [35:25]
B
No, but he was there.
- [35:26]
A
He was already. He was. You could.
- [35:28]
B
He was on with Jerry Rice.
- [35:30]
A
There you go. Do the math.
- [35:32]
B
He was with Jerry Rice. They were neck and neck.
- [35:34]
A
Right. No pun intended, but yes.
- [35:36]
B
Right. That's so good. Okay. Oh, you know who else? The other brother I met the other day. I also played, I think. I don't know if I think it's Shane Griffin.
- [35:48]
A
Oh, the grip. The one with Seahawks. The one with his hand. Yeah, yeah, right. Yeah.
- [35:53]
B
I heard him give a talk in the Hamptons and you know when they go and they ask people to talk, like everybody's afraid, right. And so I just gimme that thing and I just loved him up. I remember watching him like, what he.
- [36:12]
A
Was the epitome of what it means as like, you know, he was not.
- [36:16]
B
What are you willing to do?
- [36:17]
A
He was differently abled and was able to still pursue his dreams despite what other people thought he was capable of doing.
- [36:25]
B
And be great. Yes, and be great.
- [36:28]
A
Yeah.
- [36:29]
B
You know what, man? I want to ask you something serious. Okay. You know anybody or anybody's who had children that have died of offense, overdose or a drug overdose?
- [36:42]
A
No, I don't, no, I don't know anybody who struggled with that. I know I live in a neighborhood where, you know, you hear about these things where kids and people are being exposed, whether accidentally or somebody, you know, you know, put it in this candy or put it in this thing or whatever. You know, it's, it's. As a parent, I can tell you it is nerve wracking. And I try to constantly tell my kids, like, just, we'll buy you whatever you. If you want to eat something or like, just like you go to some of these places or they have some of these things that they call candy parties where they throw random drugs and things and, and mix and people are like, don't do it. Like, you just need a little bit. And somebody might tell you that, oh, I took it and I was fine. That gram dosage might have been different for their body type and for who they are and what, don't do it. Like, it's too dangerous.
- [37:30]
B
And the tolerance that these people have, you don't have because you're right. So you have had the conversation with your kids?
- [37:39]
A
Of course. I mean, to the point now where I just say it as a running thing. I'm like, you don't know what that is. That thing could have fit in it. Because I want them to constantly think about it. So not as a joke, but more or less as a cautionary kind of thing that I bring up when the time is right. Like, no, don't eat that. You don't know what that thing has because it was kind of like, you know, when, you know, the, I, I, I grew up in the. Just say no. You know, and drugs never.
- [38:04]
B
You've never done drugs?
- [38:05]
A
Well, outside of. Well, no, I lied. I lied because I did develop a habit after I got out of the NFL and I didn't even know it was a drug, you know, drug habit. It was using Vicodin. And so for the pain.
- [38:19]
B
Because you had it for the pain.
- [38:20]
A
For pain. And to me it was something that was handed out. You know, if your body has gone through something. That's right. And so it was perfectly normal to me. I didn't see it as you were.
- [38:29]
B
Done playing football and it had you. You didn't have it. How did you get off it?
- [38:33]
A
My wife. My wife, actually, prior to us getting married, before we even met, she was a farm tech. And she saw the way I use it. If I had pain or whatever, I just popped. And it did nothing to me. I was just. But I didn't know. I took so much of it. I didn't even know. And it was her. That's like, you can't do this. And it was one moment she just took my stash and threw it down the toes. What are you. What are you doing? What are you. What are you doing? Like, no, like, I'm good. I'm six. Six, 260 pounds. I can handle myself, you know, like, this is nothing like, I took this for, you know, for pain and injury. But it wasn't until then when I realized, like, oh, shoot, I have a problem. But it was my little wife who was the one who called me out on it.
- [39:13]
B
And when you got rid of the. When it left your system after you detoxed, you weren't in pain anymore, were you?
- [39:24]
A
I mean, I still have residual pain.
- [39:25]
B
But not like you thought you did.
- [39:27]
A
No, it wasn't like I needed the Vicodin. I didn't need the Vicodin to manage it.
- [39:32]
B
Do you know why? Do you know why? It was because what happens is you need more. After you take these painkillers, when you're coming down off of it, you feel pain. So you confuse the pain that you had when you started using the pills. Yeah, right. With the pain of withdrawal. And once you get done with the withdrawal. Okay, your pain, if it was a 10 or you thought it was a 10, it's now a 2.
- [40:09]
A
Wow.
- [40:09]
B
And you can work around it. Wow.
- [40:11]
A
Yeah. I mean, that was. That was. Was over a decade ago. Yeah. Actually, more than that. Like, 14, 15 years ago. And, you know, I don't. I don't use it. In fact, I don't. Even if I have surgeries and stuff like that, I don't. I was like, I don't even want it because it just, you know, I don't even want to go back into that route.
- [40:29]
B
Yeah.
- [40:29]
A
But I will ask you something. I'll tell you one addiction that you know, and I don't say this to be funny at all, but the one addiction that I'm really trying to break, and I'm having a Hard time. And it's actually made me relate to relatives and people I know who struggle with addiction in that way. Is sugar.
- [40:44]
B
I thought he was gonna say sex addiction. No, I swear to God, I was preparing for sex.
- [40:49]
A
No, no. It's the other S word, sugar. I'm genuinely trying to break it. All right, well, let me tell you how you do it. Yeah. And I've thought about going through, like I said, what if I did one of those AA type things to go through the steps and process, like. Because I'll go through, like, I can hardcore go two weeks and. And force myself. And then what happens is I start to feel like I did a good job. I can have just a little piece of candy, Right. And then I start ramping back up until I get right back into the. Yeah, no. All right.
- [41:19]
B
Nope. Where you're screwing up is after seven days, you're no longer physically addicted to the sugar. The only reason you're picking up is because you're telling yourself a story and you're lying to yourself. Like, I can go ahead and have this.
- [41:38]
A
Okay.
- [41:39]
B
After seven days, your body doesn't call for it anymore. So now that you have that information, right, you know that the first seven days are going to be a problem. But after that, if you pick up, you did that.
- [41:58]
A
But how do you stop the choice, the choice of making and going for sugar? Because that's the hard part for me is I make the choice to go. I'll have a look.
- [42:06]
B
And then most of the time, you're making the choice within your first seven days. So you're folding within your first seven days. Truthfully, how many times have you made it two weeks and then fold?
- [42:19]
A
I've done this. Seriously. I've done different variations of it. Two weeks, three weeks. I even went after watching this one documentary. It was called Sugarcoated. I watched this documentary called Sugarcoating, and I was on such a motivational high, but it was all willpower. And I went six months with no refined sugar. I had this whole little cutout thing. And then after I went six months, I'm like, I'm good. And when a dessert came up, a birthday came up. Oh, I just have a little bit. Oh, I have a little bit. And to your point, the story I kept telling myself, like, well, I'm good now because I did it for six months.
- [42:54]
B
Right.
- [42:54]
A
And what I didn't realize was that this is what they call relapse. But it's hard to use the term relapse because you're thinking sugar so readily Available everywhere in every.
- [43:04]
B
Yeah, but just because every moron does it doesn't mean it's. It's. I know we're not. It's not. It's not living your. Your best self.
- [43:11]
A
What are the people who have the most success from breaking away from drug? Because that's what I want to tap into. Like, how do I, how do I permanently, like, stop the consumption?
- [43:20]
B
Have you ever been on a GLP1?
- [43:23]
A
I don't know what that is.
- [43:24]
B
Okay. Like Ozempic or Zepbound?
- [43:27]
A
No.
- [43:28]
B
Okay. Well, they're totally different.
- [43:29]
A
Okay. Okay.
- [43:30]
B
Ozempic, I don't like. It makes you nauseous and it's a problem.
- [43:34]
A
Okay.
- [43:34]
B
Okay. But Zepbound is really good for addiction. It really is. Okay. And I can prove it. First of all, we're getting results at the center and we're using that when needed.
- [43:48]
A
Okay.
- [43:48]
B
Okay. We're the first center to do that. Okay. But my personal experience with it is I love Cuban cigars. And when people ask me how many I smoke a day, my typical answer is as many as I can. Okay. So it's not uncommon healthy. Well, I mean, dude, you saw the, the doors open into the walls. I got 30ft here. I'm smoking outside, essentially.
- [44:18]
A
Right.
- [44:19]
B
So it's not like I'm getting any second hand smoke and I don't inhale it. And I just went and I went to the doctor and my lungs are perfect. He says, so, you know, it's, it's more of a meditation thing. But, you know, I've been on this Zepbound thing for a month now. Right. And it's good for your, your cholesterol and your blood pressure and all these things. It's overall health. It's not to lose weight.
- [44:46]
A
Okay.
- [44:48]
B
But I can't smoke more than two cigars a day.
- [44:51]
A
Why?
- [44:52]
B
I can't because I don't want to. And it doesn't taste as good. And the GLP1s have ruined my cigar smoking completely. Okay. So if you want to get off the sugar, how about trying that? First of all, you're not going to be hungry, right? You got to work out on it. You got it. If you're, you know, you got to eat, right? You know, you want to eat steak and potatoes and vegetables and you know, you want to keep the weight on. Right?
- [45:25]
A
But that's so, so Zep, Zep, Zep one. Zep. Zeb is a GLP one.
- [45:31]
B
That's right.
- [45:32]
A
And how long do you have to.
- [45:33]
B
Take it before you, you do, you do one shot A week. I. I would do one shot a week, but talk to your doctor. I'm on. I started with 2 point. The beginning dose is like 0.5 of a milligram. Right. I take. I started with 0.25, which was half that, and then I went up to 0.35. So not even at the baby dose. I'm at a microdose. Right. And you'll see. My guess is that you're gonna have an easier time with the sugar, and that may give you your first week, and then if you stay on it a little more. But ask your doctor, man. This is not a vanity plague. This is not.
- [46:21]
A
It's to try to reverse, because the damages, especially with joint pain and with brain fog and with all the other stuff, like, you know, I'm starting to just lean a little bit more into the impact of how it's even too, like, to the point where, you know, with diabetes and all that other kind of stuff, like, that stuff is. It's real, but nobody talks about it. Like, I mean, I don't want the sugar industry coming after me, but I'm like, it's a problem. It's a. It's a real problem. It's a real, real problem. I think, even too. Like, there are a lot of people who are being diagnosed, I think, prematurely with, you know, whether it's adhd, add, whatever. And a lot of this is symptomatic of the things that are coming from. From sugar.
- [47:01]
B
Yeah. It's just not. Not optimal brain health. And until you clean yourself out, you don't know. You got to rule it out because you don't know what's wrong.
- [47:08]
A
Right.
- [47:09]
B
So you're doing another season.
- [47:11]
A
Yes, season 18. This would be my 14th season.
- [47:14]
B
You're. You've been on it for 14 seasons.
- [47:16]
A
14 seasons of American Ninja Warrior. That's a blessing. That's. I played. I played in the NFL for five years. Play. I've been doing Ninja Warrior for 14 years. It's the longest job I've ever had in my life. It's been one of the most rewarding jobs because I get to celebrate the athletes, and these are people who I actually kind of really connect with because, you know, they're not your LeBron James of the world, but yet these are your everyday people who are doing extraordinary things. And, you know, just to see the show continue to grow, even in the industry that we're in today with the, you know, Hollywood and the reshift and the remake, what, you know, what we're seeing on tv Shows being cut left and right. To have a show on for this many seasons has been, you know, a blessing, but I think it speaks to what people love, which is seeing people kind of overcome obstacles. You know, there is, like, a little bit of a metaphor life there when you're seeing people overcome obstacles after obstacles, especially getting to know their stories.
- [48:14]
B
It's fun. It's just. It looks fun.
- [48:16]
A
Yeah, it is. It is.
- [48:17]
B
Like, I want to do it.
- [48:18]
A
Yeah, I did it. I did it back in 2018.
- [48:20]
B
How was it?
- [48:21]
A
It was great.
- [48:21]
B
Did you win?
- [48:22]
A
I hit the buzzer. I hit the buzzer, and it was one of the most gratifying things that I'd ever done in all of my, you know, sports career because I had to overcome so much fear because I didn't want to be a fraud. I didn't want to be, like, the guy who was just a former NFL guy who got into the host booth and. And could never do what the athletes did. I'm like, wait, if I'm an athlete, I need to prove my athleticism that. You don't see a lot of ninjas my size. You know, I cut down 13 pounds. I trained my butt off. I did two A days. I took a little bit of that football mentality. I did two A days. Ninja gym, weight room. Ninja gym, weight room. Double up on ninja. And I did that enough to where I was able to hit a buzzer. And this season coming up, one of the young ninjas asked me so, like, hey, would you do it again? I was like, I did it at 39. I'm 46. I'm like, I don't think so. I was like, I don't know.
- [49:16]
B
Have you ever hurt yourself there?
- [49:17]
A
I did. I actually popped my bicep training for Ninja Warrior. I popped my. This is the first time I ever had tore or popped a muscle. And it's because I was doing so much of carrying my weight, and I had healed just enough to compete on the show, and. And I had to skip one obstacle because I knew had I gotten on this one obstacle, I would have torn. It would have just ripped right off right on that thing. And you could even see any of the hanging obstacles. I try to keep my arms, like, straightened out because had I done this, I would have. I would have popped it.
- [49:51]
B
That sounds like so much fun, though.
- [49:53]
A
Yeah, it was. It was a lot of fun.
- [49:55]
B
Where do you. Where do you film?
- [49:56]
A
We film in Vegas now. And so it has become our permanent home the last couple of seasons. And just for efficiency purposes and just where everything is going. You know, in Hollywood, we just thought that it would be best to.
- [50:09]
B
For efficiency purposes.
- [50:10]
A
Yeah, for efficiency purposes. To set up in Las Vegas.
- [50:13]
B
13.3% efficiency.
- [50:17]
A
You put the math to it, not me.
- [50:19]
B
Well, all right, man. Hey, listen, this has been a really good time.
- [50:24]
A
Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. I really appreciate you having me here. This is cool to be in your domain here. It's a pretty nice setup you have here, too, man.
- [50:31]
B
Thank you.
- [50:31]
A
Yeah, I'm about to move in.
- [50:33]
B
All right, well, listen, I only got two extra bedrooms, so what are we gonna do with your. With your 14 kids?
- [50:42]
A
Oh, man. Good stuff, man. Thank you. Appreciate it. Absolutely.
- [50:45]
B
All right. Where can people find you?
- [50:47]
A
You can go to on all my platforms. Akbar, underscore, Gbaja on Instagram, TikTok, Tok, Snapchat, Facebook, all of it.
- [50:58]
B
You didn't put your whole last name.
- [51:00]
A
No. Ain't nobody gonna follow me if I had that many letters in my social handle. See you next Tuesday.
- [51:06]
B
That's right.
- [51:08]
A
We're out of time. Please subscribe on YouTube. Click the thumbs up and leave a comment. Please subscribe on Apple podcast and Spotify and leave a rating and a review and share the we're out of time podcast with others you know who will get value out of it. See you next Tuesday.