- 1 day ago
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00Willard and Dibbs, 95.7 The Game, River Island's guest line. Here he is, the great Steve Young joining us.
00:06Hey, friend, you're the best. How are you, man?
00:08How are you doing, buddy? Great, great. How are you doing, buddy?
00:10We're doing great. I was just thinking about how, like, okay, so when the Chiefs played the Niners in the Super Bowl,
00:16Joe Montana sent out that thing with both jerseys, and he's like, I can't lose.
00:21Are you going to do the same thing with the Niners and Bucks getting together this weekend?
00:25What? Shut up, bro. That is crazy.
00:28That's so crazy.
00:29That is nuts. There's no confusion here. My gosh.
00:36I spent a long, long year there, and the culture of the place was terrible, and the guys were great.
00:44I loved the guys, but my gosh, that was a painful experience.
00:49But I will tell you, it's funny. I played one full season. We were 2-14, and the next season,
00:55I'm at the 49ers, and we go down to Tampa to play in 1987, and I get down there, and the PR director for the Bucks,
01:05who I'd kind of gotten friendly with, he said, hey, you don't realize this, but you were voted MVP of the Bucks last year.
01:12And I'm like, that's kind of weird. I'm not really sure to think about that, because we were 2-14.
01:20Like, I don't know about that. He goes, yeah, we want to give you the trophy at halftime. Could you come out and receive it?
01:26No way!
01:28I was like, I'm going to be in a 49er uniform. I mean, I don't know. The whole thing seems really odd.
01:34And, yeah, there I was, halftime, like, hey, take a bow.
01:38There it is.
01:40Where is that Buccaneers MVP trophy now, Steve?
01:44Oh, man, it's in a pile somewhere. I don't know. We'll have to dig that one out.
01:48Dig that one out.
01:49I mean, it's unbelievable. Steve Young here on 95.7 The Game, and the reason, one of the reasons why we're thrilled to have you,
01:55of course, we're always happy to have you, but it's the idea of Mack or Brock and Brock or Mack,
02:00and when you're in that spot where, you know, Mack was highly drafted, not as highly drafted as you,
02:05but you feel like you're kind of the guy, and then you go out there and you do well,
02:09what does that do when you eventually have to kind of go back into that baseball cap mode?
02:17Well, for me, I think it's important to distinguish how I felt about it and how, you know, it's a different time and different place.
02:26So, you've got to remember, I was, it sucked. Like, I didn't want, that's not what I, it's strange as it was,
02:36Bill Walsh had presented an opportunity that Joe had multiple back surgeries and there was this opportunity to play,
02:42and I told Coach Walsh, look, I hate to hear that about Joe, but if there's an opportunity, I would love that,
02:49and no better place than in San Francisco would be amazing, but, like, I want to be clear, I don't, I don't want to,
02:56I'm going, I got to go play, and I've always played, and I said, I'd rather go to law school than not play,
03:02and then he's like, no, no, and so then I get there, and I've told this story many times,
03:06but just in case you haven't heard it, first practice, I'm out there with the 49ers, I'm nervous, I got, you know,
03:12you know, stuff came into me, all the, Ted Walsh gave me all the shorts and the shirt and the shoes and everything else,
03:17and I'd never met Joe, and, and then, you know, waiting there, and I don't know if he's going to be there,
03:24I mean, maybe he was in surgery, I don't know, I know, and, and out, and then I remember Bill was out there,
03:30Coach Walsh was out there, and, and we're warming up, and then Joe came jogging out, and I'm like,
03:35my first thought, the second I saw him, I was like, that dude is not hurt,
03:38that dude, that dude is not hurt, that dude is good to go, and that began a five-year, six-year odyssey,
03:47so, so how I felt about it is just really different than anything that's going on today,
03:52but yet, I got the best advice I ever got from a coach that, in the middle of all that mess and all
03:59the frustration, that said, Steve, I know you want to start, I know that's what your expectation was,
04:04but you'll never be a starter until you learn the lesson that if you want a job,
04:08that you don't have, you better become the best in the world at the job you have,
04:12and so it was really a sea change for how I saw the job of a backup, because I kind of spit it out
04:18all the time, I hated it, it was like, like you throw up in your mouth kind of stuff, and I had to,
04:23I had to learn the truth, is that if you really want another job, that'd be the best at the job
04:28you have today, and I thought it's been true my whole life, really, and that's why I did kind of
04:33start to believe that, okay, what would that look like, what I, how would I prepare, I prepare
04:38different, I prepare like I was going to play every week, and how would I, how can I help Joe
04:41be the best that he can be, how can I, like that would, that's the job, and so I think when I say,
04:46once I did that, it really made, it made me feel like I was at least, you know, in it, and contributing,
04:55and really on the, on the ball, and, and it helped me when it, when it did transition, it helped me a ton
05:00that I'd done that work, so anyway, that's a long story for how I'm a little bit different than the guys
05:05that are going today, but for, for, for Mac, he came, and they told him, you're backing up, you're backing
05:11him up, you know, and so he said that over, over to you guys, and almost, almost too much, right, like Mac,
05:18like you don't have to keep, you know, you can say, hey, I'm awesome, and you know, I'm, I'm good, and, and I'm
05:24playing hard, and I'd love to keep playing, like, it doesn't hurt anybody, but he's really
05:28respectful, and I love that about him, and, but the thing that can't change is how he's played, and how he's
05:35played is, been very inspiring, and so that fact is a fact, and so it's, in the locker room knows that
05:43they've been inspired by him, and doesn't take anything away from Brock, it might make things more awkward, but it
05:49doesn't take anything away from him, and I've always believed that awkwardness, and creative
05:54tension is a positive, so I think it's going to be hard for Mac to ever go back, like he's now tasted
06:02it, and if it's not going to be in San Francisco, I pray he doesn't go to, you know, don't make me
06:07list them, but there's plenty of them, places where I would not want to be, and that he can find a place
06:13that can give him this opportunity to see how good he can get, because this is the ultimate place for that.
06:16The great Steve Young is with us here on Withered and Dibs 95.7 The Game. I mean, Steve,
06:21you just detailed it. I mean, the quarterback controversy you lived was the all-time quarterback
06:28controversy. I think I know how you'd answer this, but I'd love to back up and just get your response to,
06:35is there anything that even resembles a controversy, or how would you describe what's currently going on?
06:42I would describe, it's awkward, but it's pleasantly awkward, right? It's like everyone involved is going
06:53to behave and do things well. They're not going to, it's a good locker room, it's a good quarterback
07:00room, but it's just inevitable that, you know, and I think the awkwardness brings out the best in both
07:09of them. Mack will support Brock a thousand percent. Brock will support Mack a thousand percent. That's
07:16just who they are, and so the awkwardness is going to be to the benefit of the 49ers. They just have to
07:22withstand all of the chat and the chitter chat that goes on that's going to make it harder. It makes it
07:28hard to, you know, with, you know, because it's going to, every day, they're going to try to make
07:32it controversial, something that's toxic, something that derails the success of the team, derails
07:40our ability to go win a championship, and they'll just make it feel and sound terrible, and people
07:45just have to live through it and say, no, it's not terrible. It's awkward, but it's creative, it's
07:50positive, and we're getting the best out of both of them, and they just have to shout that back at all
07:55the places, because it'll, I think no matter what, people will try to get under people's skin and try
08:02to peck at it and make it a problem. Yeah, and thank God for the chatter, otherwise Mark and I
08:06would be out there delivering milk or, I mean, it might be a, yeah, no doubt, and oh man, God,
08:13the chatter we needed. I wonder though, Steve, about the way you look at it and the whole idea of
08:18ride the hot hand, because Mack right now is hot, they're winning. If Mack wins again and Brock is
08:23healthy, do they ride the hot hand, or do they go back to the starter? It just depends on health,
08:29right? Because, and then, again, these are, John Lynch doesn't do this for free, right? Kyle doesn't
08:36do this for free. These guys are the best in the business, and they have, these are the quality
08:41problems that you get yourself into very rarely, and it's, it really depends on how you want it to
08:47be. Like, it's very obvious that you've made this huge contract for Brock, and that's got its own
08:52statement and truth, and then we also know that Kyle loved Mack from the beginning, and so there's
08:58that connection that they've had, and that's now flourishing, and so to me, it's a, you know,
09:04at one level, it's a business, and part of the business is keeping the locker room together,
09:10going to win a championship, and then long-term, you know, viability, so it's like it all, and the
09:16idea that you don't constantly kind of take that, put your finger in there and figure that out is
09:22probably a mistake, and so I think, you know, odds are very much so that Brock is in a place where
09:30he's going to be able to play, and Mack will probably be forced to go somewhere else, and
09:36that's probably, you know, the odds-on situation, and yet, you know, I leave it to those guys that
09:42make all that big money to figure out what they want to do, because I think, and it really depends
09:47on Mack, right, because we know Brock. We can count, like, you know, there's things that you just, to me,
09:53when Brock suits up, I know what I'm getting, and it's a lot, right, and Mack, we think we've gotten
09:59some great glimpses into what Mack is, and the toughness, and the ability to deliver the football,
10:04and all that stuff, but he doesn't have as much clarity, and we can, you know, every week's more
10:11and more clarity, but that does make it a little bit uneven, an uneven fight for Brock, because he's
10:15got so much time with us, and we know who he is, and we like it, you know, and we, we, we want more
10:21Brock, and what's funny, what's happening is, like, we want kind of more Mack, too, and that's what I said
10:27before, it's awkward. Steve Young with us here on Willard and Dibbs. Steve, you've met, this is putting
10:33the cart before the horse, I get it, but you've mentioned twice about the idea of Mack going somewhere
10:38else, and he's on a two-year deal, so I'm, I'm, I'm wondering, let's say he does just, you know,
10:44compile a few more wins, then Brock comes back, and the Niners do whatever they do. Is, is, is the
10:50tension you're talking about something that's still there in the offseason? Do the Niners just keep him,
10:55or do they owe it to him to get him somewhere else? I, yeah, to me, I, I think the awkwardness brings
11:04out the best in both of them, because they're not toxic personalities, and that, and, and I felt
11:10the same way in my situation, like, we, you know, what did the 49ers get? They got the best of both
11:14of us, and it was awkward, and it was, it was painful, but, but, you know, my gosh, it was like
11:19all we had, and so in that way, I feel like Brock and, and Mack would respond to that, that tension in a
11:27really positive way, so my opinion, if I, if I was the general manager, I'm there, despite, again,
11:34the awkwardness, I think I get the best out of both of them, and then it's on me, as the leader of the,
11:41you know, kind of running the team, how I, how I distribute that, right, how do I clarify that? I
11:47mean, I, you know, the more clarity you give, hey, Brock's our starter, Mack, you'll play if he's hurt,
11:52or, or something goes haywire, and then, or, because the problem becomes, we don't want to
11:57give clarity. We, we're going to just let it play out, and, and, you know, we'll see week to week,
12:03and that leaves the locker room in a really tough spot, so, but I don't, I'm not against maintaining
12:09the best possible, you know, tandem, and that would be Brock and Mack together, and I think it
12:15can be to the positive of both of their games, and to the 49ers, if played out right.
12:20Just going back to 1987, Steve, this was before players demanded to be traded, or even the word
12:26got out. How did that go where you guys go 2-14, and clearly Tampa was in a world of hurt ever since
12:33they got founded nine years earlier. How did that all play out to where all of a sudden you were on
12:38the move to San Francisco? Well, I'll try to cover it quickly. So I developed a relationship with the
12:46owner, and the owner was a very quiet, reserved, oh, I'll talk about, I'll get off court.
12:57Oh, yeah. Did we lose him?
12:59No, anybody. So I just picked up, and we talked, and, and so we got to be communicators, and we tried
13:04to, we both recruited Bo Jackson famously with great nothingness, and he told us to shove it,
13:12like we were going nowhere, but we kind of did that together. So it's like we built a little rapport,
13:16and so when I finished my one season, my one full season, they changed coaches, and, and Ray Perkins
13:24came in, and Ray Perkins, the first meeting, he, he did this weird thing where he told him what they,
13:28he wanted everyone to weigh, and, and, and, and, you know, when he showed up at, at a training camp,
13:33and he, and he was reading off everybody's name, you know, and then he gets to Young,
13:36and he goes, 195, and I'm like, 195? Like, I haven't been 195 since I was in 11th grade, bro.
13:43Like, that doesn't make any sense. So I, so I went up to him afterwards, like, Coach Perkins,
13:48you know, almost, this is basically the first time I've met him, I go, hey, I just want you to know
13:52that, you know, 195 is going to be almost dangerous, and like, and he looked at me, he lit me up,
13:57he MF'd me, and told me, like, he's going to worry about nothing, you know, like, don't you realize
14:01I hate scramblers, and I hate lefties even more. And I'm like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
14:10And so I knew that things were not off to the right foot, and, and so then they traded me to
14:19the Cardinals, called me, Ray Perkins called me and said, hey, traded the Cardinals, and hung up,
14:24you know, and I'm like, so I called Mr. Colberhouse. I'm like, Mr. Colberhouse, you told me I was your
14:29quarterback for life, you know, you and I were getting this together, and now I'm getting
14:33traded to the Cardinals, like, you can't send me to the, I mean, if there's one place worse
14:37than the Bucs, it's the Cardinals, like, bro, come on. And he, and he, he, he mixed it.
14:43He went, called it up, mixed the deal, and called me back and said, look, I give you a week
14:47to figure out what's best, and let me know. And then Eddie and, and he made a deal where they
14:52did a Charlie Finley thing for money and draft picks and figured it out, and Ray Perkins
14:57was super pissed, and Mr. Colberhouse did me a great solid, so that's how it all went down.
15:03Wow. Great story. What a story. Unbelievable. Steve Young with us on Withered and Dibs here,
15:0795.7 The Game. Steve, I want to go back to what Dibs was asking you with regard to the whole hot
15:12hand thing, and I wonder if you've noticed anything. I, like, I know fans are always going to talk, but
15:18there's so many fans who seem eager to continue seeing Mac. Do you think this experience
15:25has brought maybe out from the weeds some sort of, like, I don't know if it's distrust or whatnot
15:34from the fan base with regard to Brock? Well, Brock, you know, was a lead in 23, and last year was
15:43hard. It's hard on everybody. I mean, I bet Kyle would say, you know, I was kind of 6 and 10, and Brock
15:49was kind of 6 and 10, and a lot of players were missing, and it was like all this stuff. But what
15:53happened is both Brock and Kyle, and the personalities, I'm going to do whatever I can,
15:58and so you overdo it, you know, and you could see him trying to do too much, and that caused
16:03him to start to make mistakes that he wouldn't normally make. And so the mistakes through the
16:07year, and that's what you saw this season a little bit, was something's not, we were throwing
16:12a couple interceptions a game, and last season was a lot more mistakes. Then it feels like there's
16:18a pattern emerging, and injury's a part of it, and the team that's available is a part
16:24of it. And so that's the rigor of being the big paid starting franchise quarterback. That's
16:33like, welcome. That's where you are. That's who you are. That's what you are. And so that's
16:39part of the challenge, right, is that you have to live those shoes out when you're going through
16:44all the ups and downs, and now Mack, in a very short time, has played inspiration. Like
16:50when you watch them in the Ram game, limp around and make the throws and bring them back and
16:54make the scores that happen, and they're hard, you know, in the NFL, especially on the road
16:58against the Rams, which are a very good team, you're like, you left, I left that game like,
17:02dang, man, it's freaking, I'm going to go get a 10 jersey to keep this up. You know what
17:06I mean? And that's nothing, again, that's nothing to do with Brock. That's just an emotional
17:11response to knowing how hard the game is, and how somebody's playing inspirational football
17:16for your squad. And so that's, again, that's the awkwardness that you just have to kind
17:22of take in. It's okay. It's okay. And it doesn't have to be zero-sum game. We can find abundance
17:28in here. We just got to talk about it the right way. We got to respond the right way. And fans
17:32can feel a little conflicted because Mack's on the field winning, you know, division games
17:38on the road and kind of inspiring us. So it's not, again, it's like, I just refuse to allow
17:46the dilemma and the creative tension and the abundance of the situation. Two guys are playing
17:54great football for us to make it be, you can't turn it negative on me. You can't turn it into
18:00something toxic or transactional where you're going to make me have to choose somebody and
18:08make someone else a little, like, I'm not doing it. And I think that's the challenge that Kyle
18:12has going forward. And look, it's week to week. You know, if somebody has a terrible game,
18:16it makes it even more intense. And if everybody keeps playing great, it makes it easier. But
18:21it's okay. But it has to be handled really well. It'll be handled really well with Mack and Brock.
18:26I know that. I don't even worry about it. No problem. I think it'll be handled really well
18:31with John and Kyle. I really have a high confidence in that. And I guarantee the fan bases are just,
18:37it's going to be wild. It's going to be a wild, you know, again, in a positive way, because
18:43whoever's on the field is playing pretty freaking good. And that's a good thing. So I just, I refuse
18:49to go down the rabbit hole of finding why this is a terrible thing. This is, I, in the end,
18:55this is terrible for the 49ers that we have quarterbacks that are playing great.
18:59Like, that can't be true. It cannot be true.
19:02No, that's true. That's well said. Do you have any concerns, though? Let's talk about just the
19:07physical thing that Brock is dealing with. Do you have concerns there? What, what is your
19:12experience with turf toe and what this might mean for him rest of the year or even beyond?
19:19Yeah, I've had slight turf toe, nothing that ever got the ligament really kind of pissed. Like,
19:25I've never, I've never had that. So, but I can tell you that the guys that have,
19:29it really depends. Like, look at Joe Burrow. Like, you can, you can do things to it where
19:34that ligament is like, sayonara, bro. We're not, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not coming back.
19:38And so obviously he, he heard it, heard it again, which is so typical. Like, how do you stay off your
19:45big toe? Yeah. Like, other than lay down, right? Like, there's no way. And so that's the challenge.
19:52And so I think that what we learned about the last time we played him a couple of weeks ago
19:57is let's try to get this, especially if Mac's playing well, let's try to get this to a place
20:02where we don't have to have this back and forth for the whole season, because it's, it's very
20:07possible that 2025 ends and we go with the retrospective in February and we'll say,
20:15man, what a rough season for Brock. It never got right. It never, never happened. You know what I mean?
20:20Like, that's what we just don't want. And we're in a situation where maybe we don't have to.
20:25And so that's why you got to play out. And I have no idea whether he can come back full speed next
20:29week or not. Like you just have to play it out, but the toe itself and, and putting pressure on it
20:35and that ligament and, and going and playing again, uh, say, I don't know where they play next.
20:40Whether they go off to Tampa, they come home again, home to Atlanta. Yeah. And then go back on the turf
20:45anytime. That's why like, it doesn't play on grass. Doesn't make it all better, but it does make it
20:52less than catching on the turf again and having to just jam you up. But yeah, I will have to play
20:58that out. But again, I don't want the retrospective to be, man, Brock never got right. Like that would
21:04be, that's not cool. Steve, will you still need me? Will you still feed me when I'm 64? I'm being
21:11told you have a birthday tomorrow, Steve Young. Don't even try it. Don't even try it. Don't
21:16even go. It happens, Steve. It makes no sense. It makes no sense. It baffles the mind. So
21:23I'm, uh, I'm walking around living in like a little fiction land that I'm 50 and, uh, and
21:28I'm dominating. Like, I just going to live the, I just don't know what else to do. Like
21:32I'm running around. I ran my four miles. I'm going. So like, I don't know. No, it
21:38out. Scream it out. I can't tell you. I'm maybe I'm, uh, no, you're crushing it. Cause
21:43my partner actually turned 50 and I'm between he and you. And so I was so happy that he finally
21:48turned 50 and I was doing my research for this. And I realized that you are where you
21:52are. And I'm like, Oh my, if he's there and I'm there, we probably shouldn't talk about
21:56it, Steve. I don't know, man. All I know, all I do know is science is not on my side.
22:04But entropy F and entropy is like, I looked in the mirror yesterday and it's not going
22:10well. It's like, it's going the wrong direction and it's not going to change. So we're just
22:14going to battle out, be graceful, love it. And let's move on. Yeah. My dad who turns 90
22:21this, this February, he, uh, he always told me that you have to have a dream. A dream is
22:26less than 1% chance, but you always have to have a dream. And so I asked him recently,
22:29it's okay. What Mr. Big, what's your dream? He goes 110. And I'm like, all right, let's
22:34do this. Yeah. Are you doing something special by the way? Are you celebrating?
22:40Uh, no, just, we have a big, uh, school, like, uh, one of the families and, uh, we're
22:45doing an Indian theme, big party tomorrow night. And so I have my awesome getup, you
22:50know, like the Bollywood get, I'm like, I'm ready. Like I, I got it all going for
22:54tomorrow night. I love it. I love it. I love it. Steve Young here on Withered and Dibs. Hey,
22:58one more thing before you run. And it's this, because these situations, again, you're so
23:03different than this, but how does it affect an entire locker room? Like, what
23:08do you think the other players are thinking right now about this whole
23:11situation? So you have to educate the locker room. The key is that you have a
23:17mature locker room, a self-policing. We've had that for the last six or seven
23:20years, though. The, the leaders in the, in the locker room that won't allow that
23:24agitation or anxiety to start to affect the guys. And that's going to come a lot
23:29from the communication from Kyle and from John. And so all that, and we have the
23:34people, John's the right person, Kyle's the right person, and the leaders in our
23:37locker room are the right people. So we've got all the, asked all the ingredients to
23:41handle this really well. The problem comes is if somehow it, it, it, it, it, it, it's,
23:48it's not communicated well, or it's left to have a vacuum of, of, of information and
23:53people start to fill it with guesswork and, and, and anxiety. And then once the anxiety
23:58hits in the locker room and the leadership can't kind of fight it down, then it
24:02starts to, that's where the distraction comes and that's hard. Now that doesn't
24:06mean that again, awkwardness in my mind is not distraction, right? Awkwardness is
24:11some tension, but I call it creative tension. I don't call it, you know, anything
24:17else. So it's like, it's a, it's a fine line, but again, I refuse to make it a
24:21negative. Like it's awesome. It's a quality, quality, quality, quality problem.
24:26Yeah. And, uh, and, and, and I would, any of us would love to have only quality
24:32problems in our lives. Well, I, I think you should feel that way about turning 64.
24:37It's a quality problem. Yeah. Yeah. It's quality. It's awesome. It's awesome. So
24:42great. Happy birthday, dude. Thank you. Thank you for coming on. I'll see you guys.
24:47Okay. See you later. There he goes. Steve Young on, uh, weather and dibs here on 95.7
24:52again. Say that again. Steve Young, um, extended Steve Young, Steve Young. You're on 95.7 again.
Recommended
8:40
|
Up next
21:20
7:18
9:46
13:56
20:04
24:09
15:58
8:31
11:38
19:37
47:07
13:44
20:25
14:57
12:30
18:57
11:49
17:51
18:34
13:17
7:38
11:06
25:39
Be the first to comment