00:00Most of us woke up yesterday to the sad news that New York Jet legend and personal friend of mine and of the show and many other people in my life, Nick Mangold passed away after a brave fight with a kidney disease.
00:14He came out a few weeks ago, as you may remember, we talked about on the show, saying that he was in desperate need of a kidney donation.
00:22Unfortunately, that never happened, and he passed away yesterday.
00:25And the NFL world mourning his loss, of course, the Jet Nation mourning his loss.
00:31I was proud to call him a friend, not very close friends, but a friend for sure.
00:35When I had my show on FS1, he was a frequent guest on it and always came with a smile on his face and always lit up every room that I was ever in that he walked into.
00:43And I thought it'd be important today that we just remember him beyond me just saying what a great guy he was.
00:48Also, a dear, dear friend of mine and a former teammate and friend of Nick, Willie Colon joins us this morning.
00:54Willie, how are you, pal?
00:58I'm holding, man.
00:59Obviously, a tough day.
01:01It's been a tough 48 hours, so just holding on.
01:05You played with Nick.
01:08When you heard the news yesterday morning, like the rest of us did, I'm sure like a lot of people, tons of thoughts started kind of circulating through your brain of memories you had with him.
01:18Do you mind sharing one or two that stood out with us?
01:20I'm trying to think about the ones I could share.
01:27You know, we were, you know, it was, you know, the thing about Nick, man, I think you hit it right on the head card.
01:33And he was, he was a guy that always welcomed you with a hug and a smile and full of love.
01:37And I think when I got to the Jets, man, I was very much wrapped around the identity and my allegiance was to the Pittsburgh Steelers and everything that I had accomplished there in Pittsburgh.
01:46When I got to New York, man, the locker room was kind of gutted a little bit.
01:51You know, Revis had left.
01:53It was only Primardi and David Harris and Calvin Pace.
01:55But the good chunk of the guys who were making the AFC runs were gone.
02:00And, you know, Nick was the guy who came to me, was like, hey, man, I know who you are.
02:04I know what you can do.
02:05We need you.
02:06And he just cleared away from me.
02:08And he was a guy who opened up his house, his family and his world to me.
02:12And, man, and, you know, obviously we didn't have a lot of success or the success we thought we were going to have together.
02:18But he was just an awesome dude, man.
02:21And when I was going through my injury battles, he just leaned on me.
02:25You know, he was a guy who, you know how it is, Craig, when you're an old Wally vet and it's hard to get off the training table, you just need somebody to talk to you.
02:34He was always the guy that, you know, sit next to me and we would laugh and joke.
02:37And we had a lot of battles in the trenches together.
02:41And we took a lot of pride in our job.
02:43And he was the face of the Jets, man.
02:46Sure.
02:46Were you aware prior to him announcing it a few weeks ago that he was dealing with this issue with his kidney?
02:53Because he said, prior to passing, that he knew this day was going to come.
02:58Like, he was well aware, I guess, the medical staff at some point in his life, whether it was as a young man or even when he got to the NFL,
03:05he knew that he had this issue and at some point he was going to need a new kidney.
03:09But I wondered if he shared that with teammates and friends.
03:13He didn't.
03:14You know, that's the hardest thing about his passing.
03:17Because I talked to him roughly about a week ago.
03:20I got off air and was on my way home, stuck in traffic.
03:23And I was like, man, let me call him.
03:24I got some time.
03:26And the first thing out of my mouth, I was like, dude, if I knew you had this, man.
03:30Because we were booze buddies.
03:31You know, he loved his bourbon and whiskey and I loved my tequila and vodka.
03:34And we had a lot of late nights and a lot of, you know, because we lost a lot.
03:38We spent a lot of time on the plane crying and drinking together.
03:41So, the first time my mom said, dog, if I knew you would have had this type of condition,
03:46I would have never passed the ball to you.
03:48I would have never.
03:48I would have did more.
03:49And I think that's what a lot of guys are kind of dealing with right now.
03:52There is a sense of guilt, I know I feel, because, you know, as ballplayers,
03:57we kind of pour our tears into a bottle.
03:59And if I knew he would have had this type of condition, I would have been way more sensitive
04:04and just been better about it and try to protect them a little bit.
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