10-year NFL veteran and Giants Super Bowl Champion punter Steve Weatherford will be back in New Jersey this week. He'll be giving his two-day coaching seminar "Becoming the CEO of Your Life" June 28-29 at the Hilton Meadowlands.
Weatherford, who also played for the Jets, Chiefs, Jaguars and Saints, won a Super Bowl ring in 2011 when the Giants shocked Tom Brady and the New England Patriots 2017 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Weather joined SportsJam with Doug Doyle to talk about a ten-year Giants Super Bowl reunion in September and his motivational seminar in East Rutherford.
Coming from Indiana, Weatherford says it was an amazing experience winning Super Bowl XLVI.
"It made it feel like it was a story book ending except it wasn't the end of my career, so you can imagine the excitement. I went into high school at 108 pounds. I started chewing tobacco at 14 years old. I still chew tobacco Doug, I'm from Indiana man. I'm not saying everybody from Indiana does it, but to be able to go back to where you grow up, to where your legit, 67 miles from where you went to high school, 67 miles from the place I kissed my first girl, you know to where I used to party out in the corn fields, like I'm back home but I'm playing in the Super Bowl in front of 124-million people. Yeah, it was it was pretty significant and pretty special Doug."
Weatherford says he and his teammates including Eli Manning, Justin Tuck and others had the same mental approach going into that SuperBowl as the members of the Giants team that spoiled Tom Brady's perfect season a few years earlier.
"We just knew that we had nothing to lose and it's such a great position to be in. If you back at the 2008 Super Bowl where the Patriots were undefeated and the Giants beat the Patriots out in Arizona in the desert to ruin that season, same mindset like Tom Brady is supposed to win, like guess what dude it's ten years later you and I are talking about this reunion and I've been retired for four years after 10 years in the NFL, and we're talking about the dude that's still playing, like that's the crazy thing. Just imagine the teams that go against him now, how much they already feel like they're beat before they get onto the field. They guy just finds a way to win."
But it was Weatherford's uncanny ability to pin the favored Patriots back in their own territory with superb punts that really dampened New England's chances of putting up a lot of points on the scoreboard. Weatherford's first punt of the day pinned the Patriots inside the 10-yard line and eventually led to the Giants getting a safety when Brady was called for intentional grounding in the end zone.
In 2013, Weatherford was called the NFL's Fittest Man. He continues to work out and train, eat healthy and sculpt his frame. The 38-year old showed off his arms during this edition of SportsJam.
He's also the father of six children. He and his wife recently moved from California to Frisco, Texas. The couple welcomed their newest child less than a month ago. Kingston Weatherford was more than 12 pounds at birth.
"His stock is high on the draft board right now (chuckling)"
The former decathlete and All-American at the University of Illinois made it clear that parents should get their children involved in sports for the right reasons.
"Parents thinks sports are supposed to do that so their kids can get scholarships and go to the pros. No, sports are to build community, it's to build character, it's to get our kids active and in shape. We want to protect our kids instead of going out and letting their kids be exposed. If we make our kids lives so easy, how do think that's going to make them as adults? Tough times create hard men. Hard times create tough men. Soft times create soft leaders and I feel like we're raising a lot of soft leaders right now, not in my home and I'm not saying I'm better than anyone else, but I believe a little bit of daily discomfort and discipline is going to grow you into what you're capable of being, not what you're comfortable to be."
Weatherford, who also hosts his own podcast The Steve Weatherford Show: The Secrets to a High Performance Life" has been traveling around the country with his motivational seminar helping entrepreneurs and other high achievers through exercises to find their greatness.
"It's about establishing structure and order to the areas of your life that matter most. The CEO of Your Life is about helping you get clear on what it is that you want. As entrepreneurs we can get distracted.
Weatherford focuses on what he calls the five pillars of life including mental, physical, emotional, spiritual and financial.
Those interested in attending the seminar or want to find out more about Weatherford's ideas can text "CEO" to him at 949-763-5934.
You can also see the video version of this SportsJam edition featuring Steve Weatherford at https://fb.watch/6ncDOgKx8g/.
