A little audio feedback at first but don't let that distract you from a fun interview with a great guy, Joe Fernandez, son of NFL Raiders Great "Swervin Mervyn" Fernandez.
We go back in time and talk about what it was like growing up with a dad in the NFL with stories about his dad being chased around by Bo Jackson and Joe being dipped in the cold plunge pool by Art Shell to skate boarding on the treadmills in the Raiders locker room.
Joe also reflects on his experience with racism and how he uses his past to lead his children through it in today's world.
Of course we talk about his playing days for the Fresno State Bulldogs, why he chose not to pursue a career in the NFL as well as the current state of college football, including the transfer portal and the NIL
A little audio feedback at first but don't let that distract you from a fun interview with a great guy, Joe Fernandez, son of NFL Raiders Great "Swervin Mervyn" Fernandez.
We go back in time and talk about what it was like growing up with a dad in the NFL with stories about his dad being chased around by Bo Jackson and Joe being dipped in the cold plunge pool by Art Shell to skate boarding on the treadmills in the Raiders locker room.
Joe also reflects on his experience with racism and how he uses his past to lead his children through it in today's world.
Of course we talk about his playing days for the Fresno State Bulldogs, why he chose not to pursue a career in the NFL as well as the current state of college football, including the transfer portal and the NIL
robert_poirier (00:01.293)
Hey everyone and welcome to Dad to Dad's podcast. I'm Robert and today Adam and I get the pleasure of speaking with Joe Fernandez. Joe, welcome to the show.
Joe Fernandez (00:10.998)
Thank you, thank you for having me.
robert_poirier (00:13.077)
Adam has spoken very highly of you for a long time. And again, just want to thank you for agreeing to come on the show, spending some time on the Dad Dads podcast. So you and Adam go way back to your playing days at Fresno State where you both were wide receivers and played for Coach Pat Hill. We had Coach Hill on the show several days ago. What was it like playing for Coach Hill?
Joe Fernandez (00:38.926)
Coach Hill was just, I mean, he was a great coach to play for. I kind of had a little bit of history coming in and heard some stories about Coach Hill because he actually was a graduate assistant when my dad first started playing in college at Utah. And so I came in with him being the head coach and the leader of the team and immediately felt, you know, his presence as a leader. And he, I will say above and beyond being a coach, just a good person. I mean, he's...
Besides the stuff he taught us about football, really just being a young man and going through that phase in your life, it was great having him and the rest of the staff truly there.
robert_poirier (01:16.733)
Great. I do want to get, later on, I do want to get in some stories and some dirt on Adam. So just keep that in the back of your mind. Cause imagine, imagine there has to be some there. All right. So after college, I mean, you had a great college career after college. You didn't get drafted, but you pursued the professional ranks. Tell me about that.
adam_jennings (01:27.648)
Alright.
Joe Fernandez (01:41.322)
Yeah, so during the draft, it was about, you know, I think at that time it was seven rounds. And after the sixth round, I believe, is when I started getting, you know, calls from my agent, looked like it might not happen, and started to hear from different teams that already wanted to sign me. And so I ended up signing with the Seahawks, went to training camp, and honestly, I kind of knew though, in a very short amount of time,
You know, having a dad that played football that it just, it didn't feel right. It wasn't for me. I mean, I stuck it out. I played the whole preseason, ended up getting released, did a tryout. We'd go to that more later if you want, but I enjoyed the experience. I learned a lot from it, but it was interesting. I would say my experience was a lot different from most people in terms of how I felt about going into the NFL, what I was expecting to do, what I thought future would look like. Please.
adam_jennings (02:35.672)
Joe, Joe, may I interject? Because I remember what happened, okay? So, you had a couple of workouts. So, I live in Atlanta. So, after you were cut by Seattle, you flew to Tampa. Is that correct or not? Okay. Okay, so he did a workout in Tampa. He worked out, probably did much better than the other guys.
robert_poirier (02:39.741)
Ha ha ha!
Joe Fernandez (02:45.073)
Okay.
Joe Fernandez (02:55.298)
Tampa Bay was the workout that I went to.
adam_jennings (03:04.648)
And they chose guys, so Joe will talk about potential, they chose guys based on potential, right? And then so Joe flew home to California and he worked out for the San Francisco 49ers. And that's where he reached his boiling point, or inflection point is what you'd call it. They
Joe Fernandez (03:23.178)
I actually, I never worked out for San Francisco.
adam_jennings (03:27.12)
Oh, so you didn't actually go to it? You didn't do it? Yeah, okay, so.
Joe Fernandez (03:29.074)
I got a call from them maybe like three weeks later and they wanted to sign me and I said I'm not doing a workout and they said we don't want you to do a workout we want to sign you.
adam_jennings (03:36.244)
And so, and that's when I like, I called Joe and I was just like, dude, you gotta go work out. What the, what are you doing, man? Like go work out brother. And the, you know, like I had so much respect for him as a player, but he just, he reached a point where he was like, no, I'm not playing this. I'm not playing this bullshit anymore. So that's what I remember. And.
Joe Fernandez (03:57.91)
That's pretty accurate.
robert_poirier (03:58.778)
And Joe, I wonder too, I mean, you kind of had to inside track there with your dad. And I mean, I mean, you did. And so you kind of knew what to expect to where was maybe where this was heading or wasn't heading. And that's one thing I really want to hear about too, is your dad. I mean, for those that don't know Joe's dad is swerving Mervin Fernandez, uh, who played professionally for several years, uh, played both the NFL.
Joe Fernandez (04:03.576)
Yeah?
Joe Fernandez (04:15.628)
Yeah.
robert_poirier (04:26.029)
As well as the CFL and the CFL hall of fame. Uh, I think most remembered as, or at least I most remember, remember him as being a Raida. Uh, he was with the Los Angeles Raiders at the time. Right. And just what a phenomenal wide receiver. I mean, just super smooth. Just, I mean, just a thing of beauty in that position. I mean, what was, paint me a picture of what it was like growing up with Swerve and Mervin is your dad. Is it.
Joe Fernandez (04:44.014)
So it was just a state of beauty in that position. Well, it was maybe a picture of what it was like growing up, but this work...
adam_jennings (04:44.418)
Hmm
robert_poirier (04:55.973)
Dad that's playing professional football and being the son of him. I mean, I would imagine that there's a lot of perks that us regular guys don't see.
Joe Fernandez (05:00.59)
Thanks for watching!
adam_jennings (05:04.016)
Son of a bitch. What is going on? Did it break up on your end too, Jeff? Okay. Sorry.
Joe Fernandez (05:10.703)
Did it break up? Mm-hmm. I think I, it broke up just a little bit, but I think I caught that, right? Growing up with a dad who's a star, especially at that time, right? I mean, I didn't know it then, so it's more of kind of, I guess, looking back, right? And understanding who he was. You know, for me, and I think that was why my experience was so different from a lot of guys. To me, the football aspect of it.
wasn't fun. Like it sounds crazy but growing up with a dad in the NFL, I didn't like it. He was gone. So what happened was both my dad and my mom, they got married right out of high school. They're both from San Jose. He was with the LA Raiders. When he played in Canada, I was born in Canada. You know, we moved to Canada. We lived there as a family. We lived in LA. But when my older brother became school age, my mom knew that this wasn't going to last forever.
and wanted us growing up around family. And so the decision was made to move back to San Jose. We had a place in LA, my dad still had a condo and it was, I remember he would play a game on Sunday, typically Mondays off, so he would fly home right after the game, be with us Monday, and then immediately fly back. So in season, I didn't see my dad. I saw him a couple times and we tried to make trips, but that wasn't very fun. And not knowing like,
robert_poirier (06:28.805)
Well...
Joe Fernandez (06:36.798)
I had no idea who he was. I had no idea what to expect. To me, it was just when I would go to my dad's work, it was the best playground ever. We'd be at the training camp. My brother and I would get on our skateboards, on the treadmills. And while they're in the meetings, we'd be riding on skateboards on the treadmills, just causing a huge amount of disturbance in the locker room.
robert_poirier (06:59.985)
Hahaha
adam_jennings (07:02.753)
That's crazy, man.
robert_poirier (07:04.159)
I've never even thought about that, skateboarding on the treadmill.
Joe Fernandez (07:07.788)
Oh, it's the best. Ha ha ha.
robert_poirier (07:12.394)
That sounds like a great playground and I can't imagine the people you met. So when he was on the team, there was Marcus and tell me if I'm wrong. And I'm, I know I miss it. Marcus Allen, Bo Jackson, Howie Long, Ronnie lot, Eric Dickerson, Willie Galt. Right. Weren't all those, I mean, just a bunch of, a bunch of greats on there.
Joe Fernandez (07:32.268)
Yeah.
Joe Fernandez (07:35.958)
Yeah, I don't remember Eric Dickerson, but for sure Willie Gault, I mean, they had absolute hilarious stories. And I'm trying to think, Sean Alexander, I think it was Sean Alexander might've been another one. But that was, Al Davis wanted speed, right? That was his big thing, he wanted speed. And so they always had fast guys, and similar to the NFL now.
robert_poirier (07:40.951)
Okay.
Joe Fernandez (08:03.294)
You know, you go for speed, sometimes you give up hands. And I, gosh, I wish I can remember the name. But being in LA, so one of the pranks my dad told me is he came out to practice one time. And because they're in LA with the Mickey Mouse gloves, the huge gloves, and I can't remember which receiver it was. One of those receivers on the team, they were making fun of him that these are the gloves he needs to wear because he couldn't catch. So they're running around with these massive Mickey Mouse gloves.
adam_jennings (08:09.008)
I'm out.
robert_poirier (08:18.406)
Yeah.
robert_poirier (08:28.626)
Hahaha
adam_jennings (08:32.363)
Hahahaha
Joe Fernandez (08:32.714)
just messing with everyone. I heard stories about Bo Jackson messing around with Bo. My dad told me a story one time, he, sorry, I got a dog in the background, scratch it to get out. But he told me a story one time about Bo. And picking on Bo, and I don't know if he's talked about this publicly, but Bo, Bo initially, I'm sure you could see, if you look at interviews, he used to have a, he had a stutter. And so, you know,
robert_poirier (08:44.849)
That's right.
Joe Fernandez (09:01.91)
teammates would do, they were giving him a hard time. Well, Bo wasn't having it this day. And in the middle of practice, my dad said something or made fun of him. And my dad was telling me he was Bo Jackson was chasing him around. My dad's running from him because he doesn't want to get caught by Bo. And so to me, you know, these are all things that like friends do, right? And you hang out. And so to me, that's what the NFL was. It was being around a group of friends, having fun and playing a game. It wasn't...
robert_poirier (09:13.468)
Hahaha
adam_jennings (09:21.039)
That's crazy.
robert_poirier (09:23.718)
Yeah.
Joe Fernandez (09:31.158)
It wasn't money, it wasn't fame, it wasn't any of that. That stuff never clicked in my head.
robert_poirier (09:36.325)
Yeah, I guess too young to realize that. And then, I mean, there's obviously, and you've said it, I mean, there's pluses and minuses, right? Of being a kid whose dad's a professional. And, uh, one of the pluses definitely, uh, going rampages through the training room and also meeting everybody. That's pretty, that's, that's pretty cool though. I mean, it's to be able to meet all those people as well. And to have that experience. But.
adam_jennings (09:40.901)
Hmm
Joe Fernandez (09:59.978)
Yeah, I mean, Art Shell used to pick me up, hang me upside down and dip me in the cold pool. Yeah, we would, the best, the one thing that my brother and I do remember and always talk about to this day is, and you know, in NFL locker rooms, like most locker rooms now, they're all stocked with everything you can want. Gatorade, sodas, right? Like gum, anything like that. And they used to have these big tubs of vitamin C.
adam_jennings (10:00.396)
That's funny.
robert_poirier (10:05.229)
Really? That's so cool.
robert_poirier (10:24.963)
Yeah.
Joe Fernandez (10:28.802)
like big vitamin C tablets that essentially tasted like Flintstone vitamins. Just pure sugar. Like I don't know if this was just vitamin C. So we would just go get handfuls of this stuff and start just, just shoveling it down like it was candy. In the meantime, everyone's off in meeting rooms and here's, you know, Mervin's kids just running. I think, and Howie's boys are our age too. So I know they were there, you know, occasionally as well, but like, I just remember my brother and I like,
adam_jennings (10:40.398)
Yeah.
robert_poirier (10:55.025)
Yeah.
Joe Fernandez (10:58.999)
just causing a ruckus the whole time.
adam_jennings (11:00.608)
Hey Joe, you know what's funny? You mentioned Howie's boy. We actually played against Chris when he was a freshman at Virginia. I had no idea. So Chris, like when we played in the MPC bowl, like I have a picture of like I'm catching a ball, like cutting back against Derrick Brooks and Chris is in the background. And I had no idea he was on the field. Like that was before, that was before he became a monster.
Joe Fernandez (11:10.703)
Oh, that's right.
Joe Fernandez (11:20.107)
Yeah.
Joe Fernandez (11:24.642)
Huh.
adam_jennings (11:28.28)
So he didn't get a ton of burn that day, but Chris Long, dude. So he is exactly our age, or a couple years younger. So it's kind of crazy, yeah.
robert_poirier (11:37.169)
That's pretty cool. That's pretty cool. Um, one thing, another thing I want to hear about is, and I don't think many people know about this. I didn't know about it until Adam told me, but about your dad stepping away from his professional career. Um, tell me, tell me more about that. Cause it was, it was like, here's this guy that's just on top. And then he stepped away. Tell me about that.
Joe Fernandez (12:04.41)
So Adam and I were actually talking about this recently. And I feel like the story has evolved over time. But essentially, so what happened, and this is from my dad's own words, was he went out to practice one day and essentially felt like I can't do this anymore. I don't want to do this anymore. I want to be home with my family.
robert_poirier (12:12.198)
Sure.
Joe Fernandez (12:31.17)
And the day he retired, I'm trying to think, I think it was Coach Flores. I think Coach Flores was the coach when he retired. And he told, I think he told Fred, Boletnikov was his receiver coach, hey, I'm done. I mean, it was like out of the, I'm done. I'm not doing it. And it was like, well, hang on. You know, Coach Flores wants to talk to you before you leave. And so my dad waited, went through practice afterwards, talked to Coach Flores and went up to him and said,
Hey, I think I'm I think I'm done. I want to retire. Coach Flores stuck his hand out and said good luck. There was no talk of trying to keep him nothing like that, and I think it. You know, I think it led to it. I believe as a as a father and kind of going through. You know. High high stresses, right? Where you're working too much, you're not seeing your family. We were always together and he was in LA alone, and I know how it felt as a kid not having him there.
adam_jennings (13:10.499)
Ahem.
robert_poirier (13:30.558)
Yeah.
Joe Fernandez (13:31.414)
And I always had the feeling that like, he probably had that same feeling, right? Of wanting to be home and then the job not being as fun. And truthfully, like, I think he played at the time, well, he did play at the time, right? Where they wanna, when he got drafted to the Raiders, he got drafted when he was still in Canada. And he had, I think, two or three years left in his contract that he had to play out before he can get to the Raiders.
robert_poirier (13:37.286)
Yeah.
Joe Fernandez (13:58.402)
The first year he got there was a year they went on strike. So he was on strike, you know, in the picket lines too, with all the other players. And that's when they formed the collective bargaining agreement. That's when you started to see free agency come in. I mean, essentially good and bad, right? It became way more of a business for the athletes. It was always a business for the owners, but it became more of the athletes have skin in the game. And I think probably a lot of things that, you know, once that that piece,
robert_poirier (13:58.571)
Ah.
robert_poirier (14:04.484)
Right.
Joe Fernandez (14:27.894)
his kids getting older, his kids being in school, missing things. He just, he didn't have it anymore to do it and play when physically, I mean, everyone I talk to always says like, your dad could have played for probably 10 more years. Yeah. Yeah, but that's what it seemed like. Yeah.
robert_poirier (14:42.661)
Yeah. Yeah. I mean, that's what it seemed like, right? I mean, it did. Cause it was like, okay, it's not an injury. Um, but you know, I guess when you lose that love and then you've got your, I mean, I respect that, you know, cause I, I'm sure there's a lot of guys out there now that are still playing, probably hate it. Don't love the game and they're sacrificing their family. Um, you know, kudos to your dad, man. Props to him for
adam_jennings (15:09.037)
Yeah.
robert_poirier (15:10.457)
For one, realizing that and doing it and like, hey, I wanna spend this time with my family, man. I've missed a good bit and I don't wanna miss anymore.
adam_jennings (15:16.178)
Yeah, honestly, I could-
adam_jennings (15:20.044)
Sorry, Coach Hill had a great metaphor for it. And he said it was called losing your fastball, is what he said. In my experience, I kind of experienced something very similar, where I wanted to be somewhere else more than I wanted to be in the football field. And Joe attested this, every time I stepped onto the football field.
I was very much so present, but when I had kids and a family and somewhere else I wanted to be, I had to be there. And Mervin's a great example of that. He just had to be somewhere else. And losing your fastball. I no longer wanted to fight people. I was just like, look, I've got a son. I need to leave. Yeah.
Joe Fernandez (16:07.954)
Yeah.
robert_poirier (16:09.145)
No, it's respectable though. I mean, it really is. I mean, you know.
Joe Fernandez (16:10.91)
Yeah, no, and I will say this. I think, I do think that, and when I've said it's evolved, one of the things that now my dad and I can talk about as adults who have adult issues and challenges is in hindsight, even with me playing football, right? I knew I didn't wanna play anymore, but there was a lot of regret, right? Because you don't get to go back to the NFL. Like when you make that decision, it's pretty much a, like, you know.
adam_jennings (16:24.793)
Yeah.
robert_poirier (16:35.983)
Right.
Joe Fernandez (16:41.622)
Unless you're Tom Brady or some of these guys who retire then come out, you know, who aren't officially retired, when you truly decide I'm done and I step away, you don't just go back, right? And so, you know, for me, I definitely felt a lot of regret and what if, you know, the what ifs, what if I would have just hung it out, right? Because then life comes and I'm working a regular job and the NFL contracts are gone and the, you know, not quick, right? But I'm in it now.
robert_poirier (16:46.166)
Right, right.
robert_poirier (16:52.71)
Right.
robert_poirier (17:00.175)
Yeah.
Joe Fernandez (17:10.354)
And so talking to my dad, I think the decision still would have been the same, but the rashness of the decision, right? I mean, if you think about even all of us now in the regular business world, it's a lot easier to walk into a job you don't like anymore and say, hey, boss, I quit, knowing that you could just go across and join another firm. But when you're in the NFL and you decide you're going to quit, it's not really a decision you should make that quickly. Without consulting, without...
robert_poirier (17:37.763)
Right.
Joe Fernandez (17:39.722)
looking, okay, what are the pros and cons of this? And like I said, I think the decision would have been the same, but working through that to help you, you know, accelerate that next phase of life, I think is very important for any NFL athlete. Cause I think everyone in the NFL, like Adam says, gets to that point where you lose your fastball, but that transition between the NFL and then getting in what we, you know, we all probably consider like a normal job.
Sometimes people make that easy, sometimes that's incredibly difficult for people. And so when you make a decision to end football, it's hard. Yeah. So.
robert_poirier (18:11.929)
Yeah. So it is.
Yeah, so you are.
robert_poirier (18:21.531)
When you were going to the league or trying to get in the league, were you married yet to Jen or were you married yet or were you dating or?
Joe Fernandez (18:31.941)
We weren't married, but we were engaged.
adam_jennings (18:33.732)
Hahaha!
robert_poirier (18:34.209)
Okay. So, well, the reason why I asked, I wonder if subconsciously in your mind, you know, you're thinking about years down the road and you're thinking about, okay, this is somebody I'm getting married. You know, we're going, we're about to get married. We will have children. Maybe I don't want that same life for them that I had, you know, maybe I want to be available, you know? And I wonder if that was kind of part of the decision process. Yeah.
Joe Fernandez (18:53.163)
Absolut-
Joe Fernandez (18:57.346)
Absolutely. It was. I know for me, one of the advantages of having a dad who played in the NFL and did very well was they grew up in, I would say, a tough neighborhood in San Jose. Both my mom and my dad didn't really have money. The one thing that they really wanted for us was a good education. And so my brother and sisters and I went to all the private college preparatory schools in the Bay Area. And one of the things that I noticed was
You know, people look at NFL athletes all the time and think, Oh my God, like what a life. They're so wealthy. They have all this money. And I remember when I was in high school and going to some of my friend's houses and thinking, your parents don't play sports. Like, why is your house? So, you know, like in realizing, Holy cow, like what do your parents do to make this kind of money? And it was just this whole new world that I was exposed to. And so when I, when I got there,
robert_poirier (19:49.71)
Yeah.
Joe Fernandez (19:56.582)
I knew, like for me, football wasn't a ticket. In fact, it was the opposite. It was something that was just gonna potentially hold you back. That's how I saw it, was because when football's over, if you play, for me, I wasn't my dad, I wasn't 6'3", running a, you know, 4'3", 40. I was 5'10", trying to make it with a 4'5", and undersized that if I play in the NFL and I last three years, five years, when I come out,
robert_poirier (20:07.44)
Yeah.
adam_jennings (20:13.144)
Hmm
adam_jennings (20:16.932)
Cough cough.
Joe Fernandez (20:25.778)
I'm going to be competing in the business world with guys that are out of Stanford, MBAs, and I've got to compete with them to earn a living for the rest of my life. I was actually fearful that the NFL would delay my life.
robert_poirier (20:29.309)
True.
robert_poirier (20:39.701)
Interesting. Yeah, that's, that's a smart, that's, that's, that's, that's interesting. Very interesting. Um, so with your dad, with this, all the success he had, um, he has to be a very driven person. I mean, he's achieved a lot, probably extremely motivated. What, um, what traits and values did he have that maybe he instilled in you?
Joe Fernandez (20:46.369)
Yeah.
robert_poirier (21:09.793)
I obviously work ethic, right?
Joe Fernandez (21:13.4)
I lost you there for that last piece.
robert_poirier (21:14.561)
Yeah. Yeah. So I was just curious about, you know, with your dad and all the success he's had, I mean, he obviously had ingrained a lot of strong traits and habits, you know, strong work ethic values. And I was just curious, what of those did he instill in you?
Joe Fernandez (21:35.278)
I think it was, you know, I would say the biggest trait that he instilled in me was how humble he was, honestly. I saw how hard he worked when it came to sports. And I would say, again, because I was so young, it was more of the transition out of football that shaped, you know,
how hard of a worker I knew he was. So he decided to retire from the NFL without any kind of plan. He had three kids. We were all in private school. Essentially, from what I understand, had he just played like three years, three more years, and with his contract, financially they would have been set for life. And he stopped three years before that, right? And so now what?
adam_jennings (22:27.898)
Hmm
Joe Fernandez (22:35.87)
So he had to go and get a job. And the most important thing was insurance. So he went from, I think there was an article one time of like, he was in the top 10 of the highest paid receivers in the NFL to his transition, his first job out of the NFL, he worked for Dreyer's Ice Cream. Someone knew him and said, hey, you know, Mervin Fernandez, come, we wanna give you a job. His job, he did merchandising, he worked with the stores, but he was driving a truck for Dreyer's Ice Cream. Like he would wake up at three in the morning.
robert_poirier (22:53.968)
Yeah.
adam_jennings (23:04.473)
Hmm
Joe Fernandez (23:05.826)
go to Dreyer's Ice Cream and San Bruno and like pick, he didn't know, he's never driven a semi truck in his life. And this is, we weren't broke. They had millions of dollars in the bank, but his focus on, oh, I need insurance, let me hurry up and get it. He went and got the first thing he could and did it and never complained. I never saw him come home and mope around about why am I doing this job? Why do I have to do this? I don't want, he did it and he did it for us. And so living in the areas we lived in.
robert_poirier (23:14.189)
Yeah. Yeah.
adam_jennings (23:24.324)
Uh-uh.
Joe Fernandez (23:36.114)
You know, his pride never took a hit. And that was as a young, as a young, you know, kid, seeing that, I started to understand, like from that, how hard this man must work. He will do whatever it takes to provide and support and do what he needs to do with his family. Pride aside, it doesn't matter. He'll make it happen. And he did that. He's done that, you know, throughout.
adam_jennings (23:51.349)
Ahem.
Joe Fernandez (24:05.29)
his whole life. Whatever he has to do, he will do. And it's, I think that has probably been the biggest thing that I've taken away is there's really no quitting him. He, uh, he doesn't always have the answers, but he definitely tries, right? He's definitely going to put in his full effort.
adam_jennings (24:23.094)
Yeah.
robert_poirier (24:24.921)
Yeah. What, what the epitome of humility there, you know, from being a star receiver, um, you know, constant highlights on ESPN and then driving a truck and not complaining, doing it for his family, you know, that's, that's well.
adam_jennings (24:25.56)
That's awesome.
Joe Fernandez (24:41.602)
Yeah. Yeah, and he continued to move. He did different things and he's always enjoyed, you know, found joy in the different things that he's done. And my dad for his, both my dad and my mom, for their lack of experiences in life, you know, except for, you know, the NFL, I feel like the knowledge they passed on to me has been tremendous. Like my dad's advice.
has always been spot on. Like when I decided to quit in the NFL, I remember after the Minnesota, like Adam was saying, after I went to Minnesota and did a workout, which by the way, the receiver coach, or I'm sorry, the Minnesota, it was Tampa Bay. So Tampa Bay was the first workout. John Gruden was a coach. I knew John Gruden because when I was in high school, my dad would go and do like rounds at the Raiders Stadium. He would still see the team. You know, they invite, they're really good to their alumni. So they would invite him back.
adam_jennings (25:22.888)
I thought it was Tampa. Okay.
Joe Fernandez (25:40.334)
So Gruden knew my dad. So I'm doing the workout. After the workout's over, I'm in the cafeteria eating. John Gruden sees me and goes, Fernandez, come over here. And calls me over to his table. Is like, I love watching you at Fresno State. And I'm thinking in my mind, great, my wife and I are gonna end up living in Tampa Bay. I guess this is where we're gonna settle. Fast forward to, okay, the player personnel wants to talk to the three guys who worked out. I ended up not getting picked.
Um, fly home. I have a, I have a workout with Minnesota lined up and I'm supposed to fly out the next day, fly home. My dad picks me up and I go, I don't want to go dad. I'm done. I want to quit. And he said, why? And I said, I'm just so tired of this. I'm tired of the politics. Like I have film in preseason. These guys know what I can do. And I, I'm just so tired of the politics because essentially when I did that workout, there were three guys there.
robert_poirier (26:09.995)
Uh.
adam_jennings (26:36.377)
Mm-hmm
Joe Fernandez (26:39.366)
One was an Olympic skier from Colorado, Jeremy Bloom, who was a draft pick earlier. Great, I mean, awesome player, right? And the other guy was, he was Eli Manning's backup in college, and they had converted him to a wide receiver. And he had already been in the NFL for a year, but was on practice squad. So we did our drills, and I'll never forget, the player personnel guy looked at all three of us and said, Jeremy, you did a great job tracking punts, you're a solid punt returner, routes are really good.
adam_jennings (26:42.948)
I remember that dude. I remember him.
Joe Fernandez (27:08.786)
But we still think you're favoring your ankle. You got to show a little bit injury. We'd love to see you healthy Look at me and they go Joe Great job tracking punts. Your routes are incredibly crisp. Your hands are amazing Like you'll probably find yourself on an active roster this year looks at the third guy and says You could do a better job tracking punts Your routes aren't as crisp, but you show great explosion. We're gonna sign you today and I was like
adam_jennings (27:35.75)
Jesus Christ!
Joe Fernandez (27:36.278)
This is after John Gruden called me over and had a conversation, like personally called me over, right, to have this conversation with me. What the fuck? I'm like, what else can I do? I'm thinking, what else can I do? And so anyways, that was kind of the, that's what started me going, this is ridiculous, I'm done. So I'm telling my dad about the politics of it. And for my dad,
robert_poirier (27:37.346)
Oh, shit.
robert_poirier (27:44.689)
Are you like, what the fuck, come on.
adam_jennings (27:46.12)
Like, what do you mean? Like, are you serious right now?
Joe Fernandez (28:04.598)
you know, not being in corporate America or anything like that. He said, well, what do you think is going to be different? And I was like, well, this is the NFL, right? Like the politics are at a whole different level. And he said, you honestly think it's going to be different. And I said, in my mind, I did. But then I said, well, that and like, I just, I don't want to play anymore. Like, I don't want to get hit. I remember saying, I don't want to get hit.
Like I don't want to catch the ball over the middle. And he goes, and like his eyes kind of lit up and he goes, then you need to quit. Cause you're going to get hurt if you're afraid to get hit. And then he goes, you want to go bowling? Then we went bowling. And I called Minnesota on the way and said, Hey, I'm not coming. They got mad at me because they'd already bought a plane ticket for me. And I just said, Hey, look, I'm really sorry. Couple hours later, I got a call from the receiver coach who knew my dad.
adam_jennings (28:43.948)
Yeah. Heheheheheheh.
Joe Fernandez (28:58.794)
And I just, I was honest. I said, look, I'm not gonna do a workout for someone again and put myself through this. He goes, Joe, I would have signed you anyways. You don't have to, and I said, well, thanks, but no thanks.
adam_jennings (29:06.592)
Hey, Joe, Joe, hold on. Was that Terry Rybicki or who was it? George Stewart?
Joe Fernandez (29:15.55)
It wasn't, I don't think it was Terry Rubisky, but it would have been Bernard Barion's receiver coach because I think Bernard was there at that time.
adam_jennings (29:22.016)
Okay, okay. I was thinking because George Stewart was my, uh, he was my receivers coach when I was a rookie and he went up to Minnesota the next year.
Joe Fernandez (29:31.837)
I think it was George. I think that name sounds familiar.
adam_jennings (29:34.452)
Yeah, so he dubbed me Lil Man when I got here. It was one of the worst nicknames I've ever had. Whole goddamn team was calling me Lil Man. It was like, Lil Man. And I'm like, I get into corporate America, I'm like a regular size, a little bit bigger than most people, but like I was called Lil Man for a whole goddamn year because of that man, so. Hey.
robert_poirier (29:41.261)
I like that. I'm making a note right now.
robert_poirier (29:50.964)
Uhhhhhh
Joe Fernandez (29:54.594)
which Adam does not like that.
robert_poirier (29:57.946)
I promise you, I'm making a note right now. So.
adam_jennings (30:00.152)
He's like, little man. He's like, little man. You got some shit in your ass. I was like, what? Little man.
robert_poirier (30:04.317)
From now on, it's going to be Robert and little man Adam Jennings. So what grade have I spired out? And just, you know, to kind of lean on him, he knew and just, okay. I mean, that's yeah. Yeah.
Joe Fernandez (30:07.798)
There you go.
Joe Fernandez (30:20.574)
And he was right, by the way, right? The politics in the business world are just as bad. I mean, it's just a business, right? I mean, there's politics in anything, and there's challenges with anything. And I'm constantly going back to him for advice. And for him not having ever been in, I feel like, the corporate world and climbing that corporate ladder, his advice has always been sound and spot on. And it's.
It's honestly, it's been a real blessing. Both him and my mom have just been a real good foundation to kind of bring me back to earth and help me see things for just kind of how they are.
robert_poirier (30:58.565)
That's great to hear. And, you know, Adam, I can see why you've always spoken so highly of Joe. I definitely can. And as we were leading up to this, you know, Adam and I spoke many times and he's like, he's just the coolest, most down to earth, humble guy. And we see where that comes from, right? I mean, that's pretty cool. And, hey, so fast forward to today, your loan officer at US Bank, married to your college sweetheart.
Joe Fernandez (31:18.167)
Yeah.
robert_poirier (31:26.425)
Props on that you have a son that's six and then a daughter that's 14 How is fatherhood going?
Joe Fernandez (31:26.591)
Yup.
Joe Fernandez (31:30.478)
and the end of the dog that's working. Yeah. How is...
Well, it's the one thing that, especially being an athlete, you think you can prepare for this stuff and then you realize how ill prepared you are. Exactly. And they're so different. Both my kids are so different. We have a big age gap, not massive, but a big age gap between the two that...
robert_poirier (31:47.039)
Good luck.
adam_jennings (31:49.656)
Mm-mm.
Joe Fernandez (32:00.998)
Initially, when we planned and talked about in college, how many kids do we want to have? How close together? It didn't work out that way. And it's been fun, though, right? And like any parent would say, it's hard, it's rewarding, it's frustrating. Yeah. Yeah, let me ask you this. Yeah.
robert_poirier (32:19.611)
Yeah.
adam_jennings (32:20.184)
Joe, Joe, let me ask you this. In addition to what Robert just asked, tell me about raising your daughter. Tell me about that, like being a girl dad.
Joe Fernandez (32:32.83)
You know, I so a lot of people and I don't know if it's just, you know, the sports world and football, right? And kind of, I think the the assumptions that come come with that, right? Like, oh, you want your son and you want to play football. And I remember when we found out that we were pregnant and thinking like, gosh, I don't want a son because I know how I was with a daughter, though, it's like the possibilities are endless. Right. Maybe she won't be like me.
robert_poirier (32:58.621)
Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha
Joe Fernandez (33:03.495)
And that's honestly how I kind of... You can wonder about people like that. Yeah, exactly. And you know, just kind of how, just, I guess being open to experiencing something different. I was always excited to have a girl and to be, you know, that father who is around with...
robert_poirier (33:04.353)
And you can warn her about people like Adam, right? I mean, no, I'm kidding.
adam_jennings (33:07.665)
Oh
Joe Fernandez (33:29.334)
her different sports or different activities and to see the types of things that she would get into. What I will say is she was a lot easier younger than my son and obviously she's 14 right now so she's going through her teenage years and yeah it's a whole other learning curve to get through and to try to be supportive of her and you know I think the biggest thing that I've just tried to do with both of them though is instill confidence.
robert_poirier (33:42.654)
Oh gosh, yeah.
adam_jennings (33:48.121)
Yeah.
robert_poirier (33:48.304)
Yeah.
Joe Fernandez (33:59.466)
Right? And I wasn't, my wife was a much better student. I was a good student. I wouldn't say I was a bad student, but I didn't put the time and effort I think I could have or should have. And things just come easy to her. She gets good grades, she does everything right. She doesn't cause any problems, so it's easy. But I think the biggest thing I feel like where I can help is just try to continue to.
adam_jennings (34:03.748)
Uh-uh.
Joe Fernandez (34:26.878)
support her and give her confidence and push her out and help her test her limits because essentially to me I think that's the most important thing. You know she can go through life with confidence everything else will take care of itself. Relationships, work, you know she's gonna fall down. She's gonna have issues. She started off with some of the biggest issues in life when she was born and just being able to get through them and be able to look back and see what she's achieved is one of the things that I try to
in still and both my kids.
robert_poirier (34:59.437)
Tell me, tell me about that. We'll go back to raising a daughter. Cause I can't imagine that. Um, I have two sons and I remember the ultrasounds with both of them. I never thought I'd have sons. I always thought I don't want to say cursed with girls, but I just thought that was what God had planned for me or daughters. Um, and I still remember the ultrasounds like that's a penis. Oh, it's a penis. He's got one. You know, the next one, same thing. It's like, yes, but you mentioned, um,
Joe Fernandez (35:14.027)
Yeah.
adam_jennings (35:24.6)
Hehehe
robert_poirier (35:29.365)
She started off with issues. Tell me she was premature, right? She was a preemie, so tell
Joe Fernandez (35:35.282)
She was. So Bella was born at 26 weeks. She was one pound 16 ounces. I was, and this was, she was our first, so we had no idea what to expect. I mean my wife was reading the like what to expect when you're expecting book and she was tracking with where she was and I remember like we hadn't gone to any kind of birthing classes. We hadn't done any of that stuff yet. We had nothing.
robert_poirier (35:38.565)
Wow. Oh my gosh.
adam_jennings (35:53.636)
Thanks for watching!
Joe Fernandez (36:01.526)
We didn't have any of this stuff. It was so early. And I remember I was actually, for the job that I had, I was playing in a golf tournament. I was doing some marketing for a casino near Fresno prior to transitioning into mortgage. And I got a call from my parents. They were down in LA. My sister was competing in the state championship for track. So all my family was
robert_poirier (36:02.094)
No, it's so early, right?
Joe Fernandez (36:31.15)
Sorry about that. All my family was in LA, meaning my sister-in-law, my brother, my sister was competing, my parents were down in LA. All the women in my family, including my wife, were on a women's trip up like north of San Francisco. My wife had started bleeding the night before. Thank goodness she was with all the women in my family because they realized we got to get you to the hospital. So they're driving down to the hospital. I get a call from my mom saying, you
robert_poirier (36:54.182)
Right.
Joe Fernandez (36:59.626)
Well, actually, I'm sorry, it was my dad. My dad was the one that called and he said, I woke up in Reno, because I was at a golf tournament in Reno, like, I don't know, seven, six in the morning.
adam_jennings (37:08.376)
Dude, that's actually the one that I missed the flight for, right?
Joe Fernandez (37:12.906)
Yeah, that's the one you missed.
adam_jennings (37:14.872)
Damn it! Damn it! I remember that! I was supposed to be there!
Joe Fernandez (37:17.794)
So he says, Joe, your wife's bleeding, and you should probably go down to the hospital. And I'm like, okay, like, okay. I just, the way my dad, I was just, okay, let me get out of here, let me go. Everyone's got their golf, you know, everyone's got their golf bags, they're all waiting for the bus to take them to the course, and I'm running out with my luggage and jump in the car and.
robert_poirier (37:27.777)
is.
Joe Fernandez (37:46.858)
and start heading home. And as I'm heading from Reno back to Marin County is the hospital. So from Reno to San Francisco, I'm driving and I get multiple calls from my mom the whole time. And I remember asking, okay, well, what does this mean? And she's like, well, she's dilated. And again, at this point, I'm like, okay, dilated means I know something's starting, but like, I didn't know how early you start dilating. Like I knew nothing. So I'm like, okay.
robert_poirier (38:13.165)
Right, right, right.
Joe Fernandez (38:16.246)
The next call I'm like, okay, well, they're just gonna, like, I thought I was just coming back for moral support. Like, okay, she's gonna be on bed rest for a while. They're gonna monitor her. Next call, my mom says, well, she takes a deep breath. She goes, she's seven centimeters dilated. And again, I remember thinking, okay, like seven out of what? Seven out of 100? Like seven out of, like, what's the big deal? Not realizing it, like, 10, you're pushing.
robert_poirier (38:22.171)
Right.
robert_poirier (38:34.304)
Oh gosh.
adam_jennings (38:37.124)
What does that mean? Yeah.
robert_poirier (38:40.232)
Hahaha
Joe Fernandez (38:44.402)
Right? Like, attend the babies here, right? Yeah. I, I, at that point, I still thought, we're not having a baby. You can't have a baby that early. So, fast forward, I arrived to the hospital. All the women in my family are sitting in the waiting room. So, I'm, I'm so oblivious that I'm going around hugging and kissing all my aunts and cousins. And, you know, hello, how are you? Until my, my aunt, my aunt and she was, you know, well.
robert_poirier (38:44.514)
Yeah, yeah.
adam_jennings (38:44.884)
Yeah.
robert_poirier (38:47.418)
There's no turning back.
robert_poirier (38:54.906)
Right.
robert_poirier (39:07.677)
I'm gonna go to bed.
Joe Fernandez (39:13.526)
been a rock for us forever, you know, is in there waiting. But my other aunt is like, hey, you gotta go. You don't have time. And that's when it was, it was like kinda coming to like, wait, something's going on. A nurse comes out and grabs me, throws me in a room and is like, put these on. And I'm waiting for her to leave the room so I can change into these scrubs. And I didn't even click. Like, why am I changing into scrubs? And the nurse is like, just put them on over your clothes. So I'm like, okay, I put them on over my clothes. And again, I'm still like walking.
robert_poirier (39:43.364)
Oh my
Joe Fernandez (39:43.602)
So I walk out the door and I see my aunt and she was the one person my wife asked for who was there and she comes out fully scrubbed up like head to toe and she's like hurry up hurry up and now I'm really okay so I run into the room I open the rooms and she's in an she's in an operating room and she's on the table with the doctor next to her and about 20 doctors standing around the room and I was just kind of frozen I looked down at my wife and the doctor looks at my wife and says is
adam_jennings (39:43.944)
Dude!
Joe Fernandez (40:12.862)
And she goes, yeah. And she goes, it's time to start pushing. And I was like, what? And so I'm holding my wife's hand. They're like, the doctors are introducing them. I'm so and so from UCSF. I'm a neonatal intensive care, like, whatever, you know, like, neuro specialist. I'm a first year med student. Like, I just came. I'm so and so from this other hospital. Like, we've never seen a baby born this early.
robert_poirier (40:17.394)
Oh my gosh.
adam_jennings (40:19.224)
That's crazy.
robert_poirier (40:33.893)
Yeah.
Joe Fernandez (40:41.874)
And they're just going around the room like I'm a pediatric op- ophthalmologist or whatever their positions are and it's just like a blur. So they're prepping us for when she's born don't be afraid she might come out blue, she might not be breathing, um she might breathe and then her lungs might collapse. So we're just trying to prep you. And so Bella came out, Isabella came out screaming like.
robert_poirier (40:47.011)
Yeah.
Joe Fernandez (41:09.554)
And looking normal, just super small. And I remember just holding my breath, like waiting for what they said, waiting for it to stop, waiting for horrible things to happen and nothing. They got her, they put her on the table, they immediately had to intubate her because her lungs weren't developed enough. She reached up and grabbed my hand and was squeezing my hand, I mean her tiny little fingers.
robert_poirier (41:15.342)
Yeah.
Joe Fernandez (41:32.418)
They stabilized her, got her ready for transport, took her on the helicopter to UCSF because that hospital wasn't equipped to deal with the preemie that young. And I just remember like, thank goodness that was our first because being naive in a situation like that was probably the best thing that could happen to us because it was always just, honestly it was very much like, I feel like with football, right? Like here's what's going to happen next and being super focused on.
robert_poirier (41:40.314)
Right.
robert_poirier (41:52.091)
Yeah.
Joe Fernandez (42:03.034)
Okay, you're just going to try to get her to feed. We just need to get her to feed and not have her oxygen go down. We just need to pass this milestone. And that was it. I mean, we were living in Morgan Hill, which was about an hour and a half commute to San Francisco. She was probably the healthiest of all the sick babies in the NICU. So there was no place for us to stay. So we only got to stay for two or three days. And then every day we were commuting from Morgan Hill to San Francisco to see her.
robert_poirier (42:26.375)
Yeah.
adam_jennings (42:30.138)
Ahem.
robert_poirier (42:31.537)
Joe. Okay.
Joe Fernandez (42:33.654)
She was in the hospital for about three months. She had two surgeries when she was there. She had a heart surgery about three weeks in. It's called a PDA ligation. Again, like all this stuff, right? We just, we're learning on the fly of what it is, how severe these things are. And it was, I mean, it was definitely touch and go for a long, for a while. We didn't really, I mean, we knew it cause they told us, but we never felt that. There was maybe one, one instance where first surgery she did great, came out of it.
Essentially what they do is when you're in utero, the liquid and stuff can go into your lungs and then at a certain point gestational period, your PDA valve closes so that when you're drinking it doesn't go into your lungs. Well when they're that early it doesn't close naturally. So that was a surgery. They have to clamp that off because when they were feeding her she was essentially drowning. It was all going into her lungs. So they couldn't feed her for I think like it was all IV for at least a week.
robert_poirier (43:09.275)
Right.
adam_jennings (43:19.268)
Thanks for watching!
robert_poirier (43:32.749)
Oh my gosh.
adam_jennings (43:34.016)
Hey Joe, I actually, on your note there, so I still have film from when I came to the Nikyu and we made the visit with Bella. So I've got pictures and film and I gotta get that to you. I mean it's amazing, it's amazing how small she was. Like literally, like in the palm of my hand, like a baby bird, I was just like, holy smokes dude. Yeah, yeah.
Joe Fernandez (43:34.242)
pulled through.
Joe Fernandez (43:41.74)
Yeah.
Joe Fernandez (43:47.915)
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Joe Fernandez (43:51.51)
Yeah.
Joe Fernandez (43:56.45)
And that was after a month and she had been feeding. And so after that, then she had to have eye surgery because again, when they're that young, all the veins in their eyes aren't fully developed. So because of the steroids and everything they're getting to grow, the veins can basically cross and they can detach the retina and cause permanent blindness. So they have to go in with the laser and cut all the veins around the eyes. So she's lost.
robert_poirier (44:06.383)
Right.
Joe Fernandez (44:25.826)
decent amount of peripheral vision but because she lost it so early you know she you you learn how to adapt without it. She ended up having that surgery and that surgery didn't go well. That was the one time where as parents we were really nervous. We were sitting in the waiting room and I remember like at the hospital we heard a code blue go off and no idea it was our child and so we're in the waiting room and all of a sudden they
robert_poirier (44:32.741)
Right, right.
robert_poirier (44:51.834)
Right.
Joe Fernandez (44:55.15)
come by with this little baby and they got the bag and they're pumping so she could breathe. I think she developed, and we didn't know it was her. We just saw this baby come by and they're pumping her lungs and they're breathing for her. She ended up developing sepsis and they gave her, I mean she was so swollen and they had to put an IV in her forehead because they couldn't hit any of the veins. They were all blown out at that point and she pulled through that.
robert_poirier (45:00.212)
Oh my gosh.
adam_jennings (45:03.89)
Dude, I didn't know that story. It's crazy.
adam_jennings (45:22.013)
What a battle, man. What a battle.
Joe Fernandez (45:24.106)
And she ended up pulling through that. And I think about maybe three weeks after that, three to four weeks after that, was when we got to bring her home. And she came home on oxygen, but shortly, I mean, within like less than five days, she wasn't even on oxygen. And then she just kept hitting every major milestone. I mean, we were told she could be severely.
you know, have severe learning disabilities. She's gonna be delayed up until she's probably eight. And by the time of her first birthday, she was already hitting every milestone she should have for a regular one-year-old.
robert_poirier (45:56.625)
That's amazing. So how long was she in the hospital? Before you brought her home, from the time of birth until... Wow. That's incredible.
Joe Fernandez (46:01.602)
three months.
Yeah, and which exactly right? Because if that happened with our son and we already have a kid, like that's what we started to realize. Like there's parents out there who have kids at home. Like what do you do when your child, you know, two hours away at this hospital, but your kids still have life. You know, they gotta go to school, they got practices, they've got everything normal. We didn't, it was just her and my job, my wife wasn't working at the time. My job was incredibly flexible.
robert_poirier (46:21.893)
Yeah.
Joe Fernandez (46:31.698)
And so it all worked out. I had a huge support system, my family, my sister-in-law was at law school and she used to go all the time and visit and just to be there with her. Her nurses were amazing. I mean, those NICU nurses are unbelievable. And so, yeah, it was a great support system. I mean, we were incredibly lucky. And I have a really, we have a good friend that we played with who had a son and unfortunately it was the same kind of experience. His son didn't make it.
robert_poirier (46:46.202)
They are. They are.
robert_poirier (47:00.432)
Ugh.
adam_jennings (47:02.053)
Who's that?
Joe Fernandez (47:02.546)
And Ryan Ledger, Ethan, he's got a nonprofit for his son, Ethan's Hope, which goes to help families who have the same struggle and their children are NICU and you want to be there for your child. And so, I mean, it's just that's life, right? Like we were lucky that she pulled through and she made it, but it could have easily gone the other way.
adam_jennings (47:06.161)
Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah.
robert_poirier (47:21.127)
Yeah.
robert_poirier (47:26.897)
So any anything with your with your son? Yeah, was everything fine with him?
Joe Fernandez (47:33.118)
So the reason we had a big gap was because we were told that my wife had a blood disorder that caused her to clot, which caused placental lebra and all this stuff. And so we were planning on just having one. So what happened was about five years later, we decided, well, should we check with the doctors again and see? Because if this is it, let's just say this is it, we'll move on. We talked to the doctors and they said, well, a lot of things have changed. There's new research now.
robert_poirier (47:39.835)
Right.
Joe Fernandez (48:01.994)
That's not the issue. Like you probably would be fine with a baby. And so the only thing that we had to do with my wife was she had to take extra hormone shots that I had to give her, which I hated. I do not, after football, I don't like needles anymore. So I had to give her these shots during pregnancy. But I mean, the pregnancy was good. He did come out and I think the umbilical cord was wrapped around it. So he came out blue, not breathing. But within like, within a couple seconds, he took his first breath. And so that was a huge relief.
robert_poirier (48:11.161)
Yeah, right.
robert_poirier (48:25.711)
Okay.
adam_jennings (48:28.384)
Jesus Christ.
Joe Fernandez (48:32.374)
But yeah, no, everything was fine with his and he's been great. So it's pretty crazy how.
robert_poirier (48:38.105)
And your daughter, your daughter, Bella, she's doing fine now.
Joe Fernandez (48:41.45)
Yeah, she's perfectly fine. I mean, she's transitioned. She doesn't really play sports anymore as a freshman, but she did them all when she was younger. She played every sport. She's in choir, she's a singer, so her lungs don't seem to be an issue. I mean, when she gets sick, she develops bronchitis a little bit easier than the average kid, but she doesn't have a lot of residual, any kind of real residual effects.
adam_jennings (48:42.201)
Yeah.
robert_poirier (48:54.82)
No.
adam_jennings (49:03.072)
It's honestly dude, it's amazing to see like from where she started seeing her in that little incubator and seeing how small she was to seeing the person that she's become and you know, that's a crazy journey dude. Yeah.
robert_poirier (49:14.045)
Just it's a, it's a, I mean, truly a miracle. I mean, truly a miracle. Um, so I want to talk about something. Um, hope you're okay to talk about this. So, and I'm kind of shifting. I'm trying to respect your time to, um, your mom is Italian. Your dad's Portuguese. You're, you're, you're, you're, you're, you're, we don't know how that happened.
Joe Fernandez (49:18.496)
Yeah, absolutely.
adam_jennings (49:34.112)
And Joe is Mexican.
robert_poirier (49:40.205)
No, uh, your father's Portuguese and your wife is, is white. Correct. Okay. So, you know, race is such a, such a big topic in the news. Uh, and it's interesting cause my, you know, my boys are in middle school and.
Joe Fernandez (49:45.194)
Mm-hmm. Yes.
Joe Fernandez (49:53.302)
Yeah.
robert_poirier (49:59.989)
I never really talked to him about race, never identified anybody as race, any of their peers. Um, I really don't think they saw race until they were exposed to it in the school system by the teachers actually talking then, you know, about it. Cause I think they just saw, Oh, that's another kid wearing a blue shirt. That one's, you know, Roger, who's wearing a Nike shirt and. I just, that's kids, right?
Joe Fernandez (50:05.931)
Yeah.
Joe Fernandez (50:17.756)
Yeah.
Joe Fernandez (50:28.611)
Yeah.
robert_poirier (50:28.813)
And I think it was kind of the school system that exposed them to it, which I mean, that's fine. But what with race with your children, I mean, I'd love to know, do you talk to them about it and what, I mean, what are those conversations like?
Joe Fernandez (50:33.166)
Thanks for watching!
Joe Fernandez (50:39.82)
Yeah.
Joe Fernandez (50:44.663)
Yes, yes we do but it's definitely changed from the conversations I had and I think the biggest thing is like, so for instance my dad when you mentioned like my dad's Portuguese right the he even this story has changed through our history. So the Fernandez, the reason why like it's that it's mentioned that it's Portuguese
adam_jennings (50:54.412)
Ahem.
Joe Fernandez (51:12.69)
our name actually used to be spelled with an S, which is Portuguese. But we weren't necessarily Portuguese. It was just when Portugal had slaves, they were given the names of their masters. So that was the last name that we had. When, when we migrated, it got changed to a Z because I, I believe the story was, it was easier to immigrate from like a Latin culture than it was from Portugal. And so that's just what happened. Um, so
robert_poirier (51:23.965)
Okay. Okay.
adam_jennings (51:40.907)
Mm.
Joe Fernandez (51:41.118)
just from that aspect, right? Like the history that we have doesn't really exist because we're black, right? Like you can't even trace it back because of, purely because of race, not anything else, right? It's just because of race. That's why we don't have the same history that my mom has as an Italian. And so it's like, I think there's layers to it, right? And so I remember when I went to school and this was very prevalent. Like I would say, you know, I think that George Floyd
robert_poirier (51:48.314)
Right.
robert_poirier (51:53.136)
Yeah.
Joe Fernandez (52:10.702)
Murder really opened a lot of people's eyes. And so a lot of the topics were like, people would talk about the conversation, right? Or the topic for African-American family, which would be, hey, you realize, almost every parent knows what that means. I knew exactly what that meant. I remember being younger and my mom having to explain to me, Joey, your friends will see, they'll look at you differently. It's not that...
you are different. And I remember her having the conversation about you have to act this way, you have to behave this way, because you're not going to be given the same leeway that your friends are. And it was necessary. I mean, my brother and I, when my dad was, you know, like obviously he was in the NFL, but he'd retired, we still had money. We still had money. Like even though he worked at Dryad, we still had money.
robert_poirier (52:53.308)
Yeah.
robert_poirier (53:04.473)
Right. Right.
Joe Fernandez (53:06.874)
And I remember my brother was driving when he first got his license. I was in the car. My dad had a BMW 750. We had, he had a sweet like the Bronco raised Bronco with, you know, like it was awesome every time my brother would drive, he'd get pulled over all the time. I can distinctly remember being pulled out of the car and being asked to sit on a curb in this area of Willow Glen, which is a very nice area. And until we said that we were asked whose car is this? My dad, what's your dad do? He plays in the NFL.
Yeah, right. And then they check and they go, okay, you're free to go. We weren't even stopped for speeding or anything. We just got pulled over in our own neighborhood. And so I get what my mom was trying to teach us because without having that understanding of not being given the same leeway that our friends might, we might act just like our friends wouldn't act out. I mean, I can remember being on field trips and being in the back of the car with my friends' parents who were big deals.
robert_poirier (53:42.155)
Oh my gosh.
robert_poirier (53:46.277)
That's horrible. That's horrible.
Joe Fernandez (54:05.702)
in the area we lived in in San Jose and yelling at police officers when they got pulled over and saying, do you know who I am? Here's my little 1911, like whatever my foundation thing is and I gotta get these kids. It's like, we couldn't do that. My dad couldn't yell at a police officer like that. But then fast forward to I think your question, now I've got my kids. And I remember when my daughter was starting, I was fortunate enough that my goal was always to try to recreate what I had.
adam_jennings (54:11.256)
Hahahaha
Joe Fernandez (54:35.35)
which the Bay Area is very expensive now. And so it was a very hard thing to be able to buy our first house in the same type of neighborhood area that we lived in. And then on top of that, sending my kids to the same private school that I went to, my daughter was there. And I remember thinking, okay, she's getting time for that talk. And I believe it was around everything happening with George Floyd. And I remember telling my wife, no.
I'm not going to have the same conversation because I'm just going to keep perpetuating this. Because what I saw was none of my friends needed to play the game. And when I went to Fresno State, I tell people this story now all the time, is like my friends at Fresno State that I played with who came up from tough upbringings, who had gotten trouble or had a DUI, gotten to a fight at a frat party and had some kind of ding on their records.
What are they doing now? Well, they, you know, some maybe went into coaching, not that there's anything wrong with that, but like their ceilings dropped a lot from those dings. And then I would go, you know what happened to my friends who got sent to rehab in high school and got DUIs in high school and got their licenses taken away? They're running their parents' company right now. I mean, it's, that's what happened. And I remember thinking, why does my daughter have to play this game when no one else has to?
robert_poirier (55:41.82)
Mm-hmm.
robert_poirier (55:56.186)
Yeah.
Joe Fernandez (56:02.43)
And if I teach her that she has to play the game, then what am I doing? Right. What? And so that's kind of when, when you talk about being a girl, dad, I started to think like she needs to have confidence in, in who she is now. We, she's always lived in mostly affluent areas. Most of her friends are white. Um, but, and she understands race. And I think the biggest thing for her is just keeping an open conversation. So when she feels.
robert_poirier (56:06.321)
Great point.
Joe Fernandez (56:31.746)
comfortable. She feels like she doesn't fit in, that she can have a conversation about it, but she doesn't have to pretend to be someone she's not just to get ahead in this world, right? She can be herself and that's okay. And I need to support that as opposed to telling her, well, don't act this way. Don't dress that way. Don't do this. I need to be the one to support her or anyone else who chooses to express themselves in any way, right?
That kind of bled into just overall, right, in the world of LGBTQ and any other aspect, right? I grew up as a biracial kid who, like, you know, Adam jokes, but most people probably wouldn't even say that I'm black. With my last name or my skin tone would think I'm Mexican, but...
robert_poirier (57:07.677)
Да.
adam_jennings (57:23.231)
Hey dude, on that note, like he became one of the
robert_poirier (57:24.365)
No, but real quick to that Joe that's beautiful. I mean, that's absolutely beautiful and
I mean, gosh, I mean, what an amazing dad. I love that. Definitely.
Joe Fernandez (57:37.266)
Yeah, and my son definitely looks more, my daughter looks more like me. You could tell she's ethnic. My son's got stick straight hair, it looks more like my wife. I mean, my wife and my daughter would always be asked, like, are you the nanny? Like, no one thought she was her mom. Yeah, and it was pretty normal, like, especially where we were at. No one thought that. Well, my son, it hasn't been a thing. And I think for us, it's just kind of, I don't wanna say getting over it, but not.
robert_poirier (57:45.853)
Ha ha ha!
adam_jennings (57:48.716)
Ugh.
robert_poirier (57:53.071)
Oh wow.
Joe Fernandez (58:07.49)
Just understanding that sometimes people aren't exposed to that. And that's one thing that Adam and I talked a lot about, is just it's different. It's very different in California than other places, too. It's different in the Bay Area than other parts. It's just being exposed to different things. And sometimes.
robert_poirier (58:22.891)
Don't you think though, or I see it with my kids and I kind of alluded this with their friends, race is not.
robert_poirier (58:33.382)
It's, it's, it's not even a subject really amongst themselves, which is beautiful. I mean, I think it's absolutely beautiful that, um, you know, they don't, I don't, I don't know, they don't say, you know, pick a name Sam, you know, in say there's two Sam's yet the African American Sam or the black Sam, they,
Just don't. I mean, and I think that's, you know, they'll say, you know, Sam that lives over on 14th street, you know, and the, oh, okay. Or Sam, you were talking to his dad the other day. Oh, okay. And I think it's, there's not that defining, you know, defining by race, which I think is beautiful, you know, and holding out hope that that just builds through the years too. And, and, um, I mean, I hope so.
Joe Fernandez (59:05.194)
Yeah.
Joe Fernandez (59:21.254)
I would agree and I would absolutely agree. I think especially as I see my daughter getting older and in high school now there's a lot of different races they're around and I think it's just they're exposed to a lot of this stuff early on right like the first time they see a black person isn't necessarily on TV anymore right like they see them now more often in their neighborhoods or you see
robert_poirier (59:42.972)
Right.
Joe Fernandez (59:47.606)
And I think when you have that, it's one of those things that it becomes less of an identifying factor. Like it might be for the individual for a sense of pride or heritage or something that they feel, but it's not to your point. I don't think it's as... I don't think race for kids is as big of an issue as maybe it has been in the past, which, you know, kudos to parents because in the past it was... I mean, my parents... no one wanted my parents to get married. Their families didn't want them to get married, right? And...
robert_poirier (59:53.52)
Yeah.
robert_poirier (01:00:16.047)
Yeah.
Joe Fernandez (01:00:16.458)
My wife and I didn't have that same issue. And that's just one generation, right, from each other. In fact, when I told that story about Coach Hill, they went to Utah, they were already married. My mom tells a story, they're in a grocery store and a kid comes up to my dad and starts rubbing his arm, looks at his mom and says, mom, it's not coming off. Are you serious? Yeah, and the mom didn't say anything.
robert_poirier (01:00:38.193)
Are you serious?
adam_jennings (01:00:42.162)
That's pretty cool.
Joe Fernandez (01:00:44.338)
And so, and, and, but it wasn't like, it wasn't even, and here's the thing, right? What's my dad gonna do? Get mad and put the kid in check. Then my dad's just a college kid, right? I mean, who knows who that person was and who they're connected to and what that could have meant for my dad. So Coach Hill ended up finding a note on my dad's door saying, sorry, this ain't working out. And they left and came back to San Jose. And that's how he ended up at San Jose State. It was the experience they had when they went to Utah.
adam_jennings (01:00:49.277)
That's ridiculous.
robert_poirier (01:01:13.733)
Wow.
Joe Fernandez (01:01:14.974)
It's just, it's very different, right? I mean, I think everyone's experience in life is different. And so where I would 100% agree. Yeah. Yeah. And like they, they said, you know, I will say this too. They said, you know, back in the day, right? Like you can have, you know, they were, these guys were watering, you know, watering, you know, fields at business centers as their summer job that had automatic sprinklers, right? Like that's, these were these times. So when my mom came in,
robert_poirier (01:01:21.661)
So that's why he left Utah. Wow. I mean, I understand.
robert_poirier (01:01:42.073)
Right, right, right.
Joe Fernandez (01:01:46.15)
She was a good student and she was going to have a career. Like they were going to help her with the job and this and that. And essentially her job was showing all the players are like rookies around on their recruiting trip. I mean, she was severely downgraded because of who she was married to and what she could do. And you know, these are night, this is a 19 year old, you know, kids.
adam_jennings (01:02:07.32)
Dude, I didn't know about the Utah stuff. That's crazy.
Joe Fernandez (01:02:09.886)
Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, it wasn't any like, I don't want to say it wasn't anything that was, it was a big deal, obviously to them big enough that like, they just didn't feel comfortable there.
robert_poirier (01:02:11.659)
That's insane.
adam_jennings (01:02:18.656)
Hey Joe, Joe I'm curious like while we've got this at the top of mind, do you think your dad would be willing to hop on with us and tell his story? Okay, awesome. That would be awesome.
robert_poirier (01:02:29.997)
Oh, I'd love to, I'd love to talk to him as well. Definitely, definitely. So, you know, Adam and I started this. Um, it was something that was in my head for a few years. Um, and Adam and I just through different things in lives. We were talking about things that I told him about this idea and, and, you know, just really spotlighting dads and really the
Joe Fernandez (01:02:33.066)
Yeah, he would.
robert_poirier (01:02:57.045)
impact, profound impact that dads can have in the healthy development of their children, right? And physically, mentally, emotionally, and you know, we're coming off a weekend here in Atlanta where I think there were three teens shot, killed two separate shootings. Um, you know, a couple of weekends before that there were, I think, two or three more.
You know, it's all the time and it's these young teens, mostly guys. Um, but sometimes it's girls and it's teen shooting teens. And it's not, you know, Adam and I are in Atlanta. It's not just an Atlanta problem. It's an everywhere problem. I mean, it's, I mean, it's your small town USA. It's the Bay area. It's everywhere. And you know, it's, it's horrible. It's, it's horrible with these kids. I mean,
Joe Fernandez (01:03:29.258)
teens. Most of the guys, but sometimes it's girls and it's teens shooting teens. And it's not that you have an Irish in Atlanta, it's not just in Atlanta, it's everywhere. I mean it's your small town USA, it's the Bay Area, it's everywhere.
Joe Fernandez (01:03:52.174)
You know, it's horrible when these kids are taking away so young and then what's the point of just having no thoughts about it? And that's about the repercussions.
robert_poirier (01:03:54.757)
taken away so young and then the ones doing it and just having no thoughts about it and you know, nothing about the repercussions. Um, what are, what are, I'd love to know your thoughts, maybe the root behind it. What's there, what's missing. Look, I mean, shootings have always happened. I mean, they were happening 15, 20 years ago, and you can argue and say that, all right, well now, because the internet, we're more aware.
I don't think so. I think there's more of them today and just have a love to, you know, to hear what you think and, and kind of what's behind it. I mean, I have my theories, but.
Joe Fernandez (01:04:37.042)
You know, it just seems to me like in all facets of our lives, like the auntie's been upped. I mean, I just think about like when you were asking about, you know, how is it being a girl that it's, it's unbelievable the stuff that this it's unbelievable the things that these kids are exposed to at the age that they are. And so to your point, Robert, like these shootings were happening. They were happening before. But if everything else in our world, right? If a
If the average adolescents would get sexual, like, you know, I don't know what the stats are, but like if they were sexually active at 15, they're sexually active at 12 today. If they would get into guns or gangs at this age, they're getting into it younger. And typically all these, to me, everything that our society has as far as intervention is built for a certain age, right? It's not, you're not doing interventions with six and seven year olds. You're doing it when it's, typically it's already too late.
robert_poirier (01:05:19.066)
Yeah.
robert_poirier (01:05:31.366)
Yeah.
Joe Fernandez (01:05:34.378)
And if the ante's already been up, that it's happening that much sooner, it's no wonder these numbers are going up. We're not, I don't know why someone wants to pick up a gun. I don't know why people have such a disregard for human life. I mean, that's one of the things that I just, for the life of me, right? I mean, you make those decisions like, you're not coming back, right? You do that, your life, the lives of everyone else. I mean, the domino effect that happens when someone takes a life, it's...
robert_poirier (01:05:55.613)
Да.
Joe Fernandez (01:06:03.87)
It impacts so many people. And yeah, to your point, to see it happening time and time again, and I think the most disheartening is like, it's just this blatant disregard, and it might not be, right? I mean, now we see it, I think we all see it a lot more with like even the school stuff. It's not just your typical, oh, well that gang member over there shot another rival gang. It's Jimmy at school who was at all my kids' birthday parties, just killed 16 people.
adam_jennings (01:06:22.915)
Uh-uh.
robert_poirier (01:06:33.997)
Yeah, I just I wonder.
Joe Fernandez (01:06:34.922)
I mean, it's...
adam_jennings (01:06:39.144)
I will add so Rob, I've got so I I rarely watch the news, but I saw the report. I mean, I think I was up at like six one day and I saw the report on what happened. And it was like these two kids got into. A beef on social media went back and forth and then one of them came over to the apartment complex and they had a shootout, so two kids died.
robert_poirier (01:06:40.195)
Yeah.
adam_jennings (01:07:08.432)
and two kids got injured. So somebody shot a girl too. So they were like a 15 year old girl got shot. And I'm just like social media embarrassment, exposure to that. I mean, these kids being in their adolescence with hormones and everything, like they just don't give, they do not care. They show up and start shooting people. It's crazy to me. Blows my mind.
robert_poirier (01:07:27.587)
Yeah.
robert_poirier (01:07:31.573)
Yeah. And I just, um, I don't know, you know, I mean, the schools and everybody fighting so bad.
adam_jennings (01:07:37.903)
Yeah.
robert_poirier (01:07:41.513)
Is fighting really that bad? I mean, you know, I hate to say that, but maybe we didn't see it as much then because I mean, when you, you know, I'm definitely a good bit older than both of you guys, but nobody ever. And look, I grew up in a time and in lower Mississippi and there were people. Had guns in their back windows of their truck and they would leave their
Joe Fernandez (01:07:45.074)
Right.
adam_jennings (01:08:00.116)
It was back in the 20s. Is that one?
robert_poirier (01:08:10.233)
You know, doors unlocked in their cars while they would go into the grocery store. Nobody would have thought of it. I mean, and even when I still remember, you know, in high school, when you would all go meet up at this field or this, you know, this dead end, this cul-de-sac where there weren't any houses and everybody'd meet up and yeah, somebody would have a shotgun or a rifle, I'm sure in their car, cause of hunting season. And, um, nobody ever would have thought.
Joe Fernandez (01:08:18.542)
So, whenever you have a high school, you would all come get up in this field, or this dead end of a small sack with a running house and everybody would be up. And...
Joe Fernandez (01:08:34.487)
Mm-hmm.
robert_poirier (01:08:38.133)
ever would have thought about going to do that. And, um, you know, of pulling out a gun and now it's just so, they just do it. And then, and I can't say that, okay, it's guns because there's more guns are more prevalent. I mean, they were easy then. I mean, you could walk into a. Yeah. I mean, you, you could, you could walk into, you know, any store and buy.
Joe Fernandez (01:08:47.015)
to it and I can't say that, okay, it's done.
Joe Fernandez (01:08:55.162)
If not easier, right? Easier.
robert_poirier (01:09:02.053)
guns. I mean, I remember a gas station, there used to be bullets and stuff that you could buy there. And it's just, it's just the, the, the, Joe kind of going back to it. I think a lot of it is the lack of fathers and not saying there weren't father, you know, that there were always fathers then, but there was more of a male presence.
And I wonder if that's your thoughts on if that's had somewhat of an impact of far less father figures in their lives. And maybe, you know, maybe somebody hit him on the back of the head and tell them, you know, don't be stupid, you know, you know, you're acting like an idiot. And what do you, you know, I don't know.
Joe Fernandez (01:09:30.343)
And I wonder if that's your fault, so if that's had some sort of impact.
father figures in their lives. Maybe, you know, maybe somebody hit him on the back of the head and tell him, you know, stupid, you know, you act like you're gay.
Yeah, I think, I mean, I believe that I think a big thing is, I've become a lot, I don't know if advocate is a right word, but just understanding like, to me, anyone who does anything like that, there is something wrong, right? Like, and I don't know if necessarily having a father figure or two parents or however that dynamic is,
is the answer as much as just someone who can identify in their kid, like what is going on with them? Why are they struggling so much? Why would they even think to do this? Right. And to me, it's if someone takes someone's life, mentally there's, there's something wrong with you, right? Like you don't, you're not operating on the same bandwidth of someone who, like you said, back in the day,
adam_jennings (01:10:27.769)
Ahem.
Joe Fernandez (01:10:43.326)
would never think about grabbing this gun and ending someone's life. But the story Adam just told, mentally there's something wrong with you. When you fight with someone online and decide that the answer to that is, now I'm going to go and take my gun and shoot people and not realize that any of these other things are out there. Because the way I see it is, people know right from wrong. You know you shouldn't do that. But the...
robert_poirier (01:10:51.19)
Oh, absolutely.
Joe Fernandez (01:11:11.094)
But how quickly you snap, and instead of like you and your, like you're talking about, instead of as friends just getting into a scuffle and having a fight, someone runs and grabs a gun and decides to shoot someone. Because whether it's gun violence amongst other people, whether it's suicide, whether it's the lack of.
robert_poirier (01:11:23.089)
Right.
Joe Fernandez (01:11:33.01)
I don't know what the word, like compassion or understanding for just life seems to be like going away. And I don't know, I mean, I do think having a father figure in the house, having someone who you can look at as a model is incredibly beneficial for any young person. But I also think that having people who can just be there for some...
adam_jennings (01:11:34.736)
Hmm
robert_poirier (01:12:00.101)
Yeah, absolutely. Whether it's a coach, whoever it is. Yeah.
Joe Fernandez (01:12:02.042)
is right. It's just it is sad. I mean, it's such a sad thing that you see because it's you can't get these lies back and as a parent, I mean, I couldn't imagine being on either end of that like even those people who are doing the shootings. They have parents.
robert_poirier (01:12:14.181)
No. No.
robert_poirier (01:12:20.461)
You know, we're born as animals, right? I mean, you have to be, you're taught not to pinch, not to hit, not to pull hair, not to bite. You're taught to share, you know, you're, you're taught all these things. And it kind of goes back. I can't remember where I originally heard this, but undisciplined children become undisciplined adults and undisciplined adults who either end up in prison or in the hospital are dead. And I mean, there's so much truth to that.
Joe Fernandez (01:12:23.735)
Yeah.
robert_poirier (01:12:47.213)
You know, I mean, a lot of it does go back to the parenting. And I agree with you. I mean, I don't think it means there has to be a father figure in the house, but a strong male model somewhere, you know, actively involved in their life. I mean, Adam, you're a great example of that as well. And, um, you know, I mean, you've spoken about that also with the father figures in your life that.
Kind of taking you under the wing. All right, we've gotten pretty dark. Let's lighten it up. All right, so both former receivers here. I'm gonna ask you guys, current receivers in the league, who do you guys enjoy watching?
adam_jennings (01:13:13.88)
Yeah.
adam_jennings (01:13:30.532)
Joe, you go ahead, man. You're the real white out here.
Joe Fernandez (01:13:32.798)
Well, I mean, because I had a dad who played in the NFL, I've always kind of been attracted to people that I feel some type of connection to, and maybe this is just an easy one, but like, Devontae Adams to me is just, is amazing to watch. His, he actually reminds me when I watch him, he reminds me of my dad. He's smooth, he's fast, his hands are unbelievable, and it's just his approach to the game and how long he's been doing it, the hits he's taken.
robert_poirier (01:13:44.058)
Yeah.
adam_jennings (01:13:45.645)
Yeah.
robert_poirier (01:13:55.655)
I'm Blue.
robert_poirier (01:14:02.938)
Yeah.
Joe Fernandez (01:14:03.394)
and hung onto the ball. I hope he doesn't take any more that big. But like it's, it is just amazing for me to watch him. I mean, there's a bunch of other incredibly talented people that make great catches, but the way he plays the game, I love, I love watching him and his lack of talk, I think is the biggest thing that I,
robert_poirier (01:14:20.973)
I love that. I love that. He's out there. He's doing his job and putting up results. Absolutely. Adam, what about you?
Joe Fernandez (01:14:27.02)
Yep.
adam_jennings (01:14:29.86)
So I mean, I love Devontae, like obviously being a Fresno State Bulldog. I mean, just got his jersey retired, incredible player. There are two kids that have LSU that are just amazing players. And.
robert_poirier (01:14:42.101)
Ah.
adam_jennings (01:14:45.72)
Jamar Chase and Justin Jefferson, those two are just, I mean, they're gonna be the wave of guys coming behind Devontae. And those two are just world beaters is what I'd call them. Like they can beat everybody in the world. So I love watching those guys play football. They've got all the tools to win and they've got great attitudes as well. So those are the guys, those are the guys I'd lean in on and say are the next best receivers in the league.
robert_poirier (01:14:58.749)
Totally agree. Totally agree.
robert_poirier (01:15:08.743)
Yeah.
robert_poirier (01:15:14.989)
Yeah, totally agree. All right. Tell me about the transfer portal thoughts.
adam_jennings (01:15:20.736)
I think it's bullshit. I honestly do... Yeah, sorry. Go ahead, Jim.
robert_poirier (01:15:23.373)
Hahaha!
Joe Fernandez (01:15:25.511)
I do too, I mean honestly, I-
Joe Fernandez (01:15:31.486)
I do too. The idea of having a transfer portal to me is, it just doesn't make sense. Now that being said, I think, I do believe now it's kind of, and I think this is where college football is headed, it's almost a necessity to give some power back to these student athletes because ideally college football, in my opinion, wouldn't be a massive business, but it is. And so...
robert_poirier (01:15:54.941)
That's huge.
Joe Fernandez (01:15:57.174)
to take players now who have to grow up so fast and make these decisions. We're all in the professional world. If you work for a firm that didn't have the products that you guys needed to sell to get the clients, you would quit your job and go. But the way college football is now, if you find yourself in a situation where your quarterback goes down, you don't have anything you're supposed to stay and play when that's gonna cost you your career, it makes no sense. So it's almost like...
robert_poirier (01:16:09.488)
Right.
adam_jennings (01:16:22.302)
Yeah.
Joe Fernandez (01:16:23.19)
They forced the hand that it almost has to be done for these players in my opinion. I just wish it wasn't there because, you know, the school pride signing an actual scholarship where you're committing yourself to them. And back in the day, it was like the only way you can get out is if you graduated in four years and then you can immediately transfer or if you sat out. So there was some kind of, you know, carrot to say, okay, well, if this is what you really wanna do, then you've gotta do essentially what you're here for. Right? You've gotta...
robert_poirier (01:16:45.594)
Right.
adam_jennings (01:16:45.988)
Yeah.
adam_jennings (01:16:51.691)
Yeah.
Joe Fernandez (01:16:52.302)
finish what you started with school. And then it's up to you. It's like the reward for being able to do that. I love that. For me, I did want to, I wanted to hurry up and finish in four so I can start, because I redshirted, so I can start my masters. I kind of looked at it in my, when I played, like how do I take advantage of this as much as possible?
robert_poirier (01:17:13.177)
Yeah, that's interesting. You know, and now you see so many kids, I can't remember an even over a thousand in the transfer portal. And, you know, the ones that even get stuck, you know, and they're, they're jumping because, oh, I, you know, I didn't get a chance to play. I didn't get a chance to start. And then a lot of them, when they do end up somewhere, they're in the same position. Are they stuck in the portal? I mean, it's, uh, it'll be interesting to see the way that shakes out in the next couple of years. I think there needs to.
you know, need to kind of get their hands around that a little bit more. All right. What about the NIL?
adam_jennings (01:17:44.152)
Yeah.
Joe Fernandez (01:17:51.046)
Same honestly, same kind of feeling is as a concept of it. I don't like it, I don't agree, but I don't agree from the standpoint of if college sports is really supposed to be an amateur game, then keep it an amateur game. That means you don't pay coaches millions of dollars to come coach your school. Everyone has a standard salary, just like everyone has a standard scholarship.
But as soon as you start giving the advantage to the schools or the coaches or anything else, my big, you know, as a player, it's like, well, don't leave us out of the mix because for me, the way I see it, and I've had this conversation with a few different players, coming from the schools I came from, I've heard this argument, oh, you're gonna give a kid millions of dollars when they're 18, what are they gonna do with it? Well, coming from the schools I came from, I can tell you, I would have been set up way better for life if you gave me the opportunity to have an NIL contract.
robert_poirier (01:18:48.016)
Yeah.
Joe Fernandez (01:18:48.214)
because I learned this stuff at an early age. But that's life, right? To other people who don't, who end up with a bunch of money, it's not like they only, like they don't allow poor people to win the lottery. If you're able to play, you get to play. And if you win, if you mess it up, it's on you. So to me, it's like the fact that it's out there, I think it's a good thing because it gives, it gives these players an opportunity to chance. I think what needs to catch up is educating these players. And unfortunately,
robert_poirier (01:18:59.822)
Right.
Joe Fernandez (01:19:17.686)
This is what I don't think is a good thing, but I think it is where we're at. These kids have to grow up so much sooner. I mean, Adam and I used to talk about this. It's like, oh, we're scholar athletes. And it's like, but come on, we're athletes first, then we're students. That's how it's always looked at. Now, there's no gray area. You're an athlete before you're a student with the transfer portal, with NIL.
robert_poirier (01:19:26.822)
Yeah.
Joe Fernandez (01:19:45.682)
It's just, it's right out there in front of you. So if that's what you're going to change the game to, then what really needs to happen is just like when we went into the NFL and I remember, um, and I'm sure Adam, it happened for you probably at the rookie symposium for me, it was just, you know, in Seattle, but they have the finance guy come in and say, you know, hey, here's a standard contract and let me show you how it works. You take, you know, 10% for your agent. Then you got your taxes and then, no, here's my story, right? I remember the guy saying, and then.
you know, you want to buy a house, so we'll cut the, you know, we'll take that one off. Or you want to buy your mom a house and you want to get a chain. And I remember thinking, the hell do I want a chain for? I want to put money in a retirement account because it's going to compound interest. Like, what are you talking about? I remember being so offended. Like, why do you expect me to go out and buy a diamond chain?
adam_jennings (01:20:28.176)
Hahahaha
robert_poirier (01:20:28.569)
Hahaha
adam_jennings (01:20:34.285)
I was still buying fake diamonds at Nordstrom, let me tell you that right now. I was like...
Joe Fernandez (01:20:38.562)
Yeah, like, you know what I mean? It's like, but that, but they waited for that till you got to the NFL to have that conversation. And even when they had it, it was, I mean, and it's such a joke. I mean, I'm in, I'm in financial services.
robert_poirier (01:20:47.29)
Yeah, it's too late.
adam_jennings (01:20:47.971)
Yeah.
adam_jennings (01:20:51.616)
I actually do, like on the NIL thing, I think it's a really good thing because I think it's been going on for a long time. So people getting paid under the table, you know, I'm almost certain that, you know, guys in the SEC are getting paid handsomely. And nobody's going to tell if you're in Alabama and you get paid.
and somebody rats on you or somebody rats on the person that paid you, you probably get your house burned down. So it's good. Like it's like really like they're that close knit, like you're getting your house burned down. Yeah. Yeah, so it
robert_poirier (01:21:22.605)
Yeah, I mean, payment, payment in sports has always been there. I mean, I do agree. I mean, whether it's a hundred dollar handshake, whatever. I mean, it's always, you know, are, you know, uh, doing some summer job where, you know, sort of, as you spoke about it, I mean, of, um, watering the grass when there's a sprinkler, you know, I mean, I mean, there's look, I, I remember, I, I remember back in school and some of the summer jobs, the players had and
adam_jennings (01:21:29.269)
Yeah.
adam_jennings (01:21:42.74)
I worked at Boomers. At Boomers as a security guard.
robert_poirier (01:21:52.185)
You know, how did you get that? You know, they'd come back with a new, with a sports car. It's like, how'd you get that? Oh, summer jobs. Tell me like, yeah, whatever. You know, I was washing cars for, for this dealership over the summer and saved up enough money. I'm like, hell no, you didn't. There's no way, but, uh, all right. Um, so I cannot let you get away without giving me a story on Adam. I mean, you guys, I think y'all room together for a little while.
Joe Fernandez (01:21:52.748)
Yeah.
Joe Fernandez (01:22:01.816)
Yeah.
Joe Fernandez (01:22:09.141)
No way.
robert_poirier (01:22:21.849)
You play together. There has to be some dirt of a little man on a Adam, little man Jennings.
adam_jennings (01:22:25.616)
Tschüss.
adam_jennings (01:22:30.925)
breaking up a little bit.
Joe Fernandez (01:22:33.016)
You might have lucked out, Adam.
robert_poirier (01:22:34.656)
hahahaha
adam_jennings (01:22:36.296)
Oh there he is, he's back. What's up man? What do we got?
Joe Fernandez (01:22:36.831)
uh...
robert_poirier (01:22:40.716)
So let's hear about Adam Littleman Jennings.
Joe Fernandez (01:22:44.638)
Well, so I mean, yeah, yeah. No, I mean, honestly, like, I feel like Adam tells a lot of his stories, you know, for Adam, Adam has always been Adam, right? And I think, you know, for him, for me, it was more of like the things that Adam did to me, nothing that Adam necessarily did on his own, right? Like,
robert_poirier (01:22:47.281)
Keep it somewhat clean.
robert_poirier (01:22:55.229)
Hahaha
adam_jennings (01:23:10.148)
Hahaha!
Joe Fernandez (01:23:11.894)
I was the quiet one. My wife and I were dating after my sophomore year. By the time Adam and I were living together, I was already dating my wife. Adam tells stories about how we'd come home from practice and I would have like a beer. I wouldn't get drunk. I would act way older. But Adam would always just be doing the craziest stuff. And he did it.
robert_poirier (01:23:20.922)
Right.
Joe Fernandez (01:23:37.71)
he did it like without any care of who he was doing it to. So Adam, I remember my first introduction to college football and how serious this was and being in our, like we were playing in Nevada and we were staying at, I forget what hotel, but we stayed at a hotel when we played in Nevada, which is a casino hotel. So there's a lot of people. It's not just like a, we didn't stay at a hotel off the strip.
robert_poirier (01:24:01.358)
Right.
Joe Fernandez (01:24:05.758)
And I remember coming in and Bernard Barion decided to return and not declare himself for the NFL. So you know, I'm playing, I'm traveling as a freshman. It's Bernard Barion. We've got our whole agenda. We got to wear our sweats. Everything's got to be buttoned up. Coach Hill, you can't be late to meetings. I mean, it was crazy. We get snacks after the last meeting. We always got snacks. And it was snacks and then you had bedtime and lights out. Now, having a dad who played in the NFL, like I knew.
that there were these strict routines. There was bed checks, there was you cannot leave. I knew how it all worked. And there's definitely no messing around. Like if you're back in your room, fine, you can have jokes, play video games or whatever, but there's no messing around during team time or anything like that. So we get our snack, we're walking back, and all of a sudden I just hear, I think I hear Adam like snickering or something, like a little laugh under his breath. And I remembered.
robert_poirier (01:24:37.232)
Right.
robert_poirier (01:25:04.25)
his little giggle that he does. Yeah, yeah, exactly.
Joe Fernandez (01:25:06.01)
that that giggle right there that you're hearing and I remember turning around and he's like slowly unwrapping a mcdouble or something like that I think that we got like two mcdoubles or something like that and he's slowly unwrapping a mcdouble sandwich and he winds up like like he's linsecum or something like I mean he like a full pitch I mean it was perfect form and throws this thing and bernard barion hits him square in the back
adam_jennings (01:25:07.961)
That's it.
adam_jennings (01:25:13.488)
Hahaha
robert_poirier (01:25:25.211)
I'm out. Bye.
Joe Fernandez (01:25:34.238)
in the middle of the hallway from like the casino gaming floor to the hotels where like everyone can see wearing a Fresno state jumpsuit. I am like frozen because he just threw a burger that exploded all over Bernard Barry's back, goes everywhere. And he's laughing just like that. And I'm thinking that we're off the team. That's it. I lost my scholarship. Like I'm going to, cause we're rooming together. It's like, I'm done. This is it.
adam_jennings (01:25:45.656)
Oh dude! Oh dude!
robert_poirier (01:25:47.069)
Ha ha ha!
adam_jennings (01:25:57.124)
Like...
robert_poirier (01:25:57.201)
You
Joe Fernandez (01:26:04.674)
That was my introduction. That was probably like one of the more low key things that Adam did to people when we were on trips. It was like just constant messing with people, like throwing burgers, slapping people in the face with pizza. Like it was all, one time I'm studying for a final, he lit a pack of firecrackers in our apartment behind me in a pot. I mean.
robert_poirier (01:26:09.519)
Yeah.
adam_jennings (01:26:29.027)
Oh, dude!
Joe Fernandez (01:26:32.234)
Like I'm I'm surprised on a PTSD from living without it was just a constant onslaught
robert_poirier (01:26:35.633)
Haha, no.
adam_jennings (01:26:36.449)
Hey dude, hey, I'll tell you one of the best stories though, Rob. So there was one time, like I'd set up a cup of water. So Joe, like Joe, his room was close to the bathroom. Mine was like close to the stairs, right? And so I was like, I'm going to get this bastard. And so Joe, so I set up a big ass, a big goblet of water and tilted it on the bathroom.
robert_poirier (01:26:40.473)
All right, let's hear it out.
Joe Fernandez (01:26:44.063)
Oh yeah.
Joe Fernandez (01:26:59.198)
It was like one of those big gulps, like a 40 ounce, like, you know.
robert_poirier (01:27:01.962)
Yeah, yeah.
adam_jennings (01:27:03.052)
So I filled it up with water, I tilted it against it, and I was just like, I'm gonna get Joe, so he's gonna walk in and just gonna dump all over his silly ass. That was my thought, right? And so Joe walks in, boom. He, like, somehow he is, like, in sixth sense, he feels something from up above, eyes it, one hand catches the goddamn thing. It was the most cold-blooded thing I've ever seen. Like, not a drop spilled, and I was just like, what, I was...
robert_poirier (01:27:24.508)
Hahaha
Joe Fernandez (01:27:27.467)
Not a drop spilled.
The best part was I didn't even yell at Adam. I caught it, I dumped it in the sink, went on, did what I did and left. And Adam's in his room, Adam videotaped everything. So Adam's like in the crack of his room with his video camera videotaping and he's just furious. He's yelling, cussing of a storm, and I just go walking right out.
adam_jennings (01:27:38.017)
Didn't say anything, I was just like, no!
adam_jennings (01:27:49.876)
I was just like, are you kidding me? No, dude, it was, I mean, it was the most legendary catch I've ever seen, dude. Like, because he had, cup of water, boom, one hand. So that's it. Okay, man, you know.
robert_poirier (01:27:51.974)
That's hilarious. That's hilarious.
robert_poirier (01:27:58.244)
Uh... Go ahead.
robert_poirier (01:28:04.645)
Well, Joe, look, I cannot thank you enough for spending the time with us this afternoon. I really can't. And it has been a pleasure talking to you as well as meeting you. And thank you again for taking time out of your day. And love to, for you to try to work your channels and maybe get your dad on here one day. And would love to, man, would love to meet him. Would love to hear stories from him as well. And...
Joe Fernandez (01:28:33.706)
Yeah.
robert_poirier (01:28:34.533)
But thank you so much. And look, want to thank you all for listening to dad to dad's podcast. You can find us on Spotify or Apple podcasts, as well as on YouTube and Instagram, and don't forget to hit the like button as well as the end. Don't miss any episodes. Uh, we will see you all next week.
adam_jennings (01:28:35.998)
One cool dude. Thank you, Joe.
Joe Fernandez (01:28:48.718)
this episode. We will see you all next week. Thank you.
adam_jennings (01:28:53.721)
Thanks, Joe.