Chapter 1: What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
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I'm Daniel Alarcon, and this is my friend who's much more famous than I am. I wouldn't go that far, but I'm John Green, co-host of the podcast The Away End with my old friend Daniel. On our podcast The Away End, we'll share with you the magic of international football, all leading up to the 2026 World Cup.
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Chapter 2: What was Victor Cruz's experience like meeting Jay-Z for the first time?
It's humbling. But what I love about the sport is that everyone was there. Even the pros, even the Rory McIlroys and all of those guys were you once. And so there's never like, you know, basketball, you dribble off your foot like, ah, you stink.
Get over there.
Don't play with us. When you shank one in golf, people come up to you. It's like, yo, here's how you do it. Have your hands here. Kind of figure it's a more coachable sport because they're looking at you like I was there once and I would want someone to tell me, you know, what I'm about to tell you because I was once you.
Was that always the plan in retirement?
Picking up another sport? Yep. Absolutely not. I think golf came later on. I had a homeboy who was like, yo, you need to golf. Like even when I was playing for years, he was like, you need to do this. You need to pick it up. I promise you. And I was just like, that shit's corny. I ain't playing that. I'm not getting up at 5 a.m., 6 a.m. to go to somebody's golf course. Yeah.
Because I didn't understand it. And then once I retired and then my daughter also played. So she picked it up when she was six. Mm hmm. And at first it was just some shit she did with the nanny that I was just like, just go. Whatever makes her tired at 8 o'clock, go do that shit. So after school she would go, and then she kept going. And then she kept going.
And then now she's nine and we got her like a real coach. Yeah. And then it was around like nine where I was like, let me go see where my money's going. Yeah. And she went, I went to a practice. We got there a little early. She's like, daddy, I want to warm up a little bit. I was like, all right, bet.
She grabbed her putter, took three golf balls, dropped them on the putting green, took her time, put three, and it was like quiet. And my daughter's like very high energy, always talking, super smart, but always got to go. And she was quiet. I was like, oh, this is the sport that gets you to shut the fuck up. and just lock in. Yeah, let's do that. I'm doing this with you. And then COVID hit.
So right when COVID hit, I got in because golf was pretty much the only thing you could do that was like, you know, outdoors and you're not close to anybody really. So I picked it up, started taking lessons and then was off to the races.
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Chapter 3: How did Victor Cruz come up with the salsa dance celebration?
I mean, basketball, baseball was fun as a kid. But if I had golf, I'd probably be a different person mentally if I started out that way. I think that's probably a great thing.
Another New Jersey legend, J.R. Smith, he's taking off. Big time. With golf. I watched his documentary, and it was just dope to see. the change in personality, demeanor with JR. Do you feel that you've changed as post-football, just your energy, your frequency, your personality, and transitioning into playing golf? Can you feel the difference? 100%. I think I...
I channel things with a much more resolve and much more calmness now that I play the game of golf. Like, there's a way, they say when you play golf, you know, it tells a lot about your character, who you are, how you play the game, right? If I'm playing with somebody and you see him and, you know, he thinks he's not being seen, but you see him, like, pick the ball up.
Like, you know that guy's not a good dude.
Chapter 4: What insights does Victor Cruz share about playing with Eli Manning?
You know what I mean?
Like, you just know. It reflects your energy.
He's picking the ball up.
He's lying on your scorecard.
And you get to the green, you're like, yo, what you lying right there? They're like, two. You're like, ah. So it just tells a lot about who you are and your demeanor. And I think golf has definitely taught me a ton of patience, especially when I play with my daughter, because I have to show her as well as an example of be like, I can't curse out the golf ball when I hit it.
I have to just take whatever the game has given me and try to teach her that as well. And I've seen her grow within the game because as she's starting to get more and more competitive, And especially around like 10 years old, 11, when she was starting to get better, but still hitting some bad shots, still trying to figure it out. And I would see her get really angry.
And I was like, yo, it's fine. Get in the car. Let's talk about it. And then we developed like this eight step rule. So you hit a bad shot. You got eight steps to kind of get mad, talk about it, flush it. And then now you got to worry about the next shot. Because the next shot is still the next shot.
If you're angry the whole time you're walking from that bad shot to the next shot, the next shot's going to be bad too. So you got to flush it, reprocess it, and get to that next shot. So it's definitely changed my perception and changed my emotions around just life in general. Who are some of your... Growing up in Jersey, who are some of your artists that...
you listened to before, you know, working out and playing football? Oh, man, it was so many. I mean, obviously the Jay-Z's of the world, the Nas's of the world. We had Naughty by Nature was a big one. We had a local group called F.O.D., Phases of Death, that we used to rock crazy. We used to listen to them a bunch. But who else?
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Chapter 5: How has Victor Cruz adjusted to life after football?
I mean, my pops was always on some Lost Boys. Mr. Cheeks was heavy. So we listened to a little bit of everything, man. It was a full array of music at the crib. As an older guy now, has your music taste changed at all? Because I was just talking the other day about, I can't listen to rap early in the morning. I just can't do it. I don't want to hear it.
When I hear just rap, it's 8 a.m., I'm like, how are people listening to loud rap music? And I laugh because I'm like, at one point, When I used to go to school, that's all I had in my headphones at 7 a.m., 7.30 was rap. But now being older, it's like I need 12.30, 1 o'clock, we can transition into rap. I have a 12 o'clock rule, Mo.
Chapter 6: What entrepreneurial ventures is Victor Cruz involved in now?
You know what I'm saying? I can't listen to none of that heavy rap rah-rah shit before 12 o'clock. All right, cool. I need to have my coffee. Yeah. I need to have my little breakfast. Yeah. I had cinnamon rolls this morning. Yeah, yeah. I keep it calm. Uh-huh. I got pimmy, I'm on some pimmy heavy. Okay, okay. Just a nice little Pimmy playlist. Just let it rock out.
Just the whole, this is Pimmy, join on Spotify, let it run. Puts me in a nice calm mood. Gets me ready for the day. And then once I get in the whip and I'm ready to go start my day, then I turn on. Change the tempo a little bit. Then I change the tempo, I'm ready to turn up a little bit. You know what I'm saying? Was that the same approach while you were playing though?
Or was it straight aggressive play? No, it was definite. So I always been a like, I never loved the crazy aggressive rap. Like there was moments for it, of course. But when I was getting ready, it was like, it was like a Rick Ross. Like I needed that nice, that energetic, but the words mean something. Like the content was, the lyrics is what's going to get me going for the day.
Not the energy and the beat and like so much energy behind it. It was more like...
You know, hearing Ross talk about the journey, hearing Hov talk about the journey, hearing certain Drake records talk about the journey like those things really got me focused and level headed for the day, as opposed to hearing something, you know, that was just about the beat and the bass and loud and shit that didn't really get me going. I always talk about, we laugh and talk about it.
I never enjoyed partying with football players. I don't know what it is with y'all in the clubs. I call it the helmet syndrome because people don't recognize y'all in public as much if you're not. Like you were a star. People knew who you were as soon as you went outside.
But a lot of guys in the league, they could be some of the best players at their position, but people don't know them by face because you always got this helmet on. Yeah. So when they're in the club, it's like they it's the need to be like, first of all, I'm stronger than everybody in here. Correct.
They got to show that with me.
Security can't do nothing with me. I bench press 420 like there's nothing anybody can do. What is it with football players? And it's just aggressive nature when it's just time to just chill and talk to the lady. Well, I think it's exactly that. I think it's exactly that.
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Chapter 7: What is Victor Cruz's perspective on the impact of golf on his life?
I think it's, um, it's a constant because think about it, right? Think about their lives, especially, I think it was more so, I mean, there's some receivers, but it's more so them linemen, them linebackers. So you recognize it too? Yeah, absolutely. Because receivers, we got a suave to us.
We chillin'.
We understand. Yeah. That if we come in and we hold ourselves a certain way, we're going to get the attention from the ladies. We're going to get the attention that we're looking for regardless. You can hit the salsa in the section. Easy.
And it's locked in.
And I'm locked in. And I remember certain clubs in New York, they playing it on the walk. Oh, the cruise is here. And I'm like, oh, shit. I got intro music. This feels racist, but it's fine. I got intro music. Every time I was like, yo, greenhouse. At least give him a little swab of mint there. Yeah. But like these linebackers and these other linemen, like we definitely don't know y'all.
Like they definitely don't know y'all, especially if you play for the Carolina Panthers and you in New York, they don't even know you.
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Chapter 8: How does Victor Cruz feel about being referenced in hip-hop lyrics?
Right. So it's that constant. pressure of, even as a football player, I need them to know me. I need to make a name for myself here. Boom, I made a name for myself. Now, when I go out, I want people to know who I am. So when I go out, it's that same level of aggression.
And I've been, I mean, I've seen dudes just buy like 30 grand in bottles and pour them all out on people and pour them on the ground. I'm like... Y'all are dumb. That shit is dumb. Are y'all really serious? To offer the attention? That level of insecurity is crazy. It's crazy to me. Crazy to me. But it didn't get a lot of guys far.
Did you have any rapper rivalries? Because you were in the league when Greenhouse was like Greenhouse. That was a time. And New York rap was still pretty relevant at that time as well. What was the athlete versus rapper club situation like? I was in GA and Greenhouse watching y'all up top. I could feel the tension.
from from gen pop yeah i think i always had a pretty good rapport with like rappers and and uh and especially in other athletes uh for sure i think with me i was always i was always cool like i grew up around here like i knew what this energy was i was in clubs 18 19 years old like i knew this i knew how to move around here like i think that was a big deal that's very important
I knew how to walk up the greenhouse and be like, yo, what's up? I'm by myself. It's just me. My man's in there already. I got, I got two girls with me. You always got to show up with women. You got two girls with you. You good. Oh, at the gate. Like they doing this off rip. Like, so I just knew how to move. So I think that was part of it.
But, and then obviously furthermore, as I became an athlete, signing to rock nation sports and then having that, like, I just always knew how to move and had a good rapport with a lot of different, um, rappers and other athletes in the city. Who was the first rapper that you met that you kind of fanned out once you were a celebrity yourself? And they knew who you were. I mean, I think it was Hov.
I mean, I remember being in a meeting doing the Roc Nation sports thing. And, you know, him, OG, Rich Climbing in the room. And we're having a conversation about me signing them. everybody's giving me the fluff, right? And I was like, all right, man. I was like, I got one question, Hov. Like, why me?
Like, why of all the athletes in New York, about all these other prominent guys that are out here, like, why me? Aside from my contract being up right about this year, because I ain't stupid either. And he was like, to be honest, everything that you've done with your career up until this point is what I would have done. And I was like, oh, shit. Like Hov just told me I'm moving right out here.
You know what I mean? So and obviously he has his people out in the streets to see how I move in the streets, in the clubs. So he did his due diligence before he even made the call to bring me in. So I think that was that was a big moment for me to just to hear someone of his stature talk about me in that way and say that I was doing all the right things. That was that was a big moment.
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