South Beach Sessions - Darren Waller

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The Dan Le Batard Show 1h 18m 3 speakers 8 chapters transcribed
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What personal challenges did Darren Waller face during his upbringing?

Stugotz 0:04
Kings Network.
Dan Le Batard 0:27
Welcome again to South Beach Sessions. I'm genuinely enthused about this one. I do not say that just the way everyone says, hey, I'm excited about this guest. Darren Waller, I've admired, obviously, his physical skills for a while. But what I've admired the most is that he is unusually comfortable being vulnerable in public because of whatever it is he's learned through what seems like from over here. a fascinating journey. So he's a pro bowler. He was obviously great with the Raiders, went to the Giants, and I thought he was going to be great there too. And it seemed like a thousand things happened that made that very hard. Comes to Miami after a year off and reinvents himself here. It was a pleasure to watch you work.
Dan Le Batard 1:06
with the Dolphins. But like I said, the most interesting part of you to me is like, man, this guy's really comfortable talking about tender things, about growth, about being lonely in a way that I'm simply not used to hearing come out of the huddle. And so I'm like, no wonder that guy feels alone.

How did addiction impact Darren Waller's football career?

Dan Le Batard 1:24
My guess is he's walking in a locker room with a whole bunch of people who are looking at him and being like... What's he up in his feelings about? We're here to play football. Why does he care so much about getting his feelings heard about things? So anyways, I admire the way that you are and the parts of your story you've shared. And so thank you for being on with us.
Darren Waller 1:42
Yeah, no, it's an honor to be here.
Dan Le Batard 1:44
So take me through just chronologically what you would describe as sort of the landmark posts in your upbringing where if you were explaining to a stranger that you wanted to know you a little bit, what your upbringing was like and how you were beginning to be formed. What were your first 14, 15 years of life like?
Darren Waller 2:04
First 14, 15 years?
Yeah.
Darren Waller 2:07
I grew up 30 minutes north of Atlanta, Georgia. Uh, my parents, my dad's from Queens, New York. My mom is from, uh, Maryland area. Uh, and I was born in DC and we moved to Colorado when I was young and we moved to Georgia right before I turned five.

What role did therapy play in Darren Waller's recovery?

Darren Waller 2:21
So that's pretty much all I remember. Uh, I had both parents in the home, parents still together. I had an older sister. Um, And, you know, on paper, it's great childhood, great area we grew up in, great schools. But, you know, learning more and looking back on my life as I've gone forward, you know, both my parents came from addictive households. And so for them, I think they did a tremendous job with my sister and I. And I think they had experiences where they grew up where it was like, man, we want to do this. give our kids the opposite of what we may have had to experience and uh in doing that i think they did a great job of like teaching us how to communicate and uh be good in school and present well and have manners and be respectful to other people but in some ways i don't think they anticipated um because i don't think they would have known either that it kind of turned us into uh
Darren Waller 3:22
performers like it paid off like my football career and um and things like that but in a lot of ways it just uh made me um I don't know very like hyper vigilant of like wanting to please people and um not wanting to you know feel like rejection and things like that and I had some you know rejection kind of things going on early on like I remember being in social environments around School, people my age, very early on, and it was always like I was a little bit more sensitive and a little, you know, I was black, but I didn't act black. And, you know, I was, I guess, like advanced as far as school comes, like gifted or whatever. And I was often one of the only black kids in my classes and things like that.
Darren Waller 4:07
So everywhere I went, I kind of felt like I didn't necessarily fit in.
Dan Le Batard 4:11
It's everywhere. So you like music.

How did Darren Waller reinvent himself after leaving the NFL?

Dan Le Batard 4:14
You're a little bit of a nerd, but you're a great athlete. And you can hide in the confidence of everyone thinks the great athlete is popular. But is this really who I am? Aren't I more than this?
Darren Waller 4:24
Yeah, yeah. Just kind of realizing I was very good at sports growing up and that kind of like,

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