Former NFL defensive end Chris Long continues to be one of the rising stars in the sports media industry with the Green Light with Chris Long Podcast that he records three times a week. So, what does he want you to think after you listen to his show?
Long was a guest on The Adam Schein Podcast this week and he said he wants to convey his knowledge about the game, but also he thinks he could learn a little bit from the fans as well.
“Number one is to communicate information to people about the game. If we are talking about the game, I want people to know what I think I know because I look at it a little differently. I think sometimes I can stand to gain a little perspective looking at it the way the fans look at it but I think there is also a time where a little player insight might help.”
While Long wants the show to be educational, he also wants the listener to feel like they are just hanging out with his friends and that the podcast can be dirty sometimes.
“I want people to feel like they are sitting in the room with us. That’s my favorite thing is just BS’ing with my buddies. We edit some things out. The final product doesn’t always look like it sounded in the room, but for the most part, it’s a dirty show. We dirty things up a little bit. It’s going to sound like it would sound sitting on the couch with 3-4 buddies hopefully drinking a couple of beers. You feel like you are sinking into the couch with us. That’s my goal. It’s supposed to be educational, dirty, and feel immersive and inclusive.”
Every Monday, Long has an NFL weekly wrap-up episode with his brother, Kyle and his best friend, Macon. As he tries to prepare for the show, he told Schein he has more of an appreciation for all the information the national media is able to get.
“As a player, I didn’t have the appreciation for what national media goes through on a Sunday trying to gather all the information that people in their respective local markets expect you to master. You can’t fool fans. They know whether it’s the Bengals, Dolphins, Raiders, they know who the third corner is, they know how this guy performed in camp. There’s a tremendous challenge on a Sunday to not master everything, but to get to the point where you can talk about what happened. Then, on Wednesday and Friday, we can color in why it happened.”
Rest assured, Long is putting in the work for that episode, but he also understands that if he messes something up on Monday, he knows he has the rest of the week to correct the mistake.
“I think that’s one of the hardest things on Monday is not overreacting, but also not overreacting to what happened. Let’s dig in and find out why it happened and look at the context around why it happened. The challenge makes me feel like I’m in school again. I’m up till 2 AM watching Raiders-Titans. You do want to know what the hell happened. Hopefully that comes through, but we also aren’t going to be perfect. It’s Monday. You have a safety net. If I didn’t get it right, I have the rest of the week to rectify the situation.”
