Michael Irvin | December 2, 2020

From December 2, 2020: On the thirteenth episode of “Great Dane Nation,” Morten is joined by his Pro Football Hall of Fame brother and Dallas Cowboys legend Michael Irvin. But first, he checks in with TommyFreezePops (Tom Carroll), who got engaged over the Thanksgiving holiday! FreezePops fills Morten in on how it all went down. We then move to our interview with Michael, where he discusses a wide array of topics: being diagnosed with COVID-19 after a trip to Mexico, and dealing with the excruciating headaches; the dangers of not having a routine as a “one hundred percent-er;" growing up as the 15th of 17 children in Ft. Lauderdale, FL; why he sometimes likes to eat his cereal with water instead of milk; being recruited by Howard Schnellenberger to play college football at Miami during his one season of high school football for St. Thomas Aquinas; playing for Jimmy Johnson at Miami, and how Michael almost got kicked off the team on his first day as a Hurricane; the key to Miami becoming a major power throughout the 1980s and beyond; why Michael Irvin “cringes” when thinking about the championships he should have won at both the college and pro levels; what Miami being “back” actually means, and if he feels like they’re there yet; thoughts on D'Eriq King, and why he’s so happy to see Miami with a great quarterback again; the importance of hiring Ed Reed as Chief of Staff for the Miami program, and why Ed is better suited for the job than Alonzo Highsmith would have been; having the honor to play one season under Tom Landry; why he refused to be drafted by the Green Bay Packers; the heads-up he received from then-Miami coach Jimmy Johnson that made him feel good about being drafted by Dallas; the culture change that needed to happen in Dallas for the Cowboys to become the dynasty of the 1990s; his first impressions of both Troy Aikman and Emmitt Smith; why one night in Dallas was all it took to convince Deion Sanders to sign with the Cowboys; the origin of the nickname “Playmaker;" why he doesn’t think Dak Prescott’s injury will hurt him in the wallet as much as you think; his thoughts on CeeDee Lamb, and the incredible lineage of the number 88 with the Cowboys organization; why Jason Garrett had to go, and why Mike McCarthy has struggled so much in his first year with Dallas; and his relationship with Jerry Jones, and why it was so important to Michael to have Jerry be his presenter at his Pro Football Hall of Fame induction ceremony. Then, TommyFreezePops is joined by Brian Edwards for his weekly check-in with the experts from VegasInsider.com. The guys take a look at the Browns-Titans match-up set for Sunday, as two of the best running games in the NFL face-off. They also preview the struggling Eagles heading to Lambeau Field to take on the surging Packers, and the Las Vegas Raiders heading to East Rutherford to take on the 0-11 New York Jets. Finally, we close things out with Morten’s “Game Winner” – a weekly segment where Morten monologues his biggest takeaway of the week. This week, he talks about what makes Michael Irvin the “Playmaker."