When A Giant Speaks with Carl Banks

We speak to Former NY Giant and Superbowl Champion Carl Banks about Athletes and Social Activism, How to Play Football with Social Distancing, His Fashion Career and much more...

Carl Banks

• IG: @carlbanksgiii

Transcript:

then we hear this this narrative of well it doesn't affect young people or young people will recover from it or you know kids only get the sniffles that in my opinion is pure bullshit

i think this conversation is mostly going to be between me and you carl as a i'm a former athlete and you're a former elite athlete so uh he's i'm more than brave man i i played ball back in the day come on anyway i'm not over i'm not all brains and looks carl don't don't get don't let them fool you okay welcome back to recommended daily dose i'm your host dr clinton coleman along with my athletically challenged colleague dr sarad sugger we have a special guest today he is a two-time nfl super bowl champion of new york giants he's also a fashion entrepreneur and owner of g3 clothing the carl banks in the house welcome sir welcome thank you for having me thanks for being here now suffice it to say we're living in very um interesting times so we want to get your opinions on all the social racial issues have been going have been going on and particularly how it relates to sports as well as you know what your opinions are as far as the pandemic in sports and and last but not least if you can help my colleague with some fashion advice because i know you're you're in the fashion industry if you just look at his uh his 1970 butterfly

collar and i always subscribe to that mantra if you haven't flaunted so you know people like you that are very thin build clinton you got to cover up but you know him and i will talk about it we got a lot to go on but we should hit the serious stuff first most likely i think so and carl i'll tell you the reason we want to discuss the racial issues and and and you know we we've always tried well we try to be entertaining and be medically relevant we do feel it's our obligation as physicians to talk about race and issues and how it affects public health and health in general and you know i think that's expanded to a lot of other issues as well as sports so the idea of staying in your lane i think is an antiquated one so what is your thoughts on that um well i couldn't agree more with you i think uh where we have come you know if i just look at the silo of of athletes right athletes and activism um if you were historically an activist you were looked upon as an outsider an agitator um if you advocate for for rights uh in your community it was frowned upon because you know traditionally in sports you know when you use the phrase stay in your lane that's exactly what it was it was like you know you're here to play football we don't want this other stuff in our locker room um even though you know even if we go back to a layer down from professional sports you're looking at college kids that uh have been recruited and college coaches have come into communities right to pick their best their best athletes and you walk through these communities you drive through these communities um and you see the way of life but yet the um the narrative is we're gonna change your way of life so you don't have to bring that here right um but you are proud of your environment and um obviously you know when you get into certain environments be a college of pro you have to comport yourself as a professional but you don't have to compromise who you are what you stand for and what you believe in and um it has been so depressed for years and then if you were a person who uh was advocating or or being an activist for causes it was just frowned upon but now um given you know we're a few years removed from colin kaepernick being the worst american that could ever exist i am unpatriotic right until um his very same issues that he was advocating was brought live with the murder of george george floyd and now everybody has a a reckoning and it's oh well you know what maybe we should have listened more when you were listening you just didn't want to acknowledge because it impacted your bottom line which uh at a certain point when colin first decided um to really bring this issue to the forefront peacefully albeit and um in a very quiet fashion um the leagues the networks and the coaches decided that it wasn't good for business and the interesting thing about that is he was not speaking out on it per se he was just he was making until he was asked um he was never he was he was never a guy that was outspoken about it and then when he talked about it it became an issue and then you know they made it a bigger issue because right that works focused on it they focused on his on his kneeling every week now i know for a fact that if a person ran across your screen nude every week the cameras wouldn't be on it so the leaks had a um they had an option to not show him during the album but they chose to do that and make it a narrative and keep putting it out there to make the kid look bad and now they're backtracking uh and saying that we were wrong we should have listened well they should have listened to begin with but because they knew it happens but these kids they they they come into professional sports not as dummies you know they're not a blank slate they are part of their communities so and i think um your future will tell but you know i think the pivotal point of all this is now when the organizations and the teams are getting involved like individual athletes have always spoken out but when you know the nba has black lives matter on their on their basketball court and the jerseys or certain uh college football teams won't play because if they hang the confederate flag i think that will change so i think it's it's beyond just the individual athlete i think it's the organizations now so the nba has always been progressive they've always been ahead of the curve the nfl is you know you wear helmet we don't want we don't want your individuality to show beyond the uniform um but it's changed like i said with the the uh live stream of the murder of george floyd made everybody stand up and look and you know if you say you hear people say well there's no systemic racism there's no this isn't that when you know people's in black people in black and brown communities have been experiencing police brutality for a long time and it's gone unchecked um case in point when you look at what happened to the generation president of the toronto raptors being shelled by a police officer and the police officer said it was him that was being aggressive then all of a sudden the body camera footage comes out and now they've got a back track to have but they stood behind that officer and i am not police let me be clear about that because i have several in my family um but you know they have to be held accountable and they cannot uh the establishment of law enforcement cannot continue to shield these atrocities and and cover up with them um because it is not good for society what are your thoughts on uh my friends uh former sorry team um the right redskins changing their name was that i have two questions how does that what do you think about that and how does that affect you being in the the licensing industry as far as apparel and stuff like that i'm sure you have an inventory of redskins stuff and that has to change but well we did but the timing came um right because we we had not shipped any products a lot of product did not make it out of our factory so we were able to adjust and you know retailers were on board with it too so we were okay and then you know you look at it uh from a economic standpoint as an opportunity for new product to get into the marketplace so um it has its its pluses and its negatives but um you know in in terms of of the name change it's interesting because you know they went by that name for so long and the native americans who have been voiceless in regards to this this offense um now all of a sudden had a voice and they had to uh they had to be heard now there were some other factions of the native american community that was giving uh dan schneider and you know for years not even just dan schneider but jack and cook um giving him a pass and it's okay we're fine with it but um you know with generations the change of generations people's sensitivities are different and i don't think it's it was any uh less offensive back in the 70s or the 60s it was probably more offensive but um people's voice are being heard and they had to make the change yeah i like that crawl i mean if i can interject because yes i've been a fan since i was a kid i'm from maryland and you know there was some sentiment among friends colleagues that hey this has been a name that hasn't bothered anyone for so long why make it a big deal now and i like the way you brought it out is that you know this has always been offensive it's just that people that are most offended by it and rightfully so uh we must be let's be frank i mean this was a derogatory term uh that the white skins would say against those that are of native american descent oftentimes they would say no redskins allowed in bars restaurants et cetera right so but they didn't have the voice i really uh appreciate that because you know there's been plenty of people who said it wasn't a big deal so what's why is it a big deal now why are all of a sudden people's feelings getting hurt and i agree with you i think it's not that they're just getting hurt now i think they were hurt all along it's just that maybe they didn't want to rock the boat they didn't feel like they had the political uh means or they didn't have the um uh you know the ability to advocate for their own well-being so i think it's because those people have told me hey what about the cleveland indians what about the braves so you know those are actually uh terms of uh either neutral or in terms of braves actually something you would give as an honor but you know redskins anyone knows history redskins was always a derogatory term so as a fan of the team that's not the ownership of the team uh you know for many years especially the heyday when you played against them uh when they as you mentioned dominating nfc along with the giants and the 49ers um i still you know was somewhat torn by it and i i am more than happy as a fan you know i would never want someone to be uh offended by something i'm enjoying so i'm looking forward to a new name i've heard they've mentioned the redhawks i don't know if that's a name that i think they're gonna have the uh the fans vote on it but um i for one uh you know i appreciate your um your explanation of why you know it took so long for a name to change but i think it's it's the right time so i appreciate that very much well change is you know part of life and yeah because you know because you have uh communities or races that have been ignored and their oppression has been accepted as a way of life we go through our daily lives not giving it a second thought until just with the same thing in the instance of police brutality and as it relates to um this george unfortunate george floyd death it brought it to the forefront and it gave the other marginalized communities of color an opportunity to speak their piece as well or speak their truth and now um you know g3 clothing and starter which you you know is probably one of the premier sports clothing brands um i'm sure the fashion industry can be probably just as toxic as you know the rest of you know sports and all that stuff um as a black entrepreneur like how was that navigating like the fashion industry because when i think of recent stuff i think of like gucci and h m and all their stuff with uh with the racially charged stuff how was it for you starting well um getting into the business it's it you know and i tell a lot of african-american designers there is an adjustment um because you got to know what you're doing the the um the passion that you have for the industry and in the artistry of what you do is only part of the equation um in order not to be taken advantage of you've got to understand the business element of it and it's not that difficult to be accepted in the vet in the fashion industry uh i think a lot of young designers are intimidated because um they work in their own silos they are their vibe is different but then when you walk around my office it's the same vibe that they um they have in their own home studios if they want to wear uh shorts if they want to uh wear their hair a certain way we do not look down on that um but clearly if you are to meet with a a retailer or an executive you're going to have to dress the part it's just no different you don't have to change your hair but you can't come into a meeting with um with a major retailer in shorts or in a tank top but if you're at your desk you know do you i mean play your music listen to whatever you want to listen to we want we encourage the creativity but there is a learning curve um that you have to you know adjust personally to with anything else in life you know you um you don't have to compromise who you are you just have to make the adjustments uh within the structure that you're working in um but for me you know it was

kind of uh dispelling the the stereotype of just being an athlete and you know it worked to my advantage to get the meetings that i wanted but at that point i had to be able to present my vision to present my idea and to um articulate you know how i want to be competency you know especially if i had um the assets that i built walking through the door there's no reason why those assets are devalued once i get in the door or um to have someone say well i'm only going to give you x amount you're just going to have to take it no you you have something that could benefit it's mutually beneficial to your business partners and you work out a deal that works but you've gotta you gotta understand the business you gotta be able to ask the questions before you take the meetings because oftentimes people are so happy to have someone uh manufacture or take their brand and take it to the next level right that they don't um ask for what is fair to them or or to be recognized as the creator of that brand and i tell people all the time don't lose that you are the creator you are an asset so you've got to make sure that you have a deal that works for you oh carl appreciate that you mentioned you know addressing the part and you know when clinton first started practice he would wear a tank top and store it besides home listen man if you're a doctor you shouldn't be seeing patients so you see now he's got more let's talk about your shirt your collars and he's a big look i'm a dress how golf players dress but you know tennis golf you know we're gonna switch it up a little bit i mean during this covet 19 pandemic have become very popular right because they're kind of naturally socially distant so yeah and you know uh we recently heard the news about how the big ten and some other football conferences in college are now uh delaying the season because they're finding out um with their young athletes otherwise healthy developing a lot of issues with cover 19. one being cardiomyopathy just for anyone listening out there it's a cause of sudden death uh uh in athletes when you usually hear about athletes it's just otherwise healthy to drop dead right so it's a it's a inflammation of the heart we now know that coba 19 can cause that so the reason i'm bringing it up is i was wondering what are your thoughts about how uh you know and i'm not just talking elite athletes like yourself but i mean even and or even college athletes but you know back to school i mean everyone wants to do sports in some way shape or form uh for their kids uh why sports have their kids play sports so what are your thoughts on about just how we can do about safely

you guys are in the medical profession so um i subscribe to uh science uh and the people that know and it's it's not a political issue for me it's a it's a issue of humanity and what i know about sports is that it can be a great uniter but what i also know about human behavior is that you can't legislate it um you have to have a buy-in for the good of all or else you're going to be denied the luxuries in life that you're you're accustomed to and if you're in college and if someone says to you hey you're gonna have to sacrifice for six weeks so that we can get this under control so that you can have the life that you want so that you can have the sports that you want um then you have to do it but it it takes and we're seeing case after case on a daily basis now of universities coming back and the first thing the kids do is have a pig party yeah the uh infections go up and then we hear this this narrative of well it doesn't affect young people or young people will recover from it or you know kids only get the sniffles that in my opinion is pure bullshit because it's not just opinion that's scientific fact you're absolutely right the thing about it is we're talking about humans are we are we saying that um it's okay for people to get a deadly disease that we don't know everything about right now is it okay that okay well your kid gets it and goes home to his parents and his parents die as a result of it you know or if you're in society you know well yeah i i got it but i'm 18 i'm going to be fine but i'm in a store and there's a clerk who's a senior citizen or someone who has an underlying condition that now contracts coded and they die you know um so this this narrative and and i i say it it's bullshit because it does not factor in humanity yeah it's it's it's it's it's a selfish narrative and um most of the people that are are spewing this would not put those their own kids no in these situations so um i uh i'll be because sports is my business you know i'm a broadcaster i sell sports apparel i amongs a lot of other people would like nothing more tennessee sports played in the way that it traditionally is but there's a fact of life here right and we in order to get what we need we've got to be able to make this sacrifice for the greater good and because we have these dissenting voices that are minimizing um the importance of safety the importance of following god medical guidelines to get things back to normal right where we're we're we're having a problem getting there and and it's only because of you know people ingest this nonsense and then they get on a soapbox and they are no more doctor than i am but they won't listen to a doctor and then they'll give you the what-ifs or my friend this or my friend that just do it for all of us right you know do it if you want to send your kids to school and they get infected and get you infected then you have you're singing a different story sure and i think it's uh it's a safe way to bring back sports to see what the nba is doing with the bowl the playoffs started yesterday you know golf was playing i think soccer baseball had some hiccups do you think that'll work with with the nfl you know i think the the rookies can't even sneak uh they're they're women in the hotels

do you think the nfl is football in general is can be practiced or played in a way that's compliant like you can't be socially distant and you can't i mean those things are probably pretty difficult i guess well they're difficult but when you create the the isolation similar to what uh the uh mba has done in hockey and a few others where they're amongst themselves right now in training camp so there they have the most complex testing systems and they have tiered the access to even employees that no one is to be around the players it works but once they're released back into society is where you're going to have your challenges because again like i said you can't legislate human behavior but if guys are willing to make those sacrifices and their their families are willing to make the sacrifices not to do things that are reckless and when you're in society you have to wear your mask and you have to social distance i think football is going to be fine but because everybody is contained right now and the testing uh protocols are as they are football can be fine it's again once you integrate back into society what your behavior is is gonna pretty much dictate the success of the sport not letting people understands is a smart thing at this point but just the game itself being played if everyone's tested it's no different it's it's no less socially distanced than this point basketball talk to each other every probably they touch each other more than football players um so it's no different than all of those guys have tested they clear uh their medical protocols and they're not in and out of um normal society so they are able to uh maintain their their health status you know carl when we talk to you it's clear your empathy for others you know really shines through and then you know everything you spoke about um for the greater good for public health i tell you if more people thought that way our jobs would be a lot easier so i really commend you on that and i think that's a good segue because you're not just a man you know a businessman uh you know just a former elite athlete uh but you know you're also someone who gives back to your community i know um and i was speaking to clinton you know before you logged on about all your uh work in the community and i would love to hear about the carl banks foundation et cetera so you can touch on that i think that would be fantastic well i i've uh dedicated myself to basically three causes one is autism um because i have nephews that are that are autistic um the other one is is uh men stopping violence against women it's a um a not-for-profit out of georgia that's doing great work and because you know sports in and of itself traditionally has is has fostered the um culture of toxic masculinity uh because all the modulism i think it's it's changing players are evolving um but that's important to me and then the other one are children of incarcerated parents you know um because we've if we if we've lived through the 80s and 90s forgive the uh the sirens in the background uh new york city um but if we lived through you know the 80s and 90s we knew that the criminal justice system took away a great deal of parents from their children and we've seen uh second generations repeat certain behaviors because they have not had the parenting that has been necessary for them so um you know working with children of incarcerated parents and making sure that they have some type of contact uh with their parents that are incarcerated i think is very important now that's that's fantastic i mean i have to ask you where do you find your time to do all these different things i mean three different major charities you know i want to ask you about your work with autism you mentioned um you know you have a personal familial you know a reason to be so involved do you do any advocacy about the big fallacies out there with the connection with autism and vaccines you know and how that can be we were talking a little bit about public health earlier and that's something that i hold very dear is the idea of vaccinations and and public health you know and the greater good and as you know there's been a lot of misinformation about sure uh vaccines and autism well again one of the one of the areas i'm going to deviate just slightly one of the areas that athletes get in trouble is when they speak on things that they don't have knowledge of right so i i don't i i know that vaccines work okay um but i can't have a debate with someone um that's telling me why they think something happens but my sister who is the mother of autistic twins can she can fight that battle right uh but i will refer any any anti-vaxxer to medical medical research and medical professionals um i i don't have enough knowledge to really speak to uh to temp down that narrative i can tell anybody that's saying it that it's not true but then if someone says prove it's not then i'm gonna have you two guys talk about it right you know um because you know i i i advocate for the things that are important to autistic children and families that are um are faced with it they have to struggle with life of their children once they're gone um education for their children and making sure that they can learn um having the proper medical care you know things as simple as going to the dentist is traumatizing for both the kids and the parents so those are the things that i focus on uh but when people when people wanna tell you it's because of that uh vaccinations i'm gonna say you're not you're not right but i'm gonna have doctors tell you why because a lot of those folks are getting their information um from places that just are not sound and you know if i can't if i can't back that up in my own uh conversations then i'm gonna say talk to the doctors let them tell you no i appreciate that because you know while we need scientists and physicians and researchers to have that discussion we need people of your stature to at least you know advocate because you know a lot of people are going to listen to you and that's that's really i mean i hold that dear to my heart so i appreciate um you answer that question almost as perfectly as one could it's saying hey i can't necessarily speak to every scientific uh issue because we know autism is a multi-factorial uh issue uh but you know to say look let's trust science and let's look at the scientific data which by the way of course as we hopefully most of us should know has never shown any association with autism um you know by saying hey i advocate for this but i will let the scientists discuss it that's really a you know a fantastic way to go about things it's kind of like if i can be a football fan but you know i'm gonna allow uh i can't really say too much because you know i know i never wear the rest of them that's why you can't say too much the washington football team let's let's let's be correct here now so well can i ask you just a quick question no so for the nfl um gear so my son said okay dad i can't wear my redskins jersey anymore i said no we can't you know he said well will you can you buy me a washington football team jersey until next year when i can get the new i said no way you know i mean you're 11 years old i'm not spending i mean you have to learn the value of a buck but isn't that a little and again this is a completely off base here isn't that a little uh sneaky of uh i guess the nfl apparel you know that they're gonna sell because people are gonna buy it right they're gonna buy the washington poll uh jerseys and then one year i guess they'll buy that whatever it's gonna be the red hawks has read something presumably so is that just the way it is they just know that the people are crazy about nfl gear and they're going to buy it no matter what yeah but you know fandom the the and this is the beautiful part of why i got into the business um and i took the starter brand over um yeah because starter was the first brand to really make fandom aware experience right so to be able to have something that represents your team today it's important because if you know anything about fans and this is where you know it's the curse of of my business is that they buy um multiple things yeah my business the curse of my business is i manufacture too well my product doesn't fall apart so if i go to fedex field i see jackets that i've manufactured 10 years ago still looking great um but you know a lot of these things you know they wear out and people want to buy the next one anyway and i think that's part of the uh part of the the uh consequences of or intended consequences of some of the shoes that are out people buy they have to have the next one in the next one and the next one and i think that fatality has spilled over into um into sports apparel as well it's just like not having one and being good with it anymore it's having the next one or the new one right now i have a um unfortunately traumatizing starter related story so when i was in i can imagine when i was 13 when i was 13 years old we lived in the um yeah exactly we lived in a town that was i wouldn't say you know it was hood adjacent so taking the the school bus i had my eagles starter jacket on and you know we got off the bus walking home you know of course it was it was taken from me so and i think that was a common thing i think it speaks to you know that brand which you know i'm glad that you've taken over but your story is so amazing i you know i'm glad that we want to talk to you about this and highlight some of the good things that that you're doing and um you know we look forward to things in the future from you i appreciate it i appreciate it and you know um started for me starter is such a legacy brand um started define you know how sports should should look on the sideline how it should be presented in public um before starter i mean you know starter is the most iconic brand in all the sports they've been a part of every championship and this was prior to nike even coming on the scene so um it's it's something that is very near to me um and dear to me because it defined you know how fandoms should be worn you know and it's uh it's a beautiful thing man and i'm i'm glad that uh we have uh put the product back in the market and thankfully safely no one is uh committing crimes to get a jacket i wish i could find now i wish i could find the person that took my jacket i'd have some strong words for them yeah it's uh that was that was a tough time man and you know that eight ball jackets yeah exactly um but but i'm glad that we as a society we've moved on from that right and if anybody wants one i'll send it for free they don't have to

carl where can uh anyone listening find you on social media linkedin and elsewhere i'm sure you're all over the place anything especially you are old like that i've got a linkedin and i'm not instagram something give me something on instagram and i'm and i'm twitter carl banks g-i-i-i um it's where i am and um you know please follow me because i have a lot of fun stuff you ask me uh how do i have time to do all of that and i i still have other um ambitious goals that that i'm i'm pursuing now um in the food space as well so uh stay tuned carl it's very inspirational you know we are so pleased and and thankful you came on today no not just nfl champion uh not just businessman but really you know even more so what came out to me is just an amazing human being who gives back is to a community uh tenfold you know i think if more people did that you know and and gave back more than they took out uh humanity and this earth would be a better place so we very much appreciate you coming on our show today well i appreciate you having me and you know when we speak of humanity now that uh we're in a pandemic and we see how much you know is taken away from us when we take it for granted maybe it does move us towards you know a more unified culture well i tell you what i don't think clint and i have had a better host better guess sorry and it will be a host to a better guest in recent times than you uh so again i'm so pleased for you to come on to recommend daily dose find us on spotify on itunes and as well as on youtube the link will be uh at the bottom of the screen but until next time i'm your co-host dr serge sager and my sidekick dr glenn coleman until next time be well be well carl thank you so much