We see the evolution of Michael Irvin

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- The best part of Super Bowl week is spending a day hanging out on "radio row."

It's the room in the host city's convention center where radio stations from the across the country gather to hype the Super Bowl by conducting interviews with athletes and celebrities, mostly current and former NFL players.

Kansas City's Sports Radio 810 WHB is here, perched alongside a station from Washington, D.C. and not all that far from where nationally syndicated hosts such as Jim Rome, Stephen A. Smith and Tim Brando do their shows.

Thursday, I circled radio row for five hours, chit-chatting with Merrill Hoge, Warren Sapp, Jamie Dukes, Troy Aikman, Bill Romanowski and a few others. Joe Montana and Jerry Rice also made appearances on radio row. Miss America stood around for a couple of hours wearing her crown. Chad Ochocinco taped his TV show along radio row.

I've been frequenting radio row for 15-plus Super Bowls. Thursday I had an experience I'll never forget.

Michael Irvin, the former Dallas Cowboys receiver, walked over, shook my hand and started up a 40-minute conversation that absolutely blew my mind.

Let me give you a little background. I've long been a critic of Irvin's television work. When he worked for ESPN - at the same time that I did - Irvin's shtick really bothered me. I thought he was too flamboyant, a stereotypical caricature of the irresponsible black athlete. When police busted Irvin with a crack pipe in his car, I began calling Irvin the "Pipemaker," a play off his self-given nickname "The Playmaker."

Irvin was aware of all this, although he never complained to me. ESPN TV and Irvin eventually parted company. During the 2008 NFL season, I caught Irvin doing a radio broadcast of a 2008 NFL game. He was terrific - charismatic, insightful, articulate and passionate. He was the broadcaster I wanted him to be when he was on ESPN. I wrote a few words of praise about Irvin in a column I do for FOXSports.com.

A few months later, Irvin invited me on his Dallas radio show. He couldn't have been any more polite and professional. He told me that he understood my job and that I had a right to express my opinion about his work.

Thursday was the first time I'd seen Irvin since being on his radio show. It was the first time we'd ever had a chance to really talk. Wow.
Michael Irvin sounded like a mix of Harry Edwards, Jim Brown and Billy Graham. The loud-talking, all-style-little-substance trash talker has transformed himself into an extremely thoughtful person, someone with an important message for young professional athletes and the men who supervise them.

"There's so much to be gained from process," Irvin told me and two Miami radio hosts. "Professional athletics doesn't have time for process. Athletes are given wealth instantly. We live in a society that used to prepare meals in a process and put them in the oven to bake and now we put things in a microwave and eat right away. We're into instant gratification. We've lost the process. We've lost patience."

I'm not doing Irvin's message justice. He spoke eloquently and at length. I scribbled notes as fast as I could. I needed a tape recorder. His point was that athletes, particularly athletes from dysfunctional and broken homes, struggle when they're handed instant wealth and fame but haven't been provided years of training on how to handle wealth and fame.

He acknowledged that was his problem when he was a Dallas Cowboy. The allure of sex and drugs swept him up in his youth. And now at age 43, he finally has an understanding of whom he is, what his purpose in life is.

"See, our problem as men is we find our worth in our women," Irvin said. "That's not right. Your worth is in the work you do. Your work is your purpose in this life. When you find your worth in women, you spend all your time trying to please this woman rather than pleasing God."

Irvin found his purpose in his two sons, age 12 and 11. He said he lives in fear of his sons punching his name into Google and reading negative stories from his wild days. He says raising his sons has caused him to become more self-aware and self-reflective.

Irvin said he recently finished reading the book, "The Edison Gene: ADHD and the Gift of the Hunter Child." The book explores attention deficit disorder and hyperactivity disorder and how it caused inventor Thomas Edison's teachers to label him a "problem" child when in fact ADHD, if understood, can be a blessing.

Irvin said the book also explains how an expectant mother's environment and attitude can affect the brain of an unborn child. He said, if a mother is in a "threatening" environment, the child is likely to have a diminished ability to reason and a heightened aggressive attitude.
Again, I can't do the conversation justice. I'm just glad I stopped my frivolous conversation about a football game and engaged Irvin in something important. It warmed my spirit to learn that an NFL bad boy has intellectually evolved so impressively.

As fans and journalists, we get so upset with young athletes for the mistakes they make, we lose sight of the fact they can and will evolve. I'm sure Irvin is not perfect. But he's on the proper journey. And he can help some of the young guys making the same mistakes he made in his youth.

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(sacbee.com)