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At Sproul Plaza, Quentin and I met up, shook hands and took a selfie together. It had been a few months since we last saw each other from our summer classes, but it seemed like two old friends just reconnecting. We walked down to a bench closer towards the rest of the campus and sat down. I told him before we started our interview, as I was recording it, that I was going to do this podcast style and that I would introduce him and who he was. Told him I had 32 questions and I would pause after every 10 or 11 questions, to bring the audience back in.
Part 1:
JG: Welcome to Commadose, I'm your host Justin Giffin, today's guest is Cal Football Player, Quentin Tartabull
QT: Yes sir
JG: Thank you for joining me today
QT: No Problem
JG: So I want to, you know, ask you a few questions here. I know you've been playing sports for several years so wanted to get your take on these things so I have a list of 32 questions I've kind of though of, first and foremost were the what are three reasons you like being part of a team sport?
QT: That's a good question. I would say my first reason is to build a really good brotherhood, you know between the team, just build long connections with people, also kind of helps like make a everything outside of sports, like school and my family just kind of, building characteristics and their like helping me become a better man in general
JG: You feel like these connections kind of find the interpersonal skills to maybe use in life later?
QT: Yeah, exactly and it also puts you a lot of adversity and within the sports, to where, when adversity hits you like throughout your life, I feel like you would handle it a lot better
JG: What's the best part about competing?
QT: Winning, you know that being able to dominate and just know that all your hard work is being paid off
JG: How do your teammates make practice fun?
QT: We all joke around, it's on and off the field was like cool we hang out off the field, were hanging out and were on the field feel like we just I got a party or some sort joking and having fun
JG: You have a jokester on the the team that pulls pranks on people?
QT: Got a couple jokesters on the team
JG: What is your favorite sports quote if you have one?
QT: It's by Bill Belichick is very simple its, "Do your job," because especially for football, as long 11 men on the field are doing their job you great chance of winning the game
JG: What emotions do you feel when you play well?
QT: There are so many emotions, good and bad that go through, even when you play well is like, so on the positive like dang, like everything every lift, every rep that I've taken, every sprint that I've done is paying off because this good feeling that you get, just accomplishing your goals, then on the flip-side is also, I did good, but I could have done better here, there is always the a bunch of emotions flying around
JG: Who do you wish was watching you perform at every game or match?
QT: The person that does watch me perform at every game, that is just my mom I love to know like she's watching me and that she's proud but also does love when my whole family is there, my friends are there. I'm doing it for them when I make a great play, I celebrate with my teammates and I already know where they are in the stands,
JG: You see them in the stands and seem them tell them, "You see this?"
QT: That has been the same ever since I started my sports is always been fun
JG: This is hard one, what is your favorite song to listen to, prior to competing?
QT: This is the funny thing, surprisingly I don't listen to music
JG: What about workouts? We have that certain song, for me it was "Eye of the Tiger" when I was working out.
QT: A song called MoBamba just came out like a turn up, I like Chief Keef, so my pre-game rituals I listen to like powerful speeches of this Inky Johnson, Ray Lewis, and Eric Thomas
JG: Not necessarily for a song but more than motivational speaker type and get in the back your head to revere what they're saying to yourself
QT: It helps me not get to spiked up with my energy, keeps me very calm, like laser focused
JG: What is your favorite movie about sports?
QT: So have to go with "Any Given Sunday" I love the speech that he gives a half time, it is really relative to how the business of football is played
JG: Where do you feel competent in your body, whether it's actually your body or your body of work?
QT: Not specifically right now, because of my injury but I really feel confident in my legs, like really fast twitched, when I am out there I'm not ever worried about someone running past me or being faster than me
JG: What qualities make a teammate a good team captain?
QT: Consistency, being able to get on the star players as well as the scout team players, not just being on the scout team players, not letting the stars doing whatever they want. Being open, being for your teammates, if the majority of your teammates want something, despite of what the coaches are thinking and wanting, being able to speak out with the team, what the players want
JG: So separating the staff from players, sometimes, just from playing sorts myself, I know that coaches have different things, when you're out there in the field because you're gonna see things that they're not, you're going to have to call out to the other guys, "watch this guy, watch him, watch him"
QT: I also think like a being able, being good at owning up to mistakes, so if you made a mistake but then it falls back on somebody else, being able to speak up about it, not let the other person take the blame for it
JG: Grabbing it, saying it is a team effort, we all missed it. How does a being an athlete make you a better person?
QT: This goes back to like adversity will be able to do with a lot of downs not freaking out and just understanding and push through it, and I think it just makes me stronger mentally and not quick to give up on things, I know a lot of people that they get in a relationship and if it's not going good, they just drop out, but I think it helps me to being able to build good relationships with people and maintain them. Being able to work through the problems and stuff. I think just in life it helps me work through life problems, and knowing not everything is going to go your way. How you deal with the outcome.
Part 2
JG: This Is a Commadose with Justin Giffin, and again my guest, Quentin Tartabull with the Cal Football Team. We're just asking him a shit load of questions, of on how it feels to be an athlete. Were kind of 1/3 of the way through the list. What is the one thing you always do after a good performance?
QT: Other than celebrate with Hennessy and Capriccio, I always have a really solid dinner with my family. I don't go out to the parties too much, but I like to bring it back to the house of with all my close people. We turn-up, dance, Karaoke.
JG: What is your big after dinner time or after game meal, was is the meal that is satisfying especially after a win?
QT: So restaurant wise it would be Eureka, down the street, but most of the time, my mom she'll go to Harris Ranch and bring some really good brisket up. We will get some ribs and beef for the most part.
JG: What do you do to calm the butterflies while you compete? We know you're feeling it out there. You got that guy staring you down.
QT: So what I do the calm those butterflies, is actually in my preparation before the game. Just knowing that I've came into that game prepared and that I'm ready for anything that they're ready to throw at me. So once I get into the game there is no nervousness. and also I think what helps is like my pregame ritual with like being able to get my mind centered.
JG: So you kind make yourself like Ray Lewis? So if you could play another sport what would it be? Badminton, right?
QT: If I were to play another sport based off what I like watch and play like video games, it would be soccer but if I'm thinking strategically, it would be baseball because of the longevity in it. The salary is something serious. That's what I plan on having my kids play.
JG: What age were you when you first started playing football?
QT: So I started playing flag football at five. The next year my mom she saw I was ready and I was always tackling bags and playing "Smear the queer" on the trampoline. I was actually playing tackle football on the concrete on before, I think I was the last generation to be playing outside. So I started playing tackle football at six, and what is funny is they didn't have a league set up for six and seven year olds. So I was playing with eight and nine year olds. (Pop Warner). So I got a couple of extra years like within that league just because I started a little earlier.
JG: Were you big guy or a little guy, with the helmet spinning around?
QT: No surprisingly I was kind of chunky too, so they had me on the offensive line for my first two years and they finally gave me the ball and my first play on the swing pass I scored and that's all she wrote.
JG: Do you have a plan to help get you to your best focused state? I know that you use all these pre-ritual voicing. Everything to put that mindset, do you have something, like tying our shoes a certain way, strapping up the tape a certain way. We all have different ways to motivate us, but what is one.
QT: I try not to get my head caught up in the little things. Knowing that I am mentally trying to stay consistent through my preparation, knowing that I am continuing do what I feel is best for me. I think that's the best thing to help me stay focused.
JG: What is your favorite food to eat the night before a big competition? I know I said after, but what's one big before?
QT: In high school, whether I wanted to or not, it would be spaghetti. Cause my Mom, she is a big sports person, she should knew that carbs would be good for me the night before. Nowadays, my girlfriend and I like to do the steak quesadillas, we eat at the hotel the night before the game, and I always get two steaks, a nice salad, and some mac and cheese. I load it up, then get an Oreo Shake.
JG: Do you use visual cues of your environment to help you focus? Something on the on the other side of the field, you have your family in the stands. What is it on the field that you put your cues for to help you focus to make sure not getting that wandering mind.
QT: When I am on the field, I am kind of looking back at the film that I watched all week, and trying to find the the similarities between the patterns that I have seen, within my preparation. The once I am out there, it is just go time. I am already just focused on what I have prepared for.
JG: Who inspired you as young athlete?
QT: There is a couple athletes, I would say my biggest two would be Mike Tyson (JG, not ear chomping, previous Mike Tyson), exactly the great Mike Tyson (JG: Quick release, quick punch, knock'em down) His fearlessness he had inspires me, I en-locked that characteristic in my head, then Brian Dawkins and the Safety from the Eagles, he is probably my biggest inspiration because on and off the field, he just such a good dude. He doesn't cuss, but he'll be so passionate and still so aggressive. He says, "Just because I don't cause, don't think I'm all cushy!" and that dude bangs still.
JG: One word that describes you?
QT: If I was going to say one, I would say passionate – everything I do, on and off the field. I try to live my life off the field, as great as I can. So once I am on the field, it can carryover.
Part 3:
JG: Again this is your host, Justin Giffin, with Commadose and with Quentin Tartabull with the Cal Bears football team. We are 2/3 of the way through these questions. Who is your favorite coach and why?
QT: I love my Pop Warner coaches because they were out there solely for us they didn't have kids on the team. All of my life, I have had coaches that wanted me to grow up to be the best man I can. I think they started that for me, in a high school it was a little different, because the coach was different.
JG: Let me ask you this, do you feel that with the high school coaches, they were pushing their own agenda rather than for the players and looking to climb that ladder more?
QT: They were about climbing themselves, through us it wasn't about helping us get better, but I would say that my favorite coach is my present head coach, Coach Wilcox cause he has instilled this culture in all of us. You know become great men and I can carry on with what my Pop Warner coaches were doing. I love what he is doing with us and how he is caring for us on and off the field. A lot of coaches, the don't really care about what you are doing off the field, as long as you are performing on the field. It might not get you as far as what he's doing, with helping us become great people, on and off the field.
JG: What do you or have you given up to play sports?
QT: I feel like I give up time with friends. I can't hangout today, as I need get some extra work in. I've given up partying, in which like that bothers me (JG: Maybe the friends thing a little negative, I guess depending on the outcome and where this takes you). It's been for so long, that from the outside you get, "Aw man, come to this party" There it's been like for me for so long, that it's nothing but could see something that I give up. I give up studying sometimes, just because maybe I am extra tired, or need some extra work. (JG: Audio books would come in handy at that point.) I give up family time, a lot of parties that will go on, that I might not be able to get to. I give up Thanksgiving, half or more of my life.
JG: Family Is Important. Where is your favorite place to compete?
QT: At "the house", California Memorial is my favorite place to compete.
JG: Let's rock! What mental tool do you use under pressure?
QT: My mental tool is knowing that I prepared, I've prepared to train for whatever has come at me. Simply knowing that my preparation is in tip top shape, keeps me mentally calm.
JG: You have had injuries before, what have you done to set your mindset towards recovering?
QT: Keeping God in my mind, taking advice from from everyone around me. My mom, the trainers and mentally just being able to know that I'm preparing for whatever I am doing, to get to my best, whether it's me going through an injury or about to play on Saturday. I feel consistently working at whatever I am trying to get to. Keeps me really mentally focused.
JG: Have you ever thought about using anything for faster recovery? I know growing up in high school we had guys you can tell, coming back after the summer, they were fat asses and then all of a sudden, they are all ripped. Where the fuck did those muscles come from.
QT: I tried using Creatine, 2 years ago, because I wanted to juice up a little faster. Other than that, I stuck to what was given to me naturally to try to work on, pumping iron, making myself the best I can.
JG: What is your favorite mantra? If I can do this, I can do that.
QT: If I can go through the hell of winter workouts, spring ball and fall camp, then I can play these games simply.
not have to feel nervous and unprepared for them.
JG: Mine would be, if you ain't cheating, you ain't trying. Do you think attitude is a factor in winning?
QT: Yes, that is huge factor in winning, if you're not confident and if you don't feel prepared and ready to win, expecting to win. Then it's not going to happen for you. So I would attitude is half the game, but it is a big portion of the game.
JG: We talked about all the people you say, that you think about the speeches. What image gets you ready to compete?
QT: I imagine a dog. Cause a dog doesn't think. (JG: The ball, Frisbee, it's his, he will go through anything to get it). If I ever have any doubt in my mind, if the dog can do whatever, then I can do whatever.
JG: Okay, a couple more here. How does being an athlete inspire you to do good?
QT: It inspires me to do a lot of good, I don't know how it does.
JG: I think of it like this. If I'm out there on the field and I know I have 50,000 people plus watching me, I don't want to fuck up, I don't want to make mistakes. It's not just my movements, not just making stupid plays, it's being a good character on the field.
QT: I would say that, and it also translates to over off the field stuff. I just know all the blessings, things that are given to me through the sport. I definitely try to get back every Sunday. All my leftover meals, I take over to People's Park, just let them enjoy it. I dropped of a ginormous bag of clothes one time. Just seeing smiles on other people's faces. I guess just knowing how blessed I am. I like give back as much as I can.
JG: How does athletics make you a better student or worker?
QT: I think through discipline, knowing if you got to do this job on the field, then you do the readings in the classroom. I haven't worked yet but I'm excited to bring my team characteristics to the work field. That would make me very successful.
JG: Our last one, who was your favorite sports hero?
QT: I Think I have a couple, but I have to go with Brian Dawkins again. Just because of his on and off the field characteristics. That is what I live for.
JG: John Wooden says, "Sports don't build character, they reveal it."
QT: Another thing, people could totally act a certain way but, once you get into a competitive situation.
JG: You find the asshole, you actually find the people that are true leaders. You can have assholes that are true leaders when they are on the field, they have to be more focused and get everyone else motivated. Again, Quentin, thanks for your time today.
Thanks for being with us for Commadose and my special guest, Quentin Tartabull, and we'll talk to you next time.
The sun had started to fade in the night as we finished up, there were other students around us as we talked, with skate boards and laughing and people standing around, but mostly, once we got into our interview, the rest of the world just faded into the background. We continued our interview for almost 30 minutes and at the end, we started to walk our separate ways, when he asked, “where you headed”, and I said “to my bike up the road.” He gladly gave me a lift and I said thanks for your time and we should get coffee sometime and I left.
I saw Quentin the other afternoon and shared with him the interview, told him that I appreciated the time he took to sit down with me. It is important to recognize that we take many things for granted in life, but one thing that we shouldn't, is other people's time.
Part 1:
JG: Welcome to Commadose, I'm your host Justin Giffin, today's guest is Cal Football Player, Quentin Tartabull
QT: Yes sir
JG: Thank you for joining me today
QT: No Problem
JG: So I want to, you know, ask you a few questions here. I know you've been playing sports for several years so wanted to get your take on these things so I have a list of 32 questions I've kind of though of, first and foremost were the what are three reasons you like being part of a team sport?
QT: That's a good question. I would say my first reason is to build a really good brotherhood, you know between the team, just build long connections with people, also kind of helps like make a everything outside of sports, like school and my family just kind of, building characteristics and their like helping me become a better man in general
JG: You feel like these connections kind of find the interpersonal skills to maybe use in life later?
QT: Yeah, exactly and it also puts you a lot of adversity and within the sports, to where, when adversity hits you like throughout your life, I feel like you would handle it a lot better
JG: What's the best part about competing?
QT: Winning, you know that being able to dominate and just know that all your hard work is being paid off
JG: How do your teammates make practice fun?
QT: We all joke around, it's on and off the field was like cool we hang out off the field, were hanging out and were on the field feel like we just I got a party or some sort joking and having fun
JG: You have a jokester on the the team that pulls pranks on people?
QT: Got a couple jokesters on the team
JG: What is your favorite sports quote if you have one?
QT: It's by Bill Belichick is very simple its, "Do your job," because especially for football, as long 11 men on the field are doing their job you great chance of winning the game
JG: What emotions do you feel when you play well?
QT: There are so many emotions, good and bad that go through, even when you play well is like, so on the positive like dang, like everything every lift, every rep that I've taken, every sprint that I've done is paying off because this good feeling that you get, just accomplishing your goals, then on the flip-side is also, I did good, but I could have done better here, there is always the a bunch of emotions flying around
JG: Who do you wish was watching you perform at every game or match?
QT: The person that does watch me perform at every game, that is just my mom I love to know like she's watching me and that she's proud but also does love when my whole family is there, my friends are there. I'm doing it for them when I make a great play, I celebrate with my teammates and I already know where they are in the stands,
JG: You see them in the stands and seem them tell them, "You see this?"
QT: That has been the same ever since I started my sports is always been fun
JG: This is hard one, what is your favorite song to listen to, prior to competing?
QT: This is the funny thing, surprisingly I don't listen to music
JG: What about workouts? We have that certain song, for me it was "Eye of the Tiger" when I was working out.
QT: A song called MoBamba just came out like a turn up, I like Chief Keef, so my pre-game rituals I listen to like powerful speeches of this Inky Johnson, Ray Lewis, and Eric Thomas
JG: Not necessarily for a song but more than motivational speaker type and get in the back your head to revere what they're saying to yourself
QT: It helps me not get to spiked up with my energy, keeps me very calm, like laser focused
JG: What is your favorite movie about sports?
QT: So have to go with "Any Given Sunday" I love the speech that he gives a half time, it is really relative to how the business of football is played
JG: Where do you feel competent in your body, whether it's actually your body or your body of work?
QT: Not specifically right now, because of my injury but I really feel confident in my legs, like really fast twitched, when I am out there I'm not ever worried about someone running past me or being faster than me
JG: What qualities make a teammate a good team captain?
QT: Consistency, being able to get on the star players as well as the scout team players, not just being on the scout team players, not letting the stars doing whatever they want. Being open, being for your teammates, if the majority of your teammates want something, despite of what the coaches are thinking and wanting, being able to speak out with the team, what the players want
JG: So separating the staff from players, sometimes, just from playing sorts myself, I know that coaches have different things, when you're out there in the field because you're gonna see things that they're not, you're going to have to call out to the other guys, "watch this guy, watch him, watch him"
QT: I also think like a being able, being good at owning up to mistakes, so if you made a mistake but then it falls back on somebody else, being able to speak up about it, not let the other person take the blame for it
JG: Grabbing it, saying it is a team effort, we all missed it. How does a being an athlete make you a better person?
QT: This goes back to like adversity will be able to do with a lot of downs not freaking out and just understanding and push through it, and I think it just makes me stronger mentally and not quick to give up on things, I know a lot of people that they get in a relationship and if it's not going good, they just drop out, but I think it helps me to being able to build good relationships with people and maintain them. Being able to work through the problems and stuff. I think just in life it helps me work through life problems, and knowing not everything is going to go your way. How you deal with the outcome.
Part 2
JG: This Is a Commadose with Justin Giffin, and again my guest, Quentin Tartabull with the Cal Football Team. We're just asking him a shit load of questions, of on how it feels to be an athlete. Were kind of 1/3 of the way through the list. What is the one thing you always do after a good performance?
QT: Other than celebrate with Hennessy and Capriccio, I always have a really solid dinner with my family. I don't go out to the parties too much, but I like to bring it back to the house of with all my close people. We turn-up, dance, Karaoke.
JG: What is your big after dinner time or after game meal, was is the meal that is satisfying especially after a win?
QT: So restaurant wise it would be Eureka, down the street, but most of the time, my mom she'll go to Harris Ranch and bring some really good brisket up. We will get some ribs and beef for the most part.
JG: What do you do to calm the butterflies while you compete? We know you're feeling it out there. You got that guy staring you down.
QT: So what I do the calm those butterflies, is actually in my preparation before the game. Just knowing that I've came into that game prepared and that I'm ready for anything that they're ready to throw at me. So once I get into the game there is no nervousness. and also I think what helps is like my pregame ritual with like being able to get my mind centered.
JG: So you kind make yourself like Ray Lewis? So if you could play another sport what would it be? Badminton, right?
QT: If I were to play another sport based off what I like watch and play like video games, it would be soccer but if I'm thinking strategically, it would be baseball because of the longevity in it. The salary is something serious. That's what I plan on having my kids play.
JG: What age were you when you first started playing football?
QT: So I started playing flag football at five. The next year my mom she saw I was ready and I was always tackling bags and playing "Smear the queer" on the trampoline. I was actually playing tackle football on the concrete on before, I think I was the last generation to be playing outside. So I started playing tackle football at six, and what is funny is they didn't have a league set up for six and seven year olds. So I was playing with eight and nine year olds. (Pop Warner). So I got a couple of extra years like within that league just because I started a little earlier.
JG: Were you big guy or a little guy, with the helmet spinning around?
QT: No surprisingly I was kind of chunky too, so they had me on the offensive line for my first two years and they finally gave me the ball and my first play on the swing pass I scored and that's all she wrote.
JG: Do you have a plan to help get you to your best focused state? I know that you use all these pre-ritual voicing. Everything to put that mindset, do you have something, like tying our shoes a certain way, strapping up the tape a certain way. We all have different ways to motivate us, but what is one.
QT: I try not to get my head caught up in the little things. Knowing that I am mentally trying to stay consistent through my preparation, knowing that I am continuing do what I feel is best for me. I think that's the best thing to help me stay focused.
JG: What is your favorite food to eat the night before a big competition? I know I said after, but what's one big before?
QT: In high school, whether I wanted to or not, it would be spaghetti. Cause my Mom, she is a big sports person, she should knew that carbs would be good for me the night before. Nowadays, my girlfriend and I like to do the steak quesadillas, we eat at the hotel the night before the game, and I always get two steaks, a nice salad, and some mac and cheese. I load it up, then get an Oreo Shake.
JG: Do you use visual cues of your environment to help you focus? Something on the on the other side of the field, you have your family in the stands. What is it on the field that you put your cues for to help you focus to make sure not getting that wandering mind.
QT: When I am on the field, I am kind of looking back at the film that I watched all week, and trying to find the the similarities between the patterns that I have seen, within my preparation. The once I am out there, it is just go time. I am already just focused on what I have prepared for.
JG: Who inspired you as young athlete?
QT: There is a couple athletes, I would say my biggest two would be Mike Tyson (JG, not ear chomping, previous Mike Tyson), exactly the great Mike Tyson (JG: Quick release, quick punch, knock'em down) His fearlessness he had inspires me, I en-locked that characteristic in my head, then Brian Dawkins and the Safety from the Eagles, he is probably my biggest inspiration because on and off the field, he just such a good dude. He doesn't cuss, but he'll be so passionate and still so aggressive. He says, "Just because I don't cause, don't think I'm all cushy!" and that dude bangs still.
JG: One word that describes you?
QT: If I was going to say one, I would say passionate – everything I do, on and off the field. I try to live my life off the field, as great as I can. So once I am on the field, it can carryover.
Part 3:
JG: Again this is your host, Justin Giffin, with Commadose and with Quentin Tartabull with the Cal Bears football team. We are 2/3 of the way through these questions. Who is your favorite coach and why?
QT: I love my Pop Warner coaches because they were out there solely for us they didn't have kids on the team. All of my life, I have had coaches that wanted me to grow up to be the best man I can. I think they started that for me, in a high school it was a little different, because the coach was different.
JG: Let me ask you this, do you feel that with the high school coaches, they were pushing their own agenda rather than for the players and looking to climb that ladder more?
QT: They were about climbing themselves, through us it wasn't about helping us get better, but I would say that my favorite coach is my present head coach, Coach Wilcox cause he has instilled this culture in all of us. You know become great men and I can carry on with what my Pop Warner coaches were doing. I love what he is doing with us and how he is caring for us on and off the field. A lot of coaches, the don't really care about what you are doing off the field, as long as you are performing on the field. It might not get you as far as what he's doing, with helping us become great people, on and off the field.
JG: What do you or have you given up to play sports?
QT: I feel like I give up time with friends. I can't hangout today, as I need get some extra work in. I've given up partying, in which like that bothers me (JG: Maybe the friends thing a little negative, I guess depending on the outcome and where this takes you). It's been for so long, that from the outside you get, "Aw man, come to this party" There it's been like for me for so long, that it's nothing but could see something that I give up. I give up studying sometimes, just because maybe I am extra tired, or need some extra work. (JG: Audio books would come in handy at that point.) I give up family time, a lot of parties that will go on, that I might not be able to get to. I give up Thanksgiving, half or more of my life.
JG: Family Is Important. Where is your favorite place to compete?
QT: At "the house", California Memorial is my favorite place to compete.
JG: Let's rock! What mental tool do you use under pressure?
QT: My mental tool is knowing that I prepared, I've prepared to train for whatever has come at me. Simply knowing that my preparation is in tip top shape, keeps me mentally calm.
JG: You have had injuries before, what have you done to set your mindset towards recovering?
QT: Keeping God in my mind, taking advice from from everyone around me. My mom, the trainers and mentally just being able to know that I'm preparing for whatever I am doing, to get to my best, whether it's me going through an injury or about to play on Saturday. I feel consistently working at whatever I am trying to get to. Keeps me really mentally focused.
JG: Have you ever thought about using anything for faster recovery? I know growing up in high school we had guys you can tell, coming back after the summer, they were fat asses and then all of a sudden, they are all ripped. Where the fuck did those muscles come from.
QT: I tried using Creatine, 2 years ago, because I wanted to juice up a little faster. Other than that, I stuck to what was given to me naturally to try to work on, pumping iron, making myself the best I can.
JG: What is your favorite mantra? If I can do this, I can do that.
QT: If I can go through the hell of winter workouts, spring ball and fall camp, then I can play these games simply.
not have to feel nervous and unprepared for them.
JG: Mine would be, if you ain't cheating, you ain't trying. Do you think attitude is a factor in winning?
QT: Yes, that is huge factor in winning, if you're not confident and if you don't feel prepared and ready to win, expecting to win. Then it's not going to happen for you. So I would attitude is half the game, but it is a big portion of the game.
JG: We talked about all the people you say, that you think about the speeches. What image gets you ready to compete?
QT: I imagine a dog. Cause a dog doesn't think. (JG: The ball, Frisbee, it's his, he will go through anything to get it). If I ever have any doubt in my mind, if the dog can do whatever, then I can do whatever.
JG: Okay, a couple more here. How does being an athlete inspire you to do good?
QT: It inspires me to do a lot of good, I don't know how it does.
JG: I think of it like this. If I'm out there on the field and I know I have 50,000 people plus watching me, I don't want to fuck up, I don't want to make mistakes. It's not just my movements, not just making stupid plays, it's being a good character on the field.
QT: I would say that, and it also translates to over off the field stuff. I just know all the blessings, things that are given to me through the sport. I definitely try to get back every Sunday. All my leftover meals, I take over to People's Park, just let them enjoy it. I dropped of a ginormous bag of clothes one time. Just seeing smiles on other people's faces. I guess just knowing how blessed I am. I like give back as much as I can.
JG: How does athletics make you a better student or worker?
QT: I think through discipline, knowing if you got to do this job on the field, then you do the readings in the classroom. I haven't worked yet but I'm excited to bring my team characteristics to the work field. That would make me very successful.
JG: Our last one, who was your favorite sports hero?
QT: I Think I have a couple, but I have to go with Brian Dawkins again. Just because of his on and off the field characteristics. That is what I live for.
JG: John Wooden says, "Sports don't build character, they reveal it."
QT: Another thing, people could totally act a certain way but, once you get into a competitive situation.
JG: You find the asshole, you actually find the people that are true leaders. You can have assholes that are true leaders when they are on the field, they have to be more focused and get everyone else motivated. Again, Quentin, thanks for your time today.
Thanks for being with us for Commadose and my special guest, Quentin Tartabull, and we'll talk to you next time.
The sun had started to fade in the night as we finished up, there were other students around us as we talked, with skate boards and laughing and people standing around, but mostly, once we got into our interview, the rest of the world just faded into the background. We continued our interview for almost 30 minutes and at the end, we started to walk our separate ways, when he asked, “where you headed”, and I said “to my bike up the road.” He gladly gave me a lift and I said thanks for your time and we should get coffee sometime and I left.
I saw Quentin the other afternoon and shared with him the interview, told him that I appreciated the time he took to sit down with me. It is important to recognize that we take many things for granted in life, but one thing that we shouldn't, is other people's time.