Former Chargers defensive end and new author Marcellus Wiley was a guest on the latest episode of Chargers Weekly, the official podcast of the team.
Before Sunday's game against the Arizona Cardinals, Wiley will be signing his new book, "Never Shut Up” on the main concourse of ROKiT Field at StubHub Center, right outside the team store. Highlights from the conversation are below:
Never Shut Up" on the main concourse of ROKiT Field at StubHub Center, right outside the team store. Highlights from the conversation are below (33-minute mark of the podcast):
Wiley on "Never Shut Up" (33:40):
"It's a book to inspire everyone out there, no matter what your circumstances are, your adversity. It's just to inspire you to never shut up in terms of telling the world exactly what you want and telling the world exactly who you are. I'm a kid from the inner-city of Los Angeles – Compton, California, South Central Los Angeles – and a lot of people growing up told me my limits, those limitations: what I could be, what I couldn't be, and it was just about my essence; never shutting up, and really just trying to plan a life that was going to allow me and my family to leave our circumstances, to leave the neighborhood and to make something of ourselves."
On when he realized he wanted to write a book (34:55):
"Years ago, five years plus, publishers came to me knowing my story on paper and thought it was an amazing story, a unique story, and they wanted to put it out there. But at that time, I felt like it was going to be too narrow of scope. I thought it was going to be too much focused on football, and third-and-goal and a cloud of dust, and I didn't want that story. I didn't want it to be limited just to the gridiron. I wanted it to really expand beyond the game, to the game within the game, and the long game of life. I retired at age 32, and being retired, I played 10 years – a decade in the NFL – and still I'm 32 years young and I'm in the real world. So, once I was able to grasp my experience outside of the game: broadcasting, family life, some of the real world dynamics and I can incorporate those with the football stories, then I thought we had something."
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