Beyond the NFL: Damontre Moore on Fatherhood, Mental Health & Legacy

In this powerful episode of the Just My Baby Daddy Podcast, AJ Adams sits down with former NFL star Damontre Moore to explore the true meaning of fatherhood beyond the game. Damontre opens up about his journey from playing at the highest levels of football to embracing his most important role—being a dad.

He reflects on the inspiration he gained from his own father and mentors, the challenges of balancing a demanding professional career with parenting, and the lessons learned along the way. The conversation dives into the importance of mental health, the unique experiences of raising a daughter, and the responsibility of instilling confidence and resilience in children.

At the heart of the discussion is Damontre’s vision of legacy—not measured in touchdowns or trophies, but in equipping his children with the values and tools to succeed in life. This episode is a candid, heartfelt look at fatherhood, growth, and what it truly means to leave something lasting for the next generation.

00:00 The Meaning of Fatherhood
02:27 Inspiration from Family
05:10 Becoming a Role Model
08:04 Lessons from Siblings
09:23 The Pressure of Fatherhood
11:04 Navigating Professional Sports and Family
12:17 Adjusting to Parenthood
15:43 The Challenges of Constant Movement
20:05 Coping with Absence
24:32 Passing on the Legacy
26:24 Navigating Fatherhood and Legacy
36:11 The Impact of a Daughter
46:54 Defining a Father's Legacy

Transcript

AJ Adams (00:10)
Welcome to another episode of Just My Baby Daddy Podcast. It's your favorite baby daddy AJ. And today it's a pleasure because we always say everything good comes in threes, right? Especially in my fraternity. So now we got our third NFL player on the broadcast and it's gotta be a new. We gotta have my boy Deontre Moore on the podcast. Appreciate you brother.

Damontre (00:24)
Thanks

Yo, appreciate that, huh? Appreciate you for having me.

AJ Adams (00:35)
Yeah

Man, we're gonna jump right into it and start you off the way we start off, everybody. And we're gonna you the first question. What does it mean to you to be a father?

Damontre (00:44)
I mean, it means everything. I just recently retired playing 12 years professional football, you know, going to the pinnacle of pinnacles, being the 1 % of the 1%, you know, earning a Division I scholarship, going, getting drafted, not only getting drafted, having a long 10 year career. Like I would like to say that I have been successful at accomplishing a lot of my dreams and going to school, making it out the hood. And with all those things,

going to the Super Bowl, went in a gray cub, playing three years in Canada. I have done a lot of things and when

AJ Adams (01:18)
.

Damontre (01:18)
I tell you all those things fell short in comparison to being a father, like you would think some people never even come close to even sniffing their drinks. And for me to say that I'm doing all that, doing it at such a young age, but not only doing that, having two kids, like I'm not just a father once.

AJ Adams (01:22)
. .

Damontre (01:36)
I'm a biological father twice over and also I have two goddaughters that I take care of and that I'm evident in their life. so for me, it is to earn those words for them to call you dad or to look at you and you to be their safety net protector, like it's different.

Damontre (01:55)
growing up with a lot of siblings to be treated as the oldest and, you know, look out to people, you're like, oh man, I'm ready for fatherhood, but nothing truly prepares you for it. It's like they used to say on the football field, it's never as good and it's never as bad, but.

I would be remiss if I didn't say how amazing it is and those adverse situations, those learning lessons, everything is like made me ready for this point and it's always something learning with them. So when I really say that it's speechless to be a father, that title is something that I don't take lightly.

AJ Adams (02:29)
So with all that being said, like, where did you get that inspiration to like, I really want to be a father. Who was your inspiration?

Damontre (02:36)
My father was. What they say, experience is the best teacher. I was fortunate enough to be blessed with a lot of positive middle figures in my life. What do they say, it takes a village to raise a family, but it starts with my dad, Damon Moore. Sorry, Damon Moore Senior. He raised, he raised on his side. What they say, I come from a blended family, so he had nine kids and I was the only one by my mom.

I'm sorry, you know what my man gets, it's like playing Spades, it's like playing Spades. I make that joke all the time, he be high. I was like, yeah, we got eight in the possible, but even with that being said, like.

AJ Adams (03:05)
It's a lot, man. It's a possible.

Damontre (03:14)
not once my dad made it a point for him to have all his kids together every weekend for all of us. Hey, you know, if there's nothing that we have in this world, all we got is family and to see the way that not only my family looked at my dad, his family, his side of the family, everyone, his mother's kids, like they said, regardless of what's going on, we knew we can depend on Damon to do what he needs to do. And so he pretty much had me with him doing the same thing. He said, hey, if anything ever came down to it,

AJ Adams (03:42)
You .

Damontre (03:42)
you know you're gonna be the glue that holds this family together and so to take on that role for him to kind of groom me into that position like I came in there and what they said I took the reins and kept going he gave me the baton if this was the track meet he said stick and guess what I didn't look back I just took it and ran and it was something that

I took out with a badge of valor and so for me he set the bar so high it's like man

I gotta shoot for the moon. What they say, you aim from the stars, you'll hit the moon. so to sit there and say that I was gonna be my dad.

AJ Adams (04:10)
Yeah.

Damontre (04:15)
realistically no I didn't think I would ever live up to my dad I was like bro I can't be this mountain and it's funny because my middle name is Lamont and it actually means mountain and he was like you didn't know that you were already destined for this like to stand tall like to be there for the test of time and so it's funny that he was like you lived up to your name and even now doing all the things that I did my dad was a simple truck driver that worked two jobs and like he's still working two jobs and for him I still feel like I'm falling short to that mountain so what he said I had a

great

inspiration and not only him, know, my godfathers and other male figures from coaches that I had along the way. It took all of them. I learned from every one of them. It was all a learning experience, but like I said, my dad always taught me, Damon, that you can learn from every situation. And so learning from every positive male role model along the way, feel like it's shaped me into who I am now.

AJ Adams (05:08)
So with that though, you have so many younger siblings, right? How was it that you felt this though? Did you feel like you had to be a role model for them? Because your dad is there, but you can't always be there to be the one talking to everyone, right? Because at that point, it comes a point where it's like, you get a little taste of fatherhood early, right?

Damontre (05:19)
Yeah.

Exactly.

Exactly.

Yeah, you already know what they say. It's like old school when you used to have to learn how to swim before you had all these swim classes and everything. They used to just throw you in the pool and you either gonna sink or drown. The majority of the time you always, I mean, you either gonna sink or swim and most people, you always swim. And if at the very end, guess what? You had a safety net that somebody jumped in and get you and say, hey, we'll try again. Well, for me, yeah, I was thrown into the fire.

AJ Adams (05:35)
It's all you in the water, Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Damontre (05:57)
Yes, he was there. ⁓ But with me being one of the older ones, the first one to go to college, it was kind of like trial by error. Like he was able to raise his siblings and get them to go to school because all three of his younger brothers went and played division one sports, but it was a whole new different day and age. And so there were certain old school things that he was still trying to instill. And I'm like, hey, you got to change with the times. We

AJ Adams (05:57)
you

Damontre (06:20)
got to do this. We got to do that. Or you know how it is when you get older. You like me.

You getting soft now, you ain't whooping them or you not doing that. ⁓

AJ Adams (06:26)
Everybody gets off it.

Damontre (06:28)
So let me hurry up and pick up the slack of what you did. And so with saying that, I had such a great foundation to where I mimic literally everything that he did. But also there were certain things where, you know, I was able to say that, hey, maybe it wasn't that my dad fell short, but like you said, with having a lot of kids, you had to fill in those gaps. So little things that I felt like I just needed to help along the way, I will be there to talk to my siblings, give them the same.

value and the same guidelines and the principles that he instilled in me. But just like grandma's cooking, they get passed down. That recipe is still the same, but you add a little bit of flavor in there. You add that little twang to it to where that's what you did. And honestly, that's what I did with, I didn't know at the time it was panning, tenon lifestyles and those traits. But for me, I just called it looking out for family. You just looking out for them, making sure they get home when you get home, making sure that nobody's picking on them, you know, doing your thing.

AJ Adams (07:03)
Yeah, your own little twist to it, you know what mean? Yeah.

Damontre (07:23)
looking out for them, but then also with looking out for them and trying to be a role model for them. I learned a lot from them. They taught me patience. They taught me how to wonder like, how can I do this and not just have an old school parent touch? Like they prepared me for a lot of those hardships and frustrations that you would have those tough conversations with your kids. I learned how to have those early with all six of my sisters. I was able to see how to handle a young lady and remember to be.

AJ Adams (07:40)
Thank you.

Damontre (07:50)
and pressure will like, yes, you can be soft, a certain level of what they say, it comes with a certain genocidal choir where I could be a certain level of strict and have those boundaries, but also still protecting that young ladies innocence, talking to them, learning how to properly communicate with them. And so with all that being said, I know I can be very loquacious, but all that prepared me now to where.

Nobody has parenting down. It's just like a fight. You go in there and you have a game plan, but as soon as you get punched in the nose, it's like, snap, everything goes out the window. so with that being said, I've had my game plan. I've been through the fire. I've had these preparations and even with having the preparations, it's prepared me a lot, but I'm still trial by error and just going through the fire. So by no means am I perfect, but.

AJ Adams (08:21)
Yeah.

Damontre (08:37)
By all means, I've had a lot of learning lessons. There's no such thing as a mistake. It's only a mistake if you don't learn from it. And I can say that I've been fortunate enough to have learned all these learning lessons to pass down to my kid and just hope that I am doing just a fraction of what my dad did. Cause if I'm doing what my fraction of my dad did, at the time I used to hate it. Like my dad didn't whip me all the time, but he would give me these talks and it would be the most long-winded talks where I'm like.

AJ Adams (08:51)
You

Damontre (09:05)
Bro, just get it over with. Give

me a punch, man. Give me a whooping or something like that. And you know how your parents used to say back in the day, man, this is gonna hurt me more than it hurts you, or you're gonna look back later on and tell me that you love me or thank me? I found myself at 32 years old. I called my dad at the age of 31 multiple times crying like, man, I understand you pops. I see what you been going through. Hey man, is, it's starting to come in a full circle moment.

AJ Adams (09:15)
Yeah.

Mm-hmm.

I'm

Damontre (09:33)
And it went from a full circle moment of me being a 31 year old man, dealing with retirement, dealing with a wife, dealing with two kids to where I found myself being that same little child that walked in there to see my dad and say, how do you lead your family? How do you do that? And he was like, bruh, you're doing it. he was like, and the only thing, not only are you doing it to where I was doing it, you're doing it to better than what I was doing.

AJ Adams (09:48)
Yeah.

Okay.

Damontre (09:59)
I wasn't able to communicate. I didn't have somebody to talk to and the fact that you're saying like, hey dad, I'm doing this, but this is tough. Like he said, you're ahead of the game. And for him to tell me that it was that full circle moment. But I was like, man, my dad proud of me. I am doing this daddy thing right. But man, as soon as I hung up that phone, I was like, man, all the pressure came back on. But to know that my dad has been there and not only him, but other men like yourself, people that we talked to have been through this journey.

AJ Adams (10:13)
You

Damontre (10:26)
That's what makes you deal with it and make you become a little more resilient to earn that title fatherhood. Pressure bust pipes are made down. It's like, you don't just get out there. Anybody can go be, quote unquote, excuse my French, but anybody can be a sperm donor. But to earn the title fatherhood.

AJ Adams (10:34)
Yeah. Yeah.

Damontre (10:48)
Dad, like that is, that's somebody that's putting in work. you can, biologically, you can go, you can go, you can go father. You can, and that's vice versa. You can go mother somebody. You can go make a baby. A dad and all this stuff. Dad, mom. But to earn that title, like those titles to be parents, like you don't take that lightly. And like now that I have kids, it's like, dang man, like it's tough, but.

AJ Adams (10:56)
Yeah, go make a baby. One drunk night, you can become a dad. Yeah. Yeah.

Damontre (11:14)
I look at people completely different now. Like, when they be like, bruh, how can you not, after you done made this investment, like, this is like an investment in your future. This is your 401k, this is your pension. Like, how do you not pay attention to that? Like, this is an essential thing in life, just like your social security. Like, this is something that they didn't choose to be here, but now that they're here, you're gonna use it the right way. Like.

AJ Adams (11:16)
Okay.

Damontre (11:36)
You gotta go out there and use that. And when I say use it, don't use your kids, but use everything that you've already done in life to prepare them to get their credit right, if that makes sense. When you say fixing stuff for your kids, fix it, but don't live through it. Fix it by sharing your experience and allowing them to give the choice.

AJ Adams (11:37)
Yeah.

Yeah.

Hmm.

Yeah, so there is something though. You did learn from your dad, but you're navigating in waters that you haven't been in, that your dad never was in before, you know, because you were trying to navigate fatherhood while still playing in NFL, right? And so it's turning it on and turning it off, on the field, off the field, right? But then there's the whole season of it. It's not like you're just a week or two weeks. You got a whole long NFL season. You got to do that and still be dad when you come home.

Damontre (12:17)
Yes, sir.

AJ Adams (12:27)
How was that? How was that adjustment? Just initially having a child while you're playing. How was that?

Damontre (12:34)
was, it was a double-headed sword. Having a child puts a lot more pressure on you, but for me, I've always been somebody that excelled under pressure. Like, it was humbling, it was grounding. Like, no longer for me, like at that point in time in my career, I was battling depression, I lost a brother early on in the early stages of my career, and just not kinda having the success that I wanted to have.

to where I was a whole bottle of emotions then dealing with ADD and ADHD and my medication. So for me, I was in such a place of anxiety and wound up really tight to where it was like fight or flight for me to where once I had my first kid, which was my son, Sakani, he's six now, but my son, when I had him, that's when the light switch turned on for me and it was like,

As much as I wanna slap somebody, as much as I wanna be a impulsive high head, as much as I really wanna sit here and say, this is me being a man. I put my pants, one leg on, pants, one pants leg on at the time, just like you do to where I'm not bowing down to nobody. And it's like, it's not about bowing down, but it's about the smart man is the guy that knows how to swallow his pride. The smart man is the guy that knows how to use his resources. It's no longer about puffing my chest out, but.

AJ Adams (13:42)
.

Right.

Damontre (13:53)
Sometimes I gotta play chess and not checkers. Like checkers, you you go in there, you're impulsive, you react. I jump, you jump. Like chess, I'm

AJ Adams (14:00)
Yeah.

Damontre (14:01)
out here. I really gotta think about it. The real, what they say, the R.E.M. in me wanna go over here and say, hey, I'm ready to spaz and crash out and you know, I ain't taking none. What Cameron say out that movie? Brothers and Dives are let's be every day. And so it was like, that was the mentality that I had. And once I got,

AJ Adams (14:15)
Yeah.

Damontre (14:22)
I got cut from a job and then it was like, man, I had to go home, look at my wife, then look at my kid, he one years old and like, dang, how's this check gonna come in? I can't go around here just cussing everybody out. I can't do this. For every action, there is a reaction. So when I say it's a double-headed sword, my kid made me humble. Like, I'm living for you now. So it's like, I'ma take this on the chin. I'ma put in a little bit of extra study hall hours. Like, I'ma go, I love the game of football, but I'ma truly learn how to get to the basis of it.

AJ Adams (14:33)
You

Damontre (14:51)
to maximize this right now so I can fend for you. So for me, it was like, my kid was like, my kid to me was like what spinach was to Popeye. That was that turn-up moment or what the hyperbaric, the hyperbolic time chamber was to Goku. Like it was that enhancer. Like I was already there and who I was, but when I got that little enhancement, it was like.

AJ Adams (15:00)
All right.

Damontre (15:13)
Now, what they say off of Latin, it's a whole new world. I seen things different to where it was like I was able to get in that mindset and mature a little bit to say, hey, it's no longer about me, it's about them.

AJ Adams (15:16)
Yeah.

And then, but then you have a baby and you have to start moving around. Like, that's the, and that, and that is the part that people do not talk about when it comes to playing professional sports. It's like, you just have a baby. All right, we got a baby. We getting settled. We got to go. And then we get settled. We got to go. Like, what, what, what is that like? And then on top of that, you, in the process that you have another baby. You know what mean? So like, it's like how,

Damontre (15:29)
Yep.

No. No, didn't.

AJ Adams (15:53)
how was that time? Because I know it's gotta feel like a blur that's all going on.

Damontre (15:54)
difficult.

Yeah, it's a constant motion of what they say, NFL is not for long. Well, shoot, unless you're a perennial person or like that person to get that big name contract, not for long is not for long of how long you're going to be there. But not for long can be potentially you staying. You have somebody coming in every Tuesday to take your job and you can be doing everything right and still lose it. And so for you.

AJ Adams (16:03)
Yeah.

Yeah. .

Damontre (16:23)
And if you're fortunate enough to have that money, your wife is a stay at home, working wife and this and that, yeah, you gonna pick them up and move them with you. But if you were a journeyman like myself, it was like, okay, this is not feasible, this isn't smart. Like to pick up, uproot my family. Like the one thing that we got stability, got active grandparents, I got active in-laws, like they help in taking care of the kids when I'm there, when I'm not there. When I'm not there, they're able to pick up that slack and they're able to be my village.

for me to uproot my village and take them wherever I was going. One, it wasn't smart. It took away from help. But then two, my wife worked. So it was just kind of like, we couldn't afford to do that where it was like, hey, this just isn't smart. Like you want me to tell

AJ Adams (17:06)
Yeah.

Damontre (17:08)
you to stop working a really good job that you have consistent money and having consistent help to do something that we can be here one week and then, you know, be gone in two weeks, three weeks.

Like it had been at least two times in my career where, the coaches love me or one coach loved me or somebody in the front office loved me. And you know how it is being a former strength coach. They'll tell you one thing and then all of a sudden say somebody get fired and this and that, it'd be like, ⁓ hold on, switch up. We gotta switch up. And in the next week, you might have a whole new set of DNs that are coming in. You might have a whole new coaching staff that might come in for the interim. And now you're sitting here like paid all that money for the year out and now you calling.

AJ Adams (17:24)
Everybody gone.

Damontre (17:47)
Not only are you hoping that you get picked up for another job, you over here, you gotta call your landlord. Hey man, I know I said I was gonna be here and I signed a year contract, can you please let me out? Most landlords, if they nice and a fan of the team, they might be like, hey, you know what, I understand, let me let you out of it, this is the nature of the beat. But if you got a money hungry landlord, most of them gonna be like, you know what, I'm gonna let you out the contract, but pay me six months worth of rent, pay me eight months, pay that penalty fee.

AJ Adams (17:55)
Mm-hmm.

Damontre (18:13)
And now that you didn't did that, I remember I did that in Miami right before training camp started. I finished the year with Miami one year. They were like, you're going to be here. I stayed in the extended stay at the end of the season. Then during the off season, I'm like, hey, I'm going to get my house because I want to be comfortable. I want everybody to come down here and just really be in my space so I can be the best player that I'm going to be. Then I get cut before the season even started. It's like, dang, got to break my lease. Then I go to Oakland and like that same.

AJ Adams (18:29)
Mm-hmm.

.

Damontre (18:42)
I get claimed off

waivers, I go to Oakland, I'm staying in a hotel for a couple of months. I get released, go back home, and then when I come back up there, I get signed again. I'm like, man, I'm about to get an apartment. I'm like, man, it's only six weeks left in the season. I'm about to just stay in this hotel, thug it out, and to the end. So I say, once I did that in that year, I said, man, I ain't doing this no more. I spent over, what, to cancel, pick up a house, pay those fees, do my deposit and stuff like that.

Yeah, that was close to about six figures wasted. And just like, I had to pay rent, I had to pay my deposit. You gotta pay at least three months of rent before you did that. Then on top of that, to break it, I had to backdoor and pay, I had to pay half the years mortgage, then going down there, paying the room, the money that I spent on hotel food, all that stuff. And this is just me by myself. Like the numbers really started adding up. And like I said, my wife majored in finances.

AJ Adams (19:18)
Hm?

Yeah.

Damontre (19:40)
So for her, was like, that don't make sense. We're not going down there. Matter of fact, we don't need to come to all these games. Let's save some of this money around here. And it's like, when we were younger, it was like, oh yeah, pick up and go do that. But now that you got kids, you got to think about tuition and all that stuff. It's like, how can I maximize my dollar? Just like the NFL is trying to maximize their value and get the most out of you pennies on the dollar. Well, for me, it was like, how can I maximize my dollar to take all this home?

AJ Adams (20:03)
Yeah.

Damontre (20:09)
and still provide for my family, but also with providing for my family being there.

AJ Adams (20:14)
I mean, it's very obvious by the way you talk that you are a very active parent, right? During those times when you're away from your family, how do you mentally cope with that? You still have to do a job and you can't let it be, the sport that you play, you can't let it be shown. There's no sign of weakness anywhere at all, But there are times where at the end, like you say, you're going back to your hotel, right?

There's only but so much FaceTime and all that other stuff that we can do before it really starts weighing on you. So how, in those moments, what do you do? How do you release from that?

Damontre (20:45)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.

Man, just having a good foundation and being grounded, like you said, having those FaceTime, like for me, my mom, she was very intentional with her gifts going up. We didn't grow up with that much money, so like, my mom was the one that would get the printed t-shirts with her baby's name on there, nicknames and all this type of stuff. And so, my wife kinda have some of those qualities as well, and so I'll never forget my first Father's Day before.

AJ Adams (21:09)
Yeah. Yeah.

Damontre (21:17)
My first father's day, like within my son being born, I had like a little flipbook that they made and it was just all the pictures from when she was pregnant with him and sonograms and stuff like that all the way up until the time where we were at right now. So it was like every time that I left, it was like, I had my son with me. Like in my work book bag, that flip, that little digital book, or it wasn't digital, but the little flip photograph book.

I had that with me, so I'm literally FaceTiming. I'm literally like, there was some times that I was stopped in the middle of a meeting and be like, hey, Coach, I gotta go pee in this and that. But I was crying in the locker, or I would go in the bathroom and be like, man, I'm tired of this, I'm frustrated. I can't even believe that I'm here. I'm dealing with all these people. Like, I really just wanna go home and hug my son. I really just wanna be there. And so it took its toll on you. And to be honest with you, with it taking its toll on you, it kinda made me more of a beast, cause it's like,

AJ Adams (21:55)
.

Damontre (22:14)
I can be at home right now, like doing this and doing that. And now I'm playing with this little bitty kid and somebody doing this up here. Like, it's funny because when I came

into the league, I was only 20 years old. Here I am in my 20s and 30s playing football still to where it was like, man, I got a kid to feed. So sometimes when I was mad that I couldn't see my family and my kid, it's like, I'm going to practice and I'm choking out whoever. had the Bobby Boucher moment to where it was like, I had to release my frustration on the field.

AJ Adams (22:37)
Okay.

Damontre (22:43)
And with that being said, I couldn't just break down and just start crying in front of everybody and be like, man, I really miss my son. Like, yeah, there'll be some moments or there'll be some moments you're around other dads and they'd like, dang, I really wish I could be home or if there was, you know, family drama going on to where a guy not talking to his kid and this and that, it made you more appreciative of it to where it would help you and say, yeah, this is good. But also it took a mental toll.

AJ Adams (23:00)
Yeah.

Damontre (23:09)
to where towards the end of my career, like that became the reason. Leaving for training camp back in the day used to be, it's cool, I'm jumping on there, I'm gonna miss my family and this and that. But as the years

progressed, it was like, I went from being cool to crying every time that I got on that plane. Man, I can't believe I'm about to leave my family, man. I can't do this, do that. Like, man, I'm hanging these cleats up, bro. What am I doing this for? Why am I taking this mental toll? Why, like, I'm missing out on the little moments of being there, so.

AJ Adams (23:22)
. you

Damontre (23:39)
That, like I said, that mental battle that you have with yourself is a lot. And it's just like having that, it's

something difficult you gotta deal with. Just like you have to learn how to turn on that switch to say, well, I'm on the field, I'm in that beast mode. Like you have to turn on that switch to like, you're always a father, but you have to say, hey.

AJ Adams (23:54)
Yeah.

Damontre (23:59)
when can I channel those emotions and do it in a proper way, in proper light? And I don't think I ever fully learned how to manage it. I think I just learned how to have my little defense mechanisms in play, like I said, FaceTime and hanging out with pictures and stuff like that. And then when I did get the season, I truly cherished that time. That's why during the season, it was strictly football, but during the off season,

That was my off season. really locked in and like, I cherished that time because I knew it was like, it was like, if this was any feeling of how Army vets used to feel back in the day going to war, it's like once I leave them, I gotta turn that off to a certain extent or I'm gonna be sitting here crying every 10 minutes in meetings.

AJ Adams (24:29)
Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah. So, so to that now, but now that you're not doing that, you have a lot of energy now for your kids. And I saw a video with your son's playing ball. I don't know if this is flagged right now, right? Was it flagged? It's flagged. It's first year flat. So one, does he have any idea like what you were doing? Like who you were as a football player? Was he starting to

Damontre (24:56)
Yeah, it's like yeah, this is first year of like football

AJ Adams (25:10)
if catching on to it a little bit.

Damontre (25:12)
I think he catches on a little bit. He knows that I'm a football player, but for him, during the off season, he didn't even know it, but when he did see me, it was like he was following me around.

you know, I went through, when we went through the COVID year, I went from training outside and being at a gym to having to do everything at home in an in-gym in my living room to where during the off season, it got to the point to where a lot of my stuff became more plyometric calisthenics. So he started jumping in with me. So he was doing push-ups. He knew how to get into a proper stance and he'd be like, daddy, look at me. And I was like, man, he literally.

They tell you your kids are married, well, he didn't know how good he was doing it, but he can already get into a three-point stance really good. And it's not necessarily just about the three-point stance. I wanted him to learn and eventually just kind of grow into his own, but little did I know this whole time he was watching me. So now when they go out there, people are like, he's a natural, this, that, and the third. And he would always say, hey, my dad plays football, or my dad does this.

AJ Adams (26:08)
He's watching you.

Damontre (26:17)
But now to, it's funny because the team, his flag team that he's playing for is my little league team that I actually played for growing up. And now that I'm coaching there, my uncle actually play there. They've been around since the early eighties.

we've had multiple generations that like we got three generations of men that didn't play for this organization and so for him to go out there they'll hear he'll be like daddy why are they calling you coach wildman or coach d like for them to call me my own nicknames and so it's just kind of like now he's at the point that's my daddy over there but then he'll just run off and play so i think he kind of knows but dope though so i

I prefer that he don't know so that way he can come into his own so it's not that pressure and really he just find his own self and just have that fun and that joy and I'm making a point for people not to say certain things like he's going in a whole different other way than what I am so it's his own thing so I'm glad that he knows but what he said I hope that it can go a long time that he doesn't really understand the magnitude to where

AJ Adams (26:59)
Yeah.

Damontre (27:22)
he can be confident in himself, which he's already is. So I'm excited to see his journey.

AJ Adams (27:25)
Yeah, because I was wondering about that

part too because from like, the other part was, one, did he know who you were? And two, like, well, if he doesn't know, does he care? Or does he, like, does he care?

Damontre (27:38)
He cares that I'm Demontre Moore and that's his father but he doesn't really care about all that other stuff like he loves competing like if I'm jumping or working out he's gonna come over there and try to jump and work out. If I run and race he's trying to race. I'm playing video games he's doing the same thing and so I don't think he cares about that and the one thing that I do know that I love

AJ Adams (27:42)
Yeah.

Damontre (28:02)
right now that he has, he's comfortable within his own skin. He didn't have to grow up rough like how I did. I grew up in the inner cities of Dallas, like in Oak Cliff, Texas. So for him to be playing football over there, I want him to get that toughness, but you can still see he's only six years old, but he still has his stability. I'll give you an example. The first day I went out there, obviously you're in the hood, it's a different environment, you don't know what's going on.

Well, one of the kids out there already had a colorful vocabulary and he's only six years old.

AJ Adams (28:34)
Yeah, that's what happens.

Damontre (28:37)
And my son, or I'm sorry, they were five. My son was just not about to turn six. The other kid, he's about to, he's five, about to turn six as well, but he's younger. They're in the line and networking. Now, I didn't hear it at first, but you know, I guess the little kid, Custa, whatever. And so,

When I heard my son kinda, he didn't really get loud like he was snitching, but he was like, hey, you shouldn't be talking like that. And I just kinda like gave my spiel. I'm trying to stay in the coach mode, but not stay in dad mode, cause it's like, hey son, I know you grew up in the suburbs. I know you're not used to this and that. Like, you know, I want you to have that toughness. Like I really want you to really be yourself. But also with doing that, like he's going to be exposed to certain things to where it's like, I want him to be able to handle his stuff.

AJ Adams (29:12)
But it happened like that out here. Yeah. Yeah.

Damontre (29:24)
And for him to sit there and say not to do that, daddy Mo was like, let me get over here, don't know kids because of the coach Mo was just like, get that handle to monkey yourself, but be quiet. And it went on three different times and I caught the later end of it. And finally, like when I told them like, hey, don't be doing this and doing that, obviously you can't see everything. I'm in the front, he's in the back. He finally tells me like the fourth time, hey dad, such and such is over here cussing. I keep telling him to stop.

AJ Adams (29:33)
Yeah

Damontre (29:54)
You know, this and that. The little boys, I'm thinking like, maybe they're gonna look at him a certain type of way. But he literally went on and started playing about his business. But to see him have that confidence, to see him, and not only was that the first day, even still to this now, if there's something that my son doesn't like, he'll tell you in a minute. No, I'm not doing that. So for him to not only do that in his values, he'll do, and he gets this from me.

He'll go out there and be really good at sports, but say that he doesn't want to do it at all. He'll tell you, no, I don't want to do this right now. Like my son loves playing the piano. He loves dealing with electronics and stuff. So he'll go outside and be active. But when he's over something, he'll be like, hey daddy, I don't want to do this right now. Can I go play the piano? Hey, can I go figure out this on the game? And so for him to be that confident and articulate himself, it's like, oh wow, you really are strong in yourself just for a six year old.

AJ Adams (30:38)
Yeah.

Damontre (30:49)
Most kids would have been trying to fit in. They would have been trying to adapt to their surroundings. And for him, he adapts as far as competing with them, having that competitive nature and stuff like that. But also he so, he so, and I should have known that he was so stubborn because I have one of those kids that only eat chicken tenders. we're just now getting him to try other things. But what I tell you, he'd be like, no daddy, is that chicken tenders? I don't like it. All right, hey.

AJ Adams (31:07)
Yeah ⁓

You

Damontre (31:16)
He doesn't love sweets. He doesn't like ice cream and stuff like that. And he'd be like, no thank you. I said, no thank you. Give me some chicken tenders. And the most he'll do is juice. So for him to be that stubborn on that, it translated over into his values. And I just pray that it continues to be that way. And if he can do that, like I was saying earlier, I want to be a better version of my dad and this and that, he's already a better version of me as far as holding his own.

AJ Adams (31:43)
So he's growing up with a different type of pressures though, because since he is playing football, he has to, he doesn't have to, right? Of course he doesn't have to, but the fact that he's doing it, the societal pressure becomes, you gotta be your dad, right? Of course you're not putting that on him. I know you probably don't care if he ever plays football, right? But.

Damontre (31:52)
He doesn't know. Not at all.

Mm-mm.

No, what did say? I want

you to play baseball or basketball or something. we're being completely honest, golf.

AJ Adams (32:12)
Right, you know what Like, what that

pressure's going to come with is like, we know who your dad is, that's going to happen. So how are you able, because you say he has it now, which is good that he already has it naturally, how do you instill that confidence in him that, hey, son, you are always going to be your own person no matter who I am or what I may have accomplished before? Because that was a big Schuza, that was a big Schuza field.

Damontre (32:37)
Just like Garnet.

Like, it's big shoes to feel and it's a standard that's been set, but that same standard's been set by my dad. That same standard was set by my granddad.

It was said by my uncles, like everybody that has come in this family have taken it a step further, but they've done it in their own way. So we're doing it within his own way. I'm going to do, he's a strong flower right now that already has his petals and his roots. He's grounded. It's my job as a father to continue to water, to continue to nurture it, nurture it the right way. And just like that plant, if you nurture it the right way.

you gonna have a plant that turns into a garden, a bushel that can feed you for a lifetime. And so it's my job to keep watering that and also reminding him and instilling one, we're gonna have that connection and we're gonna have that foundation. But whatever you do, you're gonna rip it out. You're gonna have the confidence to know like, this is all about you. Nobody else can say that. Like I need you to continue to see you and have those horse blinders. Like if somebody says you're your daddy, it's like no.

I'm not my daddy. People used to say, you look like your daddy. And so I wanted to be different for so long. But then I learned that with being different, know, imitation is the best form of flattery. I'm not my dad. But guess what? I'm my dad, but 2.0. I'm the same person as him, but I'm a different version. Well, yeah, let's take it a step further.

You have certain, somebody gave you the game plan. I gave you the game plan, but it's up to you to how you're gonna make your adjustments. And for him, he's gonna have the repetition. He's exposed to a lot more than what I was. You're gonna have different games and stuff. You're gonna have different pressures that I didn't have, but also that I didn't have that's gonna be able to make you. And the one thing that's gonna stay consistent throughout that is me sprinkling that love to you, talking to you.

AJ Adams (34:10)
Thank you.

Damontre (34:29)
telling you who you are, who you are, and encouraging you to do whatever it is, whatever field that is, whether that's being an athlete, whether that's going out there and using your brain and long-term success and being a lawyer, a doctor. Shoot, at one point in time, going into college, which I wish I could have, I wish I would have stuck with it, I wanted to be an aerospace engineer. Like, coming in high school, I was like, man, I really wanna get into engineering. I really love math, I love science. Like, I'm gonna help you.

and encourage you to really use all your resources to where that pressure that people are gonna say, this is from your dad, you're gonna knock that out light years ahead of time, just like you are already doing right now by being confident in yourself to where now you're gonna take over the world. It's just how do you wanna take over the world? I'm giving you every tool and letting him pick it, because he's gonna practice, he's gonna be prepared, he's gonna have...

everything to where I don't know if you ever get the chance go read the book The Outliers by Max Ogre. They talk about it in there it's all about repetition, talent, which you got the talent you were blessed with you know your mom used to be an interpretive dancer back in the day and was really good at she was a dual major in finances and financing and got her masters and bachelors at

AJ Adams (35:29)
Yeah,

Damontre (35:47)
Early age, I was in the National Honor Society. Not only did I maintain a 3.0 GPA and play, have an athletic collegiate career that represented the same academic success that I was having, athletically I was having. So you have all these different tools that you're gonna say,

This is the natural talent that you have. This is the stuff that we cultivated to where now when he's doing it, you have somebody that is an outlier within their self already and now it's about you just choosing.

AJ Adams (36:16)
So now we hear a lot about your oldest. How did it change? How did your life really change when your youngest came up?

Damontre (36:21)
Hmm

The youngest one is my daughter, Sienna Moore. She helped

she helped me become a little bit more softer. I had goddaughters that I was looking after. I love my Kenzie Poudadeff and Maya is my oldest one. She is actually going into her sophomore year in the college at Temple. ⁓ I've been involved in her life since she was like six or seven. I met her just at an event and then she ended up becoming my goddaughter.

AJ Adams (36:43)
Oof.

Damontre (36:54)
It prepared me to have girls, but it's nothing like having your own daughter.

I had my Kenzie pool, I have my little storm in my, now I have my ladybugs. I'm all about nicknames. Her name is Ladybug, my son is Baby Bear. When Ladybug came into my life at that point in time, it was in a dark spot and anytime Ladybugs were always symbolic for me. It meant good luck. Well, when I found out that she was pregnant with my daughter, it was at one of those times that it just brought me out, it brought me joy.

And when I had her, it made me kind of see it in a whole different perspective. Now I ain't got just one kid. I got two kids that I gotta really do it. I'm over here trying to baby her and like, this is my little ladybug. This is my princess. And if we're being completely honest, that's my rough and tough tumbler right there. She the gangster of the group. Like I didn't have to worry about my son. Like both of them were sleep trained, but my son, he would maybe get out of the bed later on, this and that. No, that was...

AJ Adams (37:49)
huh.

Damontre (37:57)
She was my Tommy Pickles. I'll never forget. I'm a late night walker when I sleep. I don't go to bed till like three or four. And so in the middle of the night, I'll never forget. She was barely one year old. She did a whole muscle up to get up out of the crib. And when I walked into the house, out of the garage, she's sitting there in the middle of the hallway looking at me like, da da. And I'm like, I know you did. And then when I rewind the camera and stuff like that.

AJ Adams (38:13)
You

You

Damontre (38:25)
She really did this, so I put her back into the bed and I'm like, all right, let me sit over here and like watch and she literally did it again. And as a dad, I'm like, oh, I got to athlete. This is a gymnast. This is my baby. Like, oh, let's get it. And I'm like, oh no, this is scary. Like, oh, what are you really doing? And I found myself being fragile with her, which I do have to be fragile with her, but she's, I feel like she's a little bit rougher than my son.

AJ Adams (38:31)
Mm-hmm.

This is scary!

Damontre (38:53)
She's going in there fighting him. And so when I say that, it gave me a different perspective. The first kid, I was nervous. I'm like, hey, I got anxiety and I'm doing this. But when I tried to be very cautious with her and it's like, oh, it's a girl. It was like, nah, bruh, it's equality over here. If anything, you might need to get a little rougher on me. What are you talking about, dad? Like she even signed me up. And when I say it's a new lesson every day, I thank both of them because they all

AJ Adams (38:53)
I

Yeah

Yeah. Yeah.

Damontre (39:22)
They both are teaching me something. The main thing is that both of them are teaching me that somebody's always watching. they're both picking up different qualities that I display, whether it's my daughter having that same fiery smoke that, hey, you make me mad, I'm coming over there and I'm challenging you attitude, to whether it's my son having a competitive mindset to where it's just like, hey, he wants to do it by himself and he wants to keep going, so.

It's like wine. I kept getting better as a father and I kept getting a little more patient But also it being a little more patient that second one She made me learn myself even more because it was like she picked up on my qualities way Faster than my son did and I'm like, I can't do this. man. I can't be as angry or aggressive like now I my daughter this little aggressive. It's like princess be a little ladybug and it's like no ladybugs

AJ Adams (40:01)
Man.

Damontre (40:14)
She is my Aries. She's the true epitome of an Aries baby. So What do say? It's been a blessing in the Christ and I love it a death

AJ Adams (40:22)
Like it seemed like one of those ones, cause that's what my little daughter is like. She will, there's no other way to put it, man. She will piss me off. Like she, she finds little, but then when she knows she makes me mad, she'll hug me. And it's like, I want to tell you, I want to tell you get off me, but I kind of like this hug a little bit. I don't want, I don't want it to end right now. So yeah.

Damontre (40:31)
NNNN

Yes. She know how to work.

When I tell

you she I learned it from the first time she was in school We had her in a Montessori school where they were watching her write

And this school, you can check in, you can do the little app. You get an update of when she pee, when she poop. ⁓ You can have FaceTime in the class real quick, but it's very detail-oriented. I'll never forget that she had an incident. And mind you, both of my kids, you know how everybody always say their kids are the favorite, but literally.

AJ Adams (41:03)
Yeah

Damontre (41:18)
My kids have been at the God in the Lighthouse and then to where they're at their new private school right now, they're always the favorite. People will let them do this, do that. They're like, they're so nice. They can have whatever they want. One day, and this is like after a year of our being there, the owner of the school, her and her husband, they knew Sienna. So it was kind of like, hey,

AJ Adams (41:28)
You

Damontre (41:38)
They let her do whatever she wants. She's having a bad day and crying, which ain't too often. It's like, hey, we'll bring her out to the office and give her some snacks. Do this. She gets into it with, I guess, a new kid there or whatever. The kid was doing something and he walked up and hit her. I never forget that we got an update. My wife calls me in the middle of the day. She said, hey, don't be mad, but I think somebody might have hit her.

And if somebody hit her, but it's already been handled. I said, somebody hit her. Well, no, no, where's the report at? Let me see that. Y'all, I'm doing all this, don't worry. I'll be out there on time. I'm telling you, I get up to the school, I walk in, I'm like, hey, I can't do anything to this kid. But in my head, it's like, not my baby. I don't know what happened, but I'm about to figure it out. It's about to be furniture moved around here. And when I get her, she said, no, I already talked to the lady there. She's good. You don't need to go pick her up. So I said, okay, don't.

AJ Adams (42:15)
Of course.

Damontre (42:30)
Soon as I walk in there, and mind you, at the time, it's like a movie plan. I'm walking in here ready to, hey, where his parents at, who did this, who did that? And when I walked over there, door was closed, I seen my daughter playing, having fun, laughing with her friends and doing everything. Soon as I opened up that door, all of a sudden she went from laughing and the teacher said, Sienna, daddy's here. She looked at me in my face and smiled and her face went frown.

and just started crying instantly. And in my head, I knew she was doing it to work me, but I'm like, come here, baby. She like, da, da, da, da, da, da. I said, who did it? Like, boy, I'm telling you, when I'm high, I was like, nah, I need to figure this out. Yes, my wife told me that something happened today. I need that letter. Where is the lady at? Like, I went into mode, like, I'm about to write a letter. Like, what'd she say? I'm white chick. I'm in freaking pets. And somebody,

AJ Adams (43:03)
Yes!

Damontre (43:26)
Somebody has to hear it and I instead, the lady was gone, I take my daughter out to the car and like in my head I wanted to spaz but also the smart guy in me that had spaz-ed out plenty of times before, you know, hopefully their dad don't ever hear about them, I mean they don't hear about their dad being Mr. TMZ and all this stuff. It was like, you can't do this Trey, don't do that. But then I sat there and I laughed because I was like, snap, this is dangerous, like.

AJ Adams (43:35)
Yeah, yeah.

Yeah. ⁓

Damontre (43:53)
she knew what to do and started crying. So if this happens now, I had six sisters. I was always outside going and finding somebody. I had every different version of a sister that you could think of to where I'm like, let me get this in check right now so she don't get me riled up and have me in jail somewhere. And I called my wife and be like, yo, I was ready to move some stuff. And why did your daughter start crying as soon as you got there? I said,

AJ Adams (43:54)
What?

Yeah

Yeah,

man.

Damontre (44:20)
I knew she was playing me, but I'm still ready to move and stuff. And

then I laughed after that. And when I tell you, she went from crying to I told her it was okay. Instantly, as soon as we pulled out the parking lot, daddy, can I have your quillet? And I'm like, would that make you happy? She said, yes. And she didn't, you would have thought nothing happened. And so that, was at that moment where I was like, yeah, I'm have to watch my daughter. Cause she don't understand. She got a loose cannon over here.

AJ Adams (44:46)
Mm-hmm. yeah.

Damontre (44:47)
So yeah, it's crazy them girls are playing you. Yeah, exactly. And the way, and with her attitude, she

AJ Adams (44:48)
No, no, she might try to use it. Or she might try to use it. She'd be like, you know my daddy's a Liz Cannon.

Damontre (44:55)
definitely gonna leverage it. Like my son, he'll be the one to be like, no, no, no, no, no, keep him away. daddy don't need to get mad. I know he got a temper, versus what my daughter gonna be the what. Let her go, let me get some with her. So that's why I say exactly. And I'm here with him too.

AJ Adams (44:57)
Yeah!

Yeah.

What you say? Say it again. My daddy here. Say it front of my daddy.

Damontre (45:15)
It's funny because that's why I said with my kids, they really are a mirror and they all get different. They get, they all get really good qualities, but they also get bad qualities where I'd be like, all right, I really got to fix this or so. You don't do that.

AJ Adams (45:28)
Man, these kids, I'll tell you what though, I ain't gonna lie. was about to, after my daughter told me something, I was ready to fight a damn kid, my damn self, and it was stupid, because the kid apparently wanted to fight me for no reason. He said, I was at some event with my daughter and she came to me after the event and she said, well, I apologize. She said, got the dude's name. I don't need to know the kid's name. She said, the kid apologized for saying he wanted to beat me up.

Damontre (45:39)
Mm-hmm.

AJ Adams (45:58)
before, because he said he felt like he could beat me up because he saw my son. And then he saw me. was like, hold on. First of all, I make you think you want to fight my damn son. And why are you talking to my daughter like you just whipped in your daddy's ass? Like, what is wrong with you? Like, I know. I I was.

Damontre (46:11)
What he said? He got a CV?

First of all, we had the grant, the old school parents that I had, they would have been like, hold on real quick. Let's stop this down. There's some levels that you gotta get to before you get to me. Come here, son. Why you looking like this to where people think they could try you to try me? Let me get you. I gotta get you too. He said, everybody's getting it.

AJ Adams (46:26)
Yeah!

And I ain't gonna lie, I also got mad at his ass like yo, so you mean to tell me somebody, like you can't protect your sister? Like what is going on here?

Everybody getting their ass broke in this house.

Damontre (46:40)
Everybody's getting it and you got people talking to me like I'm So yeah, I understand

it what he said they'll teach you man

AJ Adams (46:48)
Yeah, but I'm gonna get you out of here on one last thing, And this is the last

question I'm gonna ask you. What do you want to, because you talked so highly of your father, what do you want your legacy as a father to

Damontre (47:01)
It's funny because I talk highly of my father, but like I said, I had a village. I had my father-in-law who was fortunate to be around me most of my life. I had my godfather of Vondell senior that's been active in my life and all these different positive male guys. But I think I'm still this quote from my father-in-law and my dad. My dad always just said, don't be me, be better than me.

And for him to give me those high praises a few years ago saying that I'm already better than him, I'm like, hey, I need to have something that I need to strive for. And not so much as looking at it as a competition. And in these last two years, I think it evolved into what my father-in-law said it one day perfectly. He said, I earned the right to be your father. But he said, it's a privilege to have you come back and be a safe place.

And that's what I want my legacy to be.

It took me all the way to 31 years for me to swallow my pride and say, hey, I learned a lot from my dad, but to go back over there and have that father moment to say, hey, how can I continue to be better? And that was such a safe place to where I put up this macho bravado that like, hey, I'm 18 years old, I'm outside the house. I don't need my dad at all anymore. Well, it's different because in some cultures we push our kids out at the age of 18 and tell them to go get it. You need to survive.

AJ Adams (48:27)
Yeah.

Damontre (48:29)
And a lot of other cultures, they don't put their kids out until they're mid-20s, they're 30s, or at least until they have it or they feel that they're equipped enough to survive out there. And we're doing that, the only way they can do that, I'm not saying coddle my kids, I'm not gonna do that. I'm gonna teach them discipline, but I need to teach them enough discipline, but also enough safety.

Let them know that their parents always have to, I'm never gonna stop being your dad. Whether you're 18 to when you have kids and I become your granddad, I need you to know that this is a safe place. And if I've done that for you and given you the tools to be successful in life, that's all I care about in my legacy. I don't care if I leave you $1 to a billion dollars. None of that's gonna change. I just wanna be able to make sure whatever that looks like for you, that you have access to the tools that you need, whether that's financially,

emotionally, spiritually. I want you to have all those things so you can be successful, to be a better version of me. And hopefully, whatever your family is looking like when you start having kids and whoever you decide to, all family, whether it's through adoption, friends, or this and that, I just want you to be able to be a successful person in society that can contribute, but not only contribute to the minimum, do it to the highest extent to your capability.

AJ Adams (49:46)
Man, let me tell you, not only is that an excellent answer, you need to give yourself a whole lot more grace because I do these interviews all the time. And to say it took me to 31, you have far more wisdom than me, I have more here that are far older than you. Trust me, at 31, bro, I was, listen here.

Damontre (50:05)
Nah, what do you say? Experienced?

Hey, what he, what, what, uh, my uncle, what he said, I like to steal things from a lot of people and really not steal, just learning in hands. But my uncle Roger Haley, who just retired, he was an elder at the Potter's house. He used to always have this funny joke. He said, Hey nephew, we all working on that stuff, man. Remember I'm 65 % saved, 35 % under construction. Don't play with me. He said, I'm just sitting here, God knows with my heart. And he said, I say that to say that.

AJ Adams (50:33)
Hey, man.

Damontre (50:42)
You know, it's a joke, but through every joke there is some truth. You have to learn to give yourself grace. Like, there's always these moments, but you're have these small moments. Just don't let those small moments define you. Always constantly work on yourself. As soon as you think that you're perfect, you're not perfect. You might majority be there, but you can always continue to get better. what do say? Experience is the best teacher. I've been fortunate enough for people to give me a lot of life lessons.

AJ Adams (50:46)
Hmm?

Damontre (51:08)
lessons but I've been fortunate enough to earn a lot of life lessons too. Where now where he said I'm here now so we still going baby.

AJ Adams (51:15)
I look, I say it's crazy. I say I feel like I didn't mature until I turned 35. Problem is, I already had two kids and everything by then. Like, was, I should have been mature a long time ago, but you know, it happened.

Damontre (51:26)
You know what that mean? mean that you, what

he said? That mean that you at the back end, baby. So what he said?

AJ Adams (51:31)
Yeah, look, I can enjoy everything

now. Now my kids get this version of me, which is good. Which is good. Yeah.

Damontre (51:37)
Yes, the best version. And they're

older enough to where you can actually have that conversation to where it's like, don't get me wrong, my kids helped me throughout my career and they made me better. like, don't get me wrong, I'm still a work in progress right now. I don't know where I wanna be. But in the next few years, me, what, 35? Give me three, I turned 33 this year, give me two more years of maturing. I promise you, those two years when those kids are old enough to actually experience and understand it.

I can't wait for them to get that best version of me. So long as I continue to do better. So what he said, you giving me something to inspire to vote to.

AJ Adams (52:12)
Well, see, it

changes too though, because like I say the best version of me, but I also have a two year old, right? And I say, in a way she gets the best version of me, but in a way she don't, because like, hey man, she's gonna have to find a lot of shit on her own, because I'm not, like, if her sister, I say, I saw her falling down the other day, like, go get your sister. And if her sister didn't come and catch her, her ass would have fell.

Damontre (52:30)
Hehehe.

Yes.

AJ Adams (52:39)
Because it's like that

version of me that's going to be like, my god, baby, are you OK? No, that version's long gone. That version is maybe in my 30s.

Damontre (52:49)
But that's the best version because you're not just running to her, you're showing you're going to fall in love. But also there is somebody that's going to be there whether it's you or whether it's your sister and this and that. Family comes in different shapes and forms. like God reveals himself in different shapes and forms to you. You just got to listen and not reel it.

AJ Adams (53:01)
Yeah.

That sounds good. I appreciate the

credit. Sounds good, but I ain't gonna lie to you. If her sister wasn't there, her ass would have fell. She would have fell. But I would have laughed. I would have laughed. Hey, it's like the gap in the game. That's the book I read. Yeah, you can look at the gap in it or you can look at the gain in it. It's positive and everything. She would have learned daddy ain't moving. Like, daddy old.

Damontre (53:10)
⁓ What he said? Perception is everything, brother. It's either the glasses half full or half empty.

Yeah.

There you go.

AJ Adams (53:34)
Daddy old now, this ain't the same. It ain't the same. But man, I really, really do appreciate your time, man. And like, this conversation, can definitely, the good thing about these conversations is these are time pieces that are always there. And this, the way you talked about your kids and the love that you can share, it comes through and it's extremely obvious.

Damontre (53:35)
Yeah.

AJ Adams (54:00)
This is something that you can always hold on to and always have your kids listen to, especially when they get older. Like it's a real time castle because you don't hear people, especially not many dads, talk about how happy they are, how proud they are just to be a dad. Because there's so many other things in life that you've ratted off so much stuff in the beginning and that was it. We never went back to it because none of that mattered because we talked about what mattered.

Damontre (54:05)
losers

Yeah.

Yeah.

AJ Adams (54:28)
most that's being a dad. But people don't understand that because on the outside all they're going to think is everything else because they don't understand that real people, real dads are just dads, real dads. Everything else is just a job. Everything else is just entertainment. That's just like you're a dad, I'm a dad. That's it. But people don't get that. They don't get to normalize that from people. And so now it's normalized. I appreciate you.

Damontre (54:31)
It is.

and may be in the good dab normal again man I appreciate it

AJ Adams (55:00)
Yeah, right. Make good being good that normal. Right.

Damontre (55:03)
Well,

I appreciate you.