#Cowboys Fish at 6 REPLAY - Remembering Larry Allen: My 3 Best LA Stories

it's fish at 6 and kind of a celebration of life which is the way that we think Larry Allen would like it I'm Mike Fisher your trusty entrusted reporter this is the Fishbowl that is the star uh there will be plenty of other times and places probably tomorrow morning breakfast at fish and E at 7:20 to discuss the Justin Jefferson contract we uh as soon as that news broke of course this morning we brought a video to you here on the fish report uh especially related to what it means to CD lamb uh we broke that down a little bit there we've done it quite a bit at uh Cowboys country.com and breakfast at fishes tomorrow of course we'll focus on that in part uh we will also as we move along here preview Cowboys mini camp we will have uh access to Cowboys Min Camp starting on Tuesday for the next three days and uh we're excited about that but first things first and and um we'll do this in orderly fashion as much as we can Larry Allen as you surely know by now everybody in cowboy Nation does has passed away at the age of stunningly 52 and we don't have uh full details yet on how this exactly went down he was on vacation in Mexico with his family uh and passed away on Sunday the Cowboys making the announcement on Monday morning and the Cowboys uh doing it the right way uh describing uh his Devotion to his family um his wife who he described as his heart and soul and as I made the point to say earlier today how appropriate um because he was a Cowboys heart and soul guy uh one of his children of course is Larry Jr who had his own NFL tryy out remember that with the Cowboys for a moment tough upbringing for Larry Allen uh and he first time I met him he was in the cowboy locker room and he was just got there he was a rookie of course and you could see his shoulders and you could see there's something wrong with them uh first of all they were huge but not bad there was scars all over them and i' never I'd never seen anything like it and it turns out those were stab wounds from growing up from growing up tough stab wounds uh defending himself and I believe his brother in a fight or maybe a few and he was never much for talking although we we will tell some Tales tonight and I've got three of them my three best Larry Allen stories uh we will throw at you tonight uh Emma Smith did a video today again if you want to go see this it's well worth your time four minutes of your time at Cowboys country.com and EMT goes out in the back porch uh at his lovely home here and uh and basically spends four minutes crying on camera about Larry Allen uh everybody from Troy Aman who said a gentle giant who loved his family to Micah Parsons who said I I always wanted to meet him I can't believe I never got to meet him and you didn't have to know him to know the reputation that he built for himself uh in part through athleticism and in part through uh desire and in part through John Madden some of the videos are legendary the uh 700 pound bench press thing is just astounding uh and and made him one of the strongest men in the world the play against the Saints where a Saints linebacker Ball's deflected tro can pass ball deflected and here goes the Saints linebacker sprinting clearly untouched nobody going to catch him and Aman who was an athlete had an angle so maybe but Aman had kind of a running start to get there Larry Allen was standing basically at the line of scrimmage when this thing unfolded and somehow at 63330 and Larry Allen was a gigantic man but he was roundish he was not built like uh Tyron Smith who's who's a v-shaped Tyron Smith Smith if you saw Tyron Smith like three blocks away a block away and you couldn't you didn't have perspective on how tall he is you might think he was a gymnast because he's a little v he's a gigantic V Larry Allen was not a v he was an O and yet at 63 330 lbs not built for Speed is outrunning this linebacker and of course famously makes this play on national TV adding to his growing Legend at the time the 700 PB bench press that thing uh and then John Madden I don't know about you but I'm of a certain age that when you're watching football on TV the idea of deep analysis of what's going on I I don't I don't remember that I remember obviously uh somewhere all in Brookshire and I'm not saying there weren't great guys doing TV football on TV in the 70s but I don't remember guys say say now watch the guard on this play I don't remember that watch the guard pull on this play and of course I know you and and in the uncle fish store below we we have the the great t-shirt I watch film which of course is meant to make fun of ourselves because most of us don't watch film and a large percentage of us who do watch film are only pretending to know what we see most of us watch football on the couch with our brother or our son or our daughter or our wife or our buddies we're not watching the pulling guard until John Madden told us to and Nate Newton will tell you John Madden made Nate Newton famous his sweaty butt crack and candy bars tuck down his sock and and he did the same for Larry Allen not that Nate Newton wasn't deserving of being a pro bowler multi-time pro bowler he was not that Larry Allen wouldn't have gotten to the Hall of Fame on his own he would have but but John Madden telling us watch this watch this guy watch that guy that nobody ever watches don't just watch the ball it certainly changed the way they do football on television certainly Chang the way most of us watch it and change the way offensive lineman now I mean really Larry Allen was a superstar and I've had this conversation uh many times while he played and since and make let me make this clear this is not uh me overreaching because Larry Allen has passed away that is a uh a human tendency isn't it Dale Hansen and I used to choke about this on the radio that a guy dies and then all of a sudden he's way better person than he ever was when he was alive and we were like don't don't do that to me when I die just tell it like it is H and I back in the day made a PCT that uh that when we die by the way he's going to die way before I am that old fart um really really have a have a party and let's tell some real stories about Dale Hansen we don't have we don't have to make up stuff let's just tell the real stuff well there is a tendency to do that with a guy who's passed away you don't have to do that on Larry Allen it was real um yeah we do to we we tend to turn the guy into some sort of a martyr don't need to do that with Larry Allen I said it then I say it now make your list of the best NFL players ever and a lot of people are going to start listening quarterbacks no no no players not quarterbacks who was the best at their job Deon Sanders here's my list off the top of my head that I've I've always thrown out there Deion Sanders Head and Shoulders above the next guy Jim Brown Jerry Rice sorry Michael I'll take Michael second Lawrence Taylor Ray guy and Larry Allen and that's pretty much my list and we can throw some other ones out there Danny Savage want wants to get John Hannah in there there's some there's there's there's a few other names but not not a lot there's not 50 of them and so when we talk about Larry Allen is one of the best Cowboys no no no he's not one of the best Cowboys ever he's not even one of the best offensive lineman ever he's one of the best players ever one of the best players regardless of position who's ever played sports that's how dominant he was keep in mind any position didn't make any difference he changed positions in the middle of games and then until bill parel came along and wanted him to lose weight and become a marathon runner parcel parcel of course always had to show you had to go find the biggest bully in the yard and go punch him in the nose and uh I didn't like it then and I don't like it now I don't believe in it lar Allen never never never created much of a stir as I said this morning he had his fun never created much of a stir never created much of a problem there weren't massive contract just just he didn't he didn't want your attention and part of that is what feeds my three Larry Allen stories my three best Larry Allen stories that I'm tell you tonight uh and again we're going to do this in the spirit of that what I said about Hansen and what I think a lot of you probably think when I die just throw me a party and listen when I die I'm I'm not saying there's and when you die I'm not saying there's not going to be some tears shed but celebration of life for real let's do that with Larry Allen here Story number one is apocryphal cuz I never heard it guys just say it that he would line up and I mean early in his career and you don't think of him as being a cocky but early in his career he would tell the defensive tackle kind of like the catcher telling the batter it's going to be a fast ball be a fast ball inside and you're not GNA be able to hit it by the way thank you for hitting the like button and beats the algorithms and gives YouTube the note you want quality Cowboy information uh from somebody who's inside the building and been inside with the Cowboys for 34 years that's me thank you also for subscribing to what we do here I appreciate your Devotion to our Channel as we've grown it to 70,000 fish heads in Cowboys Nation and of course part of that also is uh my request that you go read us at Cowboys country.com they say he basically used to tip off plays just for his own fun that he used to kind of and again I don't know this that he used to kind of indicate hey we're we're running we're is going to run it off tackle here and I think as an extension of that I think especially when he played guard and he would pull I think it's true that he would go meaning the train's coming down the track and I think he was would do that as he was pulling I think so I don't know I don't I I don't know how loud he did it can can the can the linebacker or the defensive end on that end as he's can he hear him probably loud enough for him to hear him whoop and here comes Larry Allen and the train that would also include obviously the left tackle or you know the opposite side tackle and Daryl Johnston and then Here Comes EMT Smith on his way to a million yards that's Story number one the train uh I I am going to um funeral arrangements are are being discussed by the way and uh if if there's something obviously in Dallas I will attend that and uh and I will have a chance to visit with some of the fellas and that's on my list did he I mean I can ask that I can ask Newton stepnoski Daryl Johnston that did he re Nova did he really do that story number two and I've told this one before and I know you love it so here comes again the White House has now grown in infamy of course and I must tell you we didn't all know I'm saying we me we didn't all know that it existed the way it existed we knew that guys were going over to each other's houses we didn't know they had a house and that it was right there I didn't I knew they went and hung out at gu's H now they had a house and Michael Irvin was the was the housemother and by reputation especially now it's made out to be a kind of a strip club frat house and it and kind of sometimes but there's also uh and yes my as I remember it Michael Irvin arranged it and he made made Alvin Harper put it in his name and I'll tell you this when it was time to get the vide tapes remember the video tapes big black videotapes you know this big videotapes right when it was time to get the videotapes out of there uh they made Alvin Harper get them throw them in Black Hefty bags and throw them in Alvin Harper's trunk BHS tapes right I know there're still in Elvin Harper's trunk there's probably some on those tap there's probably some things on those tapes I take it back I'm gonna say now that led by Michael Irvin those tapes have been [Laughter] burned uh it is worth noting I said this at the time when stories of the White House came out and I got killed for it cuz yeah that that they had cameras all over that place they had video cameras all over that place for for the purposes that uh all sorts of purposes that you might imagine and I said at the time better that they do it in their rental frat house strip club than be out running the streets in other words it's kind of a good idea just like in college if if if if all the Frat Boys are going to get drunk and cause problems well good do do them in your house don't don't come out here God I got murdered for that but I stand by it but the White House actually had uh some pieces of it that were were run with a little bit of class for instance a guy named Paco who's still around Irvin hired Paco to be his valet see how fancy that is gopher um go get my dry cleaning uh uh help me run the Cowboy basketball team which by the way Michael Irvin took over the Cowboy basketball team that had pre when he was a young kid that was previously run by Eugene lockart Michael didn't like the Run way that Eugene lockart uh ran it and so in a hotel room one day on the road playing basketball they got in a fight and I'm to this day shocked because I know Eugene lockart and the story is that Michael Irvin won the fight against Eugene lockart and therefore won the team that's the story Eugene don't get mad at me that's the story so Paco would run the errands and get the dry cleaning and go get some beer and all that well Paco also to pick up a couple extra bucks the guys would drive up their cars right early 1990s mid 1990 luxury and Paco would while the guys were inside they'd Park them outside Paco would wash their cars and detail their cars for them and guys would tip him usually sometimes maybe Larry Allen pulls in probably did this more than once and his car is a mess the inside of his car is a mess why because he chews tobacco and he's got this nice car he just doesn't care quite enough so the tobacco juice is all over the place and it's wet over here and it's dry over here and it's crusty down there and it's gross everywhere and Paco looks down there and he sees there's money stuck to the floor again Larry Allen don't care and Paco says Larry do you want me to what do you want me to do you want me to I mean I I'll clean this and you know I'm going to scrape off this and there's some just ah Larry Allen who's chewing you know just whatever he what am I gonna do with the money I just keep it so Paco gets in there it's it's not $1 bills there's $100 bills stuck in there lots of Larry Allen and and I've known a few guys like this I bet you I'll tell you what I need to ask about this I bet you there was paychecks stuck down there too ah I'll get to it so Paco made hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of dollars that day by cleaning up Larry Allen's dried up tobaki spit and finally item three and and the Larry Allen that I knew and again private person I'm not saying we were old Drinking Buddies uh but was certainly a man of few words EMT said that today so even EMT thinks that and uh it's why his speech his Hall of Fame speech was so stunning because I don't think some people that were close to him knew that he had any interest in being so eloquent it was a really good speech right it's one thing Jerry Jones going to Hall of Fame I know what's coming Michael Irving go to the Hall of Fame I know what's coming Troy aan go to the Hall of Fame I know what's coming Larry Allen I don't know that anybody saw that one coming um I will say as a sidebar here and I don't want to get too distracted this thing about you know who thanks who at the hall of fame uh this is an Oscar phenomenon you go up there and forget to mention your wife I wouldn't make too much out of it um I I think Larry Allen and EMT Smith probably pretty we're probably pretty comfortable with each other Emma did note though that Larry once he was done with football he was done but before he was done uh he he ended up he was going to be done here and he was going to head to San Francisco and he agreed with me to do one last interview here so I got a hold of him and uh we met at an LA Fitness coincidentally LA and by this time this must have been parcel instead of working out at at Valley Ranch he was working out on LA Fitness so he told me to meet him there and so we probably spent 20 minutes and he's kind of working out why I'm he's not lifting 700 pounds but he's kind of working out and I'm kind of following around no I was not working out thank you and you know I get some he says some things and you know I got to in my story I've got to take these little things that he said and I've got to turn into actual sentences and paragraphs and in the story I write I'd like I wish I could go find this do they have such a thing as micro fish anymore microfilm I wrote something like Larry Allen usually only uses his mouth for one thing he he knows how to put food in it and he doesn't care about having words come out of it or something like that and I wrote it I looked at it and I thought it was funny and I thought it was right Larry Allen doesn't even know that your mouth is also for words not just food or something and I sent him the story uh and then then talk to him hoping that he didn't want to kill me because I had made fun of him and it's why the thumbnail that I use I I I looked around hard because most pictures of Larry Allen he's just sitting there but I needed to find a picture of him smiling and laughing because of all the times that I talked to him or tried to talk to him there wasn't much there was wasn't much of that just just kind of getting through it he laughed his ass off at my characterization of him as somebody that only knew how to use his mouth for one thing uh and and uh I'm I'm struck by that today because in the end in this Sport and for this franchise that's so much about Hollywood and Glitz and America team and showbiz is and what's cool and markeet he he didn't care that I made fun of him in a loving way he didn't care about his tobacco stained $100 bills all he really cared about besides his family all he really cared about was rest in peace Larry Allen fish out