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DIAMOND RESORTS INVITATIONALJanuary 10, 2018Marcus AllenOrlando, Florida Q. What's your take on Jon Gruden being the coach of your alma mater, the Raiders? MARCUS ALLEN: I think it's an exciting thing. Q. A lot of energy, doesn't he? MARCUS ALLEN: Jack is a good friend of mine. I hate to see them lose Jack. That being said, I think Jon is going to be a great addition‑‑ I think a great leader for the team. There are clearly things they were missing that he will bring to the table: Structure, attention to detail, all those things, really focusing on all that. And I think giving Carr an opportunity to really succeed. I think this past year, I don't know if they‑‑ was the OC in his first year? Q. I think it might have been. MARCUS ALLEN: Without trying to destroy him. He didn't have the accountability that he had when Musgrave was there. But I think he'll bring that back. There's an enthusiasm. There's an attention to detail that he brings. Q. He works around the clock too, doesn't he? He's ultra‑focused, right? MARCUS ALLEN: He is. Q. The Joe Gibbs thing, yeah. MARCUS ALLEN: It's a little crazy. I know he likes to be the first one in the office and the last to leave. I subscribe to time management. I don't think you need to be there that long. Q. What's your take on the Hall of Fame? There's 15 finalists, minimum of four, maximum of eight. Do you have strong feelings on who should get in and who shouldn't? MARCUS ALLEN: I really don't know who's all‑‑ Q. I have the list right here. MARCUS ALLEN: I haven't kept abreast of it. Q. There's the list right there. The power is kind of at the top‑‑ Ray Lewis, Urlacher, James, Moss, T.O. It's a strong list. Joe Jacoby, who you played in a Super Bowl against. MARCUS ALLEN: Some of them are pretty‑‑ when you look at Ray, obviously, him and Brian and what he's accomplished. Even Edgerrin James, if you look at his numbers, extremely impressive. And Randy and Terrell, I mean, Terrell should already be in there. Q. I covered golf for 30 years, so I know the golf Hall of Famers are always protective of their Hall of Fame. They want to make sure the guys who get in are worthy. MARCUS ALLEN: We feel the same way. It's like the Heisman Trophy. You want a guy‑‑ and it's very challenging because it is very hard to say‑‑ Q. You want worthy people. MARCUS ALLEN: You're the best player in the country, yet you don't get drafted. You want people who will go on and highlight the award even more so in their professional career. And when that doesn't happen, it's certainly‑‑ it bothers a lot of the players. It's important for us to have the best people and certainly in the Hall of Fame. Q. I hear you. One last question. Mark Rypien has a crazy Super Bowl story the year he was MVP. He couldn't sleep. He got up at 5:00. He ended up sleeping four hours at the stadium on the training table. I know you have the crazy rental car story. Can you just spend a minute telling me that. Was that in Tampa when you were the MVP? MARCUS ALLEN: It was in Tampa. First of all, I had probably the greatest night's sleep you could possibly have. I felt like, when I got up that morning, like my feet never really touched the ground. I went to breakfast. I was really sort of not all about the day and what it was approaching at all. Just very, very relaxed. I remember we had our meeting. We ate, had our meeting, and then like most teams‑‑ unlike most teams, usually there's a bus that takes the guys to the stadium. Guys who really want to go early catch a cab. But I remember we had rental cars. So I ended up going to the stadium. Q. Some players had rental cars? MARCUS ALLEN: Yes. And I remember going to the stadium with‑‑ I don't know if anybody else went to the game. I'm a young player. So I don't know exactly. Odis McKinney and I, the defensive back, No.23, we drove together. Q. Were you driving? MARCUS ALLEN: Yes. Go to the parking attendant and say, excuse me, man, where does the players park? She says, well, do you have a parking pass? I said, no, I don't. She said, well, you can't get in. I said, no, no, you don't understand. I'm playing in today's game. I'm with the Raiders, and I'm playing in today's game. She says, frankly, I don't care who you are. If you don't have a parking pass, you can't get in. Q. Was this a female guard? MARCUS ALLEN: Yes. Q. And you left the rental car there? MARCUS ALLEN: I looked at Odis, and he looked at me. We backed the car up, pulled to the curb. I looked at him, and he looked at me again. It was like mental telepathy without saying a word. He grabbed his bag, and I grabbed my bag. We took off running for the locker room. To this day, I don't know what happened to the rental car. Q. Was it Hertz, Avis? MARCUS ALLEN: I can't remember. Q. For somebody that's won a Super Bowl MVP, I can't imagine there's a whackier story. MARCUS ALLEN: You know what, you never know. If you were to talk to most people, there's probably something, some strange things that happened. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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