Recent Forum Topics › Forums › The Rams Huddle › Rams' Hayes and Long go 'undercover' for ESPN
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zn.
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May 28, 2015 at 6:55 pm #25449
znModeratorfrom off the net
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BernieM
This news release comes from the Rams.
This sounds really interesting so I thought you’d want to know about it.
Here’s the release, verbatim:
Two members of the St. Louis Rams will be featured on the Sunday, May 31 editions of ESPN SportsCenter as they immerse themselves in the homeless community of their city.
In an effort to get a closer look at the hardships homeless people in America endure every day, Rams defensive ends William Hayes and Chris Long took to the streets for 24 hours with no place to sleep or eat, no connection to the outside world and only $4 each. ESPN’s SC Featured followed their story.
Haynes and Long wore second-hand clothing and makeup was used to help conceal their identities. They were outfitted with small cameras and microphones, and an ESPN crew observed them.
“Life on the Streets” will debut in the 9 a.m. CT edition of SportsCenter and will re-air in other editions of the program throughout the day. An accompanying feature on ESPN.com will be posted Sunday afternoon.
The Rams Broadcasting Network also documented the pair’s experience in a feature titled, “Home,” which will air on the team’s website at 1 p.m. CT.
PREVIEW
http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=espn:12950900
Quotes from the features:
“It was the worst night I’ve ever had in my life for sure …. My body hurts so bad right now.” –William Hayes.
“It’s amazing though when that cop went to talk to me, just how unsettled that felt, compared to like if a cop normally talks to me walking down the street.” –Chris Long.
“They were always willing to listen and learn in order to, not only tell the story of the adventure, but to advocate for very vulnerable and needy people,” –Judson Bliss, Chief Program Officer of the St. Patrick’s Center.
May 28, 2015 at 7:48 pm #25452
SunTzu_vs_CamusParticipantwow.
thanks for finding that.
"I should have been a pair of ragged claws...
Scuttling across the floors of silent seas."May 28, 2015 at 9:06 pm #25456
AgamemnonParticipant
AgamemnonMay 29, 2015 at 7:58 am #25461
wvParticipantTwo rich-celebrity-people
spending a televised day
with the Homeless.I dont quite know how
to even process that.w
v
“Charity . . . is the opium of the privileged.” ― Chinua Achebe, Anthills of the Savannah“Charity is no substitute for justice withheld.” Saint Augustine
“Charity should be abolished; and be replaced by justice. Norman Bethune
May 31, 2015 at 1:01 pm #25608znModeratorSC Featured goes undercover into homeless community with St. Louis Rams
by Andy HallIn Sunday’s editions of SportsCenter, the weekly SC Featured segment will follow two St. Louis Rams players as they go undercover for 24 hours to learn more about the plight of the homeless.
The players, William Hayes and Chris Long, wore makeup to help hide their identities and were dressed in second-hand clothes. They had small button cameras on their clothing and were wired for sound as they were followed by the ESPN crew.
Co-producers Gustavo Coletti and Steve Buckheit from the ESPN Features Unit learned of their assignment on a Friday night in March and were quickly on their way to St. Louis to start shooting on Sunday night.
“Within 36 hours, we had to put together a team,” said Coletti.
“The challenge for us was that this was a little bit out of our element,” said Buckheit. “We needed someone who knew how to spy on someone at night, be sort of a fly on the wall, and not intrude on what we wanted to remain a very organic experiment. We got consultation of a private investigator for that.”
Coletti said equipment such as night vision lenses was needed. “There were a lot of quick decisions and quick research,” he said.
Working with ESPN Global Security, Coletti and Buckheit hired some off-duty police officers to work with them, one of whom was also disguised and stayed with the players, and others who stayed with the ESPN crew. They also communicated with local police so that law enforcement was aware of what was going on and would not be suspicious.
“At no point did we feel unsafe,” Coletti said.
Although they were never recognized as Rams, an issue did arise after the first night when the players began to express concern that some in the tight-knit homeless community might think they were undercover police officers. For their own safety, they decided to stop the experiment after one of two planned days.
“We still feel like we captured the essence of their wide-eyed experience of being homeless,” said Buckheit. “I was very relieved at how genuine our two principles came across. There was no agenda; they were very genuine in everything they did. I feel it was mission accomplished.”
“Life on the Streets” debuts in the 10 a.m. ET SportsCenter on Sunday, May 31, and will air in other editions of the program throughout the day. A companion piece on ESPN.com will also be posted Sunday.
May 31, 2015 at 5:30 pm #25611znModeratorGet a behind-the-scenes look at Chris Long & William Hayes’ project as they spend 24 hours on the streets of St. Louis.
http://www.stlouisrams.com/videos/videos/Home/62619e6b-b6d9-4b06-a943-e7bee8e43c2d
May 31, 2015 at 5:37 pm #25612znModeratorGet a behind-the-scenes look at Chris Long & William Hayes’ project as they spend 24 hours on the streets of St. Louis.
http://www.stlouisrams.com/videos/videos/Home/62619e6b-b6d9-4b06-a943-e7bee8e43c2d
from off the net
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OldSchool
Long was on the Van Pelt and Rasillo show again today talking about this. Even discussed at one point an office exec walked by them and didn’t recognize them and they also went up to the ticket office and asked to buy season tickets and the gal didn’t recognize them either. They were apparently going to go longer with their undercover adventure but were recognized on the 2nd day and a guy wouldn’t stop following them so they cut it off.
Chris really went out of his way during this interview today to talk up Hayes and how it’s him that is really leading this push and he even said at one point “like all of Wills ideas good or bad I follow along with him”. The whole DLine has kind of adopted this shelter as their charity of choice and last year donated so much to it the shelter was able to open a special wing/shelter for children. These two in my book are great people.
May 31, 2015 at 7:24 pm #25620znModeratorRams DEs Chris Long, William Hayes confront homelessness in St. Louis
Elizabeth Merrill
THE IDEA WAS hatched as the St. Louis Rams’ team bus inched through a rugged part of downtown St. Louis, and, like many of the plans William Hayes and Chris Long come up with, it wasn’t taken very seriously. Hayes and Long are the team’s jokesters, bantering about everything from the existence of mermaids to opening a plus-size yoga studio.
But this conversation was different. From their comfortable seats in the bus, they saw homeless people on the streets, and Hayes turned to Long and asked him if he thought they could handle living like that. Hayes had been moved by the plight of the homeless since his days in Tennessee when he befriended a man who panhandled near the Titans’ practice facility. On the Rams’ bus, Hayes told Long he wanted to experience what it was like to be homeless and asked if Long would join him.
They’d turn in their cell phones and credit cards and wander the streets in sub-40-degree temperatures with no place to go. Long, one of the NFL’s deep thinkers, gave Hayes a funny look at first, but then he said yes.
“I wasn’t going to let him do that alone,” Long says. “I’m sure he wouldn’t let me, either.”
Rams DEs William Hayes and Chris Long went undercover to raise awareness of a life most people ignore. Courtesy of St. Louis RamsTHEY ARE BEST friends with little in common, aside from the fact that they are both enormous 30-year-old men who play defensive end. Chris Long has never wanted for anything. His mother is a retired lawyer and his father is Howie Long, a Hall of Fame defensive end. Shortly after Howie’s career ended, he moved his family from Los Angeles to a 65-acre spread in Virginia because they had the means to live anywhere, and this seemed the most peaceful place to settle in. Chris inherited many of his father’s athletic gifts, dominated in college at the University of Virginia, and was picked second overall in the 2008 draft.
Hayes wasn’t invited to the NFL combine back in ’08, and it was a surprise when the Titans selected the unknown lineman from Winston-Salem State in the fourth round. As his parents scrimped to stay afloat, his childhood was full of nos: No, he couldn’t have the toy he wanted, and no, this bill couldn’t be paid on time. But Hayes had a roof over his head and food in his belly. He was happy. He was showered with love, and never felt as if he was missing anything. It wasn’t until Hayes was older that he realized how much his family really struggled.
The thing Hayes loved most about Long is that he never acted like a guy who had everything. “Treat the bellman the same as you treat the president of the United States,” Howie Long used to tell his three boys, hoping that privilege wouldn’t affect the way they acted toward others.
Long’s mom, Diane, always called her son an old soul. He has a bucket list, climbed Mount Kilimanjaro, and started a project to help provide clean water to the underprivileged in east Africa. He has always seen the world differently. But he had no clue what kind of challenges the homeless face.
For the past several years, the Rams’ defensive line has donated $1,000 for every sack to the St. Patrick Center, a local homeless resource. Long had never visited the center.
Meanwhile, Hayes became a regular. He took a group of teenagers to the movies and played bingo at the Rosati Group Home, St. Patrick’s mental illness facility. This spring, Hayes treated about 15 homeless people to a meal at Golden Corral, an all-you-can-eat buffet.
“I’m telling you, you’d thought they’d died and went to heaven,” says Judson Bliss, chief program officer at St. Patrick. “It’s very rare for these folks, so it was very special.
“We have a lot of people who give money to us, and that’s a good thing. But I think a lot of these social problems that we have, with homelessness and the violence, what it really does take is people being involved in other people’s lives. That’s what makes a difference.”
HAYES IS SO entertaining that some say he deserves his own reality show, and, sure enough, this had all the makings for prime-time television. Long and Hayes wore makeup, hats and second-hand clothing to avoid being recognized. They were followed around by hidden ESPN cameras and were flanked by an off-duty police officer in case they ran into trouble.
Many of these details were hammered out by Nicole Woodie, the Rams’ community outreach manager. Woodie went to several thrift stores in search of clothes big enough to fit 270- and 280-pound bodies. She then distressed the clothes to make them look more lived-in, adding dirt and holes.
Hayes and Long wore clothing that had been distressed to make it look more lived-in. Courtesy of St. Louis RamsLong and Hayes took to the streets on the afternoon of March 22, Hayes in floodwater pants too short for his long legs; Long with penciled-in wrinkles around his eyes. Though the forecast called for a fairly mild evening, the temperature dropped into the 30s. Between them, Long and Hayes had $8 in their pockets.
Surprisingly, neither one was recognized, even when they panhandled for money to buy hamburgers just outside the Edward Jones Dome, their home on Sundays. When night fell, they searched for a place to sleep. Long and Hayes found warmth from a fire in a barrel, but were quickly chased off by a scruffy middle-aged man who said they were trespassing on his space.
They came upon an empty box truck and slept in the back. It provided little warmth, and Hayes couldn’t sleep.
“I wasn’t scared,” he says, “but it was more so the idea of not knowing the next move. I’m trying to close my eyes. We have a security guard with us, but he was like, ‘If somebody really wanted to come in here to lift this thing up to shoot all of us and rob us, they could easily do it.’
“Basically, I’m trying to sleep, but I’m trying to figure out what’s going to be my next move in the morning. When you get up, it’s like, gosh, we’ve got nowhere to go.”
They awoke just after 5 a.m. It rained that morning, and Long said he was glad they were able to experience the elements. Hayes wasn’t so enthusiastic. Their experiment lasted about 24 hours. Then they hopped in a van and toured the places they’d gone the day before. When they reached the abandoned warehouse where they’d gone to warm up near the fire, they came upon the man who ran them off the night before. His name is Marty.
Marty ran his own construction business once, but then he split up with his wife, got some DWIs and couldn’t get his driver’s license back. His life unraveled, and he wound up in the warehouse along with a homeless woman named Nancy, whom he was trying to protect.
Hayes and Long were so moved by Marty’s story that they decided to put him and Nancy up in an extended-stay hotel for two months. When Woodie came by to pick them up a couple of days later, Marty was surprised. He said he didn’t think anyone would come back. So many times in their lives, nobody came back.
“It’s something intangible,” Woodie says. “It’s like someone believes in them and has hope in them.
“We want this to be the moment that changes their lives forever. We hope that’s the case. We also know it might not be.”
Hayes and Long bought disposable cell phones for Marty and Nancy and paid for groceries and bus passes.
Marty found a job in construction recently; Nancy received help through outreach support. But it’s far more complicated than that. The issues that put them on the streets for years can’t be fixed in two months.
Hayes is “absolutely” worried about them, he says. “I can’t change the world. They could relapse.
“With Marty, I see he wants to make a difference. I feel like he was getting tired of the lifestyle he was living.”
WHEN HAYES CAME up with the idea for this experiment, he did not want cameras following him and Long. He didn’t want to make it look like he was grandstanding or being fake. But both Woodie and the St. Patrick Center encouraged him to use his platform to raise awareness of homelessness.
When William Hayes came up with the idea of experiencing the life of homelessness for a night, Chris Long agreed. Courtesy of St. Louis RamsBoth Hayes and Long say the experience changed their lives. Hayes hated the way people stared at him as he walked the streets, judging him by the way he looked. Long used to look the other way when he saw a homeless person. He’d write checks to the St. Patrick Center, but for a long time, he says, the people there were just faceless recipients of his good fortune. Long made his first trip to the facility right after his night on the streets, and promised he’d be back.
“We don’t understand,” Long says. “We weren’t hoping to understand. We were just hoping to gain a little perspective and put kind of a feeling with the cause that we had been [donating to] from a distance the last couple of years.”
Long went home that night, rested his head on a pillow in his apartment and stared at the ceiling. He felt warm and lucky, but not quite comfortable. He hopes that feeling lasts.
May 31, 2015 at 7:46 pm #25621wvParticipantI like this:
“We don’t understand,” Long says. “We weren’t hoping to understand…”
And this:
“Treat the bellman the same as you treat the president of the United States,” Howie Long used to tell his three boys, hoping that privilege wouldn’t affect…”
And i like the fact that the two rich-celebrities want to help some homeless people.
But the problem of “homelessness” is a “systemic” problem. A ‘system’ creates the conditions
of “Homelessness.” And these kinds of little endeavors never seem to result in the celebrities
having any “aha” moments where they realize the problem is “systemic”.
…so i get annoyed. It pushes wv-ram’s political-buttons. That was my last word 🙂w
v-
This reply was modified 9 years, 6 months ago by
wv.
May 31, 2015 at 8:29 pm #25623znModeratorBut the problem of “homelessness” is a “systemic” problem. A ‘system’ creates the conditions
of “Homelessness.” And these kinds of little endeavors never seem to result in the celebrities
having any “aha” moments where they realize the problem is “systemic”.
…so i get annoyed. It pushes wv-ram’s political-buttons. That was my last word 🙂That’s clearly true, that homelessness is systemic, but then, everything is either blind to or hides that.
So…I wouldn’t expect 2 decently well off celebrities to get that.
Heck if they had the analytic bent to get something like that, it would have shown up in different ways before this, and…they would have been crucified for it already.
May 31, 2015 at 8:51 pm #25624wvParticipantThat’s clearly true, that homelessness is systemic, but then, everything is either blind to or hides that.
So…I wouldn’t expect 2 decently well off celebrities to get that.
Heck if they had the analytic bent to get something like that,
it would have shown up in different ways before this, and…they would have been crucified for it already.Yes.
w
v
“..One of the biggest difficulties, politically speaking, is to get people to see the nature of the system in which they live. The system is very sophisticated in disguising what it does, and how it does it. One of the tasks of… and critical theorists is to try to demystify, but you can see this happening intuitively sometimes. Take the indignados movement: something happens in Spain and then, next thing, suddenly it happens in Greece — and then suddenly it happens elsewhere. Take the Occupy movement: suddenly there are occupations going on all over the place. So there is connectivity here. A specific event like Baltimore doesn’t do anything in itself. What it does do, when you add it to Ferguson and you add it to some of the other things that are going on, is to show that large populations have been treated as disposable human beings. This is going on in the United States as well as elsewhere. Then, people suddenly start to see this is a systemic issue. So one of the things we should be doing is to emphasize the systemic nature of these type of events, showing that the problem lies within the system…”
David HarveyMay 31, 2015 at 8:54 pm #25626AgamemnonParticipant AgamemnonMay 31, 2015 at 8:58 pm #25627
InvaderRamModeratornot exactly about homelesness. but john angelos of the baltimore orioles made a very bold statement about the systemic problems affecting impoverished americans across this nation.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/business/bs-bz-john-angelos-riots-20150508-story.html#page=2
John Angelos’ tweets patched together
…speaking only for myself i agree with your point that the principle of peaceful, non-violent protest and the observance of the rule of law is of utmost importance in any society. MLK, Gandhi, Mandela, and all great opposition leaders throughout history have always preached this precept. Further, it is critical that in any democracy investigation must be completed and due process must be honored before any government or police members are judged responsible. That said, my greater source of personal concern, outrage and sympathy beyond this particular case is focused neither upon one night’s property damage nor upon the acts group [sic] but is focused rather upon the past four-decade period during which an American political elite have shipped middle class and working class jobs away from Baltimore and cities and towns around the US to 3rd world dictatorships like China and others plunged tens of millions of good hard working Americans into economic devastation and then followed that action around the nation by diminishing every American’s civil rights protections in order to control an unfairly impoverished population living under an ever-declining standard of living and suffering at the butt end of an ever-more militarized and aggressive surveillance state. The innocent working families of all backgrounds whose lives and dreams have been cut short by excessive violence, surveillance, and other abuses of the bill of rights by government pay the true price, an ultimate price, and one that far exceeds the importance of any kids’ game played tonight, or ever, at Camden Yards. We need to keep in mind people are suffering and dying around the US and while we are thankful no one was injured at Camden Yards, there is a far bigger picture for poor Americans in Baltimore and everywhere who don’t have jobs and are losing economic civil and legal rights and this is makes inconvenience at a ball game irrelevant in light of the needless suffering government is inflicting upon ordinary Americans.
Copyright © 2015, The Baltimore Sun
June 1, 2015 at 4:43 pm #25660znModeratorRams defensive ends William Hayes and Chris Long on Sunday were featured in an ESPN story as they went undercover to experience life among the homeless, bringing awareness to an issue that impacts over 570,000 people in the United States. Hayes joined The Hollywood Casino Press Box on Monday to talk about his experience. We’ve typed out the notable excerpts below the full interview, which you can listen to here:
William Hayes Talks Homeless Experience
What made you passionate about the cause of homeless awareness?
“I’m really passionate about kids. I’ve been in situations where I’ve seen a lot of children who were homeless. I always told myself If I was able to get to a platform where people can see me as a role model…I was going to try to do something positive within the community. And I felt this was a great avenue to go.”
How long did you and Long go undercover and what was the most attention-grabbing thing you experienced?
“We did it for a day and a half. I had two different scenarios. We were walking up the street and about to go to a homeless shelter and we started getting harrassed by a cop. That’s when I realized I was in a different type of light. Where I’m not getting seen as a football player. Generally a cop is really nice towards me and stuff. I feel like they would’ve seen me as William Hayes and Chris as Chris Long, we would’ve never been put in that situation. That was the first thing that really stuck out.”
“The second thing…just going to the homeless shelter and seeing all these kids…and knowing at the end of the day these kids have nowhere to go. You just listen to conversations…real conversations…People (talking about what they’re going to do for the night). It’s just real. There was a kid and his mom and her mom is probably sleeping in a building one night. I got three kids…I can’t even imagine my kids not having somewhere to sleep at night.”
You learned some homeless can be quite territorial, correct?
“Oh yeah. We were at White Castle, asking a guy where some good places to go to…(We told him we were going to the bridge). And when we said that, we saw him start texting somebody. Me and Chris and our security guy are trying to warm up and stuff…and about 10 minutes later I see him looking at us, then talk to a group of guys, then we felt (stuff was getting kind of shady). I think that’s when our covers got blown. We didn’t feel comfortable any more.”
Have you gotten any reaction from your teammates yet?
“I’m actually going (back to St. Louis) today. We have our (reporting day for OTAs) tomorrow. But I got a lot of texts. People telling me it was a powerful piece. I felt like it turned out really good.”
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Some thoughts on William Hayes and Chris Long’s homeless experience
By Nick Wagoner
EARTH CITY, Mo. — For those that might have missed on it Sunday, this week’s SportsCenter Featured special centered on St. Louis Rams defensive ends William Hayes and Chris Long’s 24-hour homeless experience.
Before reading much further, it’s worth watching the video and reading ESPN Senior Writer Liz Merrill’s piece. To go with that, it’s also worth seeing a little further on the team’s official website where they’ve posted a video and more explanation of the genesis of Hayes and Long’s night on the streets.
Long and Hayes have both taken opportunities to explain why they wanted to do the project and the clear focus was on raising awareness about a cause they both value. The piece spurred plenty of thoughts and emotions on social media. I had no shortage of my own.
Here’s a few takeaways from watching:
Believe it or not (OK, it’s easy to believe), there were those on social media who found ways to complain about what Long and Hayes did. The argument, such as it was, was that spending one night on the street is nothing compared to what our country’s homeless go through every day and night of their lives. That’s undoubtedly true. It also misses the point. Long and Hayes never once have said that one night on the streets is enough to really grasp what the homeless endure. Others also argued that if it was a selfless endeavor then why would they have done it for television? Again, that’s a nonsensical argument. Hayes initially didn’t want to do the television segment but realized that it was a chance to call attention to a cause that’s close to him. And that really gets to the heart of why Long and Hayes did what they did. Hayes has been active with the St. Patrick’s Center here in St. Louis for the past year and routinely goes there to spend time with the people who have made their way off the streets. As Merrill’s story mentions, Hayes has taken teenagers from the St. Patrick’s Center to the movies on multiple occasions, among other regular visits.”We don’t understand,” Long told Merrill. “We weren’t hoping to understand. We were just hoping to gain a little perspective and put kind of a feeling with the cause that we had been [donating to] from a distance the last couple of years.”
It’s worth noting that this is far from a one-off. After Rams coach Jeff Fisher took over in 2012, assistant head coach Dave McGinnis and defensive line coach Mike Waufle got involved in reviving the team’s “Sack Homelessness” program. That program had previously been in place but had been stalled for a few years. Upon its return, the Rams pledged $1,000 for every sack they’d rack up in a given season. In the time since, the Rams have the second-most sacks in the league with 145. That’s good for $145,000 right there but there have been extra dollars given here and there that actually push the total to closer to $150,000. So obviously, they aren’t just donating time but money to the project.
Hayes and Long have a reputation for their comedic antics in the Rams locker room and that’s a deserved reputation. The whole defensive line group is consistently one of the most interesting, eclectic and, yes, funny, on the team. But it’s also a group that takes football and philanthropy very seriously. Long just launched a campaign to help provide clean water in East Africa and Hayes has been devoted to helping the homeless for most of his time in St. Louis. The entire Rams organization is as active or more active than any sports franchise you’ll find in any city, anywhere.
Which is a truth that brought me to a different thought after digesting what I watched on Sunday morning. These are tense times in St. Louis for many reasons far more important than just the future of the local football team. But the reality is that there’s a very real chance that the Rams won’t be in St. Louis beyond 2016. That’s a shame for football fans here (just as it was for those in Los Angeles when that city lost the Rams) but it very well could be a bigger loss for a community that needs as many Chris Longs and William Hayes’ as it can get. The NFL is expected to release a market study soon that will focus on the fans here and their willingness to buy Personal Seat Licenses and whether local businesses are willing to bring money to the table for suites and sponsorships. What it won’t include is the value of having a professional sports franchise ready and willing to help those in need in their city. The bottom line and business is always going to win out. I get that and I’m not saying Los Angeles couldn’t use the good works of a pro football team. But while there might be no way to put a price tag or value on something like helping a couple of homeless people get back on their feet, as the NFL examines the future of the teams in their current markets, perhaps maybe they should.
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