Former NFL and CFL player Davis Sanchez is now an analyst for TSN covering the Super Bowl on Sunday.Jeff Bassett
The closest Davis Sanchez ever got to the Super Bowl as a player was two playoff-less seasons as a defensive back with the San Diego Chargers in the early 2000s. But now, as one of TSN’s analysts for Sunday’s matchup between Philadelphia and Kansas City, The Delta, B.C., native will get more than his fair share of the biggest game in pro football, with the network beginning its coverage from Arizona’s State Farm Stadium 8½ hours before opening kickoff.
Sanchez, 48, took time out from preparing to break down plays alongside fellow Canadian NFL alums Jesse Palmer and Luke Willson to take part in The Globe and Mail’s new weekly sports Q&A feature, ‘SATURDAY WITH …’
What is your idea of perfect happiness?
Spending time with the fam and seeing joy in my kids’ faces is probably the thing that makes me happiest right now. I have two little girls, 2 and 4, so it’s kind of new to me. I feel like I’ve accomplished everything that I want to accomplish, not workwise but sports-wise, but there’s nothing that tops seeing my girls smile, which is something I didn’t realize could be possible.
What is your greatest regret?
Careerwise it’d be not laying down roots in one city long enough. I always was a mercenary for hire and kind of chased the best offer in free agency and when you do that, it’s tough to build the legacy you want when you’re jumping around. So careerwise I wish I would have stayed in one place the whole time. The other thing that’s a pretty big mistake on my part was I signed a two-year contract in the NFL with the Chargers. After I finished the two-year contract, they offered me an extension which I turned down because [my agent and I were] looking for more money somewhere else. I looked at other options and when I came back a month later, after I found nothing that we liked, the Chargers had moved on, and therefore I never spent another snap in the NFL.
What is your greatest achievement?
Other than being a good father and husband, it’s managing to have some success in the real world, while still being authentic to myself and who I am, telling it how it is. I’m as straight a shooter as you will find, which in this world gets you in trouble. But if I’m able to be real and authentic and still be able to survive in the team world and the corporate world, I think hopefully people appreciate my authenticity and honesty.
Which living person do you most admire?
I’m a big Barack Obama guy. He’s able to handle things with such grace and humility when the noise around him is so negative and accusatory, attacking, and he always handles things with such class and grace.
What is your greatest extravagance?
Probably travel. I’ve got three vacations booked. I come home from the Super Bowl and we’re heading down south. We’re starting off in the Bahamas for a week and then we come home [to Toronto] for two days and then we’re off to Mayakoba, which is in the Cancun area. And then we’re back here again and we go to Florida two weeks later.
What is your current state of mind?
Fortunate. Trying to find daily ways to be conscious of the gifts that we’ve been given. There’s no career goals that I’m aiming at and attacking. I feel like I’ve been really fortunate to have a lot of blessings and good fortune. So now for me I’m in a state of constantly trying to find ways to appreciate those things and be conscious of appreciating those things. As you can tell I’m an Eckhart Tolle guy. A New Earth is my favourite [book of his]. I call it my Bible. I’ve literally read it five times. It’s all about the ego, and you realize that everything you’re doing is ego driven. If you take the ego out of it it helps with everything, but it’s hard to do.
What do you consider the most overrated virtue?
People throw around the word nice too often. Everyone says this guy’s a nice guy, or this is a nice lady. And I find that the most overrated, overused and meaningless word. To me, how I judge goodness in somebody is how do they treat you when you need them? How do they treat you when it might be uncomfortable? You know what nice means to me? Nonconfrontational. You can be nice all you want but when we need you, are you going to be the person that will stand up for what’s right? That to me is probably the strongest passion I have in life is I don’t care how nice you are, I care if you do the right thing when it’s needed, when it’s uncomfortable.
Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
‘The reality is …’ I use that a lot.
When and where were you happiest?
It’s so hard because I’d say right now I’m probably at the pinnacle of everything in regards to family and career and life, but at the beginning of the 2000s, when I was in the NFL, was probably as good as it gets. My family was proud-to-the-moon and elated. Financially we were stable finally and you feel pretty good in your daily life. That time was pretty freakin’ good, but I’d say that along with now with my family situation.
Which talent would you most like to have?
The recall of [TSN colleague] Rod Smith because he can recall a play from the second quarter of a Grey Cup 20 years ago, and I don’t remember what I had for breakfast. In my notes on my phone and my iPad right now, I have 5,600 notes. I have notes for everything. I have tabs for everything. I have a [football] coach tab. I have a grocery tab. I have an investment tab. I have a ‘names of people at TSN’ tab. I have a ‘names of people at CFL head office’ tab. I have an NFL tab, you name it. I have a tab for everything so that I can remember stuff.
But how does that work on live TV?
I’m a quick thinker. It would be like stats and stuff, I wouldn’t remember the stats. But I can think quickly live, I know what I’m talking about, right? So I don’t have to remember how Kansas City’s defensive scheme is and how they play because I know it, right?
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be?
Choose my battles better.
What is your most treasured possession?
My mother made scrapbooks growing up, so I have three scrapbooks that basically have pictures of every birthday party I had as a kid. She documented my whole [childhood] and she did the same thing with sports, so every newspaper article I ever had, or every team I was ever on she had the team picture there with who was on the team from right to left. So she scrapbooked that all the way from me being one year old all the way till 35 and in the pros. They’re really well done and it’s pretty cool because it documents your whole life in a photo album.
What is your motto?
Try to treat people that have the least effect on your career the same way as the people that would have the most.