Late-Round Perspectives: Steve Palazzolo

**JJ** (0:00)
Steve Palazzolo is a co-host of Check The Mic, who does consulting work for various teams across professional and college football. He previously worked for PFF for well over a decade. He's an East Coast dad, a former professional baseball player, and he's almost definitely taller than you are. These are his late-round perspectives.

**Steve Palazzolo** (0:28)
I saw our Twitter DMs went back to at least 2015, so I'm assuming maybe slightly before that, various interactions.

**JJ** (0:34)
So it's been like a decade at least, right? And this is the first show that we've done together, I think.

**Steve Palazzolo** (0:40)
It is, yeah. So a long time coming, this is a big one.

**JJ** (0:44)
I know, man, very rarely though, too, do I meet some... Because we got to meet each other IRL at the Super Bowl at Radio Row this year. And I knew you were tall, but you were like another... It's like when you go there and you're walking by, and Derek Henry walks by and you're like, oh wow, he's even bigger. The one that got me this year was Cam Hayward.
You know that he's massive, but I guess because they're down a lot, right? And then you think to yourself, how can an offensive lineman possibly... How can another human possibly block this man, right? But then I saw you and I'm like, you're even bigger than I thought you would be.

**Steve Palazzolo** (1:20)
I get that a lot. It's funny because co-host Sam and I talk about this all the time. Like when you're on Radio Row and you see Ryan Leaf walk by or when we've been around guys like Boomer Esiason, it's like, I kind of get why NFL teams get swayed by the in-person. Like, this guy looks like an NFL QB and then like Bryce Young rolls in or whatever. It's like, I kind of get why they get influenced a little bit by that, even though I don't think it's smart overall. That was exactly.

**JJ** (1:44)
That was my because like I've always been comped physically to Joe Flacco, like jokingly, like people always just say, it's really just like the thick eyebrows and the hair. And we also went through a very similar timeline journey wise of like a glow up, if you will. Like we, neither of us cared about our looks in our 20s. And then, you know, we started to care more as we got married and started having families and like had to start, you know, you have to start caring a little bit as you get older and stuff. And I got a picture with him at Radio Road just for the memes, right? Yeah, that's great. And like, that's a perfect example where you're like, oh my God, like I'm 6'1, I'm not like short, I'm 6'1, you know? And Flacco standing there, I'm like, this guy is gigantic.

**Steve Palazzolo** (2:26)
He's huge.

**JJ** (2:26)
It's crazy.

**Steve Palazzolo** (2:27)
It is. It's great. It is. It is eye-opening even for me. You know, seeing everybody in person. But I do get that a lot bigger than I am on social media.

**JJ** (2:35)
So you have a, like I want to talk about your background a little bit. I like to do this with every new Perspectives guest of just like how you are doing what you're doing today. But you have an interesting background because you were a pitcher and stuff, right? Back in the day, like you, like how did this all come to be for you?

**Steve Palazzolo** (2:48)
Man, there was a lot to it. But you know, I went, I was a baseball player my entire life, grew up, wanted to be a major league shortstop first until I outgrew that. Pivoted to pitching. But I went to UMass Lowell Division II school, had some success, but went undrafted, eventually played independent professional baseball, got signed by the Brewers and bounced around between the Brewers, Giants and Mariners, and then back to independent ball. But it was always, all throughout that time, that was like the beginning, that was right in the middle of the moneyball era. And I was always very analytical, too analytical to pitch. I mean, I was out there like, the year that I went from AA to AAA, I had had so much second and third, one out, get out of it type of deal. And I was walking too many guys and I was like too self-aware of my own weaknesses. And anyway, I topped out at AAA and you know, toward the end of my career, needed more of an escape. It's fun, it sounds strange, but like there's a lot of pressure on you. Like you're, you're, I'm AAA, like you're close to living your dream.