Meet Golden Tate

by Jessamyn McIntyre

Golden Tate, the newest wide receiver for the Seattle Seahawks, joined Kevin and Jim today – and was not a disappointment, to say the least.

Keep your eyes and ears open for this kid this season – he’ll definitely be an interesting addition, both to watch and to listen to, as I’m sure you’ll be hearing from him.

See for yourself:

Where He’s From and His Path to Notre Dame: “I’m actually from Nashville, Tennessee, born and raised; moved to Harrisonville, which is a suburb of Nashville, and I went to a catholic high school-that was one of the things-I went on a visit to Notre Dame and fell in love with it. That was the first mature decision of, “what’s best for Golden? Where am I going to have the fun, but what’s best for me?” I figured I’m going to a situation where coach Weis has won Superbowls so I know that I’m going to get some great coaching that’s going to prepare me for the NFL. The degree that I’m going to get from there is just outstanding, so those are the kind of things I was thinking about, so I made the decision to commit and go to Notre Dame.”

On Meeting Jimmy Clausen and his first impression of him: “Actually, the first time I met him was when I was walking in with a big old bin of stuff for summer school and he helped me get my bags up to my room and the next day we were working out, so that was pretty much it. I fell in love with Jimmy as soon as I met him-he’s a great guy.”

Was he surprised at how far Clausen fell in the draft? “Yeah! Honestly, I thought he was going to go top of the first round. I thought he definitely should have, but you know what, if you look back at it, the situation that he’s going into is outstanding. I’m a firm believer that it’s not about what slot you’re going to because if I was getting drafted by, you know, Minnesota, it would have been tough for me to find the field there because they have a guy that’s already like me-Percy Harvin-so I’m all about the situation that you go into is what you look for.”

On having the freedom to play everywhere in the NFL: “Absolutely. Any time I can get the ball in my hands, I want it. This is a great instance of coach Carroll’s going to try his best to get the ball in my hands. I’m pumped! That means hopefully I’m going to get a lot of touches and get a chance to make a lot of plays, so we’ll see.”

Was it hard to fall deep into the second round? “Yeah, it was tough . I kinda felt I wasn’t going to go in the first round-I was expecting to go within the top six picks in the second round-so it was kind of nerve-racking. I thought about a lot of things while I was waiting for those two hours, and I just thought about it – it’s not about how much money I get on the front end or where I go on the front end – I just want to go into a good situation where I’m able to make places and help whatever team drafts me and put them in the best situation to win. That’s exactly what’s happening right now, so I’m very happy with what round I went in and what spot I went in.”

How did he get his name? “I have no clue where it came from. I’m just assuming that the first [Golden I], he was drunk when he named us, so I’m not sure. I guess someone figured he passed out and I’m the third, and that actually fits me, so I’m pretty happy with it now.”

How does his name fit him? “Golden Tate, ‘Golden Domer’, golden helmets…it fit me in college I guess.”

He’s Active on Twitter: “Yeah, it was a name given to me by my baseball buddies. I actually was in the room when the called me, “Hey, what do you want your Twitter name to be?” And I was like, “Showtime Tate-time,” but it was too long, so my sister just made it “Showtime Tate,” so hopefully I live up to it .”

On a scout describing him as big-time talent and big-time personality in a small package: “Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I’m a very personable guy . I love meeting new people. Actually, on Twitter I’ve been having a blast writing random things like, “I’m in an ice bath right now,” to “I want a ham sandwich” or whatever it may be, so it’s fun. It’s really fun to see all the Seattle fans who are very supportive and can’t wait for me to get out there, so it makes the trip that much more exciting, for after practice I can go out in the community and have lunch with a random Seahawk fan. It’s just my personality.”

On questions he was asked during his combine interviews: “For me it wasn’t too bad. I know training for [the interviews] is kind of rough. The worst one I got was, “Do you have on a pair of pink panties right now?” which I thought was kind of funny. You know, my personality-I would hope by now people know that I’m not that guy-so I went along with it. I was like, “Not today. That was actually yesterday. Today is actually lime green.”

On Jeff Ireland asking Dez Bryant about his mother: “I was totally unaware that Dez had been put in that situation. That’s really disrespectful, I think. I’m not sure-maybe they were kidding, I don’t know what they were doing. I think you need to know a guy’s personality before you take it to ask him about his mother. Because I don’t know his family’s mother might be sick, his mother might be healthy as can be, who knows the situation there? I would probably stay away from that.”

Whether interview questions can tell the true depth of a player: “I don’t know. I think there’s other ways to test those things other than getting family involved or the people who raised you. I think there’s other ways to handle it. But then again, this is my first go-around-it might have worked in the past…who knows? It might be their theory of finding the boiling point. I think if they prepared themselves well enough, they know going into the situation what the boiling point is, per say. I don’t know, maybe that was the case-they were trying to find his boiling point, see if he’s a hothead. I still think that might be taking it a little too far.”

Have his baseball skills helped him on the football field? “Absolutely, absolutely. I think it’s helped me out with high-pointing balls-I can always tell when the ball’s reachable-and I can jump for an under-thrown ball that’s kind of high. I think that’s how baseball’s helped me out.”

On missing his little sisters: “They’re used to me being away, so they’re fine. I’m kind of sad that I’m missing them grow up because they’re just now freshmen in high school and I know boys are going to want to talk to them, so I’m going to keep my picture in their room with an angry face and hopefully they’ll think twice before they do anything that I wouldn’t do.”

You can listen to the entire interview right here – what do you think about Seattle’s new ‘Golden child’? Your thoughts welcome below.