Kansas City Chiefs RT Mitch Schwartz and his brother and old friend Geoff have a new book out called Eat My Schwartz (which is a great title). To promote the release of the book Mitch did an AMA on reddit, which stands for Ask Me Anything.
Mitch answered important questions like is a hot dog a sandwich?
“Yes!” Mitch said. “By definition it is. By feel it isn't. But technically, yes it is.”
He had some pretty good answers in his AMA. You can read the whole thing here. I snagged a few good questions and put them below too. And they’ll want you to buy the book too.
***
Q: Aside from money, what is the biggest factor for you in deciding what team to sign with in free agency? Is money everything? Is there such thing as a hometown discount?
A: Money is definitely up there, but hopefully you get to the point where money between 2 or more teams is similar and then you can move on to other options. Playing for a winning team, getting into the playoffs, and playing for a good organization are all on the list of things guys consider. Also to a lesser degree where you will be living and what the city is like. I do think there is such a thing as a hometown discount, most guys don't want to move after they've been in the same place for 4+ years unless they've just had an awful experience. But in football it's usually taking a discount for an early contract and guaranteed money, because of the injury risk, as opposed to giving the team a discount.
***
Q: What was your experience with playing with Joe Thomas?
A: Great experience. He's the best Tackle (aka lineman) in football, and he makes it look so easy. But he's always working to improve himself, fix small things that maybe worked one week but he knows he needs to clean up to be successful the next week. He's also a great guy, fun to hang out and be around, and I really enjoyed playing with him, getting to learn from him, and having him around every day.
***
Q: Why do you and your brother not want to play for the same team? Can you convince him to play with you and bring him back to KC?
A: Who said we didn't want to play for the same team?
Q: There were rumors going around /r/KansasCityChiefs a while ago
A: Well we both think it would be a cool thing to play on the same team before we're done but that's out of our control. If it happens, great, if not I just hope he finds a good situation for him soon!
***
Q: I don't know a lot about football but I assume that, like every other sport, there's a certain amount of trash talk throughout the game. So my question to you is: What's the funniest thing you've ever heard said on the field?
A: There's not as much as you'd think, if there is it's usually guys with a past together, or just a singular individual that likes to talk a lot. My favorite in game moment was when a defensive player flopped to try to get a penalty called against us, and one of our linemen yelled "That would be a fine in the NBA!!!" That was right after the NBA started fining for flopping, I thought it was really funny.
***
Q: Are you a big fan of Taco Tuesdays?
A: For a big guy that loves food I don't think I've ever actually been to a place on a Tuesday that had a "Taco Tuesday" going. The idea of low priced tacos sounds quite appealing though, I need to get on that.
***
Q: My question is, what do you want to do after you retire? I follow your Twitter and can tell you are passionate about football and are extremely knowledgeable, especially regarding the OL. I think you could be either a great coach or network analyst one day.
A: Thank you! Yea the more I think about it the more I want to do something teaching the OL game to people. How I'm going to get that done, I'm not quite sure yet. But it is something I've considered and will look into once the time gets closer.
***
Q: What is your favorite flavor of ice cream?
A: If it's exactly as I like it, probably pistachio. But there are so many variations of it that sometimes it can be meh, sometimes great. Coffee is also up there for me.