As reported, Fox Sports 1 recently premiered an episode of NFL Films Presents devoted to Phish guitarist Trey Anastasio‘s super fandom for longtime New York Jets center Nick Mangold. “Phish Stories Or The Real Deal” is now available to watch on YouTube below.
SiriusXM’s Ari Fink hosts the +12-minute feature which is perfect since the impetus for Trey meeting Nick, profiled in the episode, came from Phish Radio. Anastasio and his bandmates appeared on an episode of SiriusXM Phish Radio program Ask Phish last November, where Jets broadcaster and Phish fan Bob Wischusen popped up with a question for band. “From a musician’s standpoint who would you be starstruck by?” the voice of the Jets queried. “The one person who I would be starstruck by … I’m dying to meet … Nick Mangold, the greatest football player in the history of the game,” an excited Anastasio responded. “I want to meet him someday. What a guy!”
Mangold played for the Jets, Anastasio’s favorite team, from 2006 through 2016 and earned seven Pro Bowl invites. Trey revealed why he’s such a big fan of the center and explained his reasoning for why Nick belongs in the Professional Football Hall of Fame. “Every football fan is going to be proud to see Nick Mangold in the Hall of Fame because the fans know,” Trey finished after laying out the case for Nick’s induction and noted, “You can’t just put the pretty boys in the Hall of Fame.”
Bob Wischusen brought Nick Mangold to his first Phish show on April 23, 2022 at Madison Square Garden in New York City. “I know of them, I know of Trey and I think his fandom of me is awesome,” Mangold said. “It blows my mind. It’s just shocking to me that someone who is so known and has such a following and everything would pick out a kid from Ohio who’s running around on a football field.”
Trying out a little @phish tonight…. pic.twitter.com/O8Slphc9Z5
— Nick Mangold (@nickmangold) April 24, 2022
Bobby W. got Nick extremely excited for the experience by explaining how each show is different. Trey went on to speak about Phish’s New Year’s Eve gag traditions and recalled the ocean-themed Rescheduled New Year’s Eve performance the band pulled off one night prior to Mangold’s first show.
The feature then documents Trey and Nick meeting on the floor at MSG before the crowd entered for the concert. “I grew up in New Jersey and New York/New Jersey appreciates people who do all the work, people who work hard” Anastasio said after Wischusen asked how Mangold became the guitarist’s favorite player. “You were appreciated because everybody knew who was down there year after year after year winning Pro Bowls, down there, showing up for work, grinding it out every night,” Trey added and told the football player about his quest to get him into the Professional Football Hall of Fame. The guitarist noted Phish’s Hot Dog from New Year’s Eve 1994 is in the Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame but the band itself hasn’t been inducted so they have a kinship.
“Phish Stories Or The Real Deal” ends with footage of Phish performing on April 23 and Mangold watching. “I was trying to bring it all night,” Trey said of playing in front of his favorite football player. “Nick Mangold … that’s how I want to be in the band. I want to be a guy in the center who the other teammates can trust,” Anastasio explained. See the full feature below:
