Joe Rogan Experience #1950 - Derek Wolfe

Derek Wolfe joins Joe Rogan for a wide-ranging conversation that opens on the savagery of NFL interior line play, including the spinal-cord injury and seizure that nearly killed him. He reveals he microdosed mushrooms with Adderall before games to enter a controlled-rage flow state, ties that aggression to his Scandinavian ancestry, and recounts an EMDR session in which he relived a past life as a betrayed Viking. A large middle section covers his post-retirement bow-hunting addiction, anchored by a grueling hunt for a roughly 220-pound mountain lion that had been stalking a Colorado homeowner. The two also riff on ancient civilizations, wildlife conservation and tag systems, cold plunges and saunas, and combat sports. Wolfe closes by candidly sharing his traumatic upbringing, suicidal childhood, and how marriage and fatherhood turned his life around.

• Wolfe bruised his spinal cord and was paralyzed for three hours, played two weeks later, then had a near-fatal seizure and a 36-hour coma.
  00:02:07
• He admits microdosing mushrooms combined with Adderall before NFL games to trigger a focused, controlled rage and 'flow state.'
  00:15:36
• During EMDR therapy he experienced a vivid past life as a Viking who was betrayed by his brother and beheaded for marrying his woman.
  00:30:09
• He bow-hunted what his guide called the biggest mountain lion he'd seen (~220 lbs), crawling up an 11,000-ft mountain through chest-deep snow.
  00:59:38
• Raised by an alcoholic, drug-addicted mother who doesn't know who his father is, plus an abusive stepfather who beat him 'for fun.'
  00:19:46
• At 10-11 years old he put shotguns in his mouth wanting to end his life before deciding to keep surviving day by day.
  02:59:01
• He met his wife when she was a Vegas cocktail waitress during a post-Super Bowl bender, and credits her with saving his life.
  02:54:54

• The average NFL career is about two and a half years; players only vest their pension at year three.
  00:06:45
• Wolfe lived with Travis and Jason Kelce in Cincinnati; that house ultimately produced four Super Bowls and two Grey Cups.
  00:07:47
• The Viking age ran from 793 to 1066 CE.
  00:41:01
• A mountain lion relocated to Nederland, Colorado killed 15 dogs in 30 days before it had to be put down.
  01:01:40
• At the Western Hunt Expo a single Arizona mule deer governor's tag sold for $725,000, with the money going to conservation.
  01:44:13
• The Pittman-Robertson Act funds U.S. wildlife conservation largely through taxes on bullets, rifles, bows and outdoor gear.
  01:45:16
• Geologist Robert Schoch's water-erosion analysis of the Sphinx suggests the pyramids could be 12,000+ years old.
  00:48:51
• Colorado requires an online exam to get a mountain lion license, and the meat must be processed for human consumption.
  01:32:46
• A typical NFL play lasts only about six seconds.
  02:32:01
• Texas has more captive tigers in private collections than exist in all the wild worldwide.
  01:36:55

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