Week 4 NFL Must-Win Teams, NIL Wild West, "Business Decisions", Ohtani the GOAT?

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I'm just going to read a few brief ones. At the Cam Hammer.
Unfun take. If legendary player sportscaster don't want fans wearing jerseys, hell, nobody should buy merch then.
Matter of fact, let's lower the TV contracts and the salaries too.

Oh.

Wow.

I got a, what is it?

Don James Sports, horrible take at Matt Leonard QB, and I love you. Like, just a double sword.
Just like, God, coming at you right now. I got to thank everybody who has followed us on all social media platforms.
Subscribe to us on YouTube. Everything is Throwback Show.
It's very easy. So, yeah, subscribe to on YouTube.
But Matt, the social media interaction before we get going today. What do you mean? What happened this week? You know, you had a strong take and we're going to talk about it later in the show about grown men leaving the house in jerseys.
And here you are today. If you're audio only, Matt is wearing a Laker jersey.
By the way, not just a Laker jersey. The Laker jersey.
The Kobe Bryant jersey that I've owned for about 15 years. Okay.
I actually, actually, there is a photo out there. Okay.
I did wear this jersey to a Laker game. I did.
Okay. Well, listen, save it.
There is a picture out there and I will post this. We will post this on the show.
There is a picture out there of me wearing this jersey, talking to Kobe on the court, but that is the last time I wore this jersey in public. Well, some might say that's a little hypocritical.
A lot of you out there on Instagram though, we actually pulled your comments because this is the first time either of us have faced public pressure from a take. Happens all the time to the takers.
All those takers. But now you had a take and you're getting public pressure.
Will Matty Ice back down? And also another fun thing for the show today. This is kind of a...
We're featuring the Leinerts heavily. We have Josie Leinert joining us on the show today.
Well, you know what? The wives are going to make a lot of appearances throughout Throwbacks, right? Because we're going to talk, you know, parents and, I mean, our better halves. Listen, I think we want to give the people, the listeners, what they want.
They want to hear the wives just talk down on us, okay? That's fine. But my wife is also just a badass attorney and NIL and all these things and just a big week in NIL.
So she's going to kind of break down what all that means and kind of the world of NIL, which is going to, it's just fascinating because it's just, it's ever changing. I mean, daily, not just like weekly, monthly, daily.
Yeah. we're going to get a story a day.
I feel like obviously

a lot of us are focused on UNLV

now, so definitely want to ask Josie

about that because it's going to be a story

a day or at least weekly as it

all progresses.

You were just in Ohio,

right? We were at Ohio State

for a minute. Yeah, I mean, listen, just an easy

dub for them, but more importantly, buddy,

I mean, Jeter, Bahamas.

I was gone.

I was gone.

How was it?

I followed your life on Instagram.

How was the weekend?

So, yeah, I would have loved to have seen you in Columbus,

but I went to the Bahamas.

Now, look, folks, it still shocks me that I get this invitation.

This is not like a look how cool I am.

I go to the Jeter invitation.

I still can't believe I'm there.

It takes everything in me to not.

I don this invitation. This is not like a look how cool I am.
I go to the Jeter invitation. I still can't believe I'm there.
It takes everything in me to not. Because it's very, but once you're in, you're in.
Right. But it's, yes.
Although you could get banned if you don't act, if you don't act right, could get a lifetime ban. But you know, I, I grew up on those nineties Yankees teams.
So when you walk into a hotel to check in and right behind you, it's like Tino Martinez and Jorge Posada. It's just a wild experience as a baseball fan.
And it was so fun to be there with all these Hall of Fame baseball players and amazing baseball players. And then Otani does what he does.
We'll talk about that later because we got to start locking into baseball as the playoffs are a week out. What was the best part of the weekend? I know you had, wasn't it closest to the pin? I saw a little gambling in the casino.
What was the best part? Now, I was also joined by my fellow Entourage co-stars, Kevin Connolly and Kevin Dillon. So it's always nice to, in a land filled with athletes to not be the only non-athlete there.
So that was cool. Closest to this pin, which we spoke about.
What I did not know this year, last year I didn't win. This year I didn't win.
What I didn't know was we were going to do, we were going to basically get roasted while swinging. Anthony Anderson, who we all love, was on the microphone with Ahmad Rashad.
Roasting every player that came. It didn it could have been CeCe Sabathia me Connelly but sure enough at one point with like four people to go Kevin Connelly with his little hockey swing good good little golf swing puts it on and he's like out of six seven feet away it's like oh my god I'm gonna have to hear about Kevin Connolly winning closest to the pin for the rest of my life.
I was rooting for him though.

I wanted,

I wanted one of us to represent and sure enough,

who do you think steps up the crime dog,

Fred McGrath,

one of the most beautiful laugh.

Of course he has a beautiful swing.

And then he stuck it like four feet.

He edged out Connolly by less than two feet.

And they give him a championship. You get a championship

belt. I was going to say, what do you win?

That's pretty cool. And pride.

You don't get a car or anything? You don't get a car.

You don't get any of that. You get

pride. But a few takeaways.

There was a bunch of takeaways.

When you get back together

with the boys from Entourage,

is it like, I know you talk to them, but is it like

dude, years haven't gone by. It's the same old shenanigans and all that with those guys? Yes.
So, you know, at one time after one of the dinners and stuff, we went to go gamble. Kevin Dillon.
This is as Kevin Dillon as it gets right here. I'm already laughing.
I don't even know what this is. He's like, hey, bro, we got to play some craps.
I got a new method. It's called the Iron Cross.
I'm like, okay, let's go. So this, this sounds like an opening to a bad joke.
It was me, Dylan Connelly and Johnny Damon go walking up to a craps table. Now, Johnny Damon is by the way, a stud loved hanging with him.
Great. So fun.
He's rocking on one hand. He's got the, the Oh nine Yankees championship ring.
On the other hand the other hand he's got the 04 red socks championship ring he's got them both on hair back just looking amazing and we all buy in for a bunch of money and dylan's telling us what to bet and i lost my shirt johnny lost his shirt connelly lost it the only one who won was dylan wait what's the iron what what's the Iron Cross? The Iron Cross is basically you're covering every number on the field.

You're covering the field.

You're covering the six and eight.

You're basically not winning a lot, but you're also not losing a lot.

And somehow to the point where people were coming up to, it wasn't just us.

Later, like Dexter Fowler and Cliff Floyd came up to Dylan and gave him the Iron Cross sign.

Isn't that the best around a craps table when when there's a couple guys it gets rowdy loud all of a sudden there's just like 50 people just hollering by the way you can win a hell of a lot of money real quick you could lose a hell of a lot of we got waved off at one point i think there was some friend i don't know if they were people at the event or there's they're playing in the pit on the crap table the high roller area and one guy like waved this up to come hang out and another guy waved this off because they were on a heater and i don't think they wanted us messing up the vibes of the table but it was just it was just awesome like i played the first day with cliff floyd the white cliff floyd yeah cliff floyd yeah brie uh brie was there right good little uh brie was there guys brie was there on well i didn't really get to see her because the golf is every day but brie was at a water park she was on the beach did she get a massage i mean she's just chilling at that point it's just like a vacation yes you know see old friends spend some time have alone time and all that but it was incredible man yeah and it was really humbling to see, like I said, I mentioned Cliff Floyd playing with him the

first day. And he's a good golfer.

I don't know how long he's been golfing, but he's just ripping

340-yard drives.

I don't need to hit in those situations.

I'm just like, alright, we'll go play

Cliff. But you, Matt,

have to just start playing for nothing else

consistently just to come to...

Dude, I know. It'd be good for throwbacks.
It'd be good for throwbacks it'll be good for throwbacks i'm telling you the next time you come to la we're playing um in an event like that curious from your perspective who who like we talk about fandom and like hey like if i see an actor or someone like oh dude that's so-and-so who are you just like i mean jeter is the captain jeter is kind of a god in baseball and sports but is there someone that weekend that you're like dude that's dude that's fred mcgrift that's pretty rad was there someone this weekend last well last year was ken griffey jr yeah i was i was nerd he's a beast dude i was asking him i wanted to make golf shoes out of his old baseball shoe i'm like can we make that into a golf shoe that would be amazing you know jeter's always the one and like i said he's just always been very cool to me over the years i haven't seen him a ton but yeah and what's cool about this event they showed some video and it wasn't just like oh jeter started doing really well with the yankees and then years in started this charity like there was a video of like him and his dad in 95 when he was yeah i don't think he had the ring yet when he started like he was a he was a child almost he's like 20 years old so turn two has been going for a long time uh and then the last part is the performance the musical performance was flow rider and man i it's stuck in my head now for days i can't get it out i was posted what was it whistle i can't get whistle out of my head. It's ingrained in my brain.
By the way, I saw Flo Rida in Vegas one night at a club. It was awesome.
He's actually one of my favorite guys. Club can't handle me now.
You don't realize how many bangers. Dude, he's got hits after hits.
Yeah, one after another. I'm like, oh my god.
I remember being in a club when I heard this for the first time. What was awesome buddy what a weekend yeah got to see it was really interesting to see otani do some stuff and then all the you know these baseball players and the vibe was very much screw this guy man it's not fair like this is just so good yeah it's just yeah i i mean we might get into it later but i i tweeted out just like i think he's the best player of all time and i know he's got a lot of look i know i what he's 30 dude is he 30 i think he's 30 i think he's a little old i thought he was like 26 25 but look i mean barry bonds in my opinion i know you can talk about the asterisk whatever like barry bonds is just arguably the greatest player of all time.
You can go back to Willie Mays and all that. But like what he is doing, and he's not even pitching this year.
That's the thing. Like that dude could win.
That dude might win a triple crown and a Cy Young in the same year. Like that's possible.
He's the only person on the planet that could do that. It's just that single best performance I think we've ever seen in baseball.
That game. Yeah.
Well, let's save it. We'll get into one.
Because I have a big question for you in regards to that and baseball and as we gear up for the playoffs. But, I mean, big week in college football just passed, and we've got a big week coming up.
I figure, you know, I want to check in with you. And I know you, you know, this is what you do.
You know, Big Noon is going. I don't even know where you're going.
I can't wait to ask you where you're going next, but we're going to do Lion Earth leaderboards. I'm just going to quick hit you a couple of easy questions just to get your temperature on what you're seeing.
Okay. Cause I can't do it the way you can.
Are you ready? I'm ready, dude. All right.
Lion Earth leaderboard. Who's the Heisman leader right now? I think the Heisman leader, and this is based on the odds is Cam Ward from Miami.
Absolute stud, you know, came back to school, came from Washington state, just may has made Miami relevant again and a legit playoff team. I think he's playing really, really well.
Travis Hunter is the other one. And we're actually, we're going be at ucf colorado this week so be in orlando for this game um which is cool so uh travis hunter is just doing something that just we don't see really in any sport we kind of just talked about otani being a a two-way player right can pitch and can hit and all those in football, what he's been able to do, and we've seen a couple of players in the past, you know, Charles Woodson is the one that won the Heisman in 97, I believe.
But mainly as a defensive back, you know, he had a couple of returns, had a couple of things on offense, but like he just had one of those years. And then he had that moment, right? Where he had the part return, all Um, Travis Hunter is elite on both sides of the ball.
I think he's averaging like 130 snaps a game. Like think about that, dude, that is, that is mind boggling.
And to be the best, like to be the best player on the field, arguably every time you're on the field, I, whatever side you want to go, Hey, I'm going to be a corner today. Okay.
I'm going to be a top five pick in the court. Hey, I'm going to be a receiver today.
I'm probably going to be a top 15 pick. Like it's bananas, dude, what he's doing.
Well, his story is going to be interesting. Cause yeah, I, again, throwing it back to the days of Dion and Bo Jackson and two sport athletes, something I don't think we'll ever see again.
Right. And then you always hear about, you know, Russell Wilson.
Yes. He's drafted by the Seahawks, but could have had a major league baseball career, potentially he was drafted.
But this is different where you're doing two things in one sport. And is that even sustainable at an NFL level? I don't know if it is.
That's a lot of snaps, man. It's a lot of snaps.
And again, the step from college to pros is just different. You're lining up against Pro Bowl, you're just going to get worn out in the NFL.
And that's not a discredit to Travis Hunter. It's just going to be for him to be an elite player on both sides of the ball at the next level.
It's just, I wouldn't put it past him trying. I just don't see, NFL is a different ball game, man.
It is a different ball game.'t don't you think this kid plays receiver right think about this he plays a series and he's running a couple routes and all that then all of a sudden the next series he's going you know like you don't think these quarterbacks are dk metcalf or age like hey dude like let's go pick on track he just ran three go routes this series right like now like people are smart they do that college is a different. So it'll be interesting though.
He's a fascinating player, fascinating story. And I'm excited to see him this year.
You know what I wanted to ask you too, and I said this was going to be quick hit and now I'm starting to dive in. It's fine, dude.
You are unique in a sense because you won a Heisman and then you had a teammate win a Heisman, so at this stage you know four games in a third of the way in a quarter of the way in whatever you start here and we all like that like we're talking about it today a million other shows are going to talk about the heisman what is that like in the locker room when even your team knows like all right you're a candidate yeah you know what i know you're not supposed to focus on that because it's a team sport and you guys are chasing championships as well. Some teams only really have the Heisman candidate.
See, they're not. It's pretty, dude, it's pretty cool.
Like for me, I was obviously different. You know, the year, the year I won, um, I didn't really think much of it because it kind of like, you always talk about like games and moments.
Um, my Heisman moment at that point was Notre Dame. And that was like, hey, national television, I threw for 400 yards, five touchdowns.
Two years prior, Carson Palmer won it at USC, kind of in the same game. So I kind of knew going into that game, like, hey dude, this is kind of a moment.
But I never really focused on it. And to be honest, that year.
Now, when I came back from my senior year, I had zero pressure on me about the Heisman. I finished third, but I could care less.
For Reggie, we all knew our coaches, Lane Kiffin, Steve Sarkeesian, and they would probably tell you this, like we were trying to get him the Heisman trophy every single week. Like that was like, Reggie, hey, you go do your thing.
You go be the best player in college football. The play callers are going to figure out ways to get you touches.
They're going to figure out ways to make sure that you are having that type of season. Me as a quarterback, the same thing.
We were all, so for your question, like we were just like, hell yeah, dude, let's get Reggie. Let's have back-to-back Heisman.
This is going to be sick. Like we're like, he's going to get the Heisman trophy.
Now it's, it's, it's more up to the player, obviously, to make sure you're focusing on a, like if I play well, that's going to come regardless, you know? So it was pretty cool, man, to be, to share the backfield with him as a Heisman winner. But yeah, I mean, there's, I didn't feel a whole lot of pressure expectation, so.
Yeah, so my only experience of it is, do you remember the movie, the program? Oh, of course, dude. To me, that's the best.
That's the best.

Even I'll even say NFS. That's just the best football movie of all time, but the way they handled the Heisman stuff with Joe Kane and against Tim, he could go all the waymen.
But just how like, oh, he had one bad game, the team lost, his Heisman hopes are over. The only other way I try to relate to it is, you know,

Adrian and I joke about this with Entourage all the time.

Grenier and I were the only two who never got nominated

for any Emmys or Golden Globes.

And it's funny.

But I had a front row seat to Kevin Dillon,

who we spoke about earlier, who had four nominations.

I remember seeing a scene where I'm like,

yep, that's going to be in his Emmy presentation reel. Oh presentation oh yeah that's the one that they're gonna they're gonna roll out uh but but but in but in a scene like that like obviously when you read it okay when you read a script or you're doing that day do you when you read it you're like beforehand because you don't really know i'm trying to think like you you probably envision how a scene is going to play out clearly yes right and that for you personally like when you're about to do a when you're reading a script you're like oh shit dude this is going to be a hundred percent great this is going to be great television or this is going to be like i'm going to deliver the the shit out of this like yes it'd be great so you have that feeling that's cool and it doesn't always work out that smoothly but with dylan you know i would always we'd always go to the table reading and a scene would play and get laugh you get a laugh in the table reading it's usually funny and yeah i swear i took the approach of like a point guard almost like i'm just gonna feed these dudes lobs you know i'm just gonna like tee him up and see how far he could hit it because he's gonna forget piven won three emmys in a row i was gonna say piven was a piven he three-peated i mean he was a genius like he was so three-peated does he does he um i love like how much i think we've talked about how much improv was on that show i know i know that i think you said like the brady scene was improv right or no some of it was i do have to say matt not as much as you would think yeah really was on the pace like those scripts were ready to go i think what we always did was we'd get it as scripted yeah and then we get like a free take and let it fly and look a lot of times the free ones suck you know it's a free one so no there wasn't a ton there was always some but there was not as as much as you would think.
We'll save it. Especially because when we get your boys on.
Yeah, we're going to get the boys on. I am always, to me, like when guys break character and just start laughing and I'm sure you've been a part of that on that show.
I want to get into, I want, when we're all together, because I've been on that, I've been a part of that with our show, where it's just like, dude, you just can't stop. And live TV is obviously different than acting.
Way different. But sometimes live TV, it's like, you know, it's like Barkley and Shaq and those guys sometimes when, it sometimes makes the best TV.
I cannot wait to hear some of the stories of just like behind the scenes and all that,

because I can't imagine like, dude, like Dylan has got to just, I probably couldn't keep a straight face. Yeah.
I have a list of stuff for when we get those guys. And we're going to do that one, hopefully in person in our studio and do it like that.
All right. Did you like how I said we're going to do quick hitting liner leaderboard? And we just did question.
This is what throwbacks are. We just throw back all the time.
This is what we're all about. We can go from Heisman candidates to reading scripts.
Next one for Leinart's leaderboard. Who's the best team in the nation right now for you? Dude, for me.
So right now, Texas is ranked one. I would say I would say Texas and only reason why is because obviously they have a big win against Michigan on the road I don't know how great Michigan is coming out they beat USC last week that's better than what and I would have Ohio State too Ohio State has been dominant I think Ohio State when it's all said and done once they kind of get into this they might end up being that you can debate has been dominant.
I think Ohio State, when it's all said and done, once they kind of get into this, they might end up being that. You can debate both those teams.
I think Texas, even with Arch Manning right now, Quinn Ewers, nursing injury, probably number one. But at this point, look, Texas is going to get in the meat of an SEC schedule.
Ohio State's going to get into the meat of a Big Ten schedule. As it usually does, it'll all play itself out.
But those two teams are loaded, man. Last one.
What's your biggest surprise in the name? It could be a player or a team. Just something you're surprised by you didn't see coming into the year.
The biggest surprise. That's a good question.
I kind of think, like, Tennessee to me is such a – Yeah, Tennessee, like it this way SEC has kind of been Georgia and Bama if what it feels like the last 20 years mainly Alabama and then Georgia the last handful of years maybe it's a changing of the guard I don't know like the 12 team playoff there's going to get a lot of teams in there but But this year in particular, like Tennessee's really good. Ole Miss, I think this is Lane's best team.
So not necessarily surprised, but like just keep an eye on those types of teams. Also, like Penn State is kind of flying under the radar.
And they got a big one this weekend. And then, yeah, I mean, and then, you know, usually then teams just aren't as good as we think they are in the preseason and all that.
So, uh, it's been fun though, man. And this is kind of like week four or five we're getting into now.
It's starting to get like, like there's good games week in and week out, which is exciting. Yeah.
It's getting to the point where it's getting very hard to figure out, which is a perfect segue into our kind of final thoughts on week three, moving into week four in the NFL. I am as confused as ever.
I tried doing this like spiderweb approach where it's, okay, so Giants get blown out by Minnesota. That means the Giants stink because Minnesota's not good.
But then Minnesota beats San Francisco and wins again. Minnesota's actually good.
So maybe the Giants aren't that bad. But then they lose to Washington.
Washington, we know, stinks. But then Washington goes out and beats the Bengals.
So at the end of the day, we know nothing still. That's how it always is, dude.
But I found myself trying to, okay, this is what I was trying to figure out. Which teams at least have identities in this world of parity that we live in where anyone could beat anyone week in, week out that's going to probably be that way to the playoffs but which team now have true hey i know the identity of this team i know what they need to do what they want to do and the question will be will they do it i have a few yeah and i think they have staying power yeah i think i think the chiefs go without saying right we don't even need to get into them i think no but they're closers right wouldn't you say that their their identity is but we just but yeah we just know at the end of the the Chiefs go without saying, right? We don't even need to get into them.
I think Buffalo- No, but they're closers, right? Wouldn't you say that their identity is- But we just know at the end of the day, the Chiefs will be in the mix to win a Super Bowl. Obviously, health aside, we just know that.
I think Buffalo is the same. Buffalo's in the same boat, right? Buffalo's off to a great start.
Now, have they had success in the playoffs and beating? No, but I even would put the Jets in there, dude. I just think the jets are two and one i just i i have a lot of trust in aaron rogers and and what they're doing here here's here's two teams that i'm not necessarily buying right now and i'm curious if you agree seattle is three you know they've beaten the broncos the patriots and the dolphins minus tua right so that's why like like it's you know, they're a top, obviously, the NFC West.
But, like, that's why you just have to kind of wait and see. The Steelers.
Now, the Steelers, I think we might disagree on this. But the Steelers, I trust Tomlin.
I trust the organization. I trust the culture.
I trust all of those things. This team is averaging 17 points per game.
They've beaten the Bron and they beat the chargers without justin herbert so like like they're there and by the way they're but like again so sometimes you have to kind of like like by like to your point the giants the giants might be better than we think because they i mean minnesota seattle might not be as good as we think i i don't know like do you agree on the steelers? I feel like, yeah, I think the Steelers, though, to me, when talking about identity, I think after the Chiefs and Mahomes, who I equate now, I was thinking about the other day, being around all these Yankees. It's like these are like the 90s Yankees, and Mahomes turns into Mariano coming out of the bullpen with one minute left.
You just know you give him the ball. It's over.
The Steelers, to me, have an identity.

It's amazing defense.

TJ Watt is a man possessed.

Fields, only one pick.

I don't even think they've really let him go intentionally.

They're trying to keep turnovers down.

I think he's getting more confident.

It's clearly his job.

They, to me, have a very clear identity,

and they got a nice little lead in a wild division. And that that, and that's a big thing with them is like, can, but can they, can they win playing the way they are? I mean, I said, they're averaging 17 points per game.
Typically in the NFL, we used to always say, if you're getting a touchdown a quarter, right? 20, if you're getting 28 points a game, you're winning a whole hell of a lot of games. Can you win that way consistently?

And maybe they can because if you said Tomlin is a fantastic coach.

I just want to see more because I think Baltimore will end up coming back

in that division.

Cincinnati is in all types of trouble, dude.

And now they've got a battle.

The Red Rocket.

Again, you can't script this stuff any better.

The simulation is working really well. Dalton goes in and beats the bangles dude the red rifle is back so yeah and i found such a hard time breaking down that like commander's bangles game was that bad bangles or just really good daniels and really good commander i i think it was good commanders they were team.
I mean, Burrow played. I mean, they scored, what, 33 points? I mean, they played their ass off.
How about quick on the red rifle? I played against Andy Dalton when he was in the playoff game when I was in Houston when he was in Cincinnati. Wow.
That's how old I'm getting, dude. I think he was a rookie.
It was either 2011, 2011 2010 or 11 we were in Houston and we hosted them um and they came and we beat them we ended up beating them but he was the quarterback of that team yeah if the Panthers and Andy Dalton beat the Bengals then whoa that's gonna be problem we'll talk about teams that need W's but also also, another just strictly confusing team

are the Raiders.

They had that great

come from behind win

over the Ravens.

Then they go just

lay a stinker.

And then Antonio Pierce,

who is my guy,

he's a Super Bowl champion.

He was part of that 07 team.

I have him near and dear to my heart.

He was an awesome, awesome, giant defender in the history books books to me because he talked a lot and he backed it up now as a coach and he did the whole players are making business decisions and what's your feeling on when a coach publicly says stuff like that and then do players actually make business decisions look personally i would if this game's over i'm not trying to be out here getting hurt but I'm not an NFL football player. Yeah, I mean, listen, dude, it all depends on the situation.
I'm not exactly sure. Maybe we can do a little research and try to figure out who he was talking about.
It has to be a defensive player, right? It has to be. Well, one, anytime a coach says that there's something going on in the locker room, there's something going on behind the scenes, which isn't great.
Obviously, I think Minshew is starting this week, but he came out and talked about the quarterback situation. So that's one thing.
That can divide a locker room. And then when a coach is publicly saying, hey, that's going to now be addressed within the locker room.
It's going to now be addressed in these team meetings. And by the way, I wouldn't put it past Antonio Pierce if he is literally, dude, so the day after a game, when we go into a team meeting, win or lose, typically coaches will pull a handful of plays and they will just call you out in front of the whole team.
Quarterback, we cannot turn the ball over like this to win a game. You got to get better, Liner, whatever.
Hey, Devontae Adams, you know, like whatever. Dude, he might have pulled some plays up from the film and within that locker room.
And then what does that do, to your point, what does that do to the locker room? I have never been on a team where, now if it's a contract year and there's a disgruntled player and there's you know those types of types of circumstances maybe they just say hey i'm i'm uh my hamstring's tight guys my hamstring's tight that stuff that is a business decision but during a game i can't remember a time but but an injury would say like hey i got astring. I'm not going to play.
That happens more than you think. So Raiders are at home against the Browns this week, which is just another mess.
I was pretty bummed. The Raiders 2-1 or 1-2? The Raiders are 1-2.
Browns, as we know, after my – I swore to myself I'm not going to make this a Giants-heavy podcast this week,

but it was a beautiful win.

I barely got to see it.

They were in Cleveland.

I was not here.

So I'm going to be watching that game because I think the loser of that game,

I think Antonio Pierce maybe gets on the hot seat a little bit,

or if they manage to win, and if the Browns are now 1-3,

losing to the Giants and the Raiders back-to-back, do we, you know, everyone's going to start to have the James Winston conversation, right? I mean, I think that's probably already happening. Look, I don't know if you can, I mean, dude, you're paying the dude $50 million.
But at some point, I get that. At some point, if it's not working, and if you look what you did with Flacco,acco right that's what once the fancy coach of the year for a second time is because he had five quarterbacks last year he managed to wait but 10 10 i think it depends on it depends on how he plays if they lose this game and they struggle because they they played decent last week so they lose this game then maybe there's some talks on that it It's early, dude.
They were spotted a seven-point lead.

The Giants fumbled the kickoff, gave the Browns the ball on the eight.

They score right away.

They basically spot, and this is the Giants we're talking about,

spotted the Browns seven points and got very conservative in the fourth quarter,

but pretty much for three and a half quarters were in control of every moment

of that game, and then they got real conservative and scary. Deshaun Watson was 200 yards, a couple touchdowns, no interceptions.
I'm glad I benched Amari Cooper in my fantasy. He finally had a game.
Well, also, I got to admit something. I was wrong.
I know we're going to come at you for a take that is controversial. I had a take earlier.
It might have been in the first episode of this podcast for all i know another team that has an identity is the green bay packers yeah what that identity is is lafleur is an amazing coach and he's on his way to start getting some coach of the year talks because what he did with malik willis was great i talked about yeah jordan love's gonna be great receivers, they have a bunch of young guys who's going to emerge.

Reed's kind of emerged.

But the defense is a lot better than anybody thought.

I almost started them last week.

What do I tell you with young quarterbacks and coaching, man?

You get them in a situation where you play to their strengths.

You don't put too much on their plate.

Obviously, they have some good players around him.

And all of a sudden, Malik Willis didn't work out in Tennessee. Now he's thriving.
And good for him because he's playing himself into a nice little contract somewhere. Whether it's backing up Love or maybe getting a shot, depending on...
I assume Love is back pretty soon. Not betting against him again.
I bet him again against him for two weeks. It's never happening again.
To your point, LaFleur and that system and Shanahan. I can't pound the table enough for that tree of coaches and what they can do to a quarterback.
I can't. It's unreal.
O'Connell as well with Darnold. Well, that's going to be a fun matchup too.
We got our first real divisional game with some stakes with Vikings, Packers, and Jordan Love may be back. Who knows? But either way, that's going to be a fun one.
So that brings me to our next kind of fun NFL thing. Who needs it the most? It's so hard to pick one.
So I have one, but you could almost pick any team. Well, I mean, I'm picking the Bengals, dude.
You're picking the Bengals. Yeah.
So they go 0-4. No team has made the playoffs going 0-4 since 1992.
The only team who's done it, the Chargers in 92. I want to say it's staying home for us.
It's like they're 0-3, and now they play Carolina, who there's a little more incentive there with Andy Dalton. That kind of makes it a fun story surrounding this game.
Carolina scored a lot of points last week. And I just say this.
The Bengals lost to the Patriots. We know the Patriots aren't a very good team.
There's a lot going on with Cincinnati right now. I would not, I mean, look, I don't know what the spread is.
I think it might be a touchdown. I wouldn't be shocked if Carolina wins this game.
And holy hell. So that means if you lost, that means you lost to the Patriots, the Commanders, and the Panthers,

and you haven't even started your divisional games yet,

which I think are the week after against the Ravens.

I just think they need it.

Because 0-3, you're hanging on by a thread.

1-3, okay, all right, we can build.

I don't know who they play next week,

but then all of a sudden you're 2-3, and then you're right there.

It's a long season. You're kind of right there.
And you're in a division where the Browns aren't very good. Obviously, we talked about the Steelers, but the Steelers are not a juggernaut right now.
So, yeah, it's going to be interesting. Well, dumb fan take, too.
This is what fans like me think. If the Bengals find themselves 0-4, 0-5, at what point do you start saying, maybe we'll get Burrow the rest of the year off, get that wrist in shape.
I know you don't do that. You don't do that.
I totally understand you don't do that. And he wouldn't do that.
And he wouldn't do that, but it crosses my mind because I'm thinking of longevity. And I love Joe Burrow.
I want him healthy want him healthy all right for me you're probably gonna hate this one but it's the bears and here's why i know the expectations work high going into this season for the most part but things have looked so bad with the offensive line deandre swift has you know they spent a lot of money on deandre not performed you know they're playing the rams at home rams are good and it's come on yeah but You lose this one, you know, they spent a lot of money on DeAndre. He had not performed.
You know, they're playing the Rams at home. Rams are good.
They come off, yeah. But you lose this one, you drop down to one and three.
That's a big problem. But if you could somehow steal this one, if you're the Bears at home, I know you shouldn't be stealing games at home, and they are the favorites, I believe.
You hold court at home. You go two and two.
Then you got the Panthers. Then you got the Jags, who's another team who needs to win.
The Commanders. The Patriots.
So you get four more games in a row with winnable before you start getting into your division game. I think this is a big one for the Bears.
Dude, our boy, we had Kutcher on episode one. He texted me.
Yeah. He texted me Sunday.
He's like, I take back my playoff wins. I go, bro, you need an offensive line, dude.
Well, you just know if they lose and they go one and three, it's going to start falling on Caleb. And you can start hearing that chirping.
The coach is for sure going to be maybe the next one or the first one on the hot seat. All the chirping is really going to start.
And that division is so hard, dude. Yeah.
Minnesota 3-0, Detroit 2-1. We know Detroit's a legit team.
Green Bay, 2-1. I mean, like, three teams from that division could make the playoffs.
It's going to get ugly. It's going to get ugly.
Listen, it's a learning curve, man. Welcome to the NFL.
You know, you take these years, you learn from them. But yeah, man, that's a good call because the Rams are sneaky good, even with all the injuries.
Sneaky good. Really quick before we hit the break, too.
I know the Giants played tonight against the Cowboys. They haven't beaten the Cowboys in 100 years at home, and I know the Giants aren't good.
The Cowboys are coming out with a vengeance. I know.
It's such a bad setup. I wanted the Cowboys to beat the Ravens just so they weren't coming into this game so pissed off and desperate.
Are you glued to the couch tonight? I'm glued. They sucked me back in.
Yeah, dude. Let's go.
My manager, Lev, said you buried Danny Dimes. You're off the wagon.
Now you're back. They sucked me back in and I hate it, but I'm going to be glued tonight.
Before we go to break, we're going to get Danny Dimes on the pod and you're going to confront him and I'm going to- I feel like he's going to confront me if they beat the Cowboys. You ran your mouth.
He's too'm going to stir the pot between you two do you have a relationship with him or you've never really met him what better way to start just like us on the podcast we're going to take a quick break when we come back we're going to get to our Wendy's can't get enough sauce moment of the week and Maddie's wife Josie who might become a permanent pod maybe we'll kick Matt off and I'll do the pod with Josie coming up next okay it's March Madness and Wendy's is hyped the courts are polished jerseys are on. There's a junior bacon cheeseburger or double stack for $1 with in-app offer and purchase.
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All right. It's time for one of my favorite parts of the show.
The can't get enough sauce moment of the week brought to you by Wendy's. Big shout out to Wendy's every week, Matt.
And I kind of highlight a player or team did something positive on or off the field. Matt, this one kind of pains me.
I have to do it because I have to tell the truth, but this one hurts to say out loud. Tell me.
I'm going with Saquon Barkley. I'm going with Saquon because you and I were on the Dan Patrick show a few weeks ago.
Recently, after he had the drop, Saquon was scheduled to be on the Dan Patrick show the next day. Paulie, the producer, tweeted out it was a cancellation he wasn't ready to quite talk but i don't blame him i don't blame him yeah he reached out personally to the show something paulie said in all his years he never saw and then after my new york football giants get their first win saquon calls danny dimes his former teammate to congratulate him on the win and pump up.
I just thought that was awesome. You don't hear stories like that much in the NFL.
Saquon, you're my guy. Also, yeah, first of all, taking accountability.
You know, he dropped the ball, and they probably win the game. So he took full responsibility, even though Sirianni and everybody else was taking heat.
It is what it is. And then to reach out to the producer, I saw that too.
That's awesome. You don't- Fantastic.
Athletes don't do that. And then to congratulate Danny Dimes for just what he's been through, the criticism.
Saquon Barkley, all around great dude, great player. Crushing it, by the way.
I know I'm sorry for your Giants because they don't have him anymore, but I'm happy for him. All right.
So I'm actually going to stay in the NFL and dude, I'm going with the red rocket. I'm going with the red rifle.
Okay. And we talked about this last week.
We talked about Bryce Young and, and obviously that, and then it was, I think we said like, what if Andy Dalton just goes out and balls, then what happens to Bryce? And that's certainly what happened. Three, what? 320 yards, three touchdowns.
And now, by the way, this week, he gets to play his former team in the Cincinnati Bengals, which is wild. We're in the simulation.
We're in the simulation part of the NFL. Look, I think big picture, good for Bryce.
He gets to learn from Andy Dalton. But how about Andy Dalton? I think, and then I have two 300-yard passing games in his only two starts for the Panthers.
He started a game last year. Um, that's more than any of Bryce Young's 18 starts.
I know, but I wanted to give a shout out to Andy Dalton. It is not easy to be a backup quarterback in the NFL, especially after you played for a long time.
And, um, he just went out there and just, just dealt. So to the red rocket can't get enough and shout out to wendy yeah shout out to wendy's thank you for sponsoring that segment and hopefully you know our guest doesn't cancel on us like saquon did i feel like though we get a little inside info if our guest was going to cancel on us all right how about this so this is pretty exciting you know we talked about our podcast and we're talking about, we're going to have our wives on the show and it's going to be mainly about why maybe they, why we didn't pick up the dog shit in the backyard or what we didn't get the kids and all this and the chaotic lives that we live.
And our wives are the best, but we are going to bring on my wife and I don't even call her by her first name. I call her babe, but I'm going to call her Josie Leinart.
What's up, babe? Hi. Because my wife wears a lot of hats, okay? She is a super mom, a super wife, a super friend, a super daughter.
She is everything. But one of the big hats she wears, she is a lawyer, and she covers NIL and all things going on.
And Jerry, this week has been a wild week in the NIL space. We had my boy Reggie earlier in the week talk about his lawsuit versus NCAA, USC.
We'll see where that goes. But more recently, this UNLV story.
So first of all, babe, thank you for joining the Throwback Show. How are you? I am great.
Thank you for having me. It has been one hell of a morning so far.
Please do tell. Why? Are the boys crying this morning? Honestly, I don't know about you, but I am a little terrified that our four-year-old is going to run into your room or my room because he's home sick from school.

So that may happen.

But we did everything in our power to keep that from happening.

I just gave him candy and said, stay here for like the next 20.

Yeah, I don't care.

Matthew, it is 9 a.m.

You said, go tell him we're going to take him to ice cream later.

I said, okay, I'm going to give him candy. Anyway, yeah, Jerry, what do we got, man? Well, look, first of all, I want to thank you, Josie, because you're tackling a subject that I thought I knew a lot about.
I spent a lot of time this morning on your Instagram account. We are underscore NIL.
By the way, go to that Instagram account if you really want to learn a little bit and figure out what's going on. But I'm not very bright and have a hard time following things.
What exactly is Reggie Bush kind of saying here with this lawsuit? Like, what's the point? What is he going after like previous when he played or even years after he played?

Well, what Reggie Bush is doing is pretty much the same thing that we've been seeing with the House v. NCAA.
And then we also had the Michigan football players recently filed a lawsuit in Michigan. But that lawsuit and Reggie's lawsuit is slightly different because the statute of limitations for antitrust cases is four years.
So, which is why the House of ENCAA case only applies, well, that settlement only applies to athletes that played from 2016 to 2020, because 2020 was when that case was originally filed. Reggie is kind of opening up a can of worms for athletes that played prior to 2016.

Same with the Michigan football players. So that is, you know, I think that when the House v.
NCAA and Allison came out and all of those things, I think the NCAA was thinking, well, if we just get our arms around this lawsuit, If we just figure out how with this settlement we can you know appease those players between 2016 and 2020 we'll be in the clear and we can move on but now this kind of threw a plot twist in the plot twist yes exactly so this would really open i think even a bigger can of worms than we're already in.

The big story, which kind of brings us to this next story out of UNLV, and there's a lot of he said, she said going on, and reports continue to come out. But as an attorney, and I've asked you this, the UNLV quarterback, basically what happened was he was promised something, a certain amount of money.

It is alleged now it's about $100,000 to play for UNLV to come. He hasn't been paid that, apparently, according to his representation.
And the big thing for me is there wasn't a written agreement, which I know you see a lot of these contracts. And so there was a verbal handshake.
What does that mean? So what grounds does he have? Can he file a lawsuit against the school? What does that mean if it's just a verbal handshake versus obviously having a written agreement? Okay. So there's something called the statute of frauds.
And the statute of frauds says that certain agreements over a certain amount of money have to be memorialized in a written agreement. And if it's not a written agreement, then, you know, poo for you.
That's what you should have done. And we're not going to recognize this.
However, one of the exceptions, and so clearly, if there's no written agreement here, someone can claim statute of fraud. But one of the exceptions to the statute of frauds is partial performance.
So here, I mean, obviously, we don't know the terms and everything that transpired between these two parties. But you can imagine that there was more than partial performance.
I mean, this guy allegedly moved to Las Vegas to play. He played and he did receive a certain amount of money.
He certainly didn't receive the full amount of money that he's alleging he was promised, but he was compensated. So there's performance on both sides of the aisle.
And I don't think that statute of frauds is going to be an argument here.

So absolutely, just because there's not a written agreement doesn't mean that there's not an agreement. And I'm sure that there's going to come out from here on out, we're going to see, you know, there's sure there's email correspondence, text messages, and they'll piecemeal an agreement from those terms.

That counts.

It's not formal.

It's not the right way to do things. Absolutely.
But it absolutely counts. Yeah.
Is this sort of opening the floodgates though? Do you think we're just going to see a lot more because of the informal way know, informal way some of these deals are being done? Like this can't be the only case, right? This is going to be a floodgate opening up with this kind of thing. I don't think it's a floodgate opening up.
I think that unfortunately a lot of these NIL transactions are going down just like this, which for me, I don't understand because NIL is such big business. It's asinine to think that companies are doing business on a handshake when people are moving across the country to play for a specific team.
It just makes no sense to me why these things aren't being taken seriously. But as opening the floodgates, no, I mean, this is how a lot of this business is being transacted.
And if it continues, you know, going like this, you know, where there's these obligations aren't being fulfilled. Yeah, there's going to be litigation about it, obviously.
I talked to Josie a lot, Jerry, about just, and she could speak better than I can, but just the bad, I think one of the biggest worries for me when NIL became legalized was, okay, these kids need to be careful of the representation, the agents, the marketing, whoever it is, a lot of bad apples out there basically telling them. And I told you before the show, there's these market values that these people go off of that are just phantom.
They're phantom numbers. Like it's not, this isn't NFL free agency and these players hold out because, Hey, the market is this, these are what the top 10 running backs in the NFL are making.
This is what I'm like. There really isn't that.
Um, and a lot of these deals are just, whether they're handshakes, they're verbal,

they're promises, there's a lot of empty promises.

And that's why we're seeing a lot of kids leave.

We're seeing, but we're also seeing a lot of misrepresentation and agents promising, hey, you can do this

if you go to this school.

And it just doesn't come to fruition.

I want to call you bae, but I'm trying to be professional.

Gosh, keep it professional.

The house versus NCAA will fix some of this right or some of it yeah some of it but as of right now um the settlement hasn't been approved so there was no preliminary approval from the judge a couple weeks ago and actually the next hearing is tomorrow so we're gonna see how the ncaa NCAA went back to the drawing board and came up with something else because there was a big issue. Well, the biggest issue that the judge had was their provision that there would be a third party that would kind of dictate like all agreements over $600 they would approve or reject reject.
And that was, you know, the NCAA and, you know, all of the different conferences that are also co-defendants, that was their way to get their arms around the collectives. And the judge said that is not going to fly here.
So the defendant said, hey, this could be a deal breaker for my client. So they were sent back to the drawing board and we'll see what they come up with tomorrow.
Because if this blows up, then there is no settlement. Then we go to trial and I don't see why the NCAA would ever go to trial because they're gonna end up bankrupt right can this can can if he was promised and there's receipts and like you said email chain uh threads or whatever can he sue unlv for sure the the amount of money that he wasn't promised yeah absolutely yeah Of course.
That's wild. That's how it works.
But I just don't know how this stuff is happening without a written agreement. And I think the problem, there are some collectives that are so well run.
And now that the red tape was removed between the universities and the collectives, we've seen a lot of collectives go in-house and are now, you know, under the umbrella of the university. And there's going to be a lot more regulation that comes now that there's that, you know, transparency between the university and the collective, they're working together, blah, blah, blah.
But beyond that, like a lot of these deals took place prior to that rule coming into effect. And I think that these collectives are just running by the seat of their pants and promising money that they don't have and are trying to scrap together and agreements aren't being made properly.
I wouldn't be surprised if we see more of these issues come up as the season transpires. So we'll see.
I just think it's wild to be that age. I try to think back to even when I was like coming up with acting and a lot of this brings me back to like, I, I have an agent and a manager and a lawyer and sometimes I'm wondering what is everyone doing here? Right? Like how, what, what do, do you need all these people? But then you start hearing about something that's pretty brand new at this point and see how, you know, and then the parents are involved.
And I, I watched you speak a lot too on the, on your, we are NAL Instagram account, just about speaking to the player, the kids. I call them kids with all due respect.
They're young men and women. And just what they, what to expect.
And that's the work I, I want to see happen too. Cause I remember being young and I remember even making some money and having a friend ask me to, Hey, can I borrow a thousand bucks? I got a business idea.
And I wish I had someone telling me, Hey, for you to make a thousand, you have to make like 2,200 to clear a thousand dollars. And I actually asked you for a thousand,'re asking you for $2,200.
And are we going to start seeing more? Like I said, you guys spoke up about it on the Instagram account. I feel like we have to start seeing that more.
Seeing what more specific? People talking to the people, whether they're lawyers, agents, taking accountability and not just helping the players make deals and make money, but actually, I mean, you like to think it's the parents, but not everyone has parents out there that also have the background to help. Yeah.
Well, one of the things that struck me about this was because when this story first came out and mind you, it's just been a couple hours. So even in the last couple hours, it's been developing.
Um, I am Matt, I think right now he's being, um, repped by equity sports, which is a really big agency. I don't know if they were behind the deal back earlier this year and they brokered the deal.
I don't know. Yeah.
But my whole thing thing is I don't know how an agent brokers this deal and doesn't have something written. That's your job.
That's why you go out and you hire an agent because you don't know any better. So you're putting all of your eggs in their basket and hoping that they freaking protect you.
It was their job to protect him.

I think that that was completely fumbled

on the agent's behalf.

Mind you, again, I don't know who the agent was at the time,

whether that was equity sports or not.

I don't know.

But the fact that you don't have a written agreement,

that you can't come back and say,

yo, these are the terms and this was not fulfilled. That to me is just, I don't, I don't get it from a lawyer's point of view.
I just don't get it. And if I had a son, I would never allow them to just follow through on a handshake.
Yeah. This is why you get married to a lawyer, Jerry.
You just protect it. I'm getting upset.
I'm actually, my blood pressure is raising. I would say, I would say to you like, yeah, I think, I think all sides probably fumbled this based on what we've seen so far, and it continues to come out more and more stories.
But I think, Jerry, to your point too, we're seeing, I think it's like an educational piece, right? We're seeing 17, 18-year-old kids now in high school, right? And a lot of states can make money off their NIL, California included them. We live in a state where these high school kids can make money.
Um, we are seeing more and more colleges offer up like financial literacy courses and just educational courses to what you're talking about. Like whether it's learning how to, what a contract is or whether it's taxes, like just basic financial one-on-one because now they're all, they're like, they're getting taxed.
Like they're all these things that these kids have no idea what, like didn't know at 18 you know obviously i wasn't making money but 18 i would have known what to do um and josie and her firm are doing a lot like speaking across the country and speaking to the classes and and teams and all that and just educating them which i think we need um yeah but it's wild it's going to be interesting to see the precedent that this may start with a lot of the, you know, this isn't the only deal in college football or college athletics where a school hasn't allegedly upheld their side of a deal. It'll be interesting.
It's just we haven't seen it happen midseason, right? in the midst of the mid-season, which that is what's wild. You talk about holdouts in the NFL.

They're holding out preseason, and they're. In the middle of the mid-season, which that is what's wild.
You talk about holdouts in the NFL.

They're holding out preseason, and they're trying to get a deal done,

and maybe it leaks over to one game.

By the end of the day, usually those deals get done.

This is three games in to a team, to a starting quarterback,

a team that's undefeated right now.

So my question to you, because obviously, again, these are all allegations and things are developing literally as we're talking right now so but my question to you because obviously if again these are all allegations and things are developing literally as we're talking right now but if everything that's come out thus far is true he had grounds to do what he did to pull out to redshirt blah blah blah they didn't follow um they didn't fulfill the agreement fine but i'm like how does that affect you as a player as how does that affect your future like if you're if you do have hopes to go into the nfl and like how is this move perceived by coaches in the nfl or things like that like that's a whole other piece that's so interesting that's going to be part of like the interview process now when going into the NFL, right? Cause all these, this stuff's becoming knowledgeable. You could, you could pick that apart and ask that question once more facts come out and use that against his draft status, you know? Well that too.
And like also just from, from within a locker room standpoint, you know, the, the, again, I, I, I'm using the NFL, but like professional sports are different. You know, these are grown men and women who are making a lot of money.
There's contracts, like there's all these things. Like this is still a form of amateurism, even though it's really not at this point, but you know, in that locker room, right, you have a 19 year old kid or 18 year old kid who's getting paid X amount of money, starting quarterback for your team.
Now, all of a sudden it's like a piece, which if, if this is all true, you kind of have, you understand his point. Like, Hey, I was promised something to come here.
I left a school to come here, but how does the ripple effect that has from a locker room standpoint, the team, how it's viewed, how he's viewed across like Like, yeah, it's just, there's a lot to unpack there. I think for an 18, 19 year old kid who was just literally promised something that he wasn't given, you know, it's, it's, it's, yeah, dude, it's wild.
Get buckle up. I would say that buckle up.
I don't know. I would like, I, I don't, I think it's so ballsy to do what he did.
And I'm not saying that he didn't have grounds because it sounds like he certainly did. But I don't know.
I probably would have said just finish. Right.
Finish out the season. This season.
And then we'll sue them for breach of contract, you know? That's, I don't know. That's how I probably would have done it.
But. Well, there's gonna be a lot of eyes on that UNLV game coming up.
That's for sure. A lot of people maybe weren't interested in running Rebels football are going to take it in.
Josie, I got – go ahead. No, I was just going to say I feel so bad for the players who are on this 3-0 winning streak and have all of these high hopes.
They're a top 25 team. I'm like, God, that sucks.
Who knows that? Maybe it like god that sucks the head coach is just like uh by the way guys we just lost our starting quarterback uh we're week four um i know all right hey buddy you're next up it's like wait let's get you ready for the game let's get you caught up to speed yeah it's just wild man well anyways as a father of two kids who are clearly going D1, if you just look at me, you know my kids will be playing college football. I will learn from all this.
Dude, they got golf, buddy. They got golf.
You don't need to be past 5'8 to golf. I said that to Bree on the way down.
I told her that we were talking to you today, Josie, and explained a little bit of it. She's like, this is something we'll never have to worry about.
Sorry, Jacob and Chase. You never have to deal with modeling contracts because the kids are so damn cute.
By the way, dude, Altuve's 5'6", bro. You got a shot.
That's my yearly Halloween costume. You know that, right? We've talked about this.
Is it? People think I look like it or resemble each other. You do.
You do kind of look like it, yeah. And that whole Astros run in the world series when they were knocking the yankees out every year was that when people were doing the side by side so now i just throw on an astros jersey and a hat and it's the easiest halloween costume ever replaced rudy i used to go as rudy another short uh player and now i go as jose altuve um but speaking of jerseys real real quick, Josie, before we let you go, you know, our boy here, he's wearing, we told people at the top of the show, he's wearing his Kobe Bryant Lakers jersey.
And he stands by the fact that he doesn't leave the house with it. Do you ever see Matt really going far outside the house with the Kobe jersey? Coffee doesn't count.
I'm saying, like, if he's going out for the day, hey, I bunch of meat like zero chance i'll answer for him definitely no i've seen him go out of the house with it to like i don't know maybe drop get gas right he's not leaving the car essentially still inside or maybe even i don't even think he'd drop off the kids with that but he wears it constantly and it's by it's older. How old is that thing? You've had it longer than we've been together, which is a long time, like 11, 12 years.
How long have you had it? This is like my lounge, a long time. This is like my lounge wear at the house.
Maybe gas, maybe coffee, maybe a store, maybe a store run. I'm sure I've done that.
And I just, but I will not wear this two-way game. Okay.
No, I won't wear it. I won't wear it to the bar with my friends on a Sunday to represent my team.
And babe, I got, I just got crushed for this cake this week. All our liner jerseys.
I'm like, Oh yeah, I mean, I guess you have a good point. I mean, there's a different thing between being passionate about a team and all that.
It's just like, I just wouldn't, I just. Matt is not, and I guess we both are this way.
Like, we're not, and this may sound bad, we aren't like fanatics. Right, like me.
Right, you guys aren't like me. We're not And obviously, he loves USC, supports USC.
But yeah, it's just not. Dodgers.
We're not fanatics. This is why we're a good podcast couple, Matt.
Jerry's a fanatic. Yeah, I don't understand that mentality.
But I think it's fun. I feel like I'm a little smarter after today because I walked around like, oh, I get it I did not get it because I did a lot of research getting ready to talk to you and I encourage everyone to go to weare underscore NIL just grace up, you tackle everything it's not just the UNLV situation it's everything that was awesome you're going to be busy.
I feel like there's gonna be a lot coming up every day. It's getting very busy, like very, very busy.
Um, as I progressively get more pregnant. So that's just the irony of it all.
Oh, don't, we're getting you back up. That's a whole separate episode.
Don't worry. Jerry's right behind you.
Don't worry. We don't, we don't have, we don't have breaking news yet, but we will.

My wife went from acting to becoming a birth doula,

so we could discuss all that too.

Oh, come on.

Yes.

But thank you.

Seriously, that was awesome.

Matt, you want to call her babe

one last time?

I just called her doll.

I like to call her doll.

So thank you, doll.

You're the best.

Bye, guys.

Thank you so much.

Appreciate it.

Bye.

Bye. Bye.
All right. We're coming back here.
So Matt, we have our first, I referenced it earlier, our first sort of take where you've got a lot of pushback. So it's all about you.
It wouldn't be my first time, Jerry. Let's just quickly play the clips this way.
If you didn't listen last week, shame on you, but here's what we're talking about. Let's play the clip of Matt saying what he had said.
I also don't understand like whether like a grown man wearing a jersey. I don't know, man.
It's just like a weird thing to me. Like I could picture weird, weirdly, I could picture you wearing a Jersey and like, I think it's okay, but I've never understood.
Like I would never, I would never go. And I like, I love Jim Brunson, but I would never go to a sporting event wearing a Kobe Jersey or a, like I'm wearing a Dodger t-shirt right now.
This is about as good as you'll get from it. I go t-shirts these days.
I always laugh when grown men

are wearing jerseys.

Couple of things to unpack there

as you sit there in your Kobe jersey.

Well, I wanted to give the fans

what they want. I do own jerseys.

Number one, I think that's

factually incorrect. You have

done it, and we just had a

lawyer on the air, so

let the evidence show you, Matt Leiner, have in fact done that. Yes, I did.
You were a kid, though. You were young.
Yeah, I was 20. I was a grown man.
I was 24. I wore a Kobe jersey to a Laker game, a white Sunday jersey, by the way, a white Laker jersey to a game.
And I spoke to Kobe on the court. Okay.
And now I'm wondering, and rest in peace, man, my favorite athlete. Now I'm wondering if he was judging me in that moment of me wearing his jersey.
You know what I mean? For sure. It's kind of strange.
Look at his fan. Look at his fan.
It's a hypocritical statement, that's for sure. But that was also 18 years ago when I was- True.
Yeah. All right, we'll give you a pass, but know, who didn't give you a pass was everyone who follows you and me and throwback show on social media.
I was going to read a few brief ones, uh, at the cam hammer unfun take. If legendary player sportscaster don't want fans wearing jerseys, hell nobody should buy merch.
Then matter of fact, Let's lower the TV contracts and the salaries too. Oh.
Wow.

I got a, what is it?

Don James Sports, horrible take at Matt Leonard QB, and I love you. Like, just a double sword.
Just like, God, I love you, but you suck. Well, even better.
Oh, there's the, listen. What? If my eyes aren't deceiving me, that's Matty Ice in a white Kobe.
Now, did they give you that jersey while you were there? Did you go to Staples wearing it? I got to be honest, dude. I probably went to Staples at the time wearing that.
And that's one of my buddies, Daniel, who look at the way he's looking at Kobe, dude. That is his favorite athlete and player of all time.
This picture was taken in 2006, probably.

He still, every once in a while, will send me this photo.

He goes, dude, the greatest day of my life.

By the way, this was greater than watching my kids be born.

Like literally-

Do you remember what was said?

Do you remember what was said?

I don't know.

But now, dude, I don't know.

He was just probably telling you to get something

to have to be sports related, right?

I feel like he's probably talking to you about football. Yeah.
This is off season. This is, this is before the game shoot around.
I was probably sitting closer to the court. I just said, Oh, what's up? And I had known him a little bit.
He was awesome, man. And we got to know each other over the years, like on a more personal level than just kind of sports and all that kind of stuff.
So, um, shout out to, to co, but yes, dude, I, I, uh, listen, I'm gonna, I'm gonna,

I'm going to defend myself. I work in a business that is an opinionated business.
I get paid to give opinions for the most part. I am not going to backtrack on my stance.
I will say this for me personally. There are two things that I just, it's just not in me to do.
One is I will never, and I say never with an asterisk because if my kids are involved, yes. I've never been the guy to go up to a famous person, a famous athlete to ask for an autograph, right? You don't fanboy.
I don't fanboy. And by the way, it's totally fine.
I'm just saying for me personally, I've just never been that. Like if I saw Michael Jordan, I would be like, I might be starstruck, but I'm like, I'm just not going to do that.
Now, if my kid was there and it's like, then you have kind of like a cop out and all that kind of stuff. And the same goes with the jersey.
Now I know I wore that, but I'm still going to defend myself. I have not worn a jersey in public since that game.
Never, never to a sporting vet, not once. And there's no proof out there.
So no one can see that. I just don't understand being a fanatic for a team in that regard, because I don't have that.
I love the Dodgers. I love the Dodgers.
But I'll wear a t-shirt. I'll wear blue.
I'll wear a hat. I'm not going to wear Clayton Kershaw jersey to a game.
So I, listen, I stand by it, dude. People can, people can burn my jersey in the trash, bro.
I just like, I appreciate the fans. What do you got there? Well, is this acceptable? Like, all right, we got a Giants jersey right here.
Let me ask you a question. Have you worn that? Have you worn that? Yeah, I mean, you got Turtle on the back.
That's kind of cool. I wore this episode, and then I found this tag right here.
Basically, it's saying, like, the wardrobe department wrote, like, Jerry wore this with, this is what I wore for continuity. Okay, but have you worn that jersey to a? No, because it says turtle on the back.
So I would just be... No, but I have worn...
You've worn a New York Knicks jersey courtside, guaranteed. I definitely worn Knicks jerseys.
I've worn Yankees jerseys to Yankee games for sure. Look, I look at it differently.
I understand what you're saying. For me, if you're wearing it to a game, I get it.
It's... I don't know, man.
I don't know. I just think it's funny.
I made a career off of wearing jerseys, so it's hard for me if you're wearing it to a game i get it it's i don't know man i don't know i just think it's funny i made a career off of wearing jerseys so it's hard for me to hate on i get it i just think it's funny like if i'm walking in my town on a sunday and there's a sports bar and it's loaded with and i just see like a 50 year old dude walking in with a uh jalen brunson jersey on on, it just makes me giggle, dude. That's it.
I don't know how to explain it. So, look, I took a lot of heat.
A lot of heat. Listen, I appreciate that.
I appreciate the debate back and forth. But that's why I'm wearing my, for everybody that can see and the listeners, I am wearing my old-school Kobe jersey.
This jersey has made its rounds, though Like, this jersey, it might be time to hang it up, but I'm holding on to it for dear life. Well, Shallon Sane also said on Twitter, note to self, don't meet Matt while wearing his jersey.
Dude, this is going to be a thing now, because I'm going to be out and someone's going to be like, hey, do you like my jersey, bro? It's going to be a thing i i don't think the picture helps you but we'll move on i i you're safe for now but by the way i will say this i had a lot you know thanks to to andrew our producer on here i had a lot of guys who supported me as well so yeah we didn't pull those we didn't want to hear anything we didn't we didn't look for hard for those but they're out there i'm gonna start just i'm gonna start rocking the jersey now. Dude, that's what I'm saying.
You got to zag while everyone is zigging. By the way, when we have our three-point contest, you best believe I will be wearing my Kobe jersey.
Who should I wear? That's a good question. Because you can't shoot, bro.
I'm already in your head. So I'm actually surprised.
I, your, your, your highlights from the celebrity all-star game was not, was, was not bad. Not as bad as I envisioned.
I talked to, uh, quite a few people about this three point contest we're going to do in LA soon. And then I was reminded by one thing while I was at the Jeter, Cliff Floyd, who is not a professional golfer.
I don't even know what his handicap is. He could move it.
He was still able to hit it 330 yards because he's an athlete. Your, your three-point shooting video is a little scary.
It is a little, a lot of people have said, Oh, that's, that's, that's, that's trouble. He's just flicking it.
Dude, we're going to, I'm telling you, man, we're telling you, man. We're going to do it at USC, the Galen Center.
We're going to have an audience. I might even have USC's basketball team be there.
I'm boys with the coach. We're just going to make this an event.
We're going to turn it into an event. All right.
Well, listen. It's time to wrap up.
We like to end every week with what are we watching? What are you watching this weekend man it could be sports could be tv show could be anything what do you mean we could be a player yeah i mean i think i'm gonna i'm watching my dodgers um close this out man like that that's my team um tight race in the nl west um and otani just no way he gets to 60, right? 66. He's going to run out of games.
Yeah, they only got a couple games left. Wow.
I love – I know we're going to bring in some baseball guys here coming up on the pod just to talk baseball. But I love – there's nothing better than the fall football but October baseball playoffs.
But I'll be watching Otani and the Dodgers, man. They need to finish strong here.
Who's your top three? Do you have a top three or even just box office, must-watch players? Otani, I'm guessing, is one. Currently? Yeah.
I would say Otani, well, when I caught the first pitch for Reggie, I met Otani in the tunnel. We posted that video.
That was pretty rad. Yeah.
So Otani's one. I've seen him play.
But yeah, that's just one where every time he's up to bat, you're just like, you're glued. Like every swing is like- I've seen him play in Cleveland when he's with the Angels and everyone's phone came out.
Yeah, it's pretty wild. I would say NBA, you know, I've never seen Steph Curry play in person.
Incredible. That would be that would be pretty cool even though now you know not in the prime anymore but still tremendous i think just the entertainment value uh gosh who else man like well homes my homes again just i have my homes i have otani i have my homes and i got to see him in the super bowl and it was pretty cool to see him get the ball back with a minute to go and win the game, but also Wemby.
Go see Wemby. Yeah, I think, too, for everybody, all the listeners and all that, email us, talk to us.
Who would you pay to see? What athlete would you pay to see one time in your lifetime? Yeah. You know who else? Simone Biles.
Simone Biles. I appreciate greatness.

I appreciate greatness and just like

one of ones. You know what I mean?

Wemby's a perfect example.

We'll never see another player like that.

He's only, what, year two? It's wild.

I still hold out hope

that Tiger will compete

in a major again. I don't think we're ever going to see it.

But I'll hold up hope.

I saw, real quick, I saw opening round u.s open tiger tory pines uh the the the tournament he went um extra holes with rocco mediate when he had a broken knee and i was like i saw for father's day this father's day weekend it was me and my pop i think cole was like two or three and uh i saw i stay i stood on the t-box it was the only time i ever done this i stood on the t-box and watched tiger hit hole one it was awesome dude it was it was totally awesome we'll never beat peak tiger it just won't happen as great as scotty scheffler is and he's amazing to watch we'll never know one like him do you know what i'm watching look i'm obviously gonna watch my giants tonight i tonight. I'm very curious to see Packers, Vikings, and Bills Ravens.
But going semi-sports route, the Vince McMahon documentary on Netflix just dropped. Six episodes, I think.
I was a wrestling kid when I was younger. My brother and I still send us 80s wrestler memes all day long.
I got gotta watch that. That's something my wife left no interest in.
Zero interest. So I'm on my own with that one.
Speaking of autographs, I met one of the cool, I was a kid, I was like seven. I met the Ultimate Warrior.
Remember the Ultimate Warrior? That's my favorite wrestler of all time. I met him in LAX I think when I was I don't even know, five, six.
Was it hard to spot him without the face paint? No, I got his autograph on a little just college-ruled paper. I don't have it anymore, but I had it forever, dude.
That world is- That'll be a fascinating doc. That'll be a fascinating doc.
I can't wait to watch it. I know he just released some quotes on Twitter or whatever.
He put out a statement that he's just, because he participated in it, but he's unhappy with some of the, with the takes and the version that the producers use. I think Bill Simmons is one of the producers.
Didn't tell the whole story and told it a certain, of course he's going to say that. I'm watching that this weekend.
It's time. We'll talk about it next week, man.
I'm curious. Yeah.
Thank you again, everybody listening.

Thank you to Josie Leiner for coming on, giving us, shedding some light on the NIL.

And also, don't forget, subscribe to us on YouTube, Throwback Show and social media.

All the handles are at Throwback Show.

Give us the sub.

Give us the like, all that.

And then, yeah, pay attention to the social media.

We're going to put up a poll because we got to get to the, we got to just close this jersey thing out. So we'll see you guys next week.
Later. Oh, wait, Matt, where are you going quick? Where are you going? Central Florida.
By the way, DJ Khaled coming on the show. Stop.
Are you introing him? I'm probably not introing him this way. I got the intro offset, but we got DJ Khaled.
DJ Khaled's coming on.

I played 1v1 with him in a golf match.

Just ask him a golf question.

He's going to say, let's golf.