Savannah Bananas Owner Jesse Cole Joins PLUS Our All-Time HR Squad & Coach/Director Rage

We got to change the game, and so I looked at what were all the boring parts of a baseball game that are stepping out of the box, mound visits, walks, bunting-you know, swing the bat.

Right, we say bunting sucks.

If you bunch, you're thrown out of the game.

Like, literally, that's a rule: you bunch, you're thrown out of the game, no one bucks.

We're back, Maddie.

Couple of weeks off.

Look at that.

A couple of weeks off.

I think I know now.

I remember this too, even like, you know, doing entourage and power and all those shows.

Like, you get a week off.

It's kind of awesome.

But now I felt like we're an NFL team that had like an easy win and then a bye week.

I just felt like we've been chilling for two weeks.

We have been chilling for two weeks, man.

Vacation.

I was at the lake for a week just

enjoying the Rays, man.

You're such like a Manhattan Beach dude, though.

The sea one, the lake.

I think we talked the other day.

I'm like, dude, I like Lake Lifeliner.

I'm used to like the beach.

You have a lake life vibe.

You know what?

It's my favorite.

I posted it this week.

It's my happy place.

So

I grew up going to Lake Shasta and houseboating.

And my uncle had a boat.

So it just was like, it was just our favorite vacation.

Again, we were.

We weren't, we didn't have a lot of money growing.

So it was like the one vacation we went on a year was a summer was like a week and a half in the summer on a lake.

And And as I got older, I got a boat.

I bought a boat like in 2007 or eight.

I actually sold it a couple of years ago, but like the lake life

is like what I just, I can't wait to get to that week every summer.

And we've been taking Cole.

So Cole loves it.

Our boys love it.

Josie grew up on the ocean, right?

She grew up in the Keys and Florida and all that.

So it's much different, but she loves it now.

So we went up to Bass Lake and we did the fourth there.

So it was the first time.

Typically, we're always there like the after, the week after the fourth, but I post about this.

They do a fireworks show on the lake and we were in our boat.

So imagine like, I mean, it's a beautiful lake.

It's not very big, but there's houses everywhere on the water.

We have an awesome setup.

So we're just kind of, you're cruising about five miles per hour.

Every boat has their light on.

The sun sets.

It's beautiful in the mountains.

And there's about 500 boats just kind of idling and then watching the

show for like 30 minutes.

And then honestly, it's like 4.05, dude it's like la traffic trying to get back to your house at like 9 45 at night just bobbing and weaving and boats and pontoons and people partying music and all that um i will say this i just thought about this my

my five-year-old caseon is a animal dude like you he's so let me tell you what happened this poor kid he's he's the one that we're more afraid of because he's fearless, right?

He'll do anything.

So throughout the week, he got, I think he got a bug bite on his face, this big mark on his face, which whatever he couldn't control.

Uh, one of our friend's daughters kicked him in the face and like scratched him big.

Kids getting lumped up this whole thing.

Then I'm pulling, you know, like I'm, I'm obviously, I've been driving a boat forever.

I'm super safe, but I'm going, it was, I think it was

4th of July day or the day before, which just gets really crowded on this lake.

So, it's like the water's choppy.

It's not, it's just like, it gives me anxiety pulling kids behind the boat when there's a boat 100 yards behind me falling.

You have to be on.

Yeah, and I always am, but I was going like 10 miles per hour just starting.

And it was one of those

tubes where they sit, you kind of sit up, but I didn't realize these things can freaking fly, dude.

Yeah, if they catch the air under it, they're pretty sick, but they're not meant for a five-year-old.

Point is, is Kaysen hits a bump and he goes forward instead of like going backwards.

Like goes forward, his whole neck and face land on the rope.

Like that's pulling it.

And he is, I'm telling you, Jerry, when I say he's tough as nails, he's tough as nails, toughest kid I've ever met.

He was bawling, crying.

We're like, okay, he got hurt on that one.

We bring him in.

This dude had a whole rope.

Oh, like this.

So he's got this whole neck that looks like he got strangled.

He's got a big old like slash cut here, but it looked like he went five rounds with Tyson, dude.

And just, and by the way, gets out of the water, kind of calms him down.

He's like, Daddy, I want to go again.

And we're like, yeah, buddy, let's probably set this one out for a couple hours because we're like, he might have got concussed.

Like, we were like kind of watching him close, but

kids an absolute freaking monster.

But site trip amazing.

Uh, fourth of July was amazing.

Um, sad it's over, but you know, happy to be back with you, bro.

How was your do you guys do the same thing as I mean, I Brie's much more calm when the kids get hurt.

I am her.

I'm her.

I bring the blue tent out.

You would give me they go right into concussion protocol.

Uh, you and Jojo are the same.

You and Joe are the same.

I bring the blue tent out.

I run the concussion test.

I'm just saying, oh, this kid's definitely got CTE now.

You, you, Joe,

she would tell you this.

You guys got to do a segment on this.

She gives me so much more stress and anxiety than the actual situation.

Yeah, you and Bri are alike.

Now, now, again, to give her credit, like one of us has to be that way.

Now, to give her credit, she definitely reacts quicker to everything.

So whether he's actually hurt or not, it takes me like, I'm very well aware.

Like I saw the whole thing happened.

It scared him.

It screwed up his neck, but like he was fine.

If it was like an emergency, I would be calm, but I would act fast.

But a lot of times I kind of act a little slower.

I kind of like, hey, let me look at this situation really quick and then like assess it.

She is like about to jump out the boat.

And then the kids panic more when they see the parents.

I tell her, I'm like, you have to de-escalate the situation.

And you're such a quarterback, bro.

You're such a, that's like quarterback.

I just feel like you're in the huddle being like, guys, I am.

You're telling your O-line to calm down.

Stop jumping.

No, she, I'm just so, I'm very calm.

I, I mean, I have my moments and there's moments where if like I panic, then she knows like, oh shit, something's wrong.

But like, even in that instant, I'm like, I'm like, babe, calm down.

Like,

one, tell him how great he did.

Like, he's crying because he got scared.

He's not hurt.

We know that.

We looked at his eyes.

We're like, he's got a, he's got a, a, a, a burn that was pretty bad, but like, you know, he'll live.

Like, it was, like, it was fine.

So yeah, you, by the way, you just, you telling me that gives me anxiety.

Like, people are like, you guys need to fucking relax.

Just relax.

Well, I got a couple of quick recap stories, but I don't want to bury the lead on the the episode.

We got a great guest today, and this comes from the liner life because a few weeks ago, we talked about you threw out the first pitch of the Savannah Bananas game.

You threw an absolute strike with a football,

which started the next batter, 0-1.

Those are banana rules.

The first pitch, the celebrity first pitch counts in the game.

And you had the great idea.

You said we should talk to Jesse Cole, the founder, creator of the Savannah Bananas, because they are blowing up.

And we had a little sit-down with him that we're going to drop for you guys uh right after the first break but that was i love his stories outstanding it's it's what a like i mean what a visionary right like just incredible where they started and what his vision was for just like really like it's simple like how do i make baseball fun like how do i make this fun for people for the fan for the viewer right like how do you make it shorter what can we do to interact the fans with the game and like but still have a competitive style of game he he's incredible, like what he's built and continues to build and where this goes from here.

He's, he's a really fascinating human being, you know, really fascinating what he's done.

And I, we talked about it the week, like, like when I did that, I was like, I have a million questions for this guy.

Like, just like, like,

he's such a fascinating person.

Um, and they're blowing up, man.

Like, they're like stadium tours.

Do you know what?

Has this ever happened to you where I was like a little aware of them, but when you throw out the first pitch, that's where I really started.

Okay, let me check out their social media.

Let me figure out what this is.

And then inadvertently, it's like when you put things out there in the world, neighbors, friends I'm running into, it would come up in conversation without me bringing it up.

I'm like, that's so crazy you bring that up.

We have the founder on the podcast and my co-host, Matt.

I love it.

They're like, oh, who Leiner?

I said like my co-host, Matt.

And they're like, oh, you mean Matt Leiner?

And I've now since heard about them from 15 other families.

And a bunch of us are going to try to go down to Pittsburgh

to PNC, which is an amazing baseball stadium, by the way, with all the kids.

What's that drive?

What's that?

A couple hours?

Hour and a half.

Hour and a half.

Dude, you got to go hit them up.

You hit up their PR guy who's great.

And your boys will have, even if, like, I would, this is what I would do.

I would start to watch a little, like, let them watch the social media.

We've been watching the social

Instagram so they can get a feel for that.

Like, like, because that's what we did with the boys.

And then when we were there, I mean, they are just, they're first class man they you guys will be in the dugout like you'll be in the dugout during the game and see it all from like it even watching it like we were um we had a we had a suite at angel stadium which was awesome too like the whole in-game experience is is so incredible but you're gonna be like that they're so great he'll take care of you like the boys will be like even brie who's like probably has no interest in what it is like josie walked away was like wow that was amazing like i would oh no they can get brie they could lock brie in as a fan

This she'll lock into.

Uh, you got, dude, you got to dial in, yeah, and get the merch.

Well, I'm about to say something else that I don't think you'd expect me to say.

Do you know what else I have been enjoying?

No basketball, golf.

Have you been golfing?

No, yes, look at my tan.

Uh, I swear, since the Knicks season ended, I obviously watched the finals, been a few weeks since we dropped an episode.

That was such a grind of fan.

I have enjoyed

okay, it's eight o'clock at night, kids are getting ready for bed.

I don't have to gear up like I'm going to fan war.

I mean, of course, I'd want more basketball, but it got me thinking:

I watch a little, I keep up with the Yankees and stuff like that.

But if you could just say for one year, hey, you know what?

We're going to air this sport for two months in the summer besides baseball.

Which one?

Live or just like.

Yeah, yeah, let's say for two months, we're going to do like, uh, we're going to do two months' worth of games that'll count toward the regular season.

Oh, football.

Easy.

It would be football for you.

Yeah.

Yeah, I think so, too.

Specifically, NFL.

Knock off.

I've talked, right?

Yeah, I've talked,

I've talked more, I've watched

joking aside, I've watched more and talked more basketball in the last six months with you than I have in my whole entire life, and I gotta be catching me in a good time.

No, I know, and I gotta be honest, it is nice not to have to talk, although Knicks did get a new head coach, but uh, just you know, like

let's just let's just let's just

the summer, man.

I mean, you know,

the end, I mean, the NBA finals went seven games, games right which was the long it was the longest playoff that we had in a very long time it went right into the nba draft almost instantaneously and then free agency it's all free agency was bananas it was i didn't realize i love i love nba free agency i love it i think it's so fun i didn't really like maybe it was because i was on vacation but like

it was like the finals ended okay Then the draft happened like a few days later.

Then I was like, I thought there was like a buildup to free agency.

I'm like, oh, I can't wait.

for agency happening it just happened i was like what the what just happened and then i'm seeing like lagers get deandre eight and i'm i'm seeing lebron might leave i'm like what are we what are we doing here man what did any of the moves stand out to you like whether it was the lillard wave and stretching his contract or kevin durant now on yet another team you know what he really has a good squad now fine like

there's no excuses that team is really good so cam whitmore right where did he just go he just went they let him walk to washington where he might average like 28 okay

this is so this is a total random but i went remember the i went to the clippers rockets game which you were supposed to go to yes and you you uh you uh cheated did some guys not play though no but but my point is is i remember watching that game and yeah like none of like well actually all the all the rockets played like jalen green played uh sengun didn't play

but jalen green played cam whitmore played and i remember i i I shit you not.

I remember watching this.

I'm thinking, like, this kid is freaking good.

Like, big, 6'6, big body.

Like, he was, he looked apart.

I was like, I remember him in college, I think, but I was like, who is this guy?

And then I looked at his body.

Like, he doesn't play.

So then, when this deal happened, I'm like, dude, this dude is going to be a star.

Like, he's going to, and that's why, like, they were like, I don't know what they got for him, but I'm telling you, like, nothing.

I think like a second round pick.

He's going to be 20 to 25 a game, guaranteed, watch next year.

Like, he was that good because he had like 15 that game.

I'm like, but he never plays.

He got a shot to play.

He's in a place now where he might have the green light.

Oh, he's going to go ahead.

He's a good player, man.

So, like, they got rid of him.

But yeah, KD, the Rockets are stacked.

They, they're like, that's a team.

Well, again, look, you have to, it's kind of, it's like the okay, it's OKC.

Like, how do you beat OKC?

They have eight or nine guys deep.

They play great defense.

They're long.

Like, you need depth.

You need to build like, and the Rockets are building that, man.

That'd be interesting.

When do you start to, I know you're always like keeping up with college football because it's your job and stuff but when do you are you locked in yet when do you really start to lock in for like big noon and because it comes up a little quicker than nfl options we're eight i think we're eight saturdays almost we're eight saturdays away from football which is crazy two months so it's almost time for you yeah like august like we we'll do our retreat our fox retreat first week of august which is awesome it's all the nfl guys it was it's all college it's like a big two-day party kind of a summit thing just to get everybody together, talk about kind of, we have our college football meetings, kind of talk about what's new, blah, blah, blah.

Um, it just, but it really kind of kicks off like, all right, boys, it's, it's like go time.

We got about three weeks.

So I, I actually, I get like, so Phil Steele has a great magazine

that I just start reading a little bit.

You know, I just start notes and reading because it's a new, it's just, it's not like the NFL where, you know, like

a drop of studs all over the world.

That's the crazy thing about college.

It's like the transfer portal has just made it way more, not more difficult to cover.

But for your job, it's different because, you know,

we got Texas, Ohio State week one in Columbus, which you should go to.

I'm coming.

I'm 100% coming.

I mean, that's one versus two.

I mean, it might be one versus three, but like, that's the biggest, might be the biggest game of the year, you know, to kick off the season, which is awesome.

But yeah, I got, I got a couple more weeks, buddy.

I got some stuff, you know, a couple more weeks.

And then I'll really, once August hits, I'll really start to like, I'll read a lot more, you know, just read, research a a little bit and kind of get ready, man.

Yeah, I don't know about, you know, usually for me with the NFL, it's when you start.

And I already got that first email of like,

fantasy football.

Yeah, when are you, when are you available for the fantasy draft?

I have a league for us, by the way, if you want to split a team, which could be fun for us.

But is it, is it, what kind of league is it?

It's auctionly.

Trust me, just, I'll run it.

You could, just be with me on it.

I will.

I'm in.

I will make it a big time commitment for you, but I think you'll enjoy it.

It's a good group of guys.

A lot of

Hollywood types in there.

I might know.

I want to learn more about Doctrine.

But yeah, I feel like this is the latest.

Because usually, with the Knicks always being so bad, I'm ready for football by July because I'm starved to have something to root for.

I'm slow playing it with football.

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You know, we don't talk a whole lot lot of baseball on this show.

And I was a little surprised to find out Clayton Kershaw became the 20th, the 20th pitcher in baseball history to reach 3,000 strikeouts.

I thought it was probably more.

And then, you know,

3,000 strikeouts.

Dude, he's been playing for 20 years.

No, I know.

It's a lot, but for some reason in my head, I just, 20 didn't sound like enough.

But I guess when you really think about it, that is a lot.

And then it got us thinking, you know, you're a lefty.

We all know that.

You're one of the more famous.

Yeah, you're one of the more famous.

Oh, yeah, I saw Kershaw in Manhattan Beach.

That's like your boy.

I feel like that would be your boy.

No, I ran into him on the street.

He was awesome.

He was with his kid.

I think he's got a

place there.

He rents or he bought whatever, but he's there.

People see him all the time.

So he might be, I don't think he lives there full time.

But yeah, I saw him just walking, like where you and I were walking.

I talked to him for like a minute, like just, you know, whatever, but it was before he started going back.

Yeah.

Just a great dude.

Well, as an exercise, being that you were a lefty pitcher, lefty quarterback, start thinking, I don't know, if you were going to make a rotation of lefty pitchers or even just some of your favorite lefty pitchers, however you want to think about it, where

is Kershaw on that?

And what's Matt Leinert's rotation of lefty pitchers?

You've got to run a few people.

Who are you running out game one?

I mean,

Kershaw in his prime, probably.

Yeah.

Randy Johnson.

A big unit.

He's got to be.

Yeah.

He's your game one.

Sandy Koufax, arguably the best pitcher of all time.

That's three right there.

Ooh.

Tom Glavin.

I think if you're

up there, he's got to be up there.

I think Koufax starts game one.

I think Randy Johnson starts game two.

Kershaw, pivotal, game three.

I think you can go Kershaw, pivotal, game three.

Maybe it's a road game.

And then it starts getting interesting.

Glavin, I mean, who else?

I put my guy Cece in there, Sabathia.

I give him a little.

I I mean, for a playoff pitcher,

Johan Santana.

Johan Santana.

He's awesome.

Go look at the Johan Santana numbers.

Matt, there's not a lot of lefty pitchers.

I didn't see Steve Carlton.

I'm sorry.

I didn't.

I didn't see some of the great lefties before 1985.

I don't know.

So I can't really throw them up there because I see

Bumgartner.

Bumgartner.

I mean, what about Don Trell?

I know, I'm just saying Don Trell is a very accomplished playoff lefty, and he could hit, as we know, Don Trell.

Fan of throwbacks.

We had him on the show.

You're right.

There's not really

all-time.

Like

Steve Avery.

Steve Avery was good.

I'd say Glavin.

Glavin would have been my fourth.

Glavin's four.

I might go Cece Sabathia.

It might be my game five.

If we're running a five-man out there, I think Cece makes the cover.

Did you

bias?

Trivia question.

Did you already answer your own trivia question?

Do you see there's only four left-handed pitchers ever to reach 3,000 Ks?

Kershaw obviously being the fourth.

I would say, I don't know,

Randy Johnson, probably

Kofax, maybe?

I don't know.

Who was laughing?

I think it's the four.

Do you have the answers?

Do I need the answers?

Can we get the answers in the chat?

Okay, Randy Johnson.

Randy for sure.

No Kofax.

No Sandy Kofax.

Keep going, Andrew.

Run it out there.

Chris Sale, no.

Oh, Andy Pettit.

Oh, Cece Sabathia is on the list.

Andy Pettit?

Well, no, I think those are like just good lefties.

The list is

Andy Johnson one.

Cece.

Warren Spawn.

Steve Carlton.

Carlton.

And now Kershaw.

By the way, maybe we slept on Andy Pettit or is that more Yankee bias for me?

Think about those.

No, Andy Pettit was, I mean, talking about big game pitchers for sure.

Like he was a beast.

And this is for the baseball nerd.

He also, I mean, he also best pickoff move, probably, of all time.

Andy also juiced.

Andy Pettit did.

Didn't he juice?

Probably.

He got it.

It's for injuries, though.

He was injury maintenance.

He was not bulking it.

We're going to maybe talk, we'll talk some baseball steroids in a minute, but now it is officially time to get Jesse Cole, owner, founder of the Savannah Bananas.

Let's go.

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All right, Jesse Cole, thank you for joining us.

I was hoping you were going to be decked in yellow.

And I should have never doubted that for one second, right?

Not one second should I have doubted that.

It's all I got.

I own nine of these yellow tuxedos.

So I got, you know, I got an extra one in case, you know, I lose one.

That was my next question.

How many you have?

And honestly, A, it's great for what you do, but also like, I would like the idea of not having to wake up thinking like, oh, what am I going to wear today?

You know what you, you know, what you're wearing.

If I'm going to work, yellow tuxedo, if I'm being a dad, I'm in full dad mode.

So this is, this is a work day.

So we're going to, I was going to ask, what is, what does your closet look like outside of, outside of the yellow tuxes?

Just normal everyday clothes?

Yes, I can be normal.

People don't, most people I work with don't understand, but I can be normal for a few days.

Well, first of all, thanks for joining us, man.

I had a chance.

You guys are incredible.

I had a chance to meet you a couple of weeks ago, and my boys are still talking about it.

By the way, my oldest son,

I think you guys had like, like, he's like, dad, if football doesn't work out, I want to, I want to be a part of Banana Ball.

They don't have a football element to this show.

Like, I think I could bring that.

I was like, that's actually not a bad idea, buddy, but I hope, I hope football works out for your sake.

And I know you've talked about this, Jesse, but just

the birth of Banana Ball.

And, you know, was there...

In sports, we always have kind of like an aha moment when you make it or something that changed.

Like, what was the aha moment for you when you're like, hmm,

this is my vision.

This could actually work?

Well, we're still learning that every day.

I mean, people don't realize every day we're failing with things.

When you do 10 to 15 brand new things every night, certain things don't go well.

I mean, I don't need to get into the living pinata promotion or the pregnant woman dance off and I could keep going.

But the reality is, you know, I was, I played, you know, I played Division I baseball, hoped to play Pro Ball and tore my shoulder, ended my career.

And everyone thought I was going to go into coaching.

And I realized them when I was coaching, I was like, I am bored out of my mind.

Like, you know, playing a game is one thing.

You know, like you're playing the game.

But sometimes just watching, it's like, I want to be in the action.

I want to impact the game.

And I'm just sitting there coaching.

And I remember I was coaching the Cape Cod League and some of the best college players in the country.

And I was like, wow, I get the best seat.

I'm in the dugout.

I'm watching some of the best players.

I have an idea of what's about to happen in the game.

And I'm still bored.

Imagine how many fans.

are bored as well.

And so that's when I had a long road.

I worked with a small team in Gaston, North Carolina, 10 years, just tried a bunch of things, grandma beauty pageants, flatulence fun nights, salute to underwear nights.

You know, I started reading every book from, you know, P.T.

Barnum, Walt Disney, because I was like, we can't just be a baseball team.

We got to make it fun.

And so then luckily I met my wife and Emily and I,

future wife, I proposed in front of a sold out crowd and stopped the game, fireworks show in the middle of the game.

The umpire was like, absolutely.

I'm like, this is our moment.

We're going to own it.

Yes.

Thank goodness she said yes.

And she surprised me with trips to Savannah.

And that's where Savannah started.

We launched a brand new team in Savannah, proceeded to fail, sold two tickets in our first three months, ran out of money, missed payroll, had to sell our house,

sleeping on an airbed, grocery shopping with just $30 a week.

I mean, this was nine years ago, and it was brutal.

I was like, you know, I proposed to her, we got married, and that was our first year of marriage.

Like, what a terrible husband.

Like, I can't provide anything.

Like, we're on this airbed with $30 a week.

But we had a vision.

And I was inspired by Walt Disney.

And, you know, he's always said it's kind of fun to to do the impossible.

And I was like, what if we just made baseball non-stop entertainment, non-stop fun, unlike anything else?

And so, yeah, we named the team the bananas, came up with a senior citizen dance team called the Banana Nanas, which they just groove.

They're fantastic.

A male cheerleading team called the Mananas, mascots named Split, a banana baby that we lift up before every game.

Yeah, a dancing break, breakdancing coach.

And that was the start.

And so we started selling out games, but we were playing regular baseball and people were still leaving games early.

So even with all the entertainment, everything, I mean, it was, we went nuts.

Players were dancing.

A lot of the stuff you saw, Matt, they were telling me very loud.

I was like, we got to change the game.

And so I looked at what were all the boring parts of a baseball game, you know, better stepping out of the box, mound visits, walks.

This is debatable, but bunting, you know, swing the bat.

We say bunting sucks.

If you bunch, you're thrown out of the game.

Like literally, that's a rule.

If you bunch, you're thrown out of the game.

No one bunts.

And so you just wrote down these rules and we said, let's test it.

And we tested it.

Let's just do it.

And yeah, we played nine innings in 99 minutes, our first game.

And the players said it was the most fun they've ever had.

And then a one city world tour into seven cities and a 33 into major league stadium.

You just keep trying to get better and try to make the game better.

And that's where it started.

And now, I mean, name of our company is Fans First Entertainment.

It's all how do you create the best experience for fans?

And that's what we think about every day.

Yeah, that's something you just mentioned Walt Disney.

I've, you know, listened to like, I'm an audiobook guy, right?

So I've listened to a lot of Walt Disney books.

I'm currently listening to the Disney War, which is like the battle for control, but a lot of everything talks about Walt and his feelings of just, it is about the customer, the fan.

How do we give them an experience?

And, you know, you mentioned like, what are the boring rules of baseball?

Like, I, I wonder, like, what, what interactions have you had with anyone from Major League Baseball, whether it's a player or just someone within the organ, like Major League Baseball itself?

Like, how does that go between the two?

Well, it started, we did a one-city world tour in Mobile, Alabama.

And why do we do Mobile?

Because it was the only city that wanted us.

Like, they were willing to take us.

And the mayor was a fan.

He read my first book.

He connected me with Jake Peavy.

So, you know, a Cy Young Award winner.

Yeah.

Top, you know, top, one of the best pitchers in the game for a long period of time.

And because he was from Mobile.

And we talked.

He's like, all right, this is kind of interesting.

Well, yeah, I'll come out and support this.

So he came out.

I had him throw the first banana.

And because not a first pitch, he threw a first banana.

And his nephew was at the game and his nephew had just quit baseball.

His nephew, he was a great player, just quit.

He was at the game.

And afterwards, he came up to him and said, I want to play again.

This, this right here, this is fun.

I want to play.

And he watched his nephew who quit play because of just watching one game of banana ball.

And banana ball wasn't that great back then.

We were still learning.

And he became an ambassador.

and started telling everyone.

And, you know, that we had Roger Clemens and we had Ryan Howard and we've had other Saiyan war winners and MVPs and Shane Victorinos and so many people join us over the years.

And that was a start.

So every almost every city we go to, we have a major league player that joins us, a former star.

And then, yes, major league baseball, all the teams, we're working at 18 venues.

We've heard from all of them.

And, you know, I think, you know, it's a great working relationship.

They have the best baseball players in the world.

We have arguably maybe the most entertaining, you know, and that's what we're trying to create, the most entertaining game.

And so I think it's a good marriage.

I think we're going to work together more in the future.

Jerry and I were talking about how Jerry is a big guy on how he can fix things in sports.

How do you fix

the NBA all-star games?

I spent my time, Jesse.

He's always just like, I have, yeah, and a little bit of a visionary, probably not as much as a visionary as you are, but definitely not.

Even all-star baseball and like the home run derby and how it's always changing.

And Jerry's like, MLB should hire Jesse to literally change the way the all-star weekend is

played because of just what you've been able to build with entertainment and fans and real competitive baseball.

Like no one is doing that.

What if they called called you and said, hey, can you come on board and help us engage the fans in a different way?

I mean, you're signing up for that, right?

I think the reality, my bandwidth is a little full right now.

So we're starting our league next year, Banana Ball Championship League with six teams, and we're going to play all over the country.

And so that's awesome.

Which is going to be exciting because, I mean, even like the party animals, they have more followers than every major league baseball team on TikTok.

So they've got 6 million followers.

And so we're building different fan bases.

But the question, you know, I think it is, we're in a TikTok world.

Everyone's scrolling every seven seconds.

And so I want to create something where if you look away, you're missing something.

And a typical sporting event, whatever it is, I mean, even a football game, which is unbelievable, the viewership, it's still a three-hour game, but there's so many commercial breaks.

There's so much action.

How do you make it?

It's non-stop that you can't look away.

How do you make it so fans want to watch more?

They want to stay till the end.

And, you know, when I thought about baseball games, so many people leave before the game's over or they come late.

You don't go to a movie and say, oh, that was a great movie.

I left in the middle.

You know, like, oh, man, I love Entourage.

Yeah, yeah, I just, I only watch the first half usually.

No, you stick through the end.

You even don't even go to the bathroom sometime because you don't want to miss a part.

100%.

And so the same thing with a great comedian, a great show.

So how do you make the game even better all the way to the end?

How do you make it non-stop entertainment?

How do you get the players more involved?

where they're, you know, they're interacting more and celebrating more and having fun and not just this is the way it has to be.

This This is the way it always used to be.

No, engage, have fun.

Kids want something to gravitate towards.

So our players, they celebrate everything: singles, doubles, triples.

Unbelievable.

They go big.

You saw it.

They're dancing.

And your kids, it's like, that's fun.

You can't take your eyes off it.

We've all seen home runs.

Everybody's seen a home run.

But have you ever seen like a guy tumbling into a backflip into landing at a home plate in a home run?

Like, all right, I see you.

I want to watch.

I mean, gosh, there's so many.

I was, when I was in the dugout, honestly, during the game, I was talking to one of the coaches and just the players.

And I think I told Jerry after, I was like, gosh, I have, I have, I could sit down with you guys for days and just like be a kid in a candy score and ask a million questions because I'm just, I think it's so fascinating.

And also just as a dad, like my kids, like my, my five and four year old, every night, which my wife gets a little mad, it's like, dad, can we watch bananas tonight on Instagram or TikTok?

And I'm like, I sneak in like five minutes.

I'll sneak in like nine or 10 videos and they have their favorite players and all that.

I am, I found out a little bit about the week and I'm fascinated about the schedule.

Yeah.

The week of, because you said there's so many elements of this show, whether it's dancing, whether it's the fancy, you, I mean, you, I told Jeremy like, Jesse is like on the mic the whole game.

Like you are, you are the, you are the ring leader.

No, you are making it go and like moving on and moving on.

And, you know, being a part of a show, I know, I understand a little bit of how elements are throughout a show.

What is like, honestly, a day-to-day week look like for you, for the team, team, for the coaches?

I know you mentioned table reads.

I know you mentioned all of these types of things.

Love to hear what look like.

Yeah.

Yeah, it's dramatically different because we have an obsession on ideas.

Ideas drive this company.

So we actually took inspiration from Saturday Night Live.

I watched the documentary.

I had our team watch it.

Think about Saturday Night Live.

Every Saturday, it's a completely new show with a new host, new talent, everything getting creative with us.

And so how do we do that?

And so they would come up and pitch ideas on Monday.

Then they'd start writing them.

Then they'd have a table read.

Then they'd start the rehearsals.

Then then they'd do a rehearsal in front of an audience, and then they'd actually, Lauren would move things around, then they would adjust.

I was like, okay, we got to do three completely new shows every single week.

So what does it look like?

So we travel on Sunday, Monday, but Tuesday is our idea day.

Like we go nuts from 9 a.m.

until 5 p.m.

It is different ideas.

So we have our creative team gets together.

Each team gets together.

So the firefighters will have their OTT, the tailgates will have their OTT, the party animals, because we're all trying to bring five to 10 new ideas each way.

Then we get together with our leadership group of it.

We say, all right, we like this, we like this, we like this.

then we start writing down how do we make it better we get the videos we produce them and then at four o'clock on tuesday we have our table read in front of all of our team and it was like all right here's the script then we finish the scripts then we start writing more and then we start our rehearsals with our players every single week and they got to play a game like they're also going to play like actually you know as you know very athletic these guys are some first-round top players um but we want fans to never get bored of the show so you have to do brand new things every single week and it's an obsession if you look at the greatest producers the most successful people in the world, they're prolific at something.

Taylor Swift, for instance, prolific at songwriter.

She's written so many songs.

That's what she, that's her best thing.

Mr.

Beast, prolific with YouTube, unbelievable.

We want to be prolific with creating new ideas every single night and doing things people have never seen before on a baseball field.

To do that, you got to put a ton of energy, a ton of time into it.

I mean, we're doing rehearsals like crazy all week.

And then we do it again and do it again.

And a lot of things miss.

Some things don't hit.

But when you put out and produce 40 new things a weekend, weekend, you're going to have some gold.

And that's why, you know, we're growing a million plus followers every couple of weeks and we're at 30 million followers because fans are seeing new things and they want to see what's to come next as opposed to, well, I hope the guy has a good game.

No, what are they going to do next?

Right.

How much guys, real quick, how much, how much say do the players have?

Like, do you sign off on everything that the players do?

Because they're doing, you know, they're doing all their own thing or do they come up with their own like TikTok dances and this and that?

Or do you sign off on it?

Or do they come up with a reference?

And again, I don't, I used to be unbelievably involved in every single rehearsal.

Our team's been with us, our creative team, our director of entertainment, our vice president of marketing, our creative director have been with us now four or five years.

They've been with us since that one City World tour in 2021.

We know what the gold standard is.

The gold standard is it's amazing for the live crowd and also can win for the digital crowd.

So it has to play big for a crowd, but it also have you have failment height.

It's gold.

So they have a, they're running a lot of the rehearsals.

They're signing off on stuff.

I'm just editing.

You know, Walt Disney said he used to walk around.

Someone had a kid asked, Walt, what do you, what do you actually do with your days?

He goes, well, I kind of just go around the studio acting like a bee, collecting pollen and sharing it and helping.

Like, that's my role.

And so I can see things.

And I'll work with our broadcaster and say, ooh, what if we edit this?

What about this song here?

What are this?

Just little notes.

Our team is unbelievable and how much they've learned.

So that's what we do.

But yeah,

it's not signing off on it.

It's literally, we got to test.

And then we have the audience.

Does it hit live?

Does it hit digital?

We know every single weekend what works and what doesn't doesn't work.

And then we report back and we talk about it.

Well, also too, it seems like you're doing what I think, you know, in my terms, thinking just with acting and movies and film and TV, it's like the best versions are, like you're saying, where you have all these ideas and then they're put on paper and scripted, but

giving people the room then to act in the moment, which I think you have because A, the game outcomes, like they're really playing.

So you could only control so much and who's going to hit a home run here or there.

Even like with Leinert, Leinert comes in with the kids.

Like, who was it that was like, hey, you know, Matt, why don't you throw out the first and instead of the first pitch, let it be a football, which I thought was genius because as much as I want to see Matt throw a baseball,

I really enjoy watching him throw a football like we all have for

20 years now.

It's the series.

Our company, our 11th fans first principal is always plus the experience.

So everyone we look to plus, again, it's a Disney term.

He said, well, always plus the show.

Disneyland's a living, breathing thing.

It'll never be complete.

So when I, we're just looking at it.

It was out there playing with us.

I was like, all right, well, you know, we got some other surprises coming with us, but we don't have a first pitch.

And we said, all right, well, first of all, how do you plus that?

Make a first pitch actually count.

So that a few years ago.

So the first one.

I mean, and I threw a strike.

So that was the first thing.

But then we were like, okay,

we've had like Travis Hunter threw one a few weeks.

Other players, like we had a lot of people throw them and it's, it's okay.

And I was like, well, how do we plus it again?

And obviously what you were known for, especially in the area is football.

It's like, all right, who cares?

Throw a football.

Let's see what happens.

And so it's just, you got to see those things and just do it.

Most people are afraid of what people are thinking what they're going to say.

No, just do it and learn and then get to that next step bat.

And then we learn from that.

And Fenway in a couple of weeks, I'm doing another thing where we're going to even take the first pitch to another level because how do you plus that again?

And so like, those are the ways you see it and it's like, got to make it better because what you're doing, trying to do is the greatest creators.

create something that they would love and that they never get bored of.

And so what I think about is like, if I've already seen all this, I'm bored with it.

How do I create where I can be a fan and watch?

Like, when you threw that strike, I was like, yes, big moment, awesome.

And you get excited for it.

And so you want to plus it so you don't get bored.

I don't want to have another people just keep throwing footballs.

We got to figure out how to make it better and more exciting and more fun.

What, what is,

if you can take off your Jesse cap and the banana and the hat and kind of take a step back and look at

what, one, what you've built.

And I know you have a team and what this team has built, but this stadium tour and these sellout crowds and these nfl stadiums and clemson which was what a month ago and and

and jerry was looking at your schedule you took fenway i might be hitting you up to come to pittsburgh at the end you gotta man we'll have some fun jerry wants to know when you guys are going to when you guys are going to clevel well pittsburgh's an hour and a half away so i'll make the drive i love it i love it let's take a look

you know we always get asked this like it's just like do you pinch yourself and you kind of do you ever take a step back because i know you're grinding that day that's a that's a that's a lot of work that goes into that day seen at firsthand but do you take take a step back and just be like, holy shit, like this is, this is, and you're not stopping.

That's the great thing about you.

You just keep going.

But like, do you ever just take a step back and just smile?

Like you and your wife and be like, wow, look at, look at what we're doing.

Yeah, yeah, we do.

I think it's moments.

You all have moments.

And I think when you can take those moments, last year at Fenway, you know, I grew up south of Boston, was a bat boy for the Red Sox or honorary when I was five years old.

Awesome.

Had the dream to pick when I, my moment, and that was a, I don't want to say stressful, but that was a challenging night.

There was a lot of things we were trying to make right.

And it didn't didn't go as the way we wanted to.

But our yellow moment, and Matt, you probably remember like when we was about to say it's incredible.

Yeah.

So we, we, and again, that was not great the first few times either.

It was like, get the fans to sing yellow.

What that's just weird.

And I was like, no, cold play, yellow.

Yeah.

Look at the stars.

Look how they shine for you.

I was like, it's going to work.

Just we got to try it and try it and try it.

And so at Fenway, I'll never forget.

So I walked out to the field and said, all right, everyone, it's time to light up the sky.

And the lights turned off.

30, it was the largest crowd of the year at Fenway, 37.

It was full capacity standing room.

And I looked out there and the stadium that I'd come to over 150 plus times as a kid, everyone was singing yellow as loud as they could.

And I'm on the field.

They knew our staff knew.

By the way, I'm getting a little tear-eyed right now.

It's Jesse.

Yeah, I see.

They had a camera on me and they could see.

And I actually ended up putting it out.

It was like the this from Pursuit of Happiness, this, this right here, this is happiness.

And it was like that moment.

And I have those when you come out at Clemson and I saw 81,000.

It's like,

it has nothing to do with money, has nothing to do profits.

Like, I don't even know what's in our bank account.

It's the feeling of purpose that you've made an impact to bring people together for joy, for fun, for something good.

And so every night when I come out to the plaza and, you know, we do a march and there's, you know, 10, 20,000 people four hours before the game.

And I come around and get on that stage and see a whole street covered three hours before the game.

I'm like, look at what we get to do.

That's when I get fired up.

That's when I start like, you know, messing around with the guys.

I'm like, this is what we get to do.

do and it's those moments it's it's everybody could cherish those moments and i i look for those every night even though it's really hard what's the moment tonight that we can look around and say look at what we get to do you know what i i was i've been going through this for like the last two weeks where uh my kids finally watched the sand lot and were old enough to kind of understand the movie right and they're playing t-ball and coach pitching all that stuff and you know i've taken them to a baseball game and they've enjoyed it but they're kind of young and what's and i started thinking like we don't really see any more of those 90s, early 2000s kids' sport, like Sandlot, Mighty Ducks, Little Giants, all that stuff.

Why?

I don't quite know.

But then as I've continued to, since Matt even threw out the first pitch, watched the bananas, like that's the core memory that I'm looking for.

And I don't know if that was ever part of your plan of like, hey, how do we, you know, do something for the kids or if it just organically happened, but I could see myself bringing my kids to that game and unlocking that core memory that could make them love baseball the way I did as a kid when I just even got to see Yankee Stadium for the first time.

And that's something special.

And that's what I was thinking.

We're like, we don't see these movies anymore, but you know what?

This is

a better thing because it's a live moment that you're involved with.

They get to feel it.

And I think

again, I have three kids under seven years old.

And what are those moments?

And you try to create something you love, but also your kids love.

And it's like, what is it?

It's the connection with the players.

You know, we literally program the upper deck every night.

Our players go up there two to three times a game.

Our cast, our mananas, our dad bod cheerleading squad, which they've become fan favorites are.

I'm good for that, by the way.

I feel like I'm good.

They can rock it.

So like, how imagine I go to the upper deck every game too.

So like, you're just coming up there.

These people that's sitting at the upper deck and just kind of watching the show, all of a sudden you're right here with a player taking a picture, having fun.

Like those moments matter.

And we can't touch all 40,000, all 80,000 every night, but like I think about that.

And so, and that's why at two o'clock, when we open the gates, we actually have players meeting people.

At two o'clock, we open up the plaza.

You're greeted by players.

Like, that's crazy.

Yeah, no one's doing that.

Those that, that, if you're going to come at two o'clock and be there for the next eight hours, you're going to meet players.

All right.

You're going to create a red way.

And so, like, it's those moments that, and I signed to the last fan leaves, which is at 11 o'clock plus at night.

And it's like, you got to show it what matters most.

And to us, it's that connection with the kids, with the fans.

And we have people come up to you with crying every game.

I'm like, just do, give me a hug, just dance.

Let's, let's, let's, let's bring the joy, but it means something.

And I think that's why I know we're going to do this, you know, as long as we can and continue to spread it and have fun i think the the the accessibility that you're talking about was really it because being an athlete like you know playing in nfl and all that like i get it like it's hard and like you know we're you know kept from fans sometimes i you know signing the autographs trying to get all of those things but i i was i was blown away by even at batting practice the day before like my oldest son jerry cole was out there learning trick plays from their guys you know and like just the accessibility and the fact that you brought and i'm sure and you do this to a lot of people which i thought was great like just bringing everybody in and and getting and allowing us to experience that and i'll say this the the

i i i love i'm on tick tock and social and i love the five six seven clips the dance all that stuff it's great my kids love it but being there live was truly a unique experience i've been to a lot of baseball games i love baseball and and you got a fan in my wife because my wife loves baseball, but she just, she didn't really know what to expect.

And she left and she goes, wow, like that was, that was just, that was a, I don't know what her exact word was.

It was a show.

That was incredible.

That was an experience.

It was a core memory.

It was, it was, it was unbelievable.

All that being said, you just talked about this.

You just, you want to keep doing this.

What is

what, what does this banana league, championship league look like?

What is the next five, 10 years?

How do you continue to just continue to grow this thing?

Well, yeah, if I asked five years ago, I would not say we're doing this.

So I never like going too far ahead five because

we test test things and we try things.

And so, you know, again, and I think back to you as a player, I want to go back to that.

You were measured by your performance on the field.

Everything was performance on the field.

Our players are, I don't want to say measured, but what we look at every day is how are they creating fans' first moments?

So everything is about fans' first moments.

And that's on social, that's live, that's digital.

We are on a quest to create 1 billion fans, not to be a billion dollar company to create a billion fans.

So again, when you have a different intention, that's what we're doing.

And they just happen to play great banana ball.

The games happen to be very competitive.

That's a byproduct of doing what's best for fans.

But yeah, to look ahead, you know, I constantly think about, you know, what are the challenges?

Whenever you're innovating, you got to start at the friction points.

So the friction points in sports, too long, too slow, too boring.

The season's too long.

People lose interest.

All those things.

Are there stakes?

You know, so I'd look at when I create a league, how do we have stakes throughout the entire

season?

How do you create more moments?

How do you play at places people never imagined?

You actually put stakes on those games.

How do you create like the showdowns?

You know, I don't, you didn't have to see that, but that's pitcher versus hitter at the end of a game with one fielder.

That we don't go to more baseball.

We go to actually a literally one-on-one showdown action.

You know, could that be a whole showdown event that creates something?

How do you make the draft interesting where there's something happens after the draft instead of just getting drafted?

Could there be something else?

Like, I don't want to go too much because these are all part of what we reveal, but you look at everything that is not interesting for fans and how do you make it interesting and exciting and different.

And then how do you go where others won't go?

why can't we play in all 50 states why can't we bring banana ball to you know oregon and wyomy and north dakota and all over like it doesn't make sense on paper it

financially that makes zero sense right if the games could create fans why don't you bring your game to the fans and so you know eventually that'll be international but like i just love bringing our show to more people and people seeing it for the first time or returners which travel around the country right now like we have a group like i inspired by the grateful dead the deadheads we have a k club thousands deep that they bring signs and they travel around the country to travel.

Yeah.

It's wild.

Like I'm building this for them.

I'm building it for these new fans.

And so that's excites us.

So the league will start next year.

There'll be some big announcements, big surprises, two new teams, which is going to be fun.

They each create different brands.

I mean, the Tailgaters, the greatest pregame in sports in Texas, like

they're growing like crazy because it's all they do wine dances.

They come out in trucks.

You know, you create these different points of view.

And so you can tell I'm passionate about it because I'm not bored.

It's a great challenge to try to create this, which is fun.

And it's got to be awesome for, you know, guy who's chasing some baseball dreams.

Maybe, like you were saying, like even your story, it's like now you actually get to play baseball, but also be an entertainer, which I always believe the common point between entertainers and athletes, I always say this, is understanding the moment.

They both, whether it's in a pro sport, like Matt knowing, hey, it's fourth and one, this is the moment, this is what we need to having that thought.

Similar with an entertainer, oh there's a moment happening here that's maybe not on the script let's go with this and i think you're meshing both in a beautiful way jesse and i know you gotta get to your kids right now but well thank you

thank you i will share the funniest about understanding the moment this is something people don't even know we actually rehearse and practice um when someone gets hit which you don't get hit on purpose right we have actually dances and bits after you get hit and so like i can't imagine in the off season the prep season it's like all right like happy yo more going into this all right you you get hit.

Now dance, dance, now act.

Like it is crazy.

I watch these guys, but they were like, no, if we get hit, there's an opportunity to create a fan.

It's an opportunity.

They don't get down it.

They're okay.

They tap their head and then they fully go into something.

And it's just, I can't believe they're doing it.

But our players understand, create a moment no matter what.

Even if you just got drilled with a 92-mile an hour fastball on the back, if you're okay, create a moment.

And that's why I love and respect our team because they're always thinking about those fan moments.

The last thing I want to ask you, and I know you're a baseball player, are we ever going to see you take the mound in a banana game?

Can we see you do a real pitch or an inning?

Man, I've been asked that question a lot at Fenway because I always had the dream to pitch at Fenway.

And I've got asked that question a lot.

I got to, you know, I've thrown at Fenway.

My dad, I took him out in the field.

My son, we've thrown a lot.

And after surgery, you know, I could probably get it going.

My wife and I say

it's not about me.

It's about the others.

And so while people want that, I'd rather create those moments for others.

I know we've got a lot of fans pushing for me to try to do that, but I think I'm going to try to leave it for everyone else.

I'll try to create the platform for everyone else to have those moments.

Fair enough.

Fair enough.

Amazing, Jeff.

Well, I may be reaching out to you when you come to PNC, which is also an awesome ballpark, by the way.

One of the nicest, prettiest day with the bridge in the back.

It's an incredible.

Who would be your favorite?

If you could have any pirates,

who would you want that?

A former pirate pirates?

Because I haven't talked to anybody yet, so I don't know if they're there, but who would be your favorite to come out?

Former pirate?

Yeah.

Hmm.

I would need to think about that because

I like to go

comes to mind.

Yeah.

It's probably the first one you think of the last 20, 20 years.

I would say McCutcheon only because it's just, I feel like the different generations will know it.

Like the older dads, like I think that gives you a lot of generations.

It's a good call.

I mean, if Paul Skeens is in town, you can just make a good hit over there.

Hey, don't go pitch with the team.

Come with us.

Yeah.

We'll have some fun.

We'll do it.

Thank you so much.

Thank you, Jesus.

And I'm definitely going to come out and see you guys with my boys real soon.

Let's make it happen.

It'll be a lot of fun.

Appreciate you guys.

Thanks, bye.

All right.

All right, everyone.

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All right.

Who's been in control of their game?

It really got me thinking.

Well, you know, there's somebody on the Seattle Mariners who's been in massive control of his game.

He tied Ken Griffey Jr., Cal Raleigh, I'm talking about, for the most home runs in Mariners' history before the All-Star Big.

35.

That's crazy.

Currently on pace for 64 home runs, which should surpass my boy Aaron Judge's AL record of 62.

And he's going to be in the home run derby.

Matt, we're almost the same age.

You must have been a home run derby kid, right?

A home run derby, I would say as I've gotten older, not as not as I don't lose

as much, but that and the dunk contest when we grew up was like the two greatest

things that you could watch during a sports season, right?

Like the home run derby to me was awesome.

The dunk contest was awesome in the 80s and 90s.

Yeah, I, I mean, Griffey, you know, the swing back then.

Well, here's a question for you:

better, better Chris Berman, NFL primetime highlight package or

home run derby?

Back, back, backpack.

Backpack, back, pack.

Just I go Berman home run derby.

I think that's Peak Berman.

Yeah, I'd say primetime the highlights, man.

Yeah, that's just, he was an OG for that.

Well, let's make some, let's make like, all right, we're going to run some, we're going to run our all-time home run derby out there.

Maybe three guys, zero three versus my three.

We're going to draft it.

Yeah, draft it or even just three of our favorite performances, whatever you want to classify.

But I'm going to let you go first.

So I get first pick?

Go ahead, first pick.

I'll probably go

sammy sosa

that would have been my first pick too bro was it i went on a nice youtube deep dive sosa didn't win in uh

oh my god

well no what i mean is the the famous one that i saw was giambi won it but it was in milwaukee and sosa led off with like a 540 foot dude he was hitting the ball in places that it just never was supposed to he just hit absolute monster shots would say Sosa.

I'm not basing this on the number of wins because I don't even remember.

No, no, this is who you are running out of here.

Yeah, I'm putting Sosa out one.

All right.

You get two picks now.

We'll do a little snake.

Yeah, if you're going to do that, I got to steal Griffey from you because I know you're going to take it.

Him in 1993 hitting the warehouse and Camden Yards and Baltimore was one of the best.

And then if I'm going to be a dick, I'm going to go Mark McGuire.

I was going to say, I hope you go Mark McGuire.

So I like my first two, and I feel like I'm going to get one of my next two so let's see how you round it out for your next two finish out your team um

there's some good current guys too by the way i pete alonzo's out there oh i mean i gotta go barry bonds barry bonds prime rod with the head just absolutely hitting nukes

and then i'm gonna go for my final pick because i get two i'm gonna go i'm gonna go bryce harper Yeah, he's got a fun win in him.

Yeah.

Bryce Harper.

He won.

How many years ago he he won?

It was like one of the sicker walk-offs.

I remember watching that.

And he got all, I think he won it

in his home park.

And like, he threw the bat.

He started getting fired up.

So I go, what do I got?

I got Sosa, Barry Bonds, and Bryce Harper.

It's a good team.

So far, I got Maguire, Griffey.

I'm going to end it with Aaron Judge and go a little modern day because I feel like we have to put him on the squad.

It's like 370 right now, which is crazy.

Well, do you know, there's an account that I love.

I don't know what it's called.

I'll get it and I'll post about it, but it's on Instagram where they just post like, it's all about how awesome the lineups were in the 90s.

And they'll just post quick hits of the lineup with the stats right before they're at bat.

Like seeing like the old Cleveland Indians, everyone on that team was batting three.

Kenny Lofton, Albert Bell, Sandy Alomar, David Justice.

Tome.

Tome.

It's like what a team.

How did that team not win a World Series?

My God.

And then everyone's batting like 310 or higher.

Everyone's at 10.

You know what we got to go back to in in all-star baseball is, and maybe they have, maybe I'm just not paying attention, their own uniforms.

Everyone wears their own home.

Remember the old, old school just you wore your home uni?

Oh, so sick.

Because you loved seeing like, you know, Jeter flip it through.

Yeah, you get Omar or whoever is at, you know, whatever you're seeing.

Yeah, I agree.

Okay, so who's winning that derby?

My three or Jerry's three.

We'll find out.

And you get, you went Bonds, Bryce, and Sosa, Bonds, and Bryce.

See, the Sosa thing screws me because he's he's probably like the all-time.

Adam Bonds wasn't like a great home run derby guy.

You know how many homes are.

But it's still Barry Bonds.

Yeah, I was gonna, you know who I was gonna go?

Vlad Guerrero Jr.

Vlad Guerrero.

Sr.

Yes.

That was kind of my era.

He was good.

He was a big-time home run derby guy.

Jr.

And you know who else was good too?

Current day.

I don't think I would take him because he's never, well, John Collar Stanton had some, like in his Padres days, had a few performances.

I'm going to watch it.

I can tell you that right now.

I'm watching home run derby this time.

All right.

Thank you again to Nitza.

We're going to hit a quick mailbag here,

sorting through these.

The one that stuck out because we can both take this one.

And you might have talked about this a little bit, but I want to hear more.

Steven in Las Vegas wrote us,

this one's for both you guys.

What's the angriest you've ever seen a coach?

or director.

I didn't have a whole lot of coaches getting angry at me unless I was dropping a fly ball.

So I feel like I know your answer.

We discussed it, but I'm wondering if there's anything sneaky out there or if you want to dig a little further.

It's got to be Denny Green.

We are.

They are who they thought they were.

And we let them off the hook.

And where were you again, Phil?

Were you like.

I was right outside the media room, right outside.

And like Mark Dalton, who was our PR guy at the time, who's great, was like, next up, Matt Leiner.

And I walked in.

I'm like.

It was just like you could hear a pin drop in that room, right?

And we lost Monday Night Football to the Chicago Bears.

Quick backstory.

And

maybe I've said this before, we played them week three preseason game in Chicago.

Week three back then was the game that all the starters played.

You played about two and a half, three quarters, like real game.

Full dress rehearsal.

Yeah, you're full full dress.

Let's say full dress rehearsal.

Like I played Erlacher, Briggs, like all that.

And we beat them.

And I played really well.

We beat them like, I don't know, 27, whatever it was.

So we like knew going into that.

It was like week five or six, we were one and four.

We were just lost the week before on a field goal which was my first start so like we were okay we finished five and eleven but like we were competitive in a lot of games um and we knew going into that even though they were five and oh they ended up going to the super bowl that year because their defense was that good we're like we could beat these guys like we've played them we can beat them like we know we could beat them um it was our monday night football the stadium was rocking and we and honestly we had it and then we just we kept the foot off the gas devin hester returns that punt yeah um we missed a field goal to tie or to win at the end again.

And then we were just devastated.

So then after the game, you know, you do all your stuff and just Denny Green is going off, you know, and it's, and rest in peace to Denny, he was awesome, man.

He drafted me, but that shit was hysterical, dude.

I easily,

there's a lot of great rants out there.

It's got to be top one or two rants of all time.

Yeah, that might be a good question for social.

Give us your top three

rants, coaching rants slash meltdowns.

That's probably the most quotable one for sure.

I mean, they are who I think I say once a year.

If you want to crown them, crown them.

I feel like I said that to my wife last week.

She said, Bree said something like, you know what?

You never do that.

I'm like, you know what?

I am who you thought I was.

That's what I yelled at her.

It didn't really go over well.

Yeah, it's hard to beat the Danny Green meltdown as something I've seen.

I got to say,

in my acting career with directors, directors, I think.

There's been some horror stories publicly of big time directors and actors fighting and all that.

I can't say I saw like angry, yelling director behavior.

I've seen a director just devastated and crumble to his knees because we were shooting the entourage episode with Chuck Liddell, right?

Where we're punking Johnny Drama into thinking Chuck Liddell wants to kick his ass.

And we get to the part where, and this is like early, like early UFC days too, like Chuck Liddell is by far their biggest star.

So we have this like octagon built.

We're doing this whole thing.

It's like a charity event.

And there's this shot that our director, Dan Addias, who he's probably done 4,000 episodes of television.

This guy is like a television director hall of famer.

And

the shots are so many moving parts where like, all right, Dylan's going here, Chuckledell's going here.

And then the charity in the show is a kids' charity.

So we had a lot of like 15, 16 year old kids who have never acted before as extras, but they're, it's, it's a big important part of the shot.

And this one kid just, he just kept missing a mark.

He was looking right into the camera.

It's now like take 14.

We have to get the shot now.

Like the day's ending.

Can you just take the dude out?

At this point, we're committed to it because he's like established in the show.

And like,

so the shot's going.

And it's so funny when you do these big oneers.

You could, it's similar to like a play in football.

Everyone could do their job correctly.

And then one person misses an assignment.

The play is a disaster.

Like Dylan hits his spot.

Liddell does his thing.

Me and the guy, and then he lands on the kid.

And the kid, again, just shoots one right down the barrel, looks in the camera.

Dan Addias, who's like on the walkie watching is watching.

The kid looks down.

He just crumbles.

I saw him go to his knees and put his hands like this.

He might have been crying.

I don't know.

He just, he just collapsed because we could not get to that.

Did you ever get the shot?

We finally...

got it and if i you just said we look at it back it's chopped it's chopped up too heavily edited because there was just so many oh man it was a good shot but he just folded he just collapsed so i'm sure if he could have yelled that poor kid was probably just feeling the pressure i don't even think honestly i don't even think he knew i don't even think he kind of knew really what was at stake at all you know what like you talked about this like not remembering your lines whatever but like in in a because i've been around enough sets where it's like you just if one person fucks it up like that you have to start everything and then like to rotate It's just like it's a lot, dude.

Like, it's a lot of people.

It is where sports and

entertainment cross because

there's a famous story about someone not knowing their lines.

And it was not, it was a co-star, right?

It was only, it was someone who was doing one scene with a few lines.

And she, and her scene was with like James Cameron or something.

And she had a hard line.

It was like a, was the sick, it's like a lot of were, it was just in, I mean, take 20, 25 it's almost like a a play a pitcher who hasn't who's walked the bases loaded or a quarterback who's thrown four picks in the first half it's like everyone's looking at the person we're all rooting but in the same breath it's like

it's tough it's tough i haven't fortunately been on that end yet i've struggled here or there but i usually get it but it's a horrible place to be it's a horrible place to be it's a little island still not as bad as when you get the giggles and the laughs once that happens a set it's over.

Like call a rap.

So good stuff, Steven in Vegas.

Good question.

Man, you were right up on the podium before Denny Green.

That must have been.

Dude, it's wild.

I got to try to find your interview after that.

I don't even remember.

Yeah, it was like, you could hear Mark Dalton in the background.

All right, next up, Matt.

I just walked in and like, obviously, I was pissed.

You know, I was like, right.

We can't win.

But I didn't.

I didn't even hear, like, I didn't hear him.

If I remember correctly.

Like, I was outside, like, I could hear him, but I wasn't really like ear to the wall paying attention.

I was just like waiting there, standing there.

And so, like, I could hear him a little bit.

And then when I watched it, I was like, oh, shit, dude, he was.

Do you feel like that happens, though?

You brought up something, a good point, because I don't think you guys were a 5-11 team, right?

Whatever your record was.

That team was better than that, right?

But you said, like, you started off, what, one and four, and you lost close games.

Does that happen to a T and and then you lose that bears game so you're one and five not that you guys are like giving up we don't have enough but it's like man that's such a unfortunate start and we should be like four and two at least does that that must really be a mind for a team when you're like we know we're good and we're somehow one and five that's tough man one and five is not a place you want to be in the nfl i mean one one and three one and two you're like all right we got to start i've told you this like you you back then you had 16 weeks you break it down in quadrants right like if you go two and two every quadrant you're eight and eight Eight and eight is close to

sneak in.

Now, if you just, if you get a little extra win here, whatever, all of a sudden, you know, 10 and six is getting you in the playoffs almost every year.

Nine and seven won our division a couple times to get us in, you know?

So, like, you're just, you're that.

I mean, that's just the difference in football.

You're, it's so much parody that you're a player two away, you know, and like we were a punt return away from winning that game.

The week before we were a field goal away from winning that game, all of a sudden we're three and three.

It's a much different feeling three and three three than one and five.

One and five, you're like, then you're like four and nine, and you're, then all of a sudden you're just the last, and then you're just playing like to put film on and just get through the season at that point.

You know, like, it's, it's tough, man.

It's a tough place to be.

Yeah.

That's why you all, that's like the Bengals last year, man.

Remember, they started like one and three or one and four for like three or four.

It should have been a playoff team.

And then you just got

fighting claw just to get back.

And it's like, you got to start fast, man.

So,

you know what?

All this football talk, though, maybe this is the introduction to starting to get ready because I'm getting football is going to be here before you know it, dude.

I can't wait.

I can't wait to play fantasy football.

I want to do something with you.

I, you know, we've never really watched a football game together yet in our friendship.

We've watched basketball games and stuff like that.

At some point, I want to do like a go to a sports bar on a Sunday morning in LA and let's just

do fantasy, play some bets, let's watch some games because I want to, I want to pick your brain while watching.

Let's do it.

Okay.

It's time now for all-time adventures driven by Nissan, the 2025 Nissan Pathfinder Rock Creek, adventure ready and free from tariffs.

And I feel like that's a pretty big deal.

I don't want to overstate, I don't want to understate that.

Free from new tariffs, I should say.

So you put something out on TikTok that I thought, I'm like, wow, I match it to have literally have a whole Q ⁇ A for this.

And we won't do a whole Q ⁇ A, but you posed the question to parents you know basically are you letting them play tackle football you got some right awesome response tons of comments i just think it's a like i think a lot of parents have those conversations but to have that conversation with the parent who played football at the highest level whose son is also playing football i just thought that that's a conversation i want to hear a major i would say a majority of i mean between all the social media handles like i probably got a thousand comments and i would say a majority of them were all absolutely right.

Yes, without a doubt.

Now, there's variants that my whole thing on this, and this is just my opinion.

It doesn't mean it's right.

One, I didn't play tackle football till high school.

That's what I wanted to ask you for your adventure.

Like, do you remember when you started playing tackle?

Dude, I put modern day high school, which is an absolute powerhouse, and we were a powerhouse back then.

I didn't even know how to put the pads in my pants the first day of practice.

No, I remember

high school.

Freshman year of high school.

Never played.

I played flag.

I did play flag for the school.

I was a baseball player, whatever.

I didn't play football.

It wasn't a part of my childhood.

My brother didn't play.

Cole, my oldest son, didn't play tackle football until freshman year of high school.

Now it's a lot more competitive and stuff and all these sports that we're seeing in baseball club and you're seeing all this.

Like it is like, it's, it's definitely a different time.

My, my, my biggest thing is this.

Like,

I'm all for tackle football regardless.

I think it's the greatest sport in the world.

I think it's the greatest team sport in the world.

I think what it teaches you is, is there's so many great things football teaches you that you can take.

They just, it just is.

I've lived it.

I continue to live it.

It's amazing.

The young age stuff, like people playing at five or six years old, like I can't imagine like Kaysen right now playing at five.

Like it's not necessary.

And the biggest thing, and I had a lot of these comments in the conversation was really, to me, it's just like, it's it's really hard to teach five six seven year old maybe even eight year olds like proper techniques tackling techniques it's just it's almost like it's just it's just like like what why like they don't need to like play flag football it's an agility it's it's fast it's great for skills all that and then when they're old enough to at least comprehend and understand like in the moment in a game hey I can use this type of like tackling um I think that's an issue and I still I just I know a lot of shitty ass coaches dude I know a lot of coaches who don't care you know and like there's a lot of great.

It's like, I don't trust my boys going with some random team in LA to play tackle and they're doing the Oklahoma drill at like six years old.

I'm like, you know, and I'm not saying I just, it's just like, to me, it's about coaching.

And like, if you have a great coaches that can teach the game properly.

Flag is so fun.

I'm excited for them.

Like this guy.

Our kids are not going to be very big.

I don't know how much that factors into it from parents' perspective.

But my nephew back in New York, who never really cared or played any sports he's been on this pod months ago right freshman year of high school he's like i want to start playing tackle football i'm like what dude i'm like dude you first of all you don't know anything about football and he was really small and just i'm like gosh this is a horrible idea to just hey i want to start i've never even really caught a football and that's where i want to start however Unfortunately, knock on wood hasn't been hurt.

But what it's led to was he got really invested in his health and his athleticism and his body.

Like he's in unbelievable shape.

This was like a kid who played a lot of Fortnite.

Yeah.

Like a lot, a lot of Fortnite.

Summers playing Fortnite where he didn't, it's probably the main thing he did.

And now like he's going to come visit us soon.

He's like, I have to be there before August 15th because I got football camp and it's his senior year.

So like, I love it.

And I just love the commitment.

He's made great friends.

It's again, he's in unbelievable shape.

And it's just something I never thought he did.

And he didn't start until freshman.

Now, he's probably not going to go on.

If he's listening, I would love you to go on, but I don't know if he's going on to play college football, but I just think he's gained a lot from it that he'll take with him.

Like you said, my, my three, like some of my best friends are from high school football still to this day, right?

And I think like to your point, like the commitment, right?

You commit to something, the, the,

the discipline that it teaches you that you have to have, the work ethic that it teaches you.

It's hard, right?

But you're, you're rallying with your guys.

You're like, like, there's something about it, like a team sport, the camaraderie and like selflessness too.

Yeah, something exactly.

So

someone else.

All of that's, it's much different than I just had this conversation.

It's much different than individual sport athletes, right?

Like I've come across not all of them, but they're, they're very different.

It's all about them.

Like golf, it's all about you.

You know, tennis, it's all about you.

And like you hear some of these stories, you're like, some of those people are a little bit different personalities.

Even Anna Lee with pickleball, like she was kind of like, yeah, doubles is great, but I want to.

Yeah.

And like, you know, they're all like, not all, not all, you know, uh individual athletes are like a certain way clearly but there's a lot that are just like it's all about me and i don't care about anybody else you know like you can't have that in a team sport and if you do you will get chewed up out of that team sport very quickly so yeah you're you're yeah it's it's uh people it really is an interesting topic um you know but yeah i mean i'm all for it man i just keep throwing out that stuff on tick tock though i think middle school i always ask questions my my thing is like kind of middle school i say like for me i think 12 sixth grade is probably the earliest i would do because they're old enough.

Um, sixth, seventh, eighth grade.

Like, I would have probably went back and played in eighth grade if I could have.

Like, I just didn't, but like, I think that's where you get to sixth grade.

It's like, all right, like, if you want to, you're starting to grow, you're getting bigger, you're going through puberty, all these things.

Um, and you're, and you're smart enough to understand now, at least what coaches are trying to teach you.

And then you just got to have good coaching, man.

You got to have coaches that can teach it the right way.

Well, that's a hard part.

Last thing for you before we wrap up, uh, off of that, and I know you said you were very psycho in coaching flag football, but if your boys do want to play tackle at a certain point, do you ever see yourself coaching?

Oh, even your kids.

But like tackle, not even fly, like tackle your kid.

Would you A, coach your kids on the team environment, whether it's high school or B, like, are you just not into, like, you more flag football or do you want to?

It's such a great question.

It's really a tough question.

Because with Cole, I coached his flag football for years and I was like,

oh, it kept me up at night.

It was an OC.

when my boys are old enough like who knows what I'll be doing in my career and all that kind of stuff like I I the highest level that I feel like I could coach and coach well and have fun is high school like if my boys in 10 years 11 years are at high school and they want to play football and I and I can hop in there and help assist and all that you would that would be that would be a lot of fun for me to do like I could I could totally see myself do that volunteer and just do it um I will coach all their I mean I'm coaching I'll coach football and baseball pretty much every year when they, you know, they're playing now.

Like I coached Case, obviously, in football this past spring at five and six years old.

But the first, you know, as you know, like the first couple age, like four, five, six is kind of hard.

It's just hard with sports, right?

It's just like a lot of kids running around.

Yeah.

Chasing birds.

Chasing birds, man.

Picking flowers and chasing birds.

But

keep throwing out those TikTok questions like that because I think you stir the potatoes.

If you got one, let me know.

I got a few for you.

I think it's good to have, and then we could bring some of these questions deeper on the pod.

that's it for us.

Shout outs to Jesse Cole again.

Awesome episode.

Uh, hopefully, I'll be seeing him in Pittsburgh.

And uh, Matt, it's good to be back, bro.

I enjoyed the vacation time, but we're back now.

We're back, baby.

All right, see you next time.