Number 1 Pickleballer Anna Leigh Waters Joins & Mavs Win the Cooper Flagg Sweepstakes

1h 26m
The Mavs appear to have captured the Flagg!  Matt and Jerry share their thoughts on this year’s wild NBA Draft lottery results and explain why Dallas should hang on to that #1 pick for dear life even if it means turning away offers for Giannis Antetokounmpo.

Then, if you haven’t heard of Anna Leigh Waters yet, you certainly will soon!  The number 1 pickleball player in America and the country’s next young superstar athlete joins to talk about her amazing rise in the sport, the fallout from beating her mom in a match at age 12 and so much more!

Finally, Jerry explains to us how shouting “hit” and “miss” on the set of Battleship eventually landed him a role in Lone Survivor, and we answer the question of how old your child needs to be before you can tell people that they’re good at a sport.

New episodes of Throwbacks drop every Thursday. Make sure you’re subscribed on YouTube and following on all podcast platforms. Also, make sure you’re locked in on social @ThrowbacksShow on all platforms for highlight moments, bonus content, and to engage with the guys & the Throwbacks community. (http://throwbacksshow.com/)

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Transcript

What do you do when your six-year-old loves basketball and it's just not there?

I just want to tell him, like, do you know how many thousands of hours I put in to be a mediocre rec league player?

Thousands of hours just to be like a guy that doesn't get picked last.

That took thousands of hours to roll up to the schoolyard and be like, all right, we'll take Jerry with the third pick.

That was thousands of hours.

Welcome to another episode of Throwbacks.

I'm having the caffeine issue.

I hope you're welcome.

You know, you try to calibrate the caffeine right and like you want it to peak when you need it.

I'm like over the line now.

I've had too much.

The problem with you is you're like an extremist.

When you peak, you're fucking rocking.

But when you go on, you're down,

you're like,

I don't really want to be around Jerry right now for the next fucking 30 minutes.

That's so funny how well you're doing.

Welcome to the podcast.

Thank you, everybody, for listening.

We haven't been on for a while.

I know.

Leave a comment on the YouTube page.

Follow us on all social media platforms at Throwback Show.

We got a good one.

Don't forget to subscribe to on Apple and Spotify and leave a review.

That really helps.

We got a good one for you today, but we do have a lot to talk about i feel like we got a lot general

took the week off last week we needed a you know i've gotten used to seeing you is the problem matt like we did la live shows then we were in green bay together so now

two weeks and then new york so you know i've missed you even with the week off so now we're back though i feel like we're back buddy had a busy weekend we had a we celebrated uh Mother's Day, which was nice.

Happy, belated Mother's Day.

I did message her and told her happy Mother's Day.

Yes, all the moms out there.

But, you know, you share Mother's Day.

This doesn't happen all the time, but you turned, you turned an age to happy birthday, buddy.

42, man.

So what do you got to do when it falls on Mother's Day?

Do you got to celebrate yours like a different day?

Because Mother's Day is sacred.

The funniest thing is my brother, because my mom passed away in 2017.

And

my brother's like, he texts me.

He goes, he goes, dude, it's kind of bullshit that your birthday and Mother's Day are today.

He's like, that's fucking bullshit from all the mothers he's like why do you have he was like isn't that kind of that's he might you've gotten to know my brother through text a little bit i know his sense of humor now he is unfiltered and he's like can't they just give you the day by yourself he was he was like so mad for me i'm like dude it's okay you know i it's very it's one of those things where we celebrated my birthday with friends and you know locally on the Saturday before so mother's day my birthday was Sunday I made it very very clear this is like like husband 101.

My birthday means absolute shit on the day of Mother's Day.

You're the back page.

I am not.

Yeah, I am.

I'm not even the back page.

I'm not even in the book.

I told her, I said, she kept saying, like, oh, but this, I'm like, babe, Sunday, like, we're not celebrating my birthday.

Now, she got me a cake and all these things, but it was more, it was just Mother's Day, Sunday, my birthday, Saturday.

We had a great day, dude.

Just nice.

The backyard is done.

So we were in the pool.

We had a couple,

had a couple of friends over, some of the moms.

They We were just literally sitting by the pool.

All the kids were swimming.

Super, super relaxed, man.

It was, it was nice.

But yeah, it was a little, it was a little weird.

Like, typically, it's always on the same weekend.

It's just, I think it's the last, I think it was seven years.

I think it's been seven years or something since it's.

That's me.

I got the Thanksgiving birthday.

Like every couple of years, my birthday falls on Thanksgiving, but it's kind of like the opposite.

I feel like it's my own Christmas.

Like I get all the great food on a holiday, and then I'm the only one who gets presents.

So although nowadays it's like my birthday, it's like we're taking the kids to Disney World.

Oh, so that's what I'm doing for my birthday.

We're in this stretch where my wife's birthday.

By the way, and how about this?

My wife and my mom share the same birthday.

Oh, I didn't know that.

That's because I know things are like destined, right?

Yeah, it's cool.

But I'm in this stretch of like Valentine's Day,

my wife's birthday,

Mother's Day, our anniversaries later.

You just got to get out alive bro yeah and we actually have we have a great guest too today which we'll talk about in a minute which there's a great mother-daughter story about our guests coming up we'll tell you all about who we have coming up what'd you guys do for mother's day what would you

know

well the days of like look obviously flowers stuff like that but like it's the gifts and all that we're not about that it never really were but now it's more experiences so i thought i came up with something fun you know like yes day like there was a movie yesterday where you give your kids a yes day, right?

I'm like, I'm going to give Brie a yes day for Mother's Day, right?

I think it's a great idea.

A yes day.

Like whatever you say, we're doing today.

I, but I have to tell her.

So I kind of like the night before I tipped it off.

I'm like, here's what I'm thinking yesterday.

And she's like, that's so sweet.

That's really great.

We're not doing that because I would much rather just, I want to.

not make a decision day.

I'm like, well, what does that mean?

She's like, I want to wake up.

I don't want to think about what I'm I'm eating for breakfast.

You tell me.

I don't want to think about where we're going.

Just set it up.

So you handled the whole day.

Yeah.

So I, yeah, up at 6 a.m., beautiful breakfast.

We went by church.

I know she likes to dress up, go to church.

I got the boys all dressed up.

I picked the outfits, had a nice barbecue for the mom.

So yes, she took my yes day and she said you could burn that in the backyard.

And I want to know this.

I mean, it pretty much was a yes day.

I mean, it's basically yes to whatever you planned for me.

So, right, right.

So, man, that's fellas.

Yeah, you just got to get out in front of it, especially if you have like the birthday with the anniversary and the mother.

Just don't wait.

You can't wait till the last day.

I got the anniversary coming up.

We're going to be in Mexico for that.

She actually hit me up today.

She's like, hey, our anniversary is coming up.

Our anniversary always, because it's Memorial Day weekend.

So it always kind of is on the back burner just because we're always, it's a holiday.

It's a hot, long weekend.

The kids are off of school.

Yeah, it's totally fine.

But But I was like, yeah, we're flying home on our anniversary this year.

How romantic is that?

So I got to come up with something.

But it's tough with the baby now, man.

So we're just, you know.

We have a really, really

good guest for you today.

And I mentioned mother-daughter story.

Do you want to kind of say this was this was a little bit of a map liner brain child here?

And I love that.

Great interview coming up.

Yeah, we have a great interview coming up.

So we have

the

world's number one

women's pickleball player in the young 18-year-old Anna Lee Waters.

Okay, so Anna Lee Waters, call her AL.

I got to know her.

I basically invested in the New Jersey Fives, which is a team under the MLP, which is Major League Pickleball.

It's a team that Gary Vee is pretty much the night.

Gary Vee, shout out to Gary Vee.

Courtside at the next game.

Yeah, Ryan Hartwood, the GM.

Great dudes.

They brought me in a couple years ago.

And so I'm a minority owner, but just, you know, do stuff.

But you own a team, bro.

You're a team owner.

I mean, it's incredible.

I mean, I guess.

I would say that to everybody.

Pretty awesome.

I love pickleball.

I'm excited to see where it goes, but we have just the luxury to have the greatest player in the world.

And Annalee, she's an absolute savage.

She is basically...

the Serena Williams of pickleball.

She's the Tiger Woods.

She's that good.

She turned pro at 12, which is

unbelievable and started beating professionals at 12, 13, 14 years old.

She's a sweetheart.

The interview is awesome, but I think, you know, I think the cool thing is she kind of takes us into pickleball, where it is now, where it's going, the competitive fire that she has.

And it's just, it's just awesome, man.

Like, I'm excited to shed light on the sport.

If you don't know who she is, you'll know.

You'll know, follow her on Instagram, all those things.

She's an absolute freaking savage, dude.

I'm sure she got her mom slash

coach a great Mother's Day present.

As you said, I mean, you mentioned her mom is a goat of pickleball too.

Her mom's a professional pickleball and they just go around all these tournaments on the PPA side, which is, which is, Annalie explains this whole thing in the interview, but

they play together as a mother, as a mother-daughter duo, and they just beat everybody's ass.

Like they're just fucking, she's, yeah, she, the, mom's great.

She's the coach at New Jersey Fives.

She's also a beast pickleball player, too.

But here's where I knew pickleball was going mainstream.

You and I talk pickup basketball a lot.

I was still playing pickup basketball like two years ago.

Me and a buddy and like two of us, we'd go play like a little two-on-two at the rec center.

So, you know, when sometimes they put the big

separator between courts.

So we're playing basketball on one side.

On the other side is,

but it's like, it's almost like a 50 and up league.

Matt, people just start pouring in.

Yeah.

There's two pickleball courts on that side first it's like the first like eight people get there to mess around I turn and look they're starting to now look at us some of these older people are like looking around the curtain seeing when we're going to be done and I look at my buddies I'm like they want us off this fucking court they want this court to expand their game because you had 30 people waiting Yeah, it's pickleball courts are taking their there's a pickleball court that's in the Bay Club I took you to on the other channel it's a pickleball court with it gets worse

It gets worse.

They send their leader over to us.

By the way, she's probably like 65 years old.

Not even going to lie.

Beautiful, beautiful woman.

Back in the day, now, whatever you want to say, you could tell she, and she knows it too.

She knows it.

She knows she was hot, is hot.

65, comes over, like dressed in all the sporty shit and like leans over.

Hi, guys.

You know, we were just wondering, we got like 30 people waiting.

You guys are going to be much longer?

And she smelled good.

I'm like, bro,

look what they're doing to get us off the court.

I'm like, ma'am.

At first, I wanted to be like, hell no, we ain't leaving.

I'm like, we'll be out of here in 10 minutes.

And that rec center is strictly pickleball now.

Taking over.

It's over.

It is.

It is.

It's taking over everywhere.

It's the fastest growing sport in the world, I believe.

There's tons of money.

The TV networks are dumping a lot of money.

Brands are starting to dump a lot of money in it.

You're seeing a lot of celebrities, athletes who are playing it.

I mean, Anna Lee just played with Andre Agassiz.

Yeah,

two or three weeks ago.

You're seeing all these pop-up places.

There's one over by us, kind of like top golf, but now pickleball is.

So you're seeing all of those kind of pop up around the country.

A lot of, I mean, gosh,

I was at a tournament last year in Atlanta and B.

John Robinson was there.

He's a part of a team.

I think the Atlanta team, Trey Young was there, who's a part of one of the teams for Atlanta.

So like you're seeing a lot of these athletes and celebrities just kind of like they love playing.

It's a competitive game that everybody can play.

Tennis is really hard.

Like, tennis to me is really hard.

Pickleball, you can be 15, you could be 65

and compete with each other on the court and win.

Like, that's the cool part about it.

Um, and it's it's all the craze, dude.

And I, and gosh, selfishly, I hope it sticks.

But Annalie's the GOAT, man.

And she's, I mean, 18, but how mature is she?

Like, she's.

Oh, yeah.

I do not have my opinion.

I want everybody who listens to this and listens to her, follow her, go follow some pickleball, but, but go look at some of her videos online.

I'm telling you,

she's fiery.

I've seen it.

I've been in the box with our team watching her.

And the thing about pickleball that I love, it's so intimate.

The places now are starting to get packed, but like when I go,

I'm in the player's box.

I'm like, I'm high five and I'm saying, let's fucking go.

I'm getting all them hyped up.

Anna Lee is a dog, dude.

She's talking shit.

I'm like, god damn, dude.

Like, 18 year olds, she, and she, and she's better than everybody.

Like, she don't care and she knows it.

And then off the court, she's like, oh, hey, Matt, thanks for coming.

Like, I'm like, Jesus, dude, she scares me, bro.

So, at what point do you and I, I mean, I've pretty much, I got, you know, I'm three years older than you, three and a half almost.

Dude, I'm playing pickleball this weekend.

As I'm saying, I'm pretty much hanging up the basketball pickup stuff.

When do I segue over to pickleball?

And by the way, you should start to consider hanging up the pickleball, the pickup basketball stuff.

I know, dude.

I'm in rough shape, buddy.

Two pulled calves in the last three weeks.

Just get on the pickleball.

Sore Achilles.

My wife finally said, she literally goes,

what are you doing?

Like,

don't you think it's time?

She literally coached what do we do in that face?

She goes, like,

babe, don't you think it's time maybe we stop?

That's what she said.

And I'm like, I'm like, yeah, this is my last season.

It's my only season I played since COVID.

I'm fucking, by the way, I'm hitting three.

You see, I'm playing pretty good.

You're locked.

We're 2-0.

I'm feeling pretty.

We're 2-0.

We still got like six.

I think I'm going to take a two-week hiatus.

I got to get healthy, dude.

But yeah,

pickleballs is, by the way, you can't do it.

I'm going to start.

I'm going to start.

I'm going to go find that hot older lady and just say, will you coach me?

I'm going to see if she'll coach me out.

Is Brie got, is Brie?

I mean, I hope she doesn't listen to this.

Is she having a, is she athletic?

I don't know this.

Brie is very athletic.

Brie was a competitive gymnast her whole younger people.

Okay, but so was Josie.

So is she competitive with paddles and hand-eye?

Or athletic?

Listen.

It's different.

I did not ever really play tennis growing.

There's not a lot of tennis courts, shockingly enough, in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn in the 90s.

Not a lot of tennis courts.

I've only played tennis in my life, maybe 10 times.

I've played twice with Brie.

Let's just say when...

I don't think we're going to breed any little Andre Agassiz running around.

We are going to see the boys.

She's not a hand-eye paddle person.

Yeah, the only reason I was asking is because the only time I played with my wife,

she was so bad.

And we got in a fight because I was like, dude, I can't do this.

Like, I literally was like, can you hit the ball over the net?

Can you just hit?

And we got in a big fight.

This was years ago.

And we drive home and she was like, I don't like the way you were talking to me.

I said, I said, I was like, dude, how hard is it to hit the ball over the net?

That's literally what I said.

So

I'm asking, like, it's hard to play.

I wish I could play with her.

We can't.

It's okay, though.

I don't think we can either over here.

So, all right, interviews come up in a second.

Now it is time for Flavor of the Week, presented by Wendy's.

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Every week, we're kind of going to give you a flavor of the week.

This one, for me,

I mean, what are we doing here, dude?

What are we doing?

Look, it's Cooper Flag for sure is the flavor of the week because obviously the Mavericks with the 1.8% chance of winning the lottery, win the lottery.

All conspiracy theories.

That's not a conspiracy theory.

It's kind of a theory, bro.

We can maybe just remove conspiracy and just say

Nico Harrison, right?

Is that his name?

Just went from literally...

couldn't walk down the street of Dallas to now the best GM.

Don't you think they missed an opportunity, though?

Shouldn't they have put him balls out on the podium?

You know, like they put like Rolando Blackman, who's the good luck charm now, got the imagine if Nico was the one sitting there.

Just like.

I just want to know when he found out that they were going to be the number one draft pick.

I'm sure they're like technically.

They showed like a restaurant reaction from the Mavericks organization.

You cannot sit here and tell me.

When you look at, dude, the Mavs one, the Spurs two, the Sixers three, who had the highest percentage?

Utah?

Probably.

It was Utah.

Well, the top three flattened out.

Well, they take the top three and they flatten the odds 14-something percent.

It was Utah, Washington, and

Charlotte had the top three, the three best odds to get it.

There is, dude.

Dude, the Mavericks were in the play-in.

So they were in the play-in

won the lottery.

The Mavericks are going to be fucking nice, dude.

So here's what, here's, all right, so Cooper flagged for sure.

And by the way, I'm sure he would have been fine no matter what.

And,

you know, Utah, maybe they could be good one day.

Washington, maybe they could be good one day.

But he's going to a great organization now that is just dying to have something back from what happened with Luca.

But of course, if you watch all the talking heads the last few days, like I did, they're already trading the kid.

He's not getting it.

The story is now.

Janice is politely asking out

Cooper flag for you.

I just don't get it.

Why are we already trading the guy who we haven't even even

yet, who's 19, 18?

Kyrie, Cooper, Clay, AD.

Cooper's a good player.

Like, again, he's also a rookie, right?

So he's like...

He's 19.

But he's 16.

He can play two.

And he's a great defender, by the way.

Great defender.

Good defender.

He can guard one through four, probably, you know, at 6'9.

He's tough.

He's surrounded by three Hall of Famers.

I just don't know how for a fan base, even though you'd be trading for Giannis.

I get it.

There's no way, dude.

Well, also, Giannis is coming to LA, bro.

We already know what's going to happen.

If Kyrie wasn't hurt, though, let's say Kyrie's injury was minor, where he misses the playoffs like he did in the season, but he's going to rehab.

He'll be back by September full strength.

Then you could maybe have the conversation.

I love Giannis.

He's incredible.

He'll go down as one of the best to ever do it.

He is 30, going on 31.

Cooper flag is 19, just starting out.

Dude, and then

that was crazy.

Yeah, the Spurs at two with Wemonyama, DeAaron Fox, Stephen Castle.

They're going to probably take Dylan Harper, Ace Bailey, one of those kids.

I mean, I was, I was, I mean, this is a really good draft, everyone's saying, like, this is a deep draft.

Like, you have Cooper Flag, but there's a lot of really good players, like a lot of quality players in the top 10.

The Sixers dodge the biggest bullet of all time because if their pick slipped out of the top six, they lose it.

So the Sixers

absolutely dodge the biggest bullet.

they're gonna get ace bailey or dylan harper i mean that those are gonna be your top three for sure by the way there's a lot of a lot of things uh online that are saying the nfl should be the lottery and i said my i started that i said that wait is that getting picked is people saying the nfl who's saying it on on tv this week talking head tv yep what tanking is a disgrace wing grains nfl should add this every sport should add this the lottery is a brilliant idea who said that

uh get up espn oh well get get up espn also talked for four hours today about how they should trade cooper flag for yannis so i don't know if that's like as i'm just saying honoring but i was i was in on

you were on that you were on that on throwbacks yeah i mean look i just i don't know dallas mavericks get the number one pick are you kidding me but hey i do think the nba could maybe tweak the odds so the bottom three maybe make it more than 14 or whatever yeah 14 for the top three maybe jack that up because really, it's gonna, it's an awesome story, and the conspiracy is real, it's no longer a conspiracy.

I'm happy for Mavericks fans who's been through so much, but man, does like Washington or Charlotte, Utah.

Man, do they actually need

to be

like the 10th pick now, or something like that?

Dude, no state, no state tax, seventh.

You're going to a real

tax.

You're going to a good team with great players to learn.

I mean, dude, that guy, that kid just won.

He won the lottery.

He literally won the lottery.

This is how I know I've gotten to be a certain age.

I'm talking to my nephew, who we've had on the show about it.

And I'm like, dude, also, it's huge.

Like, no state tax.

My nephew's like, why would someone care about that?

I'm like,

you'll figure it out one day when you're getting.

Free agency, people go to states teams.

Millions of dollars.

Oh, yeah.

So wild.

Shout outs, Cooper Flag, Flavor of the Week.

Sorry that you're already being put in trick.

The guy's career hasn't even started.

Oh, this just saved every trade rumor i didn't even save nico's job because i think this whole new ownership group i i really don't think they give two shits about what's going on for their team but

that sort of just like put a bandaid in the sting of losing luca obviously you know you get the number one pick and cooper flag you get another hey you get another white kid out there i mean it's it's a baller also too uh second place for flavor of the week and we're going to get to the annalee interview michael jordan special comment contributor First of all, NBA and NBC doing their thing, they're revitalizing the 90s a little bit.

I got, I'm, I have prediction.

What would you want the special contribution to?

So I, I thought this was a, on, on X, Karam Butler said something I thought was really cool.

He goes, and I, I like, you know, we had, like, he goes, I don't want to hear any more of this, you know, because you know the TNT show and we love Trot.

We love those guys, but they also, they get a lot of like criticism too, because like how they talk about the game at times.

Like Kobe, rest in peace, would have been amazing because he was so tactical.

He was so like, he broke it down, right?

And he was, and, and he was the closest thing to MJ.

I, I would love to hear,

no one ever hears MJ talk about basketball.

Like, we haven't heard, if he could break down

like that type of stuff, like the ins and outs of the game and these players and all that.

I don't even care in what capacity.

I don't care if he's fucked like he's on a one-on-one.

I don't care what he is, but I would love to hear him break down like the tactical part of the game.

Yeah, that's my question for you.

It's almost like you have to think, we have no idea what the special contributions will be.

It could be something we're all not thinking about so small that we're like, oh, okay, that was just a headline.

But if it's going to be something real, would you want it pre-game?

halftime or post-game?

If you're going to get MJ for one special contribution a game in the finals or whatever it is, do you want it before the game, halftime?

You can only pick one, halftime or post-game?

Definitely not halftime.

Definitely not halftime.

That's out.

Yeah.

I would say post-game.

I would like to see him react to what we just saw.

See, I go pre-game because I want to know, like, what should these guys be doing thinking?

So Tom Brady, I mean, Tom Brady took a lot of flack, right?

But

there were moments, and I think Tom will be, Tom will get very good at what he's doing in college games.

It just will happen because of who he is.

But there were moments when he was listening to, and this is just me nerding out as a quarterback because I know what it's like, where when he's talking, I'm just like, dude, that nugget he just said was like, wow.

People are like, holy shit, I didn't know that happens.

Right.

And it can be just something like a defense or this or that.

Or when you go to a line of scrimmage,

what is the thought process?

Those are the things that I would love to hear MJ talk.

Now, basketball is a different game.

It's faster.

It's all these things.

But

I would love to hear MJ analyze the players.

Like, what does he think of Anthony Edwards?

You know, what does he think?

No, no great goat debates.

I want to hear him break.

MJ doesn't engage in that.

He doesn't need to do that.

Yeah.

I don't know.

I think it's going to be great.

But special contributor, I don't know, man.

We'll see what happens.

If it's just like him waving and all that, and like, you know.

No, it's got to be more than that yeah like what like what's he doing all right is he getting on podcasts and shit like i don't know shout outs to wendy's flavor of the week flying around let's get to the anna lee waters interview

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All right, Annalie, thank you for joining us.

This is a big one for me because I am

kind of new to pickleball.

I've been following.

I watch.

In terms of play, I realize like my pickup basketball career is over and I am naturally segueing into pickleball.

Not because I think it's easier.

I think it's actually way harder, but I need a different challenge.

First thing is like, what would you tell a 45-year-old who's played like a handful of times?

What would be the first thing you would say?

This is what you need to work on right out of the gate.

I'm trying to steal some info from you right off the rip.

Well, first of all, thank you for having me on.

I'm excited to be here.

Of course.

But I would say there's probably a lot of things you need to work on if you've only played a handful of time.

I can only do one thing at a time.

One thing at a time.

Well, one thing I would say say is i would kind of figure out maybe a couple things that you're good at um

and then like let's just say you're you think you're better at hitting a forehand than a backhand yes instead of being like all right i'm gonna make my backhand i'm gonna try to make my backhand better because it's worse than my forehand i would say like try to make your forehand a little better um so like try to make in the beginning try to make your strengths better before you start to make your weaknesses better i i only brought that up off the top because uh you recently played with my favorite tennis player of all time.

Now, I know it's a lot easier for a former

Hall of Fame athlete to get into a new sport, but I had hope when I saw Auguste.

I'm like,

I'm a little younger.

I might be able to start playing this work.

What was that like?

Because he's my favorite tennis player of all time.

And you guys seem like you had real chemistry.

Yeah, we did on and off the court.

We had great chemistry.

I would just say I was kind of like in awe and enjoying every second of every point.

I was like, whether we won or lost the point, I was having a good time out there.

I really liked playing with Andre because not only was he like super intense, but he also like will crack a joke every now and then like on the court.

So I really enjoyed that aspect of it.

But I mean, he's a great guy.

And personally, I'm very impressed with how well he can play for not only his age, but like he hasn't been playing pickleball that long.

And I think he's got some game.

So it was fun.

I thought that was great.

It's just great for the sport.

I think the promote because pickleball is still in its infancy stage.

It's still kind of brand new.

A lot of people are still trying to figure out, including Jerry.

But I think for like the exposure of the sport, the promotion of the sport, we've seen and you've seen more than us, like just firsthand, the

other athletes, the celebrities, everybody just taking a liking to this sport.

Why, what is like, what is so attractive?

to those types of people in your opinion and why they just they're picking this sport up right now.

I like to say pickleball is easy to learn, but hard to master.

I feel like a a lot of people um whether they came from an athletic background or just want to go out and do something for fun they can all learn it and pick it up pretty quickly uh i'm not saying they're going to be the best pickleball player ever the first time they step on the court but they can at least play the game and have fun doing it whereas usually the first time or the first couple times you learn like tennis or like basketball, you're not going to have a good time and you're probably not going to be that good at it, you know, the first time you play.

So I just feel like

it's a sport that everybody can go out there and play and have fun.

And you don't necessarily have to be too athletic, which is why not even talking about like pro-athlete celebrities playing, but just celebrities in general.

I think that's one reason they love to play because you don't have to be super athletic to still go out and get a workout and have fun.

I'm smiling because a good friend of mine, my former boss on Entourage, Doug Allen, is obsessed.

He's been obsessed with pickleball.

You know, Doug.

You know, Doug.

I've known Doug since I was like 12 or 10.

All through pick.

So you've seen his pickleball obsession.

Yeah.

Like Doug kind of started out at first years ago with entourage.

It was like a ping-pong obsession first.

And he went from, he graduated from ping-pong to pickleball.

But every week I would get texts like, oh, I just played with this guy, this girl, like all these names.

Like, and you know, you, you know, I'm wondering, who's like the non-former athlete or tennis player that you've played with that maybe has a little bit of a good sneaky game?

Is there someone that comes to mind it might be doug to be honest no don't give him that credit doug is like a like 5'5 like doug is very good like he if he's telling you he's good like this is one scenario where it's actually true like he is actually like a baller like

Yeah, sorry, it's probably not the answer you wanted to hear, but Doug's pretty good.

Well, we're all competitive, and he does rave about his pickleball game.

If you're saying that, then I have to, I have to.

I would love to see.

Have you ever hit a, have you ever played tennis, jerry uh a handful of times that's the problem and when i where i grew up in brooklyn it's like there wasn't a lot of access to tennis courts golf courses really so that's why i'm like late to all that but uh no i i i obviously literally was the first tennis match i ever watched was him versus ivanisovich so that's why i was also excited to bring that up to you at the top yeah that's cool so i'm a little biased because um I'm a part of your team, a very small part of the New Jersey Fives, but I got to meet you last year and just see

firsthand pickleball and

your play and how competitive you are in the team.

And it's just, it's so much fun to watch and it's so much fun to watch you.

And as a former athlete, I just, I love and admire and respect athletes who are just like, I was telling Jerry, I'm like, dude, you got to see her play, man.

Like, I've never, I've seen very few athletes with the tenacity and the aggressive, like, the competitive spirit.

And, you know, the queen of pickleball.

Like, like, you're 18 years old.

You are.

You are, you are, you're the best player in the world.

And I was, I actually texted Ryan Harwood, the GM of the Fives, and I was like, can you just send me her record?

And I don't, I would actually like you to kind of break this down a little bit because I know there's a lot of, a lot of our audience is a lot of guys who probably follow a little pickleball, golf, all these sports, but break this down.

But 148 PPA gold medals, somewhere around there.

Maybe there's more.

33 triple crowns.

I want to know what a triple crown is.

MLP, which obviously the MLP, which I'm a part of, the fives, kind of just started, but the MVP of the Premier division, there's two divisions, the Premier, the Challenger.

I think the list goes on and on and on.

Before you kind of just break down those things, like

you're 18, Annalee, what is it?

Like, what is it like to be you right now in this sport?

It's kind of been a crazy ride because when I started playing pickleball, like a pro tournament was taped quartz temp net, streamed live on Facebook.

If you were lucky, you won like a thousand bucks.

If you won the whole tournament, then you had to split that with your partner.

So I kind of like to say I've kind of grown with the sport.

And I think that was honestly the best.

thing possible for me because if I was like 12 years old now being thrown into pickleball I feel like I probably would have been maybe more overwhelmed um stressed out I don't know but I feel like because I've kind of seen it grow and I've had the chance to get a little bit older I know 18 still isn't crazy old but I've had a chance to to learn things slowly.

So so now I feel pretty like this is my life.

This is what I love doing.

Pickleball is not only my passion, but it's also my job, which is amazing to say.

And I'm very grateful for that.

But it's it's also been amazing to travel around the country.

So those are all the positives.

There are obviously some negatives, but I'm just having fun.

Like you said, I'm super competitive.

So I love playing pickleball.

People say I'm like, I have two different personalities.

Like on the court, I'm like a totally different person.

Like, Jerry, you wouldn't believe, like, if you saw me on the court versus now, you'd be like, is that the same person?

I've seen highlights.

I've watched.

I've tried to explain to him.

I was like, dude, like, you need to watch her.

You need to, this is why I love pickleball because it's so intimate.

And I think that it's just like everything is there.

You can, you can, you can hear the shit talking.

The fans are there.

And obviously the fives are the best fans because Ryan and just like, it's, it's just so, hell yeah.

It's just so fun.

But like, you're in it like you're in like you're right there and um i i just it's i told jerry i said dude you got a jerry lives in ohio so i don't know if there's much out in ohio no no there is we got we got to get him to a tournament okay so just really quick like without going too into the weeds the like the ppa the mlp the triple crown can you just like

in very black and white terms, like kind of break, break it all down.

So the PPA tour, think of like the tennis tour.

That's what the PPA tour is and a triple

I play in three events usually at every tournament, one being gender doubles.

So they have women's doubles, men's doubles.

So that would be like one.

one gold medal and a triple crown is three gold medals so the next event is mixed doubles which is another event i play and then the third one is gender singles so like women's and men's singles so i'll play the women's singles and if you win all three of those events in the same weekend you get what's called a triple crown

so you got 33 of those yeah

so that's crazy.

I remember my first goal was to win one triple crown.

And that was like my end goal in pickleball: like, just win one triple crown.

And then I won my first one like sooner than I thought.

And I was like, wait, I'm like, we need to up that number a little bit.

I was like, all right, let's keep doing this.

But triple crowning is insane.

And that's definitely not like.

a goal.

I don't know.

It's a goal, but it's also, I know it's hard to achieve.

So, but that's cool.

I did spend some time watching a lot of your highlights once once I knew you were coming on.

And yes, you definitely, I could totally see the intensity and the competitiveness come out.

But the thing I also liked is it, like Matt was saying, it does seem like it is kind of like that throughout the sport.

And I feel like what I don't want to call it an individual sport because I know you play doubles and stuff, but I really do feel like the storylines of the players we're watching factor in so much more than just team sports because there's so many people.

And I guess for me, as a relatively new viewer, I like the fact that you may have rivals or talk trash.

Like it locks me into the story and draws me in.

Is that something that you think is essential for pickleball?

I mean, the fact that like learning more about the players, but then because you guys play each other so much, like really diving into the rivalry of it.

For sure.

I definitely think, especially because, like Matt said, pickleball is still in its infancy.

So we're just trying to get as many eyeballs as possible on the sport.

And, like you said, one way to get people who have maybe never heard about pickleball, but they see somebody trash talking to the other person, the other person getting all riled up, like they're going to be like, oh, what is this?

Yeah, like, oh, I want to watch this.

But I also think once the sport maybe becomes, well, I'm hoping this, who knows, but becomes more like a tennis or golf or something like that, you won't necessarily need that as much.

because people will just tune in and want to watch because they love the sport.

But I definitely think right now they're doing a a little extra trying to create some rivalries, which is fun.

I mean, you don't mind that, right?

I don't mind it, but sometimes I'm like, all right, like, I wish you wouldn't have posted that and like, gone cool, you know what I mean?

So, like, you, there's good and bad sides to it, but I definitely think that it's good for the view, the average viewer.

Like, this, this day and age, social, you know, every, everything you do or say is picked up, unfortunately, fortunately and unfortunately.

But as long, I mean, I would say as long as that's you, though, like you, like, that's, that's what makes you great in this sport is that competitive desire.

Um, does your I know your mom's there, your mom's the best, she's a legend in the sport as well.

I'm assuming your competitive spirit and desire comes from her.

I mean, I know your dad, I met your dad too, but how what's it like playing with your mom?

I mean, that's got to be the coolest thing in the world.

It was, and funny enough, my first ever pro tournament, I played with my mom.

I wasn't supposed to play pro, and her partner like pulled out in our last minute.

And she's like, Come on, play with me.

And we ended up getting silver in the tournament.

She was like, All right, I think you're ready to play pro.

But um,

yeah, so we played together for a while, but it's funny because, like, when we used to play, like, in a tournament, we'd both play mixed double.

So sometimes we'd play against each other and mixed double gosh, which was crit where we're both so competitive, but it's also like mother-daughter.

Like, playing against your mom is like nuts in a process.

Please tell me.

Please tell me you talk smack to your mom in that game.

No, but this is funny.

This is so she used to wipe me off the court for like the first like two years.

And then there, we had this one tournament bronze medal match and i somehow won like and i was like 12.

so like you're not supposed to be your mom when you're 12 and she was so upset

she walked off the court like threw her paddle like i remember like going into the hotel room like she wouldn't she didn't want to talk to me like that's just how competitive we are we're like no like my mom could lose to me and she's gonna be you know mad and then if she beats me you know i'm not gonna want to talk to her so i would have grounded you if mike if you're grounded that's it you're not going out for a week

annale my i have an older son uh you may meet at some point i'll bring he's the same age he's 18 and uh jerry's boys or other kids are young and so he'll go through this but i i just went through this like in the last couple years where Obviously, I was an athlete and all this, and I could take him.

He's almost my size.

I could take him up until probably like two years ago, especially in like basketball.

We play pickup basketball.

And

I can sympathize with your mom because there was just a moment where I just knew it was over.

Like I kept telling myself, I got I got grown man strength.

He can't body me up.

Like, you know, like, and I was just like, dude, my, it's over.

I cannot beat my son anymore.

He's officially a better athlete than me.

I, I have a, I, I've seen, I've obviously I've seen that.

So I see, I know what it's like in doubles for you when you and your mom are playing.

If you, you guys very rarely mess up, like you very, very rarely hit a bad shot.

But like, how is the, I've seen the dynamic of her as your coach on the sideline.

What's the dynamic between you guys when you're playing together?

So funny enough, like in practice, we argue like

cats and dogs.

Like we could be playing together.

Somebody misses a shot.

We get upset or like we lose and we're like, oh, you suck.

Like we get like, we get pretty upset.

But then you like, you put us into a tournament setting and we don't say one bad thing to each other.

Like once tournament starts, we know if we start arguing, we'll start playing worse.

So it's kind of like, you know, let's do this together.

And my mom's always been really good, especially even when I was younger, of like listening to my like advice too, like in a match.

It wasn't, she was just always telling me what to do.

Like, it's like a very collaborative thing.

And my mom used to play like the more dominant role in doubles.

And then now that I've gotten better, now I play the more.

So we've been able to adjust.

But in tournaments, we don't argue.

We actually are pretty nice to each other compared to practice.

Wow.

Jerry, one day your boys are going to be there, dude.

I feel like it's a lonely day.

It's a lonely day.

It's like, you you know, we play basketball in like the basement, there's like a five-foot hoop and I already start to feel like he's gaining on me edge-wise.

So that day, that day will come soon.

I was curious because, you know, I, and I say what all, like, you're young, you're, you're not young, but you're young, 18.

Like, especially when you're either traveling or you have a big event coming up, what is like a, and I don't know if you're still like what your school situation is, what is a like week in the life for you?

Especially now, if you have something, an event coming up, balancing everything, social life, every, it's got to to be tricky to navigate.

Yeah, so I graduated high school last May, so, and I haven't done school or like any online classes or anything.

We just traveled, and there's so many, there's like 25 events a year.

It's crazy, right?

I'm gone more than I'm home.

So, right now, I'm just kind of like pickleball is there for me.

Like, college will always be there after pickleball if I want to go back.

So, I'm like, all right, let's just focus full-time on pickleball.

So, I don't have school,

which I'm very happy about.

But,

but so, usually, like, if I'll play a tournament, I'll take like two days off from no pickleball.

And that's when I'll get my social time in, like with my friends or go to the movies, do something fun, do a little like recovery work.

Um, and then I'll start like ramping up for the next tournament.

So, I'll slowly get back into training.

Um, and then towards the end of the weekend, like, I'm ready, I'm you know, ready for the tournament because we typically have a tournament every other weekend, so that's kind of the same cycle.

Um, and then I try like on the days that I'm training to be be done

between like four

o'clock, like around four o'clock, just so that I have some like time at the end of the day to like relax and have some time for myself.

And then sometimes I'll have like calls like with you guys or something going on in the week that I have to like put into my schedule.

This week I have like a photo shoot thing that's going on.

So like little things like that change, but I try to keep my weeks off pretty similar just to have some sort of routine.

Cause when you're traveling somewhere different, like every other week, sometimes you're like am i in texas or california or you know where am i like i don't even know what time change am i on like i have no idea so create some consistency well yeah as someone who you know i'm like i said i'm i'm being drawn into the sport now i just between matt always talking to me about it me just being curious about it and now you know if i i have a favorite player right out of the gate and you what would be like

two or three

events, tournaments you would tell someone like me, like, hey, you're just diving in here.

You know, will be great ones for you to start.

Here's the starter course.

Start with these events or even just the ones you look forward to the most.

So I would say there are four majors a year.

So I would say going to one of those would probably be a good start because you'll see everybody at their best.

Everybody's, you know, trying their hardest.

I feel like it's probably some of the most intense matches.

And my favorite one would probably,

I don't know, it's tough because like it's hard for a major to be your favorite because you're always the most stressed out for that one.

Right.

Right.

So it's hard to choose.

So I would just say any of the four majors.

And then at the end of the year, there's something called the finals where it's like the top 16 male and 16 females come to that tournament to play.

And it's in San Clemente, which in my opinion is like the nicest venue in pickleball.

So I always love that tournament.

I'm always probably feeling the most.

hurt or injured because it's at the end of the year.

So I'm kind of just like, all right, I'm ready for the season to be over with.

But because of the vibe and how nice the facility is, it like makes you excited to like play one more time you know you said um the the top 16 male and female and i i've gotten to know well not know but like learn who some of they who some of those are do you have um

like who who's your rival like who would be your rival i because it's it because i think it's so cool too because

ben john i was telling jerry like ben johns is the number one male i think or did he get taken over i don't know i've looked at some rankings it depends if you like focus on a certain event or like the average of all three i think he's still number one if you put in the average of all three maybe him or federico one of the yeah so i think i think it's cool because i i love i love like the mixed i love the like i just think it's really cool the format um is there is there like someone that you love like i i i say this when i was at usc i didn't mind ucla they were our rival i didn't care i hated notre dame and i work with break i i work with brady quinn on my show he was a famous notre quarterback i love i just hate all sports just hate Notre Dame.

I just, I hated Notre Dame.

Respect, but hey, is there, is there male or female that you're just like, you love beating a little bit more than the other?

You don't have to say anything controversial.

You can just, there's probably some good matchups that you have.

Well, after last weekend, I'm going to say Hayden, but I don't know if you saw that.

I did.

We weren't going to bring it up, so it's okay.

I don't know.

I just feel like sometimes there are certain matchups where like if somebody like walks out on court and they're just kind of like super cocky, super confident um i don't know that sometimes irks me because like i'm not really like that like even though i'm number one i don't necessarily walk out on the court like that so sometimes if somebody else does it maybe makes me a little upset but i i don't really think there's one person where i'm like uh like i hate playing this person you don't get to like i mean i i'm i'm wondering because you do play a lot of the same people, not a lot of the same people, but also you don't know who you're necessarily going to be faced up with in any match, but do you watch a lot?

like is there a scouting level are you looking for tendencies before or is it just hey it's i don't know once i get there exactly what's going to happen like how much do you get to look ahead it depends

if i haven't played the player in a while maybe or ever then i'll definitely watch some of their games but if i like played the person last weekend i'm like there's no way you've learned anything new in a week like you know like i know like all right i know how you're getting you know i know your tendencies i know where you're gonna hit the ball i know what you don't like um and then my mom's there my mom's my coach she's there to just remind me those things, like in a match.

So, no, I personally don't watch a lot.

My mom will sometimes go back and watch some of my matches, but my mental coach tells me not to watch myself play because if you see yourself hitting like bad shots, it like somehow, I don't know.

It's like me with acting.

I never watch a performance because you'll always find something like, I could have done that better, even though it worked really well.

I could have done that better or that better.

I'm with you on that.

So you play, you play for the Fives, New Jersey Fives, which is Gary Vee.

And everybody listening knows who Gary Vee and Ryan is.

Gary Vee's a stud.

Ryan Harwood, that whole crew.

What's it been like playing for them and just having the support of someone like Gary?

For sure.

Cause in MLP, ownership matters so much.

Yeah.

Just team chemistry matters so much.

And Ryan and Gary have been so amazing, not only in the sense that they like cover expenses and do stuff like that, but they also like care.

So like Gary will send us like a motivational speech like before an important i could imagine he'll he you know like and on my birthday like gary texts me happy birthday he they're just very like invested in the team and ryan like

ryan is the GM so obviously he's more involved than Gary but like Ryan cares about every point he cares about preparation like we'll go out to a team dinner after like every match like we're just such like a team with this ownership and I've been on uh before I was on the fives I was on a different team and we didn't have the best ownership.

And I was, you could definitely tell the team was like struggling because of it.

It matters so much what the ownership brings.

And I'm so lucky to be when the draft happened, I was like, please, please, Ryan, like, like, please get me on the fives.

I was talking to Ryan the whole time about the draft.

I said, are we, we're getting Annalee, right?

Like, number one, he's like, oh, dude, we're going to, we're going to spend everything we can to make sure that she's our, our number one.

It's just like, I was trying, I'm trying to explain a little bit to Jerry because it's still so new and I'm learning a lot more about it.

But to your point, like Gary's great, but Ryan is so, I just seeing it firsthand last year and being on some of the, and I'm trying to, like, my schedule is crazy.

I'm trying to get to a couple of tournaments this year, but just seeing how invested they are and they, like you said, they care.

And Jerry, it's just like any other professional organization when you have ownership who cares, spends the money,

has great resource, whatever.

It's just culture.

The clown culture is legit, dude.

Like, like these people travel all over the country.

Let's go.

Fives is like a thing.

It's like, like, it's, it's honestly, it's wild.

I just, I, I, I hope that people listen to this and just want, it makes them a fan and that they want to go see not just the fives, but all these other great players play.

There's a lot of really good teams and a lot of good players.

Just to be in a little part of the fives.

It's coming when you go.

It's so, I'm telling you, dude, it is.

Get an extra pass for me if you can.

Don't make me have to text you.

I mean, we know, we know somebody.

We might be able to get a lot of people.

I got you.

I don't want to bother her.

We'll bother Ryan or Gary.

I don't want to bother her as she's getting ready to destroy people on the court.

Where do you hope to see, and Jerry, if you want to, you want to ask, is just the future of pickleball, you know, and

like five-year view from now, you know, it's growing so fast, you know, and obviously you know things about the sport that you love and maybe things that you're hoping get better.

Just in five years, where would you love to see pickleball?

Yeah, don't quote me on this because I would have never guessed some of the things that have happened in pickleball now.

But I just feel like a year or so ago, my main goal or hope for the sport was that younger kids, like the younger generation, would start to pick this up, especially because I was a kid when I started playing and I knew how much it meant to me and how much it impacted my life.

So I was really hoping that would start to happen.

And I feel like that's already happening.

Like at some events, we have 100 plus kids like playing these tournaments.

So I feel like we're doing a good job on that.

I definitely think growing it worldwide is still something that needs to happen.

Like in Asia, it's starting to explode.

Australia, it's pretty big.

But there's still a lot of countries that it's, you know, you get, there's like one pickleball court, you know, it's like, there still needs to be growth there.

And

like next year, we're playing some international events, I think.

So like.

We're starting to at least play some tournaments there to kind of help with that growth.

And I think a lot of people behind the scenes are helping with that.

But I'm hoping in the next five years, that's definitely something that happens.

I'm also hoping this isn't five years.

This is a little further on.

I'm hoping pickleball will become an Olympic sport.

Now we're talking.

That's kind of a personal goal because I'd love to play for the play in the Olympics.

So that would be so.

It will.

It will for sure.

But that's not five years.

That's a little further, I think, in my opinion.

So, yeah,

that's what I would say.

I also feel like a lot of major sponsors are starting to get into pickleball.

So I'm not going to say that's something we will see because we're already starting to see it, but I definitely think that'll get bigger.

Continue.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Well, before we let you go, and and you've been very gracious with your time, thank you.

Uh, a couple of quick hitting questions.

You,

uh, for you, uh, pre-game ritual, pre-match ritual.

Do you have any?

Just something you always do.

We usually play around like 11.

So I usually like wake up, eat breakfast.

I really like to warm up before my matches.

So I'll do like 30 minutes of just like exercises like on the floor, like bridges, leg lifts, like stuff like that.

Waking things up.

Yeah.

Yeah.

And then I like to hit for like 30 minutes before my match and then play.

But I'm pretty, like, I pretty, I had the same routine pretty much every morning.

Like I eat the same breakfast.

And this one time, like, I didn't eat that breakfast and I lost.

That was my thing.

Pre-match meal.

Or do you not want to reveal it?

You don't have to reveal it to the public if you don't want to, but do you have a specific pre-match meal?

Two pieces of toast,

two eggs with some egg whites, and fruit.

like blueberries and strawberries.

Okay, well,

the real question for me is the post-match meal because I feel like after a match, I'd be like, I'm eating whatever I want.

Let's go for it.

Especially if you win.

So, usually, in like a day of a tournament, you'll play like three, four, five matches in one day.

So, it's really hard to like eat big meals.

So, like, at the end of the day, you're so hungry.

Yeah, I'm usually like, that's what I'm like

to my trainers.

And I'm like, just don't even ask what I ate.

Like,

just burns 14,000 calories.

No, like, yeah, I might have had some chocolate at the end, too.

So, yeah, definitely

a lot.

How about a favorite song?

Or just like, what do you get into the zone?

So, with, it's funny.

I love Eye of the Tiger, but my mom and I'm a good one.

My mom and I were playing a match and we lost the first game.

This was a nationals 2019.

This would be our biggest win, but we lost the first game in the final.

And they played Can't Stop the Feeling.

You know, that song?

Yeah.

And my mom was like, Can't stop the feeling.

And like, we got some energy and we went out and ended up winning.

So that song kind of loosened me up.

So like sometimes I'll listen to that song too.

So tell your mom, do you know, George, do you know who, do you know the song Bad to the Bone?

Yes.

So I know everyone makes fun.

That was, I had like a Tupac song, an Eminem song.

I had an Enya song, which is like slow, like just vibe music.

And then I had Bad to the Bone.

Listen to Bad of the Bone, George Thoroughgood.

Your mom is probably laughing, but it sees that might get, that might be one that gets you in the thing just because it's like, it just reminds you how good you are.

I'm bad to the bone.

Matt's going to be at an MLP and everybody's been like, what song you should be playing?

He's going to be like, bad to the bone.

Let's do it.

Oh, now I'm just imagining, you know, she's going to listen to it, go on like a 40-match win streak.

She's going to have to listen to that song every single match because it's going to be the good luck jar.

Wow.

That's so good.

Can't thank you enough.

You just made a true fan right here.

I'm coming to an event for sure.

And good luck to you.

It's very, very impressive how you balance everything.

And also, you're just awesome on the court.

Keep talking, keep being yourself, keep going out there and dominating.

And Matt and I will be there cheering for you.

I'm going to come back.

I'm going to

come see you in San Clemente in a couple of days.

Sounds good.

Look forward to it.

And let me know, Jerry, if you end up coming to an event.

No, no, I'm.

The decision's been made.

I am coming.

I'm there.

Maybe even Doug Allen will probably be joining me.

Okay.

All right, everyone.

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All right, it's time now for strapped in, presented by Nitza.

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Don't risk it, click it, or tick it.

Maddie Ice, I mean, following that interview with Annalee Waters, I'm kind of fired up.

I'm ready to strap in and go play some pickleball.

But for you, right now, what are you strapped in for?

Dude, I'm strapped in to play in Patty Mahomes' golf tournament.

Is this like a quarterback only thing?

What's going on here?

Patty Mahomes,

Patty Mahomes.

I got the invite a couple months ago.

Obviously,

pretty hyped on it.

Vegas,

playing in it.

Shadow Creek, never played.

I know, I'm speaking your love language right now.

Yeah, listen, dude,

we've talked about on the show a bunch.

You've at least got my head spinning with the thought of playing more golf.

That's for sure.

It hasn't happened yet.

That's for sure.

It hasn't happened yet.

But I am playing in

Patty Mahomes' charity golf tournament.

A lot of guys are going to be out there.

It's going to be a blast.

I'm a little nervous only because

I got a pulled calf.

I got a tight back.

I got new hips.

I've played golf probably twice since you don't play a lot.

I just don't play a lot, dude.

And I just, I hate saying that, man, because I get asked so much now, especially doing this, doing this pod with you and like, let's golf.

And I'm like, let's golf.

And yeah, but I don't play.

And dude, I'm playing with a bunch of sticks, you know, and all this stuff.

So I'm fired up though, dude.

I'm fired up to see, to see everybody obviously support a great cause.

Patrick's a great dude, but I'm strapped in, man.

I'm locked in.

I need, I need, I need advice, though.

I haven't played in a charity golf tournament in a long time.

Okay, here, here's some advice.

I'm going to give you the

this is the plus and minus side.

Shadow Creek is one of the nicest courses in America, in my opinion.

It's absolutely gorgeous.

It's the most well-maintained round.

Which means it's really

$1,500 a round if you actually, as a civilian, try to play there and you can't even drive to it.

They have to pick you up at your hotel and drive you to the court.

You can't pull up in an Uber or in your

shuttles.

That being said, for me, and I played it at the Super Bowl two years ago, the day after we started talking about this very podcast,

It is one of the hardest courses I've ever played.

It's so hard.

So, you're saying I should buy a bunch of balls.

Here's the biggest thing.

I'm guessing it's going to be a scramble, right?

Every charity event is usually a scramble, which is good.

They might try to talk you into teeing off first, right?

Because you don't really play a lot.

The thought would be: take your, I don't want to say you're the worst guy because that's not fair.

You just don't play a lot, but they'd want you to maybe try to get on base, right?

Hit one out in the fairway, let the bigger

no, no, I make it very clear to my group that I am not good.

Here's what I want for.

Here's what I would suggest to you.

Don't go first.

Go last.

Go first.

Well, because

here's why.

Now, there will be some pressure if three guys are going to be able to get away.

No, no, no.

I like to go right in the middle.

I like to go right in the middle.

Well, what I'm getting at is if you see a great T-ball, don't even hit the T-shot.

Don't hit the T-shot.

Save yourself a little bit.

Save your hips.

Save your calf.

Look, I'm not a long-term.

Dude, I got 18 holes to play, bro.

I'm just going all all in.

Here's my thing.

As long as I go first, if I were you, no, no chance.

I'll go.

There's probably going to be five of us in the group, typically.

Look, this is a big-time event.

There's going to be, there's going to be ringers.

There's going to be groups that like to have fun.

There's going to be groups that take it seriously.

There's going to be pitchers there.

You're in trouble because all major league baseball pitchers are great golfers.

I'm going to be.

I can put together a handful of holes and scramble.

You can kind of mask your deficiencies, right?

Because

I can hit my irons pretty decent.

I'm not a great driver.

The putt, y'all just like, so it's a lot of fun.

But yes, I'm more of the middle guy.

And I make it very clear to the group that I'm like, guys, I'm not good.

You'll probably use four of my shots all day.

And I'll, and I'll, I'll sink a couple putts, maybe like a 20-foot putt, maybe we'll go in because, you know, it just will, and we'll get fired up.

I think you gotta be a good vibes guy.

You gotta be good vibes.

Oh, I'm, oh, I'm always a good, I'm a good vibes guy on charity golf tournaments.

And I always, my plan, always going in, is I want these dudes to go back to

my home's people and say, God, I had a great time.

I had a great time.

I had a great time playing with Leinert.

That's it.

That's my goal.

I like this too.

Is there like a pairings party where there's the charity contributors?

Okay.

So whoever selects you or whatever the process is, odds are they're either going to be big fans of yours from SC or from the NFL, right?

Like they're going to be one of them or multiple of them are going to be so psyched to me.

So just be a good vibes guy.

A lot of handshakes.

Bring them into the huddle a little bit.

You know?

Oh, yeah.

And that's, oh, yeah.

Oh, that, dude.

That's, you're speaking my language, man.

Like,

the down, the other thing is, like, you're not going to win because someone's probably going to post in a scramble, someone's going to post some obscene number that's probably not real.

Minus 28.

Well, something you're going to be.

I don't know.

Yeah, I don't know the rules.

I don't know the mulligans.

I don't know.

And I'm sure there's a lot of really good golfers.

Yeah, this is going to be a blast.

But shout out to Patty Mahomes.

15 and Mahomes,

I think is the name of the foundation.

So really cool to be a part of it.

Fired up.

It's going to be fun.

But yeah, I'm locked in, man.

Strapped in, locked in.

Wish me luck.

Hope I don't

pull anything else.

Well,

thank you.

It's been a rough.

Appreciate that.

And good luck to our boy, Maddie Ice.

Before we get to the next thing, too, something funny did happen that we stumbled upon via the amazing internet.

Adam Ray, good friend of mine, stand-up comic Adam Ray, who, if you don't know him, look him up on Instagram or whatever.

Also, he has been on tour doing like the Dr.

Phil impressions.

He does the Dr.

Phil show.

He plays Biden alongside Shane Gillis and Kill Tony.

He was on our guy, Julian Edelman's pod, and basically tells this story.

And I sent it to you.

You must have seen it a thousand times.

Basically, Adam went to USC and he's telling the story like, yeah, I was going to say, well, Edelman, real quick, Edelman asked him, he's like, hey, did you ever party or hang out with Leiner?

With Leiner at USC because you guys are there at the same time.

That's what happened.

Yeah.

And we're going to get Adam on because I want to dig a little deeper here.

But he tells this awesome story that he's like rolling up to like a party and you were like waiting by steps or something to go up to a frat.

I was waiting to get up into a frat party.

Into a frat party.

And basically it was like the third string quarterback was like the frat member too.

Did they butcher the story?

So the story was a pledge.

A pledge.

A pledge wouldn't let me in.

So I don't remember.

I was listening to this.

I'm like, where is Adam going with this story?

Are you nervous that you'll ask me?

Oh, my God, dude.

I was like,

because he's a comedian.

I'm sure we hung out a whole full few times.

20 years ago.

Yeah, 20 years ago.

And I'm thinking like, oh, my God, dude, it's my wife.

This is going to go viral.

My wife is going to hear whatever he's about to talk about.

Or like, Leinert was a dick.

Like, screw him, like, F that guy wasn't the case.

And I, and, and so, like, basically, what happened was, is I was apparently, which this makes sense because there were some frats that hated us, and there were some frats that love the football guys.

Um, they're like, Yeah, come on in.

They treat us great.

There's some were like, No, you're not allowed because they were like insecure and jealous or whatever.

I don't know if this was one of them, it just, it just so happened.

So, he basically says, He just was waiting, not trying to big time, but waiting at the bottom of the stairs.

And I go, Are you waiting for someone?

He's like, Yeah, Brandon Hans.

I go, Oh, I walk you up.

And I go to the place.

I go, Do you know who this is?

He goes, No.

I go, It's a quarterback of our school, man.

And he was like, Oh, big fan, man.

I go, It's too late, Gary.

He was just a god, dude, but he was chill.

I was fairly recognizable on campus.

So, but uh, yeah, no, shout out.

I'm sure there's a lot more stories

with Adam.

And shout out.

I'm not, you're doing his show this summer.

I'm doing his show, and then we're getting we're getting Adam on ours.

I'm gonna go see him.

He's in LA.

He's in L.A.

next month.

I'm gonna go see him too.

Yeah, shout out to him.

So, two last things off that.

One, like you said, you must have in the beginning being like,

again, you're a great dude, so I don't really, you know, whatever story, I couldn't imagine to be like a bad story, but like you said, you don't know what Adam's going to say.

But also, how funny would that story be modern day?

You know, you would have been standing there and some little shit would have came up to you with a camera, like, look at this.

I'm going to this party and Matt Liner can't even get like, that would have been all over TikTok.

That Matt Liner can't get into a frat party.

I was waiting to get into a frat party.

I was for sure wearing Chuck Taylor's blue jeans and a white tee for sure, too, and a backwards hat.

Like that was all I wore.

Yeah, dude, back then, God, that would have been, that would have gone viral.

That would have been an internet story for the day.

Liner can't get into frat party at his own school.

Shout out to

championships.

Shout out to Jungle Juice, Adam Ray, and frat parties.

You were in a frat.

It's called the football team.

Yeah.

It's called the national champion Trojans.

You were a part of a certain kind of fraternity.

Boy, we lived.

You know what?

I was thinking, we got to get a couple of my old teammates on this pod just

who would you pick right now like top three oh

lendell white lendell white and we and honestly we would just let him go and there would be some there would be is he in l a these days or no no but he'll he's in l a a lot uh we would just you would just let him go and i would in my mind i would in my mind i would cringe to hear what he says next but it would be okay our producer andrew if you're listening let's let's drop a line out to mr lendell white because i'm we got to get Lendell

in person for sure.

We'll get a couple guys.

I know a couple guys that would just be great stories.

Do we ever get Coach on, but Pete Carroll?

No.

Well, he's coaching now again.

Pete doesn't do pods.

I asked him.

But for you, even for you?

Yeah, he said no.

Pete Carroll.

Those pod rules are made to be.

Pete, you want to go on our pod?

Nah.

Not really.

Michael Jordan is going to be a special contributor on NBC.

You're not going to come on throwbacks.

Come on.

Belichick has a philowel.

Maybe that's.

Maybe we get Belichick on the pod and talk about what's going on in his life.

Matt, before we get to the next thing, seriously, I don't get it why everyone's in such a like, I don't care one percent about the greatest coach of all time.

And his girl's 24.

There's just a lot of shit going down.

None of it seems interesting to me.

None of it.

Like, well, I don't like maybe if you want to be like, hey, let's go check on Coach to make sure he's all right.

He seems like he's all right.

He seems like he's happy.

Like, why is that?

Oh, he's not going to coach a game at North Carolina.

I highly doubt North Carolina is going to say, you know what, before we even start, this isn't working.

All the reports are like, oh, he's not going to coach at all.

He's going to be run out.

Like, come on, bro.

That ain't happening.

Until he goes like

unless she is just absolutely evil.

And like, like, and maybe that's, I don't know.

Well, so that's, by the way, that's why this is exciting.

There's a lot of what is.

I don't care.

I don't, I don't care 1% about the commercial thing that she, I don't care.

Okay, it's now time time for all-time adventures driven by Nissan.

Take adventures to new heights in the all-new 2025 Nissan Armada.

Go to Nissanusa.com slash Armada to learn more.

Each week, we discuss an adventure, whether it's on the field, on the set, off the set, whatever.

Look, there's a little anniversary right now.

I don't think it's trending by any stretch.

There was a movie called Battleship.

I don't know if any of you know.

Give yourself more credit.

Great fucking movie, by the way.

Well, it was released in May

18th, 2012.

Yeah, Taylor Kitch, Rihanna.

I shared the ice with Taylor Kitch the other day

on the hockey thing.

Taylor Kitch, we know.

Yeah, yeah.

All right, go ahead.

Go ahead.

No, no.

So, look, movie came out 23 years ago.

The reason why I bring that up.

Three years ago?

No,

13 years ago.

I was going to say 23 years.

Yeah, it felt like 23 years ago.

The reason why I bring it up is there's a there's the story behind there pete berg directed battleship pete berg's one of my favorite directors yeah he's great dude uh has become a friend big time giants fan too like obviously friday night lights connection like dude loves football loves everything we're shooting back now i don't think pete wanted me necessarily in the movie, right?

Not that he did.

I just, I think he was thinking of so many other things.

It was like a small part at the time.

He combined a lot of small parts and made it into one character.

And like, let's have Jerry do that then if he really wants to do that.

And then we got to know each other on that set, right?

We shot that in Baton Rouge.

Now, I made the mistake of waking up one Saturday morning, going out to get my morning coffee because I was there for three weeks to work like four days.

I walked right into an LSU parade because there was a game that afternoon.

And there was hundreds of thousands of people.

Dude, they shut the city down for a while.

It was insane.

And I guess if I knew it was coming and I was prepared for that,

it never even entered my mind when I walked out of my hotel room and I walked out to that.

But here's the real adventure with that.

Okay.

Pete cast me in Battleship.

I have all the lines straight from the board game, which are like,

oh, coming left, miss, going right, hit.

Like those were, that was my actual dialogue.

I want to pull up your lines.

So I get to know Pete.

And then shortly after Battleship, Pete was prepping to do this movie, Lone Survivor, which.

for me is maybe my favorite Pete Berg movie.

And obviously, there's a lot of great parts in that movie.

I really wanted the chance to play like the Emil Hirsch part that he ended up getting.

And Pete was like, I love Jerry, but no, I'm going with Emile Hirsch.

And then there was another part.

And he's like, no, basically, being honest, a bunch of no's.

I even just made a tape for myself.

I just put myself on tape as one of the characters that he wasn't even interested in me for.

And I submitted the tape and he was like, no, I'm going with this other guy.

Great.

All right.

We'll still be friends.

So he comes back.

He's like, you know what?

There's this, there's the small part.

If he wants to be in the movie, we'll put him in the movie.

And it was like two lines.

So then I turned it back on him.

I'm like, you know what, Pete?

No, I don't want to do, I don't want to do two lines.

He's like, okay, you're an idiot, but okay, this movie's going to be good.

He basically, similar to Battleship, took a bunch of smaller parts and combined them into one and came back and said, if you say no to this, you're truly one of the biggest morons I've ever met.

And I read it and I basically had that one.

I look at it all like moments.

I have the moment.

I don't want to spoil the movie for anyone else.

Didn't they call?

call they called right didn't you run and get the phone what what moment did you have

there's a very again spoil if you want to see lone survivor you don't want to be spoiled maybe fast moving quickly the movie's been out for a while but when mike murphy basically takes the sat phone to the one spot it works to call for backup i'm the marine who answers the phone that's right yeah but then it becomes a whole thing where i'm trying to scramble reinforcements, but it breaks the protocol.

So the reinforcements never went there.

And those guys ended up dying, all except for the Lone Survivor, which was played by Wahlberg.

So yeah, for me, that adventure is, you know, you never know where one thing will take you.

Two scenes in Battleship saying hit, miss, 100%

led me to Lone Survivor.

Do you think that had anything?

I don't know the years and like chronologically, did that have anything to do with Entourage?

Was Entourage before?

Oh, Entourage was before Erou.

This Entourage basically was wrapping up.

Pete was on Entourage, playing himself in the cameo.

Actually, my question is, do you think Wahlberg had any help with Pete?

You already knew Pete, but like for a small part, because you were tight with Wahlberg during Entourage, obviously, because that was his part.

If memory serves me correct, when it was initially Battleship, my manager Lev was talking with Pete, trying to say, you should really put Jerry in the movie.

I think Pete at that time, if I remember, was like, it's almost like it's such a small, like two, three scene part, but then they're going to see like turtle pop on the screen.

He's like, that might mess everybody up.

So, but to Pete's credit, he's like, all right, I like the kid.

He met with me for a small part, which he probably would never really do for anybody else, and was and did it.

And then for the Lone Survivor thing, no, I think I proved myself a little bit to him with Battleship at that point.

I don't think it hurt with the mark stuff, but

hit, right, missed.

100, dude, that was my dialogue.

And the last thing on that, I was doing Lone Survivor the same time I was doing this other movie called Last Vegas, right?

Which was Senior Citizen Hangover with Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman.

It's this like lighthearted comedy.

I was doing both movies at the same time.

So I would fly into Vegas to shoot, and it's all about the joke and being fun and energy.

Then I fly from Vegas to New Mexico where they're shooting Lone Survivor, and everyone's got long beards, and they've been up on a mountain, and they are not having any fun.

There's no laughter.

Yes,

I mean, so I come in with all this energy, and I'm like, shit, I need to tone down everything about what I'm doing.

So, I'd be there for three or four days.

I'd fly back to Vegas, very low energy intense.

And the director's like, you need to wake the fuck up.

Like, where's your energy?

So,

interesting times.

So, that is my all-time adventure.

Shout outs to Nissan.

Again, go to nissanusa.com slash armada to learn more.

I'm out of breath.

That was a

lot longer than I thought.

His boy Emmett used to go to my football camps.

That's

Pete.

Yeah, Emmett, when I really got to know Pete, I would go to his house to watch giant games.

And then at halftime, we go out to the backyard and

I'd run routes.

And Emmett was young.

I mean, he must have been like 12.

And he had a canon at 12.

He's got growing hard.

He's got to be 20, mid-20s.

Yeah, he just directed a he think he just directed a movie or a short.

By the way, we got to get Pete on too.

Pizza, pizza, pizza man, dude.

Pete's got to come on.

And his stuff, like, I really would love to know what his thoughts are on the 2025, 26 Giants going into this season.

He goes to camp every year and watch it.

Like, he really, he's the one who told me.

He's like, I just met neighbors.

He's a monster.

We're going to love this guy.

Like, I believe Pete, man.

Should we do a little mailbag and wrap up and get you off to Vegas?

That's good, man.

Let's keep it in LA.

We have Dennis from LA says, I got a youth sports question for you guys.

Love it.

Is there a certain age where I'm okay to start telling people that my kid is legitimately good at baseball?

He's currently five, and I think he's awesome, but is that too young to really know anything?

Are people going to roll their eyes when I tell them my five-year-old is a stud?

Let me know what you think.

First of all, of course you should like love.

Yes, your kid should, you should think your kid's awesome that's yeah he always well i mean if he is but there's most five-year-olds are terrible so if your kid's really good i don't think you need to like i don't think you need to say it because you can tell my my son right now is five and he plays the five and six year olds and there's two or three kids on the team that are like really good their dads are like you don't even have to it's like goes without saying my five-year-old is going to be good i think but i don't say he's good i say he's he's a little awkward but he's got a lot to work on but i think he's learning learning he's learning he's learning but uh yeah i mean i think the whole parent five-year-old six-year-old like our kids are the greatest thing like it's just uh it's just like

dude your kid's gonna peak at 12 man like your kid like the kids are gonna peak at 12.

and i've seen that i saw i've seen that with a lot of cole's friends where we yeah you must have seen every version of i've seen every version i've seen the great i've seen the great athletes who are like unbelievable at seven eight nine they're like holy shit like that kid might have has a chance and then they become good players, but they never become like, they're not professional.

Not the late bloomer.

Have you seen a lot of late bloomers?

Or not really?

Cole's a late bloomer.

Cole's a football late bloomer.

Like he's,

for him, and I could speak on my son because

he was a great athlete.

What wasn't great in baseball, but a great athlete.

And I knew that probably wasn't a sport, but like I encouraged all of them.

It made him better, made him a better athlete.

And he didn't play tackle till freshman year in college and high school.

So three years ago.

Like he's only been playing tackle a couple of years, but I always knew.

I did not know that.

Yeah.

At some point, you got to be like, talk about strapping in.

You got to strap in.

Like, this is your sport.

Now you got to lock in and like grind and grind and grind.

But it was all the sports he play.

And I just, I knew, one, he obviously had a pedigree and DNA from both sides, but like, I just knew like he wasn't going to peak.

I knew because he was just.

playing and everything, he didn't have the specialized training and all this shit that was daily.

We just let him be a kid and be an athlete and encourage and, you know work to every sport he was playing which made him better in my opinion but you know god i've seen god i i was i used to train quarterbacks jerry like five six seven eight years old eight years old how young oh my god oh my goodness yes and i'd be like and they would pay me a lot of money i'm like what are you doing like right like what are we like they're six go let them run around on the beach go like go do some skills training like you don't need to like like it's just it's it's it's wild you'll see you'll see it well your kids will get into it My initial reaction to that is like, yeah, look, first of all, you should, it's great to think your kid's awesome.

You should.

I view that, and I'm guilty of the same thing.

I view that like

posting every little thing your kid does on social media, which I sometimes do and stop myself.

It's because I think my kid's great.

Now, most people will watch that and be like, that's cute.

That's great.

But like, like, it's almost like keep it in-house, you know, like Brie and I should think our kids are great and we should aspire to raise them right and keep a good head on their shoulders.

I don't know if necessarily I need to be walking up to the dads on the soccer field, being like, you know, my kid did the other day.

It's one thing if it's like your boy and you're just talking to them.

Dude, I can't stand those parents that are.

It's one thing if we're just having a conversation about our kids as dads, as parents.

That's like whatever, anything I want to hear about that stuff.

It's another thing when it's like the unsolicited, like,

oh, okay, so we're doing this.

We're having the kid conversation now.

Dude, I say, I mean, and I, look, I, I, I never, Cole's 18.

He's, you know, obviously he's still got a lot of work to do, but he was probably

the best athlete in Manhattan Beach at his age.

Like, he probably just was, like, growing up, like, and all the sports, combined all the sports.

He wasn't the best baseball player, but he was for sure the best basketball player.

He was a great football player, and he's also a very good baseball player.

I didn't have to say anything.

People just knew.

And I never would because I'm like, he hasn't done shit.

He's nine.

Yeah, he's really good.

We'll see what we'll see.

We'll see.

We'll see what happens.

See what happens.

Who knows?

We'll see what happens.

And I know he's good, but like, I never, I just, I don't understand those parents.

They're just insecure.

You know, it's like, because it's like maybe they didn't, you know, they're the, they're Johnny All-American high school football and like they didn't pan out, but now their kid is a pretty good little league player.

But I'm like, dude, the chances of that.

By the way, I tell parents, I tell parents all the time, dude, kids have like less than 1% chance to make it professional in any sport.

It doesn't matter.

Less than 1%.

So keep it fun.

I say, keep it fun.

And I always say, I say this.

I had this conversation with my brother.

And this is my advice to all parents who have pretty good at, like, what is, like, what is your goal for your kid?

Is what I always say.

And I asked my brother, I said, what's your goal for Hudson, my nephew?

He's a fantastic baseball player.

But like, I don't know.

Is he going to go, like, no.

I want him to be a really, really, I want him to be a really good high school baseball player.

I want him to start on his high school team.

That's like the first goal.

Okay, great.

Let's strive strive to do that.

What do you need to do in your mind in order to, is it travel ball?

Is it this?

Is it specialized in this?

I tell parents that all the time as they get a little bit older, like, what's your goal for your kids?

Some are like, I just want to have fun.

I want them to learn that.

There's stuff to learn besides the stuff that you're going to do.

Then learn, have fun, compete, right?

Maybe do some extra stuff, but don't make it an everyday thing.

Yeah.

Because then you're going to burn him out.

He's going to hate it anyway.

But then you have parents who are like, oh, he's going.

I'm like, all right, dude.

Like, you're going to like, I just seen it, man.

I've seen some of these kids that were so good.

And they just, and also they just peak early.

Like, a lot of kids peak early, man.

Like, they just become pretty good players, but not good enough.

So, I'm going to talk about my kid just like the way I said I don't like what your kid's going to be a GM, which is going to be better.

If I was writing, my version of this mailbag question would be: What do you do when you're a six-year-old loves basketball and loves to play basketball, wants to play basketball all the time every day,

and it's just not there

right like it's just like

it's just not there it's just not there yet yet your kids are really smart and and they got personalities he will he will know

when he's gonna be like daddy

I mean he might not be maybe he gets better or if he's if he's not good if you think he's a hey like I just don't know if he's gonna ever be good enough he and if you get him in basketball he will let you know at that point that maybe it's time to stop playing.

I've seen a lot of parents and kids do that where their kids just don't care anymore.

And that could be eight years old.

It could be seven.

It could be 10.

So you get him in there.

You let him have fun.

You do the rec leagues, whatever you think he can handle.

And if he loves it, you let him keep playing.

And at some point, he's just going to stop because it's just like, it's not going to interest him anymore because other things will interest him.

You know what I mean?

Right.

We'll see.

I guess I'm also like, in my mind, I'm like doing a thing where he's going to want to play.

And how do I handle, Oh, you didn't really get much playing time.

How do you handle that?

You're son of a bad player.

I mean, like, how do I, no, not even me.

How do I talk to him about that?

Because sometimes kids don't quite understand.

Like, I'm not going to be the parent that goes up to the coach and is like, play my kid.

I'm not going to do that.

I'm wondering how I'm going to handle that when he, when my kid is like, I don't understand why don't I get a turn to play.

Does he have any athletic ability?

A little bit.

The hand eyes there, but the no, yeah, not really.

Not really, but he's, but he's six.

I mean, he's six years old.

I don't have

expectations.

I would say you could see it.

My point is, is if he's got the heart of a championship.

To answer that question, Jerry, and if he starts playing, then you just provide him with extra work.

If, like, hey, do you want to, do you want to work with the shooting coach?

Hey, do you want to do these?

Like, you just let him do it.

And then

you're either going to see improvement.

Like, oh, he might be okay.

Like, he might be able to hold his own.

Like, whatever.

And we're talking like njb bro we're not talking like club travel basketball so like you

i just want to tell him like yeah do you know how many thousands of hours i put in to be a mediocre rec league player thousands of hours thousands of shots just to be like a guy that doesn't get picked last at pickup which now i am at 45 but at 15 i wasn't you'd pick me in the middle of the pack that took thousands of hours to roll up to the schoolyard and be like, all right, we'll take Jerry with the third pick.

That was thousands of hours.

Yeah.

And you guys are talking about like, I want to put that.

I'll tell you what, man.

That's a lonely, that's a lonely feeling being picked last on the playground.

And that's true.

Yeah, yeah.

I guess that's where my favorite thing.

I mean, I got to be honest, I never was picked last, but I remember those.

I was like, God damn, you don't want to be picked last.

Yeah, you were definitely always picked first or second for sure.

Or they made you captain.

You were like, all right, make Matt captain.

then you have to figure out

i was definitely i was definitely a top two pick in handball and baseball all that

all right well let's get you the

we'll see how the ferrer boys grow man well hey we'll be we'll be good dude you're off to vegas and i wish you luck i want give me some updates post some stuff on social try and get a little face time with patty mahomes who i think is a secret knicks fan i think he likes the knicks deep down yeah i already got my my uh cole already said dad can you face time me with mahomes i said bro i'll do my best bro he i mean he's playing you know he's playing college ball in texas He played at Texas Tech.

You know, I met him one time, and he was an awesome dude.

And it was at a Knicks game, believe it or not.

And

such a down-to-earth.

And to the point where, like, I'll just DM him or comment, DM him like something off a post.

And like, he writes back.

He always writes back.

Like, we don't, he's a good dude.

He's a good dude.

Yeah.

All right.

Thanks, everybody.

Don't forget to like and subscribe.

And yeah, go check out Anna Lee Waters.