Throwbacks with Matt Leinart & Jerry Ferrara - Charissa Thompson on Super Bowl LX, “Calm Down” with Erin Andrews and Stalking Matt at USC

Episode Date: February 5, 2026

Amazon and Fox NFL host Charissa Thompson joins the show to talk the Super Bowl between her hometown Seattle Seahawks and the New England Patriots. Charissa details her journey in media, including the odd jobs she worked on the way to covering the Super Bowl for Fox. Charissa also reveals how she once stalked Matt while he was at USC and how Matt Stafford and his wife hooked her up with her boyfriend. Finally Charissa discusses starting the “Calm Down” podcast with her best friend Erin Andrews.   Plus Jerry has big news from home and the guys pick their favorite Super Bowl halftime performances before Annie Agar joins to play a Super Bowl edition of Twisted Tea Trivia. And of course everybody makes their Super Bowl picks.  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/)      A big thank you to our sponsors:    Wendy’s  Get yourself a $4 Biggie® Bites, $6 Biggie Bag®, or a $8 Biggie® Bundle. Now at Wendy’s.  https://m-wendys.app.link/468biggiedeals  Twisted Tea Grab a Refreshing Twisted Tea Today.  https://www.twistedtea.com/locations  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

I grew up wanting to be a sports broadcaster. There was no plan B, the same way you maybe wanted to be an actor, Matt wanted to be an athlete. Like, I didn't have a plan B. It was like, this either works or it doesn't. And so the first time I ever got to cover a Super Bowl, I was thinking to myself like, holy shit, if I could go back and tell the younger me,

I get to stand on this field. I was standing on the field when Malcolm Butler intercepts Russell Wilson 11 years ago in that horrific moment. All right, welcome to the episode of the throw. Do me us, do us a favor. Throw us a follow. Throw us a sub. Hit that subscribe button on YouTube.

Throwback show. It's free. We love it. We need it. It's free. Just do it. We appreciate all the love and support. It's a big week, Chair.

It's a big week. I mean, it is a huge week. I always get sad around this week, though, Matt, because it means it's over, you know? I know. And fortunately, the Knicks are, like, doing okay. But it's a long way to go till May to, like, play off basketball. even too. Yeah, I know. It is a bummer. We always talk about this. The fall is the greatest time, I think, is sports. You got college football. You got football. You got baseball, World Series. Then NBA starts. And now the culmination of the NFL. It's, it's obviously we're going to talk about the Super Bowl this whole episode because it's going to be awesome. And it's always a fun weekend. But that's just not the biggest news that's happened in the world. Has something happened, Matt?

I mean, I don't know. I mean, do you care to tell the world? It has happened. The third Ferrara baby was born January 31st, roughly 149 in the morning. Fuck yeah, baby, let's go. And, you know, all this weight of like, is it a boy? Is it a girl? We waited to find out.

And when the baby was born, neither of us looked at that right away. Really? Oh, shit. Well, we kind of like. I looked at it right away. I kind of like locked in with her, made sure she was alright. She just like grabbed the baby and like hugged it and did like, like, none of us like lifted a leg and did like what. So it was like a two minute delay and they were like, what is it?

And it was a big reveal and it was a boy. Yeah. Listen, all you guys do are make boys. And I text you, the Ferrara name lives on for generations, bro. That's a big, that's a big deal, dude. Think about that. And fortunately, you know, Bree's doing really well. the baby's doing really well and that's all you really want.

But I did like 24 hours after the birth. I'm like, Brie, if you want to just have this one's last name be Rikano, so that's fine. I felt not felt bad, but like, you know,

I got to give her something here. And another big reveal, we do not have a name yet. And that is not a joke, Matt. We do not have a thing. Well, I think we should be taking bets on the name. I'm not going to give up.

I know what you guys are thinking potentially. So I'm not going to say that. But I feel like we should post this online and let the fans vote. Let's let's let the fans decide. It's going to maybe get to an online vote. The only thing I was trying to say, too, and this did not go over well, but I feel like you would understand,

at least from coming from. As a story, what if we just name this dude after the Super Bowl MVP? And then when you start looking at the odds, it's like, okay, Drake, Sam, strong. Could be, like, there's a Jackson up there,

super strong. There's also, there's a Kenneth. Kenneth, Kenny, big Kenny. Come on, Kenny. Stefan. Stefan? Stefan Ferrara. Hunter, Hunter or Henry?

Hunter or Henry? I think we should let the fans aside. I think you should post this tomorrow morning. Cooper? Give them your top, give the world, yours and Bree's top three names that you're thinking. And let's see. Let's let it play out.

Let's let it play out. Let's let the fans decide. I think one of the hardest things to do if you are a father out there as all the either expecting or future fathers is naming a boy. To me, we had 100 great girl names. Like the boys are tough.

There's just so many traditional normal boy names. And you kind of want to go against the grain a little bit, but there aren't that many options. And like you start thinking like 20 years from now. Do you want to name them something like a nicknamey kind of thing? And then like he walks in for a job interview. And it's like, hi, I'm a kid. I'm cubby, you know. Well, listen, buddy, I'm proud of you guys, man.

I'm happy for you. Be proud of her. I didn't do a lot. I'm proud. I know, but I'm proud. out of you, you know, it was, I know this was a tough decision. You know what, Matt, I partially blame you for this because there was really not a whole lot of third baby talk.

I'm not sorry, though. I'm not sorry. You're welcome. You're welcome. By the way, we're like catching up to some of these players who have like nine kids. We're catching up. We're up there on the list. We should just do a whole segment on the guys who have the most kids from these athletes. You got to be like middle to late of the pack. Like you're not in the top. I have four. Four is bottom of the pile with some guys that I know, buddy. You tie. If you multiply that by two or three, I mean, Look at Philip Rivers. Philip Rivers got double digits.

Yeah, Lee. He's a grandfather. I mean, Cremarty was peak, Hard Knox when he said that on Hard Knocks. I got like an 8-year-old, a 7-year-old, two, four-year-olds. Oh, you have twins?

You have twins? No. Oh, so too. Yeah, at that point, it all just kind of like birthdays, they all just kind of fall together, right? Like, do you really, like, I have a hard time remembering my four kids' birthdays

in the years, let alone 14 or 10 of them. But at that point, you just give up. Listen, congratulations, buddy. It's awesome. I know Bree's doing well. She's doing great. And you know who else is doing really well? Because it is Super Bowl week.

And she kind of shines this week. We have a great guest this week. We have Carissa Thompson. Someone you've worked along with. I've known CT forever, man. She's awesome. Yeah, gosh, when FS1 launched in like 2012 or 2013, and CTS, Chris has been around a long time.

And she's a pro. She's done everything. She is a, she's a, you know, she's kind of a trailblazer, I think, for women in this industry. She's done it, she's done it at a high level professional. She continues to kick ass. And she's a good friend. But when I first got into TV at FS1, there was like kind of an FS live, which was like Fox's, Fox Sports version of highlights and all that kind of stuff. And then I did a show and she would host a show, like a player's show, players show, players only, I think it was called.

And it was like Gary Payton. and it was Dona McNab and it was anti-Rodic and it was just like it was cool so like that's where I first got my start I would be I would do kind of guest spots and just do that and then and then yeah then we did like a little bit of a college football show together and um the rest is history but yeah she's she's she knows football as well as anybody you know she does amazon's pregame show Thursday night she does our fox NFL Sunday morning show kick off to Sunday so she's she's an absolute B she's awesome she's great who she's and she's hilarious dude you got to stick around for this because she's she's the funniest storyteller as well yeah i'm glad she was able to fit this in because i feel like

her oh yeah super bowl week schedule probably outside of the players and coaches might be the busiest so oh yeah she fit us in like 20 she gave us 20 solid 20 yeah i appreciate that all right so before we bring on carissa this is going to be a fun one because it's time for our wendy's fresh take of the week fresh take of the week's presented of course by wendy's get yourself a four dollar bigie bite $6 biggie bag or $8 biggie bundle. That's where I would go with. Now at Wendy's. So Matt, for this week, our fresh take is going to be our favorite Super Bowl halftime performance.

Our personal favorite, not the public, our personal favorite. Would you like to go first or would you like me to dive in first? I'm going to go first because I really don't have, I really have no idea what you're going to say to this. Okay. Okay. I'm going to give an honorable mention first. 2020 Shakira and J. Lo, just because they look good doing it. I'm a big Shakira fan. Big Shakira fan. But here, this one, I'm not really like going off a ledger with this pick,

but it was my favorite because it was West Coast and it was 2022 halftime show in L.A. with Dre, Snoop, Eminem. Don't forget about 50. 50. 50 made an appearance. Mary Jay Blige made an appearance. but it opens up with with dray on the piano and doing his thing and like you know being a west coast guy knowing snoop kind of from back in the u scey days i just thought that half time was like an ode to old school and anyone that was born in the 80s or 90s just was like standing up bobbing their head being like oh hell yeah let's do it so that's that that's the most memorable one for me you know there were great ones obviously probably when we were younger like prince and michael jacks and all that, but one that I can remember that I was

like, oh yeah, I'm going to rewind that and watch it again. It was a couple years ago, the L.A. halftime show. That's a great one, especially, too. We're about the same age. I got a few years on you. That's just like, those are the dudes we grew up with. You know? So, for like the old head in me, it was like, oh,

like this is the one where like, yeah, you can't go. I got no idea where you're going to go with this one. Well, here's where I went with it. And I really thought about this for a while. And the Michael Jackson, 1993, performance, is my vote. This has nothing. to do with any of the around. I'm talking about just Super Bowl performance

because I think that's when everybody knew they got to step their game up. It was, yeah, I mean, he was... After that one, it was like, okay, no more of this Disney, like, we have to step on... He's the reason why people get excited for the halftime show. And to me, that's like kind of the first one

I could really remember. I was like 12 years old. I mean, I remember one, but that's the first one that stuck out. And whatever your thoughts are on Michael Jackson, you cannot take away the fact. that he did that performance in 93 and everybody said,

we better get in the lab and figure this out. What about the nip slip? That's, look, I thought that was a great one too. That's a great one. That's moment,

not performance, moment. For sure. And look, you could even like Prince famously 07, can't take that away from Prince. But again,

I think you get Prince because you had MJ in 93. So, and who knows how this one? What are your thoughts on, before we wrap it up, man? What are your thoughts on Bad Bunny? Are you,

I mean, You're gonna... Look, I am... I enjoy the halftime shows. I really do enjoy the halftime shows, but for me, when I'm watching at all... Like, I've only been to one Super Bowl. I mean, I've been to a bunch,

but I went to the Usher performance in Vegas, right? And it was cool to be there. It was cool. Of course, I like Usher's music. I, usually, when the halftime show goes, I get up, I stretch my legs, I get a little food, and I casually watch. So I'm like, it's,

probably going to be great. I'm going to do what I always do. I'm going to get some food, have a drink, and see what the man has. Let's see. Yeah. It's created quite the stir amongst fans. So we'll see what he brings to the table. But, dude, it's going to be fun, man. It's going to be a good one. And I think it's time now to get to the great and talented Carissa Thompson joining us. With MX Platinum, almost every purchase made with your card can be covered with with points, including new tastes, new fits, and virtually everything in between. That's the powerful backing of Amex.

Conditions apply. All right. So we're joined by the host of Fox NFL kickup on Sunday mornings and Prime Videos Thursday night football tonight, as well as the Calm Down podcast alongside her best friend, EA, Aaron Andrews. I didn't know if this was true. A record-setting high school javelin thrower. Is that accurate? Yeah.

Okay, hold on. Before you answer that. And the face of Lee Johnson Chevrolet and the Northwest. Carissa Thompson. Wow. What's up? That is quite an intro. I mean, some would be embarrassed by that, but not me. Not me at all.

Are you a jab? Were you, did you throw the Jafel? Yeah, the story behind that. Hi, Matt. Hi, Jerry. Thank you for having me on. The story, but I tried to pride myself as an athlete. I made varsity as a sophomore.

We were only a three-year high school school. So I was like, I'm killing it. The only other girl that made varsity as a sophomore was six. was 6-5. So if she didn't make it, it's a problem. So I'm like, I am such an athlete, obviously. So I want to stay in shape for basketball year-round. I'm playing A-HAU. But for my high school team, I was like, I'm going to run track to stay in shape. First event, 300 hurdles, knock them all over. The coach doesn't mean he goes, hey, there's a field portion of this program. You go throw the javelin, do something other than running. And I ended up loving it. Ironically, though, my boyfriend in high

school also threw the javelin and we had broken up so he thought it was like a whole scan to just like for me to be close to them. And I'm like, ew, get over yourself. Definitely needed Tommy John surgery after throwing the gallon. I called Neil Eletrage. I was like, yo, no, I'm kidding. But yeah, I held a record for a couple weeks. I'm sure it's been broken by now, but here we are. I feel like that's a whole rom-com, like loving basketball, except the track and field version. That would be amazing. The soundtrack for that movie, Maxwell, forget it. It's a way to weave in Matt's alma mater, fight on because definitely the fact drop was SC. Got it.

Yeah. Are you with us? Love and basketball? I try to remake that movie every year. Yeah, they played at SC. Oh, they played at SC. Yeah. I was going to say, was it DeCaprio in that movie? No. Yes. No, you're thinking of basketball diaries. That's right. Love and basketball. I've seen it. It's at USC. Yes, I got it.

Now, wait. How far back do you guys go? You feel like you guys know each other for a while? You guys go way back, right? I tell the story, Matt. So in college, I dated a USC baseball player. So I'm in school at UC Santa Barbara, go gauchos, and my boyfriend was on the baseball team. Well, I had a massive crush on Matt, and his wife Josie knows this.

It's already been discovered because everyone in the country had a massive crush on Matt Liner. You're the quarterback of USC, the national champions that you are. So my boyfriend even knew that I had a crush on him. So that's how it went. Anyways, I would see Matt at a Mexican restaurant that was near campus called El Cholo.

And I would see him there. And I was like stare at him awkwardly. And then my boyfriend's like, you're making this really weird. And I was like, oh, am I? Anyways, Matt and I didn't know each other than I was just his stalker. And then we formally met when he started working at Fox. But yeah, now I consider him more of a brother. Listen, we, you know, we hung out.

We're good friends. And I always tell Josie said, all of those experiences and things all lead to your significant other. So they all led me, my wife asked me all this shit all the time. I said, listen, babe, it doesn't matter if I dated her. Like, it all led me to you. Just like it all led you to. I wanted to date, Matt, but he was very busy with like, you know, Cindy Mancini, the

captain of the cheerleaders. For those of you that get the reference, you get it to go. That Heism was probably weighing him down to. like when he'd walk around with it all the time. Yeah, like his bookshelf or whatever, he's got it on back there. But I will say this about Carissa and who I just love and you, you were awesome.

We did, I was telling Jerry this, we did his FS Live show together in like 20, remember that? 2014? So it's my, well, you're a pro.

You've been doing it forever. That was my first year kind of getting to TV. And we did a show. It was, who was on the show with us? It was, play Travis? Jerry,

do you remember the show? The Best Damn Sports Show. I've been on it. I was fortunate enough to be on it before, yeah. I wish this show could still exist today. This show was awesome. So for those of you that don't know, it was a late,

basically like a late night sports talk show host. The host was Chris Rose, Rob Dibble, you had Rodney Pete, Michael Shrayhan, that was the first place. He used to come to, actually he was still playing for the Giants when he'd come on. Anyways, it was an awesome show.

So they tried to recreate that idea, but in conjunction with highlights. So they had two guys, Dan and Jay, who came over down from Canada, TSN, they would do highlights, and then we would do the late night talk show roundtable vibe. So Matt, you would come on, Gabe Kapler, you know, we had Donovan McNabb, we had Gary Payton, Andy Rodick was also so great. Andy Roddick is so sneaky, funny, and he's so dry, it was great. Anyways, so Matt was new to television, and you were great. You were such a team player because this was like local news. It was definitely not, not our best moments,

but we made the most of it. It was so, it was so fun too. And you probably saw this, but that's when I used to bring Cole around. And Cole was like six or seven. And I remember we're in the green room and I have two, two crazy stories. I remember the whole rock. Remember he painted you the rock or whatever? And I think you kept it forever. And then also we're in the green room and like, I love Gary Payton growing up, Jerry's, I'm sure he did. And I think we brought like playing cards or trading cards. And he was sitting with Cole. I don't know if you remember this, Chris.

He was sitting with Cole and Cole was open a pack of cards with him. He was just going like, oh, he was ass. Oh, he's commenting on every player. It was just, I had a video of it on my old phone. I lost it. It was so great. And now I just sent Cole off to college. So, you know.

Oh, my gosh. I know. Well, we're old. It happens. But Cole, I have to say your parent report card, because this is important for me to say because my parents always talk about this thing called a parent report card. If somebody comes up to them and says, oh, your son or your daughter's so nice, that gives them an A plus.

Pull is such a kind, great manner, look you in the eye, shake your hand, kid. So your parent report card on him is an A plus. Well, I appreciate that. Thank you. It's true. I've had a tough couple weeks over here. Matt's been crying since he dropped him off at college. He's using those bounty paper towels behind you to dry his tears.

You only need one sheet, no matter how many tears you cry. They're so durable. Exactly. Well, before, yeah, what are you doing with Bounty before we get into? I wanted to talk to about the Super Bowl, too. Yes. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. We can talk about all of it because there's synergy here.

As the host, I like to weave these things in. So the Super Bowl, of course, the New England Patriots. I'm from Seattle, so the Seattle Seahawks. So Rob Grankowski, even before we knew that we would be partnering up with such a great product, like these bounty paper towels behind me, gronk and i get the privilege of spending every sunday together in studio matt is very familiar with the green room we call it the avocado room because we're fun at fox and matt knows there's a massive spread in there everyone's eating and throughout the day i mean we're

there for 12 hours watching football so gronk and i will like be eating all the stuff we'll spill it everywhere and then people will remind us that we need to go back on national television so get it together so luckily we have bounty to clean up the messes we spill on ourselves and on the counter or anything else. So as we know that, you know, tailgating and Super Bowls also have a lot of parties. So you can't have football without wings and you can't have wings without bounty.

So Rob Gronkowski is my wingman, and I'm his wing woman and just love him. I wanted to ask you, what is it like when Fox has the Super Bowl for you? Like, what is that entire? Like, your preparation, you know, it's got to just be a little different, right? I mean, you could probably prepare the same way.

I don't know, but the Super Bowl, I get nervous thinking about like, oh, I'm covering the Super Bowl. Of course. Are you kidding me? Like I, Jerry, I grew up wanting to be a sports broadcaster. That was like there was no plan B. The same way you maybe wanted to be an actor, or Matt wanted to be an athlete.

Like, I didn't have a plan B. It was like, this either works or it doesn't. And so the first time I ever got to cover a Super Bowl, I was thinking to myself like, holy shit, if I could go back and tell the younger me, I get to stand on this field. I was standing on the field when Malcolm Butler intercepts Russell Wilson, you know, this now, the last time the Patriots and Seahawks met 11 years ago in that

horrific moment, if you are a Seattle Seahawks fan, but like being it, I was there on the field when the perfect season for the Patriots was ruined by the New York Jets. And Randy Moss walks by me and off the field, remember, and they had to try to call them back because they left the field before the game was even over. So just sitting there in these iconic moments as a fan of sports wanting to always do this job. I never, ever, ever take it for granted. I've been lucky enough to do this for almost 20 years and just had incredible front row seats to these sporting events. But yes, to your point, I'm sad that Fox doesn't get to cover it this year. Obviously, we have to share it equally with the other broadcasting partners like NBC and CBS, but and then ESPN now

is involved. But I love it. I love covering it. I'm bummed that I'm not going to actually have the credential to cover it this year, but I'm excited. What a great matchup. I'm I mean, look, nobody predicted this at the beginning of the year. And I don't need to tell you guys all the subplots and storylines for all of this. And Matt, I'm curious because I haven't talked to you yet since the NFC championship game, your Sam Darnold's opinion. I love Sam. But we nicknamed him the Red Rocket on this show or the Red Hammer. The Red Hammer because famously his great grandpa was like the Marlboro man.

And he was Richard Hammer. Yeah, his name, I think his name was Richard Hammer, like his acting stage. name, Dick Hammer, was his name actually. So Sam Darnold is the Red Hammer. It's us. We're the only people who call him the Red Hammer. I'm just so happy. Yeah, I'm so happy for him because obviously he's had such a,

and I've been a part of that where you just kind of get lost sometimes in organizations and he's been kind of just thrown around. And for him to have the success that he's had is awesome and playing for your hometown team. Are you a, obviously you're probably a diehard Seahawks fan, right, growing up in the Pacific Northwest. I will say, you know, admittingly 10 years ago when, you know, with a Legion of Boom and it was the first, like, yes, albeit the Seahawks had been to the Super Bowl with Matt Hasselback and that game that ended up losing to the Steelers. But it was 10 years ago, like there wasn't anything like that group. The Richard Sherman's, obviously I now work with over at Amazon, but like that, the Cam Chancellor, the Earl Thomas, like, that that whole nickname for a defense, it was very special.

Yeah. So I was like all in 10 years ago on saying I was a diehard fan. I'm now a fan of sports in Seattle for a couple different reasons. One, we've lost the Sonics. And so like in Seattle, that was a shame that should never happen. Should have never happened. And so sports in Seattle, you saw what happening with the World Series. My mother is still, we'll never get over it with the Mariners. But it's so amazing for the city. So I love it. Like my, I took my dad and my brother to the NFC championship game. And they were thrilled. Like, it's just an awesome sports town. They deserve that. It's obviously been over a decade since they've been back. So I'm happy for them. But also, Matt, like, you know me well enough. You've developed relationships with these guys in the league.

And I didn't want anyone to lose. I mean, I was introduced Matt will attest. Jerry, I was terrible at picking men. I should not have been a GM ever in terms of dating. Like, mine were all busts. All your draft picks, but did not work out. You got a great man right now, though. You got a great man.

Thank you. So Matt knows my terrible track record. And so I met my current boyfriend of three years, which is the longest relationship I've ever read, because Matthew Stafford was like, yo, you suck at picking men. So here's a guy you should date. So when I'm with my new boyfriend because of the Stafford family. And so it's things like that where like during that game, I was so torn because I'm like, I love the Stafford's, but then also I want Seattle to win.

So I'm happy that Seattle's in it. It's great for New England on the other side too, because imagine being Drake Bay or the pressure that comes with trying to fill the shoes of Tom Brady and be that next dynasty. So good for that young man. And I don't know. Jerry, you're a massive sports fan. Your take on this game as well. Here's what I'm concerned. Because like obviously after watching the Seahawks and the Rams battle like they did, it's like you want to assume that is probably going to be the champ.

But I can't think of a team I'd want to give the no one believes in us thing to. less than the Patriots and Mike Vrable. Because I'm sure he's going to take little bulletins and put it up saying everyone thinks our schedule sucked. We didn't play a real defense. We didn't play a real quarterback. So like he's using all of that because he's such a good

coach. That if I'm Seattle, I'm like every time someone in the media is like the Patriots didn't beat anybody, I'd be like stop saying that. Let this game play out because that scares me having Vrable and like no one believes we could win the Super ball with this team. That's

scary for the C-Hawks, I think. Well, and that's always, you know, any, there's an expression for a reason on any given Sunday, right? Yeah. I mean, it's Monday, Thursday, Sunday, sometimes Saturday. But yeah, I mean, it's why you play the game. So I'm just, I'm looking forward to all the subplots, the storylines, and it's still the Super Bowl.

The NFL's the greatest for it. So it'll be good no matter what. Chrissy, you, you, I always, I admire you, you know, we're close friends, but I've just admired you for all the stuff you've done. You're so versatile. in a tough industry, I think. And as you said, you were kind of born and you wanted to be in this. I'd be curious of just what is your advice to young girls who aspire to be you or to do the things that you are getting to do?

You're living out your dream as we speak. Thanks, Matt. That's very nice. I appreciate your endorsement as a friend, but as a colleague as well. I would say, you know, for me, it's always been about humility. Like this is this thing, whether you're an athlete, whether you're a sports project, castor, whether you're an actor, like all of this stuff is fleeting. And it's, it's all taken away in two seconds if you don't appreciate it. And for me, it's always been, you know, appreciate your position,

but remember how you got there. Like never as cliche as it all sounds, like don't not do your homework. Don't work hard. But also be nice along the way. Like that kind of stuff for me is I try to have that voice in the back of my head of if my parents were here right now and they saw me, would they be proud of the person that I was being. And I understand that sometimes the job comes with different stresses and things like that. But my advice to anybody that wants to get into a difficult industry is have humility, work hard, and be a nice person and hope that those things can carry you through. But also, you know, so many times people say to me like, oh, being a woman in sports, it's like a woman might open more doors because there's not as many of us, but also they can close quicker.

So making sure that, hey, let's not try to pretend you know everything here and asking those questions and being, like for you, you know, you've been such a good friend along the way. Like, I remember what I had to fill in on the college football shows, right? When Rob was gone, I think he was doing soccer or something, you know, you're only as good as your teammate. So if I sit on that desk and I come in as a fill in host, you guys could be complete jerks to me and it will make it not an enjoyable show or it makes it harder for me. So for me, it's always been sitting in that host chair.

I'm only as good as the people around me. And I've been so fortunate in the two decades of doing this to have really good people around me at Fox and at Amazon. So yeah, it's just, it's a combination of all those things. Well, that's what I... I mean, you got jazz music behind me. I mean, you got to, I can't hear it. The vibe is so...

I think you might hear this. Is this part of your writer that you want me to listen to jazz music in the background? It's so, it's just so white. I was going to say, like, I got really excited when you guys announced your podcast because I'm like, you know, rarely do we ever see two people, usually kind of, we even see with players, right? Like we have like active players who don't really say a whole lot, unless Draymond Green says a lot of stuff.

And then like the retired players kind of let stuff fly. And you and Aaron started the Calm Down podcast while you're literally in the height of your careers. And I thought that was such a good move because you don't ever see the behind the scenes and the other side of what's going on in your life. We see you when you're doing your job and you're great and we all know you.

But for me, I enjoy that because like we don't, I really started thinking, what people, whether it's broadcast, whatever their media positions are, who are currently doing it, who also are like having a show with their friend and they're kind of just being themselves and talking. So was that like an easy yes for you to do that

or was that took a little more time for both of you? Well, to be honest, Sherry, I think a lot of it was that Aaron and I have, you know, admittedly there's been a lot of things that have happened to us personally, professionally, stuff that you sit there and go, I'd like a do-over on that or I'd like it. You know, Aaron and I always lead with self-deprecation.

I think it's our way to disarm or, you know, be like, oh, look, I've got this massive Zid on my face. And everyone's like, I didn't even notice it. But it's like, we need to come into the room and just say the things that we think that everybody else is already thinking. So now we're endearing to the audience. And I think at some point in her and I can both work on that because you don't always have to do that.

But I think professionally we got to a place where we were comfortable enough to be like, hey, not everyone's going to like us. And that's okay. And, but we are comfortable enough in who we are or professionally what we've done to sit there and have conversations that maybe we wouldn't have had 10 years prior to that because we hadn't built up enough equity in it. And Matt knows me well enough to know that like, I'm the first to raise my hand and admit when I'm wrong on stuff. And hey, I could, you know, I'm the person that if I have that turnover in a basketball game, I run back down the court and I'm like, that's my bad, you know, because I think, that's so important to acknowledge that. So for us in terms of a platform of calm down,

it's an opportunity. Aaron, you know, in her role, doesn't get as much time on TV as I have, I have the luxury of doing a pregame show that's an hour, a halftime show, a postgame show that's an hour. On, you know, Sundays, I get a whole other hour. So for Aaron, I think it's been, at least just even as her friend, it's been nice to see other people see Aaron's personality, whereas they might not see that so much throughout a game because it's more X's and nos and not really allowing her to show how funny and, you know, it's self-deprecating, but yes, also successful. So all of those things, it's been a nice medium. And you guys, like, same for you. Like, don't you find, like, this platform is so fun to be able to just talk. It's especially when you enjoy the person that you're doing it

with, right? And you have a real friendship there. Sorry to interrupt you. Well, we're like reverse. We actually, like, met through this podcast, but then with the, thoughts of like we easily in like oh three oh four like beginnings of entourage for sure at the same party at some point we definitely were at the same clubs we we were like we could have been boys like our you know like kind of like their agents kind of came together it's like jerry was already pitching a show uh with our company that's such an LA thing of you our agents or well no that's really how it came about and I'm like I never got into the podcast space and kind of for the reason we're talking about just like I never really felt comfortable enough just

to like, hey, here's a mic, let's just talk and, like, let people really know who I was. But anyway, they're like, hey, do you want to possibly do a show with Turtle from Montarash? That was it. I was like, Jerry Ferrar. I'm like, I never met him, but he's, you're like, yes. Easy pitch. And we called each other. We were on the phone for like three hours.

And it was like, L.A., we have kids the same age. Like, there are a lot of life parallels. And it's been awesome working with Jerry. My first thoughts meeting Matt in person, I'm like, shit, I didn't realize you were this tall. Yeah. I knew you were tall. Jerry's, Jerry short. I'm short.

So I'm like, I knew you were tall because you're a court, but damn, I didn't know you were like six, five, bro. These pictures are going to be weird. You live in Cleveland. Is that right? Yes.

Yeah, we got to get his ass out there. A frozen tundra of Cleveland. Oh, it's where my wife, my wife grew up and we literally are expecting our third baby. Oh my God. Could be happening right now,

but I'm here talking. Oh, wow. Okay. But you know what? The podcast must go on. Yeah, she's only two centimeters dilated. Well, congratulations. That's very exciting.

Thank you. Thank you. Yeah. Yeah. C. Thanks, joining us. I know you're busy. I'm never too busy. This is wonderful. It's so nice to catch up with you guys. Thank you for having me. And do you know what you're having? A girl or boy?

No, this is the first one. We're just going to say, let's see what happens. Well, when your wife goes into labor, bounty paper towels, we'll clean up the mess. We're going to need them. We're going to need them, folks. All right, joining us as she always does each and every week, although this is a special week, because it's Super Bowl week. Annie Agar joins the show, courtesy of of twisted tea. Grab a refreshing twisted tea today. Me and Matt, well,

Matt's gonna host again. Me versus you. I feel like if I get you again this week, I got to go back against the big dog. Yeah. The big dog. I appreciate that. That's only fair.

It's the, yeah, we're in the losers bracket, right? It's not what Matt. It's all right, guys. Hey,

you guys still got a fighting chance. Let's go. We got some good ones. We've got some good ones this week. Wait, I'm question for Jerry. Big New, and maybe we don't say this on air or not,

but do we have a baby? We do have a baby. We do have a baby. You know why that makes me happy? Apparently on this little Zoom that I don't look like. I'm exhausted, but I am. So that's good news. Let's have Annie Bet.

What do you think? What do you think? Oh, yeah, we don't know. Okay. I'm going to say, I thought it was a boy. I thought it was going to be a boy. Is it a boy? You are correct.

Wow. So it is nameless. We were talking on the A block because we're having a hard time with the name. We keep going back and forth. I think we should just let the Super Bowl. MVP be the name. Oh, that's a great idea. And if it's Ramandre, then like, hey, you're named after Super Bowl MVP Ramandre Stevenson. Right. I feel like Brie probably wouldn't go for that, but I mean,

it's a good shot. It's a good try. Sam is a great name. Sam. Well, okay, before we get... Then you can call him the red hammer. Right, because I'm sure he's going to have red hair. Well, no, this is our Italian being here. If he has red hair, Jerry, you should have a conversation with your wife. I'll send you a picture, Annie. All our kids have been kind of blonde, but I'll send you a pick. This is the Italian baby. Oh, good. I'm like hair on his shoulders, hair on his head.

So now you, you are not at your normal location. You are the advanced scout team over there in San Fran already. How has your first few days in San Francisco been? It is wild here. Radio Row was packed on a Tuesday. So yesterday was the first day when on Radio Row. And that's obviously where all the media is and everything. And usually it doesn't pick up until Wednesday or first.

like end of Wednesday, early Thursday. I've not ever seen that many people on Radio Row that early. Like, Cam Newton's walking around. I saw Brandon Marshall. Charles Woodson I talked to for a little while. Like all the big guys usually come in later. And it's just, it's amazing to me how busy it is. And it's a little bit more condensed than past year.

So it just feels a lot busier too. But yeah, it was wild today. What does your schedule look like for this week? Yeah. So we're doing Radio Row all week. And I'll go, like I'll try to do some content. but it's mostly just hopping on other people's pods and stuff like that or or their shows. Like tomorrow I'm going to be on Good Morning Football.

So excited. Oh, yeah. Let's go. Very excited for that. And people just grab you. Like you guys probably know, right? I'm sure Matt's gone around. Come on the show.

Come on the show. Yeah. You have no idea where you're going. And you can't get through it with that, which I'm so grateful for because obviously that means people want you on their shows and stuff. But it's just hard to get around because they constantly, everybody wants to talk to everybody and everybody's got their little angle and their, you know, their thing. So yeah, it was, it's wild.

But that's kind of what we're doing this week. And then we'll be at like parties at night, you know, because that's also networking. Like everybody thinks so you can take a break at night. Oh, no. No, there's parties to like 2 a.m. That you go network at. But as I was talking to you guys off air,

it's kind of all spread out here. So people, I don't know if people are staying right downtown and not going to those or if they're venturing out. I don't, I don't know. But it's very spread out in California. So that's interesting. Well, welcome to the West Coast. Good weather.

Yeah. 80 degrees where I'm living right now. People keep asking me the best Super Bowl I've been to. I think it was Vegas. Believe it or not. Vegas was so fun. That was fun. So fun.

And everything was right there. Well, the city is built to host millions of people and entertain. They should have it in Vegas every year in my opinion. Oh, it was so fun. Do you guys want some fun trivia before we start the trivia? Ooh. Yeah. This show, throwbacks, you could essentially say, speaking of births, was born at the Las Vegas

Super Bowl. That is the first sit-down dinner. have with Eric Wells. No way. Let's do a show. Let's do. We got this whole network. I'm like, ah, that it was, it happened in Vegas.

So, Vegas birthing yet another child. I was going to say, I'm sure a lot of children are born. A lot of things were born in Vegas. A lot of things happened in Vegas. All right, guys, I mean, listen, I'm in, I'm in the host here. Do we want to start this now? We're going to do Twisted Tea trivia. We're just going to do Super Bowl edition.

All right? It's pretty vague. So any Super Bowl. Yeah, I mean, yeah. I mean, for the questions, pretty much any Super Bowl, and then the pictures have to do with the two teams playing. Okay. Okay.

All right. Let's go, Annie. Good luck. All right. First question. Who holds the record for longest interception return in Super Bowl history? I think I know it. Yeah.

I mean, James Harrison? James Harrison is correct. Matt, you had a good look at that one, right? I did. I was like, Kurt, what are you doing, bro? Kurt, what are you throwing right to him? Kurt, that's game, even though it wasn't game. It was 99.

It was 99 yards. I mean, it had to be. It was the Super Bowl we were in against the Steelers. Kurt's half, right? Wasn't it like right before the half? Right before the half? That's such a distinct play. Yeah.

Okay. Number two, all right, 1.0. Jerry. Number two, which player has the only opening play touchdown in Super Bowl history? Daven Hester. Devon Hester. Dang it. Jerry is just on. That was going to be my guess for the first one.

And I knew it wasn't right. But that was only. Annie, you need to step your game up. Let's go. Annie, I'm locked in right now. Guys, I've been up since 5am. I'm really. You got this.

Let's go. Lock in. Lock in. You have to win this one. I can always fall back on the pictures, but I have to get this one. Okay, go. All right.

Last question. Which team has the most Super Bowl appearances in NFL history? tree? Patriots? Yep. What a guess. I was like going like Steelers or something. That was huge, Annie. That was huge. That was huge. That's like scoring before the end of the half like James Harrison did to keep it a lot. changed them out a little bit. That was huge. All right. So Jerry's up two to one. We have two photos. As usual, we are going to close our eyes. And then when the picture is up,

I will say open. Okay. All right. Two one. Annie, you need to get this one. Close your eyes. Picture up. please and open. Oh no. It looks like who does it look like? It's not Malcolm Butler, is it?

That's what? Malcolm Butler? Are you kidding me? I was going to say that. I'm not kidding. Is he coaching? Do I not know he's coaching? That's a pregame warm up, dude.

That's pregame warm. Oh, dude, he looks like a coach right there. I should have known they're not wired in. That was my fault. Listen, I'm going to give, I want to give Annie a bonus here. Is that okay, Jerry? I do not believe I didn't say that. So there's one more picture, but you get to guess this, Jerry.

Annie has to guess the person. And then you have to guess the college in order for you to maybe step away with the ties. I'm giving you a shot. But Jerry still can guess. If he guesses it, he wins. You have to at least get the guess and then you have to get a, I'm terrible. I'm terrible. You guys, if you get it, you'll see.

see. Okay. All right. Close your eyes. And open your eyes. Oh, no. Is that, um, I love how Jerry's always, is that, um, like, is it a guess or no? Well, what's the, I don't want to say it because if I'm raw, is that Kenneth Walker? No. Nope. Annie, you got a shot. Oh, no, I have no guess. All right. Annie, do you want to hit? Seattle lore is like not, yeah, go ahead. Let me give you a hint. He was Super Bowl MVP. Oh, oh gosh. Is it Malcolm Smith? Yes.

Let's go. Let's go. All right. You better not know it's school. Now you have to name that college. Yes. For the tie. This will be a total guess because I do not remember.

I don't even know what conference. Malcolm Smith. Don't overthink it. Oh, now you're making me overthinking more. Oh, boy. I'm just going to throw it out there. Oh, gosh. Don't do it.

Don't do it. Let me give you one hint. Okay. Oh, I just looked it up. He's from California. Oh, no. Well, that changes things. I'm trying, Jerry.

I try to give her some lifeline here. I'm, okay. I'm going to guess. Did he go to USC? Yes. Let's go. We got her back. A tie is a tie.

By the way, look how happy you are for getting the tie. Yeah, that's pretty pathetic. Hey, this is my second tied year. That's a hard fight. Dallas and Green Bay. A tie. That's right.

That's true. Hey, teams make the playoffs off those ties. Not mine, but something, you know. All right. Well, before we let's just do the thing everybody's doing. And I'm sure you maybe said it on Radio Row, but for our audience, let's get our sweet. Super Bowl picks in.

You could do score if you want to, or you could just say who's going to win. We're going to start. And if you want to throw an MVP, just we'll have the fun with it. Yeah. Annie Agar, who is your Super Bowl champion and who is your Super Bowl MVP? I'm going to say the Seattle Seahawks, I've not been giving score predictions this week, but I said by two scores. And it's going to be Sam Darnold.

Wow. It's going to be the. Really going out on a ledge there. Really on a whim here, but how funny it would be. Because let me just follow that up. I was going to be miserable. Oh, really? Yeah.

I think the Seahawks are going to win. I think it's going to be a little closer than two scores, but I do think they'll cover. I believe the spread's four and a half. Is that where it got up to? Yeah. I like Seattle minus some points. And then I'll go, you know what?

I'm going to go JSN, Jackson Smith and Jigba. I'm going to throw a receiver in there. I would love for him. I mean, he's, yeah, he's the best receiver in the league. outside of Puka. I think he's got a real shot. I think Sammy plays well. I think this kid has a big, big game and gets the MVP.

You know, Matt, we were talking, Annie and I were talking off the air when you stepped away earlier, and we're not trying to make this first take where someone has to disagree. This is my honest opinion. I went through a bunch of different versions of this game. I'm going the Patriots,

and I'm going the MVP. Should be Mike Vrable. It won't be. I think Mike Vrable, I'm not buying this Drake May shoulder thing. Tom Brady was on every injury report for every Super Bowl. Dude was not injured ever. I'm going,

Pat's very, very close game. I'm going to go defensive MVP, Christian Gonzalez. But that's really hard as a defensive player, but I think that Von Miller snaps. And I give you my long shot MVP, if it is the Seahawks, and they ain't going to be Sam Donald.

Watch your boy Shaheed. If they kick one to him, that is a big mistake. He might get a return touchdown and a receiving touchdown in a close game. But I'm going Pats, Christian Gonzalez. Wow. All right, Jerry.

I don't trust the Patriots and Vrable. They're up to something. I don't like it. Brable already on busting with the boys, making penis jokes. Like, I, he's too calm. That's good. He's too calm.

Maybe you should make it. That is a calm dude. Brable. It's a great name. Yeah. Something tells you, Mike McDonald is not making penis jokes. I'm busting with the boys five days before the Super Bowl.

No, he's scheming up his defense, actually. doing the Lord's work. Exactly. All right. Well, have fun, Annie. And yeah, let's go. Super Bowl, baby. It's going to be a great, great weekend.

We'll see you this week.