Throwbacks with Matt Leinart & Jerry Ferrara - Savannah Bananas Owner Jesse Cole Joins PLUS Our All-Time HR Squad & Coach/Director Rage

Episode Date: July 10, 2025

Banana-mania has taken over!  On the latest edition of Throwbacks, Savannah Bananas founder and owner, Jesse Cole, joins the show discussing the team’s humble beginnings, their approach to entertainment and the rule changes that make their brand of baseball so unique.  Plus, Matt and Jerry list their all-time left-handed pitching rotation in honor of Clayton Kershaw’s 3,000th strikeout and we draft our all-time Home Run squads in honor of Major League Baseball’s upcoming Home Run Derby.  Matt also tells us the angriest he’s ever seen a football coach, and Jerry tells us why he’s relieved to have basketball season in the rearview mirror.  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    Find your new favorite Frosty Fusions™ flavor today with choices like OREO® Brownie, Caramel Crunch, and Pop-Tarts® Strawberry.  https://m-wendys.app.link/frostyswirl25  Zip Recruiter  Try FOR FREE at http://Ziprecruiter.com/Throwbacks  Nissan  The 2025 Nissan Pathfinder Rock Creek.  Adventure ready and free from new tariffs.  Learn more at https://www.nissanusa.com/   NHTSA  Speeding Catches Up With You.  Paid for by NHTSA https://www.nhtsa.gov/campaign/speeding-catches-up-with-you?utm_source=sinclair&utm_medium=read&utm_campaign=speed2025&utm_content=dogwalker  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

we gotta change the game. And so I looked at what with all the boring parts of a baseball game, batter stepping out of the box, mound visits, walks, bunting, swing the bat. And we say bunting sucks. If you bunch are thrown out of the game. Like literally that's a rule. You bunch are thrown out of the game. No one bunts. We're back, Maddie. Couple of weeks off. Couple of weeks off. I think I know now. I remember this too, even like, you know, doing entourage and power and all those shows.

Like you get a week off, it's kind of awesome. But now I felt like we're an NFL team that had like an easy win and then a bye week. I just felt like we've been chilling for two weeks. We have been chilling for two weeks, man. Vacation, I was at the lake for a week, just enjoying the rays, man. You're such like a Manhattan beach dude though,

to see you on the lake. I think we talked the other day, I'm like, I like lake life liner. I'm used to you like the beach, you have a lake life vibe. we talked the other day. I'm like, I like Lake Life liner. I'm used to like the beach. You have a Lake Life vibe. I did, you know what? It's my favorite. I posted it this week.

It's my happy place. So I grew up going to Lake Shasta and house boating and my uncle had a boat. So it just was like, it was just our favorite vacation. Again, we didn't have a lot of money growing. So it was like the one vacation we went on a year was a summer, it was like a week and a half in the summer on a lake.

And as I got older, I got a boat. I bought a boat like in 2007 or eight, I actually sold it a couple of years ago. But like the lake life is like what I just, I can't wait to get to that week every summer. And we've been taking coal. So coal loves it. Our boys love it.

Josie grew up on the ocean, right? She grew up in the keys and Florida and all that. So it's much different, but she loves it now. Um, so we went up to Bass Lake and we did the fourth there. So it was the first time typically we're always there like the after the week after the fourth, But I posted about this, they do a fireworks show on the lake and we were in our boat.

So imagine like, I mean, it's a beautiful lake. It's not very big, but there's houses everywhere on the water, we have an awesome setup. So we're just kind of, you're cruising about five miles per hour. Every boat has their light on the sunsets. It's beautiful in the mountains. And there's about 500 boats just kind of idling

and then watching the show for like 30 minutes. And then honestly, it's like four or five, dude. It's like LA traffic trying to get back to your house at like 9.45 at night, just bobbing and weaving and boats and pontoons and people partying, music and all that. I will say this, I just thought about this. My five-year-old, Kason, is a fucking animal, dude.

Like, you, he's, so, let me tell you what happened. This poor kid, he's the one that we're more afraid of because he's fearless, right? He'll do anything. So, throughout the week, he got, I think he got a bug bite on his face. He had this big mark on his face, which, whatever, he couldn't control.

One of our friend's daughters kicked him in the face and like scratched him big right here. Kids getting lumped up this whole trip. Then I'm pulling, you know, like I'm obvious, I've been driving a boat forever, I'm super safe, but I'm going, it was, I think it was fourth of July, day of the day before, where it just gets really crowded on this lake.

So it's like the water's choppy. It's not, it's just like, it gives me anxiety pulling kids behind the boat when there's a boat a hundred yards behind me. You have to be on point. Yeah, and I always am, but I was going like 10 miles per hour just starting. And it was one of those tubes where they sit,

you kind of sit up, but I didn't realize these things can freaking fly, dude. Yeah, they catch the air under it. They're pretty sick, but they're not meant for five-year-olds. Point is, his case in hits a bump and he goes forward instead of like going backwards, he goes forward, his whole neck and face land on the rope,

like that's pulling it. And he is, I'm telling you, Jerry, when I say he's tough as nails, he's tough as nails, toughest kid I've ever met. He was bawling, crying. We're like, okay, he got hurt on that one. We bring him in. This dude had a whole rope.

Rope burn. Oh, like this. So he's got this whole neck that one. We bring him in. This dude had a whole rope. Rope burn. Oh, like this. So he's got this whole neck that looks like he got strangled. He's got a big old like slash cut here, but it looked like he went five rounds with Tyson, dude. And just, and by the way, gets out of the water, kind of calms him down. He's like, daddy, I want to go again. And we're like, yeah, buddy, let's probably let's set this one out for a couple hours

because we like, he might've got concussed. Like we were like kind of watching him close, but, um, kids an absolute fricking monster, but so like trip amazing. Uh, fourth of July was amazing. Um, sad it's over, but you know, happy to be back with you, bro. How was your, do you guys do the same thing as, I mean, I breeze much more calm when the kids get hurt. I am, I, I bring the blue tent out and they go right into concussion

protocol. You and Joe are the same. You and Joe are the same. I bring the blue tent out. I run the concussion tests. I'm just saying, Oh, this kid's definitely got CTE now. You, you, she would tell you this. This, you guys got to do a segment on this. She gives me so much more stress anxiety than the actual situation. Now, again, to give her credit, like one of us has to be that way. Now to give her credit, she definitely reacts quicker to everything. So whether he's actually hurt or not, it takes me like, I'm very well aware. Like I saw the whole thing happened. It scared him. It screwed up his neck, but like he was fine. If it was like an emergency, I would be calm,

but I would act fast. But a lot of times I kind of act a little slower. I kind of like, hey, let me look at the situation really quick and then like assess it. She is like about to jump out the boat. Oh my God. And then the kids panic more when they see the parents panic. I tell her, I'm like, you have to deescalate the situation.

And you're such a quarterback, bro. Oh, dude. That's like quarterback. I just feel like you're in the huddle being like, guys, you're telling your own line to calm down. Stop jumping. No, she, I'm just so, I'm very calm. And I mean, I have my moments and there's moments where if like I panic,

then she knows like, oh shit, something's wrong. But like even in that instance, I'm like, babe, calm down. One, tell him how great he did. He's crying because he got scared. He's not hurt. We know that. We looked at his eyes. We're like, he's got a burn that was pretty bad,

but he'll live. It was fine. It was fine. So yeah, by the way, you tell me that gives me anxiety. People are like, you guys need to fucking relax. Just relax. Well, I got a couple of quick recap stories, but I don't want to bury the lead on the episode We got a great guest today and this comes from the liner life because a few weeks ago We talked about you throughout the first pitch of the savannah bananas game you threw an absolute strike with a football

Yes, which started the next batter. 0-1. Those are banana rules. The celebrity first pitch counts in the game. And you had the great idea. You said we should talk to Jesse Cole, the founder, creator of the Savannah Bananas because they are blowing up. And we had a little sit down with him that we're gonna drop for you guys

right after the first break. But that was, I love his stories outstanding. It's, what a visionary, right? Like just incredible where they started and what his vision was for just like, really like, it's simple, like, how do I make baseball fun? Like, how do I make this fun for people, for the fan, for the viewer, right?

Like, how do you make it shorter? What can we do to interact the fans with the game but still have a competitive style of game? He's incredible, like what he's built and continues to build and where this goes from here. He's a really fascinating human being, you know? Really fascinating what he's done. And we talked about it the week, like when I did that,

I was like, I have a million questions for this guy. Like just like, he's such a fascinating person and they're blowing up, man. Like they're like stadium tours. Do you know, has this ever happened to you where I was like a little aware of them, but when you threw out the first pitch, that's where I really started.

Okay, let me check out their social media. Let me figure out what this is. And then inadvertently, it's like when you put things out there in the world, neighbors, friends I'm running into, it would come up in conversation without me bringing it up. I'm like, that's so crazy. You bring that up. We have the founder on the podcast and my cohost, Matt, they're like, Oh, who's liner? I said like my cohost, Matt, you mean Matt liner? And I've now since heard about them from 15 other families and a bunch of us are gonna try to go down to Pittsburgh.

Did you gotta go? To PNC, which is an amazing baseball stadium, by the way, with all the kids. What's that drive? What's that, a couple hours? Hour and a half, hour and a half. Dude, you gotta go, hit them up. You hit up their PR guy who's great,

and your boys will have, even like, this is what I would do. I would start to watch a little, like let them watch some of the social. We've been watching the social. Yeah, we've been doing that. Instagram, so they can get a feel for that. Like, cause that's what we did with the boys.

And then when we were there, I mean, they are just their first class, man. You guys will be in the dugout. Like you'll be in the dugout during the game and see it all from like,. Yeah, I'm watching it Like we were we had a we had a suite at Angel Stadium, which was awesome, too Like the whole in-game experience is is so Incredible, but you're gonna be like that. They're so great

He'll take care of you like the boys will be like even Brie who's like probably has no interest in what it is Like Josie walked away was like, wow, that was amazing. Like I would know they can get Bree. They could lock Bree in as a fan. Oh, it was she this she'll lock into. Dude, you got to dial in and get the merch. Well, I'm about to say something else that I don't think you'd expect me to say. Do you know what else I have been enjoying?

No basketball golf. Have you been going? No. Yes. Look at my tan. I swear, since the next season ended, I obviously watched the finals. No basketball. Golf? Have you been golfing? No. Yes. Look at my tan. I swear since the next season ended, I obviously watched the finals. It's been a few weeks since we dropped an episode. That was such a grind of fan. I have enjoyed.

Okay. It's eight o'clock at night. Kids are getting ready for bed. I don't have to gear up like I'm going to fan war. Of course I want more basketball, but it got me thinking. I watch a little. I keep up with the basketball, but it got me thinking. I watch a little, I keep up with the Yankees and stuff like that. But if you could just say for one year, you know what, we're going to air this sport for two months in the summer, besides baseball.

Which one? Live or just like? Yeah, yeah. Let's say for two months, we're going to do like, we're going to do two months worth of games that'll count toward the regular season. Oh, football. Easy. It would be football for you? Yeah. Yeah, I think so too. Specifically NFL, not college, right?

Yeah, I've talked more, I've watched, joking aside, I've watched more and talked more basketball in the last six months with you than I have in my whole entire life. And I gotta be honest- You're catching me in a good time. No, I know, and I gotta be honest, it're catching me in a good time. No, I know. And I gotta be honest, it is nice not to have to talk.

Although, Nix did get a new head coach. But just, you know, like, let's just, let's just talk about some of the shit this summer, man. I mean, it's summer. You know, the NBA finals went seven games, right? Which was a great finals. It was the longest playoff that we had

in a very long time. It went right into the NBA draft almost instantaneously. And then free agency, it's all happened right in a week. And then free agency was bananas. It was, it was, I couldn't keep up. I didn't realize, I love, I love NBA free agency. I love it. I think it's so fun.

I didn't re like, maybe it was cause I was on vacation, but like, it was like the finals ended. Okay. Then the draft happened like a few days later. Then I was like, I thought there was like a build up to free agency. I'm like, oh, I can't wait for agents. It just happened. I was like, what the fuck just happened? And then I'm seeing like, Lakers get Deandre Ayton. I'm seeing LeBron might leave. I'm like, so what are we, what are we doing here, man? Did any of the moves stand out to you? Like whether it was the Lillard wave and stretching his contract or Kevin Durant now on yet another team. You know what's interesting? And really has a good squad now finally. Yeah.

There's no excuses. That team is really good. So Cam Whitmore, right? Where did he just go? He just went to- They let him walk to Washington where he might average like 28 off the bench. So this is a total random, but I went, remember that I went to the Clippers Rockets game,

which you were supposed to go to. Yes. And you, you, you cheated on me. Some guys not play though. No, but, but my point is, is I remember watching that game and yeah, like none of, well, actually all the, all the Rockets played like Jalen Green played sangoon didn't play But Jalen Green played and Whitmore played and I remember I I shit you not I remember watching this I'm thinking like this kid is freaking good like big 6-6 big body like he was he looked the part. I was like I remember him in college

I think I was like who is this guy and then I looked at his body like he doesn't play So then when this deal happened, I'm in college. I think I was like, who is this guy? And then I looked at his body like he doesn't play So then when this deal happened, I'm like dude, this dude is gonna be a star Like he's gonna and that's why like they were like, I don't know what they got for him But I'm Tony like nothing I think like a second round pick He's gonna be 20 to 25 a game Garin watch next year Like he was that good cuz he had like 15 that game of Mike, but he never plays he got a shot to play He's in a place now where he might have the green light. He's a good player, man. So like they got rid of, but yeah, KD, the Rockets are stacked.

They they're like, that's a team. Well, again, look, you have to, it's kind of, it's like the okay, it's okay. See, like how do you beat okay. See, they have eight or nine guys deep. They play great defense. They're long. Like you need depth. You need to build like, and the Rockets are building that man. That'd be interesting. When do you start to, I know you're always like keeping up with college football because it's your job and stuff, but when do you, are you locked in yet? When do you really start to lock in for like big noon and cause it comes up a little quicker than NFL obviously. I think we're eight Saturdays almost we're eight Saturdays away from football,

which is crazy. Two months away from football. So it's almost time for you to start. Yeah, like August, like we'll do our retreat, our Fox retreat first week of August, which is awesome. It's all the NFL guys. It was, it's all college. It's like a big two day party, kind of a summit thing

just to get everybody together, talk about kind of, we have our college football meetings, kind of talk about what's new, blah, blah, blah. But it really kind of kicks off like, all right, boys, it's like go time. We got about three weeks. So I actually, I get like, so Phil Steele has a great magazine

that I just start reading a little bit. I just start notes and reading. And all that. Because it's a new, it's just, it's not like the NFL where, you know, like there's just a new prop of studs all over the place. That's the crazy thing about college. It's like the transfer portal has just made it way more,

not more difficult to cover, but like. But for your job, it's different because, you know, but like we got Texas, we got Texas, Ohio state, week one in Columbus, which you should go to. I'm coming. I'm a hundred percent coming. I mean, that's one versus two. I mean, it might be one versus three,

but like that's the biggest, might be the biggest game of the year, you know, to kick off the season, which is awesome. But yeah, I got a couple more weeks, buddy. I got some stuff, you know, a couple more weeks. And then I'll really, once August hits, I'll really start to like, I'll read a lot more, you know, just read, research a little bit and kind of get ready, man.

Yeah, I don't know about, you know, usually for me with the NFL, it's when you start. I, and I already got that first email of fantasy football. Yeah. When are you, when are you available for the fantasy draft? I have a league for us, by the way, if you want to split a team, which could be fun for us. Is it, is it, what kind of league is it?

It's auctionly. I trust me. Just I'll run it. You could just be with me on it. I will. I mean, I won't make it a big time commitment for you, but I think you'll enjoy it's a good group of guys. A lot of a lot of Hollywood types in there. I want to learn more about the auction. I'm slow. I'm slow playing it with football. All right. It's now time for the flavor of the week presented by Wendy's.

Find your new favorite frosty fusions flavors today with choices like Oreo, Brownie, caramel crunch and pop tarts, strawberry. We don't talk a whole lot of baseball on this show. And I was a little surprised to find out Clayton Kershaw became the 20th pitcher in baseball history to reach 3000 strikeouts. I thought it was probably more. 3000 strikeout, dude, he's been playing for 20 years. No, I know it's a lot, but for some reason in my head, I just 20 didn't sound like enough. But I guess when you really think about it, that is a lot.

And then it got us thinking, you know, you're a lefty. We all know that you're one of the more famous. Yeah, you're one of the more famous lefty sports. I saw Kershaw in Manhattan Beach. That's like your boy. I feel like that's, that would be your boy. No, I ran into him on the street. He was awesome.

He's with this kid. I think he's got a, he's got a place there. He rents or he bought whatever, but he's there. People see him all the time. So he might be, I don't think he lives there full time, but yeah, I saw him just walking like where you and I were walking. I talked to him for like a minute, like just, you know,

whatever, but it was before he started going back. Yeah, just a great dude. Well, as an exercise being that you were a lefty pitcher, lefty quarterback, start thinking, I don't know, if you were going to make a rotation of lefty pitchers Or even just some of your favorite lefty pitchers, however, you want to think about it Where is? Kershaw on that and what's Matt liner? It's

Rotation of lefty pitchers. You gotta run a few people who you running out game one. I mean Kershaw and his prime probably. Yeah. Randy Johnson. The big unit. He's got to be. Yeah.

He's your game one and two starter. Sandy Koufax, arguably the best pitcher of all time. That's three right there. Um, ooh, Tom Glavin. I think if you're running it out there. Yeah. He's got to be up there. I think Koufax starts game one. I think Randy Johnson starts game two. Kershaw

Pivotal game three. I think you can go Kershaw Pivotal game three. Maybe it's a road game and then it starts getting interesting. Glavin, I mean, who else? I put my guy Cece in there, Sabathia. I give him a little, I mean for a playoff pitcher, um, Johann Santana? Johann Santana? He's awesome! Go look at the Johann Santana numbers. Matt, there's not a lot of lefty pitchers. I didn't see Steve Carlton. I'm sorry, I didn't see some of the great lefties

before 1985. I don't know. So I can't really throw them up there because I just didn't see him pitch. Baumgartner. Baumgartner. I mean, what about Don Trel? I don't know so I can't really throw them up there cuz I bomb garden bomb gardener Bum gardener. I mean what about don? I know I'm just saying Don trell is a very accomplished playoff lefty and he could hit as we know don't try fan of Throwbacks we had him on the show

You're right. There's not really there's not a lot like all like all time all time like Hall of Fame like Steve Avery Steve Avery was good I think glad and glad that would have been my fourth gladness for I'm tell I might go CC sabathia might be my game five If we're running a five-man out there, I think CC makes the cut you so I got a Yankee bias trivia question Did you already answer your own trivia question? Do you see there's only? Four left-handed pitchers ever to reach 3,000 K's. Kershaw obviously being the fourth. I would say, I don't know the answer. Randy Johnson, probably Kofax maybe?

I don't know. And Glavin, I think it's the four. Do you have the answers? Do I need the answers? Can we get the answers in the chat? Okay, Randy Johnson Randy for sure No, Kofax. No Sandy Kofax. Keep going and you run it out there. Chris sale. No. Oh, Andy Pettit Oh CC sabathia is on the list Andy Pettit Well, no, I think those are like just good lefties. The list is no I know Johnson one

CC Warren spawn No, I know. Randy Johnson won. Cece. Warren Spahn. Steve Carlton. Steve Carlton. And now Kershaw. By the way, maybe we slept on Andy Pettit

or is that more Yankee bias for me? Think about those. No, Andy Pettit was, I mean, talking about big game pitchers for sure. Like he was a beast. And this is for the baseball nerds in Alaska. He also juiced. Best pickoff move probably of all time, Andy Pettit.

He also juiced. Andy Pett time. And he also juiced. Andy Pettit did? Didn't he juice? Probably. He got, he got. It's for injuries though. He was injury maintenance. He was not bulked up.

We're going to maybe talk. We'll talk some baseball steroids in a minute, but now it is officially time to get Jesse Cole, owner, founder of the Savannah Bananas. Let's go. founder of the Savannah bananas. Let's go. This episode is brought to you by Adidas. When the frustration grows and the doubts start to creep in,

we all need someone who has our back. To tell us we'll be okay, to remind us of our ability to believe, because their belief in us transfers to self belief and reminds us of all that we're capable of. We all need someone to make us believe. Hashtag, you got this. No musical talent required. La la! Wait, what key is this? Must be legal drinking age.

No purchase necessary. What's better than a well marbled ribeye sizzling on the barbecue? A well marbled ribeye sizzling on the barbecue that was carefully selected by an Instacart shopper and delivered to your door. A well marbled ribeye you ordered without even leaving the kiddie pool. Alright, Jesse Cole, thank you for joining us. I was, I was hoping you were going to be decked in yellow. And I should have never doubted that for one second, right? Not one second should I have doubted that. It's all I got.

I own nine of these yellow tuxedos. I got an extra one in case that I lose one. That was my next question. How many you have and honestly, a it's great for what you do, but also like, I would like the idea of not having to wake up thinking, oh, what am I gonna wear today? You know what you're wearing. If I'm going to work yellow tuxedo,

if I'm being a dad, I'm in full dad mode. So this is a work day, so we're not gonna do that. I was gonna ask, what does your closet look like outside of the yellow tuxes? Just normal everyday clothes? Yes, I can be normal. People don't, most people I work with don't understand it, but I can be normal for a few days.

Well, first of all, thanks for joining us, man. I had a chance. You guys are incredible. I had a chance to meet you a couple weeks ago. And my boys are still talking about it. By the way, my oldest son, I think you guys had like, he's like, dad, if football doesn't work out, I want to be a part of Banana Ball.

They don't have a football element to this show. I think I could bring that. I was like, that's actually not a bad idea, buddy, but I hope be a part of Banana Ball. They don't have a football element to this show. I think I could bring that. I was like, that's actually not a bad idea, buddy, but I hope football works out for your sake. But, and I know you've talked about this, Jesse, but just the birth of Banana Ball. And was there, in sports, we always have kind of like an aha moment when you make it

or something that changed. What was the aha moment for you when you're like hmm this this is my vision this could actually work. Well we're still learning that every day I mean if you don't realize every day we're failing with things when you do 10 to 15 brand new things every night certain things don't go well I mean I don't need to get into the living pinata promotion or the pregnant woman pants off and I could keep going but the reality is the, the reality is, uh, you know, I was, I played, you know, I played division one baseball, uh, played pro ball and tore my shoulder into my career.

And everyone thought I was gonna go into coaching. And I realized when I was coaching, I was like, I am bored out of my mind. Like I, you know, playing a game is one thing that, you know, like you're playing the game, just watching it's like, I want to be in the action. I want to impact the game. And I'm just sitting there coaching. And I remember I was coaching the Cape Cod league and some of the best college players in the country.

And I was like, wow, I get the best seat. I'm in the dugout. I'm watching some of the best players. I have an idea of what's about to happen to the game and I'm still bored. Imagine how many fans are bored as well. And so that's when I had a long road. I worked with a small team and guests during North Carolina, 10 years, just tried a bunch of things, grandma, beauty pageants, flatulence, fun nights. Uh, salute to underwear nights.

Uh, you know, I started reading every book from, you know, PT bar and Walt Disney, cause I was like, we can't just be a baseball team. We got to make it fun. And so then luckily I met my wife and Emily and I, um, future wife. I proposed in front of a sold out crowd and, uh, stopped the game fireworks show in the middle of the game. The umpire's like, absolutely. I'm like, this is our moment.

We're going to own it. Yes. Thank goodness. She said yes. And, uh, and she surprised me with trips to Savannah and that's where Savannah started, we launched a brand new team in Savannah, proceeded to fail, um, sold two tickets in our first three months, uh, ran out of money, missed payroll, had to sell our house, uh, sleeping on an air bed, grocery shopping with just $30 a week.

I mean, this was nine years ago and it was brutal. I was like, you know, I, I proposed to her, we got married and that was our first year of marriage. Like what a terrible husband. Like I can't provide anything. Like we're, we're on this air bed with $30 a week. Um, but we had a vision and I was inspired by Walt Disney. I mean, you know, he always said it's kind of fun to do the impossible.

And I was like, what if we just made baseball nonstop entertainment, nonstop fun, unlike anything else. And so, yeah, we named the team, the bananas came up with the senior citizen dance team called the banana nanas, which they just groove. They're fantastic. A male cheerleading team called the mananas, uh, mascots named split a banana baby that we lift up before every game. Um, yeah, uh, uh, dancing break breakdancing coach.

And that was the start. And so we started selling out games, but we were playing regular baseball and people were still leaving games early. So even with all the entertainment, everything, I mean, it was, we went nuts. Players were dancing. A lot of the stuff you saw, Matt, it was, we went nuts. Players were dancing. A lot of the stuff you saw, Matt, they were still in our lives. Like, we gotta change the game.

And so I looked at what with all the boring parts of a baseball game, you know, batter stepping out of the box, mound visits, walks. This is debatable, but bunting, you know, swing the bat. And we say bunting sucks. If you bunch are thrown out of the game, like literally that's a rule. You bunch are thrown out of the game, no one bunts. And. You bunch are thrown out of the game. No one puns. Um,

and so you just wrote down these rules and we said, let's test it. Let's just do it. And yeah, we played nine innings in 99 minutes, our first game. Uh, and the player said it was the most fun they've ever had. And then a one city world tour into seven cities and a 33 in a major league stadium, you just keep trying to get better and try to make the game better. And that's where it started. And now, I mean, they have our company's fans first entertainment. It's all how do you create the best experience for fans? And that's what we think about every day.

Yeah, that's not that you just mentioned. Walt Disney. I've listened to like, I'm an audio book guy, right? So I've listened to a lot of Walt Disney books. I'm currently listening to the Disney war, which is like the battle for control. But a lot of everything talks about wall and his feelings of just it is about the customer, the fan. How do we give them an experience? And you know, you mentioned like, what are the boring rules of baseball? Like, I wonder like what what interactions have you had with anyone from Major League Baseball, whether it's a player or just someone within the Major League Baseball itself?

Like, how does that go between the two? Well, it started, we did a one city world tour in Mobile, Alabama. And why do we do Mobile? Because it was the only city that wanted us. Like they were willing to like take us. And the mayor was a fan, he read my first book, he connected me with a Jake Peavey.

So, you know, a Cy Young Award winner, top, one of the best pitchers in the game for a long period of time. And because he was from Mobile. And we talked, he's like, all right, this is kind of interesting. Well, yeah, I'll come out and support this. So he came out, I had him throw the first banana and, uh, cause it's not a

first pitch through a first banana. And, uh, his, his nephew was at the game and his nephew had just quit baseball. His nephew just, he was a great player. Just quit. He was at the game. And afterwards he came up to him and said, I want to play again. This, this right here, this is fun. I want to play. And he watched his nephew who quit play because of just watching one game of banana ball and banana ball wasn't that great back then. We were

still learning. And he became an ambassador and started telling everyone and now that we had Roger Clemens and we had Ryan Howard and we've had other CyRowar winners and, you know, MVPs and Shane Victorinos and so many people join us over the years. And that was a start. So every, almost every city we go to, we have a major league player that joins us, a former star. And then yes, Major League Baseball, all the teams were working at 18 venues. We've heard from all of them. And, you know, I think, you know, it's a great working relationship. They have the best baseball players in the world. We have arguably maybe the most entertaining, you know, and that's what we're trying to create the most entertaining game. And so I think it's a good marriage. I think we're going to work together more in the world. We have arguably maybe the most entertaining, you know, and that's what we're trying to create the most entertaining game. And so I think it's good marriage. I think we're going

to work together more in the future. Jerry and I were talking about how Jerry is a big guy on how we can fix things in sports. How do you fix the NBA all-star game? So I spent my time, Jesse. Gosh, she's always just like, I have, yeah. And a little bit of a visionary, probably not as much of as a visionary as you are, but even all-star baseball and like the home run derby and how it's always changing. And Jerry's like MLB should hire Jesse to literally change the way the all-star weekend is played because of just what you've been able to build

with entertainment and fans and real competitive baseball, like no one is doing that. What if they called you and said, hey, can you come on board and help us engage the fans in a different way? I mean, you're signing up for that, right? Or no? I think the reality, my bandwidth is a little full right now with, so we're starting our league next year,

Banana Ball Championship League with six teams and we're gonna play all over the country. And so- Oh, that's awesome. so we're starting our league next year, banana ball championship league with six teams, and we're going to play all over the country. And so that's awesome, which is going to be exciting because I mean, even like the party animals, they have more followers than every major league baseball team on ticker. So they've got, they've got 6 million followers and, and so we're building different fan bases. So, but the question, you know, I think it is we're in a tick tock world.

Everyone's scrolling every seven seconds. And so I want to create something where you can, if you look away, you're missing something in a typical sporting event, whatever it is, we're in a TikTok world. Everyone's scrolling every seven seconds. And so I want to create something where you can't, if you look away, you're missing something in a typical sporting event, whatever it is. I mean, even though a football game, which is unbelievable, the viewership, it's still a three hour game where there's so many commercial breaks. There's so much action. How do you make it nonstop that you can't look away? How do you make it so fans want to watch more?

They want to stay till the end. And you know, when I thought about baseball games, so many people leave before the game's over or they come late. You don't go to a movie and say, Oh, that was a great movie. I left in the middle. You know, like, Oh man, I love entourage. Yeah. Yeah. I just, I only watched the first half usually. No, you stick through the end. You even don't even go to the bathroom sometime because you don't want to miss a part.

A hundred percent. And so the same thing with a great comedian, a great show. So how do you make the game even better all the way till the end? How do you make it nonstop entertainment? How do you get the players more involved where they're, you know, they're interacting more and, and, and celebrating more and having fun and not just, this is the way it has to be, this is the way it always used to know, engage, have fun. Kids want something to gravitate towards. So our players, they celebrate everything.

Singles, doubles, triples, home runs. They go big. You saw it, they're dancing and celebrating. And your kids, it's like, that's fun. You can't take your eyes off it. We've all seen home runs. Everybody's seen home run. What have you ever seen, like a guy tumbling

into a back flip into landing at a home plate, you know home run? Like, all right, I see you. I wanna watch. Gosh, there's so many. I was, when I was in the dugout, honestly, during the game, I was talking to one of the coaches and just the players.

And I think I told Jerry after I was like, gosh, I could sit down with you guys for days and just like be a kid in a candy store and ask a million questions. Cause I'm just, I think it's so fascinating. And also just as a dad, like my kids, like my five and four year old every night, which my wife gets a little mad, is like,

dad, can we watch bananas tonight on Instagram or TikTok? And I'm like, I sneak in like five minutes. I'll sneak in like nine or 10 videos and they have their favorite players and all that. I am, I found out a little bit about the week and I'm fascinated about the schedule, the week of, because you said there's so many elements of this show, whether it's dancing, whether it's the fans,

you, I mean, I told Jeremy, Jesse is like on the mic the whole game, like you are the ringleader. No, you are making it go and like moving on and moving on and being a part of a show, I understand a little bit of how elements are throughout a show. Well, what is like, honestly, a day to day week look like for you, for the team, for the coaches. I know you mentioned table reads.

I know you mentioned all of these types of things. Love to hear that. What does a week look like? Yeah. Yeah, it's dramatically different because we have an obsession on ideas. Ideas drive this company. So we actually took inspiration from Saturday Night Live.

I watched the documentary, I had our team watch it. Think about Saturday Night Live. Every watched the documentary, I had our team watch it. Think about Saturday Night Live. Every Saturday, it's a completely new show with a new host, new talent, everything getting creative with us. And so how do we do that? And so they would come up and pitch ideas on Monday. Then they'd start writing them. Then they'd have a table read.

Then they'd start the rehearsals. Then they'd do a rehearsal in front of an audience. And then they'd actually, Lauren would move things around and they would adjust. I was like, okay, we got to do three completely new shows every single week. So what does it look like? So we travel on Sunday, Monday, but Tuesday is our idea day. Like we go nuts from 9 a.m.

Until 5 p.m. It is different ideas. So we have our creative team get together. Each team gets together. So the firefighters will have their own TT, the tailgaters have their own TT, the party animals, because we're all trying to bring five to 10 new ideas. It's right. Then we get together with our leadership group and we say, all right, we like

this, we like this, we like this. Then we start writing down, how do we make it better? We get the videos, we produce them. And then at four o'clock on Tuesday, we have our table read in front of all of our team. And it was like, all right, here's the script. Then we finished the scripts. Then we started writing more. And then we start our rehearsals with our players every single week. And they got to play a game. Like they're also got to play like actually, you know, as you know, very athletic. These guys are some first round players. But we want fans to never get bored of the show.

So you have to do brand new things every single week. And it's an obsession. If you look at the greatest producers, the most successful people in the world, they're prolific at something. Taylor Swift, for instance, prolific as songwriter. She's written so many songs. That's what she, that's her best thing. MrBeast, prolific with YouTube. Unbelievable. We want to be prolific with creating new ideas every

single night and doing things people have never seen before in a baseball field. To do that, you got to put a ton of energy, ton of time into it. I mean, we're doing rehearsals like crazy all week and then we do it again and do it again and a lot of things miss some things don't hit But when you put out and produce 40 new things a weekend You're gonna have some gold and that's why you know We're growing a million plus followers every couple weeks and we're at 30 million followers because fans are seeing new things and they want to See what's to come next as opposed to well. I hope the guy has a good game

No, what are they gonna do do next? Right. And how much, real quick, how much say do the players, like do you sign off on everything that the players do? Because they're doing, you know, they're doing all their own thing, or do they come up with their own like TikTok dances and this and that? Or do you sign off on it or do they get free to do? And again, I used to be unbelievably involved in every single rehearsal. Our team's been with us, our creative team, our director of entertainment, our vice president of marketing, our creative director, been with us for four or five years.

They've been with us since that one city world tour in 2021. We know what the gold standard is. The gold standard is it's amazing for the live crowd and also can win for the digital crowd. So it has to play big for a crowd, but it also have you have film a tight. So they have a, they're running a lot of the rehearsals. They're signing off on stuff.

I'm just editing. You know, Walt Disney said, he used to walk around and someone had a kid ask, Walt, what do you actually do with your days? He goes, well, I kind of just go around the studio acting like a bee collecting pollen and sharing it and helping. Like that's my role.

And so I can see things and I'll work with our broadcaster. I say, ooh, what if we edit this? What about this song here? What are this? Just little notes. Our team is unbelievable in how much they've learned. So that's what we do. But yeah, it's not signing off on it.

It's literally, we got to test and then we have the audience. Does it hit live? Does it hit digital? We know every single weekend what works and what doesn't work and then we report back and we talk about it. Well, also too, it seems like you're doing what I think you know in my term sticking just with acting and movies and film and TV it's like the best versions are like you're saying where you have all these ideas and then they're put on paper and scripted but

giving people the room then to act in the moment which I think you have because a the game outcomes like they're really playing so you could only control so much and who's gonna hit a home run here or there. Even like with Leinert, Leinert comes in with the kids, like who was it that was like, hey, you know, Matt, why don't you throw out the first, and instead of the first pitch, let it be a football, which I thought was genius,

because as much as I wanna see Matt throw a baseball, I really enjoy watching him throw a football like we all have for a hundred percent years now. It's the series. Our company, our 11th fans, first principle is always plus the experience. So everyone we look to plus against the Disney term, he said, we'll always plus the show. Disneyland is a living breathing thing. It'll never be complete. So when I, we were just looking at it, it was out there playing. It was, I was like, all right, well, you know, we got some other surprises coming with us, but we

don't have a first pitch. And we said, all right, well, first of all, how do you plus that, make a first pitch actually count. So that a few years ago. So the first, I mean, and I threw it, and I threw a strike. Just so that was the first thing, but then we were like, okay. We've had like Travis Hunter through one, the last few weeks, other players, like we've had a lot of people throw them and it's, it's okay.

And I was like, well, how do we plus it again? And then obviously what you were known for, especially in the area is football. It's like, all right, who cares? Throw throw them and it's, it's okay. And I was like, well, how do we plus it again? And then obviously what you were known for, especially in the areas football, it's like, all right, who cares? Throw a football. Let's see what happens. And so it's just, you got to see those things and just do it. Most people are afraid of what people are thinking or what they're going to say. No, just do it and learn and then get to that next at bat.

And then we learned from that and in Fenway in a couple of weeks, I'm doing another thing where we're going to even take the first pitch to another level because how do you plus that again? And so like those are the YAs you see. And it's like, got to make it better because what you're doing during to do is the greatest creators create something that they would love and that they never get bored of. And so what I think about is like, if I've already seen all this, I'm bored of it.

How do I create where I can be a fan and watch like when you through that strike, I was like, yes, big moment. Awesome. And you get excited for it. And so you want to plus it so you don't get bored. I don't wanna have another people just keep throwing footballs. You gotta figure out how to make it better

and more exciting and more fun. What is, if you can take off your Jesse cap and the banana and the hat and kind of take a step back and look at what, one, what you've built. And I know you have a team and what this team has built, but this stadium tour and these sellout crowds and these NFL stadiums and Clemson, which was what, a month ago,

and Jerry was looking at your schedule, Fenway. I might be hitting you up to come to Pittsburgh at the end of August. You gotta be able to have some fun. Jerry wants to know when you guys are going to Cleveland. Well, Pittsburgh's an hour and a half away, so I'll make the drive. I love it.

I'll let it all take it out. We always get asked this. It's just like, do you pinch yourself? And do you ever take a step back? Because I know you're grinding that day. That's a lot of work that goes into that day, seeing it firsthand. But do you take a step back and just be like, holy shit?

And you're not stopping. That's the great thing about you. You just keep going. But do you ever just take a step back and just smile? Like you and your wife, and we, this is, this is, and you're not stopping, that's the great thing about you. You just keep going, but like, do you ever just take a step back and just smile? Like you and your wife be like, wow, look at, look at what we're doing. Yeah, yeah, we do. I think it's moments, you all have moments.

And I think when you can take those moments, last year at Fenway, you know, I grew up south of Boston, was a bad boy for the Red Sox, our honorary when I was five years old. Oh, awesome. Had been dreamed of hitting. When I, my moment, and that was, I don't wanna say stressful, but

that was a challenging night. There was a lot of things we were trying to make right. And it didn't go the way we wanted to. But our yellow moment and Matt, you probably remember like when we I was about to say it's incredible. Yeah. So we, we, and again, that was not great the first few times either. It was like, get the fans to sing yellow.

What? That's just weird. And I was like, no, Coldplay yellow. Look at the stars. Look how they shine. It works. I was like, it's goingplay yellow. Look at the stars. Look how they shine. It works. I was like, it's going to work. Just we got to try it and try it and try it.

And so at Fenway, I'll never forget. Um, so I walked out to the field and said, all right, everyone, it's time to light up the sky and the lights turned off 30. It was the largest crowd of the year. Fenway 37. It was full capacity standing room. And I looked out there and the stadium that I'd come to over 150 plus times as a kid. Everyone was singing yellow as loud as they could. And I'm on the field. I,

they knew our staff knew. Oh, I'm getting a little teary eyed right now. It's just, yeah, they had a camera on me and they could see and I actually ended up putting it out. It was like the, um, this, that the front pursuit of happiness, this, this right here, this is happiness. And it was like that moment. And I have those when you come out at Clemson and I saw 81,000, it's like, it's has nothing to do with money, has nothing to do with profits. And like, I don't even know what's in our bank account.

It's the feeling of purpose that you've made an impact to bring people together for joy, for fun, for something good. And so every night when I come out to the plaza and you know, we do a march and there's, you know, 10, 20,000 people four hours before the game. And I come around and get on that stage and see a whole street covered three hours before the game. I'm like, look at what we get to do. That's when I get fired up. That's when I start like, you know, messing around with the guys. I'm like, this is what we get to do. And it's those moments. It's, it's everybody could cherish those moments. And I look for those every night, even though it's really hard.

What's the moment tonight that we can look around and say, look at what we get to do. You know what? I was, I've been going through this for like the last two weeks where my kids finally watched the Sandlot and were old enough to kind of understand the movie, right? And they're playing T-ball and coach pitching

all that stuff. And you know, I've taken them to a baseball game and they've enjoyed it, but they're kind of young. And what's, and I started thinking like, we don't really see any more of those nineties, early two thousands kids sport like San La, Mighty Ducks, little giants, all that stuff. Why? I don't quite know. But then as I've continued to, since Matt even threw out the first pitch, watched the

banana, it's like, that's the core memory that I'm looking for. And I don't know if that was ever part of your plan of like, Hey, how do we, you know, do something for the kids or for just organically happen. But I could see myself bringing my kids to that game and unlocking that core memory that could make them love baseball the way I did as a kid when I just even got to see Yankee Stadium for the first time. and that's something special. And that's what I was thinking, we're like, we'll see these movies anymore,

but you know what? This is a better thing because it's a live moment that you're involved with. They get to feel it. And I think about that, again, I have three kids under seven years old and what are those moments? And you try to create something that you love,

but also your kids love. And it's like, it's the connection with the players. You know, we literally program the upper deck every night. Our players go up there two to three times a game. Our cast, our man, Anna's our dad, bod and cheerleading squad, which they've become fan favorites. I'm good for that, by the way. I feel like they can rock it. So like how imagine I go to the upper deck every game too. So like you're just coming up there, these people that's sitting at the deck and just kind of watching the show, all of a sudden you're right here with a player taking a picture, having fun.

Like those moments matter. And we can't touch all 40,000, all 80,000 every night, but like, I think about that. And so, and that's why at two o'clock, when we open the gates, we actually have players meeting people. At two o'clock, we open up the closet. You're greeted by players.

Like that's crazy. And like- Yeah, no one's doing that. Those that, if you're gonna come at two o'clock and be there for the next eight hours, you're gonna meet players, all right? You're gonna create a red light. And so like, it one's doing that. Those that if you're gonna come at two o'clock and be there for the next eight hours, you're gonna meet players. All right, you're gonna create a red red. And so like, it's those moments that I signed to the last fan leaves, which is at 11 o'clock plus at night.

And it's like, you got to show it what matters most. And to us, it's that connection with the kids with the fans. And we have people come up to a cry in every game. I'm like, just do give me hug, just dance. Let's let's let's let's let's bring the joy. But it means something. And I think that's why I know we're gonna do this as long as we can and continue to spread it and have fun. I think the accessibility that you're talking about was really it, cause being an athlete,

like playing and man of fel and all that, like I get it, like it's hard. And like, we're kept from fans sometimes, signing the autographs, trying to get all of those things. But I was blown away by even at batting practice the day before, like my oldest son, Jerry Cole, was out there learning trick plays from their guys. And just the accessibility and the fact that you brought,

and you do this to a lot of people, which I thought was great, just bringing everybody in and getting and allowing us to experience that. And I'll say this, the, I love, I'm on TikTok and social and I love the five, six, seven clips the day and all that stuff, it's great. My kids love it.

But being there live was truly a unique experience. I'm into a lot of baseball games. I love baseball. And you got a fan in my wife cause my wife loves baseball, but she just she didn't really know what to expect. And she left and she goes, wow. Like that was, that was just, that was a,

I don't know what her exact word was. It was a show, that was incredible. That was an experience. It was a core memory. It was, it was, it was unbelievable. All that being said, you just talked about this. You just, you want to keep doing this. What is, what is this Banana League

championship league look like? What is the next five, 10 years? How do you continue to just continue to grow this thing? Well, yeah, if I asked five years ago, I would not say we're doing this. So I'd never like going too far ahead five because we test things and we try things. And so, you know, again, and I think back to you

as a player, I want to go back to that. You were measured by your performance on the field. Everything was performance on the field. Our players are, I don't want to say measured, but what we look at every day is how are they creating fans first moments? So everything is about fans first moments and that's on social. That's live. That's digital. We are on a quest to create 1 billion fans, not to be a billion dollar

company to create a billion fans. So again, when you have a different intention, that's what we're doing. And they just happen to play great banana ball. The games happen to be very competitive. That's a by-product of doing what's best for fans. But yeah, to look ahead, you know, I, I, I constantly think about, you know, what are the challenges whenever you're innovating, you've got to start at the friction points. So the friction points in sports too long, too slow, too boring, the seasons too long, people lose interest. All those things are their stakes. You know, so I look at when I create a league, how do we have stakes throughout the entire, entire season?

How do you create more moments? How do you play at places people never imagined you actually put stakes on those games? How do you create like the showdowns? You know, I don't, you didn't have to see that, but that's pitcher versus hitter at the end of a game with one fielder that we don't go to more baseball. We go to actually literally one-on-one showdown action. Could that be a whole showdown event that creates something?

How do you make the draft interesting where there's something happens after the draft instead of just getting drafted? Could there be something else? I don't wanna go too much because these are all part of what we reveal, but you look at everything that is not interesting for fans and how do you make it interesting

and exciting and different? And then how do you go where others won't go? Why can't we play in all 50 states? Why can't we bring banana ball to, you know, Oregon and Wyoming and North Dakota and all over? Like it doesn't make sense on paper. It's it financially that makes zero sense. Right. If the games that create fans, why don't you bring your game to the fans? And so, you know, eventually it'll be international, but like, I just love bringing our show to more people and people seeing it for the first time or returners, which travel around the country right now. Like we have a group like I inspired by the grateful dead, the dead heads. We have a K club

thousands deep that they bring signs and they travel around the country. They travel. Yeah. It's wild. Um, like I, I'm building this for them. I'm building it for these new fans. And so that's excites us. So the league will start next year. There'll be some big announcements, big surprises, two new teams, which has got to be fun. They each create different brands. I mean, the tailgaters, the greatest pregame in sports in Texas, like they've, they're growing like crazy because it's all, they do wine dances, they come out in trucks. You know, you create these different points of view. And so you can tell them passionate about it because I'm not bored. It's, it's, it's a great challenge to try to create this, which is fun.

And it's gotta be awesome for, you know, guy who was chasing some baseball dreams, maybe like you were saying, like even your story, it's like, now you actually get to play baseball, but also be an entertainer, which I always believe the common point between entertainers and athletes, I always say this, is understanding the moment. They both, whether it's in a pro sport, like Matt knowing, hey, it's fourth and one, this is the moment, this is what we need,

having that thought. Similar with an entertainer, oh, there's a moment happening here that's maybe not on the script, let's go with this. And I think you're meshing both in a beautiful way, Jesse. And I know you got to get to your kids right now, but that's a cool thing you're doing. Thank you. I will share the funniest about understanding the moment. This is something people don't even know. We actually rehearse and practice when someone gets hit, which you'll get hit on purpose. We have actually dances and bits after you get hit. And so like,

I can't imagine in the off season, the prep season, it's like, all right, like happy Gilmore going into this. All right, you get hit. Now dance, dance, now act. Like it is crazy. I watched these guys, but they were like, no, if we get hit, there's an opportunity to create a fan. Like opportunity. They'll get down. If they're okay, they tap their head and then they fully go into something. And it's just, I can't believe they're doing it, but our players understand, create a moment no matter what. Even if you just got to throw the 92 mile an hour fastball in the back, if you're okay, create a moment. And that's why I love and respect our team

because they're always thinking about those fan moments. The last thing I wanna ask you, and I know you're a baseball player, are we ever gonna see you take the mound in a banana game? Can we see you do a real pitch or an inning? Man, I've been asked that question a lot at Fenway because I always had the dream to pitch at? Man, I've been asked that question a lot at Fenway because I always had the dream to pitch at Fenway and I've got to ask that question a lot.

I got to, you know, I've thrown at Fenway. My dad, I took him out in the field. My son, we've thrown a lot. And after surgery, you know, I could probably get it going. My wife and I say it's not about me, it's about the others. And so while people want that, I'd rather create those moments for others. I know we've got a lot of fans pushing for you to try that, but I think I'm going to try to leave it for everyone

else. I'll try to create the platform for everyone else to have those moments. Fair enough. Fair enough. Amazing. Well, I may be reaching out to you when you come to PNC, which is also an awesome ballpark, by the way. One of the nicest, prettiest day with the bridge in the back. It's an incredible ballpark. Who would be your favorite? If you could have any pirates, who would you want that? A former pirate pirates? Cause I haven't talked to anybody yet. So I don't know if there's a pop, but who would be your favorite to come out? Former pirate? Yeah. I would need to think about that because I like to go like, yeah. Probably the first one you think of the last 20, 20 years. I would say, I would say McCutcheon only cause it's just, I feel like the different generations will know it.

Like the older dads with like, I think that gives you a lot of generations. It's a good call. I mean, if Paul skeins is in town, you can just maybe get him over. Hey, don't go pitch with the team. Come with us. Yeah. We'll have some fun. We'll do it. Thank you so much. Thank you. And I'm definitely going to come out and see you guys with the boy. My boy is real soon. Let's make it happen. I'll be a lot of fun.

Appreciate you guys. Thanks buddy. All right. All right. It's now time for control your game presented by NHTSA. When you speed, you have less time to react. Follow the speed limit to keep other road users safe. Speeding catches up with you.

Paid for by Nitsa. All right, who's been in control of their game? It really got me thinking. Well, you know, there's somebody on the Seattle Mariners who's been in massive control of his game. He tied Ken Griffey Jr., Cal Raleigh I'm talking about, for the most home runs in Mariners history before the All-Star Big 35. That's crazy.

Currently on pace for 64 home runs, which should surpass my boy Aaron Judge's AL record of 62. And he's going to be in the home run Derby. Matt, we're almost the same age. You must have been a home run Derby kid, right? The home run Derby, I would say as I've gotten older, not as, I don't invest in it as much, but that and the dunk contest when we grew up was like the two greatest things that you could watch during the sports season, right?

Like the Home Run Derby to me was awesome. The dunk contest was awesome in the 80s and 90s. Yeah, I mean, Griffey, you know, the swing back then. Well, here's a question for you. Yeah, what what you got? Better Chris Berman, NFL primetime highlight package or home run derby? Back, back, back, back, back, back, gone.

It's just, I go Berman home run derby. I think that's Pete Berman. Yeah, I'd say primetime the highlights, man. Really? Yeah, that's just, he was an OG for that. Well, let's make some, let's make like, all right, we're gonna run some, we're gonna run our all time home run derby out there.

Maybe three guys, your three versus my three. We're gonna draft it? Yeah, draft it, or even just three of our favorite performances, whatever you wanna classify. But I'm gonna let you go first, cause. So I get first pick? Go ahead, first pick. I'll probably go Sammy Sosa.

That would've been my first pick too, ahead. First pick. I'll probably go Sammy Sosa. That would have been my first pick too, bro. I went on a nice YouTube deep dive. Sosa didn't win in, uh, Oh my, well, no, what I mean is the, the famous one that I saw was Giambi won it, but it was in Milwaukee and Sosa led off with like a 540 foot. He was hitting the ball in places that off with like a 540 foot. He was hitting the ball in places that it just never was supposed to be. He just had absolute monster shots.

I would say Sosa. I'm not basing this on the number of wins cause I don't even remember who all won. No, no, this is who you are running out there. Yeah, I'm putting Sosa out one. All right. You get two picks now, we'll do a little snag. Yeah, if you're gonna do that,

I gotta steal Griffey from you cause I know you're gonna take it him in 1993 hitting the warehouse and Camden Yards and Baltimore Was one of the best and then if I'm gonna be a dick, I'm gonna go mark McGuire I was gonna say I hope you go so I like my first two and I feel like I'm gonna get one of my next two So, let's see how you round it out Finish out your team. There's some good current guys too, by the way. I P the Lonzo's out there. Oh, I may gotta go Barry Bonds, Barry Bonds, prime roid with the head, just absolutely hitting nukes. And then I'm going to go for my final pick because I get to, I'm gonna go I'm gonna go Bryce Harper Yeah, he's got he had fun win in him. Yeah, I saw he won how many years ago

He won it was like one of the sicker walk-offs I remember watching that and it and he got off he I think he won it in his home bar in his home park and like He threw the bat. He started like getting fired up. So I go what do I got? I got Sosa Barry Bonds and Bryce Harper. That's a good team. So far I got McGuire, Griffey. I'm gonna end it with Aaron Judge and go a little modern day.

Cause I feel like we have to put him on the squad. He's also hitting like 370 right now, which is crazy. Well, do you know there's an account that I love. I don't know what it's called. I'll get it and I'll post about, but it's on Instagram where they just post like, it's all about how awesome the lineups were in the 90s and they'll just post quick hits of the lineup with the stats right before they're at bat.

Like seeing like the old Cleveland Indians everyone on that team was bad. Albert Bell. Kenny Lofton. Albert Bell. Sandy Alomar. David Justice. Tomey. Tomey.

It's like what a team. How did that team not win a World Series? My god. And then everyone's batting like 310 or higher. Everyone's in the 300s. You know what we gotta go back to in all-star baseball is, and maybe they have, maybe I'm just not paying attention, their own uniforms. Everyone wears their own home. Remember the old old school just you wore your home uni? Oh, so sick. Remember the old school, you wore your home uni? Oh, so sick. Cause you loved seeing like, you know, Jeter, Fliperton, Nomar, whoever is that,

you know, whatever you're seeing. Yeah, I agree. Okay, so who's winning that Derby? My three or Jerry's three? We'll find out. You went Bonds, Bryce and- Sosa, Bonds and Bryce Harper. See, the Sosa thing screws me

because he's probably like the all time. Bonds wasn't like a great home run derby No, how many but it's still Barry bonds. Yeah, I was good You know who I was gonna go glad Guerrero jr. Vlad Vlad Guerrero Senior yes, he that was kind of my area. He was good. He was a big-time home run derby guy Junior's a beast too. You know else was good too current day. I Don't think I'm him because he's never, well, John Collar Stanton had some like his Padres days had a few performers. I'm going to watch it. I can tell you that right now. I'm watching Home Run Derby this time. All right. Thank you again to Nitza. We're going to hit a quick mail bag here. Sorting through these, the one that stuck out, because we can both take this one. And you might have talked about this a little bit,

but I want to hear more. Steven in Las Vegas wrote us, this one's for both you guys. What's the angriest you've ever seen a coach or director? I didn't have a whole lot of coaches getting angry at me unless I was dropping the fly ball. So I feel like I know your answer when we discussed it, but I'm wondering if there's anything sneaky out there, or if you want to dig a fly ball. So I feel like I know your answer when we discussed it, but I'm wondering if there's anything sneaky out there

or if you want to dig a little further. It's gotta be Denny Green. We are, they are who they thought they were. And we let them off the hook. And where were you again? Were you like? I was right outside the media room, right outside. And like Mark Dalton, who was our PR guy at the time,

was great, was like, next up, Matt Liner. And I walked in and I'm like, it was just like you could hear a pin drop in that room, right. And we lost Monday Night Football to the Chicago Bears. Real quick backstory. And maybe I've said this before, we played them week three preseason game in Chicago week three back then was the game that all the starters played. You played about two and a half three quarters, like, like real game full dress rehearsal. Yeah, you're full. That's a full dress rehearsal.

Like I played Erlacher, Briggs, like all that. And we beat them and I played really well. We beat them like 27, whatever it was. So we like knew going into that, it was like week five or six, we were one and four. We were just lost the week before on a field goal, which was my first start. So like we were okay.

We finished five and 11, but like we were competitive in a lot of games. And we knew going into that, even though they were five and oh, they ended up going to the Superbowl that year, because their defense was that good. We're like, we could beat these guys. Like we've played them, we can beat them.

Like we know we could beat them. It was our Monday night football. The stadium was rocking and we, and honestly we had it. And then we just, we kept the foot off the gas. Devin Hester returns that punt. We missed a field goal to tire to win at the end again. And then we were just devastated. So then after the game, you do all your stuff

and just Denny Green is going off. And rest in peace to Denny, he was awesome, man. He drafted me, but that shit was hysterical dude. I easily There's a lot of great rants out there. It's got to be top one or two rants of all time Yeah, that might be a good question for social give us your top Coaching rant slash meltdowns. That's probably the most quotable one for sure I mean they are who I think I say once if you want to crown them the crown them I feel like I said that to my wife last week. She said, Bree said something like,

you know what, you never do them. Like, you know what, I am who you thought I was. That's what I yelled at her. It didn't really go over well. Yeah. It's hard to beat the Danny Green meltdown as something I've seen. I got to say my, my acting career with directors, directors I think, there's been some horror stories publicly of big time directors and actors fighting and all that. I can't say I saw angry, yelling director behavior. I've seen a director just devastated and crumble to his knees because we were shooting

the Entourage episode with Chuck Liddell, right? Where we're punking Johnny Drama into thinking Chuck Liddell wants to kick his ass. And we get to the part where, and this is like early UFC days too, like Chuck Liddell is by far their biggest star. So we have this like octagon built, we're doing this whole thing. It's like a charity event. And there's this shot that our director, Dan Adias, who he's probably done 4,000 episodes of television.

This guy is like a television director, Hall of Famer. And the shots, there's so many moving parts where like, all right, Dylan's going here, Chocolatel's going here, and then the charity in the show is a kids charity. So we had a lot of like 15, 16 year old kids who have never acted before as extras, but it's a big important part of the shot, and this one kid, he just kept missing a mark,

he was looking right into the camera. It's now like take 14, we have to get this shot now, like the day's ending. And- Can't you just take the dude out? At this point we're committed to it, because he's like established in the show. And like, so the shots going,

and it's so funny when you do these big one-ers, you could, it's similar to like a play in football. Everyone could do their job correctly. And then one person misses an assignment and the play is a disaster. Like Dylan hits his spot, Ladell does his thing, me and the guy, and then he lands on a kid and the kid again,

she shoots one right down the barrel, looks in the camera. Dan Addius, who's like on the walkie, watching, is watching, the kid looks down, and he just crumbled. I saw him go to his knees and put his hands like this. Might have been crying, I don't know, he just collapsed, because we could not get the shot. Did you ever get the shot? We finally got it, and I think when you look at it back,

it's chopped up too, heavily edited because there was just so many, man it was a good shot, but he just folded, he just collapsed. So I'm sure if he could have yelled, he would have. That poor kid was probably just feeling the pressure. I don't even think, honestly, I don't even think he knew. I don't even think he kind of knew really what was at stake at all.

You know what's like, you talked about this, like not remembering your lines or whatever, but like in a, cause I've been around enough sets where it's like, you just, if one person fucks it up, like you have to start everything and then like to roll tape. It's just like, it's a lot dude. Like it's a lot of- It is where sports and, and, and the production across because there's a famous story about someone not knowing their lines and it was not, it was a costar. Right. It was only, it was someone

who was doing one scene with a few lines and she, and her scene was with like James Cameron or something. And she had a hard line. It was like a, was the sick is like a lot of were, it was just, I mean, take 20, 25. It's almost like a, a play, a pitcher who hasn't, who's walked the bases loaded or a quarterback who's thrown four picks in the first half. It's like everyone's looking at the person. We're all rooting, but in the same breath, it's like, it's tough. It's tough. I haven't fortunately been on that end yet. I've struggled here or there, but I usually get it, but it's a horrible place to be. It's a horrible place to be. It's still not as bad as when you get the

giggles and the laughs. Once that happens, the set, it's over. Like call it a wrap. So good stuff, Steven in Vegas. Good question. Man, you were right up on the podium before Danny Green. That must have been. Dude, it's wild. I gotta try to find your interview after that. I don't even remember. Yeah, it was like, you could hear Mark Dalton

in the background. All right, next up, Matt Liner. Matt Liner. And I just walked in and like, obviously I was pissed. You know, I was like, right, you can't win. But I didn't, I didn't even hear, like I didn't hear him. If I remember correctly, like I was outside, like I could hear him, but I wasn't really like ear to the wall paying attention. I was just like waiting there, standing there. And so like I could hear him a

little bit. And then when I watched it, I was like, Oh shit, dude, he was just, do you feel like that happens though? You brought up some, a good point, because I don't think you guys were a five and 11 team, right? Whatever your record was, that team was better than that, right? But you said it, like you started off, what? One and four and you lost close games. Does that happen to a T and then you lose that bears game? So you're one and five, not that you guys are like giving up. We don't have enough, but it's like, man, that's such a unfortunate start and we should be like four and two at least. Does that, that must really be a mindfuck for a team when you're like, we know we're good and we're somehow one in five. It's tough, man. One in five is not a place you want to be in the NFL. I mean, one in three,

one in two, you're like, all right, we gotta start. I've told you this, like you, back then you had 16 weeks, you break it down in quadrants, right? Like if you go two and two every quadrant, you're eight and eight. Eight and eight is- Close.

You can sneak in. Now, if you just, if you get a little extra win here, whatever, all of a sudden, you know, 10 and six is getting you into playoffs almost every year. Nine and seven won our division a couple of times to get us in, you know? So like, you just, you're that, I mean, that's just the difference in football.

It's so much parity that you're a player two away, you know? And like, we were a punt return away from winning that game the week before we were a field goal away from winning that game. All of a sudden we're three and three. It's a much different feeling three and three than one and five. One and five, you're like, then you're like

four and nine and then all of a sudden you're just the last and then you're just playing like to put film on and just get through the season at that point. You know, like it's, it's tough, man. It's a tough place to be. Yeah. That's why you all, that's like the Bengals last year, man. Remember they started like one and three or one and four for like three or four straight years. And then you just got to fight and claw just to get back. It's like, you gotta start fast, man. So. You know what?

All this football talk though, maybe this is the introduction to starting to get ready cause I'm getting fired up. Oh wait, football's gonna be here before you know it, dude. I can't wait. I can't wait to play fantasy football. I wanna do something with you. I, you know, we've never really watched a football game

together yet in our friendship. We've watched basketball games and stuff like that. At some point I want to do like a go to a sports bar on a Sunday morning in L.A. And let's just, let's do fantasy, play some bets. Let's watch some games because I want to, I want to pick your brain while watching. Let's do it. OK, it's time now for all time adventures driven by Nissan, the 2025 Nissan Pathfinder Rock Creek,

adventure ready and free from tariffs. And I feel like that's a pretty big deal. I don't want to overstate, I don't want to understate that, free from new tariffs, I should say. So you put something out on TikTok that I thought, I'm like, wow, I match it. I have literally have a whole Q and A for this and we won't do a whole Q and A, but you pose the question to parents, you know, basically, are you letting them play tackle football? You got some

awesome, tons of comments. I just think it's like, I think a lot of parents have those conversations, but to have that conversation with the parent who played football at the highest level whose son is also playing football I just thought that that's a conversation. I want to hear the major I would say a Majority of I mean between all the social media handles like I probably got thousand comments and I would say a majority of Them were all absolutely yes, without a doubt. Now there's variance. My whole thing on this, and this is just my opinion,

it doesn't mean it's right. One, I didn't play tackle football till high school. That's what I wanted to ask you for your adventure. Like, do you remember when you started playing tackle? Dude, I put, modern day high school, which is an absolute powerhouse, and we were a powerhouse back then. I didn't even know how to put the pads in my pants

the first day of practice. No, I remember sitting in the locker room. And it's freshman year of high school. Freshman year of high school. Never played, I played flag. I did play flag for the school as a baseball player, whatever. I didn't play, I didn't play football.

Wasn't a part of my childhood. My brother didn't play. Cole, my oldest son, didn't play tackle football till freshman year of high school. Now, it's a lot more competitive and stuff and all these sports that we're seeing in baseball club and you're seeing all this, like it is like, it's definitely a different time. My biggest thing is this, like, I'm all for tackle football, regardless, I think it's the greatest sport in the world. I think it's the greatest team sport in the world.

I think what it teaches you is there's so many great things football teaches you that you can take. It just is, I've lived it, I continue to live it. It's amazing. The young age stuff, like people playing at five or six years old, like I can imagine like Kaysen right now playing at five, like it's not necessary. And the biggest thing, and I had a lot of these comments in the

conversation was really, to me, it's just like, it's really hard to teach five, six, seven year old, maybe even eight year olds, like proper technique, right? It's just, it's almost impossible. It's just like, like what, why? Like they don't need to like play flag football. It's an agility. It's, it's fast. It's great for skills, all that. And then when they're old enough to at least comprehend and understand like in the moment in a game, Hey, I can use this type of like tackling. Um, I think that's an issue. And I felt, I just, I know a lot of shitty ass coaches, dude. I know a lot of coaches who don't care, you know, and like, there's a lot of great young like that, but they're young. It's like, it's like, who don't care, you know, and like there's a lot of great young like that, but they're young.

It's like, I don't trust my boys going with some random team in LA to play tackle and they're doing the Oklahoma drill at like six years old. I'm like, you know, I'm not saying I just, it's just like, to me it's about coaching and like, if you have a great coaches that can teach the game properly. Flag is so fun. I'm excited for our kids are not going to be very big. I don't know how much that factors into it from parents perspective, but my my nephew back in New York who never really cared or played any sports. He's been on this pod months ago, right? Freshman year of high school. He's like, I want to start playing tackle football. I'm like, what do I'm like, dude, you first of all, you don't know anything about football. And he was really small and just I'm like, it's just a horrible idea to just, hey, I want to start.

I've never even really caught a football and that's where I want to start. However, unfortunately, knock on wood hasn't been hurt. But what it's led to was he got really invested in his health and his athleticism and his body. Like he's in unbelievable shape. This was like a kid who played a lot of Fortnite. Like a lot, a lot of Fortnite. Summers playing Fortnite where he didn't,

it was probably the main thing he did. And that like, he's gonna come visit us soon. He's like, I have to be there before August 15th because I got football camp and it's his senior year. So like, and I just love the commitment. He's made great friends. It's again, he's in unbelievable shape. And it's just something year. So like, I love it. And I just love the commitment. He's made great friends. It's again, he's in unbelievable shape. And it's just something I never thought he did.

And he didn't start until freshman. Now he's probably not gonna go on. If he's listening, I would love you to go on, but I don't know if he's going on to play college football, but I just think he's gained a lot from it that he'll take with him, like you said. My three, like some of my best friends are from high school football still to this day, like you said. My three, like some of my best friends

are from high school football still to this day, right? And I think like to your point, like the commitment, right? You commit to something, the discipline that it teaches you that you have to have, the work ethic that it teaches you, it's hard, right? But you're rallying with your guys. You're like, there's something about it, like a team sport, the camaraderie and like all the-

Selflessness too, like doing something to- it, like a team sport, the camaraderie and like selflessness too. It's just, yeah, exactly. So like someone else, all of that's, it's much different than I just had this conversation. It's much different than individual sport athletes, right? Like I've come across, not all of them, but they're, they're very different. It's all about them. Like golf, it's all about you. You know, tennis, it's all about you.

And like, you hear some of these stories where like some of those people are a little bit different personalities. Even Anna Lee with pickleball, like she was kind of like doubles is great, but I want to. Yeah. And like they're all like not all, not all, you know, uh, individual athletes are like a certain way clearly, but there's a lot that are just like, it's all about me and I don't care about anybody else.

You know, like you can't have that in a team sport. And if you do, you will get chewed up out of that team. So especially with football. Yeah. You have to rely on people. have that in the team sport. And if you do, you will get chewed up out of that team sport very quickly. So yeah, it's a, it really is an interesting topic. Um, you know, but yeah, I mean, I'm all for it, man. I just keep throwing out that stuff on Tik TOK though. I think middle school, I would say like, my, my thing is like kind of middle school. I say like, for me, I think 12 sixth grade is probably the earliest I would do because they're old enough. Um, seventh, eighth

grade, like I would have probably went back and played in eighth grade if I could have like, I just didn't. But like, I think that's where you get to sixth grade. It's like, all right, like if you want to, you're starting to grow, you're getting bigger, you're going through puberty, all these things. And you're, and you're smart enough to understand now at least what coaches are trying to teach. And then you just got to have good coaching, man. You got to have coaches that can teach it the right way. Well, that's the a hard part last thing for you before we wrap up uh off of that and i know you said you were very psycho in coaching flag football but if your boys do want to play tackle at a certain point do you ever see yourself coaching oh absolutely i'll coach them

but like tackle not even fly like tackle your kid would you a coach your kids on the team environment, whether it's high school or B, like, are you just not into like you more flag football? Or do you want to? It's such a great question. It's really a tough question. Because with with Cole, I coached his flag football for years and I was like, you were into it. Oh, it kept me up at night. I was at OC. When my boys are old enough, like, who knows what I'll be doing in my career and all that kind of stuff. Like, I the highest level that I feel like I could coach and coach well and have fun is high school. Like if my boys in 10 years, 11 years are at high school and they want to play football and I and I can hop in there and help assist

and all that, that would be that would be a lot of fun for me to do. Like I could I could totally see myself do that, volunteer and just do it. I will coach all their, I mean, I'll coach football and baseball pretty much every year when they, they're playing now. Like I coached KSAMI SINGH football this past spring at five and six years old.

But the first, you know, as you know, like the first couple, like four or five, six is kind of hard. It's just hard with sports, right? It's just like a lot of kids running around. Yeah. Chasing birds. Chasing birds, man. Picking flowers and chasing birds. But, yeah. Keep throwing out those TikTok questions like that. Cause I think you stir the pot. If you got one, let me know. I got a few for you. I think it's good to have, and then we can bring some of these questions deeper on the pod. Yeah. That's it for

us. Shout outs to Jesse Cole again. Awesome episode. Hopefully I'll be seeing him in Pittsburgh and Matt, it's good to be back, bro. I enjoyed the vacation time, but we're back now. We're back baby. All right. See you next time.