Throwbacks with Matt Leinart & Jerry Ferrara - Week 4 NFL Must-Win Teams, NIL Wild West, "Business Decisions", Ohtani the GOAT?

Episode Date: September 26, 2024

In the latest edition of Throwbacks, Matt Leinart and Jerry Ferrara tell you which NFL teams are most in need of a win heading into week 4. Also, we dive into Antonio Pierce’s comments regarding certain players on his Raiders team making “business decisions.”  Plus, college football season is starting to take shape so with that, it’s time to unveil Leinart’s Leaderboard where Matt gives you his Heisman favorite, the team he believes is currently the best in the nation and the season’s biggest surprise thus far. On top of that, we’re joined by the one and only Josie Leinart who, in addition to being Matt’s wife, also happens to be a leading sports attorney that specializes in NIL law. She sheds some light Reggie Bush’s lawsuit and shares her perspective on Matt Sluka’s decision to sit out the remainder of UNLV’s season.  Then, in the face of intense fan scrutiny, Matt is forced to address his highly controversial position that grown men should not wear players’ jerseys. Will he back down or double down? And to close it out, the guys discuss Shohei Ohtani’s historic regular season and lay out their lists of the top 3 most box office athletes in sports today.   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. (https://link.chtbl.com/throwbacks)   A big thank you to our sponsors:   DraftKings  Don’t miss out on all the action this week at DraftKings! Download the DraftKings app today! Sign-up using https://dkng.co/throwbacks or through my promo code THROWBACKS  GAMBLING PROBLEM? CALL 1-800-GAMBLER, [phone] or visit gamblinghelplinema.org (MA). Call 877-8-HOPENY/text HOPENY (467369) (NY).  Please Gamble Responsibly. 888-789-7777/visit ccpg.org (CT) or visit www.mdgamblinghelp.org (MD).  [1.5%] 21+ and present in most states. (18+ DC/KY/NH/WY). Void in ONT/OR/NH. Eligibility restrictions apply. On behalf of Boot Hill Casino & Resort (KS). 1 per new customer. Min. $5 deposit. Min. $5 bet. Max. $200 issued as non-withdrawable Bonus Bets that expire in 7 days (168 hours). Stake removed from payout. Terms: sportsbook.draftkings.com/promos. Ends 10/31/24 at 11:59 PM ET. Sponsored by DK.  Wendy’s  Try Wendy's New Saucy Nuggs Today https://wendys.com/nuggs  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Get a credit card annual fee waiver and earn soon plus points faster with the Scotiabank ultimate package and bank more entertainment. Learn more at scotiabank.com slash banking packages. Conditions apply. Scotiabank. You're richer than you think. I'm just going to read a few brief ones at the cam hammer. Unfun take.

If legendary player sportscaster don't want fans wearing jerseys, hell, nobody should buy merch then. Matter of fact, let's lower the TV contracts and the salaries too. Oh. Wow. I got a, what is it, Don James Sports horrible take at Matt Leonard QB, and I love you. Like just a double sword.

Just like, God, I love you, but you suck. And here we go. Another episode of Throwbacks coming at you right now. I got to thank everybody who is following us on all social media platforms. Subscribe to us on YouTube. Everything is Throwback Show. It's very easy. So yeah, subscribe to us on YouTube.

But Matt, the social media interaction. Before we get going today. What do you mean? What happened this week? You know, you had a strong take. And we're going to talk about it later in the show about grown men leaving the house in jerseys. And here you are today. If you're audio only,

Matt is wearing a Laker jersey. By the way, not just a Laker jersey. The Laker jersey. The Kobe Bryant jersey that I've owned for about 15 years. Okay. I actually, actually, there is a photo out there.

Okay. I did wear this jersey to a Laker game. I did. Okay, well, listen, save it. There is a photo out there. Okay, I did wear this jersey to a Laker game. I did. Okay, well, listen, save it. There is a picture out there, and I will post this. We will post this on the show. There is a picture out there of me wearing this jersey, talking to Kobe on the court.

But that is the last time I wore this jersey in public. Well, some might say that's a little hypocritical. A lot of you out there on X and Instagram, though, we actually pulled your comments because this is the first time either of us have faced public pressure from a take. Happens all the time to the takers, all those takers. But now you had a take, and you're getting public pressure.

Will Maddy Ice back down. And also, another fun thing for the show today, okay? This is kind of a, we're featuring the Leinerts heavily. We have Josie thing for the show today. Okay. This is a, this is kind of a, we're featuring the liners heavily. We have Josie liner joining us on the show today. Well, you know what the wives are going to make a lot of appearances throughout throwbacks, right? Because we're going to talk, you know, parents and, and I mean our better halves, listen, I think, I think we want to give the people, the listeners what they want. They want to hear the wives just talk down on us. Okay. That's fine. But my wife is also just a badass

attorney and NIL and all these things and just a big week in NIL. So she's going to kind of break down what all that means and kind of the world of NIL, which is going to, it's just fascinating because it's just, it's ever changing. I mean, daily, not just like weekly, monthly, daily. Yeah. We're going to get a story a day. I feel like obviously all this, all, a lot of us are focused on UNLV now. So definitely want to ask Josie about that. Cause it's going to be a story a day or at least weekly as it, as it all progresses. But, uh, you were just in Ohio. You were just in Ohio, right? You were at Ohio State for a minute. Yeah, I mean, listen, just an easy dub for them. But more importantly, buddy, I mean, Jeter, Bahamas.

I was gone. I was gone. I followed your life on Instagram. How was the weekend? So, yeah, I would have loved to have seen you in Columbus, but I went to the Bahamas. Now, look, folks, it still shocks me that i get this invitation this is not like a look how cool i am i go to the jeter invitation i still can't believe i'm there it

takes everything i need to not because but once you're in you're in right but it's yes although you could get banned if you don't act if you don don't act right, you could get a lifetime ban. But, you know, I grew up on those 90s Yankees teams. So when you walk into a hotel to check in and right behind you, it's like Tino Martinez and Jorge Posada. It's just a wild experience as a baseball fan. And it was so fun to be there with all these Hall of Fame baseball players and amazing baseball players. And then Otani does what he does.

We'll talk about that later because we got to start locking into baseball as the playoffs are a week out. What was the best part of the weekend? I know you had wasn't closest to the pin. I saw a little gambling in the casino. What was the best part? Now, I was also joined by

my fellow Entourage co-stars, Kevin Connolly and Kevin Dillon. So it's always nice to, you know, in a land filled with athletes to not be the only non-athlete there. So that was cool. Closest to the pin, which we spoke about. What I did not know this year,

last year I didn't win, this year I didn't win. What I didn't know was we were going to do, we were going to basically get roasted while swinging. Anthony Anderson, who we all love, was on the microphone with Ahmad Rashad, roasting every player that came. It didn't matter who, it could have been CeCe, Sabathia, me, Connelly. But sure enough, at one point with like four people to go,

Kevin Connelly with his little hockey swing, good little golf swing, puts it on, and he's like six, seven feet away. It's like, oh my God, I'm going to have to hear about Kevin Connolly winning closest to the pin for the rest of my life. I was rooting for him though. I wanted one of us to represent and sure enough, who do you think steps up?

The crime dog, Fred McGrath. One of the most beautiful left, of course he has a beautiful lefty swing. And then he stuck it like four feet. He edged out Connolly by less than two feet. And they give him a champion. You get a championship belt.

I was going to say, what do you win? You get a championship belt. Oh, that's pretty cool. And pride. You don't get a car? You don't get a car or anything? You don't get a car. You don't get any of that.

You get pride. But a few takeaways. There was a bunch of takeaways. When you get back together with the boys from Entourage, is it like, I know you talked to them, is it like, dude, years haven't gone by, it's the same old shenanigans and all that with those guys? Yes.

So, you know, at one time after one of the dinners and stuff, we went to go gamble. Kevin Dillon. This is Kevin Dillon as it gets right here. I'm already laughing. I don't even know what this is. It's like, hey, bro, we got to play some craps. I got a new method.

It's called the Iron Cross. I'm like, okay, let's go. So this sounds like an opening to a bad joke. It was me, Dillon, Connelly, and Johnny Damon go walking up to a craps table. Now, Johnny Damon is, by the way, a stud. Loved hanging with him. Great dude, yeah. He's rocking.

On one hand, he's got the 09 Yankees championship ring. On the other hand, he's got the 04 Red Sox championship ring. He's got them both on. Hair back, just looking amazing. And we all buy in for a bunch of money, and Dylan's telling us what to bet. And I lost my shirt. Johnny lost his shirt.

Connelly lost his shirt. The only one who won was Dylan. Wait, what's the Iron Cross? The Iron Cross is basically you're covering every number on the field. You're covering the field. You're covering the 6 and 8. You're basically not winning a lot, but you're also not losing a lot. And somehow, to the point where people were coming up to,

it wasn't just us. Later, like Dexter Fowler and Cliff Floyd came up to Dylan and gave him the point where people were coming up to, it wasn't just us, later like Dexter Fowler and Cliff Floyd came up to Dylan and gave him the Iron Cross sign. Isn't that the best around a craps table when there's a couple guys, it gets rowdy, loud, all of a sudden there's just like 50 people just hollering. By the way, you can win a hell of a lot of money real quick

or you can lose a hell of a lot of money. We got waved off. At one point, I think there was some friend, I don't know if they were people at the event or they were playing in the pit on the crap table, the high roller area.

And one guy like waved us up to come hang out and another guy waved us off because they were on a heater and I don't think they wanted us messing up the vibes of the table. But it was just awesome. Like I played the first day

with Cliff Floyd. The white man was Cliff Floyd. Yeah, Cliff Floyd. Yeah, Br it was just, it was just awesome. Like I played the first day with Cliff Floyd, the white, Cliff Floyd. Yeah. Cliff Floyd. Yeah. Brie, Brie was there, right? Good little, Brie was there. Brie was there on the, well, I didn't really get to see her cause the golf is every day, but Brie was at a water park. She was on the beach. Did she get a massage? I mean, she's just chilling at that point. It's just like a vacation, you know, see old friends, spend some time, have alone time and all that. But it was incredible, man. Yeah. And it was really humbling to see, like I said, I mentioned Cliff Floyd playing with him the first day and he's a good golfer. I don't know how long he's been golfing, but he's just ripping 340 yard drives. Just like, I don't need to hit in those situations. I'm just like, all right, we'll go

play. We'll go play clips. But you, Matt, have to just start playing for nothing else consistently just to come to... Dude, I know. It'd be good for throwbacks. It'd be good for throwbacks. Dude, I'm telling you, the next time you come to LA,

we're playing. In an event like that, curious from your perspective, who, like, we talk about fandom and like, hey, like, if I see an actor or someone like,

oh, dude, that's so-and-so. Who are you just, like, I mean, Jeter is the captain. Jeter is kind of a god in baseball and sports. But is there someone that weekend that you're like, dude, that's Fred McGriff. That's pretty rad. Was there someone there this weekend? Well, last year it was Ken Griffey Jr.

I was nerd. He's a beast, dude. My favorite player. I wanted to make golf shoes out of his old baseball shoe. I'm like, can we make that into a golf shoe? That would be amazing. You know, Jeter's always the one. And like I said, he's just always been very cool to me over the years.

I haven't seen him a ton. But yeah, and what's cool about this event, they showed some video. And it wasn't just like, oh, Jeter started doing really well with the Yankees. And then years in started this charity. There was a video of him and his dad in 95 when he was, I don't even think he had the ring yet when he started. He was a child almost.

He was like 20 years old. So turn two has been going for a long time. And then the last part is the performance, the musical performance was Flo Rida and man, it's stuck in my head now for days. I can't get it out. You posted. Whistle.

I can't get Whistle out of my head. It's ingrained in my brain. By the way, I saw Flo Rida in Vegas one night at a club. It was awesome. He's actually one of my favorite guys. Club can't handle me now. Yeah, you don't realize how many bangers. Dude, he's got hits after hits.

Yeah, one after like oh my god these are all i remember being in a club when i heard this for the first time so it was awesome buddy what a weekend yeah got to see it was really interesting to see otani do some stuff and then all the you know all these baseball players and the vibe was very much screw this guy man it's not fair like this is Because he's just so good. Yeah, it's just, yeah. I mean, we might get into it later, but I tweeted out just like, I think he's the best player of all time.

And I know he's got a lot of, look, I know, what, he's 30? Dude, is he 30? I think he's 30. I think he's a little old. I thought he was like 26, 25. But look, I mean, Barry Bonds, in my opinion, I know you can talk about the asterisk, I mean, Barry Bonds in my opinion, I know you can talk about the asterisk, whatever, like Barry Bonds is just

arguably the greatest player of all time. You can go back to Willie Mays and all that, but like what he is doing and he's not even pitching this year. That's the thing. Like that dude could win. That dude might win a triple crown and a Cy Young in the same year. Like that's possible. He's the only person on the planet that could do that. It's just

that single single best performance i think we've ever seen in baseball that game yeah well let's let's save it we'll get into it because i have a big question for you when in regards to that and baseball and as we gear up for the playoffs but i i mean big week in college football just passed and we got a big week coming up i figure you know i want to check in with you and I know you, you know, this is what you do. You know, big noon is going, I don't even know where you're going. I can't wait to ask you where you're going next, but we're going to do Lion Earth leaderboards. I'm just going to quick hit you a couple of easy questions just to get your temperature on what you're seeing. Okay. Cause I can't do it the way you can. Are you ready?

I'm ready, dude. All right. Lion Earth leaderboard. Who's the Heisman leader right now? I think the Heisman leader, and this is based on the odds, is Cam Ward from Miami. Absolute stud. You know, came back to school, came from Washington State. Just has made Miami relevant again and a legit playoff team. I think he's playing really, really well. Travis Hunter is the other one. And we're actually, we're going to be at UCF Colorado

this week. So it'll be in Orlando for this game, which is cool. So Travis Hunter is just doing something that just, we don't see really in any sport we kind of just talked about otani being a two-way player right can pitch and can hit and all those things but in football what he's been able to do and we've seen a couple players in the past you know charles woodson is the one that won the heisman in 97 i believe um but mainly as a defensive back you know he had a couple returns had a couple things on offense but like he just had one of those years. And then he had that moment, right, where he had the power turn all that. Travis Hunter is elite on both sides of the ball. I think he's averaging like 130 snaps a game. Like, think about that, dude. That is mind-boggling. And to be the best player on the

field, arguably, every time you're on the field i whatever side you want to go hey i'm going to be a corner today okay i'm going to be a top five pick in the court hey i'm going to be a receiver today i'm probably going to be a top 15 pick like it's bananas dude what he's doing well his story is going to be interesting because yeah i again throwing it back to the days of dion and bo jackson and two sport athletes something i don't think we'll ever see again right and then you always hear about Russell Wilson. Yes, he's drafted by the Seahawks, but could have had a major league baseball career,

potentially he was drafted. But this is different where you're doing two things in one sport. And is that even sustainable at an NFL level? I don't know if it is. That's a lot of snaps, man. It's a lot of snaps. And again, the step from college to pros is just different. You're lining up against Pro Bowl receipt.

I mean, you're just going to get worn out in the NFL. And that's not a discredit to Travis Hunter. It's just going to be for him to be an elite player on both sides of the ball at the next level. It's just I wouldn't put it past him trying. I just don't see NFL is a different ball game, man. It is a different ball game. And don't, you think this kid plays receiver, right?

Think about this. He plays a series and he's running a couple routes and all that. Then all of a sudden the next series he's going, you know, like you don't think these quarterbacks are DK Metcalf or AJ, like, hey dude, like let's go pick on on he just ran three go routes the series right like now like that people are smart they do that college is a little different

so it'll be interesting though he's a fascinating player fascinating story um and I'm excited to see him see him this year you know what I wanted to ask you too and I said this was going to be quick hit and now I'm starting to dive in it's's fine, dude. You know, you are unique in a sense because, you know, you won a Heisman and then you had a teammate win a Heisman, right? So at this stage, you know, four games in, a third of the way in, a quarter of the way in, whatever. You start here and we all like that. Like we're talking about it today. A million other shows are going to talk about the Heisman. What is that like in the locker room when even your team knows, all right, you're're a candidate. Yeah. You know what? I know you're not supposed to focus on

that because it's a team sport and you guys are chasing championships as well. Some teams only really have the Heisman candidates. See, they're not going anywhere. It's pretty cool. Like for me, I was obviously different. You know, the year, the year I won, um, I didn't really think much of it because it kind of like, you always talk about like games and moments. My Heisman moment at that point was Notre Dame. And that was like, hey, national television. I threw for 400 yards, five touchdowns.

Two years prior, Carson Palmer won it at USC, kind of in the same game. So I kind of knew going into that game, like, hey, dude, this is kind of a moment. But I never really focused on it. And to be honest, that year. Now, when I came back from my senior year, I had zero pressure on me about the Heisman. I finished third, but I could care less. For Reggie, we all knew our coaches,

Lane Kiffin, Steve Sarkeesian, and they would probably tell you this. Like, we were trying to get him the Heisman trophy every single week. Like, that was like, Reggie, hey, you go do your thing. You go be the best player in college football. The play callers are going to figure out ways to get you touches. They're going to figure out ways to make sure that you are having

that type of season. Me as a quarterback, the same thing. We were all – so for your question, like, we were just like, hell yeah, dude, let's get Reggie. Let's have back-to-back Heisman. This is going to be sick. Like, he's going to get the Heisman Trophy. Now, it's more up to the player,

obviously to make sure you're focusing on a, like if I play well, that's going to come regardless, you know? So it was pretty cool, man, to, uh, to, to be, but to share the backfield with him as a Heisman winner. Um, but yeah, I mean, there there's, I didn't feel a whole lot of pressure expectations. So, yeah. So, so my only experience of it is, do you remember the movie, The Program? Oh, of course, dude. To me, that's the best. Cain is able.

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

to it is, you know, Adrian and I joke about this with entourage all the time. Grenier and I were the only two who never got nominated for any Emmys or golden globes. And it's funny, but I had a front row seat to Kevin Dillon, who we spoke about earlier, who had four nominations. I remember seeing a scene where I'm like, yep, that's going to be in his presentation reel. Oh yeah. That's the one that they're going to, they're going to roll out. But in a scene like that, like obviously when you read a script or you're doing that day, when you read it, you're like, beforehand, because you don't really know.

I'm trying to think like, you probably envision how a scene is going to play out clearly. Yes. Right? And that for you personally, like when you're about to do a scene, when you're reading a script, you're like, oh shit, dude, this is going to be-

100%. This is going to be great television. 100%. Or this is going to be like, I'm going to deliver the shit out of this. This is going to be great. So you have that feeling. That's cool.

And it doesn't always work out that smoothly. But with Dylan, we'd always go to the table reading and a scene would play and get laughed. You get a laugh in the table reading, it's usually funny. And I swear, I took the approach of a point guard almost.

I'm just going to feed these dudes lobs. I'm just going to tee him up and see how you know? I'm just going to like tee him up and see how far he could hit it because he's going to win. And Piven, forget it, Piven won three Emmys in a row. I was going to say Piven was a, Piven was. He three-peated. I mean, he was a genius.

He was so good. He three-peated. Does he, does he, I love like how much, I think we've talked about it, how much improv was on that show? I know, I know that, I think you said like the Brady scene was improv, right? Or no?

Some of it was. I do have to say, Matt, not as much as you would think. Really? Yeah, really was on the pace. Those scripts were ready to go. I think what we always did was we'd get it as scripted, and then we'd get a free take and let it fly. And look, a lot of times the free ones suck.

You know, thinking it's a free one so no there wasn't a ton there was always some but there was not as much as you would think i we'll we'll save it especially because when we get your boys on uh yeah we're gonna get the boys like i am always to me like when guys break character and just start laughing and i'm sure you've been a part of that on that show we don't i want to get in i want when we And I'm sure you've been a part of that on that show. We don't, I want to get into, I want when we're all together, because I've been on that, I've been a part of that with our show, um, where it's just like, dude, you just can't stop. And, and live TV is obviously different than acting way different, but sometimes live, it's like, you

know, it's like Barkley and, and, and, uh, Shaq and those guys. It sometimes makes the best TV. I cannot wait to hear some of the stories of just like behind the scenes and all that because I can't imagine like, dude, like Dylan has got to just. I probably couldn't keep a straight face. I have a list of stuff for when we get those guys. We're going to do that one hopefully in person in our studio and do it like that. All right. Did you like how I said we're going to

do quick hitting liner leaderboard and we just Yeah, bro. I mean, this is what throwbacks, we just throw back all the time. This is what we're all about. We go from Heisman candidates to reading scripts. Next one for liners leaderboard. Who's the best

team in the nation right now for you? Dude, for me. So right now for you dude for me um so right now texas is ranked one um and i would say i would say they i would say texas and i only reason why is because obviously they have a big win against michigan on the road i don't know how great michigan is coming out they beat usc last week that's better than what i and i would have ohio state too ohio state has been dominant i think ohio state when it's all said and done Michigan is coming out. They beat USC last week. That's better than what, and I would have Ohio State too. Ohio State has been dominant. I think Ohio State, when it's all said and done,

once they kind of get into this, they might end up being that. You can debate both those teams. I think Texas, even with Arch Manning right now, Quinn Ewers, nursing injury, probably number one. But at this point, look, Texas is going to get in the meat of an SEC schedule. Ohio State's going to get into the meat of an SEC schedule. Ohio State's going to get into the meat

of a Big Ten schedule. As it usually does, it'll all play itself out. But those two teams are loaded, man. Last one. What's your biggest surprise in the league? It could be a player or a team. Something you're surprised by that you didn't see coming into the year. The biggest

surprise. That's a good question. I kind of think Tennessee to me is such a, yeah, Tennessee, like, Tennessee and Ole Miss. Put it this way. SEC has kind of been Georgia and Bama, what it feels like the last 20 years. Mainly Alabama and then Georgia the last handful of years. Maybe it's a changing of the guard.

I don't know. Like, the 12-team playoff, there's going to get a lot of teams in there. But this year in particular, like Tennessee's really good. Ole Miss, I think this is Lane's best team. So not necessarily surprised, but like just keep an eye on those types of teams. Also, like Penn State is kind of flying under the radar. And they got a big one this weekend, but, um, and then, yeah, I mean, and then, you know, usually then teams just aren't as good as we think they are in the preseason and all that. So, uh, it's been fun though, man.

And this is kind of like week four or five we're getting into now it's starting to get like, like there's good games week in and week out, which is exciting. Yeah. It's getting to the point where it's getting very hard to figure out, which is a perfect segue into our kind of final thoughts on week three, moving into week four in the NFL. I am as confused as ever. I tried doing this like spider web

approach where it's, okay, so Giants get blown out by Minnesota. That means the Giants stink because Minnesota is not good, but then Minnesota beats San Francisco and wins again. Minnesota is actually good, so maybe the Giants aren't that is not good. But then Minnesota beats San Francisco and wins again. Minnesota is actually good. So maybe the Giants aren't that bad. But then they lose to Washington.

Washington we know stinks. But then Washington goes out and beats the Bengals. So at the end of the day, we know nothing still. That's how it always is, dude. But I found myself trying to, okay, this is what I was trying to figure out. Which teams at least have identities in this world of parody that we live in where anyone could beat anyone week in, week out, and that's going to probably be that way to the playoffs.

But which team now have true, hey, I know the identity of this team. I know what they need to do, what they want to do, and the question will be, will they do it? I have a few, and I think they have staying power. Yeah, I think the Chiefs go without saying, right? We don't even need to get into them. I think Buffalo- No, but they're closers, right?

Wouldn't you say that their identity is- But we just know at the end of the day, the Chiefs will be in the mix to win a Super Bowl. Obviously, health aside, we just know that. I think Buffalo is the same. Buffalo is in the same boat, right? Buffalo is off to a great start. Now, have they had success in the playoffs and beating?

No, but I even would put the Jets in there, dude. Like, I just think the Jets are two and one. I have a lot of trust in Aaron Rodgers and what they're doing. Here's two teams that I'm not necessarily buying right now, and I'm curious if you agree. Seattle is three and oh. They've beaten the Broncos, the Patriots, and the Dolphins minus Tua. So that's why it's a good team. And they're a top, obviously, the NFC West. But that's why you

just have to kind of wait and see. The Steelers. Now, the Steelers, I think we might disagree on this, but the Steelers, I trust Tomlin. I trust the organization. I trust the culture. I trust all of those things. This team is averaging 17 points per game. They've beaten the Broncos and they beat the Chargers without Justin Herbert. So like, like they're there. And by the way, but like, again,

so sometimes you have to kind of like, like by the, like to your point, the Giants, the Giants might be better than we think. Cause they, I mean, Minnesota, Seattle might not be as good as we think. I don't know. Like, do you agree on the Steelers?

Like, I feel like, yeah, I, I think the Steelers though, to me, when talking about identity, I think they,

after the choice and my homes who I, I equate now, let's think about the other day being around all these Yankees. It's like, these are like the nineties Yankees. Like, and my homes turns into Mariano coming out of the bullpen with one minute left. You just know you give him the ball.

It's over. The Steelers, to me, have an identity. It's amazing defense. TJ Watt is a man possessed. Fields, only one pick. I don't even think they've really let him go intentionally. They're trying to keep turnovers down. I think he's getting more confident.

It's clearly his job. They, to me, have a very clear identity, and they got a nice little lead in a wild division. Well, and that's a big thing with them is like, but can they win playing the way they are? I mean, like I said, they're averaging 17 points per game. Typically in the NFL, we used to always say, if you're getting a touchdown a quarter, right?

If you're getting 28 points a game, you're winning a whole hell of a lot of games. Can you win that way consistently? And maybe they can, because if you said, like Tomlin is a fantastic coach. I'm just not as, like, I just want to see more, because I think Baltimore will end up coming back in that division.

Cincinnati is in all types of trouble, dude. Like, oh, and three-throw. And now they've got to battle the Red Rockets. Like, oh, and three- And now they got to battle- The Red Rocket. Again, you can't script this stuff any better. The simulation is working really well. Dalton goes in and beats the Bengals. Dude, the Red Rifle is back.

So, yeah, and I found such a hard time breaking down that, like, Commander's Bengals game. Was that bad bangles or just really good daniels and really good commander i i think it was good commanders they were the better team i mean burrow played i mean they scored what 33 points i mean they played their ass off how about quick on the red rifle i played against andy dalton when he was in the playoff game when i was in houston when he was in Cincinnati. Wow. That's how old I'm getting to 12. I think he was a rookie. It was either 2011, 2010 or 11. We were in Houston

and we hosted them. Um, and they came and we beat them. We ended up beating them, but he was the quarterback of that team. Yeah. If the Panthers and Andy Dalton beat the Bengals, then that's going to be proud. We'll talk about teams that need Ws. But also, another just strictly confusing team are the Raiders. They had that great come-from-behind win over the Ravens, and they go just lay a stinker. And then Antonio Pierce, who is my guy. He's a Super Bowl champion.

He was part of that 07 team. I have him near and dear to my heart. He was an awesome, awesome, giant defender in the history books to me because he talked a lot and he backed it up. Now as a coach, and he did the whole players are making business decisions, and what's your feeling on when a coach

publicly says stuff like that? And then do players actually make business decisions? Look, personally, I would. If this game's over, I'm not trying to be out here getting hurt, but I'm not an NFL football player. Yeah, I mean, listen, dude, it all depends on the situation. I'm not exactly sure. Maybe we can do a little research and try to figure out who he was talking about.

It has to be a defensive player, right? It has to be. Well, one, anytime a coach says that there's something going on in the locker room, there's something going on behind the scenes, which isn't great. Obviously, I think Minshew is starting this week, but he came out and talked about the quarterback situation. So that's one thing. That can divide a locker room. And then when a coach is publicly saying, hey, there's guys, like that's going to now be addressed within the locker room.

It's going to now be addressed in these team meetings. And by the way, I wouldn't put it past Antonio Pierce if he is literally, so the day after a game, when we go into a team meeting, win or lose,

typically coaches will pull a handful of plays and they will just call you out in front of the whole team. Quarterback, we cannot turn the ball over like this to win a game. You got to get better, liner. Whatever. Hey, Devontae Adams,

whatever. Dude, he might have pulled some plays up from the film and within that locker room. And then what does that do to your point? What does that do to the locker room? I have never been on a team where... um, now if it's a contract year and there's a disgruntled player and there's, you know, those types of

types of circumstances, maybe they just say, Hey, I'm, I'm, uh, my hamstring's tight guys. My hamstring's tight. That stuff, that is a business decision. But during a game, I can't remember a time, but, uh, but an injury would say like, Hey, I is a business decision. But during a game, I can't remember a time, but an injury where say like, hey, I got a hamstring. I'm not going to play. That happens more than you think. So Raiders are at home against the Browns this week, which is just another mess.

I was pretty bummed. The Raiders 2-1 or 1-2? The Raiders are 1-2. Browns, as we know, I swore to myself, I'm not going to make this a Giants-heavy podcast this week, but it was a beautiful win. I barely got to see it. They were in Cleveland.

I was not here. So I'm going to be watching that game because I think the loser of that game, I think Antonio Pierce maybe gets on the hot seat a little bit or if they manage to win, and if the Browns are now one and three, losing to the Giants and the Raiders back to back, do we start,

you know everyone's going to start to have the Jameis Winston conversation, right? I mean, I think that's probably already happening. Look, I don't know if you can, I mean, dude, you're paying the dude $50 million. But at some point, I get that. At some point, if get that. At some point, if it's not working and if you look what you did with Flacco,

right? That's what once the fancy coach of the year for a second time is because he had five quarterbacks last year. He managed to... I think it depends on how he plays. If they lose this game and they struggle because they played decent last week. So they lose this game. Then maybe there's some talks and it's early dude they were spotted a seven

point lead the giants fumbled the kickoff gave the browns the ball on the eight they score right away they basically spot and this is the giants we're talking about spotted the browns seven points and got a very conservative in the fourth quarter but pretty much for three and a half quarters were in control of every moment of that game, and then they got real conservative and scary. Deshaun Watson was 200 yards, a couple touchdowns, no interceptions. I'm glad I

benched Amari Cooper in my fantasy. He finally had a game. Also, I got to admit something. I was wrong. I know we're going to come at you for a take that is controversial. I had a take earlier. It might have been in the first episode. I was wrong. I know we're going to come at you for a take that is controversial. I had a take earlier. It might have been in the first episode of this podcast, for all I know. Another team that has an identity is the Green Bay Packers.

What that identity is, is LeFleur is an amazing coach, and he's on his way to start getting some Coach of the Year talks because what he did with Malik Willis was great. I talked about, yeah, Jordan Love's going to's gonna be great the receivers they have a bunch of young guys who's gonna emerge reads kind of emerge but the defense is a lot better than anybody thought I what did I do what I tell you what I tell you with young quarterbacks yeah coaching man you get him in a situation where you play to their strengths, you don't put too much on their plate. Obviously, they have some good players around him.

And all of a sudden, Malik Willis, you know, didn't work out in Tennessee. Now he's thriving. And good for him because he's playing himself into a nice little contract somewhere. Yeah. Whether it's backing up Love

or maybe getting a shot, depending on, yeah, I assume Love is back pretty soon. I'm not betting against him again. I bet him against him for two weeks. It's never happening again. To your point, LaFleur and that system and Shanahan. I can't

pound the table enough for that tree of coaches and what they can do to a quarterback. I can't. It's unreal. O'Connell as well with Darnold. Well, that's going to be a fun matchup too. We got our first real divisional game with some stakes with Vikings, Packers, and Jordan Love may be back.

Who knows? But either way, that's going to be a fun one. So that brings me to our next kind of fun NFL thing. Who needs it the most? It's so hard to pick one. So I have one, but you could almost pick any team. Well, I mean, I'm picking the Bengals, dude. You're picking the Bengals.

Yeah. So they picking the Bengals. Yeah. So they go 0-4. No team has made the playoffs going 0-4 since 1992. The only team who's done it, the Chargers, in 92. I want to say it's the same. And look, it's like they're 0-3, and now they play Carolina, who there's a little more incentive there with Andy Dalton

and just, you know, that kind of makes it a fun story, right? Surrounding this game. Carolina, like, scored a lot of points last week. And I just say this. Like, the Bengals lost to the Patriots. We know the Patriots aren't a very good team. There's a lot going on with Cincinnati right now. I would not.

I mean, look, I don't know what the spread is. I think it might be a touchdown. I just wouldn't be shocked if Carolina wins this game. And holy hell. So that means if you lost, that means you lost to the Patriots, the Commanders, and the Panthers, and you haven't even started

your divisional games yet, which I think are the week after against the Ravens. I just think they need it. Because 0-3, you're hanging on by a thread. 1-3, okay, all right, we can build, right? Then the next, I don't know who they play next week, but then all of a sudden you're 2-3 and then you're you're you're hanging on by a thread one and three okay all right we can build right then then i don't know who they play next week but then you get all of a sudden you're two and three and

then you're right there like it's a long season you're kind of right there and you're in a division where you know the browns aren't very good um obviously that we talked about the steelers but the steelers are you know they're not a juggernaut right now so yeah, yeah, it's going to be interesting. Well, dumb fan take, too. This is what fans like me think. If the Bengals find themselves 0-4, 0-5, at what point do you start saying, maybe we borrow the rest of the year off, get that wrist in shape?

Stop. I know you don't do that. You don't do that. I totally understand you don't do that. And he wouldn't do that. And he wouldn't do that, but it crosses my mind because I'm thinking of longevity. And I love Joe Burrow.

I want him healthy. All right, for me, you're probably going to hate this one, but it's the Bears, and here's why. I know the expectations were high going into this season for the most part, but things have looked so bad with the offensive line. DeAndre Swift has, you know, spent a lot of money on DeAndre, not performed.

You know, they're playing the Rams at home. Rams are good. They've come off, yeah. But you lose this one, you drop down to one and three. That's a big problem. But if you could somehow steal this one, if you're the Bears at home, I know you shouldn't be stealing games at home,

and they are the favorites, I believe. You hold court at home, you go two and favorites, I believe. You hold court at home. You go two and two. Then you got the Panthers. Then you got the Jags, who's another team who needs a win. The Commanders. The Patriots. So you get four more games in a row with winnable before you start getting into your division game.

I think this is a big one for the Bears. Dude, our boy, we had Kutcher on episode one. He texted me. Yeah. He texted me Sunday. He's like, I take back my playoff wins. I go, bro, you need an offensive line, dude. Well, you just know if they lose and they go one and three,

it's going to start falling on Caleb. And you can start hearing that chirping. The coach is for sure going to be maybe the next one or the first one on the hot seat. All the chirping is really going to start. And that division is so hard, dude. Minnesota, 3-0. Detroit, 2-1.

We know Detroit's a legit team. Green Bay, 2-1. I mean, three teams from that division could make the playoffs. It's going to get ugly. Listen, it's a learning curve, man. Welcome to the NFL. You take these years, you learn from them. But yeah, man, that's a good call. The Rams are sneaky good, even with all the NFL. You take these years. You learn from them. That's a good call because

the Rams are sneaky good, even with all the injuries. Sneaky good. Really quick before we hit the break, too. I know the Giants play tonight against the Cowboys. They haven't beaten the Cowboys in 100 years at home, and I know the Giants aren't good. The Cowboys are coming out with a vengeance. I know. It's such a bad setup. I just wanted the Cowboys to

beat the Ravens just so they weren't coming into this game so pissed off and desperate. Are you glued to the couch tonight? I'm glued. They sucked me back in. Yeah, dude. And my manager, Lev, said, you buried Danny Dimes.

You're off the wagon. Now you're back. This is, they sucked me back in. And I hate it, but I'm going to be glued tonight. Before we go to break, we're going to get Danny Dimes on the pod. And you're going to confront him. And I'm going to, yeah. I feel like he's going to confront me if they beat the Cowboys.

He'll be like, you ran your mouth. He's too nice of a guy. But I'm going to stir the pot between you two for sure. Do you have a relationship with him or you never really met him? I don't. What better way to start? Just like us on the podcast. All right.

We're going to take a quick break. When we come back, we're going to get to our Wendy's can't get enough sauce moment of the week. And Maddie's wife, Josie, who might become a permanent pod. Maybe we'll kick Matt off and I'll do the pod with Josie coming up next.

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All right, it's time for one of my favorite parts of the show, the Can't Get Enough Sauce Moment of the Week, brought to you by Wendy's. Big shout out to Wendy's every week, Matt, and I kind of highlight a player or team did something positive on or off the field. Matt, this one kind of pains me. I have to do it because I have to tell the truth,

but this one hurts to say out loud. Tell me. I'm going with Saquon Barkley. I'm going with Saquon because you and I were on the Dan Patrick show a few weeks ago. Recently, after he had the drop, Saquon was scheduled to be on the Dan Patrick show the next day. Paulie, the producer, tweeted out that it was a cancellation.

He wasn't ready to quite talk, but Saquon himself. I don't blame him. I don't blame him. He reached out personally to the show, something Paulie said in all his years he never saw. And then after my New York football giants get their first win, Saquon calls Danny Dimes, his former teammate, to congratulate him on the win and pump him up.

I just thought that was awesome. You don't hear stories like that much in the NFL. Saquon, you're my guy. Also, yeah, first of all, take an accountability. You know, he dropped the ball, and they probably win the game. So he took full responsibility, even though Sirianni and everybody else was taking heat. It is what it is.

And then to reach out to the producer, I saw that too. That's awesome. You don't feel that way. Athletes don't do that. And then to congratulate Danny Dimes for just what he's been through, the criticism. Saquon Barkley,

all around great dude, great player, crushing it, by the way. I know I'm sorry for your Giants because they don't have him anymore, but I'm happy for him. All right, so I'm actually going to stay in the NFL. And dude, I'm going with the Red Rocket.

I'm going with the Red Rifle, okay? And we talked about this last week. We talked about Bryce Young and obviously that. And then it was, I think we said, like, what if Andy Dalton just goes out and balls? Then what happens to Bryce? And that's certainly what happened. Three, what, 320 yards, three touchdowns.

And now, by the way, this week, he gets to play his former team in the Cincinnati Bengals. We're in the simulation. We're in the simulation part of the NFL. Look, I think big picture, good for Bryce. He gets to learn from Andy Dalton. But how about Andy Dalton? I think, and then I have two 300-yard passing games

in his only two starts for the Panthers. He started the game last year. That's more than any of Bryce Young's 18 starts. I know, but I wanted to give a shout out to Andy Dahl. It is not easy to be a backup quarterback in the NFL, especially after you played for a long time. And he just went out there and just, just dealt. So shout out to the red rocket. Can't get enough. And shout out to't get enough. Shout out to Wendy's. Thank you for sponsoring that segment. And hopefully, you know,

our guest doesn't cancel on us like Saquon did. I feel like though we get a little inside info if our guest was going to cancel on us. How about this? So this is pretty exciting. You know, we talked about our podcast and we're talking about we're going to have our wives on the show. and it's going to be mainly about why maybe they,

why we didn't pick up the dog shit in the backyard or what we did with the kids and all this and the chaotic lives that we live and our wives are the best, but we are going to bring on my wife and I don't even call her by her first name. I call her babe, but I'm going to call her Josie Leinart. What's up, babe? Hi. Because my wife wears a lot of hats, okay? She is a super mom, a super wife, a super friend, a super daughter. She is everything. But one of the big hats she wears, she is a lawyer, and she covers NIL and all things going on. And Jerry, this week has been a wild week in the NIL space. We had my boy Reggie earlier in the week talk about his lawsuit versus NCAA, USC. We'll see where that goes. But more recently, this UNLV story. So first of all, babe, thank you for joining the

Throwback Show. How are you? I am great. Thank you for having me. It has been one hell of a morning so far. Please do tell why. Are the boys crying this morning? Honestly, I don't know about you, but I am a little terrified that our four-year-old is going to run into your room or my room since he's home sick from school. So that may happen, but we did everything in our power to keep that from happening.

I just gave him candy and said, stay here for like the next 20. Yeah. I don't care for that. You said, by the way, you said, you said, go tell him we're going to take him to ice cream later. I said, okay, I'm going to give him candy. Anyway. Yeah. Jerry, what do we got, man? Well, look, first of all, I want to thank you, Josie, because you're tackling a subject that I thought I knew a lot about. I spent a lot of time this morning on your Instagram account. We are underscore NIL. By the way, go to that Instagram account if you really want to learn a little bit and figure out what's going on. but I'm not very bright and have a hard time following things what exactly is Reggie Bush kind of saying here with this lawsuit like what's what's not what's the point what is he

going after like previous when he played or even years after he played um well what Reggie Bush is doing is pretty much the same thing that we've been seeing with the house b and table a and then or even years after he played? Well, what Reggie Bush is doing is pretty much the same thing that we've been seeing with the House v. NCAA. And then we also had the Michigan football players recently filed a lawsuit in Michigan.

But that lawsuit and Reggie's lawsuit is slightly different because the statute of limitations for antitrust cases is four years. So which is why the House of E and C double A case only applies, well, that settlement only applies to athletes that played from 2016 to 2020, because 2020 was when that case was originally filed. Reg is kind of opening up a can of worms

for athletes that played prior to 2016. Same with the Michigan football players. So that is, you know, I think that when the house V NCAA and Allison came out and all of those things, I think the NCAA was thinking, well, if we just get our arms around this lawsuit, if we just figure out how with this settlement, we can, you know, appease those players between 2016 and 2020. We'll be in the clear and we can move on. But now this kind of threw a wrench. Plot twist. Plot twist.

Yes, exactly. So this would really open, I think, even a bigger can of worms than we're already in. The big story, which kind of brings us to this next story out of UNLV. And there's a lot of he said, she said going on and reports continue to come out. But as an attorney, and I've asked you this, the UNLV quarterback, basically what happened was, is he was promised something, a certain amount of money. It is alleged now it's about $100,000 to play for UNLV to come. He hasn't been paid that, apparently, according to his representation. And the big thing for me is there wasn't a written agreement,

which I know you see a lot of these contracts. So there was a verbal handshake. What does that mean? So what grounds does he have? Can he file a lawsuit against the school? What does that mean if it's just a verbal handshake versus obviously having a written agreement? Okay, so there's something called the Statute of Frauds. And the Statute of Frauds says that certain agreements over a certain amount of money have to be memorialized in a written agreement. And if it's not in a written agreement, then,

you know, poo for you. That's what you should have done. And we're not going to recognize this. However, one of the exceptions, and so clearly, if there's no written agreement here, someone can claim statute of fraud. But one of the exceptions to the statute of frauds is partial performance. So here, I mean, obviously, we don't know the terms and everything that transpired between these two parties. But you can imagine that there was more than partial performance. I mean, this guy allegedly moved to Las Vegas to play. He played and he did receive a certain amount of money. He certainly didn't receive the full amount of money that he's alleging he was promised, but he was compensated.

So there's performance on both sides of the aisle. And I don't think that statute of frauds is going to be an argument here. So absolutely, just because there's not a written agreement doesn't mean that there's not an agreement. And I'm sure that there's going to come out from here on out, we're going to see, you know, there's sure there's email correspondence, text messages, and they'll piecemeal a, an agreement from those terms. That counts. It's not formal. It's not the right way to do things. Absolutely. But it absolutely counts. Yeah. Is this sort of opening the floodgates, though? Do you think we're just going to see a lot more because of the informal way some of these deals are being done? This can't be the only case right

this is going to be a floodgate opening up with this kind of thing i don't think it's a floodgate opening up i think that unfortunately a lot of these nil transactions are going down just like this which for me i don't understand because nil is such big business. There's it's asinine to think that like companies are doing business on a handshake when people are moving across the country to play for for a specific team. And, you know, it just makes no sense to me why these things aren't being taken seriously. But as you know, opening the floodgates. No, I mean, this is how a lot of this business is being transacted. And if it continues, you know, going like this, you know, where there's these obligations aren't being fulfilled. Yeah, there's going to be, about just, and she could speak better than I can, but just the bad, I think one of the biggest worries for me when NIL became legalized was, okay, these kids need to be careful of the representation, the agents, the marketing, whoever it is, a lot of bad apples

out there basically telling them. And I told you before the show, there's these market values that these people go off of that are just phantom. They're phantom numbers. Like it's not, this isn't NFL free agency and these players hold out because, Hey, the market is this, these are what the top 10 running backs in the NFL are making. This is what I'm like. There really isn't that. Um, and a lot of these deals are just whether they're handshakes, they're verbal, they're promises. There's a lot of empty promises. And that's why we're seeing a lot of kids leave. But we're also seeing a lot of misrepresentation and agents promising, hey, you can do this if you go to this school. And it just

doesn't come to fruition. I want to call you bae, but I'm trying to be professional. Gosh, keep it professional. The House versus NCAA will fix some of this, right? Some of it. Yeah. Some of it. But as of right now, the settlement hasn't been approved. So there was no preliminary approval from the judge a couple weeks ago.

And actually, the next hearing is tomorrow. So we're going to see how the NCAA went back to the drawing board and came up with something else because there was a big issue. Well, the biggest issue that the judge had was their provision that there would be a third party that would kind of dictate like all agreements over $600 they would approve or reject. And that was, you know, the NCAA and, you know, all of the different conferences that are also co-defendants. That was their way to get their arms around the collectives. And the judge said that is not going to fly here. So the defendant said, hey, this is probably going to, this could be a deal breaker for my client.

So they were sent back to the drawing board and we'll see what they come up with tomorrow, because if this blows up, then there is no settlement. Then we go to trial and I don't see why the NCAA would ever go to trial because they're going to end up bankrupt. Right. Can this, can, can, if he was promised and there's receipts and like you said, email chain, uh, threads or whatever, can he sue UNLV for the, the amount of money that he wasn't

promised? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah, of course. That's wild. That's how it works. But I just don't know how this stuff is happening without a written agreement. And I think the problem, there are some collectives that are so well run. And now that the red tape was removed between the universities and the collectives, we've seen a lot of collectives go in-house and are now, you know, under the umbrella of the university. And there's going to be a lot more regulation that comes now that there's that, you know, transparency between the university and the collective, they're working together, blah, blah, blah. But beyond that, like a lot of these deals took place prior to that rule coming into effect. And I think that these collectives are just running by the seat of their pants and promising money that they don't have and are trying to scrap together and agreements aren't being made properly. I wouldn't be surprised if we see more of these issues come up as the season transpires. So we'll see. I just think it's wild to be that age. I try to think back to even when I was like coming up with acting. And a lot of this brings me back to like, I have an agent and a

manager and a lawyer. And sometimes I'm wondering what is everyone doing here? Right? Like how, what do you need all these people? But then you start hearing about something that's pretty brand new at this point and see how, you know, and then the parents are involved. And I watched you speak a lot too on the, on your, we are NAL Instagram account, just about speaking to the player, the kids, I call them kids with all due respect, they're young men and women and just what they, what to expect. And that's the work I, I want to see happen too. Cause I remember being young and I remember even making some money and having a friend ask me to, hey, can I borrow a thousand bucks?

I got a business idea. And I wish I had someone telling me, hey, for you to make a thousand, you have to make like $2,200 to clear a thousand dollars. And I actually asked you for a thousand. They're asking you for $2,200. And are we going to start seeing more? Like, like I said,

you guys spoke up about it on the Instagram account. I feel like we have to start seeing that more. Seeing what? People talking to the people, whether they're lawyers, agents, taking accountability and not just helping the players make deals and make money,

but actually, I mean, you'd like to think it's the parents, but not everyone has parents out there that also have the background to help. Yeah. Well, one of the things that struck me about this was because when this story first came out, and mind you, it's just been a couple hours. So even in the last couple hours, it's been developing. I think right now he's being repped by Equity Sports, which is a really big agency. I don't know if they were behind the deal back earlier this year and they brokered the deal. I don't

know. But my whole thing is, I don't know how an agent brokers this deal and doesn't have something written. Like that's your job. That's why you go out and you hire an agent because you don't know any better. So you're putting all of your eggs in their basket and hoping that they frigging protect you. It was their job to protect him. I think that that was completely fumbled on the agent's

behalf. Mind you, again, I don't know who the agent was at the time, whether that was equity sports or not. I don't know. But the fact that you don't have a written agreement that you can't come back and say, yo, these are the terms and this was not fulfilled. That to me is just, I don't get it. From a lawyer's point of view, I just don't get it. And if I had a son, I would never allow them to just follow through on a handshake. Yeah. This is why you get married to a lawyer, Jerry. You just protect them. I'm getting upset. I'm actually, my blood pressure's raising. It's not for the baby. I think all sides probably fumbled this based on what we've seen so far, and it continues to come out more and more stories.

But I think, Jared, to your point, too, we're seeing, I think it's like an educational piece, right? We're seeing 17, 18-year-old kids now in high school, right, in a lot of states can make money off their NIL. California included them. You know, we live in a state where these high school kids can make money. We are seeing more and more colleges offer up like financial literacy courses and just educational courses to what you're talking about. Like whether it's learning how to, what a contract is or whether it's taxes, like just basic financial one-on-one because now they're all, they're like, they're getting taxed. Like all these things that these kids have no idea what, like, I didn't know at 18, you know, obviously I wasn't making money,

but at 18, I would have known what to do. And Josie and her firm are doing a lot, like speaking across the country and speaking to the classes and teams and all that and just educating them, which I think we need. Yeah, but it's wild. It's gonna be interesting to see the precedent that this may start with a lot of the, you know,

this isn't the only deal in college football or college athletics where a school hasn't up allegedly upheld their side of a deal. It'll be interesting. It's just, we haven't seen it happen mid season, right? Right. In the midst of the mid season, which that is what's wild. Like you talk about like holdouts in the NFL, they're holding out preseason and they're trying to get a deal done. And maybe it leaks over to one game,

but at the end of the day, usually those deals get done. This is three games in to a team, to a starting quarterback, a team that's undefeated right now. So my question to you, because obviously if, again,

these are all allegations and things are developing literally as we're talking right now but if everything that's come out thus far is true he had grounds to do what he did to pull out to redshirt blah blah blah they didn't follow um they didn't fulfill the agreement fine but i'm like how does that affect you as a player? How does that affect your future? If you do have hopes to go into the NFL, how is this move perceived by coaches in the NFL or things like that? That's a whole other piece.

That's so interesting. That's going to be part of the interview process now when going into the NFL, right? Because all this stuff's becoming knowledgeable. You could, you could pick that apart and ask that question once more facts come out and use that against his draft status, you know? Well that too. And like also just from, from within a locker room standpoint, you know, the, the, again, I, I, I'm using the NFL, but like professional sports are different. You know, these are grown men and women who are making a lot of money.

There's contracts. There's all these things. This is still a form of amateurism, even though it's really not at this point. But in that locker room, you have a 19-year-old kid or 18-year-old kid who's getting paid X amount of money, starting quarterback for your team now all of a sudden it's like a piece which if if this is all true you kind of have you understand his point like hey i was promised something to come here i left a school to come here but how does the ripple effect that has from a locker room standpoint the team how it's viewed how he's viewed across like yeah, yeah, it's just, there, there's a lot to unpack there. I think for an 18, 19 year old kid who was just literally promised something that he wasn't given,

you know, it's, it's, it's yeah, dude, it's wild. Get buckle up. I would say that buckle up. I don't know. I would like, I, I don't, I think it's so ballsy to do what he did. And I'm not saying that he didn't have grounds because it sounds like he certainly did. But I don't know. I probably would have said, just finish playing out this season and then we'll sue them for breach of contract. I don't know.

That's how I probably would have done it. Well, there's going to be a lot of eyes on that UNLV game coming up, that's for sure. A lot of people maybe weren't interested in running Rebels football are going to take it in. Josie, I got, go ahead. No, I was just going to say, I feel so bad for the players who are on this 3-0 winning streak

and like have all of these high hopes. They're a top 25 team. I'm like, God, that sucks. Who knows though, maybe it galvanizes. The head coach is just like by the way guys we just lost our starting quarterback we're week four

hey buddy you're next up let's get you ready for the game let's get you caught up to speed it's just wild man as a father of two kids who are clearly going D1 if you just look at me you know my kids will be playing college football. I will learn from all this.

Dude, they got golf, buddy. They got golf. You don't need to be past 5'8 to golf. I said that to Bree on the way down. I told her that we were talking to you today, Josie, and explained a little bit of it. She's like, this is something we'll never have to worry about. You never have to deal with. Sorry, Jacob and Chase. You never have to deal with modeling contracts

because the kids are so damn cute. By the way, dude, Altuve's 5'6", bro. You got a shot. That's my yearly Halloween costume. You know that, right? We've talked about this. People think I look like it or we resemble each other. You do. You do kind of look like it, yeah.

So in that whole Astros run in the World Series when they were knocking the Yankees out every year, people were doing the side-by-side. So now I just throw on an Astros jersey and a hat, and it's the easiest Halloween costume ever. It replaced Rudy. I used to go as Rudy, another short player, and now I go as Jose Altuve.

But speaking of jerseys, real quick, Josie, before we let you go, you know, our boy here, he's wearing, we told people at the top of the show, he's wearing his Kobe Bryant Lakers jersey. And he stands by the fact, too, that he doesn't leave the house with it. Do you ever see Matt really going far outside the house with the Kobe jersey? Like, coffee doesn't count. I'm saying, like, if he's going out for the day, hey, I got a bunch of meat. Bro, zero chance. I'll answer for him. No, I've definitely,

no, I've seen him go out of the house with it to like, I don't know, maybe get gas. Right, he's not leaving the car, essentially. He's still inside. Or maybe even, I don't even think he'd drop off the kids with that. But he wears it constantly.

And it's older. How old is that thing? You've had it longer than we've been together, which is a long time. Like 11, 12 years. older. How old is that thing? It's you've had it longer than we've been together, which is a long time. Like 11, 12 years. Listen, this is like my lounge a long time. This is like my lounge where at the house, maybe gas, maybe coffee, maybe, maybe, maybe a store, maybe a store run. I'm sure I've done that. And I just, but I will not wear this to a game. Okay. No, I won't wear it. I'm sure I've done that. Yes, definitely a store run. But I will not wear this two-way game.

No, he would never wear a two-way game. I won't wear it to the bar with my friends on a Sunday to represent my team. And babe, I just got crushed for this cake this week. They're like, we're throwing away all our liner jerseys. I'm like, oh yeah, I guess you have a good point. I mean, there's a different thing between

being passionate about a team and all that. It's just like, I just wouldn't, I just, Matt is not. And I guess we both are this way. Like we're not, and this may sound bad. We aren't like fanatics, right? Like me. Right. You guys aren't like me. We're not. We're not. And obviously he loves USC, supports USC, but yeah, it's just not. Dodgers. We're not fanatics. This is why we're a good podcast couple, Matt. Jerry's a fanatic.

Yeah, I don't understand that mentality, but I think it's fun. I feel like I'm like a little smarter after today because I walked around like, oh yeah, NIL. Well, I get it. I did not get it. Uh, cause I did a lot of research getting, getting ready to talk to you. And I encourage everyone to, to go to, we are underscore NIL. If you want just, just grace up, you tackle everything. It's not just the UNLV situation. It's everything. So, uh, that was awesome. And, um, you're going to be busy. I feel like, I feel like there's going to be a lot coming up every day.

Honestly, it's getting very busy, like very, very busy. Yeah. As I progressively get more pregnant. So that's just the irony of it all. Oh, we're getting you back up. That's a whole separate episode. Don't worry. Jerry's right behind you.

Don't worry. We don't have breaking news yet, but we will. My wife went from acting to becoming a birth doula. So we could discuss all that too. Uh, big transition. Yes. Uh, but thank you. Seriously. That was awesome. Matt, you want to call her babe one last time? I just called her doll. I like to call her doll. So you're the best. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Bye. Bye. All right, we're coming back here.

So, Matt, we have our first, I referenced it earlier, our first sort of take where you got a lot of pushback. So, it's all about you. It wouldn't be my first time, Jerry. Let's just quickly play the clips this way. If you didn't listen last week, shame on you. But here's what we're talking about. Let's play the clip of Matt saying what he had said.

I also don't understand like whether like a grown man wearing a jersey. I don't know, man. It's just like a weird thing to me. Like I could picture weirdly, I could picture you wearing a jersey and like I think it's okay. But I've never understood. I would never go. And I love Jalen Brunson, but I would never go to a sporting event wearing a Kobe jersey. I'm wearing a Dodger t-shirt right now.

This is about as good as you'll get from it. I go t-shirt these days. I always laugh when grown men are wearing jerseys. Couple of things to unpack there as you sit there in your Kobe jersey. Well, I wanted to give the fans what they want. I do own jerseys. Okay, they are in my closet.

Number one, I think that's factually incorrect. You have done it. And we just had a lawyer on the air. So let the evidence show you, Matt Leiner, have in fact done that. Yes, I did. And you were a kid though. You were young.

Yeah, I was 20. I was a grown man. I was 24. I wore a Kobe jersey to a Laker game, a white Sunday jersey, by the way, a white Laker jersey to a game. And I spoke to Kobe on the court. Okay.

And now I'm wondering, and rest in peace, man, my favorite athlete. Now I'm wondering if he was judging me in that moment of me wearing his Jersey, you know what I mean? It's kind of strange, but yeah, it's a, it's a hypocritical statement. That's for sure. But that was also 18 years ago when I was true. Yeah. All right. We'll give you a pass, but you know, who didn't give you a pass was everyone who follows you and me and Throwback Show on social media. I'm just going to read a few brief ones. At the Cam Hammer, unfun take.

If legendary player, sportscaster, don't want fans wearing jerseys, hell, nobody should buy merch then. Matter of fact, let's lower the TV contracts and the salaries too. Wow. I got a, what is it? Don James Sports. Horrible take at Matt Leonard QB, and I love you. Like, just a double sword. Just like, God, I love you, but you suck.

Well, even better. Oh, there's the, listen. If my eyes aren't deceiving me, that's Matty Ice in a white Kobe. Now, did they give you that jersey while you were there, or did you go to Staples wearing it? I got to be honest, dude. I probably went to Staples at the time wearing that. And that's one of my buddies, Daniel, who look at the way he's looking at Kobe, dude. That is his favorite athlete and player of all time. This picture was taken in 2006, probably. He still,

every once in a while, will send me this photo he goes dude the greatest day of my life by the way this was this was greater than watching my kids be born like literally do you remember what was said do you remember what was said uh i don't know but now dude i don't know but he was just probably telling you to get something to had to be sports related right yeah this was talking to you about football. Yeah, this is off season. This is before the game shoot around. I was probably sitting closer to the court.

I just said, Ko, what's up? And I had known him a little bit. He was awesome, man. And we got to know each other over the years, like on a more personal level than just kind of sports and all that kind of stuff. So shout out to Ko.

But yes, dude, listen, I'm going to defend myself. Defend it. Floor is yours. I work in a business that is an opinionated business. I get paid to give opinions for the most part. I am not going to backtrack on my stance. I will say this for me personally. There are two things that I just, it's just not in me to do. One is I will never, and I say never with an asterisk because if my kids are involved, yes. I've never been the guy to go up to a famous person, a famous athlete to ask for an autograph, right? You don't fanboy. I don't fanboy. And by the way, it's totally fine. I'm just saying for me personally,

I've just never been that. Like if I saw Michael Jordan, I would be like, I might be starstruck, but I'm like, I'm just not gonna do that. Now, if my kid was there and it's like, then you have kind of like a cop out and all that kind of stuff. And the same goes with the jersey.

Now, I know I wore that, but I'm still gonna defend myself. I have not worn a jersey in public since that game. Never, never to a sporting vet, not once. And there to defend myself. I have not worn a jersey in public since that game. Never. Never to a sporting vet. Not once. And there's no proof out there, so no one can see that. I just don't understand being a fanatic for a team in that regard because I don't have that.

I love the Dodgers. I love the Dodgers. But I'll wear a T-shirt. I'll wear blue. I'll wear a hat. I'm not going to wear a Clayton Kershaw jersey to a game. So listen, I stand by it, dude. People can burn my jersey in the trash, bro.

I just like, I appreciate the fans. What do you got there? Well, is this acceptable? Like, all right, we got a Giants jersey right here. Let me ask you a question. Have you worn that? Have you worn that? Yeah, I mean, you got turtle on the back.

That's kind of cool. I wore this episode and then I found this tag right here. Basically, it's saying, like, the wardrobe department wrote, like, Jerry wore this with, uh, this is what I wore for continuity. Okay, but have you worn that jersey to

a, uh... No, because it says turtle on the back. So I would just be... No, but I have worn... You've worn a New York Knicks jersey courtside, guaranteed. I definitely worn Knicks jerseys. I've worn Yankees jerseys to Yankee games for sure. Look, I look at it differently.

I understand what you're saying. For me, if you're wearing it to a game, I get it. It's... I don't know, man. I don't know. I just think it's funny. I made a career off of wearing jerseys. So it's hard for me to hate on. I get it. I just think it's funny. I made a career off of wearing jerseys. So it's hard for me to hate on.

I get it. I just think it's funny. Like if I'm walking in my town on a Sunday and there's a sports bar and it's loaded with, and I just see like a 50 year old dude walking in with a, uh, Jalen Brunson jersey on. I'm just like, it just makes me giggle,

dude. That's it. I don't know how to explain it. So on, I'm just like, it just makes me giggle, dude. That's it. I don't know how to explain it. So look, I took a lot of heat. I appreciate it. Hey, listen, I appreciate that. I appreciate the debate back and forth. But that's why I'm wearing my,

for everybody that can see and the listeners, I am wearing my old school Kobe jersey. This jersey has made its rounds though. Like this jersey, it might be time to hang it up, but I'm holding on to it for dear life. Well, Shaolin Sane also said on Twitter, note to self, don't meet Matt while wearing his jersey.

Dude, this is going to be a thing now because I'm going to be out and someone's going to be like, hey, do you like my jersey, bro? It's going to be a thing. I don't think the picture helps you, but we'll move on. You're safe for now. By the way, I will say this. I had a lot, you know, jersey bro it's gonna be the thing i i don't think the picture helps you but we'll move on i i you're

safe for now but by the way i will say this i had a lot you know thanks to to andrew our producer on here i had a lot of guys who supported me as well so yeah we didn't pull those we didn't want to hear it we didn't we didn't look for hard for those but they're out there i'm gonna start just i'm gonna start rocking the jersey everywhere i go now dude that's what i'm saying you gotta zag while everyone is zigging. By the way. It's reinvention, Matty. By the way, when we have our three-point contest,

you best believe I will be wearing my Kobe jersey. Well, who should I wear? Hmm. That's a good question. Because you can't shoot, bro. I'm already in your head. I'm actually surprised your highlights from the celebrity all-star game

was not bad not as bad as I envisioned I talked to quite a few people about this three-point contest we're going to do in LA soon and then I was reminded by one thing while I was at the Jeter Cliff Floyd who is not a professional golfer,

I don't even know what his handicap is. He could move it. He was still able to hit it 330 yards because he's an athlete. Your three-point shooting video is a little scary. A lot of people have said, oh, that's trouble. He's just flicking it. Dude, I'm telling you, man. We're going to do it at USC, the Gal'm telling you man we're gonna have an we're gonna do it at usc the galen center we're gonna have an audience i might even i might even

have usc's basketball team be there i'm boys with the coach and we're just gonna make this we're gonna turn it into an event all right well listen it's time to wrap up we like to end every week with uh what are we watching what are you watching this weekend, Matt? It could be sports, it could be a TV show, it could be anything. What do you, or it could be a player. Yeah, I mean, I think I'm gonna, I'm watching my Dodgers close this out, man. Like that's my team.

Tight race in the NL West. And Otani, just- No way he gets to 60, right? 66, he's gonna run out of games. Yeah, they only got a couple gets to 60, right? 66. He's going to run out of games. Yeah, they only got a couple games left. Wow. I love... We're going to bring in some baseball guys here

coming up on the pod just to talk baseball. But I love... They're nothing better than the fall football, but October baseball playoffs. But I'll be watching Otani and the Dodgers, man. They need to finish strong here. Who's your top three? Do you have a top three or even just box office must watch

players? Otani, I'm guessing, is one. Currently? I would say Otani. When I caught the first pitch for Reggie, I met Otani in the tunnel. We posted that video. That was pretty rad. So Otani's one. I've posted that video. That was pretty rad.

Otani's one. I've seen him play, but that's just one where every time he's up to bat, you're glued. Every swing is like... I've seen him play in Cleveland when he was with the Angels, and everyone's phone came out. It's pretty wild. I would say NBA, I've never seen Steph Curry play in person.

Incredible. That would be pretty cool, even though now, you know, not in the prime anymore, but still tremendous. I think just the entertainment value. Gosh, who else, man?

Like, Mahomes, Mahomes, again, just. I have Mahomes. I have Otani. I have Mahomes,

and I got to see him in the Super Bowl, and it was pretty cool to see him get the ball back with a minute to go and win the game, but also Wemby. Go see wimby yeah i think too for all everybody you know all the listeners and all that like email us talk to us like who would you pay to see what what athlete would you pay to see one time in your lifetime yeah you know also simone biles simone biles yeah i appreciate i appreciate greatness i appreciate greatness and just like one of ones.

You know what I mean? Like just hard to wrap. Wemby's a perfect example. Like we'll just, I mean, we'll never see another player like that. And he's only what, year two? Like it's wild. And I still hold out hope. I still hold out hope that Tiger will compete in a major again.

I don't think we're ever going to see it. But I hold up hope. Dude, I saw real quick. I saw opening round, USs open tiger tory pines uh the the the tournament he went um extra holes with rocco media when he had a broken knee and i was like i saw for father's day this father's day weekend it was me and my pop i think cole was like two or three and uh i saw i stayed i stood on the t-box it was the only time i ever done this i stood on the t-box and was the only time I ever done this. I stood on the tee box

and watched Tiger hit hole one. It was awesome, dude. It was totally awesome. We'll never beat peak Tiger. It just won't happen. As great as Scotty Scheffler is, and he's amazing to watch, we'll never beat him. Do you know what I'm watching? I'm obviously going to watch my Giants tonight. I'm very curious to see

Packers, Vikings, and Bills Ravens, but going semi-sports route, the Vince McMahon documentary on Netflix just dropped six episodes, I think. I was a wrestling kid when I was younger. So my brother and I still send us like, he sends me like 80s wrestler memes all day long. I got to watch that. And that's something my wife left no interest in. Zero interest. So I'm on my own with that one. Dude, I met, speaking of autographs,

I met one of the cool, I was a kid. I was like seven. I met the ultimate warrior. Remember the ultimate warrior? That's my favorite wrestler of all time. I met him in LAX. I think when I was, I don't even know, five, six. Was it hard to spot him without the face paint?

No, I got his autograph on a little college rule paper. I don't have it anymore, but I had it forever, dude. That world is fascinating. That'll be a fascinating doc. That'll be a fascinating doc. I can't wait to watch it. I know he just released some quotes on Twitter or whatever. He put out a statement that he's just,

because he participated in it, but he's unhappy with some of the, with the takes and the version that the producers use. I think Bill Simmons is one of the producers. Didn't tell the whole story and told it a certain, of course he's going to say that. I'm watching that this weekend. It's time.

We'll talk about it next week, man. I'm curious. Yeah. Thank you again, everybody listening. Thank you to Josie Leinart for coming on, giving us, shedding some light on the NIL. And also Thank you again, everybody listening. Thank you to Josie Liner for coming on, giving us, shedding some light on the NIL. And also don't forget,

subscribe to us on YouTube, Throwback Show and social media. All the handles are at Throwback Show. Give us the sub, give us the like, all that. And then yeah, pay attention to the social media.

We're going to put up a poll because we got to get to the, we got to just close this Jersey thing out. So we'll see you guys next week. Later. Oh, wait, Matt,

where are you going? Quick. Where are you going? Central Florida. By the way, DJ Khaled coming on the show. Stop. Are you introing him?

I'll probably not intro him this way. I got the intro offset, but we got DJ Khaled. DJ Khaled's coming on. So I, I, I played one V one with him in a golf match. Just ask him a golf question.

He's going to say, let's golf. Right down the middle.