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

Summary

Throwbacks with Matt Leinart & Jerry Ferrara Episode: Number 1 Pickleballer Anna Leigh Waters Joins & Mavs Win the Cooper Flagg Sweepstakes
Release Date: May 15, 2025

---

Personal Life Updates

In the opening segment, Matt Leinart and Jerry Ferrara dive into personal anecdotes surrounding overlapping celebrations. Matt, turning 42, shares the unique challenge of having his birthday fall on Mother's Day—a day already reserved for honoring mothers.

Jerry Ferrara humorously reflects on balancing multiple celebrations:

"What do you do when your 6-year-old loves basketball and it's just not there?" ([00:00])

Matt elaborates on how he and his wife managed to celebrate both occasions gracefully, emphasizing the importance of prioritizing family:

"I made it very, very clear. This is husband 101. My birthday means absolute on the day of Mother's Day." ([03:05])

The Rise of Pickleball & Interview with Anna Leigh Waters

The core of the episode centers around the explosive growth of pickleball and its rising star, Anna Leigh Waters. Matt introduces Anna, highlighting her as the world's number one women's pickleball player and the "Serena Williams of pickleball."

Matt Leinart shares his excitement about Anna’s involvement:

"Anna Leigh, she's an absolute savage. She is basically the Serena Williams of pickleball." ([07:11])

Discussion Highlights:

• Pickleball’s Popularity: Both hosts discuss how pickleball has become the fastest-growing sport globally, attracting celebrities and professional athletes alike.

  Jerry Ferrara remarks on his recent encounters with the sport:

  "When I turn and look, they're starting to... they're starting to pick up." ([09:50])

• Investment in Pickleball: Matt talks about his investment in the New Jersey Fives, a team under Major League Pickleball (MLP), and praises the organization’s leadership.

  Matt Leinart:

  "I'm part of the New Jersey Fives... I have just the luxury to have the greatest player in the world." ([07:31])

• Interview with Anna Leigh Waters: Anna delves into her journey in pickleball, emphasizing the sport's accessibility and her competitive nature. She discusses training routines, the significance of playing with her mother, and her aspirations for the sport's future.

  Anna Leigh Waters shares her approach to the game:

  "Pickleball is easy to learn, but hard to master... it's a sport that everybody can go out there and play and have fun." ([29:49])

  She also highlights the importance of team chemistry and supportive ownership:

  "Ryan and Gary have been so amazing... we have such great team chemistry." ([48:17])

Matt’s Charity Golf Tournament

Transitioning from pickleball, Matt announces his participation in Patrick Mahomes' charity golf tournament. Despite his self-professed limited experience in golf, Matt expresses enthusiasm and seeks advice from Jerry on navigating the event.

Jerry Ferrara offers playful yet practical tips:

"Don't go first, go last... save your hips, save your calves." ([59:25])

Matt Leinart responds with his strategy:

"I'm more of the middle guy. I'll sink a couple putts and have a great time." ([61:05])

Anecdotes & Adventures

The hosts reminisce about their experiences in the entertainment industry, particularly Jerry’s adventures with director Pete Berg. Jerry recounts his roles in movies like Battleship and Lone Survivor, highlighting the unpredictable nature of acting gigs.

Jerry Ferrara shares a memorable encounter:

"For me, that adventure is, you never know where one thing will take you." ([71:05])

Matt adds his own experiences, emphasizing the lasting friendships formed on set:

"Shout out to Adam Ray and Frat parties." ([74:07])

Listener Questions: Parenting in Sports

Concluding the episode, Matt and Jerry address listener inquiries about parenting young athletes. They discuss the balance between fostering a child’s passion and avoiding over-pressurization. Emphasizing the importance of keeping sports fun and allowing children to develop naturally, they offer heartfelt advice to fellow parents.

Jerry Ferrara advises on handling a child’s enthusiasm:

"You should think your kid's awesome... keep it fun." ([82:05])

Matt Leinart echoes similar sentiments, highlighting the unpredictable nature of athletic development:

"Kids have less than a 1% chance to make it professional in any sport... keep it fun." ([82:27])

Conclusion

Matt Leinart and Jerry Ferrara wrap up the episode with enthusiasm for upcoming events and continued support for Anna Leigh Waters’ endeavors in pickleball. Their blend of personal stories, sports insights, and engaging conversations offers a comprehensive and entertaining glimpse into their lives and the evolving world of sports.

---

Notable Quotes:

• "Anna Leigh, she's an absolute savage. She is basically the Serena Williams of pickleball." - Matt Leinart ([07:11])
• "Pickleball is easy to learn, but hard to master... it's a sport that everybody can go out there and play and have fun." - Anna Leigh Waters ([29:49])
• "Kids have less than a 1% chance to make it professional in any sport... keep it fun." - Matt Leinart ([82:27])

---

For those interested in the burgeoning sport of pickleball and the insights of its top athletes, this episode offers an engaging and informative listen. Stay tuned for more throwbacks and in-depth conversations every week!

Transcript

[Jerry Ferrara]

What do you do when your 6 year old loves basketball and it's just not there? I just want to tell him like, do you know how many thousands of hours I put in to be a mediocre rec league player? Thousands of hours just to be like a guy that doesn't get picked last. That took thousands of hours to roll up to the schoolyard and be like, all right, we'll take Jerry with the third pick. That was thousands of hours. Welcome to another episode of Throwbacks. I'm having the caffeine issue.

[Matt Leinart]

Welcome.

[Jerry Ferrara]

You know, you try to calibrate the caffeine, right? And like you want it to peak when you need it. I'm like over the line now. I've had too much.

[Matt Leinart]

The problem with you is you're, you're like an extremist. When you peak, you're rocking but when you, when you go on your down, you're like, you're like, I don't really want to be. I don't, I don't really want to be around Jerry right now for the next 30 minutes.

[Jerry Ferrara]

That's so funny. How. Well, welcome. Welcome to the podcast. Thank you everybody for listening.

[Matt Leinart]

We haven't been on for a while.

[Jerry Ferrara]

I know. Leave a comment on the YouTube page. Follow us on all social media platforms at Throwback show. We got a good one. Don't forget, subscribe too on Apple and Spotify and leave a review. That really helps. We got a good one for you today. But we do have a lot to talk about.

[Matt Leinart]

I feel like we got a lot about, man.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Took the week off last week. We needed a. You know, I've gotten used to seeing you is the problem, Matt. Like we did LA live shows, then we were in Green Bay together. So now we're in New York and then New York. So you know, I've missed you even with the week off. So now we're back though. I feel like we're back, buddy.

[Matt Leinart]

Had a busy weekend. We had a. We celebrated Mother's Day, which is nice. Happy belated Mother's Day. I did message her and told her happy Mother's Day.

[Jerry Ferrara]

But yes, all the moms out there, but you know, you share Mother's Day. This doesn't happen all the time. But you turned, you turned an age to. Happy birthday, buddy.

[Matt Leinart]

42, man.

[Jerry Ferrara]

So what do you got to do when like it falls on Mother's Day? You got to celebrate yours like a different day. Cuz Mother's Day is sacred.

[Matt Leinart]

The funny, the funniest thing is my brother cuz. Cuz my mom passed away in 2017. And my brother. My brother's like. He texts me. He goes. He goes, dude, it's kind of that your birthday and Mother's Day are today. He's like, that's from all the mothers. He's like, why do you have. He was like, isn't that kind of he. My. You've gotten to know my brother through.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Text a little bit. I know his sense of humor now.

[Matt Leinart]

He is unfiltered. And he's like, can't they just give you the day by yourself? He was. He was, like, so mad for me. I'm like, dude, it's okay. You know, it's very. It's one of those things where we celebrated my birthday with friends and, you know, locally on the Saturday before. So Mother's Day, my birthday was Sunday. I made it very, very clear. This is like husband 101. My birthday means absolute on the day of Mother's Day.

[Jerry Ferrara]

You're the back page.

[Matt Leinart]

I am not. Yeah, I am. I'm not even the back page. I'm not even in the book. I told her. I said. She kept saying, like, oh, this. I'm like, babe, Sunday. Like, we're not celebrating my birthday now. She got me a cake and all these things, but it was more. It was just Mother's Day Sunday, my birthday, Saturday. We had a great day, dude. Just nice. The backyard is done. So we were in the pool. We had a couple. Had a couple friends over. Some of the moms, they just. We were just literally sitting by the pool. All the kids were swimming. Super, super relaxed, man. It was. It was nice. But, yeah, it was a little. It was a little weird. Like, typically, it's always on the same weekend. It's just. I think it's the last. I think it was seven years. I think it's been seven years or something since. It's. It's.

[Jerry Ferrara]

That's me. I got the Thanksgiving birthday. My. Like, every couple of years, my birthday falls on Thanksgiving, but it's kind of like the opposite. I feel like it's my own Christmas. Like, I get all the great food on a holiday, and I'm the only one who gets presents. So. Although nowadays it's like my birthday. It's like we're taking the kids to Disney World. I'm like, oh, that, that. So that's what I'm doing for my birthday.

[Matt Leinart]

We're on this. We're in this. We're. We're in this stretch where my. My wife's birthday, by the way, my. And how about this. My wife and my mom share the same birthday march.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Things are like, destined, right?

[Matt Leinart]

Yeah, it's cool. So. But. But I'm in this stretch of like, Valentine's Day, my wife's birthday, Mother's Day, our anniversaries later. You just got to get out alive, bro.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Yeah. And we actually. We have a great guest too, today, which we'll talk about in a minute, which there's a great mother daughter story about our guest coming up. We'll tell you all about who we have coming.

[Matt Leinart]

What'd you guys do for Mother's Day? What would you.

[Jerry Ferrara]

I, you know, agree with. Well, the days of, like, look, obviously flower, stuff like that. But, like, it's the gifts and all that we're not about that. Never really were. But now it's more experiences. So I thought I came up with something fun, you know, like yes day. Like, there was a movie yesterday where you give your kids a yes day. Right? I'm like, I'm gonna give Bri a yes day for Mother's Day.

[Annalee Waters]

Right.

[Jerry Ferrara]

I think it's a great idea. A yes day. Like whatever you say we're doing today. I. But I have to tell her. So I kind of like, the night before I tipped it off, I'm like, here's what I'm thinking. Yesterday. And she's like, that's so sweet. That's really great. We're not doing that. Because I would much rather just. I wanna not make a decision day. I'm like, what does that mean? She's like, I wanna wake up. I don't wanna think about where I'm eating for breakfast. You tell me. I don't wan. Where we're going. Just set it up.

[Matt Leinart]

So you handled the whole day?

[Jerry Ferrara]

Yeah, so I. Yeah. Up at 6am Beautiful breakfast. We went by church. I know she likes to dress up, go to church. I got the boys all dressed up. I picked the outfits, had a nice barbecue for the mom. So. Yes. She took my yes day and she said you could burn that in the backyard. And I want to know. I mean, pretty.

[Matt Leinart]

It pretty much was a yes day. I mean, it's basically yes to whatever you plan for me, so.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Right. Right. So, man, that's Fellas.

[Matt Leinart]

Yeah.

[Jerry Ferrara]

You just got to get out in front of. Especially if you have like the birthday with the anniversary and the mother. Just don't wait. You can't wait till the last.

[Matt Leinart]

Dude, I got the. I got the anniversary coming up. We're going to be in Mexico for. For that. We're actually. She actually hit Me up today. She's like, hey, our anniversary is coming up. We, we. Our anniversary always. Because it's Memorial Day weekend. So it always kind of is on the back burner. Just because we're always. It's a holiday weekend.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Hot, long weekend, the kids are off the school.

[Matt Leinart]

Yeah, it's totally fine. But I was like, yeah, we're flying home on our anniversary this year. How, how, how romantic is that? So I gotta, I gotta come up with something. But it's tough with the baby now, man. So we're just, you know, we have.

[Jerry Ferrara]

A really, really good guest for you today. And I mentioned mother daughter stories. Do you want to kind of set. This was, this was a little bit of a Matt Miner brainchild here. And I love that with. Great interview coming up.

[Matt Leinart]

Yeah, we have a great interview coming up. So we have the world's number one women's pickleball player in the young 18 year old Annalee Waters. Okay, so Annalee Waters. Call her Al. I got to know her. I basically invested in the New Jersey Fives, which is a team under the mlp, which is major league pickleball. It's a team that Gary Vee is pretty much. Gary Vee. Shout out to Gary Vee courtside at the next game. Yeah, Ryan Harwood, the gm, great dudes. They brought me in a couple of years ago and so I'm a minority owner, but just, you know, do stuff.

[Jerry Ferrara]

But you own a team, bro. You're a team. I mean, incredible. I mean, I guess I would say that to everybody.

[Matt Leinart]

Pretty, pretty, pretty awesome. I love pickleball. I'm excited to see where it goes, but we have just the luxury to have the greatest player in the world. And Anna Lee, she's an absolute savage. She is basically the Serena Williams of pickleball. She's the Tiger Woods. Like, she's, she's that good. She turned pro at 12, which is unbelievable, and started beating professionals at 12, 13, 14 years old. She's a sweetheart of the interview is awesome. But I think, you know, I think the cool thing is she kind of takes us into pickleball, where it is now, where it's going, the competitive fire that she has. And it's just, it's just awesome, man. Like, I'm excited to shed light on the sport. If you don't know who she is, you'll know. Follow her. You'll know. Follow her on Instagram, all those things. She's an absolute freaking savage, dude.

[Jerry Ferrara]

I'm sure she got her, her mom.

[Matt Leinart]

Slash a great mother's Day present, as you said. I mean, you mentioned her mom is a goat of pickleball too. Her mom's a professional pickleball. And they just. They go around all these tournaments on the PPA side, which is. Which is. Annalee explains this whole thing in the interview. But they play together as a mother, as a mother daughter duo, and they just beat everybody's ass. Like, they're just. She. Yeah, she. The mom's great. She's the coach at New Jersey Fives. She's also a beast pickleball player too, so.

[Jerry Ferrara]

But here's where I knew pickleball was going mainstream. You and I talk pickup basketball a lot. I was still playing pickup basketball like two years ago, me and a buddy and like two, we'd go play like a little two on two at the rec center. So you know when sometimes they put the big like separator between courts. So we're playing basketball on one side. On the other side is. But it's like. It's almost like a 50 and up league, Matt. People just start pouring in. Yeah, there's two pickleball courts on that side first. It's like the first, like eight people get there to mess around. I turn and look. They're starting to. Now look at us. Some of these older people are like looking around the curtain, seeing when we're going to be done. And I look at my buddies, I'm like, they want us off this court. They want this court to expand their game because they had pickleball people waiting.

[Matt Leinart]

Yeah, it's pickleball courts are taking. There, there. There's a pickleball court that's in the Bay Club I took you to on the other gym. It's a pickleball court with. It gets worse.

[Jerry Ferrara]

It gets worse. They send their leader over to. By the way. She's probably like 65 years old. Not even gonna lie. Beautiful, beautiful woman back in the day. Now, whatever you want to say, you could tell she. And she knows it too. She knows it. She knows she was hot. Is hot. 65 comes over, like, dressed in all the sporty shit and like leans over.

[Matt Leinart]

Hi, guys.

[Jerry Ferrara]

You know, we were just wondering. We got like 30 people waiting. You guys are going to be much longer. And I'm smelled good. I'm like, bro, look what they're doing to get us off the court. I'm like, ma' am. Well, at first I wanted to be like, hell no, we ain't leaving. I'm like, we'll be out of here in 10 minutes. And that rec center Is strictly pickleball now taking over? It's over.

[Matt Leinart]

It is, it is. You're, it is. It's taken over everywhere. It's the fastest growing sport in the world, I believe. There's tons of money. The, the TV networks are dumping a lot of money. Brands are starting to dump a lot of money in it. You're seeing a lot of celebrities, athletes who are playing it. I mean Anna Lee just played with Andre Agassi. Yeah, my favorite two, three weeks ago. You're seeing all these pop up places. There's one over by us, kind of like topgolf but now pickleball. So you're seeing all of those kind of pop up around the country. A lot of, a lot. I mean, gosh, I, I, I was at a tournament last year in Atlanta and Bijan Robinson was there. He's a part of a team, I think the Atlanta team. Trey Young was there, who's a part of one of the teams for Atlanta. So like you're seeing a lot of these athletes and celebrities just kind of like they love playing. It's a competitive game that everybody can play. Tennis is really hard. Like tennis, tennis to me is really hard. Pickleball, you can be 15, you could be 65 and be and compete with each other on the court and win. Like that's the cool part about it. And it's, it's all the craze, dude. And I, and gosh, selfishly I hope it sticks. But Annalee's the Goat man and she's, I mean 18. But how mature is she?

[Jerry Ferrara]

Like she's, yeah, I do not have.

[Matt Leinart]

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

[Jerry Ferrara]

I'm telling you, she's fiery.

[Matt Leinart]

I've seen it. I've been in the box with our team watching her. And the thing about pickleball that I love, it's so intimate. The, the, the, the places now are starting to get packed. But like when I go, I'm in the, I'm in the player's box. I'm like with the, I'm high five and I'm saying let's go. I'm getting all them hyped up. Anna Lee is a dog, dude. She's talking, I'm like godamn, dude. Like 18 year olds, she and she, and she's better than everybody. Like she don't care and she knows it. And then off the court she's like, oh, hey Matt, thanks For coming. Like, I'm like, Jesus, dude, she scares me, bro.

[Jerry Ferrara]

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

[Matt Leinart]

Dude, I'm playing pickleball this weekend.

[Jerry Ferrara]

That's what I'm saying. I'm pretty much hanging up the basketball pickup stuff. When do I segue over to pickleball? And, and by the way, you should start to consider hanging up the pickle ball. The, the pickup basketball stuff.

[Matt Leinart]

I know, dude. I'm in rough shape, buddy. Two pulled calves in the last three weeks.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Just, just get on the pick.

[Matt Leinart]

My wife finally said. She literally goes, what are you doing? Like, like, don't you think it's time? She literally like, what are we doing? That face. She goes like, babe, don't you think it's time maybe we stop? That's what she said. And I'm like, I'm like, yeah, this is my last season. It's my only season I played since COVID I'm. I'm. By the way, I'm hitting three. You see, I'm playing pretty good.

[Jerry Ferrara]

You're locked.

[Matt Leinart]

I'm feeling pretty. We're two zero. We still got like six. I think I'm taking a two week hiatus. I got to get healthy, dude. But yeah, pickleball. Pickleballs is. By the way.

[Jerry Ferrara]

I'm gonna start. I'm gonna start. I'm gonna go find that hot older lady and just say, will you coach me? I'm gonna see if she'll coach me out.

[Matt Leinart]

Is Brie. Got. Is Brie. I mean, I hope she doesn't listen to this. Is she having a. Is she athletic? I, I don't know.

[Jerry Ferrara]

This Bri is very athletic. Bri was a competitive gymnast her whole young.

[Matt Leinart]

Okay, but so was, so was Josie. So is she competitive with paddles and hand eye or athletic? Listen, it's different.

[Jerry Ferrara]

I've played. I, I've. I did not ever really play tennis. Growing. There's not a lot of tennis courts, shockingly enough, in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn in the 90s. Not a lot of tennis courts. I've only played tennis in my life, maybe 10 times. I've played twice with Bri. Let's just say we're. I don't think we're going to breed any little Andre Agassiz running around. We are going to sign the boys. She's not a hand, eye, paddle person.

[Matt Leinart]

Yeah. The only reason I was asking is because the only time I played with my wife, she was so bad and we got to fight. Because I was like, dude, I can't do this. Like, I, I literally was like, can you hit the ball over the net? Can you just hit? And we, we got in a big fight. We just. This was years ago, and we drive home, and she was like, I don't like the way you were talking to me.

[Annalee Waters]

Me.

[Matt Leinart]

I said, I said, I was like, dude, how hard is it to hit the ball over the net? That's literally what I said. So, yeah, I'm asking. Like, it's hard to play. I wish I could play with her. We can't. It's okay, though.

[Jerry Ferrara]

I don't think we can either over here, so. All right. Interviews come up in a second. Now it is time for flavor of the week, presented by Wendy's. Find your new favorite frosty fusion flavors today with choices like Oreo brownie, which we all know we all love. Caramel crunch. Maddie. Caramel crunch, and pop Tart Strawberry. I mean that. You say pop Tarts to me, you got my attention. Every week we're kind of going to give you a flavor of the week. This one for me.

[Matt Leinart]

I mean, what are we doing here, dude?

[Jerry Ferrara]

What are we doing? I. I look, it's Cooper flag for sure. Is the flavor of the week because obviously the Mavericks with. With the 1.8 chance of winning the lottery. Win the lottery. All conspiracy theories ensues.

[Matt Leinart]

That's not a conspiracy theory.

[Jerry Ferrara]

It's. It's kind of a.

[Matt Leinart]

The NBA.

[Jerry Ferrara]

We can maybe just remove conspiracy and just say Nico.

[Matt Leinart]

Nico Harrison, right? Is that his name? Just went from literally couldn't walk down the street of Dallas to now the best gm.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Don't you think that's an opportunity, though? Shouldn't they have put him balls out on the podium? You know, like, they put like Rolando Blackman, who's the good luck charm now. Got the. Imagine if Nico was that one sitting there just like, I just want to.

[Matt Leinart]

Know when he found out that they were going to be the number one draft pick. I'm sure they're like Texas.

[Jerry Ferrara]

They showed like a restaurant reaction from the Mavericks organization.

[Matt Leinart]

You cannot sit here and tell me. When you look at. Dude, the Mavs won, the Spurs 2, the Sixers 3. Who had the highest percentage, Utah?

[Jerry Ferrara]

It was you. Well, the top and the Wizards flattened out you. Well, they take the top three and they flatten the odds. 14 something percent. It was Utah, Washington and Charlotte had the top three. The three best odds to get it.

[Annalee Waters]

There's.

[Matt Leinart]

Dude.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Dude, the Mavericks were in the play in. So they were in the play, won the lottery.

[Matt Leinart]

The Mavericks are gonna be nice, dude.

[Jerry Ferrara]

So here's what. Here's. All right, so Cooper Flag for sure. And by the way, I'm sure he would have been fine no matter what. And you know, Utah, maybe they could be good one day. Washington, maybe they could be good one day. But he's going to a great organization now that is just dying to have something back from what happened with Luca. But of course, if you watch all the talking heads the last few days like I did, they're already trading the kid.

[Matt Leinart]

He's not getting.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Story is now he's not getting. Giannis is politely asking out Cooper Flag for you. I just don't get it. Why are we already trading the guy who we haven't even.

[Matt Leinart]

Kyrie.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Yeah, it was 90, 18.

[Matt Leinart]

Kyrie, Cooper, Clay, Ad. Like, Cooper's a good. Like. Like, again, he's also a rookie, right? So he's like 19. Yeah, he can play two or he. And he's a great defender, by the way. Like a good defender. He can guard one through four probably. You know, at six, nine, he's tough. Like, he's surrounded by three hall of Famers.

[Jerry Ferrara]

I just don't know how for a fan base. Even though you'd be trading for Giannis. I get it.

[Matt Leinart]

There's no way, dude. Well, also, this is coming to la, bro. We already know what's gonna happen if.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Kyrie wasn't hurt, though. Let's say Kyrie's injury was minor, where he misses the playoffs like he did in the season. But he's gonna rehab. He'll be back by September, full strength. Then you could maybe have the conversation. I love Giannis. He's incredible. He'll go down as one of the best to ever do it. He is 30 going on 31. Cooper flag is 19. Just starting out and then.

[Matt Leinart]

And then you have.

[Jerry Ferrara]

That's crazy.

[Matt Leinart]

You had The spurs at 2 with women. Yama De' Aaron Fox, Stephen Castle. They're gonna probably take Dylan Harper, Ace Bailey, one of those kids. I mean, I was. I was. I mean, this is a really good draft. Everyone's saying, like, this is a deep draft. Like, you have Cooper Flag, but there's a lot of really good players, like a lot of quality players in the top 10.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Sixers dodge the biggest bullet of all time. Cause if their pick slipped out of the top six, they lose it. So the Sixers, I mean, dude, absolutely dodged the biggest.

[Matt Leinart]

George, they're gonna get Ace Bailey or Dylan Harper. I. Those are going to be your top Three, for sure. By the way, there's a lot of. A lot of things online that are saying the NFL should be the lottery. And I said. My boy started that. I said that.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Wait, is that getting picked is people saying the NFL?

[Matt Leinart]

Who's saying it on. On TV this week?

[Jerry Ferrara]

Talking head tv.

[Matt Leinart]

Yep.

[Jerry Ferrara]

What?

[Matt Leinart]

Tanking is a disgrace. Win games. NFL should add this. Every sport should add this. The lottery is a brilliant idea.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Who said that?

[Matt Leinart]

Get up. Espn.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Oh, well, get up. ESPN also talked for four hours today about how they should trade Cooper Flag for Giannis. So I don't know if that's like, as I'm just saying, honoring, but I was. I was in on.

[Matt Leinart]

You were on that? You were on that on throwbacks? Yeah. I mean, look, I just. I don't know. Dallas Mavericks get the number one pick. Are you kidding me?

[Jerry Ferrara]

But, hey, I do think the NBA could maybe tweak the odds so the bottom three maybe make it more than 14 or whatever. Yeah, 14% for the top three. Maybe Jack that up because really, it's gonna. It's an awesome story, and the conspiracy is real. It's no longer a conspiracy. And I'm happy for Mavericks fans who's been through so much, but, man, does like, Washington or Charlotte, Utah. Man, do they actually need.

[Matt Leinart]

You know, how happy Washington's like, the.

[Jerry Ferrara]

10Th pick now or something?

[Matt Leinart]

No state. No state tax. You're going to a real. You're going to a good team with great players to learn. I mean, dude, that guy, that kid just want. He won the lottery. He literally won the lottery.

[Jerry Ferrara]

This is how I know I've gotten to be a certain age. I'm talking to my nephew, who we've had on the show about it, and I'm like, dude, like, also, it's huge. Like, no state tax. My nephew's like, why would someone care about that? I'm like, you'll figure it out one day.

[Matt Leinart]

When you're getting free agency, people go to states teams because millions of dollars. Oh, yeah. That's so wild.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Shout outs. Cooper Flag, flavor of the week. Sorry that you're already being put in tr. The guy's career hasn't even started, by the way.

[Matt Leinart]

This just saved every trade rumor. I didn't even save Nico's job because I think this whole new ownership group, I just. I really don't think they give two shits about what's going on for their team. But that sort of just, like, put a band aid in the sting of losing. Luca, obviously, you know, you get the number one pick and Cooper flag. You get another. Hey, you get another white kid out there. I mean it's, he's a baller also too.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Second place for flavor of the week. And we're gonna get to the Annalee interview. Michael Jordan special comment contributor. First of all, NBA and NBC doing their thing make they're revitalizing the 90s a little bit. I got, I'm, I have predict what would you want the special contribution to.

[Matt Leinart]

So I, I thought this was a on, on X Karam Butler said something I thought was really cool. He goes. And I, I like, you know, we had like, he goes, I don't want to hear any more of this, you know, because you know the TNT show and we love Char, we love those guys but they also, they get a lot of like criticism too because like how they talk about the game at times like Kobe rest in peace would have been amazing because he was so tactical. He was so like he broke it down, right? And he was and, and he was the closest thing to mj. I, I would love to hear. No one ever hears MJ talk about basketball. Like we haven't heard. If he could break down like that type of stuff like the ins and outs of the game and these players and all that. I don't even care in what compact. I don't care if he's like he's on a one on one. I don't care what he is. But I would love to hear him break down like the, the tactical part of the game.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Yeah, that's my question for you. It's almost like you have to think we have no idea what the special contributions will be. It could be something we're all not thinking about so small that we're like, oh, okay, that was just a headline. But if it's going to be something real, would you want it pregame, halftime or post game? If you're going to get MJ for one special contribution a game in the finals or whatever it is, do you want it before the game? Halftime. You can only pick one halftime or post game.

[Matt Leinart]

Definitely not halftime.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Definitely not halftime. That's out.

[Matt Leinart]

Yeah. Post. I would say post game. I would like to, I would like to see him react to what we just saw.

[Jerry Ferrara]

You know, see I go pregame because I want to know, like, what should these guys be doing?

[Matt Leinart]

Thinking I, I so Tom Brady, I mean Tom Brady took a lot of flack, right? But there were, there were moments and I think Tom will be, Tom will get very good at what he's doing in color games. It just will happen because of who he is. Yeah, but there were moments when he was. He was listening to. And this is just me nerding out as a quarterback because I know what it's like where when he's talking, I'm just like, dude, that. That nugget he just said was like, wow. People are like, holy. I didn't know that happens. Right. It can be just something like a defense or this or that or when you go to a line of scrimmage. What it. Like, what is the thought process? Those are the things that I would love to hear, mj. Now, basketball is a different game. It's faster. It's all these things. But, like, I would love to hear. I would love to hear MJ analyze the players. Like, what does he think of Anthony Edwards? You know, what does he think? No, no. Great goat debates. I want to hear.

[Jerry Ferrara]

He doesn't do. MJ doesn't engage in that.

[Matt Leinart]

He doesn't need to do that. Yeah, I don't know. I think it's going to be great. But special contributor, I don't know, man. We'll see. We'll see what happens if it's just like, him wave in and all that and, like, you know.

[Jerry Ferrara]

No, it's got to be more than that.

[Matt Leinart]

Yeah, like. Like, what's he doing? All right, well, podcasts and shit. Like, I don't know.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Shout outs to Wendy's. Flavor of the week flying around. Let's get to the Annalee Waters interview. Wendy's has done new Frosty flavors before, but never like this.

[Matt Leinart]

This time, Wendy's is launching a whole new way to Frosty, with all new flavors to choose from.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Yeah, it's the classic treat you know and love, but now with a little something extra, you could choose from Wendy's new Frosty Swirl flavors like strawberry, brownie batter and caramel.

[Matt Leinart]

Whichever you choose, you can make it your own. A refresh on the classic. It's got to be Wendy's.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Driving without the seat belt could cost you everything. But despite that, there are still drivers on the road who just won't buckle up.

[Matt Leinart]

Some of those drivers will be pulled over and given expensive tickets by law enforcement. Some of the drivers not wearing their seat belts will be involved in crashes. Some will survive, but some won't. Wearing your seat belt could be the difference between making it home to your loved ones and not making it at all.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Every day when you get in your vehicle and decide whether to buckle up, remember that it's the single most effective way to protect your life. In the event of a crash. Make it home safely to the people you care about.

[Matt Leinart]

Don't risk it, click it or Ticket paid for by NITSA Starting a business.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Can seem like a daunting task unless.

[Annalee Waters]

You have a partner like Shopify. They have the tools you need to start and grow your business. From designing a website to marketing to selling and beyond, Shopify can help with everything you need.

[Jerry Ferrara]

There's a reason millions of companies like.

[Annalee Waters]

Mattel, Heinz and Allbirds continue to trust and use them. With Shopify on your side, turn your big business idea into Sign up for your $1 per month [e-mail] specialoffer all.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Right, Annalee, thank you for joining us. This is a big one for me because I am kind of new to pickleball. I've been following, I watch in terms of play. I realized like my pickup basketball career is over and I am naturally segueing into pickleball. Not because I think it's easier, I think it's actually way harder. But I need a different challenge. First thing is like, what would you tell a 45 year old who's played like a handful of times? What would be the first thing you would say? This is what you need to work on right out of the gate? I'm trying to steal some info from you right off the rip.

[Annalee Waters]

Well, first of all, thank you for having me on. I'm excited to be here, of course, but I would say there's probably a lot of things you need to work on if you've only played a handful of times.

[Jerry Ferrara]

I can only do one thing at a time, one thing at a time.

[Annalee Waters]

Well, one thing I would say is I would kind of figure out maybe a couple of things that you're good at and then like, let's just say you're, you think you're better at hitting a forehand than a backhand.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Yes.

[Annalee Waters]

Instead of being like, all right, I'm going to make my backhand. I'm going to try to make my backhand better because it's worse than my forehand. I would say, like, try to make your forehand a little better. So like try to make, in the beginning, try to make your strengths better before you start to make your weaknesses better.

[Jerry Ferrara]

I only brought that up off the top because you recently played with my favorite tennis player of all time. Now I know it's a lot easier for a former, you know, hall of Fame athlete to get into a new sport, but I had hope when I saw Agassi. I'm, I'm, I'm, I'm A little younger, I might be able to start playing this sport. What was that like? Because he's my favorite tennis player of all time. And you guys seem like you had real chemistry.

[Annalee Waters]

Yeah, we did. On and off the court. We had a. Had great chemistry. I would just say I was kind of, like, in awe and enjoying every second of every point. I was like, whether we won or lost the point, I was having a good time out there. I really liked playing with Andre because not only was he, like, super intense, but he also, like, will crack a joke every now and then, like on the court. So I really enjoyed that aspect of it. But, I mean, he's a great guy. And personally, I'm very impressed with how well he can play for not only his age, but, like, he hasn't been playing pickleball that long, and I think he's got some. Some game. So it was fun.

[Matt Leinart]

I thought that was great. It's just great for the sport. I think the promote, because pickleball still in its infancy stage, it's still kind of brand new. A lot of people are still trying to figure out, including Jerry. But I think for, like, the exposure of the sport, the promotion of the sport, we've seen and you've seen more than us, like, just firsthand, the, the. The other athletes, the celebrities, everybody just taking a liking to this sport. Why, what is, like, what is so attractive to those types of people, in your opinion, and why they just. They're picking this sport up right now?

[Annalee Waters]

I like to say pickleball is easy to learn, but hard to master. I feel like a lot of people, whether they came from an athletic background or just want to go out and do something for fun, they can all learn it and pick it up pretty quickly. I'm not saying they're going to be the best pickleball player ever the first time they step on the court, but they can at least play the game and have fun doing it. Whereas usually the first time or the first couple times you learn, like tennis or like basketball, you're not going to have a good time and you're probably not going to be that good at it, you know, the first time you play. So I just feel like it's a sport that everybody can go out there and play and have fun, and you don't necessarily have to be too athletic, which is why not even talking about, like, pro athlete celebrities playing, but just celebrities in general. I think that's one reason they love to play, because you don't have to be super athletic to still go out Get a workout in and have fun.

[Jerry Ferrara]

I'm smiling because a good friend of mine, my former boss on Entourage, Doug Allen, is obsessed. He's been obsessed with pickleball. You know Doug? You know Doug.

[Annalee Waters]

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

[Jerry Ferrara]

Pick you. So you've seen his pickleball obsession? Yeah, like, Doug kind of started out at first, years ago with Entourage. It was like a ping pong obsession first. And he went from, he graduated from ping pong to pickleball. But every week I would get texts like, oh, I just played with this guy, this girl, like, all these names, like. And you, you, you know, I'm wondering who's like the non former athlete or tennis player that you played with that maybe has a little bit of a good sneaky game? Is there someone that comes to mind?

[Annalee Waters]

It might be Doug, to be honest.

[Jerry Ferrara]

No, don't give him that credit.

[Annalee Waters]

Doug is like a, like five. Five. Like, Doug is very good. Like, he, if he's telling you he's good, like, this is one scenario where it's actually true. Like, he is actually like a baller. Yeah, sorry, it's probably not the answer you wanted to hear, but Doug's pretty.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Well, we're all competitive, but. And he does rave about his pickleball game. If you're saying that, then I have to. But I have.

[Matt Leinart]

Yeah, I would love to see. Have you ever hit a, have you ever played tennis, Jerry?

[Jerry Ferrara]

A handful of times. That's the problem. And when I, where I grew up in Brooklyn, it's like, there wasn't a lot of access to tennis courts, golf courses, really. So that's why I'm like, late to all that. But no, I, I, I obviously literally was the first tennis match I ever watched was him versus even Isovich. So that's why I was also excited to bring that up to you at the top.

[Annalee Waters]

Yeah, that's cool.

[Matt Leinart]

So I'm a little biased because I'm a part of your team, a very small part of the New Jersey Fives, but I got to meet you last year and just see firsthand pickleball and, and you, your play and how competitive you are in the team, and it's just, it's so much fun to watch. And it's so much fun to watch you. And as a former athlete, I just, I love and admire and respect athletes who are just like, I was telling Jerry, I'm like, dude, you got to see her play, man. Like, I've never, I've seen very few athletes with the Tenacity and the aggress, like, the competitive spirit and, you know, the queen of pickleball. Like. Like, you're 18 years old. You are. You are. You are. You're the best player in the world. And I was. I actually texted Ryan Harwood, the GM of the Fives, and I was like, can you just send me her record? And I. I don't. I would actually like you to kind of break this down a little bit, because I know there's a lot of. A lot of Our audience is a lot of guys who probably follow a little pickleball, golf, all these sports, but break this down. But. 148 PPA gold medals. So somewhere around there.

[Annalee Waters]

Correct.

[Matt Leinart]

Maybe there's more. 33 triple crowns. I want to know what a Triple Crown is. Mlp, which, obviously the mlp, which I'm a part of, the Fives kind of just started, but the MVP of the Premier division. There's two divisions. The premier, the challenger. I think the list goes on and on and on before you kind of just break down those things like. Like you're 18. Anna Lee, what is it like? What is it like to be you right now in this sport?

[Annalee Waters]

It's kind of been a crazy ride because when I started playing pickleball like a pro, tournament was taped Quartz temp net streamed live on Facebook. If you were lucky, you won, like, a thousand bucks. If you won the whole tournament, then you had to split that with your partner. So I kind of like to say I've kind of grown with the sport, and I. I think that was honestly the best thing possible for me, because if I was, like, 2012 years old now being thrown into pickleball, I feel like I probably would have been maybe more overwhelmed, stressed out, I don't know. But I feel like, because I've kind of seen it grow, and I've had the chance to get a little bit older. I know 18 still isn't crazy old, but I've had a chance to. To learn things slowly. So. So now I feel pretty like this is my life. This is what I love doing pickleball. It's not only my passion, but it's also my job, which is amazing to say, and I'm very grateful for that. But it's. It's also been amazing to travel around the country. So those are all the positives. There are obviously some negatives, but I'm just having fun. Like you said, I'm super competitive, so I love playing super. People say I'm like, I have two different personalities, like, on the court, I'm like, a totally different person. Like, Jerry, you wouldn't believe, like, if you saw me on the court versus now, you'd be like, is that the same person?

[Jerry Ferrara]

I've seen highlights. I watch. I've watched film on you.

[Matt Leinart]

I've tried to explain to him. I was like, dude, like, you need to watch her. You need to. This is why I love pickleball, because it's so intimate. And I think that it's just, like, everything is there. You can. You can. You can hear this talking. The fans are there, and obviously the Fives are the best fans because Ryan. And just, like, it's. It's just so. Hell, yeah. It's just so fun, but, like, you're in it. Like, you're in. Like, you're right there. And I. I just. It's. I told Jerry. I said, dude, you gotta. Jerry lives in Ohio, so I don't know if there's much out in Ohio.

[Jerry Ferrara]

No, no, there is.

[Matt Leinart]

We got. We got to get him to a tournament. Okay, so just really quick, like, without going too into the weeds, the. Like, the ppa, the mlp, the Triple Crown. Can you just, like, in very black and white terms, like, kind of break. Break it all down?

[Annalee Waters]

So the PPA tour. Think of, like, the tennis tour. That's what the PPA tour is. And a Triple Crown. I play in three events, usually at every tournament, one being gender doubles. So they have women's doubles, men's doubles. So that would be, like, one gold medal, and a Triple crown is three gold medals. So the next event is mixed doubles, which is another event I play, and then the third one is gender singles. So, like, women's and men's singles. So I'll play the women's singles. And if you win all three of those events in the same weekend, you get what's called a Triple Crown.

[Matt Leinart]

So you got 33 of those.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Yeah.

[Annalee Waters]

So that's crazy. I remember my first goal was to win one triple crown, and that was, like, my end goal in pickleball was like, just win one triple crown. I won my first one, like, sooner than I thought. And I was like, wait, I'm like, we need to up that number a little bit. I was like, all right, let's keep doing this. But triple crowning is insane, and that's definitely not, like, a goal. I don't know it's a goal, but it's also. I know it's hard to achieve, so. But that's cool.

[Jerry Ferrara]

I did spend some time watching a lot of your Highlights. Once I knew you were coming on and yes, you definitely. I could totally see the intensity and the competitiveness come out. But the thing I also liked is it, like Matt was saying, it does seem like it is kind of like that throughout the sport. And I feel like what I want to call an individual sport because I know you play doubles and stuff, but I really do feel like the storylines of the players we're watching factor in so much more than just team sports because there's so many people. And I guess for me, as a relatively new viewer, I like the fact that you may have rivals or talk trash. Like, it locks me into the story and draws me in. Is that something that you think is essential for pickleball? I mean, the fact that, like learning more about the players, but then. Cause you guys play each other so much, like really diving into the rivalry.

[Annalee Waters]

Of it for sure. I definitely think especially because, like Matt said, pickleball is still in its infancy. So we're just trying to get as many eyeballs as possible on the sport.

[Jerry Ferrara]

And.

[Annalee Waters]

And like you said, one way to get people who have maybe never heard about pickleball, but they see somebody trash talking to the other person and the other person getting all riled up, like, they're going to be like, oh, what is this? Yeah, like, oh, I want to watch this. But I also think once the sport maybe becomes. I'm hoping this, who knows, but becomes more like a tennis or golf or something like that, you won't necessarily need that as much because people will just tune in and want to watch because they love the sport. But I definitely think right now they're doing a little extra, trying to create some rivalries, which is fun.

[Jerry Ferrara]

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

[Annalee Waters]

I don't mind it, but sometimes I'm like, all right, like, I wish you wouldn't have posted that and like gone.

[Matt Leinart]

Right.

[Annalee Waters]

You know what I mean? So, like, there's good and bad sides to it, but I definitely think that it's good for the view.

[Jerry Ferrara]

The average viewer like this, this day.

[Matt Leinart]

And age, social, you know, every. Everything you do or say is picked up unfortunately. Fortunately and unfortunately. But as long. I mean, I always say as long as that's you, though, like, you, like, that's. That's what makes you great in this sport is that competitive desire. Does your. I know your mom's there. Your mom's the best. She's a legend in the sport as well. I'm assuming your competitive spirit and desire comes from her. I mean, I know your dad I met your dad, too. But how. What's it like playing with your mom? I mean, that's gotta be the coolest thing in the world.

[Annalee Waters]

It was. And funny enough, my first ever pro tournament, I played with my mom. I wasn't supposed to play pro. And her partner, like, pulled out in our last minute, and she's like, come on, play with me. And we ended up getting silver in the tournament. And she was like, all right, I think you're ready to play pro.

[Jerry Ferrara]

But, wow.

[Annalee Waters]

But, yeah. So we played together for a while. But it's funny because, like, when we used to play, like, in a tournament, we'd both play mixed double. So sometimes we'd play against each other and make.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Oh, gosh.

[Annalee Waters]

Which is like, we're both so competitive, but it's also like, mother, daughter. Like, playing against your mom is, like, nuts. And approach.

[Matt Leinart]

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

[Annalee Waters]

No, but this is funny. This is. So she used to wipe me off the court for, like, the first, like, two years. And then there we had this one tournament bronze medal match, and I somehow won, like, And I was, like, 12. So, like, you're not supposed to be your mom when you're 12. And she was so upset. She walked off the court, like, threw her paddle. Like, I remember, like, going into the hotel room. Like, she wouldn't. She didn't want to talk to me. Like, that's just how competitive we are. We're like, no. Like, my mom could lose to me, and she's going to be, you know, mad. And then if she beats me, you know, I'm not going to want to talk to her.

[Jerry Ferrara]

So I would have grounded you. If. Mike, if you're grounded, that's it. You're not going out for a week.

[Matt Leinart]

Annalee, my. I have an older son you may meet at some point. I bring. He's the same age. He's 18. And Jerry's boys. Our other kids are young, and so he'll go through this, but I just went through this, like, in the last couple years where obviously, I was an athlete and all this. And I could take him. He's almost my size. I could take him up until probably, like, two years ago. Especially in, like, basketball. We play pickup basketball. And. And I could. I can sympathize with your mom because there was just a moment where I just knew it was over. Like, I kept telling myself, I got. I got grown man strength. He can't body me up. Like, you know, like. And I was just like, dude, My, it's over. I cannot beat my son anymore. He's officially a better athlete than me. I, I have a. I, I've seen, obviously I've seen there. So I see. I know what it's like in doubles for you when you and your mom are playing if you, you guys very rarely mess up. Like you very, very rarely hit a bad shot. But like, how is that? I've seen the dynamic of her as your coach on the sideline. What's the dynamic between you guys when you're playing together?

[Annalee Waters]

So funny enough, like in practice we argue like, like cats and dogs. Like we could be playing together. Somebody misses a shot, we get upset or like we lose and we're like, oh, you suck. Like we get like, get pretty upset. But then you like, you put us into a tournament setting and we don't say one bad thing to each other. Like once tournament starts, we know if we start arguing, we'll start playing worse. So it's kind of like, you know, let's do this together. And my mom's always been really good, especially even when I was younger of like listening to my like advice too. Like in a match, it wasn't, she was just always telling me what to do. Like it's like a very collaborative thing. And my mom used to play like the more dominant role in doubles. And then now that I've gotten better, now I play the more so we've been able to adjust. But in tournaments we don't argue. We actually are pretty nice to each other compared to practice.

[Matt Leinart]

Jerry, one day your boys are going to be there. Dude, I feel like I'm already.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Like, you know, we play basketball in like the basement. There's like a five foot hoop and I already start to feel like he's gaining on me edge wise. So that day, that day will come soon. I was curious because you know I, and I say with all like, you're young, you're, you're not young, but you're young. 18. Like especially when you're either traveling or you have a big event coming up. What is like a. And I don't know if you're like, what your school situation is. What is a like week in the life for you? Especially now if you have something, an event coming up, balancing everything, social life, every. It's got to be tricky to navigate.

[Annalee Waters]

Yeah. So I graduated high school last May, so and I haven't done school or like any classes or anything. We just traveled and there's so many, there's like 25 events a year. It's crazy, right? I'm gone more than I'm home. So right now I'm just kind of like, pickleball's there for me. Like, college will always be there after pickleball if I want to go back. So I'm like, all right, let's just focus full time on pickleball. So I don't have school, which I'm very happy about, but. Yeah, but so usually, like, if I'll play a tournament, I'll take, like, two days off from no pickleball. And that's when I'll get my social time in, like, with my friends or go to the movies, do something fun, do a little, like, recovery work. And then I'll start, like, ramping up for the next tournament. So I'll slowly get back into training. And then towards the end of the weekend, like, I'm ready. I'm, you know, ready for the tournament. Because we typically have a tournament every other weekend, so that's kind of the same cycle. And then I try, like, on the days that I'm training to be done between, like, 4 o' clock, like, around 4 o' clock, just so that I have some, like, time at the end of the day to, like, relax and have some time for myself. And then sometimes I'll have, like, calls, like, with you guys or something going on in the week that I have to, like, put into my schedule. This week I have, like, a photo shoot thing that's going on. So, like, little things like that change. But I try to keep my weeks off pretty similar just to have some sort of routine. Because when you're traveling somewhere different, like, every other week, sometimes you're like, am I in Texas or California or, you know, where am I? Like, I don't even know what time change am I on. Like, I have no idea. So create some consistency.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Well, yeah, as someone who, you know, I'm. Like I said, I'm. I'm being drawn into the sport now. I just. Between Matt always talking to me about it, me just being curious about it, and now, you know, if I have a favorite player right out of the gate, and you. What would be like, two or three events, tournaments, you would tell someone like me, like, hey, you're just diving in here, you know, will be great ones for you to start. Here's the starter course. Start with these events or even just the ones you look forward to the most.

[Annalee Waters]

So I would say there are four majors a year, so I would say going to one of those would probably be a good start because you'll see everybody at their best. Everybody's trying their hardest. I feel like it's probably some of the most intense matches, and my favorite one would probably. I don't know. It's tough because it's hard for a major to be your favorite because you're always the most stressed out for that one.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Right, Right.

[Annalee Waters]

So it's hard to choose. So I would just say any of the four majors. And then at the end of the year, there's something called the finals, where it's like the top 16 male and 16 females come to that tournament to play. And it's in San Clemente, which, in my opinion, is like, the nicest venue in pickleball. So I always love that tournament. I'm always probably feeling the most hurt or injured because it's at the end of the year. So I'm kind of just like, all right, I'm ready for the season to be over with. But because of the vibe and how nice the facility is, it, like, makes you excited to, like, play one more time.

[Matt Leinart]

You know, you said the. The top 16, male and female, and I. I've gotten to know. Well, not know, but, like, learn who some of the. Who some of those are. Do you have, like, who's your rival? Like, who would be your rival? Because it's. Because I think it's so cool, too, because Benjamin. I was telling Jerry, like, Ben Johns is the number one male, I think. Or did he get taken over? I don't know. I've looked at some rankings.

[Annalee Waters]

It depends if you, like, focus on a certain event or, like, the average of all three. I think he's still number one if you put in the average of all three. Maybe him or Federico, one of the.

[Matt Leinart]

Yeah. So I think. I think it's cool because I. I love. I love, like, the mixed. I love the, like, I just think it's really cool, the format is there. Is there, like, someone that you love? Like, I. I say this. When I was at usc, I didn't mind ucla. They were arrival. I didn't care. I hated Notre Dame. And I work with Bray. I work with Brady Quinn on my show. He was a famous Notre Dame quarterback. I love sports. I just. I. I hated Notre Dame. Respect. But, hey, is there. Is there male or female that you're just like, you love beating a little bit more than the other? You don't have to say anything controversial. You can just. There's probably some good matchups that you have.

[Annalee Waters]

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

[Matt Leinart]

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

[Annalee Waters]

I don't know. I just feel like sometimes there are certain matchups where, like, if somebody, like, walks out on court and they're just kind of, like, sweet, super cocky, super confident, I don't know. That sometimes irks me because, like, I'm not really like that. Like, even though I'm number one, I don't necessarily walk out on the court like that. So sometimes if somebody else does, it maybe makes me a little upset. But I. I don't really think. There's one person where I'm like. Like, I hate playing this person.

[Jerry Ferrara]

You don't get to like. I mean, I. I'm. I'm wondering, because you do play a lot of the same p. Not a lot of the same people. Also, you don't know who you're necessarily going to be faced up with in that match. But do you watch a lot? Like, is there a scouting level? Are you looking for tendencies before? Or is it just. Hey, it's. I don't know. Once I get there, exactly what's going to happen? Like, how much do you get to look ahead?

[Annalee Waters]

It depends. If I haven't played the player in a while, maybe, or ever, then I'll definitely watch some of their games. But if I, like, played the person last weekend, I'm like, there's no way you've learned anything new in a week. You know? Like, I know, like, all right, I know how you're, you know, I know your tendencies. I know where you're going to hit the ball. I know what you don't like. And then my mom's there. My mom's my coach. She's there to just remind me those things, like, in a match. So, no, I personally don't watch a lot. My mom will sometimes go back and watch some of my matches, but my mental coach tells me not to watch myself play because if you see yourself hitting, like, bad shots, it, like, somehow.

[Jerry Ferrara]

I don't know, it's like me with acting, I never watch a performance because you'll always find something like, I could have did that better. Even though it worked really well, I could have did that better. That bad? I'm with you on that.

[Annalee Waters]

So.

[Matt Leinart]

So you play. You play for the Fives, New Jersey Fives, which is Gary Vee, and everybody listening knows who Gary V and Ryan is. Gary V's a stud. Ryan Harwood, that whole crew. What. What. What's it been like playing for them? And Just having the support of someone like Gary, for sure.

[Annalee Waters]

Because in mlp, ownership matters so much.

[Matt Leinart]

Yeah.

[Annalee Waters]

Just team chemistry matters so much. And Ryan and Gary have been so amazing, not only in the sense that they, like, cover expenses and do stuff like that, but they also, like, pair. So, like, Gary will send us, like, a motivational speech, like, before an important. Oh, I could imagine he'll, you know, like. And on my birthday, like, Gary, text me happy birthday. They're just very, like, invested in the team. And Ryan, like, Ryan is the gm, so obviously he's more than Gary. But, like, Ryan cares about every point. He cares about preparation. Like, we'll go out to a team dinner after, like, every match. Like, we're just such, like, a team with this ownership. And I've been on before. I was on the Fives, I was on a different team, and we didn't have the best ownership, and I was. You could definitely tell the team was, like, struggling because of it. It matters so much what the ownership brings, and I'm so lucky to be. When the draft happened, I was like, please, please, Ryan. Like, like, please get me on the Fives.

[Matt Leinart]

Like, I was talking to Ryan the whole time about the draft. I said, are we. We're getting Anna Lee, right? Like, number one. He's like, oh, dude, we're gonna. We're gonna spend everything we can to make sure that she's our. Our number one. It's just, like, I was trying. I'm trying to explain a little bit to Jerry because it's still so new, and I'm learning a lot more about it. But to your point, like, Gary's great, but Ryan is. So. I. I just seen it firsthand last year and being on some. And I'm trying to. Like, my schedule's crazy. I'm trying to get to a couple tournaments this year, but just seeing how invested they are. And they. Like you said, they care, and Jerry, it's just like any other professional organization. When you have ownership, who cares? Spends the money, culture, great resort, whatever. It's just culture.

[Jerry Ferrara]

And that's.

[Matt Leinart]

The clown. Culture is legit, dude. Like. Like, these people travel all over the country. Let's go. Fives is, like, a thing. It's like, it's. It's. Honestly, it's wild. I just. I. I hope that people listen to this and just want. It makes them a fan and that they want to go see not just the Fives, but all these other great players play. There's a lot of really good teams and a lot of good players just to being a little part of the five.

[Jerry Ferrara]

I'm coming when you go.

[Matt Leinart]

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

[Jerry Ferrara]

Get an extra pass for me if you can. Don't make me have to text Gary.

[Matt Leinart]

I mean, we know we know somebody. We might, we might.

[Annalee Waters]

I got you.

[Jerry Ferrara]

I don't want to bother her. We'll go, we'll bother Ryan or Gary. I don't want to bother her as she's getting ready to destroy people on the court.

[Matt Leinart]

Where. Where do you hope to see And Jerry, if you want to, you want to ask, is just the future of pickle ball, you know, and.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Yeah. Or even like five year view from now, you know, it's growing since so fast, you know, and obviously you know things about the sport that you love and maybe things that you're hoping get better. Just in five years, where would you love to see? Pickleball?

[Annalee Waters]

Yeah, don't quote me on this, because I would have never guessed some of the things that have happened in pickleball now. But I just feel like a year or so ago my main goal or hope for the sport was that younger kids, like the younger generation would start to pick this up. Especially because I was a kid when I started playing and I knew how much it meant to me and how much it impacted my life. So I was really hoping, hoping that would start to happen. And I feel like that's already happening. Like at some events we have 100 plus kids like playing these tournaments. So I feel like we're doing a good job on that. I definitely think growing it worldwide is still something that needs to happen. Like in Asia, it's starting to explode. Australia, it's pretty big, but there's still a lot of countries that it's, you know, you get. There's like one pickleball court. You know, it's like there still needs to be growth. There's. And like next year we're playing some international events, I think. So, like, we're starting to at least play some tournaments there to kind of help with that growth. And I think a lot of people behind the scenes are helping with that. But I'm hoping in the next five years that's definitely something that happens. I'm also hoping this isn't five years, this is a little further on. I'm hoping pickleball will become an Olympic sport.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Now we're talking.

[Annalee Waters]

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

[Matt Leinart]

So that would be. So. It will. It will for sure.

[Annalee Waters]

But that's not five years, that's a little further I think in my opinion. So yeah, that's what, that's what I would say. I also feel like a lot of major sponsors are starting to get into pickleball. So I'm not going to say that's something we will see because we're already starting to see it, but I definitely think that'll get bigger.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Continue. Yeah, yeah. Well, before we let you go and you've been very gracious with your time. Thank you. Couple of quick hitting questions you for you pre game ritual. Pre match ritual. Do you have any. Just something you always do.

[Annalee Waters]

We usually play around like 11 so I'll usually like wake up, eat breakfast. I really like to warm up before my matches so I'll do like 30 minutes of just like exercises like on the floor, like bridges, leg lifts, like stuff like that.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Waking things up.

[Annalee Waters]

Yeah, yeah. And then I like to hit for like 30 minutes before I match and then play. But I'm pretty, like I pretty. I had the same routine pretty much every morning. Like I eat the same breakfast and this one time like I didn't eat that breakfast and I lost.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Oh yeah, that was my thing. Pre match meal or do you not want to reveal it? You don't have to reveal it to the public if you don't want to. But do you have a specific pre match meal?

[Annalee Waters]

Two pieces of toast, two eggs with some egg whites and fruit like blueberries and strawberries.

[Jerry Ferrara]

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

[Annalee Waters]

Yes.

[Jerry Ferrara]

If you win.

[Annalee Waters]

So usually in like a day of a tournament you'll play like three, four or five matches in one day. So it's really hard to like eat big meals. So like at the end of the day you're so hungry. I'm usually like, that's what I'm like to my trainers and I'm like just don't even ask like what I like.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Just burns 14,000 calories.

[Annalee Waters]

Like. Yeah, I might have had some chocolate at the end too.

[Matt Leinart]

So.

[Annalee Waters]

Yeah, definitely a lot.

[Matt Leinart]

How about a favorite song or just like what? What do you get into the zone with?

[Annalee Waters]

It's funny, I love Eye of the Tiger but my mom and I.

[Matt Leinart]

Hell yes.

[Annalee Waters]

Yeah, it's a good one. My mom and I were playing a match and we lost the first game. This was in Nationals 2019. This would be our biggest win but we lost the first game in the final. And they played can't stop the feeling. You know that song?

[Jerry Ferrara]

Yeah.

[Annalee Waters]

And my mom was like, can't stop the feeling. And like, we got some energy, we went out and ended up winning. So that song kind of loosened me up. So like, sometimes I'll listen to that song too.

[Matt Leinart]

So tell your mom. Do you know. Do you know who. Do you know the song Bad to the Bone?

[Annalee Waters]

Yes.

[Matt Leinart]

So I know everyone makes fun. That was. I had like a Tupac song, an Eminem song. I had an Enya song, which is like slow, like just vibe music. And then I had Bad to the Bone. I'm listen to Bad of the Bone. George Thorogood. Your mom is probably laughing. But it. See, that might get. That might be one that gets you in the thing just because it's like, it just reminds you how good you are. Or I'm bad to the bone.

[Annalee Waters]

It's gonna be an mlp and everybody's gonna be like, what song should we play?

[Matt Leinart]

Let's do it.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Oh, now I'm just imagining, you know, she's gonna listen to it go on like a 40 match win streak. She's gonna have to listen to that song every single match because it's gonna be the good luck charm.

[Matt Leinart]

Wow, that's so good.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Can't thank you enough. You have. You just made a true fan right here. I'm coming to an event for sure. And good luck to you. It's very, very impressive how you balance everything. And also, you're just awesome on the court.

[Matt Leinart]

Awesome.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Keep talk. Keep being yourself. Keep going out there and dominating. And Matt and I will be there cheering for you.

[Matt Leinart]

I'm gonna make a sign. I'm gonna come see you. Come see you. See you in San Clemente in a couple weeks.

[Annalee Waters]

Sounds good. Look forward to it. And let me know, Jerry, if you end up coming to an event.

[Jerry Ferrara]

No, no, I'm cut. I. The decision's been made. I am. I'm there. Maybe even Doug Ellen will probably be joining me.

[Annalee Waters]

Okay.

[Jerry Ferrara]

All right, everyone, listen up. If you're ready to take on the off road, there is only one ride built for it. The 2025 Nissan Armada.

[Matt Leinart]

Jerry, this car is an absolute beast. Whether I'm going to the mountains on a ski trip or whether I'm going to the lake. The towing capacity holds up to 8, 500 pounds. But probably more importantly, all the sports gear, the kids, all the stuff that I can fit in my car. There's nothing out of reach with a Nissan Armada.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Yeah, and some of that sports stuff will weigh 8, 500 pounds by the time you're done with it. For me. You know, my wife loves the beach, so we're always kind of throwing the boys in the back of the car with a lot of beach stuff. But my little secret with the Armada 2 is I love it for the golf trips. I. I like to drive. So get my buddies in there, throw a few different clubs in the back, bunch of shoes. That's where I really like my off roading. My off roading is also going to the golf course, to the parking lot, and then just opening up that trunk and getting ready for a great day. So the other thing is it's also got twin turbo V6 engine, so it is good for basically all these things we just said and whatever you throw at it.

[Matt Leinart]

Yeah, the power, the performance, and just overall rugged toughness. It's like being behind the wheel of your own offensive line. Just Jerry.

[Jerry Ferrara]

It's the closest I'll ever get to being behind an offensive line. But either way, I'm telling you, this is the one. Get ready to adventure bigger in the all new Nissan Armada.

[Matt Leinart]

Let's go.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Let's go. All right, it's time now for Strapped in, presented by nhtsa. NHTSA reminds you to always wear your seatbelt. Make home safely to the people you care about. Don't risk it, click it or tick it. Matty Ice. I mean, following that interview with Annalee Waters, I'm kind of fired up. I'm sure strap in and go play some pickleball, but for you right now, what are you strapped in for?

[Matt Leinart]

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

[Jerry Ferrara]

Is this like a quarterback only thing? What's going on here?

[Matt Leinart]

Patty Mahomes, I got the invite a couple months ago. Obviously pretty, pretty hyped on it. Vegas, playing in it, playing in it. Shadow Creek, never played. I know I'm speaking your love language right now. Yeah, listen, dude, I, you know, we've talked about on the show a bunch. You've. You've at least got my head spinning with a thought of playing more golf. That's for sure. It hasn't happened yet. That's for sure. It hasn't happened yet. But I am, I am playing in, in Patty Mahomes charity golf tournament. A lot of guys are going to be out there. It's going to be a blast. I'm a little nervous only because I got a pulled calf. I got a tight back, I got new hips. I've played golf probably twice.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Right. You don't play a lot.

[Matt Leinart]

I Just don't play a lot. Yeah, dude, and I just. I hate saying that, man, because I get asked so much now, especially doing this, doing this pod with you and like, let's golf. And I'm like, let's golf and. Yeah, but I don't play and dude, I'm playing with a bunch of sticks, you know, and all this stuff. So I'm fired up, though, dude. I'm fired up to see. To see everybody obviously support a great cause. Patrick's a great dude. But I'm strapped in, man. I'm locked in. I need. I need. I need advice, though. I haven't played a charity golf tournament in a long time.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Okay, here. Here's some advice I'm gonna give you.

[Annalee Waters]

The.

[Jerry Ferrara]

The. This is the plus and minus side. Shadow Creek is one of the nicest courses in America, in my opinion. It's absolutely gorgeous.

[Matt Leinart]

It's the most well maintained round, which means it's really. It's like really hard.

[Jerry Ferrara]

If you actually, as a civilian try to play there and you can't even drive to it. They have to pick you up at your hotel and drive you to the court. You can't pull up in an Uber.

[Matt Leinart]

Or in your shuttles.

[Jerry Ferrara]

That being said, for me, and I played it at the super bowl two years ago, the day after we started talking about. This very. Podcast is one of the hardest courses I've ever played. It's so.

[Matt Leinart]

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

[Jerry Ferrara]

Here's. Here's the biggest thing. I'm guessing it's going to be a scramble, right? All. Every charity event is usually a scramble, which is good. They might try to talk you into teeing off first. Right. Because you don't really play a lot. The thought would be, take your. I don't want to say you're the worst guy because that's not fair. You just don't play a lot. But they'd want you to maybe try to get on base, right? Hit one out in the fairway. Let the big.

[Matt Leinart]

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

[Jerry Ferrara]

Here's what I want. Here's what I would suggest to you. Don't go first, go last. Well, because here's why. Now there will be some pressure if three guys.

[Matt Leinart]

I like to go right in the middle. I like to go right in the middle.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Well, what I'm getting at is if you see a great T ball, don't even hit the tee shot. Don't hit the tee shot. Save yourself a little Bit. Save your hips, save your cat. That, like, I'm. Look, I'm not a long dude.

[Matt Leinart]

I got 18 holes to play, bro. I'm just going all in. As long. Here's my thing.

[Jerry Ferrara]

As long as you go first. If I were you.

[Matt Leinart]

No. No chance. I'll go. There's probably gonna be five of us in the group, typically. Look, this is. This is a big time event. There's gonna be real. There's gonna be ringers. There's gonna be groups that like to have fun. There's gonna be groups that take it serious.

[Jerry Ferrara]

There's gonna be pictures there. You're in trouble because the all major league baseball pitchers are great.

[Matt Leinart]

Golf, I'm gonna be. I can put together a handful holes and scramble. You can kind of mask your deficiencies, right? Because I can, like, I can hit my irons pretty decent. I'm not a great driver. The putt you all just like. So it's a lot of fun. But yes, I. I'm more of the middle guy. And I make it very clear to the group that I'm like, guys, I'm not good. You'll probably use four of my shots all day, and I'll. And I'll. I'll sink a couple putts. Maybe like a 20 foot putt maybe will go in because, you know, it just will. And we'll get fired up.

[Jerry Ferrara]

I think you got to be a good vibes guy. You got to be good vibes.

[Matt Leinart]

Oh, I'm always a good. I'm a good vibes guy on charity golf tournaments. And I always. My plan always going in is I want these dudes to go back to my home's people and say, yes. God, I had a great time. I had a great time playing with liner.

[Jerry Ferrara]

That's it too. Is it? Is it. Is there like a pairings party where there's.

[Matt Leinart]

Yeah.

[Jerry Ferrara]

The charity contributors. Okay. So whoever selects you or whatever the process is, odds are they're either going to be big, a lot of people or from the NFL, Right. Like, they're gonna be one of them or multiple of them are gonna be so psyched to me. So just be good vibes guy. Oh, a lot of handshakes. Bring him into the huddle a little bit, you know?

[Matt Leinart]

Yeah.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Oh, yeah.

[Matt Leinart]

Oh, yeah. Oh, that. Dude, that's. You're speaking my language, man.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Like, well, because the down. The other thing is, like, you're not gonna win because. Because someone's probably gonna po in a scramble. Someone's gonna post some obscene number that's probably not real. Minus 28 something.

[Matt Leinart]

Yeah, I don't know the rules. I don't know the mulligans. I don't know, you know. And I'm sure there's a lot of really good golfers. Yeah, this is gonna be a blast. But shout out to. Shout out to Patty Mahomes, 15 in my homies, I think is the name of the foundation. So really cool to be a part of it. Fired up. It's gonna be fun. But yeah, I'm locked in, man. Strapped in, locked in. Wish me luck. Hope I don't pull anything else.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Well, thank you. Appreciate that. And good luck to our boy, Matty Ice. Before we get to the next thing too, something funny did happen that we stumbled upon via the amazing Internet. Adam Ray, good friend of mine, stand up comic Adam Ray, who, if you don't know him, look him up on Instagram or whatever. Also, he has been on tour doing like the Dr. Phil impressions. He does the Dr. Phil show. He plays Biden alongside Shane Gillis and Kill Tony. He was on our guy Julian Edelman's pod and basically tells this story. And I sent it to you. You must have seen it a thousand times. Basically, Adam went to USC and he's telling the story.

[Matt Leinart]

Like, yeah, I was going, well, Edelman, real quick. Edelman asked him, he's like, hey, did you ever party or hang out with.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Leiner, with Liner at usc? Because you guys are there at the same time.

[Matt Leinart]

That's what happened. Yeah.

[Jerry Ferrara]

And we're gonna get Adam on because I want to dig a little deeper here. But he tells this awesome story that he's like rolling up to like a party and you were like waiting by steps or something to go up to a frat.

[Matt Leinart]

I was waiting to get up into a frat party.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Into a frat party. And basically it's like the third string quarterback was like the frat member too.

[Matt Leinart]

No, the story. So the story was a pledge.

[Jerry Ferrara]

A pledge.

[Matt Leinart]

A pledge wouldn't let me in. So I don't remember. I. I was listening to this. I'm like, where is Adam going with this story?

[Jerry Ferrara]

Are you nervous that you.

[Matt Leinart]

Oh, my God, dude. I was like. Because he's a comedian, right? I don't. I'm sure we hung out a whole few times.

[Jerry Ferrara]

20 years ago.

[Matt Leinart]

Yeah, 20 years ago. And I'm thinking like, oh, my God, dude, it's my wife. This is going to go viral. My wife is going to hear whatever he's about to do to talk about. Or like, Leinert was a dick. Like, screw him. Like, F. That guy wasn't the case. And I. And. And so, like, basically what happened was, is I was apparently, which this makes sense because there were some frats that hated us and there were some frats that love the football guys. They're like, yeah, come on in. They treat us great. There's some are like, no, you're not allowed. Because they were like, insecure and jealous or whatever. I don't know if this was one of them. It just. It just so happened. So he basically says he just was waiting.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Not trying to big time, but waiting.

[Matt Leinart]

At the bottom of stairs. And I go, are you waiting for some? He's like, yeah, Brandon Hans.

[Jerry Ferrara]

I go, oh, I'll walk you up. And I go to the place.

[Matt Leinart]

I go, do you know what this is? He goes, no.

[Jerry Ferrara]

I go, it's a quarterback of our school, man. And he was like, oh, big fan, man.

[Matt Leinart]

I go, it's too late, Gary. He was just a God dude. But he was chill. I was fairly recognizable on campus, so. But yeah, no. Shout out. I'm sure there's a lot more stories with Adam and Shout out. I'm not. You're doing a show this summer.

[Jerry Ferrara]

I'm doing a show. And then we're getting. We're getting Adam on ours.

[Matt Leinart]

I'm gonna go see him. He's in la. He's in LA next week.

[Annalee Waters]

Month.

[Matt Leinart]

I'm gonna go see him too. Yeah. Shout out.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Two last things off that one. Like you said, you must have in the beginning being like, not again. I. You're a great dude. So I don't really, you know, whatever story I couldn't imagine to be like a bad story. But like you said, you don't know what Adam's gonna say. But also, how funny would that story be modern day? You know, you would have been standing there in some little. Would have came up to you with a camera like, look at this, I'm going to this party. And Matt Leiner can't even get like, that would have been all over Tik Tok that Matt Leiner can't get into a frat part. I was probably to get into a frat part.

[Matt Leinart]

I was for sure wearing Chuck Taylor's blue jeans and a white tee for sure, too. And a backwards hat. Like, that's all I wore. Yeah, dude, back then. God, that would have been. That would have gone viral.

[Jerry Ferrara]

That would have been an Internet story for the day liner. Can't get into frat party at his own school.

[Matt Leinart]

Shout out to Adam. Shout out to Jungle Juice. Adam Ray and Frat parties.

[Jerry Ferrara]

You were in a frat. It's called the football team. Yeah, it's called the National Champion Trojans. You were on. You were a part of a. A. A certain kind of fraternity boy.

[Matt Leinart]

We lived. We. We. You know what I was thinking? We got to get a couple of my old teammates on this. Paul just talks.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Who would you pick right now, like, top three?

[Matt Leinart]

Oh, Lindell White. Lindell White. And we. And honestly, we would just let him go. And there would be some. There would be.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Is he in LA these days or.

[Matt Leinart]

No, no, but he's in LA a lot. We would just. You would just let him go? I would. In my. I would. In my mind, I would cringe to hear what he says next, but it would be okay.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Our producer, Andrew, if you're listening, let's. Let's drop a line out to Mr. Lendale.

[Matt Leinart]

We gotta get Lindell and in person.

[Jerry Ferrara]

For sure.

[Matt Leinart]

We'll get a couple guys. I. I know a couple guys. That would just be great stories.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Do we ever get coach on. But Pete Carroll. No, no, he's coaching now.

[Matt Leinart]

Again, Pete doesn't do pods. I asked them, but for you.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Even for you. Yeah.

[Matt Leinart]

He said no.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Rules are made.

[Matt Leinart]

You want to go on our pod? Not really, no.

[Jerry Ferrara]

He said Michael Jordan's gonna be a special contributor on NBC. You're not going to. Come on throwbacks. Come on. Belichick has a. Wow. Maybe that's.

[Matt Leinart]

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

[Jerry Ferrara]

His life, Matt, before we get to the next thing. Seriously. I. I don't get it. Why everyone's in such a. Like, I don't care one about the.

[Matt Leinart]

Greatest coach of all time and his girl's 24, and there's just a lot of going down. I.

[Jerry Ferrara]

None of it seems interesting to me. None of it. Like, why? I don't. Like, maybe if you want to be like, hey, let's go check on coach to make sure he's all right. He seems like he's all right. He seems like he's happy. Like, why is that? Oh, he's not going to coach a game at North Carolina. I highly doubt North Carolina is going to say, you know what? Before we even start this, all the.

[Matt Leinart]

Reports are like, oh, he's not going to coach at all. He's going to be run out. Like, come on, bro, that ain't happening.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Until he goes, like, she is just.

[Matt Leinart]

Unless she's just absolutely evil. And like. Like. And maybe that's. I don't know. We'll so, hey, that's. By the way. That's why this is exciting. There's a lot of what if?

[Jerry Ferrara]

I don't care. I don't. I don't care 1% about the commercial thing that she. I don't care. Okay, it's now time for all time adventures driven by Nissan. Take adventures to new heights in the all new 2025 Nissan Armada. Go to nissanusa.com armada to learn more. Each week we discuss an adventure, whether it's on the field, on the set, off the set, whatever. Look, there's a little anniversary right now. I don't think it's trending by any stretch. There was a movie called Battleship. I don't know if any of you.

[Matt Leinart]

Know, give yourself more credit. Great movie, by the way.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Well, it was released in May 2012. Yeah. Taylor Kitsch, Rihanna.

[Matt Leinart]

I shared the ice with. I shared. I shared the ice with Taylor Kitsch the other day. Not on the. The hockey thing.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Taylor Kitsch, we know. Yeah, yeah.

[Matt Leinart]

All right, go ahead, Go ahead.

[Jerry Ferrara]

No, no. So look, movie came out 23 years ago. The reason why I bring that up.

[Matt Leinart]

Three years ago.

[Jerry Ferrara]

No, 13 years ago.

[Matt Leinart]

I was gonna say 23 years.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Yeah, it felt like 23 years ago. The reason why I bring it up is there's. There's the story behind there. Pete Berg directed Battleship. Pete Berg is one of my favorite directors.

[Matt Leinart]

Yeah, he's great.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Dude has become a friend. Big time Giants fan, too. Like, obviously, Friday Night Lights connection. Like, dude loves football. Loves everything. We're shooting B now. I don't think Pete wanted me necessarily in the movie. Right? Not that he did. I just. I think he was thinking of so many other things. It was like a small part at the time. He combined a lot of small parts and made it into one character. And like, let's have Jerry do that then if he really wants to do that. And then we got to know each other on that set. Right? We shot that in Baton Rouge. Now, I made the mistake of waking up one Saturday morning going out to get my morning coffee because I was there for three weeks to work, like four days. I walked right into an LSU parade because there was a game that afternoon and there was hundreds of thousands of people.

[Matt Leinart]

They shut the city down for.

[Jerry Ferrara]

It was insane. It's. And I guess if I knew it was coming and I was prepared for that, I would. It never even entered my mind when I walked out of my hotel room and I walked out to that. But here's the real adventure with that. Okay? Pete cast me in Battleship. I have all the lines straight from the board game, which are like, oh, coming left, miss, going right, hit like, those were. That was my actual dialogue.

[Matt Leinart]

I want to pull up your lines.

[Jerry Ferrara]

So I get to know Pete. And then shortly after Battleship, Pete was prepping to do this movie, Lone Survivor, which for me is maybe my favorite Pete Berg movie. And obviously, there's a lot of great parts in that movie. I really wanted the chance to play, like, the Emile Hirsch part that he ended up getting. And Pete was like, I love Jerry, but no, I'm going with Emile Hirsch. And then there was another part, and he's like, no. Basically, being honest, a bunch of no's. I even just made a tape for myself. I just put myself on tape as one of the characters that he wasn't even interested in me for. And I submitted the tape, and he was like, no, I'm going with this other guy. Great. All right, we'll still be friends. So he comes back. He's like, you know what? There's this. There's the small part. If he wants to be in the movie, we'll put him in the movie. And it was like two lines. So then I turned it back on him. I'm like, you know what, Pete? No, I don't want to do. I want to do two lines. He's like, okay, you're an idiot, but okay, this movie's gonna be good. He basically, similar to Battleship, took a bunch of smaller parts and combined them into one and came back and said, if you say no to this, you're truly one of the biggest morons I've ever met. And I read it, and I basically had that one. I look at it all, like, moments. I have the moment. I don't spoil the movie for anyone.

[Matt Leinart]

Then they call. They called, right? Didn't you run and get the phone? What moment did you have?

[Jerry Ferrara]

There's a very. Again, sport, if you want to see long Survivor, you don't want to be spoiled. Maybe fast.

[Matt Leinart]

The movie's quickly.

[Jerry Ferrara]

The movie's been out for a while, but when Mike Murphy basically takes the sat phone to the one spot it works to call for backup. I'm the Marine who answers the phone.

[Matt Leinart]

That's right. Yeah.

[Jerry Ferrara]

But then it becomes a whole thing where I'm trying to scramble reinforcements, but it breaks the protocol. So the reinforcements never went there, and those guys ended up dying. All except for the lone survivor, which was played by Wahlberg. So, yeah, for me, that adventure is, you know, you never know where one thing will take you. Two scenes in Battleship Saying hit miss a hundred percent led me to Lone Survivor. Do you.

[Matt Leinart]

Do you think that had anything, I don't know the years and like, chronologically, did that have anything to do with Entourage? Was Entourage before Entrance was before this.

[Jerry Ferrara]

This Entourage? It basically was wrapping up. Pete was on Entourage playing himself in the. The Cameo.

[Matt Leinart]

Actually, my question is, did. Do you think Wahlberg had any help with Pete? You already knew Pete, but, like, for a small part, because you were tight with Wahlberg during Entourage, obviously, because that.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Was his, like, if memory serves me correct, when it was initially Battleship, my manager Lev was talking with Pete, trying to like, say, like, you should really put Jerry in the movie. I think Pete at that time, if I remember, was like, it's almost like it's such a small, like two, three scene part, but then they're going to see like Turtle pop on the screen. He's like, that might mess everybody up. So. But to Pete's credit, he's like, all right, I like the kid. We. He met with me for a small part, which he probably would never really do for anybody else, and was. And did it. And then for the Lone Survivor thing, I think I proved myself a little bit to him with Battleship. At that point. I don't think it hurt with the Mark stuff, but hit right miss 100, dude. That. That was my dialogue. And the last thing on that, I was doing Lone Survivor the same time I was doing this other movie called Las Vegas, right. Which was Senior Citizen Hangover with Robert De Niro, Morgan Freeman. It's this like light hearted comedy. I was doing both movies at the same time. So I would fly into Vegas to shoot and it's all about the joke and being fun and energy. Then I fly from Vegas to New Mexico where they're shooting Lone Survivor and everyone's got long beards and they've been up on a mountain and they are not having any fun. There's no laugh. Yeah.

[Matt Leinart]

I mean, so I come in with.

[Jerry Ferrara]

All this energy and I'm like, I need to tone down everything about what I'm doing. So I'd be there for three or four days. I'd fly back to Vegas. Very low energy, intense. And the director's like, you need to wake the up. Like, where's your energy? So interesting times. So that is my all time adventure. Shout outs to Nissan. Again, go to nissanusa.comrmar to learn more. I'm out of breath.

[Matt Leinart]

That was a lot longer. His. His boy Emmett used to go to my football camps.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Yeah, Emmett, when I. When I really Got to know Pete. I would go to his house to watch Giant games and then we, at halftime we go out to the backyard and I, I'd run routes and Emmett was young. I mean he must have been like 12. And he had, he's cannon at 12. He's got, he was throwing hard.

[Matt Leinart]

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

[Jerry Ferrara]

Yeah, he just directed a. He think he just directed a movie or a short that by the way.

[Matt Leinart]

We gotta get Pete on too. Pizza. Pizza. Pizza man.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Dude, Pete's gotta come on and his stuff. Like, I really would love to know what his thoughts are on the 20, 25, 26 giants going into this season. I, he goes to camp every year and watch it. Like he really, he's the one who told me he's like, I just met Nate Burst. He's a monster. We're gonna love this guy. Like, I believe Pete, man, should do a little mailbag and wrap up and get you off to Vegas.

[Matt Leinart]

That's good man.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Let's keep it in la. We have Dennis from LA says, I got a youth sports question for you guys. Love it. Is there a certain age where I'm okay to start telling people that my kid is legitimately good at baseball? He's currently five and I think he's awesome. But is that too young to really know anything? Are people gonna roll their eyes when I tell them my 5 year old is a stud? Let me know what you think. Of course you should like, yes, your kid should. You should think your kid's awesome.

[Matt Leinart]

Yeah, well, I mean if he is, but there's most. Five year olds are terrible. So if your kid's really good, I don't think you need to like, I don't think you need to say it because you can tell my, my son right now is five and he plays the five and six year olds and there's two or three kids on the team that are like really good. Their dads are like, you don't even have to. It's like goes without saying my 5 year old is going to be good, I think. But I don't say he's good. I say he's, he's a little awkward, but he's got a lot to work on.

[Jerry Ferrara]

But I think learning.

[Matt Leinart]

He's learning. He's learning. But yeah, I mean I think the whole parent, 5 year old, 6 year old, like our kids are the greatest thing. Like it's just, it's just like, dude, your kid's Gonna Peak at 12, man. Like your kid, like the kids are Gonna Peak at 12. And I've seen that. I saw. I've seen that with a lot of Cole's friends where we.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Yeah, you must have seen every version of.

[Matt Leinart]

I've seen every version. I've seen the great. I've seen the great athletes who are, like, unbelievable at 7, 8, 9. They're like, Holy shit. Like, that kid might have has a chance, and then they become good players, but they never become, like, they're not professional.

[Jerry Ferrara]

But the late bloomer. Have you seen a lot of late bloomers or not really?

[Matt Leinart]

Cole's a late bloomer. Cole. Cole's a football late bloomer. Like, she's. I for him. And I could speak on my son because I want. Like, he was a great athlete. What wasn't great in baseball, but a great athlete. And I knew that probably wasn't a sport, but, like, I encouraged all of them. It made him better. Made him a better athlete. And he didn't play tackle till freshman year in college in high school. So three years ago, like, he's only been playing tackle a couple years. But I always knew.

[Jerry Ferrara]

I did not know that.

[Matt Leinart]

Yeah. At some point you got to be like, talk about strapping. And you got to strap in. Like, this your sport now. You got to lock in and, like, grind and grind and grind. But it was all the sports he play. And I just. I knew one. He obviously had a pedigree and DNA from both sides, but, like, I just knew, like, he wasn't gonna peak. I knew because he was just playing and everything. He didn't have the specialized training and all this that was daily. We just let him be a kid and be an athlete. Athlete and encourage and. And, you know, work to every sport he was playing, which made him better, in my opinion. But, you know, God, I've seen. God, I. I was. I used to train quarterbacks, Jerry. Like, five, six, seven, eight years old.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Eight years that young. Oh, my God.

[Matt Leinart]

Oh, my goodness. Yes. And I'd be like. And they would pay me a lot of money. I'm like, what are you doing? Like, right. Like, what are. Like, they're six. Go let them run around on the beach. Go, like, go do some skills training. Like, you don't need to, like, like, it's just. It's. It's. It's wild. You'll see. You'll see it. Well, your kids will get into it.

[Jerry Ferrara]

My initial reaction to that is like, yeah, look, first of all, you should. It. It's great to think your kid's awesome. You should. I view that, and I'm guilty of the same thing. I view that, like, posting every little thing your kid does on social media, right? I sometimes do and stop myself. It's because I think my kid's great. Now, most people will watch that and be like, that's cute. That's great. But like, like, like, it's almost like, keep it in, in house, you know, Like, Bri and I should think our kids are great and we should aspire to raise them right and keep a good head on their shoulders. I don't know if necessarily need to be walking up to the dads on the soccer field, being like, you know, my kid did the other day. It's one thing if it's like, your boy and you're just talking.

[Matt Leinart]

I can't stand those parents that are one thing.

[Jerry Ferrara]

If we're just having a conversation about our kids as dads, as parents, that's like, whatever, anything. I want to hear about that stuff. It's another thing when it's like the unsolicited, like, oh, okay, so we're doing this. We're having the kid conversation now.

[Matt Leinart]

Dude, I, I said, I mean, and I. Look, I, I, I never. Cole's 18. He's, you know, obviously he's still got a lot of work to. But he was probably the best athlete in Manhattan beach at his age. Like, he probably just was, like, growing up, like, in all the combine, all the sports, he wasn't the best baseball player, but he was for sure the best basketball player. He was a great football player, and he's also a very good baseball player. I didn't have to say anything. People just knew. And I never would because I'm like, he hasn't done shit. He's nine. Yeah, he's really good. We'll see. We'll see. We'll see. We'll see what happens, you know, we'll see what happens. But, and I know he's good, but, like, I never, I just, I don't understand those parents. They're just insecure, you know, it's like, because it's like, maybe they didn't, you know, they're the Johnny All American High School football. And, like, they didn't pan out, but now their kid is a pretty good little league player. But I'm like, dude, the chances of that. By the way, I tell parents, I tell parents all the time, dude, kids have, like, less than 1% chance to make it professional in any sport. It doesn't matter. Less than 1%.

[Jerry Ferrara]

So keep it fun.

[Matt Leinart]

I say keep it fun. And I always say, I, I say this, I had this conversation with brother and this is my advice to all parents who have pretty good at like, like, what is. Like what is your goal for your kid? Is what I always say. And I asked my brother, I said, what's your goal for Hudson, my nephew, He's a fantastic baseball player. But like, I don't know, is he gonna go like, no, I want him to be a really, really. I want him to be a really good high school baseball player. I want him to start on his high school team. That's like the first goal. Okay, great. Let's strive to do that. What do you need to do in your mind in order to. Is it travel ball? Is it this? Is it specialized in this? I tell parents that all the time as they get a little bit older. Like, what's your goal for your kids? Some are like, dude, I just want to have fun.

[Jerry Ferrara]

I want to learn stuff. To learn besides the.

[Matt Leinart]

Then learn, have fun, compete. Right. Maybe do some extra stuff. But don't make it an everyday thing.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Yeah.

[Matt Leinart]

Because because then you're going to burn him out. He's going to hate it anyway. But then you have parents are like, oh, he's. I'm like, all right, dude, like you're going to like, I just seen it, man. I've seen some of these kids that were so good and they just, and also they just peak early. Like a lot of kids peak early, man. Like, they just become pretty good players but not good enough.

[Jerry Ferrara]

So I'm going to talk about my kid like the way I said I don't like what your kids gonna be a gm which if I was writing my version of this mailbag question would be, what do you do when your 6 year old loves basketball and loves to play basketball, wants to play basketball all the time, every day and it's just not there, right? Like, it's just like, I'll say there. It's just, I say, yeah, yeah, your.

[Matt Leinart]

Kids are really smart and, and they got personalities. He will, he will know when he's gonna be like daddy. I mean might not be. Maybe he gets better or if he's, if he's not good. If you think he's a. Hey, like I just don't know if he's gonna ever be good enough.

[Jerry Ferrara]

He.

[Matt Leinart]

And if you get him in basketball, he will let you know at that point that maybe it's time to stop playing. I've seen a lot of parents that of kids do that where their kids just don't care anymore. And that could be 8 years old, it could be 7, it could be 10. So you. You get them in there, you let him have fun. You. You do the rec leagues, whatever you think he can handle. And if he loves it, you let him keep playing. And at some point he's just going to stop because it's just like, it's not going to interest him anymore because other things will interest him. You know what I mean?

[Jerry Ferrara]

Right. So we'll see. I guess I'm also, like, in my mind, I'm, like, doing the thing where he's going to want to play. And how do I handle. Oh, you didn't really get much playing time.

[Matt Leinart]

How do you handle that? You're so, like, how do I.

[Jerry Ferrara]

No, not even me. How do I talk to him about that? Because sometimes kids don't quite under. Like, I'm not going to be the parent that goes up to the coach and is like, play my kid. I'm not gonna do that. I. I won. I'm wondering how I'm gonna handle that when he. When my kid is like, I don't understand. Why don't I get a turn to play?

[Matt Leinart]

Does he have any athletic ability?

[Jerry Ferrara]

A little bit. The hand eyes there. But no. Yeah, not really. Not really. But he's. But he's six. I mean, he's six years old. I don't have.

[Matt Leinart]

Yeah, but I mean, I would say you could see it. My point is, is if.

[Jerry Ferrara]

If he's got the heart of a champion.

[Matt Leinart]

To answer that question, Jerry, and if he starts playing, then you just provide him with extra work. If, like, hey, do you want to. Do you want to work with the shooting coach? Hey, do you want to do these kids? Like, you just let him do it. And, and then you. You're either going to see. You're either going to see improvement. Like, oh, he might be okay. Like, he might be able to hold his own, like. Like, whatever. And we're talking like, njb, bro. We're not talking, like, club travel, basketball. So, like, you, you.

[Jerry Ferrara]

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

[Matt Leinart]

Yeah.

[Jerry Ferrara]

And you guys are talking about. Like, I want to tell you what.

[Matt Leinart]

Man, That's a lonely. That's a lonely feeling. Mean pick last on the playground.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Yeah. Yeah. I guess that's where.

[Matt Leinart]

I mean, I gotta be honest. I never was picked last, but I. I remember those. I was like, God damn, you don't want to be picked last.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Yeah. You were definitely always picked first or second for sure, or they made you captain. You were one. I make Matt captain.

[Matt Leinart]

Then you have to figure out definitely, I was definitely. I was definitely a top two pick. And handball and baseball, all that.

[Jerry Ferrara]

All right, well, let's get you the base.

[Matt Leinart]

We'll see how the Ferreros grow, man. Hey, we'll be. We'll be.

[Jerry Ferrara]

Dude, you're off to Vegas and I wish you luck. I want. Give me some updates, post some stuff on Social. Try and get a little facetime with Patty Mahomes, who I think is a secret Knicks fan. I think he likes the Knicks deep down.

[Matt Leinart]

Yeah, I already got my. My Cole already said, dad, can you FaceTime me with Mahomes? I said, I'll do my best, bro.

[Jerry Ferrara]

He.

[Matt Leinart]

I mean, he's playing, you know, he's playing college ball in Texas. He played at Texas Tech.

[Jerry Ferrara]

You know, I met him one time, and he was an awesome dude. And it was at a Knicks game, believe it or not. And such a down to earth and to the point where, like, I'll, like, just DM him or comment DM him, like something off a post. And, like, he writes back. He always writes back. Like, we don't. He's a good dude. He's a good dude.

[Matt Leinart]

Yeah.

[Jerry Ferrara]

All right, thanks, everybody. Don't forget to like and subscribe and. Yeah, go check out Anna Lee Waters.