Speaker 1: Hello and welcome back. It's time for another installment of
Speaker 1: Teen Beat. I am your host, former guest on Politically
Speaker 1: Incorrect with Bill Maher, Danielle Fishel. and I'm the shortest
Speaker 1: podcast host on the active iHeart roster. Truth is, I've
Speaker 1: done absolutely no research to confirm that title, but I
Speaker 1: dare anyone to challenge me. I'm looking at you, Sophia Bush. 5'4.
Speaker 1: Either way, I continue to talk to interesting people who've
Speaker 1: done interesting things, knowing that learning about their histories can
Speaker 1: only help us understand who they are today. I look
Speaker 1: at it this way. I gave you my childhood. It's
Speaker 1: time we hear yours. And this week, we are talking
Speaker 1: to a true superstar, one of the greatest college quarterbacks
Speaker 1: of all time. Don't believe me? Listen to just some
Speaker 1: of his accomplishments. Heisman Trophy winner, Rose Bowl MVP, Orange
Speaker 1: Bowl MVP, back-to-back AP National Champion, one of them in
Speaker 1: a perfect season, a BCS National Champion, two-time first-team All-American,
Speaker 1: two-time Pac-10 Offensive Player of the Year, and 2005 Sportsman
Speaker 1: of the Year. He has been inducted into the USC
Speaker 1: Hall of Fame, the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame, the
Speaker 1: College Football Hall of Fame, and he once went on
Speaker 1: a date with Rihanna. I am now almost out of
Speaker 1: time for his intro, so I'm going to speed through
Speaker 1: the rest. There's a podcast called Throwbacks, Fox Sports Analyst,
Speaker 1: and can currently be seen on Fox's newest reality hit,
Speaker 1: Nation's Dumbest. He is my most athletic guest yet. Sorry,
Speaker 1: Kat Dennings. So please welcome to the show, Matt Leinart. Matt,
Speaker 1: thank you so much for stopping by to chat with me.
Speaker 1: I grew up in a diehard USC football home.
Speaker 2: So I think- Did you really?
Speaker 1: Yes, I really did. I think that me being Topanga
Speaker 1: will have finally paid off for my father.
Speaker 3: Like I think- I mean, not to sound weird, but
Speaker 3: you being Topanga, I was a big fan because I
Speaker 3: loved that show growing up.
Speaker 2: Oh, really?
Speaker 1: Well, I will get to that a little later. I
Speaker 1: want to start in kind of maybe a weird place,
Speaker 1: but maybe not. I want to talk about the eye
Speaker 1: condition that you had as a kid. How do I
Speaker 1: say it? Is it strabismus?
Speaker 2: Strabismus, yeah. Strabismus.
Speaker 1: Strabismus. It's commonly known as crossed eyes. And I think
Speaker 1: when people see a wildly gifted athlete like yourself, they
Speaker 1: assume you were a perfect physical specimen since birth, that
Speaker 1: you were just born athletically superior. But I find it
Speaker 1: so inspiring that that actually wasn't quite the case.
Speaker 2: Yeah. So I was born with strabismus.
Speaker 3: And Um, I had my first eye surgery when I
Speaker 3: was about a year and a half years old.
Speaker 2: Um, obviously I don't remember that.
Speaker 3: And then throughout my whole, you know, elementary school grade school,
Speaker 3: I had to wear these big old bifocal glasses. And
Speaker 3: the minute I would take my glasses off, my eye
Speaker 3: would turn in now only one eye. My right eye
Speaker 3: was always fine. It was just my left eye. Um,
Speaker 3: and then I had my second surgery. the summer before
Speaker 3: high school. So I was about four, I was 14
Speaker 3: or 15 years old and that corrected the whole issue.
Speaker 3: So two surgeries, didn't have to wear glasses going into
Speaker 3: high school, et cetera. On top of that, I always
Speaker 3: kind of joke, but I was also enormously heavy.
Speaker 2: I was huge. I, yeah, I was like, I was super.
Speaker 3: Fat in like all of middle school from like fourth
Speaker 3: grade to like probably like sixth grade. And then I
Speaker 3: just shot up cause I'm six, five and I don't
Speaker 3: know where I got my height from, but I just,
Speaker 3: I just grew. So I was, I was super fat
Speaker 3: and cross-eyed. And honestly, the only thing that really got
Speaker 3: me through it, like my outlet was sports. Like I
Speaker 3: was always, I was always good in sports. I was
Speaker 3: a good athlete, even though I was big. Um, but yeah,
Speaker 3: it was, it was quite, it was quite the unique
Speaker 3: childhood in that regard. And it's so great, you know,
Speaker 3: because I actually just got, um, a DM on my
Speaker 3: Instagram the other day, from a mom whose kid is
Speaker 3: going through the same thing who has strabismus. So it's, it's,
Speaker 3: it's really cool for me because like, I'm so grateful
Speaker 3: for my mom. She saw it right away. She's like,
Speaker 3: we're going to fix it, et cetera, et cetera. That
Speaker 3: people have kind of heard that story with me because
Speaker 3: obviously I went on and got to play in the football,
Speaker 3: got to play in the NFL and all that stuff.
Speaker 3: So still have a little impact today of helping some
Speaker 3: of these kids kind of navigate through that because it was,
Speaker 3: it was, it was tough for sure.
Speaker 1: When did you realize you were good at sports? When
Speaker 1: did you gravitate to sports?
Speaker 2: Oh, gosh, I was five. I mean, it was like
Speaker 2: my old.
Speaker 3: Yeah, my dad played professional baseball in the minors. He
Speaker 3: played at LMU. My brother's five years older. So we
Speaker 3: just we were just always a sports family.
Speaker 2: Baseball, basketball, football.
Speaker 1: You are, as you mentioned, 6'5. I mean, at least
Speaker 1: that's what you said and the football program said. So
Speaker 1: when were your growth spurts? My son, who continuously says
Speaker 1: he's going to play in the NBA, but he has
Speaker 1: a 5'1 mother. So I would like to know when
Speaker 1: his growth spurts were.
Speaker 3: Well, listen, my wife is 5'2 1⁄2. So we always joke,
Speaker 3: we have a 6 1⁄2-year-old who, at least at this point,
Speaker 3: has my height. And we have my five-year-old who's got
Speaker 3: his mom's height.
Speaker 2: She's a 5'2 Cuban. So I'm like, God, you're bringing
Speaker 2: down the averages. You know what? It's so crazy.
Speaker 3: My mom was 5'8, so fairly taller for a woman,
Speaker 3: especially growing up in the 60s.
Speaker 2: And my dad's 5'11.
Speaker 3: So I have no clue where I got my height from.
Speaker 3: But my growth spurt was seventh, eighth, ninth grade. Like
Speaker 3: I was, I was six foot in seventh grade, which
Speaker 3: is tall. And then going into high school, I was,
Speaker 3: I was pretty much the height I am now. I
Speaker 3: was like a touch under six, five.
Speaker 1: Okay. So you were basically six, five by the time
Speaker 1: you entered high school. So I'll let him know if
Speaker 1: he's got a shot. He's real 50th percentile.
Speaker 2: You know, I don't think, I don't think he is
Speaker 2: he playing sports?
Speaker 1: Oh, he is my oldest who is just turned seven
Speaker 1: is the biggest jock.
Speaker 2: I love it.
Speaker 1: It doesn't matter what the sport is. You tell him
Speaker 1: we're going to go play something and it involves a
Speaker 1: ball catching, throwing. It doesn't swimming even anything, anything that
Speaker 1: is athletic. He excels in and just loves it.
Speaker 2: It's incredible.
Speaker 1: I'm so, I'm so excited about it.
Speaker 2: Yeah. It's a fun age. I always say, I always tell, um,
Speaker 2: you have two kids too.
Speaker 1: Yeah. Seven and five.
Speaker 2: Oh, okay. So yeah. So we're in the same boat.
Speaker 3: So I actually, I have a kid who's in college
Speaker 3: who's 19, which I had him younger and he's playing football,
Speaker 3: which is pretty cool.
Speaker 1: That's great.
Speaker 3: But my wife and I have six and a half, five,
Speaker 3: and we have a one and a half year old daughter.
Speaker 3: And I tell everybody because I got to, I'm getting
Speaker 3: the chance to relive it again, which is so cool.
Speaker 3: And I have such a different perspective going through it once.
Speaker 3: I would say like the five, like four, five, six,
Speaker 3: and even seven are like the golden years of parenting
Speaker 3: in my opinion, because- they, whatever they're into, they just,
Speaker 3: they love mom.
Speaker 2: They love dad. They're all, they're, you know, they're like,
Speaker 2: we're still cool. They're by your side. They want to
Speaker 2: do everything you do. And then, and then that grip
Speaker 2: slowly just goes away as they get a little bit older.
Speaker 2: And it's so sad.
Speaker 1: So sad.
Speaker 2: I know.
Speaker 3: I was like crying for weeks when my son went
Speaker 3: to college because I'm like, I was just going back
Speaker 3: to all the memories growing up. So I always tell
Speaker 3: everybody like, man, just, you know, obviously just embrace every moment,
Speaker 3: like every opportunity you can, because it just, it goes.
Speaker 1: I know my seven-year-old said to me the other night,
Speaker 1: I was putting him to bed and he said he,
Speaker 1: every night he asks me, what do I have tomorrow?
Speaker 1: He loves a schedule and he likes to be busy.
Speaker 1: And so what he knows he has camp during the day,
Speaker 1: but then what he really means is, do I have baseball, basketball,
Speaker 1: or karate after school? Like, what do I have tomorrow?
Speaker 1: So I go, well, tomorrow you're going to have camp.
Speaker 1: And he goes, hmm. I said, do you not like camp?
Speaker 1: And he goes, no, I like camp. I just, I
Speaker 1: wish you could be there with me. I want to
Speaker 1: spend more time with you.
Speaker 2: And I was.
Speaker 1: Like, oh my gosh, cherish this moment. Remember this sentence.
Speaker 2: God, I just got goosebumps you telling me that because
Speaker 2: it's just, God, it's just the best.
Speaker 3: The things they say, it's like, God, they just, yeah,
Speaker 3: it is the best. It's the best time right now.
Speaker 1: Okay, with kids' sports these days, it really can feel 24-7, 365.
Speaker 1: And I know you're well aware. I want to talk
Speaker 1: to you a little more about Cole later. But there
Speaker 1: are club teams and travel all-stars and personal coaches. I
Speaker 1: know in Little League, kids used to play four times
Speaker 1: a month in the 80s and 90s. And now they
Speaker 1: are playing three to four games per weekend. Was that
Speaker 1: something you did as a kid or would have enjoyed
Speaker 1: growing up or is it just too much?
Speaker 3: Gosh, you know, it's such a great question. And we
Speaker 3: are currently living it now. So our six-year-old just finished
Speaker 3: all-star baseball this summer. So so everyone's like six, you
Speaker 3: all-star baseball, all-star baseball is a little bit different because
Speaker 3: it is a small period. It's a couple months max,
Speaker 3: and then you're done travel, you know, as year round,
Speaker 3: especially living in California. Um, he just played 35 games
Speaker 3: in like eight weeks, but that was all stars.
Speaker 2: And it's over. Yep.
Speaker 3: And so he played equivalent of like three seasons of
Speaker 3: like pony baseball or whatever. Um, I grew up playing
Speaker 3: the seasonal sports. Like I love baseball was always my
Speaker 3: first sport. Um, but I would play like, you know, fall,
Speaker 3: spring baseball. I would play flag football for my school.
Speaker 3: I would play basketball when it was, and they never
Speaker 3: really overlapped back then. And then I got into travel
Speaker 3: baseball probably when I was 14 or like going into
Speaker 3: high school. Cause I was, I was that was like
Speaker 3: my number one thing. I wanted to play baseball. I
Speaker 3: ended up getting hurt switching to football, but that's a
Speaker 3: whole other story. But so it's interesting because it's so
Speaker 3: much more competitive now at a younger age for better
Speaker 3: or for worse, because of all the things you said,
Speaker 3: because of travel, because of personal coaches, because of specializing,
Speaker 3: all those things. I am, I'm not naive to the
Speaker 3: fact that there is a lot more competition at a
Speaker 3: younger age and you don't want to get left behind,
Speaker 3: especially if you have good athletes. If you have kids
Speaker 3: who you think you know, have a shot to play
Speaker 3: high school or whatever it is. But I also like,
Speaker 3: I just, I want, I'm a firm believer like cream
Speaker 3: will always rise to the top in sports. So like
Speaker 3: if my kid's good enough, he's going to, at some
Speaker 3: point he's going to show it, you know? And again,
Speaker 3: I'm going to, he's going to do the stuff that
Speaker 3: you need to get there. So I guess the long,
Speaker 3: the short of the answer is play as many sports
Speaker 3: as possible.
Speaker 2: You don't need to specialize in one.
Speaker 3: I think being a, being a great athlete, quote unquote,
Speaker 3: and being versatile and, is the best way to go
Speaker 3: as you get older.
Speaker 2: And then, then at.
Speaker 3: Some point when you can start to see, I tell
Speaker 3: parents this all the time, if you could start to
Speaker 3: see what your son or your daughter is like, Hey.
Speaker 2: They're pretty good in this. Like I can see it. Then,
Speaker 2: then that's when you start.
Speaker 3: To maybe go that route and specialize or at least
Speaker 3: spend a little, invest a little more time and energy
Speaker 3: into that.
Speaker 2: That could be middle school. It could be eighth grade.
Speaker 2: I don't know when that is.
Speaker 3: You know, every parent is different, but I always tell
Speaker 3: parents too, like, gosh, just like, let them have fun.
Speaker 3: If they love it and they compete, then, you know,
Speaker 3: then you'll just know, like everyone knows their own kid,
Speaker 3: you know? So yeah, I mean, I see a lot
Speaker 3: of these, like we played this team this summer and
Speaker 3: for Pony All-Stars, again, it's, you know, it's six, eight weeks,
Speaker 3: but that team plays year round together and they started
Speaker 3: at five years old.
Speaker 2: And I'm like, five years old?
Speaker 3: Like my kids are pretty good in sports, but I'm like,
Speaker 3: I want them to have summers of camps and beach
Speaker 3: and enjoying the family time, you know. So it's a wild–
Speaker 3: youth sports are wild, to say the least.
Speaker 2: You might be going for it. You might be going
Speaker 2: through it.
Speaker 1: Well, yeah. I mean, well, my kids started karate at three.
Speaker 1: Which I love, by the way. it's unbelievable. It's been
Speaker 1: so good for them. Nothing makes me happier than hearing
Speaker 1: one of them say, yes, ma'am. And I'm like, yeah.
Speaker 2: My, my, my older son is so funny. He, he did, uh,
Speaker 2: was doing jujitsu.
Speaker 3: So along the same thing, you know, the discipline, this
Speaker 3: was like two years ago and we were going to like,
Speaker 3: we were just going to do it for a couple
Speaker 3: months and get like the discipline and all that kind
Speaker 3: of stuff. And he's, he's the big kid and he's
Speaker 3: tough and he feel he's kind of a caveman. I
Speaker 3: But he doesn't, he's not a fighter. He doesn't like,
Speaker 3: he doesn't like, you could punch him a hundred times.
Speaker 1: He's a gentle giant.
Speaker 2: He is. And he's tough as nails.
Speaker 3: But this little girl in this jujitsu class was beating
Speaker 3: the hell out of him. And the coach was like,
Speaker 3: you know, doing your submissions and your teaching right at
Speaker 3: this age. And he just, he started crying. He just
Speaker 3: stood there and he's like, God, I can't, I can't,
Speaker 3: I can't, I can't do it.
Speaker 2: I can't hit her. I can't, or like, you know,
Speaker 2: and I'm like, Oh, maybe this isn't for him.
Speaker 3: But the fact that your kids do it is amazing.
Speaker 1: Well, both, both my kids did cry the first week
Speaker 1: that they had to do grappling.
Speaker 2: Similar.
Speaker 1: My kids were like, you want me to take my
Speaker 1: friend down? Like, what do you mean take my friend down?
Speaker 1: And we realized like, Oh, this is something we need
Speaker 1: to let them practice on us. And for us to
Speaker 1: practice with them at home. Like, look, it's not aggressive
Speaker 1: when you're both agreeing to it. It's not, you know,
Speaker 1: that's the difference between violence and athleticism. So anyway, but
Speaker 1: it did take some time because they were both like, oh,
Speaker 1: this feels weird.
Speaker 2: I love that they do it.
Speaker 3: I think like the discipline it teaches you is amazing
Speaker 3: and respect and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2: Agreed.
Speaker 1: Did you have any hobbies outside of sports? Was there, like,
Speaker 1: did you have time for anything else? Did you collect
Speaker 1: rocks or anything?
Speaker 3: You know, what's funny is, God, this is such a
Speaker 3: terrible hobby now, but I used to collect like sports
Speaker 3: cards and I, and I, I, maybe your boys do,
Speaker 3: but like, I do, I do that again. And my
Speaker 3: wife thinks I'm like, like, you're not a child and
Speaker 3: you're wasting money.
Speaker 2: It's like a hobby, you know? So I would say
Speaker 2: that's probably.
Speaker 3: One that I really enjoyed doing with my brother and
Speaker 3: my dad growing up. And my oldest son never really
Speaker 3: got into it because like, I don't know how familiar
Speaker 3: you are with sort.
Speaker 2: Of the hobby, but it sort of lost its luster
Speaker 2: for a while.
Speaker 3: And then when COVID happened, like it just boomed again
Speaker 3: because people were just like buying cards, like, you know,
Speaker 3: and now it's like, it's all.
Speaker 2: Over the place.
Speaker 3: So I've gotten my younger boys into it, which has
Speaker 3: been pretty cool, you know? So they're collecting and putting
Speaker 3: them in their little, things and asking me, dad, what's
Speaker 3: this card worth?
Speaker 2: And all this kind of stuff. It's kind of fun. So,
Speaker 2: I mean, I would, I would say probably that, like, I,
Speaker 2: I just, my childhood was great.
Speaker 3: We were always outside playing sports with the neighborhood kids. Um,
Speaker 3: you know, we, we grew up, you know, we didn't
Speaker 3: have a ton of money growing up. So I didn't, honestly,
Speaker 3: I didn't get to do a lot of camps, but
Speaker 3: like we were, it was awesome, man. We were always
Speaker 3: outside riding bikes and you know, kind of like the
Speaker 3: old days, which we wish our kids were, you know,
Speaker 3: not on their phones. And I mean, not kids don't
Speaker 3: have phones, but like, it's just a new day and
Speaker 3: age now.
Speaker 2: Right. So, um, but that's it. Yeah. The card stuff
Speaker 2: is pretty hard.
Speaker 1: I love that. Do you ever open car? Do you
Speaker 1: ever open packs online?
Speaker 3: You know, that's, you know, I, I did, I did
Speaker 3: some rips, um, with the mojo guys. Um, I think
Speaker 3: they're based out of San Francisco.
Speaker 2: Um, I, I love it. It's just because it's become
Speaker 2: a fun hobby. Um, Yeah, and it's an expensive hobby, which.
Speaker 1: It is an expensive hobby.
Speaker 2: I always tell my wife, I'm like, I'm investing.
Speaker 3: She's like, well, if you're investing, when are we going
Speaker 3: to get our money back? Because I never like sell
Speaker 3: my cards, you know, but.
Speaker 2: Right, exactly.
Speaker 1: Listen, I don't know if your wife is like a
Speaker 1: bag person, but you know, if she collects handbags, it's
Speaker 1: an investment too, except I also never sell my bags.
Speaker 2: I know, I tried. I can't, she's just like, you're
Speaker 2: an idiot. But you know what? It's like, I don't
Speaker 2: really spend money on anything else.
Speaker 1: Yeah, exactly. Yeah, and it's a bonding thing for you
Speaker 1: and the kids.
Speaker 2: It is. It truly is. It truly is.
Speaker 1: Yeah, I get that. You attended one of the country's
Speaker 1: top high schools for sports. It has spawned more professional
Speaker 1: athletes than basically anywhere on the West Coast modern day.
Speaker 1: Did you feel a pressure from the expectations of that school?
Speaker 2: Not at the time. So....
Speaker 3: My older brother, again, like I said, was five years
Speaker 3: old or so. He graduated high school when I was
Speaker 3: coming in, so we never overlapped. He played baseball. It's
Speaker 3: kind of interesting. This is going to sound kind of weird,
Speaker 3: but I always felt like I was born to play baseball.
Speaker 3: And again, I know my path took me to football
Speaker 3: and all that stuff, but I was born to be
Speaker 3: a pitcher.
Speaker 2: I loved baseball.
Speaker 3: I loved the, I guess it's why quarterback worked out.
Speaker 3: Cause I loved the pressure. Uh, I just, it was
Speaker 3: just natural for me, right? Like I just, I just,
Speaker 3: I never really felt the pressure. I love being, I
Speaker 3: love the ball on the mountain. I love being the pitcher.
Speaker 3: I love being the quarterback. Um, it was just sort
Speaker 3: of kind of.
Speaker 2: Innate in me.
Speaker 3: So like when I went to modern day, very, very great,
Speaker 3: great school, great academics.
Speaker 2: Great sports. And I love that.
Speaker 3: I love modern day because a lot of the people
Speaker 3: there are like minded, like whether an athlete or not,
Speaker 3: like they have goals to be to get to college to.
Speaker 2: Whether it's academically or sports.
Speaker 3: So you're surrounded by a lot of people who have
Speaker 3: the same goals as you, which, you know, makes you
Speaker 3: compete more.
Speaker 2: But I never really felt it. You know, I just
Speaker 2: went there and kind of did my thing.
Speaker 3: Like I was injured for a year and a half,
Speaker 3: so I didn't even play sports my whole entire sophomore year.
Speaker 3: That was a really tough time for me, as any
Speaker 3: athlete could tell you, especially as a young age. But Um,
Speaker 3: you know, some of my best coaches I've ever had
Speaker 3: were there. Um, they molded me, they really helped me
Speaker 3: and they prepare me for college.
Speaker 2: So I love modern day.
Speaker 1: Well, you clearly didn't show any nerves. You led the
Speaker 1: team to a CIF co-championship and were named the California
Speaker 1: high school player of the year. And then you graduated.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: Relive the glory days.
Speaker 2: I know. Right.
Speaker 1: Then you graduated, you signed to USC. I mean, every
Speaker 1: high schooler dreams of these recruitment letters and meetings with
Speaker 1: head coaches. What do you remember from this time of
Speaker 1: your life and being courted around by colleges?
Speaker 3: It was like, you know, it's so crazy because I
Speaker 3: got to do it with my son. My son's at
Speaker 3: SMU playing football on scholarships. like crazy full circle, like
Speaker 3: all of these things happening in my life. Um, he's
Speaker 3: been there now for six months, but, um, I remember,
Speaker 3: you know, you would get back then you get letters
Speaker 3: mailed to you, right. And you open them up and
Speaker 3: you're like, Oh, this is freaking awesome. Like, you know,
Speaker 3: my mom would, would keep them in a box and
Speaker 3: all that kind of stuff. Um, the recruiting process, you know,
Speaker 3: looking back, it was, it was incredible. Like my parent,
Speaker 3: my family was a part of it. And it was
Speaker 3: like one of those stories. Like I grew up in
Speaker 3: Santa Ana. So I grew up in Literally five minutes
Speaker 3: from modern day.
Speaker 2: Both my parents worked. We were middle class.
Speaker 3: They worked hard, but we didn't grow up with a
Speaker 3: lot of money and a lot of stuff. When the
Speaker 3: recruiting and I was able to go to college and
Speaker 3: it was paid for and all those kind of things,
Speaker 3: it was a really cool, special moment. I'll tell you
Speaker 3: a funny story. I almost committed to Michigan. I ended
Speaker 3: up going to USA obviously, but I almost committed to Michigan.
Speaker 3: I went out there and, um, I love the camp.
Speaker 3: They offer me a scholarship. They, they, they wanted me
Speaker 3: to throw in person. They wanted to see me throw
Speaker 3: in person to see if they were going to offer
Speaker 3: me or not. Um, they ended up offering me. So
Speaker 3: I come back and.
Speaker 2: I'm like, I'm going to Michigan. I loved it. It
Speaker 2: was one of those, like I'm in the moment. Right.
Speaker 3: And my mom was like, just started, my mom passed
Speaker 3: away nine years ago, but my mom was like crying
Speaker 3: and she was tough.
Speaker 2: And I was like, She's like, you can't go to Michigan.
Speaker 2: You can't, you're like, you know, like she didn't want
Speaker 2: her baby to leave.
Speaker 3: She's like, you're going to be miserable in the winter,
Speaker 3: all these kinds of things.
Speaker 2: Um, so I ended up choosing USC.
Speaker 3: I think my heart was always staying home. Like I
Speaker 3: always knew I'd like kind of wanted to stay home
Speaker 3: and go to USC, but, um, I saw that was
Speaker 3: just a huge part of my recruiting was my.
Speaker 2: Parents and my mom and all that kind of stuff. Um,
Speaker 2: it was amazing.
Speaker 3: I got to, I got to do it with my
Speaker 3: son sort of all over again and just, and be
Speaker 3: a dad really like obviously give advice and, football and
Speaker 3: all these things, but just really be a dad and
Speaker 3: watch him kind of go through that, which was really cool.
Speaker 1: I'm so glad that you made that decision.
Speaker 2: Oh gosh, me too. I would have never lasted. I
Speaker 2: would have never lasted.
Speaker 1: No. And also, you know, knowing your mom passed nine
Speaker 1: years ago, it's like, those are years, you know, that you'll,
Speaker 1: that you were able to spend right there with her
Speaker 1: all the time that you wouldn't have had otherwise. Now,
Speaker 1: you played decades before the NIL laws allowing college athletes
Speaker 1: to sign endorsement deals and make money while still in school.
Speaker 1: Do you wish you could have done a Colgate commercial
Speaker 1: before the Rose Bowl or shot a MeUndies campaign? What
Speaker 1: are your thoughts on NIL? You know what?
Speaker 2: It's interesting. You know what?
Speaker 3: No, I mean, I always get asked like, oh, you
Speaker 3: would have made this amount of money and this and
Speaker 3: this and that. And like, yeah, sure, it would have
Speaker 3: been great, you know?
Speaker 2: But like my experience... is what led me to today.
Speaker 3: It's, it's, it sounds cliche, but it's like, it led
Speaker 3: me talking to you because talking to you, let me
Speaker 3: do like my podcast and these, these different opportunities that
Speaker 3: I've been able to do since I've played football and
Speaker 3: get to do big noon kickoff on Fox and all
Speaker 3: these things. So like, like I, I think it's interesting
Speaker 3: because there was a certain level of commitment and and
Speaker 3: loyalty back then. Like when you committed to a school,
Speaker 3: it didn't always work out obviously, but when you committed
Speaker 3: to a school, you committed to the school, you sign
Speaker 3: your letter, you're going there. Now you transferred back then,
Speaker 3: not very many people did, but you, or you, there
Speaker 3: was just like, I'm going to, I'm committed here. This
Speaker 3: is what I signed up for. I'm going to stick
Speaker 3: it out. I'm going to work my ass off, et cetera,
Speaker 3: et cetera. That is, that is not as prevalent now
Speaker 3: because these kids are making so much money. There's a
Speaker 3: less there's less resilience from these kids. The minute there's adversity,
Speaker 3: you know, there's a, well, I'm just going to go
Speaker 3: somewhere here or I'm going to go get paid by this.
Speaker 3: Like there's that now, which I don't like. There's more
Speaker 3: kids bouncing around. There's more kids chasing money. And who
Speaker 3: am I to tell a 19 year old kid not
Speaker 3: to go make more money? Like I get it. Like,
Speaker 3: you know, I get it. But it's just, it's just
Speaker 3: a different, it's a different world we live in. So
Speaker 3: I'm all for it. I think it's tremendous. I think,
Speaker 3: you know, The men, the women, all these sports, they
Speaker 3: have this opportunity now.
Speaker 2: To make money off their name, right? I think that's fantastic.
Speaker 2: I think rules need to be put in place.
Speaker 3: But the lack of kind of resilience and commitment sort
Speaker 3: of from this old school mindset bothers me.
Speaker 2: Yeah. it is what it is, you know? Yeah.
Speaker 1: There are pros and cons. It reminds me of like
Speaker 1: hearing my parents talk. My parents got married really young.
Speaker 1: They got married at 21. Um, and hearing them talk
Speaker 1: about like those years when my dad was still in
Speaker 1: college and they had $ 20 each per week for their grocery,
Speaker 1: like all the food they were going to eat for
Speaker 1: the week had to be spent with $ 20. And like,
Speaker 1: then of course my, you know, my dad ended up
Speaker 1: becoming very successful and But they talk about those lean
Speaker 1: years and the things they learned that they would have never,
Speaker 1: but let's say, for example, I never learned because I
Speaker 1: started working really young and I was making money. It's like, well,
Speaker 1: there are pros to that. And I learned other things,
Speaker 1: but the things I missed out on by not having
Speaker 1: to go through those experiences. So everything you're saying makes sense.
Speaker 2: I mean, and you started, gosh, you started acting. How
Speaker 2: old were you when you started acting? I was 10.
Speaker 1: I was 10 and then 12 when I started Boy
Speaker 1: Meets World. So Boy Meets World was 12 to 19.
Speaker 2: Well, what an incredible run you went on.
Speaker 1: Yeah, well, thank you very much.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 1: While researching you, I was really surprised that after Carson
Speaker 1: Palmer went pro, you weren't the immediate choice to replace him.
Speaker 1: You actually competed against two other guys for the starting job.
Speaker 1: obviously with how it all played out, they made the
Speaker 1: right decision, but I was wondering how much that feeling
Speaker 1: of competition actually helped you.
Speaker 3: It's a good question. I think there, there were two
Speaker 3: parts of that. I, I struggled.
Speaker 2: I really struggled.
Speaker 3: My, I saw my first two years I sat there.
Speaker 3: So I, I, I came in as a freshman and
Speaker 3: it was Pete Carroll's first year. Um, so I was
Speaker 3: recruited by the previous staff and then Pete sort of
Speaker 3: recruited me to keep my commitment. Um, so the first
Speaker 3: year I redshirted, you know, like I didn't, there's no
Speaker 3: pressure to play, et cetera. The next year Carson comes
Speaker 3: back because there were somewhere that he was going to
Speaker 3: leave and go pro.
Speaker 2: So then I'm, I'm backing up again, technically.
Speaker 3: So then that was the first time I considered maybe transferring,
Speaker 3: you know, it wasn't like a big, like.
Speaker 2: This whole drawn out thing.
Speaker 3: I remember talking to my parents, like, Hey man, this,
Speaker 3: this might like, I want to play at some point,
Speaker 3: you know, and I'm, I'm losing time. Um, so part
Speaker 3: of me was a little bit like, I don't want
Speaker 3: to say shine away from the competition.
Speaker 2: But it's just maybe it wasn't working out. And then
Speaker 2: it's funny.
Speaker 3: I just talked about my, my high school coach, Rollinson,
Speaker 3: who's my high school coach, legendary high school coach. I
Speaker 3: remember having a conversation with him and he was, he's
Speaker 3: like the ultra, I don't know if you ever had
Speaker 3: like an acting coach or somebody, he's the ultimate or director,
Speaker 3: but like a motivating, like just your, your, your typical
Speaker 3: like locker room speech, but a great coach and, and
Speaker 3: someone I really looked up to and still do.
Speaker 2: And he just, he sat me down.
Speaker 3: I remember, I think we were on the phone and
Speaker 3: he just gave me this speech about like, remember who
Speaker 3: I was and what got me there and this, and
Speaker 3: it was just everything I needed to hear. And it
Speaker 3: was really one conversation that kind of sparked, like reignited
Speaker 3: this kind of.
Speaker 2: Passion and drive.
Speaker 3: Like I can do this, you know, at least I'm
Speaker 3: going to give it everything I got and, and have
Speaker 3: a shot. So I ended up winning the competition, um, with,
Speaker 3: you know, with a couple other guys who are like
Speaker 3: my best buddies today. Um, And yeah, sort of, I
Speaker 3: guess the rest is history just went on that, that
Speaker 3: incredible run with that team.
Speaker 1: Well, I see the Mamba mentality sign behind you and
Speaker 1: dates wise.
Speaker 2: I'm a big Kobe fan.
Speaker 1: I was going to say you and Kobe Bryant were
Speaker 1: excelling in Los Angeles at the same time around the
Speaker 1: same age. What was your experience with him? Like, were
Speaker 1: you friends?
Speaker 2: So we, so he is my favorite.
Speaker 3: Athlete of all time as an ad cause I grew
Speaker 3: up a Lakers fan. Um, and obviously just everything he
Speaker 3: stood for and his, his desire and, and you know,
Speaker 3: all the reasons why everyone loves Kobe. And, um, I
Speaker 3: met him, I met him a couple of times, like
Speaker 3: probably post USC when I was in the NFL, go
Speaker 3: to Laker games. And he was always so cool to
Speaker 3: me and just like, cause he came in at 97.
Speaker 3: So he's like, yeah, he, he would have been five
Speaker 3: years older than me. He's the same age as my brother. Um,
Speaker 3: I just told this story the other day. This was
Speaker 3: Kobe to me. So over the years, we had a
Speaker 3: mutual friend. And Kobe lived down in Newport Beach. And,
Speaker 3: you know, he would drive up and all.
Speaker 2: That kind of stuff.
Speaker 3: And so I might have been, I think, I don't
Speaker 3: know if I was retired. I think I probably was
Speaker 3: maybe at the end of my career retired. And we
Speaker 3: were going to like this barbecue. Have you heard of
Speaker 3: Emerald Bay?
Speaker 1: Yeah, of course.
Speaker 2: Love it.
Speaker 3: So Emerald Bay. So like the private beach community, a
Speaker 3: friend lived there. Kobe was going, it was like, just
Speaker 3: like a barbecue day. And I'm like, shoot, this is like,
Speaker 3: I'm just fired up because I'm like, you know, like
Speaker 3: I don't get starstruck very often, but I was like,
Speaker 3: I'm going to get hang with Kobe, like the person, right?
Speaker 3: The dad, the human being. And we were there all
Speaker 3: day and he's telling stories. And I brought my best
Speaker 3: friend who's a diehard Laker fan. Cole, my oldest was
Speaker 3: probably seven or eight at the time. And by the
Speaker 3: end of the night, There's like kids everywhere, adults everywhere.
Speaker 3: And there's like an eight person golf cart. And, you know,
Speaker 3: in Emerald Bay, there's like, you know, you're just kind
Speaker 3: of it's not big. You're just driving around to get
Speaker 3: to the drop off. And there's like little speed bumps.
Speaker 3: And Kobe's driving. I'm in the front seat next to him.
Speaker 3: And I swear, Daniel, there's like 18 people on this
Speaker 3: golf cart.
Speaker 2: And it was like, and Cole was on my lap.
Speaker 2: Someone else's kid was on my lap.
Speaker 3: My buddy was like hanging on the side, like grown
Speaker 3: adults are on the back.
Speaker 2: Like it was. And, and just the best part about
Speaker 2: it was Kobe was like, it wasn't Mamba. Right.
Speaker 3: It was like, he was like swerving, jumping over the
Speaker 3: bumps to try.
Speaker 2: And like knock people off. Like, it was just like,
Speaker 2: I'll never forget it. It was like, I just, it
Speaker 2: was just.
Speaker 3: Like, it's a great memory that I have. And then, um,
Speaker 3: three weeks before uh, he passed away. So my oldest
Speaker 3: son was, was a really good basketball player. And there
Speaker 3: was this, um, circuit called the made hoop circuit. And
Speaker 3: one of the tournaments was always up at Mamba Academy
Speaker 3: in the Valley. And that early January, one of those
Speaker 3: first weekends in January, he was there and he was
Speaker 3: coaching Gigi's team and that Mamba team.
Speaker 2: And we went up to him and, you know, said,
Speaker 2: what's up, man? What's up? And he remembered Cole. And
Speaker 2: he's like, Cole, holy shit, man. Because Cole's like almost 6'4.
Speaker 3: But, you know, Cole just sprouted up. Like this was
Speaker 3: three years later maybe. It gives me chills talking about
Speaker 3: it because it's crazy. So, yeah, and we just talked
Speaker 3: for 10 minutes. And he was just spending the whole
Speaker 3: time talking about Cole and like asking him how he's doing.
Speaker 2: And he watched his game.
Speaker 3: And then he went and coached Gigi. And then three
Speaker 3: weeks later, you know, it happened. So, yeah, he's– I mean, yeah,
Speaker 3: just the impact. And also like, it's just like what
Speaker 3: could have happened, you know, what he was doing with
Speaker 3: women's basketball and all that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2: It's just, it's awful.
Speaker 3: But I'm grateful for those stories that I have, you know,
Speaker 3: with him outside of.
Speaker 2: The basketball player.
Speaker 1: Yes, absolutely.
Speaker 2: I'm sure you cross paths with him, right?
Speaker 1: Yeah, several times over the years, starting back from when
Speaker 1: I was a teenager. And then, you know, in 2014
Speaker 1: to 2017, when I was doing Girl Meets World, He
Speaker 1: and Vanessa and the girls were fans. And so he
Speaker 1: brought them to set to, you know, meet the cast
Speaker 1: and everything. So yeah, he's, yeah, wonderful. Your college career
Speaker 1: is just outstanding. I mean, slightly beyond human. I listed
Speaker 1: just some of your achievements in the intro that I
Speaker 1: did before you got here, but I know perfectionists. So
Speaker 1: what still bothers you? from your college career? What got
Speaker 1: away and just still sticks with you 25 years later?
Speaker 2: I mean, the Texas game.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 3: I mean, yeah, it still bothers me to this day.
Speaker 3: I've gotten over it, can't you tell? I've learned how
Speaker 3: to talk about it. The biggest thing about that was
Speaker 3: we had a chance to win three championships in a.
Speaker 2: Row and that's never, it was never done. It's never
Speaker 2: been done.
Speaker 3: It probably will never be done because now with the
Speaker 3: parody and NIL and college football teams have been close,
Speaker 3: you know, Georgia, bam, all that.
Speaker 2: But that, that one is.
Speaker 3: Just the one, you know, it's just like, what, it
Speaker 3: wouldn't have changed like where I got drafted and all that.
Speaker 3: Cause I was a senior, but it just like, when
Speaker 3: you look at history and you know, we were, we
Speaker 3: had some great teams.
Speaker 2: But you look at history, like a three-peat, it's never
Speaker 2: been done. So that's the one.
Speaker 3: And like, I always say there's always, like in football,
Speaker 3: there's always, there's always, because the margin of error is
Speaker 3: so small in the NFL, college is different, but NFL,
Speaker 3: but like, there's always two or three plays in a
Speaker 3: game that like, you just want back, right? You just
Speaker 3: want to change. And there were like a few plays
Speaker 3: like that in that game. I can remember vividly that
Speaker 3: I just wish I could take back.
Speaker 2: And again, like, like maybe we would have won. Right.
Speaker 3: Like I don't blame myself and all these things. And
Speaker 3: it's like, it was such a great game. And honestly,
Speaker 3: like I've been convinced young is a great friend of mine.
Speaker 3: Mack Brown is a great, like that game really like
Speaker 3: arguably the greatest college football game ever played.
Speaker 2: A lot of people still say that like we're, we're
Speaker 2: a part of history together.
Speaker 3: So I've become friends with a lot of Texas guys
Speaker 3: and stuff, but yeah, that's the one that's like the blemish,
Speaker 3: you know, there, there were, there were two, we lost
Speaker 3: to Cal and Aaron Rogers my first year. Um, But
Speaker 3: that's the one, that's the one that's like, man, what if,
Speaker 3: you know, what if we would have won three, you know?
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 1: The one that when you find yourself drifting off in
Speaker 1: a daydream and you can take those plays back and
Speaker 1: alter them a little bit.
Speaker 2: Yeah. And the crazy thing.
Speaker 3: So I got into, you know, covering college football at
Speaker 3: Fox in 2013 or 14. And it's just like, now
Speaker 3: everybody that I crossed paths with went to UT or something.
Speaker 3: It's like, I can't escape it. My wife's best friend
Speaker 3: is a Longhorn. And then all of a sudden it's like,
Speaker 3: oh my God.
Speaker 2: You guys gotta be kidding me. But yeah. It's all good.
Speaker 2: Much respect to them. They beat us, but, you know,
Speaker 2: what are you going to do?
Speaker 1: The pratfalls of college can be so tempting for a
Speaker 1: student athlete. For every Matt Leinart at USC, there's a
Speaker 1: Todd Maranovich. How did you stay focused and away from
Speaker 1: the 9-0 club every weekend?
Speaker 2: 9-0? Have you ever been to the 9-0?
Speaker 1: I've never been to the 9-0.
Speaker 2: No? No. God, the 9-0, what a great spot. You know.
Speaker 3: a few things like one, I had a great, great
Speaker 3: family and great people around me. You know, um, my
Speaker 3: parents kind of were like, no BS. I had an
Speaker 3: older brother who always still to this day looks out
Speaker 3: after me. Um, it's, it's interesting in that time, you know,
Speaker 3: because we, I don't know, like Pete Carroll was so
Speaker 3: great at, Hey, work hard, play hard. I don't care
Speaker 3: what you do, but you better be ready to work.
Speaker 3: And if you don't, someone else.
Speaker 2: Is going to take your job.
Speaker 3: So he really treated us like, it's, it's so, he
Speaker 3: treated us like men, but he was there to be
Speaker 3: like a father figure. He expect, he demanded a lot
Speaker 3: from us, but like, we'd love playing for him. He
Speaker 3: was like, he, it's the reason why he's so successful
Speaker 3: in life. He just has like, he just, that's, he just,
Speaker 3: you know, it's why he's incredible. And we were, I mean,
Speaker 3: me personally, I was able to understand what the.
Speaker 2: Job was and what my role was and the.
Speaker 3: Leadership that I had to show. Um, but I was
Speaker 3: also like, I was also able like to be a
Speaker 3: kid for the most part. And, um, this was pre,
Speaker 3: you know, this was pre all the other stuff, social media,
Speaker 3: the internet, like you could do a lot more. You
Speaker 3: could get away with a lot more. You could be yourself.
Speaker 3: You didn't have to be afraid. I mean, you, you
Speaker 3: live in this world. Like you don't, you don't have
Speaker 3: to be afraid to go out and be like, Holy crap.
Speaker 3: Is something going to be said? Just going out with
Speaker 3: your friends, you know? So like, I'm like, my son
Speaker 3: is not, my son is in the opposite. So I'm like, buddy, you,
Speaker 3: you have to be very careful what you do.
Speaker 2: Very careful. Like, so it's hard. So I'm kind of
Speaker 2: grateful for that, but it wasn't that hard.
Speaker 3: Like we, we were, You know, we were sort of
Speaker 3: treated like royalty in L.A. at that time because there
Speaker 3: wasn't a football team.
Speaker 2: Right. But we also won.
Speaker 3: Like I always tell everybody, we worked our ass off
Speaker 3: and we competed hard and we won, you know, and
Speaker 3: that's it.
Speaker 1: After your storied college career, you were a first round
Speaker 1: number 10 pick for the Arizona Cardinals. What was your
Speaker 1: biggest culture shock going into the NFL?
Speaker 3: Just the, the, I think the biggest thing is the
Speaker 3: speed of the game was, you know, every, so everything came,
Speaker 3: I obviously I worked hard at USC to get to
Speaker 3: that point, but everything came very easy as I got older.
Speaker 3: Like I was playing a lot. It was just like,
Speaker 3: you know, like, you just get comfortable, right? It's like,
Speaker 3: if you're playing a role for so long, you're just like, Oh,
Speaker 3: this is easy. I can tap back into that. Then
Speaker 3: all of a sudden you go to a bigger one.
Speaker 3: You're like, Oh, this is way different. And so I
Speaker 3: think the biggest shock is just one grown men and two.
Speaker 2: The speed and all that. And there, and there's a,
Speaker 2: there's when you're.
Speaker 3: Drafted that high as a quarterback, there is a certain
Speaker 3: amount of pressure and expectation because they're paying you a
Speaker 3: lot of money to, to be the face of a
Speaker 3: franchise and, So you're no longer a 20-year-old playing on
Speaker 3: Saturday and then going to the 9-0 at night. You're
Speaker 3: expected to act in a certain way. No matter what,
Speaker 3: you can do whatever you want, but you're expected to
Speaker 3: be that guy. And that was just something I learned
Speaker 3: very quickly in the NFL.
Speaker 1: You suffered season-ending injuries in your first two years, one
Speaker 1: after setting then-NFL rookie record for passing yards in a game.
Speaker 1: How do you deal with Like your whole life is
Speaker 1: focused on these few weeks every year and you can't
Speaker 1: control the way you fall or how you're tackled. Is
Speaker 1: it depressing?
Speaker 2: Yeah, there's a lot of emotions.
Speaker 3: So my, so the first one you're talking about, I actually,
Speaker 3: I hurt my shoulder right at the end of the year. So,
Speaker 3: and it wasn't a significant one, but it, it, um,
Speaker 3: I sat out the last game. Um, And then the
Speaker 3: next year in 2007, I broke my collarbone in week
Speaker 3: five and that ended my season. And then that was
Speaker 3: when Kurt Warner took over the job, led us to
Speaker 3: the Super Bowl. We had this competition and that's sort
Speaker 3: of when I had to kind of sit back and
Speaker 3: reevaluate like, hey, I need to really like injuries happen, right?
Speaker 2: Some of them, they happen or they don't, right? It's
Speaker 2: hard to, it's hard.
Speaker 3: Like you said, you fall a certain way or whatever,
Speaker 3: but I need to really start to like reevaluate this,
Speaker 3: or I'm going to be out of this league very quickly.
Speaker 3: And then in 2012, I was in Houston and the
Speaker 3: starter got hurt and I was going to, I was
Speaker 3: the backup and I was going to start the rest
Speaker 3: of the year. And this was, you know, there were
Speaker 3: years in between obviously, but this was the best I'd
Speaker 3: ever felt. Like mentally I was ready.
Speaker 2: I was, I was like, just like the coach was
Speaker 2: like brought out more, like I just, I lost confidence.
Speaker 2: And then I broke my collarbone again.
Speaker 3: That was the you say depressing, that was probably the
Speaker 3: hardest time of my life as an athlete, because one,
Speaker 3: I knew it, I knew it was almost over.
Speaker 2: I only played one more year after that.
Speaker 3: And it just started realizing, like, I'm just not like,
Speaker 3: this is like, I'm not like, it's over.
Speaker 2: Like, this isn't me anymore, you know? And, The first
Speaker 2: ones were like I was younger. I was 24.
Speaker 3: I'm like, all right, you bounce back. You're going to
Speaker 3: get so many opportunities.
Speaker 2: The NFL, you get.
Speaker 3: You get one or two, maybe, you know, you better
Speaker 3: hold onto them, especially at quarterback.
Speaker 2: Um, injuries are a part of sport. That's, that's what
Speaker 2: they are. Um, it's hard.
Speaker 3: You can't really control them for the most part. You
Speaker 3: can do everything you can to get your body right.
Speaker 3: And this and that, but, um, that's that, that big
Speaker 3: one in Houston was the one that really, really, um,
Speaker 3: altered my life. And like, and again, it all worked
Speaker 3: out right.
Speaker 2: It was all great. But like in the moment, I'll,
Speaker 2: I'll never forget. I was in Jacksonville. It was the
Speaker 2: hardest time.
Speaker 3: And so I, my first start kind of back, like rejuvenated,
Speaker 3: this is my time. And I was saying like, I
Speaker 3: was playing in hopes to get like a bigger contract.
Speaker 3: Like if I play well, five or six games, I'm
Speaker 3: going to, I'm going to get a massive contract.
Speaker 2: It was like, it was like the next step.
Speaker 1: Right.
Speaker 3: And so I get my first start back in, in Jacksonville.
Speaker 3: My dad flies out for the game. Cause it was like,
Speaker 3: he's like, I'll be there. I'm like so tight. I
Speaker 3: break my collarbone second quarter and I'm playing like right
Speaker 3: before the half.
Speaker 2: I'm playing really good.
Speaker 3: And I like I'll never forget. Like he came down
Speaker 3: in the locker room halftime. I'm like bawling, crying. And
Speaker 3: I'm just like, it's over. It was just it was
Speaker 3: like it just it was like just deflating.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 3: It was like I worked so hard mentally to get
Speaker 3: back to a good spot. and get my confidence and like,
Speaker 3: Hey man, if I get my shot again, like I
Speaker 3: feel great. And I was on a good team and
Speaker 3: great coaches and it just didn't work out, you know?
Speaker 3: And that was, that was sort of the end. I
Speaker 3: played one more year after that. And by that time,
Speaker 3: you know, we always kind of say this in the NFL.
Speaker 3: It's like, like my coach is like, just earn a
Speaker 3: paycheck as long as you can. Cause obviously we get
Speaker 3: paid very well, but He's like, hold on, keep working hard,
Speaker 3: like just keep keep play as long as you possibly can,
Speaker 3: because once it's over, it's over.
Speaker 2: So I got one more year. But the injuries, the
Speaker 2: injuries are tough.
Speaker 3: They're part of it. But yeah, they can be depressing.
Speaker 3: They can put you in a really dark place, you know,
Speaker 3: because you're just working so hard for those opportunities.
Speaker 2: And it's taken in a second.
Speaker 1: In your seven years in the NFL. What city's fans
Speaker 1: did you dread playing against the most? I think it's
Speaker 1: been long enough that you could say who was the shittiest.
Speaker 2: Well, I will say this.
Speaker 3: Philly fans are the worst.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: They are nasty.
Speaker 1: Nasty.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 3: I mean, great, great organization, but they are just nasty.
Speaker 3: Everything about it is nasty. Like you just look at
Speaker 3: like you look up and like the way they're dressed
Speaker 3: and their accents and they're just Philly. Like they're just
Speaker 3: that's just what they're known for. Um, which by the way,
Speaker 3: they're great fans.
Speaker 2: For their team. Right.
Speaker 3: Um, I would say Seattle has great fans, the Seahawks.
Speaker 3: I don't know if you've ever been to a Seahawks game. Um,
Speaker 3: great fans.
Speaker 2: Yeah. Wow. Cause we were in the same division as
Speaker 2: them for four years in Arizona.
Speaker 3: So like always going up there, it's a lot, one
Speaker 3: of the loudest stadiums in the NFL and they were sneaky,
Speaker 3: like sneaky, kind of nasty too. Like the things they
Speaker 3: would say, um, But I, you know, like those are
Speaker 3: the two, but I, I love, I just love that
Speaker 3: part about, I love that. Like I love, I love fans.
Speaker 3: Like they love their, they love their team. They talk smack.
Speaker 3: They like, that's part of the game. Like I always
Speaker 3: appreciated that in a weird way. And then when you
Speaker 3: beat them, you talk smack back, you know, like it's just,
Speaker 3: it's just part of it.
Speaker 1: That's a rewarding feeling to get to talk smack back.
Speaker 1: We've mentioned your son Cole quite a few times. He's
Speaker 1: in his freshman year at SMU after being a top
Speaker 1: 200 player in all of California high school football. what
Speaker 1: has it been like for you to be on the
Speaker 1: other side now as a dad? And do you have
Speaker 1: a new respect for your dad now?
Speaker 3: Yes. I, I, I'm so grateful for my dad in
Speaker 3: the way and how he, both my parents, but how
Speaker 3: he raised me, especially in sports and just the, he
Speaker 3: was never the yeller, the screamer. He just, and I
Speaker 3: always say this, like my, the, the best gift I
Speaker 3: could give all my kids is just my, my presence
Speaker 3: and being there and my time, right? Like, like I work,
Speaker 3: I travel a lot, I'm busy, all these things, but
Speaker 3: just like, like being there for them, whether I coach
Speaker 3: them or whatever. Um, so to go through that with
Speaker 3: my oldest son and, you know, his mom and I,
Speaker 3: his mom and I are, we were never together and
Speaker 3: all that, like we were never married, all this stuff.
Speaker 3: So like he had a different sort of upbringing than
Speaker 3: obviously my kids.
Speaker 2: Are, are my other kids, my wife. So, um, it
Speaker 2: was always a little different with him.
Speaker 3: And for him to get that scholarship to SMU and
Speaker 3: to see the journey and the hard work and a
Speaker 3: lot of adversity and a lot of crying and a
Speaker 3: lot of questioning himself and a lot of this and that,
Speaker 3: to get to that point and then to see him thrive.
Speaker 2: And he had a lot of ups and downs in
Speaker 2: high school. Let me tell you, like a lot of.
Speaker 3: Ups and downs, like anybody, you know, I always say
Speaker 3: like ages and phases, right? The five and seven is
Speaker 3: great phases.
Speaker 2: They come and go. You just kind of have to
Speaker 2: ride that wave.
Speaker 3: And we went through a lot of hard times with him,
Speaker 3: but he came out and he came out stronger and
Speaker 3: better and learned a lot. And I'll tell you what,
Speaker 3: I swear I was, I posted about this online, but
Speaker 3: I was like, I was sitting at his last, I'm
Speaker 3: a very emotional person.
Speaker 2: Okay.
Speaker 3: I'm not, I'm not afraid to cry. Like I'm not
Speaker 3: afraid to show my emotions. I love my kids. I'll
Speaker 3: cry at like a freaking spelling bee. I'll cry at
Speaker 3: a game, like, you know, whatever. Um, but it was
Speaker 3: just different with him a little bit.
Speaker 2: And I'd never forget.
Speaker 3: I'm watching his last practices down the street, the high school,
Speaker 3: I'm just sobbing. And again, my job during the fall,
Speaker 3: I didn't get a chance to see a lot of
Speaker 3: his games because I travel for college football, which was
Speaker 3: a big bummer. Um, but, um, I got to, it
Speaker 3: all kind of comes full circle. I got to be there.
Speaker 3: He made the championship game his senior year. And I
Speaker 3: got to be there for it.
Speaker 2: It all worked out.
Speaker 3: Like there was a flight home. I was in Detroit
Speaker 3: at a Michigan game. There was a flight home. There
Speaker 3: were all these things. I'm like, holy crap, I'm going
Speaker 3: to get to see his last ever high school game.
Speaker 3: And it was such a meaningful moment for me as
Speaker 3: a dad. Dropping to college was one of the hardest
Speaker 3: things I've ever done in my life.
Speaker 2: And all good, right? It's all great stuff, but like.
Speaker 3: Letting go and your mind immediately flashes to all of
Speaker 3: that stuff, right? That you go through as parents and
Speaker 3: you'll be there one day when you drop your boys off.
Speaker 3: And it's like, oh my gosh, they're gone already.
Speaker 2: You know?
Speaker 3: So, um, being on that side of it has been
Speaker 3: one of the greatest joys of my life.
Speaker 2: It really has.
Speaker 3: And getting a chance to watch him play football at
Speaker 3: a great university like SMU, whether he ever plays or not,
Speaker 3: I can care less, but getting a chance. I just,
Speaker 3: I just went out to see him last weekend and.
Speaker 2: Just he's just happy. It's just crazy to see your
Speaker 2: kid all grown up, right?
Speaker 1: I know. It's like the whole goal of being a
Speaker 1: good parent is to watch them launch. And then they
Speaker 1: launch and you're like, oh no, come back.
Speaker 3: Your son said that to you the other day.
Speaker 2: My son texted me the other day. He goes, dad,
Speaker 2: being an adult is unreal. What am I even doing?
Speaker 3: I'm like, yeah, dude, it's tough, bro. We went to
Speaker 3: go get him a car. He's paying for it because
Speaker 3: he's making money now. But like, The things he'll text me,
Speaker 3: he's like, gosh, I wish I could be a kid again.
Speaker 2: Cause you know, when they're kids, they want to grow
Speaker 2: up and they're like, I want to do like, I'm like, yeah, buddy,
Speaker 2: I told you being adults, you have a lot more
Speaker 2: responsibility now.
Speaker 3: But I said like, you're living the dream. Like you're, you're,
Speaker 3: you're on a scholarship. You're getting paid money to play
Speaker 3: a sport. You get a chance to like, I always
Speaker 3: say like football is the greatest teacher of life. In
Speaker 3: my opinion, like the, the, the team and all the
Speaker 3: stuff that it can teach you. I'm like, buddy, just
Speaker 3: enjoy it. Cause it's, it goes by and like whether
Speaker 3: he makes the NFL, not like it goes by so fast,
Speaker 3: but yeah, it's been, it's been so, it's been amazing. Honestly,
Speaker 3: it's been so, it's just been such a joy to,
Speaker 3: to watch him excel and thrive. And then to be
Speaker 3: able to relive these moments with my other three and
Speaker 3: just to watch them now and to kind of, I
Speaker 3: don't say like do it over again, but just to
Speaker 3: redo it again, like, and it's, it's awesome.
Speaker 1: Well, you are competing once again, but on a whole
Speaker 1: new playing field. You are participating in Fox's new hit
Speaker 1: reality show, Nation's Dumbest, up against fellow celebs like Ice-T,
Speaker 1: Jojo Siwa, and politician Andrew Yang, going head-to-head in brain teasers, quizzes,
Speaker 1: and physical challenges. Was it fun? Because honestly, I am
Speaker 1: nervous every time I watch you guys. I get nervous.
Speaker 1: Are you having a good time?
Speaker 2: It was my first intro to reality TV.
Speaker 1: Okay.
Speaker 2: Um, and.
Speaker 3: I, I really didn't know, you know, you, you, you
Speaker 3: go in and you get these calls from the producers
Speaker 3: and oh, it's going to be this and fun and
Speaker 3: lighthearted and all this stuff.
Speaker 2: And I'm like, okay, like, you.
Speaker 3: Know, it's like, so this could be fun. And then,
Speaker 3: you know, it's only a couple of weeks and all
Speaker 3: this stuff. And I, and also like, I, I.
Speaker 2: Work at Fox.
Speaker 3: So this was a crossover and I would love to
Speaker 3: host shows one day. Like I, you know, I just, I,
Speaker 3: I was like, this could be a great opportunity to
Speaker 3: have fun.
Speaker 2: Why not? Right.
Speaker 3: Do something out of your comfort zone. I can't even
Speaker 3: lie to you.
Speaker 2: It was the most intense.
Speaker 3: Nerves, emotional highs and lows that I've ever been through
Speaker 3: way more than football. And I don't, the show has
Speaker 3: been so great and the producing and it's so fun
Speaker 3: to watch. And like, it really, it really is fun
Speaker 3: as you, if you look back, but in the moment,
Speaker 3: oh my gosh, my wife, if she was here, she
Speaker 3: would tell you, it was like, I won't say miserable,
Speaker 3: but I was like, it was tough for me. It
Speaker 3: was really tough for me to get up and be like,
Speaker 3: I got to do this. I got to fight for
Speaker 3: these damn stars. Like, and I'm like, what am I doing?
Speaker 3: And like, I don't want to look like an idiot.
Speaker 3: Cause I think I'm pretty smart, but like, I don't
Speaker 3: know what I don't know. And I'll say the great
Speaker 3: thing about it is the cast, we immediately gelled the
Speaker 3: first day, all of us. And I think, I mean,
Speaker 3: you know, I mean, JoJo's on dance with the stars
Speaker 3: you probably know jojo well her and i have become
Speaker 3: the most unlikely like i don't want to give i
Speaker 3: don't want to give too much away but like the
Speaker 3: most unlikely duo and she's become one of my great
Speaker 3: friends if that's even can happen in such a short
Speaker 3: amount of time um And everyone else too. So like
Speaker 3: we got along, we had a blast like in the
Speaker 3: moment cause it was just so fun and like whatever,
Speaker 3: but it's intense. Cause that final exam is intense. You're
Speaker 3: up there and you're just like, it's just trivia.
Speaker 2: It's just trivia. And it's the most random stuff.
Speaker 3: And it's like either we are, our, our, our motto
Speaker 3: for all of us was like, you know what you know,
Speaker 3: and you don't know what you don't know. And if
Speaker 3: the questions fall your way, you're going to get out.
Speaker 3: And if they don't, and you don't have three stars
Speaker 3: to have a couple of lifelines, you're kind of screwed.
Speaker 2: So yeah. I think it's really well done and I
Speaker 2: hope people are enjoying it.
Speaker 1: Without spoiling anything, obviously, if you had to pick one
Speaker 1: castmate to join your football team, who are you picking?
Speaker 2: Oh man, probably, probably Steve-O.
Speaker 1: Yeah.
Speaker 2: Just cause he's, Steve-O's great. He's a beast. He's a beast.
Speaker 2: And he's super smart. Like he's, he's one of those
Speaker 2: where like from day one, we're like, oh, Steve-O's like,
Speaker 2: he might be crazy and do a lot of dumb stuff.
Speaker 3: And like, he just, He just, he's Steve-O, right? But like,
Speaker 3: he's really, really intelligent. And I think that that's come
Speaker 3: across on the show so far. But yeah, I think
Speaker 3: having him, like he's, you could put him at linebacker,
Speaker 3: you put him anywhere and he would, you know, tackle whoever,
Speaker 3: like he feels no pain.
Speaker 2: He would be one for sure. And honestly, probably Jojo.
Speaker 2: Jojo's like on our day off early. Cause we had
Speaker 2: a day off really early on from shooting. Like we went,
Speaker 2: she's gotten into golf and I like golf. So Um,
Speaker 2: we went to like a random driving range. We shot
Speaker 2: in Toronto and we went to, and we played golf
Speaker 2: for like on the simulator for hours. So fun. She,
Speaker 2: she's a good athlete. So.
Speaker 1: You have your own pop culture podcast throwbacks alongside actor
Speaker 1: Jerry Ferrara. And I do want you to know that
Speaker 1: while researching, I stumbled onto your best of the nineties episode.
Speaker 1: You had the biggest nineties crush award and you, without
Speaker 1: any hesitation, you Gave that title to Tiffany Amber Thiessen.
Speaker 2: Which is totally fine.
Speaker 1: I swear, it's totally fine. No, no, it's fine.
Speaker 2: You were on it. You were on it.
Speaker 3: All right.
Speaker 1: Well, then it was Jerry's turn, and he selected Jennifer
Speaker 1: Love Hewitt. Again, it's fine. Not an issue. Not sure
Speaker 1: why you seem to think it's an issue.
Speaker 2: It doesn't bother me at all. I am going to
Speaker 2: send you the whole clip because you were– I am
Speaker 2: not just saying this. You were on there.
Speaker 3: It's always– Topanga from Boy Meets World. It's always Kelly Kapowski.
Speaker 1: The Pink Ranger.
Speaker 2: The Pink Ranger.
Speaker 3: It was Jessica Biel, like 7th Heaven.
Speaker 2: I'm telling you.
Speaker 1: I'm just saying who you guys picked. I'm just saying
Speaker 1: who you picked as your number one.
Speaker 2: I understand.
Speaker 1: I just need you to know that Vince Young is
Speaker 1: my favorite 2000s college quarterback, and Drama is my favorite
Speaker 1: Entourage character.
Speaker 2: I just want to say this.
Speaker 1: It doesn't bother me.
Speaker 3: When I found out I was coming on this, I
Speaker 3: was super excited because, as I said, I've been a
Speaker 3: fan of yours. And I also know, like, you're killing
Speaker 3: it in the whole Dancing with the Stars world.
Speaker 2: And I know, like, Joey Grazadeh is a good buddy
Speaker 2: of mine. There's a whole– Dina Katz. Shout out to Dina, who's.
Speaker 1: A good friend. Shout out, Dina.
Speaker 2: And so– I don't know if I went, were you on,
Speaker 2: you were on last year? Just last season, yeah, season 34.
Speaker 2: I went to one of the episodes and I think
Speaker 2: you were still on it.
Speaker 3: But I mean, I didn't know you and obviously that,
Speaker 3: but I was like, but all that being said, I've
Speaker 3: been a huge fan of yours and you're killing it.
Speaker 2: You're doing all sorts of stuff, which is awesome.
Speaker 1: Thank you. Do you enjoy podcasting? I feel like most
Speaker 1: of your life, you were probably encouraged to keep your
Speaker 1: opinions to yourself because- You either represented USC or the NFL.
Speaker 1: So how are you enjoying it now?
Speaker 2: You know what? It's such a great question for me
Speaker 2: because you're absolutely right. I always felt like, I think muzzled.
Speaker 3: Is a very strong word to use, but I always,
Speaker 3: I just always felt like I was never at a
Speaker 3: place in the NFL where I was like good enough
Speaker 3: to be able to say whatever the hell I wanted.
Speaker 2: If that makes sense. And back then there weren't really
Speaker 2: a ton of platforms anyway.
Speaker 3: Like, so yeah, this whole podcasting space up until I
Speaker 3: started this a couple of years.
Speaker 2: Ago with Jerry, it, it was one of those things
Speaker 2: where like, I I'm 43. I was like, man, I
Speaker 2: want to do more.
Speaker 3: Like whether it's social media or whether it's podcasting or
Speaker 3: whether it's like, Hey, let's try a reality show.
Speaker 2: Why not? You know, who cares? I've just like, you know,
Speaker 2: like life, life is too short. Like let's still do
Speaker 2: this stuff. So, but I always, but like in podcasting,
Speaker 2: as you know, it's like, I was like, God, who
Speaker 2: am I? Who would I do it with? Like, it
Speaker 2: has to be the right person.
Speaker 3: So, like these two worlds collided and I was a
Speaker 3: huge fan of Entourage. And I always knew who, I
Speaker 3: never met Jerry in all my time in LA, but
Speaker 3: we kind of grew up in the same like circle.
Speaker 3: Like he was all like, like the Hollywood nightlife and
Speaker 3: all that. Cause we're, he's a little bit older than me.
Speaker 3: And my agent calls and he's like, Hey, you're doing
Speaker 3: a podcast with Jerry Farrar.
Speaker 2: And I said, wait, what? And like, that was it.
Speaker 2: There were talks before, but it was like, we're doing it.
Speaker 2: So me and Jerry, it's so funny.
Speaker 3: And we get on a call and we're like speed
Speaker 3: dating through a call for like two hours.
Speaker 2: And you, I mean, you should like, you know, it's
Speaker 2: just the synergy and it was the chemistry. We have
Speaker 2: kids the same age, Jerry.
Speaker 3: I don't, I'm sure you've probably met Jerry over the
Speaker 3: years maybe, but like just a great dude.
Speaker 2: He's such a great dude.
Speaker 3: He's a diehard sports fan. He loves like the throwback nostalgia,
Speaker 3: like all the stuff.
Speaker 2: That we talk about.
Speaker 3: So to answer that, like, I love it because our
Speaker 3: pod is just like, we just love telling like, we
Speaker 3: would love to have you on because you're like, you're
Speaker 3: just this incredible throwback to like the nineties, two thousands.
Speaker 2: And I would love to know more about you obviously.
Speaker 3: Um, but it's been so fun because it's not like heavy.
Speaker 3: We tell stories, we do the throwback stuff and, and, uh,
Speaker 3: and it's been really fun. So like I lucked out
Speaker 3: because I have such a great, uh, partner and Jerry,
Speaker 3: who's become a really close friend of mine through this
Speaker 3: whole process, which has been pretty cool and.
Speaker 2: Yeah, we do.
Speaker 3: Gosh, we got season three coming next month. So we
Speaker 3: have a little off time right now. But yeah, it's
Speaker 3: been a lot of fun. But never thought I'd be
Speaker 3: a podcaster.
Speaker 2: I got to be honest with you. Did you think
Speaker 2: you'd be a podcaster?
Speaker 1: No, never thought I would be a podcaster. And now
Speaker 1: I love it. It's basically what I spend 12 hours
Speaker 1: a day doing.
Speaker 3: I was going to say, I feel like you have
Speaker 3: so many podcasts. How many podcasts are you doing?
Speaker 1: I write currently three because I do Pod Meets World
Speaker 1: and then I do Teen Beat. And then right now,
Speaker 1: while Dancing with the Stars, The Next Pro is on,
Speaker 1: Valentine Shmurkovsky and I are recapping that. So that is
Speaker 1: at least, you know, that's just a temporary podcast while
Speaker 1: that show's on.
Speaker 2: I want to ask you something.
Speaker 3: So we had Patrick Renna on our pod. How the
Speaker 3: Dugout Dads just came out, right? Yeah.
Speaker 2: I haven't seen it yet. I don't know. But how
Speaker 2: cool was that to do? Unbelievable.
Speaker 1: It was so much fun as a fan of the
Speaker 1: Sandlot to be on a baseball field and looking around
Speaker 1: and in between shots to just see all of them
Speaker 1: playing catch for fun. And I was like, oh, my gosh.
Speaker 2: I've been seeing all the clips.
Speaker 3: I was like, oh, that's got to be so cool
Speaker 3: to just like when we when he was on the pod,
Speaker 3: it was just so like.
Speaker 2: It was just awesome because I'm still a Sandlot. My
Speaker 2: boys have watched Sandlot and all that. It's like one
Speaker 2: of the most iconic movies ever.
Speaker 1: It really is. Matt, I am so appreciative of your
Speaker 1: time today. Like I said, my dad is going to
Speaker 1: be very jealous. You can listen to Matt's podcast Throwbacks
Speaker 1: on all of the popular streaming services, including YouTube. And
Speaker 1: Nation's Dumbest airs every Wednesday night at 9 p.m. or
Speaker 1: the following day on Hulu, Disney +. or Tubi. Thank you, Matt.
Speaker 1: I would love to come on your podcast.
Speaker 3: Oh God, we would love to have you for, I'm
Speaker 3: telling you, we would love, you have been like on our,
Speaker 3: we're like, we got to get Dana, we got to
Speaker 3: get her.
Speaker 2: So thanks for having me. You're awesome.
Speaker 1: Thank you. It was great talking to you. You too.
Speaker 1: Have a good day.
Speaker 2: Bye. Bye.
Speaker 1: Teen Beat is an iHeart podcast produced and hosted by
Speaker 1: Danielle Fishel. Executive producers, Jensen Karp and Amy Sugarman. Executive
Speaker 1: in charge of production, Danielle Romo. Producer and editor, Tara Subaksh.
Speaker 1: The theme song is by Mark Hoppus. Yes, that Mark Hoppus.
Speaker 1: Follow us on Instagram at teenbeatpod.