REShow: Stacey Dales/Matt Damon - Hour 3 (4-3-2023)

Four seconds left in this third overtime.

The game is tied at 109. The shooter gets the ball. No one's pressing.

No one's blocking. He aims. He shoots. He scores! Wow! They won the game!

The shooter was all alone at all the time in the world. Was the defense taking a nap or what? Where is the defense?

Oh my goodness! When there's no defense, it's game over. The same happens with your teeth when enamel is weak. New Pronamel Active Shield toothpaste strengthens your enamel because strong enamel is the best defense against cavities. New Pronamel Active Shield. Here's the defense. This, this, this is the Rich Eisen Show. Shuttler in the corner with one second.

Hoists the jumper. It's good! Live from the Rich Eisen Show studio in Los Angeles. Your Fighting Tigers are national champions. I'm too hood. I'm too ghetto. Y'all told me that all year.

But when other people do it, y'all don't say nothing. Honestly, I have no idea. I was just trying to get to the handshake line. Earlier on the show, Kansas State guard, Marquis Noel, 49ers tight end, George Kittle. Coming up, Academy Award winner, Matt Damon. And now, it's Rich Eisen.

Well, hey everybody. Hour number three of the Rich Eisen Show is on the air. What a great first two hours that we've had. Great chats with Marquis Noel of Kansas State basketball. He thinks UConn has the edge tonight. It is the 34th, my gosh, anniversary of Michigan cutting down the nets against Seton Hall. Brian Dutcher was an assistant on Steve Fisher's staff on that night. He can cut down the nets tonight against UConn. Which, let's just tell you how crazy things are.

That was a Big East team back when Steve Fisher's Wolverines cut down the nets against Seton Hall. Look at that photograph. Put that out one more time. Are you going to see that?

No, no. That's Susie's favorite guest, Brent Musburger. Interviewing Steve Fisher at the moment in that CBS Sports Blazer. Rich, the Big East will never die. 34 years ago tonight.

Rich, think about what you said earlier about this. Do you feel like Steve Fisher in today's world does not get the credit that he probably deserves for what he did? Correct. And he'll be there tonight. Old Stroll down memory lane tonight.

And it would be huge for San Diego State, obviously. Anybody wins tonight. Matt Damon's going to be joining us in about 20 minutes time. Air is in theaters near you on Wednesday. Great chat with Matt Damon coming right here on the show. We already also spoke to George Kittle who surprised everybody at WrestleMania.

There are some perfect guests in the world, and she's always a perfect guest. But coming off of the Women's National Championship game yesterday, and we're in the middle of pro-day circuits. It's the draft month.

And so who better to talk about both than somebody who is with NFL Network and me and the rest of the crew for the combine. She was at Will Levis's pro-day on that front. And also in terms of talking about the National Championship game, she played in one. It was the first time Oklahoma had ever made the Final Four when she helped lead them there. Her number 21 is hanging in the rafters currently at the Lloyd Noble Center in Norman, Oklahoma. Third overall pick of the 2002 WNBA draft who also happens to be just a great human. This just in.

She's from Canada. Stacey Dale is back here on The Rich Johnson Show. How you doing, Stacey? Hey, what's up, Rich? Hey, guys. Great to be with you. Hey, Stacey. What's up?

I mean, I thought I'd bring some Canadian heat to the conversation. All right. So let's just jump right into it, Stacey.

Let's let's I'll give you the dealer's choice. You want to talk about the way the game was played or the way what happened towards the end of the game with Angel Reese? Which one which one is, you know, leaps out to you more from yesterday?

As a former player, it's the way the game was officiated. I mean, I love what you know, we can jump on Twitter and go down the rabbit hole and see everybody's takes. I love that. You know, when these when these young women go to the WNBA, I hope they would be on my team. I mean, Angel Reese is phenomenal.

She's a double double machine. Kaitlyn Clark, the best player in the country for a reason. Like it's insane how good they are. And I would hope any either one of them would be on my team and do what they did. And whether they're, you know, flashing fingers in front of their faces or, you know, getting the crowd involved, you want to see it.

I love it. The officiating for me was was the issue. So it just seemed to me just from from the from jump, it was all there was tons of whistles. I'm wondering what were you know, what you were thinking as you were watching this game unfold and the fouls started piling up on all the stars in this game. I'm literally shocked.

And I tweeted that, Rich. I mean, listen, as a former player who has played in this game and knows what it takes to get to this game. To see your best players like I'm tuning in not only as a fan of women's basketball and somebody who played it, but to see these superstars like to watch Angel Reese sit on the bench because she gets two fouls in the first quarter is insane to me. And the second one, she made a great basketball play deflects the ball off of an Iowa player and it's possession up for LSU.

I just think for Kaitlin Clark to get three fouls in the first half of this basketball game. And listen, I'm an official. And I said I was a captain, Rich, on pretty much every team I played on, whether it was in college or the WNBA.

You want to have conversations with officials. And if if if it wasn't involving me and it was a teammate, I'm walking over and saying, listen, what do we need to do better here? How can we improve this? My coach is doing the same thing for Lisa Bluder, the coach of Iowa to come out after the game. I thought quite eloquently and say we couldn't have a conversation with these three officials was so shocking to me in such a huge, momentous game. We have more eyeballs than we ever have on women's basketball because of how good the basketball is and these superstars that are in the making. And I haven't even got into the technical foul. To me, I've always been a player.

I always was a player, Rich. And if I don't play now so I can say these things like if I was still playing in the WNBA, I ain't coming on your show and saying this. Right.

Because these officials are reffing at the professional level as well. And, you know, Lisa Jones is a very good official. She was on this crew. She's very communicative on the floor. Super even keel. She didn't actually make the technical foul call in the third quarter on Kaitlin Clark. It was Spurlock Welsh, I believe.

I think to say her first name is Pilani. And I don't even know where to start. If you team me up better, maybe I can get myself there. Well, it's just it just struck me the explanation after the game didn't make sense based on, you know, the rule that they were enforcing because there was already a delay of game penalty. It's just like, why are we doing this?

Like, what are we doing here? This is the championship on the line, Stacey. You know, and and and again, like I understand both teams had foul trouble and and and I guess you got to call it when you see it.

I mean, we've had this conversation at the Super Bowl coming off the Super Bowl, as you know, with James Bradbury. Do you call it when you see it? We had that San Diego State free throws towards the end of its Elite Eight contest and their their winner to make the final four. Do you make that call?

Do you not? I understand you had a call the way you see it, but good Lord. You know, that's that's mighty up, I guess, on it. We're talking about discretionary calls. So I texted with a couple of officials that are active officials, basketball officials right now, as soon as it happens.

Not a chance in hell they're making that technical foul call unless it's egregiously insulting or there is some sort of intentional physical violation with players or staff members or like you're talking about my mama or something like that. You're not making that call. This is a discretionary decision.

So I'll take it a step further. Right. So Lisa Jones, I believe, was the head official, but she made the statement to justify the call. Right. She referenced, I believe it was Rule 10, Section 12 in the rules book.

Three, I believe the I want to say the article of 3K, Rich. Sure. So Rule 10, if you go actually look at NCAA rules, Rule 10 is fouls and penalties. When you go specifically to Section 12, it is technical fouls.

So they go to Section 12 and they cite basically that she, you know, she didn't immediately pass the ball to the nearest official after the whistle was blown, after the warning six minutes previous. Right. So the previous warning was that around the 730 mark in the third quarter, because I'm sitting here watching like, why would they give them a warning?

This is ridiculous. So with just just about a minute left in the third quarter, we're talking about a nine point championship basketball game. Right.

The momentum has swung a little bit. Now, LSU was the better team. I thought they should have won the game.

Right. Iowa had a better the best player in the country. LSU had a better team. I thought they would win it. They did.

But if you want to go down this rabbit hole, Rich, then you better go down. Scroll down the rule book about, I don't know, 10 more lines to Article four. And you know where I'm going with this, which is bench technical fouls. Well, I mean, somebody's got to be on the bench, I guess, as opposed to on the floor. Is that where you're going on on this front with Kim Mulkey? Now, listen, Kim Mulkey is a very animated coach. She always has been a plate against her when I was at Oklahoma and she was at Baylor. And she's always been that way. A lot of coaches coach that way.

She's very animated, colorful and enigmatic. I mean, there's so many ways to describe her style on the sidelines. But if you're going down the rule book rabbit hole, then you've got to be consistent in that. And bench technical fouls under Article four, the subheading is the head coach is responsible for the conduct and behavior of all bench personnel.

Now, jump on Twitter and tell me you can't see Kim Mulkey make contact with an official or, you know, use some sort of body language to to to basically suggest that the officials are incorrect. There are a dozen under that under Section for a there are a dozen different incriminating ways in which the bench can get a technical foul. So my point being, I don't want technical fouls. I don't want coaches to get them.

I don't want players to get them for dropping a basketball. When when when this official made that call, Rich, you go back and look. He was 10 feet away from Kaitlin Clark. Yeah.

OK. So Kaitlin Clark drops the ball behind her, which, by the way, spin back into the field of play. If you actually watch it, she drops it to the baseline. He gets in the huddle with her team, who has just had its second best score in Monica Sonono get her fourth foul. OK, now you've got your two best players, your two top scorers with four fouls. Listen, I'd rather see Kaitlin Clark go up and make a basketball play to get her fourth foul and clobber somebody. Then, you know, in a non-intentional way, but clobber somebody to get that fourth foul and give them give them a discretionary technical foul, which absolutely, even though LSU was going to win, destroyed the momentum of this basketball game with a minute to go in the third quarter.

In a nine point scoring game. Yeah, I was blown away. Stacey Dale's here on the Rich Eisen show. So just to revisit again, the way that everything ended. Do you think there are now I'll tee up on this.

Do you think there's a double standard between women and men with the competitive level? And that, you know, that that again, Joe Burrow pointed to his ring finger, you know. Yeah, I do. Right.

So I'll give you the floor on that. I mean, go for it, Stacey. I cover the NFL.

I mean, I'm standing down there watching these men play a violent sport. And if you don't think emotions are coming out, I played against Diana Taurasi. She's the greatest competitor I've ever played against because she had that moxie. She she has that moxie. She's still playing like you can't play at the highest level if you don't have some it factor. So, you know, to say that, you know, this this stuff at the end of the game, like why should we see women do this at 20 years old? Come on, people.

It's two thousand twenty three. This is really good basketball, great basketball. And let them play the game. I love it.

I want to tune in to see it. And it infers the discretion between the men and men's and women's game. Yeah. You don't think there's trash talking going on and taunting going on all the time in both both realms. You're foolish like this. It's real.

It's good. It's competitive. And when you're in the heat of the game, it happens.

Stacy Dales. And before before you just give a quick conversation about the NFL, you fouled out of your national championship game. 2002 against Yukon. You got fouled out in that game. Yeah, I did. And, you know, you'll never forget it like you don't forget it. And it has nothing to do with my feelings on this particular thirty seven foul called game title record.

But yeah, I did. And two of the calls, I could honestly say, Rich, they were hogwash. And like you never want that to decide a game. Connecticut was supposed to beat us. I don't know if we're going to see a team like that ever again with Sue and Diana and Swin and all the greats that they had.

They were amazing. They should have beat us and beat us good. But if I'm in the game, we still you know, we're we're a good team. I was a decent basketball player. Like, you know, one of the one of the calls in particular was a spin move to the baseline with a left handed layup in which I got charged, called for the charging call on a player that was coming across the lane trying to defend me. It was an and one and I got sent the other way. It was a game defining moment. Like you don't forget those things. And I just hate to see a championship game like we saw yesterday in any way be involved in official determinations.

I don't think the ultimate outcome of the game was rich, but I think to see Angel Reese on the bench in the first half and Kaitlyn Clark, not OK for me. Is hogwash a four letter word in Canada, Stacey? It's a polite way of saying other words I could say. OK, very good. Before I let you go, you are all over the pro day circuit. You're all over the field for the combine.

You hear way more than you report because you are a lead pipe wielding professional. Who do you believe the Carolina Panthers have traded all the way up to one to go get Stacey Dales? Yeah, I think C.J.

Stroud, Rich. I mean, I was at Will Lovett's pro day. I saw the way they interacted with him.

And there's a lot of, you know, there's a lot of showmanship and smoking mirrors at this time of year. As you know, let's not be naive for that. But I think the Carolina Panthers to send really for every quarterback, the Bryce Young included, Anthony Richardson, Levis and Stroud. Let's not forget Hendon Hooker, right? To send, you know, an entire onslaught of we're talking like 10 high ranking officials, coaches, staff members to every one of these days.

They know these guys inside and out. I just think Stroud brings the size maybe they're looking for in addition to the pocket presence. If I know Frank Reich well, the head coach in studying him over the years, based upon the reaction I saw at C.J. Stroud's pro day, I think it was pretty magnetic.

But listen, we'll see. You know, Bryce Young doesn't have a lot of error type things in plays in college. And, you know, it's interesting to talk to people and have them say like scouts around the league when I'm at these pro days, Bryce Young's workout was solid, C.J. Stroud's workout was solid. Very mistake free, but you're getting that. Didn't have a lot of batted balls.

And that's another thing from the college game that I didn't hear a lot about Bryce Young, right? Despite the size concerns and the criticism, my dogs are going crazy. I love it. I love it. Stacy, you know, you're a dog. You might love dogs more than everything else on planet Earth.

I understand that about you as well. So give me your favorite Anthony Richardson story that you've picked up over the last few weeks, because he could be he could be that number one in that nobody sees coming. You know, besides the athleticism, the prowess, the physical specimen he is.

I mean, he he looks like a linebacker. I would just say the person he is getting to talk to him individually, one on one, Rich, he is an absolute delight. The fact that he raised his younger brother basically with his mom and, you know, they bounced around and didn't have money. And and his story, as he told me about his childhood and then to become the man he is and really be not just a brother, but almost a father figure to his younger brother, who I believe is seven years younger. You know, it's kind of stuff that when you're standing with somebody, you get tears in your eyes and then you know what a team is getting in the NFL.

I cannot wait to see where he gets drafted because they're getting a great one. Stacey, you're the best. Thanks for the time. You're you know, it's always a delight chatting with you. Let's maybe have you back on before the draft. We'll talk more about what's coming up in Kansas City. And thanks for your thoughts on what happened in Dallas yesterday.

Appreciate it. Thanks for having me, Rich. The one and only Stacey Dales right here on The Rich Eisen Show. That's what's called a perfect guest for the moment.

The first Monday here in April. Let's take a break. Matt Damon, the man who plays Sonny Vicaro signing Michael Jordan in the movie Air. Can't wait to chat with him or show you what we've talked about.

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That's mint mobile dot com slash switch. Back here on the Rich Eisen Show radio network, sitting at the Rich Eisen Show desk, sitting here on the Roku Channel feed as well. We're live, furnished by Grainger with supplies and solutions for every industry. Grainger is the right product for you.

Call click Grainger dot com or just stop by. This weekend on the Roku Channel, we had the Rich Eisen Show March to the Max special. We had Sonny Vaccaro in studio and we had Ben Affleck on a Zoom. He's directing the film Air based on Sonny Vaccaro signing Michael Jordan to a game changing for Michael and Nike and everybody else contract to Nike. The man who plays Sonny Vaccaro is Matt Damon. We chatted with him.

This was all on our March to the Max special and we are giving you the full conversation right here. Here's Matt Damon on our program. Joining me here now is the star of Air and you can catch it in theaters on Wednesday, April the 5th. He is the man who plays Sonny Vaccaro, who closes the deal in Air.

Spoiler alert, they get Jordan. Matt Damon joining me here on the Rich Eisen Show. Good to see you, Matt.

Good to see you, Rich. It's an incredible movie. Congratulations. It's really special, brother. Thanks. Thank you, man.

Thank you. Yeah, we're really happy with it. It kind of fell in our laps less than a year ago, actually. I think we called Amazon about it in early April and we were shooting it by June. And, you know, it was finished, you know, by the end of the by the end of the year.

We've just been kind of waiting to to roll out with it. So so we it's just it's such a great story, you know, and it's kind of our vintage. You know, we I mean, I just remember, you know, Jordan and what that meant to everybody. And and so there's all this stuff about this story that I didn't know that I thought that I found really interesting. And it's just one of those scripts that you read every time I read it, I would I would be like, I'm here for an hour and a half now because I'm not going to put this down.

I just go through the whole thing. It really is a fun story. Well, the movie felt like it lasted five minutes. I mean, that's that's how that's how I felt. And then also, you know, the sign of a good if you want to call it a sports movie, but the sign of a good sports movie is where you clearly know the ending and you're still on the edge of your seat.

I like I know, as I said at the top, spoiler alert, they signed Jordan. I knew I knew this was going to happen, but I was on the edge of my seat about how it was going to happen. I really love that.

Yeah, yeah. I think, you know, it's just the script. It was really did a really good job of of you know, that's what I mean about not being able to put it down. It really was a gripping, a gripping story.

And sometimes movies can do that. You know, we all know the boat sinks in Titanic, but we all we all sat all the way through that one, too. You know, well, I think I was going to go I was going to go like we knew they win the miracle on ice and miracle. You know, I was I was going to you know what I mean?

But I was on the edge of my seat to see how that was actually going to play out. You know, yeah, yeah. And I think and look, I mean, that was the you know, the other besides this was Ben went down and sat with MJ because we really needed his blessing. Like if he said, look, guys, don't touch this, please. We wouldn't have done the movie.

I mean, you know. And but but his the direction that he gave us, which is kind of amazing coming out of that meeting was were a few things. He said George Raveling was the first person he heard about Nike from and was in his ear about it.

And Howard White, who and neither of those characters were in the script that we read. And then the final thing that he said was he talked really. You know, Ben was really moved by the way he talked about his mother and and how what an impact and what a powerful force she was in his life.

And and through this time and. You know, what a heady thing to be 21 years old and trying to negotiate. I mean, it's just a mad, you know, imagine what a lot of these athletes have to contend with. They're making these really consequential decisions about the rest of their lives. And Michael said to Ben at one point, you know, hey, he goes, I would have done the whole thing for the car, you know, because in the movie, there's this thing.

He wants a red Mercedes and and his mother just knows better. She goes, like, I'll make a difference. Mercedes, it's going to be forgotten next year, you know, but what we need is this, you know, and so it just becomes this incredible story about his mother. And and and it was in that meeting that Ben asked him, you know, who, you know, if if I could, you know, if you could choose who to play your mother. And before he finished the sentence, Michael said Viola Davis. So Ben called me. He goes, yeah.

So Michael really gave us not Ben came out of that meeting going, OK, I got great news and I got bad news. I go, OK, well, give me the great news, because I know exactly what the movie is and what to do. He goes, I'm going to call Chris Tucker because we wanted to work with Chris forever. OK. And and Chris is going to bring him on. Chris is also a great writer, so he can help us build this character.

And then he goes, what's the bad news? He said, we got to get Viola Davis or we can't make the movie. And I was like, you got to get Viola Davis, dude.

That's like saying you want Michael Jordan on your basketball team. You know what I mean? Like she's an American treasure. But but we so that was really we spent about a month, I guess, just rewriting and working on the screenplay and really trying to you know, we had done that before with Good Will Hunting. We we really wrote a part that we knew we couldn't get the movie made without a movie star. And so that Robin Williams part, we used to call it the Harvey Keitel part because in Reservoir Dogs, we had heard very famously that that movie got made because Harvey Keitel said yes. And so we said we need a Harvey Keitel part because we need somebody to get this movie green lit because they're not going to do it for us. And so we kind of was back to the drawing board for it's like, all right, we got to we got to make a character that's worthy of, you know, our our country's best actress.

And so so so that was what we we kind of said about doing. And thankfully, she said yes. And she's obviously incredible in the movie. So did did Ben or did you tell her you were the handpicked choice of Michael Jordan to play his mother? Was she aware? I think Ben told her that she says she doesn't remember that because I think she she blocked it out.

She said it was too much responsibility. Yeah. That's Viola Davis.

Too much response. That is amazing. I know. She's so brilliant.

The movie, too. And she's just great and just great to work with. And, you know, actually, we had this wonderful thing, which was her husband, Julius Tenen, is a great actor. And, you know, they're big, heavy. You know, they they produce The Woman King together. They're they're kind of you know, they're Hollywood heavy hitters, you know, they're royalty.

But Ben cast Julius as James as Dolores, his husband, Michael's father, James. And and he said, he said, you're not going to believe this. He goes, not only is the best actor for the party goes, he goes, because they're married, no matter what. No matter what they show up with that day, it's going to be right. He's like, if they're in the middle of a fight, if they're in the. It's like if he didn't take the trash out that morning, you know what I mean? It's like there's so much and they're able to to just you feel them as a couple in the movie.

It's really pretty great. You know, it's pretty cool, Matt, too, that you see this movie and it's it's kind of perfectly timed. I know I'm changing sports here, but the whole conversation about Lamar Jackson right now is that his mother is his agent. And the way it's portrayed, you know, in the sports media, it's kind of like, you know, Will Ferrell in the basement screaming for the meatloaf, you know, in wedding crashers. But you see here, though, that Michael's mother makes one of the most key sports decisions in this film or sports business decisions in this film of, you know, the latter part of the 20th century. And I don't think I'm overstating it. I don't think you can overstate it, you know, and she understood what her son's value was.

And and and look, I mean, I think it's a it's a very unsung role in a lot of these athletes lives are the mothers. In fact, the original ending of the movie Ben had over the credits, you know, there I don't want to give too much away. There is, you know, you see MJ, you know, and all his brilliance in it towards the end of the movie and all the footage that we've all seen. But you see a speech of his over the credit. But Ben had originally there he had found when he were researching so many speeches of these athletes, when they're given an award, they they start to talk about their mothers.

And it was one after another. You know, the famous one with Kevin Durant, Wayne Wade, all these amazing athletes who really, really kind of, you know, they put their mother in the central, you know, narrative of of their lives because they say this is this is why I am here. I would never have been here without her. And so so I'm glad the movie is that, you know, it's a it I think it pays homage to that central role in a lot of people's lives.

A lot of athletes. Did you always think you were playing Sonny Vicaro in this when you're reading the script? Did you always think that, you know, Ben got the script and I was like, who do you want me to play? You know, you want me to play Phil, do you want me to play Sonny?

Do you want you know, what do you what do you want to do? I think he went, you know, he was directing it. So that is a lot of work, as you know.

And so he took the he gave me the bigger acting job and and took the supporting role because he was he was had his hand so full as a director. It's also hard to direct yourself. You know, you really end up relying. I've done it, you know, with Clooney a couple of times and that with Ben. It's you really need to rely on on your on the people you're performing with to kind of, you know, tell you that you're, you know, to give you notes and say, you know, hey, do less, do more.

No, it's working. It's tough to direct yourself. I'm chatting with Sonny Vicaro for this show, Matt. And I saw the photos of you standing there on the set as him with him. What did you what's your favorite Sonny Vicaro story that you got? Well, I think he's such a lovely guy. I don't know how well you know him.

He is just such a lovely guy. And he just was so clear as to how much he cares about the players, how much he loves the game, like he really loves deeply loves the game, but really loves the players, too. And and that and in this time, this area, you know, because kind of after this whole deal was put together, the whole thing kind of descended kind of famously into acrimony and people were fired and they, you know, and left the company, you know.

And what Sonny really said to me again and again, I think it was kind of the thing he really wanted me to understand was that this time, the time that this movie is about was was really a joyful time for everybody, for all of them. He was like, we were all friends, like they knew they were at this company that, you know, Nike was a weird company in the sense that, you know, they had these rules and they had, you know, it's like live off the land. You know, they had all these kind of crazy rules, but that now seem commonplace in companies, right?

They all have mission statements and all. But like Nike was it really was meaningful. And that came from Phil Knight. And, you know, they were kind of they were outsiders and they were they were rebels a little bit. And, you know, and that was one of the fun things about looking back at 1984.

I didn't remember that Nike was the third place shoe. Like, I, of course, remember the Congress weapon and Larry and Magic and all those commercials. But it was just right then that that that this deal got put together and it just revolutionized everything the way ads worked. I mean, everything.

It was just so huge. And these guys all like talking to Sonny about it. I mean, he's justifiably really proud that he was a part of this. And, you know, when we you know, we didn't work with Nike during the movie. We didn't talk to them because we didn't want to be you know, it's not a commercial for Nike and we didn't want that association.

You know, I mean, it's it's very kind to Nike, I would say overall. And like so the last thing we wanted is to be accused of doing a two hour commercial because that's not why we made the movie. But when when eventually Ben talked to Phil, funnily enough, Phil said the same thing after he said we were all friends. And, you know, it's kind of like these guys are in their 80s now and you wonder about that. And it really bad. Ben and I talked a lot after is like holding grudges. Right. And and and, you know, kind of, you know, Rob Strawser passed away after a few years after this all happened.

And he had left and gone to Adidas. And, you know, it had been this great betrayal to to fill. And you know what I mean? It's kind of and you get you get 30 years past it and you go, oh, man.

God, those were good times. And we were friends. And, you know, it really made Ben and I steered us into a conversation about letting go of some of those those old grudges. Well, I mean, again, it's just I know you have kids, I have kids. My kids want to wear, you know, Jordans Air Jordans, Jordan ones, they because it goes with what they wear. I mean, and and and and just seeing I'm going to show this movie to them, you know, because they should know this is not just this is not a basketball movie. And obviously it's a story about relationships, just like all good movies are. But I mean, this is a seminal sports fashion statement.

Like this is this created a whole new way of people dressing, living and obviously Jordan as well. And and again, I don't denigrate when I say sports movie. I hope you understand that as well, because it's more. No, no, no, I agree.

I agree. But in that respect to a great sign of a sports movie is the soliloquy, the big moment. You know, Costner's had many of them in his career and you got one in this one.

I don't want to give it away too much. But you got this is a bona fide real deal, like want to hit through it, hit you through a wall type, you know, Pacino moments, every inches type thing here, man. And I'm wondering when you saw that in the script, did that hit you when you saw that in the script? Yeah, I mean, it did.

I thought it was a beautiful moment. And I but I was like, well, it's got to you know, if that doesn't work, we are sorely screwed if that thing doesn't work, because that's the whole movie kind of leads up to that. And what it actually really depends on more than more than my performance is, is Michael Jordan. Right. And people's own relationship with Michael Jordan, because it's the moment before, you know, just when this decision is made, that's this moment. And then he goes on to become to really have this meaning that we that we talk about. And, you know, that to put the meaning in the shoe.

Right. And those shoes are meaningful because of him, not because of you know what I mean? It's it's it's really this once in a century athlete who kind of who just captured our hearts, really.

Everybody's every so much bigger than the game. You know, I'm from Boston. This was in the 80s. I mean, the Celtics were everything up here. And, you know, the Celtics Lakers, that rivalry. And that was what basketball was. And our rivalry was Philly with the 76ers and Dr. J like. And this guy just came along and transcended every everybody became a Michael Jordan fan.

You could also use the word wrecked at all. You know, I mean, you're a Celtic fan. I'm a Nick fan. You know, again, I showed my daughter, she's nine. I showed her a YouTube video of the top 100 moments of Michael. Somebody created a top 100 moments of Jordan's career. And truly, one tenth of them was him ripping the Knicks heart and showing it to them pumping. And you could even include beating Ewing in that eighty four national championship game. Yeah, that's right. The number of times he stood in my way as a fan. Yeah. And I still love her.

That's what I mean. Like, you can't hate him. There's no there's no hating Jordan. You know, Howard White turned out turned out to be friends with Chris Tucker. It turned out very fortuitously. So Chris got all these stories. Chris spent a lot of time with Howard. And Howard told him one story that Howard got really into cycling up in Portland. I guess he was an avid bicyclist and invited Jordan on a 20 mile bike ride.

And Jordan Demure turned him down. And like a year later, out of nowhere, invited Howard on a bike ride. Let's go. Let's go for a bike.

It's a twenty, twenty five miles where, you know. And he absolutely smoked him on this bike ride. And it turned out in true MJ fashion, he had put a bike in the training facility and for a year had added that to his regimen, because if he was going to go biking with his friend, he was damn sure going to beat him. And like that, you know, I heard stories about that, about ping pong, about, you know, yeah, you want to play ping pong?

No, no, thanks. A year later. Hey, how about that ping pong game? And he's been taking lessons, right? And it's just it's he's he was an absolute killer, you know, and and it's what it's what made him it's what made him him.

You know, I mean, it's just he was built differently. So, Matt, before I let you go, it's NCAA tournament time, big dance and all that. I know you're shooting a movie and you're promoting one at the same time. Did you fill out brackets? Do you fill out brackets? I didn't, you know, I didn't do a bracket this year because I was so it's one of those things where I'm sure I'm in Boston right now and I'm shooting tonight.

I get on a flight and sleep on the flight, land in L.A. and I work because I was doing press. Don't don't worry. You didn't miss anything. Your bracket would have been destroyed to smithereens like I heard. I mean, all the number ones are out for the first time since 1979. No number ones made it to the elite eight. I mean, my bracket is and I really haven't followed college basketball very much this year. And it was like throwing darts and my dart missed every single board.

It was off what kind of always is. I mean, didn't Warren Buffett offer that thing about was it 10 years ago or something? And like perfect brackets. Yeah, the perfect bracket.

And it was so genius because because everybody signed up for it because they were like, you know, because he offered like a billion dollars or something. And if I was he was that the whole country was out in the first round, like nobody even made it. It's crazy. So I can't imagine this year. I'm sure everyone's redoing their brackets. Yeah, my bracket was so bad, Matt, if I was in that, I would have had to paid Warren Buffett money.

That's how bad my back was. So don't don't. Well, I think you did, because I think he got everybody on some email list by doing that, like very cleverly. There you go. There you have it.

So what's next for you? And and Ben, the story about when Brady created the TB12 system or something like that or first his first ever avocado smoothie. He's got our number.

We'll do anything with Tom. Well, yeah, I know we started this company, this studio. And and so air is our first movie.

And I'm up here shooting the second one. And and we've got another sports movie, actually, an incredible story about Anthony Robles, who's the the college wrestler who was born with one leg, who who won the national title. I mean, that's another one where, you know, you know that, you know, the ending and it is just an it's an amazing story. And so that's going into production soon. We're really excited about that one.

So, yeah, we're we're we're we're on the other side of the desk now trying to try to be a little movie studio. Well, first foray, amazing. It really is terrific, man. It was so much fun.

You just dove straight into the pop culture of the 80s as well. Fun story, fun cast, fun script. The whole thing was fun.

Literally, like I said, lasted five minutes, Matt. So congrats on that. That's that's how that's how we felt about it. You know, we we we really started the company in large part to make these movies that aren't getting made the movies that we love.

Right. Like this is this is that type of movie. It feels more like a 90s movie. You know, it's about the writing and the acting and and and the direction.

And it's not you know, it's there's no nobody in spandex with capes and, you know, no worlds exploding. It's just a good old fashioned story. So so that's what we're going to try to do, because I do think people miss those movies. I know I do. So we'll just our whole thing is we've got to make good movies or else we go out of business.

So that's so that's a fun thing for us to focus on. Well, you see, it just feels like as long as you don't get, you know, all time goats demanding all time goats portray his mother, at least you were able to thread that needle, man. I mean, that's that's like a half court shot. You hit it. Nailed it.

Thank God for Viola, man. Yeah. But believe me, honestly, we really weren't going to do the movie if she said no. We just we would have just said, well, would you like to do it next year? And we'll wait.

Right. If you ever want to do the movie, we're here. You know, we'll be standing by because, you know, it meant it was that meaningful to him.

And so it was that meaningful to the project. It was great. Congrats, Matt. I hope to see you again soon.

Hope we can do this again in person at some point. Congrats on the movie. And let's chat again soon, brother. Thanks, Rich. Good to see you, man.

You got it. That's Matt Damon right here on The Rich Eisen Show. Everybody go see air April 5th in theaters. It's a fun ride. Enjoy it right here on The Rich Eisen Show. And my chat with Ben Affleck tomorrow and Sonny Vicaro on Wednesday and then the movie premieres on Wednesday. We're all over the movie. It's right up our alley. It should be. And I'm giving my two enthusiastic thumbs up. It should be right up yours. We'll take a break and finish up this program, set up the rest of the week. And how we're covering the national championship game tomorrow right here on The Rich Eisen Show. Nope. Discover does it automatically. Seriously, though.

See terms and check it out for yourself at discover.com slash match. Men, do you get distracted during the day thinking about your underarms sweating, itching or emitting an odor? Do those thoughts keep you from showing care when it counts? New and improved dove men plus care antiperspirant with 72 hours sweat, no to protection and one quarter moisturizing cream helps you forget about your underarms so you can be present for the moments that matter. Don't let underarm insecurities keep you at arm's distance from the ones you care about.

Buy new and improved dove men plus care antiperspirant wherever personal care products are sold. Back here on the radio side of things, we just played a clip from a previous program where Jeff Garland called into the show very upset that our Instagram account had Russell Wilson being acquired by the Bears. Jeff Garland, diehard Bears fan. By the way, I think the way that everything's played out with Russell Wilson's career and that Justin Fields is there, perhaps that gets you off the hook.

Maybe so. For the April Fool's joke that you played on everybody who follows us on Instagram and Jeff Garland was very angry about that. But see, what people don't know is, you know, Jeff Garland called you what, a minute before the show started.

Normally you don't ever pick up your phone, but he was calling you and you looked and then you had this talk with him and then you were like, oh boy. And I said, call in later. That was on an actual, we were on the air on an April 1st. But folks don't know the TJ's undaunted. This is what happens when your Instagram account is run by a former producer of Punk'd. This is right up his alley.

April Fool's is directly up TJ Jefferson's alley. So I'm walking around on Saturday and my phone's blowing up from Friends saying Zeke to the Eagles. And I'm like, who's reporting that?

He goes, your Instagram site? We are. Now did you doctor up in Eagles Nation? Did you doctor all this stuff up?

I didn't. What happened is my buddy Eric Weingratty is an Eagles fan and he sends me a text message and he goes, man, I can't believe this. This is crazy. And without any context, I'm like, what are you talking about? Then he sent me that picture and he goes, I can't believe he really signed. And then he was like, oh man, I'm an idiot. And I just saw it and I laughed. I went because I wasn't going to post anything.

I was just like, I'll let it go this year. And then that happened. I'm like, well, I got to post. So somebody else did it. And then you took it and threw it on Instagram? He sent it to me thinking it was real. And I was like, oh, OK, well, you got a bunch of people utilizing our hard earned reputation of being straight up and honest. Well, we're also showing the people for the people. So we weren't the only ones to traffic in this sort of thing. Victor Wambayana, the future first overall pick of this year's draft.

You know how many teams have been tanking for this guy since day one, but not really tanking. There was an incredible video of him over the weekend where he, he's 7'5", right? Isn't he 7'5"? He's like 7'14". 7'4", 7'4", 7'5". He's got a 120 inch reach.

With a phone book, standing on a Parisian phone book. And he's dribbling between the legs to try and get a defender who was in his face off him at a three point line. And he gets, you know, he steps back, launches a three. It's short. He realizes it's short. And the reason why we know he realizes it's short is he follows it up and dunks in his own miss of a three point shot. That's how incredible he is. I'm pretty sure in all the hours of basketball I've seen, I've never seen him. Well, he had fun saying, you know, breaking Victor Wambayana will not declare for the NBA draft.

He will play another season from Metropolitan 92. And he wrote back, yes, indeed. April Fools all the way from France.

15.9 million views on that post. Wow. How about this one? Do you give your approval on this one? The XFL St. Louis Battle Hawks tweeting out that following a vote from XFL owners, the Battle Hawks have been officially approved to relocate to the greater Los Angeles area.

Oh, wow. St. Louis is a city known for its incredibly hardworking, passionate and proud people bringing the XFL back to St. Louis. This year will go down as one of the proudest moments in our league's history. This move isn't about whether we love St. Louis or its fans, but rather about what is best for the Battle Hawks organization.

Is this too close to the bone or what? What do you think? They're, by the way, very successful in St. Louis. Well, they apparently, this is like what the actual language was in the Rams. Yes. Announcing their leading from Los Angeles. Oh, so they cut and pasted.

They cut and pasted and then changed the appropriate key words. What do you think? Do you like it? Fantastic. Oh, you like it.

I do like it. I'm all for messing with people's emotions a little bit, but that look, the battle cats, they drew 38,000 fans in the first game doing really well. So I don't know if I would have done that.

I think they're taking a shot at the Rams. Yeah, I know that. But yeah, but nobody would have playing on the emotions of their I mean, I don't know.

Hashtag too soon. It is funny, but funny. I mean, hey, look, the city St. Louis got almost a billion dollars. I understand that.

I mean, so I don't think there's still thinking about that cash. No. Wow.

Well, that was really good joke. Hashtag too soon. Thanks to our guests today. Marquis Noel, Stacey Dales, George Kittle and Matt Damon will be on Tuesday's show. Jay Billis will break down tonight's national championship game.

We're back to wrap up on the Roku channel in a sec. It's WrestleMania season and the podcast heat network has you covered podcast heat has shows featuring many of your favorite wrestlers and personalities leading up to the showcase of the immortals showcase of the immortals and talking about the results afterwards. And now it's not just WrestleMania being a day. It's a week. I don't know if there's anything quite like it in the form of entertainment. Get into the WrestleMania spirit with the podcast heat network wherever you listen.