Colin Hanks (@ColinHanks), Actor/Director/Producer

Mark Cuban. How you do anything is how you do everything. If you're not, you don't pay attention to detail on the little things, you're not gonna be in the habit of paying attention to detail for the big things. Ken Griffey Jr. Hey, where's his hat back for us? Well, where my hat back is because my dad had a fro and I wonder where his hat. And

if I put his hat on at 86 and he's got a eight and a half and I got like a little five, it's not gonna really stay on my head. Genea Buss. Thank you for having me. Let a nice turnout. It's good to see everybody. John Smoltz. If you don't have the imagination and the willingness to fail or not being afraid to fail, I don't think

you can be truly great. Candace Parker. I have so much hope for this generation coming up that I've grown up with women in sports, in leadership roles, on television, speaking about sports, speaking knowledgeably about sports. To me, all the work that I've done, I'll look at my tearing work that I've done, has always given me great perspective. It's allowed me to keep my feet on the

ground and has really put and reminded me what's truly important. Damien Miller. That was for Seattle. Just to name a few. Welcome to sports business radio. Now, here's Brian Burger. Well, thanks for joining us on this edition of sports business radio, too, great gas lined up for you this week. The first is Colin Hanks. Actor, director and producer of the forthcoming HBO sports documentary. Say, hey,

Willie Mays, which debuts on November 8th on HBO and streams on HBO Max. You're gonna enjoy our wide ranging conversation with Hanks, who is a huge San Francisco Giants fan. That played a big part in his involvement in this documentary. Thanks also discusses the future documentary that he's gonna be teaming with Ryan Reynolds on. And then I'm gonna talk about that. Our other guest on the

show this week, Matt Liner, our old friend from Fox Sports College football analyst 2004, Heisman Trophy winner and co founder of Hall of Goats. He's got some exciting news about Hall of Goats to share with you. We're also gonna talk about the college football season thus far, who are the biggest surprises. How might things unfold the rest of the way? We'll talk to Matt Liner on

our show this week. This week's addition to sports business radio is presented by Inside Tracker. Inside Tracker's mission is to improve the health span of people everywhere. So they can enjoy longer, healthier lives, adding life to their years and years to their life. For a limited time, you can get 20% of the time. And I'll tell you, I'm watching. I don't know if you've seen it

on peacock. There's one called a friend of the family. And Colin is the main character. He's a great person. I'm gonna talk about that. He's a great dad and he's fascinating. And it's, I mean, look, you grew up with Tom Hanks is your dad. That's a pretty good acting guidelines. But Matt, tell you turn around and just don't look at him talking and you hear Tom

in it. So it's, he's got a lot of similarities. But man, he's fascinating. Great actor. Cool guy. I love sports. A great interview that we kind of cover the whole gamut of his life. So fun show today. Yeah, what a nice guy. Always a pleasure to meet new people on our show. Yeah, he is very accomplished. I love how he gets involved as a director and

He's a very talented person beyond that. And we'll get to know him. A little bit better this week. All right, let's look at some headlines of the week. Griggs, the World Series is underway. It's the Astros. It's the Phillies. I don't know if you watch, but 9.7 million viewers have been tuning in on average for the first two games. That's on par with last year's braves

Astros game one, which took place on a Tuesday night. But I want to give you some numbers from the past just to kind of blow your mind a little bit. Back in 1980, before we had a bazillion TV channels and streaming and you just had like the three networks. Guess how many people on average tuned in to watch the 1980 World Series between the Phillies and

the Royals on average? Probably more than is watching now. I'm guessing, but I don't know 42.3 million viewers on average. Wow. Tundin to NBC. If you really want to blow your mind, game is seven of the 1991 World Series drew 50.3 million viewers. Griggs, the last note on this is we've seen some pretty crappy Thursday night football games on Amazon. So far, this season, those games

average around 10 million per game. So this is the World Series. This is Major League Baseball's biggest showcase. And the numbers have plummeted from what they used to be. They continue to decline every year. I'm not sure, you know, if it's because they're going up against college football. I'm not sure. If it's because the game is too slow, I'll give a little plug Adrienne Gonzalez former

Major League Baseball Star First Basement is going to join us on next week show. And I've already recorded this, and I can tell you this. I have never heard a player or even read that extra game. for the TV ratings for the World Series thus far. Look, the longer the series goes, if it goes to a game seven, you would think those numbers would go up

but so far not a great start. Yeah, I mean, I've watched I watched game one that come back from the Phillies was pretty fun, but you got two big markets too. It's kind of surprising. It's under 10 million, but at the same time, not surprising because baseball has just kind of been in that funk where it's like it's not driving a big audience to anything. And

it's just not must watch TV. I mean, if I'm not tuning into it every single night, I'm kind of flipping through it and all catching in or two. And for me, it's just it's just too slow. It just doesn't just doesn't go fast enough for me. It's just like I'll tune in six seven eighth inning and then it when it ramps up, but I just don't

care about the first five innings. So I don't know. That's my take. Yeah. All right. So, the next headline, the Portland Thorns are NWSL champions and they defeated the Kansas City current two nil in the championship game that was aired in prime time on Saturday night on CBS sports. Great to see this on CBS, not their streaming network and in prime time. The game was played

in front of a sold out crowd of 20,000 fans at Audi field in Washington, DC and Griggs, the NWS average attendance for their four postseason games. 21,495. So a really nice showing on TV and in person and with attendance for the NWSL during this postseason. Yeah. It was a great great game. Obviously, I'm in Portland. So I was fun to see the thorns when they dominated

the game. They kind of had it from the from the gift go. They scored early and it was no looking back. But great coverage. I thought CBS did awesome. They had a great crew field reporters and the game looked great and sounded great. Good crowd. And yeah, I think it's that sport is continuing to grow. And it's a great thing to do. It's great to see

and exposure is getting more and more. So it was fun to see that one. Well, tell you what, we've seen Alex Morgan be the face of American soccer for women for a long time. I think Sophia Smith is next. She's 22 years old. She just won MVP for the NWSL. She just won MVP in the championship game. She is a star. And if I'm a company

out there, I'm investing in her early and getting her on board, much like companies did with Alex Morgan when she was first coming up. What do you think, Greg? Yeah, she is. She's so fun to watch. She scored that first goal. And it was just like, she's so quick. She's just likable. And she's excitable. And she's just a dynamic player on the field. And you can

tell the team loves her and the crowd loves her. So yeah, I agree. Like it's a no brainer. I think endorsements are heading her way as soon. She's like I said, 22. She's so young and she's such a talent. It's awesome to see a lot of noise around the Portland thorns. And they're like, I'm a great player. They got it done in the end. They tuned

out the noise and they won the championship. Congratulations to the thorns. Alright, another headline. This is big news. The big 12 has reached a new agreement with ESPN and Fox Sports. Six year media rights agreement. The total is worth 2.28 billion dollars. And it's going to run through the year 2030, 2031. There's two years left. And it's going to be about $50 million per school, despite

losing Oklahoma and University of Texas. This is a pretty good deal for the big 12. And now everyone's wondering, okay, pack 12. What are you going to do? And is the pack 12 going to be able to continue to exist as a conference? That is going to rely heavily on what kind of media rights deal they get. The big 12 has to be the full. That's

my goal. Well, pivoted nicely again, they lost Oklahoma, they lost Texas. You're still increasing your media rights and you're providing $50 million a year per school. That's a pretty good deal. Yeah, it's a huge deal. And I think media rights and TV and streaming is is what runs the whole sport now. We've talked about this for a long time. These big deals, these 10 year deals.

It's, it's what it is now streaming. You know, what's the next platform? Where is it going to be? I think pack 12 is rumored with Apple because Apple keeps wanting to get more in sports as we're seeing. Maybe they're going to jump on with them. Who knows? But it's all streaming and it's big money. And the pack 12's got to get something done because if they

don't, I think it's not going to look good for the pack 12 that's, you know, losing schools as we know, moving forward. Well, that's when you start to see teams, you know, is it Oregon? Is it Washington jumping to the big 10 or to the big 12? So lot of pressure on the pack 12 commissioner and the pack 12 presidents to get a good media rights

deal done. All right, it was a big week for NFL stadium renderings. First, the Tennessee Titans unveiled plans for its new 2.1 billion dollar project in Nashville. The Titans are committing $840 million in private funding. So they're paying for a good chunk of this. Then the Buffalo bills released their 1.4 billion dollar stadium plan, which includes $850 million. $850 million in tax payer funds. So that's

being paid for by taxpayers more so than the Tennessee Titans stadium. I don't think the Titan Stadium is that old, but they're already getting a new stadium and, you know, a new district and just shows you like the lifespan of these stadiums is like 20, maybe 30 years. The bill stadium is old. And, you know, for a team that has a Super Bowl window here with

Josh Allen, you got to have something to do. And there's even been talked that if they didn't get a stadium bill, they could potentially move. So to see the fact that they've got renderings and they've got all this taxpayer money and their stadium plan is progressing. That's good news for Buffalo bills fans. Yeah, I think the bills mafia is a massive fan base and they love

their bills. And I know they'd be pissed if they left Buffalo. So I think that's a good move for Buffalo. And the renderings look cool. These stadium rendings are always so cool to see, you know, the little sci-fi flyovers and kind of looking at the all of it's it's fun to see and it's good for the NFL. Obviously these new stadiums get built. They'll probably have

a Super Bowl in Buffalo at some point coming up. And Tennessee too. And Nashville's growing too. That that whole area is growing. So I think that's a good fan base too. And getting a new stadium there's great. But yeah, I mean, the money is just ridiculous in these buildings and the and the tech. And we see it so far. It's just nuts. And they could just

continue to keep upping the game. So it'll be fun to see at least turn out. I mean, think about it. We used to think if a stadium cost a few hundred million dollars, that was like just astronomical. We're now in the billion with a B. So it's unbelievable. You know, the one thing that the stadium is usually the igniter for is a development around the stadium.

So is it condos? Is it retail? Is it restaurants? What is it? But it really does service the centerpiece for a downtown area to develop around. And it looks like that's going to be the case with both Buffalo. And Nashville. Our last headline, I like this one. Long time former Villanova men's basketball coach Jay Wright is joined CBS sports. We're going to see him doing college

basketball. We'll see him covering March madness. I like Jay Wright. He was a really good coach. He was especially good in the NCAA tournament. So to have his insight, I think adds to CBS's coverage of the tournament and of college basketball. What do you think, Griggs? Yeah, I agree. I mean, CBS and March madness is the win for March always. And this is a great addition.

He's awesome. Obviously, he's been coaching for so many years. No, basketball knows the game. No, March madness. He's won some titles. So yeah, no brainer. He's well spoken. I love hearing these coaches because their mind is so different than, you know, a person like you and me, they get the game so differently and can really, you know, tell the viewer a lot more about the game.

So I think it's a great hire and it'll be fun to hear him. All right. If you are not subscribing to the sports business radio podcast, please do so. We'd love it if you rate and review our podcast. We are 18 years old. We've got a deep history of podcast archives. If you want to go back and listen to some of our shows with the big

name guests that we've had on again, Adrian Gonzalez is going to join me on next week's show. But coming up next, we're going Hollywood. We've got Colin Hanks and then we've got Matt Liner coming up to really good guests this week. You're listening to sports business radio. When it comes to your health and longevity, you hold nothing back. You understand what it means to push harder,

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action plan with personalized guidance on your body. Colin, thanks for joining me on sports business radio. How are you? I'm good. How are you doing? I'm doing great. All right. So before we get started with the doc, we have something in common that I found during my research. We both attended Loyal and Marymount University. Really? Yes. I was there before you. I'm a little older than

you. I was there when Hank Gathers and Bo Kimball and Paul Westhead were there. Well, I was going to say, was it the Hank Gathers era? Because that tends to be the watermark. Between Eris. Yeah. I mean, I was actually the radio broadcaster for KXLU radio. When I was calling the game, the night that Hank collapsed and died. Oh, wow. Really? Yeah. So that was a

traumatic experience for me. You probably seen the 30 for 30 on ESPN, the guru go with Paul Westhead. So yeah, what a time to be at Loyal and Marymount. But how did you enjoy your time at LMU? The time that I was there, I enjoyed very much. Maybe a little too much, but that's college. No, I loved going to Loyal. It was a fantastic stop for

me. And yeah, I still have a lot of friends from there and a lot of good memories. That's great. All right. The origin of your sports teams. I know you're a huge LAFC fan. I don't want to jinx anything, but they're doing really well right now. They're two wins away, right? They're two wins away. Yes. No, very, very excited about that. Yeah, my, my allegiances can

be confusing to people. I never, I never expect anyone to know someone sports allegiances right away, because Lord knows they could be very odd. But I had family in Los Angeles, obviously. But I grew up primarily in Northern California. And so when I was a kid growing up, it was the San Francisco Giants San Francisco 49ers. That was the extent of the Northern California. But then

I would go to hockey games in Los Angeles, because this is before they had the sharks. So the LA Kings were, were a big one for me. And then I moved to Los Angeles permanently around the time I went to Loyola in 96. And really only had the Kings. Because they were the only L.A. team. I really truly felt comfortable rooting for. That's still had my

Sacramento roots and would follow the Sacramento Kings a little bit. Although I'm a little more interested. I'll admit. No, I mean, I really admit it now. I'll admit I totally fell off. And I'm now just like, I'll watch basketball just in general. Right. You know, the league. But I was really truly salivating to find another team in Los Angeles that I could root for without reservation

and luckily L.A.FC provided me that space. And now I'm just obsessed. Yeah. Yeah, it looks like it. I mean, I've seen some of your Instagram posts. And I mean, you're at every match. And I was just in Europe. So I went to Premier League for the first time. And I had never been to Premier League. I saw Arsenal and Brentford. And that was quite an experience

for me. But, you know, MLS is fantastic. And LAFC, what a beautiful stadium. And, you know, I've never been to a match. But it looks like that's a great environment there. I had always wanted to have an insane football soccer football experience in Los Angeles. And I'd gone to Sounders. Games. I'd gone to, you know, Timbers matches. So I'd seen like, okay, like they have it

in the States, you know, to a degree. But I was really hoping that Los Angeles would, would sort of have that. And I just didn't necessarily find that to be the case down in Carson with the Galaxy. But, you know, funny enough, you mentioned the Premier League. So I had arranged for tickets about a little over a month ago. I had arranged for tickets to go

see Liverpool, my team that I support. I had a game that I played at Stanford Bridge against Chelsea. And then the Queen died. And the game was postponed. So I have my tickets. I was ready. And then it was taken away from me. So now I'm still, I still have yet to go see my beloved Reds play in person. So yeah, that's another team allegiance that

I have. Well, I hope that happens for you soon. Me too. All right. So you mentioned die hard San Francisco Giants fan. You were at the clinching victory in 2010 when they beat Texas in the World Series, right? I was at all three games in Texas. Yeah, I had just wrapped up the television show that would have been filming in Dallas that entire year. So I

got to be there for for all three games in Texas, which was an absolute dream. Yeah. So when you have the opportunity to work on this documentary for one of the greatest baseball players ever. And someone synonymous with the Giants, how did this all come together? Well, it had kind of been a dream. One that I thought was a little bit farfetched. My producing partner Sean

Stewart, who I make all my documentaries with. We had always sort of circled Willie as sort of the go. That would be within within the Giants organization. That would be the story that we would love to be able to tell. Now, obviously, there's a very component that is that that's maybe another podcast we could talk about that. But with Willie, at least it's not going to

be a big deal. It seemed like that one would be one that would not be so ludicrously far away that we wouldn't be able to sort of make a play. And so Sean had been trying for years and years, years to reach out to Willie and his squad. We had made a short 30 for 30 about the Crazy Crab, which was an Ophated San Francisco Giants

mascot. So we have relationships with the Giants. And I think it's up to give all the credit to Sean Stewart, one of my co-producers on this. He really just refused to take no for an answer. I don't know if he ever was given the answer. No. But he just kept hustling. And as fate would have it, it wasn't just didn't line up for me to be

able to direct the project. But we ended up falling in with Nelson George, who was an incredibly talented filmmaker. And partnered with... with Spring Hill Entertainment, who were LeBron James's production company. And we were able to get a team in place that I think was of caliber enough for Willie to sort of say, all right, well, I'll listen to you guys. So we went up to

San Francisco and got to go to a Giants game and watched some of the Giants game with Willie and talked to him in his suite and got to get to meet him and just sort of... tell him, you know, our vision for the film and what we wanted to do and our sort of code of conduct for how we like to make our documentaries. And yeah,

he signed on. I think we signed the deal January of 2020 and then the world shut down. Wow. So we were... there was a rain delay. But we were able to... we were able to make a film and really just could not be more honored to be a part of it. Well, and one of the magical things about the doc is Willie Mays is 91. And

he is part of the doc and much like the last dance with Michael Jordan. If you... if Jordan's not a part of that doc, it's not nearly as good. To me, if Willie Mays isn't part of this, it's not as good. And he's still so sharp at 91 and has a good... Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. And has all the memories still and recall certain situations and...

and I thought that was really neat because, you know, again, you know, the better than me, but he's 91. He might not be here that much longer. So to get him to sit down for this much like the John Madden doc, right? Like he sat down with Tom and Aldi and everyone. And then he passed shortly after. So you're like, I'm so glad we got to

hear from him. And he participated in this before he left us. So... Absolutely. It was great. I thought having... I think that he really, really, really wanted to be here and participate was really one of the keys to the success of this. Well, I'd be lying if I didn't say that, you know, that... There was a component for all of us in which we really wanted

to be able to properly tell Willie's story and have him tell it before that chance was no longer available to us. And, you know, part of the... the sort of thesis, if you will, of one of the reasons why we felt, you know, I'm not of the generation that got to see Willie play. And so all I heard were stories about how great Willie was. And,

you know, Willie not only was so incredible on the field, but the man in which he carried himself on the field and off was incredibly... He was the same individual. On and off the field. There was no change. He let his play do the talking. And he, you know, he was at... You know, he came up at such a fascinating time, not only in baseball history,

but in American history. Coming up in the Negro leagues, signing with the Giants in an incredibly young age in New York, at the dawn of, you know, the television era, then moving with the team to San Francisco, you know, during the height of the civil rights movement in the West Coast and expanding baseball over there, as well as, you know, being a part of the community

out there. He was such a unique figure that I don't think, in terms of younger generations, that he has... People don't understand Willie May's the way they may understand a Babe Roof or a Joe Demagio or, you know, some of these players that were maybe a little bit more salesman. In addition to being great ball players. And Willie was just... He was truly one of a

kind. He was... He was one of, you know, arguably one of the first, you know, black athletes superstars that, you know, really were ambassadors for the game. And it was just, you know, to be able to dive into his story and his background and really understand just how much the man accomplished and how... What a unique talent he was on the field. It was just... It

was really incredibly special to be a part of and hear firsthand. Were you able to sit in on any of the interviews with him? No, unfortunately I wasn't. My schedule, you know, because I have this other gig of wearing makeup and pretend to be an athlete. Yeah, exactly. So unfortunately, my... I wasn't able to actually be there on any of the shoot days with Willie. But

like I said, I mean, I got to watch a game with Willie May's. I don't know how it can get to any better than that. That's true. But the bonus was, as I did, you know, I got all of the raw footage, all of the raw interviews, as they were shot. And so I would, as the dailies would come in, I wouldn't, you know, hear all

of the stories that Willie said, that Barry Bond said, Vin Scully, Bob Coss. I mean, Reggie Jackson, the list goes on and on of names. So I was just geek to just watch all the raw footage, you know. And the good news is that it cuts together. Yeah, no, it was brilliant. And, you know, again, you got Vin Scully before he left us. And, you know,

Bob Coss is one of the best. And, you know, all the different people, all the different voices. But the one that stood out to me the most, to be honest with you, was Barry. Barry Bond. And, absolutely. I don't want to give anything away. But the depth that you go into in the dock on the relationship between Willie and Bobby Bond, Barry's dad, and Barry was

really good. I didn't really know what that dynamic was. And I mean, Willie Mays is very much a father-like figure to Barry Bond. And that was another person who I thought really added to the documentary was getting Barry Bond to sit down and talk about Willie and talk about his dad. And, you know, Barry Bond is a polarizing figure himself and also, you know, a five

tool player like Willie Mays was. So, I thought having his voice in this documentary really, really good. Really added to it. Well, for us as filmmakers, you really can't have a Willie Mays documentary if you don't have Barry Bond's in it. Because there is such a personal connection between the two. You know, Barry is Willie's Godson. You know, one of the things that we noticed very,

very early on in the film is that Willie always referred to taking care of people or people to the film. And he's taking care of him. You know, when he came into the league and he's talking about, you know, Piper Davis taking care of him. He's talking about Leo DeRoscher taking care of him. He's talking about, you know, when he's in San Francisco and you've got

Marishelle and all these guys, these Spanish players coming in, he's taking care of them. So, there's always a sense that this is sort of a baseball takes care of their own. And that relationship that Willie had with Bobby Bond, which again, a player, for my generation, I didn't know much about, but Barry was from my, was was my generation. And so I knew that there was

a connection there, but I didn't know how deep it was. And we just kept saying, you know, I mean, it's the Willie Mays documentary. If we don't have Barry in this, it's not going to feel right. Yeah. And we spent a great deal of time talking with, with, with Barry's team. You know, we had spoken with him very briefly at the beginning of filming when, you

know, because he's in there for Willie's birthday, you know, in the film. You see Barry there. You see how involved he is and the smile he has on his face when he's around, when he's around Willie. And after, you know, a lot of talk and, and going back and forth, we were able to get Barry and I'll tell you what was so remarkable, remarkable about that

interview is the, you know, it was about two hours and he was so vibrant and happy. And it's a side of Barry that I don't think people have seen truly. I mean, I, I think the public is not really seen Barry like that before. And that's because Barry's a very reserved guy, you know, arguably you could say he got that from Willie, because Willie was, is

very much the same way it turns. But you just see Barry open up and talk about. You know, the love that he has for Willie and, you know, the real treat, you know, I mentioned watching all the rough footage. You know, the first hour he was, he was talking about Willie on the day. And then the second hour was just him talking about baseball, how much

he loves baseball and hitting and, and the intricacies of the game and, and his passion for it. And as a baseball fan, I was geeked just to watch that, you know, just to see Barry light up and talk about the game in that manner. And, you know, we were very proud of the fact that, um, you know, we went to Barry saying, this is the film

that we want to make. We want you to be a part of it. It's not going to be the same without you. And for him to agree, uh, to that. And then, you know, we got a text from, from Barry afterwards in which he was in, it said incredibly gracious kind of things about the film and was just so happy to be a part of it,

which, you know, made us made us just, uh, this over the moon. That's quite endorsement right there. Yeah. Yeah. So the, you know, the nice thing about him is that he was just like, you know, I'm so happy to be here, and he was like, you know, like, I was like, I'm going to be like, I'm like, you know, like, I'm like, I'm like, you know,

like, I'm like, you know, like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, I'm like, Oh, the other part that I loved was the old footage and the old images. I mean, dating back to the Negro legans and Birmingham. I had never seen some of those pictures of Willie when he was young and he was playing in the Negro legs and, you know, even, I don't want to

give anything away, but, you know, when he is trying to buy a house in San Francisco. And, yeah. Oh, here's Willie in his house and, you know, his son comes on it says he put in the spiral staircase is kind of like Backman going down to get into the back. And, you know, he's going to be a car and go to the game. There was just

so many really cool elements that you guys dug up. How did you do that? Well, part of it is the tenacious producing of my partner, Sean Stewart. I mean, it was he's not. He's not above, you know, hopping a car driving up to someone's house somewhere in Northern California and finding, you know, super eight footage or whatever. I mean, the amount of, the amount of film

canisters we amassed on this project was was pretty, uh, pretty good. You know, it helped that Barry, and I mentioned this earlier, it helped that Barry really was a, excuse me, not Barry, Willie. Uh, it helped that Willie was sort of one of the central forces at the dawn of television covering baseball. And so there is a ton of old footage of Willie in some form

or another, you know, whether it's him playing stick ball with kids, you know, on the screen. You know, there's a ton of news, real you know, footage, uh, tunnel of interviews and all that sort of stuff. And really, that, that's kind of part of, you know, a part of the, the documentary toolkit, you got to be a little bit of a detective tracking this stuff down.

And so you got to be willing to hop in a car and drive to some strangers house somewhere somewhere in Northern California to see, see what kind of footage they got. But we were able to, to, to just a mass, just an incredible pool of a B-roll and footage. And yeah, and yeah, it's, it's all there in the film. Wow. Well, it was really well done.

And, you know, like I said, from getting Willie to participate, to Barry, to all the other voices that you had, to the footage that you dug up, when people watch this, what do you want them to take away? Well, I would love for them to have just a better understanding of who Willie Mezwa is as an individual and as a person. And I think, you know,

if we've done our job, we've been able to highlight the kind of, the kind of man that Willie was because he really did carry himself the same as he did on the field and off the field. What you saw, you know, what you saw. What you saw was what you got and what you got was one of the greatest of all time. But also, you know,

I hope people understand the historical significance that Willie has, you know, rightly so. You know, Jackie Robinson is an all time great and a historical figure who is incredibly important in the history of, of our culture, not just of, of baseball. But Willie was, was right there and was, you know, just as vibrant, just as important. And, and, you know, I think what is interesting was,

was perhaps a lot quieter. than people expected him to be. And so, you know, I'm really excited that people, you know, hopefully we'll get a better understanding of the kind of player that he was and just how good he was. But also how important he was within, you know, the American Civil Rights Movement and, and, you know, pushing, you know, awareness. And, and, and, you know,

what it meant to be a black athlete at that time, you know, Willie is a huge part of that. He really, you know, Willie was, you know, as big as, you know, Michael Jordan, you know, or any of these, you know, sort of, you know, greatest of, of, of all time. And, again, I think he gets overshadowed. Right. And, and unfairly so. And so, we just

hope that people have, you know, a good time watching the film and, and, and enjoy the show for what it is. But then also walk away, you know, a little bit smarter. I mean, I've often thought, can you imagine if you played in this era of social media. And video clips that catch would have been getting a million views in 30 seconds. I mean, it would

have been, he would have been consumed very differently than he was back when there wasn't so much media media like today. Avalanche of talk. Every single day about, did you see what Willie Mays did last night? Did you see what Willy Mays did yesterday? And, you know, a majority of it would be jaw dropping. And, you know, there would be people that complain. You know, as

well, you know, little too flashy, a little too much. Why does he got to catch it way down here? You should catch it up top? You know all of those things for his era, he was, he was the best. And, and I think when you're, you know, measuring the best, it's got to be amongst all the eras. And if he had played in, in our modern

era, there's no doubt that they would call him the greatest fall time. Just a couple minutes left. Like you mentioned earlier, you know, you spend most of your time as an actor, but I love when you get pulled in like on this project as a producer. I see, up coming, you're working with Ryan Reynolds on a John Candy doc, which I just love John Candy. So

I was so excited to see the two of you coming together for that doc. I know it's going to be as well done as this Willie Mays one. But what gets your juices flowing to be a producer and to get pulled into a project like Willie Mays or John Candy? Well, it's the story. It's, it's, it's a subject matter, you know, Willie, obviously, there's a lot

out there about Willie books, whatnot with, with John. You know, that one's a little bit unique because Ryan really came to me saying, hey, I think there should be a John Candy documentary. And, and we, we had a long conversation and sort of talked about what that could be. And, you know, he was very patient and gracious and sort of let me sort of have a

little time to sort of wrap my head around the concept because you don't want to just, you know, you can make any sort of, you know, that should be a documentary is kind of like, is in praise. I hear very often and, and more often than not after about four minutes, you go, I don't think that should actually be a documentary. But Ryan was very, was

very gracious and really gave me some time to sort of crack, crack it a little bit and come up with a narrative and an idea and a focus that I felt really would warrant a film that would not only speak to John and who he was and his talent, but also be something that you could watch today and you could, you know, have, you know, have

that connective tissue. To, to, to, to our modern, our modern lives. And so I'm really excited by the opportunity. That one is actually one that I am going to direct, which I'm very excited about. Because it's been a while since I've directed a, a doc. So I'm very, very excited to get back a, get back to doing that. And yeah, you know, you still got a

lot of work to do. So, you know, hopefully it won't take too long, but I'm definitely excited by the opportunity and the chance. Sure. All right. And then before I let you go, I love a good entrepreneur story. You've got Hank's, Critchief, right? And thanks. Yeah. Thanks, Critchief. Thanks, Critchief. So, however you want to announce it, sure. Yeah. I mean, they, you know, to play on

the last name, I love it. Yep. Uh, they look wonderful. Looks like you have a lot of fun with them. How did that company come about? Uh, I was actually at a San Francisco giant game, believe it or not. I was, yeah, I was opening day. Uh, And then it just sort of went from there and it's well, you know, cost quite a bit of money.

I mean, first sports licensing nowadays. So maybe I should just start smaller and then maybe work my way up to being able to do those kinds of things. And, you know, it's another passion of mine. You know, I'll be honest, you know, I sort of fell into documentary filmmaking because I didn't have the patience to sit down and write a script. But I knew that I

wanted to be a storyteller and work within, you know, the parameters of storytelling. And so that's kind of how documentary came about because I'd watched a bunch and I, you know, I was into, you know, photography and music and all of these sorts of things. And I was able to sort of funnel all of those interests into documentary films. Well, the creatures are no different. You

know, I have a tremendous interest in graphic design and actually making things that you can physically hold in your hand. And so that just sort of seemed like a fun sort of path to go down and sort of basically just see how far I could sort of take it. And, you know, if it becomes a real thing, then I fooled everybody. And I fooled everyone because

they really exist. So yeah. Now that's great. I mean, it has become a real thing. And it looks like you've had a lot of fun with it. I love that. I've been a fan for a long time. Did you know David Stern was one of their first investors. Ron makes the absolute highest quality best fitting and most comfortable performance driven clothing for men. Their entire line

places emphasis on an active, balanced and purpose driven lifestyle. I'm wearing my spa joggers. I've got them in Heather Gray. I've got them in Navy. I've got my Moleskin commuter slim pant. I've got my regular black commuter pant. I've got my dress shirts. So when I'm out in a person meetings, I have the nicer Ron product to wear. But most of the time I'm working for

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Thanks for having me on. Appreciate it. Yeah, I know you've got some exciting news to share about. Hall of goats. But before we get to that, I've got to get your thoughts on the show. I've got to get your thoughts on the college football season. I had you on before the season started. So far, what are the biggest surprises to you? That's a good question. I

first off, I think there's a lot of parity right now in college. But yeah, in the last couple of years, you know, that LSU couple years ago. Georgia last year. I think at this point, what are we, I think we gave. There's, there's a lot of really good football teams. I don't think there's a clear pet number one. Whether Ohio State Tennessee, Georgia. I don't even

miss you. I take your pick. So I love the parity at the top. I think that's exciting. Obviously, USC, Georgia. I'm excited that they got off to such a fast start. I know they had a lot of weeks ago to Utah. But the job Lincoln has done. And then some of the, some of the teams, you know, TCU is undefeated in the top 10. That's been

a great story. Kansas. I know they fell off last couple of weeks, but they've been a great story. Kind of see if you can back. Is it tremendous? Yeah, it's still pretty. So every year, your teams that don't live up to your expectation. And then you have your teams who kind of exceed expectation. And then, and then the Heismarace, I think the Heismarace is exciting between

Stroud and Hooker and Blake Park and Michigan. So a lot of great stuff. You know, this is kind of now where, you know, down the stretch last four or five weeks, championship run. Kind of be excited. Yeah. Yeah. That November 5th Tennessee at Georgia game. I mean, that feels like a playoff game. I mean, that's a playoff game. You have the game Michigan on Hall State

coming up on Thanksgiving weekend. You know, Bama's got some big games coming up. The SCC West. As I said, TCU was undefeated to name on the table and get into a playoff. USC UCLA is relevant again to the first time in a long time. That's, I think, the number 19. You know, that could be to get to a Pacto championship. So there's a lot of big

now. I mean, November, touch football November is the best. And we're getting there pretty quickly. If USC runs the table, do you think they can get into the playoff? That's going to be a challenge. Again, it all, it all depends on what happens with the up front. Says it. History has shown that undefeated Pacto champ will get in undefeated big 12 champ will get in. Obviously,

you has a lot for now. But if they can run the table, they beat UCLA and then, and then depending on who that is, make organ in the Pacto championship, who's going to be the top 10 in their playing, get football. Just never know. But I think that's the exciting thing is, is this is the type of time of the season where I can throw out

all the different scenarios of who's in and who's not. And this conference get two teams in and on. So the USC certainly has an opportunity. And if they take care of business, they'll be in the conversation. Have you heard anything more about conference realignment? Again, last time I had you on, it was just announced that USC and UCLA are going to head to the big 10.

You know, I see all the negotiations with the media rights for the big 12 and the Pact 12 soon to be the pack 10. Are you hearing anything? Is this going to sneak up on us where we're going to have schools, you know, changing conferences again? I mean, I probably will. I mean, it's going to continue to change. But no, I mean, nothing new right now.

Obviously, everything you've seen, I've seen, you know, it's, um, well, the big 10 acquired more schools, you know, we don't know. I think the biggest conversation now is the expansion top, which is going to happen. I think, which is exciting for me. I'm a big, I love to play off. I love more teams. I love the fact that they get more opportunity. I love the fact

that they'll be homesick. Playoff game. That's just, that's just so cool for the sport and for the fans and, um, but, but I'm kind of with you. I feel like every day there's something new that pops up in the college football world. Yeah. All right. Let's talk about Hall of Goats. This is something you've been working on for a long time. Like I said, Caleb Williams

is your co founder. Um, I know, you know, you've got a former college teammate roommate from USC who's behind this. You've got some big things coming up. So first of all, for the people who may have missed our conversation before, let's go back and explain what Hall of Goats is. Yeah. It's, it's a arcade style. All the football game where, um, fans and gamers, anybody, by

their favorite players, digital asset, they import it into the, into the game and, um, they can play with them, you know, think, kind of think old school NFL blitz and it goes street where, um, there's big, it's taught to just funny. Like, it's not a video game that everybody play, um, where the fans, they own, you know, they own this digital asset. It's not, it's not

a, just a collectible. It's not a credible. It's a digital asset that they own. Um, they can customize. They can build up. Um, so it's, it's really exciting. You know, we're in the development process right now. And we have, uh, some things that we're launching here in the next week or two. Um, but it's, I, it's been really exciting. And it's, you know, I'm in the

game of college football with my gym. Um, but now that NIL is, is here to stay and it's really a performance college athletics. It's really been fun to, um, kind of be on that side and, and help grow visits, also help, uh, these athletes make money off their NIL. The gamers love to see the trailers, the teaser for the game. Is that something that we can

expect here pretty soon? Yeah, that's, that's coming out next week. Um, we have a few things coming out of the first week in November. So, um, the trailer is going to be exciting. I'm excited to see it. Um, we have a founders pass drop that's coming out. Um, also the first week in November. So, um, there, there's a lot of cool things coming out. Um, obviously

we'll do a lot of stuff around the trailer and the counter pass. So, you know, want everybody to keep an eye on that with, um, the social platforms. But, um, you know, there's been a lot of a lot of work that's gone into this. A lot of phone calls, a lot of, um, you know, conversations and stuff. But we're really excited. We're kind of finally here

and giving a chance for all the fans and all the people out there to kind of see what all the goats is and, um, we want them to be a part of this family. All right. I know with a lot of the games. You've got the current players, but then you've got some of the legends that you can incorporate. Might we see you or some of

the legends of the game incorporated into this? Yeah. So I will say this. Obviously, um, we want to be a game and a platform where, um, we can serve as the football players and help them make money, obviously. Um, but we also are signing legends and, um, we're calling them legends really kind of players, some great players of the past that some biggest programs in college

football, some of the best players to ever do it at that level because it's an opportunity for them to reengage with their fan base and reengage with the current team, you know, the current players and, um, so yeah, so I'm not going to name any names. I had, we do have a trailer coming out pretty sick and we're excited about the guys that have jumped on

board and, um, we're excited about continuing the conversations with a lot of other former grades as well. Just tell us this or some of the former grades. They're not just USC grades. They're from all over, right? Yeah. Yeah. No, they're all over. You know, this is, this is a video game where we are, um, going to every school. Every big brand, every player, um, obviously with,

with myself and Kayla and Greg over USC guys and children, but, um, this is going to be a game where everybody can take part in play their favorite school. Play with their favorite players, the current, the past. We got some big names on board. I'm excited for everybody to see. I mean, you kind of put a little pressure on yourself. You're calling yourselves the hall of

goats. I mean, we got to see some goats. You're one of them. But, uh, you know, you're going to get, you're going to get go to, man, we'll say you have. Oh, yeah, I did need to get go to, um, but I mean, I'm sure it's exciting for the current players who have the opportunity to make some money on NIL. But then, you know, like you

said, you're, you're bringing some of the legends from the past into the presence and making them relevant. Even for some of the young people today who may not have seen them play as much, you're getting a chance to kind of learn more about their career. And that's a cool thing too, is, you know, there's so many, I mean, you know, coach football and the ragged fan

base is a big club, the history of their programs. And we were signing great legends of some of these great programs. And you'll see these guys statues and the hallway, games on campus. So fans know them and even kids, even the kids, the teenage should, they know that because they grew up because their parents love those players. So now, and you get a chance and you

hear about. So, oh, my gosh, I get a chance to play with him in this cool video game and build him up and make him great again. You know, people love video games, kids love video games. They love that interaction on their device. And so, so despite maybe someone playing in the 80s or the 90s or the early 2000s or whatever they be, you know, these

fans know, they know, they know the great stuff place. So to sort of reengage those former players with. Not only the fans, but the current players, I just, you know, there's, there's no one else that's doing that. So we're excited about that. Kind of the synergy in the two. How do you pick the current players? How do you decide? Here's who we want to go and

bring into the fold here. I like that. Here's who we want to go. Yeah, I mean, look, I think, I think, you know, obviously we want to acquire and talk to the best talent in in college football. I mean, that's a no brainer. And I think we also, we are a big brand, you know, and we want to sort of go after kids who want to

dive back in and build their social friends and dive into what we're trying to build with as far as the video game. Obviously, the merchandise we can pose all that kind of stuff. And that's kind of the exciting part is, we're not going to just be like, well, they can't this and they can't that, you know, we want to engage with kids as possible and go

from there. And again, this is a long term thing. You know, we want to be a fun, badass video game that lives forever, you know, where, you know, this current kids are playing and then the next high school greats are being a part of the game and so on and so forth. So, yeah. And again, obviously, we're well aware of, you know, the big brands and

the great fan base it. And this is not just going to be limited to, you know, the USC's and Texas is of the world. You know, we want fans to engage with all sorts of schools and players. And that's the goal and it's something we're building towards. I love following you on social media at Matt Liner, QB. One of the things I found very funny recently

is you went back to your campus, USC. And you were at the age of 50 and you were asking people, you know, hey, do you know this Matt Liner guy. And it was very funny. Tell me the story behind how you came up with the concept for that video. Yeah, it's, you know, I've just been trying to do more more stuff on social. Yeah, on social

media. I just launched tick tock and following the same handle, but, just trying to embrace it. And I was there one day and I was just saying, you know what would be funny is, because I'm almost, I'll be 40 next year, I mean, 40 and that, I was like, I'm gonna go around campus and just, just have fun and just see if they even remember me

or those years. And I got to be honest with you, it was hysterical. It didn't make me feel old, but some of the response, some of them knew who I was and I think that was in the video, but a lot of it, like, that was, I mean, it was edited, but it was on edit. When I came up to them, they had no clue. They

were terrified of me coming up to, you know, random kids and asking them, hey, I look at you. You know, the football team, what's it like, said, and um, but yeah, it was, uh, it was pretty funny, man. It was, uh, and people loved it. It was actually everywhere I go now. They're like, I'll look at that video. Yeah. Yeah. Now that was very, very clever

and boy, the time flies, doesn't it? As long as it does. All right. So again, for everyone following the Hall of Goats, uh, first week in November is when the trailer is going to drop, we're going to find out more about the founders past. We're going to find out more about the founders past. We're going to find out more about who's going to be, uh, in

the game, because I'm sure the trailer's going to reveal some of that, right? Yeah. There's a lot like this. The founders past, the trailer, um, you know, we'll be doing a lot of promotional stuff. So just, just check out open handles, my handle, um, on the social media, Hall of Goats. And then, uh, yeah, we're excited. It's going to be cool. And there'll be a lot.

There'll be future stuff coming out after that. So this is the first big initial drop and launch of the trailer. And the founders past. So, uh, just encourage everybody to kind of kind of take a look at what we're doing and, and, and come be a part of all the goats. Yeah. The website is whole of goats.com. I love that hat. You're wearing right now. When

are people going to be able to buy merch? Pretty soon. You know, we won't have a storefront marketplace on the website. Um, again, we, you know, it's kind of trying to get our ducks in the trailer and development of the game. But, um, we launched players and we launched all this stuff. We'll have a lot of available for people to get on there. And I'll begin

a lot of, a lot of cool stuff at the hat. Um, our team does a great job with the hat. What do you teach her? Um, all that stuff. So you can expect all that stuff coming up pretty quick as well. That's fantastic. Matt liner 2004 Heisman trophy winner at USC. You can watch him every Saturday on Fox sports covering college football. You can follow him

on social. He's a fun follow. And now he's on TikTok. At Matt liner. Can you be, what was your first TikTok video? I need to go check that out now. I mean, my first TikTok video. I had a house. I was during COVID. And I had a couple of drinks. You know, it's on the kitchen. And I just, and I just sat there and I welcomed,

welcomed myself to TikTok. I actually did pretty well. That, you know, full disclosure. And, um, but I really didn't know what I was doing and then randomly. But I just recently started to pick up my human. And then so really just something to start with this last couple of months, really when I started. So don't look at the first couple of videos. There's a big gap

in the gap there, you know. Um, but I'm going to have fun with it. Um, it gets a lot of fun. Interact and, and again, I think, you know, for someone like myself, I like to try and just kind of take people, but, you know, my life. And, you know, I like that fun. I got a lot of chaos. Three boys. Um, my wife and I

got a, got a house full of the lights. A lot of, uh, a little, little guys running around and all their side, obviously, and, and, and high school. So, um, a lot going on. So why not share it with everybody. Yeah. I saw something about changing diapers and formula on one of your platform. So it looks like you got your hands full. Oh yeah. Every day.

Well, Matt, thanks for joining us again on sports business radio. Always a pleasure and good luck with the Hall of Goats reveal next week. We'll all be watching. Uh, the right next round. I appreciate you. You're listening. The sports business radio will be right back. This episode of sports business radio is brought to you by Underdog Fantasy. The fastest growing fantasy app ever released and the

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