I sit down with former NFL quarterback, Ryan Leaf. We talk about his incredible story of football, addiction, prison, rehabilitation, and much more! To learn more about Ryan's work with criminal justice reform please check out - https://thelastmile.org Follow IG: https://www.instagram.com/ryandleaf --------------------------------------------------- Sponsors: DraftKings - Download the DraftKings Sportsbook app NOW and use code BERTCAST Robinhood - To receive your 3% boost on annual IRA contributions, sign up at https://robinhood.com/gold Hims - Start your free online visit today at https://Hims.com/BERTCAST. True Classic - Start the New Year off right with an upgraded wardrobe. Save on @trueclassic at https://trueclassic.com/BERTCAST! #trueclassicpod BlueChew - Make life easier by getting harder and discover your options at https://BlueChew.com! Cigars International - Visit www.cigarsinternational.com/BERT or use code BERT at checkout for 20% off PLUS free shipping on your entire order --------------------------------------------------- SUBSCRIBE so you never miss a video https://bit.ly/3DC1ICg For all TOUR DATES: http://www.bertbertbert.com For Fully Loaded: https://fullyloadedfestival.com For Merch: https://store.bertbertbert.com YouTube▶ http://www.YouTube.com/user/Akreischer X▶ http://www.Twitter.com/bertkreischer Facebook▶ http://www.Facebook.com/BertKreischer Instagram▶ http://www.Instagram.com/bertkreischer TikTok▶ http://www.TikTok.com/@bertkreischer Text Me▶ https://my.community.com/bertkreischer GAMBLING PROBLEM? CALL 1-800-GAMBLER, (800) 327-5050 or visit gamblinghelplinema.org (MA). Call 877-8-HOPENY/text HOPENY (467369) (NY). Please Gamble Responsibly. 888-789-7777/visit ccpg.org (CT) or visit www.mdgamblinghelp.org (MD). 21+ and present in most states. (18+ DC/KY/NH/WY). Void in ONT/OR/NH. Eligibility restrictions apply. On behalf of Boot Hill Casino & Resort (KS). 1 per new customer. Min. $5 deposit. Min. $5 bet. Max. $200 issued as non-withdrawable Bonus Bets that expire in 7 days (168 hours). Stake removed from payout. Terms: dkng.co/dk-offer-terms. Ends 2/9/25 at 11:59 PM ET. Sponsored by DK. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Chapter 1: What is Ryan Leaf's story?
You just, you are, you're hopeless. They closed that door. I hear it now too. Like I see it on TV shows and stuff when I hear the doors and like we went through when I went and spoke in, in, in Montana and in Indiana recently. And you know, the, you know, the doors close and they got to buzz them and everything like that. And that's, there's like, there's real PTSD with that shit. Really? Yeah.
I'm like, you're right there. Just like when you have things that bring up memories for you. What does that a lot for me is music. Like I'll hear a song and that will transport me right to a place where I was at. I would drive around my hometown, you know, case and houses to go steal with Kid Cudi just freaking blasting on my thing. I don't know why. Yeah. That's just where I was then.
So now if I hear any of, you know, Pursuit of Happiness and shit like that, that's immediately where I go to. So, um, but I'm telling you right now what it does. And I thought about me more.
I spoke at this, uh, big sky conference thing and I knew I was going to go to Montana and speak in the prison that I had the last time I'd been in there was, well, you went back to the prison you were in and spoke to this group, the last mile group in there. And so the,
the media who was with me two days before at this event started asking me about it cause they knew I was going to be there and they're going to be there to do a story on it. They started asking me about how I felt about everything, you know, like, and I was, I was struggling with the idea of, you know, it was going to drive right by the intake place, which was miserable and,
You were there for 83 days, 23 hours of the 24 hours you were locked in a cell with another person. You only got to let out for one hour while they're doing evaluations of you on your threat level on where you will be placed inside the prison. And I hated that place. I hated that so much. I hated the introduction to it where you go in and the dehumanizing aspect of it, right? You know, they...
strip you down make you bend over and cough and do all that just it's incredibly dehumanizing it just is i see that happen on tv and movie shows too and i immediately just i'm like gagging too so i know i'm gonna go through all this the razor wire all the things that go with it also i know i'm gonna see some guards that were there when i was there who were horrible to me really really yeah and so i know this is gonna happen and they start asking me questions about how i feel and i
I was able to because it was preempted before I got there to kind of disassociate and go, oh yeah, this has nothing to do with me. This has everything to do with these guys that are currently there. I get to leave that day. They don't. They're trying to figure out and develop some hope so when they get out, they can find the life that I had.
So those optics and for the media to grab me a couple days before allowed that to happen. So when I went there and I did see those two guards and I did see the place, none of it bothered me at all. I was there for a particular focus and it was to give these guys hope.
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Chapter 3: What lessons did Ryan Leaf learn from his time in prison?
And you knew Sap from your recruiting trip to Miami. I didn't know him. I didn't know it was him. You know, years later, I had this realization that I partied with Oren Sap and The Rock that night and didn't know who the hell they were. You know?
Like they were just in this limo that we were going around to parties in South Beach or in Coral Gables that, you know, and here I'm in like cut off jeans and a flannel shirt from Montana and just like a fish out of water, like crazy, you know, but I'm glad I went on the trip. So it's an experience I'll never, I'll never be able to take back. I appreciate that. I started talking to groups.
I went and talked to a group. You know, I go speak to football teams every August. And when I asked the question to them now, like, how many of you know my story? Like, most of them will raise their hands. And I always preface it with, do you know it because of a positive or a negative? And it's gone...
The scales have gone like this in terms of the people that would raise their hand in terms of negative to now the hands are being raised in positive that I'm an analyst and that I'm an advocate. And that will prove to everybody out there that if you just keep getting up, keep breathing, just... Just this shall too pass.
Or however you say it. Dude, that's my takeaway from you. When I get bummed out, and I get bummed out for crazy reasons. Right now I'm bummed out because I haven't been on stage in a while. I haven't been on stage in a while. I was taking time off for like a mental health of like I was working so hard. So you were purposely doing it. I purposely did it. I purposely did it.
And I decided I'm going to take one year off. And I said to myself, Louis C.K. did that. And I... said that Ali did it, Tommy's done it. A lot of people have done it. Louie wasn't forced to? No, Louie's just a guy. Well, he did do one of those. He did one of those also. But he's doing it right now. He's taking a year off. And so I said, I feel like my act is stagnant.
I feel like I've rewritten my same... I feel like I caught myself rewriting similar jokes from the past. And I was like, I can't be in that situation. And this last hour, I was like, I need one thing. And it took me so long to find one thing that I was like, all right, I need to take some time off and reassess.
And in doing that, I took off the uniform and I didn't know who I was and had no idea who I was. And what happened is the brain that would keep active with comedy and writing comedy and knowing that I had a set that night and knowing that I was going to be talking that night, that brain turned into a really unhealthy mental health OCD brain. And I started assessing things that weren't real.
And I would obsess about them. I'd get an IV and I'd think they left the port in my arm. And I'd be like, it's in there. I know it's in there. And then I'd spin out of control. I think I'm having a heart attack. And it was just like, it was like, really? And so when I... I heard you say that one time. Just get up. You're still breathing. This will pass.
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Chapter 5: What is The Last Mile organization?
And you knew Sap from your recruiting trip to Miami. I didn't know him. I didn't know it was him. You know, years later, I had this realization that I partied with Oren Sap and The Rock that night and didn't know who the hell they were. You know?
Like they were just in this limo that we were going around to parties in South Beach or in Coral Gables that, you know, and here I'm in like cut off jeans and a flannel shirt from Montana and just like a fish out of water, like crazy, you know, but I'm glad I went on the trip. So it's an experience I'll never, I'll never be able to take back. I appreciate that. I started talking to groups.
I went and talked to a group. You know, I go speak to football teams every August. And when I asked the question to them now, like, how many of you know my story? Like, most of them will raise their hands. And I always preface it with, do you know it because of a positive or a negative? And it's gone...
The scales have gone like this in terms of the people that would raise their hand in terms of negative to now the hands are being raised in positive that I'm an analyst and that I'm an advocate. And that will prove to everybody out there that if you just keep getting up, keep breathing, just... Just this shall too pass.
Or however you say it. Dude, that's my takeaway from you. When I get bummed out, and I get bummed out for crazy reasons. Right now I'm bummed out because I haven't been on stage in a while. I haven't been on stage in a while. I was taking time off for like a mental health of like I was working so hard. So you were purposely doing it. I purposely did it. I purposely did it.
And I decided I'm going to take one year off. And I said to myself, Louis C.K. did that. And I... said that Ali did it, Tommy's done it. A lot of people have done it. Louie wasn't forced to? No, Louie's just a guy. Well, he did do one of those. He did one of those also. But he's doing it right now. He's taking a year off. And so I said, I feel like my act is stagnant.
I feel like I've rewritten my same... I feel like I caught myself rewriting similar jokes from the past. And I was like, I can't be in that situation. And this last hour, I was like, I need one thing. And it took me so long to find one thing that I was like, all right, I need to take some time off and reassess.
And in doing that, I took off the uniform and I didn't know who I was and had no idea who I was. And what happened is the brain that would keep active with comedy and writing comedy and knowing that I had a set that night and knowing that I was going to be talking that night, that brain turned into a really unhealthy mental health OCD brain. And I started assessing things that weren't real.
And I would obsess about them. I'd get an IV and I'd think they left the port in my arm. And I'd be like, it's in there. I know it's in there. And then I'd spin out of control. I think I'm having a heart attack. And it was just like, it was like, really? And so when I... I heard you say that one time. Just get up. You're still breathing. This will pass.
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Chapter 6: How did Ryan Leaf's childhood shape his career?
It's crazy because you were the high school hero, basketball, football. Yeah. And you still did not connect with those kids. I didn't. I don't have one friend from high school.
Really? Not one. I did run into a few of them last night, but they were from my rival high school that I was athletes with. I saw them. I got to see a few of them because they were there. Montana State was in the national championship last night, and I called that game. And so I got to see a few of them, and that was kind of cool. I shouldn't say that. I had dinner down there with the...
A kid I went to high school with more friends.
It's so funny. I'm texting with all my high school friends right now. I wonder how much of that informs, you know, especially as a dad. I don't know. You can take out whatever you need to take out of this, Christine. But like, so my daughter's abroad right now. And I am in the place where I have the... You said one time money doesn't fix anything. If anything, it accentuates your problems. Right.
It exacerbates any character defects. And so when I traveled abroad, I don't know if anyone knows that story, but when I traveled abroad to college, I got to Russia by myself. My parents didn't help me pack my bag. I packed my own bag. I picked my own clothes. I then... I then backpacked through Europe for a few months and I did it all on my own.
I got help from my, my dad would send me money when I'd run out of money, but not like, not like thousand dollars, like a hundred bucks here and there. And, uh, But I got myself to Russia with the class. I got myself to Baden-Baden. I backpacked all through Europe by myself. I got myself on a plane and I flew home. My daughter, I kind of did it for her because I'm so good at traveling.
And I've traveled so much. I was like, let me... And trust me on this. And I, you know, got her tickets on miles so we can upgrade her and all this stuff. And then I thought to myself, and I stayed up all night as she was traveling through different airports. I set alarms for when she would be landing. And I woke up and I call her and I could hear her scared. I could hear her scared.
She was like quiet. She told me, I'm shitting my pants right now, dad. Like I'm shitting myself. This is no one speaking English. And I was like, yeah, I know. This is what... And I thought to myself, am I doing a disservice to my child by... Holding her hand through the process. I don't want my little girl to be scared, but she is 20. She is a fucking 20. She's a baby.
But all those formative things add up to the person you are. And when you are a kid, and I kept going, I kept thinking, who created that chip on Ryan's shoulder? And you fixed that chip within whatever recovery you did. You fixed that chip. And that chip... was the thing that got – that chip was so deep in your shoulder.
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