Drew Brees might not be an NFL quarterback any more, but the competitive fire never stopped burning.
That's why he knows what to expect when he an former tennis pro John McEnroe meet in a pickleball match this weekend in New Orleans.
“There’s going to be some fireworks, that’s all I know," Brees said on WWL this week. "Take his personality and I know he doesn’t like to lose and it’s gonna get heated out there, I’m just telling you. I want a packed house.”
Listen to the full interview with Drew Brees in the player above. Can't see the embed? Click here.
That match goes off at 10 a.m. Saturday at the New Orleans Convention Center and will be a tentpole event for the first annual NOLA Pickleball Fest, a free-to-attend event to help spread the sport and with proceeds benefitting the Brees Dream Foundation.
The event will include 24 courts and is open to all talent levels. Brees said there are also plans to work with NORD to refurbish and convert facilities around New Orleans into pickleball courts.
“This is just a great opportunity to bring the sport that I really enjoy playing to New Orleans,” Brees said.
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MORE FROM DREW BREES
Thought on 2023 Saints
“I’ve been excited about the proposition of this season for our team and the Who Dat Nation in looking at what we’ve been able to assemble through some of the young talent that we were able to get last year through the draft and then again this year and you look at some of these free agent signings, of course, bringing Derek Carr over. I’ve always been a fan of his. I’ve always felt that he had a great mastery of that offense in Oakland and then in Vegas with Gruden, that Gruden west coast style of offense, very similar to what we ran. … I think he fits the offense really well, got weapons around him.
"You always hope that you can stay healthy and you can kind of find ways to integrate each and every one of the guys we have into a really good, productive role. I think defensively we’ve got incredible leadership, we’ve got a great scheme. We’ve been a top five defense the last five years in a row now. And so, we can play complementary football, we can stay healthy and find ways to win some of these close games and I think we’re right there."
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Would you ever go back to commentating?
“That door is always open, but I’d say the priority for me is my kids and being able to coach them and be at every one of their games and be as involved as I could possibly be. That’s the one thing about football season is it’s on the weekends. Whether that’s college or pro, and that’s also when my kids are playing their games. So that’s really what that decision came down to. I really enjoyed my time with NBC. The one thing that I really wanted to do the most was broadcast NFL games. That’s obviously where I feel like I can bring the most value, and that was the most fun for me. Unfortunately that was the thing that I had the least opportunity to do, just because the only thing NBC had was Sunday Night Football, which they already had the crew in place with Al Michaels and Cris Collinsworth, and I was able to get the playoff game and the Saints game on Thanksgiving that year. … I felt like it was great experience. I felt like if I had done it a second year I’d have felt so much more comfortable and I think it just would’ve been an even better experience and would continue to progress and progress.
"The door is definitely not closed on that. I’d certainly look at doing that in the future. I love the game. I love being able to talk about the game and communicate the game, and really dive into the Xs and Os and really give fans that insider knowledge and experience based on what I’m seeing. So we’ll see where it goes, but I don’t have any plans immediately on doing that this year.”
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