Ben Affleck continued his The Accountant 2 press/post-divorce #2 image rehab tour this week when he appeared on Jason and Travis Kelce’s New Heights podcast. I did not have Ben going on New Heights on my bingo card, but it was a nice surprise. Ben’s appearance was a total lovefest between bros, too. From the get go, you can tell that Ben is genuinely into being there and having a good time. Ben is a lifelong Boston sports fan, so when the Kelces brought up the NFL draft, Ben geeked out and asked a ton of questions about what drives success in the NFL.

During a period of rapid fire questions, Travis and Jason asked Ben about a story they’d heard about Ben “running routes” with Tom Brady. Both Kelce brothers have faced Brady in the Super Bowl before, with the Eagles beating the Patriots in 2018 and the Chiefs losing to the Buccaneers in 2021. Anyway, when they asked him about that one time that he trained with Tom Brady, Ben could not contain his glee while remembering the experience. He even called it the “greatest day” of his life after the birth of his children.

Ben Affleck, 52, revealed on the Wednesday, April 30 episode of the New Heights podcast with Jason and Travis Kelce that one of the most memorable moments of his life was when he got to “run routes” with the seven-time Super Bowl champion, 47.

“How many completions did we get? What were you running? What kind of routes are you running?” Jason, 37, asked.

“I won’t lie to you. I don’t know if they have a name. I’m sure I disgraced every receiver that’s ever run around. But to this day, aside from the birth of my children, that was the greatest day,” Affleck replied. He shares three children — Violet Anne, 19, Seraphina Rose, 16, and Samuel, 13 — with ex-wife, Jennifer Garner.

The actor recalled that he had been “on vacation” at the same location as the NFL star, and Brady told him that he needed “someone to play catch with.”

“I was like [thinking] how much I was helping him,” Affleck recalled. “I think he was like, ‘I’m gonna f—— blow this dude out of the car. And we literally got down there. And at first he’s like, ‘Okay, go out here, turn around, turn around.’ And I’m like, ‘Alright,’ run as fast as I can [and] turn around. I fix to look at him, he’s been waiting 45 minutes. I caught [the ball] because I was afraid of breaking my nose more than anything else. And then after a few of those, he’s like, ‘Alright. We’ll put some air on [the ball]. I was like, ‘No. No, it’s already plenty fast.’ ”

He said Brady told him to pretend that he was playing in the fourth quarter of a Super Bowl game with “23 seconds” on the clock and the team down to “fourth and 18.” The retired football player urged him to “just run,” Affleck recalled.

“So he’s like, look, look, calls it out. I start running, I don’t look back. I’m sure to him it seemed like this. He’s like, ‘I’ve never seen somebody run-in slow motion,’ ” Affleck shared. “To me, I was going as fast as you can go.”

“And I’m like wondering when’s this ball going to show up? And I look, I just feel like right out in front of me. And it was a little far for me. I think he probably adjusted back, and I reach out and I have to go all out extend [and] I f—— catch it.”

This prompted the Kelce brothers to cheer, “Lets Go!” as the actor described the feat. Affleck said that after catching the ball, he acted like he “won” and even celebrated like it too, calling “everybody he knew” to tell them what happened.

“It was like the nicest thing anyone’s ever done for me, and I lived a full life of dreams.” Affleck shared of his time playing with Brady. “Right in that whatever hour of playing catch.”

“You had a real Sandlot moment,” Jason replied, referring to the 1993 film which follows a new kid in town who is taken under the wing of a young baseball prodigy.

[From People]

We love our gossip in these parts, so first things first: I have no idea if the vacation in question is that infamous vacation. Ben is so dang enthusiastic while telling the story. It’s the exact opposite of all of those “Miserable Ben” memes. Like, this was an incredibly monumental moment in the man’s life. I don’t think there is a sports fan out there who wouldn’t be this excited, many years later, at re-telling a story about that time they got to play that sport with their hero. Ben even got me excited to hear it because of how excited he was to tell it. He’s also clearly told it a time or two before because there are no pauses or “umms” and “ahhs” while he is going through the story.

Overall, it’s a really good guest appearance. During the rest of the interview, he talked about The Accountant 2, his investment in having close male friendships, his infamous refusal to wear a Yankees hat on screen in Gone Girl, how intense Philly fans are, and Matt Damon’s abs. He also called David Fincher the ”greatest Madden player I’ve ever seen” and revealed that his go-to Dunkin’ order is an iced coffee and chocolate glazed donut. Through all of these different interviews he’s done lately, you can tell that Ben is in a good place right now, and I am truly happy for him. I hope he continues to do well.

I cued this up to start during Ben’s story about training with Brady, but just in case, it starts at 1:13:11:

Embed from Getty Images

Photos credit: Cover Images, Avalon.red, BlueLoveImages/Backgrid and via YouTube