Matthew Berry’s biggest on-screen moment may have been a cameo as an S.H.I.E.L.D. agent in Avengers: Endgame. However, the so-called Michael Jordan of Fantasy Football has seen his reach go just a bit further than the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
In fact, during a recent interview on the Dan Patrick Show, the NBC Sports fantasy analyst, revealed that he’s given fantasy advice to a number of celebrities. Berry told Patrick candidly that the list is pretty long, but there’s one story in particular that stands out.
The Michael Jordan of Fantasy Football: @MatthewBerryTMR shares the story of the time Jay Z invited him to The 40/40 club to help him out during a fantasy football draft.
Full interview: https://t.co/y8ivm41q9C pic.twitter.com/WFGzCG0zoM
— Dan Patrick Show (@dpshow) August 30, 2023
Berry recalls that he received a phone call from a fan, who said that he and his league-mates were a big fan of the fantasy guru and asked if he could come by their draft and grade their picks.
“I don’t really go to random people’s drafts and New York’s a good two hours away from me, could I send a video to your league?” Berry recalled asking. “I’m appreciative, but I got to pass. And he goes, ‘Well, it’s for Jay-Z’s league.”’
That’s all Berry needed to hear. He asked what time he was needed and eventually made his way over to a private room at the 40/40 Club in New York City.
“The end of that story is I walk in and I’m a surprise for him,” Berry said of Grammy Award-winning artist. “The person who invited me is Mike Kyser, who’s the president of Atlantic Records. Kyser invites me there and I walk into a room and I get recognized. And all of a sudden, Jay looks at me and says ‘Berry, get over here.’”
Another guy that was at the party told Berry to “sit the hell down,” though he maintains the language was a bit more crass than that. The angry fantasy-goer in question compared bringing an expert like Berry to the draft to bringing Michael Jordan to a game of pick-up.
“What’s going on HOV? You don’t bring Jordan to a pick-up game! You don’t bring Jordan to a pick-up game!”
Berry revealed that the person arguing with Jay-Z was actually none other than Irv Gotti, the CEO and co-founder of Murder Inc. Records.
“I know the name, but I don’t recognize him,” Berry said of the famous DJ. “I just think it’s this loud guy named Irv. And they were going back and forth those two. Jay’s like, ‘Berry get over here.’ And Irv’s like, ‘Berry don’t you move. You get the hell out of here.’ They’re yelling and everyone in the room is having fun and going back and forth. Eventually, I’m starting to feel comfortable and everyone’s having fun, so I’m like, ‘Yeah, Irv! Shut up and sit down!’ The room goes silent…It’s probably like 20 seconds but for me, it feels like two minutes. You can hear a pin drop and eventually, you hear Irv say, ‘OK, Berry, you’re alright. You can stay.’”
Moral of the story? Don’t invite Matthew Berry to your fantasy league, unless you’re Jay-Z or Irv Gotti.
