The Leap family grows: Jason Hirschhorn is getting married and I'm going to embarrass him

He's going to absolutely hate that I'm doing this, which is why I have to do it. He deserves it.

I’m not giving a speech at Jason’s wedding, but that doesn’t mean I can’t compliment and embarrass him on his big weekend.

The Leap doesn’t exist without Jason Hirschhorn. Hell, my career would be fundamentally different without him. When I was working at Sports Illustrated, Jason invited me on the Acme Packing Company podcast to talk about the Green Bay Packers’ draft, and we ended up talking for hours. A friendship was forged.

Eventually, we started the Two Deep NFL Podcast that a blessed number of people decided to listen to. We were happy to get a couple of hundred downloads, and that show ended as schedules became too hard to manage.

When I got laid off from SI, Jason recommended me at APC, and I got a freelance job covering the team I grew up watching. It wasn’t exactly a dream job, but it was a start.

Shortly thereafter, Jazz play-by-play man David Locke was looking for a Packers host for his startup podcast network. He called me because I’d just done a hit on the APC podcast.

I started as the host in 2017, and when Locke asked me to start Week 1, I informed him I’d be on my honeymoon. He wondered if I could get a fill-in host. I replied incredulously, “For my new podcast?”

I had to record eight shows the week of my wedding to prep for Week 1 and preview Week 2, which I did without having seen the outcome of the first game. I would need a fill-in host for the post-game show, though. I couldn’t analyze a game that hadn’t yet happened.

I asked the only person I trusted to do it: Jason. And to this day, he’s the only person who has ever filled in for me on that show. He’s long been the only person I’d trust to do it. And even then, he only got to do that one.

Now, it’s the biggest Packers pod out there, and Jason (America’s guest) appears weekly on the Squad Show.

Before he officially joined the network, though, he approached me about doing a newsletter. I was doing LOP, he was working 18 jobs because that’s what the sports media business has become, and we thought if we could create our own platform and make the same money for it that we did freelancing, it would be a win.

When I got the Locked On job, I didn’t want a co-host because I didn’t want the headache of having to schedule it every night, and frankly, I didn’t want to have to rely on anyone else to make the show.

But when Jason asked if I wanted to start The Leap, I knew he was the only person I could pick as a partner. Jason is a psycho (complimentary). He’s incredibly smart, dogged, incisive, and never takes himself off the clock because he lives and breathes football as I do.

He also has never seen a movie, so he’s got time on his hands. I left most of this post unformatted just because it would make his brain scratchy. He cares about every single detail, not just one time, but every time.

We got lucky. The 2021 offseason was unhinged. Interest in the team was at an all-time high. Green Bay was the center of the football universe because Aaron Rodgers wanted scalps, and Jason and I started this little endeavor together. It took off, thanks to you, and now we run the largest Packers-only newsletter money can buy.

It doesn’t work without Jason, who is always thinking about how to make your experience better, constantly calling or texting me about how we can improve what we give you, not because he cares about moneymaxxing ( a word he will abhor), but because he cares deeply about putting out the best possible product for the audience.

And although his attitude can often appear Spock-like, he’s a thoughtful friend, which is what makes him a great business partner. Whenever I need help, he’s already offered before I ask, suggesting he can cover posts when my kids are sick, or when I’m out of town.

I am lucky to have Jason as a friend, even if this post will make him deeply uncomfortable for what he will see as naval-gazing pablum. And the Leap family is lucky to have him because of how he keeps the train not only on the tracks but constantly accelerating.

Don’t worry, you won’t get less Jason now that he’s getting married. If anything, he’s more engaged since he got engaged. Plus, being on Pacific Time and having an unhealthy relationship with Coke Zero will allow him to keep churning out the work you come here to read.

Jason, I speak for the entire Leap and Locked on Packers community when I say we love you, we are happy for you, and for chrissake, watch a movie, one time.