"It's one of those things, you love it so much, it's like the dad dream," Ben Affleck said of coaching son Samuel, 7, in baseball
Ben Affleck gave ex-wife Jennifer Garner the baseball bug early in their relationship — and it seems he has passed the gene on to their son, too.
The 46-year-old actor and director stopped by The Ellen DeGeneres Show Thursday, and revealed one of his favorite off-screen roles: that of Little League coach for 7-year-old son Samuel Garner.
“I’m a coach on the Little League team and it’s going great,” he said. “He’s awesome, it’s a lot of fun. The kids are great kids. I do have to wear a Dodgers hat, because that is the team, but you know … “
The Triple Frontier star is a die-hard Boston Red Sox fan, and even watched his beloved team best the Dodgers at the World Series last fall. He attended game four with Garner and their three kids — son Samuel plus daughters Seraphina Rose Elizabeth, 10, and Violet Anne, 13 — and game five with lifelong pal Matt Damon.
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“It’s one of those things, you love it so much, it’s like the dad dream,” Affleck added to Ellen DeGeneres. “Coaching your son or your daughter on their Little League team, it’s very exciting and people have been very cool.”
The Oscar-winning star said he’s so dedicated to his gig that he has even had to pull a few strings in order to make sure he’s in attendance at every match-up.
“I had a game last week and I was promoting [Triple Frontier], and I was going to Asia and I was like, ‘I have to come back a day early! ‘ ” he said. “And it was like, ‘Whats the … ?’ And I was like, ‘My son’s Little League game? I’m the coach.’ But thank you, Netflix. They did let me [go].”
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Still, just because Affleck’s kids inherited his love for the game doesn’t mean they share his love for Boston teams. The star told Jimmy Kimmel last month that he was giving his kids a “pep talk” on the way to the World Series game about Boston’s storied sports history when Samuel gave him some startling information.
“He listens to me and then he stops and goes, ‘Dad. You’re from Boston. I’m from L.A.’ And I had a full existential crisis: ‘I failed, I’m a bad father, this is a disaster, I don’t know what to do!’ “
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Affleck took matters into his own hands, ultimately redecorating his son’s room with New England Patriots gear, including a giant football slide, a chair shaped like Tom Brady‘s head and a life-sized poster of Brady on the wall.
“My ex-wife thinks it’s creepy,” Affleck laughed, joking, “I think it’s appropriate for grown men to make totems and idols out of other grown men.”
Triple Frontier is streaming on Netflix now.