Spittin' Chiclets Episode 665: Featuring Glenn Healy & Jim Vesey

Hey, Spittin' Chicklets listeners, you can find every episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or YouTube. Prime members can listen ad-free on Amazon Music. The course is calling, and your Chevy Equinox can take on whatever the day throws at you. Stylish and ready for anything, Equinox handles your commute, weekend trips, and even those last-minute tea times. Easily load up your clubs and gear with plenty of cargo space, plus hidden storage under the rear floor to keep things neat. And with a big standout touchscreen, the Equinox puts all your tech right where you need it. Bold and confident, Equinox looks just as good on the road as it does down the back roads. From the first drive to the final putt, Equinox is built to do more so you can focus on the game. Feeling lucky? You should be. Meet the new Lucky One Sweet Tea from Miss Peaches, the vodka drink that's positively doing good. Made with real tea and real vodka, non-carbonated, it's 100 calories. And here's a scoop. Their new sweet tea is the only vodka-based sweet tea on the market. Simple ingredients in a smooth, full flavor that makes it taste just like the real sweet tea. Best part? Every can helps rescue dogs find their forever homes as they work to a goal of donating $1 million to dog rescues in 2026. So if you love true sweet tea, this one's a no-brainer. Pick up a Lucky One Sweet Tea today and give back one can at a time. Me and Ryan have been officially welcomed. To the jungle that is Bosco Sports. I brought it toward the Coyotes and I asked them if it was okay if I joined the Spit Chicklets podcast full-time. Ryan Whitney, you got a pink Whitney out there now. I need a sandbag or get that on camera. Keith Yandel, the song man. Keith is a full-time member. Marley just got an assist from Chris Bates. Whoa, we're buzzing right now. Song. Song. Welcome, everyone, to episode 602. 365 of the Spit and Chicklets podcast. That's right. Pinkies up. Yance, I can tell you're back in Florida, which means summer has come to an end almost for you. For me, I got about 10 days till the kids start school for biz. I'm guessing maybe another three weeks in BC, I'm hoping for you. Either way, wherever you are, whenever the kids go back to school, if you are a 21-year-old going back to school, pink Whitney's where it's at, right? If you're just trying to enjoy these last few days of the world. Warm, warm, hot weather. Grab a pink Whitney, throw it under some ice, throw a little soda water in there, whatever you choose. Some people mix it with, like, mixed can drinks. I think that's a little aggressive. That's what my mom did one time. I saw her pouring a high noon into a pink Whitney on the rocks. I was like, ah, mom, I don't know. She's like, no, it tastes great. Is she going to be our next sandbagger guest? Holy shit. So shout out pink Whitney. Shout out the pinkies up movement. And guys, I guess we can. So let me say this, like, happy for everyone who works in hockey right now. It is just the time to just kind of recharge the batteries. I know July and obviously there's still some some things going on. I mean, the Detroit Red Wings haven't hired a GM yet. Kind of waiting to hear news on that. You would think that would be relatively soon, but everyone's kind of just getting ready for camp. I know players are really ramping it up now. And guys within within teams, they're getting a couple few couple weeks, I'd say, of just like, all right. This thing's going to get going again. That's kind of where we're at. I'm excited for hockey to come back. I'll really be excited. Like September 15th. That's kind of my day. Usually like, all right, this thing's coming soon. But hockey news, there's not a ton of stuff going on. There really isn't. That's nice. Don't get a little break. What's nice for these players is normally as September starts, like it's just around the corner. You kind of get the butterflies in your stomach about that. Not anymore, though. About the testing. And now they no more. Shout out to it. We got heels coming on. He talked about the negotiation they had with the alumni for the CBA. This might have been the second biggest win for the players. Yeah. Was not getting the fitness testing. These guys are doing everything in the offseason now to come in and shape like there is as fine tuned as ever. They're like Ferraris and Lamborghinis coming to camp, you know, all revved up, ready to go. And then now only what? Three exhibition games with the fact that they're going to an 84 game regular season schedule. So kind of nice. They just to kind of get. They hit the ground running. I also remember. I think we've talked about this, but the letter that punch in black, the GM of the Maple Leafs in August 1962. Can I read this for anyone who's never heard a name to this? Oh, yeah. What's the name? Say it again. Punch in black. I hope I'm saying in black. I'm like, I know he's a legend. So the fact I don't know is how to say his last name correctly is embarrassing. But the fact his name was punch. I'm guessing he was tough. I would not be nicknamed punch. I'd be nicknamed like, like, like women slap, like, or, you know, something like relative to not being a punch. I'm not a punch guy, but this is the letter. I think he's up is pretty, pretty good. Yeah, perfect. I'm pinkies up. Exactly. I'm not punch pinkies up with. So we will start our training camp on Friday, September 7th at Peterborough, Ontario. All players are to report to the Express Hotel Friday morning, the 7th physical examination. We'll start at 9 a.m. Through to noon. Dinner will be at, it says 1 p.m. After dinner, all players will, or seven, I guess. All players will report to the training at the arena at, no, at 2.30 p.m. So we called lunch dinner. That's kind of funny. That must be a 1962 thing. And draw their equipment and go for a skate. Golf will be a must in the training camp schedule. Be sure to bring along your golfing equipment. So they're giving them hockey equipment, telling them to bring their golfing equipment, which is amazing. Arrange. The arrangements have been completed for the use of the Ka-Ka-Ka-Ka-Kawawatha Golf Club Training Camp. In view of the fact that nearly all players have cars, I am assuming you will not need railway transportation. However, if you do wish transportation, kindly let us know as soon as possible. We hope that you have enjoyed the summer and that you will attend camp with the attitude that now we are Stanley Cup holders. We, wow, that was a long. We will show everybody that we deserve it and intend to keep it. I expect you to report in good condition and not more than seven pounds over your playing weight with a minimum of being able to do 20 push-ups, 30 sit-ups, and 30 knee bends. So, I mean. Knee bends? What's a knee bend? Are those squats? I think that's just like another word for squat. So, yeah. I think Jake is in. It would be insane if he doesn't send out this same exact letter copy and paste to guys because that's how you got to get your team motivated. We had a few injuries last year. So, the better your condition, I believe the less injuries we will receive. See you in September and let's make this another profitable year. That's the one thing that is still in line with the Maple Leafs. It's still a profitable year with a big playoff split. So, they're talking about the money, but times have changed now. Yes, you said the butterflies I had for testing. It wasn't. It wasn't the VO2. Now, the VO2 was the one where you put the mask on and you're riding. I think it would average 10 to 15 minutes, I want to say. And it would basically just show you like Duncan Keith in my age of playing was the Lance Armstrong. The guy had numbers, I think, comparable to Lance Armstrong. Yeah, Chara as well, right? And Chara was big time. It was the Wingate for me. Now, many people say, Wingate, what's that? Well, basically, based on your body weight, they would put more and more weight as your ride went along on the bike. And I think it usually lasted about a minute. No, it's a 30-second test. Is it always 30 seconds? But it could crush your entire day. Yeah, it was a percentage of your body weight and you would get going on the bike. And then you would basically crank it to as much output as you could do it. And then they would drop the weight. And then for that 30 seconds, they want to see how much you can maintain that power output with the weight now on there. And obviously, like throughout the 30 seconds. Like mine would just kind of drop like, like, boom, like this all the way down, like the stock market and the housing or the housing crisis in 08. But like mine was just, I came to a stop and I'm like, is that good? Like, nah, man, you're just supposed to at least be able to pedal it slow at the end. But you'd got, you'd have some freaks with huge quads that would just keep powering through. Like I remember Mikkel Bodker would dummy that test. That wasn't my, I think Doner would be really good on that test because he was a bull in a truck. Trying to shop. So Jan's actually won the fitness testing. I think at least two or three of the years when I was there. Yeah. I don't get it. No one gets it. Who knows him? You look at him and you're like, I don't get how you were a physical freak. It doesn't. Walter Norton. Did I ever tell you guys this story at the, um, at the combine you had to do the wind gate or no, you did the 32nd test and then the wind gate, but you have the mask on. Right. So I'm doing it. I puke into the mask all the way down. And then they're like, all right, you got like two minute break. And then I had to go do another bike test. I'm like, I don't know if I can do this here, boys. That's why you went in the fourth round. Yeah. Maybe it wasn't the fight in the street. Maybe it was the fitness testing. I shouldn't have went to that. I mean, the, the, the testing aspect. I mean, I never experienced the skating test, but I'm assuming with the office being gone, the Tortorella, like that's probably got you. Can you do it on ice? I don't know if those are bad. I think you can still bag skate them. He used to, he used to do the, like, whatever it was. was a test that was i think it was like 15 laps a couple different times i don't think there's anything holding holding the coaches against like doing a bag skate at the end of practice though right yeah no they're gonna get back i'm interested in to see and talk to guys after camp how much harder their skates are because they can't do any of that stuff but yeah the tortorella one ended because i believe derrick step on because you know if you're skating around 15 guys in the circle like there's gonna be big ruts and he broke his ankle and i think that's why that one ended and that's also why um similar the hurricanes canceled testing a while ago because i think justin williams yes the game seven tore his achilles in a test doing a test so it's like you see some injuries like that and you're like all these guys are coming in shredded they've been skating since like a week after their season ended so let's just realize that these are fine-tuned machines now and not guys that only have to bring their golf clubs and no hockey equipment well to the catawana golf club in peterborough ontario so g wrote in the chat wasn't wit really good at testing but like when i was in pittsburgh with you ours was probably even easier than that letter you just wrote we've told this story many times many times yeah just an incredible incredible day of my first pro testing of um yeah it's a push-up max and a sit-up max and a body weight squat max uh go over there and tell me how you did and i was like oh my wait what they don't even watch and scuds is like do not say a big number because next year you're gonna have to beat that number i was like oh okay perfect came back i did 55 push-ups great job and then i was like shit i probably only could do 35 i don't think that was no i think i just didn't listen to scuds the veteran but the pittsburgh testing was comedy it was comedy and and i guess that that the times have changed i mean who knows we could go back to that day at some point i'm guessing not considering guys are making 19 million dollars to play hockey now they're probably going to be in the next year or probably going to be in good shape but um and the owner was on your team and the owner was on the team the owner got yeah the the owner getting you out of the bagscape is that's that merles was that merles or you that was with um edzo was the coach and it was just yeah it was mind you it was a tough day we'd already had the scrimmage we had a very hard practice and it was carcillo at eight in the morning center ice well before the scouts had their coffee um and now i mean you talk about the salaries now we got guys trading cards going for more than what guys were making back then okay so i wanted to mention this and i'm glad you bring it up so the news broke that macklin celebrini has a card out there right now that is worth 1.2 million dollars it just went to auction now 1.28 million all right so it's the highest public sale for any non-wayne gretzky hockey card ever according to golden auctions and it's one of one it's one of the outburst gold parallel of celebrini's young guns rookie from the 24 25 upper deck package the owner bought the box hoping to get a base celebrini young guns after the phenoms performance at the olympics with team canada i i don't really get the whole card business is wild because it is booming right now incredible market it seems to be there's there's chant there's youtube channels about it it's everywhere i don't really understand like obviously it's an investment and that would be worth more in the future what would you guess the highest selling hockey card ever cost i bet you a wayne gretzky rookie mint is like four million yeah i would say four pretty close 3.25 was the highest but is that a wayne rookie card it was a wayne rookie card and that was that was recently right like celebrini's in his third year wayne already finished his career did everything like it's fucking crazy that celebrini is already going for this i know he must have been told that information before he had that putt against me get all his money apparently it was it was valued at like just under half a million bucks but just because of the booming in the card industry it went to auction and then it ended up going for the number it went for right it's signed it's not signed sign might make it worse worth less that's how yeah that's a weird business is do you guys get like a cut of cards and do you have to sign to a certain like card business because there's what i got was um upper deck and i still even had it a few years ago but then i forgot to send them back so they probably gas pipe me on that but you would get a certain amount of money to just sign like 500 cards now funny enough i have a card out there there's a sydney crosby rookie card or no there's a ryan whitney rookie card that somehow the the signatures were messed up and it's got crosby's signature on it well that makes sense people have said to me i'm like why do you want that it's me but i guess his signature on the wrong card makes it more valuable now are we talking well he was signing your checks too right i mean yeah exactly that's what i'm saying maybe that's why they know this guy only had a career because of the guy whose name is signed on the card so like that's kind of the special factor in it but that's been sent to me many times actually it's probably worth i'm going to say 100 bucks a little short of 1.28 but there are nine all around none of my other cards are worth 100 bucks wait i wonder if it was you know how when the seekers are out by the bus or whatever i wonder if you were like behind him and he signed it just messing around because you know i think it was one of those little strips right it's the strips we yeah there it is and then they send them in that is unreal that's you hey dude that's the same face you made in family feud that's family feud face unfortunately i think that's quite that's a kind of a common face my wife said to me this weekend she's like stop giving me the family feud face because she like asked me to do something i was like she's like get rid of that family feud face with me so i did laugh at that um but yeah that that card i don't i don't get it i'm not spending that that dollar i know i i think it's such a ridiculous thing man imagine spending one point you know 1.3 million dollars on a piece of cardboard it's just weird i know weird to me the pokemon cards have gone mad again too yeah this is a this is a trend since covid where you know people were bored and there wasn't much to do where cards started going like on the rise i thought it would teeter off a little bit but you can't you can't imagine it's going to stay where it is for very long i'm pretty sure it was huge when we were kids right like the card collection and trading and all that stuff and then it took a serious boom or and then now it's back up i guess now merle in classic merle's the mush fashion i believe he said he was huge into cards like you know it was like all he did besides play hockey was collect the cards and he was huge into cards and he was huge into cards and he was huge into cards and he thought he had like 3 000 different cards saved and he's like dude i definitely had some pretty legit cards in there and he went back to his parents house i believe they'd thrown them all away so that's another just merle's like he was kind of first he's never wrong he's just early could have got his furniture for his house boys i was going through my my parents the worst thing that's ra's card oh but dude there's some unbelievable yeah it actually fell off but i mean i got like ray bork rookie cards and i was like oh my god i'm going to be like oh my god i'm going to be like oh my god i'm going to be like oh my god i'm going to be like oh my god i'm going gretzky cards joe sackick autograph a ray bork rookie card ray bork rookie card in here i i forgot that i used to collect these like i have every team organized like the devil i have every devil's player every bruins player every red wings player i forgot how like intense i fucking did this i had a um pages here i had an eiserman rookie card mint can mint condition because it was in the little plastic wrapper then i put it in the screwdriver case you know i put it in the screwdriver case everyone had the plexiglass one i don't know what ended up happening i don't know what it would be worth i think it was opg remember opg that rings a bell but i wonder if i ended up fumbling that getting rid of that or losing that somehow but um yeah i was into the cards i just i don't really get spending the dough on the cards i don't understand that but somebody got a celebrini for 1.28 million and if he does what we pavel burry rookie card that's gotta be worth something right is it mint it's all about the condition of it though yeah what's the p what do they call the psa weed with that thing at plummet state ruined it just tearing a corner out of it to put the filter in his joint why is this rayborn rookie card because it's berets why is it missing a corner on it it's the original russian gas how about this card though rod brindamore shirtless doing a push-up that's gotta be worth something boys come on yeah that's a pinnacle that's a good look how many years had he played in the on the back to be doing that rookie or 95 96 it only shows that season i think he he was in the league way before that right yeah i believe so i let's see brindamore rookie year my guess is 87 there are some horrible card remember some of the pictures you used to have to take some body i had one where i'm getting like hit from behind like it's just it i know i have some i have one where i'm reeling the net and my legs are as straight as humanly possible and like my feet are two inches apart i'm like i don't think that's the form you want when you're trying to like beat a four check around the chopstick dance around the net my favorite one i think you're a rookie card not bad that's sick hey i think it's biz is one that maybe it was just a photo and his uh chin strap is undone so it's clearly in warm-ups like action shot no but you You have a great one where you're bleeding in the middle of a fight. That's a cool one. one i don't know is that a card oh is that just a picture i thought that was a card hockey card bissonette hockey card it just sees him like putting his fucking apple uh his ipod together in the locker room making a mix for the game i gotta find this or he's pouring a bottle at like the w he's that wet republic with that type sparkler so it was actually me hitting peros but this has to be the worst card of all time that's you're throwing the hit i know but look how it's like a i'm like when you come over the red line and warm you i don't that's not the that's not bad no there's got to be some like i remember that some of the old school baseball ones would just be like a guy standing there blowing a bubble like there was some bad not even like an action shot like just like when you're saying standing there and they're like all right do this i'm gonna put worst hockey card yeah do baseball i have to i was reminded of this um that's pretty bad oh my god roguey yeah that's i mean that's he's got a big old head on him huh look at his chest lettuce too that's unbelievable it connects to his beard in the neck the hair the hair the hair is kind of it looks like almost like amish looks like a he kind of looks like the guy in old country for old men who's running them all down it looks like that guy too no country for old men and the joker had a baby this one's kind of sick oh i remember that one i remember upper deck pavel burry sitting in the la uh on an la beach with his rollerblades on that was it you was it you who told the story about uh about a guy who was it was he he was supposed to play in la and he said he had a groin injury it was scottsdale and it was a basketball game it was a basketball game it was a basketball injury and then the bus drove by as he was just rollerblading along fort lauderdale right i thought it was scottsdale just rollerblading along just getting a nice skate in when he couldn't play back injury this is means his russian uncle madonna oh my god lift that up everyone searched dave cricks chris call chris call left wing flames that's unbelievable that's straight out of slapshot that guy i don't know if the audio listeners are gonna love us describing ed wrench ed lynch yeah the card the card game i mean look at this mutant oh my god who is that mel bridgman straight up killer right i could i could do this for three more hours what are you googling just funny oh my god worst hockey cards look at wit please everyone look up don mosey what team is that pitcher this just in the city i think it's on the side of his head i should mention by the way we got a shout out john marino who signed that great ticket this summer he was i think he was a little upset with us he's like i got 36 bucket points last year and these guys are mentioning me as thinking i was dan marino so we might have been looking at john's stats from the year before when he was injured and didn't have many points he had a hell of a year and deserved every penny so shout out john marino for sure guy hell of a player oh was it did he shoot you a text about your comment no i heard from somebody else he called me like well tell your fucking asshole buddies on chicklets to check the stat sheet i actually had a really solid year what's 36 points nothing in the nhl that was key that was yeah i love his game um another thing we have to mention um the bob does sports guys they dropped our video for anyone who hasn't seen it i think keith said one of the funniest things i've ever heard joey cole cuts is standing over a ball like just into the fescue and says oh my god what was that that scared me and keith like in 0.2 seconds says what was it a salad he's he a good yeah good one but yeah it was you know it means it's a good one you know it's a good one if all you got is a good one and then i'm driving with him i said joey i think you look great but like that's fucking funny as shit and even your own teammates were killed over laughing another part that i missed was i wouldn't have came out of the fescue no i would have walked deeper into it children the thing he was scared of bit me but the other thing you said dude he had the black socks on and i believe you said what do you own your own skateboard company something like that fab five i mean all that mattered all that mattered though is we we beat him again that was four in a row we've played him four times and because of that we get a shrine in their office and the new bob does sports uh it looks like a pretty sick fun factory they got going on there they did the whole one stream there they got all the fun games we'll have to go in there and like put it wherever we want yeah they they see the game and they're like oh my god we're gonna win i said that maybe we would do um like toilet paper dispensers no as as like make the shrine where like every time they're in the john they would see it they would hold the toilet paper thing but i think that that's because they just don't want it out front and center for everybody to see they don't they don't yeah and i don't want to be reminded and that's that's stolen valor from didn't big cat do that to uh will compton they made like a shrine in the shitter yeah so that i told i told them that you can't steal somebody else's idea and i believe in that we said it on camera that it's got to be front and center like when you walk into bob hq yeah yeah which i i thought they agreed to at the time but like i said the dog caller um the dog caller thing pasha made that that might have that might have ruined a relationship here or there i think all things are mended but they weren't thrilled with the dog caller they uncollabbed us they uncollabbed because of the because of that um yeah yeah i could actually get the guy who made the wendell clark uh jersey with the leafs like who wells the metal we could get him to do it maybe if if you guys are down i think that's the play because that thing is awesome i know you quit the leafs but you got the wendell clark thing in your office there it's phenomenal and would it just be our jerseys or like our faces he can i don't really want my face on there not gonna lie if we could just go my jersey and my name that's good enough for me um the whitney name can be be living in there forever it'd have to be like a little pink whitney shooter yeah on there yep for sure now and a lot of people have asked who do you want to play in a sandbagger like the most i want crosby and mckinnon really bad again and because there's three of us now i really want marshawn i think you would do it i don't know well actually he's in the news too because he he had to get surgery and remember he was all banged up and i'm sure he just tried to rehab it most of the summer it turns out he doesn't need surgery and i mean that team's so loaded not a not a big deal and you saw i mean he had three surgeries the year before the summer before he came back and then was traded and then should have basically won the con smite that year and won the stanley cup so he'll come back healthy will he do it i think if sid asked him i mean you can't really say no so we basically need sid and mckinnon on board that is the one i want just bring it back full circle we've added a guy they add a guy and then we go toe to toe and if it wasn't marshy who would be the third with those two who else is from hell that's a tough one i mean you know those are like hall of fame all-time great players right yeah we get malcolm i think marshy would do it yeah is marshy much of much of a golfer actually i know i'd what i want for my third because there needs to be a connection to one of them and um two times sid won a stanley cup with phil kessel so if it's crosby mckinnon phil then i'm looking at like our all-time biggest i bet you phil phil doesn't want to come on the pod but i bet you'd do a bagger there are there are a lot of guys who aren't interested in the pod but we'll do the we'll do a bagger because they're probably i don't want to sit and talk to those losers but i'll play golf for free biz biz who would be yours with those two guys no no different three oh like all together my dream oh he's like page again yeah i just not with me and you though it's just him and page um he's motorboating in a five-star hotel she's like ah where's the course oh don't worry oh that's a great question i got one i got one celebrini smith and joe thornton oh that'd be a real good that would be good oh they're in and and could they get joe to do it with them if we they said they said anytime they have two days off at home during the season come out they'll line everything up and and they'll give joe the ask i forgot about that it would never happen but i but i would say wayne tom and and mj and they're all they're all they're all in florida the three goats that would be ridiculous i don't even think wayne and tom brady are that crazy to think it's just The MJ's not doing one. although he could be like i'll do one if that idiot whitney will play me in another match so i can get another free bunch of dough from him another louis duffel i show the one time um well we could talk to glenn healy about this we didn't but we did chat about a bunch of other things because i'm sure he has some great alumni ideas for sandbaggers but i think it's time we throw it over to him we also have another very special guest this episode big jim veezy many people may know the name jimmy veezy from his son who now plays in switzerland holby baker when at harvard good friend of keith and i and his dad is an all-time legend like i love the guy we sat down with him for over an hour so we're gonna throw to that after we throw to glenn healy and we got ra's world let's catch up with him and i gotta shout out a very special baseball 12 year old baseball player who's an enormous chicklets fan i'll save that for after but right now glenn healy is uh pleasure right now to be joined by a reoccurring guest this has to be three four maybe five times our guy the man who runs the nhl players association glenn healy what's going on buddy should i should i do my best ryan whitney of the answer ready what is your best ryan whitney i'm here no he's doing your family i was hoping that didn't air in canada didn't air in canada i sent it to him wait i'm telling you 543 nothing like what's your favorite color you didn't even get that right heels heels buddy i could have had 10 minutes before that buzzer went off i didn't have an answer for a difference between a player and a regular man and on the beach this weekend a kid came up to me and he was like hey ryan he's probably 10 or 11 and then i was like hey nice to meet you and his dad came over he's like he loves family feud he couldn't believe how bad you were i'm like that's how he knows me you know you could win championships and stanley cups and trophies and you could win trophies and play for 20 years in the nhl and that's what you'll be known for in i know i know even even gretz even gretz told keith that's why i never i would never go on that show i don't even want to risk the chance of that happening i know that's what he why he's the great one and i'm the pigeon well we do have one of our uh one of our gentlemen uh does some stuff with this jerry d who you probably see yeah he does the canadian yeah the canadian he's a comedian he's you know he's he's quite funny he's very entertaining he's got his own show on cbc and he does the canadian version of family feud so we have thought about doing the family feud up north of the 49th and so any time that now after watching the results of your group we are willing at any point to fly the whole group up first class and take you on mano a mano head to head and uh first question goes to and the answer is well here's the thing i'd love to do it with these guys because they're not exactly mensa candidates either like they we could get some r.a might be our best guy it's like okay we're like whoa you know we're gonna have to we'll have to have like those uh earpieces in like the un yeah he said boston the answer was boston the translation anyways look at when those things happen um you know it's not a big deal though do they no they don't no they don't no they don't no they don't have a pretty historic year with like everything that went on i mean uh he had the the rollerblading on the highway into the saber chug and then what was the other huge moment you had before that it wasn't good it was bad and i don't even what was the other i don't know i'm sure grinelli has him listed grinelli's gonna try me i mentioned it to him the other day heels did you see me chug that beer out of saber sword in the first round when i was gargling the sword look at um i i will say this uh courage is certainly something you're not lacking in uh but then again hey you know i've watched the show and i've seen guys wear like diapers while they're watching the olympic gold medal game like i've never seen that before uh yeah maybe a president or two has had a diaper on but i've never seen it from like a sports star i've been anyone know anyone's house outside of the window looking in you know and again the only one voting for canada which we should have won the game easily but but i don't want to go there but anyways uh you guys it's been a historic year and don't stop please you guys keep it going because whatever you're doing is working damn well i might and it's been a historic year for you guys that's kind of what i wanted to catch up you guys are doing so much which as former players is awesome like the amount of uh get togethers i saw the all the golf tournament highlights like that's one thing but you've had a million things going on and biz had mentioned to me one of them was can you explain what's happened with some of the money for the health insurance because we were on a golf trip keith and i with a bunch of alumni and it was it was a great discussion mainly pumping your tires and everyone with you that's that's just doing a lot for former players well uh thanks like the golf tournament was historic yeah you know it was funny how the hall of fame brings out all the trophies that i've never won or will ever win isn't that wonderful you know great yeah there's there's the cons my though there's the vesna there's the norris they're they're all there um you know at one point uh glenn gretzky was taking part in and somebody asked oh where are you from he said i'm from branford and they're looking at the trophies and they said wow branford branford that's uh now you wouldn't think the natural progression would be that's where wayne gretzky's from because his name was on the trophies 87 times and the guy asked him do you know a restaurant in branford by the name of like how stupid is this guy so he's not coming back to our golf tournament glennie will but not him uh but that that was that was great uh yes we talked about this a while back when we sat down uh in toronto we talked about it when we sat down in chicago and we had this 30 000 foot dream and idea of how you know as players we deserve a better tomorrow than today and health care certainly should be one of them you know we are in a lot of ways our bodies are like humidity right 60 but it feels like 80 kind of that temperature and so we were the only sport not to have it and we went swinging for it and maybe the first blush was spitting chiclets and me going on uh your airwaves to send a message to people to say enough we we we deserve better and for gary who has done a great job with the nhl and bill and marty walsh now with the pa uh it's time to put the last brick in the wall and so the 30 000 foot view of what we talked about years ago and what it would cost and thank you guys for your endeavors to push for this uh we we're down at ground level granular uh and thousands of players now have health care and a lot of it started with a discussion we had and many discussions we've had with the league and the player association but i'll give all the credit to the players these meetings didn't happen without a lot of players taking part and we had everything from uh bobby or who showed up and meeting in boston with the players association pretty hard for marty walsh not to help bobby or when that's the only picture in his office uh as former mayor of boston uh same as at the national hockey league level uh again numerous meetings with gary and bill who've been great and gracious bobby the most entertaining was ty domies not good to start meetings with threats but somehow it worked for him and worked for us uh but we're there now we've arrived we're all growed up now and we have health care for thousands of players and their family i'm proud of that and i'm proud of the fact you guys were a big part of this happening because you started the ball we made a little snowball and created a snowman and eventually we created a tsunami and that tsunami led to a lot of players getting help and hope so thank you to you guys i think merles was pretty vocal about it as well when he would always come on and on a game note so um i know you're grateful for what you guys received this time around was there maybe certain things that that you guys like didn't get what you were fighting for and maybe hope to get in the next round of cb uh cba negotiations like what is one other thing or a few other things that you hope to get um the next time around if you didn't receive it this time so break it down just a little bit uh okay the one thing i wanted to do i wanted to make sure that everybody got something whether you played one shift or a thousand games you deserve something there's a lot of guys that toil their whole career in the minor we can't all be spoon fed like wet you know we can't all just go right to the nhl i was in the minors for a full season during the lockout though oh you you were trying to get your bus license and you're driving the bus do you got your dz license that was it let's be clear so anyways you're during the lockout it took a lockout for him to go to the minors okay yeah uh anyways uh so there are guys that toiled the minors and played in the nhl and they deserve to have something so everybody gets something every player gets a family doctor maybe not a big thing in the u.s and canada we don't have family doctors uh and that's important every player gets a mental wellness professional through zoom every player every wife gets a mental wellness professional every kid of every player gets a mental wellness professional so somebody in this world who's played one shift everybody gets something and that was important to me and i as a a long time minor league guy then for the guys and the league and the pa set a parameter of 400 games then they'd get a lot more than what you would normally get in a bucket so dental uh anyone have their own teeth on this call? The answer is no. And so dental was important. That was the number one thing. So from dental to screening for blood to prescriptions, these are all things that are included in the guys that have made a full craft of their career. We created this plan based on the four Ps. I feel like an infomercial, but price was important, clearly, because yes, we didn't get all we wanted. Price was important. I have to make a penny into copper wire, but we needed to be proactive. We needed to get on top of our skis and prevent things from happening to players and their families. We also needed to make sure pre-existing conditions, they were not part of it because, you know, we all have something going on in our backyard that we're not happy with, whether it's diabetes, hypertension, cancer. So they're excluded. So no matter what you have, you're in. So proactive, preventative, price, and preventative. Pre-existing conditions. And we provided that in this group. We also knew that there's players that, you know, financially are distressed and there's catastrophic reasons why they can't afford certain medications. You have cancer and you can't afford it. It's not covered in your plan in the U.S. with your big, beautiful bill. Well, we have an ability with the PA in the league to cover those players that need some help. So everybody who's played one shift to the guys who play 400 to the players that can't afford it and didn't make that mark and didn't, come up with the benchmark. 400 games is what exists now. Biz, it's going to be 200 before we know it. It'll be 100. And before this is all done and we have two more teams in our league and we've got more expansion, the players that have paved the roads for us, the current players to drive on it. And trust me, they're driving on an Autobahn right now because of what we created. Then this will just get expanded. Marty is on board with it. Gary's on board with it. I'm not speaking out of school here. They're not going to call me and complain. And then the other big, not to be too long-winded, but the wives are important to us. I think they're the COs of the household. And I think when a transition happens for players, it happens for wives and we make sure that they're taken care of too, because if it's not right in your home, it's not right with you. So, you know, this is just a start. It's a great start. It's a thank you. It's our Christmas day and it's only going to get better as time goes on. And the players have been the ones who've created that tsunami. And maybe it started with that little snowball from you guys. So give yourself a pat on the back. Heels, what kind of, I definitely want to give them the credit too, because they got it going. It was something that even when I was still playing, I would talk about it with younger guys, like, Hey, to pay 30,000 a year in your health insurance, like you got to make 80, whatever it is. So it was definitely these guys who had a big part of it, but what, um, what kind of got it over the goal line? Cause it seemed like something that had been talked about for years, right? So what kind of gave it that last push over the goal line? Well, I think showing up with players and it's not looking at this as numbers, right? Looking at this as real life stories. And I can tell you my real life story. So when I was a kid, I grew up in Pickering, Ontario, you know, um, world renowned for eight nuclear reactors, not exactly the best place you want to tell your family to settle as you're bringing up a family. Okay. Unless when, you know, things come to an end, you don't even want to know what's ended because you're the first to know. You don't want to know what's ended. You don't know what's over. Boom goes the dynamite. So that's where I grew up. When I grew up, there was a player, his name was Joe Cowell, and he got drafted by the Buffalo savers. And Joe was a guy to me when I was 12, I wanted to be Joe Cowell. You know, he got drafted by Buffalo. He, he didn't drink out of the Stein like Whit did, but he was drafted and he bought a, he bought a beautiful sports car. And I was like, wow, can you imagine good looking big guys, sports car? I want to be what I want to grow up to be. Well, Joe ended up dying on the streets or was, was going to die in the streets of LA, six strokes, no teeth, wearing a diaper. And our social worker went down to get him off the street so he could die in a place with dignity with his family around. That's my hero. That's not what I wanted to be when I was his age and he passed away, but that's a real life story. And I think whether it's Bill Daley, who has a hero or Gary, who's got a hero or Marty Walsh, who has a hero, everybody's got somebody and maybe it didn't turn out to be perfect for that player, but that doesn't mean we should just discard them. We have to take care of them and we've got to make a better tomorrow today. And in a $7 billion industry, we can do that now. And I think that's I, the emotional side to it, the names, the faces, the stories, I think made a big difference in pushing this across the line. That and the fact that there was an abundance over a hundred players that took part in these meetings. So it wasn't, it wasn't, it wasn't, it wasn't a big deal. And I think that's a big deal. It wasn't me walking in by myself with a flag. It was everybody taking part. And what's funny is like thinking back to playing when CBA negotiators are going on the first people you're like, ah, fuck them are rookies. That's kind of, that's always, all right, they're fine. They'll figure it out. And then the next group always was the alumni. Cause you're in the league and you're playing and you're like, I'm, I'm invincible. Like this is never going to end. And everyone feels it. And that's why Keith talking to younger guys that helped. A lot. But I think finally you get older and you're like, oh my God, like I just, I never thought this day would come. And I'm looking here online. It says 8,700 people have played in the NHL. So I can't imagine, I can't imagine for you, you must get a lot of calls from guys that most people don't know their names. Cause they might've played 10 games or a hundred games, but you must be fielding calls constantly on guys that are, that are going through a lot. And that's when, as a been lucky enough to do something after he was done playing, it makes me feel, you know, it makes me feel bad. It makes me feel like this is a brotherhood and there are guys struggling that you're hearing from. Well, you know, the way that it works with our group is, and there's guys on this call that have called me for help to say, I know a teammate, I know a guy, he needs help. It's always a teammate, a player, someone else who calls and says, this guy's looking for a better tomorrow than today. Could you please help? And we do right away. Or a wife that calls and says, I want my husband back. Something's wrong. I don't know what it is. You know, there's a number of things going on in our world. Could we get the ship back on track? So it's, it's this teammanship, this unique brotherhood we have that has stuck up for one another. And that, that's a, that's an incredible thing. And you're right with, yeah, there's a lot of players. Look at it. I mean, that's what it is. It's a lot of players. What made this healthcare wellness plan so difficult because we've got players in Canada, you got 50 States in the U S you've got 1300 European players, pretty easy to get healthcare in Russia and Germany and Switzerland and Finland and Sweden. Yeah. It's complicated, but you know, we put together an incredible team and you know, when it came to the wellness plan, let's start with every social nerd that's in the, in the healthcare industry. I could get, they're all nerds. You don't want to sit with them in a room for five minutes, but man, are they going to drawn up a good script here? And I, every time they walk in the office, I hide, you know, I just push the blinds. I'm out, I'm out. Uh, but we needed them and we needed our social work team to come up and tell me what we needed. We needed the players to tell me what we have to build. I'm no expert on everything. I kept Google on my phone. So clearly I need some help. And that's been important. And then when we sat down with all the team doctors in Florida, a number of years ago, I asked them, what are the current players need? Cause I'm building it for us. I know what, Hey, I know what we like and pretty clear with, you know, just come up, hang around with us for a weekend at all-star. We can figure that out pretty quick. Um, but what about the current guys? What about the guys that are just going to play this year? What about the celebration? What are they going to need when they're done? And so we had to build it for them too, because they are going to be an alumni. We're going to get 143 players in, Ooh, about another couple of weeks. None of them know it. Yet, but they're coming. And I got to make sure that road is, is as equally paved for me as it is for them. But the bottom line is this, uh, you know, the Ottawa senators, when I played the first couple of games against them, they were the worst team in the league I've ever played against, uh, could pretty much play a game and maybe wear my suit under my gear and still leave and be at the bar and not sweat. Okay. That team was sold for whatever number of millions of dollars, 50 million. Just got sold for a billion dollars, 950 million because of the players that paved the way. And so the owners get it, the league gets it, the PA gets it. And as a unique brotherhood, we get it and we help one another. So it's a long way of saying, yes, there's a lot of players, but when the phone rings, there will be an answer and there'll be help and hope. And that didn't exist when I came on board. I've heard you joke about it. You're not the smartest guy. You went to Western Michigan, but it seems like you know how to surround yourself with smart people that get shit. Done. Right. But what, what's kind of been like the biggest thing for you and hiring people and having people around you that, you know, helped with all this? Well, you know, I think, uh, when it comes to NHL players, I think we deserve the best. We were the best at what we did in our craft. Uh, the most elite in the world. I mean, look at 750 players playing the NHL. You know, if we were to take the best 750 doctors, we could probably put them in my office and that's a small group, but they deserve the best. And so when it comes to people, um, that work for us, the players deserve equally the best. And so players and people that have come out of the woodwork to make tomorrow better. And today for guys, it's been pretty good. pretty easy to find. You know, it starts with our chief medical officer, who's one of the best neurosurgeons in the world, Dr. Gazam, and it just filters through there. And most of the people that are working for the players, you know, they've worked for teams for 30 years. They've worked in the social work industry with the highly and most addicted of all people for 30 years. They've worked with wives in a tragic situation for 30 years. So it's not like they're a group of people that we're going to give a tryout to. No, those are the guys Witt's talking about, the rookies we put in the CBA and dust under. No, this group came well-heeled, well-oiled, ready to work and ready to make a difference. And, you know, you don't have to tell them how to work and when to be here and how to do things. If anything, I've got to tell them, you know, half a day at Christmas is okay to take, you know, take that half a day, you know, it's seven days a week. It's all day long. And I can tell you, there's so many nights. When, you know, I'm on the phone and my wife will go, you know, it's 11 o'clock. Would you just leave those people alone? Well, tonight's not the night for leaving people alone, but it's easy to find people that care, have a big heart and are really good and want to make a difference for us because we entertain them. And we're a very highly afflicted, unique brand that is the best of the best. And so I'm happy to stand by that flag all day long. And for perspective, like how many calls do you think you're getting a year? Just from former players or former wives? Like, do you, is there like a number? Yeah. Like we're probably helping in some shape or form about 500 players right now or wives. So it's a lot, uh, but it's manageable. And I think with this wellness plan, uh, again, the four P's like, so proactive and preventative. So we're hoping what we do is we get on top of our skis and we get these calls down. Like we get where players, you know, here's an example. There's a player that, um, um, had heart surgery. Just recently that heart surgery was created because that player had a infected tooth and that infected tooth because he didn't have dental led to sepsis, which led to a collapsed valve, which led, led to open heart surgery. Unique thing. How about we get the tooth fixed with the infection before we get you on a table for open heart surgery? What a unique idea. But if you don't have dental and you don't have the money to go, and you know, it's going to cost some money to go and get that taken care of. Now we're getting proactive, preventative. We get that taken care of. Likewise with hips and knees and shoulders where there's incredible pain. And I'm a guy who's sitting with two fake hips. Uh, and you know, don't wait 13 months, two years to get a replacement if you need it, because you're a crappy goalie, get it done now. So you don't get on sleeping pills and pain medications. And then now you're battling another addiction. So I think what we're going to do is try to find a way to get proactive, preventative. I've talked about this. All of us, it's like a triangle, right? And the top of the triangle would be acute intervention. So that would be where, you know, you have a player that is in rehab and needs to get help like immediate, absolutely immediately. Okay. All the stuff around that you want to build up, uh, whether it's the, the taking care of your family, getting transition programs, financial literacy, all that stuff. So we invert the triangle. So we don't get players rushing to the top and that's our goal. Proactive, preventative, and let's invert the triangle. And I think it's worked for the most part, but the more help that's there, the more calls you get. But for the most part, I don't think we're getting the big calls that we got at 1.7 years ago where, oh my gosh, you've got to release the army. We're getting on top of things now in a lot better way. And a lot of it is players talking to players and the unique brotherhood that sticks together and, and is seeing things, hearing things and saying quotes. And that's been the big difference. Yeah. That's what's awesome. Because if you, if you wait too long, right? Like if you can get ahead of it, that's the biggest difference. And I think even for any former player listening that, you know, there's, these guys are proud people and sometimes they don't want to ask for the help, but anything that you're struggling with, and if you need a job, like you might not get one right away, but all you guys can at least push these people in the right direction to try to really kind of tackle it as a team. And that's what I like, because I think when we talked seven, eight years ago, that was when you were getting some real kind of hurricanes and just storms that were already so far beyond what you could help with. And to hear you say that now you're getting, you're getting told things earlier. That's like the biggest thing that I've heard for you in terms of getting ahead. A lot of the, the big battles guys are going through. Yeah. And, and that's, uh, look at, you get on a call with a player, uh, typically is a couple of minutes of, you know, chatter, like what we had before we got on and started recording. Thank goodness we weren't recording. That was, uh, Oh, Oh boy. It's hot in here, isn't it? Uh, but anyways, or maybe you were, and that's going to get really hot in here. Uh, but anyways, uh, you know, uh, when you get with a player, typically it's a little bit of chatter and then they unleash, you know, we, you can talk to me or I can talk to you or biz or where any of us, right? Yeah. And we can talk to you. And, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, and, we understand we're not going to judge. We're not the unwashed. It's going to be me at some point where I'm going to need some help. And the better I build this yellow brick road, the better it's going to be with, if I need that help or my family needs that help. So, um, and, and player to player, there's nothing better. Uh, there's nothing like having a peer who's been through what you've been through, you know, to know, like, to know what it's like, the hardship of having to go to the minors when there's a lockout and the entire season is, is shut down. That was for you with, uh, but anyways, it, there's nothing like player to player peer to peer. And I, it really makes a difference, uh, because you know, you're talking to someone who's been there and done that and has, and has gone through the same thing that you've gone through. So it's made a difference. He was, you mentioned, uh, the players, the active players playing right now, kind of helping and having their say. And I think the NHL is unlike any other league that they respect the guys that paved the way for everyone, probably more than any other league, but, you know, kind of just talk about what the, the younger guys in the, in the league right now, or maybe even the Crosby's that are still playing, but it's been through so much. Like what did they bring to the table with these conversations? Well, I think it starts with a Marty Walsh. Who's the head of the player association. He's a person who's been through, uh, an addiction and has battled it. He tells a incredible story about how, when in 1994, when he decided he was going to go down and party with the New York Rangers, we won the cup. And he left Boston. He was going down to New York and we're going to party with the Rangers in central park. He ended up somehow in the Cape and said, that's it. I'm done drinking. Okay. Time for me to settle down. So good on Marty for that. And then, so he understands player wellness, but he also understands that his dad who worked for union paved the way to, to create a better world for, for Marty than, and he had, right. You know, all the rights his dad fought for like us, the CBA is 800 pages. Not because the current guy sat down and decided to rewrite the Magna Carta. No, it's because we started with the first 600 pages and we've added on since then. So it starts with leadership and Marty gets it. And then it's that, how do you present it to the players so that they understand that, you know, number one, you're going to be a retired player. Number two, you might need some help. And, um, what better place to get it than players helping players. And so those are the guys that have stepped up and said, Hey, you know what? Um, we're willing to help. And, and they are, I mean, millions of dollars from their paychecks. Thank you to them is going into a wellness plan for our players. And it goes even beyond what they've just provided with this wellness plan. You know, we're working on some stuff for the widows that Bobby or has helped with that's been activated and actuated based on the current players buying in. So they understand and they know what it's like. And they also look at the guys who built the game and say, Hey, that guy was my hero. So yes, I'm going to help. So it's not been a hard sell for the current players. I think they've been more than generous. And, uh, I'm just hoping that whatever I build one day, uh, is, is up to their standard because they deserve it. And yes. Oh, we're going to talk about contracts and the guys that, you know, we're getting 19 million. I get it. But the average career is 2.1 years. Uh, there were last year about 300 and some players that made less than, you know, a million dollars, which with it, with escrow and with taxes and your, your career doesn't amount to a whole lot of money. And then when you are at 24 and in the stream without a paddle, that's a 24 to debt is a long way, uh, before, and you deserve a great life after you're done playing. It'll never be as good as it was when you play, but you deserve that great life. So like at the end of the day, I, I think the players get it, the league gets it. And we're right down the path of doing all the right things. Um, the music has stopped. I hate to be campy, uh, but we're all sitting in chairs. There's no, oops, I'm out of a chair and I'm in trouble. We've all figured it out together and it's great. It's a good spot to be in. You see the salaries now. And like the next expansion team might be two to 3 billion. It's, it must be wild for guys, you know, even older than you that are like, what was your first set? What was your biggest contract say? And then I know at times there's definitely been guys who are a little bitter about that. I don't really blame them. It's just like timing is just everything in life. But you look at people who were incredible players and it's like, holy shit. Now the league has become so successful. I get it, but it must be wild to to talk to a lot of guys that you do and hear their opinions on what these guys are making now well you look at part of the problem that we've had for many years we had alan eagleson as the executive director of the nhlpa who went to jail uh that's a that's a pretty good place yeah that was a tough career here we go what do you want to do when you're done go to jail and that's a good spot yeah uh so 25 years of that flop and what do you get uh a lot of players that you know uh we necessarily in the collective bargaining side of things things weren't done the right way for them and about them it was about something else and and we've read the stories and we get it but again like for me i i take in that rear view mirror off my car you gotta look ahead and we gotta understand yes their pensions weren't good that's why we have supplemental gifting which is not a pension but basically doubles these guys pensions and that was brought about by pat flatley and ted lindsey yes i came came along and carried their bags but those were the two guys that fought for this and is it good enough no it's not good enough that's why we're not stopping there and we're trying to get the widows taken care of and trying to make sure that a wellness plan is taken care of um once you're done playing you know this the cba you're not really allowed to collectively bargain for retired player benefits so things are done out of the goodwill and goodness of your heart and so as a result a lot of the things we can't play catch up but these guys should know and they do know we revere them we don't forget them uh they were going to honor the past and we're going to make sure if they need some help and they've got that help but i can't take the clock back and then say okay let's start in 2026 and the salaries are are what they are they are extraordinary uh but at the end of the day um we just make sure that the guys that pave the roads um we're going to make sure we take care of them that's the only thing we can do because i don't have a time machine if i did i go back to collective bargaining i think i'd be punching john ziegler right in the face but that probably would get me back in jail where the other guy went so i ain't doing that um as far as like transitioning out of the sport and like finding a new job like how does the p uh the alumni help in in that regard like maybe whether it's becoming a fireman or like it's just sometimes hard to find that next thing after you've gone from pro sports and playing hockey your whole life or you're pretty one-dimensional and don't really know the world yeah it is hard like we all transition every one of us right we're not when we're doing it and we're sitting having our pre-game meal and and you know biz you're going up and having the third piece of chicken and people are looking at you like what are you doing man just one piece of chicken he's got his doggy bag for the week yeah and then he's got he's up the ice cream bar like it's a you know last call no okay you can save some well i had a big bag skate after the after the pre-game skate yeah yeah so um look at the end of the day um we all and we all transition and so there are tons of programs set up digitally for us and in person but more digital because all you need is a coffee and a computer and some time to sit in front of that computer and find out the things you did on the ice are exceptional exceptional and the work ethic you put in and the sacrifice and the teamwork and all those things the life lessons we learned like i played hockey when i was five my dad put me into hockey from scotland all the other canadian kids were playing so glenn should play too so when it came to that i was there to learn life lessons i wasn't there playing the nhl i mean i was 11 years old i was still with listen i was still wearing jeans underneath my pads okay jeans like dad everyone else has hockey socks what are those done i've never seen them you know yeah because they don't sell them at the legion you got to go to a sports store so at the end of the day i'm still wearing jeans i'm not making the nhl that's a pipe dream but but i i you know transition for us we understand it it is important take those life skills take that hard work and put that into another profession and look what you guys have done everyone thinks sit in front of a mic you just you know kind of look around where's the meal uh do we got enough uh drinks in here great no you gotta do a lot of homework you gotta do a lot of research a lot of travel a lot of work goes into your job and my job but as long as you take what you did on the ice and transpose that off any company in this city alone of toronto in this country of canada anywhere around the world would love to hire an athlete who can take what he's learned on the ice and send it into their widget factory their office whatever it may be and it's getting that player with structure purpose and motivated and we're here to do that we're also here to make sure the wives have that too because you know when you retire she looks at some point and says like i have had this for 15 years why don't you stop ironing the couch with your ass and go do something okay and i think a lot of that or you're in the house too much like you really need to like yeah i can't stand you being around this often yeah uh so that transition program is important for the wives as well so that healthy family and and try to find that thing you love every day when your feet hit the ground and you say have my best day and live my best life it's hard to find because you have clowned my climbed mount everest and what's next there's not a bigger mountain to climb um so this you've done it playing in the nhl you've done it and for a lot of guys who won championships and trophies and have been the best of the best it is a hard transition but um that transition just take those skill sets take them off the ice and you can live your best next life which is a long one but man it can be so uh resourceful and fruitful and enjoyable in every way you you brought out the the scottish accent i i noticed that the alumni golf tournament you put on the the kilt and had the bagpipes out is that something you do every year with paul mccartney once yes i i could actually stand by here there we go they were pounding all over the green with their fucking shoes and their oh well shameful shameful what a night he writes what a night on the bottom what a night peel regional police pipe band there we go so and highland creek pipe band now so how often are you thrown on the kilt these days a lot yeah no get it on now look at there's one thing yes uh there's one thing i love in this in this world and it's not between the pipes it's on them so i do love that i do love when we piped at vimmy ridge i love when we piped at carnegie hall with ranger sweater on i mean not many people have done that uh that was for 9-11 so yeah it's a big part of it but yeah the golf tournament um yes an absolute big part of that the uh the guys from the crash test dummies come out and play with us brian trotchy gets up with his guitar which is a fantastic thing so it is a massively big part of it and the other element that i've added uh shamefully is uh when we do our boreas storming award which is um for the the gentleman who's a pioneer courage you know we think about borey he came over from sweden when no swedish players were here and he was getting taken down by the broad street bullies and the you know the new york rangers and philadelphia fires they're all taking him down because he was a chicken shit wrong he wasn't and he was a pioneer and paved the way for a lot of the players to come so all that put together in good scottish fashion what would a pioneer and a guy with courage who's paved the way for players to come over need but a scottish broadsword yes william wallace so the players that win the boreas storming award uh matt sundin last year he gets a scottish broadsword and on it it says rise and rise again until lambs become lions because lambs never become lions so matt sundin never change but the scottish broadsword which i get laughed at in this in this office all day long and i'm going to fire everybody by the way i'm going to fire everybody by the end of the day um it's important for me to have that little flavor that little bit extra uh and trust me they love the sword when they get it they love it so one day when whit becomes a swedish resident he may get that award as well for his his great 543 to nothing uh event on family feud i don't think it made it to swedish tv it might be the one place i can go not get recognized for 543 to nothing anyways yes it's a big part of it so uh like we love uh we love that off ice it's it's it was a great passion for me and you know it was funny we would sit on the plane coming back from games and i had cory cross who i play with and i love crosser and he would have this big thick book on the war and i'd look at him like crosser you're so stupid you can't even read like what do you have that book for and he would read about one page and then fast asleep and then there would be curtis joseph who had loved horse racing and would spend the whole time talking to me about horse semen and what are the best horse to breed would be and then there was me with my bagpipe chanter playing bagpipes so like you talk about a dysfunctional team in toronto like biz you wonder why we didn't win war genius horse semen and bagpiper versatile how could we not win versatile the the old core four or core three yeah we're like beetles minus ringo he's the only one who made sense uh what do you make of matt's now uh jumping on with the leafs you got to be pretty fired up for him no yeah you know i think the biggest thing that uh has lacked in toronto for a number of years uh and i hate to use the c word but the culture has been wrong too many people allowed in the locker room it's just a sanctity of a look at we have a player app that's available for every player that you can all the players if you haven't joined on join on but we have a player app called the locker room and it is basically all our videos all our partner discounts all our wellness plan everything in one little stop one shop ping golf clubs commodore had the ping golf clubs he said it was like 70 off of four thousand dollar bag it's really it's really helping his game too we also have a thing for great clips okay the hair you maybe he should use that one 40 off that or chin strap.com for him i don't know whatever thanks mike uh but at the end of the day um that's our thing that's our locker room like no one else can go in that like and if you didn't play you don't get the locker room and that's the locker room that should exist for nhl team when you're in there and you're a player that's your sanctity that's your space so that has to change uh there's a whole host of things as this club and i think it's a great place to be and i think it's a great place to be and i think they've got their strength is their weakness their strength is they have money that's their weakness they have money because there isn't this gun against their head like in carolina you better go win because we can't sell tickets we don't win here you can't get tickets even if you don't win so strength and weakness so match will be that guy to provide that thirty thousand foot view and then chica who i i think is is a hard worker really hard worker he has an incredible iq uh he has no eq he has no social skills uh i shouldn't say that out loud but he will make sure that this staff is they're engaged and they're going to work and there will be no stone unturned so to speak to make this organization better until they win a championship and i do like those steps i like the moves they've already made like they have really changed this organization on its head and it's only a couple months in so i will say this to about matt he's emailed me and i don't know if this guy has no idea what a watch looks like but five in the morning four thirty in the morning he's facetiming me like does he think i'm up wearing my kilt practicing in the backyard well he's like he might have never gone to sleep the old heels i know well that that's happened at times i okay you know guilty as charged all right um i would ask you that question but i think it would get this as a response uh well i don't think tulsky's a social butterfly either and it worked for the hurricane so i think he could use the great clips uh code yeah but they will be they will be a much better group and i think they're going down the right road and look at they they have you know there's been mistakes made in the past but there's one thing that is is so evident here this fan base deserves it the city deserves it uh they have been more loyal than any group um you know even even with the rangers man i still remember the stanley cup finals game five they were booing mike richter like what you know they don't do that in this city really for anybody or anything at any time so that being said you know if they do have a parade here and they win a championship i will be in it now i might be playing my bag pipes but i'll be in it uh but we're now into our fourth generation of leaf fan and and and at some point they will win and this city will erupt and it will be a special moment and i'm sure this will be back he might get that diaper out from that you know gold medal game the olympics and stand outside the window banging cheering me on maybe i don't know well that that that diaper is soiled so that thing's retired but we got the rollback last question use code chickles on it on rollback.com for 20 off through the end of the week chiclets on r-h-o-b-a-c-l-e-t-s dk.com polos hoodies joggers swimsuits now 20 off heels what um what's the deal for when you guys give out the award you give out the uh borg salming award is that over the hall of fame weekend because i know keith's been up there it's pretty special time with the game and all the alumni gathering together is that when that will be given out no typically we do that uh that's a european award for european players it's done in between the global series uh the games on the 12th and the 14th the saturday is reserved for the european players and the european players and the european for the nhlpa the nhl and us to do that award essa tikkanen will be that winner uh and then last year our big award for man of the year it's been everybody who's a hall of famer who's got you know stanley cup championships uh it's it's the who's who of hockey last year was paul coffee it will be a new player this year stay tuned uh exciting news about that not ready to release it yet i'm going to do my best uh wit imitation at family feud and not come up with an answer uh but uh those are our two big awards but yeah the the one in the one in europe as we know european players they finish the game they go to europe and we don't give them enough love and it's time for us to recognize that look at when matt sundin first came in the league there were 10 swedes last year about a hundred started playing in the national hockey league the european game is big it's vibrant and we need to show them that they've been a big part of building this game so the european award our national award so to speak for man of the year those are two big ones but uh see in finland if you'd like to come and we've got a big event in halifax that fit and chiclets is more than welcome to set up shop there we got about 60 players coming in with the nhl and the sponsors at crowbush uh talk to the powers that be when is that happy that it's going to come up at the end of august uh beginning of september again open invitation you guys as you know you're welcome at every event and all of our events um but a big thank you to you guys for what you did you started this uh ball rolling with health care and wellness you helped me do it and you spread the word and man oh man it's made a difference for thousands of players already so thank you about what you guys are doing thank you wonderful thank you i got a last one heels you mentioned like the guys that you know the shoes that you've filled and you know one day someone's gonna have to fill your shoes and those are going to be big shoes to filled with everyone everything that you've done but i think it's going to be a big one but who's a guy uh that you think that could take over for you when you decide to hang them up which hopefully is not for a long time yeah you know look at organically i think it's just going to happen i think there'll be somebody who's got a incredible passion there's a couple things you need here you've got to get along with you know the league you got to get along with the pa you got to know the cba you got to have a little bit of legal a little bit of business but the most important thing that you have to have is fuel in the tank and a drive and an energy and a passion and if you have that you're going to be a great player and you're going to be a great player fuel in the tank and a passion when you're fighting for players that have built the game this is a relatively easy job as long as you don't lose your focus which is make tomorrow better than today everything you do is about the players for the players and their families in that next journey and it's not going to be hard to find look at i'm looking at three guys right here they could fill my spot in no time and come and do this job because it's all about those qualities that you guys all have and you know um i know it because i i've talked to you about other players and you've called me and said he needs help call him please and we've done it together so uh it'll happen it'll happen someone will step up and uh and that player will come in and and carry on and this is a great game and the players we deserve it we've earned it amazing glenn healy awesome guy doing a great job and and all the former players appreciate it so thanks for hopping on with us all right guys anytime you guys know it and keep up the great work uh and uh uh really appreciate the time it really goes a long way thank you thank you very much thank you heels all right see you heels do any guys listening any of you guys ever get a limp stick and i'm not talking about on the ice rougette ready is a custom compounded three-in-one ed treatment designed to get your brain and body back in action it dissolves under your tongue no pills or water needed works in 15 minutes on average why is everyone raving about it well most ed meds only target blood flow rougette ready combines cadalafil citinolafil and afamorphamine to not just get the blood pumping but help light up those arousal signals in your brain it can last up to 36 hours so no buzzer beating needed here although you might find yourself up for a little bit of overtime it's doctor prescribed 100 online and ships discreetly to your door so don't leave your game up to chance go to rougette doctor prescribed 100 online and ships discreetly to your door so don't leave your game up to chance go to rougette.com slash chiclets get 15 off and start scoring today that's r-u-g-i-e-t.com slash chiclets thank you so much to glenn healy good to hear from him funny bastard that guy's um robin williams they've yeah exactly they've done some great work i'm so happy to to see a lot of guys are um getting helped out that weren't weren't a couple years ago and that's all that's all because the alumni association all the work he's doing it i think sometimes people People are like, oh, he played in the NHL for seven years. I don't fucking, I don't care what's going on after his life. figure it out, but no matter what you do, when it comes to an end, I think most older people you talk to seem a little bit lost. When they retire from a job they've been doing 40 years, whether it's working in a wherever, an office, or doing whatever you're doing, you get accustomed to something, and when it ends, it can be difficult. So we've talked about that a lot, and Glenn's helping a lot of former players, so shout out him. Right here, the Greensboro Gargoyles, G put this in. Their schedule came out, boys, we have to come back. Last place does that have something to do with us owning part of the team? Possibly. But they got some good nights here. They got October 24th is wrestling night. October 25th is pucks and paws. Halloween? I don't even know what that is. It's Halloween. Halloween. Like the dogs, you know what I mean? Oh, bring your dog to the game. Halloween. Okay, that could be an interesting one. They have a teddy bear toss game December 18th. December 26th is Dr. Doom Marvel Night. Probably an interesting one there. And then Saturday, February 27th is K-Pop Night. What the hell is K-Pop? K-Pop is Korean pop. Yeah, all those Asian guys. They were at the FIFA. Is that the Pink Whitney song? Is that the Pink Whitney song people have sent to me? There's like a Pink Whitney song. Isn't that a rap? Oh, yeah, you're right. There might be a new one that has the Pink Whitney in it. Yeah, I think it is. So I love that. I went to a bark at the park, which is like howl at the whatever where they bring all the dogs to the Miami Dolphin or Miami. What's the baseball? Marlins. The Marlins game. And they would they would send they would they would hit the doorbell. So on the loudspeaker doorbell would go off and then all the dogs would start barking. It was unbelievable. Were they just shitting all over the place? Oh, the place smelled like fucking shit. Like a circus. Yeah, I know a dog to a big event. That's that's tough one. They need the fans there. They don't get I don't get the some extra valium for that one. He takes some sort of medication to just calm him down a little bit. He's been great since we got him on there, though. I saw this story. I thought you guys would get a kick out of this or I'd love to hear your opinion. Do you guys know Jaden Daniels, the QB of the Washington team? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Number five played. He played at LSU. LSU just I'm sure paid a lot of money and got in this big recruit DJ Pickett. They gave him number five, which is what Jaden Daniels wore at LSU. Apparently, Joe Burrow, who played at LSU, won a national title at LSU, wore number nine. And I don't believe you're allowed to wear that number. He said they would never give it away after he wore it. All time clip of him running out to senior night with Burrow spelt the way they say it in New Orleans with the EAUX. And I think the beautiful cheerleaders are bowing down to him. Very handsome guy. They're the best team in the nation. They win it all with one of the best offenses of all time. Well, Jaden Daniels, I think he snapped. I believe it was reported he told LSU they can never use his name or anything in recruiting or videos or I don't know. Basically, he banned them from using anything to do with him at LSU moving forward because they gave out his number. I kind of was I thought that was a little bit of a bitch move. You never you never won the national title. You were a very good player. I almost look at it like an honor that a kid wants to wear your number. So I didn't really understand that. And then he got Grinnelli. Did you tell me he got carved for it online? He got absolutely carved. And I think something that people forgot is Jaden Daniels actually sat out his final college game. It was a bowl game in 2023 that he sat out. Well, I don't blame them for that. Yeah, well, it's like don't act like you're like you live and breathe LSU LSU football till you die. It's like, I don't know. It's it seems like it was more about the Jaden Daniels. Him sitting out that game doesn't help the resume as far as like, oh, yeah, like, okay. Yeah, that's it's like Joe Joe Burrow is 16 to know one of the greatest college football teams of all time in 20 in 2022. He was 10 and 4 2023. He's not in three. Like let's not act like he was this like he won the Heisman because it was an off year. In college football. Well, he had a great rookie year and then I believe he was hurt last year. Daniels. He's a great quarterback, but like what he meant to LSU and what it's not even close to what Joe Burrow had the best quarterback season a college player has ever had. That's it. That's it. It's crazy. Did you see at LSU everyone wearing number five in practice as like a few to Daniels? Oh, they almost gave it back to him a little bit. Yeah, yeah, they're which and even like I get it maybe in like the early 90s if that happened and a team's making money off of you after you leave but Jaden Daniels probably made good money in college. Like now that these guys make money off their NIL like it's like dude be fucking excited. People want to wear your number and get back to the school like that. That's such a bitch move. I just think if you're an NFL to be a third a second overall pick and then go on to a great rookie season. You have this insane contract. It's just so petty to me. To then be worried that like they gave out your number. Go win something. Go win a few Super Bowls and then you can get your number retired. You'd have to get PFT's opinion on that because Caleb Williams, nice little run in the playoffs. He does paint his nails, which looks ridiculous, but he looks pretty good for Chicago and we have Drake May because Washington selected Jaden Daniels second. He's going to need his guy where PFT is a guard. I don't know. That's what is their nickname? Commanders. Commanders. Commanders. So I was thinking of the other team that got rid of. What are your expectations for the Patriots this year? I actually have no idea. I guess their schedule is very hard. I like watching the games, but I don't know much about the team. I would think there'd be somewhat of a step back considering they had apparently the easiest schedule in like the history of the league last year, but you need a QB in the NFL. That's my opinion as a ball knower, as a junior ball knower, or maybe just a real JV ball knower. We have a QB, so we'll see. Excited for the games to get going. Last thing here. Pat McAfee released an album. I have to listen to this. People are furious about this online. Don't really get why. I've seen other ESPN employees really pump the tires of the album and then just get brushed by just very mean-spirited people on Twitter. I'm going to have to give it a listen, though. I'm not going to sit here and chirp a guy for making an album if he wants to make an album until I listen to it. What type of music is it? I think it's country. What is G saying? Les Mascots 2.0. What is that? I'm just saying all of ESPN is getting behind this and promoting it, and it's not getting the best reaction. Kind of like we all promoted Les Mascots, didn't get the best reaction. I enjoyed it. It'll shut out for coming out of your comfort zone and trying something, I guess, but as far as the album's concerned, Les Mascots, I actually enjoyed, but that's a discussion for another day. You love Les Mascots. I don't need to get Dave back on here giving it to me again. What was it? Oh, and the K-pop song is actually called Pinky Up by Cat's Eye. Cease and desist? I don't know. Maybe we want them saying that. It's K-pop. It's huge. Korean pop. They have to perform it at Chicklets Cup live, and then we call it even? Only if R.A.'s leg's bleeding again. I think we can throw it to Jimmy Vesey now. Great guy. I think everyone will really enjoy this. Big Jim Vesey. Guys, we're going to talk about DraftKings for a second because something big is coming. On September 2nd, DraftKings Game Day arrives with massive deals, exclusive offers, and an all-day celebration built for sports fans. The countdown has begun. All roads lead to Game Day. The DraftKings Sports app is now live in all 50 states, and that means from Texas to California to Florida, every fan is in on the excitement. One app, every sport, all 50 states. DraftKings Game Day is yours. Remember the date, September 2nd. DraftKings Game Day is the kickoff of a new season, a new era, and the biggest day in sports history. Get pumped. Yours truly may even be involved in something September 2nd. So get ready to celebrate. New DraftKings customers, sign up with code CHICKLETS, spend $5 to get $150 in rewards within 14 days for all markets. That's code CHICKLETS, C-H-I-C-L-E-T-S in partnership with DraftKings. The crown is yours. Bet with DK Sportsbook. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER. 1-800-MY-RESET. Connecticut, call 888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org. On behalf of Boot Hill Casino in Kansas, bet tax pass-through may apply in Illinois, 21 and over. Void in Canada. Event contract trading with DraftKings predictions involves risk of loss. Availability varies. Predictions offer void in New York. Bet to get bonus bets that expire in 7 days. Trade to get predictions dollars that expire in 1 year. $50 in rewards issued every 7 days via click-to-claim for 14 days. One non-withdrawable reward redeemable. Greenwide based on Sportsbook predictions and free-to-play sports contest availability. Varies by state. Terms at dkng.co slash offer. Limited time offer. It's a pleasure now to be joined by a very, very special man. A legend around these parts. He's been around pro hockey, I don't know, 40 years maybe? Even longer? Big Jim Veazey. Thank you so much for joining the show. Hey, Whit, Jens, Biz, guys, thanks for having me. - It's true, bud. a spot i texted me on that i said you come on he said let me know when so so i mean we kind of got to get in your entire career obviously your son jimmy played for a long time he played in switzerland this year you played at merrimack back before merrimack was even legend merrimack legend i mean biz senior year 40 games 40 goals 55 assists 95 points college hockey college hawk that's unheard of but grew up in charlestown a little younger than buddy correct yeah he's dead mike and jay you grew up with mike and jay and jay's my age jay's probably 15 16 days younger than me and uh we got a text from your kid saying hey if he says anything stupid you better cut it hey i've already been one but i call him dad i've already been one by my dad he's telling me what to do now like i don't know so you didn't like one of the podcasts i did i said you shit me you couldn't grow up the way i did were you a maniac though oh no just times we grew up in charlestown was nuts yeah i mean we had our share you know i mean but not like the way my kids grew up yeah definitely moved them out but he'll know keith uh keith will know all his uncles the way we grew up was in charleston at the time was crazy you know it was one square mile but nobody wanted to live there they say oh you live in charleston now everybody lives in charlestown it was healthy you know i mean you know i say it wrong too yeah nobody wanted to live there before just because why it was a tough town a lot of stuff went on there like sometimes you couldn't get a cabbie to drop you off in charleston come on was that bad it was that bad then yeah i'm telling you yeah i'm telling you it was bad how did you start getting into hockey i mean granted everyone around there played at that point i kind of want a little know a little bit more about what it was like growing up in charlestown it was just a inner city right we own the gardens we're in that building every day we can get any soakers bruins game through the roof everywhere we know that building back of my hand plus so you were never buying tickets no no everyone everyone worked in the bowl game you know how to sneak in i mean so how many people would they be packing in the building 15 would come running in but there ought to be another 15 guys already in there so how many like during big playoff games it must have been like there must have been 2 000 too many people probably yeah but we knew when you ran you know what section the charlestown section was the standing room everybody was there you meet up there yeah and then the guy working there wouldn't when he wouldn't get you out sometimes you knew the guy sometimes they change but they let you go but one time we're going celtics we're playing the sixes game seven when birds era we went up to the roof to go in all the stuff of the dogs were there and we were like oh my god we're going to play the sixes we're going to play the sixes we backed us right down the fire we're back out the door yeah we didn't get in that game celtics is probably another level yeah well we got in a lot of those bird games we're going to our larry bird games against the sixes the lakers wow okay so i just watched a documentary on when the pistons were trying to beat them and how they brought in that like well lambert was there and how these these games were physical yeah the bad boys of detroit that was a nickname yeah that's when guys used to take the basketball to the hoop bird and john they get knocked on their ass now today they want to shoot 70 freaking three-pointers yeah yeah not a great product any longer although i do like i'm a wemby guy i am i just started watching the finals i actually like the kid yeah yeah you know it looks like the next might be they haven't won since 73 it looks like they might pull it off but i do like that guy yeah europeans are starting to come into the basketball though they're starting to become the better players in the nba so was it hard for you to get your chance and like playing hockey was there like a local league like a local team started in charlestown youth hockey bobby or rings right the bobby or when he come around they started putting mdc rinks all over the city so the inner city kids could have a place to go we just had a roof there was no sides so it was freezing but we didn't get to play um like the islanders triple a travel team like the king wouldn't get that no you thought split nice with people what was it was it ice whenever you wanted though no we couldn't get ice no really it was tough because everybody wanted to be bobby or now yeah so ice was right there like even people before his father and then they would have to go down to lynn to find ice and stuff like that was no ice it was scarce which split ice in the youth hockey so we get half a sheet crazy was did it develop your small area game better well we played ball hockey every day the kitchen cut like the ball hockey was we didn't play roll high we played ball hockey so when you play ball hockey against another corner it was like the bruins canadians like it was you want to kill each other you know so we fight everything oh everything we that's where you learn a lot of charleston guys right can all stick handle we played ball like our whole life that's all we did but even going back to charleston i know like my grandfather didn't play hockey all the kids did a lot of like the older crew you know it's one square mile i always say all roads lead back to charleston you can say pete neandle the kachuks grandparents the fitzgeralds hazy hazy tommy fitz tommy fitz corner gauntlet's mother's charlestown oh really i love garland i used to play in the youth hockey he's a he's a funny bastard too yeah he that's where he started you know his mom's a charleston lady so then in so you're born in 65 yep all right so before you obviously buddy yandel and then jack o'callaghan's older than you so then in 80 you're 15 watching a guy from charlestown like you're already diehard hockey at that point oh we watched that it was on tape delay i remember leaving the charlestown rink where public skating that's when you just get on there people would skate the rink would be mobbed could no sticks just public skating then we ran home to catch the results but when they won that 80 olympics i remember being on the monument waiting for the uh limousine to pull up chasing and he come out of the limousine oc come out of limousine with silk wow and he got out of his house right on street people everywhere everywhere mobbed right so what's that 80 so it's what 13 years old right i did the math right keith you're the math yeah big time yeah so chasing out there seeing oc come out you know seeing a kid from charlestown winning the uh gold medal was on the label just like this year for all the young kids watching olympics this year you're gonna see more guys and talk we were already into hockey but i used to fall mark for the oc at bu that was our team charlestown's team was bu even how did you not end up at bu talk to jack jack parker recruited us he thought it was crazy right because my sats were back you are a little you are oh i could only imagine my sats were 620 noon's had 610 i thought i was doing brian noonan i thought i was doing dynamite right i wasn't doing dynamite right i wasn't doing i don't know i think i probably got 500 sign your name right mind you his son went to harvard yeah oh that's my dna but yeah but i couldn't get into bu that's where i wanted to go okay so he wanted you big time bc brought me over there all of them brought me couldn't get in billy cleary said between your sats and brian noon's combined we can't get one he was a visit i think keith might have done better than the sats where were you where did you play high school christopher clemerson nothing because forced busting started mike was there jay got thrown out and you got thrown out yeah i would have definitely paid you for for a bc guy oh no no no no no no no no no no no you is city kids i feel maybe i'm forgetting a couple people city kids growing up in boston they went to play to bu yeah they won the title interesting where and where is boston college in the greater boston area too it's it's it's chestnut hill it's not it's not like downtown like bu is okay now try to who who at bc is from my dad bu just buddy handle oh shit actually i can't think of one of the rhythms from charleston um hayes the hayes boys one of the fiddlers joe fiddler he went there the mark and mike yeah i shouldn't have said everyone but more so is b it was always but that's when they had uh snooks kelly snooks kelly loved the uh city kids jack looked up mark fiddler because he was just a little old hung around my cousin so we we played our home games at columbus at the old walter brown rink so fit and oc would come in throw sticks in the dress room i had to practice would be all psyched having sticks so when i was playing anytime i seen guys i was clearing out the dress room to all the sticks of the dress room for the kids because i remember they did that for us yeah you know we'd walk from charleston to bu even why why there was nothing you could do to get the grades up like because at that point you're like oh my god i gotta go to merrimack or i know i couldn't get in the merrimack ronnie ronnie anderson who was a bu guy won back-to-back championships 71 72 72 73 on those two bu championships he's a monkton kid uh ron he was a merrimack guy he somehow got me into merrimack said ronnie get me in the door and i'll do the rest i said i just don't test well i don't ask ats he got me in and the rest was history ronnie had to go up and get all the canadian kids so we had jimmy a rib neck by the nhl goalie uh ben waller ball ricky peon we had good canadians guys ronnie couldn't compete with guys going to be you see he had to go outside but he found them ronnie was a hell he got three cups with the hawks as a whatever hell whatever his title was it was a little higher than that okay he was with deal talent then he was with bowman oh yeah so he had a lot he had a big influence but hell of a coach you know so my senior year we lost a north we beat northeastern they were the hockey eastern being part champs we beat him during a regular season it was a two game total goals we lost the first game five three next night we're down three nothing that means we're down five goals we scored seven unanswered goals to beat them wow in matthew's rink but matthew's arena had more people from charlestown and merritt we had a bigger fan base because of you so then we had to go out to lake superior state and i think they only had one loss in their building we beat them the first night four three the next night we lost they went on to win the national championship yeah we're that close okay so you had you had 156 plus 30 186 points in three years what happened the junior year you didn't play where's that at merriman oh they don't have my stats i don't know i played oh really yeah so you probably had would you have that 60 another 60 it's a good one sophomore year my sophomore year had a good But yeah, junior year, I went from first-team All-American to second-team All-American. I had a little down year. Not down, but I was like 58 points. I left with 240-ish points in college. Something like that, yeah. That's some of it. And then who were, like, when you got there, like, were you one of the better players right off the hop? I was nervous, but I couldn't even play there. But Merrimack wasn't, like, the big time. No. Ronnie started turning into that. Ronnie just took his second year when I showed up. What league were you in? We were independent. So when I was senior year, we were independent. We had to play all the teams to qualify for the Nationals. The next year, they went to Hockey East. Okay. So that's how they built. You had something to do with them, getting to Hockey East. Absolutely. Yeah, Ronnie. I always say Ronnie and the guys he brought in. You know, but we had a good club. Like, we'd beat anybody. Like, we'd play anybody. We'd beat anybody. Did you feel, like, almost like a bunch of kind of misfits that were there? Yeah, we used to use that. Coming into our building, the dressing rooms were tiny. The visiting dressing rooms, Merrimack. We'd say, fuck them. They're coming to our building. Fuck them. Like, this is our house. Yeah. But me, I didn't know other dressing rooms were that nice, because I only see Merrimack. This is kind of a dumb question. Where is Merrimack? North Andover. Yeah, it's about, I would say, 35 minutes. 20 minutes. Okay. No traffic. No traffic. But I live in North Redmond. I used to think I was going to a different state when I was going to Merrimack. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I come home. First week there, I hated it. No, you were done? I was quit, ready to quit. And you were, like, typical Charleston. Charleston, didn't want to leave. I'm sure you had guys come up there with you. You can't be alone. No, 100%. But the first week, I don't have to be alone. People are playing hacky sack and all that thing. It's back now. That's back. Hacky sack. I was a big hacky sack. I'd never seen that thing before. They got credit cards. The only times we had credit cards, they weren't us. You know what I mean? So I'm up there. People got money and everything. I'm like, I'm coming out of Columbus. Were they playing devil sticks, too? Playing all kinds of crazy things. Remember devil sticks? So Ronnie Ennis, I go to 125. I'm home. My mother said, what happened? I said, I ain't going back there. I can't think, right? I'm playing ball hockey. Next thing, Ronnie Ennis shows up down the cage in the projects. I go, what is he doing here? He come down and got me. He didn't come down and kiss me. He said, what are you doing? I said, Ronnie, I don't fit in up there. We grew up in a tough town. I'm 20 minutes out of the town. I'm lost. Wow. I'm lost. I went back because the first day I showed up, everybody's showing up with these big boxes with clothes, sheets, and I showed up with a little duffel bag. You didn't have shit. Nobody in my family went to college. My mother and sister dropped me off. I'm laying on the top bunk bed with no sheets, no pillow. I said, what the fuck am I doing here? I went home. When Ronnie said, I said, I got a sleeping bag and a couple of pillows. Then eventually when the hockey started, I got to know the guys. Like I said, there was a ton of guys up there all the time. We had a lot of fun up there. Guys I'm still lifelong friends with today. That's awesome. You're a hockey lifer. Now you work for the Toronto Maple Leafs. I love you and Chris Bork. You travel everywhere together. Oh, shit. Borky picks them up, and then boom, they drive everywhere together. Borky picks them up. I pay for everything, Tom. No, no, no. I wasn't saying that. Is it your credit card still or no? Yeah. No, no. I love Chris. I call him Peppy. Good guy. I know he's your age. You guys. Yeah, but we got very close with him. And the funny thing, he lives in North Reading, right? No, I live. Yeah. Oh, yeah. That's nice. We're close. Thank you. I got one there. Okay, so Merrimack, you have this incredible run, and then the next year you go to the IHL, the Peoria Rivermen, which ended up being an AHL team for a long time. 93 points in 76 games, 47 goals. You get a couple NHL games. And then the next year in Peoria, 91 points in 60 games, another 47 goals. What was stopping you in each year you got some games? Yeah. What was stopping you from getting? Was that the point where Americans still were maybe? Kind of. In your mind, you think that had something to do with it? Maybe a black, not blackballed, but. Back then, like when I went to camp, right? I remember there was only like two scouts. It was Teddy Hampson, Bobby Plague, and maybe Patty Janelle from out west. So I went there. I didn't know anybody. It was only like three or four Americans. Brett Howell's dual. So it wasn't Merrimack. I didn't know any. I didn't know the Western League, the Quebec League, the Ontario. I didn't know anything about that stuff. The only thing we read was the hockey news, but I had no clue. So. So we went there. I first thought it was like the 10th forward. You want to get dressed 10 guys back then for forwards. And I didn't know if I was getting shipped out. I was in a road. I was playing with Ron Flockhardt. Remember Ron Flockhardt? You old Philadelphia Flyer? No. Flocky hockey. But next game, he's gone. He said, the hell with it. He's been in the NHL his whole career. He takes off to Europe. So I'm still there. Finally get in. They put me up with Cliff Larning and Dave Lowry. I had a fight out in Denver. Scored a bunch of goals and everything. Next thing, Wayne Thomas, the coach, calls me and says, you got to call up. I go, you shit me? You go, what the fuck don't you understand? I go up to St. Louis, get games there, went back down. But back then, there was no, hardly no American GMs, scouts, player president, hardly no American guys in the camp, you know? But my knock was my skating. I wasn't a good skater. But if I blew right in, give me the puck, I knew how to score. Mark Stone. What's that? You were like Mark Stone? I scored for that kid because he can't skate. Yeah. He plays with his head down. Oh, yeah. He plays with his head. That's why I always pull for him. But that was my knock. But I knew wherever I was, I was going to produce. And I ended up playing one on the line with Michelle Mongeau. God rest his soul. He passed away. He played with Lemieux and Juniors and Dave Tomlinson, not the one from BU. Oh, okay. T.H., who's one of my best friends. We had the MTV line, who they consider one of the best lines ever in the minors. We had a great line. You know, we ended up eventually winning the Turner Cup my third year. First year, we had Chase a twister. Oh, my God. Oh, my God. As young guys coming up, right? Oh, my God. You had a fight because I was big. They go, where'd you learn how to fight? I said, the twister. I said, I'll bring you to Charles. I'll show you what it's like to learn how to fight, right? Yeah. They all came. They learned. We're all about Charles because there's no social media. We would get killed our first year. But they'd shut it down. They didn't want to blow us out too much because the game would last until the next day because of fights. Yeah. So we had Lyle Oline was lent out to us by Montreal. I used to call him Raymond after Raymond Barque, right? He was minus 64. The next year he was in the NHL. About two years later, he was the head of the plus minus thing in national hockey. No shit, eh? Minus 64. Something like minus 48. Raymond, that's okay. Keep on going. I used to call him Raymond. Had he lost part of his finger already? Yeah, he had no finger. He used to stick it up when he fought. Okay. A little nub, yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So we had a tough, tough team. But we kept on getting better. We had Curtis Joseph, Dehe Beer, and Pat Jablonski, three NHL goalies. Cujo went up. The year we won it, he went up to St. Louis. I mean, he was good. Somebody got hurt. They brought Johnny Blue in because he needed the money. Remember Johnny Blue? Played for the Bruins, a goalie? Yeah. He'd come in, play for us a little. So we always had good players down there. And Bobby Plager, who was our coach, he was in. He's a legend, everyone said. He never touched the cup until he beat the Bruins in 2019. He was in hockey since he was 18 years old. Canadian kid. He had three. Jersey's still behind Barrett Jackman. Yeah, Big Bear Jackman. It's raised, obviously, in St. Louis. And when he passed away, really emotional time. He was your coach. He was our coach. Old school guy. Players coach. Old players coach. He led the charge. Off the ice, right? And on the ice. Really? Yeah. As long as you saw that play, right? He was what you're drinking, but you had to come and play the next day. If not, he wouldn't give a shit. He wouldn't care if he was down in St. Louis. Well, when you said you played with Lyle Odeline, I would imagine if he was going even half as hard. No, he was just starting out. He wasn't going as hard as he did later on in his career. Like when we were in Pittsburgh. He got corrupted by these guys. Yeah, yeah. We've told this story before, but Odie, he brought me a bunch of girls after training camp. And next thing you know, we're ordering dinner at 1030. I'm like, this is training camp. That was normal. He was just a vet, like a veteran. The old normal day was you go out for lunch and you're still there at midnight. That was normal. Then you got to show up at the prize and go, I'll have to do this again. No, no. Two days later, you're doing the same thing again. Don't get sucked into the Odie lunch. So that was cool. So you got to experience winning a championship there in the minors like that. Yeah, that must have been a fun run. Were you playing in like weird places that don't have hockey teams now? Like where were the weirdest road trips? Muskegon, Kamazoo, Flint. I can't wait to get there. We were in every Saginaw, every town you can think of. Our closest ride was Milwaukee. We must have played them 16 times. That's a fun city. You want to talk about a great city, but want to talk about Brown when some of you play 15 times a regular season. You know, they give us meal money. They'd wait to have to lunch. So they put freaking change in the meal money. So they have to pay us for the whole day of meal money. You know what I'm saying? Right, right, right, right. Then they come in the room. They're like, yeah, it's 11. Get in that room. The other 11, get in the other room. Two hotel rooms between the whole team. No, but it was that. It was bad. It was bad. So when you see the guys in the NHL getting treated the way they are, but now even like the minors now, you get treated. Guys getting paid good, too. Yeah. Yeah. It's going to be a big change. What were you making that first year in the NHL? $25,000. Oh, nice. But it probably felt like a lot. Yeah, it probably felt like a lot. Because I remember showing up at training camp, right? And everybody's like, oh, here's the privileged one from college chasing all these guys. Thought I was a fucking privileged one from college. Like, I'm a college fucking thing, right? Meanwhile, I'm waiting to see them to get a per dean check. I have no money, no credit card. Never had any money in my life without a credit card. I'm living on the fucking, what they're giving us for meal money. Right. So then those guys start to get to know me and became lifelong friends with them. You know, I remember Twister got married. I had to step in as his best man out there when he first got married. That's how, yeah, that's why when I pull into St. Louis, Twister will never let me go. He'll pick me up, drop me off. Wherever he is, he'll come. Somebody said that he's like borderline genius. He's like Stewie Grimson. They're both intelligent, intelligent guys. Twister, I always say, out of all the guys I play with, off ice. He could fight too. Oh, I heard that Twister, like if you got caught with him in a back alley. Yeah, I heard if you got caught with him in a back alley. He just like looks like one of those guys when you look into his eyes, you're like, oh man, if this guy's wires crossed. Plus he can put the leg up and put a foot, break the fucking jaw. Yeah, he fought violently. But he's one of the nicest guys. I know he acts bizarre, crazy and shit, but he's really intelligent. Yes, yes, yes. I heard he's so intelligent. He has like a company there. Yeah. Doing well in that glass company. Yeah. He had a couple of bars back in the day, but that's what I told Brett Hull when I was on that podcast. What's it called? scottians yeah i remember when how good traded over when it was just brett we walked down the game to the st louis colleges holly didn't know he's gonna be like he'll tell you he didn't know how good he was gonna be he was just trying to figure it out you know you trade it over next thing how he's scoring 70 80 goals i mean right then he can holly right i mean but he'll tell you be the first one he didn't know was was um uh oh god i'm drawing a blank on the guy we just said the twister was he the toughest guy you ever played with yeah he could hurt you yeah he could hurt you yeah he was young then and chaser was young i mean i probably had 15 majors him and chaser those guys probably had 30 majors oh you were fighting that much yeah okay interesting because you were big and big people challenged me like a college pussy you know all that shit right i think i had 137 147 minutes yeah yeah those were all majors i wasn't running was it hard because you really i mean obviously you learn yeah on the ice you were probably doing in the streets growing up a little bit different oh totally different but the only time i ever really cut was my first time in your game i fought steve thomas i gave him too much respect stumpy stumpy uh he cut me over my eye the only time i really was cut because i was nervous because i'm in the angel instead of fight my fight i said i don't care after that whenever i fight win lose or draw i'm fighting the way i know how to fight you know i mean stumpy was pretty tough too i didn't realize how tough he was because i gave him too much respect but meanwhile i get the animals down the mind as you're fighting i remember paul o's we had a toe-to-toe fight you guys remember him he played in florida yep i didn't know who he was this was in the place toe-to-toe fight he was in the fight fight i i wish i could pull out the tape i feel like i won a fight he broke my nose i didn't know we had a brawl and a half i remember trying to find me and it was better i didn't know who the hell he was yeah you know what i mean yeah because sometimes i remember hearing all the grim reaper we're going on yeah i didn't know the grim reaper that's the thing is all of a sudden you're playing these guys from the western league i hear every story after well i hear every story from the western league i used to fall asleep wake up and finish some harkin story i already know the other thing yeah i love that army that is army he's been on a plane with the whole team asleep and he's still like and then right near that third game three nights we had all westerners there right now i used to finish the story from toughest guys in the world but i did get along with all the western guys yeah they were no they're likable but yeah oh yeah it's funny they think they're the toughest guys in the world we uh everybody else had it easy except the western i was i was a show hl guy yeah yeah we were called pussies probably yeah so every time i see oh no but chaser i i got him a couple times i said hey i think now he's gonna make the all-star team i already knew he go get the fuck island yeah yeah chris right he goes yeah you find i said put 100 up he goes i'll take 200 i go take 200 i already knew the answer he got a name coach his pick didn't he yeah millbury put him uh another canadian was it uh scrooge lynn or something but uh you know chaser will tell you how you know clacks the kosher's they all go i said the mean streets of porcupine plain saskatchewan i said oh yeah i'll make a movie about that fucking time yeah the five or six of them we've because they had that softball team i said come down play our league i said i think we'll win that fucking fight no shit if we if we lose we'll still win we might lose but we'll win and you won't have your cars yeah yeah cars bats will be used everything else a little different yeah gangs gangs in new york games in boston here i always tell them the only one from the western league i said wendell clark he's the only one humble all you gotta do is like wendell's the only humble one oh he's so humble yeah he's so humble yeah he's he's so like chill tempered oh yeah it's always the quiet ones you gotta worry about right not the fucking loud pussies like me um what was it like getting called up and what was your experience like how many games did you end up playing your full career in nhl i think it was 15 i forget what can say yeah 15 who was your who was your goal against toronto in the toronto maple leaf pretty sweet spot and the end but no bernie federico passed me with four three we made a five three empty netto oh and a goal assist that game yeah i play with bernie federico and a bu guy ricky maha oh yeah yeah but then i'd get called up dricks uh drills after him yeah mickey after him but then after that he got called up then put me with craig cox and dave richter we might as well just put work boots on sat in the bench i slide right slide left two shift face on his own get off the ice franks and a skill guy that sucks it doesn't yeah i know i didn't want to play i was happy honestly you're making money but i'd be in the press box i'd be up there like a month and a half sometimes when we play two games but i'd be relieved to get sent down bob berry was our coach figure it in his mouth assistant code bagging us i'm skating with cliffy ronning and gaston jingras two guys are gonna fly i'm what they're gonna what the heck is this every day not playing i go i'd be relieved getting sent back down yeah that's how i felt sometimes like this is before even like if you're skating with your weak weak part of your guys you're not like working on no they're just bagging us you know what i'm saying and even in the summer no no you couldn't get better no he's not a good skater we didn't that that was the knock you just think that's what it is but like i talked to paul mclean you guys remember him yeah he wasn't a great skater but he got locked out he started with howard chuck like he told me the story he said i locked out i go with howard chuck yeah i mean and he wasn't great skating school you know if i ever had a chance wherever i was i could play but that's life yeah the guys were better than me they've gone even one game right yeah i mean right yeah and then i mean you got to play some games then i blew my shoulder out in the gardens oh i'll be capping a game in the past uh against quebec i could have bailed out but i went to get the puck and steph on steph on finn i think it was caught me with my shoulder and snapped it all the way back and i put six shoulders i'm gonna go on the bench i mean uh six uh screws in my shoulder i'm sitting on the bench looking twisters on the end of quebec bench laughing at me right i remember that look i go he's laughing thinking i'm all right but my show was killing then they had to wear that sour brace after that and the game became no fun couldn't protect myself you know that brace you can't get oh yeah you know guys are taking liberty kinney if i can do anything but we i played the nargo season in providence which we had a great team timmy sweeney sergey zolta clock tonatelli jamie huskrod billy hewitt we had a tough team darren banks big daddy um darren kimball was down there for a while another tough kid kimby i i think we've hit our name limit yeah those are all guys i'm so friends with i think i play with every freaking tough guy the other thing no i know i was always full of tough guys i i it feels like almost fictitious some of the names you're saying here big daddy yeah well big daddy's banks you guys know banks right he's out there with baggage running hotels out there joseph stumple was on that game 92 glenn murray okay even for you growing up in charleston playing at the garden that must have been incredible like you know i was working i worked the pros snuck in yeah no i snuck in the game yeah but but i worked the gardens i worked the pro shop in high school to the bull gang and eventually played for the brolins that is wild in my whole life but that providence team was good yeah who was the co-oc was a coach right so you got uh did you just like love the game too did you watch the game when you were not at the rink because you're obviously i had brolin's red socks celtics patriot fans but i mean more so like the game of hockey like because you you're now a scout like you just love watching hockey are you like a hockey obsessed person you know what during covid that was the only thing i was looking forward to was watching hockey thank god that had the hockey on yeah but do i still love hockey i'll tell you sir when i first went to st louis i was still checking bar scores with the broins how they were doing right then i eventually got out of every two weeks you're getting paid by st louis right and i didn't have that same feeling and i'll be honest 2019 i was pulling for the blues when i played the uh broins really even though i was a broin fan because i was pulling for bobby plagger and guys like that right yeah i mean so i was a pull for them to win the cup they won it was game 71 even though i coached grizzy he was with the broins uh tuka's a good friend of mine but my hat was with the blues yeah you put you you'd put your blood sweat and tears with the organization and to see like how long it takes sometimes to build something and then and then eventually experience success and how improbable that run was yeah it was unreal they weren't really a top like nobody would have even predicted them no they fired you they're gonna fight everybody yeah and the chief almost got fired yeah and then they binnington was lent out to the province for the ones they brought up right that year yeah oh yeah oh yeah yeah he came up halfway through the year they just said let's take a sniff with him try him and next thing we're gonna fire stick boys are getting fired next week yeah they took off on a run i think that that year in training camp binnington like hung up on marty broder or was like yeah no like like basically like yeah they had to win delta providence yeah like pigeon tossed them yeah because he had imagine that run crazy no it was improbable even like when pittsburgh won their first cup there disco danny got yeah yeah i'm the one who nicknamed him he was our coach in the minor league you gave him that nickname because i played with him in phoenix because he'd do like the naked dance before the game yeah he did everything i don't know what he was he was a wild man when he played because i heard that even like even like cincinnati when he was there maybe afterwards i played when i was with him he's a quiet boy really yeah but i mean one thing i'll give that kid he'd go on box shots with his fucking head yeah he really would that kid would block shots from everywhere yeah but do you think of pittsburgh right what knows they fired a coach that yeah i don't know who was they bring those guys they stick fitzy on the bench with them next thing crosby and the boys go up in a roll they're gonna win the cup you know they were down they were down three two and that's yeah but they fight a coach that you brought disco up for the minors i mean look it's gonna happen this year it looks it yeah it looks it or even like a thing with buffalo like they fire their gm sometimes i know it's crazy isn't it not i was pulling for lindy rough i like lindy okay yeah you know that was a good series buffalo monchal really yeah yeah then you so you then you went to phoenix your last two years you played and and was it just well my shoulder is sick okay the shoulder you know what when you lose the dream the playing the national hockey league it starts getting harder and harder to play yeah especially when you're out in the warm weather and stuff like that going away what was phoenix like that and playing fans? We played the old Phoenix Coliseum there. No, we'd get like five. You played in that Coliseum? The old one, yeah. Oh, my God. Where the Celtics beat the Suns years ago. Yeah, that one. Yeah, that's where we played. You guys played downtown. Wow, that's crazy. Yeah, that old building. Holy shit. But, I mean, my wife was just pregnant, so Jimmy was there. There wasn't many people on that team that had kids. Yeah. Then I, she went home and had my, she was pregnant with my second kid, which was Nolan. She went home that night we'd lose in a shootout. I'd take a shoot, we'd lose. Keith Redman, who was a high draft pick with the Kings, is in the dressing room fighting Robbie Litt, our coach. Oh, yeah. Toe to toe? Going at it. I try to break it up. I get that sour brace off my arm, get snapped over again, I get a second up. Never played another game again in my life. No way. No bullshit. What were they fighting about? I don't know. I had no clue. I don't know. Like, I'm not playing with VZ. No, I was like, gotta come out of the bullpen. Yeah, we're shootout time. Start tapping on the back, go take a shootout. Taking a shift for like 15 minutes. Must have been nice playing there. No, it was great. But it was hard when you didn't, you knew you weren't going to have a chance to play. No, right, right. At least you get to marinate in the sun. Yeah, we had some good parties. Who was their affiliate? LA. Oh, wow. LA Kings. And the year before that, LA lost in the Cup to Montreal, so I was 93. Was it the Roadrunners? Phoenix Roadrunners. Roadrunners. Yeah. Bobby Hehouse, you know him. Yeah, Heater. No, fuck, he was there. I just did a commercial with an Old Spice commercial. I love you guys. Bobby likes me. Yeah. Oh, I love Heater. I love Heater. Is he still doing it, Bobby? No, so that's what sucks about the Coyotes leaving. Like, he just kind of. Oh, that's right. Yeah, like they didn't break. I mean, you know, radio kind of became a little bit obsolete. I like that. Good man. Oh, dude, he took me under his wing. He took Tyson Nash. Who's the guy who does Edmonton? I'm drawing a blank. No. No, not Stonk. Michaels? The tough kid. His son was on the Bruins. Yeah. Yes. I played against the father. Oh, DeBrusque. Yeah, Louie DeBrusque. Louie DeBrusque he was. Sorry, Louie. Like, to pump your tires here, I saw that you had Heater in the commercial with you. Just goes to show you just such a great guy. Oh, he was my guy. I ride for my guy. Yeah, but Biz, like, kept him. He's keeping him involved. That's good. Biz had him in a commercial with him. I like that. I like hearing that. Old Spice, right? Yeah, yeah. Heater's the best. I'm like, I kind of want to do a little bit more with the Utah Mammoth and incorporate him because, buddy, he was an unreal play-by-play. He was good. He was really good. He's got a classic, like, singing the game to him where I'm like, this man's got talent and talk about as over-prepared as you need to be. Oh, yeah. He'd have all of his ready to go. And at that time, I think he was doing more than just calling games. Probably. He might have been stitching us up, too. I don't know. He was a bus driver. He was a bus driver booking hotels. That's awesome that you had Bobby there. Who's the other guy that was used to you? Mike, um. Oh. Working you on. Office. Still out there. Mike, um. Oh, fuck. Phoenix? Yeah, Phoenix. Mike. We had Rich Nairn. He was there. You guys would know Mike with the black hair. He was there forever. He knows all you guys. He's still living in Phoenix. Oh, okay. You say his last name. Brophy? Oh, Brophy. Yeah. Oh, my God. Brophy was a silly man. Is he related to John? Here, let me. Brophy? No. Remember Mike, the guy who last named Brophy? Yeah, Bro. Yeah, he was the man. Yeah. I gotta see if I still got his number in there. I was out on the Father's Strip out in Arizona. All of a sudden, I hear my name. I go, who the fuck out here knows me? We're going in a line. It's him. I hadn't seen him probably 20 years before that. Yeah, but he's talking about all you and all that stuff, but he's still out in Arizona. He doesn't. He didn't go with Utah. Good guy. Oh, is it Mike Briody? Briody. Briody. That's right. Briody. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Mike Briody. Brophy Briody. All the same thing. I knew who you were talking about. When you were done playing, were you right into hockey? No. I went back. I had to take out a Cobra thing for insurance. I don't know what I was going to do for work. Charlestown or North Reading then? I was still in Charlestown. Okay. My wife, Ann, was pregnant with our third. It was her daughter. The apartment in Charlestown got too small. I never let Charlie go. Ann, just go find a place to move. She found a place. We moved. But I started in youth hockey coaching the kids in youth hockey. And then they had the Islanders. So the 93, I had Grizzie, Jimmy, a bunch of other guys. 11 of those guys went on, played Division I. Four of them were drafted. That's cool. Yeah. That's so cool. Yeah, because you're, so Jimmy's age group, maybe not the exact year, but it was Hannafin, it was Eichel. They were a year younger. You had the Fitzgeralds playing with you guys too. Yeah. They came up because you guys were perched off us. I gave the younger team I had with Nolan, I gave that to Tommy Fitz and Randy Wood. They took over that team. Your son, Nolan, was an unbelievable youth hockey player. Unbelievable. Nolan went to Maine? Yeah. Nolan, academically, was like me. He didn't really care. Jimmy was always smart, huh? Jimmy was always smart. You know, he didn't, it came to him. Somebody got his head, the thing, I remember he said, he'd come home and said, he's going to take Mandarin, right? I go, Chinese. I go, what the fuck are you thinking? I go, why don't you take Spanish and get a job as a cop interpreting a courthouse, right? He goes, this is the way of the world, right? I go, way of the fucking world, right? I start looking up, he's in the fifth grade, fuck, it was way of the world. Oh, yeah. So I didn't have to be in the stands listening to that. I wouldn't deal with the parents. I was hard on those kids. Myself and Mark Fiddle were the coaches. And probably pretty hard on your own kids. Yeah, I was. Was Jimmy, was he a late bloomer? No, they were good. He was good. He was good. You know, we'd go against Frankie from the Flames, you know, Frankie Bichano. Frankie Bichano, they had good teams there. We'd have played all those tournaments and we'd get to the, like, the finals or whatever. You'd do all the summer hockey, too. Yeah, we'd do some of those tournaments and stuff like that, but those guys there worked their ass off. I mean, Grizzly was a 94, but two days away from being a 93, so he's like a January 2nd birthday. The best hockey birthday. Yeah, best hockey birthday, right? We had them running power plays at 19 years old. Really? Yeah, yeah. Snapping it around. Yeah, it was unbelievable. And those kids worked their ass off because Mark Fiddle was the same way I was. Like, it was no nonsense. There was no crying then, you know, there was no patting on the back. It was like a hockey, you know what I mean? The way we know it, like today, I probably wouldn't be able to coach. Yeah. Not that I was hitting guys in that lane, but we're getting on guys. Even at a young age. That's back when there was hitting, full hitting. Full hitting right off the hop. As soon as you started. The way it should be. I mean, I'm not saying we're screaming like maniacs. We taught them, but told them, hey, you got this guy who's got to get here, get to high school, and you get college. You won. You won. You did it. Anything after that's gravy. Yep. But get an education on this thing. How was Grizzly as a young kid? Grizzly was good. You could get great ball hockey skills with a hand. We used to calm Grizzly down before games and be nervous. I said, Grizz, no matter, whatever happens, we get five guys in there all the time. Calm his nerves down. And he'd go out and dominate. But we had a bunch of good guys that played Division I and didn't play pro that were good players. So you got to see Eichel grow up and come up. I'd seen him when he was younger, yeah. I always heard about him and he's separate. He went on a team like him and Carnegie Island. Sorry about that, Grizz. No problem. On a different team like that. So I lost count, but I remember when Jimmy was in the Eastern Junior Hockey League, Eichel got called up to play in the finals. It was like, that was a tough league back then. Remember the year before that? Yeah, Walpole Stars. That was good. He was with the Kings. Scotty Hall was the coach. Yep. I forget who the hell played in the finals. Apple Corps was always good. Yeah, they were always good. But Jack was coming out and I go, wow, look how good he's got now. Really? Yeah, powerful. Okay, why? He took a huge step. Just that he could start snapping a puck and skating. He was like, whoa. He always skated? Yeah, he didn't go to skating things. Bob said he's always going to skate. You know how sometimes he looked like he's weird skater, but that kid can fly. You see me on the back checking on even what he does. It'll be a two-on-one the other way or a three-on-two. He comes all the way back from the goal and he makes a three-on-three. And it looks effortless. You do notice now I'm coaching kids and some kids can just skate. And you can do all the lessons you want, but some kids just fly. It's weird how it works. Jack just kept on getting bigger and bigger. But what people don't realize about Jack is that he's got with Boyle and stuff, he's like unbelievable strong. He's the biggest freak in the gym. The first time I saw him, he was doing pull-ups. He was 17 and he was doing pull-ups with 45 pounds hanging. And he must have done 15 of them. Who did it, Ike? Ike. And then he was hand-cleaning 325. He was a full-on freak of nature. We used to do the big band and one guy goes in it and then you run. First time I ever worked out with him, I was holding him and he was literally dragging me like I was a child. Yeah, he's that powerful. Did his dad play? No. Then I started with Bob, right? Bob's got that same kind of strength. He's ran marathons and everything else. His old man? Yeah. Oh, he's got a big motor, eh? But he wasn't a hockey guy, right? What's that? He wasn't even a hockey guy, Bob, right? Well, I played more hoop. Wow. That's so crazy how that works. Yeah, I played basketball more than anything. Look, all of a sudden, I know nothing about this game and my kid's one of the best players in the world. It's unbelievable, isn't it? It's so weird. You'd think the dad would have something to give him. No, I know. Which is probably better sometimes. I know, sometimes. My kids are like, shut up, dad. No, I grew up, my mother didn't go to games because she wasn't really that healthy. My dad died. So I never got that in the car. Yeah, right. I'd go home and say, I stunk. My mother said, you played good. You didn't go to a fucking game. My parents were the same way. Did you have a. My brother was, Tommy was older, but mostly the parents I'd get picked up. I remember my mother played in Milk Schmidt. That was an in-house league down, would be packed. I'd have my scabbards on, my mother throwing money out of the second floor. What are scabbards? Things that cover the blades so you can walk on them. Oh, okay, okay. What do they call them? I don't know. Skate guards. Skate guards. My mother throwing money out the second floor window of the cabin to take me to Charleston Rink for a 7 o'clock morning game. Imagine? And today they arrested me, but I said, we thought it was normal. Then after a while, I was getting a little old, I said, pull by the rink a little bit. I was getting embarrassed. Not that my mother did that because everybody's showing up with their parents. I'm walking. with skate guys fucking uh snorkel with a fucking hood on going to the rink you know what i mean yeah but but i live in six apartments they're all family right so i had a brother cousins neighborhood everybody played ball hockey right and the bruins game was a must watch that's when the old antennas wsbk you had to hold the fucking thing put tinfoil on the antennas to watch the game but everybody watched you know i mean i was a diehard red sox fan too i love the red sox you know i was out there when they finally won in uh st louis when you went to the game yeah both of them yeah when they swept in no four yeah yep well you play you must have been playing a bunch of other sports too i love baseball baseball i loved i love your kids playing other sports yeah they played baseball okay no one was a catcher jim was a pitcher both left and hitters they shoot left and bat left i i was righty batter and a righty shooter so they were lefties i always he's into golf now too he's getting out of the first time you remember you brought him to wall and he goes there's every hole up i know i never enjoyed it either now i wish i knew how to play at my age i know yeah um you ever get arrested uh maybe held for pc protective custody allegedly maybe yeah we all did when did you get into scouting i tell you what i talked to chaser shanny was running the team and mark hunter was there next call mark hunter and that's how i get in and okay so that's not that long 11 years ago okay 11 years ago so i was bouncing around doing on we had the rack the byron finial hall with my cousin paul that's what nhl guys oh we had everybody there did uh who would you say your your most prized guys that you think you found kind of out of nowhere as a scout yeah and what are your guys that i like that we didn't draft that went on like yeah like just where you were like i was on this guy early i know he's like a fifth sixth defense me i think he's in new jersey i remember saying hey we got to get this guy i'm sorry because i'm drafted he's drafted i meant to do an interview with him right he goes i'm gonna get drafted as a toronto kid right he goes i'm gonna get drafted i said oh i winnipeg stepped up and took a four we're gonna take my six i kept on telling my account to step up and get this guy he's had a good career in montreal new jersey he's still bouncing around kovacevic yeah the defenseman right here kovachkin yeah yeah yeah kovacevic isn't it yeah yeah we call him kovach i gotta find those guys everybody knows like first round weather people know that yeah you i gotta find the guys late round diamond in the roughs on with chris this year or last couple years with the free agents find guys like that you know i mean and so you and borky must argue about guys or do you we're pretty much we're pretty much on the same thing okay you know sometimes we differ a little bit you know how he is he likes to argue too oh yeah he doesn't give in he's never wrong he tells me i'm never wrong he looks like he's got yeah grizzle too on that but i tell you what he loves the game he's confident and he's opinionated which i think yeah he speaks up he does he speaks up which i like yeah we learned that from mark hunter don't just be yeah yeah yeah yes if you want a guy you got to fight for him you know and i remember when lou lamarillo was there what i learned from lou was stay in your lane one other guy's dress a he'll be telling you what the gm is doing you know this is how to my pay i know what my lane is you know i mean and i learned that way back then so you worry about your own job you know i mean that's sometimes everybody else is doing everybody else's job right how many games are you doing a year jesus uh probably four or five days a week from september october on i mean yeah it's nice you got all the colleges around here yeah yeah you can that's what's good bcb yeah it's not bad at all yeah that's like even like the far right adopt as a union or say me and chris went to a year uh not yale um what the hell is that cornell we got caught in a snowstorm the night before the super bowl i said chris keep on going you're doing great i have my fingers crossed my toes probably doing good i can slide it everywhere keep it going keep it going yeah you're doing good chris just get me home let's get me home yeah yeah that's what the super bowl is the next day and cooping and we're coming in they're in town for that him and uh the kid is coaching chicago nine nice guy where uh chicago blackhawks the head guy you speak cooper's assistant oh uh oh yeah well uh he looks like blonde yeah blasio jeff you're a good guy halpern was there they all these guys had a ball no why because they come down and they left alone nobody bothers them yeah nobody treats me like hockey guy nobody gives a shit yeah i mean every time coopers i go back with coop when jimmy was at those rochester's for those usa things coop so we'd be out drinking me him and clarky he wanted jimmy go out to green bay then he took the job in the american hockey league remember that yep yeah that's how i thought yeah go back with anyone there one one there one one ushl right well that was there yeah american league right got there stanley cup yeah he never did the coast right i think i don't think he did the coast yeah right from the usa yeah he coached pat maroon in that um junior blues yeah it's one of those players oh yeah before the usa yeah i think that was a north american league what do you remember about he everyone wanted him he won the whole b which is so cool your son won the hobie baker he graduates from harvard and then all of a sudden i'm a free agent every team wanted him what's crazy with that what were you telling him i was just telling him get his education you don't want to be on the bus like me merrimack's a lot different than harvard but i'm saying finish your degree at harvard okay he maybe wanted to leave early like it wasn't like they asked him after junior year to come out because he had a great junior year he was running up to eichel that year for hobie baker uh when jack won his freshman year he was a great junior year he was a great junior year he was a great junior year so i said get your degree and you don't go back for your senior year but then all that shit turned like that right and every people called were saying they weren't every team just about right and jimmy didn't know if he's going to play national hockey league it was like he hated nashville or anything like that yeah but at that point he was his good buddy they grew up playing together he just kind of did the same thing hazy hazy he didn't sign with chicago yeah but kevin was in jimmy's ear they worked out together keith and all that in the ranges and that's how that i was trying to steer me to toronto at the time because i was going for toronto yeah you know what i mean and he ends up getting there anyway but the only what i did they said you make your own decision i don't want you to come back and have anything on me right yeah you know and it sucked there's like ronnie ennis was with chicago and all that people call me left and right but jimmy made his own decision but they portrayed him as this rich kid from fucking harvard and he hates now we had nothing to do with that but i mean i think you gave him the best advice you could get your education get your education especially from harvard obviously he had a great career and money to but like to have that education he would have it by him going back to school not just the sports people all those big hedge fund people call him left and right oh yeah because it looks like he was serious about school he went back to school but the way they portrayed us is as a rich fucking harvard family farthest thing all my family long shawman or teamsters you know i mean well i think after they listen to this they'll get the message you think so hey i was already one so some things i can't think who jimmy text you whitlow you texted me my dad come on yeah he's coming on tomorrow he goes i want the ability to cut stuff yeah yeah that's your dad yeah dad tell me what i can say no so but jimmy never played he played ejhl then went to belmont hill belmont hill and why didn't he stay playing isl i said you got to get out of there right now okay play a little higher level okay it's scotty hollis before the ushl was yeah it is and he was going to go with coop but coop i'm gonna go american harkley he was going to say he's not going and coop was going to take him to green bay okay you know so we went hard now like like because you're always with borky right yeah sons of really good and now it's like you got to go you got to go somewhere when you're 14 and then you're going to now go to the quebec leaguer from massachusetts you know it's just crazy it's way harder i feel what sucks what you know you think of the canyons kids like dave tallent's woman he got dropped off to uh i forget the first junior team at 15 years old like you got you're leaving your house you want your young son there i don't know this guy's getting dropped off at that age i just don't want wish the kids are still in young kids in the bed with me you're sleeping you know and they grow up thinking about junior guys in canada those players are ready for training camp and stuff they're living a life more than we did but as you guys got young kids you know you want to drop oh my god i got a 15 year old i couldn't imagine right i know if rider was ever a like a high level hawk think about it i'd have seven more years with him yeah that makes me sick and they gone and it goes that quick look at it my kids were all from the house at 16 yeah it's crazy i was 17 which still is like even now thinking about i am so grateful that i i was i went out and i experienced i was not home so you mentioned being homesick and going home i don't think i called my parents for the first three weeks i was they must have been like jeez no but i was so the phone off the hook no it was more about that i knew that that was going to have to be my journey in order to to make it and you wanted what you want i wanted what i wanted so bad and my parents didn't give two fucks if i if i like playing hockey or not my dad i got after games great game son oh my god i was dash three i was brutal tonight like always supportive didn't really know he never told you one thing like hey you gotta do this better he just didn't know he played like league champlain growing up like basically like house league men's league hockey so he just liked it no and he's just happy you were on a team yeah learning life lessons life lessons and like something i was truly passionate about that wasn't like drugs or alcohol or anything exactly bad that might steer you on the right track so i was like oh you're in the wrong way but uh um that's i was gonna ask you about that like just getting to go to nhl games and watch your kid that must have been like the i know that's feeling like the father's trip you know it's very fast father's trip i had fun but i'm the worst parent to watch the game i'd be walking around the fucking rink when he watched the game i'd be like i'm nervous like he gets the sweat towel yeah i couldn't even watch like you know really from nerves or because you were talking everywhere and you want them to do good and yeah even regular season sometimes the tv i'd be clicking the stations off the other thing and click back and i've been hoping they won - You know what's funny? crazy. I couldn't enjoy it. I'd watch it over afterwards, maybe on a tape delay, but during the game, I'd be like, oh, you just want your kid to do well, right? Yeah, but even when he got in a rhythm and he was in any. No, like, I remember one time we were out, they played Florida and Madison Square Garden, right? He had a goal and assist, but he had a breakaway, and he went for that stupid move where you open, you got to go two to five hole. You know that move where I hate that move. I ain't going to say anything. First thing I say, what did you do with that fucking move? That's not a whole fucking record. The guy just had a goal and an assist. Yeah, I know, but I said it was a penalty shot he had. And he tried to open the pads and go through the middle. I said, why would that fuck him? Hey, so. Did he ever score on it after? I probably has. Probably has, yeah. And then he texts you after and be like, shove that up your asshole, man. Oh, I'm sure, I'm sure. But, uh. I used to go down to Worcester games, watch Nolan down there, and he was up in Bakersfield. He was with the poor kid Cody Cave in the airport. No way. Cave went one way, Nolan went the other way. Right when COVID hit and they scanned those thieves. The kid who passed away? Cody Cave. The Oilers prospect? Yeah. Nolan was playing one in Bakersfield. My son Nolan. I heard he was. Nolan's a dynamite guy. Beloved guy. Yeah. Just like wouldn't let it fly. Just an ultimate team guy. God, look at Claude Lemieux the other day, right? Oh, yeah. Carried a thing so sad. Knuckles was with him. He was telling Knuckles how well, you know, proud of him being sober for all these years. Oh, both of them. God bless. Jimmy played with Brendan a little bit in New York. Brendan Lemieux. Yeah. You know, but somebody loses a father, a husband, a son. It's terrible. Terrible. I still love our game. You know, when something happens in our game, it hits home. Yeah. Always wants it. Always will. It's a pretty. You know, as big as it's growing, it is a small world. Small world. Small hockey world. And that's like, I remember talking to Brian Yen once, and he said, you know, this guy said, all these guys I've known for years. Yeah. And I know it. I was always myself. I didn't kiss nobody's fucking ass. I'm friends with all these guys. Right. You know, and still say, they come to the boss, I'd set them up at restaurants, whatever, cars, whatever the hell else they were doing, you know? They'd be down to clubs, the different clubs in Charlestown. They all loved it. Take care of your own. Yeah. Like, I played with Sean O'Donnell. I remember L.A. was in town. Two days. They're in St. Patrick's. They had two days off. Sean O'Donnell, the green kid. What's his name? Good kid. Travis. Matt. Matt Green. Yeah. There's Briody. Yeah. All those guys down at the 520 Club, right? They loved it. But they think, I seen Greeny later on, and I was scouting. I was down in Worcester. Greeny goes, was one of the best days I've ever had in my life. That's his style. Yeah. He loved it. Oh, yeah. He's a little dog. And they had, we had the Irish dinner going for them. They didn't want to leave. You know? Speedy Wongs. Yeah, Speedy Wongs across the late night. Yeah. That's gone now, Keith. I know. It's sad. So, yeah. I mean, interesting times for Toronto. It's exciting for you now. Like, when a new GM comes in, is there like, oh, I gotta, right? With anything like that. Yeah. You know, we just had meetings like two weeks ago, and I, that was the first time I met John. Seemed like a gentleman to me. I don't know his past. I don't like that. I judge people how they treat me. Oh, yeah. Yeah. And who knows? Maybe it works out. Yeah. With any other luck. But I tell you one thing. I know he wasn't involved with the Marna trade. I guess he's playing all right. Yeah. He's in Toronto. They've thrown his jerseys on the ice. Yeah. I knew they had to break up something with the team. We haven't won. Yeah. Yeah. But the kid's a good hockey player. Oh, he's a good hockey player. He's a good hockey player. Yeah. He's shoving it up everybody's hoop, including mine. How about that game the other night? 4-0. It was great. I walked away from the TV. I stopped brushing my teeth, ready to go to bed. I looked in there and I go, oh, jeez, I should have moved. I'm superstitious bastard, right? I sat back down. They tied up. I read through the clicker through the window. Oh, no. Yeah. Yeah. Because I'm pulling for them. Like you say, I go way back with the Eichel family. Yeah. And the last time they won, we had good parties, everything else with the cup and stuff. And sometimes Jack's a real good guy. Yeah. A lot of people don't know him. That kid does a lot of stuff off ice with people that people only know. I know you guys know him, but I put Jack, and I always say this, I know the kid in Florida was hurt all year, and the kid from Copa, I put Eichel right now as one of the best 200-foot plays, if not the best in the game of hockey today. It's fair. Yeah, I think the more he does, it's like. It's unbelievable. Overall. Overall. In the league. But he's an old soul, too. Yeah. Always been. The first time I met him. Old school guy. Yeah, he's just an old soul. And he did get a rap in Buffalo. Yeah, do you know why he. He was young, too. Maybe some of the things. He was 18 years old in the NHL. Second overall pick. He's a great guy. But no one in Buffalo, from my experience, watching him, and then when Jimmy was there, he was playing 27, 28 minutes on a game in November. Everything was on his shoulders every night. They got rid of all those veterans his first year. Ryan O'Reilly had a good team there. He was putting on his, 18, 19 years old. Not a great club. Right. And every game was on his shoulders. It wears on you. When he went to Vegas, you gotta give Cassie credit. He turned him into that 200-foot game. He takes it serious. Yeah. Remember before Jack would be on the ice, kind of look like he was cruising? He was getting his rest on the ice. As soon as he went back to bench, he was tapping like it was Ray Bork. Get back on the ice. Couldn't get any rest. Yeah. Now the kid plays. He does a lot of small things that hockey guys notice when you watch TV. Even back in defense, went off the line on zone entry. So getting back on the back check. You know, the kid that's. I wish he'd shoot the puck more. Same. You know, he can shoot. He's got a cannon. Cannon. Oh. Cannon of a shot. What'd you think of Switzerland going over to see Jimmy this year? We had a great time. Yeah? I didn't know how I was gonna like it, because I hadn't been in Europe. I went way back to Sweden on a trip, but I forget it. With hockey. But we went over there. I couldn't believe how nice it was. Beautiful. Then when Jimmy rented a house up in the mountains, because they had a break, we were up there drinking hot wine. I don't know everything I was drinking, because there's no Bud Lights. I was drinking everything. But my wife and the kids loved it. We had a great trip. What, St. Moritz? I don't know. One of the big mountains. Big mountains. I think where the Olympics were. Plus, France is like an hour and a half away. Is it Lugano? I forget how we went. It was like an hour and a half drive. Jimmy drove us. We had another car, but it was dynamite right up in the mountains. Then you go to those little markets. You know how those. Christmas markets? Yeah, those were unreal. I was sitting out. I wasn't moving. I was drinking hot wine, whatever the hell hot wine was. Chris Bork tried to try it. I'm not even a wine drinker. I was drinking hot wine. I know that. There was no Bud Lights. We had a good time over there. It was good to have the family all on one roof, too, because you have to have them when they get older. For sure. Well, it's been great catching up with you. I love seeing you at the rinks, and thanks for coming and joining and just talking some old-school hockey. Welcome, Whit. Pete, I appreciate you. That was so funny. Hey, just make sure this passes with Dad's quote. You're fine. I'm not sending him shit. Alright, thank you. Thanks, Onion. Guys, we're going to talk about Lucy right now, quickly, and I'll tell you right now, there is no better nicotine pouch in the game. The Breakers, the Breakers is where it's at. The Lucy Breakers are intense, long-lasting flavor that actually satisfies. Bite down before use to pop the flavor capsule and unlock the full Breakers experience. A satisfying click, a rush of a new flavor, and a pouch that feels unlike anything else in this category. Breakers flavors are built to stay vivid from start to finish. Apple turns icy, berry gets a blast of citrus, and mint gets even more minty, creating a refreshing flavor experience that lasts longer and stays more interesting than ordinary pouches. Lucy is the only pouch that delivers long-lasting, on-demand flavor. Get 20% off your first order when you buy online at lucy.co.chicklets with code CHICKLETS, and here comes the fine print warning this product contains nicotine. Nicotine is an addictive chemical. Thank you very much. Big Jim. Awesome guy. Great storyteller. And at times sounded in kind of the Boston accent a little bit like R.A. A little bit. Same hometown, man. A little bit. Charles Town. They grew up probably four streets away from each other. They might have the same father. They're coming out with an album together. Alright, everyone. Right now. We haven't seen them in a little while. I need to talk to R.A. Let's go R.A.'s world. Hello everybody. Welcome to R.A.'s world here in the Spittin' Chicklets podcast. Live from the cabin here at a lake in Vermont. Boys, it's been a minute. How are we all doing? You looking good? That is such a good cabin. I need to see the entire room. That's a curtain. That's like a fake backdrop. That's green screen. I'm in Charles Town, in a basement. That's a green screen. When you hear the word cabin, that's what you think of what you're sitting in right now. That's a cabin. What are those black things that look like? Are those speakers? I think so. I haven't used them at all. I got my Bose over here, so when I play my CDs, I got some good quality Bose sound, but I haven't even touched those bad boys at all. You know what the number one thing I've done the most of since I've been here, believe it or not, is reading. I finished a book in three or four days here. I read the Karen Reid book, Blizzard of Lies, from Dave Wedge, former Herald reporter. I follow that case day to day. It's a great book whether you're familiar with the case or not. He doesn't really take sides. He just sort of does everything. He presents all the information. I think common sense, you could tell what happened or didn't happen, but I whizzed through that book. Great stuff. Former Herald reader of that. I've been eating a lot because there's just food out all the time, but I've been on some hikes around the lake. It's about a two-mile hike around the lake. I've been doing that a few days. Smoking a little bit and some local brews, but the most, man, reading and basically just walking around eating and taking it easy. Very relaxing for you. Have you been to Saratoga yet or is that this week? The fam went the other day. I just wasn't. Really up for it. I didn't feel like. We took a drive the day before. I didn't feel like three hours in the car with four or five people. Plus, I'm trying to cut down on my gaming, so staying away from a horse track is probably a good way to help. I noticed you hit up the rodeo, though. Bingo. Just was going to get to that. Yeah, the rodeo up in Castleton, Vermont. My two uncles, you guys obviously know Gigi, the Gigi special, but Mitch and Jeff, they come up. They had always wanted to go to the rodeo. We went. It's like 15 bucks a head. It's awesome. You saw the pitches I probably sent out. Like, I mean, just beautiful. You're up on the top of a mountain in the sun. The sun drops down, and then a few minutes later, Venus in the moon pop up. Accept it, Biz. That's Venus. And it was just, you know, you had the Bronco busting. The gals come out doing the bow racing, but one poor bastard, man. I felt awful for him. Like, you know, I think it's like eight seconds. That's sort of, well, I don't know if that's the bull riding or the Bronco busting, which is the horse. The dude, he got thrown, but his fucking, his arm, his hand got caught on like a, you know, I don't know, a rope or whatever. And the dude had to be on there for 45 seconds to a minute. And the other cowboys are trying to corral the horse. Like, he came so close to the metal barriers. Like, it was like being at a hockey game when a calamitous injury happens, and you just, like, make it stop. And the dude, I mean, he had to have effed up his shoulder and or wrist really bad. So it was like, you know, those guys are putting themselves really out there. So, you know, not a ton of money, but it was cool. It was a nice little, like, cultural thing. And, you know, I bought myself a cowboy hat with a little. It looked like it was a girl's cowboy hat. All right. I don't know. Put it on. Put it on. Little Johnny. Fashion-inspired, maybe. I'll throw it on for you. Okay. Maybe it's in the picture. It looked a little bit. Okay. Never mind. No, that looks unbelievable. All right. Maybe it was the photo. Did you blow out the back, too? Yeah. The streets are saying, wait, I looked a little like Michael Madsen. I wasn't saying it, but the streets are saying I looked a little like the late-afternoon. I don't know. Who is that? Oh, he was on Mr. Blonde and Reservoir Dogs. He was Bud in Kill Bill. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You do a little bit. Did he pass all right? Yeah, he did. He did last summer. Last summer, he did. Oh. Yeah. So, yeah, it was a good time. Like you say, I got to get off a good Lurleen Lumpkin Simpsons joke on my Twitter, of course, anytime I can make that. But, no, it was fun stuff. And I just mentioned Mars and Venus because, well, was it a week ago, Wednesday, the 12th, it was supposed to be the Celestial Super Bowl. There was what they call a planetary parade. There were six planets in the sky. If you had a telescope, you could see them all. But, like, just before dawn comes up, when the sky is too bright to see the stars, but you can see four planets. But my vantage, I can only see Saturn, so it was sort of a dud. And then later in the day was the eclipse. Did you guys catch any of that? Or wherever you guys are, like the sun, the sky. You can only see these videos from Spain. It happens for like a second. Everything just, it's like someone pulled the plug on the country, and then a second later, like, it just, the moon just keeps going by. Basically, the moon gets between planet Earth and the sun and just blocks out the sun completely for like two seconds. And then they had those precise. And that makes you feel like how insignificant we all are, all right? One of those moments. Exactly. And, you know, every, just the regular stargazing, where it has been great here, you know, it's so clear, you're so far from light pollution. And, you know, some nights, you know, you'll see a shooter every two seconds. Some of them, they, boom, across the sky. But the ones that freak me out are the slow-moving ones. It's like grandma going 45 in a 65, and they're just like slowly going across the sky. But then some of them, they move. They're changing directions, and you don't know if it's like an optical illusion, because they're millions of miles away, or is this like a comet that's taking a turn? Or is it. Or you smoked an acid by somebody. They say jet blue on it. Here, I tell you. No, no, but it is wild. You definitely, I mean, always feel small when you look up at that stuff. But when you see one that's literally like kind of going this way, I don't mean like dotting quickly, just sort of like this way and that way, because comets and meteors typically like don't take turns. So you see that stuff, and you just wonder what you're actually looking at. They just shoot until they go out? Yeah, yeah. Some of them. It's like they boom across the sky in like a second, and other ones, they're like just sort of slow moving. You can actually track it for a good 10, 12 seconds as it sort of goes across the sky. But yeah, every night's been pretty good stuff like that. So it's, yeah, enjoyable stuff. Again, it does remind you. Do you have the scope out? Do you have a scope there? No, I wish I did, man. That'd be sick. Because like, you know. Is that a roll of toilet paper? Look it up at it, but yeah, it's been pretty cool stuff. And I heard you guys mention in the cards a few weeks, baseball cards or hockey cards. I told the G, I had a few thoughts on these. I think it's the same back in the 90s. It's a bit of a rigged game. They kind of inflate the values of these cards to send people looking for them to buy more cards. And I think what's going to happen is the bottom's going to come out, because this is what happened. I used to collect them. I had almost every Nolan Ryan card out there. I do have a Beret rookie, a Hashtag rookie, a bunch of Kachuk rookies. But they flooded the market with so many brands, and then the market collapsed, and all the values went down. And then, you know, it's nice that people collect it, and it's great to have hobbies and all that. I'm not. I'm not knocking that aspect of it. But people getting involved for the financial risk, I think that, you know, a lot of people are going to get left holding a bag, because when you say, you know, this card's worth that before, like you said, before somebody. Well, not that somebody hasn't done anything, but, you know, before a career has even really started a lot, it's just. I don't know. I think there's an artificial element to it that a lot of people get left holding a bag on it. So, I mean. Well, it's like, if somebody's worth. If somebody's willing to pay that, I guess that's what it's worth, but, like, you're basically saying that. You're saying that in a few years, no matter how good Celebrini does, that card could be worth less? Possibly, yeah. I think. And I love the kid. Obviously, I've been tooting this one forever, but. And I just think, yeah, you're telling, you know, who's coming out and saying this card's worth that value? Who's, like, you know, authenticating it? I just think there's, you know, there's. And there's a history of this stuff. I know Real Sports on HBO, the late show, that's not on anymore. They did a huge couple segments on it. And, you know, it's like the people authenticating it, well, those were people getting paid off to authenticate, because they, you know, like, I always tell people, don't pay for an autograph if you didn't see it signed in front of you, because that's where there's a lot of, like, you know, janky stuff going on. But, again, I'm not shitting on people's hobbies. I know it's had a bit of a comeback, but, you know, just tread carefully if you think you're going to, like, get your retirement out of that stuff. So, even if it's a Methuselah rookie card going way back, though. What else here, boys? Yeah, I've just been kind of, like I said, taking it easy, trying to get a few miles in around the lake, watching the stars, been trying to catch up my reading to recalibrate my brain. You've probably seen it. I haven't been online all that much, so. Good for you. Yeah, man. It's been fun. You know, I had my niece and her boyfriend, a couple of uncles come by, but. Could you ever live, like, in that type of environment full time? 100%. 100%. Really? Yeah. Even the freezing cold during the winter up there? This place is, yeah, this, I mean, this is in a winterized cabin, but, like, yeah, I mean, there are plenty of houses that are, you know, built for the winter around here, but not, like, in the next year or two, but I could definitely see myself, you know, living there. I had an uncle lived up here for a long time, and I could, I could see that the quiet, the solitary, you know, it's a, it's, it's a beautiful place. The people up here, it's like, you know, it's like the Vermont wave. You don't even know people that, you know, we're on, like, a dirt road off Hidden Lake Basie. Everyone just waves to each other. Like, you know, if you stop by the fruit stand or the farm stand and no one's there, you take your five years of corn and you leave the money, and it's just, it's just a very trusting place. And by the way, the corn up here is unbelievable. Corn, corn, see you in the morning. So, yeah, I could totally. What helped you find that particular cabin? Um. What's crazy, well, so, what's, what's funny, this lake, we actually, my stepfather, my late story, gone 36 years, he actually owned a cabin on this lake years ago, like, like 50 years ago, but there was nothing around here. Like, we sold it because me and my brother hated coming up here. There was really nothing to do. And like a year or two after we sold it, uh, Killington got built, like, you know, the ski resort, like a half hour away from there, got built. So, we kind of, like, maybe sold a little bit earlier on that one. Uh, but my mother always came up and visited, and then we used to stay down the street at a place, and she found this place, uh, I'm sorry, another place that we stayed at for years, which was the same lake, which was kind of crazy all these years later. So, that guy was selling the house. So, then we found this cabin that crazy Uncle Mitch stays at. Um, so, yeah, just basically been coming to this area for a long time. Have you done any swimming? Uh, yeah, yeah. After I do my little hike around the lake, I'll go for a dip, uh, cool off a little bit. Um, yeah, I mean, it's, it's not like a gigantic lake, but yeah, it's a, it's a, like I said, it's a nice spot. It's not overdeveloped at all. It's like, you know, there's a lot of year rounders here and a few weekenders, but I mean, you can't. I mean, there's nothing that you can't hear a thing right now. So yeah, very peaceful, beautiful place. And, uh, it's, you know, it's a annual thing and I love doing it every year. I'm so glad we stayed a little extra this year because normally we do a weekend. I would've been home yesterday and I would've been like, no, man, I would've stayed up there for a few more days. What about the shroomies? Nah, no, nothing on those yet, but it didn't really make a huge effort for them. What do you got G? All right. I am going to a bachelor party. I'm actually kind of planning it all in Killington this weekend. Can I get you? To come make an appearance for the boys. They would go fucking crazy. If you show up when he's getting up here, Friday. That here Thursday there till Sunday. Okay. Very good possibility. Yeah. Um, cause me and my bro Mara up here, she's leaving early, but I think me and walnuts are sticking around in which case. Yeah, I, I could definitely throw Thursday or Friday. As long as we're here, it's only for the duration. I'd be happy to come back. Your party is your colon bunch of Boston guys. Show us the way it'll be fun. I'll DM. I'll text you on the side. G if I wasn't on a personal note. And. I, you know, I know I hate to bring up sad things, but I just want to send love and condolences to the hometown Charlestown. Uh, we lost one of our best over the weekend. Uh, Judy Hayes, she was my late step-mom's best friend and a dear friend of my, my dad, Leo, uh, fuck cancer always in forever. And I just want to say, Judith, then you're forever loved and may all your, your team's cover up there. We love you. So we can, we can move along here. Boys. Just want to send some love to a dear friend. Well, I wanted to shout out somebody too. These, uh, I mentioned before you came on our race. So Bridgewater, Massachusetts won their region and they're going to the little league world series in Williamsport. I think that starts Wednesday. So tomorrow, um, and apparently a kid on the team, Callan Goodwin. Now what a great name Callan, our Cal is a Callan. He's a big fan. Apparently I was told doesn't miss an episode of spit and chickles, a stud on the Bridgewater team. So I want to wish good luck to him. I want to wish good luck to the team representing Massachusetts, or I guess it would be New England district. And, um, that's pretty cool. We got a listener playing in the little league world series this week. They beat my nephew's team with to go. They beat. Oh, Brian's. Yeah. No way. What, the Hyde Park team? Parkway? Yeah, yeah. Oh, shit. Actually, one more thing. Shout out to Tyler from Ontario. I was walking in Manchester, center of Vermont the other day, and, you know, a kid, he had a Blue Jays hat. He did sort of a double take, and then he heard my voice. He's like, are you all right? I was like, yeah. I was like, what's up? He was hiking the Appalachian Trail with his gal. They started in Georgia biz back in, I want to say, April, and they've been hiking since, and they're in Vermont right now. The whole way? Yeah, they started in either March or April. Down in Georgia, and they've been hiking the Appalachian, and they were in Manchester, center of Vermont. They were getting some rest for the night, continuing on to Maine. That's right up Biz's alley. I could see Biz doing that. That's a long one, yeah. Shout out to Tyler from Ontario and your gal. Thanks for saying hello. Much appreciated. Appreciate the support. So I just want to give him a shout out. Yeah, we will have Pekin coming out probably beginning of September, Havasu, Lake Havasu. We Pekin. Yeah. Awesome. Shout out to Pekin. Thank you. And after G's wedding, there is a possibility, we film a small, another other one. So we'll be up in the New England area. Maybe we'll have to get the boys mixed in on that one. Get an appearance. I can't wait for that. We could do Blue Hill with Wit. I'm in. It's a quick one. That's kind of my, what's the one in Van that they race? Oh, the Grouse Grind. That's your Grouse Grind? That's my Grouse Grind. Wit, they found a rattlesnake at Blue Hill the other day. You still doing it? I'm staying far the fuck away from that. 100%. Yeah. 100%. A lot of people don't know that. I'm not afraid of a rattlesnake. There's a rattlesnake. It's a native to New England. Yeah. Eastern Timber Rattlesnake. I'm staying far the fuck away from rattlesnakes. Okay. Oh, boys. Well, great catching up. Hope you guys are enjoying the last of the summer here. Yeah. Thank you to Glenn Healy. Thank you to Jim, Big Jim Veazey. Thank you, Jim. And RA, I'm glad you're enjoying your vacation. We'll be back next week. You deserve it. Thank you. We'll talk to you guys then. You guys do too. All right. Enjoy. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Bye. Hey, Chicklets fans. We're going to take a quick break for a message from one of our partners. It's Fran from Chicks in the Office. The weather is getting cooler and Abercrombie's Fall Drop has everything I need for the season. 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