Barn Burner: Boomer & Pinder with Rhett Warrener - Stephen Brunt (FULL INTERVIEW)

Episode Date: January 21, 2025

Stephen Brunt Talks Up Close With Adam Copeland, NFL Playoffs & More | The Insider HotlineBoomer, Pinder, and Rhett are joined by sports journalist Stephen Brunt in this action-packed episode! Stephen shares insights from his exclusive 1-on-1 sitdown with WWE Hall of Famer Adam Copeland, and the crew dives deep into the NFL playoffs. They also break down the Buffalo Bills' performance and what lies ahead for the team in the postseason. Don't miss out on the latest analysis and behind-the-scenes stories from the world of sports!Let us know what you think in the comments below!!BARN BURNER BLONDE https://originbrewing.myshopify.comFLAMESNATION MERCHhttps://nationgear.ca/collections/shirts/FlamesnationBARN BURNER SHORTS https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLj_bcGtvvo-cW2DHEDZ6dEO5ePDmlhZc9&si=jo8iNGxT4ImhS2Y8INSTANT REACTIONShttps://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLj_bcGtvvo-dO2AraHTeftSpPt00evo8M&si=lY5D3nk8zVtrQgql🚨 Subscribe to @Flames_Nation on Youtube 🚨➡️ / @flames_nation 🔥 Barn Burner with Boomer, Pinder, & Rhett Warrener➡️ • Flames Nation Barn Burner 🔥 After Burner ➡️ • Flames Nation After Burner @dailyfaceoff2563 LIVE with Frank Seravalli:➡️ / @dailyfaceoff2563 💻 Website: https://flamesnation.ca🐦 Follow on Twitter: @FlamesNation @960boomer @PinderReport @Warrener44📺 Subscribe on Youtube: @Flames_Nation#StephenBrunt #AdamCopeland #WWE #NFLPlayoffs #BuffaloBills #SportsTalk #BoomerPinderRhett #NFL #Football #SportsAnalysis #BillsMafia #Podcasts Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

He's back. He's back. Stephen Brunt. There he is. Look at him. Hey, good to see you, buddy.

Just in time for the Leafs talk. How perfect. We kind of set ourselves up there. It's like, Leafs, hey, you guys don't like Leafs, don't talk about it. It's funny out there, though.

It's overreact everything. Like three games ago, it was William Nealander can never be trusted. And he's scored four goals in the three games since, and they've won all three against good opponents.

And it's like, yeah, maybe we don't need to react to three game sample sizes. Yeah, I had to go and look. Because I saw it. to just Toronto, oh, boy, there's so, okay, so what is going on? Three straight losses, which they then snapped out of. Happens.

It's quite a world. Well, judge them in the spring. We just talked about it. I got to say, boys, one of the great pleasures of my new life, whatever that is, is that I actually don't have to go on radio every day and do the, the, you know, the reaction. Arrow up, arrow down version of the Leafs, which I've been doing almost my entire adult life without watching them win the Stanley Cup.

So, yeah, I've got lots of, I haven't spent any of my bullets on the Leafs for a long, long time. Well, I was going to text you last week. I'm like, no, I'm not going to do it. I'd rather get, I'd rather get them on the show and, in a way, do it to your face or talk to you about it. You're up close. The latest edition episode of Up Close came out last week. You with Adam Copeland Edge, the rate of our superstar. So it was, I think Friday, maybe I had a lot of,

some kids kids sports i'm driving around podcast time put in my ears start listening and hearing these old wrestling clips and hearing you do your work and hearing this this thing is this really good i then once i heard the whole now i got to watch it i got to see how this is how this is going down and i mean this is going to be let me plug your nose and are you are you what allergic to second ham smoke up your ass kind of thing. I, it was for me as enjoyable to watch you work as it was to take in the wrestling and just the whole conversation. We've seen you with your essays and we've seen you do what you do.

But the only thing I could, in this unvarnished kind of way, even though it's produced and it's put together, but it's not meant to be crystal, just perfect and everything's just so, so. I mean, you guys are just shooting the shit. You guys are just having a conversation and things are coming up. he clearly appreciates your company. And I was, it was just so neat for me to watch you in an hour and a half.

Like it's an hour and a half long or whatever it is. Do what you do. I was fascinated by it. I don't know if you know this. Quite good at it. You're good at it. Well, thank you. Thank you, my pal.

Look, I had a great time doing it. Like, we talked about that a little bit. You know, when we talked about the first time before you guys had seen it. But like, I had an absolute ball doing that. And maybe that's part of what comes through. it was very, very comfortable. He's a very cool guy.

I like him a lot. And, you know, that what you see there, yeah, it's not, like, there's no edits. Aside from the adding content, like the archival stuff that Amel, Delich, the magnificent producer, added to it, both audio and video. That's it. Like, we talk for an hour and a half. Like, so what you hear is the whole shoot and match. Yeah.

And, you know, we couldn't really cut it. I didn't have to, which is the beauty of the podcast thing sometimes. You know, you do have space to stretch out. But it, it just fell together so naturally and it was such a nice natural conversation. And, yeah, it was just two guys shooting the shit. Like, which is so if it comes across that way, that's, that's great. If it comes across as to guys who kind of like each other, that that's, that's it. You know, it's not always like that.

I've interviewed people who are, you know, more difficult or, you know, more guarded, little less comfortable in their own skin than he is. But, man, yeah, that was just. It was just such a pleasure, just such an absolute pleasure to do it. I went back because I listened to it first, and there was some of that, like you say, the old audio from where here at Maple Leaf Garden, but then the video wasn't, not all of it was included in the video portion. Do I talk to Amel about it?

I was just curious because I got to, you know, Roddy Piper is breaking a beer bottle over his head and we kind of saw that. But I wanted to go back and see some of that footage and not always there. Is that copyright stuff? That would be, yeah, that would be an humble question. My guess is yes. You know, my guess is you can probably get away with stuff on audio that maybe you can't necessarily on video. But yeah, he makes good choices, though, man.

He's, he is the, he is very, very good at that. You know, I worked with him before back in the old gig, putting, doing a podcast. And that, like, that's kind of the unique thing that he brings to the table for me is that he, you know, he's very, he doesn't, you know, he takes the material and obviously, you know, sets it up beautifully. But he adds to it. Like he adds layers to it that I'm always really thrilled about. Yeah. The Dini Petty stuff is so cool. Just again, we can move on because we talked about it last week.

But here's a guy in Toronto that wins an essay contest and goes to see the Deany Petty show because Brett Hart's on it. And he had the microphone ends up and he's asking him a question. And then Brett talks to him afterwards and his best buddy from down the street, they end up being tag team champions. He says it. It's a movie. It probably is a movie.

Should me. It's, you wouldn't believe it if it was a movie. Be like, this is this never. happen. No, it's a crazy story. And that's why, you know what I found with this one, because look, obviously you, you know, you like wrestling, right? And, you're, you know, you kind of can engage with it on that level. But I've been trying to encourage people who, you know, even if you're not a hardcore wrestling fan, and most people, what I've found is that most people, you know,

even if they don't acknowledge it, there's a little, there's something in there. Like, everybody knows something about it and everybody's watched it, really, even if they pretend they haven't watched it. They've watched it. They've absorbed it at some point in their life. But you can, the story is so good, but like my wife's not a big, you know, look, my wife is not a wrestling fan. But she really liked the story, right? She just liked the story of the kid from Orangeville and all of the kind of weird twists and turns is taken.

And she liked him. You know, she liked him in the piece. Yeah. Single mother, no, no money. Yeah. It's a rags to riches story in the very truest sense. You mentioned they're not always that easy. Is there one that sticks out in your mind that you're sitting there trying to interview

somebody's like we agree to this like you you said yes to this interview i'm not holding you against your will at gunpoint right it's because some of them are awkward and you wonder why you're doing it you know the worst guy i ever interview this is way before tv but um i remember bow jackson came in when he was playing for kansas city for the royals then his you know the baseball part of his career came into toronto and and i i went up to interview when i was working at the newspaper the globe and mail and like he literally did not make eye contact with me like the Like didn't even acknowledge my existence for one second. And I may have embellished or imagined this part,

but I think he spat a big wadded tobacco juice like right past my ear. While not, you know, while not answering. And he may, I don't know if he, he may have spoken about himself in the third person. I may be confusing with the late Ricky Henderson, who always spoke about himself as Ricky Henderson. Like Babcock did the same thing. Very normal.

What are you talking about? Very normal, yeah. But he was the worst, yeah. There were a lot of baseball players who were bad in, I think they're slightly better than they used to be. But, you know, even some of those Jay's teams back in the day, like, they were miserable people. Like, you really, you know. Yeah, well, he's, he was a challenge for sure. He was, yeah, his level of hostile.

I think I've told you guys about this, but like one of the kind of epiphanies I had is a very, you know, early days in sports writing was going in and waiting for Dave Steve after a start. And, you know, he was always angry, like, whether it was good or bad. He was always angry about something, about somebody missing, you know, scuffing a ground ball behind him or something. And he'd stand, and you go into the, into the dress room, the Jay's dressing room. This would have been probably still in the old exhibition stadium. And, you know, so you're a grown up, right? And you're waiting to do work.

And you're standing there with your notebook waiting for this guy to deign to turn around at his locker and speak to the three or four or six of you who are there. Plus he's naked. Right. And I remember at one point thinking, you know, this is a really weird way to make a living. Like, you know, this is kind of humiliating this whole thing that I'm waiting for this naked dude to turn around and then be hostile when you say, boy, how's that slider? You know, man, oh man. So, yeah.

Reminds me of old number 44 used to play for Calgary. Just like crissled. Lucky, he didn't have to talk to me very often. I always did my job. That's right. You. well, or it was near the end of your career and Kipper did his job for him. I was near the end anyway.

You know what? I was thinking about this this morning as we were going to get you on. I remember on the old show I said to you a few times, you got to write a book about Buffalo. For all the things that have gone against Buffalo, it's just the city that can't get it. There's other cities that have that moniker, but boy Buffalo certainly has it and I guess has earned it.

before we get into it, just a video from the weekend. This, of course, is the old quarterback, Ryan Fitzpatrick, who's a bit of a legend, right? So he's on the broadcast. It's snowing. It's cold. It's buff. I got to ask you a question, but hold on one sec.

I just got to thinking that he was the legend of the game. Ivy League guy there, by the way. Ivy League guy. Yeah, that's right. I don't know how you watch that and you think this, this fan base needs one. They may, you'd be like they may never get this close again.

They got the quarterback. They've got a team. What's a Super Bowl parade like in Buffalo? Goodness gracious. Walk up everybody, nail down all the furniture because it'll be an absolute, just a gong show out there. What's your feel?

Because we talk about different, you're in the east and are people excited for the four nations? What's the bills fever like out there? Well, you know, where I'm sitting here in Hamilton, the border, the peace bridge to Buffalo is about a 45-minute drive. So I'm really close to Buffalo here. And, you know, in this part of Southern Ontario, Buffalo was like, that's like all of our television, everything came through Buffalo.

So everybody who grew up in this neck of the woods knew a lot about Buffalo. It was like the kind of, you know, I know it's kind of a, it's like Hamilton. It's very much the same kind of town, a gritty industrial town that's, you know, had its ups and a lot of downs. But for us, it was this kind of, you know, it was America, right? There were all these things that you could get in Buffalo that happened in Buffalo. And so we were all super tuned in to Buffalo culturally.

We always have been. And, you know, I covered, geez, all four of those Super Bowl teams that lost. Like, I went to all four of those. So I've spent a lot of time down there covering the bills. you know, to a lesser degree covering the sabres, but certainly covering the bills. I'll tell you, there's my, my favorite Buffalo crowd story, because I know they look like fun, but we went to a game. I was at a game with my two sons, who were, you know, not, you know, they're probably 12, 14 years old at the time.

We went down with a group of guys from Toronto and went to a bills game. And they're playing Cincinnati. This is not good Cincinnati. This is, you know, mediocre Cincinnati Bengals. And it's not like the Steelers are coming in or the Dolph, are coming into the Jets. Like not a rivalry game at all, right? Nothing. There's no kind of heat, you would think. And we're sitting down right in that the closed end zone part in the stands there before the game. And this guy walks down that is walking down the aisle carrying a baby,

like a toddler in his arms. And he's got the bill stuff on. And he's walking down the, and some, and there's a one Cincinnati guy in this whole section. And the guy says something to him. So, and he looks at the guy. And then he walks by and walks down to his seats down in hands the baby to somebody, walks back up, goes to the guy, and Colcocks them right in the head, like just pounds them. And it turns into this huge brawl. Like there's people flying over the seats and, but it's good parenting. Oh, yeah, exactly.

So my, plus me parenting, my kids were, you know, they thought this is the greatest thing they'd ever see in their life right there in the middle of a riot. So it's, yeah, but they, no, they deserve. God knows they deserve it. you know, they, and I, God, I knock on wood, but, you know, the fact that they could win that game over Baltimore, you know, without, like they weren't spectacular, but they didn't make any mistakes. They didn't overdo it, you know, Baltimore made the mistakes. Lamara made the mistakes. The tight end made the mistakes. Those guys were the guys who kind of choked in the playoff game. And the bills played a, you know, an okay game, but they just, you know, and I think kind of that's maybe, like, you don't, meet Josh Allen to go out there and, you know,

throw it all over the field and run all over the field and take all kinds of chances. You know, and going in against a KC team that is, you know, solid and really good defensively, but not spectacular offensively this year, although, you know, if you count them out at your own peril. Like,

I kind of think they can beat Kansas City, and I think they could beat either of the teams on the other side. And I don't know, you know, the four horsemen of the apocalypse may ride over the horizon if they win. Like that could be it, right? That might be it. Well, and here's the thing. Like, you want to talk about a suffering fan base?

Like, yeah, boy, it'd be nice. How's that going in Detroit this year? Because they had everything lined up for them until it all crumbled. I mean, this is not a trophy that goes to the most suffering fan base. It's cruel. No, and that was the dream Super Bowl, right? Detroit Buffalo, like somebody's got to win, you know? And that felt horrible that boy.

You know, because now they're so beat up on defense. Like, they just lost so many guys. It's just been crazy. And I think that finally caught up with them. But they've been so much fun to watch the last two years. Yeah, I absolutely root for them too for the same kind of reasons. And that's that's what I was hoping for. But anyway, so much for that.

You know, mind you, Jaden Daniels is really good. But the bills thing, yeah, it, you know, and we like Buffalo Sports Radio and Retno is this. It's spectacular. Like it is, you know, the entire pulse of the city, the emotional ups and downs. Like, you know, people get so angry, you know, when things are going, wrong and they get so high when things are going except that they you know they're always looking up and saying you know if we get really happy like a 16 ton weight is going to drop it's coming right you know this can't be good right because it's never good and uh they've had some amazing talk radio guys

on there who were you know just you know like again we're absolutely 100% worth the price of admission so again i don't know what happens if they win like if they got nothing to grouse about i have no idea what it would be like but it has happened you saw the red socks after a life time the Cubs. I mean, hated the Red Sox. There's something kind of, I don't know, it's people say it's ridiculous or whatever. So you play outside in Buffalo and you've had games seems like every year

being postponed, relocated, whatever. It's not building a new stadium. Are you putting a roof on it? No. No. Well, why wouldn't you? Because no, it's, it's Buffalo. I don't know. There's something kind of cool about it. Not in a billion dollars probably extends it.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Right next door. It's going to be lovely, but you're right. It's going to be in the same place and the same temperatures. You know, like it's... They change the angle, Steve. So the wind's not going to blow the snow in. They get kind of a bit covered.

It's well thought out in Buffalo fashion. It'll be just fine. They have melting stations on the roof because the snowback, of course, gets so big. You can't have a roof or it'll collapse, and it's just covering most of the seats, apparently. Well, anyway, we probably cursed them now by talking about this. Yes, I agree. But I, yes.

How can they be more cursed, Stephen? They can't. That's true. It's beyond our powers, obviously, correct? Yeah. But I'm rooting for him with, yeah, every bit of my, every, every, every, every settlement. And did anyone expect the, what's his name, to drop that two-point convert?

No way. Yeah, like, everyone's like, they're going to tie it. It's whether Alan can charge down the field and get points on the board. You know what? I still think, you know, they had, what, a minute and a half and two timeouts or maybe three timeouts left, I think they'd go down and kick the field goal. because I don't think Baltimore could have stopped them in that circumstance. But, yeah, Andrew's dropping that pass.

And he also had the horrible thumble. And, yeah, it was a bad day. Finally, things go on the bills. I was going to say that that would not be front of mind, though. This is just more opportunity for things to go billsy on us. You get a touchdown and a two-point conversion. And now we have to, have they missed field goals? Was that ever happened?

Yeah. Make it a. What's great is, like, jazz. is our producer here and it's not to throw them under the bus, but it's just didn't know about the four Super Bowls. Well, did you know they went to four straight in a row in a row. And it got worse, all of them. And he's got it, there's a progression right,

because wide right was the first one, you know, and by the end of it, you know, I forget which one Thurman Thomas forgot his helmet. That was the Washington one, I think. Like it just kept getting each one got worse, right? Like the, because the first one they should have won, obviously. They had it won. And then after that,

it was they found you would they lost to Washington and Minnesota I think I remember the Dallas was the leon left team I think wasn't that when he dropped the you know he was running the fumble in and um don bibi whoever it was knocked the ball but they go Dallas crushed them uh yeah they they got progressively worse and it felt more and more inevitable and those teams were you know that team would be remembered as one of the greatest teams it'd be like like this kansas city team right like honest to god like they were they were unbelievably good yeah and there's some thoughts out there on social media at least. I think among the fans that for the bills,

you're going to have to beat Mahomes and Kelsey and Andy Reebate. But you're also, there's another part that you're taking on when you play them. That maybe the fix is in that the officials really have a slant towards the chiefs. Buffalo bills just called for roughing the passer ahead of their game next week against Kansas City. So that's tough. already flags. John Cena's dead.

And you read coaching up his starters. Before the game. It's not like people in Buffalo would ever think that the officials or the leave. No. It would inspire against them that could deny them a championship, would they? That's never happened before. I wasn't there for that. Because you said what kind of sets this up is, yeah, the chiefs are,

they're on the fringes of a dynasty and they can go three p. But there's just something about this team that feels like they're not quite what they've been. Just a little bit less, which puts them in a ripe spot to be taken. taken by the bills. It's so juicy. Yep. So it's now it's got to just got to happen. Right. So yes, these these these this is the the least talented of this chiefs, the least talented team of the chiefs dynasty. I would say it was no Tyree kill. There's no kind of game breaker guy. Yeah. Defensively they're really, you know, they play smart and they play really well. And actually that's kind of the strength of the team. But you know, Mahomes is Mahomes and Kelsey seems to have come

to life, you know, he's gotten over his distractions the rest of the season that seems to be playing football again. So, uh, but they know, like I, I, I, I don't bet, but, you know, I, if I did, I, I would, I put a couple bucks on the bills. I kind of, I'm just kind of feeling it right now. People forget, like Hollywood Brown didn't play until like weeks ago. Yeah. They lost Rashay Rice early, who looked like a game breaker, like right from week one. He's like, wow, okay, they've got an alpha receiver here. Pacheco was the running back. Everyone loved. And now he looks hobily coming off a leg injury. Like, it's not that they started out untalented. It's just they kind of arrived here with

defense and, you know, a late play to win a game. When they had a drive and they needed to score down late, they'd go get that touchdown, even if it is against a Carolina or some crap team. Yeah, and a lot of that comes down, well, the defense is really good, but a lot of that comes down to Mohams, you know, and his ability to kind of create. But, yeah, and you're right to point out that some of the injuries, that

they did kind of have a plan here, and the plan kind of went out the window with some of those guys getting hurt. But, um, you know, like, Mahomes has had to invent stuff, you know, and, you know, and occasionally get a, cheap call go his way. So, uh, but like, you think it'll be close? Of course, it's going to be close, right? Yeah. It's going to be, you know, so. You play some thrillers. Yeah. That's all they play. As a fan. The debate, if they, bills win, do you go to the Super bowl? Oh, yeah. Yeah. No, because I have heard mixed where it's like, it's, it's, It's full of corporate fans.

It's not team fans. It's not a true. It's not like going to the last weekend in Buffalo where you've got Bill's fans and Ravens for you. You've got football fans and it's corporate. Well, I'll tell you, like these games, like last weekend, this weekend, and having covered a lot of those games, division games conference championships, they're the best games for atmosphere. Like there's no question, right?

If I was going to go as a fan to one game and drop big money, that's what I'd go to because you want to be in a stadium that's alive. Super Bowl stadiums do tend to be a little bit. Yeah, there's a lot of people there who don't give a crap, and they're there for other reasons. However, the one deciding factor this year is that it's in New Orleans. And there is no better place for a Super Bowl. It's the only place they should ever have it.

Really? And the city is so cool. And Rett's never been. Of all the places. If you go, you got to get away from, you know, some of the, you know, like some of the stuff, the, and I, I, I, Again, I'm thinking of the horrible stuff that happened on Bourbon Street around the Sugar Bowl. But, you know, Bourbon Street is like a big, ugly frat party full of people throwing up.

So, like, if that's your thing, you know, you can go, kind of, you know, kind of a porny, vomiting street. But the rest of New Orleans is amazing. And there's so many cool places to go and to drink and hear music. And obviously, the food's nuts. And it's like nowhere else in America. There's no other city like it. I've been there a ton. I love it.

If you're going, I got some, I got some recommendations. I feel like it's going together. I kind of feels like, we had Sarah Valley on. I got tickets. If you can get us a room,

get rooms, it's like, I would be reaching out to get that ticket locked down. As soon as we know it's the bills, you see what you know what's going to happen to everything. Yeah. All you got to do is beat the two-time champs and my homes.

That's all you got to do. And the refs, yeah. A big deal. It's all a big deal. Well, appreciate you coming on, man. Like I say, I was, I just loved it.

It was, I went back and watched it a different guy each time I watched it. It's neat watching you work in that sense. And I look forward to whatever is coming next. Is there a tentative date for the next? No. It's all kind of, it's soon. That's the date soon. There will be more.

It'll come soon. It's the internet. See? You don't need hard. Yeah. How long is that? I don't know. We'll see.

When's it coming up? We'll let you know. We'll let you know. We got that big drive to Jasper on Friday. I'm going to unload the. Hint Hint Hulster. That's right. It's good. There you go. Stephen, have a good one. Thanks, buddy. See you guys. Great talking to. There's Stephen Brun. Hey, guys. Thanks for watching. Be sure to check out more of our content right here on the Flames Nation

YouTube page. We had a bunch great longform interviews. You can check out some videos we've done as well outside of the studio. And of course, if you want more writing or merchandise stuff, flamesnation.ca. Or nationgear.ca. Appreciate you watching.