Crime in Sports - #182 - I've Never Even Seen Crack - The Bionicness of Kevin Stevens

Episode Date: November 5, 2019

This week, we skate directly into the eye of a storm of bad circumstances, luck, and behavior, with a man who was at the top of his game, winning championships, and making big money. This all... changed with both a head injury, and a newly found love of cocaine. This culminates in a sleazy hotel, gangster, prostitute, bribed cab driver, crack rock kind of evening that leaves his problems exposed to the public. It only gets worse from there, with the FBI getting interested in his dealings. It's a mess!! Skate from the time you can walk, deny ever using crack, even when found with crack, and always lie to the federal government after you promised to be an informant with Kevin Stevens!! Check us out, every Tuesday! We will continue to bring you the biggest idiots in sports history!! Hosted by James Pietragallo & Jimmie Whisman Donate at... patreon.com/crimeinsports or with paypal.com using our email: crimeinsports@gmail.com Get all the CIS & STM merch at crimeinsports.threadless.com Go to shutupandgivememurder.com for all things CIS & STM!! Contact us on... twitter.com/crimeinsportscrimeinsports@gmail.comfacebook.com/Crimeinsportsinstagram.com/smalltownmurder  See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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Starting point is 00:00:00 Hey Prime members, you can listen to Crime and Sports early and ad-free on Amazon Music. Download the app today. Discover all the best in audiobooks, podcasts, and originals featuring authentic Canadian voices and celebrity talent, like Brendan Fraser and Luke Kirby's latest sci-fi adventure, The Downloaded. A first listen is waiting for you when you start your free trial at audible.ca. on the Mr. Ballin Podcast, now available wherever you get your podcasts, you'll hear strange, dark, and mysterious stories about inexplicable encounters, shocking disappearances, true crime cases, and everything in between. So go listen to Mr. Ballin Podcast, Strange, Dark, and Mysterious Stories on Amazon Music or wherever you get your podcasts. Hello and welcome to Crime and Sports. Yay! Ah, yay indeed, Jimmy.
Starting point is 00:01:24 Yay indeed. My name is James Petrigallo. I'm here with my co Ah, yay indeed, Jimmy. Yay indeed. My name is James Petrigallo. I'm here with my co-host. I am Jimmy Wissman. Thank you folks so much for joining us again on another crazy edition of Crime and Sports. And we have a wild one for you today, as we always do after a week off,
Starting point is 00:01:37 especially an unplanned week off. It was definitely not planned. Everything is fine, but let's just say there was no way to do a show last week. Yeah. And just leave it at that. So anyway, thank you guys
Starting point is 00:01:50 for coming back. Yeah. Hope you enjoyed, I don't even remember what the last episode was. The last one was, Yes, it was. The Big Dog,
Starting point is 00:01:58 I believe, if I'm not mistaken. Definitely hope you enjoyed that because that was some interesting one. I hope your germane has a shovel ready shovel ready to go. But today, first of all, I want to thank everyone for the reviews this week on Apple Podcasts,
Starting point is 00:02:12 the purple icon, that thing there that you do. We don't know why, but it helps drive you up the charts when you get reviews. I have no idea why. I don't know how Apple Podcasts works, their algorithms, but let's try to take advantage of it. And to do that, we need you to give us five stars and uh say something doesn't matter what you say say we're following instructions and these two made me do this it doesn't matter what you say but uh the reviews help an immense amount for some reason so thank you for those and thank you for those who've done it already uh besides that go to shut up and give me murder.com
Starting point is 00:02:43 for all of your needs, crime and sports and small town murder. And I don't know what you're doing if you're not listening to small town murder, but you're missing out. It's crazy. It's this just minus the sports. It's, it's, it's insane and always a murder. So, you know, one of those, so listen to that.
Starting point is 00:02:57 There is a few tickets left. We are under 50 tickets left for Nashville in April for the crime and sports show. So, uh, if you want to get those tickets, I know it's like six months away, but you've got to get them now or five months away, because otherwise they're going to be gone in the next week or so. So, yeah, I would definitely grab those tickets. Do that, and keep an eye out for tickets coming up, because we're going to have a few more shows that we're going to announce.
Starting point is 00:03:18 Live shows for Crime and Sports, Bunch for Small-Town Murder, a few for Crime and Sports for 2020. So keep doing that. Keep checking that out. If you want to be a hero of ours, an absolute just a king and queen or whoever you are. A real darling. A real darling. Someone that we really just love and one of our producers, as a matter of fact.
Starting point is 00:03:37 And one of these people we're going to talk about at the end of the show in glowing terms. We'll say great things about you. We're going to talk terrible about someone for like two and a half hours and then we're going to say but these people are great so if you want to be one of those people
Starting point is 00:03:49 our producers you can do that very easily all you have to do is go to patreon.com slash crime and sports or head over to paypal use our email address which is
Starting point is 00:03:58 crime and sports at gmail.com you can get to both of those sites where can you get to them they're over at shut up and give me murder dot com
Starting point is 00:04:06 there's links you can just go there it's very very simple all of them do that and thank you very much and you know even when we talk bad about somebody for a long period of time they tend to sometimes they turn and they start loving us Lenny Dykstra thank you so much for your affection
Starting point is 00:04:22 sir it's very strange because like Mandyy malone yeah we were generally nice to mandy malone we felt bad for her she came from a shit situation and uh and i felt like she was being ignored about the olympic sexual shit and i was like this is kind of she's right and then it turns out she is right it's you know according to the government and everybody else that's been investigating. People that have heard her goddamn story. So I think that she liked us because we actually were like, not a lot of people were believing her. They were like, oh, she's some crazy broad out there.
Starting point is 00:04:51 But we were like, no, that sounds about right. Just because people break the law sometimes doesn't mean that they don't have a credible story. That's the thing. That's exactly what it was. And her story was uber credible. Insanely credible. With these molesting coaches. And we, you know, we're not going to try to, we're not going to go, I think I'll err on the side of molesting
Starting point is 00:05:10 coach. Why? Because she throat punched somebody? Yeah. No, I don't think so. And dick kicked somebody? You know what? Sometimes you got to dick kick somebody.
Starting point is 00:05:17 Sometimes that happens. But I get that. But Lenny Dykstra just likes us for some reason. He comments on Twitter. That's cool. I like that. We root for Lenny.kstra just likes us for some reason. He comments on Twitter. That's cool. I like that. We root for Lenny. That's the thing.
Starting point is 00:05:29 Unless you're like a kid diddler, unless you're Buck Zumhoff, unless you're like a horribly violent guy that beat your wife all the time or you're like, you know, one of those type of people. You can atone for ripping off your secretary by paying him back. You know what I mean? That's easy. Even his Lenny Dykstra's alleged sexual assaults
Starting point is 00:05:49 of the housekeepers, he never like, and I know it doesn't make it great, but he just was like, got this. You know what I mean? What do you think? I mean, it's not like that can be, you can work with that is what I'm getting at. That can be a pickup line too
Starting point is 00:06:03 sometimes. Yeah, I mean, he's not like a horrible fucking rapist to where you can't work with him and you're like, this is what this guy's into. He was just like, maybe she'll like this. I feel like he's just not, you know. There's no violence. There's just not a lot of forethought. Maybe when he was a player and famous, that shit might have worked. Yeah, probably did.
Starting point is 00:06:21 That's how Ric Flair used to get chicks. He'd just open his robe and bars and be like, how you doing? And there's Ric's dick. He'd have the championship belt down with his dick below it and the belt open strutting around. And this is not like
Starting point is 00:06:31 no one denies this. It's not like, oh, it's alleged. He'll tell you he did that all the time. So what I'm saying is we root for Lenny Dykstra to turn it all around
Starting point is 00:06:40 and to get it, you know, to not be searching through dumpsters for dentures with independent wrestler clowns for hours at a time. want that to happen so the fast food restaurant you know so we root for lenny and we're happy that he follows us and if he's listening now go head on lenny keep going lenny we hope it works out for you no more gatorade piss jugs no no let's go and be
Starting point is 00:07:01 good but with all that said it is time to get down to the man of the hour let's do we'll say here uh let's get back into the brain damage sports all right as we as we do and uh it's a hockey player hockey play hockey i'm going to be real honest with you hockey episodes are our least listened to episodes no kidding every single time not by a lot but you can tell that people are like that fuck hockey which is crazy because they're some of the most insane episodes some of the best stories because you get a high level of brain damage especially in that sport where masculinity for a whole long time in that sport told you so what if your bell's rung you get back out there and skate it off i mean that was like get into it robert probert yeah it's probert and rudy pochek i mean there's been a patrick cote
Starting point is 00:07:44 it's been a lot of real crazy ones out there, and this is no different here. Let's get into Kevin Stevens. Okay, you know Kevin Stevens? No, it doesn't sound very Croatian or Canadian. No, no, no. He is an American boy. Okay. He was like Lemieux's right-hand man in the early 90s for the Penguins.
Starting point is 00:08:01 If you played the Sega Genesis 1993 NHL hockey, which is like the best Sega game ever, it's the last one where you could fight and the guy would fall down and flail his arms and legs and bleed. It was that game. He was amazing on that game, so that's how I know him from then. Kevin Smith?
Starting point is 00:08:16 Kevin Stevens. Edwards. Stevens. Edwards. Smith Jr. Just Stevens. God, it's such a throwaway white person name. It is.
Starting point is 00:08:24 Kevin Stevens. It sounds made up. It does. It sounds like if you went up and you're like i gotta make up a name quick quick quick white guy white guy white guy i'm kevin stevens how you doing what a throwaway name todd rogers good to see you it's it's todd rogers it's the same thing kevin stevens is ridiculous it is he's born april 15th 1965 he's from massachusetts so uh everything that we talk about you have to picture in a heavy new england accent that's the other thing everything he says you have to picture in a how many times are we going to say wicked today in a thick lifelong new england accent uh yeah brockton massachusetts is where he's from he's six foot three two thirty
Starting point is 00:09:05 when he grows up he's a big dude he's a big strapping guy and he's a hockey player on fucking skates that's what i mean so he's six six on skates he's a monster you know lord he's a big guy here now his parents uh his father's name is ar, and everybody calls Kevin Stevens Artie as a nickname. Like all his friends call him. His dad's name? Yeah, all his friends, his family, his friends, all the other players, they all call him Artie. That's his name. No one calls him Kevin.
Starting point is 00:09:34 Okay. It's weird. I don't know why. It's bizarre. It's very odd. So Arthur is his dad, and Arthur was a big athlete when he was a kid also and a young man as well. Arthur actually ended up in the Cincinnati Reds farm system playing in the minor leagues as a catcher.
Starting point is 00:09:53 So him and Randy Macho Man Savage share that. They were both catchers in the Cincinnati Reds minor league system, which is very strange. And Johnny Bench. And was he? Well, eventually eventually he didn't wrestle though or produce a hockey player that's true but he played baseball and eventually yeah now uh he was his dad arthur arty may uh married his high school sweetheart who was a beauty
Starting point is 00:10:19 pageant winner girl named patricia so i mean they it was a very he was going on to play professional baseball and she was a beauty queen it was very jack and diane yeah this story except with a heavy new england accent oh yeah that's a yelling at each other in a heavy new england accent well throwing a beer can every intermittently intermittently tossing a beer can at the wall or something and calling him jackie yeah him Jackie. Yeah, Jackie. Jackie. So, uh... That was wicked hard that time. That was a hard one. Put a hole through the drywall there, Jackie.
Starting point is 00:10:54 Was that one frozen? It's a good thing three of your brothers do drywall, otherwise we'd be in real trouble. God damn it. So, uh, everybody from the Northeast knows how to do drywall everybody could just slap some drywall bostonians and meth heads yeah the two people drywall done so uh they get married uh they end up having three kids all together they have uh two girls first and then after that a little later on they have finally have their boy yeah they have little kevin here okay little giant kevin little little kevin now a lot of this background stuff by the way i got from a really really good article uh from sportsnet.ca i guess that's canada probably
Starting point is 00:11:37 sportsnet canada i would assume by a guy named dan robson it's some good background shit that he found that's really nobody nowhere else oh it's robson a robson a no he's actually got out of boston okay all right i think he's out of boston so it's it's a different accent it's more angry it's the same thing with more swearing yeah with more exactly in this article they talk about kevin learned to skate on the cranberry bogs oh behind his house oh so those things freeze over that makes sense i guess yeah yeah up there yeah pretty solid because cranberries grow underwater yeah which is fucking weird yeah yeah and then so i guess it would freeze over it's shallow yeah you could fucking swim on it yeah especially if you're literally like flying through it you're learning
Starting point is 00:12:18 to stay up uh so yeah he i guess we just validated validated a fact that was already true. It's true. That's true. Yeah, of course. It didn't need to be investigated. We just did. We're so used to it. I just investigated it via an ocean spray commercial.
Starting point is 00:12:38 That's what helps. You know what? Don't ever let anyone tell you that TV isn't any good for you. You can learn. You can learn. You can learn how cranberries grow. At least. Maybe other stuff too.
Starting point is 00:12:49 There's the cranberry thing. You can know more about learning to skate as a toddler for some reason. I am such an asshole. I try to pretend that I'm smarter for a second because I saw TV. I saw Ocean Sprite. We're so used to everything being full of shit though also we're so used to like pulling apart full of shit things on this show so we're like anything that said we're
Starting point is 00:13:11 like i don't know about that and then we have to investigate it and then we're like okay all right that checks out passable that checks out you can't say it didn't happen so we're looking so looking for full of shit at any point that'll work good enough unreal so they at the end of their drive here at the end of their street they was kind of a makeshift rink is what they did and they had neighborhood games there and the dad here arthur would take care of the of the of the neighborhood rink basically he would make it skatable for the kids and he was very into the kids skating. And he was a mailman, his dad, a big giant guy, which makes sense to have a giant kid like Kevin here.
Starting point is 00:13:52 But he's a big, gregarious mailman. He's the guy, you hear him coming with your mail five houses down, because he's talking to somebody. Love those people. Big, heavy New England accent. Yeah. He seems like he's probably a fun guy. You know what I mean? He's probably a fun, seems like a good dude. Crack up. Yeah. Big, heavy New England accent. Yeah, he seems like he's probably a fun guy. You know what I mean? He's probably
Starting point is 00:14:05 a fun, seems like a good dude. Crack up. Yeah, he's got jokes. He's got breaking balls. Just a brown bag? I wonder what's in there. Picks on old ladies, but then like, you know, helps them, but you know, he breaks the balls about things. Hey, look at you. I don't know. You look like you're trolling for some
Starting point is 00:14:23 cock today, Mrs. Wilkerson. I don't know like the uh you look like you're trolling for some cock today mrs wilkerson i don't know trolling for that house coats a little tight that's all i'm saying looking good looking good here's your electric bill all right then he moves on don't forget to pay your heat that's it the winter's coming you're gonna freeze to death in that little skimpy thing i'll be around either way rain nor sleep nor shine some shit like that i think there's snow mixed in there somewhere nor sleep no i don't know that they something about i think dead of night is in there but they don't they don't i never get mail at night i've never gotten it after night once it's dark mailman their post office closes the fuck at 4 30 they. They're like 10-year-old kids when the streetlights come on, they fucking scatter.
Starting point is 00:15:07 Oh, no! Skip dead at night. Scatter off the street. I'm not sure here. But everybody loved him. He's a locally known guy. Everybody knows the goddamn mailman. Yeah.
Starting point is 00:15:17 And especially if he's a big, you know, booming personality type of cat. They all know him. So, yeah. He would shovel... I i guess he would you know they'd water down the ice it would freeze over and get smooth and he would shovel it off if it snowed and all that sort of shit here uh he set up nets uh for the kids for for goals and everything like that so not bad there's a lot of i guess a lot of kids would skate in this area and they would just play all night basically till it got dark that was the the way this works so he comes from like a hockey cul-de-sac basically it's just this cul-de-sac of
Starting point is 00:15:51 hockey where you get home from school and that's all anybody gave a shit about play till dead of night play till it's too dark to play and then that's it's too late to deliver the mail that's it steve's sister kelly said quote it was like a Norman Rockwell painting. So that's how they're going to frame this. It's all Campbell's soup, babe. That's all it is. So he has two sisters, Kelly and Kim. And Artie, he waited for the boy, the father.
Starting point is 00:16:18 That's the thing. He got two daughters. And that was great. And he was excited. But then he got the son. And he was like, hey, now I got, I don't know. Now sometimes guys. Now I get to be a man. So you just want to teach a kid how to you know be a guy i think is what it is so it doesn't have to all be bath bombs and hair ties that's the thing you get
Starting point is 00:16:33 overwhelmed you're like there's something different here and if you i assume if you had two boys you'd be like i just want a girl yeah you know what i mean i'd love to i'd love to brush some hair i'd love for things to be pink and calm for a minute, because this shit is crazy. These two are fucking insane. They're peeing on each other right now. Pink and calm. Boys will pee on each other. You've never seen two girls pee on each other.
Starting point is 00:16:59 It's never happened, ever, unless it was sexual and invited and voluntary. No girls have ever been like, yeah, motherfucker, yeah. He's paid three grand. Yeah, and it was expensive. Boys' bedrooms are painted motherfucker, yeah. He's paid three grand. Yeah. And it was expensive. Boys' bedrooms are painted blue and blood. That's what it is. And pee and shit and everything else. They're terrible. Ever been in a men's room?
Starting point is 00:17:13 It's a fucking nightmare. And those are adult men. Horrible, yeah. Imagine children. Good fuck, man. Who haven't been guilted into being members of society yet. Can we just, as dudes, respect each other a little bit? How about we stop? stopped no stop right there if respecting each other entails not shitting on things i don't think men can do it honestly i think you're because that's what it is i am tired
Starting point is 00:17:38 of going into a bathroom and and having to fucking stand back from the toilet because there's piss everywhere. Oh, it's all over. And then I'm going to get it everywhere because I can't hit it. No, well, yeah. I can't hit it from this distance. That's the thing. It keeps going.
Starting point is 00:17:52 I'm not Steph Curry. It's a slippery slope. Oh, that floor's slippery. All right. Once a couple guys miss, then you're backing up further and further. Next thing you know. It takes a village.
Starting point is 00:18:02 It takes all of us, God damn it. Stop pissing on the toilet. But they're going on the toilet they're not gonna care and then they're gonna shit everywhere and they're gonna smear it on the walls and they're gonna write their names but what's the difference once there's piss everywhere it's horrible may as well shit everywhere too people that's the thing there's shit everywhere anyway so you might as well piss on it maybe they're trying to piss the shit off maybe that's what it is maybe if i can get a strong enough stream going i can knock that piece off the wall that's disgusting that's what it is. Maybe if I can get a strong enough stream going, I can knock that piece off the wall. That's disgusting.
Starting point is 00:18:26 That's all I can think, though. That's what's going on in men's rooms. It's fucking horrible in there. Well, what about the urinals, then? Because there's dick hairs everywhere. I don't even want to talk about urinals. And then there's piss all over the wall. I don't need to splash piss all over my shoes, so I avoid urinals.
Starting point is 00:18:37 Because all you do, you piss, and there's just a cloud of splash coming out everywhere. And you're like, okay, it's all over my pants and shoes now. Still my favorite thing you've ever said. Thanks, it makes no sense where are you going i'm not going over there piss on my shoes you might as well just piss directly on your shoes it wasn't you said four words and i understood your whole thought yes what because you just started walking away and i'm going to the room where are you going you go over there piss on my shoes piss on i get it yeah i get it oh wow i'm on board i probably have a lot of piss all over me right now all over my shoes you take a black light to your shoes it was just a piss parade piss parade unreal so uh arthur here gets kevin into every sport by walking like oh he can stand up put a
Starting point is 00:19:28 glove on him and play some baseball and i put a stick in his hand he'll play some some hockey arthur loves sports and kevin uh seemed to be coordinated at a very early age so when you see that you go hey and you keep encouraging it so uh he did and he said that he was basically kevin's good at every sport he plays he's just one of those guys he's just good at everything he's a good athlete and uh just figures out whatever sport he plays already never played hockey the father arthur never never played hockey but uh everybody in around him loved hockey and all the kids were into hockey so he was like cool i like hockey i'm encouraging the kids here uh So he said that Kevin skated, just got right on him and started skating.
Starting point is 00:20:08 It was easy going. They would get him to shoot pucks here. And his dad would play goalie. And that would start to hurt after a while as he got older and hit the, you know, actually was shooting harder. actually was uh shooting harder and uh and there's a according to local legend in this article i found here in his first competitive year of hockey at six years old kevin scored 175 goals no yeah well that's that's actually possible if you've seen youth hockey is that with a puck yeah that's i had a friend in high school who was amazing. Just like compared to the other high school kids. It must be all the people who end up at the next level are probably like this.
Starting point is 00:20:50 They're just 10 steps over. They're like LeBron dunking on people. Because my friend, I mean, he played our high school as like, that was like his practice league. Like he had these traveling teams that were like, that was important. And our high school games were like, that was like, oh that's yeah he just fucks around on those he used to score six seven goals a game i'm not even fucking around they'd show like local news highlights and they go oh this guy's throwing a shot and he would just be fucking he was like chunky too he'd just be like weaving in and out and bink just some people just see it yeah it's like piano yeah
Starting point is 00:21:20 hockey's one of those weird things where a couple people are just way better at it than anybody gretzky you know you look at stats and you're like how is that guy so much better than everybody else it's weird like baseball you don't see it as much or is it yeah i mean my uncle used to be really really good at it and yeah then he got really really good at drugs uh that's that'll happen but he could like he could flip a hug he'd flip the stick and catch the puck. It was fucking bananas. Like a golfer that can tap the ball in the air with the club. That's the word. That thing.
Starting point is 00:21:52 Yeah, the fucking golf clubber guy. The bat. The golf bat. That's the one. There's that famous SportsCenter highlight. It's probably the late 90s of that kid. I want to say it's a college game or something like that where the kid comes around the back of the goal
Starting point is 00:22:04 and picks up the you know, picks, scoops up the thing and like fucking just drops it in the back corner of the net while the goalie's just still turning. He just kind of like flips it. That's my uncle. He was so good with a puck. That's fun to watch. And then he got really good with pipes. Well, they're
Starting point is 00:22:19 shaped the same way. Stick in the pipe. I think maybe that's why. I know this. He put all kinds of things in there. This this makes sense to me now kevin though his best sport was baseball he thought actually so that wasn't even his best sport good arms he's just really good at shit and i he's great in 1978 uh he played in the night in the 1978 quebec international peewee hockey tournament which was a big deal apparently this tournament This tournament, it was founded in 1960, and it's supposed to give players who are 12 years old and under a chance to have international competition.
Starting point is 00:22:53 That's the point. It's a fundraiser, too, and all this type of shit. It's a big deal, though, for hockey kids. Some of the people who have come out of this, I'll give you a list here. Mike Gartner, who was a longtime NHL player. Dennis Savard. Wayne Gretzky in 74.
Starting point is 00:23:10 Paul Coffey, who played forever. Adam Oates was in the league for a long time. Ron Francis, forever. Scott Stevens, no relation. But other, I think he was in New Jersey. Devil for a long time. Pat LaFontaine, who played forever. Geiserman.
Starting point is 00:23:24 Mario Lemieux. Brett Hull.io lemieux brett hull a lot of fuck there's a lot of hall of fame names in there played in this tournament so this is a kind of a big deal patrick waugh was in this tournament eric lindros you know wait a minute eric lindros yeah was that a kid that played in the nba too no eric lindros was a was the much concussed philadelphia flyer i'm trying to think of lindros that played was too no eric lindros was a was the much concussed philadelphia flyer i'm trying to think of lindros that played was it no eric montrose montrose was that flat top having north carolina center double zeros went to boston maybe probably i think so he was awful though it fits in in boston yeah uh so anyway kevin goes to silver lake high school in Kingston, Massachusetts here. And he does pretty damn well.
Starting point is 00:24:06 In 82, 83, plays in 18 games, has 24 goals and 27 assists in 18 games. So 51 points in 18 games is nothing to sneeze at. That's pretty goddamn good here. He's also a high school all scholastic first team. So that means he's got a reader every month? Yeah, he gets good grades too, which isn't bad. Here he's the Silver Lake captain his junior and senior year. He's also a team leader always.
Starting point is 00:24:34 Every team he goes to, he's a team leader. He's like his dad. He's a big guy with a big booming voice and a gregarious sense of humor, and people gravitate to him he's that kind of guy they're outgoing absolutely and he's a big powerful guy too so people tend to follow him if you're a big booming voiced gregarious guy and you're a big thing they tend to people just tend to gravitate and follow you it's just one of those it's it's not i don't even think it's it's it's intellectual it's just a a human thing okay i i follow that person now so uh yeah
Starting point is 00:25:07 he's uh he was named the high school conferences co-mvp in 1981-82 and the mvp in 82-83 so uh not too bad he played center in high school will be a left wing after that he's also a big high school baseball player and he was recruited to uh boston college recruited him to play both baseball and hockey okay as a catcher also like his dad and uh he ends up trying out with the toronto blue jays and the philadelphia phillies during college so he has a couple of sniffs at the big leagues in terms of our major league baseball organization well he's good at it obviously so yeah he's really good at he says uh quote this is kevin sniffs at the big leagues in terms of our major league baseball organization. Well, he's good at it, obviously. Yeah, he's really good at it. He says, quote, this is Kevin, quote,
Starting point is 00:25:49 I actually like playing baseball as much as hockey. I missed not getting a chance to play it after high school. I think playing multiple sports in high school was a big positive for me because it gave me a break from concentrating on one sport for too long and maybe not enjoying playing that sport as much. I'm all for kids playing more than one sport in high school it's a good mental break couldn't agree more with that shit now the problem is now like if you're going to be unless you're a world-class athlete that's got like a 4 3 40 or something like that you can play multiple sports
Starting point is 00:26:18 and whatever you decide to play whenever you decide to play it people will be happy to take you on right unless you're that you need to get really good and will be happy to take you on. Unless you're that, you need to get really good. And the only way to do that is to concentrate. And the only way to do that is to burn your kid out. That's the problem now. When you see these kids now, not kids, but these guys coming into the league as quarterbacks, into the NFL or 22, 23, they grew up with this crazy regimented militant. They've been in quarterback camp since they were eight years old.
Starting point is 00:26:47 They didn't just play in the schoolyard and play in the street and play in their yard with their friends. And then in high school, join Pop Warner. And then in high school, go out for the team and play and be good enough to go to college. And then, hey, look how good you are. That's how it used to be. But now it's like these kids are mapped out.
Starting point is 00:27:03 This kid at 12, you know that kid is going to be a you know whatever star blue chip prospect in five six years it's already it's crazy so i i can't imagine like i can't imagine a guy coming into the league now and not hating football by then i mean at minimum not not at minimum you just going, it's about time I get the payday. Yeah. And that's all you're playing for now is just the money. Yeah, exactly. Whereas I think it was probably, I mean, there was money involved, obviously, always. But I think it was also a matter of, hey, I still like football.
Starting point is 00:27:37 This is still cool. Whereas now, I don't know how. The love of the game is fucking long gone. Yeah, football does not seem fun especially in the nfl it seems like the first thing they do is they sit you down and say football is not fun god damn it it's fucking big business which is there's just there's chatter about it all day every fucking day it shows on the field i'm going to tell you what as a fan when you watch an nfl game it's the lack of joy shows on the field i get when they score a touchdown there's a choreographed
Starting point is 00:28:03 dance and everything and that's great. I'm glad they're doing that again because I like that personally. The choreography? It's fantastic. I love it. I mean, just let them fucking... Make an effort.
Starting point is 00:28:13 Let them dance. Stop with any rules at all. Yeah, who cares? They can do whatever they want. Otherwise, you know what they're going to do? They're going to pull back and show a wide shot of the field while one team runs off the field
Starting point is 00:28:24 and one team runs on and refs decide where to place the ball that's what you get would you rather watch that from a fucking from the upper deck or would you rather watch a bunch of grown millionaires giant millionaires in helmets and shoulder pads doing a silly dance together in unison i'd rather see that person pretty funny that's funny but besides that but that goes back to the point that we've made for fucking i don't know how many shows put personality back in sports otherwise it's fucking it's it's boring oh my god it's obnoxious yeah you cannot sit and watch a vanilla ass game i can't do it we're to the point where uh uh wrestling needs
Starting point is 00:29:03 a little more sport and sports need a little more wrestling that's where we're at right now i'm dead serious yeah that's where we're at yeah we're we're too like in the 70s like characters were nuts in sports the guys were crazy thomas hollywood henderson smoking crack and fucking wheelchair chicks in the face like that was crazy obviously and then like the wrestlers were all like this is real and bubble now it's just silly and then they're too business. We need to switch and get a little of both and sprinkle it in. Sprinkle in some wrestling in your football.
Starting point is 00:29:30 It'll be more fun because I watched yesterday the Patriots and Ravens. Yeah. And I got to say, Tom Brady is the most. We've said it before, but he's the most joyless, boring fucking thing on earth. When you watch him, if i was 12 years old watching him i would go wow football looks terrible football looks like it's a fucking i'd rather work in a factory yeah that looks awful because he looks like it's just no fun whatsoever football's a sweat factory for him oh it's just i don't know how anyone could watch the reward of millions of
Starting point is 00:30:05 dollars i don't know how anyone could watch that and get joy from that when there is no joy even when tom brady wins or throws a touchdown pass he doesn't look happy he looks like yeah like it's a military operation what's like dude this is fun you're supposed to go yay you're not supposed to go that's right motherfucker it's weird it's fucking weird calm down and i get that they're winning and all that but that doesn't make it fun to fucking watch which is the point of the goddamn shit is for me to want to watch it and again there's no personality in the in no in the anger that he has somehow he somehow he exudes a human emotion with zero emotion yeah how do you do that it's just how do you even how do you get angry with
Starting point is 00:30:46 zero personality and that's how do you do it and that's how they look for football players too they look for a quarterback oh their whole fucking machine is that an emotionless person who's been bred from birth to do this that's all that's what they're looking at with quarter their mascot is perfect for them it's just a deadpan vanilla faced uh triangle on on the side of the helmet that's all it is yeah it's just a boring nothing it's the truth awful it's the truth i hate it hockey has a little hockey especially back in the 80s had a lot more they loved it football hockey in the 80s and 90s there was a lot of personality involved in it and uh it was a different type of thing these guys were running around without running skating around without helmets on and shit i mean it was just these guys were psychopaths
Starting point is 00:31:28 they were literally crazy people with a rubber puck flying at how fast do those things go over 40 50 miles an hour over a hundred yeah guys shoot slap shots 130 miles an hour christ it's that's hard you're doing that with no helmet on. No helmet. No helmet. And guys, defensemen diving in front of these pucks with no helmets. It's absolutely bonkers that these people would do this shit. It was a... 130 miles an hour. It was a craze.
Starting point is 00:31:55 And then you wonder why we have so many episodes about them because they have so much brain damage. But in the 1983 entry draft, now he's been recruited to boston college but in the nhl you can draft somebody and retain their rights it's a different system than uh and like baseball if you don't sign them by the next year their rights are it's a long story it depends on what how you draft them and everything else but uh uh he this draft is full of people uh steve geiserman uh pat lafontaine's in this draft they went three and four uh but There's a lot of different guys that even I know. And I'm not a hockey guy, Jeff Bukabum. But guys, Ira Camnili, people I remember or I even know of here.
Starting point is 00:32:35 But finally, we get, who is he drafted by here? Jesus, he's drafted by Los Angeles. I don't know why I couldn't get that. He's drafted by Los Angeles, our guy Kevin Stevens here. Not until the third round. What year is that? This is a 1983 entry draft. Bob Probert drafted in the third round by the Red Wings, too.
Starting point is 00:32:57 This draft is pretty stacked. Claude Lemieux. Not Mario Bacar. They were the Kings then, too, huh? Yeah, Los Angeles. How long have they fucking been there? When did they go there? Late 70s. the kings then, too, huh? Yeah, in Los Angeles. How long have they fucking been there? When did they go there? Late 70s?
Starting point is 00:33:08 Jesus, it's been a while, huh? Yeah, yeah, yeah. How about that? I didn't know that. And sometimes I mix them up with the Anaheim Ducks. Wow. And they aren't there anymore, right? Let's understand.
Starting point is 00:33:21 No, they are there. They're still there. They're still there. They're still there. They're still there. They're still there. They're still there. They're still there.
Starting point is 00:33:22 But you just would think that because that movie is so old old you'd be like they still have a team right you think they would have abandoned that like 1996 just a hulk of a stadium left behind melting ice we're not gonna actually so uh anyway he's traded or he's uh drafted by los angeles and traded to pittsburgh right away on sept September 9th for Anders Hackinson. Oh, yeah. With two S's. Hackinson. Oh, yeah.
Starting point is 00:33:49 He's a Jewish seller. Yeah, obviously. A small, very small man. Dark hair, mustache. Yeah, two S's. That is a six foot five Scandinavian gentleman, I'm sure. He ended up playing for 191 games over six seasons. So, I mean, not bad, but not. He ended up playing 191 games over six seasons. So, I mean, not bad, but not as good of a career as Kevin Stevens ended up having.
Starting point is 00:34:09 So Pittsburgh got the best of that one. Did the LA Kings move? They're the ones that went to Vegas, right? I think that's true. No, no, no. The Kings are still a team. Oh, Golden Knights. Yeah, the Golden Knights.
Starting point is 00:34:18 Is that an expansion team? I think that's an expansion team. Really? I believe so. Oh. I thought it was the Kings that moved there. I think the Kings are still the Kings. All right. Well well maybe they're still the kings i got some googling this is how much hockey we we pay attention to so anything hockey we say take with a grain of salt
Starting point is 00:34:35 because we don't know what the fuck we're talking about that's why we're not going to spend a lot of time on hockey stats because i don't know a lot of them i i know how many goals is a good amount of goals and i know assists and stuff but of that, I'm not going to tell you the nuances of how he affected the game because I have no goddamn idea. Don't tweet me. I've already Googled it by now. He seemed good on Sega, so that's what I'm going to say. When he came down on Sega, boy, throw it to the side to him.
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Starting point is 00:35:30 Everybody gets those on their neck. They're the worst. The Harry's razors are great for that. They really help get rid of those ingrown hairs, and that's coming from an Italian guy with hair on his neck. And it's got that little edger blade that you can get a good line on your beard or a good line around your neck. That's the thing.
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Starting point is 00:37:19 If you can have a free ride playing college, you know, get physically ready for the NHL and then go still get a hockey contract? Why the hell not? Boston College, he's 18 years old. His freshman year, he plays in 37 games, has 14 assists and 6 goals. Not too shabby. The next year, 84-85,
Starting point is 00:37:36 he has 13 goals and 23 assists. Going up every year. The next year, 85-86, 17 goals, 27 assists and then his senior year at boston college he has a place in 39 games has 35 goals and 35 assists oh that's amazing yeah that's really good that's uh you know twice as many points almost as games played is pretty impressive that's your i mean you're averaging yeah you You're affecting the game. You're scoring a goal and getting an assist a game.
Starting point is 00:38:07 I'd love to be that. I'd love to matter to anything that much. You matter to two goals a game, which in college hockey is a shitload. It's not the most highest scoring affair, as you might know. His coach, Len Segalarski, oh, crap. He was one of the coaches at boston college all all while kevin was there and he called kevin quote a smart kid always respectful humble and caring he said my wife always calls him my kevin oh so i'm familiar yeah so that's the thing so
Starting point is 00:38:40 he's so loving he's a yeah they're nice people He's a yeah, they're nice people. You know what I mean? They're nice people. He is an 86 87 his senior year. He is the NCAA second team All-American and also first team All-Star NCAA Eastern Hockey Division, whatever the fuck it is. I don't even know. I have no idea how college hockey divisions are broken down. Don't look at me. I'm barely sort of literate on it with college basketball because of tournaments and such and you know i don't even know the teams forget
Starting point is 00:39:10 football they rename them all the time team switch conferences i don't know but it's still a little bit easier with college football but college hockey yeah i know the teams up north do well i know your minnesotas your mains your wisconsins those teams that's the college ones those yeah the college those teams are usually good michigan things in that area anywhere where it's frozen there's not going to be a lot of colleges with hockey teams either right i mean it's not every one of them right no no i mean there's ones that don't are that don't live that aren't in cold weather environments but asu doesn doesn't have one. Well, it'd be hard because you'd have to recruit people from away from here a lot because I don't know if there's enough kids in Phoenix to play that are that good.
Starting point is 00:39:52 Come down here, Johansson, with two S's. I dare you. If you're Minnesota with two S's, you're going to melt. If you're Minnesota, it's all kids playing hockey. You probably have your pick of the hockey talent, and they want to go to the local school and you can do well sure i assume i don't think they're probably getting a lot of kids from florida no you know no i don't maybe i don't give it time give it time global warming that's florida might be ice cold eventually no they're gonna get hotter will they do you think so they're
Starting point is 00:40:23 getting they're getting hot for now well yeah maybe in the winter it'll be colder there maybe because that's how it's extreme it'll be ice there and then fire in the summer that will fire there now in the summer so we're ahead of the curve it would be ice for three months and then fire for three months and florida get it together you're all how do you live there everybody tell you what on three let's all just move okay everyone that's in florida pick all your shit up and leave on three one two three yeah and table go i'm talking to you jacksonville let's go you slacker get your shit together come on miami's already going they're already all the way up to fort lauderdale what are you doing so the mass exodus from florida that'd be amazing i don't know some podcast says it's gonna light on fire in three weeks we don't know we should leave so 1987 he uh he uh not only gets
Starting point is 00:41:19 brought up to the nhl for a sniff here he also is in the place for the u.s in some international you know place for the country and some international things also is in the place for the u.s in some international uh you know place for the country and some international things he's in the 88 olympics in calgary also so he's an olympian doesn't win a medal no yeah u.s hockey was not very good still a badass uh but still yeah olympic hockey player which is way more than i can say so uh yeah 87 he's as well on the U.S. National Ice Hockey team. And the 88 team finished seventh overall in the Calgary Olympics. That doesn't get you anything. That's not great. They send you home.
Starting point is 00:41:55 Yeah, they lost to, what the hell is FRG? What is it? FRG's. Is that, fuck. Froogles? The frogs? Froogenville? Is that a frog? Is that Froogenberg? uh uh is that uh fuck fruit uh frogs frugan fruganville is that fruganberg did we lose to fruganberg well frg do we learn lose to frugan we we lost to frog and frog four to one in the first round we beat norway somehow i don't know. It's frozen there. I think they're just too nice.
Starting point is 00:42:26 Maybe that's what it was. We lost to some... What the fuck is FRG? That drives me bananas. It's probably one of the Russian satellites, possibly. You think so? One of the Eastern, maybe. I don't know.
Starting point is 00:42:36 Someone's going to tweet us. It's going to be something so obvious. I already know that the Knights... So obvious. That the Golden Knights are an expansion team and that the kings are still in la don't tweet that shit and also don't tweet me what frg means because i'm fucking googling it right now basically i don't know what any of the short the the the abbreviations are for any of
Starting point is 00:42:56 these countries sui oh dude it's fucking west germany oh west germany west germany okay federation republic okay of germ. What about URS? That's probably Ursula, the sea witch. That's Ursula. I believe that's... She had eight legs, so... Was that Russia? It might...
Starting point is 00:43:13 Or Uzbekistan? Unified Russian states or something? Oh, maybe. Maybe that's their third... URS country. What are we doing? Transcontinental country. It's Russia.
Starting point is 00:43:23 All right. Okay. So we lost seven five to russia yeah there uh then it doesn't matter we finished seventh we're terrible we won a game against aut so we did that that was and that's norway i know that's nor i'm pretty sure that's norway we beat them we also beat uat we beat aut aut australia which is by that we better beat an australian hockey Or is it Austria? That would make more sense.
Starting point is 00:43:47 Australia, they've never had anything frozen there. You can't get ice in your drink there. They're like, huh? Frozen water. Why would you freeze it, mate? How are you going to drink it if it's frozen? That is actually, I hope you are not going to believe this, James. Is UAUT Australia? Is it if it's drugs? That is actually, I hope you are not going to believe this, James. Is you AUT Australia?
Starting point is 00:44:07 Is it? It's New Zealand. I give up. I don't fucking know. I'm fucking real. Whatever. We beat New Zealand. We should have beat New Zealand 45 to nothing.
Starting point is 00:44:17 I know. It should have looked like a blowout football score. They should have showed up and went, oh, mate, we didn't know we was going to be playing this game. Yeah. We didn't bring our skates. We were running around on sneakers.
Starting point is 00:44:27 Where's the street? We thought this was street hockey. We were running around on Asics out there, sliding. In shorts and no shirt.
Starting point is 00:44:40 It's the original Jamaican bobsled team, basically, except way more funny because it's violent these guys are getting thrashed left and right trying to run down the ice i want to see that so bad some big giant kid from wisconsin bears down on them with pads he's already got six paps in him and he's fucking got pads and he's four inches taller thanaps in him and he's fucking got pads and he's four inches taller
Starting point is 00:45:06 than his skates and he's ready to fucking pace this guy into the boards. Now that I would pay to watch. Some fuck from New Zealand in a pair of fucking brown shorts not even covering the knee. This is... Oh. Oh, shit. Oh, no. We was not prepared for this one.
Starting point is 00:45:26 We thought it was something completely different. Shit. Guys, break down. Put the rackets away. Put them back in the trunk. Wrong sport, mate. I don't know. I've got sneakers.
Starting point is 00:45:43 Bring my runners. My trainers. My trainers. My trainers. Trainers. That's what it is. Trainers. That's a silly word. Trainers.
Starting point is 00:45:52 They love trainers. A trainer is 40 bucks a month to yell at you at the gym. That's what a trainer is. Trainers. That's a sneaker in the UK. They love trainer. So, now, he says here, this is Kevin. He says, quote, the Olympic team was still made up of college kids back then, which that was pre-Dream Team.
Starting point is 00:46:13 And I had an amazing eight or nine months traveling around representing my country with future NHL stars like Mike Richter, Brian Leach, Tony Granato, and Craig Janney. He says, those were some fun times with a bunch of great hockey players that I'm still friends with today. So that was like a, which that sounds like fun. If you're like a 22-year-old hockey player and you're going to go around the world with a bunch of your buddies playing hockey and drinking and partying and, you know. Sounds great. Getting Scandinavian tail, whatever you got going. I don't know. Who knows?
Starting point is 00:46:44 New Zealand something. So, I mean, going. I don't know. Who knows? New Zealand something. So, I mean, that sounds like fun, though. That sounds like a really good time. Yeah. But they finished seventh, so I don't know. I don't know. It's not that great. All those future stars in seventh place.
Starting point is 00:46:57 Seventh place doesn't get a great tale. No, it doesn't. That gets you the tough stuff, the mercy stuff. Yeah. Mercy stuff. Yeah. Well, that was when, too, that was when the other... That gets you the tough stuff, the mercy stuff. Yeah. Mercy stuff. Yeah, well, that was when, too, that was when the other countries were sending their pros over still, too,
Starting point is 00:47:09 except for New Zealand, who probably didn't have any. I'm assuming, I don't know how many pro hockey leagues there are in New Zealand. Maybe in their inaugural season. Here it is, mate.
Starting point is 00:47:18 It's cold. People just figuring it out. I don't like this sport. It's not good. We go back to cricket, mate. I don't like it. So, you know, 87-88 for Pittsburgh. Kevin Stevens plays in five games.
Starting point is 00:47:38 Or, I'm sorry, plays in 16 games. He has five goals and two assists. So, not bad. I mean, they're just throwing him out there, seeing how he looks the seeing how he looks with the big club that's all that's what they do kind of a like in baseball a september call-up let's see if he can you know how we see if he looks like he belongs hitting big league pitching you know no big deal uh so uh 88 89 though is kind of his rookie year he's real rookie year here uh he plays in 24 games 12 goals three assists and uh that's that's not that's good for that that's what they're looking for out of him and people liked
Starting point is 00:48:11 him also i mean it was a teammate of him says quote uh well they're talking about how he was so friendly and he was loud and he had jokes but in a positive way and people liked him he was bringing some happy jokes some energy to the locker room, and they liked that. They said that he was beloved by people. One of his teammates said, quote, Kevin's dad was just like him. He was a bundle of joy. So it's like that. His teammates started calling him Artie because they said they met his dad,
Starting point is 00:48:41 and they were so alike. That's why they started calling him Artie, too, because they were like, Jesus, you guys are just younger Artie. Big, giant, loud, booming guy who everybody likes there. So everybody called him Artie. That's it. And, you know, that sort of thing. He says that Mario Lemieux says how important he was to the team. He says, quote, he was the party of the room every game.
Starting point is 00:49:04 He made it fun for everybody to come to the rink. Artie the party. Art was the party of the room every game ah he made it fun for everybody to come to the rink already the party already the party that they they want to come and yeah it's a he makes practice fun yeah he's breaking balls and he's shouting out it's not just a a dread not just uh if tom brady was running it let's just say you know something like that imagine a new england practice how joyless that is just how joyless uh wednesday afternoon new england fucking practices this is the hardest uh six million dollars i've ever joyless that is. Fuck. Just how joyless Wednesday afternoon New England fucking practice is. This is the hardest
Starting point is 00:49:27 six million dollars I've ever earned. Just still sore from Sunday and everybody just puss faced. Like this week too and they lost to Baltimore.
Starting point is 00:49:37 Right. It's just everyone's going to be so grumpy. They're going into the bye this week, right? I don't think they play next week.
Starting point is 00:49:43 Either way, Gronkowski retired and if it was fun there's there's no way that that man's quitting he's a party he doesn't care he doesn't care how many concussions he has he doesn't know where the hell he is anymore the hell's he gonna he said he said uh yo soy fiesta into a fucking microphone which means i am party yeah yeah it's not really. Terrible. It's just terrible. I heard a Spanish word. My point is that he's a fun guy. And if that shit was fun, he'd still be there. He'd be hanging around.
Starting point is 00:50:13 Yeah. He's like, Brady's boring. I'm fucking Gronkowski. Yeah. I'm everything to this city. It's me and Tom Brady. That's it. That's what you got.
Starting point is 00:50:23 If it was fun, he'd stick around. I guarantee it. Totally agree with you there. Now, in March 1989, Kevin Stevens wins the Rookie of the Month Award for the NHL, which is good.
Starting point is 00:50:35 They have a Rookie of the Month every month. It's encouraging. I like that. That's encouraging. I like that, too. Yeah, show what rookies are starting to pick it up.
Starting point is 00:50:42 Showcase some people. I like that. They always have the Player of the Week and the month and all that type of shit it's rarely a rookie it's rarely a rookie but this is a special rookie of the month award here like that uh also in 89 90 he has four fights oh which is nice i like talking about the fights obviously and uh we always do here and this is when his career really picks up 89 90 not only on the ice but uh like his team not only him but his team 89 90 he plays in 76 games so now he's a regular part of the team 29 goals 41 assists playing next to mario lemieux that's the thing he gets to come in yeah
Starting point is 00:51:18 and play next to mario lemieux right which is toss the puck to that guy and you got yourself an assist that's what i mean 41 assists you're going to just get by accident playing next to Lemieux. Just the puck bouncing off your stick every once in a while. And not to take anything away from him because he also had 29 goals which, Lemieux or not, that's pretty impressive. No, he's a great player
Starting point is 00:51:38 but I mean it just helps to come into the league to not have to have all eyes on you because the guy in the middle is the guy everybody's looking at. One of the best players best players ever yeah and it'll take some pressure off of you and allows you to kind of blossom i feel like and also i mean those 29 goals he probably got those based on uh a lot of attention paid oh that's that helps you wide open he's the second receiver right he's like scotty pippen yeah it's he's the second option that's gonna be less covered and uh and he took state you have to be a great player to take advantage of it,
Starting point is 00:52:05 and he absolutely does. 90-91, he plays in 80 games, has 40 goals, 46 assists, 86 points, which is awesome. Also, by the way, 89-90, 171 penalty minutes. Oh, boy. Which is hefty. He did some goonery? He's not going to take any shit.
Starting point is 00:52:23 And especially any time... Oh, you've got to protect Lemieux. I mean, back then, they would bring in different thugs all the time. I remember they brought in McSorley around this time, who was the ultimate enforcer thug. Guys like that. But if you've got a Lemieux or a Gretzky or a guy like that, everybody has to protect him at all times. Sidney Crosby. People are looking to take shots at him.
Starting point is 00:52:47 Absolutely. Period. That's all there is to it. Especially a Gretzky, because he was so small. He was a big fucking guy, but Gretzky was a skinny little shit. Sidney Crosby isn't that big either.
Starting point is 00:52:57 No. You've got to protect them. You have to know that if you take a cheap shot on that guy, Marty McSorley is going to hit you in the teeth with a stick the next time he sees you. And I'll do the minutes standing on my head. They don't care. That's what their job is.
Starting point is 00:53:08 I don't care if I don't play again for this game. Put fear in hearts. That's it. As long as you're missing a tooth for hitting my boy. That's it. That's all it is here. So, yeah, he starts really picking it up at this point. 90-91, he gets to play in the All-Star game.
Starting point is 00:53:22 In the playoffs, he has the most goals in the playoffs. Really? With 17 in 1991. Fuck, that seems like a lot. That's a lot. 17 in the playoffs. I mean, the hockey playoffs are long, but still. They're a seven-game series, right?
Starting point is 00:53:34 Yeah, they're a seven-game. Pittsburgh goes all the way to win the Stanley Cup championship that year. So they become champions. And yeah, it's a huge deal. I mean, that's obviously, and especially for pittsburgh which is such a great sports town fuck yeah they love their sports how much do they love their sports every team has the same color scheme and their whole city are those fucking colors and everybody is on board yeah there's no there's no dissension in those ranks we're all on board with anything
Starting point is 00:54:01 we produce right which when you go to pitts Pittsburgh, you get it because you pop out of that tunnel and there's the city. It's like there's like all those hills around it. And it's just like this little thing that you, you know, it's all that's there. And then it's mountains around it and farms and shit. And so it's. You feel like you belong for a second. Yeah. Even if you don't even live there.
Starting point is 00:54:22 That's what I mean. That's the type of place Pittsburgh is. And sports wise, it's the same deal and they wanted they they love hockey there it's a cold weather place they want the penguins to be good especially with the flyers were so good in the 70s and all that it's like now they have like the little brother syndrome with all this shit and uh but pittsburgh beats the devils the capitals and then his hometown team boston in the playoffs and then they square team, Boston, in the playoffs. And then they square off against Minnesota, the North Stars.
Starting point is 00:54:48 Well, that was still a team before they moved to Dallas and became the South Stars, I guess. Yeah, that's stupid. I think they're just the Stars. Yeah, obviously. They're not the South Stars. But you can't be the North Stars in Dallas. I don't know. We're North Texas, technically, right?
Starting point is 00:55:01 South Stars has a little bit of some racial tinge to that one. Yeah, yeah, that's not great here. So, Jesus Christ. They won the series in six games. Kevin Stevens says, quote, it was the first for a lot of us and first for the city. As an athlete, as a hockey player, you work so hard to reach a certain point, and I got to experience the pinnacle. So, I mean, yeah, good for you, dude. I mean, that's awesome here.
Starting point is 00:55:27 During the playoffs, he had 17 goals and 16 assists. That's unbelievable. Which is great. Fantastic. He was third in scoring behind Lemieux and Recchi. Yeah, so Lemieux said about him, quote, he was one of the best, if not the best, power forwards for a few years. He developed into this beast who could skate, hit, and shoot.
Starting point is 00:55:46 He had all the tools to be the best left winger, which I think he was for a few years in the NHL. How about that? That's Lemieux saying that about you. That's high praise from a guy who not only is an all-time great, but also owns a team as well. So his decisions matter. My God, he's never said anything like that about me no what a dick i mean he really should hey mario if you're fucking listening where you at you son of a bitch i mean send a tweet something i mean give me some encouragement here i'm trying
Starting point is 00:56:16 we're trying tweets this week except for lemieux i just want that's right the mu or nobody mario we were coming for you 91 92 here he plays in 80 games 54 goals 69 assists 123 points that is crushing crushing he's a first team all-star and all that sort of thing uh obviously because that's just awesome, just absolutely destroying it. And Pittsburgh goes all the way through to win the Stanley Cup championship one more time. Wow. Which is not too shabby. He's got two of them. He's got two at this point here.
Starting point is 00:56:55 That offseason, they give him a $1.3 million a year contract as well. Oh, they got to up the salary. He's on top of the world. That's in the early 90s. Now they get paid a lot more. But that's on top of the world that's in the early 90s now they get paid a lot more but that's 1.3 million a season in the early 90s they were a couple years behind baseball then in the late 90s the salaries went out of control and then they went hey we can't pay people 80 million dollars nobody watches this we're on the fucking outdoor life network understand that we're fucking barely a sport.
Starting point is 00:57:27 It's like us, and then we're fighting with lacrosse to keep the interest to be the eighth most popular sport in this country. It's us and women's soccer. That's way more popular. Way more popular. That's the fucked up part. It's crazy. Hockey's a great sport, and it's fun to watch, and no one cares.
Starting point is 00:57:44 Nobody gives a shit. The people who do care, a lot oh boy do that and the people who don't care go what are they doing now they have no idea even what's happening it's kind of frozen right they ice skate it's very similar with both of them either you love it or you hate it that's what it is yeah and it's not even that you just don't even care you know what i mean yeah i like the sport i really enjoy it i just don't know shit about it that's the thing i know people that know the sport and they're like this is fucking stupid it's yeah and it gets it's pretty much what it is it's a good point i can't argue with you no it's tough to argue with that i just can't logic it's that's just that there's just that's pretty much what sports is in general too i've noticed in
Starting point is 00:58:25 this country is that you either fucking really enjoy it or you really don't care yeah it's not like anything it's not even that you really you really enjoy game of thrones or you don't you know what i mean you really enjoy nobody hates game of thrones though people just don't give a fuck yeah i don't know i saw an episode of it i didn't like it at all you just didn't care annoyed by oh really you hated it i was was aggressively annoyed by it. Oh, really? You hated it? I was just very annoyed by it. I was like, what are you trying to pull off here?
Starting point is 00:58:51 This is like some weird... It's like one of those weird covers of a fucking romance novel come to life, and we're all supposed to pretend this is like cinema now? Fuck out of here with that shit. There's dragons. Yeah. Okay. And then what? And dragons...
Starting point is 00:59:04 Now, this is my fault too i have a thing where as soon as something reaches a realm of outside of my bubble of yeah could be possible i tune out i tune out sorry lord of the rings i hate that shit i hate star wars i hate anything that's that can't plausibly happen so you have to suspend disbelief way too fucking much i can't do it i can't do it like if it's like a ghost movie and a giant monster doesn't pop out but someone thinks there's ghosts or something okay because that could be in their head and i can make that work you know what i'm saying or like whatever i don't know anything about it maybe there's ghosts what the fuck do i
Starting point is 00:59:37 know either way you know what i'm saying like i can't yeah but when it's you're pretty sure there's no dragons though no but when there's a man literally sitting next to a six-foot-two fucking dog thing flying through space, and he talks to him, and the thing goes... And he goes, I know, dude. Blah, blah, blah. I'm out. I'm fucking out. I'm out.
Starting point is 00:59:57 I'm sorry. You're 20 galaxies away. Eat my shit. I hate you. And he's got some sort of fucking quip to go with it. And so he understands this thing and nothing understands him but we're not let in on what the fuck's happening that's the thing for watching this forrest gump by the third historical event he was just at i'm done
Starting point is 01:00:16 fuck you i was in on the story of a fucking slow kid with bad legs who's trying to make some of himself and his mom's willing to fuck people to get him educated i'm on board with that but then when he's in the middle of every goddamn historical event just with a stupid face looking at it huh what's happening i don't even know i'm here in the middle of history i don't even know if i have to poop or not i can't fucking take it that's not real i'm sorry it happen. No, he didn't do all that. No one did. But the soundtrack.
Starting point is 01:00:50 But the soundtrack. But the CCR on there, guys. We all want to hear Fortunate Son for the seventh trillionth time. Jesus Christ. I love that example of why to watch the movie. The soundtrack is amazing. Wait till now. That's what I call music 95. It's
Starting point is 01:01:09 all going to be on there. Don't worry. Classic rock radio station. Is that what you mean? They recorded literally two hours of a classic radio station and then edited out jumping Jack Flash saying and now CCR and edit out some guy going CCR will be at
Starting point is 01:01:25 the county fair this weekend. Well not CCR but John Fogerty by himself. It's all right. Come down and see him. He'll be signing autographs from three to
Starting point is 01:01:32 four. He's going to sing all the hits. He's going to sing all the hits including his own which you won't have to listen to. He'll sing the good
Starting point is 01:01:37 ones first. He said he promised once he once he starts playing put me in coach you're allowed to leave. That's how that works as soon as you're allowed to leave at that point you can go home and he'll understand he'll wave from stage as he's saying look at me and he's waving have a good one everybody have a good night i could be in everybody drive safe, everybody. Have a good one. Pull me in. Go.
Starting point is 01:02:10 Poor John. He knows. Oh, fuck him. He sold so many albums. He fucking knows. He's sitting in a goddamn castle somewhere. He can eat shit, too. Son of a bitch. Fuck him.
Starting point is 01:02:18 Fuck him and Forrest Gump. Fuck him, Forrest Gump, and county fairs. And county fairs. I'm fucking out. I'm done with those shits, too. Oh, absolutely. Deep fry this dick county fairs i'm out i'm fucking out i'm done with those shits too oh deep fry this dick no i'm i'm out i'm not coming ever again nope so uh 1990 by the way he marries his high school or his college sweetheart he met her uh met suzanne suzanne panuto oh got himself an italian there. Is it Italian for pussy? It's Italian for nice piece of ass right there.
Starting point is 01:02:52 And she's got a slice of pizza in her hand. That's a real Panudo. That's a nice piece. It's a nice piece of pizza and ass. Both. I'm not going to lie. Both. I saw some police squad there.
Starting point is 01:03:04 That's a nice piece. Oh, this one? Oh, this one? Yeah one yeah it's pepperoni it's pepperoni and then her ass is hanging out as well that's the joke you get it i understand so suzanne will put up with quite a lot of shit over here. And they get married in 1990. So they meet in 1984, are together. Once he's established in the league in 1990, they get married. And I guess he feels like at that point he's ready to be married and whatever. So she was born same year as him. She's one of two kids. So she graduated from Boston College as well in 1987.
Starting point is 01:03:45 Same kind of path. Very Boston-centric life. Absolutely. That's really what it is. It's Jack and Diane New England style. That's all it is. An angry Jack and Diane. Picture Mellencamp if he was just really an angry dude.
Starting point is 01:04:01 And shitting seafood. Oh, just shitting constantly. So, 92-93, he also makes the All-Star game again. He's the second-team All-Star that year, but he gets to go anyway. This year as well, by the way, before we get into this, he has a lot of hat tricks through this. He has 12 hat tricks, and a lot of them are through this period. In 1990, he has one. In 1991, he has one, two, three, four.
Starting point is 01:04:31 So that's five for the 1991 season. It's a lot of hat tricks, three goals in a game, if you know anything about hockey. And the hats go under the ice. It's awesome. At Philly in 1991, in November, he had four goals. He had four goals at boston which is his home homecoming which is pretty cool uh in a playoff game wow that's awesome in may of 92 four in a game four in a game which is not bad and the score was five one four of them
Starting point is 01:04:58 are his so he scored four of the six goals that's's crazy. That's pretty dominant there. Also scored four against Hartford in 1992 in September or October. So he's capable of scoring like crazy, and he's capable of a lot. He's just really goddamn good at this point. Top, top notch at this point. He says after he signs the contract, the big contract, 1.3 million a year, which, make no mistake, in sports, now that sounds like shit. And you hear quarterbacks signing $120 million contracts, baseball players have $300 million. $300 million.
Starting point is 01:05:33 But in 1992, in hockey, $1.3 million a year was considered a pretty goddamn good salary. You'd have to play fucking 300 seasons to get paid what Bryce Harper got paid. Well, we went we went that's can you imagine that 300 years damn it and skating out there oh it's so rickety so rickety well if you think about it we did doc gooden getting the highest paid contract he was like fourth highest paid pitcher though and uh that was 92 and that was baseball and he made like four and a half million a year right so you know and baseball's about three times as popular back then so that makes sense for the you know mathematically
Starting point is 01:06:10 so lots of uh hat tricks for him in 1992 93 the pittsburgh media uh they have they give out an award every year to their favorite i guess athlete to hang out with. It's the Pittsburgh Good Guy Award. Oh, Jesus. The Good Guy Award. Oh, they're going to eat crow with that one. Oh, boy. 92-93. Kevin Stevens receives the Pittsburgh Good Guy Award. And that's grace, everybody.
Starting point is 01:06:38 That's grace. How many times have they eaten crow with that? How many times have they given the Good Guy Award to a piece of shit? Let's wait until somebody just retires. Maybe like when they're on their deathbed. We're doing this a little early, right? He'll get cancer eventually. Then we'll give it to him.
Starting point is 01:06:53 We'll make him feel good. Because otherwise, it's not going to work. There's way too much opportunity for him to not be a good guy. That's what I'm saying. He could really. He's got a lot of time left. He just came in the league. He got the good guy award.
Starting point is 01:07:04 The good guy award good guy award which is i don't know if any of our athletes have ever gotten that literal of the good guy award he's just a good guy he hasn't even done anything wrong yet this show is called crime and sport maybe this award does it to him yeah no that's what well it might as well what i well two things happen simultaneously is the problem for Kevin Stevens here. Two bad things happen at once. He has a horrible injury, which we'll talk about. Oh, boy. Very bad head injury on the ice.
Starting point is 01:07:37 And he discovers cocaine within a few months of each other. Oh, shit. So that's a bad cocktail to find. Good guy. Within a few months of each other. Oh, shit. So that's a bad cocktail to find. Good guy. This is right.
Starting point is 01:07:46 He's still got the Good Guy Award under his arm. You know what he did? He laid it down on the table and broke up his lines on the Good Guy Award is what he did. Did he slip leaving your knife and then smash that Good Guy Award into his own face? That would have been. Well, he did discover cocaine in 93, though, he said, though. He said he was at a party in New york city he's 28 years old he said he hadn't really touched drugs or did anything like that he's just you know hockey guy has beers those hockey guys drink beer lots a lot of beer
Starting point is 01:08:17 they like beer and they can put it away in great volume it's a we i don't know what it is they all have giant heads and can just suck beers down like nobody's business it's a it's a we i don't know what it is they all have giant heads and can just suck beers down like nobody's business it's a it's a really interesting subculture they've got like a uh every one of them get a saint bernard with a keg on its back yeah on its back right it's got to be a whole keg all right so no no pony keg under the chin no no no this goes on his back a little thing of rum or anything like that so he said that it was just he's at a party and people were doing it. And he was just kind of the way he put it. Quote, it was a 30 second decision late at night.
Starting point is 01:08:53 It activated this thing. Yeah, that's not good. It's called addiction, sir. Yeah. Well, some people are predisposed to certain things. And when they find them, they go, that's the answer. Like, literally, their body has been. Oh, shit.
Starting point is 01:09:06 I've been looking at this forever. It's weird. Yeah. It fits their little, their whole, whatever, however their shit is laid out, their circuit board. That's the, that's the plug in that they were looking for. And it reacts well. All the, all the Christmas lights go on.
Starting point is 01:09:19 It's like Christmas vacation. Yeah. I was just seeing it. That's the, yeah. Clark gets that plug in and she, Beverly D'Angelo flips the flips the switch yeah that's where the sparks go and it lights up that's look on his face yeah and that's how he describes it too he says quote it builds and builds and builds until something happens just like the slow motion vlogs coming
Starting point is 01:09:45 together oh my god he said if you don't have a solution to fix it it's going to get you that's what addiction does it's not a kind thing no and he is right about that he said quote addiction ruined my hockey career it didn't affect it it ruined it. So he sees this shit that it lets later on. He can count it right back to, there it is. That decision to do that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, when I did that. But there's also another thing that doesn't help any, and this is the thing that really kind of sends his hockey career
Starting point is 01:10:19 kind of spinning out more than cocaine. I feel like he could have scored 100 points a year for a couple more years just with the cocaine. but there's a problem in may of 1993 uh he is hit very very hard by rich pilon of the islanders here and uh it's so bad it knocks kevin out the hit and he falls to the ice unconscious and smashes his face on the ice that's the the yeah that's the thing about this you see quarterbacks who have helmets on land on grass right and they'll knock them unconscious and shit like that and dirt's even and they even make that grass a little cushy that's a lot of time it's the turfy grass yeah there's a thing of cushion oh i've seen it
Starting point is 01:11:00 i've seen how they like cut it and they have the layers and shit where there's like sand and then some foam and then some fucking dirt. To be not rock hard, but not soft enough to where you're going to blow your knees out either. But when you land on, it's supposed to have a little bit of impact. Right. So forgive and give. Ice has none. Zero.
Starting point is 01:11:18 Concrete. Zero. It's fucking concrete. It's solid ice. When you see guys fall unconscious unconscious that's so fucking dangerous then because their head is just gonna if you hit your face which isn't protected by your helmet god damn it pow you're on the ground and uh he was a mess they had to rebuild his face from scratch he basically had the shattered it the shattered he had the uh if you're a wrestling fan if you
Starting point is 01:11:43 remember brutus beefcake remember brutus the barber beefcake he was in a parasailing accident where he was uh somebody was a girl was coming in on a parasail no and he was like trying to catch her or something she put her knees up oh god jesus she was coming in at such force and wailed him in the face destroyed his entire face they had to build his face the paramedics who got there had to they couldn't find where his mouth was supposed to be give him mouth to mouth no to open it so he could breathe oh my god so they had to stick their hand in and hold the mouth hole open so he could get air basically that's how fucking he was just a pile of mush and uh this is the same type of injury here it's it's i mean they said they had to rebuild his face from scratch he was just a pile of mush and uh this is the same type of injury here it's it's i mean they said
Starting point is 01:12:25 they had to rebuild his face from scratch he was just completely it's probably the same goddamn doctors if you know probably not a lot of people rebuilding you know mushed faces so if one guy did a good job there's him that chick that got eaten by the fucking orangutan yeah i mean in the early 90s you know there's probably brutus and kevin stevens get the guy who did that wrestler guy he looks normal now did you see that lady that got ripped up yeah i think she just died that was a chip injury is a different thing man there was no tearing with this i mean right right that's all torn chunks take torn out of her skin and her whole face yeah that's a different oh my god that's a totally different deal here uh so they had to reconstruct his face most of his bones are completely shattered all of his facial bones
Starting point is 01:13:10 they had to put metal plates all over his face which was the same thing they did with brutus beefcake plates in all over his face but once they got it all together that same thing they told beefcake they were like you're all your face is fucking metal now like it's not really like you're not going to hurt it again it's all right you're made of you're basically bionic in the face you have a bionic face now a robocop but he had an insane concussion from this obviously because he was knocked out and then again so that's i mean two huge blows so that's a huge brain injury mushed a face and then slammed all your body weight on that mushy face. It's not good, man.
Starting point is 01:13:46 On concrete, essentially. He got hit in the head and then he fell on his face. So, yeah, on concrete on his face. So, yeah, he was a mess. And during this time, he gets really into prescription painkillers. I'm going to go ahead and say this. I think most people would probably have a problem with painkillers after something like this. After something where you have to have so many.'s not one surgery this is constant surgeries all the
Starting point is 01:14:09 time on like a on times yeah you have to take them they do a surgery here to fix this and they're going to work on this later then they're going to work on your nose they're going to work on your eye socket eventually your body's just going to be like okay i need that shit you're in constant pain so they're going to they're going to keep you on these painkillers for months and there's no way as a human to not be addicted to them physically if you're on them for months. It's just the way it is. Yeah, so he says about this whole thing,
Starting point is 01:14:32 he remembers taking a penalty early in the first period and then joining the play when that time expired. He says he remembers skating hard toward the Islanders' corner. He said that he hit Pilon with a with a check uh and as he went to play the puck and he said stevens came up under pilon when he checked him and their heads collided and the other guy flew backwards into the boards and stevens just was unconscious the way it hit his head he just went unconscious and then just fell on his face and that was that i wonder what pilon feels like shit they became they became really good
Starting point is 01:15:05 friends after i'm sure they did they were like tight they were on the same team because that doesn't sound like that's not a fight you know what i mean oh no no this wasn't this is just a good hockey play that their heads happen to collide by accident one guy got hurt it's not no one's mad at anybody on this play it was there was an attempted clean play you know two guys playing hockey then you hit a hockey player good in the boards they'll go good hit that's what they'll say i mean that's just a after they get up after they get up good hit i mean it's one of those things it's and that's kind of how hockey is too it's a it's not one of those things where you go you hit like a bitch someone hits you good hey good hit there pal you know it's just it's a friendly or not friendly but it's it's a i don't know what it is it's a it's a
Starting point is 01:15:40 respect there's a respect about it there's a respect for playing that game and doing it for very little money. Back then, yeah, no shit. No shit. Way to go. Way to fucking really make me earn it today. God damn it. Face on the fucking ice. But they became very good friends, and they said later on that they started hanging out
Starting point is 01:16:01 more than anybody else on the team did. They ended up being real, real tight, which makes sense. So the Glenn Healy, who's the Islanders goalie, he said, quote, he wasn't able to brace himself. His face smashed on the ice like an eggshell. It was like someone took a hammer and crushed his skull. Oh, God, Jesus. That is fucking horrific. That's a tough quote.
Starting point is 01:16:21 That is like an egg, James, like an egg. Oh, boy. Face. Yeah. Like an egg james like an egg oh boy face yeah like an egg uh his nose was broken and twisted to the side orbital bone busted forehead was completely shattered shattered forehead so hard year before people punched themselves in the floor james people use it as a fucking weapon they use as a weapon they bash beer cans on it they head butt walls right and shit they headbutt people he fucking shattered his shadow i've never heard of a shattered forehead over anything but a even in all the times we've done small town murder and done this and people getting hit with fucking hammers and bats and everything else never heard of a shattered forehead outside of a gunshot right
Starting point is 01:17:01 shattering it takes a bullet it takes takes a bullet. His forehead was shattered. He was carried off the ice on a stretcher, went to the hospital. Nine metal plates used to reconstruct his forehead. Wow. His nose also had to be rebuilt. He had brain damage after that. He had severe trauma to his frontal lobe. And so at that point, they don't know how that's going to affect you.
Starting point is 01:17:26 Because it'll affect your decision making, your impulse control, and all that sort of shit. He might recover fine. He might be in the bank one day and just decide, I'm going to break this guy's neck next to me because I can't fucking. He's just annoying me. You don't know. The frontal lobe is where all your decision stuff is at. That's a smart place for it to be because you're always protecting your face you know what i mean that's true yeah the back of the head you can't see yeah you can't see anybody coming with that shit so they said
Starting point is 01:17:52 their their doctors were really concerned about how this would affect his cognitive ability would he be able to function as a person even is he going to be able to do things and remember where he is and know where the store is and little things like that, you know, life stuff. Yeah, there's not nothing to do with hockey. No, this is will he be a human being that's able to take care of himself? Will his body be able to remember? I don't know. Fucking breathe today.
Starting point is 01:18:16 You know what your kids names are. Right. Like that. Breathe is good. His teammates visited him a couple days later there. They said his head was swollen. Tubes coming out of everywhere. He was in the hospital for more than a month.
Starting point is 01:18:28 More than a month pumping him full of painkillers while he's in the hospital because he's got a horrible injury. He's got brain swelling. If anyone needs painkillers, it's this guy right now. Like, this is what they're there for, to keep people from jumping out a fucking 10th story window from the pain. So it's it's rough mario lemieux said quote it's really unfortunate that after he got injured against the islanders his life went in a different direction he came out of it after a few months and resumed his career but he was never the same no and that describes him too as a player he just
Starting point is 01:18:59 never get the fuck out of here never the same guy guy. He wanted to try to keep playing. Oh, he plays for years. Wow. He plays for another seven years, but he's never the same guy again. That is nuts. It is. It's crazy. And his production goes from 40-something goals a year to 15. He's not the same guy anymore. It's sad. It really is.
Starting point is 01:19:21 Mark Recchi, one of his close friends and teammates, he says, quote, We know what he was like when he wasn't addicted. We know what type of person he is. We know that was controlling him. You always stick with a guy like that. He's such a tremendous person and a wonderful teammate. So no matter what he does, all of his teammates will always kind of have his back. And people like him to the point where they're like, yeah, but he's a good guy. He's a real good guy.
Starting point is 01:19:44 You just got to help him. He tried to hide the drug use from his teammates. the point where they're like yeah but he's a good guy he's a real good guy you just gotta you know help him uh he tried to hide the drug use from his teammates you're not gonna they're not gonna work it's hard well on the road he would sneak away from team outings everybody's out at the bar why are you always out everyone's there for an hour at the bar and you know everyone's doing their own thing and after a while they just don't notice that where'd kevin slip off to you know oh maybe he went back to the room whatever nope he's going to score drugs of course that's where he that's where he is he says quote i'm hanging out in the worst places in town doing things that those people do when you need to find things that are illegal you go to illegal places
Starting point is 01:20:17 yeah he's out looking for drugs on the street while his teammates are you know talking about hockey gross and putting back a few beers. And it's a different lifestyle. He said sometimes he would search all night. If they were in a strange city, he'd be searching all night. And then he'd show up at the arena without sleeping. So you're not going to score three goals a game if you're not sleeping before the game. You need some rest for hockey. Especially if you're like, I'd really love some crack.
Starting point is 01:20:42 Boy, I'm exhausted. Not going gonna be your best game probably if you gave him crack he'd probably have a great game if you're a monster out there so they said he looked terrible he was looking ragged people's like a drug addict like you know someone who's doing drugs constantly painkillers and coke and shit like that uh teammates started to notice also he's playing like shit that's the thing if he was continuing to score 45 goals a year i don't think anybody would have noticed they'd be like i don't know maybe it just looks weird when he gets older he's fucking killing it also the man's face was smashed that's the other thing who knows that's the other who
Starting point is 01:21:16 knows how he's gonna age with that and just the whole thing of that just that trauma maybe put a couple years more on his on his on his whole deal the old noggin i mean the whole face is gonna look weird on the old noggin yeah you know maybe that's what it is uh he just looked bad he said uh he thought everything was fine though they would talk to him hey all right what's going on he's like i'm great yeah don't worry about it i'm fine said he was just having fun he said he didn't even think about any addiction at that point he just thought he was out having a good time partying because that's another thing too he hadn't been doing this since he was 16 so this is still relatively new to him this is like he's not
Starting point is 01:21:53 tired of it yet he's just getting into it and he's losing track of time too he's going oh you can smoke it too oh i've just been snorting at the salt it works faster okay let's try it he's also got to realize that time is probably clicking by fast and he's going to get to a point really rapidly where he looks back and goes oh my god i have been doing this yeah for fucking nine years it's been a long fucking time fast it's the thing yeah that's you're on a on a slippery slope uh also everybody said he wasn't this big gregarious jovial cat anymore yeah he was just turned into this like kind of it's more tired because he wasn't sleeping you show up not so it's hard to have energy uh they said he is just
Starting point is 01:22:30 physically he wasn't the same guy um he just started to started to not have the solidness of of a hockey player and shit like that it'll disintegrate your muscles that's the thing it does and yeah and especially you're not eating properly. You're not sleeping properly. Your body doesn't react well to that, especially then if you're going to go play a professional fucking sport. Along with other men who take this shit serious. Who slept last night and worked out.
Starting point is 01:22:57 And had a nutritious, hearty meal. And on a two-week crack binge. So, you know, they're going to probably play better than you. It's amazing that he could even do anything honestly it's fucking incredible little things like that it's just small details like sleeping and shit you know not not a big deal here so and even his family and friends noticed this shit they noticed that he's just a different kind of guy he's distant distant. He's not his same happy self. They heard at one point also he starts kind of missing practices here and there, too. That's going to happen.
Starting point is 01:23:30 He's got excuses. That's going to come fast. And they also kind of give him a little leeway because he had that injury and because he's known as such a hard worker and a good guy and everything like that. But if he says he needs to miss practice for a personal reason, blah, blah, blah, he must really need to miss practice. So at first. You need that guy in the locker room. We'll give him some rest. At first, you go along with that because you trust a guy. But then after a while, if the guy's a drug addict, that's something that he can do now.
Starting point is 01:23:54 Oh, my God, he's taking advantage of us. After a while, yeah, what the hell's going on? August 2nd, 1995, Pittsburgh's had enough, and they're not enthralled with him anymore. And they trade him to Boston. Oh, well, that's nice. Oh, yeah. Never go home. Remember that?
Starting point is 01:24:10 Well, he has no choice. He's sent home, literally. They forced him. Not great. They forced his hand. Yeah, and especially at this point, they're thinking he still has high trade value because everyone's looking at him and his slower play going, well, yeah, he's coming back from that injury,
Starting point is 01:24:24 but he's going to be back all the way eventually, and then 45 goals a game. Is it a going-away gift? Did they adopt a kid and name him Junior for him? Wait till later. Because I got a good one. So he's traded to Boston by Pittsburgh. He's traded with Sean McEachran.
Starting point is 01:24:43 Yeah. He's like, yeah, I know him. We're best buds. For Glenn Murray and Brian Smolinski. I think you nailed it. I think I got Smolinski. I think I got it. Probably. Perfect. Yeah. S-M-O-L Insky. Yeah. I got that.
Starting point is 01:24:57 That's it. And a third round draft choice here. So it's supposed to be a fresh start and he's looking forward. He's the local hero, man. He's from there. it's supposed to be a fresh start. And he's looking forward. He's the local hero, man. He's from there. He's going to go. And he only lasts 40 games in Boston.
Starting point is 01:25:11 They only keep him around for 40 games. In Pittsburgh, like I said, in 94-95, he had 27 games played. He had 15 goals, 12 assists. And then total for Boston, he plays in 41 games he has 10 goals and 13 assists how much of a fucking disappointment do you got to be for boston to reject you do you know like lb stuck around that town he's still there especially he's a fucking radio there's how do you how do you not embrace this guy because there's rumors also that everybody knew that he had problems off the ice.
Starting point is 01:25:47 And that was one of those things. Because later on, he ends up on the Rangers. And the Rangers knew right away. He had, there's rumors about his alcohol problems. And he's got a pill issue maybe and stuff like that. LB was just drugs, right? I think it was just booze and crazy. I mean, who knows what else he was doing.
Starting point is 01:26:02 But that's all that we had documented. That's all. Yeah. It was just a bunch of booze. I you it's not just booze that's like that's a light way of saying that man's got a fucking a lot of problems yeah that's like saying jupiter is just a planet right it's it's and we go there we go there but it's just far away yeah it's just it's a little far it's just too much of a trip too much over there so uh yeah uh boston has him he's traded to the los angeles kings at that point the original team that drafted him that year he
Starting point is 01:26:31 finishes up 95 96 they're playing in 20 games scoring only three goals and having 10 assists 96 97 they'll play in 69 games and have 14 goals and 20 assists so it's just not there it's over it's not there and he doesn't know it no uh 95 96 he plays on the u.s world championship team not the olympic team it's a you know whatever that is they win the bronze medal there uh he's traded by la uh to la by boston for rick tocket who's another name player here uh he's a lot of injuries at this point. Injuries start 95, 96. He's got a sore back. He misses some time in January 96. Then in February, he's got a hip flexor injury. And then he's got a small fracture in his left fibula in February of 96 and late February. That's in the leg, right? Yeah. He's out for a month there. And so, yeah, it's a lot of issues.
Starting point is 01:27:26 It's wear and tear on an old man's body. Next year, he misses time with a concussion. He got another one? I'm sure he's had many since then, probably. He's been playing hockey. A concussion so bad, he has to talk about it. Right. He has to take a break.
Starting point is 01:27:40 Yeah. Pre-we-know-these-thing know that these things happen think about how if in the couple years before that you know there was concussions that he had that he just hundreds didn't come out of the game got his bell rung and was like well i can't come out now nice hit nice hit especially with him because if he starts coming out with concussions they're gonna think he's washed up right he's gotta really say like no i'm fine i my head's great i can you know tap hit his ting ting on his steel plate in his forehead look at me i'm made of i'm fine there's a microwave being used 300 yards that way as long as it doesn't get any closer i'll be good
Starting point is 01:28:14 i can feel it yeah uh so jesus he plays the rest of the year out in la and then uh uh while here still with the kings at the end of the year he enrolls in the uh in the uh nhl substance abuse program for the first time here and uh but there's nothing came out publicly at this point this was totally private thing he just went to the league and the league put him in a program i guess if you voluntarily ask for it or whatever smart it's a thing so uh nothing came out publicly at that time. But then the next year, he has this concussion like we talked about. He's got back spasms.
Starting point is 01:28:49 He's got all sorts of shit. He's starting to wear. He's starting to break down here. He's traded to the Rangers by Los Angeles for Luke Robitaille, who's another name player. That's weird. It's all name for name here. Now, summer of 98, he again the uh nhl program for uh drug substance abuse here it's in southern california here uh because it's in la he receives regular visits
Starting point is 01:29:14 from wayne gretzky who's on his team on the kings at that point uh he says gretzky says quote i think the reason people were so drawn to kevin is he would give the shirt off his back to anybody who needed anything, a ride, somebody to talk to. Kevin was always there. He was comfortable hanging with the captain or the young guys on the team. He was one of those guys that nobody disliked. So that's his role. And it's got to the point where Gretzky comes and sees you, which is pretty cool, honestly, that you're kind of on the you know getting you're not doing great
Starting point is 01:29:48 no yes it's terrible biggest star in the history of the league is still going to come visit you in the hospital so that's the kind of guy he is uh well gretzky too it's a pretty decent cat for not abandoning his friend pretty rad of it yeah it's pretty cool not just for him but for i think more for gretzky than than for uh oh yeah yeah dipshit definitely now uh kevin says about this whole situation by this whole drug situation quote the cocaine set it off the injury made it bigger but i was definitely in trouble once i did the cocaine i had no idea what addiction was i had no idea what any of it was i talked to people now and i remember when people would come to me and talk about this stuff, and I'd say, that's never going to be me.
Starting point is 01:30:27 I was a first-team all-star. I was winning Stanley Cups, and I didn't do a drug until I was 28 years old. You never know if it's going to be you. That's his take on the whole thing is gets out of control quick, and it fucking does. We've seen it with so many guys. That night when he snorted his first line he didn't be like i'm gonna be a cokehead now that wasn't the plan like you know what i'm gonna do i'm gonna be a fucking cokehead not like someone who's like i'm gonna start painting and then they go out and buy like
Starting point is 01:30:52 canvases and paints and brushes and all this shit there are people though that try it and go oh this is gonna be a fucking problem that's that was i think his thing yeah but that was already lying too when he tried for heroin for the first time he was like some things oh some things click with people and it's angels sing for right and that's what it is this is going to be something i battle for the rest of my life yeah they never um it happens to people that's an addiction addiction thing it's some trigger like we said it's that circuit board that your brain was looking for it plugs it in and everything starts running in a way that feels good yeah so uh now he he's in in 98 99 he plays 81 games uh uh 23 goals 20 assists for the rangers 99 2000 he only plays in 38 games three goals five assists for the rangers so not quite as good here it's uh you know he's he's declining rapidly uh rapidly summer 1999 he
Starting point is 01:31:48 finds himself in rehab again it's like he plays the season you know drinks and does all his shit and then in the summer he's like once the season's over i'm fucking exhausted okay in time rehab time that's when he goes to rehab yeah it's like eddie johnson in our episode on eddie johnson way back in the beginning there oh yeah he used to get arrested the second the season ended he got arrested because he had nowhere else to go but to go July 7th July 7th he's gonna be arrested again every year uh so he's in rehab this time it's in uh in Massachusetts uh the psychologist who worked there uh he told that he had a problem with Percocet Vicodinin, and Oxycodone since the mid-90s, since his injury, since he had a prescriber.
Starting point is 01:32:26 He flies across the country more than we do. Starting out in Boston, going over to fucking L.A., back to Pittsburgh, up to Boston, back to L.A., back to New York, back to L.A., back to Boston. God damn it, this is exhausting. This is exhausting. I need Coke to keep up with this story. That's what I mean. You need Coke.
Starting point is 01:32:41 Where's the past? Where's my goddamn crack pipe? This is unbelievable. I'll take you need coke. Where's my goddamn crack pipe? This is unbelievable. I'll take my crack pipe. Now, this all culminates in one of the more embarrassing arrests in the history of crime and sports here. Okay, January 22, 2000. It starts the night of January 22. It's going to end the morning of January 23 at about 7 a.m. with no breaks.
Starting point is 01:33:02 So that'll tell you a lot there of what kind of night we're talking about. It's going to end also at the Travel Lodge Motel. Oh, no. In Collinsville, Illinois. Oh, boy. Outside of St. Louis. Room 239. It's a double bed.
Starting point is 01:33:18 Yeah. Smoking room. Uh. $47.68. Hell yeah. For this room. Ha, ha, ha. In 2000. This is not in 1985. Right. $47.68 for this room. In 2000.
Starting point is 01:33:28 This is not in 1985. Right. This is fairly recent. That was a $47 a night room. That's a piece of shit. That's horrible. That's a room. That's bed bugs. That's a room that you like
Starting point is 01:33:37 get a prostitute and some crack and you go there. Right. So let's find out what Kevin did. Well, when police end up finding him in the morning he is in possession of crack cocaine yes and three thousand dollars in cash as well as in the company of a known prostitute named pamela valia yeah uh who uh is also there's
Starting point is 01:33:57 also other people there there's crack pipes there's all sorts of shit going on we'll get to that though we'll get to how he ends up in a terrible disgusting sleazy motel with prostitutes and crack and other strangers too the cast of characters in this is like a tarantino movie it's hilarious what a fucking comedy somebody's screaming girlfriend is there with a fucking it's nuts no piercing Pulp Fiction, this fucking story. When I tell you this story, you can't tell me you won't picture Uma Thurman in this role and everything else. Okay.
Starting point is 01:34:30 Okay. Steven's here. He goes out with several teammates. This is why I said I think he slips away because this is what he did here. There's the St. Louis Hotel Bar that the whole team is staying in. And all the team afterwards, they go out to have a few drinks. And this is encouraged by the team that they all go out and have a few beers together. Sure.
Starting point is 01:34:47 Because it builds camaraderie. So they are supposed to go out. He goes out with them. He's there for a while. At some point, where's Kevin? Where'd Kevin go? I don't know. Maybe he went back to the room.
Starting point is 01:34:56 And that's the deal. He's gone. He slips out. At some point, he arrives at a place. They're calling it a quote unquote clubquote club in saugat illinois called oz they crossed the border he crossed the border into illinois into oz into oz it was all black and white over there it was very weird very strange yeah just all the color went away so uh he arrives at oz uh this is sort of strip clubs everywhere in this area this area is
Starting point is 01:35:24 a bunch of all night strip clubs and people drinking and acting like fucking crazy people. I love it. Scum. So he hangs out there for a while because the nice hotel that I'm sure the NHL and his team put him up in with his teammates. There's no story there. There's no story there. That's just, hey, we had some beers and, this guy hooked up with a girl, and then we all went up to our rooms, and that's it.
Starting point is 01:35:46 This is fun. This is different. Black and white scum. Oh, boy. You can just see it. Yeah. Scum trailing his way. I can't wait.
Starting point is 01:35:58 Like Stevie. Fuck yeah. He calls for a taxi from Oz. He wants to be picked up. He does not request to be taken back to the team hotel, though. He requests to be taken to East St. Louis, which if you don't know, if you're not from America or unfamiliar with this part of the country, East St. Louis is not a nice place. It is known as...
Starting point is 01:36:22 You cross a river, right? I don't remember. I think you cross a bridge it's just synonymous with ghetto bad stuff it's just that's that's there was a serial killer there oh yeah and no one cared nobody gave a shit that's the thing they were like who are you killing people from then don't worry about it's crazy that's what i mean people with high murder rate drugs and it's just a it's a very not known as a nice area it's not an area area you'd go in if you're an affluent dude looking for a night out on the town. And it's also not where you're going to raise a family.
Starting point is 01:36:50 That's the other thing. Yeah, it's it's it's you're going. There's certain you're going. That's all you can afford. That's why you're going there. Or you want crack. Right. Or you're buying or selling one of the two.
Starting point is 01:37:01 One of the two. So he takes the club, the cab from the nightclub here, so Saugat, Illinois, to East St. Louis, which isn't that far. Here, Stephen says, do you know any ladies that I could possibly request the company of for a fee? Cab driver. You are now a pimp. See, well, that's the thing. That's the difference between cab drivers and Uber drivers.
Starting point is 01:37:24 An Uber driver won't even stop at McDonald's for you for a cheeseburger. see well that's the thing that's the difference between cab drivers and uber drivers an uber driver won't even stop at mcdonald's for you for a cheeseburger they're like fuck you we're going straight here i don't care a cab driver you could literally be like you know where i get like a hooker and some crack and they'd be like i'm right on it detour you give him an extra 20 bucks cab drivers would take you around show you shit find, find you prostitutes, get you drugs. They would do anything. A cab driver would do anything. And then call his dispatch and be like, I had to go a little bit out of the route.
Starting point is 01:37:51 Yeah. The roads were closed. I had to get this guy crack. He paid. It was an extra fucking seven miles. It's on the, it's on the, he paid it. It's on the fucking thing. It's on the meter. And the guy would be like, good job.
Starting point is 01:38:02 Good job. Understood. Good job. We understand. Keep that meter running. While he went in the crack would be like, good job. Good job. Understood. Good job. We understand. Keep that meter running. While he went in the crack house, he kept the meter running, right? All right. That's my boy.
Starting point is 01:38:11 That's what you do here. Now. Employee of the month. He is. The cab driver contacts a prostitute because he's a cab driver and that's what they did. They know those things. They know those things. That's the difference.
Starting point is 01:38:21 If you see anyone in the back of a cab. Yeah. That's why they're in the back. That's a bad person. That's the cab driver. Yeah. They want the back of a cab, that's why they're in the back. That's a bad person. Because the cab driver, yeah, they want that cab driver to do something that an Uber driver is not willing to do. That's what that is. That's exactly what that is.
Starting point is 01:38:33 You can't get an Uber at a club and be like, get me a prostitute and some crack and then take me to a motel room. They'd be like, fuck you. You're sitting next to my child's seat, you fucking jerk. They'd be like, it says here that you're going to this address. So that's where you're going. That's where you're jerk they'd be like it says here that you're going to this address so that's where you're going now that's it or you can cancel the ride still have to pay me anyway because it came right off your card right because i'm like in a cab where you'd have like you could hold back tell you what i'll do i'll drop you off where my phone tells me to drop you off and you get out of the cab and go hey sorry that's shit. Try that. See where the crack is there. So the prostitute is a woman named Pamela Valia.
Starting point is 01:39:08 She's 27 years old. She tells police later on that she's been a prostitute for about six months. Oh, boy. I just love this story. Been a prostitute for about six months. You know, it's good. It's good. I like it.
Starting point is 01:39:22 You know, just trying to get past that probationary period so I can get the insurance. But other than that. I was really tired of living that hellish nine to five in the cubicle with somebody breathing down your neck. I'm doing great now. I make my own hours, which is good. It was either this or that Lulu stretchy pants thing. I couldn't decide which one to do. I slept in till one today.
Starting point is 01:39:44 Yeah. So I'm going to do this. Of course, I was out till today yeah so i'm gonna do this of course i was out too late this morning sucked a lot of dicks but it's not bad i'm not gonna lie to you six months it's going well my breath isn't great yet she she was standing in the parking lot of magoos yeah which is a drive-through liquor store this is all class by the way magoo magoo she a prostitute yeah in the standing in the parking lot to take his magoo of an east st louis drive-through liquor store at night summoned by a taxi driver yeah this is all sleaze right here okay this is as sleazy as it gets the cab driver's name is alfred triplet by the way way. He lives in East St. Louis. He approached the prostitute, we'll just call her Pamela, which he approached the young lady, Pamela,
Starting point is 01:40:31 and said that a friend in the back seat wanted to speak with her, which I assume in prostitute terms means suck that guy's dick for money, I guess. No one wants to talk to you. Hey, bitch, I got you a John. for money, I guess. No one wants to talk to you. Hey, bitch, I got you a John. He'd like to know your opinions on the upcoming Democratic primary.
Starting point is 01:40:51 Do you think Buttigieg has a chance? That's what he wants to talk about. He just really wants to talk about it. No, I don't think that's... He wants to talk to her. He wants to hear your opinions on why Beto pulled out yeah he'd really like to know what do you think about the serious situation because you know i mean the kurds were our ally like that that's not what's happening no none of this is happening they're not going to talk about hey do you suck dick he wants one sucked you're you're one of
Starting point is 01:41:22 them dick suckers right i feel like that's what he would have asked her not that she's that's her right doesn't define her i'm just saying that's what he would say i got a dick they get it there it's a cab driver it's a cab the guy in the back not the classiest girl selling her pussy not the class everyone here either magoo's drive-thru liquor store not the classiest it's all it's all the same it's all the same so none of these people have been to a wine tasting no no no well he probably has but he was like man i wish there was crack in this wine it's not as good as crack wine i like my crack i like it infused with a with a crack probably left the wine tasting early to go find a woman who's never been to a wine tasting yeah now she goes up to the car and she says that stevens was already smoking crap crack from a glass pipe at that point
Starting point is 01:42:14 and he's already smoking crack in the back of a cab yeah this cab driver is just a real loose guy so she that's sitting in uber yeah that's what i mean try smoking crack and get telling your uber driver get me that prostitute while i smoke this rock back here they will call the police on you i'm gonna do this where your kids ride in your car report you you'll be banned from uber for life and you'll get arrested all three of those things will happen on tmz if you play hockey that's what i mean that's why cab driving honestly it was a specialty it was a it was a it was an art there was an art to being a cab driver because you had to be all different things you were always you were a liaison for scummy behavior and then you were a
Starting point is 01:42:54 safety guy that got drunk girls back home a liaison to the city yeah basically and a few guys really fucked that up for people they did they did and they really fucked it up for people. They did. They did. And they overcharged. And then the fucking, the guy at the top has to have this big house. How many rooms you need, sir? How many bathrooms do you need? How many fucking toilets do you need to shit in?
Starting point is 01:43:14 Why does it need to be golden? You're why Uber exists, just so you know. He's smoking crack. He offers her, he offers this decent offer. He offers her 500 bucks okay which i mean for someone hanging out in the parking lot of magoos right i've seen hookers
Starting point is 01:43:31 at the point on hbo multiple times they have one and two and those are from like the same period you can get a half and half for 50 for this neighborhood i'm sucking dick yeah i'm sucking dick right now that's exactly what happened the most unbelievable thing i've ever seen you could get a you know a blow job for like 25 bucks at this point in time that one got that one was 20 bucks yeah 20 bucks gross there's negotiations that go on all the shit so it's disgusting 500 bucks is well over asking price he's paying over sticker at this point when james says it's disgusting i do it's he walked into a dealership and said i'll give you 75 grand for that toyota corolla
Starting point is 01:44:14 and they were like okay why stickers 28 but sure yeah that's what it was right it's a you know it's just more than he probably had to to quote, quote, hang out and party with him. Okay. Which. That doesn't sound like sex. That sounds fine. She got in. She was like, she's got 500 bucks.
Starting point is 01:44:31 Fuck yes. And crack? Right. Sure. So she got into the car. He's smoking crack. This seems good. They go to the Magoo's there where they pick up Pepsi, a bottle of of crown royal also this is for the cab driver because
Starting point is 01:44:46 you want your driver to get the alcohol get him on brown liquor and brown soda and a brillo pad is if you're going to smoke crack you need that you need a filter and a glass tube that contains a single rose this liquor store sells crack pipes and they're allowed to sell them because they put those little roses in them and that way they go it's just a glass case for a rose meanwhile it's a crack pipe right they just sell a crack pipe where they put a rose in it right that's their way a little cork in the end exactly dumb deal but they're only sold as crack pipes of course that's it then no one goes that's a nice rose and they pick it up they're literally like i need a crack pipe and they dump the rose out and say thanks now a police officer says quote they sell
Starting point is 01:45:25 roses at magoo's in six inch long glass tubes they just stick a cork in the bottom of it uh we all know what it's used for it's drug paraphernalia but they sell them legally as rose tubes you throw the rose out and you've got an instant crack pipe you buy a brillo pad to keep the crack from falling through and uh uh the the cop said that uh uh that that the the the prostitute pamela she said that she bought her crack pipe uh that that uh they bought her her own crack pipe that's that was the live the drive-thru thing because stevens didn't want to share his crack oh well that's why yeah well he's this is my crack pipe you need your own crack pipe his and hers yeah uh she pipe. His and hers. Yeah. She said that for every hit that she was taking, he was taking seven or eight hits.
Starting point is 01:46:10 Oh, I'm sure. He was ripping at the fight. He's a big guy, too. She said, quote, I was getting pissed off because I couldn't get high. I was having to light his pipes. I was having to light his pipe so many times because she had to keep lighting it for him and she couldn't light her own. I don't know why he couldn't light his own. she had to keep lighting it for her and she for him and she couldn't light her own right i don't know why he couldn't light his own uh she said that that he gave her 500 and quote purchased
Starting point is 01:46:30 another 500 worth of crack from a dealer in east st louis so middle of the night yeah east st louis uh there she said that uh he got there and peeled off 500 hundred dollars off a big wad of fucking bills at a crack spot in east st louis in the middle of the night uh and uh it is absolutely awful she said she was positive they were going to be murdered and robbed this is a hood process this is a hoodker is what you have okay if you frighten a hoodker right you have done something sir because they've seen some shit right trust me hookers at the point watch it on hbo go it's on there uh it's it's you can't frighten they've had the stories these women tell you are harrowing you're like oh my god jaw on the floor going that that happened? No. Why? Don't do that to people.
Starting point is 01:47:25 It's fucking horrible. He scared a crackhead hoodker. Scared her. That's how fucking crazy his behavior is. He's got a lot of cash in a shit neighborhood, and he's flaunting it by peeling off the... How do you not pull that money out and be like, I think I've got more.
Starting point is 01:47:41 Oh, here goes another. Or have it just palmed and ready to go. He's peeling them off like, how motherfucker licking a thumb i've only been around one other person that was like that and it was the scariest thing ever i was in uh in the bronx and fucking buying a quarter pound of weed when i was about 17 years old and the guy i was with was this older guy who was this fucking crazy person he used to be a green beret in the Marines and he was a green beret and he fucking had, he was huge too. He was this massive man. He had
Starting point is 01:48:10 this eye that was fucked up and his voice was deep and we got there and I'm in the passenger seat and he's buying weed from these Jamaicans and fucking Jamaicans in the Bronx that sell weed don't fuck around. They have machine guns and shit. And he's screaming at this guy going, oh give me any of that fucking bullshit either or I'll be fucking back here up your ass but i'm like he's
Starting point is 01:48:28 gonna kill us all that man has a banana magazine everyone there has machine guns it's like a guy standing you're buying weight from a drug spot not a nickel bag this is fucking weight there's a high dollar shit going on here you're screaming at a man with a machine gun who is not from this country don't fuck me over he's not even here legally let's fucking wait till he fucks us over first so before we start making willy-nilly threat let's start yeah did you bring your fucking machine gun jesus so they talked to a cop about this air buying drugs in this area you know with a large amount of bills and they said is that would that be a wise decision?
Starting point is 01:49:06 And the cops said, quote, my first question would be, what kind of automatic weapon are you carrying if you were going to flash a big roll in East St. Louis? And he said, my second question would be, how much ammunition do you have for that weapon? So, yeah, this is not wise shit. And he's just... How big is it and how much can you fire? Because otherwise, you're in a lot of trouble. He is out of control basically this is the only out of control behavior right that's the only thing that they're chasing that time of night yeah that wad of cash and you are showing them
Starting point is 01:49:33 that you're showing it right i mean that's crazy people will rob people for way less than that 20 bucks i've read a story and looking for small town murders of a guy who killed another guy for $3. Wow. $3. $3. $3 he shot him. He robbed him for $3 and killed him. I don't know what to tell you. The man had $3.
Starting point is 01:49:52 I mean, I needed $3. I needed like a pack of juicy fruit and a Pepsi. And that's it. And that's it, yeah. So he scared the shit out of a hooker. I'm amazed at that. So the cab driver agrees to take them to a motel and they continue to smoke crack the whole time together.
Starting point is 01:50:16 Yeah. They also they get an eight ball. That's how much crack they bought. They bought a bunch of crack. It's a lot of crack there. So I do that in a night, though. Yeah. Triplet here. The cab driver was being paid $100 do that in a night, though. Yeah.
Starting point is 01:50:29 Triplet here, the cab driver, was being paid $100 an hour to take care of Steve. Wow. He said, I'll pay you $100 an hour to take me around, find me prostitutes, get me drugs, be my tour guide, basically, which is a good deal for a cab driver. My scum tour guide. Yeah, it's a better night than he's going to make on his own driving a cab, by far. So this is a big deal. He suggested that they go to Collinsville, because it's out of the way a little bit here, night than he's going to make on his own driving a cab by far so this is a big deal uh he he suggested that they go to collinsville because it's like out of the way a little bit here and
Starting point is 01:50:49 they could get a motel room and smoke their crack in there and rather than just in the cab now the pamela valia the prostitute she wanted to go to howard johnson's uh let's go to the howard johnson's yeah instead triplet drove them to the travel lodge like this is a little more like our speed crack Crack smoking speed. Right. You know what I mean? The Hojo's got family. I was going to say, the Hojo, there's kids in there and shit.
Starting point is 01:51:09 And there's like a restaurant. We can't do that. The Travel Lodge, it's, you know. They're going to be up early getting their Continental. You slap 50 bucks on the counter, they toss you a key, they don't even look at your face. We get it. They don't care who you are or what you're doing here. They don't care who you are or what you're doing here.
Starting point is 01:51:23 So he pays for the room. When they reach the room, Pamela asks Stevens to give the cab driver $40 and take it to another area motel where a friend of hers was waiting to get the signal that she was okay. They don't have cell phones, I guess, at this point. How fascinating is a crack smoker's mind, by way overpaying for everything except for the accommodation except for the account we're gonna go cheap on that but five hundred dollars an hour for a shitty cabbie to drive us around i feel like 30 would have probably done the trick you know that's i mean he's overpaying he's walking in like crazy what's that cam, Camry? Seventy five grand. He is. He is making it rain on everybody except for the concierge. So Stevens and his lady of the evening, they go to the hotel room where they were then
Starting point is 01:52:15 joined by Daryl Crawford, who is a 30 year old. He's a big, giant guy identified as a gang member who shows up and Stevens gives him some crack, which is, you know, you're in a weird place when you're giving gang members crack rather than the other way around. Like you have gone through the looking glass. You are well, you've dropped down the rung of gangsters that you got the junkie gangster. Like that's not even the good gangster it's so weird that that they believe that that this guy crawford is pamela valia's pimp that's the connection here and uh he's a member of the vice lord street gang according to the police that's scary uh yeah so the police say that uh later, they'll say that. So Kevin Stevens, he dispatches the driver, sends triplet off to do this shit here.
Starting point is 01:53:10 And by the way, this is a great article. A lot of this in SI. It's the SI vault has a good article on the Sports Illustrated. If you like old sports like stories, subscribe to that vault thing. I don't even think you have to subscribe. I think you just go on there. But they have like all the old Sports Illustrated stories, and some of them are really interesting, especially when it's on a fuck-up.
Starting point is 01:53:29 It's really good, and some of them are really good work. This guy did really good work. You haven't even said that. This guy may have done good work, but how did the doctors do? Did they do good work? Does he look okay? He looks fine. Really?
Starting point is 01:53:40 They did good. They got to practice on Brutus Beefcake, and apparently they're fine after that. But Kenny Rogers got all fucked up. He's all messed up. Not going to work. He's a mess. So they sent this guy, the driver, Triplett, on the errand here. He comes back apparently six times pounding on the door.
Starting point is 01:53:59 I don't know why he's pounding on the door so much. No. The cab driver. Okay. The gangster is in the room hanging out. It's a crack party in the room. A prostitute, The gangster? No. The cab driver. Okay. The gangster is in the room, hanging out. It's a crack party in the room. A prostitute, a gangster, crack. It's a party. It's party time.
Starting point is 01:54:11 Cab driver is banging on the door. Pamela Valia says that she thought that he wanted more money, the cab driver. He was mad that he wasn't getting paid enough or something. She said she looked out through the peephole at the cab driver and saw what she thought was a gun in his waistband so at that point by the way at this point we must address
Starting point is 01:54:31 crackheads are really paranoid yeah that's a a thing that's what they go through they're super paranoid and they think people are out to get them so uh what she does is call the front desk for help oh jesus no what are doing? You can't do that. You're going to mix the straits in with this? All illegal transactions. Yeah, exactly. No mixing in the straits. You're mixing a law-abiding citizen in with the fucking mess.
Starting point is 01:54:54 Yeah, you can't do that shit. It's not okay. So she calls the front desk. The hotel, what they do, they're not going to solve it. They call the cops because they're not going to get involved. Because that's their job. I work at a hotel. I'm not going to fucking go up there and deal with cab drivers and also i wasn't overpaid fuck you that's the other thing yeah i'm making fucking probably six dollars an hour back
Starting point is 01:55:13 then or something so the police arrive at 6 50 a.m this is all going on now uh now during this whole thing the reason why crawford had come over was because Valia called him as well because she was scared of the cab driver. So she called over this guy, Crawford, 6'2", about 300 pounds. Oh, sweet Jesus. So he's a big, giant gangster. So you figure he's going to come over, scare the shit out of the cab driver. He comes over. They give him some crack, too.
Starting point is 01:55:38 Everybody hangs out smoking crack. So that's how that works. So police, they go there. Now, they haven't even even had there's no sex happening yet there's too busy they're smoking too much crack to have sex at this point so uh uh the the like i said motel calls the police now the police arrive in the lobby like we're here where do we go the front desk calls the room to say hey the police are here if you still want them uh to valia and she goes down and tries to persuade them to leave.
Starting point is 01:56:07 Because at this point, now she doesn't want them there anymore. Now Crawford's here. Oh, shit. They called the cops. I'll handle this. Cab driver's not a threat. Send the prostitute who's been smoking crack all night to talk to them because that's who can smooth things over with the cops. Send a cracky hoodker.
Starting point is 01:56:22 Yeah. Cracky hoodker down there. That's perfect. And then the cops will listen to her and she'll smooth it over don't send the guy who's famous or anything to go yeah i don't know some crazy fan was banging on my door it's weird right thanks guys have a good night don't send him a sign his autograph he left it's over it's all good yeah he was just a weird guy he followed me here from the arena you know he me and my friends were at a bar and he followed he could have made something up instead he goes go talk to him not good uh she says to the police
Starting point is 01:56:50 now okay you're in collinsville illinois uh middle six something in the morning seven o'clock in the morning uh you are a cracky hoodker and you walk up to the police and said you guys can go it's fine she says she's with a hockey player a new york ranger yeah um and he didn't want to be bothered anymore so you guys can just go right uh she said quote the cop says quote she said he didn't need this kind of attention and when i asked her how she came to know him her story became really fishy they go well how do you know this guy well my friend and her you've been to magoos yeah you know magoos with the rose pipes do you know this guy? Well, my friend and her. You've been to Magoo's? Yeah. You know Magoo's with the rose pipes? Yeah, you know Magoo's.
Starting point is 01:57:28 So the cops are like, we're going to look into this a little bit because I don't like this is sounding real fishy. And someone called. This is all self-inflicted. No one called the cops from the outside. They called the desk. This is all. Okay.
Starting point is 01:57:40 We're having a good time. Could you guys up front ruin this for us, please? Can you please destroy this? So they walk up to the second floor and outside the room they encounter Crawford. Yeah. The gangster. Giant gangster. He is there.
Starting point is 01:57:52 He starts, they said, broke into a speed walk when he saw the cops. Okay. Not a good idea. At 7 a.m. Anything but morning officers. Right. Suspicious. Okay.
Starting point is 01:58:03 So they go and tackle him and you know just to see what he must be part of this i guess uh and then they go and they bang on the door they knock twice nobody answers they knock again and finally kevin stevens who is it cops have a tendency to say police when they knock on the fucking door, he knows who it is. But they said Collinsville police. And he's like, shit, what do I do here? So he opens up the door. And the cop who was there when he opened up the door is a detective, Eric Zaber. He says, quote, finally, he opened the door and you could tell immediately he had the deer in the headlights.
Starting point is 01:58:40 Look, oh, my God, it really is the police. He was pacing back and forth. He couldn't sit or stand in one place he kept mumbling to himself over and over i'm going to lose my job i'm going to lose my kids going to get divorced my life's over he was really wired he's saying all that shit he's pacing back and forth saying this go i'm gonna lose everything on this is my life is over my life is over oh my god what am i gonna do you know who else said shit like that people want to catch a predator so you know that he fucked up and he knows that he fucked up now the cops are leery
Starting point is 01:59:09 of him because he's a huge guy he's all wired up right when someone's in that stake on my life is over my life is over they're unpredictable right on crack they're even more unpredictable shit to lose yeah so uh they were like they were a little leery of him that the police officer said that stevens had that head up shoulders down look of despair, is what he said. The windows were closed. The drapes were drawn. Beds were still made. Still sitting on top of the sleazy travelodge fucking disgusting comfort.
Starting point is 01:59:35 That's all. Just looks like a solar system because they want to hide the jizz. Let's get one that's a busy pattern. Hides jizz better. I was picturing those like wool ones you know what i mean the wool comforters not even not even a fucking they're way more porous should just absorb you get the load on your skin through those so jesus the police officer said quote we asked him if there was anything in the room and he was
Starting point is 02:00:04 just quiet then we asked for permission to search the room which he freely granted they said they pulled back the pillows and a crack pipe fell out that's not good they said at that point he just kept mumbling on and on and on uh they said that he was in anguish is the way they described it and they said quote he was very physically intimidating when we got into the room there was three of us and all of us remarked that we were glad this guy didn't resist because he was a big dude. Yes, we cuffed him. I asked him to sit down for our safety, and he said, I'll never, ever hurt you. I'm not like that. So he sat down on the bed and said, I'll never, ever hurt you.
Starting point is 02:00:37 I'm not like that. I'm not that guy. Now, if there was a struggle, it would have been a hard one. I don't want to fight this guy in a Travelodge motel room with his metal forehead. Close quarters? God, Jesus. But you hit him on the forehead and it goes ting. Fuck.
Starting point is 02:00:51 Uh-oh. Shatters your flashlight? Shit. That's a problem. The prostitute, Valia, told the police officers that Stevens was, quote, smoking crack like a monster, which I think is awesome. Crack monster. Crack monster. quote smoking crack like a monster yeah which i think is awesome crack monster crack monster at the police station uh kevin told the officers he'd been smoking crack on and off for the past
Starting point is 02:01:11 eight years he said quote when you came in last night i felt numb this is in a written statement to the police this is kevin's handwriting when you came in last night i felt numb i've had problems with substance abuse in the past i've already been through treatment if the team finds out i'll lose my job although i'm nervous i'm thinking clearly now that's what he writes in the thing which still sounds cracky and scattered um meanwhile you said something about a wife he the man's married oh he's married oh oh by the way he has two kids and his wife is pregnant with a third at the time and having a difficult pregnancy as well and he's out smoking crack she's about to have a divorce she's about to have a much more difficult pregnancy he's charged with unlawful possession of drug paraphernalia and then later on uh drug
Starting point is 02:01:54 possession felony uh solicitation of a prostitute blah blah blah goes on and on and on so uh he said that uh he he was he was like i'm fucked basically he thought his life was over he said that he was like, I'm fucked. Basically, he thought his life was over. He said he knew that his life was over. He said his wife, he's got two kids. They're going to learn the news and they're going to forget about it. My life is over. This is fucking rock bottom, I would say right here.
Starting point is 02:02:20 Now, the police said they make about 200 or so crack arrests in a year in Collinsinsville they said the only thing that made this interesting is it's kevin stevens that was it uh according to uh one of his agents uh his wife is is still pregnant and she's unrelenting in her support she's going to support him uh now the silver hair middle-aged white men start coming out of the woodwork here uh the rangers team president said quote our thoughts are with kevin and his family at this time yeah not why is he smoking crack in a fucking hotel room like a scumbag our thoughts are with him at this time uh the new york rangers organization will fully support kevin in any possible way why wow that is different than the nba's response um i would say holy shit uh they uh they issued a statement saying that he was going to go into programs. He's going to be in doctor's care.
Starting point is 02:03:11 The Penguins player said, quote, it's sad. It really is. You don't want to see anybody get in trouble. I hope it's a wake-up call and he gets the help he needs. Maybe this will turn his life around. He's got a wonderful family. Our thoughts and prayers are with Kevin and and his family mario lemieux said he knows that his many friends in the pittsburgh penguins organization are here to help him in any way possible during this difficult time nothing but support unbelievable
Starting point is 02:03:33 it's not like yeah it's it's crazy uh they gotta all feel fucking terrible for him because it's all stems and started from that goddamn injury yeah oh yeah yeah, you know it does. So they all see it as it could happen to me. Yeah, absolutely. I'm playing hockey today. In eight years, I could be in a fucking travel lodge. I could have my face crashed and then, yeah, be in a travel lodge with all of those terrible things that were going on.
Starting point is 02:03:58 Dave Chekits, who's the Rangers general manager, said, quote, as far as I've said for several days now, it's really about Kevin and his family. The organization did the best it could. The focus is really on him. Now, the goalie there for the Rangers, Mike Richter, said it was chilling when they showed his picture on television. It seems so far away. We know Kevin.
Starting point is 02:04:17 We know what kind of person he is. It's not the image I saw in that press release. It's going to be a difficult thing to lick. He's a strong person and has our unwavering support. It takes time, but it's going to happen. difficult thing to lick he's a strong person and has our unwavering support it takes time but it's going to happen it's just nothing but support he's released on fifteen thousand dollars bail he's allowed to leave illinois gone you know as long as he says he'll come back uh there uh rangers gm also said quote i'm not sure how long it will take uh or when this will be over i want him to rejoin his wife and kids. That's what's most important. They're all acting like it's his family here. His old hockey coach from Boston College said he couldn't believe it.
Starting point is 02:04:53 Had to be a mistake. He said it was just, he said he buried his head in his hands and wept. It just made no sense. Doesn't understand it. So it's bad. His agent says that, look, he doesn't have a crack habit, first of all. And if he does, I'm unaware of it. He says, quote, this is amazing.
Starting point is 02:05:11 This is his agent. Quote, I don't buy a crack addiction for one second. Well, you know what? I would. Crack pipes. Crack everything that happens shows that's not a novice experimenting. He's certainly had $500 worth, experimenting. He's certainly a hit. Five hundred dollars worth, sir. He just doesn't care.
Starting point is 02:05:26 He had a lot of party and going to places that you wouldn't go unless you really wanted to crack. It's not a first time guy. Yeah, that's the thing. No, this isn't his first day on the job here. He also says Kevin is not a drug guy. He's a booze guy. That's what he says. He's a classic all time binge drinking addict.
Starting point is 02:05:43 This is a positive. The activity he was caught in was a product of a binge addiction to booze. And he says that he doesn't know when Kevin Stevens' drinking problem started, but he says he's had it for a long time. Now, Stevens and the cab driver, because he's arrested, too. He comes back and gets arrested. They enter pleas of not guilty. Crawford and Valia have to plea later on. They say that he's a first-time offender he could have his record expunged if he goes through drug rehab
Starting point is 02:06:10 and the prosecutor's very nice to him is basically that he goes to a los angeles area treatment center following his release from jail for a few days and then he's moved to a rehab facility in connecticut where he's supposed to stay for a couple of months here. That's January 23rd. So it's right the next day goes right to rehab. He spends a couple of months in rehab here. According to the sources at this point, now there's a lot of, you know, talk about all this shit that the Rangers were aware of his drinking before they acquired him from the Kings.
Starting point is 02:06:40 And they said they knew he had enrolled in a substance abuse program and that they thought that he was better off basically now uh on april 9th 2000 uh she his wife gives birth to uh their third child a son named ryan so they have three kids now luke uh no juniors luke kylie and ryan two boys and a girl just like the opposite of his family so this all comes out he's in jail or he's in rehab it's all coming out people are saying how much support they have for him and everything like that uh he comes out with a fluff piece though or they should say the new york post on april 9th 2000 has a fluff piece and it is wow is it fucking fluffy uh the the title of the piece is quote stevens cleans up his act oh boy so there it's all over everything's great yeah he just got busted
Starting point is 02:07:34 for all this was less than three months ago the man was in a travel lodge and it's less than 90 days all cleaned up all good now i'm good now uh he says it's just alcohol yeah in this article he says quote i'm feeling much better now oh well well thank god that's terrific he says but anyone can stay sober in rehab it's what happens to you uh what kind of support system you have once you're out of rehab luckily i've got a great family and great friends who support me and the aa meetings help a lot that's been unbelievable the first time went, I couldn't believe it. Two guys I knew from college were in there. Alcoholic hockey players.
Starting point is 02:08:09 Who would have thought? And you're also not supposed to say that, you dickhead. That's the other thing. You probably shouldn't blow their spots up either. Keep it down. What the fuck, bro? Thanks, asshole. Yeah, thanks.
Starting point is 02:08:18 He says, quote, I know I let people down, but I'm getting help for my problem. And for that, I'm very grateful. I'm not the type of person who wakes up in the morning craving alcohol and i'm not the type of person who can't stop once i have one drink so he starts out with look i'm just happy to be i'm going aa and i'm trying to and then progressively over the course of this he turns it into poor me i didn't do shit and he's angry he goes from this anger. And this is the beginning of it. I'm not the type of person who can't stop. I got to explain myself.
Starting point is 02:08:48 I'm the kind of guy who can have a couple beers for 30 days in a row. No problem. For 60 days in a row, even. No problem. But then that 61st day, I can't stop. And that's when I lose complete control. And there's no way of knowing when that 61st day is coming. That's why I can't drink at all.
Starting point is 02:09:04 That's what makes me an alcoholic. Yes. He says that's he said the whole arrest and what the press is putting out about him with prostitutes and crack. He says that's so far from the truth. Didn't even happen. Didn't he says, I mean, from a public standpoint, the worst was having my wife and our family and people who know us have to hear that I was with a prostitute.
Starting point is 02:09:27 He says, I was never alone for a minute with the woman who turned out to be a prostitute. And I was never. We were just hanging out. We were discussing the upcoming the upcoming Democratic nomination process and possible upcoming elections and how this would work out. Just geopolitical things on a world level, too. And it turns out she's a prostitute. She so much right i was never alone with her i always had an overpriced cabby uh scum tour guide or an oversized uh crack crack gangster uh with us at all times she wrote a biography of chester a arthur she's just knowledgeable that's just all
Starting point is 02:10:02 there is to it i had a crackhead cab driver i had a gang member right there's always somebody in the room with us always i'm mike penster that's that's what it is so because i'm a good husband i'm a good that's the thing i'm a good guy and i cleaned up my act see hence title of the article i got an award and i am a good guy they said so that's it pittsburgh I'm a good guy award. Remember, I had sitting on my. Well, it's got cocaine all over it now, but never mind that. He then says, quote, There was never any sex.
Starting point is 02:10:31 There was never any interest in sex. Why the fuck are you hanging out with a prostitute then? And as far as the crack cocaine and my supposed admission, I've been using crack cocaine for eight years. I wrote my own fucking handwriting. I added that part. But yeah, none of that is true either. I've never crack whoa never oh i didn't use any drugs that night okay so that makes it even weirder so you like hanging out with gang members cracky cab drivers and crack pro and cracky hoodkers right that's just your social club
Starting point is 02:11:04 but you don't do crack? You went to East St. Louis and peeled off hundreds for crack. For crack. For your friends? Just, you know, let it rain. You ever taken your friends around that do crack and been like, you know what, it's on me tonight. Yeah, I'm going to, you know what.
Starting point is 02:11:18 Let me buy you a round. What the fuck? This is insane, man. Buy a round of crack, please. Can I get a crack for the table? I didn't use drugs that night. Okay. Wow.
Starting point is 02:11:30 May I have one crack, sir? There's a crack just for the table, but I'm not going to have any, but they're going to pick at it. They love it. The three of them. What happened is that one of the police officers asked me if I had ever used cocaine, and I admitted that I had tried it eight years ago. So he put in the report that I had been using cocaine for eight years. It's impossible. I've been tested by the league for the last two years.
Starting point is 02:11:52 Yeah, because nobody ever gets around drug tests. That summer, for the first time, I couldn't remember things that happened when I'd been drinking, so I went to get help. From then until last November, I was tested twice a week during the season and during the off season i was sober for 16 months that doesn't mean anything no you could be sober for 16 months and do a bunch of shit before and after that go right back to it yeah he said the also he's trying to say it's a it's a lost in translation i said i tried it eight years ago yeah and they're saying i do it constantly for eight years so you know i did sign that statement difference you dipshit yeah that's the other thing and it's a signed statement so if it's not right cross it out
Starting point is 02:12:30 why'd you why'd you why'd you co-sign you idiot so he's not like some dumb guy and you know that's never you know some uneducated he went to boston college he knows better like he's got all the agency about him to do what he needs to do to stand up for himself legally. He said, the pressure's just built up, not just from this year, but from the way my career has gone. The thing is, when you're in sports, you're taught not to show weakness, and so you keep things inside. You give off the appearance that things don't bother you.
Starting point is 02:12:59 No matter how good a friend or your teammate is, there's only so much insecurity you can share. So I was living with this conflict where I was dying on the inside but projecting something completely different on the outside yeah that makes sense he said i mean i went from scoring 50 goals to 15 in three years it was tearing me up understandable just that's all you need to say also the guy that the guy that created that thought and put that shit into words is saying that he misspoke. That's what I mean. Yeah.
Starting point is 02:13:29 He's very far too smart for that. He's a smart cat. He said, I felt light headed during warmups. And then for the first couple of shifts I had in the game, I'd never felt like that in my life. It was like I could barely function. After the game, I went out with some of the guys, but I wasn't drinking because they never let me have a drink because he was coming out of rehab. So I snuck away from them, went to one place, started drinking, went to another place, met up with these people. And it became the night that I couldn't stop myself.
Starting point is 02:13:53 I just wanted to party. I wanted to forget about things. I was in a bad place and I was with bad people because I still have the trial. I can't go into detail about what happened, but I wasn't smoking crack and I didn't use drugs and I wasn't soliciting a prostitute. Even though I had crack, everyone says I used drugs. I was high as shit and I was with a prostitute. And my prostitute said that she was getting mad that she couldn't do her own drugs because she had to help me do my drugs. Oh, yeah.
Starting point is 02:14:21 Oh, wait till you hear. She's got more commentary from her about his crack smoking, too, which is fucking amazing. Yeah. He then says that he would love to return to the Rangers next year. If that's not possible, he'd like to go to Pittsburgh, where his friend Mario Lemieux owns a team now. He says, quote, I love it here, and I feel terrible about how this ended. I owe the organization. One thing is money isn't going to be an issue.
Starting point is 02:14:42 I just want to play. He says, but the most important thing is that I have my family, my friends and my health. When I was in jail, all I could think about was about the only thing that meant anything to me was my wife, Suzanne, and our kids and our family. All I could think about was losing them. I don't know if I could have gone on without them. He said, but Suzanne stood by me and so did everyone else. And for that, I'm thankful. I understood that this day-by-day process and i'll be dealing with this addiction and going to meetings for the rest of my life but i have a life and i have a family and i'm dealing with my problems really dealing with my problems uh he says quote taking crack for eight years i've never even seen the stuff
Starting point is 02:15:19 all right uh wow the truth isn't really out there. Now he's going into Lenny Dykstra territory. There were a lot more people involved in it than three or four who got arrested. Who the fuck else was there? It's all the fits in a cab, dude. Enough people. Yeah. I don't know what happened. You get in those bars real late.
Starting point is 02:15:38 I was doing pretty good there for a long time. I blame myself. I put myself in that position. I'm not really that kind of person. I come from a middle class family. He's just a poor boy. Nobody loves him. What the fuck?
Starting point is 02:15:51 He's just a poor boy from a poor family. Ridiculous. Spare him his life. For he has made it a monstrosity. This is fucking insane. How do you get to that point where you can just deny everything that is it's documented and you're allowed to just is that is that are you really allowed to do that he's doing it he's like he's like fucking neil diamond in the jazz singer when he's in that texas
Starting point is 02:16:17 bar yeah and he's got a beard like why is neil diamond of a beard he's love on rocks this is just so depressing and sad ain't no surprise let's tug on my dick and i'll jizz in your eye it's a different song it is kevin stevens so he says he didn't feel like he was playing well uh yeah he says i was uh he says that uh i was taken aback by that. I was thinking ahead, getting to Pittsburgh and not playing well there, not being comfortable with that. But my big mistake was having that first beer. I drank and drank and drank, and that's what it is with me. And he says I could drink for two years and not have a problem.
Starting point is 02:16:58 It was two months a while ago. Now it's two years. But it's that next day. I'll go out of control. You never know when that next day will be. years but it's that next day i'll go out of control you never know when that next next day will be then he says it's that six it's 61st day or that 700 and fucking 731st day that's what it is that'd be two years right yeah 21st is it 365 or 365 you got it yeah you nailed it yeah sorry 360 is a circle i had to go backward there's all
Starting point is 02:17:25 these numbers floating around i understand so now he's got more excuses yeah he says quote all i did was rent a room that's his new excuse now next thing you know there's four or five people in there and it's chaos and the police show up it's something i don't wish on anyone my worst enemy even. It's frightening. I've never been in that position or anything like that position in my whole life. I can't tell you the amount of nights. Every two weeks, James, we're on the road somewhere. Just St. Louis.
Starting point is 02:17:55 We were just there. Full of crack whores. Bananas. I could not. Your whole room was full of them. I got in. When we finished, I had to jump in my room and shoulder the door. That's the thing. It's packed
Starting point is 02:18:05 it was crazy gang members crazy cab drivers crack whores they're everywhere there's crack everywhere you don't know how it happens
Starting point is 02:18:11 everyone has that all I did was rent a room what the fuck man he said all I really care about is my family people read all this about a prostitute and crack
Starting point is 02:18:21 and they're going to draw their own conclusions yes they are yeah you got caught with a crack and prostitutes that's conclusion drawing time he says but my wife knows the truth she's the sweetest girl in the world and now she take when she takes our kids to school people look at her like she's married to some lunatic i put myself in a bad position here but it's all related to my problems with alcohol yeah yeah so booze so he's sitting there
Starting point is 02:18:46 feeling all smug yeah and uh but you know what sometimes he gets an itch and he has to go through that all the time through those old neighborhoods again just to show himself how much he doesn't need it yeah that's the thing find the haunt to shake you know what though man he just probably sees a guy that looks like he could help him one day. And he pulls over and he goes, man, help me out. And it's Estevez Jones. 70s blaxploitation film star and MMA fighter. And he says. Motherfucker.
Starting point is 02:19:20 How is it you come to arrive here? Man, $500 worth of crack. You know how much motherfucking crack you could have got for $500? You stupid ass motherfucker. A travel lodge? I will tell you though, you know how to treat a lady, my friend. You know what? Any of my girls, anytime, I hand them right over to you because you know how to treat.
Starting point is 02:19:37 You're a fucking gentleman. You're a motherfucking gentleman. $500 worth of crack. You even gave crack to her pimp. You know how many times I send girls, they never come home with crack for me never be like yo here's the money add some extra crack for you know i'm saying you're a gentleman motherfucker next time you need anybody this is my personal number you get a hold of me right there i'll hit you out it's a pager though you gotta page me you know i don't get with that cell phone shit so you page me up i'll hit you put in a number
Starting point is 02:20:00 and press the pound sign that's how you find me yeah Yeah, poof. And in a poof of leopard print and crack rocks, he's gone. And Kevin was pissed because he's like, I thought I had it. I thought I had it all right there. So June of 2000, he says, quote, maybe I'm lucky to be alive. Now he's lucky? Now he's lucky to be alive. He says, I'm lucky in that I put myself in a bad position, and now I'm grateful that I'm able to be sitting here with a great family,
Starting point is 02:20:29 still able to play in the league. If the cops didn't come, who knows? Maybe I would have been killed. Oh, Jesus. It's fucking sad. Jesus Christ. They said, well, you think teams are going to want you now? And he says, quote, obviously teams are going to be scared.
Starting point is 02:20:44 I know that. He says, but I'm clear-headed now. I'm good now. I'm good now. Don't you know that? And I know I can play well. And I don't mean as a third or fourth line guy, I can be a first or second line. I don't have that desire to drink that relentlessness in me. I'll be able to go somewhere and truly be able to give it my best shot. I know wherever it is, it's not going to be a good contract, but I don't really care about that i'll take an invitation somewhere no contract go in and earn it i just want to earn my way back i just don't want it to end here like this respect respect he's got mine right now that's that's respect admitting his faults and and saying look just give me not really apart from the crack
Starting point is 02:21:20 apart from the crack apart from everything he did wrong admitting thatitting that he did something wrong, just not the correct things. And then going and saying, I'll earn my way back. That's fine. That I do respect in the league. I don't want a big contract. I will earn my way back in the league. So July 7, 2000, Philadelphia takes a chance on him. The Flyers, they sign a one-year deal, 600 grand, base level, just veteran kind of thing.
Starting point is 02:21:41 Only plays in 23 games with Philly, though. There, it doesn't quite work out. In December of 2000, he strikes a deal with the prosecutors to enter a year-long drug treatment program, and $452,551 he had with him the night of the arrest. Donate that to the party fund of the police force or something. Send that over to the Democratic National Convention. Yeah, he'll send that over there. This program requires him to meet with a judge every two weeks and take twice
Starting point is 02:22:10 weekly drug tests so this is a lot a full year of that full year of that you'd be exhausted by that you'd need crack when you're done with that after the flea he says it's all good now he says this time i'm going to meetings it's pretty comfortable it. It's helped. I'm starting to realize it's how I have to feel about myself, not how other people feel about me. Blah, blah, blah. January 14, 2001, he's traded from Philly to Pittsburgh. Back home. Back home. Back to Lemieux-Watson.
Starting point is 02:22:41 That's what they all want to do. They think it's a good deal here. But he only plays 32 games for the Penguins, scores one goal and four assists. So it's kind of over for him here. He tested clean throughout his year in the program. He finished that up. They said that his wife and three children didn't make the trip for his graduation from this year-long program. But he credits his family with his success in it he said i've been very lucky because i had a lot of support and some people don't have that i feel a sense of relief it's nice to get out of this
Starting point is 02:23:14 program and go on with my life i'm sure he'll be fine now uh at 2001 he uh enters the nhl substance abuse program again so yeah uh that, that's going to happen here. Finally, January 10, 2002, he goes home to consider retirement. He's unhappy with his playing time. He wants counseling for personal problems, and he ends up on January 30 deciding to retire of 2002. So he retires, though. In his career, he plays in 522 games.
Starting point is 02:23:43 He has 260 goals and 295 assists. So 55 he plays in 522 games he has 260 goals and 295 assists so 555 points in 522 games it's amazing nothing to be ashamed of right there it's a great career except for the crack except for that crack he averaged 45 goals and 98 points in his four seasons uh right before the accident the the big not the the accident, but the injury here. So he averaged just nine goals after that. So not terrific. He retires. He's got a nice house. It's a house that overlooks the ocean, and it's not bad.
Starting point is 02:24:18 He's in his home area here. He's trying to settle into the routine. He says that he's focused on his kids. He wants to be a good father. He says, I stayed sober because I had to, so I was miserable. This is what later on he'll explain about this time in his life. I didn't drink. I didn't do drugs because I couldn't.
Starting point is 02:24:35 But there was no happiness, no solution in my life where I could live without drugs. Even though I wasn't using it, it was still controlling my life. It's all he wanted. He says that his wife held the family together and made sure the kids had some sense of a normal household because he was not there all the way in his mind uh he about a year after he retires he hurts his neck while weightlifting an injury is bad for this guy and a weightlifting one is yeah that's pretty much the end of things it's bad he a friend gives him some percocet to deal with the pain not great so now he's getting drugs from a source too that's not a yeah it's not good
Starting point is 02:25:11 uh so he says that his real problem with what was with stimulants though so he was okay uh but he took the percocet and quickly grew into a serious dependence on opioids because that's what happens and especially if you're a drug addict to begin with and then you get pills, you're going to want more pills. So he said that it was a physical pull greater than he's ever felt before. He said he felt he needed pills to survive at this point.
Starting point is 02:25:36 He took opioids in any form he could get them. He went doctor shopping, went doctor to doctor, lying about his injuries and being a hockey player. These doctors would be sympathetic at first. I had this pile of injuries. My face has been reconstructed. shopping went doctor to doctor lying about his injuries and being a hockey player these doctors would be sympathetic at first i had this pile of injuries my face has been reconstructed look at my x-rays hip flexor tibia fibula broken shit i got all sorts of stuff i'm in a lot of pain so
Starting point is 02:25:55 you could get a lot of different doctors to write you a prescription one time yeah so uh they he did and then he would stick with that doctor for a while till he would they would stop giving him prescriptions he'd go to other places finally he'd go to street dealers because that's what you do right once doctors stop prescribing you shit those guys always keep it where do you go yeah he says during this period he needed about 500 bucks a day in drugs to survive to survive he said 500 a day keep from getting sick he said he spent millions using drugs oh i To survive, he said. $500 a day. Keep from getting sick. He said he spent millions using drugs. Oh, I'm sure.
Starting point is 02:26:28 He said after he pawned everything of value that he had, including both his Stanley Cup rings. Yeah. Sold his rings, man. He said, quote, if it wasn't nailed down, I was going to sell it. Wow. Sold both his rings for drugs. I believe it.
Starting point is 02:26:44 Fuck, man. We've had that so often on this show. He said, when you're in the middle of an addiction, it. Wow. Sold both his rings for drugs. I believe it. Fuck, man. We've had that so often on this show. He said, when you're in the middle of an addiction, it's hard. You need drugs. You don't need them to get high. You need them just to live. People don't realize that. You need them just to get through the day, because if you don't, you're sick.
Starting point is 02:26:56 That's a bad feeling. So 2004, Suzanne's had enough, and they separate. Because, I mean, Jesus Christ, this is crazy. As long as so far you can go. Yeah, you can go yeah you can't uh 2006 he finds the uh penguins hire him as an east coast scout so they don't know about his issues right now uh so he's gonna be scouting all right he's gonna be scouting a lot of crack spots or pill spots yeah uh he said that he wanted people to uh he liked going back to
Starting point is 02:27:22 pittsburgh that's where people had positive remembrances of him, where he was a great player and all that sort of shit. He said that he wanted to try to put his addiction aside for the team, but he couldn't. He tried. He said his kids were getting really good at sports, as we'll talk to. He says that he kept a distance. He says, quote, this is his sister. I'm sorry. He says, quote, it was hard for the kids because they weren't sure when Kevin was going to show up.
Starting point is 02:27:44 My heart broke for them. He was a mess. Sometimes he would forget to pick them up from school or a practice because he was doing drugs. Other times he'd show up high at their hockey games. Wow. All wasted. He was asked to leave the arena more than once. Don't be that dad.
Starting point is 02:27:58 And they don't want to ask the professional hockey guy to leave. No. I mean, that's the last guy they want to ask to leave. We need that guy here. We need pointers. We need tips. He's the guy. Yeah. He. I mean, that's the last guy they want to ask to leave. We need that guy here. We need pointers. We need tips. He's the guy, yeah. He's got to really be a dick.
Starting point is 02:28:09 He said, being a good dad was no work for me when I was sober. I love being a good dad. But when you're in this addiction, you look back and I was a bad father, a bad husband, a bad son, a bad brother. All of those things, this thing takes from you. So during this time, when he would stay sober for a week at a time, the Penguins were impressed by him. He's got a good eye for talent. He's a hockey guy.
Starting point is 02:28:32 I mean, he knows hockey. So they said he saw things in prospects that other people didn't see. He saw certain things. They said that he was promising, basically. But when he was kind of off a little bit, he was way off, and they were like, what's wrong with him? Brand damage. Yeah, well, he could put it on that. He said, I've had a lot of highs and a lot of lows.
Starting point is 02:28:55 Mentally, I've had a tough time dealing with the highs and lows. I put so much pressure on myself. You beat yourself up. Beat yourself up. It takes its toll. You beat yourself up, beat yourself up, it takes its toll, I would say. He is employed, though, with the Penguins from 2005 through 2012 as a scout here. Seven years of that shit.
Starting point is 02:29:15 Yeah, he says he just took tons of opioids all through this shit here. That's what he was doing to survive. Traveling from travel lodge to travel lodge. March 18, 2010, he's invited to the GM's office in Pittsburgh. And he wasn't sure why the GM wanted to see him. But as soon as he walked in the door, he realized because there was also Dan Cronin and Dr. Brian Shaw, who are from the NHL and NHLPA substance abuse program. And we need to talk.
Starting point is 02:29:41 He knows that, yeah. And we've seen each other before. Yeah. He walked in and he said he laughed. And he said, oh you guys what are you guys doing here and they said kevin you know why we're here yeah uh we hear we hear the pill bottles in your pants i can hear you rattling as you come in here you're either really into tic tacs let's smell your breath you smell like oranges right now if not you're fucking you're right you got so lemieux mario lemieux sends his private jet to take stevens to the rehab facility in florida wow that's a hell of a way to go to rehab awesome uh yeah he said uh his father and sister were there uh he said that uh uh the the pittsburgh gm said quote there wasn't a mad bone in his body it was
Starting point is 02:30:26 just kevin he was like oh man you got me again like a little kid uh wow he admitted to his friends and family that he had a problem at this point too he's got like a girlfriend that he's cultivating and he says he's going to give rehab another try he stays in rehab for less than 30 days before he is kicked out for having a relationship with a fellow patient god damn it he's fucking another patient wait is he married they're separated okay 2004 god damn it yeah this is this is a mess this guy's just chasing this is 2010 this is right around they get divorced right after this got it so uh yeah so uh he gets that shortly after that now the penguins fire him because he got kicked out of rehab uh yeah so uh he gets that shortly after that now the penguins fire him because he
Starting point is 02:31:06 got kicked out of rehab uh yeah so he keeps trying to fuck another junkie for fucking another junkie not for trying he was successful he was actually doing he had a relationship with another patient oh boy and uh his second attempt at rehab doesn't take either his counseling doesn't work he's not doing well uh 2010 uh now he's kind of even p, even Pittsburgh has now put him in rehab and all that. His wife divorces him. His friend said he was unreachable by phone. He would change his phone number all the time. He would borrow money from friends and family and promise to pay them back.
Starting point is 02:31:39 I'm a good guy. My award. Oh, shit, I sold that for crack. He said that a lot of his friends said they had to cut him out of their lives because he was just he refused to get help all he did was come and take money from you and it's you know they were afraid to be around him they said uh people said they went years without speaking to him his one friend said it came to a point where he had to realize it was himself. He had to realize the responsibility was his own.
Starting point is 02:32:05 I just stopped reaching out to him. Now, Mark Reckie, his old teammate, said we had to take a step back. He said that was probably the hardest thing as a friend, thinking every day that something bad happened or maybe he's dead. So November of 2011, his father, Arthur, is diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, which is rough. That's a bad one. That's really bad. Yeah, he said that Stevens, he tried to be there for his dad for the illness. He tried to reconnect with his family.
Starting point is 02:32:36 He offered to drive Artie to the hospital for his appointments, but then a few times he got sleepy at the wheel and drifted into other lanes. but then a few times he got sleepy at the wheel and drifted into other lanes so his father eventually asked him not to drive him anymore because he scared him yeah because he's having slept all night and he's in the morning taking his dad pancreatic cancer patients like enough with you i could die you're gonna kill me you're more dangerous than pancreatic cancer this is crazy so uh when arty's on his deathbed he says says to Kevin's sister, quote, promise me that you won't give up on Kevin. Help him get better. Promise me that.
Starting point is 02:33:11 So now they had to agree on a deathbed to help him now. So the family's on board. May 2012, his father, Arthur, dies, which is not great. which is not great. God damn it. December 16, 2014, Kevin is high on a mix of opioids and Ambien. Oh, no.
Starting point is 02:33:31 That's sleepy time. That is a rough mix, boy. What's he doing? He's found a cocktail for him. Yeah. He falls asleep at the wheel. He's driving on all that shit. Wow.
Starting point is 02:33:42 Crashes head first into an oncoming vehicle. Oh, boy. Good news is... Not wearing a seatbelt. That's all right. He smashed his head into into an oncoming vehicle oh boy uh he was good news is not wearing a seatbelt that's all right uh he smashed his head into the windshield so uh shattered the glass yeah uh he's rushed to the hospital the vehicle oh yeah with his head with his fucking steel plate head he has to undergo emergency surgery several vertebral discs in his neck were broken wow uh as was his collarbone and he'd also suffered another severe head injury so this is not great but his face is great his face is looking perfect the other driver walked away without a scratch wow somehow no charges were put on him
Starting point is 02:34:19 he was high and admittedly high on all these drugs and because the other guy didn't get hurt somehow they didn't press charges. Unreal. I don't know how he got away with that. They figure he's suffering enough? I don't know. The surgeon who treated him said he was lucky he wasn't paralyzed or killed. They said he spent the next three weeks in intensive care. Yeah, I bet.
Starting point is 02:34:37 Three weeks and then two months in rehab after that. So he said that the problem was there. Now, at the same time, his girlfriend, this woman named Fallon, is pregnant with a baby. And he says once he gets out of the hospital, he says, maybe this is a symbolic chance at second chance. Maybe I can start over. But he never stops doing drugs. Of course not. Now, 2015, his son Luke is drafted by the Carolina Hurricanes.
Starting point is 02:35:02 But instead chooses, I mean i mean he'll i'm sure play later he said you know what though i have a better opportunity i'm gonna go to yale wow his son is at yale right now brilliant kid his son is a senior at yale unbelievable who's got a hockey career waiting for him or you know anything he wants to do whatever he gets because he went to yale he's fine ridiculous wow wow uh so November of 2015, his girlfriend is five months pregnant. He arranges to pick up a package of oxycodone. He's doing low-level drug dealing now, looking for money. And support his drug habit.
Starting point is 02:35:38 Yeah, that's what it is. So that's exactly what it is. He discussed his plans, which also includes selling his own prescription pills in a wire tapped phone conversation with his friend, Christopher Alinardo, who's also implicated in a local FBI investigation. He says, quote, this is Kevin, quote, you know, you're not going to fucking make two thousand to three thousand every time. But he says, but he needed to do it. He needs to put some money in the bank account is what he's saying so he needs money so march 2016 uh fallon his girlfriend has a baby boy yeah he shows up late to the hospital kevin does like an idiot yeah uh kelly knotted off somewhere his sister and mother were already there they saw that he's super high when he shows up uh his sister and
Starting point is 02:36:24 mother are pissed and uh yeah that's their their matter he couldn't even show up sober for that so uh bad stuff yeah gets worse may 2016 uh he is charged with uh conspiracy and possession with intent to distribute oxycodone not good what happens well uh the when he's after he's wiretapped they know it recognized who he was pretty notable local figure here and all that sort of shit and uh they were like hmm i bet a guy like that doesn't want to go to jail right i bet a guy like that would do anything to not go to jail like you know inform on other people yeah he's got he actually has something to lose so they look at him and they go okay uh so they uh steven's met a drug dealer at a bus station
Starting point is 02:37:06 in braintree massachusetts in november of 2015 fbi agents were watching uh he uh kevin received 175 oxycodone pills and after the exchange he drove away and his truck was pulled over a block away from the exchange he's allowed to go free yeah but they talk to him and they say, if you want to work with me, here's what we can do. Yep. You've had some problems. We could take you to jail right now. And your face is going to be on the front page.
Starting point is 02:37:33 Every fucking newspaper. He's at it again. This fucking idiot. You're never going to get back with the penguins. All this shit's going to happen. Or you could tell us a couple of things we want to know. Start chatting. You can start chatting a little bit and start.
Starting point is 02:37:45 So he's just singing voice. He says, yeah, start chatting a little bit. How's your singing voice? Yeah, how's your singing voice, Gene? He says, sounds great. Yeah. I'm in. You got any throat coat? I got it. Sounds awesome.
Starting point is 02:37:54 So they let him go. But for the next four months, they checked in with him regularly, and they would push him to work with people and implicate people in the drug trade. He agreed, but never did anything nothing he just wouldn't do anything he just dragged them along never gave them anything of value what happens is eventually they kick down your condo door yeah and they fucking raid your house in the morning and uh right you're still involved yeah and that's what they do they drag him out in cuffs they raid his fucking house they say he's responsible for 175 uh pills that time on
Starting point is 02:38:26 that transaction he's super fucked now because now he's like he was all the i'm good now penguins hired me i'm great now he's really fucked rehab i mean jesus christ he's got a fucking newborn baby i mean god damn it i mean fuck i know the head injury i feel bad for him that injury and then you got fallon and you got this baby and other kids. I feel bad for all these people, Jimmy. I really do. But not nearly as bad. Oh, sweet Jesus.
Starting point is 02:38:54 As I feel for. What a throwaway white guy name. Kevin Stevens, an analytical chemist in New York. He could make drugs for him. Kevin Stevens, an Australian Rugby League footballer from the 70s and 80s. Kevin Stevens, a former Australian Rules football player who played with Footscray in the Victorian Football League.
Starting point is 02:39:16 I don't know. Kevin Stevens of Team USA Karate. He's got all sorts of titles. Six-time junior national team member. All sorts of shit. I don't know. Who cares? He won a gold medal in 2018 for his karate.
Starting point is 02:39:35 There are so many Kevin Stevens. So many. And finally, this is the worst one of all. Kevin Stevens Jr. Oh, my God. A football player. He's an athlete from keen university he went to sterling high in new jersey he's a black dude he's definitely not related to this kevin
Starting point is 02:39:52 stevens but uh he's gonna get a few like yeah no that's not me poor guy so uh 2016 uh uh oh this is kevin stevens here in 2016 because i feel like it's so bad for Kevin Stevens Jr., I'm going to give you a couple of his stats just to put him out there. Good job, Kevin Stevens Jr. 2016, he appeared in six games as a first-year player, recorded a total of eight tackles and an interception and a fumble recovery. He had four tackles against Christopher Newport University on September 4th. His career aspirations, he'd like to be an entrepreneur,
Starting point is 02:40:26 and his favorite TV show is Game of Thrones. Also, he's an early bird. You hate him. So there's that. He's in this stupid fucking TV show. This dumb shit TV show. Where the fuck, Keene, like New Hampshire Keene? I don't know where it is.
Starting point is 02:40:41 Christopher Stevens? What is it, K-E-A-N? K-E-A-N. That ain't New Hampshire. I don't know. I don't even know where it is christopher stevens what is it k-e-a-n k-e-a-n that ain't new hampshire i don't know i don't even know where the fuck that is i assume it's in the northeast because he went to college in high school in new jersey so get it together man you're playing at shit schools that's awesome go harder stop watching tv you're watching dumb shit anyway that's amazing so he's in jail sitting in jail and he says that he's scared to be in prison he
Starting point is 02:41:07 doesn't want to be in prison he says once he's in jail he said quote my life was either going to go left or right i had to make a decision yeah this is 2016 right uh bail is arranged and he walks out of prison he goes to an aa meeting he says gets hooked up with his old sponsor. Yeah, the whole deal here. He's supposed to face trial. He's got to get his shit together. One of his old friends of his is Ron Hayes. He's a guy he met in AA, and he said the guy knew nothing about hockey, but they connected for a while.
Starting point is 02:41:36 They even lived together. They were roommates for a while. He said that Hayes had been sober, though, and Stevens had not be, so Stevens told him that he needed help, and the guy said he would try to help him and they would go uh they would go to a 7 a.m a.a meeting every morning yikes and afterwards they'd go to hayes's house and hang out and uh you know talk about family and all that sort of shit and try not to talk about how great drugs would be right now so uh they allowed to drink coffee in those? Probably not, huh?
Starting point is 02:42:06 AA, yeah. Oh, AA, not NA, right? Yeah, no. Any form of addiction counseling, whatever you're in there for, they tell you, you know, whatever. If you're in AA, they'll be like, yeah, do this,
Starting point is 02:42:16 but if you smoke, smoke two packs a day because you're going to need to do something. Literally, like you're, yeah, you smoke, you drink coffee. Don't try multiple things at once. Quit this, this then quit that you can't do everything at once because you'll snap and then just go on a binge of everything right fuck it uh so uh yeah he stayed sober for the year before his trial in may of 2017 he goes to court his friends and family submit dozens of letters asking the court to give him a chance, another chance. The story told of a different guy.
Starting point is 02:42:48 Then, you know, he's not a drug dealer. You know, he's a guy with a big laugh. He's a leader on the hockey, on the ice. You know, they talk about how his head trauma and his injury caused his addiction. It's not his fault. And, you know, all this type of shit. His injury caused his addiction. It's not his fault.
Starting point is 02:43:04 And, you know, all this type of shit. Mario Lemieux said, quote, Kevin has acknowledged that he's made mistakes, but as many loyal friends in hockey know that he's a good person who wants to make amends. He's got Mario Lemieux writing fucking letters for him, which isn't good. Prosecutors, though, they say that fuck that. He was a drug dealer. It was about the decision to traffic drugs not being addicted to drugs uh they said that they uh the authorities are not going to allege that he's a large scale dealer but uh they said that uh uh kevin stay uses his on tape he said one time you've got to make money there's
Starting point is 02:43:37 nothing wrong with this so they use that he says he knew knows he was dealing drugs the prosecutor said mrs mr stevens was dealing drugs just like any other drug dealer who walks into this court. There's nothing special is what they're going to try to tell him. So basically, he says that he acknowledges that he's had more opportunities than others, and he had no need to resort to drug dealing and that sort of thing here. The judge said, quote, we don't sentence people in federal court for being addicted to drugs, but he crossed a line into becoming a drug dealer. His attorney said,
Starting point is 02:44:09 I wish I could have had a great career and a great life, but I didn't. That's his words through his attorney. It hurt my family. It hurt my kids. It hurt my parents. It hurt everybody. And I paid a big price.
Starting point is 02:44:21 The judge says the risk of interrupting the progress that has been made is perhaps unwise risk to take about him getting out of rehab. He said so he would be doing something else. They said that basically, like most drug dealers, he'd be doing something else if he wasn't feeding his addiction. And he says, you, sir, may fuck off $10,000 fine and three years probation for fucking dealing oxy. Three years probation, $10,000 fine. That's it. He got off light twice.
Starting point is 02:44:53 I think that's light. But he's in the system. He got busted federally. Yeah, but there's no way he's going to comply with that. Well, he's also not only only that, three years probation, and he must be involved in public speaking and anti-drug educational efforts there. The
Starting point is 02:45:11 courtroom cheered. All his friends cheered because he didn't have to go to jail. So he walks out. He says, quote, I wish it never happened. It's something this is after he gets sentenced, he told the judge. It's something that hurts me. I hurt my family. I hurt my kids. I hurt my parents, all that. He says, I just want to help people.
Starting point is 02:45:27 That's all he wants to do. 2017, the Penguins rehire him as a scout. What? Special assignment scout. He does. They said that he attended at least one AA meeting, two if it was a bad day. He went to the gym. He wanted to get in shape. He lost almost 50 pounds going to the gym.
Starting point is 02:45:46 He says that he has to go to a parole officer randomly for a drug test but that's it uh he says he's good now yeah he says i don't know probably because i had to jail and all that stuff for addicts that's nothing i've already put addiction in front of my everything my family that's the most important thing to me in the world for me to go to jail is not a big deal what did i get sober for this time it just kind of happened it worked then you get to a point when you feel good again you have to give yourself time after six seven eight months i started to feel like i had a purpose again yeah i didn't have that for a long time i wanted to keep feeling that the first 28 years of my life were great i had a lot happen but when i hit addiction i got this spiral it's been 24 years and a lot of ups and downs and a lot of pain and a lot of people and myself for a lot of people and myself.
Starting point is 02:46:30 It's nice to be accountable again and to be the person I wanted to be and always wanted to be, but I couldn't do this until I put this thing behind me. It's nice to be that person that's accountable again. So at this point, he also works for the Penguins. He picks up work on the side with an electrician pal of his. He speaks regularly to kids now and to groups. His main gig, and he's also a pro scout for the Penguins, but he goes around giving speeches now. He gets paid for it. And anti-drug speech.
Starting point is 02:47:04 I don't know what he's getting paid for.'s doing it for that i would hope so because i mean jesus december 2017 he starts a podcast and a radio thing whatever it is called cross check he will host a show alongside dea agent jack our former dea agent jack titleman and each week cross check will feature a notable guest from the world of sports, entertainment, and politics. We'll share their real experiences with substance abuse and how it's impacted their life. He's finding junkies that played sports to talk. To talk. Politicians.
Starting point is 02:47:36 Just people that they knew. Get Willie Mays. Yeah, Willie Mays Akins would be great. The show hopes to end the stigma behind substance abuse in a non-preachy manner, it says there. And they said that, you know how you do that in a non-preachy manner? Admit that you were in a fucking travel lodge with prostitutes and tell that you're going to smoke crack and then fuck a prostitute. Or try to tell that story. So damn it.
Starting point is 02:48:01 He's speaking in 2018. He says, I was sitting in seats that you're sitting in now saying it's never going to be me. Now I'm up here talking. It's kind of weird how it all happened. But I honestly thought I honestly never thought ever, ever, ever. I never knew anything about addiction, he says. So people say that his speeches aren't preachy. He's just very honest.
Starting point is 02:48:22 He's very fucking straightforward. aren't preachy he's just very honest he's very fucking straightforward he meets with uh he hands out his cell phone numbers to these people and meets them one-on-one and you know over coffee with them uh yeah he says it's about reaching out some people are at different stages they want to get clean they just want to talk or they just want to talk i bs with them for a little people did it to me what they gave me uh what they gave me me to help me was to get clean and sober. You have to give it back. If someone needs help, you have to be there.
Starting point is 02:48:50 2018, he's inducted into the Silver Lakes High School Hall of Fame. God damn it. He said, those were some great times. I loved, loved hanging out every day and playing hockey with teammates that are still great friends of mine today.
Starting point is 02:49:01 Look forward to seeing everyone at the induction ceremony. Good guy. In 2019, a documentary 23 minute film called Shattered is released. Like his face. 23 minutes to tell a story. That's like a TV show, though. I suppose, yeah. It's like a half hour of TV with commercials, so I think maybe that's probably why they're making it.
Starting point is 02:49:20 So it can play it on Nessun or one of those northeastern sports networks. Play on MSG and Nessun and shit. so i can play it on nesson or one of those northeastern sports networks play on msg and nesson and shit but uh yeah it's and it's been i saw it was played to all sorts of people were coming to see this fucking thing they were showing it around september 2019 he gets a promotion and uh he uh has been promoted to pro scouting oh for the penguins here and uh yeah he says that he's he his final thing is he says he's one of the lucky ones. He says, I shouldn't be here right now. I have 100,000 lives. It's one of those things. I don't know sometimes.
Starting point is 02:49:50 I wonder why I'm still here and people said God kept me alive for a reason. It's not hockey. It's to help people with the addiction thing because it's so bad out there. We need to let people know there's a way out and his celebrity net worth dot com has says he's got one million dollars dollars which we know possibly
Starting point is 02:50:06 isn't true because bullshit somebody tweeted mine today that said 16 million dollars first it said six million then he refreshed then it said seven million then he refreshed again 16 million dollars james you had a good day i had a good day i saw that and i'm like, you grow money faster than anybody I know. Well, who the fuck took 98.999% of that shit? Because I haven't seen it, you cocksuckers. Can't get enough? Yeah. You can go to Leland's.com
Starting point is 02:50:34 and get a 1993 game-worn All-Star game jersey by Kevin Stevens. $478.80, but it's a game-worn All-Star jersey. Pretty good. You can get a Kevin Stevens hockey stick. It's a Coho brand all-star jersey you can get a kevin stevens hockey stick it's a coho brand 59.95 and also go to power forward 25.com to donate to his cause and speaking and see what he does if you're into the addiction counseling thing and then also cross check podcasts i don't know if it's still going on but since we just made fun of him for three
Starting point is 02:51:02 hours i feel like we should give him a should give him a plug if you're interested. That, everybody, is Kevin Stevens. Unreal. And the story of the Travelodge night from hell there. Holy hell. So that is that. He never did crack, Jim. He never once.
Starting point is 02:51:18 He will never. I've never even seen it. He's never seen it, Jim. Never mind doing it. I don't even know what it looks like. So, yeah, that is kevin stevens holy shit uh that's a crazy story that's the one we had saved up for you for this week how can they tell you if they liked it yeah well if you liked it there's an easy way to tell us you can you can
Starting point is 02:51:36 tell everyone as a matter of fact go to apple podcast that purple icon and give us five stars doesn't matter what you say you got to say something just say they're forcing me to do this um following instructions it really doesn't matter what you say. You've got to say something. Just say, they're forcing me to do this, following instructions. It really doesn't matter. But it helps on the business end so much. It does. Also, go to shutupandgivememurder.com for all of your small-town murder and crime and sports needs. We've got a ton of new merch up there, so check that out.
Starting point is 02:51:56 All sorts of different designs. There's new products they put on Threadless there through our site. So check all that out. It's all on there. And get all that. Get your live show tickets. April 8th in Nashville, Tennessee at Zany's. There's still a few tickets left for the Crime and Sports.
Starting point is 02:52:10 All the other ones are sold out. So that's the only thing to sell. Do that. Buy those. Follow us on social media. You can do that. We are at Crime and Sports on Twitter and Facebook and at Small Town Murder on Instagram. You can do that if you want to be a hero of ours, a
Starting point is 02:52:26 goddamn heroic human being, one of our producers who we're about to gush about. We're going to really say how much we love these people. If you want to be one of these people, very easy to do that. Just go to patreon.com slash crime and sports or head over to PayPal and use our email address, which is crime and sports
Starting point is 02:52:41 at gmail.com. Any of those will work. And Jimmy, I think it's time to tell me about the people who have done just that. Hit me with those names right now. This week's executive producers are Carol Feely, who don't she so fucking sweet of her. She donated and then and then went over to Patreon and jumped in there. Also, thank you. You're a sweetheart.
Starting point is 02:53:02 Thank you, Carol. Mikey Giovanni Garcia. When Alia. No, Will Nalia Merced. Wow, thank you. You're a sweetheart. Thank you, Carol. Mikey Giovanni Garcia, Winalia, no, Wilnalia Merced. That's her name. I'm never going to get that right. And she donates quite free. Thank you so much.
Starting point is 02:53:13 Thank you so much. Nikki Ritterhoff, she's up in Chicago. Thank you, Nikki. And Tanya Volanek. You guys all have a difficult, except for Carol, everybody's name makes me stumble.
Starting point is 02:53:24 And our other producers this week are Thomas Smith, Mike Oxmall, Ann with no last name, Kobe Nykerk, Travis Hall, Alexandra Poderaki, Anthony Cannella, Eric Rodriguez, Lindsay Eric Rodriguez, Lindsay Sullivan, Ashley Vio, Lucas Malik, Michael Bartolomeo, John Lash. He donated twice. Thank you, John. Thank you, John. Aspen Cloud, Alexander Calder, Cara Barcroft, William Wheat, Justin Anderson, James Marder, Kelly Rupplegoggle, Jesse Strickland, Jesse Hartman, Laura Williams, Tara Miller, Michael Stull, Josh Brooks, and Mike's donated a bunch of times and he's coming to the show in Texas. I forget which one. Anthony Colon, Reagan Shalkley, Megan Long, Ray Kuhn, Peyton Meadows, Liz Leslie, Clifton Brown, Ryan Sim, Kayla Peel, Zach Keaton, Gary Howard, Jessica Cat, or Jessie Cat.
Starting point is 02:54:36 I think it's Jessica Cat. Yeah. Thank you. Rebecca Oxford, Joanna Ahern, Jennifer Flores, Brian Keithley, Ryan Persad, Blake Jacobs, Jake Blake-ubs or Blake Jacobs, it's the same. One of those two. Jessica Schaefer, I said that, I think. Heather White, Benjamin Lane, Mark Foster, Naima Shea, Allison Abernathy, Charlene Colvert, Jude Kendall, Angela Pena, Evie Hansen, Cameron Mitchell, James Hawkins. Yes.
Starting point is 02:55:10 Taylor Nicole, Justin... Cameron Mitchell? Yeah. Like the actor? I think so. That's amazing. Is there a Cameron Mitchell actor? Yeah, he's like the B-movie king, and he's...
Starting point is 02:55:19 Never mind. It's hilarious. It's not him. No. Well, he's dead, so it's definitely not him. Well, then, yeah. For sure not him. That's great though
Starting point is 02:55:25 that they share a name justin miller i said that elizabeth dibble natalie uh he'll sling he'll he'll sing uh taylor taylor we've had an a deluge of nicole's and taylor's taylor a lot of those taylor codwaller codwalleter uh mark gooding jocelyn cooksy jordan Jordan Bennett. Thank you, Jordan. Teague James, Kay Deke. Yes. No, Peake. Is that a Peake? Kay Peake, I think. Ramon Saucedo, Susan Keller, Robin Anderson, Carl Bittner, Kara Joseph, David Karius, Chloe Carlson, Martha with no last name, Jim Crow.
Starting point is 02:55:59 Not that one. Jacqueline Donaldson, OV Films. Jesus Christ. Chris D'Aolini, Donaldson. O.V. Films. Jesus Christ. Chris D'Aolini, I think. I think so. Emily Wilkins. Aaron with no last name. Adam Smart.
Starting point is 02:56:13 Sarah Nicole. Kai Sakura or Key. Mary Fouse or Foose. I think it's Fouse. I think that was right. Yeah. Madison Courtier. Nick G.
Starting point is 02:56:23 Rush Rosenberger, I think. Rush Rosenberger. Militia Courtier. Nick G. Root. Roosh. Roosh. Rush Rosenberger. I think. Roosh. Rosa. Militia. No. Melita. Melita.
Starting point is 02:56:30 I'm so sorry. Militia. Day. Morrow. Bonnie Milne. Sharon Hill. Adam Shawick. Shawisk.
Starting point is 02:56:38 Max. Mathias. The. The Gallagos family. Sam Lang. kaiser rice uh charlotte galway kairi campbell jacob scrabba alicia alissa camacho allison hymer britney meade richard radcliffe kaylin and Peaston, Dakota Clever, Lana Nikitin, Derek Romer, Molly Miles, Lauren Vargas, Mike DeGrief, the 3GO, no, what is that, damn it, the 3GO, the Third Archangel, is that what I wrote? The 360 Archangel.
Starting point is 02:57:22 I can't help you with that Ian Bourne Jacqueline M Ashley Scarlett Drew Badger Reed Whaley Jordan Lee or Leah Jeanette Brown Jessica Hubber
Starting point is 02:57:33 and all of our Patreon supporters you guys make this show possible and make our lives worth living thank you thank you everybody
Starting point is 02:57:40 so much honestly from the bottom of our hearts you keep this show going you make it work and you make us only care what you think so it's great uh we can keep doing the show you like and not what sponsors or networks or advertisers or anybody else likes so thank you for doing that and what if people wanted to thank you for something or drive your face hard into the ice
Starting point is 02:58:00 how might they do that at whisman sucks Sucks, W-H-I-S-M-A-N Sucks on Twitter, Instagram, and Snapchat. I appreciate everything you guys do. Really, from the bottom of my heart, thank you guys for being a part of this and giving your words and advice that I ignore. What about you? You can find me at JimmyPIsFunny, or you can just copy and paste my first and last name from the show description to make it a lot easier on yourself. Either way, check that out. Do that. Find us. Say hello. We'll say hello back description to make it a lot easier on yourself. Either way, check that out. Do that. Find us.
Starting point is 02:58:26 Say hello. We'll say hello back if we see it. So there's that. And I don't know what else to say. I think that's about it. It is time. And live from the Crime and Sports studios, we will see you next week.
Starting point is 02:58:36 Bye. Hey, Prime members, you can listen to Crime and Sports early and ad-free on Amazon Music. Download the Amazon Music app today, or you can listen early and ad-free with Wondery Plus and Apple Podcasts. Before you go, tell us about yourself by completing a short survey at wondery.com slash survey. If you don't know when Crystal Pepsi was discontinued, what was in Al Capone's vault, or which famous meteorologist is Lenny Kravitz's second cousin, then you haven't spent enough time on Wikipedia. But that's okay. I am here for you. I'm Darcy Carden, and I'm inviting you to listen to my new podcast, WikiHole, from SmartList Media. Discover the craziest rabbit holes on Wikipedia with me and my funny friends as we bring the cyber frontier directly to your tympanic membrane. And if you listen to my podcast,
Starting point is 02:59:36 you'd learn that that's the science-y term for eardrum. We embark on a hyperlink rollercoaster as we start out on a Wikipedia page and go from link to link to link to link, careening through trivia, oddities, and unexpected connections until we collectively shout, how the hell did we get here? Follow WikiHole on the Wondery app or wherever you get your podcasts. You can listen to WikiHole ad-free by joining Wondery Plus in the Wondery app or on Apple Podcasts.

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