Dudes on Dudes with Gronk and Jules - Luc Robitaille on the 1993 Conference Finals | Kings vs. Maple Leafs

Episode Date: April 21, 2026

Luc Robitaille is in studio! The Stanley Cup champion and Hockey Hall of Famer is with us to relive one of the greatest games in Los Angeles Kings history: the 1993 Campbell Conference Finals between the Los Angeles and the Toronto Maple Leafs.  (00:00) We kick things off. (02:47) Luc jones us on the couch. (31:06) We go back to 1993. (40:24) We get into the rosters. (56:06) We dive into the game. (1:07:07) We score it. Support the show: https://hoo.be/dudesondudesSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me. Clifford Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media.

Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifers Show. This is a place for raw, unfills of conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to the Clivert Show on the I-Hard Radio app,

Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok podcast network on TikTok. I'm Daniel Alarcon, and this is my friend. This is much more famous than I am. I wouldn't go that far. But I'm John Green, co-host of the podcast The Away End with my old friend Daniel. On our podcast, The Away End, we'll share with you the magic of international football, all leading up to the 2026 World Cup.

Together, we'll find out why, of all the unimportant things, football, soccer, is the most important. Listen to The Away End with Daniel Alarcon and John Green on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On a recent episode of the podcast, Money and Wealth with John Hobriant, I sit down with Tiffany the budgetista Aliche to talk about what it really takes to take control of your money. What would that look like in our families if everyone was able to pass on wealth to the people when they're no longer here? We break down budgeting, financial discipline, and how to build real wealth, starting with a, mindset shifts too many of us were never, ever taught. If you've ever felt you didn't get the memo on money, this conversation is for you to hear more. Listen to Money and Wealth with John Hope Bryant from the Black Effect Network on the I'd Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

Hey, it's Edwin Castro, also known as Castro 1021. And I'm Kunky, his best friend and business manager. And we've got a new show called The 1021 Podcast. I'm taking you behind the scenes on how I became one of Twitch's most popular streamers. We also love sports. And with the World Cup right around the corner, we'll be breaking down the biggest storylines ahead of the big tournament here in the USA. Listen to the 1021 podcast on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. May 29th, 1993.

Beliefs Guard, Toronto, Canada. That's a good voice. One game stands between the Kings and their first Stanley Cup final. And the great one was about to deliver his greatest one. This together is game seven of the 1993 Campbell Conference final. Welcome to Games with Names. I'm Julian. They're Jack and Kyler.

We're on a mission to finding the greatest game of all time. We got a great episode coming today with Stanley Cup champion and president of the L.A. King's Luke Robatai. And if you haven't already, drop a like and subscribe to Games with Names. Let's go. Games with Names, a production of IHeart Radio. Welcome to Games with Names. Today we are looking at Game 7 of the 1993. Campbell Conference Finals between the Kings and the Maple Leaves with Luke Robatai.

That's right. See, the French name's always Robitai. There it is. You got it right. I look at the name and I think, is that Italian? Yeah, yeah. It could be. But it's not.

It's the Quebec. Now, in one sentence, why did we pick this game? I mean, you know, you're a hockey player. you know, going to a game seven, it's so special. I was fortunate to play in a few of them, but that one, it was the first time the L.A. Kings went to the finals after. Growing up, Gretzky was my idol. So, and it was, you know, everyone considered that game,

Gretzky's best game ever. So I was part of that team. So for us, it was still mesmerizing, like, the way that the whole thing went about. Wow. Is this the greatest game of all time? I don't know if it's the greatest game of all time. It's so hard to pick one game.

You know, you could go back some of those Red Wings, Colorado series. Back in the days, there were some amazing games. What made this game special is, you know, and you've seen that. You guys say the greatest player in our game and the history of our game was at his best and even better. And that's what becomes, and that was his neighborhood. his dad was there and it was just like from that standpoint it was amazing.

And we'll jump into it. That's electric but you just mentioned Colorado. You're Kings. You're the president of the Kings now and they're playing Colorado going in the first round. How are we feeling? We feel good about it. We've had a funny season. We've been up and down our year.

But there's one thing about, you know, defense. You need to score a few points to win but defense wins you championship. So we've had one of the best defensive team for the last few years. We played really well defensively this year. Sometimes our goalies went up and down, you know. But we play a way that it's hard to play against. And I think we went this year.

We did a record. I think we went 33 or 34 to almost half of our games went to overtime this year. It's never been seen. And so that means we're always in the game. So there's not a lot of room when you play us. So going against Colorado now, and they got the best offense in the league, we know what we have to do. We just got to keep playing our game.

And, you know, we're going to play it tight. We're going to make it miserable for them. You got to. I mean, offense sells tickets, defense wins championship. I'm sorry. Right? They got the best defenseman in our league right now, Kail McCart, one of the top forward in Nathan McKinnon.

So we know who they are. Hockey, just like football. It's about the team. It's always about the team. Not one guy can win it all, you know. And so if we play as a team and we get a couple guys to get hot and our goalie makes a save you're supposed to do, we're going to be in every game. And then it's, you know, you get into overtime.

It's one break here or there. There's no three on three or shootouts in the playoffs. We weren't good at it this year. 33 overtime games, man. That is wild. That is wild. Now, how is that this, is this going to be the last game? for NZ Kopitar?

Yeah, that's going to be his last, hopefully it's two months, you know, and it's his last run. So it's interesting, you know, he was struggling a little bit this year. He got hurt more than ever before. And I think there was a lot of pressure, you know, the fact that he knew it was his last year, everybody seemed to put pressure. And then about a month and a half ago, he just kind of, you know,

he's an athlete, he just flipped. And he said, okay, we got to get in. And he's been one of our best player. we made a trade for Panarin, Artami Panarin, who's a star in our league. And we put him together. And they're one of the main reason we got in. And now he's going in. And, you know, we had a day after day.

I see him in the gym. And he is as pump as ever. And guy just wants to play a couple of months instead of a couple weeks. Yeah. I mean, that's got to be a special moment for an athlete. Like, I didn't know I was going to retire my year. Yeah. But if you know you're going to retire, you get to play out that.

year, you really get to have a little time of perspective and get to enjoy it, which a lot of us didn't get to have that opportunity. It's different. For me, I never told anybody, but I knew my last, I mean, I was so old. You know, I knew I was near the end and my back was beat up. And I remember around January, I told myself, then I told my, I think this is going to be it, but I was going to keep going. But I do remember suddenly nothing bothered me in the room.

You know, sometimes little things bothered you. you, you're like, why are you doing this? Suddenly I was enjoying everything. You know, it made it special from that standpoint. So I think you're right. When you know it's probably your last year, you could see differently, like things a little bit differently.

And you kind of enjoy those moments because we all miss the room. We all miss the room. You know, it's true. Like those practices that used to agitate you. If you know it's like coming to an end, you sit there and you, you enjoy those Thursday fucking practices.

and pool pads in the conditioning afterwards. That's right. You know, you enjoy it. It's different. It's different. When you're 22 years old, you're like, what the fuck? Why are you doing that?

Fuck that. Now, walk us through being the president of the L.A. Kings. What does the president of a hockey organization do for the team? Like, are you making all the decisions? What's your day to day? Well, day to day, there's always something. like I usually split my day and a half because our hockey operation, you know, operates really early in the morning. The coaches are in really early. So I'll be part of some of those meetings.

And then we have a practice. Sometimes we'll go a few of us watch practice. And then the afternoon, I'll try to go more on the business side, meet with our guys about what's going on. And, you know, you're figuring out the marketing and, you know, sponsorship and the way we're doing our PR. The one perspective that I always bring is I always want our franchise to respect and understand the players. You know, you can't just have like a gimmick about, you know, our marketing for the team and everything. You got to understand, well, the players have to feel something, you know,

so you become a good organization. So it's a little bit of my day. Every day there's, you know, sponsorship pitch. Sometimes we're trying to elevate our franchise. This city is 11 pro teams. There's always competition. But I enjoy it. It's fun.

The one thing that I see that on the hockey side, that's fun. We still have a room. We have a bunch of ex-players sitting in the room. So we still tease each other, like the locker room and everything. It's not much HR once the doors close, you know. So we have fun from that standpoint still. You know, I say the same thing. That's where I get my room fix is when I get to go to Fox

and I work on NFL kickoff, the pregame show. and, you know, we'll be in there with the kickoff or with the NFL show with, like, Howie, Terry, Michael, Grunk, Charles Woodson. And it may not be the room, but you get a fix of the room. You get a little bit, a couple little jokes here and there that you remember when you were a player, correct? Yeah. Player is a player.

And you get to see what they, what kind of player, even if we didn't play together, you can see what kind of player they were in the room. Exactly. Yeah, right. Because it gives you that sense over in the room. That's right. Now, what's the best part of being the president? You're still involved.

I was a kid. I was a kid. We didn't have much money. The NHO was so far away. In Canada, I want to play junior major. That would be like a kid playing football and say, I want to play college. That's my goal. Like, my goal was to play junior major.

I had seen this guy, Mario Lemieux, and I had seen some guys, like, you know, live. We didn't have a lot of money. We never went to pro game. We would go see my. dad and I, junior hockey, and it was sold out. Everybody was smoking in those days. And so that was my goal. And I made it there.

And then one day I got drafted. And once I got drafted, I'm like, oh, maybe I do have a chance. My name's on the list now. It's up to me. But I never, I've never seen that. So I don't forget how I feel today. I feel fortunate. I was a kid practicing against the wall trying to get better,

not knowing I was doing my 10,000 hours. and I'm still involved with the game I love. So I feel lucky about it every day. No, I mean, that's incredible. Very similar because I just wanted, you're a worry about what's on your plate kind of guy. Yeah. You're not thinking into the future.

Like for me, when I was playing, I never thought, we all wanted to go to the league. I wanted to go to the NFL, but I wasn't thinking like, oh, I'm doing everything for the NFL. Yeah. I'm doing this because I love the fucking game. And I want to play Division I,

got to be better tomorrow. That's what it was. Yeah. That's what it was. What's the worst part about being the president? There's no worse part. I think I'm better at picking life today. You know, I think at first, when I retired and I got right away on the business side

and with our company age, it was a great company. They're so big. They own crypto dot comer, and they own Coachella. So they're really big. And at first, the intensity I had as a player, I took it on the business side. So I was all in all the time. And even as a player, I always say, if you're going to be successful in pro sport, kind of have to be selfish in your life.

It's sad to say, but there's a lot of selfishness on getting ready, you know, the way you go to bed, the way you do everything, correct? So I did that. And now I think I'm better at saying, okay, there's a life. As you get older, you start seeing people you used to look up. They're all like getting in their 80s. Like, oh, shit, I better. start to start paying attention to real value of life, but I do still enjoy what I do.

But it's so true. It's not being selfishness. It is a form of selfishness, but it's a form of being unbalanced and your family understanding that every decision you make when you're a professional athlete is predicated around how is it going to make you better on the field. That's right. You know, birthdays, anniversaries, you know, graduations. Those are all sacrificed as a professional athlete. And it's sad, but it is selfish, but it's more of that unbalanced life. Yeah. Like I call you're right.

I get it too. I say it all time. That's all, any of us did, because all the matter was the next game, always. Always. How do I get to feel the best? How do I get to play the best? And for our sport, it's magnified because we only do it for three hours once a week. I know.

You guys. That's a lot of pressure for you guys. It's a lot of pressure, but it's also a lot of, it's a lot of like psychological thinking throughout the week after a practice. Like, man, is that going to affect me for this? All right, well, I got to tighten this up. How am I going to sleep tomorrow if we don't get this tightened up for tomorrow? Because we got this neck go, you know what I mean?

Yeah. So it's different because you guys could slide off in a game and say, oh, we got two more next week or this week and, you know, guys, we got a slide. you know, when you have it all, all your eggs in one basket, it's like the preparation process is so magnified to it. You know what I mean? You guys sports are like, I remember this is it. I think it was late 80s.

How we long, we used to go to his golf tournament in L.A. was with the Raiders. And he said, why don't you come to the games? We went to the game and he got us on the field at the old Coliseum. and we were like, holy shit, is that a tough sport? But there was our ego. You say, yeah, we hit two, but we played three, four times a week. So football, they get a week.

And then I went on the field, and I realized how the impact, each impact was big. And then the biggest eye opener for me was after the game. He took us in the locker room. And I saw beat up some of the guys were. I was like, that's just one game. Correct. And I was like, oh, my God, these guys. the respect I got because then I never realized, too,

you can win a battle against the guy, but you're facing the same guy, the rest of the game, pretty much. And the other guy's a pro too. Yeah, he gets. The other guy wants to win too. It's like you think about facing the same guy if you're on the line, the whole game.

And, oh, my God, I couldn't believe it. You know, but the rest, you guys, you know, with hockey, you guys are going like 28 miles an hour on the ice. Everything's so fast, so quick. 30 seconds on, 30 seconds off. Guys got sticks and the weapons and the skill that you guys have to play with. It's, you know, it's a, you guys have a mixture of, of that masculinity, but the skillness that, like, combines a couple sports.

It combines football with baseball where you have to have the hand eye to fucking be able to do something while you got shit in your face. It's crazy. Like, I watch these, I watch you guys and how you guys can handle that little puck. with the variables around you guys is incredible. Some of that, you're right. I think that football and hockey, the toughness of guys, people not knowing about injuries and guys playing, and we get a lot of that.

We always get a kickout. I love soccer, but we laugh on guys. But it's part of the game to fake it, you know? Or the other day, like we had meetings with something. some of our fans and they were asking. I said, well, I said, I won't tell you who the player is on our team, but there's a player in the NBA that just got announced for an injury, he's missing six weeks.

I go, the same week, our player got the same injury because the same doctor diagnosed him took the same MRI. And I go, our guy hasn't missed the game yet. He's been frozen every game. I just want you to know that's a difference. And that's football is the same, you know. I would say, we're off topic, but. I would say the hockey guys, you know, football is that way because they'll replace you.

Yeah. Your contract's not guaranteed. There's guys coming in and out. So you can't afford to be off the field. I mean, you know, we all know the Drew, the, the Bledso story where he was the first $100 million player, the six-round draft pick guy comes in, never gives up the spot named Tom Brady. Like that's how this game is. the absolute love for the sport with the hockey guys

out of all the guys I've interviewed, I feel like they love their sport more than anyone. You know what I mean? It's just like the, the beautiness of the guys and how team-oriented that you guys are is incredible. But what was it like you brought in Howie Long?

I love Howie. He's, is he not like, is he not like the man's man of men? Oh, he is so cool. I haven't seen. in him in about 25 years. I don't see him on TV, but he was the coolest guy.

I mean, he's incredible. What was Life Like playing in the 90s in L.A.? Well, for us, we got Gretzky. So we got Gretz, and it just happened that the Lakers were in a little bit of a slide. And it was like, it changed our world. Like, we had an owner or two

that wanted to market the game. And when came in, and it was even close. he was the best player in the world. Like guys used to get 125 points a year, and he would get 200. You mean, you think, if you look at Gredski's records

and you try to put him in perspective, probably Wilk Chamberlain, you know, like, didn't you get like 50 points a game or something? He scored a hundred in the game. You know, and like, like, Wayne is the only guy. That's how far apart he was from everyone. The best player in our game now is Connor McDavid. And the other day they had a stat.

They said, he's going to hit whatever, 1,300 points before 30, which he's number three in the all-time list. And number two is Mary Lemieux, whatever. Let's say it's 1,400 point. And he's, who's number, right? Well, Gretzky, but he's at 2,300. He's like, 1,000 points ahead.

It's crazy and all great he was when you think about it, you know. And you guys being in L.A., like. We get L.A., and we had this guy, Bruce McNauland. And hockey, I think for, balls like this. There's no one in a room, correct? Maybe TV before the game. There's no one in our room. Us. It's always very quiet. But this guy would bring like every movie star before the game, after the game in our locker room. We had Ronald Reagan come to our games. We didn't know what was happening. I was the youngest guy. So it was like the greatest experience. I couldn't believe it.

Like it was like, he put the hockey on the map. Like Wayne came in LA and we were the only team on the West Coast, except for our team in Vancouver. And then we started doing preseason games within two years. We played Miami a couple times, Houston, Phoenix, and Dallas. And next thing you know, four years later, there were teams everywhere. And I do believe it had everything to do with Wayne coming in and showing that in the south side hockey could be successful. And then the league just went like on a tear. I think we went up almost like eight teams within a few years.

Geez. The Gretzky effect. Yeah, I called it the Gretzky effect. It was amazing. We'll be right back after this quick break. I'm Luke Wilson. Join me each week for Film Never Lies. Since retiring from the NFL, I've had a lot of my mind, and now got my own show. If you're tired of lazy takes, if you want honest conversations, join us each week. Film Never Lies available on all TSN platforms in the IHeart Radio app.

A win is a win. A win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me. Clipper Taylor the Forrest. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health,

purpose and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be.

Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. What's up, everyone? I'm Ago Wode. My next guest, you know from Step Brothers Anchorman, Saturday Night Live, and the Big Money Players Network. It's Will Ferrell.

Woo, woo, woo, woo. My dad gave me the best advice ever. I went and had lunch with them one day, and I was like, and dad, I think I want to really give this a shot. I don't know what that means, but I just know the groundlings. I'm working my way up through, and I know it's a place that come look for up and coming talent. He said, if it was based solely on talent, I wouldn't worry about you, which is really sweet.

Yeah. He goes, but there's so much luck involved. And he's like, just give it a shot. He goes, but if you ever reach a point where you're banging your head against the wall and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit. If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration. It would not be on a calendar of, you know, the cat. Just hang in there. Yeah, it would not be.

Right, it wouldn't be that. There's a lot of luck. Listen to thanks, Dad, on the IHeart Radio app, Apple. podcast or wherever you get your podcast. There's two golden rules that any man should live by. Rule one, never mess with a country girl. You play stupid games, you get stupid prizes. And rule two, never mess with her friends either.

We always say that trust your girlfriends. I'm Anna Sinfield, and in this new season of the girlfriends... Oh my God, this is the same man. A group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist. I felt like I got hit by a truck. I thought, how could this happen to me? The cops didn't seem to care.

So they take matters into their own hands. I said, oh, hell no. I vowed. I will be his last target. He's going to get what he deserves. Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe. On the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcast. Who is the coolest person in that locker room that you saw? Well, you remember. Oh, the coolest person to come in, uh, it was kind of cool on Ronald Reagan, you know, like,

I remember, I remember he brought Stallone before the game and, and Sly was great. He comes in and Arnold, I brought Rocky to pump you up and he, he's high-fiving. Then he leaves the room and you've seen those guys on TV and everyone,

I was like, he's really small. That was hard on. That Tom Cruise would come. Kevin Koster. I mean, you name it. Goldie and Kurt Russell were hanging out with us all the time. Tony Robbins would travel with us.

John Candy was like our... John Candy was great because in those days, in Toronto and in Montreal, there were two seats literally on the bench. So you'd have the team on the bench, and there were two fans that were literally right next to the bench. So our owner gave John Candy a seat next to the bench one time. So he would open the door when we would change. He would just make us laugh the whole game.

It was awesome. Joe Montana. Hey, there's John Candy on the other than the bench. Oh, yeah. He would have been like, well, Gretz was like that. I read a few things about Joe Montaigne. Gretz was like that. He just knew everything in the stands.

You're talking about game seven. That series, we started in Toronto against the Maple Leafs. And we both knew Mike Myers, who was a really nice guy before I tell him. And Mike somehow I had talked to him. he needed some tickets because it was Toronto, it was impossible to get tickets, and somehow maybe him or someone else, I called Gretz.

So I can't remember, we gave him four tickets. So we're in a warm up, and this is like the semi-final, like, I'm so pumped. You know, you're not looking. You're just like, Gretz comes to me, goes, did you buy tickets to Mike Myers? I go, I think I got him two. He goes, yeah, he goes, never again.

This fucking guy's never again. I go, really, why? He goes, look, and this is like, I think it was right before the anthem. He goes, look at him. And I go, he's got a fucking throttle maple leaf jersey. We bought him the tickets. He was the biggest lease.

And I love Mike. At least he was loyal to his team. And Gris was like, that's it. We're not fucking buying him tickets. I'm like, oh, okay, let's go play the game. Fucking Austin Powers, right? Yeah. Come on.

One Swedish penis pump? Man, that's incredible. But guys like that, they do notice everything, huh? Yeah. I mean, that's the amount of stars, because I remember seeing the stars always going. Because I grew up in this time, and I was a Bay Area kid,

but you'd be like, there's so many goddamn people. Because there's so many Canadian, Canadians that are in Hollywood. Yeah, yeah. Like John Candy was Canadian. Yep, that's right. You know, Mike Myers Canadian.

You know, Ryan Reynolds probably hit you up a couple times for some. You know, all these Canadians. There is. There is, where it is Jersey. That's literally from the game. Those are tickets, though. Come on.

Wayne? Bro. Fucking Wayne's world. He's a good guy, though. Now, you played in L.A., that's what we're talking about. Before we get into this game, you also played in Pittsburgh,

Detroit, and New York. You did the old, I leave, I come back, I leave, I come back. And you did that three times. Yeah. I've never seen that.

How is that? You know, it's sports. It's weird sometimes. The first, time when I got traded, I was kind of fortunate I knew it was going to happen. So, and our owner was always very fair to me, Bruce McNaul. And he had told me he would let me know. I ended up going to Pittsburgh.

And Mario Lemieux was there. That was, he was a superstar. And then, but we got a lockout that year. And Mario had a bad back. So he didn't play the whole year. And then at the end of the year, when the lockout gets settled, the salaries were going to change. And there was something changing my contract.

and I was able to file for arbitration. And the owner that was there knew my agent real well. And he said, I'm not going to be able to pay everybody because mayor was coming back next year. So if he win the arbitration case, I can't pay him. But my agent says, you've got to do what you've got to do for yourself. So we filed and then I got traded to the Rangers. You know, it was a money thing.

And I love playing for the Rangers. For some reason, I didn't understand my role there. Really, that's the way to describe it. And not understanding my role, I was stuck in my head. I was trying to get better and everything. And I got hurt a bunch of times, too, because of it. I don't know, maybe I was, you know, broke my foot a couple times. And then after two years, they, you know, the GM says to me, he says, I'm not sure you could play more.

I'm not sure about your role. I said, okay. I'm okay as long as I understand my role. But he said to me, he said, L.A. called and they'd be interested in getting you back. I said, well, I would go back in L.A., you know. So he was fair. His name was Neil Smith, and he traded me to L.A. and I went back and I restarted my career.

Suddenly I had a role. I understood my role. And I played there, and I think it was four or five years, and we had really good success. We didn't get to the finals, but we were getting better. And I was getting a little bit older, but I had changed my workout. I knew what to do.

And I became a free agent for the first. first time. I did think I was going to sign in LA. I was sure. And then the last second I was offered, like it wasn't a contract I was expected. So I wasn't happy with it, you know, and I didn't understand the business side of it. Like everybody has a budget. No one explained that to me. So I was kind of, I wasn't happy. My kids were starting school to make a long story short. My wife asked me, she goes, who do you think I has a chance to win the cup? If you're going to go somewhere, I said, well, Detroit. We had just beaten Detroit the year before,

but they had just gotten the best goal in the world, Dominic Hasek, and they still had one of the best teams. So she said, well, why don't you try to go there? But I thought it would be a lot of traveling for her and the kids because we made a deal the first year, I would just go alone. And she said, well, it doesn't matter if it's San Jose, Dallas, or Detroit. You still got to get to the airport.

And so I said, okay, we called Detroit and made a deal in about a half hour and went there, won the cup. then when I became a free agent, the president of the Kings Tim La Wickett told me, he goes, I want you to finish your career after I sign it. I think he, Ian met with me. I give him credit.

He says, we screwed up. He goes, I hope you win the cup, but he goes, in two years, if you want to come back and finish here, he goes,

we'd love to have you. I said, okay, so two years later, I called him. This time I said, I'm not waiting for anybody. I'm not waiting for my agent.

I just call him. I go, remember what you said? He goes, yeah, I go, I want to come back. And I came back. Man.

That 2002 Detroit Red Wings roster, just looking at it the other day. It's in all of sports, I mean, you guys were like the super team. That year there's 20 players on a hockey team that wins two goalies, 18. 11 of those players are Hall of Famers. Yeah. So you think you put a team where you got 20 guys, more than half of them are Hall of Famers, that probably could never happen again. No.

There were no salary caps in those days. I'm just going to say the names for the audience at homes. Brett Hall, Nick Liddstrom, Dominic Haskich, Sergey Federoff, Steve Yisman, Brandon Shannan, Pavel Datsuk was on that team. Chris Chelyos, Igor Larianov, Scotty Bowman, even Sean Avery, your friend was on the shout out, Sean. He didn't play a whole lot, but. Sean is my guy.

Is he? Well, he, he, he, yeah, he is my guy. But he also, he lives in my daughter's neighborhood. And he's like the freaking, you remember when the TMZ thing? Yeah. Oh, yeah. That was like right next to my house. I know, Sean.

Really? So we're on two different teams. The first day, like, I'm over there, my daughter's house, over in the area, and I'm walking up, and this guy starts chirping me. Oh, yeah, yeah, he would. I just started. I just retired. You know, we're at a barbecue.

These guys, quit working out or something. He said that to him. I've never met him. Like, who the fuck is this guy? And then we became boys, but he's crazy that guy. Sean's never found any trouble. He can't just. go and go get more, you know?

You're like, we play with him. We had to babysit him. We had to, we did everything. And just when everything was super smooth, he found a way to get chaos into our real crazy. He was a great fire. He was tough. He was really tough.

Was he living in Brentwell's garage? Is that what he said? I swear he told us. Yeah, he said like that. Yeah, I think so. He's, I love, Ron. He's just a piece of work. He's a beauty.

He's a beauty. As the hockey guys would say. No, we got to get this Mount Rush more French Canadian hockey players. Everyone's been asking me about it. I said, I only know two of them. You're one of them. The best

French Canadians? French Canadians. I mean, I grew up in Montreal. So for me, Mary Lemieux is number one. And you're the other for me. And Rayboard. I wouldn't put myself in that bucket because I was a ninth round

choice. I always think as a ninth round. Guy Lafleur growing up in Quebec I mean he It was amazing Then you go back Ray Bork on defense And then Jean-Billyvold

Like that was like If you grew up in Quebec That was like Joe DiMaggio That was our Joe DiMaggio Like he The guy won the stand I'm 18 times He's got his name on it

It's like They try It's like I said You know I think 12 11 time Or 10 times as a player Then a bunch time As a manager

And then the other one that grown up in Quebec, that was like every Christmas, like any holiday, the Rocket Richard. Morris Richard was Babe Ruth. Babe Ruth of hockey is the Rocket, Richard, like he was tough, he fought. He first guy to score 50 goals in the NHL. So those were like, for us, that was the Mount Rushmore, like Gila Fleur, the Rocket, the Jambi. Then the new people would be merry on Ray Bork. And probably I would throw in, even though they both.

Both were really even Patrick or Marty Berder. Patrick was probably got more impact because of as a goalie on history. Yeah. And winning the cup for Montreal. Yeah, he won the cup as a rookie, as a goalie. So you're from Quebec and I know we're going to jump into this game,

but playing against the Maple Leafs, you probably hated them growing up, right? Or are you Maple's Leaf Sand? I didn't know because you got to remember, I grew up in the 70s and Montreal always won the Cup. Always won. So we thought that was normal. We thought only one team won.

That's like watching you guys. If you're a young kid, you're eight years old. And you watch a Patriot. You're like, oh, yeah, they always win. Like, you know, kids think, you know, when you're eight years old. Like, yeah, they win every two years or they win every year. Like, you know, that's how we, Montreal won four years in a row from the time I was like, you know, eight years old to 12. So I was like, yeah, I like the white Canadian and the red Canadian.

The road, we didn't even understand that part, you know. There was only a couple of games a week on TV, not a lot of information. No. So we didn't hate the Maple Leafs. We just, we knew the Boston Bruins in Montreal was always a lot of fights. Yeah. Not the Maple Leafs in those days. It was more to Boston Bruins.

Man. Let's go back into time. This is a segment where we go over the pop culture around the time the game took place. This game took place May 29th, 1993. Okay. And look at some of these. You said you had Sly in the locker room. Cliff Hinger.

That was a good movie. I love Cliff Hing. That was awesome. I rewatched it. I was like, man, it looks a little more green screen than I remember. It does. When the girl falls down, like, oh, that doesn't look quite real. It's not real, Dan.

It looked amazing then. Number one song, that's the way love goes by Janet Jackson. That's the way love. Dude, this was a fun time. It's a good year. Pop culture. Intel unveils the Pentium processor. I think we're on the 15 now, Pentium 15.

Started it all. The Cup winners, Canadians, the Bulls. I mean, they were winning every year that year. Charles Barkley, MVP. Shout out Chuck. Mario Lemieux got the heart trophy. Yeah. I mean, what was life like for you in 93?

How old were you in 93? I was 20, it was like 20. I was 26. It was awesome. Like we lost against Montreal. I hate to see Montreal, you know, but we beat the least in game seven. It was a weird year for us because, Gretz got hurt at camp and they said he might never play again.

So we were a total underdog and we had a new coach. His name was Barry Melrose. He was on ESPN for years. Great Mullet. And he came in, great mullet. He had the big mullet in those days. And he was a great motivator. He found a way to pump us up every night and he made us play really fast.

We surprised a ton of teams. So by the time Gretz came back, you add the best player in the world to a team that we had it rolling as a team. and we won't on a tear in the playoffs. Look at that mullet. That was unbelievable. And, you know, we almost beat Montreal. We won game one, lost game two and overtime.

You know, people remember there was an illegal stick curve called. Years later. Montreal police weren't on it, I heard. Yes, I'm the one that told that story because the policeman in 98 told me in the new arena. He goes, I was there. told me to look the other way. And he said they took three or four sticks.

One was mine. And Marty and Alex Zittendening and Thomas Sandstrom. It was four sticks. Those were the players. And they measured them. They put them back. But you knew in those days when teams would look on the ice to measure. We all had a legal one, you know, when the game got near the end.

Because they were made by wood. So you never knew what kind of curve you were getting. And I didn't know that Marty's sticks was illegal. when they called it, but they knew what they were calling before, because it takes a lot of balls. Did Marty know it was illegal? I don't know that Marty knew. I don't think Marty knew. I think Marty just played like a crapshoot with that wood. It's a crapshoot with the old wood ones, right? Yeah, because even that it had to be three inches or less. And most of them, they were handmade.

So they would come three and a quarter. You didn't bother to measure most of the time. It was rare that people called a stick because, you know, it was a penalty the other way if you were wrong. So, I mean, it happened when I was in in Detroit. We're playing against the Colorado Avalanche. We won in game seven that series. And the coach, the train, one of the stick boy for Colorado asked Dominic Hasick for his stick. I can't remember if it was at the beginning of the season or near the end of year, you know, for his kids.

So Dominic Essex signs a stick. and during the playoffs, we knew the coach on the inside, like to call the illegal stick. And Dominic Hasick said, I remember giving him a stick. So they measured the width of his blade, and it was a little bit above three inches. So the trainer shaved all the sticks. And the fucking guy called his stick in the game when it was, I think, 2-2.

And Dominic Hasick was so mad. We were so mad. It's disrespectful. You can't be a coach. and ask for a stick and then you use it against the guy. So our stick was legal. We got the power play. We ended up winning that game.

Then they lost in game seven. Carmar hit him. Man, thank God. But I do remember that. Our guys were pissed at that coach for that. And I think even the Colorado guys were pissed. The unwritten rules of hockey. It's kind of like that baseball shit too.

There's a lot of that hidden rule stuff. Man. Come on as a bitch sometimes. Man, I don't want to get ahead of ourselves here. But look, when like, when Jacques Demir did that, Were you guys like, bro, come on? Well, we were up to one. We weren't really thinking.

We didn't know it. But I remember if you see the replay, you see me go to the referee. And Gretz was pissed. And I just go, I go, is it close? Because he's trying to. There's a measurement. It's by the bench. He's trying.

And if you saw like daylight, it was illegal. I go, is it close? And I can see he's trying to make it legal. He goes, it's not even close. So I go back to the bench. I go, it's not even close. God darn it. They got them.

Damn. All right, let's jump into the game, Jackie. So we hit these Maple Leafs real quick. Yeah. All right, let's get these 93 Maple Leafs. 44, 29, and 11. First year of the Pat Burns era coming off back-to-back years where they missed the playoffs. So this was big.

Felix Popvin won the Calder Trophy. He was on fire that year. Rookie year, awesome. We got to talk. Doug Gilmore was balling out this year. Under 27 points. Glenn Anderson was also awesome this year. both made big plays in this game we're talking about.

Yeah, Luke, what do you remember about these guys? Well, Dave Ender Truck had a great year. He was front of the net guy. Doug Gilmore was their engine. He was their leader. He was phenomenal. And he was a warrior. What made Doug Gilmore special is he just played the game so hard.

And he was mean on the ice. And he was a little guy. And he just, he took no per. Every shift was the last, like his last shift. Their captain, when the, Wendell Clark was one of the toughest guy in the league at the time. I can't believe he was only 5-11 there. He felt like he was like a giant out there. Him and Marty McSorley had one of the best fights during that series.

He could really punch. He was like he could punch and knock guys out. I forgot they had Grant Fier. I see that. The guy Mark Osborne works for us as a scout today. That's kind of funny. I see the name Pat Burns. because that was my coach in junior.

So Pat Burns was just a policeman that turned into coach and my team in junior. And he got us on. And I didn't know at the time he was only 28 or 29 years old when he was our coach. And he was tough and mean. And he becomes the Toronto Maple Leafs coach? We won everything in junior.

And the only thing was motivation. And we played in this little city. And I was his leader. He would come to me. And after the game when we'd win, he'd say, you guys could go out. the drinking age is 18 in Quebec he goes you guys can go out he goes

what bar are you going to I go we're going to this bar I don't want to see any of you fucking guys that bar we didn't know he was there there was two bars he was the best coach he was so much fun to play for as long as he went he would sit in the back of the bus

with us and tell jokes on you know these four or five hour bus ride in junior he was fun so to see him after all his teams were tough they all played hard because that's his personality and he was special. Glenn Anderson, he had such a great career in Emmington. He was a gamer in the playoffs.

He was always a gamer day. You know, some of those guys I see that Todd Gildar, he was a tough, mean defenseman. He made you pay a price. They had a really good team. You know, Phyllis Pavain, the cat. He was a great goalie, and that's why we went to game seven. Are the maple leaves cursed? I don't know.

I learned to never talk against. We were one. We'll move on. We'll move on. We'll move on in a few years. But I don't know that there occurs. The problem with our game now, it's getting harder and harder because of the salary cap

and the parity is hard. And the cap is starting to go up rather quickly. So there's really not a lot of trade anymore. All the good players are being signed by their team. So it's getting harder and harder to make your team. So they wouldn't do it in our game because it's not like you guys. You can't cut a guy. You're responsible for his salary.

And so it counts against the cap. So at some point you've got to say, we're going to break it down to the bare bone, get all assets, and then you draft, you draft, you make a couple trades here and there to build the character. And you hope you get a superstar. You know, if you pick one or two. And the odds are, you know, as you know, it's thin. Yeah.

That happens. But I mean the great teams are always built through the draft. Yeah, it's through the draft for sure. Yeah. You know, it's crazy. We'll be right back after this quick break. I'm Luke Wilson. Join me each week for Film Never Lies.

Since retiring from the NFL, I've had a lot of my mind. And now, I've got my own show. So if you're tired of lazy takes, if you want honest conversations, join us each week. Film Never Lies available on all TSN platforms in the I Heart Radio app. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me.

Cliver Taylor the fourth. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment,

and the next we'll talk about life. mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast,

or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. What's up, everyone? I'm Agoode. My next guest, you know from Step Brothers Anchorman, Saturday Night Live, and the Big Money Players Network. It's Will Ferrell. Woo. Woo.

My dad gave me the best advice ever. I went and had lunch with them one day. And I was like, and Dad, I think I want to really give this a shot. I don't know what that means, but I just know the groundlings. I'm working my way up through, and I know it's a place they come look for up and coming talent. He said, if it was based solely on talent, I wouldn't worry about you. which is really sweet. Yeah.

He goes, but there's so much luck involved. And he's like, just give it a shot. He goes, but if you ever reach a point where you're banging your head against the wall and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit. If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration. It would not be on a calendar of, you know, the cat. Just hang in there. Yeah, it would not be.

Right, it wouldn't be that. There's a lot of luck. Listen to Thanks Dad on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. There's two golden rules that any man should live by. Rule one, never mess with a country girl. You play stupid games, you get stupid prizes. And rule two, never mess with her friends either.

We always say that trust your girlfriends. I'm Anna Sinfield. And in this new season of the girlfriends... Oh my God, this is the same man. a group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist. I felt like I got hit by a truck. I thought, how could this happen to me? The cops didn't seem to care.

So they take matters into their own hands. I said, oh, hell no. I vowed. I will be his last target. He's going to get what he deserves. Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe. On the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

Jackie jump into these kings. These kings, man, 39, 35, and 10. Like Luke said, a little bit of up and down season. Missed Wayne for a lot of this year. Back injury hurt. But, man, Luke bawled the heck out this season. 63 goals. Set an NHL record for goals by a left winger in a single season.

Broken by OV in like 06. But, man, that thing stood forever. Let's talk about some dudes on this team. You got Luke, of course. You got the great one, of course. You got Mike Donnelly. You got Yari Curry. Yeah.

You got Blake. I mean, this is a good team, man. Rob Blake, shout out. What made that team really special is like, we didn't know at the time. When we lost Wayne, we thought we were done. I would say the coach, the coach found a way to make us play as a team. And, and Yerick Curry is number two or number three. The best right winger in the history of the NHL.

That year, he was my sentiment. So to be a centerman in hockey, that's like saying, okay, you're a receiver, you'll be a quarterback now. You know what's like it's like. It's that hard. And he became my sentiment. And he literally carried our team because our center in hockey plays offense and defense, you know, all the time. And then guys like Tony Grenada, that was all character. These guys were just pure character, all in, all out.

Like the way you play, you were kind of nuts, you know, you come across the middle and took fucking hardy. Tony Granada was like that. He was not big. He, he had ball. Like he just, this guy was a warrior. Mike Donnelly still works for us, a lot of speed. In those days, they weren't a lot of players with a lot of speed. He had speed.

By the time we got Gretz back, it took him in a little while to get back. But once he got in, man, he was, he was lights out. And then the one thing that people forget, we had Rob Blake that was, where's Rob Blake? How old was he? He was 23. Four. But then we had this guy, Daryl Siddor, that was, he was very young. And we had Alex Zittnick that was 20.

So we had three defensemen in their early 20s. And that never happens in sport. We basically had, we call it a big three moving forward. I don't know why the Kings started trading a couple of those guys within two years after. And then never went back in the playoffs until 2000. Wow. You need defense. And we had the three guys, the three like guys.

that could have carried us for a long time. Zittnick, Sadoin, Blake, and then Zittnick and Sadoi ended up being traded over the next few years. It kind of reminds me when you say, when Gretz was out, it forced us to become a team. Yeah. And then once he came back, we were a better team. And you add on Wayne Gretzky, you know, it's going to only be better.

It reminds me of kind of like in 2016 when Brady was suspended for four games. Yeah. And Gropolo came in. The team was getting, like, I just remember right before the suspension, I said, we're going to oil this machine for you to come in. It's going to be perfect for you when you get back into your bubs. And that's what Jimmy G. did. We ended up getting all the other positions right, you know, other receivers and showing Tom,

these guys can perform, that guy can perform. Once he came, it was easy transition. I don't think he threw a pick all year. We won the Super Bowl that year. But it was like, it's almost like the team had to get better once your best player leaves. Yeah. But it forced us to get better. And then once he came back, it was like, we were better.

Way better. Yeah. That's funny you're talking about it. I just had that thought. Like I was always fascinating by you guys. So I saw the documentary, read the book, you know? So now you're talking, I'm like, oh, yeah, I remember that. It's so cool.

It's kind of like this. Now, you wore the seat. when Gresky was out. Yeah. How was that? I mean, at the time, I remember Barry Merrill's was the coach. And when you get a new coach a year before, you never know where you're going to stand.

In hockey, the coach kind of dictates your role because, you know, you say you go on the ice 30, 40 second. There's four lines of forwards. If the coach forgets you for one shift, you're like, did I do something? You start thinking. The minute you start thinking, you're behind, you know, So I didn't know where I stood with that coach,

and he came at camp and he used me as an example to say, I want us to play hard this year. Like a guy like Luke, he goes in front and it takes a beating every game. Everybody's going to have to do the same. I was like, oh, shit. I think this guy likes me. You know? So I didn't take that for granted.

I took it and ran with it. Instead of saying, he likes me, I'm going to take it easy. I just, I had this mentality. I got to be better now for him. So we go through training camp and things are going good, but Gret's not there. And we had one game left. And he takes me aside. He says, he was a good communicator with us.

You know, he kind of had a leadership group. He spent time with us. And you kind of felt there was something special. He had a good way about him. So he said, I need to name a new captain. He goes, who do you think it should be? He's asking me. And it's in the hallway before like a morning.

because I'm like, I don't know, I'm fucking thinking. And we had this veteran Dave Taylor, he was 37 years old, before Gretsey was the captain. So I go, his nickname was Stitch. I go, Stitch, you know, he goes, and he kind of smiled. He goes, I was thinking of you. I'm like, oh, really? I'm like, really?

I go, okay. Then I do remember he asked me for one thing. He said, I, if you're going to be my captain, you need to be the hardest. guy to practice every day. And I said, okay. And I wanted to make an effort because, like, we were talking about getting ready for every game. I didn't know.

We didn't have nutritionists. We didn't have trainers. And no one told us what to do. So it was all in your mind what you thought was better. So I was drafted in the ninth round. I wasn't a good skater. I wasn't the strongest guy, the biggest guy at the time. But my will and my willingness to learn the game and to try to be better every day was,

was what I had. So there were days in practice. I'm like, I got a game tomorrow. I can't go too hard today. I was literally figuring out how, and then I would go home and hurry, drink a bunch of water because I was someone had told me drink a lot of water and take a nap.

And I was always trying to be ready for the next game, you know? So there were some practices where I was kind of like dogging it, which is not good for the team, but I didn't know that. So when he asked me that, I do remember that year that tweaking me and that change. And I became, every practice, I had to be number one. I knew that was important.

But it's funny, that was my best year, too. Yeah. You know. I mean, you rose up to the occasion of the letter. Yeah. But then, Gretz come back. I remember people were saying, who should be? I'm like, fucking Wien Gretzky's our captain.

He's our leader. He's going to take us. You know, so it was just, the real reason why I was named captain is because we were told he might never come back. That's really the reason. Once he was coming back, that was always his team. Wow. You know.

That's incredible. You know, was Tom quiet in the room? No. Gritz was quiet. He didn't say much. It's different as a quarterback. Yeah.

Because he, I mean, he was quiet in the team room. Yeah, yeah, yeah. But when we got into the offense meeting. Gretz on the ice was vocal. Yeah,

in the room, yeah. In our offense meetings, because we always, we have team meeting for 50 minutes then you break it up for hours, offense, then you go into skill group, and you change into that. And whenever it was just the quarterbacks and receivers,

he was very vocal because he was big on the communication because the trust factor for him of earning his trust, he wanted to know where you were going to be at every single time. So if there was any kind of question mark, he was going to let you know. You know what I mean? And it's, you know, I think it's different in football. because he's he's the coach on the field.

You know, and the offensive meeting, you know, he would be vocal on things that he needed you to hear. You know. Gretz was my idol growing up. You know, we were five years apart. When I was 13, he was 18. He's breaking every record. So now I'm 14.

I'm watching everyone of his game. So I get to the NHL and I'm playing him against the first game. I remember, like, I wanted to impress him. You know, he's playing. And then two years, is on my team, I literally couldn't talk. I mean, every time he would, and I remember, I had modeled my game against,

I was trying to pass like him and everything. And we get, I'm playing with him to start the year, and we get on a two-on-one, and I wanted to be Wayne Gretzky in my mind, you know? So I'm like, I'm going to wait. I'm going to give him the perfect pass. He's just going to tap it in.

And I wait, I wait. I go to pass it, and the dean knocks it out of the air, and they go the other way. So Gretz come back to the bench. He goes, hey, lucky, he goes, just give it to me. He goes, just give it to me. I'll give it back.

I'm like, well, no shit. I know that. You know what I? So the poor guy was playing with me for the next month. Like the puck was like a hot potato on my step. The minute I get, I would just throw it at him. I was so nervous. I just wanted to please my hero.

Yeah. It was kind of funny. At one point, a coach says, we're going to play you off his line a little bit. You're not yourself, you know, but it did. It took me almost a year to come back and say, I could play with this guy. now like you know but but that's how much I idolized them you know was it's very similar for all the young players

when you came in to play with Tom yeah and like for me I remember my first OTA practice with the veterans they put in a four wide group in which there's four receivers you take out a tight end they specifically made it to see how I would handle it and I ran around I did it and I

and Tom darted a ball at me and I dropped it and he goes what do we do it or something he called me out and I like shit my pants but he was testing me because the next play I made a catch. Yeah. He was testing me to see how he had to work with me. Yeah. You know, because some guys, if Tom would, you know, he couldn't get on everyone because

they've been watching him, you know, by the time I got there, he was in the league for 10 years. That's amazing. Yeah. You know, and then by my 10th year, he's been in there for, you know, 10, 20 years. And you got a kid who's 22 years old who was watching this guy. whole life literally wasn't born in this first. You know, you can't get on certain guys. You're right.

So I think that's how the great leaders are. They always have to know how they are with each and every guy because some guys need to be pat on the ass. Some guys need to be motherfucked. Yeah. I was a motherfucker type of guy where you could coach me hard and I would respond. And, you know, I think, but I was nervous as fuck. The whole, you know, it was crazy.

We would go. Gretz would go. We'd always go to dinner on the road, you know, like, you. traveling is so long, like sometimes in hockey would be, and Gretz would say he'd reserve like a table, we'd go like seven, eight of us, and he'd say, you want to come with us? Like, yeah, I go, fuck, yeah, you know.

But his dinner was like 7.30, and we'd go home by 11. And before that, I was always in bed at 10. And then I had my ritual. I would watch, like, a show, then I think cheers would come on. Then I'd go to bed, you know? So I remember at one point, I go, I don't think I could go to dinner with him. I'm not going to be ready for my games anymore.

It was hard to say I can't go to dinner. That was a hard thing. And I'm like, I don't want him to not like me. It's just that I know I can't be good tomorrow. Like it was my thing as a kid. There's always that veteran group where you're not quite in that group yet. You want to be in that group,

but you don't want to fuck up the opportunity of being in that group. Exactly. I know exactly what you're feeling. Oh my gosh. Oh, my gosh. So the first time you earned Gretz's trust, how did you feel that? I think I always had Gretz's trust. It's more me that was like freaking out playing with him.

The biggest thing that happened is like I think it was my first year. So like I said to you, in junior, I got I got really big stats. I wanted to be Gretzky. So I was the playmaker in my team. I got like 130 assists. I got a lot of goal, but I was known as a playmaker. So then I get to the pro and I become a score. I'm playing with different guys.

And then Wayne comes. And when you get a power play in hockey, it's two minutes. So the year before when Wayne wasn't there, I played, it's called the half wall. But the best player in the world in the half wall was Wayne Gretzky. So the whole year before I got like 100 points and I'm on the half wall. and we have a good power play. Wayne comes on the team. I'm the half wall.

He's a half wall. He's Wayne Gretzky. So they say, okay, look, you take Wayne on the change and the power play is two minutes. Most guys go for a minute. But Wayne Gretzky should stay two minutes. He's fucking Wayne Gretzky.

You know, he's staying most of the time two minutes or he's scoring right away, you know. So the whole year for about three quarters a year, I got my foot over the board and Wayne's not coming or he's scoring. And so I'm really not in a power play. So at some point, I had like two, three games I hadn't scored. And the GM calls me up. You could tell the coach, Dr. Jim, say, pump him up a little bit.

He's a young kid on the team. Tell him, you know, we need him. He's a secondary scoring. So I go to GM and he goes, yeah, he goes, look, he goes, I know you haven't scored, but keep working hard. You're doing good. He goes, I know it's hard on the PPP. You're not getting on a power plea because you're taking Wayne.

And I go, yeah, but, you know, I'm not complaining. he goes, he goes, it's too bad you don't play in front of the net. He goes, we're looking to get a front of the net. I'm actually looking to trade. So I look at him, I go, I go, really? I go, I played the front of the net. He goes, you did? I go, yeah, my whole Korean junior, I played the front of the net.

I lied. I never been in front of fucking net. I mean, that's scary in front of the net. The 100 miles of hours shot are coming. You're trying to tip him. Half of them hits you. But I lied because I'm like, I'm going to get to play with Wayne on the power play. So I tell the gym, I go, oh, yeah, my whole career in junior, the three years I played the front of net, I go, you can, there was no video in those days.

No, 86, we're good. Then I go on the ice and the practice, and our coach comes next to me, he goes, you played the front of net in June? I go, yeah, he goes, fuck, I didn't know that. He goes, we're going to put you in front of net. I go, all right, thanks. And then that was it. I made my entire career that everybody knows me as a front of net guy. It was just, I lied in my way to play with Wayne.

You got to take advantage of some opportunities sometimes. You had to you. I'm not going to replace Gretzky. No. Oh, my God. That's like when you lie on your resume, but it works out. Yeah. That's the best.

I used to do that all the time. If you ever cover a kick, yeah. You play quarterback in college. We have all your film. I did. Coach. We're like, okay.

Okay. They're always willing for the willing guy. That's right. Let's get this game lead off. All right. Quick lead up here real quick. Toronto had to play two seven game series to get there. Beat Detroit, beat St. Louis.

L.A. on the other hand got... All Canadian teams too. Yeah, that's crazy. No, for real. L.A. on the other hand, beat Calgary and Vancouver, both in six game series, 4242. And then this is a seven game series, of course. Game six, do or die, wild O.T. finish.

Gretzky scores the winner. Got some momentum going into this one. Yeah. That was wild. How would you sum up to this point? Going into this game seven, what are you feeling personally going into this game? This is your biggest game of this franchises.

Yeah. You don't think like that. It's a play. You know, you just think game six, I remember we were down three, two, and I was a little bit stuck in my head in game five.

I remember. In game six, I just came in, and I was pumping. That was one of my best game. Is that game? there? Oh, this is game seven. This is game seven now. I can pull game six.

Game six is down here at the bottom right, but game six, I got like a two or three points. I can't remember, but I remember feeling good. And I'm the one I gave it to Gretz to score in overtime. And it just like, you know, we were down three, two, and we had to win that game. And then going to game seven, then it was like, okay, now it's ultimate sacrifice. So for me, I was, it was like, that whole series was one game after a night. another. It just, and then we kind of felt mentally we were the team that traveled a lot. So we felt the longer the series would go, it would play to our advantage because we were

used to traveling back and forth. Yeah. And we knew Toronto was not. That was much harder for them. So going back to game seven, I think we played like, you know, Thursday and it was Saturday right away or it might have been Wednesday, Friday. So there was, there's no time to turn around. It's like, you're traveling.

another six hour next day, you got to play. And we really felt that was our advantage, you know. So did you watch Cheers the night before this? This was last season. No, because when you go to Canada, they didn't have it. Oh, geez. It kind of screwed up my routine a little bit in Canada. In Canada, it's only hockey.

They leave the news. The middle of the news, like, there's a car crash on hockey. And a tip you like Don Cherry. Man. Yeah, it was Don Cherry. Man, so Games, what are you, what is the first thought when you,

when you think of this game? Game 7, my first thought is, it was kind of cool because Wayne's dad was on, sitting on the glass. And I, I love Wayne so much.

I love his dad as my. His dad was, Wallie was like, he was like a legend in Canada. So it was kind of cool to see him there. And we started the game. We just knew it was going to be. be a tight game and I don't think

you realize until the end how amazing the whole game was regrets the way he the third goal was a little bit lucky but the first two goals the way he he just turned around and under all that pressure and

to be able to score those big goals and make the big plays you kind of knew we were going to win you know you got you had that feeling we were just going to win you know now it wasn't easy they ended up scoring near the end the game and and and but it certainly was the way he managed a game every time he got the puck it's like the whole world slowed down for him it was totally there all of us were playing an

honest game it was all about the details because we knew they were physical they played a certain way they held the blue line we knew we had to chip it in and they had big d they would try to hit us but they weren't super fast so we're trying to keep it down low but when greggs got the puck, the game was different that night. Like, that's where, like, Doug Gilmore was an amazing player, but Wayne Gretzky suddenly became Wayne Gretzky. How'd you know, did you know he was going to be in the zone that night before the game? It was kind of funny because throughout the series, you know,

he had a couple games where they were really physical on him. And Wayne was not a big guy, as you know. And, and, you know, it's Toronto. So they're like, Chris, oh, is Wayne tired? Is he done? Is he? Like, I think by game two, they said, something. I don't know if he only had a point or something.

What next thing you know, game six, he gets the winner. He gets a couple. I think he got three or four points in games six. You kind of knew now it's like, holy shit, he's going. And I knew he was, we didn't know him any goals he'd score, but you knew he was going to be a difference maker. We'll be right back after this quick break. I'm Luke Wilson. Join me each week for Film Never Lies. Since retiring from the NFL, I've had a lot of my mind and now got my own show. To have retired a lazy take. If you want honest conversations, join us each week. Film Never Lies, available on all TSN platforms in the IHeartRadio app.

A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what you're saying. Yep, that's me, Clipper Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show.

This is a place for Raw, filtered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment, and the next we'll talk about life, mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast, it's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So, if you've ever supported me, or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to The Clifford Show on the IHard Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.

And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok. What's up, everyone? I'm Ago Wodom. My next guest, you know from Step Brothers Anchorman, Saturday Night Live and the Big Money Players Network. It's Will Ferrell. Woo, woo, woo, woo. My dad gave me the best advice ever. I went and had lunch with him one day, and I was like, And dad, I think I want to really give this a shot.

I don't know what that means, but I just know the groundlings. I'm working my way up through, and I know it's a place that come look for up and coming talent. He said, if it was based solely on talent, I wouldn't worry about you, which is really sweet. Yeah. He goes, but there's so much luck involved. And he's like, just give it a shot. He goes, but if you ever reach a point where you're banging your head against the wall and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit. If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration.

It would not be on a calendar of, you know, the cat. Just hang in there. Yeah, it would not be. Right, it wouldn't be that. There's a lot of luck. Listen to Thanks Dad on the Iheart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. There's two golden rules that any man should live by. Rule one, never mess with a country girl.

You play stupid games, you get stupid prizes. And rule two, never. mess with her friends either. We always say that trust your girlfriends. I'm Anna Sinfield, and in this new season of the girlfriends, oh my God, this is the same man. A group of women discover they've all dated the same

prolific con artist. I felt like I got hit by a truck. I thought, how could this happen to me? The cops didn't seem to care, so they take matters into their own hands. I said, oh, hell no. I vowed. I will be his last target. He's going to get what he just serves. Listen to the girlfriends.

Trust me, babe. On the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. Now, why is 2O the scariest lead of all time? Do nothing.

It just sucks. I just hearing hockey all the time. I know that old adage. I think the complacency guys come in. Yeah, maybe you lead one nothing. You lead one nothing.

It's like you guys. It's a game of mistakes. So you don't make any mistakes. It's all about the blue line for us. You get near your blue line. It's got to come out. You get near the offensive blue line. If you don't have a play, better go in.

So you're up to nothing. Maybe one guy tries a play at the middle. Next thing you know, it's a two on one the other way. It's 2-1. And now it's like, oh, you got to go back to playing like it would be 1-0. And it just, I don't know, it's a myth, but it just seems to be. I know everybody says it every game. Because I guess if you have two nothing in hockey and you can make it three nothing,

it's close to over. But, you know, if it stays two nothing and the team makes it two, one, it's like you get at the end, you pull the goal in, you're close enough. We're going. But this year, the three goal lead is the new two goal lead. It's insane. This year, the NHL is out of control. It's just crazy.

Now, who's talking in between periods in the locker room for your two? team. What was that like? Pretty quiet that game. It was pretty quiet that game. I think if I were to, I'm trying to go by memory. I think that's before the game. He rarely spoke, but he said, we're just going to play our game. Let's just play our game. I do remember guys saying, we're the team that's used to traveling. We're the team that we got the advantage. We felt we had the advantage because we were used to traveling. That was the one thing that was said.

that we kind of felt that way. It wasn't a lot said between periods. It was more like quiet. Everybody knew their job. Focused, let the coach go. Yeah. We got to be in it. Jack, let's get into it.

Put a ball on it. Yeah, put a bow on this thing. Five, four kings win it on the road in Toronto. Gretzky hat trick, eighth of his career in the playoffs, I believe. Short-handed goal. First one, put him up, open the scoring. heck of a game. That's slap shot goal from the slot.

Slapshot goal, I think it was the second period. It was sick. You just got a feeling it when you're just like that ripped. He cut right in front. He's the only got to cut like that in those days. And then the bank and the wrap up the hatchet. I always get a kick out of the third goal because only for some reason he's the only for some reason he's the only guy I've ever seen where he's going behind the net.

Everybody goes for change. There's no one. He throws a, he hits the defense with skates and goes in. you're like, yeah, he's going Gretzky, it would work. So years later, in 1998, Canada goes to the Olympics, and Gretz is near the end of his career. He goes to Japan.

The first time the NCHEL goes to the Olympics. The final goes to, I can't remember it was the final, but the game goes into overtime, and then in the Olympic, it would go to a shootout. So you had to pick five shooters. And the coaching staff,

at the time, which I ended up knowing the coach later, they don't pick Gretzky to go on the five shooters because they had practice and like Gretz's not good in breakaways, okay? So you see Gretz on the bench, he untie his helmet, he's past. He's fucking winning Gretzky. He's got 900 goals.

Just fucking put him out there. So I tell the coach, I said, why didn't you put Gretzky? Like 10 years later, he goes, well, they would look, I go, let me tell you something. He's fucking winning Gretzky. I go, he would have flipped it. It would have hit the goalie's mask.

His stick is. block her. It would have rolled in the net. He's Wayne Gretzky. He finds the way. I go, he has found out of his entire. I go, and I tell him, I go, go, go watch Game 7 against Toronto and watch his third goal. And then years later, too, I played with Wayne with the Rangers.

And we had a guy Pat Flatley. He says, I don't know. Wayne is getting older. It's going to be hard in the playoffs. See, the game is really physical now. And Wayne was, I think retired the next year. I go, I go, trust me. I go, Wayne,

we'll figure out away. He's fucking Wayne Gretzky. So we started to play. I think the whole year he had 13 goals. He got 13 in the playoffs that year. Same thing. We're playing the biggest team in the league, the flyers. He's got two goals. He's in the corner. He fires it in front of it.

He hits the guy's skate, goes in the net. He gets a hat trick where he won three, two, or four, three. And I look at that guy, I go, I told you. He's just, it's right. He's running out of that. It's amazing. You miss 100% to the shots you don't take. That's right.

Wayne Gretzky? There it is. You take them, they go. That was incredible. What a game, All-timer. Wayne said it. Lucas said it.

Best game in Wayne Gretzzi's career. Many say they would go on to play in the Stanley Cup. Lose 4-1 to the hometown Montreal Canadians, unfortunately. What was that like playing your hometown team? It was cool. It's a lot, though, your hometown team. You get tickets and all that crap, you know? So the first day was a nightmare.

And plus, we had one game. We flew over there and we only, I think we only had a day in between. So it was a little bit of a nightmare from that standpoint. And after game one, we won game one. And things settled down. Unfortunately, we lost game two. And then what people forget, we lost game three and four in overtime. If we win one of those games and we go like Toronto, a long series, I think we end up winning.

But we lost three games in a row in overtime. The travel. Yeah. Maybe it got you by them. We would have gotten them, yeah. But we think we would have gotten them over time. But you lose three in overtime. Next day you know, you go to Montreal.

You're down 3-1. It was, you know. It's hard. If you get one of those in overtime, it's 2-2, might be different. And then Luke would get his in 0-2 with Detroit, win the Stanley Cup, bring two more to L.A. as an exec. And then in 09, of course, get elected to the Hockey Hall of Fame. Heck yeah.

Wow. What a game. That was awesome. Let's name the game. This is what we're now. This is why we have the show. We basically go and we score each game. We see where it stands on the list.

We name the game. These are some of the names that we came up with. If you have a specific name that you call it. The Mike Myers game. No, we'll call it a Gretzky game. The Gretzky game. The game seven.

Gretzky hat trick game. Yeah. Or the Mike Myers game. I would call it a Gretzky hat trick game. It's just the sick of game. We'll call it the Gretzky hat trick game. Score the game. Mike.

Fricking Mike Myers. Come on, man. Shout out. We're in a goddamn Maple's leafs. Get you tickets. Come on, man.

The least you can do, buddy. Is this the greatest game of all time? Let's score it. Decimals encourage the stakes of this conference finals game. Zero to 10.

Decimals encouraged. Arts. Yeah. Yeah. I think it's 10. Yeah. It's game seven. Also,

we're trying to get to the first one since 67. The Kings hadn't won at this point. Yeah. Yeah. For me, I got to go 9.2. You know, I'm a sucker for stakes being extra high if you're going back to back. You're going for a three-piece.

And championship. I agree with that. Everyone's a little different. I had a 9.1. Star power. We got a boatload of stars here. Star power of this game, 0 to 10 decimals, encouraged. Well, Anthony Robbins was there.

Does that count? Yeah. It does. And the big, it does. The best do is in our room. Yeah. Hey, Gretzky's dad. That's a big one too.

Greg's dad. There's a dad. Mark Myers. I don't know who else is there. I might have to bump it now that Mike was there. I don't know. 9.8 is the highest, you know, the league's probably been relevant. We just did the 2002 gold medal match between U.S. and Canada with Chris Pronger.

That might have been our highest star power all time. It's like 20 total Hall of Famers in that, but pretty good game, too. This I got to go, I gave that a pretty high one over there, didn't I? You did like 9-9-9, I think. No, I got to go 9-4, 9-4. 9-4 for Star Park, okay. 9-4. Oh, man, I went 7.

Oh, that's a little rushing. I didn't like Mike Myers. I love Mike. I love Mike. The game of this game seven conference championship final. So, game play like the back and forthness, for the viewer, for you as a play. It was tight.

Was it a blowout? If you were, if you're a hockey fan, the gameplay is probably one of the greatest. Because earlier in it, I can't remember which game. I think Toronto was up in Gretz, Nick, Doug Gilmore in the face for his stick, and the referee missed it. I stick call.

And he didn't get a penalty. So we ended up winning. And Toronto still complains about that. It might have been Game 7. I can't remember. But they still complain about that. At one point, Marty McSoli ran over Doug Gilmore, and then it was one of the greatest fight ever,

Wendell Clark and Marty. I think that was game one. That was like, if you see that fight, it's like, sick. And then some of the stuff going back and forth with Wayne, where the press was hard on him and so forth. So game play, I'm in the high nines. I don't know, because I see you guys scoring now. I didn't know first one.

You can tell I was a lot. asleep at 10. I'll get a 9-7. I like that. Integrity score. I mean, and the last minute was wild, too. Everyone was flying around like crazy. He scored. Yeah. And, and then, I'm going to go with the 9-4 again. I got to go 9-4. You're real high here. I'm high. I'm high. 7-4. A little too low again. I regret these, man. And then lastly, we name or we score the name of the game, The Gretzky Hat Trick game. Oh, that's a 10 in our game. Not out of way, baby.

There's nothing. It's a great one. I mean, if you got Gretsky in the name and Hat Trick, that means three. It's pretty damn. It's 8, 6, or 96, 96, 9 6. This is going to be high. I'm going to have to rescuer this. I got to rescuer mine.

I didn't know what we were picking. Oh, you guys. Yeah, we're bad over here. I'm going to go out to rescore. That is so. Wait over there. You have fun. You have fun.

8.1. 8.6. Hey, we're going into new information here. get him, Lukey. Making the rolls up as we go along. What is it? 904. Whoa, baby.

This is a high game. Oh, yeah. 9 of 4 is our tied for the game we just did 2002 Olympic gold medal game. USA versus Canada. This is too high. We really tied? Oh, my God.

For our eighth overall game tied. Just behind the great one. This isn't even a championship game. Yeah. It's game seven, though. It's his best game. This is too high. We'll have to fight Chris Pronger to see who takes over the spot.

You go first. Give him a mistake. I like some of your games you got there. Like, yeah. Do you know Jim Hill that does the channel two, he does the sports news? Here? Yeah, in L.A. You guys have?

Jim Hill's been around forever. He was a football player. And on the game, the catch, because he had played football, he must have told his cameraman, get ready, get ready. He must have read the play. As he catches the ball, he steps on the field. Dangerous one. like it's the most incredible call I've ever seen of a newscaster.

He's literally on the field. He's catching a ball. I mean, I don't even know how he did it to this day. That's the Joe Montana, the catch game. We just had Chris Berman on because he was there on the sidelines too. Oh, that's incredible.

Oh, I got to look it up. I'll try to find it and send it to you. I'll ask Jim Hill. Dick, I see him from time to time. It's really cool. I've seen it. It's pretty wild. That's the best.

Luke, we miss anything from this game? No. No, didn't miss anything. I got an egg thrown my head on the way out. Did you? Yeah. We had security, and we literally had to do five feet to get to the bus. And there were so many fans that were pissed, and they were throwing eggs. And what got right on my?

Oh, my God. Hard boiled? It wasn't hard boiled? No, no, no. Actually, I got one question. I'm a huge penguins fan. You played with Yarmory Yager. Do you any Yager stories?

Yeah, Yags was, this was his coming out. He had won the cup, but he was good, but Mario was hurt. And that year he led the league in scoring. And he was actually a really hard word. He was like a kid always. He just played all the time. He would stay on the ice for hours, just play. And he had a long mullet, and he blow dry his hair.

And my son was really young at the time, and we put my son to this day, he remembers because we would put baby powder in the hairdriar. So we got it. But, but, but, but, yeah, what, what a great player. And he worked really hard on the ice, off the ice. I don't think people realize how hard he worked at his game. Still playing. Yeah.

Yeah, it's amazing. He's still playing. Luke, I want to ask you one last thing before you go. Because, you know, learning your story, very similar type guy. What does hockey mean to you? It's been my life, you know. It's been my life. you know, you know, going like I said, I'm prioritizing different things.

I realize now what my family, you know, me. Like, I don't think I realize like about life, but hockey's been everything to me. It's given me everything and it's been everything. It's just been a great ride. I never forget that I was a kid. It's like even when I turned to management, I wrote down, I had a book.

I was going to put it above my door. I didn't do it, but I don't need to because I remember. I always say, don't ever forget what it felt like to be a player. Because we all have insecurities and everything. Because when you get into management, different pressure, people forget. And I remember playing for guys that I played with. I'm like, what happened to him? So I try to never forget that feeling.

That's amazing. It's true. Yeah. Because there's going to be a day. I remember walking behind a very prominent running back that we brought in. and he looked like he couldn't walk no more. I'm like, man. I was in my prime.

I was a young, 26-year-old in my prime. You look at him and you're like, and then there's that day you turn into that. Yeah, no, exactly. I was 22 or 23. We had this guy, he's doing our TV braque. His name was Jim Fox. And he was only 30.

And he hadn't played with us. He was hurt, isn't he? But, you know, you just keep on playing. And he kept rehabbing. to come back and he couldn't make it. So I'm walking out of practice when they, and the doc had just told him his career was over. I didn't know that.

And he looks at me and he, dead serious, he goes, enjoy every fucking day. Enjoy every fucking day of this fucking career. And he walks through him like, what the fuck's wrong with him? You know what I? You walk away.

Then the next day they announced he was retiring. And I told him the next day when I heard him, I told them a year ago, I said, never forgot when you told me that you were right because you're, you're 21 you think it's going to last forever yeah next to you know you're 30 you're looking oh shit like I'm I'm those guys I used to look at they were they seem so old and wise it's crazy Luke thank you so much for coming on this was amazing this was fun everyone go

check out the L.A. Kings root them on their game playoff it's going when this is going out they're playing the game two tonight game two tonight so we have game one back at home on Thursday harmonica ladies coming back who her Monica ladies For the national anthem? No, it didn't work. Okay. It worked for a little bit. I'm not superstitious, but I'll stick to whatever it were.

It didn't fucking work. It works for a little bit. You got to try to win it all. They were great, but I love him, but it didn't work. Get them out. Sorry, ladies. We're not superstitious, though, but they're not coming back. Our stuff when they were like, they brought the armor.

I go, this is great. And then I'm like, fuck it. Bring them in the plug. They're like, really? I go, yeah. And if we win, we're right. We rode them for a while. To the wheels fell off.

Let's go. Lou, thank you so much. Thank you. Man. Luke's pretty cool, dude. Hockey guys are always good hangs, man. They really are. He was awesome.

Hockey guys are the easiest dude to talk to. Are we becoming puckheads? I'm a full puck hut. I think I might be too. I was born. I was born. You were merely adopted. And also, I mean, it's all coming together.

We had the Miz on recently. Yeah, man. And I was thinking about puck from the real world. the other puck. You know, I mean, there's a lot of pucks going on in my head right now. This is true, brother. Buck it up, maybe. A little sneak preview for, I think, next week's episode or in two weeks?

Two weeks. He was the man. He was the man. And good luck to the Kings, right? This would. Fuck yeah. It would be. Game two.

I'm now committed to the Kings, even though I didn't ask them anything about Stollie. I know. Didn't ask about Stollie. Didn't ask about Stoll, even though we're kind of committed to the, we're not committed to anything. Kings, but we don't want to see them do bad. You can root for the Kings all the way up to the Stanley Cup

final. All right. Yeah. What was that cool? Well, I'm also a fucking, you know, I'm a Bay Area kid. But they didn't make it. Facts. They didn't make the class. God damn sharkies. Give me a little sniff of that, that smelling salts. Man. Oh my God. This is this might see his match yet. Go Kings go.

Go. King's Go. Bro, we didn't even get to talk. He's one of the mini, many statues outside the arena, man. We didn't even go out of a statues. Jack knows how much I have opinions about the guy's got a TED talk on that. I think there's a guy that sells popcorn and has got a statue out in front of crimper count crypto.

Well, I haven't been out there in a while, so I don't have anything to say on it. But, uh, Lukie. Is they call him Lukie? Lucky, Lucky Luke? Oh, cool hand Luke I saw as a nickname. Yeah. Cool hand Luke's a fucking, that's a cool ass. That's a cool ass.

Yeah. I like cool hand Luke. I like that too. He was the man. Man, got to get him back in here. do that win. Yeah. When you won the Stanley Cups. We're in it now. Yeah. What a cool dude though, just this whole story too, you know, like late rounder making it.

Having all these hockey guys, though, makes me, man, I should have played hockey. You know what? You would have been a good hockey player. You got like the right, like, body type and size. But I'm just saying, like, as one of the boys. I know. You know, one of the boys. I like to steal valor as one of the.

Yeah, like hockey guy, like use their terminology, hang with them. They seem like they just have so much fun. They really do. They're all just cool guys. I'm just happy that our hockey players are like good players now. Because we've had biz on the show. No disrespect to biz. But he has like two career goals.

And then Sean Avery, who's known for being like a scumbag. He's great. He's a hall of famer. Luke was saying Avery was a really good hockey player. Well, they're all good. Yeah. No, he was saying like he was really good. Just sometimes he just turned crazy.

a little. What do you say there's no calm situation he couldn't bring chaos into? I don't know. Quote, that's a bar right there.

That is a bar. Dude, we're gonna get Sean Evry back in here. That's what I got to get him back in. I love it. We just reached out. He's down. Whatever we want him.

Oh, heck yeah. Yeah, he hit you. Yeah, whatever. He was the coolest. I love it. Talk way too much about him. Yeah, it's awesome. We talk way too much about him.

Honorary, honorary nut house goat, bro. We'll be right back after this quick break. I'm Luke Wilson. Join me each week for film Never Lies. Since retiring from the NFL, I've had a lot of my mind, and now I've got my own show. So if you're tired or lazy takes, if you want honest conversations, join us each week. Film Never Lies available on all TSN platforms in the IHeartRadio app.

A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Cliver Taylor the 4th. You might have seen the skits, the reactions, my journey from basketball to college football, or my career in sports media. Well, somewhere along the way, this platform became bigger than I ever imagined. And now I'm bringing all of that excitement

to my brand new podcast, The Clifford Show. This is a place for raw, unfiltered conversations with some of your favorite athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. One week, I'll take you behind the scenes of the biggest moments in sports and entertainment. And the next, we'll talk about life,

mental health, purpose, and even music. The Clifford Show isn't just a podcast. It's a space for honest conversations, stories that don't always get told, and for people who are chasing something bigger. So if you've ever supported me or you're just chasing down a dream, this is right where you need to be. Listen to the Clifford show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok Podcast Network on TikTok.

What's up, everyone? I'm Ago Wodam. My next guest, you know from Step Brothers Anchorman, Saturday Night Live and the Big Money Players Network. It's Will Ferrell. Woo, woo, who, who, who, who. My dad gave me the best advice ever. I went and had lunch with them one day. And I was like, and dad, I think I want to really give this a shot. I don't know what that means, but I just know the groundlings.

I'm working my way up through, and I know it's a place that come look for up and coming talent. He said, if it was based solely on talent, I wouldn't worry about you, which is really sweet. Yeah. He goes, but there's so much luck involved. And he's like, just give it a shot. He goes, but if you ever reach a point where you're banging your head against the wall and it doesn't feel fun anymore, it's okay to quit. If you saw it written down, it would not be an inspiration.

It would not be on a calendar of, you know, the cat. Just hang in there. Yeah, it would not be. Right, it wouldn't be that. There's a lot of luck. Listen to Thanks Dad on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast. There's two golden rules that any man should live by. Rule one, never.

Mess with a country girl. You play stupid games, you get stupid prizes. And Rule 2, never mess with her friends either. We always say that trust your girlfriends. I'm Anna Sinfield. And in this new season of The Girlfriends, Oh my God, this is the same man. A group of women discover they've all dated the same prolific con artist.

I felt like I got hit by a truck. I thought, how could this happen to me? The cops didn't seem to care. So they take matters into their own. hands. I said, oh, hell no. I vowed. I will be his last target. He's going to get what he deserves. Listen to the girlfriends. Trust me, babe. On the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast. You know what? I'm feeling a little thirsty. Ooh. I feel like I need to rehydrate. Do we have something for you? What do you have? We got liquid IV. We've got

firecracker popsicle. Oh, firecracker popsicle. Okay, here you go. Yeah, baby. Firecracker Popsicle. Drink up and lock in. Oh. Another pass? That's a good throw.

Lefty guy. You know how to throw it though because that thing, the first one like spiraled to me. That was like this. Like I would have had to like do that. Which would have been a really good drill back in the day. Work your hands. Pinch. Pinches.

I used to try to catch cards with different fingers. Jack, do you want one? I would love one. Do you want firecrack? Drink up and lock in because it's time for every. Everyone's favorite game. Do you know ball? The game where we answer football questions so thought provoking that you'll need a liquid

IV by the end. Let's get into it. Oh, and it's draft related because it's draft this week. Draft week. Yeah. Oh shit. Draft week. Jules, give me your NFL predictions.

Do you know ball? My NFL predictions. That was a hook. That was the hook. Oh, yeah. You go first. What position will the Patriots drafts draft? in the first round.

What do they pick 31? Yes. Ooh, this tastes delicious. So good. I like the rainbow sherbert or sorbet. I like, honestly, the peach ones to die for. We got peach.

I like the peach. I like the firecracker. Well, the firecracker one, I mean, who doesn't like firecracker? Jules. What position will the Patriots draft with their first round pick? Ooh, first round pick.

Since they're getting AJ Brown June 1st, they don't need receiver. I think you need to get a little more of that line. That's what I was thinking, too. You know, hey. And Campbell is unbelievable. He's a rookie. He played his balls off this year,

and he's only going to get better. But why not add to the O line? Morgan Moe is a young, young player. Why not? I like it. Get a group of them in there. Protect Drake May at all cost. Some people are saying tight end.

Ooh, tight end would be good too. Honestly, I think they got to get him to where he can protect himself all the time. And you get that confidence and that offense aligned and Drake, all the other stuff will come. Like, they have Hunter Henry. Is he still there this year? Yep. You know what I mean? They got some decent tight end play.

They got good tight end play. You go on and get AJ Brown. You solidify that offensive line. Guard or tackle. Or just any line or guard or tackle. I think you got to go, you got to get a tackle, probably. Right tackle. But or I would just go best guy out, best guy available.

Best available lineman. Best available lineman. I like that. Because they could use both. Because Moses is, I mean, he's a really good football player. he's getting kind of old. He's getting old. Yeah.

You know, and how many more years you have? And you got a veteran guy like him that gets to teach both these young tackles. He's get these twin towers in there. Or, you know, you get an inside guy.

I just think, let's get an offense alignment. Or you can never go bad with an edge guy. Yeah. He's got a bad. He's got a lot. Shout out Will Anderson, 50 a year.

Did he say? Yeah. A three-year deal? Oh, bro. was going to eat in three years. He's only 24. He's going to make so... Man, he's so rich.

And Daniel Hunter, 90 mil combined this year? He's Louise. Okay, Jules. Over under. Fernando Mendoza will start four and a half games this season. Ooh. What's their pick? They got a bunch of picks.

Because they need to get some linemen too. Because if they can get the offense line solidified, I think in a good... you know, the little Alshan Jeffer, what is his name? Oh, Austin. Gentie. Gentie.

Over under four and a half. They said they wanted to not play them. Kirk Cousins. I'm going to go under. Under. Under. I'm going to go under. The Raiders do have a lot of draft picks.

They have 1.36, 67, 102, 117, 134. 1.75, 185, 208 and 219. That's a tough division. It is. You know, Clint Kubiak, though. Kubiak knows the division His daddy was in that division for a while

Won a soupie with them, right? But Denver. Yeah. It was Kubiak who won it. I miss Vegas beat. I miss Vegas beat. That division's tough. That's it.

I mean, you're going to have, maybe will Justin Herbert get a healthy offensive line this year? You know, I made the early, you know, pick for the Patriots to win the Super Bowl. I might do that same pick this year. You can actually put it in this time?

I might actually put it in this time. I got to go to Vegas. Chargers, Super Bowl with a pervert MVP. Interesting. I like that. 50 bucks to win a billion. So we're going with Mojave Mendoza under. Mojave Mendoza. Under four to a half.

Trade market. Trade market. I like the Mojave Mendoza. Next up, Jules. Which college team will have the most first round picks? Ohio State. All day, baby. I don't even think there.

Who else is up in there? Miami's got some. Maybe got some things too. Is Carson Beck going to go on the first round? I have seen a lot of second, but I... Quarterbacks always, always shoot up the board late. Yeah, but they haven't been talking about him like that. Yeah, yeah.

The only one has been Ty. Ty Simpson's been getting talked to ever since or Lowsky was saying that he would draft him over him. Yeah. Yeah, I'm trying to think. Where have I seen? I'm a Mendoza guy. I think he'll be good, man.

Ohio State, probably going to have the most guys drafted. I think Miami comes in a clear two, maybe. Shout out, Matt Patricia. Not out. Maddie P. can have like five of his guys. Which tells me that those guys are going to do well in the league because, you know, Maddie P. probably gave him some NFL-type defense. So they're going to be able, like, Sunny Stiles, right?

The middle linebacker, that's a lot of value. If he could be able, if he's able to retain like a Maddie P. defense and execute that being the green dot guy, which I think they have green dots now in college. Caleb Downs, too. Downs, Downs, Reesie. Generational safety. They're, I mean, they might have. Rees guy is supposed to be like.

Yeah, Ava Reese. They might have three or four guys in the top six or seven. Yeah. Ohio State is a factory. It's crazy right now, bro. I mean, they all are right now. They're all. It's, they're.

I mean, they're going to have two receivers that may go first round, right? Yeah, you got, um, What do we just talk about there? Downs. Tate and down. Tate. And there's another one. Then there is.

Levon. Lemon. Oh, he's from USC. Malachi Lemon. I always get, or Mackay Lemon. Sorry, I like lemon.

He's really good. And then you got Cooper Jr. The guy from Indiana. Another good receiver. Yeah, I mean, there's going to be Ohio State all day, I think. This is an exciting time of the year.

It is draft time. Okay. We love it. What will Jeremiah Love's stat line be next NFL season? Oh, Jeremiah love. Running back.

So who's got? Pick two, three, four. They're saying he could go, the latest mock draft has him going four to the Titans. Who's two? Two is the New York Jets. The latest mock draft

has them going with David Bailey, the outside linebacker from Texas Tech. Yeah, people like him. And they also like Averal Reese. who they have projected going three, another outside linebacker this time from Ohio State. What about Bain? I like that Bain guy from Miami.

Everyone's down on his arm length. Yeah, like a fucking beast anytime I saw him play. I was just going to say, that guy was a game record. Right now he's going eight to the Saints in the way to snow. It's not top 10.

I mean, top 10. Yeah, so where do we think love goes? And then how much do you think he's doing? I mean, if you could get him. Titans, Giants, Browns, commanders,

Saints, then Chiefs, then Bengals. Tennessee's, it's going to be hard. I'm just saying if he goes to Tennessee, that'd be really good for Dayball and Cam Ward. Young quarterback's best friends,

a real good running game. I think he's probably going to go. I think he'll go over a thousand. Thousand? Okay. How many tugs? He just depends on injury or not. He never got hurt in college.

Imagine he's the healthiest. Let's be positive. He's healthy. He stays healthy the whole time. He could have eight, touchdowns. Thousand yards, eight touchdowns.

Okay. That's probably where Vegas sets the over under. I can see that. That's really good. Maybe touchdowns slightly high, but I mean, last year, what a year.

Under 99 carries, 1300 yards, 18 touchdowns. 6.9 yards of carry. He's like Jamar Gibbs are saying, right? It's crazy, bro. And I mean,

his open, I loved watching him play an under name. The fact when he gets seen. The other running backs about to go in the first round too, right? Price, yeah.

What's his name? Jinarian Price. He should go late. Jeterian Price. Yeah, he'll go. I think they have him going 30. The latest projection is like in the 30s, I believe. He's the man too.

It's either the Patriots, Super Bowl champions, or Denver. Denver could use them. Yeah. Yeah, that would be. Man, that'd be tough. That would be real tough. What's another one? Running backwise?

No question. Oh, another question. Let's see. How well do you know ball? The next question is, How many quarterbacks will be drafted in the first round? Two. Ty Simpson.

Yeah. Ty will get in. Yep. You were getting drafted this year. Which celebrity would you want to announce your pick? Oh. Which celebrity would I like to announce my pick? Mm-hmm.

The selection is in. Out walks. You can also go sick kid? You can go a military. unit from overseas. I'm doing I'm doing the U.S. Navy General.

I want an admiral. All right. Do you want an admiral or hire? Admiral, hire for the U.S. Navy. I'll at sea. Yeah, I like that. I want something military in there. These men

putting their lives on the line. Shout out. Can go professional wrestler? It's in Pittsburgh this year. I was thinking what's I won the line cook at permacy. Texas girl. Oh my God. Ella Langley?

Yeah. Only because I've been, I've been, that my daughter loves that or my daughter likes that song. So that came to my head. She is goaded, brother. Ella can't miss right now. Absolutely on fire. New album.

Bang her. Ella Langley. Ches in Texas. Dandelion. Dandelion. Born a leaf free. Oh, it's so good. Yeah.

I mean, does anyone wreck, bangs are back. She's doing it. She can't miss. I'd probably, yeah, go to admiral. I like that. I'd go Ella Langley. Now that you mention it.

What is it? I always forget the lyric. Which one? Which song? I saw to step around the room. He's two stepping round the room. Actually, I want the commissioner. Because that means I went in the first round.

Judging by the smile that's written on his face. There's nothing I can do. Oh, yeah. And you get to give him a hug. And I get to give him a hug. Or a quick step around the room. Or Gronk on Pink 69. I can tell by the smile

All right Next one, Jules Cowboy always nice Way to leave And in Texas I can tell Delisted Which team

Jules needs To have the best draft We got to nail this draft Hmm Which team needs to have a good draft Needs to nail it I think Buffalo, bro Mm-hmm

Okay, we need to, we got to go. Okay. We got more. You got cooks. You got Josh Allen. Joe Brady era, baby. Joe Brady, new coach. Let's go.

Yep. And you got to win in the draft. You look at a lot of the best teams that go out and win Super Bowls. They build their teams through that draft. And they're like a draft away. They could be a good draft away. Also, you could also say cheese.

She's got the ninth overall pick. You want to talk about second dynasty. Now you got to start drafting those bills. Chiefs are up there as well because they also have a, they had a reset year in the middle of what with Patrick Mahomes. Like when Tom got hurt, they went 10 and 7. No, 11 and 5.

Or 11 and 5 and didn't make the playoffs. So they had a late pick. I think they got, what, they got nine, pick nine? Chiefs, I believe It's a ninth. Yeah, they got the ninth pick. That's a big boy pick. So I'm going with the Chiefs and the Bills.

If they can get some players, they got to. They got to. And they will. Because they built that team before through the draft. That's true. I think the pressure is more on the bills, though. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. New stadium too. Come on now.

New stadium. I'm excited for the bills. New stadium. New Year. I mean, what did the Patriots do when they went to the new stadium? Won that soupy. 0-1. Foxboro.

They won the last year of Foxborough. And then they first the Gillette. But they still won two with Gillette. Oh, no. Sorry, sorry. So the bills would have had to win this year. Well, I'm just trying to get Buffalo going. Next one.

Who will get booed more? Remember, this game's in Pittsburgh. In Pittsburgh, right? Who will get booed more? Roger Goodell or anyone from the Ravens? That was Leah, if anyone picked that up. Boo. Now, do they bring in, like, Ed Reed or...

Sometimes they do that. Ray Lewis? They bring people on. I think that they've surpassed Pittsburgh hating them because they were so good. Okay, who's a level of a Raven, all-time Raven great that hasn't reached respect great and still hated great? for all Sugs. Sugs.

Sugs. Which is he's going to be a Hall of Famer. Yeah. For sure. Yeah. Yeah. But I'm, but Suggs used to talk that shit too.

Yeah. T. Sizzle. We had them up here in the nut. I love T. Cisle. He won us over, man. I want us over.

I'm so sad. I miss that. Fucking JetBlue. What a guy. Uh, so are you saying Ravens or Gadell? He'll get to be pretty hard. I love Goodell, but it's, it's, it's turned in.

The internet has become fun. You know, because of the internet in the years of prior of the booing now it's just like each city's trying to surpass the other city they all want to be New York fans

yeah yeah yeah should be in New York thing now it's everybody because this is a hockey episode they're saying that like the NHL fans were the first ones to boo the commissioner they used to boo Gary Bettman when he bring the cup out and then like NFL has taken that on and it's fun during the draft to boo Godell but hockey fans does that first

Just say. He did it first. In what round, Jules, will the first special teamer be drafted? Ooh. Kicker, punter. Traditionally, it's fifth round. Yeah. But there has been noted exception.

Look, this could change because is there any, like, extraordinary kickers right now with, I mean, look at how big of a weapon Aubrey is right now. It's insane. I mean, Sebastian Janakowski went in the first. Ray Guy went in the first, didn't he? Ray guy? No. He went early. He went early.

Yeah. Let me look. But I would say I'm going to go with the third round. Okay. Good round. Nice. Yeah. I like that play.

Third round. Yeah. Ray guy. First, 23rd overall. Is there one more we want to replace or should we just wrap it? One more? One more. How many Kent State players will be drafted?

None, but two will make priority for agents. shout out to Darylis Clark, my man. Dorealist. He's one of the best names in college football. Is he Kent? Yeah, Ken State guy. He was only junior this year, so he's coming back. He's coming back.

At a Lima, Ohio, baby. Damn, my knuckles are big right now. You been boxing too much? I don't know. Maybe I just seen it for the first time. Look at that. The thing is true. What?

That's funny. You got one more? Jules, on a scale of 1 to 10, how confident are you in these answers? About a 7. That's pretty good, respectable. Oh, okay. 7 will play.

Right on. And that was another edition of Do You Know Ball? Presented by Liquid Ivy. Get hydrated. What a game. And thanks again to Luke Robatai. Man.

Man. The pre, the first time I got to say everyone's names I have butterflies every time I did pretty good I'll psych myself out even though right before we turn the cameras on I will say it with Jack and Kyler 10 times and still

still get the butterflies and still fuck it up what's funny with Luke Rovitey is you were worried about the tie part and you went weird on the robe you went like Rubatai yeah see It's something. But there is some flexibility with a kubekwa.

Because you can put a little... You can put a little spice on it. And they're like, oh, cool. And you're like, right now, I didn't need it. Yeah. And now that's going about releasing.

That's been another episode of games with names. Subscribe on Apple, Podcast, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcast. Comment a game you want us to do. And remember, rate and review. Leave us a five-star review on Spotify while you're there. Remember to follow games with names on YouTube,

Instagram, X, TikTok, Facebook and Snapchat. Leave a comment on the YouTube full episodes. We'll read the best ones in the future episodes. Leave a message on the old hotline. That number is two... What is that number? That number is 424-291-2290.

And we'll see you guys next week. Games with names and production of iHeartRadio. Visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, wherever you get your podcast. A win is a win. A win is a win. I don't care what I'm saying. Yep, that's me, Cliford Taylor the 4th.

You might have seen the skits, my basketball and college football journey, or my career in sports media. Well, now I'm bringing all of that excitement to my brand new podcast, The Cliford Show. This is a place for raw, unfills of conversations with athletes, creators, and voices that not only deserve to be heard, but celebrated. So let's get to it. Listen to The Cliford Show on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcast, or wherever you get your podcast.

And for more behind the scenes, follow at Clifford and at TikTok. Podcast Network on TikTok. I'm Daniel Alarcon, and this is my friend. This is much more famous than I am. I wouldn't go that far, but I'm John Green, co-host of the podcast The Away End with my old friend Daniel. On our podcast, The Away End, we'll share with you the magic of international football,

all leading up to the 2026 World Cup. Together, we'll find out why, of all the unimportant things, football, soccer, is the most important. Listen to the Away End with Daniel Alarcon and John Green on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Hey, it's Edwin Castro, also known as Castro 1021. And I'm Conky, his best friend and business manager.

And we've got a new show called The 1021 podcast. I'm taking you behind the scenes on how I became one of Twitch's most popular streamers. We also love sports. And with the World Cup right around the corner, we'll be breaking down the biggest storylines ahead of the big tournament here in the USA. Listen to the 1021 podcast on the Iheart radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On a recent episode of the podcast, Money and Wealth with John Ho'Brien, I sit down with Tiffany the budgetista Aliche to talk about what it really takes to take control of your money. What would that look like in our families if everyone was able to pass on wealth to the people when they're no longer here?

We break down budgeting, financial discipline, and how to build real wealth, starting with the monies. mindset shifts, too many of us were never, ever taught. If you've ever felt you didn't get the memo on money, this conversation is for you to hear more. Listen to Money and Wealth with John Hope Bryant from the Black Effect Network on the I'd Heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcast.