Empty Netters Podcast - The Most Exciting NHL Free Agency Summer Ever with Filip Forsberg | 143

Episode Date: October 28, 2024

The guys hang out with “Flip” Forsberg and he tells them exactly how it went down when the Predators signed Stammer this summer. Hear about their run last year while they broke the franchise point record, signing his extension to bring a cup to Nashville, and getting married in a literal castle NEW EPISODES EVERY MONDAY & WEDNESDAY! SUBSCRIBE TO OUR YOUTUBE:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuf52MHW1O7guPMzsMvv2kA FOLLOW US ON INSTAGRAM:https://www.instagram.com/empty.netters/?hl=en FOLLOW US ON TIKTOK:https://www.tiktok.com/@empty.netters (0:00) – Intro(6:14) – Early Days(10:01) – Getting Married(16:53) – Soccer(30:19) – Staying in Nashville(34:17) – Last Season(39:44) – This Season(46:29) – Pass, Shoot, Score SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS: BAUER. Bauer is the go to destination for all your training needs. Head to https://www.bauer.com/training to explore tools like the Digital Reactor Danger for stickhandling or the Reactor Slide Board to add strength to your stride. CASHAPP. Download CashApp and take control of your finances! https://apps.apple.com/us/app/cash-app/id711923939RIKI. Head to https://rikispirits.com/ to find out where to get RIKI near you. Follow  @FridayBeers.Youtube  YouTube  and @rikispirits to stay up to date with upcoming RIKI contests and giveaways FUNKAWAY. To check out the full family of FunkAway products go to https://www.funkaway.com to learn more funk'in cool stuff. And head over to Amazon right now and grab FunkAway products with just a few clicks. FIREBALL . Fireball's iconic cinnamon flavor tastes fire and goes down easy, making it the ultimate crowd pleasure. Go pick up some from your local liquor store and join us in drinking Fireball during our game days this season! #igniteyourrivalry  EVERYMANJACK. Give Every Man Jack a shot today and go to https://www.everymanjack.com and use code "NETTERS" at checkout for 25% off your first order CBDMD. Visit https://www.cbdmd.com to explore their extensive range of products and find the perfect solution for your needs. Don't forget to use code "FRIDAY" at checkout to get 30% OF + Free Shipping. DOLLAR SHAVE CLUB. Dollar Shave Club products are now available everywhere, so you can order from their website, Amazon, or get them at your favorite retailer near you. Visit their site right now for 20% off $20 or more, and get your products delivered right to your door. Visit https://www.dollarshaveclub.com/netters and use promo code NETTERS for 20% off $20 or more Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

He just drops, hey guys, signed. It says Stamkels, Marsesol, Shea, and then Carrier, because he had re-signed. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. And there was it. Just like... That's the check. Yeah. Ice is ready, and we are back with another episode of the Empty Netters podcast, brought to you by BetMGM, and we've got a special one today.

We've got a special smash... Smashville one today. We've got a smash-o one today. We suck. God. Why did you do that? I don't know. I thought it was going to be cool.

How about this? I'm going to try it again. Yep. We've got a smashing episode today. Yeah. See? I knew it was there. It was there.

We have a smashing episode. We've got a smashing episode for you today here at the M2 Netter's podcast. Chaps. Chaps. This one is delightful. We are here in Nashville, Philip Forsberg, joining the podcast at long last, unbelievable episode. This dude's the man. He is the man.

The man. And let's not waste time. Let's not waste any time. time. Let's not waste any time. He is the man. We're going to kick it right to the interview. Hope you guys enjoy. Get it. We are currently joined by an Oostovola native. Wow, I didn't know you were going to go full pronunciation. I am. A U18 silver medalist, a world junior gold medalist, a world junior MVP, a world championship gold medalist, the 11th overall

pick in the 2012 draft. A member of the NHL all rookie team? Or yes, and NHL rookie All-Star, two-time All-Star with the Nashville Predators and the best mustache in the NHL. Philip Forsberg. Oh, thank you. Thank you. I wanted to go the Swedish pronunciation of Forsberg, too.

Oh, yeah. What did you say? It's like, let me try it. Forgebiri? That's pretty good. Not bad, right? Forchbury, yeah. And it all depends on who you talk to.

Like if you're south or north. That's something I've learned recently. Like the southern and northern accent. Was that the southern pronunciation, or was that the northern? No, you were. were pretty normal. Okay.

Neutral. Yeah, he's right in the middle. Yeah, exactly. But, yeah, the more south you get, the more it's like Danish. Okay. Yeah, that's it. Or the north, they just like, they don't say speaking. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Interesting. I've learned that with maybe. I feel like when southern Swedes say maybe, like canque, it's a aggressive accent. Nice. So I'm learning. Yeah, you're doing good job. You're doing a good job. Dude, we, I think we have a mutual issue that the nine-er

have a chief's problem. And I don't know how we solve this. No. I was bummed at the Super Bowl and I thought we were going to get it back yesterday and we didn't get it back. So I don't know what to do. I was pumped about the game yesterday.

I thought this was the, not you can't call it a bench. For sure. Really? But like at least, you know. Show them what's up. Yeah. Put it in their head.

We're here. Yep. They were not there. They're not there. I, it just, God damn it. Like at half, I was like,

fuck, they're not going to beat them. A lot of guys went down, though. Right. I know, but so the Chiefs have the same issues. You're right, good point. And I, you know, obviously, George, like, I watched the game. And I, before somebody told me five years ago,

you'd be watching a game and looking at the blocking. I'm like, yeah, yeah, right. And now I'm, like, walking at the run block. Yeah, yeah. I just feel so bad for him. Like, not, I mean, not that I know anything really, but just watching him, you know, every play, bust his, grind, yeah, every single play.

And then you just get nothing really from anyone else. Like, D-Boy's sick, like, like, I just hope it was. was that, by the way? He's sick. You can't be sick again. Cannot be sick. In today's day and age with the medical profession. Outrageous. And you're playing once a week. You can't be sick. Is Ayyuk badly hurt?

I didn't see it. I haven't seen anything. But it didn't look great but that certainly didn't help. Not good. It is so funny when you got a great buddy on a team and you're like it adds so much. Obviously there's guys in the league that you feel that way, but it adds so much emotional element to the games when you're like, that's my boy. Need you to win. It's so frustrated. He's Felix Godfather. Is that right?

That's awesome. How'd you guys meet? So our wife's best friends. Oh, cool. How, like basically, you know, I bet my wife here in town. Yeah. A couple years before that, she had met Claire through Instagram. I think.

Oh, no way. Like, basically Claire just like, hey, let's hang out. We should be friends. Yeah. It's funny. It works. It does. Wow.

For girls, like, dudes are like, yeah. That's kind of weird. Yeah. For girls, like, I don't know how many friends she's got that are just like, hey, you're cool. Like, I like, I like, I like, want to go get coffee or go for a walk. And she's like, yeah. And then all of a sudden they're like, hey, this is this, this, this, we met yesterday. Yeah.

Yeah. Awesome. And then you get the husband. They're like, and this is your friend. Yeah, exactly. And also now George is your son's godfrey. And you're like, what the fuck happened? Yeah.

No, so that went so pretty much like we started dating obviously and pretty early on. Yep. You know, I was introduced to George. Yeah. He's the best. Is he dialed into the Preds too? Oh, yeah. Hell of him.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The second they're done, he, you know, he's on the glass. Oh, yeah. I was going to say I've seen him at tons of games.

Has he done the horn thing, the siren, whatever you guys have? No, I don't think so. We got to get him up there. I think that might be huge. That's a no brain. Normally, he just, they put him on the jumble somewhere. That's enough. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

He's chugging beer. Yeah, I was going to say he'll just delete three beers in a row. He'll find his way on there for sure. I have another random TikToky question for you. There was a video from years ago where you are taping your shin pads and like to go all the way around and then karate chop it. I now do that because I thought it was so cool that you, do it, but then it occurred to me that you were just doing that as a bit for the video and you don't actually do that. So now I'm like, my whole life is alive. I do that. You do you

really? You do it every game. Every day. Thank you. Do you ever, does the karate shop ever go poorly? I mean, it goes poorly as of like, it always breaks. Yeah. Yeah. It's not like, it's like, you imagine. Yeah. Well, no, game at ricochets, you retire. Yeah. That's when you know, you don't have it anymore. No, but, uh, no, I still do it. It was funny because it was one of my teammates back in Sweden told me it was like a story about somebody trying to change as fast as possible. Yeah. And the guy, like, so you're starting with, you know, just your underwear on. Yeah.

And then jog, you know, whatever. Boom, boom. Yeah. And he did it. And it was like, just like, it took him like two minutes and 22 seconds to get fully dressed from nothing to fully. Yeah. So I'm like, oh, that's kind of cool.

And I started doing it. And that was like, we were probably 16 or 17. Okay. I actually want to talk about your childhood. Feels like the quintessential story of a hockey player kind of coming up into the game. And there's just so many awesome stories I feel like about your dad and sort of your work ethic as a as a young player growing up in Lexend and playing and bringing your skates to school. And like, you know, we read stories that you'd play in the street sometimes if you couldn't get

to the pond at your grandma's house or something like that. And it was really cool seeing that your dad, you know, he was a big hockey player, played at a high level. But it sounds like he told you if he had worked a little bit harder, maybe he would have gone that next step and that next step. and that's something that you took at a super young age to heart and definitely seems like it helped your career to get to where you are. How was that, you know, what was that vibe when you were a kid, like hearing that lesson and being like, you know what, I am going to bust my ass every day.

Yeah, no, I think that was important, not that it was, you know, like, hey, forcing me type of thing, but it was certainly like we had, you know, it'd be working out and be like, you have to do this extra workout on the weekend. And it's Sunday afternoon and he's like, hey, where's that workout? You know, you haven't done it yet. And you're a kid, dude. Yeah. And it's like, yeah, exactly.

At this point, I'm probably like 12, 13. So it's at least like towards, you know, like teenage. But it's still, you know, there's still other things. For sure, yeah. But I think that was, you know, like, you started there. And then you realize that you get like 15, 16 when it becomes a little more serious. And he keeps like, you know, referring to that. It's like, oh, yeah, I wish I would have done more.

And it kind of like, it puts almost like a guilt in you. Like, I don't want to mess that up. And at the same time, I don't think it was. It was never to the point where you're just like, hey, you know, you can't hang out with your friends. You've got to come home and work out. But it was also like looking over for sure, like making sure that. Because even he can see the passion, obviously, that I had for the game. It's not like he was forcing me to play hockey, but I think he also wanted to make sure that I gave it all.

You know, you have a fair chance. And you never know. Like he might just be hard on himself. Sure, sure. You know, he might have done everything he could and more. But at the same time, you know, there's always, he had talent. But he's, yeah, like you said, he claims he could have worked harder and that way got further. So I think that was something that certainly was a good lesson early on.

That's such good motivation. And like putting it on himself and just like kind of casually being like, man, if I had taken 100 more shots maybe. And like now the young flip is like, I'm going to go take 100 more shots. Like there we go. I imagine it's in the back of your head still, right? Like once you make it, you can't stop working. No, for sure. Right.

Yeah. And you learn so much too, like coming into this league is you get to a point where you're like, oh, you know, I'm establishing this league. first you're trying to make it and then you, you know, or so a rookie even then you're trying to, you know, climb the, whether it's going up to the lineup or playing every game, whatever it could be. But then you get to a point where you're kind of like, oh, you know, I'm here type of thing. And I think I learned a lot from just guys around that that's not good enough. Yeah. You know, like you get there.

And I still, you know, like put up 60 points a season. Like it's a good number. But then at the same time, you're like, what can I do to get more? Yes. Yes. And I think that's, you know, early. like mid-20s kind of like, you know, still doing all right, but still realizing things through now when I'm 30 and see guys, you know, that I play with now that, you know, Ryan O'Reilly, perfect example.

Like, he's out there every day trying to get better. Yeah. You know, it's awesome. And I've learned so much just from playing within him for one year. And I wish it would have came early here for sure. But that's what's cool, like even realizing, you know, hopefully I have a lot of years left, but there's certainly things that I wish I would have done different in the 20s that I know. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah, now know that I'm sitting here. It's like, oh, kind of the same thing. It's like I wish I would have, you know, not been that grumpy after a practice, you know, like. But, yeah, I think that's interesting. You learn a lot and hopefully still more to go. Absolutely. Sure.

So two summers ago, I think, 2022, you and Aaron get married at her family's castle. Dude, there's fireworks. Was there even a question? Like, when you guys, when you proposed and you start planning it, where you're like, yeah, where would you like to get married? was it just always like, we're getting married at the castle? Yeah, I don't think there was much of the choice. I didn't really have to push. I wasn't really trying to push from my, yeah, Lexan Church.

Yeah, yeah. It's a beautiful little chapel. Yeah, it's great. You're like, there's an awesome spot, I'm just saying. Yeah. So there's, you flew a Swedish DJ out. There's fireworks. I have a million questions, but my two specific ones, first of all, are you had a Swedish

candy display, which I can't even begin to pronounce, but I know it has a name. I want to know what candies are on that display that you love. And then two is you guys had specialty cocktails, the filthy and the sully. I want to know what those were. Yeah. So the candy is basically... Huge pick and mix guy, by the way. Yeah, he is.

I can't wait to hear this. Yeah. So, well, I love the sweet and sour mix, like those type of things. Yeah. But the candies here in the country are, there's just way too sweet. Like, obviously candy is sweet. Don't get me wrong. Yeah.

It's going to be sweet. But it's just like, it tastes so artificial. Yeah, yeah. Oh, yeah. You go to those like sugar me or whatever, there's stores. You know, when there, you can get everything. Everything, yeah. Yeah.

That's kind of how the grocery stores are. Okay. So you go to the grocery store and there'd be a wall that's about its big as, you know, this wall. Yeah, yeah. And floor to ceiling, there's like probably 60, 70 different flavors. Yeah. You just get your scoop in your bag and just fill it up. So we're going to do that for the wedding.

Yeah. There's 100-something people. So we're like, well, we've got to make sure we get this. Yeah. So it was Aaron flew right from here to, France. Because I was in Sweden for Ekholm's wedding, which is a weekend. Wow. And there was right in my hometown. We're close to each other. So it was like 15 minutes from my hometown. But my parents, my brother and my grandma flew together on that Sunday before the wedding. So we all

have like probably 25 pounds of candy in each of our bags. But your bags? Yeah. Oh my God. Just like so we basically, we went to the store. TSA's like what the fuck is going to I think boy it was just like Sweden to France, Europe. It wasn't too hard. But we went and ordered like a bunch of like probably like four or five pounds of the same flavors. Like probably 20 of those. And then we went to the store to fill up the rest that we needed. Yeah, yeah.

And then we, so at one point like after the day after the wedding, we have, there's a picture of it. But there's probably like, I mean, obviously, you know, like people get a little bit of candy. Yeah. We didn't want to run out. So we had candy. We still have candy in our freezer from the wedding. I don't know how good it is, but it is in the free. freezer still.

That's amazing. Oh, it's unbelievable. Like you said, the castle has a little chapel. Yeah, yeah. And that's where we did all the candy. Because it was like the one room we didn't use. It's like obviously all family staying in there and stuff. So all the candy was lined up there.

Yep. And then, so then one, the wedding was, the wedding was done. They brought it all back in there. So like Sunday after the wedding, everyone is just like running in there. Yeah, just like a castle candy shop. Exactly. In the chapel of the church, it didn't feel, it didn't feel right. Are you a black licorish guy?

I like that. Yeah. Oh, me too. I love them. I'm not there yet. Those like, I don't know what they're called, but like the little skulls that are just like covered in salt. Yeah. It's covered in salt.

It's insane. Have you tried it? Yeah. Oh, yeah. I love it. And I was like, what is this? Yeah. That's the trap candy that we always like, we bring.

Yeah. We literally just did this two weeks ago to because we were back home and restocked this summer and came out. And we basically like, hey, you got to try these two before you try anything. Yeah. And they're just sitting there and you chew on them for forever. 30 seconds. Yeah. I was like, you just don't go away.

My whole day was cheating on that thing. Yeah, like you're true, because you're like, the saltiness will go away eventually and you're like, oh, you're in it for the long haul, buddy. And I love it. I had literally yesterday I sent the picture to them, like the friends we went to. It's like, yeah, just enjoying my afternoon and the rest of it because we opened up. I gave them a few and I'm just going to town on it.

I think it's acquired. Like I will learn to like it. It is. That one's probably the worst. For sure. There's the salty, like the non-salty ones that are a little sweeter. Yeah. Sweet licish, but that one, that's definitely the worst for.

for sure. For the beginners. It's like a palate cleanser. Yeah, it is. Because, like, there's other stuff that's really sweet. And, like, you just pop one of those in, reset, and then you go back to the sweet stuff. It's perfect. But what were the cocktails?

Yeah, what were the cocktails? The filthy was gin and tonic, because that's my drink. They did a little different taste. I don't know exactly what it was, but it was like a flavored tonic that made it. It must have been, like, a lemon or pear or something. Because it was like yellow. And I come out, I'm like, oh. And it was really good.

I approved it. and my wife doesn't drink so that's why she just made like I want to say there was a she made like something super sweet like a strawberry dairies yeah yeah yeah yeah and I think it was a mocktail option

oh but was it a mocktail no it was a real drink but that was a mocktail she would have drank and that's exactly what it was but with vodka yeah it's perfect anyone go crazy on the dance floor yeah yeah who was the MVP

yeah who went off dude there was a lot of different MVP's, like different ways, like, because people, you know, most people have traveled. Everyone traveled. So like nobody was from France. Like we had some, the neighbors that live across the street, they were there and like kind of the people to help out with everything. They were invited.

So there was one French table with eight people speaking French. Yeah. But then we tried because what's cool is like a lot of my friends. They're like, what the fuck is his candy, dude? Don't worry about it. Don't eat the black one. Yeah, stay away. So my friends have been here.

of them have met Aaron's friends. Yeah, yeah. They can family and they kind of got along. So it was pretty easy. And we did the welcome part of the night before, which was great. Everybody kind of got to know each other. So by then, it's kind of like everybody, by the time it's dance floor time, everybody's obviously been together.

Right. Yeah, yeah. Six hours. So that was cool. And, but yeah, some people obviously went a little too hard early. Yeah. So we had a few. Happens to the best of it.

It does. Yeah, there was a few early, early passouts. but yeah was george there no because they sadly they started on monday i was wondering at the schedule yeah so he didn't line up but i would imagine he would be a dance floor legend like come on i had jacob del arose i was on his shoulders at one point no way so that was a that was a nice is there a video of that that must be there's a picture for sure of it nice yeah one of erin's nephews he's i think 14 he's like on top of the shoulder of someone else's shoulders with a bottle of champagne which he didn't drink, he didn't drink from,

but he's just holding it, and within half a second, somebody's there, like, yeah, no, you're not having that. So that was so good. It was some good stuff. That's going to be a great picture for him, for the rest of his life. Like this fucking moment.

Look at me going off at a castle in front. God, it's unreal. I want to talk soccer for a second, because obviously you're rocking the Liverpool shirt, dad, big Liverpool fan. That's right. How did your brother become an Arsenal fan? I know, dude.

That is a house-divided moment that I will never understand. So we had a summer house. It was like 20 minutes from Lexan. So it's just like a little cabin kind of on the water that we'd go to. And this village maybe, you know, 35 cottages in this place. Everybody knows everybody. So my brother is hanging out with his friend whose dad is an Arsenal fan.

And he hands in this like sweat band, whatever those are called. Like the tennis players wear this arsenal. And he's probably six, seven years old at this point. And that was it. The imprint age. That was it. Yeah. That's, you know what?

that makes sense. I feel like you get that and you're like, yep, I'm a gunner now. And then we had, yeah, Freddie Jungberg was obviously, like he was, that was like right in his prime, you know, like early 2000s. And so my brother thought he was cool. He had the red mohawk for a little bit. Oh, really? Yeah, my brother used that. And his name was Frederick. So everything kind of lined up with that. I was going to say, how'd your dad let it happen, but that's, that'd be hard to deny. Yeah. I think you're like, I think he was okay. Because it was Arsenal. It was a rival, but not, man, you type of style. Yeah, right.

Man, you would never have gone. Yeah. But you guys have had some awesome moments. Like, Dad's 50th birthday, go to the Liverpool Arsenal game, 4-0 win. It's tough for the brother. Yeah, yeah. Really tough for the brother. And then obviously, yesterday, Chelsea game, 2-1 win.

Yep. You went to the bridge last summer? That's right. Yeah, yeah. For the opener. Can you admit to me that maybe that foul on Sancho should have been a penalty? Yeah, but so should they've won before Liverpool's actual call a penalty. I think it was the old thought it went down.

The penalty was clear cut, chin on chin. You can't do it. It was shit on. But the first one, the one that would saw from behind, which they didn't call. That should have been. You think that should have been? I should have been. But then the one on Jones, the second one that was VAR called.

That was correct. That was the goal. They got the ball. Yeah. Oh, yeah. That was, I forgot about that one. Yeah. That was crazy when they gave that.

But I can agree that the song, it's, it's bored. It probably washed out, honestly. I think you're right. I think you're right. I think you're right. I think you're a penalty. I will say how soft pens are these days is ruining the game. Oh, it's tough.

It's mental. Like I it's it's those ones where it's like it's not even a scoring chance. I feel like those should be, we need to change it to indirect free kicks or something. I would take the box is too big. But yeah, I can see that. But also the handball on the one chance there. There was two players. They hit the one guy's handball and then it wasn't, I don't think it would have been a penalty either way.

Yeah. But it was hit the one guy's arm and he's like doing the three. Yeah. And then it goes off the other guy's hand. And I'm like, how did this? Both these can't be like coincidental. Like coincidental, whatever. That's so true.

I don't know what the rule is. Because it used to be arms to body. Yep. And then they changed it to like if it's not on purpose. Yeah, right. Wack the ball and their hand on purpose. And there's some egregious ones over the past few years. It's like if you can't react, but you also just can't be like this.

Yeah. You can be standing like this. Sure, like if you're running, but. No, if my hand prevents a ball from going on net, that's a handball. Like, I don't care if I did it on purpose. Exactly. It's great. It's absolutely mental.

As, you know, I imagine you're a big clop guy. So something I'm always curious about, do you hate City or do you appreciate what they're doing? Because like you guys would have at least two more titles, if not for what cities. I saw this stat. There was, I think if you changed three games in the last, like in the club era, they would have had two more Premier League's and another champions. Yeah. Which puts them out five trophies. That's a crazy way to put it three games.

It's crazy. Because they've lost two city, I think the one year, which ended up winning by one point. And the next year was the same thing. Then obviously they lost to Real Madrid. I think they lost to Real Madrid twice in the finals. Technically, if you add another game there. That's three in Champions League. That would have been a little outrageous.

That one point season, it's like two of the best Premier League seasons of all time. I think that's what it is. 100 and something and 100 right behind. It's so shitty in those moments because you're like you want to hate PEP and city, but you're like, I mean, Pep's probably the greatest manager of all time. And like you see what money can do, but also you see what it can do in like Man United at the moment. Like Chelsea, now it's getting better, but you guys have bought more players than anyone in the history. Dude, they spend a billion dollars on players. But like you see, so Man City obviously can spend,

they spend the same, but all their hirings are done well. Like they, you bring in, like, the one year, okay, they bring in Rodry all of a sudden, like, oh, okay, well, now they can't lose. Yeah, right. Like, every player is brought in specifically for a job. They just don't see the new shiny toy. And like, oh, this guy had 26 crossovers in the Dutchly. Let's bring him in for 100 million. Yeah. So you're talking about Mikhailo Madra. Yeah. Him and, uh,

I'm like, that's like a ricket at Chelsea and Anthony for, have you noticed this? It's going on online, like on Instagram in particular, this joke that Anthony is like the greatest player of all time. Have you seen this? I saw something about,

I'm going to start. Early on when they first signed him that, that man, you thought it was a bargain and the I-X fans like, bargain. This is the best day in our lives. Yes. Like,

thank God you guys bought him. Dude, I'm going to start sending these to you. It's like, it's this bit that fans on Instagram are doing. they're like someone will post a video it's like you know man on the street interview and they're like you know top 10 footballers of all time and guys will you know name their their top 10 and all the comments are like where's anthony where's anthony how's anthony not top three and it's like

it's taken like wildfire but it fucking cracks me up every time but so obviously you become a huge football fan and it's now led into the mLS and you're a co-owner or part owner of the national team here and then we've got becks coming over and and starting a team in miami and bringing messy there. How fun has it been for you to just, you know, having been a lifelong fan, going to games with your dad and your brother. Now all of a sudden you're involved in the MLS and you're seeing the MLS growing. That must be awesome. Oh, for sure. It was, it was one of these moments, you know, when you, because obviously John Ingram, the main owner approached us if we wanted to be, you know, part of it. And I'm like, yeah, this is a no brain. And, you know,

like it's hard to, because even like talking to financial guys, it's a hard, it's not like you can see like, hey, we're going to get X amount in X amount of years. Like I was like, I don't really care. Like if this tanks in five years, you know, that was the best. What a ride. What a ride. Yeah. But I, yeah, so once we got that opportunity, I thought it was so cool just to kind of be a part of that.

And, you know, six months later, messy comes in. And we're like, oh, all right. And then fast forward a couple more months, Nashville plays messy in Miami in the final, the League's Cup who nobody cared about. Yep. Like they literally like were fans there. like do we have to go to these games early on because they like they weren't included in the yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah so then like we ended up beating someone and then beaten

Cincinnati I think early on which was a rival and it was on the road and they were number one yeah yeah yeah we're actually doing something we played a backup goalie who has a helmet like yeah yeah yeah yeah and he comes out and like saves I think two penalties in the Pk's and then we win against them and beat some Mexican team and it was just like a crazy ride and at this point it's quarter final and the whole city is like oh wait what's going on here yeah this is kind of cool we might win something and then you know messy ends up playing the final that was wild so so wild so 30,000 people like tickets were thousands of thousands of dollars and I mean you can go to the game probably if there

was a game tomorrow yeah right right 27 all yeah but that whole ride was so cool and playing like if somebody told me you'd see Leo messy live in national I'd be like what do you know what does he what is he doing yeah yeah exactly um what do you think it's going to take for you know because we're seeing it growing and growing but like do you think we'll get to a point eventually where the MLS is obviously maybe not on par with the prem, but like a better product that like really talented players are choosing the MLS over other leagues. You know what I mean? Yeah, I mean, I could see it happening for sure, just like the infrastructure of you, because at the end of the day, players you need, like you're not going to go to Leeds maybe if you're living in, like if you can go

to New York, you're probably going to go there. So that is in favor of the U.S. Rickash shot at Leeds. Yeah. I never been. So maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm wrong. But I feel like that part is here. And now like obviously messing, there's no better. ambassador for the league. And he brings basically like, hey, I want my buddies to come so they get broskets and Albaugh and Suarez now.

Remember that? It was so nuts. Like when he signed the Miami's Instagram went from like... Dude. I don't know if you saw this. It went from like 500,000 followers to 50 million in like two hours. The league, like the reports were like they were like and like we, he didn't even play here the first year

minus the final because he had already played them. That's right. But like that was it. So everybody was like, oh, dang, if it missed Messi, then happened to be a final that he came here. So that was, I do think that it's going to be hard just with the competition. Because if you go to like England, obviously soccer is by far the biggest. Same in Spain and Germany, you know, like. For sure.

But it's never going to get to that point. But it doesn't have to. Yeah, it's a good point. The U.S. has so much to offer anyway. Yeah, yeah. Pretty much every major city has a sport. Yep. Yeah.

Every sport. For sure. They all do well. Well. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. It's awesome that there are great U.S. cities now like Nashville, Austin, Miami that have cool MLS teams with great stadiums, good fan bases. It's awesome to see. Before we move on from football, are you aware of Victor Gilchere's? Dude, he's coming to the prime this summer. It might even be in January. Yeah. And I've been on this dude. I've talked to Juice about it a million times. I've been on this dude for like three years.

And the fact that now the world is being like, oh, he's nasty. And I'm just terrified. There's been like one game this year. He hasn't scored in. Yeah. Like not has scored. Literally. Yeah.

Yeah. And like including national team. I think he scored in all four of the games we've played so far. And obviously we're in the C nation league. So I play like Estonia and Slovakia. Yeah. But he's a weapon. And you know what kills me?

He would be perfect on Liverpool. Mm-hmm. It like it ruins me. Yeah. Because like I. Yeah. Yeah. We'll see now because Darwin Nunes is, I'm assuming this is his last, like last tour of

if he really turns it. around here. Yeah. So we'll see. I was so pumped when we signed him, but he just hasn't. Yeah, it's, it happens. He just doesn't score. Like he doesn't, he literally doesn't score. He just perhaps tough, dude. Yeah, it is. Oh, it is. Yeah, it is. Taking a quick break from the podcast to talk to you guys about our amazing BetMGM partnership. And I got a new one for you. I know you think CP, I've heard this ad read before. I already know the offers. Wrong, my friend. Very wrong. I have a very cool new offer for you, okay? And it's a Bet 10, get 200 in bonus. bets offer, okay? The promo code this time is AF 200, AF 200 when you're logging onto the

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Two summers ago, it's your first time you become an unrestricted free agent in your career and you signed the big ticket to stay. My question is, were there any other teams in the mix that you were even considering? or was it like, this is home, I love it here, I want to build something in this city. I mean, we never got to free agency. So, like, I signed obviously, I think it ended up being five or six days before. So I didn't have anything like concrete, like my agent, you know, like, oh, this team was like, this team would do this. But until, you know, it's official.

Yeah. Official, like, I'm assuming that nobody, like, it's not like I had any other deals. Right. Yeah. But there's, it's always that little excitement because, like, I mean, at the end of the day, you want to be wanted. Right. Yeah.

So like if you go on free agency, that's probably the biggest confidence boost you can get. You know, like I'd hope so. So flattering. Yeah, yeah. Right. It's either that or the complete opposite. You're not dating anymore. Like that's as close as you get.

Like all these people like me. Yeah, there's all these teams want to do all this thing. But at the same time, we like we wanted to feel that from Nashville. Yeah. And like we felt like, don't get me wrong. Like we always felt like they wanted to sign. But, you know, like, you want that. For sure.

You want it badly to be like, hey, well, we're leaving. They're like, all right. You don't want that feeling either, which I think it never really got to that. But, yeah, I mean, it's a great hand to be here. You know, like for Nashville, too, it's an easy negotiation. You know, the place, you know, the fans, taxed. Obviously, everybody knows for tax reasons. So it's a good spot to be if you're a GM.

Yeah, right. For sure, compared to some places. But obviously, the deal we ended up working out was awesome. Yeah. We didn't want to move at all, but we were also open to it. I'm not going to worry. If it would have had to happen, we would have been okay with it. But we love this place.

It's our favorite place. Like we're most likely, you know, retiring here. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. Is that a funny balance, the excitement like you just talked about, but also maybe being a little scared of like, oh, shit, like we might have to move our family and all the friends we have here. Yes.

I feel like that must be such a weird tightrope to walk. Oh, for sure. When you're like, this is cool, but also terrifying. Yeah. Yeah. Definitely. Because there's times when, you know, like negotiations go. Like, you go, okay, they want us.

Yeah. You can go. It's just up and down, up and down. Yeah. And that's, yeah, that obviously. There's days to when we're like, ah, you know, we're leaving. We're not going to stay here. And it's funny because, like, obviously, I, my wife is very level-headed when it comes

to everything. But in this, she's like, you know, like, they don't want to do this. Yeah, we're going. We're not staying here. And then they're- I love that, Aaron. Come on. Let's go, Aaron.

Because she's all team, me, obviously. She doesn't care about anything else. Like, she doesn't see any of the arguments. She's just like, no, this is the number. We're not going anywhere if this is not it. Yeah. And I'm like, all right. Well, sounds like we're going to go somewhere else.

Indivision rival. She don't care. Yeah. Yeah. So I think that was, because especially with the contract, like, obviously she gets, she understands. Yeah. But she's new to hockey. Like, she obviously grew up with anything with hockey.

Like, I taught her everything about hockey. Like, now she knows everything. Yeah. But it's, you know, and she's so passionate and so, like, wants the best, obviously, for me. Sure. Yeah. She's just like, in her mind, I should have been like 50 million a year. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, five zero.

which is like the best wife you can have obviously. 50 A.A.B. Yeah, exactly. And I'm like, hey, I love that about you. Yeah. You're like, Aaron, so this is, she's doing press conferences. This is what half-pice is called. Yeah.

So if we do that, you might have to play on my line. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Do you know how to skate? Because we're probably going to have to pull you in. We're down a couple. Yeah. Are you calling Ryan O'Reilly tell him he's cut or how does that work? Oh, my God.

So that was, it was a fun experience. Yeah. And obviously, like I said, it could not. It worked out any better just being in there, locking up and having. in that security. It must feel great, right? We're like, this is it, dude, let's do it.

Yeah, for sure. That's all. I feel like last season was such a crazy world, whirlwind for you guys. You know, you were a playoff bubble team. You get in the wild card. There's obviously that amazing U-2 story. And in 18 games, 16-0-2, most points in a stretch in franchise history. And then you personally, career highs, everything, almost touched 50 goals, almost 100 points.

What was that season like? Like, looking back right now, are you like, Jesus, that was a roller coaster? Yeah. Definitely. I mean, like I said, we were, I think we were five and ten in the first 15 days. And obviously, you know, a lot of new pieces, a lot of, and it's not like we were, we were playing all right, but it's like we'd lose, we basically beat ourselves. Like there's a lot of, like, not doubt, but a lot of like, I don't know if the system is working. Yeah. Because there's so many guys that came from, you know, like different places or we play the same system here for, you know, whether it was Lavillette or two Heinz, it was pretty similar.

But this was like night and day for every. Okay, yeah. Because just like that high flare. And we had a talented roster, but we weren't the Panthers. When Brunette won the, when they won the presidents, they had, you know, three lines. And they won six, five, and they lose six five, you know. And here we are, you know, Barry Trott started the trend, you know, when he was coach here. And then, like, with Lavillet was a little more offensive.

But then back to Heinz defensive. Yeah. And all of a sudden we're like, you know, night and day, you know, we're winning. We're trying to, like, outscore teams here. And it didn't really click right away. Like we'd lose, you know, like, maybe six goals. We'd score three, but it was six. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

We're like, oh, three, we used to win by three. Like, we scored three. We're winning. That was a dumb. Yeah. But I think that, so once it kind of, we almost had to like, doll it down a little bit. Sure.

So then we could bring it back up. And once we got better defensively, you know, get the goals down to three, four, two. Like, we have sorrows, obviously, you know, that's the goal in the world. But it didn't matter, you know, like, it didn't matter because we just gave up too much. But then we started tightening things up and we get more points out of it and guys started realized and it's like, oh, okay. And then. Once that was locked down, we can turn the page and start going, like playing more aggressive.

And that's obviously when things really came together on the second half. No doubt. I feel like you guys were such a case study in, you know, you go through that bad stretch, five and ten. But it's, you know, it must be a combination of frustrating, but also motivating knowing like, we're better than this. Because, you know, you've been on teams. We've all been on teams where you're like, you know, there's great guys in this team, but, you know, we don't have it. We're not as good as, you know, X, Y, and Z teams. But when you're in a situation like that, when you're losing, you have a losing record and you're like, we are bad.

better than this. It's how did you guys kind of push through going into that, you know, post U2 stretch? Because that's not a fluke, right? No, no. You guys got pee-wacked and it was like, all right, we got to be better. And then you were. Like, how did that happen? Yeah, no, but I think that it obviously looks, you know, night and day on the, yeah, on the paper from the outside. Yeah, like we lost and whatever and then we won 16 out of 18, but it was coming before that, you know, like we started there. Yeah. From the second half, I say from probably like even we were on a trip in November that was kind of like the end of our

you know, five and ten like that tough stretch. That's when we started realizing that we're like we're just losing too easy. Like it was too easy to beat us. Yeah. That's when kind of like and then it's not like you realize and you fix it the next thing. It doesn't work like that. So I think that was kind of the start of it and then it got

better and better and then by week and then we had those two bad. Yeah, we beat Arizona but it was bad. Yeah. We didn't play that well and then got yeah, shit kicked by yeah. New Jersey and Dallas. Yeah.

You too. No concept. Yeah. So I think that was good at the moment because the biweek, you know, by weeks are always, you come back and you're not really sure. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Everybody takes a game to get locked in. But we needed that almost like, you know, snap back to what we were building and then after that.

Yeah. Wait, wait, wait. Who of the boys was most pissed about the cancellation? Because I imagine there was a huge U-2 fan in that locker room that was like, yeah. Yeah. It's hard to say. I think everybody was more excited about the whole thing.

Like the sphere. It's a whole idea. I don't care about YouTube. What I know about YouTube is the song you get, the album you get on iPhone. Yeah. And I know every song by, like, I know every single song. Because sometimes I don't care to turn it off. I'm just like, you know, I listen.

And it's not bad. I kind of hate YouTube for that. Like Apple poisoned my mind. Because like when it comes on when I don't want to, like fucking God damn it, you too. Yeah. So like, and obviously, I'm assuming none of those songs would have been played. Yeah. Right.

But then I was thrilled about that, and we were going to play golf. You know, it was going to be, because we played, I think, Saturday in St. Louis. It was like a 1 o'clock start. So we're going to fly right to Vegas, do Saturday night, do Sunday, golf, and you two Sunday. And then practice Monday, play Tuesday. It was going to be like a nice trip. So it's like I was more sad about the whole thing being canceled because instead we just went home. I think we, we didn't practice Sunday, but we flew like early to Vegas, had an absolute rinse of a skating Vegas.

Yeah. And, yeah. So I think, like, I don't know who would have been the most, man. I think everybody was just, I mean, thrilled about that, you know, the whole view. Like, we had our golf club shipped out. Yeah. Our trainers might have been more pissed. Yeah, they were going to play, like one of our head and equipment guy, he's a massive golf guy.

So we're going to play. I can't remember the course, but one of that really nice course out there in Vegas. Yeah. And so now we popped in at like Monday afternoon instead. Oh, right. So he didn't even get to go. He didn't get to go. He didn't get to go.

He's like, I'm not playing shit. What the fuck? Set me out, you know? When you have numbers like that, like you did last year, what does that do for you coming into this year? Are you like, that's the bar now? Or is it just like, no, just keep building on what I'm doing? I think it's hard.

Like, you can't really put numbers. Like, there was one year I had four goals at Christmas, I think. Yeah, right. And there was my last, like, not this, that one I just signed. Yeah. Yeah. Coming out of my entry level and I was, you know, like, had a good. I'm out of the league.

Yeah. Well, basically, I like, I had a good, because I played, my first year, I was in the minors mostly, but we did burn a year on the contract. So, like, my second year was my rookie year on the deal. And the third year ended up being, you know, my second full year was my third year on the contract. So I was, you know, all right, God, perfect.

You know, we'll, you know, have a good year and back that up and four goals that. Yeah, sick. Oh, my God. Oh, wow. And then ended up with 33 or something like that because I scored, I think, 15 in February. It was something like ridiculous. Just got on a roll. And so since then, it's like, oh, you know what?

Just let's not focus on that. Let's just focus on playing. And I think that's the same thing now. there's obviously our team is you know on paper it looks better like our play certainly looks better and I think there's opportunity is is there to do it but at the same time if our team wins at we barely squeaked into the playoffs right yeah yeah so like we had a great run but we had to to get in like it's not like we were on a great run to win the conference yeah win the division like so I think that's more if I lose you know

10 15 points but a team wins absolutely like that's at the end of the day what we want to do yeah exactly and it sounds boring as hell What are you saying? Yeah. But that's like at this point of my career. Like obviously it was really cool to kind of get to those numbers. 50 would be awesome. Yeah.

Will. Will be awesome. Yeah, it would be like for sure. And I appreciate that sport. But it's like goal, scoring goals is just such a interesting thing because you like obviously our season so far. Like it's been proof of that. Like we played decent.

We could have scored a lot and we haven't. And then there's times when you, you know, you feel like crap and you have two goals. Yeah. Yeah. All right. Yeah. You know. And so I think that's, it's hard to focus on.

just that it's easy to get caught up in, especially when you're younger, like, don't get me wrong. There's times when I'm like 10 goals and like 10 games a row and I'm like, same thing you should. I'm out of the league. Yeah, yeah, right. Now I feel like I'm doing a little more good things. What do you do personally when you feel like you're in a rut like that? Like this season you were talking about right after the entry level of five goals at Christmas, what do you do personally to get yourself out of that?

At that point, I was probably just beating the head on the wall. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, like, you know, 20, 21, whatever I was then. But I think now it's like, like I said, I feel like I've gained more trust, you know, like playing all situations. I'm not on the penalty killed, but like I'm out there when we pull the goalie to score and to do. Yeah, yeah. I think those are things that I've learned to take a lot more pride in than I did when I first came in. Nice.

Just, you know, playing with O'Reilly and keep bringing that up. But just seeing all the stuff that he does, it's learned, like, he taught me so much. Yeah. Not that he, you know, do that on purpose. Just does his thing. But it's so contagious you can watch it and see. And, like, you know, there's a reason why he's done all the things he's done. on Cup champion teams in Canada.

And, like, yeah, it's really cool. Yeah, yeah. I'm not going to be him and you'll snap and draw and play a defense like that. But just being reliable defensively, I think that's something that, you know, like, there's going to be games, you know, like the other night. Like you don't score, but I try to, like, help the team, you know, be a factor and play in the game and just, you know, kind of contributing in a different way. Yeah, yeah. Block a couple shots, you know. I don't know about that.

Yeah, easy, easy. I'll try, but. We saw some funny articles about all you guys reacting to this summer. But what was that like when you're like refreshing the phone in July? And it's like stammer, marshy, shazy. Is the team group chat blowing up in that moment? Holy shit, we're doing it. I was in, we were in Georgia at Aaron's family's place.

And I'm at this gym, just some random gym that like I just Googled like gym now. Yeah, yeah. I was actually really nice. Guy was great who ran it too. But so I'm in there and just like get a, you know, text. from Schenner. I'm like, what's Schenner want? And he just like, stammer's coming. And that was at probably

11 a.m. Was it not announced yet? No, it was two hours before the deadline. So he, and I knew that it was like, they're obviously buddies and all that stuff. But then he texted like, stammer's coming. I'm like, hey, don't mess around. Yeah, yeah, this gotta be real. And he's like, yeah, he's signing, he's done. I'm like,

let's go. So I'm like, pump and iron. Yeah, he'll easier that. Yeah. Yeah. And then got home, you know, did my whatever. recovery, all that. And then it was like 1245. I'm like, oh, I guess we'll see. And then a couple deals always come out at like 12.50. Inofficially initial. But and then I saw like, like, Shea, I'm like, okay, perfect. Because we lost McDonough. We had to replace him with someone. For sure. And they went and got, you know, in my opinion, the best defend they're out there,

you know, available. And then I was like, oh, perfect. That's, like, we're laughing right now. And then like, 10 minutes later, Marsha. So I'm like, how do we get this guy too? Like, what are we doing here? Like, I was just waiting to see, like, who's been cut. Like, yeah, right. I got in my phone. I got a no trade. We're good. We're good for this year at least. Dude, I was actually in London, in England that day. So I was like, you know, I don't even know what time it was, but all that shit started going. And I actually broke the marshy one. Oh, yeah. That information got slipped to me. And I was like, what the fuck? Because I was doing the same thing. I was like stammer and Shea, holy shit. And then that happened. And I was like, oh, my God, dude. A nice little street source in London, London, UK. Someone knew. Some random guy in a pub was like, by the way.

No, but that, I mean, like, I can only imagine. You guys must have just been like, holy shit, dude. Yeah, that I'll start texting. Oh, yeah. Well, like, because it was, this is hilarious too, but the best part is Barry Trots. Text me, uh, or Factor O'Reilly. Yeah. And, uh, Yos in a group chat just before us.

And he's at the draft, I think. The draft was this day. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, it was like right. Yeah. I think he was like two days before. But he basically, this is like five, six hours after. So everyone knows.

Yeah. like he just drops hey guys signed and it says stamcoast marcizo she and then carrier because he had re-signed oh yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah and there was it just like that's the check yeah basically little information like hey just so you know i signed these guys yeah yeah yeah and we're all just like i was waiting to see like is somebody can respond to this or whatever yeah and then Factor and yos tech we texted in a group chat he's like what do we say to trotsy yeah so let's just pump him up and factor responded like hell yeah let's go great job or something like great job watch.

But it was such a thumbs up it. Yeah. That's like you guys are on that group chat a lot, right? That was just like a rant. That's the first time that's ever happened. Yeah, exactly. The first text. And it's just like nothing like, hey guys, just wanted to let you know.

Just like, hey guys, sign. And then a space and then a couple names. That is so funny. It's like a dad being like pumped up about something. Like sending your kids a text and you're like, way to go, man. It's exactly. We were like, perfect. Oh, that's fucking beautiful.

Yeah. All right, before we let you go, we want to play a game that we do with all our guests. It's called pass-shoots score. So basically this game is, we're going to give you a few things that we know are important to you, things that you might like, and you got to rank them. So pass on the puck's great, but shooting's a little bit better, and then scoring is obviously the ultimate goal. So pass is going to be three, two, one. Okay. So your first one is going to be restaurants.

Pass-shoe score, bourbon steakhouse, Jeff Rubies and Locust Oh That's a hat trick right there Yeah Yeah That might be the best answer we've ever

Yeah I mean if I have to I'm going to pass on Jeff Rubies Wow Oh okay I know But that is That is a really good spot though

I can't choose I know It's acceptable I think I might allow this This might be the first ever But I don't have it So different, like Locusts obviously very different to urban steak, but I know people both.

Like I know the main man at both of them. They're both phenomenal people, Max and AJ. It'll be a brace. It's a two goals. I like it. What are we ordering at both places? Locust is one of everything because the menu is so small. So like we usually get.

Is it kind of like a tapas vibe or is it like? It is shareable. It's definitely more of like a tasting menu set up. Got it. Got it. But the first time we went, we went with, yeah, Max, who's the guy who runs the place. And he basically is like, we're getting everything. Yeah.

Oh, okay, cool. Sounds great. Because we were four people, so it was sure to share. And so we get to the end, and there's this, what's it called? Shaved Ice dessert. I'm not a big, like, shaved ice fan. You know if you go order, like, the fair or stuff like this. Like, but this is the best thing I've ever had in my entire life.

And it's, it was like probably, it was the size of a loaf of bread. Yep. And they had a little, because they go, obviously, they run like him and his wife. They are there a lot. And then my wife had a little bit. And I ate the whole, I'm telling you, I ate like 12 slices of bread of the size of it. Yeah. And it was unbelievable.

Yeah. Are you just ripping it with a spoon? Yeah. Yeah. So it's literally just like some take a little bit. And then I'm like, you guys, are you get done? You're like, it's melt. I'm like, okay.

Yeah, yeah. Pounding it. And at bourbon steak, the tuna tartar. Oh. The pine nuts and pear. That one's an unbelievable appetizer. And then I almost always get the Snake River ribbi. I think it's a ribbi.

New York strip or something like that. That's a beautiful steak. Beautiful piece of meat. Just on the food topic, not a Nashville hot chicken guy. Not really, no. I'm not a spicy guy. I'm not a spicy guy. Don't get it wrong.

I love fried chicken, but it doesn't have to be. Well, it can get dangerous here, by the way. Because they're like medium. And I'm like, that's not medium. That's the hottest thing I've ever tased. Yeah, like the medium at Hattie B's is like, I'm a two minutes later. One to ten, like I'm zero.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, like no spice. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's fair, that's fair. Do you guys, do you cook a lot? Not anymore. I used to cook a little bit more. We don't go out a lot necessarily either, so I got nice. We heard you got a suvied, though. Oh, yeah.

Yeah, who told you that. Dude, don't worry. Don't worry about who told birds. A little suvita was what? Yeah, for Eilish game. Yeah. And Keen Harvey, they came over. They had a nice, yeah, I made some nice thanks for that, Mike.

That thing is it. It's a game changer, dude. You can do anything. One of the first dates with Aaron was I was going to cook dinner. Yeah. So I'm like, okay, perfect. I just learned about, it was Nick Bonino. He was a big food guy.

Oh, nice. He was here without a team. So he told me about it, so you got to get it. It's foolproof. Oh, dude, we'll see. So I tried, it's first time I tried it. Unbelievable. It's crazy.

And I just had an apartment. It was perfect. I put it in there for a couple hours and then seared it for a couple minutes each side. and I was like, I'm a chef. I'm a chef. It's like restaurant style. And yeah, since then we don't use it as well.

Because now I have a grill, so at the house. Now it's a little easier with that. But I... Still nice to mix it in, though. Yeah, that was first time in a while and it started out really well. Are you a burger guy? Try burgers. Dudeed burgers.

Couldn't believe it. Like our dad did it. And we were like, no, I'm not doing that. And then I was like, all right, I'll give it a try. It was unbelievable. And then just obviously a quick... Yeah, quick see it on the grill or. Yeah, yeah, I like the bars, so just the grill.

Yeah, just make it look nice. That's perfect. That's what I did with the stakes too. Oh, yeah. Amazing. Yeah, I've got to try that. Yep. Okay, your next category is fashion.

Okay? Pass shoot score. You're and Aaron's Halloween costumes. You're and Aaron's Christmas sweaters. Or the Robbie Fowler, Liverpool jersey you got when you were 10. I mean, if it could fit, it'd still be, it'd be very crop-toppy at this point. Do you have it? I'm not sure.

Sure, that's a good question. Yeah. I've got to go check that. I have so many things in my parents. And every year I come home and my mom's, hey, how about you clean out that closet upstairs? I'm like, I'm actually jammed. I feel like Felix needs to get that jersey, is all I'm saying.

Exactly. Yeah, so I would say that the Christmas sweaters are, actually they're pretty electric, but they'll be passed. Okay. That'd be passed. Robbie Fowler would be shoot and the Halloween would be scored. Even though we did disappoint ourselves a little bit last year with the, because, I mean, she was pregnant.

So it does. Yeah, yeah. But we were inflatable dinosaurs last year. We were actually here at this place. Yeah, yeah, yeah. And the tail is like nine feet tall. I was just like smacking around. Can you, I was going to say.

Inside info, what are you guys doing this year? Um, if it's a surprise, you don't have to tell us yet. It is a surprise. But it's a multi-couple thing. Oh, I can say. Your nightmare before Christmas was gas. Yeah, that was good. That was good.

That was good. Game of Thrones is probably my favorite. That one was the best because it turned out so well, like her hair and everything. Like it took like, it took, like, took way too long. Yeah. But she had,

yes, she had some hair. Dude, we're a huge costume, Halloween guys. It's, and like, I love it when you see the boys,

go all in. Like, it's really good. Yeah, we felt bad because we did that. We did the Space Man one, which was a very last minute, you know, like, spirit Halloween.

It's like, oh, we'll do this. But that's not us. We were very little more. Yeah, you got to go all in. I know. Okay. Next one's musical artists.

Mm-hmm. Pass shoot score. Your good buddy, Justin Bieber. Yeah. Bruce Springsteen. Uh-huh. Oh.

I respect Bruce, but I'm not like a diehard Bruce. Okay. So he'll be on pass. Okay. Beeps will be two and Cascada will be enough. Yeah, dude. Because she sang at the wedding too. Dude, I heard it was like an acoustic version.

You guys walked out. Every song is a heater. Yeah. It's unbelievable. So she, I don't know if this is public information either, but apparently she's coming here in the end of December. Like really? playing. Yeah, my wife, because they obviously are friends.

Yeah. So you'll be VIP for that one. Yeah, we did go to a show in New York. I think that was two years ago. That happened to be during biweek. Yeah. So we flew into New York for like two nights. Yeah, yeah. It's pretty cool. Like she's, you know, she doesn't play like super big venues. Yeah, yeah. Yeah. The place that people are there are going nuts. I was going to say, that might be a comeback out for that show. A hundred percent, dude, so I love that.

It was like early, right before Christmas, I think. I give you more details. Yeah, yeah. Sick. My college would be every day of the last day of school. We would play every time we touch, like as loud as we could because it was just so hype. And like he always listens to this pod, so he's going to hear this. But like we would literally every day, it was like, that song is like, I hear that song and all I can think about is the start of summer. Oh my God. It just fires me up every time.

Amazing. So, so good. That's so good. Okay. Last one. The category is moments with Aaron. Pass shoot score. Dave and Busters.

Your honeymoon in Dubai. in the Maldives or her first Midsomar this past year. Ooh. You guys are really... There's a bunch of hat tricks here. There should have been a bunch of hat tricks, but... I'm going to have to pass on Dave and Busters, even though that is...

We went there. That's where you met? First date or were you met? Yeah, first date. And we've gone every, like, our wedding anniversary. Oh, really? Do you that's fucking awesome. That's the course thing.

We went this year. Dave and Busters is fun every time. Yeah. I mean, it is. Like, you get it. in there and you're kind of like it's an adult parker a little bit and then once you start playing some games you're like I love having a blast you're right back yeah exactly I think that one and then midsummer was awesome that was really cool like having it there and see it all and we were

able to get pretty much all our friends there too which was good and it was one of the first because COVID obviously like right right right two years I think back there so we didn't go back but then this was like the almost like the reunion for everyone so it was really cool so I think that was extra big one basically yeah that was good I think that will be score. Okay. But the honeymoon was, you know, that was electric. I mean, that was just...

What's your favorite Mitzamar dish? That's a great question. Meatballs is probably the most, I have to say that. But there's just, there's a lot of good things. I like the eggs cut in half with the little like shrimp salad on top. Oh, yeah, dude. I'm a big Skagin fan. And then the Yorgoopstuta is like the best.

dessert I've ever had a friend from here that came with us and he one of our friends in Sweden she made a cake and it was like that but it was like meringue. Oh, sure too. So like they added that to it and we got home at like, you know, 3.30, whatever after, which is still, you know, it's yeah, yeah, right. Yeah. And he just pounded that rest that. He said it was the best cake you ever had. And so he ate probably, it was the same as the shaved ice. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So I think that, yeah, I would have to. Yeah, it's good. We did one a couple years ago, and the, um, people were loving the aquavit.

And it's just like, you don't, it's just a shot. Yeah. And like, people aren't thinking about it. Next thing you know, we're singing the song, taking your 10th shot, and everyone's buckled. Yeah. You're like, oh, yeah. You try the sill? Yeah.

Oh, yeah. Fuck yeah. Do you like it? I love it. But again, it's like, you know, I like it with the mustard sauce, you know, like that makes it a little bit better. Yeah, there's all kinds of different flavors. The standard, standard one is just literally like rotten fish. literally they put it in front me and I was like I'm not eating yeah yeah then there's like

the little juice it's in that yeah oh yeah and like that's like sitting out on the table and the sun it gets like really rank then there's like the crawfish one that tastes like blobster yeah yeah yeah like that one we get yeah that was good yeah I like um all right flip this was unbelievable dude thank you so much for coming on before we let you go is there anything you want to shout out anything you want to plug uh uh I'm not sure but if anything this is the start of the start of the Preds revenge tour

Come on Let's go Let's go Yeah I like it We can't stay undefeated So hopefully it's before and after

the MECD netters here So yes The Nettus bump is gonna be real I love that Bucan A All right Beautiful stuff

Awesome Thanks guys Thank you Thank you Thank you Yeah To flip Massive massive

You know it's funny We've always call him flip Yeah And I don't know if Everybody calls him that Yeah

But like When he gets here And I'm like Hey what's up Flip and he's like, hi. Yeah, he's like, okay. Is that what you're calling me?

Yeah, dude. But it's sick. And it's sick. And he didn't mind. Yeah. Huge thank you to Flip Forsberg. Absolute beauty. So good.

The Preds wagon starts now. Bang. Netters bump. Preds are about to rip off 16th straight. I believe it. I believe it in my plums, dude. Unbelievable. And that is it for us at this episode of the Empty Netters podcast, a smashing one

in D. Smashing one, chaps. We're going to. Keep ripping up Nashville. And until we see you next time, Skatehart. Pitches by Expedia. You were made to occasionally take the hard route

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