Good News York by Growth Mode Content - GNY EP.65 | Sitting Down with Professional Wrestling Champion, Gene Mills

Episode Date: July 15, 2025

Interview with Wrestling Legend Gene Mills on Good News York Hosts Matt Masur and Mike Brindisi from Growth Mode Content welcome legendary wrestler Gene Mills to their show, Good News York. The episode covers Gene’s impressive career highlights, including 1,356 wins, his Hall of Fame inductions, and his time as the event director of the NFL Alumni Association golf tournament. Gene discusses his wrestling journey, strategies, and training routines, and shares stories from his competitive days, including his experiences at the 1980 Olympics and insights into the wrestling world both domestically and internationally. Gene also touches upon his involvement with the US Wrestling Foundation and their innovative campaign featuring various celebrities who talk about how wrestling changed their lives. Additionally, the hosts discuss a variety of local news topics, including cooling centers in the Finger Lakes area, a plane crash in Florida, and upcoming events such as the Krockathon concert. The episode wraps up with a fun segment on quirky carnival games and vending machines. 00:00 Introduction and Guest Introduction 00:47 Gene Mills' Wrestling Achievements 02:43 The Origin of 'Mean Gene' 04:36 Starting Wrestling and Early Challenges 06:16 Training and Strategy Insights 07:51 International Wrestling Experiences 16:14 The 1980 Olympics and Foxcatcher 26:00 US Wrestling Foundation and Campaigns 36:40 Tuesday Newsday and Weekend Recap 39:08 Exploring TikTok Purchases 41:49 Backstage at K Rock: A Dream Come True 42:19 Memories of K Rockathon 47:40 Plane Crash in Florida: A Community's Heroic Response 52:47 Carnival Rides and Games: A Nostalgic Discussion 01:00:19 Lobster Claw Machine: Cruel or Fun? 01:05:55 Upcoming Guests and Exciting Announcements

You're listening to a podcast right now. Driving, working out, walking the dog. If you're into podcasts, chances are you have something to say too. With RSS.com, starting your own is free and easy. Upload an episode, and we distribute it to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and hundreds more. Track your listeners, see where they're from, and start earning from ads like this. Even with just 10 listeners a month. If you've been thinking about starting a podcast, this is your own.

your sign. Start free at RSS.com. You're listening to a podcast right now, driving, working out, walking the dog. If you're into podcasts, chances are you have something to say too. With RSS.com, starting your own podcast is free and easy. Upload an episode and we distribute it to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and more. Track your listeners, see where they're from, and start earning from ads just like this. If you've been thinking about starting a podcast, this is your sign. Start your new podcast for free today at RSS.com.

Hey folks, Matt Major from Growth Mode content. Welcome to Tuesday Newsday on Good News York, joined by the Hulkster Jr., I guess. Yeah. My buddy, Mike Brindisi. Hey, buddy. Yeah. And Mike, you got a fella.

Do we ever have somebody with us? Good News York, sponsored by Ads on the Go, get ads on the go.com. Bring to you a legend in the wrestling, not this kind of wrestling, in the real wrestling world. If you are a wrestling fan, you know who he is. Ladies and gentlemen, mean Gene Mills is here. And Gene, welcome to the show. And thank you so much for taking the time to come here. So a little quick backstory. The way I got hooked up with Gene was was we had Diana on from David's Refuge. They had mentioned that they were doing a charity golf tournament

and the NFL Alumni Association, the upstate New York chapter. They choose a different charity each year for their golf tournament, you know, proceeds to go to. And David's Refuge was that recipient. So I, the wheels started turning, and I thought, well, that would be great to shoot. And so we went and I shot some footage there.

Gene happens to be the, is it the head of the, what's the proper turn? term, the event director of the golf tournament for the NFL alumni association. And, you know, before we went, I like to do a little research and I typed in Gene Mills and holy hell, man, hmm, listen to this. I'm going to do this for you. Here's his record. 1,356 wins, 46 losses, one tie. New Jersey State champ, high school national champ, NCAA career pin record, 107 pins, two-time NCAA champ, four-time All-American, 1980 World Super Champion, 1980 USSR champion, 1980 U.S. Olympian athlete of the year,

National Wrestling Hall of Fame, Greater Syracuse Sports Hall of Fame, a coach, and yeah, the NFL alumni upstate New York. You're amazing, man. I mean, it is, what an unreal resume. This isn't even just like a local. No, no, no, no. His credits go around the world. Around the world, man. Gene, I've got to start by asking you.

You got the name mean Gene. How did the nickname come about? Do you like it? I should probably ask that. Well, yes and no. I felt like I got a bad rap. When I was wrestling, people thought I was mean. Wasn't mean.

You're actually the nicest guy I've ever met. Yeah, I would get on top of people. I would make them uncomfortable so they wanted to get pinned. And when they wanted to get pinned, I should have been a nice guy to pinning machine because I would let them get pins. True. That's a positive way to spin it. Now, again, I never wrestled,

but I'm friends with many wrestlers who, you know, don't have your resume, but did very well at Ithaca College and Cornell University. And one thing that people don't realize, because, you know, people that watch the entertainment wrestling, you know, every match usually ends with a pin. But is it true that in actual wrestling,

Pins are a tough thing to get, correct? Mm-hmm. Yeah. I know it's obviously a point system, but pinning is kind of a rare thing. So for you to have 107 career pins, which is your NCAA record, that was just college. That was just college. Sorry. Sorry, I apologize. He's going to pin me right on this table.

Did you, is this something that, does every wrestler kind of set out to, like, the ultimate thing, which, do you always want to get a, pin or is it something that as you're going if it prevents itself you go for it well i think that most people go out there to win sure and i didn't i went out there to beat the living daylights out of them and make them want to get pinned and then when they wanted to get pinned i would pin them and if they didn't want to get pinned i would change their mind so they wanted to get pinned so i you're amazing absolutely um amazing um so tell me how do you're amazing um so tell me how do you're amazing how to you're amazing how did it all start out for you? Like when did you start wrestling? How did you find your passion for it? When did you know you were like, whoa, whoa, I'm good at this and I love it? Well, I really didn't

start until I was a freshman high school. And I remember after about two weeks of practice, I remember going home for dinner and my father asking me, you know, so how do you like wrestling? And I was like, you know, I really like it. I think I'm going to be good. My father was kind of an instigator and he was like, well, how good is good. I said, well, I think I could be real good. He goes, well, how good is real good. I said, well, I think I could be the best. And he's, my father looked me at the eye, he looked me in the eye, he pointed his finger at me, and he's like, let me tell you something.

No matter how good you ever get to be, there will always be somebody better. That pissed me. So I was out, who proved my dad. That's awesome. Basically, I was a 4-foot-10, 88-pound butterball. And, I mean, I literally just. just went on a mission. That's, my mission was to crush, kill, and destroy.

Yes, and you did. It sounds like maybe your size was an advantage to that, right? Well, no, because I was, I was small for back then, the lightest weight was 98 and I was 88, so I got thrown around pretty good for period. But once I got the feel of what they were doing, how they were doing it, I started using their strengths to my advantages. So when they would push me instead of pushing back, I'm going to lose.

they want to push, I'll pull. They want to pull me, I'd push. And so I would always try to use their strengths against them. So there's definitely a lot of strategy involved. It's not just pure strength and things of that nature. No, obviously, no, strength. I mean, it can hide a lot of, a multitude of mistakes, but it's not going to ultimately make that decision unless, you know,

you're at the same level. You know, growing up, people always thought I wrestled or I was a horse jockey because I'm so short. You mentioned you were 410 or whatever it was. And all the wrestlers that I spoke to about you coming on the show, which they're going to be watching this and shout out to them. They are also kind of smaller guys. Is that a, how do, why does it seem like most wrestlers are kind of smaller guys? Well, I think they look smaller just because they're so wide. They're not just tall.

but if they were skinny, they'd look taller. Yeah, well, that's a good point. Rettlers usually are not, I mean, they get lean, but they're not skinny because they're usually buff. Ripped. I've said on this show many times, I always, I thought, you know, people say, you don't want to get in a fight with a motorcycle guy.

I've always said, you don't want to get in a fight with a wrestler. You believe that's true? Because I feel like you either have to knock them out while they're standing, Because once you guys get us on the ground, that's it, right? I mean, yeah. It's called done. It is called done. I got a question for you.

As we look at this resume, and we were talking about how you've competed all around the world. Are there different things about different places in the world that maybe surprised you? They do it differently in different countries, anything like that that really stood out as you made your travels? A lot of countries had different, I don't know, flavors, techniques, whatever. And so they would, you know, like one country might be known for just headlocks. And another country might be very, you know, disciplined and trying to get what they go,

leg laces and, you know, so it was good because you got to wrestle all these different styles. And overall, it just helped. So when I got to travel around the world, I think I competed in over 30 countries in the West. It was fun. Any favorite? You're listening to a podcast right now. Driving, working out, walking the dog.

If you're into podcasts, chances are you have something to say too. With RSS.com, starting your own is free and easy. upload an episode and we distribute it to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and hundreds more. Track your listeners, see where they're from, and start earning from ads like this, even with just 10 listeners a month. If you've been thinking about starting a podcast, this is your sign. Start free at RSS.com. You're listening to a podcast right now, driving, working out, walking the dog. If you're into podcasts, chances are you have something to say too. With RSSs, com starting your own podcast is free and easy upload an episode and we distribute it to apple

podcasts spotify amazon music and more track your listeners see where they're from and start earning from ads just like this if you've been thinking about starting a podcast this is your sign start your new podcast for free today at rssd com um my favorite was probably hungry okay and um especially when we'd go I'd always go to this place called Michiglton. You probably went there like 15 times. And we'd go to Budapest. And when we'd go to Budapest,

I would, back then it was communist. So I would rent a cruise boat. And it was back then it was a thing called disco. I don't know. Okay. Yeah, a little disco. And I would rent it. And then, yeah.

So for like 200 bucks, you could rent a boat. incredible all the amenities and you can invite as many people as you want it was kind of crazy mean jean the sailing machine i love that um not here partying on the danier ripman was all that was beautiful did you play other sports um growing up because you know do you think like today's young athletes um they need to dedicate themselves to a single sport in order to succeed at the high school and college level like what's your take on on on so many young athletes going all in on uh on one sport on a single sport because that's kind of a debate topic these days. It is a very debated topic. I'm a phys ed teacher. I've been a phys ed teacher for

years now and actually just retired last week. Oh, congratulations. I'll add that to the resume. Tired phys ed teacher. But we always try to preach to the kids to do three sports. You know, number one, it does give you a little break and you're usually working different muscle groups when you are doing different sports. And I mean, I think wrestling, can help with anything. I mean, the hand-eye coordination, it's pretty amazing what you're going to do to help other sports.

But I think it's good that they do that, but I don't think it means you totally go away from it. So what I mean by that is I encourage my kids to do football. So a lot of kids are like, well, I'm doing football. I can't ruffle. Whoa, whoa, whoa. Football practice got done it? Five. You know, we're going to go from seven to eight,

why don't you just come in and learn something because you can still make serious gains in any sport by still doing it a couple times a week. And that's what I'd like to see the athletes to do, you know, two, three days a week. You know, but some kids are like, nope, they're all in for one sport, then they're all in for the next,

then they're all in for the next. So they always get to this good, and then they never get great. I think you still need to do whatever your passion sport is. you need to do that kind of year-round, even if it's two, three times a week. And so I have a lot of kids to do baseball.

I'm like, okay, after baseball, I have some kids that come in and I'll still try and get better. Other kids are like, I can't, I had baseball today. What do you mean? You had baseball. Yeah, but now it's 7 o'clock.

There's more hours in the day. I mean, you don't want to get better while I do it, but I'll do that when a season come. Okay. So kids, I don't think kids understand. Is that a generational thing, or you mean it's always been that way? Like is it the newer generation, the younger, you know what I mean?

Well, that's not. There's two letters that I think explain the younger generation. I think the first letter is lay. Last one is Z. Lazy. I got you. Okay. And it's, yeah, they're always looking for excuses.

So, but when the season comes, you know, they're going to be wondering why they didn't win. And, you know, offseason stuff is optional, but so is winning. Well said. That's fair. So what was your pre-matched mindset and routine? What was your day-to-day training?

What did that look like leading up to the conference and national championship? Conference finals and national championship. Well, my biggest thing is I used to go out there to wrestle. A lot of kids go out there and they want to be strategic and they want to get the W and they don't want to lose. And they don't want to lose.

and they don't want to lose. I never thought of it. I went out there to go, go, go, go, go, go, go, until they couldn't breathe anymore. And wrestling has a lot to do with, you know, your cardio. Yeah. You know, and if you can push somebody and you can get them to gas out, no matter how good they are, you can turn them into a list. Just got outlast them.

Oh, yeah. That's right. I mean, I remember I asked U.S. team coaches if I could, I want to go 1.30. The rest of those two-time Olympic champ. And they're like, oh, nobody can beat that guy. I'm like, I can beat the guy. And I said, give me a minute. And I will have him so tired

to be able to breathe. And I said, give me 90 seconds. And I will push that guy so hard. And after 90 seconds, that guy was done. Wow. Toast. And it was only 4-0-0. He would beat me 4-0.

And I'm like, how am I not going to come back and beat this guy? So it was like, br-dr-you know. It's like, I scored like seven points and then he takes it. So I think I know, I think I know what you're talking about because this was a question that one of my buddies wanted me to ask you.

It's 1981, you're in the EIWA championship at Princeton. You're wrestling Bobby Weaver, who's known as your kind of your arch rival, right? We were just a Olympic team. Oh, well, that's very nice. You get put on your back. You go down 5-0 to start the match. Nope.

4-0? He took me down, let me up, put me down. My friend set me up for failure with this question. No, no, but he would beat me, 6-2. Okay, so what's going through your mind? Like, as an elite athlete, how do you overcome that adversity in the moment? I mean, you're down what you said 6-2. What goes through your head at that moment?

That was the first minute. That was the first minute? Wow. So that's what you're talking about is just sticking in it. Yeah, and then when I was like 27 to 6, I wasn't worried anymore. Yeah. What's there to worry about? We were good friends.

I think we both knew who was going to win. I mean, that wasn't an issue. But he kind of caught me off guard. And the first minute of every match, every match, if they were halfway decent, I would be losing after the first minute. Big deal. I didn't care because I knew my cardio, I knew my mentality. I knew I was going and going and going until I was going to make them fold.

I was going to make them quit. and I was going to make them say, I don't want to be hearing. Does that maybe give him a little bit of false sense of security? Yeah, and he was a friend of mine. I mean, you know, when he scored that last take down to go up to 6-2 and let him know,

the party's over. I love what this guy knows every detail of these matches. No, you don't. The year I was born, this is awesome. I find, like, you get interviews with NFL players that haven't played in 30 years, and you can go, Tell me what happened in that Raiders game in 1971 and they'll rip off.

Yeah. You know, you just, you don't forget that. That's amazing. And it just shows you how much the mental aspect of athletics is so much, not more important, but just as important as your physical condition. I mean, every story you're telling, it seems like you're like, I didn't care. Or I had my focus on that. And I just think that mental toughness is so, so important in anything you do,

but especially in what you did. Now, you were part of the 1980 Olympic team, but that was the year we boycotted the Olympics because of the Russia thing there. Does that, is that something that... I mean you get a goal by default? Yeah, well, that's a great question. But also, was that something that you look back on

and you're angry or upset about or you just wish it could have happened or is it water under the bridge, it is what it is? Well, I wish it could have happened. I had wrestled the guys, the top four guys in the Olympics that year. And the guy who was fourth in the Olympics, I was beating 15 to 2 within a minute before I pinned. The guy who was third, I was beating 27 to 2,

second period when I pinned him. Guy who was second in the Olympics, I was beating 24 to 3. When I pinned him, and in the Olympic champ, I beat three times. And one time, second period, I scored 14 points in like 50 seconds before I pinned him. I mean, it wasn't like there was anybody out there. You're listening to a podcast right now, driving, working out, walking the dog. If you're into podcasts,

chances are you have something to say too. With RSS.com, starting your own podcast is free and easy. Upload an episode and we distribute it to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon Music, and more. Track your listeners, see where they're from, and start earning from ads just like this. If you've been thinking about starting a podcast,

this is your sign. Start your new podcast for free today at RSS.com. You're listening to a podcast right now. Driving, working out, walking the dog. If you're into podcasts, chances are you have something to say too. With RSS.com, starting your own is free and easy. Upload an episode and we distribute it to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon music, and hundreds more. Track your listeners, see where they're from, and start earning from ads like this.

even with just 10 listeners a month. If you've been thinking about starting a podcast, this is your sign. Start free at RSS.com. I'm saying you won the goal. Yeah, pretty much did. Yeah, but we didn't get to go. So I joined that long list of billions of other people on this planet called Shoulderwood, it Coulda Club.

Yeah, well, I think we're all part of that in some way. Now, I know the movie Foxcatcher was an incredible movie, which kind of centered around that that era you know did you were you training at that facility no i would he he would uh he would send the lyrid up to pick me up and go down and teach him wow they'll take me from the airport to the compound but um no i wouldn't wrestle for him i told him why and said i don't mean to sound rude but i told him i felt like i was my soul to the devil and if you watch the movie you were right yeah and i don't I, you know, I'm somebody who will call a spade to spade.

I didn't, I was not very comfortable when I was around them. And I told him I would not wrestle for him. And he offered me a lot of money. And I wrested for the New York Athletic Club. And I was kind of, you know, I didn't make a penny with New York Athletic Club. They paid for my flights, my food, my hotel. I was good with that. But I would have had that with Foxcatcher and a lot of money.

but I was not comfortable. I respect that so much. Yeah, you followed your heart and what your gut was telling you and your morals and your and my loyalty. And your loyalty, yeah. You know, so New York A.C. was always good to me and the people were great,

and I'm not going to do that for money. When that movie came out, that was a big movie, a credible movie from my point of view. Was that something that you were able to watch or is it something you were like, I don't know if I want to see that? And if you did, was it accurate? Well, it was hard.

Was it accurate? No. I was actually in the movie. You were in the, oh, you were like in the film? Yeah. Oh, yeah. I don't know, I don't know if you remember when Channing Tatum did the backflip after he won't. Yeah.

Oh, I was the referee. Oh, that's amazing. I did not know that. Oh, that's fantastic. But you said it wasn't accurate. What parts of it weren't, weren't? Well, there were a lot of little things that they changed. So they actually asked me to come because Mark Schultz, when he was talking to Bennett Miller, the director, he asked if I could play me in the movie.

So the one part where Mark had to lose 12 and a half pounds and 90 minutes. So he's on the bike and he's, yeah, they're just like pushing him. So after Mark was sitting on a bike in 45 minutes, Dave came running into the Pensacola Athletic Center down in Pensacola, Florida. And I was yelling for me, yelling for me, Gene. I'm like, what, he goes, Mark's 12 and a half pounds over, and he's got 45 minutes, he's not doing shit, basically. So, yes, and he said you're the only person he'll listen to. So I ran out there, and I started talking to him.

And next year you know, we had this puddle of sweat underneath. I actually have pictures of the real life. Wow. And he lost 12 and a half pounds in 45 minutes. It was. Yeah. It was kind of like a rocky scenario. What?

At first, there were like six or eight of us. And I'm like, come on, Mark, dig it, dig it, dig it, dig it. And then back then, so he was 180 pounds. There's 198, 220, 285. So as those weights get done, you have 90 minutes to make weight, but 198 gets done, you know, 220, 285. Now people are leaving it. That's called athletics.

So as I'm screaming it now, dig it, dig it, digger, dig it. I was getting them on a lot. a bike and I told him we were going to go 30 seconds as hard as you can. 30 seconds as hard as you can 30 seconds. I was doing 50.10s not telling them. We didn't have much time. So as we're doing it, you know, I've got him with his head, he's going as hard as he can. I'm going like this to the crowd. Next thing you know, there's 20 people. There's 30 people. There's 50 people. Next thing, you know, I got 150 people. And I've got all these people cheering Mark on to make weight. and so he wanted to kind of recreate

for the movie and then they just Mark Rufalo ended up just doing something which look from a production standpoint they should have went with what actually happened

because that scene was very intense and it was amazing your point of view from what really happened was actually I think they did themselves a disservice it was way better that's amazing it was pretty cool

and then at scales like when we got on the scales, you know, we've got them, we dragged them to the scale. You know, had to wighting down the towel, and he got on there, and they had the thing turned the other way, so I couldn't see it. And there was like, all you hear is, holy shit, oh my God, I can't believe it. Point three. And he broke down crying. He was under by point three. So he thought it lost 12.2. Wow. It was pretty emotional. He broke down crying, and then, you know,

He was really happy that he did it. And it was pretty cool. And then he had to go out and wrestle after that. Yeah. So I just got to ask you a question because I'm not versed in this world. So you do something like that. Obviously the weight you're losing, like you said, it's sweat. It's all liquid, right?

So you're basically sort of dehydrated at that point. After they weigh you, can you start drinking some water again? Yeah, once you're officially weighed in. You're not necessarily going into the match dehydrated. You can kind of get to where. Okay. And we waited in the night before back then. Now they weigh in the same day.

So like, I used to cut a lot of weight. Yeah. Well, I remember in high school in the 90s, a lot of wrestlers would chew tobacco all day. And a lot of the teachers and coaches would turn a blind eye to it because they knew they were trying to make weight for that night. Was that something that was just where I'm from

in Herkimer, New York? Or is that something that was in the wrestling culture? Is that what the idea was? No, you lose water weight from spitting. It creates saliva, so you spit it up. I see. If you fill a bottle, 16 ounces is 16 ounces. It was a 16 ounce.

Yeah. So it was something in wrestling culture, yeah. Well, we used to chew gum. Okay. Back then they had this sour gum. You do it. And you spit up and could fill up a water bottle of saliva, that's a pound. That's wild.

I'm going to vomit. I know when I came to college, you know, some guys on a team were doing tobacco. Yeah. Yeah. It was real nasty. One more question for me, at least, and we'll talk about the wrestling foundation. I'm wearing a Hulkomania shirt, all right?

And, you know, listen, I grew up in a great era, and I used to love that as a kid. And in some ways, I still watch it. My son's into it. What, from someone who's as decorated as you are in the actual sport of wrestling, what was the, I know everybody's different, but what was the general consensus towards that? Was it like, oh, it's cool. It's fun. Or were you like, why are they doing this? They're kind of tarnishing the name of wrestling.

Well, it does kind of put a negative impact for the rest. Because with the U.S. Wrestling Foundation, we do surveys throughout the country. And when we survey all these kids and families and throughout the country, and they're like, well, we don't like when they smash the chairs over their head. It seems violent. I'm like, are you? Oh my God. I mean, people don't understand.

I mean, there's, there's wrestling, and then there's entertainment. Yeah, it's a big difference. It seems like they should have come up with some kind of different term for that. You know, looking back, you know, as an adult, absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, I guess at its core, it's supposed to be a little bit of, I would say, wrestling inspired. Yeah. But not enough to where it should really share that name.

Radically different. I don't know. It's like if someone came in. and they said, I'm a podcaster. And you find out they just sit on a CB radio all day. You're like, that's not the same thing. I guess men's soap opera doesn't sound quite as cool. But that's what it was.

It's literally what it is. So, Gene, this is incredible. First of all, obviously, we've been over your resume, talking about your wrestling career, got into coaching, PE teacher. You're part of the NFL Alumni Association, if you want to talk about that. You're the head of the upstate New York chapter.

But you do a lot with the U.S. Wrestling Foundation. I want to talk about that a little bit. Tell us about it. Well, one of my buddies, who was the executive director of the U.S. Wrestling Foundation, Jack Clark, he had a vision of doing these posters and sending them to every high school in the United States. But he didn't know. So, you know, I like the idea. So he was saying, you know, like, what if we got a Super Bowl guy?

Before I won a Super Bowl, I wrestled. before I had a worldwide fashion brand, I wrestled. Before I made it on the big screen, I wrestled like Mark Rufalo. So we got a bunch of guys like Chris Pratt, Mark Ruffalo. We got a bunch of NFL guys. We got a Joey Musgrave who wrestled at Syracuse and went up in space seven times, before I went in the outer space. Wow.

And then I remember when I called Mark Ruffalo, I answered the phone in the background. I heard some guy yelling, what are you doing? And he's like, hey, when Eugene Mills goes, you answer. Nice. And I'm like, Mark, what's going on? He goes, he goes, you know what? Like 30-some years, I've never yelled cut in the middle of a scene.

I'm like, you're filming right now. And he's like, yeah, I said, you killed gut and metal singing for you yeah he said I got so excited when you were calling coach though that's you know I feel like an asshole because Gene called me last night

and I was like I was in the middle of like dinner and I saw it and I was like I'll just call him right back Mark Ruffalo cut a scene in a movie to talk to you and my stupid ass didn't pick up the phone when you called that's why he's a superstar and you worked for a pocket I guess that's a good point Matt and depressing uh Gene that's that's uh

Absolutely amazing. So regarding the U.S. Wrestling Foundation, what do you guys got going on now? So we're continuing to do that. And we're trying to get, you know, celebrities before I did whatever, I wrestled. And, you know, we've got one guy who was a two-time world champ bull rider. Before I wrote a raging bowl, I wrestled. And I'd be a guy who won the idea I did around six times, who was a, you know, a wrestler in the U.S. from the nationals. Before I won the Iditarod, I wrestled. When you take that sled, dog sled,

1,600 miles across Canada. You won that six times. I don't know. It's just cool. And so people are looking at this saying, oh, wow. They did that before they wrestled. So it builds interest,

and we ask every high school coach in the United States, please do not put in your wrestling room. Put it in the gym, put it in the cafeteria. Put it in a hallway. Put it where the rest, you know, people besides wrestlers will see it and maybe you'll draw interest.

So when we crushed it going, you know, with our goal raising participation numbers, 3% a year for the next 10 years, you know, 100% in two years and 32.8 for men, and 100% for women, we just crush the numbers in it. You know, it was a very expensive thing, but we did a lot of great promotion and fundraising in order to be able to make 13,000 posters times 10 posters a year and send in every high school

in the United States. Unbelievable. Yeah. All right. Is that a campaign that's still going, Gene? Yes. Wow. So, yeah, if you go to wrestlingchangeslives.com, let's wrestle or hashtag let's wrestle.com.

there's all those posters up there i don't want to i don't want you to have any competition here but i feel like you've stumbled on a jill brilliant campaign here for for any sport looking for some attention is really just you know highlight some of the superstars and what it could do for you it's brilliant it is it is uh it's great to see that those uh big names were also able to step up for you and you know originally when you were talking about it i thought it was just a you know a general ad campaign. You should wrestle. It's fun, you know. Right. I didn't realize that you had the celebrities involved and you got that sort of endorsement that really showed them the path.

Well, and on all's posters, we have a QR code. So kids can take their phones and put the QR code. And it will be a video of them and saying how wrestling helped change their life. Wow. And how it helped them be successful. And it's amazing some of the stories that some of these people have. What a brilliant idea. It is. We got to get you out of here, I know, but I just have a couple lightning round questions, because I have so many things I wanted to

ask you. Quickly, in your era of U.S. greats were competing today. Who do you think you'd be wrestling on a live pay-per-view event? Who would I be wrestling right now? Yeah, would you be? Who'd you be going for? You mean against the current guys? Yes. From this year? Yes, brother. Well, the latest weight is one. 25.

Okay. Back then. It was 110, right? They had 105 and a half, 14 a half, 145. 15.5. No, because it's kilograms. Yep.

10 kilos. So I would have been 57. So I would have to go against Spencer Lee. Spencer Lee? Spencer Lee is a, look out. He's, you know,

he's a phenomenal competitor. He's tough. What do you think of Kyle Dake? Because Kyle Dake's a, Kyle Dake's a big name. I live in Ithaca, so, you know, he went to Cornell. He's phenomenal.

Yeah. I mean, a lot of people don't realize that he moved up 30 pounds this year. Jesus. Because he didn't want to make his weight for the Olympics. It was a hard cut. But if you go up one weight class, that's not an Olympic weight. So for the World Championships, there's 10 weights. For the Olympics, you have the first weight, the third, the fifth, the seventh,

It's like it skips every other weight. And so that that weight is not an Olympic weight. So he went up. That's a 30 pound difference. So he went up and he was given up phenomenal size. So he did not make the team this year. But is he great? Absolutely.

He's phenomenal. Man, if he had trained with you, he could have gained 30 pounds in 45 minutes. Less than that. Last question. What was your, I mean, your accolades are insane. do you have a proudest moment? I mean, I don't know how you pick,

but what do you remember? Was there ever a moment where you're like, wow, like this is the moment where I feel like. Well, I mean, I was proud. I won the most outstanding wrestler at the NCAAs, which is basically the, what are they called? The SB's? Like Ernie Davis.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I won the Heisman of my sport. I won the Outstanding Wrestler Award at the World Super Championships. Wow. And I won an Outstanding Wrestler Award and the hardest tournament in the world called the Tbilisi tournament in Russia. Yes. And the reason that was the hardest is because back then you had one person representing the USSR. It's a big country.

Yeah. And in that tournament, you had the top three guys in the country from Russia, the top three guys in the country from Georgia, the top three guys from Ukraine, the top three guys from Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, all the other stands. I mean, you got the best guys in the world. And like we had Olympic champs go over there and they would go over there and they'd get like seven matches and get pinned all seven times.

Because you're wrestling the best guys in the world. Back then, if you had a guy from Russia and you didn't get them to like fourth, fifth or sixth round, they were not in shape. The Americans were always in shape. So if you can get them at the end, they were easy to be. Wow.

You know? So we'd have. you know, three, four Olympic champs because we were in such good shape. But then when I wrestled, I was a fifth American to ever win it in 22 years in a row.

Wow. So, and then I just kind of set a world record. I just must be in everybody like 20 when I penned them, except the world champion in my life. Well, Gene. Incredible. You're, can I just point out, because I've been admired,

this guy, not only is a world champion, but he's also got some incredible style. And I just been noticing you, he's got Syracuse colored glasses on. I did notice that when you sat down. Those are so awesome. I just love the blue and orange glasses. I don't know. I, dude, I'm glad.

I thought about saying something. And I was like, that's not relevant. I'm not going to say it. But I was admiring those glasses. And he's got the circus shirt. Stylish and representing. This has been not only, not only an incredible interview, but you have done a great job of making Matt and I feel like we are losers.

Because we don't, we can't compete with this resume. Yeah. You're absolutely amazing. Give us before you go the plugs. What websites, anything for yourself or the foundation? Well, for the US Wrestling Foundation, there's US Wrestling Foundation. There's US WrestlingFoundation.com. Wrestling Changes Lives.com.

And then I work with the NFL alumni, so it's NFL alumni. But you have to upstate NY chapter, New York chapter. And with that, we try to raise. to raise money for charities and, you know, in upstate New York. You're amazing. That's awesome. Gene, thank you so much. Gene Mills, thank you for coming on Good News, York, sponsored by ads on the go,

get ads on the go.com. And you're a legend, man. And we wish you the best of luck. And anytime you want to come on the show. Yeah. And we actually can't say no because you'll pin us. And if Mark Ruffalo cut a scene. That would actually be a great episode.

So let's. What if we did a scene where he just walks in middle of the show? and he just lays us out right here. Bam! Right on the table, right? Amazing. All right, Gene Mills. He's a legend.

For Tuesday Newsday, Tuesday, Newsday coming up next. We are. It is good news. York, sponsored by ads on the go. Get ads on the go.com. Mike, Brindisi, and the great Matt Major, the leader of the kingdom. Matt, it is Tuesday Newsday.

It is. I think I have one or two stories. But we have so much more to talk about because we didn't we didn't shoot an episode yesterday Um, so we have a you know, lots of catch up on on the weekend. Well, first things first, I posted something, a funny thing on the weekend. First things first on the realist. That is a, what's her name? Okay. Um, so over the weekend, does this ever happen to him? So my wife and I, you know, we're home and it's Friday and I said, all right, hey, what do we got going on today? We got this, this and this. What do we got going on Saturday? We got to go here. We got to go to this.

What's going on Sunday? We have nothing, baby. High five. That's amazing. Because I told you, I'm at a point in my life where I just don't want a day off. I want a day off with nothing to do. Yeah. Well, Sunday morning rolls around. We get to about 9.30 in the morning. She comes out and gives me the old. What do you think about rearranging the basement? I went here, we fucking go. Next thing you know, we're knee-deep in purging the kids' toys, moving furniture around.

Now we're moving a foosball table into storage and it gets stuck in the doorway. I've got to find tools, take the leg off. Why does this happen? Do you think it's like women unnecessarily mean it? Or do you think they go, I'm...

Like, because I'll be honest, from my point of view, I don't think my wife meant like, she wasn't like, I'm going to get him. It's a day off, because she wanted a day off too with nothing to do. I think it's like she can't just sit still. Do you just say no? No.

Well, no, I mean, I could. And she would be fine with it. But I guess the sad part is I really, I was kind of like, that is a good idea we should do that. I just didn't know we were really going to like do it, do it. I don't know. It's one of those where you get tricked into a massive project. Yeah, basically.

With shift boxes around for 15 minutes. Next thing you know, it's five hours later. Correct. And that is what happened. And I'm happy because, you know, I go down there now and I'm like, okay, it looks great. But anyway. You want to come clean my basement? I will.

For you, buddy, I'll do anything. There's not much done. I bought this off. I bought my first. So you know how you've been getting me onto the TikTok shop stuff you've been talking about? Yeah, buy Chinese. Yeah, I did. And my wife hates this, but I love it.

So it's a hand. Okay. and comes with a remote, and you stick it to your window. Oh. And so, look at this. I can do a waving sign, or if someone pisses me up, I can give them the finger. Wow. Or you can give them, like, the horns.

Like, yeah, rock on. Brother. So I'm very excited about this purchase. Have you seen this? Does it work? Well, I haven't tried it yet, actually. I really haven't. Let's try it.

I charged it all last night. It would make for a better bit. Well, strike one last night, I, uh, I charged it and it did not charge fully. Well, no, the light didn't turn on to turn green to know it's fully charged, but charged for like eight hours. There's no way.

Tell me it doesn't work. No, it works. All right. Hold on. Anyway. So my daughter goes, oh, I have the battery in backwards. My daughter goes, dad, I've been seeing that on TikTok. People have been getting arrested.

Bro, what would you mean you charged this? There's like a USB There's a fucking empty battery No, no, no, no, watch Fuck Oh, wait It needs batteries But it made me charge it

USB It does have a USB port I'll give you that And it says it changes to green When it's fully charged I think they intend you to use Maybe rechargeable batteries or something No, because I plugged it in

And the light was orange And I was waiting for it to turn green And it never did And I'm like, well it's been You can just plug it in Here And then listen tablet right here and see if you can make it work.

What? USB. Hold on. Stand by. Okay. Okay. So maybe it's got it. Let's see what happened.

Whoa! Yeah, so you can plug it in. Hello. But I think you otherwise need batteries. Fuck you. So you could like plug it in the car. It's not charging. It's just a power cord.

So that would be why I never saw the green light. Correct. After charging it for eight hours. Okay. Well, anyway, my question is, Where do I put this? Do I do it on the back window side? I think that's typically. Yeah?

Yeah. Okay. Good to know. And I'll let you know. My daughter said there's people on TikTok getting arrested for them because they're driving distractions. I mean, I drive to Syracuse Monday through Thursday. So, and there's a lot of assholes. So I'm probably going to be using it.

Wanted to let you know, we are officially getting backstage credentials for the K-Rockathon baby. Yeah. Oh, yes. We did it. We did it. We are next week, I believe. Jet media creds. We have legit media creds. We're going to be baking them. We're going to be doing an episode of Good News York at the K Rockathon. Candlebox is going to be there. I forget who else. But we're going to be backstage, buddy. And that's a bigger deal for us than people think. Because when you were growing up in the 90s in upstate New York, you know, especially your teenager. Dude, for me, K Rockathon was my Super Bowl every year. We would load up the car or in your case you saw us. We got a U-Haul and put furniture in the back. I used to sneak backstage at all the K rockathons. I remember I told you I made fake backstage passes online

and I would hand out my demos of whatever music project I was involved. I was on tour buses. How'd they work for you? No, not great. I'm here. I mean, I didn't get signed at the time. But I'm glad I didn't, to be honest. But yeah. It is the Sweetgrass K Rockathon reboot Saturday, July 26th,

and Chevy Court at the Great New York State Fairgrounds. Oh, yeah. There's going to be nothing more, candlebox, drowning pool, which incidentally, last time I was at a K. Rockathon, I saw a drowning. That was the last Krakathon. Alien Ant Farm. A lot of alien at farm. I opened it off.

It's going to be a great time. You can go to K.rockathon.com to grab your tickets. This is going to be a good time. Caracathon is like a, it's like just a local. It's just, I don't know, staple. Yeah. And look, I. This is the reboot.

They're bringing back some, some classic things. They have a very vintage 90s computer look to their, their theme. Yeah. Which I have to love. You have to love it. It's awesome. Which we should post that, we'll post that picture with it. Of course. Yeah.

So definitely grab your tickets. It's going to be great. I'm very excited. I got to dig up. all the old footage on my 8mm tapes of me backstage. Honestly, the last K Rocketthon I went to was with drowning pool and it was the original singer who died of a drug overdose. I remember,

that was the one you and I are at together. We've talked about this. Is that the one? Yeah. And he ran across coming off stage. I was on the side of the stage taping. He ran by and slapped my hand so hard. And it felt like it caught on fire.

Did it almost make your body hit the floor? It did. And we opened for Alien Ant, Farm at the Lost Horizon, my band did years ago. One of our last shows, we opened for Alien Ant Farm. I really like them. As well, we were talking about this yesterday, Candlebox. Candlebox is a band from the 90s that I feel like might be a little underrated.

They are very under. Spectacular talent. Great music. Through people, mutual friends, I'm actually friends with the singer on Facebook, but I don't know him personally. I saw Candlebox in 1996. They opened for Aerosmith at the Pepsi Arena in Albany. The first time I saw them.

And they were great. But yeah, you're right. Candlebox is a great band. Phenomenal band. And we're going to get to see them. Yeah. On the 26th at the Sweetgrass K Rockathon reboot, right at the Great New York State Fair,

Chevy Court. I think you'll find. You don't necessarily even have to know where Chevy Court is. I feel like if you just pull up to the fair, there's the old guy that sits in the booth. And for some reason, no matter how big the event is, you're still supposed to stop and say hi to the fella. Like, hey, I'm going to the giant event here.

Okay. And he acts surprised. Oh. Like, oh, is that what this whole line? But no. I love things at the fairgrounds because you got all the room in the world and you can have a great time. So I miss, you know, my fondest K Rockathon, I guess venue is I loved when it was at Vernon Downs. That was my absolute favorite.

It was the best. I did the weed sports speedway. That was cool. but Vernon Downs Something about it Maybe just because that was the OG Maybe Maybe but

Yeah maybe it's regency bias If that's the thing Local to us at that It was local to us damn it Also this weekend We've got Mafia Khan For you Bill's fans out in Buffalo Bill's Mafia Khan

And remember we went to We went to Clovers and Skinny Atlas We shot an episode I thought those men in suits were here For a different reason No We went to Clovers and Skinny Atlas And if you remember, I'm a huge Metallica fan

I was looking for Jason Neustead Jason Neustadt is performing this weekend I wish I had more details I probably should look at no, not a Clovers But either in Skinny Atlas or around the area I believe it is in Skinny Atlas Not in his own backyard, it's somewhere He's performing Friday and Saturday night

It's two different shows So I might go to that He heard that you were looking for him around town and he's like, I'll show this, dude. I'm going to perform when I know he's not coming. Yeah, you know what? I'm going to hide out while he's here. And then when he leaves, I'm going to put a two-night banger on.

Well, I'll take it. Anyway, Tuesday, Newsday. Tuesday, Newsday. You said you had a news story. I want you to, you never give us a news story on Tuesday, news. You do yours. I woke up way too early and turned on the TV, which I almost never watched television in the morning,

which is weird. I encountered the the like today show pre-show. You ever seen this? There's like a show before the is that the day show. The yesterday show? No, it's, you know,

it's just where they take like their D-list anchors and let them host something for people like me who woke up too early. In any case, though, they had this story. And here's the thing. It's about a plane crash. What the hell? And it's out of Florida.

Oh, so it's. This sounds like I'm breaking all my rules. Yeah, it has nothing to do with York, and it's not New York, and it's not good news. But stick with me for a second. Because, spoiler alert, all four passengers of the plane are okay. Good. They're at the hospital. I'm sure they've got some cuts and bruises, but they're fine.

Why is that sad? Well, they got cut some bruises. That's good news. Okay. Cut some bruises. All right. They crashed into a tree. There's video of this on the news story.

Wait, hold on. Sorry. I don't mean A plane doesn't crash A car crashes into a tree A plane crashes And whatever's in its way Gets taken down trees,

you don't say, Oh, I was in a A plane crash We hit it. I was in the plane And we hit a tree. It's literally what happened.

They were going to, apparently this is near a local airport And a pilot missed I guess. I don't fuck it. But in any case, he hit a tree. Okay. And in this local neighborhood, took out the tree, crashed.

All of the neighbors flocked to this thing. And this is the positive part of the story. This is the part that sort of gave me a little pride in humanity. The neighbors saved these folks. They immediately went to work. They grabbed garden hoses and started putting water on the thing so it didn't explode. And a bunch of them started hacking the thing apart to pull people out of this plane. and it was just incredible to me.

And in the days we hear about, you know, nobody wants to help anybody. People just want to stand around and take out their phones. It looked like damn, every neighbor in this neighborhood came to aid this plane crash. First of all, I love this. Second of all,

Matt, are you breaking news that if people work together? There's the plane in the fucking tree that it. It did hit a fucking tree. You're right. And somewhere. Not all the trees. It hit one tree.

Yeah, we'll see if they got the clip. Somebody's ring camera caught it. Like, has it going into the tree. I don't know if it's going to be in this clip. Are you saying if we work together, we can do better things if everybody unites? Hmm. Oh, wow. Incredible.

What a concept? You know, that's just the thing. That's the way things are supposed to work. It's supposed to be a community. It's supposed to be, you know. Look at this guy. Something occurred. Prefrefer cord.

You don't worry about Karen who steps up. on your side of the lawn. Right. You know, you grab garden hoses and tools and you help these strangers. Look at this. Who appeared on your lawn, quite literally. You know, that is wild. Imagine something similar like this happened to...

Hold on a second. Danny, can we get a little audio just so we can... I was watching dishes. I like that the onlooker stories are the best part of any local news story. Of course. Sorry, I didn't mean to throw a wrench at you, buddy. that over the last five years we've had over 35

crashes here Jesus The time Has maybe the neighbors are just trained This community wants to feel safe Brower County And I'm calling on the Brower County Commission

Can you zoom back for us buddy or rewind We've had 35 crash This is in the last few years So wait a minute They were just like Neighborhood watch Assemble That's what I'm telling

They're trying. Like, these folks might be prepared. They're like, ah, John, we got another one. For answers from the Broward County Commission. Hey, I was consuming this Pembroke Pines community moments after a plane crashed. I heard a big food. And then we heard the, and we knew like that was a plane. I love this guy.

And we just saw this. A fiffricorn. According to Pembroke Pines officials, the plane was arriving at North Perry Airport, Sunday evening with four people on board when it crashed into a tree in a neighborhood on Southwest 14th Street. I noticed that the plane was like making a dip and the dip got lower and lore and then there came the crash. Officials say also people on board for treated for minor injuries. Dude, you are so... I'll see the people like banging the window, time to break it open to get the people out.

The mayor of Pebble Pine saying that crashes in the area are happening. So the story that I watched this morning, it must have been a... different news channel. Had footage of the crash and of the people helping. So I'm sorry that I failed you with wherever I linked to this from. But listen, but you made up for it with like I said, give me faith in humanity. Civilian interviews are never disappoint.

And they always include sound effects. I heard a crash and then a boom, how I was doing the dishes. That's classic Florida man. I've had something similar happen in our neighborhood. So there's a guy that has like this hot air balloon company in Ithaca in the area and he'll take people out. And so what I learned is, so one day we're, same thing, I'm washing a dish. And you hear like, the kids screaming, look, look, everyone's running outside.

The hot air balloon landed in the middle of the road in our neighborhood. Yeah, you can't necessarily control where they land. That's what I found out. I didn't know that if you're in a hot air balloon, when it's time to go down, it's time to go down. You just have to find a place that's big enough, whether it's a neighborhood or a field. That's why if you ever see, any of these hot air balloon festivals, you will see that there are chase cars or literally people will follow the hot air balloon in a vehicle to retrieve it whenever it comes down.

Would you do it? Would you go in a hot air balloon? I don't know. I don't like the idea of floating in a basket. I don't, I'm not super like into heights. I'm also not so like, the airplane doesn't bother me. And I feel like, I could be mistaken,

but I feel like I would feel secure enough in a balloon. And maybe that's foolish of me. But I feel like as I've seen these things go up and down, like they don't drop like a rock. Well, they do if the balloon pops. Yeah,

but like, has that ever happened? Well, it's funny you say that. I just saw a video recently. I can't tell if it was AI or not, but it was like the fire caught the balloon on fire. Oh, yeah,

that'll happen. And then it was a deadly plunge. So you, you know, that's another thing. I hate when people go, oh, I do not like heights.

I'm like, who does? Who's like, I love being 50,000 feet in the air. Nobody likes it. Can I tell you something weird, personal? Yeah. I don't really have any sort of issue with heights in terms of like I can stand on a real tall building and look over and that's fine with me. I have an issue with stairs. Okay.

And like steep stairs. Don't know why. All right. But I have more of an issue with that than being at, the roof of a... I can't make funny. Mass because I am completely okay with roller coasters.

Ferris wheels, go fuck yourself. I'm not getting in a ferris wheel. Yeah. I don't like going up and down and then stopping. I'm not really... I'm not down for either to be completely honest with you,

but if I had to choose, I'd take the Ferris wheel. Would you? I want no part of these fucking roller coasters. Well, I mean, that's the reasonable answer. You remember at the Hercoburgh County, well, not even just Hirkwood, all fairs. The Great, Hurkimer County Fair.

Remember the... Remember the, So it was like a ferris wheel, but in addition, you were in a cage that would spin independently on its own. You're like little gondolas sort of? Yeah, but, well, they were steel death traps to me. They just had like a grate that you could see out of and you had a bar over you and you were just independently spinning while also. I don't know that I ever went on. Oh, yeah.

Yeah, hated it. I never went on. I think, oh, no, I did. I went on once and it was the worst experience in my life. So I never went on again. But I always liked, what's that one? was it like the Gravitron, the one that like spins. Oh, yeah.

Where you were, you were in a spaceship and you would lay down and you couldn't move because of the gravity. Remember the first time I went on that with my buddy. We got on and we weren't totally sure what was going to happen. And these kids next to us obviously knew what was going to happen. So right before you get to the point to where you can't move, they like jumped and did poses on the thing. Yeah, that's what I used to do. And like the whole time I'm there like, that's fucking cool, man. I wish I had understood how this thing works.

I would go upside down. But then you're screwed. It didn't feel like, I don't know, as fast as it moved you, I didn't feel like I was going to die in any way. Right, right. And, you know, back then there was no social media. So the only way to really find out what the ride was like, because you were literally inside a spaceship.

Oh, yeah, yeah. You had to go look. There was no like going online and looking it up. I remember right next to that at the Herkimer Canter Fair was the Flying Bops. Now that was my favorite or flying. Flying bobs, flying bobs. It was the one where they would play music and it would just go in a circle and music would

like the lights go in. It had like a winter theme. Yes, yes, yes, the flying bobs. Like a snow. Yes. I've never heard it called that. It's called something else, but I know exactly what you're talking about. Maybe I'm thinking of like a tag team.

We're the flying bobs. You sit like a bench. Yes. Yeah, I love that. Yeah, that was a good one. And I also, here's a little personal one. for me. I am terrified of haunted houses. And I don't mean, that's the intention. I don't mean the elaborate ones that, like, nowadays, it's like a real life horror movie. I'm talking about just your

simple old haunted house where there's mirrors. And every now and then, a guy, you know, like a crusty suit that hasn't been washed in 30. Boom. I can't do it. I get scared very easily. I don't like it. I'm not a, like right now, if we were at a fair at my age and you said, go in that haunted house by yourself, I'd say, I am too scared. So, I would, wouldn't say that I'm scared of those sorts of things, but I don't find the entertainment value. No. You're trapped. You don't know what's going to happen. It's the Hercimer County Fair, by the way. So who knows if they're a local hire, which could be more dangerous than a national hire because they're- The Herkimer County Fair are scarier than any haunted house you got to be. You bet your ass, my friend.

They're probably like, Billy. I don't know why you would pay to go see a haunted house at the county. Yeah. It'd be like- That was the price of it. Yeah, Billy. Yeah. Get in there. What costume you want me to wear? Nothing. Wear what you're wearing.

I did. I used to do the one where it was a spiral and it would also spin and the spiral thing would spin and you had to take the thing. With a most boring game they had, you mean? Yeah. Yeah.

And then I, oh, there was one that I was good at. The water gun where you hit the target? That one's gold. Yeah. That was the one I was always good at. The rest I suck. So I took my daughter to the state fair, my youngest and she wanted to play games and we played that one first and she won it god that was a

nightmare yeah because now you're screwed for every time you walk by it now she assumes she's going to win every game so now we're playing all these other carnival games yeah and they're not as easy and she's like what the hell i i don't know if i was exceptional set the bar absolutely the wrong way you did i might be one of the best water gun carnival game players ever because I always would win, but maybe I'm just average on the national scale. I'm reasonably sure that there's a little dealer's choice control on that particular game. There is, you can look it up. There's a whole community online. I didn't know this. Where you can't, they, they have YouTube channels, social media channels dedicated to beating

carnival games and exposing the tricks. It's actually, there's one with the crane machine, but I tried it and it didn't work. I don't remember what it was. So you got to be careful because Some of it's problem with claw machines. I used to be a claw machine connoisseur. They don't squeeze hard enough. Intentionally. Right. It's like one in five.

The tension is controlled. That sounds about right because every fourth or fifth time I would win. Yeah. But even then, even that time when you grab it, then you have to grab it from the right hand. You know, it's a racket. I've been seeing videos of kids going up in there and getting stuck. And I'm going to promise you, I mean this. I'm jealous.

I wish I had thought of that. I wish I had gotten stuck. a stuffed animal machine. I don't know how we got the claw games, but since we did, I got to ask you, I saw this video the other day of a restaurant

that had a lobster tank clogging. Wait a minute. So you know how you go to like red lobster and you want a fresh lobster and you're like, give me that guy out of the tank.

Same deal, but it's a clogging. Hold on. Are you telling me they're like, not only do you get to pick your lobster, but you make a game out of it with a claw and it's a live lobster? Oh yeah. This is amazing.

Where is this? I don't know exactly. I'll find the video. Oh, you didn't go there? No, no. Oh, God, damn it. I thought you meant it was local. I want to go there for lunch.

Yeah. Here's the thing, though, I got to ask you. So the debate in the comments was how cruel that is. Oh, here we go. What do you think? You think that's cruel? Okay. Or even, how about just cooking lobster live?

All right. What are your thoughts on that? Okay. That's a fantastic question, by the way. Where do I fall on this? First of all, I'm a big animal. lover um overall do i think the way we pick lobsters out and then set them in boiling water and listening to them scream do i think that's horrible absolutely but i walk away for that part of it um i

think it's really screaming however what i think is making a claw game out of choosing them to go to their death i think that's probably their last fun ride before they go i don't i don't i don't i don't i don't don't think, considering what's about to happen to them, I don't think the claw, part of their day. Yeah, it's the best part of their day. And I, and I don't, I don't think that kind of sizes up to putting them in boiling water. Like at that point, I mean, the whole, the whole thing may be, may be inhumane, but you can't just cherry pick the crane part of it and say that's inhumane. I mean, the whole process is fair, you know, I mean, I'm just thinking out loud here, but I think some people, some chefs will tell you that they'll knock out the thing first.

Hmm, I don't know if that's... You never heard him scream? I'm reasonably sure it's not a scream. It's more of a steam coming. That's... That was where I was going, which is that is another debate that some people are claiming now that they don't scream. If they did, they just say, don't put me in the fucking pot.

And da sea. Yeah, I don't know, man. Look, I'm not for hurting animals. But if you're going to hurt a lobster, I'm not hurt them. if you're going to eat them. I don't think the crane part of it adds any sort of worse

We got video tape. Situent it. Oh, we're going to put it up? Yeah. All right. While he's doing that, let me just do this real quick. It is Tuesday, Newsday.

I thought this was awesome. This is from the Finger Lakes. They're opening cooling centers. They're available because of the heat wave. You call ahead and they have certain hours. Can I get some of that cooling? Yeah, yeah. I'm talking Seneca County, Skylar County, Stuben County, Tompkins County, Wayne County, and Yates County.

And under each county, there are 10 to 15 places. I'm not talking about like one or two places. Yeah. They have done widespread cooling centers, which I just thought is such a great idea. You're working in the heat. You don't have air conditioning at home, things like that. What an awesome idea, right? I love that.

All right, what do we got here? So speaking of the opposite of Lifesavers, let's go to the videotape. Don't tag Pita on this. Oh my God. So what they've done is they've taken looks like a traditional claw machine and they've now waterproofed it because they're not normally. Wait a minute. I want to, Danny, can you roll that back just like the end?

I want you to notice something though. Uh-huh. Now in a normal claw game right here, it would drop. They actually went ahead and let you. Well, these have control. So you can, you can, if you have one of those machines, you can set it to full strength every time. Yeah, I don't know if that makes it better for the crowd that's saying that's inhumane,

but I will say, bonus, they don't let it free fall. Oh, yeah. You know, they set it down gently. Now, here's my question, though. Do you think it's the same rules apply where, like, you try to get the lobster a couple times, it doesn't, and then on the fifth try, it's strong enough? Or you think it's just every time? That's a great question.

My thought was that it was one of those deals where, like, maybe it's a sale, a deal. so like you get five bucks to try to catch a lobster otherwise you pay that 20 bucks a pound or whatever the fuck it is great i don't know if that's what they do what if they did this what if they mixed in like crayfish and like i don't know something else and then like if you don't yeah if you don't get the lobster looks like you're eating crab or crayfish or the issue might be just bird lobsters might eat the other well they oh that's true they banned their claws so they here's the thing though i didn't see any, was there water in there? I didn't see it. Oh, there was. Okay. Yeah, they, they clearly took a regular claw machine and like sealed it like a fish tank. Smile. No. You think this is one place

that does it or is this kind of a thing that I love it? I think it's great. We love animals. To me, it's just an efficient delivery system, right? I have no, I love everything about it. I think from a marketing, it's a fun standpoint, from a logistical standpoint, I think it's all, I think it's Right. But, you know, if we don't like... Send your hate mail to... Send your hate mail to Good NewsYork.com. All right. And I think, uh, I think that's good. We've got a... We got some great guests coming up this week. We do.

We do. We've got some mind-blowing stuff from Dr. Jennifer Shiavi, who I've worked with. She is a mental... She's, she shows you, she is a doctor and she, I forget where she worked, but she left... Who she was. I said, when is that? Oh, when is that? I don't... hand. I think tomorrow. Let me look. Let me tell you who's coming up. You got to tune in for that because she is doing some mind-blowing work in the mental health world and I am a part of it. And it has changed my life. It is not a joke. It is unbelievable what's going on. If you are struggling, I'm being dead serious. There is hope. There is hope. There's always hope, but there's definitely hope with her. She's coming on Thursday. Tomorrow we have your boy,

we have a double header. Dylan Wirtz is coming in. Dylan. works is the man who's putting on a great comedy show coming up soon. All right. And if that doesn't tickle your fancy, right after that, we've got Gabe from Home Chow coming in. Do you remember what Home Chow was? The pizza vending machine from the CanaCon. Oh, snap.

Oh, yeah. And here's a thing. It's not just pizza. Is he bringing us a machine? I don't know. I don't think you can. They're from Rochester. they're coming here.

So that's quite a trek. I don't know if you can travel with a machine. I mean, if you can put lobster in a crane machine, I suppose. My landlord, let us put one out front. I'm going to say yes because I want it. What if this is the first location of an actual pizza vending machine? If you get a pizza vending machine, dude, I will, I don't even know.

We're going to have to ask him this. I wonder, can you put them outside, though? Like, is that safe? Well, when he showed me how it worked, you keep, and by the way, I know, it's like a regular vending machine. They have also other. meals like chicken parm and but anyway they keep them on these metal trays that keep them warm so i don't i'm just wondering like do you have to worry about people like breaking into it or something oh of course

i mean you got to work about worry about people i'm sure you got worry about people breaking in the the lobster claw machine that's maybe what we have a lot that's why we can't have nice things just like in the front buildings on the main street or something gone are the days of when you would get a pack of m&ms and have to smash on the glass to get it to fall you know now we got those days are gone Those machines still exist. Have you seen, when's the last? There's nothing like a pizza vending machine,

which we're going to hear all about tomorrow. I'm going to New York. My favorite, oh, we should have ended there, but I got to say this. My favorite dive bar in the world, and I love it. My favorite bar in the world

is the Fall Creek House. Nope, the Krieger in Ithaca, New York. They, I believe, to this day, still have a cigarette vending machine. When's the last time you saw? He's in Harkmer. Yeah, it did, actually. I used to smoke then.

It's so gross. When's the last time you saw a cigarette vending machine? Recently at a casino in Vegas. Oh, that's right. Blew my fucking mind. It's crazy, right? Legit old school cigarette vending machine. Then again.

Chill in there. Like it's 1972. Right. Maybe it's not as obsolete as I thought because... Fully functional with new cigarettes in it. New York State has a law. You know, you can't smoke indoors. And I don't know what other states do and don't.

So maybe there are a lot of vending machines outside of you. Aside from brownies, which I'm reasonably sure wasn't kosher at the time. Probably. But aside from the machine there, I always remember the bowling alleys had them. Oh, yes. I don't know why in particular. I feel like the way fishing and beer goes together, I feel like bowling and cigarettes.

For kids who wanted to smoke was they got them out of the vending machine at the bowling. Yeah. Bowling and cigarettes go together like beer and fishing. Fuck it, dude. Let's go bowling. America. Peace out.