Good News York by Growth Mode Content - GNY EP.69 | Feat. Danny Tripodi
Episode Date: July 24, 2025Good News York Episode 69: Front Row Dave Matthews Update, Remembering Ozzy Osborne, and Gaming with Josh Allen In this episode of Good News York, Mike Brindisi hosts solo while his co-host Matt is on... vacation. Mike provides updates including a follow-up on his experience at a front row Dave Matthews Band concert and a tribute to the recently passed Ozzy Osborne. The show also covers Josh Allen and other Buffalo Bills players' newfound love for the board game Catan, and a preview of Danny Tripodi's upcoming Retro Game Con. The episode concludes with anticipation for upcoming guests and a brief mention of David's Refuge's Pine View Run event. 00:00 Welcome to Good News York 01:02 Dave Matthews Band Concert Update 04:26 Tribute to Ozzy Osbourne 09:49 Sublime's New Song Featuring Bradley's Son 15:08 Remembering Theo Huxtable 19:36 Buffalo Bills New Stadium Tour 25:15 Gaming with Josh Allen 27:59 Relating to Athletes Through Gaming 28:37 Nerd Culture and Pop Culture Fusion 29:51 The Rise of Board Games 31:00 Exploring Popular Board Games 34:23 Finding and Buying Board Games 38:50 Retro Game Con: New York's Largest Video Game Expo 42:20 Inviting Josh Allen to Play Catan 44:19 Conclusion and Upcoming Episodes
Transcript
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Hello and welcome to Good News York, episode 70, right?
Yeah.
I am your host, Mike Brindisi, sponsored by Ads on the Go.
Get Ads on the Go.com.
Shout out to Zach.
It is just me today.
No guest, as I've said throughout the week.
Matt is on vacation.
I think he's shooting a state farm commercial.
I don't know what he's doing.
But he's not here this week,
and we've had some great guests,
but today I am flying solo,
so I've got some things I wanted to go over
that were very relevant,
some updates, all sorts of things.
My man, Danny, behind the scenes is producing.
I love you, Danny.
We're actually going to have Danny on.
I'm going to do this segment.
We'll take a break and have Danny come on in a little bit.
But I wanted to dive right into it.
A lot going on in the news.
But I want to give you an update first.
Now, if you remember,
for those of you that do listen or watch,
about a month ago,
I went to the Dave Matthews band concert.
I'm a big Dave Matthews band fan
at Lakeview Amphitheater.
And it was the first time I had ever experienced
being front row at a concert.
It lined up,
there's a whole story of how it happened,
but I finally was front row.
And I met this wonderful family,
Kathleen, Abby,
and, of course, Lauren.
And we had an amazing time together,
They're a great family.
And we became buddies and we stayed in touch after.
And I actually had Lauren on the show,
did a little small interview with her recapping the Dave show.
And if you remember during the interview I talked about,
I was trying to get a hold of the Dave Matthews fan club warehouse
to help get her sister Abby a set list.
Because when we were at the show,
some drunk bitch ripped a set list out of her hands.
At the end of the show, a lot of times the crew will come by
and give you a pick, right?
they'll give you a set list,
whatever's on the stage that they can part with.
And she had it in her hands and some drunk lady just ripped it out of her hands.
She was really upset.
So, you know, I was asking, can we get her a set list?
Well, I was on social media a couple days ago and I saw this video.
I don't want to ruin it, but I will just say you will see Abby,
who is the girl who got the set list ripped out,
walking over to meet with her sister
post show
and her sister does something pretty amazing.
Let's watch this. I love this.
So a little update. It's very loving.
Got the sound?
I might have to click.
Yeah.
All right. So this is Abby walking up
to meet Lauren.
And look what in Roaring has.
If you...
Rob.
Get ready
Try not to cry
That's
Come on
That's the best
Look at the embrace
That's a real hug
Look at that
So
All that to say
I didn't need
We didn't need Warehouse
We didn't need Dave
They went to another show at Spack
last week at Saratoga Performing Arts Center,
my favorite venue in the Northeast.
And somehow Lauren got a hold of a set list.
She ran into a crew member,
and she wasn't with her sister.
I think they were separated,
which obviously that's why they were kind of reuniting there.
And she got her a set list.
So I just thought that was so cool.
And I reached out and asked if I could play that on the show
as a little update that all is well,
that Abby got her set list finally.
Also, speaking of Dave,
I saw this was great.
Dave Matthews, by the way,
he's gone on record many times over the years that,
you know, even though Dave is kind of his own genre, right?
It's a little jam, it's a little fusion.
It's funk.
It's R&B.
It's a little bit of everything.
But Dave's gone on record in interviews,
basically admitting that a lot of his influences
were nothing like the style or music that Dave writes.
I remember him saying how much nine-inch nails
inspired him. And Ozzy Osbourne was actually a very big
inspiration for Dave. So yesterday we found out that
the amazing Ozzy Osbourne has passed away, which
my God, that guy could have been dead 40 years ago
with all of the drugs that that man did.
And I, you know, back when I was drinking,
him and Keith Richards were like the bar
that had been set, unfortunately, where I was like, well, I'm not doing
too bad. Look at Keith.
Richards and Ozzy. They've done every drug under the sun and they're fine. But as you know,
Ozzy Osbourne came down with Parkinson's within the last few years and did his farewell show.
And just weeks later, yesterday we found out that he has unfortunately passed and just an absolute
icon and an absolute legend. And Dave Matthews had a show last night the same day that he passed
away. And here's a little quick clip of they did a little cover he threw together.
I feel she was seen.
Young bars to fetch her in my head.
She was my mother.
Round of her.
This too late.
I'll let him.
I'll get a girl.
Yeah.
Man.
I love that song.
I love Ozzy.
Ozzie was known, unfortunately, the thing he was known for most was biting the head off of bat.
Now, let me tell you something about that.
story. First of all, on record, they say, Ozzie said that he didn't know it was real and that
he thought it was a toy and he did it to, you know, do, shock the audience and he felt it moving.
I'm terrified of bat. So even the thought of that makes me want to run into traffic. But he, he did,
do it. And, you know, some people say he's full of shit, you know, he knew it was real. But it
actually stems, and I couldn't find, I was going to play it for you, but I couldn't find one of the
older shows like VH1 behind the music or those kind of shows where they would go in depth with
artists, I do remember Ozzy in an interview saying that incident on stage actually stemmed
from a record label meeting where he purposely wanted to scare the shit out of the people at the
record label and he did it in a meeting with a live bat and he did scare the shit out of it.
and so he decided to do it on stage as well.
So I don't know.
There's controversy.
That's how I like to say it.
There's controversy about, you know, whether it's real or not.
But he was so much more than that.
And in fact, if you go to Europe and you are to ask people in Europe, who started heavy metal, you know, what is the pinnacle of, you know, the greatest heavy metal?
Black Sabbath in Europe, it's here too, obviously.
But you know, you come, you ask people in the United States,
what's the greatest metal band?
Or you ask people, what is, who started metal?
You'll get a mixed review.
And Black Sabbath will be the answer for some.
But you go to Europe, Black Sabbath is the answer for all,
that they are the creators of metal.
And then Ozzy obviously went on to have an incredible solo career.
And then the Osbournes, which I am not a fan of reality TV,
but there are a handful of reality TV shows I watch,
and that was one of them.
Because you got to remember, that was before social media.
So you only knew Ozzy as the bat-biting, you know,
rock star who's Satan worshipper.
You never saw him at home sitting there, you know,
trying to figure out the remote control.
Sharon, I can't figure out how to change the television.
It was so weird to see Ozzy in the flesh just being Ozzy at home.
So what Ozzy did for pop culture and for music is second to none.
and man, he will sorely be missed.
And I'll never forget the first time I heard Mama, I'm coming home.
That is in my top.
Definitely top 10 might be my top five favorite songs of all time.
Absolutely love that song.
So enough about Ozzy because I want to talk about,
keep it on the music thing.
So I grew up a huge sublime fan.
You have to remember I was a teenager in the night.
90s. And Sublime, to me, also in my top 10, favorite bands of all time, Sublime came out with their
self-titled album in 96, I believe it was. And Brad Nol, the lead singer, died of a heroin overdose
right before the album hit. And if you are aware, or especially if you were a teenager in the 90s,
you know how important that album was. It was everywhere. And it was unlike anything you would ever
heard. It was a mesh of some punk, reggae, a little pop punk, and it was so original, and it was such a
soundtrack of the 90s, and especially the summer. You know, when the weather gets nice in spring,
I like to roll the windows down and cruise with the tunes playing, and Sublime is usually my first
go-to. Over the years after Bradley passed, you know, the demand was still there because of how
just life-changing that band and that album was for people in that era.
And I think they were going to be the biggest thing on Earth if he had not passed away.
But in some cases, it helped their popularity.
Same way, you know, it happened with Kurt Cobain and Urbana.
Posthumously, people tend to be even more famous.
But they had tried to keep...
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Keep it going.
They had, and I might be wrong with the name.
I know I'm close.
I think Sublime had become the Long Beach All-Stars, and they toured, and then they were
the short bus all-stars, and they had different singers from other bands, and I actually
went to see them at, Ho-hoo, Captain Trips in Utica, New York in the late 90s, early 2000.
Shout-out, that was my favorite venue in near my hometown at the time.
And I got to see the short bus all-stars, and it was good.
but it was sublime with a different singer.
And the singer sounded great.
Well, let me get to what I want to get to,
which is fast forward to the other day.
I'm sitting here in the studio, getting ready for the show.
And Anthony, who works here on the IT side,
says, dude, have you heard the new sublime song?
And I went, what? No.
And he said, well, there's more to it.
And he played it for me.
And he said, you aren't going to believe this.
But just listen.
and tell me what you hear.
So I'm going to play you a little bit of that now.
This is the music video.
Sublime's new song, it is called Ensenada.
Is that right, Danny?
I can't see it from here.
My eyes.
So here's a little clip of Ensenada.
You tell me what you hear.
And I'll tell you what it is.
A ho.
Oh, it's all, but they're calling me down.
Small town.
Big mouth.
Me?
Does that I guess I gotta know see you and I got from Mexico
Don't hate if you can't relate to this Somberts alley street parade
I don't want to be your man no more I want to make love to love
Does that not sound like Bradley Noel to 80?
You know why it's his fucking son that is his son
first of all, I had no idea he had a son.
Second of all, I have goosebumps again.
If you are a sublime fan,
you understand that this is as close to seeing sublime as you,
the real sublime as you have ever been able to see
because they were, again, gone too soon, Bradley Knoll.
And we got all these different reincarnations of them with different singers,
and they were fine, they were great.
But, I mean, it is the exact same voice.
you know, I have a son, and he's starting to sing a little bit.
If he eventually ends up singing and he sounds exactly like me, it's going to freak me out,
but it makes sense because it's science, right?
This is incredible, so there's more to it.
So not only is his son in the band, which is basically a complete reincarnation of Sublime,
he sounds like him, even kind of looks like him.
He too, the son, is going through some, he went through some addiction problems,
and he came out on the other side.
And he joined this band at 20, I want to say 7, or was it 28?
And that is exactly when his father passed away at 27 or 28, whatever one it is.
So in other words, so not only are you getting his son who sounds exactly like him,
it's almost like he's picking up right where Bradley had left.
And I am just, I am blown away.
And for those of you that don't know about sublime or don't care, you're like,
okay, shut up, move on.
Who cares?
Well, if you like Sublime, you care.
And they're going to be on tour,
and they're coming to CMAQ and Canaan Dagua next month in August.
And now I will make sure I'm there.
Hopefully, we can get credentials and be backstage and possibly do some interviews.
But either way, I'll be there as a fan.
So I wanted to mention that.
Now, before we take a break and get Danny on here,
the last thing I do want to mention,
and again, I know this is good news, York,
and our whole thing is we don't like to do things that are sad.
and I basically talked about death this entire segment.
But this is different.
We are honoring these amazing people.
And Theo Hoxtable, man.
Malcolm Jamal Lewis, I believe, is his real name.
The actor who played Theo on the TV show The Cosby's,
which, by the way, why was it called the Cosbys when they were the Hoxstables?
And now knowing what Bill Cosby did,
Little weird that he had his office in the basement, huh?
But anyway, that was a gigantic pop culture stretch of time in the 90s again,
where the Cosby show was huge because not only was it phenomenal,
but to see a family of color painted in a positive light
who were doctors and lawyers and portrayed people of color in a realistic way
as opposed to how the media sometimes would like to portray them as gangsters and whatever else they like to do.
So it was a huge moment for that community, but also just in pop culture because it was a great show.
And as you probably heard, Theo Huxable, well, Malcolm Jamal Lewis, unfortunately was on vacation somewhere exotic and was unfortunately passed away by way of drowning.
And so it made me want to say, first of all, rest in peace, brother.
That is so sad and tragic.
But thank you for what you gave us, what you gave me as a child and what you gave society.
It was such a great show and important.
But my favorite moment on the Cosby show, I mean, the obvious one, if you were a Cosby fan, is the one where, what's a name?
Why am I blinking out on, not Tootie, that was the facts of life.
Rudy!
Rudy comes down the stairs and does the, she's singing along to his song and she does this dance and she's all sassy and it's hilarious.
But that's an obvious moment.
This is a deep cut, the B-side.
This is my absolute favorite moment from the Cosby Show and it's between Theo Huxstable and, of course, his dad, Dr. Huxstable.
You'll see why.
Take a look.
Both successful in everything, and that's great.
But maybe I was born to be a regular person and have a regular life.
If you weren't a doctor, I wouldn't love you less because you're my dad.
And so, instead of acting disappointed, because I'm not like you,
maybe you can just accept who I am and love me anyway.
because I'm your son.
Theo?
That's the dumbest thing all there.
There's no wonder you get D's and everything.
That's the punchline.
I'm not going to make you sit through the whole clip.
But that was...
First of all, it's funny because it's funny, right?
Especially when you saw it live.
I think it had more of effect then
because it was such an emotional moment.
And I was caught up in the, like, wow, he nailed it.
At that time in television, that kind of, what's the word I'm looking for?
The misleading, the redirect.
That didn't happen a lot, especially a lot of those shows were known like Full House, right?
At the end of every episode, Danny Tanner or Uncle Jesse would sit down with one of the girls.
And that would be the lesson of the episode.
And that's kind of a cookie cutter moment, like, okay, and then Theo speaks.
But man, that redirective, that is the, you know.
dumbest. And by the way, that is a very accurate portrayal of how parenting was back then.
That is totally something my parents would have done. And I just, I absolutely loved it.
So RIP to Ozzy, RIP to Malcolm Joel, Mall Lewis, aka Theo Hoxtable.
We talked a little bit about music.
Before we go to break, I want to do a little teaser for the next segment.
You see I'm wearing my Bills hat. You know I'm a diehard Bills fan.
Had season tickets for 10 years.
I've been through the heart, the hardest years with that team.
And I'm always up for talking Bill's talk.
And I'm going to do that at some point.
As the season starts, I'll do another NFL special.
But training camp did start today, so I'm wearing my hat in honor of that.
And one thing I wanted to talk about other than the obvious stuff,
which is the camp battles and position battles and expectations for the season,
which I will do in that special.
There is a video that came out a couple days ago,
and it is a drone tour of the new stadium.
So the bills have a new era field,
as most of us call the Ralph, Ralph Wilson Stadium,
or Rich Stadium if you're in the boomer generation.
And it is going away because they are building a brand new stadium,
a billion-dollar stadium.
You have to remember that a few years back
before Terry Pagula and Kim Pagula had bought the team
there were many rumors that the team was moving to Toronto
and that was going on for decades
and as Bill's fans it was something, especially people in Buffalo
that's one of the only things they had was their bills man
and they were terrified that their team was going to leave
and everybody thought it was going to happen
and then the Pagoulas came in
they not only bought the team but solidified that they're going to stay there
and it was a very emotional time for Bill's fans
and then when we found out we're getting a stadium
it was even more emotional
because it solidified even more that yeah they really are staying
and it is unbelievable
for in a market that small
that they're building a studio
a studio a stadium this big
so check out this freaking drone tour
man
you can see right there
the way they have it set up
is that it's like a coliseum
it's not as steep
so it's gonna be that old
there's not a bad seat in the house
that's true
the field is heated
so when snow comes
no more hiring people to come down
and shovel which I used to love doing
I almost did it too.
There's something charming about calling on the city of Buffalo to bring your shovels.
I got a lot on this team.
So they will have a heated field where it will melt.
Also, they have coverage.
They got about 70, I think, 70% coverage over the seat.
So if there is a blizzard, you're still out in the elements, but you are partially covered.
So that's huge.
And those are also heated so the snow will melt.
Can't see me right now, but hot under the collar right now.
See the old stadium right across the street in the back.
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Buffalo of freaking bills, man.
Look at the windows with the natural lighting.
Did you ever think you'd see this in Buffalo?
Oh, where are we going? Where are we going?
We're in the locker room here.
Where the magic's going to end.
By that, I'm in a lot of tears.
This part kills me because we just go up some side stairs.
I don't even know what that is.
The sears.
It's a tunnel.
Thanks.
They're going to leave it just like that.
They're going to play around the trucks and in the dirt.
This one.
I don't know what this is.
There's some stairs.
I want to think that's coming out of the locker.
Coming out of, uh,
what it may be me even more is that we have the technology to do this now.
Back of the day, we just have someone walk around or helicopter.
So there's the gist of it.
I hate this part.
A little old.
Yeah, you can kill it there, I think.
You get the idea.
Very, very exciting, as I've mentioned, a million times,
for the bills to have a stadium like that.
I can't wait to be there.
As I said, 10 years of fan.
If you haven't checked out, I have a side music project called the K-gun,
my buddy and I, and we produce and write songs about the bills.
And we have a song called Where Else, Marv's Anthem.
And it's because of the where else,
Would you rather be than right here, right now?
And you got to check the song out.
It's on Spotify, Apple Music, all the place we hear music.
The music video is on YouTube.
We went and shot it at the home opener last year.
And so we're going to be releasing a couple more songs this season.
But anyway, when we get back, we have a quick segment.
We're going to invite our producer and friend, which is camera am I looking at, Danny?
The great Danny Tripodi is going to come on.
and I want to talk.
We're going to kick it off with something that does involve the bills.
Danny's very big in the gaming world, and he's into it.
And it seems that Josh Allen and the boys have played a game called Catan.
What is it?
Catan.
It's a board game, a strategy game,
and it is very rare that NFL players are into those kind of games,
but the new generation is.
And we're going to talk about that and much more when we come back right here
on Good News York brought to you.
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We still got to, we got to nail that down, buddy.
I thought it was craft services.
Well, that too.
I'm so confused.
Danny Tripote, everybody.
Danny Mat's on vacation,
so when Matt's away, the mice will play.
Yep.
I am happy to be on air with you.
I love when we do this together.
Yeah, it's the best.
So, Danny, in addition to being the amazing social media person, producer that you are,
you are big in the gaming world.
And I thought I was a big gamer until I met you and realized that that industry and that community is,
it's a lifetime commitment that I just don't have the time to do all that.
But the reason I brought you on other than the reason we wanted to do this,
other than just to do this,
is I noticed a training camp,
so we're talking about Bill's training camp.
Yeah.
And I was listening to Bill's radio,
and they were talking about how the bills,
Josh Allen and some of the other guys on the team,
are now playing this board game called Katan.
Yeah, settlers.
Settler, yeah.
And so, again, I like gaming,
and I was like, oh, let me check this out.
And I looked it up,
and there's a picture of him walking into training camp
with Catan under his arm.
Like he loves it.
And the reason I want to talk to you about it is I want to learn a bit more about it.
But I also, I don't know, from your perspective, you're a little bit younger than me.
Growing up, I was not afraid to dabble in all.
So I would play sports, but I was in theater and music.
And I also liked video games.
But a lot of times, those didn't cross paths.
You know, sometimes the athletes were like, you're a gaming nerd.
And just to see professional athletes now playing these games is wild to me.
Does that surprise you?
Yeah, no, it doesn't actually surprise me.
I think it's more accepting now to be a nerd than it ever has been.
Like you said, you know, they still have the nerds and the jocks and the preps and the knots.
But yeah, I think that nerd culture has kind of seeped into more subclasses and things aren't as clicky.
I don't know.
I haven't been in a high school in a while.
Sure.
At least when I was there, I was friends with multiple.
same.
Same.
Same.
And, you know, everybody likes games at the end of the day, you know.
And we kind of talked before this off camera.
And it's something that's really cool to see because, you know, we can't relate to Josh Allen in the way that he's an awesome footballer.
But we can relate to him like, oh, I played Catan at my Bucket House just like Josh Allen.
That's such a cool thing.
So I think a lot of the players, plus they're younger now, is Josh, like, 29.
A little younger.
I think he's 28.
Yeah.
But yeah.
These are younger guys.
They grew up seeing other people play these games.
And, you know, it's something that I think is more normal now.
I mean, there's so many players that embrace their nerd fandoms.
You know, you have Shoei Otani, too, is a big One Piece fan.
Oh, I didn't know that.
Yeah, they had a big One Piece day out in L.A.
Like, it's very cool to see pop culture mix with nerd culture.
So do you think, and I hate calling you nerds,
because maybe it wasn't nerdy.
Maybe everyone else is.
Maybe it's backward.
Do you think the gaming world, that community,
do you think they appreciate that or do they like,
what the hell, man, that's our thing?
And like, you made fun of us for so long.
And now you guys, you know, I don't know.
I just, I wonder if that's.
So I don't speak for every nerd here.
And, you know, there's going to be somebody.
You're the final boss of, actually.
Yeah.
I have something to say about that.
I think, I would like to think at least that nerds are very welcoming and open and are excited for this opportunity because it's cool to be a nerd now.
Hell, yes.
Of course, you're going to have some posers, but, like, it doesn't, ain't no thing, water off a duck's back, you know.
It's just come on in and play some board games.
It's fun.
Yeah, dude.
It's fun over here.
It's funny because it really is becoming that, you know.
it's becoming the opposite.
Growing up it was like,
what'd you do in your free time?
Everybody went to fields and drank,
and it was awesome.
Like drinking,
like the drinking culture's dying down.
Games are ramping up and I'm just,
I love it because like you said,
I dabbled in all of that.
I was partying,
but I was playing games.
I was doing theater.
I was playing sports.
It's just,
it's great to see,
but it's almost like you don't have a choice
anymore if you want to be a nerd.
I feel like you have to be kind of a nerd.
We're constantly dealing with
electronics and yeah and I just feel like it's it's it's almost the way that I I never played golf
in in high school I thought it was like oh it's boring why are you playing it and then fast forward to
my 20s when I start I'm calling all those guys and like hey can you help me with my short game and I feel
like it's the same thing with nerds now people are hey my you know I'm having trouble with my laptop
or myself you know so I think uh we're calling on nerds more but I think we're also kind of
becoming nerds as well absolutely naturally yeah yeah it's just
It's evolution.
It is evolution, man.
And I'm so happy that we are part of it.
Have you played Katan at all?
Oh, yeah.
Is it good?
Yeah, it's great.
I was saying off behind the scenes,
it's like the perfect board game
because it's not too in depth
with like nerdy rules that you have to remember.
It's very straightforward.
You're just collecting resources
and trading those resources in to build more resources
on the game board.
But like it's very, very simple.
There's not a lot of points
that you need to keep track of.
There's no, like, complex math involved.
It's honestly, like, a level above monopoly, I would say.
When you were describing it, it did sound like it was a mixture of,
it's not as in-depth as risk, but the idea, like, the strategy of risk,
but with, like, monopoly and growing your, like, you would, the hotels and the...
Yeah, exactly.
It's not...
Risk is too complex, in my opinion, for...
board game. I don't want to have to think too hard. And Katan, you can really get into it.
Sure, like anything you can get into. But I don't know. I think it's a very lighthearted game that
doesn't have a lot of stakes. And it's something that anybody could enjoy as long as you can sit
through the rules and get the general understanding of the core principles. Which checks out because
for professional athletes who obviously have not been known to play those kind of games, it would appeal to
them because of that.
They don't,
they,
they still get kind of the,
the idea of like a fun strategy game
without having to sit there.
Because the thing with risk is,
I loved risk.
That is a goddamn commitment, man.
Yeah.
That is a,
and to find five,
six people to play and,
and then for an extended period,
it's tough to do.
So,
do you think that,
so is Katan one of the most popular
board games now,
like currently?
Is it one of the most popular?
Um, it's definitely up there.
I think there's like,
It depends on who you ask, though, you know,
because if you asked, like, somebody like my parents,
they're going to say, like, oh, monopoly and scrabble.
Right, subjective.
Yeah.
For Catan, though, like, it sits among the top, like, big three of board games, I would say.
What are the other two?
Again, subjective.
Subjective.
I would say, I've got something to say about that.
Yeah, when you see Katan, you see it next to Wing-SPAN,
which is another beautiful game.
and trying to think of the third one off the top of my head.
But yeah, you know, there are some games that circle around friend groups
and just have that popularity that you can get.
Oh, I'm sorry, ticket to ride.
Okay.
Which ticket to ride, the creator of the game, was from this area.
Really?
Yeah, funny enough.
Where?
Yeah.
I don't know if he's a Syracuse native or if he's outside of the Syracuse, Central New York area.
That's amazing.
Yeah, he made ticket to ride, and it's one of the best-selling board game.
in the world.
Yeah, I was always,
because the reason I had asked was,
well, first of all, to know,
but I just didn't know it was like
it was kind of like the chicken or the egg.
I was like,
did Josh Allen and like other,
you know,
pro athletes,
were they the reason that Katan
became popular?
Or did they just kind of hop on like,
hey,
that's the most popular board game.
I saw it and I liked it.
I didn't know what came first.
But if,
so I love games,
board games,
video games.
I kind of know where to go to,
you know,
video games are in the
media you can find out what's coming out
where can someone like me
regularly know like where the new hottest board games
are coming out when they're coming out what they are
what's hot that kind of is there a place to go
there there is
honestly I was going to bring that up too
it's funny that you mentioned that
most popular board games can be found right at Target
yes yeah you know like if you see
you can get wingspan you can get tickets right
you can get Catan all at Target.
That being said, of course, you can go online and find what's new in the board game world.
There's always board games being added.
Boardgamegeek.com is a big form that has all different board games and people's reviews of board games.
So you can check that out to see what's very popular.
And they go in depth there.
So you can get a really good review on next board game.
So to further the coincidence, that was my name.
next question was, I started noticing I would go to Target, specifically Target, and there's
other stores too, but Target specifically, and I remember walking by their board game section that
used to be Monopoly, life, clue, right? And there are games, I mean, dozens and dozens of games,
all different kinds of games, strategy games, funny games, you know, dirty adult game, whatever.
But then I, and no offense to Target, but I was like, yeah, but are these, like, kind of hacky games,
it's Target?
But it sounds like you answer the question that their gaming selection is legit.
Yeah, I mean, there's always going to be...
I've got subject to.
Yeah, there's always going to be trash among the treasures.
Sure.
But yeah, you know, there is a huge market for it, and it's cool to see that it's now become more mainstream to come into your convenience stores like Target and Walmart.
Yeah.
You know, nowadays you don't have to go into a hobby store, though you should support your local hobby stores.
Yes, you should.
But you can get it now while you're also getting a 12-pack of hot-dog buns.
When you're grilling, you can also pick up Catan.
Yeah, hot-dog buns and Catan.
That sounds like a great Friday.
Perfect cart.
So do you have, last question about this, do you have, do you have a rank for, like, your top three or top five board game?
Ooh.
Or your go-toes?
Do you have a go-to?
Mine are boring because I, you know, is clue and scatigories.
You know, and I love those games, but I'm looking to branch out, and I know you're well-versed.
So we'll have to play some.
I do have a handful of board games.
One of them, this was from like the 80s that got remade and re-released in like the...
Shoots and matters.
Yeah, you know, no.
It's called Fireball Island.
And I don't know if you would remember that, but it has this whole big board game that you...
Is that where you hit?
There's a silver ball.
So there's these red marbles that can knock your character.
off the game board. Yeah, yeah. I remember that.
Old, older game, but they
remade it and it's so much fun.
It kind of plays
more like shoots and ladders.
Kind of like Candy Land too.
Yes. But just a fun time.
There's obviously
Catan. I would say
another big one for me
is King of Tokyo.
If you're familiar with the Godzilla franchise.
Yeah. The
person that created it
based it off of that where you play as
big characters that are destroying the city
and you have to
you get points as you're in the city
and the other players are attacking you to get you out of the city.
Love it.
Yeah, so it's very fun.
You just roll a bunch of dice and deal lots of damage.
It's fun time.
We'll have to...
We got to do a board game here.
We got to do a board game night or...
Maybe we could invite Josh Allen.
Josh, if you got any free time, I know you're busy right now,
but...
You'd have to fan me, dude.
I'd be past.
passed out on the floor.
Let's go play some board games, bud.
You know what?
On Josh Allen.
Honestly, he's the kind of guy
that might take us up on that offer.
Doesn't Bill's Mafia do anything?
Hell yeah.
Go get them riled up.
Those games does gaming tournaments, actually.
Oh, do they?
There's a Bill's Maupics.
They'll do Madden tournaments.
They'll do other games.
So, you know, to speak to what you said earlier,
you know, the community, the gaming community in general
has grown exponentially across the board,
whether it's board games, video games.
You, my friend, are also.
part of, we got to talk about it, Retro GameCon, man.
That is your, that is your Super Bowl, buddy.
And since I met you and started working here, you have been planning this.
It's in October.
Let's talk about that real quick before we go.
What, what, talk about what Retro GameCon is, when, where, all that.
Yeah, Retro GameCon.
It's New York State's largest video game expo.
This is our 12th year.
We're going to be at the On Center again in downtown Syracuse.
It's going to be October 10th, 11th, and 12th.
So check us out online at retrogamecon.com.
You can get your tickets and more info on there.
And we haven't worked it out yet.
We're going to obviously meet about it.
We've been talking about it.
We've been talking about it.
But we're going to, obviously, Good News York is going to be a part of that.
First of all, we need to support our boy.
But second of all, why the hell wouldn't we?
I mean, it's, I want to be a part of it.
I want to see it.
And we want it to succeed for you.
And I know it will.
Is this the second one you've done?
I forget.
This is like the fifth.
I don't even remember.
How many of you done?
Freshroom game games?
Yeah.
Oh, God, I started back in 2016, so what is that?
It's almost 10 years.
This will be my ninth one.
What a dick.
I'm like, there's your second?
This is our second one this year.
So we had the spring edition earlier in the year, but this is our...
This is the big one.
Yeah, the big show.
And so what can you expect there?
You can expect probably some keynote speakers.
Hundreds of hundreds of vendors,
cosplay folks
I can't wait to interview
guests
celebrities and voice actors and actresses
it's going to be a fun time
Are you able to
reveal one of the speakers
or is it still a secret?
No, you can find all of that information
on our website at retrogamecon.com.
Very cryptic.
Go there.
Go there.
Actually, you're right.
Go there.
Go there.
Google it.
Well, I'm very excited for you.
Retro GameCon,
10th, 11th, and 12th at the on center right here in Syracuse.
Our boy, Danny's going to be there, will be there.
I do want to say before we go, our friends at David's Refuge, Diana and the crew,
they are doing a, it's driving this mission forward.
They're going to be doing where you can actually take, you can be a part of a race.
You bring your car to a track.
and you're genuinely, the Pine View Run Champion Challenge,
you're in a race, and you can do a couple things.
You can be a part of the race itself,
or you can sponsor.
There's a lot that they are looking for,
so I'm going to put it up on the screen,
but training day is August 14th,
and then the race day is September 13th.
You will have to raise three, you know,
they want you to raise 3,000 or more in funds to do it.
So each person is responsible for getting those sponsors and stuff like that.
But they're making a huge impact with it.
I wish I had more info, but you can check it out.
The Pine View Run Champion Challenge brought to you by David's Refuge.
And that is you can scan here to sign up, which I'll pop up on the screen.
And you can email Rebecca Andre at david's refuge.org with any questions.
questions. So I just want to make sure I mention that. Got anything else before we go, buddy?
Yeah, we should, we should definitely call out Josh. We should call out Josh to come play.
You want to like officially call him out?
Yeah, call him a bitch or something. I don't know. All right. I'm not calling him a bitch.
Hey, Josh Allen. I am one of your biggest fans. But I'm not like fanboy. I'm a mixture between
fan boy. He loves you. Yeah, I love you. I do. I'm a fan.
fan and you are our savior from the hell that was the bills for many decades.
But you're a great guy off the field.
And see, for me, Danny, I judge my heroes, not who and who they are and how they act on
stage.
As I get older, it's who they are and how they act off stage.
And Josh Allen is not only, in my opinion, one of probably the most athletic person to
ever play the quarterback position.
And I don't think that's out of school.
cool to say,
athletically.
I'm not getting in a debate
who's the greatest
quarterback of all time,
but athletically,
I mean, it's unbelievable.
But,
uh,
so obviously he's amazing on the field,
but off the field,
dude, he does so much for charity.
And I know a lot of NFL players do,
but he goes above and beyond.
He's a lot for charity.
He's funny.
Uh, he's,
he's just a great person all around.
And he loves games.
And he loves the game Catan.
Catan, Catan, Catan, Catan, catan,
Catan, orange.
And, and we,
we would love to have Josh Allen come.
Josh, if you're listening to this, come on down here.
Come on to see your kids.
Come down.
We'll have some wings.
We'll get the blue cheese ready.
We'll play some Catan.
That's it.
Love you, buddy.
That's it.
That's probably I should have all I should have said.
You got old sentimental.
I got way too into it.
Josh.
He's just a bro.
Yeah, he's just a bro.
And we're bros, and we want to play Catan with you.
And we want you to hurdle the game board like you do in the game.
All right, buddy.
Well, let me officially end this.
That is the end of Good News York.
Episode 70, Wednesday edition.
We will be back tomorrow with Ed Charette,
who is my cousin,
and he is a great filmmaker in New York City.
And by the way, wow, that'll be two family members
on the show in one week.
We had my sister yesterday.
And Matt will be back next week.
We can't wait for that because this place is on fire.
Anyway, I'm Mike Brindisi.
This is Good News, York, sponsored by Ads on the Go,
get Ads on the Go.com.
The great, extraordinary Danny Tripote,
our producer for Good News York
and our director of creative services at growth mode content.
We are heading out, and we will see you tomorrow on Good News, York.
Peace.
It's tax time, y'all.
If you want to file free, this next one.
for you.
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