Insight with Chris Van Vliet - Develop a Champion's Mindset with 4-time Stanley Cup Champ Darren McCarty

Episode Date: July 16, 2021

Darren McCarty is a retired NHL player, broadcaster and 4-time Stanley Cup Champion known best for his time the Detroit Red Wings. He talks about his role as an enforcer on the ice, his most memorable fights, being part of the "grind line". his love for professional wrestling, how he went from the minor leagues to the NHL, life after his professional hockey career, his battle with addiction and much more! Submit your Blue Wire Hustle application here: http://bwhustle.com/join If you enjoyed this episode, could I ask you to please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcast/iTunes? It takes less than a minute and makes a huge difference in helping to spread the word about the show and also to convince some hard-to-get guests. For more information about Chris and INSIGHT go to: https://chrisvanvliet.com Follow CVV on social media: Instagram: instagram.com/ChrisVanVliet Twitter: twitter.com/ChrisVanVliet Facebook: facebook.com/ChrisVanVliet YouTube: youtube.com/ChrisVanVliet Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Oh yeah, welcome back to another audio adventure on Insight. I'm Chris Van Fleet. Thanks so much for being with us on this ride today and every single episode that you tune in. And you know that we love to have guests who are at the absolute top of their game. And when you're talking about hockey, it doesn't get much better than winning the Stanley Cup four times. Darren McCarty is such a great guy, big wrestling fan as well. And I loved diving deep in his story. story about having a champion's mindset and rebounding from some really dark times in his life.

You can follow Darren on Twitter at Darren McCarty for on Instagram. He's at Real Darren McCarty. And if you aren't already, you can follow me at Chris Van Vlee. You can, of course, follow Insight wherever you're listening right now. Jay Buga! Thank you for taking the time to leave this review that says, Chris is the man. I'm glad to be able to listen to these highly insightful interviews. Thanks for asking the real questions and just for being an all-around respectful guy

who adds to the interviews with these various megastars. Well, I appreciate that. Jay Buga. Thank you for the kind words. Thank you for taking the time out of your super busy day to leave a review on Apple Podcasts. And I'll keep reading one on every single episode. So please keep them coming. All right.

My guest today played 15 years in the NHL and is a four-time Stanley Cup champion please welcome Darren McCarty Darren it is such a pleasure to have you on thank you so much honors all mine bro and I got to say this because I'm such a big fan as that I come you here with the most

gratefulness not only as being a fan of yours but also to the message and the interviews that you've that I've enjoyed over the year so it'll be a part of your show dude this is a huge honor for me my goodness Darren that's very kind thank you as a kid myself who grew up in Canada playing hockey and watch

you, it's so cool to be chatting with you right now. Well, it's funny because I didn't know if I had to give you a hug, if you'd be crying if you were a Toronto fan or you understand, you know, like that's the whole thing. I tell I'll start you off with this, right? The greatest bet I ever made was when I was 10 years old to my cousin Chad. He was six months younger than me. Got him $100 at the wings would win the cup before the Leafs would, right?

The fact I scored the goal, I made him pay me $200. Now I got the Lions. He's got the Leafs. I still got a shot this year. He don't. Yeah, the Leafs are, geez. They haven't won a Stanley Cup since there were five other teams in the league. I'm just saying, bro.

It's a good thing that you're cheering for the wings on. See, I knew that. You like winners. You like winners. That's all you have. So I like it about Canada. So whenever I, you know, I live in the United States now, whenever I tell people I'm from Canada, the first question is, so did you play hockey growing up?

Well, I think that's just sort of the, I guess, the back answer or the back question or whatever. It's like, oh, yeah, and does it snow? I mean, does it, it's snow? Like, I grew up in South Detroit. Lamington is actually south of Detroit, the southernmost part of Canada, the Point Pele and stuff like that. I think the biggest thing, because I've lived over here, I consider myself American, so Canadian-American, but then now since Wides League, and I got all that, now I'm Can American. So I think, I think what it is is that it's just expected of you that you grew up skating before you walk because you're Canadian. It's just some of the different ways like that.

But some of us did play and some of us didn't. But the greatest thing that I take, I always use this line. I go, man, that's politics. I don't know, man. I'm Canadian. I just see it right and wrong. Right? That's the way that I was brought up.

So I'm blessed. And I said to you earlier, I said, I look around and I see, you know, the interviews with Chris Jericho, another Canadian, and I'm looking, all this guy's Canadian. this guy. I said, oh, okay, subtly infiltrating every avenue. That's it. Yeah. So not only to grow up watching hockey, I also grew up playing hockey. And of course, any kid in the 90s that's playing hockey is watching Don Cherry's Rockham Sockham videos. And you were a big part of that type of like rough and tough play. Yeah, no, I mean, that's such when, yeah, as a kid growing up and not only being able to achieve the dream of playing in the NHL,

Well, you know, I was always told why I wouldn't succeed. And I'm one of those people that's made. If you tell me why I can't do it, I'm going to do it just to spite you. So that's, you know, there's a lot of names that have motivation throughout. But to grow up in that area and have Don Cherry when you made it on Coach's Corner or he did his highlight, Rockham, Sockham videos and stuff like that. To be a part of that, you felt like you made it as a Canadian kid. Look, every Canadian kid dreams of being a professional hockey player.

you actually did it. So at what point did it shift from the dream of the kid who wants to play hockey to you going, you know what? I think this might actually be a possibility. You know, I think to be all like completely honest, I mean, you go back and I was the kid that since I was like eight years old that this is what I wanted to do. And I, you told me, if you tell me, if I ask you a question, how do I get here? And you say, well, you have to do this. I don't care what it is.

You got to go through 100 yards of cement wall. Well, I got a long time. But if I want it, I will do it. So to me, it was my last year junior. And I didn't get drafted until I was like a 19 year old, which back in 1992, you didn't go to later rounds. You were more like a late bloomer, but I won OCHL player of the year and lit it up and led the league and goals.

My favorite thing is I tell my grind line line make Kurt Malpe that he had a great last year and junior because he had 50 goals, but I had 55. So it's all good. That's the locker room. So then it was because I grew up a Wings fan because they sucked in the 80s and in the 90s. But they, but they,

I was so close that I got to go to Olympia. I got to go to Joe Lewis. I mean, I was always wondering like Mr. Illich was giving away cars at intermissions and I was 12 and I was pissed. I couldn't win one. So I said,

Mr. Elish, you're going to buy me some cars someday, you know, and he did. But it was just, And also to my style, I knew that Bob Probert, who I idolized, whatever, needed a Robin to his Batman. That's all I ever, if you know me, I want to be, I don't need to be the league guy, but I'm meek. And the meek will inherit the earth because you give us a role, give us some purpose, and I'm all for it. I'll give you everything I got. And, you know, a lot of the way that I'm built and to understand, they say, and here's the funny part, Chris, all these explanations, I don't give.

get till it's later. And then I'm just explaining to myself because I, Darren McCarty needs to know the why. He doesn't need to know the right or wrong. He'll figure that out. He's been around long enough. He needs to know the why so that he can either correct it or continue it. So the fact that I knew that I had to,

and that's why I would do whatever it took. And that's why it wasn't my love of being physical, of fighting, of doing that, but it was my love of my teammates. and I didn't want them to do it first. My thing was like, I'll go first, and if they get by me, I'm probably dead. So you guys are on your own.

That's just the mentality. So once Scotty Bowman came in and the world, a line that Scotty Bowman was hired as coach, and I played a year in the minors, and then during training camp, and, you know, there's a great pregame brawl like we used to have back in the days five-on-five, that I think that because I fought Cam, Russell, McCorn, and then we squared off like junior at Center Ice and went out of there that Scotty Bowman said, I got to find a way to have this kid's crazy.

So it worked out. The interesting thing about coming up in any sport is if you like hit puberty early, if you're a big kid, you do so much better in sports and hockey like, I think maybe more than any other sport, if you're a big 14 year old, 15 year old, you've got a really good chance of doing well in your career. Yeah, you know what's funny about that, Chris? you see that now that's sports and here's the transition in all sports not only and

I use the word softer you know or or whatever but it's more regulated we we understand there's concussions and there's different rules in that but the whole the whole thing is to understand that the games have changed the wrestling games right my favorite like we're talking even in like wrestling and stuff is like you know I was like the 205 lives that middle car cruiserweight, like the luchadors, all that stuff. Like there's a spot for everybody. That's why I love wrestling is like create your spot. It doesn't matter if you're, there's no like it used to be.

So growing up to the, and I say this in the transition to my NHL was size, like you said, will get you everywhere. Right now it's not size. It's speed. If you got speed, it doesn't matter if you're Cole Coffield, it plays in Montreal. It's five foot six. Or, you know, you're somebody else. There's what I'm trying to make the point is that there's more opportunity now.

But to what you said when we grew up and stuff like that, if you're a big kid, you're giving every opportunity, every chance. And to that point, if you were a smaller kid, you probably got overlooked where you could play in this NHL as opposed to the one in the 90s. I mean, you were known for being the enforcer. But at what point in your career, what was the moment where you went, you know, I need to do something to make myself stand out? You know what?

I always went You know, my thing is I realize is that I lived, I always knew who DMAC was. DMAC's the wrestling persona, right? Like DMAC DMAC is the guy, right? Darren McCarty, he didn't really understand who he was because he knew who DMAC was to

everybody else and that explains sort of my story. But I always knew how much, and this is the one thing for guys like myself to be a part of that team is because the love and appreciation of your brothers, they knew that that's all I got the love back.

They, the appreciation, whether it was a Steve Eisenman and Nick Litz from a circuit Fedorov to Chris Graper to to to Matthew Dan, to know, to Chris, I didn't matter who it was. You know, they knew I had their back, you know, and it was one of these things that that's what wins you championship. There's different culture things, but it was just, and that was my role, right? So go fuck yourself. You think you're coming in here and stealing my role.

Not a chance. That is my role until I decide it's not my role anymore. And what happens is then, you know, the game starts changing and your priorities start changing and you want to go play rock star and you want to go, you know, do different things because hockey is what I did. It's not who I am. So, Darren, did that like lifestyle that you lived on the ice of you being the tough guy? Did that bleed into like when you guys would go out to the bar? Like were you trying to pick Marifies with people? No, no, not that way. No, no, dude, tough guys.

Why do you think we do what we do? Because chicks dig scars, bro. You don't want to fight. I'm a lover off the ice, bro. You get some sympathy and stuff like that, but it wasn't, no, it was just the, I was always the, here's the thing. And I can relate to it, but I came from Lamington, Ontario, right? I grew up with a bunch of guys that worked, you know, in the fields and guys that, you know, worked at family business and stuff that we're never, we're going to get passed down.

And so a lot of it is if I didn't take the opportunity, whether I knew it was a good choice or bad choice, but I didn't bring the story home, then I'm doing a disservice to the boys, right? So a lot of stuff that I got myself into, I probably knew that it wouldn't end great, but I had to weigh the options and that's the way it is. And Bob Prover taught me this. He probably had two lines. He said, if everybody would tweak their own dormant, the world would be a better place.

And, you know, he would always, he would always sort of come at you with that. And he said, dude, he said, stitches get stitches. And if you're going to do the crime, you got to do the time. So it's the account. And that's a little much,

but it's just, you've got to be accountable. You're held accountable for what you do. And that's, you know, the whole thing is that I never wanted to miss that moment. Or I never, because there's a long time, because I never knew if it was going to be taken away.

Because, you know, when you grow up, but you're going to work as hard as you can and do what you're going to do. So I just know how things are going to end now. And I've, you know, been there, done that. There's nothing I haven't done that I wanted to do except for the things I'm trying to do now. So you've gotten more fights on the ice than you ever go in off the ice. Yeah, absolutely. Because I tell everybody, I said, you get three shots.

I've only had to use this once. It was actually in Colorado, and this was like in 2012. You get three shots, kill me, knock me out, it's my turn. And then when you, and if some, that usually makes somebody think, but the thing is when they pull back to swing,

only one person has, knock them the freak out and stand over them and say, sorry, don't just lie to girls. You know, you're never going to get a shot. And that's the whole thing is that, I think it's a misnomer,

but it's also too, I always say, don't tell me what, tell me who. And the who I surround myself with, I don't even know if there's any trouble going on because they got my back. And we don't,

I don't put myself in those situations, right? Yeah. Like, that's the, that's the whole thing. I know because I've been there, done that, got the T-shirt, so I just refuse to, you know, go out. I'm almost, you know, I just turned 49 and stuff like that. And the priorities are a lot different than they were when they're younger. But, I mean, like, honestly, and I'm not blowing smoke,

but I mean, it's like, it's my daily watching TV is to get the Simon Miller update ups and downs and to watch the latest Van Bleet interview to get whatever and then folk around. But that's because I love that. And I always tell people, you know what? My favorite sport is these days, it's wrestling. You know why? Because it's scripted and because it's a plan. So whatever happens.

And I do the wrestling perspective podcast with Dennis Farrell, Lars Fredrickson from Rancid, Dmitry Young, Jason Kendall, Pete Williams, TNA guy. and I've learned so much and just the love of the game and the business and stuff, but I'm the storyline guy. I don't have to like it, but it's got to make sense, right?

That's why I love what the forbidden door is doing and all these releases. And I love the fact the way that Alice of Black comes out and then Andrade comes up because the biggest thing, and it's the fact that it's, they're doing it together.

Like they have, I love it when they have control of their own story. storyline that gets them invested. It's the whole talking shoppermania, the good brothers and Rocky and all that stuff. It's the love of the wrestling. And I think that during the COVID,

that's the beauty for that. But again, to tie it all in, it's just it's the love and the passion to what you want. And I mean, that's it. I have regained my love even more so bigger than I thought it was when I was a kid growing up being spoofed by the Hulkomania.

Right? now I can appreciate it because I have friends in the business. And I go around some of the independence, you know, and I watch this and I want to see kids succeed. I've already succeeded in what I wanted to do goal. I want to find the ones that aren't wanting to argue, want to say, what do you mean by that and give them, you know, the opportunity?

I can't help you physically in the ring or on the ice or whatever, but I can mentally tell you what I was thinking, what got me to where it was. And if you're willing to do the work, well, maybe that's the way we go. So when you debuted the NHL, that was like the height of, or the beginning of the attitude era.

Were you watching wrestling at that time too? Yeah, dude, suck it. Baby, suck it. Dude, my favorite guys, like the road dog was my dude, man. If you didn't know, every time he come out, like the entertainment facet, right?

Like, yeah. And here's the thing, right? I would say that I'm more into the wrestling, right? The moves because now, I got guys showing and just it's a dance. Such a brilliant script like dance and to get behind how to watch guys do it. I'm more into it now, but you give me all the storylines and different stuff like this.

And I love that because you get to know. And that's the beauty today with technology and the internet and Instagram, Twitter. You feel like you know these guys and then interviews like you do or other people do and stuff like this. So you get to know the real people, not at cave fab. And there's a place for that cave. but it's almost like what, and this is a difference. And to me, Vince McMahon is a dictatorship. WWE, it's always has been.

But you know what you're going to get. So why you got arguing, the fact that they've changed the game with everybody else gives me want to commit to that, you know? Who was your guy growing up? Who was your wrestler growing up? Stone cold, bro. Stone cold.

I used to run around the dressing room with stunning guys all the time, you know, with my stone cold 316 shirt. And in fact, I changed it to DMAC 420 because of the cannabis and all that stuff now. So, but he was my guy. And Matthew Dandenow was the rock. He could do the rock. He could do the eyebrow. And he was a French guy.

Yeah, exactly. And he could do this. And we made Mike Canoble be mankind because we'd always beat him up. Like he was always either your dude love today, dude. I don't want to be dude love. All right. You're mankind. Take a chair.

You know, like, and we loved it. And being at Joe Lewis Arena too, I was, I got to get in a, get in a gig with, Bob Holly, Delo Brown, Holly went to hit him with a stick, and I grabbed it and broke it over Holly, and then Stone Colts slammed the Zamboni into the ring. It was crazy. It was awesome.

I can't even imagine if you were playing in the NHL now, how, I mean, you were very popular in your heyday, but I can't imagine how insanely popular you would be now. Yeah, you know, and the games sort of changed, right? You know, a lot of the games sort of changed.

So the individuality, right? And that's, you know, since wrestling, that's where Jericho's the guy. He's the demo guy. He's the shit. That's why he is, is because the way you can transform yourself. And he's done it in one, not even just one business, right? Look at the, and I love that too. I mean, he's one of my idols and I'm a big fan because of knowing him and just the person that he is. but I tell everybody is who do you look out there and want to be?

Like what do you like? Whether they, the way they ask questions, the way they do things. Like I say, so I got like grind time with Darren McCarty and I got this hook show and then I got Grindr the band and I do comedy and why? Well,

my guy, Chris Jericho does everything. Why can't, you know, somebody else, you know, it's out there if you're willing to do it. And what I love is the commitment behind it. Because I like everything too.

I don't just like hockey. It's what I did, but I love talking about it. I mean, playoff times here. I mean, there's a game, there's a big Colorado, Las Vegas game. I mean, that building in Vegas is going to be rocking. That's what playoffs is all about. You look at what the Islanders doing, Montreal is doing. I mean, that's, I love it passionate.

And I love when I'm talking to fans, you know, where they're telling me where they were. Because I know where I was for all these, but where are they? So to your point, Chris, Yeah, it would be interesting. And the blessing is, right? And you probably understand this too. Now I care a lot more about how I feel or what I put in my body or all this different thing than I did when I played. I mean, if I took care of my, I'm wondering like how good would it have been.

But, you know, it's just, that's life for everybody. So I try to lead by and just tell people, well, this is where I ran into a mistake. And this is where. So I actually had to get amputated here. Maybe you just need a little scrape and you get a band-aid and then move on to something else. You trust me. The interesting thing about your career is, sure, you were a tough guy. Sure, you were a fighter and an enforcer.

But you could actually back it up with the skills to score goals too. Not everyone can do that. Well, that was, you know, that's the, if you, one of the things that I'm most proud of is that if you say who the grind line is, even to this day, you know, it's the three or four of us in Detroit. And we took pride because of shutting down the other team's top line, like we did, Lindrosse and Legion of Doom in 97, or playing against, you know, Forsberg and Sackick for all those years and stuff. But when it came down to it, your top guns,

and this is what playoffs is all about. Yeah, we may get, you know, seven to 15 goals during the regular season, but it's about playoff time. And Chris Draper used to have this. We used to laugh on the bench. where he'd say, oh, looks like the big boys aren't doing it tonight, grind line go. And one of us would have an impactful or chip in.

I mean, I'd beat one guy one-on-one my whole career. I just did it for the Stanley Cup clinching goal in game four of 97. That's all it is. So it's all about timing. And I tell everybody, do not be afraid to wish because you can manifest your reality, right? But what are you willing to put in and put out? and don't, when that moment comes, you got to seize it. You got to seize that moment without questioning it.

You can think about it all later, but when that moment comes, you got to have the confidence that that's what you want. So don't wish for something that you're not going to pull through on. If we take this back to before you even playing in the juniors, is this what you envisioned for yourself? You envisioned yourself playing in the NHL? Oh, yeah, winning a cup for Detroit.

Because I wanted to bring it back because I grew up a Wings fan and I knew, like, for all those years, and with Steve Eisenman coming, and then they sucked and whatever, and it'd be like, it would be like you sort of dream about it or your team, but it'd be like, oh, man,

just to play there, play on Joe Lewis Arena. Chris, this is one. So when I was 12 years old and I was in Peewee, I was playing on a team in my town, but there was a politics thing, and my team got to skate on Joe Lewis Arena Ice.

So as a 12-year-old kid, imagine that, right? Maple Leaf Gardens or form or whatever like this. And because of a, politics. I couldn't, they wouldn't allow me to skate something, whatever else. So I got to go, but I just got to watch and stand there. And I was, it was one of those things is like I was, like I was in tears. I was so upset as a little kid that little moments like

that I don't forget. I forgive, but I don't forget. And so when I look back around on it, I see the bigger picture now. So did I, I, yeah, I think it was first the NHL, but if I had a choice, it was Detroit, I didn't care about it, but then realizing and then getting around, dude, you go to training camp, you got a Bob Prober and you got Dino Cicerell and you got Steve Eiserman, we've been watching since you're like 10 years old and you look around, there's Mark Howe, you know, like that and then, you know, then there's Scotty Bowman. And, you know, it's just, it's crazy, but it's, it was awesome, you know, and that's where it's like, you know, being used to, I understand how the pecking order goes.

So I was just happy to be that, you know, the, the, you know, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, the, copy in there and go, what do I need to do? What do you guys want me to do? You want to go here? Fight him. Fight him. What do you want? Just want to be a part of it. So, yeah, and I tell everybody, like, it's not about crossing that finish line. It's the destinations and oasis, right? It's about the journey because you look at the resilience that it took us. I mean, my first year, President's trophy, lose the first round of San Jose. Next year, go to the finals, get swept by Jersey. Next year, set the league records. just six two wins, get beat by Colorado.

You know what I'm saying? And then be able to come back and in the next year to not only get the revenge on Claude the Mew, but also score the winner. And that March 2697 game, I tell everybody, it was because at the end of that game, and it didn't matter, but the wing wheel nation in the whole universe, it was a proverbial, it's going to be all right. I don't know what it means, but it's different. It's going to be all right.

We all felt it. We all felt it to this day. well, I got four cups here because of it. But I tell everybody the second time, I've only had that feeling twice. The second time was two years ago when Steve Iversman was introduced as your president, general manager, Detroit Red Wings,

I had the same feeling. It's going to be all right. Don't know what it means. It's going to be all right. Well, now I can sit here and tell you it's two, three years, but it's building. And he's going to build it and it means so much to him

to get it back to where we were. Describe for me, if you can, what the feeling of holding the Stanley Cup above your head for the first time feels like. You know, we were taught, Chris Draper and I were talking about this the other day because we just celebrated the 24 year anniversary of the first cup. And see, there's a superstition that you know as a hockey player that you can never touch the cup unless you've won it if you're playing, right? So we've all seen it and not being around it.

So your first thing is how heavy is this thing? How heavy? You hear it's 35 pounds, right? It's not 35 pounds. you win, it's light as a feather, bro. So the only thing is you're lifting it over your head and you're going, this ain't 35 pounds and you give it a kiss or whatever like this, but you don't want to make sure you don't drop it and you do the lap of the rink and stuff like that.

And it's, you know, I've been fortunate to do it four times, but, you know, each one of them I tell everybody when people say, well, what's your favorite? And I say, they're like kids. If you have kids, they're all different. You love them all different because the story of their journey to get here is usually a lot different. When you win the Stanley Cup, you get to spend a day with the Cup. So what did your four days with the Stanley Cup look like?

Look like I ran out of ideas of what to do with it. So that's the beauty of it. You know, I remember the first time I took it back in the ice rink that I grew up and was a mile from my house. It was in Leamington. They since been torn down. But I got to skate a lap at the old rink. And everybody came and I left there for like five hours and take it to family.

and have a party with the guys, take it golf and take it to the children's hospitals. You know, the most fun that we had is that, you know, this is sort of cocky, but it happens is that the cup cop guy's real, right? So if you heard of the cup cop, is the cup cop is the guy that works for the National Hockey League Hall of Fame,

and he is in charge of traveling around with the cup, no matter where it goes, just to keep eyes on it because everybody's enjoying it, right? So it's the perfect thing. well, there's only a couple cup, cop guys. So you get to know them, right? You get to know them, you get to be buddies. So when the cup's in town doing something and they have some time off,

they call me or drapes and go, hey, you guys want it? And we go, yeah, we're this here at this place. And we'd have these makeshift cup parties of people drinking out of the cup, you know, in Detroit in the afternoon. And I always say, yeah, if you weren't around and you undrank out of the cup, then you weren't around back then because we took it everywhere. So that's what it's all about. It's about sharing.

And it's about togetherness. And to me, that's what life's all about. You know, it's, I realized early on that, yeah, individual success is great. And that, but if you can't share it, what much fun is it? I think whether you love hockey or not, it's hard to argue that the Stanley Cup is the greatest prize in all of sports. Because you look at like, you look at, you know, the major, you win the World Series. You win this, like, gold thing that's really pokey and, you know, might hurt you. you win the you know this

Super Bowl you get this thing that just like attracts a bunch of fingerprints on it like you know nobody talks about the Lombardi trophy being this great prize but it's actually this is the thing I love about the NHL it's called the Stanley Cup finals you know exactly what you're competing for yeah isn't a beauty and then and that's and here's the thing where I don't know know everybody understands but every year right you get the team that wins gets the name of them and the organization. So I have my name on the cup four different times. And every 10 years, right, they move a ring up and they take the top ring off and they put it out in the hockey hall of fame.

So there's only 50 years of winners on that cup. So every 10 years it moves up. But that's the most fun. If you ask me, what is the thing you remember the most? So after all the parties and things all like boozed out and you got it. And I remember I had it like in my shower and it was just me in it and the shower and I was washing it off and then going. like feeling the imperfections and then reading like there's exed out names on it like because Peter Parking back in 80 something when the Evanton Oilers one put like his kids

and this and that and that league said no and they exed out and then there's spelling mistakes on different guys so it's original I mean and that's it and to hear all the stories like if that Stanley Cup wrote a book or could talk oh there's a lot of guys being in trouble yeah who was the toughest guy that you ever fought in your career That's a great question, but I played with him and won cups with him and considered him one of my best friends. His name's Joey Kosher. Now, Joey Kosher, who was known, this is a fact that the only thing more lethal than his right hand was Thor's hammer. Yes.

So I fought him my rookie year. He was with the Rangers, and everybody knows Joe Kosher. I mean, he popped Jim Kite's ear pieces out and stuff. You don't want to get hit by that right. So I squared up. I'm a lefty. I squared up right. He throws a punch-eyed duck.

He takes a piece of my helmet off. We end up in a headlock. We both hit our heads on the ice. He looks at him and he goes, you're all right, kid. I looked at him and said, thanks for not killing me, Mr. Kosher, like that.

But the moral of the story, if you don't kill me, I'm going to come back to hunt. And, you know, I always tell everybody the biggest get over the hump moves that we made in the 96-97 were to trade for Brendan Chanahan, the trade for Larry Murphy at the deadline,

but the signing of Joey Kosher out of the beer leagues because his nickname's Papa and he brings the fatherly, invisible fencing to all us young punks, the respect and whatever. And to this day, he's president of the alumni and one of my best friends, you know,

and that's, it's about people, you know, and he's without him. It just showed us how to, how to be professional when it mattered, you know, picking your spots and just,

we did things as a team. And he was sort of the leader of that. Did you ever train to be a better fighter? Yeah, I boxed every summer for about 10 years with a guy named Al Irish. I would do that just for conditioning because I'll tell you that if you want to get in the best shape ever, get into a gym, do three minutes, 30 seconds off and do five rounds of that. Like, it's crazy. That's why there's like a respect for that, you know, Logan Paul being able to last as long in eight rounds.

That's 24 minutes. That's not easy for whatever it is. But yeah, I would box every summer. And I liked it. You know, and then I started doing some MMA stuff, just rolling and training and stuff like this because I like that shit. You know, I mean, I like to know, and I'm not the biggest guy, so I got to fight all these bigger guys.

And a lot of it is I like the juditsu because I like to know the why, you know, how I can put guys in different vulnerable positions and stuff like that. And so it was just easy. But my, it wasn't more or less. I wanted to learn anything is more than I wanted to be in shape and that mentality of pushing beyond, beyond the edge and then getting that second win. So it helped because I had a few two-minute bouts sometime. And that's a long time on the ice.

Yeah, especially when you're like trying to keep your balance on skates. Like a fight on the ice is so much different than a fight when you're standing there. Well, it is. But you know what? Steve said is like, I can't skate. I'll fall down like skating forward. But you put me in an ice hockey fight. I'm a ballerina.

Balance, just shift weight, just survival. It's just the way that it was. He'd always say that to me. He'd be like, how about how can you balance on one skate, look like that when you're fighting, and you can't even make it up the ice belt falling down? You know, like stuff like that. I'm fascinated by this thing that you want to know the why behind everything.

Is that how you've always been in your life? You know what, Chris, I started grind time with Darren McCarty about three years ago. And I used to say, well, what's the, about whatever I want to talk about. You know, whatever it is like this. And it was during the COVID that I was thinking, what is grind time? What are you? It's like, I got to know the why.

I got to know why, what makes you take. Because the bottom line, no matter what, and I'm sure if I asked you, how do you get to where you are to success? And it's what you put into it. So it's the same thing as my dad told me is that if you do something that you love, you'll never work a day in your life and figure it out. But it's hard work, guys. It's hard work.

You commit and what are you willing to put in? And every successful person, that's the number one ingredient is you can't be afraid to put the work in. Now, the object, it puts, put it in towards something that matters to you. So the why with me is it's because of my cannabis journey. It's because of the education in that. And it's because of the truth, right? And it's, you know, the truth, like everybody will knock this, the millennials and all that. And I say thank you because I'm alive because you because it's you care about the transparency

of the truth no matter what platform or whatever it is. And I, you know, the way that I live my life now is I have nothing to hide. I'm an open, I'm an open book. In fact, you know, that's the blessing of surviving all the stuff that I did is to realize, oh, man, I've set it up where I've been open and honest and relatable. That's just who I am. So yes, the why. So now I'm, now that I've figured out that.

it is the why. Now I'm like a new kid with a new hobby is just finding out. So everything I look into is, well, okay, but what's the why? Because if it helps me to understand, then maybe it'll help somebody else. And then maybe something I don't understand, they look at the why and then they can tell me. I don't have all the answers. You know, I just know if I don't have the answer, I look for the smartest person that I know that would have the answer for me. And again, it goes back to don't tell me what, tell me who. Yeah, I imagine you had a difficulty with your identity because it was all about hockey, right? You're a kid.

You want to get, you know, you want to play in the juniors. And then you want to get drafted and playing the NHL. Then you want to win a Stanley Cup. And then your career comes to an end. And your whole identity has been surrounded by hockey and been focused on hockey. How difficult was it for you when you had to retire and then figure out, all right, what's next? Well, you know what? for me it wasn't. I'd probably mentally checked out about the first lockout in 04 when I decided

to go do Grindr, the band, instead of go play hockey and stuff. And just hockey at that point, it just got into be a business. You know, just I wasn't happy. And there was a lot of things in my personal life and divorce and, you know, like, just stuff like that. So going to Calgary was actually great to be able to play with Daryl Sutter and Jerome and to get it back. And then, so I've been to four rehab. So I was kind of, coming out of my fourth rehab. And then I just had to come back to be around to Detroit to be around my kids. And here's like I tell everybody is that I sat down and had lunch with my best friend,

Chris Draper, who was still playing for the wings at the time. And I just said to him, I said, dude, I think I got something left. And you got to remember that locker room in 0708 is my guys. The,

Zetaberg and Dads who came in, Lidstrom, Homestrum, you know, those are my guys, Maltz, you know, we're Ozies back.

So I was more like I, I, if I could prove it to myself. So when I said, I'm just looking for a chance. I had to do things within, you know, the rules to make sure that I was sober and all that stuff. And I got an opportunity to go back on the ice for the IHL team in Flint, right? So, and that's where I got my love of the game back. I said a big shout out to Jason Soroni and Mike Kinney and all those guys there,

that it was fun. And I played three weeks there. And then Kenny Holland, it was a GM of Detroit, gave me, didn't promise me anything. and gave me a tryout, was giving me like a two-week tryout in Grand Rapids. My first game, I scored a hot trick and four-point game. And it just things started to go. And, you know, the last person that I had to convince was Mike Babcock,

but I think what he realized is that he needed me in the dressing room because it was my guys. And the way that it worked out, I just wanted to be around. But because Andrews to Holmes from and Johan Franz is the first three rounds, I ended up playing 17 out of 22 games, even scoring a goal. And, you know, that one of the first round. the things I'm most proud of, and the only picture I have in my garage is of me, drapes, Malts, Homer, and Lidstrom as the guys of all won four cups. So that was cool. But then,

you know, so after that, and then the next year, then I got hurt again, and I was done. You know, I'd proven it to myself, you know, no what ifs, whatever, I laid it on the line, came back, and you're supposed to ride into the sunset after that, and it didn't happen. And I got lost for a good five, six years in my alcoholism really bad that it almost brought me to death. You know, I was 80 pounds. I was about 280 pounds. My blood pressure was in the hospital was like 265 over 145. And through the love and the like my who and the cannabis crew,

they said we're not letting you go down like this. So they put me on Rick Simpson oil, RSO 10 to 15 grams for seven days that I was either puking or shitting and pre. purging and whatever, and I got up, that's the eighth day, and didn't have the physical addiction of alcohol, and I was grateful, and then I was mad. I was mad that really, if I had to go this far to, for whatever things I'd gone through, right, all my experiences, to not know that this truth was there, then I, right then is when I realized my, what my mission and why God has kept me alive through all this stuff, why has given me the credentials, why I have the four cups,

it's to fight the greatest fight of all. It is for this plant cannabis. So anybody who knows me, the wing wheel is in my heart and the cannabis plants on my chest because it's about the truth. And then I'll let the truth speak smarter people and now the education and all that.

So for me, where I'm at now is that that was my sobriety dates, 11-11, 2015. Last time I've ever taken a drink or a pill, thank you. And I was able through the grace, the people in the state of Michigan that cannabis is legal. And I got my Darren McCarty brand. I got to create my own cannabis, my own CBD that I ship all over to Canada, all over the world.

I created my own CBD rub. It's my hippie blend. It's vanilla, Madagascar vanilla with petulia lavender. It's like, you know, you get that rub and it's a dude smell. So it's cool. But created my own flour. CBN, CBG.

You know, it's, it's, I found that it's about, like, I tell people, I said, no, no, no, I'm never high. I'm always fully medicated. And that's for your safety. And the one thing is, as you get educated, so I'm an insomnia act too, right? So it can never sleep. And it makes sense of the why because of the adrenaline and then you're out. And so, you know, in hockey, the way it's culturally, the booze and stuff to bring you down and you don't really sleep and pass out. Well, now you can have a plant that works with your system.

them and you get educated and then you go on. And as I'm talking about all this, Chris, it's not about whether you do or you don't. It's do you know you have the option. And then I move on because it's you, that's the truth right there. Do you know you have an option and you say of what? Of medicine or how you treat yourself and you say no,

then I will explain to you. We can start wherever you want. But it's where I get to the point that I'm not here to argue. I'm here for what do you mean by that, right? Because, and I mean, you know how you understand because you've done so many interviews or put things out there, how it connects with people, right? That's all that it's the human race connection. And I don't know. I'm not speaking to somebody in particular, but I am speaking to somebody out there in particular.

So if you take this for you, yes, it is for you. And I'm right here and I'll continue to do what I'm doing. Well, I think that unfortunately, my generation, your generation grew up and they just say no to drugs, you know, whole thing. And I think it's like, yeah, sure, say no to like meth and crack. But like I think that there's, it's okay. This is a plant, right? When you take it down is that I, and I let people, they want to drug like you said. And that's the whole thing.

What you're talking about there is I had to rewire whatever else to the education that the fact that what I'm doing is actually benefiting me. It's actually something, you know, and it's to get people there to the option earlier than later. Now it goes to the opioids. It goes to the, you know, I always joke around. I go, do you know the best part about being an alcoholic? Well, there's actually two. I found out that when I was an alcoholic, I wasn't a Cokehead. And I also, I'm grateful I'm an alcoholic.

I'm not a diabetic because I would ruin my edible buzz. So you got to look at the positive side. Do you think we'll get to a point where, like, a league like the NHL will stop testing for cannabis? Absolutely. I think that they should. I think all the league, and you look at football, just came out today with a big thing. They're putting millions of dollars behind the CBD and the football.

Baseball, basketball took it out. You know, at least if it's, yes, because it makes sense. And through the education, and here's the thing. I know that it's the truth and it's the right thing. And I will be prepared that when they want to ask these questions, that's one of the things why I created the CBD role. on and create things that could use for guys that play now. And I absolutely think that as the education, as everything evolves, as the truth prevails,

that it'll be just, it has to be. Because not just the CBD or the cannabis or whatever, the CBN, which is the sedative part of the plant, right, is the sleep agent that I think is the key to life. In my opinion, right? And so why wouldn't everybody be able to do that when they understand? I mean, I just, it's amazing for me. The blessing is when, you know, you have somebody, what do you mean by that? I hasn't.

And they get the secret right then. And then you understand, well, it's because you have a processor in your body. That's strictly for this plant. So your responsibility is to put it in. It'll do with it what it's supposed to. So that's if you, you know, people want to care more. care more about what they, you know, what milk they drink, what diet they're on, you know, vegan, vegetarian, well, this goes all, it's plant life. That's all it is, plant life.

And since we've been talking about it, what is your CBD products so people can check this out? Yeah, the Darren McCarty brand, Darrymacardi.com. Yeah, you can go to derrammacardi.com and I ship them all over the world on there for that. And unfortunately right now, just because of the laws that the cannabis, the THC, the edibles and that stuff is in Michigan, but you can find it dispensaries and stuff everywhere. But yeah, the Darren McCarty brand. So that's the thing, honestly, Chris, with everything else is what I'm most proud of because I know at the end of the day, it'll make the biggest different at anything

that I've done in my life because, like you said, and when we get to that point, I hope that you'll laugh, as I will laugh every time I see Darren McCarty's role on CBD, used by a hockey guy. That's my win because it's the right. It's just because what's right, it's the Canadian. What was the lowest point for you? Did you have a rock bottom where you realized, man, I really need to get my life back on track.

See, there is no such thing in my life as rock bottom. It's an endless pit, right? It's just they'll stick the floor there and whatever. And the truth that I know is when they tell you as an alcoholic, no matter how much time away from your last drink, you will go right back to where you were. That is the God-forsaken truth, right? Like, I can't, if I drink today, I die.

I've abused my body so much. Now my health, I'm healthier than I was when I played, right? But I know that what, you know, poison it is for me, but I was able through the cannabis to get rid of that physical addiction to get on the other side. And I mean, I battle with it for so many years. So, so the, was there, there was so many, so many different things. And really the, the bottom line or why it was, and, and I spent literally from 2012 to

2015 until the day that I decided that this was it, trying to find a way, but but lately living, leaving Las Vegas without really trying to, but that's, That's how ugly it was. So it was pretty much deciding to get back up and fight, right? Because I knew all the lot. And half the time it was I ain't getting back, you know, because I know once I start something, you can't stop me from accomplishing what I want to accomplish.

So it was just having the strength to do it. And I needed that cannabis. I needed the education and the RSO for my friends to get me to that point. Then I can make that commitment. Because it wasn't until I had that physical relief. because with alcohol, you will die. You will die from the DTs if you can't go cold turkey. So there has to be a detox.

There has to be something else. And that's the sad part. So I've had so many, you know, like, you know, different things that you sort of wish that you wouldn't have done. But you did them. And you know what? Like I said again, like I said before, I'm always one that I did it. I'll own up to it. and let's move on and learn the lesson from it.

Scotty Bowman, this is the one thing that I take it. You're allowed to make that mistake once. Don't make it again. Were you drinking because you were in pain from hockey? Or were you just drinking because that was just the lifestyle that you were living at the time? I think all of it. You know, like it's just when you're an alcoholic too.

And it wasn't, see, that's where hockey always, I was lucky. You know, I was lucky that I had not just my teammates, But my accountability to them was bigger than my accountability to myself. So I'd have no problem not drinking because it was like we didn't drink during playoffs. We didn't drink. I mean, I went years and years with not drinking while I played. But I always knew that as an alcoholic, there was a date. I don't have a date now.

I don't look for all that stuff. So I think that at times, like I said, Chris, the biggest thing was sleep a lot of the time is just get because you couldn't get to sleep. you know, and either that or, you know, the anxiety of not only, you got to remember, guys that play the role that I do, you not only have to know the playbook and know the plays, but you also have to know the fight card, right? And back in the day, there's eight guys on the other team. You got to go through and, you know, it's much like guys do today, the hockey fights.com or whatever and goes, oh, okay.

Oh, wow. Shit. I fought him in a while. He's going left that, you know, like there's so much thing you don't realize it, but it does, you're not a machine. So that explains a lot of where it's easier to go, oh, that bottle, that'll shut my brain off. Right. You talk about hockey fights.com.

What's the one fight that everyone wants to talk to you about? Is it the one fight? Yeah. Yeah, that one just, and I said that's. Both fights, I guess, with him. The second one's my favorite. Okay, the second one, off to draw, off the draw, not the turtle, because he fought back because I remember and I remember and people ask me all the time.

What did you say? What were you guys saying to each other? I said he said nothing. I said everything. And I said everything that if I repeated it would get me canceled culture to everything else. Because I didn't, I mean, it was. And I just pretty much went, what are you doing lying up beside me? You ain't got the balls to do anything like you, you know, and went in on everything, you know, down to his dog and, you know, whatever like this.

but the puck drops, Drake wins the draw to Nick and I turn and he cracked me. Dude, my nose starts bleeding that. And the first thing I thought was good, he's going to fight this time. So that was my favorite one because I got some good shots in. We stood back. You got to remember he's bigger than I am.

He's a great, strong guy. And this is what I say about Claude to Mead, because there's a great interview on TSN off the record done in like 2014. Michael Landsberg. Lansberg nailed it, dude. And listen, I'm hung over. It's St. Patty's Day the day before. and I got to drive into Toronto, so I'm not impressed.

First time I met Claude, but it's one of those, that's as pure as you get as, like, the real, but I will say this is I have so much respect for Claude Mew, the man, not the player, but to this day, and we've done sign. He's done signings. He's signed that pitcher, you know, turtle and stuff for charity, and, you know, like he's a good dude. And I always said, Chely always told me,

because they were teammates in Montreal, that he's a different guy. And some guys are. Some guys are different in the ring, out of the ring, than they are on the ice off the ice. But it's, yeah, so that, you know, what can you say? I call March 26, 97 Red Wing D-Day, just because that's where it started. And I got four cups since then, so I thank Claude to me.

You ever ask Claude why he turtled? He said he was knocked out. He said it's the hardest he's ever been hit when I hit him with that right coming out of there. He said he was seeing stars. So that's what the man said himself. and I was like, I can't hit you any harder, bro. So I hope you went down, you know. Is there a power puncher?

Is there anyone that you wish you could have fought and never had the chance to line up against them? Nah. You fight Ty Domi? Oh, yeah. Yeah, but I used to, see, I know Ty since I played Junior B and Peterborough, and that was when he played Junior A with Mike Ritchie and they had the great teams and stuff. So I had known Ty since I had a fake ID back when I was 16. but yeah we used to fight when he was with the least and stuff but

but he would always want to go fight probing I'd have to fight and I'd fight and I'd fight bomb gardener because we'd stand back and throw and he was tough as shit but tie I would always like I'm like I'm like gonna throw it with you and I grab him tie him up and I just throw him around like a rag doll I said do it every time so he doesn't like when it wasn't the show so it was he likes to get guys swinging and he's tough as he's one of the toughest dudes out there you know So, yeah, I mean, I remember my first year we had like five on fives and Bob Rouse and and Bob Prober having frigging contests with sticks.

And it was like, welcome to the show, kid, here we go. Darren, what do you think this is the biggest lesson that hockey taught you about life? Never give up. Never give up. Never get up off the ice. No matter what, get up. You know, no matter. Like, you can stay down, but when you're ready to get up, get up.

Then I tell everybody, as long as you do not quit, you're still in the game, no matter what. And somebody out there, you're not alone, right? That there's somebody out there that we're connected. And it's more of that to get through stuff together. But it's the, it's the get knocked down, get back up. Get beat up. Get back on the horse. You know, it's through injuries, through everything else.

And what it is is the biggest thing is to know what it's to get outside of yourself. Right. Like you say, like I always tell people as if you're having a tough day, go do something for somebody. Like go get out of yourself because that will make you feel better as a human being. So whatever it is. And that's what team taught me is that like, and Stevie said this. He said it a few times, but the first thing about the journey and about nobody can take that away from you. And we're still talking about different stories about, you know, we were talking the other day, a bunch of us.

And it was like some of the story back in Anaheim back in the 97, forgot about it and it was so funny. And it was just like those little memories because it's the journey. You know, it's the journey. And I'm just grateful to be able to be here to let, you know, life isn't. easy. I mean, there's like what they show me on TV is not my world. I refuse to believe that. The world, this is

my world and the people that I surround myself with and I do believe that together we can make this, you know, make it the place that we want, you know? Like that guy and that's where it goes back to before like you said Chris is I only surround myself

with the people that I want to be around with that I know that, know me for what I am. you know, Darren McCarty the person and, you know, or Darren McCarty, the huge wrestling fan or, you know, different, I'm almost 50 years old and I have wrestling parties. What do you want?

You know, I mean, it's... I'm going to come to your next one. Oh, dude, you're more than, you're, you're more than invited. Any open invitation and stuff like that. It's just, yeah, you'll just hear me like, and that's the beauty. Now that everything's opened up again through this COVID and I hope

for everybody out there is that like I was able to find, you know, know my answer to grind time or is I need to know the why. Maybe people have figured out their answer, but, you know, what you need, what you don't need. and a lot of it is we missed out on that. The thing is the personal interaction, right? This is the thing I missed out on the most.

It wasn't, I felt connected because technology kept me connected, but it's just that in front of people, it's like what I'm sure, you know, when you watch this, these hockey games and they have the full stadium and you get that vibe. Yeah, as an athlete, you feel it. As a wrestler to watch, you know, double or nothing or to watch with the crowds and just, man, it's just, you know what? And I know that I'm not alone because if you're like, there's a whole bunch of us, no matter where we're from what we do, that love the same things.

And I don't have to love it. I love people that are passionate for different things. And if it's not my thing, like I tell everybody, If I'm not doing it, then don't do it near me. Double, keep going. If I'm not doing it, go do your thing. Everybody can do their own thing. But if I'm not doing it, please, for your safety, don't do it around me.

I think I've learned, I mean, there's a lot of lessons to learn out of COVID. But one of the biggest things I learned is the greatest moments we have in our life are the shared experiences. It's being at that game. It's being at that concert. It's being at that party, that tailgate, whatever. It's being with other people and sharing those experiences with them. Yeah, and you know what the beauty is too is also through this COVID and through, you know, I just because I use yours because I relate to it, your podcast. But and that's the beauty is it's opened up the world to finding different people or just relates.

I mean, I follow a bunch of different random people on their journeys and one lives out of their truck and one does it because they're struggling with alcoholism. So try to give them some support, you know, just like it's watching the battle, but to know that we're connected in that way so that we can all go to this event or go to that event or whatever. So people are saying, yeah, this is what I want to do. Not this is what I have to do or you get into, you know, you know how that that is. You sort of get in that life used to be. You get on that conveyor belt and know, we've got to do this here and do this. Now you appreciate it. Oh, yeah.

I love how much you've talked about gratitude throughout this interview. bro I love the fact the first time I ever put turned on your pod like a couple years or whatever like this was was a sign over there man and I was just like you know and then that's before I even knew anything about you and then it's get behind you to go he's Canadian well of course he is and it's just because when you come out of when you because I see life like you do when you see it out of the great you know I always love that be great be grateful and I come out of gratitude because I'm grateful to be grateful to be grateful to be grateful to be here and grateful to be able to have the stats that I do, but I also understand the purpose of

them now. Well, you have self-awareness, which so many people do not have. I tell everybody this. I said, listen, until I made, and this is, I use this all the time, I go, you know that mirror, any mirror, when you can be best friends with that person in the mirror, and when you can walk by them, right, and have a conversation, because it took me to walk and by and stop and saying, listen, I don't want to deal with you right now. He looked back at me and said, I hope you're alive when you get back. And I was like, oh, you're swarmy. And then we just started talking.

And he's got a pretty cool personality and I liked them. And so it's okay with not being okay, but it's look in that mirror. And no matter what, don't lie to that person. Because as long as you can lie to everybody else, but if you don't lie to them, then there's some progress, not perfection. I love it. Yeah. You know, every interview talking about gratitude.

So what are three things in your life right now, Darren, that you're grateful for? grateful for three things that I'm grateful for. I'm grateful for my best friend who's also my wife, who is a lot, what she gave me back in 2015, but we've been together to 2011, but it was the love that I deserve to give myself. It's not,

you can't do anything for anybody else, but when you have somebody to believe that you deserve to be, like, the person that you are, or sees that person when you can't. You know, she's the biggest, she's the biggest reason that I'm here, you know,

because she gave me that opportunity. Now I'm just stopped running. I'm grateful for the health of all my kids, my stepkids and, you know, the people around me. And I'm grateful for, for, I always say this. I said, I'm,

I'm a battery. Guys, the people are my power. I'm grateful for people that are brave, people that, what do you mean by that? I tell everybody if you see mortal engines, Ryan time and Darren McCarty's like, like the country of London, except we're good and we're

shining this light. And if you're in the dark and you want answers, like, what do you mean by that? Leave your dark there and come on. And whether I will or people around me that are going, because this is, you know how it is, grateful, I'm grateful because I surround

myself with grateful people too. Yeah. Right? You know, and it down. And You know, one of the things that at the Woodward Sports now, where we're coming from right now where I do the hook and I do grind time out of here. But it's owned by Chad Johnson, who's Lady James. Lady Jane's a haircut, 168, whatever. But it's his, and it's the same thing as I equated to Tony Khan, right?

When you have somebody that has the dollars, but also has the compassion for the people and sees it that way, that's why that's the greatest thing too, Chris, is that because Vince can't bully buy, do whatever like that because he's up against it and he knows it. So that's why we're all sitting here and going, wow, this is so awesome because, I mean, you name, like, when they went all factions and, like, it's just, there's so many storylines that are there that makes sense. And it seems like the guys want to be there. They're having fun and they're working hard.

So I'm just grateful for where I'm at and in my life and to be able to talk to you and to be able to, you know, just to be. I've loved this talking about wrestling, talking about hockey, talking about gratitude. Did you have a fairer-McCardty.com is where people can find out more about your products. But where's the best place for people to find you online on social media? See, I tell everybody, well, if you go to derrammocker.com like I do every day, then you find out what you're doing that day. But they, I have everything on there, but also to every blue checkmark official

Darren McCarty, or Darren McCarty official, I believe it's on. on Facebook, Real Darren McCarty on Instagram. Darren McCarty 4. See, I have control of my Twitter. So Darren McCarty 4, that's me. If you want to chirp in and out with me like that, I man that one. That's the one that I was able to let the boys keep me.

You know, it's protect me from myself sometimes, but the tweeter, the tweeter I'm on my own and stuff. So between that, I got the, obviously, grind to the band and Darren McCarty slaps the comedy tour, and the Darren McCarty brand. But go to Darrya McCarty.com and You're a renaissance man. You've got a little bit of everything.

Well, dude, like I said, dude, McAfee, right? We haven't mentioned him. Oh my God, dude. He is so awesome. Like, dude, what did you think? Like him in the ring at war games and shit that he did, dude, I was just like this guy. So impressive. And he has way surpassed my expectations on commentary.

And you know why he's good? Because they allow him to be him. The fan, the whatever. I get that. I get all that because what you're getting is all Pat McAfee, right? Jared, you can blame Jericho. You know, because that's all it is. I mean, I figured if I got the band and I got the, you know,

maybe, you know, yell at somebody in the faction. I can get myself on that Jericho cruise. There you go. I think it's possible. Well, we'll work on. I'm going to leave that up to you, Chris. I know. Darren, this has been amazing.

Thank you so much for this. Yeah, I'm going to reach out too because I'd love to love to get some time and put you on a grind time podcast where we can get everybody who's a best fan. Well, I will do. I'm going to get Nick to reach out to you and stuff like that. But yeah, no, this, dude, honestly, this is like a bucket list, this is a bucket list item because I'm such a big fan. But, you know, like I said, you know, it's to be great, be grateful and be jealous if you're not Canadian. All right. What a guy and what a conversation.

There's so many great takeaways from that. And I hope there's a few things there that really resonated with you that you can apply to your own life. Take a screenshot. Let us know what stood out the most. You can find Darren on Twitter at Darren McCarty 4. On Instagram, he's at Real Darren McCarty. And I am at Chris Van Fleet, super simple, just my name.

And since we're talking about winners and champions, I'll leave you with this famous quote from Vince Scully, the legendary L.A. Dodgers commentator who says, losing feels worse than winning feels good. Hmm. Be great. Be grateful. We'll see you on the next one for some more insight.

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