Puck Soup - Betting On Yourself

Episode Date: August 5, 2021

The boys and guest host Marisa Ingemi break down the Evander Kane gambling controversy, including whether a player can throw an NHL game; the Jack Eichel drama goes very public; Fleury picks Chicago; Torts joins ESPN; NWHL and the USWNT; the Summer Olympics; and the best and worst vacation destinations. Sponsored by Raycon and Brooklinen.

Sticks and hits and goals and saves and slap shots and goons. We've got sportly commentary to what if you commute. We also cover movies, TV shows, it's and tunes. It's your weekly bowl of Hagi and Nonsense. I'm Greg Wyshinsky of ESPN, the worldwide leader of hiring people that I've criticized publicly for more than a decade. decade to be my coworkers. I'm acclaimed novelist Cormac McCarthy.

Oh, my goodness. Did you see this? That's amazing. This week. No, what was that? There was a thing where somebody was tweeting like, oh, I'm the real Cormac McCarthy. Can you believe my publicist made me get Twitter?

And it was like, but he was tweeting stuff was like, kombucha's just tea that went bad or whatever the fuck. And it's like, like thousands of people. people were buying it. Yeah, we're just like, wow, I can't believe Cormac McCarthy is tweeting epic memes. Was he, but was he a blue checkpoint? No, of course not. Oh, but I guess if you just join, then you wouldn't be, right?

You know what? If his publicist is making fucking 90-year-old's greatest novelist in maybe American history, if his publicist is making him get it, I think you put the call into 24. Twitter first, don't you? I think you probably do. Yeah. Okay, Ryan, we have a special guest this week. Oh, yeah, she didn't.

Sorry. My bad. Is this where I do the little intro? Yeah, that's right. Yeah, this is what you do your intro. Yes, absolutely. Hi, I'm Marissa and Jemmy, soon to be Seattle Cracken reporter, Seattle Times, and a very active Twitter user. And you're in Puck Soup.

Obviously, Marissa pinch hitting for Sean this week. Sean had mentioned, I don't know, on the show or just to us, that August was going to be a little weird for him. Apparently, he likes to, air quotes, spend time with his family during the off season. So I know, he's going to be around here or there, but luckily, Marissa was nice enough to join us. Now, I understand that you're in the process of actually moving west, correct? Like, at this moment? Yeah, four days away, and then I'm not in Boston anymore. What are you going to miss most about Boston?

Being able to smoke inside of Dunkin' Donuts? Or what specifically? Just Dunkin' Donuts in general, probably. I've been going like twice a day to try to get my fix-in before I can't again until I'm on road trips. I mean, they have Dunkin' Donuts in Seattle. No, they don't. They do not. I ask Twitter and they said no.

Holy shit. Listen to you. You think you know. Well, you have to remember, Ryan, that like I'm sure the epic bacon donut craze from Portland probably my migrated up to Seattle. So, like, she can't get just a Boston cream. It's got to be a Boston cream with, like, sausage crumbs on it or some shit. Yeah.

So, like, you know, it's going to be a tough look. The good news is there are, there's four Starbucks within a mile of where I'm going to live. So that's good news. But, yeah, no Duncan is kind of, that's definitely the biggest detractor. I'm going to look up the closest, uh, the closest one to Seattle. battle. It seems like there isn't one that even shows up on the Duncan website. I'm sure there might be some... Yeah. You'd have to go all the way there. It's weird how that works. I mean, there are

certain parts of the country where there are chains that are very prevalent and what have you. And then they just kind of fade. Duncan Donuts would be more on the line of like a Starbucks that I would consider to be everywhere, but I guess not. That's kind of shocking. Yeah, no, like, they have it everywhere I've been on, like, the West Coast and, and other parts of the country, like, they have it there. I guess the market penetration of Starbucks just makes it impossible, right? Yeah. It's always fun to mark distance by where you see certain fast food chains are no longer available. Like, you know you've gotten pretty far from California when you no longer see a del taco on the sign, or you know you've gotten through.

Pennsylvania and Ohio when there's no longer a stake and shake on the signs on the side of the road. There's going to be a jack-in-a-box nearby me, and that kind of, like, rattled me of like, oh, wow, this is really the West Coast now. Yeah. Anytime you're watching, like, a Kings game or whatever, and it's the, it's Jack-on-the-box. Like, the guy that does the voice for Jack-in-the-box is always very unenthusiastic or whatever. I went to Jack-on-the-Box when I was in L.A. a couple years ago is, like, Better Burger King is what I would say it is. I would say it's Better Burger King.

The place that I really enjoyed and that my kid really enjoyed when we were in California was Carl's Jr. Which I believe is in the Hardee's family. And they're, they kind of do the thing that Burger King does where they, you know, throw a bunch of different show on their menu all the time. And, uh, but it's good. Like, it's very tasty. I miss those. I miss, um, uh, Del Taco was a really cool spot too.

I miss that when I got a chance to go there. you could still go there in Vegas. I don't know. Fast food, who knew? Marissa, I'm sure some people are curious. Like, when you go and get this new gig covering an expansion team, which is very exciting,

how have you done insofar as like making inroads with the Cracken? Like, are you waiting to get there to really like, be like, hey, it's me? Or have you already kind of like started to reach out to people? Like, how does that work when you hop on a new beat like this? Oh, yeah, kind of a mix of both.

So like I've been on an NHL beat before and then I was writing for NBC this past year. So like I never really stopped talking to like people in the league or people who covered a league or people inside of it. So one cool thing about an expansion team is there's no lower yet. There's no one who like knows everyone out there yet. Like it's all just people from different organizations or new people entirely. So there's some people like I knew who were from Boston or from other areas and stuff. So like that's been pretty cool. But a lot of the like, I don't know, like the head.

I'm definitely waiting till I'm done moving because that's a job and a half just moving across the country. It turns out is extremely a lot to deal with. So that's kind of my primary focus until I actually get started. But yeah, I'm talking to people out there every day. I'm still talking to people in the league. So I feel like after freelancing for so long, you never like turn that off. Like there's never like a day that goes by that I'm not like thinking about like what do I want to write, like, who do I want to talk to? Like, I'm already writing a list of ideas of stuff I want to explore. Like, that never really turns off. But, yeah, I mean, one thing that really helps is just having been into league before and having that networking kind of already established.

That's fascinating. Have you thought about how you're going to handle the tone of covering an expansion team? Like, everything about this team feels very honeymoon. Like, can you, could you, like, take out both barrels and slam the shit out of them in year one? Or is it more, like, kind of have to kind of play along with the introduction of a new team in a new sport to an area type deal. Yeah, well, it's a lot different in covering a team like the Bruins, which is what I did before who have been around for over 100 years and everyone's mad at them no matter what happened. So, like, it's a lot of a different tone, like, kind of in Boston, like, you kind of always have to have that, like, abrasive side in the back of your mind where I feel like that's not

the vibe in Seattle at all. So far everyone I've talked to is just like very very. very hyped about them, but we'll see, like you said, like, what's the tone going to be if they like don't do something very good or like there's off-ice stuff or like they're just a bad team. One of the things I've been looking at a lot is just like Vegas and like how did people handle covering Vegas? Like, what was the vibe there? Like, I think it's really helpful that there's almost like an entire blueprint.

And it's a similar vibe. It's a city that hasn't had hockey at the NHL level. I know they had it in like 1917 or whatever in Seattle, but like that doesn't count right now. So it's very similar in that sense. And obviously Vegas goes to the cup final. I don't think it's fair to have that kind of an expectation. But it is kind of fascinating how those parallels are going to be there kind of all year because of what Vegas did. But I think it's really important from a beach perspective to look at like how would you like, I think it's like that blueprint is right there of how to cover an expansion team in modern era with like all the tools we have right now.

So that's something I've been like studying a little bit lately is just like what was it like to cover. expansion team in the NHL in his past decade. So I think it's really helpful to have that right there. Who do you think from the Boston media is going to shiv you on your way out of town? Who's going to have the big take down of your work? I mean, it wasn't getting laid off enough. Like, they already got laid off. I feel like that's, that was it.

Yeah, that's true. The other thing, though, about covering them is like, yeah, maybe Vegas can be a, you know, a template a little bit, but also like Vegas won a whole shitload of games that first year. And I'm not quite so certain Seattle will. So like you might have to throw that out the window like the first time they lose three games in a row because I bet that first Vegas team had one stretch like that all year and they were already 14 and two or what I actually think for old time's sake, you should just write a hit piece on Tuka Rass. just kind of like

comfort food for you. This has nothing to do with the Seattle Cracken. I just think Tuka Rask stinks. I mean, he could be. I mean, he's a UFA. He could find his way out there. It's fascinating. You know, not to get too journalism nerdy,

but like I do remember in the early days of the Golden Knights, it was fascinating. Like, they've got some newspapers out there and they obviously have a ton of radio stations out there and stuff. But that was very sort of like blog-centric. I think the coverage of that team straight away

with like Sinbin and other places. Like, you'd go on those conference calls with George McPhee, and it's like the Las Vegas son, the journal review. And then like, Vegas Puck Emporium wants to know. And it's like, oh, that's awesome, man. It reminded me back in the day of like the Wild Well West of Bloggin. So let's see. I wonder how that's going to play in Seattle. But anyways, it's a fun time. We were all very, so very, very happy to see you get that gig. You're going to kill it out there. and enjoy what I assume is renting because the Pacific Northwest is insane.

Oh, yeah. No, she's a buyer. She's going out there. She's got 1.2 mill in the bank from all that freelancing money. Oh, yeah, definitely. Definitely, like, not waiting on several checks from January still. No. Oh, yeah.

It's good times. All right. Let's talk about some news of the day. Obviously, the biggest story of the office. season arguably happened between the last episode. Diet. Nathan McKinnon's diet. We'll get to that later.

Van der Kaine accused by his estranged wife, Anna Kane, during it on an Instagram post, not only talking about him not taking care of his family and neglecting them financially and going on vacations to Europe while, you know, they can't afford baby formula or some such. But the big stuff that got everybody's attention were the whole things of it. about him betting on the National Hockey League, betting on Sharks games, and alleging that he was compromising his own play for gambling purposes to lose maybe intentionally. Kane shot back on Twitter the next day, saying he has never bet on hockey, he has never

been on Sharks games, and has never thrown a game. The NHL broke a land speed record and announcing an investigation into this thing. Like, Anna Kane hit, like, send on our Instagram story, and like 50 seconds later, the NHL's like, we're investigating. They were blackbagging, pulling him into a van. It was insane. I mean, like, you think, and I know a lot of people were upset and being like, hey, why does the NHL move this quickly on stuff like the Blackhawk scandal? I'm like, because the Black Hawk scandal has nothing to do with Fandul, draft kings, MGM, Bally's, uh, William Hill and on and on and on. I mean, the minute the quote unquote, I mean, think about the Tim Peel thing.

It was the same language, like the integrity of the game. As soon as they start talking about that, they're going to move with lightning speed on this shit. Lambert, what was your take on these accusations about Evander Kane, not only gambling on hockey, which is a violation of the CBA, but potentially match fixing, as it were? Extremely hard to believe, right? Like, just based on the fact that he had a really good fucking year for the most part, you know? like, obviously, let's put it this way. If you said to me, oh, someone on the Sharks is involved in matchfixing, I'd be like, well, it's Martin Jones, obviously.

There's no, maybe Brent Burns, somebody like that, like a Mark Edward Vlasic, a guy who just like absolutely didn't have a good year, Van der Kaine maybe had the best year of anybody on that team. And so, you know, like the joke going around was if he can put up like, you know, a 70-point pace and be trying to lose multiple games over the course of the year or whatever. Like, he might have deserved MVP consideration. You know, like, okay, yeah. To balance that.

Yeah, but, like, you know, everything everybody's said about, you know, he plays a third of the game. He's a left wing. What's he going to do? Like, how's he going to materially affect the game in the way that you could directly say, oh, he's the reason they lost any given game. That's a real tough sell for me. Like, even if you said, you know what, he's betting on games, but he did the Pete Rose thing and he always bet on the sharks to win, I'd be like, yeah, I mean, look how

he did this year. Yeah, but that's also psychotic to bet on the sharks to win this year. Like, it's not, it's not a gambling problem. I mean, he's not, these aren't like the most rational people. I saw a whole Simpsons episode about it. Um, but yeah, I mean, for all the reasons everybody said that him betting on hockey, or the shark specifically, it's hard to believe. It's hard to believe.

Yeah. What did you think, Marissa? Well, yeah, I thought the non-gambling accusations were a bigger concern in general. Like, that's, like, really unfortunate stuff. And hopefully, like, everyone affected is okay and everything. Because that's, like, that's what stood out a bit more. but as far as the gambling thing goes, like, again, like, how much can a left-winger affect if a team's going to win or lose an entire game? Like, you really, like, that's one thing that's crossed my mind, and the other thing is, like, as sports continues to approach this, like, unprecedented level of gambling, like, it's a part of everything now.

You see, like you mentioned, Fandual Draft Kings, the ads, you go into the arena and you can bet at some places now. Like, it's going to become a slippery slope in general of, like, just examples. some of this stuff. Like it's just becoming such an influence in sports period that you just wonder if there are more like gambling incidents or cases that come out like not like this exactly because there's obviously a lot more going on there than just a gambling. But in general, it's really fascinating to see the juxt position of like, oh, like betting on a sport you play is like the worst thing you can do in pro sports.

And meanwhile, that's where the league and people involved are getting like a ton of money. Yeah, it's like everybody come bet on hockey and watch hockey, except for you guys who play hockey. You don't do any of that. It's kind of amazing that weird to see that cognitive dissonance a little bit. It is, it is. And I mean, it's also interesting that they're allowed to bet on everything else. That was one of the first questions I got from people, actually from inside ESPN when we started to work out these stories, was what's the rules on them betting on other stuff? Like, they can bet on fucking everything but hockey.

they're allowed to, which is kind of an interesting thing. So Dave Perdom and I from the SPN did a long sort of like frequently asked questions type deal this week that spells out a lot of the nuances on this thing. A couple interesting nuggets in researching the story. One, if he was betting with a bookie, which it seems like he was, even the ones in Vegas say that because, there's such limited money gambled on hockey like a large enough wager that he'd have to make

on a like fixed game let's say to make up the debts that he has would stick out like a store like a sore thumb like it would be pretty obvious that somebody is betting in a very unnatural and non-traditional way and that hasn't crossed

anybody's radar in Vegas the other really interesting thing too is is in talking to a lot of the players in the last couple years since all this gambling stuff has kind of become intertwined with the NHL, it does seem like there is a hockey culture thing of knowing that going through a bookie or a sports book and betting on hockey is a step too far. Like, I don't know if it's because if it's in the CBA. I don't know if it's because it's like posted in every dressing room.

They just kind of know that like, yeah, you could you could blow all your money on basketball and football, but don't bet on hockey. Like, don't pissing your own chairs. Well, I mean, you don't have to call that a hockey culture thing. Like, you're not supposed to bet on baseball if you play baseball. You're not supposed to bet on basketball if you play basketball. Like, that, nobody does. The sports culture thing.

Yeah. Yeah. So it's not a hockey culture thing. It's just like it's against the rules. Well, I mean, I don't cover the other sports. So I couldn't tell you if an NFL of a left tackle is not betting on football. Like, I don't know. Yeah.

I'll say in hockey. They wouldn't be. But I'll say, I'll say in hockey, like, those guys just seem to treat it sort of as the, you know, they all bet each other on shit. But they don't bet through bookies. and stuff, kind of on the stuff, which I thought was interesting. And then, you know, like Lambert said, I mean, a goalie completely, a quarterback completely, a pitcher completely. You could buy all those people throwing shit.

Left wing playing a third of the game, not so much. I will say, though, I'm just throwing this out here. And I'm not saying it means anything. Like, if you were going to affect the outcome of a game and you were only playing a third of the game, what is the one way that you'd be able to do it? besides, say, a defensive lapse. It's probably taking a bunch of penalties, right? Yeah.

And this guy leads the league in the last three years in taking minor penalties. Now, we have heard that it's because the referees are biased against them, because of various and sundry reasons. But there have been games when he's taken, like, four minor penalties in a game. You know? But even then, like, is that enough? Because what if the other

team's power play is just, like, really bad? Well, that's the point. Well, right. You're still making an assumption. I mean, I'm going back here. This guy, 113 penalty minutes and 70 games in 2016. 91 and 65 in 2015. 56 and 37.

Like, this guy just takes a lot of fucking penalties. He does. He does. And so, I don't know. Like, again. No, no, I can. I think the match fixing stuff is, is, I don't think it's, like I said, it's not impossible, but it's very improbable that it's true.

Yeah, it's not like he put the puck in his own net in a national title or anything. Like where people were like, well, this looks like fucking match fixing, right? Like, come on. Well, you know, there was a match fixing scandal in Belarus, I think it was, within the last couple of years

where a bunch of guys got banned for multiple years by the double IHF. And that was like, and you got a sense of how, how widespread it needs to be. Like, you need the goalie involved. You need like several players involved. Yeah. Yeah.

Yeah. To have one person do it kind of just seems a little bit outlandish if they're not in a position again, like a goaltender to affect the outcome of the game. But again, like, you know, if they find something, they're obviously going to throw them out of the league, right? Like, the NHL has no love loss with Vander Cain. Yeah, it would be more than willing to. Yeah. his teammates, his teammates, and everyone else.

Yeah, they'd be more than willing to make this guy the ultimate example to say, hey, don't bet on hockey. Yeah, and the sharks would love it too because of how much money he makes. Right. And his creditor is probably not so much because then he would officially not have that contract anymore. It's a mess. Yeah, Marissa, what did you make of the news that his teammates were like, we're done with this guy.

He can't come back here anymore. Oh, yeah. I mean, I think that has to be more than just, like, the gambling stuff. They have to, like, for a team to, like, not want a guy there anymore, there has to be, like, some serious stuff going on. And maybe they take the allegations by his wife or ex-wife seriously. Maybe that's what it is. But judging by other things that have happened in the league,

it's probably more of a locker room thing than anything. And this is just, like, a good opportunity to be like, yeah, well, we never liked him anyways. Yeah, the funny part, if you want to put it that way, I guess, is, when his wife was posting all that stuff, she posted that his teammates had bought him a casino gambling for dummies book. Which I was like, damn, he must not be good at this.

Yeah, it's a, it was a real bombshell. I know the league really wasn't prepared for this. But it'd be, it'd be, they have to basically find an electronic trail that showed that he'd about on hockey, or a paper trail. most likely an electronic trail. And it'll be interesting to see if what they turn up.

But good, a good education for everybody in the last week on the betting on hockey rules and what's allowed and what's not allowed. It turns out you're not allowed to bet on hockey. It's crazy. Yeah, it turns out, it's right there in the CBA. It literally says, hey, don't bet on hockey. Can't do it.

You know, listen up. Clean out your ears. Speaking of ears. Today's episode of Puck Suite was sponsored by Raycon. Raycon is one of our favorite sponsors here on the podcast. They make incredible wireless earbuds. Sometimes you want to hear that upbeat music to pump you up before you see people. Sometimes you want to stay calm with some guided meditation.

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And I don't know about you, but sometimes these wireless earbuds, they fall out your ears, not the Raycons. That's important to know. Create your own soundtrack with Raycon. Right now, Puck Soup listeners can get 15% off of their Raycon order at Buyraycon.com slash puck. That's B-U-Y, R-A-Y-C-O-N-com slash puck. That's buy raycon.com slash puck to save 15% off on Raycon's by Raycon.com slash puck. By the way, I watch Jungle Cruise with The Rock.

It's pretty good. It's pretty good. Yeah. It's fun. Yeah. Does it have that old, that old, the mummy spirit? Yeah. Yeah.

And, you know, I'm pretty sure you're like a Disney. fan or whatever. And like, so it also has a lot of like the stupid jungle jokes from the, from the ride. It was fun. Let's put it this way. It was better than it had any right to be. How was Jesse Plemons as a submarine captain? He plays Kaiser Wilhelm's youngest son specifically.

Of course he does. Yeah. And, well, he's Jesse Plemons. doing a fun German accent. What more do you want? What more do you want? Also, the other thing is, while we were talking about Evander Cain, apparently Thomas Tatar signed with the N.J. Devils, which is good because their left wings stink. They're really bad on the left wing. One might say they didn't have anybody over the age of 25 that could score a goal on that team. And even the ones under the age of 25. couldn't really score. So that's a pretty good pickup for them.

Hopefully, whatever was going on there in Montreal is just a Montreal-specific problem for Tomash. Yeah, and the other thing is the big knock on him is he doesn't perform in the playoffs. Well, good news. You don't have to worry about it. Exactly. Exactly.

Yeah, we're doing our big report card of all the off-season moves on Friday, and like, now I have to go back and, like, or basically the devil's one was literally like, hey, they need a veteran winger. Right. And, you know, lo and behold. All right. We talked about things in the CBA that are specifically spelled out.

That brings us to Jack Eichel and the affair the Jack Eichel in which the CBA spells out that the final call and any surgery that's performed on a player comes down to what the team physicians believe is the right course of action. and they believe still that the artificial disc replacement that Ikel wants is not the best course of action for an NHL player and that the traditional fusion surgery is better. It remains the impasse at this thing, but, oh boy, is it getting contentious. Since we last spoke to you, you had GM Kevin Adams coming out and saying that the process is going great. Everything is cool. Hey, he might still be here in training camp. say, we'll trade him when we're damn ready.

And then Eichol's agents were like, the process isn't working. You're impacting his ability to play. Trade him now. Blah, blah, blah. They wrote in a notes app. Marissa, what's your take on the Jack Eichol situation these days? My take is that they should trade him. It kind of like...

Okay. Interesting. Ooh, tell us more. If they don't, like, you just look at, like, there's no movement clauses next year. Like, they're just going to end up getting, like, as it is, you're not going to get the right value for him now, even. But it's just going to get worse from here. Like, you have to, it's not going to work. Even if he does come back, like, he's obviously, like, not happy.

And maybe he's right about to surgery. And maybe he gets hurt worse. And it becomes even more of a disaster. It just seems like this is a divorce that, like, really needs to happen. I'm more invested in, like, where is he going to go? And what if he goes to the Anaheim Ducks? I think that's like the best possible result. That would be hilarious.

It's really weird because like if I was going to trade for Jack Eichael, and Anaheim definitely has the ability to do so. And I think for them it would be great because it would give their franchise some renewed direction. Last thing I want to do is put that guy in a situation where I'm not a playoff team, like right now. Like you've got to be. You can't take this guy from a toxic. environment in Buffalo and put him in a fucking rebuild. That's why people are like, oh, Columbus could trade for him.

Like, sure. Should they? Like, is that a good thing for Jack Eichel? I don't know. Lambert, were you on Eichael these days? Yeah, I also think they should trade him. Oh, very fantastic, yes. Yeah, I can't remember who said it, but someone had a really good point on Twitter the other day,

which is like, you know he's not going to play. for you next year. So just let him get the fucking surgery. Who gives a shit? Just get him out the door. Like, it's, like, I get it insofar as you want to maximize value and you think that having him do a disc fusion is the best way to do that,

even though he'll be out for six months and miss half the season and all that kind of stuff. Like, I get it from that point of view, but like, they seem to think are holding a lot of cards here, and they are not. You know, I'll say this about your point. And I think it was Matt Larkin who mentioned that, like, why not just let him get the surgery. Could it be that other teams are as hesitant to have him do the surgery as are the Sabres? And that, you know, them making the call on what kind of surgery he should get impacts their ability to trade him?

I mean... Like, I'm just, I mean, it's a possibility. right? No, yeah. Like, I think that's a good point, but, you know, at the end of the day, it's going to be the exact same shit, right? Like, you get, again, let's say he gets traded to Anaheim. And he goes, well, I want this surgery. And Anaheim's like, no, you can't do that. He's going to be like, well, what the fuck? You know what I mean? Like, the whole point is he wants to go to a team that will let him get the surgery he wants. Right. I listen to that 31 thoughts episode. I kind of kind to get what the, what the gimmick with it is, but I, you know, I'm not going to pretend I'm a doctor or anything. Let's, let's pause on that for a second. Yeah. So first of all, I listen to the 31 thoughts episode too, and I feel really bad for Elliot. I think Elliot's a guy who really values his integrity. And, you know, when all of a sudden a doctor you've been trying to get an interview with for months decides to grant an interview, um, there might be a reason.

for it. And it turns out the reason was a coordinated effort to have the doctor explained the surgery on a, on a very popular podcast, and then hit him with the statement, like, the same day. Right? Like, that's basically what his agents did. They gave the, they clearly, somebody clearly allowed the surgeon to speak. Yes. And, and then they, unbeknownst to Elliot, were doing a coordinated blast of like, here's our follow-up statement kind of shit. I felt bad for him. I think, well, I will say, though, that it's happened. It's happened. It's. It's. It's happened. It's. It's. happened to everybody to wind up being in somebody's PR scheme, and I think that's probably what happened here. Yeah, I will say, though, that, like, he would have said the exact same shit if he said it two months ago. So, like, I didn't, I didn't look at it as that. Oh, but come on, the coincidence of timing? Oh, no. I'm agreeing that it's a totally coordinated thing, but people were like, well, oh, it sounded so biased. Well, I mean, people said that, like, people said that like Elliot and Jeff were in on it, which is horseshit. But like, I mean, they clearly were part of a rollout of some sort.

And I mean, let's face it, the bottom line for this surgeon is that he wants to do the surgery and do it on other really famous and rich NHL players that come his way. So obviously there's a, there's an incentive for him to explain it. I'll say this about that interview though, dude. Like I listened to it as well. And here's what I heard a lot of. And I don't think it necessarily helped Eichel. I heard, you know what, fusion surgery, it's great, it's good. He at one point, I believe, said it's an excellent course of treatment.

It's just that he thinks that this artificial disc replacement is better and especially better for Eichel, like, down the line. Like, he won't have to have additional surgeries. He could be, you know, a happy old man bouncing his grandkids on his knee, whatever the fuck. But like, it's pretty clear that this is not a situation where the team is pushing that something that is deleterious to Jack Eichol. They're pushing for something that'll fix him.

It just won't maybe fix him as well as this other thing will. So I found that to be really interesting because, you know, I think in other situations, it's like, team is trying to do something bad. Well, team is not trying to do something bad. Team is trying to do something good, but maybe not as good as the other thing that could be done for him. That's a little bit more risky because it's not been done for an NHL player before. So I found that to be kind of an interesting point of deep.

markation for the argument. But maybe you heard it differently. I don't know. Is that how you kind of heard it? Uh, I, you know, I get, I like, yeah, I don't think anybody's saying this kind of surgery is bad, but it is for Jack Eichel in so far as he wants to get the hell out of Buffalo. And if he gets the surgery with the longer recovery time, that makes it more difficult for him to get out of Buffalo as quickly as humanly possible. So that, I think, is the deleteer. part to your point. Yeah. I just wanted to use a vocabulary word. Somebody got the little calendar.

That's right. Marissa, if you could fantasy cast Jack Eichael anywhere, would it be Anaheim or would it be someplace else? I'd pick Seattle for me. That would just be more fun, and to get more B-U people out there would also be ideal. But I think the... Oh, hell, yeah. The result that would have the best possible.

tweets would be Anaheim. It might be. You know, the interesting thing about Seattle, like somebody was asking me about Seattle the other day about them vis-a-vis Eichl, and one, they don't seem too enthusiastic to add $10 million to their cap. Yeah, he's not a 31-year-old middle-payer defenseman, so they're not in the market. Right, they're not in the market. But, too, like, for what Buffalo is allegedly looking for, like, you know, pick some, you know, like roster players and young roster stuff. I mean, they just basically started building out a prospect pool.

Like, they don't have that shit yet. Yeah, they're not going to be able to actually make a deal like this? No, no, they're not able to do that. Yeah. That's not going to happen. It's just that would be the best result for me, which is ultimately at the end of the day, what I'm looking for. What about you, Lambert? Where do you want to see Eichael?

Well, you know, I keep, I keep saying, like, there's one team where it makes perfect sense, you know, except for Buffalo. But again, they're not exactly holding a ton of car. here. And the team that it makes sense for, especially because David Craichy announced his retirement, is Boston. Yeah. Right? Like, they need a guy to be the heir apparent to not only Grachy, but Patrice Bergeron, who's up after this coming season, right? And he's 36 right now, I want to say, Bergeron is. So, like, they need, like, they need a number two center right now. Charlie Coil's not going to cut the fucking mustard there. They've tried it a bunch of times. hasn't worked because he's not that, like, he's a, he's a good in a pinch number two. Uh, you don't want a whole season pinch. Uh, so they need someone to fill that role. Uh, Jack Eichel is, and, you know, they have nobody, no great prospects or anything, but if, like, you, if you say, you know what, first to second, uh, uh, uh, de Brusk and like, take any two guys off

providence, I think that's as good as you're going to get, like, there, yeah, you're, you, That's, I completely agree, but then you, I, you got to make the cap hit work, though. That's the issue. It's like, they only have one point, they have one point, uh, zero eight nine million under the cap right now. You have to find a way to get coil, I think, to Buffalo. Yeah. And he's got a, a no trade, um, that, a partial no trade that. And he's a boss guy, so he's not going anywhere.

You know what would help them? So like, out of a John Moore's contract somehow. Not big enough though, right? But every little bit helps. The other problem, though, Lambert, is that, like, if you take, like, yeah, Patrice is in his last year. And maybe there's something you can figure out there as far as, like, him coming back with a little bit less to be part of a thing, you know? But the real issue you have is that you're going to need to pay McAvoy next summer. Right.

So there's like a lot of kind of money issues. with an Eichael Boston situation. Yeah, I agree. Like, I think, you know, that's the best thing for everybody would be for him to go there. Yeah, ideal scenario is that.

And then the other thing is, if you're trading for Eichl, you probably have to give up like Matt Grislik, right? Like, that's, he has no, he doesn't have any kind of movement protection or anything like that. You signed for three years. He signed for a few more years.

And, like, a middling number, but like one that I think works for everybody. And then, yeah, obviously the McAvoy thing, like, you're going to go, well, Christ, if Zach Werenski's getting like 975, like you're going to really pony up some cash for Charlie McAvoy, but... That contract's going to be insane. Oh, yeah, he's going to, he's going to get, I think he's going to get Seth Jones money. Like, he's not going to try to, to hurt him necessarily, but, you know, like, they do have the thing of

nobody makes more than Berserand or Marshan or whatever. and I don't know Can you trick him into taking eight years seven? Probably not, but they have that kind of thing of people take less money to play for the Bruins. Yeah, but if I'm McAvoy,

I look at the way they very unceremoniously let Char go, and I think, no, I'm going to get what I want. Well, they let Char. I mean, yeah, but also like let Charra go at age 51 you know, because he wouldn't... Just the way they handled that. Like, to me, if I were a player on that team, I'd be like, you're just kind of like letting that happen the way you did,

and I'm a defenseman here, and you need that. Like, I'm going to get what I want. Yeah, and then the other thing is it's like, well, you know who didn't take less is like every guy they signed this summer that wasn't Taylor Hall and Mike Riley, right? Like, every other guy they slightly overpaid, or in like Derek Forward's case, like, dramatically overpaid.

So yeah, like, I definitely see it both ways, but, you know. I don't know if the money works here either, but the place I obviously want them is the Rangers. Like, how fun would that be? It would be fun. I don't think either of these are realistic because I still think that Buffalo is going to trade them outside the conference. Yes, absolutely. Yeah, there was already a big article in the Buffalo papers. Like, they will never send him to the Boston Bruins.

dare you. Right. Or send him to the Rami. The Rangers are, you know, same state and shit, right? Yeah. And also, the good news is Eichl doesn't fight, so they're probably not interested. Oh, my God. I, I, again, we were doing the grades for Friday. Like, how are the Rangers anything but a D? Like, what the fuck? Oh, they should be an F. I wouldn't go, I wouldn't go F. Like, I kind of like Patrick Nemef. That's like the only thing I kind of like. Right. They sent out Pavel Bucenevich for nothing. Well, and then they gave Berkeley Goodrow the Oh hey, we're Jim Benning

fucking long-terming and no trading A bottom six forward bullshit Yeah, great. They're an F. This is the worst offseason in the league by a mile. There were a lot of just like wild trades happening like all on the same day But I thought DeBuchnev's trade was like

Definitely in the top three of like, why are you doing that? It's because they didn't think they could pay them and also like he doesn't... Well, it's that there wasn't... The way they went about was just like... But they had arbitration rights. And all of... He was one of a bunch of guys that got moved because...

I don't know if I mentioned this here or if I mentioned it elsewhere. So one of the things that's been interesting about arbitration this year is that a lot of the agents and teams, a lot of the teams, I should say, are, like, fuck off with arbitration because all of the contracts are pre-pandemic. And so in their thinking, they're now paying a guy under a flat cap

at a rate that would have been established before all of this happened, right? So, like, part of their whole thing, and there was a number of teams that either traded guys or walked away from guys that just didn't want to have to go through the arbitration process

because they were going to be handed a contract they didn't think should exist under a flat cap. So it was, and Bistavich was definitely part of that too. But also, they never really valued them there. It was really fucking weird relationship with him and that team. Such a good player. Oh, my God.

Yeah. Blues had a nice little offseason for themselves, man. They got a couple of real good players for free, basically. Saad, you know, yeah. So, like, they didn't overpay Saad at all. Like, I think that's a good, that's a good number for everybody there. That was an undershund. Well, and he's also, I'm sorry, he's, and do you respect to the Cracken Reporter here, but

he's better than James Schwartz, didn't he? Uh, yeah. I mean, I agree with that. Just checking. Okay. I don't want to get you in trouble with somebody you have to cover. I'm just saying. I mean, I just covered the Bruins.

I'll be fine. Okay. You're just starting these relationships with these players. I don't want you to, like, have Jaden Schwartz come up to you and be like, I heard you a hot take to me on Puck Soup. I don't think anybody would tell him that. I think he will do a good job. There you go.

Very good. I also really like Brandon's odd though I know like she's been on the job for like two seconds and already she's in bed with the team speaking of being in bed

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puck. So use that promo code at brooklynn.com to get your $20 off. Brooklyn. All right. Mark Andre Fleury gets over his grumpy face, his super sads, his rainy face, and decides to play for the Chicago Blackhawks. Now, we talked about this last week on the podcast, Marissa, that if Fleury played for them, which appears he will, And Taves comes back, and he's not, you know, he's still Taves.

Given what they have and given what they have now in goal, entirely possible the Chicago Blackhawks could be a wildcard team. What say you? Well, after the money they're spending on like Seths Jones and some of the other contracts, like they kind of better be at this point with the approach they're having here. I think Flurry definitely helps there. I mean, he just won to Vezna and they got him for nothing, which, I mean, I guess Vig.

was kind of operating under the assumption of there's a good chance he wasn't going to play. I still can't, like, kind of wrap my head around. They just were, like, here, you can have them for nothing at all. Right. I was that day on Twitter, I just kept looking, like, are there blue check marks here? Like, is this correct? Like, I just, I can't believe it. Like, that talking about, like, top three, like, weird trades is off season.

It has to be, like, at least number two or probably number one. Just, I can't wrap my head around it. But yeah, definitely helps them. And like you said, Taze coming back definitely would as well, assuming he's healthy and ready to go. And missing the year, didn't set him back too badly. But, yeah, that's definitely a team that is starting to look like they're at least going to be a bit more competitive than they've been lately. Yeah, and the shock for me isn't that they traded him for nothing. It's that a team outside of Arizona made that kind of trade.

It just seems like the coyotes are always the one doing that kind of bullshit. Oh, that's true. Yeah, Flurry's great, man. He's gonna be good I probably could have done without the I'm playing for the Blackhawks because they're a family

and they treat everybody so good great time of that one Mark Yeah maybe a little bit of tinier on that one But he's a great goalie Yeah All you have to do is not say that All yeah Well he doesn't

I'm glad they're giving me this opportunity To finish my career the right way All that shit You know get to play with You know Some players who have won three Stanley Cops All that shit just like me. I've also won three Stanley Cubs.

Like, this is an easy one. And he's like, and everybody here is really nice and has never done anything wrong. Wait, wait, wait, don't say that part. Do you think that, like, are you a little surprised during the will he or won't he thing that Pittsburgh didn't swoop in? I mean, I was maybe a little bit surprised. I thought maybe with the influence of the guys that are still there and the necessity of a goalie and Flurry being Flurry, like, I kind of. I kind of thought that could happen. Were you surprised it didn't? No.

It's a lot of money to move around. That's really what it boils down to. And also, you need Chicago to take Tristan fucking jari off your hands. Yeah, that's a good point. Why would... Look, say what you want about that Chicago roster. Like, they are trying to be better this year. And I'm not totally convinced they will be

because, like, there's a big difference between playing behind Vegas's... set up and playing behind Chicago's, for example. Even with the improved roster, it's like, yeah, I mean, look at the difference behind the bench and that sort of stuff. That I don't totally, I don't buy it, but like, yeah, you know, Tristan Jari, nobody's going to want to trade for him. He stinks. And then is Pittsburgh going to want to work its way? Oh, we'll take Casey to Smith instead. And it's like, okay, we're going to say.

spent 10 and a half million dollars on goaltending. And, you know, we still have the Mike Matheson contract we acquired last year. And, you know, Jason Zucker is still on the team making five and a half or whatever that number is. So,

I mean, no, I wasn't surprised just because it's like, yeah, how do you make that money work and get Chicago to take problem contracts from you? Maybe it was a wish that my heart was making to see well you and the entire Pittsburgh media that that was a whole news cycle for them like oh they got to do it right oh it would be so nice if they did and then they didn't do it

and you could tell they were all like but we just want our friend back i think i know your answer to this lambert but i'll ask it anyway like who has the the higher potential to have it all fall apart next year Washington or Pittsburgh Washington okay i mean what you say well like let me just say only because like if it falls apart with Jari everybody goes well no shit you know and

if it falls apart with Washington I think like I'm not a big Vanichek Samsonov battery fan like I don't but like I think people are generally higher on them and I you know I

think that in general like even a Crosby Malkins obviously going to miss at least the first part of the season but like yeah the the floor on what happens with crosbie is is much higher than the floor on what happens with like backstrom kuznetsov like those five got the you know the if kuznetsoffs if kuznetsoff's there you know i i want to shout out brian mcclind or the gm of the cap he did a nice little bit of a business here so they wanted they wanted seattle to take brandon and his money because they knew they had to get his money off the cap for the Ovechkin contract.

They couldn't get rid of any of their other defensemen. They didn't have any value. So they figured Dylan would go. And so Seattle doesn't take him. They take Vanichick, right? So then the Capitals trade Dylan to the Winnipeg Jets. They get two second round picks. They then use one of those second round picks to get Vanichick back from Seattle.

Yes. So at the end of the day, they keep the goalie they wanted to keep. The defensemen they wanted to get rid of is gone. and they add a second round pick. That's pretty fucking good. It's a good bit of business there. Yeah, really horrible asset management by Seattle. Just unbelievably bad.

Like, you know, we talked about it last week, but it was like, oh my God, we could get an actual, like, we can get a better goalie. Wow, incredible. This is going to make a huge difference for it. Not really, but they just panic. Yeah, your point's taken. It's like, if you can get Brandon Dillon and then flip them for two seconds from Winnipeg, then you're doing yourself pretty good.

Now you've taken a goalie. and you didn't need them and then you only got one second for him and then like, you know, it's clear, it's so clear that the Grubauer thing and Marissa, you obviously could speak to this better than we could.

The Grubauer thing flustered them. They didn't know what was going to happen. They panicked. They got all fucking, they got all squirly. They gave them a contract that wasn't even fucking legal. Because they didn't work the numbers right.

Like, like for being as as cool and calm and collected, and numbers driven and smart as this front office has been perpetrated, they all of a sudden get gifted this goalie and they're just like, what the fuck should we do? I don't know. That whole thing was very strange. Yeah, that was just, when they signed him, I was kind of like, okay, that's cool,

but also like why? Like, great, I guess. But yeah, when Dylan got traded, like, I was just like, well, why couldn't a crack and have just taken him and get two second rounders and then use that to, like, trade for Jake DeBresk or something and get like anyone who can like be a potential goal score or whatever. And I say DeBresk because I know the Bruins want to move him. And I think that would be a good fit. But I mean, you can go get anyone. That was just like kind of confusing. And definitely kind of seems like a moment of like you said, flustered, I think is a really good

word. Yeah. No, it's much better to draft, have half your draft be a bunch of random name generator players that cost $600,000 against the cap. That's a much better approach than actually getting real players and then trading them for assets. I just kind of keep waiting for them to go get other players and they haven't yet. At this point, you've got to figure they're waiting for people to kind of, well, either they're waiting for every arbitration decision to come in for whatever reason, or they're doing the thing of just like waiting in the weeds until training camp.

Yeah. Or waiting for, I mean, I think what they're waiting for is year two. That's what I was going to say, too. They might also just be like, oh, fuck it. We're done here. They're like, we'll go use that cabs face when fucking Shane Wright needs a couple wingers. Like, that's when we'll use the cap's face. Yeah, we're spending a combined like $14 million on Jamie Alexiac, Adam Larson, and Philip Grubauer.

We're good for this year. James Schwartz, another five, whatever. We're all good then. Yeah. Dom from the Athletic, our good friend, put out his game score value, who won the offseason, what have you thing. But even before Tatar signed, he said the Devils did best. I mean, that's kind of a Dougie Hamilton thing. Completely understand there.

I think it's great. I thought they had a really strong offseason, but I do think that it's entirely contingent on what they put around Dougie Hamilton by, like, at least year two of his contract, knowing that they're not. This is probably a write-off. He has the Oilers second. Oh, that was interesting. Really? Yeah, they really, they got better up front. Yeah.

You know? And I think that there are probably reasons that game score or whatever would like a Duncan Keith. Or not, Jesus Christ, not Duncan Keith. No. Zach Hyman? No, no, not Zach Hyman. I'm saying on the blue line, freaking, what's his name? bringing back Tyson Barry.

Oh, Tyson Barry. Yeah, yeah. Where it's like, well, you know, he has utility on the power play, and that's worth something. You know, like, for as much as we bag on him, he's a guy who is good on the powerplay. I don't know that they need a guy who's good on the power play because they already have the two best guys on the power play. But, you know, now we're just relitigating last week's episode. Well, anyway, so the Kings are third, which I thought was interesting. Blackhawks' fourth

Sharks 5th Aden Hill, James Reimer Nick Benino and Andrew Cogliano Again I think this is one of those deals of like It's how many wins have been added To your lineup Yeah they got negative eight wins out of the Out of the room

Right And they brought in Warren Jones Right Right Exactly Down at the bottom I know everybody's always interested to see who did the shittiest I'll give you the bottom

The bottom few teams here 26th was Minnesota 27th was the Rangers 28th was Nashville Yeah that sounds about right They sent out a lot of talented people Didn't really add too much 29th was Colorado

How you like that? I wouldn't have picked that Yeah well they just lost Again they lost really good players Especially in net obviously And you know, who have they really added? Like, they got, uh, Ryan Murray is the only guy where I'm like, ooh, good player, you know.

Darcy Kemper is good. Yeah, but like he's, you know. You had to give up Timmons to get him, though. That's the issue. I mean, I don't think Timmons would have had much of a game score impact, honestly. But like, uh, who am I, who am I forgetting? Who's the forward, uh, Donskoi? Yeah, was a good middle, middle of the lineup forward.

And Saad. And Saad. Yeah. Like, they lost some, they lost some really talented guys, replaced them. I mean, they brought in fucking Darren Helm. Like, this is how hard up they were for help. Right? But isn't it exciting to know that Darren Helm still in the league?

Shocking. Truly. 30th was... 30th was the Carolina Hurricanes. And I completely understand why, um, nuking your goaltenders and swapping out Dougie Hamilton for DeAngelo and all the other people they want in. I would probably put them a, I think they had maybe a little bit better offseason than the metrics would say. But, but obviously, like, it all, it's all, it all hangs on whether Anderson and Ranta are, are an improvement on Morazica and Ryman. I have no idea how game score works. But if I were judging, like, offseason based on who, like, has improved by gaining or losing the most vibes, like, the hurricanes have had the worst vibes of the entire offseason by a lot. Yeah, their vibes are, way the fuck off now.

Yeah, they became milkshake duck overnight. And then 31st is Arizona. I mean, sure. By design. Yeah. By design, right. Exactly. It's like, not exactly like, you know, their goaltenders are, I think one of them is Carter Hutton.

Carter Hutton is their starter. Their nominal starter. Yeah, it's good times. Yikes. John Totorello is my co-worker now. That happened this week. That's nice. I was on a Zoom call with all of the new NHL people at ESPN, which was a lot of fun.

And none of us knew until we hopped on that Zoom call that we had hired Torts. So all of a sudden, you know, this like window pops open. And all of a sudden you just see this guy holding the phone too close to his face and his facial hair. And then he started, you're like, am I on? He says, are we zooming? And I'm like, oh, oh, shit, what? and it turns out he's now on ESPN. That's going to be,

listen, I hope that he's, he's as interesting as I think he can be on air. But yeah, Torts is, yeah, my coworker. Last time, meet in the ESPN Cafe and make sure that we're all cool. Last time he did TV was, there was some off season, or postseason where he did TV.

TSN. Yeah, and I just remember him kind of being like, replacement level like yeah you know they gotta they gotta go into the corners you know like not saying anything revolutionary not saying anything overly dumb

just kind of being like this is what you would say if you were a guy doing bland hockey analysis right which is why the post the pregame show we've actually hired Larry Brooks

to host it see that like that would actually be a good idea Like, there are two guys who are very opinionated, don't like each other, and, you know, like, I, again, you can say what you want about Larry Brooks. I think he understands the game on a fundamental level, you know what I mean? And, like, obviously Tortorella does too. So you get those two guys talking and agreeing or disagreeing or whatever, that'd be good TV. We did not hire.

Yeah, we did hire a lot. But I'm saying, like, you know, the thing that I don't want ESPN or Turner to do with this is just be like, ah, the Bruins are having a lot of trouble scoring. What do you think, Kevin Weeks or what? You know what I mean? And it's like. That's just what Nesson is. And that's what NBC was, right?

Like that was, and then, yeah, oh, boy, you know, they got to go around to the net and they got to, they got to be more willing to pay the price. you know, yeah, I can hear that anywhere. Just like give me something a little different. Please, I'm begging you. Yeah. Well, I think that's why you hire Tordrella in the hopes that you get something different. We didn't hire Larry Brooks.

We hired Bob Hartley, actually, and they're just going to throw hands before. That would also be cool. It's going to be great. Right. All right. As we get into some other topics here, Marissa, you know, we're blessed with having you on the show.

you are one of the preeminent journalists that covers the National Women's Hockey League. And we're wondering if you can kind of catch us up on what's happening in WHL World these days. I saw that the schedules are out. I'm excited about that. I can finally figure out when I'm taking my daughter to see a Riveter's game again. What else is happening in the wild world of that women's league? Yeah, as always in women's hockey. It's more of what isn't happening.

There's always something. I was hanging out with my best friend recently, and I was there for like a week, and every single day there was something in women's hockey, and she was just like, wow, it really is every day, isn't it? And I'm like, yeah, no, I'm not making that up. There's stuff every day. But yeah, so the schedule's out now.

Good news for derivatives. They're going to be back at Barnabas Health Hockey House, so like that's cool for them. They were kind of hinting all... GM, Anya Packer, was kind of hinting at that all off-season. So that's cool for them. The Boston Pride announced their entire roster in one day, which was very on brand for them.

It's just like very Boston pride of them to be like, okay, leave us alone. We'll see you in November. They're going to be really good again. They took two of the best Connecticut players in Kayla Friesen and Caitlin Russ. And like they lost some players. Like they lost Lexie Lang, Mary Parker, like Carly Turner, some good players and Taylor Turnquist. And they're still going to be better than everyone, which is just kind of why. Didn't they add Katie Burt?

Did I see that? Yeah. Can you explain? So for those who don't know, Katie Burt was with the P.W.HPA, correct? For the last couple years? Yeah. And so that's like the touring national team gimmick.

But like what is the big deal with her signing? Like people were losing their shit about her signing. Well, so she used to play for the Pride. She was their first round pick, I think, like, 2017 or 2018 or something. and she played and she was like pretty good. She might have won rookie of the year, I can't remember, but she was good. And then she went to the PW because that's where all the national team players and for the most part all the Boston College players go too because they're all these,

they're all like interlocked, like so many of these institutions, like Wisconsin players are going to be the last ones to jump back to the NWHL and BC is going to be like right before them. So Bert going is like just kind of a surprise because it didn't really end well for her Wizard of Pride. Like, if you were around the pride, like, not the Lake Placid season, but the year before, like, so much of the rhetoric was like, oh, our locker room is so much better now. We, like, are getting along better, and it's so much different. We have people who want to be here.

And you look at the players who laughed and went to the PWA HPA and you can connect the dots a little bit. So Burt being back is kind of like, okay, did she have a dramatic change of heart? Like, what's going on there? Because PW players, like, them jumping isn't really rare anymore. like it's happening a bit more, and especially in an Olympic cycle coming up, and the New Hampshire hub has dissolved, and Bill Flanagan went to the NWHL who ran the New Hampshire Hub. So like, you can, I don't want to say the demise of the PW, but you can kind of see where it's going. So it's not terribly surprising, especially like the more big-name national players who

aren't going to be as hands-on, the more those fringe players are going to make those decisions for themselves a little bit more and want to get paid probably. So, like, it's not terribly surprising, but she's probably the biggest name to make that jump. And part of that, you look at, like, when I've talked about a PWA HPA a lot and how I think that players not being paid or players not getting consistent playing time is kind of been a detriment. I think Burt's, like, the biggest example of that is she was someone who was on a fast track to be a team USA goalie, and she just really didn't play that well in national team

events. And you look at, like, she was playing, like, three games a year in the PW. And it's kind of not surprising her game would slip, especially as a goalie. I think we've seen that with Maddie Rooney. little bit too. I think Nicole Hensley is the only one that's gone the other way, actually. So her getting more playing time. But then you wonder, is she going to get playing time? Because they have the Levisa Salander, who's been, she's going in her third year. She was goalie of the year. She's been stellar. And even their backup, Victoria Hansen could start on most teams.

So they easily have the best trio of goalies. And I've talked to a few people and a few people think Salander is going to have some national team commitment to Sweden. So that might be why Byrd is brought in. But that dynamic in a locker room more than anything is what's going to be fascinating because I think that's going to kind of be a blueprint for what's it going to be like as more and more PW players continue to make the jump, especially with expansion coming up. Migrate back. Yes, I was going to actually funny, good transition. Look at you. What is the story with expansion to this league right now? They were supposed to go to Montreal this year and they didn't for various reasons. Part of it was wanting to sell the teams they had because going into

last year the only independent teams were Boston and Toronto and even then saying like independent is kind of like, I don't want to say it was an asterisk, but a lot of the people own, like, the Toronto, Metro, Boston ownership group is like the same people. This was like, was different titles. And then the purchase of Buffalo and Minnesota are people who are already running women's hockey partners, which was basically the quote unquote non-independent. So like not much has really changed, but I think they just kind of wanted that like official and it kind of gets like Danny Ryland out there as fast as possible.

I think that was a pretty big objective for them. Like, you kind of look at it And you're like, oh, weird. There's a name I've not heard in quite a long time. Yeah. Dany Riland, yeah. Weird how they dissolved and her name's not on any of it anymore. So I think that was like their big objective and also just like pandemic stuff.

And you look at like Toronto's finally going to have their own arena and everything and home games. And I think having that for our team in Montreal might have been a lot. But that's definitely their next step for like, we're going to season seven. So I guess season eight, which just feels like crazy to me that it's been around now long now. And then I know, like, they want to continue expanding after that. I know they've looked at Detroit, Pittsburgh, Chicago as, like, primary areas. But Montreal is definitely next and they'll go from there. Like, my educated guess is Detroit's after, just because they've kind of had a relationship

there a bit. And I know Pittsburgh as well, but I've been hearing Detroit for like five years of, like, people bringing that up. So I feel like that would be a thing at some point. But Montreal is definitely next up. And it was supposed to be this year. They were, like, going to announce it on TV in Lake Placid, and then everything kind of fell apart a little bit.

Oh, I didn't hear about that. The Lake Placid thing was a total disaster? Yeah, wild, huh? Wild how that fell apart. No one could see that coming. No, no, no. Will this expanded NWHL compete directly with the Barstool League that was threatened for two weeks before they got bored?

No comment. Okay, very good. Thank you. very good now speaking of the last thing the Olympics the national team named their head coach were you happy with it um it was just like a weird

situation kind of that like the other coach was like didn't want to go because of worlds and said something about because of COVID regulations and it turned out he was like no the COVID regulations are too strong and then worlds never ended up happening right he just like doesn't get to coach into the Olympics now over that which is just like the most on brand women's

hockey nonsense that could ever happen. Like, yeah, like, that's very much, like, would have been on your bingo card for sure, like, totally believable. So, yeah, like, I like the direction they're going in, in general. I think some of the roster choices are kind of weird in a sense of, like, I get it that they're, like, it's going to be the last Olympics, probably for Brianna Decker. The Lamarie's already gone. Megan Duggan's already gone.

Like, the core of that one goal, core that got silver and Sochi, like, they're going away now, so they're just heading in different directions in general. I would have liked to see some more younger players, like, looking at the world's roster right now, too, like, no Aaron Frankel to me is kind of, like, the most bizarre move I've seen in women's hockey in a long time. So those are the kind of weird things. She's pretty good. Yeah, I mean, I'm a little biased because I saw her all year for Northeastern, and I thought she was like one of the, probably the best college goal I've seen since Katie Bert.

But in general, just crazy. And you look at like her metrics too, and it's just like off the chart. Like she's the best, to me, she's the best goalie in the game right now. And I don't really get why she's not even a part of the roster. I thought she would have made it over Rooney a little bit. But whatever, I don't make those choices. So in general, I kind of, like they're going to be good, obviously. I like some of the younger players like Abby Murphy that they're going with.

but I would like to see a few more of the, like, non-Wisconsin, Minnesota younger players. Like, I feel like anyone who breaks the roster who's, like, under, like, I don't know, 22 ends up being someone who's, like, at Wisconsin or going to Wisconsin. So you'd like to see a little more diversity there as far as location. But in general, I like the direction you're going in. Cool. Very good. Speaking of the Olympics, I wanted to mention a couple things. Have you, Lambert, watched any of the skateboarding?

I have, I've barely watched any Olympics this year. I don't know why is that. Yeah, I usually love the Olympics, but just, I don't know if it's the time difference or what a pain in the ass peacock is or what, but I, I've been, I've been like out on, on the Olympics. Interesting. I watch, I watch, I've watched parts of a couple of basketball games. That's about it. Yeah, I've watched, I've watched a good portion of it. I mean, Ruby's been getting up early for work to kind of, like, cover them a little bit.

So I've seen, and obviously I got up for the women's soccer game, which was a mistake. I kind of wish we had lost to the Netherlands. And saved us that pain. I've seen some interesting shit. Like, the skateboarding is brutal, which is kind of fun. And the other thing I've really enjoyed that I know was brand spank and he was climbing, where two people scurry up the little wall there as fast as they can and then hit the little buzzer at the top of the wall. Yeah, I've seen American Gladiators.

I get it. I mean, it is. But again, like, that speaks to the thing people always like. Like, which American Gladiators event would you want to have in the Olympics? And until they put in assault with the tennis balls, we'll have to settle for this. I can't wait for them to have the big freaking ball that you roll. You mean the hamster ball? Yeah.

You mean gyrosphere. That's what it's called, yeah. I believe was maybe the name of it. Marissa, have you been watching the Olympics? Oh, yeah, I love all the Olympics sports. I love handball. I think it's the greatest sport ever invented and I want to see more of it all the time.

I love water polo. I think watching water polo has been super fun. I've loved all the horse. Water polo is got to be the single most grueling sport. I think low-key, it's got to be the hardest sport. It's insane. They're like swimming while doing this sport. That's crazy.

Yeah. Yeah. I liked a horse sports. I feel like I didn't really see that many of them until this year. But like, dressage is amazing. You know they don't get the horse's medals, though, right? Yeah, and that bothers me because I think a horse is deserve, yeah, like, they're doing such a great job and they don't even know where they are. Like, they deserve a lot more credit.

But yeah, I like all the Olympic sports, like, because it's the only time you can watch, like, I don't want to say like weird sports and insult them, but like sports that you don't really have access to any other time. Like watching fencing. Like, we're watching sword fighting. That's amazing. I love fencing. Fencing so cool. And like the skateboarding has been so awesome. I've been trying to learn how to skateboard.

And now I'm watching, like, these teens do it. And I'm like, I think I've aged out of this. Like, this, like, you're just all too cool for me. I can't be a part of this. But I just love to skateboarding. Skateboarding is a good, a good example of like, much like in gymnastics, so I'll be watching it. And then somebody will do something. And I'll be like, that's fucking amazing.

And then they'll be like, yeah, that was like a 1.1 difficulty. Like a toddler should be able to do it. Like, when I'm watching like Beam or whatever, and then somebody does something on beam. I'm just like, that's fucking incredible. How do they pause? And then I'll be like, yeah, their difficulty was like seven points lower than what Simone Biles would do on the beam. Just like, all right, I don't know

anything about these sports. I was watching like the bike the other day. Like I forget what it's called, but they're doing like the bike at a skate park and like doing all the flips and stuff. And I'm just like... Like the BMX stuff? Yeah. Like, how does anyone do that? That's amazing. It's very cool. Yeah.

Yeah. When I was growing up, there was like a big, like uh, bike, like, uh, BMX course in the woods that a bunch of kids had worked on for years and years and years. Oh, yeah. And, um, like, you would, you would go in there every once in a while and just, like, watch kids that you were like, oh, I, I have a math class with that kid or whatever. And he's, yeah, he's doing, like, fucking flips and spinning the handlebars, like, all the way around and all that shit. And you're just like, well, why is this guy not in the Olympics? And now I guess they can be.

there you go. Yeah, that's so funny. We had the same thing. Like, you'd walk through the woods, and then I think it was, like, a construction site where they were building, like, you know, one of your classic suburban poltergeist neighborhoods. Yeah. And they had, like, used all the dirt nouns to make it into a really cool BMX track. That's really funny. All right. Let's end the episode with a little overrated, underrated, favorite, least favorite. Marissa, if you're not familiar with it, it's literally taking a subject. And then you tell us what you're, um, you're, um, favorite what is an overrated thing about that subject, an underrated thing, your favorite thing, least favorite. So if it was like the NHL, you know, overrated, the fucking devils, underrated, the fucking coyotes, you know, whatever the fuck.

We've gotten, I put the bat signal up for suggestions, and multiple people, A non- insignificant amount of people have suggested vacation destinations. So my question to you is, do we want to get specific with locations or do we want to do general destinations of where you like the lake or the ocean or whatever? Should we get specific or general? I like specifics. No. Yeah, okay.

Great. Wait, did you say specific? Yeah. Okay, cool. All right. overrated specific destination. I will say, I don't want to be mean, but it's not one of my favorite cities.

Paris. Never been. Paris. I think it's an overrated-ass city. I would rather spend my time in North American Paris, aka Montreal. Now, are there things in Paris that are amazing. Absolutely.

The people aren't one of them. And I just found it to be a very overrated city. And I imagine that if you're visiting and it's super hot, it only gets even more annoying. Paris is my overrated vacation destination. What do I think is an overrated vacation? I don't know. When I go on vacation, like from work and stuff, I tend to just like not go anywhere. I like to hang out.

Anytime I take a trip, I'm like, oh, this is cool. I like being on, like, a real vacation. This is fun? So is going somewhere overrated? You know what? Yeah. Let's say that. That rocks.

Sitting at home, you got all your freaking movies and stuff. That's cool. Leaving your house is overrated. Marissa. I'm going to make people really mad here, but I do believe this, that overrated, New York City. God damn it. I'm fucking in Brooklyn now.

I'm looking out my window at buildings. And the freaking pizza rant was probably what you were looking at, right? I've just spent like too much time in New York in like very weird situations like at Port Authority at 3 a.m. And I'm like, why do people romanticize this? I don't get it. Like there's too much going. I don't not like New York. but it's definitely like not the thing that everyone hyped it up to be to me.

All right. If that makes sense. I'm going to be Marissa here. Greg, you say, why don't we go on vacation to New York City? Right, watch this. Why don't we go to vacation to New York City? New York City, right? Remember from the...

I do, yes. Now, I'll say this to that answer, though. I think living here is incredible, but I could see as a tourist perhaps not the best city to visit. Oh, I think living there would probably be way different, yeah. Yeah, no, I think it can be overwhelming. I think that if you aren't, if you don't see certain sites every day, they could be off-putting if you just come to a city and see them for the first time.

So I understand what you're saying. I do. I don't disagree necessarily. I think New York City is cool and good. That's my controversial opinion. I just think it's fine. I appreciate it. The big apple, baby.

There you go. City that never sleeps. City of dreams. The streets are paved with gold. Underrated for me, get yourself a nice cabin by the lake in a little piece of heaven called Maine. Love Maine.

That's going to be my favorite. That's the, Big spoiler. Oh, spoiler alert. I love that shit so much. Underrated, I will say, the Berkshires. Now, what are the Berkshires? You mean Andrew Berkshire, the Montreal writer?

No. I haven't been to his house or anything. No, the Berkshires are the mountains in western Massachusetts. Oh, okay. They're great. Just, it's like, really, you can go to a bunch of different little towns there. Great Barrington is the, is the big one. Big, I mean, it's very small, but, like, that's the one people go to.

And, yeah. For, I was going to say, forgive me for not knowing. I didn't know that Massachusetts had mountains. Is there skiing in Massachusetts, or do you have to go to, like, New Hampshire? Yeah, that's more Vermont. Okay. There are some New Hampshire places. There are, yeah.

Like, Vermont, like, if you're going to, as they say, ski the east, there's a couple big ones in Maine and a couple big ones in Vermont. And then I don't, like, yeah, there's definitely like one or two in New Hampshire, but less so, I would say. Okay. Underrated. Oh, yeah, Marissa. This is going to be, like, really niche, but just going by personal experience, I thought, like, Cooperstown was, like, way cooler than I experienced. expected it to be. I don't know.

It's like very niche. Like if you don't care about going to the baseball Hall of Fame, I guess like it doesn't matter. But just like it's so pretty there. I was just like blown away by like everything is so beautiful. Yeah. If you really, if you go up there in the fall, it's, I'm that speaking from I went there one time in the fall, it was unbelievably pretty.

Gorgeous. Yeah. Yeah. Upstate New York and all of its glory. Second best Hall of Fame, obviously, behind hockey. But I will say this is about Cooperstown. My favorite thing about Cooperstown is. is that since it is kind of like a tourist destination, but also a functioning town,

I love that there are places that are like Jack's auto repair and memorabilia shop. It's all these dual-purpose businesses that have to, like, sustain themselves when it's not tourist season at the baseball hall of fame, but also are acknowledging that, yes, we can make a lot of fucking money being in Cooper's standing. Just like real unique vibes you don't get anywhere else. Yeah, that's a good point. That's a good choice. Yeah. It's like if the hockey hall of fame was just in like some small town in Quebec or something like that.

The hockey hall of fame's in a basement. Yeah, but it's famously in a fairly metropolitan city. I kept getting lost on my way trying to find it. I'm like, why am I at like a Starbucks right now? Yeah, you're going to go through a mall to get there. I'm pretty sure. I've never actually been, so I don't know. I should take, oh, man, what a fun bonus.

episode that would be, I take you to the Hockey Hall of Fame and have you just do a running commentary of all the things. Oh, it's great there. It's, it's fabulous. We just spend an hour at the fucking Soviet national team. That's right. I just have my face pressed up against the glass. That's Slava Fatisov's jersey.

Wow. All right. Favorite international? Again, I'm just going to go like, not my favorite. I've talked about my favorite vacations of all time in this show, like New Zealand and Japan, like our next level, Spain's next level. I'm going to go a little bit like lower, lower, more attainable vacations. International, Aruba. Rubba is awesome.

And the beaches are great. It's hot as shit, but it's always windy. And I just have a really fun time in Aruba. Domestic? again, East Coaster, trying to just give you a little bit of the wisdom. The Outer Banks are fucking cool. You just like that show.

It's not because the show. It's because you go down there and it's very laid back. But there's always shit to do as well. And I very much enjoy it. I haven't been in a bit. Good food, good times, good beaches. Outer Banks, probably your best domestic choice on the East Coast. Oh, I mean, obviously also at Disney World.

I'm contractually obligated to say that. But, utter banks. To your point about Aruba, some friends of mine got married in Puerto Rico several years ago, and I'd never been. Puerto Rico is unfucking real. It's much like you say, it's like, oh, what's the high today? 82 and breezy, and it's nice and sunny out. Okay, and what's the low?

81. Oh, that sounds great. And then if you go into the mountains, the low is like in the 50s, but that's also nice. So, yeah, go to Puerto Rico if you want. But I already said, Lake and Maine can't beat it. And it occurs to me now that we're saying all this stuff, we might have done vacation destinations in the past and people are going to be mad at us. no everybody was asking for it so like I can't control it even if 10 people are like let's do it

I'm just saying I'm registering my concern that we might have done this before such a high standard to never repeat ourselves in this show I know I know Favorite Marissa Well I've never

Only other country I've ever been to is Canada But My answer is Montreal anyways I love Montreal so much. I was heartbroken that the draft did not happen in Montreal because I was ready for like a year. I was like so ready for that. And canceling my hotel is like one of the saddest like things I've had to do for that. I love Montreal so much.

I wish I could go like hang out there before I leave to East Coast. I love it there. Surprisingly a drivable destination by it from New York and Massachusetts. Oh yeah. Three hours. It's unbelievable. I will, I'm pretty sure they're just like, whenever the next draft is, it's in Montreal. Am I wrong about this?

Oh, yeah, no, that's next year. I think you're right. Yeah. So, there's that. I'm very happy about that. Least favorite, least favor for me, this is, this is, again, like, this is, shit changes as you get older. When I was a kid, there's no place in the world I'd rather be than Wildwood, New Jersey. boardwalks and beaches and fun and rides.

And then as you get older, you realize there are other boardwalks and there are other beaches. And Wildwood is a, it is like, it's like syphilis. It's just like it feels like syphilis. What syphilis? Tell me it's syphilis without you having syphilis. It just feels like syphilis. And I don't like it. And there are better beaches to go.

to. Is it Jersey? It's straight up jersey. Is it fun? I bet you can have a lot of fun there. But it's a place that I think I really enjoyed as a kid then came to realize that there are other versions of that where you can go and not feel itchy. Yeah, you're like,

if I want to see a boardwalk, I'll break out a game of freaking monopoly. Right? Oh, right? Exactly. Go directly to go and collect $200. Problem with vacationing there. hotels on the borrower are so expensive.

I know. And I mean, sometimes someone else has a monopoly on the utilities. You can even turn on your lights if you don't pay them. That's true. My least favorite is, let me tell you about the time my parents took me when I was maybe 11 years old. Well, let me put it this way. It was whatever summer Richard Nixon died. That's what I remember about it.

And when did Richard Nixon die? I can look this up right now. But anyway, 1994. So, yeah, I was 11 years old. And my parents took me and my sister, who would have been six at the time, to colonial Williamsburg and Mount Vernon. Dog shit. Just fucking terrible. You didn't enjoy looking at the slave quarters at Mount Vernon?

That was always a really cool thing. I used to go to Mount Vernon when I lived in Virginia because they had amazing wine festivals there. And really, nothing makes you feel like more of an asshole than going to a wine festival and having somebody being like, we're taking a tour of the servants quarters now.

And you're like, a servant is a way you can put that for sure. That's right. Yes. They don't actually say the word. They're like, the servants' quarters. Like, oh, okay, it's cool. But yeah, like imagine, like, the thing about, okay, yeah, you can like watch and make candles.

And it's like, okay, that's a trip, I guess. But like, an 11-year-old and a 6-year-old are going to be like, this fucking sustains a four-day vacation. Definitely. Oh, that's brutal. That's a one-dayer. Well, so here's the other thing. We drove from Massachusetts. That's like a 12-hour car ride.

Right? And then you go to my mom. Vernon, there is, you can't even like look at people making candles. It's just like you walk through some fucking old house. And they're like, oh, that's where the dining room was. And it's all roped off. And you're like, what the fuck is this? Right.

You can't even sit where George Washington sat. Yeah. My favorite thing about Colonial Williamsburg is also one of my favorite things about Renfests, which is when a plane flies overhead and they have to treat it like it's a giant bird. Yeah. We all saw the village, right? Like, and then this is the other thing to say about it is, you know what else is in Williamsburg, Virginia, or was at the time?

Fucking Bush Gardens. That's right. Did I go to Bush Gardens on this trip? Not once, never one second. Didn't even see it. Oh, my God. Jesus. Yeah.

It sucked so bad. It's like going to Jackson, New Jersey, and your parents, they'll let you go to Six Flags. They're like, we're going to go to the outlet mall. That's right. Yeah, like, okay, because growing up around here. and Marissa will tell you. There's a lot of like, you can go to Bunker Hill,

and you're like, oh, this is where they have the Battle of Bunker Hill. There's the USS Constitution. There's Lexington Green. You can go to all those things, and that's a one-day trip, or not even one day.

You can do it, you can bang it out in two hours if you want to. Right. Imagine four days of that shit, and you're 11 years old. And it's, by the way, school vacation week.

So you're like, I have all week away from school. Yeah, it sucked. And I remember as we were driving back, because we went through D.C., and, like, we spent a day in Washington, D.C. on the way back and, you know, went to the Winkin Memorial and Washington Monument and that shit. And as we were pulling into D.C., they were like, a disgraced president or Richard Milhouse Nixon has died. And I was like, oh, that's the, I'm not a crook guy. All right, I don't have any context for this.

I'm 11 years old. That's right. That's the guy who said, Sucketoo. me on laughing. You know, Greg, I don't know that I knew what laughing was at the time. You know what? I probably did. Well, that's a very famous, that's a very famous, because, oh, that's right, it was pre, who wants to be a millionaire? Because wasn't that the question that the guy who first won the million dollars won on? I'm pretty sure. Yes, yeah. Yep. Yeah, it was something along those lines. That's why I mentioned it, not because I'm old, obviously. No, no, no, nothing to do with that.

Marissa, your least favorite place to take a vacation. I've been trying to think because, like, I'm generally a positive person. I like going everywhere. This isn't a vacation because I had to go for work, but I thought Kanata was, like, boring as heck. I had no fun. Do you mean Ottawa? In Ottawa? Like, I never got to go to Ottawa because, like, you'd fly to Ottawa, and then the games would be in Kanada,

and I would stay there, and I never had any fun ever. Um, and I like traveling and I love being on the road and I'd be so hyped and like, I'm in Kanata, like, let's go. And there'd be literally nothing to do. And it would always be like raining and cloudy and it just felt like really upsetting. Like it's probably the one city I've ever been to where I didn't smile ever at any point. Um, but that's not like a vacation. So I feel like that's a bad answer. I'm just like, like, yeah, that's a work trip. No, it's where are I? It's a work trip. I mean, honestly, though, that's a great answer. for this podcast. Yeah, just like Kanada, like, I'm just like miserable the whole time. As far as like vacation place, um, I guess like Florida after June 1st. Yeah, good choice. Like, because I've been Florida a lot. I just want to be sure. I just want to be sure. Marissa, you know it's pronounced Canada, right? Come on. I love Canada as a place. Just not Kanata. Very good. But no, I've been to Florida a lot and I generally like it. But one time. I was there past June 1st for like two days and it's just like the worst I've ever felt in my life.

The humidity is so bad and I don't like heat anyways. Like I wanted it to be like kind of at least a little bit cold. Like I want to be able to wear a hoodie at all time. So I don't like hot places. So then you get to Florida like June 2nd or something and it's like you walk outside and it's like you've been sprayed down by a hose and it's warm and it's like the grossest feeling ever. So people who like vacation and go to Disney and like the middle of July are baffling to me. Sickos. Absolutely.

Like that's, I'm only, like, I think the latest I've ever been there was like June 15th or something, but that's miserable. Yeah, we went to Disney and Miami in September a few years ago. And it was mostly okay in Disney. The Epcot Day was a little tough. And but then we went to Miami. And, but then we went to Miami afterwards. And this is like late September probably. And I was like, how is it 95 degrees and 130% humidity in fucking late September? Like this is anybody who live here is psychotic. Yep.

Explains a lot. All right. That's fuck's it for this week. Thank you, Marissa, for being our guest host. Yes, thank you. Thank you. In Sean Stead. You could find my stuff funny, SPN.

com. I've got that big Van der Kaine explainer if you are needing a little bit more information on that.

In my column this week, I take a deep dive into the Jack Eichel drama between him and the team, the derby to

acquire him, the surgery stuff, all of it, as well as writing a little bit about Kane and then also winners and losers.

And again, Emily and I are collaborating on offseason grades on Friday that you can check out on ESPN. com.

Check out EPRinkside. E.P.Rinkside.com. If you sign up for a year with the code, I love E.P. All one word. You get an extra three months tacked on to the end of that year for free. So check that out.

I'm writing pretty much every week all summer and then and, you know, other stuff throughout the week. Yeah. So that would be good if you signed up for that. said that I sent you. All right.

Do I get to plug myself? Oh, yeah. You plug away. Yeah, absolutely. I'm not writing yet, but I'll be at the Seattle Times really soon, writing about the Cracken and other stuff, like the Mariners and the Seattle Storm

and Washington softball. So stay tuned. And if you want to follow me on Twitter, I'm just tweeting about Master Chef a lot right now. So if you're into that, I'm your girl. Oh. Yeah, Master Chef's a show. show that I tend to catch when it's on, a lot like Hell's Kitchen. But my daughter was a huge

Master Chef Junior fan. I got so addicted to it. Like last week, I'm like in the middle of season three, and I just, it's great to have on wall packing, and I just have a lot of feelings about it. Yeah. You know, it's funny. Also, in the Gordon Ramseyverse, I think I mentioned in the show, there's a cable station that just happened to pop up randomly, like called E. Corncom TV. something. No, it wasn't CoreCompt TV. I mean, you know, they keep on telling me that it's not a real show. But so, no, they, it's some new station that plays a lot of kitchen nightmares. So I've been watching a lot of, uh, kitchen nightmares is great because you literally only have to watch the first 20 minutes of the show. Uh, it's, it's, it's the setup with how, uh, dysfunctional the restaurant is. Gordon Ramsey shows up. He eats some shitty food. Uh, and then he goes, he goes into the, into the freezer and sees where they, they freeze the cockro's. Uh, it's, he goes, he goes into the, and sees where they, they freeze the cockro's. And then you don't have to watch any more of it because the rest of it is him trying to, like, get two siblings to like each other again or some bullshit. You know, it's only about a 20-minute show. And I love that about it.

Now, that's not the same thing as Bar Rescue. A lot of people think that you can just have to watch the first 20 minutes of Bar Rescue. That's not true. You got to watch it all the way through and see how they handle, you know, the big reopening as well. so it's always very good never seen neither show not for one you've never seen bar rescue no don't care bar rescue's pretty good

holy shit you know you know Greg I don't apart from Top Chef and now the Bachelorette and whatever I don't really watch reality TV at all it doesn't interest me and I also think that you're someone who believes that your time is important and can't be spent on such triviality Greg I watch money ball last night

I'm not I'm not like, you know, really using my time wisely here. Should Pitt have gotten the Oscar for Moneyball? He's really fucking good. I hadn't seen it since it was in theaters. Yeah. But, you know, I did kind of see the seams on all the Aaron Sorkiness of it on this one, you know? Yes.

Seems like on a baseball, right? Do you know about this? I think, you know what my favorite scene of that movie is? is when, you ever see Moneyball, by the way, Marissa? Oh, yeah. Okay. My favorite scene in the movie is when they do the trade, when it's him and Jonah Hill in his office and he's working the phone.

Yeah, that's everybody agrees. That's the best scene in the movie. Yep. Is that the best scene? I don't know. I don't know what the fucking consensus on Moneyball is? Is the scene with him and David Justice? David Justice playing himself, by the way,

which is such a lovely touch. I'm pretty sure. Am I right about that? David Justice plays himself? I mean, it's entirely possible. What else would he have been doing at that point? Yeah, well, right. No, exactly.

Yeah, he's... Oh, no, it isn't. No, I lied about that. It's not him. I thought, didn't some player play himself? Maybe not. Anyway. Is it Shea Hillenbrand?

What's that? I don't know why in my head, I think it's Shea Hillenbrand? Maybe. You might... It could be. It just came out of my brain. I don't know if that's true at all. The weird thing about this is, I believe, Ving Rames played David Justice.

So I don't know how you thought that was the same... I'm kidding. Listen, it's a great movie I think Brad Pitt probably should have won the Oscar He's really good in it, man. Wow. I think Phil Seymour Hoffman's really good too in it. Yeah, it's just as resigned. He's in like five scenes. Poor Art Howe.

Yep. Oh, but the thing I was going to say, the scene with him and David Justice in the batting cage where he's like, I need you to not act like a fucking big shot who's too good for this. That's a really good scene. That's really nice. Yeah.

All right. Well, there we go. Moneyball. Do you check it out if you've not seen it. All right, that's Puck Sue for this week. Thanks everybody for joining us. We will talk to you soon. Later.

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