Puck Soup - Jamie Hersch and Olympic Debate!

Episode Date: April 6, 2017

Greg and Dave welcome NHL and MLB Network host Jamie Hersch for a fun conversation about Minnesota life, hockey vs. baseball, Game of Thrones and reliving the most awkward interview she ever had with a gossip columnist. Plus, it's the First Ever Puck Soup NHL Olympic Participation Debate, as Greg blames the IOC and Dave targets the NHL; looking at the Stanley Cup playoff matchups; if a Canadian team will win the Cup; how lit Dave's millennial brand knowledge is; and reader mail that spans from burgers to best coaches to people thinking they can jinx athletes through a television. Sponsored by Helix Sleep and Blue Apron!

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HelixleekSleep.com slash puck soup. $50 off your order and enjoy the show. Now entering nerdist.com. saves and slap shots and goons. We've got sportly commentary to what if you'll commute. We also cover movies, TV shows, it's in tunes. It's your weekly bowl of Hockey and nonsense. Hello, and you're in the first ever PuckSuit podcast Olympic participation debate between Greg Wischinski of Yahoo Sports's Puck Daddy blog and Dave Lozo of, okay. I'm Chris Wilson, your moderator. This is the debate about the NHL's decision not to participate in the 2018 Winter Olympics in South Korea.

Neither Greg nor Dave have previously seen these questions. Those pictures of Donna Brazil leaving Greg's apartment are simply a byproduct of their tort affair. Now, both hosts will have a brief opening statement, starting with you, Greg. Thank you, Mr. Wilson, Mr. Lozo, and everyone in our listening audience today. Urban Dictionary defines a Kentucky tractor pole as a penis trapped in a clenched anus, and one person is dragging the other around through the SACT Act. But that's not important right now. What is important is that the International Olympic Committee

is the reason why the National Hockey League's players will not be participating in the 2018 Winter Games. In particular, the IOC's soulless-craven lust to hoard all of its hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue. It makes, thanks in part, to the NHL's no-cost loan-of-us assets every four years, should be shared. If you want the NHL and the Olympics, know that the IOC is the one who pulled all of its funding. If you want to place the blame anywhere, place it on the IOC, which accomplish the seemingly impossible feat of making Gary Betman seem sympathetic. Thank you. God bless America and God bless this podcast. This is so fucking stupid.

Why did I agree to this? All right. I found out like 20 minutes ago on the bus, I had to do an opening statement. Actually, I found out 40 seconds ago. I found out 20 minutes ago Greg was doing an opening statement and then 20 seconds ago I found out I got to do one. All right, here's my opening statement. The NHL's stupid. The NHL's greedy.

The NHL's short-sighted. We've known this for years. Every decision they make is based on all the three of these things. And in this case, the IOC and the IHF called their bluff because the NHL said, hey, we're not going unless you cover us with insurance. And the IOC was like, fuck you, bro. We're not doing that. and they were like, well, we're not going to go. And the IHF was like, all right, we got the money.

And the NHL was like, hey, don't steal it from the kids. The IHF was like, all right, we won't steal it from the kids. We got it from Secret Place, but we got your insurance money. We're not going to tell you where we got it from, which I admit is weird. You know, it's like they laundered it from like criminals or some shit. But then again, the IOC is criminals too. The money is now laundered. Right.

It's not been channeling through an intermediary or something. And then the NHL was like, well, we also want to be able to sell merchandise with the Olympic logo on it. You know, this is like, this is like when you have a friend who's throwing a party and you don't want to go to the party. You really don't want to go to the party. So you say, I can't go. You have cats. I'm allergic to cats. So I love to go, but, you know, the cat situation makes it an untenable situation for myself.

And the person's like, well, guess what? My cat died a year ago. Don't have cats anymore. Cat hair is vacuumed up. you can come over. It's perfectly fine now. We've met your we've met your demand and then you as the party goer says well actually I want 20% of the revenue of your party too And then the party go fuck yourself and you don't come. I don't really care. I don't need you to have my party. I have a lot of people coming to the party people actually like and want to hang out with as opposed to you the person who runs the seventh most popular friendship organization in the world Is there like a clock on this or I think as long as it's entertaining he gets to keep going I'll allow it

And that's the NHL. Thank you. All right, well, we'll start with Dave. Please rank these organizations in order of blame. And I think I know who's going to be at the top, but then to see the IOC, the I-IHF, the NHL, and the NHL Players Association. Thank you, Chris. It's a very good question. I'm sure you wrote that yourself.

I'm sure you had no outside help for that because you're just the kind of moderator that knows this stuff. and does research before he comes in and is also very handsome and well-dressed. Number one is, of course, the National Hockey League, the worst run sports organization in the world. Two, I'm going to say the National Hockey League is the second most culpable person in this. Three, the NHL. The NHL is the third most responsible organization, and then tied for fourth is the rest because they didn't do anything wrong. Thank you. All right. Greg?

Number one is the IOC, of course. They are a corrupt and awful organization, a criminal organization, a criminal enterprise, covering up scandal after scandal. They're like the aliens and independence day. They go from planet to planet stealing resources, and then when they're done with you, all you have is rubble. They're number one. And also they're the reason why we're not going to the Olympics.

Number two, as far as this ranking of bad organizations, I would go. with the, well, I would go with the NHL. I mean, let's be honest here. The owners are horrible, and Bettman is a villainous character. They are at the end of the day using this Olympic thing against the players to eventually get something out of the CBA, either now or in the next negotiation. It's pretty transparent. So even though I think the IOC is the big bad here, I think the NHL is number two. number three is the NHLPA, which is really, it's remarkable how stupid they are at times, where now all of a sudden they're not going to the Olympics.

And everybody's like, but wait a second. What about the CBA? And they're like, oh, shit, we never actually got around to putting it in the collective bargaining agreement that we get to go to the Olympics every four years. And they're like, why not? And they're like, we didn't think it'd be an issue. And they're like, but didn't you know that like at some point the NHL might not go? And they're like, I don't know, whatever, escrow, man. number four, of course, is the WIHF, these poor stupid suckers that got footed with the bill from the IOC. And I put the number four, I liked them the most because, quite frankly, Renee Fasel, their president, reminds me of Gomez Adams. And I always enjoyed that character. Thank you. Follow up to Dave. This is a weird hypothetical, but if the NHL commissioner was just sort of a generic suit.

I would do it, yeah. Why not? You live once. Oh, is that not the question? That's not quite the question. Say instead of Gary Betman and all the baggage of the lockouts and being Gary Betman he brings, that the NHL made this decision and did so with like a shorter, less competent Adam Silver running things. Would your position be the same or how much is it tied to Gary Betman? Oh, it's just a bad decision.

It's a bad decision whether it's Gary Betman making it, whether it's Greg Wischinsky making it, Chris. That's how objective I am, that if I were to one to make this bad decision, I would be like, lozo. What are you a moron? Well, wait a second, but you're infallible. objection, objection moderator. This is my time on the clock. Thank you. It's a bad decision from top to bottom.

It's the fact that they were asking for money they shouldn't have gotten in the first place four years ago. The IOC gave them a bunch of money when they didn't really have to. They didn't need to. They just said, here, take this money. And now the NHL feels like they're so important and so popular when they're not that they should get that same deal again. And it's a weird thing too because the NHL does this thing where they lock out the players every six or seven. years where the players feel like they should continue to get the same stuff they got in previous CBAs and the NFL says no you can't have that anymore so when the IOC does to the NHL suddenly it's a bad

thing hey we got that in the past we should always get that in perpetuity as Gary Betman would say mr. moderator am I allowed to sigh deeply and sarcastically as per usual debate rules yeah sure absolutely also just for the record the clock is also hypothetical um all right thank you yes will there be a big name Canadian or American player stepping up and declaring that they're going to go like Ovechkin did. There will not be. All of these guys are company men at the end of the day. They don't want, they're also prideful.

They don't want to win anything in a diminished tournament. Alex Ovechkin at this point would buy a championship off of eBay, if given the chance. So he has no qualms about going and beating up a bunch of plumbers and kids to win a gold medal. But the biggest news of the past week in my eyes was the fact that you had all these Chicago Blackhawks, guys like Jonathan Taves, guys who do not typically bite their tongue when it comes to issues between the NHL and the NHLPA, all being like, well, I'll just defer to what my owner wants. And at the end of the day, I think that's what's going to happen. If the NHL doesn't go, they don't go.

And quite frankly, I don't think any of the players are going to go because if you look at the Washington Capitals, if Ted Leonesis lets Alex Webetch can go, he has to let Nick Baxter, Yvesnizov, John Carlson, Braden Holpby, Marcus Johansson, maybe T.J.O.O. Yoshi if he's still there, Philip Grubauer, both his goalies. It's going to be a real genie in the bottle type situation in my estimation. And that is why the IOC is the worst villain in all of this. Thank you. You always have to go back to your thesis in these debates because that reminds the people watching that this is the most important news. Makes it for very interesting listening as well. I always find that explaining your point is just as good as explaining your

joke because that means the point must be so good. You have to explain it back twice. And also, Gregory, I feel like it's beneath you to invoke the Christina Aguilera genie in a bottle argument to make your point when Britney Spears is, oops, I did it again, is the proper. I was just addressed, I was addressed formally. I think I deserve a chance to respond. Fair. You know what? Wrong. Wrong. You know what? There's another Britney Spears song that describes exactly what you're doing here. It's called Crazy. Thank you. That's actually an Arrowsmith song, and it's a much better version. There are a lot of songs named Crazy. Yes. There was that song, that Patsy Klein song, crazy, I believe. Wrong. Email.

All right, Dave. What was the question again? Will there be an American or Canadian or honestly any player than Alex Ovechkin who will go to the Olympics in 2018? I just want to point out that Greg's flawed argument in the previous answer about how if he lets Alex Ovechkin go, Ted Leon says has to let everybody go. Who says all those guys want to go? If Alex Ovechkin wants to go and Nick Baxter doesn't want to go, he can stay. Braden Holpe can stay. Philip Grubauer can stay.

It's a false flag argument as far as I'm concerned. All right, this isn't info wars. Let's try to keep it tight. You're over here just sending up false flags in order to make your point and get people stirred up and I don't like it. Nobody wants to go to the Olympics cause of cam trails. I will now remove my shirt and make my point. I believe that Greg does have one good point in that at the end of the day in 2018, be a lot of bluster, a lot of talk.

No one's actually going to go. Even Ovechkin, even all the guys that speak, speak. What are you guys doing over there? No, keep going. Sorry. I like the record to show that the moderator and my debate opponent were just commiserating about something on this computer. We're going to cut this part because it's not interesting. And also, that's it. Thank you.

I was showing him horse porn. Can I see? What the fuck? I want to see it. All right. We're going to have a quick ad break here in the first. middle of debate, just like normal debates work. Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, it's time to talk about one of our favorite things on Puck Soup, it is Blue Apron.

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That's blueapron.com slash puck soup, blue apron. It's a better way to cook. Please continue, Mr. Moderator. I'm going to choose to do that. Dave Lozo. Yes, sir. Should the decision to prevent players from leaving and play in Olympics be on the NHL or should it fall to the individual teams?

Well, in this case, I feel like you have to as a league, have a league-wide uniform rule. You can't let certain teams do certain things and have other teams disobey the NHL's. I don't know what you call it, edict, because then you're going to have teams with certain advantages and free agency you're going to have certain teams disadvantaged during the regular season. I think that the NHL is not going to go, which still the door may open a little bit, They need to have a uniform plan, and I feel like you can't just let certain teams, let certain players go, because that's unfair for competitive balance and all that other stuff that I sort of kind of stopped caring about earlier. Wouldn't that balance out a little bit, though, if you let your players go, you're going to be a disadvantage.

But in theory, if you tell free agents, they'll be able to play in the Olympics, they might come and help you during the rest of the season. Yeah, but I mean, if you're going to have guys come and be top end free agents, like, let's say Kevin Chattonkirk is like, I'm playing in the Olympics. I don't care anybody says. Ted Leontis is like, hey, want to come over here. you're going to get that advantage for 70 games and then be at a disadvantage for 10 of them or something like that I think that would be worth it for a team

if they're going to make a sell for a free agent All right Dave I'm sorry Greg I'll go now Obviously he's wrong It's a state's rights issue Allow all the teams to do whatever the hell they want If they want to put themselves at a competitive disadvantage is fine I think it should be up to each team To figure out what they want to do with each player

Knowing that they're going to be repercussions, probably a fine or even loss of draft pick. That said, at the end of the day, it's the owners who made the decision. So they're going to go to the NHL and be like, we don't want to be the bad guys. Like, I don't want to have to tell Alex Ovechkin, no, he's Alex Ovechkin. So the NHL will enact some sort of draconian policy to keep these players out of the Olympics and provide cover for their owners, because if there's anything we know about Gary Betman, it's that he's really great at everybody hating him and all the owners don't want to be hated by their favorite players. Thank you.

All right, Greg, so should the edict stay? Yes. No players are allowed to go. Okay. What kind of punishment, if any, should be given to players who leave their NHL teams during the 2018 season and go to Korea? Well, in all honesty, I think that it's going to be easier for the NHL to go after teams than players. I think they can go and levy giant fines on the teams, potentially, you know, have draft picks being taken away for them, maybe even cap space being taken away from them. I think it's going to be harder to try to create a new rule.

out of a whole cloth to keep players from going to going to the Olympics because you're going to face lawsuits from the NHLPA and stuff like that. So I think it's going to be a thing that hits the teams rather than the players. But I had a few people in the NHL, like leadership front office, whatever we want to call it, tell me, we expect every player that's under contract with the NHL to not be in the Olympics next year. So you've got to figure they got some shit in mind. All right, Dave.

Yeah, I agree. I don't really have anything clever to say other than I agree. Exactly. I've beaten you down. Hashtag Mike Drop, hashtag humbled, hashtag defeated. You are the riot cop and I am Kendall Jenner with a Pepsi. You are just subverted. I think you've got the better deal out of that. Actually, I think I'm Scott Van Pell and you're Skip Bayliss.

I think that's what's happened to last two weeks. I think your comparison is much like LeBron's defensive game, flawed. All right. Well, to Dave, if it's true that they'd, they'd rather go after teams than players. What if a player just says, I'm going to go? I'm taking a vacation for two weeks of February, puts on a fake beard or takes off a real beard. And the team claims they're very angry, but, you know, when you get back, well, what, what, can they go after the team if the team is like adamantly angry about it? Great, go ahead.

Can I just pause here and say, what are them? You're a joke. What an amazing concept. No, I'm serious. What an amazing concept that Chris just came up with the idea that someone's going to be like a week before the Olympics. You're like, oh, God, my knee. Oh, I got to go get it rehabbed or whatever. Takes flight to South Korea. I like the idea of like a vet can go into like cap's HR and being like, did I not clear this vacation with you in the summer? I've already booked the flight in the hotel and everything. I'm sorry, but I'll make up the work when I get back. The Russians are four and oh in group play. Thanks to the amazing play of the bearded wonder. Alexei Slovetchkin. What was the question? Basically, if the teams throw, like, say they're adamantly against players going, can you still punish them?

What recourse would the team have? Are you going to suspend them more games for missing games? Well, that's the thing is, like, basically it's going to come down to the hockey culture where they're not going to want to upset the team. You know what I mean? Like, guys can't even, like, be happy they had a hat trick one night. They got to be like, well, I want to thank my linemates, my defense partner, my coach. the guy who's selling peanuts in Section 246

for doing a great job of calling you out. Players just don't do that. So if there's a feeling in the room of like, hey, kind of need these points these next three weeks, be kind of bad if we lost our second best defenseman to the team rush. I don't think anyone's going to go. But the problem is that if they actually do decide to go,

it's like anything in sports where, like, let's say you're Tyree Kill and you're an awful human being, but you're super good at running fast. team's going to look the other way. And these are all super good hockey players. So when they decide to go, they'll be like, this is bad. But when they come back and they're four points out of the playoffs, no one's going to say, Alex Oveshkin is going to sit out for two weeks.

They're just going to come back and play. Does it think it's going to be different for goleys, though? Like, everybody's like, okay, Ovechkin can go. But like, if you're a Capitals fan, all of a sudden, Holpey and Gruber both not there for three weeks. Oh, yeah, like, you're screwed if, like, you have a number one goalie and no backup. But like, like, say Cam Talbot was going to be an Olympic goalie this year.

Right. And they're going to stick in. Rick Carlson? Is that their backup? Sure. What hell is their backup? I believe it is Duane Rollison. Dwayne Rollison. Yeah. 47-year-old Dwayne Rollsson and his 4.6 goals against this year. Yeah, but that's a thing is like goalies won't go. Goalies will feel so much guilt about abandoning their team as a guy who would play 60 minutes a night for 12 of those or, you know, eight of those nine games he misses. He's not going to go. But Ovechkin, you can win without Ovechkin for two weeks. You can rationalize that if you're, if you're the player of the team,

I think, if it keeps him happy. Like, let's say another thing, too. Ovechkin signed forever. Let's say you have a guy who's only signed for one more year and he really wants to go. Maybe you can use that as a negotiating chip and say, we'll let you go, but you got to sign a little five-year extension before you go. There's a lot of ways it can go if you actually want to let your player go. It could be good for the team long term, but bad short term. Yeah, see, I like leaving into the teams and letting them try to negotiate this kind of stuff. Yeah. Because like you said, that could be fun, but the NHL doesn't do fun.

So the legal just shut this down over the summer. No doubt about it. Perfect. Well, Dave, will you pay attention to an Olympic men's tournament that does not have NHL players? Absolutely not. That's occurring at 7 in the morning. You can think I'm going to wake up in the a.m. to watch some fucking college kids play hockey in South Korea?

Are you kidding me? No. Greg? Of course. I will under two conditions. You might be there? Three conditions. I might be there.

If Team USA is real good, I don't, I think everybody will put, like, the Dave Lozos of the world will be. up watching if we have a chance to win something. My ass. Dave Lozo's ass. If the young strapping college men of the United States get a chance to win Dave Lozo's ass. And then the third thing is I'll watch it

if Pierre McGuire's there. Because as you know, I'm a Pierre McGuire superfan. And there'd be nothing greater in life than to have a bunch of players no one knows anything about and have Pierre McGuire responsible for telling us all of the biographical information for every play.

in this tournament. But they're already in their biographical. They're playing inside their biographical information. Like, what's he going to do? Joe Smith, North Dakota forward. He's a really good player. Ten years ago, he was inside his dad's balls because he wasn't born yet.

Like, what are they going to do? What are they going to do? He's got nowhere to go. He's already at the point he gets to. Joe Smith used to be a carpenter outside of Kingston, Ontario. Turns out it was his father's company about it from his grandfather's company.

He used to work a lot with Lido Heardt, but also lots of balsam wood. Used to build a couple of those starter houses over there and Stovill. They're not going to sign a bunch of it. get a bunch of dudes like the Eagles Mark Wahlberg guy. It's going to be that. They're going to get like Canadians overseas and HL guys that they let the HL guys go and junior hockey players. They're going to have actual real players. It's going to be guys off the street, man. It's going to be

beautiful. Well, I think I know Lozo's answer this. So we'll start with Greg. Do you think there's maybe any accidental advantage to the NHL that some amateur players, younger guys get sort of a profile from this? Of course. You know, I've long, listen, I want the NHL players in the Olympics. Make no mistake about that. It's the most fun tournament ever. But that said, From a functional, what does this do for the NHL and the growth of hockey standpoint, it would totally be better for hockey if younger players were involved in the Olympics. And it wasn't simply Sydney Crosby's star. You shut your pie hole over there.

This is my question. Wrong. You're the puppet. Yeah, you're the puppet. No puppet. You're the puppet. Because like I say, what did Vancouver do? It made Sydney Crosby more famous than Sidney Crosby was.

But what did Peter Forsberg in the Olympics do? It made him a star before he arrived in the NHL. So the idea that younger NCAA or junior hockey players getting their moment on this stage of becoming stars before hitting the NHL to put it in wrestling terms, Chris Wilson, because I know you're a big wrestling fan. We literally watch WrestleMania on Sunday together. This is true. It is like a wrestler in Ring of Honor making a name for himself and then making the jump to the WBE. The smart fans know who he is. And they're very excited to see him show up.

Thank you. So your argument, Greg, is that. All these unknown players, no one's ever heard of. We'll get on an international stage and become household names. That's your stance here. Your plan is to blackmail, one of the richest men in the world, and say that he is, in fact, a mass vigilante. Good luck.

Yes, it is my plan, by the way. That's your question. Who's the MVP of the World Junior Tournament this year? The World Junior Tournament is not the Olympics. What do you mean? You watched it. He's on TV. International event. These are the guys that are going to go.

The viewership numbers. The fucking Spengler Cup is an international event too. But like the Olympics are, come on. Just with these guys, this is such a god. We should just end the debate. Just get the button and you all the fucking thing. Because this is where it gets into idiocy. This is just idiocy.

These are the players that are going to be playing in the Olympics. All of a sudden here. Just being an idiot. I can't. I want to get rid of all the branches. Well, which branches in particular? You know, like all of them or whatever. It's just idiocy has now been injected in this debate, like stuffing into a turkey on Thanksgiving.

Thank you. So I get what you're saying. The World Junior tournament's not worth watching. You don't care who was the MVP who was a star. I don't know the answer either because I don't give a shit, much like I won't give a shit when these same people play in the Olympics because I don't care about these people. But I believe your argument is that the NHL gets nothing at the Olympics. There's no race profiles, right? T.J. Oshy was T.J. Soshi for like a minute.

Then he disappeared. He did. So if T.J. O'Shee doesn't. become a household name superstar. Why is Bill Johnson, the plumber, apparently, you think is going to be playing in this? Why is he going to become a household name? Because T.J.O.O. She's team didn't win a medal. Also, I wish you answered every question with a lifesaver in your hand, like your fucking

Malkovich and rounders like it's a cookie. That was really impressive. Feeling confident right now. He was really intimidating. You must feel really sad right now. He was pitching it between his fingers. I don't have spades. No, it's because they didn't win a medal. Like if TJO she, that was the reason why that that thing was so short-lived is because the American team didn't do anything.

Oh, okay. So you think the American team that's built off of the shittier American players that we don't always send is going to, they're going to rise to the occasion and win gold in the situation and become stars. Maybe. I don't know. A lot of flip-flopping over there. In comparison, maybe. They're going to get shittier players across the board, correct? Yeah, but I mean, shouldier players across the board is still going to mean we're going to have the shittier players compared to Canada.

What Dave's trying to say is that the Americans will be underdogs and the east. easiest thing to sell in sports as a team of Ragtag underdogs winning a championship. So this American team will actually mean more to fans. Just imagine that Mike Trico's a look way to start. It's just a monologue of Yeah, can you imagine? Pretty guys. Can you imagine? Can you imagine? Underdogs anyway. In matter who we said. Yeah, but we're pros. These are

going to be like amateurs. Can you imagine how amazing it's going to be when we win gold and Al Michaels tries to spit out another catchphrase but his dentures fall out like right in the middle of it? Let me let me throw this out you. Let's say Yahoo is like Greg. The NHL's right. There's no point in going over there and covering this event. I thought you said, let's imagine that Yahoo is like Greg.

Big and fair. Wearing a tie and a hoodie. No, let's say they don't send you. You're really going to get up at 4 in the morning to watch a U.S., whoever game with non-NHL players. I totally will. Okay. I'm going to text you at 4 in the morning during the Olympics to see if you're awake watching.

I totally will. Not only because it'll be my job, But as a fan, I would. Listen, I love Olympic hockey, no matter what. I think the real question, as far as, like, loyalties go, is, like, you know, what is NBC going to do when they basically put all the Olympics on every station they own, which means are they contractually obligated to play, to show, like, a Boston Hurricanes game on a Tuesday night instead of, like, Olympic skiing, which will get, like, times 10 the ratings.

Right. They probably won't show anything Live up they'll pick all the other stuff They'll pick the figure skating They'll pick the fucking cross-country skiing They'll pick all the other stuff See that's the thing though But are they gonna have to program

Around the NHL Are they gonna put the NHL on like digital For like three weeks Oh I see what I see what I'm saying Are they contractually obligated to show NHL games? I was like who the fuck are the Boston Hurricanes No no like over the Olympics

Right right right Because that's the real thing Because when it comes to these stations Like CNBC always puts that press release about the Olympics or about their ratings like in an Olympic year and like CNBC ratings increased by 150%. And it's like, oh, that's because on that night where you show Shark Tank 15 times and it's the same

inventions I've seen each time. Oh, that's because you're showing actually Olympic events and like everybody gives a shit about those. We go live to Rachel Maddow with a report on the 1980 U.S. Olympic team. How important is this game? What does this game mean to the U.S.? What happens if they lose? What happens if they win? What happens if Mike Arruzioni doesn't score? What happens if he does score? Why is it important if he scores?

We'll be back after this. And now to Chris Hayes. Basically everything Rachel said, except I'm a boy. Plus glasses. All right. Final question, I'll let you guys get out of here. If the NHL and the IOC and the PA can sort this out in time for Beijing, which is probably the goal they should be shooting for if they want to be a international organization.

The NBA has put a ton of resources there. the NFL, I'm sure, is trying to figure out a way to give people concussions in China. Are there any long-term consequences from missing the 2018 Olympics? Who's this for? We'll start with Dave. Of course you do. No. Liberal bias.

Here's what I'm thinking. The end of the day, yeah, the NHL's garbage. Sure, the IOC is almost as garbagey as the NHL. But China's China. Billion people. The end of the day, they're going to just want to make a bunch of money. They're going to realize that it's good. It's a good place.

It's a good place to steal people's money because that's all they want to do is just get as much money as possible. So whatever happened in 2018 has no effect on 2022. Thank you. Greg? Obviously for them to go in 2022, was that the question? Yeah. Well, are there any, if they go and if they have it sorted out by 2022, are there any consequences long term to missing 2018? Well, the consequences are is that I think we all know that this is now going to be collectively bargained.

And so now the NHL is going to be. hold it over the players' heads to get something else or to maintain something like escrow, for example, in the next CBA negotiation. I would be interested to go back to NBC if this affects that at all because that television contract is up in 2021. And I know they're not happy at the NHL ain't going to these games. But I think overall what it's going to be most interesting about 2022 is that the NHL does want to go there.

They've kind of put their cards on the table and said we want to go. So what does that do as far as their position and getting something out of the players or, more importantly, getting something out of the IOC? Because again, to bring it back to the initial point, this is all the IOC's fault. If they had maintained their funding levels for hockey, maybe this doesn't happen. If they had given the NHL the pittance they were asking for, the ability to sell a T.J. Sochi t-shirt in the NHL store, the day after he beats Russia, maybe getting some money off the television contract, maybe being able to show Olympic highlights on NHL.com, maybe how to that. their logo somewhere on the rink. All these things are small. The IOC is corrupt and greedy.

They didn't want to share any of the pie that the NHL is helping them bake by lending their players for free for three weeks. So I think it's going to come down to what do they get out of the players and what do they get out of the IOC? But ultimately, I think they'll go to China. Thank you. Oh, also, the problem is also that the IOC says they can't go to China if they don't go to South Korea. But I think that's a big old bluff. That's a giant bluff. They have any follow-ups?

My follow-up is why do you think the IOC needs the NHL in any way for the Olympics to be successful? I think that any type of star power being lent to these events is a positive thing for the IOC as far as ticket sales and sponsorships and endorsements and people getting excited about the event. I mean, you know, does Olympic tennis need Serena Williams? Well, yeah, it helps. Does, you know, the golf events need real golfers? It definitely helps. I mean, in all these cases, it definitely helps. I agree with you that, like, hockey isn't a weird place because it's the only team sport tournament in the Winter Olympics.

It's a real high-profile deal, even if the NHL is not there. It's all one big, giant team, Greg. It's called America. So I agree with you. Tell that to the women's team, by the way, you dickhead. So I agree with you that, like, hockey may not suffer in the same way that maybe, like, the basketball tournament would. But at the end of the day, I still think that they do better with the NHL players there. Okay.

Did the IOC cave in the Serena Williams' demands that she'd be able to sell t-shirts with her face and the Olympic logo on it? We don't know. Well, no, they never did. Because it's not a thing that anyone else does. But that's the reason why they didn't, they're not letting the NHL do it, is because they didn't have to let every other pro league do it. They'd actually have to share the revenue that these federations are generating for them by loaning their athletes to the Olympics for some bullshit patriotic ideal. Wow. You hate America, sir.

You hate America. Patriotism is a bullshit idea, sir. Patriotism is a bullshit idea. The Olympic spirit is a bullshit idea. All of it's a bullshit idea. And so there you have it. The IOC is corrupt and horrible. Thank you.

I mean, it is, but still better than the NHL. Thank you. All right, guys. That was a really good debate. I've listened closely, and I'm going to declare a winner. Oh, I don't know. I was going to be a winner. Yeah.

I was wondering if you knew. knew that there was going to be a winner the way you kissed his ass at top of the debate. Well, I mean, it's so round and firm and beautiful that I couldn't help to admire it. And the winner is, it's you, the listener, for joining us for the spirited debate between two passionate hog fans. I think everyone can agree. The NHL is bad and the IOC is bad. And it's just a level of how you want to rank those. A lot of badness.

All right. Thanks to our moderator, Chris Wilson, a favorite here on the Puck Suit podcast. Whenever we have to write a script, he's here to read it. And here's Jamie Hirsch. Jamie Hirsch is a host for the NHL Network and the MLB Network, which both Dave Lozo are out of the same building in Seacoccus, New Jersey. I don't know if he knew that. I did.

He's all over it. He's on top of it. I do my research. What is your, what's an easier highlight to call? A baseball highlight or a hockey highlight? Because I've always wondered about this because the hockey highlights have more more stuff going on. More movement, right. Right. But the baseball highlights is more like... I'd say baseball is an easier highlight to call overall because you're right.

I mean, most of the time the highlights are just scoring plays. And so it's either a home run or, you know, one guy at bat. So maybe you have two names in the sense that you have someone coming around to score that you want to say their name. But in the case of hockey, I mean, man, especially when you're talking Tampa, for example, one of my favorite names, if not my favorite name, is Vladislav Nemesnikov. To say really quickly in a highlight. So, yeah, I mean, if you're saying Vladislav Nemesnikov feeds Nikita Kutchev.

Of feeds. I mean, like, there's so many great names. And Andrei Vasselowski makes a say. I agree. Baseball is a better sport. Let's talk about baseball. But she hits on something really great, which is that as a writer, I just look at that. I've seen that name in Tampa many times. I don't think I've ever said it. I think I have probably written it. And I look at it and say names think off. And then I never have to really worry about how it's pronounced because I never have to deal with it. Yeah, it's kind of easier to say Miguel Sinole than it is to say. Yeah, Joe Maurer. Joe Maurer, yeah. Go on Joe.

I can say that. Chris Bryant. Joe Mullen. Yeah, there's not a lot of Joe's anymore. You grew up in Minnesota. I did. What's that like cold? It's lovely in about two months from now.

Yeah, right about now, it's a little chilly. Actually, it's warmer than here right now. It's warmer than New York. But, no, I mean, I wouldn't recommend going there for about six months out of the year. But in the summer, I honestly think there's no better place to be. Like with all the lakes and all the, I mean, the sunshine, the fields, the farms, if you even get out in the countryside. I mean, it's just, it's beautiful. It's, and Minneapolis is a really underrated city.

I think a lot of people who haven't been there think of it as just like cornfields in Minnesota, you know, fly over country. But it's great. Minneapolis. And let's not forget St. Paul. It's for the wild play. So I spent a lot of time there too. But it's a good city. What's the dynamic between Minneapolis and St. Paul? Is it like Springfield and Shelbyville?

I don't even know what that dynamic is, but sure. If it's not great, then yes. Obscure Simpsons reference. But like the Minneapolisans don't like the St. Paulians. Yeah, there's a lot of pride in each city and the residents of those cities. And so I grew up in the suburbs of Minneapolis. So I never really went to St. Paul except to go to a hockey game. And that was it. So. But it's just different. I mean, St. Paul, like, shuts. down. If there's not a wild game, like it shuts down at like 8 p.m. So it's kind of a sleepier town. Minneapolis is very much like the city part. As a native of New Jersey, this sounds very much like I live in New York. What's New Jersey? Oh, it's that place with the beaches. Right. Is that

dynamic? Nobody identifies New Jersey as a place. No, no, unfortunately. It's a place with the smell. Hey, but as a resident now of New Jersey and it's kind of like the sixth borough, because I live in Hoboken. So it's like fake. I live in Hoboken. I only live in Hoboken. I love Hoboken, right, though? We're in Hoboken. All the way uptown. It's like, yeah. I'm not going to give away my address. No, no, no. I know. I know exactly where you.

Yeah. Where Eli Manning probably used to live. Not yet. You and Eli. Right across the street. Your penthouses. Not quite. My little tiny one bedroom that I, we have visitors constantly who sleep on the air mattress. But seriously, if you want to get in touch with Lozo, it's Dave Lozo, Kerovok in New Jersey. Yeah, right next to the coffee place.

Yeah, it's a good, I don't know, I really love Hoboken, and it's kind of the best of both worlds because it, I mean, it took me 15 minutes to get into the city today to be here right now. And so to be able to have the city at your fingertips and just hop in whenever you want, but not have to take the subway every day and not have to wake up and have the circus everywhere is kind of nice. As a Minnesotian? Sure. I always like to say shin. You make it sound like a marshal. Yeah, I like sort of the interplanetary feel of talking about anybody. In your world where you're from, Jamie.

Is there oxygen? Do you hate it when Detroit claims it's Hockey Town, when we all know the state of hockey is more impressive? Yeah, I don't hate it. I mean, fine. They have the richer hockey history. I mean, original six team and all the Stanley Cups to boot. But, like, the state of hockey is Minnesota, and there's no question. Do they have more history?

Minnesota has many, many lakes. Here we go. Imagine they freeze. And, oh, boy. the boys on the pond coming home and get nut chocolate from their mums after playing a few games as shini on the ice. Oh, yeah. You betcha. Oh, sure.

What's it like as a Minnesotan to have Dallas steal your history and your pride? I mean, it wasn't great, and there's still a lot of bitterness. But last night, for example, the wild warmed up in the North Star sweaters. And it was super awesome to see those great colors, those great jerseys being brought back on the ice. And I think the most moving moment, well, I can't say that. There were like three most moving moments of the season that all happened last night. I mean, we're talking Clark MacArthur, Brian Bickle, both coming back after emotional times away. And then I thought another great moment was Zach Preezy wearing his dad's mitts and helmet, which was so, yeah, it was so great to see that.

And he, I watched his interview during intermission, and he was, he wasn't super emotional, but it was very touching. And I was there actually working to cover the wild when JP passed away. And it was so hard to get through that whole show, the broadcast, the game, everything. And he's still very much a beloved figure in Minnesota. So it was cool to see Zach bring it back. I also love when Madonna did the spin around the ice a few years ago in the North Stores. That was frigging great. Yeah.

I think it's funny. I don't know if, I think the North Stars might be like second to the whale as far as like the nostalgia. I think they've got more inherent nostalgia than the Nordiques do. And now that the Jets got a team back, I think the J it used to be like Whalers, Jets, then North Stars, then Nordiques, and then like, you know, the Golden Seals probably. You're right, though. There's a ton of people who still, especially since MLB Network and NHL Network are one now, if we get a quote-unquote baseball person working on a show, whether it's in a research role or editing or whatever, I'll always ask them. So are you a hockey fan? And they'll say, yeah, yeah, kind of.

And I'll say, okay, who's your team? And they're like, well, the whalers were. And I'm like, wow, like, that's still a thing. People actually still will say I'm a whalers fan, but. Yeah. See, I think it's still a little weird, though, that the Minnesota Wild are kind of borrowing from a thing that's not theirs. You know, like it's the state. I get it.

But, you know, it's like, it's like keeping, like, pictures of your ex-girlfriend around while you're married to somebody else. Like, move on. Remember her? She was great. She had great uniforms. Oh, gosh. Really cool uniforms. Oh, my God.

She always used to do that, too. It was so great. Yeah. Can you wear these old things that she used to wear for the outdoor stuff? Wow, you're right. That is weird. It's a little weird. It's a little weird.

But if you're okay with it as someone who's from there, I guess. I mean, so I was there for the stadium series game last year, right? And it was obviously the North Stars sweaters were being used for the alumni game. But it was cool to see Mike Madano back there. And sure, he went with the stars and won the cup in Dallas. But like, I don't know. It was so, I don't know. Maybe we're more in Minnesota nice about it.

You are close to Canada. We think it's okay. Yeah. We're like, it's okay. We love everyone. Not Texas asshole. Right. Big boot, Texas asshole.

Minnesota nice. Jersey jerk off, you know. Do you, are you, are you, let me preface this by asking you, you vegetarian? No, I have not. Okay. So you've eaten a juicy lucy then in Minnesota or no. It's terrible.

I haven't, which is so non-Mondisotan of me. Have you had a grape ape? What's a grape? I actually only did very recently, though, when I was visiting. It's a drink, but it's like terrible. It's a really gross drink that some bar in Minneapolis has. Yeah. It's grave Kool-Aid with what in it, though?

I don't say vodka. Yeah. And it's just. And maybe Red Bull, too? I mean, it's weird. Like, I wouldn't recommend it. It was after a Twins game, like seven, eight years ago. We got to the bar and it was like, grape babes, whatever for whatever amount of money.

And I was like, five. Yes. I don't want this anymore. Yeah, and I was like, I don't want this anymore, now that I've tasted it. But you should do it if you go there. I forget what bar has. Maybe they all have them there. I forget that too.

I'm so terrible because, like, I grew up in the suburbs, but I wasn't really, you know, an adult there in the city being able to, like, go out and go to bars. So when it comes to knowing the names of bars, I mean, I lived there for three years, the last, like a few years ago before I came out here. That was where I lived. But I'm a sad excuse for someone who actually knows the bar scene in Minnesota, unfortunately. What's your favorite prince song? Kiss, probably. I don't know. It's the funkiest.

It is. I would say. I was on the subway the other day with a guy who was blaring his radio. The homeless guy was blurring his radio. And I'm just like, this sucks. This sucks. It's the inconveniening so many people. It's the worst.

His music's horrible. And then a Prince song came on. And I'm just like, this guy's the fucking greatest. I can't believe I'm blessed to be on the subway with this man right now. And this song coming on the subway as I'm on it right now. Yeah, it's been almost exactly a year because I remember it was right. It was one of the first twins games. And they.

It was very, it was crazy because the day he died, it was like this foggy, rainy day in Minneapolis. And everyone was saying, you know, the sky is crying for Prince's loss or whatever. So, you know, it was really sad. I would love to go to, um, was it at Paisley Park and see it? I guess now it's kind of like a tourist area. It's like the new, the new Graceland, yeah. Yeah, I think that'd be really cool. I think it'd be really cool too, but I don't know.

Like, I feel like, I feel like he's a guy that maybe it was in his will that he let these, like, let people in. He always seemed like a real private guy. Yeah. Like Elvis was just like probably like everybody, you know, his ghost came back and said for sure literally. Right. But like Prince always seemed like a guy who like has everything like in a vault. Like you have to figure out what the accommodation is to get into that place. True.

We shall see. What is the best thing about doing what you do at the NHL Network? The best thing is the people I work with. And that's such a cliche answer. But I guess, I mean, I have always thought that hockey players are the best people. Like from a professional athlete perspective, I've been. And lucky enough and blessed enough throughout my career to be able to get to know football players, basketball players, baseball players and hockey players. And I personally have a soft spot for hockey players.

I think they're just the most genuine down-to-earth people. And there are outliers, of course. They're assholes in every sport and every walk of life. But baseball has more dicks. Right. Right. That's what everyone says. You don't have to answer that.

You feel like it's going to hurt yourself. I think it's about like maybe the prestige and like the money factor too. Like if you think about baseball, like the athletes in baseball, the highest paid players are higher paid than any other sport. And so, I mean, even the NFL, which some people don't know. Some people still think NFL players are the highest paid in all of sports. But hockey is... Yeah, but in the NFL, it's also a really short shelf life. Right.

Yeah. And nothing's guaranteed. Right. Only some are guaranteed. Some contracts are guaranteed. So it's, I mean, baseball, maybe it's because like there's that super stardom and there's the money there, the fame, whatever. But like, in hockey, I really think. I think it's more just, you know, kind of the everyday person down to earth.

And so to go back to your original question, like those are the guys I get to work with now, former hockey players who love the game, who are just so nice and kind people, good people, and still have a passion for it. Like, to just sit around and watch hockey with them and break it down is a dream come true. So it's awesome. I think – here's what I think. I think baseball players have a tremendous ego because they know in their hearts they don't really do a lot. They get up there four times a game.

They just have to pay attention to the balls that their way if they're an outfielder. They don't have to do anything and they know that they're just stealing money. Hockey players, I've often thought about why hockey players are such good people. And, you know, I think there's a certain blue-collar aesthetic. But I also think at the end of the day, like, they're all kind of from like middle class, upper-middle-class families, families that had enough scratch to pay for the equipment. Yeah. And maybe not much more than that.

And I think that there's a certain, you know, I think they were raised right to use, to use a word my mom might use. Wow. Well, don't you think? Baseball players weren't raised right. No, they weren't raised right. No. They're terrible. Terrible people.

You're heard of here first. You're hurt on the podcast. I mean, you are right, though. A lot of that. You don't hear about that many hockey players who came from really tough backgrounds. And that's why I think it's important for so many people to go into interstudy communities and tougher communities and grow hockey and, you know, help kids who might not have the financial means to play hockey. Like, I think those programs that are really working to combat that. From the mean streets of Kingston, Ontario.

Yeah, Minneapolis. I don't know. That's a very nice thing you said, but I read this interview you did with the Minneapolis Starz review. Why is that the first thing that comes up anytime? Because I googled your name. That was the first one. Let's talk about that. I would love to.

First of all, do you remember the first question from the interview? It took me a minute to get it. I know the headline. The headline was definitely... It was not even... It was her one. words not mine. The headline is definitely NHL Networks Jamie Hearst likes the

bad boys and it's because you liked, you said you'd wanted to interview Dean with Cicerelli. And Patrick King, that's what I said. And I did not use the phrase bad boys at all and yet that's now the first thing that comes up when you Google me. That's great. Did you mention the Will Smith Martin Lawrence films

at any point? The bad boys series. Maybe that was the confusion. No, well, it wasn't. She's a gossip columnist in Minneapolis. What? Yes. And that was... Oh, she was like, plugging you for like stuff. Yep. And I was just not giving her anything. And so, of course, that comes out. And it was really frustrating because as the whole story was that the way NHL Network pitched it was, you know, Jamie's from Minnesota. She's coming home to cover the stadium series game. Do you want to do a feature?

And she somehow picked it up. And that's that. The first question was, what's the most fly thing about you? Oh my gosh. And the best part was, the best part was on my phone, it says Q, And then there's that question, and there's like an ad for, like, a local lawyer. So I got to scroll past that. And the answer is just you're repeating the question back to her, what's the most fly thing about me? Because of on the fly. Spoiler, you said. I didn't get it either.

Gosh, I really didn't get it. You said your sports savvy is the most fly thing about you. Okay. Well. I love you. I mean, it's as good as it's as good as answer as you're going to get. It's the greatest thing. What's the most fly thing about you?

This is the greatest thing ever to think that there's an A, that there's a Minneapolis gossip call in this. And B, she's writing shit like, blind item, which NHL Network host was seen. drinking a grape effect. Yes. But there is one question that particularly struck me, and I'm going to read it to you now, because I was offended by it. It says, what's more important for a man to have? Hair or teeth, so I'm just wondering.

Why are you a baldest? He has teeth. Because her answer was. You do have teeth. Are you real? They're all real. He has no hair. But she said she'd rather have a toothless guy than a bald guy.

So as a baldest, how do you get through the day hating bald people the way you do? Jamie. I had to pick. There's not a, do you like anyone, like for them, for their soul, for their spirit? No, Dave, I have the feeling this is the first time she's been confronted with her bias. Yes. Let's talk about this. I feel like you're Kendall Jenner going up to her with a Pepsi can right now.

No, what it is. It's Hollywood. Hollywood presents us as like the bad stepdad, the mean bosses, the shitty husbands. We're people, all right? We're people. We have feelings. Mean bosses. Mean bosses are like.

you put like bad stepdad's oh my god you ever like see an episode of law and order that guy always did it that guy's always the criminal he's the sniper he's the murderer he's whatever what other bald representations are there jim gaffigan my god he's guilty on every law norther things bouncers bad bad balusters bad blind dates roadies yeah uh-huh yeah wrestlers i don't know i mean there's some kind of cool bald guys what did mark messier do to you as a child to hate make you hate him by the way i finally got to meet him and it was It was one of those moments. Like, I don't get Starstruck very often, but I got to meet him at that NHL Top 100 thing at the All-Star game this year.

And I was just like, I love you. Like, you're great. And I'm not even a Ranger fan. I'm not, I wasn't even a Moose fan necessarily. I just, he's so awesome. Yeah, he's just that guy. His presence about him. Like, I mean, Gretzky's, sure, the great one.

But like, I thought it was cooler to meet Messier than Gretti. And Gretti, isn't that crazy? Well, yeah, because Gretzky bought a cup to New York for the first time in 54 years. And they had a parade for him. I would say Messier did. and he bedded Madonna I mean there's something to be said for that Well then there you go

Bald guys win That's right He also ruined our childhoods Yeah I mean you're both Devils fans So I mean at the end of the day Fuck him But like at the same time though he does have presence What are the people in any walk of sports life

Were you star struck by? Kobe Yeah I was there when he passed Michael Jordan On the all-time scoring list And because they happened to be playing the Timberwolves He had that Kobe number one over Jordan according to the Kanye line

in one of his raps See a lot of You guys are hip hop aficionados I was like we're both looking at you like what Yeah Okay Did you look that up before the interview? No I just just want

It's one of those lines And set that up I'll tell you why it sticks with me Because I used to think that he said in this And I think it's in Swagger Like Us I used to think he said That Coke number won over Jordan I didn't understand what it meant

But then I realized That's about Kobe's Jersey number Yeah That's a little That's today's hip hop lesson here in Pucks Behind the music Wow, oh my gosh. I'll take your word on that.

Me too. What the hell we're talking about? Oh, Kobe, yeah. Kobe? I'm trying to think who else I would put up there. I don't know. I mean, yeah, those are basically. You ever meet a legendary twin?

Well, yeah. Like Kirby Puckett, he, I did get to meet him actually before he passed away. He was like my childhood hero. And then even, I wasn't really starstruck by Tori Hunter, but he was my favorite twin growing up. And then I got to work with the twins when he came back and got to cover him. And of course, me being stupid, I'm like, Tori, like, I just want to say I went on. You're like, you being such a nerd.

And I was like, you were my favorite twin growing up. And he was like, what? He's like, don't tell me that. He's like, do you know how old that makes you feel? And I'm like, oh, crap. But it was, it was real. He's doing twins games this year, too. He is.

He's doing a few. He's in the broadcast booth. That's how old we all are. Love him. Tori Hunter is now a retired announcer. I know, right? Yeah, well, Patrick Elie Hes just retired, man. Like, it's a lot of things that are happening in the world these days that make you feel a little aged.

Luckily, Kendall Jenner's here to save the world. To save the world. With a can of Pepsi. MLB playoffs versus Stanley Cup playoffs. What say you? What's your favorite postseason tournament of the two? Did you say NHL playoffs versus Stanley Cup versus MLB? Yeah, I thought you said that too.

That's okay. I'll take your word for you. Favorite? So I haven't covered the World Series. I only did the first round of the postseason last year. I did the ALDS between Texas and Toronto, which was a non-series. Texas got swept. But the Stanley Cup playoffs are so fun because it's such a journey.

I mean, I did both the conference finals and the Stanley Cup final, and it was 32 days straight on the road last year. And that's insane. And that was only for the two rounds. Like, I was with beat writers who were there from the very beginning of the playoffs for all four rounds. And so I think that's, it's cool because it is such a. A grind in such a process. And even just the cup final took two and a half weeks.

But it's nice with baseball because you have a game every day for the most part, except for travel days. And so there's not a lot of waiting around. And really, if you have content to fill every single day in the cup final and you're only talking about two teams at this point, at some point you kind of get a little antsy to talk about something else because you've covered all the storylines. So in that sense, baseball is nice because you have a game every day. But I think, I mean, I don't think there's anything as cool as the hockey. atmosphere, you know, whether it was San Jose, St. Louis, Pittsburgh, all of those stadiums were rocking last year. And to see, you know, the cup afterward being passed around with all the families right there is just beautiful. There's nothing like it. What's like April, May, June for you

where you got to do two sports at the same time? I feel like that must be like a pain where all of a sudden the NHL is like, hey, guess what you guys get to do. It's a little intense. And I'm really the only person that's doing both, I think. So it'll be a unique challenge. Yeah, because Yep, I think that's true. We have our baseball people and we have our hockey people. And then there's a little bit of crossover in the off season for baseball where some of the hosts will come over and do some hockey. But right now, I mean, it's so busy that they really have people kind of assigned to their roles. And then I get to do both, which is really cool.

I'm doing weekend quick pitch, which is like the late night highlight show to recap all the baseball games. But then to also stay on top of the NHL playoffs. Like that's... Yeah, that's a lot. Three days a week. I mean, playoff hockey, you have to know like fourth liners and stuff that in the regular season you don't really talk about, you know. But it's such a more intensive... On top of that, like, it's such a three-company comedy of errors.

We're running back and forth between studios and one minute, your NHL, Jamie, and then your home run Hirsch. And it must get super confusing. Yeah, we'll see. I haven't done this before. I didn't do as much baseball last year until later in the baseball season. So I guess wish me luck. You know what you're like? like the girl from the movie with the divergent thing where like you have the you're in all the

factions wow how's that for that's a really great right she mean shaly and wittley no but i don't know i don't know what their name is in the movie catness divergent teen oh yeah i haven't seen divergent i've seen the hunger games but not yeah don't see that it's no it's not great yeah it's it's so bad how bad is it it's so bad that they actually never finished the the film series the the funniest part about the diversion series was that it got to be so unpopular that they decided that we're not even going to do the last movie of the series we're going to put it on TV seriously and all the and there are like hey people who are celebrities and movies want to come to TV and finish your story and they're like nope so like I don't know if they killed it eventually but like

none of the people that were in the movies said yeah we'll come and do this TV series right because you can't make any money in the movie theater anymore oh my gosh divergent ladies and gentlemen all right can you name all the divergent oh this is a good quiz name all the divergent movies at Dave Lozo. Divergent. Mm-hmm. Convergent. Mm-hmm. Okay. I don't know if that's true. Invergent? Hang on. I'm going to find Shaley and Willie's IMDB real quick.

So you have divergent? The divergent legacy. Okay. The divergent supremacy. Yeah. And the divergent identity. What you were looking for was divergent. Any guesses? Not at all. Insurgent.

Really? Allegiant. Uh-huh. And they never got to the end of it. It basically just has to end with N-T. Yep. That's the rule. Sometimes A-N-T, sometimes E-N-T.

I was going to say gigantic, but then I just realized it's an I-C! Spelling! Oh, gigantic. We drank a lot before you got here today. Great apes all around. All great apes for everybody. You knew. You know how it was coming. If, what the hell I was going to ask you?

Oh, yeah. You're a Game of Thrones fan, you said. What do you like about it? Because Lozo is a huge fan, but I haven't really gotten into it. Yeah, I'm a little sad about what's a little sad about what's a happening here. Wait until July. Oh, is that why? Only seven episodes this season. I didn't know that, but I heard

rumors that they had to film longer or like with the seasons. Like something, that's why the release was late. Anyway, we're way over Greg's head right now. He's like, what are you talking about? See, the Starks were originally the center of the show. Is that gentleman with the

hair still dead or is he alive again? Oh, yeah, he's alive. Oh, okay. Well, that's, hey, big spoiler. If anyone hasn't seen it. So I guess it's a lot. And so Christian Slater's dead the whole time. Oh, no. Basically, it's awesome. My favorite part is the Billion's storylines.

And I was lucky because we borrowed the season one DVDs from a friend of mine. And so I literally like studied the family tree because it's so confusing the first season at least to figure out who's who and where they're coming from and why they hate each other or whatever. But if you, I mean, it's intense. Like you have to commit to it. It's not something you can just casually pop in and out of. But I recommend it. Who do you think wins? think becomes the throne of the game champion? I think Targaryen. I mean, so that's my question

is like, will she marry John Snow somehow in some twisted way, even though they're technically like half siblings, I think, but they don't know they're half siblings. So there you go. We have incest. We have dragons. What more do you want? Like Star Wars. Right. Instead of dragons, you have, you walks. I like the girl with the blonde hair who has the dragons. Yeah, that's, I hate her. Denarius Target. You hate her. Her storyline is the most boring one every season. She wanders around for nine episodes, then a dragon shows up in episode 10, and then we're right back to the same thing in the next season where she has to do some more stuff. I think I might have mentioned this before in the podcast.

To me, the funniest thing about Game of Thrones being a hit is that all of the actors and actresses that are on Game of Thrones when they get other roles are never referred to by their real names and like headlines. Like Mashable would be like, Darnarius gets a big role in new Kate Hudson movie. It's just like, you'll never believe what John Snow is doing for, you know, Stephen Soderberg. These are real people that have real careers. They're simply not defined by their genre roles. There are some that are, though.

I mean, let's think of other ones there. I mean, like, if you ever saw, did Princess Leia ever not be Princess Leia? Yeah, she's synonymous. Yeah. Like, if I was Elijah Wood and some cat came out to me and being like, what's up, Frodo? I'd be like, hey, that's great, except I've been in all of these other movies. Because I'm Elijah Wood. But I probably would only know him as Frodo.

I don't know. So she would say Frodo to him, but you're saying that he'd ever gets that. No, I'm saying he should get that because what else has he done? There's been a lot of things. Like that Mel Gibson Forever Young movie? Yeah, and he was in Sin City as a creepy guy. He was in Eternal Sunshine and Spot. He's an act.

He's Elijah Wood, for Christ's sake. All right, well, what if it was the Harry Potter guy? What's his name again? Daniel Radcliffe? He's Harry Potter. Yeah, he's Harry Potter. He was in that thing with the horse or something. He's also the Swiss Army guy, but I mean, come on, he's Harry Potter.

Broadway actor, I guess, now, too. He does stuff on Broadway. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. If you went up to him and said naked guy and equest, then he's like, oh, yeah, thanks. Thanks. It's the role most anonymous with.

Thank you so much. While Jamie's diverse and does baseball and hockey where she can't be pinned down, Harry committed to Harry for like nine movies, so he's Harry. Jamie, I'm going to ask you three more questions. Okay. And they're going to be the three last questions at the gossip columnist when they start to be missed you. Oh, my gosh. So I get another track at this?

Let's see how close you can get to your answers. Completely borrowing from Gail King's CBS this morning interview with Kate Hudson, what would you rather, a good cry or a good laugh? Oh, my gosh. This is why nobody wants to come in here. Yeah, I was like a good laugh because I'm a happy person. That's correct. That's correct.

You're a good laugh for shareer. You're definitely a cryer if there's a reason to, but you'd much rather laugh and smile. So that is correct. You're one for one. It's only a year ago. It's sad if I can't remember it. Again appropriating one of King's question. I love this interview where she's literally just taking questions from CBS this morning that were asked to Kate Hudson.

She's a great interviewer, clearly. She's a gossip columnist. Doesn't even write her own questions. Again, appropriating one of King's questions asked in TV. Naked or clothed. Oh, yeah. I remember that question. And I go, what are you?

What does that even mean? I don't even know how to answer that. Now, excuse me, but your outrage here is not what was in the bracketed comment on your answer here. It said you laughed. When asked this question. Laugh in general. Yeah. How would you bracket that?

Finally, do you have time for any hobbies she wants to know? What did I say? I said I like to walk my dog. Go for a run. Exercise? I don't know. Maybe read, which is totally a lie. I'm such a bad laugh.

I always say that because it's like something you're supposed to say. It makes you feel smart. Yeah, you're like, oh, yeah, I like to read. But really, I mean, I read things online. I read articles. I read blogs. I read tweets. I read, but do I read, like, books?

No. Sorry. When someone asks me what the last book I read was, I decide whether or not I want to impress them or be honest. Yes. If I'm honest, it'll be like some book about like, like, slimmed, the history of Nickelodeon or whatever. And if I want to impress them, I think about the last book that I saw facing outward. In the window of like a Barnes Noble and just say that. Oh, but to you hit the nail on the head You said you have a puppy

You said that what kind of dog by the way? Cavapoo it's a ridiculous name Cavalier King Charles like the ones that look like lady in the tramp And then a poodle mix but that's one that usually wins at like Westminster right like that kind of dog or whatever I always feel like they pick big dogs Maybe I don't know she's really cute does she have a nice hindquarters? That's usually what they look for in Westminster I mean Seems like a personal question

She does all that walking So I assume You said you're into running Mm-hmm Are you still a big Sudoku fan? Oh yes Sudoku That is my jam

That is my old lady Coming out in me Like I am definitely an old lady When it comes to that And I get home at 2.230 usually After my show gets off the air And I'm all like wired

And whatever So what I do to wind it down Is actually Sudoku It's very nerdy of me. I guess one more questions. Like your hours are kind of crazy. Like what do you, like you're done with NHL Network at like 2.30? So when is your day start then?

I usually go in like four or five hours before the show. So tonight the show starts at I think we're on at 11. So I'll go in around 7, 630, something like that. Would you be sleeping right now instead of doing this dumb podcast? No, this is the afternoon. Any earlier? I mean, like today I got up at 11. So if we're being honest.

We got another wrong. Nice. Yeah. Wrong with the impression, man. Yeah, but I went to bed at 3.30. So, I mean, that's, but I don't know. In fairness, so did we, but we were watching, like, reruns of, like, Frazier. There was Seinfeld's on the time when there was the thing that happened on Seinfeld?

There's a great episode. Can we talk about the fact that I've never seen Seinfeld? I'm sorry to admit that. No, it's fine. The world is split up into two types. And I've come to find out growing up in New Jersey and now living in New York, a lot of people who aren't from this area have never seen it. And that's fine, because I think that it's a lot. show that you look at and you're like, I might not

understand this because it does not, it does not exist in my, my world. So she's like way younger than us. I'm not way younger. You're not way younger, but also I think that it's been readily available in reruns and stuff. Oh yeah, like, isn't it on Netflix now? I'm sure you can find it somewhere. Like, I probably watched more cheers and syndication than I did in first run, right?

But I mean, it's okay though. I feel like if somebody doesn't watch Seinfeld at this point, you know what I mean? But you didn't get a Simpsons reference before, so you're not watching Simpsons either? That's fine. My wife's never seen the Simpsons. In that case, it wasn't a show she was allowed to watch. Yep, that's the same with me. What the fuck's that about?

Like, can you tell me? My parents? I don't know. They'd like, they waited the Simpsons. No. Because I've asked the same question of Ruby. And like, she's, she's like, I wasn't allowed to watch it. But it's the Simpsons.

Yeah, but I don't know. There must have been something crude or whatever. I mean, it's kind of like family guy, right? Like, I've seen Family Guy. Is it similar in tone? Well, yeah, it is in the sense that family guys rip off of it. But I mean, it's also like a lot more like pop culture referencey. And there's like a heartwarming, like, life lesson.

thing that happens in this instance of time. But like, it's funny, like, I think you and I, in a roundabout way, both found out today that we both used to watch Marry with children, yes? Oh, I always watch, oh, yeah, that was a great show. Yeah. So, like, when I was, like, it blows on mind that, like, your parents and my wife's parents never let you watch The Simpsons because, like, we would watch Married with children as a family, and that was just a misogynistic sex joke fest.

And so when I hear people with those restrictions, like, I respect it completely, but it kind of blows on mind because the Simpsons to me was very innocuous, I guess, when I was watching it. Honestly, we didn't even have. have cable growing up. So I, I know it wasn't on cable. It was, what, Fox, right? It's a national. You're a better person for it, probably. Now you work on cable TV.

What a rebel you are. Take that parents. I still don't even watch cable, though. Like, everyone's talking about cord cutting and it sucks because it does, like, directly impact my job and my future in this business. But I'm totally the culprit, too. I'm like, if I could get by without cable for my job, like, I would cut the cord, too.

Sorry. Your family's like, you're like, I'm on TV, and they're like, oh, which channel? You hear the dial turning You hear the tinfoil on the antenna is being searched around. They do have cable now. Only to watch the show. Do you ever watch Deer John growing up? No, I haven't even heard of that.

You know where I'm going. Start Judd Hirsch. Oh. Because he's... I get it. Get it? Wow. You're funny.

What's the most fly thing about you? Oh, bringing it all back. Jamie Hirsch, you can find her on the NHL network and the MLB network. When are you going to be on NBA TV? I know, right? I hope never because I don't know anything about the NBA. God bless. Nothing at all.

What a way to appease that to the hockey fans that are listening. And you can't be an NFL network because you're a girl, Icky. Oh, yeah. I'm a huge NFL fan, but I know. That's a sausage fest, that network. Yeah. Let's be honest. But anyways, so thanks for coming in.

Anything you want to plug or whatever? Sell some stuff. Sell yourself. Sell myself. Sell myself. Well, I mean, that gossip calmness did it all for me. I would say, like, can we? We make this the most Google searched thing when you search my name?

Because I would way rather have anything but that come up when you, like that's really sad. To do your research on me, your guest, that came up first. It was actually above your LinkedIn page. I saw the LinkedIn page. I was like, is this the same Jamie? Above Twitter, above LinkedIn, above everything. Great. This is fantastic.

She likes the bad boys. Yeah. And that's actually the headline. It's the link. We'll come up with a better SEO headline for our podcast. So it'll jump ahead of it. Jamie Hirsch. Never seen Simpsons.

Jamie Hirsch, Kim Kardashian, Taylor Swift, Kanye West, and also Puck Sub. We'll just get something that'll be really searchable. Dash Pepsi. Thank you, Jamie. Thanks, guys. Our big thanks to Jamie Hirsch. Our big thanks to CJ, the Minneapolis Star Tribune gossip columnist who gave us all of our material this week. The same thing I did.

You Google Jamie Hirsch. That interview is a person that comes up and it was just loaded with just stuff where you're like, wait, why did this person ask this question? I don't know much about how the internet works, but I know that basically it's like, Like, you know, the more traffic something gets, the higher it gets in the searches. So it's like a bunch of people being like, hey, I'm a bad boy. I wonder if Jamie Hurd likes me. Click. I have no teeth in her full out of hair.

Let me look her up. Before we get into the playoff stuff, Crystal Tang. Oh, boy. Crystal Tang is done for months. Four to six months. It's a herniated disc, I believe, was the thing that happened. in his neck four to six months. And you say RIP Penguins, I agree with you.

I don't think they can win the cup without Latang. Nope. Question is, can they win a round against the Columbus Blue Jackets with home ice without Latang? They can. But if he was healthy, Columbus had no chance. Now they have a chance. They can beat that team with that back end. And Malkin's still out.

I think they had a chance regardless. I've seen enough John Tortorella playoff hockey to know what this, how this story plays out. it's going to be trying to piss off the penguins. It's going to be Bob, you know, winning two games on his own, like Lungquist used to when Tortorella's team has played the Capitals. Like I give them a puncher's chance in this series regardless. Nope. They would have lost in five.

It would have been like the Rangers' cap series in 2011. Penguins would have just overwhelm them. But now they don't have the guys in the back end. Like Trevor Daly, only miles is going to come back after. Like their back end is now in a seven-game series. Now I feel like they're more susceptible to getting worn down by Columbus. but I would still pick Pittsburgh. Originally I would say Pittsburgh in five.

Now I might say Pittsburgh in seven. I'm going to have to get into the numbers in that series before I make a pick. But you have to remember that like when you're prognosticating something like the Stanley Cup playoffs, essentially you're picking how you want things to go to make yourself look smart. My cup pick is the Capitals. I've long said the only way they win is that they don't play the Penguins. I think I need the Penguins out in the first round for the Caps to win the Cup. I'm pretty sure people will understand the caveat of the best defenseman on their team not playing series is going to make a big difference.

But it's still the Penguins and the Capitals. Yeah, but... Yeah, but what? But the Tang's not playing. Yeah, but that's a team that has the shrinking sphincter whenever they play Crosby. Oh, you're saying that the Caps could still lose the series. I'm saying the Caps could definitely still lose that series. Caps will smoke whoever comes out of that series.

Guaranteed. Guaranteed. So that said, diminished penguins. maybe not even the penguins if they don't get past the first round. They will bury whoever they play. Okay, so this is it, right? Like, this has got to be the year for the capitals.

Oh, the second they got Shankirk, it had to be the year. Like, there's no way this team can... Like, I get it. They, they crab their pants in round two. Oops, I crap myself. Oops, I crap my pants. Oops, I crapped my pants. Wait, is that you...

Holy shit. That is the... Wow, that's a tone adventure. That's a tone roller coaster you just put on... It's a callback. the original segment in which I referenced Britney Spears. As you were trying to do a British series. Oops, I cut my pants.

I made a big poo. My shorts are real itchy. Because it dried up. Damn it, you have no rhyming scheme. I made a big poo. It dripped down to my shoes. I don't think the Britney song rhymes. Oops, I did it again.

I play with your heart. Oh, got lost in the game. No, you're right. Come on. Boy, she's like Shakespeare with these couples. It's impressive. Wait, what are we talking about? Spearsie and rhyming scheme.

Please give me the subject in a Spearsian rhyming scheme Oops I lost Chris Latine Gotta use Ron Hainesi We're gonna be out in the second round It sucks it This is another thing too about the fucking NHL regular season In the Olympic debate where Gary Batman was like You know we gotta shut down the league

And you know if we do that we got to compress the schedule And guys are more likely to get hurt if he really gave a shit about guys getting hurt in a tight season, he would just make it a 70 game season. It's still a compressed season. There's still too many games, but nope. Oh, God. Again, like, not to, not to, the debate's done. The debate's done, and the listener is obviously one, according to moderator Chris, but like, that's why the N.A., I think the I always used to be the Blocity is the NHL is ridiculous.

Here are a few ridiculous things about the NHL. One of their solutions is to move the Olympics, the hockey to the Summer Olympics. That is idiotic. It used to be in the Summer Olympics. One of their, like millions of years ago. Now we have global warming. The idea that like, you know, they were willing to shorten the season if the IOC bought the home games. It's just like that's what it takes, man.

Again, like I said, they're the guests that doesn't want to go to the party. So they're making insane demands. And then when they don't go to the party, they're like, well, I gave you the terms. Now we're not going to give you. Oh, we hate shutting down the season for the compressed schedule and all the injuries. is meanwhile, let's put a bunch of out of shape guys in a preseason tournament and have them skate around and fucking play hockey for a month. Because there's money. Because there's money, exactly.

No matter what argument he throws out there for this, you can always like, like Charlie. It's always sunny with Pepe Sylvia, with all the strings on the wall. It all comes back to money. Money is the Pepe Sylvia in this. That's all I want. Do you go with a Charlie Day reference? I always go with a Claire Dane's and Homeland reference when it comes to the strings on the wall. I never watched Homeland.

Oh, you see, that's the one. That's like whenever you like whenever there's a mystery I'm like I'm like you're gonna come home You're gonna find me like with a bunch of pictures in the wall and strings going from one or the other I think of Deadpool before I think of He's trying to find Francis By the way the internet has turned on that movie have you noticed that there's like a sentiment on the internet where it's like why is everybody think Deadpool so good? Yeah Because it is the thing I do This is great that's fucking I can't and also there I saw post I'm assuming there are official posters like Deadpool doing the same posters as Spider-Man homecoming but like

in sexier poses. And there's one where like Spider-Man was was on the Avengers building and it's like one of Deadpool like having opened a window and knocked him off the building. Like it's great. I gotta admit that the Deadpool like mini trailer before Logan didn't play real well in my theater. Neither it did for mine either.

I feel like people were kind of like, wait, he let the fat guy, old guy die and then he ate his ice cream. Like I felt like that was a little too casual not superhero thing. I also think and this is going to sound crazy, there's a lot of people who don't,

don't associate change. in a phone booth with a superhero. That too, right. Yeah. It's like, what's he doing in there? Like, it's clearly that, you know,

if you're familiar with like Christopher Reeve Superman, then it's great. But then if, also, let's, let's be honest, there's not a lot of people that are familiar with phone booths anymore.

Exactly. They make the joke during the thing, so it's fine, but like, I don't know, that didn't play. I'm still going to go see Deadpool too when it comes out.

But the penguins are fucked. Uh, okay, so Washington will beat whoever is the last wild card, right? They'll beat Toronto or Boston or Ottawa. Boston might give him trouble

Boston could The other two won't But they beat them before I don't think they're going to be afraid of Boston No Boston beat them But they've also beat Remember Joel Ward scoring And then all Boston said horrible things to him

On Twitter Oh Washington won that Oh right where I was thinking Boston one now On the shop lock Yeah Yeah you're right Washington one that's Not all of Boston by the way Just the ones on Twitter

Not all Boston Montreal and the Rangers That's a real head scratcher right there Yeah, it's either going to be Canadians in four or five. Can't figure it out. Oh, damn. Can't figure it out. And then the, so the, as we do this show, and you'll hear this before there, anybody's eliminated, the Islanders and nobody's eliminated.

The Islanders and Tampa have a tragic number of two. The Leafs are currently in the last wildcard spot. Any two points gained by the last wild card or lost by the Islanders, they're lightning and they're done. Lightning's last stand was that lost to Boston. Well, they play Toronto tonight or tomorrow? They play them on Thursday night. So this will come out Thursday morning. But to me that's the last stand.

Like if you don't beat Boston in that game, you're cooked. Oh, they're probably done at this point. But do you see the little thing that was going around where if they're tied at the end of the Toronto Tampa game, if Tampa's tied, it makes more sense for them to pull their goal. You have the tie game with like two minutes to go in regulation. Because if they give Toronto that point, they're fucked. They're not totally fucked, but they're more fucked. Yeah. I like it.

Exciting. I want to see John Cooper do that. It'd be very exciting. But I lament not having Tampa in these playoffs. Not only because I like going down there and covering games. And of course, you know, we're all very selfish in picking these things. But also just because they're a fun-ass team. Like they have fun players and Cooper's fun.

And, you know, it's a cool atmosphere to have playoff hockey in Tampa. It's kind of a weird sort of changing of the guard year where no L.A. has been in and out, but L.A.'s not going to be there. Tampa's not going to be there. And now there's also less fun teams where if Chris LaTang is not there, the penguins are still good and fun. But now they're less fun. Caps are fun but like Montreal is going to be

boring as hell the Rangers aren't that good Chicago fuck Chicago so tired of Chicago and the rest of the West Edmonton's kind of fun but they're probably

not going to go very far like I don't know I'm kind of worried about the cachet of the Stanley Cup playoffs I've come to the realization that there's a very good chance that a Canadian team will win the cup

for the first time since 93 and it could be the Leafs it could be the least listen we have seen the Cubs We've seen the Patriots come back We've seen Youcon's women losing

We've seen a lot of weird Sports things in the span of a year It would fit in with it to have the Leafs win But they lost to South Carolina the next game Because their coach is an idiot And then put the little tiny Tiny Ladyguard in who hit the winning shot She barely played that

Same game But like all right You'll have Montreal, Ottawa Toronto Edmonton and Calgary in the playoffs I'm never going to win the cup. It's going to be Washington or Chicago. Next year.

I feel like next year is the year where Canada does it. Someone's going to do it next year. So you're thinking it's going to be the Blackhawks out of the West? I haven't officially decided this yet. I don't want to confirm or deny my picks here as we sit here on April, whatever goddamn day it is. It's not the playoffs yet. But like, look at the rest of the West. Yeah.

Like St. Louis is going to the playoffs when they traded their best defenseman. Nashville's barely getting by. Nashville is lost to the Islanders. Do you think that, I mean, do you buy the, idea that all national needs is a series win and off they go. Like they're going to finally, you know, pull the sword from the stone and find their destiny as being a cup team. I don't know. They did that last year and they didn't go anywhere. Yeah. So like San Jose's, I haven't heard an update on Joe Thornton. Is he dead? I think Joe Thornton, he exploded.

That was the grossest, like, non, like, that's, that's as gross as I've ever seen an injury where the bone doesn't pop out. San Jose is struggling. Calgary is kind of struggling. Edmonton doesn't have the depth. Minnesota. Yeah, they're bought up. They're going to get eaten up, I think, depth-wise. That's their problem. I think I like Minnesota maybe to come out. I feel like they're, they can turn it around through real quick. Provided they don't play any game seven. Nashville, St. Louis. I just don't want Chicago. I really, I don't. I'm rooting against Chicago. I'm happy to let it. Everyone knows that already. But yeah, I just think it's Washington versus Washington's in a beat whoever comes out of the West is my temporary pre-playoff prediction.

All right. A couple things here real quick What do you think about Brad Marchand being called out by the player safety people for hitting a guy on the nuts with a stick when Sid didn't I didn't see the Sid one People were tweeting that at me

It was O'Reilly. He gave O'Reilly a shot In the Twigginberries, yeah I mean there's something to be said for Marchand Like you can't run away from your past He's got a history He's got a history You know what was funny too about that play

is when I saw it, I thought to myself, he's got pretty good plausible deniability for saying he wasn't aiming for the dick. Diplomatic immunity. It was a no, it was like a no look spinning stick to the dick and balls. And I'm like, well, he could have just thought he was going for his stick, his gloves, but like, apparently after the game, I think he admitted he was going for a stick

and balls. Like, I'm not a lawyer. I'm not a fancy lawyer type, but I feel like confessing to the crime before the trial is not a great strategy. Look, I'm not a law talking guy, but no, it's true. I I'm gonna

he's gonna get suspended he'll get suspended as a message to guys to not do that that always starts his time of year too and he'll get suspended because they clenched like if they still had other games to play

do you really think player safety suspending them they got Tampa had won like 4-2 in regulation last night there's no no way well unless they wanted to fix it for Tampa because that's what the NHL does no but they want those markets

they want Boston instead of Tampa, right? Like, Boston's a much more important market than Tampa is in the NHL's eyes. Wait, did, did Marshang get anything for that slew foot situation earlier this year? No, I forget. No, I think it was, I forget if he did or didn't. Like, suspension-wise? Because you, like, kick somebody's leg out at the blue line. Yeah, I forget if he did. I don't think he did. Yeah. So they'll probably just, I thought they'll dig him for a game, probably. Yeah. Great, they clinch, so who cares?

Who cares? So it's some rest for him. But it's funny that, like, you know, what now, now everybody's got to reevaluate the, uh, Brad Marchand has a change. man, he's a superstar score. No more of that funny stuff from the young man. I don't know. I'm fine. I'm more fine with the dick and ball shot than I am with him kicking a guy's leg out. I must say it.

He's a bad boy. Jamie Hirsch must love him. Oh, he's got hair and teeth, though, so I don't know how that's going to play in the Hirsch. Before we get to read or mail, as you know, Dave Lozo is a friend to all millennials. And I have... It's lit. I have here from...

It was actually from a thing called It's Lit, created by Google. of course. Brand coolness by awareness for Generation Z teens 13 to 17 were asked to rank 122 brands

based on how cool they are. You seem to be aware of this study. I didn't read the whole thing but you'll know then you no doubt know the least aware and least cool brand is

Oh the least It was um the NHL Vice Was it really? They are the least aware 2.5 and least cool

closest to a four on the scale. Yahoo! Teams don't like Vice? I figure that's like, they're all about weed and... Yahoo has almost as much awareness as McDonald's. But it is... Both give you diarrhea. But it is as least cool as

Virgin America and Quicksilver and TMZ. Wait, Quicksilver, like the... Like the Serf brand? Oh. No, no, yeah. Well, Quicksilver from the X-Men's fucking awesome. I don't know a part of those movies. A couple, couple quizzes for you. What is, what is

cooler. Old Spice or Axe? And these are, this was asked of millennials or teens? Millennials. Millennials. Axe. Old Spice. Why would I be asking if the answer is not Old Spice? Old Spice is cooler. Oh, I think you meant like on your armpits. What feels cooler on your nipples when you spray it on there before you go out on a date? What is cooler? Coolade or Gatorade? Coolead. Gatorade. Man. I thought you knew millennials. I'm out of touch. What is cooler? Instagram or Snapchat? There it is. There's our boy.

There's the king of the millennials. These kids and their snapschats and their 10 second videos. Finally, rank these in order of coolness. Google, Netflix, and YouTube, and YouTube, then Netflix, then Google. Holy crap. That is bad. You nailed it. Come on.

You nailed it. That one was easy. You friend are lit. That was pretty... You pretend you're not lit, but you are lit and you are lit and you will. are woke. You know what's the most fly? The most fly thing about me. What's that? I'm lit. That's right. You know who's funny at the devil's game last night? As I'm getting up to the press box, devil's flyers game. They're fly. They have frozen soft serve, which I know it was a contradiction in terms,

but they have soft serve and they put it in a little freezer and you go in there and grab a little cup of it. And I get up to the elevator and I'm like, I wonder if they have it today. And I come around the corner and I see it's there. And there were three college aged people in front of me. I want to say they were college aged. And they walked over and saw it. And one of the girls screamed out, It's lit. And I was like, all right, I'll get my ice cream lighter. But to be fair, it was lit. I just thought it.

She said it. All right. Now it's time for your reader mail in the moments that we have left here. We have to vacate the studio at some point because Katie Couric is coming in to shoot something here at Yahoo. Yeah, we got nine minutes. We are exponentially less important. I say we stay here and make her throw us out. Let's keep recording until she walks around the corner and actually you both says something.

Really mean with all of her producers. Then she walks and she's like, guys. Not finished, Katie. Not finished, okay? We're hearing until three. We're like, maybe if you were Matt Lauer. When did you make the reservation on the room today? Because we did it yesterday.

Emrick's adjectives wants to know in an alternate world where the NHL is the number one U.S. sport, would Skip Baylis-Type's hot takes be Sid or McDavid isn't good? And Mike Smith should win the president. Oh, they would totally, like when the Penguins lose in the second round this year, they will completely blame Sid. They will completely ignore like Crystal Tang being hurt. absolutely 100% will blame Sidney Crosby. Crosby didn't want it enough.

Milbury does that anyway. Yeah. Congratulations to Pierre and Milbury, by the way, for reaching the final March Muteus, as we all kind of figured they would three weeks. Oh, yeah, yeah. That still's going on. We unfortunately didn't time it right, so March Mugnest will be concluded at the end of this week. Of May 2019.

Yeah. We're terrible. Oh, by the way, for all those people that won all that stuff and that contest, it's coming, don't worry. Oh, the bowl's coming. The bowl's coming. We've completed the bowl, but everything else is. DBA.

Yeah, if you're listening, Kathy, we're getting that ball act real soon. We didn't forget. We did forget, but then we remember it. We remembered, yeah. Yeah. No, the hot takes would be, I mean, let's be honest,

like, Bayliss would be all about Ovi. Can't win the big game. Doesn't want it enough. Costs his team at every turn. Right. He would be the LeBron for him, probably. But, like, yeah. Who would be the Tim Tebow of the NHL

where Baylis would put him over for being like a freaky whatever? That's the good question So it has to be somebody who is like super awesome And like junior college And really really Rockal Goromaldi Loves the G's

Can't get enough of the G's And it is like a charitable A really hardcore Christian But shitty at the actual game In which he's paid to play Wow, we might not have an answer for this one I don't know any super Mike Fisher

If you have it, Mike Fisher might be a good one If you have an answer for who the Tim Tebow would be And the Skip Bayliss loves the NH HL comparison, why don't you tweet at us at Puck Soup podcast and hashtag it, NHLTbo? By the way, I put on my TV in the morning today. I never do it. I never put on my TV in the morning. I did.

I put on ESPN and it was Max Kellerman, Stephen A. Smith, and a guy who looked just like Pete Holmes. But it wasn't. But for like a minute I watched because I thought it was Pete Holmes yelling about sports, but it was just some guy who had Pete Holmes as similar. Do you watching crashing on HBO? No, I, it's good. I watched part of the one with Sarah Silverman where he was like on the corner trying to get a place to stay. And she's like, I'm not going to fuck you.

Yeah. It's really. It's really. It's really good. Like Pete Holmes is a really funny stand-up. And I think it's one of those things where season one of any stand-up sitcom is all of his best material jammed into these episodes as far as like the situations and everything else. And it's great. It's really good.

I like this. I like his HBO special. Yeah. It's not enough. He's funny. They rerun that shit all the time, but not his. Pete, get on it. Kyle Krishki

Krishki wants to know In hindsight What ended up being The best UFA signing For the regular season Yeah I saw that on the bus I don't know I'm trying to figure out like

What would be one that really worked out I don't know Like it'd be a good team Wasn't Keith Yandel Wasn't Alex Colagoski No The Golgaat Man the coyotes

Oh by the way Like Oliver Reckman-Larsin thing Is a great example Of like We could point to guys and say, hey, look, the guy's not working out this season. And, like, he's been living with his mom having cancer the entire season.

It's like, one of those situations just like, oh, yeah, that's right. Human beings sometimes can't compartmentalize these things. I didn't even realize he was having a bad season, to be honest. Yeah, he wasn't have a good season. I didn't write one critical thing about OEL this year. Kyle, we're going to take a pass on this UFA question because obviously the season's not over yet. Who are the best forwards? There'd be a couple forwards that we could think of around the top, right?

Do the cap sign? Cap sign anybody? Penguins Oh well I mean Vanik was a really good signing until they flipped them I mean he did alright for the red wings

he was a good signing For the price Yeah LA Not Luchiche Oh yeah not Lucci Oh yeah not Luchy Yeah we'll come back

Yeah we'll come back Um Zach Kavanaugh wants to know Girlfriend thinks it's bad juju To say a hat trick While in progress Like shut out no hitter, etc.

I disagree. Getting versus preventing thoughts. I think your girlfriend's an idiot if she thinks that the people on the TV can hear her thoughts. I hear what she's saying and that affects her play. That's what I think. Unless she has like an issue. Oh, I'm so sorry. If she actually has like some sort of like, you know, like, you know, disorder.

No, if she's like a disorder where she actually believes that people inside the TV can hear. I apologize. I don't mean to be insensitive. But if she just is just thinks that, then then you, should probably talk to her about the magic box with the people in it. Dave's feelings about your girlfriend's sanity aside, I will say this. A hat trick is like hitting for the cycle. You in no way jinx somebody hitting for the cycle if you happen to point out that he's one triple away.

It's like a no hitter. It's like anything. You can jinx. No, no, no, no hitter you can jinks. Oh, Jesus Christ. Come on. Is he dating someone from your family? You're a Mets fan, right? Fuck you. No. What, you're a Yankees fan? I like the White Sox.

I had no idea what your baseball league is sir. Okay, as a Mets fan, I would watch, for many, many, many years, they never had a no hitter. It was almost famous. They had all these great pitchers never had a no hitter. And it would be because the announcers on the games, because the Mets never had a no hitter, would point out in the sixth inning. That's not how it works.

And they are the reason why there would be no no hitter. Remember Michael Kay's famous rant about this? No. Because he points out when there's a no hitter like after three innings. Nine up, nine down. Masahiro Tanaka is now 18 outs away. And like people called his radio show and got mad. And it doesn't make me.

mad from the jink standpoint. Like, say if it was hockey and a guy had a shut out through 30 minutes, you wouldn't be like, Tuka Rask is just 29-58 away from his fourth shutout. No, because you're not close enough to talk about it yet. On the other side of it, you and this gentleman's girlfriend

who believed that the TV is like, get it to your mind. That's not a thing. There's no such thing as a mojo. All I know is like there are times when you're watching sports on television. And someone's like, such and such as a no hitter, and then the next batter gets a hit.

Or such and such is 12 of 12 with the free throw clang. Yeah. Like that's just how it works. Right. And that guy's sitting court side. That's like Bill Raftery is like 40 feet away from the guy shooting the free throw. Even he's not affecting what's happening at the foul line. Even if he talks really loud, they probably can't hear him.

Unless you actually go up to the guy and shake him and go, you have two goals with two minutes to go. You got to score. Then maybe you might get in that guy's head. Otherwise, if you're on the couch staying in your boyfriend, don't talk about the hat. trick. That doesn't help. Filleraftery. Onions! He was so great there on the North Carolina. It was the best thing about the title game on Monday.

That was a bad game, but he was hilarious. I love that guy. With a kiss! That's what he goes off the glass. Get the puppy set. Send it in. Pink Freud, Freud, 73 wants to know. What do my Panthers need to do right to write the ship this off season?

Who's the right coach? Is it an impossible present ownership? My other podcast wife, Jeff Merrick, says, Dallas Eakins would be the choice in Florida. Analytics guy, militaristic guy, seemed to fit the profile. Probably has Uber on his phone. Smart.

Maybe Lyft. You know, he got one of those ride chargers. You can get out of any city once it gets fired after a 10, 10, 9, and 3 start. What do they have to do to write the ship this off season? Probably put all their players in the Lazarus pit and keep them healthy for a year. Like, the injuries to Huberto and Barkoff and now the Ekblad thing, Like this is all contributing to those shit-tastic year they've had.

It's the injuries and somebody asked me about this too where I feel like it's not analytics. It's not because they have like a fucking whopper machine and their front office. Like that's going, Boop, boop, boop, boose, lose. Like, that's not why it's. But like, I do feel like giving a bunch of dudes money after one good year can fuck with them like in two ways. Either it puts too much pressure on them when they're like, man, now I've got to live up to this. and then there's the whole squeezing the stick too tight thing.

It's all those things and firing your coach who gave you 103 points last year because you had a slow start with those injuries and then hiring some, again, another bald villain. Tom Rose, doesn't that be a good coach because he's bald? Yeah. He's also probably not a good coach. He also has good teeth. I love your Wopper Machine reference. When Matthew Brodyke runs in, he's like, if Joshua wants to play a game, then let's play it.

And then, like, the guy's like, how'd this some bitch get inside, Norad? Where's damn Nicolmo to come in here and coach this team? That movie is great, but then they go to Professor Falcon's, like, house on that island. Yeah. And then he shows them the dinosaur movie. Remember that? Yeah, it's like the pterodactal thing flying around. Yeah. It's going to be Ryan Lambert in like 20 years.

Just living in a cabin somewhere, flying around pterodactyls, shooing away teens. Mr. Lambert, the world's being threatened by a Tic-Ttoe game. Well, that's great. But the Lappitus. Um, but like that, that part of the movie of War Games is just so, like, derailing for me all the time. I don't understand why it's in there. It is a weird. Yeah. And also, like, how he gets out of the, he gets, how Matthew Browardt gets out of, like, the paperclip. Yeah. Like, oh, wait. No, he goes into, like the little medical drawer and pulls out of like a... Oh, I love that scene. I want to say. I love that scene. Still a great movie. Great movie. Yeah. Global, thermal, nuclear. They had to make the typing sound. That's a movie that I think did that where computers did everything they could do at that point.

Like, Hackers is a movie where computers did things that they could never do, like, put you inside of a virtual reality world where, like, all of the information is in stacked, laser towers and shit. But, like, I feel like war games is probably, they used modems. Like, it was all probably, like, real for the time. Like, yeah, the phone you put down on the thing. Tron was totally real, too. Like, people were getting sucked inside video games all the time. That's right. They had to fight their way out.

Sure. That's absolutely. The 80s were great. The 80s were awesome. Puck follower wants to know what national restaurant chain has the best non-traditional burger traditional equals some combo of cheese

to make, fuck tomato, lettuce, sauce, onions. I'll say this about burgers, man, like, Ruby Tuesdays where I used to go when I was living in Virginia before going to see movies with my boys used to have a bison burger. Then they got rid of it and we were all very upset about it. And so

when we were there one day, the waitress came over and we're like, yeah, you know where on bison burgers left? She's like, Let me check the freezer. And we were so happy, but I've told the story to other people. We're like, what the fuck is wrong with you? Like, how old is that meat? Like, that's the thing Gordon Ramsey would see and be like, no, it's rubbish.

By the way, the Gordon Ramsey thing, Ruby and I have now taken upon ourselves to use this impression of Gordon Ramsey in almost every facet of life. It's that moment on Master Chef when he identifies the high-quality ingredients that somebody uses in a dish. and then acknowledges that they fucked up the dish. So it's like, it's like, it's like, it's like, you have 24-gallagall gold and lobster, and you overcook the risotto. Damn.

It's that part. It's like, it's a, damn, and he walks away. This is worse than the timeline, Chester City, blew a 3-0 lead on the pitch against Swansia. It's like, it's like, honey, we almost got those Hamilton tickets, but we lost out on the lottery. Damn.

Wait, what was this guy's question even? The best non-traditional burger at a national chain restaurant. What is a non-traditional burger? I'm guessing he means, he says, some, I guess he means a burger that doesn't have simply cheese, tomato, lettuce, sauce, and onions on it. So I'm guessing, like your blue cheese. Oh, like a barbecue, Cajun. Yeah, whatever.

I don't know. Have you ever eaten a burger without a bun, like, like the vegetarian-style burger at In-N-Out? Like, just lettuce wrapped in it? How dare you? How dare you, sir? Excuse me of doing something like that. By the way, for those who don't know a Juicy Lucy that we referenced with Jamie Hirsch, it's a burger with cheese, like, grilled into the burger.

And so when you bite it, the cheese pours out and it spits grease on you, like what happened to me. So good. All right. That's a non-traditional burger, right? Cheese inside? That's my answer. Juicy Lucy. All right.

Real quick, Chris Brooks wants to know. In an earlier podcast, you were talking about Trots and Boudreau as possible Jack Adams candidate, safe to throw torts in the mix as well. Nope. I think it'll be a finalist, but I'll say, I'll tell you right now, and you'll read this some Buck Daddy tomorrow. Mike Babcock. Mike Babcock should win the Jack Adams in a route. Yep, my pick too.

And if he doesn't, it's because people don't like him. That's my bottom line. Babcock, McClellan. McClellan? Oh, yeah. Product of a goalie and Connerick, David. I'll go, I think it'll be Babcock, Guadro, and Tortorello will be the final three. Tortorillo is going to be the latest guy to get either win it or be not.

And then get fired a year later and have someone go what's going on where we're firing the Jack Adams winner? I don't understand how that happened because we keep giving it to the wrong fucking guy every other year The end now he's mad. All right. Thanks to Jamie Hirsch for joining us Thanks to CJ from the Minneapolis Starz Reviewing again for giving us all the questions to ask Jamie Thanks to Chris Wilson making his trumpet return to the podcast probably the first time since the award no the the awards Is he our first repeat guest he's been on at least three times he was on the awards he was the guy who walked in and stepped on the logo on the floor in an very early Puck Soup episode. Oh, and he did the, what do you call it?

Ranking of movies we did. He's like a four-timer. That means the next time he's on, sir, five-timers club, he gets the jacket. Are we at our one-year anniversary? I don't know. How do you, but how do you determine our anniversary? Because, like, we did this show in another place.

That doesn't count. Okay. That's what I was like living with you and Merrick and I was getting my feet under me. I'd have my own place yet. Getting your beak wet. Yeah. All right. Well, thanks everybody for listening.

Join us next week for what should be a full sale playoff preview edition of Puck Soup, even if the playoffs start, like, after you hear the podcast. It'll actually make us smarter to know what's going on. Next week, April 12, 2016, we had Katie Nolan on our... So next week's the one-year anniversary? I would say that. I mean, I don't think it's going to fall on the exact... Oh, wait, it might actually.

It might. Yeah. April 5, April 12. Holy shit. Well, it comes out to 13. All right. We'll get ready for the first annual puck soup, first anniversary show next week we should bring back Katie has like a like a

yeah I think at this point we can now bring back old guests once we do Oh once we hit a year we can start recycling It's like the Janus rule on friends Like you can bring her back Once a season after she's already been broken up

With Chandler you can bring it back For like the sperm bank Or the house out in Westchester That is that is so That's so refreshing to hear you say that Because honestly you're running out of people In New York to like hockey We're down to like dancing Larry

and Kevin Connolly from Outterosh. Baby bro. He doesn't say baby bro. I would the whole interview. He's E. He's not baby bro. He's not baby bro, though. He's E.

Baby bro. Where's Autourage 2 coming out? Yo, E. You think you can get me in that show too? Guess Vince ain't doing the movie. Yo, E, I got this new tequila. I'm investing in it. It's called Sneakers tequila.

Sneaker's keel. Look, you're so insatiated. turtle with sneaker. That's what I think of... Remember when Vince just did all the drugs and started having sex with Sasha Gray towards the end of the run of that show?

No, what I remember most is the idea that somebody in a writer's meeting for entourage was like, we need a turtle plotline for this season. What's it going to be? Our most beloved character. I don't know. How about Meadow Soprano gives him a handjob on a plane? And then they date for the whole season.

And Jamie Lynn Sigler agreed to this. She was like, yeah, sure, I'll play myself giving an H.J. to Turtle on a plane. You know, what's kind of weird? Like, for all of the, like, L.A. now has, like, all the football teams. No one really revisited the fact that Entourage did that. Like, Jeremy Pippen, like an R.E. Gold tried to bring a team to L.A. Remember that? Yeah, what a groundbreaking show. Oh, it's every... Every time this thing happens in entertainment, I just point to somebody and be like, Entourage did it. Lloyd?

Tequila. You have tequila on your show. What are you biting off? Montourage. All right. Thanks to everybody for listening. I'm Greg Wichinsky of Yvesh Sports. You can find my stuff on Yahu Sports. You can buy my book, take your eye off the puck.

Our book, The 100 Greatest Players in NHL History and other stuff. And find me on Twitter at Wichenski, S-H-Y, NSK-I. It's a picture of me and my robots as the avatar. And here is Dave Loza. I got nothing. Sorry I called your girlfriend an idiot. I'm sure she's nice. It makes me mad when people think they affect the outcomes of games by talking about them.

Call your girlfriend. Call her a I'll call Greg a Greg feels the same way I know Greg better I can call him an idiot You're an idiot No I like the part

Where you thought that she's so dumb That she thought the people in the TV Could hear her talking I'm just picturing the guy on the couch With his girlfriend He's like oh man He's got two goals And she's like

Shhh He's like really And now he's like venting to us via via Twitter But I'm sure she's at the light Honey what are you doing What what? You're saying the answers to Jeopardy

You're helping them out You shouldn't do that there's so much time in between Final Jeopardy and they come back from the commercial, you're going to give him the answers. That's how Ken Jennings kept winning, you know, right? He's watching like horror movies. He's screaming out. He's in the closet.

Why can't she hear me? I'm trying to save her life. It's adamantium poisoning. Just get it checked out. Tell that little boy to get off the offense. They're going to turn the power back on and they're going to shock him and there's dinosaurs around. Hurry, Sam, Neil. Yeah, thanks for listening.

All right, bye, everybody. Me do, do, do. Now leaving nerdist.com.