Puck Soup - Kevin Blackistone, ESPN

Episode Date: March 30, 2017

Kevin Blackistone of ESPN's "Around The Horn" and the Washington Post joins us to talk about the early days of the Dallas Stars, Alex Ovechkin and the Washington Capitals' place in D.C. sports, race and hockey and why ESPN doesn't talk NHL on its shouting shows. Meanwhile, Dave is recovering from Vegas, Greg has all of Edmonton mad at him, and the boys talk about the U.S. women's hockey team getting paid, the playoff teams we're rooting for, why you should never cross Gary Bettman, HBO "Real Sex" and porn roulette, the top seven celebrities to have attended WRESTLEMANIA that Lozo had no idea actually did, the latest in our March Mute-This bracket and reader mail. Sponsored by SEAT GEEK and ZIP RECRUITER.

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enter the promo code S-O-U-P that spell soup, and Seekek will send you $20 after you've made your first ticket purchase. Download the Seekek app today, shop with confidence, enter the promo code soup, $20 back, and enjoy the show. Now entering nerdist.com. and saves and slap shots and goons We've got sportly commentary To what if you'll commute

But we also cover movies, TV shows It's in tunes It's your weekly bowl of hockey and nonsense I'm I'm Greg Wyshinsky of Yahoo Sports Puck Daddy blog And I'm Dave Lozo Of a very strong fantasy baseball team For the upcoming season

And a wicked Vegas hangover Still not feeling great And you're in Puck Soup Not hungover Kind of just It's a little Like I'm losing time Like you know how people will like look up

And suddenly two hours go by There's some sort of like Do you mean like a like a fire in the sky type Missing Time like when you Yeah When you're a logger and you get picked up by an alien And then you get put the plastic over your face And they drill into your asshole

Kind of missing time Well that was Friday That was good I didn't mind that at all Boy the bunny ranch has really gotten good with their theming nights apparently. I thought of you on Sunday. At the bunny ranch?

No, while I was being pegged. No, I drove past one of those hangover IV rejuvenation places. And I remember you said you did it, not because you were hungover, but because you were sick. And I thought about it because I woke up Monday. I've probably never been as drunk

in any situation in a casino as I was on Sunday. I just, just vodka sodas were just going down. They're going down like water. When you are drunk in a First of all, I don't know if we talked about the Ivy thing on the show, but it was the first time I ever did it, and I really enjoyed it. I would do it again if I was in, like, I now know how, like, the president gets propped up and never seems like he's sick. It's this shit. Just keep injecting him with, like, big B12 shots. Right, right. Where the president's like, put the chicken fat right into my veins. They're like, Sean Leahy, why are you the president? The biggest electoral college win ever. A lot of people are telling me the penguin,

are the best team. My heart is expanding big league. Is he saying big league or big... Oh, yeah, sorry. So when you're drunk in a casino, are you playing like craps? Like the place where I go if I want to get a bunch of drinks is the craps table.

I know I can hang in there for a bit. They'll come by, they'll bring me drinks. I can even out. Blackjack? So Sunday, so we did the League of League's draft with Jonah Carrey's league where we draft for three sports leagues at once all at the same time.

Right. And we originally had planned to do all of it Saturday, or almost all of it Saturday, then do the last four or five rounds on Sunday. But we plowed through on Saturday. And so Sunday, free day. And I'm on East Coast time still. So I'm up like eight in the morning. And I'm not going back to bed. Started drinking maybe a little earlier than I should have Sunday. And then me, me, Jonah and Harris play blackjack over in New York, New York for a few hours. And then Jonah had had to leave. And so me and my buddy Harris went downtown in Vegas, which I've never done before. Oh, isn't it different? It's everyone sold it to me as like,

dirty and gross and it's like, oh, you're... No, they changed it. It used to be dirty and gross. You're talking about where the canopy is and stuff? Yeah, it used to be a shithole, but then they changed it so people can go ziplining. Ziplining. I wasn't that drunk, I was going to do that. But, like, I just sat there in the Fremont Casino, I believe, is one of them.

Sure. Why not? And I played $5, two-deck blackjack for like an hour. It was so dumb. But I was like, this is great. But it's so much fun, right? I know. It reminds me of that scene in Vegas vacation where, like, they lose.

all their money and they have to go to the casino where it's all like guess the number and like shoots and ladders and shit. It's that vibe, but it's not that shitty. Like you can go and play actual games and not have to spend a lot of money. Yeah. So like I played literally I lost 80 bucks playing

$5 blackjack for two hours. It's beautiful. Here's the thing if you people don't know about how the small deck blackjack works. You play regular blackjack. You see everybody's cards. Right. And like, you know, everyone's face down. And I didn't realize until about an hour in that I was playing with the stupidest blackjack players of all time who were staying on like 13 or they were hitting like 14s against like fours that were showing they were staying on 16 against aces and like finally i realized that i'm like it's two decks so maybe you do a little different but so we did that and then we went to a place called the gold counting cards

were you 21 in it was way too drunk and stupid to do that do you ever been to golden gate uh maybe didn't know what it was um a guy in the fantasy league recommended it saturday but nobody wanted to go saturday so he went sunday went in there And like it's just like What's the casino again And on the strip where the girls are like half naked and dancing And the in the There's a lot there's someone there well there's a hooters one But there's also like on planet Hollywood They have like an entire section where it's like women who dance on tables

As you're playing blackjack. So like that's great I think that's fantastic People employed with the Golden Gate thinking it was going to be like some San Francisco base like beatnik place nope Dancing girls all over the place Like like half naked girls dealing blackjack So the last like three hours of the night I was basically just playing blackjack with like, you know, hot chicks dealing cards.

And I broke even. I bought in for two, lost two, bought it for 100 more, got it back up to exactly 300 and last. I just love the fact that you're like, oh, this is going to be so great. There's going to be hippies. I didn't know. I'm going to get like a kale smoothie. A big orange bridge across the whole thing. Are you going to a sad?

No. It was just women dancing on stages and women dealing cards. You walk, we walk in and you know the dealer looks like George Lucas. Hello. IOM is with an eye shot of San Francisco. I don't know if you knew that. Hi, I'm Joe Montet, and I'm here to deal you free bet blackjack for the next 30 minutes. Will Clark?

Hey, what's up? You want some eye black? Ronnie Lodge trying to shuffle the cars missing part of his finger. Don't worry, Ronnie. Just wash him. It's fine. It's fine. Joe Thornton's over in the corner.

We're over here. We're sort of in this town, too. It's great. I have a beard. So is my friend. Steph Curry, just like flinging the car. some 40 feet away. How do you do it, Steph?

This is the greatest casino ever. But, yeah, the waitress there was great. It was like the scene in back to school where it was like, just keep bringing me two vagetonic every 20 minutes till I pass out. They keep bringing him every. She just wouldn't stand. And I definitely probably should have slowed down at that point.

But it was good. It was a good, good time. Absolutely. You can see all the sun I got. All right. Yeah, you're still like, if powder and one of the aliens from Cocoon had a child. I got like half burnt on my one side of my face so I kind of have like a peeling thing happen.

That's great. I look like a little Harvey Dent action. I love it. It's very exciting. Yeah. I was basically flipping coins playing a blackjack the whole time. Hit me. 12 versus a two.

Mine's Harvey. All you need is a little push. You've got an ace over at Cicero. And you have a sick showing at shit. What's the other place he hides the people? Oh, he did? Avenue X. at Cicero and she's at...

Can I tell you that I never understood that part of the Dark Night? Because doesn't like Batman say he's going after... I'm going after Harvey. No, he says he's going after Harvey. No, he says he's going after Harvey. That's not right.

He said he's going after Rachel. That's why he says. That's why he gives him the wrong addresses so Rachel will die. He says Rachel and he says he's going outside. So he says he's going after Rachel? Going after Rachel. Why didn't he go after Rachel?

Then he saves Harvey. Because he gave him the wrong addresses for the wrong people. Oh, the Joker did? Yeah. See, I never understood that. Wow. It's like a whole new movie for you now. I thought it was being like, I thought it was being like honest for the first time in the whole movie.

Yeah. It's not like him to lie. He gave one detonator to one boat, the other detonator to the other boat. He didn't tell a lie then. It wasn't a lie. It was a joke because he's a joker. I never got that. I watched in that movie a billion times and I was always wondering.

I thought Batman was driving on his bat cycle. I mean like, you know what? A second thought. Maybe he's more important. Actually, he's a good lawyer. He's going to help save Gotham. He's really doing a great job cleaning up the streets. I mean, I can get new friends, right?

I don't even recognize this woman anymore. She's looked like Katie Holmes. So you get who Bain was, right? I don't know if I explain. No, I understand that. Although, you know, there are aspects of that story. It doesn't really make any sense either. We'll bankrupt him, and then we'll, like, I don't know.

One will know it's an illegal transaction, but we won't reimburse him any money. He'll be really sad and not be able. to pay me to give up this bomb or something. Once he has sex on a bare skin rag with a beautiful French woman, he'll let her turn on the device. Boy, that's some plan he got, being. It's a great plan. That's just, wow. And then he'll be broken financially and also his heart.

Wow. Fantastic movie. Yeah, it's a whole other. Best of the series. He went after his money, his spine, and his heart. That's right. That's where you get it. With his crew.

And you know what you need to do if you want to round up a crew? I know. I have like, I have like segue boner right now. That was so good. That was just, I mean, people know exactly where you're going to you right now. Zip recruiter, ladies and gentlemen. That's what you're going to do. Are you hiring?

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So if you're posting jobs, go to ZipRecruiter.com slash puck. You can try it for free and I think a free thing is always good. And I'll say this. I wouldn't say the Interest of Maryland on Monday to interview our guest, Kevin Blackistone, but also to talk to his class.

of young... Is there a video of that? I love to see it. Bright-eyed journalists. No, but I was great. I don't know what I'm allowed to say in those situations. Like, I talked very frankly

about, like, my company. Is it like Q&A? Do they just like ask you stuff? At the end, they do, yeah. But like I, but basically I wanted to say that like... You were like in 1995. The Devils were a hockey team that once won the Stanley Cup.

Let me tell you, it made you think about jobs. It made me think about being a young pup and applying for jobs. And the cool thing about ZipRecruiter is that you can find the best and the brightest. So go ahead and use it now if you've got jobs pose, zippercruiter.com slash puck.

I enjoyed my time at Maryland. I like molding and shaping young minds. And the best thing about it is that for the first time, maybe like four or five years in going and doing this thing at these classes, I actually felt like I was talking to people that could actually get a job at a college. Not to say that everybody else was stupid, but to say that there are actually more jobs now, it seems like in digital media than there were maybe like four or five years ago. Yeah. I mean, they're probably still just as shaky as ever. Like, honestly, if anyone ever said, hey, you want to come speak to my journalism class, I'd be like, you don't want me there.

I will literally tell them all to get different jobs. Dave, what's the best way to get into, like, I don't know, the digital media circuit? Well, here's what you do. You go to the registrar's office. You change your major. Oh. You go to finance because people will always give you money. That's why it's called finance.

Right. You find a real job and then write hockey on the side. Like all the lawyers that run blogs. No, like, think about all the people who are, like, good in this business, like, Joan at it and start out in sports. Yeah, that's a good point. Pady Bakes. There's a ton of people that just, like, look at us.

We went to school from journalism. And, yeah. And we don't know. We don't have any other discernible skills. None. Yeah. None. We are Soilent Green, basically, if the entire economy crashes and it becomes based on Bitcoin.

Yeah. I'm going to play Blackjack for a living at some point. All right. It's time for another edition of everybody's favorite game. It's called, which fan base did Greg piss off this week? To be fair. That was kind of a dickish tweet. It was totally dickish.

So on Tuesday night, the Edmonton Oilers qualified for the playoffs for the first time in 10 years. And your boy tweeted, congrats Oilers fans. It's been a long two years since you were gifted the best player in the world after winning like 10 other lotteries. And at last count, it has 2,500 likes on Twitter and sparked people yelling at my employer and yelling at the Edmonton radio station on which I appeared and never have me on again. I'll say this once. and then we can move on about Oilers fans. I don't give a shit about your drought. They were treating this thing like they're the Cubs.

The last time you were in the playoffs, you were in the cup final. During this stretch, this painful stretch of drought, which has made you despondent and sad, and now your nightmare is over, you drafted the best player in the world. the moment Connor McDavid becomes an oiler, guess what happens? Your drought's over.

You know what's going to happen. Well, not right away. No, it's over. It's like winning the lottery, which they actually did, winning like $10 million. And then two years later, right, having a party because you paid off your student loans. You already won the lottery. It's done. You've already achieved it.

The nightmare's over the minute Connor McDavid joins your team. Now it's just icing on the cake that you made the playoffs again. It was an inevitability. And it pissed me off to see them treating it as if this has been a torturous existence. Okay, you know it's a torturous existence being the fucking Florida Panthers and not having the Gretzky dynasty in your back pocket to validate your existence as a franchise. And not having fucking Connor McDavid on your team is a torturous existence. Like a 10-year drought where the last time you were in the playoffs, you played for the cup. I'm sorry, I'm not getting out the fucking Stradivarius for you here.

It's the longest drought in hockey. Who gives a shit? They have a charmed life. They won the lottery 75 fucking times, and they ended up with Connor McDavid on their team. They won it three other times and never made the playoffs. Like, I don't understand the whole you won the lottery thing. You should have been done this was going to happen. They won it three times in a row, and it didn't happen.

Right. And now they have a great collection of young players in the team. Now it's a great collection of young players. Including when they flip for obviously Norris Trophy winner, Adam Larson. But my point is that I... It's the longest drought. Everyone goes to the playoffs and high. But who can't...

But look what happened during that drought. Like, how could you possibly treat it? Like, oh my God, the nightmare is finally of. The nightmare was over the minute Connor McDavid looked at that camera with tears in his eyes and said, God damn it. Yeah, but everyone said that every other time they won the lottery. Like, this is it. But it's McDavid. It's different.

Come on. It's not Ryan Nugent's second line center at Best Hopkins. It's a generational talent they ended up with. They weren't going to be a playoff team last year if you played all 82. So I don't know how you can just say it's an inevitability. It was an inevitability. Did you pick them to make the playoffs this year? No.

I picked them to get close, I think. I had to pick them to be. And I don't remember my picks. When you say inevitability is a different word for you than it means for everybody else. I just think the way they were treating it last night was like a Cubs fan. Like the curse is over. We killed the Billy Goat. You have the best player in the world in your team, and you didn't make the playoffs for 10 years after making the Cup final.

I weep. Let me posit a theory. What? Sure. Where this is coming from. Devils are going to miss the playoffs for a fit straight season. They are. You've never really had the lottery chance over these five years.

No. Who's the highest pick you got at that? point. It was probably Zaka. Oh, boy. Or Larsson, maybe. Well, no, that was pre-drought, I think. And this is the longest drought they've had since they first moved the year. So I'm going to posit something.

Please. Bitterness? Jealousy. Of me towards them? I can give a shit if the devil's to make the playoffs for a long time. I relish that. I relish the opportunity to have a team on the upswing eventually after decades of being

a playoff team and winning multiple cups and winning five conference championships. For sure. The other thing, too, you have to kind of consider is how many fans of the others today weren't alive when they won their stand? Probably a lot. Probably a lot. Yeah. So what does that matter? Why should they not be happy?

I'm not saying they shouldn't be happy. I'm just saying they shouldn't be this happy. You know, that's the thing. How happy should they be? What's the level of happiness they should have had last night? They should, they should have been, if you're looking at the chart, and you know I love chart. Give me the level. If you're looking at the chart, it should be the roller coaster is flat, and then it spikes when McDavid gets drafted, and then it kind of levels out. To me, the most joyous thing that happened to that franchise is knowing that you have the next Cedar Mario or Gratsky on your team.

And now it's just like it's inevitable that you make the playoffs. But they treated it like it was this gigantic weight lifted off their fucking shoulders. And I'm just like, come on. You didn't know this was going to happen? But I mean, Buffalo hasn't made the playoffs with Ikel, just because you get one guy. Because Eichl's not as good as McDavid. And Austin Matthews isn't as good as McDavid. McDavid is a very, very special once-in-a-lifetime player.

And they got them. Congratulations. I just think that it's kind of silly to sit here and be like, oh, my God, our nightmare is finally over. We finally got back to the play. Like, no shit. No shit. You have the best player in the world right now outside of Sidney Crosby on your team.

I think the Penguins missed the playoffs the first two years. Crosby was there. Definitely the first year. Hold on. I'll look that up. Because based on your theory of getting one-off, awesome guy. They should have just known this was coming. Right. And the Penguins fans were like, oh my God, our nightmare's finally over.

It took 45 minutes since Marrier retired for us to be in the playoffs. All right. Does that have no sympathy for this? All right. There are other franchises that should feel this way is what I'm trying to say. Fucking Winnipeg or some shit. Fuck Winnipeg. They've been there for five years shit in their pants with their shitty GM and coach. They don't deserve anything.

The Blue Jackets, the Panthers. There's a number of teams that have never had a taste of the success the Oilers have had. their history. You're talking about, like, tastes of, like, 30 years ago. No one gives a shit. See, this is like,

um, it's Gretzky. It's the standard by which all dynasties are judged. There are people walking around now who only know Wayne Gretzky as a coach. The same way there's people walking around

right now who think of Michael Jordan that is impossible. I'm telling you, you are out of your, you are lying to prove a point. You are fucking Sean Spicer right now with this argument. Do you know how long ago

Gretsky retired? Yeah, but he's great. Wait, 20 years ago. These people can't open a record book? They don't know what, They don't know who's the best player of all time is? They just had a fucking list.

So, like, you're saying some 23-year-old dude who's lived through just the shittiest years in everything should be like, ah, who cares? We had Cups when I brought born. Yes. No. That's not how it works. That you had the best player in the history of the sport on your team. You'll always be synonymous from that.

So you'll always have that as a fallback position. So when the Yankees were dog shit for, like, 15 years in the 80s, you couldn't be sad about it because they had Babe fucking Ruth. Come on. As a Nets fan, I was reminded all the time that the Yankees had, a storied pass that my franchise couldn't even lick the boots of. A storied past. Oh, who cares, man?

Living the now, live in the now, Gregory. I am living in the now. The now is that they have Connor McDavid on their team, and they just treated it as if, like, they, you know, for the first time in the history of mankind, they just made the playoffs. Oh, and it's a Taylor Hall trade that's got you mad, too. No, I love Taylor Hall.

You helped you help the others get to where they are. I'm happy I did. I think it's great that duelers are good again. I didn't like when they were complete dog shit. I wanted them to be basically like the Leafs this. year, which is to be really, really good, and then just fall short of the playoffs, which God willing the Leafs will do. Now you're rooting against the Leafs?

Oh, yeah, I want Boston and Tampa in the playoffs. Oh, why? Why do you want Boston in the playoffs? Well, I like Boston as a playoff team. I think they're there. I think a Boston Ottawa Slavernocker series would be fun and soften whoever wins that series up for

either Montreal, all the Rangers. But I definitely want Tampa in the playoffs. I like the idea of keeping the Leafs humble. I like the idea of the Leafs and right to the cusp of it, these kids get the playoff experience they need, and then they just fall short. Boy. Come what? So originally maybe I thought it was bitterness stemming from the devil's putridness and helping out the others.

Maybe it's just you hate the young people. No, I love young people. You want the young people to not have the success. Maybe love young people a bit too. Oh, wait, sorry. I don't know. You're getting close to it, but you keep missing the target. Is it Canada?

You just hate Canada? Mm-hmm. Yeah? Is that what it is? All right, let's go over the fan basis. You keep coming close, but keep missing the target. Columbus, everyone hates you. Now Edmonton, everyone hates you.

Once people hear the Toronto part of this, where everyone in the world, I think, is happy that Toronto's got a bunch of good young kids. I'm very happy. I just want him to fall short and stay humble and keep hungry. Stay humble. Right. You're like the guy who's like millennials. Always want to feel entitled to the playoffs. I think they are.

I think they're totally entitled for the playoffs. So are you going to be mad when the others play the ducks in the first round and meet the ducks? Are you going to, like, go on Twitter and be like, good job eating old slow team. Because, again, you're proffering a theory about me, which isn't true. I want McDavid to do well. I want all these young players to do well. I think it's the best thing for hockey if we get new blood in there. But I want to keep the Leafs humble.

But just not be... But wait. What? So you want the Leafs to do well. I mean, you want the others to do well. Yes. You like McDavid doing well. I do in deep.

Good for everybody. But no one can be happy about it. No. I think all of this makes complete sense. You sound like a raving lunatic Right now Like people are listening to this right now And you're like

Why does Greg hate my team? He wants it to do well And why should I not be happy about it? Here are the teams that I want to do well in the playoffs Let's just spell it out Go ahead I want the capitals to do well Agreed

I want maybe At least one Ovech gonna play for a championship I want the Blue Jackets to beat the Penguins Because I think that's great for that fan base Yeah Okay I want So now you're doing What's the opposite of a hill turn

now you're rooting for the team you've been Oh, fuck those guys. Like, I never had a problem with the Blue Jacketka. Just because the Fifth Line is an idiotic concept doesn't mean I have any problem. Okay, the Fifth Line is an idiotic concept and their coach is a horrible coach. Okay.

I was going to say person, but he's actually a good person. He helps out dogs and stuff. Yeah, he loves dogs. So I'm rooting for the Capitals, I'm rooting for the Blue Jackets. I don't care about anybody in the Atlantic, really, outside of Tampa. I guess I'm rooting for Tampa.

I would love to see Tampa win a cup. Like I feel like they've gotten to a certain point a couple times. I think a cup would be great for Headman. I like John Cooper. Like I think I'm rooting for Tampa too. And in the West... Better chance of Margarabi getting on this podcast. But go ahead.

Go ahead. I'm rooting for Bruce Bredro to win a game seven against anybody. Just anybody. Yeah, but I don't really want the wild way to come up. Against Anaheim. Is there any way they can meet in the first round? Probably not. I'm rooting.

That'd be beautiful. I'm rooting for Nashville, obviously, for P.K. P.K. Mark. And I love that city. and I love those fans and I want them to be happy. Who you're written against? Who are you rooting against?

Well, I don't want the Leafs to make the playoffs. I'm rooting against the Ducks because, again, like, like we need another thing in life where logic goes out the window and the lunk-head idiots are validated in their opinion. See, it's all about heart.

They didn't have heart and BXA and they won a one. That's fair. So, fuck them. Fucking Jimmy Stewart's the worst goddamn goddamnist. Mary, Ryan Custler, he's the reason they won.

He wanted it more. Their contract is why they won. Clarence, the Ducks won and four. Corses, course he's an old concept. Okay, Ducks versus Oilers, so you're pulling for the others. I'm pulling for the Oilers big time, bigly. Bigly.

I want the Oilers to do extraordinarily well. If they win the Cup, great, dawn of a new era. I just don't want their fans to be as apoplectic as they were about them making the playoffs. It's stupid. How many rounds of the Oilers have to win for them to be justifiably happy as fans? No, they could be happy as fans, just not that happy. But how happy? Like, as happy as they are now, what do they have to do to justify that happiness?

Two rounds? Get to the second? No, it has nothing to do with the success in the playoffs. It has to do if this was 20 years and it was 20 years between playoff appearances. Like, I would understand it. It's been 10 years. Nobody goes 20 years with the playoffs anymore. But it's 10 years.

The last time you were there, you played for a cup. That's my point. My point is that you played for a cup the last time you were there and you got McDavid during those 10 years. And you're treating it like, my God. Oh, we're opening up the basement doors. The stat is finally shut. shining on our faces. Thank you, Jesus Christ, for this day. Again, I go back to the fact that they had McDavid for two years.

You didn't pick them to make the playoffs with McDavid at all, so it couldn't have been as such a short thing as you're now making it out to be in hindsight. Here's my thing. I feel like making the playoffs is just the most anticlimactic thing in hockey, because everyone knew the lawyers were going to make the playoffs two months ago. That's what bothers me is how it's just not fun to clinch in hockey unless it's like the last day and you get that second wildcard spot. It's like, well, the others are in.

And it's like, well, they didn't get in yesterday that we're going to get in today. they didn't get in the next day they're going to get in on Friday. Right. It's just, like, that takes the edge off for me. It would have been more fun if you others got in on the last day by beating the Blackhawks. I'll say this, though, man, like the NHL has gained it where the last weekend has mattered in recent years. Has it? Yeah, it might matter again this year.

I mean, last weekend right now in the NHL, you're looking at the Wild Card in the East specifically, where there's a little bit of drama. You've got, on the last weekend, you've got Boston playing Washington on that Saturday, which is Washington's second to last game. of the season, so there's a chance they might not rest everybody. And then you got Tampa versus Buffalo, you got the Islanders against Ottawa and the Devils, you got Carolina of St. Louis and Philly. Toronto's got Pittsburgh and CBJ. Like, there's a little bit of fun in that last weekend,

and it could mean something. Oh, if it does mean something. But the West has been decided for two weeks. The West sucks this year. God, the West is boring. But the East, at least the whole President's trophy thing. To finish my thought, I'm rooting for the Oilers. I think that would be great.

I'm rooting against the ducks And I'm rooting for the sharks And I'm rooting for Nashville And I'm rooting for I think Calgary is a super fun team Although I don't know exactly know if I really want to like cover them You know You don't want to make that trip Well it's not about making the trip

Because I had a lot of fun ones in Calgary for the outdoor game It's more like I don't know how sellable they are To an American audience yet Because you know NBC doesn't know they fucking exist I want the cup final It'll be Washington Nashville Or

Washington Edmonton somehow would be great. The one that we're leading out of the equation is Chicago. And I go back and forth in Chicago. Fuck them. I know that. I know how you feel about Chicago. I go back and forth from them because I'm Chicagoed out.

I agree with everybody on that score. That said, you know, if they win again, now we're talking about a really special team. We're talking about a really special team if they win again. The West is so wide open, too. I still don't think Chicago is that great, but I just think the conference is just so mediocre that probably seven of the teams that get in could probably get to the Stanley Cup final. Yeah. And Chicago has the pedigree.

And like it goes without saying I don't want the Rangers to win. And it goes without saying I don't want Ottawa to win because Ottawa was just there. They're on Montreal. Montreal, I'm kind of rooting for them, but at the same time, like, much like everything else with conditionally. Like I would, I would love for them to win around, knock out the Rangers, kind of eliminate the idea of the Rangers getting the easier path. They got kind of that bullshit playoff seating thing going on. but I obviously don't want to win the Cup I don't want another Canadian team to ever win the Cup

it's been a beautiful 23 years This is anti-Canada That is what it is Toronto I'm an American Why would I want a Canadian team to win the cup What you don't like Max Patrick already Good New York boy

All right he's the he's revoked his citizenship Wow Yeah Boy you are like Donald Trump You leave the country Can't come back in anymore There's a part of me that obviously wants the Leafs I mean listen

I want the Leafs to win eventually But just not now I know, I know. I sent like John Cena to go to a wrestling place, like burying the young wrestlers until it's their quote-unquote time. I know, I get that. Don't be happy about it.

I don't want the Leafs to win, but I do eventually want them to win. Like, I don't know, I've never heard this sort of logic about teams you don't really care about used as a way of rooting for them. It's sort of like connect the dots if Jackson Pollock was connecting

the dots. It's just a lot of random lines kind of all around. Swatches. Yeah, swashes. So what's your ideal Stanley Cup final? Not from like a Stanley Cup covering it situation. Yeah, not I... What do you want to watch? What do I want to watch? Sharks' Capitals. Yeah, without question.

Two team, dude, that'd be, that'd be super fun. Two teams enter, one of them has to win. And then you'll finally get one of those monkeys gets off the back. That's what I want. I want Washington and the sharks in the final and one of those

fucking teams has to finally win something. Not Minnesota. I get the Bruce Brucho monkey off his because it's the wild. Yeah. You know what I mean? Cap spreads. That's what I want. Cap spreads? I want cap spreads. That's my ideal Stanley Cup. Yeah, that's the other thing too. We talked about that on a previous edition

of the show is the fact that if Montreal wins then it's like that validates the Suban trade and that's another factor in it too. Oh, I should. I haven't danced on the grave of the Panthers yet. I forgot about how happy I was that they're shitty. Why were you so happy that they were so shitty? I don't know.

Because they turfed. Because they pushed their greatest coach in franchise history out of a moving car and they lost in the fucking Carolina early in the season. Maybe that's why. Now, in fairness, they didn't push him out of a moving car. They made him get a car at the arena afterwards. I pushed him out of a moving bus and said, go and tuck and roll. And go hail a cat in raw or two in the morning.

Fucking scumbags. All right. Still makes me mad. Kevin Blackstone is a columnist for the Washington Post. He is a panelist on ESPNs around the horns, probably where you've seen him before, mostly. Good conversation with Kevin about his time cover in the Dallas stars, the arrival of the stars, some Mike McDonough stuff,

some Eddie Belfour stuff, stuff on the capitals. Hockey in general, I straight up ask him why they don't talk about hockey at around the horn. And good stuff, good stuff from him. overall, I think you like this one. And when we come back after the interview, the U.S. women's hockey thing reaches its finale,

some WrestleMania stuff, and the and why you should never fuck with Gary Betland. Oh, we also got to update the bracket. Oh, and the bracket too. We'll do that before the mailback. Final four set. We'll be right back.

Kevin, you're about to tell me a Mike Madonna story. Yeah, this is a, this is my favorite Mike Madano story, which really shouldn't be my favor because he was such a fabulous player but he got laid out on the ice once that uh i believe it was in reunion arena um before the before the new arena got uh was built and uh at in rate they they had to help him up and they put him on a gurney and they're rolling him out and there's a hush over the crowd and everybody's very worried i mean this is a superstar player and they get

to the lip of the ice to lift him up and take him down the tunnel and they dump him fortunately he was okay and obviously his career went on but I remember that like it was yesterday you had one job

kept the superstar off the ice safety safely when yeah how long did you spend in Dallas right in Dallas? I was in Dallas for 20 years the last 15 or 14 of so

were sports. So you were there when the stars arrived? I was there when the stars arrived. What was that like? What was it like when all of a sudden there's hockey in Dallas? It was a big deal. I mean, obviously and the owner at that time was Norm Green. Norm Green. That name will still get you shanked in Minnesota.

In Minnesota, but not in Dallas. He fit in perfectly that wave of white, that shock of white hair and he He was really a nice guy, and he sold the team. And, you know, one thing, two things Dallas likes. They like something new, which is why there are no old buildings there. So they had this new thing, this ice hockey thing.

And the other thing they kind of like was the team was pretty good. Right off the hot. Right off the jump. So all of a sudden, a city that likes a frontrunner had a great team. Yeah. So it was, you know, the stars ride in Dallas continues to be good even though they've fallen off the last couple years. It's something people, especially north of the border, don't understand, which is that in an American city that's not necessarily a hockey city, if you come there and have immediate success, you're going to have, you're going to cultivate a fan base. Absolutely.

And they're going to be into it. And now you've started the process of generations of people liking your sport. Right. But if you're Columbus or you're Florida or you're these places that haven't had that level of success, it's a lot of. because the team were, the team was dog shit for the majority of their time there. Right. But in Dallas, it was a different deal. It was great. You got, you had people in Dallas for a while where all they knew was a successful hockey team. Right. And as you know, I mean, hockey fans are so loyal and they built a loyal fan base literally overnight. And I also remember, I want to say, Pantera. Yeah. I think Pantera all of a sudden adopted the stars. I believe, I believe that was the rock.

I think it was that. Yeah. And so that was great. How about, like, was there a clarion call for hockey before the team, like, when you were writing in, sports, like, were there stories in the paper being like, you know what this town needs? Hockey team? Or it was just like all of a sudden, the hockey team showed up. Look, it was doubtful at that time, because the only ice in Dallas that I recall was the ice skating rink at the gallery of shopping center. And up in North Dallas, I don't think people were clamoring for a hockey town, a hockey team. But in order for Dallas to continue to be seen as it saw itself as this big city, this diverse city, you know, to be included in the NHL, that was a cool thing. Yeah. So people were like, you know, this is great.

And this kind of completed everything. Baseball, football, basketball, and now hockey. And they had tasted some modicum of success with each team to a certain degree. in terms of, at least if you weren't winning it all like the Cowboys had, at least you had some star players like Nolan Ryan with the Rangers, right? You know, or the basketball team, which was always on the cusp with Rolando Blackman and Derek Harper in the 80s and 90s. I'll open up a pack of a skybox card in 1990s and seeing Blackman and Harper. Oh, God, yeah, absolutely.

So, you know, so this fit right in. It was another reason to come downtown. another reason to go to the arena? Well, you mentioned Star Power, like, how much, how vital was it for Madonna to have been there at that point? It's sort of like the face- Huge, face-the-franchise, American kids. That one was going to say that.

And he was an American, so his voice could immediately relate to everybody, and he could relate to them. And he was a great ambassador just because he was a fabulous player. He was great. And I tell you, who else was great? Was Eddie Balfour? Yeah. Oh, yeah.

Eddie was great. Now, a funny story about Eddie was. was, and Kalashaw and I laugh about this to this day. One night, he had a few too many cold beverages somewhere. As is it, Alford's what to do, yeah. And I can't remember if it was a fight broke out or something. But at any rate, he got hauled off to Luce Darrett, which was the city jail. And the next day, all the camera trucks are there and everything, and he gets bailed out, and he's coming out.

and what is Eddie Balfour of all people wearing a Fubu A Fubu sweat top I don't know what that did for Fubu's stock I don't even though if Eddie Belford knew what Fubu was but it just gives you an example of what his evening must have been with and he lost his top and that was on it It only had it only had it kicking around the city channel was a fubu shirt with this on

that's that's a that's a 75 layers we can track right now that story Of course, Belfort is most famous for having once tried to bribe a police officer with a billion dollars. He got pulled over for a DUI. He tried to bribe a cop with a billion. A billion dollars to get out of the ticket. Oh, who doesn't have that in their pocket? Yeah, right?

And he didn't. Man. So, no, it was, you know, the stars, they were great. Tom Hicks took over the team, bought it from Norm. He, and he was, at that time, was just a quiet, I knew him as a quiet businessman. He was in a buyout firm that I used to cover when I covered economics. It was called Hicks and Haas. Wow. And then next thing you know, he buys the stars, and now he takes on, he slowly,

but surely develops a public persona. Of course, when Ken Hitchcock got there, things just went off to another level, and Hitch was great. I mean, it was, you know, the stars were, I mean, the stars were a blessing for Dallas in a lot of ways and also helped them build the new stadium because now you had two tenants. Right. So it was great. Well, for you personally, how did you make that, because you were not a sports writer. You were doing the opposite of sports.

How did you make that leap into sports from the, like, crime and shit? You know, right. You know, literally, I wish there was like a really cool story, but. What the deal was, I had done a couple stories for the sports editor when they needed some business acumen for some stories, Dave Smith. And he came to me one day and said, how would you like to, and this was in the early 90s, how would you like to cover the business of sports? And I thought to myself, I said, no, that's a little bit too narrow. I couldn't envision being Darren Revelle at that time, right? So no, I didn't want to do that.

So then he said, well, how about if I give you a column? I was like, ooh, a column, sports column. Yeah. And so he was trying out something new at the time. David Kess Stevens, who had been one of the longtime columns at Dallasmore News, left to go to Arizona. And so he had an opening, and he wanted to try out different people, and he wanted some new, different younger voices. So he asked me, he asked Kathy Harassad, who was a longtime sports writer at the paper, and he asked Kevin Sherrington, who had done. been a feature writer and a beat writer.

And this would be, as Randy Galloway, the columnist down there called us the Mod Squad. The Mod Squad. Right. So I'm... You being Peggy Lippen up with the top. Of course. Go ahead. Let's throw them back my head.

The business of sports thing is interesting, because like you said, it's way before the revel thing happens. It's probably before anybody's even conceived of sports business daily. I know as a hockey fan, there are times when I wished I knew less. about the business of sports. You know, I feel like a large majority of my time as a fan is thinking about the next lockout. It's thinking about the ownership of the Carolina Hurricanes

and what might happen to that team. Do you see that as one of the things that has made the pivot for sports to be maybe less fun? Or do you think that the business of sports is yet another digestible thing that we can all get our backs up on? Yeah, I think it's another digestible piece of the game. And I think it's made us smarter because you have to think about sports as really what it is, which is a piece of business. And I'll tell you, the place where it's had the greatest impact is college sports.

Right. Because it was a time we were just like, rah, rah, go team. And now we're like, wait a second. Ra, rah, go team. But why is the coach getting $7.5 million and the kid that just scored three touchdowns and winning a national championship getting a cap? Right. At some point, the pivot was made where it was no longer palatable to just be like, but they get an education.

Exactly. Exactly. Exactly. So we had to break that all down. So I think it's been, you know, I think it's been a really important development in the coverage of sports. That people have to pay attention to the business aspect. Because the other thing is, it impacts you as a fan as well. Look, I just went to the Final Four, I mean, to the NCAA Turner for the first time as a fan.

Yeah. And, man, it was expensive. It wasn't easy. getting plane tickets and finding a decent place to stay at a decent price like overnight. And then you just see the commercial production of the whole thing, not from the inside out, but from the outside in. And I tell you, it makes you think differently about what fans have to go through to enjoy this whole kind of way. And then the whole backdrop to sports. I'm glad you said that, because I still go to Devils games as a paying customer, despite the fact that I can predict.

I think it's important. I do the same right here in D.C. There are not enough people in sports journalism that go to a game as a fan or that understand the fan experience. And then you hear, you know, I think on one level, it's not understanding the economics of the situation and not understanding how much tickets costs and not understanding how much beer costs and parking

and not understanding these basic things that are very, very important to the people reading us and watching us that we have to talk more about. But it's also just understanding why the guy yelling at you about who the capitals should use on the correct powerplay. It's because he dropped $300 on a night when they went 0 for 6. He has a vested interest. Very vested interest. And I think the more that we understand the economics of the fan experience, the more we understand the fans, the becomes a...

It's very important. It's very important. And they stop looking at us like elitist dickheads that just go to the press box all the time. Right. Right. Right. You're exactly right. And so, I mean, since I've been back in D.C., and this is where I grew up, and I grew up a fan of all things here, right? You know, the only time I've been in the press box is when I'm working to cover a game. Right. Otherwise, I go as a paying member of the customer. I've bought scalp tickets. And you know what? That's cool. And I support that industry. And that's an interesting statement because I remember one of the first stories I did in the business of sports was on ticket scalping.

Yeah. And the pros and cons of it. But the pros of it, to me, far outweighed the cons. And the pros that anybody could get into a game. Right. That if you were, you know, there was a market there for what would otherwise be a sold-out game for you to be able to get tickets. And then the other thing I got to know through a friend of mine who was a, known as a ticket scalper, and then once it became...

They went straight. They went straight. Right. He became a ticket broker with an actual office called Wall Street. I am a cocaine distribution specialist. I'm not a dealer. Yeah. And he told me I used to get tickets from teams to keep the price of the tickets up. So the teams are working in an angle, and nobody ever talks about it.

Exactly. Exactly. So, I mean, it's a whole other layer to this. Well, to me, the scalping conversation and the ticket, the secondary ticket market conversation got turned on its ear the moment that I heard fans being like, you know what? I'm selling my ticket to the Winter Classic. And I'm like, why would you do that? It's a once-in-lifetime opportunity to see your team playing at a baseball stadium.

And they're like, because it will fund the rest of the season for me and my season. There you go. And I'm like, you know what? Good on you. Exactly. If you're a fan and you own that ticket and you make the, a decision to not go to this thing because you want to get the money for that specific purpose or for whatever purpose, by all means.

You are paying so much money to watch a regular season that every time they change the playoff format means less and less. And you have to sit at the shitty Tuesday night game against the shitty team and there's no energy in the building. Like if you want to do that, that's fine. And I think when Sikh and sites like that really kind of came into prominence was the moment in which it turned, the whole thing got turned on. into the year as far as like what what scalping and ticket program.

Right. And now we have stub hub has an arena. Yeah. I mean, they have naming rights. I mean, that's how big this is. Yeah. Has become. So I think, yeah, I think covering stuff like this is really important. Not only that, you know, now the media has become part of it.

I mean, the Washington Post, where I have a contract now, I mean, they had, they were doing post tickets for a while. Yeah. Where they were, you know, which is, they were selling tickets to sporting events and music events and everything. I mean, it's really tangled, man. I think about the fact that the Washington Post doesn't like their writers voting on awards, but they have a ticket selling apparatus.

At one point do we draw the line on the journalistic integrity thing, right? Yeah, exactly. That's funny. All right, why isn't it around the horn cover hockey? Let's get right to it. We cover every fight that ever happens in hockey. Like, I'm not on the show today, but I will guarantee you the punch yesterday and probably the punch yesterday and probably. Sidney Crosby losing a couple teeth.

I'm going to bet you that those make it. It has, as a consumer of ESPN and as a hockey guy, it has become pretty obvious what breaks through. The star players break through. Fights always break through. And then rivalries still matter. And we've talked about this a lot on the podcast, the idea that the NHL oversells its rivalries.

Rivalry night. You've got to do it. You have to do it, but I think it's also for a hockey fan of law of diminishing returns. because these rivalries don't look like they used to. They're not rivalries in the same sense that they used to be. But they still resonate.

Like, you get a Penguins Capital Series. ESPN's going to pay attention to the Penguins Capitals. Yep. That's still one of my, I mean, that's my favorite 24-7. Yeah. Oh, God, he's the best. And that's what, as a fan, made me fall absolutely in love with Boudreau. Right.

When he was talking about, let's go up there and take two points off those pricks. Yeah. Remember that claim? Great. And he had fucking barbecue sauce in a place. Yeah. That was great. You need the rivals.

Every sport has a rivalry. I mean, you know, Major League Baseball will serve us Red Sox Yankees until we're blue in the face. And they have done that. So I think hockey should do the exact same thing. I think when a hockey fan is watching ESPN, they don't see hockey. Right. I think the assumption is it's because, and I hear this also from like sports talk radio producers too. It's a combination of what do we think the audience wants and we assume the audience doesn't want hockey.

But it's also a case of like you need to have a collection of people on. on a panel that all no hockey and low hockey and you might not necessarily have that on ESPN all the time no you don't

I mean on our show I mean I think people follow hockey but Tim Kallishaught covered the stars right yeah for a while

I can't think of anyone else who's ever been that close I don't think anyone else has ever covered hockey as a beat and I've been in and out as a columnist

and so you don't want to touch a subject if it's gonna just be a surface the service conversation. No, not necessarily. I mean, I think we hit on I think we hit on hockey when it's a topical

issue that has transcended the sport. We're much less likely to do it with hockey when it's something when it's something really inside hockey. Yeah. So unfortunately, that's when

fights, suspensions, get attention. But, certainly when the playoffs get cranked up when somebody has a milestone I mean Ovechkins scoring milestones this year

Crosby's Mileson this year you know the interesting thing about Ovechkins was it was against the penguins and they pretended like it didn't happen right which was to me which is a beautiful thing that's what that's what makes for the rivalry yeah yeah for sure

let me ask you this though because there's also this competing thought and hockey as you know maybe more than any sport except for baseball is constantly arguing within itself about the direction of the game and all this other stuff. There's always been this thought of like if there was more scoring in hockey

then there'd be more attention paid to hockey. Do you buy that idea? Like if you had, would ESPN be more apt to cover hockey if you had guys like Connor McDavid that were not just threatening to win a scoring title but maybe pushing close to like a Gretzky record or something like that? I think so.

I mean, I think, and I think Carmaric David has been appealing. Yeah. I mean, people, we talked about him from day one when he came in, and you're talking about whether or not he was going to have a rivalry that would carry hockey for the next 20 years. Right, exactly. So, yeah, that is that attraction, but I don't know the scoring thing is, I don't know that that's that big of the – I mean, we'll talk about a one-nothing baseball game. You know what I mean?

So we'll talk about – we'll talk about – we'll talk about it. about a low-scoring NFL game, but the NFL only happens once a week. Right. So I don't know that... I don't know that... I don't know that that's the deal. I'm not... You know, I think hockey is still seen as even all these years later as a foreign sport. Yeah.

Guys with long names, with lots of vowels. It's a Canadian sport. Right. You know, there's that aspect of it too. And I also think the fact that not every community yet has hockey. I mean, it's still not, even though all of the NHL is here except for a few teams and the best hockey players in the world play here from all over the world, I still think it's been a, it's still been a difficult cell.

It has its place, though. I mean, it's fine. So, you obviously are someone who's also, you know, made it. bones writing about social issues and sports and that aspect of it. So how important is representation in hockey? So Austin Matthews, for example, is now, you know, King's shit, probably, you know, maybe rookie of the year. He's a Mexican-American player. And there's been a lot made of that heritage and what that could mean potentially for the NHL going forward to have that level of representation in a star player. So how much is that? Because I do remember

the year the Atlanta Thrasters decided to try to trade for every black guy in the league, Because I thought they were going to get to crack that fan base. Growing up here in D.C., I remember when the cap started. And I want to say like the second year, of course, we all know how historically horrible they were. But like in the second year, they drafted a black player. I believe it was Mike Marson. And, you know, thinking about it now, but not at the time, it seemed like they were trying to appeal to black Washington, D.C., come out and see this black hockey player.

Right. And he was horrible. He was, I don't even know if he knew how to skate. Now, I say that, and since then, I've talked to Willie O'Rea about him, and knew him and everything. He says, no, he was great. It was just a tough fit for him in D.C. for all these reasons. But I remember that.

So, I think, I mean, certainly that's an issue within among black sports fans. Right. I mean, I have one friend who is a hockey geek, and he grew up playing hockey, and he goes to every, he goes to every Caps game. I think his kids play hockey. But that's unusual. Yeah. That's very unusual. So do people, I mean, we've had Grant Fuhr.

Yeah. In Gila? Yeah. Bobby Greer, Bobby Greer's kid. Micer, yeah. Yeah. So, you know, they're out there. Would it matter, though?

Like, is that... I think you're constantly trying to figure out how to get to the new demographics and create a larger fan base. Would it matter? I think it would matter if you had significant numbers. Right. Oh, as far as representation as a whole percentage. Right. Right. I think, right. I think it would matter if you had significant numbers because then you could... Then you could sell that.

Right. Right. Then you could have a Nike commercial, right? Right. Or something like that. But I don't, you know. Not a unicorn. Right, right.

Right, exactly. Exactly. That's still what it kind of feels like. It's a good point. As a guy who's written social activist and sports kind of stuff, you know, obviously the Kaepernick thing happens this year and recently. And I've always been interested in, you know, sports is a microcosm of society. is something that's always happened. Right.

We're going back to Ali and it's always happened. What did you think of the idea that people said that the Kaepernick stuff and the coverage of that was a quote-unquote turnoff to fans? Yeah, I don't think there was anything to that. I mean, I'm sure that there were some fans that were turned off. But in terms of the viewership of NFL games this year, I mean, I think there were a lot of other factors. Number one, the election. I mean, that caught a lot of attention, right? And so that, I think that took some.

It's really hard to turn on an NFL game when you're under your blankets. You can't find the remote. It's a whole thing, really. Then you had, you know, then you just have the oversaturation of the NFL. Yeah. I mean, the NFL is no longer a season. It's a year-long thing. It's every day, every week, and now you've got the Thursday games,

and this year the Thursday games were particularly bad. Yeah. You had a start of a season without Tom Brady, who's one of the faces of the league. So there were a lot of things, I think, that went into the season. And the Colin Kaepernick thing, to be honest, it only lasted a sure while. And it started in the preseason. And he wasn't playing very much until the middle part of the season or a quarter of the way in. So I don't really buy that.

I don't really buy that. But I will say this about hockey compared to all the sports. and this is because of heavily, I think, because of the foreign nature of the game, is that there have been, hockey has not been part of this train. No. They're all afraid to talk. They all feel like they're disposable. No one wants to stand up and say anything of any consequence.

And I'm not saying that they have anything to say or they should or whatever, but it just seems like. Well, when it comes to the political issues, it's a sport that is by and large fiscally conservative, and socially liberal. Like, I do believe when they start talking about gay players in the locker room that, like, they are very welcoming of them. Well, just like this...

I feel like they don't want to get into the political side of things, because they feel like they're going to alienate fans because it's a Northeast sport. Right, right. You know, and you have a lot of people in Massachusetts and a lot of people, you know, in the Northeast that are spending a lot of money to have their kids

play and stuff, and I think the assumption is that it's a liberal skewing fan base. But, you know, you know, one of the things that blew me away about hockey? I guess a couple years ago, or maybe a year ago, whatever it was, I was reading about the climate change conference over in Paris. Oh, yeah. And there was a guy there from the NHL.

Yeah, Andrew Ference probably. I'm going to guess it was. I don't remember his name. I don't remember his name right now. But I just remember going, what the heck is the NHL doing at the climate change conference? Dude, we need ice. Exactly. Right.

So I called the NHL. They put me in touch with the guy, and that was basically it. I said, you know, we see. a direct impact of climate change on the future of our game. They also saw that shitty roller hockey league they had to ask them. They know what the future looks like if they don't protect the ice. So I had an interesting conversation with the guy about it, turn it into a column.

And they're very, you know, they did this, they did this big report on all the arenas and how much energy they're using. and they looked at how much ice is being lost. And, you know, if you believe in everybody, who doesn't? I mean, pond hockey. Yeah. I mean, if you don't have a frozen pond, you don't have. So it was interesting.

So that's a very progressive thing for the NHL. I guess let's end on the Capitol. It's like you said, you're a D.C. native. How do you, like when you take a step back and look at the progression of this franchise from its days in Landover to now be in, you know, at the heart of the rebirth in D.C. In China, everything, like, how. What are your thoughts on the Capitals within the fabric of the D.C. sports experience? Are they still the team that, I mean, they have a dedicated following,

but at the end of the day, are they still, you know, everybody's just waiting for the Redskins to figure their shit out? I don't think so anymore. I mean, I think they've caught a really good wave. Despite thinking of the team as being historically disappointing because of the postseason, they have, I would say they have not the biggest fans. base obviously but the most loyal fan base yeah I mean rock the red it is when I was here covering them I was always super impressed after the lockout killed the season the rock the red thing

it kept it felt like a college team it felt like people going to the bars beforehand right all wearing the same colors everybody's got a sweater yeah yep and then coming back out and hitting the bars afterwards and it was a night that you felt like you really wanted to participate in right it was fun yeah yeah no it's it's uh no it's it's um uh it's it's it's great and so it's it's it's great and And so, you know, I think that they've hit with the struggles with the football team here and the ownership. In one way, I would say that Leonis has gotten a free ride because of Dan Snyder. Right? Because he's got two teams here and there have been problems with both.

Ain't been a parade. No, I don't know. So he's like, laying low. Okay, don't pay attention to me. But on the other hand, he's had, you know, I will argue that, Alexander Ovechkin is the greatest professional athlete in, is the greatest professional athlete in D.C. history. At least, let's say, in the second, since the 1950s.

You're not going, yeah, are you going back to Sammy Polly or not? I can't go back to that. I heard about it, we've all, you know, right. Yeah, I'm sure he would. But since then, I mean, the only thing he's missing, and it's a big only, is the championship. I mean, no one has had a more spectacular, consistent professional career as an athlete in this city

other than Alexander Ovese. And he's been a great guy. You know, I mean, the only little hiccup he had, and it wasn't even really a hiccup, but it was at the Vancouver Games. Oh, yeah. Nothing to do with... Yeah, he was more of a Russian thing. Right, exactly.

And that was, that, exactly. But since, I mean, he's been, he's been great. And I almost feel like the NHL, like, owes him a Stanley Cup, just because he's been such a great ambassador for the sport here in this. First of all, counterpoint on that DC athlete thing, Joe Thaisman did have a restaurant. So, I mean... And so did him a new bowl.

Oh, that's true, too. That's a counterpoint to my counterpoint. But I agree. Like, I've long said that, like, there are a few things that I actively root for in the NHL more than him getting a ring just to shut that conversation down. Enough of it. Like, he's the only guy in his peer group that doesn't have one.

Right. And I don't like the idea of him being dominant. unique. Right. Like I wanted to be Michael. I wanted to be... He's deserving. Yeah.

I mean, he's done everything that you can ask of here. Yeah. I mean, I remember when the yager trade was made. Yeah. And I was ecstatic. I was like, this is gonna... He took two years off when he was here. He didn't give a shot.

He goes from over 100 points a year to... Yeah. I think he scored... He was in the 70s. He was a cancer in the locker room. He hated being here. But that's another guy that's just fascinating because you talk... Rare is the athlete.

that could go and spectacularly fail like he did in D.C., but then have a renaissance. To the point where he is now, he is now legendary. He's a deity. He is. And he should be. If you told the Capitals fan that, when he was here. You tell me that.

You say, yeah, what? He's a malcontent. He's never going to be a player he was. But Ted, Ted, I mean, that's the thing about, I've always respected about Leonces is that, you know, he took his shot early. Right. I don't know if it was the smartest decision, but he took a shot early. And by doing that and not working out, that was the education he needed to do it right. I mean, it hasn't produced the result you wanted, but you have to say that it's not as if he became sort of like Junior League Steinbrenner,

where he's just swinging for the fences every few years to try to get the next big name available. He tried to do it right. He's tried to do it right, and I think he's done it right. And, you know, he's had his carousel of coaches. That's hockey. I mean, they changed. Can't change the players. Yeah, exactly.

Can't fire the players. He can't fire the players. And the other thing is, you know, Ted kind of got screwed on dates for a while at downtown Verizon Center with the Wizards. So he had to put up with that. But, you know, other than that, I mean, it's hard for me to be mad at the caps. And I root for him every year and I'm rude for him again this year. And I hope not to be disappointed.

We'll see. We'll see. I think we'll see was actually the slogan for the 16th. except for you'll see dot dot dot who know who last year was who knows i remember following i remember following i remember the stanley cup i remember the great run that joey juno had oh yeah you know and i remember him i can't was a game two that he whiffed on a puck right in front of the right in front of the net i can't remember it sounds about right yeah i mean yeah you know grow up with rod langway it was great um it was one of those teams where you look back at it and it had this incredible assemblage of talent and then you

And, you know, like four years later, it's just exploded. You know, they had their shot and they didn't get it. It's just, it's, to me, the biggest disappointment of Ovechkin's career isn't not winning a cup. It's not playing for ever having played for a championship. Not even to get to the precursor. Well, I was, I was at the Penguins game at Verizon. Game seven. Infamous game seven.

Covering it. Ovechkin on a breakaway getting stopped by Flurry. Yeah. That thing was, the thing was over like that. Yeah. I mean, oh man,

you suck, and they are still recovering. Until they win it, they are recovering from that. Well, and, it is such a hangar. Yeah,

I mean, you felt, you felt it going into the playout series the Penguins last year, there was a sense of inevitability. Yeah. And it was a terrible, it's a terrible,

the worst feeling about being a Caps fan, as much as I understand being a Caps fan, having lived here and knowing a lot of them, is that, well,

is that, is the hope, the over the, here we go again, disease that inflicts the fan base. So it's just like, how are we going to lose this time? Right.

Yeah. I mean, the penguins, I mean, they've had all these injuries this year and still they're haunting. Right. Still, they're haunting. Yeah.

It's like, you imagine the way it's going to work is that they play the penguins in the second round and in game one, an ambulance will come on the ice, the doors will open and like a fucking clown car, all the injured penguins will just come out and play. And that'll be how it works this time.

That's insane. Big thanks to Kevin Black of Stone for coming on Puck Soup. Good dude. Now you know a little bit more about ESPN and hockey and also about the early days of the Dallas Stars. I cannot believe what he said about Eddie Bell for. Just crazy. Listen to me.

We have business to attend to, which of course is the fact that our bracket, March mute this. The tournament of terrible hockey commentators rolls on. actually going to roll on beyond the end of the NCAA tournament. Yeah, probably is, isn't it? Yeah, it's going to go one week beyond. But that's all right. In true puck soup fashion,

April meet this. Yeah, we didn't plan it, and it's a bit of a disaster. But so the bracket for March Mute this thanks to your votes, I didn't see the totals. Were there any of the semifinal

matchups that were close? Don Cherry eked one out over Barry Melrose. It was Cherry and Melrose, Pierre and Eddie Oldchuck, Milbury and Jeff O'Neill and Jack Edwards and Ronick I thought Jack Edwards might take out Ronick but Ronick made it through and like you said it's all chalk Number three seed Roanick number two seed Milbury

on one side of the bracket Number one seed Pierre McGuire and number Four seed Don Cherry on the other side of the bracket I imagine Pierre will knock out Cherry Milbury and Ronick though Here's the thing too I find that in the mentions to these tweets People are like if it's not blank This is bullshit like this guy has to win

And it's always somebody different I feel like these are going to be competitive matchups in the final four. I don't know. I think Pierre will beat Cherry, but I don't have a handle on Milbury and Ronick. I think there's a lot of people who really don't like Milbury for his general managing and then also really don't like him for his horrible analysis. But I feel like Jeremy Roanick has really increased on people's heel the heel scale in recent years for just saying stupid. shit and doing stupid shit and you know i think he was a beloved player but i feel like you know there's

been huge disappointment as far as his post-playing day stuff yeah once you get to know somebody that's kind of the worst thing that is kind of the worst thing but i i don't go bring out on tv again you ever like just stop and think about that like i assumed it was through boston i assumed that he was like a nesson but he wasn't a good player he wasn't a good gm he wasn't a good coach he's a dick on tv and that's why though like he's got he's got to he's got a good player he's got a good guy he's got a good schick. But he's not a fun dick. You know, he's not a big old vein-filled seven-inch flaccid dick. He's like a he's like a two-inch So like he's not a like a puppetry of the penis kind of dick drove past that in Vegas

I didn't know that thing existed Driving down town sitting in a cab by turning my buddy I'm like wait what? Should we should go in there? Wait was it puppetry of the penis? Was it like the penis museum? The Puppetry of the penis is those Australian guys that originated it, and I think they've passed on the magic to other people now. That would make their dick look like an elephant or make it look like a, like, you know, I don't know. Different, a cat, I don't know. Other things. I can make mine look like Toadstool.

A bowl of, a bowl of Nyoki, maybe. I don't know. They were on real sex once in HBO, but I don't know. Real sex. Remember that? Yeah, it was the best. Boy. It was a great sexual awakening show for those of us who had HBO at that time

But at the same time it was also something that kind of scared you about sex Because for every one of the ones that were super erotic and it was like you know Porn actresses and like fetish stuff or whatever There was always that one about old people always and their old people genitals going to the commune Right and then it's like learn how to make your partner orgasm with an ostrich feather and it's like it's like a bunch of people in there's He's sitting in a hot tub, like, you know, finger banging or jerking each other off. And I'm like, I don't know if I want to watch my parents do this, basically. This is gross.

Yeah, and real sex was great. Like, this is back in the day when, like, before the internet and the readily available porn, where your two options were showtime, HBO were trying to make out boobs and the scrambled signal on spice. And HBO real sex was just an oasis. And it would be great. And you get so excited, you'd be like, oh, my God, this is going to be great. This is going to be beautiful, sexy women. There's going to be strippers and everything. And then it's like, real sex, take two, click.

And then it's like somebody who looks like David Crosby. Have you ever wondered what sex is like in an old age home? We went on the scene at the Marriott. I don't know what they're called. It's like, it's just the Living Center to see how Mary Jane is getting on with two old men. I like to feel natural and I like to experience orgasmic joy with my partner. said Jessica Tandy from driving Miss Daisy. It would be such a disappointment.

I'm not trying to be agist here, but I'm totally being agest because you watch the show to see the hot women. Right. And then it's like grandma and grandpa at the commune. Like now if they had real sex on today, like we would be the guys like sitting there and people would be like, I don't want to see this. Right. I want to see these guys doing this stuff.

And it was also great. The other great thing about, about, and this is, you know, porn roulette was a concept that occurred when back into the file sharing days. when you would go on like, Kazah, and you would download something, and it would be like, you know, hot, whatever, you know, hot amateurs. And you'd download it. And then it's either I've seen it before or it winds up being something really gross. And on real sex, there was a bit of porn roulette, too, where it was like the segment would start and it'd be amazingly beautiful women in like a room. And you're like, hot diggty dog, 11 year old Greg, getting ready excited about this?

Not too excited. It's very graphic. getting excited about the scene and then like someone takes out a box of balloons and they just start like sitting on the balloons and popping them and just like and then like a clown shows up and you're like it started with such promise and like that was like an oasis when you were like 13 years old you were like this is the greatest thing of all time it was your only outlet to it there was like when you were 13 years old or 11 years old or whatever and there was no internet Real sex was your real sex and red shoe diaries are your only outlets of this shit. Oh, red shoe diaries. David Dukbony. I remember that. Scully.

Wait, David Dukbony hosted the host segments on Red Shoei Diaries. Oh, my God. I totally forgot about that. Scully, the strangest thing happened. A bevy of naked women poured out of a UFO. And I was forced to read a diary about their adventures. See, like, I kept watching it and wanted to just hear more about the shoes. I mean, they're called the Red Shoe Diaries.

Like, I thought it was about Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz. You're like, oh. boy naked women dear diary i saw the most amazing pumps the other day it's like a woman like shopping and it's like you know erotic music playing and she's trying on the shoes and that was actually a segment on real sex she looks so great and then all of a sudden it's just her shopping for shoes for 30 minutes i was like what is this shit it's for somebody uh all right so pierre and cherry milbury and ronick you'll be able to vote on this stuff tomorrow that was a good segue and uh well pierre i mean i also saw pierre on real sex a few times like we hope we have from millup

from Mike Milbury to penises. I saw an old woman tickling Pierre with a feather once on real sex. It was great. Doc and Eddie, you should try a little anal stimulation down there with Mary from Real Sex 23. She picked up her technique in Oswego in 1993. That's Stella Stone right there. You might remember her from such films as College Nymphos 1. Oh, God, now I'm imagining it like Pierre McGuire, like just mid-Sense.

sex, like announcing where he got his techniques from. Doc and Eddie learned this in high school. My first girlfriend, Mary Louise Johnson, back in a... Where do you grow up? He grew up in New Jersey. In Wayne Hills High School, where I was crafting my... Doc and Edso, that's the reverse swirl right there. That's a specialty.

He's burying his face in his hands. Doc and Eddie, let me tell you a little bit about how you can use feet to manipulate your partner. Oh! Much like the pilot. The parents, dude. Away from the boats. Docking, docking means something else. Doug Drabeck was 60 feet six inches away from Michael Lavalle.

And speaking of feet... Speaking of six inches. Oh, God. We're going to throw it down the pad. Oh. All right. Now, remember how good my segue was earlier in the show? Here's the opposite.

The United States women's hockey team. Boy. That's a good lead in. Finally got their shit settled with USA hockey. I'll say this about the situation. We'll get into the specifics in a second. I was absolutely just so impressed with the the oldest players to the youngest players all standing in line and saying,

fuck off to USA hockey. Like they tried to get high school players. They tried to get rec league players. They tried to find anybody they could get to leverage the national team players into getting to the negotiating team. table and taking a shitty deal and everybody they asked said no now i think that if this had been in an olympic situation it might have been different but to the u.s women's players credit they they knew they had to pick this moment to pull this stunt um the double iHF world championships were in michigan

they knew it was going to really hurt usa hockey if it was an inferior product or if they had to pull out or something and they also knew that the minute that this tournament was over USA hockey had all the leverage because now you're talking about Olympic camp. If you don't go to Olympic camp, you can't be on the Olympic team. You're talking about the best players in this team, players like Megan Duggan and Hillary Knight with hundreds of thousands of dollars in sponsorship money on the line if they're not on the Olympic team. They know the moment this is over, USA hockey has leverage, but they put the hammer

down. And I give them credit for getting everybody in line. So nobody took USA hockey up on the offer to be on the national team. And I give them incredible amounts of credit for how completely. completely cunning they were as far as the PR rollout and the social media manipulation of this thing. Like, they were seen as infallible. Every time that one of their demands came out, it was like, oh, this is completely common sense. This has to happen.

And the coordination between the players and social media, and let's face it, ESPNW, which became the propaganda arm of the U.S. women's national team, was brilliant. And they applied extraordinary large amounts of pressure on USA hockey and at the end of the day got what they wanted. Yeah They don't call them the best analysts in the business for nothing, ladies gentlemen Yeah So let's just here's the specifics Um

The thing also too was They were starting off like when the NHL negotiates You know These guys make this many million dollars That many million dollars Like the women were getting 6K over four years Like that's You could probably get an allowance from your dad

Over that same amount of time If you're 13 years old And acquired $6,000 So like they were in such a great place To not a great place but like they're at a negotiating place to start from where nobody was going to take the side of USA hockey

the way people do with owners for some reason for the year. But yeah, they I still wonder if they could have gotten more. I still don't know if like it's a good deal for them. It's a great deal in comparison from where they started off from but like read the numbers out. The numbers I feel like could be better. Originally

so originally USA hockey only paid them for training leading up to the Olympics $6,000 for a six month residency. see. The deal that they have now could mean six figures for players that they win Olympic gold. Yeah, could mean. I think it's like 60 grand a year

is the figure that they get. If they win gold. I want to say yeah. But that's always been part of the equation. But, you know, I think the money is going to help them not have to work like a third job

and focus a little bit more on hockey, which was what they were looking for. You know, get off their mom's phone plans as some of the players told me. Yeah, but they shouldn't have to have a second job if they're going to be playing. To me, like, that's... The number I saw, it said, if everything goes well,

they can get up to $71,000 in a non-Olympic year, which is always a bullshit term up to. Like, I saw some commercial for, like, a Glade plug-in. It was like, you know, you can get up to 45 days of great smell. So it's like, all right, so what, 29, 32? Like, what's the real number? Don't tell me up to 45. So if 71 is really six,

That's not a lot of money. Like, if you get 60K, you got to, it's probably like 42 after taxes. Like, that's still not a lot of money. It's, yeah, I get what you're saying. But it's, but it sounds so much better than what they had. You're just like, that's awesome. But, like, I still think maybe, like, I will always assume that players are getting screwed by, by leagues and, and sports governing bodies.

And I just feel like they're probably still getting a little screwed here. Like, I'm glad they got more. They're going from, from nothing to something, though. Yeah, like, that's the thing is, like, if you, like, if you start your negotiation at $6,000 for six months. And you get 71 for the year, you're like, wow, that's fucking amazing. That's amazing negotiating. But I still think based on the revenue that they're generating for USA

hockey. Every player gets $2,000 a month previously, depending on experience levels, the players could get as much as low as as $750 bucks. Yeah. USA hockey will pay each national team member an additional $2,000 a month

when the new contract kicks in, making each player's base salary $4,000 per month before they earn any bonuses, which is For the first time USA hockey, not the USC, will pay the women's team performance bonuses, 20,000 for gold medals, 15,000 for silver. And keep in mind that barring complete disaster, they're getting at least silver, yeah. And then the other thing, too, is that the women's team will receive the same level of travel arrangements and insurance coverage as the men's team, which is, again, like, when you get down to this debate and you get down to what they were asking for and how fucking bad USA hockey looks, the idea that they had to negotiate the same perks. on travel and insurance as the men is insane. Right.

So the women's per diem was bumped up from $15 a day for non-travel days at events to $50. So you can grab that second meal at Chipply. Congratulations, ladies. I was talking about that with somebody last night to $15 a day. Like, how many junior bacon cheeseburgers could I eat in a day before it, like, damage me as an athlete? And then finally, USA hockey will add a foundation position to improve fundraising and other efforts for girls' development teams, which currently receive virtually nothing compared to the 3.5. million the boys program receives.

That, of course, comes from a lot of money pumped in by the NHL. And so they're going to get better marketing. They're going to get more money. They're going to get almost everything they're asking for. But was it everything they asked for? No, it's not the original deal they walked down on USA hockey. So this isn't the deal they wanted.

It's not everything, but it's a lot of the things that they wanted. And by and large, they seem pretty happy about it. I wish they got more. I think, I don't know. Not in the room. Can we talk about USA hockey for a second, though? Oh, like Dean Lombardi and his core of caring or whatever the hell that was? They're-

They're PR apparatus I've worked with. They're pretty good. They're great on site. I like them. I don't think they've been too fond of me since the World Cup. But like, this is now two gigantic fuck-ups in the span of three years. They let a reporter in the room for the Sochi team who then spilled every bean about the process and building that team. So when that team failed, they looked like a bunch of idiots.

And so they allowed that to happen. And now they fought back against this women's team with some just garbage bullshit that made them look like idiots. Oh, they could not have handled it worse. Yeah, they could not have handled it worse. And so this is two gigantic public relations grew up through USA hockey in the span of a few years. Like on a level that you don't normally see. Like trying to get scab players to come in and take their jobs. Like, again, like I still think they should have gotten more.

but at the same time what they're asking for is so reasonable. And USA hockey is just so flush with money that it should never even have gotten to this. It never should have gotten to the point where they were threatening to pull out of the world. It's just give them a living wage, which is what this is. You can totally stretch that money out. I still think they deserve more. Just like imagine like how low you have to go to like find like a high school hockey player who's like a star and be like you want to come. That's the thing too is like you can't ask good young players to come do this.

because eventually they're going to do it for real and you don't want to walk into that locker room the first time when you're like 22 and be known as the person that came and took you know Amanda Kessel's job when she was trying to get you more money in the future like this is going to be so great 20 years from now because like now they have like a really good spot to build off of for future generations

but for like the 19th time I still think and then you know let's let's be as as as as great as this week was for women's hockey not so great on Wednesday as a budget cuts at the University of North Dakota meant the elimination of women's hockey at North Dakota, which is insane. I mean, North Dakota being one of the most important hockey schools in the country and the

women's program gets clipped. So, again, the fight continues, you know, a great week for women's hockey, but still trying to scratch and claw to find equal footing and scratch and claw to find opportunities. But it was, I mean, listen, it's, they were front and center in the eyes of not only hockey fans but sports fans and at the end of the day it's it's great for them they got they got something they were fighting for and again like I said

the fact that they were lockstep I mean think about how the NHL players fold within months of any labor negotiation like they're getting hit in the stomach by a bouncer outside of a strip club just fucking crumble of the ground right exactly they're outside of the what's the thing in Vancouver

the I forget the name of the joint is a strip club in Vancouver yeah no the day out of the strip club where they all go I mean the Roxy? Yeah, outside of the Roxy. That's not a strip. That's just a club. I don't know if part of the bar you were in,

but I want to go with you next time. And like you said, kidding, punch in something. So good on them. It's also easier to organize that number of people compared to the NHL.

Of course. But yeah, like it'd be great. Like when the NHL locks out in three years, just watch how many players are just bitching quietly and honestly compared to like this one. Like there was no, there was no like leak.

There was no like one women's players says that she wishes she could. pay for $9,000 instead of what they're asking for. She just wants to play. She doesn't care about it. There was none of that. And that's good. And that's why they won. Right. But at the same time, I do wonder how it would have been different if it was the Olympics on the line instead of worlds. But that's why they had to get it done now.

They absolutely had to get it done now and they got it done. Got it done. Good on them. Get her done. As someone once said, a comedian of some sort. Yes, that comedian was Jerry Seinfeld. Get her done. You know who you shouldn't fuck with Gary Bettman? The NHL's concussion lawsuit rolls on and a new bunch of information was dumped through disclosure and It's called disclosure you dickhead. And it was unsealed.

By that, I mean, of course, that Gary Bettman was in a virtual reality world while Dime Moore was on her way up to her office to get him. To disclosure. Set him up. This is from an email chain between Gary, Betman and Bill Daley, his deputy commissioner. This is in March 2011. 11, 2011. This isn't from like 2002.

Relating to an email that former NHL referee, Kerry Frazier circulated entitled, Another NHL player suffers concussion on Friday night, dash, no suspension. This is from the court. Frazier's email is critical of a ruling by the league regarding a hit

by a New York Ranger. Betman asked Daley, if Frazier is still receiving any money from the NHL and Daley responds that Fraser is receiving a severance. Betman then directs daily to find out if there is a

way to stop the payment and concludes by stating I don't want to hurt him. Maybe just get his attention. This campaign his book. Somewhat delusional. That is some hard question. Like you wonder

why you know there isn't a a larger portion of the NHL alumni that speak out about concussions or this lawsuit or everything else and now you understand why because they all probably have

some sort of financial tie to the NHL in some way shape or form whether they're an ambassador or they get invited to alumni events and if he's willing to do this to fucking Kerry Frazier I just I've long thought the NHL

is this organization built on sand and at some point it's going to collapse and there won't be the NHL anymore and It's for various reasons. I just feel like they cook the books. I don't like sand. It's coarse.

It gets everywhere. Is that from... It was from... It was from Attack of the Clones. Oh, Jesus fucking Christ. You were saying? And, like, I just feel like every single, like, Rick Westhead report is just another thread being pulled out of that foundation.

And at some point, it's just going to collapse. And I just wonder if, like, these emails will eventually keep coming out, keep coming out. And eventually they're going to get to a point where, like, the, The NFL can absorb a $1 billion loss. I think they haven't actually paid a dime of that yet, but in theory they could. The NHL, I don't think, has the money in the coffers if this actually gets to a point where, like, in 2016,

like every email, too, keeps getting more and more recent where it's like 2017, it's going to be like, what's a story about Mike Paluso, and he's got brain damage, and he's just, can't we just have him murdered? Like, there's going to be some email out there. That's a huge smoking gun, and it's going to be like, well, I feel like the NHL won't exist anymore because they're trying to murder people.

Or the NHL is just so powerful or they can say whatever they want and nothing will ever happen. It'll be an email from Colin Campbell saying, back in my day, we used to just murder people. I can have my son Gregory do it. He's not doing anything, right? Is he?

I know he's doing something. I know he's doing it. But yeah, I just, I wonder, I just wonder how, I feel like the NHL is just trying to get every dollar that possibly counted out of people

and in like five years illegal won't exist anymore. Like it's anybody like the USFL somehow. It just will be this thing. That'll be a 30-for-30 topic in 10 years and I'll just be like, out of the NFL fold. Kevin Connolly interviewing Mike Milbury. And I'll want to kill myself.

The thing about it though is that like, there are probably people that are really okay with that. I mean, like, there's a lot of people I've found that that love hockey but hate the NHL. Oh, I think you meant like owners who have been like pocketing money and not. No, no, no, no. I mean people that that would be okay if the NHL, if you could hit the reset button and flush the NHL and then restart as a new league. Oh, like fans, yeah, like fans who say they love hockey.

Yeah, but they hate the intro. We just had somebody who said that. That was, um, was it Will Leach? It might have been, no. Oh, Jesus Christ. What do we have on it for Willeach? You know, this show that we do is so great, but it really is one of those situations where we get it done and then it's done. Everything leaves my mind.

Somebody added me on Twitter, I think yesterday about a thing. They were like, I forget what the topic was, but just say it was like, Linus Olmark, yeah. And I'm like, did I talk about? Linus Allmark at some point in the podcast. I don't remember. I never do. I never know what they're talking about. You see, let's clue the people in, though, because the most amazing thing is that Jonah Carey,

who bought us to nerdist and who is, you know, the guy who is the reason we're on nerdist, is always, like, three episodes of Puck Suit behind. Oh, like, what. Oh, God. Yeah, so Lozo and I will just be, like, going throughout our lives, and all of a sudden, we'll just get a text from Jonah. He's like, shit highway. L.O.L.

They were like, what is that even in reference? And like, I'm actually actually taking a dump when he texts that. And I'm like, how does he know? How does he know I'm doing this? And it's like a throwaway line from a puck soup from like December. Right. And then Jonah's just like catching up to it now. And it's on Lozo and I like we're fucking Tom Hanks and the Da Vinci Code to try to decipher what exactly he's referencing.

Going back through like past that. I'm like reading episode descriptions of whole puck soups and I'm like, where could I have gone to shit highway? Was it Claude Julian, Boston to Montreal? Shit Highway, okay. Right, yes, that's why Jonah carried. I was escaping from these barrels down to highway, and I found that it was completely made of shit. Actually, my father is a great road builder in Finland,

and he actually made highways of shit. But he put the asphalt over it, and that's, you know, I just want to get to the playoffs. Say, put the asphalt on the shit highway. Is that what he did? Well, it's not the ass. fault the shit was there. WrestleMania is this weekend. I'm actually going to a WrestleMania party at

friend of the podcast, Chris Wilson's house. Oh, is that why I were this is topical? I wasn't sure. I knew there was a reason for it. Do you know what the main event of WrestleMania is by any chance? Sadness versus loneliness. Steroids versus horse tranquilizers. Thongs versus, I guess are not thongs. No, they're like...

Speedos versus greased up. Goldberg. versus Brock Lesner. I've heard of... Wait, Goldberg? He wrestled? Yes, I know.

The guy from fucking Mighty Ducks? No. Holy shit. Good for him. He's still working. My God! Goldberg, the Goldie was just jackhammered. They tie into the turring buckle and just beat the shit out of him because he keeps running out of the ring.

Brock Lesnar, didn't he just give up wrestling to go do the MMA stuff? My God, that's Adam Banks' music. Yeah, like... Brock Lezner takes the needle in his hand and tries to turn his hand to see if it's broken. Yeah, no, Goldberg from WCW in the 1990s and Brock Lesnar, former MMA fighter. Wow. Yeah, they're in their main event. Goldberg is like in his 50s.

This is as exciting as a time I found out Jay-Lo was dating A-Rod a couple weeks ago. And they were? I think they still are. Rod Rod. Rod. J-Rod. J-Rod. J-Rod. J-Rul.

J-Rul. Yeah. All going to make me lose my... No, that was DMX. Jarlu was the fake DMX who was in all the songs of the Shanti, where she's like, you know, like, I'm pretty. You're pretty, and I do. No, I was thinking in Vegas.

What was that? I saw J-Lo in Vegas. You know that. Lady Gaga. Oh, for a residency? No, I was just thinking, like, she is good as everybody thinks she is. She's great. Who's better?

Who's better? So this is my thought. Oh, here we go. Lady Gaga, or Sia. I feel like Lady Gaga. as Stan Fisher would say, Lady Gaga is a poor man, Sia. See a better performer,

maybe better artist, Lady Gaga, better... No, Sia's got a better voice. Might be a better artist, but Lady Gaga is... A better entertainer. I feel like Lady Gaga is perfectly fine. I listen to her music, but I just... I don't know.

Lady Gaga's big misstep was that she had an amazing first album and then a great second album. And then she made that song born this way. And her whole thing was that I'm going to make an anthem for all my gay fans and I'm going to make this the gayest

anthem and they're going to love it and they're going to blare it at all the gay clubs and everybody's going to put their fists in the air and join the fight. And then all the gay, her gay fans are like yeah, it sucks. And also, we didn't need you, right? Like, all your songs are gay anthems. But wasn't her whole thing, like

her weirdos, quote-unquote? Those would be her little monsters, Dave. Little monsters. And nothing says outsider like Super Bowl half time performer and Tiffany commercial within four minutes of each other. I don't know. I just, I just, I think she's good. I just, I think she's great. And I was like, I think she'll do a Vegas residency within like 10 years and make a billion dollars. 100% she will. But I just, I was just thinking like C is a better version of Lady Gaga. Speaking of celebrities, we have compiled a quick list here for WrestleMania. Everybody loves lists. Here are the seven celebrities that Dave Lozo probably didn't realize appeared at WrestleMania.

You should have listed celebrities and asked me if I could have guessed whether or not these people actually... No, we already played a game show with you last episode. I can't play game shows with you every episode. Oh, why? Because that's a Merrick versus a Shinsky thing, the game show. No, I just like... I don't like when people go on our Reddit, as one guy did and said that we suck now, because we're predictable. You don't read the Reddit.

I'm sorry, I told you about it. You're going to go and find it, and you're going to yell at them. I'm sorry. I've literally... I think I read the Reddit after one episode. Mm-hmm. Don't go over to it. No. I'm projecting you, honey.

I don't care. All right, here are seven. What was the predictable thing, McQuaz? Actually, you want to hear something funny? You'll laugh right now. Yeah, sure. Linae impressions. Sorry, buddy.

You're going to have to get about 8,000 more of those. This is canceled. No, actually, my grandfather was the first person to get on the internet and create a website for people to go and bitch about stuff. He called it read it. But Reddit is better because my mother invented it. One goal behind Austin Matthews, but I do think that I could catch him. You know, also I invented Ask Jeeves.

I decided my father, he had the butler, and he would ask the Butler all these questions. Anyways, I figured that two or three more points will do it for the list. Ask Jeeves. WrestleMania 21, this is number seven on the list. WrestleMania 21, Matt Grainning, creator of the Simpsons, appeared on WrestleMania 21. That makes a lot of sense. Does it? Yeah.

Because he's a nerd and only nerds like wrestling. Basically, yeah. He's an adult. He's an adult white guy, right? That's, that's what you guys like. Speaking of nerds, WrestleMania 16. Screech.

Wait, now, am I ranking these from, like, coolest? No, this is the list. Okay, I thought I'd rank these. Just want to get your opinion on Screech being your WrestleMania. WrestleMania, what number? 16. What, you're, you could be a year. Oh, well, let's find out.

Because, like, honestly, like, you're, do, do, do. I think WrestleMania at five when I was, like, 10. So, that's probably, like, when I was 21. WrestleMania 16 was, of course. uh... uh... russomania two thousand so the year two thousand screeching the year two thousand

is this now is this is this the guy who was like the biggest celebrity at the thing or just asked celebrity oh i'm glad you asked i'm really curious among the celebrities at russlemania 2000 i could find the thing i was working on was Jennifer annesden

wrestling media 2000 uh... what did i say what did i say wrestling media 16 17 amongst the celebrities uh celebrity guests at russlemaid 2000 included ice tea. Oh, that's good. Michael Clark Duncan. Oh, yeah. Pete Rose. French

Stuart. Oh my God. I was going to sarcastically name somebody from Willing Grace as like one of the things. Like French stubert is like that perfect. French Stewart was on Willing Grace, you bastard. He was on Thurter Rock from the Sun. But like that's the perfect error of like shitty sitcom people you would get to come there. And Opie and Anthony.

Along with another celebrity who I won't name because he's on the list. Okay. It's Dustin Diamond. Dustin Diamond. Very exciting. Yeah, that's great. G. Gordon Liddy, WrestleMania 3, Watergate burglar. WrestleMania 3.

What was that, 87? WrestleMania 3 was 89, I want to say. Oh, no, 87, you're right. Wow. So, 1987, so that's, like, within, like, a dozen years of, like, the Watergate investigation, probably. And that was actually seven years after the Oilers' last one,

their Stanley Cup, so it was still fresh in the minds of fans. Oh, horrible drought. How are we supposed to survive? I'm going to call back to that pretty much every episode. By the way, that was a very good impression of one of the aliens from Galaxy Quest. A very clever ruse. That's what you're doing. Number four, Macaulay Culkin.

He did two. He did WrestleMania 8 and WrestleMania 21. So, WrestleMania 21. He was just hammered. He was in. in 2005, 2005 Macaulay Culkin was at WrestleMania.

And that was like a good 16 years after Home Alone, right? So what was he doing at that point? Was he in anything? I don't know. You know what I missed, though, about wrestling. I missed the old Vince McMahon who was the announcer.

Like when he was an announcer, he was like the play-by-play guy before he became like a character on the show. And I miss his fake enthusiasm when he would see someone like McCulley Colkin at a wrestling. Oh, McCauley Colgan, so you're star of It was that laugh.

It would be the laugh that he would do when he would see like Hillbilly Jim do a jig in the ring and then eat like pig slop. His thing was always because he essentially is like the smartest guy in the business and he would look at it and probably be like this is fucking stupid but look at these

rooves all eating it up. So he would see Hillbilly Jim eat pig slop and then Vince's thing would all be like look at him go! Let me ask you a question. At some point in your adult life, because you just pointed out, like, Vince McMahon laughing because ribs are eating this up. Right. Did you have to make a decision where you had to kind of, like, let a part of yourself go in terms of, like, your self-respect that you're going to continue to like a sport, a sport, knowing that the guy who runs it thinks you're a Rube?

Yeah, but, no, without question, but also, the thing about being a wrestling fan, though, is that, like, there are cycles in which it becomes cool again to be a wrestling fan. Yeah, like, the Rock, what's Austin attitude era? Everybody was into wrestling. But, like, again, like, South Park did this whole thing on it where it's just guys talking into a microphone. But, like, on Monday nights when I'll just flip to the channels and I'll be like, oh, maybe there's a modern family on. I forgot about that episode. Do you mean the guy I call you out episode? No, I call it.

And I call it you out. No, it's the one dude who, like, wants real wrestling and he wants to teach the kids to wrestle, but the kids who wrestle just talk at the microphones the whole time. That's what it's like when it's like, where's Steve Austin? Get in the ring, you wuss. And then, like, I come back an hour later. It's like somebody else, I'm the Undertaker with a microphone. And I'm like, why is anybody watching this? It's all speechifying.

It's just not, but it's like, it's like the movie I was talking about before the show started. The Green Inferno where like it's just really bad acting for two hours. And like, I don't know why anybody, I just don't get why anybody would watch. There's so many. For the story. It's for the stories. It's for heroes and villains. You're thinking of Playboy.

Oh, right. Where you buy it for the stories. Dear Penthouse, I was watching Smackdown and all of a sudden. Well, hold on. I mean, you're passing guardsmen on wrestling, but you know who. was at WrestleMania 2000? David Trimmer. Martin Short.

Oh, my God. The Undertaker is wrestling. Serengote Steve Austin. Of course, we know he's got a, he's a dead man. But of course, we know that he's also a killer. Now, Hex saw a Jimmy Duggan. Why would you bring a two by four into the ring? Hex does I feel insecure about your little weird?

Hexor Jim Duggan is an American hero. Of course, he got pinched for pot with the iron cheek. But at the same time, of course. The number two-by-four. The number two celebrity that Dave Lozo didn't know is at WrestleMania. WrestleMania 1. Give me the year, and I'll try and guess. WrestleMania 1.

The first WrestleMania. This was 1984. 85, sorry. Ali Sheedy. Nope. Rob Lowe. No. Emilio Estad.

These are all very popular people that would not be at wrestling at this point. Keep in mind, the other celebrities at WrestleMania 1 included. Cindy Lopper and Muhammad Ali. Conrad Bain. Arnold You and Dudley are in a tag match Against Webster And the kid from Silver Spoons

Oh how about Reggie Schroeder was definitely out of WrestleMania But not this one Okay Now the answer we were looking for of course Was Liberace Oh that's actually He's a big star in the 80s

That was a big get Yeah Liberachi Tickling the Ivories Beyond the Tandolabra if you will Oh right That was a weird... That was a great movie.

I don't know what the point of it was. I did I? Just to have Michael Douglas gayed up for a few hours, and Steven Soderberg did put Matt Damon in a very compromising situation. Basically, like, Steve Soderberg was like, dude, Matt Damon, I made your career. You're going to come do this HBO special, and you're going to enjoy it. It's like Rob Lowe's all, faces all, it was weird. Yeah, that was the best left you made today.

But it wasn't like a look at Liberace's life. It was almost like they were making fun of Liberacee for two hours. Yeah. I don't know why they did. That is weird. But okay. The number one celebrity that Dave Lozo didn't know was at WrestleMania. WrestleMania 23.

I'll give you the year. You can go ahead and make your guess. So these are all middling to like low. I consider this man to be a star, but maybe you don't. This was at Ford Field in Detroit, Michigan, and yes, 2007, by the way. And yes, that is a clue. Detroit, Michigan. So it's a man, Detroit, 2002.

Tim Allen. That's your final answer? I mean, I'm not going to keep guessing at this problem. Well, Dave, you know, occasionally we get accused of not doing a hockey podcast. But in this case, we are now doing a hockey podcast because the answer I was looking for. Mike Vernon. Is the Dominator. That was his wrestling name, Dominic Hachuk.

He put Ed Belfort in a figure four leglock in Chicago. That's why they never used them. I believe he might have done that to Ted Nolan, actually, in hindsight. I feel like WrestleMania should have sponsored this part of the podcast. Yeah, I don't know how we don't have any wrestling. Did we know the guests this year or no? Oh, Titus O'Neill? No, I mean like the celebrity guest for this year.

Oh, who are the celebrity guests? I know Pitbull and Flo Rida will be there, but I'm not sure who else. By the way, it took me at least four years into the man's career to realize that Flo Rida was Florida. Oh, my God. I'm sorry. I know that disappoints you. This is even true. On the flight to Vegas, I was listening to the Gentilly Lambert's Thick to Sports Podcast.

Oh, they were talking about puns, and I never put together until the podcast, honk if you're horny. Honk if you're horn-y. I never put that together either, because it's a horrible joke. I just figured it's like, hey, are you horny? Honk your horn for sex. Like, I never put the honk in the horn together. Honk in the horny. You're honking a horn.

Never. You're horny by virtue of honking the horn. Right. I just thought it was a completely just like thing to do if you're horny. I never realized there was supposed to be like a clever wordplay inside there until I heard them talk. I was like, oh. All right. Tweet at us at a Puck Sue podcast if in fact you also didn't know that honk if you're horny was a play on words.

Gentile was really mad at Lambert for not understanding that joke for as long as he did. I think like Lambert said he didn't pick it up until he was like 25. Future guests, Ryan Lambert and Sean Gentile, whenever they're in New York, open an invitation to be on this podcast. Lambert never wants to be on. Oh, he was begging to be on. He'll be on. He'll be on. He'll wheel him in here and you're like, Hannibal fucking Lecter and he'll be on.

For 20 minutes, just talking about Harvard's on-ice shot attempts in games against other schools from that. So, uh, Ryan, what do you mean? Have you enjoyed New York? I mean, have you got any good places to be... Titus Andronicus is the best man in the history of Baines is what I think. Oh, so dinosaurs. Well, that's for Gentilly. Jettility is a dinosaur.

No, Lambert's a dinosaur guy. No, Gentilly knows it. Lambert knows nothing about dinosaurs. Dude, you might want to need to know their voice. voice is a little bit better because Lambert comes here to see dinosaurs. See, this tells me you don't listen to their podcast because their bit is that Gentilly pretends to know everything about that. Now I've got to explain the joke to people.

Gentile knows the best dinosaur is a bear. Now, as a point on Puck Soup when we go to the Puck Soup mailbag and answer your questions, such as this one from Kid Michael. My name is Keith. Kid Michael wants to know Last Boy Scout or Last the Mohicans. But there's a reason I picked this question. Mohicans, M-O-W-H-E-I-K-N-S, which is closer, I believe, to Heineken than it is to Moheekins. That sounds like a finish word.

Maybe that's like an actual thing. It's not, maybe it's not like a typo. There's too many letters that are wrong there to be a typo. Maybe it's like a thing we just don't know about. By the way, the answer, of course, is Last Boy Scout, because Last Boy Scout had that amazing song in the beginning, Friday night's a great night for football. It's part of time in Cleveland tonight And he also has a scene in the beginning

Where a guy gets shot by a handgun on the field During a game which of course would just be a 15-yard penalty in the NFL Did I write about this on here? Did I talk about it? I might have written about that how that play Yeah like that play You know once you shoot the first guy You might as well shoot the other eight guys

You might as well right You can't get eight personal foul penalties I won't play No you only get one Loophole Puck follower wants to know Does this Oilers team deserve a little bit more credit, then they tanked so long they locked into McDavid. Oh, here we go again.

I'll leave that question for you. I don't have an opinion. We already got over this. I think they deserve. I don't think that they are simply a product of McDavid. You just said that you got McDavid, and that's the only reason why they're good. This is the same show we're still doing, right? This isn't like a new episode four weeks later. You've just said that McDavid is the inevitable reason why that they are good. I think what I'm trying to say is that I feel like Oilers fans should feel

unparalleled joy that their team finally made the playoffs after this long and arduous journey from 2006. Why are you making the wanking motion while you say that? No, I'm milk and a cow. Respecting Alberta, as it were. I think if you missed the playoffs for 10 straight years, you can get positively

orgasmic on social media and Giants missed the playoffs for like four years. I was super happy. Oh, God. Oh, yeah, the fucking trials and tribulations of a New York Giants fan. Oh, my God. It's been seven minutes since we were in the playoffs and winning a Super Bowl. Only got Brandon Marshall for two years and 12 million.

You know, it's just... Icebirds of Pitt wants to know. Icebirds. Yeah. Doobie, do, do. Is Chicago-style pizza good, and if not, why do you hate life? Of course, it's good.

It's pizza. Why don't it happen? Well, is it pizza, though? Some people say it's more of a pie. Oh, it's tomato pie. I can't do the hot dog sandwich thing anymore. It's cheese and bread and meats, if you want meats on there and sauce. It's delicious, and it's good.

Ruby's parents, my in-laws for my birthday, sent me a double-layer chocolate cake from Portillo's in Chicago that came as its own cake and then it came with two giant packets of icing that you put on the cake afterwards. And you just ate the icing straight out of the bag? Of course, I mean, and I threw away the cake. Is that a pizza?

Is that technically? It's a sandwich. Oh my God, I had so much pizza in Vegas. Like, we fucking... Why? Because you ever have the pizza at the ARIA place? It's called something 50. It's like a little, it's like a pizza place.

Oh, the one that's sort of in that back there. It's like right by the sports book. Yeah, I know what you're talking about. It's right by the sports book. Right there. Yeah, it's good pizza. You're back here right. Yeah.

And we order pizza door on the draft. Oh, we didn't talk about it. Did you go to Taco Bell Cantina? What did it, Taco Bell Cantina? It wasn't really there for the food. I got a, what did I get? A big, a big tall green drink, right? Like a Baja blast?

With, I want Bacardi. Yeah, I think I got mine with Titos or something. I ordered Bacardi, and she turned around, and I'm like, wait, should I get it with Tito's or Bacardi? And she had no fucking interest in help. She was like, it's delicious either way. And I was like, you did. Give me the Bacardi then. And it was really, really good.

She's like, hon, I work at a high end Taco Bell. I really don't have time for this. I'm like, I'm like talking to her. Like she's like a bartender at a high end, like bar, like bar. Like, now, now, when you're mixing the mountain deuce slushy, which alcohol do you think would be the best for me to, you know, I have a very delicate palate. and I want to be able to sort of maximize the... And she's just like, buddy, there's like eight people behind you

that want to eat a fucking Gordita. Can you just pick a booze and get the hell out of the line? Oh, can you tell me about this Baja Blas? Yeah, we use a dash of Tito's, some hazelnut bitters, freshly ground basil. It really brings out an interesting, a flavor profile in the Baja Blast Mountain Dew.

And then I fucking brought the goddamn drink back to the casino and I played blackjack with it, and I forgot to bring it up to the room. I fucking wanted to save that. I wanted to put that in the suitcase and bring it home for a future drinking, purposes and now I don't have it anymore. I could have got back, I guess, but I felt like two Taco Bell trips in three days in Vegas was even too glutinous for me. Chris wants to know, what is your Mount Rushmore of hockey tournaments that America's don't care about?

Hockey tournaments. Oh, I thought it was any tournament. Oh, it's hot. Oh, no, let's not do that one. Let's do the, let's do his other question because that was better. This fuck, Mary Kill. All right. The FMK of drawn out pregame sports ceremonies. First pitch at a baseball game, ceremonial puck drop, football coin toss. I murder the football coin toss because it's just Can't they just do that before the game? Do you want to bring back the XFL to you guys running at each other at full speed? No, just like in the locker room. Or was that on kick-offs, I was it a coin toss? Or was that the coin toss?

I think that might have been the coin toss. I think you're right. But like, I don't know, I'm very rarely in the stadium for that when I go to a game and they don't show it on TV. But like when you're there and you get there and they watch them out there, this coin, this is a side that means, just fucking flip in the locker room. Like, nobody wants to see this on TV for five. And it's one more commercial breakday added.

So fucking kill that. And I would marry... This is tough. These two are tough. I would marry the baseball first pitch because it's quick. You just go out there, you wave, you throw the pitch, you shake the catcher's head here off the field. Like hockey, you got to bring a carpet out there.

The captain's got to skate over. Sometimes, like, they don't know how they got to take a picture and shit. Like, I would fuck that, but I wouldn't marry it. I would I would murder the baseball first pitch Interesting Because

What don't you like about that? They're usually horrible And they're As a former pitcher Like the quality of pitchers It's like as a As a former pitcher? Did you just start a sentence

I was a pitcher In Little League and in high school I used to pitch So is I. You're like John Gruden When they refer to them as coach You know he hasn't coached in 10 years You please refer to me

As oil can Wishinsky old doc wish The 12 to 6 curveball And he was 12 It's like when you're a musician And you hear someone play a horrible version of a song Oh

And you're just offended by it I'm offended as a former pitcher To see someone send That fucking over the rainbow Looping pitch that hits The dirt five inches before the catcher It offends me to see that even labeled as a pitch So I would kill that

So like you go to a game And it's like a 12 year old for the children's hospital whose make a wish thing was to throw the first pitch and the kid bounces them up there you're like there are you yell at that kid from your seat okay conversely what about if it's trump now i'll go to the other way you use a cancer kid and i will go the other direction what if it's him well i mean i don't hate the ceremony because it's him i hate him because it's him you hate don't hate the ceremony hate the fake pitcher you said you hate anyone that can't get it up there so that's what she said that's why you have to go to that place with the feathers what's the place

On the federal sex. Oh, God. All loops back. God. There was one episode where it was like a handjob club. It was the worst fucking thing I'd ever seen. Oh, yeah. That's actually called the Professional Hockey Writers Association.

Oh, what's up, Drew Doughty? So the... Oh, yeah, no, so I would kill the baseball thing. I would have sweet, passionate love making sex with the puck drop. And then I would marry... The coin. toss because... You can bet on it.

You can bet on it. That's exactly right. Good job. Well done. You sussed it out. Dude, another thing I fucked up in Vegas. I'm betting on a coin toss. No, I wanted to...

So, like, I took a red eye home Monday, and I had to kill time Monday, so I played poker in the RIA, which was right next to the sports book. So my plan was to go into the sports book, bet some Major League Baseball win totals for the season on the way out and just have those tickets with me for the next six months. The ARIA sports book doesn't have Major League Baseball Win Total over unders. The guy was like, you have to walk over to Monte Carlo or around. I'm like, how far is that? He's like 10 minutes.

I'm like, so I have to actually go outside. He's like, yeah, I'm like, forget it. So I couldn't make bets. I wanted to bet the White Sox under. They're not going to win 75 games this year. Lee Miller wants to know who will lose the first game seven this year. Ducks are Wild. I think it'll be the Ducks because I think the Wilde might win around before a game seven.

The Wild they're going to play the Preds in the first shot. I'm going to say they're going to loop around and get good again. You disagree? You think the Wilder out in one if they, are they out in one if they play the Blue? No, they can beat the blues. I don't think they can't trust Jake Allen in the playoffs at all, at all. But the ducks, I mean, if the ducks play San Jose, I mean, the matchups are kind of interesting this year. I think, like, usually in the past, I'm just kind of like whoever, you know, plays this team's going to lose anyway.

But ducks, I'll say ducks will lose. I want the ducks to lose the game seven after they're up three, too. How about that? Oh, that'd be beautiful. How about that for Bruce? That'd be very exciting. But Kevin B.Echra's got hard. Finally, this broke, as we're doing the show, and thanks to you.

to Jared Williams for sending it our way because I assume that Puck Soup was recorded before this news dropped. Luckily today we recorded late so we didn't suck it Jared. Protected and available lists for the expansion draft will be made public simultaneously

with their distribution to the clubs. You just got to shame the NHL enough. The NHL came around. They finally came to their senses and decided to actually make this incredible fun thing that everybody's excited about. Fun! Nobody in Vegas cares about.

about the Vegas team, by the way. I noticed that while I was there to. Yeah. There's one guy at my poker table on Monday who was from San Jose, and he was wearing a Vegas shirt, and him and the dealer talked hockey for 20 minutes. That's the only hockey I heard, but he was like, yeah, I'm coming here when San Jose plays. It's such a... That's how it's going to be. Like we talked about, though, I'll talk about Vegas one second. It's like we talked about, though, like, the lists we're going to get out anyway. This is just the NHL, whising up, getting some common sense and making the list public, because they're going to be public anyway. It's better to have it all come out at once like this, as opposed to like having Bob McKenzie.

Yeah, Lebrun gets his, and then Custin's gets the one from Nashville. Scottie. Scottie, Chris Osga. Chris Aska. Jimmy Howard, Scottie. Yep. Arthur Staples got the Allender's one. Larry Briggs got the Rangers one.

Nobody wants that. Just one big dump. Yep. That's the rule. You'd rather take one big dump and piecemeal it out over the course of your day. That's right. Life is like pooping is what I'm saying. Mm-hmm.

The Florida Panthers accidentally email theirs to a collection of people. They exposed Gerard Glein for some reason Just to fucking shame them some more Winning his coach And the fucking best season The last thing I'll say about Vegas Real quick about the Raiders

Because I know that was a big thing This week for a lot of people Like what's going to happen To the Gold Knights of the Raiders They're going to have a two year window Before the Raiders show up The only thing it's going to affect Is that they were seriously hoping

To have a lot of games On Sunday afternoon So people can go watch a hockey game Catch the Red Eye back to where they come from But I think it's I mean if it's going to be up against An NFL game I think it's going to be problematic for the NHL.

Well, I think you can you can probably schedule stuff. Like, how you probably... A schedule, I mean, it's only eight home games for the Raiders, right? Also, you probably don't want to play too many day games in Vegas in September. You know, it's probably going to be fucking hot as hell still in September, you know, on a Sunday afternoon at 1 o'clock. Right.

So, I feel like... No one's going to go see the Vegas hockey team anyway. All right. This is an elephant-time puck soup, as per usual. Thanks to Kevin Blagestown for joining us. What are you doing? We're not done yet. Oh, you have to tell your story? You got to tell your story?

I was going to kick it to you to tell your story. I'll tell that story if it comes out on another podcast first. So why did you say we're not done yet? Was that where you're referencing? No, because the tournament question that. The Americans care about. The question we love so much before the show about which the Mount Rushmore of tournaments we don't give a shit about. Okay, we could do that question if you want.

I don't know what the answers are. The Spangler Cup? Did he ask you about hockey or just any tournament? No, he was asking about hockey in particular. The Mount Rushmore of hockey tournaments that Americans don't care about. Spangler Cup, double I-HF World Championships. Frozen Four. As much as I hate to say it.

Hold on, do you think they care more about the... You're Robbie right, that they care more about World Junior than they do about the Frozen Four. Well, I was going to make my fourth one in the World Junior. I don't give a shit about any of those, man. College hockey, actually, well, I was... Every story I'm going to tell her for the next two weeks was while I was in Vegas. While we were in Vegas, we actually were killing time in the room. watching the North Dakota

Yeah, the North Dakota Overtime game. That North Dakota won and then they had the goal taken away. Right. And then BU won and I guess in double overtime. It's just the guys can't skate. It's like hockey. You don't really appreciate how good everyone in the NHL is at skating until you watch

like lower level hockey. Right. I just can't watch I just I don't care. If it's like someone's like, hey, put on the SPN, you know, Blairstown Tech and Johnsonville A&M are in overtime for the for the Frozen Four title, like, I'll put it on, but like, I don't really care. I don't have any sort of pony in that race. Do they race ponies? I don't think they erase ponies.

That'd be cool. All right, so there you go. Spangler Cup, and then the World Championships, and then everything young players are involved with. Because to bring it back full circle here on this episode, I'm the one who hates young players, apparently. But you put World Junior and the Frozen Four in your Mount Rushmore bullshit. Well, what are you for then if they're not the same? Same as my four. Oh, it's the same.

All right, that's books here for this week. I'm Greg Wyshinsky of Yahoo Sports. At Wichenski on the Twitters. You could get my book, take your eye off the puck available at Amazon. You can get our book, The 100 Creatives Players in NHLOS3 and other stuff from Amazon as well. And read my stuff on Puck Daddy, and here's Lozo. See you. Oh, there you go.

Bye. Later. Nerdist.com