Puck Soup - Titus O'Neil, WWE

Episode Date: January 5, 2017

Greg and Dave welcome Titus O'Neil to the podcast, a WWE superstar and a die-hard Tampa Bay Lightning fan who discusses his relationship with coach Jon Cooper, the similarities between hockey and wrestling and destroying Peyton Manning in college football. Plus, we dig into the Winter Classic and the future of NHL outdoor games; the NHL All-Star Game captains; Auston Matthews and the Toronto Maple Leafs' impending dynasty; the amazing Columbus Blue Jackets; the figure-four leg lock; Southwest Airlines stress; hockey line names; our favorite vegetables; and erotic recreations of Ringling Bros. circus acts. Puck Soup is brought to you by SEAT GEEK.

Today's episode of Puck Soup is sponsored by Seat Geek, the smartest way to find hockey tickets this season. You know, there is absolutely nothing in the history of the world, mankind, and ice, like going to a live hockey game. Seeing the boys in the pun flickering around the old biscuit. In the best place to get hockey tickets this season is by far Seat Geek. They want to help you get the most bang for your buck. That's why every ticket on Seat Geek is given a grade. based on value. You'll see immediately any underpriced seats and be able to find the best deals that fit your budget. That's why I've got the Seekeekeek app on my phone. First place I look

for tickets for sporting events and concerts because they do all the work for you and they end up saving you some dough. Speaking of dough, you can get a $20 rebate off your first Seat Geek purchase by listening to this very podcast, Puck Soup. Here's what you do. Download the Seek app. Go to the Settings tab. Click Add a promo code. That promo code, ladies and gentlemen, S-O-U-P, that spells soup. Seek-E-E-E-E-C-E-E-L-E-C-E-E-G will send you $20 after you've made your first purchase. So again, Puck Soup listeners, $20 off your first purchase, download the app, go to the settings tab,

click Add a promo code, enter the promo code, S-O-U-P, Soup is in the title of this very podcast, and Seek-E-E-E-E-E-C-E-E-C-E-E-C-E-E-E-G will send you $20 after you've made your first purchase download the Seeky app today and enjoy the show. Now entering nerdist.com. Sticks and hits and goals and saves and slapshots and goons. We've got sportly commentary to whatever you commute. We also cover movies, TV shows, it's and tunes. It's your weekly bowl of Hagi and Nonsense.

I'm Greg Wyshinsky of Yahoo's Puck Daddy blog, formerly of St. Louis, this week. I'm Dave Lozo of Vice Sports, the comeback, uprocks, the incline, sports exchange, nerdist, and your mom's house. And you're in fuck suit. Hi. St. Louis, not that lovely. I gotta be honest with you. Have you been to St. Louis? Never.

All right. Even the people there are like, you know, there's like four or five places you can go to find good stuff and then don't go anywhere else. I'm not saying it's dangerous, although it is a little bit. I'm just saying like, okay, for example, I'm at the hotel literally next to Bush Stadium. Okay? Okay. And it was a bit like being in a hotel next to Shea Stadium. It was very much like there's nothing there outside of like, there's just nothing.

But like, there's like a ballpark little community there. You know, as far as like some restaurants and stuff, there's like a brewery or whatever, there's like a sushi place But in my two nights How was the sushi in St. Louis? I didn't need the sushi in St. Louis It was a Monday and if Anthony Bourdain told us anything Don't eat fish on a Monday Towered I ate basically two meals in St. Louis while I was there

The first was after a meetup Some of our listeners by the way in St. Louis at Urban Chestnut. Thanks for that Urban Chestnut and thanks for everybody who came out Where I got drunk and came home and ate an entire medium meat lovers Papa John's pizza by myself at 12.30 in the morning. That's the stuff. That's it. And then the next day I was like, I feel like dog shit, like oily dog shit because I ate an entire pizza by myself. So I'll probably eat healthy. So I looked at the sushi thing.

I'm like, well, it's Monday though. And also like, I don't want to like wait for it. Wait for it. It's sushi. It doesn't take long. So I ate 10 wings from Hooters. So you essentially used some bullshit thing you heard on TV wants to get out of eating healthy to have wings. No, I wasn't on TV, so it was in a book. Oh, so it means it's official. He's...

Reading something in a book makes something almost as official as reading the words, the letters AP next to it. Yeah. That's... Now it's the news. The Winter Classic was, uh, whatever.

It was... Seemed bad. Foggy as shit. A little rainy early on. Really, it rained. I didn't see any tweets about that before the game. Well, think about... Think about this.

Like, how... What a weird situation where the NHL is like, we're going to wait until 7 a.m. The day of the game. Yeah, I know. Yeah, I know. What the deal is. Bang up operation they got there.

It really is. But in the end, they were right. Like, the rain stayed away. It was a fine game. I thought both the games over the weekend were better than average outdoor games in a sense that, like, memorable shit happened later in the game. And you come away thinking, wow, it was a pretty fun time, even though the majority of the game was just skating around. What was memorable about the St. Louis game? The Teresanko goals were awesome.

He scored two goals in less than two minutes. What was awesome about the first? He banked it off escape by accident. It was a remarkable moment of unpredictability. I see what's going on here. You have the in-person winter classic fog still in your brain, so everything seems awesome when you're there. But when you're on TV and you watch the first period and there's seven shots for one team and five for the other and it's super slow.

It sucks. By the way, literal fog. You couldn't see the goddamn arch. You're holding the game. Who gives the shit? I saw 90 fucking tweets about not being able to see the arch before or during that game. I wanted to murder everybody there. I'll tell you why.

I can't see the arch. Neither can I. Not watching the game. Let's say we held the game in South Dakota. Okay. And then they held it in the back of ground was Mount Rushmore. Is Mount Rushmore in South Dakota? Sure, we'll say it is.

And then they held the game and they're like, welcome to beautiful maybe South Dakota. Where you can obviously. What do you mean, maybe? Wait, that's right. I'm sorry. Welcome to beautiful South Dakota, where the presidents of Yarr will be watching the stars of today.

Only he's saying that during. action during the game and missing scoring chances because he's rambling about a fucking bread company that exists in St. Louis. Like it was, it was like this great little passing play and like it got set up in front for, I think, an Ysimov and it just went off the heel of his stick and he's like, located not far from here. Oh, nearly got that one home. Like, Doc.

Doc. Come on, man. Yeah, Doc. Stop talking about that bread company. It's the yeast you can do. And like, not for nothing. It's the yeast you can do. I get it.

That's a going. It's the, oh, shit. So there's not a lot of stoppages in a hockey game where you can fill in with all these stupid fucking... Let's go live to the weather guy! Thanks. Thanks. It's raining out here. All right, over to Jeremy Roneck with John Hamm. 40-minute interview with John Hamm. And the camera, they did that, you know, the hanging camera.

Yeah, it's got him. It's foggy. It's covered in rain. You can't see shit. It's just such an unpleasant experience watching that game on TV. Oh, for sure. Now, about the arch, though, like I said, if you held the game, in the shadow of Mount Rushmore and couldn't see Mount Rushmore, what's the point? If you're holding the game at a stadium where the whole gig of that stadium is being able to see

the stupid arch. Oh, but that's not the point. That's the whole point. A whole stadium is built. For who? For the people that are there and that... That live there and know the arch is there. You couldn't see it.

You couldn't see it. It looked like the disappearing castle from Kroll. They couldn't see it. One minute and then it's gone. I can't see your desk from here. I know it's still there. I don't need to see. I'm watching the game.

I'm not like, here comes Tarisenko, two-on-one with Schwartz. Wow, look at the arch. I just realized that I'm a fucking dog. It's like you covered my eyes in your hand. I'm like, the world disappeared. You have no object permanence yet in your life. You're just, wait a second. Did God steal the arch?

Is it still there? Oh, by the way, it's rainy. Let's throw it down to our weather, man, the side of the ring for the fourth time. Well, dog, it looks like you can see. There's a weather updates. Just if the game stops, it stops. Just let it stop. I don't need the guy from the weather channel every 14.

fucking seconds. Just running around Boos Stadium with my underwear on my head. They stole the arts. Didn't you guys say it? Look at the Russians, probably. So, like, when you're watching the game, the puck's like on the near boards and you can't see it, you're like, where in the puck go? What are they chasing still?

Mr. Batman? What is it? Greg, you're wearing your underwear on your head. We need to make the arch glow. We need to be able to stand. We have to make a claw like the puck. That's how we saw the puck by the boards. We're going to make the arched glow.

The fucking arch. The fucking weather. It isn't, I mean, listen, we've talked about this before in the show. like it is now officially a completely different experience for those in the in the stadium in the city and those that are watching it on TV and the people that are watching it on TV think it's the dumbest shit ever and when I get rid of outdoor games and the people that are on-siders like when do we get our next one it's not that it's dumb it's just like I understand like there's certain things like you have to get away from when if it's if it's snowing you can pretty much do whatever you want like

if it's raining and all your can if you're if cameras are covered in water you should not utilize them or how much you paid for them to have them hung across the stadium. Like, it's just this aerial shot. First of all, it's a bit nauseating. Like, SportsNet started doing that a couple years ago where they were using that camera for, like, power plays. I remember just, it was just disorienting. And, like, using it overhead when the puck's going back and forth is fine.

But if you can't see through the fog and the rain and the water on the screen, and then you're throwing it. And while that's going on, you're listening to Jeremy Roanick mumble questions to John Hamm about his dick or whatever. And John Hamm talking about how, with the greatest subtle troll of all. time talking about how hard it is to win a cup and Jeremy should know that. Winning the Stanley Cup is hard, but yeah, you know that. Sidebar on Roanick. Oh.

I should have that John Hamm quote queued up, but. Ronick is a friend of a lot of people, and he, of course, worked to the broadcast, doing the very important job of interviewing John Hamm and Allie Raceman. Oh, we interviewed Allie Raceman, too? He did. Oh, we tried to, but the microphones were cutting out. I don't think you ever actually doubt, I don't know, I stopped watching. Senator's army.

Did it. But, did it. Like that. So, he, he's, he went into the blues locker room and, like, was congratulating the players or whatever. Why? I don't know because Jeremy Roanick. And, like, there's a great picture on Getty images of him shaking Teresenko's hand. And Teresenko literally having no idea who this man is.

No. Yeah. It's pretty great. But he went, I was in the Chicago locker room after the game to talk to Crawford and Yarmelssohn just about the goal. So I was doing a Teresenko feature. And Ronick comes into the locker room with like, obviously like either a friend of his or a rich dude and his family. Right. And they're all wearing blues gear.

Like the people he bought into the Chicago locker room after the game are all wearing blues jerseys. Like blues winter classic jerseys. And literally the PR guy from the Hawks had to go, you can't have them. here with that stuff on. And Ronek's like, oh, I know, I know. Okay, okay, okay. And he leads him out. I'm like, you bought a bunch of blues fans.

Rocking gear into the losing locker room of the Winter Classic, where Taves ain't even coming out because he's so pissed off. They had pissed away another four-point game in an outdoor game. And you bought a guy, like a fucking clan of people in Blues juries into the Black Hawk's locker room. Why don't just have him dropped you out and shit on the logo on the floor while you're at it? He surprised? J.R. just wants to be friends with everybody. He really does.

It's a, friend of everybody. It's a, it's a flaw and a, and a good trait depending on the day. Is it a good trait to be friends, try to be friends with everybody? I mean, yeah, probably not. I mean, but still, like, he's just... You know who tries to be friends with everybody? The Democrats. That's the problem.

That's the problem. I mean, here's the thing about the way that Hillary ran her campaign. She forgot about the little people. No. Not like little people. We are a big supporters of you, Ms. Glentgen. Uh, who are you? I can't worry.

I can't see you down here, ma'am. I don't like your, your campaign of taking this country to New Heights was offensive to me, ma'am. No, but like, you can just tell. He wants everybody to like. I will fight for the little people who are ba-ba-ba-ba-boo. Go ahead. What are you saying? I just don't, fuck Jeremy Ornick.

I don't like him. I think he's bad at his job, and I think he sucks at everything he does. And I don't, I don't, I, the fact that he would do that just shows you how a blue the VC is to everything that goes on around them. We've come to a point now with these outdoor games where I think there's a certain amount of panic over the ratings. What were they? I don't even know what they were. Okay, so this was the lowest,

had the lowest viewership of any winner classic ever. Which is amazing because last year's game involved a Canadian team. And that was previously the lowest rated and the lowest watched Winter Classic ever between Montreal and Boston. What did it come in at though? This one. Last year was one six, right?

If you vamp for a second, I can find it. because it shouldn't be a surprise at this point because they've over saturated it. It was also January 2nd, though. I think that plays into it. No, the Flyers Rangers game was January 2nd. I think that did like a 2-1. I think. I'm making stuff up as I just go here while you're trying to find it.

All right, Mikey. What do you think? Winner Classic, 2017. What do you got? Dog. Original 6 franchise. First time. First time is in St. Louis.

good teams bad weather though bad bad weather dog enormously enormously handicapped into the to the viewer A little rainy A little wet 1.3

1.54 Oh so it was only slightly lower than the ones It was one six last year An average of 2.557 million viewers See like that's bad too because you have to figure most of that's like Chicago and St. Louis fans watching How much like There was a top rated show in both markets

Right. So, like, when you figure how much of the rest of the country is actually watching that game at this, like, they fucked it up, man. Like, they just... The 10th most watched NHL regular season game on record, which is a thing that NBC always says. They always do that. They always do that. It's like, but how many... Look over here! Look over here! Don't look over here! Look over here! That means there are nine other games, some of which weren't in a fucking baseball stadium that got better ratings in this game did. But smallest audience ever for a Winter Classic in NBC, previous low was 2.8 million viewers for the... Habs and Bruins last year, which of course was a product of one of those markets

not having any of their home fans count towards the ratings. But compared to the Centennial Classic on Sunday, on the actual New Year's day, the Winter Classic was basically the finale of MASH. The Centennial Classic had a 0.6-4 rating

and averaged 1.077 million viewers, although in the final quarter hour, it peaked with 1.577 million viewers. Again, you run into an issue of Detroit being the only American market in the game and you're under the issue of a bunch of people in Detroit not watching NBC to watch the game. That's always an issue when the Red Wings are in one of these games is that a lot of people also have access to CBC and Sportsnet and watch the Canadian feed instead. Because it's a better broadcast. Because it's a better broadcast. Yeah. That's what they always tell me. And also it's the same game you've already seen. Yeah. And it's the last time. College football at the same time as that game, right? Because the semifinals were after that. Yeah. But again, you bring up the point that it's the same. matchup you already saw and the last time you saw it it was incredible brilliant and snowing and 100,000 people were there and now it's in

it's in a soccer state this is the most my favorite fucking thing from the weekend about these outdoor games. It didn't sell out right? I don't know if it did or did but here's my favorite thing name of the do you remember the full title of the outdoor game in Toronto? I do remember you telling me this yeah the Scotia Bank NHL Centennial Classic

so it officially they were trying to figure out what to call the stadium because Scotia Bank is not the It's not the sponsor BMO. So they went officially on NHL.com, which, as you know, was an edict from above. Exhibition Stadium. What?

That's what they called it. They didn't call it BMO Field or whatever in the stories. They had to call it Exhibition Stadium because Social Bank is a sponsor. On NHL.com, they had to actually, like, lie and make up names for things because it wasn't sponsored. So why even call it anything? Why just say, like, in Toronto? Yeah, in Toronto or at a thing, out a field. At Toronto's MLS field.

Do they capitalize it? Like, why would, that's not the name of the stadium? They capitalize it, too. Oh. That was always the worst part about, like, writing stuff there. Like, when you were at a sponsored event, like, you would file your story and be like, so-and-so, one, three to two at the Winter Classic, and you'd get, like, a note. Actually, it's the Bridgestone Winter Classic.

Yeah. So nobody watches it's a Centennial Classic, which is fine, because it's not a game that'll ever exist again, even though NHL.com calls it the first Centennial Classic. That's what I was thinking, yeah. No, the, it was a gift to, they wanted a game. on January 1st, they weren't getting the Winter Classic because much like World Juniors, it belongs to the Americans.

Why don't they just put the Winter Classic on January 1st and the centennial on January 2nd? Because they wanted a January 1st game in Toronto. Who did? Toronto did? Fuck Toronto. Well, they apparently not fuck Toronto because they got everything they wanted. They got an outdoor game on January 1st that wasn't

the Heritage Classic. They made up a game for them and said, here's your gift for your birthday. Happy birthday. I usually get like, you know, a handle a whiskey and a hat. And they get an outdoor game. It's bad, too, is the Winter Classic usually runs up against, like, two or three decent bowl games. The only bowl game that was going on was Florida, Iowa, which nobody wanted to watch.

It was a bad game. Nobody was watching it, and still they... It's just such bullshit because, like, they've worked for eight years to build this brand. No, but... And then they put, they just move the game to January 2nd as a caveat to Toronto. What the hell are they thinking? Well, no, they put the... The last time the NFL Sunday happened, they put the Frangers game on January 2nd, too.

Put it on the... I agree. Everybody's going to be watching everything. It never made sense to me why when there's a bunch of other shit on TV you wouldn't put your product on because people will sample it. I'm with you. On January 2nd, you know where people were? Fucking driving.

Going home. Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And the other thing too is that you're so scared of like running into football every one o'clock game, week 17, meant nothing. Every team that played in it was either done or clinched, had nothing going on. Which, in fairness, they had no idea idea about it. For sure. But like if you just say

nine years ago, eight years ago, January 1st, we're going to stake our claim to that day. That's going to be our day for this game. We're going to make it, like, we're going to put it into your eternal clock. January 1 o'clock. Oh, I've got to put on NBC for this game. Well, if it's a Sunday, there's going to be some good, well, okay, well, the Centennial Classic, we should probably move there.

Maybe you should just put a January 3rd next year because there's a really good college football game on Monday. We don't want, like, you just can't do that. And you also can't, when the Winter Classic first started, it seemed like it was going to be a way to actually have a national non-nitch situation. And now they've just, they're in a place too

where they're like, they're halfway in with like giving a bunch of teams outdoor games, but they don't give, they only give three next year, you only give four this year, just go all in or go to one.

I wrote about it. All right. I think we all did. 23, 23 NHL teams have played outdoors and only 11 have played in the Winter Classic. And I'm sorry,

like we are in an Oscars Gold Globe situation with the Winter Classic. Like, Stadium Series is horseshit. It's a horseshit game. Like it's nice that the penguins and flyers get to play outdoors But these guys know In inherently that the Winter Classic is the thing you want to be in It's SummerSlam versus WrestleMania

Do they do? Do they actually care? No, they do Because the Winter Classic is about their families Stadium Series is just an outdoor game The Winter Classic is you spend New Year's with your family Because they're all at the game with you You spend New Year's with your teammates It's a whole thing that goes on

It's a whole family skate thing that goes on For the Winter Classic And then also like it's a chance for the community to get involved too. Community doesn't give a shit about the stadium series, but they give a shit about the Word of Classic. It becomes a very big deal. The Upton Game, the whole thing. There's an alumni game for all the other outdoor games team. Not all of them. Not all of them. They have, I mean, well, which one has it had? I guess Colorado Detroit. No, they had one. They all have them. I thought there was like one that, Minnesota stole Dallas. Yankee Stadium.

Okay, yeah. Yeah, I didn't have it. Right. I knew I wasn't going crazy. Yeah. So, but the, just testing. I, I, I, you could tell that the Winter Classic means more to these guys. So we only had 11 teams that are in it. So I made the argument. Like, part of the problem with the gimmick right now is that one, we've run out of cool venues. No one gives a shit about tuning in to Cee Bush Stadium or any of the other cookie-color ball parks that they're playing. I disagree. I think there's other venues. Yeah, there's two. Lambo Field and Notre Dame. That's it. Penn State. Yeah, which for whatever reason they can't do. You can do it Tennessee and whoever they played that night. They played a college football game at Daytona, I want to say. Some, some

NASCAR place. Sure. And then you could talk about playing it at a NASCAR track in Carolina. It would be interesting. And then there's one more stadium, I think, that would be really interesting, which is to put the blue jackets in a game against the Red Wings at Ohio State, which would be amazing. Like, it's funny, because, like, college football stadiums don't really have looks to them. Like, they're

just gigantic. Like, Michigan Stadium isn't, like, anything special when you're in there, but it's just so many people that it's awesome. Like, so you either have to go cool-looking venue, like, Fenway, for instance, or the giant college football stadium or the giant, like, Like, they put like 120,000, I think, in there for that Tennessee football games. Could they fill Dallas? That's the real question.

Oh, you mean. Because the stars were actually going to play an outdoor game or a stadium game at Reliant Stadium at one point. And then it fell through. It was going to be a preseason game. So I'm quite understanding logic there. But they, if you put an outdoor game in Dallas, the problem is that there's not another team I can think of that if you just stuck them in that game, like all their fans are going to come there. Like, that's the problem with it. Dallas, yeah.

Like, Dallas doesn't have like a natural nearby rival. Yeah. It's not like Philly driving down for a game in like, you know, Boston or whatever, driving up rather. Then you have like the Cotton Bowl. Yeah. You can, they fill that. Like that's my point.

Like, ratings be damned. Like bring the game. Exactly. Ratings don't matter anymore because they're all just localized money makers. There really is, it really is amazing being on site for these things. It really is amazing. It's like a little baby Super Bowl. Everybody loves it.

Bring it to new places. Have them celebrate it. Like you think about like the Tampa Bay Lightning, right? A franchise that has clearly grown. to a point of being a hockey town, even though all the Canadians come down for those playoff games, are like, wow, look, it's warm,

but there's so many fans. Oh, geez, eh, look at all this sunlight and rain at the same time, eh? Actually, they're like, this isn't a hockey town. Here's your free little Caesar's pie in the press box. Oh, shit, move more teams down here.

Put a team on Jacksonville, for God's sakes. Oh, geez, that a shuffleboard table, eh, over there at the bar? Let's go, let's go play that for four hours. There you go, buddy. Yes. Suck it, LeBron and Arthur. Yeah, you're...

Right now you're listening to American shuffleboard champions, Greg Mischenski and Dave Losa, who defended our country's valor and pride and defeating Canadian interlopers during the playoffs. Pierre LeBron and Bruce Arthur were so thoroughly dominated in this match that Pierre LeBron quit. Yeah, he quit. He quit before we got the 21.

That's how much ass we kicked. He was like, all right, boys, 18, leaving. And Bruce is like, where are you going? All right, all right, that's. He turned around to the other table and played a day. He started a new game. It was like, he hit the reset button. I was like, no, what are you doing?

Scotty But the lightning have earned a game And I think that When you think about all the things That go along with the Winter Classic Like I talked about Like it's a celebration of hockey in that town It's a celebration of the franchise itself

And they're now old enough As a franchise And that's the other thing too Like there's not been an outdoor game hosted by a team That came into the league After 1974 No

The Wild Oh hosted Hosted Right the wild Oh, wait. Well, I mean, it's the stadium series. I meant Winter Classic, sorry. Okay. But did the Wildhost? I forget. Yeah, they did. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, I meant Winter Classic. So, so have them hosted and have them celebrate the franchise.

Bring back Paul Isabart. Hell yeah. Bring back Darren Poopin, man. Chris Contos. That's what I'm saying. Like, that team and that franchise has actual palpable history. They've got a cup in their background. Went to another one recently. And same thing with Carolina. Like, you could, you can conceivably do, hold on. You could simply do Whalers versus Hurricanes

If you wanted to Jiggy Oh like in the Alomani game Prongs Yeah but who's gonna go Patty Verbeek I feel like that fan base

Is so just like Just like crushed emotionally No I disagree I think I think the Hurricanes Fans And all of Carolina You give Carolina Something to

To go to or care about They'll come and see it They go see the fucking bobcats Are they bad? I don't even know if they're bad I don't know I have no idea But like my thing is just

Like I agree because if the Winter Classic is not going to be this solo marquee event that everyone's going to watch on New Year's Day, you're going to move it around, you're going to put another centennial game. They'll probably do a Canadian game every year now forever. Just give more games out. Because if the ratings don't matter, if you don't care if you draw a 1-4 or, you know, 0.6. You're making the argument for oversaturation. Just go on. Because if it's a local, if you've decided now, it's a localized event and you're just going to, like you said, celebrate hockey in that town and that city.

Just, I mean, I realize that Dan Craig has a life and he would. like to see his family once in a while. So maybe having him be the only ice try. His son does it? Like, like add some more ice crews, get some more trucks. Is it how like, Go 10 deep every year? The Tiger Tamer and the Rundling Brothers circus,

only his son could take over the gig after like he got too old to do it. Like there's only one guy that can make ice in the world. Right. Like hockey's all about nepotism. So like let's just like, let's have like Dan Craig's son and his cousin and like anyone related to him. Just like give him an ice crew and then like go out.

out and make some mice somewhere. By the way, that lion's hammer's name. Did you remember it? It was, um, no, I don't know what it was. Gunther, Gable Williams? Oh, yeah, I don't remember that. Yeah, that's right. He was always in the commercial.

Oh, man, I used to love going to the circus before you realized how horrible it was for everybody involved. Well, I mean, I think the animals like it. You think the animal's like it's been whipped to do tricks? I mean, I'm into it. They now. Oh, geez. I'm into getting whipped and shitting on the floor.

Who's not, though? Oh, come. on. It's weird. I keep telling her whenever I see her that I wanted to get on a motorcycle and drive around me really fast inside of a giant metal ball. I think I have a bit of a fetish for my circus going days as a kid. I love being marched around the bedroom and whipped and being

I like hiring 20. I like hiring 20 escorts and having us all cram into a small car together. I think the circus really fucked me up. What's your safe word? Growl! The Gunther Gable Williams ever wear a full leather bodysuit? I don't remember that, but I'm into it. Let's do it.

Worth every penny, baby. Dear Penthouse. I was eating peanuts when all of a sudden. That's what the Winter Classic needs, is more bondage. You need something. I had good entertainment this time. The bands on the one in St. Louis seem pretty good. Oh, you didn't go to the Toronto one, right?

You just went to the Winter Classic. I just went to the one in, yeah, in St. Louis. What's Nelly like in real life? Oh, yeah, I met Nellie. So really humble. Yeah? It seemed like a good dude. I'll say this.

It was raining like a mofo as we were waiting for to talk to him. Really? And like, as I got in there, I'm like, wow, wow, this is great. Like, Nellie, he did a pregame concert before the Winter Classic. I'm like, wow, Nellie's pretty good. Like, he's got a lot of songs. Then it's like 15 minutes later. I'm like, wow, Nellie's got a lot of songs.

It's like 25 minutes later. I'm like, he's playing the fucking Tim McGrath song? Like Tim McGrath even here to play this song. Nellie's a performer and a professional. He's going to give the people their money's worth in the rain. He's like, so when Prince does the halftime in the rain, everyone's like, oh, Prince, not Nellie doesn't. You're just like, come on, Nellie.

I want to ask you questions about hot in here. You know how sometimes we talk to celebrities on the show and you might even hear this in the upcoming interview. Occasionally, you know that they like hockey, they love hockey, they appreciate hockey, they watch hockey. They may not necessarily live and die with it like we do. Sure. That was the kind of sense, like a... And then the moment that you know that is when the subject shifts over to the thing they really love, and they go into it. So, like...

It's like... Nellie and hockey was like that. It's like, hockey, hockey, blues. Hockey, hockey. What do you think about the Chicago St. Louis Rallyroy? Well, you know, me and ye, we tie it and, you know, twist in me, we tie. But, like, the Cardinals and the Cubs, man, I'm kind of happy. Like, I'm like, oh, there it goes.

Sorry, right. But he's genuine about it. And at least he, like, he kind of, like, is an advocate for a blues hockey. He put on a show. Yeah. He went there. He's probably, he's probably second most famous to John Hamm as far as his blues fans, I imagine. Oh my God.

I don't really know. The blues are never in the cup final. That's when you used to know the celebrities. Did you know about the towel man? You know the guy that wipes me down after the circus fetish thing I do? His name's Kevin, Brian. There's a guy in St. Louis who, uh, there. So you know how the devils had the dude who was like, spells out devils whenever they had score?

Yeah, that guy. Um, they let him raise the goddamn banner. 295. That's weird. The towel man has, I just found a New York Times article in 2006. Are you the Jizmopper? No, I'm the towel man. He's got to be doing it for a while.

Call me towel man. Towelman printed his vital statistics in the back of his hockey card. Hight, 5-6, wait, 155. Waves, right. He is a dude who wears a St. Louis Blues jacket. And when they score goals, he, runs down to like the front of the section. He pumps his fist once and the crowd shouts, one.

And if they score another one, he runs down and pumps his fist twice. And they say, one, two. And then after every countdown, he'll take his towel, his titular towel, and throw it into the crowd as a souvenir. He is the towel man. Oh, wait, how can it be his towel if he has to throw more than one, he has to have more than one towel? I think he produces organically.

Like Spider-Man produces webs. He just shoots him out of his crotch. Where does he keep them all? The towel man has all these towels. And so his gig is that, much like, you know, a carrot top, like prop com. Like, he runs down the stairs and gets the crowd to say how many goals there have been and then throws towels in the crowd. So if you ever heard it, honestly, this is my first Blues home game ever been to. Like Lozo just indicated not a whole lot of reasons to ever have gone to a Blue's home game before.

as someone who only travels during the playoffs. But the towel man is a guy who's been there for forever, throwing towels under the crowd and getting them to do the one-two. And the whole stadium did it this time. It was very exciting. But on his towel, it lists things about him. Well, that was on the back of his hockey car. Oh.

I'm going to try to find an image of the towel itself. Because, I wonder if you can use the blues logo if it's, like, copyrighted. Oh, wait, no, wait. Oh, oh, shit. Oh, God. Yeah, there it is. Show it to me. Get me angry.

See that? It's a picture of him on the towel Waving the towel and it says the towel man Oh god You look like you're gonna murder somebody Why would anybody want that? Here's a towel man Look it So he wears a white suit and he's got blues

Oh my god Wait why is he on the ice? They look at the sky on the ice? I look how you search for it and it's like What is this one? Right what? Oh, it's a different guy Yeah It's like it's like Gretzky Hall

Yeah Tell man. We should rank, because every team has that fan. Like, we should rank every team's, like, super over-the-top lunatic fans. Here, let me help. Number 30, Dancing Larry of the New York Rangers. It's always the saddest when they do it, when they're, like, down 401 with five minutes to go. I don't think last night they lost 4-1.

I don't think they did Dancing Larry last night. For those who don't know, Dancing Larry is a bald, retun gentleman. But not retunned like Kevin. from the Blue Jack. It's just kind of like a fatball guy. Just kind of like a heavy set old man who dances to dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun, dun. To put a fine point on it, though, if you've got enough Rangers games, there's nothing more depressing than it's the third period, the game is where it is, and it's like 10 minutes left, and all of a sudden you hear, bw-w-d-d-d-d-and, like, everyone's just looking at him, like, if I threw him off the

fucking upper deck, nobody would come. invict me, right? It's like, it's game seven against Tampa, lightning up two nothing, three minutes to go, stoppage, the red light goes on, to TV timeout, bo-d-d-d-d-and-every one's just, Larry, Larry, no, he's doing it. It isn't like take his top off or anything, it's just, the horn guy in D.C. drives me insane. Oh, that's a good, oh, that's a very good one. Oh, that guy. Boston. The horn guy in D.C., for those that don't know, is a guy who brings a, uh, who brings a, like a horn, like a bobozilla type horn. Oh, it's so annoying. It's so loud.

And gets the crowd going by going, Let's go, Caps! The Devils have the spell it out guy. The devil's, I don't know, he hasn't come to games anymore. No, but he was there for a long time. And he was, he was, I have to admit, like, when you used to go to the Metalands, they had such little going on as far as, like, fan engagement.

Yeah. Like, to have him get, like, like, he'd legit get real, real chance. He was a total, yeah, he was a total thing. The Islanders, obviously, the SUV. The Islanders is the same old drunk guy that I keep on seeing in the upper deck where it's like, no matter what's going on, it could be like 17 to one Islanders and there's just one guy going, flyer, Cap'i. The Flyers have the sign guy. Who's the sign guy? The dude who stands up behind the goalies with signs.

Oh, Dallas has that. guy too. I thought it was a flyer's dude that does it though. Dallas has a guy, oh, what does the sign say? It's like a hashtag. It's like, he's wearing a jacket man? He's wearing like a jacket. He's wearing like a jacket. Like that's his thing. It might be. Oh yeah, we should totally rank these one day. We should do like a vice sports yahoo co-opted like the piece. The Blackhawks have that dude who shows up in a Nazi uniform. Wait, I'm sorry, that's Bobby Hall. Right. Yeah, he's actually not a fan. He's an ambassador. He's an ambassador for the team who thinks Hitler has a lot of good day. I didn't know that until that day. Barry, Barry from Deadspin tweeted out the thing. I, I, I, I, I, I

I was like, wait, he's, he's doing, nope, he's not doing a bit. That's a real thing he once said in the 90s, the 80s. Ah, this sport, man. Him and Patrick Kane should go on a tour and do speaking engagements. What is jig douche? So I just put the question out to our listeners. Jigdush apparently is a guy who's a Blackhawks fan who does a jig. Why is he jig duch?

No, I think they don't like him. He's probably they're dancing Larry. Blackhawks. That's what we should do is figure. out like if fans actually like the towel guy. I don't know. He's throwing towels. He's pretty smart. I got the sense. Towel guy they probably like. There we go. Okay, where we go.

Blackhawks, Chicago Blackhawks fan Blackhawks jig man dances in the aisles. Chris Pisani is known amongst fans as the man who has performed his uniquely goofy jig at dozens of Hawks games for the past

five seasons while I'm shipping up to Boston by the drop kick Murphy's blairs over the United States. Oh, I would just throw myself off the upper deck. Wait, what you're telling me this only started five years ago. What a shock that a Blackhawks fan just showed up recently and started to do a thing. Wow, never would have guessed that. Apparently the Winnipeg Jets have a dancing Gabe.

So is a dancing guy? Like half of them are probably just dancing dudes who just one time got on camera and they just kept going back to him and he's got season tickets and... Oh, the penguins have that lady that's always knitting. And they also had the whole clothing guy, but he passed away. answer. Oh, that guy was awesome. That guy was absolutely. Remember it was him in Hartnell, right? They got into it that one time. Oh, God, that guy was great. All right, well, there you go. Listen, if you, if you listen to this podcast, as you often do, and you want to chime in with your unofficial fan mascots, then hit us a Puckoo podcast and then hashtag it.

Fan, Fan, Scott. Fan Scott? Man, man, oh, I get it. Mask, mascot. He, fan mascot. Fan mascot. Can't think of anything clever. You know nothing good. Fan mascot. And tell us if you like that particular mascot too. Yeah, and tell us whether or not you actually like that person.

What's the feeling on that? All right. Coming up, we're going to talk about Austin Matthews. We're going to talk about, um... What else we got to talk about? Oh, yeah, the All-Star game. We're going to talk about, um, a lot of stuff. We're not going to talk about Rogue One yet, though.

Peak TV. I'm going to get around to that this week. Unexpected food pleasures. So we're looking at like another. You've already seen how long this podcast is because you've already downloaded and looked at it, but we're looking at probably like, what, three, three and a half today? Southwest Airlines. Southwest Airlines.

But coming up, Titus O'Neill, W.WE. Superstar will join us. He's a huge Tampa Bay Lightning fan. Literally. Very big. Yeah, he benched me. And he was nice enough to join us. Not us. I wasn't around.

Sorry, Lozo Free interview. Join me in the Bowels of Barkley Center before a WBE House show. Oh, that's where you did it? And by the way, this was taped at the end of December, so this was before Raw this week where he had some kind of an angle with New Day. But we actually talk about New Day at the end of the episode for the wrestling fans that would care about this sort of thing. But yeah, anyway, here he is. Titus O'Neill. Enjoy. You're on a hockey podcast because you're a hockey fan. How did you become a lightning fan? Is it a Tampa thing or was it a hockey thing?

Kind of both. I used to do a lot of charity work with the Lightning. and I still do and I just had a great respect for the organization from that aspect of it and even when they switched to owners like the new owner we have now Mr. Vittick, he's awesome

and very charitable and very committed to the Tampa Bay community and the whole downtown area or the Channelside area like he's revitalized that area and he has a lot of great plans but uh you know i met coach cooper when he first got you know got the job and uh we met at an event called sneaker sforay swera and we just instantly hit it off and uh you know we were

just i told him a little bit about my past and how i got into wrestling and he told me how he got into hockey he was a club coach right you know he's a lawyer by trade and uh and you know he he didn't he didn't It's not something he wanted to do full time. He was just kind of standing in for some guys, and the next thing, you know, he gets offered a job at a minor league team, and they do decent, but not, you know, they weren't world beaters. Right. So you're like both work your way up kind of guys.

Yeah. You're not legacy guys. No, no, not at all. Yeah, coming from completely backgrounds that have nothing to do with what we do now. Yeah. And he's a great family man, too. wife is awesome I've actually

the last time we were going to Chicago I was pulling into the airport and he came up he was like oh Titus you know where were you last night because they had a game I was like I just got home

and I was tired he's like oh you know I'll be there and I was like what are you doing here and he said I just dropped my wife off or whatever and I was like oh where she had he's like oh michigan to like a class reunion or whatever and i was like oh okay cool i'm going to chicago next thing i know she's on my flight like from alana to this oh this is pretty cool so we took a picture together nice i say y'all she's in good hands yeah i don't have any

worries i saw a video of you and him talking after i think he was in your like you're kind of in your corner i don't know if that was an honorary thing or an actual thing at your match but he uh i'm looking at it i'm like you throw a sequin jacket on that guy and he's a 1980s manager. He is, because you can talk to talk, he's got the look, you know he's got the swagger, that's what he is. He's a wrestling manager. Yeah, he's a

very, very charismatic guy, outgoing, could easily, easily fit in with the locker room here, which is probably why I want that the guys love playing for him so much there. I mean, he's like the perfect fit for Tampa, you know,

just the mindset of Tampa, just like you know, we like to have fun. want to win, we want to have fun winning. And just the whole culture that's been developed there since he's been there, even before he got there, but he kind of expanded on that. And, you know, playoff pushes pretty much every year he's been there and been in the finals. And it's been very good. I've been really appreciative of the Tampa fan experience. Because since they've gotten good, like I've gotten a chance to go down there more. And like the fact that there's the big viewing party and the courtyard in front of the arena, the fact that the bar on the side of the,

the arena. Have you ever seen the Dunkin' Donut experience? No, what's the Duncan Donut experience? So they do like this big lightning bolt on, especially in the playoffs. Yeah. And they just have donuts that are shaped on a lightning boat. And it's like hundreds. Where's it? They do it like on the on the on the courtyard. Oh yeah? Yeah. And it's crazy man. You just go out there and you get your donut and you just and you just grab the donut. Yeah. That's pretty cool. It's pretty down. That's what's talking about it. It's like it's like a small. town thing. We're like, you know, all the people come out, they come, they bring their lawn chairs,

they watch the game, they go to the bar across the way, they pack that place. But at the same time, it's like, it's such a hockey town. Like, like, people know the game, they love the game, they get the name on the back of the jersey. It's a really cool vibe in the sense that it does capture, you know, what I think is a very educated fan base, but at the same time it sort of has that sort of small town community vibe. Well, I think, like I said, I think they're.

commitment to the community has a lot to do with that. And the players, man, like Ben Bishop and all them guys, man, they're just cool-ass guys that you want to hang out with, like, you know, you ask them for a picture or autograph or whatever, you know, they're very, very down-the-earth guys. And, you know, they enjoy actually being out in the community, which, and a lot of times, like, you know, I've worked with some athletes or been to different. charity events and things like that and some people were there because they were paid to be there right people were there because they were kind of dragged there or whatever but these guys genuinely love

being there right and they're very interactive with everybody you know from young to old and and and that's why i'm so committed to supporting them and my kids are too yeah it's like you know they treat my kids like like their own you know they go in the locker room they fix me if i'm any protein shake or whatever really get that, you know, whatever I want. You know, it's kind of like... I don't know, man. Your body is a different body type than most hockey players, I think. I think the hockey player is a little bit more live than you are. Yeah, yeah, a lot lighter.

But when they're on them skates, man, they make me look like an elf. Well, Victor Hedbin, man. He's already he's already six, like six, seven, six eight. He's going to skates. He's all right. He's a big dude. Yeah. Now, there's sort of a hockey wrestling romance that occurs that we've discovered not only,

I mean, there's a lot of crossover in the fan base to begin with, but like there's a lot of wrestlers, probably most of the Canadians that are hockey fans. And a lot of hockey guys that are wrestling fans. You find that to be true? I do. I do. I think it's just, I think our locker rooms are almost like the same.

Yeah. You know, very close-knit, you know, we don't bother nobody. We don't go out and do, you know, it's like it's, I want to say, because we're out there beating the hell out of each other. Right. You know, and they're out there beating the hell out of other people. Right. It's very physical sport.

Nobody understands it, like, why would you want to go out and get hit with a stick or why would you want to skate on the, then lay the ice, you know, and things like that? Why would you want to get thrown on concrete? Why would you, why you want to fight on skate? Skates and ice where you can get hit with a stick or a puck that can come at you, you know, crazy and knock your teeth out. And they say the same thing about WWE and superstars of WWE. Why would you be in a cage match?

Why would you get hit with a chair? Why would you go off the top of the ring rope and collapse onto a table? It's true. And I think that carries over to the fans. I think hockey fans are kind of frowned upon by like the ESPN crowd. I think wrestling fans... The same? It kind of goes up and down, right, with wrestling.

I mean, there are sometimes a wrestling is like the zeitgeist. It's like the most popular thing. And then there are times when it's sort of frowned upon a little bit more. And so I think there's a kinship there too. It's like we all wear our gear. The hockey fans wear their gear to games. More than maybe they're not any other sport. And it's the same thing with wrestling fans.

You walk around this arena or at Barclays tonight. You walk around this arena and people are wearing championship belts and all kinds of thing. It's pretty similar, I think. You talk about your kids. Now, I find it interesting. So you are in a very physical sport. Your hockey fan, that's a very physical sport. How do you feel about your guys?

kids getting into contact sports now that we know a little bit more about and football too, I'm leaving this out, you're a football player for the Gators, right? Like, all these things that we know about the physicality of sports, the effects for kids getting into it, how have

you dealt with that as a father, being involved in two pretty fixed physical sports? Yeah, well, my kids play everything and they're not forced to play sports. They want to play sports. They're very competitive. They're tremendous athletes. Tremendous people, more importantly than they're all athletes. But, you know, I think, you know, in regards to, like, Little League sports especially,

middle school and even high school, I think it's more of a concern of mind that the quality of coaching and putting them in positions where they're actually learning the right way to do things than the actual severity of the injuries that can come along with it. Because the reality of it is that they could be playing a pickup basketball game in Tier de ACL. Yeah. They could go, you know, to – I could take it. take them to extreme adventures and we could be playing laser tag and you know they could you know literally get their arm cut off by a laser yeah yeah it's not that much we won't get that

extreme uh but uh you know it's it's one of those things where like i've been an athlete my entire life and it for me uh i feel like sports is one of the greatest ways to help mold people yeah you know a model not just from a physical standpoint, but more importantly, like how to work with other people from different backgrounds, how to be on a team, how to be committed to one thing, how to learn simple things like being disciplined, being on time, you know, being accountable, being personable, you know, with various people from all walks of life. Yeah. And, you know, I think that that's, I think that's the emphasis that I look at when I look at sports more so than the actual competitive. Like, I am competitive and I want my kids to be competitive. They are. But I want them to learn how to lose. I want them to learn how to win with class, lose with class. I want them to learn how to compete at the right way, not cheat. You know what? And, and, and, or at least not let the refs see it. Yeah, yeah. Well, they can cheat, but there's an illegal way of cheating. Because if you ain't, because if you ain't cheating, you ain't trying. Exactly. This is a life lesson from wrestling.

Exactly, yeah. I wanted to ask you this because I was reading about your background of football. What was it like to hit Peyton Manning? Not just hit Peyton Manning, but hit Peyton Manning maybe at his most loathsome as a Tennessee volunteer, which I think is when we all wanted to hit him. Yeah, it was, yeah, it was one of the greatest highlights of all my sports career. Just simply because, you know, we're in front of the night. 95,000 people and I'm sacking, you know, the Peyton Manning.

Twice. Yeah. Twice. Which was sweeter, the first of the second time? They both were good. Yeah, those were bad. Even when I was just hitting him, even when I was saying, just hitting him, you know, or when he throws a pick and I get to knock him on his ass, you know, because he's legal then.

Right. You know, those are, like, you, as an athlete, you want to compete against the best. you know and Peyton Manning's definitely one of the best of all time both collegiately and professionally and uh uh yeah a funny story Peyton was actually my host coming to Tennessee really right and you're like I don't want to hang out with him no I love hanging out with him but he kind of dished me for a friend no of the female persuasion and so Leonard Little ended up having to take over for him on my visit plus I I got snowed in the day that I was supposed to leave to go back home to Florida.

So I say, yeah, Tennessee is definitely not going to be on the list. Exactly. You can't snow and getting snubbed. Yeah. Same thing happened in Ohio State. Oh, yeah, Orlando Paisal was my host and had a great time. And the day I was supposed to leave, snowed in. I was like, all right, I won't be here. It's funny.

Yeah. That's real funny. Back to the hockey thing because I didn't figure out. So Tampa thing was one thing, but what is it about hockey that you loved? I like the physicality of it. I think they're tremendous athletes. They are tremendous athletes. So you would be a fighting guy.

I would definitely be a fighting guy. Yeah. Yeah, I'm not, I mean, I'm not a finesse guy by any. You can tell it by my wrestling style. But I just like the physicality and the grace that, like, to be on, be going that fast, you know, and the hit a puck that small and be, know where you are and an awareness and all that stuff. It's like an endurance of the sport and agility that those guys display.

Like, I've just, I've always been a fan of athletic movements, you know. There's a certain, like you said, a certain grace to it, which is remarkable when you consider how big those guys are. Yeah, it's an art form. It's like going to a WWE event and watching a guy like Braun Strowman or the big show run, you know, or a big show get up on the top rope and come off the top. You know, like, that's not something you see on a regular day-to-day basis. It's a guy that's seven-foot tall, you know, close to 500 pounds. Yep. Like moving the way that they move.

Very agile, quick movements. And that's the same way with hockey players. Like, it's just something that you can't see on a regular basis. What do you think about the fan experience going to those games in Tampa? It's awesome. They do a very, very good job with keeping the fans involved. and having different contests and making the experience, you know, more than just about the game of hockey.

It really truly is an experience from what happens between periods to what happened when you first get there. And, you know, Sonia Bryson sings the national anthem. So they're accustomed to seeing her sing the national anthem every game. And it's like, now it's like families just, oh yeah, this is about to happen. And the kids know, oh, she's going to say, and this is going to happen, and this is going to happen. How long you live in Tampa for?

I've been there since 2004. Okay, so you were there right when they win. Yes. And then they go through some weird times. Yeah, tough. But you've sort of been there through the growth of this generation of fans. Have you been surprised by how many lightning fans there are now? No, because they had a, I mean, Tampa is one of those cities that when you're winning,

they come out in droves. Yeah. And they did the same thing for the bucks, you know, for a while, you know, especially when the bucks were kind of like teetering down. But here recently, you know, the bucks were on the street and they were coming out and supporting them at Ray J big time. You know, and it's the same way with the Raids when the Raids were making their push. You know, Tampa wants winners, you know. Every, every, every, every city and, you know, state want, they want winners. But it's one of the things that, like, it really is one of the greatest places to have sports franchise.

Now, they used to have a wrestler hanging around there that we probably don't want hanging around in there anymore for those games. Yeah. Now, do you think you've earned the right to be the official wrestling associate of the Lightning? Kind of like how Chicago's got one, and I guess Winnipeg's got Jericho. Yeah, yeah, I am. Yeah, yeah. You're synonymous? Yeah, yeah, very, very easily. You've reached Liberty fan status?

Yeah, yeah, I've been social media captains several times. I've helped them get other social media captains, you know, involved. and like I say, I'm very involved in charity work in the Tampa Bay Area. And so, yeah, they, and I actually got voted, you know, one of the top ten most intriguing people here recently in Tampa. Nice. For the year. So it's pretty, I think I've established myself as a staple there. Did you think that Stamcoast was going to leave or do you think he was going to stick around?

No, I thought he was, well, I thought he would stick around. but also know the business of sports, yeah, yeah. We're all trying to make a living. He was doing more than making a living, but obviously, you know, money taught us with any situation. Yeah, and I mean, I guess you stay, you take a little less, and you kind of send the message.

We've got something here. Yeah. All right, real quick on the wrestling front. So you had, you and Darren had the primetime players thing for about over two years. Yeah, it was like maybe four years. Four years? Wow.

Yeah. Well, yeah, when you came on and off. Yeah, yeah, easily four. What's it like when you know you got something cooking finally, when you know that you're getting over? It's fun. Yeah, man, it's fun. Do you know what it's getting, like, when do you know it's getting over?

When your music hits, some people are cheering. When there's a reaction? Or they're booing, yeah. One of the two. I enjoy both, so it was hard to, like, we didn't even really, the company never really officially made as baby faces. Kind of, you know, the crowd did that. And they just, like, put us out in a random match one night

versus the real Americans. And the crowd was behind us, like, right then. And didn't have to do any turning or anything. So it was actually very cool. But like I said, when you're... It's much like the New Day, the New Day started off as heels. And, you know, they were so entertaining that people started liking them.

and then you become the longest reigning WW tag team champion. Right, which is, I was going to ask you by that because that's not something you can predict. That's three guys that had varying degrees of success. And they had a gimmick that is so counter to what you'd expect their push to be. Like most guys look like you, right?

Yeah, yeah. You know, and they, it was so, off beat and so off the expectations that I feel like maybe that's how it worked. Well, I give them all that credit. Yeah. You know, they literally took something that was really failing and made it into something that was just the best thing that our company had offered for a while. Yeah.

In the form of not only an athletic spectacle, but also an entertainment. and very fun to watch, you know, and just three, you know, I take pride in the fact that these are three college-educated, you know, growing up and, you know, watching WWE, we didn't see any minorities on television that had high success. Right. We're about the same age. Yeah. So, like, you saw a guy with a dog collar. Yes. I mean, we've come a pretty long way before that with a guy with a dog collar to the new.

Well, now you got a guy with a dog bark. Right. So I don't know how far we've come. Well, at least you get to wear the belts will occasionally now, right? Yeah, mine is more from my fraternity. Right, right. And a lot of people know that. But, yeah, the evolution of the minority athlete,

not just African-American, but the women, and the Latinos and every other race that we have, because we have people from all walks of life. But the evolution of the characters that are being portrayed on television is so much better. You know, now we still, I feel like have a long ways to go because we can do more than saying dance and be fools. But, you know, you're looking at a group in a new day that, you know, together they're all college-graduate, college-educated man with degrees. I have degrees from the University of Florida and you just look down the roster

and from me looking at it it's like okay these guys are having fun and you got Kofi who's a great father and Big E who's just like that ultimate single guy who just goes home and goes asleep and then you got Xavier who's a big gamer and he's like got things going on kind of

and everywhere. Yeah. And I think him and his wife are expecting their first child as well. That's cool. And so it's like, you know, you see all these successful

individuals that are just so happen to be minorities. And, uh, from, like I say, from my standpoint, I sit back and I take a lot of,

a lot of pride in that, you know. And we're getting there in hockey. I mean, the fan base for the most part, and a lot of the players, and it's like looking at a glacier sometimes.

But, you know, it's, it's, about, like, I've always said to people that talk about the racial makeup of fan base and the racial makeup of the league, which is that it's about representation, it's about having a chance

to see someone who looks like you and knowing that that's achievable. And so is there more players that are coming from a disparate number of areas, California, you know, Seth Jones was from Texas, you know, and so it's like, it's getting better. Part of the problem is, though, like, someone like you grew up

to play football, like there's got to be more kids that decided to play hockey, and I don't think they really figured out how to crack that code? Well, I think they have to do, I think it's much, much like WWE, you know, we've, I think, I feel like we've actively recruited people from all walks of life, you know, to become a part of this where probably back in the days, like, it was a very exclusive group of individuals, and they had their set of rules and nobody came in and things like that.

Right. Now it's just a whole, it's a different company. It's a different, it's a whole different, it's a whole different. from makeup. It's so much bigger now. And it's a publicly traded company and a PG product. So we're doing so many things that like we're never done back in those days. And you take social media and you blend that in with it and you have the WW network and just all these things that have kind of helped this company kind of get away from some of the stereotypical things. And like I say, I still feel like we have so much more room to grow, you know, not just from a, a, a

product standpoint, but from a corporate standpoint, and I hope to be part of that, you know, transition. Thank you to Titus O'Neill, whose hands are bigger than my car. You're lucky I wasn't here, Titus, because you know I would have pinned you in, like, three seconds. I'm telling fun stories about Peyton Manning and fun stories about his lightning fandom. And I agree with him, Dave Loso, that John Cooper may be the single greatest candidate in hockey to have been a 1980s wrestling manager, a great.

great hype man. A guy, much like Jimmy Hart that you could see, jumping on the apron to distract someone, and then getting a five-knuckle shuffle sandwich right in the face, but his guy rolls up that guy for the pin. Come on. John Cooper, John Cooper's too nice. Like, John Tortoella would be the guy who would hit you with the steel chair while the referee was distracted by something else. Like, that's John Cooper's. Dude, I've watched a lot of wrestling, and I'm going to tell you right now. John Cooper's a manager. John Totorella is the color man, unlike Raw, who's, who's like, feigning outrage about things. Come on.

Come on, Shiki. You can't be doing that. Come on. This is why America's better than you, I ran. My God. And of course, Ken Hitchcock is Paul Bearer. Oh. Aren't Paul Bearer?

He's dead, by the way. And the, and the, uh, oh, what was the guy's name? He was, he was some other character before that, wasn't he? Well, he was, his name was Percy Pringle in another. No one was it. You're thinking of Brother Love? He wasn't Brother Love. Yeah.

He was a different guy. I love you. Brother Love actually introduced him to wrestling, I think, or introduced him to the WW. It's great that you knew exactly who I was talking about, though. Me and my extensive wrestling knowledge. The St. Louis Blues are going to win this game, and I was told I should wear this.

Was he like a manager of somebody? Or do you just sound like a show? No, Brother Love. I think he might have managed a tag team at one point, but yeah, that was such a bizarre thing. It was like, it was back in the day where Vince is like, Vince is like, what are people talking about? Mr. McMahon, Jerry Falwell seems to be the news.

Can you imagine that pitch? He goes into that office and he's talking normally like himself. He's like, Vince, thank you very much for seeing me. I'm a big, big, big fan of what you do here. And here's my idea for my character. And he turns around and covers his face and gets in the character. And he just turns around and just goes, I love you. And Vince goes, hire this man.

How? I also love the opposite, which is when a guy comes in to talk to Vince, he's like, hey, just want to let you know, like, I've been busting my ass for the last 10 years. I'm the circuit man. Working the Indies, working overseas. I really appreciate getting this opportunity. You're going to be a garbage man. All right, but, I mean, I don't know.

All right, fine. How about a race car driver named Spark E. Plug? And then there's that great documentary called, I think it's called Behind the Matter, Behind the Matter, Behind the Matter. what it was called, but they did the behind the mat's actually a gay porno. Oh, oh, very nice. Beyond the mats are wrestling documentary.

Two different. Both have entertainment value, I'm saying, but you're talking beyond, just to say. Oh, Ryan Fitzpatrick and Patrick Fitz Ryan. They had the dude who was hired his gimmick was he vomited on command. Oh, dude.

Yeah, that was his gimmick. He's dead now, too, like most wrestlers from like the 80s and 90s are, but like, His thing was he vomited on command. Did you see the guy, he's an American, he wrestles in Japan, and his finishing move is grabbing the guy by the dick and dick slamming him? Oh, my God, this sport, quote sport. Dude, like, they're running out of finishing moves, obviously. We already have a DDT, a torture rack, a figure four, a atomic leg drop, a superfly from the

top rope. What's your favorite finishing move? I like the figure four leg lock the most. Well, I mean, that's a classic, and I actually admit to perform. the figure four leg lock on classmates in the elementary school library absolutely um dick the bruiser oh it's different guy is from like the 50s or something give give me the classic stone cold stunner slash RKO from randy orton slash diamond cutter from dallas page the finishing move that can come out of nowhere at any point during the match the DDT was like that too something that you just don't expect coming not one of these things where it's like a a fucking hour long setup from john scene as he runs back and forth in the ropes and drops a fist and then he's going to do another thing and another thing.

This guy's name is Joey Ryan and the story says, in a major dick move, get it. Oh, Jesus. Wrestler Joey Ryan used his penis to straight up take down his opponent. I've never seen a male appendage used for so much entertainment and I've been to actual sex shows. Congrats, Mr. Ryan.

Go to the 21 second mark and you can see Joey Ryan flip the other wrestler using his dick. Where's that from Reader's Digest? Uh, it's actually on Jerry Fallwall.com. That's weird. I just Google and that was the first, that was the first result. Like, it just, wait, what was your, oh, so you like the figure four. I like to figure, yeah, the figure four.

Like, I remember the thing was, too, like, I couldn't figure out, like, the, the, the, the positioning of the feet and, like, you know, like, you know, like, you know, your friends just like, I don't want to do this. And you're like, wait, hold on. If your leg goes, and, like, one day, I just, I walked it in. And he's like, you went from like, this is, no, no. No. Oh, let me go. Let me go! And I'm like laughing maniacically.

The top the floor. The two things about the figure four, though, are it is the one move that carries a risk with it. Oh. Because if your opponent is able to flip his body over onto his belly, he can then, do you know about this? No. This is wrestling lore. If your opponent is able to flip it over on his belly and then put you on your belly, you're married in like 42 states?

What is this? You reverse the polarity of the figure. 4. You are then the one to receive the pain. The polarity. That's what happens. Like they're fucking ghost busters. They cross the streams. The other thing about the figure 4 is that it became one of these moves that

when in the hands of someone like Rick Flair or Greg Bihammer-Valentine was a finishing move but then like other people would do it and it would just be like a rest hold until someone got to the ropes and grabbed the ropes and made them over. Yeah. And it became a thing where it's like you see this move done by others

like it's the single most, like you could cripple man and then someone else does it it's like why is he why is he it's taking so he it's five minutes of him inching his ass back to grab the rope but he's not crippled at all they're both like on their back they're basically scissoring at the end of it and in my brain i'm like well that's because rick flare like went to tibet and learned the figure four and shit while this other guy is just trying to pretend to do it he went on a spiritual journey to find the greatest wrestling finishing move possible please tell me how to do this you you will be trained in mind and body and then you're just going to, like, twist the guy's legs into a pretzel, that's it.

He meets with Tilda Swinton from Dr. Strange. She's like, you must know the ways of mysticism. He's like, woo, I can't wait to learn about mysticism. See how I was picturing more like Christian Bell going up the mountain to meet in Liam Neeson? You will harness your fear. Well, I got something to tell you, man. Rise our gold is dead. Woo!

And that's J.J. Walker, going to the top of the man. To learn. My JJ Walker is my Rick Flair, is my Dusty Roads, except my Dusty Roads is less Yelly. Rick Flair. Woo! Style the profiling! Dusty Roads.

Let me tell you something, Rick Flair. I'm the Boogie Wooker Man. It's not with Dusty Roads. That's exactly what. Dusty Roads sounded like that, but with a list. It's like, Rick Flare, let me say you something right now. This is about, they stubby with this woman in Pocodas behind me. I don't know why.

It's almost like you're doing Eddie Murphy doing Bill Cosby. Eddie Murphy doing Bill Cosby doing Dusty Roads with a Lisp. I like to talk to you about the figure four. Look, say, I got the center of pudding right here. That color watch is the best way to get the figure four on the camera. I should be so pissed at your dissection of my impressions, but I find it fascinating that someone cares that much. The thing about your impressions is, like, they sometimes sound like the guy you're doing. like Babcock sounds exactly like Babcock

but the other one sound nothing like the guy you're doing but exactly like somebody else who you who's definitely famous it's so weird So in the end of catch I'm capturing the spirit of the thing Is what you're trying to say right Like you're doing like a Bill Clinton impression I'm like no wait that's Tom Hanks

That's not that's not Phil Clinton at all Here's my Bill Clinton impression Wait that's actually that's Dorothy from the Wizard of Eyes That's not even close but it sounds exactly like Dorothy Dorothy or Patrick Liney Oh, by the way, kudos to everybody who loved our Patrick Lone impressions last week. That went over really big. You know, I don't like to brag about my game.

I go out there. I try the hardest that I can do and just hope that I can win. But as you know, I invented 3D TV, and I deserve all the credit in the world for that. You know, I do what I can. I play with the game as well as I can. I try to keep it with Austin Matthews as best as I can. But, of course, sometimes I dive into my Scrooge McDuck bin of monies and swim around for a while and whatever

with my giant 17-inch penis but you know I just want to stay humble I don't want to go out there and try to make it about me I want to do everything I can to help the team win I want to do good back check I want to play very well on the offensive zone

when I won the Oscar in 1995 for Philadelphia it was a great honor and I had much much sex with three-somes with Antonio Bandaris and his wife and at the end of the day though I just want to help the Jets win.

You know, I play as well as I can. I shoot the puck as well as I can. I do what I can for my teammates. And I try to make my country feeling as happy as they can be in following me here in the NHL. But, you know, I do have a vacation home on Titan, the largest moon of Saturn. Not a lot of people know this, but before I was drafted, I worked really hard. I wanted to get very good at my game.

I wanted to play very well. I was able to a workout at home in a facility because I invented the button-fly gene. I sold the patent to Levi's and now I'm over here playing hockey in the regular jeans, though. It's very nice. All right. Listen to me. I'm going to talk about Southwest Airlines for a second. The best airline.

Sponsor us. I hope they do sponsor us. I mean, I... They're not going to after the next five minutes. I... No, it's about me. It ain't about them. It's about me.

I mean, they give you a little... They give you great Wi-Fi to watch programs on your mobile. device as opposed to a television in the seat in front of you. Rewards people that check in right away than 24 hours before. Right. Listen to me though. Come on. This is what talking about. I don't have a lot of anxiety in life. Okay, maybe I do, but not a lot of like crippling anxiety. But I get really nervous going to the airport because I don't like when the timing of things is completely out of my control. And like, you're at the will of the security line, although not as much, because I anti-depp and got the TSN pre-check thing,

which I greatly recommend anybody. TSA. Sorry to say TSA. Jesus Christ. I got the CBC thing that lets me go right through security. Yeah, James Duffy meets you and then take you through security. TSA pre-check. So then I got that.

But I get really nervous because I don't know how anything is going to go. The flights might be delayed, whatever. So I have a lot of anxiety to begin with going to the airport. Now then on top of that, you go to Southwest, and you don't even have a seat number. or a row or nothing. You just go and like I don't, I never fly it. So I don't know about pre-check-in.

So I'm like, I'm looking at this. I'm like, I'm like, beetle juice in the waiting room. I'm like, looking at my ticket. I'm like number three billion, right? And I'm looking at this thing. It's like, I'm like, like, group C number 33. And I got a wheelie bag. I'm like, how's that going to happen?

Yeah, it's bad. Like, so I got, I already have anxiety about the airport. And I got anxiety that's comparable to the anxiety, anxiety I feel when you go to a movie on opening night and you got to get there in the afternoon or else you're going to be sitting in front of the screen and you don't want to do that. So that's why I am

also the anxiety of going on a really like a sold-out train too and trying to find a seat. Like I prefer assigned seating in every way, shape, and form in life I prefer assigned seating. But you like to freestyle it, I suppose. It's not freestyling. It's it rewards the people that check in right away.

It's like a game almost where... Of Thrones? In a way, your seat is your throne. So Southwest Airlines is as close as you can get to being in a battle for a game of Thrones. But yeah, like I... When once the last time I flew South West? I flew to Vegas in the summer. And I remember I was at a blackjack table at my buddy, really drunk.

And I got the email notification midhand that took out my phone. You can't take your phone out at the blackjack table. And then like, I just, you know, checked in. got like B1 or whatever and it's awesome it's it's it's it's the most democratic way of checking it on a flight I appreciate the fact

that when you go to a Southwest flight you don't get 75 different things before the first normal people are called yes premium members gold members platinum members members who are on the copper list members who are on the aluminum list it's like that key and feel

sketch yeah that yeah that whole thing It's so it's like, I appreciate that, but I still, I got on the plane and I literally grabbed the first aisle seat that I could find every single time because I just was so nervous that I was going to get shut out. I was nervous that it was nervous that it was musical chairs. So you guys were nervous like, I was going to be the last person without a seat and I'm walking up and down the aisle looking around for a seat and the stortis is like, you have to leave. You didn't get a chair. That's not how it works. I know, but I was worried. But you got your aisle seat though, even though you were C-33?

Yeah. There you go. Is that good? Yes. All right. Isle seat? Isle seat is the way you want to go on a flight? You go aisle seat over window? What if you want to get some z? It depends. If it's like a red eye, I want the window.

If it's just like a regular like hour flight to Toronto in the middle of the day, I'd rather. Yeah, because you and I are both kind of tall. So like an aisle seat is obviously preferable. Although, oh my God, if you fall asleep in the aisle and you're like a gangly six-foot three guy like me and your leg is out there, I had a woman hit me with the cart so hard in my left foot once when I was flying this summer. Oh, it's the worst. But I pee a lot, so I want to have access. If I may, I respect the hell out of the flight attendance and that job.

It's a thankless job in many ways. You have to do with a lot of horrible people and assholes and the hours, I'm sure, are not friendly and you don't get to see your family all the time. I respect that. However, on every flight that I've taken recently, there's always one member of the flight crew who feels it is his or her need. Not going to be gender specific here. Mostly her. his or her need to tell you

to do things when you're abiding by all the rules Give me an example of this My bag is fine under the chair It's fine And no one is being bothered by it Well that's where it's supposed to be Yeah

But they're like Under your chair Under the chair in front of me Okay Could you Could you please put your bag Further in please? Like no

It's fine where it is And then the other thing that's happened to me Both ways to St. Louis This might be a southwest thing People telling me that my chair is back like no I'm just fat and the chair goes back normally that's not how the chair works

it's like I'm a big guy and the chair goes back and they're like you move your chair I'm like no I didn't touch the damn thing and if it was already down guess who that's on you guys for not putting it back in the proper placement before I got on this plane there's really nothing worse than a woman tapping you on the shoulder and telling you that something's not in deep enough

I see I see where you're going I see where this all starts from she just means the bag Greg that's it this isn't this isn't commentary on anything else. Yeah. Could you put it in a little deeper, sir? That's as deep as it goes.

Mm-hmm. And then she tells you where the bag to deposit your fluids is. And it's like, what? It's weird. Sit up straight and put it in deeper. That's, you know, hey, posture. Posture matters. She's like, if this thing drops down during it, you need to put it around your mouth.

I'm like, what the fuck are you even talking about now? Zanomorph? And, hey, before we take off, can you please take your headphones out? I want you to listen to the instructions. They're very important. All right. The NHL announced the four captains for the All-Star game

since we've last done our last show. Obviously, we predicted this. No chicanery whatsoever this year as far as John Scott-type people. Carrie Price for the Atlantic an All-Star captain, but can't be a captain in real life. Sidney Crosby for the

Metro P.K. Subban for the Central and Connor McDavid for Pacific. So all the people that voted for Carrie Price then also cast a ballot for PK.C. Suban and that's where you get both those guys in there and obviously Sid and Connor are like super popular. But I mean, I wish I could tell you more, but the NHL has once again decided never to release their voting totals

anymore, which tells you that nobody gives a shit and they're embarrassed to release the voting totals. Oh, you think because they're just not super high? They're not super high. It's going to reveal... They used to give out press releases that were like, you know, you know Patrick Kane sets voting record

yeah that one year when there was like like four or five of the six starters were Blackhawks I remember there were totals with that they always used to do that and they don't do it anymore and they sure shit didn't do it last year with the John Scott stuff you know why they don't do it I bet is because players I don't think it's because the totals are too low I feel like it's going to be insulting to the players

because like P.K. Subban will have 10 million votes and then like Shea Weber will have four million and they don't want to upset the players that does feel like a very sort of players thing like just like how on NHL.com you can't be overly critical of anybody. Yeah. That sounds very much like an NHLPA thing that you mentioned it.

That feels like that, yeah. Right. And also much like we don't want to do the fantasy draft anymore because somebody has to be last the fantasy draft. Right. What are you going to give him a car? Oh great. They already have a car.

They need a car. They're really embarrassed. Jeff Skinner only got 75 votes. We don't want to embarrass Jeff Skinner on the website. On the website. On the worldwide website. What do you think about the All-Strike game this year? Where are you at on it?

Are you excited for three-on-three with all these youngans? Yeah. Because I think it's going to be fun. I think the gameplay will be better this year than last. and you're going to have an infusing the game of McDavid and Matthews and Linae and all these guys that'll be like flying around the ice. It should be fun. That's the part I care about is the young guys. Like there's not going to be any fun John Scott thing or anything like that.

And, you know, I've seen three out of three over time. I understand how it works. So, like, getting the chance to see, like, the super good young guys who are in Canada that you don't get to see all the time is going to be the best part. And maybe Sid might actually go, right? As a captain? I mean, he might have to. I mean, you didn't get picked last year, allegedly. He probably got picked, I just didn't want to go.

Of course. 2015, he had a, quote, injury to the lower body. Whoa, catching some wind from your mothra-like wings on those air quotes you're making over there. Injury. And then the rest of the time he was, like, incust and couldn't go. But, like, now I feel like he kind of is due to go. It's the 100th year. That's the thing.

That's why he goes. He goes because it is a game in L.A. I'm sure Sid would like to go to L.A. Sure. And it is a game in which they're going to review. the top 100 players of all time on which Sidney Crosby will undoubtedly be one. I think the NHL will piggyback on the Hollywood thing and change a sign to Hockeywood. Wait.

Hockeywood. Do you remember that story about, I think it was either Jonathan Quick or Bernier. I forget which one it was, but they had hockey wood on their mask and they had to change it. Because it's actually a trademark violation to fuck around with the Hollywood sign on any, like, like wearable thing or whatever. Yeah, so they weren't allowed to put hockey wood on their helmets. So that's not really an H. LATL.

Sad thing. It's more just the trademark copyright. Yeah, trademark copyright thing. General thing. Okay, so much for that. It should be a fun time. I mean, so it'll go, whatever. It'll be cool.

Let's talk about Austin Matthews for a second. Who had, you know, listen, I, I'm trying people. What's wrong? What's wrong, buddy? I love Austin. He's an American, so everything he does. It's great for American hockey But like he made a great pass the other day

In a game against the Capitals And my feed lit up with Leaves fans saying Pass of the year pass of the decade Pass of the this pass of the death I'm like you know and it's like You knew this was coming though Once Toronto got good you knew this was gonna happen I freely admit I wrote about this this week

I freely admit that he was underrated as a goal score I don't think anybody thought it was gonna be 45 goals or whatever the hell he's going to end up with. Like he's going to end up with north of 35, close to Sid's to, Sid at 39 as a 19-year-old. I think he's going to settle in it like 30 to 35. I think he'll have about 39 or 40s.

It's just like when he scored four in the first game and then like he went nine games without a goal. Like he's going to slow down again at some point, I think. Did you think he'd be this good though? I mean, I don't know shit about guys who play in fucking Switzerland. I never watched them play. It's not like football where you can like watch a dude play quarterback seven times a senior year.

And then the NFL would be like, oh, like Christian Hakenberg, for instance, on New York Jets. You knew that guy was never, he was shitty against Rutgers all the time. You knew he wasn't going to be good. But like, you know, Austin Matthews, you see his stats in Switzerland.

You're just like, well, everyone says he's going to be awesome. So I assume he's going to be awesome. So him scoring like 35. I mean... So you have all the money from your writing gigs deposited into a bank in Switzerland, but you don't watch anybody play hockey in Switzerland. Is that how it works?

Well, here's the thing. No, I don't. I think he's better than I expected as a goal score. He's around the same. what I expected as a passer. I freely admit, though, that, like, there is a bit of a little Connor McDavid effect going on where this team is horseshit

and they can't hold the lead, but he's making them better. Right. And that's... Maybe I didn't expect that to be the case as a rookie either. Yeah, like, I didn't think he'd have like that. Like, you know how, like, if Steven Stamcoast goes out, Tampa can still win 50 games because they're so good. Like, you lose...

Like, pick a guy who's not a goalie on any team. If you lose that guy, you're still probably going to be a pretty decent team. But, like, Connor McDavid is an example of a guy who transcends that. Crosby-ish as well. Didn't think Austin Matthews would be that level of good, but that's also too, I mean, Marner and

Marner and Nylander, like, that's the thing too, is like, you look at that team, it's like, those three guys and then what else? Like, why are they even on this pace to maybe make the playoffs? Every time I see those three guys, well, first of all, Babcock. Babcock, yeah, but I mean, like, they didn't really do too much in the offseason. Like, it's not like they went out and signed

like a couple of like the top six forwards They cut the fat A parentos on pace for 20 goals It's not as though like they cut And they close They cut fucking

I know Was there some Grabner there Last year too? Yeah They had players Yeah So I just I think it's more

That trio maybe Than just Austin Matthews a little bit Because But still that's the thing too Is like you want to talk about Your Twitter feed lighting up Fucking game four What a back check by Mitch Marner

That guy does it all Like I'm not gonna fucking Make it through this season everything these guys do now I think my problem is as a hockey fan I don't know how to feel

every time I see a photograph of Marner and Matthews and Nielander because it reminds me of like seeing a photograph of like Bill Pulsifer

and well no no no it could be a photograph of Bill Pulsifer any other two guys was it Wilson and and uh

Zerbran Rousenhaus yeah but it kind of reminds me of like seeing a picture of like a 1990 picture of Andy Pettit Mariana Rivera and

Jeter so you're terrified I'm terrified that we could be like we're going to be looking back at like these pictures from the Centennial Classic of these little kids and their little winter hats and shit and like 12 years from now we're like wow can't believe they won six cups I'm just like I don't want to live in that world do you

I want to live in a world where they win one cup just because of the Cubs like everybody should get a taste at some point and we have a lot of friends in Toronto who I think we'd like to see happy maybe But I certainly don't want this to be an age of domination for the leaves Why not though? I'm I'm if they're if they're if they get to a point in two years where they can still score five a game

But they're no longer giving up four or five or six a game like that's fun Like they have a potential to be a really fun good team though like I'm all for that As opposed to the Kings but are really good and just like fucking watching paint drive I'm okay with a fun good team sure that's fine by me Remember you know how ESPN has basically come the media arm of the New England Patriots. Oh, sure. Now, imagine that's the hockey media.

Because that's what's going to happen if they win six cups. Yeah, but I feel like it kind of already is that, but they were just, remember? We're starting to see it become that. Do you fucking remember two or three years ago, maybe three years ago when they signed? Which, by the way, I believe, was the original first line of Michael Jackson's remember the time. Do you remember? No, it was actually the beginning of the Gettysburg Address.

Four motherfucking score and ten goddamn years ago. Now, but do you remember when Toronto signed Paul, fucking Ranger and the entire media core of the Toronto people's was just like this guy's top four defensemen this guy's guy's gonna be I would rather them blow Mitch Marner for the next seven years that have to live through

another season of Paul fucking Ranger who blew that year by the way yeah like I would rather them go nuts about all their super good young guys then we get to the point and this thing too is like when we get to the point two years from now when they turn on one of them then it's going to be fun I see what you're saying I'm I'm off for them being like if they're going to be

there is no nuance in the Toronto media they're either lap dancing or they're saying burn it all down right hold on I just gotta get the image of Steve Simmons naked on my crotch out of my head hold on let me just set my eyes on fire Steve Simmons rotating back and forth

your crotch going looks like I found the hot dog vendor is there mustard on that dog already that was quick a lot of erotica in this story That's a new year. More erotic on Puck suit. But I like your idea that, like, they could focus their hyperbole in the right direction for the forces of good and light and hyping up a team that deserves the hype.

Until they lose in the second round and decide Austin Matthews isn't a winner. And then it'll pivot at some point. It's a thing, too. They've been so bad for so long that they're finally getting a taste of a team that actually has talent. But they're kind of going a little overboard. Although, I'm... The fans too, though. And he's an American.

So we should be, like, totally happy that an American is in there. infiltrating the Canadian socialist system. Whenever they win the cup, he'll be the first one to hoist it, and it'll be great, because it's like you needed America to give this to you. Much like most of your entertainment.

Wow. What it's true. I love all the commercials. You ever know you ever know some of all the commercials for the TV shows up there? Like, it's always like, coming up next on Beaver Town. Like, it's all these weird, like...

Well, it's amazing because they... Sexual titles. They do produce shit up there that eventually finds it on American television. So, like, we gave them every amazing show that's ever been made. And then it's like,

yeah, but you know what's on CBS, though? Canadian produced Scorpion. Is that from Canada? Yeah, it's from Canada. What about Schitt's Creek? Or Schlett's Creek?

Is that one? Shitt's Creek is what, the Eugene Levy one? Yeah, like all their shows are like dirty words. It's so anti-Canadian. On CBC this Thursday, coming together.

It's just like, the O and the M are like, you know, asterist out. And it's like, wait, what's the show about? It's two people that work in a factory that makes Christmas candy.

And they fuck. It's candy canal. Why is everything but sex today? It's a very specific kind of erotica on today's plus two. No, I listen, I'm, I'm, I don't know if they're going to make the playoffs. Like the problem right now is this. Like, clearly Columbus is in, clearly the Pittsburgh Penguins are in. Clearly the Rangers are in.

I am fairly certain the capitals are in barring something unforeseen. The Flyers got themselves in a playoff position, but they're actually only a handful of points up from Toronto, Tampa, and Florida as we do this show. And all those guys are only a couple points back of Ottawa and Boston. I still think the best path for the Leafs and the Lightning is to grab the two and three in the Atlantic. It's just going to be interesting to see what happens. The Leafs and Lightning are both positive goal differential teams. the senators in Boston Bruins are not. So right now it tells you that the wrong teams

are in those seeds. But in Tampa's case like in Toronto's case are we seeing the best they're going to be and in Tampa's case we're obviously we obviously happen. Like they've been banged up all year. They lost damn close. Like you have a feeling that there's going to be a moment in which Tampa Bay hits the power up and Mary our cart

and he's been going up super fast and then throws a fucking turtle shell at the Leafs and the Bruins in Ottawa and winds up second of the division. Like I'm I'm all on board about Tampa Bay being the dark horse right now and getting in, not only getting in, but making a run once they get healthy. Yeah, Tampa is going to eventually pass either Toronto or Ottawa or Boston or Ottawa or both.

So you kind of have to have Toronto pass one of those two other teams and then maybe Philly. If Philly is like pooping their pants. Because we had those five teams. And now one of them, I think one of them has to, you watch the Rangers play? Like, I don't, they're so far ahead that they're not going to collapse. But like, they have a plus 35 goal. And I can't tell you how that happened. Oh, it's because they were throwing up six a game for like a month to start the seat.

So they just patted it. Like you watch them play Colorado and Arizona. They'll score six goals on those teams every time. But like last night, oh boy, against Buffalo. Like they're just their back end so bad. But they've banked so many points. Columbus, they banked so many points. Like Philly's probably the other soft target in Toronto.

Like the other thing too is like you look at where Toronto is in the standings. What do they have? How many points they have? You're looking at it, aren't you? No? No, who? Toronto? Toronto. What are they at?

They're at like 42 as we do the show. And like, what's Detroit at like 36? Detroit's at 37 right now, in a row, yeah. So, like, you, the thing with Detroit is, you know they're probably not going to get better because those guys will have track records, you know, how good they are, how old they are with Toronto. You got, like, three really good rookies who can improve over the course of the season. You don't know. So, like they might actually get better, but yeah, I'd like to see them make the playoffs.

Montreal Toronto. Oh, give me that. Montreal Toronto? Oh, the first round. Well, actually, they wouldn't play in the first round. They could if they're the wild card. That's possible. Yeah, if they get the wild card, I guess.

Yeah, but they're probably going to settle into the two, three game. Yeah, actually, I don't think they could because that means. Boston, Toronto. CBJ is going to win the conference. I'm pretty sure. Oh, here we go. All right, let's talk about the Blue Jackets for a second. I wrote a piece about them this week in which I've tried my best to dissect what it is they've done.

I want to run a couple of theories by you. One of the things that is true about the blue jackets, and by the time you hear this, they've either extended their streak and they're going for the record or it's done. But either way, kudos to them for this incredible run. I mean, listen, in this run,

they've beaten, they beat Minnesota, who had won 12 in a row. Beat Arizona twice. Yeah, they've beaten playoff teams. They've been Colorado once. They've also beaten some pretty damn.

They beat fucking Pittsburgh 7-1, or whatever the hell it was. They've beaten, they've gotten half their wins against six of the nine worst teams in the NHL. But sure, sure, go ahead.

They're great. A couple of numbers that really stood out for me about this team. First is from Dmitri Filipovitch, the leading trailing thing. I don't know if we talked about the show or not before, but the idea that they've led

48% of their in their total ice time, they've had a lead and only have trailed for roughly 19% of that time is insane. Like no one's close to that percentage of time trailing in a game. Like during the wind streak or the season? During the season.

Oh, okay. Like that's insane. The idea that you're close to 50, you're leading the game nearly 50% of the time. That's insane. What's the next closest? 41. From Washington. It's crazy. So good on that.

And then on top of that, what you got there is, I love looking at, see, I know that the percentages tell you that the team that scores first isn't a real thing. Like, it's not a thing that always means, portends good things for your team. But I think in the Jackets case... I mean, I think the team that scores first wins like 65% of their games or something like that. But it doesn't, it's not a guarantee of anything. There are other teams that have been anomalous with that, too. But I think in the Jackets case, in their first 27 wins, they scored first in 20 of them.

I mean, you got Bobrovsky back. So the combination of scoring first and a power play that still, that is, the power play during the streak, okay? In the 30s. Yeah, yeah. In the last 11 games of the streak, it was at 35%. That's bat-shift. Yeah.

So you have Bobrovsky. When you got Sam Gagne, though, you just have to expect. No, I got to make your case. Bobrovsky, a power play at Spatnia goal a game. You're scoring first. It's pretty, it becomes pretty apparent how they're doing this. but I wanted to run the Tortorilla thing by you. Aaron Portsland of the dispatch put it out there.

Yeah, it was stupid. I don't agree with it anyway. Let's talk about that. His thesis is that Torterilla built, I built a trust with the players. I give them days off. No morning practices. And he wrote, I wrote a letter to them. Portsland reports that when the play, this is from the dispatch, when the players left Columbus last April with a clear idea of what

be expected of them when training chem convene in September. If that didn't drive home the point, Tortarella crafted letters to each of the players and put them in the mail in late June. I love the idea of John Totorella sitting at a large wooden desk with a fucking quill being like, Dian Nick Folino. He's like dipping it into the yank.

I hope this finds you well. How is your family? Mine is well. So you don't think that the letters to the players in the summer really were the reason why this all worked out? Nope. It's the first thing. It's the power play and it's Bobrovsky.

Like, that's not a fucking, I wonder if you actually sat down with all the players and hooked them up to lie detectors and said, how many of you fucking read these letters? Like, like, half of them would be like, yeah, I just threw it away. I got halfway into it and it was rambling about jam. I don't know. I'm a jelly guy myself, so I threw it away. There's no, that's not why they're fucking. Dear Brandon Sod, taking a break from binging strange of things to talk about next season with you. I just, it's just.

so ridiculous. Like the idea that like a fucking letter that he wrote in the summer is why they're fucking winning. Like, now I do, now I do buy into the idea and I think this is going to be a trend in the NHL of less practice time, more days off. Oh no way. That's not going to be less morning skates. It worked for the, the sharks and it's working for the blue jacket. Basically the blue jackets plan according to what porcelain said was. Tortorilla said, you know, you stay in shape. You look thinner. You win games. you get time off. And like the idea of it being like a carrot in front of them has been the reason why they've won all these games.

Well, if every team does it, it's not going to matter. Like if every team has the same carrot in front of them, like every team just can't win because they're not having morning skates. It would just cancel. Until it swings back the other way. Right, until it's like, we need more practice time. Until the blues win the cup and it's because Hitchcock bag skates them every other day. Like it's at the end of the day, like it can't be, it can't be both. Like there's coaches that are like, man, the schedule is so busy.

I can't get any practice time. in so it's hurting us and you can't be both it can't be like well I don't need practice time like the worm's gonna turn at some point but you're not listen I feel like okay I'm buying the idea that they're a good team I mean Lambert

doesn't buy the idea that they're a good team and I feel like you might be somewhere in the middle you acknowledge I'm closer to Lambert than I am to you yeah I think well listen I'm not I'm listen it goes CBJ fan and then like several rungs down to me and then like a few floors the yellow

elevator down to you. And then Lambert's basically Milton from office. Yeah, he's in the basement with a stapler, stapling like stats together. He's right though. They fucking teams, they play good teams. They get hammered, but they just, they, they, they get Bobrovsky making, you know, 35 saves. They get four goals on 16 shots. Like, I wrote a thing about the blue jackets. This is kind of like a non-sequitur, but the, the, the, I wanted to make, um, the fifth line of the story to say, this is stupid, just that sentence. This is stupid. And like, I was trying to fit it into the beginning of my story and have it bridge to the second paragraph, but I couldn't do it.

And the reason why I wanted to do it was I wanted the fifth line to be, this is stupid. It's stupid. Because the fifth line is stupid. They're extraordinarily stupid. I couldn't, like, I wrote it. I wrote up the, it was the Miles Teller thing. I wrote it and I got, this is stupid. And then I realized, like, basically that's going to read, like, commentary on my, on the idea of this entire thing, and which it was stupid.

But I was like, no, let me just delete it. The fifth line is going to hear this podcast yet again. and they are going to be quite venomous towards us. Maybe not to you anymore since you seem to be you know,

cowtowing. I'm not cowtowing. It's a big blue jacket. I've always loved the blue jackets. I'm happy that you're doing well. I don't like their coach. And fuck the fifth line.

It's the dumbest shit I've ever heard. There you go. And, and, you know, if you want to embrace it, that's fine. Congratulations. You're a player

who's not good enough to compete in the game and or you're injured and or you're the videographer helping out day because they're short a guy. How many points do they have right now? Columbus Blue Jackets, your Stanley Cup champions are.

They have 58 points in 36 games. Okay, so they have 46 games remaining. Do they break 110 points this year, do you think? Oh, yeah, in a walk. Nope, disagree. All right, there it is. We're going to put a White Castle cheeseburger. We're shaking it right now.

Two cheeseburgers. Two cheeseburgers on a microphone on that bet. Where it's at. All right, now it's time for the part of the show in which we allow you to ask us questions It's the Puck Soup mailbag and we have a couple of food ones in the queue right now I think I saw these Always Cromulant wants to know gummy bears or gummy worms Worms bears

The bears are too small The worms are fun because you could put them in your mouth and have them dangle out like you've got you know Like your slimmer with the hot dogs Of course That's the first thing I always think of when I want to eat a food is can I do physical comedy with it? That's why I like breadsticks. Cream pies. Spaghetti.

Now we're on cream pies. Jesus really is the most erotic hockey podcast ever. I go gummy bears only because you can hold a bunch of them in your hand and kind of pick and choose the ones you want to eat and get rid of the ones that don't taste good like the green ones. All right. That's fair. The other one though, this is an interesting one. Original Doritos or Cool Ranch Doritos. Oh, original.

all day cool ranch is my least favorite one cool ranch every second of every minute of every day beats original it's so tasty it is i'll tell you exactly how much i love cool ranch it's my chip of choice at subway

eat fresh oh my god you i never get the chips whenever i go to subway i've got a subway in a long time oh don't you get a drink at subway oh i don't i'll like if i get a sandwich i'm usually taking it home or bringing it somewhere and i'll just get a drink i am too but i get thirsty when i eat a fucking sandwich so I get a drink at Subway and then you get chips as part of the meal.

No, but like, I'm not saying eat the sandwich on the way home dry. Eat it when you get home or eat it when you get to like work or something. Oh, where the drinks are? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, let's say I don't have a fucking sprite in my house and I want a spright or whoever owns the soda empire at the subway. You know, then you get it at the thing or, you know, or whatever and then you get chips in that meal. That's all I'm saying. Do you sit down and eat in Subway?

No, what am I'm saying? So like, by the way, let me preface this by saying. The saddest image of all the time. The subways that exist in major American cities are different than the subway in your town. Yeah, they're all to go. We're not trying to demean anybody who would go to a subway and have a meal. I'm sure in Fuckville, Wyoming, like, it's great. But here in New York, you don't go eat at a subway.

And also, they're open 24 hours, which is weird as shit. You bring it back to your office, you sit down. I'd rather get the soda out of the vending machine at the at the office or get it out of a fridge. Here's the thing about a 24-hour subway. Yeah. That tuna fish, that was made at 7 in the morning. And it might not have been refrigerated at any point in the last. To be fair, you shouldn't eat tuna fish no matter when it's been fucking made.

It's gross. It's the grossest thing you put in your body. But yeah, Cool Ranch Doritos all the way. Cool Ranch in a bag. Cool ranch in a taco from Taco Bell. What are you, Dr. Seuss all of a sudden? Cool ranch on my head? Cool ranch in the bed.

Cool ranch on a log. Cool ranch with a frog. Pop on pop. It sticks to your fingers too much to Cool Ranch. If you have like two or three chips, like you get that. What? An original doesn't? Less.

It's just powder. I feel like the ranch is just too sticky. It's great. Nothing I like better than getting through a bag of chips and my fingers look like ran them through Trump's hair. It looks like I have like some sort of like substance on my face. fingers used to like steal fingerprints off of like a screen so I can like break in to like and steal the fucking constitution or whatever that's a great idea like in order to break into the vault you have to

have a fingerprint analysis thing where you put your finger it's usually like they knock out somebody and put his hand on the scanner but it's it's a real it's a fat guy so when he did it he had he had he had Dorito dust on his fingers so they have to repeat it they have to eat a bag of Doritos in order to get the actual scan right oh see I was picturing like that you had to like since he's unconscious you have to lick his fingers all right you got it This is why you're going to write the majority of whatever screenplay we ever write. Taxman wants to know, does Dave actually like anything? I like your mom. Next question.

Jamie Slip wants to know what you take on the All-Star game. Captain's Good, Bad, Expected, Wish Others Others Were Chosen. We didn't actually address the captains themselves when we talked about the All-Star game. Yeah, we kind of breezed over that really quick. Yeah, so I'm glad you asked a question, Jamie. You got us back on track. Thanks, Jamie. Fine with McDavid.

Kind of reminds me of TNA a little bit. pour a little out for our sweet prince as a puck. Fine with Sid because it means I'll have to show up. Goalie should ever be captains of anything, so I don't like price. My issue is going to be if P.K. Suban can't play because he's still

hurt. You're going to have boring Sydney Crosby, boring, Connor McDavid. Carrie Price is slightly less boring than those two guys, but still boring. And then we're going to put Jonathan Taves in the place of Subbaugh as the captain. It's going to be kind of a

God. But the thing is, like, they don't, they don't pick the, the skills competition stuff. Who would it be? Hold on. Who would it be in the Central? It would be the, is it, is it just, does hockey ops pick it? Chicago, Minnesota, St. Louis. Tarcenko?

Um, he'd be fun. Nashville, Dallas, Vinnie Peg. Oh, Patrick. It's not going to be line A. Patrick. But what, I mean, they wouldn't give it to, like, cane, would they? They couldn't give it to cane. Why?

What makes you think at this point? The NHL wouldn't make Patrick Kane the face of something. Ladies and gentlemen, everybody give a big salute to Bobby Hull, dropping our first ceremonial puck. I got to tell you, that whole thing with Bobby Hull, I did not see that coming. I did not see. You know what else? They did not see the pucks when they were supposed to drop them. That was hilarious.

At the Winter Classic, Bobby Hull and Brett Hull came out to drop the ceremonial first puck and no one gave them a pucks to drop. I'm going to call bullshit on that. I will bet anything, somebody from the NHL gave them pucks, and they fucking left them in the locker room before they came out. There's no goddamn way that, for the first time ever in a situation like that, did somebody not give them pucks? They were boozing back fucking in the locker room, and they left the pucks there, guaranteed.

Mr. Hull, where are the pucks that we gave you? I mean, a coaster? I wonder why it was so thick. I dressed it up in a little baby Nazi costume when I left in the locker room. I can't believe that. Hitler quote like how how how well he gets a pass because they assumed he was hammered and that's what somebody said to me this this past week they're like what the hitler thing

yeah they're like they're like he obviously was probably drunk when he gave the interview i'm like yeah you know what alcohol is fucking truth serum that's what it is what you think he doesn't believe that like i've i have never been drunk enough to say that hitler had great ideas at first and there are too many blacks in america which are the two things he said in that interview he said that too yeah He said that the black population in the United States was growing too quickly. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. That was a little screenshot. Thanks, Barry.

Good time. Bobby Hill. Good times. Is R&H overpaid Ryan Newton Hopkins at $6 million? If so, what is he actually worth? It wants to know Graham Payne. I don't think he's overpaid. He is.

Well, come on. He's not worth $6 million. He is a perfect number two center on a winning team. On another team, he's like, I'm telling you, man. Like, he's so good in both ends. I would take him at $7 million. I was thinking about this when I was in St. Louis.

Like, it sucks that Chatton Kirk didn't want to go to Edmonton. Because the perfect trade was Chatton Kirk, the Oilers for Nugent Hopkins. It was a perfect trade. Because the blues are a donut right now. They're a donut. They got Stasney, you know, whatever. But, like, that would have been a perfect trade, but obviously Shatton Kirk didn't want to go to Edmonton. Five million he's worth, I'll say.

Oh, thank you. Oh, wow. Hey. Quite the protest to get that million shaved off the cap number. Hey, listen, the way the cap's going, you need every dollar, my friend. Amporeer wants to know, is a healthy of getting Malkin less more equally dominant as Crosby? The penguins have the best offense in the league. Less, yes.

Less overall. But I do think that there are stretches where Malkin is more dominant than Crosby. Well, I mean, anyone can have a stretch. but like over 82 games Like right now Malkin has like a what A one point lead on Crosby Even though he's played like six more games

Like these are any chance Malkin finishes here at more points If Crosby's healthy the rest of the way No Although it would be absolutely amazing If they had two guys One won the Art Ross One won the Rishard

And then like people are still like Oh Crosby should win the heart He's a fucking Art Ross winner On the line and back of them Wait wait is there any mathematical way If you can have a goal leader and an assist leader, but then have like Kessel win the,

the Ratt Ross? Is that like, I'm doing like an algebra equation. Malkin for the Art Ross, Sidd for the Richard, Kessel for the, that's the problem. That's the problem, by the way,

with the All-Star game, is Kessel might not go because there's not a ton of spots. There's only 10 spots. Right. And there's, you have to have one guy from every team. You have to have defensemen.

So, like, Kessel, I'm going to be sad if Kessel doesn't go. I feel like there's a chance that might happen. I figure one of Malkin or Kessel will probably beg out of it. And then the other one will go. I'd rather Kessel go. Two more. Two more.

Joe Jackson, Joe and Durham wants to know. And I'm breaking a rule here because he's an egg. But I like the question. Tonight, you're going to break your one rule. This question's at Avenue X and Cicero. You know, for a while, I thought you really were, Harvey. I really thought you were an egg. Um, are nicknames

dumbest fucking thing ever, agree or disagree? Are what? Nicknames for players, I'm guessing he is asking. Oh, like, not like when I call you big boy. That's, that's, that's, that's good. Well, I was thinking about it, uh, because like, when you're talking to Kevin Shatt and Kirk, you get Shat. Shat, what do you think of this?

Chat, what you think of that? Hitch. And I used to get pissed off. Like, I remember being on a conference call once where people were calling him Berkey, Brian Burke. And I'm like, that's, but those aren't, those aren't, those aren't nicknames. I don't feel like, I consider those are just like, like, that's like someone calling me, like Lowe's like that's not when nickname when Rob Rossier refers to Mark Andre

Flurry as flower is that a nickname that's a problem so when he's in the locker he's like flower yeah stop 20 shots tonight look pretty good tell us about your tell us about your your your weak flower so okay so our nickname is the dumbest fucking thing ever if the question is using nicknames like that and questions yes yeah I I just hate like going back to the devils in 2000 yeah remember the nickname for that line it Which, what, the A line? Yeah, that's, that was actually, that was kind of corny one too, the other one.

Which one? Eliash Gomez, Gianta. That was the egg line. The egg line. Yeah. Oh, you hate line, Nick. Oh, maybe he was trying to say line nicknames. He wrote lake nicknames, but maybe he was trying to say line nicknames.

Yeah, like, they're just, they're so hard, like, they're so, like, everyone's trying to be the person that coins the phrase for a nickname, whether it's a player, whether it's, especially a line, though, especially because, like, lines don't stick together, for more than like three games most time. Right. Trying to come up with like, what was the Benino Kessel line again last year? They called that something.

That was the HBK line. Yeah, right. And like I also, wait, HBK, it was Benino Kessel and who was you like that? Okay, so that's okay because sometimes like they, well,

they will move that letter around to the first name and then the last name. Like the fucking Yankees relievers, they called them, um, when they had fucking Chapman and Miller and, so. Batonsis.

They called them DMC, but it was Dellen, batonsis and the rest were last names like I hate that first of all retire all reliever nicknames outside of the nasty boys which was the peak of reliever nicknames oh you nasty boys so good okay you have a couple

of different you have a couple of different origins for line names okay I don't even know where the hell the A line came from it was because they all had A's in their name I guess I think it was just because they were this a really good line that was their top line you have the egg line which was a name based one you had the cash line what was that line

The name was an acronym of Captain Alfredson Spetsa Heatley. This was an actual line. No, they called it the pizza line. It was the pizza line. Oh, wait. It was also known as the pizza line because pizza pizza would give away a free slice of pizza to a ticket stub holder. So they had two names, but I think pizza line was probably more well known.

Like the crash line. Crash line was legit, though. That's a great name. What was it? The grind line in Detroit. It's fine. The goal of game line was great because that was the, the, the, the crash line was that was the that was the that was a Jillbert hadfield and Rattel for the Rangers that was a great

it's clever but then you get things like like you know HPK was fun um what was the other red wings line the the production line that there was like an old timey line with uh the production line was was uh sit able gordy howe ted lindsay yeah yeah yeah lindsay yeah that's fun but like but like some of them are just so forced like like i'm trying to think of like like this like like like like make jesus like come on the triplets was a great Triplets might have been our, it's kind of a dumb name, but I kind of kind of liked it when the lightning had the triplets. Oh, Palat and. Polot, Kutcherov and Johnson.

Oh, I remember I thought of a better nickname than Triplets, but I never caught on. I forget what the fuck it was. Like, Johnson, Palat. Oh, God. Oh, man, we're right there. French Connection. That has been some good line names, right? Right, those are the good ones.

Now, go to the Wikipedia page for the ones that never caught on and were stupid. Oh, do you mean the famous non-NHL lines? Oh, wait, those were fine. There's a bit, oh, short-lived or novelty lines. Short-lived. You mean like the VCR line of Sean Van Allen, Dan Curry, and Stephen Rice? All right. Tell me the name of the line.

I'll see if I can guess it. Oh, this is a legit one. Crazy-Ats line. Remember them? Crazy-Ats line. That does sound familiar. Crazy-Ats line. Ovechkin.

Okay. You got, okay. Ovechkin? Eight. It all of us was fucking eight on that. Like Canoble. Okay. Yeah, and?

Adam Oates. So close. Lindross, Mark Recky, and Brent Fett. Ah, God, I almost had the last thing. I'll give you one of the one, ready? The CVS line. The CVS line? What's the CVS line?

Lip balm. Vaseline. Vaseline. And Jurgens. Andrew Castles, Pat Verbeek, and Jeff Sanderson of the Hartford Whalers of the CVS line. See, you don't need these nicknames for these lines.

How about this one? A Rangers line. You might remember it. The HBO line. Hatfield. Bossy. Bossy, right? And Ogilvie. This is so close. Ryan Hallwig, Blair Betts, and Colton O'Rer.

That is the line nickname. Blair Betts. Yeah, there's a lot of line names that didn't really catch on. you one more. Okay? Okay, ready? You're making one up in your head, I can tell.

No, I'm not. I'm going to read it. Two and a half men. It's actually in reference to two different lines that were a thing that happened during the run of two and a half men.

Is Tyler Ennis the half man? They're so close. Nathan Kirby? Yeah, that's... Uh, I'll go... That line was Gerby, Gostad, and Coletta. Oh, Jesus, what a line that is. But the other line that was two and a half men was

Patsy-ready, Eric Cole and Day Arna. Day Arnae, yeah. Oh, Jesus Christ. So to answer your question, yes. Sometimes nicknames go too far, and we don't need them all the time. We don't need them all the time. That was a fun trip down nickname Lane. Finally, final question here.

Crazy eights I should have known. Crazy eight you definitely should have known. Finally here, Louvind Vendidi. Louvindidi. Lovindidi. I went to school with the Frank of Viola. We get at the broads, you know what I'm saying. How do you do?

A little more of pasta vegetable. Once in the top three favorite vegetables. Wow. It's a tough one because vegetables, for example, like, I ain't grabbing broccoli for a salad, but you throw broccoli in general so's chicken, and it might be one of my top ten favorite food items. You soak anything in that brown sauce and I'm going to eat it. Like, are we just dry?

I just isolate that for just that. That'll be the teaser at the beginning of the show. You slather anything in brown sauce and I'll put it in my mouth. All right. Top three favorite vegetables. Oh, Jesus. So corn is vegetable, right? Yeah.

So corn would be number one in all its forms. Peppers are vegetables. Peppers are definitely vegetables. So I like red and green peppers a lot. I'll go corn. I'll go not a sweet potato. I don't need potatoes.

Maybe I do. Maybe I'm not going to go potatoes. I'm going to go corn. I'm going to go broccoli and general so's chicken. You just like to taste the general so's chicken? That's not the vegetable. No, it's about the broccoli.

The broccoli is the perfect thing to soak up the stuff. And then I'm going to go Um, grilled asparagus with, uh, with, with some shredded parmesan on top of it. Yeah, I like corn as well. I'll say corn, green peppers. Mm-hmm. And. Green peppers.

What do you have against red or yellow peppers? Ah, I like red peppers, but I just kind of want to, I want to diversify my, my vegetable portfolio. I feel that. Yeah. Also, red yellow peppers not used on, say, like a cheese steak. Just green. Oh, onions.

Is that a vegetable? Yeah, that's a vegetable. That's definitely a vegetable. You mean, you could eat it like a fruit if you're like someone's funky uncle from West Virginia. But like... Favorite vegetable. Oh, I know, right? It's like saying, what's my favorite CBS sitcom?

Like, I got to pick three. You mean currently? Like, on right now? Oh, my God. Big Bang Theory is like fucking flavorless broccoli. That leads me to my question for you, because I just thought of it. Name a show you always wished you. had a chance to get into, but you'd never caught

the train at the right time. For me, it's probably Game of Thrones, to be honest with you, because I didn't get the train at the right time. Now, I feel like I've missed the whole thing. Probably the wire. You ever went back and watched The Wire? Once it's over, it's hard for me to want to go back and watch, like, a TV show,

like a movie, like a movie, it came out in 2007. You should watch it. I'll watch it, but a TV show... I'll tell you that I re-watched the wire because I'd missed the, like, the first two seasons of it, and it's fine to do it that way. But I also much like Game of Thrones Now that I mean like I've been following the spoilers and I kind of know what happens and like I don't know if that's gonna enhance or Or not enhance my experience I'm not I'm so not

I don't have the attention span to binge you know what I mean like people who like were like oh wow This new thing called stranger things out I'm gonna watch all eight episodes in a row and they do it I don't get how you can just sit there and like I did that for true detective because I missed the beginning of that So I caught up time it's a flat circle right like I caught the first I missed the first like eight episodes and I just totally watched them all on HBO go but besides that like I'm I just can't like once I miss it like I'm not gonna watch the

wire once a week for the next six years I guess finally finally did you did you have any um did you have any thoughts about world juniors that you wanted to men you mentioned world juniors before I felt like you had something to say well I figured you had something to say because I don't well I mean what I'll say is that I don't know

what's going to happen to the United States as we do the show it's before Pox drop against Russia I will say that we're getting close to hockey dominance and it makes me so happy there you go to see proud American young men go to battle and

win wars and other countries and feel the palpable tension of our friends up north as they know that their grasp on this great game is slipping away with each victory by the United States or the Swedes I just like my least favorite thing about the world juniors

besides everything about it is junior hockey is one game every year Canada will fall behind one-nothing and whether it's whether you're doing a bit or whether you're really upset and scared it's a one-nothing game in a fucking teenage hockey tournament

where you're losing to another school or another team for four minutes shut the fuck up even if you lose the game fucking 4-1 it's such a pointless doesn't indicate anything about the future tournament like

I also love the concern and consternation about empty seats at this tournament, as if anyone has, apparently everyone in the world has missed the early round tournament games and March Madness. I know. Like, no one goes to those games. Yeah, it's like Tennessee and Rutgers. And it's like me and you sitting there watching it. Well, that's not funny because Rutgers has never gone since I've. Have you ever been to, I got the Rockers in 95. It's currently 2016.

They got to the NIT final once and lost to Michigan I've never been to the NCAA tournament That's exciting though It's like being to the double IHF world championships The NIT Right That's exactly what it's like the World Cup in fucking May

You care about it If your team's good in it And that's about it Listen Lozzo and I want to tell you One last thing before we go And thank you to Titus O'Neal for being on the show And thank you to everybody who wrote in

And listened to the show Okay what's coming We have a project that we're cooking Oh yeah we got to do We got some tabulations to do We can't reveal what it is. We can tell you this right now. You're going to love it. And watch

our respective Twitter feeds, watch the Twitter feed of this show, maybe watch the Twitter feed of some of your other favorite people in the hockey media. And get ready for a surprise. Should they be watching this upcoming seven-day period or the next? The next one probably. Yeah. But it's going to be fun as shit.

And it's going to be just for you. just for you to celebrate this time of year. Just to celebrate life. Celebrate life. Yeah. That's all we're going to say. That's all. But you're going to love it.

I'm Greg Wyshski of Yahoo Sports, Puck Daddy Blog. You can read me on Yahoo Sports. You can listen to the other podcast I do, Merrick v. Wichinsky. And you can, of course, as Dave Loves-O-N-Nose. I signed a few of these in St. Louis at our meet-up. You can get my book, Take Your Eye Off the Puck, How to Watch Hockey, by Knowing Where to Look. wherever books are sold, but on Amazon.com. And if you've bought the book, thank you.

Why not drop a little review on Amazon to tell people how you found it? And also, if you like this podcast, drop a review on iTunes. Every review that you drop on iTunes helps boost the show standing on iTunes. And why not take a little advice from our friends at Barstool,

who have slightly less than 50,000 reviews of their shows on the sports category? and they all read Love These Boys Why don't just drop a little love these boys On our iTunes if you want You don't have to write the Iliad Just stop by and say hey

I like what Puck Soup does Hey yeah One nothing Russia All right well as I said I hate World Juniors It's the dumbest shit I've ever seen Why does anybody care about it? What do you guys

Take us home to have those Oh by the way The last review received on iTunes I just read it What is it? From someone named Slashire lately less caffeinated and this is and they have a lot

of reviews Dave Lozo funniest man in hockey Hell yeah and the review only reads and Greg's okay too I suppose Oh that was actually That was actually me I left that I left that comic because I'm off coffee

The last few weeks No I don't buy it because one of the reviews That this person has left was also 538 politics Podcasts I know It's in no way gonna be fucking you All right here's Dave Lozo Um I got one thing coming up on advice tomorrow

That I want you to read because I wrote two fighting stories recently, and this Facebook page that's all about fighting and hockey link to it. And I got like about 50 comments referencing my fat pussy, referencing how I've never played the game, stuff like that. So tomorrow on Vice, I'm responding to each comment individually on the website. So you should read that.

And I'm going to take you home with the thing that I wanted to talk about because I feel like at the end of the show, sometimes I got a thing, sometimes I don't. This time I do. And it's about something women go through that I feel like I for the first time got the taste and experience

in a certain way. So it was last Tuesday I'm going to the Rangers Ottawa game Tuesday night. It's like two days after Christmas no one's around. I really got to pee got to pee really badly

and I'm running late. It's like 6 o'clock for a 7 o'clock game. I usually don't leave that late. I'm approaching the Holboken Path train stairs and there's like this weird foot traffic.

Like it's not as though the train just let out. There's people kind of milling around, like maybe waiting for rides. I don't know. But like I get to the where the stairs are and a woman is asking me a question, but I've got my earbuds in. So I can't hear her. So she's waving at me. So I stop.

I turn around. I take out one of my earbuds. And I'm like, uh, what's up? And I could tell at this point she's giving me like a rehearsed line because she's saying the same thing over in the same rhythm. And I can't really make it out because she's going real fast. She's asking how to find some sort of organic place, some sort of organic thing. And so I'm sort of half annoyed because I really got to pee.

I'm really running late. Don't have time to talk about this, but she seems lost. Maybe she's new to the country. She isn't like speak English. Maybe this line's rehearsed because it's the only line she knows. And I'm from Hoboken. I'm happy to help her find where she needs to go. And so I'm like one more time.

And she goes, I was wondering if you could help me find an organic smile. So, so what she was doing was essentially doing the thing guys do, which is trying to get me to smile, which A, I wasn't. and B, after she said that, I said to her, are you just trying to get me to smile? And I didn't smile. I made myself not smile. It turned out she wasn't looking for a farm to table, organic pizza place. She just wanted me to stop and talk to her about her cause, which was the Humane Society. So at this point, I can't just walk away.

It's a charity. Like, I can't be that guy. I can't stand there and hear the question three times and walk away, even though I was just told I should smile more, which, fuck. Don't ever say that to anybody. That's the worst thing you can ever say to somebody. I'm locked in. Tell me about, so she's going through a whole spiel. In 1954, the Humane Society was started and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

I'm like, uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh, how much longer is this? What's your favorite animal? In hindsight, I should have said, like, bears or giraffes, but I was just like dogs. She's like, do you like puppy mills? Why would I like puppy mills? What kind of a question is this? No, I don't like bold. The Humane Society fights against puppy mill, and it's just a whole thing.

about puppy mills like she had a bunch of rehearsed answers for whatever I don't know it was and she gets through that and she's like can I count on your support um like emotionally like sure I'm all for she's like oh we're looking for and I look over and there's other people that are talking to people that's what the foot traffic was it was humane society people and there was somebody with an iPad and one of those little credit card things attached I'm like so you want me to hand you a stranger outside the fucking train station my credit card to donate I don't even know who you are. So A, never tell someone the smile, even if it's in like a clever pickup line, whether it's for sex or to give someone money for a charity. And B, the question I'm posing to the people is

these foot traffic people who are doing good stuff, like they're trying to get, you know, money and signatures for stuff for like whales and shit. Does it ever work? Does anybody actually ever give you money on the fucking sidewalk in Brooklyn when you want to get money for the whales or for the anything? Like, it seems like such a, like it's such a great thing you're doing, but it just seems like you're wasting your time because no one's ever going to give you their credit card they don't know who you are you're not you could be making the story up so just don't don't do that

I like that approach though where it's like do you like puppy mills right it's like when you ever like go to like yes and I walk away the American Heart Association looking at the money they're like hey do you like cardiac arrest do you like it when your dad dies at 38 no of course not I'm still not giving you my credit card on the goddamn street.

All right, everybody. We'll talk to you next time. Thanks. See you. Bye. Now leaving nerdist.com.