Shaun Newman Podcast - #88 - Gene Principe

Episode Date: June 17, 2020

Such a cool humble dude. Sat down with the pun master & discussed his road to success, how he makes life on the road away from wife & kids work, the early days of his career where he was both reporter & cameraman and a whole lot more.  He's born & raised in Edmonton AB. Graduated from NAIT with a degree in broadcasting & has worked everywhere most notably on Sportsnet West hosting the Edmonton Oiler's games.  So sit back and enjoy the very talented Gene Principe.   All episodes can also be found on YouTube, Apple podcasts & Spotify New guests every Monday & Wednesday

This is Jean Principay and welcome to the Sean Newman podcast. Geez, doesn't that just sound good? You know it's going to be a good Wednesday, a fantastic hump day when Gene leads the way. I mean, I am excited for this one. I'm excited to get to this one, but before we do, let's have a couple shoutouts, a few advertisements and we'll get you on your merry little way. Now, first off, a shout out to boot down trucking Mr. Cody Butan, wherever you are pounding the pavement, my friend.

I hope you're staying safe. This guy is all over the map. Last time I checked, he was over in Thunder Bay. The next time I was in Quebec. So wherever you're at, good sir, enjoy this one. Travel safe and we'll see you soon. Louis Stang. I bumped in the old Lewis the other morning.

He was out walking, getting after it. Geez, he almost didn't even wave. He was so in the zone. He looked up, and then he realized, I'm like, hey, how's it going? Just finishing the podcast. Carries on his way. So, Lou, if you're listening, I hope you're pounding the pavement as well in a different way.

and I hope you're going to enjoy this one. The maintenance man, I don't know who you are, sir, but wherever you're at, he was out at the parents' house. My parents called me, come out to inspect their new furnace, and he got talking about the show once he found out who my parents were. So whoever you are, good sir, thanks for helping out. I hope you're having a great day and enjoy the show. Now, a cool one here came in yesterday.

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We got lots of different options and I want to find something that can work for the both of us. Here is your T-Barr-1 Tale of the Tape, born and raised in Eminton, Alberta. He graduated with degree in broadcasting from Nate. He's worked just about everywhere. Got his start in Camloops, Grand Prairie, Lethbridge, Winnipeg, Toronto. But of course, we all know him from SportsNet West as the host of the Oiler Games where his crazy antics and his puns, his amazing, amazing puns, leave us all smiling and chuckling usually before the games. And that was a breath of fresh air through the decade of darkness we've had. Of course, I'm talking about Mr. Jean, Princepe. I won't hold us up any longer.

So sit back, buckle up, because here we go. Welcome to the Sean Newman podcast today. I'm joined with the fantastic Mr. Jean Principais. So thank you very much, sir, for joining me. Hey, Sean, happy to be here. How are you? Yeah, I'm doing great. How are things on your side?

Well, you know what? The sun is shining. The weather's kind of turned in favor of some signs of spring or at least summer. So it's been great, just trying to wrap my head around summer hockey. It's a new one, but it looks like it's going to be the one in 2020. So are they going to let you guys back in the buildings at some capacity, do you think? Yeah, it's a good question. I mean, that's the thing I think is that people go, oh, okay, we're going back to where we were and we're not.

And I know for us as SportsNet works through the Hub Cities, works through crews, works through announcers, it appears that a lot of this stuff is going to be done off televisions just because of the limitations of being in the actual building. You know, to me, it doesn't seem like a lot to say, okay, here's my play-by-play guy, here's my analyst, here's my host, they're the only three going in. But that's three more people than you necessarily need. And if you've got 12 teams in one hub city, there's enough human traffic, I guess, to to want to be even more careful.

So we don't know for sure, but we do know it's not like it was. And we may be doing still more Zoom interviews for post game, for pregame, when we used to just, you know, I mean, the days of piling into a room seemed like the dark ages. You know, it just seems like, you know,

10, 20 years ago, not 10 weeks ago where the room's open and everyone would just pile in. Sweaty media, sweaty players, droplets flying all over the place. I mean, you're not going to see that, certainly not to finish up this season. And I don't know when we'll see that again.

How excited? I hadn't really thought about it. How excited are the players that they aren't going to be overrun with media? I mean, it's going to suck no fans in the building. But after a game, they might actually be able to sit there and just kind of relax. Oh, here's the iPad. You got to talk to Gene next. You know what?

I think that's the way it's going to be. And I don't think many players will miss that. I think especially in the playoffs, I mean, during the regular season, you might say, well, you know, there's a lot of games and it's not the same players that come out night after night after night. But in a playoff round or a run to the Stanley Cup final, you know, Connor McDavid, for example, early on Dryson and Evanton's case, they may talk almost every day and then certainly every game day and then attempt to have some practice days off. So that's a lot of time spent with the media. I don't think they'll miss it. I think what will happen is, like you said, they may go to a podium and there may be one camera there.

Potentially, we email our questions in. And, you know, Team Prince Bay wants to know this. Mark Spector, my colleague at Sportsnet, wants to know this. And we go through some questions and everybody kind of gets the same stuff. that's a little not disappointing but it's people get stories they get angles they get scoops by by talking by working the room but i don't think there's going to be any room to work for these playoffs well just for you guys in general like that's that's a lot of you know the face-to-face being around people talking with people um you know you've done that for how many years is it now jean

that you've been in the industry old man uh 33 years march 3rd 3 years yeah march of 87 is when i graduated after my work placement at nate i went to nate for a couple of years graduated high school in 84 and uh and away i went uh stupid and naive were probably two of my best characteristics because if i if i knew now what i knew you know back then i'm not sure i would have hopped all over western canada taking this job after that job for an extra 150 bucks thinking, wow, I've struck it rich. But when you're young and impressionable, and you know, not stupid, but certainly naive, but you're just trying to build your career, right? And you're just trying to move up the ladder. For me and my career, individually speaking,

it was a lot like a baseball player in that, you know, I started a rookie ball and then I went to single A and I went to double A and I went to triple A. And luckily, I've had some opportunities to get what some people would call the major leagues, particularly with Sportsnet for the last, well, almost 19 years in covering the Eminton Oilers and getting to cover, you know, incredible events. I'd like to say it was a lot of skill and hard work. Maybe a little bit of those. But a lot of good luck and good timing gets you sometimes farther than you'd ever expect.

You mentioned being naive. What were you naive about? Well, I just, I don't think I really knew what I was doing or how I was going to get there. You know, I just started working, right? And you just start working my first job. I was in Camloops, BC, and I did radio and TV and reporting and anchoring. And it was a great job. And then I got an opportunity to work for what's now called CTV out of Edmonton, then was CFRN.

And I worked out of Grand Prairie, and I was a freelance stringer, they called me. I shot my own camera and reported. And I shot your own camera. Oh, yeah, yeah. Well, I had my own camera back then. they had this huge camera and you had this literally an umbilical cord connected to think of a of a recorder about this wide and that big and so you used to put the recorder on one shoulder camera on the other when it wasn't on a tripod and away you went and back then um

i i didn't have the ability to watch my stuff so i might go to peace river i might go to Dawson Creek, I covered the peace country as called, and Fairview, high level, pick a lot of small towns. It's a long way from covering the Stanley Cup playoffs. And I would shoot a bunch of stuff and then I'd come back and sometimes it wasn't there. Or sometimes it wasn't. I couldn't find it. I wasn't very technically oriented.

So, you know, I had no idea. I was going to end up doing what I did. I wanted to, but I really wasn't sure how the path would take me there. But you just sometimes you find a road and you just keep traveling it until you figure you got to get it off and go on a different road. And, you know, if I had to do that stuff at, let's say, 29 instead of 19 and 20, I don't know if I would have done it. I would have wanted to do it. But a decade can make a big difference in your life on where you're at, who you're with, if you're married, if you have kids. So I did a lot of my moving first and then got married and had kids.

And so I've been in Edmonton now since August of 1998. So getting to be almost 22 years. Well, I think you raise a good point when you're, if you, you say you didn't have a plan, but the fact you were willing to put in that much time and effort into doing something that you obviously had a passion for allowed you later on to be further ahead than most. I laugh because I'm 34 with three kids four and under. And so this, even to sit down. down and do what we're doing. If I had to do anything remotely what you're talking about,

it'd be impossible. Yeah. And that's exactly it. You know, I have a lot of, I have a lot of time and respect for people who do things later in life. They've tried something. Maybe they liked it, but maybe they didn't like it enough to want to do it for the next 30 or 40 years. So they say, hey, I'm going to try something different. And usually when you try something different, you often have to go back a couple steps. And it's hard to do that if you're married, if you have kids, if you have a mortgage, if you don't want to be separated from your family. It's a lot more complicated.

And so it's easier to do when you're 19 or 20. I didn't have a girlfriend, let alone, you know, wife and kids. So moving, moving, moving. And in fact, one of my final moves, third last move, I met my wife in Winnipeg. She came with me to Toronto. We moved to Ebinton and started having kids after that. So, you know, the timing worked out well personally and professional. You know, I really wanted to ask about the amount of time you guys are gone on the road, traveling everywhere.

How do you guys make that work? Yeah, you know, well, it's very, I always, you know, we get to hotels and I'll be at a hotel. And listen, you know, on a game day for me, I'm usually up pretty early, 6, 630. I try and work out, even though it's hard to tell. You know, get ready, go to the rink at 10, back around 1, 1.30, back to the rink at 5, you know, game at 7, let's say, done 10, 30, 11. And then usually we're on our way somewhere to the next city or back home. You know, I see so often people that are at a conference at a hotel.

And I see them, you know, they got the continental breakfast ready at 8 a.m. And they're having their cup of coffee and maybe their grapefruit and a muffin. And, you know, they're in listening till noon and get a 45 minute break for lunch. Then they're back in there until about five. And then, you know, maybe they unwind in the evening. And I'm not suggesting that I'm the only one that enjoys and loves what I'm doing. It doesn't mean those people don't. But I just look at that and I go, wow, like that's, they're on the road, but they're somewhat sort of stuck in a hotel.

We get to go lots of places, you know, and I always love it when we're on the road and we're near, you know, walkable. We always say, oh, the rink's walkable. It's always great when you can, you know, after spending so much time on planes and buses and in vehicles that you're able to just walk to the rink. It's easier for me than it certainly has been for my wife. Our situation was similar. We had my kids are 17, 19, 21. So it was like, you know, three kids, four and under. And I'd call and say I'm at the beach where they shot Baywatch.

My wife would say, oh, two of the kids just threw up. Okay. So I guess my day is a little easier than yours. And I got to give my wife credit. I met her in Winnipeg and subsequently married, 23 years of marriage. She never ever once made me feel guilty, awkward, uncomfortable about my job. She understood I had a great job for me. And so she allowed me to enjoy it and not call home.

oh what'd you do oh you went out you know i i wouldn't i wouldn't have felt uh that she shouldn't do that but i never got that i never got a guilt trip about what i've done she'll roll her eyes once a while and say hey what are you going on holidays you know um but through the support she's given me it's allowed me not only to have the job that i have but to also enjoy it well i think if you got a strong home life it allows you to be successful away from home and if you're fighting at home, it carries over to everything you do away. Absolutely. How about the kids?

That had to be, I mean, obviously tough on them, but I mean, I know being away from the kids a lot, it sucks on the other side, too. Yeah, that definitely has sucked up. People would often ask me, you know, what's the best part of your job and the worst part of your job? And I'd say, it's the same thing. It's traveling. I mean, I've had a chance to go all over North America.

You know, I've been lucky enough to go to London for the Olympics. I've been to Dubai during a lockout year. I mean, listen, I went through during a lockout year. We went overseas on a tour through Germany and Poland and Switzerland. Sorry, that's my dog barking, if you can hear them. And it's been incredible, but it's all basically on my own, right? It's hard to bring three kids overseas. And because the kids were small, my wife didn't really get away

and join me for a few days in New York. Having said that recently, my 19-year-old daughter last October, she joined me in New York. The Oilers often have like a five, six-day window there, and so it was great. You know, my son has joined me a couple times in California, my oldest son, my youngest son is yet to join me. So there are some perks, but, you know, lots of missed stuff.

And I would say this, Sean, when they're younger, you kind of miss them more and you miss out in a way on so much. But they're the ones that truly miss you. But then when you get older, they've got their friends. They've got their school. They've got jobs. They've got their phones.

They've got lots going on. And so you're the one kind of feeling like, geez, I'm now missing out. You know, no one's running to the door anymore, you know, nearly breaking it down because dad's home. You come home like, hey, dad, when do you get home, you know? And I get that. And I'll be honest with you. I'm torn because part of me.

of course wants them to miss me, but not like when they were kids. There were some really tough road trips where I was, it was really difficult to leave. And you start wondering, why am I leaving, you know, do I need to do this? But it's more than a job, it's a career and it's a passion. And it's a, it's a great life. And it's also afforded them some great opportunities too. So you just got to make the best of it. And you want to make sure, though, that the family, the family,

the family the family is first that's got to be good because if that's not good work won't be good have you ever had bring your kids to work day uh we've tried it a couple of times um sometimes what's happened is you know especially when the kids were younger in elementary and junior high they would have it on a specific day and i might not be in town uh on that particular day so we've been able to massage it a bit uh one of the kids temporarily had mentioned maybe radio and television arts And I initially tried to talk about it. And then I went, wait a minute, I remember being 17 of my Italian immigrant parents going, what am I, what are you doing?

My, what are you doing? What do you call out a job? Right? They wanted me to be a teacher, a lawyer, a doctor, a dentist, a clean sort of educated position. I went to school for two years, about a diploma, not a degree. But luckily, they saw me achieve, you know, some form of success and more importantly, happiness. So when my daughter went back to it, I said, you know what, if you want to do it, I got you. She's like, actually, I changed my mind.

I'm like, oh, okay. So, you know, you support your kids in any way you can and you hope to lead them in the right direction, but also their direction. Let's go back to when you're talking about your parents and deciding this is going to be a career path you'd want to go down. You mentioned it wasn't exactly. Oh, no. No, no, no. You know, my parents, you know, in the old country in Italy, you basically went school to grade five, maybe grade six. Oftentimes, school was too far away or you had to go to work. So I can't accent enough how, for them, education was like number one by a long shot, by a long shot. And so I applied to university and got accepted, but there was nothing. there was nothing there for me to be a broadcaster. There was some journalism courses and some writing forces,

but it was the colleges that provided radio and television arts, something that was more in my line of sight for what I wanted to be and what I wanted to do. So that was a tough one for them. You know, that was a real difficult one. And, you know, and then you start working at Grand Prairie and Lethbridge and Cameloupes. And they're kind of going, eh, all right. You know, I could see the eye roll.

but they always, you know, and they never tried to pull me out or, no, I don't want to say threats, but hey, you know, you got to do this in a year. They always supported me, maybe not so much vocally, but always there for me to try and find my way. And so when I had a chance to come back to Eminton in 1998, I was also interesting at that time, I'd been working in Toronto and I was trying to break into the states. And I had an agent and I had some, some, when I say, probably, possibilities. I don't want anyone to think I was in the final five for a job, but just stuff was happening or potentially happening. But then I had an opportunity to come back to Evanton as 1998, 22 years ago. I thought, I can't pass this up. You know, I can't not go home. It was a really good job too. Back then it was A channel hosting the oil or six o'clock sports anchor. I mean, it was a great job,

but it was sort of a fork in the road because once I went back to Evanton, I wasn't going to follow suit and try and go into the states like that that avenue was done uh but you know it's it's worked out great three years at a channel and October of oh one i was lucky enough to move over to sports net and knock on wood here i am uh you know almost 19 years later still doing the same thing but trying to do it in a different way before i go on to sports net when when did your parents go okay like you made the right choice you know i i i i i i i think I think partially when I went from Winnipeg to Toronto I think that that you know because back then listen nobody was nobody was watching me I'm talking about 1995 that I moved from Winnipeg to

Toronto you know you weren't seeing any of what I did on TV so my parents my family my friends back here nobody saw it so there really wasn't a true understanding of what what's he really doing you know but I think when I got to Toronto I think because you know jokingly saying the center of the universe I think it gave some validity to what I was doing that I had reached a certain point in a certain city in this country the biggest one we have working in sports so I think that started it and I think it was completed when I got home and started working both at A Channel and then even more at Sportsnet then they could see me night after night after night

And I think that was the back half of the puzzle that finished it for them. And I believe at that point, they were, you know, listen, my parents, they weren't the type to kind of go, hey, I'm proud of you, right? We do that with our kids. We're a little more open and honest, many of us are. But I didn't need that. And I didn't really want that. I knew that they were proud. Someone, you know, I might see an old Italian friend of theirs.

They'd stop me at a coffee shop and say, hey, I was talking to your dad. he was telling me how great work you do right for me i didn't need to hear it directly if i heard it indirectly second third fourth hand that was good enough for me i i i knew by how they acted and what i could see from them that they were they were pretty happy that my life work wise and family wise was going well when did you know you managing like when did you go yeah geez good question i think i've arrived i think i would say when i when i got a job in Winnipeg. I've been working in Lethbridge for about three years. I had a bit of a timetable, truly a timetable. I wanted to be working in Toronto by my mid-20s. So when I turned 25,

I was still in Lethbridge and that's kind of like, you know, I've been here three years and I felt like maybe I was starting to spin my wheels a little bit. And then luckily in June of 92, Joe Pascucci, another Paisan, Italian, hired me in Winnipeg. And I think that was a big jump because I went from covering junior hockey and university sports to covering the NHL and covering the CFL. And I think at that point, that's kind of as, relatively speaking, as big as you get. Certainly, subsequently, you know, we've had basketball. We also have had the Toronto Blue Jays.

And so working in Toronto, I had a chance to do that. But I would say Winnipeg was my stability job. It gave me an opportunity to work in a bigger market. It gave me some professional sports to use on my resume tape, which is what we used to call it back then and edited many, many, many of those and sent them out. And then that kind of was my big break. Even though Toronto was a bigger market, it was, I believe, Winnipeg that was sort of catapulted me to the future of my career.

You know, you said at the start of this, you were naive and didn't really have a plan, but then you just said that you had a timetable for where you wanted to be and where you wanted to get to. That doesn't really, that kind of contradicts. Well, you know what? The plan was to do that, but it's one thing to have a plan, it's another thing how to incorporate the plan. And that's where I wasn't really, I really wasn't sure. Like one thing, we often talk to, oh, whether it's younger or older adults in school or maybe wanted to change over, become broadcasters. You know, I always say the most important job is that first job.

And I listen, I worked in news for a few years before I finally moved into sports. I've been in sports now 30 years, luckily. But who knew how long it was going to take me? I thought I was going to have to get a job in news all the way to Edmonton and then try and transfer over to sports. I was lucky enough to do it in Lathbridge, which led me to Winnipeg. So, you know, it's like a coach. Here's the plan.

Okay, coach, how do we incorporate that plan? I don't know. That's just the plan. And so I think that's who I was. You know, I had one, but I didn't really know how I was going to do it. And, you know, it's hard to predict. I think one thing I did a lot of, I missed out on a lot of jobs. But what I often would do is sort of do the end around, right?

job comes open in, let's say, Red Deer or Lethbridge or Saskatoon and someone gets a job that you applied for, but then I would apply for those jobs. Like I was, I was never afraid to get told no. Never, it never, you know what, I never really fazed me. I just was like, to me, that was just part of the process of, and not only in work, but meeting my wife. Like I just, you know, it's just, that's, that's what happens. You get told no in life. And it's how you kind of react and respond and challenge yourself to to work around those nose. And luckily both, you know, on TV and off TV, I was able to navigate, not always successfully, but enough to put together something at this point, both in life and career, I'm proud of. Yeah, you mentioned a good point. I mean, a lot of people when they hear no,

it deflates them. And you got to, you're not going to get told. yes all your life and if you do you're probably not going to have the greatest life either because i mean sometimes a good no is exactly what a person needs yeah i agree i mean now i see i see it with my kids who get told no or maybe don't get the mark that they want or not the job that they want or you know maybe not you know the girl that they want to date or the guy right but it's just listen i had to go through well you know i guess it's more when when a woman has to go through a bunch of frogs to get to a prince or a prince in that case. That's what my wife, I hope, had to do. I mean, listen, you meet lots of people along the way. You never, when you think about actually,

and I know you're happily married, when you think about being on this planet and actually meeting someone that you're compatible with, not just for, you know, a short time, but for a long time, it truly is, it truly is amazing. So I always tell the kids, you just, you've got to fight twice as hard or a little harder than you did before you got that no to try and turn the next response into a yes well i think that's a really good advice i read that you had didn't initially get into nate and you had to your career yes yeah yeah yeah you know that's another thing it's speaking of nose right yeah there you go i graduated in june of 1984 and i remember i couldn't get into back then nate's now twice a year registration or intake. Back then it was three times a year and they took people in September,

December, and March. It was on a trimester. And I remember not getting in because I didn't have a good enough English mark. In fact, my English teacher, Mrs. Fillion, her son is Nathan Fillion, who was in Castle and is in the rookie now. He's a pretty big time actor, actually, from Edmonton. And I remember hearing about him back then. He's younger than I. He's younger than am but I remember hearing that he wanted to be an actor anyways I'm sidebarring so I didn't get a good enough mark in English 30 so I had to go to summer school so I went to summer school up my mark and I still remember going to Nate registrar and the lady wrote on my application accepted for December I'm clear as day I remember being in the front there and that's what happened and

I didn't get accepted for December I had to wait till March you know so setbacks right like it went from September it went to December it went to March but I guess that was meant to be I ended up with some really good people in my class and right teachers, right, right, what about if I got in in September? Who knows what would have happened to me? Like I have no idea. Maybe I would have got a better job. Maybe I would have got a worse job.

Maybe I wouldn't have got no job. But that delay, I worked at the pop shop for six months full time and sold pop and rented out to VCRs. Yeah, yeah, black cherry, Lyme Ricky. Oh, yeah. Absolutely. I drank a lot of pop. And that's what I did. That was my full-time job.

And what did you say? And you sold VCRs as well? Oh, yeah. Well, we used to back in the old days, I'm talking about mid-1980s, I remember it's a big thing where, you know, family would come in and rent a, back then they had both data and VHS. We had it. And you would rent, let's, you know, for example, for 15 bucks, you would get the machine and you would get like three movies for the weekend. And so we had a nice deal because we would work there. And lots of times we would work till 9 p.m. and then open and. 9 a.m. And so you'd take home a couple of movies with you and you'd watch the movies at home

and then bring them back before 9 a.m. And then you would rent them out to whomever showed up and also sold pop and we sold snacks. And, you know, that's a long way from covering Stanley Cup finals and NHL drafts and, you know, World Series and Olympics. And I'm not doing that to name drop. I'm doing that to tell you that... You've gone a long way.

Yeah. You know, and who knew? Who knew you could... Look, if someone had told me, I'd Sorry, at 18 or 19 or 20. And one day you're going to cover these things. I hope, but I don't think so. So you never know. I always say to people, including my kids,

don't put limitations on yourself because there's enough people around who will do that who will say, you're not good enough to do this, you're not big enough to do this, you're not smart enough to do this, you're not talented enough to do this. So if they're going to do that, make sure you don't do that.

And you just want to prove them wrong if you can. Well, there's nothing better than somebody telling you you can't do something. Yeah. And just add a little more fuel to the fire, would you? Yeah, absolutely. That's exactly the case. So, you know, we just kind of work away. Man, sorry if I'm getting dark here just because the... I know you're out on the listeners.

You can't see the video. He's out on the deck. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, yeah. Just to show you a little bit that it's, that I am here. here and the sun's about to pop out again. Here we go. Every few minutes the sun pops out and Gene Kemp. Yeah, to prove that you're not talking to just nobody. Well, back in high school or even your younger years, were you into sports then? Were you a hockey player? Or no? You know what? Growing up in junior high, I played volleyball and basketball and I was, I mean, I didn't grow until I was about 16, 17. So I was a very small point guard. And I was a very small point guard. And I was,

a setter in volleyball, but I would say my two main sports were hockey and soccer. Soccer was number one, though, by far. I mean, for me, if you want a roadmap of my broadcast career, it started when I played soccer and then I tried out for the under 16 provincial team. I still remember going to Commonwealth Stadium back then. We didn't have the indoor facilities that we have now, the indoor soccer fields. And I went and trained and tried out and I got cut. I wasn't the first cut, but I certainly wasn't the last cut.

And I went, I don't know if I'm going to be a pro soccer player. So what do I want to do? And I thought, you know, if I can't play sports, I would really love to cover sports. And so it began. And I watched lots of TV. And my parents never let me forget it. But I love watching Howard Coastal. I love watching Dick Anberg and Al Michaels and many of the greats, the U.S.

locally, you know, you'd have to be older. But Al McKin, I watched Ernie Afghans. I mean, there's been lots of great Canadian sportscasters. So I just kind of said at about 15, 16, I'm like, you know what, I don't think I'm going to be a pro soccer player. So let's try and be someone who cover sports and a way I went trying to do that. So you mentioned soccer. So is soccer you're passionate? Yeah, it is.

I've done a lot of everything. I played for a long time. I refereed. I was in the national soccer referee program. when I was in my kind of early to, not quite mid-30s, but early to, yeah, early mid-30s. Then I went back to playing. Now I've coached along the way, took a bit of a break. You know, you do so much with your kids.

And then if they stop playing, then you kind of stop coaching. But I've coaxed my daughter back into playing. So she's back playing outdoor, you know, hopefully with COVID-19, everything is okay to get back on the pitch. We've seen it overseas with soccer, and hopefully that'll be the case here. So, yeah, that was, you know, I mean, you know, things I remember, you know, I remember where Ben Johnson was, you know, the 979. I remember where I was when the Oilers won their cups. I remember where Italy was when they won Euro and won the World Cups.

A lot of moments that are tied to sports. But I guess, you know, if I were living in Italy, I'd love to be doing play-by-play for CitiAA. I would love to do, you know, make a living on a soccer in Canada. It's a little bit more difficult. We have the game. It's a growing game at grassroots. But as, you know, people know at the professional level, it's a little more difficult. We have MLS now, so that's great.

But I'm just happy to be involved in sports in any way, shape, or form. I'll shoot hoops with my kids. You know, we'll do various things. It's just like to be outdoors if we can, ride bikes, you know, whatever. the case might be. Well, the reason I bring it up is, you know, some days I have the greatest years, some days I don't. But have you ever worked a World Cup? Well, that's an interesting story to be told. I was supposed to. So it's 2006 Sportsland has a World Cup. What a year that was? Yes. So I'm going to the World Cup. I'm going. I've got seven, five, and three of the kids.

And my wife got to bless her. She's like, hey, if you got to go, you got to go. But it would have been a six-week road trip. Like, you know. Cover the World Cup. Covering the World Cup. My dream. Well, then there's this Italian guy named Fernando Pisani and this Norris and her trophy winner named Chris Brunner.

Chris Brunner. Yeah. Cooltender named Duane Rollison, who start to make things happen. And one round turns into two rounds. We get to the third round and they're leading Anaheim 3-0. And I'm like, what are we doing here? Because I don't even know what I want to do at this point. I'm born and raised in Edmonton.

the family guy me doesn't want to go away for six weeks it is the world cup i mean it's probably a one-shot deal but the oiler fan and me and the guy from emminton's like hey this is pretty good right now here so they asked me my boss as i said you know what i i would really i can't lose but i also feel like i can't win so you guys discuss it and uh they they they tiptoed back and forth. Some people said I should go to the World Cup. Some people said I should stay and cover the Oilers. Turns out they decided I was going to stay and cover the Oilers. What happens? Edmonton makes it to game seven of the Stanley Cup final lose. Italy makes it to the World Cup final in 06 versus France and wins. So. Oh my. What I mean what more can I say than that, right?

Now, the one thing that made me feel better about everything is, obviously, I was flying back and forth covering the Oilers, but the road trips were four or five, maybe six days, and then home four or five, six days. So certainly family-wise, it was better than being always six straight weeks. But, yeah, that was my one and only shot to cover a World Cup. I'm hoping in 2026 when it comes to North America and Mexico. I don't know if I'll cover it, but I'm hoping at least to get to it. So that is the dream then, to be able to help cover a World Cup. Yeah, yeah. I was able to cover the 2011 women's World Cup, I believe it was. And that was great. Canada, certainly, you know, from a women's soccer standpoint, has been stronger than the men. But, yeah, covering a men's World Cup with Canada, with Italy. I mean, oh, that would be, that would be tough to be. And, you know, it would just be another great experience, another great opportunity and another thing that, I never thought I would ever have a chance to do, but might have the chance to do.

Well, I think you stick with it. I'm sure you'll get your opportunity. That's crazy that you had the, you know, think of Oilers fans. Like, we've had one great. Yeah. That was surprised everybody. That year was fantastic. If you go back and watch videos, it still gives me chills.

Yeah. And it comes so close. And I never, you know, now you got your dream. dream job to go over to the World Cup and you can't go. I mean, that's any other year you're there. Yeah, it was very difficult. And, you know, I guess in hindsight, what's a more difficult thing to cover? I know that Edmonton hasn't been to a Stanley Cup final since 06, but, you know, in theory, you got a shot at covering another Stanley Cup final because you live and work in Eminton and you cover North American sports, the odds of covering another World Cup were

really diminished. But again, I think, you know, somewhere in the back of my head, I didn't want to be the guy that says, yeah, sign me up to take me away from my family for six weeks. And if they told me to do it or said you're doing it, that would have been different. but for me to say I can cover something I really want to cover in hockey in the Oilers in the Stanley Cup or I can go away for six weeks. That's a tough one to say I'm going to do that one. So I wanted someone else to decide. They decided, but no regrets.

I mean, it was fantastic. I mean, I certainly wish that Edmonton had won the Cup. And then I would have been a can't lose situation, literally and figuratively. But unfortunately, it didn't work out like that. Can we let's talk about the Oilers 06 run just for a second because you got to be in the building every single how unbelievable was that? It was it was so unbelievable because it was so unexpected right second last game of the year they beat anaheim i'll never forget that night staying at the old recsal rink and we were just kind of waiting because Vancouver was playing san jose and the Vancouver had to lose

and san jose did the orders of favor and beat them and so on the second last game of the season the orders qualified for the playoffs taken on Detroit who had can't remember now oh Detroit had a good uh if not 40 more points pretty high 30s more they had you know the great Steve Eisenman just nobody thought we were coming out of that right there is right nobody thought but again proof they had number eight you sneak in you beat Detroit then they get San Jose men of games boys after two games but I remember Chris Bronger after game two coming out for an interview. I was lucky enough to get an interview with him. He said, don't worry,

we're going to be coming back in this. And I thought, you know, I got to believe him. He's been around a long time. And he was right. And Anaheim was sort of mostly smooth sailing, right? And then we get to the cup final and Dwayne Rollisson gets hurt. I'll never forget. So he got hurt. And what happens is at cup finals and most playoffs, they bring the coach and a star player or two to the podium. And usually the losing coach goes first at around the same time the room opened. So there's various things happening at one time. And the room, so we were shooting the coach. I didn't need to be there for the coach, but I need to go into the room. So I went into the room and got out of the room and I literally bump into Craig McTavish around the corner. We just,

we bump into each time. I'm like, oh, sorry Craig. goes, that's okay. I go, how's Rollis and goes, done. I'm like, you mean, like, done for the next game. He goes, no, done for the series. And he didn't rudely walk away. He just walked away. He just walked away. I'm like, what? Done for the series. I had not expected that.

And then it was, you know, a bit of a roll of the dice with the goalies. You know, it came down to that game seven. They had everything going for them, the momentum after game six, after game five. And Fernando Pisani's short-headed overtime winner, one and only in Stanley Cup, finals history. But one game winner-take-all, you know, that, who, who. Who knows? And it could have easily been Edmonton, but it ended up just as easily of being Carolina.

And I remember Ryan Smith skating off the ice and then walking to the room just crying, right? And it's a grown man who poured his heart and soul into this and ended up coming up short. So it's a game for kids. And it kind of keeps us young. But even with age sometimes, the loss is really, really sting. Did it sting being an Edmontonian and the Edmontonian broadcaster? Yeah, I think one of the things I learned pretty early in my career is that, you know, I had to differentiate between the guy who grew up in Edmonton, sharing for the Oilers,

to the guy who's on the OILA broadcast, you know, interviewing opposing players and opposing players who maybe just scored the game winning goal in overtime or a goalie who just pitched a shoutout or whomever it might be. It wasn't too difficult to do, but it's just more of a conscious effort to go, okay, hey, you're going to talk to Joe Sacky. He just had a hat trick and he beat the oil or so, you know, smile and be professional. Most days, Gene, that would work. But when it's game seven of Stanley Cup, playoffs, I bet you're like.

That was a tough one. That was a tough one. Yeah, that was tough. We're going to go out there. We're going to ask a couple questions. Yeah. Get out of here. We're going to go cry in the room by myself.

It was really disappointing. I remember waking up the next. morning and because it's quite a run for us uh you know we don't block any shots we don't take any hits we don't score any goals but you really are invested and and if i was working and i'm just going to pick ottawa or Vancouver certainly i would would be invested as well but you just you can't invest what's never happened and that's growing up in a city and cheering for that team your whole life um so it was it was it was heartbreaking um but at the end of it i i feel sometimes like a player there's certainly some still tough memories when you talk to guys like Keith

and Dwayne Rollis and Jared Stoll. But there's also a lot of good memories of what happened and how close they came. But I thought Stoll who went on to win a couple cups with L.A. Yeah, you never forget that. You know, winning two cups helps, but it doesn't wipe it away. Never is wiped away, that feeling of getting so close and not making it. You've been around this team a lot, obviously. Do you think where we're sitting walking into the playoffs with McDavid and Drysettle in the group,

maybe we got some of that magic that can get us back there? I really do, Sean. I really do. I think the team has two goalies who can interchange. And so if one has had a bad game or a bad period or, you know, maybe even a bad series, but you've won the series or it hasn't been as good a series, you got the next guy coming in. The Marty Broder play every game. You know, it's funny when you look back at the Oilers, back in the series,

early 80s and then into their cup years. I mean, Andy Moog and Grant Fure, they used to alternate. Andy Moog was the starting goalie in 83 when they made it to the cup final and Grant Fure was the starter, you know, in 84. And then Bill Radford sat on the bench all of 88 and then he took over 90 because Fure was hurt. I mean, we kind of, we sort of skipped through that factual evidence. So sometimes you think, oh, it's got to be one goalie. It's your guy and that's the guy. But, and I'm not saying Miko Koskin and Mike Smith or Grandfure, Andy Mogan and Bill Ranford, they've, you know, they've yet to win Stanley Cups. But I'm just saying they've got two choices. I like the blue line.

Has some good youth. Has some solid playoff guys that can help and has some offensive upside with particularly Oscar Clefbaum and Ethan Bear. And even Caleb Jones has his comfort level has grown. I like the defense. The offense, they've got two good scoring lines, which you're going to need. And more, as a lot of times there are unknowns that come through a guy who's a third line winger that had seven goals in the playoffs or in the regular season, suddenly has 10 going into the cup finals. So there are unsung heroes. We don't know who they are.

They don't know who they are. But there will be unsung heroes that play their way on in the Stanley Cup stage. So what I would say is, why not Edmonton, right? They weren't far back of Vegas. they're really not out of reach of any of the teams both east and west. We're going to have to see how this hub stuff works and how the multiple games per day. They've got to get through the play-in series with Chicago. So there are some interesting challenges that maybe we haven't seen before.

But I don't know. I hate to bet against Conner, McDavid and Leon Dry Saddle, so I won't be the one doing it. I hear you there. Well, and as we all know, all you got to do is get in the playoffs. So now they've just made it possible for an extra 18. So somebody's going to come through that you didn't think was coming through. I agree. And you'll piss off a ton of people.

What do you think about the Hub City? Do you think Emmington's got a shot at that? I mean, obviously, you got a shot at that. But what do you think of their idea? Well, I love what Edmonton has done. I mean, you know, the premier sending the prime minister note saying, hey, we think if you can loosen these quarantine, restrictions that we've got a shot. I love it that the chief medical officer,

Dina Hinshaw, who's become a celebrity in her own right. Yeah, it's done a fantastic job. Yeah, probably not what she was looking for. But again, life brings you some things and you got to deal with them and she certainly has dealt with them in a fantastic fashion. She writes a letter to Gary Bettman. I mean, I think they're trying hard. And so it's really tough to say. I mean, certainly there's an allure to Vegas and making a pop and making a splash, you know, Vegas is open. COVID is the number one thing on their checklist, and Edmonton has been really good with it. Alberta has been very good with it too.

So I don't know. I really don't know. I think Edmonton has the arena, the practice rink, the bubble set up quite well, connecting hotel, hotels in the area. It's got a lot going for restaurants in the area. you don't have to go very far to get everything you need. I don't know. You know, the Edmontonian and me says, let's do it.

We should get it. Let's host it. The guy who steps out of his Edmontonian route says, certainly worthy, but I'm not sure whether they'll get it. Yeah. Well, when you bring up Vegas, that's a tough one, right? Vegas has been an absolute slam-dunk success story since the very beginning. Yeah.

Yeah, I agree. I mean, they did a great job making it to the 18 Cup final versus Washington. It's Vegas and, you know, it's opening up. I mean, the only thing I could see is maybe because it's Vegas, obviously more temptations to want to do something, go out. But, I mean, these are for the most part grown, man. I think they're going to find temptation anywhere they go. Yeah, absolutely. And I think there's an understanding here.

Listen, buddy, you go out or for that matter. or a young lady who's part of the staff or anyone, right? You go out and you catch COVID-19 because you were at a casino you shouldn't have been at or at a nightclub you shouldn't have been at. You may as well just pack your bags and head straight home because I don't think anyone's going to want you around the Hub City when you do something like that out of carelessness. If it happens because it happens while in the bubble, so be it. But if you go searching it and accidentally find it, that wouldn't be a good scenario for

anyone. Let's talk about the puns. I've heard you talk you. This is probably what you get asked about the absolute most. So I know that after 2006, walking in 2007, we're having a, the Emmington Oilers are having a very dismal year and you make a conscious choice to have a little bit of fun and trying to bring everybody's positivity up. How freaking nervous were you to start throwing out puns at the end to begin? You know what? I think that I wasn't nervous about trying something to lift spirits. Circling, first of all, great job on your research. That's, that's great.

It never hurts to be informed when you're doing interviews. So well done on that, Sean. I want to make sure I mention that because you've been nailing it from start to finish. You're on close to stocking, but not quite there when it comes to gathering information. Just look over your left shoulder. Hi, hi, Jane. You've done a great job in prepping. Yeah, it was 06, cup run, progress traded, win two of their last 20.

I'm generally the first person they see. And I understood I was feeling kind of down about everything. And, you know, just disappointed. It just wasn't going well. And so I thought, you know what? I cannot let me, the oiler fan, affect me, the broadcaster, who opens up the show. And so I said, I'm not going to do it. No way.

So let's find some positives. And there's always positives. Always you can find something. It might be small, but you can find it. And let's really work on those. I mean, you know it. Boiler fans, hockey fans. I don't need to tell them they've lost six straight

or their goals against averages above four. Their power play has one goal in the last 10 games. They know it. They know it sometimes before me or just as quickly as I do. So let's find some good stuff, okay? and then let's take that positive stuff. Let's have some fun with it. Let's be light and entertaining with it.

Let's put a smile in my face and hopefully a smile on your face. Now, that, you know, where I am today is, again, not where I expected to be with funds and props. But it started small and then it just sort of grew and has continued to grow. Sometimes I'm like the guy who talks too much in his class and the teacher says, you need to go sit in the back. my boss to say hey you know what that might like when you had the cops come on yeah that's right well see now that's an interesting one because that's a perfect example I'm like I'm not doing anything with this because it's police and you know serious business and I don't want this I don't want

one person to take this the wrong way could be trouble for them and for me well someone through the Oilers comes to me and says hey Kevin Lowe was wondering if you could do a bunch of ponds with the opening for the police game. And I'm like, done, you know, great. Right now I've got some backing because Kevin Lowe, OET vice chairman, who's on the Edmonton Police Services Board, wants me to have some fun with this. I'm like, great, you know. So, yeah, I got taken to the, you know, the punitentiary, you know,

and I got like Connerick David, a speeding ticket. And it was fantastic, you know. You know, this game was on my radar. I had a radar gun. They were great. They were great. You know, there was lately on the power play, been handcuffed. I mean, it writes itself.

And I was just so, so happy to do that opening, not because I wanted to do it, because someone else wanted me to do it. And that was one of my most memorable ones that I really enjoyed because it wasn't my idea. It was someone else. That's pretty cool. I know, as a fan, when you first started doing it, and I can't, honestly, I can't remember the first. But I remember, like, the first time you hear it, you're kind of, oh, okay. I got it. And then the next time you do it. Okay. And if you miss it now, it's like, what's wrong with Gene? Is he going to be on or what?

Yeah. Yeah. I mean, the thing is what's what's kind of happening. And this is, you know, there's, there's sort of two of me. There's the guy on hockey night in Canada and the guy on hometown hockey and the guy on Wednesday night hockey presented by Scotia Bank that's a little more still lighthearted, but a little more serious. Those are those are the serious games or, more serious. And then there's the regional guy who can be a bit of a clown and have some fun. And that's okay. I think it's important to show people that you can do more than just one thing, whether that to be serious, whether that's be funny or attempt to be funny or somewhere in between. And so I like doing some serious stories as well and telling those stories that don't have a punchline and have a serious finish to them and might be about a serious topic. So it's kind of the best of both worlds. I mean, I do love having fun more than being serious, but it's okay to be both.

Did you always use puns? Or did that just kind of come to you? No, I would say, you know what? I remember doing something on, it was 06, around 06, maybe it was 06 into the 07 season and doing some stuff on Gary Bettman and Chris Chelios had had a misunderstanding or disagreement or something labor related. And Chris being Greek, you know, I just finished it up saying it's obviously not only Gary Bettman, but Chris Cellios is fed up. Okay, boom, right? And that was kind of the beginning of it. And I think what happened too is we started getting on social media and I used to love, I'd get a tweet saying, you're an idiot, get off TV. No chance you should be doing this. And then the next tweet you'd be like, wow, I really like that. That was funny, right? That's people for you, right? Different people like different things. I don't know if, you know, I don't know if I would like me if it was someone else. I'm not sure, right? This is just who I am and what I do. And I've tried to find my own kind of niche. in the sports broadcasting world. And so that's kind of where it started.

And that's where it continues. Now, having said that, I would say in the last couple of years, I used to just do stuff and then beg for forgiveness afterwards. But times have changed. Yeah, times have changed and you've got to be a little more careful because begging for forgiveness might not be enough. You might be begging for your job.

What did you just do without permission? With some of the ones you just went after? Oh, well, I remember, for example, I couldn't do this now, but I remember when Donald Trump, his inauguration, I wore a Donald Trump mask in the opening. And only because my son had actually worn it for Halloween like two months before that, right? So I had it. He won the nomination and became present. I thought, well, this is perfect, right? And so, you know, I wrote, I remember one banner was, you know, Camp Talbot's build a wall around the Evanton net.

and just a couple of it was all politically oriented right and I know I wouldn't be allowed to do that now and I get that I get that especially because of how controversial he's been I don't know if that's the right word to use but in the news so I get you know and there's been some other ones where someone who's on, you know what, maybe don't. Like I was doing a thing on the, the Oilers were having their best start since the 80s. So I had like 80s acid wash chains and an 80s shirt and an 80s Afro. And someone said, you know what? I think you can make the point without the Afro.

Take off, you know, like it was a wig, right? Yeah. And I said, you know what? Yeah, I think I can make the point without that. Again, would I have liked to sort of fill out the costume? Yeah. Yes, but at what expense. So just things like that are some things that I want to do.

I'll run it by someone and they'll say, you know what, let's try this. Let's try it. So the producers have been really good sounding boards that way. Because listen, I don't want to get them in trouble. I don't want to get me in trouble. And they don't want to see us get in trouble either. So it's just with the way things have gone the last few years. I think it's important to have a bit of a checklist to make sure that this is going to go the right way and that, you know, hopefully fingers crossed, nobody takes it the wrong way.

And I think my last point on it, I think that because of who I am and what I have been doing that, I get a little more latitude because people know that there isn't sort of a mean, spirited background to it. But having said that, you know, still just be careful, I guess, is my point, not just for me, but lots of people who have social media, which is almost everybody these days. When you make the switch over to SportsNet, SportsNet was not what it is now. Did you foresee what was coming with SportsNet? Or was that, or is what has happened now just like, holy dinah. Yeah, we certainly have grown, you know, when I, I joined on a year after Darren Drager, who's now at TSN, left A-Channel to go to Sportsnet.

I came to Edmonton, and then three years later, I started at Sportsnet. But it was kind of the, you know, the new network on the block, right? So there's growing pains. It's the, you know, the opposing network had been on since the early 80s, big head start. just like taking two grocery stores and putting them up against each other. One's been around for 15 years before the other one. You know, the new one's got some work to do. But boy, you know, through the different bosses that we've had, different leaders,

and I guess right up to the Rogers family, I mean, they've done a great job at making us, you know, a heck of a network, if you don't mind me saying. And certainly acquiring the national rights gave us another big step up. I mean, certainly we're known as a hockey network, with a regional hockey network, and then the playoffs would come and, you know, we might get around, we might not get anything in the old days.

But now we've got it. And through CBC, which we have an incredible partnership with. So we've come a long way. I don't know. I mean, I was happy with the little sports network that could. But now we've really sports leader. And I like the old way,

I like the new way too. It's a great, it's a great combination and I really think that nationwide, it's put us on the sporting landscape and it certainly even into North America all over when you're dealing with, you know, we have the Blue Jays, we've had Raptors games, we have no shortage of hockey games, we've had soccer games. So I think we've really found a real nice spot where we're at right now. and hopefully we're going to get back to here when hockey returns. You've been working with the same cameraman for 19 years? Yeah. Same guy, Cory Blaschel.

Is that unique or is that something that just happens? I've never really thought about it much. Yeah, you know what? A little bit of both. Usually when you work at a network or you work at a station, you're always working with different cameramen, different camera people, ladies, men, could be the same guy for two days and then you don't see him for two weeks or the same girl for two days and then you don't see her for two weeks. Corey and I've been

together. I started October of 01. He started January of 2002. So coming up in January, not going, well, would there be 18 years working together? We're the, we're the longest serving duo. It's, you know, Corey moved here and has been here a long time. I'm born and raised here. You've got two guys who have no interest in going anywhere else that are really, really satisfied and happy with their jobs. So just kind of worked out that way. And he's, he's funny. If you met him, he looks like the guy when it comes to. He's very open and outspoken and talking to, uh, you think, oh, this guy's probably on air. Generally off camera, I'm, I'm not saying I don't talk, but I can be the quieter guy, uh, less opinionated than him.

Uh, but you know, he always says, I'm the bad cop and you're the good cop. And whether that's true or not and likely is, it's, it's worked for a long time. and hopefully for you know quite a few more years to come I bet you guys know each other like you know extremely well 19 years with anyone day day out like that's a lot yeah it's it's been a long time I mean he's we've seen each other you know have families have kids have grown kids uh it's a lot has happened in in almost 20 years of time we've seen you know parents pass away and always kind of you know been there for each other and you know we're so different but in this case I think opposites from a TV standpoint attract and work together he can get stuff done

and he stood up for me many a time when I might just go just let it go or leave it alone and no no we're we're going to get this taken care of so I give him a lot of credit for not just I don't want to say single-handedly my success, but our success as a bureau, because a lot of times when you get into playoff series, if you're not covering, if you're covering your own team, chances are the two of you are together. And even if you're covering something else. So we've spent a lot of time together and had very few disagreements. Just, yeah, really very, very few disagreements. And when we do, we just brush it off and move forward. we've talked a lot about the nchal if you were to move away from the hl and look back on your career what are a couple of the things that stick out that you've really enjoyed being a part of now whether it's the olympics or whether it's i don't know cfell

football yeah when you look back uh you go man i really enjoyed that time yeah i think i think we have some on on each i've really enjoyed going to drafts and covering number one picks and you know i know someone insert the joke of I've had lots of experience doing it, but it's, there's nothing like a number one pick in a draft. I mean, it's just the excitement and the buildup and the drama to it is, is incredible. And I remember Taylor, Tyler, Tyler, Taylor of 2010 between Taylor Hall and Tyler Sagan. Oh, that was a lot of fun. Covering Stanley Cup finals, both with Edmonton in it and others in it. Again, the Cup final is the piece of resistance in North America for hockey. those have been great.

CFL, I remember the 97 Great Cup. Toronto was in it and won. Mike Binball Clemens was there and Doug Flutie and it was here in Edmonton at Commonwealth Stadium. So it was a hometown. Yeah. No.

Yeah. Sorry. Well, to cut you off, I literally just talked to Rod Peterson about that. I was in the store. Oh, yeah, Rod, yeah. We get beat like 47, I want to say 47. And we did not deserve 23 points.

Yeah, that was a machine of a team. Yeah, so that one was memorable. I think going to Dubai, I remember going there for four days to do some stories during the 0405 lockout. We met princes. We rode camels. What were you doing in Dubai? You know what? We were there doing.

Dubai was attempting to attract world-class triathlon. And so we went there kind of on a promotion. tour to help build this up. But while we were there, we did some stuff on a Prince who was an Olympic champion. We, of course, found some guys who played hockey. And we did some various stories. But I don't think I'm ever going to get a chance to ride a camel again. So that's, that's memorable. The London Olympics, the Vancouver Olympics and the Golden Gold and that win. You know, interviewing Michael Jordan, interviewing Tiger Woods. Again, you know, I'd like to say it was just hard work and brains and skill but no it's it's just timing and people believing in you and lots of different factors that have allowed me to have you know just so many so many

you know great moments i sound like i'm going to announce my retirement i'm not ready for that but um you know if if i've always said and and i hope it doesn't come to this anytime soon but if in six months or a year let's say i'm not doing this anymore um i i hope i'll i'll enjoy and look back to what I did and not be so upset, frustrated, and look at what I didn't get to do. Because I had a chance to do lots of great stuff. What are you going to do when you retire? I personally feel like, Gene, you got lots of years left. Yeah, well, you know, I like to think so too.

I mean, I'm 53 and so I always kind of say it's a seven to 12 year window, I think. I think. You know, I hope seven to 12 years from now. my kids be fully grown and hopefully married and have their own kids. And that wouldn't be too bad to run around, teaching them how to play sports and hang out and skate. So, you know, we'll see. I mean, you know, a lot of media people don't retire because it's like a retirement

job, you know. I mean, listen, at the apex of what I'm doing, I fly on a plane with the Edmonton Oilers. I stay in incredible hotels. I get to see North America slash the world. I go to hockey games. I interview people that many of us know and recognize. I mean, why would I retire?

Like, you know, why would I retire? I'm going to keep working. So that's why so many of us, people don't want to retire because it's great. Why do you want to say bye to it? Well, yeah. How are playing rides with the hockey team? You know what, they're good? Despite what I do, I do not like to fly.

Really? Yeah, I don't like to fly. So what do you do then, Gene, to get over that? Because last time I checked, you're on a plane all the time. Yeah, I know, I know. I tell you what, my partner in crime there, Kevin Quinn sits beside me and tries to call me down. He always opens up the window when it's bumpy. A lot of times I just look straight ahead and focus on something.

I do what I call the clutch and grab, but you know, the seat beside me, I hang on to that, and I hang on to the front seat. So the clutch and the grab. Has never gone away? No, no. You know, sometimes you think it leaves, but then it comes back when it's bumpy, right? Like, I love it. You know, it's not that I dislike planes. I just dislike turbulence. And it just makes me uncomfortable and makes me nervous, makes me kind of nauseous. it just doesn't make me feel well. You'd take a bus over a plane any day.

Yeah, I would be the John Madden of sports broadcasting if I could, taking a bus everywhere. I remember one of the great trips. We went from Philadelphia to Long Island back in the old Doug Wade days, and we watched Dumb and Dumber on the bus and had some pizza, and I thought, this is great. You know, this is great. Now, being out east, obviously the flights, they're shorter,

and in theory, less time in the air, less opportunity. I've been on some 45-minute flights. I'm like, oh, I've been on some five-hour flights. I remember when New Jersey and New York in 2012 and 2014, if I remember the years correctly, 2011, I think. When they played L.A., I mean, you're talking about five-hour flights back and forth. I mean, the good thing was no connections, but those are long flights. So you kind of never know, but, yeah, for me, I love it in the off-season.

My wife's family is Winnipeg, drive there, drive to BC, you know, I don't mind not getting on a plane during the off-season. The thing is, my family would like to get on a plane and go somewhere, and I can't blame them. Yeah, that's surprising that you're afraid of flights considering, I mean, all you do is fly. That's all you do. I know, I know. I do a lot of, I'll check on size of planes, right, to see what. what's available. I might take a longer route if I think that I can get on a bigger plane instead of a smaller one. My check connections. I do a lot of

searching fact-finding because usually what happens is we don't physically book our flights, but we generally will give a couple options and someone in our travel department will book it. So I don't just go, oh, just book me to from Edmonton to L.A. on February 3rd, just for, for example. I'll give them, hey, this is what I would like. If you can make this happen cost-wise, just because I want to be, I generally like going through Vancouver, because you get, you chop off an hour, 15 hour and a half, and then it's maybe only two hours down to, to L.A., to San Jose, into Anaheim, into those cities. So, yeah, I do some checking though before I do my flying. That's too good. Of all the things that we're going to talk about today, Gene having a fear of flying

and taking the long way around to make it to destinations, that's pretty common. Yeah, I know, I know. I think, you know, it wasn't too bad when I did a little bit of flying, but it seemed like the more I did, the less comfortable I got, because the more I did, the more opportunity for bumpy flights. And, you know, sometimes I know that some of the other, in the past because on the plane it's it's it's it's like coaches management staff a little bit of media exit row and then players and when it gets bumpy sometimes players are go hey gito how you doing up there

and i'm like i don't turn around i just i focus on a spot i don't acknowledge i just for me that's my that's my way of trying to get through it is just squat stare clutch and grab and that's it Is there a player who would give it to you a little bit more than that? Some of the guys used to do it like Ryan Jones. Like very playful, very playful. Steve Deos, Darnel Nurse, I think, has done it. Sometimes I'm not exactly sure, you know, who it is. But, you know, and some of them too are uncomfortable, right?

I don't see it because they're in the back. We never go to the back. But I'm sure there's some, you know, and sometimes someone who will kind of joke around, we really will be on a bumpy flight. like, hey, that kind of got me too, you know. So all in good fun. And I guess kind of like going back to when we're kids, right? If they're talking about you or talking to you, then I guess shows they kind of like you at least a little bit.

Yeah, for sure. I had to ask one about the old building, the old Coliseum, Skyreach, et cetera. We went from having the Derek drop down, which as a fan, and I think, I hope I speak for a lot of fans, maybe nobody else cares. but I really liked when the Derek came down and just kind of built the anticipation, the fireway storm out, it was unreal. They go to the new barn. They've taken everything from every possible arena

to make it look awesome, and they take that out. Am I the only one thinking that? Yeah, the Derek was, I always remember, especially during playoffs, I thought, man, just once, if I could be in that room when the place is rumbling, make that walk through the bar and the fan area, and then come out under the Derek. I said, I would be pretty happy with that.

Yeah, you know, I never, I never specific, I remember them addressing it now because that was 2016 that the new arena opened. And I think they just wanted to cut ties now. They had their own way of doing things. The Derek, of course, you know, it was iconic, right? In oil country and, you know, it was one of those things as you saw it coming down. You knew who was coming out, right? So it was kind of tied in.

You didn't need anyone to announce it even though they did. but that is one of the things that that kind of didn't make the cut that they didn't bring over to the new building and I think it's I think it's just they just wanted to really start fresh you know maybe they would consider bringing it back I don't know if after X amount of years whether that that idea is long gone but it's it's kind of like a I guess a nice couch in your old house looks great really usable serviceable fits and then you go to a new house I don't know if this is going to work here. Maybe that's what they thought.

I never did specifically ask about the Derek, but maybe new building, new approach, new name, let's move forward. That's too bad, because you guys are all supposed to be in the know. And I've been trying to figure out why. I'll ask somebody. I'll ask somebody.

When the season gets started again, I'll find out what happened with the Derek. Because, I mean, I'm all for all new and everything, but we bring up the Oilers winning in the 80s and everything else. Yeah, sure. all the history, except for what they skate at them.

I know people think I'm ridiculous for being so hard on it. But I'm like, man, everything you just said about when it comes down and hits there and boom and the fireworth come out, man, if that kid doesn't get your blood going, you're just ready for the game and they took it out. And I don't remember really back then and feel free to correct me. I don't really, I'm assuming it was asked, but I don't remember a big furor or a big deal out of it. I don't remember a lot of online comments or anything along those lines about the Derek.

Likely some questions, but nothing that social media sort of picked up and ran with. In other words, I'm going to have to throw it out of social media. Maybe I am the complete, absurd one and nobody cares. I'm just that oddball guy. Yeah, maybe. I don't know. Well, we're going to go into our final segment here, the Crudemaster Final Five. Just five questions, Gene.

shout out to Heath and Tracy McDonald, huge sponsors of the podcast. So you got five questions, long or short as you want to go, and then I'll let you off the hook, all right? Okay. So the first one, now I want you to close your eyes,

and I want you to envision walking into a party full of jeans. And the jeans are from every five years previous to where you're at, all the way back to 20. Okay? So here's all these guys.

One guy's talking about puns, and he's saying, I got this great idea. I think I'm going to throw puns out. We're having it off here. One guy's talking about, hey, I'm just moving to Hamilton, whatever it is. What guy do you think you'd want to sit down with? That's a lot of five. I think the 25 or the 30.

I think the 25 or the 30 because 25, I was starting to get a little bit serious about my career, but still having fun. And then the 30, I was married, but not a dad yet. and I think that would be the more party fun guy. But yeah, you know what, I'm going to go 25. I'm going to go 25. That'd be my choice. Now, you walked in the same party and impart wisdom.

Just to change the career trajectory, right? Walk in, you go, you know what, I'm going to find this guy because he needs to know this. Which one are you cornering? And what are you telling him? You know what? I think the 20-year-old one, because the 21, the 20-year-old one thought, you just hop in a rocket and you go right up to the sky, like into the moon, the mean, I, again, I think I was pretty naive. It's all worked out. But I would say the 20-year-old could have used a little more dose of realism. Part of the reason I succeeded, I think, was because

I was who I was at 20, but a little bit of molding back then might have might have helped. So I'm going to say a 20 year old. Fair enough. Well, that is that is probably you're the first person I've ever thrown that question at. So I was curious how I was going to go. I thought about it all. Well, I thought about it all weekend because I always talk about when, well, I'm 34 now. When I look back at 25, I go, man, at 25, I thought I had the world by the nuts.

I don't know. But at 25, I thought the same thing about 18. And you're further along your career than I am. And looking back through all the different genes, which one would be the one that you want to sit? So 30 and 25, yeah, that makes sense. You're young yourself. Yeah. If you could sit down for a beverage of your choice with one person, who would you want to sit down with and pick their brain?

You know, there's some athletes that I would love to have. to sit with. You know, I love soccer. Pelle would be somebody. Dino Zof, who was a great keeper for the Italian teams. But I think a guy that comes to mind is a guy that I initially idolized on TV. And that's Howard Kosell. Howard was a lawyer who spoke like a lawyer, but just did it on TV.

And he was, wow, his vocabulary was incredible. and he had an incredible rapport with Muhammad Ali, who might be the most famous athlete of all time, or certainly one of. I think Howard Kosell would be, because of where I ended up going into broadcasting, it would be a tough choice, but I would go with him.

Interesting. I can't say I remember. I'm assuming he was well before. Yeah, when you Google him, he did a lot of the Monday night footballs. He did Olympics. He did boxing. What you're saying is if I Google,

I'll probably know his voice right away. You likely will. He did back in the old 70s and 80s. They used to do Battle of the Network Stars. You've ever seen those where ABC would take on CBS and NBC. Hilarious. Tony Danza from Who's the Boss going up against David Hasselhoff from Night Rider on NBC. Like it's television that they could never do now just because of, I think, salaries.

But just it was, and he treated it like the Olympics. And so it was so funny because it was so not serious. but he was serious. So he would be my guy. I think if it was just an athlete, wow, that's a tough one to pick. I've had the opportunity to talk to Wayne Gretzky luckily many times,

but he would be up there. Maybe Michael Jordan coming off the last dance. I've interviewed him, but I've never got to know him. But he would be a guy with some amazing insight, I think, at what competitive life is really, really like. Yeah, well, that last dance, Yeah. Well, it was fantastic.

But some of the stuff he goes through is as hard to fathom as a person. I agree. What's one thing left on your bucket list do you want to kick off? And I know the World Cup we mentioned, but is there anything else on there that's, you know, teasing Ed Gino and Ian going on? Well, you know what? I'm going to say, yeah, the World Cup, but I think, you know, World Cup's every four years. I may only cover another or have the opportunity to cover three more potentially, three or four, right?

So I think I'd like to be in the trenches and cover the Oilers win in the Stanley Cup. You know, I was close to doing that. But when I think of successes for me and a personal bucket list, it's not about, oh, I'd like to do play-by-play for this or analyze for that. I think just watching, you know, I was joked that McDavid was drafted in 2015. So I was 48. I figure if he plays till he's about 37, that's 19 years, it would take me to about 66. Perfect.

I always joke, McDavid will retire and I'll retire at the same time and we'll be done. They'll be done with me and not that they want to be done with him, but he'll have had a great career. I hope it has a couple of Stanley Cups on it or more, and I hope they're covering at least one of them. I hope you're right. What's separate, you know,

for a guy who doesn't have a background in playing in the NHL or playing in wherever, what did you do to separate you from the rest throughout your career? I think it would be being myself, but also finding my own comfort level on TV and what that is. And that's changed, right? When I was 20, I wouldn't have done what I'm doing now. you know even that 30 right there's more into my 30s when I started doing that so I I think that's that's the biggest thing is just finding out who you want to be and I

want to be me I don't want to be like people saying oh my gosh he's way different on on TV than he is in person and I and I am a bit but not really that much and also just figuring out what my comfort level was like what I would do on TV and be okay with. And I think those are the things that I've kind of followed. And they've changed. They've changed. And they still might change again. But certainly in 33 years, I've gone through many different approaches, comfort levels and ideas that were successful. Some were, some weren't. But thankfully more were than weren't. Otherwise, I might not be talking to you. I hear that an awful lot.

Just being yourself. Yeah. And that in turn makes, can make you successful by not trying to be somebody or not. Yeah, I think for me, being myself is, I mean, don't get me wrong, I got frustrated, but no positive, upbeat. People person. I'm a make people happy kind of guy. I stay away from competitions, even if maybe I should. Not I should, but I could.

Yeah, I want to be a guy that people go to to talk as opposed to avoid talking to. Some of the characteristics of just me that I kind of parlayed on to TV. Yeah, and you can really tell, Jane, I know. You're one of everyone's favorites that's on TV, right? It's easy to see that coming through what you do. It's easy. It's easy right now sitting here talking. talking to you well thanks I appreciate it it's it's been great and you've got lots of it's a heck a

podcast heck of a podcast well your last one what is the most random I always love people who started up from the bottom what is the most random place you ever reported from you're hauling around both things on your shoulder where what event were you covering and where were you at well I think one thing I covered that I would have never thought I was covering or would cover was I went up to high level and I covered what but CTB still does and CFRN used to do but now CTV a Wednesday's child and Wednesday's child is I'm gonna try and describe it but basically they they they focus on a young person child and they want to they want to try and find a family for that child and I remember

going up to high level, which is way up north. And I was the cameraman. And I remember shooting this and thinking, oh my gosh, like, this is not something I ever thought I would do. And thankfully, that the child was adopted. And so I always felt like in a small way out of hand. One other thing, there's been lots of different things I've done. But I remember when I was just breaking in and I was starting in Grand Prairie. I spent a little bit of time in Edmonton as like an intern for CFRNTB. And I remember going with Lisa Miller to a ski hill. And this guy was a good skier out of Edmonton, Eddie Potovinsky, long retired now. But I remember carrying the tripod up, kind of up the hill. And I remember him looking at me. And I always felt like he was looking at me.

and he was very nice guy, but I always felt like he looked at me and went, who's this guy? Like, he's carrying a tripod? Like, what, not what's he ever going to amount to, but like just who is he, right? Like, who is this guy? Yeah. And so I always, I always remembered that thinking, well, who am I going to be? Right? What am I going to turn out to be?

So those are a couple things that I remember that are way off the beaten path of nothing to do with sports or a final score or anything. but I just really remember them. Well, I really appreciate you sitting down with me. I've thoroughly enjoyed this, and I wish you best of luck, and I hope that we have many more years of Gene, the Principae of Pons. Thanks, Sean. I appreciate the time, and great work on your part,

and continued success at home and with the podcast. Thank you very much, sir. Hey, folks, thanks again for joining us today. If you just stumble on the show and like what you hear, please click subscribe. Remember, every Monday and Wednesday a new guest will be sitting down to share their story. The Sean Newman podcast is available for free on Apple, Spotify, YouTube, and wherever else you find your podcast fix. Until next time. Anybody's still there?

Have you hung around? Wondering what little teaser I'm going to give here? We started it on Monday. I just confirmed this weekend. my 100th guest and I'm pretty jacked up about it. I had to pull over. I was doing fist pumps. I'm excited. I'm excited for the 100th guest and it is a little ways away July 29th. It's going to be a lot of fun.

So you're sitting there going, okay, so what are we talking about right now? Well, last episode I said he is a Canadian. And now I'm going to say he's a Canadian who's written a book. So that's where we're at. I hope you've enjoyed the show. to this point. I certainly enjoyed having Gene Prince Pay on today, and I've got a lot of great guests coming up, so I hope you guys are enjoying yourself. You stay tuned in, and we'll catch you next week. Cheers.