Shaun Newman Podcast - Ep. 132 - Ken Rutherford

Episode Date: November 23, 2020

A great friend of mine & the 1st podcast guest I had hopped on to discuss the world today. We get into some deep conversation  talking about Ken's battle with ADHD, my weight discussion, the divide in society & senior hockey.  Should point out Ken is a hell of guy for opening up on the podcast & if you want to hear more about what he is doing check out the podcast he co-hosts War on Weakness. Let me know what you think   Text me! 587-217-8500

Hi, this is Braden Holby. Hey, this is Tanner, the Bulldozer Bozer. Hi, this is Brian Burke from Toronto, Ontario. This is Daryl Sutterin. Hello, everyone. I'm Carlyagro from SportsNet Central. This is Jay On Right. This is Quick Dick, quick, Dick coming to you from Toughmo, Saskatchew. Hey, everybody, my name is Theo Fleary.

This is Kelly Rudy. This is Corey Krause. This is Wade Redden. This is Jordan Tutu. My name is Jim Patterson. Hey, it's Ron McLean, Hockeynet in Canada, and Rogers' Hometown Hockey, and welcome to the Sean Newman podcast. Welcome to the podcast, folks.

I got a good friend of mine in today, but before we get to Kenny, let's get on to today's episode sponsors. HSI group there, the local oil field burners and combustion experts that can help make sure you have a compliance system working for you. The team also offers security surveillance and automation products for residential, commercial livestock, and agricultural applications. I mean, when you can check on the well-being of your facility, your livestock, by simply pulling out your phone and checking on. the cameras in today's weather. Wouldn't you enjoy that? I think you would. Stop in at 3902.

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So I had some tea, threw it in one of these brewmates. And normally, you know, after what, 10 minutes, the hot water's cooled off so you can actually slip it. Slip it. And, man, burnt the entire mouth because here I went to go take a swig. The cups are fantastic. His work on it's unreal. And I should also mention they do.

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they'll get you hooked up. Now, if you're heading into any of these businesses, make sure, please make sure you let them know you heard about them, heard about them on the podcast. They like to know that you're listening and it helps both of us. Now, if you're interested in advertising on the show, visit Sean Newman Podcast.com, top right corner, hit the contact button, send me your info. We got lots of different options and I want to find something. that can work for the both of us. Now let's get on to that T-Barr 1,

Tale of the Tape. Originally from Paradise Hill, Saskatchewan, he's married and has six kids. Yes, six. Is a professor at Lakeland College, owns his own appraisal business, is a co-host of a new podcast, War on Weakness. Yeah, I'm talking about my good friend, Ken Rutherford.

So buckle up, here we go. This is Ken Rutherford, and I'd like to welcome you to the Sean Newman podcast. Welcome to the Sean Newman podcast. He's back. You were my first guest, Kenny. Ken Rutherford's in studio. Thanks for joining me.

You bet you, Sean. I get too excited. But, you know, it was February, it was released February 14th, is what it says on the app. I don't know if that's true or not. I don't think we were doing it on Valentine's Day. But we recorded in February 2019,

which is damn near two years ago. You were my first guest. We butchered it. It was good. Actually, when I was listening to it, I'm like, Kenny always said we butchered it. And I remember you're like, you're not going to show this to anyone, right?

And I'm like, no, no, no. And then I got out the door and I'm like, I'm totally going to show a few people. I'm too excited. And then now it's become the pilot episode for what this has become, right? And I've pleaded with you to come back on and you pushed me away for some time now.

But now I've finally coaxed you back in. So, I mean, it's been almost two years since you were in here last time, and I think it's high time. I mean, you helped build the first studio in the basement of an old house that was your office at the time. My how times have changed. And now you get to come in and see what I put together. And I don't know, man, I'm happy to have you back yet. Well, you and I are good friends, Sean. To call it your first episode, just so your listeners, I understand, I'm in no way famous, no way important.

no way influential. I'm just a normal dude. And I was not upset, but we were supposed to be testing your equipment on your way to go become what you are today. And then you said, I'm releasing it. And I was like, oh, Sean, come on. That wasn't in the deal.

And it got released. That's fine. You know, it was a fun. Did you hear any negative feedback from that episode? I think to have negative feedback, you'd have to have people listen to it. And I, I, Yeah. So the good news is no. And then again, Sean, you asked me many times to come back on.

And I like, I really care about you and I care about your passion. I care about your goals here. And I thought it wasn't the right time to have a nobody on for a time where you're trying to build listeners. Listeners like for good or bad, you get Wayne Gretzky on here. You're going to get a whole pile of people listening. and to make one of these businesses build, you need listeners. And I didn't want to be somebody that was going to slow you down. Now, here you are. You've, you've, oh, to say, made it. I don't know if that's the right word, but you've got your traction and you've got your

listeners. And so as a friend, you've asked me, and I told my wife, when you stopped and asked the last time, you know, I think in some cultures, if you invite somebody in for supper and you say, no, it's offensive. And you asked me, I don't know, six, seven, eight times. And I've told you, know, and I feel like I'm going to be. going to be starting to say, no, I'm good when you invite me over for supper. So Sean Wantson. And now it's just you and I. We're good friends. We seem to have a

synergy or a, I think from my perspective, something special happens when you and I mix. And I'm sure you have that with other people because you're a special dude. But I treasure the moments to do this with you. And I'm thankful to be a part of your story. Well, first off, I haven't made Jack Squat and I do appreciate the journey it's been I don't mean that in a negative way I just You know we we talk a lot about Off air like where you want to be in five years that type of thing and I guess when I say I haven't made jack squat I just I'm further down the road, but I'm not where I want to be I guess The second thing is I laugh when people say you know if you had Wayne Grexky on and Wayne Grexie is probably

honest to God is probably in a class with Michael Jordan and a couple of guys like that where you're absolutely right. If I got Wayne Grexky on or Michael Jordan, you're absolutely right. Would you take them over a Ken Rutherford and bump Ken for a week? Sure. Thanks. Thanks, Sean. But I think any name I've had, and this is no knock on, any famous guy, and I put that in quotes or high-profile guy,

It's funny. I look at the numbers that come in and the best episodes minus Quick Dick McDick and I've told Quick this multiple times and it's why he's come back on is he's so popular right now

across all of my listenership his episode comes on and shoots right to the top. Paul B. Sanette was one that was like wow factor but other than that it's all been local people who've had the best opening weeks by far.

What happens over time is if you have Rahm McLean on, people see that and are looking back through what you've done, obviously they're going to click on that. So name recognition goes a long way over time. But like, honestly, if I had the choice of having, you or some guy who played third line in the show, don't get me wrong, I want the third line guy. I think it's going to be interesting.

But I enjoy these. And I was telling you before, these episodes where I get to talk about personal things, about a little more give and take between the person talking, the person listening, or vice versa, they're what spurry on to do another 50 episodes, in my opinion. It's interesting. Maybe as opposed to me and my story,

if I'm, some who played third line in the show, where you're extracting my story, this is a dialogue between the two of us, and it's something special when you're, listen to it a year, five year, 10 years down the road because it's really not, maybe I'm kind of interviewing you and you're interviewing me because it's just a conversation not between with me being nobody famous. It's just two friends talking. And maybe it becomes, you know, when you were listening to our first podcast, it's kind of special like we're talking about.

We've had a lot of life changes since then. Well, it's like a picture. We were bugging each other that Kenny doesn't like, okay, right off the hop, the first thing I say pretty much in the first podcast we did was Kenny as I'm introing you. You know, businessman, blah, blah, blah, help build the studio. And he doesn't like birth control because he's got five kids. Well, if anyone knows Kenny right now, how many kids he got? We had her sixth. Yeah, it was a surprise that the, the, we weren't planning it.

And it was a surprise and it was a holy S-H-something-T, right? And I'll tell you what, that's that's one of the highlights of my life so far. I mean, having every kid, but when you weren't supposed to have another one, and you do, and I got to give a lot of credit to my wife. My wife is, I just told you that night, actually, that what I set out to marry, I exceeded that. You know, I had a picture of my mind when I was 14, 15, 16 years old of who I wanted to marry. And I wanted something that was good with kids. And my wife was just so patient and so kind.

And, oh, she had a few tears and a few swears. when she was when we found she was pregnant. But yeah, like that little fellow, a little Benjamin is what we named our son. He's a highlight of our household. We race for him. When you hear him start to squawk, it's a race for everybody in the household who gets to pick him up next. So it makes me wonder. Like our society seems to be pushing people to have two kids, you know, or I think the national average might be 1.6 per per couple or something like that. I can't remember the number now, but I think that's maybe a mistake is one of our primary purposes is to procreate, I think. And there's a, well, you'd know this. There's a hard, huge sense of accomplishment or

bonding with your wife or to watch a life that, you know, depends on you. And, you know, it's been really special. So yeah, we've, we've had our sixth kid and a lot of people laugh at us. You know, it's a, they're laughing at me, not with me a lot. And I'm okay with that. I've come to the conclusion a long time ago that society's wills or what's popular changes from time to time. And there would have been a bit of time people would have made fun of you for having two kids because it's not enough. And now they make fun of you for having more than two because it's too many. Hey, everybody's got their own walk and it works for us. And I'm very thankful for it.

A, I think it's, I always admire the way you talk about your kids and your wife and your family. It's something I hold very high on my, I don't know, list of things that. that are important to me in life. So I really like the way you talk about having kids and the way you look at your wife and how important she is to your life because that just resonates with me. This weekend we had five kids,

the oldest turns five in January, but still four and under essentially, right? And all I could think of was my parents, they had five kids, or you six. And you know the crazy thing was with five kids, I was really in my brain before they came over, I'm like, ah, this is going to be stressful. Like, I'm like building up the stress of having five kids.

And what ended up coming out of it was like, man, it was a lot of fun. And my wife laughed at me, Mel laughed at me. She looked at me, she's like, you want to have another kid? I'm like, I tell you what, with our last one, Mel got her tubes cut out. It was a long story, but essentially we're not having any more kids. And I said, honestly, if, if, uh, if, uh, if this is what women get baby fever, right? Like, yeah, I'm like, I'd probably have a fork. Because I mean, like, that's, that's pretty, uh, having all those kids around the table and

interactions and everything, which is going to happen with our three for sure as they mature and get a little older and actually going to have conversations. But the five of them interacting, Kenny was like, you didn't need to go anywhere for entertainment. Let's leave it at that. Like, it was. it was, the house was just like full of life. Mm-hmm.

And that was cool to be around for a night. And three, and the two parents, believe me, it's full of life. And at one point in time, one kid was all you needed to be full of life. But as time went on, you almost, me and Mel laughed about it. You almost mastered having one kid. And then you almost master having two. And then you get the third and you're like, never again. And here I am sitting.

And you almost feel like you have it mastered. Not in the sense. You can predict the future and everything. else, but you kind of get comfortable with it where busy is the new norm and you're okay with that. Yep. You get used to chaos. I mean, you're from a big family. I'm the oldest of six. And so to me, chaos is just where it's at. It's not a normal house unless you hear motorbikes ripping, two kids fighting, you know, somebody, you know, hog in the bathroom, you know, mom's yelling at somebody. It's just our house and it's a lot of fun. And it makes me think like

when you say that those are the special days, like I think, I try to talk to people. older than me and listen to them. And granted, this isn't exactly a scientific study because it's only in my social circle, but I find that a lot of people, when they talk for the most part, their most treasured years are when they were child raising or raising children. And one day they leave the home. And it seems like people say, you have no idea how much you're going to miss the rink. You have no idea you're going to miss, you know, summer holidays and going to the lake and finishing with your son or your daughter or, you know, watching a daughter, you know, get dressed up for her graduation or that type of thing, right? And so to me, it's interesting that

so many people want to rush through those years or shorten them so that they can get back to living, right? It's, like, it's going to be fun to have the kids gone from the house and go to Mexico every second Saturday for drinking pinocados on the beach. And I, I just don't think that's for me. I think having kids that, boy, it sure gives you a lot of responsibility, but it sure gets you involved in your community and gets you. You know, I've coached a couple hockey games on the weekend, coached all my kids, you know, man, we do a lot with them. And I ski a lot, I do martial arts with them.

You know, like you're just getting rolling. You're in for some good years. And boy, does it ever keep you busy? But, well, we're going to blink twice and we're going to be 90 years old. And this thing's going to be winding down. So if there's a little, if there's a lot of it, If we are going to look back and say these are most treasured years, why don't we treat them like they are and stop bailiak and about them and enjoy them?

Well, I'll shout out to Norm Jans, because that's what Normie always tells me, right? Like, you're going to enjoy when your kids are young enough that they still worship the ground you walk on and aren't old enough to tell you to go half off and everything else, right? You know, you bring up responsibility. I was listening to, you know, another thing in the first podcast we touch on is that we're in a book club together. Well, that's been going now for, that's how the podcast idea got started, you know. I presented it to the group. I was telling, I think it was Mikey Dobbs.

I was telling them that I sent you guys basically a voice recording from Calgary with an idea, and I presented it to the book club. And in that book club is where this all gets started and where these conversations really started to roll. But one of the guys we went and saw was Jordan Peterson. And Jordan Peterson's thoughts on responsibility to steal the word that you used about having kids. He says that's where the meaning of life is, right?

Is having responsibility? Is there any more responsibility than to look out for kids underneath you? And again, leaning on to Jordan Peterson. I know it because of other psychologists, but I've just heard him talk about it is, how important it is to stay married and be in a healthy relationship and be a good father and a good mother, you know, the impact it has on that next generation. And so it's been some of that that has really fueled me to try to, not try, do, make my marriage with my wife, all that it can be. And when you talk about me inspiring you, I got a first thing that comes to my mind is Frank man and Candyman.

Yeah. You know, I remember you and I've been in the Hitman dressing room and I remember thinking like, there's Frank, right? And he would come in and have a beer with everybody, two-step with his wife. She'd laugh and giggle. I remember thinking, look at that. He was in a 70s, I think at the time. And I'm like, you know what? That's going to be, I want to be him. I want to be 75, two-step with my wife, looking at her like she's the most beautiful woman in the room. And so we all have our influences, don't we? And so I'm honored that you look at me like I look at you that way in a society where divorce rates are I believe the numbers are over 50% now and it's as you know I guess I'm older in years than you and

as much as I say we get along it's not easy you know there's been a good days and bad days but when you for me that what's got us through for me personally is this when you say my goal is when I'm old to be still married to my wife you know uh you know that's the That's kind of one of my drivers. And thankfully, my wife has stuck out with me. I think she's got the worst deal out of the two of us. Well, here's the thing. You say there's been good days and there's been bad days.

Yeah. I think Hollywood, maybe, maybe Disney, I don't know who it is, sells you the idea that that isn't what marriage life is. I mean, there's going to be good days and bad days. And over the course of, you know, hopefully I live into my 70s, so that's maybe even 80s, that's 40s. that's 40, 50 years of marriage kind of thing. You better believe there's going to be some rocky road ahead of you.

But it's the ability to navigate that water that makes a relationship last, right? Because I got friends, you got friends, the first sign of trouble, they're out. And that, I'm not talking about marriage. I'm talking about dating people. It doesn't have to be any further than that, right? Yeah. I've had those. When Mel and I were first dating, when a lot of people,

maybe people know. I don't know. Mel's from Minnesota. I'm from obviously Lloydminster, Hillamond. So every summer for like three months, we were apart.

And distance, if anyone's done distance, sucks. And I had friends at different times say, you know, I didn't even hang in there. Why don't you just?

And I never understood that thought process. I guess I always went, why date someone if, you know, the first sign of anything you're out the door.

I mean, if it's bad, obviously. There are signs and signals and red, you know, like maybe this isn't working out. I should leave. But at the same time, just because you've got to go away for a little bit, now you're running out the door. That makes no sense to me. Yeah.

And it's, when you think about divorce, I think, well, we just finished maps of meeting with Jordan Peterson. And there's a snippet for people that know him. Obviously, he's had influences. His names come up four times now, I think. But he has a snippet. If you're thinking about getting a divorce or you're thinking about going down there, that even entertaining that thought, right? There's him in his lecture series at the University of Toronto. And he puts it all in the line, doesn't he? He's like, honestly, like, if anybody's listening to this, anybody? I don't know how many with Ken Rutherford on here, but you should listen to that because it's Google Jordan Peterson divorce talk. It's like you better get ready for to get, be poor, to be stressed.

You're not what he's called, indentured servant, right? When you've got kids, you know, those are still your kids. You still got to pay for them. So we've got to worry about them. And now somebody else is going to be, right, if my wife and I got, she's going to have another boyfriend or that husband or boyfriend is not going to love those kids like I do. I'm going to go, like, you know, she's messy.

Right? So it's not all, you know, daffodils and, and unicorns and fairy dust is it. It's so I think you should have that real conversation, you know, with yourself. And yeah, I think we just leave it that because, I mean, that's not where I'm headed. But, but it's right now I have one wife, one one group of children. And I get it. Sometimes they break down. There's going to be people that are, you know.

Oh, yeah. There's always there always is the case. And I'm not judging from a high horse because we all know that everybody's two or three bad shakes from life being upside down. Right. you know, a disease or an addiction or a, you know, a suicide attempt or a, you know, like Ken's life has been pretty easy, so it's easy for me to say I held my marriage together. One of the things that the book club, you know, it's funny. When we first started the book club in the first episode, we were almost hesitant to say we were in a book club.

It was kind of funny, actually. I laugh about it when I listen to it now because I'm actually very proud of it. And one of the things we did, I'm in the middle of it right now. I'm on day. it's the 22nd, 22nd day of not drinking. And which, two years ago,

we sat in a book club meeting and I said, maybe we should just do like a month. And everyone's like a month. You're crazy? And now 22 days doesn't even seem like that big of a deal. Like it's almost become normal place. I've done it three or four times now.

And it's not even, don't get me wrong, there's nights, sure, you're sitting out at the Hitman game last night. You want to sit and have a, Asperilla, sure. But one of the things the book club did was I felt, you know, when you talk about divorce and things like that and drugs and addictions and everything, I felt like two years ago I leaned on drinking a little too much. By doing things like this, it took, it took that power

away from it. It's really been a growth, hasn't it, Sean? Like it's been a testament to to helping each other grow when there's more than just your mind and your influences and have other people around you to kind of bounce ideas and watch, you know, suggest books and debate it. And I would say our book hub, maybe it's, it's the topic that we choose. Like, I'm sure we could have like something that's dark and, and, and sometimes evil, but we don't have that. We're trying to try to understand and improve and think and be, be kinder and better and, you know, more understanding, I think. And so, yeah, it's been amazing, actually, hasn't it, to, on a personal influence. And my life certainly is not perfect in all regards, but I would say all else being

equal is had a very positive influence on my life. And so I thank you for that and our book club. I encourage everybody else to do it too. To me, I'm trying to find the new macho. And the new macho is somebody who stays married to their wife, isn't into porn, not, you know, not not not, ditching the kids at every chance you can get. You know, uh, you know, uh, you know, um, you know, know, why is not macho? You know, and so in the book club has kind of helped, help foster that. I think in all of us. I see a change in all of us.

So, you know, I'll let other people keep their own story. That's just my own observation of our club. So do it. Like join a club, even if it's three people, just grab a book. And the nice thing is when you have accountability, you get through it, right? Even if, you know, when you say, like, I'm going to listen this podcast by the first of the next month. You know, nobody has time to do it, but you find a way to do it. And then you come in it.

Well, I find that line right there really funny, right? I don't have the time. And I always go back. You make the time for things that are meaningful to you, right? Like, everybody wonders how you have time to do this. Hell, I ask you all the time. How do you have time to do all the things you're into? And yet, it's almost like a mindset of like,

I'm not going to stop moving for the entire day today. I'm gonna and that's cool on that this coming Sunday which is five days off I got like three four hour period at night and I'm gonna I'm gonna sit down and have a social beverage maybe watch a show with the wife whatever and kind of have like me time or whatever right where you're sitting on the coach enjoying like some sit down but then it's like yep but then I'm gonna get back at it hmm so you're coming about me yeah well no just in general just in general you use the line I don't have the time and I find lots of people say that can I and I just think they're lying to themselves. But that's okay because if what you want and what means a lot to you is Sundays or if you're watching football from noon till 8, that's cool. And then on Mondays you watch the Monday nighter.

That's cool. And Thursday nights you watch Monday. I'm sticking to football. I apologize football fans. But then in the meantime, you want to start, okay, start the podcast. The idea was I was going to release an episode like once a month. That was the original idea. it has come a long way since there.

It's taken me, we were out at the Hitman game last night. I was a little painful for me because I still feel like I can play. Yeah. And you know, there's probably a few guys listening and laughing going, no, you can't. That's fine. I've wanted to play until I was 40. Hell, maybe 45. I wanted to see my kids see me grow and come out to games and watch.

And you know how much the Hitman made to me and how much work I've put into that program. And to go out there and just watch and everybody go, why aren't you playing, why aren't you playing? Well, it's because time. I had to choose. I really, really enjoy this, and I've had to give up other things and I didn't know that was going to happen two years ago.

And maybe if I'd known that, maybe I would have approached things differently. But one of the things recently I've had to give up is the hitman. That sucks because, well, we were out there last night. How much fun was that being out there watching the game? You know, COVID going on and social distancing and everything, just to be back in the ring and have some senior hockey.

Yeah, it was, I think it would be. harder on you this year. I mean, you put more into it than I did. I coached for a few years and, uh, you know, was heavily involved with the rink and with coaching and, and, and, and that team and community fundraisers and, you know, both of us put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into it and, you know, can't forget about Norm Jans and Brad Simons and, you know, like the whole league, right? There's a lot of, a lot of volunteer hours that go into it. And, uh, for me, I would say, it's one of the things I'm struggling with right now. I'd say, you know, part of my life is really going well right now.

Part of it is struggling, just like everything. You know, it's like when you're talking about, I think we'll talk about me a little bit later, but, you know, the, is the time poverty thing. And I would, it was a little bit hard on me, and I'm sure it's a bit hard on you. Because when you and I were working with the hitman end for the last couple years,

it was a franchise that was really, really booming on all ends. And everything has some ups and downs. And I was really proud of those boys. But I think they went at the last. with nine skaters on Friday and pulled out an OT loss, you know, grabbed a point out of it. And again, an OT loss last night. And, you know, Graham Murray, you know, like stepped up and, you know, has the C from your

former sweater. And he's coaching and he's running practices and he's talking to players and trying to get sponsorship and Norm's trying to step away and they don't have a head coach. And there's some good people in that room. You know, to me, there's some really good people. It's a little bit hard on me to watch it and not step in and. do something, you know, to help put some wind into its sales. Not that I could do much, but it could do something. And I can't even imagine what it feels like for you to know that

you can still play and that you can have an influence in something that is part of what your family's history and your history. And so to me, it's a little bit hard, isn't it? Like to me, to watch it stumble, you want, not stumble. And that doesn't take any, those guys are good hockey players, man. They, they just will pull out a win last night against what do they have how many players on the on the well last one showed up with the full squad and and i don't think uh the word stumble is is is is wrong term it's when you don't have a head coach now this is on now this is on covid this is not on any of the the players going on this isn't on anyone when when you show up and you have nine guys the first game i mean we haven't had that since your first year of coaching

my first year head coach yeah we had yeah we lost burn let's let's get let's give let's give let's Graham, some kudos here. Oh, yeah. He didn't call up Jason Newman, Dustin, Harley, Nate, and then dress a full Newman line for the opening face-off, right? Yeah. We pulled out every trick in the book that first game

in order to have a roster to go in the Lashburn with. Yeah, the boys gutted it out on Friday night, nine guys, like. Yeah, fun watching them. Like, it's, it was fun to watch. It's been a while since Hillen's been the underdog, right? It's kind of fun to watch the underdog, And boy, those, there's fun watching them. There's still some good skaters.

They got some good hockey. They could use, well, let's just say probably five more skaters. What a coming pretty handy. Well, and as we know, and Graham's probably saying, as you listen to this, yeah, we got five more. They got guys coming, and that's great. What you're getting at is a year ago, maybe two years ago, head coach was there. We were making cuts. There's 29, 30 guys.

We were doing a fundraiser. We had the Dusty Man Memorial, which right now, hopefully March, right? But that was booming. Then you had the benefit game. The Bandits, Junior Bee Bandits, came out and raised like, you know, what did that event raise over a three years span? 60 grand. I think we had 60 grand raised over three years to give to families that were struggling, yeah.

Right? The Christmas dinners that went out to families. Yeah. And then. Provincial run. We went. We went. That year we struggled.

We actually won bronze at provincials and made a final. series right like it's it's no I don't know if it's difficult for me to watch it's it's frustrating that I can't I can make time it feels like for the last 10 years to do whatever my mind is set is right sitting out there and I go I just want to strap the skates on and go play yeah but I know where that leads yeah right and I know how my body works Merv Mann once told me way back when when I first got the came back and Brad had the hitman going and I hopped on so let's go get the man boys right like

Morgan and Merv won Alan Cups. They're from the area. Like, let's get them on. Ah, you can't. And Merv told me back then, I would love to. But if I'm going to do it, I'm going to do it 110%. I don't just show up to games. I don't just blah, blah, blah.

And I was like, no, come on. Like, you can do it. And now I'm sitting, I'm probably a few years younger than when Merv retired. But I'm sitting relative of Mervis, and I go, I get it. Right? Because I'm, if I play, well, then I want to be at all of practice. because I don't want to show up to a game here and a game there. What good is that?

We've seen that what that does to a team, right? Having guys come in for a couple games and then disappear for a month, right? Not earn their spot on top line. Right? Like we've gone through all those woes, which is never fun. And maybe, Sean, maybe in times of trial, it lets other people have their time to rise to the call. As you've seen Graham Murray do, right? and Wayhill and some of those fine boys in that room,

maybe it's their turn to rebuild it and recruit and get on with some benefit games and do it better, different in their own style. And I think they've got the right people in the room to do that. So it's maybe just time to transfer onto some other shoulders and let some other people have their. I remember Murray Mackdonnell telling me he was in rugby, built a rugby program in Lashburn, right?

And stepping away from that being really, really difficult because you're giving up control. role, right? But he said it was the healthiest thing to do. There was young guys there ready to grab it and run with it. And so that's probably the biggest thing that's tough in passing it on is like the, you no longer have control of everything. I mean, you know, there's been a group of us there. You know, when I walked in, Marlene, Rod, Brad Simons, Norm Jans, I think, are the four. those four had been there for a while still there right marlene's in emminton moraine stepped in and it's done an amazing job but they were there and for like 10 years since i've been back played for the same team and you almost miss going to that group because you know i talk about a lot in

volunteering with um the archive interviews is why do you enjoy volunteering so much well when you get a healthy group and you know you're showing up to to work with ken and brad or whoever you're Ken and Brad are, your norm for that matter, whoever they are, if you enjoy going to that, it's like a social loading. And that's what a lot of people don't understand, I don't think, about volunteering, is if you can build that group that you go volunteer with, that's a lot of fun to show up, instead of being work, now it becomes like a little bit of a social loading. Now you've got your, you're doing something really good for the community.

As a person or as a couple, you can have a social loading that still has you in bed at a decent time and you're not being you know up to the bar or whatever and it's healthy you get to see your friends in the meantime right yeah everybody it's like a win win win win yeah no and i miss that yeah yeah and uh and so do i the uh but maybe like let's let's let's see what the future holds like i i i do find that i sure enjoyed working with you like i found maybe we're equally crazy but I found like when I was coaching the hitman and you're a captain is boy there was not any lack of care or try or effort and I put probably probably to put too much into it maybe no I probably put the right amount probably you did too if you're going to do something you know

especially if it's from your heart and it's free and it's a volunteer position it was uh it was good I should maybe we'll get another chance Sean to do something you know I'm sure we will As time, as time, the road, you just never wear it, know where it leads. And I should maybe let you get Beneta diapers. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so the, yeah, so Hope Pittman, I know the Hitman will keep going. It would be nice to see them, some go. And I like to see the league get a little bit more health, maybe.

You know, the Saskalto is maybe having an issue or two. You know, I don't want to get into the inner politics of it by any means, but it's a. Well, it makes you appreciate. I was saying to you this before, like, if Ken Rutherford was paid $100,000 to ensure the Hillman continue for the next, that's his job, right? Everybody understands that. The hitman should never disappear.

Or just look at all the teams that have come in and taken leaves absence. Right now it's Maidstone's got to leave of abstinence. Nealberg. Two Hills? It's two hills? Actually, I don't know if Two Hills is playing in the Alberta side. It's a weird year this year. No, two hills is playing.

Oh, they're good. Okay. Marwain. Yeah. PV had been for the longest time, right? Yeah. But you understand when it isn't paid positions, and it's a volunteer-ran community team,

how impressive it is when a team like, well, I was saying to you a Dewberry, you know, tell all the Dewberry Mustangs, I don't love giving you too much love. We went to water quite an awful lot in the games. But what's impressive about it, them is they've had a long tenure, like never having breaks or leaves or whatever, or going

to Wilkie and seeing how long they've been going or Rose Town, right, and how long their history is. Like things like that are impressive when a community can, a community ran team, right, isn't, can have like the longevity. Like there's something to be said about that. For sure. It says a lot about your community, probably two or three families that have rolled in and, kind of, you know, been there till 3 o'clock in the morning, wiping up after fundraisers and

hitting up business in the community to keep the thing rolling. Yeah, sure does seem to be, again, I haven't studied a lot of teens, but it seems to me growing up in this area that one of the surest ways to gas or to end the lifespan of one of these organizations is to bring in paid players, you know, make it a, you know, slip in a player here, slip in a player there. To me, if you're a community that has most teams, before you do that, you should probably go talk to Brad Simons who got the Hillmont Hitman rolling again and the PV boys who got their program rolling again. The Paradise Hill, they got their team rolling again. And it takes a lot of blood, sweat, and tears to get a team rolling again and get some jerseys

bought and get eight players committed to playing and then have losing seasons for five in a row. It might be best to just not go down that path. You know, is it really worth the one victory to lose a team for 10 years. Seems to me. I would agree. I would agree. I'm, I wasn't there when the team got rolling. All I can remember about the hitman, I used to tell people this all the time, was I think it's year two, Brad. I wish we should have brought Brad in on this. I think it's year two of the hitman. Think about this. You just got a community team rolling back in. We're in the first year of trouts. You got like 30-some skaters. Everybody wants to see it survive. And it's either, I want to say it's year two. Because year three, I come in,

late at the end of that. And year two is when they combine with Lashburn, because both teams don't have enough guys to play. Right. That's how hard it is to get a core that can stay together to keep a team rolling. Like, it's a lot of bloody work. And I don't know if people understand that.

I don't think so. I think we've seen some of that in our own community, maybe, is it's not that the senior program is the end-all-be-all. It's just your town is healthier if you have a healthy senior hockey program, healthier if you have a minor, healthy minor hockey program, if you have, you know, a figure skating or a can skate group, or if you have volunteers and fundraisers, boy, if you can get a lot of different people all pull in the same direction, that keeps your rink open, that keeps your coffers full,

that pays for jerseys, that pays for ice rentals, that pays for, you know, well, just to keep the community rolling and you lose any one of your legs, you know, like let's say senior hockey, there's somebody that's not rent the ice now. that's kids that aren't looking at somebody that's saying one day I want to be Sean Newman and wear that C for the hitman. I don't know how many kids that was, but I get what you're saying because I grew up watching the very end of the All-Stars, like the very last, I have like very faint memories of Dad taking us down there.

And then the rest of your childhood, they're not there, right? And I think it's Jay talks about when he came back, the All-Stars weren't going, so he plays for Kids Scotty, right? Even Dustin started playing for Kid Scotty. and you miss out on when you don't have that place for people to step into, right? It's just part of your evolution of going up through a minor hockey system. And then if you can build something that is steadfast and a good program with good structure and, you know, then you can filter people in and then you got another aspect of your entire hockey feeding into,

I mean, the heart of all small Saskatchewan communities for sure. at right where we are, little Alberta communities as well. We'll put it. This is if you and I were owners of the Hillmond Arena or the Hillmond hockey group. It's just one of your business lines, right? You want to keep your senior hockey program rolling. Why? Because they fill the rink, they rent it, they buy all the fans come in, buy burgers, right?

It's a place for the midgets to filter into. They want to keep playing some hockey. Something for the community to you come to on a Saturday night. You'd also want your minor hockey. keep rolling because they buy burgers on the Saturdays and they do rink rentals and they do raffle tables and all the rest and then your can skates you want them to go so if they're somewhere for the kids learn a skate to jump into to me as soon as you get into a community where there's us and them right it's like we're the most important and they're not you know is

where that's just unhealthy I think and and I think you'd want all all types all alive all healthy and everybody should be supporting each other I think well it's not what I think it's just that's a fact Yeah. Yeah. You know, another thing we talked about, I had to chuckle. So in the first interview, I'm talking about how you got a mark across your eye, and we literally just come from probably our first day of Jiu-Jitsu.

Now, I haven't been in Jiu-Jitsu for probably a year, a year and a half, but you, sir, have been going quite a bit. And on top of that, the guy we discussed, the grizzly man who should have been back in ancient Rome, Tanner Applegate, you guys have a... a podcast together. Yeah, so, I mean, the jiu-jitsu thing, yeah, that's been my, maybe that's been, yeah, I have gone very hard at it, actually.

You know, I've done a lot, a lot of kickboxing, a lot of jiu-jitsu, doing some light of MMA now. And we've got to get you back. You know, I think you should come back and, and I've got some extra equipment. Come try a kickboxing class or two, because it's very, very different than the juditsu. But you guys,

correct me if I'm wrong. I've been going at noon hours and early evenings, right? I go as often as I can because it's my mental out. It's my mental break. Like you're talking, I don't really drink a whole bunch anymore. As much as life is still really good for me and my marriage is good and, you know, still work and fridge is full of food. I think COVID has been hitting everybody a little bit differently.

And I'm finding it very, very mentally. difficult. I got to say it was easy for me and it's it's getting hard and and it's my it's my out. You know, and and so yeah, I go as often as I can. I think everybody does something differently for different reasons. And when you get in there into a threatening environment where you got to sweat is the rest of the world just falls away, you know, and it's just you and that's person that's trying to kick your face off or choke you. And and I like that. I like that. It's, it's, it's, I'm I would say my, one of the things that's really going well for me in my life is physical condition. You know, doing that, I thought I was getting old.

I thought my injuries were there forever. I thought it was just time to kind of slowly ride off into the sunset and stop skiing and stop wrestling and stop jumping on a trampoline and stop motorbiking in case I twisted up a knee and maybe should just consider myself fortunate that I got this late in life without any major injuries. Yeah, I was wrong. I'm not getting old. As a matter of fact, by pushing my body there, I reverse stage in my body. So yeah, but getting back to your thing about the podcast.

Yeah, that's kind of what got us going, actually. We'd have to give credit to Tanner Applegate for he dropped the word in my year and then I dropped it in everybody else's year to say, you know, Tanner's trying to get a jihitsu club going. Not a club, but a group of us would go to the fight farm. And yeah, so us doing a podcast. It's interesting. I mean, I'm still very much struggling with time.

And the podcast is called War on Weakness. And Tanner, like you say, he's a 240-pound powerlifter. that's very, very hard to get off of you when you're on the bottom and he's, he's this grizzly Viking Santopia. And so it's, I agreed to do it with them for a year. Not so much to do what you're doing.

I don't have any aspirations right now of doing it as a full time or getting to a million listeners. I looked at as a personal challenge. It was like a time to, the goal of the podcast is to look at anything that is considered a weakness and talk about it and try to help ourselves or others to maybe cheat the curve to find strength

in an area where maybe they're weak and also to have a local influence on businesses and entrepreneurs in this tough economic environment to help inspire and encourage people to support local business. I could give you a few examples and this is not at all. Matter of fact, it's quite the opposite. For me, I can't speak for Tanner. I mean, you said one day, you'll have us both on. But for me, it's definitely not to say that I'm strong. It's more to say, let's take a really raw look at everything and get a little bit deep into it and find out where you're strong and where you're weak and where you need some work.

And so things that we've talked, we're just getting rolling now. But physical strength, powerlifting was one, fighting was one, martial arts. Hunting is another one, you know, how to hunt and what it does and how it's primal and all that kind of stuff. but I'd like to get into mental health, you know, marriage, you know, depression, you know, just anything local businesses, local businesses have persevered, you know, we want to have you on, you know, like to talk about perseverance and how to keep digging deep and keep pushing forward and finding some success. And so for me, it's more like I just want to throw myself into the, the deep end of the pool

and say it's time to try to get strong in as many areas of your life as possible. And the ones that are you're weak or struggling. Face it. Face it head on. Go run at it. Punch it in the face and try to take it off your back. And yeah, so that's it. I find myself thinking, I'm not sure if paradigm is the right word.

But if you go back to the very beginning of this, we're talking about slowing down and enjoying. enjoying the stage of life you're at because it will pass you by. And then in the same breath, you're talking about trying to amplify this moment to almost become the best human being possible. Maybe that's not the exact thing you're trying to do, but, you know, trying to attack all your weaknesses. And sometimes I struggle with making those two things come to terms with each other.

I'm not interviewing all the different areas and attacking it like your mindset is. But I find myself, well, no different than not drinking right now. I'm constantly trying to do things to keep my mental focus, my body, relationship, everything. You know, you got to keep working at it. And I always wonder if my focus over here on trying to become better. right personally takes my mind off of what we just talked about at the very start which is focus on where you're at your stage of life because this is by all accounts the happiest time you're ever going to be with all your children where they're at your your marriage where it's at

etc hmm so are you are you asking like are you asking are we am i focusing on too many things Are you asking? Yeah, sorry, I didn't really ask the question. I guess that's what I'm getting at is by putting so much energy into, you know, I've watched, Ken, for people who don't know, right? Like I met Ken at the home Andreina after a Hitman game, having a couple of Sass brillas, which we didn't get to do last night, not because I wasn't drinking, because the bar ain't open.

It's kind of odd times. That's kind of been a staple of a Hitman game. Everybody kind of congregates upstairs and you get to have a BS with all the Now locals. When we met, and at the time, you're doing your MBA, you're running a business, you get involved with hockey, you got five kids, now you got six, you're renovating your house or finishing your house, right? And you're doing all these things, and I remember.

Teach college classes. Teach college, sorry, yeah, anything else I'm missing? Right. And what I'm getting at is you're, that's why I always bring up, how do you find the energy, how do you find the time? because you are a guy who does not like having seconds wasted. Not hours, not days, like seconds. Like, I mean, you want to make every day as productive

because in 10 years you don't want to miss out an opportunity to be better in 10 years than you are currently, right? I think I look at that and I go, wow, that's impressive. But then we talk about, on the other hand, that you need to slow down and enjoy where you're at. All good questions. They're all ones I'm wrestling with right now. And I would say that, I would say that, I don't know what to say, actually.

One would be that I'm trying to slow down and do things that mean the most to my family or to what I feel like I should be doing. I would also say that up until this last, I would say a couple of months, maybe Sean, maybe it's a little bit more. I would say that I was endless in energy. Not endless, but I, you're kind of the same. I could, I could do a lot. And it's interesting. The, the, the, the, my war on weakness and, and one of them I'm, I'm going to have to conquer this year if I'm going to stay true to myself. I'm not quite ready to talk about it yet. Um, is that some of the things that COVID's thrown down has been really hard on me. And, uh, I'm not, uh, I'm not. Um, I'm

not as productive as I was. You know, some might, you know, they say that life kind of has, sometimes you shouldn't set yourself up to say, once I get through this one or two challenges, then life will be easy. Because, yeah, sure, those challenges go, but two more arise, right? And so right now, you know, things that I say that I've done well on is loving my wife, being a good dad,

my physical condition, eating well, not drinking a whole bunch. So those things are really doing well. COVID for me mentally is wearing me and my productivity has dropped considerably. You know, someday I'll mention it. I haven't ever told you about it. And I feel weak for saying that I don't want to talk about it right now. It's okay. It'll come.

So we're going. Anyways, but I got to address it, right? It's part of the world weakness. And it's, so when you ask me, why am I doing it? That's, it's for reasons like that is if, if, uh, if I can't learn to, to, to, uh, battle it and win, then how do I teach my kids, you know, and, uh, um, yeah, anyways, I think I'm going too far down that path. But that would be, that'd be why I'm doing it because the, you know, I've got my own

struggles. Everybody's got their struggles. And, and things that we're, we're talking about taking on are exactly, um, For example, you know, one would be, Tanner's done a little bit of studying on it is pornography addiction. It seems harmless. It seems like, you know, you know, guys just looking at a few pictures on the phone. Turns out, I didn't know this. There's a lot of people addicted to it, you know, and it's a dopamine hit that goes off in your head.

And it can really crash your life, you know, and why don't we talk about that? You know, why don't we, why don't we just, like I say, hit it straight on, wrestle with a son of a gun and talk about it. It's that people talk about, people talk about, you know, depression or suicide or what it feels like to be unemployed, right, or under financial stress or, you know, so, sorry, I didn't mean to tear up on you there. Listen, I'll say this, you know, you go back and you're trying to redefine manly. It's okay to be emotional about things. Totally.

You know, there's things that are hard to talk about. And I find those things, personally, usually the ones that are, you need to talk about. I think that's what's great about talking to people. I think, you know, shout out to my sister-in-law, Becky, and one of my older brothers, Dustin. When we almost lost our son Casey, that was like the hardest day in my life. Yeah. And that is hard to talk about, like hard to go back. And I hate, you know, I interviewed Hi Ma.

and I shouldn't say too much because he didn't want me to release, I won't release, sorry, but I did an interview for the archives and he's from Vietnam and he has an unbelievable story and he talks to me about, you know, it's hard to go back through these events in my life. It's hard to tell you about it, right? It's PTSD, right? Judy Reeves who survived the perfect storm. She said the exact same thing and you almost feel, and I'd listen to actually to a Theo Fleury interview, And he talked about it.

Like, these events are hard to live. Not that that's what you're talking about, but for me, personally, talking about where Casey has, especially because he's a healthy, happy boy right now. Mm-hmm. He's just, like, amazing, right? But that probably three days in my life, you go, man, if I could never experience that again.

But that's life. That's the highs and lows of life. And talking about it is just healthy. At least for me, Ken. I'm, I, uh, I always wonder about my mother, um, because when dad left, uh, to go long haul trucking, mom was at home with, Jay would have been close to, you know, out of high school, whatever, but for sure, four kids, maybe five, I don't know, and I just go like, I'm such a social person. How many times do this a week?

I love talking to people. It is the healthiest thing for me. It has been why I went from one podcast a week in COVID to upwards of five is because I need to talk to people. The more they try and isolate us, the more I'm on my Zoom calls, whatever, because I'm like, I can't go down that road. I need to continually converse with people because if I go the other way, my brain, and I've talked to you about it,

one of the things I wanted to talk you about is the inner monologue. It is a strange little beast, that little voice inside your head. And at days, I don't want to understand it. And I can't, sometimes I can't argue with him out of the way he's thinking. Right? It's really, it's really tough. I agree with you 100%. It's part of the, is, again, it's part of this journey I'm trying to go down is there's,

I think what I'm learning is that if you're bluntly honest with yourself, you're going to look at yourself and say, you know what? Some things are working well. Some things are okay. And as opposed to just kind of floating through life, if you decide to kind of stare at it straight and face and and and you know there's probably going to be a few things that you know bring a tear to your eye and i think you're right it's good it's kind of my journey right now it's it's maybe kind of something that's kind of stumbling me up a bit and but definitely i agree with you about talking about it uh maybe it's a male male uh weakness and uh and that's okay you know everybody's got their own journey i just think

that um it's one of those things i just want to I just want to wrestle with it a bit more and then kind of, not conquer it, but speak about it with some strength as opposed to kind of in a weak moment. You realize you have me curious is all hell. Well, it's not, yeah, I mean, yeah, it's not that big of a deal. It's just, it's just, uh. Oh, Kenny, it's obviously a big deal. Yeah. It's okay that it's a big deal.

Well, let's, so we end off with essentially what's nagging on you, right? And I don't know, you bring up, I think if I'm listening to the first part of this and here you break down, you know exactly where my head was. Because as soon as I turned it off, I went, I went to the worst thing. For a parent, the worst thing I can think of is molestation. Yeah. Right. Now, Kenny, was it molestation?

No, you threw that out. I appreciate, Sean, like, you threw out that I'm one of your closest friends and you're one of mine. And it's really important to have those in your life. And it's, it's, you know, like, what I'm wrestling with is ADHD. And when I'm, when I figured out how to wrestle with it better, I'll come back. could you do this for me because here's I don't know a lot about ADHD

and I know knowing can you've done a lot of research on it right what I know about ADHD is there's lots of people get it and certain people have different ways of medicating it but it's kind of become

a commonplace thing like kind of like which is good that isn't that big a deal you got ADHD kind of like that's what it is but you you've sunk your teeth in this and I just what what is the I don't know what is ADHD why don't we start with that maybe I'll just start Sean but I think for me to speak to it I'd like to just take a bit more time to wrestle with it you know is my you you are a really good friend I really appreciate

what you've done for me today um and that And, you know, by me just stating what I stated, it's like, well, I mentioned to you earlier, is the only way I beat somebody on the jiu-matt is if I step on the mat. The only way you beat somebody on a hockey rink is if you step on the ice. And I just stepped on the mat. And so I appreciate you because that's a big, big step for me. Well, and I was saying to you off there, right? Like, one of the things that, you know, we talk a little bit about COVID here and there,

and I'm no expert. Let me be very bloody clear on that. I can only see what my eyes see. So if in six months we have a huge outbreak, maybe my tune will change. Eight months ago, my tune was different. But what I see happening in around our pocket of the world, people losing their jobs and people struggling with the mental side of life.

And my mental side of life is I'm almost back up to the heaviest weight I've ever been. And we were just talking about, you know when the book club got together it was around the time I was at the heaviest I'd been so that was why we stopped drinking yeah because I wrote in a journal saying listen the cause of all evil is drinking because this is this and this happened right there was like four things and so I cut it out for a month and then you started exercising more

and then you started eating right and things just kind of snowballed and I got down to the lowest I've been and here I sit, knowing exactly what I have to do, and yet this inner monologue of mine fights me on it every step away. So what the hell is that, Ken? You know what? When you said it to me, Sean, it's, oh, life and good friends. You've got to be pretty thankful for them to having your life.

You mentioned to me about a week ago, I think, Ken, I'm the heaviest I've been for a long, long time. And it hit me in my head, I'm like, oh, man, I wish I could tell him, because I'm in the best shape I've been in since I've been, you know, 19 years old. but what he doesn't know is I'm really struggling inside. And I think you're saying that you're really doing well mentally because of the podcast doing well and works too well. Well, and just talking to people. Yeah. And I was just like, oh, that's why friendships are so important is because all I've got to do is drag his butt into the gym to come do some kickboxing. All he has to do is drag me out onto a podcast.

And we can pull each other along, give each other a hand up. you know uh and uh so i i thank you for that um i don't know if i want to go i got to do some wrestling again with with it but what i can say is is uh um is that i don't view it right now i don't view it as a disease or um you know a genetic genetic flaw i look at as just being different and just like everybody else like there's everybody's going to have some people are tall some people are short right Some people are good at math. Some people are writing. My ADHD has at times served me really, really well, really well, I think.

And at times it's debilitating. And so I find that right now with the COVID environment, it's just too much. It's too much noise, too many schedules, too many deadlines, too many email. from schools that I can't forget to drop a kid off on time or pick them up or, you know, and I teach as well, and that's just got a whole bunch of more things to do and hoops to jump. And, you know, where I'm good is with people. Like if I, if I just got to show up to my class and talk to 25 students or show up to a hockey rink with a practice plan or make it into my MBA group to complete a project, I'm cool with that. I'm really good at it. And a lot of

the other things have come along. So now here I am. And here's what's been beat me up a little bit is, you know, Ken, dust off your knees. Let's go. Like, come on. You got more in you. This is, this is disappointing. You know firsthand, we both have friends that right now don't have jobs. You know, I've seen some stats recently. What was it? It was 4.9%. 4.9%. Hold on. I wrote it down actually. In 2014, there was 4.9%. There was 4.9%. people per thousand that went bankrupt that filed for bankruptcy 2020 they're saying 190 per thousand in recent article I read from Canada are considering bankruptcy opio death right you know I don't know if it's doubled but it's in that range suicides up unemployment up I don't have

opioid addiction I'm not divorced I haven't been laid off I don't have depression I don't have have anxiety. I don't have schizophrenia. I don't have, you know, and I'm finding this tough. Like how, how is the world that they're doing? That's kind of part of this COVID thing. That's kind of, you know, you know, I'd be a lot of if I didn't say it's pissing me off is because, well, you and I both read Nassim Taleb and the skin in the game, you know, and one of the things he said, actually, I wrote it down as well is if you give an opinion, and someone follows it, you are morally obligated to be exposed to its consequences. When I look at a lot of people are giving us the advice right now, I don't know, they seem like

smart people. You know, it's part of what of my struggles again is so much information, isn't it? And it's so polarized, you know, like from the social media and this and that is, is that you're either 100% believing COVID is real or it's complete hoax. It's the inner workings of the world that are figuring how to vaccinate us and control us. And the other ones are like, you're stupid if you don't just follow the science. And to me, what I see is people, first of all, we're mixing politics, business, social opinion, and they're coming with conclusions on to tell us how we're going to run our lives. And what I hear are politicians, doctors, media, all telling us with a daily headline of how many people are dying and how bad it is.

And we need to put restrictions. restrictions in place that may be the right, you know, but they all have their jobs. They still have full paychecks, right? You know, like who's speaking for the weakest, you know, those who are unemployed, who have gone bankrupt, who have lost their businesses, where's their voice, you know, because there's something, and this gets into your inner dialogue, maybe we'll get there, but, you know, what do they call it, utilitarianism, where it's, we should only make decisions that create the greatest group, good.

for the greatest number of people. And is this the greatest good for the greatest number of people? You know, like if we could talk to the people that are opioids or unemployed or depressed or laid off or losing their homes, you know, where's the daily update for us, you know, COVID deaths today? Where's the daily update on the suicides? Where's the daily date rate on bankruptcies? Where's a daily update on depression and mental health? You know, what I'm experiencing, I'm certainly not alone. And to me, we're too centrally focused just on the COVID. There's the unintended consequences that are coming.

And I think we're seeing right now. So I guess I'm really feeling for people because, man, if I'm having a tough time, you know, and I'm doing okay, you know, all else being equal, you know, a lot of things are going well in my life. So inner dialogue, you know, like, you know, I'll let you respond. I'll let you, your thoughts. I've talked too much. No, you have not talked too much.

I think I mirror everything you just said about, you know, the U.S. election, whether we want it to be big or not, in the world, the most powerful nation, its election is big news, right? You can sit in the U.S. or you can sit in France, you can sit wherever and try and act like it's not. It's huge consequences for the world. And what it told me was that the world is more divided than it's ever been. or close to it.

I mean, there's been elections. You go back to when Bush was elected against Gore, and that was a boat, is identical. What is really, really difficult for me is that you can't escape it. I want to escape it. Like, I want, like, man, I love the utility of a phone and the Internet

and, like, access to information. It's done this world of good in the book clock, right? Being able to find guys, like, we talk about it all the time. kids today will be exposed to whatever author from anywhere on the world or maybe in time any class from anywhere on the world right if all universities go to where you can get it on youtube or whatever and now you can be influenced by the greatest professors with never stepping foot in harvard or or wherever university of tron that's amazing but when you want to escape the u.s fucking election and for six goddamn months

all you get rammed down your fucking throat. Sorry to throw out so many F bombs, mom. Is Trump's the best, Trump's the worst. Trudeau is the best. Trudeau is the worst. Like who gives a flying shit? I'm almost kind of tired of it. But I can't escape it because it is everywhere.

I go to work, it's there. I go out to sight. It's there. And that's what COVID is right now. So not only did we have the U.S. election, not only did we have Trump, Trudeau every day. You've got COVID. So you got all these things being rammed down

your throat. You said to me, I think it was last night, maybe it was a few days ago, that you just, you don't know why, but you're feeling stressed, right? Like, you're just tired. I think our entire population, or majority of our population, is all feeling that, because you can't run from it right now. You want to, the only way you can is you turn your phone off, but so money, if you're working, of your jobs, rely on that phone being on. So you unhinder yourself from social media and everything else, but then you show up and all anyone wants to talk about, ain't sports. Now, I never understood the utility of sports.

Really didn't. And the longer this goes on, I go, man, I just want all sports to come back full-fledged. I will never bitch and complain about how much oiler talk there is because it is something just non-relevant to banter about. And honestly, people go, who gives a shit about the oilers? Well, now I understand why people give this shit about the oils. It's a hell of a lot more fun to banter about the shitty job.

doing, then whether or not we're about to be taken over by the second coming of the Antichrist and everything else. And you can't figure out if it's science or if the guy is the Antichrist, right? Like, that's all that everything is right now. You're either an idiot or you're a genius. But the other side thinks you're an idiot while your side thinks you're a genius at all times. How can the mind possibly comprehend all that? And try doing it with ADHD. It's not fun. Yeah, I'm with you, is that this you got everybody you got you got you got to watch the social dilemma on Netflix have you have to right watch that and tell me if you're listening to this or everybody's list of this you you know don't you find like look at what we've gone through in the last what would say two years

of extreme separation on climate change on black lives matter climate change yeah on um trump Biden on COVID and it's just so polarized. Now it makes sense to me why it does after watching the social dilemma is the algorithms that it feed you what your initial belief is. You know, now I get it that if we talk about flat earth, which they mention on the social dilemma is it, if you believe flat earth and you Google it, then they've got you. They know that you're into it. And then they're going to start feeding you videos. So you watch one or two videos. Then before you know it, you're like 100% convinced because it's confirmation bias. They're going to feel. feed you all the, all the videos and Facebook feeds you can handle and dogg on it. You are right.

I get that we can, I'm sorry for the flat earthers out there, but, you know, I'm, I'm going to put myself solidly in the camp that it's not a flat earth. We have a round earth. However, and they might disagree with me on that, and that's okay. But people, what's really pissing me off is that people who, yeah, you got, you got a, you got a science degree. And now you can tell me that I'm an idiot because I don't believe everything the politicians are telling me about COVID. or vice versa, you got a polyside degree and something, and now you're qualified to tell everybody that COVID isn't real or is real, and everybody else is an idiot and they're not educated,

just follow the science. Just on COVID alone, there is very, very noteworthy professors, academics, smart people on both sides of this equation. This science isn't settled. So people when you're sharing your Facebook feeds that say, don't be stupid, just do this or don't do that or you're stupid. I don't care which side of the coin you're on. The real of it is, this isn't a settled argument.

This is new to us. And the social dilemma should make you stop posting such extreme shit, right? That you're 100% of one side or the other. And I'm with you. It's stressful. It's really stressful. I'm tired of it. I'm kind of ready to smash my phone, right?

Because it's, it's, it's, it's, it's, you go to one against getting back to this utilitarianism is I wonder if the greater good, because you've mentioned your podcast. You know, you watch social dilemma and you're like, I'm, I'm kind of feeding the thing. that's hurting. And we can talk about that is to me, we know that as much as COVID's brought down some harm, there's going to be some good that comes out of it too. Facebook and Snapchat and Instagram, we know there's bad this has come out of it, but there's going to be good as well. But are we doing the greatest amount of good for the greatest amount of people? And that's a hard thing to measure. What is good? I get it. I think was Jeremy

Bentham, I think, was the philosopher that first started that, but is that if the algorithms are potentially driving the U.S. towards civil war, if they are driving us towards hating our neighbor, maybe that does need regulation. Maybe that does need some of you step in and say, stop the algorithms. It's going to drive us apart towards hate and racism and everything negative. negative things of society instead of the positive things going on. You meet two reasonable people I consider that are trying to just live a good life and trying to leave something good behind us and we're driven to, like I'm hearing the frustration, you just dropped a whole bunch of F bombs. You know, I had a meltdown, right? You know,

like we're not alone here. And, you know, so, so where are we going to go to this? Like, let's let's go out 10, 20, 30 years. What can we do today that stops us from getting to where this potentially going, right? And are we okay with that? Is it, you know, before we take up arms against our neighbor because we're going to vote for different people. You know, we're talking about a free society. It took a long time to get here. This free, free thinking, free speech, free, free ability to move, open debate. It took a lot to get here. Like, you know, I'm not a history specialist, but I've done enough reading to know this was an easy journey to get here. And what we have is special. And I'm, I think we're watching it take a step backwards.

And when I hear people say they're talking about taking up arms for Trump or against Trump or for Biden, you know, I don't know. I don't know. Where does that end? You know, and maybe it does need to be regulated by the government. I mean, it's not for you when I just solve. I'm just all I'm saying it's, I don't even know what I'm saying. I'm just frustrated with it all.

I'm frustrated, really frustrated. So your podcast, do you want to talk about that for a moment? Like your thoughts, your inner dialogue? Yeah, sure. Just to finish that thought. What I find very hard and confusing is that we should have an answer for that. Right? Like if I want to, if I want to have a fact, I've been trying to come to terms with this.

If I want to change the world, I want to change the world. First, you got to start somewhere, right? Which is, I don't know, Hillmont, Lloyd, whatever bubble you want to take as, right? a small bubble. Sean ranting on his podcast, but the world ain't changing shit, right? You don't think so? Maybe it is.

Well, maybe it is. Hey, I'll tell you what. Maybe it's a little ripple, sure. But I think what we can have effect over is over what we can have effect over, which is like, essentially to me, Lloyd Minster in the air, there's enough stories going on

in our community alone where you could actually impact some, change that would make the world a little better place. And I sometimes, well, not sometimes, I find myself thinking more that if we all stopped worrying about what the hell is going on on the other side of the world, then whether people are racist or whether we need to do this or do that, and just focused on what's going on in Lloyd, make Lloyd a better place. And then maybe, I don't know, Vermilion makes Vermilion a better place. And then Vagerville does the same. And we all follow that thought process.

Maybe then things start to get better. Instead, we're going down this rabbit hole of like the Easter bunch of effing whatever's. I tell people this all the time. I've been through the east all the way from the east coast to here, and I get it. They vote liberal and they vote this way and they vote that way. I've talked with a lot of smart people from there. They're good people. There are people like me and you that are probably wrestling with different,

but different arguments. And we all just keep focusing on things that we have no control over. We have control. Bring it back to what you have control. You have control over your life and your decisions. And for me, that probably means coming to terms

with what's going on because what's been bothered, what bothered me before this was this room wasn't done. And I didn't realize how much it bothered me. And then I got the jerseys on the wall. And then within like a day, everything else was finished. And I was like,

whew, I feel pretty good. And when you feel pretty good, the world starts looking a little brighter. Then I don't check my phone that often. And yeah, going to the store, it's all slammed in your face again

because masks are on. Anywhere you go, people are yelling because they don't want to wear a mask, and I don't mean actually yelling at the stores. I just mean when you get in a close group like this, all we do is complain about it. Well, it's life. And if you actually want to change that,

actually, then get in politics and start moving the ball that way. That's a damn good, good statement there. It's because it's easy to bitch and complain, isn't it? Yeah, that's a good point, Sean. And, you know, in relation to your podcast, yes, it's, in my opinion, it's part of the social media.

Yes, it's probably going to feed into an algorithm somewhere, you know, that somehow they'll grab it. And if you start Googling sports podcast, NHL, Lloydminster, it's probably going to start feeding up somewhere, you know, but, but I, I know you quite well. And I've always found you to be, what's the word I'd say? Like, one of the things, well, driven, a little bulldog to get what he wants when he wants it. And I mean that in a good way, but a very, what's the what I'm looking for. Somebody that's like, God, I can't think of the word. Can boil things down to a simple, well-reasoned perception of whatever we're looking at.

For example, we are all in, you know, we both come from rural, primarily white communities. And there is no way I'm ever going to hear anything out of your voice that you dislike people of a certain color or a certain religion or you're going to say something like, you know what, the Eastern Canadians, I've been there. They're decent people, right? So, so I find that you, that, whatever that I'm talking about would come out in the flavorings of your podcast and I've heard them. You know, one of my, ones I really liked, you're one with the sociologist or a psychologist. Out of Ebminton, I think he was a sports psychologist. Yeah, yeah. John Stevens. Yeah, like, like that was good. You had a positive impact on my life. I really like listening to him.

And, and so that's what you're bringing. So like there's so many good things like me being able to research ADHD, right? There's a lot of cool things out there with people that have it. And it's wonderful. And it's helping me. So for me, if I'm in your shoes, I don't look at all. I say use your voice for the good, you know, and you already are. So for me, I say go bigger, go harder, go faster and do more good.

That's my thought. Well, I appreciate the compliment. I know when you said, do you want to talk about the podcast? One of the things that I've been wrestling with is I'm well-known in Lloyd, right? I grew up here. So I know a lot of people in Lloyd, which means that when I do something, I think that I, it's not like being in a place of a million people, where if I were to start the podcast and knew as many people as I did,

it would get drowned out in the noise of a million people. It's small enough where it has some impact, like what you're talking about. I have a real hard time coming to terms with everybody saying you're famous. When in my mind, famous means, I have a different definition of famous. Famous is, well,

Matthew McConaughey, right? Is something along that lines, Joe Rogan, Donald Trump, I don't know, right? Like,

those are figures that are larger than life. Right? And I'm like, Listen, what I'm doing is cool and is absolutely what is getting me through COVID other than my family and friends and my wife. Because all those things are very positive influences on me. This is really positive. Think of just what we've gone through in the last hour and a half. This is what I live for.

Like, this is unbelievable. It's part of your purpose, isn't it? Right. How you fit the world. You know, this is Sean. But I don't equate that to famous. And maybe I just have a, maybe the, maybe I need to change my mindset on what people mean by calling it famous. Maybe, maybe I have it.

Maybe you don't want famous. Maybe, maybe being Matthew McConaughey or Joe Rogan is the worst thing that could happen to you. You know, but maybe we don't know. But how I would take that, this is going to be everybody's own perspective, but how I would take it is people are saying, I'm listening to you and I've heard people talk about you and you're doing a good thing and I want to give you a pat on the back. You know, maybe. So maybe, maybe, and again, this is your own inner dialogue, so I can't speak for your inner dialogue. But maybe you dislike the term because you don't want to get proud of it or get an ego.

I've known you a long time. I don't think that's a concern. You're a very down to earth. Down to earth is one of the words I'd use to describe you. And I would say that, you know, what is famous, maybe, I don't know, for me, I just say it makes you tick, it makes you happy, it keeps you mentally strong, it fits you, you know, you smile at it. You know, I say, you know, who cares? The rest is just noise. Just keep being you. You know, put your stamp on life. You only get one crack at this and hats off to you for taking a run. And, you know, maybe this could be an inspiration to others. Like somebody out there is maybe saying, you know what, I've always had a dream of being a race car driver.

Well, how did Sean get to a podcast where he's got, I don't know what you said, 1.5 million touches or I can't remember what the, a lot. On the Twitter landscape, yeah, over a million, whatever that means. I don't know what that means. So good on you. But how did you get that? By you and me painting up a little storm cellar and getting a computer with a couple of mics, right? And so somebody else has a dream of being a, a,

race car driver and the you know go buy an old jalopy and throw some nitrous oxide on a on a souped up engine and go to your first race next next summer and go start get one crack at this so you know you know it's so it's so funny you know so many people have come and asked and I mean this in the most I don't even know the word but I've come and asked like about starting a podcast

right and I find when I hear you talk about It's humorous. And I probably laugh a lot when they ask. I'm like, man, open your phone up, turn it on, and start going. Because if I think about how I started, it was talking into my phone, which everybody has the capability to doing that. And when I think of our first episode, I bought, like, Kenny bought the computer, which was absolutely bottom in the line. 650 bucks at Best Buy, I think it was. Yeah, like dirt cheap.

And I bought some mics in a condenser. I didn't even know what it was. You know, you think back to that and the simplicity of what we did and what we did on a budget, right? Like, to where it started is almost hard to fathom. And I don't mean to say that I will say this again and again and again. I don't think I'm ever going to be where I want to be because I want it to go the right direction, which in my word is a progression line upwards wherever that lands. but from where it started in your basement, well, in a guy's basement in your, in your, you know,

in that room, in that room with the mouse turds and, you know, like one outlet and that bulb hanging off the ceiling. You're underselling yourself, though, because the biggest part of that was you, right? A mic's a mic. Sure, maybe a $250 mic sounds better at a $75 mic, but the part of it from the outside looking in, if I'm looking at from a business perspective, you know, are my trainings and. undergrad and masters in doing this, studying businesses, the biggest part of that puzzle was you. Your drive, your determination, your ability, speak, and your interest in people.

So while it seems easy to you, tell the people like, I'd really like to start a podcast, but they might be introverted. And maybe the best thing for them is to not do a podcast because maybe they're meant to do something else, right? The way I look at it is my brother John, since he's been eight years old, he could tear apart any engine, anywhere, and within a year have that thing looking like it's off, the showroom floor. I can barely change of spark plug, right? So when people like him would say, well, just, just go fix your motorbike. It's like, easy for you to say, you know, you could tear that thing down. I can barely change the spark plug because that's him. That's his skill. That's his, that was his,

his, his, his, his, his God-given abilities, right? So, so to you, it came easy. But so I, I, I don't know, I just, it's cool to watch. It's cool to watch you, it's cool to watch people when they align what they're interested in with some drive, with some determination, and something that they're good at. It's just cool to watch. You know, and you're all the above. It's really, really nice to watch people that you care about and you want the best for wake up in the morning and say, I like, I like the direction my life is going and I'm starting to feel fulfilled. I guess you're kind of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, aren't you? You know, you're, you got to be sitting about that pokey little part at the top of the triangle must be getting you in the butt right now.

now the self-actualization, right? Do you remember Maslow's? Right? You know, like the, right, the bottom is like, you know, safety and food and this, that, and top of self-actualization. Watching you, you're doing that. Probably, probably you're surfing a wave and you should probably just enjoy the wave for as long as it comes because life, right, you know, like, that's, that's one thing I'm learning is that, you know, like for a while, my life was going fantastic and crank it off this, cranking off that, and then my wife's mom got a cancer diagnosis. And that rocked our lives, right? And we had a really rough year.

Wonderful year. Wonderful year at the same time, right? Got to all my mother-in-law said some really, really personal things to her that I wouldn't have said had I not known that she was dying, went to war with my wife, right? We got in the trenches and kind of, you know, came out stronger than we went in. But, but you're, I would say that neither was, neither one, maybe with my issue that I'm talking about, but you're in a good, you're on a good wave on a good border. right now, ride that son of a gun, right?

You know, like, and then when you got to swim back out and grab another wave and you grab it, you know, ride that son of a gun. I say hats off. Take it for all you got. And if your thought of being famous as any kind of a negative drag on you, throw it away. That's your own mind. You know, get rid of it. It's a negative thought.

Well, I really enjoyed this. Me too. I say that to all my guess, but I truly mean it to all my guess. But any time I finally get to have the guy that helped spur this on, you know, you're one of, you know, I get to have the brothers in all the time, right? Like everybody gets a kick out of when me and the brothers get in and we have a couple of scotches and we get yelling at each other about sports and they've been texting because we're in this stupid bet about, I think it's the NFC East and I got the Dallas Cowboys and I hope they didn't win tonight. But anyways, they're part of what spurred this on too. And you're another piece of that puzzle. and I really, really enjoy having you back in

because there's a reason I wanted you on as my first cast, right? Like, this is, it just flows so naturally, Ken. And I really appreciate you opening up about some things. And, you know, I wish you had nothing but the best here as we move along. And to anyone who listened, I just think, you know, I say this all the time

that you just don't know what the next day is going to bring. And I mean that in the most positive, way humanly possible. You don't know what door is going to open. I think of Castaway and, and, oh, who's the actor in Castaway? Why can't I think of his name?

The, or the shrimp, right? Wasn't it castaway? The, oh, the Vietnam War movie, right? Tom Hanks. Tom Hanks, geez Louise. Yeah.

Right? He has a line in there about, you just never know what the tide's going to bring in, right? And that's how he gets his sale. And it's part of, a shitter.

It's part of an outhouse, right? And he uses it to escape the island. Yep. And I just, you know, as bad as stuff we're in, you were a guy who told me this eight, nine months ago when this first started. You know, there's going to be good that comes out of this. I've heard you say it once in here,

and I think all we're focused on right now a lot is all the negativity coming out of it. As a population, I think that's what we're, and we've got to find a way to just day by day things we're going to get through this. There's going to be positive. things that come out of this and I hope that you know rings true and that's the thought I'm going to carry on forward but you coming in and sitting here and chatting with me man it really do

appreciate this Kenny well I appreciate you on many many levels Sean and I think you just helped me cheat the curve on my journey by a long long shot I thought this was going to be an eight or nine month journey before I was able to say anything to anybody and yeah and to anybody it's lasted long enough to listen to a normal little boring Joe like myself. Thanks for listening. And Sean, thank you for your friendship. Looking forward to many more years with you.

And I hope the next, what number are you at for a podcast now? You got a hundred to throw on the claims. So what are you at now? 130. Well, the archives are throwing a mixture into it. So what are we at?

130. Bear with me. 132 you'll be. Huh. Cool. Thank you, Sean. Thank you. It was wonderful. Thank you for having me on. 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.