Shaun Newman Podcast - Ep. 36 630CHED Inside Sports - Reid Wilkins

Episode Date: October 2, 2019

What a blast to sit across from one of radios best Reid Wilkins. He currently works for 630 CHED in Edmonton where he hosts Inside Sports and does the Edmonton Oilers post game shows.  We discussed his journey which included a stint at Blockbuster & working the sports scene in Lloydminster.  This is a must listen.

Welcome to the podcast. I thought before I got to today's sponsors, I'd lead you guys on a little story of what's been going on in the last few days. We've been waiting and expecting on our third. And so last Thursday, this past Thursday, we went and got an ECV down at the hospital. That's where they manually turn your baby. And everything, for the most part, came positive out of that.

I don't recommend it. I mean, it's as a husband to watch your wife. wife go through that is a little uncomfortable to say the least but we came out of it and everything was good and they'd call us back in for uh follow up on friday just to kind of to make sure precautionary make sure there's nothing going on and wife went in Friday and the baby's heart rate began to drop and so then everybody was called in including myself and it was decided that you know the baby's coming one way or another so you have to decide on a C-section or inducing and so we signed the papers to get a C-section and as about that time, Mel sits up and

because I think my water just broke. And I'm like, water just broke. What do you mean? She looks, it's blood and it's blood and not a little bit of blood, but then it's more blood and that's more blood. And pretty soon all the nurses are running this way, that way, and down the hall she goes and to paint a tough picture. It was a tough Friday. There was a lot of ups and downs, but I'm happy to report. We are happy to announce our third trial,

a boy, Casey David, he is healthy as at home, and Mel is doing good as well. And I just wanted to take this time. I know it seems like you always hear the reports that Lloyd Hospital this, or Lloyd Hospital, this or Lloyd Hospital that they've delivered all three of our children and we have had nothing but exceptional service and Friday was something remarkable so if you know a nurse or you're a nurse listening to this my hat's off to you the nursing crew that Friday and Paul Nadegh who delivered

our son I mean I just don't have the words it was uh thought you guys he isn't around right um so thank you very much from the bottom of my heart This is the only way I know that the message you'll get out for you guys for everything you did that day because he went from being well a wife had a 50% abruption on her placenta and he had no oxygen or blood going to him and went from that to being home three and a half days later and he's a healthy little angry boy sometimes. Happy to have them. On a funny note, I was supposed to have an interview with George LaRocque on Friday afternoon. I was roughly three, three and a half hours away from that. And then Casey came into the world, Casey David. So that is something I'm sure he's going to hate to hear about as he gets older about the time I missed interviewing George LaRocke. But regardless, I'm happy to have him here. I'm happy to have him healthy and safe now at home. So to today's sponsors and we'll get to Reed Wilkins here. Very quick. First, T-Barr 1 Transport, Lloyd Minster's 2000 business of the year. If you need any heavy haul, quinch trucks, oversized tank moving pickers or pipeyard, they got it. They were just moving tanks from Bow Island, just south of Medicine Hat this week. And they were down there moving tanks and Slave Lake. They were all over the map this week. So if you got anything,

you know, heavy halls, big moves, anything like that, give the boys a call. 780, 205, 17-0. and tell them Sean sent you. They're also looking for class one drivers. So if you're a guy out there who's looking for work and got his class one, shoot him an email at dispatch at tbar1.com, T-B-A-R-the-number-1.com. And they're looking for drivers. So shoot them an email with your resume and they'll have a look at it.

Once again, tell them the Sean Newman podcast sent you over there. Next, factory sports, they're looking to hire as well. They've been looking for a team player. Somebody will work some evenings, possibly some weekends. They do work at the Bobcats game. They're selling Bobcats gear there. So if you're looking for a fun environment and opportunity to maybe grow a beard instead of being in the oil patch, you love sports, you want to get involved in that,

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Finally, Vic Juba Theater. They are a fully licensed theater here in town. on Lakeland College campus, actually, and it seats 550 people. They got shows going on all the time. And if you've never been in the Vic Juba Theater, I highly suggest you go. Beautiful facility,

and the shows they get in are really talented. This week today, October 2nd, Raveen, the hypnotist, is in. I've heard nothing but amazing things about them. October 17th, they got Juneau Award winner, two-time Juneau Award winner, Natalie McMaster. And then October 20th, they got Juneau Award winner, Sloanin.

I always loved Money City Maniacs as a heck of a, heck of a song, and they're a great band. If you're looking to get tickets to that, go on visit vichuba theater.ca. Or give them a call 780-872-7400 to get tickets at the box office. Tell them the Sean Newman podcast sent you there. Also, this week, pay attention for the IHD Innovative question. It'll be hidden throughout the episode here with Reed. And if you answer correctly, just to answer the question, shoot me an email at Sean Newman Podcast at gmail.com or Facebook, Instagram, Twitter with the answer, and you will have two tickets to go see

Junior Award winner Natalie McMaster. This week's guest is Reed Wilkins from Inside Sports on 630 Chad in Emmington. He was a lot of fun. I had a lot of fun with Reed. I was super excited to release this episode, especially with the Oilers Home Opener happening tonight, October 2nd, like, this is pretty cool. So I hope you guys enjoy, and without further ado. Okay, so welcome to Sean Newman podcast. I'm sitting across from the legendary Reed Wilkins. Now, why would you call me that? That doesn't apply at all. That's totally inappropriate. There aren't many people in this, in broadcasting who I would consider legendary. In this building, it'd be Brian Hall. Brian Hall. That's a fair point.

And I guess you, well, Bob Layton, but from a sports standpoint, it's Brian Hall. Because he's, he's legendary. I mean, he's over 60 years in the business. I'll back it up by saying this. If you're sitting in Eminton, fair point. When you come from Lloyd Minster to have guys move on and go up the ladder, I would call it, I'd put you in that category. Well, I do appreciate that.

And it's been pretty cool for me over the last few years. And last season, we did our face-off show in overtime open line in Studio 99. So, you know, Rob Brown and I and Stoffer when he's there are right out in the public, basically in a large sports bar or having the odd caller call in and say, Hey, Reed, I watch you on or listen to you on CKSA and Loy or Newcap television radio, as it later morphed into. So that is pretty neat because when you're doing it, when you're working in Lloyd Minster or wherever you're working, that's what you're doing.

That's what you're engaged in. You're meeting the people you're meeting at the time. You're covering the teams you're covering. You never think, oh, 10 years from now, somebody's going to say, oh, I remember talking to you at a Bobcats game or at a Bandits game or at a Lloyd Comp game or just maybe that they said, hey, I used to watch you and it's nice to see you now in Edmonton. Like that is pretty cool. But again, something you never think of at the time.

And I'll tell you this, Sean, like, you know, you introducing me that way, which I stand by the fact it's inappropriate because I'm not a legend. But when you're, you never, at least I shouldn't say you generally, but I can, I'll just talk about myself. I never really think about how other people perceive me. I mean, to me, I'm doing my job. I'm doing something I like. And I'm doing it. And I'm trying to do it well. And then tomorrow I got to come in and do it again and so on and so on.

So I had, and I'm sure we'll talk about this more, but there were career-wise, there were some frustrations for me in Lloyd because I didn't progress as quickly as you're told you're supposed to, right? So that was hard on me and, you know, people close to me, people I, you know, I worked with, knew that that's the scenario I was in. And so years later, Jay Onwright wrote a book and part of the, of one, there was a chapter that focused on he and, he and, and I going on a baseball trip in 2007. I flew to Toronto. He was working for TSN, as he is now. This was before he went to L.A. for a few years. And we drove, like Pittsburgh, Baltimore, Yankee Stadium,

saw some stadiums on the East Coast. And during that, I actually quit my job in Lloyd Minster while on that trip. I finally decided I got to move on. I got to go to Edmonton and be with my family. My parents had retired and moved in. and so it was a very it was actually a little difficult for me to read that chapter like it was very raw I brought back a lot of things that I'd gone through you know in my life and in my career and and the decision making that I was going through at that time so years a few years or a couple years probably

after the book is published I get this uh I get this direct message on on Twitter from a from a young lady. And it wasn't one of the weird ones asking me if I, you know, hi, do you like very much make friends? Call me. It wasn't one of those. He was like a real person. And she said, hi, Reed. My boyfriend read Jay Honorek's book. And I'm going through a lot of career frustrations in broadcasting. And he suggested reaching out to you because he said that in Jay's book, there's some of the stories about frustrations you had. And I'll never forget this fraser. and she said, and now that you're a success, I was hoping I could talk to you. And I looked at those words, now that you're a success, and I thought to myself, what the

hell is she talking about? It was like I would never label myself as a success. Like, I'm a guy who's working in broadcasting, and like I said, I've gone in every day, trying to do a good job, you know, put out something that's relevant and entertaining for people listening or watching. So I get it. I get that, you know, covering an NHL team and working on a, on a legendary station like 630 Chet. There you go.

I would call the station legendary, you know, to somebody outside on the outside or earlier in their careers in the business might think like, well, this guy has it made. But those of us in this building, we don't feel that way. Like this is our jobs. Like these are our jobs. Like if we want to keep it going and keep Chet as what it is, we have to now hold up our end of the bargain. to all the people that came before. To me, like sitting there and saying, well, I'm a success, that's almost like you're giving yourself an excuse to rest on your laurels.

Or to say, like, ah, you know, now 50% is good enough. And I would never do it like that. But having said that, I suppose I understand where that perception could come from, from observers, but I would never look at myself that way. If I can't remember the exact quote, so don't quote me on this. But if you compare yourself to somebody else, it's easy to see this big giant gap. But what you're talking about is like, I see you where I sit right now as being very beginner, right? And where you're at to me is a giant leap.

And that's where the legendary comes from. Maybe it's just a well, a very successful Reed Wilkins is what I would look at. And you don't feel that and that's fair. Yeah, I appreciate that. But I think if you take the approach of if you're covering junior B, junior A, you know, I go back to Greg Buchanan when he's telling me he's covering curling to the Emmington Oilers, that's a pretty big giant gap. And that's where the success from other people looking down at the bottom looking up at you find that you're a success.

And that's where the feather I think should be in your cat. Well, and I get that. And I think that if you're covering the NHL in this country, you are covering the most popular and relevant league in the country. So people are going to pay attention to you and listen to you or read you. And there's a, I guess to some degree, there's a certain status with that. But again, it's about doing it every day, right?

And when I was covering the, you know, the Bobcats, my approach was this is the most relevant team in town or when I was doing Alan Cod. Absolutely. which the 2005 Allen Cup like holy shit what a what a week like that's but but but yeah I mean you gotta you gotta have that I mean you gotta have that professional approach right

it's the whole lunch bucket thing and it's like well how did how did the guys in the HL get to the NHL because they started acting like pros and putting the work in when they were in the HAL yeah consistency is a big part of it absolutely yeah yeah let's talk about the

I want to go back to the beginning, but you just pop up the Island Cup. Let's talk about it. Well, that's, I mean, that's a top five career memory still. 14, where are we 14 years later? And I think it always will be top five. It was absolutely, well, I shouldn't say insane necessarily. Well, there were moments that weren't sane. So there's no NHL, right?

So Horse Lake assembles the team, right? For the listeners who don't know, tell him who's on the team. Fleury played, Theo Fleury played, Geno Ojik played, Sasha Lackovic played, who has since passed away. Those were the three biggest names. I mean, who else, I mean, even like Ryan Marsh, who was an excellent U of A defenseman, was on the team. They had a lot of guys who maybe hadn't played NHL like Theo, but had played like high-level minor pro

and stuff like that. Like it was a stacked team, and there was all. the allegations are they paying them how much are they paying them how should hockey Canada be looking into this and hockey Canada basically has decided for a long time they just look the other way in senior hockey because I think every team does something like that to some extent or finds a way to compensate players but anyway so what you know looking back and even at the time I mean horse lake could have rolled into town with the attitude where hey you know what yeah we're the star attraction, but this is good for senior hockey, and all these teams are great.

And it's going to be a fun week, and thanks to Lloyd for welcoming us, and we're going to do our best to respect the tournament and give everybody a good show. Instead, they kind of willingly wore the black hats. You know, the, yeah, we're going to come in here. We're going to steamroll everybody. We know the only reason people care because we're here. You know, so they kind of came in with that attitude. And so they, so this was, it's the format they had now,

the two three team pools. So they, I think they won nine, two and seven two. Don't quote me on that, but they handled their two round robin opponents pretty easily.

They got a, they got a buy into the semi. And then they played Thunder Bay. And speaking of Greg Buchanan, he, he was now longer at the station. He'd been gone for about a year. I was now the sports director.

And the great thing about having Greg running, the border kings, being the GM of the border kings, was he knew how to treat the media, and he knew what the demands would be for the term. Like, Eugene Prince Bay came out, Rob Tchkowski came out, Jim Matheson came out, other stations from Edmonton came out, even if it was just for a day or two. So we had an actual trailer set up, I think, I'm trying to remember which way it was facing,

I think on the north door, like one of the side doors, so the media could just pop out there, take five steps outside, and you're in this trailer, and it had the backdrop, you know, Island Cup backdrops, so you do all your post game interviews in there so you're not crammed in a hallway, right? Because usually when you do interviews after Bobcats game, me, my camera guy and the guy from the paper. There's plenty of room, right? Right. So that was a great thing about having Greg doing it. So I remember sitting in this trailer before the game, the semifinal between Horse Lake and Thunder Bay. And Rob Titchkowski says it's going to be three nothing 12 minutes in. Because like Thunder Bay had lost their two round robin games, but they got into the quarter final because everybody does. I think they upset Lloyd, actually. And then they're in the Sammy, but they didn't ever really look that good. They, you know, they were assembled a month before the tournament and played like nine exhibition games. Like, come on. It was three nothing, 12 minutes in for Thunder Bay.

Like, Horse Lake just entirely crapped the bed. Their goalie led in, like, I think like a shot from the blue line that went off his gloving in. And it's like, this is, and everybody's against Horse Lake. Like everybody's against, instead of that feeling where it's like, oh no, the great team might not be in the final. It was like, yes, let's get these jerks out of the tournament. So Thunder Bay wins 7-5 and still one of the greatest hockey games I've ever covered. Because, you know, Horse Lake had enough talent. I don't think they ever tied it.

It was 6'5 late. Thunder Bay got a length of the ice, empty netter, middle of the net. Like, it should have been an icing, but it goes right in the middle of that. So after the game, we're in the room in that trailer. So it's me, my camera guy, I think a guy from the Grand Prairie radio stationer paper that was covering them, Tichkowski and Mathis. And we're sitting there thinking like, yeah, we're going to get the third pairing defenseman on the fourth liner that played three minutes each and get generic answers. Nope, Flurry and Lackovick walk in. And they sit at the thing and they delivered the most bitter, most angry, most angry.

post-game rant. It was not a Q&A because I went back in time that it was seven and a half minutes long. There were only four questions asked. I mean, let's compare that to a post-game scrum with Connor McDavid. If you ask four questions, you'll probably have 50 seconds of tape

because he'll give you eight-second answers. And you'd ask Theo a question and then Sasha would jump in and talk for 40 seconds and then Flurber would come in. And it was all like, you know, because some of the guys on our team are native and, you know, Theo obviously, you know, has that in his heritage as well, that the fans are racist against us, and this tournament's only sold out because of Horace Lake, and, you know, they had a guy injured at some point, and it was a dirty shot.

I remember at one point Maths and saying, like, well, your guy elbowed another guy in the face and something like that. It was like, he was a shoulder. And then they kind of get up and leave, and we're just like, like, did that happen? Like, did that actually happen? They brought in the two of the highest profile players, and they just went off on this, on how much. And it's interesting because I've interviewed Fleury since then, and he's great.

And I think he's kind of admitted, obviously, that wasn't a, and look, he's been through a lot. It wasn't a great time in his life, I don't think. And plus they had just been unceremoniously upset from this tournament. They were supposed to steamroll over. And then the final game, and then the finals an afterthought. Get this in the final game, Thunder Bay was trailing 3-1 with 10 minutes left, scored,

then tied the game with their goalie on the bench, and won in overtime. Like one of the greatest Allent Cup finals ever, and Noah talks about it because Horace Lake was there, overshadowing. Just that whole week, I mean, me and the other guys in the sports department, you know, like, worked, you know, it was 16-hour days for six days

and put together all the coverage and guys shooting all the games. So that was, that was, like, I mean, look, I'm still telling you details about the games and stuff 14 years later. And I think 20 years from now, I'm still going to say I covered the 2005 Allen Cup. What do you think of the Chinook League folding? I think it's awful. I think it's, I think it's sad. Well, did they actually say folding, or did they just say? Well, everybody's taking a leave of absence, right?

Leave of absence, yes, because I was trying to think of that press release that Lecombe. I think senior hockey, you know, look, I'm not as obviously immersed in as I used to be. Yeah, absolutely. I mean, I still talk to the guys in La Come and the guys in Stony periodically. I went and did a show in Lecombe this year. But I don't know how, because when the Border Kings ceased operating, what, like three, four years ago already, I was like, oh my God, how does that happen? Because I would always think, you know, you cover the Blazers and the Bobcats.

And unfortunately, when I was there, the Blaz and Bobcats were very good. I mean, they were kind of like the Oilers are now. Maybe someday I'll cover a good team, Sean. But they, because I remember when the Border Kings, you know, they'd be in the wild goose or they'd be in whatever league and they, you know, they'd go 18 and 2. But then when it was February and provincial. playdowns hit and the interprovincial playdowns hit all of a sudden there's fifteen hundred people in that in the barn right because I this guy teaches with

Morgan Mann and this is Merv Mann's neighbor and this is Scott Hood's buddies from Junior B and they're all going with their families to watch and then obviously they hosted some some Allen Cups so when there was when there was no border kings I was kind of like my God what is what is happening and then you know now at the Allen Cup this year I mean Yeah, it's these teams that are sort of put together from affiliates and they're not playing together all year. So it's tough. I mean, I just, I guess I was sadden to see that about the Chinook League or Allen Cup Hockey West or whatever they were calling themselves. But I guess when I sort of processed it, I couldn't be surprised because, you know, you're playing the same teams over and over again.

You know, the same couple teams are usually winning Alberta and going. and most other regions in the country weren't taking it as seriously as Alberta. So, I mean, if you, I can't remember, I think there were like only 17 teams or something this year in Allen Cod. It was a low number. And if you rank them, Alberta would probably have three of the top six.

I know, I just know that like a Saskatchewan coming from the Saskatchewan side of things, you know, everybody just knows Rosetown's going Saskatchewan right now. Right. And if you want to... Lloyd was going to Saskatchewan. And if you want to register, you can try and play them.

Yeah. Right? That's pretty much, that's not much of a road to get to the most historic cup and hockey, right? Yeah, and how much does the tournament mean if half the teams are winning their region by default?

And BC's not, I mean, BC it used to at least have Powell River and the other one on the coast there. I'm forgetting now, but they had two or three teams for a while. So at least they were playing off, and they kind of had a competition for players. and now they're not even sending a team, right? So I don't know what's going to happen. I mean, I know that I think the Alberta teams would like hockey Canada to just step out of the way.

And I think hockey Canada probably should. But I don't know if that improves the caliber of the competition if you just let the teams run it themselves. It's still pretty hard to run a team if you're just gearing kind of for the one big tournament at the end of the year. That's fair enough. So I want to go back. I said to you off air, and that's a heck of an intro to Reed Wilkins. I'm always curious about where a guy got his start and that kind of thing. I was questioning on where you grew up, and I'm kind of curious on how you got to Lloyd

and what you brought you there, what got you in the radio. So I thought maybe we'd go back to when you were young. Sure. Growing up, and if you played any sports, grown up, read, or if you... Well, not at a high level. But like most kids, I played hockey. but I stopped and a peewee

probably 13, 12 or 12, well, I don't even know what that would be now. But I think I was probably in junior high. Did you do anything else other than hockey? I played volleyball was my other one, and I love volleyball to this day. I mean, I wish I had more time to go watch the Bears and Pandas play.

I absolutely love volleyball. That's probably what surprised a lot of people because it's not a high profile sport, but I was a setter. Don't let my wife hear that. She played college volleyball. Oh, excellent. Very talented.

Oh, good. Well, I'm glad to hear that. Yeah, and actually, I always say, like, I got to watch her, and guys always joke, oh, it must have been the spandex shorts. But, like, women's volleyball is fantastic to watch. It's so quick, just back and forth, back and forth. That's a great point. And, like, speaking of the U of A, you know, when they have basketball,

it's always pandas first, golden bears second. They alternate at the U of A. One night the Golden Bears play first, and then the next night the pandas will play first. I always liked volleyball, and I remember somebody told me once, it's after football, it's like the second most mentally demanding sport in terms of all the mental adjustments you have to make during a play. Really? And I mean, it is sort of similar to football.

A rally might last three to eight seconds, right? And it's quick. And football, a play might last three to eight seconds. And you know what you want to do. And then the minute of the ball is snapped or served, everything might change, right? or are you going to call an audible or are you going to adjust? So I like that. I like that part of a volleyball.

I like watching that. I mean, I watch it enough that I can see, okay, this guy's pounded a couple down the line. Let's see when the blockers move over. Yeah, and figure that out. Then does he have another shot? Adjustment, that's right. And then you kind of watch that little back and forth. A little bit of a chess match.

Yeah. So that's what I played. I mean, obviously, I was in a very small town. How big a town did you grow up in? I don't know. Evansburg. I think when I was. I was there, it was around 1,500 people, maybe not quite. My graduating class, I was low 30s.

So usually if you went out for a team, there were a lot of cuts. So of course, and in junior high, you did almost everything. I only did one of your basketball, but you did badminton. You'd fall into something in track and field just because you do. I did triple jump because no one else did it. I always say Bammerton was one of those sports that we all seem to play around here. Badminton, yeah, I just like the word shuttlecock. That's one of my favorite sporting terms. When did you know you're going to get into radio? I assume you went to school for it, but like when did radio start to peek its head on you and do you remember when you first got into it? well in terms of when

I was first interested in doing something like that I would probably say always I just always enjoyed listening to commentators sitting in front of the TV and and maybe doing play by play or thinking about what you would say I always sort of enjoyed stats and stuff so I think it was always in

in my mind that I would that's something I could do and that I knew I'd be interested in but I didn't go into it I went to university out of high school and I got a BA from the U of A and then you know I and then I

like Sean I got a BA in drama and I like I like drama I mean I was obviously volunteering at the fringe and stuff like that and I was in the fringe as a writer and performer a couple times but I never like thought I could make a job out of it, but I did it anyway. And then out of school, I was just out of university.

I called my Mick Job, you know, working up Blockbuster Video, which I talk about on air all the time. The stories are great there. If there is one thing I missed to stop for a second. Yeah, no, that's good. Young kids will never get this. No. But going to a video store was like the greatest thing in the world as a kid, right?

All the options. There were so many options. And going around and you'd spend what you do on Netflix now. You sit there and you search for an hour To find one show that you half watch We used to be able to go in to Blockbuster Or Deany, Video, and Lloyd And go and just like look

And I remember mom and dad just being like, okay, pick up Okay, you gotta get out of here now, all right? And that has just gone. But it was better than Netflix Because there was the drama of What's gonna be available And then once you took it home, you owned it for 24 hours That's right to watch it

Yeah I mean, it wasn't like Netflix where you're like, well, I'm bored. So I'm going to change. It's like, no, we're watching this movie. It's terrible, but we rented it. Oh, no. So we're going to watch all sold out. I wonder if they have it behind the desk, right?

Then you run over and be like, hey, Reed, you got it sitting back there? I'll check for you, right? And that's the great thing about Blockbuster. You'd go. And if you felt like really being a nice guy, you'd go out and check the drive-thru drop-off bin, you know, to see if it was in there for a customer. You had to have seen some interesting things at Blockbuster. Okay, there's no porn.

There was no porn if that's where you're going. No, that's, like, there was, Blockbuster did not, because people always be like, oh, you used to run videos. I'm like, where's Reed is in the back room? Blockbuster did not have pornographic X-rated adult videos. I was more meaning people. You had to have had an, well, okay, here's, here's a thing. Here's a thing. I worked at four different stores.

I worked at Strathcona. That's where I started. So three blocks off white. Then they opened a new store in Heritage, 23rd Al. and I applied to be an assistant manager there and I got the job and that was that was probably a highlight because it was a brand new store everything was new everything worked it was clean and one of my main responsibilities was organizing the movies like I knew where every like the new release wall was alphabetical but then you'd have like oh do you have you know like not not gooies like gooies two or whatever that's right the shitty sequels right so I was like no I know I know I know exactly where this is. It's on this shelf because I put it there when the store opened. Then I went to Collingwood in the West End and then I got into Nate. No, sorry, I got transferred to Collingwood because an assistant manager was dating one of the staff members and that wasn't

allowed. So they moved him out and moved me in. And then... Blockbuster drama. And then something happened at Oliver and I got moved to Oliver the same day I got accepted to Nate. And I said, okay, but I was going to tell my district manager, Lon, who I know listens to Inside Sports, I said, I'll go to Oliver, but I said, I was going to call you today and ask to be demoted, basically, because I'm going to be going to school full time,

so I don't want to be an assistant manager full time. Like, I want to go back to Strathcona and work two or three days a week. And he's like, yeah, you can do that, but you still have to go to Oliver for six weeks and be the assistant manager. But of all the stores I worked at, Collingwood was in the, like, most,

well-to-do area, right? Like, that would be the highest, because obviously, like, Strathconon and Oliver are mixed, but a lot of students and younger people. And, yeah, I guess heritage was okay. But Collingwood would have been, like, probably the highest average income area for customers. You never, that was the most complaints I ever had at that store.

And it wasn't like, most of them weren't legitimate complaints. Like, there was always the guy he dropped his, he dropped his movies off at 10 minutes after midnight, and we'd already checked the drop, box so they got so you look on the thing and it's like oh geez you know what we're gonna wave that fee we're not going to charge the 12 bucks because we were we weren't going to rent those movies while the store was closed right but at calling what it was be like oh you got a you know a 61 cent late fee on your account well what's that for uh you look oh it's the children's movie

you had out for a week was a day late and just you'd get bitched at and they're not paying And I was like, it's 61 cents. You had a $2 movie for eight days and you can't pay like the, I've seen the vehicle you just drove up in. Like your baby carriage has gold rims on it. And you're not, you're going to argue about the 61 cent late fee? Yes, I am. Yes. Yeah, like, so I was not impressed with a lot of people in calling with.

There was a, this was, this is my scariest. Well, not scary because I knew I hadn't done anything wrong. but you know how when you're just afraid something is going to escalate and you're going to get swept up in it so we had this i think it was the labor day weekend and it was usually quite busy in the video world because people are either the students are like a last movie party or families it's last weekend at the lake so let's rent four movies or whatever and we used to rent out they were called vcps so you couldn't record on them you could only play so video cassette players so a lot of times people would rent these and they might take them to their lake or they were only 10 bucks so so we they were all rented out like usually a store might have 12 of them on a weekend

maybe two would get rented out like everyone in the city is rented out so this lady rented out and i i dealt with her and you know helped her pick some movies and then uh she called back later that night and the and the thing didn't work and uh and then she starts like right in on me like you help me and you were so nice to me, and now I find out that you rented me this faulty piece of equipment, and I was like, okay, well, there's no way I could have known,

and I'm trying, like, did you hook it up this? I know how to hook it up, and I said, okay. And she goes, well, if you goes, I want another player. And I was like, I said, I can't get you another player. There aren't any in the store.

Like, you know, and I kind of admit it. I said, I know this is not ideal, but there's nothing left in the store. She said, we'll go to another store and get one. I was like, I was like, I can't. can't do that. I said, they're rented out. I can't drive to another store and get you one. And she started, like, I'm going to sue Blockbuster. I'm going to get you fired. I'm going to be their first thing in the morning and, you know, you're done, basically. So, and the thing was,

I was working in the late shift and then their first thing in the morning. So it was one of those situations where I knew the customer had a reason to be upset, but I also knew I didn't do anything wrong. Like, I had tried to serve. I mean, we had rules. You don't, drive to other stores, you know, like, she was kind of screwed. So all, like, I don't, you know, I don't sleep all night. I'm going through my head, okay, when she storms through the front doors and starts making a scene, what am I going to say, you know, like, because I, I knew I couldn't do anything.

Yeah. So, so, so we opened a 10, sure enough, like 10 after 10. I see you're walking in. I'm like, here we go. Here we go. Like, be a pro. Like, don't back down, but, but be a pro, be mature. don't actually give her a reason to get you fired because I had done like even though she said that

I knew I had done nothing that could have got me fired but I was like don't do it now but I know this is it funny calling her a bitch or something right so so she she comes in and she walks up to the counter with the with the player in a couple of movies and I was kind of like hello and she's like hello and she puts them on the counter and she starts walking past me like to leave and I was like, are you dropping, are you returning this? She's like, yeah. I was there, I said, wasn't there a problem? Oh, my brother figured it out and she scurries out of the store.

I wish I knew Sean what they had done wrong. Because obviously she was now embarrassed to return it. I forgot to plug it in. Honestly, probably forgot to plug it in, had it in the wrong, had the TV on the wrong channel, you know, maybe had the movie in backwards. Like, who knows? Who knows? And I'm just like, all night I'm hyped. Like, I'm just like, oh, my God.

Lost five years off your life. Day from hell. Like, I'm going to have to explain all this to my boss and the district manager after the long weekend and how I handled it. Which, again, I knew I'd handle it fine. But it's just like, this is going to be hell for everybody because she's, she's, and then, like, she just kind of like slinks out of the store. And I wish, like, in hindsight, you almost wish you could have been that jerk who just. But I'm like, oh, sorry, no, can you just explain again? Sorry, what was that?

What, your brother got it working? I didn't quite hear that. Sorry, your whole weekend was ruined 12 hours ago, and now your brother just fixed everything. So it must have been something incredibly simple. That's awesome. Yeah, it was great. Callingwood Blockbuster.

I don't even know what it is now. The Strathcona one, I think, is like an orange theory and a noodle shop or something. Yeah, sounds about right. Yeah. Like gone are the days of movie stars. I miss them. I miss them a lot. They're, well, it's, if you can go to small towns, you can still find where they still rent movies.

And very, very small towns. Yes, that's true. And I mean, there's probably a convenience store in Edmonton. Well, you see foreign language stores in Edmonton, right? But, yeah, in terms of, now, is anything still going in Lloyd? D&E, Star Vision. I used to live two blocks from Star Vision video. Yeah, Star Vision, I want to say both of them are done.

I'm almost like 97% positive. What was the other one we had? video it was a chain like it was a chain in smaller cities there was supervision there was

it was in the co-op yeah no I can see the red logo oh I was gonna say the yellow and blue yes but then there was another store okay yes there was the yellow and blue

and then okay so no the one with the red logo was by Mary Brown's chicken yes it was movie something oh god this is terrible

I don't people listening are going screaming at the radio right now Yeah, you can text it into 636. That's right. And October 2nd when this airs... I'll just randomly get all these texts of what it was.

Movie stop or whatever, yeah. Well, you'll know October 2nd. I can't wait. You'll be getting a thousand texts about the Oilers' upcoming first game of the season and then all these movies... Email me instead, Inside Sports at 630Chimp.com. No, no. Text him.

Text him. That's great. Watch many a movie in Lloyd. See, you're working a block. Oh yeah, what story was I telling? Well, we're going down the road of how you get into radio. Right. Okay, so I finally thought, well, this is not what I want to do for a living.

It was like I said it was my Mick job, needed money. So I thought they held with it. I'm just going to try to be a sports broadcaster. Like, you might as well, what's the worst thing that happened? You'd fail and you got to do something that you won't like as much. Might as well try to do what you really like. So I applied to get into Nate and I got in. and then it was three semesters in classroom stuff at Nate

and then it was a four-month practicum that I did in the summer of 1999 at Global Saskatoon. That's where I met on right. RJ Broadhead was there. Okay. Yeah. And then it was back to Edmonton, didn't have a job for about,

I want to say a month and a half. And I was living between my, aunts and my, obviously now ex-girlfriend, but my girlfriend at the time, kind of back and forth between their two places. And then Chris Durham, who was one of my profs at Nate, said he was kind of, like, almost consulting for the Edmonton Drillers, the indoor soccer team. The indoor soccer team. He was kind of their media relations guru, but there was another person doing the media relationship. So he said, you know what, the drillers got this guy, and he's, he's not doing very well and they're going to fire them and i think you'd be great for this job like you know

it's not broadcasting but you get your foot in the door and you're doing sports stuff and i was like well yeah i need a job so i kind of i think i went to a game and met some people and then it was like okay well you're you're going to start okay so here we go so i start and then the amazing thing was they turned out they didn't fire the other guy they kind of gave him a new job but they never told him any of that so one day he walks in and I'm at his desk reorganizing it

and somebody and then the receptionist scurries into this office we had and she's like oh yeah Reed's going to be doing that job now but you'll be doing this and he's just kind of like okay like horrible situation for that I'm like, nobody told this guy he doesn't, A, doesn't work here anymore, but B, you're now just going to give him some bullshit job and tell him that's his job now.

So eventually he quit or did get fired or something. So I did that. But I was pretty honest with Chris. You know, I was like, I want to work as a broadcaster. So I kind of just kept my eye open. I mean, Sean, I can't remember everywhere I applied or who I talked to. That's right. But yeah, so Greg Buchanan, this was really in. February 2000 went out to Lloyd for an interview. I remember my mom came with me, went to Lloyd Mall at lunch at A&W in Lloyd Mall. Perfect. It's still there. Yeah, it is. And then went to the station and then

had an interview and yeah, within a couple days, was hired. March 13th, 2000 was my first day in Lloyd. And that's the very short version. With a long story about Blockbuster in the middle. That's a... That's all right.

Hey, if there's something I love about the podcasting world and long-form conversation sitting across from somebody like this, we can go wherever the heck we want. Well, that's the best part of my current job. You can actually get someone to tell a story. You're not just looking for sound bites. That's right. So when you get a good story going, that is the purest one.

Heck, when I release this, I'm going to put in the comments of highlights of it, blockbuster stories. And I guarantee anyone over probably 30 is going to be like, I got to tune into that, right? Like, who cares about the oiler talk or anything else? Let's see what the Blockbuster talks about. You're right. Sometimes the best stories aren't about the actual topic of the show, right?

Like, I find that too doing inside sports. Like, if you get, you're going to have sports personalities, but sometimes the best stories aren't what you'd expect. That's a real fun part of the job. Yeah. So going to Lloyd, you said you wanted to be a commentator. Did you actually do play-by-play then? No, I didn't.

No, I didn't do play-by-play. I got hired as TV radio sportscaster. So we would do, what would we do? I think we alternated week to week. So one week, Greg would do morning radio. And then you'd do a TV story. And then the noon sports, and then you're kind of done around one or two. And then the other guy would do 10 to 7.

And you have to do radio in the afternoon. But as I was there, they sort of phased out the radio part of it. so by the end of it it was probably 90% TV if not more like you'd have to write radio scripts and cut some audio and you know you might have to voice some stuff but you weren't actually doing radio

sportscast anymore so it became pretty much a TV job during the time I was there what was your I don't know funnest is the correct word but maybe favorite memory and what was the thing you enjoyed Like what season, when it came around?

Was it the hockey or was it like the truck wagons just ended? Was it the college, right? Like some college sports? Well, that's a really good question because, and I'm glad you brought up the college, because once Lakeland got basketball, that became a real highlight to cover. Phil Allen, who unfortunately passed away a few years ago, was the coach of the Lakeland men's basketball team. So they add basketball, and they're going to play out a Lloyd.

They had volleyball, but they played out over a million, so we didn't go cover as much. And even with games Friday and Saturday. Yep. You know, we had a late night sports Friday, but we didn't have Saturday and Sunday sports. So the volleyball didn't get as much. So Phil comes out,

and he'd been very accomplished, coaching at McEwen and at Sate. And Phil comes out with this resume, and he's going to coach Lakeland, and it's like, okay, I guess this is a pretty big deal. I got this guy. And I remember him saying, that we're going to make playoffs first year.

And I remember thinking to myself, oh, he's a sweet old man. And they were like, I think, five and seven in the first half of the year. And then I think nine and three after Christmas. So they made the playoffs. And then I think it was their second year. They lost the ACAC final to McEwen. And we came in to cover that.

It was at McEwen. So they became a highlight just covering their games because, A, they usually won. They developed a pretty good following. I mean, it was a small gym. They wouldn't pack it, but they got some people going that probably wouldn't have watched basketball. And Phil was just so great to deal with

because he was a great storyteller, and you'd show up for practice, and you'd walk over to you, go, who do you want to talk to today? Well, Gilbert and Mike. Okay, I'll get them. Well, no, like, we can do it after Phil. Like, we timed it so we're here to get 20 minutes of footage.

No, we'll get them right now. pulling guys out of drills to talk to you. He comes over. I learned so much just about basketball and coaching just from talking to him on the sidelines during practice. So they were pretty fun to cover. I think in terms of times of year, I always enjoyed the energy around high school football,

especially when either Lloyd Comp or Holyrores or you were good. And they usually were. And then you got down to provincials. Those were always fun. I mentioned the Allen Cup, obviously, and the Allen Cup playdowns were good. you know, unfortunately the Bobcats, I mean, they after the first year I got there, they won one playoff series. They won one playoff series. They upset, they upset St. Albert in, I want to say,

either 04 or 05. And they were often like 17 wins just trying to get the last playoff spot. So, you know, they were the big team in town, but they were never that good. The junior B, I will say this about junior B. And I mean, I still talk to St. St.. Manaforth to this day. You know, we got to be pretty close, and then he was the Border Kings coach when they won in 07. But there was some bad junior B hockey I saw with, like, guys that clearly didn't care and just wanted to fight and get kicked out of the game so they could go sit in the stand.

But I will say this. Once you got down to the semifinals in the Junior B League, it was actually pretty entertaining because then the players sort of, all right, you know what, we want to win, we care. And there were always some players that would wind up going to the age. next year or whatever. And the great thing about Junior B was it was so unpredictable because there were so many opportunities off mistakes, right? Because it's another level down.

So, oh, here's an easy clearing attempt. No, fanned on it. Two on one for the other team. Oh, that's going to be a routine safe. Oh, went in. All of a sudden, it's a one goal game, right? So a play-by-play guy's dream, right? Commentator's dream.

Yeah, like, no type of no lead is safe. especially in the junior. So there were some memorable, I mean, there was a year, I think Letestu might have been on this St. Paul team, actually. They were up 3-1 on Lloyd in the league final, and Lloyd came back and won in seven. And there was a year, Wainwright, I think, I can't remember their record, but I think they set a record for best regular season, or they might have not lost in regulation time. an insane season. Lloyd beat him in seven, I think, in the semifinals. So I remember little things like that where the intensity got ratcheted up and the players really got engaged, right? Like the coaches were into it. Two communities were into it. And Lloyd, like, it's funny, Lloyd was always the big, bad team because they were the biggest community, right? So for junior,

and when I got there was the first year the bandits didn't win the Junior B League in nine years. They'd won nine years in a row and they lost the Saddle Lake. And then in, you know, in high school football, especially with Lloyd Comp. I mean, Lloyd Comp like usually kick the snod out of some of those teams because the school was three or four times bigger than Vermillion or Lacklebish or Cold Lake or whoever, right? So those teams, Lloyd often got, when you got when Cold Lake had their peak where they had a good team for a couple of years, like that was their chance to beat Lloyd, right? So the games were really good.

Pardon the interruption, folks. Here's your IHD innovative question of the week. In honor of Reed Wilkins working at Blockbuster, what year did Blockbuster file for bankruptcy? If you know the answer to that or you look up the answer to that and found it, just shoot me an email, Sean Newman Podcast at gmail.com, hit me up on Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook with the answer, and you'll be entered into two tickets for the October 17th showing of Natalie McMaster,

the two-time June award winner at the Vic Juba Theater. in Lloydminster. All right. Now, back to the show. Then you talked earlier about 2007 and being a down part of your career where you got frustrated.

I was just curious, what was so frustrating about that part? You thought you were, I don't know, maybe you could tell us a little bit more. I think the career frustration had been going on for a while, unfortunately. And I mean, look, like most people,

I want to do as well as I can. can. And the media is a very, I mean, it's, it's a very, like you're always, you're really encouraged to, you got to get the next job. You got to get the next job. Well, look what this person did. That, that's, that's the model career. Do what they did, right? So, and obviously, any career is going to have career advancement and you want to do, but I mean, one of my best friends is a school teacher and he's never told me he's felt like, okay, I can only be at this school for three years, because then I got to. go be a, I got to go somewhere else, right?

Yeah. So, you know, even in Nate, it's like they bring in, and of course they always bring in the most successful people to talk to the students, right? It'd be like having a class of stand-up comedians and Jerry Seinfeld's the guest speaker. It's like, well, do stand-up for three years and then get a TV show. That's one of the best of all. Like, it's unrealistic for most people. So, so, you know, the, and I know people in Lloyd are, well, people in Lloyd probably know this. And I feel bad saying it because in terms of the living there part, I mean, I still have some really good friends there.

You know, I went out for the RBC cop. Like, you know, it's a part of my life, even if I'm not physically there a lot. Right. But it's in terms of a broadcasting perspective, like it's a small place. It's a starter job or a second job for most people, right? So it's like, yeah, go to Lloyd for a year. and then you go to Red Deer, you go to Regina, or you go to Saskatoon, or you go to Lethbridge,

and then you're there for a couple years, and then you're in Edmonton or Calgary or where, and then if you want to keep going, you're on TSA or sports net by the time you're 35 or whatever. So that's kind of the mentality that's beat into you. Like that, you go to somewhere like Lloyd and you're out of there as quickly as possible. And for a lot of people that works that way.

And so obviously, you know, I was, I had that mentality where it's like, okay, like you've got to get, the next job. Tomorrow. Yeah. And certainly, you know, Greg Buchanan was my sports director.

Michael Higgins was the news director. And they knew that. And they were always very supportive of anybody applying for anything. So yeah, I mean, I kind of went through a phase about two years in where I was on the short list.

Like, I'm talking final three or four candidates. I think I counted once. You know, I think in the span of a year, I was like interviewed and specifically told I was a finalist for I think eight or nine jobs. And I didn't get a single one like Red Deer twice, Regina twice. Lethbridge, I was specifically told, you know, you're probably the best candidate, but a female left and we want to replace her with another female.

So we're not going to hire you. And it's just just reached the point where it's like, Jesus, like, what do I have to do? Like how am I always second or third? So that kind of, you know, that was tough because I wanted to move along. You know, my friends are moving along. Other people in the industry are moving along, and I'm kind of getting the what's wrong with you type things asked to me, right? And then Greg left the station and I got promoted a sports director. And I will say this, the first year of being sports director was one of the greatest times in my career because, you know, more responsibility falls on you.

you're learning, you know, you're kind of getting to do things your own way. And that's not a commentary on Greg, but anybody who gets some responsibility is going to think like, okay, what did my mentors do, but how do I make this my own? Or what's something I've always wanted to try that now I could get to try? You know, I got a lot of input into the person who was basically hired to replace me. Youngmouth, shout out to Kevin Jesus, now working at Global here in Edmonton. And yes, that is his real last name. So that year was a really great time.

but you know you're still looking for their jobs and then Sean what happened was okay I'm still applying in red deer in Saskatoon and Regina and now I'm not getting a call back because now you're the guy they didn't hire last time so who's the new who's the new hot guy or girl that they want to look at so I was you know it was kind of just like all right what am I really doing here like I knew that I knew that I didn't want to live in Lloyd the rest of my life because even though I was there for all, it wasn't home. Like Edmonton had now felt like home because I'd lived there from 91 to 2000. While I was in Lloyd, my parents retired and moved to Edmonton. So that became home base, certainly.

So it's kind of like, well, you know, if I'm not going to get that job in Saskatoon or Winnipeg or Brandon and feel like my career is going forward, maybe I need to take care of the personal side of my life now, right? And just maybe go, live and feel a little more grounded and and get back to that the lifestyle that I had in Edmonton and stuff and so that's why with a lot of counseling from from Jay and some other people

I finally just decided and a couple other job disappointments that really I mean I hate to say it this way because it's not this dramatic but at the time it felt like it a couple job rejections that really felt like a slap in the face at the time and a couple of things where I was one specifically where I was kind of told like you're going to be our guy. We just got to cross some I cross some T's and thought some eyes. And then it was like, no, you're not the guy. I was like, holy shit. Like, what do I don't think you have to worry about it being dramatic.

I mean, you're getting told no and no and no and no and no, right? Nobody deals well with that. Yeah, nobody. So that's why I just find it said, okay, go to Edmonton and kind of regroup a little bit and see what happened. So that's why, like, to get back what I said at the beginning, that's why when somebody says, you know, you're successful or whatever. I'm like, what are you talking about? Like, no, I'm not. I'm just trying to hang on to the job that I have to do a good job.

Well, to get back to that point all over again, I think you do a really good job, like beyond really good. I think you're awesome. I appreciate that. Yeah. I enjoy it. Like, when somebody tells me that, the reason it means something is because it's, I mean, obviously it's nice to be complimented, of course. but it, I, I, it's like, it's genuine. Like if I, if I do something on air, like, if I say something that people think are funny and I realize my humor is not for everybody.

Or if I, or if I tell a story or interact with Rob, like, it's, it's genuine, right? Like, I'm not, I'm not, I mean, obviously on air, you're a little different than you would be in real life. But generally, like, that's my personality. That's me. So if someone says, well, I enjoy listening to you, that's nice, because that's, I'm not. That's pretty much me. That's probably how I would talk to you if I just ran into you at Kingsway Mall. And that's what I love about what we're doing right now, right?

A big part of this podcast is people have asked lots. Like, why don't you do stuff over the phone? I mean, the world's small if you do things over the phone. But I find you can't be as genuine as to steal a word from you as sitting across from sounding being the same room, getting to feel their presence essentially. Because I can see what you're doing right now. You know, and it's a lot of fun to do exactly what we're doing.

And what I love about the podcast world is, you know, we were talking about it. Like, when we first started, like, how long are we going for? I mean, normally, an hour, hour and a half. You want to sit here for four hours? I'll sit here, listen, right? And then you go, well, who's going to listen to that? I don't know. They can turn on and off.

It's fine by me because to me, like, I'm doing this as much as I'm doing it for listeners. I'm doing this for myself. This is like, yes, you drove down here all the way from. me. For people who don't, you know, are just tuning in because it's Reeve Wilkins on the Sean Newman podcast. I live in Lloyd. So I drove two and a half hours to come here on a random Thursday night. Very cool. And so, Rie goes, you drove down here all the way for me. Absolutely. Absolutely. And I do it again. And I think this is freaking awesome. And this is the highlight of my week, minus my wife, my kids. I better throw that in there. Oh, absolutely. Because I love, the only thing that pains me

about driving here at night and having to drive back is that I got two young kids and a third on the way and I just, I miss out on a night. Sure. And right, those nights add up when you, you know this as much as I do, right? You're talking about 16 hour work weeks. You miss out on life away, like when you're just in doing things,

you miss out on life, right? Whether you've got kids at home or whether you're just living life, if you work that much, you miss out on all the other stuff. Yeah. Well, on broadcasting is a weird job because, like, people are like,

what are your hours? I don't have any. And they kind of, like, I feel like they don't believe me, It's kind of true. When the order of schedule comes out in June, okay, I know that. I know I got to do my talk show every night, but it's not like I start at the same time every day or do the exact same thing every day. And that's, it is to other people in broadcasting, it's not hard to explain, but to people who are, like a few years ago, I was, I had a girlfriend who worked for the federal government.

And it was like she started at 818 in the morning. and was done at 447. Yeah. Exactly. Hit traffic at the same time. And every like 12 work days, you'd get a day off because their work day was eight hours and 30 minutes. So those extra 30 minutes added up to a day. You know, and it was like she just couldn't wrap her head around that, okay, yeah, I work at that time inside sports was till nine.

Well, I work until nine. But then if the Oilers play at San Jose, I'm probably going to be at work till. after midnight. And like, well, when are we going to spend time? I'm like, well, we've got to figure that out. But no, it was just, it was just bad. It was just a big, big evil job, right? But it's, it is, it's a great job.

I still say broadcasting, media, and it's expanding now with stuff like you're doing with podcasts and all, all the digital stuff. But it's, it's a weird job because it's, the hours can be all over the map. It's, it can be very day to day. Like, what are we doing the day? How is this going to work today?

How are you going to be consistent every day? And then just, like, constantly sort of adapting to everything, the conditions, the technology, coworkers, like, all that guy is stuff. Speaking of adapting, what have you thought in your time? Because in your time, you've gone from just doing this live, essentially, and recording little segments and everything else. And now social media and the Internet in the last 10, 12, years?

Probably not even 10 years, right? I mean, like Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, I don't know, I'm missing YouTube. Sure. I don't know. How has that changed what you guys do or how you interact now? Well, the biggest change for me is how much time I can spend on my phone playing games at work. Like, to me, that's just been revolutionary because now I'm never bored at work.

I can be like, what's your game of choice? I'm not all my work and I can just, no. But what game sucks you in the worst? Actually, that's a good question, because that was pretty sarcastic. I really don't play a lot of games on my phone. I actually don't play a lot of games. I'd more likely be watching a YouTube video about a board game or something if I was killing time. You had me sold, hook, line, and sinker.

I just think of my father. I'll tell a story here about my father. They still live out on the farm. We run steers in the, my brother and my dad run steers in the summertime. and we're coming out and the kids are out there, my kids are out there, they're young, three and two, and they're out there playing, and the wife and I are going out, and we're driving, and I'll see Dad's truck out in the middle of the pasture,

and I'm like, well, there's Dad, we'll pop in, we'll see them, so we pull up beside them and all the steers are standing right around them, right? They know his white truck, and every once in a while he gives them grain, so they all come running, right? So they're all standing around them. Like, I mean, we have to slowly idle in, Right. And pull up and he's sitting there playing a game.

That's great. Right? I'm getting him in shit right now. My mom is probably listening to this going, you were doing what? Anyways, and we sat there probably five minutes until finally I honked the horn and he goes, oh, you've been sitting there long? I'm like, yeah, like five minutes, Dad. What are you doing? I got into a game, you know, I'm sitting there and he's out in the middle of the pasture just playing a game.

Those games are addicting it's unbelievable. Yeah. Well, I'm more of a board game guy, especially the last couple years. So I can not play them at work. It's too much set up. Okay, fair enough. But what board game? Lately, I've been playing a lot of Marvel Legendary, which is a deck building game.

Okay. With Marvel. This is, like, we're going into total nerd land now, Sean. Hey, you know what? People are going to be like, what? I went and met with an accountant today. And somehow we got talking about Lord of the Rings. So I'm on game.

Okay. I like that game a lot. I've played some of the Arkham Horror games with my buddies. I'm not as immersed in that as they are. Like, they're four-hour games. It's just like, oh, my God. And you know you're going to lose. I play a lot of cooperative games, too, right?

Where you can either play solo or with friends against the sort of AI of the game, or like a deck or whatever. That's right. I like Spirit Island. I like Robinson Crusoe. I like Elder Sign. That's an Arkham-themed game. I mean, I'm still a Monopoly fan.

I got a couple cousins I always play with. But this legendary, there's a Marvel game. There's an aliens game. there's an X-Files game. They're coming out with a James Bond game. It was awesome, too. It was awesome, too. Because a couple of weeks ago, well, a few weeks ago,

I got to interview the president of Upper Deck because they wanted to talk about the McDavid forgery. So I taped with him, you know, the Jersey. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. I had a pre-tape with this guy in the afternoon. So before we started, I was like, hey, I just got into Legendary a few months ago. And he's so, we talked for 10 minutes.

And he's like, yeah, we're coming up with James Bond game. He's like, oh, I'm glad you like this. And he's like, you're our target audience, like a 34-year-old guy that, you know, grew up reading comics and now there's the movies. And anyway, that was pretty cool. But the biggest change is, I mean, it has to be social media. I know that's the stock answer and phones

and the immediacy of everything. So, I mean, things have changed a lot. I mean, teams don't, I mean, if the Oilers trade, Neil for Luchich, they still send you a press release. But you know about it 10 seconds after it's happened. So say they send out the press release at 315. Well, 20 years ago, the listener would hear about that on our 330 news. Or we'd break in on our afternoon show and mention it and then have more 330.

But now they tweet it out. So everybody on the other's Twitter account, which is a million people, sees it and everybody, everybody knows, right? So that's a big thing. I mean, even YouTube, like video for a few years ago. This is hilarious. I took about a 15-second video of McDavid at his first development camp, so when he came in July of 2015. Remember when they let people in for free just to watch him skate around and shoot on an empty net?

So I took this video of him doing like a start, stop, cross over, lateral movement. Like start at the back of the circle, go to the dot. Stop. go to your left back right you know 15 seconds I've got like 4,000 views

on our YouTube page but by the end of the day because there's McDavid doing something but I think but I think you know people say

you know you get the sarcastic people oh your job's obsolete like you know no one listens like no one gives a shit and I don't agree with that I think

you got to realize what you can do that still no one else can do or that maybe you know, Twitter can't do or can't do as well. And it's like what you were saying with the podcast is the storytelling, right? So, and that's where, like, the real craft of this job is not knowing stats and, and necessarily, you know, holding the mic in a Connor McDavid Scrum.

Like, the real craft of this job is having contacts and seeing an angle that's going to be unique to your show, right? So if, I'm struggling to think of an example now, but even, even, even, even having guys on our station like Blake Dermott and Rob Brown, right, our Eskimos and our Oilers analysts, respectively. Okay, so they can tell you like what happened on a play and they can do it better than anybody else. So that's unique to us, first of all, but then the great thing about both of those guys is that you can take something that happen in the world of sports. Sometimes it doesn't even have to be football or hockey, and they can relate that to something in their career or the story. Like, a couple weeks ago, I asked Blake about Antonio Brown's helmet.

Like, remember when he... Yes. Okay. And Blake had a story about a favorite helmet, you know, so, so that's the thing. So, and what is, what is cool about that is, I mean, inside sports, I mean, the order's broadcast are kind of different because they're very centered around the game. And certainly we still try to have storytelling and guests sometimes, and Rob will tell stories, but especially the post game show, it's what happened that game. Yeah, that's right. Here's the post game reaction. Here's Rob breaking it down.

Here's caller reaction, all that kind of stuff. You know how many times I've driven home to Lloyd after an oiler game and listening to you guys? I hope every night. Not every night, but we've listened to you guys an awful lot. Well, that's nice to hear. We like that. We like that. But, you know, so on inside sports, it's kind of like, all right, I'm aware that I have to give people the news of the day.

and they may have heard the news but they may have not heard the audio, right? They may have heard, oh, Trevor Harris said something about throwing five interceptions, but they didn't hear the whole clip, so I can still give them that. And then, okay, who do we know about, can we get Damon Allen on the show?

Can we get Warren Moon on the show? Can we get whoever, right? And that's kind of a jumping off point to then have a personality and a storyteller on. So I still think that's where the conventional media, if you want to call it that, still has a very, you know, crucial role to play.

That's right. And can still give people something very unique. I remember a couple years ago, we had a contest where a couple of listeners got to come to a morning skate with me and just sit with me and talk. And there was like a son and a dad, and the son was like a pretty loyal listener.

And the dad didn't see him. like he knew as much about Cheddar or a broadcast. But then he was like, he's like, hey, wait a minute, you had Crazy George on your show. And I was like, yeah, you know who I'm talking about. I know there's a generation of people who do. But Crazy George was this weirdo cheerleader guy who would get hired by teams to bang his tambourine. And he looked kind of like poor man's Hulk Hogan, right, with the weird hair stuff. And one summer was just like, I'm going to try to get Crazy George on the show.

And I got him on the show and he was like completely insane and like banging his tantalien. and like banging his tambourine in the background, but awesome. So that's the thing. And when I was talking to this gentleman, it was two years after Crazy George was on the show. So that strikes the chord, right? Because yes, you're going to talk about the news other day

and the order there's power play. But two years from now, or five years from now, no one's going to remember, oh, yeah, that one time Reed said that the Orther's were 0 for 5 on the power play that night. But they might remember, oh, yeah, crazy George was on or run. Brown told a story about not scoring his 50th goal because the ref waived off a goal or or Bill Spaceman Lee telling a story about lying naked on a beach drinking wine.

Like those are the things ultimately that I think people remember and over the long term kind of define a show. Oh, absolutely. Yeah. No, your guest content and the little addens is huge. I had Corey Cross on. Great guy. By the time this airs, it'll be like a month ago. But at Cory Cross, you were talking about Crazy George, he talked about, and I can't remember the name, but a guy who blow his trumpet run down the stairs and bounce off the glass. And then the fans will go nuts, right? And he said in a playoff game, he ran down, hit the glass, the glass busted, he fell, cracks head, knocked himself out.

And he had this long story about it. Things like that, man, I'll remember talking about it sitting across from the next 50 years. Yeah. Now, we're a little over an hour. Which means we have to talk some oilers. Oh, sure. Yeah, I never do that. I never get the chance to do that.

People back in Lloyd. A whole bunch of them used to own the team. Did you know that? Yes, I did. Yes, it did. I'm actively working on trying to get them on. Because I think it would be a cool angle. One of them is going to come on.

Can't get Nichols on? No, Nichols told me right now not interesting. Who else was there Addy? Yeah. And then there was... I can't remember all the names. A couple of Reberge brothers. Okay.

Now you're... There's one other that I should remember, but I can't. Okay. Well, Buchanan can't pull any strings for you? Maybe you can. He'll listen to this and I'll be getting a text. Yeah, I think he should be able to help you. Well, the Oilers have done like a complete overhaul again.

Sort of. Well, coach and GM for important positions, yes. If you would ask me personally, probably... five, six years ago, a guy I would have brought in would have been Ken Holland. Sure. Now he's been on the job

for however many months. Yeah. Have you noticed anything in your opinion that you're like, oh man, I don't mind that? Well, he traded Luch. I mean, I know that's an obvious answer,

but I never thought that would have happened. And not to actually... And he got a player, despite last year, who should be productive. I mean, he didn't trade Luch for Louis Erickson, right? fourth round draft pick because some other team decided they had to stay above the cap floor or something.

That he actually pulled that trade off was pretty impressive to me. I think some of his other moves are interesting and have some potential. So this is airing October 2nd? Yes. So the Oilers will actually play tonight. People know as we're talking right now, it's not even the pre-season, right? That's right. Okay.

So, you know, hopefully these guys are healthy. I'd like all my listeners to hold read accountable for everything he says. That I'm saying on August, what's the actual day? 21st? 22nd. That's right. I mean, I really think Archibald has, is Archibald interesting to me. I mean, because he's quick and he can kill penalties and I think he can score double digits.

I like that they brought Chase on back, though still, if he's on your second line, that's still too high in the lineup for where he should be. I think they've gone from having a first line and then three fourth lines other than nuge. Yeah. To now probably having a first line, a second line and two fourth lines. Yeah. And, you know, that's nothing. I think I'm just being realistic about those players. I mean, who Kara is, who Gagne is at this point in his career, who Colby Cave is,

if he winds up being around and Grandland, you know, and even though I have a man. mentioned Archibald, I mean, but still, I mean, he's a bottom six type player. So I think that they'll probably score around the same number of goals as last year, because I don't think Leon's going to get 50 again, but I think he'll have a good year. But I think Cassian has a chance to get maybe around 20 and Neil has a chance to get around 20 and Chaseon has a chance to get around 20. So I think they probably will score the same amount. Then it comes down to goal prevention. So that's goal tending and penalty kill. You know, even if they're not that good, great defending five on five.

They can probably be a wild card team if they, well, I mean, they got to shave off 30 goals, say. So that's... Is a goaltending going to help them out this year? I don't know. That's the biggest question mark around the team. Because I think Koskenen, I honestly think the Koskin we saw last year is the Koskin will see this year,

where he's really good in some stretches, and then it can't stop a beach ball in other stretches. I think just that's him as an NHL goalton. because the KHL is totally different. They don't shoot as much. The angles are different. I mean, I wish I could remember not, but I was looking at KHL goalie stats,

and it might have even been in the year KOSCannon had that 930-something. He was like fifth in the league in save percentage. Like if you're 9-30 in the NHL, you're the best goalie in the league. Smith is interesting to me. I know he's older. I know the first, about two-thirds of his year

in Calgary weren't that good, but then he was quite good down the stretch. Down the stretch, yes, he was, yeah. And he, the thing that's interesting about Smith is, he might have enough of that F-U attitude to have one more year in the tank. And I know, like, the people who are into stats and analytics, that's not what they want to hear, because that's more of a mental feeling. It's more of a gut feeling.

That's right. He might be one of these guys where it's just like, all right, everybody says I'm done. Everybody thinks the orders are a joke. You know, everybody, you know, I'm going to go to the other side of the Battle of Alberta, and I'm going to be on Connor McDavid's team, and I'm going to help get that kid into the playoffs just because I'm such a miserable son of a bitch, right? Like, like, so that's, to me, that's the intriguing part about him.

And I will say this, the plus for the goaltending, if they actually can split it or relatively split it, both guys did better last year when they were a little more arrested. So maybe they do go back and forth or two starts each back and forth. and that does help them both overall. I'm trying to look on the bright side there. Yeah, well, I think as Oilers fans, we've all come to realize we're not, if they told us tomorrow we're going to win the Stanley Cup, we all know that that's a very long shot.

Well, and that's, to me, that's the sad part. That's where there are, there are a lot of nights where I genuinely feel bad for fans. Because, you know, if you look at the, okay, well, since 06, most teams in the NHL have been up and down. Pittsburgh's been good pretty much every year. Washington's been good almost every year. Chicago, Washington. Chicago has now dropped off.

No, but they were good almost every year. And I guess Edmonton. San Jose on our side. San Jose's been good. And then at the bottom, you've kind of had Edmonton, Buffalo, Phoenix, except for that one year. Right. Kind of have been the three dormats.

And then the other 25 teams have, have all had, like, you know what, Colorado is a great example. Colorado is a great example of like an average franchise, but they've never really been average. They've been like, oh, we got 108 points under Waugh. And like, oh, now we got 48 points. And like, oh, now we're a wild car team and we upset Calgary. Like Edmonton, it's just always been down. And that's what the sad part is because wait till next year.

Most teams can say wait till next year. And they've, because they've all had a year in the last five years where they kind of surprised, or at least we're good. But with the Oilers, it's always been like another high pick and another crappy team. Why do you think that is? Well, I think that goes on and on. They've had some poor coaches. Their drafting record is horrific.

Like, their drafting record is horrific for almost 30 years, Sean. Like, they've been an incredibly poorly drafting team. And then so then you've had to rush guys along or make desperate trades or try to build through free agency. And I think it's just all, it's just all cycled on itself. Like you can't say any one move is the crappy move. But it's like, oh, because of this, they did this. And because of this, this guy got rushed along. And then because of this, they overpaid for this free agent and on and on and on.

And then they hired Aiken's and then, you know, and then doom it was bad. The only thing I'd interject is I just feel like whether it's defense, forward, goaltending, they just seem to rush guys all the time. Oh, yeah, for sure. And by rushing guys, I think it's been proven. You put them in... I remember Schultz. He's a great example.

He just sticks out. In the NHL, he was dynamite. Came in and the NHL got put in... Well, hockey... Well, they wanted to be their number one defense. Right. And he wasn't ready. And you know what?

And his skill said he maybe never would... Never was... Never were going to be ready. He's a second pairing defenseman. He's a second pairing defenseman. And so... Hockey. Just like...

any other job in the world is all about confidence and, you know, some guys just walk in and are going to be Connor McDavid and they're going to do what Connor McDavid does. Other guys need to be, you know, I kind of hate the word insulated, but it makes a lot of sense to me. Whereas they rush them in, they don't perform well. And it's like, instead of just being like, oh, okay, we'll put you back here and talking or maybe they do, right?

I'm so far removed from it and you're a little closer than I ever, or have been. and from a fan's perspective, they just, you know, whether it was Schultz, which was awful to watch, whether it was Yakopov, whether, you know, we go down the list, you just leave them there to almost like demoralize themselves, so they're just a shallow image of themselves.

And that's a hard thing in the NHL specifically. Once you have that loss of confidence, it takes a special group of people to breathe it back into you from my eyes. Whereas if you had tried, graph somebody. I know all the media or not even media, all the fans, I would say all the fans are like, oh, it's going to be fun to watch, you know. Pooley-Arvey is the latest one, right? He'd come in and he's going to be great, and then he doesn't play that well or he's not playing that much or whatever, and then the fans get on him, and pretty soon he's, you know,

now he doesn't want to even be here. It's like, put him down in the minors, let him, and maybe that's just an easy thing for me to say, right? Well, it varies to play your player. I think Pooley-Earvey and his camp have a fair bit of responsibility and that specifically. Fair enough. But you're right. Dave. And I now I wasn't covering the Oilers when they drafted Hall, but I was in the city. And I really got the sense that they

just thought, okay, we've been in the league, whatever it was at the time, 25 years. We were bound to finish last, but we got this guy. And now we just turn them loose. Like, there was never the proper building around the star players and the proper depth drafting. And I will

say this about Shirelli. And he totally effed up his last 18 months. You know, I don't, I know, I know Sherelli became very unpopular, but I don't buy the fact that his whole tenure was bad because I don't think, because it wasn't, it wasn't. It's as simple as that. But I will say this. I mean, maybe five years from now, we're going to be saying, oh, man,

there's like four or five guys on this team that Sherelli drafted that are middle range players, right? Like maybe Caleb Jones or a guy like Maraudi who he's, Romeroi was a trade, right? Yeah, he was Philly's, was he Philly or New Jersey's property anyway, but we're a couple of call-assinings, right? Like maybe we'll say, well, at least he did that as much as then he, you know, gave away Cajula and signed Koskin and all that kind of stuff.

But this is the first time in a while. You could list more than one or two guys on the farm team. Like four years ago, it was like, would it be four years ago? Yeah, probably four years ago would be, like who on the farm team might make the Oilers? Kara. Maybe Davidson will stick around.

Like that was it. Now at least you can say, well, maybe one of the goleys. Maybe Wells or Staird or, like, stare at kind of out of order. Now, and that's the thing about it takes time. Yeah. It takes time. So at least you can list like five to eight defensemen who might have a chance. Well, they won't all make it.

but if two or three do, then all of a sudden you're not overpaying for Sekra, who I liked. But you know what I mean? They still have to overpay to get them because they didn't have any internal solutions, whereas a lot of the good teams, it's like, okay, we got injuries on our defense.

Oh, you know what? We got this 22-year-old guy in the minors who we kept in the dub till he was 20, and now he's played 160 HL games. We can call him up to be our number seven for a month while we're injured. Right. Because he'll just do the job.

Right. The others have never had that. And so slowly, they're building. I hope so. I mean, there is some promise with the draft, I think. The recent drafting, I put it that way. What is, to go on a lighter note, what is one of the coolest things about having your job

and now being at 630 Chedin covering the Oilers or the Eskimos or whatever sport you want it to be? What is something that in your wildest dreams 10, 15 years ago, whatever it is, you would have never thought you would be sitting here covering this? Oh, that's a good question. Because there's a lot of stuff I like about the job and a lot of things I appreciate. I think that it's kind of what I mentioned before. It's just the access, right, and building up contacts where, you know,

I can get Colton Pereko to come into studio and do my show because he trusts me and he wants to do it. You know, or I can. I like that word trust. I can text him four days before. Like one night I had him and Jake DeBrask on the same, or maybe back-to-back nights. Yeah. I didn't go through Team PR. Yeah.

Probably should have. But, you know, they know you and they know what you do and they know you'll do a fair interview and that kind of stuff. I don't know how I'm doing right now, but how long does it take you to build trust? with a guest or a person, what'd you say? Because that's a cool thing. When you build up trust with somebody and you get talking.

It depends on the person in the environment. But, and the personalities. But, I mean, it could take a couple years. Yeah? Yeah. Or it could take a few months. And it's different for everybody.

I mean, you know, someone like McDavid is going to be guarded. I don't know how he feels about me. I've known him for years. He certainly knows who I am. We certainly talk professionally. You certainly do interviews. You get the odd little aside with him.

He's not going to come in and do my show for an hour, even if he loves me. Matt Benning? Sure, he's probably going to come in and do my show for an hour if I ask at the right time, right? You know, or guys like that. It just depends on how you get to know somebody, how their relationship is established. You know, Benning is an example. You know, it helped meeting him at the rookie tournament in Penticton. There's not a lot of media around.

You can go talk to him. He's clearly standing out. He's clearly one of the best players at that tournament. And I know some people don't like him in the NHL, but that's what it was. And then he makes the NHL. What, he played two games in the minors and got called up. And then you walk into the room and he's already like, oh, yeah, these are the guys that are already there. These are the guys that were there in Penticton.

Like, they're really around the team, right? They're not just coming once a week. So, like, that helps too to be around the orders a lot. And then it's just, I think it's just, I think it's just being fair with people. Like, not beating around the bush with questions, but asking critical questions in a fair way, giving them a chance to respond. I mean, you know, I've had a few Eskimos in studio this year talking about, I mean, Tavon Smith and the Tejee were in. and they lost that game in Winnipeg where all of a sudden all the receivers

forgot how to catch in the last four minutes, right? Despite Moss's decision, the receivers dropping all these. So I said, hey, like, you know what? Like, you guys didn't hang on to some balls at the end of the game. The commentator on TV was saying you're running a lot and you're getting tired.

What's going on? How come you guys didn't execute? And that's how I asked the question. You know, that's what fans are thinking. I don't bring them in and say, man, you guys can't catch and you let everybody down. But unfortunately, that's what some people want to hear.

I think if you're not, there's one of the problems, I think, now in the world and with broadcasting, and I think social media, this isn't a side. I'm going to have a little rant I'm going to do. But with social media and the 140 characters or everybody trying to grab attention, there's a lot of, I think people don't understand the difference between criticism and insults. Right? Like, if player A gave the puck away and he didn't handle the forecheck very well, and this has been a problem he's had all year that he can't pass under pressure

and that he spends too much time on his back end instead of his forehand, to me that's a criticism and an explanation of why he's struggling and points out things he has to work on, right? Well, what have we seen now? this guy is a tire fire in his own end. Well, this guy belongs in the market. It's like, you're just, you're just insulting him. You're just, you're just piling on him.

Like, I would like to hear something a little more intelligent. Like, what happened on the play? Why did he do this? What did the other team do to make this happen? What might this player have to work on to improve? Not just like, well, this guy's a, this guy's Bush League. Well, like, and I understand. I mean, sure, sometimes you're going to be humorous or sarcastic.

but there's, I think there's too much of that now. And I've seen it with some, you know, younger people working in Edmonton and other markets. They're very, very vocal on Twitter. And sometimes they're funny, but it's very much, I'm just going to see how mean I can be. And that's not really what I think a broadcaster should be. I mean, absolutely there's should be critical, you know, players shouldn't get a free pass. You know, fans deserve an effort. and, you know, it'd be nice if they got more wins than losses,

especially with the hockey team. Football team's actually been pretty good most of the time. Absolutely. Since I've been doing this job anyway. But, one, if you go to university sports, you've got the golden bears sitting there who just coppa. And they're a great example. They're a great example.

They'll lose a home game, and it's like, well, we've got to get Herbizant. Like, this is a huge story. And Ian's got to answer, well, how do you possibly lose 5-2 to Lethbridge? Right? Because they rarely lose. So that's that would be a story. They're an absolute powerhouse. Yeah, they are.

Right? They are. I mean, I've said this before. If they were, you know, if this was an American city, depending on where it was located geographically, they'd be the biggest team in town. They'd be the biggest ticket. They'd be bigger than some, maybe both of the pro teams. Right. Because they're that dominant and that good all the time.

I 100% agree. Yeah. Like it's like you could never, the NFL could never even dream of expanding into the state of Alabama. Be a waste of time. Right? Like, I agree. Yeah. Well, there's only one thing I regret, read while I was in college in the States.

I never went to a Division I football game. And I just like kicked myself. Yeah, that'd be cool. Well, depending if you went to one of the power programs for sure. Yeah. Well, it was sitting just north of University of Wisconsin, right? Like the Badgers. Which would be incredible, yeah.

Right? Is that where they do the jump around after the third quarter? I think that's them. I think you might be right. I think it is. Yeah. I've been to some pretty cool atmospheres in the States at sporting events, just never division on football, which is stupid.

Yeah, it'd be amazing to see like a big game, like two big like Auburn, Alabama, Michigan, Michigan State, like, which it must be weird for some of the CFL guys to play in that type of, you know, a good CFL crowd is 30 to 35. thousand. Well, they've played in like 90,000 seats. Where the fans are just going nuts. They're like insane. Yeah. You're getting a bunch of college students drinking, going nuts, partying. Yeah. And it's a show. And it's ingrained in the culture. Absolutely. The parents, the grandparents pass the tickets on to the parents and then the kids are going to get it. Oh yeah. You can't buy them. You can't get new ones. The tailgating down there is just something

amazing that everybody needs to experience. Yeah. So that's what I'm saying. Like the golden bears are the Alabama of Canadian Hawking. I mean, if you just went by their record, they should be selling out Rogers Place. Yeah, absolutely. Right. Yeah, absolutely. Wow.

Here's a question for you off Twitter. Speaking of people, I got in that, I was talking to Todd Kirkpatrick, and he's a lawyer in Lloyd, and me and him sat and I was coming to talk to you, or he knew I was on my way to come talk to you. Before I left, he started talking about oiler conspiracy theories.

Oh, this is going to be great. And so the, The one he's got is that Taylor Hall is coming back to Emmington because of... Well, that's thought of conspiracy theory. That's Trina's oil. Twitter handle. Okay. She wrote that.

He wrote that. I don't know. That's what he's talking about. He's saying that he thinks it's an insider and that Taylor Hall's coming back to Emerson. Okay. I mean, sure it could happen, but they're going to have to... I mean, Nuge won't be on the team then. Like, let's be honest.

They'll have to clear out some room. to pay hold $10 million. Todd's sitting there laughing right now because he's going well. I will say this. With each kind of regime change with the Oilers, it increases the possibility of them getting good players or good players back, right?

I used to look at that Trina Oil's account when I was producing for Stauffer. And I actually used to spend more time on Twitter. I don't spend a lot of time on Twitter now, especially with stuff like that because you can just fall down a rabbit hole of reading all this stuff that goes nowhere. I mean, the large majority of the stuff Trina's Oils has said has not happened.

So you got to keep like the large majority, like almost 100%. I'm really happy I ask that question. Let's keep that in mind, at least from my experience of looking at that it count. I mean, if Hall came back, that would be a massive story. Oh, absolutely. I mean, I think that there was, you know, I don't think McClellan was necessarily a huge Hall fan. I mean, I think we have to be honest that I'm not in the room. I don't, there's a lot of gossip I don't pay attention to.

But I think if the right players had gone to bat for Hall, he wouldn't have been traded or had really said, we love this guy. So I think we've got to be kind of honest. I mean, I don't buy all this the other end where it's like, oh, he was a cancer and everybody. Like, it's not, it's not that black or white with teams. But, I mean, if he came back, that would be huge. But again, and then you've got to free up money. Oh, yeah. Like, I don't know how you keep nudge or extend nudge or potentially pay whoever is next up, you know, do for a deal. I don't know how you do that and have haul.

But that'd be a hell of a story if you came back. Well, we're coming towards the end here. I thought we'd do a couple relatively quick little questions to end it off. I'll try to keep it shorter than the Blockbuster story, which is two-thirds of the interview. Who's your favorite guy when you go down to do the media scrum? Who's the guy you look forward to interviewing? It can be off any team. It doesn't have to be the Oilers or it can be the Oilers, whichever you prefer.

Current or past, sure. Who is the guy you liked going? So six years of Oilers, Hendricks and Letestu, were the best to talk to, just because they were intelligent and would always give you time and would be pretty honest. you know, without being throwing guys under the bus. But, you know, they knew how to play the game and walk that line, right? I don't go to Eskimos practice, so that's hard to say. Recently I had David Beard and Travis Bond in, two of the old linemen.

They were an absolute riot, like an absolute riot, just feeding off each other, giving each other a hard time. And a lot of little looks where I was like, okay, what's actually going on here? So they were pretty fun. Like guys who will be current oilers, I think Smith's probably going to be pretty good. Yeah. Most of them are pretty good.

I mean, but we've all heard Connor talk, right? I mean, he doesn't give you anything. He's so careful. Nuge in Hopkins is a very nice man. Like, just a very, very professional guy. Yeah. You know, again, doesn't always say a lot, but he knows how to play the game.

I mean, Benning's been pretty good. Cassie and Ken. be good depending on the mood he's in. You know, he was pretty good when that trade stuff came out last year. He stood in there and answered and was very mature and professional about it. But, yeah, I mean, the dressing room interviews aren't as good necessarily as sometimes the phone interviews, and ex-players tend to give you the most. They'll give you the stories.

Hal Gill's always good when I have them on. You know, I mentioned Blake and Rob. Mike Civic's been great when I've had him on the former linesman. So I'm rambling again. No, no, no, no, that's good. I always ask everybody that comes on if they had a time machine and can go to one event in history, where would they take it? I would probably go to the very first masters just to see the course.

What year would that have been? I think it was in the 30s, 36 maybe. Okay. Because I love golf and that's such a... Do you golf quite a bit then? Very poorly. How about this for a story? My listeners probably hate me talking about this.

I hate a golf for a long time. I struggle with things that I'm not good at. And so you can imagine starting golf, most people aren't walking to golf and just all of a sudden start hanging out really well. 1934. 1934, there you go. My first full summer was last summer of golfing.

You know what I did last summer? Did you go to the Masters? No. Oh. I hit a hole in one. Oh, that's incredible. Where? And Lloyd.

Lloyd Golf and Country Club. Yeah, a hole 16. I don't remember that one. But that's good for you. That's got to be a dream come true. Well, that's the thing. The guy's golfing with me hated me because the one guy's golfed like 30 years or whatever it is, right?

All of his life. And here's this guy who for like 10 years ago, man, I just, I don't like it. I don't like it. I don't like it. I don't like it. I'm never going to like it. It's insanely hard. It's insanely hard.

And you just, it hurts my brain how hard it is. And then, you know, last summer I was like, you know what? I want to pick this up. I'm going to get going. And I'm just going to eat my woes. And I won an award where I work, Baker Hughes, right? Golf. And we had a morning golf league.

We'd get up at like five or six in the morning, go do a round in the morning, you know, once every two weeks or whatever. And I won the water ball award so people can understand how bad of a golfer I was. I found the water. And on the round that I was playing, I think the hole before. I had a snowman. Right. And then I hit the part three and nine iron it, one bounce on the cup. What a great feeling. Oh, good for you.

I'm not mad at you. Those people are mad at you. Quit being so bitter. Appreciate someone's success for once. If you could party with one celebrity, just one. Who would you want to party with? Joe Elliott of Def Leopard. Joe Elliot of Def Leopard?

Yeah, because I love Def Leopard and I would just want to talk to them about their music and their albums. Wow, that was quick. That was quick. It's like you've been looking at that one on the page. Well, I saw that you might ask me who would your dream interview be, which would be anybody from Def Leopard? Anybody from Def Leopard? Have you seen them in concert?

12 times. 12 times? Yes. 12 times? Yes, including this July. And how were they this last time? They were excellent. It was actually one of their better shows.

They sound like they're such technicians. They're so polished and they, you know, they know how to pull it off. And actually our executive producer here did Buster Butt, trying to get somebody for me but no a little tough they wouldn't do it yeah or I don't even know if it ever got to them probably didn't uh actually what celebrity where I like to sorry Kent Stannaforth former Lloydminster bandits and Porterkeeks head coach that's what celebrity I'd like to party with I'll make sure when he comes on because he's uh I'll make sure when he comes on he's supposed to grace the podcast here soon enough oh I want to listen to that one

Because I've never had him on, but like his stories of being in the dub, being an enforcer. Oh, yeah, it would be awesome. I've heard stories. I can't wait to hear him. He doesn't tell a lot of them. No, he doesn't. No, he doesn't. Oh, God.

Kenny, yeah. Kent's stand up forth. Yeah, that'll be a fun one. If you could give one piece of advice to a guy starting out since you've been in the industry now for what I consider a long time, what would you suggest? to you? That's a tough one because it's hard to summarize. I would probably say something like, don't be afraid to take chances and don't be afraid to be yourself. Because I think a lot of times we think, oh, what if that doesn't work or what if people don't like it? I mean, sometimes you just got to show part of your personality and be who you are and trust yourself.

And when you think about it, would you sooner fail trying to be, you, you know, somebody else or would you sooner fail trying to be yourself? It's an easy answer. So sometimes you just have to boil it. And two guys who I'm going to cite his examples one's one of my best friends, Jay Honoret. Like he decided he was just

going to be a fucking goofball on TV. There I use the F word. And it worked. And it worked right? Like he, you know, he was going to take it beyond what Kilburn and Patrick and Dutition had ever done, right? And just be the weirdest guy. Because

he is the weirdest guy. And then, I mean, another hero of mine is David Letterman. Like, who would have thought that elevator races would keep people watching and a random fountain in front of his desk? You know, will it float? Like, these are not good ideas on paper, but they worked. And him basically spending the last five years at NBC insulting his employer on a nightly basis. But that's him. Yeah, that's right.

it worked, right? You know, Jay and Dan, to talk about Jay and Dan for like 10 seconds, when they left and went down south, I remember like all of Canada being sad. Yeah. Because that was your favorite part in the morning

was having those two guys run through the highlights. And you know, you think when Will Ferrell jokes about a sports station, well, that'll never work, right? Yeah. On Anchorman, right? Jay and Dan made it work

because at times, right, you have the same highlights. It just, you know, like kind of whatever. There's another four-two hockey game. That's right. Except you get those two guys joking about it. It's unbelievable. Yeah. And they still gave you the highlights.

It never, the humor never took overwhelmed. That's right. Still getting the information across. That's right. Yeah. Well, I just want to say thank you for, let me bring you on. It's been an absolute treat for me. And I look forward to hopefully getting you back on here at some point in the future.

I'd be happy to. Thank you for driving in, and I think what you're doing is awesome and all the best with it. Awesome. Thank you. And thanks for listening, guys. I got to say, I had a lot of fun with Reed Wilkins. He is just so easy to talk to, and you can tell he's been around the radio industry for a very long time. I look forward to getting him back on the podcast here at some point in time. Next week is Dave Drozinski. He was undrafted, played his junior A in Lloyd Minster, and then out in British Columbia, and he got signed by the Ottawa Senators,

and we sit and talk about that and amongst other things. So here's a little preview of it, and we'll see you guys next week. Let's talk about Fraser McClaren fight. Yeah. I'm saying this off there, right? A lot of people in Lloyd, if they know you well, know that you're playing very good hockey, you made the NHL, et cetera.

But for a lot of just common people in Lloyd, you're known as the guy who fought Frasier McLaren and got knocked out. Yeah. I mean, it's not a pretty thing to watch. No. It was looking back at it and just like kind of taking it all in because, I mean, it was years ago now that had happened. But I wouldn't change it.

I mean, he asked me to fight. I didn't get into a fight in NHL yet. Were you fighting? I should have asked this a long time ago. Like, were you fighting all through your junior, all through Binghamton? Like, up until this point? Like, was that the reason he was approaching you? Yeah, I mean, I've fought some, like, down in, like, I did it a little bit in junior.

I think I, I don't know, like, my 20-year-old year, I didn't really have to fight them with because everyone was. You're putting up over a point per game. Yeah, and I was a big guy, and I fought a few of the bigger guys in the league, and I just beat him up pretty bad. So, like, everyone was pretty scared, so you don't have to really worry about that. And then American Hockey League, like, you're a bigger guy. So I think I got in, like, five fights my rookie year, like, fought some pretty tough guys, like, Stortini, and, like, all these, I don't know, I did pretty good. So he knew, he probably knew kind of who I was. I've been in a few fights, so he just came up.

But you weren't there as a fighter then? No, like, I was, well, I was playing on.